Theresa Cheung THE ELEMENT ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE PSYCHIC WORLD the ultimate a-z of spirits, mysteries and the paranormal Contents Cover Title Page Introduction A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Resources Index Acknowledgements Copyright About the Publisher Introduction A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions. (Oliver Wendell Holmes) In the last few decades interest in the psychic world has escalated. Beyond the basic Steven King novel, the idea of being psychic or having psychic abilities has penetrated deeply into mainstream culture. The movie Ghost (1990), with Whoopie Goldberg as reluctant medium Oda May Brown, was the first blockbuster film to portray psychic phenomena in a positive light. Since then a steady stream of books, films and documentaries has followed. Organizations, seminars, workshops, websites, study programmes, chat rooms and courses in parapsychology (the study of the paranormal or unexplained) and psychic development have sprung up over night. Doctors and researchers in holistic health are assembling a startling body of evidence for the interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit. We can now speak ‘openly’ about alternative healings, meditative and psychic experiences without fear of ridicule. Yet despite all the attention currently being given to psychic phenomena, their true nature still lies deeply shrouded in mystery. One of our favourite ways for dealing with the unknown is through language. We assign a word to an experience, to something we want to describe, and then we feel we have a handle on it. So let’s try to get a grasp on this great unknown, the universe of psychic phenomena, by assigning words to it. To begin with, what do we mean by ‘psychic? The word psychic describes anything in connection with the psyche. ‘Psyche’ dates back to ancient times when a goddess by the name of Psyche was thought to be in charge of the invisible but essential part of human existence. Over time the word and its meaning evolved, and today a Thesaurus offers the following synonyms: mind, soul, self, subconscious, spirit, subliminal self, inner self, awareness, ego and individuality. Today we use the word psyche to refer generically to all kinds of phenomena, experiences or events that seem to be related to the invisible mind, internal body sensations and altered states of consciousness, which cannot be explained by established physical principles. To qualify as psychic, an experience must therefore involve interactions that are qualitatively different from our normal, physical ways of exchanging with the world (e.g. verbal and nonverbal communication, sensations and bodily movements). A genuine psychic experience cannot be based even upon the most subtle, subliminal forms of perception or action. As the experience is different for every person it is impossible to explain exactly what the psychic state is, but a large number of experiences are considered psychic. These include telepathy (mind reading), clairvoyance (psychic ability to see objects and visions), psychokinesis (mind-over-matter), psychic healing, out-of-body experiences, poltergeists, spirits and hauntings. Within the pages of this Encyclopedia you’ll find a veritable compendium of all aspects of psychic phenomena - what they are, the evidence for them, the theories which have been proposed, the dynamics which favour or suppress them, and the techniques for discovering them in yourself. You will also find biographies of famous mediums and key figures in the psychic world as well as information about divination methods, well-known hauntings and paranormal beliefs from all over the world. The aim isn’t to explain the unexplainable - as that is impossible - but to lift the veil and make the groping for words easier when it comes to researching, questioning and understanding the mysteries of the psychic world. Introducing the psychic world [a very brief history] Psychic traditions have existed since the beginning of recorded history and have been present in one way or another in ancient cultures all over the world. It seems that a belief in ghosts and communication with spirits of the dead has also always been with us from our earliest beginnings. In the ancient Middle East, psychic powers were practised by prophets and are described in the Bible’s Old Testament. The royalty of many ancient cultures used divination to seek guidance in times of war and to predict natural disasters such as drought. The Egyptians believed they could communicate with the dead and forecast future events using palmistry and dream divination. In Africa the ancient peoples used trance states to contact the spirits of their dead ancestors. The Greeks used oracles at sacred locations to give prophecies of the future and the Romans looked to the stars for messages from the invisible realm. Early American psychic practices have also been documented. The Aztecs in Mexico used astrology and oracles and Native Americans relied on advice given to them by shamans who entered deep trancelike states to contact spirits. Although belief in ghosts was present from the very beginning of human history, the first extant report of a haunted house comes from a letter written by a Roman orator called Pliny the Younger (AD 61-112). He wrote to his patron, Lucias Sura, about a villa in Athens that nobody would rent because of a resident ghost. The best-known psychic of the Middle Ages was a French physician called Nostradamus (1503-1566). He wrote about a thousand prophetic verses, which are still analysed today by scholars looking for references to the world’s future. After the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, during the Age of Reason, belief in psychic powers and the paranormal waned, but it was reborn again with the help of the Spiritualist movement. The foundations of spiritualism were laid by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), who allegedly went into trances and communicated with the dead. However, it was the Fox sisters, Kate (1841-1892) and Margaretta (1838-1893), who really brought psychic phenomena to the forefront. The sisters claimed they were able to manifest spirit communication through the rappings of a peddler who had been murdered and found in the Fox home. The public were fascinated as the sisters gave public demonstrations of this psychic manifestation throughout the United States. Even though the sisters later confessed to fraud, the Spiritualist movement was by then well underway both in the United States and in Europe. Spirit rapping gave way to séances, table-tilting, trance writing and spirit communication through a medium. Many of these techniques are still practised today by Spiritualist churches. Perhaps the biggest influence on the advancement of psychic knowledge was that of a man called Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), who is now considered the founder of the so-called New Age movement. Cayce had remarkable psychic powers. Allegedly he could see into the future and give predictions. He could look through objects and inside the human body. He was also able to enter another person’s mind and know what that person was thinking, and sleep on a book and remember its contents. The phenomena produced by mediums and psychics like Cayce during the height of spiritualism in the latter part of the nineteenth century quickly attracted the attention of eminent scientists and intellectuals, and the scientific investigation of alleged psychic powers, ghosts, apparitions, poltergeists and paranormal phenomena began in earnest. In 1882 the Society for Psychical Research was formed in London, and in 1885 the American Society for Psychical Research was founded in Boston. Clubs, organizations and societies dedicated to the paranormal sprung up all over the world, and as the twentieth century drew to a close the psychic world had successfully filtered into mainstream culture. It looks set to stay there. Today we have televised séances and ghost investigations, celebrity mediums and psychics and bookshops, websites and university courses devoted to the paranormal. Over the years investigation of the paranormal has become increasingly sophisticated and precise. It isn’t about superstition and eyewitness accounts any more, but about laboratory experiments, data, theories, statistical evaluation and high technology. There are those who are keen to offer theories to prove we live in a psychic world and those who are convinced it doesn’t exist. There is a huge desire to unravel the mystery. The hotly debated question at the beginning of the twenty-first century is, are psychic phenomena real? Fact or fiction? Is the psychic world real? I’ll give you the answer straight out: No one knows for certain. There are, however, many theories to explain the thousands upon thousands of documented experiences that people around the world have had since the beginning of recorded history. Some believe psychic phenomena are real, whether or not science, fraud, misinterpretation, hallucination or natural phenomena can explain them. Others argue that if something is unexplainable by science, it cannot be real. These two sides - believers and sceptics - engage in heated debates over whether reports of paranormal experiences are misinterpretations, coincidences, the product of hallucinations or something more substantial. Meanwhile, researchers into paranormal phenomena continue to seek explanations. It seems that the three hardest words for human beings to utter are ‘I don’t know’. We demand an accounting for every claim or experience, even if that experience seems unexplainable. Consequently, scientists, parapsychologists and psychologists have come up with a variety of theories for why paranormal phenomena exist, if they exist. For example: Sceptic: ‘Anecdotal evidence, characteristic of most psychic phenomena, is basically unreliable. Anecdotes may have natural, not mysterious explanations, such as random coincidence, fraud, imagination, or auto-suggestion.’ A believer responds: ‘The hard evidence for psychic phenomena today is founded on repeatable experiments and not anecdotal evidence. Anecdotal evidence is considered valid in law and many other fields. The validity of anecdotal evidence does not depend upon the opinion of those listening to it.’ Sceptic: ‘If an experiment is not controlled to prevent fraud, then the results may not be trusted. This is especially so given the fact that many people who claimed to possess psychic abilities were later proven to be frauds. Parapsychology experiments are usually poorly designed. They often lack proper controls, allowing paths of intentional or unintentional information leakage through normal means.’ A believer responds: ‘There is no such thing as a completely foolproof experiment in any field of science, and it is unreasonable to hold parapsychology to a higher standard than the other sciences. Fraud and incompetence in parapsychology is addressed in the same way it is addressed in any other field of science: repeating experiments at multiple independent laboratories, and publishing methods and results in order to receive critical feedback and design better protocols, etc’ Sceptic: ‘Parapsychology experiments are rarely replicated with positive results at independent laboratories.’ A believer responds: ‘The existence of certain psychic phenomena has been reasonably well established in recent times through repeatable experiments that have been replicated dozens of times at labs around the world.’ Sceptic: ‘Positive results in psychic experiments are so statistically insignificant as to be negligible, i.e. indistinguishable from chance. For example, parapsychology may have a “file drawer” problem where a large percentage of negative results are never published, making positive results appear more significant than they actually are.’ A believer responds: ‘Experimental protocols have been continually improved over time, sometimes with the direct assistance of noted sceptics. Meta-analyses show that the significance of the positive results has not declined over time, but instead has remained fairly constant. There are certain phenomena that have been replicated with odds against chance far beyond that required for acceptance in any other science.’ Sceptic: ‘Currently unexplainable positive results of apparently sound experiments do not prove the existence of psychic phenomena, i.e. normal explanations may yet be found. In other words, psychic phenomena cannot be accepted as explanation of positive results until there is a widely acceptable theory of how they operate.’ A believer responds: ‘Anomalous phenomena do not disappear for lack of a theory. There have been many instances in the history of science where the observation of an anomalous phenomenon came before an explanatory theory, and some commonly accepted non-psychic phenomena today still lack a perfectly satisfactory, undisputed theory. For instance, in the past, those who sighted meteors falling to the earth were dismissed as madmen or false prophets.’ The dialogue between sceptic and believer continues endlessly. It’s a fascinating debate but as you can see from the brief snapshot above, each theory presented only fuels the arguments. While sceptics, scientists, parapsychologists, researchers and psychics debate the case for and/or against psychic phenomenon all we can do is decide on which side of the fence we wish to sit; and if we can’t decide we just have to sit on the fence instead. Perhaps some of the arguments and theories for and against will convince you; perhaps they won’t. For the majority, though, the decision isn’t going to be based on evidence or data or what the scientists say but on individual experience and belief. Do you believe in the psychic world, or don’t you? Your psychic world Those who believe in the psychic world suspect that most, if not all people have psychic ability to varying degrees. The ability is often likened to that of musical talent. Some people are naturally gifted with the ability to play and compose music, and practice makes them virtuosos. Others must learn and work and practise to be able to play an instrument even adequately or in the simplest way. But nearly everyone can learn to play to some degree. The same may hold true for psychic abilities. This Encyclopedia is an intriguing reference tool but it has another use. If you’re interested it can also be used to help develop your own psychic potential. The information boxes and advice sections within certain entries contain practical advice and exercises designed to help you access and make use of your psychic potential. Using them will make your psychic development interesting, easy and safe. If you do decide to work through some of the psychic development exercises here, it’s advisable to prepare yourself with the following three steps. 1. SELF-TALK The first step is to believe that psychic potential exists and that it is present within you to develop. Although this might sound silly or trite, begin by telling yourself that you are psychic. Make it a mantra that you repeat to yourself daily and often. This kind of self-talk has a scientific basis. It is now known that when a person learns something, whether it is a physical skill like wood carving or a mental exercise like memorizing poetry, through repetition, his or her brain physically changes - ‘rewires’ itself, if you will - to accommodate that task. This process of rewiring your brain for psychic ability begins with your belief in it. It takes time for the subconscious to be able to communicate with the conscious mind, and the best way to do this is to simply start thinking about the psychic world. All these thoughts have a positive effect on developing your gift. Knowledge will help, as you need some understanding of how things work. Adopt the policy you would take with a new hobby. Get involved in it, buy books and magazines, read at least three or four entries from this Encyclopedia every day and look for more information on the Internet or, better still, from clubs, societies and organizations devoted to the study of the paranormal. 2. PRACTICE The second step is to set aside a time every day for your psychic development. Find a place where you won’t be disturbed and where you can read, study, calm your mind and have a go at the exercises. Like a difficult sport or musical instrument, psychic ability requires diligent practice. Unlike sports or music, however, your progress can be hard to measure because of the elusive nature of psychic phenomena (it’s difficult to know how or when it’s going to work). So the frustration level can be high, but the key to success is to not give up. 3. PATIENCE Finally, don’t let frustration or failures make you stop. Be realistic. You can’t expect to practise for a few days and then be able to see a ghost, predict when Uncle Joe is going to call or who is going to win the lottery. Psychic abilities, even for those who have developed them to a high degree, can be unpredictable and erratic. The trick is to learn to recognize when or if they are working - and that comes with time, practice and experience. The mystery surrounds you There are things that occur in the world -and which have occurred since the beginning of recorded time - for which there are no lasting explanations, and clearly psychic phenomena fall into this category of unexplained mysteries. Sceptics may argue their case, and theories may come and go, but all the while the psychic phenomena that these arguments and theories are supposed to debunk or explain carry on as mysteriously as ever. Mysteries have always happened and will continue to happen. Belief in psychic phenomena has always been widespread all over the world and these beliefs have always had a very real influence on people’s lives. Whether you believe in the psychic world, would like to believe in it but aren’t sure, or think it’s a lot of fascinating but ultimately unscientific nonsense, there is one thing that has to be accepted: we live in a mysterious world. The universe is a puzzle, our consciousness is an enigma and even our existence in the world is an unexplained mystery. Mysteries are things we live with every day and simply have to accept, regardless of how irrational and incomprehensible they are. If you are willing to accept that mysteries surround you, if you are willing to open your mind to new possibilities, the psychic world is out there waiting for you to discover it. The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. (Albert Einstein) A A COURSE in MIRACLES A complete self-study spiritual thought system that was channelled through Helen Schucman between 1965 and 1972. It consists of a Text, Manual for Teachers and Workbook for Students and teaches that all humans share a capacity for love, forgiveness, compassion and peace. Rather than trying to change the world, it teaches, you must change yourself and your view of the world. Miracles are defined as a shift in perception from fear to love. It also emphasizes that it is but one version of the universal curriculum, of which there are ‘many thousands’. Consequently, even though its language is that of traditional Christianity, the course expresses a non-sectarian, non-denominational spirituality. A Course in Miracles was dictated by a clear inner voice to Helen Schucman, a psychologist at Presbyterian Hospital in New York and an assistant professor of psychology at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Schucman was born to a Jewish family in the early 1900s and was an atheist. For years she experienced mental images that came to her like photographs, and in the 1960s the images became so intense and meaningful that Schucman feared she was going mad. In September 1965 a voice began dictating the course to Schucman with the opening words, ‘This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.’ Schucman was frightened and reluctant but felt compelled to write. She shared her experiences with her supervisor at work, William Thetford, who thought she might be having psychic visions. In the days, weeks, months and years that followed, the voice, which never identified itself, dictated the course to Schucman, and by September 1972 the entire work was completed and arranged into chapters by Schucman and Thetford. The voice predicted that a woman would come along who would know what to do with it, and that woman turned out to be Judith Skutch, president of the Foundation for ParaSensory Investigation. Skutch and her husband, Robert, changed the name of their foundation to the Foundation of Inner Peace and dedicated it to publishing and distributing the course. Information about the course spread quickly via word of mouth, and study groups independent of the foundation formed around the world and continue to flourish today. Schucman and Thetford chose to remain anonymous advisors to the foundation. The voice continued to speak to Schucman, who wrote down a collection of poems published by the foundation as The Gifts of God. As Schucman had wished, her identity was not revealed until after her death in 1981. A Course in Miracles was first published in 1975. There are currently over one and a half million copies of the course in circulation worldwide. ABACOMANCY The art of foretelling the future by observing patterns of dust. The way the dust is blown, distributed or disturbed is read very much like tea leaves. The origins and precise method of this ancient type of divination are unknown. Sometimes the diviner uses the ashes of the recently deceased. ABSENT HEALING Healing that results from the sending of healing thoughts, visualization, prayers or energy towards some distant person or persons. It is based on the belief that all beings are interconnected by a universal life force or energy and that healing thoughts send out subtle energetic charges into this web of interconnection and out to the person being thought about. Many psychics, spiritual healers, reiki practitioners and medical intuitives claim to be able to direct energy and perform absent healing. Typically healers will speak the name of the sick person or they will focus on a photograph of the person, or a candle or doll that represents the person. The healing energies are then directed to where they are needed. How absent healing is accomplished, if it can be accomplished, remains an unproven mystery but there is compelling evidence to suggest that emotional and sometimes physical healing can take place from a distance. Aside from countless personal accounts from those who have benefited from absent healing, American doctor Larry Dossey conducted several double blind trials to test the effectiveness of absent healing in the early 1990s. At the end of the trials the groups that had been the object of prayer showed greater improvement in health than the control groups. ACHERI In Native American folklore Acheri is thought to be the ghost of a little girl who died of disease. Legend has it that Acheri is a frail and pale looking female spirit who lives on mountaintops and hills. At night she travels into the valleys to spread infection, disease and pain, usually to children, by casting her invisible shadow over innocent sleeping victims. It is thought that the colour red affords protection against this entity and amulets of red thread worn as necklaces will protect children from the disease Acheri brings. Similarly, in European folklore, red charms are used to protect against harm from evil spirits. ACUPRESSURE An ancient Chinese healing method that involves applying pressure to selected points on the body to relieve pain and tension. It is based on the belief that the body has 14 ‘meridians’ that flow through the major organs and carry energy, called chi, throughout the body. Acupressure is an alternative medicine technique that deals with all the aspects of a person - body, emotions, mind and spirit - as one whole rather than as separate parts. Practitioners believe that acupressure can help relieve stress and tension, relax mind and body, increase blood circulation, aid in the removal of toxic wastes from the body, provide relief from head, neck and shoulder aches, promote the healing of injuries, increase energy levels and increase overall feelings of wellbeing. In a typical session the client lies fully clothed on a soft massage table while the practitioner presses gently on points on various parts of the client’s body. The session is non-invasive and gentle and generally lasts for about one hour. However, most clients normally require a number of sessions to complete a treatment. ACUPUNCTURE An ancient Chinese healing system and alternative medicine technique that involves inserting and stimulating particular points on the body with fine needles. Acupuncture, like acupressure, is built on the theory that there are special ‘meridian’ points on the body connected to the body’s internal organs and that ‘vital life energy’ (chi) flows along these meridian lines. According to this theory, disease is caused by interrupted energy flow; inserting the needles restores normal flow Acupuncture needles may be twirled, heated or stimulated with a weak electric current, with ultrasound and sometimes even with wavelengths of light. Acupuncture is used to treat pain, depression, allergies, asthma, arthritis, bladder problems, digestive upsets, colds, flu, smoking, fatigue, gynaecologic disorders, headaches, migraines, high blood pressure, low libido, stress, stroke, drug addiction, vision problems and even AIDS. ADELPHI THEATRE, GHOST OF The Adelphi Theatre in London is thought to be haunted by the ghost of a celebrated Victorian actor called William Terriss. Terriss was a stylish and popular actor highly regarded in his day and seldom seen without his trademark pale gloves. On the night of 16 December 1897, during a run of Secret Service, a thriller staring Terriss and leading lady Jessie Milward, Terriss was murdered by an outof-work actor, Richard Prince, who had been fired due to alcoholism and ever after bore a grudge against the profession. Prince especially resented the success and charisma of Terriss. As night fell Prince ambushed Terriss as he unlocked the stage door in Maiden Lane and stabbed him. Terriss died in Jessie Milward’s arms, whispering ‘I’ll be back’. Prince was tried and convicted of murder but declared insane. He spent the rest of his days at Broadmoor prison, where he passed the time writing his own plays and, of course, playing the heroic lead. The first sighting of Terriss’s ghost was in 1928. A stranger in London, who did not know about the murder, saw a male figure dressed in grey Victorian clothes suddenly vanish in Maiden Lane. Later he identified the figure as Terriss from a photograph. Again in 1928 an actress who was using Jessie Milward’s old dressing room, felt light blows on her arms, a sensation of being grabbed and the inexplicable shaking of her chaise longue. She also saw a green light above her mirror and heard tapping on the door. Later she discovered that Terriss used to tap Milward’s door with his cane when he passed it. In 1962 there was another sighting: a greenish light that took the shape of a man was seen by a frightened workman. The light opened the stage curtains and then proceeded to the stalls and tipped down the seats. Members of the station staff at Covent Garden tube station, which now occupies the site of a bakery where Terriss stopped daily, have several times reported hearing disembodied gasps and sighs after hours. One young porter, Victor Locker, immediately requested a transfer after encountering the phantom, an experience he described as being immobilized with an oppressive weight pushing down on him. In 1955 ticket collector Jack Hayden reported seeing on numerous occasions an elegant phantom with ‘a very, very sad face and sunken cheeks’, attired with opera cloak, cane and pale gloves walking the platform or ascending the spiral staircase. Hayden left Covent Garden in 1964 and the sightings have been less frequent, but Terriss still puts in the occasional cameo appearance, especially in the train tunnels between Covent Garden and Holborn. ADEPT One who has achieved the highest mastery of mystical and/or occult powers. An adept is particularly proficient or knowledgeable about the nature and laws of the universe. Those who wish to become adepts may become apprentices, or ‘chelas’, to adepts, in which case the latter are known as masters. The activities of adepts are diverse. They can control forces both in the spiritual and physical worlds and prolong their lives for centuries. Adepts can use their wisdom both for good or for evil purposes. The term ‘adept’ was also employed by medieval alchemists to denote a master of their sciences. AEROMANCY One of the oldest forms of divination, practised by the priests of Babylonia, aeromancy is a method of divination by observing atmospheric - air or sky phenomena, such as wind currents, cloud shapes and formations, comets and falling stars. Examples include the Bethlehem star heralding the birth of Christ and the appearance of Halley’s comet around the time of the battle of Hastings, supposedly foretelling the victory of William the Conqueror. There are several different forms of aeromancy, including austromancy (wind divination); ceraunoscopy (observing thunder and lightning); chaomancy (aerial visions); and meteormancy (meteors, especially shooting stars). AFFIRMATION A positive phrase or sentence that through frequent repetition uses the power of your mind to create a truth or reality. Even though you may not be consciously aware that you are doing it, everyone uses affirmations (i.e., positive self-talk) to boost confidence and motivation at some time or other. Affirmations are powerful verbal messages repeated over and over again, so that they become embedded in your brain and create new pathways of thought and action. In other words they provide your intuition with new avenues for insight and opportunity and prepare your mind for change. Once the mind is prepared for change and new opportunities it is thought to be far easier to create those opportunities. Using your will power Affirmations are easy to do and can be beneficial if used correctly. It takes three to four weeks for the mind to absorb new information, so you need to be patient and persistent. Think about what you want to improve in your life. Are you happy with your job? Do you want to stop smoking? Would you like to lose some weight? Choose your goal, but make sure it is achievable. Let’s say you want to lose weight. You now work out a statement suggesting that you are reaching your goal. Be careful how you word it though, because if you say something like ‘I don’t want to be fat anymore’, your mind will focus on being fat, not on your goal, which is weight loss. But if you say something like ‘I want to be thin’, this is too vague for your mind to assess. However, something like ‘I am going to lose six pounds this month’ gets you in touch with the end result and is specific at the same time. It gives your mind something constructive to work with. Now write this affirmation down, and repeat it to yourself several times a day for at least three to four weeks. Of course, besides affirming the statement, you also need to use your common sense and take the necessary steps to help you towards your goal, such as regular exercise and healthy eating if weight loss is your goal. Remember, the mind is a powerful tool, and affirmations can be a key factor in success because they help replace sabotaging negative self-talk with optimism, goal-setting and positive resolve. Affirmations are typically used by men and women in sport and business but they can be useful for any career or life skill where goal setting and mental strength is crucial. Psychotherapists, motivational speakers and life coaches tend to use them as tools to help empower their clients and build self-esteem, and alternative medicine therapists tend to suggest the use of affirmations to encourage the body’s self-healing process. AFRIT The Afrit comes from Arabian and Muslim folklore and is alleged to be a spirit demon who rises up like smoke from the spilt blood of murder victims. They are said to inspire unspeakable terror and, because of the unjust, brutal nature of their demise, they are ruthless towards their victims. Sometimes they are said to appear in the form of desert whirlwinds, and it has also been said that they can take on a form similar to the Christian Devil, with hooves for feet and horns on their head. Driving a new nail into the bloodstained ground is thought to prevent their formation. AFTERLIFE Afterlife (also known as life after death) is the continuation of existence beyond this world or after death. There are various sources for this belief, but the one most relied upon is the testimony of individuals who claim to have knowledge of the afterlife because they have: Died and been sent back to life (near-death experience). Visited the afterlife when they were unconscious (out-of-body experience). Seen the afterlife in a vision. Remembered the afterlife from a previous existence (reincarnation). Been visited by a representative of the afterlife such as angels or spirits. Believe the testimonal of shamans or intermediaries between the living and the dead. Almost every society known has some belief in survival after death, although these conceptions vary enormously. Some common ones are: a continuation of life with little change in the nature of existence; spiritual improvement through a series of stages, planes or levels; a series of lives and deaths before ultimate extinction; or the afterlife as a place of reward or punishment based on faith or good deeds on earth and bodily resurrection at some future date. Christian folk traditions suggest that the souls of good people are converted into angels upon death. However, a more orthodox reading of scripture suggests that the dead are not transformed until the Last Judgement, which is followed by a resurrection of the faithful. Christian ideas heavily influenced nineteenth-century spiritualist authors like Andrew Jackson Davis, who dictated his lectures in a trance. Davis suggested that after their death, humans continue their spiritual progress through a series of spiritual spheres until they reach the seventh sphere and become one with the infinite vortex of love and wisdom. Other cultures believe in a land of the dead and locate it in various places: for the Zulus, for example, it is under the earth, an underworld mirror of this world. For the ancient Egyptians, the afterlife was very important. The believer had to act well during his or her lifetime and know the rituals in the Egyptian Book of the Dead to gain entry into the underworld. If the corpse of the pharoah was properly embalmed and entombed, the deceased would accompany the sun god on his daily ride. Other societies believe in universal-ism, which holds that all will be rewarded regardless of what they have done or believed, while still others consider the afterlife less important compared to the here and now. Another afterlife concept, found among Hindus and Buddhists, is reincarnation, either as animals or as humans. Followers of both traditions interpret events in our current life as consequences of actions taken in previous lives. Some traditions believe in personal reincarnation, whereas others believe that the energy of one’s soul is recycled into other living things as they are born. Those who practice spiritualism believe in the possibility of communication between the living and the dead. Some societies distinguish between the ghost, which travels to the land of the dead, and a different part of the spirit, which reincarnates. The ghost part of spirit is thought to be strong three or four days after death, and therefore various rituals are performed to discourage the ghost from returning to haunt the living. AGE OF AQUARIUS Term used to describe a new age of thinking in Western culture based on the astrological calculation of the Precession of the Equinoxes. According to Western astrologers, the Age of Aquarius is one of the 12 great ages, corresponding to the 12 signs of the zodiac, each lasting approximately 2,000 years. Each of the 12 ages is thought to be characterized by particular cultural moves in society, thought and religion. Astrologers believe that for the past 2,000 years or so our world has been in the Age of Pisces, characterized by disillusionment and sceptisicm, and that we are now experiencing the dawn of a new age: the Age of Aquarius. The shift to Aquarius is believed to herald revolutionary change, because Aquarius is the sign of knowledge, scientific breakthroughs and discoveries, but many think that there could be a price to pay for this overemphasis on intellect and science - the breakdown of old domestic structures. Although Aquarius can be tolerant and humanitarian, suggesting the possibility of a golden age, the Aquarian need for total freedom without interference may be uncompromising and dangerous. No astrological organization or official body has agreed upon a specific date to begin the Aquarian Age: some say that it began as early as 1904, others that it begins around the year 2000, and still others say that it will not start until as late as 2160. The 2160 date was calculated by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and coincides with various predictions of cataclysms which are to be followed by 2,000 years of peace. The disagreement in dates is due to the backward movement of the vernal equniox through the zodiac. The vernal equniox takes around 26,000 years to make a complete cycle in the zodiac, but a gradual slipage creates a retrograde of one zodiac sign every 2,160 years - some astrologers take this into account, others do not. Edgar Cayce, called by some the father of New-Age thinking, believed that the transition between the ages of Pisces and Aquarius overlap and the implications of this wouldn’t be fully understood until the twenty-first century. Theories about the Age of Aquarius vary as much as the date. Some believe it is a time of new beginnings while others associate it with times of ending such as Armageddon or Judgement Day. This disparity may be because Aquarius is ruled by two planets: Saturn, the symbol of time and endurance, and Uranus, the symbol of revolution. Generally, though, the Age of Aquarius is thought to be an era of enlightenment, joy, accomplishment, peace and spiritual empowerment. The term Age of Aquarius’ was popular in the 1960s, a period of great upheaval, social change and interest in spritual development and alternative lifestyles. The great conjunction of Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn on 5 February 1962 was said to be a sign of the dawning of a new age, and Age of Aquarius’ has since been supplanted by the term New Age. AGENT A ghost or spirit that is seen by someone. It can also be used to describe the energy that is causing a haunting. For example, in a poltergeist situation it is often thought that a child at the age of puberty is somehow causing the disturbances through some form of telekinetic projection. In this case, the child is considered the agent. ALLUROMANCY A form of zoomancy also known as ‘feliomancy’. It is the art of predicting the future by observing the movements of cats, especially the way they jump and where they land. For example, a cat washing its face and ears could indicate rain; a cat washing one ear three times might suggest visitors from the direction in which the cat is looking; a cat following you could mean you will come into money, etc. Since ancient times cats have been associated with mystery and the occult, so it is hardly surprising that diviners used them to search for clues to the future. AIR One of the four natural elements harnessed in magical rites and associated with the Zodiac signs of Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Air symbolizes communication and intellectual pursuits as well as new beginnings. In magical use, the element of air corresponds to the East and the colour yellow. It is one of the two elements that are associated with the masculine (the other being fire). Its ritual tool is the athame and/or sword, although in some traditions it is the wand. Its symbol is an equilateral triangle, with its point pointing upwards and a horizontal line passing through the centre. In Wicca an air elemental is one of the four spirits that energize a spell and help bring the spellcaster’s wishes into being. AKASHA In Buddhism and Hinduism, akasha is the all-pervasive life force, a universal medium. It fits all space and penetrates all matter. It is everything, and everything is in it. Hindu philosophy interprets the akasha as the ether, the fifth element that permeates the universe, acting as an agent through which electromagnetic forces operate. In the practice of Yoga, the akasha is one of the three universal principles, along with prana (breath of life) and creative mind; the three are all sources of psychic power. From akasha comes will, which makes anything possible. In Buddhism the akasha is space, both space that is bound to the material world and space that is infinite. Madame Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, introduced this notion to the West and compared the akasha to other forms of the universal life force, such as the sidereal light of the Rosicrucians, the Hebrew ruah or moving spirit and the quin-tessance or luminous fifth element, invisible to humans, which binds the other four elements. Blavatsky suggested that the akasha forms the world soul, or anima mundi, and produces mesmeric operations of nature. AKASHIC RECORDS Akashic is a Sanskrit word meaning the fundamental etheric substance of the universe. According to Theosophy, the Akashic Records, or Book of Life, is extrasensory information that exists in another dimension, like the ultimate cosmic library. The records contain information on all world events and all thoughts and deeds that have taken place or will take place on earth. They may be read only by adepts. Rudolf Steiner, for example, claimed to have consulted the Akashic Records for his descriptions of Atlantis. Edgar Cayce also claimed to have seen the Book of Life. Some psychics say they consult the Akashic Records through clairvoyance or during out-of-body experiences. The Akashic Records are also called the Universal Memory of Nature, and it is thought that everyone has an inherent ability to see his or her own book and all the things they have done or felt in life. It is simply a matter of developing the psychic ability. The process of consulting the Records is described by psychics as like visiting an enormous library and looking up information in books. Some say they are greeted by doorkeepers or spirit guides who assist them in finding the correct information. The books are kept in rows, line upon line, stack upon stack, corridor upon corridor. Some books are charred, turned up at the edges and blackened, as if they have been pulled out of a fire, some are beautifully illuminated scrolls, and others are embossed in gold leaf with pages in rainbow colours. Yet others are bound in red leather with special emblems. ALAMO The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, is a landmark that is believed to be truly haunted. Originally a chapel built in 1718 by monks, the Alamo was later expanded into a fortress for Texans to use as a stronghold against the Mexicans in the battle over land rights. In March 1836 the President of Mexico, General Antonio López de Santa Anna, and 4,000 troops laid siege to the Alamo. The 11day battle led to the deaths of almost all the 188 defenders of the Alamo and 1,600 Mexicans. The victorious General López ordered the bodies of the dead Texans to be dumped in a large grave and the Alamo to be torn to the ground. Legend has it that when the Mexicans tried to tear down the walls, ghostly hands extended to stop them and they fled in terror. Today the suffering of those who died has not been forgotten. There have been several sightings of grotesque apparitions coming from the walls of the Alamo, and screaming and yelling at night as if the terrible events of 1836 are replayed over and over again. There are other reports of a ghost on top of the Alamo, walking back and forth as if trying to escape. See Residual haunting. ALCATRAZ Alcatraz, the harshest, loneliest and most haunted of America’s federal prisons, is located on a dark and damp rock in San Francisco Bay. The story of Alcatraz does not begin or end with the use of the rock as a prison - the island was known to Native Americans as a place that contained evil spirits. Many believe that an evil energy still remains to this day. As parapsychologists suggest, where so much trauma and negative emotion has occurred there is bound to be residual energy, and Alcatraz has the feel of an immense haunted house, complete with fog and restless spirits, despite the fact that Alcatraz was closed as a prison in 1963, and today is maintained by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area as a tourist attraction. Alcatraz, originally named La Isla de Los Altraces (The Island of the Pelicans), was first an army fort and prison. In 1934 it was turned into a maximum-security federal penitentiary where convicts were sent solely for punishment, not rehabilitation. Conditions were terrible and escape impossible. Many inmates were driven insane; others preferred to kill themselves rather than endure the brutal conditions. Since the prison’s closing no visual apparitions have been seen, but guards and tour guides have reported feelings of sudden intensity pervading the cells and corridors, the sound of men’s voices, whistling, clanging metal doors, screams, the running of feet down corridors and anxious feelings of being watched. Some of the more haunted locations on Alcatraz appear to be the warden’s house, the hospital, the laundry room, and Cell Block C utility door, where three convicts and three guards died in an attempted escape in 1946. The most haunted area, however, is the punishment block - D Block, or solitary, as it was called. Some guides refuse to go there alone. The cells reportedly remain intensely cold, even if it is a hot day. To this day visitors continue to report feeling strange on their visit to Alcatraz, although some acknowledge their reaction might be influenced by their knowledge of the misery and suffering that went on there. ALCHEMY The term alchemy, commonly believed to refer to attempts to change base metals into gold, covers a wide range of topics -from the discovery of a single cure for all diseases to the quest for immortality, from the creation of artificial life to straightforward descriptions of scientific techniques. Broadly, one could describe alchemy as the art of converting that which is base, both in the material and spiritual world, into something more perfect. Symbolically, alchemy is the mystical art for human spiritual transformation into a higher form of being. The spiritual teachings of alchemy were based on the idea that humans have a spirit or soul as well as a physical body, and it was thought that if the spirit could be compressed or concentrated, the secret of changing one aspect of nature into another could be discovered. The elusive catalyst that allowed this change to take place is known as the philosopher’s stone, which is not a stone but a powder or liquid that turned base metal into gold and, when swallowed, gave everlasting life. Alchemists are often pictured as stirring a bubbling concoction of base metal on a fire, hoping it will turn to gold. However, not all alchemists were like this, and some of the best minds of the last twenty or so centuries have studied alchemy as a way to unlock the secrets of nature. Alchemy probably first emerged in ancient Egypt and China. In China it was purported to transmute base metals into gold, and the gold so produced was thought to have the ability to cure disease and prolong life. In Egypt the methods of transmutation were kept secret by temple priests. Western alchemy has its basis in the skills of those Egyptian priests, Eastern mysticism and the Aristotelian theory of the composition of matter. Aristotle, following the theory of Empedocles, taught that all matter was composed of four elements: water, fire, earth and air. Different materials found in nature contained different ratios of these four elements, and so by proper treatment a base metal could be turned to gold. In the eighth and ninth centuries, Chinese, Greek, and Alexandrian alchemical lore entered the Arab world. Arabian alchemists postulated that all metals were composed not of four elements but of two: sulphur and mercury. They also adopted the Chinese alchemists’ concept of a philosopher’s stone - a medicine that could turn a sick (base) metal into gold and act as the El or elixir of life - and so begun a never-ending quest for this elusive catalyst. Arab alchemical treatises were popular in the Middle Ages. Indirectly, through Arabic, Greek manuscripts were translated into Latin, and alchemical explanations of the nature of matter can be found in the treatises of such scholars as Albertus Magnus (c.1200-1280) and Roger Bacon (c.1214-1292). Before the scientific revolution, alchemists were respected figures on the European scene, and kings and nobles often supported them in the hope of increasing their revenue. But among the sincere were charlatans and swindlers, and their fraudulent activities led to alchemy getting a bad name. Even as late as 1783 a chemist called John Price claimed he had turned mercury into gold. When he was asked by the Royal Society to perform the experiment in public, he reluctantly agreed. On the appointed day, however, he drank some poison and died in front of the invited audience. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many practical alchemists, like Paracelsus, the first in Europe to mention zinc and use the word ‘alcohol’, turned from trying to make gold towards preparing medicine. The story is told of a seventeenth-century chemist who claimed he had found the elixir of life in the waters of a mineral spring. This substance has since been identified as the laxative sodium sulphate. After the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century, alchemy became marginalized, and interest in transmutation became limited to astrologers and numerologists. Nevertheless, the scientific facts that had been accumulated by alchemists in their search for gold became the basis for modern chemistry. In the West, interest in the spiritual dimension of alchemy was rekindled in the midtwentieth century through the work of psychiatrist Carl Jung on alchemical spirituality. Today there are few practising alchemists. The fact is, scientists have discovered how to change base metals into gold, but the process is uneconomical and so alchemy today is a spiritual rather than a practical quest. Sincere seekers are people of great wisdom and morality. For them the search for spiritual perfection takes precedence over the quest for easy riches. Genuine alchemists see the universe as a unity and believe that by exploring the infinite workings of its parts they can better understand the whole. The symbolism of turning base metal into gold represents exactly what they are trying to do within themselves refine themselves spiritually - and it could be said that alchemists are simply taking a more scientific approach to the age-old quest to ‘know thyself. ALECTROMANCY An ancient Roman method of divination using a cock or a hen placed in a circle of grain, round which are written the letters of the alphabet. The letters close to where the bird pecks are gathered and assembled to answer specific questions. If a simple yes or no is required, then only two piles of grain are used, and the most pecked grain pile provides the answer. Alectromancy was also practised by listening to the crows of a cock and the periods at which they were heard. Another method was to recite the letters of the alphabet, noting those at which the cock crowed. A well-known story involving alectromancy is that of the Roman emperor Valens, who used alectromancy to divine the name of his successor. He always got the name ‘Theod’, and so Valens ordered all those with the name Theodorus to be killed. Had he done his research properly, however, he might have been more successful: it was a man called Theodosius who actually succeeded him. ALEUROMANCY Divination through sortilege of fortunes written on slips of paper inserted into balls of dough and baked, mixed and distributed randomly. Used mainly by the ancient Greeks it is seldom practised today, although it is the origin of modern-day fortune cookies. ALLHALLOWS EVE See Halloween. ALOMANCY A method of divination that interprets random patterns of salt. Little is known of this ancient art of divination, but it accounts for some of the modern salt-related superstitions, including the saying that bad luck is likely when the salt cellar is overturned and the practice of throwing a pinch of salt over the shoulder for good fortune. ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS [ASC] The term ‘altered state of consciousness’ was coined by parapsychologist Charles Tart (b.1937), and it refers to a shift in the pattern of consciousness or normal waking state, for example during hypnosis, trance or dream state, when the conscious mind is subdued and the unconscious takes over. The operation of some psychic phenomena depends on being in an altered state of consciousness, but ASCs are difficult to study because of their subjective and internal nature, and because there is no universal state of consciousness from which to begin such a study. States of consciousness take place in four levels of brain-wave activity: beta, alpha, theta and delta. Beta level is complete waking consciousness. Alpha level is where material from the subconscious is available to the mind, as in meditation or daydreaming. The theta level is equivalent to light sleep, a state of unconsciousness in which one is vaguely aware of what is going on around one. The delta level is deep sleep. Many ASCs can be differentiated, ranging from dreaming to trance to mystical states of consciousness, such as that experienced during a shamanic state. ASCs can occur spontaneously or can be induced through disciplines such as Yoga, Zen and other forms of meditation, prayer and magical techniques. They can also be induced through chanting, dancing, fasting, sex, hypnosis, trauma and sleep deprivation. Orthodox science largely rejects the experiences and knowledge gained from ASCs, many of which are intensely spiritual in nature, but scientific research has been effective in the areas of dreams, meditation, biofeedback and drug-induced states. Laboratory tests since the early 1950s on ASC-induced techniques such as relaxation, hypnosis and meditation have also been shown to enhance psi function, especially extrasensory perception (or ESP). ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE Medical or health practices based on unconventional principles, methods, theory, practice, treatments and knowledge -unconventional in that they are not in line with standard, traditional or orthodox medical practice and scientific beliefs. If the alternative therapy is offered alongside orthodox medicine it is called complementary medicine. Alternative medicine is often (but not always) based upon metaphysical belief. Some of the most popular alternative techniques that incorporate metaphysical beliefs include acupressure, acupuncture, aromatherapy, Ayurvedic medicine, body cleansing, bodywork, chelation therapy, chiropractic, craniosacral therapy, energy medicine, electrodiagnosis, herbalism, holistic medicine, homeopathy, iridology, macrobiotics, naturopathy, osteopathy, polarity therapy, psychic healing, reflexology, Reiki, Rolfing, subliminal tapes, therapeutic touch and traditional Chinese medicine. AMERICAN GHOST SOCIETY [AGS] A society of ghost investigators with members throughout the United States and Canada. The society was formed in 1995 by Troy and Amy Taylor, as the Ghost Society of Central Illinois. It expanded quickly and became the American Ghost Society in 1996. Within a few years it had nearly 500 members, including many prominent authors, law enforcement personnel and paranormal investigators. The AGS maintains a network of area representatives and local research groups, and the Taylors organize annual conferences and meetings. The AGS publishes a magazine dedicated to ghosts and hauntings, the quarterly Ghosts of the Prairie, and also operates a website (www.prairieghosts.com), which includes the largest Internet bookstore dedicated to the subject. Membership of the AGS is open to all, and the emphasis is on a high standard of investigation of hauntings using detective work - visiting and inspecting sites, interviewing witnesses and using high-tech ghost detection equipment. Psychics and mediums are not used because they are considered too subjective. All data, once analysed, is presented to the public. The following is an extract from the AGS mission statement: The American Ghost Society is a national network of ghost hunters and researchers who conduct investigations into the paranormal in a nonmetaphysical manner. One of our main goals is to seek out allegedly haunted locations and to assist those who are experiencing problems with the paranormal. The group members then look for authentic evidence of the paranormal and try to determine if the location is haunted. We are seeking genuine evidence and are careful about the presentation of this evidence … insuring that it is legitimate, researched, and analyzed before being presented to the general public … The credibility of the group is maintained above all else as we do not work with psychics or conduct investigations using metaphysical methods. We are not ‘Ghost Busters,’ but when a case does prove to be genuine, assistance through other channels may be provided at the location owner’s request … In addition, we do not claim to be experts in the paranormal, as no experts exist when it comes to the supernatural, no matter what anyone may claim or who may claim to be one. We are instead working to present an image of competent researchers who are collecting the most authentic evidence possible. Investigations conducted under the auspices of the American Ghost Society are always held to the standards of the group and are conducted with integrity, honesty, and with discretion. The Taylors opened the Haunted Museum in 2000 in Alton, Illinois. The museum houses a collection of books, articles, photographs and materials concerned with ghost research. Prior to the museum’s opening, when the displays were being prepared, several strange phenomena were reported at night. Lights that were switched off were mysteriously turned on by the morning, books fell from shelves, items would vanish one night and reappear the next and displays were rearranged. Curiously, the building’s alarm system was never activated to indicate the presence of human intruders. AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH [ASPR] Founded in 1885, the American Society for Psychical Research is the oldest psychical research organization in the United States. It investigates psychic or paranormal phenomena through scientific means. Among its founders was the Harvard psychologist and professor of philosophy William James while among its benefactors was the inventor of the Xerox machine, physicist Chester Carlson. Its library and archive contain rare books, case reports, letters and manuscripts, which date back to the 1700s. The ASPR serves as a global information network, providing publications and educational services which offer ‘responsible information about relevant contemporary and historical research’. It has an exhaustive library of information on almost every experiment conducted on just about every type of paranormal phenomena. You can visit the society in New York City or look it up on the Internet: www.aspr.com. See also Society for Psychical Research. AMHERST HAUNTING The Amherst Haunting is a tale of poltergeist activity that took place in Amherst, Nova Scotia, in 1878 and centred on a 19-year-old woman, Esther Cox, recently threatened with rape. One night, soon after the traumatic event, Esther started to feel ill and went to bed early. Later she woke up screaming that she was dying. It is said that ‘Her eyes went bloodshot, her hair stood on end, and her body puffed up to twice its normal size.’ Strange, violent movements filled the small, two-room cottage where Esther lived with her extended family. Thunderous bangs erupted from under the bed. Sheets were ripped off her and tossed into a corner. A doctor who came to examine her watched a bolster move of its own accord. Along the wall he watched words a foot high being scratched into the plaster: ‘Esther Cox you are mine to kill!’ The disturbances in the house continued, including terrifying claps of sound and unexplained fires - lit matches materializing out of nowhere and dropping on to beds. After some time, the longsuffering landlord decided he’d had enough of his property being damaged and asked Esther’s family to leave. She alone left instead, finding work at a nearby farm, but her job was cut short when the barn erupted into fire and the farmer had Esther charged with arson. She was sentenced to four months in jail, of which she served one month before being released. The story ended happily, for the disturbances subsided after Esther was freed from jail and eventually ended completely. Later she married, twice, and finally died in 1912 at the age of 53. The case was never solved. Some at the time put forward the theory that electricity was responsible. Electricity was a new notion at the time, the latest wonder of the age, and people did not yet understand how it behaved. Some theorized that the unexplained fires were bolts of lightning and the noises were thunder. In light of modern theories of the origin and nature of poltergeists, it is likely that Esther was the focus of psychokinetic energy, in which repressed emotions and sexuality burst forth, causing the phenomena. The case remains unusual in that Esther was beyond the age when poltergeist problems tend to occur, and that the disturbances also occurred in her absence. AMITY VILLE HORROR The Amityville Horror, although now considered a hoax, remains one of the most sensational and controversial cases of alleged haunting of all time. A small house in Amityville, New York, had been on the market for a year at a bargain price because it was the scene of a mass murder, by 23-year-old Ronnie DeFeo of his father, mother and younger siblings in November 1974. George and Kathleen Lutz bought the house a year later, in December 1975, and moved in with their three children. A month later the Lutzes fled the house, never to return. They told the media of bizarre happenings - mysterious odours, doors slamming shut, gelatinous substances oozing out of nowhere. In 1977 The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson was published by Prentice-Hall as a non-fiction book. It sold six million copies and led to a top-grossing movie in 1979 and a host of other books and films. The haunting was quickly dismissed as a hoax, and while it is possible haunting may have occurred, sceptics argue that there are too many discrepancies. The American Society for Psychical Research found the whole matter questionable and did not investigate, believing that the incidents were not paranormal. Also, when the Lutzes moved out the house became quiet. The next owners, Jim and Barbara Cromarty, said they experienced no unusual phenomena. However, they grew so annoyed by the tourists flocking to see their house that they sued the Lutzes, Anson and Prentice-Hall for $1.1 million. They won a settlement for an unspecified lesser amount, with the judge ruling that ‘the evidence shows fairly clearly that the Lutzes during this entire period were considering and acting with the thought of getting a book published’. AMNIOMANCY From the Latin amnion, meaning membrane, amniomancy is an ancient method of divination by means of the membrane that sometimes envelops the head of a baby at birth. From inspecting the membrane, called a caul, the diviner predicted what sort of life the newborn would have. AMULET An object, drawing, inscription or symbol believed to have supernatural or magic power to ward off evil, the evil eye, disease, poor health and other misfortunes. Amulets are also worn to bring good luck as a kind of mascot or lucky charm. Amulets are typically worn around the neck in the form of jewellery or a charm - a magical phrase, rhyme or prayer inscribed on paper. Amulets are also worn as rings. Some amulets are found as designs, symbols or inscriptions engraved on doors or posts. Simple amulets have a colour or shape that catches the eye, but almost anything can become an amulet depending on a person’s beliefs and resources. Among the most common are gems and precious stones fashioned into jewellery or statues of animals. Representations of eyes are also common and one of the best-known amulets is the ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus, which guarded health and protected against evil spirits. Organic amulets such as fruit, vegetables, berries, nuts and plants are common in some parts of the world. For example, the use of garlic as an amulet against evil may be traced back to the ancient Romans, while peach wood and stones are considered strong amulets against evil spirits in China. Certain metals are believed to have protective properties. Iron, for example, is universally thought to keep away demons and witches. Written amulets such as formulas, spells, words of power, secret symbols, religious phrases or signs have also been common since ancient times. See Talisman. ANCESTOR WORSHIP Ancestor worship involves paying respects to the spirits of dead relatives or ancestors in the hope this will ward off evil and bring good fortune to the community. As the ancestors are not really thought of as gods, ‘worship’ may not be entirely the right term to use. Typically, offerings of food or drink or gifts for the spirits of the dead are made in the hope this will please the ancestors and make sure that they continue to look out for the community. In West Africa each family has its own ancestral shrine, inhabited, it is thought, by the founder of the lineage. These shrines are often carved in the likeness of the founder and must be tended and cared for. See also Day of the Dead. ANGEL An immortal supernatural being which mediates between God and humanity. Angels are specific to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but they occur as helping spirits in other traditions. The word ‘angel’ comes from the Greek angelos, ‘messenger’, and the name refers to one of the angel’s most important duties, which is to travel back and forth between the celestial and earthly realms, bringing human prayers to heaven and God’s answers to earth. Angels are representatives of God on earth, delivering divine messages or helping humans according to God’s will. Angels exist in a celestial realm but have the ability to assume a physical form and pass as human beings. They may bring fire or bright light; sometimes they are pictured with wings and sometimes without. Where appropriate, they appear to humans in visionary experiences or dreams. Prior to the Western Enlightenment, angels were believed by many to play a magical role in daily life. However, after the scientific revolution angels were no longer taken seriously except by poets and the romantically inclined. The mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, among other occult figures, claimed to commune with angels. Swedenborg called the souls of the dead ‘angels’ and said he visited them in the afterlife during his trances. Today angels have made a comeback in popularity, due in part to a widespread spiritual hunger for supernatural assurance and guidance. Some people consider the appearance of a spirit of the dead, such as a family member, to be an angel that comes to warn or comfort them. In deathbed visions the souls of dead friends and family members who come to help the dying person are often believed to be angels. Many people still claim to experience angelic visions, especially those who have gone through near-death experiences, and in many such accounts an angel greets them at the threshold of death. Angels are most often sensed through clairaudience. They sometimes manifest as balls of brilliant white light or appear as real persons in a mysterious encounter with a stranger. These encounters often occur when a person is in crisis and needs decisive action. A mysterious, calm but firm stranger who is knowledgeable about the crisis appears out of nowhere and offers a solution. Once the problem has been solved the person vanishes. It is the abrupt and strange disappearance that makes people wonder whether they have been helped by a human or an angel. Famous examples of reported angel encounters include those of George Washington, who suggested that angels helped him during the Delaware crossing of 1776, and the composer Handel, who believed angels helped him to compose the famous Hallelujah Chorus. ANGELS of MONS See Battlefield ghosts. ANIMAL PSI Animal psi is the ability of animals to experience clairvoyance, precognition, telepathy and psychokinesis. Are animals clairvoyant, and can they communicate telepathically? Do they possess special powers that enable them to sense danger? Although it is not known conclusively if this is the case, scientific evidence suggests that, if psi exists, it probably does so in both humans and animals. Sceptics argue that animals thought to possess psi are simply responding to subtle changes in body language and physical cues from their owners, but many animal lovers are certain that psi exists in animals and that psi-gifted pets are those that are the most loved, as love nourishes psi. Many psychics like to have animals accompany them when they are investigating hauntings because animals are thought to be more sensitive to ghosts and spirits, and many cats and dogs have been known to react visibly in fear in places of suspected paranormal activity. Evidence for animal psi is largely anecdotal, as animals do not respond well to scientific testing for psi. However, American parapsychologist J B Rhine at Duke University investigated around 500 reported cases of animal psi. Rhine concluded that there were five basic types of animal psi: the ability to sense death or injury to a loved one; the ability to sense the impending return of an owner; the ability to sense impending danger; the ability to find the way home; and the ability to psi trail’ or to find an owner when separated by long distances. There are also numerous reports of animal hauntings, in particular stories of much-loved pets who have appeared to their owners to offer comfort and love. The stories remain anecdotal, but animals have and always will be associated with the supernatural and paranormal. Strange and mysterious stories of dragons, snakes, cats, dogs, serpents and unicorns linger among superstitions and fairy tales today. Religion, folklore and witchcraft have borrowed heavily from the animal world, for they know that the qualities and energies of animals represent strength, power, devotion, intuition, intelligence and wisdom. ANIMISM Animism is rare today, but this very ancient way of perceiving the world may once have been universal. At the root of magic beliefs and practice, animism is the belief that every natural object, both living and non-living, has a spirit or life force and is endowed with reason and intelligence. The animist sees movement in trees, rocks, streams, wind and other objects and believes that everything is inhabited by its own spirit. Animism is found among many tribal societies throughout the Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa. Having observed that during sleep and dreaming, visions and trances - what today we call out-of-body experiences - the spiritual part of a body could detach from the physical, animists deduced that it could also survive death. Instead of going to the land of the dead, the soul might take control of another person (possession) or send messages to the living through mediums or shamans. It might lodge in various features of the natural world such as trees or rocks, or in human objects such as spears or statues. Beliefs that a person may have more than a single soul are not unusual. For instance, among many Eskimo groups, a name is one type of soul. In societies that lived close to nature not only people but also animals and plants were thought to have souls, and human spirits might be reborn in animals (reincarnation). In some cases people may have a special affinity with certain species of animal, and the animistic beliefs concerning this human relationship to animals are known as totemism. For the animist, the world abounds with spirit entities. Water spirits and forest spirits are especially common, but animism is more than just a belief in soul and spirits; it has its own logic and consistency and in many respects can be called a religion. ANKOU Ankou is part of the fairy lore of the Celtic countries. He is thought to be the personification of death, who comes to collect the souls of humans when they die. Largely forgotten in Cornwall, Wales and Ireland, Ankou remains a part of the living folklore in Brittany. Every parish in Brittany has its own ankou. An old Irish proverb says, When Ankou comes, he will not go away empty’ He is depicted as a tall, dark, haggard figure, wearing a black-robed costume pulled up high about his head and with a large hat that conceals his face. Legend has it that he is always preceded by a gust of wind and you cannot see his face, for if you do it means you have died. He is said to drive a small black coach drawn by four black horses and accompanied by two ghostly figures on foot. Many believe it is not really a coach at all but a hearse and that the job of the ghostly figures is to collect corpses and place them in the hearse. One legend says that Ankou was once a cruel prince who met up with Death in the forest and challenged him to a contest. The prince loved to hunt and kill, and on this particular night he was chasing a white stag (a magical animal in Celtic stories). The prince set out a challenge before the enormous, black-robed rider: whoever could kill the stag would not only keep the meat but also determine the fate of the loser. The stranger readily agreed, and it is said that his voice was raspy, like leaves scraping castle walls. They set off at a gallop, and the prince realized immediately that he was bested. No matter how hard he rode, the stranger rode faster. And when the prince was still stringing his bow, the stranger had already set loose his arrow and felled the stag. As the winded prince approached the stranger said, ‘You can have the stag and all the dead of the world.’ The stranger sentenced him to an eternity of hunting the souls of all who died around the world. ANTIETAM The American Civil War battle of Antietam took place near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on 17 September 1862. Twenty-three thousand men were killed or wounded -the bloodiest single day of battle in American history - and ghosts and strange phenomena still greet visitors to the site today. George B McClellan, commander of the Federal Army of the Potomac, had not yet been victorious for the Union because of his cautious tactics. Robert E Lee of the Confederate army therefore determined to occupy Northern territory and marched his men into Maryland. But Lee’s luck was about to run out. A copy of Lee’s field orders had been lost, just about the time Union soldiers spotted a small packet lying on the ground. Opening it, they found three cigars wrapped in paper. The cigars themselves were rare and valuable, but only later did they truly realize what they had: the paper wrapped around the cigars contained Lee’s field orders. McClellan went on the march. When the two sides came face to face at 5 am on the 17th, both generals were determined to make a stand and change the course of the war. The battle was fierce and frenzied. By late afternoon, thousands had died and, although both sides claimed a victory, in actuality it was a draw. It did change the course of the war, however, for Lee’s failure to successfully invade the North led to Britain postponing its recognition of the Confederate state. Today the battlefield looks much as it did all those years ago. Some woods have been cleared away and monuments erected, but you can stand on the site and perhaps experience what other visitors have reported - hearing the sound of gunfire and smelling the scent of gunpowder. One visitor to the park saw what he thought was a group of Confederate re-enactors, but realized his mistake when the company suddenly vanished from his sight. A school field trip became quite an experience for some of the children one spring day. After the guided tour, they were invited to wander the area of the bloody battle for a short time before their departure. Later they reported to their teacher that they had heard what sounded like chanting - like fa-la-la-la-la of ‘Deck the Halls’. The teacher, who was a Civil War buff, knew -but the children could not possibly have -that the war cry of the Irish Sixty-Ninth New York militia, which fought among the Union troops, was Faugh A Ballach, which in English is ‘Clear the Way!’ but in Gaelic is pronounced ‘Fah-ah-bah-lah’. The nearby Burnside Bridge, named after Major General Ambrose E Burnside, who held the bridge for the Union, also is said to be haunted, as is a local bed-and-breakfast. APANTOMANCY A method of divination by taking cues from chance meetings with animals, birds and other creatures. The superstition associated with a black cat crossing one’s path is apantomancy. APPARITION The supernatural appearance of a person, animal or object too far away to be seen, felt or heard by normal senses. Contrary to popular belief, most apparitions are of the living not the dead, but apparitions of the dead are also called ghosts. Only a small number of apparitions are visual; most apparition experiences feature noises, unusual smells, extreme cold or heat and the displacement of objects. Every civilization throughout history and around the world has held beliefs about apparitions. Among Asian peoples belief in ancestral ghosts is strong, and rituals exist to honour and placate them, as the spirits of the dead are thought to interfere regularly in the affairs of the living and are credited for both good and bad fortune. The ancient Hebrews, Greeks and Romans believed that spirits of the dead could return to haunt the living. During the Dark Ages people believed in all manner of apparitions: demons, vampires and devil dogs. Around this time the Christian Church taught that ghosts were souls trapped in purgatory until they expiated their sins. The only apparitions that were holy and permitted by God were apparitions of religious figures, such as angels, saints and Jesus. All other apparitions, including spirits of the dead, were delusions created by Satan to confuse the living. In seventeenth-century Europe apparitions of the dead played an important role as advisors to the living. Belief in ghosts fell out of favour in the eighteenth century, returning in the nineteenth with spiritualism, which espouses survival after death and mediumistic contact with the dead. Many motifs of apparitions appear in the folklore of different cultures, such as the Flying Dutchman or the ankou. According to a study of apparitions by American psychical researcher Hornell Hart, published in 1956, there is no significant difference between apparitions of the living and of the dead. Apparitions can move through solid matter and appear and disappear abruptly. They can cast shadows. Some are corporeal and lifelike in their movement and speech while others are luminous or limited in movement and speech. Apparitions are typically dressed in clothing of their time. The majority of apparitions are thought to manifest for a reason, for instance, to communicate a crisis or death, give a warning, offer comfort or convey important information. Some haunting apparitions appear in places where emotional traumas have taken place, such as murders or battles, but other hauntings seem to be aimless. Systematic studies of apparitions began with the Society for Psychical Research, London, in the late nineteenth century. By the 1980s polls in the Unites States conducted by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Council showed a dramatic increase - around 78 per cent - in reported apparitions, perhaps due in part to changing public attitudes towards acknowledging paranormal experiences. Although many ghost investigators have their own categories, the following are the most typical types: Crisis apparitions: usually images that appear in moments of crisis to communicate death or danger. They typically appear to a person who has close emotional ties to the agent (the person who is the source of the apparition). Apparitions of the dead: manifestations of someone who has died, usually within a short time after death, to comfort a loved one or communicate important information. Collective apparitions: manifestations of the living or dead that occur to multiple witnesses. Approximately one-third of reported apparitions are witnessed collectively. Reciprocal apparitions: apparitions of the living in which both agent and the percipient (the person who experiences the apparition), separated by a distance, experience apparitions of each other simultaneously. Deathbed apparitions: visual images of divine beings, religious figures and dead loved ones that are reported by the dying in the last moments of life. Apparitions in cases suggestive of reincarnation: cases when the deceased appears in a dream to a member of the family into which it will be reborn. Such dreams occur frequently among Native American tribes of the Northwest and in Turkey, Burma and Thailand. A large number of theories have been put forward to explain apparitions, but none explain all the different types. Society for Psychical Research founders Edmund Gurney and Frederick Myers at first believed apparitions were mental hallucinations that had no physical reality either produced by telepathy from the dead to the living or projected out of the percipient’s mind in the form of an image. Gurney also believed that collective apparitions were a product of telepathy among the living, projected by the primary percipient to others around him or her. However, telepathy among the living does not explain why witnesses in collective sightings notice different details. Myers, who believed strongly in survival after death, began to doubt the telepathic theory as early as 1885. In his landmark book Human Personality and Its Survival after Death (1903), he suggested that the apparitions consisted of a ‘phan-tasmogenic centre’, a locus of energies that could be perceived by the most psychically sensitive people. He conceived of a ‘subliminal consciousness‘ as the basis from which the consciousness springs and which survives the body after death. He theorized that the subliminal consciousness was receptive to extrasensory input and that apparitions appeared to psychically receptive people. Other theories that have been advanced subsequently about apparitions suggest they are: Idea patterns or etheric images produced by the subconscious mind of the living. Astral or etheric bodies of the agents. An amalgam of personality patterns, which in the case ofhauntings are trapped on a psychic or psi field. Projections of the human unconscious, a manifestation of an unacknowledged need or guilt. Vehicles through which the T, the thinking consciousness, takes on a personality as well as a visible form. Projections of will and concentration; seeThoughtform. True spirits of the dead. Localized physical phenomena directed by an intelligence or personality. Recordings or imprints of vibrations impressed upon some sort of psychic ether. In Eastern mystical philosophy, the cosmos is permeated by a substance called the Akasha.Oxford philosopher HH Price called this substance psychic ether’, a term adopted by some psychical researchers to suggest that if all events are recorded on some invisiblesubstance, then perhaps psychically tuned people can get glimpses of these records and get a playback. See Akashic Records. It is unlikely that any one theory can explain all apparitions, and it is conceivable that some apparitions are created by the living, that some have their own reality, that some are hallucinations and that some are psychic recordings. Twentieth-century psychical researcher Andrew Mackenzie suggested that the ability to have hallucinations could be a function of personality. In his studies he found that one-third of cases occurred just before or after sleep, or when the percipient was woken in the night. Other experiences took place when the witness was in a state of relaxation or doing routine work such as housework, or concentrating on some activity such as reading a book. Only when the external world was shut out was the unconscious able to release impressions, which sometimes took the form of an apparition. English psychical researcher G Tyrrell also made this link between dreamlike states and sightings of apparitions. Tyrrell theorized that there were two stages in an hallucinatory experience. In stage one the witness unconsciously experiences the apparition, and in stage two the information from stage one is processed from the unconscious in dreams or hallucinations with the required details added, such as clothing and objects. APPLIED PSI Also known as applied parapsychology and psionics, applied psi is a branch of parapsychology that assumes psychic ability exists and seeks ways to apply it in everyday life. Applied psi is used today when anyone acts on his or her intuition to make a decision. Experimental studies of applied psi date back to the eighteenth century, but it wasn’t until the twentieth century that the discipline was seriously explored. In 1963 the Newark College of Engineering in New Jersey became one of the first engineering centres in the US to explore psi ability in people. Researchers found that successful people use psi and precognition daily in their jobs in the form of intuition, hunches and gut feelings. In the early 1980s, American parapsychologist Jeffrey Mishlove urged parapsychologists to assume that psi existed and to focus on ways to use it in everyday life. By 1984 applied psi did become an informal part of a number of fields, including archaeology, agriculture, executive decision-making, scientific discovery, military intelligence, criminal investigations and weather prediction. However, over subsequent years the erratic nature of psi made it an unreliable tool. Some experiments raised interesting questions as to how effective applied psi can be when it comes to making financial investments. It is not uncommon for people to place a bet or buy and sell stock on gut instinct. Experiments, such as one conducted by the St Louis Business Journal in 1982, compared the results of a group of experienced brokers with a psychic. The stocks picked by the brokers fell in value, but the ones picked by the psychic rose. Despite such successes, however, widespread use of applied psi in the stock market has never materialized - if it did it would probably spell the end of the stock market, thriving as it does on unpredictability and chance. APPORT In his Encyclopedia of Psychic Science (1933), Hungarian psychical researcher Nandor Fodor defined apports as the ‘arrival of various objects through an apparent penetration of matter’, one of the most baffling phenomena of spiritualism, he thought. Apports are objects that mediums claim to be able to produce from thin air or transport through solid matter, and to this day they remain as mysterious as ever. The majority of apports are everyday small objects such as rings, sweets and pebbles, although some can be large and unusual such as books, garden tools, live animals and birds. When spiritualism was at its most popular apports were commonplace at séances. Sufis, mystical adepts of Islam, and Hindu swamis are also renowned for the apports they produce. Some mediums have been exposed as frauds, producing apports that were hidden under the table or on their person prior to the séance, which is held in the dark, making trickery easier. Some adepts also have been exposed as frauds, but there are adepts and mediums whose reputations hold. Sai Baba of India, for example, seems to be able to produce apports, such as sweets, banquets of hot food, statues and many other objects, from his closed fist, while others are pulled from the sand. Theories to explain apports that appear to be genuine include apports as gifts from the spirits, the pulling of objects from another dimension through some sort of psychic magnetism or the medium somehow taking objects from another location, making them disintegrate and then transporting and reassembling them. ARCHANGELS The name given to incorporeal beings that are said to guide the spiritual destiny of groups of people rather than of individuals, which is the role of angels. This explains why archangels are often pictured as carrying formalized models of cities in their hands. In Judaism and Christianity, the most important are the seven archangels, each of whom is assigned one of the seven spheres of heaven: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Joophiel, Zadkiel and the fallen archangel, Samuel (Satan). ARCHETYPES Psychiatrist Carl Jung first used this term in 1919 to refer to apparently universal images that are inherited from our ancestors. Archetypes are unconscious instinctual patterns or mental images that are passed down to us all but are modified according to individual experience. Interpretations of archetype images have been applied to many fields, such as past-life therapy, psychotherapy, Tarot, women’s studies, mythology, astrology, the healing professions and even sales and marketing. According to Jung, archetypes are unlimited in number and created by the repetition of experiences that are imprinted on the psychic mind. When a situation occurs that corresponds to an archetype, the archetype is triggered and instinct takes over. God, death, birth, power, magic, the sun, the moon, the wind, animals and the elements are all archetypes, as are the figures of the hero, the lover, the judge, the child, the mother and the father. Archetypes develop and change as an individual grows and encounters new situations. Archetypes communicate with the conscious mind, and it is possible to gain insight into oneself by paying attention to the archetypal forces in one’s life. Jung believed that archetypes were psychic forces that demand to be taken seriously: if neglected they could lead to compulsion, neurosis and illness. Jung thought that the existence of archetypes could be proved through dreams and through imagination, and by understanding your dreams you learn what you need to move forward with your life. ARITHMANCY An ancient method of divination using numbers, arithmancy is an early form of numerology. The father of arithmancy was Pythagoras, who believed there were connections between gods, man and numbers that could be decoded and used to foretell the future of an individual and the outcome of certain events. Ancient Greeks would examine the numbers and values of letters between two combatants to predict who would be victorious. In the story of the Trojan wars, the victory of Achilles over Hector was predicted in this way. AROMATHERAPY Holistic caring for the body through the use of scents, usually pleasantsmelling botanical oils such as rose, lemon, lavender and peppermint. The essential oils of these botanicals are added to a bath or massaged into the skin, inhaled directly or diffused to scent an entire room. The oils are administered in small quantities to improve mood or promote health, and they are thought to contain hormones, antibiotics and antiseptics and to represent the life force’, ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’ of the plant. Some proponents claim that aromatherapy is a complete medical system that can strengthen immune systems and cure disease, and studies have shown aromatherapy is effective in relieving pain and in alleviating fatigue, reducing anxiety and promoting relaxation. When inhaled, scents work on the brain and nervous system by stimulating the olfactory nerves. Botanical essential oils are aromatic essences extracted from plants, flowers, trees, fruits, bark, grasses and seeds which have distinctive therapeutic, psychological and physiological properties to improve and prevent illness. There are about 150 essential oils. Most of these oils have antiseptic properties; some are antiviral, antiinflammatory pain-relieving, antidepressant and expectorant. To get the maximum benefit from an essential oil, it should be made from natural, pure raw materials. Synthetically made oils do not work. Aromatherapy is one of the fastest growing fields in alternative medicine. It is widely used at home, in clinics and in hospitals for a variety of applications such as pain relief for women in labour, relieving pain caused by the side effects of chemotherapy undergone by cancer patients, and rehabilitating cardiac patients. In Japan, engineers are incorporating aroma systems into new buildings. In one bank, the scent of lavender and rosemary is pumped into the customer area to calm the waiting customers, while the perfumes from lemon and eucalyptus are used in the bank teller counters to keep the staff alert. ARRIVAL CASES The appearance of a person before their actual arrival. Frequently the arriving phantom appears in the same clothing the individual is wearing at the same time. The individual is usually not aware of appearing in a distant location until told about it. Arrival cases were collected and studied by the founders of the Society for Psychical Research in the early twentieth century. They collected their evidence in their exhaustive survey Phantasms of the Living (1918). Arrivals have been claimed to eat, sleep and seem so real that anyone could believe it was a double (doppelgänger) of the real person. The most likely explanation of arrival cases is that the individual somehow projects a double, which is perceived as real, perhaps as an out-of-body projection (bilocation) or as a psychic projection of intent or desire to be in that different place. Others think that arrival cases are a quirk of time duplicating itself. In the Highlands of Scotland, the term for arrival cases is ‘spirits of the living’. In Norway, the arrival case phenomenon is called vardøger, which means ‘forerunner’. One unusual vardøger case occurred in Oslo and concerned Erikson Gorique, an American importer. For years, Gorique had wanted to go to Norway but was forced to keep postponing the trip. In July 1955 he was finally able to go. On his arrival in Oslo, Gorique asked where he might stay. Much to his astonishment, when he arrived at the recommended hotel he was greeted by name by the hotel clerk. The clerk told him it was nice to see him again. When Gorique protested that he had never before travelled to Norway or been at the hotel, the puzzled clerk insisted that he could not mistake Gorique’s unusual name and American appearance. He said Gorique stayed at the hotel several months earlier and had made reservations to return that month. Gorique was even more surprised when he visited a wholesale dealer, who also greeted him like an old friend, saying it was terrific to have him back to conclude previous business. Gorique told the dealer that he hadn’t been there before, whereupon the dealer nodded knowingly and explained the vardøger phenomenon: ‘It is not uncommon in Norway’, he said. ART, PSYCHIC Also known as automatic painting, psychic art occurs when individuals who often have little or no artistic training suddenly feel overcome by a desire to draw or paint in distinctive, professional styles. They feel guided by a spirit and may actually feel an invisible hand pushing theirs. A psychic artist can produce amazing likenesses of deceased relatives of an enquirer, people unknown to the artist. Such an artist may also draw or paint spirit guides, angels, animals or figures who are subsequently discovered to be connected to the enquirer in some way. In addition to artists who create images of guides and people in spirit, there are others who unconsciously collaborate on pieces of original artwork. Some psychic artists claim contact with great masters who have taught them a special skill or who use them as a vehicle to add new collections to works they produced while still alive. Some psychic art is also sacred art. Many shamanic or healing traditions from around the world have used sacred art in ceremonies of healing and as a bridge between the physical and non-physical worlds. The Navajo people, who reside in the Southwestern region of the USA, have passed down the practices of hand painting from generation to generation. Tibetan monks, too, conduct healing ceremonies that involve the creation and destruction of detailed sand paintings. One of the most famous psychic art cases is the Thompson-Gifford case, which occurred early in the twentieth century. In 1905 an engraver from New York, Frederic Thompson, was seized with the urge to draw and paint in the style of the recently dead artist Robert Gifford. Thompson had met Gifford when he was alive but was not well acquainted with him. When Thompson painted he felt he was Gifford, and he often heard Gifford’s voice urging him to sketch. Thompson produced many works that reminded buyers of Gifford’s style and sold at good prices. See also Automatic writing; Automatism. ARUNDEL CASTLE This magnificent castle in the heart of West Sussex has been the home of the Dukes of Norfolk since 1580. It was severely damaged by fire in the seventeenth century but has now been restored to its former glory. Not only is Arundel Castle the home of countless priceless works of art, but it also is thought to house several ghosts. The ghost of a young woman dressed in white has been seen wandering round Hiorne’s Tower, particularly on moonlit nights. According to legend, she threw herself off the tower because of a tragic love affair. A ghost has also been encountered in the library and has become known as the ‘Blue Man’. He has been seen on several occasions searching through books, and is thought to date back to the time of King Charles II (1660-1685). A kitchen boy of 200 years ago or so is said to have been so badly treated that he died young. His ghost has been seen furiously polishing pots and pans. Another ghost is that of a small white bird, which reputedly flutters around the windows of the castle. It is said to signify the imminent death of someone connected to the castle and was reported to have appeared just before the death of the Duke of Norfolk in 1917. ASH MANOR GHOST Psychical researcher Nandor Fodor solved the mystery of the Ash Manor ghost in 1930s England. The case was one of his most famous and helped to establish his theory of the psychological underpinning of some hauntings. He recorded the case in detail in his book The Haunted Mind (1959). Mr and Mrs Keel (a pseudonym assigned by Fodor) moved into Ash Manor House in Sussex, England, with their 16-year-old daughter and servants on 24 June 1934. They were aware that parts of the house dated back to the thirteenth century and that it had a reputation for being haunted. It wasn’t long before the daughter and servants reported strange noises coming from the attic, and Mr and Mrs Keel heard strange bangs on their bedroom doors. The Keels suspected something supernatural was afoot, and on 23 November Mr Keel woke to see ‘a little oldish man, dressed in a green smock, very muddy breeches and gaiters, a slouch hat on his head and a handkerchief around his neck’. Keel tried to grab the man, thinking him a servant, but was astonished to see his hand go right through him. Keel ran to his wife, who also saw the man and tried to strike him, but her fist went through him too. The strange noises continued, and the green man, as the Keels called him, continued to appear. Once the phantom raised his head, and Mrs Keel could see that his neck had been cut all the way around. She concluded that he must have been murdered and that perhaps his skeleton was hidden in the house. The manifestations were so frightening that the servants quit their jobs. The Keels were advised to get help in exorcizing the ghost by advertising in a newspaper. Several individuals tried to do the job but did not succeed. In July 1936 Fodor was invited to investigate the case by a writer who was including the Ash Manor ghost in his book about hauntings. Fodor arrived and saw that the Keels were fearful of any harm being done to their reputations by the publicity. He stayed in the house for several nights, but no manifestations occurred. At that time the medium Eileen Garrett was living in England, and Fodor asked her to visit Ash Manor. Garrett arrived on 25 July and immediately received the clairvoyant impression of a man who had been half brother to Edward IV or V and had started a rebellion. He had been tortured and left crippled as a result. That evening Garrett entered the haunted house and went into a trance, and her control, Uvani, spoke. Uvani explained that ghosts often manifest when an atmosphere of unhappiness enables a spirit to draw energy and revive its suffering. ‘Haven’t you discovered that these things only happen to you when you are in a bad emotional state, physically or mentally disturbed?’ Uvani asked. The control went on to say that in the fifteenth century a jail had existed near the house, where many unhappy souls had lost their lives. Anyone living in the house who was ‘nervously depleted’ would give out energy that would attract a ghost, who would use that energy to build himself up, like a ‘picture on the stage’. Uvani permitted the ghost to possess Garrett, and the Keels said that her features looked like those of the green man. Speaking through Garrett, the ghost announced, in a medieval English accent, that he was called Charles Edward. He claimed to have been robbed of his lands by the Earl of Huntingdon and betrayed by a friend called Buckingham. He asked the witnesses to help him wreak revenge upon his enemies. Fodor informed the ghost that he was dead and begged him to give up his quest and join the spirits of his loved ones. The ghost reluctantly agreed to do so, and Garrett returned to normal consciousness. The hauntings, however, did not stop, and Fodor conducted another session with Garrett, this time without the Keels present. The ghost once again appeared and pleaded for help in getting vengeance. Uvani announced that the Keels had used this ‘poor, unhappy creature’ in order to embarrass each other and that they did not want the ghost to leave. The control also said that if the unhappiness in the house persisted, it would become truly haunted. Fodor at last felt that he was close to solving the case. Mrs Keel confessed to him that her husband was homosexual and that a great deal of tension existed between them. Fodor suggested that the ghost provided a distraction that prevented that tension from breaking out into the open. When the Keels admitted they were hanging on to the ghost, the ghost departed. A scholarly investigation of the statements made by Charles Edward deemed they were not authentic, and Fodor, in analysing the case, considered the ghost to be an invention of Mr Keel’s subconscious mind, which Garrett had tapped into. However, some of the haunting phenomena at Ash Manor could not be explained, for example, the independent sightings by servants and other witnesses. Fodor concluded that ‘it may be that those who put themselves in an unguarded psychological position, in a place filled with historical memories and traditions, do, on rare occasions, come into contact with a force or an intelligence other than their own.’ ASPORT The opposite of apport, asport refers to psychic phenomena involving the disappearance or transportation of objects, supposedly accomplished with the help of the spirits of the dead. During the height of spiritualism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, apports produced at séances would often become asports and mysteriously vanish from one room to be found in another room. Sometimes, though, asported valuables would vanish altogether and remain forever with the spirits, causing sceptics to question the integrity of the mediums. Although trickery is undeniable, there are also reported cases of asports that appear genuine. Sai Baba of India, famous for his apports of holy ash, food, precious jewels and other items, has also been said to dematerialize apports if the recipients do not like them and change them into something else. ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH AND ENLIGHTENMENT See Cayce, Edgar. ASTRAL BODY Various esoteric traditions talk about the many bodies - the different levels of consciousness and existence - that each person has. Some people think of these different aspects as ‘subtle bodies’ or selves that exist in a parallel plane but are all part of a larger consciousness. This theory suggests that the body itself does not contain these aspects. Rather, this larger consciousness contains the body, as well as other levels of existence, and you can learn to create a closer connection to any of these aspects within yourself. A commonly recognized ‘extra’ self is the astral body, also known as an energy body. The word ‘astral’ is derived from the Greek for ‘star’. The astral body can also be called a double or doppelgänger, because it is a duplicate of the physical body. Theosophists refer to it as the ‘etheric’ or ‘spiritual double’ containing the soul and made from the vibrations that make up the physical body. The astral body exists on the astral plane, also known as the astral realm, astral world or astral sphere, and in metaphysical terminology the astral plane is contiguous in space, if not in time, with the material world. The astral realm is the one that the spiritual part or astral body enters during periods of sleep, under the action of anaesthetics or drugs, by accident when a person is unconscious, or immediately after death. The astral realm is not normally visible to ordinary sight, yet it is regarded as the proper dwelling of people’s higher spiritual bodies. According to shamans and Theosophists the astral body or second self resembles the physical body but is made up of a subtle field of shining and flexible light that encases the body visible only by a psychically sensitive person. It is thought that when you are sleeping the astral body can separate from the physical body which results in flying dreams and the experience of disorientation experienced if you wake suddenly and the astral body hasn’t had time to line up with the physical one. Driven by emotions, passions and desires, the astral body is believed to be a bridge between the physical brain and a higher level of mind. ASTRAL DOORWAYS Symbols and pictures that are used to help individuals in astral projection reach the astral plane. Tarot cards can be used as astral doorways but the definitive doorways, used by psychics and magicians for hundreds of years, are the Tattwas of the Eastern esoteric tradition. The five primary tattwa symbols are simple coloured shapes - a yellow square (earth), blue circle (air), red triangle (fire), silver crescent (moon) and black oblong (ether) - and each one can be used as a focal point to trigger astral projection and give access to a specific part of the astral plane. ASTRAL PLANE Using tattwas to trigger astral projection Tattwa cards are easy to make. All you need is some white cardboard, a pair of scissors and some colouring pens or paint with strong brilliant shades of yellow, blue, red, silver and black. When you have cut out your shapes you only need to colour or paint one side; leave the back of the card plain and white. Once you have made your cards, find a quiet place, get comfortable and relax. Choose a symbol and gaze intently at it for a minute, then turn it over and gaze at the blank side. As you do an optical reflex will cause the symbol to appear on the back of the card. Now close your eyes and visualize what you have seen, mentally enlarging the image until it is big enough for you to pass through. Imagine yourself steeping through this mass of colour as if it were an actual door to the astral plane. According to occultists the astral plane is an alternate and non-physical dimension of reality that can be visited during astral projection or out-of-body experiences. The word ‘astral’, from the Greek word meaning ‘star’, originally described the heavens of the Greek gods, but as time passed the concept expanded to refer to a spirit world inhabited by etheric entities, disembodied spirits and higher beings. The astral world is believed to be invisible to the ordinary eye because it vibrates at a higher rate than the energy that comprises the material world. However, occultists believe that it can be perceived through astral projection and clairvoyance and it is a world just as real as ours. It has scenery, inhabitants, countries and seas and is subject to the laws of nature and constant change just as the physical world is. Modern psychologists argue that accounts of trips to a strange and alien dimension spring from the imagination, but according to occult theory the astral plane is undeniably real. It is an intermediate and invisible level of reality between the physical plane and the divine realms where communication with higher beings can be established and where the individuals thought forms take on a reality. ASTRAL PROJECTION/ASTRAL TRAVEL The astral body is believed to be capable of a very special type of travel. While leaving the physical body at rest, it can get up, walk around and look at its physical body, explore its surroundings and journey to new places. What makes this experience unique is that you are fully conscious and in control throughout the experience. This process of consciously leaving the body and travelling free of physical constraints is often referred to as astral projection or astral travel. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, experts define astral projection as becoming aware that your consciousness is separate from your physical body. For instance, people describe floating above themselves and viewing their bodies during astral projection. With astral travel an individual uses this conscious awareness to experience a sense of flying to new, non-physical or physical realms. How the mind disconnects from its everyday type of consciousness and separates from the body remains a mystery. Experts agree that having a relaxed focus, such as in meditation or when you are just about to fall asleep, helps you to reach that state, as concentrating too hard on achieving the experience may interfere with the process. See also aura, bilocation, out-of-body experiences, lucid dreaming and near-death experiences. ASTROLOGY An ancient system of divination that uses the positions of the moon, stars and planets to interpret how their movements in relation to each other affect our lives. According to astrologers, celestial bodies exert forces and exhibit personalities that influence people and events on earth. These influences may be determined by mapping their positions in the sky at various points in time. Getting started on the astral traveller’s path Like any skill, astral travel takes time and practise, and it is difficult to prove what actually happens, but those experienced in astral travel tell fascinating stories of their experiences. Some travel to secret realms where they meet spirit guides and spend hours researching ancient texts. When they wake up, their clocks show that only a few minutes have passed. In all likelihood most of us won’t be able to accomplish these feats. But here is an exercise that can help you get started on the astral traveller’s path: While relaxing, imagine your astral body positioned just in front or above you in the exact position of your physical body. Take note of how your astral body looks. Check out the back of your head and bodyand parts of your body you can’t normally see. Allow your consciousness to move into your astral body and look at your surroundings from this new perspective. Ponder what you would like to do next and where you would like to go. You may want to visit a place or person who is normally far away, through a process called targeting. This can be done by focusing on the image of the location or the person’s face, then seeing it at the end of a tunnel. Move forward through the tunnel until you arrive at the desired place or the intended person. When you are ready to return, think yourself back into your physical body, and move your body until you feel comfortable back in it. Astrology appears to be one of the most ancient of the surviving occult sciences, and evidence of highly sophisticated systems in Babylonian, Egyptian and Aztec cultures has survived. For centuries in the West, astrology was a revered method of divination supported by royal courts. Nostradamus used astrology to make predictions in the sixteenth century that are still being studied today. With the development of science in the seventeenth century, astrology was relegated to the realm of superstition, but it never fell completely out of favour. Today it is followed by celebrities and the rich and powerful as well as the general public. Popular astrology is concerned with the reading of a horoscope, a chart of the positions of the planets, moon and stars at the moment of one’s birth and interpreting the influence of the planets on human affairs. It is based on the belief that the movements of the celestial bodies affect human potential and other events on earth, such as the moon’s influence on the oceans. From your horoscope your zodiac sign can be determined, and this allows an interpretation of what sort of person you are (or will be) as well as what is likely to happen in your future. True to your sign? Aries: March 21—April 19 The symbol for this first sign of the Zodiac in Western astrology is the ram; the ruling planet is Mars. Aries is influenced by the fire element and assertive is a good way to describe people born under this sign. They tend to be enterprising, impulsive, warm hearted and confident free spirits who say what they mean and mean what they say, but they can also be impatient, rash, tactless, excitable and bossy. Taurus: April 20—May 20 The symbol of Taurus is the bull and the ruling planet is Venus. Taureans are influenced by the earth element and a good word to describe them would be determined. Those born under the sign of Taurus are persistent, reliable, loyal and patient individuals with a discriminating taste for quality and the good things in life. The downside is that they can at times be lazy, materialistic and moody. Gemini: May 21—June 20 The symbol for Gemini is the twins and the ruling planet is Mercury. Geminis are influenced by the air element with inquisitive being a good description of them. Those born under Gemini are intellectual and natural communicators but at times they can also be inconsistent and flighty. Their endearing zest for ideas and something new sometimes makes committing to anyone and anything problematic. Cancer: June 21—July 22 The symbol for Cancer is the crab and the ruling planet is the moon. Cancerians are influenced by the water element, and sensitive would be a good word to describe their nature. Those born under Cancer tend to be emotional and empathetic with a good sense of humour, but they can at times be oversensitive and insecure. Leo: July 23—August 22 The symbol for Leo is the lion and the ruling planet is the sun. Leo is influenced by the fire element and charismatic would be a good description of Leos. Those born under Leo tend to be courageous, vivacious, energetic and natural leaders but they can also be prone to arrogance and attention seeking. Virgo: August 23—September 22 The symbol of Virgo is the virgin and the sign’s ruling planet is Mercury. Virgos are influenced by the earth element, and a good word to describe them would be methodical. Those born under Virgo tend to be meticulous, disciplined and analytical. They can appear cool and reserved but great sensitivity tends to lie behind the detached exterior. Libra: September 23–October 22 The symbol of Libra is the scales and the ruling planet is Venus. Libras are influenced by the air element with balance being a good word to describe them. Those born under Libra tend to be peace-loving, agreeable, harmonious people, but their natural ability to understand the viewpoint of everyone and fit in everywhere can be interpreted as insecurity and indecisiveness. Scorpio: October 23–November 21 The symbol of Scorpio is the scorpion and the sign’s ruling planets are Mars and Pluto. Scorpios are influenced by the water element and intense is a good word to describe them. Those born under Scorpio tend to be passionate, focused, sensitive and sensual, but they can also be secretive and destructive. Sagittarius: November 22– December 21 The symbol for Sagittarius is the archer and Jupiter is the ruling planet. Sagittarians are influence by the fire element and open minded is a good description of them. Those born under Sagittarius tend to be unconventional, idealistic and visionary, with a need to seek spiritual enlightenment. They can also be reckless and ruthless. Capricorn: December 22–January 19 The symbol of Capricorn is the goat and the ruling planet is Saturn. Capricorns are influenced by the earth element and steady is a good word to describe them. Those born under the sign of Capricorn are persistent, cautious, self-disciplined, warm-hearted and stable but they can also be mean and inflexible at times. Aquarius: January 20–February 18 The symbol of Aquarius is the water carrier and the sign’s ruling planets are Saturn and Uranus. Aquarius is influenced by the air element and a good word to define them would be independent. Those born under the sign of Aquarius tend to be idealistic, intellectual, generous, altruistic and unconventional, but they can also be unpredictable and emotionally detached. Pisces: February 19–March 20 The symbol of Pisces is two fish and the ruling planets are Jupiter and Neptune. Pisceans are influenced by the water element, with imaginative being a good word to define them. Those born under Pisces tend to be intuitive, sensitive and spiritual, but they can also be dreamy, impractical and impressionable at times. Over the years many elaborate systems have been developed to enable astrologers to predict the future through the movement of the planes. More than one system of astrology has developed. For example, Chinese astrology is based on signs, named after animals, which last a year rather than a month, as in Western astrology. In popular Western astrology - the sort that appears in magazines and newspapers - the term ‘horoscope’ is based on the position of an individual’s sun sign, or the portion of the zodiac that the sun was passing through when that individual was born. The sun travels through the 12 houses of the zodiac through the course of a year, and so when someone is said to have been born under Aries, he or she was born when the sun was passing through that portion of the zodiac named after the constellation Aries. Each of the 12 signs has its own personality traits (see box), and the daily positions of the planets affect each sun sign. However, since this method of divination divides the population into 12 different categories many find it difficult to take astrology seriously for character analysis or predictions. That’s why serious astrologers use more detailed horoscopes that chart the position of all the heavenly bodies, not just the sun, at the moment of birth. Along with the signs and planets, planetary houses are the basic components of a birth chart. As previously mentioned the planets each have a meaning, as does the sign the sun was in at the time of your birth. The twelve divisions of the birth chart are called the astrological or planetary houses and indicate areas of life where the planetary energies become manifest. The houses carry a theme based on the signs that are part of the natural order of the Zodiac, i.e. Aries equates with the first house, Taurus with the second, Gemini the third, Cancer the fourth, and so on. The planetary effects are interpreted not only in terms of the planets’ positions in the zodiac (for instance, the moon in the sign of Cancer means something different from the moon in Aries) but also in terms of the angles that the planets describe in relation to one another. This branch of astrology is the study of planetary aspects. When carried out using accurate birth information this planetary aspects approach creates an analysis unique to the individual concerned. For this reason it is taken more seriously by some academics and scientists, who believe that it can be useful for counselling and therapy. Psychiatrist Carl Jung began this process when he began to consult the horoscopes of his patients to search for insight. He believed that astrology sprang from the collective unconscious and that it was a symbolic language of inner psychological processes. Sceptics argue that astrology’s suggested link between planetary position and human destiny is unproven and perhaps even absurd. Several large-scale studies have shown no correlation whatsoever between personality characteristics and planetary positions. Despite this many people still believe that astrology can and does work, leading to the suggestion that it only works when there is an intuitive or psychic aspect involved in its interpretation. The astrologer uses the planetary positions as a rough starting point for the interpretation and thereafter intuition takes over. Then, in the early 1970s, Professor Alan Smithers of Manchester University compiled data from the British population census showing clearly that architects tended to be born in the spring, secretaries in the summer, miners in the autumn and electricians in the winter. He also asked members of the British Astrological Association to indicate which signs were associated with the professions of nurse and trade union official. Without knowing what the BAA had predicted, Smithers conducted a massive survey of nurses and trade unionists and discovered that, just as the astrologers had indicated, there was a statistical bias of nurses being born under the signs of Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio and Pisces, while trade union officials were born under one or other of the other six signs. Athenodorus, THE HAUNTING OF The story of Athenodorus may be the first written record of a haunting, and it dates back at least 2,000 years. The story was related by several ancient authors, the historian Tacitus among them, but the version below is by the Roman letter writer Pliny the Younger (AD 61-115). In it we see the classic chainclanking ghost, the restless corpse and even the beckoning finger. The translation is that of William Melmoth (1746), slightly revised. There was in Athens a house, spacious and open, but with an infamous reputation, as if filled with pestilence. For in the dead of night, a noise like the clashing of iron could be heard. And if one listened carefully, it sounded like the rattling of chains. At first the noise seemed to be at a distance, but then it would approach, nearer, nearer, nearer. Suddenly a phantom would appear, an old man, pale and emaciated, with a long beard, and hair that appeared driven by the wind. The fetters on his feet and hands rattled as he moved them. Any dwellers in the house passed sleepless nights under the most dismal terrors imaginable. The nights without rest led them to a kind of madness, and as the horrors in their minds increased, onto a path toward death. Even in the daytime - when the phantom did not appear - the memory of the nightmare was so strong that it still passed before their eyes. The terror remained when the cause of it was gone. Damned as uninhabitable, the house was at last deserted, left to the spectral monster. But in hope that some tenant might be found who was unaware of the malevolence within it, the house was posted for rent or sale. It happened that a philosopher named Athenodorus came to Athens at that time. Reading the posted bill, he discovered the dwelling’s price. The extraordinary cheapness raised his suspicion, yet when he heard the whole story, he was not in the least put off. Indeed, he was eager to take the place. And did so immediately. As evening drew near, Athenodorus had a couch prepared for him in the front section of the house. He asked for a light and his writing materials, then dismissed his retainers. To keep his mind from being distracted by vain terrors of imaginary noises and apparitions, he directed all his energy toward his writing. For a time the night was silent. Then came the rattling of chains. Athenodorus neither lifted up his eyes nor laid down his pen. Instead he closed his ears by concentrating on his work. But the noise increased and advanced closer till it seemed to be at the door, and at last in the very chamber. Athenodorus looked round and saw the apparition exactly as it had been described to him. It stood before him, beckoning with one finger. Athenodorus made a sign with his hand that the visitor should wait a little, and bent over his work. The ghost, however, shook the chains over the philosopher’s head, beckoning as before. Athenodorus now took up his lamp and followed. The ghost moved slowly, as if held back by his chains. Once it reached the courtyard, it suddenly vanished. Athenodorus, now deserted, carefully marked the spot with a handful of grass and leaves. The next day he asked the magistrate to have the spot dug up. There they found - intertwined with chains - the bones that were all that remained of a body that had long lain in the ground. Carefully, the skeletal relics were collected and given proper burial, at public expense. The tortured ancient was at rest. And the house in Athens was haunted no more. ATLANTIS The name of a vast island continent and the many civilizations that flourished upon it that sank under the sea in a cataclysm. At least fifty locations around the globe have been proposed as sites of the lost continent, but no proof has ever been found of its existence. There are numerous legends about the Atlanteans and how their highly advanced civilization was destroyed by their misuse of power, but the story was first recorded by Plato in around 350 BC. Plato described the Atlanteans as a wealthy, successful, politically advanced and militarily powerful society that overran Europe with its armies before being defeated by the Greeks. Shortly afterwards an earthquake caused Atlantis to sink beneath the ocean. The modern myth of Atlantis began in 1882 with the publication of Atlantis: The Antediluvian World by former American congressman Ignatius Donnelly Donnelly proposed that Atlantis might be located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, to serve as a bridge and source of culture to other areas around the globe. Numerous other theories have been put forth. The Atlanteans have been linked to the Titans of Greek mythology, the first race of beings on earth who came from the sea and possessed the power to create thunderbolts, earthquakes and terrestrial disturbances. Madame Blavatsky, mystic and co-founder of the Theosophical Society, believed that Atlantis was located in the North Atlantic Ocean and that the Atlanteans were psychically developed descendants from another legendary lost continent, Lemuria. The Lemurians migrated to Atlantis when their own continent was destroyed. In The History of Atlantis (1926), Lewis Spencer, who founded and edited The Atlantis Quarterly, a journal reporting on Atlantean and occult studies, concluded that Atlantis existed on both sides of the Atlantic and was the means of dissemination of culture from East to West. American medium Edgar Cayce believed Atlantis was located at Bimini, one of the Bahama Islands off the coast of Florida. Cayce said that the Atlanteans had misused the forces of nature and destroyed their own continent and that in subsequent reincarnations Atlanteans exhibited the same potentially destructive traits. Of all the world’s unsolved mysteries, that of the lost continent of Atlantis is probably the biggest, exerting an influence over humankind for thousands of years. Even though centuries have passed, and scientists and scholars seem intent on banishing it to obscurity, interest in the fabled continent has not diminished and probably never will. ATMOSPHERE A term used by psychics to describe a feeling for the environment they are in or the people they meet. Walking into a house with an unhappy atmosphere may leave them with an unsettled feeling, whereas meeting someone who is genuinely kind and honest and friendly creates a positive feeling or atmosphere. We all pick up information from the environment we are in and from any person we meet for the first time. On a visual level we are influenced by the way a person looks and dresses and by the colours, shapes and styles around us. Sounds and smells influence us too, even before we consciously decide if we like what we see. Operating alongside our other senses is a kinaesthetic awareness, which registers an emotional reaction to the atmosphere that exists in an environment or in a person. In some people this awareness is more developed than others, and for clairsentients, who can sense and respond to the atmospheres created by places and people, it is highly attuned, giving detailed information about the physical, emotional and energetic nature of people and places. Few of us have not felt at some time that a place is spooky or unfriendly or that we feel irritable or afraid for no reason. When this happens we are psychically tuning in to an atmosphere, and a person who readily senses an atmosphere in a place usually has that same knack when summing up people. Clairsentients who work with environmental energy believe that everything that happens within an environment affects the way it feels. For example, there is a dis-cernable difference between the feeling of a room used by people who respect and love each other and the feeling of a room in which people have been in bitter competition. Practitioners of the art of feng shui know a great deal about the need to balance environmental energy, and in feng shui the placing of objects such as mirrors and ornaments can help to regulate energy that is out of balance and create a healthier, more harmonious atmosphere in which to live and work. Some clairsentients may be able to channel a form of healing energy, which can harmonize the feeling of a room, or they may, like feng shui experts, suggest colours, shapes, objects or spiritual practices to help transform the feeling or atmosphere of an environment. AUBREY, JOHN [1626—1697] One of the first known collectors of ghost stories, antiquarian and biographer John Aubrey’s compilation, Miscellanies, was published in 1696 and is packed with eyewitness accounts of ghostly sightings gathered from all points of Great Britain. Aubrey’s interest in the supernatural was reinforced by his own personal experiences. In Miscellanies, Aubrey writes about strange knocking sounds on the walls of his house a few days before his father died. ‘Three or four days before my father died’, he wrote, ‘as I was in my bed about nine o’clock in the morning, perfectly awake, I did hear three distinct knocks over the bed’s head, as if it had been with a ruler or ferula.’ This mysterious incident, when combined with his interviews of others who had encountered ghosts, utterly convinced Aubrey that the spirit world existed. AUGURY A form of divination using the flight or song of birds. This was common practice in ancient Rome, where augurs foretold the future by observing and interpreting bird omens, which included noticing the type of bird seen as well as the direction of its flight and its singing. The Romans also used the term ‘augur‘ to refer to divination by thunder and lightning, which was believed to be communication from the god Jupiter. The term ‘augury‘ also refers to the general art of divination, especially the interpretation of the future based on divinations and omens, mostly related to the appearance and behaviour of animals. These practices include: Ailuromancy (cats). Alectromancy (chickens). Arachnomancy (spiders). Batrachomancy: (frogs). Entomancy (insects). Hippomancy (horses). Ichthyomancy (fish). Myomancy (mice). Ophiomancy (snakes). Zoomancy (any animal). A related practice was Haruspicy, or interpreting animal entrails. AUMAKUA A family of guardian spirits from Hawaiian mythology, the aumakua are worshipped to ensure the wellbeing of the family. The aumakua are thought to have laws that must be followed, and transgressions are sometimes punished for decades. Many believe it is of vital importance to be on good terms with your family’s aumakua, or a soul may be abandoned before it reaches the land of the dead. Such abandoned souls haunt the living and remain in limbo until another aumakua takes pity on them and leads them to their new home. Offspring of the aumakua can be born into families, and various legends tell of people born with supernatural powers, such as the ability to transform into animals. According to lore the aumakua escort the souls of the dead to the afterlife in a ghostly procession, and if you have not rectified your sins against the aumakua before death, you have one chance to beg for pardon when the procession reaches its first stopping place. It is believed that the aumakua take the entire body to the next world, but if for any reason the body is not taken, the family must prepare the corpse for burial and its transformation into the aumakua form, which is that of a snake or shark. AURA The name given to a subtle envelope of vital energy that is thought to radiate round natural objects, including human beings, animals and plants. The colours and forms of each aura are believed to be characteristic of the person, animal or thing it surrounds and to fluctuate and shift according to mood and state of health. The aura is normally invisible, but it can be seen by clairvoyants as a halo of light and colour. Two clairvoyants viewing the same aura might see different colours or interpret it in different ways. State of health and a person’s emotions show up as differences in colours and energy patterns or breaks in an aura. Physical illness seems related to the part of the aura that is closest to the body, often called the etheric body. Some psychics see the aura as a psychic screen for the projection of information, past, present and future. Although the body does have a magnetic field - a biofield - there is no scientific evidence that auras exist. However, the belief that the human body emits radiations of a kind that in certain circumstances becomes visible has been encountered for centuries, and was present in ancient Egypt, India, Greece and Rome. In the sixteenth century, discourses on the astral body and its ‘fiery aura’ abound, and in the eighteenth century the theory of animal magnetism was developed by Anton Mesmer, who promoted a variety of scientific experiments to try to identify the phenomenon. Just before World War I, Dr Walter Kilner from St Thomas’s Hospital in London developed a method to view auras, which he claimed appeared as a faint haze around the body, using an apparatus that rendered ultraviolet light visible. His theory of auric diagnosis of illness linked the appearance of an aura to a patient’s health. Kilner’s work was greeted with scepticism and interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities. In 1939, Semyon Davidovich Kirlian, a Russian electrician, developed a technique that he claimed recorded auras on film, but this technique remains to be verified. See Kirlian photography. Auras, like parking places, are easy to find when you aren’t looking for them. So if you want to see an aura, you need to feel as relaxed and calm as possible. Breathe slowly and deeply for a few minutes. Then, instead of looking directly at someone, look straight past them and casually glance in their direction, allowing your eyes to lose focus. The idea is to trick your rational brain by deliberately putting a lot of your concentration on something else, but to keep a vague focus on the person whose aura you want to read. With practise you may see a dim haze of energy around someone. Keep breathing deeply, and the aura may brighten to a colour. Don’t expect people to light up like Christmas trees and stay that way. Visions of auras tend to be lightning quick, but the more you practise the more natural it will feel and the more likely it is for colour to become noticeable. To find out what different auric colours could mean, see Colour divination. AUTOMATIC WRITING The most common form of automatism, automatic writing is writing that does not come from the conscious mind and is done in an altered state of consciousness. Some attribute it to spiritual beings who are somehow able to manipulate a writing utensil in order to communicate. Psychical researchers believe automatic writing emanates from material in the person’s subconscious mind or is obtained through ESP. Many people try automatic writing in an effort to make contact with spirits or to communicate with the dead. Typically the writer is unaware of what is being written and the writing is much faster, larger and expansive than their normal handwriting. Some people experience tingling in the arms or hands. Pens are a common tool, but slates and typewriters may also be used. Automatic writers have been known to produce mirror scripts, starting at the bottom right of the page and finishing at the top left. At the height of spiritualism, automatic writing was common in séances, and it replaced the much slower methods of spelling out messages from spirits with table rappings or pointers. In some cases automatic writing occurs involuntarily, as in the case of Anna Windsor. In 1860 Windsor began automatic writing with her right hand, which she called Stump. Stump had a personality of its own, writing out verses and prose while the left hand did something else. Through automatic writing, mediums have claimed to produce messages not just from deceased relatives or loved ones but from famous persons in history, such as Francis Bacon, Emanuel Swedenborg and even Jesus Christ. Frederick Myers, one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research, found little evidence that spirits communicated through automatic writing but, curiously, after his death several mediums claimed to receive automatic writing messages from him. Exercise to practise automatic writing Make sure you are in a calm and relaxed mood. If you feel stressed or anxious, leave it and try another day. Find a good pen or pencil and a quiet place at a table. Sit there and let your hand move as it will. You may like to ask your hand if it has any messages for you. Hold your pen loosely in whichever hand you normally write with and let your mind roam freely. Write down whatever comes into your head for about five to ten minutes at the most. If nothing happens, visualize a column of light made up of golden letters, forming and reforming words. Focus on one letter, and let the light flow down into your fingers and the pen. Wait until you feel your pen tremble, and let it move. At first it may scribble and make patterns, but words may follow. Don’t try to read or make sense of them or you will lose the spontaneity. When you feel you are losing concentration, stop. Lay your pen down and see the column of light fading. Read what you have written. It may seem to relate to you or to another person in your life, perhaps a persona that is deep within you. Don’t be concerned if your first attempts appear nothing more than random scribbles or a jumble of disconnected words. It takes practise to establish a clear delivery of information. Do something mundane or physical to bring you back to earth. While psychical researchers continue to investigate automatic writing as evidence for the existence of the spirit world, the field of psychology has adopted automatic writing. Psychologists use it as a way for the unconscious mind to express thoughts and feelings that cannot be verbalized. Automatic writing continues to be used as a therapeutic tool to this day. Some critics warn of dangers in automatic writing -they claim that the writer is vulnerable to harassment from the evil-minded dead. However, psychologists maintain that the real danger is in exposing material from the unconscious that has been repressed. AUTOMATISM Automatism is divided into two categories: motor automatism and sensory automatism. Motor automatisms are unconscious movements of the muscles, which seem to be directed by supernatural guidance. The most common forms of motor automatism are automatic writing and automatic painting or psychic art, and other creative pursuits such as speaking, singing, composing and dancing. Dowsing is a type of motor automatism, an extrasensory guidance influenced by the movements of the rod held by a dowser. Other types of motor automatisms include impulsive behaviour, such as deciding to do or not do something at the last minute without knowing why, sudden inhibitions and sudden physical incapacities. Sensory automatisms are thought to be produced by an inner voice or vision and can include apparitions of the living, inspirations, hallucinations and dreams. Hallucinations were once assumed to be caused by physical disorders, but Edmund Gurney, an early psychical researcher and a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, established that paranormal visions and sounds can occur without the presence of physical disorders. After automatic writing and drawing, automatic music composition is perhaps the most common form of automatism. An unusual case was that of a London woman called Rosemary Brown, who, although she had limited musical ability, began in 1970 to compose music that she said was channelled to her from dead composers such as Chopin, Liszt and Beethoven. Recordings were made, and the works did indeed resemble the various styles of the composers, but critics declared them not as good as definitive compositions by these musical geniuses. Problems associated with automatisms include compulsion, obsession and a feeling of possession. The practice may grow until a person feels taken over by it. Some people talk of possession by demons, but psychologists say that the effects are created by paranoia, not demons. Since ancient times, inspired activity has always been attributed to the divine, the supernatural or the spirits, but today’s view is that automatisms are products of ESP or secondary personalities who produce knowledge or information that has been repressed or forgotten. AVALON According to Celtic legend, a mystical land of immortal heroes where the enchanted sword Excalibur was forged and where a mortally wounded King Arthur was taken after a bloody battle. The story of King Arthur may be based on a historical figure of a Celtic king of the sixth century, who defended his kingdom against Saxon invaders, but it is the legends of King Arthur that have had a timeless, mystical hold over people’s imagination for centuries. According to legend Arthur came to power when he pulled a magical sword from a stone with the help of the wizard Merlin, an act that proclaimed his royal heritage. He started the Order of the Round Table, peopled by noble and virtuous knights, and married the beautiful but adulterous Guinevere who betrayed him for his best friend Lancelot. Arthur was mortally wounded by his treacherous nephew, Mordred, and is said to be buried on the mythical Isle of Avalon, from where he will rise again in Britain’s hour of need. There is a tradition that Glastonbury was the Isle of Avalon. In 1191 the monks of Glastonbury unearthed, from 16 feet under the ground, an oak coffin that they said was Arthur’s. They showed an inscription: ‘Here lies beneath the renowned King Arthur with his beloved Queen Guinevere his second wife in the Isle of Avalon’ on a lead cross, which they said had been found in the coffin. With its miraculous weapon of destiny, its goddess-like Lady of the Lake appearing by moonlight from the water and, most of all, the mysterious realm of Avalon, where Arthur journeys by water to be healed from death, the Arthurian world shimmers with a Celtic supernatural glow. Like a faraway, half-heard song, Avalon conveys a sense of something lost forever, never to be found - the mystical quest for the lost land, the lost world, the lost self and lost psychic powers. AVATAR Derived from the Sanskrit word avatora, which means ‘descent’, avatar is used in Hinduism to denote a god who has descended, by way of incarnation, to either human or animal form, coming into this world for the duration of one lifespan. An avatar is believed to be a mediator between people and the divine. An avatar is similar to the Christian figure of an incarnated being but is different in two ways. First, a Hindu god can become incarnate in many places at the same time through partial avatars (amshas); second, the avatars do not fully participate in human activity or lose the knowledge and power of their divinity. Exceptional holy men and women in India are called avatars. Hindus accept Gautama, Buddha, as an avatar. Vishnu, sky god and protector of the universe, is most famous for his numerous avatars, which include Krishna and Rama, but other gods, such as Shiva, also have avatars. Many charismatic leaders, such as the Indian mystic Chaitanya (c.1486-1533), have been regarded as avatars. In our own time, Ammachi - Mata Amritanandamayi -the South Indian woman who was given the Gandhi-King award at the United Nations in Geneva in 2002 for her promotion of non-violence, and who greets her long lines of followers by giving each person a warm hug, is considered an avatar of the Great Mother. The bhakti (devotional) movements of Hinduism have often centred round avatars who are supposed to possess psychic abilities and paranormal powers, such as the ability to levitate or bilocate. AVEBURY A village in Wiltshire, England, eighty miles west of London, and site of the Avebury stone circle, one of the oldest prehistoric monuments in Britain. More extensive than Stonehenge, Avebury is large enough that it is said more than a quarter of a million people could stand within the boundaries of its circle. The circle was in active use in later Neolithic/early Bronze Age times, between 2600 BC and 1600 BC, so it predates the Druids. The Avebury circle was probably constructed by people from the Beaker culture. It is the largest stone circle in Europe; its 100 standing stones, reaching up to 14 feet high, mark a circle that is 1,100 feet in diameter. Another nearby landmark, Windmill Hill, bears an earthwork on top and may predate Avebury as a cattle market or ritual site. The purpose of Silbury Hill, yet another nearby landmark and Europe’s tallest manmade mound, remains unknown. No records survive attesting to the original purpose and uses of the Avebury stone circle, and excavations have yielded few insights. According to theories Avebury may have been used for religious festivals to honour the Goddess, or it may have had astronomical purposes, as the stones align to the May Day sunrise. It is believed by some that the Avebury stones are repositories of Earth and psychic energy, which can be detected by clairvoyance and dowsing and that tapping the stones can enable communication with other megalithic sites. Such psychic energy may be responsible for paranormal phenomena that have long been reported at this site, including strange lights drifting on the ground and eerie small figures and apparitions flitting around the stones. In the 1980s Avebury became a major site of mysterious crop circles, geometric patterns made in arable fields that defy explanation. AXINOMANCY A term derived from the Greek axine (axe) and manteia (divination) and applied to the art and practice of divination by an axe, hatchet or saw. An obscure form of axinomancy recorded among ancient Greeks is that of placing an agate stone on a red-hot axe. Its motion is taken to indicate the identity of someone guilty of a crime. Another method is of reading the direction an axe, saw or hatchet handle quivers or points when driven into a tree or post. Yet another method involves observing the way an axe falls to the ground. This method is usually used by diviners to determine the direction a thief has taken, or the location of buried treasure. AYURVEDIC MEDICINE A traditional Indian approach to healing that includes meditation, purification procedures, rejuvenation therapies, herbal and mineral preparations, exercises and dietary advice. Ayurveda is a holistic medical system that claims wellbeing is only possible through a balance in the flow of life energy (prana) between body, mind and soul. Ayurvedic medicine is the national health system of India and has been found to be extremely beneficial for many medical conditions, in particular chronic ailments and conditions associated with unhealthy lifestyles. To qualify as an ayurvedic physician candidates must complete a five-year training course and are strictly regulated by professional and governmental bodies. Ayurveda’s basic theory states that the body’s functions are regulated by three physiological principles’ called doshas, whose Sanskrit names are vata, pitta and kapha. Like astrological signs, these terms are used to designate individuals as well as traits and body types that typify them, and imbalances of the doshas are said to be the underlying cause of all disease. Ayurvedic treatment with diet, meditation and other therapies supposedly corrects these imbalances. Leading promoters claim that positive thoughts lead to healing but sad, angry and hostile thoughts depress the immune system and increase the risk of poor health. The aim is to harness consciousness as a healing force. See Behavioural medicine. B BA In ancient Egyptian mythology the Ba is what we would call ‘soul’, but there are differences. According to the Book of the Dead, after death the Ba rises up out of the body in the shape of a falcon, with a human head, that can fly between the tomb and the underworld. It was also believed that the Ba could take on any form it chose but that it had to reunite itself with the deceased every night in order for the deceased person to live forever. So the Ba remains very much attached to the physical body, contrary to the concept of the soul or spirit separating from the body at death. It was thought that the Ba had the same physical needs as the person, like food and water, so offerings of cake and water were left at tombs for the Ba. BACHELOR’s GROVE CEMETERY A small, abandoned cemetery that is overgrown, unkempt and subject to vandalism, Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery is one of Chicago’s most haunted sites. It is located on the edge of the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve, near the suburb of Midlothian, Illinois. There have been over a hundred paranormal incidents reported here, including inexplicable lights and voices, apparitions, strange photos, anomalous recordings and even sightings of magical creatures. The first burial took place in 1844, but it wasn’t until 1864 that the cemetery became known as Bachelor’s Grove. This may have been because around this time a group of German immigrants, hired to help build the Illinois-Michigan Canal, settled on small farms nearby, and most of these settlers were unmarried men. Burials became less frequent in the 1960s, and the last recorded burial was in 1989. It was in the 1960s that stories of hauntings began. Unfortunately, this was also when the vandalism and desecration began, and today the cemetery is in a terrible condition. Vandals have left few of the graves still standing, and many tombstones have been stolen or dumped elsewhere, giving rise to legends that the gravestones sometimes move by themselves. The reporting of strange phenomena peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, but hauntings continue to be reported to this day, including flashing lights and phantom vehicles. The strange lights are said to be red or blue in colour, dancing just out of reach of those who chase them, as if the lights had an intelligence of their own. Phantom cars appear and disappear on the cemetery path. One couple even had a car crash with a vehicle that vanished before their eyes, leaving their own untouched despite the sounds of bending metal and breaking glass. The most-often reported apparition at Bachelor’s Grove is a vanishing house or floating house. Access to the cemetery is gained by way of a narrow gravel trail that was once a main road through the area. Along this trail, many visitors have reported seeing a phantom farmhouse that seems to appear and disappear at random. The house is always seen from a distance and described in the same way, as a white house with porch pillars, a swing and a soft light burning in the window, but it is never reported in the same place. As witnesses approach the house, it shrinks and disappears. According to legend, anyone who succeeds in entering the house will never return. Just past the fence surrounding the cemetery is a small lagoon that borders the nearby turnpike road. This pond was a favourite corpse dumping ground for Chicago gangsters during the years of Prohibition, so it isn’t surprising that the pond is thought to be haunted. One ghost linked to the lagoon is said to be a twoheaded man, reported on many occasions. Others report seeing a ghostly farmer who was pulled into the water by his plough and horse in the 1870s. The horse was drowned by the weight of the plough, taking the farmer with it. Still others report seeing people dressed in monks’ robes, and in 1984 the vision of a glowing yellow man was reported. In the 1990s several people reported seeing a large black dog near the entrance, which would vanish as people appeared, perhaps as a warning to go no further. The most famous ghost is the ‘White Lady’ or the ‘Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove’, who has been seen on nights of the full moon, wandering the cemetery with a baby in her arms. She is said to be the ghost of a woman buried there, next to her young son. Paranormal investigators have reported electronic voice phenomena at Bachelor’s Grove, with the names of those buried there being called out repeatedly. There have been many attempts to capture Bachelor’s Grove phenomena on film, and plenty of photographs exist with images resembling ectoplasm. Perhaps the most famous photograph of Bachelor’s Grove was taken in 1991 by Mari Huff, a member of the Ghost Research Society. It shows a waiflike transparent young woman dressed in old-fashioned clothes sitting on a crumbling tombstone. According to Huff, this woman was not visible when the picture was taken. Sceptics argue that the photo is a double exposure, but a number of professional photographers do believe it to be genuine. BAKECHOCHIN Translated as ‘haunted lantern’, in Japanese folklore a bakechochin is a lantern inhabited by ghosts. According to lore the lantern has a long tongue and wild eyes and is home for the ghosts of people who died with hate in their hearts; for this reason, they are doomed to haunt the earth for all time. If someone should light one of these haunted lanterns, it is thought that a hateful ghost may leap out of it and attack. BALANCE Achieving the harmonious interaction of light and dark, masculine and feminine, Yin and Yang, and creative and receptive energies in mind, body and emotions is an integral part of meditation, dreamwork, psychic development or any creative work on personal growth. Many situations in life can prevent balance in mind, body and emotions. You may be thrown off balance by the people around you, by your environment, by feelings of fear or anger or by psychic information you receive. It is easy to be overwhelmed by these stimuli, both external and internal, and psychics believe that one of the most important aspects of psychic growth is the ability to keep oneself balanced, to stay rooted within yourself whatever is going on around or inside you. Visualizing a golden light or bubble around you to protect yourself from distraction, self-doubt or misfortune is a technique often used by psychics to encourage inner balance, as is reconnecting with the earth after psychic work by going for a walk or taking a drink of water to ground yourself again in everyday reality. BALLECHIN HOUSE Hauntings at Ballechin House in Tayside, Scotland, came to public attention in the late 1890s, but they had been reported there for several decades before. In 1806 Ballechin House was built by the Stuart family, and in 1834 Robert Stuart inherited the house from his father and rented it out to tenants while he was posted to India with the army. He returned in 1850 after achieving the rank of Major. From his years in India, the Major had come to believe in reincarnation and transmigration, the ability of the soul to inhabit a non-human body. He vowed that when he died he would return to Ballechin in the body of his favourite black spaniel -he preferred the company of dogs to humans. Although he never married, he did enjoy the company of a young housekeeper called Sarah, who died mysteriously - it was said in his bed - at the age of 27, in 1873. Major Stuart died a few years later and was buried beside her at Logierait churchyard. In his 1853 will the Major left Ballechin House to his nephew, John Stuart, who, fearful that the Major might be reincarnated as one of his dogs, cruelly shot all the Major’s hounds, starting with the black spaniel. This later would lead to the theory that the Major was forced to remain a disembodied spirit, haunting the house in protest. John Stuart was a devout Roman Catholic; his aunt, the Major’s sister Isabella, had become a nun and, after her death in 1880, was said to make ghostly appearances to visitors. Almost immediately after the Major’s death in 1876 strange happenings were reported. One day in the Major’s study, Mrs Stuart noticed a strong smell of dogs in the room. She opened the window to let some air in and felt a nudge on her leg, as if an invisible dog had rubbed itself against her. This was followed a few days later by knocking sounds and the sound of gunfire and voices quarrelling. There were also sounds of someone limping around the master bedroom. Soon Ballechin House got a reputation for being haunted, and governesses and servants would flee the house in fear. The Stuarts managed to live in the house for more than twenty years, but the children were so frightened that John Stuart was forced to build a new wing for the children to live in outside the haunted area. A Jesuit priest and family friend, Father Hayden, who often stayed at Ballechin, heard the haunted sounds, including screams, on many occasions. In January 1895, John Stuart was in the Major’s old study talking to his agent when three loud knocks were heard. This may have been an omen because a few hours later John Stuart died in London after being run over by a cab. After John’s death the house was rented to a family for a year, but they left after a few weeks complaining of being terrorized by poltergeist activity, such as thumps and bumps, strange noises, apparitions and unseen hands moving objects. In 1896 the Marquis of Bute, an avid ghost researcher, rented Ballechin House and asked two psychic researchers to help him carry out investigations. Almost immediately after moving in the researchers reported hearing loud clanging noises, muffled voices and gunfire. Other guests invited to stay at the house reported supernatural activity. Several of the group conducted sessions with a Ouija board. During one session a person with the name of Ishbel came through and asked the investigators to go to a nearby pond. On doing so, the investigators clearly saw the figure of a nun, thought to be the Major’s sister, Isabella, wearing a black habit and walking through a snowy wood before suddenly vanishing. From 1932 the house remained empty, and it was demolished in the 1960s. An account of the investigations that took place there at the turn of the century was published in 1899 with the title The Alleged Haunting ofB House. The Stuart family disliked publicity so much that they asked for all names to be changed or excluded from the story. As a result the hauntings had to be reported as alleged and could never be credited as genuine. BALTIMORE POLTERGEIST Between 14 January and 8 February 1960, alleged poltergeist activity caused havoc in the Baltimore household of a couple called Jones, their daughter and son-in-law, and their 17-year-old grandson, Ted Pauls. The first incident occurred on 14 January when the family sat down for dinner. A miniature pottery pitcher, one of Mrs Jones’s favourite pieces in her china collection, inexplicably exploded, showering Mr Jones with tiny pieces of china. Upset by the loss, Mrs Jones immediately went into the kitchen for a dustpan and brush, but before she reached the kitchen another pitcher shattered, followed by another and another and another, until fifteen of her precious ornaments had been shattered. The Jones family jumped away from the table in fear and panic. In the month of misery that followed, objects flew off shelves and crashed through windows, pictures fell from the wall, plants leapt out of their holders, a sugar bowl floated up to the overhead ceiling light and dumped its contents all over the table, chairs and tables moved about and overturned, soda bottles exploded, books tumbled over and a brass incense holder was seen flying across a room. When the dining room light began to swing about violently during mealtimes the Joneses took to eating in their bedrooms, but this did not stop knives and forks vanishing from beside their plates. Surprisingly, the only injury to occur was on the night of 17 January, when Mr Jones tried to pick up a can of corn that had fallen off a shelf and a tin of sauerkraut smacked him on the back of the head. There was an occasional day of respite, but more often than not the family spent their time running from room to room to tidy up and repair the damage. Then suddenly, on 9 February the incidents stopped as mysteriously as they had begun. Not surprisingly, word spread during the month of terror, and reporters and investigators were regular visitors to the house. Several theories were put forward. Some thought Ted was playing tricks on his family, but this was denied by his parents. Others suggested radio signals, sound waves and earth tremors, but no proof was found. The police could find no evidence of explosives. A local plumber suggested that the hot air furnace might be the culprit. He urged the family to equalize pressure by opening the dining room windows. The Joneses followed his instructions, and the incidents stopped, causing the family to credit the plumber with solving the mystery. Before the phenomena ceased, however, the respected psychoanalyst and researcher of paranormal phenomena Nandor Fodor suggested that poltergeists were not ‘ghosts’ but were bundles of ‘projected repressions’ that quickly wore themselves out. Fodor theorized that so-called poltergeist activity was usually associated with a teenaged member of the family. When he investigated the case, he concentrated on Ted Pauls, the 17-year-old grandson. According to Fodor, Ted was a shy but talented and intelligent boy who was unconsciously using his mental power to create the disturbances. Fodor believed that the human body and mind could release energy ‘similar to atomic bombardments’, and could project this force into objects such as soda bottles, which would then burst from within. Fodor thought that Ted felt misunderstood and longed to be esteemed for his writing talent. He theorized that Ted was unconsciously venting his frustrations by projecting them into aggressive poltergeist activity. Fodor explained this to Ted and suggested that if a way could be found to help him feel appreciated and valued as a person, he would have no need to express himself in such a destructive way. Fodor then took a risk by announcing that Ted was a gifted writer and that if his talent could be recognized the poltergeist activity would stop. He suggested that Ted should write his own account of what had happened, and, as expected, this had a therapeutic effect on Ted. His family gave Ted a newfound respect, and his self-esteem was boosted. Although a few more incidents happened (the psychological working-out process, as Fodor explained), they gradually stopped. The Joneses, however, remained convinced that the plumber had solved the mystery. BANSHEE In the words of the Irish playwright and poet, and expert in Irish folklore, William Butler Yeats: The banshee (from ban [bean], a woman, and shee [sidhe, a fairie]) is an attendant fairy that follows the old families, and none but them, and wails before a death. Many have seen her as she goes wailing and clapping her hands. The keen (caoine), the funeral cry of the peasantry, is said to be an imitation of her cry. When more than one banshee is present, and they wail and sing in chorus, it is for the death of some holy or great one. An omen that sometimes accompanies the banshee is the coach-a-bower (cóiste-bodhar) - an immense black coach, mounted by a coffin, and drawn by headless horses driven by a Dullahan. It will go rumbling to your door, and if you open it … a basin of blood will be thrown in your face. These headless phantoms are found elsewhere than in Ireland. In 1807 two of the sentries stationed outside St. James’s Park died of fright. A headless woman, the upper part of her body naked, used to pass at midnight and scale the railings. After a time the sentries were stationed no longer at the haunted spot. In Norway the heads of corpses were cut off to make their ghosts feeble. Thus came into existence the Dullahans, perhaps; unless, indeed, they are descended from that Irish giant who swam across the Channel with his head in his teeth. (From A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore, ed. W B Yeats.) In Irish and Scottish folklore the banshee is believed to be a death omen who attaches herself to families, usually those whose surnames begin with Mac. Thought to be the spirit of a young woman who died in childbirth, she strikes terror into the hearts of those who encounter her as she only manifests when there is to be a death in the family. There are variations in the way she appears. According to Irish lore the banshee is known as Bean Si and is a beautiful young woman with long, flowing hair, wearing a grey cloak over a white, red or green dress. Her eyes are always red and sore from crying. In both Scottish and Irish lore she is also known as Bean Nighe or little washer by the ford’. The Bean Nighe is thought to signal an imminent death by washing bloodstained clothes in a stream but, unlike the Bean Si, who is beautiful, the Bean Nighe is evil and ugly, with just one nostril, buck teeth, pendulous breasts and red webbed feet. A few banshee stories entered into American folklore with the arrival of immigrants. One of them comes from the American South, where a crying banshee with long flowing yellow hair is thought to haunt the Tar River in Edgecomb County, North Carolina. BARRETT, SIR WILLIAM FLETCHER [1844–1925] A professor of physics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin, Sir William Barrett was one of the founders of both the Society for Psychical Research and the American Society for Psychical Research. His published works included On the Threshold of the Unseen (1917) and Psychical Research (1920). Barrett was fascinated by all things paranormal, and along with investigating ghosts and hauntings and ESP he also explored subjects such as altered states of consciousness induced through hypnotism and hallucination phenomena. Barrett’s study on apparitions remains a classic read for students of the paranormal. BATTLE ABBEY Battle Abbey was constructed by William the Conqueror on the site of his triumph over King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Legend has it that a mysterious fountain of blood appears after rain on the ground, representing the Christian blood that was spilled there, although sceptics argue that the presence of iron in the soil accounts for reddish puddles of water. A phantom is also thought to haunt Battle Abbey. Some believe it to be the Duchess of Cleveland, who lived at the abbey for a time. Others believe it to be the ghost of a monk who cursed Sir Anthony Brown for taking church property, after Sir Anthony was given Battle Abbey by Henry VIII in 1538. In 1932, two men holding a vigil in the crypt reported hearing strange noises in the room above, even though it was paved with asphalt, and a man’s voice singing ‘Gloria in excelsis’. BATTLEFIELD HAUNTINGS Places identified with violence, trauma and intense emotion are typically thought to be subject to hauntings. There are few places more violent and traumatic than battlefields, and it isn’t surprising that many battlefield locations have hauntings associated with them. It is thought that most battlefield hauntings are residual hauntings, in which fragments of the battle are imprinted upon the psychic space of a place and picked up by sensitive individuals. Other hauntings are from spirits who can’t find peace due to the violent and abrupt nature of their deaths. Those who specialize in spirit releasement try to find ways to help these confused and traumatized souls move on. Some believe retrocognition is also an element in battlefield hauntings. Re-enactors, people who recreate battle scenes in history, often report hauntings during their recreations. In the USA there are numerous haunted battlefields from the American Civil War (1861-1865) and other violent struggles in American history. For example, Antietam and the Old Baylor’s Massacre site in River Vale, New Jersey, where members of the local militia (known as Baylor’s Dragoons) were brutally slaughtered by German Hessians in 1778, abound with reports of hauntings and strange happenings. In the UK both medieval warrior phantoms and ghostly soldiers from the English Civil War have been reported, and numerous battlefields from the world wars have ghost stories linked to them. One of the most well-known cases in World War I actually occurred in the midst of the conflict itself. The so-called Angels of Mons were thought to have saved retreating French and British soldiers during the battle of Mons, Belgium. According to reports of survivors, the retreating soldiers saw phantom figures on horseback preventing the Germans from slaughtering them all, but sceptics argue that they may have had visions due to intense stress, fear and pain. In World War II, one-seventh of Britain’s casualties came from losses due to bombing raids, and not surprisingly countless hauntings and phantom sounds of aeroplanes and sirens have been reported where bomber pilots made their runs. Paranormal investigators who believe that hauntings can be caused by the consciousness of the living often use battlefield hauntings to support their case. They argue that the anguish war causes imprints itself on a nation’s collective memory, and that phantoms are a way of keeping the memory of such a tragic and vast loss of life alive. BEALINGS HOUSE BELL RINGER Between February and March 1834, Bealings House, a Georgian house at Great Bealings, Suffolk was the scene of mysterious bell ringing, where the pulley bells in various rooms used to summon servants began to jingle without anyone pulling them. Major Edward Moore, a retired officer from the Indian Army, the owner of the house at the time, was fascinated and recorded the phenomena later; thanks to him we have a day-by-day record of what happened. On Sunday, 2 February 1834, Major Moore came home from church and was told that between 2 and 5 pm the dining room bell had been rung. The following day the same bell rang three times, the last time being just before five o’clock in the evening, and was heard for the first time by Major Moore personally. The next day the Major was out, and when he returned he was told the same thing had happened. There were a total of nine bells in the kitchen, and the Major discovered that the right-hand five bells, connected with the dining room, drawing room, a first-floor bedroom and two rooms in the attic, were the ones doing most of the ringing. On 5 February at 11 am the bells were heard ringing again while the Major was in the breakfast room with his son and grandson. Immediately he went to the kitchen and saw the same five bells ringing. A few minutes later they started to ring again; one of the bells rang so violently that it almost touched the ceiling. From that time onwards the bells rang many times, and the Major and his servants became convinced that no living person was responsible, as they always seemed to ring when there was no one in the rooms concerned. During the time that the bells were ringing, Major Moore was careful to ensure that this wasn’t the work of a prankster. On numerous occasions the bells rang when all the members of the household were in the kitchen and the rest of the house was empty. The phenomena lasted until 27 March when the ringing stopped as mysteriously as it had started. Then, in July 1836, the bells started ringing again. This time a bell-hanger was sent for. He examined all the wires but could not find any rational explanation. After about an hour the ringing stopped and was never heard again, except when the bells were being used by a member of the family. The mystery was never solved, and Moore and his family concluded that paranormal activity must have occurred. Despite the most vigorous investigation, there has never been any explanation for the mysterious bell ringing at Bealings House. BEANS Beans have a long tradition of association with ghosts and the dead. American Indian traditions include elaborate rituals and dances involving beans. Ancient Greeks believed beans were associated with the souls of the dead, and the ancient Romans considered beans to be sacred and used them in rituals connected with the dead. They threw beans behind their backs as food offerings for ghosts, and they also spat beans at ghosts as a protection against them. The connection of the bean to the realm of ghosts seems to be that it grows in a spiral and that its white flowers are symbolic of the purity of the bleached bones of death. Because breath is the evidence of life, as bizarre as it may seem to us today, the eating of beans and the flatulence it causes were thought by ancient Romans to be proof that the living souls of the dead resided inside the lowly bean. BEHAVIOURAL MEDICINE Behavioural medicine is an approach to healing that acknowledges the effects of behaviour on health, and takes into account not just the interaction between a human and the environment but the interaction between body, mind and spirit. Non-Western healing systems, such as traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine, for centuries have based their approach on the interaction between mind and body but it wasn’t until the 1960s that Western medicine began to acknowledge that mind and body may not be as separate as it had previously been thought. Psychiatrist George Solomon observed that feeling unhappy and depressed increased arthritis symptoms, and in his experiments he found that rats put under stress died more quickly than those who were not. But the real breakthrough came in the 1970s with psychoanalyst Robert Ader, who suspected from experiments with rats that the nervous system played a part in a body’s immune system. He coined the term psychoneuroimmunology’ (PNI). Later research confirmed that the nervous system does indeed produce reactions that influence brain function and that there is a collaboration between the mind, the brain and the immune system. PNI suggests that emotions have a part to play in physical health, and over the years research has shown that relaxation and positive thinking techniques can produce changes in wellbeing and can be used in the treatment of illness. Relaxation, visualization and imagery have been used with success to treat a whole range of conditions, from headaches and indigestion to serious conditions such as depression, heart disease and cancer. Studies also show that unhappy feelings, in particular suppressed anger, fear and guilt, low self-esteem and a lack of loving relationships, can also increase a person’s chances of developing heart disease, cancer and infertility. Many medical experts now acknowledge the important role relaxation, loving relationships and positive outlook play in mental and physical health and wellbeing. Psychic healers have always used the power of the mind to heal physical and emotional problems, believing that if people feel better mentally and emotionally they will improve physically. BELL WITCH The Bell Witch is one of the most unsavoury poltergeist cases on record, even though it has since been described as perhaps the ‘greatest American ghost story’. According to legend, it caused the death of a man. The haunting took place in Robertson, Tennessee, in 1817 and intrigued many people, including future US President General Andrew Jackson. There are several versions of the story so it is hard to know what is fact and what is fiction, but the version generally relied upon is that based on the diary of Richard William Bell, one of the Bells’ sons. John and Lucy Bell lived with their nine children on a farm. The phenomena started with noises and scraping and progressed to clothes being pulled off and furniture and stones being thrown about. Two of the children, Elizabeth and Richard, had their hair pulled one night, and Elizabeth was slapped and punched and pinched. Under investigation by the family and a neighbour, James Johnson, the poltergeist stepped up its activity, tormenting the family, especially Elizabeth, even more. Elizabeth was sent to stay with a neighbour, and the disturbances went with her, indicating that she was the focus of the activity. The strange events continued over the next few years. Later activity included strange lights outside the house, stones thrown at Elizabeth’s brothers and sisters and visitors receiving slaps similar to Elizabeth’s. The entity also began to speak using foul language. According to reports a voice would appear from nowhere and with no identifiable source. The voice claimed to be various different people but eventually settled on the name of Kate Bates, a woman who had been dissatisfied with business dealings with the Bells. From then on the voice was called Kate. Johnson advised forming a committee to investigate, and with that the Bell family became the object of much curiosity: General Jackson even paid a visit with a ‘witch layer’, a professional exorcist. According to legend, just outside Bell Lane their carriage got stuck. Kate’s voice could be heard promising to appear that night, and the carriage became unstuck. Later in the evening the witch layer tried to shoot Kate with a silver bullet but was slapped and chased out of the house. On one occasion it was said Elizabeth was given an emetic to make her sick, and she threw up brass pins and needles. The poltergeist, who had a sick sense of humour, suggested that if she did it again Elizabeth would have enough to set up a shop. Elizabeth’s father, John Bell, began to suffer from repeated bouts of illness, and Kate claimed she was the cause. He couldn’t eat, his tongue was swollen and Kate declared that she would torment him for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, this is exactly what she did. Finally the ordeals and cursing wore John down, and on the morning of 19 December 1820, he fell into a stupor, dying a day later. A bottle was found in the medicine cabinet, and when the contents were given to an animal the animal died. Kate declared with delight in her voice that she had poisoned John with the liquid while he was asleep. After John Bell’s death the poltergeist activity diminished. Some time later Elizabeth got engaged to a Joshua Gardener, who apparently did not meet the poltergeist’s approval. The entity told Elizabeth not to marry Joshua and the couple could not go anywhere without the entity following them and persistently taunting them. In 1821 their patience finally snapped and they broke off their engagement. Elizabeth eventually married a man called Dick Powell, and Kate finally disappeared with the words ‘I will be gone for seven years’. John’s widow, Lucy Bell, and two of her sons who stayed at the farmhouse, did hear manifestations seven years later, but they kept quiet about it this time and the torment stopped after two weeks. Apparently the poltergeist promised to return in 1935 but failed to do so, or wasn’t noticed by anybody. The Bells never understood why they were ‘attacked’ in this way, and Kate Bates never made any statements. The most commonly accepted theory is that the poltergeist activity focused on Elizabeth, who was the right age, around puberty, for sexual guilt and tension. It has been suggested that there was some kind of incestuous relationship between Elizabeth and her father, which would have distressed the young girl. This theory, however, does not account for poltergeist activity that took place when she was not around, such as that with General Jackson. The legend of the Bell Witch continues to haunt the Bell farm to this day. Thankfully, the violent and terrible manifestations are a thing of the past, but she is believed to haunt a cave, called the Bell Witch Cave, where unearthly screams, knocks and noises have been reported. BENTHAM, JEREMY [1748–1832] The bizarre sight of the body of Jeremy Bentham, law reformer, scientist and philosopher, can be seen to this day mounted on display in University College London. Bentham was fascinated by mummification and believed that corpses, put on permanent display as memorials to the dead, or ‘auto icons’ as he called them, would become commonplace items in the houses of family and friends. Prior to his death Bentham gave detailed instructions in his will about how his body should be preserved. He requested that his body be dissected, his bones be wired in a sitting position and his mummified corpse be dressed in his favourite black suit and straw hat, with his hand on his favourite walking stick, ‘Dapple’. Bentham’s preserved form is on display today in a case with glass sides. Apparently the mummification of his head was not successful, so it was removed and replaced by a wax head modelled in his likeness. Over the years there have been various sightings of Bentham’s ghost walking the university corridors, tapping the floor with his cane or cradling his head in his arms. BERMUDA TRIANGLE Reports indicate that dozens of ships, twenty or so aeroplanes and a thousand people have mysteriously vanished in this restricted wedge of the ocean just east of Florida in the United States. The ocean region was named the Bermuda Triangle in 1945, after six airforce planes and their crews disappeared on a calm day in good flying conditions. Although accidents and mysterious disappearances are to be expected at sea, the ones in this area are unusual because they often occur in good weather and no traces of wreckage or survivors are found. Just before disappearing, crews often report that nothing is amiss, and in rare instances ships have been found days later with their entire crews missing. The area is policed by the US government, but despite this the number of disappearances far exceeds the law of chance for such a relatively small area. This had led many investigators to believe that the ‘vanishments’ in this area are caused by some sort of paranormal force. The mysterious history of the Bermuda Triangle reaches as far back as its first recorded traveller, Christopher Columbus. While sailing into the area, Columbus and his men were unnerved by bolts of lightning, strange lights and the erratic action of the compass spinning wildly. Over the years the area became notorious for strange occurrences. Until World War II only ships were thought to be affected, but since then aeroplanes have also disappeared. All the most obvious causes - human error, weather and so forth - have been investigated, and by the mid-1970s logical explanations for virtually all the reported mysterious incidents had been uncovered. Despite this, the Bermuda Triangle - also known as the Devil’s Triangle and the Limbo of the Lost - continues to intrigue and defy rational explanation. Various incredible theories have been put forward to explain the disappearances, such as time warps, black holes, atmospheric aberrations, magnetic anomalies, alignments of the planets, tidal waves, earthquakes, hidden sea beings, death rays from outer space, forces emanating from Atlantis and alien abduction. BERRY POMEROY CASTLE This ruined castle, located at Berry Pomeroy, Devon has been the scene of ghostly sightings and strange phenomena for hundreds of years. Even today, visitors to the castle remark upon its strange atmosphere and the feelings of foreboding and terror it inspires. The great majority of the hauntings can be traced to the castle’s original owners, the Pomeroy family, who occupied it from about 1086 to 1550. The most terrifying apparitions are those of a white and a blue lady. The White Lady is believed to haunt the dark dungeons. According to the legend, she is the spirit of Margaret Pomeroy, who was imprisoned in the dungeons by her sister Eleanor. Eleanor was jealous of both Margaret’s beauty and her success with men, and Margaret slowly starved in the dungeons, a long drawn-out and painful death. Perhaps Margaret’s agony is the source of the feeling of unease and horror some people experience at the castle. The Blue Lady roams around the castle as she pleases and has been seen trying to lure people into parts of the ruin. According to some stories she is the ghost of the daughter of one of the Norman lords of the castle. She was raped by her father, who then strangled the resulting baby in one of the upper rooms. In other tales it is she who smothers the child, haunting the castle in anguish. When she is seen, her face is said to portray this suffering. She is regarded as a death portent to those who see her. The well-known nineteenth-century physician Sir Walter Farquar is said to have seen the spirit while he was attending to the wife of one of the castle stewards. The wife died soon afterwards, although she seemed to be making a full recovery. Other apparitions reported include a woman in a grey dress, the ubiquitous cavalier and strange shadows that appear to have no earthly presence to cast them. BHUT In Hindu mythology a bhut is believed to be the restless ghost of someone who has died a violent death or committed suicide. According to legend, the bhut has no shadow and can be detected by the smell of burning turmeric. It is thought that lying on the ground offers protection against it, as the bhut never rests on the earth. BIBLIOMANCY A method of divination still popular today. Originally bibliomancy was used to discover if a person was innocent or guilty of a crime. The suspect was weighted against the great Bible in the local church. If the suspect weighed less, he or she was declared innocent. Later bibliomancy came to mean any divinatory use of the Bible, from resting it on a child’s head to calm him or her down to picking a verse at random to offer comfort and support. Finally, the term was used for divination from books in general, not just the Bible. Today we understand it as a method of divination that involves taking any book, usually a collection of prose or poetry or wise thoughts, closing one’s eyes, thinking about a particular problem or question, opening the book at random and interpreting the first words or sentences read in a prophetic or advisory way. BLLOCATION The appearance of a person or animal in two places at the same time. What exactly occurs in the phenomenon of bilocation is uncertain, but one theory is that a person’s double or doppelgänger is somehow projected elsewhere and becomes visible to others either in solid physical form or ghostly form. Generally the double remains silent or acts strangely. In folklore, bilocation sometimes presages or heralds the death of the individual seen. Bilocation allegedly has been experienced and practised at will by mystics, ecstatics, saints, monks, holy persons and magical adepts. Several Christian saints and monks were skilled at bilocation, including St Antony of Padua, St Ambrose of Milan, St Severus of Ravenna, and Padre Pio of Italy. In 1774, St Alphonsus Liguori was seen at the bedside of the dying Pope Clement XIV, when in fact the saint was confined to his monastic cell in a location that was a four-day journey away. Reports of bilocation were collected in the nineteenth century by pioneering psychical researcher Frederick Myers, one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research in England. Myers published his reports in 1903 in Human Personality and Its Survival after Bodily Death, but the phenomenon has received little interest in modern times. Among the most remarkable of the documented cases of bilocation was the appearance of Friar Padre Pio in the air over San Giovanni Rotondo during World War II. While southern Italy remained in Nazi hands, American bombers were given the job of attacking the city of San Giovanni Rotondo. However, when they appeared over the city and prepared to unload their munitions, a brown-robed friar appeared before their aircraft. All attempts to release the bombs failed. In this way Padre Pio kept his earlier promise to the citizens that their town would be spared. Later on, when an American airbase was established at Foggia, a few miles away, one of the pilots of this incident visited the friary and found, to his great surprise, the little friar he had seen in the air that day over San Giovanni. As to how Padre Pio accomplished such a feat, the closest he ever came to an explanation of bilocation was to say that it occurred ‘by an extension of his personality’. BINDELOF SOCIETY In spring of 1932 a group of American teenage boys began to experiment with table tilting. One of the boys had been associated with poltergeist activity a few years previously, and both he and his mother were fascinated by psychic phenomena. To their delight, the boys were able to get the table to tilt, then to lift off the floor and then to rise high into the air. New York psychiatrist and dream researcher Montague Ullman visited the group in September 1932, and a regular schedule of meetings was drawn up. All regular sitters were aged between 15 and 17 years old. The teenagers would sit around a table in a dark room, their hands resting on the table and their feet underneath, for a period of 15 to 20 minutes, then there would be a break followed by another 15 to 20 minutes. After several sessions the group began to produce table tiltings and raps on a regular basis, and they decided to attempt psychic photography. When this became routine they turned their hand to another way to induce psychic phenomena. A pen and pencil were simply placed on a table and communication invited. It wasn’t long before writing could be heard and lengthy written messages appeared. The communicator identified himself as the deceased Dr Bindelof, who found himself able to use the psychic force the teenagers were generating to communicate with them. From that point on a dialogue was set up, and Dr Bindelof answered questions about the psychic world and the nature of the soul. By 1933 the Bindelof Society was formed. Not all the boys were convinced that Dr Bindelof was who or what he said he was, and some thought they themselves were creating this entity through thought alone. None, however, doubted that the experience was real, and it was one they would never forget. The group split up around 1934, but in 1949 the core members met again to recreate the phenomena, this time without success. Attention now turned to making a permanent record of what had occurred, and the eventual product of this was a series of articles published by Montague Ullman in Exceptional Human Experience in 1993 and 1994. BIOENERGETICS Bioenergetics, like acupuncture and acupressure, assumes the existence of a universal life force that affects health and wellbeing, and a capacity for selfhealing within everyone. It is a form of psychotherapy that involves a high degree of intuitive awareness on the part of the therapist, and patients have been known to report psychic experiences, such as episodes of clairvoyance, as a result. Bioenergetics works with the physical, emotional and mental patterns of men and women to reduce emotional stress and help with the challenges of living. It is a way of understanding personality in terms of the body and its energetic processes. According to bioenergetic theory, repressed emotions and desires affect the body by creating chronic muscle tension and a loss of wellbeing and energy. The theory is based on the premise that there is no fundamental separation between the mind and the body: that psychological stress reflects and creates what is happening physically, and physical or somatic events both reflect and create mental and emotional states. Emotional stress from many areas - relationships, family crises, jobs, health - produce tension in the body. Contractions in the muscular system are often the result of carrying unresolved emotional tension. These contractions can have a direct effect on the energy level of the individual, on the capacity for spontaneous and creative self-expression, and on feelings of wellbeing. Bioenergetic analysis seeks to bring about the conscious integration of mind and body. Therefore, the focus is on both the psychological issues presented and the manifestation of these issues as shown in the individual’s body, energy and movement. Bodywork is combined with psychoanalysis of dreams and childhood experiences. BIOFEEDBACK Biofeedback is the measuring of vital bodily functions that are normally unconscious, such as breathing, brain-wave rhythms, heart rate and blood pressure, through information provided by electronic devices. This information is then used to help control these processes. Biofeedback is a relatively new field, emerging only during the 1960s. Since that time biofeedback has been used in parapsychology for psi testing. Originally biofeedback was applied to brain waves. Brain waves were first discovered in 1924 by Hans Berger, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that it was thought possible to control them at will - in 1958, researcher Joe Kamilya was able to help college students control their alpha brain waves. By the early 1970s the attention of researchers turned to how biofeedback could help one achieve altered states of consciousness, such as those achieved in meditation, and how in meditation bodily processes could be changed. Other experiments concentrated on training subjects to alter involuntary processes, such as blood pressure. To monitor physiological processes, biofeedback electrodes, which look like stickers with wires attached to them, are placed on the client’s skin. The client is then instructed to use relaxation, meditation or visualization to bring about the desired response, whether it is muscle relaxation, a lowered heart rate or lower skin temperature. The biofeedback device reports progress by a change in the speed of beeps or flashes, or pitch or quality of the tone. The results of biofeedback are measured in the following ways: Skin temperature. Electrical conductivity of the skin, called the glavanic skin response. Muscle tension, with an electromyograph (EMG). Heart rate, with an electrocardiograph (ECG). Brain-wave activity, with an electroencephalograph (EEG). Biofeedback demonstrates the connection between mind and body by teaching subjects to use thoughts and relaxation to control bodily process, and as a result it is typically used as an alternative medicine technique to treat health problems ranging from stress-related disorders to raised blood pressure, chronic pain, addiction and asthma. Biofeedback can also teach people how to increase their alpha brain waves. The alpha state is not necessary for psychic experience, but studies have shown it is conducive to it, since subjects who can slip easily into alpha states tend to score high in psi testing. BIRDS Birds appearing in dreams are thought to represent spirits, angels, transcendence and the supernatural. In mythology birds are messengers from the spirit world, souls of the dead or carriers of souls of the dead. In European folklore black birds, such as crows and ravens, that cross your path or gather near your house are thought to be death omens. BLACK ELK, NICHOLAS [1863—195-0] Black Elk was an Oglala Sioux mystic born in December 1863 on the Little Powder River, South Dakota. He was the son of the elder Black Elk and White Cow Sees Woman, and he devoted his life to helping his people find unity and strength. From an early age Black Elk knew he was destined for great things. Around the age of four he began to hear voices, and a year later he had his first psychic vision. Aged nine he had his great vision, in which he was empowered by the Grandfathers, who represented the powers of the world. For two days he fell ill, and during this time he went in an out-of-body experience to the clouds, where he was greeted by the Grandfathers. They took him to the centre of the universe and gave him supernatural power to heal. The Grandfathers showed him the sacred hoop of his people, which represented their soul, and in the centre was a crossroads: one path, the red one, was sacred, while the other, black path was the path of materialism. A voice told Black Elk that he had been given his nation’s hoop and it was up to him to set them on the right path. From the day of his vision Black Elk changed. He found he had prophetic visions and he could understand the songs of birds and animals. He used his great powers of healing and wisdom to help his people rediscover their traditions. During Black Elk’s young adulthood, missionaries tried to convert the Oglala Sioux to Christianity, often by force. Black Elk himself was baptized Nicholas Black Elk on 6 December 1904, near present-day Pine Ridge, South Dakota, but his Lakota spirituality remained strong throughout his life. He took part in the underground movement supporting traditional religion, which became necessary after the US government outlawed native rituals. Throughout his life, he took part in both secret traditional practices and public Catholic rites. Black Elk feared that US policies would destroy the Lakota Nation’s identity, so during the summer of 1930 he dictated his life story to John Neihardt. The resulting book, Black Elk Speaks, was published in 1932 and has been reprinted many times. In it Black Elk described the history of the Lakota Nation and provided a sense of hope for the future. His vision eventually became a message to the Lakota people - a warning not to assimilate completely and thereby lose their unique heritage. Although Black Elk died in 1950, long before the passage of the Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978, his teachings, combined with this legislation, created a new respect for and interest in Lakota spirituality. BLACK MAGIC The use of supernatural and psychic power for evil ends, the opposite of white magic, which is concerned with healing and promoting what is good. The term ‘black magic’ has been used with a wide variety of meanings and evokes such a variety of reactions that it has become vague and almost meaningless. It is often synonymous with three other multivocal terms: witchcraft, the occult and sorcery. The only similarity among its various uses is that it refers to human efforts to manipulate the supernatural with negative intent and the selfish use of psychic power for personal gain. Workers of black magic are thought to have but one goal: to satisfy their own desires at whatever cost to others. Magic, good or evil, is universal, with no ethnic or racial association, and it is unfortunate that not just in Western civilization but many cultures around the world, good and evil have for centuries been denoted as white and black. White often designates healing, truth, purity, light and positive energy, while black is darkness, falsehood, evil and negative energy. In modern times probably the most popular synonym for black magic is the occult. Originally the term meant hidden, hence mysterious, and was routinely used by classical and medieval scholars to refer to ‘sciences’ such as astrology, alchemy and kabbalah, but from the late nineteenth century, when magical sects such as the Order of the Golden Dawn emerged, the term began to take on the meaning of evil or satanic. Perhaps the best-known occultist and black magic practitioner was Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), who dubbed himself the Antichrist. More than any other person Crowley gave the occult an evil connotation. See also Magic, Occult, Witchcraft, Satanism, Sorcery. BLACK SHUCK Spectral dogs in general play a role in many haunting legends and it is reported that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based his story The Hound of the Baskervilles on accounts of the Black Shuck legends. Black Shuck is alleged to be a phantom dog in British folklore that has frequently been sighted in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Devon. The common name of this ghostly animal varies according to locality: ‘Old Shuck’ (Norfolk), ‘Old Shock’ (Suffolk), ‘Yeth’ (Devon), ‘Pooka’ (Ireland), ‘Barguest’ (Yorkshire), to name but a few. His appearance is often considered a death omen. The origins of Black Shuck remain shrouded in mystery, but the stories probably originated from the hound of the Viking raiders’ god Odin and from the Celtic legends of Arawn, whose hounds of hell searched for human souls. The name Black Shuck may have originated from a local word, shucky, meaning ‘shaggy’, or an Anglo-Saxon term scucca, meaning ‘satan’ or ‘demon’. Other local names have been ‘Galley Trot’, ‘Old Snarleyow’ and ‘Old Scarfe’. Black Shuck is described as being black, and the size of a very large dog or even a small calf. It is reported to have large, saucer-shaped eyes of red or yellow. In some instances it has been reported as being headless or having just one large Cyclops-type eye and to wear a collar or chain, which rattles as it moves. The hound is said to roam graveyards and lonely country roads, and on stormy nights its howling can be heard. It is believed to leave no footprints, but its icy breath can be felt. To see or even hear the phantom animal is thought to be a foreboding of misfortune, madness or death. In parts of Devon even speaking its name is thought to bring misfortune. In Suffolk, though, it is thought that Black Shuck is harmless as long as it is not bothered. In Cambridgeshire, Black Shuck is said to have favourite haunts along the banks of the river Ouse and in the flat landscape of the fens. There is little evidence of Black Shuck causing anyone any harm on contact, but there is a curious account of an attack back in 1577 in the parish of Bungay, Suffolk. The parishioners were at church when the church darkened and a violent storm broke out. Black Shuck appeared from nowhere in the middle of the congregation. It charged through the church, causing mass panic, and killing two men who were kneeling in prayer. A third man is thought to have died from severe burns. At the same time, a few miles away in Blythburgh, another black dog reputedly appeared out of nowhere in the local church, killed three men and left burn marks on the church door. BLAKE, WILLIAM [175-7–1827] William Blake was a mystic, poet, artist and engraver whose visionary art was much misunderstood by his contemporaries. He published his first set of poems when he was 26, and six years later, in 1789, he printed the Songs of Innocence, which he also engraved and illustrated. In his forties he wrote his more symbolic epic poems, Milton and Jerusalem, and his best-known illustrations of the Book of Job and Dante’s Divine Comedy were created in the last few years of his life. Blake lived and died in relative poverty. He received little formal schooling, which makes his visionary interpretations of the Bible and the classics all the more remarkable. From a young age he experienced visions; when he was ten he told his father he had seen hosts of angels in a tree, and when his brother, Robert, died at the age of 20, he saw his soul ‘ascend heavenward clapping its hands for joy’. Throughout his life Blake drew his strength from the spirit world. He believed deeply in the human imagination - indeed, that it was the only reality - and he often spoke with the apparitions, angels, devils and spirits that he drew and engraved in his work. His interest in the spirit world brought him into contact with many of the visionaries and writers of his time, such as Emanuel Swedenborg. BLAVATSKY, MADAME [1831–1891] Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, daughter of Russian aristocrats, was a key figure in the nineteenth-century revival of occult and esoteric knowledge. A highly intelligent and energetic woman, she helped to spread Eastern philosophies and mystical ideas to the West and tried to give the study of the occult a scientific and public face. Blavatsky became aware of her psychic abilities at an early age. She travelled through the Middle East and Asia learning psychic and spiritual techniques from various teachers, and she said that it was in Tibet that she met the secret masters or adepts who sent her to carry their message to the world. In 1873 Helena immigrated to New York, where she impressed everyone with her psychic feats of astral projection, telepathy, clairvoyance, clairsentience and clairaudience. Her powers were never tested scientifically, but her interests were always more in the laws and principles of the psychic world than psychic power itself. In 1874 Helena met and began a lifelong friendship with Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, a lawyer and journalist who covered spiritual phenomena, and a year later they founded a society ‘to collect and diffuse a knowledge of the laws which govern the Universe’. They called this society the Theosophical Society, from theosophy, a Greek term meaning ‘divine wisdom’ or ‘wisdom of the gods’. Travelling to India, Blavatsky and Olcott established themselves at Adyar, near Madras, and a property they bought there eventually became the world headquarters of the society. They established the nucleus of the movement in Britain and founded no fewer than three Theosophical Societies in Paris. Throughout her life Blavatsky’s powers were dismissed as fraud and trickery, but this did not stop the Theosophical Society from finding a home among intellectuals and progressive thinkers of her day. The society was born at a time when spiritualism was popular and Darwin’s theory of evolution was undermining the Church’s teachings, so the Society’s new thinking flourished. Many people appreciated the alternative it provided both to church dogma and to a materialistic view of the world. Blavatsky’s two most important books are Isis Unveiled and her magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine, published in 1888. She drew her teachings from many religious traditions: Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, Platonic thought, Jewish Kabbalah and the occult and scientific knowledge of her time. Although they influenced many people, her books are extremely difficult to read. Nevertheless, her teachings were absorbed by many people and then simplified into a worldview that was taken up by many later New Age groups. This worldview includes a belief in seven planes of existence; the gradual evolution and perfecting of spiritual principles; the existence of nature spirits (‘devas’); and belief in secret spiritual masters or adepts from the Himalayas, or from the spiritual planes, who guide the evolution of humanity. All of these beliefs are derived from Blavatsky’s Theosophy. BLOCKED ENERGY Energy is believed to be the basis of all matter, and psychics and alternative medicine practitioners believe that a field of energy, called an aura, surrounds your body and a flow of energy (‘chi’) exists within it. If these energy forces are interrupted for some reason the energy becomes blocked and will not flow freely. Chakras are an essential part of this energy flow. If one or more of them is closed, then the energy is blocked at these points. It is thought that blocked energy which is not cleared can lead to serious consequences, affecting your mental, physical and spiritual health, and impeding your spiritual and psychic development. See Energy balancing. BODHISATTVA In Buddhism, the bodhisattva is an enlightened being who instead of going straight to nirvana - and not being reborn -decides to delay eternal bliss in order to help others on the path. The concept of a bodhisattva can be used to describe anyone who is dedicated to compassion and the greater good. In many ways it could be said there is a bodhisattva nature in every one of us. BODY SCANNING The ability to look psychically into and around a human body in order to determine the person’s heath and state of mind. Body scanning can be experienced through any of the five senses. A medical intuitive can psychically read a body and come up with a diagnosis in actual medical terms. Each intuitive works differently, for example, some read auras while others read energetically the insides (organs, blood, glands) of our insides. Intuited information can then be provided to the client’s medical doctor and/or health care professional for further evaluation and discussion of possible treatments. Many medical intuitives work with, or are, medical doctors themselves. BODYWORK Alternative medicine therapies that take into account the role of the mind and emotions in physical health and look especially at how the body interacts with the environment and universal life energies. There are many types of bodywork therapies, involving manipulation, massage, movement, breathing, energy balancing and energy transfer. All these therapies assume the existence of a universal life force and the ability of the body to self-heal when therapy stimulates that life force. See: Acupuncture, Acupressure, Bioenergetics, Energy balancing, Massage, Reflexology, Reiki, Shiatsu, Therapeutic touch. BOGEY Also referred to as the bogeyman in British folklore, this is said to be an evil spirit who loves to cause trouble. The bogey is believed to travel alone or in groups, and in some instances they are synonymous with the devil. Usually the bogey is described as big and nasty and for years the threat of calling upon the bogeyman was used by parents to frighten children into good behaviour. The precise origins of the bogeyman legend are unknown but it is possible that it came from the old Central European gods. The Slavic for god is ‘bog’ and after Christianity came to Central Europe and made its way to the British Isles, many of the deities in the old religions became transformed into evil spirits. It is possible that the gods of pre-Christian Britain became known as these horrible, frightening beings - bogs, bogeys, boggles or boggarts. The boggart is a type of bogey hobgoblin in British folklore with poltergeist characteristics. A boggart is said to be helpful, but most of the time it is devious and frightening, never appearing but playing tricks on people, such as knocking books off shelves or tripping people up. It is also thought to punch, scratch and kick. In parts of Yorkshire the threat of being thrown into the ‘baggart hole’ is still used today by parents if their children aren’t behaving. BOLEYN, ANNE [1501–1536] Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII, and their marriage changed the course of English history. Her larger-than-life story is matched by the many sightings of her ghost since her death. Besotted with the beautiful Anne, Henry asked the Catholic Church for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. The Church refused, so in order to marry Anne, Henry created a reformed version of the church, making himself the head - a direct challenge to the authority of the Pope. Having obtained his divorce and married Anne, Henry was determined to have a son, but Anne gave birth to a girl, Elizabeth, in 1533, and from then on the relationship between Anne and Henry deteriorated. Henry found a new love interest in Jane Seymour. Anne became pregnant again, but the child was stillborn. Henry, determined to rid himself of Anne, fabricated a charge of treason and confined her to the Tower of London. Her execution took place on 19 May 1536. Anne Boleyn is reputed to haunt Hampton Court - along with many of Henry’s other five wives - and the Tower of London where she was executed. Predictably, she has been seen there as a headless female figure near the Queen’s House, where she was confined prior to her execution. At Blickling Hall in Norfolk, Anne’s family home, there have been sightings of a headless young woman riding a horse and carrying a severed head on her lap, typically on the anniversary of her death. Anne has also been sighted in the Hall’s corridors. An administrator reported seeing a woman walking down towards the lake wearing an old grey gown with a white lace collar and cap. He thought she was either lost or trespassing and went out to ask if she was looking for someone. The woman replied, ‘That for which I seek has long since gone.’ Then, in a moment, she disappeared. BOND, FREDERICK BLIGH [1864-1945] Born in Wiltshire, England, in 1864, Frederick Bligh Bond became a wellknown author, editor, architect and archaeologist. Considered to be the pioneer of ‘psychic questing’, he was regarded as exceptionally talented but ‘irascible, eccentric, difficult to work with, moody and confrontational’ by his colleagues. He had a deep interest in all things psychic, occult and esoteric, and his work involved analysing medieval woodwork and construction techniques. In 1908 Bond was commissioned to excavate the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, burial place of three kings of England and reputed to have connections to the legendary King Arthur and the Holy Grail. It was while working on this project that Bond claimed to have been in communication with spirit monks, called the Watchers, who once had lived at Glastonbury. The Watchers established regular communications with Bond and allegedly penned messages to Bond in a curious mixture of Old English and rudimentary Latin, giving clues to the hidden history of Glastonbury Abbey and insights into the building’s original design and architecture. In all, these communications gave a startling insight into everyday life within the abbey and a glimpse back into the medieval world. Bond’s claim to have psychic guidance from spirits drew sharp criticism from his conventional colleagues in both the fields of archaeology and architecture. But his communications with the ghostly monks won him the support of members of the British Society for Psychical Research. In 1918 he published The Gate of Remembrance, a collection of transcripts and reports from his automatic writing sessions, and it sealed his fate by firmly undermining his reputation as a professional once and for all. However, Bond’s enthusiasm for his interaction with the ghosts of Glastonbury Abbey prompted him to follow up his book with The Hill of Vision, in which he revealed allegedly prophetic warnings given to him by the spectral monks, including a prediction of World War I. Despite great success in locating unknown and little-known structures, Bond was gradually pushed out of his work at Glastonbury. It would be easy to say that this was due to his psychic work, but it may simply have had to do with the fact that he was vain and arrogant and made a lot of enemies along the way. He was an amateur archaeologist at a time when the field was professionalized, and his refusal to follow a systematic plan of excavations laid down by professionals was bound to create tension. By 1921 he was reduced to cleaning the artefacts he had found, and by 1922 he was asked to leave Glastonbury. In 1926 Bond took up an offer from a wealthy American to pay for his passage to the US. He found work as an architect and began a successful lecture tour organized by the American Society for Psychical Research. In 1935, again at his patron’s expense, he returned to England jobless, penniless and homeless. He died in a cottage in Wales in 1945 at the age of 82. Throughout his life Bond never lost his love for Glastonbury or his fascination for the paranormal, but many of the suggestions given by the Watchers have never been followed up, and to this day his books are banned from the Glastonbury Abbey bookstore. BONES, READING An ancient Chinese method of divination that used bones from the shoulders of oxen, sheep, deer or pigs, or the shells of turtles, to predict the future. A petitioner would approach a diviner with a question that could usually be answered by yes or no. The diviner would write the petitioner’s question on a bone or a turtle shell from a sacrifice, and would then heat the bone by inserting into it a hot bronze poker. The heat would cause the bone to crack. The patterns of the resulting cracks were then interpreted according to mystical techniques, providing an answer to the petitioner’s question. Answers and results were recorded after the divination had been completed. Rulers seem to have consulted the oracle bone diviners on even the most trivial aspects of life. Questions were asked about auspicious days for sacrifice and ancestor worship, births, illness, marriage, weather, agriculture, hunting, court appointments, government policy and warfare. A sample divination record reads: On day 49 the king, making cracks, divined: ‘Hunting at Chi, going and coming will there be disaster?’ The king, reading the cracks, said, ‘Extremely auspicious.’ At this point we drove off in our chariots. We caught 41 foxes and 8 hornless deer. The first oracle bones known to modern researchers were discovered by latenineteenth-century Chinese peasants digging in their fields, and since then nearly 155,000 oracular inscriptions have been recovered. Most date to the period of the Shang Dynasty in the twelfth and eleventh centuries BC, or, in other words, to shortly after the time of Moses, and they are an invaluable source of historical insight. Although the use of oracle bones eventually died out, divination continued to play an important role in Chinese life. By the ninth century BC, bones were replaced by divination through the oracular book known as the I Ching, which continues to be used in China today, and around the world. BOOK of CHANGES See I Ching. BOOK OF THE DEAD The Book of the Dead refers to the funeral literature of ancient Egypt. The texts consist of charms, hymns, spells and formulas designed to help the soul pass through the dangerous parts of the underworld. By knowing these formulas, it was thought that the soul could ward off evil spirits and pass safely into the realm of Osiris, god of the underworld. At first carved on to stone sarcophagi, the texts were later written on papyrus and placed inside the mummy case, and therefore came to be known as Coffin Texts. BOOK OF SHADOWS A book that contains rituals, laws, healing lore, chants, spells, divinatory methods and other topics to guide witches in practising their craft. There is no single definitive Book of Shadows for witchcraft; each tradition may have its own book, and local covens and individual witches can adapt books for their own use. In past centuries Books of Shadows were held secret; however, some witches in recent years have made their books public. Traditionally a coven kept only one Book of Shadows, kept safe by the high priestess or priest. But today individual witches have their personal Books of Shadows in the form of diaries or notebooks, often now on hard drive and disk. See also Spells, Witchcraft. BOOK TEST The book test is a way for the deceased to communicate with the living and provide evidence of their survival after death. It was developed in the early twentieth century by English medium Gladys Osborne Leonard and her spirit control, Freda. In the book test the deceased communicates through a medium and provides the title of a book not known to the medium. The deceased gives the book’s exact location and then specifies a page number, which is supposed to contain a message from the deceased. Leonard’s book tests were very successful, and almost always the passage selected contained personal messages. Book tests were very popular around the time of World War I, when interest in communicating with the dead was strong, but not all book tests were as successful as Leonard’s. A study published in 1921 suggested that only around 17 per cent were successful. Paranormal factors may well figure in some book tests, but this does not necessarily imply that there is life after death, as book tests can be easily explained by the idea that the medium him or herself is picking up psychic information. Another problem with book tests as proof of life after death is that on almost any page of a given book some passage may be interpreted as a message. BORLEY RECTORY Borley Rectory has been called ‘the most haunted house in England’. It was investigated between 1929 and 1938 by Harry Price, founder of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research in London. Price, a celebrated ghost hunter, claimed the house to be ‘the best authenticated case in the annals of psychical research’. The rectory, a gloomy and unattractive red building located in the county of Essex, was built in 1863 by the Reverend Henry Dawson Ellis Bull. He later expanded the original building to accommodate his large family of 14 children. The first reported ghostly incident occurred in the afternoon of 28 July 1900, when one of the Reverend’s daughters, Ethel, thought she saw a ghost that looked like a nun dressed in dark clothes. Local legend had it that the rectory was built on the site of a thirteenth-century monastery, where a monk and a nun had fallen in love but had been killed before eloping. Sightings of the nun’s ghost, and the ghost of a dark man wearing a tall hat, were reported frequently by Ethel Bull and her sisters. Ethel lived a long life, dying at the age of 93 in 1963. She maintained her story until the end, saying, What would be the use of an old lady like me waiting to meet her Maker, telling a lot of fairy stories?’ In 1929 Harry Price invited himself to the rectory to investigate. According to his book, The Most Haunted House in England, published in 1940, the occupants at the time, the Reverend G E Smith and his wife, both professed sceptics of the paranormal, told him that strange occurrences began almost immediately after they moved in. They heard strange whispers, saw odd black shapes and magic lights, heard phantom footsteps, smelled strange odours and, in general, witnessed odd occurrences such as objects smashed, doors banged, spontaneous combustions of portions of the house, wall writings, paranormal bell ringing, the sounds of galloping horses, mysterious smoke in the garden, rapping in response to questions and appearances by the phantom nun. Price said he investigated the matter thoroughly and actually witnessed the phenomena for himself while he was there. He held a séance, and he and others present heard a faint tapping in response to questions. The spirit claimed to be the Reverend Bull. In 1929 the Smiths moved out and the Reverend Lionel Algeron Foyster and his wife, Marianne, moved in. The poltergeist activity increased, and Price returned to continue his investigations. He found the phenomena to be much more violent than before, terrifying Marianne and their three-year-old daughter in particular. In 1935 the Foysters moved out, and in 1937 Price leased the property himself for a year. During his stay he witnessed many paranormal incidents and compiled a book of procedures using camera equipment and other methods of documenting spirit activity. He enrolled 40 assistants to help him. Many of his assistants were mediums, and they produced some fabulous theories, suggesting that the monk and nun were strangled and buried in the garden and that they longed for mass and a proper burial. Other assistants began the project with great enthusiasm but dropped out after getting no results. Price left the rectory in 1938, convinced that paranormal activity was taking place and that there was a medieval monastery on the site, even though it had already been proved that the only building ever to have existed on that site was a twelfth-century church, not a monastery. His book publishing his findings was well received for its meticulous psychical research but also criticized for being sensational. After Price’s death in 1948 his allegations were reexamined by psychical researchers Trevor Hall, Kathleen Goldney and Eric Dingwell. Charles Sutton, a Daily Mail reporter, suspected Price of faking phenomena. During a visit to the rectory with Price he had been hit on the head by a pebble - and subsequently found Price’s pockets to be full of pebbles. Perhaps the most damming condemnation, however, came from a previous inhabitant of the rectory, Mrs Smith, who in 1949 signed a statement saying that nothing unusual had happened in the house until Price arrived. The Smiths suspected him of being the perpetrator. Hall, Dingwell and Goldney, in their book The Haunting of Borley Rectory, concluded that nothing out of the ordinary had happened there during Price’s stay and that everything could be explained rationally. They accused Price of concocting hocus-pocus to serve his own need for publicity. They suggested that Borley Rectory lent itself well to the influence of suggestion, since ‘In every ordinary house sounds are heard and trivial incidents occur which are unexplained or treated as of no importance. But once the suggestion of the abnormal is put forward - and tentatively accepted - then these incidents become imbued with sinister significance: in fact they become part of the haunt.’ Borley Rectory is an old, gloomy-looking building, and a psychological explanation is plausible. However, it may not explain everything, and the possibility that something paranormal did occur or that certain individuals who lived there, including Price himself, were sympathetic and sensitive enough to become a focus of psychic attack cannot be dismissed totally. BOSTON SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH A psychical research organization that was well regarded in its day, publishing a series of books and pamphlets between 1925 and 1941. The society was created as a result of internal strife within the American Society for Psychical Research. When spiritualist Frederick Edwards became president in 1923 and introduced more popularist policies, Walter Franklin Prince, the ASPR’s well-respected research officer, left to start a rival society in Boston with an academic focus. The Boston Society was officially set up in 1925 ‘in order to conduct psychic research according to strictly scientific principles.’ Prince was the backbone of the society, and it faded away after his death in 1934. During its brief existence the society did not actively seek members and always favoured quality over quantity in research and publication. Among its most important bulletins was a report in the 1920s on ESP experiments conducted at Harvard University, and a paper entitled ‘Toward a Method of Evaluating Mediumistic Material’, published in 1936. The society also published a number of groundbreaking books on mediumship, including Beyond Normal Cognition by John Thomas (1937). The Boston Society also published J B Rhine’s work Extra Sensory Perception (1934), which described laboratory experiments carried out at Duke University. BOTANOMANCY An ancient practice that can be traced all the way back to the Druidic tree worship, botanomancy is a method of divination by burning branches of trees, typically vervain and briar, upon which questions have been carved. The fire and smoke indicate the course of future action to be pursued. BRAIN/BRAIN WAVES Although it’s possible that psychic power is a bridge that connects your brain to a higher mind or spiritual force, some experts believe that psychic ability should be treated as another aspect of brain function. They regard psi as an additional sense that is somehow located in our brains, and believe that understanding psi can help explain how we perceive and process information. One of the most amazing discoveries in medicine was made by Roger Sperry in the 1960s, when he revealed that the right hemisphere of the brain, responsible for intuition and creativity, makes an equally valuable contribution as the left hemisphere of the brain, responsible for reason and logic and previously thought to reign supreme. Opinions differ on what part of the brain psi function exists in, but many believe that the ability to connect to intuitive information is housed in the right side of the brain and that for optimal brain function both the right and left sides of the brain need to work together. Some scientists suggest as well that brain waves need to work together. Brain waves are electrical impulses our brains constantly release, and they are measured in hertz, or cycles per second. There are four major stages of brainwave activity, beginning with beta, the shortest and fastest waves, and moving through to delta, the strongest and slowest. When the brain is emitting beta waves, the individual is active, awake and conscious, with his or her eyes open. Alpha brain waves operate just below waking consciousness, a state that is attained in meditation and relaxation. The average person can maintain awareness in this state. Typically, eyes are closed and the body is relaxed, but alpha waves are also produced during daydreaming with eyes open. The alpha state is not essential to achieve success in psi testing results, but studies show that it is conducive to psi. Theta brain waves are achieved during deep relaxation. The average person cannot maintain awareness in this state, but some meditators claim that they can. The final state, delta, is one of sleep or unconsciousness. Some scientists maintain that the blending of all four brain waves creates a brand-new brain wave. Some followers of Eastern philosophy propose that the awakened mind, which occurs when a person is more aware of their spiritual existence, is a state that combines all four brain waves at once. BREATH The first and last thing you do in life is to breathe. Breathing is the essence of life. And so it is not surprising that breathing and breath are often identified with the soul. In Roman times a close relative would inhale the last breath of someone who was dying, because it was thought that the soul had to enter into another body or it would be lost. In Hinduism the breath or life energy is seen as the force that controls the mind; healthy breathing is healthy thinking and healthy being, which is why yoga always teaches breathing exercises. In the past half century or so many Westerners have tried to learn the techniques for breathing, meditation and mind control that Eastern yogis have studied for millennia. In recent years psychiatrist Stanislav Grof developed a method that combines breathing and meditation and called it Holotropic Breathwork; it helps individuals enter an unordinary state of consciousness for psychic healing by using evocative music, accelerated breathing, energy work and mantra drawing. Aspects of this meditation involve exploration of the inner self and spiritual opening. Breathing exercises Simple breathing exercises are thought to help give you quick access to psychic states of mind. One Eastern technique is to visualize, with each inbreath, drawing in coloured light - pink light for harmony and quiet contemplation and white or gold light for spiritual energy - and slowly breathing out black mist or smoke as all the negative energies leave the body. A yoga breathing exercise that is thought to be wonderfully effective for saturating your aura and your body with energy is alternate nostril breathing. Using your right thumb, close your right nostril and inhale slowly through your left nostril for a count of four. Then keeping the right nostril closed, use your fingers to close the left nostril, so both nostrils are closed for a count of eight. Then, keeping your left nostril closed, remove your thumb from your right nostril and exhale for a slow count of four. Switch nostrils, closing the left nostril and inhaling through the right nostril for a count of four. Close both nostrils again for a count of eight, and exhale slowly for a count of four through the left nostril. Repeat the whole exercise four or five times. BRIDGE OF SOULS The Bridge of Souls in mythology and folklore is the heavenly road souls of the dead must travel in order to get to the afterlife. The most common motif used for the Bridge of Souls is that of the rainbow. In Hawaii, Polynesia, Austria, Japan and among some Native American tribes, the rainbow is thought to be the path souls take on their way to heaven, and has been called a bridge or ladder to higher or other worlds. The Russians call the rainbow the ‘Gate to Heaven’. In New Zealand dead Maori chiefs are believed to travel up the rainbow to their new home. In parts of Germany and Austria, folklore suggests that children’s souls are led up the rainbow to heaven, and in some parts of England it is considered unlucky to point at a rainbow. People all over the world have different ways of looking at and understanding rainbows. For some they suggest magical possibilities, for others a rainbow indicates that a project is going to fail - ‘building rainbows in the sky’ - but whenever a rainbow appears, and however rationally it can be explained as a natural phenomenon, even the most hardened sceptic cannot help but be struck by its magic and its beauty. BROOM The broom is intimately connected with witches and witchcraft. It was commonly believed that witches anointed their bodies with a salve given to them by the devil that enabled them to fly through the air upon a variety of sticks or stems, including broomsticks. The choice of the broom or besom as a likely means of transport is probably due to the association between brooms and female domesticity, though male witches were thought to ride in this way as well as women. In Eastern European folklore a broom may be used in exorcism ceremonies to sweep evil spirits out the door. It is also thought that stepping over a broomstick, placing it under your pillow or putting a broom across a threshold will offer protection against evil spirits and ghosts at night. BROWN LADY An English manor house in Norfolk has been haunted for nearly 300 years by the so-called ‘Brown Lady’, who is believed to have been captured once on film in one of the most famous spirit photographs ever taken. Raynham Hall is the seat of the Marquesses of Townshend. The Brown Lady is believed to be the ghost of Lady Dorothy Townshend, wife of the second Marquess of Townshend and sister to Sir Robert Walpole, the first prime minister of England. At the age of 26 Dorothy married Lord Charles Townshend. According to lore when Townshend discovered that Dorothy had been the mistress of Lord Wharton he locked her in her apartment until her death from either a broken heart or chicken pox or a fall down the stairs. Until 1904 a portrait identified as Lady Dorothy hung in the hall. In the portrait the woman is dressed in brown and has large shining eyes. It was said that the portrait looked normal by day but at night the face became evil looking. Over the centuries there have been a number of reports of encounters with the Brown Lady at Raynham Hall. In the early nineteenth century George IV allegedly woke in the middle of the night to see a woman dressed in brown. He was said to be so terrified that he refused to stay another hour in the house. In 1835 she was witnessed several times by a Colonel Loftus, a guest staying in the castle. Not long after, novelist Captain Frederick Marryat was invited to a ball at the house. He allegedly encountered the ghost in the corridor and when it grinned diabolically at him he shot at it. The bullet was said to have gone right through the ghost and was later discovered lodged in a door behind where the ghost appeared. In 1926 the ghost was seen again by the young Lord Townshend. In 1936 Lady Townshend hired a photographer called Indra Shira to take photographs of the house. While taking the photographs Shira noticed what looked like a shadowy figure dressed in white moving down the stairs. He asked his assistant to take a photograph and although the assistant could not see anything he aimed his camera in the direction indicated by Shira. When the photograph was developed the Brown Lady appeared as an outline wearing what looked like a wedding gown and veil. The photograph was published in Country Life magazine on 1 December 1936 and became an overnight sensation. Experts past and present have examined it and no evidence of fraud has ever been found. BROWNIE In Scottish folklore brownies are kindly spirits, also known as the bwca in Wales and the pixies in Cornwall. When they appear they are believed to look like small men - about three feet high - and are unkempt and wild in appearance. They are said to become attached to particular families and are happy to do chores for the family at night. According to lore brownies don’t like to be offered payment for their work, either because they are too proud or because they are compassionate by nature, but they do enjoy and expect gifts of cream and good food. If gifts aren’t left out, or their work is criticized, brownies are said to become mischievous and cause trouble. There are different stories about the origin of the name. One of the most plausible is that in the early seventeenth century, when the Covenanters in Scotland were being persecuted for their beliefs, many of them were forced to hides in caves and secret places, and food was carried to them by friends. They dressed themselves in a fantastic manner, and if seen in the night they would be taken for fairies. One band of Covenanters was led by a hunchback named Brown who, being small and active would slip out at night with some of the others and bring back the provisions left by their friends. Those who knew the truth named Brown and his band the ‘Brownies’. BROWNING CIRCLE The Browning circle was organized by nineteenth-century medium D D Home for poets Robert and Elizabeth Browning. The activities of the circle converted Elizabeth to spiritualism, but her husband condemned and ridiculed Home, calling him a toady, a fraud and a leech in a poem entitled ‘Mr Sludge, the Medium’ (1864). The Brownings met Home in 1855 when they attended a séance he held for a wealthy couple who wanted to establish contact with their son, who had died three years previously. At the séance they witnessed table tilting, ghostly hands and rapping. Elizabeth was amazed, but Robert was unimpressed and expressed publicly his loathing for Home, suggesting that the whole thing could easily have been faked, as Home always wore loose clothing that could conceal tubes and strings to produce the phenomena. No one knows what caused Robert’s hatred, although some believe it may have been his low opinion of what he called Home’s ‘effeminacy’. Homosexuality was illegal in 1855, and there were many rumours of Home’s affairs with young men. The Brownings’ disagreement over spiritualism was the only public quarrel the couple had; Robert loathed Home so much that Elizabeth stopped talking about it. Punch magazine took Robert’s side, using rich imagery to suggest Elizabeth’s gullibility. BUGUET, EDOUARD [1841–1901] Edouard Buguet was a famous spirit photographer during the 1860s and 1870s until he was exposed as a fraud in 1875. Buguet’s photographs were remarkably clear, unlike the misty pictures from other contemporary spirit photos of the era. The French photographer went to extraordinary lengths to impose ghostly images upon his photos, using live models at first but later switching to sculpted heads when he began to fear being exposed. In 1875 Buguet’s studio was raided after a tip-off from a dissatisfied customer. His tricks were exposed, and he was convicted of fraud and sent to prison for a year. Buguet never again worked as a photographer, but his photographs have become collectors’ items, with some believing that he did actually succeed in photographing ghosts. BULL, TITUS [1871–1946] Titus Bull was an American physician and neurologist who believed that spirit possession was at the root of many illnesses. In the 1920s and 1930s he worked in New York City and treated many of his patients with spiritualist therapy. With the help of medium Carolyn Duke, he claimed to treat and cure manic depressives, schizophrenics and alcoholics. Bull believed that possessing spirits entered their victims through the base of the brain, the solar plexus or the reproductive organs. He thought that these spirits were not evil, just confused, and that they needed help to pass to their proper plane and leave the victim in peace. In 1932 he published a pamphlet entitled Analysis of Unusual Experiences in Healing Relative to Deceased Minds and Results of Materialism Foreshadowed. In it he suggests that spirit possession, although not a cause of mental illness, is a complicating factor and that trauma and stress can attract spirits to a person. Bull practised general medicine in a time when little attention was paid to the mind-body connection in health, but as he was not systematic in his explanations, his work is often ignored by medical and psychical research societies. BURIAL RITES The idea of a journey to the afterlife is evident in every culture and every age, and it has always been considered a duty of the living to set the dead on their path to the other world. In primitive times symbols were carved on rocks and implements and weapons buried with the dead to help them in the next life. In Greece a gold coin was buried with the dead to pay the ferryman to take them across the River of Death. The Egyptians had the most elaborate burial rituals, which lasted for days. Today the idea of a journey can still be said to exist when we lay flowers on graves to provide beauty and peace in the hope the spirit will find it on the other side. As well as preparations for the journey to the afterlife, the other important part of ancient burial rites was to make sure the spirit found peace and did not return to haunt the living. Some ancient cultures maintained contact with the dead, keeping artefacts of the deceased so that communication could take place with the help of a go-between. In many places in the world ancestral spirits and ancestor worship still play an important role, and burial rites create a doorway from this world to the next. Gradually burial rites in the West have taken on the idea of paying respect to the person and his or her family, and the ritual has become a way to say goodbye. It is an important time because, according to psychics, the bereaved need to let go of the spirit so it can go on its way, and the spirit needs to let go of the bereaved. Burial rites therefore still represent a bridge between physical life and spiritual life. BURUBURU Buruburu, meaning the sound of shivering, is a terrible ghost from Japanese folklore that for reasons unknown is said to lurk in forests and graveyards in the form on an old person, who is sometimes one-eyed. According to legend it attaches itself to its victim’s spine and causes a chill to run down them, or in the worst case causes them to die of fright. BYRD, EVELYN [1707–1737] The ghost of Evelyn Byrd, daughter of William Byrd II, an early American colonial settler and founder of the city of Richmond, Virginia, is reputed to haunt the grounds of her childhood home, Westover, on the James River. Born in 1707, Evelyn was sent to England at the age of 10 to be educated, and at the age of 16 she fell in love with a man her family considered unsuitable, possibly because they thought him too old for her. At 19 Evelyn returned to Westover depressed and heartbroken. She withdrew from all company except for that of her friend and neighbour, Anne Harrison, whom she met almost daily in a grove in the plantations. For ten years Evelyn wasted away, until her death in 1737. Before her death Evelyn made a pact with Anne that if one of them was to die the other would return as a friendly ghost, and, true to her promise, Evelyn’s ghost is alleged to have been seen by Anne smiling in the grove where they used to meet. Over the years Evelyn’s ghost has been seen dressed in white or green lace many times at Westover. She is never frightening, and when she appears she always smiles. BYRON, LORD GEORGE GORDON [1788–1824] One of the greatest poets of English literature, Lord Byron was deeply fascinated by the supernatural and would investigate tales of hauntings himself. As a young man Byron reported seeing a phantom monk in the family home of Newstead Abbey, who may or may not have died at the hands of one of Byron’s ancestors. The phantom’s appearance was thought to herald misfortune for the family, and Byron claimed to see the ‘goblin friar’ again shortly before his ill-fated marriage to heiress Anne Milbanke in 1815. He described it as: … monk arrayed In cowl, and beads, and dusky garb appeared Now in the moonlight, and now lapsed in shade, With steps that trod as heavy, yet unheard. C CABINET A box or confined space thought to attract, store and release spiritual forces, enabling a medium to produce phenomena. The use of cabinets to manifest paranormal activity began in the mid-1800s with the Davenport brothers. The brothers had themselves bound and locked in a wooden cabinet, where they were supposedly incapable of moving, but somehow musical instruments would play as if guided by spirit hands. Their act was a huge success, and until the early twentieth century cabinets or black curtains for the medium to retire behind were all the rage. Cabinets are rarely used by modern mediums. CAGLIOSTRO, COUNT ALESSANDRO [1743–1795] A charismatic figure in the courts of eighteenth-century Europe, Cagliostro was a magician, alchemist and psychic healer. Born in 1743 in Palermo, Sicily, to a poor family, Cagliostro turned his natural psychic talent into a lucrative fortune-telling business. He travelled to Malta at the age of 23 to study the occult and later in London joined the Freemasons. Using the name ‘The Divine Cagliostro’, he spent most of his adult life among the royal courts of Europe, performing various occult arts, such as healing by the laying on of hands, conjuring spirits and producing an ‘elixir of immortal life’ with the aid of his beautiful wife, Lorenza. Cagliostro’s success created resentment, and in 1785 in France he and his wife fell out of favour with the Queen over the Affair of the Diamond Necklace’. The Comtesse de La Motte set him up by swindling 1.6 million francs for a diamond necklace and then accused Cagliostro of stealing it. Alessandro and Lorenza were sent to the Bastille and tried for fraud. Following his release, Cagliostro travelled to Rome, where he tried to set up an ‘Egyptian Freemasonry’ order. He was questioned by the Inquisition and sentenced to death in 1791. His sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment by Pope Pius VI. Cagliostro died of apoplexy on 6 March 1795, but for years after there were rumours that he was alive and had miraculously escaped. CALVADOS CASTLE From October 1875 to October 1876 Calvados Castle - more a chateau than a castle - was the focus of poltergeist activity that forced the owners to leave. In the written accounts of the haunting, the people involved are identified only by their initials. The case has never been explained and remains a mystery to this day. Calvados Castle was built on top of the foundations of an earlier Norman castle that had fallen into disrepair and apparently had been haunted ever since. In 1875 the castle was occupied by M. and Mme X, their son and his tutor, Abbe Y Almost immediately they began hearing noises, thumps and sighs and other unusual occurrences. M. X began to keep a journal of the strange phenomena. The following are excerpts: This is October 1875. I propose to note down and record every day what happened during the night before. I must point out that the noises occurred while the ground was covered with snow, there was no trace of footsteps around the chateau. I drew threads across all the openings, secretly. They were never broken … A very disturbed night … It sounded as if someone went up the stairs from the ground floor at superhuman speed, stamping his feet. Arriving at the landing he gave five heavy blows to the walls, so strong that the objects suspended on the walls rattled in their places … Some being rushed at top speed up the stairs from the entrance hall to the first floor … with a noise of tread that had nothing human about it. Everybody heard it … It was like two legs deprived of their feet and walking on their stumps. The family also heard what sounded like a body rolling down the stairs and saw chairs move around the room with no human hands to guide them. Everybody heard a long shriek, and then another, as if a woman outside were calling for help. At 1.40 [am] we suddenly heard four cries in the hall, and then on the staircase … It is no longer the cry of a weeping woman, but shrill, furious despairing cries, the cries of demons or the damned. In addition to the shrieks and the moving objects, doors and windows flew open, the Bible was desecrated and the house itself was ‘shaken twenty times’. The person who was affected the most seems to have been the Abbe, who had ice-cold water thrown over him from nowhere on a sunny day and his locked room ransacked. At first M. and Mme X believed humans to be responsible, and they bought two guard dogs, but when something invisible terrified the dogs as well they were forced to conclude that supernatural activity must be at work. Believing the house to be haunted, perhaps by its previous owner (a woman who had died unrepentant), M. X had an exorcism performed by church officials, who believed the house to be ‘diabolically supernatural’. The exorcism didn’t solve the problem, and M. and Mme X finally decided to sell the castle and leave. There have been no reports of hauntings at Calvados Castle since. CAMPBELL, DONALD [1921–1967] Donald Campbell was one of the more colourful ghost hunters in recent times. In the 1960s he became the only person ever to hold both the world land speed record (403.1 mph, Lake Eyre, Australia) and the world water speed record (276.33 mph, Lake Dumbleyung, Australia). Campbell had grown up with stories of Scottish ghosts that allegedly haunted his family line, and he developed a deep interest in the psychic world, becoming an active member of the Ghost Club in London and taking part in many investigations. On the evening of 3 January 1967, Campbell was playing cards when he pulled what was known as a ‘bad luck hand’. If the hand was meant as a warning, Campbell chose to ignore it. The next day, while trying to break his water speed record on Lake Coniston in England, he lost control of his boat at speeds in excess of 300 mph. His body was finally located and recovered in May 2001. CANDLES Candles have cast a light on human progress for centuries, but little is known about their origin. We do know that they were used as early as 3000 BC in Egypt, but it is the Romans who are credited with developing the wick candle to light homes and places of worship at night. For thousands of years candles have been used in burial ceremonies to dispel evil spirits, and superstitions about candles abound - from ancient Egyptians using candles to interpret dreams to all of us asking for a wish to be granted when we blow out our birthday cake candles. Candle magic Candle magic is the use of candles in performing spells and rituals for granting wishes and desires. Different types and colours of candles are thought to have different magical meanings. For example, for new beginnings and energy it is suggested that white should be used; for change and courage use red; for happiness and health use orange; for communication and travel use yellow; for love and healing use green; for power and work use blue; for psychic development use blue or indigo; for love use pink; for house and home use brown; for secret desires use silver; for wealth use gold; and for banishing guilt use black. To activate the magic of candles you should write your wish on a piece of paper and burn it in the candle, or engrave your wishes on the candle with a pin. You can also light the candle and focus your intention on your wish as you gaze into the flame. It is said that the seventeenth-century treasure hunter Captain Kidd believed that carrying lanterns containing consecrated candles would conjure up the ghosts of the dead to help him in his quests. In American folklore, a candle left burning in an empty room will bring death to a family. In British folklore candle wax that drips around and not down the candle is a death omen, while in Germany a candle wick that splits in two spells misfortune. Typically the death omen is allegedly minimized by extinguishing the candle under running water or by blowing it out. Lastly, a candle that burns blue or dimly is thought to suggest a ghost is nearby. CAPNOMANCY An ancient method of divination believed to have originated in Babylon but also used by the Druids. In capnomancy, people interpreted the movements of smoke rising from a fire, especially from sacrificial offerings. If the smoke rose straight to the clouds it was a good sign, but if the smoke hung about and did not disperse it was an unfavourable sign. CARD GUESSING A psi clinical testing procedure for ESP in which the test subject guesses the identity of cards randomly selected from a pack of playing cards. Typically the subject is blindfolded so that it is impossible to see the pack of cards. CARROLL, LEWIS [1832–1898] Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Dodgson), best remembered as the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, was a celebrated poet, mathematician, logician, photographer and paranormal investigator. As one of the original members of the Society for Psychical Research, Carroll was interested in ghostly phenomenon. He was also fascinated by psi abilities such as telepathy and convinced that they would one day become accepted and valued by the scientific community. In a letter dated 4 December 1882, Carroll wrote on this subject to his friend James Langton Clark: I have just read a small pamphlet, the first report of the Psychical Society on ‘thought reading’. The evidence, which seems to have been most carefully taken, excludes the possibility that unconscious guidance by pressure will account for all the phenomena. All seems to point to the existence of a natural force, allied to electricity and nerve-force, by which brain can act on brain. I think we are close on the day when this shall be classed among the known natural forces, and its laws tabulated, and when the scientific sceptics, who always shut their eyes till the last moment to any evidence that seems to point beyond materialism, will have to accept it as a proved fact in nature. CARTOMANCY A form of divination using cards. The practice of cartomancy is ancient and is often associated with gypsies. It is used to predict the future and interpret the past and present. Tarot cards are the most popular form of cartomancy, but a set of ordinary playing cards can be used in much the same way: they are in fact said to be derived from the Tarot, and indeed there is a great deal of similarity between them. Both have four suits: the swords of the Tarot are the clubs of an ordinary playing pack, the pentacles diamonds, the cups hearts and the wands spades. If you have a reading with cards, you will be asked to shuffle the pack, cut it and think of a question as the cards are dealt out. Common methods of laying out the cards are the star formation, the wheel of fortune or the quick seven. Each card has a meaning and a significance, and having laid out the cards the reader will use intuition to answer the question. There is an overall pattern for each of the suits, typically interpreted as follows: a dominance of hearts shows happiness and strong relationships. Hearts can suggest sensitivity (both sorrow and joy) and also strong emotions and ambitions realized. Spades are the cards of obstacles and challenges and can show where you might need to be creative in your approach to life. Diamonds are more concerned with everyday matters, particularly finances and hard work. Clubs are the cards of loyal and trustworthy friends or people, but can also mean disappointment and betrayal depending on where they are placed. CATTABOMANCY A practice of divination using bowls of brass - a metal thought to protect against evil spirits - which were filled with water or ink and used as focal points in scrying or capturing glimpses of the future in scenes and images appearing in the bowl. The diviner would stare at the liquid without blinking until a trancelike state was entered and visions experienced. Said to have been the practice by which Nostradamus came about his knowledge of the future. CAUL A thin membrane of amniotic fluid that sometimes covers the head of a baby at birth. Since the time of the ancient Romans those born with a caul are considered to be blessed with good luck and supernatural powers, such as the ability to see into the future and to communicate with ghosts and spirits. See also Amniomancy. CAULD LAD OF HILTON In English folklore the Cauld Lad of Hilton is a spirit who is half brownie and half ghost and who is alleged to have haunted Hilton Castle in Northumbria. Hilton Castle is now in ruins. According to legend the spirit was supposed to have been that of a stable boy killed by a past Lord of Hilton in a rage because the boy didn’t immediately obey his order to fetch a horse. The boy was killed with a hayfork and his body was tossed into the pond. The spirit, a young naked boy, was supposedly heard working about the kitchen at nights. Usually he would tidy up and do chores, but sometimes he would toss things about and disarrange whatever had been left tidy. He was an unhappy spirit who could be heard singing sadly. The servants eventually banished the spirit one night by laying out a green cloak and hood for him. At midnight he put them on and frisked about ’til cock-crow singing, Here’s a cloak and here’s a hood, The Cauld Lad of Hilton will do nae mair good! And with the coming of the dawn it is said he vanished forever. CAUSINOMANCY A form of divination that involved placing objects on a fire. If the object burned slowly or failed to ignite, it was taken to be a bad omen. If the object ignited and burned quickly, it was considered a good omen. CAYCE, EDGAR [1877–1945] A psychic reader and ESP researcher who arguably did the most in the twentieth century to advance psychic knowledge. Born in rural Kentucky, Cayce was close to his grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Cayce, who was said to be psychic. One day tragedy struck; Cayce witnessed the horrific death of his grandfather in an accident with a horse. After this incident, and encouraged by his mother and grandmother, the young Cayce claimed to visit his grandfather’s spirit in the barns. Cayce experienced other traumas in his youth. At 15 he was hit from behind by a baseball and began to feel dizzy. His father sent him to bed, and he entered into a hypnotic trance, telling his father exactly what needed to be done to make him better. His father followed these instructions, and Cayce recovered within a day. When he was in his early twenties he lost his voice. Helped by a travelling hypnotist, Cayce again entered into a trance. While in the trance he was once again able to diagnose a cure. He coughed up some blood, and his voice returned. In 1901, Cayce started to give psychic readings to clients, and over the next 40 years he gave and recorded in writing over 12,000 readings on health, past lives, ancient mysteries and predictions of the future. These readings are still being studied today. In 1933 Cayce and his supporters formed in Virginia Beach (where it still remains today) the Association for Research and Enlightenment for the purpose of studying, researching and providing information about ESP, as well as life after death, dreams and holistic health. Three other programmes or organizations were also established around Cayce’s work: a master’s degree in transpersonal studies at Atlantic University, Virginia Beach, was set up in 1930; the Edgar Cayce Foundation, also at Virginia Beach, was set up in 1948 to provide custodial ownership of the Cayce readings and documents; and a diploma in preventive health care based on Cayce’s readings was set up in 1986 at the Harold Reilly School of Massotherapy Cayce was a remarkably gifted psychic with an incredible intellect. It is said that he could sleep on any book, paper or document and remember its contents when he awoke. He was able to use his psychic abilities in four ways: precognition, retrocognition, clairvoyance and telepathy. That is, he could see into the future and predict events to come; he could look into a person’s past to find the origins of an existing health problem; he could see inside the human body and see through objects; and he was able to enter another person’s mind to discover what they were thinking. Called the ‘Sleeping Prophet’, Cayce practised absent healing for several years, helping to cure people all over the world, even though he had no formal education and never went to medical school. Receiving a name and address, Cayce would enter a trance state and then read the person’s condition and prescribe cures and treatments, which were, reportedly, 90 per cent accurate. His success was so great that thousands sought his help. Cayce’s ability to diagnose accurately and name body parts astonished some medical experts, although others dismissed his readings on account of his lack of formal training. In August 1944, with three to four years’ backlog of mail, Cayce collapsed with exhaustion. He was aware that doing more than two readings a day was too much for his body and mind, but over the years he had been so moved by the suffering of others that he was doing far in excess of this number. He retired to the mountains to recuperate, returning home in November 1944. On 1 January he told his friends he would find healing on the 5th, and they prepared for the worst. On 5 January, Cayce died peacefully at the age of 67. Cayce spent much of his life trying to understand what he did when he entered a trance. He spoke about unknown civilizations where the soul could travel without the restriction of gravity and communicate through thought. He attributed poor health to harmful deeds in a past life, and many of his readings concerned karma and reincarnation. The chief difference between Cayce’s suggested treatments and conventional medicine was that Cayce sought to heal the whole body by treating the causes rather than the symptoms of a patient’s problem. The patient, however, needed to have faith and hope in the reading for it to work. Mind is the builder, Cayce would always say, and he firmly believed that the body responded to commands from the mind. Cayce maintained that we all have psychic ability and that experiences such as dreams and intuition are proof of that. He also believed that if a person had good intentions and love in their heart they would always have a steady supply of psychic power to tap into. CELESTIAL LIGHT Known within the New Age movement as ‘the pure white light of the universe’, the celestial light is believed to be energy transmitted from a more spiritually advanced realm to protect and heal those who invoke it. CELLULAR MEMORY The concept that every single cell in our body contains a blueprint of our personalities and every experience we have had in our lives because all matter, including cellular, is held together by energy. Whatever is stored in one cell love, hate, happiness, unhappiness - is passed on by psychic osmosis to the next cell. The concept of cellular memory has gained popularity from accounts of organ donor recipients who take on the persona of the original donor. It can also explain why universal shared archetypes of the collective unconscious pass down through the generations. CEREBRAL ANOXIA The medical term for a lack of oxygen flowing to the brain, which sometimes triggers sensory distortions and hallucinations. Some believe it to be the physical means by which phenomena such as near-death experiences and out-of-body episodes might be rationally explained. CEROMANCY A form of divination in which wax is heated in a brass bowl until it is liquid. The melted wax is then slowly poured into a container of cold water in order to read the discs or patterns and shapes of wax that form. CHAFFIN WILL CASE An unusual case in which a father who had died appeared to one of his sons to tell him about an unknown will. Many believe that this case provides proof of survival after death, but others believe it can be explained by clairvoyance. James L Chaffin was a farmer from Davie County, North Carolina, who had four sons. In 1905 he made a will, formally witnessed and signed, in which he left his farm to his third son, Marshall. No provision was made for the other members of his family. In 1921 he suffered a fatal fall. In June 1925 Chaffin’s second son, James P Chaffin, started to have vivid dreams. In these he saw his father standing at his bedside. What he saw is best described in his own words, as given in a sworn statement that was taken down by a Mr Johnson, a lawyer and a member of the American Society for Psychical Research, who visited the family in 1927 to interview them about their unusual experience. In all my life I never heard my father mention having made a later will than the one dated in 1905. I think it was in June of 1925 that I began to have very vivid dreams that my father appeared to me at my bedside but made no verbal communication. Some time later, I think it was the latter part of June 1925, he appeared at my bedside again, dressed as I had often seen him dressed in life, wearing a black overcoat which I knew to be his own coat. This time my father’s spirit spoke to me, he took hold of his overcoat this way and pulled it back and said, ‘You will find my will in my overcoat pocket’, and then disappeared. The next morning I arose fully convinced that my father’s spirit had visited me for the purpose of explaining some mistake. I went to mother’s and sought for the overcoat but found that it was gone. Mother stated that she had given the overcoat to my brother John who lives in Yadkin County about twenty miles northwest of my home. I think it was on the 6th of July, which was on Monday following the events stated in the last paragraph, I went to my brother’s home in Yadkin County and found the coat. On examination of the inside pocket I found that the lining had been sewed together. I immediately cut the stitches and found a little roll of paper tied with a string which was in my father’s handwriting and contained only the following words: ‘Read the 27th chapter of Genesis in my daddie’s old Bible.’ At this point I was so convinced that the mystery was to be cleared up I was unwilling to go to mother’s home to examine the old Bible without the presence of a witness and I induced a neighbor, Mr Thos. Blackwelder, to accompany me, also my daughter and Mr Blackwelder’s daughter were present. Arriving at mother’s home we had a considerable search before we found the old Bible. At last we did find it in the top drawer in an upstairs room. The book was so dilapidated that when we took it out it fell into three pieces. Mr Blackwelder picked up the portion containing the Book of Genesis and turned the leaves until he came to the 27th chapter of Genesis and there we found two leaves folded together, the left hand page folded to the right and the right hand page folded to the left forming a pocket and in this pocket Mr Blackwelder found the will. The 27th chapter of Genesis tells how Jacob, the younger brother, supplanted Esau in winning his birthright. The paper that they found was in the father’s handwriting and it read as follows: After reading the 27th chapter of Genesis, I, James L Chaffin, do make my last will and testament, and here it is. I want, after giving my body a decent burial, my little property to be equally divided between my four children, if they are living at my death, both personal and real estate divided equal if not living, give share to their children. And if she is living, you all must take care of your mammy. Now this is my last will and testament. Witness my hand and seal. James L Chaffin, This January 16, 1919. The will, although unwitnessed, was legally valid under the laws of the state of North Carolina, but by the time the second will was discovered the son who had inherited the farm had died and the property had passed to his widow and son. In December 1925 the three remaining sons brought a suit against them to recover their share of the estate. On the day of the trial, after the selection and swearing in of the jury, the widow and her son were shown the second will for the first time. They immediately admitted that the document was genuine, and withdrew their objections to having it certified by the court as his valid will. There have been many explanations for this extraordinary case. Some think that James, upset at being excluded, forged a will and concocted a ghost story to back it up, but this does not explain why he waited four years, why so many people believed the second will to be genuine or why he created a ghost story. He could simply have said that he had found the will and this would have been just as plausible. Other explanations put forward include the suggestion that James did know about the will but forgot about it until the memory was dramatized in dream form and brought back into his consciousness. It is also possible that this is an excellent example of ESP on the part of James. Finally it must be considered that a genuine apparition of the dead did appear to James and deliver information to him telepathically As none of these explanations can be proved, the case remains inconclusive. CHAKRAS Chakra is Sanskrit for ‘wheel’, and in Hindu and Buddhist yogic literature the chakras are thought to be energy vortices, shaped like petals or spoked wheels, that whirl at various speeds. They penetrate the body and the body’s aura, and it is thought that through them various energies, including the universal life force, are received and distributed throughout the person. You cannot see chakras physically, only psychically. There are seven major charkas, which are most directly concerned with physical health, and hundreds of minor ones. The universal life force is thought to enter the aura through the chakra at the top of the head and filter down along the spinal column to the other chakras. The higher the position on the spinal column the more complex the chakra. Each chakra has its own colour and speed of rotation, and each is associated with a major endocrine gland, a major nerve system, a major physiological function and a psychic function. The chakras are connected to each other through thousands of channels of energy called nadis. Three of the most important nadis include the sushuma, which processes energy coming in, and the ida and pingala, which are concerned with the outflow of energy. There isn’t any accepted scientific and medical evidence that chakras exist, but recently they have begun to be acknowledged in the West in alternative medicine. Clairvoyants say that they can diagnose the health of chakras by energy scans with the hands and that health problems often show up in chakras months or even years before they manifest in the body. When the chakras are balanced and healthy, their colours are clear and their rotation smooth, but in poor health they become cloudy and irregular in rotation. Blocked chakras are thought to cause health problems, and in alternative healing therapies there are various techniques for clearing chakra blockages, including visualization, colour therapy, acupuncture and energy healing. The seven major chakras Each chakra involves a different part of the body and also different concerns, so you can focus directly on one specific chakra. The seven chakra centres are the following: 1. The base or root chakra (muladara). The lowest of the seven chakras, the root chakra is located at the base of the spine and is the simplest of the seven. Orange-red in colour, it relates to physical strength as well as the senses of taste and smell. You can summon this chakra when you need courage and physical strength. It is in the base chakra that kundalini energy is stored in a coiled state of readiness. 2. The sacral or belly chakra (svadishana) is red or pink in colour and is located just below the navel. It controls sexual energy and reproduction. It influences the release of adrenaline in your body and can keep it on a high state of alert. You can summon this chakra not only when you need to invoke fertility but also when you need projects and relationships to be successful. In some psychic systems the sacral chakra is overseen by the spleen chakra, which governs digestion. 3. The solar plexus chakra (manipura). Located below the breastbone and above the navel, the solar plexus chakra is where mediums get their psychic information. Green or light red in colour, it controls the adrenal glands, and when it is out of balance it can affect the stomach, liver and pancreas. You can use this chakra when you want to achieve an ambition or when you are planning a career move. 4. The heart chakra (anahata). Located in the centre of the chest and in the middle of your shoulder blades, the heart chakra is golden in colour and relates to emotions such as love and compassion. If it becomes blocked it can affect the lungs, the heart and breathing and immunity in general. You can use this chakra for matters of love and friendship and for understanding others. 5. The throat chakra (visudda). Located at the top of the throat, the throat chakra is silvery blue in colour and relates to creativity and selfexpression. It is prominent in musicians, singers and public speakers. When it becomes blocked, your throat, ears, eyes, nose and mouth may be affected. You can use this chakra when truth and principles are at stake. 6. The forehead or third eye chakra (ajna). Located between your eyebrows in the centre of your forehead, the third eye chakra is blue and purple in colour and relates to your pituitary gland. It influences intelligence, intuition and psychic ability. When it becomes blocked it can affect your head, eyes and brain. You can use this chakra for psychic awareness and harmony. 7. The crown chakra (sahasrara). Located at the top of your head, the crown chakra is a glowing purple colour and will not open until all other chakras are balanced. When it is open you experience the highest connection to the universal mind by your mental, physical and spiritual self. You can use this chakra when striving for wisdom and perfection. CHANNELLING The process through which a medium communicates information from spirits and other non-physical beings, such as angels, deities or guardian spirits, by entering into a trance or some other altered state of consciousness. The urge to communicate with the spirit world is as old as humankind itself. In primitive cultures certain individuals - priests, shamans or medicine people would seek out the wisdom of the spirit world. The ancient Egyptians and Romans, as well as the early Chinese, Babylonians, Tibetans, Assyrians and Celts, all channelled spirits and entities, and holy men and women of Judaism, Christianity and Islam received divine guidance. Divination and healing are forms of channelling, as is possession, when an entity seizes control of an individual. In the Middle Ages possession was seen as demonic rather than divine. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when spiritualism was at its height, channelling grew in popularity. The Fox sisters, three young women from New York, first brought public attention to channelling in 1848 when they announced the arrival of spirits in their séances. One famous medium of the mid-nineteenth century was Nettie Colburn, a trance channeller whose spirit guides advised President Lincoln. Between 1861 and 1863 Mrs Lincoln called her to the White House to use her skills to advise the President on a wide variety of subjects -advice he was known to have followed. For example, Colburn channelled advice about how Lincoln could raise morale among the Yankee troops, and her advice worked. After spiritualism declined in the early twentieth century, channelling did not receive widespread attention again until the early 1970s, when Jane Roberts published the Seth books, which were allegedly channelled to her by a nonphysical entity called Seth. Channelling is no longer a hot topic, but popular interest remains to this day. Different mediums have different ways of channelling. Sometimes it happens when the channeller falls into a sudden trancelike state, or it can be induced. Methods to induce channelling include meditation, prayer, hypnosis, fasting, chanting, dancing, breath exercises, sleep deprivation and taking hallucinogenic drugs. Direct voice channelling occurs when another entity or personality takes temporary possession of the channeller’s body, often using voices and mannerisms different from those of the channeller. The channeller may be unaware of what is being said or done and may not recall anything afterwards. Mental channelling, the mediation of thoughts, words, images and feelings, is also done in a state of light trance, but this time the channeller is aware of the process. The channeller’s voice may or may not change, and he or she may communicate through automatic writing, a Ouija board or similar device, or even sleep or dreams. Physical channelling involves physical effects such as psychic healing, apports and levitation. In the wider sense of the term, channelling could also include intuition, inspiration and imagination, and as such it becomes a way for everyone to connect to a higher source of wisdom. A number of theories have been put forward to explain channelling. The simplest is that channellers do actually get in touch with the spirit world. Others believe that channellers engage in deliberate fraud or that it is symptomatic of multiple personality disorder. The trouble with the latter argument is that mentally ill people do not tend to have control over their communicators, but channellers typically do. The view advanced by some psychologists is that channelled entities are not separate entities but part of the channeller’s subconscious that takes on the personality of an entity in order to express itself. Many psychics believe that channelling is a skill anyone can learn and that it shouldn’t just be the preserve of professional mediums. It’s important to remember that everyone will have a different experience of channelling, and the insights received may come in any number of different forms. It is up to the individual to translate and interpret. CHANTING The frequent repetition of a word, phrase, or mantra as part of meditation or a religious or magical rite. Some believe that chanting is a way to achieve an altered state of consciousness so that psychic power or energy can be raised for the purposes of healing or magic. Others believe that chanting helps them commune with the divine. Chanting can be done alone or in a group. It can be accompanied by hand clapping, drumbeats, musical instruments or dancing. Sometimes chanting is melodious; sometimes it is monotone. In all major religions the most powerful chants are the names of God. In Vedic scriptures the name of God awakens spiritual consciousness. The Hare Krishnas incorporate the name of God in their group chanting believing it can help liberate them from reincarnation. Various Hindu and Buddhist chants use the word Om, a sound that is believed to encompass the whole universe. Followers of Islam chant the 99 names of Allah, called the beautiful names, and the name of Jesus figures strongly in Christian chants. In primitive tribal societies chanting was used to raise psychic energy, appease supernatural powers and bring blessings. The practice occurred in ancient Greece, where female sorcerers would howl their chants, believing that strong vibrations enhanced the power of their words. Medieval sorcerers and magicians also sang their chants in very forceful voices, and the practice was continued into the twentieth century by men like Aleister Crowley, who believed that the sound of chanting could profoundly affect both humankind and the universe. Native Americans also observe chanting in preparation for activities and ceremonies such as healing, hunting, fighting, rites of initiation and funerals. In magic, the belief that the success of a spell can depend on the sound vibrations created by chanting dates back thousands of years. It is thought that rhythmic chanting sends out waves of energy that help the magician or witch summon their inner power. Modern pagans and witches still combine chanting and circle dancing to raise a group psychic energy field called a cone of power. When the energy peaks, the group releases it towards their goal, such as a spell or healing. CHAOS THEORY A principle from quantam physics that suggests that chaos or lack of order does in fact obey particular laws or rules and only appears to be random. The theory was first brought to public attention with the butterfly effect discovered by Edward Lorenz in 1961 (a theory whereby the flapping of a butterfly’s wings might, through a series of events involving climate and location, cause a storm on the other side of the globe). The idea contradicts the traditional Newtonian principles of physics, which states that unseen effects can be predicted through precise measurements, as according to chaos theory even tiny errors can result in enormous unpredictability, far out of proportion to what would be expected mathematically. In a nutshell, what chaos theory means is that anything is capable of affecting anything else - a principle belief of New Age and holistic thinking. CHARISMATIC Coming from the Greek charisma meaning a gift of grace, charismatic is a term often used to describe someone with psychic and/or spiritual gifts, which can include channelling, healing and the ability to perform miracles. CHARLTON HOUSE Now a municipal building but formerly a stately home, Charlton House in Greenwich, London, has been the focus of many paranormal investigations by ghost researchers. Charlton House was built in the early seventeenth century and sold in 1680 to William Langhorne, a wealthy East India merchant, who, desperate for an heir to his wealth, married for the second time, at 85, to a woman of 17. He died two months later, in 1715, before his new wife conceived. His restless ghost is said to haunt the house to this day, still looking for a woman who will bear him a child. There have also been sightings of a servant girl from the Jacobean period carrying a dead baby in her arms, and of phantom rabbits. During World War I the house was turned into a hospital, and in World War II it suffered much damage from bombing raids. Workers found the body of a child walled up in one of the house’s chimneys. Today Charlton House is a public library, and employees and visitors have reported hauntings, especially in two rooms on the third floor: the Grand Salon and the Long Gallery, where a rabbit hutch used to be kept. The house has been investigated by the Society for Psychical Research, the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena and the Ghost Club. Some unusual phenomena have been recorded, including cold spots, unexplained sounds of explosions, objects moving and mysterious voices. In late 1995 an apport is thought to have manifested during a taping for a BBC show on the paranormal. Prior to the vigil, when the lights were turned off, the room was searched. Around 11 pm an explosion was heard in the room. The lights were turned on, and in the centre of the floor was a blue and white teacup, broken neatly and arranged into a circle of seven pieces, as though laid out by someone rather than having fallen to the floor. No one could identify the cup as belonging to Charlton House. The BBC team investigated, and no evidence of a hoax was found. Vigils continue to be held to this day, with some investigators saying they make contact with spirits. One of the most dramatic contacts took place on 30 July 1999, with members of the Ghost Club. A loud noise was heard and a test object placed in the room by the investigators, a carved wooden mushroom, flew about ten feet into the air. Again, no evidence of a hoax was found. CHARMS The word charm comes from a Latin word for a song or chant, but today it is associated with magic and can mean much the same thing as a spell. It is sometimes said that someone leads a charmed life, meaning a lucky or happy one. Many people also wear what they call good luck charms -talismans and amulets. Most people think particular objects are lucky, such as a four-leafed clover, a rabbit’s foot or horseshoe. Whether or not these can bring luck is controversial, but one thing is sure: if the belief is there, the chances for good luck are increased, for the power of the mind actually does the work. In folklore the world over there are also various charms against ghosts and spirits. Crossing oneself is a simple charm to ward off evil. Various gems, stones and metals like iron are thought to possess special powers to protect against ghosts. Salt scattered across the threshold or carried in a pocket and silver amulets, jewellery and crucifixes are also considered to be protective charms. When a person dies various rituals are thought to act as charms against ghosts. For example, some say that all doors and windows should be left open so that the soul doesn’t feel trapped. The corpse should be carried out of the house feet first, otherwise the dead person may return; and during the funeral, furniture in the house should be rearranged so that if the ghost tries to come back it will not recognize anything. Finally, it is regarded as unwise to speak ill of the dead, in case they return to haunt the living. CHASE VAULT On the island of Barbados there is a burial vault in Christ Church cemetery known simply as the Chase Vault. In 1807 a Mrs Goddard was buried there, followed in 1812 by Dorcas Chase, a possible suicide. When the vault was opened a month or so later to bury Dorcas’s father, Thomas Chase, all the coffins had been moved from their original places. At first it was thought that the only explanation was grave robbers, but curiously, the seal of the tomb had not been tampered with. In 1816 there were two more burials, and in both cases, when the vault was opened, the coffins already there had been moved into different places. Most peculiar of all was the fact that the casket of Thomas Chase, made of lead, weighing 240 pounds, and virtually impossible to move by a single individual, had also been relocated. Each time the coffins were put back in their proper places and the vault sealed with cement, but again in 1819 the vault was opened and the coffins had been rearranged. This time the governor sprinkled sand on the floor to see if any footprints would be left and pressed his personal seal into the fresh cement. In 1820 when the vault was opened again, the coffins had been rearranged; some were even flipped upside down, even though the concrete seal was undisturbed and no footprints showed. The governor eventually ordered the coffins to be removed and buried elsewhere and for the vault to be left open. On investigation no water was discovered in the vault that could have shifted the coffins, and the possibility of earthquake movement was also ruled out. The mystery of the Chase Vault has never been solved. CHELTENHAM HAUNTING See Morton case. CHI See Universal life force. CHIANG-SHIH In Chinese folklore Chiang-shih, or ‘hopping ghost’, is a combination of spirit monster and unburied corpse, which vaguely resembles a Western vampire; it comes to life and wreaks death and misfortune. The Chinese believed that an unburied corpse was a great danger because it could easily be inhabited by evil spirits. Traditionally the Chinese would bury their dead in garments that bound their legs together, so the spirit was thought to hop instead of walk. The Chiang-shih are blind but intensely powerful, with great supernatural powers, including galeforce breath, swordlike fingernails, incredibly long eyebrows that can be used to lasso or bind an enemy, shape-shifting powers and the ability to fly. The Chiang-shih is created when a person dies a violent or painful death or when the soul has been angered because of an improper burial or improper preparation for burial, or when improper respects are paid to the dead. Something even being buried in the wrong location can cause a person to become a Chiang-shih. Traditionally the Chiang-shih were believed to suck the breath out of their victims. The main items used in defence against Chiang-shih are death blessings, written on yellow paper and stuck to the forehead of the deceased, garlic, mirrors, straw and chicken blood. CHICKAMAUGA One of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War was fought in Tennessee on the morning of 19 September 1863. Nearly 125,000 men fought at Chickamauga, and the combined casualties numbered 37,129. They compare with the 23,582 suffered at Antietam, known as the ‘bloodiest day of American history’. The name Chickamauga is derived from an ancient Cherokee word meaning ‘River of Death’. Not surprisingly, there are several legends about hauntings there, but one of most bizarre concerns Old Green Eyes, a soldier who died in the battle. According to legend he is the ghost of a Confederate soldier whose head was severed from his body by a cannonball. Only his head was found, and his ghost is thought to roam the battlefield, moaning mournfully, searching for his body. There have been many sightings, some as recent as the 1970s, of two big, glowing eyes moving in the dark and reports of groaning sounds that send shivers up and down the spine. CHILDREN It is generally thought that psychic ability, often referred to as intuition or gut feeling, is natural in childhood, but as children get older they tend to lose that instinct and are taught to regard psychic experiences as imagination and superstition. Children’s minds can easily accept the existence of the nonphysical, but don’t yet have boundaries of space and time and other models of perception that develop when they become adults. Their imagination is a reality to them, and they can see and comprehend things that adults no longer can do. They can cross the line into a fantasy world that adults have long since forgotten and exist in an altered state of reality that Edgar Cayce called unmanifest reality. Anyone wanting to develop their psychic ability must start by returning to that childlike, dreamy state of mind where imaginary friends, gut instinct, makebelieve, fantasy, awe of the amazing world we live in and the endless possibilities of our inner world are natural and real to us. There are those who believe children are our real teachers and that their first task on earth is to teach adults about aspects of life they are neglecting. It may be something as simple as unconditional love or as complicated as resolving complex situations from the past. Unfortunately, many adults ignore the demands and idle chatter of children and don’t grasp this opportunity to get back in tune with themselves, missing a fabulous opportunity to learn and grow up again. See Indigo children. CHINESE HERBAL MEDICINE See Traditional Chinese medicine. CHUREL In India, the ghost of a low-caste woman who cannot find peace as she died in childbirth or during ritual impurity, i.e. during menstruation. Churels are thought to haunt graveyards or squalid places and take the form of a young woman with reversed feet and no mouth. They entice young men to them and hold them captive until they are old. Burying the corpse of a potential churel is said to prevent the ghost from escaping. If this fails, the area needs to be exorcised. CIA, STAR GATE PROGRAMME In 1972 the CIA, concerned by reports that the Soviet Union was dedicating substantial resources to what it called psychotronics - research into potential military applications of psychic and fringe science phenomena - began Project STAR GATE, a programme of psychic spying, or remote viewing. The project cost $20 million (,£12 million) and lasted 23 years until the US military shut it down in September 1995. The aim of the programme was to close the Cold War ‘psychic warfare gap’ and discover how serious a threat there was from Soviet psychotronics. Parapsychologists Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ of the Stanford Research Institute were asked to look for repeatable psychic phenomena that might be useful to military intelligence. Working with psychic Ingo Swann, the duo developed what they called ‘a perceptual channel across kilometer distances’, in other words, the ability to witness objects, people and events at a distance: remote viewing. Initially called SCANATE, meaning ‘scan by coordinate’, the project required the viewer to describe what they could see at map grid references provided by the CIA. Early signs were encouraging, and the programme expanded. Also known as SUN STREAK, GRILL FLAME and, finally, STAR GATE, the programme was used to help many US military and intelligence-gathering operations over its 23 years. There were a few successes, but more than a few failures. The team is said to have located Soviet weapons and technologies, such as a nuclear submarine in 1979, identified spies, helped find lost SCUD missiles in the first Gulf War and located plutonium in North Korea in 1994. All in all, more than 20 psychics were employed. With lives at stake, many of them found the work traumatic, some ending up in psychiatric hospitals. The project was closed down in 1995, probably because the Defense Department lost confidence in it, but even today some psychics continue with police and government work; one assisted the FBI - clearly unsuccessfully during the hunt for Osama bin Laden in late 2001. CIPHER TEST See Survival tests. CIRCLE A symbol of oneness, completion and protection, the circle is believed to represent a sphere of personal power or psychic energy. It is often used for séances, where participants hold hands around a circular table. Ceremonial magic rites are also often performed within the sphere of a magic circle, which functions to concentrate the user’s power and protect against psychic entities. In ritual, a circle represents a holy space that protects from negative forces on the outside and facilitates communication with spirits and deities on the inside. CLAIRAUDIENCE The word clairaudience comes from the French and means ‘clear hearing’; it is the ability to receive psychic impressions of sounds, music and voices that are not audible to normal hearing. Humans have been guided by their inner voices since the beginning of time. The Bible refers to the Voice of God speaking to the prophets and kings. The ancient Greeks received guidance through daimons or divine spirits that offered guidance by whispering it into the ears of men and women. The shamans of many cultures use the voices in their heads for divine guidance. In Yoga the energy centre for clairaudience is the throat area, and it is thought that when it is clear you can open yourself up to inner hearing. Great men and women in history have experienced clairaudience. For example, Joan of Arc claimed to hear the voices of her angel spirit guides St Catherine, St Margaret and St Michael. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries messages from the spirits received clairaudiently were an established part of many séances. Today clairaudience often occurs in psychic readings. Tuning in: an exercise to help develop clairaudient ability If you’re a good listener, if you find certain sounds and noises unbearable and if you are good at noticing changes in tone, pitch and frequency of noise, chances are you’re more likely to receive psychic information through clairaudience. We all have some degree of clairaudient ability; we all experience those words or thoughts or ideas that seem to come from nowhere, but we tend not to recognize them or we take them for granted. You may wonder how you can tell if the voices you hear are psychic information or your own daily thoughts. One way to figure this out is to listen carefully. Your intuition tends to speak to you in a kind, loving and positive \ way. Self-talk tends to be harsher. Find a place where you feel comfortable and won’t be disturbed. Sit down, relax and breathe deeply. Imagine a shield of golden light around your ears for hearing and protection. Next, imagine a tuning knob such as on a radio in front of you. With this knob you can tune your hearing to a new frequency - that of your higher awareness - where you can receive clairaudient guidance. Sense a subtle sound change as you adjust the frequency. Note whatever information you receive. You may receive very little at first, but keep trying, and after a while you may find that your ears automatically tune to receive clairaudient information whenever you focus. Clairaudience differs from the disembodied voices heard at séances and poltergeist cases, which are considered to be collective apparitional phenomena. It also differs from telepathy, which is the ability to read the thoughts of another person. Clairaudience can be identified in many different ways. You may hear sounds or voices that you know aren’t happening in the real world and that you know aren’t the same as your own inner voice. These voices may come when you are awake or in your dreams. They may be the voices of dead relatives or the voices of spirit guides. Besides voices, certain sounds may provide you with psychic insight. Some people hear ringing in one or both of their ears and believe this to be a message from the universe. Others hear music, whispers, laughter, crying, bells ringing or other sounds. CLAIRFRAGRANCE Often considered a form of clairsentience, clairfragrance occurs when a person smells the fragrances of those who are no longer alive, for example, the perfume of a deceased loved one when no one close to them is wearing or using that perfume, or from which the source is unidentifiable, for example whiffs of flowers or plants when none are around. CLAIRGUSTUS Experiencing sweet or sour tastes in the mouth that are not associated with eating or belching. Often classed as a form of clairsentience. CLAIRSENTIENCE The word clairsentience comes from the French and means ‘clear feeling or sensing’. It involves the ability to pick up information through smell, taste, touch, gut feeling or intuition. One of the most important experiments to test clairsentience took place in 1922 at the University of Groningen, Netherlands, where a psychic by the name of van Dam was tested in psi guessing games. The experimenters tried to transmit telepathically colours, tastes, feelings and moods, and the results were impressive. Feeling what is around you is the most common way to receive psychic information. All people experience clairsentience through fleeting impressions but just aren’t aware of it. For example, we all feel drawn to some people more than others for no apparent reason. But if a person is emotional, empathetic and compassionate by nature, and often affected by the moods of those around them, then chances are that psychic impressions typically come to them through clairsentience rather than through clairvoyance or clairaudience. Investigate your clairsentience Are you an emotional person? If so, what moods do you feel? Can you feel the moods of other people and animals? Can you feel the moods of specific locations or from objects? Can you feel the moods of spirits who have died with unresolved issues? Do you feel emotions about certain events in history and don’t know why? Do you feel the emotions of friends or family or people close to you? Do you ever get a gut feeling that you should contact someone immediately? When you touch something or someone, do you get a rush of feelings? Do you sometimes experience physical sensations such as warmth or cold for which there is no external cause? Do you often have gut instincts about people or places you know nothing about? The following exercise is a fantasy meditation that is designed to stimulate clairsentience - your awareness to sense, read and respond to the feelings and atmospheres around you. Find a quiet place and sit down in a comfortable position. Breathe deeply, and imagine you are a beautiful fish in the ocean. Enjoy the feeling of freedom as you glide through the water. Now imagine yourself to be one fish in a school of brightly coloured fish. You swim in rhythm with your group, sense its mood and shift your direction in perfect time and rhythm with the others. Now take this one step further and imagine yourself to be able to feel the mood of an entire oceanic world. You automatically sense and locate where to feed, play and swim and where you will be safe. You feel in total harmony with your ocean world. CLAIRVOYANCE Parapsychologists consider clairvoyance to be one of the three classes of psychic perception or extrasensory perception (ESP), along with telepathy and precognition, although there is overlap among the three. The word clairvoyance comes from the French, meaning ‘clear seeing’, and refers to the power to see an event or an image in the past, present or future. This type of sight does not happen with your physical eyes, but with your inner eyes. A person with clairvoyant ability can receive information in the form of visual symbols or images. Some clairvoyants describe it as a bit like having a movie screen in your head with images moving across it. Other clairvoyants may see symbols that they learn to interpret, or perhaps people and animals in their spirit form. Psychic visions typically appear internally, through the mind’s eye, and this is called subjective clairvoyance, but in rare cases they can also appear externally, in the environment around them as if they were real, and this is called objective clairvoyance. Many people think of the term ‘inner eye’ as a figure of speech, but the yogic tradition also uses the term. According to Eastern tradition, the third eye or sixth chakra is the seat of clairvoyance. Located in the centre of the forehead, it is the screen that receives clairvoyance, whether in the form of visions or imagery. In mediumship, clairvoyance may account for the ability of mediums to provide unknown information at séances. There are several different types of clairvoyance, including the ability to see auras (auric sight), to see into the past (retrocognition) or into the future (precognition). Different states of clairvoyance also include the ability to see through objects (X-ray vision), the ability to see health conditions in other people or animals (body scanning), the ability to see things from far away (travelling clairvoyance), the ability to experience visions in dreams (dream clairvoyance), the ability to see things that transcend time and space (spatial clairvoyance), and the ability to see astral, etheric and spiritual or divine planes (astral and spiritual clairvoyance). Under your eyelids People who have strong visual skills tend to be particularly attuned to clairvoyance. If you think in pictures and notice how things look or appear first, rather than how they sound, feel, taste or smell, you may have clairvoyant abilities just waiting to be developed. Perhaps images that you can’t relate to anything currently taking place just pop into your head. The following exercise will help you identify and work with your clairvoyant ability. Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed, and sit comfortably. Take a deep breath, and feel a protective bubble of light surround you. Let your eyes go out of focus as you concentrate on your third eye chakra. When you are ready, focus your mind’s eye on the images that are behind your eyelids. What do you see? It’s possible you will not see anything at all, and if so, that’s OK. Clairvoyance may not be your strength or you may need to practise some creative visualization exercises. If you do see images, can their meanings be understood? When you are ready, take a deep breath, exhale and return to consciousness in a positive, relaxed mood. Throughout history clairvoyance has been used and cultivated by prophets, fortune-tellers, witches, and seers of all kinds. Some were gifted naturally with clairvoyance while others learned how to develop it through training. In the 1830s the first scientific experiment to study clairvoyance was conducted on psychic Adele Maginot, and impressive results were achieved. Tests for clairvoyance of concealed cards began in the 1870s with French physiologist Charles Richet, and Richet’s work was taken further in the 1930s by American parapsychologist J B Rhine. Rhine developed a special deck of symbol cards to conduct tests (see ESP cards). In the years since considerable evidence has been accumulated to suggest that clairvoyance exists in both humans and animals, although sceptics disagree. CLEDONOMANCY A method of divination in which significance is ascribed to chance remarks. It dates back to ancient Greece and Rome, where omens of good and evil were established from chance remarks spoken without premeditation. CLOUD BUSTING Also known as cloud dissolving, this is the psychokinetic ability to make clouds disappear by thought or will. Sceptics argue that clouds naturally appear and disappear every 15 to 20 minutes on their own, and tests on cloud busting have never been conclusive. However, various cultures around the world perform weather control ceremonies in the firm belief that humans, being connected to all things living, can influence the weather. Whether or not this is possible remains unknown. CLOUD READING Cloud reading is one of the oldest forms of divination and was commonly practised by the Druids and the Celts. By looking at cloud formations and how the clouds moved, fortunes could be determined. Odd-looking clouds, and clouds that take on the distinct shape of something or someone, have intrigued and fascinated people through the ages. Clouds, mist and vapour are basic elements in human mystery, and many reports of apparitions begin and end with curiously shaped clouds. COCK LANE GHOST From 1762 to 1764 in Cock Lane, London, so-called poltergeist activity both terrified and fascinated onlookers. The story was written down by Andrew Lang and published in 1894 with the title Cock Lane and Common Sense. It all began in 1760 when a stockbroker, Mr Kent, rented a house in Cock Lane from Mr Parsons, a parish clerk. At the time, a Miss Fanny was Kent’s housekeeper; the two fell in love and decided to make wills naming each other as beneficiaries. Not long after, Kent and Parsons had a disagreement over money. Mr Kent moved out of the house and began legal proceedings against Parsons. In the meantime, Fanny died of smallpox, and Parsons seized upon the chance to get his revenge on Kent. He concocted a story whereby Mr Kent had murdered Fanny for the inheritance, and in 1762 Parsons began to claim that Fanny was haunting the house. He alleged that Fanny had told his 12-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, that she had been poisoned by Kent. Parsons invited a committee of 20 or more men to his house to witness Fanny’s ghost possessing his young daughter. Elizabeth, apparently under the influence of Fanny, declared once again that she had been poisoned and that the only way she could rest would be if Kent were hanged. Before long Cock Lane was full of the curious - Parsons even took to charging a fee for people to enter the house and listen to the ghost knocking. There were, however, many who were suspicious of the ghost tale, and their suspicions were confirmed when the ghost failed to appear as promised when Kent was brought to Fanny’s vault. Parsons tried to argue that the ghost did not appear because Kent had moved Fanny’s coffin, but Mr Kent countered this by taking several witnesses to the coffin, which he had opened to reveal Fanny’s body. Afterwards, Kent indicted Parsons and his daughter for fraud. Parsons was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison. COINCIDENCE See Synchronicity. COLD READING A cold reading is a psychic reading made for someone the psychic has never met. This type of reading is different from one in which there may have been previous contact or one in which the psychic has a certain amount of information already about the person being read. Typically, people visit their favourite psychics on a regular basis, and when this happens the readings are no longer cold, as the psychic becomes familiar with aspects of a client’s personality and life. COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS The collective or universal unconscious was a concept developed by psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) and later supported by Joseph Campbell in his study of world mythology. It refers to the part of the mind that is ‘inborn’ or determined by heredity and that shares memories, mental patterns and images with all humans. Prior to Jung, the prevailing view of the unconscious had been that of Sigmund Freud, who believed that it was the product of repressed childhood traumas. Jung affirmed that a personal unconscious of repressed or forgotten material existed but that the collective unconscious consisted of patterns of instinctual behaviour, called archetypes. The word archetype comes from the Greek arche, meaning ‘first’, and type, meaning ‘imprint’ or ‘pattern’. Psychological archetypes are thus patterns that form the basic blueprint for human personality. For Jung archetypes pre-exist in the collective unconscious of humanity and determine how we both perceive and behave. These patterns are inborn - part of our inheritance and psychological life as human beings. They are both inside us and outside us. We can meet them by turning inwards to our dreams or imagination, and by turning outwards to our myths, legends, literature and religions. Psychic or fraud? A cold reading can be a good way to see if a psychic really can pick up relevant information that can help you. Be aware, though, that some psychics are very skilled at getting information about you without you even knowing it. They may be experts in observation, using every movement of your body and every expression on your face to verify information they give you; even a slight hesitation on your part can speak volumes. They may repeat information that you unconsciously already gave. Another technique is to make general statements or questions that could apply to anyone and to watch your reaction to pick up clues about what you are looking for in the reading. Be sure to recognize this approach - it is not how genuine psychics work. COLLEGE of PSYCHIC STUDIES Founded in 1884 as the London Spiritualist Alliance, the college changed its name in 1955 to the College of Psychic Science, and in 1970 it became the College of Psychic Studies. The college is now a nonprofit organization, based in South Kensington, London, which explores psychic phenomena and other spiritual matters such as healing. The college seeks ‘to promote spiritual values and a greater understanding of the wider areas of human consciousness, welcoming the truths of all spiritual traditions and, equally, each and every individual.’ An extensive library, materials and courses in psychic development, spiritual healing and mediumship are offered to the general public and to psychical researchers. The college also has a website where useful information can be accessed: www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk. COLOUR DIVINATION Because colours are a dynamic part of our lives, affecting us in many ways (see Colours), some believe that colour can be used as a tool for divination and guidance. All about colours The following provides some typically accepted attributes of colour that can help us gain insight into people no matter how they present themselves. Red: Colour of strength and power, linked to sexual energy; can indicate an active person with lots of energy; darker shades can reflect strong emotions, even anger; can also indicate a creative person. Orange: The colour of fun, creativity and generosity (they may be too generous); a bright and optimistic person. Yellow: Intelligence, happiness, curious by nature; a person who prefers to take the lead. Green: Colour of healing; peaceful, emotional balance and compassion; a person who is honest and helpful. Blue: Spiritual understanding; a person who is usually perceptive, has a need for calm and is deeply involved in their work, sometimes to the point of neglecting other things; someone who is dedicated and talented and can be critical of others. Indigo: Vision, intuition, psychic ability. Purple and Violet: Seekers, impatient with others, including themselves; have high ideals but can become depressed if ideals not met; someone who needs and seeks spiritual experiences. Black: Colour of protection and groundedness, psychic ability; when worn with another colour strengthens that colour; secretive, a quiet strength. White: Colour of spirit and of balance, could also indicate detachment; a person who is hopeful and spiritual; when worn with other colours amplifies those colours. Brown: Strength and nobility; someone who is down to earth, practical and helpful; someone who has strong friendships, is a devoted worker but can be overly critical. Pink: Love warmth tenderness innocence, the impulse to nurture. Each colour has its own unique qualities. Some are uplifting and exciting, and some are soothing. Some stimulate healing, and some are depressing. We all have colours we like and dislike. Many believe we subconsciously pick colours we know will help us through the day and that it is possible to divine the mood of others by the colours they choose to wear or the colours they are most drawn to. Energy healers who read auras believe that auras are made up of colours and that the colour of a person’s aura can tell an enormous amount about a person and how she or he is feeling at that moment. For example, a person with a happy disposition might have a bright yellow aura, but it could change to red if they are angry. Someone else might have a red aura, suggesting they are often angry. If someone’s aura has dark spots it could suggest ill health or disturbing emotions. COLOURS Every colour is believed to vibrate with its own energy and to have specific effects on individuals. Seven colours in particular -red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, the colours of the rainbow - have carried religious, occult, mystical and healing meanings since ancient times. Red, which has the longest wavelength, typically represents the physical and material, while violet, the shortest wavelength, represents spirituality and enlightenment. White, the combination of all colours, is usually associated with divinity and purity, while black, the absence of all colour, is associated by some people with evil but by others with protection and comfort, like the warm darkness of a summer night. Traditionally, the body is associated with red, the mind with yellow and the spirit with blue. Healing with colour has a long tradition dating back to ancient times. The Pythagoreans believed that white light, the Godhead, contains all sound and colour and that the seven colours of the spectrum correspond to the seven planets and the eight notes of the musical scale (both the first and the eighth notes are red). Despite the fact that colour healing has been in use for centuries, it wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that it began to receive attention in the West. In 1878 Edwin Babbitt published The Principles of Light and Colour, reaffirming the Pythagorean correspondences of music, colour and sound, and by so doing drew attention to the potential of colour healing. In the 1930s Dinshah Ghadiali proposed that imbalances are created by too much or too little of particular colours, and that balance can be restored with the use of coloured lights. Today modern colour therapy or healing is a controversial but popular alternative medicine technique involving the use of coloured lamps as well as coloured foods and drinks in coloured containers. Modern science is able to provide evidence for some of the ancient claims about colour. In the 1970s and 1980s it was shown that coloured light triggers biochemical reactions in the body. Later research confirmed that blues and greens have a soothing effect and help lower stress, brain-wave activity and blood pressure. Warm colours such as orange and red have been shown to have a stimulating effect. Pink has been shown to have a relaxing effect in the short term, although in the longer term it can trigger irritability. Each colour is associated with a specific vibrational frequency, so when there is a predominance of one or two colours in the environment that vibrational frequency -and the characteristics or qualities associated with that frequency will tend to influence the activities conducted in that environment and the attitude of those in it. It is small wonder, then, that many psychologists use colour to produce beneficial effects in the home, workplace and in hospitals, and in visualization techniques patients are asked to imagine themselves bathed in a particular colour to encourage healing in mind, body and spirit. COMMITTEE FOR THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF CLAIMS OF THE PARANORMAL A nonprofit scientific and educational organization, started in 1976 and based in Buffalo, New York, to ‘encourage the critical investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims from a responsible, scientific point of view and disseminate factual information about the results of such inquiries to the scientific community and the public’. It also aims to promote science and scientific enquiry, critical thinking, science education and the use of reason in examining important issues. The organization maintains a network of people who critically examine paranormal claims and sponsors research into such claims. The group originated as an offshoot of the American Humanist Association following a disagreement over the claims made by astrologers. It soon gathered a following of committed sceptics, including scientists, academics and science writers such as Isaac Asimov, Philip Klass, Ray Hyman, Sidney Hook, and others. The Skeptical Inquirer is the society’s official journal, and its aim is to explore and expose public gullibility about the paranormal. Many local branches of the group are scattered across the US. Members include academics and scientists as well as magicians, many holding religious views, such as atheism, that are not in accord with belief in the paranormal. Although the group has debunked many claims of the paranormal, from hauntings to ESP to faith healing, there are some who believe it goes too far in its attempt to debunk from a scientific point of view. Nonetheless, it does provide a valuable counterbalance to paranormal claims. CONE OF POWER See Circle. CONSCIOUSNESS A funtion of the mind, generally thought to incorporate qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one’s environment. In popular language the term ‘consciousness’ denotes being awake and responsive to one’s environment; this contrasts with being asleep or being in a coma. The term level of consciousness’ denotes how consciousness seems to vary during anaesthesia and during various states of mind such as daydreaming, lucid dreaming, imagining, etc. Esoteric techniques such as meditation and pathworking and shamanic techniques such as chanting, rhythmic drumming or dancing, as well as experimental techniques such as sensory deprivation and narcotics to induce hallucination all involve altered states of con-ciousness. Non-consciousness exists when consciousness is not present. There is speculation, especially among religious groups as well as occultists, psychics and spiritualists, that consciousness may exist after death or before birth. Consciousness is notoriously difficult to define or locate. Many cultures and religious traditions place the seat of consciousness in a soul, separate from the body. Conversely, many scientists and philosophers consider consciousness to be intimately linked to the neural functioning of the brain. CONSTELLATION, USS The USS Constellation, floating in the harbour of Baltimore, is perhaps one of the most haunted ships in America. The ship was commissioned by the US navy and first launched as a 36-gun frigate in 1797. Commodore Thomas Truxton was the first captain, and he set a bloody precedent. In 1799, after the Americans had won a battle against the French, the captain learned that seaman Neil Harvey had fallen asleep while on watch. The captain ordered another sailor to run a sword through the sleeping man and then had Harvey’s body tied to a cannon and blown to pieces in order to warn the other sailors. Many visitors to the ship report seeing Neil Harvey’s ghost wandering on deck, and it is said that some people even mistake him for a costumed tour guide. During the nineteenth century the warship was damaged in battles, and the original ship was broken up in 1853. The Constellation reborn in 1855 as a sloop, and served the US navy until 1933, when it was decommissioned and sat quietly in harbour. In 1955 it was brought home to Baltimore to await repairs, and this is when stories of ghosts began to be told. Sailors standing night watch on nearby ships said they heard odd noises and reported seeing ghosts walking on its deck. To this day reports of sightings of spirits continue to occur. Captain Truxton has been seen, and cries and moans have been heard in the hold. An anonymous seaman has been spotted sadly wandering around the gun deck. He is believed to be a sailor who became overwhelmed by the harsh life at sea and hung himself. The USS Constellation is docked at Pier 1 in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and is open to the public for tours. CONTROL A discarnate entity or spirit of the dead that is thought to communicate through a trance medium. The term is derived from the notion that a control is the entity that generally controls the trance state and decides which spirits will communicate and how they will communicate to the living through the medium. The term control would have been a familiar one during the height of spiritualism, but today it isn’t widely used and mediums prefer to use terms such as spirit helpers, gatekeepers or friends instead. A control manifests during a trance state and generally takes over a medium’s body and consciousness, communicating through the medium. According to various controls that have been questioned, controls are separate entities from the medium, and during trance, when the control takes over, the medium’s consciousness is displaced out of body or transported to the spirit world. In some case a medium may not be aware of the control until told by others who have witnessed the manifestation. A medium typically has one control, as was the case with Mina Crandon and her spirit control, Walter, but some may have more than one. There are many who believe that controls are secondary personalities of the medium rather than spirits of the dead. Even prominent mediums like Eileen Garrett concluded that her control might have been a construct drawn from her own unconscious. Most controls do reflect aspects of the medium’s personality, and it is logical to conclude that they are secondary personalities of the medium. However, if controls are secondary personalities, they are unusual in that they do not interrupt and intrude during waking life, as secondary personalities do in multiple personality disorders. COOK, FLORENCE [1856–1904] Florence Cook is best remembered as the medium who was able to produce the full spirit materialization of her controls. She said she first noticed her psychic powers as a child when she heard angel voices and experienced her first trance state at the age of 14. At the age of 15 she lost her job as a teacher due to poltergeist phenomena and from then on devoted herself to her development as a medium. Cook’s most prominent control spirit was called Katie King. Cook would retire into a cabinet and be tied to a chair with rope, the knots sealed with wax. After a few minutes King, who could not speak but only nod and smile, would emerge in front of the cabinet. After the spirit disappeared, the sitters waited for Cook’s instructions to release her, and they always found her in the cabinet still clothed and tied and exhausted from the experience. Cook was not reluctant to allow the press in, and a reporter from the Daily Telegraph attended several of her séances. On the first occasion, he saw faces, and the following year he witnessed the materialization of Katie King and took photographs of her. In view of the precautions taken, such as Cook being bound with seals, ‘he was baffled’. Cook’s abilities led to various prominent persons attending her séances, and in 1872 she begun to receive financial support from the businessman and spiritualist Charles Blackburn. She also attracted the attention of spiritualist investigators, including the British scientist Sir William Crookes. The appearances of Katie King were investigated many times, with sitters regularly reporting that they were able to see Katie and Cook at the same time, for the cabinet would be opened and Cook would be visible in the back while Katie appeared out front. Many sitters also reported that Katie King and Florence Cook were very similar in appearance, and some charged that Cook and Katie were, in fact, the same person. Cook was caught at least twice in fraud. On one occasion a sitter grabbed a spirit hand and found he had grabbed Cook. On another occasion in 1880, Sir George Sitwell noticed that King was wearing corsets. He seized her and pulled aside the curtain to reveal an empty chair and the ropes untied. Sir William Crookes vigorously investigated the case, taking photographs, witnessing both Cook and Katie at the same time and even attaching Cook to a galvanometer to record Cook’s movements while Katie appeared. Despite allegations of fraud, Sir William and other supporters remained convinced that Florence Cook was a genuine medium. In 1874 Katie King departed. Afterwards first Leila, and then a French girl calling herself Marie became Cook’s controls. Marie remained her control until shortly before Florence Cook’s death in 1904. A photograph was taken of her at a séance in about 1902, which later appeared in Psychic Science (January 1927); one of the sitters made the important observation that those present ‘saw the form of the tall slim young woman that appears in the picture; Mrs Corner [Florence Cook] being short, rather stout, and of darker complexion’. COOKE, GRACE [1892–1979] Grace Cooke, born in London in 1892, became a spiritualist medium in 1913. Unlike most mediums of the day, intent on communicating with the dead, Cooke focused on spiritual development, which she felt the world badly needed. From an early age Cooke experienced psychic visions of a Native American spirit guide called White Eagle, who told her they would accomplish great spiritual work together. In 1936 White Eagle instructed Cooke to form a church for people ready to be light bearers and to practise brotherhood and sisterhood. After several false starts, the White Eagle Lodge was established in Hampshire in 1945. It soon grew into an international organization publishing tracts and books. Until her death in 1979 Cooke emphasized living by the light of love and healing. In her later years she experienced vivid memories of previous lives, and the stories of these past lives are recorded in her book The Illuminated Ones. CORPSE CANDLES According to British folklore, corpse candles are mysterious candles that float through the air by night and hover near locations where death is imminent. They are said to vanish when approached and warn of death to those who see them or of the death of a loved one. In Welsh folklore a pale bluish corpse candle is said to presage the death of a child, a bigger candle the death of an adult and multiple candles a multiple loss. Although corpse candles have been witnessed all over the British Isles, their origin is supposed to date back to fifth-century Wales. Legend says that St David, the patron saint of Wales, was concerned that the people he served were always unprepared for death, so he prayed that they might have some kind of warning. He received a vision in which he was told that the Welsh people would always be forewarned of a death by the dim light of mysterious candles. CORPSE LIGHTS Corpse lights are similar to corpse candles in that they are seen at night and are believed to be death omens. They are believed to be phosphorescent lights in white, red, or blue that can appear almost anywhere, inside or outside a house, on the ground, on the roof or over a person’s chest. They are also known as jacko’-lanterns, ignis fatuus, corposant, fetch-candles and fetch lights. It is possible they are produced by atmospheric gas, but in folklore there are many reports of their seemingly mysterious and supernatural appearance. COTTAGE CITY POLTERGEIST A fascinating and curious case that was the inspiration behind the 1971 bestselling book by William Peter Blatty The Exorcist. In the book, later made into a film, a young girl is possessed by the devil and subject to exorcism by a Roman Catholic priest, but in the original 1949 case that inspired the book, the subject was a 13-year-old boy. The case began in Cottage City, Maryland. The family of a young boy, called in some newspaper reports ‘Roland Doe’, began to experience poltergeist activity. It started with scratching noises from the house walls, and then the boy’s bed began shaking and moving on its own, with similar events occurring at school. A psychiatrist was called in to examine the boy but could find nothing wrong with him. The family called in a minister who believed that a ghost, perhaps the spirit of the dead aunt, might be involved. Some reports say that a Lutheran minister performed an exorcism or a series of exorcisms, while other reports say exorcisms were performed by a pair of Jesuit priests. After the movie appeared, new reports surfaced of a detailed diary kept by one of the Jesuit priests of the entire exorcism process. The diary says that the exorcism took place in a hospital, the boy’s reactions to the exorcism were violent and that it took four months for the ‘demon’ to be expelled. Afterwards the boy remembered nothing and the case was quietly buried. The room at the hospital where the exorcism took place was rumoured to be haunted in the years following. Many people who worked near the room continued to report cold waves of air and unusual noises coming from inside the room. What truly happened in the case remains a mystery. Were there natural or psychological explanations for what occurred in the case? Or was this simply the story of an attention-starved boy tricking the adults around him into believing he was possessed by the devil? COTTINGLEY FAIRIES In July 1917, 16-year-old Elsie Wright and her 10-year-old cousin Frances Griffiths claimed they could see fairies in the small wooded creek behind Elsie’s house in Cottingley, West Yorkshire. Elsie’s father dismissed their claims, and so one day the girls borrowed his camera to take a picture of them. The picture, when developed, showed Elsie with a group of fairies dancing in front of her. A month later the girls took a picture of Elsie with a gnome. Elsie’s parents were startled by the photographs, but her father remained unconvinced. Her mother, however, took the pictures to a Theosophist meeting one evening, and soon the photos were published. The girls’ most famous supporter became Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle printed the first two pictures in Strand Magazine in 1920 and three more photos a couple of years later. He then expanded his articles into a book, The Coming of the Fairies. Shortly after, Frances’s family moved away from Elsie’s, and the girls stopped seeing fairies. In the decades that followed, the photographs were widely circulated and deemed false, and even Conan Doyle himself finally admitted that he may have been the victim of a hoax. It wasn’t until the 1980s, though, that Frances and Elsie admitted that they had faked the photographs to get back at the adults who had told them off for believing in fairies. They said that when Conan Doyle had got involved they didn’t want to embarrass him by admitting that the photos were faked. They also said that as young girls they had actually seen fairies, but that the fairies didn’t like to be photographed. CRANDON, Mina STINSON [1888–194,1] This Boston medium, also known as Margery, left a controversial legacy behind her. Opinion is divided as to whether she was one of the greatest mediums of her day or a complete fraud. Unusually for mediums, Crandon’s early life did not offer any hints of her future psychic power. It wasn’t until her divorce in 1918 and second marriage to prominent surgeon Le Roi Goddard Crandon, who had an interest in the paranormal and set up a psychic home circle, that her abilities began to surface. Soon she was demonstrating remarkable abilities as a medium managed by her control, Walter. Walter was in fact Mina’s brother who had died five years earlier, with whom she had been very close. Several investigations of Crandon’s power were put together by prominent academics and psychical investigators, including Harry Houdini the magician, who was utterly convinced that she was a fraud. Despite causing bitter controversy, Crandon had many supporters at the American Society for Psychical Research, and a book published in 1925, Margery the Medium by Malcolm Bird, editor of the Scientific American, was very favourable to her. Mina Crandon appeared to enjoy all the attention she received from press and public alike. By all accounts it wasn’t just her psychic powers that her supporters admired. She was a vivacious and charismatic person who was not adverse to holding séances in the nude and to having extramarital affairs with more than one of her investigators. When asked on her deathbed if fraud had taken place, she refused to set the record straight. With the hint of a smile and a twinkle in her eye, she is said to have replied, Why don’t you guess? You’ll all be guessing for the rest of your lives.’ CREATIVE VISUALIZATION Creative visualization is the process by which the creation of a visual image is believed to promote the desired outcome. Creative visualization is built on the ancient belief in the power of the mind to create what you want in your life. If you think about what you’d like to achieve in your life, you can do just that, as positive images and thoughts attract positive energy. Creative visualization is widely used in business, sport, art, psychotherapy, psychic development, mystical and occult arts and personal selfdevelopment. Imagination has a powerful influence on self-image, and a poor self-image can often mean the difference between success and failure in life. Creative visualization, which seems to be most effective when practised in a relaxed state, can be used to feed your mind positive images to create a better self-image and improve your personal experiences. For example, if you want to develop your psychic awareness, you need to imagine being psychic. If you want to pass an exam, you imagine yourself passing it. Those who practise visualization say it’s important to fill in all the details of your experience so that the image is as real to the mind as possible. CREWE CIRCLE The Crewe Circle was a group of spirit photographers based in Crewe, England, in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Led by William Hope, the circle claimed to be able to photograph the souls of the dead. Many psychical research organizations investigated the claims, but the most documented are those sponsored by the Royal Photographic Society and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes novels. Conan Doyle was so intrigued by the Crewe Circle that he wrote a book about it entitled The Case for Spirit Photography (1922). Over the years the spirit photographs taken by the members of the Crewe Circle have come under detailed examination, and have been dismissed as fraudulent by many, but so far none has been proven conclusively to be a hoax. It is possible that the photos could be spontaneous images of spirits captured on the film plates. CROISET, Gerard [1909–1980] Born in the Netherlands, Croiset grew up to become an internationally renowned clairvoyant, highly regarded as a police psychic for his ability to find missing people, animals and objects. Croiset was raised in foster homes and orphanages and began to experience clairvoyance at the age of six. He dropped out of school at 13 and drifted into unskilled work. The turning point in his life came in 1935 when he was introduced to a group of local spiritualists, and over the next few years his reputation as a psychic and healer grew. In 1945 Croiset volunteered to be a test subject for the parapsychologist Willem Tenhaef from the University of Utrecht. Tenhaef was so impressed by Croiset’s ability that he began to mentor him, and introduced him to police work. In the years that followed Croiset became famous for his help in solving crimes all over the world. His passion was finding missing children. Croiset never accepted payment for his psychic readings, but he did accept donations for his healing clinic where he treated thousands of clients. He was able to diagnose a person instantly on seeing them. Perhaps his most famous contribution to the field of parapsychology was to popularize the chair test. In this test, chairs in a room would be numbered, and Croiset was able to predict successfully who would sit in a selected chair a month or so before a meeting took place. CROOKES, SIR WILLIAM [1832–1919] Sir William Crookes is perhaps best known as a groundbreaking chemist and physicist who discovered X rays and explored the existence of subatomic particles such as the electron. For much of his life he was also deeply committed to spiritualism. He served as president of the Ghost Club of London for a while and took a great interest in the cases investigated by this organization. During his own investigations Crookes believed that many times he did in fact witness the materialization of human forms, and he also studied and photographed teleplasm and ectoplasm. Published posthumously in 1926, Crookes’s work, Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism, is still considered required reading for any serious student of the subject. CROP CIRCLES Patterns, typically circle shaped, that appear mysteriously in the middle of grain fields in the middle of the night. The grain inside the circles is usually crushed as if knocked down by force. No tracks have been found leading to these circles, resulting in the belief that some paranormal force must have been involved in their creation. Some crop circles have been exposed as hoaxes, but others remain unexplained. Crop circles have been reported all over the world, including in the USA, but they began appearing in southern England in the 1970s. They vary in size from about 10 feet to 200 or even 300 feet in diameter. They aren’t always circles but can also appear in elaborate formations and patterns. They are always immaculate and cleanly made. Natural forces, such as violent or freak weather patterns, stationary whirlwinds or the effects of irrigation have been put forward as theories, but all these fail to explain the more complex patterns, which often resemble pictograms. There are those who believe some intelligent life force is trying to communicate with humankind, while others believe extraterrestrial forces must be at work. The mystery remains unsolved. CROSS CORRESPONDENCES A method used extensively in the early twentieth century to test the powers of mediums. The correspondences were made up of the same or similar information allegedly from discarnate entities delivered to mediums while they were in a trance or through automatic writing. It is difficult to explain how these messages occur, and many psychical researchers believe they provide good evidence to support the case for life after death. Others believe that the mediums draw the information from their own unconscious or from others using telepathy or clairvoyance. Between 1900 and 1932, cross correspondences were studied intensively by the Society for Psychical Research, in particular, by Frederick Myers. Myers believed that human life might continue after death and that finding evidence for it required the help of the dead - in fact, the dead would have the best idea for how the living could discover this evidence. He stated that producing this evidence would require a group effort on the part of several spirits rather than just contact with one spirit. Cross correspondences were produced during Myers’ lifetime by several mediums. Words spoken under trance and written during automatic writing sessions by mediums sitting at the same time but in different locations showed similarities to one another. But it was after Myers’ death in 1901 that cross correspondences became more frequent; a message delivered to one medium would be undecipherable until combined with a message from another. By 1918 the Society for Psychical Research concluded that cross correspondences did form large, interlinked groups and were evidence for survival after death. However others, such as another of the Society’s founding members, Frank Podmore, believed they were the result of telepathic communication among the living. Interest in cross correspondences faded in the 1930s, and although they do appear now and again in psychical research, today they are not studied with great interest. CROSSROAD GHOSTS Crossroads - the meeting and parting of ways - have long been regarded as likely places for ghosts or other spirit activity to take place. Crossroad superstitions can be found in Europe, India, Japan and among Native Americans, perhaps because in some parts of the world murderers, sorcerers and suicides were buried at crossroads with a stake or nail driven through the corpse, an act known as ‘nailing down the ghost’ to prevent the ghost’s return. Or perhaps the cross shape of the intersection mimicked the consecrated ground of a churchyard, a burial place denied to murderers and suicides. Or perhaps crossroads were places where territories, routes or villages collided, and they therefore became regarded as meeting places between the spirit realm and earth. Crossroads are believed to be haunted by spirits who take delight in leading travellers astray. In German folklore a ghostly rider is believed to haunt a crossroads in Schleswig; the neck of his horse stretches across the path and prevents people passing. In European lore the dead are said to appear at crossroads, and in Welsh legend every crossroad is thought to be inhabited by spirits of the dead on Allhallows Eve. In modern evolutions of the tradition, crossroads in the rural Mississippi Delta area are reportedly frequented by either Lucifer or his minions; wandering musicians and minstrels seeking to bargain their immortal souls for success in their musical endeavours know to go to crossroads to meet with the Devil. The cross shape of crossroads is in some traditions protection against the spirits that are said to haunt it. For example, in Irish folklore humans who have been kidnapped by fairies are thought to be able to gain their freedom at crossroads. One German superstition holds that if you are chased by a ghost or demon, you should head to a crossroads for protection. On reaching the crossroads the spirits will vanish with an unearthly shriek. CROWE, CATHERINE [C.I1800–1870] The author of The Night Side of Nature, which is one of the earliest and most important studies of apparitions, Catherine Crowe used a scientific approach to study ghosts. Some contend that her fascination with apparitions may have been brought about by a brief period of insanity, but this does not take away from the fact that her work has often been cited as the model for subsequent investigations of the paranormal. CROWLEY, ALEISTER [1875–1947] Called by the media ‘the wickedest man in the world’, Aleister Crowley courted controversy all his life with his fascination for sex, magic and blood. Despite his excesses, there are some who think this English occultist was a truly great magician. Born Edward Alexander Crowley on 12 October 1875, in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, Crowley was raised by parents who were members of a fundamentalist Christian sect called the Plymouth Brethren. Crowley was drawn to blood and torture from a young age and was branded ‘the beast’ or Antichrist by his mother when he rebelled against the Brethren. After leaving Trinity College, Cambridge without a degree but fluent in occultism, Crowley joined the London Chapter of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and quickly advanced up the ranks. He renamed himself Count Vladimir and began to pursue his occult activities full-time in London. Stories began to circulate about his alleged supernatural powers, including psychic attacks on his enemies with demons and vampires. Whether this is true or not is uncertain, but one thing is clear: he had incredible charisma and presence. A disagreement with another Golden Dawn member forced him to leave London and live in Scotland for a time. Crowley’s sexual appetite was huge. He married twice but had a number of mistresses, and a seemingly unending stream of willing women were attracted to him. He also had a homosexual relationship with the poet Victor Neuburg, who became his assistant in magic. In 1912 Crowley became involved in the Oro Templi Orientis occult order, becoming its leader in 1922. From 1915 to 1919 Crowley lived in the US before visiting Italy, where he set up his hillside villa called the Sacred Abbey of the Thelemic Mysteries. The villa became the site for his sexual orgies and magical rites, and the behaviour led him to be expelled from Italy in 1923 by Benito Mussolini. In his later years Crowley was a victim of poor health, drug addiction and financial trouble. He earned a meagre living from his writing, since much of it is incoherent and rambling, but many continue to read his work today. His most important work, The Book of Law, was allegedly communicated from the Egyptian god Horus’s spirit messenger Aiwass. Central to this book is the Law of Thelma: ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law’, which Crowley maintained meant doing what you must do and nothing else. His other important work is Magick in Theory and Practise (1929), which many practitioners consider to be a fine work on ceremonial magic. (He spelled ‘magic’ as ‘magick’ to distinguish it from stage magic.) Crowley’s other published works include The Diary of a Drug Fiend (1922), The Equinox of the Gods (1937), and the Book of Thoth (1944), which is his interpretation of the Tarot. Two volumes of his autobiography were also published. In 1934 he tried to sue Nina Hammett for her biography of him, Laughing Torso, in which she stated that he practised black magic and human sacrifice, but the jury found in favour of Hammett. Crowley died on 1 December 1947, in a boarding house in Hastings. His final years were spent practising ritual magic with Gerald B Gardner, whom some call the father of modern Wicca. Even though Crowley has been dead for decades, his influence is still very much felt today. One of the many attractions of Crowley’s type of magic was his advice to follow your own way, become your own self and create your own lifestyle - you don’t need a priest or a judge to tell you how to act; you work it out for yourself. It is easy to see how, in the hands of the young, impressionable or immature, this advice can be misinterpreted and become not only misguided but dangerous. CRYPTOMNESIA Information that is forgotten or repressed but which comes to the surface in mediumship or contact with spirits of the dead. Forgetting information and storing it in the subconscious mind are essential if the conscious mind is to function efficiently and stay uncluttered. However, during trance or altered states of consciousness, forgotten or repressed information may break free from the subconscious and surface again, where it appears as new information to the medium. Psychical researchers always consider the possibility of cryptomnesia when investigating mediums and cases of past-life recall. The earliest recorded case of cryptomnesia was in 1874 when English medium William Moses was said to have contacted the spirits of two young brothers who had died in India. The deaths were verified; however, six days before the séance it was discovered that an obituary to the brothers had appeared in the newspaper. Moses’s information about the brothers was similar to that in the obituary, and psychical researchers concluded that Moses must have read the obituary and had forgotten that he had done so. It is not known how long the brain can store information and how much information it can store without taking conscious note of it, so it is difficult to rule out cryptomnesia in cases of memories of afterlife and reincarnation. In one famous cryptomnesia case, a woman identified as Ms C communicated under hypnosis with a woman called Blanche from the court of Richard II. The period details were uncannily accurate, but when asked under trance what books she had read about Richard II, Ms C acknowledged that when she was 12 she had read an Emily Holt novel, Countess Maud, which contained the same material as Blanche had given. The only time cyrptomnesia may possibly be ruled out is when the information received by the medium goes beyond accessible records to facts that can only be verified by other persons or in personal accounts. However, even then other explanations such as ESP and telepathy can’t be entirely ruled out. CRYSTAL BALL A tool used to help diviners go into a psychic trance, the crystal ball is perhaps the classic and best-known method of divination. Most people assume it is the ball that has the power, but it is not. The secret is not the ball but the technique of scrying, which involves keeping your eyes open while staring into a shiny, reflective surface to induce a form of meditation or self-hypnosis - the prime state for opening awareness to clairvoyance and psychic insight. Scrying and crystal gazing practitioners were found in ancient times throughout Mesopotamia, among the Druids and other peoples of Europe and in China. Modern scryers most commonly use crystal balls that are usually three to six inches in diameter. The ideal crystal ball is made of quartz, not glass, because quartz crystal is thought to increase psychic energy. Crystal gazing exercise Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed and, holding your crystal in your hand, begin slow rhythmic breathing. Focus on what the problem is or on what you want to know about. As you hold the crystal, feel it coming to life. Imagine the electrical energy within it growing stronger, helping to stimulate your psychic vision. Hold the crystal so you can look into it easily. Don’t stare intently into it, just look at it with a soft gaze - the kind of stare you have when daydreaming. Stay relaxed, and as you look into the crystal pay attention to its formation. Turn your crystal slowly in your hand so you can see how the light plays through it in different ways. As images begin to form, ask yourself what they mean to you. Pay attention to the emotions you feel, and trust them. When you are ready, close your eyes, take some deep breaths and come back to the here and now. Crystal gazing takes time and practice, but in time you will probably see clouds appearing and disappearing and images becoming clearer. Eventually detailed scenarios may even start to appear in your crystal, leading to great psychic vision. CRYSTALS Crystals have been used for centuries for their alleged protective and healing powers. Ancient peoples typically wore crystals as amulets in jewellery and on their clothing, and the practice continued through the Middle Ages, when they were worn to guard against the plague. Today crystals continue to be worn in pendants and rings and other jewellery, or carried around in small pouches, or placed about workplaces and houses. Because of the ability crystals have to retain and focus electromagnetic energy they are believed to be ideal tools for repelling bad energies or for attracting good ones, and for stimulating and balancing the body’s energy flow, also known as its life force or chi. They are used in meditation, divination and alternative healing techniques and are thought to help alleviate stress, stimulate creativity, enhance dreams, energize, promote healing, enhance luck and happiness and awaken psychic powers. In some healing techniques they are laid upon the body’s chakra points and energy meridians to enhance the energies of the ailing chakra. There is no scientific evidence that crystals have magical or paranormal powers, but crystal enthusiasts are convinced that the stones emit silent and unseen vibrations. Some even believe that crystals can be programmed for certain functions using techniques such as exposure to sunlight and moonlight or through meditation. Crystal healing in some form has been practised by almost every society on earth, many of which held deeply rooted holistic beliefs. However, without this cultural foundation, crystal healing has largely become a matter of faith. You either believe or not, as there is little or no rational explanations of how it might work, if it does. Crystals are often fashioned as wands or magical tools, but they come in all shapes and sizes. It is claimed that an odd number of facets on the stone aid in healing, while an even number of facets create the best energizers. Red, yellow and orange stones are said to produce energy; clear and aquamarine stones are healers; and lavender and blue-violet stones create calming effects. Crystal power Below is a list of commonly known crystals and their reputed benefits. Please note that this information is not intended to replace any licensed medical or psychological treatment, and no guarantee is made towards their validity. Amethyst: This purple and white stone is the most valuable form of quartz crystal and it is thought to have wonderful healing and cleansing abilities. It is used to reduce anger and impatience and to ease insomnia and headaches. It is also used to cleanse other crystals before their use in healing and divination, and is sometimes called the psychic crystal for use in enhancing intuition and ESP. In magic, wearing an amethyst or using one in a spell will ward off evil. Aquamarine: Known as the ‘water stone’, it is thought to prevent seasickness, ease water retention and help purify drinking water. Aquamarine is also used for its calming, uplifting properties and its ability to help release anxiety, fear and restlessness. Bloodstone: As the name suggests, this crystal is thought to cleanse the blood. It is also believed to promote courage and help people face difficulties calmly. Carnelian: Thought to be good for the circulatory, reproductive and digestive systems and to help stimulate libido, energy and fertility, as well as to boost confidence and drive. Coral: Thought to be a good aid to digestion and to encourage self-esteem and positive thinking. Diamond: Believed to stimulate a powerful sense of direction in life and help strengthen one’s courage. Emerald: The stone of true love, emerald is thought to generate insight into a relationship - which may or may not be welcome. It is also thought to bestow psychic ability, heal inflammation and promote a feeling of inner peace and relaxation. Garnet: This stone is said to be good for balancing out sexual problems. Both overactive sexuality and repressed urges are thought to benefit from the power of garnet. It is also thought to encourage assertiveness and to help regularize blood pressure. Jade: Said to be good for the heart, thymus, immune system and kidneys and for cleansing the blood and the nervous system. Jade is thought to help promote courage, knowledge, justice, compassion, emotional balance, humility, generosity, harmony, wealth and longevity. It remains the crystal most revered by the Chinese, where it is believed by some to be of divine origin. In magic, jade is used to help remember dreams and to use them to solve problems. Kunzite: Discovered in 1902, this stunning pink stone is thought to be superb for women with gynaecological problems, and for women seeking to come to terms with all aspects of their sexuality. It is believed to be a reassuring, healing, calming stone. Lapis lazuli: Honoured as a royal stone by the ancients, this blue and gold stone has always been used to help create a link between reality and the realm of intuition. Egyptian high priests used to wear it ground up as eye makeup and in jewellery during rituals. It is thought to be good for anyone undergoing spiritual awakening or instruction in a particular religion. Malachite: Said to be good for the stomach, liver, kidney stones, respiratory system, immune system, vision and the circulatory system. It is often used to help ease pain, inflammation, depression and anger, and to stimulate psychic vision and concentration. Opal: The common misconception that opal is unlucky is due to Sir Walter Scott’s fictional story Anne of Gererstein, but opal is in fact considered to have profound magical, spiritual and healing powers. Opals are said to enhance intuition and positive beliefs as well as bring luck and money to business leaders. They are also thought to reveal the state of your physical and emotional energy, being dull when energy is low and brilliant when it is high. Pearl: Thought to be a gem of hope and inner strength. If a pearl loses its lustre, it is unlikely to regain it or attract good energy; crystal enthusiasts believe when it has lost its life force a pearl becomes dull. Quartz: Generally a term for a number of crystals, including amethyst and topaz, but clear quartz is the substance used to make crystal balls. Rose quartz is thought to have special powers to attract affection and is used in love spells or at times of high emotion, like the break-up of a relationship or a bereavement. Along with amethyst, no person serious about crystals would be without this versatile, powerful stone, believed to emit a form of electrical energy that helps to stimulate psychic powers. Many people believe that wearing quartz crystals benefits a person’s health and spiritual wellbeing. Quartz is typically used to rid an environment of unhealthy vibrations and electromagnetic toxins. In magic quartz is used as a protective amulet against evil and for spells, and for centuries quartz has been used to enhance a person’s ability to foretell the future. Ruby: Thought to boost blood circulation and to attract love, courage, confidence, vitality, stamina and strength, and to help one triumph over adversity. Sapphire: Thought to be a stone of control that can help you overcome temptation and guide your thoughts to higher things. Also thought to be good for reducing fever. Tourmaline: Thought to be a stone of transition, both physical and emotional, and to help people through the processes of birth, menopause and death, as well as other rites of passage. It is believed to be good for people who feel the world is against them and for those who have a great need to forgive especially themselves. Turquoise: An ancient symbol of the sky, this stone is thought to benefit lungs and throat, and because it contains a good deal of copper it is believed to be a superb conductor for the healing force. It is also good for those terrified of speaking in public or of appearing physically or emotionally weak. Practitioners of modern-day crystal therapy believe that the stones’ ability to work as conductors allow them to focus energy by way of a person’s thoughts to stimulate healing - both physical and non-physical - and thousands of people worldwide swear by the use of crystals to help a variety of mental, emotional and physical problems. Many people who work with crystals believe that the stones choose whom to work with, not the other way round. But whatever you believe you need to be selective with the stones you use. Once selected it is suggested that you should never let anyone touch your crystals, and should programme’ it to attune to your particular energy. Each crystal should be cleansed before use to clear any stored energy, by either soaking it in salted water or by wrapping it in silk and burying it in the ground for 24 hours. CURSES Associated with black magic and intended to cause someone harm, curses are deliberately malevolent or vengeful oaths, spells or invocations of spirits directed against another person by psychic means. See also Psychic attack. D DACTYLOMANCY An ancient form of divination involving rings. A ring was tied to a string, or dropped into a bowl of water, with the position of the ring at the end of the string, or at the bottom of the bowl, determining the answer or response to the question asked. Dactylomancy is thought to be one of the earliest forms of divination involving the use of pendulums. DAGG POLTERGEIST Poltergeist activity that eventually manifested itself as a speaking entity in 1889 on a farm in Quebec owned by George Dagg. According to records the activity began with streaks of animal faeces or manure appearing on the floor of the house. A young boy, Dean, was blamed; however, when the boy was out of the house the stains continued to appear, proving that he was not the cause. Soon the activity increased: windows were smashed, objects were thrown and fires broke out. This time the focus was identified as 11-year-old Dinah McLean, an adopted child of the family. In November 1889 an investigator named Percy Woodstock asked Dinah to take him to the woodshed where she had reported seeing a strange man. To Woodstock’s amazement, from the middle of the empty shed a few feet away came the clearly audible voice of an old man. It cursed them both in a deep, gruff voice, using language Woodstock would not record. It said, ‘I am the devil, I’ll have you in my clutches, I’ll break your neck.’ Woodstock talked to the voice for several hours, during which it admitted causing the fires, spreading the manure, smashing the windows and moving objects. Eventually it calmed down and admitted it was only doing the hauntings for fun. A crowd soon heard about the phenomena and gathered around the house and woodshed, where the entity allegedly performed incredible feats for the audience. Woodstock organized a statement signed by 17 witnesses acknowledging that they had seen the phenomena of flying stones and a mouth organ playing by itself: To whom it may concern: We, the undersigned, solemnly declare that the following curious proceedings, which began on the 15th day of September, 1889, and are still going on, on the 17th day of November, 1889, in the home of Mr George Dagg, a farmer living seven miles from Shawville, Clarendon Township, Pontiac County, Province of Quebec, actually occurred as below described. 1st, That fires have broken out spontaneously through the house, as many as eight occurring on one day, six being in the house and two outside; that the window curtains were burned whilst on the windows, this happening in broad daylight whilst the family and neighbors were in the house. 2nd, That stones were thrown by invisible hands through the windows, as many as eight panes of glass being broken; that articles such as waterjug, milk pitcher, a wash basin, cream jug, butter tub and other articles were thrown about the house by the same invisible agency; a jar of water being thrown in the face of Mrs John Dagg, also in the face of Mrs George Dagg, whilst they were busy about their household duties, Mrs George Dagg being alone in the house at the time it was thrown in her face; that a large shelf [mouth organ] was heard distinctly to be played and was seen to move across the room on to the floor; immediately after, a rocking chair began rocking furiously. That a washboard was sent flying down the stairs from the garret, no one being in the garret at the time. That when the child Dinah is present, a deep gruff voice like that of an aged man has been heard at various times, both in the house and outdoors, and when asked questions answered so as to be distinctly heard, showing that he is cognizant of all that has taken place, not only in Mr Dagg’s family but also in the families of the surrounding neighborhood. That he claims to be a discarnated being who died twenty years ago, aged eighty years; that he gave his name to Mr George Dagg and to Mr Willie Dagg, forbidding them to tell it. That this intelligence is able to make himself visible to Dinah, little Mary and Johnnie, who have seen him under different forms at different times, at one time as a tall thin man with a cow’s head, horns and cloven foot, at another time as a big black dog, and finally as a man with a beautiful face and long white hair, dressed in white, wearing a crown with stars in it. What is of particular interest is that the entity made itself visible in a variety of guises to Dinah and the two younger children of the house - as a devil, a black dog and a man in white robes. Finally, when the entity had got the attention it craved, it was said to have departed from the farm singing beautiful music in the sky. Sceptics argue that Dinah and the children may have been responsible for the whole phenomena, tricking their parents into believing an entity existed, but this does not explain how they could convince a whole crowd of adults. The case has never been resolved but some experts believe that the poltergeist, having finally got some attention, calmed down and went away. According to this theory, poltergeists can act like humans at times, perhaps behaving badly out of boredom or a need to attract attention. Once they get the attention they want their disruptive behaviour ceases. DAPHNOMANCY A form of divination that predicted the future through burning a branch of laurel in an open fire. If the laurel burned with a good crackling sound this was a good omen, but if the laurel burned slowly and quietly this was a bad sign. The practice dates back to ancient Rome where a sacred grove of laurel trees was planted by each emperor when they ascended to the throne. In the year AD 68 the laurel grove withered and died. This was the same year Emperor Nero died and the long line of Caesars came to an end. DAVENPORT BROTHERS The Davenport brothers conducted one of the most popular and successful séance acts of the nineteenth century. Ira Erastas and William Henry Davenport added the spirit cabinet to the medium’s repertoire and their sophisticated performances amazed and mystified audiences all over America and Europe. Ira Davenport was born in Buffalo, New York on 17 September 1839, and his brother William two years later, on 1 February 1841. Their father, a New York policeman, was interested in stories of rappings reported in nearby Rochester and decided to try a sitting at home with his family. Almost immediately they got results and Mr Davenport would later tell friends that the boys and their younger sister Elizabeth levitated about the room. The family began to hold regular séances and at one in 1850 the family made contact with their spirit guide, an entity named John King. It was King who allegedly told the family to rent a hall and give public performances, and in 1855, the boys went on stage for the first time, aged 16 and 14. At first their act consisted of table tilting and rapping but soon the Davenport brothers began to introduce new phenomena, such as floating musical instruments playing under their own power and playful spirit hands that touched and pulled at audience members. By the end of the year the brothers had introduced escapes from complicated rope bindings and knots into their séances and, what would eventually become the signature for their act, the spirit cabinet. The cabinet was a box, similar to a closet, which would be erected on stage. A sceptical member of the audience would be asked to bind and tie the brothers inside the cabinet, making it seemingly impossible for them to escape. However, as soon as the cabinet doors were closed, and the lights turned off, spirit music would play and disembodied hands would appear through apertures that had been left open on the exterior walls. On occasion, a volunteer from the audience would be placed between the brothers in the cabinet. A few moments after the doors were closed the volunteer would be tossed out of the box with a tambourine on his head. When the doors were opened the Davenports would be found tied up, in exactly the same way they were before. The act was billed as a séance and created a sensation. Although the brothers never admitted to being mediums - leaving that to the audience to decide - and critics labelled them mere stage magicians, spiritualists hailed their act as genuine proof of spirit phenomena. In 1864 Southern preacher Jesse Babcock Ferguson joined the brothers to act as master of ceremonies. He travelled with them on their controversial but successful four-year tour of Europe, and claimed to know of no occasion when their phenomena were not genuinely paranormal. William died suddenly in July 1877 on a trip to Australia and Ira, lost without his brother, retired from performing. During his retirement he was interviewed and befriended by the magician and anti-spiritualist Harry Houdini. According to Houdini, Ira confessed that the brothers were expert conjurers, not spiritualists, but had got carried away with the public’s enthusiasm for all things supernatural. Ira explained many of the brothers’ escape tricks, such as rubbing their hands with oil so that they could slip out of the ropes more easily, and employing as many as ten hidden accomplices at a time. The most important part of their escapes took place during the binding, when they managed to get plenty of slack into the ropes by twisting, flexing and contorting their limbs. Once they relaxed, the ropes could be easily slipped off. Despite their natural ability many people remained convinced that they were spirit mediums and that Houdini’s testimony contradicted the signed statements of distinguished believers and reporters. Newspaper accounts, such as the one below, which appeared in the conservative London Post, gave them credit for producing miracles. The musical instruments, bells, etc., were placed on the table; the Davenport Brothers were then manacled, hands and feet, and securely bound to the chairs by ropes. A chain of communication (though not a circular one) was formed, and the instant the lights were extinguished the musical instruments appeared to be carried about the room. The current of air, which they occasioned in their rapid transit, was felt upon the faces of all present. The bells were loudly rung; the trumpets made knocks upon the floor, and the tambourine appeared running around the room, jingling with all its might. At the same time sparks were observed as if passing from south to west. Several persons exclaimed that they were touched by the instruments, which on occasion became so demonstrative that one gentleman received a knock on the nasal organ which broke the skin and caused a few drops of blood to flow. With the media in awe of the brothers and convinced of their powers, it is hardly surprising that spectators were equally amazed and that the Davenports who were never caught cheating once in their performing career - created a sensation. DAVIS, Andrew JACKSON [1826–1910] A nineteenth-century medium who was able to detail the creation and spiritual evolution of the world through trance revelations, Andrew Jackson Davis was born in Blooming Grove, Orange County, New York on 11 August 1826. Davis’s family was poor and he had little formal schooling, drifting from job to job. In 1843 he began work as a clairvoyant after discovering that under trance he could see through the body as if it were transparent and make astonishing medical diagnosis. In March 1844 Davis went into a trance and wandered about 40 miles from his home into the Catskill Mountains, where he had a series of mystical visions of Galen, the Greek physician, and Emanuel Swedenborg. Repeated visions convinced Davis that he was to serve as an oracle of divine truth, and he moved to New York City with S Silas Lyon, a botanic doctor who was to act as his mesmerist. Within a few months Davis selected Rev William Fishbough, a Universalist minister, to be his scribe and in November 1845 the three men began their work. In their New York apartment Lyon would hypnotize Davis. After a few minutes Davis would go into shock and become rigid and cold, hardly breathing. Then Davis would begin talking and Fishbough would write everything down. Typically there would be three witnesses watching the dictation. Edgar Allan Poe was frequently present. The most influential visitor was a professor of Hebrew at New York University, George Bush, and he endorsed the accuracy of Davis’s trance pronouncements, calling Davis the greatest prodigy since Swedenborg. It took around 157 sessions for The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind, By and Through Andrew Jackson Davis, the Poughkeepsie Seer and Clairvoyant to be written down and published in 1847. It was an overnight success and the 21-year-old Davis became an instant celebrity. He did not get instantly wealthy though, as he assigned all copyright of the book in trance to Lyon and Fishbough. The book seems rambling and dense to the modern reader but in the midnineteenth century people were fascinated by complicated creation, philosophy and religious theories. Covering a huge range of topics, from the evolution of the solar system and the biological history of earth to the life of Jesus and the precepts of Swedenborg, Davis defined God as the great positive mind that is by its nature progressive. According to Davis, after death man progresses through the celestial spheres to the seventh sphere, where he becomes one with God’s infinite mind, wisdom and love; throughout the book he gives hope to readers for future regeneration, both in the secular and the spiritual world: It is a truth that spirits commune with one another while one is in the body, and the other in the higher spheres, and this, to when the person in the body is unconscious of the influx, and hence cannot be convinced of the fact: and this truth will ere long present itself in the form of a living demonstration. And the world will hail with delight the ushering in of that era when the interiors of men will be opened, and the spiritual communion will be established. Davis claimed to have had little or no formal schooling and critics, recognizing creation theories and spiritual concepts of the likes of Robert Chambers and Swedenborg, accused him of fraud. It is unlikely that Davis could have recited from all these texts under trance but some believe that Davis simply had a remarkable memory. On 31 March 1848, Davis predicted the birth of spiritualism when he wrote in his diary that he felt a warm breath on his face and a voice telling him that the good work had been done and a living demonstration was born. It was on that day - 31 March 1848 - that the Fox sisters allegedly first made contact with a spirit from the afterlife. Davis continued to lecture and write about divine philosophy and healing for the next 30 years, until he became a legitimate physician at the age of 60 with a medical degree. In addition to healing, another subject that interested him was the discovery of electrical vibrations, as early evidence of psi. Despite being hailed by the spiritualist movement as their John the Baptist, Davis faded into obscurity in his later years. He ran a bookshop in Boston until his death in 1910, where he sold occult literature and prescribed herbal cures to patients. DAY OF THE DEAD A festival held every year that brings the living and the dead together for a great feast and celebration, to remember the dead and placate them for another year. It often involves parties, songs, parades and special foods. Ceremonies for the dead are part of Chinese and Japanese culture but perhaps the most elaborate ceremonies occur in Mexico on 2 November, All Souls’ Day. A few days before, offerings of food and toys for children who have died are placed on clay altars. Around midnight the spirits of the dead children are thought to come and enjoy their presents. On All Souls’ Day itself children enjoy special food and adults prepare an even bigger feast; altars are decorated with skulls and bones made from bread for the spirits. Later in the day neighbours go from house to house sharing memories of the deceased, who are thought to gather to listen to what is said about them. No dead soul is neglected for fear it may become sad or angry. These visitations last all night and are followed by a mass early the next morning, at which time the dead return to their graves. After a day of rest everyone goes to the cemetery to enjoy a picnic with the departed so that they can rest happily until they rise again to mingle with the living next year. DEATH The opposite of life, ceasing to exist. Also a personification of the destroyer of life, typically represented as a skeleton holding a scythe. Dying, when all bodily functions cease, is the great unknown that neither religion nor science has been able to fully explain or understand. Because it is unknown and inevitable, death has always both fascinated and terrified the living. Some cultures, such as the Egyptians and the Christians of the Dark Age, have been absolutely obsessed by it. All cultures have had their own myths about it. Most people see death as a time of sorrow and regret but some religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, see it as a blessed release for the soul that has gone. Funerals are a time for great rejoicing as to cry and mourn will literally hold the soul to the earth. For psychics and mediums, who say they can communicate with the dead, and those who have had near-death experiences (i.e. they have technically died and have been revived to tell their story), death is almost always described as a beautiful process. However much pain the physical body is experiencing the moment the soul gets into the astral body this disappears and there is a feeling of lightness and peace. Typically a loving soul appears to tell them that their work on earth has not been completed and they need to go back. That marvellous feeling of peace and oneness, however, stays with them and the person is left with an understanding that death is not the end but simply the end of a cycle, for the soul goes on eternally learning lessons and seeking perfection. DEATHBED VISIONS Visions experienced by the dying. Most are visions of the afterlife, glowing entities of light and apparitions of the dead known to the person dying, or great religious or mythical figures such as the Virgin Mary. Deathbed visions are extremely significant because they provide evidence in support of life after death. Although most religions and cultures believe in an afterlife, Western science believes that consciousness cannot exist separately from the body and death is the destruction of the personality. Deathbed visions have been recorded in the literature of all ages and have been researched scientifically since the late nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century Sir William Barrett, professor of physics and a psychical researcher, conducted the first systematic study of such visions. Barrett’s interest in the subject was fuelled by his wife, an obstetric physician, who told him about a woman who spoke of seeing a vision of great beauty and seeing her dead father and sister before she died. What impressed Barrett was the fact that although the woman’s sister had died a few weeks earlier there was no way she could have known that. The next systematic study of deathbed visions took place in 1960, when American Society for Psychical Research investigator Karlis Osis collected information from doctors and nurses on thousands of deathbed visions in the US and India. Other studies followed, including an Indian survey in 1972. The findings and observations found in these studies confirmed those made by Barrett. Typically deathbed visions occur to those who die gradually from a terminal illness or injury rather than those who die suddenly. Many of the visions are of apparitions of dead loved ones or family members known to the dying person, such as parents, siblings and spouses, or beings of light perceived as mythical or religious figures. The purpose of these apparitions - called take away apparitions - appears to be to command the dying to come with them and thus assist them in the transition to death. The response of most of the people dying to these visions is one of happiness, peace and a willingness to go. Their mood changes from one of suffering to one of radiance and joy. Approximately a third of deathbed visions involve a vision of the afterlife, which is typically described as a beautiful garden. Some see apparitions there, others see streams, bridges and boats and other symbols of transition. Again the emotional response is one of great happiness and peace. The great majority of visions appear just before death with the patient dying shortly afterwards. There are various natural explanations given for deathbed visions. Drugs, fever, disease, the brain suffering oxygen deprivation, hallucinations and wish fulfilment have all been given as possible causes. Although they are plausible explanations, Osis’s research showed clearly that deathbed visions are most likely to occur in the fully conscious and that medical factors do not trigger visions. Wish fulfilment is not a likely explanation either because visions appear both to those who believe and to those who do not believe in an afterlife, and also appear to those who want to recover and live. Finally there have also been reports by the living who are in attendance to the dying of clouds of silvery energy floating over the body, as well as take away apparitions and angels. Deathbed visions are significant not just because they suggest the possibility of survival after death, but because they also demonstrate that the moment of transition to death should not be feared. If reports of deathbed visions are to be believed, for the person who is dying death can be a wonderful and beautiful experience. DEATH CHART Used with the birth chart of astrology this is a means of forecasting the date or time of death. DEATH OMENS In folklore a death omen is a sign of an impending death. Every culture has its own unique death omens. Death is frequently foretold by the appearance or behaviour of certain animals, insects or birds associated with the afterlife. Black birds - crows, owls, ravens, rooks - are often though to be death omens when they appear in a village or cluster around a house. The howling of a dog or a black cat crossing the path are also thought to be signs that portend the death of someone nearby. Spiders are often associated with death, and according to American, British and European lore the deathwatch beetle, which makes a ticking or tapping sound during the summer months as it bores into wood, is considered the harbinger of a death in the family. Death omens can be natural occurrences, for example the way wax drips from a candle, or accidents, such as a chair falling over backwards as a person gets up, or signs of nature, such as cloud shapes or star formations. They can also be supernatural occurrences, such as candles and lights that flicker in the night see corpse candles and corpse lights - or the appearance of an apparition, such as the banshee, or a phantom coach with a headless coachman, or spectral black dogs, or other animals. DECATUR HOUSE The haunted house of one of America’s most celebrated naval captains in the war of 1812, Stephen Decatur. Located in Lafayette Square, Washington, DC Decatur House is said to be haunted by the ghosts of both Stephen and his wife, Susan. Stephen Decatur moved to Washington with his wife in 1818 after the war ended. He was admired and even considered a presidential hopeful, but unfortunately for him, in 1807 he had served on the court-martial board of his friend, Commodore James Barron. Decatur had agreed with the rest of the board that Barron should be court-martialled, starting a feud that ended in Decatur’s death at Barron’s hands during a duel 13 years later in Bladens-burg, Maryland (duelling being illegal in Washington). On 14 March 1820, the morning of the duel, Decatur was mortally wounded and taken home to die. His wife was so broken-hearted she could not bring herself to look at him or to live in the house after he had died. A year after his death his apparition was allegedly seen looking sadly from the window where he had stood on the eve of his death. The window was walled up but this did not stop the ghost returning. Later sounds of a woman weeping said to be Susan Decatur - were also heard. Residents of Washington still report seeing Decatur’s spirit peering out of the second-storey window or slipping out the back door of his house with a black box under his arm, just as he had done on that fateful day of the duel. DECLINE/INCLINE EFFECTS Terms used to describe phenomena witnessed in psi testing. The decline effect is a term used to describe the diminishing of psychic ability when tested. The incline effect refers to an increase in ability. Experiments to test psychic ability tend to show that the decline effect occurs more often than the incline effect. Some gifted individuals score highly consistently but many gifted test subjects, who have scored highly in the initial tests, report a loss of spontaneity and enthusiasm during a run of tests. This may be due to the fact that the perception of psi is a very subtle process and without feedback a subject has no way of judging his or her success. Another major factor is boredom as many tests involve repetitive tasks such as guessing numbers or cards. DEDUCTIVE PSYCHIC INTUITION Psychic images that come from the unconscious mind’s ability to take in external sensory stimuli. The unconscious mind is a kind of storage facility, absorbing and storing all the stimuli, such as pictures, sounds, noises and so on, we are constantly being bombarded with but can’t process all at once, as this would lead to information overload. When the conscious mind - the part of the mind that is objective and in charge of reasoning and making decisions - has a question about something that it just cannot answer, the question will go to the unconscious mind, which will mull over the problem and rely on its stored data to come up with a response. In the meantime the conscious mind goes on to another subject and forgets what it was looking for, but the unconscious keeps hard at work until, out of nowhere, an insight appears. This is deductive psychic intuition at work. See also Random psychic intuition, Goal-focused intuition. DEE, JOHN [1527–1608] Official court astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, admiralty spy - with the code name 007 - and transcriber of the angelic Enochain alphabet of alchemy and magic, John Dee was one of the most learned and remarkable occultists of his day. It is thought that Shakespeare used him for his model of the magician Prospero in The Tempest. Dee was responsible for setting the date of Elizabeth’s coronation by casting a horoscope to find the most auspicious day, but he is perhaps best known for his relationship with medium Edward Kelley Dee was greatly interested in communicating with spirits and employed Kelley for the sum of £50 a year. The two men believed themselves to be in contact with a number of entities, including an impatient angel called Ave. It was Ave who dictated to Kelley, with Dee recording, the text of an entirely new system of magic in a language called Enochain. Dee and Kelley were also associated with the divinatory art of scrying (crystal gazing). Their experiments in crystal gazing, using a shewstone that is now in the British Museum, began in 1582 and continued to 1587. Kelley may have had some psychic ability but he was undoubtedly a scoundrel as well. On one occasion he managed to persuade Dee that the spirits had instructed them to ‘hold their wives in common’, an arrangement that broke down within a matter of weeks when the less gullible wives began to get suspicious. Kelley also persuaded Dee to leave his position at court and concentrate on producing gold alchemically When this failed the Queen took pity on Dee and reinstated him as a rector of a small college, but he was never to regain his earlier prestige. DÉJÀ VU An expression of familiarity that is unexpected, déjà vu is the sensation of having been to a place or experienced a situation before. The French term for ‘already seen’ can apply to feelings, thoughts, places, dreams, meetings and living in general -whenever something familiar seemingly happens for the first time. The idea was first introduced to science in 1896 by F L Arnaud. Studies conducted on déjà vu suggest that it is a common experience, with more than half of those polled reporting instances of déjà vu. It also seems more common in children and women than men. The phenomenon is thought to be a psychological process where the unconscious mind is stimulated to recall past events of a similar nature that somehow get mixed up with the present event. Some feel that it is evidence for reincarnation, memories of past lives being pushed to the surface of the mind by familiar surroundings or people in the present. Some say it happens when one draws on the collective memories of mankind - see collective unconscious -while others believe it to be the result of out-of-body experiences during sleep, or other extrasensory phenomena. DEMON/DAEMON To the ancient Greeks daemons, from the Greek word daimon meaning ‘divine power’, ‘fate’ or ‘god’, were intermediary spirits between the gods and humankind, rather like guardian spirits. They could be either good or evil. Good daemons were supportive and encouraging but evil daemons could lead people astray with bad counsel. The Christian Church labelled all such pagan spirits as evil, which is why daemons, better known to us today as demons, are traditionally associated with evil. For centuries demons have been blamed for a host of ills and misfortunes including demonic sexual molestation, where a demon masquerades as a man or woman to molest its victim. Many possession cases in the Middle Ages involved sexual molestation by demons, although this may have been more to do with repressed humans than supernatural activity. In many cultures and religions demons have been exorcised. In Catholicism cases of demonic possession - in which demons battle for a person’s soul - are dealt with by formal exorcism rites that date back to 1614. DEMONANCY Also called necyomancy A form of divination that calls on demons to reveal the truth of a matter or of future events. This is done by summoning spirits via an oracle or occult magic. Demons, however, are reputedly perverse, so the accuracy of any predictions made is thought to be unreliable. Moreover, some demons are believed to be hard to control and, if they are able to free themselves from the constraints put on them, they can take over the body and soul of the summoner. DEMONOLOGY The study of demons or malevolent spirits and their powers, attributes and derivations. Demons were thought to be extremely evil and extremely clever, masters in the art of persuasion. Humans had to be constantly on their guard against them. In 1580 philosopher Jean Bodin claimed that: It is certain that the devils have a profound knowledge of all things. No theologian can interpret the Holy Scriptures better than they can; no lawyer has a more detailed knowledge of testaments, contracts and actions; no physician or philosopher can better understand the composition of the human body, and the virtues of the heavens, the stars, birds and fishes, trees and herbs, metals and stones. The hierarchy of demons was much discussed among theological experts in the last centuries. According to Alphonse de Spina (1467) there were ten types of demon: Fates that can change destiny. Poltergeists that cause mischief. Incubi and succubi - demons who stimulate lust and perversion. Hordes—demons that bring conflict. Familiars that assist witches. Nightmares that disturb sleep. Demons formed from human semen. Disguised demons. Demons that trouble the saintly. Demons that instigate witchcraft. DEPOSSESSION Also known as spirit releasement. Depossession is practised all over the world and is the exorcism of human and non-human spirits, such as elemental spirits and demons thought to be attached to an individual and causing physical, mental and emotional distress. American psychologist Edith Fiore used depossession in her past-life therapy, believing that in regressing patients to past lives interference from attached spirits could be observed. According to Fiore, amongst about 70,000 cases 70 per cent were unaware that they were showing signs of spirit attachment, such as mood swings, chronic pains, illnesses and addictions. Most spirits are thought to be those of humans who have died but not left the earthly plane. They are believed to attach themselves to humans during moments of poor health and emotional weakness. Depossession is typically accomplished by persuading the spirits that they need to leave, and patients subsequently say they feel much better afterwards. Depossession was common practice at the height of the popularity of spiritualism, but the first medically trained person to approach mental illness as caused by spirit possession was the American physician and psychologist Carl Wickland. Wickland and his wife, Anna, a medium, attributed all sorts of mental illness to confused spirits trapped in the auras of living people. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Wicklands depossessed a large number of their patients. They used a static electricity machine that transmitted low voltage electric shocks to the patient, causing the possessing spirit distress and forcing it into Anna’s body and then to leave. If the spirit resisted, Wickland called on spirit helpers to keep the spirit in a ‘dungeon’, out of the aura of Anna or the victim, until it stopped its selfish quest and departed. DERMOGRAPHY Skin writing. Although dermography is similar to stigmata it has one very essential difference: stigmata last for years or an entire lifetime, skin writing usually lasts only for a few minutes. Some cases appear to be genuine, such as that of Charles H Foster cited by Nandor Fodor in his Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science (1934): Charles H Foster, the ‘Salem Seer’, gave abundant demonstrations of the phenomenon. Before the Dialectical Society Edward Laman Blanchard told the story of how the name of his father appeared in red letters on the arm of the medium and immediately afterwards, in answer to a question, the numbers 24 on the palm of his hand, indicating the number of years since his death. The phenomenon was very rapid, the letters and numbers disappearing in the sight of those present without the arm of the medium being withdrawn. Dr Ash-burner examined Foster’s skin-letters under a powerful magnifying glass. He observed clearly that they were in relief and that the colouring matter was under the skin. Foster’s biographer, George C Bartlett, describes an amusing incident. A certain Mr Adams came to consult Foster. He saw the room filled with spirits in his presence. About two o’clock the next morning he woke up, complained to Bartlett that he could not sleep as the room was still filled with the Adams family. They were writing their names all over him. To his astonishment Bartlett counted eleven distinct names, one written across Foster’s forehead, others on his arms, and several on his back. Fraud in skin writing is thought to be widespread. Given the sensitive skin of neuropsychopaths writing may appear in a few minutes after the letters are directly traced on to the skin by any blunt instrument or the nails. Many ‘mediums’ of skin writing burn up a pellet on which a question or name is written. They then rub their forehead or arm with the ash, which gives the opportunity for covertly tracing the message. DEVAS From the Sanskrit meaning ‘shining’, in Hinduism and Buddhism devas are believed to be exalted beings with great powers. In Theosophy and occult traditions they are a class of beings midway between angels and elemental spirits, having special authority over the world of nature. In modern times devas are popularly thought to be nature spirits, in charge of the elemental spirits of air, water, fire and earth. They are invisible and etheric in nature, inhabiting the astral plane. They communicate with people by psychic means, such as channelling and ESP. It is thought that the channelled wisdom of devas was responsible for the location of the Findhorn community in Scotland. DEVIL An evil spirit or demon and the supreme personification of evil. The word devil is derived from the Hebriac Satan via the Greek diabolos, but over the centuries the devil has collected a number of other names, including Beelzebub, Lucifer, Belial, Abaddon and Asmodius. In modern times the theologically conceived supreme embodiment of evil that the devil represents accommodates in one supernatural being all that is evil, ugly, perverse and unjust in the world. DEVIL’s MARK A name given by demonologists and medieval witch-hunters to a scar, blemish or mark on the skin said to be imprinted by the devil as a seal or sign of his possession of the person. The finding of such marks became an important business of the expert pricking that took place at many witch persecutions. Devil’s marks were said to be insensitive to pain and pricking pins into such areas was supposed to draw no blood. DICE TEST DIY psychokinetic test: dice Concentrate your mind upon the throwing of a six. You can speak or shout at the dice but you may not in any other way influence it. If you score a six write this down. Do this 30 times. How many sixes did you score? 8+: There is less than 1 per cent chance of attaining this score. Good evidence for psychokinetic ability. 7: Psychokinetic potential high - there is less than 8 per cent chance of attaining this score. 6: Psychokinetic potential still likely as this is above chance. 3-5: Within the area of chance. 2: Less than 3 per cent chance of attaining this score. 1: High psychokinetic potential but working backwards - less than 1 per cent chance of attaining this score. Experimental technique used in psi testing for investigating psychokinesis, the psychic power of the mind to influence objects, in which a subject attempts to influence the fall of dice, for example, by trying to throw more sixes than any other number (chance would give a success rate of 1 in 6 correct throws). DICKENS, CHARLES [1812–1870] The author of perhaps the most famous of all ghost stories, A Christmas Carol, Dickens also wrote a number of less-well-known ghost stories, including The Haunted Man and The Haunted House. As well as writing about the paranormal Dickens held a tremendous interest in the study of ghosts and spirits. He went to extraordinary lengths to gain access to some of Britain’s haunting hotspots to experience the unknown for himself. DICTIOMANCY A form of divination where a question is asked and a dictionary opened at random. The first word seen is interpreted as an answer or comment to the question asked. See also Bibliomancy. DIEPPE RAID CASE Reports by two Englishwomen on a seaside holiday at Puys, Dieppe in France of ghostly sounds from the World War II air and sea battle fought at Dieppe. The case was widely documented in the 1950s by paranormal investigators and is thought to be an example of collective auditory hallucinations. On the morning of 4 August 1951 both women were awakened by loud noises of gunfire, shellfire and men shouting and crying out. The women could find nothing to account for the noises and later, when they asked if other people had heard anything, they got negative replies. The accounts they gave of the sounds and noises showed strong consistencies with a fierce battle that took place in Dieppe on 19 August 1942. Although the women knew a battle had taken place there, they knew none of the details and the information in the guidebook was not enough to match their description to the real event. When interviewed by psychical researchers the women came across as well balanced and with no desire to court publicity. Sceptics proposed other explanations for the experience, such as noise from the surf or aeroplanes flying above, but none of these could explain the remarkable accuracy of the accounts the women gave. DIRECT VOICE MEDIUMSHIP The independent speaking of a spirit voice that does not seem to emanate from any living person in a given environment and without using the medium’s vocal cords. Commonly associated with the séances of the early Spiritualist movement, direct voices seem to come from out of thin air or through a medium’s trumpet, which was specifically used for this purpose. Most early spiritualists used direct voice communication, although some, like Ohio farmer Jonathan Koons, whose spirit room was famous in the 1850s for voices that sang ‘unearthly songs’, were more proficient at it than others. According to some spiritualists the voices were made possible by an artificial voice box, constructed by spirits and activated by ectoplasm. Nineteenth-century records of direct voices talking at the same time as the medium or from different locations attest to their authenticity, but direct voice mediumship was always at risk of being exposed as ventriloquist fraud. In the twentieth century the practice became very rare indeed, with most mediums receiving information from spirits and relaying in their own voices. However from the 1940s to the 1970s medium Leslie Flint of England became famous for giving what appeared to be genuine direct voice readings. Flint was investigated and tested by several psychical researchers but the possibility of fraud was ruled out. The most dramatic test took place in 1970 in New York, when Flint’s mouth was sealed with plaster and a microphone placed down his throat. No evidence of vocal activity could be found while direct voices seemed to speak from above and slightly to the left of his head. DISCARNATE ENTITY/DISEMBODIED SPIRIT Terms used to describe a spirit, ghost, or other non-physical or non-material entity contacted during a séance or other sitting by a medium. Discarnate entities once had an earthly body (incarnate existence) but now they are dead they have become discarnate - from the Latin dis ‘without’ and caro, ‘flesh’. This is in contrast to other entities, which have just existed in the spirit realm. They are called ‘disembodied spirits’. DISNEYLAND’s HAUNTED MANSION In the early 1960s Walt Disney began developing plans for a mansion using secrets of the magic trade to create illusions of ghosts and spirits. In 1966 when Disney died, building work halted, but the attraction finally opened in 1969. There have been several sightings of ghosts over the years and many believe that real ghosts haunt the place. One of these ghosts is thought to be that of a man who died when his plane crashed in a nearby lake. Referred to by employees as ‘the man with the cane’, he is often seen late at night, especially after closing. Another spirit is the so-called ‘Man in a tuxedo’, who is said to occasionally appear as a reflection in the mirror used by attendants to see visitors in the area where they disembark. One female employee resigned immediately after seeing the figure of a man wearing a tuxedo in the mirror when there was no one present to create a reflection. She also reported feeling a chill and a hand placed on her shoulder. Another ghost sometimes seen is said to be a crying boy near the exit. According to legend his mother scattered his ashes secretly inside the Mansion when Disney officials forbade it, and it seems this isn’t what the little boy wanted. Sceptics argue that the artificially created haunted atmosphere of the place triggers the imagination and creates illusions that seem real. It’s also possible that Disney and his design team threw in a few secrets and surprises to baffle tourists, but most people who visit the haunted mansion find the experience unusually chilling and eerie. DISPLACEMENT First documented in 1939 by Cambridge University psychical researcher Whitely Carrington, and now observed as a common occurrence, displacement is lack of synchronization in psi testing. For example, a person asked to give the order of a pack of playing cards or ESP cards may be one or two cards ahead or behind in sequence. Displacement also occurs in precognitive dreams and psychic readings, when difficult or challenging information is placed out of context or buried in non-threatening information or symbols. Parapsychologists call displacement ‘psychic noise’ and believe it to be caused by the absence of earth time in the higher planes where psychic insight functions and the psychic association of a group of potential targets that are difficult to tell apart. DIVINATION The art or practice of foretelling the future to discover hidden knowledge, find the lost or identify the guilty by the interpretation of omens or by supernatural powers. All divination is an attempt to communcate with the divine, higher spirit realm or supernatual or to learn the will of the gods. If a distinction is to be made with fortune telling, divination has a formal or ritual or social character, while fortune telling is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Sceptics often dismiss divination as mere superstition but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence for the efficacy of divination. Others believe that divination is the process by which messages from the unconscious mind are decoded and that these messages have a supernatural source. Divination is a universal phenomenon that has served a social function in most religions and cultures throughout history as a means of solving problems and resolving conflicts. The responsibility for divination typically falls to a prophet, priest, medicine man, shaman, witch or other person with psychic powers. In ancient civilizations divination was often a royal or holy function, used for guidance in matters of war or state and to forecast natural disasters. Many courts employed astrologers. In ancient Greece a special caste of priests, called augers, interpreted natural phenomena such as cloud and smoke paterns. The Greeks consulted horoscopes, dreams and oracles for divination purposes, the most famous oracle being the one at Delphi, near Mount Par-nasus. In tribal and shamanic cultures divination is a sacred function performed by shamans who go into a trance to consult spirit helpers. In the East divination is more an accepted part of daily life than it is in the West where it has been criticized strongly by the Church and by the scientific community. Despite condemnation, however, divination has not been eradicited in the West and the majority of people remain open minded and curious about the possibility of seeing into the future. There are hundreds of different types of divination, but they can be classified as belonging to one of two categories: direct communication with gods and spirits through visions, trance, dreams and possession, or the interpretation of natural or artificial signs, lots or omens via a system. The most common example of the latter involves the sorting or casting of bones, stones, beans or other objects, with conclusions drawn from the patterns of their fall. Two wellknown divination methods - the I Ching and the Tarot - are of this type. When a card, coin or stick is selected the randomness of the action allows the spirits or gods to affect the outcome and give a message. Scientific research has shown that it is possible to predict future events, e.g. weather forecasts, but this is not divination. Unlike science, divination assumes the influence of some supernatural force. Divination methods range from the accepted and well known, such as astrology, palmistry and Tarot, to the forgotten, such as entomancy (divination interpreting the appearance and behaviour of insects), to the bizzarre, such as uromancy - divination by reading the appearance of urine in a pot. Most terms associated with divination end in ‘mancy’, from the Greek manteia (divination), or ‘scopy’ from the Greek skopein (to look into or behold). A diviner is someone who foretells future events based on the practice of divination. DIXON, JEANNE [1918–1997] A modern-day psychic who claimed to be able to predict the future. Information came to her in the form of dramatic visions. According to her supporters Dixon accurately foretold the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy. She also predicted the launch of Sputnik and the sinking of the submarines USS Thresher and USS Scorpion, as well as the unexpected presidential defeat of Thomas Dewey by Harry Truman, the landslide election of Dwight Eisenhower, the demise of Nikita Khrushchev, and the plane crash that killed UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. Jeanne Dixon, who was told by a gypsy when she was eight years old that she would become a great psychic, also made hundreds of trivial predictions about celebrities and insignificant events and earned the dubious nickname of ‘gossip prophet’. As she explained it, ‘When a psychic vision is not fulfilled as expected, it is not because what has been shown is not correct; it is because I have not interpreted it correctly’ Like Nostradamus (C. 1:60) and St John (in the Book of Revelation 8: 1012), she prophesized that Earth will be struck by a comet. Her timing, however, was premature: I have seen a comet strike our Earth around the middle of the 1980s. Earthquakes and tidal waves will befall us as a result of the tremendous impact of this heavenly body in one of our great oceans. And like several other prophets, Dixon also has foreseen the advent of the Antichrist and the False Prophet: Satan is now coming into the open to seduce the world and we should be prepared for the inevitable events that are to follow. I have seen that the United States is to play a major role in this development. Ms Dixon believed her powers were a gift from God. She made little financial profit from them, making it a policy not to charge fees and to donate income to a children’s charity. Sceptics argue that her predictions were vague, wide open to interpretation and often completely inaccurate or wrong. They also believe that the media played a part in the cult surrounding her. The term ‘Jeanne Dixon effect’ is used to refer to a common ploy used by ‘psychics’ to make dozens of predictions knowing that the more that are made, the better the odds that one will prove accurate. When one comes true, the psychic counts on people conveniently forgetting the 99 per cent that were wrong. The term also refers to the tendency of the mass media to hype or exaggerate a few correct predictions by a psychic, guaranteeing that they will be remembered, while ignoring the much more numerous incorrect predictions. DOLPHINS In classical mythology dolphins are associated with the soul’s journey to the underworld, and in Christian myth the dolphin represents salvation through Christ. To many alternative therapists dolphins are a symbol of healing and emotional release. This may have something to do with the fact that dolphins live in water. Water in many traditions (including that of astrology) is related to feeling and emotion. Dolphins invite us to enjoy water in its physical form and also to swim freely and flow with our feelings. We can also learn from their breathing patterns. The dolphin breathes deeply, holds its breath while underwater, and then exhales explosively. This is an excellent breathing pattern for releasing tension. Dolphins and humans have had a special bond for centuries. Swimming with dolphins is thought to have remarkable healing benefits, especially for those suffering from learning difficulties. In the words of the Greek essayist Plutarch: ‘The dolphin is the only creature that loves man for his own sake.’ Indeed, dolphins are highly intelligent animals that appear to enjoy human company for its own sake, perhaps enjoying the observation of our antics and as much as we do theirs. DOMOVIK In Russian folklore the domovik is a spirit with a grey beard that typically lives behind the stove in every home. He is always referred to as the grandfather or he - never by his personal name. Traditionally it is the spirit of the ancestor that founded the family and it moves with the family from house to house. The domovik is believed to watch over the family, keep evil spirits away and occasionally help out around the house. If, however, family members do something that displeases the domovik it is said to resort to poltergeist activity, and that can include burning down the house! DOORS As a universal symbol of opening and new possibilities it’s not surprising that there are many superstitions concerning doors and spirits. Most of these superstitions are concerned with keeping ghosts from entering homes or letting ghosts escape to the afterlife. For example, it is widely thought unlucky to enter a house via the back door, as traditionally corpses are carried out the back door. Opening doors and windows when there has been a death in the house is thought to help the spirit leave the corpse. A circle chalked on a door is believed to prevent evil spirits from entering, and slamming a door several times during a row is believed to trap a ghost between the frame and the door and force it to leave. DOPPELGÄNGER/DOUBLE The appearance of a double of a living person, thought to be a death omen, or bilocation - the astral body of someone having an out-of-body experience. ‘Doppelgänger’ comes from the German, meaning ‘double walker’. The belief in the spirit or soul existing in a double is ancient and widespread. The ancient Egyptians said the soul had a double or Ka, and a special kind of tomb, called the house of Ka, was reserved for the double. Doubles are said to be exact copies of the living person and are usually seen at a location distant from them. As a death omen there are reports of seeing doubles just as the individual in question is about to die. The double usually appears real but has a ghostly, filmy look about them and can sometimes act mechanically. In some rare cases, such as that of the poet Shelley who saw his own double before drowning, the double appears to the dying individual him or herself. As well as being a death omen, many psychical researchers who have examined cases of doppelgängers believe they are projections of consciousness that somehow take on a form resembling reality. This can happen involuntarily or it can be accomplished at will. English medium Eileen Garrett suggested that the double is a clairvoyant projection that can be manipulated to develop supernatural powers. DOWDING, AIR CHIEF MARSHALL LORD HUGH [1882–1970] The hero of the Battle of Britain Air Chief Marshall Lord Hugh Dowding claimed on numerous occasions to be in contact with the spirits of the dead, especially airmen who had served with him or under him in both world wars. Dowding was a prominent member of the London Ghost Club and took an active part in many investigations of allegedly haunted locations with the organization. DOWSING Also known as divining, rhabdomancy and water witching dowsing is a form of divination performed using a forked stick, pendulum or rods to find hidden things, in particular underground water, minerals and oil. Today it is used to locate lost objects, buried treasure, mineral deposits and water wells, and to diagnose illness. Dowsing is an ancient practice with unknown origins, however it is thought to date back at least 8,000 years. Wall paintings, estimated to be about 8,000 years old, discovered in the Tassili Caves of North Africa show tribesmen surrounding a man with a forked stick, possibly dowsing for water. Ancient Chinese and Egyptian artwork depicts people using forked tools in possible dowsing activities. Dowsing may have been mentioned in the Bible, although not by name, when Moses and Aaron used a ‘rod’ to locate water. It was in the Middle Ages, however, that the first unambiguous written accounts of dowsing come, when it was used to find coal deposits. In seventeenth-century France, there are records of a man called Jacques Vernay a stonemason by trade, who used his dowsing talents to successfully track criminals. However, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, dowsers were often thought to be practitioners of evil. Martin Luther described dowsing as ‘the work of devil’ hence the term ‘water witching’. How the dowsing technique was first discovered and how dowsing works is unknown, yet those who practise it are convinced that it does work. Dowsing is still very much in use today in archaeological digs, searching for minerals and missing persons and in alternative healing, when the dowser swings a pendulum over the patient’s body to determine the location and cause of illness. It is not widely known but petrochemical companies employ dowsers to confirm underground sources of oil and gas, and dowsers have also made a contribution towards the understanding of mysterious earth energies, such as those represented by ley lines. The American Society of Dowsers estimates there may be as many as 30,000 dowsers in the United States, but despite this, dowsing still struggles to be regarded as a legitimate field. How you can dowse Dowsers say that anyone can have a go at dowsing because, like psychic ability, it is a hidden power that all humans possess. And, like any other ability, such as learning a musical instrument, the more you practise and learn your strengths the more you will define your abilities. Here are some steps for a do-it-yourself dowsing test. 1. Decide which dowsing tool you want to use: Forked stick: This is a Y-shaped tree branch (most often from a willow). The dowser holds the branch parallel to the ground at the top of the Y shape, and then starts to walk. If he or she passes over the hidden object the end of the branch is pulled down, pointing to the correct spot. L-shaped metal rods: For this method two L-shaped metal rods (easily made from a pair of coat hangers) are held in each hand parallel to the floor, and if the dowser passes over the hidden object the rods swing apart or cross each other. Pendulum: Some dowsers believe it is sufficient to hold a pendulum overa map is sufficient.If the pendulum begins to move in a circle or back and forth they know they have located the hidden object. Pendulums are also used for diagnosing illness. Your bare hands: Some exceptionally skilled dowers seem to be able to dowse without a tool, claiming that they feel a resisting force when they locate the hidden object. 2. Ask someone to bury a metal object or bottle of water in the garden just a few inches below the surface. 3. Before starting, mentally ask your dowsing tool to indicate to you when you are passing over the hidden object. 4. Walk slowly in any direction you like, concentrating on the object and trying to remain open and sensitive to the movements of the dowsing tool. 5. If your dowsing tool reacts or you simply ‘get a feeling’ that helps you make a decision about the location of the object, stop and see if the spot indicated is correct. If not, keep trying at different times of the day to see if you have ability for dowsing. Dowsing has attracted some well-known names from history, including Leonardo de Vinci, Robert Boyle (considered the father of modern chemistry) and Charles Richet (a Nobel Prize winner). Albert Einstein was also convinced of the authenticity of dowsing: I know very well that many scientists consider dowsing as they do astrology, as a type of ancient superstition. According to my conviction this is, however, unjustified. The dowsing rod is a simple instrument which shows the reaction of the human nervous system to certain factors which are unknown to us at this time. Some believe there may be a psychic connection between the dowser and the hidden object. According to this theory all things - living and inanimate - have an energy force and the dowser, by concentrating on the hidden object, is somehow able to tune in to the energy force field or ‘vibration’ of the object, which, in turn, forces the dowsing rod or stick to move. In other words, the dowsing tool may act as a kind of amplifier or antenna for tuning into the energy and it is common for the dowser to find a tingling sensation, chills or shivering when the object is located. Recent experiments in Russia have shown that dowsing rods can be sensitive to electromagnetic fields and that almost anyone can learn to dowse - although women tend to be more successful at it than men. Scientists believe this may be because unknown force fields respond better to the polarity in women’s bodies. Sceptics argue that dowsing is a matter of luck and that those with a high rate of success just have good instincts for where objects or water may be found. For both believer and sceptic there is no definitive evidence either way. DOYLE, Sir ARTHUR CONAN [1859–1930] Renowned for his Sherlock Holmes detective stories, Sir Authur Conan Doyle is also regarded by many as one of the founders of spiritualism. During the years 1885 to 1888 when Conan Doyle was a physician in Southsea, he was invited to participate in table-turning sittings at the home of one of his patients. He wasn’t convinced of the amazing phenomena produced or the medium’s integrity - but it aroused his interest in the subject, and shortly after he joined the Society for Psychical Research. Almost immediately Conan Doyle participated in a series of experiments that convinced him that telepathy was genuine. He continued to investigate paranormal phenomena for the next 30-odd years, until finally, at the peak of his literary career in his late fifties, he took the bold step of publishing two books that firmly associated him with spiritualism: The New Revelation and The Vital Message. His critics suggested he was merely grief-stricken over the loss of his son, Kingsley who had died of pneumonia, but Conan Doyle denied this. He said instead that a year after his son’s death, he attended a sitting held by a Welsh medium who he believed truly had made contact with his son. ‘It was his voice and he spoke of concerns unknown to the medium’, he said. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most impressive book on spiritualism is the twovolume set The History of Spiritualism, and it is essential reading for all serious students of the subject. Conan Doyle was involved in a number of public controversies over spiritualism. In the late 1920s, while he was president of the London Spiritualist Alliance, a medium sanctioned by the Alliance was charged with fortune-telling (it was illegal at the time), and the Alliance was fined, £800. Conan Doyle wrote a public protest in The Times, suggesting that this was persecution of spiritualists. He also urged that the Fortune Telling Act be modified, and only six days before his death in July 1930, he led a petition to this effect. A week after his death, a large spiritualist reunion was held in London, where a chair was left empty in his honour. A respected medium of the day said she saw him in the chair and offered a personal message from the great writer to his family. Since then dozens of mediums have claimed to receive messages from the author. DRAGSHOLM CASTLE Dragsholm Castle is one of Denmark’s best-known haunted castles and many investigations there by psychical researchers have yielded positive results. Located in Zeeland, Dragsholm was built in the twelfth century and became the residence for kings and several noble families. It is thought that the castle has three ghosts: a grey lady, a white lady and the ghost of the Earl of Bothwell. The grey lady is seldom seen but is thought to be the ghost of a woman who served in the castle and who had terrible toothache. She was cured and is said to return now and again to see if everything is in order, and as a thank you for her cure. The other two ghosts are believed to be considerably less happy and thankful than the grey lady as both met their deaths in the castle in particularly unpleasant manners. The white lady is said to be the daughter of one of the many owners of the castle. She fell in love with a commoner and when her father found out he was so angry that he imprisoned her inside the thick wall of the castle. It is said that every night she returns to the castle and walks around the corridors, and there have been plenty of reported sightings of her. There is factual evidence to back this story up; in the 1930s, when the old walls of the castle were torn down, workers found a hole in the wall and a skeleton with a white dress in it. The castle also has old cellars for prisoners. In the 1500s the Earl of Bothwell, the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, was incarcerated there for five years and died mad in the cellar in 1578. It is said that every night he comes riding into the courtyard of the castle with his horse and carriage. DREAMCATCHER Considered to be a talisman to ensure restful sleep and productive dreaming, the dreamcatcher is a North American device hung above the bed to dispel nightmares and retain the essence of good dreams. Use of the dreamcatcher by Native American cultures is based on an old Lakota folktale about a spiritual leader to whom the god Iktomi, the great teacher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider. As he gave advice about the cycles of life, the importance of working with nature and of taking good advice when it was offered, rejecting bad advice, Iktomi began to spin a web. When the web was completed it had a hole in the centre. Iktomi gave it to the elder saying: ‘Use the web to help yourself and your people to reach your goals and make good use of people’s ideas, dreams and visions. If you believe in the great spirit, the web will catch your great ideas, and the bad ones will go through the hole.’ DREAMS Everyone dreams. It is estimated that in an average lifetime a person will spend approximately 25 years asleep and experience at least 300,000 dreams, regardless of whether these dreams are recalled on awakening. Researchers believe that babies dream the most, children dream for four or five hours a night and adults for one or two hours. Animals also appear to dream. Research from the University of Chicago has shown that dreams occur during the rapid eye movement (REM) period of sleep, which occurs for between five and forty minutes every sixty to ninety minutes of sleep. Most people only remember the last dream prior to waking but if they are woken up during earlier dream periods they will recall other dreams. Unless written down immediately on waking most dreams fade within a few minutes. Dreams usually occur in colour but seldom have smells or taste, and this may be due to the fact that only visual brain neurons fire during REM. Almost all dreams use metaphors to deal with issues in the life of the dreamer, and every event in the dream is believed to have some kind of significance for the person dreaming it. A brief history of dreams People have always been fascinated by dreams and what they mean. All primitive religions viewed dreams as ways for the spirits or deities to speak to humans. The earliest known dream dictionary dates back around 4,000 years. Now called the Chester Beatty Papyrus it came from Thebes in Upper Egypt and is kept in the British Museum. In the Chester Beatty Papyrus dreams are interpreted and translated as omens or prophecies. For example, dreaming that your teeth fall out is interpreted as a loved one trying to kill you. In ancient Greece dreams were also thought to be unlucky or lucky predictions. Around AD 200, Artemidorus, a dream interpreter who lived in Asia Minor, wrote a book about dream interpretation that suggested that dreams were continuations of the dreamer’s day. The Old Testament makes countless references to dream interpretation. The importance of dreams and their meanings were prominent in the writings of the Early Church Fathers, including St Augustine, up until the time of St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) who regarded dreams as insignificant; for several hundred years afterwards, dreams were no longer considered important. Even Shakespeare called them ‘children of the idle brain’. Although dream interpretation did continue to be an important part of the service of magicians and astrologers, this dreams-should-be-ignored school of thought persisted until the nineteenth century. Then along came psychiatrists Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, the two men who have had the greatest impact on the way we look at dreams today. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) opened the door to the scientific study of dreams with his book The Interpretation of Dreams; he considered dreams to be the ‘royal road to the unconscious’ and believed them to be wish fulfilment of repressed sexual desires from childhood. To interpret dreams Freud used a method called free association in which the dreamer says whatever comes to mind in relation to events in the dream. Freud’s work paved the way for the work of Carl Jung (1875-1961). Jung considered dreams to be expressions of the contents of the collective unconscious, a source of shared knowledge that exists within us all. Jung believed the purpose of dreams was to offer guidance and information about the self. They were the language of the unconscious and they could tell us about the state of our inner lives; to ignore dreams was to court disaster. Even though dream symbols from the collective unconscious have universal or archetypal meanings, according to Jung, only the dreamer could interpret the dream’s true meaning, not an outsider. There have been other theories since Freud and Jung but for the most part dreams are regarded as tools for change, growth and wellbeing. No one knows how, but dreams seem to be able to link the conscious (waking) mind with the hidden part of the mind called the unconscious or intuition and by so doing they provide a rich and powerful inner resource that can enhance life considerably. Today dream interpretation is extremely popular, with people from all walks of life using dreams as unique and very personal sources of comfort, guidance and inspiration. Dreams, health and creativity Scientists tell us that dreaming is essential to our mental, emotional and physical health and wellbeing, because dreams can help us relax, release frustrations, sort out information, solve problems or alert us to them, play out fantasies, offer inspiration and restore balance. There are numerous famous examples of dreams offering inspiration. Solutions to problems, ideas for inventions and artistic endeavours have all found their way to the conscious mind via dreams. Mary Shelley dreamed of the creature that was to become Frankenstein. Other famous literary dreamers include Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charlotte Brontë, Robert Louis Stevenson and J R R Tolkien. Paul McCartney heard a haunting melody in one of his dreams and wrote it down. It became the song ‘Yesterday’. Inventions and ideas that have sprung from dreams include the model of the atom, the M9 analogue computer, the isolation of insulin in the treatment of diabetes and the sewing machine. Dreams and the paranormal Dreams of the dead are viewed in the West from a psychological perspective and not as actual encounters with ghosts, but many believe that the dead appear in dreams because they have a purpose: usually to offer advice and instruction, as happened in the Chaffin Will case. Some dreams involving the dead are also thought to be death omens. In the eighteenth century Lord Lyttelton dreamt of a fluttering bird and a woman in white who told him he would die in three days’ time. Despite his best efforts to prove her wrong, Lyttleton died as predicted. Although dreams that focus on communication between the living and the dead have been accepted in many cultures since ancient times as proof that the dead have the ability to interfere with the lives of the living, dreams have also always shared a strong link with supernatural powers, in particular with precognition and telepathy. Although rare, precognitive dreams are ones in which you see the future before it happens. The ancient Chaldeans, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Native Americans all believed dreams were a method of foretelling the future, and even today there are instances when people claim to have dreamt of things before they happen. Many people, for example, claim to have had dreams of the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster before it happened. There are also stories of people who cancel trips or flights because of a foreboding dream or people who dreamt the winning lottery numbers. There is strong evidence that some precognitive dreams warn about future health problems. Jung noticed that if his patients dreamt of injury to a horse - the archetypal symbol of animal life within the human body - they were often in the early stages of serious illness. A 1987 study at Michigan State University showed that cardiac patients who dreamt of destruction were far more likely to have worse heart disease than those who did not. Dreams also serve as a preparation for death, with terminally ill patients sometimes reporting transitional dreams of crossing bridges or walking through doors just before death. These dreams often bring peace of mind. Dream telepathy has interested psychical researchers since the late nineteenth century. The founders of the Society for Psychical Research in London collected numerous dream telepathy cases in their study of paranormal experiences published in Phantasms of the Living (1886). Interpreting your dreams Have you ever wondered why dreams are often hard to make sense of? It’s because the information they contain is presented in the language of images and the number of images your brain can present is endless. Dream experts believe that the images are your own thoughts, feelings and ideas turned into a series of pictures or scenes and it’s up to the individual to translate and interpret them. Your unconscious mind is working all the time using images, feelings and pictures from your past and present and linking them in with the issues currently concerning you. For example, if you feel stressed you may have a dream where you are swimming and can’t keep your head above water. If you feel confused you may have a dream where you are lost in a dark wood. Some of these images can be universally recognized - a boat, for example, is typically is a symbol of transition - but most of the images in your dreams can only really be interpreted by you. That’s \ why a dream dictionary isn’t always helpful as the interpretations in there will be universal and not unique to you. A good way to uncover the meanings of your dreams is by free association. You simply go with the first thing that pops into your mind when recalling an image you had in a dream. For example, if you dream of a dog what are the first thoughts that come into your mind when you think about dogs? Forget about universal associations; what are your personal associations with dogs? What a dog means to you and what a dog means to someone else may be entirely different. Perhaps you had an unpleasant encounter with a dog once and rather than being symbols of love, loyalty and devotion dogs represent fear and trauma for you? The more you work with your dreams the more familiar you will become with your personal images. Always bear in mind that your dream symbols and images will be unique to you. What do you think your dream is trying to tell you? A number of other telepathic dream studies have been conducted since, the most famous of which is perhaps the one conducted at the dream laboratory of the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York from 1963-1974. When subjects were in REM stages of sleep, a person in another room attempted to transmit images to the sleeping subject and the correlation of dream images was significantly above average. Some dreams are interpreted as having past-life content. Recurring dreams which involve the same action, people and scenery are thought to be memories from past lives that have lingered for some reason and the dreamer needs to work out why. Others are thought to be out-of-body experiences when the astral body travels - seven out of ten people experience the sensation of flying in their dreams at some point in their life. Another type of dream is the lucid dream, in which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming and is able to influence the content of the dream and, in some instances, its outcome. Many believe that dreams are a powerful way to connect with and harness psychic power. Studies of ESP experiences show that dreams are involved in between 33 and 69 per cent of all cases. In precognitive cases dreams are involved around 60 per cent of the time and in telepathic cases dreams are involved around 25 per cent of the time. Most of us forget our dreams immediately on waking. There is so much to do when the new day starts and the wonderful world of meaning dreams can reveal to us is neglected. According to a Jewish proverb, An unremembered dream is like an unopened letter from God.’ To work with your dreams you do need to remember them. Keeping a dream journal and recording your dreams as soon as you wake will help your dream recall. If dreams are not written down they will fade away. The technique of dream recording is simple. You leave a notepad and pencil within reach of your bed and immediately on waking you write down whatever you can remember about your dream - the people, the colours, the places, the events -every detail, however small, is significant. DREAMTIME Similar to Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious, dreamtime is an Australian Aboriginal belief of a psychic realm that is shared by everyone. Dreamtime is not separate from the real world; it inhabits the part of our consciousness that can be accessed in meditation, trance or in dreams. Aborigines typically believe that all life is spiritually interconnected and that the human race originated in dreamtime before taking human form. Dreamtime is the land’ to which the spirits of the Aboriginal dead must return, and it is the dimension from which shamans draw their psychic power. DROP IN COMMUNICATOR A mysterious entity, entirely unknown to medium, sitter or anyone present, who appears without warning and without an invitation at a séance. Sceptics argue that drop ins are constructs of the medium’s unconscious but many psychical researchers who have investigated drop in cases believe them to be genuine. They are seen as possible evidence to support the belief that mediums do actually contact the spirits of the dead and are not simply manifesting secondary personalities or demonstrating their powers of clairvoyance or telepathy. On rare occasions drops ins are accompanied by phenomena such as table tilting, mysterious lights, apports and strange sounds and smells, and occasionally they speak in a language the medium is not fluent in. Many cases are inconclusive but in the best cases the information a drop in communicator brings is personal and has never been made public, but can be verified by a small group of friends or family members. Some drop ins are said to be very talkative, revealing personal information that can be verified upon research. One of these was ‘Harry Stockbridge’, who dropped in on a Ouija board séance of a group meeting in Cambridge, England between 1950 and1952. Stockbridge claimed to be a second lieutenant in the Northumberland Fusiliers who had died on 14 July 1916. The information he gave was verified through old military records. Other drop ins have a motive or task they are intent on accomplishing. One of these was the case of Runolfur Runolfsson who, according to reports, dropped in on medium Hafsteinn Björnsson in 1937. Runolfsson was a rough, hard drinking Icelander who had drowned in 1879; his corpse was picked apart by birds. After several sittings Runolfsson revealed that he wanted to find his missing thighbone. Runolfsson’s identity was verified and his thighbone discovered and buried. DRUGS The use of drugs and the visions they induce in religious ceremonies is an age-old practice. Opinions vary greatly as to whether certain drugs can stimulate genuine psychic experiences or not. Some believe that drugs can duplicate mystical experiences and heighten the emotions, and are of value to psychotherapy. Others believe that drug-related experiences are simply illusions. There have been a number of tests on drugs and their effects on psi ability since the 1920s. Both caffeine and alcohol have been shown to both improve and depress test results. Marijuana and other strong psychedelic drugs, such as LSD and mescaline, which loosen the boundaries of ego generally, trigger too much instability to yield meaningful conclusions. In general results have been largely inconclusive as drugs affect each person differently. Most psychics would discourage the use of mind-altering drugs, believing that true insight and power can only be created or raised from within, not from without. DRUIDS, DRUIDRY A Celtic priestly class in Britain and Europe during the first centuries BC and AD, the Druids were widely known as visionaries and prophets. They were also thought to preach a doctrine of reincarnation believing in the immortality of the soul, which, after death, travelled to the underworld, entered a new body and lived again on earth. The Druids followed pagan traditions of nature and goddess worship and possessed knowledge of magic, healing, astronomy and sacred geometry. Druid means ‘knowing the oak tree’ in Gaelic and the robust oak tree was sacred to the Druids. Their reverence for tree wisdom is expressed in their alphabet, the Ogham, which consists of different tree symbols each embodying the elemental wisdom of the particular plant. The Romans feared the Celts and found their rituals - some of which may have included human sacrifice - ignorant and barbaric. In AD 43 Druidism was banned and the sacred oak demolished, plunging the European Celts into decline (although those at the margins of the Roman Empire, for example in Ireland and Scotland, survived). Interest in the Druids was not renewed until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when they were romanticized in literature. The Ancient Order of Druids was formed by British carpenter Henry Hurle in 1781 and other groups followed. There are modern Druids in the UK and US today. Becoming a Druid means a lifetime of study through three levels to reach spiritual awareness. The first level is that of the Bard. Bards learn to understand the creative and magical power of sound. The second level is that of Ovate, where the student learns to alter their consciousness using methods such as astral travel. The third level is that of the Druid, and when this level is achieved the student is considered a master of his or her craft with the power to divine the future and access the power of nature. DRUMMER OF CORTACHY Ghostly drumming said to portend the death of a member of the Ogilvy family, the earls of Airlie and owners of Cortachy Castle, Scotland. According to lore, which dates back to medieval times, it is said that a messenger who arrived one day at the castle with unpleasant news was stuffed into a drum and tossed over the castle walls. Just before he died he vowed to haunt the family forever, and for hundreds of years after it was said that whenever ghostly drumming was heard a member of the family died. One of the most famous drumming cases happened during Christmas in 1844, when a guest staying at the castle triggered a panic when she heard the drumming and asked the Earl and his wife where the sound was coming from. Lady Airlie died six months later, leaving a note saying that she knew the drumming was for her. Some believe that panic and fear about the curse brought about her death. The drumming stopped in 1900 when the then Earl died in the Boer War and nobody heard the drumming - or admitted that they had heard it. DRUMMER of TEDWORTH In 1661 in Ludgarshall, Wiltshire, an anonymous drummer annoyed residents with his constant drumming. Eventually the drummer was arrested and his drum confiscated. The drum eventually ended up in the house of John Mompesson who lived in the neighbouring village of Tedworth and was responsible for the arrest of the drummer. During Mompesson’s absence on a business trip in London violent poltergeist activity erupted in his house terrifying his family and servants. For days on end drumming was heard both inside and outside the house, objects were moved about, voices spoke and the younger children were levitated in their bed. The disturbances went on for two years and drew widespread interest from curious visitors. Aside from the constant beating drum other phenomena included the sound of footsteps, floating candles, disembodied voices, animal noises, chamber pots emptied on to beds, knives found in a bed and money turned mysteriously black. Meanwhile the drummer turned up in custody again and was put into Gloucester gaol charged with theft. During this time he claimed to be responsible for the activity at Mompesson’s house, as revenge for taking away his drum, and this lead to his trial for witchcraft. He was condemned to transportation and forced to leave the area. Many years later the drummer returned to Tedworth from time to time, and whenever he did the disturbances began again. The house was only quiet when he was gone. DRURY LANE theatre The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, is the oldest theatre site in London (save the rebuilt Globe), the original theatre having been built in 1663. It has a long history packed with intrigue, romance and murder, and there have been numerous sightings of ghosts. King Charles II, who gave the theatre its Royal Charter, is said to visit now and again, but the theatre’s most famous ghost is the Man in Grey, so named for his eighteenth-century long grey coat, tricorn hat, powdered wig and sword. He is said to come and watch the play from the balcony, where he slowly walks from one end to the other only to disappear into the wall. He is often seen at rehearsals and his presence is considered very lucky - when he appears during rehearsal the play tends to be successful. Another ghost is thought to be that of twentieth-century comedian Dan Leno. Leno’s ghost has allegedly been spotted in the dressing room he used last before his death. DUDLEY town, CONNECTICUT Dudley town is an abandoned eighteenth-century village in the woods of Cornwall, Connecticut and one of the most curious haunted locations in America. Members of the Dudley family were among the first to settle into the area in the mid-1740s, earning their living by cutting lumber to fuel iron production in a nearby town. It wasn’t long before there were reports of strange beasts and apparitions and a host of strange, unusual and violent deaths, suicides and corpse mutilations. Over the years many people, believing that the Dudley family were cursed, left Dudley town, and by 1900 it was mostly deserted. During the 1920s a man called Dr William C Clark set up a summer home in the abandoned town. One evening he came back from a business trip to find his wife talking hysterically about the apparitions and demons that had visited. She killed herself soon after. Even today some visitors to Dudley still report disembodied voices whispering and laughing. A woman on a white horse has been spotted, among other apparitions. People also hear wagon wheels and other sounds of the past. Curiously few living sounds are heard, as birds and animals never seem to settle in the area. This may be due to lack of sunshine as, being in the shadow of three mountains, the town receives little natural light, but others believe that Dudley is an area of negative energy that attracts evil spirits and entities. DUPPY A ghost of West Indian tradition and unknown origin, regarded as the personification of evil, i.e. the Devil. The duppy allegedly operates only at night and is required to return to the grave before dawn; if it is prevented from doing so for any reason, the spirit forfeits its power to do harm to any living person. West Indians believe that the breath of a duppy will make a victim violently ill, while the mere touch of the spirit will induce epileptic fits and seizures. The duppy can allegedly be summoned by a secret ritual to do the conjurer’s bidding, and the traditional method to keep the duppy at bay is to place tobacco seeds around the doors and windows of the home it comes to plague. See Voodoo. DYBBUK The Hebrew word dybbuk comes from a word meaning ‘cleaving’ or ‘clinging’, and according to Jewish lore a dybbuk is a wandering, disembodied, evil spirit which enters a person’s body and holds fast. The kabbalah contains many instructions for exorcising a dybbuk, some of which are still performed today. When exorcised the dybbuk is thought to leave the body via the small toe and leave a bloody mark there on departure. In early folklore dybbuk were thought to only inhabit the bodies of sick people and possessive evil spirits and exorcisms to banish them appear in the Old Testament. However, by the early sixteenth century many Jews believed that a dybbuk could not enter an innocent body, because of its past sins, and could only inhabit the body of a sinner. It was also thought that dybbuk were the souls of people not buried properly and they therefore became demons. Transmigration of souls and reincarnation are not parts of mainstream Judaism but the dybbuk offers a revealing glimpse of the supernatural in the Jewish tradition. E EAR of DIONYSIUS A famous example of mediumistic cross correspondences. In this case, a series of communications that needed to be brought together before they made sense. A medium by the name of Mrs Willet first communicated the phrase ‘Ear of Dionysius’ when she went into a trance in August 1910. At the time the phrase meant nothing to the sitter, a Mrs Verrall, but her husband, the classical scholar A W Verrall, explained that the name was given to a huge abandoned quarry at Syracuse, which was roughly shaped like a donkey’s ear. In this place unhappy Athenian captives were confined from 405 to 367 BC and the peculiar acoustic properties of the cave were said to have enabled Dionysius the Tyrant to overhear his victims speaking. There was no more talk of the Ear of Dionysius for several years until, in January 1914, Mrs Willet produced, during an automatic writing session, a script for Mrs Verrall that contained a passage referring to the Ear of Dionysius. The script was allegedly sent by Dr Verrall, who had died a year or so before. The Verralls were supporters of the Society for Psychical Research, which stressed the importance of private communications as evidence for life after death, so it seemed likely that Verrall would try to communicate his survival after death to his wife in this way. For the next year Verrall, along with another communicator, S H Butcher, another dead classical scholar and a close friend of Verrall when they were both alive, reportedly began a series of communications to Mrs Willet that made allusions to Ulysses and Polyphemus. It wasn’t until August 1915, however, when a communication referred to a man called Philoxenus, who had been imprisoned for seducing Dionysius’s wife, that all the references eventually began to make sense. It seemed that a satirical poem of the passionate and tragic life of Philoxenus was being communicated, in which Philoxenus was portrayed as Ulysses and Dionysius as Polyphemus. The Ear of Dionysius case is often held up as an example of cooperation between two dead communicators and proof of survival after death. Sceptics, however, argue that only one medium was involved, not several as is more usual in cross correspondence cases, and Mrs Willet could have discovered the knowledge for herself from university research libraries. It’s also possible she managed to learn the key points through ESP when Verrall was alive and unconsciously wove them into her trance communications. EARTH In magical symbolism one of the four (or five) elements, corresponding to matter that is solid and to cold and dry qualities. Earth typically symbolizes order, both in nature and in society. It also represents the female principle, the nurturing and mothering aspect of Mother Nature and the material realm of money and business. The magical tool associated with earth is the bell. Earth colours are green or brown and earth is associated with the zodiac signs of Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. In Chinese philosophy earth is associated with the season of late summer and represents stability and practicality, but it is also the element involved in personal transformation. Dampness, the colour yellow, worrying and the sound of singing are also related to the earth element. EARTH LIGHTS Also known as ghost lights, earth lights are mysterious patches of light reported to have been seen at more than a hundred or so sites in remote locations, such as isolated buildings and mountain peaks, in the United States, Britain, Japan and elsewhere. The lights appear at random or regularly at some sites. They often bounce up and down, almost in a playful fashion, and are said to be red, orange, blue, yellow or white in colour. Earth lights have been linked to locations where sacred shrines have been erected by ancient peoples, and according to some Native Americans they are doorways to the world beyond. Others believe that earth lights are extraterrestrial in origin and convincing evidence of UFOs or some as yet unidentified electromagnetic energy. Research in the phenomenon of earth lights suggests that that they might be produced by seismic stresses beneath the earth which generate ionized gas that is released into the air near a fault line. Several locations where earth lights have been reported, such as the Brown Mountains in North Carolina and eight of the lochs in Scotland, are near major fault lines. Some lights have been shown to have natural explanations, such as car headlights, radioactivity from ore in the ground or the shifting of geological plates, but some, such as the Marfa lights seen southwest of the Chinati Mountains, Marfa, Texas, along with those seen in Joplin, Missouri, appear to be true mysteries that defy attempts to explain them. EARTHQUAKE EFFECT A phenomenon involving the room shaking as if there was an earthquake. The phenomenon is usually associated with the medium D D Home. ECKANKAR A patented form of astral travel devised by American guru Paul Twitchell (1908-1971). In a series of out-of-body experiences Twitchell claimed to have made contact with superior beings in the astral plane called the Eck Masters, who showed him this special technique for astral travel and taught him a series of complex, universal and comprehensive spiritual truths. It was on the basis of these truths that Twitchell founded the Eckankar organization in 1965: an international organization where followers can learn the truths and practise astral projection or ‘soul travel’ according to the methods and techniques revealed to Twitchell by the Eck Masters. Twitchell lectured all over the world, establishing 284 Eckankar centres in 23 countries. He claimed to use soul travel to heal, exorcise ghosts from haunted places, find missing persons and help others in their spiritual self-discovery. Twitchell was adored by his followers who called him Mahanta, the living embodiment of the God consciousness on earth. He died in 1971 and in 1986 the Eckankar headquarters moved to their current location in Minneapolis, Minnesota: www.eckankar.org/. ECTOPLASM From the Greek words ektos and plasma and meaning ‘exteriorized substance’, ectoplasm a whitish substance that allegedly extrudes from the mouth, nose, ears or other orifices of the medium during a séance. The phrase was coined in the late nineteenth century by French psychologist Charles Richet, who recorded the phenomenon in his own research with the ectoplasm-producing medium Madame d’Esperance. It is said to smell like ozone (a sweet, clover-like smell), to be either warm or cold to the touch and to appear either light and airy or sticky and jelly-like, with a structure that varies from amorphous clouds to a net-like membrane that can transform into limbs, faces or bodies of ghosts or spirits. If exposed to light the ectoplasm is said to snap back into the medium’s body, sometimes causing discomfort, pain and injury Many believe this substance to be the matter that composes one’s astral body and is the basis of all psychic phenomena. In experiments in the early 1900s, medium Marthe Béraud was said to produce masses of white or grey material during a sitting. She was thoroughly examined beforehand by a German doctor, Baron Albert von SchrenckNotzing, to confirm that she wasn’t hiding anything. The Baron described Béraud’s ectoplasm as sticky icicles that ran down her face and onto the front of her body where they assumed faces or shapes. Perhaps the most well-known ectoplasm-producing medium was Mina Crandon. Famous photographs from the 1920s show Mina with long strings of ectoplasm streaming out of her mouth, ears, nose and even from between her legs. Research into ectoplasm was conducted well into the twentieth century and analyses of small pieces of ectoplasm did in some cases, although not all, reveal fraud, with the use of substances such as muslin, toothpaste, soap, gelatine and egg white. Magician Harry Houdini once said that he couldn’t believe superior beings would allow the production of such disgusting substances from the human body. Interest in ectoplasm has declined but some modern mediums are still said to produce the phenomenon. EDGAR ALLAN POE HOUSE This tiny home on 203 N. Amity Street in Baltimore was once occupied by Edgar Allan Poe from 1832-1835. It is believed to be haunted - but surprisingly not by the famous author who had a fascination for all things paranormal. Poe only lived in the house for three years and it had several other occupants, including his grandmother, his aunt and his cousin, Virginia Clemm, who later became his wife. The house was taken over by the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore in 1941 and is now open to the public. There is a picture of Poe’s wife painted from her corpse on permanent display. Since the 1960s psychic phenomena, mostly centring around Poe’s attic room and Virginia’s bedroom, have been reported there, including lights turning mysteriously on and off, strange voices and noises, and windows and doors closing by themselves. There have also been sightings of the ghost of an old lady with grey hair, dressed in period clothes. None of the phenomena seems to be hostile but many residents of Baltimore, including street gangs, to this day report an irrational fear and anxiety about the place and prefer to stay away from it. EDGEHILL, BATTLE OF A famous case of phantom battle re-enactment. The battle of Edgehill was the first major, intense and bloody conflict of the English Civil War between the royalist forces of Charles I and the parliamentary forces of the Earl of Essex. It took place on 23 October 1642 about two miles southwest of Kineton and is said by some to be still witnessed today. The first account of phantom armies fighting was reported on 24 December 1642 by shepherds herding their sheep on the former battleground. They reported hearing voices and the screams of horses and then experienced a huge apparition of the battle in the sky. The shepherds reported the apparition to the local priest who went the following night and witnessed the phenomenon for himself. In the days that followed Charles I sent a group of investigators and they all witnessed the re-enactment too, with some even recognizing fallen colleagues. Their incredible experience is reported in a leaflet: The Prodigious Noises of War and Battle at Edge Hill. Near Keinton in Northamptonshire and its truth is certified by William Wood, Esq and the Justice of the Peace for the same County and Samuel Marshell, Preacher of God’s word in Keinton and other persons of quality. Psychical investigators believe that the re-enactment, which is still said to appear periodically to this day - although not typically as the full re-enactment but as phantom battle sounds - is caused by the restless, traumatized spirits of those who died that day. Sceptics argue that certain individuals may be influenced by the history associated with the place and mistake imaginative conjecture for reality. EEG [E alograp ENCEPHALOGRAPHY] A test that measures and records the electrical activity of the brain by using sensors (electrodes) attached to the head and connected by wires to a computer. The computer records the brain’s electrical activity on the screen or on paper as wavy lines. Certain conditions, such as seizures, can be detected by observing changes in the normal pattern of this electrical activity. Measurements of electrical activity in the brain have been instrumental in measuring stress, determining sleep patterns and monitoring body metabolism. They have also been used to detect what happens in the brain during psychic experiences, such as meditation and episodes of clairvoyance. ELECTROKINESIS A form of psychokinesis, electrokinesis is the ability to create and control electricity using only the powers of the mind. So far there have been no conclusive studies on or cases of factual electrokinesis. Electrokinetic ability allegedly causes the psychic to act as a human conductor, able to receive, store and transmit large to small quantities of electricity. There is also the act of draining electricity from electronically based devices and in return recharging them. Those who practise electrokinesis claim to be able to actually explode, start up or switch off electronic devices either via intense meditation and visualization or through overwhelming emotional response. Electrokinesis is mostly used by stage magicians as a part of their narrative when performing tricks that involve some form of electricity, such as lighting a lightbulb simply held in the palm. ELECtronic VOICE PHENOMENA [EVP] Communication from a voice recorded on a tape recorder from which there is no known source. EVP researchers believe the voices captured on tape are those of spirits of the dead, but sceptics argue that they are simply voices from radio or TV transmissions being picked up by the recording device. Interest in EVP began in the late 1920s when the famous inventor Thomas Edison predicted that one day there would be a machine to allow communication with the spirits. In 1959 EVP was said to have been discovered by accident by the Swedish filmmaker Friedrich Jürgenson. Jürgenson was recording birdsong when he discovered an unknown voice on his tape. On replaying the recording later he believed that he had recorded a message from his mother, who had died four years previously. EVP was further reported in the 1970s by Latvian psychologist Konstantin Raudive, who picked up unexplained voices in the background while recording something else. He began to record in empty rooms and still picked up voices, which were later thought to be messages from spirits of the dead. Raudive published his research, in German, in The Inaudible Made Audible, which was translated into English in 1971 with a new title Breakthrough. EVP voices are also called Raudive Voices in recognition of the extensive work he did recording over 100,000 voices. In the 1980s and 1990s there were thousands of EVP researchers at work devising machines and recording the phenomenon. Several organizations, including the American Electronic Voice Phenomenon in the United States, sprang into existence. Perhaps the most well-known and best-funded device was the ‘spiricom’, invented by George Meek, a retired engineer, with the alleged help of a discarnate scientist who communicated to him during a séance. Unfortunately the success rate of the spiricom was poor but this did not stop Meek pursuing increasingly sophisticated ways to reach astral planes. Allegedly EVP voices are never heard during recording, only on playback. They are said to be either faint or clear and can speak or sing in a variety of languages. They are identifiable as men, women and children and according to reports the voices suggest that they can communicate through central transmitting agencies in the spirit plane. EVP has many enthusiastic supporters who believe the phenomenon is evidence of paranormal activity, but there are also many critics who doubt the recordings are genuine. Between 1970 and 1972 the Society for Psychical Research commissioned psychical researcher D J Ellis to investigate EVP voices, and he concluded that the sounds were susceptible to imagination and most likely a natural phenomenon. Other sceptics believe that the voices are caused by psychokinesis, when sounds are imprinted on the tape by the experimenter. DIY EVP There are many ways to attempt to record EVP voices, and enthusiasts tend to use highly sophisticated recording equipment, but perhaps the quickest and simplest way is to turn a recorder on and leave it running. Night-time seems to be the best time to reduce the risk of interference. Often headphones must be used to hear the voices. It is said that the attitude in which the experiment is approached is important and that an open minded, relaxed and positive attitude is best. Doubt has a negative impact on results. Despite poor experimental records EVP researchers continue to devote time and energy to finding a way to capture something on tape that proves life after death. In the last decade or so EVP has moved into other media, including TV, video and film cameras and computers. Researchers all over the world have reported images and voices appearing or coming from their TVs for which there is no known cause, as well as spontaneous printouts from computers. ELEMENT A natural or spiritual substance thought to be one of the fundamental energies of the universe with inherent power. Many belief systems have rituals and techniques to harness these energies and powers for boosting health or creating magic. Each culture has slight variations in the type and number or elements consulted. In Western traditions there are four elements: air, water, fire and earth. In Hinduism there are five elements: air, water, earth, fire and ether. In Taoism there are also five elements: earth, metal, water, wood and fire. ELEMENTAL DIVINATION Divination by means of the four elements: air (aromancy), fire (see pyromancy), water (see hydromancy) and earth (see geomancy). ELEMENTALS Indo-European nature spirits or angels believed to be manifestations of the four elements - water (undines), air (sylphs), fire (salamanders) and earth (gnomes). In addition, there are two other groups of nature spirits inhabiting magical elements - dryads (vegetation) and fauns or satyrs (animal life). In modern magical philosophy elementals are seen as conscious elements inhabiting the physical world. They have extensive powers over the elements they indwell and their powers are at the disposal of the magician who has mastered the elemental force within. Elementals are thought to be able to help bring desires or wishes into being and they are important in the practice of many magical traditions, such as druidry, alchemy and Wicca. In the latter they are called down during rituals to charge spells with the power of nature. In an occult sense it is thought that they can be created by an emotional thought form, and if suffused with enough energy by their creator they can cause problems through possession or as poltergeists. This is because as creatures of a single element they can have an unbalancing effect on the human psyche and too much contact with them can be upsetting and even dangerous. ELONGATION Term used to describe the elongation of a medium’s body while under spirit control. Historically, elongations were attributed to possession by gods or demons but by the third century AD similar experiences are reported with mediums. Elongations often feature in the data collected for canonization proceedings and some of El Greco’s paintings appear to illustrate saints that are ‘stretched’. Elongations were a common occurrence in Victorian spiritualist séances, the most well-known and reported being those of the famous Scottish medium D D Home, who allowed witnesses to measure him. At one of the test séances which Home undertook with Lord Adare and the Master of Lindsay, a journalist who was present, H T Humphries, wrote that Home ‘was seen by all of us to increase in height to the extent of some eight or ten inches.’ Elongations are still occasionally reported in séances, but no other medium has even been tested in the detailed way Home allowed. Sceptics argue that elongations are illusions and made possible with simple tricks such as slipping feet out of shoes and standing on tiptoe. Although trickery might have been the case in many instances, throughout his career as a medium, Home was never exposed as a fraud. EMPATHY The ability to tune in intuitively or psychically to the moods and characteristics of a person, animal or place. Empathy is a vital skill for clairsentients and may involve telepathy, but it can also simply be derived from an unconscious or conscious reaction to the body language of another person. Empaths are people with highly developed feelings of empathy to others and the world around them. They are particularly sensitive to feelings of pain and distress and in some cases physical and emotional pain may manifest in the empath’s own body as a result of sensing the pain of others, sometimes resulting in depression and fatigue. In some cases, empaths can sense illness before a person is aware of it, and a person’s death before it occurs. Empaths can also pick up information from places as well. For example, an empath may visit a house and sense particular suffering that has happened there in the past. Empathy from a distance is most likely to occur when there are strong emotional links between people. For example, twins and long-term partners often have empathetic links with each other and mothers are empathetic for their children. There is also evidence to suggest that animals exhibit empathetic links for each other and for their owners. See animal psi. Are you empathetic? Empathy occurs when we feel for others, both their joy and their pain. It is possible to develop empathy so strongly that just by touching someone you can feel or experience what that person does. We are all empathetic to some degree but some are more empathetic than others. If you answer yes to two or more of the questions below you should consider yourself somewhat empathetic: Are you easily persuaded by others? Do your moods change according to the people you are with? Do you find large groups of people overwhelming? Do you feel drained after being around people? Do you seem to know what others are feeling? Are you a ‘touchy-feely’ kind of person? Are you overly emotional at times? Do you have a tendency to take on the problems and worries of others? Do you have a hard time telling how you truly feel at times? Do children and/or animals take to you? For psychic development and clairsentient awareness empathy can be a valuable asset but it does, however, have a downside. If we are strongly empathetic, someone else’s feelings, emotions and attitudes can register so strongly upon us that we assume these are our feelings. We may not realize that what we are feeling may actually be tied to someone else we have encountered or the location we are in. It is very easy to link with the problems and issues of others and carry them with us as if they are our own. If you are not aware you are doing this you can begin to think you are going crazy. If you find that you have a strong tendency to be empathetic and to experience what others are experiencing it is vital to find ways to deliberately disconnect yourself from others and to have time to be alone every day. Some suggest using visualization techniques to disconnect yourself, such as visualizing cutting threads or pulling out cords from the other person. Others suggest visualizing a protective bubble of light around yourself during the day. Gardenia and eucalyptus essential oils are also thought to help you remain objective while dealing with others. Just a tiny drop diluted in water and worn like perfume or a few drops in a bowl of water in your bedroom when you sleep at night is all that is necessary. ENCOUNTER PHENOMENON Encounters with alternate realities and non-physical beings. Encounter phenomenon covers a wide range of experiences including visions of angels, fairies or spirits, near-death experiences, UFO abductions, channelling and possession. Despite great variety in individual cases, historical records show similar characteristics, such as some or all of the following: psi in various forms; feelings of love, wonder or awe; being anointed as a teacher or leader to humanity; instruction or initiation; the presence of light; transportation to a nonphysical realm; revelations and ESP. Encounters with alternate realities seem accidental but more often than not they have intention. For instance, many come to give guidance or help to humans at times of crisis, and some encounters are so powerful that a person’s life is permanently changed. Research shows that some people are more likely than others to have encounters with alternate realities. It seems that childhood tendencies towards fantasy, role-play and imagination are contributory factors. Childhood trauma is another significant factor. Such trauma can result in dissociation, in which part of the psyche splits off from itself as a means of self-defence. There are those who believe that encounters with alternate realities are genuine interactions with external non-physical reality, but others hold that encounters are exteriorizations of the unconscious. The encounter is said to happen when the unconscious creates an escape from reality to relieve stress. In extreme cases this can lead to mental illness, such as schizophrenia. Another theory is that encounters are interactions with a higher realm of consciousness or the divine power that permeates the universe and are intended to further spiritual development. Sceptics argue that encounters with alternate realities are simply the result of overactive and highly suggestible imaginations. ENERGY BALANCING/MEDICINE Any type of complementary or alternative medicine whose methods involve working with the body’s natural energy field - the universal life force in the hope of stimulating the body’s own healing mechanism. For example, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, acupuncture, reiki and spiritual healing. ENFIELD POLTERGEIST A poltergeist case that took place in the late 1970s in an ordinary suburban house in Enfield, North London. On the night of 30 August 1977, Janet Harper, aged 11, and her brother Pete, aged 10, went to their bedroom. According to reports later compiled their beds began to jolt up and down. When the children ran to get their mother, Peggy Harper, the movements stopped. The following night the children called their mother to their room again, claiming to hear shuffling sounds like a chair or table moving. Peggy took the chair downstairs and turned out the light. As soon as she did she herself heard the sound of shuffling. On turning on the light the children were both in bed with their hands under the covers. All three of them then heard loud knocks on the wall and witnessed a chest of drawers moving towards the centre of the room. Terrified, the entire Harper family went to their next-door neighbours. When the neighbours walked into the Harper house they too heard the knocking and could not explain what was causing it. The police were called and on arrival they witnessed the phenomena of unexplained knocking and moving chairs. The next day, when marbles and Lego began to fly across the room, the Harpers contacted the local press. A reporter from the Daily Mirror was sent out and he took a picture of a piece of Lego flying at him from out of nowhere. The paper called the Society for Psychical Research, who sent North London resident and psychical researcher Maurice Grosse to investigate. Grosse arrived at the house on 5 September, a week after the disturbances had begun. After a few days he heard a crash in Janet’s bedroom. Investigation showed that her bedside chair had been thrown across the room while she was asleep. It happened again a few hours later and this time a photographer was able to capture the event. Grosse was to spend the next two years investigating the house and there were many more strange occurrences. Children in puberty or about to reach puberty tend to be the focal point of many poltergeist cases and the Harper case is no exception: Peggy had two young children. The case also had another typical feature: internal family tension. Peggy was having problems getting over her divorce from the children’s father and the children were having problems adjusting to the new situation, and it is possible that the emotional trauma played a part in the disturbances. Two other investigators sent by the Society for Psychical Research, Anita Gregory and John Beldoff, were convinced that the phenomena were caused by trickery, and video cameras set up in the house did show Janet and Pete producing muffled voices - with their faces covered by sheets - and bouncing up and down on their beds. It seems that this remarkable case may have begun with genuine phenomena, but over time developed into fraud when the children began to enjoy the attention they were getting from the investigators and media. ENNEAGRAM See Gurdjieff, Georgei Ivanovitch. ENOCHIAN MAGIC A system of magic that uses the numeric symbols and letters of the Enochian alphabet, said to have been received from the angel Enoch by the Elizabethan court astrologer John Dee and his medium Edward Kelley. In many ways the magical tradition is similar to that used in the kabbalah to understand the Tree of Life. According to Dee’s detailed journals angels who appeared to Kelley communicated hundreds of pages of complex material known as Calls or Evocations to the watchtowers of the universe. These calls, which later formed the raw material for Enochian magic, were dictated letter by letter and backwards because, according to Dee and Kelley, the material was so powerful that even writing it down in the normal way might stir up unwanted magical powers. The Calls were not in English but in a language Dee referred to as angelic or Enochian. It was supposed to have been the language spoken by inhabitants of Atlantis. The Enochian language has its own alphabet, grammar, script and syntax, similar to Hebrew but not identical to it. The following passage from the Second Key will give a sense of the language’s flavour: Enochain spelling: torzu ghohe L zacar eca c noquod zamran micalzo od ozazum vrelp lap zir lo-lad. Pronunciation according to Golden Dawn: Torzodu gohe El; zodacare, eca, ca noqoda. Zodameranu micaelzodo oda ozadazodme vurelpe lape zodire Io-Iada. Translated: Arise, saith the first: move, therefore, unto my servants. Show yourselves in power and make me a strong seer of things, for I am of Him that liveth forever. Doubt has been cast over Kelley’s mediumistic abilities but on analysis the language does appear to be genuine, and linguistic scholars claim it is not possible to create an entire pseudo-language without the help of language experts and years of work. It is hard to imagine how Kelley could have faked Enochian and how he managed the amazing feat of memory to dictate it backwards. Dee’s diaries recording the language of the Enochian Calls are now in the British Museum but the Enochian language lives on. In Victorian times Golden Dawn initiates used the material to create their vast and complex system of Enochian magic, which, along with Dee’s original material, is still being studied today by occult enthusiasts. ENTITY See Discarnate entity. ENTOMANCY A form of divination, interpreting the appearance and behaviour of insects. To this may be referred the various omens and superstitions of popular folklore, such as crickets bringing good luck, deathwatch beetles bringing bad luck and ladybirds indicating visitors. The ancient Greeks had many beliefs about insects. For instance, the great wealth of Midas was allegedly foretold by ants coming to him as a boy while he slept; and bees were thought to indicate future eloquence, as illustrated by the story of Plato who, as a baby in the cradle, was supposedly visited by a swarm of bees which alighted on his lips. EPWORTH RECTORY Epworth Rectory in Lincolnshire was the scene of one of the earliest reputed poltergeist hauntings. For about two months from December 1716, although some accounts say 1719, the household of the Reverend Samuel Wesley experienced poltergeist activity, such as rappings and the movement of furniture. Epworth Rectory was a gift to Rev Wesley from Queen Mary. His wife bore him 19 children in 20 years, 14 of whom died in infancy. The only year she didn’t bear children was in 1701 when Wesley, a Hanoverian, left his wife because of her sympathy for the Jacobites. Rev Wesley did return but the conflict between the two was never resolved and some think that Mrs Wesley’s repressed anger over her husband’s desertion may have played a part in the disturbances. According to records the servants were the first to hear strange groaning and the sounds of stamping feet even though no one was present, on 1 December 1716. The children were the next to hear unusual knocking, footsteps, chains clanking and door latches being rattled. Finally the knocks sounded in the bedroom of Rev and Mrs Wesley. A routine began to develop, with the raps and knockings and strange noises starting at around 9.45 every night. Sometimes the house itself would shake or there would be the sounds of bottles smashing; on inspection nothing would be out of place. At first Mrs Wesley thought that rats were the cause and she requested a horn be sounded through the house to scare them. After that the noises, almost as an act of revenge for the horn, sounded during the day as well as the night. Other manifestations included a bed levitating with one of the children in it and the spectres of what looked like a rabbit and a badger. The children called the spirit by the nickname ‘old Jeffrey’ and it was suggested that either witchcraft or the spirit of someone who had died in the house was to blame. Attempts to establish contact with the spirit failed and it was particularly active during prayers - although curiously if the prayers omitted mention of the King it remained silent. Although Wesley was advised to leave the rectory by his friends, he refused to be intimidated by what he called ‘the devil’. Then mysteriously, at the end of January the disturbances stopped. The most likely explanation for this case is psychokinetic energy unleashed by a member of the Wesley family. Mrs Wesley harboured deep resentment against her husband because of his desertion of her and his family. It’s also possible that one of the children was the prime agent of the activity. One daughter, Hetty, was around the age of 15 at the time and according to reports she intensely disliked Epworth Rectory and the surrounding villages. She was also probably deeply hurt by the tension that existed between her parents. EQUINOX Term used to refer to the two days each year, one in spring (usually around 20 to 23 March) and one in autumn (usually around 20 to 23 September) in which day and night are of equal length. At the moment of the Equinox the Sun crosses the celestial equator - the projection of the earth’s equator into space. In the Golden Dawn magical system the equinoxes are two of the most important days of the year because it is thought that on these days the spiritual energies of the Sun come to Earth directly. Rituals are held to draw on these energies. Equinoxes are also significant in the pagan calendar of the year as festival days called Sabbats. The spring celebration is called Ostara and the autumn celebration Mabon. ESOTERIC From the Greek esoteros meaning ‘inner’, esoteric is a term usually applied to mysterious or occult teachings. It is used to describe ideas and concepts that are to be understood only by a select few with specialized training and/or knowledge. ESP [EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION] Term used to describe the ability of some people to perceive things beyond which their five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste can tell them. ESP is often described as a sixth sense, but it does not function like a sense and is not dependent on the other senses, age, location, time or intelligence. It seems to originate in an alternate reality and to bring people information about the past, present and future that they couldn’t be aware of under normal circumstances. Information that comes through ESP is not always significant or accurate, possibly because it is affected by the thoughts of the waking consciousness, but in some cases it is. For example, in one case recorded by the Society for Psychical Research, a woman driving on the M62 motorway near Irlam in Lancashire claimed to hear an inner voice crying ‘Get out!’ She swerved dangerously into the fast lane and at exactly the same moment avoided a collision with a lorry. Another case was that of Maureen Blyth, wife of yachtsman Chay Blyth, who was suddenly overcome with unexplained nausea in restaurant. Later she found out that at the exact moment of her nausea her husband’s yacht had overturned in the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean; he was trapped underneath for hours before being rescued. The term ‘ESP’ was first used as early as 1870 but it was American parapsychologist J B Rhine who popularized the term in 1934, when he was one of the first to test for GESP, or general extrasensory perception, in the laboratory. ESP is often applied to any psychic or paranormal experience but strictly speaking it is divided into two main categories: telepathy and clairvoyance, which can be perceived forward (precognition) and backwards (retrocognition); if a person possesses these powers they are known as psychics. ESP should not be used to describe out-of-body experiences or psychokinesis. The term psi is also sometimes used to cover ESP, and some Russian scientists call ESP bioinformation. Since Rhine’s experiments in the 1930s ESP has become the subject of investigation in its own right as scientists discovered that information can enter the brain/mind in other ways apart from the five senses. Research shows that ESP does exist but how it happens remains a mystery. With quantum theory pointing to the existence of a second, non-material universe, more and more scientists are coming round to the idea that an extrasensory force exists in another reality and from time to time this force may interact with the physical world. Theories to explain ESP There have been several theories to explain ESP. Psychiatrist Carl Jung suggested that the conscious mind has psychic access to the collective unconscious, where all accumulated wisdom and experience of the human race is collected. Researcher Louisa B Rhine, the wife of J B Rhine, suggested that dreams might be the most efficient messengers of ESP because in sleep the barriers to the conscious mind appear to be at their weakest. An interesting theory first suggested in the 1960s proposed that macrophages, cells present in connective tissue and bone marrow and tied to nerve endings, are the body’s ESP organs. These cells are more active in childhood and deteriorate when diet is poor. The most recent theories tend to centre on the existence of a second consciousness (which can also be called ‘soul’, ‘super consciousness’, ‘dream self or a number of other names) that somehow integrates physical and alternate realities. Subliminal barriers separate the second consciousness from the waking consciousness, otherwise the waking consciousness would be overwhelmed with data. Who has ESP? It seems that ESP is in many cases an inherited skill, but this does not mean that only a selected few are psychic and the rest of the population isn’t. There are theories that ESP is a super sense developing in the nervous system but by far the most popular theory is that ESP is a primitive sense everyone has, but with the advance of technology (where we need to rely less and less on our intuition) it has become less accessible. With training, however, or techniques such as yoga or meditation, ESP ability can be developed and strengthened. Research confirms that all people have ESP but that some, such as mediums, are more gifted than others. It seems that people who are relaxed, believe in ESP and are intuitive by nature tend to be more sensitive to ESP and perform better at ESP tests. This may explain why some people are more affected by haunted sites and others are not affected at all. And it’s not only people who possess ESP: animals, in particular dogs, cats and horses, have been known to display it. See animal psi. According to surveys most people believe they have had at least one ESP experience in their life, for example thinking of a person and a few moments later receiving a phone call from that individual, or looking at a person from a distance only for that person to turn around as if they sense they are being looked at. ESP CARDS Also known as Zener cards, ESP cards are a deck of 25 cards of 5 symbols: star, cross, circle, square and wavy lines. They were once a standard laboratory testing-tool for ESP but have now been replaced by the computer. ESP cards were first used in the 1930s by J B Rhine and Karl Zener, faculty members of Duke University in North Carolina, and soon replaced the playing cards that had been used previously to test for ESP. Rhine used the cards in thousands of tests and found eight subjects with consistently high scores. He published the results in 1934 in a controversial pamphlet called Extra Sensory Perception. Critics argued that the results were invalid as there was too much potential for fraud and for picking up of sensory clues such as body language. To avoid the accusation of fraud Rhine changed his test procedures and the tester and the subject are now typically placed in separate rooms. To test for telepathy the tester goes through the deck, concentrating on one symbol at a time, and the subject writes down the symbols that come to his or her mind. In clairvoyance testing the tester selects some cards and places them face down while the subject attempts to record the hidden symbols. In precognition testing the subject attempts to name the cards in the right sequence before they are picked by the tester. ESSENTIAL OILS Oils or essences extracted from parts of plants, including the leaves, bark, flowers, root, stems and fruit. These oils, which may have been developed by plants to attract pollinating insects and birds, are used in perfumes, massage and aromatherapy. Each essential oil is thought to have a wide variety of different chemical substances and, when used in aromatherapy, to have pharmaceutical effects. When absorbed into the bloodstream via massage or inhalation (ingesting most essential oils is not a good idea) they are believed to have physiological effects on the body and psychological effects on the mind. Essential oils also carry the bioenergetic qualities of their individual plants and many believe that this can affect a person’s spirit as well as their body. Certain essential oils are thought to help clear the mind to receive psychic insight, especially jasmine and rose oil. Others that are typically used to stimulate psychic awareness include frankincense, lavender, neroili, lemongrass, jasmine, peppermint, magnolia, eucalyptus, gardenia, honeysuckle, ylang-ylang, yarrow root and sage. Sandalwood, pine, lavender, gardenia, anise, clove and eucalyptus are often used for psychic protection. In some instances, healers use a small amount of essential oil to activate the body’s chakras with their hands and fingers. The theory is that these oils increase the healer’s psychic awareness of energy in the patient. Using essential oils Usually a drop or two of an oil is used by placing it in a burner in a room. You could also place a few drops on a handkerchief and place it under your pillow at night or carry it around during the day. As well as an aromatherapy massage perhaps the most relaxing way to use essential oils is in the bath, using about ten drops of essential oils that encourage psychic awareness. Place the oils in the bath after it has filled so that they float on the surface. Either mix three drops each of oils such as geranium, neroili or ylang-ylang or use ten drops of one oil. ETHER From the Greek aither, meaning ‘upper air’, ether is the term used to describe the substance that makes up all matter, according to mystical and magical belief. In Hinduism it is considered to be one of the five natural elements, along with air, fire, earth and water. Also known as akasha, ether can be thought of as space: space as in outer space, space between all living matter, space as in the substance that sound and thought waves travel through, and space as the place the astral body inhabits. In Ayurvedic medicine ether has the elemental qualities of light, sound and purity. ETHERIC BODY Also described as an aura, the etheric body is thought to be a second, subtle body which is typically a mirror image of the physical body and which can, under certain circumstances, be projected and travel great distances in a short space of time. It is often said to be the same as the astral body but some traditions believe that the astral plane is one step closer to higher consciousness. In magical traditions the etheric body is said to be composed of fine energy. Recent research not only suggests that the etheric body may exist but that its substance may be electrical energy. EVIL EYE The ancient and greatly feared belief that certain people can inflict bad luck, misfortune or death simply with a glance or intense stare. Negative energy is transmitted to another person with a glance or lingering look from a malevolent person. The superstition was known as far back as 3000 BC, appearing in the cuneiform texts of the Sumerians and Assyrians. There is also evidence that the Babylonians and ancient Greeks believed in it. Women in ancient Egypt would paint their eyes and lips with makeup to keep the evil eye out. Most tribal cultures are aware of it and it is mentioned in both the Bible and the Koran. Even today in Mexico and Central America superstitions about the evil eye still exist. The evil eye is said to most likely strike when an individual is at the height of his or her happiness and success and for some unknown reason children and cows seem to be special targets of the evil eye. Witches, sorcerers, magicians, medicine men and witch doctors are said to cast the evil eye. Native America shamans often combine the menacing look with a pointing stick, finger or wand. A person may also be cursed with the evil eye at birth and not know it. Pope Leo XIII was said to possess the evil eye. Because of this those who believe in the evil eye must constantly be on their guard as a malevolent stare could come from anyone, even a stranger in the street. If a person is hit by the evil eye various superstitions offer protection against disaster striking. If a witch or sorcerer is not available to offer a counter-spell, the fig hand - a clenched fist with the thumb stuck through the middle and fourth fingers -and a curved horn are said to offer protection. Other protective amulets include bells, brass, red ribbons, blue beads, garlic, horseshoes or hanging charms in windows to confuse a witch’s gaze. Denying success and good fortune could also deflect it, and admired infants would be smeared with dirt before being taken out. Touching wood was also thought to offer protection against the curse of the evil eye. EVOCATION From the Latin for ‘calling forth’ an evocation is the summoning in magic or ritual of a spirit into a manifestation that is external to the medium or magician. It is distinguished from invocation, which is the process of summoning a spirit into the medium or magician. EXORCISM The process by which an evil spirit or possessing entity is driven out of a human host, object or place. From the Greek exorkizein meaning ‘to bind by oath’ (invoking a higher power to make a spirit act in a certain way), rituals of exorcism exist universally in societies where spirits are thought to interfere with earthly affairs and cause misfortune. Typically exorcisms are performed by trained individuals, usually religious officials or magical or occult adepts. Rites vary from simple requests to leave to complex rituals involving trance and techniques including fasting, prayer, sacred herbs and blessed water. In Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam possessing spirits are blamed for a number of misfortunes and are cast out of people and places, but unlike in Christianity, such conflicts are not considered battles for the person’s soul. Typical Hindu exorcism techniques include offering copper coins, candy or other gifts and pressing rock salt between the fingers. In some shamanic traditions it is thought that possessing spirits can steal souls, and the shaman enters a trance to search for the soul and force the evil spirit out. Jewish rabbinic literature refers to exorcisms. The best-known rite concerns that of the dybbuk. Christianity associates exorcism with demonic possession. The Roman Catholic Church offers a formal rite of exorcism, the Rituale Romanum, dating back to 1614. In order to ‘qualify’ for an exorcism the victim must display certain symptoms including superhuman strength, levitation and speaking in tongues (glossolalia). Some Protestants also perform exorcism. Pente-costalists practise ‘deliverance ministry’, where healers drive out evil spirits by the laying on of hands. A more moderate view on exorcism and possession was put forward by American psychologist Carl Wickland, who believed that spirits were not evil but simply confused and trying to finish their worldly business in a living person. This could cause any number of mental problems. Wickland recommended using mild electric shock to help the spirits leave in his controversial book Thirty Years Among the Dead (1924). This view still has a number of supporters, among them psychiatrist Dr Ralph Allison, who wrote in his book, Minds in Many Pieces (1980), that various of his patients exhibited signs of demonic possession and required exorcism as well as conventional treatment. In Christianity there are no formal exorcism rites for banishing ghosts from places. There are, however, plenty of superstitions and magical rites, and these include entering a house at midnight with a candle, compass, crucifix and Bible and drawing magic circles and crosses. In China ghosts are exorcised from houses by Taoist priests in a complex ritual, involving a mystic scroll placed on an altar, a cup and a sword and mystical signs, repeated to all four corners of the room. EXPERIMENTER EFFECT A term used in laboratory tests for psi to describe the unconscious psychic influence or bias of the experimenter on the subject. The effect may show up as unconscious telepathic communication or use of body language or attitude communicated to the subject. The experimenter effect was noticed first in psychology in the tendency of patients and therapists to establish a rapport, and then in psychical research in the 1930s when it became apparent that in some cases the experimenter became the determining factor for the outcome of a test. It was shown that experimenters who seemed negative and unsupportive yielded poorer results than experimenters who were positive and encouraging. Subjects also seemed to be influenced by how much they thought their experimenter believed in psi and whether or not the experimenter liked them. In 1949 American psychologist and psychical researcher Gardner Murphy suggested that certain brilliant test results were due to the intense feelings of the experimenters. Some experimenters do appear to get more positive and more conclusive results than others. According to some psi researchers this doesn’t necessarily invalidate their test results. It is argued that it is important for the experimenter to believe in psychic ability and to have a positive, encouraging attitude towards the subject, as this creates the kind of relaxed and positive atmosphere conducive to psychic development. EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION See ESP. EXTRATERRESTRIALS Beings that are not of this earth and whose existence has not been proven. The term applies to alien visitors from another planet or world. Various psychic, paranormal and strange occurrences have been reported in conjunction with alleged sightings of extraterrestrials and their spacecrafts. Thousands upon thousands of sightings of extraterrestrials have been reported since interest in the phenomenon began in earnest with the famous Roswell incident in 1947. Three UFOs reportedly crashed near Roswell in New Mexico and although the US government claimed they were weather balloons, eyewitness reports years later suggested that they had seen the bodies of aliens in the wreckage. The great majority of ET encounters have been explained as natural phenomena, aircraft or hoaxes but a tiny majority can’t be explained away, leading many to believe in the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH): that extraterrestrial encounters and UFOs are a reality. ETH is a dominant belief in America, but European ET experts are more inclined to support what is called the ‘encounter theories’ view. This encounter theories view of ET occurrences holds that there are encounter-prone personalities and that encounters are psychological projections in response to the mass yearning of mankind to raise consciousness. As yet there are no real answers to the question whether ET encounters are objective or subjective. There are various types of extraterrestrial encounters: hovering nocturnal lights, discs or saucer-shapes seen in daylight, radar-visual sightings and sightings of aliens - typically as small humanoid beings with large heads and grey or green skin. There have also been reports of so-called alien abductions: when mysterious events left individuals with unaccounted missing time, when the details can only be uncovered under hypnosis, and when there are inconspicuous scars. Some eyewitnesses state that prior to an extraterrestrial encounter they acquired psychic powers that helped bring about the encounter or helped them communicate telepathically with the aliens. Others say that psychic abilities developed as a result of the encounter. Many witnesses feel transformed after an encounter and make major changes in their lifestyles, such as becoming active in environmental concerns, moving to a new area or becoming actively involved in psychic development and paranormal research. EYE of HORUS Also known as the ‘all seeing eye’, the stylized eye of the falcon-headed sky god, Horus, was one of the most common amulets of ancient Egypt. Egyptians used the amulet as protection from evil and it was typically associated with health and prosperity. However, according to some myths it was also associated with terror and anger and as result has since become associated with magic and the occult. A variation of the eye of Horus is the open eye symbol in the Great Seal of the United States. According to esoteric teaching an open eye symbolizes the flowering of intellect and psychic awareness. EYELESS vision Also known as skin reading and dermo-optics, this quite literally means seeing images and colours through the skin. Eyeless vision is said to work best in daylight rather than in darkness. In 1937, Life magazine ran a three-page story on a 13-year-old Californian boy named Pat Marquis, who convinced his doctor that he could see after his eyes had been taped shut. Professors and reporters who tested him later to satisfy themselves of this claim found no trickery. Rosa Kuleshova also impressed scientists in the former USSR by identifying colours and reading print with her finger tips while her eyes were covered, Time magazine printing her remarkable story in 1963. In 1920, French psychologist Jules Romains studied the phenomenon and concluded that all skin has the capacity for eyeless sight, in particular the hands. In the early 1960s eyeless vision was extensively researched in the Soviet Union, where researchers attempted to train individuals to read colours, words and images through their skin while blindfolded. Various theories have been put forward to explain eyeless vision. Some believe that skin readers have special unknown cells in their bodies, others suspect fraud, suggesting that when a person loses their sight, nature compensates by heightening another of the senses - usually the tactile and/or auditory sense - and it is possible with diligent practice to develop the senses to achieve extraordinary feats. Another theory suggests that electromagnetic energy and the meridian energy points on the body may be the cause. F FACELESS Gray MAN of PAWLEYS ISLAND The ghost of a grey-looking man with no face who is said to warn residents of Pawleys Island, off the coast of South Carolina, of an impending natural disaster, for example a hurricane. The faceless apparition has only been sighted when dangerous storms are approaching and he is thought to have saved countless lives, appearing before the hurricanes of 1822, 1893, 1916, 1954 and 1955. Locals believe that if you see him, your residence will be spared. Some say the Gray Man is the ghost of Percival Pawley the first man to settle on the Island and to give the Island its name. Others say it is the ghost of the lover and cousin of a beautiful eighteenth-century Charleston belle. The belle could have married anyone, but she disappointed her family by falling in love with her cousin, who had a reputation for being a lady’s man. Her family succeeded in breaking up their relationship by sending the cousin to France and telling her that her lover had died in a dual. The woman was devastated but eventually married someone else. One night when her husband was away on business a hurricane arose and sank a brigantine off the Island’s shore. There was only one survivor from the ship her cousin - who came to the woman’s house for shelter. She was horrified to discover that he had not died in a dual, and the cousin was horrified to see a ring on her finger. He ran away and a few weeks later died of fever and, some say, a broken heart. The woman stayed with her husband but remained troubled for the rest of her life by the ghost of a grey man with no face. FACELESS WOMAN A beautiful female ghost who is said to terrify all who see her because she has no face. Typically she is young and slender and is first seen from behind. The faceless woman is often thought to be an urban myth, but she appears in haunting legends all over the world. Her origins are unknown but may be Japanese. In his book Kwaidan (Weird Tales) published in 1904, Lafcadio Hearn, one of the first Westerners to study the folklore of Japan in depth, documented ancient stories of the Mujina, faceless ghosts of either sex. The most recent sightings of the faceless woman have been in Hawaii. In 1959 the faceless woman was said to have appeared at the Waialee Drive-In and a few years later in Oahu. There are also rumours of her being spotted in a Waikiki hotel, shopping mall and college. FAIRIES Fairies are thought to be non-human, immortal earth spirits with supernatural powers who occupy a limbo between earth and heaven. From the latin fata meaning fate, the term comes from the Fates of Greek and Roman mythology - three sisters who spun the thread of life and determined the fate of all human lives. In archaic English fairies were also known as fays, a term which means enchanted or bewitched, and is in recognition of the skill fairies were thought to have in predicting and even controlling human destiny. Fairies are thought to bring good or bad luck on a person and to possess magical power and the ability to cast spells. They are sometimes said to be witches or their familiars. Fairy legends are universal and show many similarities. There are numerous ideas about how they originated. One is that they are descendants of the children of Eve, another is that they are fallen angels, not evil enough to be dismissed from heaven but not good enough to stay in heaven. A third idea is that stories about fairies arose to explain misfortunes and disasters, another suggests they are spirits of the restless dead, and yet another that they are simply small human beings. Regardless of how they originated, getting involved with fairies is never considered to be straightforward. They can be good but numerous superstitions also suggest a darker side. For example, it is thought that fairies may steal away babies and turn them into changelings, or they might curse a person to ill health or a household to poverty. If they fall in love with a human that person may be blessed with immortality, but this also brings the curse of living forever and watching loved ones die. In order to stay in favour with the fairies some superstitions suggest that humans should leave out food, drink and gifts for the fairies. In return the fairies will bestow wealth and health on a family. Fairies, also known as the good people, the little people, elves or good neighbours, come in all shapes and sizes but traditionally they are tiny, resemble humans and have wings. It is said that they are only visible to those with clairvoyant sight but if they wish they can make themselves visible to anyone. Some are said to be fearsome creatures with awesome powers, while others, like leprechauns or brownies, are almost cute and loveable by nature. Whatever their shape or appearance, fairies are thought to have great affinity for nature. They are said to live in the Land of Fairy or Elf Land, which is believed to exist in a timeless underground world. At night they allegedly step out from Elf Land to dance, sing, travel and have fun or make mischief. Fairies are mainly associated with Northern European cultures, especially the Celtic folklore of Ireland, Wales, Brittany and Cornwall. In Ireland they are known as Tuatha de Danaan, or people of the goddess Danu, a divine race that once ruled Ireland. The Tuatha are thought to be strong and beautiful and skilled in magic. Celtic folklore was also transported to American colonies and to Asia. Native Americans have their own little people’ fairy lore. The little people live in the Pryor Mountains of Montana and are said to have powerful medicine and strong teeth. From the eighteenth century onwards stories report that the fairies have departed or are fading away. Some people believe that they are disappearing because humans have stopped believing in them. Others say pollution, urbanization and technological advances are the main cause of their decline. Yet, however often they are reported as gone, belief in fairies still lingers, reports of sightings still occur and the traditions continue. Around the beginning of the nineteenth century, a man called Hugh Miller recorded what was supposed to be the final departure of the fairies from Scotland at Burn of Eathie. On a Sabbath morning … the inmates of this little hamlet had all gone to church, all except a herd-boy, and a little girl, his sister, who were lounging beside one of the cottages; when, just as the shadow of the gardendial had fallen on the line of noon, they saw a long cavalcade ascending out of the ravine through the wooded hollow. It winded among the knolls and bushes; and, turning round the northern gable of the cottage beside which the sole spectators of the scene were stationed, began to ascend the eminence toward the south. The horses were shaggy, diminutive things, speckled dun and grey; the riders, stunted, mis-grown, ugly creatures, attired in antique jerkins of plaid, long grey cloaks, and little red caps, from under which their wild uncombed locks shot out over their cheeks and foreheads. The boy and his sister stood gazing in utter dismay and astonishment, as rider after rider, each one more uncouth and dwarfish than the one that had preceded it, passed the cottage, and disappeared among the brushwood which at that period covered the hill, until at length the entire route, except the last rider, who lingered a few yards behind the others, had gone by. ‘What are ye, little mannie? and where are ye going?’, inquired the boy, his curiosity getting the better of his fears and his prudence. ‘Not of the race of Adam,’ said the creature, turning for a moment in his saddle: ‘The People of Peace shall never more be seen in Scotland.’ (Hugh Miller, The Old Red Sandstone) FAIRY RING According to folklore, fairy rings are circles of inedible mushrooms or differently coloured grass, thought to be magical circles where witches and fairies meet to sing and dance at night. It is said that if you run around the outside of a fairy ring nine times on a full moon to see the fairies your wish will come true. It is unwise, however, to interfere with the fairy ring ritual because if a human is lured inside he or she can’t escape unless pulled out of the circle by a human chain. Inside the ring time is thought to be different, and what seems like a couple of minutes could actually be several days, months or even years. FAKIR From the Arabic word faqir, meaning ‘poor person’, a fakir was an initiate in a mendicant Sufi order who renounced his ties to family life to live as a beggar so that he could develop his psychic powers. Today the word is used to refer to holy men of India who can allegedly perform magical, mystical or paranormal feats, such as lying on a bed of nails or walking on hot coals. FALSE AWAKENING A vivid or lucid dream experience in which the subject believes that he or she has woken up from sleep; the person is in fact still dreaming. See Lucid dreaming. FAMILIAL APPARITIONS Ghostly apparitions thought to be associated with a particular family. They are most often described as an ancient ancestor who lingers in spirit form on the earth to ensure the continuation and prosperity of the family line. In other cases, the spirit of an ancestor allegedly follows the family line and only appears when misfortune is about to strike, such as in the case of the Black Friar who haunted the family of the poet Byron. FAMILIAR The name given to a spirit companion, usually in animal form, who aids or attends the needs of witches. Familiars are also said to be given to witches by the Devil as their companions and helpers. The word is derived from the Latin familiaris, meaning ‘belonging to a household’. A familiar is thought to have magical power and to offer protection from danger to their master or mistress. The most common familiars are cats, followed by dogs, birds, hares, snakes and frogs or toads. At the height of the seventeenthcentury witch paranoia a lone woman owning a black cat was enough ground to convict her of witchcraft. FENG SHUI Sometimes associated with geomancy, a Western practice that works with the magnetic and life force energies of the earth, Feng Shui is the ancient and complex Chinese art of placement to enhance the flow of ‘chi’ or universal life force in an environment. It is the belief that how items are placed in living and work areas affect the health, wellbeing and success of those who live and work there. Making changes to a room’s layout can assist or block the flow of chi and the goal of Feng Shui is to determine what changes need to be made to an environment so that positive energy and good fortune are attracted to it. Feng Shui translates as ‘wind and water’ and a fundamental concept is that in order to be healthy and happy you must be in harmony with the earth and the flow of chi. It is extremely important that the yin (female) and yang (male) aspects of chi are in balance and it is thought that the yin-yang balance is affected by landscape, the presence or absence of water, green trees and plants, the shapes of buildings, the placement of doors and furniture and so on. In Feng Shui advice for improving the flow of chi is given by a feng shui master who typically combines keen observation with intuitive and/or psychic skills. By visiting a location the master determines the existing state of chi and makes recommendations for changes that will maximize it or, if problems exist, he or she will suggest ways to overcome them. Straight roads are considered particularly unfortunate and to live at the end of one is to invite problems. Ideally houses should face south and be located near yang and yin energies of strength and protection. The five elements - water, fire, earth, metal and wood - are also thought to suit different types and functions of buildings. Common remedies to solve problems and enhance chi or repel negative energy include lights, wind chimes, plants, fish tanks, moving items of furniture to face another direction, painting rooms a different colour and, in extreme cases, moving house. The Chinese believe that the best chi is one that doesn’t flow too fast and isn’t too straight but one that flows along natural contours. Mirrors are a common remedy for stagnant chi as, strategically placed, they are thought to block negative energy. Particular types of chi are associated with the different directional points: north is associated with success and business, east with family life, south with fame and west with children’s fame. Feng Shui dates back to around the second century BC. Its roots come from nature divination practices, Taoism, a system of belief that is based on patterns in nature, numerology, astrology and other ancient Chinese divination methods to determine the correct location for things. Many of the early Feng Shui masters were priests and holy men who gave counsel and advice and prescribed Feng Shui cures. Around AD 890 Feng Shui split into two different schools - the form school and the compass school. The form school is based on landscape contours and is an intuitive method of assessing visually the environment, instead of measuring it precisely using a compass to chart astrological factors, I Ching hexagrams and other elements, as used in the compass school. Feng Shui is practised all over the world today. It has spread to the West and is growing in popularity but it is most actively practised in China, and other pacific countries - Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Feng Shui experts believe it’s no coincidence that in Hong Kong and Taiwan many of the buildings have Feng Shui-inspired features, and that these two states have two of the highest per-capita incomes in the world, followed by Singapore and Malaysia. Businessmen and women in these countries take Feng Shui very seriously and regularly consult Feng Shui masters in the course of their business, especially when it comes to property. Some Feng Shui tips for health and wellbeing Remove clutter Clutter is thought to stagnate chi energy in your home or office, blocking positive energy from coming into your life. If your house is full of clutter Feng Shui experts would probably urge you to dispose of at least half or more of what’s there in order to allow new things to enter your life. Personal space Feng Shui suggests that it is vital for your health and wellbeing that you surround yourself with souvenirs, artwork, books, images and mementos that nourish your spirit. Remember, less is always more as far as Feng Shui is concerned, so don’t go overboard. The space doesn’t have to be big, it can be as small as a favourite corner of the room. The important thing is that it is all yours, a place where you can dream and find peace. A good night’s rest Have a look around your bedroom to see if anything is preventing you from getting a good night’s rest. Get rid of as much electronic equipment out of your room as you can because, according to Feng Shui, electrical equipment emanate waves that disturb chi. Close the bathroom door leading to your room, as well as the toilet lid, as bathrooms are associated with draining energy. Cover up mir-[rors that activate yang energy, as the bedroom should be a yin environment of rest and peace. It is probably best in the bedroom to stay away from bright, bold colours like red and gold, and use yin colours such as blues, greens and pastels instead. Room for love If you’re looking to renew or find companionship, love, romance and commitment, Feng Shui stresses the importance of the southwest area. You’ll probably be advised to examine the southwest aspect of your house. Is it filled with clutter or is it barren? Ideally there should be symbols of romance, such as a pair of doves or a heart shape, as well as pink quartz crystals, anything made of earth materials such as china, clay, stone or terracotta and fire elements such as lights and candles to add some sparkle. Anything green or made of wood is considered unlucky here. Create an environment that promotes health and wellbeing In Feng Shui fresh, clean, moving water, good air quality, a balance of dark and light and soft and hard surfaces all facilitate the flow of beneficial chi. If you often suffer from illness or accidents a Feng Shui expert would perhaps recommend that you walk around the outside of your house and notice if there are any corners of buildings pointing directly towards your front entrance or bedroom. If there are, block the view with plants or place a small mirror so it faces the sharp corner and sends the negative energy away. Let nature back in Feng shui is all about harnessing the power of nature to bring health and good fortune so you are advised to let the natural world back into your home and office. In all rooms except for the bedroom bring in vital energy with mirrors, lighting, bright colours and water features such as fountains or fish tanks. In all rooms including the bedroom bring in lots of indoor plants and flowers, placed in the east, southeast and south areas of your home. Replace silk plants with live plants, and remove all dried flowers to bring in fresh, moving energy. Throw open the blinds and curtains and let the sun shine in. FETCH In English folklore the term for a ghostly double of a living person. The fetch is remarkably similar to a double or doppelgänger but witnessing your own fetch, also called a co-walker, is believed to be a sure sign of your own death, which isn’t typically the case for the doppelgänger. If the fetch isn’t you it is taken to be a sign that someone close to you will die. In Irish folklore, however, the fetch is only a death omen if it is seen at night; if it is seen in the morning it is thought to suggest a long life. Legend has it that Elizabeth I of England was shocked to see a corpse lying on her bed. On closer inspection she saw that it was her. Shortly afterwards she died. John Donne, the sixteenth-century English poet, was allegedly visited by an apparition of his wife while he was in Paris. She appeared to him holding a newborn baby. Donne’s wife was pregnant at the time, but the apparition was a portent of great sadness because at the moment it appeared, his wife had given birth to a stillborn child. FETISH From the Latin facticius meaning ‘made by art’, via the Portuguese feitiço, meaning ‘charm’, a fetish is an object that is thought to represent spirits and exert magical powers. Fetishes are widely used in animism traditions to create or symbolize a union between the supernatural and the human. Fetishes are often worn as amulets or talismans to impart magical powers such as luck, protection, health or to ward off evil, but should not to be confused with these; amulets and talismans are not thought to embody spirits. Fetishes come in all shapes and sizes but are often dolls, carved images, stones or animal body parts, such as a tooth or bone. See also Gris-gris. 50 BERKELEY SQUARE In the late nineteenth century, 50 Berkeley Square became known as London’s most haunted house, with reports emerging of paranormal activity, evil entities and even deaths. Years before, in 1859, the house was rented by a man called Myers who allowed the property to deteriorate. Mr Myers became an eccentric recluse after his bride-to-be called their wedding off. He would lock himself away in a small garret room by day and by night he would wander unhappily around the house with a lighted candle. By 1879, 50 Berkeley Square was in such a state of disrepair and ruin that it soon gained a reputation for being haunted in the press. According to the magazine Mayfair, a maid who lived in the house after Myers, and who slept in the attic room Myers used to lock himself in, was said to have gone mad with fright when something malevolent appeared to her, ‘rigid as a corpse, with hideously glaring eyes.’ However, Mayfair refused to jump to conclusions, observing dryly that ‘this, of itself, did not mean much - women may go mad now and then without any ghostly dealings.’ A sceptical guest agreed to stay in the room overnight and he promised to ring the servant’s bell twice if he needed assistance. That night the bell rang frantically and when the owners rushed up to the room they found the guest dead on the bed. Mayfair urged the owners of the house to come forward and discuss the matter but no response was made. Many other occupants of 50 Berkeley Square have allegedly gone mad or died suddenly. Others have talked about a ‘shapeless, slithering, horrible mass’, which has left them both terrified and repulsed. Neighbours in the 1880s complained of loud noises, cries and moans and objects being moved about or thrown. In 1939 the house was leased to antiquarian booksellers, and there have been no further reports of phenomena since. There are some who believe that the house was genuinely haunted by the ghost of Myers, or by the ghost of a woman who lived there and committed suicide by throwing herself out of the garret window to escape being abused by her uncle. A natural and quite plausible explanation put forward by Charles Harper in Haunted Place (1924) is that the house was owned by a Mr Du Pre of Wilton Park, who imprisoned his mad and violent brother in the garret. Other explanations are that natural noises came from the house or nearby but were exaggerated because of the associations with the house. FINDHORN A community in the north of Scotland that was established in 1962 by Eileen and Peter Caddy and Dorothy Maclean under alleged spirit guidance. The Findhorn community believes that a spiritual reality underlies the material world and unites all life and all people; through collaboration with nature spirits or devas they grow vegetables - sometimes of incredible size - in soil so tough that even weeds struggle to grow. As the community developed in the 1960s the media reported 40-pound cabbages growing in the sand and the garden did appear to have special powers. Today the Findhorn experiment is regarded as a demonstration of the potential power of human beings and the natural world living in harmony, and the remarkable story is told in Paul Hawken’s book, The Magic of Findhorn. Today, with a new generation of Findhorn members, the plants, fruits and vegetables are no longer supersize but normal size. Nonetheless the community preserves the spirit and ideas of its founders and it is one of the most successful of New Age communities, specializing in educational seminars on personal transformation and spiritualism. It also has many New Age businesses on its site, including a publishing house. There have been several attempts to imitate Findhorn. Perhaps the most successful is a place called Perelandra, a garden and woodland area southwest of Washington DC. Perelandra was founded in the mid-1970s by Machaelle Small Wright, who, like the Caddys and Maclean, claimed to be in contact with devas and nature spirits. Today the area remains remarkably abundant, regardless of season, compared to surrounding gardens and woodlands. FIRE In magical symbolism one of the four natural elements. Fire symbolizes masculine energy, light, sun, joy, ambitions and worldly achievements. The magical tool associated with fire is the wand. Fire colours are red, gold and orange, and fire is associated with the zodiac signs of Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. In Chinese philosophy fire is one of the building blocks of the universe. It is associated with the season of summer and represents emotions, in particular joy, passion, love and the sound of laughter. FIRE walking Walking through a bed of hot coals or fire without harm or burn marks to the feet or body. Fire walking is a universal and centuries old rite that formed part of religious practice in India and some Polynesian countries. It also was a phenomenon of spiritualism in the late nineteenth century. The practice has been revived somewhat in recent years as part of business and self-development seminars, and thousands of ordinary people claim to have walked unharmed over hot coals after attending seminars that teach them how to overcome fear and demonstrate the power of mind over matter. Despite temperatures of 1,200 to 1,400°F or more, firewalkers seem to be able to walk across 30-60 feet-long beds of glowing coals, white-hot stones or through pits of fire without suffering any pain or showing any signs of burns. How this happens is not entirely understood as doctors say that human flesh exposed to such intense heat should suffer terrible burns. Dr Myrne Reid Coe, Jr, an American scholar and a firewalker himself, suggested that vaporized moisture from sweat or saliva forms a protective air cushion that prevents flesh from burning. This is called the ‘Ledenfrost effect’ - levitating on a protective layer of vapour -the same thing that keeps water droplets glistening on the top of a hot stove. Dr Bernard Leikind, an American plasma physicist, maintains that fire walking is not paranormal and that the coals, like air in an oven, do not contain enough heat to burn the soles of a walker’s feet. However, neither of these theories explain why many people get burned the instant they set foot on the hot coals. Firewalkers claim that fire walking is the ultimate demonstration of the power of mind over body. Californian teacher Tolly Burkan, who introduced fire walking as a personal development tool to the United States in the 1980s, suggests that intense belief in your own ability to cross hot coals causes the brain to secrete chemicals that alter the body’s chemistry so that it is not affected by the heat. Others suggest that a psychoneurological mechanism is responsible and when a firewalker is free of fear and in a state of deep relaxation the body’s nervous system absorbs physical energy and transmutes it to the brain, creating an intense high. Firewalkers themselves compare the experience to one of hypnosis, a state of total concentration to the exclusion of all else. Others compare the fire walking state of mind to being in some sort of trance (either self-induced or brought on by hypnosis). Both trance and hypnotic states have been shown to reduce pain and provide immunity to injury FISCHER, DORIS A famous example of alleged spirit possession investigated by the President of the American Society for Psychical Research, James A Hyslop. Hyslop’s experiences with Doris Fischer are recorded in his book, Life After Death (1918). Doris Fischer was born in 1889 and early on experienced a traumatic incident at the hands of her abusive father. From the age of three she demonstrated multiple personality disorder and psychic ability, for instance, she successfully predicted her own mother’s illness and death. When she was eventually adopted by an Episcopalian minister and psychologist, Walter Prince, who was familiar with multiple personality disorder, she had completely retreated into the personalities of ‘sick Doris’ and ‘wicked Margaret’. Prince and his wife dedicated themselves to helping Fischer lead as normal a life as possible. Hyslop, who believed that the existence of discarnate entities had been proved scientifically and that some cases of mental illness were caused or aggravated by spirit influence, got involved with the case between 1914 and 1919. He took Fischer to sit with a medium, Minnie Soule, in the hope of eliminating the possessive spirits he believed were destroying the girl’s quality of life. During her séances Soule was able to communicate messages to Fischer from her mother. Soule also communicated with the spirit of Count Cagliostro and the spirit of a young Indian, called ‘Laughing Water’, but as far as Hyslop was concerned, the most convincing spirit communication was the one from Richard Hodgson, a former member of the American Society for Psychical Research. Hodgson’s communication with Soule to Fischer convinced Hyslop that this was not a case of multiple personality but a case of spirit possession. According to Hyslop, Soule’s communicators told him that the spirits wanted to hurt Doris because they were evil and that the case of Doris was no different from thousands of other people diagnosed with mental illness who could easily be cured by psychic exorcism. Hyslop performed an exorcism to remove what he believed to be the leader of the possessing spirits, the entity known as Count Cagliostro. Doris returned to live with the Princes and enjoyed a normal life for a while, prompting Hyslop to quit the case believing she had been cured. Unfortunately Doris wasn’t cured and she spent the rest of her life dealing with her multiple personalities - eventually dying in a mental home. FLAMMARION, Nicolas CAMILLE [1842–1925] French astronomer and pioneer of science fiction writing, Flammarion was fascinated by the paranormal and the possibility of life after death. His book Inhabitants of the Other World (1862) consists primarily of spirit communications allegedly given to him by a medium called Mlle Huer. Flammarion was also an avid ghost hunter and throughout his life investigated personally around a thousand cases of suspected hauntings. In his book Haunted Houses he claimed to have visited 180 houses that were actively and genuinely haunted. He also quoted the Italian-born father of criminology, Cesare Lombroso (1836-1909), as his reference in suggesting that there were around 150 homes in England that were unoccupied or uninhabitable because of paranormal activity. FLIGHT 401 On the night of Friday, 29 December 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401, an L1011 jumbo, was carrying 176 people as it prepared to land at Miami Airport. Captain Bob Loft and Second Officer and flight engineer Don Repo were engaged in routine landing procedures when a warning light flashed indicating a problem with the landing gear. What they didn’t realize was that the plane was actually descending much faster than it should have and seconds later it crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing 101 people on impact. Captain Loft survived the crash but died before he could be pulled from the wreck, and Officer Repo died a day later. Eastern Airlines salvaged much of the aeroplane and redistributed parts among similar aircraft in their fleet. Soon after this redistribution there were reported sightings of the ghosts of Repo and Loft in the planes that had received spare parts from Flight 401. Repo’s ghost was said to appear frequently, in the cockpit and in the galley. According to accounts from crew members he seemed to be very concerned about safety, pointing out fire hazards and hydraulic leaks. Loft’s ghost was also seen sitting either in first class or in the crew’s cabin. On one occasion a stewardess who saw him aboard and could not identify him from her passenger list reported him to her flight captain. The flight captain recognized Loft, who vanished before the eyes of a dozen or so witnesses present. Other strange happenings attributed to the ghosts of Repo and Loft were a tool mysteriously appearing in the hand of a flight engineer, a plane’s power suddenly coming on, and messages and warnings on the public address system. Eastern Airlines were sceptical of the reports of sightings and suggested counselling for those involved at the company’s expense. Despite their scepticism, however, they did eventually remove all of the salvaged parts of Flight 401 from the aircraft they had been put into. Almost immediately after the 401 parts were removed from the planes the sightings ended. The alleged hauntings remain a mystery. Eastern Airlines no longer functions but the story of Flight 401 was published in a bestselling book, The Ghost of Flight 401 (1976) by John Fuller. FLINT, LESLIE [1911–1994] English medium, considered by some to be the greatest medium of the twentieth century, who was noted for direct voice mediumship. Purportedly spirits of the dead spoke from a point just above and to the left of Flint’s head. His powers were tested vigorously by psychical researchers but no evidence of fraud was ever found. Flint was unusual in that for the majority of the time when voices communicated he did not go into trance but remained aware of what they were saying. The voices also did not use his vocal cords. Sometimes the voices were clear, at other times they sounded muffled. Sometimes they were from spirits of the dead, sometimes they were from living people who were asleep or in a coma. Flint was born in a Salvation Army home in Hackney, London and had his first psychic experience at the age of seven in the summer of 1918, when he recognized the ghost of his uncle following his aunt around the house trying to get her attention. His aunt had just learned that her husband had been killed in France. After this experience Flint began to hear the voices of the dead on a regular basis, but his family doubted and disapproved so he kept the experiences to himself. Flint attended his first séance at the age of 17 where a medium urged him to develop his mediumistic ability, but he chose not to do this and became a teacher of ballroom dancing instead. He finally decided to become a medium when he got a letter from a Munich woman who told him the spirit of Rudolph Valentino (who had died in 1926) was trying to get in touch with him. Flint attended a séance and Valentino allegedly manifested with spirit writing and table tilting. It didn’t take long after Flint decided to develop his psychic powers for spirit voices to manifest, and he held his first public séance in 1955. Besides Valentino, other famous spirits, such as those of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Thomas Edison came through. Flint formed an association called the Temple of Light and moved to Henley, a London suburb. In order for the voices to manifest Flint insisted on total darkness and as his reputation and popularity grew he would sit on a chair enclosed in a small cabinet in front of as a many as 2,000 people at a time. Flint’s public success attracted the interest of psychical researchers and he was tested so many times that he once referred to himself as ‘the most tested medium in the country … I have been boxed up, tied up, sealed up, gagged, bound and held, and still the voices have come to speak their message of life eternal.’ A test administered by the Society for Psychical Research involved Flint’s lips being sealed with adhesive tape, his mouth tied with a scarf and his hands bound behind a chair. Voices still manifested, but one of the researchers believed that Flint could speak from his stomach. Another researcher suggested that the voices were auditory hallucinations produced by Flint using hypnosis. The latter theory was disapproved as the voices were recorded on tape. The most convincing tests performed on Flint took place in 1970 in both London and New York. William Bennett, professor of engineering of Columbia University, sealed Flint’s lips with plaster and placed a small microphone down his throat along with an infrared telescope to pick up any movement of Flint’s voice box. Bennett came to the conclusion that Flint’s vocal cords were not used in the manifestation of voices and the only possible explanation was mediumship. When Flint was observed through an infrared view he appeared to have mist over his left shoulder. His spirit controls said that it was ectoplasm - the substance they used to communicate through Flint. The process is described in detail in Leslie Flint’s autobiography, Voices in the Dark: My Life as a Medium, where Flint writes: Every living being has a substance known as ectoplasm, which is life force, and a physical medium like myself has a great deal more of it than most people. During a séance, this substance, which is sometimes also referred to as ‘the power’, is drawn from the medium and fashioned by spirits into a replica of the physical vocal organs, which is known as the voice-box or sometimes the mask. The communicating spirit then concentrates his or her thoughts into this voice-box, creating a frequency of vibration which reaches the sitter on earth as objective sound. According to Flint, the ectoplasm voice box could only exist outside the medium’s body in total darkness. If the lights were turned on suddenly, the ectoplasm would rush back into the medium’s body, causing injury and possibly death. In 1956 Sidney George Woods and Betty Greene began to make recordings of Flint’s spirit voices, after the spirit of actress Ellen Terry told them, through Flint, that it was their task to help spread the message: You are going to have some remarkable communications. And I suggest you keep these contacts going regularly to build up the power, and to make possible this link which has been deliberately arranged for your tapes. The tapes you record give us the opportunity to reach many people in all parts of the world … We shall bring various souls from various spheres to give talks and lectures. We need willing helpers on your side. For the next 17 years Woods and Greene built up an impressive collection of recordings, which has been called ‘the most complete account of life in the hereafter ever received.’ Samples of the Wood/Green collection and transcripts of the tapes are available on the Internet: www.xs4all.nl/~wichm/deathnoe.html. FLOROMANCY From the Latin flos or meaning ‘flower’ and the Greek manteia meaning ‘divination’, floromancy is a form of divination first practised by the ancient Greeks but still in use today. Many omens concerning the gathering of flowers at Midsummer’s Eve have survived to modern times, and the ‘good luck’ commonly attributed to the finding of a four-leafed clover falls into this category. Floromancy is based on the belief that flowers radiate vibrations, have curative properties and respond to sympathetic and hostile environments. Professor Jagadish Chandra Bose of Calcutta’s Presidency College experimented with the effects of electrical currents on plants around the beginning of the last century and was convinced that plants possess a life force or soul. Because of this sensitivity the appearance, smell and shape of flowers can be interpreted to predict the future or understand the present. FLOWER REMEDIES Flower remedies are specially prepared flower essences, created by soaking a flower in water and exposing it to sunlight or heat. It is thought that doing this imparts the healing energies of the plant to the water and the essences thus created have been shown to have beneficial effects on a person’s emotional health. Emotional healing: The 38 Bach Remedies Bach Flower Remedies consist of 38 remedies, each for a different disposition. The basic theory is that if the remedy for the correct disposition is chosen, the physical illness resulting from the present emotional state can then be cured. Traditionally, flower essences are taken orally by putting two or three drops of the essence under the tongue. Usually, this is done three or four times per day for a period of one month. Agrimony: puts on a cheerful front, hides true feelings, worries or problems. Aspen: feelings premonitions. of apprehension, dark foreboding, Beech: critical, intolerant, picky. Centaury: easily comes under the influence of others, weak willed. Cerato: unsure, no confidence in own judgement and intuition, seeks approval from others. Cherry plum: phobic, fear of being out of control, tension. Chestnut bud: repeats mistakes, does not learn from experience. Chicory: self-centered, possessive, clingy, demanding, selfpitying. Clematis: absent-minded, dreamy, apathetic, lack of connection with reality. Crab apple: a ‘cleanser’ for prudishness, self-disgust, feeling unclean. Elm: a sense of being temporarily overwhelmed in people who are usually capable and in control. Gentian: discouraged, doubting, despondent. Gorse: feelings of pessimism, accepting defeat. Heather: need for company, talks about self, concentrates on own problems. Holly: jealousy, envy, suspicion, anger, hatred. Honeysuckle: reluctance to enter the present and let the past go. Hornbeam: reluctant to face a new day, weary, can’t cope (mental fatigue). Impatiens: impatience, always in a hurry, resentful of constraints. Larch: feelings of inadequacy and apprehension, lack of confidence and will to succeed. Mimulus: fearful of specific things, shy, timid. Mustard: beset by ‘dark clouds’ and gloom for no apparent reason… Oak: courageous, persevering, naturally strong but temporarily overcome by difficulties Olive: for physical and mental renewal, to overcome exhaustion from longstanding problems. Pine: for self-reproach, always apologizing, assuming guilt. Red chestnut: constant worry and concern for others. Rock rose: panic, intense alarm, dread, horror. Rock water: rigid-minded, self-denial, restriction. Scleranthus: indecision, uncertainty, fluctuating moods. Star of Bethlehem: consoling, following shock or grief or serious news. Sweet chestnut: desolation, despair, bleak outlook. Vervain: insistent, fanatical, over-enthusiastic. Vine: dominating, overbearing, autocratic, tyrannical. Walnut: protects during a period of adjustment or vulnerability. Water violet: proud, aloof, reserved, enjoys being alone. White chestnut: preoccupation with worry, unwanted thoughts. Wild oat: drifting, lack of direction in life. Wild rose: apathy, resignation, no point in life. Willow: bitter, resentful, dissatisfied, feeling life is unfair. There is also a Rescue Remedy made up of five of the essences - cherry plum, clematis, impatiens, rock star and Star of Bethlehem - that is recommended for the treatment of any kind of physical or emotional shock. Therapists often recommended that Rescue Remedy be kept on hand to help with all emergencies. Perhaps the most famous and widely used system is the Bach flower remedies system, originated in the 1920s by British physician and bacteriologist, Dr Edward Bach (1886-1936). However, since the 1930s the field has grown to include flower essence remedies from India, the United States, Asia, South America and Australia. Flower remedies are more homeopathic than herbal in the way they work, affecting energy levels rather than chemical balances. They have been described as liquid energy’. The theory is that they impart the flowers’ healing energy, and are said to deal with and overcome negative emotions, and so relieve blockages in the flow of human energy that can cause illness. FLYING DUTCHMAN According to legend, the Flying Dutchman is a phantom ship doomed to sail the seas forever as punishment for evil or rash behaviour. The ship is typically spotted from afar, sometimes glowing with ghostly light and is believed to be an omen of disaster. The Flying Dutchman legend has many versions. In the Dutch version the captain, a man named van Straaten, was an arrogant man who claimed he could sail around the Cape of Good Hope and would not retreat even in the face of a storm. The ship was lost and its dead crew condemned to sail forever. In the German version the captain is called von Flakenberg. Von Flakenberg engages with the devil in a game of dice, loses the game and is condemned to a living death. According to other versions, some horrible crime took place on board, or the crew was infected with the plague and not allowed to sail into any port for this reason. Since then, the ship and its crew were doomed to sail forever, never putting in to shore. An apparition of a phantom ship believed to be the Flying Dutchman was seen in 1923 at the Cape of Good Hope. An account of the sighting is recorded by Society for Psychical Research member Sir Ernest Bennett, in his book Apparitions and Haunted Houses: A Survey of the Evidence (1934). Bennett attempted to explain the apparition with a theory, now discounted, that some form of consciousness survives death and is capable of telepathically projecting images to the living, which are perceived as apparitions. Sceptics suggest that the ghost ship is nothing more than an optical illusion and hazy-looking ships appearing over the horizon are simply mirages caused by the refraction of light rays. Although the existence of the ill-fated Flying Dutchman is known and eyewitness accounts of sightings appear genuine, it is plausible that stories of a phantom ship were started by superstitious sailors who saw this kind of mirage. FLYING SAUCER See UFO. FOCAL PERSON Person or agent who is at the centre of poltergeist activity. This person may or may not be aware that paranormal phenomena centre around them. Typically, but by no means in all cases, the focal person is a female approaching or in puberty. FODOR, NANDOR [1895–1964] A member of both the American and British Society for Psychical Research, and best recalled for his groundbreaking work in the study of poltergeist phenomena and the psychological aspects of mediumship, Nandor Fodor was a psychoanalyst and psychical researcher with ideas way ahead of his time. Fodor was born in Hungary in May 1895 and later went on to work as a lawyer and journalist, first in New York and then in London. His fascination for psychical research began when he read Hereward Carrington’s book Modern Psychic (1919), and, after an interview with Sigmund Freud in 1926, approaching psychical phenomena from the viewpoint of a psychoanalyst became Fodor’s primary focus in life. In 1936 Fodor became London correspondent for the American Society for Psychical Research and this position gave him the opportunity to conduct numerous investigations of paranormal phenomena and apply his interest in psychoanalysis to his research. Prior to this, very little attention had been paid to emotional causes and repressed desires as contributory factors to some paranormal activity and his work came under severe attack. Spiritualists, in particular, disliked the implication that a worldly explanation was possible, and eventually he was dismissed from his post as research officer. Despite this, Fodor’s work was very influential, especially in two investigations, the Ash Manor ghost and the Thornton Heath poltergeist. In both these instances personal and emotional problems appeared to be at the root of the activity. In another of his celebrated investigations, Fodor was called to Baltimore, Maryland, to investigate a well-publicized case involving the Jones family (the Baltimore poltergeist). For several weeks the family had endured a number of terrifying incidents, including furniture purportedly moving of its own accord and curious knocking sounds within the wall. In his study of the case, Fodor concluded that the activity centred around 17-year-old Ted Pauls. He attributed the activity to recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis, random outbursts of psychokinetic energy from the subject’s unconscious mind. Fodor’s use of the term and his conclusion that this was causing the poltergeist outbreaks opened new ground in the field of parapsychology, and many of the terms and definitions coined by Fodor to explain elements of the cases he investigated are still in use today. In addition to numerous papers on the subject of poltergeist activity, Fodor wrote a number of influential and thought-provoking books, including: Mind Over Space; New Approaches to Dream Interpretations; and Freud, Jung and Occultism. Perhaps his most important work, however, was The Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science (1934) - a detailed study of psychical research from the late nineteenth century to the early 1930s. The Encyclopaedia is still regarded as a classic and one of the most important reference studies in the field of psychical research. FORCE, THE In the Star Wars films, the Force is filmmaker George Lucas’s stylized take on the concept of the universal life force. FORD, ARTHUR [1896–1971] American spiritualist medium and founder of the International General Assembly of Spiritualists who became internationally famous for his ability to communicate with the dead through a control named Fletcher. Ford was born on 8 January 1896 at Titusville, Florida. Although he had no profound psychic experiences as a child he was drawn to religion and he liked to pray for the dead because he thought this helped them. He attended Transylvania College, a Disciples of Christ school in Lexington, Kentucky and later was ordained as a Disciples minister, serving a church in Barbourbville, Kentucky. It was during World War I that Ford first realized his psychic abilities. While in the army he would often ‘hear’ the names of people he served with, and those names would, several days later, appear on the casualty lists. At first he thought he was going mad but when he returned to Transylvania College, a psychology professor convinced him he was psychic rather than insane. In the years after the war Ford investigated psychic phenomena and joined the Spiritualists. It wasn’t until 1924, however, that he began to communicate with the spirits of the dead and a spirit named Fletcher announced he would be Ford’s control. Fletcher had been a friend of Ford in his youth but had been killed in action during the war. Ford’s psychic abilities grew more impressive and he developed a popular following, travelling all over the world. The press called him ‘the international ambassador of spiritualism’. He was accused of fraud many times but always managed to produce compelling evidence that his communications with the dead were genuine. In 1927 Ford travelled to Great Britain and one of his lectures was attended by spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who thought Ford was incredible, saying to friends the next day: ‘One of the most amazing things I have ever seen in 41 years of psychic experience was the demonstration of Arthur Ford.’ In 1928 Ford allegedly broke a secret code between the late Harry Houdini and his wife Bess. Houdini had told his wife that if he died before her he would try to communicate from the grave with a coded phrase ‘Rosabelle, believe’ to prove there was life after death. No other medium had been able to produce the secret phrase, but Ford did. Ford founded the first Spiritualist Church in New York City in the late 1920s and this was the first of many. His belief in reincarnation, however, led to conflict with the National Spiritualist Association, who did not accept the concept. After many years of disagreements Ford founded the International General Assembly of Spiritualists in 1936, which had a more open-minded approach to reincarnation. Ford suffered a traumatic car accident in 1931, in which he lost his sister and was severely injured. The crash was the beginning of his addiction to morphine and then to alcohol. In his autobiography Nothing So Strange (1958) he writes about his struggle to deal with the problem of alcoholism. When Ford was 71 he conducted his most famous séance on television: he went into a trance and delivered several messages to Episcopal bishop James Pike. One claimed to be from Pike’s son and another from the prominent theologian Paul Tillich. The televised séance revived public interest in psychic phenomena and Ford was inundated with mail and requests for help. Ford died in Miami, Florida, on 4 January 1971. Shortly after his death, mediums all around the world claimed to receive communications from him. Ruth Montgomery, one of Ford’s close friends, said in her book A World Beyond (1971) that he communicated to her via automatic writing. Ford was a complex and unpredictable man, at times bright and charming and witty but at other times moody, lonely and tormented. He denounced fraud but after his death researchers Allen Spraggett and William Rauscher, while compiling material for his biography, discovered that he might have cheated from time to time by researching the backgrounds of famous people who came to his sittings. He was said to have a photographic memory and to keep huge files of newspaper clippings and notes. Nonetheless many were convinced of his genuine psychic ability and Ford himself was honest enough to admit that no psychic, however gifted, can perform accurately 100 per cent of the time. FORT MONROE This moated heptagonal stone fort in Virginia, USA, faces the Chesapeake Bay on three sides. It is a lonely, isolated spot and there have been a number of reported sightings of ghosts. Perhaps the most illustrious ghost that has allegedly been sighted is that of the President of the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis. Brought here in shackles after the end of the Civil War, Davis slowly grew weak within its walls. His wife, Varina, followed him here and pleaded to have him removed from his cell to a private apartment to die in peace. It is said that both of their ghosts can be found at Fort Monroe still, Davis in his cell and Varina, gazing from a bedroom window towards her husband’s cell. Another ghost said to put in an appearance is that of Edgar Allan Poe, who in 1829 served for four months at Monroe. While there he wrote The Cask of Amontillado, a story based on the tale of a Virginian military man walled up inside an empty stone building. Poe’s ghost has reportedly been seen in his former barracks, now located at Building no. 5. There have also been reports of a ghost called the ‘Light Lady’. It is thought that she is the ghost of Camille Kirtz, who was murdered by her husband when he discovered her with her French lover on Matthew Lane within the fort. The Frenchman managed to escape but Camille was fatally shot and is said to wander a nearby copse of oak trees searching for her lover in vain. The ghosts of two children have also been spotted at the fort, one in the upstairs of an old house next to the moat wall and the other in the basement of an enlisted man’s home. It is thought they are the spirits of two small boys who died from disease or poverty within the isolated walls of Fort Monroe. Some believe that these spirit children try to seek out living children to play with when they visit the fort. FORTEAN PHENOMENA [FORTEANA] Term used to describe any type of phenomena that defies natural explanation, such as rains offish, stones and frogs, floating balls of light in the night sky, ghosts, spirits and poltergeists, inexplicable events such as spontaneous human combustion, monstrous creatures and religious experiences such as stigmata. American journalist Charles Fort (1874-1932) is the inspiration behind the term. Fort, who has been called ‘the father of modern phenomenalism’, left his job when he came into an inheritance at the age of 42 to devote himself not to explaining but to collecting and cataloguing phenomena that had no explanation, to highlight the limits of scientific knowledge. He challenged the scientific belief that a phenomenon was only genuine if it could be explained and proved. To Fort the fact that it had occurred was proof enough. His research, gathered from the British Museum and the New York Public Library, was compiled into four books: The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931) and Wild Talents (1932). Fortean research has continued since Fort’s death and some enthusiasts pursue it on a scholarly basis. The International Fortean Organization in Arlington, Virginia was founded in 1965 and it provides research and educational programmes. The Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained, based in Little Silver, New Jersey is another organization devoted to Fortean research. Charles Fort himself discovered reports of unusual objects in the sky dating back to 1779, and the phenomena of UFOs, missing time and close encounters are of particular interest to modern Forteans. Forteans are also very interested in sightings of monstrous creatures such as the Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti, the abominable Snowman and Big Foot. FORTUNE, DION [1890–1946] The magical name of a woman called Violet Mary Firth, considered by some to be one of the most important occultists of the twentieth century. Fortune’s work remains popular among modern witches but Fortune herself never considered herself to be a witch or her work to be witchcraft. Fortune was born in Llandudno, Wales, on 6 December 1890. Her mother was a Christian Scientist and her father a solicitor, and the family motto, which Fortune later used as her magical motto and the inspiration for her magical name, was Deo, non Fortuna, meaning ‘By God, not by chance’. Fortune was an independent child and showed early signs of the psychic abilities that were to shape the rest of her life. Her interest in magic and the occult, however, was not sparked until the age of 20, when she went to work in an educational institution and was under the supervision of a woman who had studied occultism in India. According to Fortune this woman was a bully with a foul temper, who used hypnosis and the projection of negative thoughts, called psychic attack, to get her own way and destroy Fortune’s self-confidence. Fortune managed to survive these attacks but experienced a three-year-long nervous breakdown. The experience stimulated Fortune’s interest in the human mind and, while she was recovering, she began to study psychology and Freudian analysis, even though she never totally believed his theories. By the age of 23 she became a lay psychoanalyst and was convinced that many of her patients were not mentally ill but victims of psychic attack. At the same time she also began to experience visions and memories of past lives, and in one extremely powerful vision she was accepted as a follower of Jesus Christ. At the end of the Great War, after serving in the Women’s Land Army, Fortune met Theodore Moriarty an Irishman, occultist and freemason, who gave her training in the occult. Her learning experiences with Moriarty are featured in her occult autobiography, Psychic Self-Defence (1930). In 1919 Fortune was initiated into the greatest magical order of its day, the Order of the Golden Dawn. Fortune progressed rapidly through the ranks of the order, but she did not get along with Moina Mathers, the wife of one of the Golden Dawn founders. Fortune believed that Moina was subjecting her to psychic attack so she established her own independent order, called the Fraternity of the Inner Light. (The Fraternity, now called The Society of the Inner Light, is still based in London offering teachings in Western occultism, and over the years it has profoundly influenced the development of the esoteric tradition in the West.) In addition, Fortune also founded the Belfry, a temple in West London dedicated to the Mysteries of Isis. In the winter of 1923/4 Fortune travelled to Glastonbury where she allegedly made spirit contact with three great masters: the Greek philosopher Socrates, Lord Erskine, Lord Chancellor of England and a World War I officer, David Carstairs. According to Fortune these masters dictated her magical writings to her and Socrates was responsible for her essential work, The Cosmic Doctrine. Throughout the rest of her life Fortune was to return periodically to Glastonbury to resume her writing and make contact with another master, Merlin, the great magician of English myth. She founded the Chalice Orchard Club there, a pilgrim centre. Her experiences are recorded in Glastonbury: Avalon of the Heart, and the house she lived and worked in while at Glastonbury is thought to be haunted. Dion Fortune was well known in her day and attracted a large following of devoted followers. In 1927 she married Welsh physician and occultist Penry Evans, who became one of her priests and brought a new pagan element to her work. The marriage was stormy but not passionate, as Fortune apparently had little interest in sex, and in 1939 Evans divorced her and married again. Fortune was a prolific author. Her most famous works are Psychic SelfDefence, considered by many to be the definitive text on the subject, and The Mystical Qabalah, in which she outlines how the kabbalah can be used by Western students. She also wrote a number of novels and her last two - The Sea Priestess and Moon Magic - are considered by many to be fine examples of magical fiction. Fortune never fully recovered physically or spiritually from her divorce and she died of leukaemia on 8 January 1946. For several years after her death she was said to still run the Fraternity through mediums, but eventually it was thought that her presence was no longer needed and a magical banishing ceremony was performed. FORTUNE-TELLING A phrase particularly associated with the Romany people (or Gypsies), who have a special word for it - dukkerin, fortune-telling is the art of predicting the future and understanding the present using a vast number of different forms of divination, such as Tarot, scrying and runes, to name but a few. FOX SISTERS Three New York sisters, Maggie, Kate and Leah Fox, who are credited historically with the birth of Spiritualism in the late nineteenth century, when they discovered they could communicate with spirits by rappings. On the night of 31 March 1848, Maggie, aged 15, and Kate, 12, who were living with their parents in Hydesville, first discovered that if they clapped their hands raps would answer back. Neighbours were invited around to witness the phenomenon. According to accounts, by rapping for the letters of the alphabet the spirit communicating with the sisters claimed to be a peddler, Charles Rosa, who had been murdered by a previous owner of the house, John Bell, and buried in the cellar. On later investigation some human teeth and bones were discovered in the cellar. The media went into a frenzy about the story and the girls’ older sister, Leah, who was living in Rochester in poverty after her husband had deserted her, seized the opportunity to manage her younger sisters and their special powers. Fee-charging public demonstrations were arranged and the press coverage was intense. The Fox sisters became a sensation and their demonstration grew to include objects moving, tables levitating and communications with the spirit of Benjamin Franklin. Suddenly other mediums began to discover their own powers and within a few years séances became all the rage. Despite accusations of fraud and attempts to uncover deception, no trickery was ever found and the sisters impressed a number of serious reporters and journalists, in particular Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune who allowed them to stay at his mansion. The pressure of fame and success proved too much a burden for both Maggie and Kate and by the late 1850s they were both drinking heavily. Maggie was disillusioned and wanted to opt out of the act but family pressure forced her to stay. Leah abandoned her sisters in 1857 when she married a wealthy businessman. Kate continued performing and in 1861 allegedly manifested spirits of the dead. However, she withdrew from the stage act in 1872 when she married Englishman, Henry Jencken. Her first son, Ferdinand, born in 1873, was hailed as a medium from the age of three and was allegedly practising automatic writing by the age of five. In 1888, with interest in spiritualism beginning to wane, Maggie and Kate made a shocking public confession in New York: they denounced spiritualism as fraud. Maggie confessed that she and her sister had created the rappings by cracking their toes to play a trick on their mother. They had learned to use muscles below their knees and Maggie demonstrated on stage how this had been done. She also said that Kate had given them body cues for the rapping. Some spiritualists denounced Maggie’s statement as the rantings of an alcoholic and in 1891 she recounted her confession: the reason why is unclear. The three sisters died within a short time of each other, in 1890, 1892 and 1893. In 1904 school children discovered a skeleton behind the cellar door in the Hydesville house where the Fox phenomenon had first begun. Spiritualists hailed it as proof that the sisters were genuine mediums but sceptics were convinced that the skeleton had been deliberately put there. Unfortunately the truth can’t be revealed by modern forensic analysis as the house burnt down in 1955 and was rebuilt a decade later as a tourist attraction. FRAUD The deliberate practice of simulating paranormal phenomena for the purpose of financial gain, psychological manipulation or to attract publicity. Faking such phenomena for the purpose of entertainment or education, such as in the case of stage magicians, is not normally considered fraud. FREEMASONRY An international fraternal movement believed to have evolved from medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasons, also referred to as the Masonic Order or the Masons, originally started as an esoteric society with secret initiation rites, rituals and codes and a possible link to the religious order of the Knights Templars. There are many legends concerning the origins of Freemasonry but it is generally believed to be linked to small groups of stonemasons who would travel from town to town to build churches commissioned by the clergy. To protect their knowledge they organized themselves into trade guilds. It is unclear how the guilds changed to lodges and why unskilled members were included, but Freemasonry’s present form dates from 24 June 1717, when a Grand Lodge opened in London. Since then lodges grew throughout England and spread to North America. There are now approximately five million Freemasons in regular lodges scattered throughout the world. Many noted men in history have been members, including Benjamin Franklin, Mozart, Christopher Wren, Rudyard Kipling, Winston Churchill, George Washington and Henry Ford. The society has met religious and political opposition at various times because of its secret and exclusive anti-Catholic reputation, and is now banded in several countries, including Germany, China and Italy. Freemasons will never stop anyone applying for membership, but they do exercise the right of refusal to those who do not fit into their ‘quality of membership’. Members tend to be wealthy, educated, white men from Protestant backgrounds, however in recent years there has been a conscious effort to become a more open-minded organization. Devotion to a single religion is not essential, although belief in God is required. All members are sworn to secrecy and are forbidden to talk about the organization even to their friends and loved ones. The ethos of the order is for members to meet in harmony and to help each other by providing an international network for business, professional and social advancement. FREUD, SIGMUND [1856–1939] Physician and writer who is often referred to as the father of psychoanalysis and universally acknowledged to be one of the most influential thinkers of all time. He coined many of the phrases we still use today to describe human behaviour and his ideas about the mind and the personality have become the foundation for nearly all schools of psychology. Born in 1856 in Moravia, Freud spent most of his life in Vienna but died in London in 1939. His career began in Vienna General Hospital where he first became interested in psychology and began to treat patients using hypnosis. By researching into his patients’ thoughts and behaviour he developed psychoanalysis. Central to Freud’s work is the idea that most of our behaviours can be explained as motivations we are unaware of. We are driven by basic desires sex, power, anger, pleasure (which actually means avoiding pain) - by the id or primitive part of our mind. The part of our mind we call the ego is the part that attempts to control these primitive forces, but when it comes to making decisions about what is good or bad, right or wrong our superego takes over. All three parts of our mind - the id, the ego and the superego - are constantly at war and which part of our personality dominates depends on our childhood experiences. According to Freud there are five stages of psychosexual development: oral (birth to age one), where the mouth is the source of pleasure; anal (one to three years), when the act of eliminating is our main focus; phallic (three to five years), when the focus switches to the genitals; latency (five to puberty), a period of rest; and genital (puberty onwards). Getting developmen-tally stuck in any of these stages when growing up can explain any neurosis you have as an adult. Freud was convinced that through psychoanalysis, i.e. analysing a person’s behaviour, investigating their dreams and current problems, you could discover what the cause of any neurosis was and help them heal wounds from the past. In 1900 Freud’s seminal work The Interpretation of Dreams was published, followed by The Psychopathology of Everyday Life in 1904 and The Theory of Sex in 1905. During his life Freud’s theories dominated psychotherapy and psychiatric treatment and he influenced several generations of great psychologists, in particular Carl Jung. However, his emphasis on sexual repression and infantile sexual trauma as the cause of all neuroses created conflict and some of his key supporters, including Alfred Adler and Jung, eventually broke with him. Today his theories have fallen into disfavour for the same reason. Even though he had a sceptical view of occult phenomena throughout his career, Freud was deeply interested in the paranormal. He visited a psychic on at least one occasion, and although he was amazed at the psychic’s ability to pick up personal information he attributed it to telepathy. In his casework with clients he often confronted occult phenomena such as telepathy, premonitions and the evil eye and this may have prompted his membership of both the American and British Society for Psychical Research. He was a frequent guest at lectures sponsored by the Society for Psychical Research in London and was known to visit allegedly haunted locations in search of greater understanding of the supernatural. Freud wrote a number of papers and books on psychoanalysis and the occult, including Dreams and Telepathy (1922), The Occult Significance of Dreams (1925) and Premonitions and Chance (1904). In his writings he equated the occult with superstition, which he believed originated from repressed urges, and suggested alterative explanations for many paranormal phenomena. Telepathy, however, was one phenomenon he found impossible to explain, even though he did believe it to be a psychological and not a psychic occurrence. Later he confessed that it was a mystery to him. Freud and Jung met in Vienna for the first time in 1907. Jung was greatly impressed by Freud’s theories but found he could not agree with Freud’s belief that psychical research should be abandoned because it made psychoanalysis appear ridiculous to scientists. The two men drifted apart when Jung began to investigate what mysticism, religion, the paranormal and philosophy could reveal about human behaviour and psychology. In 1921 Freud turned down an invitation to join the Advisory Council of the American Psychical Institute. In a letter to the director of the Advisory Council dated 24 July 1924, Freud said he did not dismiss completely the study of occult phenomena as ‘unscientific, discreditable or dangerous’ - and if he was at the beginning of his career rather than at the end he might have chosen it as a field of research - but as far as he was concerned psychoanalysis had nothing to do with the occult. He went on to say that he had certain prejudices against the occult and rejected completely the idea of life after death. FREUDIAN SLIP A popular way of referring to ‘paraplexis’, a term coined by Sigmund Freud to describe the way he believed the unconscious worked. Freud suggested that the following behavioural tendencies were examples of paraplexis: forgetting something you intended to do, forgetting the names of people, a slip of the tongue or pen, misunderstanding something, losing things, remembering things incorrectly, and making a mistake or causing an accident. According to Freud these were the subconscious’s way of coping with painful or difficult thoughts and the mistakes were made because the person was doing or saying something and thinking or feeling something else. In short, the Freudian slip reveals the real thoughts of the person. FYVIE CASTLE Situated just outside Turriff in Aberdeenshire, Fyvie Castle is one of Scotland’s finest castles. Royal connections can be traced to 1211 and Charles I spent much time there as a child. Although Glamis Castle is considered by many to be the most haunted castle in Scotland, Fyvie Castle comes a close second. During building work in the early 1900s, a secret room was uncovered with a skeleton in it. Nobody knows who the skeleton is, but from that day onward, stories of ‘The Grey Lady’ prevailed; allegedly there was a large amount of paranormal activity until the bones were returned to the secret room in which they had been found. The most famous ghost of Fyvie Castle is, however, that of a woman whose name was Dame Lillias Drummond, now known as The Green Lady. Dame Drummond died tragically on 8 May 1601. Some say she was starved to death by her husband, Sir Alexander Seton. Six months after her death Lord Seton married Lady Grizel Leslie and on the night of 27 October, while the newly weds were waiting for new bedrooms to be made in the castle, they slept in a tiny, unused room. Allegedly when they woke up in the morning, the name ‘Lillias D Drummond’ was carved deeply and with great skill and precision into the stone windowsill right outside their room. The most peculiar thing about the carving was that it was upside down and could only be read if someone hovered outside and faced inside the room, several hundred feet in the air. The only possible way for a human hand to do this was to erect a scaffold, but Lord Seton and his new wife are said to have slept peacefully that night, hearing only the sound of soft sighing. Today the name can still be read and continues to mystify all who see it. G GAIA In Greek mythology Gaia is Mother Earth, the creator goddess who mated with her son, Uranus, to create the first race of gods and goddesses, the Titans. As one of the most important goddess archetypes, whose function was to draw life from chaos, Gaia became the inspiration for the living earth’ theory of British scientist James Lovelock in his book Gaia: A New Life on Earth. The living earth’ theory (also known as ‘Gaia theory’) postulated by Lovelock in 1979 suggests that the earth is not simply a planet of dead rock but a living, constantly changing and evolving organism. Lovelock made a number of discoveries in the 1970s that suggested the earth was a self-regulating entity, and that homeostasis seemed to be at work. For example, the oceans contain approximately 3.4 per cent salt even though a much higher concentration should have been achieved by now, and the atmosphere does not contain nearly as much carbon dioxide as it should for a planet the age of the earth - in fact, computer calculations based on the law of thermodynamics indicate that after five million years there should be nothing much left oxygen-wise in the air we breathe now. Although scientists had noticed these discrepancies before, it was Lovelock who brought the idea to the public’s attention. He came up with the theory almost by accident when NASA asked for his help in designing life-detecting probes for their unmanned Viking Mars missions. While researching he came across what he called the ‘Goldilocks phenomenon’. In other words, because Venus was too hot for life to exist, Mars was too cold and earth was just right, the earth must have transformed into a self-evolving and self-regulating system over the centuries. According to Lovelock’s theory Earth is therefore a living being in its own right. Many proponents of the Gaia theory see it as confirmation of the insights of generations of mystics: life created the planet Earth and not the other way round. The Gaia hypothesis does seem to support the idea that the earth has one shared mind and that all minds are connected, even without people being aware of it. According to this theory the earth as a living organism will do whatever is necessary to ensure its survival. The idea that it consciously controls people’s thoughts sounds absurd, but it is conceivable that people’s minds may respond to the earth’s needs in a unified way, just as the human body’s nervous system responds to stimuli without the brain being aware of it. In other words, human minds may respond and follow trends or thought patterns without making a conscious decision to do so. And some people believe this could help explain intuition or psychic awareness. See also Planetary consciousnesses, Raising consciousness. GALLEY BEGGAR Old English ghost often reported in the country roads and deserted lanes of the North of England and first mentioned way back in 1584 in Reginald Scot’s The Discovery of Witchcraft. The galley beggar is often described as a skeletal thin, fearsome ghost with a deathly scream who sometimes carries its head under his arm. The origin of the legend is uncertain but the name could be derived from the Old English word gaestlic, meaning ‘to terrify’. GANZFELD Well-known technique used to research psychic ability in people. Ganzfeld is German for ‘entire field’ and refers to the blank field of vision stared at by a test subject. During these experiments, the subject, or person being tested for GESP or ESP, is placed in an environment without light, sound or other sensory input. Typically the subject’s eyes are covered and they are given microphones to describe their impressions to the tester, although they would not be given any feedback at that time. Once external distractions have been removed, the mind is thought to be more susceptible to picking up psychic signals and the subject is sent information psychically. In most cases, a person (called the sender) telepathically sends the subject a picture of an image and the subject describes the images and feelings he or she picks up. The sender transmits information for one minute and then rests for four minutes and this on/off sequence typically continues for half an hour. Once the sending is completed the subject is shown four images, including what the sender had been focusing on. The subject chooses the image closest to what he or she saw or picked up during the sending process. If the correct image is picked the experiment is regarded as a success. The first scientific use of Ganzfeld stimulation in ESP research took place in 1973 when Charles Homerton was researching ESP in dreams at the Maimonides Medical School in New York. Of the thirty people being tested almost half showed signs of ESP. From 1979 to 1988 Homerton became director of the Psychophysical Research Laboratories in Princetown, New Jersey, the largest facility in the world to use Ganzfeld stimulation. Other research centres around the world have also studied and used Ganzfeld. Overall success rates tend to be good. Pure chance would suggest a success rate of 25 per cent, but the cumulative result of thousands of experiments over the years suggests an average success rate of 34 per cent. This increase is not dramatic but it does indicate that some sort of telepathy must be occurring between sender and subject. GARRETT, Eileen [1893–1970] One of the most respected mediums of the twentieth century, who encouraged the scientific and open-minded investigation of paranormal phenomena. As an author, lecturer, psychic researcher and publisher Garrett devoted her life to sharing her psychic powers and her ideas with psychical researchers and the public. She defined psychical research as ‘the scientific study of the human consciousness beyond the threshold of what man calls the human mind’, and was convinced that it could help heal the rift between science and religion. Garrett was born in 1893 in County Meath, Ireland in a culture steeped in Celtic myth and magic. Tragically her parents both committed suicide soon after her birth and she was adopted by her aunt and uncle. From an early age Garrett had psychic experiences that included sensing various forms of light and energy around people, animals and even plants, which she initially termed ‘surrounds’. She also claimed to have imaginary playmates called ‘the children’ and to see visions of the dead. Garrett’s younger years were marked by tragedy and illness. Her first marriage to Clive Barry, whom she met while staying in England with relatives, ended in divorce. She had three sons, all of whom died young, and a daughter. During World War I she ran a hostel for wounded soldiers and clairvoyantly saw the deaths of many of her patients. She married one of her charges but he perished a month later in the war. In 1918 Garrett married again, but that marriage, too, ended in divorce. It was after the war that Garrett’s mediumship began to manifest. One day she joined in a table rapping session and unexpectedly became drowsy and fell asleep. When she woke up she learned that dead relatives of others in the room had communicated through her. Garrett sought the advice of a hypnotist who was able to communicate with a so-called control, called Uvani, who said that Garrett was to become a vehicle to prove survival after death. Garrett sought help from the College of Psychic Studies in London and from 1924 to 1929 worked with James McKenzie there, who helped her develop her psychic and mediumistic powers. Over the years Garrett was to work with many leading psychical researchers, including Nandor Fodor. Perhaps her most famous premonition was that of the loss of the British dirigible R-101 that crashed in France on its way to India in 1930. For several years beforehand Garrett had experienced premonitions of disaster involving a dirigible and she allegedly knew about the crash before the media did. Here is what Nandor Fodor says about this in his Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science: In a sitting at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research on October 7, 1930, two days after the explosion of the R101, Flight Lieutenant H C Irwin, Captain of the airship, suddenly entranced Mrs Garrett, announced his presence and gave the listeners a highly technical account of how the airship crashed. The narrative was taken down in shorthand and a copy was submitted to the Air Ministry. According to the opinion of experts, a number of observations in the message tallied in every detail with what was afterwards found in the course of the official inquiry. E F Spanner, the wellknown naval architect and marine engineer, came to exactly the same conclusions in his book, In 1931 Garrett was invited to the States by the American Society for PsychicalResearch. During her time in the United States she made astounding connections with many noted scientists and parapsychologists, and subjected herself to intense physiological and psychological experimentation, in the hope that such testing might shed some light upon the processes of mediumship and psychism. She became an American citizen in 1947 and launched her own publishing house and magazine, both of which no longer function. In 1951 she helped establish the Parapsychology Foundation to encourage scientific research of the paranormal throughout the world and in 1953 organized the first International Parapsychology Congress at the University of Utrecht. Her common sense approach and business acumen helped make the Parapsychology Foundation one of the most respected foundations of its type. During the 1960s Garrett worked with American psychologist Lawrence LeShan in his studies of ‘clairvoyant reality’, a state of consciousness, or shift in awareness where psychic, healing or mediumistic ability functions. LeShan believed that there were four central aspects of this clairvoyant reality: first, a central unity to all things which form part of the bigger picture; second, the timeless now; third, the harmonious whole of the universe which is above good or evil; and fourth, the existence of a superior way of getting information than through the senses alone. Garrett came to the conclusion that her psychic experiences were the result of a shift of awareness to a different reality, which she could reach by choice or through a change in breathing. She eventually learned how to control her powers so she was not exhausted by what she called the ‘climax of clairvoyance’, a state of perception in which past, present and future become fused and a unity of vision is presented. Garrett remained uncertain about her controls (Uvani was the most dominant, followed by the seventeenth-century Doctor Latif) and as early as 1938 suggested that they were not supernatural but sprang from her own inner nature and her spiritual needs. In the preface to her autobiography, she wrote a statement that sums up well her point of view concerning her work: I have a gift, a capacity - a delusion, if you will - which is called ‘psychic’. I do not care what it may be called, for living with and utilizing this psychic capacity long ago inured me to a variety of epithets - ranging from expressions almost of reverence, through doubt and pity, to open vituperation. In short, I have been called many things, from a charlatan to a miracle woman. I am, at least, neither of these. In addition to her remarkable contribution to the field of psychical research Garrett was also a prolific writer and during her career wrote seven non-fiction books on the paranormal, and numerous novels under the pseudonym Jean Lyttle. She died in France in 1970. After her death her daughter Eileen became president of the Parapsychology Foundation. GASHADOKURO In Japanese folklore a giant skeleton many times taller than a human. It is thought to be made of the bones of people who have starved to death. After midnight the ghost roams the streets making a ringing noise that sounds in the ears. If people do not run away when the gashadokuro approaches it will bite off their heads with its giant teeth. GASTROMANCY An ancient method of divination that interprets the sounds and signs of the stomach. Gastromancy is reported as a low, hollow-sounding voice that seems to be coming from the stomach. It is often dismissed as a form of ventriloquism. One ancient description of a gastromancy technique described placing a person in front of a glass filled with water and illuminating the glass with a candle; divination was done by interpreting the images on the glass. GELEY, GUSTAVE [1868–1924] French physician, distinguished psychical researcher and the first director of the Institut Metapsychique International from 1919 to 1924. Unlike most psychical investigators of his day Geley was a spiritualist who accepted the possibility of both reincarnation and communication with the dead through mediums. His first book was concerned with the origin of the species but in his second book, l’Etre Subconscient, published in 1899 in Paris, he expounded a theory of dynamo-psychism, a sort of soul energy that is able to affect atoms of matter. In his third book, From the Unconscious to the Conscious (1919), he developed his idea of mind/body interaction further. Shortly before publication of this third book Geley gave up his medical practice and accepted the post of director of the Institut Metapsychique International founded by Jean Meyer, a wealthy French industrialist. Geley was a skilled and tireless investi gator of the paranormal who produced supernormal results from his laboratory under fraud-proof circumstances. Although careful not to alienate the scientific community with his work he did have to defend himself from accusations by medical colleagues that he was a fraud and an accomplice of mediums. The most successful evidence he produced for mediumistic phenomena were the wax casts of limbs materialized by Polish medium Franek Kluski. The Kluski plaster casts are still on view in the Institut. In his last book, Clairvoyance and Materialisation, Geley recorded his work with Kluski, and Jan Guzyk, another Polish materialization medium. He also reports on the case of French materialization medium Marthe Béraud (‘Eva C). A few days after a last experiment with Kluski in Warsaw Geley died in an aeroplane accident on 15 July 1924. Twenty-five years after his death an article by R Lambert accusing Geley of fraud appeared in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. Geley’s reputation has been damaged ever since, but despite this his work is considered by many to mark a milestone in psychical research. GELLER, URI Israeli psychic noted for his apparent ability to bend metal objects by stroking or staring at them and to stop watches or make them run faster. Some call psychokinetic ability of this kind the ‘Geller effect’. Geller was born in Tel Aviv on 20 December 1946. He says that psychic powers were bestowed on him at the age of five when he received an electric shock from a sewing machine, and by the age of seven he claimed to be able to read minds, speed up watches and, shortly afterwards, bend spoons merely by using the power of his mind. In 1969 Geller’s performing career began and during the 1970s he performed his metal-bending and mind-reading techniques for audiences all over the world. His appearance on a British TV show on in November 1973 turned him into a household name and started a controversy that continues to this day. After his appearance the studio switchboard was jammed with reports of cutlery bending and clocks stopping at home, particularly when children were watching the programme. The whole affair became an international sensation with journalists even questioning whether it was safe to let Geller fly on commercial aeroplanes because of possible interference with machinery. Scientists sought permission to test Geller and, much to the surprise of those who refused to take him seriously, he agreed. He participated in a number of laboratory tests that suggested that he could produce phenomena, but no one could find out how. Geller gave impressive demonstrations of clairvoyance at the Stanford Institute in California and in 1974 British mathematician John Taylor conducted experiments that seemed to validate Geller’s metal-bending powers. Geller’s powers were also tested extensively by a neurologist and medical electronics expert, Andrija Puharich, who observed such phenomena as a compass needle spinning under the power of Geller’s gaze. Puharich came away convinced that Geller was genuine. Geller’s international fame grew, but the more famous he became the more he was accused of trickery by detractors who attempted to demonstrate how metal bending could be achieved using stage magic. Puharich’s claim in his book Uri (1974) that Geller had told him under hypnosis that his powers were the result of a meeting with aliens from outer space who had landed on earth in a UFO did nothing to increase Geller’s credibility. The alien story was widely criticized and was later disavowed by Geller in his autobiography My Story (1975). In the late 1970s Geller dropped out of the limelight to concentrate his efforts on private consulting work, including dowsing for minerals and oil. He reemerged several years later as a millionaire. In his book The Geller Effect (1986), Geller relates how he learned to dowse using his hands. He says that others can learn similar powers using a combination of willpower, faith and concentration. GEMATRIA A branch of kabbalah that derives hidden meanings from words or phrases by translating them into their numerical equivalents and interpreting the results. In Hebrew, each letter possesses a numerical value and gematria is the calculation of the numerical equivalence of letters, words or phrases, and, on that basis, gaining, insight into the mystical connection between different concepts and the interrelationship between words and ideas. Early kabbalists employed gematria to discover the secret and indescribably powerful names of God, and these secret names were incorporated into rituals and incantations of ceremonial magic used to conjure demons. Not all kabbalists endorse the use of gematria, believing it can be manipulated into providing false proof of connections and theories. Perhaps the famous example of gematria is neither Jewish nor Hebraic. It can be found in the Book of Revelation, where St John mentions the number of the Beast as 666. Early Christians thought this referred to the Roman Emperor Nero, who violently persecuted Christians. The number equivalent of his name in Greek, Nero Caesar, comes to 666. See Numerology. GEOMANCY A term that is applied to any practice or belief, such as Feng Shui, dowsing, sacred geometry and ley lines, to suggest working with the natural magnetic and life force energies of the earth. Although geomancy is now used to describe most forms of ‘earth magic’, originally it referred to a system of divination in which a pebble, nut or seed would be thrown several times on to a grid composed of 12 squares that had been drawn on the ground. An interpretation of the pattern made would then take place. Modern theories of geomancy suggest that our ancestors probably knew a lot more about the energies of the earth than we do today. The earth is seen as something equivalent to the human body that is criss-crossed by the planetary equivalent of acupuncture meridians or energy centres. Many believe that prehistoric people built great monuments or megaliths, like Stonehenge, to manipulate these cosmic currents. GEOPATHIC STRESS From the Greek ge, ‘earth’ and pathos, ‘suffering’, the term refers to naturally occurring radiation from the earth that gets disturbed by manmade structures, such as power lines and buildings and underground water and mineral concentrations. It is thought that the negative effects of these energies can be detrimental both to structures and people’s health. For example, geopathic stress may explain events like ‘sick building syndrome’, which is thought to be caused by electromagnetic fields surrounding office equipment, sealed buildings with inadequate or non-existent fresh air supplies and radiation from blocked underground streams. There are thought to be certain things that can be done to relieve geopathic stress. Feng Shui is one method. Increasing the amount of outside light and ventilation in an office and improving electromagnetic fields by bringing in plants and certain crystals are others. Relocation away from the toxic location and new systems of ventilation are other options in extreme cases. GESP [GENERAL EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION] A form of ESP in which it is unclear whether the results are due to clairvoyance, precognition, retrocognition or telepathy. In the laboratory, many parapsychologists prefer to use the term general ESP (or GESP) to avoid having to label a particular experimental result as being caused by telepathy or clairvoyance, as in some cases it cannot be said for certain which of the two caused the result. For example, in some remote viewing tests for clairvoyance, the subject could be obtaining information telepathically Or in other tests, such as ganzfeld in which a person tries to send an image telepathically to another person, the receiver may be using clairvoyance to view the image. GETTY, J PAUL [1892–1976] Billionaire oil magnate John Paul Getty is said to have personally investigated an alleged ghostly encounter while staying at England’s Woburn Abbey. From an early age Getty had an interest in ghosts and is known to have travelled extensively and stayed in several locations exclusively for the purpose of experiencing paranormal phenomenon, often in the company of noted paranormal investigators associated with either the British or American Society for Psychical Research. GETTYSBURG Decisive battle of the American Civil War that was fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, between the 1st and 3rd of July, 1863. Today the battlefield attracts over a million tourists a year, many of whom still report experiencing the sights, sounds and smells of the battle. The battle of Gettysburg was relentless, intense and bloody. It lasted for three days and resulted in 50,000 casualties. Ghostly phenomena such as the sound of gunfire, screams and shouts and apparitions of wounded solders have been reported all over the huge battlefield, in the town of Gettysburg itself and in the surrounding areas. According to one account by a park ranger a group of foreign tourists witnessed what they thought was a re-enactment at the summit of Little Round Top, a strategic hill secured by Union forces during the battle where intense fighting took place, but were later astonished to learn that no such reenactment had been performed at that time. There are a particularly large number of reported phenomena at Devil’s Den, where Confederate snipers hid to fire upon Little Round Top. After the battle bodies were strewn everywhere in the rocks of Devil’s Den and sightings of soldiers were reported soon after the battle stopped and continue to this day. Other haunted locations include Pennsylvania Hall, which became a makeshift hospital during the battle, and Rose Farm, which served as a burial ground. An apparition of a Confederate soldier has also been reported at Cashmere Inn, about 8 miles from Gettysburg, which was visited by the Confederates prior to battle. In the 1890s the apparition of a soldier standing near the porch was allegedly caught on film. Hummelbaugh House is also thought to be haunted. Brigadier General William Barksdale of the Confederate army was mortally wounded and brought there to die. His anguished cries are still said to be heard, along with the howling of a dog. The Brigadier’s loyal hunting dog refused to budge from his grave, refusing all food and water and mournfully howling. It died soon after its master and many believe its ghost still haunts the area. See Battlefield ghosts. GHOST Popular term for supposed apparition of the dead. (Psychical researchers tend to use the term apparition.) Ghosts are often depicted as resembling human form and described as fog-like, misty, silver, transparent and the like. They can be visible but they can also make their presence felt with strange noises, smells, cold air, the switching of lights on and off and by movement of objects. The ancient meaning of the term ghost typically refers to the disembodied soul, which after death is thought to travel to the underworld or afterlife. Beliefs vary as to what happens to the soul after death but virtually every culture has believed at some point that the ghost can return to the world of the living and when they return they can have either good or bad intent. In the West, those who believe in ghosts sometimes hold that they are the souls of those who cannot find peace in death or realize they are dead, and so they linger on earth. Their inability to find peace is often explained as a need to deal with unfinished business, to deliver advice or information, to protect or stay close to loved ones or simply to re-enact death (see Grateful dead). In some cases the unfinished business involves a victim seeking justice or revenge after death. The ghosts of criminals are sometimes thought to linger to avoid purgatory, hell or limbo. In Asian cultures (such as China) many people believe in reincarnation and ghosts are thought to be souls that refuse to be reborn because they have unfinished business, similar to those in Western belief. In Chinese belief ghosts can also become immortal, or they can go to hell and suffer forever, or they can die again and become a ‘ghost of ghost’. Every culture has superstitions and beliefs about ghosts but both the West and the East share some fundamental ideas. There are often procedures and rituals for dealing with troublesome ghosts, such as exorcism. Ghosts may wander around places they frequented when alive, or where they died. Contrary to popular belief most ghosts are not reported at graveyards where the body may be buried but in houses and buildings where a person may have died, suffered or lived for many years. Many ghosts are reported when conditions are foggy and could well be explained as tricks of the light, just as those reported during thunderstorms may be caused by electrical charges in the atmosphere. Although there are reports of appearances during the day, the majority seem to appear at night. It’s possible that a person is more sensitive to clairvoyance when relaxed or asleep at night many ghosts also appear during dreams. However, some believe that ghosts reported to have been seen at night when a person is wide awake may actually be hallucinations that occur when they are drifting off to sleep. While some believe ghosts to be an objective reality, sceptics argue that there is always a simple explanation. First of all the the sincerity and motive of the person reporting the haunting will be called into question - there have been instances when reputed sightings of ghosts has been fabricated as a scare tactic to seek justice or revenge.The possibility of a hoax or con is considered, and then explanations grounded in knowledge about human physiology are offered. For instance, the appearance of ghosts is often associated with a chilling sensation and pale, semi-transparent appartitions. But a natural response to fear is hair-raising, which can be mistaken for chill, and the peripheral vision is very sensitive in detecting motion but does not contain much colour or provide focused shapes; therefore, movement outside the focused view, such as a moth darting towards a light or a curtain moving, can create a strong illusion of an eerie figure. And certain infrasonic frequencies are known to create unexplained feelings of anxiety or dread, which are so often associated with sightings of ghosts. Finally, psychological factors are often cited as natural explanations for ghost sightings: susceptible people tend to be prone to exaggerated interpretations of sensations or feelings they experience when visited a reputed site of haunting. Frederick Myers, one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research in London, believed that ghosts were ‘manifestations of persistent personal energy, or an indication that some kind of force is being exercised after death which is in some way connected with a person previously known on earth.’ Myers believed that ghosts were projections of consciousness without a conscious identity, but more recent research has argued that ghosts may possess some kind of awareness. Ghost investigators have found that in the majority of cases there are natural explanations for sightings, but this still leaves a tiny number - perhaps as small as 2 per cent - that just can’t be explained naturally, however sceptical or unconvinced the investigator. There is as yet no definitive answer as to whether ghosts are genuine or figments of the imagination, or if they have personality or are flashbacks of the past. See also Ghost investigation. GHOST BUSTER Based on the popular 1984 and 1989 Ghost-busters movies, the term is sometimes used to describe those within the ghost hunting community who use either spiritual or technological means to bring an end to a haunting activity. GHOST CLUB One of the oldest existing organizations associated with the paranormal. The Ghost Club of London traces its origins to the year 1855, when a group of Cambridge University fellows began to discuss and speculate upon the nature of ghosts and haunting phenomena. The club was formally established in 1862. Little is known of the club’s earliest members except that they were a select group of London gentlemen who decided to form a group dedicated to unmasking fraudulent mediums and investigating psychic phenomena. One of their first investigations was into the claims of the Davenport brothers, who came to London in 1862 and maintained that they could contact the spirits of the dead. Over time the club became less and less active until it was revived in 1886 by medium and spiritualist William Stainton Moses. Membership was considered eternal and attendance mandatory. The club’s motto was Nasci, laborare, mori, nasci, which means ‘Be born, work, die, be born’. Between 1888 and 1936 the Ghost Club annually celebrated All Souls’ Day on 2 November, and on this date the names of Ghost Club members, both living and dead, were read out. Until 1936 the club was a private club of 82 men - it was not customary for women to join such organizations - and members included noted psychical researchers such as Nandor Fodor. The first woman to join was a Mrs Mallow, but her membership only lasted five months before the club wound itself up on 2 November 1936. In 1938 the Ghost Club was revived again under the leadership of Harry Price. He limited membership to 500 people, including women, and stressed that the club was not a spiritualist organization, but a ‘body of extremely sceptical men and women who get together every few weeks to hear the latest news of the psychic world and to discuss every facet of the paranormal.’ Members included such notables as the biologist Sir Julian Huxley, Earl Mountbatten and novelist Osbert Sitwell. The club continued until Price’s death in 1948. In 1953 ghost investigator Philip Paul managed to revive the club yet again, and Peter Underwood took over as president in 1960, serving until 1993 when he left to form another organization - the Ghost Club Society. After 1993 membership of the Ghost Club was no longer by invitation and applications for membership from those seriously interested in the paranormal were accepted, subject to screening. Members are mainly based in London but come from all parts of the world and include scientists, lay investigators, authors, spiritualists and others. The New York Times described the club as ‘the place where skeptics and spiritualists, mediums and materialists meet on neutral ground.’ The Ghost Club is still in existence today (www.ghostclub.org.uk) and continues to explore the vast realm of the paranormal. The club does not subscribe to any creed or belief about the paranormal and has investigated a large number of hauntings and paranormal phenomena, as well as sponsoring investigations into UFOs, crop circles and all manner of psychic phenomena. A quarterly magazine is published, and regular meetings and discussions held on a wide variety of aspects of psychic investigation. GHOST CLUB SOCIETY Society formed in 1994 by British ghost investigator Peter Underwood after his departure from the Ghost Club of London, and still active (see www.theghostclubsociety.co.uk). Membership is by invitation only although interested persons may contact the Society. It meets regularly in London and conducts investigations all over Britain and abroad. A quarterly newsletter, Society News, is also published for members. GHOST DANCE RELIGION Named after the ghost dance - a shuffling circle dance accompanied by chanting, during which dancers experienced mystical visions of the dead - the ghost dance religion was a Native American religious movement which preached the return of the dead and a new world inhabited by Native Americans, both dead and living. In the latter part of the nineteenth century the ghost dance religion spread quickly through the Western, Southwestern and Plains tribes, giving hope to Native Americans, and in particular the Sioux people, suffering under White oppression. In some instances the dance would last four or five days with dancers experiencing visions of the Native American dead returning to help the living and bringing back the old ways to the world. Whites perceived the ghost dance religion to be hostile and in November 1890 banned it in all Sioux reservations. The religion continued despite the ban but finally ended on 29 December 1890, with the massacre of ghost dance advocates at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. GHOST INVESTIGATION/GHOST HUNTING Techniques and methods used to investigate reports of ghosts, poltergeists, hauntings and spirits to determine if the phenomena are genuinely paranormal or can be explained naturally. Modern ghost investigators prefer not to be called ghost hunters or ghost busters because the terms are associated with popular sensationalism. With the surge of interest in spiritualism in the late nineteenth century scientific investigations of alleged paranormal activity became the norm. Early investigators had to rely on eyewitness accounts, photographs, their observation skills and research but in the last few decades increasingly high tech and expensive equipment has been used to help investigators with their research. Psychical researcher Harry Price was among the first to use modern technology in ghost investigations, the most famous being that of Borley Rectory. Between 1929 and 1938 Price created a high-tech laboratory in the Rectory, complete with telescope, portable phone, felt overshoes, steel tape measures, cameras and fingerprinting equipment. Contrary to popular opinion ghost investigators are not biased by belief in the paranormal or afterlife. The very best investigators are those that approach an investigation with an open mind. The majority estimate that up to 98 per cent of reported hauntings are false or have natural explanations, such as animal noises, tricks of the light or geological stresses. Some cases are thought to be fraud or caused by a human agent, in particular poltergeist attacks, which are often explained as examples of unconscious psychokinesis. As for the estimated 2 per cent of cases that investigators claim cannot be explained, despite a century or more of impressive research, ghost investigators know very little about how and why they occur. The good investigator is obliged to look for all possible natural causes of alleged paranormal events, and these tend to fall into three categories: mechanical, personal and natural. Mechanical causes include machines, lights, cars, computers, etc. Personal causes are those attributable to human mistake or deliberate error, and natural causes include freak weather conditions, tricks of the light, underground geological activity, etc. Eliminating these potential causes requires a detailed and thorough investigation of the alleged event both during the day and the night to determine natural lights and noises and any possible patterns. Maps are consulted to see if the cause may be underground such as a tunnel, stream or fault line. Historical research of a particular location must also be done, again to eliminate any possible cause. Ghost investigation pointers If you wish to investigate a haunting yourself there are some important things to remember: If possible, contact a local ghost investigation organization for advice, information and ideas. If a particular location intrigues you learn more about it by visiting your local library or meeting the current owners. Obtain permission from property or landowners before conducting an investigation. Prior to your first investigation visit the location to note all obstacles for safety - this is especially important if you are investigating at night. Never go alone on an investigation. This isn’t just for safety reasons but because it is important to have someone else’s perspective. Clean camera lenses and equipment before you start. Do not wear perfumes or cologne on your hunt. Do not photograph in difficult weather such as rain or snow. Hold your breath if photographing in cold weather to avoid false photographs. Be mindful of hair, camera cords and other loose objects when taking photographs. Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol during an investigation and take something to eat and drink. Keep a thorough and accurate record of your investigation, noting dates and times, weather conditions and special circumstances. Always keep an open mind. The Society for Psychical Research publishes guidelines for investigators, and effects to look out for are divided into five categories: 1) unaccountable movement of objects; 2) unaccountable noises, voices and music; 3) mysterious lights, shadows and apparitions; 4) unaccountable touches, pushes and feelings of hot and cold; 5) feelings of fear, horror, disgust and unseen presences. In photos look out for ghostly mist, balls or bright streams of lights and dark shadows, although bear in mind that they may be caused by bad film processing, steam, slow shutter speed and other camera mistakes. Both the American Ghost Society and Ghost Research Society offer guidelines to potential ghost investigators, suggesting equipment to use, things to look out for and investigation techniques. In addition to the above, three other investigation techniques are used by the serious ghost hunter: description, experimentation and detection. Description is a matter of recording accurately eyewitness accounts. Witnesses must not only record their experience but also inform the investigator of their previous knowledge, encounters with the paranormal and their current circumstances, health and state of mind. Experimentation involves bringing in mediums or psychics to see if their impressions match those of the eyewitnesses and to locate areas where the hauntings allegedly occur. Some believe that the use of psychics is not constructive as they may pick up information telepathically or clairvoyantly but if psychics are given no information but are sent alone to a building and come up with similar reports, their evidence is considered valuable. The detection technique involves testing rooms for disturbance by securing them, spreading dust, sand, flour, etc. on the floor to pick up footprints and setting up cameras, tape recorders, temperature sensors and the like. Some ghost investigators are worried about relying too much on high-tech equipment as they can simply detect environmental changes and detract from important eyewitness observations. The equipment is also extremely expensive and finance is often a problem for most ghost investigators. Critics, however, argue that ghost investigation relies too heavily on eyewitness accounts. It is also virtually impossible to rule out telepathy and clairvoyance as factors influencing a haunting. The use of high technology and computer programs to investigate hauntings is controversial but it enables researchers to record phenomena and witnesses it in real time without being present at a site. One day, however, they could prove crucial if there is ever to be any conclusive proof of ghosts and the afterlife. GHOST LIGHTS Typically this phenomenon is described as a glowing ball or balls of light that defy natural explanation. The lights are widely reported in remote locations in the United States, Britain, Japan and other countries and are said to come in every colour of the rainbow, although at some sites the balls emit only one or two colours of light. The lights can sparkle, be stationary or in motion, high in the air or low to the ground. They can also be accompanied by humming or buzzing. Sometimes the lights are said to behave bizarrely for example, vanishing or displaying evasive action when one moves too close to them. In some cases ghost lights are associated with haunting folklore due to a tragedy that took place at the location they are reported. The Ghost Research Society and the American Ghost Society house impressive collections of research on ghost lights. A number of natural explanations have been proposed, ranging from car headlights and phosphorescences (see Ignis fatuus) to shifting geological plates and radioactivity from, ore but some sightings of lights, such as the Marfa Lights in Texas, the Brown Mountain lights in North Carolina and the Hornet Spook Light in Missouri, remain unexplained. See also Earth lights. GHOST RESEARCH SOCIETY Founded in the late 1970s by hypnotherapist Martin V Riccardo, the Ghost Research Society is a Chicago-based organization with an international membership dedicated to the investigation of paranormal phenomena related to ghosts, poltergeists, hauntings and survival after death. The society was originally called the Ghost Tracker’s Club but changed its name in 1981. In 1982 Dale Kaczmarek became president of the Ghost Research Society and editor of the Ghost Tracker’s Newsletter, the society’s journal. It’s website is www.ghostresearch.org. Society members undertake investigations all over the USA and since the early 1990s they have relied more and more upon high-tech equipment and computer programs. The society, like most paranormal organizations, states that in most cases - 90 to 98 per cent - there is a natural explanation for an apparent haunting. However, the majority of members remain convinced that the 10 or so per cent of unexplained phenomena is enough to conclude that ghosts do exist and there is life after death. The Ghost Research Society maintains an impressive collection of data that defy natural explanation, such as the presence of orbs and unmistakable audio disturbances. It also houses a large database on ghost lights and electronic voice phenomena as well as one of the largest collections of spirit photographs in the world. One of the society’s most famous, and controversial, photos is that of the girl on a gravestone at Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. GHOST SEERS The universal belief that certain people born on certain days or certain times of the day have the clairvoyant ability to see ghosts and things other people cannot see. A person born on a Sunday is thought to have clairvoyant power in some parts of Europe, and in some parts of England children born during twilight are thought to be able to tell which relative will die next. In Scotland people born on Christmas Day or Good Friday are said to be able to see spirits. In other parts of the world it is believed that only shamans and seers can see ghosts and others can see them only in dreams. GHOST SICKNESS A belief that ghosts of the recently deceased can cause disease and even death to the living. The spirit of the dead person is thought to linger near its body in the first few days after death before journeying to the place of the dead, and during this time it is thought to be lonely and likely to seek the company of humans. Children are thought to be particularly vulnerable as their souls are less firmly attached to their bodies. This belief is rooted in many tribal societies around the world, where preparations are made to ensure that the dead cannot find their way back to the house they lived in. Some American Indians believed that ghost sickness can be caught from either the dead, the sight of the corpse or their possessions. The Apaches, for example, buried their dead on the same day as they died and reduced to an absolute minimum the time the living spent with them. The relatives would typically move to a new house and to mention the name of the dead was strictly forbidden. Fear of ghost sickness could explain some funeral rites and customs, such as carrying a corpse out through a window, rather than the door, to make it difficult for the ghost to find its way back home. Even though a ghost is feared most in the first few days after death, in many cultures seeing any ghost is also thought to be a death omen. GHOUL From the Arabic words ghul (meaning ‘male’) and ghula (meaning ‘female’). In Islamic legend a ghoul is a demon who feeds on the flesh of humans, in particular corpses stolen from graves, travellers and children. Ghouls are thought to travel at night around graveyards, deserts and lonely, deserted spots. Sometimes they are said to be dead humans who rest in secret graves and then awake to feast on human flesh, living and dead. In Islamic tradition there are many kinds of ghoul, both male and female, but perhaps the most terrible is the female variety who has the power to transform into a real woman that can entrap and feast on an unsuspecting admirer. GLADSTONE, WILLIAM [1809–1898] One of England’s most prominent politicians, Prime Minister William Gladstone was also a keen investigator of the paranormal. His fascination for the unexplained was so great that in 1882, after having read Ignatius Donnelly’s book, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, he made a request to the British Cabinet for an expedition to be funded to find and map Atlantis somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. His application was unsuccessful. It is known that Gladstone attended numerous séances and was a noted member of the Society for Psychical Research. On 29 October 1884, Gladstone visited William Eglinton, an English medium, and discussed confidential questions with him in three languages: Spanish, Greek and French. Eglinton was able to respond correctly to all the questions in the same three languages. The experience impressed Gladstone so much that he joined the Society for Psychical Research to learn more about the spirit world. GLAMIS CASTLE Built in the fourteenth century, Glamis Castle is the oldest inhabited castle in Scotland. It is also considered the most haunted castle in Scotland and perhaps the United Kingdom. Legend has it that Glamis is home to numerous ghosts, a vampire and a witch. According to the earliest records Glamis Castle was originally a hunting lodge owned by lords of Glamis, who are thought to have lost their fortune through drinking and gambling. By the middle of the seventeenth century the castle was in a state of ruin. The family fortune was rebuilt by Patrick Lyon, who was made the Earl of Strathmore, but by the eighteenth century the family had fallen back into its bad ways. According to legend, in the early 1820s the first son of the 11th Earl of Strathmore was born a deformed monster, with an egglike body, no neck and tiny arms and legs. The child was not expected to live so he was locked away in a secret room, but to everyone’s amazement he lived an incredibly long life, and didn’t die until 1920 or, according to some accounts, 1940. The estate of Glamis Castle passed unlawfully to the second son and over the years each successive earl was informed of the existence of the monster of Glamis, as he became known, on his 21st birthday. Allegedly the earls were profoundly influenced by the experience of meeting the true heir, becoming moody and withdrawn; some refused to acknowledge the room for fear they would lose their sanity. There are no records to prove that the monster existed but in 1880 there is a record of a workman accidentally knocking down a wall and finding the secret chamber. The workman disappeared soon after and it was rumoured that he was given a large sum of money to relocate to Australia. Over the years there have been numerous sightings of ghosts at Glamis Castle. One most frequently seen is that of Janet Douglas, wife of James Douglas, the sixth Lord of Glamis. James died one morning after eating his breakfast and Janet was suspected of killing him, even though no evidence could be found. Six years later, in 1537, she was convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake at Castle Hill, Edinburgh. Her ghost is said to appear above the clock tower, wrapped in fire or an orange glow. Another ghost frequently sighted is that of the seventeenth-century 4th Earl of Strathmore, better known as Earl Beardie. Legend has it that Earl Beardie gambled with some chieftains one night in the tower. They argued and cursed. The Devil appeared and condemned them to dice there until Judgement Day. Others say that Earl Beardie could find no one to gamble with him that night and got so vexed that he said he would play cards with the Devil. The Devil appeared and Beardie lost all his money, and his soul. Sounds of arguing, swearing and stamping are said to waft from the tower and Beardie’s ghost has also been reported wandering around the castle. The number of ghosts associated with the castle is staggering. They include the ghost of a madman who walks along the roof on stormy nights on a spot called ‘the Mad Earl’s Walk’, a woman without a tongue who runs across the gardens tearing at her mouth - her tongue may have been cut out because she learned the secrets of Glamis castle, mysterious grey ladies, ‘Jack the Runner’ a thin boy who races up to the castle, a black boy who sits by the door of the royal sitting room, a tall figure dressed in a long cloak and a woman with sad eyes who clutches at windows as if imprisoned. Glamis’ vampire is said to be a servant girl who was discovered sucking blood from her victim. According to lore she was walled up alive in a secret chamber, where she sleeps the sleep of the undead and waits for someone to set her free. The castle is also thought to have been the site of two legendary murders Macbeth’s murder of King Duncan, because Shakespeare mentions Glamis Castle in Macbeth, and the murder of eleventh-century King Malcolm II. Historical fact demonstrates that neither of these murders took place at Glamis, nonetheless Macbeth’s ghost is believed to haunt the castle and an entire floor was boarded over because a mysterious bloodstain from Malcolm’s murder was said to be impossible to remove. Poltergeist phenomena continue to be reported to this day and include screams, banging noises, sheets being ripped off beds in the middle of the night and doors that mysteriously open even though they are locked and bolted. Guests staying in the castle claim to have seen faces appearing and disappearing at windows and hovering over beds. GLANVILL, JOSEPH [1636–80] Celebrated by many as ‘the father of modern psychical research’, Glanvill was a conservative and highly educated Englishman who approached tales and legends associated with both witchcraft and ghosts with an open mind. Published in 1681, after his death, Glanvill’s book Sadducismus Triumphatus claimed to explore the ‘full and plain evidence concerning witches and apparitions’. Today it is regarded as one of the pioneer pieces of paranormal research. Glanvill personally involved himself in a number of investigations, the most famous being the so-called Drummer of Tedworth. He also attended séances, interviewed mediums and people who claimed to have seen ghosts or experienced unnatural phenomena, and attended a large number of witch trials, often attempting to inject some common sense into the hysteria. It is clear that many incidents reported in Sadducismus Triumphatus were hoaxes and that many of the conclusions drawn by Glanvill are naive because of the limited knowledge of science in his day, but Glanvill’s pioneering contribution to psychical research and ghost hunting was immense. Many of his techniques are still being practised to this day, for instance interviewing witnesses and visiting the site where the alleged incident took place. In 1945, Harry Price, a celebrated ghost hunter himself, wrote: ‘He it was who first stimulated those persons fortunate enough to possess a ghost to investigate the affair in a proper manner, to record the case systematically, and to have the phenomenon attested by responsible witnesses.’ GLASTONBURY Long regarded as the magical capital of Britain, Glastonbury is a small market town in Somerset that is steeped in legend, religion, magic and mystery. Not only is Glastonbury the cradle of Christianity in England but it is also reputed to be the burial place of King Arthur. Many visitors claim to feel the powerful atmosphere of this town. It is thought that Glastonbury was a site for pre-Christian worship, perhaps because of its location near what is now known as Glastonbury Tor, a terraced volcanic rock 522 feet high with the remains of a ruined medieval church at the top. Several thousand years ago, at the foot of the Tor there was a lake called Ynys-witrin, the Island of Glass, and this is perhaps the reason for the association of Glastonbury with legendary Avalon. In Celtic folklore Avalon was an island of enchantment, the meeting place of the dead. Glastonbury Abbey was founded in the fifth century, reputedly by St Patrick, who is said to have lived and died there. According to legend King Arthur and his wife Guinevere are buried in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, south of the Lady Chapel, between two pillars. The monks of the Abbey, having heard the rumours, decided to excavate the site and unearthed some bones and hair and a stone slab, under which was found a lead cross inscribed in Latin: ‘Here lies beneath the renowned King Arthur with his beloved Queen Guinevere his second wife in the Isle of Avalon.’ Glastonbury lore unites Christianity, King Arthur and the Holy Grail. After the crucifixion, it is said that Joseph of Arimathea travelled to Britain with the Grail, the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper and later by Joseph to catch His blood at the crucifixion. Upon arriving on the isle of Avalon, Joseph thrust his staff into the ground. In the morning, his staff had taken root and grown into a strange thorn bush, the sacred Glastonbury Thorn in the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. Joseph is said to have buried the Grail just below the Tor, where a spring, now known as Chalice Well, began to flow; the water is reputed to have healing qualities. Many years later it is said that one of the quests of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table was the search for the Holy Grail. Glastonbury is also believed to rest at the intersection of powerful ley lines. In 1907 the ruins of Glastonbury were excavated under the supervision of Frederick Bligh Bond. Bond believed that Glastonbury was connected to Stonehenge and Avebury by ley lines. He was successful in locating unknown parts of the abbey but his controversial method of excavation, in which he claimed to be guided by spirits, created scandal in the Church and he was dismissed. In 1929 sculptor Katherine Maltwood discovered that natural landscape formations over a 10-mile area in the Glastonbury area recreated the 12 signs of the Zodiac. The origins of the patterns are unknown. The occultist Dion Fortune also spent a great deal of time at Glastonbury living in a house at the foot of the Tor, where she worked, wrote and practised her magic rituals in an adjacent chalet. The chalet is said to be haunted by a ghost who opens and closes doors. Today the High Street is packed with shops selling mystical objects and artefacts. With its myths, legends, mystery and ley lines the town has become a centre for Christian pilgrimages as well as for spiritual healing and seasonal New Age rituals practised by witches, magicians and pagans. GLOSSOLALIA Unintelligible speech or speech in an unknown tongue generally uttered in a trance state, also known as ‘speaking in tongues’. The gift of tongues has been divided into three categories: pure glossolalia, or speaking in a language unknown to the speaker or listener; xenoglossy, speaking in a language unknown to the speaker but recognized by the hearer; and heter-glossolalia, speaking in a language known by the speaker but heard by the hearer in his or her native tongue. From the Greek glossa meaning ‘tongue’ and lalia meaning ‘a talk’, in Christianity glossolalia is said to have first come to the apostles at Pentecost when they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in unknown tongues. Those listening were also said to be able to hear and understand what was spoken in their own language. Glossolalia was used by the early Christians of Corinth in their services, although few knew what was being said or what the tongues meant. St Paul postulated that unless the words were understood and could be interpreted they served no purpose and, as a result, glossolalia became less prominent in worship. By medieval times the Church deemed glossolalia a miracle that was no longer possible and those who tried to revive interest in the practice were branded as heretics. It wasn’t long before speaking in tongues became a sign of demonic possession, a position still held by the Catholic Church today. During the nineteenth century some Methodists and some Presbyterians spoke in tongues and today Pentocostal Christians see glossolalia as a sign of baptism by the Holy Spirit. Other groups that accept speaking in tongues are the Quakers, the Shakers and the Mormons. Glossolalia has also been observed in shamanism and Voodoo. Sceptics dismiss these cases as simply being in a state of trance, self-hypnosis, heightened emotion or religious ecstasy. Modern advocates of glossolalia believe that speaking in tongues is a psychic gift a select few are born with. GLYPH Carved or painted symbol used in magic and thought to represent graphically a person’s name and birth date and the heart of who that person is. It is constructed in a similar way to a sigil, with a sequence of letters and numbers fashioned into one picture. It can be worn as an amulet or talisman and is thought to have protective powers against illness and misfortune. GNOSTICISM From the Greek gnostos meaning ‘known’, Gnosticism was a school of mysticism that flourished in the early years of Christianity. It was based on the idea that it was the search for hidden spiritual knowledge rather than faith or conduct that could save a person. Gnostic sects varied in their approach to esoteric truth; some focused on techniques like astrology or numerology, while others concentrated on the secret teachings of Jesus. All seem to have been influenced by the controversial belief that God has a dual nature - that he is both masculine and feminine - and his feminine counterpart takes the form of Sophia, the divine wisdom. Gnostic practice was forbidden by orthodox Christianity but the movement never lost its influence and survived in followers of the Kabbalah, and in secret societies such as the Rosicrucians and Freemasonry. Then, in 1945 the ‘Gnostic Gospels’ were discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt. The discovery confirmed that Gnosticism was a part of early Christian practice and that many gospels had been suppressed by later Church factions. As a result there has been a revival of interest in Gnostic Christian traditions. Another significant influence on the revival of Gnosticism was the work of pro-Gnostic writers and thinkers such as existentialist Hans Jonas and historian Kurt Rudolph. Perhaps the most influential was psychiatrist Carl Jung who found in early Gnostic thought a prototype for depth psychology. He believed that Christianity had suffered as a result of the suppression of Gnostic ideas and that alchemy might be a way to reintroduce them to a modern public. GOAL-FOCUSED INTUITION A combination of deductive psychic intuition and random psychic intuition, goal-focused intuition involves making a conscious effort to gain insights using psychic ability. In other words intuition or psychic ability is used for a specific goal or aim. A good example of this is the work done by psychic criminologists. Some of their information would be drawn from deductive intuition and some may be generated at random but all clues gathered relate to the specific goal of locating a missing person or solving a crime. GOAT The name for a subject in a clinical test for psi who does not believe in psychic phenomena. See also sheep/goat effect. GOBLIN A goblin is an evil or mischievous creature of French folklore, often described as hideously disfigured or an elf-like phantom. They are similar in many ways to household spirits in other countries, for instance, brownies in England and Scotland, domoviks in Russia and kobolds in Germany. Goblins are believed to live in grottos but may also attach themselves to households, especially those that have lots of wine and children. They may help with household chores but on some nights they show their mischievous nature and instead of doing chores will create choas by moving furniture and banging pots and pans. They are also said to count the dead among their companions and to be able to weave nightmares out of gossamer and insert them into the ear of a sleeping human. Legend also has it that goblins borrow horses from stables and ride them all night, leaving the horses exhausted by the morning. It is also said that they sometimes steal women and children and hide them away underground. If a goblin woman takes a liking to a human baby she may steal it away and replace it with a goblin baby, or changeling. GODDESS Term used for the divine feminine force. The Goddess appears universally as the symbol for fertility but she is also the ruler of truth, wisdom, nature, earth, the home, justice, healing, love, birth, death and those aspects of life that cannot be explained using logic or science, namely emotion, intuition and psychic power. She has many facets to her nature, indicating a multiplicity that is natural to women, and is often said to be She of a Thousand Names. This rediscovery of female divinity in the West was triggered by archaeological discoveries in the 1960s and 1970s indicating a peaceful, ordered and mainly vegetarian Bronze Age society with a dominant goddess cult. These discoveries coincided with the women’s movement and encouraged women not only to challenge the subordinate role assigned to them by the major religions but also to celebrate female strength and power within themselves. Many modern advocates of the Goddess hold that the worship of the Goddess has been handed down since prehistoric times. The actual history of the Goddess, however, is more complex, and it can be argued that the Goddess is essentially a modern figure - her emergence an example of the birth of a new divinity. The so-called Venus figurine, a carving of a female with exaggerated belly and breasts, is one of the most common archaeological finds throughout Europe. It is said to be a clear sign that goddess worship in prehistory may have been universal and as old as the Stone Age of 30,000 years ago. However, some experts say it is difficult to prove the role of these artefacts conclusively as evidence surrounding their place in their society is scanty. Despite an enormous amount of speculation we know very little about the religious traditions of prehistory. The fact that people in the carved female figures tells nothing about what these figures symbolized. Were they goddesses, magical talismans, works or art, erotica, or something else? It’s impossible to know. What is known, however, is that even though the rise of male-centred religions from around 4000 BC lead to a subordination of the Goddess cult, her influence lingered and remains an important part of many belief systems today, in particular paganism, Hinduism, and the cult of the Virgin Mary in Christianity. In recent years there has been a trend for a ‘return’ to Goddess worship as a way to reconnect with the earth and to intuitive ways of living. This revival of interest is most visibly seen in paganism and nature religions, where the Goddess is given primacy. In many neo-pagan traditions the Goddess has three forms Maiden, Mother and Crone - corresponding to the story of a woman’s life cycle and the waxing, full and waning phases of the moon. As Mother Nature, the Moon, Creator, Destroyer, the Queen of the Heavens, and the primary source of magic and inner power, the Goddess embodies, for all those who believe in Her, the very essence of modern witchcraft. GOLDEN DAWN, HERMETIC ORDER OF THE The most famous occult society of modern times. The two main founders of the order, William Wynn Westcott (1848-1925) and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854-1918), were Freemasons with connections to the English occult scene. One day in 1886, Westcott was browsing through a bookstall in Farringdon Street, London when he came across a set of documents in cipher. Suspecting they were magical he bought them immediately. Other versions of the story state that Westcott found the documents in the library of British clairvoyant Frederick Hockley or that they reached Westcott from Hockley’s library via a freemason and clergyman named Woodman. Wherever the manuscripts came from Westcott needed help decoding them and he selected Mathers for this task. When decoded the documents turned out to be outlines for the rituals and teachings of an eighteenth-century German magical order, the Or den des Goldund Rosenkreuz. There was also the address of a Rosicrucian adept, Anna Sprengler, of Nuremberg in Germany. Westcott wrote to her and over the course of their correspondence, although it has been suggested that Westcott himself wrote the letters, Sprengler revealed many secrets of practical magic and in 1888 granted him permission to establish his own magical lodge in London. This he did with the help of Mathers and Woodman and they called the new lodge the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Initial membership was drawn from friends of the founders but gradually the society expanded to embrace more than a hundred members, including some of the best minds of its day. W B Yeats, the Irish poet, became a member. So did writers Bram Stoker and Algernon Blackwood and actress Florence Farr. The Golden Dawn attracted people of this calibre because the system Westcott and his colleagues put together was intellectually challenging, and aimed at developing human consciousness and mystical experience. Although based on the Jewish Kabbalah it had considerable Christian and oriental influences and its hierarchical structure, study courses and initiation rituals set a new standard for magical ritual societies. Structurally the Golden Dawn was a hierarchy led by Mathers under the guidance of mysterious and unseen secret chiefs. There were inner and outer orders, which were in turn subdivided into ten grades, each linked to a sphere in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Entry to each grade involved a course of study, an exam and a ritual initiation. Temples of the Golden Dawn included Isis-Urania No. 3, which was the first founded temple (temples nos. 2 and 3 seem to have been fictions created by Westcott), Osiris No. 4 in Weston-super-Mare, Horus No. 5 in Bradford, AmenRa No. 6 in Edinburgh and Ahathoor No. 7 in Paris. There were also two temples founded in the United States - Them No. 8 in Chicago and ThothHermes No. 9 in New York. In 1897 the Order broke apart as a result of internal conflict and disagreements over leadership when Westcott resigned in 1896. The survival of the Golden Dawn tradition into twentieth century was largely due to the influence of three members who broke the vows of secrecy they took on initiation. The first was Aleister Crowley, who joined the Golden Dawn in 1898 and later published information about its rituals and knowledge in his magazine The Equinox. The second was Dion Fortune, who included Golden Dawn teaching in her masterwork The Mystical Qabalah. The third was American Israel Regardie, who was convinced that the only way the order could survive would be if it were made public. He gathered as much material as he could find and published it in four large volumes between 1937 and 1940. Even though they had been made public Golden Dawn teachings were not picked up to any significant extent until the 1980s, when a number of new Golden Dawn orders were formed by people who simply took the published material and created their own groups. The Golden Dawn revival has had mixed results, due to the same troubles with internal politics as the original founders, but the order is still very much alive today. In fact there are probably more people practising Golden Dawn magic today than there have ever been, and the quality and quantity of published material available has significantly improved in the last few decades. GRAIL, HOLY The Holy Grail is thought to be the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper and for that reason it is considered a symbol of perfection and virtue by Christians. As a pagan motif, the Grail is the cup of healing and new life, which symbolizes the body of the Goddess. In esoteric traditions the Grail is believed to be a point of contact with both the spiritual and the supernatural realm. It is said to possess magical powers of healing and communion with the divine force. In alchemy the grail is likened to gold, the philosopher’s stone which represents apprehension of the divine. According to tradition the grail can only be seen by those who have reached a certain level of spiritual awareness. It is not known whether such an object ever existed or still exists. There are various versions of the Grail legends. One of the most well-known suggests that one of Jesus’ followers, Joseph of Arimathea, supposedly brought the Grail to Britain and hid it somewhere in the vicinity of Glastonbury Tor. In another Joseph passes the Grail to Bron, his sister’s husband, and it is eventually housed in a temple on Munsalvaesche, the mountain of salvation, where it is guarded by an order of Grail knights. The Grail keeper, who is known as the Fisher King, is wounded and as a result the kingdom becomes a wasteland that can only be restored when the King’s health is restored. This sets the scene for the legendary quests for the Holy Grail by King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Early origins of the Grail legends can also be found in the ancient and universal feminine image of a cup as a symbol of power, rebirth and inspiration, but this is complicated by the fact that the Grail sometimes appears as a dish, a womb, a cauldron and a stone. Whatever the source of the legend, the real importance of the Holy Grail lies in its mysterious power to fascinate the human mind. Psychiatrist Carl Jung said that the story of the Holy Grail represents a search for meaning and the inner self. Seen in this light there can be no doubt that the quest for the Holy Grail is psychically very much alive today. GRAPHOLOGY From the Greek grapho meaning ‘to write’ and logos meaning ‘theory’ graphology is the study of a person’s handwriting in order to analyse their character. Graphology is an ancient method of divination and character analysis first developed by the Chinese approximately 3,000 years ago. The Romans experimented with graphology and since then various civilizations and cultures have analysed handwriting, although more to identify the essence of the person who produced it than to predict the future. Theories that attempt to explain graphology date back to the seventeenth century but the modern approach to handwriting analysis owes much to a group of French clerics led by a man called Abbé Michon, who outlined key theories and evidence for graphology in the 1870s, after decades of study. A graphologist will typically take a sample page of handwriting, together with a signature, analyse it in detail and then make deductions about a person’s personality from the writing’s style, size, shape and appearance. There are hundreds of features that can be examined and they include the slant of the letters, letter hoops, dotted Is, crossed Ts, letter spacing, end strokes, joined-up letters, separated letters, readable or illegible script, upper and lower case and so on. According to graphologists handwriting analysis is an extremely powerful tool that can be used to highlight an individual’s talents and potential, particularly in career guidance and improving relationships. Like other behavioural or intuitive models, it is not easy to explain how and why graphology works, but graphologists believe that certain handwriting features express unique impulses of the individual because the brain sends signals to the hand holding the pen or pencil being used to write. Today graphology is still being used and researched but there is great debate about its value, as sceptics argue that many external factors, from the kind of pen and paper used to poor health, can affect the quality and consistency of handwriting. In Britain and North America graphology isn’t considered a science and is generally not taken seriously, but in countries like Germany, Switzerland and Austria graphology is considered a branch of psychology and submitting a handwriting sample in a job application is not considered unusual. GRATEFUL DEAD Motif in folklore where ghosts return from the world of the dead to help the living. Typically the ghost helps those who have been kind, generous and deserving. For example, a man on his travels comes across a group of people who refuse to bury a corpse, so he decides to pay for the corpse to be buried. Later he meets a stranger who helps him towards fame and fortune and only at the very end of the story does the man discover that the stranger who became his friend and helper was the ghost of the corpse. In Chinese folklore the grateful dead often take on a didactic role, returning to honour the brave, and reward those who have given corpses a proper burial and the spirits of their dead ancestors respect. Brief introduction to handwriting features Professional graphologists can recognize several hundred handwriting features and all these features need to be considered together when a number of them appear in a handwriting sample, but here are some basic features that can be readily understood by the beginner and which may give interesting information. Size Large size handwriting can mean a friendly and sociable personality or it can mean that the writer puts on an act of confidence, although this behaviour might not be exhibited to strangers. Small size is generally an indicator of a detailed, academic and technical personality. Line slope Writing which rises to the right shows optimism and cheerfulness. Sagging downwards shows physical and mental weariness. Slant A right slant indicates the more extrovert kind of person. If the handwriting is generally upright, this indicates independence, and a left slant tendency shows emotion and reserve. Spacing between words This indicates social attitudes towards others. Words that are close together are a sign of sociability. Large spaces indicate a person who is most comfortable alone. The three cases – divisions of personality Graphologists believe that the three cases or registers of letters represent the three aspects of our personality: the upper case represents our higher self or thinking about spirituality; the middle case our mental and social approach to life; and the lower case our physical aptitudes and attitudes. The upper case is the area in which the extended up-strokes are found in tall letters like b, d, h, t, etc. The middle case is the central region occupied by letters with neither long up-strokes nor down-strokes, such as a, c, e, m, n, o, etc. The lower case is the area occupied by down-stroke letters such as g, j, p, etc. Look where the emphasis of the writing is, as according to graphologists this is where the emphasis of the personality is too. Some other simple indicators: Large upper loops are a sign of emotion. Uneven upper loops show mood swings. Closed ‘e’s show secrecy. Stand alone or properly formed ‘s’s at word ends show independence. Angular central cases shows an interest in ideas rather than people. Uncompleted letter cases show a casual nature with a tendency to gossip. Rounded central case shows an interest in people. Omitted ‘i dots and ‘t’ cross strokes show forgetfulness and carelessness. Positioning and style of ‘i’ dots show different things: if the dot is ahead this means an active mind; if it is behind it shows a thoughtful nature; if positions vary this means a distracted mind; if it is flicked this shows a sense of humour; and if it is directly above and in line it means an exacting personality. GREEN LADIES Phantom apparitions of courtly ladies dressed in green gowns that often act as heralds of misfortune or death. Green ladies have been reported all over the world and the following account is but one example. Stirling Castle in Scotland is thought to be haunted by a Green Lady who appears at unexpected times and places in the castle. The castle used to house an officers’ mess and it is said that one night dinner was served late in the officers’ mess because the cook fainted after seeing a misty-green figure watching what he was doing. In life some believe that the Green Lady may have an attendant to Mary Queen of Scots who saved the Queen’s life one night when she awoke with a start from a dream warning her that the Queen’s life was in danger. She ran to the Queen’s bedchamber and discovered that the curtains of royal four-poster bed were aflame with the Queen herself asleep inside. It has also been suggested that the Green Lady may have been the daughter of a governor of the castle who was betrothed to an officer garrisoned there. The officer was killed accidentally by the girl’s father and she, in despair and torment, is said to have thrown herself from the battlements to her death on the rocks 250 feet below. Even today any appearance of the Green Lady is taken very seriously by those who believe in her. It is said that many of her appearances have been followed by a disaster of some kind, and indeed, several fires at the castle have followed alleged sightings of the silent figure. GREENBRIAR GHOST The only known case in the United States where the ghost of a victim is thought to have helped expose and convict the murderer. Testimony relating to the ghost’s appearance was even added to the records of the trial. Elva Zona Heaster Shue was born near Greenbriar, West Virginia in 1873. On 26 October 1886, a year or so after giving birth to an illegitimate child, she met and married blacksmith and newcomer to the district Erasmus Trout Shue (also given as Edward). Zona’s mother, Mary Heaster, was opposed to the marriage because she did not like Erasmus and thought him to be a stranger. On 23 January 1897, an 11-year-old boy called Andy Jones was sent by Shue to his house with instructions to ask Zona if she needed anything, Jones found Zona lying on the floor with her feet stretched out straight in front of her, one hand at her side, one lying across her body and her head tilted to one side. The local physician, Dr George W Knapp, was called. When he arrived Shue had dressed his wife in her Sunday best and was cradling her corpse in his arms. Knapp found it hard to conduct any investigation into the cause of death properly because of Shue’s overwhelming display of grief, and announced that Zona had died of an everlasting faint, then officially decreed the cause as ‘childbirth’. At the funeral mourners noticed some unusual behaviour on the part of Shue, in particular his insistence that she wear her ‘favourite’ red scarf around her neck at all times. They also noticed that when the body moved the head seem to be strangely loose. The local rumour mill began to grind. Mary Heaster was convinced that her daughter had been murdered and prayed for her ghost to return from the dead to reveal the truth. Within a week or so her prayers came true when Zona’s ghost reportedly woke her mother in the middle of the night and described in detail how her husband had been violent and abusive and had killed her in a fit of rage because there was no meat to cook for supper. To illustrate the ghost turned its head completely round. Mrs Heaster urged the prosecutor, John Alfred Preston, to investigate and, intrigued by local gossip as well as Heaster’s story, he agreed to have Zona’s body exhumed on 22 February 1897. An autopsy revealed a broken neck. Shue was arrested and charged with murder. While Shue was in jail awaiting trial details about his past began to emerge. He had abused his first wife and his second wife had died under mysterious circumstances from a head injury or fall. Shue vigorously denied murdering Zona and attempted to shift the blame to Andy Jones, the boy who had discovered her body. Even though all the evidence against Shue was circumstantial and the defence raised the matter of Mary Heaster’s ghost story as evidence that she may be unstable, Shue was found guilty and imprisoned for life. He died on 13 March 1900, in Moundsville State Penitentiary, West Virginia. Near Greenbriar a highway marker commemorates the case. It reads: Interred in nearby cemetery is Zona Heaster Shue. Her death in 1897 was presumed natural until her spirit appeared to her mother to describe how she was killed by her husband Edward. Autopsy on the exhumed body verified the apparition’s account. Edward, found guilty of murder, was sentenced to the state prison. Only known case in which testimony from a ghost helped convict a murderer. It’s extremely likely that Shue was guilty but afterwards some speculated that Zona may have died a natural death and her mother had broken her neck to frame Shue. Even though the autopsy mentioned nothing about pregnancy, some also thought Zona may have been pregnant with another illegitimate child, and that Dr Knapp had killed her while trying to abort it and had broken her neck to cover this up. Serious doubt has also been cast over Mrs Heaster’s ghost story. At the trial Mrs Heaster stated that Zona’s ghost had said her neck had been ‘squeezed off at the first vertebrae’. This seems an unlikely assertion from a simple countrywoman and it is possible that she had read the autopsy. Historians have also discovered that in the 28 January 1897 issue of Greenbriar Independent, which announced Zona’s death, there was a story about a case in Australia where a murder victim had been discovered because of reports of the ghost of a murdered man sitting near a pond where his body had been thrown. Years later a dying man confessed to spreading rumours of a ghost, in an attempt to get the body discovered, because he had witnessed the murder but was afraid to reveal details, in case the murderer came after him. It’s impossible to know if Mrs Heaster read the story and decided to avenge her daughter’s death by making up a ghost story, or if she really believed her daughter’s ghost appeared to her to reveal details of her untimely death. GREMLIN A mythological, mischievous spirit that is often depicted as mechanically orientated and devious. The word ‘gremlin’ comes from Old English grëmian, meaning ‘to vex’ or ‘to anger’ and from grim, meaning ‘severe’ and is related to the German grämen, ‘to grieve’. Gremlins have been described as around six inches tall with horns and black leather boots, while others say they are a cross between a rabbit, a fish and a dog. They have also been described as little people around one foot tall who wear red jackets and green trousers. Typically gremlins appear in connection with aircraft but they also can appear in factories and offices. They could be described as modern, technologically aware versions of brownies, domoviks and other such spirits who like to play games with humans to keep them alert. The concept of gremlins being responsible for sabotaging aircraft is said to have originated in reports of misty, goblin-like spirits told by Royal Flying Corps pilots sent on dangerous missions during World War I. The term didn’t enter public usage, however, until 1939 during World War II, when British pilots in India suffered numerous incidents of seeming sabotage and blamed gremlins. Since then gremlins have been reported in relation to problems with both military and civilian aircraft all over the world. Gremlins are thought to have a great knowledge of technology, engineering, meteorology and aerodynamics. It has been said that they can bore holes into aircraft, sever fuel lines, bite cables, slash the wings of aircraft and terrify pilots by suddenly appearing at the windscreen. The reason for their enmity is not clear, but it has been suggested that gremlins were once friendly towards humans, showing them how to use technology wisely but when humans started to take the credit for their work their relationship broke down. Despite their fondness for playing pranks and causing accidents not all gremlins are thought to be dangerous. Some have been credited with helping pilots fly damaged aircraft to safety, and incidents have been recorded where gremlin voices have allegedly spoken to pilots and given them instructions to land, change course or turn to avoid disaster. One of the most famous pilots who claimed he had been helped by gremlins was Charles Lindbergh when he made his historic solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. In his book The Spirit of St Louis (1953), Lindbergh says that around the ninth hour of his 331/2-hour journey, when he became tired and run down, gremlins appeared to give him instructions and reassure him of his safety. GREY LADIES The ghosts of women who are said to have died violently for the sake of love or through the heartless actions of a family member or loved one. They frequently appear in grey, but they can also appear in white, black and brown. Grey ladies appear all over the world, often in connection with poltergeist activity, and the following is but one example of numerous reported sightings. Chambercombe Manor at Ilfracombe, North Devon, has reportedly been haunted since the seventeenth century by a grey lady. Legend has it that one night a William Oatway deliberately lured a ship ashore on a stormy night so it would crash on the rocks and he could plunder it. A female survivor was washed ashore, her face so badly beaten she could not be recognized. William took her home but she died in the night. Her death didn’t stop him taking her jewellery and money belt. A few days later, the Admiralty called round to William’s dwelling to inform him that his daughter, Kate, had gone missing when a ship was washed ashore. William was devastated that he had unwittingly caused the death of his own daughter and walled up her body in a secret room. A century or so later the room was discovered and the bones buried in a pauper’s grave, but Kate’s ghost still lingers in the house where she grew up with her father, and murderer, William Oatway. Stories of ghosts described as ladies in grey’ are also associated with the Tudor period when the destruction of abbeys and monasteries in England caused the death of many nuns who then dressed in grey. There are famous grey ladies to be found at Newstead Abbey and Rufford Abbey as well as Holy Trinity Church in Micklegate, York. GRIMOIRES Books of magical knowledge written between the late-medieval period and the eighteenth century. Grimoires contain astrological correspondences, lists of angels, instructions on casting charms and spells, as well as information on how to mix medicines and make talismans, but they are perhaps best known as texts that set out the names of demons as well as instructions on how to summon them. The word grimoire is from the Old French gramaire or ‘grammar’ and indicated to both educated and illiterate alike a book of basic instruction. Noted historical grimoires include: The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage. Liber Juratis, or, the Sworn Book of Honorius. The Black Pullet. The Greater Key of Solomon. The Lemegeton, or, the Lesser Key of Solomon. Many of the above texts were reclaimed in the late nineteenth century by neo-Masonic magical organizations such as the Golden Dawn. Typically the texts of grimoires were in French, German or Latin and were quite rare. Although accurate editions were available a cottage industry developed selling false or poorly translated grimories. A modern grimoire is the Necronomicon, named after a fictional book of magic in the stories of author H P Lovecraft, and inspired by Sumerian mythology and the Ars Goetia, a section in the Lesser Key of Solomon which concerns the summoning of demons. GRIS-GRIS In Voodoo, gris-gris are small cloth bags containing herbs, oils, stones, bones, hair, nails, tiny pieces of cloth soaked with perspiration and/or other personal items gathered for the protection of the owner. They are kept as talismans to ward off evil. The origin of the word isn’t known, but some experts trace it to juju, the West African name for fetish or sacred object, or to the French word joujou, doll or plaything. Many African fetishes were shaped like dolls, and early Europeans travelling to the African West Coast may have mistaken religious objects for dolls or toys. The gris-gris became commonplace in New Orleans, the American Voodoo capital, where they were used for attracting good luck, stopping gossip, protecting the home, maintaining good health and numerous other things. At one time, almost everyone would carry a gris-gris for protection. A gris-gris is traditionally made at an altar with incense and a candle burning. One, three, five, seven, nine or thirteen ingredients are used. Ingredients are never an even number or more than 13 (see numerology). Stones and other objects are chosen for their occult and astrological meanings depending on the purpose for which the gris-gris is to be used. GROTTENDIECK STONE-THROWER Unexplained poltergeist activity that occurred in September 1903 on the island of Sumatra, formerly a part of the Dutch East Indies and now a part of Indonesia. One night Dutch engineer W D Grottendieck of Dordrecht, Holland returned from a trip into the Sumatran jungle when he found that his regular quarters had been taken by another member of the Dutch oil company he worked for. Exhausted he decided to stay in a new house that had been erected on bamboo poles with a roof made of large, dried leaves, known as kadjang or awning leaves. At about one o’clock in the morning Grottendieck was woken by something falling on the floor beside him. In the darkness he saw that small black stones were falling through the roof even though the roof had no holes. He went to the next room to wake up his servant boy, Malay, and told him to go outside with his torch to see if he could see anyone. The boy found nothing. Inside the hut Grottendieck tried to catch the stones but they seemed to change direction mid-air, preventing him from catching any. Frustrated he went outside and fired his rifle to scare off pranksters but the stones continued to fall. The terrified servant boy fled into the jungle; as soon as he had gone the stones stopped falling. The next morning Grottendieck found a number of the stones still on his floor. He observed that they had fallen within a radius of three feet and had all come through one single kadjang leaf. The theory that the boy was the focus of the activity was discounted by Grottendieck when he corresponded with the Society for Psychical Research and explained that the stones were falling while the boy was asleep. Before the incident Grottendieck had been a sceptic, but he was now convinced that there was a link between the death of his sister three months previously and the falling stones. He believed she was trying to communicate with him. His story was published in the British Journal of the Society for Psychical Research in 1906. There have been a number or suggestions as to what caused the incident. Perhaps Grottendieck’s experience was genuine. Perhaps he was hallucinating. Perhaps the boy was throwing the stones or perhaps the stones were fruit seeds dropped by bats that fly into houses at night. The case remains unsolved. GROUNDING Term used to describe reconnecting with one’s sense of self and the physical world after psychic development work. Grounding is a way to get rid of the disconnected or spaced-out feelings that sometimes occurs with meditation or visualization work. Experts in psychic development believe it is vitally important after any meditation or visualization exercise to return to daily life and reconnect with the physical world. This can be done with simple activities, such as yawning and stretching, making a cup of tea, eating a light snack, writing in a journal or anything that helps body and mind focus on the physical rather than the spiritual or mystical. GUARDIAN SPIRIT In tribal cultures a personal protective spirit, that typically takes animal form. The major function of the guardian spirit is look after its possessor and protect him or her from harm. If misfortune strikes this is often attributed to a failure on the part of the guardian spirit but if things run smoothly the guardian spirit is thanked. In some societies guardian spirits are thought to be the spirits of ancestors, but in others they are free and independent spirits. They are not to be confused with spirit helpers, who are summoned by shamans when specialized help is needed, for example, for healing disease. They should also not be confused with familiars, who are also spirits in animal form. Guardian spirits are believed to be present from birth. However, they can also be discovered in dreams or acquired by undertaking a vision quest in the wilderness. Although guardian spirits are strongly associated with tribal and shamanic cultures, they do figure in the Christian concept of guardian angels. In Spiritualism a person is believed to have a guardian spirit or spirits from birth, although most people aren’t aware of them, thus depriving themselves of a source of inner strength and power. GUIDE Term used to refer to inner guidance (see intuition, gut feeling, sixth sense, inner guide, higher self) that can help a person discover wisdom and/or psychic guidance and assistance from inside him or herself. The term also refers to spirit guides. Spirits guides are thought to be angels, fairies, ghosts or spirits whose function is to help and guide people on their spiritual path. In contrast to intuitive guidance, help from a spirit guide is thought to come from an outside source, although some people think that their spirit guide is somehow connected to their intuition. GUIDED IMAGERY The idea that a person can improve their health and their life by imagining it in more positive terms. Guided imagery is a term used to refer to a kind of directed daydreaming, creative visualization, hypnosis or meditation which allows a person to enter a state in which they can picture and experience images that help to heal or motivate them. For example, a cancer patient may picture army tanks shooting down cancer cells, while a sprinter may imagine the speed and grace of a cheetah. In other words, the imagination is used in a directed way to help achieve goals. Imagery has long been considered a healing tool in virtually all of the world’s cultures. For example, Navajo Indians practise an elaborate form of imagery that encourages a sick person to ‘see’ himself as healthy. The Egyptians and ancient Greeks believed that images released spirits in the brain that aroused the heart and other parts of the body. In the late 1960s guided imagery came to public attention with encouraging reports from oncologist O Carl Simonton of unexpected longevity in cancer patients following the use of imagery and visualization to stimulate immune response. Although Simonton’s work created controversy in medicine, it wasn’t until the late 1980s, with the development of psychoneuroimmunology as a field of study, that researchers began to research the effects of the mind on physiology and healing in earnest. While this research is just beginning, Simonton’s early hypothesis that people can stimulate their immune response through imagery has been validated. Study after study shows that when performed correctly guided imagery can help lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and depression, boost the immune system, ease physical pain and nausea during chemotherapy, reduce stress, balance hormones, speed recovery from cuts, burns, fractures and surgery and lower allergic responses. It also improves performance in sport and business, as well as learning. Today guided imagery is a term variously used to describe a range of techniques from simple visualization and direct imagery-based suggestion through metaphor and storytelling. In medicine guided imagery is used to help teach psychophysiologic relaxation to relieve symptoms, to stimulate healing responses in the body and to help people tolerate procedures and treatments more easily. In addition to using thoughts and images, guided imagery also involves imagining how things sound, feel, taste and smell. It is thought that because sensory input is how the mind takes in information, guided imagery goes straight to the unconscious mind. It is particularly powerful when it involves emotions, because emotions also by-pass words and logic and go straight to the unconscious. In addition, emotions carry a history with them that interacts with the image. For example, if you imagine you are on a happy holiday with people you love, your body re-experiences the same joyful physical responses. Some people prefer to use imagery created by someone else, and a person (or a tape recording of the person) talks them through the visualization, while others prefer to make up their own. Whatever method is used, the most important thing is to relax and let your imagination work. Imagery, whether guided or not, is most effective when it encourages someone to imagine with all their senses. Sample guided imagery exercise to reduce stress To begin, sit or lie down in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Once you feel relaxed enough, begin to imagine a scene, object or place that is beautiful and relaxing to you. Imagine every aspect of the scene, involving all of your senses. For example, if you visualize a waterfall on a mountain, imagine first what this looks like: the rushing water, the stream flowing from it, the size and height of the trees all around, the sky above and the sun filtering through the branches, and so on. Then imagine how this place would smell - damp and musty or fragrant pine. Next j listen for the sounds you would hear if you were there: the water rushing over rocks, the wind rising and then quieting down, birds singing. How does the ground feel beneath your feet? Is it rocky and rough, or soft and smooth from pine needles or moss? Imagine chewing on a blade of grass, or taking a long, cool drink from the waterfall. How do they taste? As you become fully involved in your imagery, your body will relax and problems and worries will begin to melt away. To encourage this relaxation to occur, you can punctuate the images with positive affirmations, such as ‘I am letting go of tension’ or ‘I feel calm and relaxed’. See also Pathworking. GUPPY, AGNES [1838–1917] In the mid-1860s to early 1870s Agnes Nichol Guppy, also known as Mrs Samuel Guppy became the first medium in Great Britain to perform full-form materializations. Agnes was orphaned by her first birthday and raised by her grandfather. She began to have visions around the age of nine, despite her grandfather’s disbelief and disapproval. In her teens she became a photographer and a painter to Mr and Mrs Sims, a couple who encouraged her to develop her mediumistic talents, which included levitation and telepathy. On 14 December 1866 Agnes allegedly made her first apport, a bunch of fresh flowers, at a séance attended by the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. Agnes was a heavily built woman and in the darkness, while holding the sitters’ hands, it was said she would float on top of the table in her chair. On numerous occasions flowers and fruits would appear on the séance table from an unknown source. The request of the sitters was often honoured. When a friend of Wallace asked for a sunflower, a six-foot high sunflower with a mass of earth around the roots fell upon the table. In Naples Princess Marguerite desired specimens of a prickly cactus. More than twenty dropped on the table and had to be removed with tongs. The most amazing apport she produced, however, was herself. In June 1871 Agnes was allegedly teleported from her house at Highbury to a séance being held at 61 Lamb’s Conduit Street, a distance of three miles. In December 1867 Agnes married the wealthy but elderly Spiritualist Samuel Guppy and for the next few years they resided on the Continent, holding séances and dazzling audiences. More marvels were witnessed on their return and in 1872 Agnes produced the first full-form materialization using a cabinet. Mr Guppy was wealthy and the complete absence of any financial motive on the part of Agnes greatly puzzled psychical researcher Frank Podmore, who believed that every medium was a fraud out for financial gain. He writes: But Mrs Guppy, even during the few months in which, as Miss Nichol, she practised as a professional Mesmerist, can scarcely have found her main incentive in the hope of gain. On the assumption of fraud, the mere cost of the flowers lavished on her sitters must have swallowed up any probable profit from her increased mesmeric clientele. And even such a motive would have ceased with her marriage. At the height of Agnes’s fame a new medium called Florence Cook appeared on the scene, but Cook’s full-form materializations of Katie King did not get Mrs Guppy’s support. Agnes was a rather large woman and Florence’s youthful beauty attracted many of her former sitters. Allegedly she conspired to have acid thrown in Florence’s face but her plans backfired and ended her reign as London’s top medium. After Samuel Guppy’s death Agnes married William Volckman, who had tried to grab Katie King during one of Cook’s séances. His actions were condemned but Florence’s reputation was ruined and Agnes got her revenge. For the rest of her life she was known as Mrs Guppy-Volckman. GURDJIEFF, GE1RGEI IVANOVITCH [C.l865-—1949] Considered by some to be the greatest occult and mystical teacher of all time, and by others as a complete fraud, Georgei Ivanovitch Gurdjieff founded the Gurdjieff system, a series of physical and psycho-spiritual exercises designed to jolt people out of their somnambulist state. Russian-born Gurdjieff’s early years are shrouded in mystery but from his youth he was fascinated by the occult sciences and spiritualism. He was probably familiar with Madame Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society but after years of travel and investigation of various sects and cults, such as the Sufi dervishes of Central Asia, instead of following an established occult philosophy he created his own and attracted a large number of followers. He postulated that people were similar to machines and controlled by forces they could not influence. In such a state humans were asleep, and in order to wake up they needed to work hard to overcome their normal state of unconsciousness and reach for true consciousness. Gurdjieff taught that people could only learn how to ‘wake up’ by studying under those who had escaped their robotic existence - a teacher or ‘person who knows’. People should form schools and obey their teacher in all things. Selfrealization could only be achieved by a technique called self-remembering - a conscious awareness of surroundings and self in a situation. The first Gurdjieff school opened just before the start of World War I. It attracted pupils at once, among them the mathematician Pyotr Demianovitch Ouspensky who believed in endless reincarnation and saw Gurdjieff’s work as a way to break the cycle and attain perfection. In the years that followed the movement grew stronger and more schools were opened. Gurdjieff established his procedures, called ‘shocks’, designed to further the process of selfawareness. These shocks consisted of hard, physical labour, intense emotional experience, and complicated and energetic dance moves. The idea was that while experiencing ‘shocks’ a student lost preconceived notions about themselves and began to unify all the different aspects of themselves - which was called the ‘Is’ in harmony. By working on oneself in this way, one can allegedly rise above a robotic existence and attain immortality. Students of the Gurjieff schools took part in strenuous activity and dance movements. They attended lectures in hypnotism, music, language and science, and learned Sufi breathing techniques. To help them stay ‘alert’, techniques such as being asked to stand like statues for minutes at a time or being woken up in the middle of the night were used. The cosmology Gurdjieff propounded is complex and detailed. It talks of rings within rings and souls sucked up to feed the moon and is so symbolic that even his most devoted followers are forced to rely on the work of his disciples, like Ouspensky, to understand it. Despite the complexity, however, at the root of all his teachings is the belief that the great majority of human beings live in a state analogous to sleep. Although we think we are awake and in control, the opposite is true. Gurdjieff also postulated that the Universe is governed by the law of three’ and the law of seven’. The law of three states that humans have three bodies carnal, emotional and spiritual - and by working on themselves they can rise from the carnal to the spiritual. The law of seven refers to Gurdjieff’s belief that life’s processes are governed by seven stages of development, and one only progresses from one to the next if a ‘shock’ is given. The enneagram, a circle whose circumference is divided by nine points, creating an uneven six-sided figure and a triangle, was Gurdjieff ’s symbol for his worldview. It shows the law of three and the law of seven and how people cross phases of development in life by ‘shocks’. Gurdjieff called his system the Fourth Way or the Way of the Cunning Man. He explained that traditionally there were three paths to immortality: those of the fakir, who had to undergo physical torture; the monk, who is emotionally committed to God; and the yogi, who is a spiritual seeker. All three of these paths, Gurdjieff argued, were incomplete, but the Fourth Way - his way - was complete. In the Fourth Way people started with their own experiences and attempted to unite all the paths to immortality, using every cunning trick to stay ‘awake’. Gurdjieff left Russia in 1922 and eventually settled in France. Despite his following he was a difficult and intense man to be around and most of his supporters eventually rejected him. After 1924 he stopped teaching and spent the rest of his life writing down his theories and worldview Gurdjieff is probably best known through Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous - perhaps the best explanation of Gurdjieff theories - and his own works, the most accessible of which is Meetings with a Remarkable Man, which was made into a film by director Peter Brooke. Gurdjieff foundations, dedicated to teaching and promoting the Gurdjieff philosophy in practical ways suited to a modern lifestyle, enjoy a moderate following today and can still be found all over the world. GURNEY, Edmund [1847–1888] A graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, Gurney became a musician, a physician and an attorney before finally devoting his life to psychical research in 1883. Over the next few years, Gurney became one of the founding members of the Society for Psychical Research as well as one of the foremost authorities of his day on hypnosis. He also gathered together a huge collection of papers and reports exploring psychic phenomena. In 1886 he published his research on the evidence for telepathy, particularly from crisis apparitions, in the classic work Phantasms of the Living, a book that broke new ground by setting forth for the first time a scientific approach to ghost hunting and methods of investigation appropriate to psychic phenomena. GURU According to Hindu philosophy a guru (from the Sanskritt gu meaning ‘darkness’ and ru meaning light’) is a spiritual teacher who helps dispels darkness and bring pupils to the light. The guru leads and inspires by example, in order to help followers reach enlightenment or self-knowledge. In the West the term is used to describe many kinds of spiritual teachers or leaders. GUT FEELINGS Gut feeling is the term used to describe an intuitive reaction or feeling about people, places or situations. For example, you walk into a room and feel uneasy, or you meet someone new and feel a warm glow. The term ‘gut feeling’ isn’t accidental. The area around the stomach has always been considered important in the Eastern system of chakras. Now in the West it has gained newfound importance as scientists have discovered that the body has a second primitive ‘brain’ in the layers of tissue lining the stomach, small intestine and colon. It is actually a network of neurons, neurotransmitters and proteins called the enteric nervous system. The enteric nervous system and its interaction with the brain in the head are so complex that it is a field of study in its own right, called gastroenterology. Experts in the field have suggested that once animals had a primitive brain in their gut because their efforts for survival were based around food. As these animals developed, neural pathways out of the gut extended to a newer brain in the head, used for other needs such as memory and sex. Eventually the connection between the two brains shrunk to a single nerve, called the vagus nerve. This primitive brain is deeply connected to our survival instincts and may explain why we sometimes get unexplained, intense feelings about people, places and situations - even when it may pertain to areas of our lives that are not life-or-death situations, such as jobs and relationships with other people. Psychics believe that when we talk about instinct, gut feelings, intuition, hunches, vibes and so on what we are really referring to is one distinct area of psychic awareness, the skill of clairsentience. Clairsentience is the ability to get intuitive insight and information through your sense of touch or feeling what is around you. It’s possibly the most common of psychic abilities, yet it is the least recognized and acknowledged. GUZYK, JAN [1875–1928] Polish materialization medium. Guzyk displayed psychic ability from an early age and by the age of 15 he became a professional medium. In 1921 he was investigated by the Insitut Metapsychique International and researchers reported witnessing a number of materializations, including that of a head and a face that seemed to be alive and able to speak. More investigations followed in 1922 and 1923. The psychical researchers assigned to the project were so convinced by the full form materialization of an ‘ape man’, whom Guzyk nicknamed Pithecanthropus, that they all signed a document declaring that trickery had been ruled out and that what they had witnessed were genuine phenomena. In November 1923 Guzyk’s impressive track record collapsed when a committee of four professors from the Sorbourne in Paris held a series of ten séances with him. They found that Guzyk would sometimes use his hands and knees to produce spirit touches or move objects. Even though they could not explain all the séance phenomena they declared him a fraud. Despite the damage to his reputation Guzyk continued to hold séances, and the investigators who had worked closely with him remained convinced that his powers were genuine. GYPSY MAGIC Also known as Romany magic, gypsy magic refers to methods of divination and magic used by the Romany people. Gypsies were once thought to have been of Egyptian descent, but recent archaeological findings suggest they may have originated from Northern India. Today there are thought to be around three million Romany people, living mainly in Russia, Eastern Europe, Turkey and Greece. The Romany people have been travellers from as far back as the eleventh or twelfth centuries AD. Their religious beliefs are a mix of nature worship, folk magic and Christianity and to treat them unfairly or disrespectfully is thought to bring bad luck - the origin of the gypsy curse. They believe strongly in the afterlife and the spirit world and are renowned for their skills in the divinatory arts of palmistry, tarot and scrying. GYROMANCY From the Greek guros (‘round’) gyromancy is an ancient divination method where the diviner walks or whirls around a circle marked with letters of the alphabet until too dizzy to continue; the letters against which they stumble or the direction of the fall are interpreted, thus ‘spelling out the prophecy’. Another method of gyromancy consisted of interpretations of prophetic utterances from people exhausted from dancing in an enchanted circle. In yet another method it is a divination procedure where a clipped coin is whirled on a circle of letters. H HAG An apparition reported to resemble an ugly old woman with tangled hair, rotting teeth, a hooked nose, mad eyes and clawlike fingers. The Hag is also related to the mara (from which the word ‘nightmare’ is derived), a demon that likes to attack humans at night and abuse them. Victims of hag attacks (known as Old Hag Syndrome) claim that they awake abruptly to find that they cannot move, even though they can see, hear, feel and smell. There is sometimes the feeling of a great weight on the chest and the sense that there is a sinister or evil presence in the room. Old Hag Syndrome has been documented since ancient times and modern research suggests that around 15 per cent of people experience at least one Old Hag attack in their lives. The name of the phenomenon comes from the superstitious belief that a witch - i.e. an old hag - sits or ‘rides’ the chest of the victims, rendering them immobile. Sceptics argue that rather than witches or demons there is probably a medical or scientific explanation for Old Hag Syndrome, such as indigestion, sleep disorders or repressed tension. Some researchers believe that tales of encounters with the hag might be attached to the phenomenon known as sleep paralysis. Medical explanations, emotional tension and sleep paralysis can explain the great majority of cases, but not all. HALCYON HOUSE, 3400 PROSPECT STREET, GEORGETOWN Located in the Georgetown district of Washington, DC Halcyon House, built by Benjamin Stoddert, the first secretary of the US Navy, is said to be haunted. Following Stoddert’s death in 1813 the house passed to a number of owners. During the Civil War its basement was connected to an underground railway road and was used by runaway slaves. It is said that some runaways died in the basement and began haunting it with ghostly cries. In the early twentieth century the tunnel was walled up, but the cries continue to be heard. In the 1930s Halcyon House passed to an eccentric called Albert Adsit Clemons. Clemons was passionate about building extensions on to the house, believing that as long as he worked on the house he wouldn’t die. He worked like crazy, adding rooms, doors that opened to walls and a staircase that led nowhere. After he died in 1938, hauntings in the house began to increase. On two separate occasions, occupants awoke at night to find themselves floating above their beds. A phantom woman, odd sounds, movements of objects and a ghost matching the description of Stoddert have all been reported. HALLOWEEN Observed annually on the night of 31 October and originally a pagan festival of the dead, Halloween (also known as Allhallows Eve) is celebrated today as a night of fancy dress, trick or treating and superstitious fun and games. The festival traces its origins back to the ancient Celts who celebrated the start of the New Year and the end of the summer around 1 November. The Celts believed that on this night the veil between the dead and the living was at its thinnest and the dead could rise out of their graves to wander freely on earth. The living dressed themselves in disguise so spirits would not recognize them, and huge bonfires would be lit in an attempt to rekindle the diminishing energy of the sun god in the winter. The ancient Romans also celebrated festivals that influenced the development of the Halloween tradition. The festival of Pomona, the goddess of orchards and the harvest, was celebrated around the same time. Apples and nuts still have their place in Halloween traditions observed today. As time went on fairies, witches, goblins and spirits, as well as the dead, were said to come out in force on Halloween night. In England Guy Fawkes Night, celebrated on 5 November absorbed many of the traditions of Allhallows Eve but currently the tradition of Halloween is enjoying newfound popularity. This isn’t just in America - where Halloween has been an established part of American folklore since the 1840s, when poverty stricken Irish fled to the United States - but in Europe and England too. Wiccans and Pagans observe Allhallows Eve (also known as Samhain) as one of their most important sacred days. For them it is a time for fun but also a time to honour the dead, communicate with spirits and observe rituals. It is also thought to be a particularly good time to make a fresh start and commence new projects. HALLUCINOGENS See Drugs. HALO In art, a circle of bright light that crowns the head of holy people or people with special powers. In ancient Greece and Egypt the halo was used in art to suggest supernatural power and great intellect. In Christian art it signifies grace and piety. In clairvoyance the halo can appear as an aura, which is often visible around the head. It can also represent the crown chakra, which is said to be pronounced in people who are spiritually developed. HALOMANCY Ancient form of divination using salt. The diviner throws salt up into the air or into a fire and the way in which the salt falls, or the random patterns it makes when it is poured or spread over a surface, are interpreted as good or bad omens. Ridges typically indicate problems and obstacles while valleys show delays and frustrations. Halomancy may be the inspiration for many superstitions concerning salt, such as to spill salt brings misfortune, and throwing a pinch of salt over your left shoulder wards off bad luck. The idea of spilled salt as a sign of good or bad luck may come from the association of salt with life. Salt symbolizes semen, so to spill it is to upset the balance of life. HAMILTON, THOMAS [1873–1935] Canadian physician and founder of the Winnipeg Society for Psychical Research. For 15 years Hamilton conducted important research on mediumship in a laboratory constructed in his own house. Hamilton graduated from Manitoba Medical College in Winnipeg in 1903 and after a year’s internship at Winnipeg General Hospital established his own private medical practice. He was first attracted to psychical phenomena as an undergraduate when an article by the spiritualist W T Stead prompted him to read and research in psychical research and to devise his own experiments to test telepathy and mediumship. Hamilton’s early experiments with a non-professional medium called Elizabeth Poole greatly impressed him but, aware that his research might affect his standing in the medical community, he decided to give up psychical research. This was a decision he found impossible to carry through and less than a year later a special séance room had been fitted out in the Hamiltons’ house, complete with a cabinet, round table and chairs facing the cabinet and carefully positioned cameras. The room, together with Hamilton’s medical credentials and standing in the community, made an impressive contribution to psychical research in his day. In April 1923 the new sittings began, with a group of sitters which included four doctors, a lawyer and two engineers. The phenomena recorded and photographed in the room included partial levitation and communications through a medium from the writer Robert Louis Stevenson and the explorer David Livingstone. These communications convinced Hamilton that mediumship and life after death were genuine. In 1928 materializations began to occur. Photographs showed ectoplasm emerging from the head of medium Mary Marshall. It ranged in size from a few inches to three or four feet high, some showing faces. As his research developed and the evidence stacked up Hamilton broke his silence and began to speak about it in public and publish articles in Spiritualist publications. His only book, Intention and Survival, was published after his death and the title expresses his belief that communications via séances provided evidence of survival after death. Hamilton died in 1935 at the age of 61. The sittings were continued by his wife and in February 1939 ectoplasm with Hamilton’s likeness allegedly emerged, proving to his followers that Hamilton had successfully communicated his continued existence after death. HAMPTON COURT Some say that Hampton Court, the palace given to King Henry VIII in 1525 by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, is the most haunted place in England. Once home to a long line of royals, Hampton Court has provided the magnificent setting for jealous husbands, affairs, intrigue, treachery and scandal for hundreds of years. Its enormous structure and grounds are said to be haunted by as many as 30 ghosts. The ghost of Jane Seymour, Henry’s third wife who died in childbirth, has been reported on numerous occasions. She is said to appear with a lighted taper on the Silverstick Stairs on the anniversary of her son’s birth. Cardinal Wolsey’s ghost has been reported under one of the archways by a member of an audience viewing a light and sound show in 1966. Strange happenings and mysterious noises have also been reported on the anniversary of the death of Christopher Wren. Wren redesigned the Palace for Queen Anne from 1702 to 1714 and died there while supervising a renovation on 26 February 1723. Catherine Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife, who was beheaded in 1542, is another famous ghost. The young queen was accused of infidelity in 1541, and arrested and charged with treason. Knowing that she would be executed, Catherine broke away from her guards and ran toward her husband’s rooms, hoping to plead for mercy. But before she could reach the king, guards dragged her, kicking and screaming, through what is now called the Haunted Gallery. Terrifying shrieks are still heard occasionally today, and it is said that her apparition appears along the gallery every November. Also reported are the ghosts of officers who fought under Charles I, the ghost of Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, and the ghost of Sibell Penn, nurse to Edward VI. The White Lady of Hampton Court, the headless Archbishop Laud, a hooded figure that lurks in the kitchens, a dog, a girl, a cat, unexplained balls of light and an odd shape nicknamed ‘Mr Blobby’ also appear on Hampton Court’s impressive roll call of ghosts. HANDFASTING Handfasting comes from an old Celtic ceremony in which a couple’s hands are ritualistically tied together, hence the phrase ‘tying the knot’. The ceremony can either symbolize the beginning of a trial marriage, typically lasting a year and a day, or, with proper legal procedures, handfasting can be a legal marriage ceremony. There is no universal procedure for the ceremony, but typically it involves chanting and spells and the raising of magical energies within a sacred space. Although a pagan priest or priestess will preside the couple devise their own ceremony and perform their own ritual. They get themselves married as opposed to being married by someone else. For some the marriage is for a year and a day, renewable ‘so long as love shall last’, while for others it is a commitment to be together through many lives. HANUSSEN, ERIK JAN [1889–1933] Conjurer who earned the dubious honour of being Adolf Hitler’s favourite clairvoyant. Born Herschel (or Herman - accounts vary) Steinschneider in Vienna the son of a travelling comedian, Hanussen’s upbringing was far from conventional. After a brief stint as a newspaper reporter he joined a small circus and began publishing books that denounced skills such as telepathy and clairvoyance as fraudulent hoaxes. Then he did an about-turn and claimed he had clairvoyant and telepathic powers. Despite being labelled a swindler by the Austrian and Czech police he moved into the cabaret scene and began giving public shows at major theatres. Hanussen soon became a well-known public figure, though from the descriptions given, the tricks he was performing were clearly derived from extant conjuring sources. His skills came to the attention of Hitler and he served the Nazis as one of their most vehement and savage anti-Semitic propagandists. By the end of 1932 he was living a life of luxury and excess in his huge mansion outside Berlin, which was referred to as ‘The Palace of Occultism’. Success, however, went to Hanussen’s head. In a séance in February 1933 he made the fatal error of revealing information obtained from his close association with top Nazis about a fire that would take place at the Reichstag as proof to the German people that the Communists were trying to disrupt the government. Hanussen knew that the fire would be set by the Nazis themselves within less than 12 hours, and he couldn’t resist using that inside knowledge to demonstrate his psychic powers. The Reichstag fire took place the next morning in accordance with the Nazi plan and although there was huge public excitement about the accuracy of Hanussen’s clairvoyance, he had now become a danger to the Nazi cause. He had outlived his function of charming the dilettantes that the Nazis needed to finance their cause and his mutilated body was discovered in a shallow grave in the woods outside Berlin on 7 April 1933. Hanussen’s ‘Palace of Occultism’ closed and never reopened. HARMONIC CONVERGENCE On 16 and 17 August 1987 thousands of people from all over the world gathered at sacred locations such as Glastonbury and Stonehenge in England and Mount Shasta in California believing the world was about to end. The event was called the Harmonic Convergence. The Harmonic Convergence was largely the idea of an American art historian, Dr Jose Arguelles, who believed the date was set long ago by the ‘galactically informed’ ancient Mayans. Arguelles calculated that the Earth was entering a new phase where minds would unite in harmony and create a special energy or human power grid that could not only promote world peace but also make possible contact with beings from other planets. According to Arguelles, the fall of the world’s stock markets in October 1987 and increased sightings of extraterrestrials in the years that followed were fulfilments of the prophecy. HARPERS FERRY Many ghosts are thought to haunt this small town in West Virginia where pre-Civil War fighting and the arrest and execution of slavery abolitionist John Brown took place. John Brown of Kansas was a radical revolutionary violently opposed to slavery. In 1859 he hatched a scheme whereby he and his followers would seize control of the strategically important town of Harpers Ferry and arm slaves with weapons. The siege ended in blood and chaos. Brown was convicted of conspiracy to incite insurrection and executed on 2 December 1859. According to reports Brown left a note saying he was ‘certain that the crimes of the guilty would never be purged away but with blood’ and he died with a wild delight in his eyes that terrified onlookers so much wax had to be poured over them. Harpers Ferry changed hands between Confederate and Union forces several times during the Civil War. Most of the ghosts reported at Harpers Ferry relate to the Civil War era but perhaps the most well known is the tall thin ghost of John Brown himself. He is reportedly seen at the site of the siege accompanied by a large black dog. Dangerfield Newby a former slave and one of Brown’s men who died in the siege, has also been reported walking along Hog Alley displaying a gashed throat and the same baggy trousers he wore the day he died. Other ghosts reported at Harpers Ferry include ghostly Civil War soldiers lighting campfires, and the ghost of priest Father Costello, who saved St Peter’s Church, located above the town on a hill, when fighting broke out by raising the British flag. Both armies avoided shelling the church in case it would create problems internationally. Father Costello’s ghostly figure has been spotted walking towards the church, where he disappears through the walls. HART, HORNELL NORRIS [1888–1967] Psychical researcher and sociologist with a special interest in out-of-body experiences and survival after death. Hornell Hart was born in St Paul, Minnesota on 2 August 1888. He received a PhD from the State University of Iowa in 1921 and later became professor of Sociology at Duke University, where J B Rhine had his parapsychology laboratory. Throughout his life Hart was fascinated by psychical research, particularly the question of survival after death, and managed to retain this interest alongside his religious convictions. As one of the first sociologists to employ statistics in psychical research he was well equipped to work with Rhine. Hart contributed a number of important writings to the field of psychical research. He published several papers in the journal of the American Society for Psychical Research and in 1953 suggested the idea of a psychic fifth dimension’. His 1956 paper, Six theories about apparitions, has become a classic read for students of parapsychology. He also wrote a number of books on the subject including The Science of Social Relations (1927) and The Enigma of Survival: The Case For and Against an Afterlife (1959). In The Enigma of Survival Hart introduced the term ‘super ESP’ to describe hypothetical ESP ability that extends beyond the boundaries set by laboratory experiments. He also introduced his persona theory’. According to this theory, apparitions and communications through mediums are not from the spirit world but rather are projected ‘personas’ that can somehow interact with the unconscious of individuals to produce psychic phenomena. HARUSPICY Ancient form of divination where the entrails, especially the liver, of sacrificed animals, typically sheep, goat and oxen, would be examined and then burned in a sacrificial fire. The overall shape of a liver was examined, as were any discolorations or deformities. A swollen gallbladder indicated an increase in power. A depression in the liver-gate was seen as a lessening of power. Vein markings and colourings would be inspected for signs of resemblance to symbols, tools and weapons. Clay models of livers dating from around 2000 BC have been found. They are divided into sections and bear markings and inscriptions. The practice evolved from Babylonian ritual and was handed down to the Greeks and Romans, who employed an official called the haruspex to oversee the ritual. The idea behind the practice was that when an animal, and in some cases a human, was sacrificed to a deity, the god or goddess would absorb the essence of the animal and a link was created back to the priest or priestess. When the animal was opened up they were looking into a god’s mind and could therefore interpret the future or answer a question based on the size, shape and appearance of the entrails. Haruspicy is still practised today in areas of Africa, Borneo and Southeast Asia and forms part of some black magic rituals. HARVARD EXIT CINEMA Formerly a meeting hall for a women’s organization, the Harvard Exit cinema opened in Seattle, Washington in 1968. There have been numerous reports of hauntings since the original hall was built in 1925. The cinema has been the topic of many newspapers stories and TV shows, and many psychics and psychical researchers have investigated the building using equipment, medium contacts and personal experiences. The third floor is where most of the alleged phenomena are said to occur. At least three or four female spirits, one or two male spirits, footsteps, laughter and a thought form have allegedly been identified by witnesses and researchers. The phenomena ceased around 1987. It has been suggested that the theatre was haunted by the ghost of Seattle’s first and only woman mayor - the feminist and reformer Bertha Landes. Around the time the phenomena ceased at the cinema a museum opened in downtown Seattle with objects and photographs concerning Landes on display. Newspaper accounts mention a workman at the museum reporting strange incidents and objects being moved. Some believe that Landes relocated to the museum to be close to her things, however museum officials claim no knowledge of paranormal or strange happenings during or after building work took place. HAUNTING The manifestation of strange and inexplicable phenomena said to be caused by ghosts and spirits. The phenomena include apparitions, unusual changes in temperature, the movement of objects, noises, smells and so on. Only a small number of hauntings involve seeing ghosts. When they are reported they vary in appearance, sometimes resembling real people, often in period costume, while at other times appearing filmy and transparent or terrifying with body parts missing. Some ghosts always appear in the same guise while others are said to change their appearance and their age. Most hauntings involve noises such as mysterious sighs and whispers, smells such as perfume or burning wood, or sensations such as the pricking of skin, cold breezes or being touched. Some hauntings involve poltergeist activity, such as objects moving, or glasses smashed. Those who experience hauntings typically report receiving negative emotions such as fear, anger and hatred, but friendly ghosts have also been reported. The term ‘haunt’ is believed to come from the same word root as ‘home’ and implies an occupation of a home or dwelling place by spirits of dead people or animals who once lived there. However, some hauntings occur at places the deceased person merely visited or liked or places where violence or death involving the deceased person occurred. In some cases there may be no association with the place at all and no apparent motivation or purpose for the haunting. Some hauntings are said to last for centuries, or to occur at roughly the same time each year, whereas others only last for a brief period of time and never manifest again. Objects as well as sites may also be haunted. For example, there are tales of haunted skulls or stones or statues that seem to cause mayhem wherever they are placed. Not every person who visits a haunted site will experience paranormal phenomena. It is suggested that only those who are psychically or emotionally receptive at the time of visiting can pick up paranormal sensations. Despite a hundred years of research and investigation from scientists and psychical researchers still very little is known about hauntings and why they occur. Several theories have been suggested but none has proved to be entirely satisfactory. Eleanor Sidgwick, former secretary for the Society for Psychical Research suggested that hauntings were a form of psychometry - vibrations of events and emotions imprinted into a house or object. For example, a house could incorporate the feelings of its former occupants, which could then manifest as a haunting. Those who have developed her theory believe that hauntings are impressions on a psychic ether or psi force field, which can be accessed by receptive people under certain conditions. Often these hauntings seem to be psychic recordings’ or endless re-enactments of events. Another spiritualist theory suggests that hauntings happen when the spirit of a dead person or animal is trapped on earth and doesn’t know how to leave. Exorcisms or other remedies such as prayers for the dead may be required to send the spirit on its way. Psychical researcher Frederick Myers defined haunting as a ‘manifestation of persistent personal energy’, in other words, proof that some kind of energy was being transmitted after death, which was somehow connected to the dead person. Myers believed that ghosts had no intelligence or consciousness and were merely fragments of energy left behind by the dead person. A popular explanation among ghost investigators is the so-called portal’ theory. Haunting occurs at sites where there is an opening to another dimension that permits spirits to travel to the physical world. Belief in portals is age-old and numerous sacred places around the world have been thought to be gateways or entry points for spirits. Portals are also thought to open at places where there has been intense violence or trauma, such as battlefields or hospitals, as well as in lonely, deserted places or spots such as lighthouses or graveyards. See also Ghost investigation. HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL [1804–1864] Acclaimed American author whose preoccupation with psychic phenomena can be identified in his work The House of the Seven Gables (1851) and his short stories ‘The White Old Maid’ and ‘Young Goodman Brown’. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born and raised in Salem, Massachussetts, and was directly descended from John Hathorne, who had been one of the judges presiding over the infamous Salem Witch Trials. He added a ‘w’ to his name to disassociate himself from his family’s dark past. The House of the Seven Gables is loosely based upon the legend of a curse placed on Hawthorne’s family by a woman who was executed for witchcraft during the Salem trials and is often recommended as a classic American ghost story. In 1840 while he was living in Boston Hawthorne reported seeing an apparition and told his story in ‘The Ghost of Dr. Harris’, which was published after his death by Nineteenth Century magazine. The story concerns the ghost of an old clergyman that Hawthorne believed he saw reading a newspaper in his usual seat at the Athenaeum Club a few weeks after the clergyman’s death. Hawthorne devoted a great amount of time in the later years of his life investigating the paranormal, questioning those who believed they had seen ghosts and seeking out haunted locations in the hope of witnessing a haunting himself. Given his devotion to the subject it seems only fitting that after his own death Hawthorne was reported to have returned from the grave to haunt his son, Julian. Julian Hawthorne, a writer himself, reported the incident, along with other supernatural stories, in his book The Spectre of the Camera (1915). HEALING, FAITH AND PSYCHIC Treatment of illness that involves the channelling of healing, psychic or spiritual power through the healer into another person, often involving touch or the laying on of hands and/or prayer. Some healing is instant but other patients require numerous treatment. Religious belief is not an essential part in healing although many healers do have strong religious or spiritual beliefs. True healers believe that they themselves do not heal but simply transform, restore and balance the universal life force, thought to permeate and sustain all living things. An imbalance or depletion in this life force can be caused by poor diet, lifestyle habits or negative thinking and this can lead to illness and unhappiness. Many healers are said to be born with special healing powers but it is also thought that anyone can tap into this power to some extent. Typically healing power develops at a young age, along with psychic ability such as clairvoyance. The healer is often drawn to healing and begins to develop his or her power through practice. Healing powers are also said to come with high spiritual attainment, through visionary experiences or through the tutelage of another healer. In faith healing the healing is thought to come from God. The healer usually lays hands on the patient and becomes a kind of conduit for divine energy to transfer to the patient. Belief in faith healing has been central to all kinds of societies throughout history. It is fundamental to Christianity and despite opposition from the medical establishment remains universal among Christian prayer groups and healing circles today. In psychic or spiritual healing there are various forms of healing. One is the sucking of disease out of the patient. Shamans sometimes produce objects purportedly sucked out of the body and which are said to be the cause of the illness. Psychic surgery also involves the removal of objects from the body. Exorcism is also used in healing. Perhaps the most common form of psychic healing, however, is one that involves the transfer of the universal life force through touch or the sending of healing energy through intense thought projection. The healer again becomes a kind of conduit for healing energies and may even feel something similar to heavy air leaving their body. The patient typically reports feeling a burst of new energy or tingling sensations or warmth. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that spiritual or psychic healing works, but how it does is unknown. It’s very likely that consciousness plays a part. Quantum physics has demonstrated that matter is not static but energy, and the invisibility of this matter forms the basis of Taoist, Buddhist and Hindu healing practices. Traditional Western science holds that the universe is inert but healers reflect the non-Western view that the universe is a living entity and all things are interconnected by energy. The will of the healer may also play a part; laboratory experiments have shown that healers can speed up or slow down the growth of cancerous cells in mice through prayer or intense thought projection. Several factors have been identified as influential - but by no means a guarantee of success - when it comes to healing. First, the presence of large amounts of universal life force; certain places, such as Lourdes in France, are thought to be bursting with healing energy. Next, an open and trusting attitude on the part of the patient is considered important as fear, distrust and guilt can act as barriers to the healing. A positive attitude on the part of the patient is also believed to make it easier for the healer to transmit energy. Thirdly, relaxation on the part of both healer and patient is thought to be helpful as again this helps the healer tune in and transmit energy. Fourthly, the healer must be filled with loving, positive and compassionate thoughts, and finally the healer must ask for help from a higher source and give recognition to and thanks for it. Some healers slip into an altered state of consciousness or trance when they are healing. Psychologist Lawrence LeShan, who conducted numerous experiments in the 1960s on psychic healers, called this state of consciousness ‘clairvoyant reality’ - a shift in metaphysical understanding of the world. LeShan experimented with various meditation techniques himself to reach this level of consciousness and found that with practice clairvoyant reality could be attained and controlled to some extent. He came to the conclusion that others could be taught how to awaken their clairvoyant and healing powers. The majority of medical and scientific opinion is sceptical of psychic healing, suggesting that the reported benefits are often psychological. However in the United Kingdom a doctor is allowed to prescribe this sort of healing, as long as a strict code of practice drawn up by the Royal College of Medicine, the General Medical Council and the Confederation of Healing Organisations (www.confederation-of-healing-organisations.org/) is adhered to. The code prevents healers from promising or claiming cures. Harness the power of healing energy Below is an exercise designed to help you bring the universal life force through you as a healing energy. Remember as you work on yourself or someone else with healing energy that you are not offering a substitute for medical care. It is also important to remember that you are not the healer the universal life force is. You are simply a conduit for it. Take a deep breath and exhale slowly. Breathe in and out until you feel yourself relax deeply. When you are ready focus on your third eye chakra and let yourself feel the universal force of peace and healing flow in through you. Let the healthy feeling of peace and healing flow through to your throat chakra and continue on until all your energy centres are open and filled with the healing universal force. Thank the universal healing force and ask that it flow through you to be passed on to the proper area of your or someone else’s physical, mental or spiritual body. Ask this loving healing energy to allow the person for whom it is intended to find balance and become tuned into this universal energy. Allow the energy to flow through you in the way that works best for you. You may see it, hear it, feel it, taste or smell it. Use your senses to help you connect to the healing energy of love and peace. See also Body scanning, Magnetic healing, Medical intuitive, Reiki. HEARN, LAFCADIO [1850–1904] Lafcadio Hearn played a vital role in bringing the supernatural mysteries from China, Japan and the Far East to public attention in the West. His research on Eastern paranormal phenomena is recorded in two important texts: Some Chinese Ghosts (1897) and In Ghostly Japan (1899). As well as travelling extensively in the Orient and investigating hundreds of haunted locations, Greek-born Lafcadio also spent a number of years exploring Ireland, England and the United States in search of mysteries of the paranormal, which were posthumously published in the collection titled Fantastics (1914). HEAVEN Traditionally the place where the spirits of good people are thought to go after death. Depending on your belief system heaven can be found within in peaceful, loving thoughts or it can be a place where the righteous, angels and God dwell. The ancient Greeks thought that heaven was Mount Olympus, where their deities resided, although the dead were thought to go to the Underworld Olympus was only for the gods. Buddhists do not believe in a supreme being but they do believe in nirvana, a state of divine detachment that can be reached after enlightenment. HELL The opposite of heaven, hell is traditionally a place where wicked or evil people go in spirit form after death. Depending again on your belief system, hell can be a fiery pit of eternal damnation, as it is for the Christian and Islamic traditions, or a grey underworld as it was for the ancient Greeks, or eternal fire as it is in Jewish traditions. Jean-Paul Sartre felt that hell was other people, while some think hell exists within us all when negative thinking gets the upper hand. See also Purgatory and Limbo. HELPIDIUS, DEACON [SIXTH CENTURY AD] Possibly the first investigator on record to have been attacked by a poltergeist as a result of his psychical research. According to an ancient manuscript titled Monumental Germaniae Historica, during the year 530 the deacon, who served as a spiritual and medical advisor to the Ostrogoth King Theodoric, was troubled by a ‘diabolic infestation’ after being ordered to investigate an alleged haunting in a local village. The deacon claimed to have been showered with small, sharp stones by a ghostly spirit on numerous occasions. A priest was summoned from Gaul to offer a blessing to relieve the activity and, according to the report in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, it seems that the exorcism worked. The deacon was troubled no more by ghosts and went on to live a peaceful life. HERMETICA/HERMETICISM One of the foundation stones of the Western occult tradition. Hermeticism has its roots in the fusion of Greek philosophy and Egyptian magic that took place in Egypt after its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. Sample extract from The CorpusHermeticum ‘Poemandres, the Shepherd Man’, translated by G R S Mead Note: Not all the Hermetic texts have survived and those that remain have been the subject of several translations. Mead’s 1906 translation, although awkward in places, is still considered to be one of the best. Below is Mead’s translation of part of the most famous of the Hermetic documents, Toemandres, the Shepherd Man’, a revelation account describing a vision of the creation of the universe and the nature and fate of humanity. 1. It chanced once on a time my mind was meditating on the things that are, my thought was raised to a great height, the senses of my body being held back -just as men who are weighed down with sleep after a fill of food, or from fatigue of body. Methought a Being more than vast, in size beyond all bounds, called out my name and saith: What wouldst thou hear and see, and what hast thou in mind to learn and know? 2. And I do say: Who art thou? He saith: I am Man-Shepherd (Poeman- ) dres), Mind of all-masterhood; I know what thou desirest and I’m with thee everywhere. 3. [AND] I reply: I long to learn the things that are, and comprehend their nature, and S know God. This is, I said, what I desire to \ hear. He answered back to me: Hold in thy mind all thou wouldst know, and I will teach thee. 4. E’en with these words His aspect changed, and straightway, in the twinkling of an eye, all things were opened to me, and I see a Vision limitless, all things turned into Light - sweet, joyous [Eighty. And I became transported as I gazed. But in a little while Darkness came settling down on part [of if], awesome and gloomy, coiling in sinuous folds, so that methought it like unto a snake. And then the Darkness changed into some sort of a Moist Nature, tossed about beyond all power of words, belching out smoke as from a fire, and groaning forth a wailing sound that beggars all description. [And] after that an outcry inarticulate came forth from it, as though it were a Voice of Fire. 5. [Thereon] out of the Light […] a Holy Word (Logos) descended on that Nature. And upwards to the height from the Moist Nature leaped forth pure Fire; light was it, swift and active too. The Air, too, being light, followed after the Fire; from out of the Earthand-Water rising up to Fire so that it seemed to hang therefrom. But Earth-and-Water stayed so mingled with each other, that Earth from Water no one could discern. Yet were they moved to hear by reason of the Spirit-Word (Logos) pervading them. 6. Then saith to me Man-Shepherd: Didst understand this Vision what it means? Nay; that shall I know, said I. That Light, He said, am I, thy God, 1 Mind, prior to Moist Nature which appeared from Darkness; the Light-Word (Logos) [that appeared] from Mind is Son of God. What then? - say I. Know that what sees in thee and hears is the Lord’s Word (Logos); but Mind is Father-God. Not separate are they the one from other; just in their union [rather] is it Life consists. Thanks be to Thee, I said. So, understand the Light [He answered], and make friends with it. Very little has survived of the original Hermetic schools and their teachings but mystical philosophy ceremonial magic, astrology and alchemy were all part of the courses of study The cornerstone of the Hermetic tradition is the maxim As above, so below’, and the aim was to lead students to an experience of wisdom and rebirth in which the individual soul realized its connection with the divine power of the universe. According to legend the wisdom is contained in 42 books, known as the Hermetica, allegedly written by Hermes Trismegistus, a philosopher-priest-king and metaphysical equivalent of the Egyptian and Greek gods Thoth and Hermes. The books were written on papyrus and stored in the great library of Alexandria. After fire destroyed the library most of the books were lost but surviving fragments, The Corpus Hermeticum, were supposedly buried in a secret location. In most of the texts Trismegistus’s revelations are presented as a dialogue with his pupils. Surviving texts include The Vision and The Divine Pymander. The Vision describes Egyptian esoteric wisdom and the development of the soul. The Divine Pymander tells how divine wisdom was revealed to Hermes, the personification of universal wisdom and patron of magic. The legendary Emerald Tablet, on which Hermes is said to have recorded all of Egyptian philosophy including the magical secrets of the universe, supposedly dates back to 1200 BC but no two versions are the same. Controversy over the age and authenticity of the Hermetica has raged for centuries. French scholar Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614) suggested that the books were not of Egyptian origin but were written by early Christians. Although occultists continued to study Hermeticism Casaubon’s work, published in 1614, lead to books to be cast aside as forgeries. Modern opinions differ but most experts today believe that the writings are probably the work of a number of anonymous authors combining Neo-Platonic, Kabbalistic and Christian elements and passed off as Egyptian wisdom. The nineteenth-century occult revival saw the reprinting of several Hermetic documents but for the most part Hermetic teachings were reinterpreted through the filters of theosophy and occult societies. This began to change in the 1960s, when a new generation of occultists, seeking to reclaim Western occultism’s historical roots, sparked renewed interest in the Hermetica for all students of the occult mysteries. Carl Jung also found much of value in Hermetic writings and drew on them in his work. HERMITAGE CASTLE One of the most haunted castles in Scotland, located near Newcastleton, Roxburghshire. The castle was built under the guidance of the master mason John Lewin of Durham sometime in the thirteenth century. Despite the beauty of the land surrounding it, the castle itself is isolated, dark and oppressive with only a few windows. In 1560 Mary, Queen of Scots, visited the castle and nearly died of a fever there, but the castle’s most famous ghost is said to be that of Redcap Sly, the spirit familiar of evil Baron de Soulis, an early owner of the castle. De Soulis is said to have practised black magic and performed sacrificial rituals using kidnapped children as victims. According to lore it was Redcap Sly, a horrible old man with long fangs, who told de Soulis that he could not be harmed unless someone used a three-stranded rope of sand. There are several versions of the Baron’s demise. Some say that the villagers pleaded with wise wizard Thomas of Ercildoune for help and the wizard created a belt of lead, which could hold sand. The belt was put on the Baron while he was sleeping and he was imprisoned and boiled to death. Another story has de Soulis abducting the Laird of Branxholm, a crime that led to his being bound in a sheet of lead and then boiled to death. Others say his victims’ enraged parents stormed the castle and attacked de Soulis. Many psychical researchers believe that tragic deaths can leave a residue of feeling or psychic imprint in which the acts are forever replayed as if burned into the atmosphere of the place. The castle is now a tourist attraction and visitors continue to report hearing screams of the young murder victims coming from inside the building. HERNE THE HUNTER Ghostly huntsmen appear in German and French folklore but perhaps the most well known in Europe is Herne the Hunter, who allegedly haunts the forest of Windsor Great Park near Windsor Castle in England. He is said to appear riding a spectral black horse and to have stag’s antlers growing from his head. According to legend Herne was once a royal huntsman of King Richard II who saved the King by throwing himself in front of him when a wounded stag lunged towards the King. As he lay dying a wizard appeared and told the King that if the stag’s horns were cut off and tied on to Herne he would be saved. The King did as instructed and Herne recovered. He became the King’s favourite for many years and was lavished with gifts, until other jealous huntsmen persuaded the King to cast him aside. Unable to cope without the King’s support the devastated Herne hanged himself from the branch of an oak tree in the park. He is said to have haunted the forest ever since. The story of Herne the Hunter may have much older Pagan roots and his horns give him the appearance of Cernunnos the Celtic horned god of fertility, the hunt and the dead. Herne is also one of the deities worshipped in Wicca and is the archetypal nature god who appears as a stag or bull and is sacrificed each year to symbolize the cycle of life, death and rebirth. It is said that Herne the Hunter appears in times of crisis, and there were alleged sightings of him prior to the Great Depression, and again before World War II. HEX From the German hexe meaning ‘witch’, a hex is a spell or bewitchment. It is typically used to describe a spell or curse that is negative or evil and can also mean to practise black magic or sorcery. HIDDEN MASTERS According to Madame Blavatsky, in her classic book Isis Unveiled(1887), the hidden masters were an esoteric brotherhood of superhuman beings hidden in the Himalayan fastness of Tibet who watched over the welfare of humanity. Blavatsky claimed to have met the hidden masters face to face and to have been chosen to bring the news of their existence to the West. With the assistance of newspaper editor Mr A P Sinnett, letters of two members of the brotherhood were published outlining their worldview Blavatsky’s hidden masters were a part of the Eastern esoteric tradition. There is, however, a western esoteric tradition that propounds a similar doctrine. This tradition first came to light in the Renaissance with a pamphlet entitled Fama fraternitatis outlining the existence of a secret Rosicrucian brotherhood of masters who were watching over the welfare of Europe. The concept came to the fore again in the nineteenth century, with members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn claiming that secret chiefs adept in the occult arts and interested in the welfare of humanity were overseeing the running of the order and the doctrines it preached. These secret chiefs spent most of their time in spirit form but would incarnate in physical form for special missions. Dion Fortune insisted on the existence of hidden masters - she called them Inner Plane Adepti - running her own society. She felt, however, that they existed chiefly on the astral plane and rarely took on physical form. Her society used trance mediums to communicate instructions from them. Numerous other occult and mystical societies claim to be guided by one or more hidden masters. HIGHER SELF A concept that is common in esoteric thought, particularly in connection with intuition and psychic development. In religion it is often thought of as the conscience or the spark of divinity within. The concept of the higher self is frequently linked with the theory of reincarnation and the belief that there is a part of us that has been alive before: personalities that are incarnated are facets of but one individual. The term ‘higher self or ‘higher consciousness’ refers to the concept that each of us has a part of ourselves that is thought to act as a bridge between the spiritual and the mental and physical dimensions of our awareness. Simply put, there is a part of us that is a reservoir of higher wisdom that can help guide us through our lives. This part of us is better able to see the bigger picture of the daily dramas we get tangled up in and can help bring us perspective. Acting with the guidance of our higher self can lead us in the direction of our greatest fulfilment. Psychics believe that the higher self communicates by sending messages through the psychic senses. Developing your psychic potential will help strengthen your connection to your higher self and allow you to communicate with it more efficiently. There is growing evidence from psychology for the existence of a higher self. When patients with multiple personality disorder are researched it’s often the case that one personality is more mature, intelligent and developed than the others, and some psychologists believe there are elements of multiple personality in all of us. Dr Eric Berne’s Transactional Analysis, for example, arranges the personality into three different types of self. Occultist Colin Wilson developed the theory of a hierarchy of selves presided over by a mature and developed self that can take charge with ‘an act of will’. HILDEGARD OF BINGEN [1098–1179] Christian abbess who experienced religious visions after years of contemplation in a Benedictine convent. In spite of poor health Hildegard was an incredibly strong woman, founding two convents, getting involved in ecclesiastical politics, travelling extensively and writing nine books as well as numerous poems, songs and plays. The first major mystic to emerge from Germany Hildegard became known as ‘the Sibyl of the Rhine’. She is best known for her mystical illuminations, which she chronicled in detail from 1140 to 1157. Her work survives to this day and is considered remarkable for its understanding of and empathy for the natural world. Hildegard believed that every part of nature was divine and that plants, animals, trees and stones had healing powers. Central to her work is the idea in her first book, entitled Scivias, that God is the living light: ‘All Living creatures are, so to speak, sparks from the radiance of God’s brilliance, and these sparks emerge from God like rays in the sun.’ HIPPOMANCY An ancient form of divination using horses that was especially popular among the Dark Age Celts of England and Ireland, who would keep white horses in a consecrated, sacred circle of trees for this purpose. The horses would be hitched to a sacred cart and made to walk straight. The toss of the horse’s head, the spontaneous prancing, the leading with left or right foreleg, the neighing and movement of the horse as it pulled the cart would then be interpreted to predict the most likely outcome of events in the future. When the horse was released back to the sacred circle it was noted whether a horse crossed the line of the circle with left or right leg. The right leg was regarded as propitious, the left leg as foretelling inauspicious events. HOFDI POLTERGEIST In early October 1986 Hofdi House, located on the outskirts of Reykjavik, Iceland, was thought to be the most haunted house in the world. The house was the designated meeting place for US President Ronald Regan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, and with its history of alleged poltergeist activity press and TV networks anticipated possible disturbances. When none took place the media lost interest and investigation showed that, apart from stories of objects moving and strange noises, the so-called poltergeist had never been very active. There are various stories concerning the haunted reputation of Hofdi House. One tells of poet and government employee Einar Benedictsson, who was called upon to investigate the murder of a baby produced by brother-sister incest. On the day of her investigation the sister killed herself, dying an agonizing death by poison in the presence of Benedictsson. After that Benedictsson claimed to be haunted by her spirit, who followed him as he moved around the country. In 1914 he bought Hofdi House and reported unusual happenings to his friends. The British ambassador to Iceland reported disturbances as his reason for selling Hofdi House in the 1940s. The house was subsequently bought by the city of Reykjavik for use in official receptions; members of staff did report incidents such as a bottle of wine flying out of the fridge and pictures falling off walls. The disturbances ceased when a member of staff reported that a spirit had appeared to her in a dream and told her the disturbances would stop. HOLISM/HOLISTIC MEDICINE/HOLISTIC THERAPY From the Greek word holos meaning ‘whole’, the holistic approach refers to a philosophy or therapy that aims to treat the whole person - mind, body and spirit -rather than just the symptoms or problems they are manifesting. To holistic therapists the underlying cause of the illness may not be physical but emotional, mental or spiritual, so it is pointless just treating the physical symptoms. A holistic practitioner will encourage patients to take an active part in their recovery with lifestyle and diet changes, and/or a change in thinking patterns or patterns of belief. Body treatments such as massage, reflexology or acupuncture or remedies from herbalism or homeopathy may also be administered. When it comes to non-critical illnesses holistic therapies can have a higher rate of success in some instances than orthodox remedies. HOME CIRCLE Also known as home sitting. This is a séance that is held in a private home, typically with a medium present but not always. The main purpose of a home circle is to communicate with spirits. Participants usually sit around a circular table holding hands or linking fingers, or place their hands flat on the tabletop. A table is not always necessary as some just sit in a circle. HOME, Daniel DUNGLAS [1833-1886] Considered by some to be one of the greatest mediums in the history of modern spiritualism, Daniel Home was renowned for his incredible feats of physical mediumship. Home was born in Edinburgh on 20 March 1833. His mother was a clairvoyant and claimed to be descended from the seventeenth-century Brahan Seer, Kenneth MacKenzie. Home’s remarkable powers were said to be present almost from birth when his aunt reported that his cradle rocked by itself as if pushed by a spirit. He had his first vision at the age of 13, when he saw his boyhood friend at the moment the friend died far away. His second vision came four years later in 1850 when he predicted accurately the death of his mother. From that time onwards Home’s thoughts turned more and more to the spirit world. He went to live with an aunt, Mary Cook, in Norwich, Connecticut. Rappings began in her home and Cook blamed Home for bringing the devil into her house. She appealed in turn to a Con-gregationalist, a Baptist and a Wesleyan minister for exorcism. The ministers, however, backed Home and were convinced that he had a God-given gift. This support marked the turning point in his life. He had a vision of his dead mother - as he would do many times in his life - and she told him not to be afraid and to use his gift for the good of others. Mary Cook threw Home out of her house, and from then on he lived on the hospitality of friends attracted by his curious gift. Avoiding contact with other mediums, because he felt he had nothing to learn from them, Home held séances in lighted rooms, which was the opposite of the usual custom of holding them in rooms that were darkened. He allegedly produced rapping, spectral lights and ghost hands which shook hands with the people present. He also moved objects and produced visions of ghostly guitars playing music. He was seen to stretch his body by 11 inches to 61/2 feet tall while his feet were on the floor, or shrink to 5foot tall, with his shoes disappearing into his trousers. Guests were often asked to hold him to prove that he was not a fraud. Home was 19 when he experienced his first levitation in a Connecticut home. He reportedly rose a foot or so off the ground and bobbed up and down before hitting the ceiling. Later he would be able to control his levitations better, with some witnesses reporting that he could fly. Home claimed to be able to perform his feats with the help of friendly spirits who came and went as they pleased. The most reliable spirit was called Bryan. In 1855 Home travelled to Europe and England and began associating with royalty and the rich and famous. He became a popular but controversial figure in the media and his supporters included Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In France he had an audience with Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie. The Emperor had serious doubts about Home but these were dispelled when Home produced the spirit of Napoleon Bonaparte. In addition to his many admirers there were also many who despised and doubted Home, which may have had more to do with his mood swings and alleged homosexual leanings than his psychic abilities. His detractors included the noted scientist David Brewster and the poet Robert Browning, who so disliked him that he wrote a poem about him called ‘Mr Sludge, The Medium’. In 1867 Home reached a low point in his career when a wealthy widow, Mrs Lyon, aged 75 years old, filed a suit against him. In the previous year Home had taken the Lyon family name and had received, £60,000 pounds in cash and securities on the alleged instructions of the dead Mr Lyon to Mrs Lyon in a series of séances held by Home. The trial was a tawdry affair with Mrs Lyon implying that she and Home had been more than affectionate friends, but when Home made advances she was so repulsed she decided she wanted her money back. The court found in Mrs Lyon’s favour and denounced spiritualism as ‘mischievous nonsense, well calculated on the one hand to delude the vain, the weak, the foolish and the superstitious.’ After the trial Home’s supporters deserted him. He responded by producing some of his most remarkable psychic feats while in a state of trance, including levitation, carrying red-hot coals and putting the top of his head into a fire without being burned. To support himself financially Home toured England and Scotland reading poetry, and in 1871 he married a wealthy Russian widow, Julie de Gloume-line. From 1871 to 1873 Home began a series of experiments with Sir William Crookes, a scientist and psychical researcher. To see if Home’s abilities were genuine the scientist wrapped an accordion with copper wire and placed it in a wire cage. He also ran an electric current through the wire to block any electromagnetic force from Home. Somehow Home was still able to make the accordion play without touching it. Despite criticism from his scientific peers, Crookes came to the conclusion that Home possessed independent psychic powers. The scientist summed up his opinion as follows: During the whole of my knowledge of D D Home, extending for several years, I never once saw the slightest occurrence that would make me suspicious that he was attempting to play tricks. He was scrupulously sensitive on this point, and never felt hurt at anyone taking precautions against deception. To those who knew him Home was one of the most lovable of men and his perfect genuineness and uprightness were beyond suspicion. Home announced his retirement as a medium soon after the experiments with Sir William Crookes concluded. Suffering from poor health he spent the rest of his life travelling and died of tuberculosis on 21 June 1886 in Auteuil, France. Home’s published works include an exposé of fraudulent mediumistic techniques, Light and Shadows of Spiritualism (1877), and two autobiographies Incidents in my Life (1862) and Incidents in my Life - 2nd Series (1872). Lord Adare, Earl of Dunraven, describes Home’s character thus, in the 1925 edition of Experiences in Spiritualism with D D Home: He had the defects of an emotional character, with vanity highly developed (perhaps wisely to enable him to hold his own against the ridicule and obloquy that was then poured out upon spiritualism and everyone connected with it). He was liable to fits of great depression and to nervous crises difficult at first to understand; but he was withal of a simple, kindly, humorous, lovable disposition that appealed to me. He never took money for séances failed as often as not. He was proud of his gift but not happy in it. He could not control it and it placed him sometimes in very unpleasant positions. I think he would have been pleased to have been relieved of it, but I believe he was subject to these manifestations as long as he lived. There is little doubt that Home was charismatic and clever, but was his psychic ability genuine? The jury is still out. Rumours abounded that Home produced his paranormal feats through trickery though none was ever proved and nobody, not even the great Harry Houdini himself, was able to duplicate them. Frank Podmore, a most sceptical psychical researcher, says of Home in his Modern Spiritualism: A remarkable testimony to Home’s ability whether as medium or simply as conjurer, is the position which he succeeded in maintaining in society at this time (1861) and indeed throughout his later life, and the respectful treatment accorded to him by many leading organs of the Press. No money was ever taken by him as the price of a sitting; and he seemed to have had the entrée to some of the most aristocratic circles in Europe. He was welcomed in the houses of our own and of foreign nobility, was a frequent guest at the Tuilleries, and had been received by the King of Prussia and the Czar. So strong, indeed, was his position that he was able to compel an ample apology from a gentleman who had publicly expressed doubts of his mediumistic performance (Capt. Noble in the Sussex Advertiser of March 23, 1864) and to publish a violent and spiteful attack upon Browning on the occasion of the publication of Sludge (Spiritual Magazine, 1864, p. 315). His expulsion from Rome in 1864 on the charge of sorcery gave to Home for the time an international importance. He further stated: ‘Home was never publicly exposed as an impostor; there is no evidence of any weight that he was even privately detected in trickery.’ Between the publication of his Modern Spiritualism and The Newer Spiritualism in 1910, Podmore did manage to discover one piece of evidence against Home. A letter sent to Podmore from a witness at a séance claimed to have noticed Home’s shoulder sink or rise in concordance with the movements of a spirit hand. Podmore seized on this flimsy testimony as evidence of trickery, but even though he finally came to the conclusion that Home was more conjuror than medium, Podmore was at a loss to explain how some of the things were done and, in his own words, he left the subject, ‘with an almost painful sense of bewilderment’. HOMEOPATHY One of the most well known and widely practised systems of alternative medicine in the modern world, homeopathy has been heavily influenced by occult traditions at numerous times during its history. Originally founded by German physician Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), who discovered that substances that caused disease symptoms in large doses could cure diseases with similar symptoms when given in small doses. Thus the basic principle of homeopathy, like is cured by like’, was born. Hahnemann claimed to have discovered homeopathy from his own experimentation, but footnotes in his research show that he was familiar with the writings of certain alchemists. There are four basic principles to classic homeopathy: 1. The law of similars, or like cures like. 2. Minimum dose - the right dilution of the right substance. The more diluted the solution the more potent it is thought to be. 3. The single remedy - the one substance that most closely models the disease’s symptoms is the right remedy. (Modern homeopaths have supplanted this with a more accurate mix of several remedies.) 4. The whole person is treated, not just the symptoms. The reason for the holistic approach is that homeopaths believe a vital force (similar to the universal life force) is alive in each person, and that their remedies work because the correct potions vibrate at the same resonance as the individual, which stimulates the immune system. The idea of sympathetic energy explains why homeopaths ask so many questions of their patients: in order to prescribe the right remedy they need to determine which one of the 15 constitutional types is predominant in a personality. Even though homeopathy defies orthodox medical conventions several controlled, double-blind experiments have verified its effectiveness. Hahnemann’s work was carried on and developed by a number of other practitioners, most notably Dr Constantine Herring (1849-1916) who gave practitioners a framework to match remedies to personality types. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries homeopathy became closely associated with the followers of Emanuel Swedenborg. With the decline of orthodox dominance over medicine, homeopathy has become commonplace in the Western world, but its occult connections remain largely unrecognized in the alternative medicine and magical communities. HOMER [APPROX 1200 BC] Celebrated Greek poet best remembered for The Illiad and The Odyssey. Little is known for sure about Homer’s life but it is thought he was born and raised a Greek citizen in Asia Minor sometime around 1200 BC, although historians disagree as to the exact date, not to mention whether there was ever one particular poet called Homer at all. There is no doubt, however, that ‘Homer’ frequently wrote about ghosts and spirits, particularly in his epic The Odyssey, where he describes ‘thin airy shoals of visionary ghosts’, and had a strong belief in them. Stories suggest that he would often go to extraordinary lengths to investigate reports of haunted sites during his travels. HOPE, William (1863–1933) Famous spirit photographer thought to be genuine by some but a fraud by others. Born in Crewe, England in 1863, Hope first discovered his talent for spirit photography in 1905 when he took a photograph of a friend and an image of his friend’s dead sister emerged on the photograph. Soon after this Hope formed a spirit photography group in the local Spiritualist Hall called the Crewe Circle. The group was given significant credence when Archdeacon Thomas Colley became a member. Hope’s reputation grew and he moved to London. The Society for Psychical Research sent researcher Harry Price to investigate him. Price claimed he found evidence of trickery but his accusations backfired when questions arose as to whether it was Price, not Hope, who had doctored the photographic plates of alleged spirit photographs under investigation. Hope had his supporters and his detractors. He was often accused of fraud but was never caught openly in trickery. There was, however, reason to suspect trickery in the case of one of his supporters, Sir William Crookes. Crookes’s assistant, J H Gardner, told Crookes’s biographer that a photograph Hope produced with an image of Crookes’s recently deceased wife showed clear signs of double exposure, but the grieving Crookes chose to ignore these signs. HOPKINS, Robert THURSTON [1884–195-8] A professional photographer by trade, British-born Robert Thurston Hopkins was a dedicated psychical researcher and ghost hunter. He claimed to have seen many ghosts himself and recorded his experiences, alongside fictional short stories, in his books War and the Weird (1916), Adventures with Phantoms (1947), Ghosts Over England (1953), The World’s Strangest Ghost Stories (1955) and Cavalcade of Ghosts (1956). HOROSCOPE In astrology a map of the heavens at a specific point in time which displays the positions of the planets in the signs of the zodiac. Where a person was born is thought to be just as significant as the time they were born at, as the date and time determine the sun sign, but the place determines where the other planets lie on the horoscope. Astrologers interpret the positions of the various planets and their relationship to a person’s sun sign to determine personality characteristics and to make predictions for the future. The most common horoscope is the birth chart, which determines what a person’s sun sign is, but horoscopes can be drawn to determine the most favourable conditions and date for any event. HORSE Sacred and revered around the world, horses have been associated with the mystical, spiritual and paranormal for centuries. The Celts believed horses carried souls to the underworld. In the Hindu Brihadaranyaka the horse is the symbol for the cosmos. The Greek goddesses Aphrodite, Artemis and Demeter were associated with horses. In various shamanic cultures the horse is a mystical symbol and in witchcraft lore horses are vulnerable to bewitchment. According to psychiatrist Carl Jung the horse represents the intuitive part of humanity and in dreams the horse is often thought to be an archetypal symbol of the human body. Along with cats and dogs, horses are believed to be the most psychic of animals. There are many stories of horses sensing danger and saving their riders. In the late 1920s an American horse named Lady mystified psychical researchers with her reputed ability to tap out precognitive messages that allegedly predicted the entry of the United States and the Soviet Union into World War II and the presidential victory of Harry Truman. HOT READING A reading in which the medium or psychic has been given prior knowledge of the person they are doing the reading for, often employed for devious or fraudulent means. Compare Cold reading. HOTEL DEL CORONADO Resort hotel off the coast of San Diego, California that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a woman who died there in November 1893. There are many versions of the story but the ghost is thought to be that of Kate Morgan, who checked into the hotel on 24 November under the name of Lottie A Bernard. She was given room 3312. Her husband, Tom, a card shark, did not arrive as expected. Apparently the couple had quarrelled on the way to the hotel, when Tom was surprised by news of Kate’s pregnancy, and he had got off the train agreeing to meet her there. Kate waited for two days. She then took a ferry to San Diego where she bought a .44 calibre gun. The next day she was found dead on the steps of the hotel’s north entrance. In her hand was the gun with one bullet missing and suicide was assumed, even though the bullet that killed her was from a .40 calibre gun. The mystery of her death remained unsolved, and a maid in room 3502 who had taken care of Kate disappeared the day after the funeral. Even though Tom was never seen at the hotel, the most likely explanation is that Tom killed his wife and perhaps the maid too as she may have been a witness. Another version of the story has Kate married to a different man - a womanizing gambler called Lou. The couple checked into room 3502 and when Kate went to the gaming room to surprise her husband with news of her pregnancy she found him with another woman. In shock she killed herself. Whether Kate was murdered or committed suicide, the apparition of Kate has been reported on numerous times moving through corridors or standing by windows waiting for someone. Guests that stay overnight in rooms 3312 and 3502 (especially 3502) report voices whispering and feel cold chills and a presence in their room. Other guests in the hotel report problems with their telephones and strange images on their television screens. HOUDINI, HARRY [1874–1926] History’s greatest escape artist, magician and master illusionist, Houdini (who was born Erich Weiss in Budapest, Hungary), became fascinated with the supernatural very early on in life. He was particularly interested in spiritualism and gained a reputation in the paranormal community for his work in exposing fraudulent mediums who used trickery and technology to hoax fee-paying spectators. In a career that spanned 26 years Houdini performed the most spectacular feats ever witnessed: escaping from ropes in ice-cold water, emerging from seemingly impossible confines, hanging from ropes off tall buildings and then freeing himself, even escaping from being buried alive. There seemed to be no contraption or device that could hold him. Throughout his life Houdini wanted to believe in spiritualism but was never convinced that it was genuine. This was particularly the case when his mother died. Houdini had been exceptionally close to his mother and after her death searched desperately for a way to contact her in the spirit world. In 1920 he met and struck up a friendship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was convinced that Houdini had psychic powers himself, but the friendship broke down a few years later because Doyle was upset by Houdini’s refusal to believe. After attending countless séances and exposing numerous mediums as frauds, Houdini published A Magician Among the Spirits (1924), in which he stated that he could not find any genuine evidence of spirit materialization. Despite his work in exposing charlatans preying upon those willing to put their trust in mediums, Houdini always maintained that he had an open mind. Before his death Houdini and his devoted wife, Bess, worked out a code using their mind-reading secrets that would convince her that he had succeeded in coming back. After Houdini’s death in 1926 mediums claiming communications from Houdini besieged Bess and in 1929 she attended a séance with Arthur Ford, pastor of the first Spiritualist Church of New York. Fletcher, Ford’s control, produced the communication, ‘Rosabelle, believe.’ Bess immediately confirmed that this was the password she had worked out with her husband prior to his death and spiritualists rejoiced that Houdini the sceptic had joined forces with them in death. A few years later Bess retracted her statement when she discovered that radio mentalist, Joseph Dunninger, had read Houdini’s code word in a 1927 biography. She condemned Ford and mediums in general. Despite this condemnation she continued to hold séances in an attempt to reach Houdini. He remained silent and Bess, like her husband, was never successful in conveying the message that there really is a life beyond this one. HULL HOUSE In 1913, Hull House, now a museum, was thought to be the home of a ‘devil baby’. Even today visitors still report feeling uncomfortable when touring the museum and the story of Hull House was the inspiration for Ira Levin’s 1967 novel Rosemary’s Baby, in which a young woman gives birth to the devil’s child. Hull House was built in 1856 in the south-western suburbs of Chicago. By the late 1880s it had became a settlement house for immigrants and later a refuge for the poor, abused and homeless established by social workers Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. In 1913 crowds of women descended on Hull House demanding to see a so-called devil baby. The perplexed and surprised Addams explained over and over again that there was no such baby in the house, but still the visitors came. On interviewing the women Addams discovered that the rumours were based on the superstitious fears of the immigrant women. There were numerous ethnic versions of the story. For instance, in one Jewish version a husband and father of several daughters tells his wife that he would rather his wife gave birth to the devil than another daughter. In an Italian version a woman marries an atheist who tells her he would rather have the devil in the house than a picture of the Virgin Mary. Eventually the rumour mill stopped turning and the exhausted Addams wrote about her experience in her book The Second Twenty Years at Hull House. In it she suggests that the story appealed to immigrant women who felt outsiders in America and the devil baby story was something they could relate to. The devil baby legend has refused to go away. Sightings continue to this day of a devil baby glimpsed in an attic window at Hull House. Addams’s ghost and the ghost of a woman who allegedly committed suicide in an upstairs bedroom are also thought to haunt the house. HUNA An ancient system of healing magic of the Hawaiian Islands that can be summarized by seven principles: the world is what you think it is; there are no limits; energy flows where your attention is; now is your moment of power; to love is to be happy with; all power comes from within; and effectiveness is the measure of truth. Huna means ‘that which is hidden or not obvious’. The tradition nearly died out as a result of Christianization by Westerners in the eighteenth century but it was revived in the last century. Initiated practitioners are known as kahunas, the ‘Keepers of the Secret’, and there is evidence to show that they exhibit unusual psychic powers: they are able to cure or curse, develop immunity to fire, see into the future and even raise the spirits of the dead. Like all psychic healers, kahuna are thought to be conduits of mana, the Huna concept similar to the universal life force. Kahunas consider psychic ability natural to all people and cultivate psi abilities, including telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis. Magical skills are gained from mental disciplines and use of mana. In the early twentieth century, Max Freedom Long devoted 36 years to the study of Huna and published six classic books on the subject. Long came to the conclusion that Huna contained a system of ancient magic based on a sophisticated model of the human psyche. HUNCH A sense or feeling based more on intuition than on logic or hard facts. People with psychic ability often say they make decisions based on hunches rather than on facts or evidence available to them. HURKOS, PETER [1911–1988] Professional psychic who became famous for his work with the police during the 1960s. He is perhaps best known for his involvement with the Charles Manson murders in 1969. Hurkos was born in Dordrecht in the Netherlands on 21 May 1911. He didn’t exhibit psychic talent until July 1941 when a brain operation saved his life after he fell from a ladder and slipped into a coma. When he awoke from the coma he claimed he was psychic and could hear noises in his head. He discovered an ability to play the piano, having never played before, and was able to tell others personal information and predict deaths. Later Hurkos stated that he had had a near-death experience while in his coma. He found himself sucked up into a great pyramid of light where a jury of bearded men told him he had not finished his work on earth and that he now had great power in him and must use it for good. He was also told that he would hear music from the otherworld and would be able to play it on the piano. In 1946 Hurkos attended a psychic demonstration and performed better than the psychic on stage. The theatre immediately offered him a contract and his fame spread. In 1947 he took on his first detective case. The method he used for solving crimes was psychometry. He claimed to get the strongest energy vibrations from clothing but he also worked with locks of hair, nail clippings and from photographs. He said that he could hear voices speaking to him when he touched the items. He would often sleep with the items and awake with information. In 1956 Dr Andrija Puharich, a neurologist and parapsychologist, brought Hurkos to the United States to test his powers. He was also tested by parapsychology researchers Charles T Tart and Jeffrey Smith, who found no evidence of ESP in his readings of hair samples. Despite this, and the fact that his career had more lows than highs, Hurkos stayed in America and gained celebrity status. William Belk, who financed Puharich’s experiments, lost money in uranium searches based on Hurkos’s advice, and in the Boston Strangler case Hurkos failed to identify Albert DeSalvo, who confessed to the killings. In the Charles Manson case Hurkos did get the name Charlie and was able to describe ritualistic killings by a gang preoccupied with sex and drugs, but after two weeks of working on the case he was dismissed for unknown reasons. Hurkos predicted he would die on 17 November 1961, but in fact he died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on 25 May 1988. HUXLEY, ALDOUS [1894–1963] Internationally respected English novelist and essayist, noted for his social and political insights and interest in Eastern philosophy and mysticism. His experimentation with drugs had an impact on the psychedelic drug movement in the 1960s. Huxley had a keen interest in the psychic and paranormal and in 1952 wrote The Devils ofLoudun - the definitive study of the diabolic possession of Ursuline Convent nuns in seventeenth-century France, which formed the basis of Ken Russell’s film, The Devils. His thoughts on the use of psychedelic drugs and mysticism can be found in two essays: The Doors of Perception (1954) and Heaven and Hell (1956). He naively believed that drugs, such as mescalin and LSD, could reduce the efficiency of the brain as a filter and allow an escape from selfhood and a wider perception of reality to flow through. HUXLEY, SIR JULIAN [1887–1975] British biologist noted for his ability to make complex scientific concepts accessible to the general public through his writings and public lectures. Brother of noted author Aldous Huxley, Julian’s intellectual gifts and scientific credentials led to his appointment as the first director-general of UNESCO. A staunch atheist who embraced humanism, Huxley nonetheless joined the London Ghost Club and contributed his incredible scientific expertise and credentials to the Club’s quest for better understanding of the world of ghosts and spirits. HYDROMANCY From the Greek hudro, ‘water’, and manteia, ‘divination’, hydromancy is an ancient form of divination by means of water or rain. Most cultures considered water to be pure and sacred and because of this quality it was thought to have the ability to reveal the truth about a person or situation. Several methods were used to draw conclusions. Typically the speed of the water, the ripples and the colour would all be studied and interpreted. A stone might be dropped into water and the number of circles formed counted. A ring might be suspended by a string and dropped into a container of water. The number of times the ring struck the side of the container and the number of ripples it created when it hit the water would all be counted and interpreted. Another method of hydromancy was to study the actions of the sea and interpret it by its movement and colour. There was also divination using rivers and fountains; for example, the fountains of Palicorus in Sicily were some of the most famous for consultation. Hydromancy is probably the cruel inspiration behind the gruesome seventeenth-century practice of throwing suspected witches or criminals into water to prove or disprove themselves guilty of a crime or witchcraft. It was a lose-lose situation for the victims: if they sank and drowned they were declared innocent because the water would only claim those with a pure heart; if they floated they were declared guilty and condemned to death. HYDROTHERAPY The use of water to ease stress and heal illness. The healing powers of water have been known throughout history and every culture has tales of sacred fountains and pools with healing powers. Bathing, for example, was an important therapy for the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Native Americans and Indians. Medical research has shown that nerves stimulated at the surface of the body by blasts of hot or cold water can boost the immune system, decrease the production of stress hormones, relieve pain and invigorate circulation. Spiritually water is considered to be one of the most important substances in life with positive energetic qualities and is often used by healers to help balance the flow of universal life energy in those who are sick or ailing. HYPNAGOGIC STATE The hypnagogic state is that state between being awake and falling asleep, where the mind is most receptive to ideas, images, sounds, feelings, impressions and intuition. It should not be confused with the hypnopompic state, which is the corresponding transition state of semi-consciousness between sleeping and waking, i.e. when a person is waking up. Some believe that the sketchy imagery that occurs in these states can be helpful to the individual in terms of self-understanding. Images are often presented through the individual’s own set of symbols and once interpreted, symbols can provide answers to problems and even alert one to future events. Some believe that taking the time to record these images, feelings and sounds can be as helpful as recording dream imagery. HYPNOSIS A state of intense concentration or altered state of consciousness when a person can be more receptive to new ideas and suggestion and display heightened psychic awareness. The technique of hypnosis has been known and used for centuries - it was practised in ancient Greece and Egypt and even earlier in ancient India. The term itself comes from Hypnos, the Greek God of Sleep, and was first used in 1842 by James Braid, an English surgeon. The eighteenth century’s Franz Anton Mesmer is often referred to as an early exponent of hypnosis. Mesmer believed he was using a mysterious force he called ‘animal magnetism’ to heal his patients. His techniques included the laying on of hands and staring fixedly in the eyes. Animal magnetism became popular in Europe with magnetized patients, or ‘somnambules’ as they were referred to, reporting that they felt no pain during surgery. In 1818 D Valenski, a surgeon and professor of physiology at the Imperial Academy of St Petersburg, described Mesmer’s animal magnetism as the most important physical discovery in several centuries. Side effects of Mesmer’s techniques often included ‘higher phenomena’ such as clairvoyance, telepathy and other psi phenomena. Mesmer had little interest in these higher phenomena, preferring to focus on the healing. However, other ‘mesmerists’ began to investigate them and to exhibit them in public. In the 1840s medical practitioner James Braid set out to expose animal magnetism as fraud. However, when he used the technique on his own patients with great success he was forced to revise his opinions. Braid noticed how similar the trance state and sleep were, and coined the term ‘hypnotism’ to describe it. The name has remained even though hypnosis is actually a very natural state of mind that never involves sleep. Individuals do not even lose consciousness. Braid also discovered that Mesmer’s techniques of fixed stares and waving or laying on of hands were not needed. Patients could enter a state of hypnosis by staring at a light or by suggestion alone. Until chloroform was developed in 1848 hypnosis was frequently used to relieve the pain and discomfort of illness and surgery. Interest revived in the later nineteenth century when American and English psychical research societies began investigating the psi phenomena associated with it, and when its potential as a therapeutic tool in medicine was once again recognized. From the 1940s onwards research has shown that hypnosis can enhance performance in psi games, especially if positive suggestions are made that it can. It has also been shown that hypnosis can help enhance memory and learning and form part of a treatment plan for psychological disorders and behaviour modification (see hypnotherapy). Hypnosis is often used by mediums to communicate with spirits and is the preferred method for past-life recall. Individual response to hypnosis can vary enormously. It is thought that the majority of the population - around 85 per cent - can be hypnotized, although only a small percentage can achieve deep trance. Several steps seem essential to achieving an altered state. These include deep relaxation, concentration, turning inwards, focusing on specific sounds, words or images and choosing to change one’s conscious state. There also appear to be three major stages of hypnosis: light, in which the individual feels lethargic but aware of what is going on around them; cataleptic, in which the muscles become tense; and somnambulistic, which is a state of deep trance where the subject can be manipulated by the suggestions of the hypnotist and experience psi phenomena. Self-hypnosis exercise Self-hypnosis is a useful tool you can use to help you achieve your goals in any area of your life: 1. Find a place where you can get some peace and quiet for five or ten minutes. Take off your watch and turn off your mobile. 2. When you are ready, get comfortable and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and tell yourself that you are relaxed and are going to go into a light trance. 3. Begin to imagine yourself at the top of a set of stairs. There are 20 steps in front of you and each time you step down you feel yourself becoming more and more relaxed. 4. When you reach the bottom of the stairs you are in a deep state of relaxation. Say to yourself the following: ‘I listen to and act on my intuition and/or inner guidance.’ 5. Spend a minute or so in your trance. Then tell yourself, ‘At the count of 20, I will be fully awake, open to my intuition and feel terrific.’ Count from 1 to 20 and when you reach 20, say ‘My eyes are open’ and open your eyes. You may prefer to read this exercise into f a tape recorder. Then you can listen to your self-hypnosis tape whenever you want. If you practise this exercise every day, not only are you more likely to get j better at selfhypnosis but you’re also likely to find yourself more in tune with your intuition. Contrary to popular belief hypnosis cannot be used to force people to do things against their will. In a sense hypnosis is like a guided meditation. The individual passes through a series of steps to go deeper into the unconscious, but actually hears every word during the process. Hypnosis is achieved when the brain waves slow down and the individual reaches such an intense level of concentration that he or she blocks out any interference or distraction to his or her focus. During this state of intense concentration certain innate abilities are heightened, including imagination, memory and suggestibility. All these abilities are linked to the intuitive part of the brain, which explains why hypnosis is considered a powerful tool by psychics and those seeking intuitive insight. HYPNOTHERAPY Therapy that uses hypnosis to treat physical, mental and emotional ailments. Hypnosis is the induction of a state of mind where a person is more receptive to suggestions made to them. The conscious mind, with all its ingrained thoughts and habits is bypassed, allowing the hypnotherapist to directly contact the unconscious and implant healthy ideas. Hypnotherapy has proved to be particularly useful in treating stress-related conditions, phobias, bedwetting in children, eating disorders, weight problems, low self-esteem, stopping smoking and digestive complaints. Even though hypnotherapy has a high success rate when it comes to helping people make positive changes in their lives, it has earned an unfortunate reputation from hypnosis stage shows using conjuring tricks. The best way to avoid this is to seek out a practitioner with a proven track record of success or a psychologist or therapist who practises hypnotherapy. Typically a hypnotherapist will discuss with a client the reason why they want to undergo hypnosis as well as what they hope to achieve and take a full mental and physical health history. The first step would be to induce a trance-like state with a series of relaxation techniques. The client would then be asked to visualize a particular place they find relaxing and calm. Once in a state of deep relaxation the hypnotherapist will address the client’s subconscious mind, with suggestions like, ‘When you smoke you will find the taste of every cigarette in your mouth unpleasant’, or ‘When you go for your job interview you will feel relaxed and confidant about yourself and your ability to do the job’. Before the client is brought back to total awareness they may be given a post-hypnotic suggestion (called self-hypnosis) that will enable them to induce a state of relaxation and suggestion whenever they want. HYSLOP, James HERVEY [185-4–1920] Psychical researcher and author with a special interest in mediumship and survival after death. James Hyslop was born on 18 August 1854 to Presbyterian parents and grew up on a farm in Ohio. When he was ten his brother and sister died of scarlet fever, leaving him with a lifelong preoccupation with death. His family expected him to enter the ministry but he had a crisis of faith and went to study philosophy instead. He received a PhD in psychology from Johns Hopkins University and then taught ethics and logic at Columbia. Hyslop first became interested in the psychic world when he read an article about telepathy, and in 1889 he joined both the Society for Psychical Research and the American Society for PsychicalResearch. He soon got involved in investigating cases, and after studying the work of a number of mediums he converted to a belief in survival after death. In 1905, the first of many books on psychical research, Science and a Future Life, was published. In 1906 Hyslop became secretary and treasurer for the American Society for Psychical Research and is best known for his work with the society, the massive contribution he made to its publications and to psychical research in America. His most famous investigations are the Doris Fischer and Thompson-Gifford cases. He also worked with a number of mediums, most notably Minnie Meserve Soule, to investigate spirit possession. I I CHING An ancient Chinese system of divination, also known as the Book of Changes. The I Ching consists of 64 interrelated hexagrams along with commentaries. The hexagram formations to be used in the divination are decided by the results of throwing three coins three times or by tossing yarrow sticks. Each hexagram has a meaning and when lines of hexagrams are taken into account the oracle is capable of delivering more than 4,000 answers without repetition. The I Ching embodies Taoist philosophy by describing all nature and human endeavour in terms of the interaction of yin and yang. The universe operates according to fixed laws and there is no such thing as coincidence or chance, only cause and effect and meaningful association. If a person is in harmony with the flow of yin and yang energy the possibilities for fulfilment and harmony are endless. I Ching doesn’t exactly tell the future; it is intended to guide the searcher to find his or her own answers. It is the sage that is aware of all possibilities and suggests probable outcomes if various approaches to life are taken. The aim is to show how a wise person in tune with yin and yang energy would respond to particular situations. The onus of effecting the changes needed is on the enquirer accepting the advice and acting upon it. According to tradition the I Ching dates back thousands of years. It was first devised from observing the natural world, the ebb and flow of is cycles. As it developed sages began to see it as a blueprint for understanding the universe. The two trigrams which form the hexagrams were allegedly developed by Emperor Fu-his around 2852 BC. The solid lines represent yang - the male, creative, active energy; the broken lines represent yin - the female, passive, receptive energy. In c.1143 BC the trigrams were developed into 64 hexagrams by King Wen, founder of the Chou dynasty, and his son, the Duke of Chou, added commentary on the meaning of the symbols. In later years Lao-tzu (604531 BC) drew upon the I Ching for inspiration when writing the Taoist text the Tao Te Ching. Confucius (551-479 BC) was also inspired by it and added ten commentaries, named the ‘Ten Wing’ appendices. The I Ching first reached the West in the nineteenth century when it was translated by James Legge and Richard Wilhelm. The language of the I Ching can often seem obscure and ambiguous for Western readers and it requires much patience and reverence towards the oracle itself to be fully understood. Consulting the I Ching may be a simple or a complicated ritual. The simple way is to toss stones or coins. The yarrow stick method is more complicated. Typically the enquirer faces south and passes 50 sticks through incense while meditating on the question. One stick is cast aside leaving 49 remaining ones to toss into hexagrams and interpret accordingly. Whatever method is used the most important thing needed is a reflective state of mind. The counsel the I Ching offers is based upon adopting a more harmonious approach to life and having an awareness and respect for the influences acting upon every part of the universe, including humanity. While time consuming and often difficult to understand and interpret, the I Ching is considered an infallible source of inspiration and divination, respected by figures such and Carl Jung and the Dalai Lama for its accuracy and insight. ICTHYOMANCY The ancient art of examining the heads and the entrails of fish and interpreting them for divination purposes; a branch of haruspicy. This was an important method of divination practised by many ancient nations in the Near East. Early Christians used the fish as a symbol for Christ. ID According to Sigmund Freud, the id represents instincts, the unconscious part of the mind that is concerned only with the gratification of biological needs such as sex and hunger. It is also the seat of primitive emotions, like anger and fear, and expresses itself through dreams, which is why Freud believed dream interpretation to be a crucial part of psychoanalysis. Freud maintained that when a child is born the id is dominant but as he or she grows older the ego and superego try to control the id to make it behave in socially acceptable ways. IDEOMOTOR EFFECT Term used to describe the influence of suggestion on involuntary and unconscious movement. It is often thought to be the psychological phenomenon that underlies dowsing, automatic writing and Ouija board messages. Quite unconsciously, the participant moves his or her hand or other body part to make the movement of the particular tool occur, though he or she may attribute the motion to divine or supernatural forces. The effect is very powerful with some personalities, while no amount of evidence will disabuse believers in the magical nature of the phenomenon. William B Carpenter first used the term ‘ideomotor action’ in 1852 in his explanation for the movements of rods and pendulums by dowsers. Carpenter suggested that muscular movement could be initiated by the mind independently of volition or emotions. Suggestions may be made to the mind by others or by observation and these suggestions can influence the mind and affect motor behaviour. Scientific tests by French chemist Michel Chevreul, English scientist Michael Faraday, and American psychologist Ray Hyman have suggested that many (but certainly not all) phenomena attributed to spiritual or paranormal forces, or to mysterious forces, such as chi or the universal life force, are due to ideomotor action. Furthermore, according to Hyman in a 1999 paper entitled ‘The Mischief Making of Ideomotor Action’ these tests demonstrate that ‘honest, intelligent people can unconsciously engage in muscular activity that is consistent with their expectations’. IGNIS FATUUS Spectral lights that appear as bluish or yellow flames or candle lights in the countryside at night. Translated literally ignis fatuus means ‘foolish fire’. It is considered foolish to follow these spectral lights because they are thought to be death omens, often playing tricks on those travelling alone at night by luring them away from their path until they lose their way. Ignis fatuus lights appear in folklore all over the world. They are also known as corpse candles, jack-olanterns and by a host of other names. There are various legends to explain the lights. Typically they are believed to be the ghosts of souls who cannot rest, either because they were sinners on earth who did not repent or because some wrong done to them while they were alive stands uncorrected. In German lore the light is an Irrlicht or wandering spirit who accompanies an invisible funeral possession. In Sweden the light is that of an unbaptized soul trying to lead travellers to water in the hope of being baptized. In parts of Africa, the lights are called witch lights and are believed to be sent by witches to scare wrongdoers. Natural explanations for the phenomenon include: unknown energy from the earth; electrical and magnetic vibrations; and marsh gas. See also Ghost lights. IKIRYOH In Japanese folklore the ikiryoh is the name used to describe an entity that is thought to be created by the evil thoughts and feelings of a person. When it is energized by hatred the ikiryoh becomes so powerful it can leave the person harbouring hateful thoughts and enter and possess the person who is the object of the hatred. Once inside it can kill the victim slowly by draining away the person’s energy. The ikiryoh is thought to be extremely difficult to exorcise and there are numerous rites to drive it away, including the reading of Buddhist scriptures. ILLUMINATI Secret brotherhood of magical practitioners. The brotherhood is rumoured to have existed in ancient Egypt but the term was first used in the fifteenth century to describe adepts, especially those who possessed light’ or ‘illumination’ (i.e. wisdom) from a higher source. The term was associated with a number of secret societies and occult groups, such as the Rosicrucians and Freemasons. One of the best-organized illuminati sects, called the Order of Perfectibilists, was established on 1 May 1776 by a 28-year-old professor of Law called Adam Weishaupt. In 1780 Baron von Knigge, a high level Freemason, joined and the group began to incorporate Masonic elements into its organization and rites. Illuminati members tended to be anti-monarchists and its republican tendencies gained it many members in Germany. Noted illuminati members included Goethe, Count Cagliostro and Franz Anton Mesmer. In 1784 the Bavarian government banned illuminati organizations as politically subversive and attempted to suppress all secret orders, including illuminati and the Masons. After its suppression in Bavaria the order revived in 1880 and in 1895 was renamed the Ordo Templi Orientis (Order of the Temple of the Orient) by Dr Karl Kellner. Aleister Crowley was a particularly high-profile member. Upon Kellner’s death in 1947 the order broke into two organizations, one based in England and the other in Berkeley, California. In 1995, Gabriel López de Rojas founded the Illuminati Order in Barcelona, after consulting two members of The Illuminati of the United States (Grand Lodge Rockefeller), and he helped establish the Operative Rite of The Illuminati of Bavaria. The Bavarian Illuminati Order was slow to grow initially, but by 1999 it had expanded to include members and chapters (lodges) all over the whole world. In Western ritual magic, the term ‘illuminati’ also refers to secret masters called upon by magicians and psychics to assist them in their work. These secret masters include holy figures such as archangel Gabriel, mythical figures such as the magician Merlin, and historical figures such as Joan of Arc. Typically the secret masters exist on the astral plane but Madame Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, gave them a physical dimension. Although the concept of illuminati has been known to mystic occult societies for centuries, it has been popularized in recent years by the fictional writings of Robert Anton Wilson and Dan Brown. IMAGERY Mental images, thoughts, feelings and sensations that plays an important role in psi activity, meditation, spiritual and psychic healing, mystical experiences and magic. Since ancient times imagery has been seen as a way to tap into the unconscious and harness its power. Imagery is subjective, with studies showing that some people are better at imagery than others. It occurs spontaneously in dreams and daydreams but, with training, research has shown it can be used for goal-orientated tasks. It is generally thought that imagery training benefits psi ability, and since the nineteenth century parapsychologists have explored the link between psi and imagery. Imagery is a right-brain function, which synthesizes images, sounds and emotions. Experiments with psi imagery have shown that there are five mental processing stages involved: 1. The image is presented unchanged to the conscious awareness. 2. The image is reorganized into recognizable patterns, but which are different to the original. 3. The imagination and memory fill in missing elements. 4. The image is transformed into a different, but similar, image. 5. The image stimulates associations; for example, a person may associate an image of a half-eaten apple with cancer. The association could have been formed because the night before a beloved relative died of cancer she had left a half-eaten apple by her bedside. It is thought that gifted psychics can receive their psi information in all five ways, or in one or two dominant ways, as the five mental processing stages are not necessarily sequential. Process-orientated imagery (visualizing carrying out the task) and goalorientated imagery (visualizing the task as already completed) are used in creative visualization techniques designed to improve health, relationships, career prospects, personal growth and fulfilment. Imagery is an absolutely essential part of martial arts training and individuals in sport and business use imagery to boost their chances of success. Studies of sportsmen and women show that physiological changes occur during creative visualization and that their internal imagery is a highly effective way to boost performance. Imagery has also played an important role in many kinds of healing since the ancient Greeks recognized how important the mind-body link was to physical and emotional health. If disease is present both patient and healer imagine the relevant parts of the body in perfect health as a way of combating the disease. The Renaissance physician Paracelsus said that the imagination has the power to cure or cause illness, but it is only in the last 40 years that Western medicine has begun to recognize the true healing potential of mental imagery. Since the 1970s imagery has been used as an alternative or supplemental treatment for a large number of illnesses, especially cancer. In Eastern medicine, meditation and yoga imagery is employed to reach illumination - a state where there is no thought and no imagery. In magic, imagery is used to imbue symbols with power and to effect spells. By visualizing the symbol a magician or witch believes that he or she can access its power. IMAGINATION Imagination is the ability to visualize and make sense of the universe in pictures and symbols not words. It is something that comes from within a person’s own mind and involves images and sensations that do not demonstrate any basis in reality, yet. Imagination is sometimes confused with psychic skills such as telepathy and precognition but it is not the same. Psychics believe that imagination is the first stage in reawakening latent psychic potential because imagination involves mental images and pictures, and these images can have great power and meaning. See Creative visualization, Imagery, Intuition, Visualization. Exercises to stimulate your imagination We often dismiss insights by telling ourselves that we’re imagining things, but a vivid imagination is believed to be the bridge between intuition and psychic development. To develop psychically you need to think in pictures and sensations, not words, and to allow yourself to dream, fantasize and play Here are some simple suggestions to develop your imagination as a path to psychic awakening. Let your imagination run free. 1. Draw two shapes on a piece of paper. One is simply a straight vertical line no more than a few inches long. The second is shaped like a capital Y -again no more than a few inches long. Look at both these shapes for a few mintures. Now cover up the Y shape and look at the vertical line. In your mind’s eye let the vertical line transform into the Y shape. See the line dividing and splitting into the Y Try it again, only this time see one arm of the Y growing faster than the other. Do it again, and see one arm waiting for the other to complete before it moves. See in your mind’s eye one of the arms moving and, when it stops, see the other moving. 2. Choose a picture you like. It can be a photo or a painting or a drawing. You want this to be an uplifting experience, so try to pick something simple and calm rather than something crowded with detail. Find a place where you won’t be disturbed and where you can relax. Take the picture with you. Get comfortable and take some deep breaths to help you relax. Tune out everything else and look at the picture for a few minutes. Try to remember every detail in your picture. When you are ready, close your eyes and slowly melt into the picture. Stand in your imagined picture, look at everything and see it all in your head. Take a walk around in your picture. Enjoy the mood of the picture. If there are people there talk to them. Take a good look around. When you feel ready, slowly walk out of the picture and come back to reality. 3. When the phone rings see if you can imagine who is on the other end before you pick up. Do the same with your post. Imagine who has sent you a letter before you tear it open. And if you’re feeling confident, see if you can imagine what will be in the next day’s newspaper headlines. Don’t worry if you have more misses than hits with these exercises; the important thing is to get your imagination muscles working, because it’s your imagination that will take you on your first psychic adventure. INCANTATION Words used in magic to infuse power into spells or charms or summon help from the spirit world. Incantations, from the Latin incantare, meaning ‘to consecrate with charms’, are believed to work because of their alleged ability to invoke sacred vibrations that can reach a deity or the universal life force or a source of power. They can be used for good, as in white magic, or for bad, as in black magic. Names of supposedly powerful spirits are often chanted by shamans who may also beat a drum as they do so. The most likely explanation for using an incantation is that the constant repetition of the chant induces an altered state of consciousness or semi-trance. The actual choice of word or phrase is less important than the chanting and repetitive tone itself. INCORRUPTIBILITY Inexplicable lack of decay in a corpse, particularly in the Catholic tradition where the bodies of saints and martyrs do not show signs of decay or decomposition, sometimes decades or centuries after the death of the person. When no logical explanation, such as preservative methods or extreme temperatures, can be found to explain the phenomenon some believe that supernatural or paranormal forces are at work. Incorruptibility is by no means confined to saints. After his death the body of yoga teacher Paramahansa Yogananda was said to manifest a phenomenal ‘state of immutability’. The story below, reported in the 4 August 1952 edition of Time, appeared in Self-Realization magazine (Los Angeles) in the May 1952 issue. The great world teacher demonstrated the value of yoga (scientific techniques for God-realization) not only in life but in death. Weeks after his departure his unchanged face shone with the divine light luster of incorruptibility. Mr Harry Rowe, Los Angeles Mortuary Director, Forest Lawn Memorial-Park (in which the great master is temporarily placed) sent SelfRealization Fellowship a notarized letter from which the following extracts are taken: ‘The absence of any visual signs of decay in the dead body of Paramahansa Yogananda offers the most extraordinary case in our experience … No physical disintegration was visible even twenty days after death … No indication of mold was visible on his skin, and no visible desiccation (drying up) took place in the bodily tissues. This state of perfect preservation of a body is, so far as we know from mortuary annals, an unparalleled one … At the time of receiving Yogananda’s body, the mortuary personnel expected to observe, through the glass lid of the casket, the usual progressive signs of bodily decay. Our astonishment increased day after day without bringing any visible change in the body under observation. Yogananda’s body was apparently in a phenomenal state of immutability … No odor of decay emanated from his body at any time … The physical appearance of Yogananda on March 27th, just before the bronze cover of the casket was put into position, was the same as it had been on March 7th.’ INCUBATION In Greek Pagan tradition, a process of divination and spiritual healing typically used by people suffering from chronic illness. The patient would go to a temple of a god or goddess with healing powers and, after making a sacrifice and performing certain ceremonies, he or she would sleep through the night in the temple in the hope of receiving a dream from the deity with a message. Records show that miraculous healings did occur at incubation shrines. The emphasis placed on the importance of dream work by psychiatrist Carl Jung has inspired some modern pagan and occult groups to revive the practice of incubation. INCUBUS In Western demonology, a male spirit or demon that disturbs the sleep of women, often subjecting them to nightmares or unwanted sexual intercourse. Incubi (from the Latin, ‘one who lies upon’) were thought to be particularly fond of seducing nuns and other women committed to the celibate life. Sexual repression is thought to be the most likely explanation. The female equivalent of the incubus is the succubus. INDIAN HEAD MASSAGE Holistic massage technique based on principles found in Ayurvedic medicine, which aims to encourage the body to heal and rebalance itself. It involves working along specific points on the head to stimulate the flow of ‘prana’ (the body’s energetic life force). Practised in India for over a thousand years, head massage has a number of health benefits: it stimulates blood and lymph circulation; it releases tension and stress and can help with the pain of migraines. Last but by no means least, it is incredibly relaxing and most people report feeling calmer and more energized after a head massage. INDIGO CHILDREN During the later part of the 1970s Nancy Ann Tappe, a psychic and lecturer at the University of San Diego, noticed a change taking place in the colour of children’s auras. Nancy believed that her ability to see auras was due to the fact that she had been diagnosed with synesthesia, a condition where two neurological systems become crossed so that the senses get reversed. As part of her research and study Nancy published a book in 1982 called Understanding Your Life Through Color, and in this book she first mentioned the term indigo. A few years later, Lee Carol, a channeller for an entity he calls Kryon, and his wife, Jan Tober, presented Tappe’s research on varying colours of the aura in The Indigo Children and Indigo Celebration. How to recognize the Indigo Child The Indigo Child is recognizable by his or her aura and by certain other traits, according to The Indigo Children website (owned by Kryon Writings), www.indigochild.com: They come into the world with a feeling of royalty (and often act like it). They have a feeling of ‘deserving to be here’, and are surprised when others don’t share it. Self-worth is not a big issue. They often tell the parents ‘who they are’. They have difficulty with authority without explanation or choice. They simply will not do certain things; for example, waiting in line is difficult for them. They get frustrated with systems that are rule oriented and don’t require creative thought. They often see better ways of doing things, both at home and in school, which makes them seem like nonconformists. They seem anti-social unless they are with their own kind. If there are no others of like consciousness around them they often turn inward. School is often extremely difficult for them socially. They will not respond to ‘guilt’ discipline. They are not shy in letting you know what they need. The Indigo Children website advises that if you recognize the characteristics of an Indigo Child in someone you know, it is important you give this child respect, support and love. They need attention and stimulation and an outlet for their creativity. They need things explained to them, because ‘I told you so’ isn’t an adequate reason for an Indigo. Give them a sense of direction, but above all empower them by giving them choices, responsibility and a sense of independence. If psychic ability manifests itself allow them to nurture and develop it. According to Tappe, from 1980 about 80 per cent of the babies being born had an indigo aura around them that she equated to their life mission and their life colour. From 1990 she suggested that there were about 90 per cent being born, and as many as 99 per cent by the year 2000. Prior to 1980 babies with indigo colour were born -so there are indigo adults - but it was after 1980 that a significant increase occurred. Indigo is the colour of the third eye chakra, which is an energy centre inside the head located between the eyebrows. This chakra stimulates clairvoyance, or the ability to see energy, visions and spirits, so, according to Tappe, many of the Indigo Children are classed as clairvoyant. Tappe believed that Indigo Children have a warrior nature, a ‘rebel with a cause’ personality with absolutely no sense of guilt. They are often labelled as hyperactive or aggressive but this is their purpose. They are here to break down old and outmoded systems - legal, educational, medical and so on - and to force honesty and integrity on a global level. According to Tappe and her followers, the Indigos are often mis-diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This is because of their warrior nature. Adults find it hard to handle their intense energy and think that the only way to calm them down is with powerful pharmaceutical drugs, like Ritalin. Tappe suggested that these children actually have right-and left-brain alignment, something people on the spiritual path strive for throughout their lifetime. They are highly sensitive, have psychic abilities and possess incredible wisdom. According to Tappe being an Indigo isn’t easy, but it foretells a mission. The Indigo Children are the ones who have come to raise the vibration of our planet and bring to humanity the age of enlightenment. The National Institute of Mental Health says that ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed childhood disorder. It affects some 3 to 5 per cent, possibly more, of all school-age children. The hype and near-hysteria surrounding the use of Ritalin and its potential side effects (although none has so far been confirmed) have contributed to an atmosphere that makes it possible for the Indigo Children theory to be taken seriously. Given the choice, what parent wouldn’t rather believe their child is highly intuitive and chosen for a high mission rather than a victim of a brain or personality disorder? INDIRECT VOICE MEDIUMSHIP Form of spirit communication where the entity speaks using the vocal apparatus of the medium, often sounding very different from the medium’s natural voice. This is in contrast to direct voice mediumship where the entity speaks independently of the medium. INDRIDASON, INDRIDI [1883–1912] Icelandic medium who became one of the country’s biggest celebrities. He exhibited remarkable phenomena but was never caught in trickery or fraud. Indridason attended his first home circle in 1905. As soon as he sat down the table allegedly jerked and moved and this was the start of his career as a medium. At first he communicated with spirits through trance and automatic writing but soon he moved on to levitation, apports, direct voice mediumship, remote playing of musical instruments and full-form materializations. Indridason’s powers were considered so remarkable that an Icelandic Psychical Research Society was set up to study and support him. The society included a number of distinguished academics, such as Gudmundur Hannesson, professor of Medicine at the University of Iceland, and in 1907 it built a small house to better conduct its work. The society invited people to attend séances and before audiences of sometimes 60 or 70 people, Indridason was able to produce phenomena. Even sceptics, like Hannesson, were convinced that Indridason’s powers were genuine. Phenomena allegedly occurred at every sitting Indridason gave. He never had a ‘blank sitting’. Sometimes dozens of spirit voices would speak directly; with witnesses claiming that the voices sounded exactly like people they knew who had died. Indridason claimed to have a number of controls but his primary control was his great-uncle, who had once been a university professor. In June 1909, when Indridason was at the height of his power, he succumbed to a bout of typhoid fever and stopped giving sittings. He never fully recovered and died in a sanatorium on 31 August 1912. After his death the Psychical Research Society shut down, but in 1918 the research it had gathered was passed on to a newly formed Icelandic Society for Psychical Research. INITIATION Initiation is essentially an individual transformation that involves a transition from one level of awareness to the next. Ritual and ceremony to mark this transformation generally feature, but most occultists believe that the only really worthwhile initiations are inward, often occurring in visionary or revelatory experiences that trigger a change in outlook or in the abilities of the individual. Initiation rituals (from the Latin word initium meaning ‘beginning’) designed to stimulate transformation have existed since ancient times, ranging from initiations at puberty to the elaborate ceremonies of Freemasonry by which members advance to the next grade or degree, receiving the teaching, rights and formal title of that level of membership. Details vary widely but most initiations in magical lodges start by secluding the initiate to create a space physically and magically for the ceremony. The candidate usually blindfolded before being brought to the sacred space and left to wander around in circles, sometimes bumping into things, to create a heightened state of awareness. While in this state the candidate is taken through teachings, with the blindfold raised at significant moments to reveal important images. At some point during this process the candidate takes an oath binding him or herself to abide by the rules of the order. The candidate also receives at some point the secrets of the order - typically passwords, symbols or other signs. The ritual often closes with a lecture or talk on the teachings of the order to ground the student from his or her heightened state, and to communicate more useful information. Many initiation rituals have been published, including those of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. INNER LIGHT, SOCIETY OF English magical order founded in the mid-to late 1920s by Dion Fortune as the Fraternity of the Inner Light. In 1946, after Fortune’s death, the name was changed to Society of the Inner Light. According to its website (www.inner light.org.uk/intro.htm) it is a: ‘Society for the study of Occultism, mysticism and Esoteric Psychology and the development of their practice. Its aims are Christian and its methods are Western.’ The Society’s teachings derive from material from astral plane contacts brought through in trance by Dion Fortune in 1922. The Society has a grade structure of three degrees of lesser mystery and two degrees of greater mystery. Fortune’s books, The Cosmic Doctrine and The Mystical Qabalah are central texts. While Fortune was alive the Society served as a vehicle for her work and teaching but after her death the Society expanded on her work under the guidance of Arthur Chichester and principal trance medium Margaret Lumley Brown. In 1961 the Society stopped working all but the first degree of lesser mysteries and focused more on Christian mysticism. A large number of members left to join other magical lodges. In 1990 the society reestablished the full degree structure and brought out many of Fortune’s previously unpublished works. INNER VOICE/INNER GUIDE Term used to describe the so-called mystical or divine spark that exists within a person. Because of the way individual divinity is expressed in modern culture, the idea of connecting to an inner divine aspect, an internal guide, can be more appealing to some individuals than the belief in spirits. They talk to the god within, rather than god somewhere out there. Many people never work with spirits but follow their own inner knowing, their intuition or higher self. The spirits or guides encountered are not thought of as spirits as such but as parts of a person’s consciousness and aspects of their own personality. The inner voice is not to be confused with the concept of the Inner Child, which is the popular term for the part of the consciousness that is childlike and innocent. Working with the Inner Child is a way to heal pain by giving the Inner Child the love and parenting it needed but perhaps did not get when a person was growing up. Connecting with your inner guide Psychics believe that within each one of us is an inner voice, sometimes called your higher self, inner guide or creative spark. The following exercise will help you connect to your higher awareness, listen to your inner voice and meet your inner guide. Find a place where you can relax and get comfortable without being disturbed. Close your eyes and imagine a beautiful place of light and sound. As you breathe slowly and deeply, imagine a bridge leading to this place and see yourself walking on it. As you reach the end of this bridge you are surrounded by light and colour and sound. Take time to explore the feeling of the place and to listen to the sounds. You come to a full-length mirror. As you look into the mirror you realize that the image you see is the real you, the ideal you, the magical you - your inner guide. To your amazement your inner guide steps out of the mirror and stands in front of you saying in a kind, gentle voice, ‘I am the most creative part of you. I see what you do not. How can I help \ you?’ You sit down with your guide. You may request some insight or discuss a problem or ask what lies ahead for you. You listen and remember what your guide has to say. Your guide tells you that he or she will always be with you and that as you spend time together he or she will become stronger and of more help to you. Then your guide melts into you and you feel your true essence awakening. You heart is filled with hope. You feel greater than you imagine. When you leave, see yourself taking some of the sounds, images and sensations back with you to inspire you in your day-to-day life. Gradually open your eyes and make note of any ideas or insights that have come to you. In time, all you will need to do is close your eyes and see, feel or hear your inner guide and notice how your guide responds to situation. This will give you the clues you need as to what you should do and how you should respond to people and events around you. And the more you work with your inner guide the more you will know that your psychic powers are coming to life within you. INNOCENCE GHOST Traditionally the spirit of a woman who is seduced and then deserted by her lover, only to die in a consequence of the act (e.g. in childbirth or by suicide in grief over the illicit love affair). The ghost will haunt the woman’s seducer and perhaps even generations of his family to come. See La Llorona. INSPIRATION A right-brain function in which insight, information and intuition enable a person to make great leaps in thought and creativity. Everyone experiences inspiration at some time or other in their lives. Some believe it comes from a divine source, while others believe it to come from supernatural sources. This is because when inspiration occurs it often feels as if the ideas come from outside of oneself, as if one has become the instrument not the instigator of ideas and creativity. According to musical genius Beethoven, Inspiration is for me that mysterious state in which the entire world seems to form a vast harmony, when every sentiment, every thought reechoes within me, when all the forces of nature become instruments for me, when my whole body shivers and my hair stands on end. Literary artist W M Thackeray wrote in one of his ‘Roundabout’ papers (Cornhill Magazine, August, 1862): ‘I have been surprised at the observations made by some of my characters. It seems as if an occult power was moving the pen. The personage does or says something and I ask: “How did he come to think of that?”’ Research by the American Society for Psychical Research on the relationship between creativity and ESP demonstrates three factors in common: shared principles; positive motivation (the need to make contact with distant material); relaxation and dissociation (the mind is most passive and receptive in these states). Typically inspiration occurs suddenly and with great intensity, but it is thought to be the product of a long period of incubation where the unconscious integrates and collates information into new patterns, which are then pushed forward into consciousness. This was certainly the case, for instance, with Thomas Edison’s discovery of the light bulb. The flash of inspiration came after years of research and experimentation. Sometimes chills, burning, tingling and fuzzy feelings are said to accompany moments of inspiration -Beethoven said his body shivered when inspiration occurred and his hair would stand on end. Inspiration only lasts for a few moments and if the insights are not written down or acted upon, the memory of them will fade. Inspiration can be triggered by meditation, prayer, relaxation and fasting and tends to occur most when a person is in a relaxed, contented state. However, it can occur at any time and at any place. Many artists, writers, inventors and scientists have found that inspiration can fuel long periods of creativity or insights of great significance. For instance, Mozart found inspiration would come to him when he was alone or in ‘good cheer’ or during sleepless nights. The music allegedly poured into his mind in finished form. Albert Einstein described the inspiration that lead to his breakthrough on the theory of relativity as the ‘happiest thought of his life’. He was inspired by the thought of a man falling of a roof and the realization that both rest and motion were occurring simultaneously. INSTITUT METAPSYCHIQUE INTERNATIONAL Psychical research organization based in Paris. The Institute Metapsychique International (IMI) was founded in 1918 with backing from Jean Meyer, a French industrialist and Spiritualist. The first director was Gustave Geley; under Geley’s directorship mediums such as Jan Guzyk were investigated. The second director, after Geley died in in 1924, was Eugene Osty, who continued Geley’s research but brought his own emphasis to it. With Meyer’s help Osty built a laboratory and fitted it with advanced equipment. His experiments with the Schneider brothers in 1930 are thought to be some of the most important in psychical research. In 1940 the war forced the IMI to close, and although it reopened after the war it never regained its former prestige and popularity. It is still in business today (www.metapsychique.org/) but will only accept visitors if a prior appointment has been made, and is not as well supported by the French public as its American and British counterparts, the American Society for Psychical Research and the Society for Psychical Research, are by their respective countrymen. INSTRUMENTAL TRANSCOMMUNICATION Instrumental transcommunication (ITC) is the use of tape recorders, TVs, radios, computers, telephones and other technical devices to get meaningful information from the spirit plane in such forms as voices, images and text. Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) experimentation produced the first ITC contacts using a tape recorder and a simple microphone. Later on there occurred ITC contacts via telephone, computer, fax, special devices and so on. Transmission involves the energy of consciousness; receivers try to tune themselves to resonate with entities in the spirit world. Since 1980 ITC has attempted to establish communication with the spirit world with varying degrees of success. Results include images and messages on telephones, radios and television screens, text and picture files appearing in computers or on disks or other recordable media and text and pictures via fax machines. Apports have also materialized with explanations from the spirits delivered via technical equipment. In 1985 Klaus Schreiber began to receive spirit images on his TV set, including the faces of scientist Albert Einstein, Austrian actress Romy Schneider and various departed family members, especially his two deceased wives and daughter Karin, with whom he was particularly close. Schreiber’s technique, set up by his colleague Martin Wenzel, involved aiming a video camera at the television and feeding the output of the camera back into the TV in order to achieve a feedback loop. The result was a churning mist on the screen out of which the spirit faces would slowly form over a period of many frames. In 1994 the first 24-second colour picture transmission of the face of EVP researcher Friedrich Jürgenson, was allegedly received on a TV set belonging to Adolf Holmes in Germany. In 1995 the International Network for Instrumental Transcommunciation (INIT) was founded in Luxembourg by a group of scientists and researchers from eight different countries. The aim was to establish reliable communication with the spirit world and enable people to receive messages from dead loved ones. They claimed to be assisted in their work by the Timestream spirit group and the People of the Rainbow, who live on the astral plane. ‘The Seven’ is a council of Rainbow people who provide direction for information sent to Earth and its most active member is ‘Technician’ who has been assigned to help the development of ITC. The Seven has communicated that it does not wish to see a widespread use of ITC but prefers to concentrate its efforts on a select group of researchers united by an ethical and moral duty to ITC. According to the INIT website (www.worlditc.org/): The ethereal beings said they had accompanied our world for many thousands of years and had come close six times when the Earth had reached a crossroads leading either to a dark age or to a period of enlightenment. This, they said, was the seventh time, and they wished to establish a lasting bridge between Earth and their formless realm of wise, loving consciousness. ITC research would be the means by which to establish that bridge. Through the work of INIT, it became evident that the more miraculous forms of ITC contacts were made possible by such ethereal beings, who provided protection and guidance for ITC researchers and their spirit colleagues. In its first few years INIT’s membership doubled, but it then began to suffer internal problems and questions were asked about research results. One area of concern was that images received from the spirit realm looked similar to places on Earth. The People of the Rainbow explained that material things could exist simultaneously on a higher plane. INIT researchers continue to attempt to establish a reliable form of communication with otherworldly realms and to develop new technology to assist them in this quest. INTELLIGENCE In magical tradition, a discarnate entity that appears to humans as a pattern or ideas or states of consciousness. Sometimes described as ‘thoughts that think themselves’ or ‘thought forms’, intelligences are thought to reside on the astral plane. Aleister Crowley believed that information received in divination comes from intelligences, and that each system of divination has its own group of intelligences. INTERNATIONAL SPIRITUALIST FEDERATION [ISF] Organisation based in London for Spiritualist and Spiritist associations, churches and members all over the world. The aim of the ISF is to promote dialogue between spiritualists and spiritists and provide a network of support for people in countries not yet ready to accept spiritualist societies. It recognizes the existence of a creative life force, the survival of the human personality after death and communication with the spirit world. According to its website (www.isfederation.org/aim.htm) it aims to ‘reveal that Spiritual nature of mankind which harmonises with natural law’. The ISF was founded in 1923 in Liège, Belgium, but its origins date back to 1888 when the first international conference of spiritualists took place in Barcelona. It was closed down during World War II but reestablished itself soon afterwards and has remained ever since. Every year the ISF sponsors a week of lectures, experiments, classes and seminars. It also runs a scientific forum for research into spiritual philosophy and sends teaching and research teams to visit countries all over the world to raise standards in spiritual healing, mediumship and the presentation of spiritualistic philosophy. INTERNET There are countless Internet sites that offer information and advice about the psychic world. From well-established research centres and spiritualist groups to websites set up by individuals who share an interest in the paranormal, the World Wide Web can be a fascinating resource of useful information and a meeting ground for like-minded individuals. It is important to point out, though, that a large portion of the sites is not regulated by any codes or standard to monitor the information they present. A round up of some of the better known and well-established paranormal and psychic sites are listed in the Resources section at the end of this book. There are also numerous sites on the Web that offer to tell fortunes. Internet divination has become big business, with people paying - typically by credit card -to have their fortunes told. By going to a search engine and entering in a method of divination a number of sites will be found. There are astrology sites, palmistry sites, I Ching and Tarot and even those that delve into the lesserknown methods of divination. There are far too many to include in this book, but some of the more longstanding ones can be picked up in the rersources at the back of this encyclopedia. INTUITION Intuition is the state of knowing something without being aware that you know it. It is a knowledge that seems to come from nowhere, a sudden revelation or insight without any logical evidence. Intuition is commonly believed to be a sixth sense, a form of ESP or an indication of potential psychic ability. Many psychologists, however, believe that intuition does not rely on a sixth sense; it is simply a case of knowing without being aware of how you know. Present understanding of how the brain works provides a logical explanation of this phenomenon. There is an overwhelming sea of awareness we all possess that never reaches conscious awareness. This is subliminal knowledge gleaned by the senses that completely bypasses consciousness. When some aspect of this awareness surfaces into the consciousness, it is called intuition. It is thought that we have two systems of awareness: conscious and intuitive. The conscious or logical mind (left-brain function) is able to verbalize what it experiences. It records information received by the five senses - seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling and tasting. The intuitive system (right-brain function) is nonverbal. It picks up the same information from the five senses. It organizes, processes, records and stores the information for later use. The mind’s intuitive awareness system is believed to be so efficient that it picks up millions of bits of information that the conscious mind misses, and it stores this information continually throughout all the years of a person’s life. As a result a vast storehouse of knowledge is stored in our subconscious without any conscious awareness of it. The intuitive mind never lies dormant and is always trying, through symbols, dreams and feelings, to bring its information to conscious awareness. So when an intuitive insight occurs, it is not a sign of ESP but rather information that has being gathered and stored on a subliminal level. Some people seem naturally able to extract and use intuitive information from the world around them. They seem to reach conclusions, solve problems and sense reality easily and in a mysterious way that others cannot. It is often said that these people are sensitive, talented, inspired, intelligent, creative and even psychic, but often these gifts are just the benefit of intuitive awareness - and there is growing evidence that this is an ability everyone possesses and can develop to some degree. INVISIBILITY Attempts to disappear are a fairly common goal in magical practice. Methods of ritual magic aimed at invisibility are common in medieval and modern sources. According to the teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, invisibility is a state attained by establishing an astral and etheric shell - called the ‘Shroud of Concealment’ - around the body of the magician. The shroud works by distorting the consciousness of those within sight of the magician; while their eyes see an image of his or her presence; their minds are unable to process it and so the magician is not seen. Exercises to develop your intuition Intuition tends to come to us when we are in a relaxed state of mind. Ever remember thinking ‘It’s right on the tip of my tongue’ but you can’t remember what it is? Later, seemingly from nowhere, the information comes to mind. This is a classic example of your intuition working. When you are struggling with a problem try this: Gather all the information you can about a problem. Then concentrate on all the possible issues. Turn the matter over and over in your mind. Then let it go. Stop thinking about it completely. The problem will slip into your subconscious mind where it will be filed and processed. It is now that your intuition gets to work, scanning all the information you have stored and making new connections. Then, out of the blue, a solution will present itself, hours, days or weeks later. It may also present itself after a good night’s sleep. The most favourable conditions for receiving intuitive messages are during quiet and serenity, when your logical mind is subdued or shut down. A good way to entice your intuition is to gaze at the sky and slow moving clouds. This can create a restful atmosphere that helps intuition surface. A warm bath, a long walk, yoga, meditation, tai chi, listening to your favourite music or any activity J that calms the mind and takes you away from distractions and gives you time to think, dream and imagine can all help your intuition take centre stage. Do be aware that intuition speaks in a different language from the one we use in daily life. Feelings and moods are the basic language of intuition. Have you ever felt angry for no reason? Have you ever felt alone in a group of people? Perhaps your intuitive mind is trying to reach you. Dreams are another important voice of the intuitive system, when the nonverbal mind dominates. You may also physically manifest a message from your intuition. Headaches when you feel stressed are a classic example. If you aren’t sure how your intuition comes to you carry a pen and paper around and jot down random thoughts that could be your intuition talking. At the end of the day review what you have written and in the days and weeks ahead see if a pattern emerges. You may find it hard to distinguish between intuition and anxiety. When you know something intuitively, you just know it quietly. The feeling is much different from the noisiness of fear with its explanations that clatter around your head. Intuition is not only quieter it is much gentler than fear. If the thoughts in your mind are full of guilt, anxiety and judgement they are likely to originate from your conscious mind. Intuition tends to be gentler, warmer, kinder and non-judgemental. For instance, if something inside your head is saying you are a loser and you haven’t got what it takes because you always give up, it probably isn’t your intuition talking to you. You intuition might tell you that something doesn’t feel right, that it isn’t right for you and that it’s time to change direction. There may be no words or thoughts, just a gut feeling that it is time to make a change. The ninja-assassin-mystics of feudal Japan used this technique to evade discovery and a number of modern magicians have also found it to be partly effective. INVISIBLE ASSAILANTS Term used to describe spirits who inflict painful and mysterious physical attacks upon the living. See also Incubus, Succubus. INVISIBLE FRIENDS/INVISIBLES Term generally used to describe the invisible playmates of many young children that only they can see. Although it is widely accepted that such figures are figments of the imagination, it has also been often suggested that children are inherently more apt to see ghosts, an ability that gradually disappears through age and social conditioning. Young children often have imaginary friends. Sometimes they’re human, other times they’re animals. Sometimes the imaginary friend is an occasional visitor, stopping by only once every few days. But at other times it may be a child’s constant companion. Children may talk to their imaginary friends, draw with them, or even read books to them. Child development experts believe that imaginary friends are a normal part of growing up - especially during the toddler years. They can be wonderful companions for pretend play, which is an important way to stimulate creativity and imagination, and can help children understand right and wrong. For instance, blaming the imaginary friend for eating sweets before dinner is often a sign that the child understands what is right and what is wrong but isn’t yet ready to assume responsibility for his or her actions. Imaginary friends should only be a cause for concern if they are a child’s only friend -children need to socialize with others their own age - and if the child shifts responsibility for everything bad to the friend. Most children lose their imaginary friends between their third and fifth birthdays. Psychics believe that all children are naturally more in tune with their intuition than adults because they accept the world around them without the boundaries they develop when they grow up. There are no limitations as far as a child is concerned. Their imagination is a reality to them and the subject of imaginary friends needs to be handled with great deal of sensitivity and respect. See Children, Indigo Children. INVOCATION Invocation, from the Latin advoco, ‘summon’, is the act of calling a deity or other spiritual power into a medium, magician or witch. It is not the same as evocation, which is the process of summoning a spirit into some form of manifestation external to the medium. IRON In folklore iron has played a curious role in witchcraft, sorcery and the supernatural. It is thought to protect against witches, sorcerers, demons and other evil entities, but at the same time witches and sorcerers use iron quite happily. Iron has been a popular metal for making amulets with which to ward off danger, bad luck and the evil eye. Iron amulets were worn by ancient Babylonian and Assyrian men in the belief that it would enhance their virility, while women rubbed themselves with iron powder in order to attract men. The ancient Egyptians inserted iron amulets in the linen of mummy wrappings in order to invoke the protection of the Eye of Horus. In certain areas of Burma, the river men still wear iron pyrite amulets for protection against crocodiles. In European folklore it is believed that no witch can pass over cold iron, nor enter any house which has a knife buried under its doorstep. Ancient Saxons would not put iron rune wands in cemeteries for fear that the iron would scare away the departed spirits. In India iron is believed to repel the Djinn and other evil spirits; in America and the UK iron is thought to keep away ghosts and evil spirits. Iron amulets as a deterrent for evil include knives buried under doorsteps or gates, horseshoes hung over doorways, iron hoops, hooks and shears kept in the bedroom to ward against nightmares and nails in the pocket to serve as protection when travelling. Despite all this iron has been used by witches and sorcerers for such items as cauldrons and utensils used in magic. Ghosts and vampires also don’t seem to suffer any evil effects from iron, if reports about iron-chain clanking ghosts are to be considered. Vampires must be warded off with silver, garlic or wolfbane, not iron. In the eighteenth century Franz Anton Mesmer used iron in his healing treatment. He believed iron conducted animal magnetism, a vital energy that everybody had and needed. IRVING, WASHINGTON [1783–1859] Author of the well-known short story ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ with its infamous Headless Horseman character, Irving was fascinated by the paranormal and travelled all over America and Europe in search of ghosts and haunted spots. He was a close friend of Sir Walter Scott, who shared with Irving a passion for the supernatural. The two writers would sometimes explore the English countryside in search of spirits and both left behind an enduring legacy of ghost literature. J JABUTICABAL POLTERGEIST The alleged poltergeist attacks that took place in Jabuticabal (about 200 miles north of São Paulo, Brazil) are among the most vicious ever recorded. In December 1965 a Catholic family was disturbed by bricks falling inside their house. At first the family assumed the bricks had been thrown into the house by someone outside, but when this was ruled out (and the bricks continued to fall) a local priest was called and an exorcism performed. Unfortunately, the exorcism made the attacks worse. The family turned to a neighbouring spiritist called Joao Volpe for help. Volpe decided that Maria Jose Ferreira, an 11-year-old girl who was living in the house, was a medium and unwittingly causing the phenomena. He offered to take Maria home to his house to see if he could investigate the problem. Maria moved in with the Volpes and there were a few days of peace, but then stones began to fly about the Volpe home whenever Maria was present. Volpe counted over three hundred. Eggs also began to disappear and reappear mysteriously. On one occasion a stone appeared, tapped three people on the head and hit the floor. Maria Jose also had a host of invisible friends who would tend to her every need. If she wanted sweets they would materialize at her feet. The attacks even continued when Maria was asleep, with cups and glass appearing over her mouth. Around 40 days after the first brick-throwing incident Maria was attacked with needles, which appeared deeply embedded in her left heel. On 14 March 1966, Maria’s clothes caught fire while she was at school, and on the same day the Volpes’ bedroom caught fire, badly burning Volpe. After a year Volpe took Maria to the Spiritist centre in Uberaba to see Chico Xavier, Brazil’s best-known medium. Through Xavier the spirits announced that Maria was a witch and that many people had suffered and died because of her. Presumably this implied that she had been a witch in a previous life and was now being repaid by her angry victims. Maria was treated with prayer by Volpe’s home circle and the worst of the phenomena subsided, although fruit and vegetables continued to be thrown about from time to time. At the age of 13 Maria returned to live with her mother. Tragically she was found dead after consuming a soft drink laced with pesticide. Perhaps it had all got too much for Maria and she took her own life, or perhaps her invisible assailants had forced her to drink pesticide. The mystery remains unsolved. Volpe compiled a report, which was signed by numerous witnesses. JACK IN IRONS A tall and terrible entity that is said to terrify travellers at night on lonely paths and roads in Yorkshire, England. Jack in Irons is so called because he is covered in chains. Folklore has it that Jack was a criminal who died in prison during a time when prisoners were kept chained. JACK-o’-LANTERN A spectral light that is said to float around at night, beckoning travellers to follow it until they become lost. According to British lore a jack-o’-lantern is a soul denied access to both heaven and hell and destined to wonder the earth carrying a lighted wisp of straw. It is thought that carrying an object made of iron can protect against them. Irish lore urges children outside after dark to wear their jackets inside out so they are disguised and the jack-o’-lantern will pass them by. These remedies travelled to America, along with the practice of flinging oneself to the ground, shutting your eyes and holding your breath until the jack-o’-lantern passes. There are numerous stories to explain the origin of the jack-o’-lantern legend but the most well known is the Irish tale of a man named Jack who was infamous for his drinking and his mean spirit. As the story goes Jack was a miserable old drunk who liked to play tricks on his friends, family and even the Devil. One day he tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree and then placed crosses around the trunk of the tree so the Devil could not get down. Jack made the Devil promise not to take his soul when he died, and only let the Devil down when the Devil had made this promise. When Jack finally died, several years later, he went to the pearly gates of Heaven but was told by St Peter that he had led a miserable and worthless life on earth and was not allowed to enter. He then went to Hell but the Devil, keeping his promise, wouldn’t allow him in either. Jack now had nowhere to go and could only wander in the darkness between heaven and hell. The Devil tossed Jack an ember from the flames of Hell to help him light his way. Jack placed the ember inside a turnip and it has supposedly been Jack’s light on his eternal wanderings on earth ever since. On Allhallows Eve the Irish hollowed out turnips, swedes, potatoes and beet and placed a light in them to ward off evil spirits. In the 1800s Irish immigrants to America quickly discovered that pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve out, so they used pumpkins for jack-o’-lanterns instead. See also Corpse lights, Ignis fatuus. JADE Crystal gem thought to have special powers of healing and protection. Jade was sacred to the ancient Egyptians who associated it with Maat, the goddess of truth. Revered most by the Chinese, jade is considered one of the most important symbols of purity, love and serenity. The ancient Chinese believed that jade could help inspire the mind to make quick and precise decisions. The ancient trader would often hold this gem in the palm of his right hand while he engaged in business transactions. Carved into a scarab, jade is also said to bring its owner a long and prosperous life. In magic jade is used for protection and to help remember dreams and solve problems. In healing it is used to enhance fertility, strengthen the cardiovascular system, cleanse the blood and dispel negative emotions. JAMES, WILLIAM [1842–1910] American psychologist and founder member of the American Society for Psychical Research and President of the Society for Psychical Research in London, who made significant contributions to psychical research. James was born the oldest of four children to a wealthy family in New York City. His father was a renowned philosopher and his brother was the novelist Henry James. William graduated from Harvard at the age of 27 with a medical degree and two years later he began a distinguished career at Harvard teaching psychology and philosophy. His first book, The Principles of Psychology, was published in 1890 and established his reputation as one of America’s foremost thinkers. In this work he documented his belief that the human mind and body were inseparable, and mentions ‘changes in the nutrition of the tissues which may be produced by the power of suggestion.’ He also attacked discrimination against spiritualism. At the age of 57 James had a visionary experience while on a climbing trip to the Adirondack Mountains, which he described as a meeting between the gods of nature and the moral gods of the inner life. In 1886 he began his Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion at the University of Edinburgh and these were published in book form in 1902, as The Varieties of Religious Experience: A study in Human Nature. In these lectures James suggests that personal religious faith need not be in conflict with science. In all his work James envisaged a universe created by a person’s own experience and a never-ending evolutionary process. He described his philosophy as pragmatism’, which he believed concerned the concrete and the practical: if a choice had to be made he preferred the concrete. His writings on the subject include Pragmatism: New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907) and The Meaning of Truth (1909). From 1869 onwards James became fascinated by the paranormal and regularly attended sittings with mediums - in particular, Boston trance medium Leonora Piper. Her ability so impressed him that he continued to research mental mediums for the rest of his life. Throughout his life James was concerned with enlarging the scope of science to include phenomena that could not be explained by known physical laws and was far ahead of his peers in not separating mind and body into different spheres. His approach to the subject was cautious and logical, and he had a keen interest in facts and evidence. Physical mediumship with its table rapping and slate writing did not appeal to him as he believed it offered too much possibility for fraud. As well as being a key member of the British and American societies for psychical research, James also established the Lawrence Scientific School for psychical research at Harvard. Psychical research convinced James that telepathy was genuine. Although he wanted to believe in survival after death his sittings with mediums never offered adequate proof. Around 1899 James investigated an incidence of clairvoyance. A Mrs Titus of Lebanon, New Hampshire, said that she had had a dream detailing where the body of a missing girl could be found. He was sceptical at first, but in a 1907 article for the American Society for Psychical Research he came to the conclusion that the case offered solid evidence ‘in favour of the admission of a supernormal faculty of seership’. James admired fellow psychical researcher Frederick Myers’s concept of the subliminal self, or psychic region where higher mental processes occur, but his own theory of the ‘hidden self was developed years before. He described the subliminal self as ‘the most important step forward that has occurred in psychology’ James died on 26 August 1910 in New Hampshire. There are numerous reports of communications with him through mediumship. JIMMY SQUAREFOOT Ghost of a half-man and half-beast creature that is said to haunt the Grenaby district of the Isle of Man. Originally tales implied that this creature was a large ghostly pig, which was ridden about like a horse by a cruel stone-throwing giant. More contemporary reports state that the ghost has the body of a man but the head of a tusked wild boar. Jimmy Squarefoot is the name of the man who became the phantom. As a mortal it is said he was a stone-thrower himself, and his favourite target was his wife. JOAD, DR C E M [1891–1953] Distinguished philosopher and former head of philosophy at London’s Birkbeck College, Cyril Joad penned numerous works which are still regarded as essential reading for some university level studies. His writings include Modern Philosophy (1924), Matter, Life and Value (1929), Guide to Philosophy (1936) and Guide to the Philosophy of Morals and Politics (1938). Joad also took a keen interest in the possible existence of ghosts and played a key part, alongside renowned ghost hunter Harry Price, in many investigations into allegedly haunted locations, the most famous of which was Borley Rectory. JOAN OF ARC Joan of Arc was born in Domrémy, near Vancouleurs in 1412 to a humble and pious family. She never learned to read or write, as this would have been considered unnecessary for someone of her station in life. Joan began to hear voices, or what psychologists might call ‘auditory hallucinations’ around the age of 13. In other words she heard voices when no visible person was there. At first she was alarmed, but in time she grew to trust the voices as they seemed to have her best interests at heart, telling her often that she ‘must be a good girl and go often to church’. Then she began to have visions of St Michael, St Catherine and St Margaret and was told about her divine mission to help the Dauphin, the future Charles VII, regain the throne of France from the English. Joan eventually went to the Dauphin and was put in charge of 6,000 men. Her army advanced to the relief of Orleans, which was surrounded by the English. After two weeks, with Joan’s army showing great bravery and tactical skill, the French were victorious and the British retreated in 1429. A few months later Charles was crowned king at Reims. Joan felt that her mission was accomplished and expressed her wish to return to her family, but this was overruled by the King and she was ordered to fight again against the allied English and Bur-gundian forces. In November 1430 she fell into enemy hands and was thrown into a dungeon at Rouen. After a year in prison she was tried for heresy and sorcery. She showed remarkable courage and avoided making any heretical statements, but the trial was a sham and her fate had already been decided. She was condemned to the stake. To the last she affirmed the reality of her voices and died with such dignity that many began to believe she must have been a saint. Inspired by her example the French found new courage and the English were eventually swept out of the country. In 1456 Joan was declared innocent by the Pope and she was canonized in 1920. Joan’s importance in history is great but were her powers and her voices genuine? Many believe that they were merely hallucinations induced by her patriotic upbringing and the plight of her people. An ignorant and superstitious army would readily believe the supernatural nature of her mission and find great energy and courage from it. This explanation, although plausible, is not fully satisfactory, as it does not explain how an ignorant peasant girl could persuade the Dauphin to give her such responsibility and power. And there is strong evidence that Joan gave the Dauphin proof that she was on a divine mission by demonstrating skills of mind reading and clairvoyance. It is thought that she was able to repeat a prayer that the Dauphin had made mentally, and find a sword hidden behind the altar of Fierbois Church. JOHNSON, DR SAMUEL [1709–1784] Renowned as a lexicographer, literary critic and poet, Dr Samuel Johnson also devoted a great deal of his time to the study of ghosts and the paranormal. His friend and biographer James Boswell (1740-95) detailed Johnson’s passion for psychical research and quotes him as saying, ‘It is wonderful that six thousand years have now elapsed since the creation of the world, and still it is undecided whether or not there has been an instance of the spirit of any person appearing after death. All argument is against it, but all belief is for it.’ JOTT Acronym for just one of those things’, JOTT is used by modern psychical researchers to describe paranormal phenomena that defy rational explanation. Psychical researcher and vice president of the Society for Psychical Research Mary Rose Barrington coined the acronym when she collected and classified numerous cases of paranormal phenomena. According to Barrington there are two groups of JOTTs: oddjotts, which concern happenings that have no explanation, and jottles, which concerned the displacement of objects. Jottles are broken down into smaller categories: walkabout, where an article disappears and is found somewhere else later without explanation as to how it got there; comeback, where an article disappears from a location and minutes or years later reappears in the same location; flyaway, where an article disappears and never reappears; turn-up, where an article known to the observer turns up in a place where it is not expected to be; windfall, in which an article turns up that isn’t known to the observer; and trade-in, when a flyaway is followed by a windfall that is similar but not the same as the object that disappeared. JOURNALS, PARAPSYCHOLOGY For much of its history parapsychology research has had for its only outlet the journals of a few societies for psychical research. In 1937, however, J B Rhine established the Journal of Parapsychology and this remains one of the major channels for disseminating research in the field. More recently some other major English-language journals have been established, including the European Journal of Parapsychology (from 1975) and the Journal of Scientific Exploration (from 1987). All these journals adhere to the strict code of acceptance for papers that characterizes orthodox scientific journals. There are also a number of specialized publications. For example, Theta (published since 1963) provides a forum for research relevant to survival after death theories, the Journal of Near Death Studies (formerly Anabiosis and published since 1981) features research on near-death experiences and related phenomena, and Exceptional Human Experience (formerly Parapsychology Abstracts International and published from 1983) includes reports of various experiences and commentaries on their investigations. Journals in languages other than English include Psi Comunicacion, Quaderni di Parapsicologia, Revista Argentina de Psicologia Paranormal, Revista Brasileira de Parapsicologia, Revue de Parapsychologie, Revue Français de Psychotronique, Tijdschirft voor Parapsychologie and Zeitschrft für Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiet der Psychologie. Over the years parapsychologists have demonstrated that their journals and the research published in them are subject to the same rigorous codes of conduct applied to orthodox science. This is well illustrated by a statement published by Rhine in a 1974 edition of the Journal of Parapsychology. The statement gave details of an incident where a respected psychical researcher, Dr Levy, had been caught tinkering with recording apparatus being used in one of the laboratory’s psi experiments. It advised that all of Levy’s publications should now be regarded as unacceptable. The perseverance of academic parapsychologists publishing their work in the above mentioned journals has contributed to the growing acceptance of parapsychology as an orthodox discipline. It has also seen the establishment of parapsychology courses in many universities and colleges in America, Britain, Europe, Australia, India and other countries. For a full list of parapsychology journals and accredited courses see the Resources section. JUNG, CARL [1875–1961] Swiss psychologist whose impact on twentieth-century New Age thought has been enormous. Jungian principles have been adapted to nearly all academic disciplines from psychology to mythology to religion to quantum physics. He was the founder of the analytical school of psychology, known as Jungian psychology, and, along with Sigmund Freud, the most influential author of psychoanalytical theory. Jung coined phrases such as introvert, extrovert, repression, projection and complexes, which have become part of our language, and added a spiritual element to psychology. Prior to that people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours were analysed scientifically on the basis of what could be observed and experienced. Jung suggested that there were parts of the human personality that could not be explained logically and that mystic aspects had to be considered if a person was to deal with their psychological issues. Jung was born on 26 July 1875, in Kess-wil, Switzerland. His mystical experiences began early and from childhood and throughout his life he experienced visionary dreams, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis and hauntings. His psychic ability may have been a hereditary gift as his mother and maternal grandmother both described themselves as ghost seers. It wasn’t until around 1897, while an undergraduate, that Jung took a serious interest in the paranormal. During his medical training at Basel, he discovered that his 16-year-old cousin had become a practising medium. He invited her to perform experiments for his doctoral thesis and first published work: On the Psychology and Pathology ofSo-Called Occult Phenomena (1902). Jung studied the medium for over two years and later said this investigation changed his mind about the reality of spirits and spiritualism and made it possible for him to observe psychic phenomena from a psychological point of view. In December 1900 Jung took a position at Burghölzli Mental Hospital in Zurich and found in psychiatry a way of combining his two main interests, medicine and spirituality. He began to correspond with Sigmund Freud and soon became a devoted follower. In 1905 he gave a key lecture at the University of Basil entitled ‘On Spiritualistic Phenomena’, in which he discussed the history of spiritualism and referred to numerous cases he had investigated in Zurich. Although he insisted it was important to keep an open mind, in general he was not impressed and in the majority of cases he diagnosed hysteria. In 1909 Jung wrote to Freud about his interest in paranormal phenomena and the two later met to discuss parapsychology in Vienna. Much to Jung’s disappointment, Freud, a confirmed sceptic (although later he would change his mind about ESP), dismissed the subject. During the meeting Jung began to experience a curious sensation in his stomach. Suddenly there was a small but loud explosion from the bookcase. Jung explained to Freud that this was a classic example of psychokinesis. Freud replied that this was ‘sheer bosh’. The two argued and another explosion followed. For the next few years Freud’s dogmatism and emphasis on sexuality as the root cause of all crises increasingly clashed with Jung’s interest in spiritual and psychic phenomena. In 1913 Jung broke openly with Freud and resigned from his professorship at the University of Zurich. The change of direction prompted scorn from his peers and a six-year nervous breakdown, during which Jung experienced numerous paranormal phenomena. He became obsessed with the world of the dead, publishing Seven Sermons to the Dead in 1916, under the name of the second-century Gnostic Basilidies. When he had recovered from his breakdown Jung began work on his important theory of psychological types, first published in 1921. In this he suggests there are two psychological types - extroverts and introverts - who could be classified by four basic functions: feeling, sensation, thinking and intuition. Other important theories include the anima (feminine principle of the personality) and animus (the masculine principle), the collective unconscious and archetypes. He defined the ‘self as the psyche - the mind, soul or spirit. The psyche was divided into the ego, which Jung identifies with the conscious mind, the personal unconscious, which includes anything that is not presently conscious, and the collective unconscious, which is a reservoir of our experiences as a species, a kind of knowledge we are all born with and yet are not directly conscious of. Some parts of our unconscious the ego will recognize but other parts, especially taboo beliefs, the ego will repress. That hidden element of the psyche is the shadow, and the persona (the aspect of the ego we present to the world for its approval) and shadow are constantly struggling with each other to find a balance. If the struggle becomes too great a crisis occurs and the collective unconscious enters our awareness. Jung suggested that this was a psychic realm, common to everyone, in which all elements of experience, which express themselves in the form of mythical archetypes, were stored. In 1919 Jung gave a lecture to the Society for Psychical Research called The Psychological Foundations of Belief in Spirits’. In it he outlined his belief that there were three sources of belief in spirits: apparitions, dreams and ‘pathological disturbances of psychic life’. He suggested that spirits are created psychologically when someone dies - images and thoughts remain attached to loved ones left behind and are activated by the intensity of grief to form spirits. Jung’s dream It is interesting to note that the fundamental infrastructure of Jungian psychology, which underpins almost all the ideas we have today about the human mind, was revealed to Jung in a dream. In this dream he was in a two-storey house. The upper storey was a pleasant-enough salon furnished in rococo style but Jung realized he did not know what the other floor looked like. He went downstairs and discovered a much older and darker room with medieval furnishings. As he continued to explore he found a heavy door and a descending staircase. This took him to a chamber with a Roman architectural style. From this chamber he found another staircase leading down to the depths and a low cave cut into rock with remains of primitive culture and two human skulls. In his autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Jung wrote: It was plain to me that the house represented a kind of image of the psyche - that is to say the state of consciousness, with hitherto unconscious additions. Consciousness was represented by the salon. It had an inhabited atmosphere, in spite of its antiquated style. The ground floor stood for the level of the unconscious. The deeper I went in the more alien and darker the scene became. In the cave I discovered remains of a primitive culture - a world which can be scarcely reached or illuminated by my consciousness. The primitive psyche of man borders on the life of the animal soul, just as the caves of prehistoric times were usually inhabited by animals before men laid claim to them. In this primitive bottom floor Jung created his most famous theory - the collective unconscious - patterns and images that are common to us all. And out of the collective unconscious came his ideas about archetypes and his enduring insights into the human mind, heart and soul. An experience that occurred to him in 1920 confirmed this view to him. He spent several nights in an allegedly haunted house while on a visit to London to give lectures. Over the course of his stay he heard strange noises and smelled odd smells. On the final night of his stay he heard rustling, cracking and banging, and while trying to fall asleep he saw the image of an old woman with half her face missing on the pillow beside him. Jung interpreted his experience as being prompted by the smells in the room, which reminded him of a patient he had once had who was similar to the old lady he had seen in his vision. He believed that the sounds he heard were sounds in his ear exaggerated by his hypnogogic state. Jung had a near-death experience in 1944, following a heart attack. As he lay in bed a nurse saw a halo of light around his head, and later, when he had recovered, Jung recounted what had happened to him during that time. He said that he felt he was floating high above the earth and could see all the way from the Himalayas across the Middle East to the Mediterranean. He saw a huge block of stone that had been hollowed out from a temple. As he drew closer to the temple he felt his earthly desires fall away from him and he knew that once inside he would understand the meaning of life. Suddenly his earthly doctor appeared in the form of a mythical healer to the gods and told him he must return to earth. Jung did so but with great resentment. He also knew that the doctor would die as he had manifested in what Jung interpreted as his primal form. The doctor did die soon after. In the last years of his life Jung developed his ideas further on a number of topics, including mythology, symbolism, the I Ching, alchemy, mandalas (which he believed pictorially represented the wholeness of the self), reincarnation and the phenomenology of the self, the later culminating in the significant work Aion in 1951. Perhaps his most important work of this period was Synchronicity (1952), where he applied the theory of meaningful coincidences to psi phenomena and other phenomena including alchemy, the I Ching and astrology. Although Jung proposed a psychological explanation for spirits of the dead he did believe in paranormal concepts like precognition and psychokinesis, and the language of dreams, visions and fantasies. He believed that God existed in everyone and that the way to salvation was to become more self-aware. He believed in reincarnation but thought that his own incarnation was not due to karma but to a ‘passionate drive for understanding in order to piece together mystic conceptions from the slender hints of the unknowable’ (Nandor Fodor, Freud, Jung and the Occult, 1971). After his wife of 52 years died in 1955 Jung began work on building a stone castle in his newly acquired property in Bollingen. He carved a number of alchemical and mysterious symbols into the stone and the ongoing building and alterations to the tower represented to him an extension of consciousness achieved in old age. The last of Jung’s visionary experiences occurred a few days before his death and was to be a portent. In his dream he saw a tree laced with gold - the alchemical symbol of wholeness. Curiously when he died on 6 June 1961, a storm arose on Lake Geneva and lightning struck his favourite tree. Jung left behind him an impressive legacy of written work and founded the analytical approach to psychology - also known as Jungian psychology - which is still influential today. Analytical psychology interprets mental and emotional problems as an attempt to discover spiritual and personal wholeness. Jung believed that everyone has a story to tell and that some of this story is hidden in the unconscious. In telling this story the archetypes of the collective unconscious reveal wisdom and knowledge to help a person heal their psyche and come to terms with their shadow to find a healthy psychological balance. Other important aspects of Jungian psychology are the interpretation of dreams and visions, and exploring a person’s creative and spiritual drives. K KA To the ancient Egyptians ka was the vital force that infused everything people, animals and plants. It was also part of the soul. The precise meaning of ka is no longer clear to us, as ancient Egyptian ideas concerning soul and spirit refuse to fit into any traditional Western categories, but ka is generally portrayed in Egyptian art as a double or doppelgänger that lingered on in the tomb inhabiting the body or even statues of the deceased. It was thought to be independent of the body and able to move, eat and drink at will. There was both a higher, guardian angel-like ka and lower ka that came from knowledge learned on earth. The tomb was considered to be a home for the ka and it was important to leave offerings of food and drink and pay respects so the dead would send benevolent ka energy to the living. A priest would be appointed to see that the needs of the ka were met. If inadequate offerings were made the ka would be forced to leave the tomb and wander the earth in ghost form looking for food and drink. KABBALAH Also Cabala, Kabala, Qabalah. Ancient Jewish mystical tradition that refers to secret teachings handed down from teacher to pupil and promises spiritual enlightenment to those who follow its precepts. The Kabbalah is a doctrine of esoteric knowledge concerning God and the universe. It is largely mathematical in nature and concentrates on the configuration of magical words, anagrams, angel and demon names and the most holy, the secret name of God. According to Jewish tradition the Kabbalah was first taught to Adam by the Archangel Gabriel and passed on from ‘mouth to ear’ through a long chain of secret initiates. Whatever the truth of the origins of the Kabbalah there is no doubt that it is very old indeed. It remained an oral tradition until AD 1280, when Moses ben Shemtob de Leon produced a lengthy commentary on the first five books of the Old Testament - the books of Moses -known as the Sefer ha-Zohar (Book of Splendour). The Zohar allegedly represented the work of another rabbi, the mystic visionary Simeon bar Yohai. It departed dramatically from Orthodox Judaism and is the primary work from which classical Kabbalah developed. The Zohar teaches that the ultimate godhead was Ein Sof “(‘without end’), a limitless being beyond all description. The Ein Sof created the world from itself and the aim of humankind is to realize union with the divine. The Ein Sof ‘condensed’ a somewhat lesser being, the Yahweh or Jehovah of the Hebrews, who nonetheless had the prime characteristics of the ultimate. Since the name of Yahweh was considered too holy to be spoken aloud, Kabbalists prefer to use the term Tetragrammaton, which means ‘Name of Four Letters’ and refers to the fact that Yahweh is spelled YHVH. In attempting to describe the attributes and essence of this god, Kabbalists conceived of their manifestation as 10 interlinking states of activity, called sephiroth, that humanity must achieve to attain wisdom. The sephiroth form the central image of Kabbalah meditation, the Tree of Life, and show the descent of the divine into the material world, and the path by which people can reach up to the divine while in their physical bodies. The first sephiroth, Kether, is the state of unity encompassing all the rest and is most closely associated with Yahweh; the remaining nine culminate in Malkuth, the physical world. The Kabbalist ascends the Tree of Life through contemplation, study and meditation. The sephiroth are contemplated by visualizing them vibrating with colours that correspond to their level of attainment in knowledge, along with images of the names of God, angels, planets and energy centres. Also key is the idea that the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet are sacred symbols of the universe (known as arcana) and to understand them is to understand life. A way to access the arcana’s energy is to chant the sounds of each letter, and to meditate on the letters is to meditate on all of creation and to achieve oneness with the whole. The arcana are also linked to the ten sephiroth on the Tree of Life, forming branches or pathways. This means there are 32 ways to reach understanding or enlightenment. All of them involve years of long and intense study. The teachings of the Zohar spread into Europe in the fourteenth and fifteen centuries and by the sixteenth century Kabbalah had become more accessible to the masses. Over the centuries it has not only had a profound impact on the development of Judaism but has also left an indelible impression on the Western magical tradition. Since the establishment of the Golden Dawn in the Victorian era, the Kabbalah has played a key role in the development of Western mysticism. Dion Fortune called Kabbalah the ‘Yoga of the West’, but it is a Kabbalah the ancient Hebrews might have had difficulties recognizing - over the years the ancient tradition has been heavily influenced by elements from Christianity, Eastern and occult traditions such as Tarot, alchemy, Wicca, Paganism, Theosophy, Witchcraft and astrology. In recent times emphasis has shifted almost entirely back on to the Tree of Life and practices such as pathworking. The study of the Kabbalah is considered a lifelong occupation, and because of its emphasis on revealing secrets by initiation it is hard to simplify and clarify. Typically students of the Kabbalah spend a great deal of time and effort on building in their minds traditional associations with the sephiroth and the paths of the Tree of Life, and then go on to formulate their own personal associations. In this way the Tree can be applied to almost any mystical system and can be used as a basis for ritual magic. Today, Kabbalah is enjoying a revival of interest. Thousands of people around the world are turning to the Kabbalah and finding in it a rich, meaningful spiritual practice, whose roots reach deep into the past, and whose path can help them find fulfilment and understanding in the here and now. KACHINA Native American spirit of the ancestral dead who is believed to be a messenger from the gods. Most kachinas are thought to be benevolent, and in addition to bringing rain they will also entertain and discipline children. According to myth, kachinas live in the sacred San Francisco Mountains. At first they would visit the villages to dance and take the souls of the newly dead back with them to the mountains, where they transform into rain-giving clouds; but the visitations became such hard work that they decided others should go in their place. The kachina cult was born. At appointed times men would dress in costumes and masks and perform the kachina dance. The Zuni tribe call their kachinas koko: spirits of men who take the form of ducks to bring rain and visit the living as clouds. The koko live happily in a great village at the bottom of the mythical Lake of the Dead, which is thought to be located at the junction of the Zuni and Little Colorado rivers. In Zuni myth the original koko were children who drowned after the emergence of people from the underworld. Koko also include the recently deceased and spirits of ancestors long dead who can bestow health, rain and good corn crops. KANT, IMMANUEL [1724–1804] Perhaps the greatest philosopher to hail from Germany, Immanuel Kant made a significant contribution to paranormal research with his much-admired Traüme eines Geistersehers (Dreams of a Ghost-Seer) (1766). While researching for this work Kant visited a number of haunted locations and interviewed numerous witnesses who claimed to have encountered unusual phenomena. Although Kant never realized his hope of actually seeing a ghost for himself, in his intriguing treatise on the supernatural he writes, ‘I do not care wholly to deny all truth to the various ghost stories, but with the curious reservation that I doubt each one of them singly, yet have some belief in them all taken together.’ KARDEC, ALLAN [1804–1869] Pseudonym used by French physician and founder of spiritism, Hippolyte Leon Denizard Rivail. During sessions with medium Celina Japhet, spirits allegedly revealed to Rivail his past lives, in which he was known as Allan and Kardec. Automatic writing spirits, produced while Japhet was in a trance, discussed the importance of reincarnation and urged Rivail to publish these revelations in Le livre des esprits (The Spirits Book) in 1856. The book later became the handbook of spiritist philosophy. In 1864 Le livre des mediums (The Mediums Book) was published and was soon followed by The Gospel as Explained by Spirits, Heaven and Hell, Genesis and Experimental Spiritism and Spiritualist Philosophy. Drawing on the communications with spirits through Japhet, Rivail (now Kardec) expanded spiritism beyond a basic belief in survival after death to claim that reincarnation was essential for spiritual progress and to understand and heal suffering - in particular epilepsy and multiple personality disorder (the latter being thought to be caused by interference from past incarnations). Kardec accepted spirit communication on faith alone and through his monthly magazine La Revue Spirite, which he founded, and the Society of Psychologic Studies, of which he was President, he actively discouraged the need for psychical research. European Spiritism faded away after Kardec’s death in 1869, to be replaced by spiritualism and interest in psi phenomena. It does, however, remain alive in Brazil where a number of Kardecist healing centres work alongside conventional medicine. KARMA In Hinduism and Buddhism, karma is the sum of a person’s thoughts and actions, which are regarded as determining that person’s future states of existence. The law of karma originated in the Vedic system of religion. As a term, it can be traced right back to the early Upanishads, around 1500 BC. In Hinduism karma literally means ‘deed’ or ‘act’, and describes the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction that governs all life. Karma is not fate, for man acts with free will and creates his own destiny. There are three types of karma: sanchita karma, the sum total of past karmas yet to be resolved; prarabdha karma, that portion of sanchita karma that is to be experienced in this life; and kriya-mana karma, the karma that humans are currently creating that will bear fruit in the future. The playing out of karma can take place over many lifetimes. According to the Vedas, if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness; if we sow evil, we will reap evil. Karma refers to the totality of our actions and their concomitant reactions in this and previous lives, all of which determines our future. All karma, good or bad, creates more karma and only the attainment of enlightenment eliminates karma and the need to be reborn. In Buddhism, karma is the universal and inescapable law of cause and effect that may be played out over many incarnations. Karma is created by acts, words, thoughts and intent, even if that intent is not carried out. Karma can only be overcome by adherence to the Three Pure Concepts: cease evil; do good for others; and keep a pure mind. Only when a person is free of hate, delusion and desire is he or she free of the cause and effect of karma. The idea of karma was popularized in the West through the work of the Theosophical Society. Karma is featured in the trance readings of American medium Edgar Cayce. Cayce said that the effects of karma could be mitigated by the law of grace, which was both a state of mind and a gift from God and involved forgiveness. Cayce also attributed many of the problems and illnesses his patients suffered to karma from past lives. People who undergo past-life recall therapy often feel that their present circumstances are the result of actions taken in past lives. Although there are cases of anxieties and birthmarks corresponding to wounds from alleged previous lives, scientific investigation of such cases shows no evidence in support of karma. It has been suggested that feelings related to karma could be a result of cultural expectation concerning reward and punishment for good and bad deeds. Western New Age reinterpretations of karma use the concept to help explain the reason for misfortunes encountered in life. Karma is frequently cast as a sort of luck that is associated with virtue: if one does good or spiritually valuable acts, one deserves and can expect good luck; conversely, if one does harmful things, one can expect bad luck or unfortunate happenings. KELPIE Treacherous water spirits from Scottish folklore that are thought to inhabit every lake and stream. According to myth kelpie are a death omen when seen in the shape of a horse or a shaggy-looking man. In the shape of a horse it is said that they appear grazing peacefully on riverbanks. They lure travellers to mount them and then plunge their victims into the water, where they drown them and eat them save for the livers, which float to the surface. Fairy horses are known throughout the British Isles and Ireland by many names including the Irish phooka and Scottish kelpie. These beings are believed to be fairy shape-shifters with the ability to take on both a human and equine countenance. Even when they are in the guise of an animal they possess full command of the human language and can therefore speak. It has been suggested that these fairy steeds are all that remains of a preChristian equestrian cult but it is likely that these or similar creatures, such as the Loch Ness monster, that inhabit the lakes, lochs, rivers and seas of the world are perhaps the mechanism peoples have used for centuries to keep children away from the dangers of the water’s edge. KEPHALONOMANCY An ancient and unusual form of divination that was used by the ancient southern Germanic clan of Lombards to determine the guilt or innocence of those accused of crime. The head of a goat or ass would be baked and burning charcoal would be poured onto it while reciting the names of suspected criminals; if a crackling sound was heard when a person’s name was mentioned this was taken as proof of his or her guilt. KERE A spirit of the dead. In ancient Greece it was thought that keres were spirits that escaped from the jars used to contain dead bodies. Once free they would devote their energy to upsetting the living and inflicting disease and illness. Rituals and incantations were methods used to exorcise them, along with the paining of sticky tar on doorframes to catch them and prevent them from causing harm. KHU An ancient Egyptian belief referring to a number of souls that together constituted the individual. According to the Pyramid texts, humans are composed of a mortal body, kha, and at least three immortal (or at least able to survive bodily death) elements: the ka, ba and khu. These are sometimes translated as ‘double’, ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’ but these Western terms do not really give the full nuances of the concepts implied. Often mentioned in connection with the ba, the khu cannot die and dwells in the sahu (spiritual body). It is the radiant shining one; the transfigured dead that ascends to heaven and dwells among the gods, or among the immortal pole stars which never set. As spirit, the khu is the opposite of the perishable body, kha. KIDD, JAMES [1879–1949] Mysterious American prospector who disappeared in 1949 leaving a will stating that that his estate of approx $174,000 should be used to investigate and prove the survival of the human soul after death. A controversial court case, in which the will was contested by relatives, followed lasting nearly 20 years. Little is known about Kidd. He arrived in Arizona in 1920 and worked at a copper mine and prospected. He never married and throughout his life gave no indication of his interest in spiritualism. On 9 November 1949, he went to prospect a claim and never returned. It was speculated that he died when falling into a canyon in the Superstition Mountains. He was declared dead seven years later, and the authorities gathered together a large amount of assets in cash and stocks. A safety deposit box was found. It contained his will written in his own hand on lined notebook paper. It read: this is my first and only will and is dated the second of January 1946. I have no heirs and have not married in my life and after all my funeral expenses have been paid and $100 given to some preacher of the gospel to say fare well at my grave sell all my property which is all in cash and stocks with E F Hutton Co Phoenix some in safety deposit box, and have this balance money go in a research or some scientific proof of a soul of the human body which leaves at death I think in time their can be a photograph of soul leaving the human at death. James Kidd. Even though the will was declared legal relatives of Kidd attempted to have it declared invalid. In 1964 the University of Life Church filed a suit against the relatives and a lengthy court battle over the money by a number of interested parties began. In 1967 in Phoenix, Judge L Myers heard 133 petitions from a number of organizations claiming to be the ideal candidates to carry out Kidd’s intent. The media dubbed it the ‘Soul Trial’ and ‘The ghost trial of the century’. Judge Myers eventually awarded the estate to the Burrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, as he thought their combined fields of science, psychiatry and psychology would be best able to utilize the money, but the ruling was overturned. A higher court intervened, and awarded the majority of the estate to the American Society for Psychical Research, which used it to investigate deathbed visions. James Kidd, prospector, miner and eccentric, left a small fortune behind to anyone who could prove the existence of a visual soul. The fact that a poorly educated and reclusive man gave such a generous contribution to psychical research has created a mystery that remains unsolved. His body has never been found and science has been unable (so far) to prove the existence of life after death. Some say that his restless and unsatisfied spirit still roams the Superstition wilderness. KLKIMORA Ancient Slavic term for an invisible female ghost that is said to attach herself to certain households. If treated with respect the kikimora will protect the family from misfortune and occasionally assist in housework by tidying up and cleaning. It is sometimes said that the kikimora is the ghost of an ugly woman who died in a swamp but, because the Slavs lived all over Eastern Europe with lots of different languages and beliefs, the origins of this legend remain a mystery. KLNAESTHETIC SENSE The human body has eight senses (nine if you count psychic sense): sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, balance (vesibular), organic (internal organs) and kinaesthetic, which is the ability to sense body position and movement of muscles, tendons and joints. For instance, if a person walks through a car park and there are a lot of cars parked together they have to turn and adjust their body in order to get through the tight spaces. The reason they are able to sense whether they can fit, what type of movements they need to make and how to adjust their body position is because they have kinaesthetic sense. Psychics who receive their information primarily though the sense of touch are thought to have an expanded kinaesthetic awareness. These individuals typically display clairsentient ability and often practise psychometry, which is the ability to sense information by touching people, objects and energy fields. Kinaesthetic evocation Awakening the senses is an important part of visualization techniques to awaken clairsentient ability. To help awaken your kinaesthetic sense, the sense through which we are aware of the body and its movements, imagine that you are: 1. walking and then running along a beach: feel every movement of your muscles, the feel of the sand on your feet and the wind in your hair. 2. driving a car: sense with precision each movement you make in turning the steering wheel, pressing the pedals, and so on. 3. swimming, playing tennis, football or basketball, or practising any other sport you enjoy. KINESIOLOGY, APPLIED Developed by the American chiropractor Dr George Goodheart, applied kinesiology is a method of diagnosis and treatment that combines muscle-testing with the principles of traditional Chinese medicine to assess energy function and bodily health. It claims to induce proper structural and chemical-nutritional organization in the body as well as left-and right-brain balance. It also claims to evaluate and correct problems of the nervous, circulatory, lymphatic and skeletal-musculature systems, thereby maintaining health. Its practices are believed to permit the even flow of cosmic energy (see universal life force) throughout the body, thus nurturing individual organs and systems with the proper supply of chi energy. Kinesiology assumes that illness is caused by improperly balanced energy fields in the body. Problems are diagnosed by testing the muscles, each of which is presumed to be connected to a different organ, to determine what is wrong. The proposed solution is to apply particular types of muscle massages that are supposed to release blockages and stimulate energy flow, thus returning the patient to good health. Applied kinesiology is not a scientific but a philosophy-based medicine, starting from the idea of mystical energy in the body and creating treatments based upon that alone. One outgrowth of applied kinesiology is behavioural kinesiology, developed in the later part of the twentieth century by John Diamond. Diamond follows the same basic philosophy, in that he believes that each muscle relates to some particular organ, but he adds to this the central role of the thymus gland in regulating a person’s psychic energy. It should be noted that applied and behavioural kinesiology have nothing to do with the science of kinesiology, which is the legitimate study of muscular movement and tension as it relates to joints, tendons and skeletal structure. KING HOUSE, MAYPORT, FLORIDA King House was originally built on an old Spanish graveyard and was used as a boarding house for sailors. It was destroyed by fire and rebuilt sometime after 25 April 1881. King House still stands in Ocean Street, Mayport to this day. Before his death in the late 1970s the house was owned and occupied by a John King and it was during these years that it became known as the most haunted house in the area. A master storyteller, Mr King would tell ghost stories to visitors from all over the county and a number of mysterious incidents were reported at the house. Psychical researchers investigating the house have concluded that the atmosphere in it is perfect for hauntings and that there may be some kind of evil presence there. A distant aunt of Mr King who was pitch-forked to death as she sat in a green rocking chair by her jealous sailor ex-boyfriend is said to roam the halls of the house, and many people, including Mr King, have claimed the chair rocked with no one sitting in it. A little man in red who liked to play tricks on guests in the house has also been reported, as has a lady in white who is thought to be the ghost of a young woman killed on her wedding night in a car crash near the King House. There have also been reports of ghosts pulling the covers from Mr King and guests while they slept in their beds at night, and of doors opening when the handles were reached for. KING, JOHN Famous spirit control for a number of major nineteenth-century mediums. John King served as a control for the Davenport brothers, Agnes Guppy and Madame Blavatsky, to name but a few. According to his own account John King claimed to have been Henry Owen Morgan, the pirate who was knighted by Charles II and appointed Governor of Jamaica. He first appeared in the flash of a pistol fired by Ira Davenport in 1850, and remained as spirit manager with the Davenports throughout their career. His activity was multifarious. While faithfully serving the Davenports he also appeared during séances to Jonathan Koons in Ohio. King introduced himself as the head of a band of 160 spirits that, he claimed, descended from a race of men known by the generic title Adam, and having as leaders ‘the most ancient angels. They signed their communications as King No. 1, No. 2., etc., and sometimes: Servant and Scholar of God.’ In the early years of British spiritualism it was the aspiration of many mediums to secure his influence. A Mrs Marshall was the first, Mrs Guppy, Miss Georgina Houghton, Charles Williams and William Eglinton Husk followed, whilst in America he was claimed by Madame Blavatsky in her early career as a spiritualist. Typically King communicated by direct voice mediumship and trumpet - a conduit he is crediting with inventing. He was described by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as tall and swarthy with a full black beard. He had a deep voice and spoke many languages. On 20 March 1873, during a daylight séance, John King manifested so successfully that a sketch was made of him by an artist. A week later he appeared again in solid and material form. He was usually seen in the light of a peculiar lamp which he carried and which illuminated his face and sometimes the room. In Paris, on 14 May 1874, a young man tried to seize him. John King eluded his grasp and left a piece of drapery behind. The medium was found entranced. On being searched no paraphernalia or evidence of fraud was discovered. In the early 1870s King began a memorable association with Italian medium Eusapia Palladino. Scientists who investigated Palladino throughout her career described King as anxious to produce good and convincing phenomena. He said in many messages that Eusapia was his reincarnated daughter, but in most spiritualist circles John’s daughter was Katie King. KING, KATIE Spirit control for Florence Cook, among others. Katie King was a colourful character. She claimed to be Annie Owen Morgan, the daughter of John King, but, like her so-called father, of her identity there is very little proof available. It was said that she had died at the age of 23 after allegedly murdering her children, and had returned to try to expiate her sins, attaching herself to Florence Cook mainly for that end. It seems she achieved that purpose because on her farewell appearance, after three years of constant manifestations, she declared that her years of suffering were over. She allegedly said that she would ascend to a higher sphere from where she could only correspond with her medium through automatic writing at long intervals, though Florence would be able to see her clairvoyantly. Katie began to manifest in the Cook house when Florence was a girl of 15. She was seen almost daily, the first time in April 1872, showing a deathlike face between the curtains. Later her materializations became more perfect, but it was only after a year of experimental work that she could walk out of the cabinet and show herself full figure to the sitters. According to reports she was a nearly permanent inhabitant of the Cook household, walking about the house, appearing at unexpected moments, and even going to bed with Florence, much to her annoyance. When Florence married, complications arose and it was said that her husband used to feel at first as if he had married two women, and was not quite sure which of the two his wife was! According to all accounts Katie King was a beautiful woman. Sir William Crookes had forty flashlight photographs of Katie. In most of them she noticeably resembles Miss Cook, but Crookes had no doubt of her independent identity. He wrote in Researches into the Phenomena of Modern Spiritualism, Photography is inadequate to depict the perfect beauty of Katie’s face, as words are powerless to describe her charm of manner. Photography may, indeed, give a map of her countenance; but how can it reproduce the brilliant purity of her complexion, or the ever varying expression of her most mobile features, now overshadowed with sadness when relating some of the bitter experiences of her past life, now smiling with all the innocence of happy girlhood when she had collected my children round her, and was amusing them by recounting anecdotes of her adventures in India? In her early manifestations in the Davenport brothers’ séances Katie King was apparently far less spiritual than at the time of the Crookes records. Psychical researcher Robert Cooper, describing a direct voice consultation of the spirits by the Davenports, wrote: The next minute a shrill female voice was heard immediately in front of us. It was like that of a person of the lower walks of life and talked away, like many persons do, for the mere sake of talking. It was intimated that it was ‘Kate’ who was speaking. There was a great attempt on her part at being witty, but according to my ideas on such matters, most of what was said would come under the category of small - very very small - wit. In another passage he wrote: Unlike John [King], Kate will talk any length of time, as long in fact as she can find anything to talk about, even if it be the most frivolous nonsense; but I must do her the justice to say that she talks sensibly enough at times, and I have heard great wisdom in her utterances, and satisfactory answers given to profound philosophical questions. In October 1930, Katie King unexpectedly manifested in Dr Glen Hamilton’s home circle in Winnipeg. Photographs were taken. According to Dr Hamilton: Obviously it is wholly impossible to say whether or not this Mary MMercedes-Katie King is the same being as the entity appearing in the experiments of Crookes and others. We have the word of the controls in this case that it is so and we have seen how, so far, these controls have repeatedly established the fact that they know whereof they speak … While there are, I may say, some points of similarity to be traced between Katie as photographed by Crookes and Katie as photographed in the Winnipeg experiments, both faces for instance being rather long in formation, the eyes in both being large and luminous, the angle of the jaw in both being rather pronounced, the later Katie is so much younger in appearance, her beauty so much more apparent that it is evident that we cannot use the earlier record of her presence in any way as conclusive proof that there is any connection between the two. Both Katie King and John King appeared for the final time in February 1930 at a séance conducted by Thomas Hamilton in Winnipeg. Just why a seventeenth-century pirate and his daughter became the ones chosen to promote the cause of spiritualism in the nineteenth century remains a mystery. In his book Mind Over Space, Nandor Fodor speculated that the Kings were archetypes of psychic manifestation, able to appear at any séance and produce phenomena under the leadership of a medium. KIRLIAN PHOTOGRAPHY Controversial technique for photographing people, animals or objects in the presence of a high frequency, high voltage, low-amperage electrical field to produce photographs that show glowing, multicoloured emanations, said to be auras or biofields. The technique is named after its inventor, Russian Professor of Engineering, Semyan Kirlian. When Kirlian visited Krasnodar hospital in 1939 he saw a patient receiving treatment from a high frequency generator. As the electrodes came close to the patient’s skin there was a small flash. Kirlian recognized this as a type of flash which occurs when a gas is charged with electricity and wondered what gas was being charged here. With the help of his wife, Valentina, Kirlian set up two metal plates to act as electrodes and placed a photographic film on one of them. Then he put his hand between the plates and switched a high frequency current on. When the film was developed it showed Kirlian’s hand surrounded by an aura. The Kirlians began experimenting with living and dead objects and discovered that if the subject was dead - say in the case of a dead leaf - the photograph showed none of the sparks of energy that were shown when an object was living. What was even more fascinating was that when a part of a leaf was torn or cut away the photograph showed a ghostly image of the missing part. For over forty years the Kirlians and a number of other Russian scientists tried to discover what all this meant. Then two American travel writers, Sheila Ostrander and Lyn Schroeder, published a bestselling book, Psychic Discoveries within the Iron Curtain, which described Kirlian photography and the subject was forced into the spotlight. Response in the scientific community was mixed, with some scientists pointing out that similar effects had been recognized for years. For instance, if a roll of film is connected to electricity it will show distinctive tree-like patterns in the voltage changes, and if the voltage changes this will show up in strange flares on a photograph. This, however, didn’t explain how research projects using volunteers showed the aura changing in relation to a person’s mood and how auras were influenced by personality reactions and, according to one study, by drinking a shot of vodka. Other studies revealed that Kirlian photographs of the human body showed flares at the same points used for centuries in acupuncture. It wasn’t long before a relationship between the strength of the Kirlian field and health was discovered: illnesses would show up in the aura, sometimes before they manifested. In the 1970s, at the Neuropsychiatric Institute of UCLA, California, a scientific team led by Thelma Moss and Kendall Johnson used Kirlian photographs to show energy flares coming from the fingertips of faith healers as they worked. Some researchers believe that Kirlian photography reveals a physical form of psychic energy. Others think it reveals the etheric body, one of the layers of the aura that is thought to permeate all things, and that understanding this etheric body will lead to great insights into healing, life after death and psi. Work with Kirlian photography continues with indications that it may have diagnostic potential. Experiments using Kirlian photographs to detect cancer and other forms of disease have been sporadically successful. KLTSUNE In Japanese tradition kitsune are regarded as fox spirits. They can also transform into a beautiful female apparition dressed in white, flowing robes. Occasionally they will use this appearance to seduce men and, vampire-like, drain them of their life force. Like their counterparts in the West, Japanese foxes are believed to possess great intelligence, long life and magical powers. Foremost among these is the ability to take the shape of a human; a fox is said to learn to do this when it attains a certain age (usually a hundred years, though some tales say fifty). Kitsune usually appear in the shape of a beautiful woman, a pretty young girl, or an old man. Foxes figure in all kinds of Japanese folk tales and are prominent at various Shinto shrines throughout the country. A pair of foxes guard the entrance to these shrines, lean and bright-eyed with vigilance. The word kitsune is often translated as ‘fox spirit’. However, one should not take this to mean that a kitsune is not a living creature, nor that a kitsune is a different creature than a fox. The word ‘spirit’ can also be used in its Eastern sense, reflecting a state of knowledge or enlightenment. In Japanese lore, any fox that lives sufficiently long, therefore, can be a fox spirit. The kitsune are often presented as tricksters - sometimes very malevolent ones. Capable of possessing the souls of the unwary, they have been known to turn their victims into zombies or drive them permanently insane. However, there is a second common portrayal: as a lover. These love stories usually involve a young human male and a kitsune who takes the form of a woman. Such a story typically centres around a young man (unknowingly) marrying the fox, and emphasizes the devotion of the fox-wife. Many of these stories also possess a tragic element - they usually end with the discovery of the fox-wife, who then must leave her husband. The oldest known story of a fox-wife, which provides a folk etymology of the word kitsune, is an exception. In this story, the fox takes the shape of a woman and marries a human, and the two, in the course of spending many happy years together, have several children. She is ultimately revealed as a fox when, terrified by a dog, she returns to her fox shape to hide, in the presence of many witnesses. She prepares to depart her home, but her husband prevails upon her, saying, ‘Now that we have spent so many years together, and I have had several children by you, I cannot simply forget you. Please come and sleep with me.’ The fox agrees, and from then on returns to her husband each night in the shape of a woman, leaving again each morning in the shape of a fox. Therefore, she comes to be called Kitsune, because, in the classical Japanese, kitsune means ‘come and sleep’, while kitsune means ‘always comes’. The children of human-kitsune marriages are generally held to possess special physical and/or supernatural qualities. The specific nature of these qualities, however, varies widely from one source to another. KNIGHTS TEMPLARS The largest and most powerful of the medieval Christian military orders, and one of the most powerful monastic societies in Europe. The Order of the Knights Templars was founded in 1118, in the aftermath of the First Crusade, to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed towards Jerusalem after its conquest. A group of noblemen and crusaders travelled to the Holy Land and encamped next to the alleged site of King Solomon’s temple. The knights vowed to protect Christians in the area and made a pledge of chastity, poverty and obedience. They called themselves the Order of the Knights Templars and the name alludes to their first encampment at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which they renamed Templum Domini. The name is also an indication of their interest in building. The real power behind the order was St Bernard of Clairvaux, head of the Cistercian Order of monks, and it was his greatest wish to build cathedrals that would esoterically teach the secrets he carried from early church fathers. In 1128 the Pope officially recognized the Templars as a separate order, giving it unheard-of sovereignty. The order was exempt from taxes and answered only to the Pope. Membership was restricted to men of noble birth who had to undergo vigorous probations and initiation rituals before acceptance. The head of the order was the Grand Master, followed by his deputy the Seneschal, the Marshal and the Commander. The Templar battle cry was Vive Dieu Saint Amour (Long Live God’s Holy Love) and their motto was Non Nobis Domine, Non Nobis, Sed Nomini Tuo Da Gloiam (Not for us Lord, not for us, but to thy name give glory). The Templar seal displayed two knights sharing a horse: a sign of poverty and service. By the beginning of the fourteenth century the Templars had become enormously wealthy and enormously powerful in Europe and the Middle East, with branches in Scotland, England, Aragon, Castile, Portugal, Germany and Naples. As their influence grew stories circulated about the Knights Templars’ secret rituals and possible links with Sufis (a mystical sect of Muslims): sharing their esoteric interest in the Kabbalah and alchemy. Others believed the Templars were devil worshippers and that their rituals included bestiality, sodomy, idol worship and intercourse with demons. These rumours proved particularly useful for King Philip IV of France who was in debt to the Templars and irritated by their immunity from secular jurisdiction. On 13 October 1307, Philip seized the Templars’ property in Paris and arrested the Grand Master Jacques de Molay and 140 Templars, charging them with heresy. He bullied the weak Pope Clement V into signing a papal bull authorizing the Templars’ trials and seizure of their property. For the next seven years the Templars were persecuted for heresy and witchcraft while the King and Pope argued over jurisdiction and disbursement of the property. In 1312 Pope Clement officially abolished the Order and all its branches. The great majority of its assets were seized by King Philip and King Edward II of England. However, the kings of Spain and Portugal resisted papal pressure and transferred the assets into new orders, allowing Templars to become members. In 1314 Grand Master de Molay was promised life imprisonment and not death if he confessed to his crimes in public, but when he was led out in front of a packed crowd of nobility, clergy and commoners he loudly proclaimed his innocence and that of all the Templars. King Philip, who had once been a friend of Moley and had asked him to be his daughter’s godfather, was furious and sentenced Molay to be burned alive. As Molay died he allegedly cursed Philip’s family to the thirteenth generation and said that Philip and Pope Clement would join him before God’s throne within a year. Clement died within a month and Philip’s Capetian dynasty dwindled after just one generation to be replaced by the Valois. Templar legend insists that the truth did not die with Molay and that some of the persecuted survivors of the Order fled to Scotland disguised as stonemasons. As a cover the Templars borrowed Masonic symbols and called themselves Freemasons. Another theory says that a Templar called Geoffrey de Gonneville was given a message from Molay to deliver to a group of Templars meeting in Dalmatia, telling them that their order would revive again in six hundred years. After this meeting the Supreme Council of the order remained in Corfu for three years, before supposedly launching the Order of the Rose-Crux or Rosicrucians. Other theories suggest that the eighteenth-century adept, the Comte de St Germain, who participated in Freemason and Rosicrucian rituals, was a Templar and attempted to introduce Templar secrets into these two organizations. It has also been suggested that another eighteenth-century occultist and student of St Germain, Count Cagliostro, was a Templar agent. Many researchers of the esoteric have claimed that the order stored secret knowledge, linking them to the Rosicrucians, the Freemasons, Hermetics, Gnostics, Essenes, and even to relics such as the Shroud of Turin. Whether of not the Knights Templars did found such organizations may forever remain a mystery, but their spiritual power most definitely lives on in all secret societies and esoteric organizations. The mythos of the Knights Templars as keepers and defenders of the Holy Grail is a central plot point in the box office smash hits Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and Umberto Eco’s novel Foucault’s Pendulum (1988). However, recent interest in Templar mythology has been sparked by its prominent role in Dan Brown’s international bestseller, The Da Vinci Code (2003), and by its similar role in the 2004 movie, National Treasure. KNISSOMANCY From the ancient Greek knisa, meaning the fatty smoke of a burnt sacrifice, knissomancy is an ancient form of divination by the burning of incense. There was an old belief that the smoke of incense carried prayers up to the gods. The Etruscans used incense on burning coals to ascertain if anyone had bewitched them. It would seem that the incense smoke was interpreted according to its volume and density, the way in which it ascended and the shapes it made in the air. The direction it moved in and the consistency would have probably been considered important - whether it was sporadic or flowing, for instance. Thick, swirling smoke might have indicated troubles and problems, while thin, wispy smoke could indicate activity that was inconsequential. KNOCKERS Spirits that haunt mines, especially tin mines. They were thought to frequent the tin mines that formed much of the local economy in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Cornwall. Knockers are also called Buccas, Gathorns, Knackers, Nickers, Nuggies, Spriggans, Blue Caps and Cutty Soams. In American folklore they are known as Tommyknockers. As well as mines, the knockers were thought to haunt some wells and other natural features, which, along with the other names for them suggests there may have been a wider use of the term to describe supernatural creatures. According to folklore, knockers are friendly and willing to help miners in trouble, but they can also be mischievous if food and offerings are not left for them in payment and respect not given them. It has been suggested that they are the ghosts of Jews who worked the mines, or the ghosts of Jews who crucified Christ and were punished by being sent to work under ground. They are so named because of the knocking sound they make as they work -according to lore they are extremely hard workers. They are often linked with rich lodes of ore so miners always listen closely when they hear the supernatural knocking. From time to time knocker laughter and footsteps can be heard and if they manifest they do so in doll-sized form. Strange tricks were often played on those who offended them by whistling or making the sign of a cross, and a miner could find himself led to potentially dangerous places in the mine. Belief and sightings of knockers have died with the tin-mining industry, although they are still thought to haunt unused and unworked tunnels in some quarters. KOBOLD In German folklore a kobold is an ugly, mischievous and occasionally evil spirit. The name comes from the German word meaning ‘evil spirit’ and is often translated in English as goblin. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they were usually depicted in paintings as little devils with a conical hat, pointy shoes, a hairy tail and bald feet in place of hands. There are two types of kobold: a house kobold that is similar to a brownie, and a mine kobold that is similar to the Cornish knocker and the American tommyknocker. The mine kobold is evil and will try to cause accidents and rock falls while miners are working, but the house kobold will help with chores and sing to the children. If, however, food is not left out for him the kobold will become vindictive, hiding household objects or tripping people up. KOESTLER, ARTHUR [1905–1983] Hungarian-born British journalist and novelist, Koestler, who did not consider himself psychic, experienced a wide range of inexplicable phenomena, including encounters with ghosts. He took an active part in investigations of hauntings and was often in the company of some of the more noted ghost hunters of the day. In his will, Koestler left his entire estate to establish the Koestler Foundation at Edinburgh University to promote the study of parapsychology and found the Chair of Parapsychology there. KONAKIJIJII In Japanese folklore the spirit of a baby who has been left to die in the woods. The konakijijii lures people out to the woods with the sound of its crying, but when people get close they see that the baby has the face of an old man. If they pick the baby up it is impossible to put down and suddenly becomes so heavy that it crushes unsuspecting victims to death. KOSHAS Yoga says that each person has five distinct energy bodies, states of mind called koshas, vibrating at different speeds. These interacting and overlapping layers of energy form the complete spiritual, mental and physical nature of the human personality. Kosha is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘sheath’. Moving from the gross physical body to the subtle spiritual body, each kosha signifies a more refined dimension of consciousness. The koshas are known as annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vijnana-maya and anandamaya. Maya means ‘composed of, so these sheaths are composed of food, energy, intellect, intuition and bliss. The basic premise of this magnificent body-science is that while aspiring towards intuitive awareness and inner, lasting bliss, physical health and existence in the here and now cannot be ignored. KUBIKAJIRI Head-eating ghost from Japanese folklore. The kubikajiri has a distinctive smell - that of fresh blood - and is said to lurk around graveyards at night searching for its head. If it can’t find its own head it will try to eat the heads of anything - living or dead -that crosses its path. KUMALAK Kumalak has been practised in Kazakhstan, Central Asia, for thousands of years. The word means ‘sheep droppings’ and it was a method of divination practised by the local shaman of the area. In modern times it is carried out using such items as coffee beans rather than sheep droppings. The method is to use 41 broad beans, coffee beans or any other types of beans from a bag. The beans are sorted by the soothsayer and separated into a preordained order on a grid on a cloth so that there are three rows of three groups of beans, with each group of beans containing one, two, three or four beans. Each combination is codified and refers to the enquirer’s past, present and future. The actual interpretation is based on numerology, numbers being of great importance in the Kazakh tradition. KUNDALINI ‘Kundalini’ is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning either ‘coiled up’ or ‘coiling like a snake’, and refers to a psycho-spiritual energy said to be sleeping within the body, which can be awakened through spiritual illumination. There are a number of other translations of the term, usually emphasizing a more serpent nature to the word, e.g. ‘serpent power’. The caduceus symbol of coiling snakes is thought to be an ancient symbolic representation of kundalini physiology. According to the Yogic tradition Kundalini is curled up in the back part of the root chakra in three and one-half turns. The awakening of this serpent and the manifestation of its powers is a primary aim of the practice of Kundalini Yoga. The power of kundalini awakening is said to be incredible and associated with bizzare physical sensations, pain, clairaudience, visions, psychical powers, ecstacy bliss and transcendence of the self. The concept of kundalini is also associated with religious experiences of an altered state of consciousness brought about either spontaneously, or through spiritual practice or through a near-death experience. Sometimes it is regarded by yogis as a sort of deity, hence the occasional capitalization of the term. According to Yogic phenomenology kundalini awakening is associated with the appearance of bioenergetic phenomena referred to as pranic awakening. Prana is interpreted as the vital, life-sustaining force in the body. Uplifted, or intensified life-energy is called pranotthana and is supposed to originate from an apparent reservoir of subtle bioenergy at the base of the spine. This energy is also interpreted as a vibrational phenomenon that initiates a period or a process of vibrational spiritual development. Some Western translators interpret the energetic phenomenon as a form of psychic energy. Since the 1970s kundalini awakening has been reported with increasing frequency in the West. It is typically regarded as a rich source of psychic-or libido-enchancing energy in our unconscious. Not all kundalini awakenings follow the classic yoga model but seem to vary in application and intensity. The yogi mediates to arouse kundalini energy and bring it up through his or her body, activating the chakras in succession until the crown chakra is reached. The duration of kundalini can be fleeting or several minutes long. The results of kundalini awakening can defy description, or may be described in many different ways, using the language and inflections of the individual person. One of the most sensational cases of kundalini awakening was experienced by Gopi Krishna (1903-1984) of India, who meditated every morning for three hours for 17 years. On 25 December 1937 he experienced an explosive, roaring kundalini awakening of liquid light. He described the experience in his book, entitled Kundalini: Path to Higher Consciousness: Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord. Entirely unprepared for such a development, I was completely taken by surprise; but regaining my self-control, keeping my mind on the point of concentration. The illumination grew brighter and brighter, the roaring louder, I experienced a rocking sensation and then felt myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light. It is impossible to describe the experience accurately. I felt the point of consciousness that was myself growing wider surrounded by waves of light. It grew wider and wider, spreading outward while the body, normally the immediate object of its perception, appeared to have receded into the distance until I became entirely unconscious of it. I was now all consciousness without any outline, without any idea of corporeal appendage, without any feeling or sensation coming from the senses, immersed in a sea of light simultaneously conscious and aware at every point, spread out, as it were, in all directions without any barrier or material obstruction. I was no longer myself, or to be more accurate, no longer as I knew myself to be, a small point of awareness confined to a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness in which the body was but a point, bathed in light and in a state of exultation and happiness impossible to describe. Kundalini meditation exercise Kundalini release can be triggered by unguided meditation, such as the one below, but it is important to point out that Yogis stress the importance of proper mental, physical and spiritual preparation, sometimes including several years of instruction and guided meditation, before attempting to awaken Kundalini by yourself. Find a quiet place free of distractions. Sit or lie down and find a position that is comfortable for you. Quieten your mind. Still your thoughts. Relax your body, starting with your face, your jaw and forehead and working down your shoulders, arms, hips, legs and feet. Now focus on your breathing. Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose. Hold your breath as long as is comfortable. Exhale through the mouth slowly and completely. Repeat for two more breaths or as is comfortable. Now focus your attention on your chakras. Starting from the top of your head visualize your crown chakra opening. Watch as pure white light enters your crown chakra and slowly spirals down through your spine. The white light opens your third eye chakra. You may experience vibrant colours, especially blue and violet. The white light moves down to your throat chakra, releasing your energy blockages. You may feel like chanting or singing. Allow the tones to resonant from your throat. The white light now enters your heart chakra. You experience a feeling of unconditional love and compassion. The white light enters your solar plexus. Gently your fears, anger, tensions are released. See the white light enter your sacral chakra, releasing any pain and guilt linked to that chakra. The white light now enters your root chakra, the seat of your kundalini energy. As it does, it begins to activate the energy of this chakra. Feel the energy suddenly emerge from your root chakra, spiralling up through the base of your spine as if it were a coiled snake of liquid gold energy bringing you to higher levels of consciousness. Allow the energy to flow through your chakras. See the energy wheels of your chakras rotating. When you are ready, come back into your physical body. Relax and balance your energies. You might want to stretch and drink some water to ground yourself. Kundalini is believed to open new pathways to the nervous system. The pain and extreme physical sensations associated with kundalini awakening is said to be due to the inability of the nervous system to cope with it all at once. Yogis stress that the body must be properly prepared for the shock through yoga, as an explosive awakening to someone unprepared for it can cause insanity or even prove fatal. Western psychologists have determined that people can experience minor kundalini states. Symptoms may not occur all at once but build up gradually over a period of time, creating cycles of kundalini states when the individual thinks, feels and acts differently to normal. Symptoms include involuntary movements, pain, unusual breathing patterns, itching, vibrating sensations, insomnia, hypersensitivity to environment, intensifed sex drive, inability to think clearly, detachment, dissociation and out-of-body experiences. Symptoms can generally be alleviated through the introduction of a higher calorie diet and the cessation of meditation. Scientific research has come to no definite conclusions concerning the nature of kundalini, due in part to its unpredictability and to the fact that many of its symptoms are hard to distinguish from those caused by mental illness and stress. L LABIOMANCY From the Latin labium, or lip’, labiomancy is a form of divination involving lip reading. Even if the exact words are not heard or understood, it is the movement of the lips that is significant and the suggestion of words leads the diviner towards his or her interpretation. LABYRINTH A complicated, maze-like path or building with twists and turns. The aim is to find the centre of the maze without getting lost. The term comes from the Greek myth of Theseus who battled the half-man, half-bull Minotaur of Knossos on the Island of Crete. According to legend the only way to safely confine the Minotaur was to put him at the centre of a complicated maze. People would be sent into the maze as sacrificial victims. The hero, Theseus, successfully navigated the maze, killed the monster and found his way out. Labyrinths are known as universal symbols of transformation, created to help people find spiritual meaning. They can often be located on sacred land (for example in churches or cathedrals) where they can be walked in a spirit of contemplation. They can also be drawn or made by an individual for the purposes of meditation and contemplation: focusing on getting to the heart of the maze will help you focus on getting to the heart of your concerns. Labyrinths once played a part in pagan fertility rites. They also were thought to represent the map to the underworld, which the spirit of the dead used to find its way to the afterlife. If a spirit got lost in the labyrinth it was doomed to eternal limbo. LA LLORONA Also called The Weeping Woman (Llorona is Spanish for ‘weeper’). In Mexican folklore La Llorona is a ghostly weeping woman who floats around at night searching for her murdered children. There are several versions of the La Llorona story. In one La Llorona is looking for her lost child. In another she killed her own child and now drifts the earth in eternal torment. In yet another she had many children but fell in love with a man who didn’t want any. To please her lover she drowned her children but was overcome by grief and guilt and drowned herself. Folklorists believe that the story may have drawn its inspiration from Aztec mythology. The goddess Chihuacohuatl dressed in white and carried an empty cradle. It was said she walked among Aztec women screaming and crying for her lost child. It’s also possible that the story has a historical basis. Around 1550 an Indian princess fell in love with an Italian nobleman and bore him twins. The nobleman, despite promising to marry the princess, married someone else. Consumed with rage the princess killed her children with a dagger and wandered the streets in torn and bloody clothes wailing for her children. She was found guilty of murder and executed. It is said that her ghost is cursed and must forever wander the earth looking for her children. Typically La Lorena is described as shapely and dressed in white or black. She has long hair and long fingernails but no face. She is usually seen by riverbanks and deserted places at midnight, with her back turned, but sometimes she appears during daylight asking for her missing child. She is also said to wait by the roadside and if unsuspecting motorists pick her up they are told her sad story. Sometimes she will appear in a car and disappear a few minutes later. Some say she will entice and kill men if they are drunk and stumble across her in lonely areas. Seeing La Llorena is thought to be a bad omen. Bad luck or death are said to follow within a year. LAMBERTINI, PROSPERO [1675–175-8] As Archbishop of Bologna (he later became Pope Benedict XIV) Lambertini penned De Canonisatione, a study of miracles that marked a watershed in the Catholic Church’s attitude to the miraculous. It proposed that the divine will could manifest itself through supernatural agencies. Lambertini also warned that it was easy to mistake natural manifestations as supernatural events and that there were phenomena, such as ‘the knowledge of things to come, things past,’ that might occur without God or the devil being directly involved. Some of the guidelines Lambertini laid down in De Canonisatione for assessing what could and could not be regarded as divine are still broadly adhered to by the Vatican today. LAMPADOMANCY Lampadomancy is divination from the form, colour and movements of a candle or flame of a lamp. It was a popular form of divination in ancient Egypt where diviners would perform it a midday in a darkened room illuminated by a single lamp. Depending on the type of fuel used a lamp or candle may burn clearly, with little flicker, or it may burn with much spluttering and smoke. It was considered good fortune if the flame had a single point. However, two points was regarded as a sign of bad luck. A flame that bent was thought to indicate illness and sparks indicated news. Sudden extinction of a flame was considered a very bad omen. Other interpretations depended upon the individual seer. An alternative method involved the interpretation of spots of carbon deposited on paper sheets held over the flame. In another method the diviner used the lamp to attract spirits to the flame in the hope of consulting them. LANG ANDREW [1844– 1912] Novelist, historian, anthropologist and expert on folklore, Lang is best known for his series of fairy-tale anthologies. However, he was also a serious student of the occult, a devoted ghost hunter and psychical researcher. Lang gained enough acclaim as a ghost hunter and sufficient respect for his knowledge of the field that he was contracted to write a number of entries related to ghosts and the occult for the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, published in 1875. In the ‘Apparitions’ entry he argued that apparitions were not satisfactorily explained as coincidental and suggested that crisis apparitions, which were seen around the time of the agent’s death, were telepathically induced hallucinations. In particular, Lang emphasized the similarity between testimony reported from tribal communities and those being reported from Spiritualist séances -mediumship, levitation, rappings, poltergeists and so on. Although Lang did not mention his own experience in the apparition article his views may have been influenced by an apparition he himself had seen a few years before in 1869. He believed he saw an Oxford professor standing by a streetlight in front of the college he taught at; at the same time this man lay dying elsewhere. In 1911, Lang again contributed to the prestigious reference book with an essay on poltergeists, which displays his critical but sympathetic approach, and it is still regarded as one of the best statements in print regarding the phenomenon. Among Lang’s other works on the subject were Cock Lane and Common Sense (1894), The Book of Dreams and Ghosts (1897) and The Making of Religion (1898). In Cock Lane (the title drew its inspiration from the famous London poltergeist case: see Cock Lane ghost), Lang attempted to heal the rift between anthropologists and members of the Society for Psychical Research. In The Book of Dreams he aimed at a more general audience and brought together a number of real-life ghost stories around the world arranged in chapters that progress from dreams to hallucinations to apparitions and hauntings. Again he did not mention his own experience in the book but he did see an entity himself once: a young female relative dressed in blue crossing a well-lit hall. In The Making of Religion Lang discussed crystal gazing experiments and once again tried to unite psychical research and anthropology. He never quite succeeded but he did raise public awareness of the issues and many believe it is thanks to his impressive work that the field of psychical research was no longer regarded as disreputable. Lang became President of the Society for Psychical Researchin 1911, a year before his death which he himself predicted by what he described as an ‘hereditary hallucination’ - a phantom cat which traditionally appeared to members of his family who were a few months from death. LA PIERRE, JOSEPH [FL.FIFTEENTH CENTURY] Perhaps the most extreme of all known historical ghost hunters, La Pierre was a French occultist who convinced himself that it was possible to actually create a ghost from the blood of those who had recently died. The theory suggested by La Pierre was that when a corpse was buried, the release of salts and other minerals from the body during the heating process of fermentation and bodily decay could create an ethereal form. ‘The saline particles then resumed the same relative positions that they had occupied in the living body, and a complete, complex, but ethereal human form would result.’ This, La Pierre states, explains why ghosts habitually linger around haunted graveyards and cemeteries. La Pierre was so taken with his theory that he began experiments designed to create his own ghost. These included applying varying degrees of heat to blood specimens to show that that this was the medium by which the saline particles comprising the ethereal body of a ghost were carried. In 1482, a contemporary of La Pierre made this report: About midnight, he [La Pierre] heard a terrible noise like the roaring of a lion. And continuing quiet after the sound had ceased, the moon being at full, suddenly between himself and the window he saw a thick little cloud, condensed into an oval form which after, little by little, did seem completely to put on the shape of a woman and making another and sharp clamour, did suddenly vanish. LARES Ancient Roman spirits of the dead. Lares acted as protectors and were said to live in households, cities or regions. Household lares were regarded as part of the family and offerings of food and drink would be left out for them at every meal. They are usually depicted as dancing youths, with a horn cup in one hand and a bowl in the other. The cult of the Lares may have originated from the worship of Lar, the household god. It was believed that Lar blessed the house and crops in the fields. He would be worshipped in small sanctuaries or shrines, called Lararium, which could be found in every Roman house, typically in the atrium (the main room) or in the peristylium (a small open court) of the house. There were many different types of lar guardian spirits. The most important are the Lares Familiares (guardians of the family), Lares Domestici (guardians of the house), Lares Patrii and Lares Privati. Other spirits were the Lares Permarini (guardians of the sea), Lares Rurales (guardians of the land), Lares Compitales (guardians of crossroads), Lares Viales (guardians of travellers) and Lares Praestitis (guardians of the state). LAST JUDGEMENT Central supernatural event of early Christian, Jewish and Islamic eschatology sometimes called the Day of the Lord, Judgement Day or Doomsday. References to the Last Judgement are numerous in the Bible. The Christian belief in the Last Judgement asserts that this world will one day end, the dead will be raised up in the general resurrection, and God, or Christ, will gloriously come to judge the living and the dead according to their earthly lives. The sinners shall be cast into hell, and the righteous shall be raised to heaven. These concepts are also common themes in early Jewish apocalyptic literature and the Last Judgement also figures in the Koran. No generally accepted Christian teaching pronounces when Judgement Day shall occur, but many individuals have attempted to divine its date. Doomsday believers are called chiliasts, millenarians, or, specifically, Adventists. LAVATER, Ludwig [1527–1586] In 1570, Ludwig Lavater published De Spectris in Geneva, Switzerland, a work dealing primarily with poltergeist phenomena, and established his reputation as an influential ghost hunter. Based entirely on Lavater’s own extensive research and investigations of supernatural phenomena, during the Elizabethan era the work became the principal reference book for all those who were interested in the study of ghosts. It is thought that William Shakespeare may have used it as a reference for scenes in several of his plays, particularly Hamlet. The book described in detail numerous types of supernatural phenomena and catalogued various spirits and ghosts for the first time in a glossary. Lavater’s approach throughout is objective but often sceptical and to this day it remains a classic text for all those interested in psychical research. LAVEAU, MARIE [1794–1881] AND GLAPION, MARIE LAVEAU [1827–1897] Mother and daughter with the same name who became famous Voodoo queens in late nineteenth-century New Orleans. In death they are believed to haunt the city still. Everything that is known about the elder Marie Laveau comes from local legend, hearsay and oral tradition. It is thought that she was born in New Orleans in 1794. Her father, Charles Laveau, is said to have been a wealthy white planter and her mother, Darcantel Marguerite, a mulatto with a strain of Indian blood. Marie herself is described as being tall and statuesque with curling black hair, fierce black eyes and good features, which at the time meant she was more white than black. She married Jacques Paris, a free man of colour, on 4 August 1819 and because the ceremony was performed in St Louis Cathedral, her contract of marriage can still be found in the files there. At the time of her marriage, there is no evidence that either she or Jacques were practising Voodoo. A short while after the wedding, Jacques disappeared and Marie began calling herself the Widow Paris. A record of his death did not appear until several years after he had gone missing. It was after the strange disappearance of Jacques that Marie supported herself by becoming a professional hairdresser. Her clients would confide to her the most intimate secrets and this is perhaps how Marie got her start in Voodoo. Being a shrewd woman she took careful note of these secrets and later used them to strengthen her reputation as a voodoo queen. Around 1826 Marie became the lover of Louis Christopher Duminy de Glapion. A few years after the record of Paris’s death appears de Glapion moved into Marie’s home and lived there until he died in June 1855. They didn’t marry but they had 15 children. After establishing her relationship with de Glapion Marie devoted her energies to becoming the most famous and most powerful Voodoo queen in New Orleans. During the 1830s Marie achieved her ambition of becoming the supreme Voodoo queen. At the time there were numerous other Voodoo queens but Marie saw off the competition with her sensational ceremonies. A devout Catholic, she added elements of the Catholic service, such as holy water, incense and prayer, and turned her rites at Lake Ponchartrain into vast spectacles. Everyone was invited to attend, provided they paid a fee. Marie created a carnival atmosphere with dancing, spectacular rituals, secret orgies and animal sacrifices; she even performed herself with a 20-foot long snake. It wasn’t long before her knowledge of spells, her style and flair and the intimate knowledge she had gleaned from her hairdressing clients made Marie the most powerful woman in New Orleans, with both whites and blacks seeking her advice and magical potions. She charged whites high fees but few blacks paid for her services. Numerous stories of Marie abound but there is no evidence in most cases to support them, except hearsay. There are several small articles that mention Marie appearing in the New Orleans newspapers. These mostly deal with small legal battles she had with various Voodoo practitioners. One of the most well-known of Marie Laveau’s exploits involved the murder trial of a young Creole gentleman, a trial which was almost certain to end in a guilty verdict for the young man. His powerful father approached Marie and promised her anything if she could rescue his son. Marie agreed, asking for the man’s New Orleans house on St Ann Street, in the French Quarter near Congo Square, in return. He agreed, and Marie secretly placed several charms throughout the courtroom. When his son was declared not guilty, the gentleman gave her his house as promised, and Marie Laveau lived there until her death in 1881. The story doesn’t end there: the freed young man later sought Marie’s help again when a girl refused to marry him. Marie made the man a gris-gris bag containing love powder’ to wear around his waist and took some hair from the young man and spread it on the woman’s footsteps. She promised him that the girl would marry him within a month, and her prophecy turned out to be true. When the lady sprained her ankle attempting to run away from her admirer, he picked her up tenderly and took her home. The man’s act of kindness impressed the woman so much she agreed to marry him the next day. Marie allegedly played a role in another high-profile love match. A wealthy old bachelor fell madly in love with a girl young enough to be his granddaughter, but the girl had already given her heart to a dashing young adventurer who was expected to return soon from his travels. The girl’s father was heavily in debt and begged his daughter to marry the wealthy old man. When she refused he locked her away in a cabin and sought the advice of Marie. Marie promised that the wedding would take place. She gave the old man a gris-gris bag containing the testicles of a black cat that he was to wear around his genitals, and the father a love powder to put into the girl’s food. After two weeks the girl emerged from the cabin she had been locked in and, looking very pale and weak, agreed to the wedding. Overjoyed both men planned the wedding and it took place in a crowded St Louis Cathedral where everyone was invited to a huge reception. It seems, however, that the excitement of the celebrations and dancing were too much for the wealthy gentleman and he crumpled to the floor -probably from a heart attack. The girl inherited his fortune and a year after the wedding married her first and only love -the dashing young adventurer. When questioned about her role, Marie would reply that she had only promised the wedding would take place, nothing more. Marie was known to have regularly performed Christian acts of charity, helping with yellow fever victims and the wounded during the Battle of New Orleans (1814). By the 1850s she had such influence with the local authorities that she could even enter prisons and take food and solace to convicted prisoners in their cells. In 1852 Marie spent a great deal of time with two convicted prisoners, Jean Adam and Anthony Deslisle. On the morning of their execution she stayed with them until the last minute before joining the crowds waiting to watch the execution. Just as the executioner was about to hang them rain began to fall in torrents and lightning filled the sky. A terrified crowd saw the ropes holding the men snap. Police were called in to calm the situation and a few minutes later the execution was completed successfully. Everyone believed that Marie Laveau had caused the storm and nearly saved the prisoners’ lives. The whole affair caused such an uproar that the Louisiana State legislature was forced to outlaw public executions. On 16 June 1881, the newspapers announced that Marie Laveau was dead. She would have been around 87 years old. Her obituaries praised her for her being a pious Catholic woman with compassion towards the sick, and said that she had been a great beauty. Her role as alleged Voodoo queen was taken by her 50-year-old daughter, also named Marie Laveau, who bore a striking resemblance to her mother, which caused many people to mistakenly believe that Marie had defied death. Marie Laveau remains a figure shrouded in mystery. She was a Voodoo priestess and a devoted Catholic. She weaved spells and charms but wielded even more influence through her earthly network of spies and informants. She ruthlessly wielded her power yet went to great pains to help the injured, sick and downtrodden. Though her true personality may never be known there is no doubt she was a fascinating and complex woman and her life has become a legend. The younger Marie lacked the charisma and compassion of her mother but she took up her mother’s mantle of supreme Voodoo queen, presiding over sensational rituals, secret Voodoo meetings and liaisons between white men and black women at ‘Maison Blanche’, the house built by her mother for that purpose. The police would turn a blind eye because they were afraid of being cursed. According to legend Marie died during a big storm in the 1890s but there are reports of her still alive as late as 1918. Marie the elder is supposedly buried in a crypt at St Louis Cemetery. Faithful followers and the curious still visit the tomb, offering food, money and flowers in return for Marie’s help after turning round three times and marking a cross with a red brick on the stone. Marie the younger is also believed to be buried in St Louis Cemetery, where another crypt marked Marie Laveau serves as a wishing vault for young women seeking husbands. Both Maries are thought to haunt New Orleans in human and animal form and tour operators certainly play their part in keeping the Laveau legend alive. The elder Marie is said to haunt the cemetery where she is buried in the shape of a big, black crow, whose stand-up head fathers bear a resemblance to the way Marie used to pin her hair. The Maries have also been sighted as young women in long white and blue dresses, as snakes and as dogs on St Ann Street and on St John’s Bayou, Lake Pontchartrain, where they allegedly conducted their secret Voodoo rituals. LAYING ON OF HANDS A healing practice, in which the psychic’s or healer’s hands are placed on or near the body of the sick person. See also Healing, Reiki and Therapeutic touch. LECANOMANCY Ancient method of divination by the inspection of fluids, either in a cup or basin or other container. It was performed by dropping precious stones into water. The fact that the water was in a basin seems to have been important but it is unclear how interpretation was to take place. Perhaps the action of adding precious and colourful jewels to the water might have been triggers and the diviner was supposed to read answers represented by patterns on the water’s shimmering surface or the sound the stones made when being dropped into the water. Sometimes oil was used instead of a rock. In this case the diviner interpreted the shapes of the oil floating on the water. There is a reference to lecanomancy in the Old Testament. The Hebrew patriarch, Joseph, may have practised this ancient magic: ‘Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination?’ (Genesis 44: 5). LEEK, SYBIL [1923–1982] One of the first to declare herself publicly to be a witch in Britain in the 1960s, a time when witchcraft was considered socially unacceptable because the law against witchcraft had been repealed a few years previously. With the publication of her autobiography, Diary of a Witch (1968), Leek announced that witchcraft was not dead and never had been. From then on she attracted public attention for almost everything that she did. At the beginning of Sybil’s public life as a witch, her openness about and adherence to the craft changed her life, as her landlord refused to renew her antique shop’s lease until she renounced witchcraft. She refused, closed up shop and began a new career as a professional witch. She moved to the United States and established herself as a high profile, media friendly witch, master astrologer and gifted psychic with numerous books and features on witchcraft, astrology, numerology and reincarnation to her credit. In Diary of a Witch she claimed to have been born to a family of hereditary witches of Irish and Russian descent. A colourful character in her time, her trademarks were a cape, loose gowns and a pet jackdaw named Mr Hotfoot Jackson, who perched on her shoulders. Her whole family was involved in witchcraft and astrology and some of the noted guests who allegedly visited her home included H G Wells, Lawrence of Arabia and Aleister Crowley. LEFT-HAND PATH Phrase used to describe the path of black magic where there is intention to harm a person, property or living being, or use force against a person’s free will. The left earned these negative associations because the Latin word for left sinister - has become associated with evil. The phrase ‘right-hand path’ is typically associated with healing magic and goodness, while left-hand path’ is popularly associated with selfishness, cursing and evil. The distinction between left-and right-hand paths may have been handed down to modern times from Hindu and Buddhist traditions, where yoga involving sexual acts is left-hand tantra and right-hand tantra is breath work and celibacy. Obviously left-hand paths include Satanism and cursing, but it is important to note that, like most dualities, this system of classification has its contradictions and left-hand methods may be found in traditionally right-hand groups and vice versa. For example, right-hand paths tend to place divinity outside of the self, while left-hand paths place it within. Right-hand practitioners usually seek to serve the divine and left-hand practitioners seek to realize the divine within themselves. Right-hand paths emphasize service, cooperation, humility and charity; left-hand paths emphasize self-development, self-reliance, mastery and pride. Today, there are varying opinions of the two Paths; some see them as equally valid approaches to truth, whose relationship is akin to the balance between yin and yang, while others criticize the right-hand path for being too restrictive. According to the latter view, the right-hand path’s imposition of formal dogmas and codes of behaviour can take away a person’s ability to be truly responsible for his or her own life, thereby destroying a part of a person’s identity. According to some, this is the main difference between the two paths: the lefthand path preserves individuality, while the right-hand path destroys it. Conversely, some accuse the left-hand path approach of narcissism while praising the right-hand path for its altruism. LEMP MANSION Lemp Mansion, located in St Louis, Missouri, is considered to be one of the most haunted places in America. It was built in the early 1860s and stands four storeys tall with 34 rooms. William J Lemp, the son of the founder of Lemp Brewery, John Adam Lemp, was the first member of the Lemp family to live there. The Lemps were one of the richest families in St Louis due to the enormous success of their brewery, and the mansion overlooked the brewery. William Lemp and his wife had seven children and lived a life of luxury and excess. Their troubles began in 1901 when eldest son, Frederick, died of a heart attack at the age of 28. He was the heir apparent to the Lemp legacy, and his father was crushed. In 1904, still despondent over his loss, William went into the mansion’s marble office and shot himself through the heart with a small calibre pistol. The family business went to William Lemp Jr, who was not as well versed in the brewing trade as his father or brother had been. He and his wife, Lillian, lived a glamorous lifestyle, spending freely on clothes, entertainment, furnishings and art. Three vaults were built in the mansion to house their vast collection. Lillian, who delighted in wearing lilac-coloured dresses and coats, was known as ‘The Lavender Lady’. In 1919 Prohibition began and the brewery was forced to close. The Lemps weren’t able to adapt to this change and the family fortune dwindled. William Jr’s older sister, Elsa, committed suicide in 1920 by shooting herself with a small calibre gun, although not in the mansion. In 1922, William sold the brewery at a huge loss. Six months after the sale he went into the same marble office that his father had nearly two decades before and shot himself with a small calibre gun. Despite all the tragic events that transpired in the mansion, another Lemp sibling, Charles, remained there. He was an eccentric man who had an extreme fear of germs and wore gloves virtually all the time. In 1949 at the age of 77, he went into the mansion’s basement one morning with his dog. Using the trademark small calibre gun, he shot the dog and then himself. Brother Edwin sold the mansion, having moved out of it in 1917 to escape its oppressive atmosphere. He never married and had no heirs but perhaps out of fear he kept a companion with him at all times. He died in 1970 at the age of 90 of natural causes. Once sold the mansion became a boarding house until 1977. It was then purchased by Mr Dick Pointer and his father, who intended to renovate it and turn it into a restaurant. This is when reports of hauntings began. During the renovations workers were disturbed by inexplicable banging noises and objects moving about on their own. One night Pointer heard a door slam shut even though no one else was in the house at the time. Another time a workman heard the sounds of footsteps on cobblestones outside the window, even though no cobblestones were there. A few months later, when grass was being dug up beneath the window, some cobblestones were discovered. What was most distressing, though, to the point where several workmen quit, was the strange sensation of being watched. Some of the men claimed that the unseen stares practically burned through them. There were also sightings of a strange and sad face staring from the attic window. It has been speculated that the Lemps had an eighth child who was retarded and hidden from sight, who might be responsible for the hauntings, although no record of an eighth child exists. Unusual phenomena continued when the restaurant opened. There were reports of glasses flying through the air, mysterious voices were heard, apparitions glimpsed, doors opened and closed on their own and an oppressive and intense atmosphere in the marble office where so many suicides took place. Guests have claimed to feel cold spots and see strange lights. Both guests and employees have been frightened by a ‘Lady in Lavender’ on the third-floor stairwell. She has also been seen in the first-floor bathroom. Inexplicable noises still abound, the most notable being piano music and the barking of a phantom dog. LEMURE One of two types of ghost in Roman belief, lemures were thought to be the ghosts of people who died without leaving any relatives behind. They were associated with evil spirits. According to Roman belief it was considered a curse to die without any surviving family. Lemures also included victims of murder, drowning and violent death, executed criminals and those who had died prematurely and were trapped on earth until their allotted life span expired. Black beans would be laid around the tomb of a body to prevent a lemure rising up from the grave, and if a lemure did haunt the living the standard method of exorcism was the banging of drums. See also Lares. LEMURIA According to some occult traditions, Lemuria was believed to be a lost continent from 25,000 years ago - variously located in the Indian Ocean, the eastern Pacific, or portions of both - which sank before the heyday of Atlantis. Said to be the cradle of the human race, the concept of a lost continent of Lemuria was created in the 1860s by geologists who noticed strong similarities in rocks and fossils from southern Africa and central India. The modern theory of continental drift had not been proposed at that point and the geologists suggested that the similarities could indicate a land bridge crossing the Indian Ocean. Nineteenth-century biologists noted that such a bridge would explain the distribution of lemurs - primitive primates now found mostly on the Island of Madagascar - and the British zoologist Philip Sclater gave the theory its permanent name by suggesting that the land bridge be called Lemuria after them. The discovery of continental drift and lemur fossils over a much wider range made the theory of Lemuria implausible to modern scientists, however in the meantime it was been picked up by Helena Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy, who included Lemuria in her Theosophical vision of cosmic history. According to Theosophy Lemuria once reached from the Indian to the Pacific Oceans, and included parts of what are now southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Its inhabitants were members of the so-called third root race: hermaphrodite, egg-laying ape men with four arms and an eye in the back of their heads. It was less culturally advanced than Atlantis but the hermaphrodites had highly developed psychic powers and communicated telepathically Accounts of the destruction of Lemuria differ. Theosophists believe it was destroyed in the biblical flood, but philosopher Rudolf Steiner (who had described the Lemurians as the telepathic third root race, and who credited them with the goal of developing clairvoyant powers of imagination to control the forces of nature) suggested volcanic activity. Theoretically all that is left of Lemuria’s land mass are the peaks of Kauai, Hawaii to the north and Easter Island in the South. People living in this community were known as the Mu, according to the nineteenth-century author and amateur archaeologist, Colonel James Churchward. Lemuria doesn’t just appear in Theosophical versions of occult history but in the cosmic histories of many other occult groups over the last century or so. It’s worth noting, however, that Lemuria traditions only date from the Blavatsky era and there is no concrete evidence whatsoever that Lemuria actually ever existed. LEONARD, GLADYS OSBORNE [1882–1968] Considered by many to be one of the world’s greatest trance mediums, Gladys Osborne Leonard worked closely with the Society for Psychical Research to produce evidence for survival after death. Gladys was born in Lancashire, England on 28 May 1882. Her parents tried to keep death a secret but at the age of eight a maid informed her that a family friend had died and been buried. This awareness shocked Gladys deeply but it also prompted visions of a happy valley with radiantly happy people. On one occasion when her father was with her she talked about another vision she was seeing on the wall. Later Gladys spoke of her visions in My Life in Two Worlds (1931): In whatever direction I happened to be looking the physical view of the wall, door, ceiling, or whatever it was, would disappear, and in its place would gradually come valleys, gentle slopes, lovely trees and banks covered with flowers, of every shape and hue. The scene seemed to extend for many miles, and I was conscious that I could see much farther than was possible with the ordinary physical scenery around me. Gladys’ father did not approve of her visions and forbade her to look upon her happy valley again. His disapproval was a recurring theme during her teens, when Gladys found herself drawn to spiritualist meetings. Although Gladys trained to be a singer her career was short lived as she contacted diphtheria, which ruined her voice. So she joined a touring theatrical company instead. One morning, while on tour Gladys awoke at 2 am to see her mother standing in her room surrounded by a halo of bright light. The next day a telegram arrived, informing her that her mother had died at 2 am, leaving Gladys in no doubt that her mother had visited her in her room. She decided to experiment with her mediumistic talent and began table-tilting exercises with friends after shows. After numerous attempts, in 1913 she finally made contact with a control named Feda, who was to remain Gladys’s main control throughout her career. Feda sounded and behaved in a childish manner and claimed to be the spirit of one of Gladys’s great-great-grandmothers, an Indian woman who had died in childbirth at the age of 14, around 1800. It was Feda who urged Gladys to take her mediumship into the public arena with presentations. Feda insisted that something terrible was going to happen to the world and Gladys needed to be there to provide comfort. By this time Gladys had married a fellow actor named Frederick Leonard, who was also interested in the psychic world. She did all she could to make herself open and pure enough for discarnate communicators. She stopped smoking and drinking and gave up meat. At first her séances involved small groups of people but after World War I broke out she was besieged by people wanting sittings. A significant turning point came when Gladys gave a sitting to a widow who had lost two sons in the war. The woman was so stunned by the accuracy of Gladys’s descriptions that she mentioned them to her friend, Lady Lodge, the wife of physicist Sir Oliver Lodge. When Lady Lodge’s son, Raymond, died in 1915 she booked an appointment with Gladys and was so impressed that she urged her husband to attend. During her sittings with the Lodges Gladys mentioned a photograph taken just before Raymond’s death that the Lodges were not aware of. When it finally turned up they were amazed at how accurately Gladys had described it. Lodge wrote about his sittings with Gladys in Raymond: A Life (1916). This brought Gladys even more publicity and a muchneeded increase in income enabled the Leonards to step out of the poverty they had been living in previously. Lodge arranged for Gladys to train two of his friends, Una, Lady Troubridge and Radclyffe Hall in séance proceedings in the hope of contacting Hall’s dead friend Mabel Batten. Their training lasted eight years and during that time a communicator showed a good knowledge of events in Hall’s life and commented on things unknown to Hall or Troubridge. What was unusual about the Batten communicator (called A.VB in the reports) was the unique way Batten’s personality came through Gladys’s mediumship with characteristic gestures and words. In 1918 Gladys, mindful of the importance of strict séance procedures for the evidence of survival after death, agreed to give exclusive sittings arranged by the Society for Psychical Research for three months. As a condition of employment she agreed not to read any of its publications and after this three-month stint she continued to work for the society on an ad hoc basis. Records of these sittings were published by Mrs W H Salter. In speaking of the evidence obtained by new sitters, Mrs Salter writes: In justice to Mrs Leonard, it should be pointed out that the phenomena obtained in these circumstances are not likely to be as interesting or remarkable as those obtained by sitters who have sat regularly with Mrs Leonard during some months or even years. First sittings, even when they are on the whole successful, are apt to be of a rather tentative nature, and they usually follow certain conventional lines. Moreover, they afford little scope for evidence concerning the character and personality of the supposed communicator. For one thing, such evidence is largely cumulative in its effect, and for another, whether it is obtained by telepathy between Mrs Leonard and the communicator, or between Mrs Leonard and the sitter, or by some combined interaction of all three minds together, it is likely that a well-established rapport between Mrs Leonard and her sitter will facilitate matters. I think there is a general agreement among those who have sat repeatedly with Mrs Leonard - among whom I may include myself - that good evidence of surviving personality is sometimes obtained. Many of the successful sittings with Gladys arranged by the Society for Psychical Research were not attended by grieving friends or relatives hoping to contact a loved one but by proxies who knew nothing about the people or subjects involved in the communication. This made the likelihood of the medium obtaining information directly from the sitter via ESP or fraud much less likely. On occasions when Gladys’s control Feda had trouble understanding a communication, sitters claimed to hear a voice from somewhere else in the room - a phenomenon called direct voice mediumship. Sometimes Feda and the direct voice would talk to each other. Psychical researcher Charles Drayton Thomas had more than 500 sittings with Gladys and it was with Thomas that Feda first suggested the book test (see Survival tests). In this test a communicator would tell a sitter to go to a certain room, take a book from a certain shelf and on a specific page there would be something of interest to the sitter. Later tests included the newspaper test, where the sitter would predict what would appear in the newspapers before they appeared on sale. The mediumship of Gladys Leonard was so superior to that of other mediums that it was investigated a number of times. The philosopher C D Braud did a major study on the subject in his Lectures on Psychical Research (1962), and concluded that Feda was not an independent entity but an aspect of Gladys’s personality. In the great majority of cases, though, like her American counterpart Leonora Piper, Gladys’s mediumistic ability defied explanation and impressed her investigators. Towards the end of the 1950s Feda instructed Gladys to take on no more new work and to cut back on the amount of work she did. She died at her home in Kent on 10 March 1968 at the age of 85. LESLIE, BARONET SHANE [1885–1971] A colourful figure in psychical research Irish-born Sir Shane Leslie spent his early years in Russia, where he befriended author Leo Tolstoy, before travelling through Europe as a vagabond. Leslie became fascinated by the paranormal while on his travels and laboriously researched and investigated a vast number of cases firsthand before publishing his collection in Shane Leslie’s Ghost Book (1955). According to family tradition, Leslie’s lineage had a banshee that would appear to predict the death of a family member. Leslie is reported to have encountered this banshee before his own death in 1971. LETHBRIDGE, T C [1901–1971] English psychical researcher, archaeologist and explorer, T C Lethbridge was noted for his ideas about ghosts, dreams, dowsing and the nature of time. After graduating from Cambridge, Lethbridge became an archaeologist. He supported the theory - popular at the time but eventually discounted - of historian Margaret A Murray, that witchcraft was a pre-Christian religion of fertility worship. His interest in the Murray theory made him unpopular in Cambridge but led him towards the major discovery in the turf at Wandlebury Camp, an Iron Age fort near Cambridge, of the figure of a woman on horseback, with the symbol of the moon behind her, a sun god on one side and a swordwielding warrior on the other. Lethbridge came to the conclusion that this was evidence that prehistoric England worshipped a moon goddess, Magog, and the sun god her husband, Gog. He published his theory in Gogmagog, The Buried Gods (1957). Lethbridge’s interest in the supernatural began in earnest around 1957 when he moved into Hole House, near Branscombe in Devon. A neighbour of his claimed to be able to project herself astrally out of her body and this triggered his interest in dowsing and the supernatural. In the course of his fieldwork, Lethbridge had become aware that he himself was prone to experiencing unusual happenings and that an investigation of these incidents was merited. He believed that a ‘scientific’ explanation lay behind what could be termed the ‘odd’. History had proved to him that the supernatural of one generation often become the natural of the next and this notion fired his investigations. For the rest of his life Lethbridge explored other dimensions of reality. He regarded the natural world as full of energy that could be picked up by the human brain or a pendulum. As a young man he had experienced a chilling presence while at school that he called the ghoul and at this stage of his life he explained it as a projection or picture from the subconscious mind of a person afraid of ghosts. He also believed that primitive human kind had greater powers of awareness than modern humanity. Lethbridge experimented with his own dreams and suggested that there are two types: those that come from within the dreamer and those that come from beyond the control of the ‘earth mind’. It was the latter type of dream that he believed contained memories of the future. He suggested that ideas about the nature of time were confused and that when the future is dreamt about, the dreamer is beyond the point of sleep and death. As far as ghosts were concerned, Lethbridge said he felt ‘reasonably convinced’. He believed that some people were transmitters and others were receivers and this created the dynamics of hauntings. In addition to Gogmagog Lethbridge wrote eight other remarkable books about the paranormal: Ghost and Ghoul (1961), Witches: Investigating an Ancient Religion (1962), Ghosts and Divining Rod (1963), ESP: Beyond Time and Existence (1965), A Step in the Dark (1967), The Monkey’s Tail: A study in Evolution and Parapsychology (1969), Legends of the Sons of God (1976) and The Power of the Pendulum (1976). Lethbridge was a controversial figure, ridiculed in his day, but he left behind him an impressive body of work rich in bold and revolutionary ideas that were way ahead of their time. LEVELS OF EXISTENCE Many esoteric teachings propound the idea of a series of worlds or gradations of being; for example, the so-called theosoph-ical ‘planes’ is one particular version of this. Another is the tantric theme of chakras, which is associated with an ascending series of states of consciousness, culminating in the Absolute Reality located either at or above the crown chakra. Various numbers of planes are referred to in esoteric literature, often up to seven, but it is perhaps simplest to refer to three: physical, astral and spiritual. The physical plane is physical, visible and solid manifestation. The astral plane is non-physical. It is sometimes thought of as a template for what is manifested in the physical plane, but it can also be a realm in itself. The spiritual plane is the level of existence where there are no boundaries of tangibility, time or space. It is beyond a need for form and looks much less like the physical world than the astral does. Each of these major planes can again be divided up and various traditions use different names for the different subdivisions. The physical body is thought to have counterparts existing in different planes. Manifestations in the higher planes are often referred to as subtle bodies. In various traditions one might refer to an etheric, an emotional and a mental body as part of the physical plane, and other subtle bodies as part of the higher planes. The ones closest to the physical are roughly in the shape of the physical body and intimately connected to the physical body. As to the astral bodies, they are usually also in the shape of the physical body but they can under certain circumstances move away from the physical body, which partially accounts for astral travel, or out-of-body experiences. LEVI, Eliphas [1810–1875] Considered one of the most influential and fascinating magicians of the nineteenth century Eliphas Levi’s book, The History of Magic (1913), is still regarded as essential reading for students of the occult. Born Alphonse Louis Constant, the French occultist was a controversial figure, having served briefly as a priest before being defrocked for his involvement with the occult. It was said that Levi possessed an impressive array of supernatural powers and abilities and was able to summon ghosts at will. Towards the end of his life Levi befriended English author Edward Bulwer Lytton who encouraged Levi to visit sites of hauntings so that spirits of the dead could be documented. It was in this capacity that Levi became the inspiration for the character of the magician in Lytton’s short story, ‘The Haunted and the Haunters’ (1859). LEVITATION The act of raising a person or an object off the ground by supernatural means. This may be through psychokinesis, or through magic or by spirits. Most cases of levitation seem to be spontaneous, lasting only a few seconds or minutes, but some psychic or spiritual adepts are said to practise levitation as a demonstration of the mental control they have over themselves and other matter. There is a vast body of anecdotal evidence for the levitation of a person, also known as self-levitation, reaching far back into history, but it remains a controversial subject. Levitation of objects, however, has been the subject of intense investigations since the Victorian era, with some evidence attesting to its reality. In the 1970s researchers reported success in levitating tables, and Soviet medium Nina Kulagina was photographed levitating small objects in her hands. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism have recorded many cases of self-levitation. Saints and mystics reportedly levitate as proof of the power of God. St Teresa of Avila was said to levitate during states of rapture and, according to one eyewitness account by Sister Anne of the Incarnation, she levitated a foot or so off the ground for about half an hour. In Eastern mysticism self-levitation is a feat made possible by mastery of breathing and concentration that invokes the universal life force. Louis Jacolliot, a nineteenth-century French judge, travelled the East and wrote of his occult experiences. In Occult Sciences in India and Among the Ancients (1884, 1971) he describes the levitation of a fakir: Taking an ironwood cane which I had brought from Ceylon, he leaned heavily upon it, resting his right hand upon the handle with his eyes fixed upon the ground. He then proceeded to utter the appropriate incantations … [and] rose gradually about two feet from the ground. His legs were crossed beneath him, and he made no change in his position, which was very like that of those bronze statues of Buddha … For more than twenty minutes I tried to see how [he] could thus fly in the face and eyes of all known laws of gravity … the stick gave him no visible support, and there was no apparent contact between that and his body, except through his right hand. Jacolliot was further told by the Brahmans that the ‘supreme cause’ of all phenomena was the ‘agasa’ (akasha), the vital fluid, ‘the moving thought of the universal soul, directing all souls’, the force that the adepts learn to control. The Transcendental meditation movement claims to be able to train its adepts in the art of levitation and photographs have been taken of meditators seemingly floating about a foot or so above the floor. Sceptics remain unconvinced, arguing that the technique is more hopping than levitation. In the West self-levitation has been regarded as a sign of evil if the person levitating was not a saint or holy man or woman. During the Middle Ages it was thought to be a sure sign of the diabolical, according to the Catholic Church’s requirements for demonic possession. In 1906 Clara Germana Cele, a 16-yearold schoolgirl from South Africa, was said to be possessed by demons. She rose up five feet in the air, sometimes vertically and sometimes horizontally. When sprinkled with holy water she came out of these states of possession. This was taken as proof of the demonic nature of her possession. Poltergeist cases and hauntings sometimes feature self-levitation and flying objects. Some investigators believe that in certain cases a human focal point with intense repressed emotion may unwittingly create enough psychokinetic energy to generate the phenomenon. Levitation reached the height of its popularity in the early days of spiritualism. It was fairly commonplace for spirits to allegedly cause mediums to rise out of their chairs and for objects to float around the room. One of the most fascinating cases of self-levitation was that of D D Home, who allegedly floated out of one window and in through another in front of a startled audience. Even more incredible was that Home was not in a trance during this levitation but was fully aware of what was happening. He said an unseen power lifted him up and he had an ‘electrical fullness’ in his feet. Descriptions of what it feels like to levitate are hard to come by, but in addition to Home’s account, the sixteenth-century saint Philip Neri was reported as saying that it was as if he had been caught hold of by somebody and ‘wonderfully lifted’. Teresa of Avila’s account reports that it was a ‘very sore distress’ to her, for fear it would cause scandal, which is why she forbade nuns who saw her floating to speak of it; it was also frightening: ‘I confess that it threw me into great fear’, but there could also be ‘great sweetness if unresisted’, and she was sure that it was not a dream or an illusion. ‘The senses are not lost; at least I was so much myself as to be able to see that I was being lifted up.’ Sceptics explain reports of levitation by hallucination, hypnosis or simple fraud. Home was accused of using hypnosis techniques to trick his audience into thinking he levitated. Stage magicians often fake levitation in the dark by removing their shoes and placing them on the top of their hands, convincing audience members who see the hazy shape of the boots rising in the air that the magician is actually levitating. LEY LINES Patterns of powerful, invisible earth energy running through, along and beneath the earth that are thought to possess great spiritual, astrological and healing qualities and to connect various sacred sites, such as churches, stone circles, megaliths, holy places and other locations of spiritual or magical importance. The study of ley lines forms part of the so-called ‘earth mysteries’, a field of holistic investigation into ancient sites and their surrounding landscapes. The phrase was first coined by English beer salesman and amateur antiquarian researcher, Alfred Watkins, in 1921 when he was out riding one day. As he approached a crest in the Bredwardine hills of Herefordshire he suddenly noticed that the ancient mounds, burial sites and churches were all built in straight lines. It occurred to him that these sites must have been deliberately placed along a worldwide power network of lines, criss-crossed and interconnected. Four years later, in 1925, he described his vision in a book he titled The Old Straight Track: Imagine a fairy chain stretched from mountain peak to mountain peak, as far as the eye could reach, and paid out until it reached the ‘high places’ of the earth at a number of ridges, banks, and knowls. Then visualise a mound, circular earthwork, or clump of trees, planted on these high points, and in low points in the valley other mounds ringed around with water to be seen from a distance. Then great standing stones brought to mark the way at intervals, and on a bank leading up to a mountain ridge or down to a ford the track cut deep so as to form a guiding notch on the skyline as you come up … Here and there, at two ends of the way, a beacon fire used to lay out the track. With ponds dug on the line, or streams banked up into ‘flashes’ to form reflecting points on the beacon track so that it might be checked when at least once a year the beacon was fired on the traditional day. All these works exactly on the sighting line. Watkins called these lines leys, a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon lea or leigh, meaning ‘grassy track’. He surmised that these straight tracks were probably the remnants of prehistoric trading routes. He went on to associate ley lines with the Greek god Hermes (Roman Mercury, Norse Woden) who was the god of communication and of boundaries, the winged messenger and the guide to travellers on unknown paths. Watkins identified Hermes with the chief god of the Druids and argued that A Celtic god, Tout, or in its Romanised form Toutates, is supposed to be what Caesar referred to, and this name has been found on a Romano-British altar. It is a fact that sighting mounds called Tot, Toot, Tout, Tute and Twt abound all over the Kingdom, and the root is probably Celtic … The fact that such mounds are mark-points on track ways strengthen the link. After Watkins published his suggestions in The Old Straight Track public interest grew, as did controversy within the archaeological community. (The magazine Antiquity refused to advertise the book, describing it as a rank work.) Despite the fuss the popularity of his theory grew steadily and a ‘Straight Track Club’ was formed to which members could report their own observations of leys. Watkins’s observations were initially confirmed when straight line alignments were found throughout the UK but his theory about their nature was seriously doubted almost from the start. By the late 1930s Major F C Taylor noticed that leys often consisted of parallel tracks. If they marked prehistoric sites, why would travellers have needed two, both going in the same direction? Later larger-scale maps revealed that certain British ley lines carried across into Europe. Whatever leys were it was unlikely they were roads. But if not roads, what were they? Some insist they are nothing but a random collection of points that happen to be in a straight line. Even ley supporters have differing opinions. Some assert that the prehistoric alignments can be validated while others suggest that leys mark paths of some sort of earth energy that can be detected by dowsing and may have been sensed by early humans. The energy is similar to the flow of the universal life force, found in feng shui. Points where key energy paths intersect are said to be prone to paranormal phenomena such as UFO sightings, earth lights and hauntings. A brief guide to ley hunting In his books Alfred Watkins laid down meticulous rules for ley hunters and gave advice that incorporates reference research, mapwork and fieldwork. Points to look for on the map are of the following types, listed in order of importance: 1. Ancient mounds, whether called tumulus, tump, barrow, cairn or 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. any other name. Ancient unworked stones - not those marked as boundary stones. Moats and islands in ponds and small lakes. Traditional or holy wells. Beacon points. Crossroads with place names and ancient wayside crosses. Churches of ancient foundation and hermitages. Ancient castles and old castle place names. Watkins suggests ringing each of these features on the map so that they are clearly visible. Next, stick a pin into the exact location of a grade 1 or 2 marker point and place a straight edge against it, swinging it around to see if three other ringed points (or two and a stretch of straight road or track) can be found to align. Draw a thin pencil line through the points and then check for further confirmation points along its course. To conform to the Watkins’s prototype, the ley should consist of at least four marker points and terminate at both ends in a natural hill or mountain peak. If successful in this first stage, the next thing is to walk the ley on the ground. Watkins says that this is detective rather than surveying work, as much evidence has been lost to ploughing and modern development. An important aspect of field observation that Watkins does not mention is the intervisibility of sites. In short distance leys, such as those between standing stones, the ability to see the next marker stone from your point of observation is a good indication that the alignment was deliberate. Modern ley hunters are more likely these days to start their search for ancient straight tracks in the local reference library. The local studies collection is a good starting point, and these days there are many fine studies of local village histories that often contain obscure references to old funeral paths and church paths. Armed with this information, it is time to consult the Ordnance Survey map. If you can get hold of the older versions of these so much the better. They often contain a wealth of detail missing from the modern maps and will show areas of the countryside which are now developed and old footpaths that have disappeared. The Society of Ley Hunters (www.ley-hunter.com/index.html) is a good source of information on ley lines and hunting ley lines. The issue of evidence - how many alignments over what distance - to validate a ley remains a hot topic among ley enthusiasts. Author John Michell gathered seductive evidence when he identified 22 alignments between 53 megalithic sites over 7-mile distances. Michell also pointed out similarities between the ley lines of Europe and the ‘dragon paths’ of China, which were thought to carry energy to the Emperor. Other investigators have discovered evidence that suggests an energy aspect associated with certain ancient sites. Dowser Guy Underwood, for example, confirmed that underground streams ran under the length of some long burrows. Physicists Professor John Taylor and Dr Eduardo Balinovski of London University used a gaussmeter on a South Wales megalith and found it surrounded by a magnetic field phenomenon. Theories of magnetic interaction at ley line points suggest to some observers that these points were used to induct energy but current data remains inconclusive. Although Britain has been the principal site of ley investigation there is also interest in Europe and the United States. Straight line systems also exist in Bolivia, where holy tracks have been shown to merge towards Indian shrines at the tops of holy hills, and Peru, where 41 lines called ceques spread out from the Sun Temple in Cuzco into the country, marked by various shrines and other sites. LIEKKO In Finnish folklore, Liekko, which means ‘the flaming one’, is thought to be a small flame-like apparition that bobs at eye level and presages death or mishap for all who see it, often being mistaken for the light of a welcoming farmhouse. The Liekko is reported to be the spirit of a child who was secretly buried in a forest, but another version of the story explains that a long-ago New Year festival had children sing while marching through the village holding candles above their heads. The custom ended when a witch kidnapped the children who were never heard of again, save in the form of their lost souls wandering the marshes, still holding their candles - the flames of liekko. Since they can only return to earth by replacing one of their number with a living child, mothers warn their children never to follow the lights. LIFE AFTER DEATH See Survival after death. LIFE FORCE See Universal life force. LIFE REVIEW A popular folk belief is that when a person is close to death or confronted with death they will see their life flash before their eyes. A number of neardeath experience stories do report this. Typically the life review consists of unusually vivid, instantaneous images of either the person’s whole life or fragments of it. In some instances the images may appear in an orderly sequence, from the present to childhood but sometimes the images seem to appear all at once. There may also be glimpses of an imagined future or identification with the feelings of other people. It seems that the life review occurs without any conscious effort on the part of the person and many report feeling like passive witnesses. LIMBO Modern-day use of the word limbo to refer to states of oblivion, confinement or transition is derived from the theological sense of Limbo as a place where souls that cannot enter heaven or hell remain, for example, unbaptized infants. The traditional view of ghosts is that they exist in a kind of limbo because they are spirits of dead people who for some reason are stuck between this plane of existence and the next, often as a result of some tragedy or trauma. LINCOLN, Abraham [1809–1865] Sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln had a strong interest in Spiritualism. He was assassinated while in office and his body was moved numerous times to different graves. In death it is thought he has not found peace as his ghost has been said to haunt many locations. Early in his political career Lincoln develop a fascination for Spiritualism that would remain with him all his life. In a letter to his friend Joshua F Speed in 1842 he observed that he had ‘always had a strong tendency to mysticism’ and had often felt compelled ‘by some other power than my own will’ which he felt came ‘from above’. Throughout his presidency Lincoln may have had intuitive or psychic insights that prompted him to take or not take action. Mediums were frequent visitors to the White House and although it is unlikely he made his decisions solely based on advice from the spirit world, he may have heard things from mediums that reinforced his own convictions to take action. For example, mediums may have had an influence on his issuing of the decree in 1863 to free all slaves in the rebellious states. Lincoln’s beloved son Willie died in 1862 from scarlet fever and both Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd (who was also committed to the spiritualist cause) suffered deep grief. Lincoln once told his secretary Salmon P Chase that he often felt Willie near him and spoke to him. A week or so before his assassination by actor John Wilkes Booth on 14 April 1865, Lincoln had a dramatic and prophetic dream of his own death. About ten days ago, I retired very late. I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a deathlike stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invisible. I went from room to room. No living person was in sight, but the same mournful sounds met me as I passed alone. I was puzzled and alarmed. Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room. Before me was a catafalque on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, some gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. ‘Who is dead in the White House?’ I demanded of one of the soldiers. ‘The president,’ was his answer. ‘He was killed by an assassin.’ Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which awoke me from my dream. I slept no more that night; and although it was only a dream, I have been strangely annoyed by it ever since. There was a big demand to see Lincoln’s body and a special funeral train carried his him from Washington through New York State and west to Illinois to his hometown of Springfield. The trip took over two weeks and the train stopped in numerous cities with about 2 million mourners filing past the open coffin. Since then every April a phantom funeral train is said to travel along the route taken by the official funeral train. Lincoln’s body was moved several times before it was placed in a marble sarcophagus in the family catacomb on 9 October 1874. In November 1876 there was an attempt to rob the grave and Lincoln’s body was moved to a secret grave deeper in the catacomb to prevent such attempts. There was another move in 1886 when a new crypt was built for him, followed by yet another in 1889 when his body was placed in a white marble sarcophagus. In 1901 the casket was opened again for the purposes of identification and reburied in an underground vault. There have been many reports by visitors to the tomb over the years of weeping, footsteps and hushed voices. Mary Todd never fully recovered from her husband’s death. She became increasingly dependent on opium and advice from mediums. She claimed to be able to talk to her husband every day. Under an assumed name she sat for spirit photographer William Mumler and a hazy likeness of the dead president was produced. In 1875 her son, Robert Lincoln, had his mother institutionalized and after her release she went into self-imposed isolation in France. After her death in 1882 she was buried in the Lincoln catacomb in Springfield. The Lincoln family home, now owned and maintained as a historical site, has long been associated with reports of unusual phenomena and hauntings. Apparitions of a tall thin man, sometimes accompanied by a small boy, believed to be Lincoln and his son, Willie, have been reported on numerous occasions. Visitors have said they noticed cold spots and have been touched by what feels like invisible hands. There have also been reports of objects moving, voices muttering and phantom music playing. Ford’s Theatre, Washington, where Lincoln was assassinated, has also been associated with haunting phenomena. Visitors have claimed to hear assassin John Wilkes Booth’s footsteps running up the back staircase towards the presidential box. Actors to this day report icy sensations centre stage, strange noises, weeping and laughter, lights turning on and of and a tendency to forget their lines. The Lincoln box is permanently closed, but singers have reported being distracted by a light mysteriously flashing and off from the box during performances. Lincoln’s ghost is also thought to haunt the White House. His silhouette has frequently been seen, or sensed, standing near a window in the Oval Office. The haunting replays a real-life scene observed late in Lincoln’s presidency by army chaplain E C Bolles. When Bolles arrived in the Oval Office he saw the President gazing sadly out of the window. Later Bolles wrote, ‘I think I have never seen so sad a face in my life and I have looked into many a mourner’s face.’ President Harry Truman (1945-53) thought he heard Lincoln walking about the White House and during the administration of Ronald Reagan (1981-89) the President’s daughter, Maureen, reported seeing Lincoln’s ghost in the Lincoln room. LLTHOMANCY Ancient method of divination - popular in the British Isles and Europe - by stones or by studying light reflected by precious or coloured stones or even glass beads. Photius (c. AD 820-891) the Patriarch of Constantinople, spoke of an oracular stone called the baetulum, and referred to it as a tool for lithomancy There are different methods of lithomancy. In the reflection method a ceremonial candle is used and the gemstones are cast on a black cloth for reading. A blue reflection typically suggests good luck and peace. Red reflections indicate sex, love or marriage; yellow reflections are said to indicate betrayal; dark or grey reflections are said to foretell calamities or the presence of evil; green reflections indicate success and money; and purple reflections are said to signify sorrow in the near future. In another method each stone supposedly has a significance of its own, and the divination is accomplished by tossing the stones and interpreting the arrangement in which they fall. Thirteen stones are used. They are selected from their natural environment during favourable astrological configurations, and with the aid of intuitional guidance. Ideally, the stones should be smooth and nearly uniform in size and shape. They may range from pebbles found on a beach to semi-precious stones such as agates or various crystals. Seven stones represent astrological signs: the sun, moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn. The remaining six stones represent the home, love, life, magic, luck and news. LITTLE BASTARD, CURSE OF One of the most persistent Hollywood curse stories is that of American movie star James Dean’s death car, on which the Rebel Without a Cause icon bestowed the name Little Bastard. James Dean lived a short, dangerous and thrill-seeking life. He loved fast cars and motorcycles and his favourite hobby was racing. He was a skilled driver with top honours in numerous races but his racing prowess couldn’t save him from a fatal collision at high speed in the Diablo Mountains in September 1955. The rare Silver Porsche Spyder that carried him to his grave was bought after the accident for $2,500 by Dean’s former racing car designer, George Barris. The car fell while being unloaded, breaking a mechanic’s leg, and so began a string of weird accidents - including two more deaths - among those who had anything to do with the Little Bastard or its parts. Wherever the Little Bastard went injury, death and misfortune seemed to follow. For instance, fans were injured when they attempted to steal souvenir parts from the car, and when the car was on display at a Sacramento high school it fell off its stand breaking a student’s hip. When the car was sent by truck to Salinas the driver lost control of the truck and crashed. He was thrown free, only to have the Little Bastard fall off the truck on top of him and crush him to death. The final mishap took place in 1960 when the car disappeared while being transported across country. To this day, its whereabouts are unknown. There is a superstitious belief that not just places but objects can become cursed when associated with violence and tragedy. Was the Little Bastard really cursed when Dean bought it brand new? Were those who came into contact with it simply victims of bad luck? Or did it become cursed as a result of Dean’s violent death? According to psychometry, objects absorb the emotions of their owners and remain a permanent focus of these emotions. Although the mystery may never be solved, there may be a possibility that in the final seconds of Dean’s life he experienced such intense terror and fear that their negative energy was literally imprinted on the car. LITTLECOTE HOUSE Once the setting of the great romance between King Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Littlecote House on the Berkshire-Wiltshire border is allegedly haunted by numerous ghosts. The Littlecote estate dates back at least as far as the thirteenth century but the mansion standing today (now a hotel) was built in the late fifteenth century by the Darrell family. Henry was the first recorded royal visitor to Littlecote in 1520 and it is here that he later courted the beautiful Jane Seymour, a relative of the Darrells. In 1575 Littlecote became the scene of a despicable crime. The owner at the time was William Darrell, known as Wild Darrell because of his outrageous behaviour. According to lore, one night a nobleman sent for a midwife from another village, had her blindfolded and taken to the house where she was instructed to help deliver the baby of a woman in labour. As soon as the child was born the nobleman threw it on the fire. The midwife was given a purse of money and taken home blindfolded. She did, however, snip a piece of curtain before she left and count the stairs on the way out. She reported the crime to the local magistrate the next day. Littlecote was suspected as the scene of the crime as the piece of fabric matched that of a hole in the curtains and the number of stairs matched those the midwife had counted. In another version of the story the midwife was so frightened that she didn’t say anything until she was on her deathbed. Whatever happened Darrell was arrested but somehow acquitted. It was said that the judge had been bribed. Fourteen years later in 1589, when out hunting in Littlcote Park, Darrell was thrown from his horse and died. It was said that the ghost of the dead baby had startled the horse and ever since the site where Darrell died is thought to be haunted by the infant’s ghost, named the Burning Babe, Darrell himself and his phantom hounds. Darrell is also said to appear at Littlecote as a death omen, appearing with phantom coach and horses when a death in the family is about to occur. There are other ghosts at Littlecote apart from Darrell and the infant, including a woman who carries a rush light, a woman who appears in the garden, a woman in a pink nightdress who appears on the stairs carrying a lamp and a silent woman holding a baby - thought to be Darrell’s wife’s maid, or his sister, in the room where the murder occurred. Gerald Lee Bevin, a one-time tenant of Littlecote House who was convicted of fraud, is also said to put in a ghostly appearance from time to time. Phantom footsteps have been heard on the stairs and a terrifying scream from the murder room. LLTTLEDEAN HALL Stately home located in Gloucestershire and thought to be haunted by as many as 16 ghosts. The Hall was originally Saxon and it has been occupied since the eleventh century. Many of the ghost stories associated with Littledean are concerned with the English Civil War when the house was garrisoned by both Roundheads and Royalists. The ghost of John Brayne, believed to be a Roundhead captain who spied on the Royalists by disguising himself as a gardener, is said to appear now and again in a long cloak. Two Royalist officers were murdered in the dining hall and a phantom stain that looks like a pool of blood is said to appear on the same spot that they fell. There have also been sightings of the ghost of a black manservant who murdered his master, the owner of Littledean, in 1741 because the man had raped his sister is seen near the stain. Another story tells of a pistol duel that ended in the death of a man in 1740 and his ghost is said to linger. Ever since Littledean Hall opened to the public in 1983 visitors have reported feeling uneasy, with some encountering apparitions on the drive and in the courtyard. LIZZIE BORDEN’s house Now a bed and breakfast hotel located at No. 92 Second Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, the former home of suspected murderer Lizzie Borden is said to be haunted. Although Lizzie was never convicted of murder it is very likely that on the morning of 4 August 1892 she killed her stepmother, Abby Durfee Gray, with an axe, in the Borden’s family house and an hour or so later she killed her father, Andrew Borden, in the same way. Abby’s body was found between the bed and bureau, in the guest room. Mr Borden’s body was found lying with his head on the sofa arm, next to the door, in the downstairs sitting room. The Borden household was not a happy one and there is little doubt Lizzie was guilty, but due to lack of evidence she was acquitted at her trial. Despite being ostracized by the community she continued to live in the house until her death on 1 June 1927. After her death, the house remained a private residence for several decades before being converted into a bed and breakfast. Guests that stay there can, if they so wish, view the murder scene and sleep in Lizzie’s bedroom, Abby and Andrew’s bedrooms or the guest room where Abby was killed. With such violence taking place in the house it is hardly surprising that the house is reportedly haunted by the spirits of the Bordens. Guests report feeling cold spots in certain rooms and people who work in the house report hearing voices, unexplained footsteps and doors opening and closing. Abby has been seen pulling the covers of the bed from guests and dusting and making beds in the guest room. Some have seen what looks like a body lying down appear and disappear on the beds. LODGE, FRATERNAL A form of social and community organization that was once universal but is all but forgotten today, the fraternal lodges came into being around 1600 when the medieval guild system was reshaped to meet the needs of a new mercantile society. Freemasonry, which evolved out of the Scottish stonemasons’ craft guild, is one of the few orders to have survived from this early period. Between 1800 and 1920 a vast number of fraternal orders sprang up, many of which are no longer in existence. A fraternal lodge is made up of a number of initiated members who receive a charter from the order’s grand lodge that lays down rules and regulations for the lodge’s business. There are standard patterns for ceremonies that open and close lodge meetings but titles for officials within lodges vary enormously. Initiation rituals, which form the core of the fraternal lodge system, illustrate the same combination of similar patterns but wildly diverse symbolism and terminology. Many fraternal lodge organizations are open only to men but there are exceptions, such as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. One branch of Freemasonry, Co-Masonry, also admits women as well as men to membership, but a number of Masonic organizations refuse to accept the validity of CoMasonic initiation. During the golden era of the fraternal lodge - between 1750 and 1950 - a large percentage of male occultists belonged to fraternal lodges and a lot of occult material found its way into lodge systems, for example hermetic traditions, found its way into various Masonic lodges. Magical societies such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn draw heavily on fraternal lodge practices in their ceremonies. LODGE, MAGICAL The standard social structure for Western occultism, the magical lodge was derived from the structure of the fraternal lodge. Occult writers between 1780 and 1950 claimed that that the lodge system dated back centuries, however, although older lore may have played a part, it is generally thought that the earliest magical lodges were formed in the middle of the eighteenth century. While there may have been occult secret societies before that time the standard set up of magical lodges - initiations, an ascending ladder of degrees, passwords, secret handshakes and so on - were an eighteenth-century fraternal lodge-inspired addition. Like the fraternal lodges from which they borrowed so much, most magical lodges went into a steep decline during the second half of the twentieth century. The reasons are not entirely known but it’s possible that the ritual and hierarchical male-dominated structure of many lodges did not appeal to the radical, experimental and freedom-loving people who were attracted to occultism in the 1960s. The magical lodge system has not completely faded away though, and some magical lodges remain active today. See also Lodge, fraternal. LODGE, SIR OLIVER [185-1–1940] Physicist, psychical researcher and prominent member of the Society for Psychical Research Lodge is best known today for his book Raymond: A Life (1916), which records communications through a medium with his son, who was killed in World War I. Oliver Joseph Lodge was born on 12 June 1851, in Staffordshire, England. In 1874 he enrolled in University College London and upon earning his doctorate was appointed assistant professor of physics there. In 1881 he was appointed Professor of Physics at Liverpool University and began conducting his first experiments on ESP subjects with surprisingly positive results. He joined the Society for Psychical Research and began to attend meetings regularly. When the society invited medium Leonora Piper to England, Lodge had his first sitting with her and was extremely impressed by messages given to him from his beloved Aunt Anne who had recently died. He invited Piper to Liverpool so he could study her mediumship further, and during these séances, where Piper told Lodge things that were later verified, he concluded that the idea of telepathy which he believed to operate among the living - needed to be extended to include the possibility of communication with the dead. In 1900 Lodge was appointed Principal of the University of Birmingham and his psychical research continued there. In 1901 he was elected president of the Society for Psychical Research and soon became a major figure in research on cross correspondences. It wasn’t until August 1915, however, that Lodge became a dedicated believer in the possibility of survival after death. Leonora Piper delivered a message to Lodge warning him of a great blow and a few days later he learned that his son Raymond had been killed in France. Lodge and his wife began to attend séances with other sitters and at one of these he was told that his son had appeared in a photograph with a walking stick. Another medium, Gladys Leonard, described the picture in detail. At the time the Lodges know nothing about the photograph but when a friend - who knew nothing about the séances - sent them the photograph it proved to exactly match Leonard’s description. Lodge recorded this and other sittings he had with his dead son in Raymond: A Life. The book was an overnight sensation, earning Lodge praise from spiritualists and ridicule from scientists. Undaunted Lodge wrote a number of other books on psychical research and spiritualism, including: Survival of Man (1909), Science and Religion (1914), Ether and Reality (1925), Evolution and Creation (1926), Phantom Walls (1929) and My Philosophy (1933). In addition to his contribution towards psychical research Lodge was also a highly honoured physicist responsible for many advances in that subject. In his later books he tried to relate the paranormal to physics by drawing on the popular nineteenthcentury concept of ether, which was said to pervade the entire universe as the common basis between the physical and psychical world. Lodge died on 22 August 1940 at his Wiltshire home. He left a sealed envelope the contents of which he intended to try to communicate after death; but no convincing messages seem to have been received from him. Lodge’s autobiography, Past Years, was published in 1931. LOGOMANCY Logos is Greek for ‘word’, ‘speech’ and ‘discourse’ and logomancy is the term used to describe divination by words. The exact method does not seem to be have been recorded and it appears to cover a number of different forms of fortune telling. Considering the written word it could cover such methods as bibliomancy. Considering the spoken word it could cover cledonomancy. It could also cover psychography (spontaneous writing of a divine nature) and onomancy (using the letters of a name). LOMBROSO, CESARE [1836– 1909] Italian criminologist with an interest in spiritualism, Lombroso is perhaps best known for his studies and theories on the relation between mental and physical characteristics. Lombroso tried to relate certain physical characteristics, such as jaw size, to criminal psychopathology. His theory has been scientifically discredited, but Lombroso had the merit of introducing the importance of the scientific study of the criminal mind, a field which became known as criminal anthropology. During a distinguished career Lombroso studied at the universities of Padua, Vienna and Paris and was later (1862-76) a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pavia and of forensic medicine and hygiene (1876), psychiatry (1896) and criminal anthropology (1906) at the University of Turin. During the last years of his life Lombroso became passionately interested in paranormal and mediumistic phenomena, spiritualism and hypnosis in an incompatible attempt to explain these phenomena by resorting to positivist science Early in his career Lombroso was a staunch materialist and stated in his 1909 work After Death - What?, ‘If ever there was an individual in the world opposed to spiritism by virtue of scientific education, and I may say, by instinct, I was that person. I had made it the indefatigable pursuit of a lifetime to defend the thesis that every force is a property of matter and the soul an emanation of the brain.’ He was forced, however, to significantly alter his sceptic viewpoint after extensive study of the medium Eusapia Palladino and later wrote, ‘I am ashamed and grieved at having opposed with so much tenacity the possibility of the so-called spiritistic facts.’ LONGLEAT Stately home in Wiltshire, England, that has been surrounded by superstition and ghost lore for centuries. Longleat is said to be haunted by several ghosts, the most famous of which is Lady Louisa Carteret, the Green Lady, whose portrait hangs in the lower dining room. The story goes back to the early eighteenth century when Lady Louisa married the second Viscount Weymouth. Their marriage was a disaster, her husband being vicious and unpleasant. Lady Louisa fell in love with another man and they were found together in Longleat House by her husband. A duel was fought which resulted in the death of the lover who, it is said, was buried beneath the cellar flagstones. (Four generations later a body was unearthed there when central heating was installed.) Lady Louisa died in childbirth on Christmas Day 1736 and allegedly roams the corridors looking for her long dead lover. LOURDES The shrine at Lourdes, France, where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858, has become synonymous with miraculous healings. Although there are only a handful of documented and verified healings attributed to the waters of Lourdes, the case of Pierre de Rudder is a remarkable one. In 1867, Pierre de Rudder suffered an injury when a falling tree smashed his left leg. The doctors who examined the wound felt that the leg should be amputated but de Rudder refused, preferring to keep his leg even if it caused him agony every day. For eight years he lived in pain, hobbling about on crutches, hoping that somehow he would someday be cured. In 1875, de Rudder’s employer generously arranged for de Rudder and his wife to make a pilgrimage to Lourdes, where, they had heard, many miraculous cures had taken place. Before his pilgrimage de Rudder visited a Dr Van Hoestenberghe, for one final diagnosis on his leg. In his notes Van Hoestenberghe confirmed that de Rudder had ‘an open wound at the top of the leg. In this wound one could see the two bones separated by a distance of three centimetres. There was no sign of healing.’ De Rudder and his wife set off from their home in Jabbeke, Belgium, and arrived at the crowded shrine in Lourdes on 7 April. Although de Rudder wanted to walk around the shrine, his leg was too painful so he sat and prayed. Suddenly, overcome by emotion and without thinking what he was doing, he stood and walked over to the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes and knelt down. He then realized what had happened and screamed joyfully to his wife, who promptly fainted. Doctors’ examinations at Lourdes and in Belgium confirmed what the de Rudders already knew - his leg had been healed. The open wound was gone. The bone had completely mended. LUCIAN [C. AD 117–180] Greek satirist Lucian is credited with one of the first known stories involving a group of ghost hunters in his dialogue Philpseude. Written nearly 2,000 years ago this piece contains elementary descriptions and ideas about psychical research, suggesting that Lucian was himself familiar with the work of ghost hunters. This is backed up by contemporary reports that state that Lucian enjoyed discussions concerning the paranormal and would frequently travel through Greece in search of ghosts. He also wrote pieces that exposed fraudulent mediums, and debunked allegedly paranormal events with logical explanations. LUCID DREAMING Lucid dreaming, a phrase coined by Celia Green of the Institute of Psychophysical Research in Oxford (in her 1968 book Lucid Dreams), is the state of knowing you are dreaming while you are dreaming. This may sound like a contradiction but many people report lucid dreaming, including subjects in sleep research laboratories. In AD 415 St Augustine made what was perhaps the first written mention of lucid dreaming. Then in the eighth century The Tibetan Book of the Dead described a form of yoga that maintains full waking consciousness while in a dream state. This ancient art reveals an understanding of dreams as advanced as those proposed by modern sleep researchers, such as Stephen Laberge - an accomplished lucid dreamer himself-at Stanford University, which has a famous sleep lab. Steps towards having a lucid dream Everyone can learn how to have lucid dreams. According to dream experts the likelihood of lucid dreaming increases dramatically when the dreamer holds tight to the intent to have them, and to remember them afterwards. You are most likely to experience a lucid dream when you are in a light sleep - for example, when you have dozed off after your alarm clock has gone off or when you nap in the day. 1. Be aware while you are asleep that you are in fact dreaming. To do this you need to prepare during the day. Pick a common object that might appear in your dreams - a flower, book, apple, cat, etc. Tell yourself several times during the day that when you see your chosen object it will serve as a signal that you are dreaming. In addition prime yourself to go into lucid dreaming mode. Tell yourself at regular periods during the day and just before you sleep that you want to go into lucid dreaming mode. 2. Before you go to sleep have a pen and pad nearly and be prepared to record your dream immediately on waking. Don’t kid yourself that you’ll remember in the morning because it was so vivid. The chances are you won’t. 3. When you are in the in-between stages of waking and sleeping your conscious mind is most open to suggestion and lucid dreaming, so restate your intent and remind yourself that seeing your chosen object will let you know that you are dreaming. Let the image of your object rest in your mind. 4. What may happen is that you start to dream and then think you have woken up. You haven’t - you are still in a dream state because your chosen object has appeared. It’s now that you can take control. Try to set the scene, talk to people you need to or ask for help to find solutions. 5. When you do finally wake up immediately write down your dream. Then give yourself time to ponder what your dreaming self has discovered. Lucid dreaming can happen without trying to make it happen, but most of the time people who practise lucid dreaming do so deliberately, often for the purpose of controlling the dream. The idea is that once a person is aware they are dreaming they can alter their dreams and dictate what happens: they can do anything they have ever wanted and go anywhere they have ever desired. The lucid dream state allows the dreamer unbelievable freedom of choice and action, as the laws that govern daily life do not apply in dreams - for example, why walk when you can fly? But this is only half the picture. There are also some serious practical and therapeutic uses for lucid dreams. The dreamer can try out new behaviours and test themselves in different scenarios, discovering more about their individual strengths and weaknesses. Dream experts believe that if dreamers see themselves resolving problems or overcoming difficulties in dreams this gives them the ammunition to solve them in daily life. Lucid dreaming can be an important tool for achieving goals, relieving stress, rehearsing new behaviours, solving problems, finding artistic or creative inspiration or coming to terms with emotional problems. It can also be directed to help the dreamer access their intuition. Once dreamers are able to control their dreams they can direct them to offer intuitive insights in certain areas. LUCIDITY A faculty by which supernormal knowledge may be obtained. It is a collective term for the phenomena of clairvoyance, clairaudience, psychometry, premonitions, etc. LUCK According to Webster’s Dictionary luck is described as a force that brings good or bad fortune. That which happens to a person; an event, good or ill, affecting one’s interests or happiness, and which is deemed causal; a course or series of such events regarded as occurring by chance; chance; hap; fate; fortune; often, one’s habitual or characteristic fortune; as good, bad, ill or hard luck. It is commonly held that the observance of certain superstitions will bring good luck. For example, some believe that touching wood, searching for a fourleaved clover or carrying a rabbit’s foot will in some way attract good luck. In recent years the whole question of luck has been investigated and the conclusion drawn by modern psychologists is that there is in fact no such thing as luck, only chance. Good or bad luck is created by the way a person responds to chance - i.e. random events. In other words what truly sets lucky people apart isn’t superstition or supernatural power but the way they behave and react to the environment they find themselves in. This has been backed up by research. In general studies have shown that so-called lucky people tend to be more openminded, adventurous, intuitive and optimistic than people who consider themselves less fortunate. How to get lucky Listen to your intuition – it’s often right. Be willing to experiment and explore new possibilities. Define your mission and goals in life and turn setbacks into opportunities. Develop a positive mindset. Imagine yourself being lucky. Luck is very often a self-fulfilling prophecy. That’s how good luck charms and superstitions work according to psychologists. If you truly believe something can bring good luck, you do in a way endow it with a magical power. LUCKS Objects, such as cups, dishes or ornaments, kept by families for generations as tokens of good luck. According to tradition lucks cannot be bought; they must be given to a family, typically by royalty or magical individuals such as witches or fairies and as long as they remain intact the family line will thrive. Lucks were once commonplace in the British Isles among the gentry and nobility, and it is conceivable that in the days when reading and writing were not common some lucks were tokens of tenures One of the most well known lucks is the luck of Edenhall in Cumberland - a cup made of yellow and brown glass, decorated with colourful enamel and kept in a leather case, belonging to the Musgrove family since the fifteenth century. There are a number of stories of how the luck came to be the family’s prized possession. The popular version is that one day the butler came to draw water from a fairy well. He interrupted a group of fairies dancing and they left behind their drinking cup, which the butler picked up. As he left with the cup in his hands the fairies called after him: If this cup should ever break or fall, Farewell the luck of Edenhall There are a number of theories as to the origins of the Edenhall cup. The letters IHS inscribed on the leather case has lead to speculation that it is Spanish in origin, but these letters may have been added to the case later. Other theories suggest that it is of Damascene, French or English origin from the thirteenth or fourteenth century. The first written reference to the luck of Edenhall is in 1689 but it didn’t become really famous until the eighteenth century when the Duke of Wharton nearly broke the luck during a drinking bout when visiting Edenhall in 1721. Fortunately the butler caught the cup before it fell. Wharton later immortalized the luck in a ballad: ‘The Drinking Match’. The Edenhall luck is now on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. LUCRETIUS [C. 99–55BC] Historical records clearly demonstrate that the Roman poet Lucretius was a passionate believer in ghosts who devoted a great deal of time to investigating and researching claims of apparitions. He eventually gathered enough material together to propose the theory, commonly known as Lucretius’s shell, that ghosts were a kind of shell which diffused or splintered from the body of a dying person and lingered in the atmosphere after death, moving at will. This theory is considered the forerunner of theories regarding the possible existence of the astral body, which may separate from the body of a living being under altered states of consciousness, such as a trance or deep sleep. Lucretius is thought to have died raving mad from the effects of a love potion administered to him by his wife. LUMINOUS PHENOMENA The paranormal production of light phenomena, often around objects and people. The phenomena generally occur in the presence of certain physical mediums, but can also appear independently. See also Aura, Ghost lights. LUNOMANCY Divination by the shadows created by moonlight on a person’s face after silver dust has been rubbed on the diviner’s hands and subject’s face. The shadows must be observed randomly, without the seer trying to position the person for special emphasis. The depth of the shadow, length and observed shape are all taken into consideration. Lunomancy is a form of selenomancy. LYCANTHROPY The magical belief, common in European folklore, that it is consciously possible through witchcraft or sorcery to transform into the form of an animal, typically a wolf. Lycanthropy is responsible for many werewolf legends and is similar in practice to the shaman’s ability to shape-shift into a totemic animal. The oldest known records of lycanthropy date from classical times when people or whole tribes turned into wolves appeared in various works. The lore of lycanthropy is deeply intertwined with magic and a number of magical methods of talking on wolf form or spells for managing the transformation have survived in Russian, Norse and Slavic sources. A feature of lycanthropy common in medieval and Renaissance literature and later magical works, although neglected in modern horror-movie imagery, is the nature of the wolf body created. In contrast to popular legend the lycanthrope does not transform physically into a wolf but the wolf form is constructed of ether. The human body of the lycanthrope is typically left behind in a trance state and it could be said that lycanthropy represents a form of etheric projection. LYTTELTON, LORD THOMAS [174,4–1779] The story of Lord Thomas Lyttelton, known as the ‘Wicked Lord’ and ‘Bad Lord Lyttelton’ because of his wicked reputation, involves both a death omen and a crisis apparition. In 1779, Lyttelton returned from a trip to Ireland to his house in Hill Street, near Berkeley Square in London. A number of guests visited him, including Lord Fortes-cue, Lady Flood, the Amphlett sisters and a friend who was later to record the strange circumstances surrounding Lyttelton’s death. According to the friend’s account Lyttelton was not a well man and had suffered suffocating fits in the preceding month. Three days before his death Lyttelton dreamt that he saw a fluttering bird and afterwards a woman dressed in white, who appeared to him and said, ‘Prepare to die; you will not exist three days.’ The dream upset Lyttelton so much that the following morning he told all his friends, but he could not get it out of his mind. During the following days he suffered bouts of depression as the fatal hour neared. On the third evening, he invited some guests to dinner in an attempt to forget about the dream, retiring to his bed at eleven. When he noticed his manservant was using a toothpick to stir his dose of rhubarb and mint water he called him a ‘slovenly dog’ and told him to fetch a teaspoon. When the servant returned he found his master in a fit, but instead of helping immediately, the servant ran away in fright. When he returned he found his master dead and the apparitional dream was proved true. Premonitory death dreams are not unusual and Lyttelton’s is a very direct example. The appearance of a bird and a woman in white are both symbols of spirit and associated with heaven. As was typical of the day, it was suggested that revenge might have been the motive. A rumour started that Lyttelton’s dream and death were somehow connected with Mrs Amphlett, who was said to have died broken hearted when both her daughters were seduced and cast aside by Lyttelton. There was another apparition connected to the death of Lyttelton. On the day of his death Lyttelton had been scheduled to visit his friend Miles Peter Andrews, who lived at Dartmoor but at the last moment Lyttelton decided not to go, forgetting to send his apologies to Andrews. Later that night Andrews was startled when the curtains of his four-poster bed were drawn aside and Lyttelton appeared dressed in his nightgown. Andrews assumed Lyttelton had decided to visit him after all and was playing a trick on him. Andrews threw a slipper at Lyttelton, who before disappearing responded by saying, ‘It’s all over for me Andrews.’ The next day, Andrews, still suspecting mischief on Lyttelton’s part, nearly fainted when he heard the news of Lyttelton’s death. Accounts of Lyttelton’s death and apparitional appearance to Andrews do not mention timing but, as is the case in most crisis apparitions, it is most probable that Lyttelton appeared to his friend at the moment of death. M MCDOUGALL, WILLIAM [1871–1938] Considered to be one of the greatest psychologists of his day, William McDougall was a strong proponent of psychical research and co-founder, with J B Rhine, of the parapsychology laboratory at Duke University. McDougall’s interest in psychical research began while he was a psychology student at Cambridge University. He joined the Society for Psychical Research and was elected its president in 1920, the same year that he was offered the position of Professor of Psychology at Harvard. When he arrived in the United States to take up his position he was also elected president of the American Society for Psychical Research, making him the first (and probably last) person to have held presidencies in both psychical research societies simultaneously. At Harvard, McDougall ran a series of experiments on white rats to support the theory, known as the Lamarckian theory of inheritance, that acquired characteristics could be inherited. Of his numerous academic studies the one of most interest to psychical researchers is Body and Mind: A history and defence of Animism, published in 1911, where McDougall uses cross correspondences and other psychic phenomena to support his mind-body dualism argument. At the ASPR, McDougall attempted to strengthen the society’s academic credentials by setting up an academic board of advisors, but this was an unpopular strategy with board members and in 1923 he was replaced as president by spiritualist Frederick Edwards. Shortly after McDougall became the first of several psychical researchers to investigate the Boston medium Mina Crandon. They witnessed a number of phenomena including the movement of objects, but when a piece of string was discovered that could have been used to move a stool the investigation stopped. McDougall tried, without success, to get Crandon, who had gained considerable support from the ASPR, to confess to fraud. Disillusioned with the ASPR’s reluctance to apply academic criteria to psychical research, he gave his support to a rival society that was setting itself up, the Boston Society for Psychical Research. Although McDougall helped draft the constitution for the Boston society, his focus changed from psychical research societies to championing parapsychology as a field for university study. His chance came in 1927 when he was hired by Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, to head its psychology department. He accepted John Thomas as a graduate student studying trance mediumship, and in 1933 Thomas received the first PhD degree in parapsychology awarded by an American university. It was also through Thomas that McDougall came into contact with J B Rhine, who was working as Thomas’s research assistant. With McDougall’s help, Rhine was hired as a Professor of Psychology and began developing ESP card tests. By 1935 Rhine’s research was so large that it moved out of the psychology department into its own separate unit, which later became known as the parapsychology laboratory at Duke University (see Rhine Research Center). MCLOUGHLIN HOUSE House located in Oregon City, a community in the Willamette valley, Portland, near Oregon that is thought to be haunted. Once owned by pioneer Dr John McLoughlin (1784-1857) - a colourful character in pioneer history who founded Oregon City in 1839 - phenomena reported at the house include mysterious footsteps and voices, poltergeist activity and a shadowy figure thought to be McLoughlin’s ghost. In 1821, McLoughlin, a physician for the Hudson Bay Company, was sent to Oregon to preside over the company’s new headquarters. Despite incredible generosity to the Oregon City community he founded, McLoughlin was resented because he was British, wealthy and a Catholic in a Protestant town who was married to a Chippewa woman. When the US government disputed his claim to the land he had few supporters. In a desperate bid to save his title he became an American citizen but this still wasn’t enough and Congress stripped him of ownership. McLoughlin died bitter and disillusioned in 1857. His house became a bordello before being abandoned. In 1908 it was moved to its present location overlooking the city and in 1930 was restored and opened to the public. In 1970 McLoughlin’s grave was moved to the new grounds. Haunting phenomena were not reported at the house until the mid-1970s when Nancy Wilson, who had no belief in ghosts prior to working at the house, became its curator. One of the earliest experiences Wilson reported was a tap on the shoulder when the house was closed to the public and she was cleaning upstairs. On turning around no one was in sight and the only other employee was downstairs. As the days passed the phenomena increased. Wilson and other staff members began to report seeing a shadowy figure that resembled a painting of McLoughlin in the upstairs hall. Footsteps on the upstairs hall were also heard when no one was there. A child’s bed mysteriously appeared to have been slept in when staff arrived in the morning to open up. Rocking chairs rocked by themselves and objects were moved with no logical explanation. The phenomena continued until the late 1980s when the house became quiet again, although McLoughlin’s non-threatening presence continued to be felt by Wilson and her staff. After the hauntings began Wilson began to research her past to see if there was any link between her and McLoughlin that might have activated the haunting. She discovered that her ancestors included the Wells, a family of pioneers who arrived in Oregon City in 1842. When Mr Wells died leaving behind a wife and family, McLoughlin had loaned them money, which they were never able to fully repay. Wilson speculated that McLoughlin may have been attempting to collect his debt, or perhaps he wanted to express his satisfaction with the quality of her work in preserving and promoting the house and his reputation. MCRAVEN HOUSE Considered to be one the most haunted places in Vicksburg, Mississippi, McRaven House was used as the Union headquarters during the American Civil War. The occupation of Vicksburg delivered a severe blow to the Confederate cause, for now control of the Mississippi lay in the hands of General Grant. A Colonel Wilson and his aide, Captain McPherson, of the occupying forces decided to headquarter at 1445 Harrison Street. McPherson served as the liaison between the occupying troops and the residents of the town. One night, McPherson failed to return from his usual rounds and was declared missing. A search was started, but he wasn’t found. The following night McPherson returned although not in the flesh. His mutilated-looking apparition dripping with blood allegedly appeared to Colonel Wilson in McRaven House to inform his commander that he had been murdered by Confederate sympathizers and thrown into the river. Since that time, reports of Captain McPherson’s ghost continue, delivering the same message to other occupants of the house. There have also been sightings of civil war soldiers and a woman with long brown hair and a plain dress in the middle bedroom of the house. In 1991, the house, which is currently a private residence open daily for tours, was blessed by an Episcopal priest, but reports of hauntings from startled tourists and tour guides continue. MACRO PK Parapsychologists usually make a distinction between ‘macroscopic PK’ (large-scale effects observable by the naked eye or by a single measurement) and microscopic PK (small-scale effects only observable by statistical analysis of multiple measurements); both types are still studied today, although with more attention paid to the micro variety. Accounts of macro PK include the so-called physical phenomena observed during séances with mediums of the spiritualist era in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Such phenomena included table tilting, rapping and levitation, and the playing of musical instruments with minimal or no contact. In more modern times, claimed macro PK phenomena include metal bending and the production of images on unexposed photographic film by Uri Geller and other psychics. See also Micro PK. MACROMANCY Derived from the ancient Greek macros, meaning large’, macromancy is the word used to describe divination by studying the largest object in the area. Whether a rock, a tree or a house the object is studied and the seer interprets. Size, general shape and colour, and the closeness of objects to others or the distance from them all have their place in the interpretation. MAD ANTHONY The ghost of American Revolutionary Major General and hero Anthony Wayne is said to haunt several states in the United States. Impetuous and hot-headed and admired for his daring exploits, Wayne was sometimes known as ‘Mad Anthony’, but he was an able general. He died on 15 December 1796, in Erie, Pennsylvania and was buried at St David’s Church in Chester County. One of Wayne’s best-known hauntings is along Route 1 near the revolutionary battlefield of Brandywine at Chadd’s Ford, Pennsylvania. During the battle of Brandywine (1777) the ferocious fighting of Wayne and his men enabled Washington to escape inevitable slaughter by the British. There have been several sightings of Wayne’s ghost in full army dress astride a galloping white stallion. Wayne’s ghost is said to appear at Lake Memphremagog where he once found a bald eagle’s nest and while attempting to steal it received a scar from one of the chicks that stayed with him all his life. Wayne kept the eagles and trained them to be his hunting companions and his apparition was reportedly seen on the lakeside with an eagle on each of his shoulders. His ghost also appears at Fort Ticon-deroga where he was commandant in 1771 and had an affair with a lady called Nancy Coates. Nancy set her heart on marrying Wayne, but when he refused the devastated Nancy drowned herself in a nearby lake. The apparition of a sobbing woman thought to be Nancy has been seen in various parts of the fort, and Wayne’s ghost is said to appear in the dining room of the commandant’s quarters smoking a pipe and drinking from a pewter mug. There have been other sightings of Wayne astride his beloved horse Nab at Storm King Pass on the Hudson River and at a house he chanced upon while riding to join General Lafayette in Virginia. The house was in a half-finished state, and according to lore Wayne dreamed of buying it after a transient life spent in barracks. More than two centuries later the house remains inexplicably unfinished and it is thought by those who believe in the ghost of Mad Anthony that he visits the house and wonders why it is still only half built! MAGI Magi were Zoroastrian astrologer priests from ancient Persia. The word magi is plural; the singular is magus. It is derived from the Old Persian word, Magupati, in modern Persian Mobed. Magus is also a word for a shaman, magician, wizard, sorcerer or wise man, especially one of experience and accomplishment. According to the New Testament, the three Kings who visited the baby Jesus in Bethlehem were magi. MAGIC Magic is about power and control - the ability to create change in accordance with Magical Will. The change is effected through ritual acts in which supernatural forces are invoked and made subservient to the will of the witch or magician. Will is understood by magical practitioners as the focusing of desire to achieve goals. Will is not the same as desire; will is something that must be created and trained. Belief in one’s ability to perform magic involves coming to accept a belief that one is capable of creating change (that one is powerful) and that the change will occur according to one’s will (that one is in control). Aleister Crowley, one of the Golden Dawn’s most famous and most controversial magicians, suggested that every intentional act is in essence an act of will. He believed that if more people practised magic they would learn more about their true selves and purpose in life and this would reduce conflict and confusion in humanity. Magic has existed in all cultures since ancient times. The word is derived from the Greek megas, which means ‘great’. Magic is often subdivided into white magic or black magic, or even grey magic, but magic itself is neither good or bad - it is the magician’s will that determines whether the magic serves good or evil. Every culture has different names for practitioners of the magical arts, for instance witch doctor, wizard, wise woman, witch, magician, sorcerer, shaman and so on. In some cases magic is the speciality of a priest or religious leader. The ability to practise the magical arts is typically considered to be hereditary, passed down through family lines. Practitioners are also considered likely to possess psychic ability. The earliest form of magic was probably mechanical sorcery, in which an act is performed to achieve a particular result. Palaeolithic cave paintings at the Trois Frères caves in France, for instance, reveal images of magical rituals for a successful hunt. It is thought that the systems of low and high magic were first developed by the ancient Greeks. High magic - which involved working with spirits - was considered to be akin to religion, but low magic - providing spells and potions for a fee - developed an unsavoury reputation by the beginning of the sixth century BC. In the centuries that followed, as Christianity spread throughout Europe, low magic became the folk magic and witchcraft of rural peoples, while high magic became intellectual, spiritual and ceremonial. High magic (which drew its inspiration from Hermetica, the Kabbalah, Neo-Platonism and Oriental law) thrived in the Renaissance as a reaction to the Church’s denial of all magic outside that of religious miracles. It was nurtured by secret societies and lodges, such as Freemasonry, the Order of the Knights Templars and the Rosicrucians. During the scientific revolution of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries magic fell out of favour, but interest was revived in the nineteenth century by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and occultists such as Eliphas Levi, whose Dogma and Ritual of High Magic (1856) was very influential. The foundation of high or ceremonial magic is the Hermetic Kabbalah, an amalgam of the Hermetica and Jewish Kabbalah used by the Golden Dawn. Ceremonial magic rituals have three elements: 1. Love and devotion. 2. Invocation. 3. Drama, which involve the magician identifying with the deity. Ritual clothes and tools and symbols are crucial as they are thought to attract magical forces. The ritual itself serves as a means of uniting the microcosm with the macrocosm, i.e. as a way to join the human consciousness with God or a god. It is a path of self-realization. The initiate first learns how to achieve samadhi, a state of concentration where forces akin to primal archetypal forces, are personified as astral beings or elementals. It is through these forces and the invoking of gods and goddesses, or communication with or entry into alternative states of reality, that the magician begins to understand him or herself and discover his or her strengths and weaknesses. Magic in the modern religion of neo-pagan witchcraft includes both high and low magic. There are prescriptions advising against the use of magic for anything other than good, and against blood sacrifice. Effectiveness at magic is believed to be the result of study and practice. Often magic is presented as an ongoing discipline, the cornerstone of which is self-knowledge. Neo-pagan magical training begins with knowing oneself and training one’s will. ‘Knowing oneself is a complex, introspective process and a number of exercises designed to raise awareness of one’s thoughts, feelings and intuition are suggested to facilitate it. Neo-pagan witches and magicians believe that through increasing self-knowledge, one increases the effectiveness of one’s magical will. All of these activities have their counterparts in secular equivalents such as psychotherapy and the modern self-help movement. Where neo-pagan magical activities appear to be alien to outside observers is in their use of material elements in spell work, such as candles, oils, herbs, coloured robes and so on. Magical practitioners tend to explain the use of physical elements in spell work as aids to concentration, meditation and visualization. They also believe that objects do not just suggest moods and energies; they embody them or are attuned to them in some way. Manipulation of objects therefore is a microcosmic way of manipulating the broader energies to which they are connected. In essence, neo-pagan magic is more about changing the internal landscape than the external and in this way it is closer to religion than to science, which seeks only to explain the material world. This is not to say that spells are not expected to work in the material world. They are, but according to neo-pagan magic, changing the external landscape is not all that magic does - even though many people think that that is all it is meant to do. Magic changes the internal landscape as well and is an elaborate, dramatic metaphor for the individual’s relationship with him or herself and the universe. Transforming yourself Most people associate magic with outer change and spell work. There are many books and techniques designed to help you harness the power of nature, through the use of herbs, stones, colours, candles and symbols. These are powerful ways to do magic, but magic is essentially about creating inner change. Props may be useful but it is the mind that works magic, and success at spell work is believed to rest upon the mastery of meditation and visualization exercises. You may want to begin a meditative visualization by lighting a candle, asking for inner guidance, breathing deeply and closing your eyes. You can use body relaxation, incense, guided countdowns and soothing imagery to get into an altered state of mind where you can access your inner energy patterns—your conscious and unconscious thoughts, emotions, dreams, hopes and fears. Most importantly, you can connect with your inner guidance, awaken your psychic abilities and connect with healing spirits and gods. Now in your inner vision, imagine yourself the way you want to be. Use images of coloured light and simple symbols to work with the energy. If you need courage, think about what colour feels most like courage to you. Then imagine yourself surrounded in that colour. You could also create an affirmation to give you more courage Other techniques for magical change include creating an inner sacred space that you can go to anytime and anywhere, regardless of where your altar or ritual tools are. In your imagination build an inner temple of learning and healing. Create a gateway to your spirit guides. Look into an inner mirror or crystal for glimpses of your past lives. All of this takes place on the inside, but creates a powerful and lasting change. Listen to your inner guide and let it take you on your own incredible healing journey. It can help you look through magical eyes and see the spirit of all things. MAGICAL PERSONALITY In modern Hermetic magical tradition, the magical personality is an artificial personality created for use in magical practice to prevent the inflation of the ego that can occur in magical training. The practitioner’s ordinary personality is thought to be insufficiently stable to handle the stresses of sustained magical training. The apprentice magician or witch therefore creates an alternate personality based on concepts such as courage, love, wisdom and power, and practises moving into and out of this personality at will, often using as a cue some action such as putting or taking off a bracelet. MAGICAL WILL Confidence in one’s ability to perform magic involves accepting two beliefs: first, that one is capable of causing change (that one is powerful) and second, that change will occur according to one’s will (that one is in control). Magical Will is that ability of the individual to perform magic with success. It is similar to, but not the same as, desire and the individual’s everyday determination to get things done. Will is thought to be something that must be trained into being. It also represents one’s magical integrity. If one treats people well and acts with integrity, Magical Will is strengthened. If one acts selfishly and causes harm to others, Magical Will is weakened. MAGICIAN A person who practises magic and is skilled in spell casting and the magical arts. A magician studies supernormal scientific knowledge and masters psychic skills in the quest to understand humankind’s purpose on earth. The popular image of a magician is characterized by the figure of Merlin - a wise old man in flowing robes and a pointed hat covered with stars. This image is rather outdated today. Someone who practises magic for the good of mankind is thought of as a white magician, whereas one who practises magic with evil intent may be considered a black magician or sorcerer. The term magician is also used to describe someone who practises magical tricks and illusions in front of an audience. MAGICK Obsolete spelling of the word magic used by Aleister Crowley to ‘distinguish the science of the magi from its counterfeits’ -in other words to distinguish it from the ‘magic’ of magicians who entertain audiences with tricks and illusions. Since Crowley’s time the term has been used by numerous magicians, writers and groups, some with connections to Crowley’s magical beliefs, and some without. The adjective magickal and the noun magickan have also been in use in recent years. There have been other attempted respellings of the word magic, including magik, majick and majik, but none of these has caught on. MAGNETIC ENERGY FIELDS The earth is surrounded by a magnetic field, referred to as the geomagnetic field. For decades, experts believed that this magnetic force was too minimal to have any effect on human behaviour or physiology. However, recent research shows that when the right mix of frequencies or patterns occurs, this geomagnetic energy field may affect us in a variety of ways. For example, on days when there are high levels of geomagnetic energy, traffic accidents tend to occur more often. As the magnetic force levels decrease, telepathic ability appears to improve. This supports the theory suggested by many ganzfeld practitioners that a decrease in external influences, whether from a subject’s physical senses or the earth’s unseen forces, improves receptivity to psi. MAGNETIC HEALING/THERAPY The therapeutic use of magnets to improve health and ease pain. It is based on the theory first proposed by Franz Anton Mesmer that invisible fluid in the body could be rearranged to bring about healing and that magnets can be used to help rebalance the electromagnetic energy field that surrounds the body. It is also thought that magnets are able to electrically charge iron atoms in red blood cells so they work more efficiently. This circulatory speed up helps remove toxins faster and stimulates natural healing processes. As magnets contain a positive and negative charge they are also thought to aid the flow of the universal life force or energy (chi) through the body. Magnets come in a range of sizes and are used in a variety of ways. They can be inserted into mattresses, shoe insoles or cushions or worn as jewellery like bracelets. Although there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest their effectiveness for relieving pain associated with back and neck problems, arthritis, injuries, headaches and fibromyalgia, magnet therapy is not currently accepted by conventional medicine. MAH-JONG Four-handed game of Chinese origin, popular in Europe and the United States. In 1920, Joseph P Babcock, an American traveller in China, devised a set of rules for Western play and invented a complete terminology. He patented the game under the trademark Mah Jongg. The game enjoyed a remarkable popularity. The goal of the game, which is similar in principle to rummy, is to accumulate sets. The equipment for the currently popular mah-jong set consists of 152 tiles - small rectangular blocks of wood with ivory or bone faces. There are 108 suit tiles, 16 wind tiles, 12 dragon tiles, 8 flower tiles and 8 jokers. The three suits are bamboo, or sticks; circles, or dots; and characters, or cracks. In addition to being a game mah-jong tiles have been used for divination purposes for centuries. The symbols on them come from ancient Chinese systems of mystical knowledge, and they were used for obtaining answers from the gods long before they were used in games. MAIMONEDES EXPERIMENTS Researchers at the Maimonedes Dream Laboratory in Brooklyn, New York, Montague Ullman and Stanley Krippner, devised methods for testing ESP during dreaming and conducted some fascinating studies with high success rates. Their results published in the 1970s and 80s showed that telepathy while dreaming is not that unusual or hard to do. In various experiments the Maimonedes team had a ‘sender’ look at a picture that contained a striking scene and then send this image telepathically to the dreamer. When awakened during REM sleep and questioned about their dreams, the dreamers frequently reported the image or aspects of it that the sender had relayed to them psychically. Subjects had 102 hits versus 48 misses. The hit rate according to chance would be 50 per cent, but these statistics showed a much higher success rate of 68 per cent. The Maimonedes experiments inspired other researchers to explore dream telepathy. For example, recent experiments in the late 1990s by Kathy Dalton at the University of Edinburgh showed significant results in a clairvoyance dream experiment that did not involve high-tech equipment. The research team recorded the dreams they had each night in their own homes. The next morning they found their dreams matched up with video clips randomly selected by a lab computer and projected overnight in a locked room. This research, like the Maimonedes experiments appears simple but it does suggest that dreams can access a level of information that extends beyond the dreamer’s own mind. MANDALAS From a Sanskrit word meaning ‘magic circle’ or ‘disc’, a mandala is a circular visual representation that is used as a focus point for the practice of meditation. When creating a mandala the artist attempts to coordinate his or her personal circle with the universal circle, reflecting how his or her life fits into the larger whole. The mandala art form is widely used in the East and often associated with Tibetan monk artists and Navaho Indians who create them out of multicoloured sand as a formal geometrical expression of sacred vibrations; however mandalas transcend culture and religion, time and place. When a person concentrates on a mandala they are attempting to approach a higher plane of consciousness and, according to psychologist Carl Jung, they are the ultimate symbols for uniting our inner and outer selves. Jung found that the integrative properties of the mandala had benefits in psychotherapy; by drawing mandalas patients could make order out of inner confusion. MANDRAKE The plant Mandragora officinarum, whose roots are used in magic and supernatural traditions. Despite being a popular ingredient for folk magic love potions in medieval European culture the mandrake gained a sinister reputation that it still hasn’t managed to shake off, due to the fact that its roots resemble the form of a human being. Creating your own mandala You do not need to be an artist to create a mandala. You can make one in any way that you want and with any material. There are no right or wrong mandalas. It can be drawn, shaped of clay, cloth or flowers or any material that you like. It can even be created in your mind’s eye. Here is one way to go about creating a mandala. Gather your materials and go to a quiet, private space. Light a candle or burn incense to establish a reflective mood. You may find it helpful to sit quietly for a few moments of prayer or meditation before beginning your mandala. This helps focus your attention on messages from the unconscious. Perhaps an image, a colour, or even a movement will come to you as the beginning point for your mandala. Next draw a circle freehand, with a compass, or traced around a plate or other template. The circular shape represents a natural and ultimate wholeness and appears in symbols dating back to the Palaeolithic Age. Then fill in the circle with the colour and content of your choice. Typically the circle is orientated to four points. Sometimes this is done by squaring, in which a square is drawn outside the circle; other times it is drawn by geometric designs such as interpenetrating triangles or other designs drawn inside the circle. Allow your mandala to unfold with as little thought as possible. Let go of all your notions about how a mandala should look. Virtually anything round can be viewed as a mandala: the sun, the moon, a clock, the earth, a wheel. Octagons also have mandala shapes. Squares and triangles suggest mandalas too, since circles and triangles may be drawn within squares and vica versa. When you have completed your mandala, write the day’s date on it, and then put it somewhere in your living space where you can walk by and see it often. Let it be part of your life for a few days. Be open to receive any messages it has for you. The colours, shapes and numbers of a mandala can show us our inner picture. Like the symbols in dreams it is thought they hold a specific message and by meditating on it we can reach a higher awareness of self. Mandrakes were commonly found under the bodies of hanged men at crossroads and they were said to thrive on the agony of death. According to lore when mandrakes are harvested they shriek, leaving the harvester insane. All these negative associations are probably due to the high levels of psychotropic compounds found in the plant, which, if taken in high amounts, can cause delirious fantasies and visions. MANES Ancient Roman spirits of the dead. In general the manes were considered ‘good’ or ‘benevolent’ spirits and the Di Manes were divine spirits. The term ‘manes’ was also used to refer to an individual spirit of the dead, to underworld spirits and to the underworld. The Romans placated manes with offerings. MANTRA A word or phrase or set of words which, when repeated over and over again is thought to influence the human mind. The term is generally used to describe chants used in Buddhism, Hinduism and Transcendental Meditation in order to induce a trance-like state, but in recent years it has also come to mean one’s personal life philosophy and/or goal which, if repeated often enough, might just become a reality. Since the time of the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians, magicians have used mantras, or names of power, for conjuring spirits and casting spells. Hindus and Buddhists also use mantras as amulets for protection against evil, illness and bad luck. Twentieth century-magician Aleister Crowley created the mantra AUMGN, an expansion of the most sacred Hindu mantra Om, the supreme reality, the sound from which the universe was created. According to Crowley the sound vibrations of AUMGN were so powerful that a magician using them could control the forces of the universe. MAORI magic Magic practised by the Maoris of New Zealand. The priests, known as Tohungas, are similar to spiritualist mediums in that they claim to be able to act as a bridge between this world and the world of the dead. The Tohungas are usually trained from childhood, being presented by their parents for this training. Through years of prayer, fasting, chanting and meditating they acquire the powers of spirit communication, healing and prophecy. MAP dowsing The following explanation of map dowsing is given by the American Society of Dowsers (www.dowsers.org): With a map or a sample sketch of the terrain, an individual property, whether a house lot less than an acre in size or a ranch of several hundred square miles, can be dowsed by one proficient in this method. Map dowsing is best performed not with Y or L rods but with a pendulum. One way is to overlay the map with a grid dividing it into rectangles (though this grid can be mentally pictured or imagined). The dowser then asks which rectangle(s) on the grid will contain the best site(s) for drilling a water well. The pendulum will supply the answer. Common dowsing could be partially explained by magnetic field theories but this isn’t the case with map dowsing. Here the dowser will take a map of the search area, run a pendulum across it and find the location of what he or she is looking for on the map. Map dowsers believe that what appears to be happening in the case of map dowsing is a kind of psychic reading, where the map is a focusing device and the pendulum becomes a psychic amplifier. Experimenting with mantras Perhaps the most widely known Buddhist mantra is Aum mani padme hum, translated as ‘hail to the jewel in the Lotus’. However, the meaning is of little importance; what matters is the way this mantra is thought to help create a change in consciousness. Try chanting it aloud first. Make it flowing and run the final hum into the beginning of aum to create a mantric circle. Rhythm and pronunciation are as 1 follows: Aw-um mah-nee padmeh hummmmm ) um mah-nee padmeh hummm … 4 After you have spoken it aloud a few \ times lower the volume until you withdraw the sound into your mind and hear it mentally. Experiment with speed until you find a rhythm which grips your attention, so that all other thoughts are cast aside by the spinning mantra and there is no room for anything else. Once the spinning mantra is established it will continue with no conscious effort, leaving you free to relax with an untroubled mind. When you wish to return to your normal mode of consciousness, slow the spin rate of the mantra; then externalize it by speaking it aloud several times, before stopping altogether. MARA A mara, or mare, is believed to be a kind of malignant supernatural entity in Scandinavian folklore. She appears as early as in the Old Norse sagas, but the belief itself is probably of even older date. The mara was thought of as a discarnate entity that would seat herself on the chest of a sleeping person and ‘ride’ him or her, thus causing terrible nightmares. In Norwegian, the word for nightmare is mareritt or mareridt, meaning ‘mare dream’ or ‘mare ride’. The weight of the mara could also result in the victim suffering breathing difficulties or a feeling of suffocation. The mara was also believed to ‘ride’ horses, which left them exhausted and covered in sweat by the morning. Even trees could be ridden by the mara, resulting in branches being entangled. The undersized, twisted pine-trees growing on costal rocks and on wet grounds are known in Sweden as martallar (mare pines). According to a common belief, the free-roaming spirits of sleeping women could become maras, either out of wickedness or as a form of curse. In the latter case, finding out who the cursed person was and repeating ‘You are a mara’ three times was thought to be enough to release her from this condition. The English word nightmare stems from the Anglo-Saxon and Old English belief in this creature. In English folklore, hags and witches later took on many of the roles of the mara. In Germany the activities of the mara were shifted to the elves (‘nightmare’ in German is Albtraum or ‘elf dream’). Similar mythical creatures are the succubus/incubus, although the belief in the mara lacks the fundamental sexual element of these beings. MARCHERS OF THE NIGHT In Hawaiian folklore the marchers of the night are thought to be a procession of gods and spirits who march on nights considered sacred to certain deities to welcome the dying to the land of ancestral guardian spirits. They are symbols of the Hawaiian belief in the unbroken connection between the living and the dead and the ability of the dead to revisit sites they were familiar with while they were alive. Each of the Hawaiian Islands still has paths believed to be used by the night marchers. It is thought to be very dangerous to encounter such a procession and a spirit is said to warn away the living by shouting ‘kapu. According to lore, if a person is unlucky enough to get in the procession’s way, the procession leader will shout out ‘O-ia ’, or let him be pierced’, and unless there is a dead relative of the living person in the procession to protect him or her, the person will be struck with a ghostly spear. The only way to protect against this happening is to remove all clothing and lie down pretending to be asleep. See also Wild Hunt. MARFA LIGHTS Multicoloured balls of light reportedly to be seen nightly, just after sunset, in the skies south of Marfa, Texas (see Earth lights). The phenomenon, which has generated much debate over the origin of the lights, has been documented since 1880. MARIAN APPARITIONS Over the centuries there have been numerous reports of appearances by the Blessed Virgin Mary. Most Marian apparitions consist of the appearance of an otherworldly woman who is identified as Mary. She may or may not be accompanied by lights, spinning crosses, sweet music and smells. If she speaks she typically urges people to live a more devout life or for churches to be built for her. Sometimes miraculous healings occur. The Catholic Church, which has investigated at length a number of Marian apparitions, has decreed only a few of them to be genuine, including those that occurred at Lourdes in France (11 February-16 July 1858), Guadalupe in Mexico (1531) and Fatima in Portugal (13 May-13 October 1917). Sites of authenticated apparitions are visited by pilgrimages in search of miraculous cures, but unauthenticated sites, such as at Zeitoun in Egypt and Med-jugorje in Bosnia, also draw pilgrims. According to Catholic dogma Marian apparitions are not ghosts but mystical phenomena that God permits. To those who believe in her, Mary’s authority cannot be denied and she brings about a transformation in all who see her. Psychologists explain the apparitions as archetypal projections from the human unconscious to answer a need for spiritual direction. MARRIOTT, William [185-4–1938] English stage magician and illusionist who devoted a great deal of his time to the study of ghostly phenomena, Marriott is best recalled for his exposure of fraudulent mediums and debunking of the Spiritualist movement. Marriott’s special interests were spirit photography and the alleged materializations of spirits during séances. Like his contemporary Harry Houdini, Marriott was able to reproduce many of the tricks and illusions used by frauds and as a skilled photographer he reproduced accurately a number of paranormal photographic effects. His uncompromising search for truth led to the exposure of numerous unscrupulous mediums and he also played a significant part in bringing an end to the popularity of and sensation surrounding ghostly photographs of the Victorian era. His photographic work was so convincing that even committed spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was forced to admit that Marriott’s assessments of photographic forgery were accurate. MARTIAL ARTS Various types of Oriental combat, either with empty hands or with weapons, that were originally developed to achieve victory in battle but over the centuries have become philosophical, moral and spiritual disciplines. Regardless of style the key to all martial arts is the skilful use of the universal life force (chi in Chinese, ki in Japanese), which is thought to permeate all things. The force is controlled by uniting it with mind and body through breathing techniques, movement and meditation. The father of martial arts in China is Kung Fu, Chinese boxing, which dates back to around AD 520 in Northern China. Kung Fu practitioners widely believe in the art of dim mak, a traditional death touch possessed by a rare number of ancient masters. If a body is struck in a certain place at a certain time of day in a certain way, a delayed death follows; the victim falls unharmed at the time, but later falls ill and dies. A softer version of Kung Fu, Tai Chi, was developed in the thirteenth century by a Taoist monk, Chang Sang-fen. Instead of meeting force with force, the soft school emphasizes avoidance of blows rather than strikes and counter-strikes. Karate, which means ‘empty hand’, originated in Okinawa and is based on blows delivered to the hands, head, feet and knees. It was used against the Japanese when they invaded the island in 1609. In Japan the father of martial arts is Ju-jitsu, which according to legend is about two thousand years old. It was heavily influenced by Zen philosophy and emphasized the striking of vital points, kicking, strangling and joint locking. It has evolved into Judo, a sports version, and is also the precursor of Aikido, a modern Japanese martial art founded in 1922 by Morihei Ueshiba after a mystical experience. The main goal of Aikido is the unification of mind, body and self through discipline and the manifestation of harmony in all actions. Most martial arts can demonstrate feats of immense power, such as the breaking of thick pieces of wood, layers of bricks and so on with the hand, foot, elbow, head or even fingertips. Other incredible feats include immunity to fire and pain. The goal of these actions is to increase awareness of the power within. The life force or chi is directed to various parts of the body and when the body is full of chi it is strong. Chi cannot be acquired quickly, but must be built up slowly with regular training and practice. Fun, laughter and patience are important parts of the discipline. Chi is regulated with breathing techniques. The goal is to learn to anticipate hostile moves and avoid or pre-empt them. This requires a state of ‘no mind’ when the body going with the flow of chi energy reacts instantly. In Japanese this state is called nen, and when proper connection is made it becomes a supernatural power that sees all things clearly. Ueshiba said this supernatural power enabled him to intuitively sense from which direction bullets or sword thrusts would come. There are a number of less well-known Oriental martial arts that have gained a following in the West. Kyudo, ‘the way of the bow’, and Kendo, ‘the way of the sword’, are Japanese martial art forms that place an emphasis not on the weapons used but on spiritual development and moral conduct. Tae Kwon-Do is a 1,300-year-old empty hand style of combat from Korea. Hwarang-Do, also from Korea, arrived in the States in the early 1970s. It focuses on external power, internal power, weapon power and mental power, and training includes controlling the mind with meditation and developing psychic powers, in particular clairvoyance and telepathy. MARY CELESTE The fate of the crew who mysteriously ‘vanished’ while aboard the Mary Celeste has led to much speculation over the years as to whether supernatural activity played a part. On 3 December 1872, the crew of the Dei Gratia, sailing from New York to Gibraltar, found the Mary Celeste floating about 600 miles west of Portugal. The ship was in perfect condition but its captain, Benjamin S Briggs, his wife, his daughter, and the ship’s crew of seven were gone. The sails were set and the ship’s cargo of 1,700 barrels of alcohol were untouched (except for one barrel, which had been opened); a half-eaten breakfast meal remained on the table and all of the crew’s belongings remained onboard. All that seemed to be missing was the ship’s chronometer, the sextant and the cargo documents. There was no sign of a struggle, violence, storm, or any other kind of disturbance, which ruled out the theory of pirate attack. The last entry in the ship’s log was made on 24 November, and gave no indication of any trouble. If the ship had been abandoned soon after this entry, the Mary Celeste would have been adrift for a week and a half, but according to the Dei Gratia crew this was unlikely considering the ship’s position and the way its sails had been set. Someone - or something - must have worked the ship for at least several days after the final log entry. The fate of the crew of the Mary Celeste remains a mystery. The mysterious abandonment of the Mary Celeste might have remained a minor footnote in nautical history had it not been for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who penned a fictional story based on the incident, changing the name of the ship and entitling his work the Marie Celeste. Many of the details attributed to the real incident actually come from Conan Doyle’s fictional story or from the two movies made based on that story. Although there are numerous rational explanations for the abandonment, the Mary Celeste, like the Flying Dutchman, will always be prized sightings among of the world’s phantom ships. MARY WORTH/BLOODY MARY According to lore, Mary Worth, also known as Bloody Mary, is an evil ghost who cannot find peace. She is said to appear in a mirror when summoned. The origins of the Mary Worth story may point back to seventeenth-century Massachusetts. Mary Worth was a young girl whose face was covered in hideous dark-red scars that were either an accident of birth or caused by an injury. The village children teased her and followed her in the streets calling out ‘Bloody Mary’ over and over again. During a witch scare, Mary was accused of witchcraft and hanged. According to lore, one night, not long after Mary’s execution, a group of children decided to play a game of conjuring. They set up a mirror against the wall and began to chant, ‘Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary’. Suddenly Mary appeared in the mirror. Her face was even more hideous and her hands had turned into claws. She reached through the looking glass to tear the children’s faces. Shrieking and screaming, the terrified children ran out of the room. Although Bloody Mary disappeared that day, it is said that her spirit remains, waiting for someone to stand in front of a mirror and chant her name. In some versions of the legend, the summoner must say ‘Bloody Mary, I killed your baby’ In these variants, Bloody Mary is believed to be the spirit of a mother who murdered her children, or a woman who was murdered shortly before or after her wedding. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the story about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate tenuously to folklore about Mary I, Queen of England from 1553-58, who became known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants. The Queen’s life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies; if she had succeeded in having a child, this would have established a Roman Catholic succession and the continuance of religious persecution after her death. The mirror ritual by which Bloody Mary is summoned may also relate to a form of divination involving mirrors and darkness that was once performed on Halloween. Young women were encouraged to walk up a flight of stairs backwards, holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house. As they gazed into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to catch a glimpse of their future husband’s face. There was, however, a chance that they would see a skullface instead, indicating that they were destined to die before they married. MASSAGE The kneading, pressing, rubbing or stroking of muscles and the soft tissues of the body for therapeutic purposes. Massage therapy is an ancient healing art practised by all cultures that was first documented in Chinese writings around 3000 BC. Today it is a popular, non-invasive and safe alternative therapy known for its physical, psychological and even mystical benefits. There are different schools of massage based on these three effects. The physical school of massage concentrates on producing physical benefits, such as pain relief, relaxation for tense muscles, increasing blood circulation, and stimulation of lymphatic drainage, which promotes the removal of toxins from the body. It is perhaps best represented by ‘Swedish massage’, so named because it was developed by Swede, Per Henrik Ling in the early nineteenth century. Most masseurs today are taught six classical massage movements as defined by Ling: effleurage, petrissage, kneading, hacking, cupping and tapotement. The primary focus of holistic massage is physical and psychological benefit. This school works on the whole person and incorporates theories of energy medicine into its practice. The masseur works to balance the flow of universal life force through the body while also providing physical benefits. Psychological benefits include the reduction of stress and promotion of feelings of well being because of the release of endorphins into the body after a massage treatment. Shiatsu, Rolfing, reflexology and aromatherapy are examples of holistic massage. The ‘spiritual’ school of massage may or may not involve physical massage and its primary aim is to align energies in the body. Examples of this type of massage school are therapeutic touch, reiki, zero balancing and polarity therapy. MATERIALIZATION This is the appearance of seemingly solid objects or spirit forms out of thin air. Eastern adepts are said to be able to materialize objects such as food, precious stones and so on, but materialization is typically a phenomenon of physical mediumship. At the height of spiritualism materialization manifestations usually followed the same pattern. A medium would enter a cabinet to concentrate and collect enough psychic energy for ectoplasm. Gradually a spot or white light that spread into a vapour-like cloud would appear, followed by a face or in some cases a full body. The spirit would circulate around the room and then return to the cabinet or melt away. The medium would then be found in the cabinet, typically exhausted and weak and, in some cases, a few pounds lighter. The first recorded full-form materialization appeared to John Dale Owen in 1860 through the Fox sisters. According to Owen a veiled transparent figure materialized, walked about the room and then disappeared. According to reports Kate Fox was later to produce a number of other full-form materializations, including the spirit of Benjamin Franklin. The first British medium to claim to be able to materialize spirits was Agnes Guppy who allegedly brought John King’s ghost into her circle, but she was soon to be outdone by the Katie King materializations of Florence Cook. Cook’s speciality was materialization and by the mid-1870s the white-veiled barefoot figure of Katie King who walked around the séance room touching and caressing sitters had became a much-talked about sensation. Katie resembled Cook and in December 1873, during a séance for the Earl of Caithness, William Volckman, who claimed that Katie was not a ghost but Cook in costume, grabbed Katie and a fight broke out between the two. They were separated by the other sitters and Katie was returned to the cabinet to rejoin Cook, who was found a few minutes later still bound as she had been at the start. Although Cook had her doubters she also had strong supporters, among them the scientist Sir William Crookes, who investigated her after the Volckman incident and pronounced her materializations completely genuine. French materialization medium Marthe Béraud (1886-?), better known by her pseudonym Eva C, allegedly materialized the Indian Brahman Bien Boa. Photographs reveal Boa to be a tall, bearded man who wore a monk’s habit and bore no resemblance at all to Béraud. Unfortunately doubt was cast over Boa’s authenticity when a family friend came forward suggesting that Béraud herself had confessed to fraud by smuggling in an impersonator via a trap door beneath her cabinet. Investigation, however, showed no evidence of a trap door. Psychical researcher Charles Richet held sittings with Béraud where he claimed to have seen a gooey substance, for which he coined the term ectoplasm, emerge from various parts of Béraud’s body. The ectoplasm would quickly organize itself into a face or the shape of a hand or head, sometimes in miniature. It would solidify to the touch into a sort of paste before retracting into the medium’s body or disappearing. Later Béraud was also said to materialize the faces and forms of several government and historical figures. Critics found the materializations flat and two-dimensional, accusing Béraud of using cut outs from magazines draped with muslin. There were numerous reported cases of fraudulent materializations. Instructions for preparing the best effects circulated among mediums. One method suggested that 21 yards of fine white silk veiling be washed seven times and while still damp the fabric was to be dipped into paint, varnish, odourless benzene and lavender oil. The fabric would then need to be dried for three days and washed with naphtha soap to remove all odours. The fact that séances often occurred in darkened rooms made it easy to fake materializations using sleight of hand or various ingenious stage props and stunts. Rosina Showers, a friend of Florence Cook, gave a description of a method for fraudulent materialization: the medium should wear a dress she could take off easily, with two or three shifts underneath. A filmy muslin veil and a handkerchief were to be concealed in her underwear, the veil to be worn over the shifts and the handkerchief to cover her hair. The fraud relied on the sitters’ gullibility and a belief that few investigators would be so bold as to break with Victorian etiquette and search a medium’s underwear. Despite the seedy reputation it gained from numerous incidents of fraud and trickery some materialization mediums, such as D D Home and Madame Blavatsky, although suspected of being fraudulent were never proven guilty. MAZE Mazes typically represent a path to the underworld or otherworld that spirits of the dead must navigate. They exist universally all over the world and the oldest is believed to have been built in Egypt 5,000 years ago. During the Middle Ages mazes were built into churches and cathedrals. Today they are created primarily as designs for gardens. In myth and legend mazes are often complex, challenging, dangerous labyrinths. To navigate a maze successfully is to gain access to the mysteries of life and death. Mazes come in a variety of sizes but one of the most common is the spiral, a symbol of the Goddess, which was the shape of the mythical labyrinth of Crete. According to legend the maze at Glastonbury Tor is said to lead to a point of entry to the Celtic underworld and the Holy Grail. MAZOMANCY Ancient method of divination by observation of a nursing baby - which breast is chosen, for example. Mazomancy is derived from the ancient Greek mazos or mastos, meaning ‘breast’. MECONOMANCY Meconomancy is divination by drug-induced sleep. The word is derived from the ancient Greek mekon or ‘poppy’. (Meconium is the thickened juice of the poppy; meconic acid is the crystallized, white acid obtained from the opium.) It’s highly likely then that this is a divination from dreams/hallucinations induced by opium and should not be confused with oneiron-many, which is divination from dreams obtained in natural sleep. MEDICAL INTUITION/INTUITIVE A person with specific spiritual healing ability who has learned to hone and apply skills of intuition to the field of medical diagnosis. A medical intuitive can visualize the anatomy of the human body and its energy field, the aura, and correctly diagnose the root causes of disease and poor health. They can then direct their healing energies to the afflicted area. A gifted medical intuitive uses their intuitive powers to ‘see’ and pinpoint specific illnesses, imbalances, weaknesses and pre-clinical disease states in the organs of the human body, as well as fields of force or auras around the human body. This work is done by intuitively scanning the body for areas or imbalance that may need alignment or treatment. Often the medical intuitive will be able to explain the connection of the energy to an emotion or an event causing the illness. There are three ways a medical intuitive can access information: clairvoyantly, clairsentiently clairaudiently Clairvoyant medical intuitives claim to be able to see the inner workings of the body. They are able to see universal life force energy, or chi, as it flows through the body and around the body, and are able to detect where this energy has stagnated or become blocked. Clairsentient intuitives claim to be able to feel energy or emotions in the body. Medical intuitives who use this ability will typically scan the body using their hands, seeking out changes in temperature, energy vibrations or fluctuations in the density of the aura or body. Clairaudient medical intuitives claim to be able to hear health information intuitively from a spirit, their higher self, the universe or God. Put simply, medical intuitives claim to be able to ‘see’ or sense things that even the most sophisticated medical diagnostic tests cannot reveal. Sceptics argue that such abilities are impossible, and that auras and energy fields in the body do not exist. There is evidence throughout history that medical intuition was used for diagnosing illness, right back to the Pythagoreans in 500 BC. They held that there was a luminous body of light around a person that could produce certain effects in the human body. In the sixteenth century, alchemist and physician Paracelsus diagnosed illness using intuition and an ability to read energy. It was not, however, until the nineteenth century that the first formal study of intuitive diagnosis appeared. The study was conducted by Dr John Elliotson, a British physician who used the technique of mesmerism to entrance his subjects. While in this state, he found that they could use their intuition to access information for the purpose of identifying illnesses. Elliotson would take his mesmerized subjects to hospitals and ask them to use their intuition to identify illnesses. Even though the accuracy of their diagnoses was said to be astonishing, Elliotson’s research did not meet with approval from his medical peers. In 1911, physician Dr William Kilner put forward the theory that auras differed considerably from patient to patient depending on sex, mental ability and health. His research suggested that there was an association between disease and what could be seen in the energy system. He found that certain illnesses showed up as blockages, patches or as irregular patterns of energy within the energy field. The most widely known medical intuitive diagnostician was Edgar Cayce (1877-1945). Cayce claimed to be able to read many aspects of a person’s health intuitively and his focus centred on the health of the energy body and the physical body. Cayce proposed that stress, attitudes and emotions affect one’s health and that negative emotions released toxins that could create energy depleting imbalances. He believed that all illness is the result of overloads and blockages in these three main aspects of energy - physical, mental and spiritual. In one of his readings, Cayce said, ‘Healing of the physical without change in the mental and spiritual aspects bring little real help to the individuals in the end.’ A noted medical intuitive of today is Caroline Myss. Since 1982 Myss has gained an international reputation for intuitive medical diagnosis - even at long distance. Given a person’s name and age she claims to be able to scan an individual’s electromagnetic field and diagnose the nature of the illness. Her philosophy is rooted in the interconnection of the mind, body and spirit in disease and her work with Dr Norman Shealy a Harvard-trained neurosurgeon and founder of the American Holistic Medical Association, has helped define how stress and emotion contribute to the formation of disease. MEDICINE MAN Mostly found in Native American cultures (and also known as a witch doctor among indigenous tribes of Africa and South America and in parts of Australia and Polynesia), the medicine man is a magical practitioner who uses spells and potions to cure the sick, protect his community from evil and to contact spirit guides for guidance and divination. MEDITATION A contemplative technique of focusing your concentration on a specific object or thought for self-improvement or spiritual growth. The supreme goal of meditation, typically practised by the non-secular world, is union with the absolute. Secular meditators use meditation in their daily lives to create feelings of calm or peace in body and soul and to improve health, creativity, self-esteem, success and relationships, to cultivate psychic powers and gain self-knowledge. Meditation by itself cannot achieve these goals but it can help develop the power and ability to do so. There are a number or documented physical and psychological benefits to meditation. In the 1970s Harvard medical school professor Herbert Benson discovered the relaxation response in transcendental meditation practitioners. Just twenty minutes of meditation reduced blood pressure, heart and breathing rates and reduced muscle tension. Other studies have shown that meditation can help relieve anxiety, stress, fatigue, migraine, insomnia and boost feelings of energy and confidence. Meditation is an age-old universal practice and an important part of many religions including Sufism, Judaism and Christian mystical tradition, but it is most closely associated with Hinduism, Buddhism and the practice of Yoga. Although meditation can be done walking, sitting, standing or lying down the most popular method is sitting mediation, called zazen. There are a number of types of meditation, which can be grouped in two categories: contemplation and concentration. Contemplation, credited to Buddha for its development and found more in the West, includes practices that require passive examination of the changing content of individual awareness, taking care not to select the content or cling to any aspect of it. The aim of this meditation is increased awareness, but it also presents a very effective way for the unconscious mind to present itself to the conscious mind. Concentration meditation, found more in Sufi, Yoga and Christian meditation techniques, involves attempts to transform consciousness by mental control, to go beyond thought to a place where there is no thought. The practitioner gives his or her undivided attention to a single idea or perception, seeking the total absorption that leads to understanding. If successful a trance-like state occurs when external stimuli die away. Experts believe this is the oldest form of meditation and for advanced practitioners it can lead to ecstatic states. MEDIUM/MEDIUMSHIP Mediumship is the receipt of information that is not available through the normal senses, typically from spirits of the dead. Mediums serve as a channel for communication between the living and the dead. They may also heal and produce physical phenomena, such as the movement of objects. A medium’s communication with spirits is often governed by entities known as controls. Some psychical researchers believe that so-called controls are not spirits but are secondary personalities of the medium instead. Simple meditation exercise If you are interested in more complex methods and visualizations, many websites, books and audio tapes are available: see the Resources section. Focusing inward Close your eyes, breathe deeply and regularly, and observe your breath as it flows in and out of your body. (Focusing on the breath is one of the most common and fundamental techniques for accessing the meditative state. Breath is a deep rhythm of the body that connects us intimately with ourselves and the world around us.) Give your full attention to the breath as it comes into your body, and full attention to the breath as it goes out again. Whenever you find your attention wandering away from your breath, gently pull it back to the rising and falling of the breath. Inhale through your nose slowly and deeply, feeling the lower chest and abdomen inflate like a balloon. Hold for five seconds. Exhale deeply, deflating the lower chest and abdomen like a balloon. Hold for five seconds. Do this as many times as you like, then allow your breathing to return to a normal rhythm. Gradually you will become less aware of your breathing, but not captured in your stream of thoughts. You will become more inwardly centred. You will just ‘be there’. As you breathe separate yourself from the chatter of the stream of thoughts which flow through your mind. Become aware of the variety of sounds that surround you. There is no need to do anything but listen. Let your focus gently float among the sounds of the world and as you do you will find that you gradually begin to focus inwards. Imagine that you are going deep, deep into a well within your centre. Visualize that this beautiful, deep well goes infinitely down and down. Breathe in as you descend, and absorb all the cool, soothing, healing energy that is buried deep in this bountiful well. Breathe out as you descend, and expel all the negative thoughts and energy that you have accumulated during your day. Your deep inner world has its own essence, its own reality, and its own light. Feel the silence, peace and calm; no noise can reach you here, no words and no sound. Breathe deeply and slowly, experiencing your deepest, most serene essence in the silence of your deep well. When you are ready, gradually allow the sounds of the external world to return to your awareness. Imagine yourself coming out of the well towards the light. Open your eyes, stretch and return to your daily life with a renewed sense of peace and optimism. A number of other words are used to describe mediums, such as channeller, fortune-teller, witch, medicine man, mystic, priest, prophet and wise woman, but important distinctions can also be made. According to experts the role of the medium may have developed historically out of the role of the shaman who communicated with the spirit world by becoming possessed by spirit deities and animal spirits. Mediums serve as a conduit between the physical world and the spiritual realm. During a self-induced trance-like state they allow spirit entities to take possession of them and this can manifest itself in physical ways, like a change of voice, or using gestures and mannerisms unique to the dead person. In the majority of cases a medium will have no memory of what has taken place during their trancelike state. Some mediums practise what they call ‘soul rescue’: they contact a spirit or ghost to persuade them to move on to the afterlife. These spirits are thought to be trapped souls, who do not know they have died, or who cannot bear to leave the physical world behind. Typically mediumship manifests in adulthood, but early in life there may have been indications - a child hearing or seeing things others do not, for example. Often a medium will resist the gift but gradually begin to accept it as unavoidable. If the mediumship is to develop into a real skill it often requires training. There are some who believe mediumship is an inherited characteristic but this is not generally the truth. Many mediums have no family history of mediumship. In contrast to shamans, who are typically male, mediums are often women from ordinary working-class or middle-class backgrounds. Modern mediumship began in the nineteenth century when research on mesmerism showed that certain subjects who were hypnotized fell into trances under spirit control and delivered messages from the dead. As spiritualism grew in popularity, mesmeric mediums began to demonstrate their abilities at private and public séances. In the mid-to late nineteenth century, during the height of spiritualism, a large number of mediums were housewives who, frustrated by the limited range of opportunities open to them, found in séances an outlet for their boredom and frustration. The huge popularity of mediumship prompted hundreds of women to hold tea party séances with their friends. For the majority the diversion was all they sought but some became professional mediums charging fees for private séances or performing in public. Cora Richmond became an international sensation with her instant trance lectures on a random topic selected by a jury. Despite the fame and notoriety, however, mediumship seldom led to riches, unless, as was the case with D D Home, a medium attracted wealthy patronage. Female mediums frequently complained about low incomes. In America the typical medium earned $5 for a séance away from home and $1 per hour at home. There was also the issue of becoming social outcasts. Even though mediums enjoyed the admiration of their clients, many women who practised mediumship were cast out by friends and family. Social and sexual revolt against Victorian oppression certainly played a part in the immense popularity of late-nineteenth-century spiritualism. Some mediums revelled in their possession by male spirits, who ‘forced’ them to swear, drink whisky from a bottle and fistfight. Mediums and their clients took great pleasure in holding hands and in other forms of physical contact during séances. Some mediums would have affairs on the so-called advice of spirits, and the illegitimate babies born were called ‘spirit babies’; others would leave their husbands or urge other women to leave their husbands. Psychical researchers categorize mediumship as either physical or mental. Physical mediumship was popular at the height of spiritualism towards the end of the nineteenth century. It involves activity attributed to spirits, such as rapping, table-tilting, levitation, materialization, apports and spirit lights and sounds. Physical mediumship, although sensational, actually offers very little evidence for life after death because of the huge possibility of fraud. During the height of spiritualism mediums frequently resorted to magic tricks to create the necessary special effects. Numerous mediums were caught impersonating themselves or indulging in trickery. Eminent British physicist and psychical researcher, Sir William Crookes, believed that all mediums, even those he vouched for, like Florence Cook and Eusapia Palladino, resorted to trickery from time to time. Some however, such as celebrated physical medium D D Home, were never exposed as frauds. Mental mediumship involves the communication of messages from the other side through clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience and through automatic writing/speech and offers one of the strongest lines of evidence for survival after death. Although cryptomnesia and telepathy may play a part in sittings, mental mediums often mirror mannerisms and characteristics of alleged spirit communicators, who may in turn offer previously undisclosed information or offer some purpose for the communication, such as warning sitters of danger. However, although early proofs of survival tests have yielded the occasional success, more recent ones have been disappointing. As is the case with physical mediumship, fraud has often existed in mental mediumship, especially when spiritualism was at its peak. Medium Arthur Ford, who was often accused of fraud but never exposed, said that no medium could perform every time and rather than admit defeat on an off-day might be inclined to cheat. There have however been a number of noted mental mediums, such as Leonora Piper and Eileen Garrett, who have never been suspected of cheating. Sceptics argue that much of the phenomena associated with mediumship, such as visions, altered states of consciousness, possession by spirits, and so on also occur in mental disorders such as schizophrenia and multiple personality disorders. Some psychiatrists and psychologists that have investigated prominent mediums have concluded that mediumship is a form of mental disorder and that the so-called ‘spirits’ are merely secondary personalities of the medium that emerge from the unconscious to find expression. Spiritualists, however, argue that the similarities between mediumship and schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder are not strong enough. Schizophrenics and people afflicted with multiple personality disorder, for instance, typically have little control over the voices, visions and personalities, which appear at random and without any warning. They also find the experience disorientating and unproductive and in some cases find themselves unable to carry on with their day-to-day lives. Mediumship, on the other hand, is a psychic gift that mediums learn to have control over so that they can carry on with their daily lives. Mediums also use mediumship for spiritual growth and to help others. The study of mediumship falls within the parameters of psychical research. Early investigators found much evidence of fraud in physical mediumship and began to investigate telepathy and apparitions. In 1882 the Society for Psychical Research was founded in London, soon followed in 1885 by the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) in Boston. There psychical researcher William James came into contact with trance medium Leonora Piper and attention was directed to mental mediumship. Piper was approached with a sceptical mindset and investigated thoroughly and when it became obvious that her performances were genuine, other explanations of spirit communication, such as ESP and super ESP became focal points for investigation. To remove the possibility that Piper was reading people’s minds, precautionary measures such as absent sittings and proxy sitters attending in place of persons for whom the sitting was intended were taken. Later research focused on drop in communicators, those unknown to the medium, and cross correspondences in communications through several mediums in different parts of the world. The first scientific assessment of séance communications began in earnest in 1930 when psychical researchers Henry Saltmarsh and S G Soal devised a statistical procedure for estimating the paranormal. Their method involved weighing statements as to the likelihood they could have been correct simply by chance. In 1933 John F Thomas took this one step further in a doctrinal dissertation, in which he had a number of people judge records as right or wrong for themselves. J G Pratt later introduced more statistical procedures. Physical mediumship, now generally classed as macro PK, was investigated less than mental mediumship in the twentieth century but prominent physical mediums were still subjected to stringent controls and test procedures. From the mid-twentieth century onwards the psychical research establishment has had little interest in either physical or mental mediumship, preferring instead to focus on psi. The Psychical Research Foundation and Survival Research Foundation, however, continue to investigate and research all forms of mediumship. See also Channelling, Séance, Spiritualism. MEGALITHS From the Greek megas, ‘great’ and lithos, ‘stone’, megaliths are large prehistoric structures typically built as rows of single standing rocks or circular arrangements in a table-like format. Megalithic monuments have been found all over the world from Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean to Stonehenge in England to Carnac in France. When arranged in post or tomb-style they are known as ‘dolmens’ and when found as sole standing stones they are known as ‘menhirs’. Research has shown that megaliths tend to be placed on ley lines (the earth’s energy network) and appear to have spiritual, astronomical, astrological and therapeutic associations. Ghost lights are often reported at megalith sites and many sites are said to possess healing and magical powers or to be the focus for electromagnetic energy. They are also thought to be gathering places for fairies, spirits and witches. Individuals have reported discomfort near some megaliths at night, saying that the stones radiate energy forces that produce electric shock sensations. In 1934, engineer Professor Alexander Thorn took meticulous measurements at megalithic sites throughout Britain and Europe. He found that every circle examined was based on a single standard measurement, which he called the ‘megalithic yard’ of 2.72 feet. The circles were automatically aligned, the majority of them huge markers for predicting the eclipse of the moon. Thorn’s theory has passed accuracy checks but there is considerable controversy as to what the findings suggest. Eclipses of the moon have no known effect on crops or human fertility cycles so why did prehistoric humanity spend so much time and energy building huge monuments to predict them? In 1977 the Dragon Project Trust conducted extensive research on the energies associated with megalith sites throughout Britain. Sites have not been fully checked since early 1990 but many have been dowsed and measured for radioactivity, magnetism and light phenomena. The Dragon Project Trust has also set up a dreams project, in which volunteers sleep at various sites. The results indicate intriguing dream patterns. MENEHUNE Race of small people who once lived on the Hawaiian Islands and are often described as fairies. According to lore they lived there for centuries before the Hawaiian settlers arrived and the places where they lived are thought to be haunted. Historians believe that menehune comes from the Tahitian menahune, or ‘commoner’, and refers to a race of people who were small in social rather than physical stature. Whatever their past the menehune have emerged as playful elves - pot bellied, naked, hairy and muscular with bushy eyebrows and hair over large eyes and a short nose with a trace of the mischievousness of their European counterparts. According to lore they are between four inches and two feet high. They enjoy singing, dancing and archery and are strong workers who prefer to work at night to avoid people. Legend has it that they are engineers who build walls, ponds and temples, but they lose interest in a project quickly and if a job is not completed in one night they are unlikely to return to finish it. If the menehune approve of a project they are said to help the construction process at night, but if they disapprove or if offerings of food are not left out for them, they will attempt to disrupt work with mysterious breakdowns and happenings. MENTAL MEDIUMSHIP/PHENOMENA Mental phenomena that make use of a person’s psychical senses of clairvoyance, clairaudience and clairsentience. See also Medium/mediumship. MENTAL PLANE/BODY/ENERGY In occult philosophy the mental plane is the level of existence above the astral plane but below the spiritual plane. It is the part of the self that allows awareness of meaning. It exists outside space and time and is thought to be the lowest part of the self to survive the body after death. As with all the planes of occult theory the mental is above or below other planes only in a metaphorical sense; in reality all the planes interpenetrate one another. The mental plane is the plane of pure meaning, pattern, and the laws of nature and mathematics, number, geometric form and music. It is outside space and time and most methods of occult meditation aim to raise the mind up towards the pure meaning of the mental level. MENTALISM Mentalism is a kind of mystery entertainment. It is a performing art in which the mentalist uses his five senses to create the illusion of a sixth. Amazing experiments in the performance include such supernatural abilities as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and telekinesis. Mentalists are primarily different from stage magicians because they insist that their abilities are real, as opposed to stage magicians who use props and sleight of hand to perform tricks. Arguably, mentalism is a branch of modern stage magic, featuring many of the same basic tools and skills in its performance. Styles of presentation vary greatly. Some use techniques to give the impression that they actually possess supernatural powers. Other contemporary performers misdirect their audience by attributing their results to other skills - the ability to read body language or manipulate the subject through psychological means. Some mentalists make it known to their audiences that they are performing illusions, while others claim to be able genuinely to read minds or see into the future. One constant is that mentalism typically requires the magician to display an authoritative, charismatic stage presence. MERLIN Archetypal British magician, once thought to be a Druid, who is largely a fictional creation but with some basis in fact. In some traditions Merlin is a wizard, enchanter and prophet, who used his magical powers to enable the legendary ruler of England, King Arthur, to gain and retain his power. He is best known for his role in ensuring that Arthur took the throne through magical means and in all traditions he is pictured as a scholar and genius advisor to the King. His name is Latin for the Welsh Myraddin, a sixth-century bard who reportedly had the gift of precognition. At the end of his long life, it is said that Merlin was captured by the evil witch Viviane, with whom he fell in love, who stole his magic and imprisoned him in a cave where, immortal, he languishes to this day. MERMAIDS Tales of mermaids - mythological half-fish, half-human creatures, with the upper torso, head and arms of a woman and the bottom half of a fish - are known throughout many cultures. Her male counterpart is called a merman. Mermaids are thought to be elementals, nature spirits of the water, who have the ability to change their fish tails into human legs and venture on to dry land. According to lore if a mermaid falls in love with a human the only way for the human to keep the mermaid on land is to hide the mermaid’s tailskin. From the navel upward, her back and breast were like a woman’s … her body as big as one of us; her skin very white; and long hair hanging down behind, of colour black; in her going down they saw her tail, which was like the tail of a porpoise, and speckled like a mackerel. This remarkable account of a mermaid sighting was taken from the journal of English navigator Henry Hudson. He was describing what two of his crew claimed to have seen on 15 June 1608, when looking overboard from Hudson’s ship off the coast of Novaya Zemlya, a group of North Russian islands. There have been numerous other sightings throughout history, including one that took place in 1830 on the island of Benbecula off northwest Scotland. The story goes that a woman washing her feet in the sea saw a mermaid and hit her on the back with a stone. A few days later the woman’s dead body was washed up on the shore. Mermaids were considered by lonely sailors to be bewitching temptresses who liked to sit topless on rocks combing their hair. Sightings were considered unlucky omens, no doubt linking back to the tale of Odysseus and the deadly sirens. The mermaid legend almost certainly goes back to the fishtail gods of early civilization but it probably owes more to the creatures of the sea that seem almost human. It is now thought that sightings of mermaids were actually sightings of large marine animals such as manatees or dugongs. MESMER, FRANZ ANTON [1734–1815]/MESMERISM Austrian healer and physician who postulated that an all-pervading force of magnetic fluid linked all beings. He called this force ‘animal magnetism’, because he believed that it shot through his fingertips and eyes and induced a trance state. In many ways ‘animal magnetism’ is similar to the Hindu prana and Chinese universal life force or chi. Even though Mesmer was branded a charlatan his technique of laying on of hands and giving suggestions to patients led to the research and development of therapeutic hypnotism. Franz Anton Mesmer was born in Switzerland and later studied medicine at the University of Vienna. He was especially interested in the influence doctors exerted over their patients. According to folklore there was a belief that certain divinely inspired individuals had the power to cure the sick by touch, with the ‘laying on of hands’, and some of these healers used magnets to strengthen the healing force that allegedly emanated from them. Mesmer believed that a similar kind of energy was involved in the ability of physicians to encourage the return to health of their patients. Through experiments he discovered that he could influence the rate of blood flow by movements of a magnet. Later he found that a magnet was not necessary and the same effect could be achieved with any object that he passed over his hands. Mesmer concluded that there was a healing force or fluid he called animal magnetism. Mesmer moved to Paris in 1778, where his method of treatment became highly fashionable despite criticism from the medical community. Mesmer’s technique involved making magnetic passes over his patients so that they fell into a trancelike sleep. In this state the magnetized individuals would be extremely compliant with Mesmer’s suggestions, reporting, for instance, complete freedom from pain. Other reported effects of magnetic induction were so-called ‘higher phenomena’, such as the ability to ‘see’ events that were sensorially inaccessible; for example, gestures made by the magnetizer in another room might be described accurately. Following this initial observation, followers of Mesmer tried to use the magnetic trance as a means of evoking telepathy, clairvoyance and other psi phenomena. Even though Mesmer was regarded as a charlatan by the medical community the populace continued to patronize him and his clinic became so full that he started to treat patients on masse. He maintained his clinic until 1789 when the French revolution forced him to flee the country. Although mesmerism had no direct effect on psychical research it raised the possibility that parapsychological phenomena could be tested, experimented and examined outside occultist and quasi-religious contexts. MESSING, WOLF GRIGORIEVICH [1899–1974] Famous Russian psychic who predicted the end of World War II and impressed audiences all over the Soviet Union with his clairvoyant powers. Messing was born near Warsaw on 10 September 1899. His psychic ability emerged early in life and by the time he was a teenager he was performing in public. In 1915 Albert Einstein invited him to his apartment, where tests with Sigmund Freud produced impressive results. In 1937 Hitler put a 200,000-mark price tag on his head when Messing predicted that Hitler would die if he ‘turned towards the east’. Messing fled to Russia where, under the oppressive rule of Stalin, Russian psychics were forced to go underground or risk being shot; however, Messing managed to impress Stalin. On one occasion Stalin told Messing to rob a bank psychically. Messing took an empty attaché case into a Moscow bank and, using telepathic hypnosis, handed a clerk a blank piece of paper and ordered him to fill the case with 100,000 roubles - which the clerk promptly did. Messing claimed to use telepathic hypnosis to influence others in this fashion. On 7 March 1944 Messing predicted the exact dates of Hitler’s death and the Nazi surrender. After the war he worked as an entertainer and became very successful and popular. In explaining his secrets of clairvoyance Messing said the thoughts of others became colourful images in his mind; he saw pictures rather than heard words. He always tried to touch his subjects by the hand, which he said helped clear his mind of distractions. Russian scientists tried to find a physiological reason for his clairvoyance but Messing rarely let himself be examined. A neurologist did discover that portions of Messing’s head generated large amounts of heat, but never discovered why. Other scientists believe that when Messing took a person’s hand he subconsciously received muscle movements that helped his reading. METAGNOMY A term used by French psychical researchers to indicate knowledge acquired in a trance without the use of the five senses. Metagnomy or meganome is divination by visions obtained when in a trance. In other words, the divination of mediums, seers and shamans and all those who go into trancelike states to receive their knowledge in some psychic manner. All such would be termed metagnomes. The term was derived from the Greek words meta (‘after’ or ‘beyond’) and gnomon (‘one who knows’), and although it was employed by the French psychical researcher Dr Eugene Osty it seems to have been originally coined by the researcher Emile Boirac (1851-1917) in his book L‘ Avenir des sciences psychiques (Paris, 1917). METAL In Chinese philosophy and medicine metal is one of the five elements that make up the building blocks of the universe, along with fire, earth, wood and water. Metal represents grief and sadness but it also is said to protect the body during times of stress and emotional intensity. The sound of weeping and the elimination of body wastes are also associated with this element. METAL BENDING A psychokinetic effect, most often associated with well-known psychic Uri Geller, in which metallic objects such as keys, cutlery and so on are subjected to more or less permanent deformation or other structural change when stroked or touched. Paranormal metal bending is a controversial subject in parapsychology. One source of difficulty is that very few people are actively involved in this area of research and therefore the standing of the research relies heavily on a small number of individuals. Despite the controversy, metal-bending research is important as it could provide insight into the physical characteristics of psychokinesis, an issue in which other research areas have not been particularly enlightening. METAPHYSICS Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of first principles and being. Its central doctrine is that all things are part of one main source (intelligence and energy) and that each thing, animate or inanimate, should be respected for its particular form of this one main source; therefore each thing has an independent function and is dependent upon every other thing, and all are contributing to the main source. In recent times, the meaning of the word metaphysics has become confused by popular signifiers that are actually unrelated to metaphysics. Magic and the occult, for example, are not so much concerned with the metaphysical enquiry into first principles or the nature of being, though they do tend to proceed on the metaphysical assumption that all being is ‘one’. METEORS In many cultures shooting stars that light up the night sky are associated with the spirits of the dead. According to the ancient Romans every person had a star and when he or she died, it fell to earth in the form of a meteor. From this is evolved the folklore belief in Europe and America that a meteor shooting across the sky is the soul of a person who has recently died. Similar beliefs are held in tribal societies and in some places meteors are said to be the souls of murdered men. Some Native American tribes believe that stars are the souls of the dead and when they fall a soul is about to be reborn. METOPOMANCY Mathematician and astrologer Jerome Cardan (1501-1576) is thought to be the first to suggest that the wrinkles on a person’s forehead might represent a collection of indicators as to a person’s character and that no two people would have the same wrinkles. In 1658 his work Metopo-scopia was published in Latin by Thomas Jolly in Paris and later the same year a French translation appeared. Cardan suggested that the lines of a person’s forehead could be used for divination purposes, in a similar way to the lines of the hand in palmistry. According to Cardan there could be up to seven lines on a forehead and these could be equated with the seven planets of astrology from the bottom to the top of the forehead: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. No one was likely to have all seven lines. Long and perfectly straight lines were said to indicate simplicity of soul and a sense of justice. Wavy lines, crossing lines and broken lines had other interpretations. Cardan also noted various combinations of facial spots, moles and other blemishes and equated them with the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Taurus, Aries and Gemini were on the upper part of the forehead; Cancer, Leo and Virgo lower down; Libra was at the top of the nose; Scorpio near the ear; Sagittarius at the top of the cheek; Capricorn below it; Aquarius below that; and Pisces at the bottom of the cheek on the chin. MIAMI POLTERGEIST Poltergeist case that occurred in a Miami warehouse in early 1967. It stands out as being the first case in which scientifically controlled experiments were conducted. On 14 January 1967, Miami police were called by warehouse manager Alvin Laub-heim, who stated that a ghost was in his warehouse breaking things. Officers arrived and witnessed objects falling off shelves on their own accord. Parapsychologists William Roll and J G Pratt were called in to investigate. Almost immediately a 19-year-old shipping clerk called Julio was identified as the focal point, because the breakages and movement of objects always took place when he was in the vicinity and the activity increased when he was agitated or upset. Roll and Pratt investigated thoroughly and found no evidence of trickery to stage the effects. Roll used the case to test his ‘psi field’ theory, which suggested that phenomena reduce with distance from the agent due to a weakening psi energy field. Activity did appear to reduce with distance from Julio but objects furthest from him travelled the longest distance and objects nearest to him travelled the shortest distance. Roll explained this by proposing controversially that the psi field rotates in a circular motion. Julio agreed to have a number of personality and psychological tests. Results that would indicate unconscious psychokinesis included anger, guilt, fear, rebellion, dissociation and anxiety. Julio did acknowledge that he disliked his boss and a few weeks prior to the start of the phenomena he had started to have nightmares and suicidal feelings when his stepmother attempted to get him to move out from home. On 30 January a breakin occurred; the police were called and Julio confessed to the crime. Police officers suspected that Julio had used trickery with threads to instigate the poltergeist activity but Roll and Pratt doubted this claim. A few days later Julio stole a ring from a jeweller and this time was sent to jail for six months. The phenomena ceased after his departure from the warehouse. When Julio came out of jail, Roll attempted to arrange financial support for him so that he could undergo laboratory testing for ESP and psychokinesis. He eventually underwent tests that showed significant results for psychokinesis but not for ESP. His case provides evidence that some cases of poltergeist activity may unwittingly be caused by individuals due to repressed anger and fear. MICRO PK Psychokinetic effects that cannot be directly observed or recorded, but can only be inferred from the statistical analysis of data. Parapsychologists usually make a distinction between macroscopic PK (large-scale effects observable by the naked eye or by a single measurement) and microscopic PK (small-scale effects only observable by statistical analysis of multiple measurements). Both types are studied today, however with more attention paid to the micro variety. By its nature, the study of micro PK phenomena requires an experimental approach. The first recorded experiments of this type were conducted by J B Rhine and his associates in 1934, investigating whether subjects could affect the throws of dice. Similar experiments have since been conducted by many other parapsychologists. See also Macro PK. MICROMANCY The opposite of macromancy, micromancy is divination by studying the smallest object in the area. The object is studied and the seer interprets what he or she sees. Size, general shape and colour are all taken into account, as is the closeness of the object to others or the distance from them. MIND READING See Telepathy. MINI GELLER A child or young person who, after having seen Uri Geller perform, can duplicate by paranormal means his metal-bending feats. It is as if the ability were transferred and released. Many mini Gellers have reported to parapsychologists with claims of spoon bending abilities. The majority of these children have been unable to demonstrate their alleged talents under laboratory conditions and when given an opportunity to cheat many do so. Despite this John Hasted, a professor of physics in London, carried out a large number of successful experiments on mini Gellers and published the results in The MetalBenders (1981). The book has photographs of paper clips being put into a glass sphere, one by one, and these being bent by the teenagers into a tangle, allegedly by mental power alone. MIRACLE A miracle is something that happens beyond the scope of reality and it typically occurs within a religious context. Miracles are usually attributed to a divine and/or supernatural power that intervenes in the normal course of events and changes their expected or predicted outcome. Examples include miraculous healing and changes in weather that the weather forecaster had failed to identify. Modern scientific views of nature, and therefore the definition of miracle, fall roughly into two schools of thought. The rational materialist view, dominant in the nineteenth century, attempted to explain everything in terms of matter and energy, governed by rigid laws that determine all events. In this view the supernatural is an illusion. In the twentieth century, however, a less rigidly deterministic scientific model of the universe began to emerge, thanks mainly to Einstein’s theory of relativity, Heisenberg’s quantum theory and growing acceptance of the mind’s control of the body. Many scientists therefore have been more willing than before to admit that there are ‘more things in heaven and earth’ than nineteenth-century scientists realized. This is not so much an acknowledgement of the supernatural as it is a willingness to include in nature what may seem supernatural according to our present knowledge. MIRROR For centuries mirrors and reflective surfaces have been used for divination, magic and repelling evil. In recent years they have been used as tools for psychic development to increase clairvoyant ability and gain insight into past lives. Glass mirrors were introduced in the thirteenth century in Venice. Prior to that mirrors were made of polished metal surfaces and gold and silver. The ancient Romans believed they originated from Persia, where they were used by the magi for divination. Mirror divination is called crystallomancy catoptromancy and scrying. In the West magic mirrors were popular among magicians, witches and sorcerers from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. In more recent times mirrors as magic tools have fallen out of favour but they are still used by some psychics and diviners. In the East mirrors are more commonly used for divination purposes. In Tibet mirrors are used for tra, divination by the reading of signs and visions. Mirror gazing Mirror gazing is one of the many forms of scrying: divination by looking into a reflective surface. The mirror is used in much the same way as a crystal ball, with the diviner seeing images from the past, present and future. All types of mirrors have been used, including those with polished metal faces, glass, crystal and obsidian. The mirror may or may not be enclosed in a frame and if it is it is usually engraved or marked in some way with sigils to help amplify the images given. Many diviners say a black or concave mirror is far superior to any other. One way to make a mirror that follows both suggestions is to obtain one of the old framed pictures from around the turn of the twentieth century, which has an oval, convex glass. Reversing the glass and painting what then becomes the back of it with black paint produces a convex black mirror that is perfect for mirror gazing. Old magic books suggest that the glass should be painted three times with asphaltum. To make the asphaltum stick to the glass, it first needs to be cleaned with turpentine. The asphalt should be laid on with a camel-hair brush. However, using black enamel paint from a spray can seems to work just as well. As with all magical practices and rituals, while making the object it is recommended that you concentrate on its purpose - scrying for projecting scenes of the past, present and future. Mirrors are traditionally associated with fear and evil. In some tribal societies the reflection is thought to be the soul and exposing the soul in a mirror makes it vulnerable to misfortune or death. This is echoed in many other cultures in the common belief that if a person sees their own reflection they will soon die. A worldwide folklore custom is the removal of mirrors from sick rooms in case the mirror draws out the soul, and the turning of mirrors when there is a death in the house. According to lore whoever looks into a mirror after a death will also die. In other superstitions, if one looks long enough into a mirror at night or by candlelight one will see the devil (hence it is advised to cover up mirrors at night). Witches and vampires are said to cast no reflection in a mirror. Curiously mirrors can also be used to protect against evil, reflecting it away. There are a number of mirror superstitions. Breaking one is thought to bring bad luck for seven years and perhaps a death in the family. A mirror that falls of its own accord is a death omen. A girl who gazes at the moon’s reflection in a mirror will learn the date of her wedding day, and if she does this at Halloween she will see a reflection of her future husband. Mirrors painted black on the convex side are thought to be excellent tools for the development of clairvoyance. Gazing into one is thought to reveal visions of spirit guides and help one gain auric sight. Some believe that the face changes that occur when staring in a mirror are images of past lives. MOLEOSOPHY Divination and character analysis according to the size, shape, colour and location of moles on the human body. Mole divination was not a major feature of Greco-Roman culture, and references to the practice are rare. Birthmarks enjoyed a somewhat higher status, and are mentioned. A short Greek manual of mole interpretation survives from antiquity, appended to the end of a much longer work on divination by twitches ascribed to the legendary Greek seer Melampus. Although the treatise on moles lacks an author, and differs in style from the work on twitches, in general it relies on fairly straightforward and logical reasoning - for instance, a mark on the back of the throat portends beheading; one on the lips portends overeating. Position of moles and how they are typically interpreted in molesophy Arms: Moles on the arms indicate that the person is polite, diligent and will lead a happy married life. Armpits: A mole under the left arm is indicative of great struggle early in life, which is, however, well rewarded. A mole under the right arm shows that one needs to be alert and cautious in matters of security. Back: People with moles on their backs are generous but occasionally arrogant. Breast: A mole on the right breast is indicative of laziness, which may affect family life. A mole on the left breast belongs to active and energetic people, who generally get what they want in life. Buttocks: People who have a mole on their buttocks are unambitious, and like to go with the flow. Cheek: A mole on either cheek indicates a serious and studious person who has no interest in material pleasures. Chin: A mole on either side of the chin is indicative of people who are affectionate and caring. These people adapt easily to any situation. They love travelling and respect the law of the land. They are also dedicated and conscientious workers and willingly accept responsibilities. Ear: People who are born with a mole on their ear are generally considered lucky. Elbow: People who have moles on their elbow love to travel. They are adventurous and spirited. Eye: If the mole is located on the outer corner of the eye, this indicates that the person is honest, reliable and forthright. Eyebrow: If a mole is located on the right eyebrow, it signifies that these people will have a highly active life and will be successful in all ventures. A mole on the left eyebrow is considered less fortunate, and in some cases can indicate misfortune. Finger: People who have a mole on any finger turn out to be dishonest and tend to grossly exaggerate. Foot: People with a mole on their foot are easy going and laid back. Forehead: People who have a mole on their forehead are often prosperous and well settled in life. Hand: Those people who have a mole on their hand are often talented and make a success of their lives. Heel: People who possess a mole on their heel can make enemies easily and are prone to losing friends. Hip: A mole on any part of the hip except the buttocks signifies that these people are contented, resilient and spirited. Knee: If a mole is on the right knee, it implies a friendly person. A mole on the left knee signifies an extravagant lifestyle. Lips: People with a mole on or near their lips always aspire to get ahead in life. Neck: If the mole is on the front of the neck, it signifies unexpected good fortune. If it is on either side of the neck, it indicates an unreasonable temperament. A mole on the back of the neck indicates a desire to lead a simple life. Nose: A mole on the nose belongs to a person who will be a sincere friend and a hard-working individual. Shoulder: A mole on the right shoulder indicates a sensible, industrious individual. One on the left shoulder, however, is regarded as unlucky. Wrist: A mole on the wrist indicates that the person is frugal, ingenious and dependable. When there are twin moles, irrespective of their location, the person possesses a dual nature. The presence of two moles, side by side, is indicative of a person being in love with two people. The shape of the mole is significant: a round mole signifies the goodness in people; an oblong mole depicts a modest share of acquired wealth; while an angular mole suggests that the individual has both positive and negative characteristics. Those who have light coloured moles are considered lucky, but black or red moles denote a person who will have to surmount challenges in life. MONONOKE In Japanese lore the mononoke is a ghost that resides in inanimate objects. It is found in temples, shrines and graveyards and likes to scare or even kill people. Priests are thought to be able to drive it away by reciting Buddhist sutras. According to Shinto belief, all things, including inanimate objects, have their own unique spirit (kami), which gives them life. MONROE, MARILYN [1926–1962] The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard is said to be the current residence of several ghosts of popular film stars, including Marilyn Monroe, the glamorous and funny star of such pictures as Some Like It Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, who was a frequent guest of the Roosevelt at the height of her popularity. Although she died in her Brentwood home, her image has allegedly been seen on several occasions in a full-length mirror that once hung in her poolside suite. Marilyn Monroe lived a dramatic, sensational but tragic life and died of a drug overdose on 8 August 1962. There has been much speculation about her death and the events surrounding it. Most believe that suicide was likely, although it has been suggested that her drug overdose was administered by someone other than Marilyn herself. There are some who believe that this uncertainty explains why her ghost lingers behind and why her sad image has impressed itself on the mirror. MOON Age-old symbol of the feminine, the psychic, intuition, emotion, inspiration, imagination and the deep layers of the unconscious. The moon’s phases correspond to the seasons of nature and primitive man came to believe that it regulated life cycles, fertility and the tides. In the first century AD Pliny the Elder catalogued the moon’s influence over life and put forth numerous prescriptions for regulating daily life according to the moon’s phases, in a 37-volume work entitled Natural History. Because the moon waxes, wanes and reappears in fullness each month it also became associated with life, death and rebirth. In mythology the moon is the destination for souls after death and deities of the underworld are often lunar deities. The ancient Greeks believed the moon to be a midway point for souls making their transition to or from earth. Moon-infused waters The ancient Greeks called this technique drawing down the moon or the Thessalian Trick. They believed that the Thessalian witches held great power and magical knowledge. The following formula for moon-infused water was considered to be one of their most important: 1. Fill a jar or dish to the brim with pure spring water. 2. Bring this container inside and position it so that the full moon is reflected within. Maintain this position for as long as you can. 3. The moon-charged water may now be used as a potent ingredient in potion and spells, substituted whenever a spell demands water. The predominance of the moon at night, a time considered mysterious and dangerous overall, created a logical link with the night-time activity of witches and over the centuries the moon became associated with witchcraft, magic and sorcery. Today it remains a major symbol for modern witchcraft and paganism. Moon power is mind power and nights of the full moon are still regarded as the most potent for magic and the world of spirits. Coven activities are often set around the cycles and phases of the moon and witches work their magic in accordance with lunar phases: the waxing moon is said to be positive for growth, achievement, good fortune and healing spells; the waning moon is said to be positive for banishing spells and the undoing of harm and negative influences. In general, although not always, magic worked with the moon is considered women’s magic. This is because the moon is recognized as having a profound effect upon menstrual cycles and the tides. (In ancient times women would often withdraw to huts during menstruation to contemplate and absorb the power of the dark moon.) In many (but not all) cases lunar deities are female and the moon is most often personified by the Triple Goddess -virgin, mother and crone - represented by the classical goddesses Artemis/Diana, Selene and Hecate. The ancient witches of Thessaly were thought to have the power to draw down the moon from the sky on command and a symbolic ritual of drawing down the moon is still performed in modern witchcraft, although it is likely that this very ancient term predates Wicca and may refer to other rites and practices, in particular the process of creating moon-infused waters. MORTON CASE Also known as the ‘Cheltenham Haunting’, this case is unique in that an apparition of a woman was seen for several years by a number of independent witnesses. The house in Cheltenham, England, was built in 1866. Its first owner was one of its builders, Henry Swinhoe. Swinhoe’s first wife died and three years later he married a woman called Imogen Hutchins. The marriage was unhappy and shortly before Swinhoe died in 1876 Hutchins left him. She died in 1878. After Swinhoe’s death the house was briefly owned by an elderly man who died six months after moving in. The house remained vacant for four years before being taken by Captain Despard, his wife, their two sons and three daughters. A fourth married daughter visited occasionally with her husband. It was during the Despard’s occupation of the house that the apparition was most often seen. The Despard’s 19-year-old daughter, Rosina, was the most frequent percipient and it was she who later wrote an account of her experiences for the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research. Rosina claimed to have seen a crying woman dressed in a black dress that made a swishing sound as it moved a number of times at the house. Typically she would descend the stairs and go into the living room, generally standing awhile to the right-hand side of the bay window. Then she would leave the living room and walk along the hall to the door to the garden, before which she disappeared. Rosina tried to speak to the woman but she never spoke. She did, however, seem aware of her surroundings and would move around objects in her way. When cornered she would disappear. Rosina was not the only one to see the lady in black. One night her sister Edith was playing the piano in the living room when the apparition appeared. Rosina’s two other sisters and one of her brothers, along with the Despard’s cook and the housemaid also saw this woman from time to time. The Despard’s dog also behaved oddly - wagging its tail happily as if expecting to be stroked and then shrinking away in fear. In early 1885 psychical researcher Frederick Myers, from the Society for Psychical Research, visited the Despards and urged Rosina to take a photograph. She tried but got no results. Sightings continued until 1887, and in some cases the figure appeared so genuine it was mistaken for a real person. It was suggested that the apparition was that of Imogen Hutchins, on the basis that she wore mourning clothes and when she was alive she often used the living room. In 1893 the Despards left the house and it remained vacant until 1898 when it became a preparatory school for boys. During this time the apparition of a woman was frequently encountered on stairs, always leaving the house in daylight from the garden door and walking down the short drive. The school closed soon after opening and for a number of decades after the house remained empty for long periods of time, occupants only staying there a few years. In 1958 and in 1961 the same ghost was allegedly seen again. In 1974 the building was converted into apartments and since then there have been no reported sightings. Some believe that modernization disturbed the phenomenon. MOSES, REV. WILLIAM STAINTON [1839–1892] Prominent university-educated British spiritualist and medium. William Stainton Moses was born on 5 November 1839 and in 1852 he won a scholarship to Oxford University where he proved to be a highly ambitious and hardworking student. He was ordained as a minister of the Church of England in 1863 and was sent to Kirk Maughold on the Isle of Man. In 1871, Moses accepted a mastership at University College London and was persuaded in 1872 by the wife of his close friend Dr Speer to attend a séance. It was the first of a number of séances he attended, including some with D D Home, and as time wore on Moses found himself converted to spiritualism, showing signs of mediumistic talent himself. Moses established a home circle with his friends the Speers, and revealed powerful paranormal physical abilities, including self-levitation, apports, table-tilting, materializations and movement of objects. Also in 1872 Moses began automatic writing and recorded his scripts in a series of notebooks that were serialized in a widely read newspaper called The Spiritualist under the false name, M A Oxon. They later formed the basis of his books Higher Aspects of Spiritualism and Spirit Teachings. Moses’ writings and experiences were sufficiently sensational to attract the interest of leading psychical researchers Sir William Crookes and Frederick Myers and it was after attending a séance with Moses in 1874 that Myers persuaded Henry Sidgwick to join in organizing a group to investigate mediumship. This group was the beginnings of the Society for Psychical Research. When the Society for Psychical Research eventually formed, Moses sat on the first council as vice president. He resigned shortly after, however, disappointed with the critical approach displayed by the researchers. In 1884 Moses formed his own organization, the London Spiritual Alliance (LSA). This was intended to replace the British National Alliance of Spiritualists (BNAS), which had been in existence from 1872-84. The new LSA issued a spiritualist journal, Light, edited by Moses, and the journal continues to be published today by the LSAs successor the College of Psychic Studies. Sceptics argue that Moses’ notebooks are not substantial enough as evidence because most of the séances were private and the records, even though they are detailed, were kept either by Moses or the Speers. Despite this Moses, along with Home, remains one of the mediums that was never caught, or suspected of, fraud. The spirit teachings of William Stainton Moses The following is a sample of spirit teaching claimed to have been either written or spoken through the English medium Rev. Stainton Moses by a band of 49 spirits led by their chief, Imperator’. On the state after death (From More Spirit Teachings, Part 2) S M asks about a friend, now in spirit. She is being gradually roused from the torpor into which she fell. She will continue long in a state of weakness and development, and gradually gain spiritual strength before being removed from her present state. She is tended by spirits in the place set apart for those who need fostering care. Many who are withdrawn prematurely or roughly, are tended by those spirits who devote themselves to the work in a special sphere set apart for them near the earth on which they have been incarnated. This is the intermediate sphere of rest, in which spiritual functions are developed, and that which is lacking is supplied. Such a sphere there is near to each world, and into it the weary and suffering, the spiritually famished, the prematurely cut off, are gathered, that they may be nourished and tended by ministering angels. There they must need remain till they are fit to progress. Then they go to their sphere, take up their progress, and are developed by degrees. A harbour of rest after a stormy passage. None from that sphere can be permitted to manifest on your earth. They are housed in the garden of the Lord, and may not be exposed to the rude blasts of your air. Cease to wish. The effect of your wish is but to disturb. Pray, rather, that your friend may fare well in the charge of her guardians. MOUNT, THE Allegedly haunted country retreat in Lenox, Massachusetts, called the Mount, that was once owned by author Edith Wharton (1862-1937). Wharton did some of her writing at the Mount and enjoyed the company of famous literary guests, such as Henry James. She sold the house in 1912 and it passed through a succession of owners. In 1980 it was purchased by Shakespeare and Company, a troupe of actors that live and perform there. A number of apparitions have been reported by members of the acting troupe, including a figure of a woman, thought to be Wharton, and a figure of a man thought to be James. There have also been reports of strange noises and laughter and a hooded figure that manifests at bedsides and presses down on individuals. One of the best-documented occurrences took place in 1979 and is recorded in Arthur Myers’s Ghostly Register (1986). Actress and voice teacher Andrea Haring was sleeping in what was formerly Wharton’s writing room. She awoke at 4 am to see three figures - a woman whom Haring recognized as Wharton, and a man, whom she recognized as Edith’s husband, Teddy Wharton. She didn’t recognize the third man. Wharton seemed to be dictating to this third man, who was sitting at a desk. Haring got up to leave and the ghosts turned to her, acknowledging her presence. She returned a few minutes later to find the room empty. Later when Haring was looking through the photographs she recognized the man at the desk as Wharton’s secretary, who may also have been her lover. MOVEMENT OF OBJECTS See Psychokinesis. MOVING COFFINS Disturbances of coffins inside sealed crypts have been recorded in places all over the world. Mysteriously heavy lead coffins are found in disarray. They are put back in the correct position only to be found disturbed or moved again when the vault is next opened for a burial. So far there has been no completely convincing explanation for this phenomenon. Some researchers believe that the movement is caused when crypts are flooded with water. Although this may be possible in some cases it is unlikely in locations above sea level. Others believe that the movement is caused by restless spirits, especially those who have been murdered or committed suicide. In the nineteenth century disturbances were recorded in the Getford family vault near Stamford, Lincolnshire and in the Boxhowden crypt on the Island of Oesel (now called Sarmea) located in the Baltic Sea. Perhaps the most famous moving coffin case, however, is that of the Chase Vault. MU Supposedly the inhabitants of Lemuria, according to Madame Blavatsky, but there is also a theory proposed in 1870 by Colonel James Churchward that Mu itself was a lost continent. The former Bengal Lancer believed that the island of Mu was six thousand miles long and three thousand miles wide and was once located in the Pacific Ocean, with its centre just south of the Equator. Churchward claimed to have discovered this from secret clay stone tablets hidden in India and revealed to him by a Hindu priest. According to Churchward, human beings appeared on Mu some 200,000 years ago, evolving into an advanced race of about 60 million people. Their civilization was destroyed 12,000 years ago by a massive volcanic eruption and tidal wave. Churchward believed evidence of Mu could be found in many of the ancient Greek, Egyptian, Mayan and Chinese legends, rocky roads and artefacts. He never produced the tablets to prove his theory and said his research also included trance-like visions of former lives. Although Churchward had his supporters, his books are no longer taken seriously by researchers and historians. MURPHY, GARDNER [1895–1979] Respected psychologist and academic whose passionate interest in psychical research gave the field increased status and prominence. Gardner Murphy was born on 8 July 1895 in Chillicothe, Ohio, but he grew up in Concord, Massachusetts. His lifelong interest in psychical research began at the age of 16 when he discovered a copy of Sir William Barrett’s Psychical Research (1911) in his grandfather’s library. In 1917 Murphy graduated from Harvard with a master’s degree in psychology and in 1919 he visited and joined the Society for Psychical Research. In 1922 Murphy was granted money, via Harvard’s Hodgson Memorial Fund, to support psychical research and for the next three years he devoted himself to psychical research. It was during this time that he had numerous sittings with Leonora Piper. From around 1926 Murphy came to the realization that he could help psychical research more by establishing himself in psychology than by committing himself entirely to the former field. Although he directed his energies towards mainstream psychology and achieved great stature and success (in 1944 he was elected president of the American Psychological Association) he remained in close contact with the field of psychical research. When J B Rhine approached him about supervising J G Pratt, a Duke graduate who had been working at the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, Murphy agreed. In the early 1940s Murphy began to spend more and more time at the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) where he became vice president. Under his direction the society began to conduct research and to collect and analyse reports of psychic experiences. In 1949 Murphy was elected president of the Society for Psychical Research, and from 1962 to 1971 he served as president of the ASPR. Throughout his distinguished career Murphy’s intellect was unequalled. He contributed more than 100 articles to psychical research journals and even more to mainstream psychology publications, and was the author of numerous books, many of which attempted to show the association between psychical research and psychology. Murphy’s experimental psychical research yielded disappointing results, but despite this he remained convinced that research on survival after death was an important area of study. MUSCLE READING Also known as contact mind reading, muscle reading is a technique simulating telepathy, in which the ‘mind reader’ (who generally holds a hand or arm) responds to and interprets slight muscle movements produced unconsciously by the person whose mind is apparently being read. MUSIC The ability of musical sounds to influence positively or negatively health, mood, morality and consciousness has been known for centuries. Music as form of therapy has been used in almost all cultures for healing, meditation and expanding consciousness. In Eastern traditions sound vibration has long been used for healing and spiritual development, combined with chants, musical instruments and movement. The ancient Chinese believed music to be the basis of all things and Confucius stated that if the music of a civilization changed, then its society would change too. The ancient Greeks believed in the healing power of music for insomnia and anxiety. Aristotle believed that music affected character. Pythagoras found that all music can be reduced to numbers and concluded that the universe could be similarly explained. According to modern research the elements of music that have been shown to have physical and psychological effects are rhythm, tone and pitch, interval (the distance between notes) and timbre (the nature of the music which creates associations in the listener’s mind). It is thought that music’s beneficial effects are due to the principle of entrainment, a physics principle in which stronger vibrations cause weaker vibrations to begin pulsing in the same harmony. Therefore music is able to entrain the body, mind and spirit by affecting physiological rhythms, and studies have indeed shown that music can alter pulse rate, brain waves and blood pressure. It can also help release emotion, ease physical pain, induce relaxation and encourage the release of the body’s feelgood hormones - called endorphins. Music therapy, which focuses on the areas of pain relief and stress reduction, enjoyed a revival in the late twentieth century largely due to the work of violinist Helen L Bonny, whose book Music and Your Health (1973) was the first in a series of books and features on the health effects of music. Music can also have a toxic effect on the body. Some forms of music, such as heavy metal, have been shown to negatively affect the health of plants and animals and have been associated with depression and aggressive behaviour. New Age music, which came to the fore in the 1970s, has been criticized as bland and tuneless, but supporters believe that it can expand consciousness and foster physical and psychological wellbeing. Clairvoyants claim to be able to see colours or shapes when listening to music and also report an awareness of music thought forms created by the sound vibrations. Others claim that music helps them induce altered states of consciousness, out-of-body experiences and peak experiences similar to those achieved by meditation. MYERS, FREDERICK WILLIAM HENRY [1843–1901] Scholar, psychologist, psychical researcher, prominent member of the Society for Psychical Research and author of a seminal book that summarized and systemized the findings of psychical research: Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death (1903). In the summer of 1871, two years after Myers had resigned his position as Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge to become a school inspector, he was out walking with his friend Henry Sidgwick. Myers asked Sidgwick ‘almost with trembling, whether he thought that when Tradition, Intuition, Metaphysic had failed to solve the riddle of the universe, there was still a chance that from any actual observable phenomena -ghosts, spirits, whatever they might be - some valid knowledge might be drawn as to the World Unseen.’ Sidgwick replied that there might be and this was to be the beginning of the organization later known as the Society for Psychical Research. In 1872 Myers and Sidgwick formed a group to study mediums, such as William Stainton Moses, and ten years later the Society for Psychical Research was born, with Sidgwick as president and Myers on the governing council. Myers also assisted in the investigations of, among others, Leonora Piper and Eusapia Palladino and became a key member of a literary committee assigned the task of collecting cases for publication in the Society’s journal and proceedings. In 1890 Myers became president of the Society. Apart from Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death, his contribution to the landmark book published by the Society for Psychical Research in 1886, Phantasms of the Living and his investigation of cross correspondences, perhaps the most significant contribution made by Myers to psychical research was his concept of the ‘subliminal consciousness’. His theory had similarities to Freud’s theory of the ‘unconscious’ of several years later, but differed in that Myers conceived it not as repressed energy but as the root from which conscious thought sprang. According to Myers the subliminal consciousness was receptive to extrasensory input and, because it was somehow separate from the body, it could survive life after death. MYOMANCY Ancient form of divination by the movements, cries, noises and gnawing that rats make. All these signs were thought to foretell evil. Ephraim Chambers’s Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1728) states ‘Some authors hold myomancy to be one of the most ancient forms of divination; and think that it is on this account that Isaiah 1xv1, 17, reckons mice among the abominable things of the idolater.’ The Roman commander Quintus Fabius Maximus was said to have resigned his dictatorship because of the warnings of rats and mice and, according to Marcus Varro (116-27 BC) cavalry commander Cassius Flaminus also retired for the same reason. MYRTLES PLANTATION According to the US Tourist Bureau, the Myrtles Plantation, located 70 miles north of New Orleans, is one of the most haunted places of America. Numerous spirits are thought to roam both the beautiful landscape of the plantation and inside the manor. The most famous ghost is that of Chloe, a governess who was hanged around 1820 for the murder of the wife and children of her lover who was also her employer. It is said that Chloe roams the mansion at night and likes to disturb guests by lifting the mosquito netting that surrounds the beds. Another spirit that is said to appear is that of William Winter who owned the plantation between 1860-71, his spirit is said to linger because of the tragic nature of his death. One night while out on the porch Winter was shot in the chest. He managed to stagger back into the house and climb 17 of the 20 stairs, where he died in his wife’s arms. Allegedly he is heard climbing the stairs, but he only makes it to the seventeenth one. Other sightings at the Myrtles Plantation, often called ‘the house of spirits’ include two little blonde girls peering through the windows, a Confederate soldier marching across the porch and a Voodoo priestess who, according to lore, was unable to use her powers to save a young girl from a fatal disease. The Myrtles attracts an almost endless stream of visitors each year and many of them come in search of ghosts. Psychical researchers believe that the most important key to discovering why it might be haunted in the first place is the unusual and violent history of the house, which has left ghosts behind. Since the Myrtles Plantation was built by David Bradford in 1794, it has allegedly been the scene of 10 murders. In truth, only one person was probably murdered there but this does not take away from the fact that previous owners of Myrtles did experience more than their fair share of unhappiness, violence and tragedy. MYSTERY CULTS In a strict sense, secret religious cults that flourished in the Hellenistic period. In a broader sense, it also refers to esoteric teachings and the rites of secret societies outside the classical word. During the Hellenistic period many cults flourished, the Dionysian mysteries and Eleusinian mysteries being perhaps the most well known. As well as the Greek mysteries, the mystery tradition can also be traced back to the Egyptian mysteries of Isis and Osiris and the Mithraic mystery cults from Persia. Centuries later there were the Gnostics, the Kabbalists, the Neo-Platonists, the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons. At the heart of the mystery schools is the concept of salvation, life after death and secret, or hidden, knowledge. ‘Mystery’ derives from the Greek mus-terion, which means ‘sacred secret’. The preservation of the secrets of the cult was required by members or initiates. There were also elements of magic and ecstasy in mystery school rites. MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE An experience in which a person transcends the bounds of ordinary consciousness to awareness beyond time, space and the physical. Mystical experiences are typically spiritual but not necessarily religious; a person need not be a monk or a nun to have one. According to a 1987 survey by the National Opinion Center in Chicago, over 40 per cent of American adults claimed to have had some type of mystical experience. Psychologist William James believed there were four characteristics of mystical experiences: 1. They are difficult to describe or convey to others. 2. Time and space are transcended. 3. Although they seem eternal in real time they are fleeting, lasting only a few seconds. 4. The individual feels swept up and held by a separate power and this may be accompanied by a feeling of separation from the body, as is the case with out-of-body experiences. James believed the simplest type of mystical experience was that ‘ah ha’ moment that bursts upon a person when a new insight occurs or when something is seen in a new light. He also believed déjà vu was a simple mystical experience. Higher up the mystical experience ladder he placed sudden awareness of the absolute and a feeling of unity with it. Typically mystical experiences occur when a person is alone and feeling relaxed. A number of things can trigger a mystical experience including dreams, music, art, daydreaming, light and words. Although it can occur spontaneously most mystical experiences are induced by techniques such as hypnosis, fasting, chanting, prayer, dancing, breath control and meditation. Mystical experiences are said to flood an individual with immense joy and a sense of gratitude, wellbeing and, in some instances, ecstasy. Awareness of the body seems to be lost and bodily functions slow right down. The rise of powerful kundalini energy and the physical sensations associated with that are also reported, as are paranormal powers such as levitation, clairvoyance, materialization and so on. Mystical states are also frequently characterized by light and heat, but in the very highest of states all physical, mental and emotional sensations fall away. A dramatic change in life circumstances typically follows a mystical experience. According to Freudian psychology mystical experiences are illusions, and psychologist Carl Jung regarded them as liberations of the unconscious. Humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow described certain mystical experiences as peak experiences’, which were therapeutic and essential to health, wellbeing and the development of potential. Some scientists think that mystical experience is a brain function that can be induced with the stimulation of the temporal lobes, which lie beneath the brain’s hemisphere. At the turn of the twentieth century British doctor John Hughlings noticed that epileptics have different temporal lobes from others, and in 1933 American doctor Wilder Penfield was able to induce mystical experience phenomena in epileptics by stimulating their brains with electrical currents. Although the lobe theory remains controversial, in the 1970s and 80s the relationship between paranormal experiences and the temporal lobes was established further with electromagnetic stimulation. MYSTICISM From the Greek mustes, meaning ‘initiated person’, mysticism is the belief that absorption or union into an ecstatic experience through contemplation, meditation, trance, music or chanting will allow a person to become one with the Absolute. It is a system of behaviour, belief and practice that derives from personal experience of universal unity. Secret knowledge, inaccessible by ordinary means, is given if the experience of surrender to universal unity is total and the individual is absorbed into a greater whole. Mysticism is often accompanied by phenomena such as visions, voices and dreams, paranormal powers such as clairvoyance, levitation and telepathy and feelings of intense joy and intense pain. The experience is universal and interpreted in different ways by different belief systems. Thus the Christian might see it as union with the Godhead; the Buddhist might regard it as achievement of nirvana; the atheist might regard it as recognition of the essential nature of reality, and the spiritualist might see it as possession by spirits. N NAMES Throughout the world and throughout history names and naming have been of great importance in religion, magic, the occult, psychic phenomena and mythology. In ancient Egypt not to have a name was thought to be a terrible curse - the worst possible thing that could happen to a person. The Egyptians believed that not to have a name meant that when you died you couldn’t move forward to the afterlife but would fall backwards into the void. Criminals had their name taken away when charged with a crime; it was as if the person with no name did not exist and all hope for eternity was gone. Psychics believe that names carry a certain energy vibration and changing a person’s name changes that vibration (see numerology). Certain religions often give converts a new name when they join, and it is also common to have a spiritual name as well as a given one. In ancient China names were often kept secret to prevent their use by enemies. A person’s real name might only ever be revealed to the local astrologer and priest and another name was used for daily use. NASBY, BATTLE OF According to accounts reported in English Civil War studies, while Charles I was staying at the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Daven-try he was visited by the ghost of a former supporter, the Earl of Strafford. For two nights in a row the ghost allegedly urged him to continue marching north and not to confront the Parliamentarian forces encamped at Northampton. However, uncertain as to whether he should follow the ghost’s advice, Charles allowed Prince Rupert and the other leaders of his cause to convince him that the time was right to attack, and the disastrous battle at Nasby which ruined Charles’s chances of defeating the Parliamentary forces, took place on 14 June 1645. It’s conceivable that if Charles had listened to the so-called ghost’s advice and marched northwards he might have gathered more supporters and met the superior Parliamentarian forces on more equal terms. As a point of interest, the headless ghost of Charles I is said to haunt Marple Hall in Cheshire, the family seat of John Bradshaw who presided over the council which condemned the King to death. NATIONAL SPIRITUALIST ASSOCIATION OF CHURCHES OF THE USA Founded in 1893 and based in Cassadaga, Florida, the National Spiritualist Association of Churches of the United States of America (NSAC) is the oldest and largest spiritualist organization in the United States. It has eight affiliated state organizations and affiliated churches in 27 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. Ten states have spiritualist camps, including the famous Lily Dale Camp in New York. The NSAC defines canonical spiritualist beliefs in the US, certifies spiritualist teachers and ministers and publishes a monthly magazine, National Spiritualist. The definition of spiritualism adopted by the NSAC in 1919 states that ‘Spiritualism is the Science, Philosophy and Religion of Continuous life, based upon the demonstrated fact of communication by means of mediumship with those who live in the spirit world.’ According to the society’s website (www.nasc.org/): Life is continuous, the consciousness never dies for it is part of God and the Infinite is forever. Upon the cessation of the physical housing the spirit graduates to the next plane of existence. This plane is similar to our earthly plane but at a higher rate of vibration and luminosity. One method of service in spirit is to communicate, assist and help illuminate those that are living on the earth plane. Mediums in the Spirit World and mediums in the physical world adjust their vibrations to enable communications between the two planes of existence. It has been demonstrated in our Churches, home circles and in scientific investigations that ‘there is no death, there are no dead.’ In 1950 the NSAC recognized spiritualist phenomena as consisting of ‘prophecy clairvoyance, clairaudience, gift of tongue, laying on of hands, healing, visions, trances, apports, levitation, raps, automatic and independent writing and painting, voice, materialization, photography, psychometry and other manifestation proving the continuity of life as demonstrated through the physical and spiritual senses.’ The NASC offers bachelor and associate degrees in religious studies and diploma courses in ministry, healing, mediumship and teaching through the College of Spiritual Science. With the help of the Morris Pratt Institute - which was established in 1901 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and has an excellent research library open to the public - it also offers a correspondence course in spiritualism, two-week residential courses in pastoral skills and special seminars on various aspects of spiritualism. NATIVE AMERICAN SPIRIT TRADITIONS As the indigenous peoples of North America, Native Americans have always honoured what they believe to be the spirit energy of the world around them. Rather than controlling, using and destroying the environment, the Native American belief is that humanity needs to take care of the environment, the earth and the riches it supplies to make life possible. It is the duty of every creature to look after its daily business in a responsible fashion. Failure to do so destroys the balance and results in disease, illness and misfortune, not only to the offending creature but to the Whole. Native Americans feel a strong connection with animals and in many respects regard them as superior beings, because they were placed on the earth before humankind. Within most Native American belief systems is the idea that life is unending and unbroken, existing across time and space. Those who have passed to spirit simply exist in a different form than those who have physical bodies. Rituals and ceremonies stress the connection between the earth plane and the spirit world and communication between the two. For Native Americans the sacred is part of everyday life, accessible by everyone not just a select few. At an early age most Native Americans will be exposed to the supernatural through experience of dreams and visions; and what a Westerner might term paranormal, a Native American would consider part of ordinary reality. Therefore it is not considered unusual to communicate with animals or supernatural beings and have precognitive dreams. Medicine men, endowed with greater than normal powers, are able to use these powers to serve, help and heal others. See Shamanism. NATURE SPIRITS Spirits with supernatural powers that are said to dwell in the natural kingdom. Belief in the existence of nature spirits, which are typically invisible to humans, except those with clairvoyant ability, is ancient and universal. The ancient Greeks and Romans worshipped nature spirits believing them to inhabit every tree, rock, stream and even the air. Nature spirits come in all shapes, sizes and dispositions. Some are said to be half human, others assume the shape of plants, animals or flowers. Some are thought to be benevolent and enjoy the company of humans, while others are evil and intend on causing harm. Typically nature spirits are attached to places, plants or things such as mountains, trees or minerals. Elementals are perhaps the most well-known type of nature spirit. They function as a harmonious life energy force in all things natural: minerals; plants; animals; the four elements of earth (called gnomes by third-century NeoPlatonic Greeks), air (sylphs), fire (salamander) and water (undines); the planets; the stars; and the hours of the day and night. According to British spiritualist Grace Cooke, elementals understand human speech, enjoy human company and can respond to music. They also have their own spiritual evolution and their aim is to progress towards higher forms of life. Despite this some elementals are said to be hateful of humans. These evil entities are typically associated with ritual magic and can be natural and artificial. Practitioners of black magic purportedly command elementals on missions of psychic attack. Artificially created elementals are called ‘thought forms’ and when summoned they are said to attach themselves to the human aura. Unless they are properly exorcised they can drain energy from the aura and cause great harm. NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE A phenomenon reported by people who have been declared clinically dead by medical experts, or passed close to death through accident or illness, but who are later revived. They report an altered state of consciousness where they feel they are travelling through a tunnel towards a warm and bright light, or that they are floating above their body watching medical effects to revive them. Intriguingly near-death reports from different cultures around the world are typically consistent and in many instances agree well with the essential features of the post mortem state that is described in The Tibetan Book of the Dead. There is also a marked similarity to reported inner journeys of shamanism and astral travel. The term ‘near-death experience’ (NDE) was coined by an American doctor, Raymond Moody, in the 1970s to describe the above phenomenon. Prior to the publication of Moody’s book Life After Life in 1975, NDE was not openly talked about, but afterwards it became more acceptable, and by 1982 a Gallup poll suggested that as many as eight million Americans had had some kind of NDE. Moody and a number of other NDE researchers like Kenneth Ring, a psychologist and founding member of the International Association of Near Death Studies at the University of Connecticut, were able to identify a number of traits in common to NDE, even thought the experience was always unique to each individual. They concluded that in a NDE people typically experience one or more of the following phenomena in this sequence: a sense of leaving the material world behind (being dead), or an out-of-body experience in which they feel they are floating above their bodies looking down; cessation of pain and a feeling of great calm and peace; travelling down a dark tunnel towards a light at the end; meeting spirit beings, many of whom are dead friends and relatives; meeting a spirit guide who takes them through their life story (see life review) and puts their life into perspective without any negative judgement; and finally an abrupt, and sometimes reluctant, return to life. The great majority of NDEs are described as positive and uplifting; around 3 per cent are described as negative or frightening. Almost anyone can have the experience and it is not limited to the religious, although many people who have experienced an NDE do become more spiritual or develop a belief system afterwards. Almost all say they lose their fear of death and it is replaced by a strong belief in an afterlife. Many discover a new meaning and purpose to their lives that they may have previously lacked. In some cases the NDE leaves a person with heightened intuition or psychic powers. On the negative side some people find adjusting back to life difficult after an NDE. Feelings of anger, guilt, depression and disappointment because they have to return to life are common. However, many people are thrilled by the wonder of their unique experience and intensely grateful and empowered by it, as well as humbled. Research by Ring and his colleagues indicated that people with a difficult or traumatic childhood could be more prone to NDE than others due to their personality and psychological make-up. Ring also suggested that an NDE may be a form of enlightenment and can have a tremendously positive effect on the world if enough people experience it or assimilate the lessons that can be learned from it. Typical near-death experience NDE researcher Raymond Moody found a striking similarity in the accounts of 150 people who claimed to have had an NDE - so much so that he was able to identify 15 different elements that recur again and again in these reports. He constructed a typical experience that contains all of these elements: A man is dying and, as he reaches the point of greatest physical distress, he hears himself pronounced dead by his doctor. He begins to hear an uncomfortable noise, a loud ringing or buzzing, and at the same time feels himself moving very rapidly through a long dark tunnel. After this he finds himself outside of his own physical body, but still in the immediate physical environment, and he sees his own body from a distance, as though he is a spectator. He watches the resuscitation attempt from this unusual vantage point and is in a state of emotional upheaval. After a while he collects himself and becomes more accustomed to his odd condition. He notices that he still has a ‘body’, but one of a very different nature and with very different powers from the physical body he has left behind. Soon other things begin to I happen. Others come to meet and help him. He glimpses the spirits of relatives and friends who have already died, and a loving, warm spirit of a kind he has never encountered before - a being of light - appears before him. This being asks him a question, nonverbal, to make him evaluate his life and helps him along by showing him a panoramic instantaneous playback of the major events of his life. At some point he finds himself approaching some sort of barrier or border, apparently representing the limit between earthly life and the next life. Yet, he finds that he must go back to the earth, that the time for his death has not yet come. At this point he resists, for by now he is taken up with his experiences in the afterlife and does not want to return. He is overwhelmed by intense feelings of joy, love, and peace. Despite his attitude, though, he somehow reunites with his physical body and lives. Later he tries to tell others, but he has trouble doing so. In the first place, he can find no human words adequate to describe these unearthly experiences. He also finds that others scoff, so he stops telling other people. Still the experience affects his life profoundly, especially his view about death and its relationship to life. (Raymond Moody, Life After Life) Even though millions of people claim to have had an NDE it is impossible for researchers to scientifically prove that the experience is genuine. Evidence therefore is entirely based on anecdotal reports. According to sceptics the NDE is a dream or hallucination caused by lack of oxygen, the release of the body’s natural painkillers (endorphins) or increased levels of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream as the brain dies. NDEs were reportedly reproduced by Ronald Siegel, a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles school of medicine, when LSD and other drugs were administered to subjects. NDE supporters stress that drug-induced hallucinations and NDEs are totally different things. Such explanations do not take into account the fact that may people brought back to life can give accurate accounts of their resuscitations, or procedures carried out, or report conversations they overheard at the time they were allegedly dead. This suggests that some part of consciousness can separate from the body at death. There is also the argument that people are simply making the whole experience up. A Dr Sabom, a Georgia cardiologist, interviewed 100 hospital patients who had narrowly escaped death. Of these, 61 per cent reported experiencing classical NDEs of the type closely resembling those described in 1975 by Moody. By the end of his investigation Dr Sabom admitted that before he started to investigate he felt sure that NDEs must be ‘conscious fabrications’ either on the part of those reporting them or those writing about them. However, once he began to investigate he was surprised by the genuineness of the phenomenon. Another respected cardiologist who was initially sceptical was Maurice Rawlings, who states in his book Beyond Death’s Door (1978) that he had always believed in death as extinction until one day a 48-year-old postman died in his surgery. As he began to resuscitate him the patient began screaming: ‘I’m in Hell! Keep me out of hell!’ At first Rawlings told him: ‘Keep your hell to yourself-I’m busy trying to save your life’, but gradually he became convinced by the sheer terror of the man. So absolutely traumatic and convincing was the experience that Dr Rawlings went on to write books about it. Elizabeth Fenwick, co-writer of the book The Truth in the Light - An Investigation of Over 300 Near-Death Experiences (1996) also started her research convinced that NDEs could be explained scientifically. However, after much investigation she came to the following conclusion: While you may be able to find scientific reasons for bits of the NearDeath Experience, I can’t find any explanation which covers the whole thing. You have to account for it as a package and sceptics … simply don’t do that. None of the purely physical explanations will do. [^Sceptics] vastly underestimate the extent to which Near-Death Experiences are not just a set of random things happening, but a highly organized and detailed affair. Fenwick’s viewpoint is supported by a study of NDEs in Holland by cardiologist Dr William van Lommel and his team, who studied 345 cases of people who would have died without resuscitation. Just fewer than 20 per cent recalled some form of NDE. The patients who claimed to have an NDE were compared to another group of patients with similar health conditions but who did not have an NDE. According to Dr van Lommel: Our most striking finding was that Near-Death Experiences do not have a physical or medical root. After all, 100 per cent of the patients suffered a shortage of oxygen, 100 per cent were given morphine-like medications, 100 per cent were victims of severe stress, so those are plainly not the reasons why 18 per cent had Near-Death Experiences and 82 per cent didn’t. If they had been triggered by any one of those things, everyone would have had Near-Death Experiences. There is no doubt that the near-death experience is supported by impressive credentials, and for believers it constitutes a very powerful, objective argument for the afterlife. NECROMANCY The conjuring or summoning of spirits of the dead for magical purposes. Often considered dangerous and unwholesome, necromancy (from the Greek nekros, ‘corpse’ and manteia, ‘divination’) is a universal and ancient practice based on the belief that the dead, unrestricted by human limitations, are able to see into the past, present and future and, if conjured and questioned, can tell what lies ahead. A classic case of necromancy is that of the Old Testament Witch of Endor. The witch was hired by King Saul to conjure the dead prophet Samuel, who foretold Saul’s downfall (1 Samuel, 28). The practice dates back to Persia, Greece and Rome, and in the Middle Ages was widely practised by magicians, sorcerers and witches. The Church condemned necromancy as the work of ‘evil spirits’ and in England it was outlawed by the Witchcraft Act of 1604. Necromancy was also supposedly employed in Haiti by Voodoo magicians who, according to belief, become the incarnation of the god of death. The rites aimed to raise corpses from the dead in order to create a zombie. Necromantic rituals aim to raise a corpse back to life or, more typically, to summon the spirit of the corpse. There are many different techniques recorded but rites usually take place in cemeteries or graveyards. For example, one medieval ritual involved going to a graveyard and, as the hour of midnight struck, scattering graveyard earth about and loudly proclaiming. ‘Ego sum te peto et videre queto ’ (‘I seek you and demand to see you’). Elaborate preparations lasting days required fasting, meditation and dressing in clothes taken from the corpse. Some felt it necessary to eat dog’s flesh and black bread and drink unferment-ed grape juice - items all associated with the underworld and the dead - and in some cases necromancers may have eaten the flesh of the corpse itself. If the corpse had been a long time dead the necromancer would attempt to summon an apparition of the soul. If the corpse was only a few days old, however, the necromancer might attempt to force the soul back into the body to reanimate it to speak. After the ritual it was usual to burn or rebury the corpse to avert trouble from a disorientated spirit. Necromancy has been compared by some to modern mediumship or spiritualism but many consider it to be a dangerous and repugnant practice - dangerous because it is thought that when some spirits are summoned they may take control of the medium and are reluctant to release that control. NECYOMANCY In the words of Henry Cockeram in The English Dictionarie, or an interpreter of hard English words (1623), necyomancy is ‘divination by calling up damned spirits’. It is therefore very similar to necromancy but in necromancy, although spirits are called up, they are not necessarily damned. In necyomancy, however, the spirits summoned are of dubious origin and many not even have had a previous life on earth. In ceremonial magic these spirits are therefore demons, devils or similar evil entities. These spirits often do not want to be summoned and may harm the summoner if possible. It is therefore crucial that the necyomancer works within a consecrated circle. NEGATIVE ENERGY According to psychics it is through energy that spirits are able to communicate across the boundaries between the earth and spirit planes. Positive energy, created by good deeds, love, harmony, spirituality and respect is uplifting and enlightening, whereas negative energy is dangerous, unsettling and draining. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) in his watershed publication, Relativity: the Special and the General Theory (1918), described all existence as energy, although it takes many forms. According to the theory of relativity all matter, from people and plants to tables and chairs, is comprised of energy structures atoms, molecules and electrons -that vibrate at different frequencies. The energy of matter that forms an object we consider solid, such as this book, vibrates so slowly that we are able to physically perceive its matter. The energy of matter we cannot see, such as the air we breathe, vibrates very fast. Einstein’s theory is in fact a very New Age concept. Psychics and energy healers believe that the physical body vibrates slowly enough to be tangible, while energy on the spirit plane vibrates so fast that it doesn’t seem to have an appearance or presence at all, unless a spirit chooses to represent itself in a tangible form. So when it comes to spirit contact the spirit needs to lower its energy vibration and the medium needs to raise his or her vibration so communication can be made. According to psychics, negative energy can be disastrous to a person’s life and can cause bad luck and poor health. There are a number of ways to cause or generate negative energy. For example, a person’s thoughts can create negative energy. On a physical level, constant pessimism can lead to low self-esteem and the unhappiness such negativity attracts, and on a magical level pessimism can also be damaging as magical will responds best to optimism and good intention. In some cases (see psychic attack) enough concentrated negative thought about oneself or another person is believed to cause negative things to happen to oneself and/or others. Illness can also generate negative energy, as can negative thoughts about others, arguments, criminal acts, injustice, tragedy and violence. Many mediums believe that spirits often come through because they want to make amends for negative energy that they once spread in their lives. They may also come through because the negative energy generated by intense emotion or acts of violence, trauma or injustice (see battlefield hauntings) has somehow trapped them and they can’t break free. NEO-PAGANISM General term used to describe the Pagan movements that came to the fore in the second half of the twentieth century. Neo-Paganism is a loosely organized religion, philosophy and way of life that is interpreted on an individualistic basis and concerned with revived and reconstructed pre-Christian Nature religions and mystery traditions. It is sometimes said that the term neo-Pagan was invented in the 1970s but the term was already in use by the 1890s when it was used to describe writers who rejected Christianity in favour of imagery and ideas drawn from ancient Greek and Celtic source. By 1908 a group of Cambridge scholars claimed the term for themselves, but they were not strictly the first European intellectuals to admire ancient and classical culture. The first known examples actually date back to the Renaissance, and the emergence of revived Druidry in England and Wales in the eighteenth century was a significant movement. Freemasonry, with its claimed connection to ancient mysteries, also contributed to the later revival. It was the great English Platonist Thomas Tyler (1758-1835), however, whose open rejection of Christianity in favour of a revival of Pagan spirituality who seems to have launched the nineteenth-century neo-Pagan movement in Europe. The nineteenth-century neo-Pagan subculture, which enjoyed a significant revival in the Victorian era, consisted of largely urban, college-educated individuals who were familiar with recent trends in mythology, Eastern religions, occult and alternative thought. A number of organizations, such as the Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn also played a significant part in the spread of occult philosophy and practice in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. By the end of the nineteenth century Christianity was no longer the only religion in the West, and a variety of people and small groups - most of them associated with occult traditions in some way - raised interest in Paganism. A major shift in the neo-Pagan scene occurred in 1951 with the repeal of the antiquated Witchcraft Act in Britain. The media started to present witchcraft in a more positive light and a number of individuals such as Gerald Gardner, who presented himself as the inheritor of an ancient tradition called Wicca, came forward claiming to have inherited their own traditions of witchcraft. The cultural revolution of the 1960s developed the Pagan revival into a religious movement on an international scale. Wicca enjoyed a surge in popularity and the emergence of feminism also helped foster the spread of a religious movement that gave reverence to female images of the divine. The first neo-Pagan organization in the United States was Feraferia, a goddess and nature system, established in 1957, that preached an abandonment of technology and a return to a peaceful, loosely organized vegetarian society. Two other organizations that influenced the spread of neo-Paganism in the United States were the Church of All Worlds (CAW) and Pagan Way. The Church of All Worlds was formally chartered on 4 March 1968, and became the first neo-Pagan church to be federally recognized. CAWs dogma was that it had no dogma and its goal was for each member to achieve self-actualization and union with all consciousness. Pagan Way was established in 1970 and was involved in the reconstruction of witchcraft as a religion. In Britain the Pagan movement was established in 1971 when the Pagan Federation was formed. It is still active today (www.paganfed.org/) and espouses three main principles: love and kinship with nature; adherence to the Pagan ethic, ‘Do what you will but harm no thing’; and a belief in reincarnation. Today neo-Pagan networking is controlled mainly by the Circle Sanctuary (www.circlesanctuary org/), established in 1974 with the aim of offering counselling, training and networking to neo-Pagans and Wiccans all over the world. In the last few decades of the twentieth century Wicca was joined in the neoPagan community by groups and individuals worshipping other Pagan traditions and approaches, such as Celtic, Hawaiian, Greek, Egyptian and so on. Quasipagan systems, which drew their inspiration from fantasy fiction and the media, sprang up as well. A powerful shift from the group-centred approach of Pagan practice to a more individual approach based on self-initiation and solitary practice also began to emerge - the publication of Scott Cunningham’s Wicca; A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner (1988) marked an important phase in this shift. Another powerful trend was the emergence of Pagan festivals as a major meeting ground for the growing Pagan subculture. Various surveys suggested that by 2000 there were around a million and a half people in the Western world who regarded themselves as Pagans, raising neo-Paganism to the level of a significant social force. Generally neo-Pagans view creation as a whole and view all life as equally sacred. The divine force has a number of personifications as gods and goddesses, but the most revered is the Goddess in all her many aspects. Contrary to belief, neo-Pagans do not worship the devil in any shape or form. For most neo-Pagans the development of psychic and magical skills is central to their religion and many believe in reincarnation. Neo-Pagan rituals are patterned on pre-Christian fertility and mystical traditions and are individualistic, but some neo-Pagans have also integrated into their faith elements of Native American religions, Eastern religions, shamanic practices and African religions. Whenever possible rites are conducted outdoors and involve dancing, chanting and drumming. Many Wiccans prefer to conduct their rituals in the nude (‘sky clad’) in order to feel more connected to nature. Because of neo-Pagan-ism’s focus on the cycles of nature there is generally a liberal attitude towards sex, suggesting that it should be celebrated and not repressed. However, sexual rites involving the Goddess and the Horned God (not to be confused with the devil) are less common today than in the earlier days of neo-Paganism, and are typically performed symbolically. Religious holidays/festivals, called ‘sabbats’ by Wiccans, punctuate the neoPagan calendar. These festivals celebrate the wheel of birth-death-rebirth made possible by the union of the Goddess and the Horned God. Great outdoor festivals are organized around sabbats. They include the winter and summer solstices and spring and fall equinoxes, as well as pastoral festivals of Imbolc (1 February), Beltane (1 May), Lammas (1 August) and Samhain (1 November). NEO-PLATONISM Philosophy developed out of Platonic thought (see Plato) from the third century AD onwards by the philosopher Plotinus and later under Iamblichus and Porphyry. Neo-Platonism placed more emphasis on mystical vision. The goal of humankind is the vision and union with God and this can only be achieved by withdrawing from everything that is material. A combination of Platonic philosophy and Eastern mysticism, there are echoes of Neo-Platonism in the Kabbalah and other esoteric systems. Neo-Platonism was at its peak from about 250 to 550. It was banned in 529 by Emperor Justinian but was revived by Renaissance mystics. NEW AGE Umbrella term used to describe a movement that encompasses a broad range of Eastern and Western interests in mysticism, spirituality, religion, health, parapsychology, ecology, philosophy, self-development and the occult. It is impossible to define exactly as opinions differ greatly and a great deal of what is considered New Age is not new, but a rediscovery of ancient or earlier ways of thinking, being and living. The term New Age replaced the Age of Aquarius label used in the 1960s to describe the astrologically predicted dawning of a new age characterized by spiritualism, intuition and revolutionary new ways of thinking. Although it has its roots deep in prehistory, New Age teaching became popular in the United States (and the rest of the Western world) in the 1960s and 1970s when New Age networks, periodicals and publications emerged. The 1960s saw much experimentation with mind-expanding drugs and meditation and the 70s saw the growth of humanistic psychology. The actress Shirley MacLaine was also influential in bringing New Age into the mainstream with her bestselling books about her own spiritual awakening. For many MacLaine’s convincing account of her belief in reincarnation made acceptable the open exploration of many topics. The movement grew partly as a reaction against the failure of the Christian Church to provide comfort and guidance in such fast-changing times, partly because a number of Eastern texts, such as the I Ching and the teachings of Buddha, became widely available in English translation, and partly because capitalist cultures, increasingly weary of materialism and dogma, were looking for gentler and more spiritually rewarding alternatives. New Age beliefs and activities are highly individual and eclectic but there are certain key themes, such as self-understanding and transforming the world through a spiritual awareness that unifies all religion and environmental consciousness, i.e taking care of the planet. Other key concepts that stand out in New Age thought include the idea that one creates one’s own reality, that divinity exists within and that there is a need for renewed recognition of the feminine principle and utilization of so-called feminine traits such as intuition. Those who subscribe to the New Age philosophy share an understanding that science, technology and a higher standard of living in the material world do not necessarily make happier human beings or make the world a better place. They believe that there is a different way of being which is life-affirming and liberating, that everyone has far more potential than they realize, and that the only way to change the world for the better is to change oneself first. Proponents of New Age thinking describe it as a ‘revolution in consciousness’. Critics call it superficial, exploitative, vague, narcissistic, fraudulent, anti-Christian and cultish. Some of the criticisms are justified, however since the 1990s the need for a label has begun to disappear, as New Age thinking has slowly but surely penetrated mainstream culture - most notably in physics, psychology, behavioural medicine, environmental concerns and with an increasing acceptance of psi as a normal human function. NEW L house LEDGE LIGHTHOUSE Lighthouse near New London, Connecticut, said to be haunted by the tormented spirit of one of its early keepers, known only as Ernie. The lighthouse, which was established in 1910, is three storeys high above a square pier. According to local legend its lonely keeper Ernie, on discovering that his wife had run off with the captain of the Block Island ferry, threw himself to his death from the building’s roof. Although Ernie’s suicide is not in any of the lighthouse logbooks, staff working at there reported Ernie’s ghostly presence. Phantom footsteps, cold spots and the movement of objects and doors of their own accord were reported right up to the day that the lighthouse became automated on 1 May 1987. Sceptics believe that the haunting can be explained by strong belief in Ernie’s story creating hallucinations. Contributing factors would have been mental strain caused by long periods of isolation. Others believe that haunting cannot completely be ruled out, as lighthouses are renowned for their ghostly reputation and it is possible that over the years the events and emotions associated with Ernie’s suicide took on a ghost-like form. NEWSPAPER TEST Mediumistic test in which a spirit communicating through a medium predicts items in yet-to-be published newspapers. Feda, the spirit control of Gladys Osborne Leonard created the test in 1919 as a way of offering proof for survival after death. Most of the tests were conducted through Leonard with Charles Drayton Thomas as the sitter, some with Thomas’s father as the communicator. Thomas’s father claimed, through Feda, that higher spirits took him to the newspaper office where he could see what was going to be published the next day in The Times of London before it went to press. In 73 out of 104 of the tests Thomas’s father (or Feda) correctly gave page numbers and the location on a page of specific words, names and numbers. By chance one would expect to find only 18 correct answers. Despite the success of the newspaper tests no evidence is yet considered conclusive scientific proof of survival after death. Sceptics argue that the words, names and numbers used were commonly used and likely to appear in virtually every issue of The Times. NEWSTEAD ABBEY Former priory and home of the poet Lord Byron, located in Nottinghamshire, England, that is said to be haunted by several ghosts. The priory was built around 1170 for the Order of St Augustine and was bought in 1540 by Sir John Byron who turned it into a mansion. It remained the Byron family home for three centuries. According to superstition, turning a religious house into a house for secular use is a recipe for misfortune and over the years the Byron family experienced more than its fair share of bad luck and declining fortune. The romantic poet Lord Byron (1788-1824) was the last of his family to own the house and when he inherited the estate it was in a state of disrepair. His father, known as ‘the wicked lord’, lived and died alone in the scullery, the only room that was intact against water. In 1817 Byron went to live in Venice and sold the priory. The bad luck stayed with successive owners who were plagued by misfortune after misfortune. The Black Friar ghost is the most famous ghost to allegedly appear at Newstead Abbey. The appearance of this phantom was thought to be a bad omen for the Byron family. Byron claimed to see the Black Friar on the eve of his wedding in 1815, which he was later to describe as the most unhappy event of his life. The marriage ended after a year. A white lady is also said to haunt the property. It is said that she is the ghost of Sophia Hyett, a bookseller’s daughter, who was infatuated and obsessed with the dashing poet. Although Byron is not said to haunt the house, his beloved dog ‘Bosun’ is. Byron had his dog buried alongside site of the priory’s high altar, and wished to be buried next to Bosun when he himself died. But his wishes were ignored. Some say that this is why the ghost of Bosun wanders the priory looking for his master. NIGHTMARES/TERRORS Psychics believe that dreams are a way to gain access to the higher realms and often one of the quickest and easiest ways to begin communicating with your spirit guides, angels and higher self. Nightmares are a distinct type of dream distinguished from other dreams by their vividness and their frightening images and/or emotional content. Dream therapists believe that one reason for nightmares may be as a way for the unconscious to draw attention to a situation or problem that is being avoided or to show a person what is troubling them from within deeper levels. Discussing, analysing and understanding nightmares can often lead to a solution for some problem, internal conflict or personal difficulty. There is another school of thought that believes that nightmares, especially those that recur over and over again, may stem from unresolved past life issues. If the details of the nightmare reveal the dreamer as being the opposite sex or dressed in odd clothes or speaking some other language, and is not recognized as a situation within the dreamer’s experience, it may be a past-life memory that is begging to be remembered, healed and resolved. See Past-life therapy. NIRVANA State of ultimate bliss and enlightenment in Hinduism, Buddhism and the practice of Yoga which means the end of suffering and liberation from endless rebirth. The term comes from the Sanskrit word for ‘blowing out’, denoting the extinguishing of a fire and carrying the connotations of stilling, cooling and rest. When a soul has achieved nirvana, ego and self and the need for reincarnation have been obliterated; total peace has been found. NIXIES German water spirits that can haunt any large stretch of water. Legend states that nixies can change their appearance at will and can even become invisible. Their normal appearance is said to be a human body with a fish’s tail, not unlike mythological mermaids and mermen. According to tradition they are not interested in humans and do not generally bother them, but they do require one human sacrifice a year and if this is not given they will lure some unsuspecting soul into the water to be drowned. A common superstition attributed to this spirit classification was that any child born with an abnormally large head was the result of a nixie disguising itself as a human being to copulate with a human female. The origin of the belief in nixies is lost in the mists of time but may have evolved as a way to warn children away from the dangers of the water’s edge. NOSTRADAMUS [15-03–1566] Famous French clairvoyant whose prophecies have created controversy for centuries. Nostradamus made approximately one thousand predictions to the year 3797, which is the year he predicted the world would supposedly end. Among those predictions said to have come true are the French Revolution, the great fire of London, the rise of Hitler and the moon landing. Michel de Notredame was born on 14 December 1503 in St Rémy, France, the son of Jewish parents who had converted to Catholicism. This exposed him to the mysteries of the Kabbalah and the prophecies of the Old Testament. From an early age he began to experience visions, which he believed were a gift from God. Growing up he spent much of his time learning languages, mathematics, astronomy and astrology. In 1522 he was sent to the university at Montpellier to study medicine and become a physician. Later he began a private practice where he succeeded in treating plague victims in Montpellier and the surrounding areas. He possessed remarkable healing abilities and, despite criticism from his peers for not bleeding his patients (standard treatment at the time) and for using unorthodox methods, he soon became famous. In around 1534 Nostradamus married and began a family. Tragically, his life collapsed around him a few years later when the plague took the lives of his wife and two children and the Inquisition sought him for questioning. Nostradamus packed his bags and drifted through Italy and France for the next six years. According to legend his prophetic visions began to develop at this time. In 1554 Nostradamus eventually settled down in the town of Salon, France when he married his second wife, Anne Ponsart Gemelle, with whom he raised six children - three boys and three girls. It was during this time that he began his career as a prophet. Nostradamus described his prophetic visions as coming to him by ‘the subtle spirit of fire’. They were delivered in fragments by a disembodied voice, which he believed to be the divine presence. The method of divination he used was scrying, which he did alone every night in his study, gazing into a bowl of water set in a brass tripod. He began his divination by touching the tripod with a wand, dipping the wand into the water and then touching the tip to his robe. Although he did not understand all he heard, saw and felt he recorded everything. Famous fulfilled prophecies The death of Henry II of France in a jousting accident: The young lion will overcome the older one, On the field of combat in a single battle; He will pierce his eyes through a golden cage, Two wounds made one, then he dies a cruel death. (Century 1, Quatrain 35) In June 1559, Henry participated in a joust against the Comte de Montgomery. Both men used shields embossed with lions. Montgomery was six years younger than Henry. During the final bout, Montgomery’s lance shattered and sent large splinters through the king’s gilded visor (golden cage) injuring his eye and temple. Henry lingered for ten agonizing days before dying. The French Revolution: From the enslaved people, songs, chants and demands, The princes and lords are held captive in prisons: In the future by such headless idiots These will be taken as divine utterances. (Century 1, Quatrain 14) The French Revolution, which began when the Bastille was attacked on 14 July 1789, was defined by violence and the imprisonment and beheading of members of the aristocracy. Kennedy assassination(s): The ancient work will be accomplished, And from the roof evil ruin will fall on the great man: They will accuse an innocent, being dead, of the deed: The guilty one is hidden in the misty copse. (Century 6, Quatrain 37) The great man will be struck down in the day by a thunderbolt, The evil deed predicted by the bearer of a petition: According to the prediction another falls at night, Conflict in Reims, London, and pestilence in Tuscany. (Century 1, Quatrain 27) The Hister (Hitler) Quatrains - often regarded as the Holy Grail of Nostradamus prophecies: Beasts ferocious with hunger will cross the rivers, The greater part of the battlefield will be against Hister. Into a cage of iron will the great one be drawn, When the child of Germany observes nothing. (Century 2, Quatrain 24) In the year very not far from Venus, The two greatest ones of Asia and of Africa: They are said to have come from the Rhine and from Hister Cries, tears at Malta and the Ligurian sea-coast. (Century 4, Quatrain 68) Liberty will not be regained, It will be occupied by a black, proud, villainous and unjust man: When the matter of the Pontiff is opened, The republic of Venice will be vexed by Hister. (Century 5, Quatrain 29) The shocking and infamous armed one will fear the great furnace, First the chosen one, the captives not returning: The world’s lowest crime, the Angry Female Irale [Israel?] not at ease, Barb, Hister, Malta, and the Empty One does not return. (From Nostradamus’s Almanac of 1557) Aware of Inquisition disapproval, Nostradamus recorded the prophecies in an order that was not chronological and in rhymed quatrains written in a mixture of French, Greek, Provençal and Latin. He also disguised some words further with anagrams. The quatrains were arranged in groups of hundreds or centuries. In 1555, at the age of 52, his first collection of 100 quatrains was published as Les Prophéties de M. Michel Nostradamus. The book was a huge success in aristocratic circles and for the next few years he wrote a further ten centuries and enjoyed great fame and success. In 1564 Nostradamus was appointed Royal Physician to King Charles IX but his health began to decline with gout and dropsy. On 1 July 1566 he is said to have offered his final prediction to his priest. In response to the priest’s farewell of ‘Until tomorrow’, Nostradamus is said to have answered: ‘You will not find me alive at sunrise.’ Nostradamus died that night. His body was buried in a wall of the Church of the Cordeliers in Salon. In 1791 his grave was opened by superstitious French soldiers and his bones were reburied in the Church of St Laurent, Salon. Altogether there are over a thousand predictions. Only a very small number mention any specific date. Nostradamus claimed that he could have put dates to all of them but feared to do so lest he be accused of witchcraft and heresy. Scholars have puzzled over the predictions for centuries. Some are clear but the majority have a variety of interpretations. Not all the predictions have come true but among the events Nostradamus is thought to have foreseen are the Napoleonic Wars, the succession of British monarchs from Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II, the American Civil War, the rise and fall of Hitler, and the assassination of John F Kennedy. He also allegedly predicted air and space travel and the development of the atomic bomb. Some believe Nostradamus predicted the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, although many scholars are now convinced that these particular verses were manipulated to fit the context of 9/11. Nostradamus did predict three reigns of terror, created by what he described as the three Antichrists. Napoleon and Hitler are thought to be the first two. Interestingly, he predicted that the third King of Terror would be a Middle Eastern despot who, with the aid of the Soviet Union, would destroy New York City. This Antichrist was scheduled to appear in July 1990 heralding famines, drought, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions for 27 years, after which he would be defeated and killed. Following that a 1,000-year golden age of peace would follow. Sceptics argue that Nostradamus’s predictions are so ambiguous that they can be twisted around to mean just about anything, as was demonstrated by the socalled 9/11 predictions. To this day hot debate continues as to whether Nostradamus was a fraud or one of the world’s greatest visionaries. It’s worth pointing out that, although Nostradamus claimed to be able to predict the future, he also believed that it was possible to alter the course of the future through awareness and positive action. And if his prophecies concerning war and disaster have been interpreted accurately it is evident that humanity still has a long way to go before it can claim to be thinking in terms of the greater good. NUGGLE A relative of the kelpie, the nuggle is found in the Shetland Isles where it appears as a little phantom horse similar in size and appearance to a Shetland pony. The spirit is said to be very quick and a little mischievous. It enjoys luring unsuspecting humans into stretches of water, not to drown them but to play tricks on them. When the nuggle has had enough fun it is said to disappear in a flash of blue light. It has been suggested that these phantom horses are all that remains of a preChristian equestrian cult, but it’s likely that these or similar creatures, such as Nixies, that are said to inhabit the lakes, lochs, rivers, streams and seas of the world, are perhaps the mechanism peoples have used for centuries to keep their children away from the dangers of the water’s edge. NUMEROLOGY The use of numbers in magic and divination. Numerology is based on the concept that the universe is mathematically constructed and the vibrational energy of people, places and things can be expressed through numbers. By reducing names, birth dates and birthplaces to numbers a person’s personality and destiny can, allegedly, be determined. Although numerology probably has its origins in ancient Babylonia and among the early Hebrews, and many different numerology systems have been used in different parts of the world, numerology is often associated with the fifth-century BC Greek mathematician and philosopher, Pythagoras. Pythagoras believed there were mathematical connections between gods, men and numbers that could be codified, and if certain number patterns appeared they could be used to predict the fate of a person or future event. According to Pythagoras, numbers were the source of energy in the world and the numbers 1 to 9 represented the nine stages of life. He is quoted as saying, ‘The world is built upon the power of numbers.’ In numerological divination all numbers are reduced to a number between 1 and 9 and each number is also associated with a letter of the alphabet. Any number larger than 9 can be reduced to a single number by adding all the digits together; for example, the number 821 becomes 8 + 2 + 1 = 11; this can then be reduced to 1 + 1 = 2. The qualities of 821 are, therefore, equivalent to the symbolic number 2. Using the single digit as a guide, the patterns of different dates and a person’s name can then be analysed to define character and to predict the future. Briefly the numbers 1 to 9 represent: 1. Independent, creative, ambitious, extrovert. Downside: Can be selfish and have tunnel vision. 2. Sensitive, domestic, imaginative, musical. Downside: can be timid and gullible. 3. Scientific, powerful, seeker of knowledge, multitalented. Downside: Can be superficial and hedonistic. 4. Practical, stable, dependable, honest, trustworthy. Downside: Can be stubborn and overly serious. 5. Energetic, sensual, daring. 6. 7. 8. 9. Downside: Can find it hard to commit. Perfectionist, creative, compassionate. Downside: Can be supersensitive and over-emotional. Intellectual, philosophical, imaginative (psychic). Downside: Can be impractical, secretive and unapproachable. Materially successful, just, trustworthy. Downside: Can be opinionated, impatient and intolerant. Spiritual, humanitarian, healer. Downside: Can be self-serving, possessive and volatile. Divination by numbers In numerological divination all numbers correspond to the letters of the alphabet, as follows: 1 = A, J, S 2 = B, K, T 3 = C, L, U 4 = D, M, V 5 = E, N, W 6 = F, O, X 7 = G, P, Y 8 = H, Q,Z 9 = I, R Your name number describes your purpose in life - your mission and what you must do and how you must act to feel fulfilled. Your name carries an energy pattern and spells out to the universe your direction in life. In other words the numbers of your name indicate what you are destined for and the direction in which you will find happiness. Various formulas exist for name analysis. Adding up consonants reveals aspects of the personality. Adding up vowels reveals the heart’s desire. The number of times a letter is repeated indicates what karmic lessons need to be learned. Strictly all names should be used, including middle names, but most numerologists suggest using the names most often used, even nicknames, as these are the most influential. To find your name number refer to the letter and number table above. All the numbers are added together and reduced to a single digit; for example Ann Smith (1 + 5 + 5 + 1 + 4 + 9 + 2 + 8 = 35, 3 + 5 = 8) has a name number of 8. One’s full name given at birth is the expression of the vibrational energy of the universe, which determines one’s character and destiny. Changing one’s name can alter this somewhat, and many celebrities have done so with remarkable results but it may take several years for the vibrational patterns to readjust. Your life path number The sum of the day, month and year of birth tells the birth path or the general direction of one’s life. Write down the date of your birthday. For example if you were born on 6 April 1970 you write down each number and then simply add all the single digits together: 6 + 4 + 1 + 9 + 7 + 0 = 27. Reduce the total: 2 + 7 = 9. You now know that a person born on that date has a life path number of 9. Your power number The sum of one’s full name and birth date equals a power number, which, numerologists believe, acts like a light guiding one through life. Numerologists believe no number is better or worse than another. All the numbers have potential as well as a downside. The downside simply suggests challenges associated with a particular number and if these challenges are faced and overcome they can be a source of incredible strength. In numerology all numbers and words that figure in a person’s life can be added up and converted into numbers to reveal how they complement or challenge one’s life. It is thought that a person can improve their chances of happiness and success by understanding the numbers influencing different areas of their life. For example, the energy created by the number of a house will influence the experience of all those living and working there; a telephone number will attract certain situations; and the number of a person’s name and/or birthday will bring certain strengths and challenges. The start date of a new job, or business venture, the date set for a wedding - all can give crucial clues about possible pitfalls and potential outcomes. According to numerologists, numerology is a vital tool that can not only be used to predict future outcomes but, more importantly, can also be used to increase a person’s understanding of themselves, their purpose in life and the people they live and work with. NURIKABE In Japanese folklore on the Island of Kyushu, the nurikabe is said to be a ‘wall poltergeist’. It appears as a large, white wall, with pairs of small arms and legs, in front of people out walking late at night. If a person attempts to pass the wall it may fall and crush them and if attempts are made to run away or turn around the wall reappears in front. According to lore the only way to escape the phantom wall is to hit the bottom of it with a stick and it will vanish. The origin of the nurikabe legend is uncertain but it may have developed as a way to explaining delays caused when people got lost or went out walking for a long time without reaching their destination. O OAKLAND POLTERGEIST Poltergeist case that took place in Oakland, California in 1964 and involved the malfunctioning of an office telephone system and other equipment. The phenomena began in January 1964 when the telephone system at an Oakland court transcription firm started to experience unexplained problems. Phones would ring with no one on the other end and calls did not connect properly. The number of problems increased and by March business was being affected. Telephone repairmen could find nothing to explain the problem and eventually the firm had the phone system replaced. The office electric typewriters were next, with keys on several machines failing to work. The typewriter suppliers replaced the machines but the new machines also failed to work. It was only when the typewriters were relocated to another floor in the office that they worked fine. Just prior to the typewriters being moved other strange things happened. Telephones and ashtrays inexplicably fell on to the floor. Objects fell off shelves in cupboards. The firm notified the building manager, who witnessed several of the phenomena. Reporter James Hazelwood visited the office and kept a diary of events. Every few minutes in the hour he was there he would hear a sound and, on investigation, find something lying, usually broken, on the floor. Suspicion immediately fell on a 19-year-old employee, John O, who always seemed to be around when the disturbances occurred. However, even though he was closely watched he was never caught doing anything. Psychical researcher John Hastings believed that John was somehow connected with the phenomena through unconscious psychokinesis. Hastings discovered that John was under considerable stress because he was the newest and youngest employee at the firm. He suggested that John be allowed to work from home and, just as he predicted, the phenomena stopped. As soon as John returned to the office the phenomena started up again. The police, who were also investigating the case, took him in for questioning and he confessed to being responsible for everything. John admitted that he had pushed filing cabinets and telephones on to the floor and interfered with the phone system. His confession brought an end to the activity. Neither Hazelwood nor the firm’s employees believed John to be responsible for the phenomena by natural means and later he admitted to Hazelwood that he had felt pressured by the police to confess. But all, including John himself, believed he was in someway connected to the strange events that had occurred. OBJECT READING See Psychometry. OCCULT/OCCULTISM The word ‘occult’ means ‘secret’ or ‘hidden’, and is used to describe practices involving secret or hidden magical or mystical knowledge followed by initiates through the ages. It is also applied to mystical societies like the Rosicrucians and Freemasons. It is similar to the term ‘esotericism’, but esotericism suggests a theoretical knowledge, whereas occultism implies the idea of practice as well as study. OCEAN-BORN MARY Ocean-born Mary is alleged to be a six-foot tall ghost who dresses in white and has red hair and green eyes. She is said to appear in a house near Henniker, New Hampshire and is believed to be the ghost of a woman who once lived there. Mary Wilson was born at sea on 17 July 1720, soon after her parents had set sail from Ireland aboard a ship called the Wolf. As the ship approached Boston harbour, it was attacked by pirates, led by the ruthless Captain Don Pedro. Just as Captain Pedro was about to order his men to kill everyone on board a baby’s crying was heard. When he discovered that the baby had been born that very morning to Mrs James Wilson, the young wife of the captain, and was yet unnamed Captain Pedro promised to spare the life of everyone if he could name the baby Mary, after his mother. The Wilsons eagerly agreed, and Don Pedro honoured his promise. However, before his ship of sailed away, Don Pedro returned to the Wolf with a length of Chinese silk. He told the Wilsons that the fabric should one day be used for Mary’s wedding gown. And so it was, when Mary and Scotsman Thomas Wallace married, in Londonderry, New Hampshire, just before Christmas in 1742. Within 10 years Mary was the mother of four sons but became a widow soon after the birth of the last child. Don Pedro heard about the tragedy and began to visit Mary on a regular basis. He would often take her to watch his new house being built near Henniker in New Hampshire. When the house was completed he asked Mary to become his housekeeper; in turn he would support her and the boys. For the next ten years Mary and her children lived in a grand style. One night, Mary heard a curse from outside her window, and then a groan. Recognizing the voice of Don Pedro, she rushed to the garden and found him alone, dying with a pirate’s cutlass in his chest. Before he died, he told Mary where he’d hidden his gold, and asked her to bury him beneath the hearth in the home they’d shared so happily. Mary honoured Don Pedro’s wishes and lived a long and comfortable life, never leaving the Henniker home. After her death in 1814 at the age of 94 the house remained in the Wallace family’s hands for a hundred years. In 1916 it was bought by the Roy family. The Roys soon noticed that when the house or its occupants seemed in some kind of danger something would always happen to avert it. For example, a passer-by once stopped a group of boys from burning the house to the ground. And Louis Roy, the son of the first Roy family occupants, survived 17 near-fatal accidents while living in the house. In 1938 when a hurricane struck New England Louis attempted to drive out in the storm but found the road washed away. On returning home he saw the garage swaying and worked to prop it up. When he finally found shelter in the house his mother told him she had seen a tall lady in white helping him. Roy had, of course, seen nothing. Later on, the house was opened to the public, and visitors have often reported seeing Mary’s old rocking chair mysteriously sway backwards and forwards. She has also been seen walking down the staircase. Psychics have claimed to sense Mary’s presence near the hearth she tended carefully after it became the final resting spot of Don Pedro. Some believe the body of Pedro - who - allegedly may have been an English Lord who didn’t want his family to know about his pirate ways - is buried there. Two state troopers claimed to see Mary one night, crossing the road in front of her house. It is also said that every October she makes an appearance at midnight in a phantom coach. Even though he never saw her for himself, Louis Roy cherished the belief that Mary’s ghost visited the house and protected him from harm because he cared about the house as much as she had done. Subsequent owners have also reported feeling as if a power was watching over them and the house. In 1963, there were claims that a potentially damaging fire was suddenly and inexplicably put out. OCTAGON House in Washington DC that is now a museum. It is said to be haunted by numerous ghosts. The Octagon was built in the early 1800s for a Virginian plantation owner, Colonel John Tayloe. Designer Dr William Thornton, who also was the architect of the Capitol Building, gave the house three storeys, six sides and an unusual shape. Even though it has six sides it was still called the Octagon by the Tayloes. The Tayloes had 15 children and lived in the house until 1855. The first ghost alleged to haunt the house was the ghost of one of the Tayloes’ eight daughters. According to lore the Tayloe girls had a number of stormy love affairs that met with their father’s disapproval. One daughter is said to have fallen in love with a British officer and after an argument with her father about the affair took a candle and went upstairs. A cry was heard and the girl tumbled over the railing and down the stairwell to her death. It is not known if this was suicide or a terrible accident. Nonetheless some believe her restless spirit can still be seen carrying a candle upstairs. Another Tayloe daughter is also said to have met her doom on the staircase. She had run away with her lover and returned to ask her father’s forgiveness. When the two met on the stairs the angry Tayloe tried to move the girl aside to pass by her but she lost her footing and, like her sister, fell to her death. Her ghost is also said to haunt the staircase of the house. After Mrs Tayloe died in 1855 the house was sold and there were a number of different owners. Just before the Civil War a gambler was killed on the upper floor during a dispute over cheating. As he was shot it is said he reached for the bell pull. There have been reports of his ghost re-enacting his final moments. Towards the end of the nineteenth century a number of people reported seeing the ghost of First Lady Dolley Madison. The Madisons had moved into the house for a few years in 1814 when the presidential house was being reconstructed. Dolley was a sociable woman who loved the smell of lilac and hosting large parties. Her lilac-scented ghost has been seen dancing and smiling in the house. During the early to mid-twentieth century a number of other phenomena have been reported at the house, including phantom footsteps, moans, smells of phantom food cooking in the kitchen, ghostly shapes flitting through the garden and walking up and down the staircase and thumping within the walls. The wall thumping is attributed to a legend that during the war of 1812 a soldier killed his slave-girl lover and interred her body in a wall. Another legend says that during the Civil War the rear tunnels of the house (said at one time to have led to the White House which is nearby) formed part of an Underground Railroad for runaway slaves and housed wounded and dying Union Army soldiers. OCULOMANCY From Latin oculus, an eye, oculomancy is divination from a person’s eye. It was once said that a thief could be identified by ‘the turn of his eye’, when this was accompanied by a certain ritual, and that the ‘eyes are the window of the soul’. Generally, however, oculomancy is the act of gazing deep into someone’s eye and ‘seeing’ the future there. It could be said that the reflective surface of the eye is being used for scrying purposes. O’DONNELL, ELLIOTT [1872–1965] English ghost hunter and one of the most prolific authors on the subject of ghosts and hauntings of the early twentieth century. Although born in Bristol, England, O’Donnell was descended from an old Irish family and claimed that they were haunted by their own family banshee, which prompted his interest in the supernatural. He went on to become the author of more than 50 books on ghosts and related lore and also investigated numerous hauntings, claiming to have witnessed hundreds of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. He often lectured and made radio and television appearances in Britain and the United States. An enthusiastic collector of spirit photographs, O’Donnell became one of the first authors to include photographs of an allegedly paranormal nature in his works, which included countless stories and articles submitted to a wide variety of magazines and newspapers. His books include such titles as Some Haunted Houses in England and Wales (1908), Twenty Tears Experiences of a Ghost Hunter (1917), The Banshee (1928), Haunted Britain (1948), Dangerous Ghosts (1954) and many more. ODONTOMANCY From the ancient Greek odontos, ‘tooth’, odontomancy is divination by inspecting a person’s teeth. The seer will be guided by the colour, size, regularity and spacing, and whether or not any teeth are missing and, if so, which ones. ODOURS Psychics believe that unexplained odours are rare, but possible, manifestations of ghost or spirit energy. Sceptics claim they can be explained naturally but, according to psychics, unexplained odours may belong to a spirit who wants to make an individual aware of their presence in a subtle way. The kinds of odours detected are typically one of the following: Light or strong scents or odours without source. Smell of perfume. Smell of cooking. Smell of tobacco. Unidentified foul odours. Unidentified pleasant odours. Smell of familiar scents connected with a deceased family member or friend. Acrid smells or smells of decay. Smells associated with sickness. Scents associated with a person’s childhood. Some ghost hunters are convinced that ghosts can make their presence known by an odour. Certain haunting cases that have involved violent poltergeist activity have often included reports of foul odours or the smell of rotten flesh. Many hotels and inns associated with hauntings also tell of stories where guests have detected a certain perfume or cologne, and attributed it to the ghost of some long dead guest. Strange unaccountable odours are by no means proof positive of paranormal activity, but they could be an indication. OLD HAG See Hag. OLD SHUCK Phantom dog that is well known in the area of Norfolk and in other parts of East Anglia. The beast’s name derives from the Anglo-Saxon sceocca, meaning ‘Satan’. The shuck is said to be as large as a year-old calf, black in colour (hence the alternative name, Black Shuck), with enormous yellow eyes that glow eerily in the darkness. It is said that anyone who is unfortunate enough to meet this phantom canine is destined to die within a year of the encounter. OLOLYGMANCY Ancient method of divination by the interpreting the howling of dogs. Divination is by the pitch, length of howl and the distance from the observer. The Greek poet Theocritus (310-250 BC) wrote of a dog howling near a house, which foretold the death to come in the house: ‘Hark! The dogs are barking through the town. Hecate is at the crossways. Haste, clash the brazen cymbals.’ It is said that the clashing of the cymbals was to drown out the sound of the dog howling and by so doing rob the omen of its deadly power. OM A Sanskrit term, pronounced ‘aum’, which is the most well-known mantra in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism. Om is considered a mystical and powerful symbol because it is believed to be the origin of every sound in the universe. It is a symbol for absolute spiritual power and represents supreme consciousness. In Yoga, to meditate upon Om is to connect with the self. OMEN A sign, typically of a supernatural or psychic nature, that is thought to foretell future events. It can be interpreted in a positive or a negative way. Omens are often revealed through various forms of divination. Many omens are found in the natural world. The ancients would observe the behaviour of animals, the movements of the clouds during the day and the positions of the stars at night and draw conclusions. Natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and hurricanes were thought to be omens of divine discontent with humanity. The ancient Babylonians, Sumerians and Assyrians were especially interested in omens and almost everything that happened was taken as a sign of good or bad fortune. Omens could also be precognitive dreams and the appearance of banshees, spirits, ghosts, spectral animals, phantom ships and visions. The English Civil War, for example, was predicted by numerous people who claimed to have seen visions of armies battling in the sky. ONEIROMANCY Term used for the ability to see the future in dreams. The ancient Mesopotomians, Egyptians, Sumerians and Babylonians all believed in oneiromancy. In Egypt there was a ritual practice called incubation, where a priest or priestess would sleep in a temple for the purpose of receiving instruction through a dream. In ancient Greece and Rome dreams were thought to be tools by which the gods revealed the future, and to interpret these ‘sleep thoughts’ there were interpreters known as the oneirokritai. One of the books used in which the oneirokritai recorded their interpretations is the Oneirokritika of Artemidorus, produced sometime in the second century BC and still in existence today. Ancient Hebrew literature has a number of example of portentous dreams but perhaps the best known example of oneiromancy is found in Genesis 41: 14-36, when Joseph foretold of seven years of plenty coming to Egypt followed by seven years of famine. This interpretation was based on Pharaoh’s dream of seven fat cows being devoured by seven thin ones. In his Summa Theologiae (1266-73) St Thomas Aquinas stated that ‘divination by dreams is not unlawful [in the eyes of the church]. It is the experience of all men that a dream contains some indication of the future. Therefore it is vain to deny that dreams have efficacy in divination.’ There are plenty of well-documented examples throughout history of foreknowledge through dreams. Napoleon is said to have dreamed of his defeat at Waterloo before it occurred and Abraham Lincoln had many prophetic dreams, including one of his own death. Perhaps one of the most startling and more recent example of oneiromancy is the tragic case of Eryl Mai Jones from the Welsh Village of Aberfan, who had a dream on the night of 20 October 1966 that there would be no school the next day because ‘something black came down all over it’. But she went to school anyway, and shortly after nine o’clock that morning a half-million-ton mountain of coal waste, saturated by rain, slid down over the village burying houses and the entire school; 150 people, mostly school children died, including Eryl. Many other people all over the United Kingdom also reported similar dreams to Eryl. There were so many that a survey was done and at least 36 prophetic dreams were confirmed. As a result of this the British Premonitions Bureau and the New York Central Premonitions Registry (http://mainportals.com/precog.shtml) were formed. Another incredible example of oneiro-many occurred in Ohio in May 1979. David Booth, a 23-year-old office manager from Cincinnati, had a series of vivid recurring dreams about an aeroplane crash. In his dream he saw a three-engine American Airline jet roll over in the air and fall to the ground in an explosion. He became so concerned that he telephoned American Airlines and the Federal Aviation Authority. His concerns were noted but there was nothing they could do on the basis of a precognitive dream. Four days later on 26 May an American Airline DC 10, taking off from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, turned on its back and smashed to the ground killing 273 people. The previously contacted authorities were amazed at how accurate Booth’s prediction had been but admitted that under the circumstances there was nothing they could have done to prevent the accident. Shortly after the chilling attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York in 2001, a number of people came forward claiming to have had precognitive dreams about the tragedy. The number of people that came forward was so large that the American Society for Psychical Research launched a massive survey of dreams and premonitions about the 9/11 attacks (www.aspr.com/911survey.html). OPHIOMANCY Ophiomancy is divination by snakes and other reptiles. According to the ancient Egyptians to dream of a snake was considered lucky and suggested that a dispute would soon be resolved. However to the Greeks dreaming of a snake was a warning of impending sickness or enemies. To actually see a snake in Greece is to know that good fortune is coming, because the snake is thought to be a guardian spirit that looks after its own. The Etruscans would paint a serpent on the wall to keep away the evil eye and to bring good luck. ORACLE Oracles are thought to act as an intermediary between deities and supernatural beings and those seeking guidance or prophetic visions. Typically the priest or priestess who served as a mouthpiece of the deity would fall into a trance-like state and channel the wisdom of the gods, rather like a medium channels spirit communication. Throughout history cultures all over the world have referred to oracles for advice on the best course of action. In ancient Greece and Rome the mediums were sibyls or women priestesses, and one of the most famous oracles was at Delphi, where a priestess called the Pythia was the oracular medium. Today various state oracles can be found in monasteries throughout Tibet, and African witch doctors continue to use oracles to determine the cause of bad luck and poor health. Oracular practices were banned by the Christian Church and in the modern West the term oracle is not in common use. It could, however, be said that a modern-day priest is treated as an oracle when he or she is thought to have a superior line of communication to God. It could also be said that mediums who consult spirits, and certain divination methods, such as the I Ching and runes, which attempt to provide inspired answers to questions, also perform an oracular function. ORBS Form of energy of unknown origin that can’t be seen by the naked eye but which can be seen through infrared monitors and recorded on photographic film. They aren’t the same as ghost lights, which are visible. Orbs are not dust particles, static discharge, moisture or stray lights, and they are not strong enough to set off motion detectors. They seem to float and change direction at lightning speed. They react to people around them and appear both indoors and outdoors, and are particularly strong at haunted sites. According to modern ghost investigators orbs offer the strongest evidence for spirit activity. The Ghost Research Society has pioneered the investigation of orbs with high-tech night vision equipment and has recorded numerous cases. Orbs are not to be confused with arcs of light on the camera lens that often appear in photographs, especially those from a digital camera. These are caused by light bouncing back from reflective surfaces and light sources not visible to the eye. False orbs are typically pale blue or white, whereas genuine orbs appear dense and bright on film. For those who believe that at least some orbs are paranormal, there are many beliefs regarding their purpose and how they came to be: Orbs are a method for spirits to show people that they are there. How can you tell if an orb is paranormal? The word orb has been assigned by popular usage to the circular anomalies that are present on some photographs or videos. Orbs are typically spherical and of varying intensity and colour, although they are often white. Some orbs give the appearance of having been in rapid motion when caught by the camera, illustrated by a blurry effect travelling away from the orb. If you think you may have photographed or videoed an orb the first thing to do is to eliminate all natural possibilities. The appearance of orbs can be caused by dust, moisture and light reflection and refraction. If your photographs were taken in a clean, dust-free, moisture-free clean room, which also has all known causes of light reflection removed, it is impossible to eliminate completely the possibility of an orb having a supernatural explanation. If this is the case analyse the time before and after the orb was taken -were there any unusual circumstances? Did you or anyone else sense anything in the atmosphere? They are energy emitted by people andobjects, which the spirit uses for its ownenergy. They are viewing instruments for spirits notin the atmosphere. Orbs are the souls of spirits manifesting onearth as a ball of energy. Orbs are energy from past events that hasbeen held within the atmosphere of a place.The idea here is that the atmosphere recordsevents and the more energy dispersed in aplace—such as a violent murder—the moreenergy is absorbed and held in the form ofan orb. An alternative explanation for the existence of orbs, apart from the supernatural, has also been put forward and can be examined in more detail at www.orbstudy.com. The theory goes along the lines of orbs being natural energy structures that are a normal part of the physical world but have gone undetected until recently. The orb is an electrical object - a plasma - which for some reason holds together in a spherical shape, so is considered a stable plasma; something which physics cannot reproduce or explain. 2 See Knights Templars. ORGONE ENERGY A term used by Wilhelm Reich to refer to a universal life force associated with sexuality. Orgone energy is psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich’s name for the substratum from which all nature is created. It is the creative force in nature. As a psychoanalyst and student of Freud, Reich’s point of departure was Freud’s concept of libido. Libido is life energy, desire, the source of human striving. Reich developed the libido concept in his psychiatric work, concentrating on its physical expression and simultaneous psychological content, until he was able to show the relation of bodily attitude and emotion. In the 1930s, Reich claimed to have discovered a physical energy, which he called orgone, and which he said was contained in the atmosphere and in all living matter. He developed instruments - orgone accumulators and cloud busters - to detect and harness the energy, which, he said, could be used to treat illnesses like cancer. Reich was convinced that orgone was type of primordial cosmic energy, blue in colour, which he claimed was omnipresent and responsible for such things as weather, the colour of the sky, gravity, the formation of galaxies, and the biological expressions of emotion and sexuality. According to his theory, illness was primarily caused by depletion or blockages of the orgone energy within the body. He conducted clinical tests using the orgone accumulator on people suffering from a variety of illnesses. The patient would sit within the accumulator and absorb the ‘concentrated orgone energy’. The effects were claimed to boost the immune system and Reich was convinced that he had developed a groundbreaking theory of physical and mental health. Reich’s views were not accepted by the mainstream scientific community, and that remains the same today, but his influence continues to be strongly felt in body-oriented, emotion-based psychotherapy. ORINTHOMANCY Interpreting the flight, song and cries of birds was a common form of divination in ancient Greece and Rome. It was also practised in India, Africa, South America and New Guinea. Omens were inferred from the behaviour, appearance and song of birds. The Greek biographer Plutarch (AD 46-120) said that birds, by their quickness and intelligence and their alertness in acting upon every thought, are a ready instrument for the use of God, who can prompt their movements, their cries, their pauses and wind like flights, thus bidding some men check and others purse to the end, their course of action or ambitions. In Greece bird divination was based mainly on observing the actions of large, strong, solitary birds with an individual character, such as eagles, vultures, ravens, crows, hawks, herons, owls and woodpeckers. Of these the raven was the preferred choice of bird for many diviners. For successful divination it was important to know the correct species of bird. For example, if a raven cried out from behind you it meant difficulties lay ahead, but with a crow the same meaning came from hearing the bird in front of you. Along with knowing the correct species the actions of the bird had to be carefully observed. There were meanings given to the bird’s flight, its cry, its movements and so on. Numbers were also significant, as in the number of cries it made or the number of times it circled in the air. In all cultures special meanings have been associated with certain birds. For example, a dove was a favourable sign for lovers; an owl was considered unlucky in Rome, although in Greece it signified wisdom. In English folklore crows and single magpies were considered unlucky, although you could reverse this bad luck by saluting the auspicious bird. Sailors still believe an albatross to foretell storms and that harming an albatross brings bad luck. Modern-day ornithomancy is concerned more with the behaviour of birds before natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes. OSIS, KARLIS [1917–1997] Latvian-born parapsychologist who had a strong interest in survival after death at a time when it was a neglected area of research. Born in 1917 Osis emigrated to the United States in 1950. He settled in Tacoma, Washington and, because of his poor English, he began to try an ESP experiment with hens where he would will hens to go in a certain direction. The results were so successful that he sent them to J B Rhine at Duke University’s parapsychology laboratory and was soon invited to join the staff there studying ESP in animals. In 1957 Osis became the director of the Parapsychology Foundation in New York and elected its president in 1961. It was in New York, inspired by his own experience at the age of 15 of a deathbed vision, that he began the first of three famous surveys on deathbed apparitions. In 1962 he worked with the American Society for Psychical Research and broadened his survey to include cases from Northern India. Later he was to publish the international bestseller At the Hour of Death, which is based on more than 1,000 cases reports of deathbed apparitions. The book comes to the conclusion that the best possible explanation for the phenomena is the theory that something survives death. As well as survival after death, throughout his life Osis was also involved in the study of mediums, poltergeist cases and ESP. Despite his often controversial choice of subject matter, he was highly regarded and honoured by his fellow parapsychologists. OSTY, Eugene [1874–1938] French psychical researcher and physician and director for many years of the Institut Metapsychique International in Paris. Osty’s interest in the psychic world began in 1909 when a palmist impressed him greatly with the accuracy of her reading. His research on the subject led him to the conclusion that the palm served as a focal point for the clairvoyant mind. In 1919 Osty published The Meaning of Life and linked the mental evolution of human beings with their psychic abilities. In 1923 he published a book describing his theories concerning clairvoyance and human nature, called Supernormal Faculties in Man. While he was director at the Institut Osty began to study physical mediumship. He developed a technique of photography for use in séances using ultraviolet light and devised an infrared beam which if crossed would cause automatic cameras to take pictures. The aim was to catch any fraud in the act. When experiments with the medium Rudi Schneider showed that every time the beam was crossed the medium was hunched in his chair in deep trance, Osty came to the conclusion that some invisible emanation from the medium was causing the movement of objects from a distance. These 1930 experiments with Schneider, reported in Osty’s book Unknown Powers of Mind over Matter (1932), are still considered among the most important in psychical research. OTHERSIDE/OTHERWORLD Popular terms used to describe the concept of an afterlife or a place where spirits of the dead reside. See Survival after death. OUIJA BOARD A device used to seek out answers to questions about the past, present and future and messages from ghosts, spirits and other entities in spiritualism. The name is taken from the French (oui) and the German (ja) words for ‘yes’ and it is often thought to be one of the most controversial methods of spirit communication because in untrained hands it is believed to attract evil spirits. Various forms of this method of divination have been used for centuries. In ancient Greece and Rome a small table on wheels was used to point out answers to questions, while in China in 550 BC similar devices were used to communicate with the dead. In 1853 the planchette came into use in Europe. It consisted of a heart-shaped platform on three legs, one of which was a pencil, and the medium would move the device over the paper to spell out messages. The modern Ouija board, which is now marketed as a game, was invented by an American called Elijah J Bond, who sold it to William Fuld in 1892. Fuld founded the Southern Novelty Company in Maryland, which later became the Baltimore Talking Board Company. They called the Ouija board ‘Ouija, the Mystifying Oracle’. In 1966 Parker Brothers, the big toy manufacturers, bought the rights to the board and marketed it so effectively as a game that it sold more than their famous Monopoly game. The Ouija board itself is a flat smooth-surface board with the letters of the alphabet marked on it, the numbers one to ten and the words yes and no. During a séance or other session each participant places a finger on the pointer, called a planchette, and asks a question or for a message to be communicated. Although the fingers of the participants are on the planchette there is no conscious control of it and the planchette spells out the answer allegedly under the control of a spirit. In parapsychology the ouija board is believed to be a form of automatism: an unconscious activity that picks up information from the subconscious mind. Critics say that not only is the Ouija dangerous because it can attract evil entities but also because users have no control over repressed material that might be released during a session. Edgar Cayce described it as a ‘dangerous toy’ and Ouiju boards have been known to fly out of control as though being directed by some unseen force. Advocates of the Ouija believe it to be a powerful and effective way to make contact with the spirit world, to divine the future and obtain daily guidance. The Ouija has figured in many cases of mediumship. For example, on 8 July 1913 Pearl Curran, a St Louis homemaker, was persuaded by her friend Emily Hutchinson to try the Ouija board. She did so and the name Patience Worth came through. This turned out to be the beginning of an avalanche of information over a period of five years. Mrs Curran produced 2,500 poems, short stories and plays, and six full-length novels, all allegedly authored by Patience Worth, who claimed to be a seventeenth-century Englishwoman. The talking board The Parker Brothers’ recommended way of using the board is for two people to sit opposite each other with the board resting on their knees between them. The planchette should be in the centre of the board and both people should have their fingers lightly resting on it. One person should act as spokesperson and ask, Is anybody there?’ This should be repeated until the planchette begins to move, hopefully to the yes, and then back to the centre. It is also possible to work with the board with a number of people sitting around a table, as the more people there are the more energy is thought to be available to move the planchette. Also just one person can have success working alone with the Ouija board. Those who have used the Ouija board say that when the planchette moves it feels as it someone is pushing it. This can soon be discounted if the information given out is not known to anyone present and needs to be researched to prove authenticity, but if the information is known by one of the participants it is possible that someone may have been pushing the planchette consciously or unconsciously. Advocates claim that the spirits are making use of the participants’ muscles to produce the physical movement. Thought should be given to the phrasing of questions asked to make sure they are clear, and it is important that all letters that are pointed at by the planchette are recorded immediately. It is often difficult to make sense of the communication at first and words may run into one another or anagrams or codes may be used. In other words although some messages come through loud and clear it is often necessary to study any messages carefully to make sense of them. There are certain precautions that beginners must take. If you get a lot of negative messages - especially messages that ask you do things that harm yourself and/or others - then don’t do it and stop using the board. Don’t think the board is a supreme authority and has all the answers. It hasn’t. In other words use your head. The board is not an oracle and you shouldn’t go running to it to solve every single problem. However if you use it with common sense and with a relaxed and positive mind set you may find that some interesting insights can be obtained through it. OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE A phenomenon in which a person feels that they have stepped out of or have separated from their physical body and have the ability to travel to another location on earth or to non-worldly realms. Approximately one in four adults believe they have had an out-of-body experience (OBE) but despite this scientific evidence for OBEs remains inconclusive, prompting sceptics to argue that OBEs are nothing more than an altered state of consciousness. Descriptions of out-of-body experiences or the separation of the consciousness from the body (also known as astral travel or astral projection or exteriorization) have been recorded since ancient times and often show remarkable similarities. The ancient Egyptians described a ka. Plato believed the soul could leave the body and travel. Socrates and Pliny gave many descriptions of experiences that closely resemble OBEs. The ancient Chinese believed that an OBE could be achieved through meditation. The Tibetan Book of the Dead described a ‘Bardo body’, which is an etherical double of the physical body. Tribal shamans claim to be able to project themselves out of body and belief in doubles or doppelgängers, ghostly duplicates, is widespread. Common to most OBE experiences is the existence of a second body that is described as ghostly double of the physical body. It is usually invisible to the eyes of others, though it may be sensed or witnessed as an apparition. In some cases a silvery cord connecting the astral body to the physical body is reported and it is said that if this cord is severed death will occur. In this astral form OBE travellers report floating around the earth or to an astral plane and they say they travel as fast as the speed of thought and feel no pain or anxiety. Individuals claim that they leave their body through their head or that they simply rise up and float away. Return occurs by simply re-entering the head or melting into the body. It’s worth pointing out that even those who describe the experience as something fantastic that occurs during sleep are very specific in describing the experience as one which was clearly not a dream. Many stress a sense of feeling more awake than they did when they were normally awake. An OBE can occur when a person is awake or before, during and after sleep. It can also occur during times of stress, illness, trauma and fear and can be induced by hypnosis and meditation. The near-death experience typically involves some form of OBE when subjects report that they watched efforts to restore them to life while they lay close to death or were unconscious. Early research into OBE was conducted by Frenchman Yram (Louis Fohan, 1884-1917), who believed that everyone was capable of astral travel in a variety of guises and he recorded his observations in Practical Astral Travel. Fohan claimed to have made astral visits to a woman he later married, and to have experienced astral sex. American Sylvan Muldoon was another early researcher who investigated OBEs from 1915 to 1950. Muldoon, like Fohan, claimed to have experienced astral travel himself and collected his research in The Projection of ‘the Astral Body (1929). Between 1902 and 1938 Englishman Oliver Fox took research into OBEs one step further, when he claimed to have succeeded in inducing OBEs with lucid dreaming. He published his discoveries in 1920 in English Occult Review and later in a book, Astral Projection. Fellow Britain and OBE investigator, J H M Whiteman, claimed to have had thousands of OBEs, sometimes in the form of a woman or a child, between 1931 and 1953, which he described as mystical experiences and reported in The Mystical Life (1961). Robert A Monroe (1915-1995), former television executive of Westchester County New York, attracted widespread interest in OBEs from both the public and the scientific community when he published his account of OBEs in Journeys out of the Body (1971). His interest in OBEs had been triggered in 1958 when he began having spontaneous OBEs in his sleep. In his book he described the experience as follows: In 1958, without any apparent cause, I began to float out of my physical body. It was not voluntary; I was not attempting any mental feats. It was not during sleep, so I couldn’t dismiss it as simply a dream. I had full, conscious awareness of what was happening, which of course only made it worse. I assumed it was some sort of hallucination caused by something dangerous - a brain tumour, or impending mental illness. Or imminent death. It occurred usually when I would lie down or relax for rest or preparatory to sleep - not every time but several times weekly. I would float up a few feet above my body before I became aware of what was happening. Terrified, I would struggle through the air and back into my physical body. Try as I might, I could not prevent it from recurring. In Journeys out of the Body Monroe sets out an astonishing range of experiences, some of which were unpleasant and involved meeting entities or thought forms that attacked him. He also described an overwhelmingly powerful energy, meeting the astral forms of other humans and sexual experiences on the astral level. He outlines his belief that there are various levels of existence in the OBE state. Locale I is earth, the here and now. Locale II is the infinite astral plane, where everyone goes to sleep and where countless entities exist. Locale III transcends space and time and is a parallel universe. After that even higher realms, beyond our comprehension, may exist. Following the success of Journeys Monroe conducted research at his own laboratory in Richmond, Virginia - the Monroe Institute for Applied Sciences. He attempted to induce OBEs through sound by creating brain waves similar to the OBE state and in 1975 obtained a patent for Hemi-Sync, sound that harmonizes the left and right brain and encourages sleep while allowing the mind to stay alert and active. Using the Hemi-Sync he devised a programme called ‘Gateway Voyage’, which allegedly took people to Locale I and II levels of consciousness, where they would meet spirits of the dead and other entities. No one, apart from Monroe, could apparently reach Locale III. Triggering the out-of-body state In his book Journeys out of the Body Robert Monroe described a technique for triggering out-of-body states. Here is a brief description of this technique: 1. Lie down in a darkened room in a relaxing position. 2. Loosen your clothing and remove all jewellery. 3. Enter into a very relaxing state and consciously tell yourself that you will remember everything that happens to you. 4. Begin breathing through your half-open mouth. 5. Concentrate on an object. 6. When other images start to enter your mind, just passively watch them. 7. Try to clear your mind and observe your field of vision through your closed eyes. 8. Do nothing more for a while; simply look through your closed eyelids at the blackness in front of you. 9. After a while, you may notice patterns of light. 10. When these cease, a state of such relaxation will happen that you lose all awareness of the body. 11. You are almost in the state where your only source of stimulation will be your own thoughts. 12. It is this relaxed and refreshed condition where out-of-body journeys are triggered. 13. To leave your body, think of yourself getting lighter and of how nice it would be to float upwards. With sufficient practice Monroe claims that a wide variety of experiences can occur. Recent research on OBEs has been inconclusive due to the fact that experiences of OBEs do vary from individual to individual; surveys have speculated that a quarter of the population has had an OBE. Laboratory tests have been equally inconclusive, even with individuals who claim to be able to project themselves out of body at will. Tests with animals have been a little more promising with kittens showing a change in behaviour during out-of-body efforts to comfort them, but it is possible this was achieved through telepathy or clairvoyance. Those who believe that something leaves the body offer three explanations: a physical double leaves the body and travels the physical world; a non-physical double travels in the physical world; and a non-physical double travels in the astral world. All these explanations are problematic as they require the existence of unknown matter, energy or realms. Those who think nothing leaves the body suggest that OBEs are a combination of imagination and psi or a hallucinatory experience. These explanations are equally problematic as they assume that nothing survives death, a concept many people refuse to accept. Out-of-body experiences cannot be disproved, but there is no solid evidence that anyone has actually left their body. Many of those who have had the experience have given detailed observations they reportedly could not have made by any other means, but these have not yet been studied to the satisfaction of the scientific community. Strong advocates for the authenticity of OBEs say that attempts to prove anything are simply not necessary, because OBEs must simply be accepted for what they are: the departure of consciousness from the physical body, allowing a person to observe the world from a point of view that transcends the physical body and the physical sense. OVOMANCY Ovomancy is divination by eggs. It was a popular method of divination in ancient Greece and Rome. Also known as oomancy the word comes from the Latin for egg, ovum. A typical method was to break and egg and allow the inside to fall slowly into a glass of water. The shapes formed by the white of the egg were then interpreted. This was also a popular Victorian method of divination that was done at full moon, Halloween or New Year’s Eve. Divining was also done on the number of eggs laid by a chicken, how many were found and how many of them were together. According to the Roman biographer Suetonius, when Livia Drusilla (c.55 BC-AD 29), the mother of the future Emperor Tiberius, was pregnant she was anxious to divine the sex of the baby. She did this by taking a freshly laid chicken’s egg and carrying it in her bosom, to keep the temperature appropriate. When it hatched a chick with a beautiful cockscomb emerged; sure enough, a few months later Livia gave birth to a boy. P PAGAN, PAGANISM From the Latin paganus meaning ‘villager’ or ‘rustic dweller’, Pagan was once a derogatory term applied to those who did not profess Christian, Jewish or Islamic faith. The label has, however, since been voluntarily adopted by groups who hold the natural world, magical ritual and, particularly, the divine feminine principle through goddess traditions in reverence. Typically Pagans are pantheistic, which means they find divinity in everything. In many ways it could be said that Pagans worship nature as their magical practices are closely tied to the seasons and they share a belief that a universal life force resides in all things, be it mineral, vegetable, or animal. Sexuality and fertility are also celebrated in pagan rituals and way of life. There are numerous pagan traditions, but the six of the most common are witchcraft and Wicca, Druidry, shamanism, Celtic Spirituality (umbrella term for nature and goddess worship using the deities and practices of ancient Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall and Wales), Northern Paganism (pagan traditions based on the mythology of ancient Norse and Anglo-Saxon gods and goddess) and ecopagan-ism, also known as green spirituality. Each of these traditions places an emphasis on one or more elements over others but all pagan traditions hold in common the two key elements of paganism: ‘As above, so below’, and An it harm none, do what you will’. See also Neo-Paganism. PALATINE LIGHT Phantom ship that has often been reported off Block Island, near the east coast of America. According to one version of the story, the Palatine was a Dutch ship that left Holland in 1752 with a host of immigrants. The ship was travelling to Philadelphia but off the coast of New England it was damaged in a storm. The crew killed the captain, robbed the passengers and abandoned them, taking off in the lifeboats. The unmanned ship drifted towards Block Island, a place so dangerous for passing ships that a band of land pirates called the Block Island Wreckers made their fortune from salvaging wrecks. Curiously in the case of the Palatine, the pirates saved the lives of the passengers before plundering the ship. One woman, who had been driven insane by the trauma of the mutiny, refused to leave the ship even when it was set alight by the pirates. According to lore her screams could be heard as the flaming wreck drifted out to sea. In other versions of the story the pirates were not so merciful, but plundered the ship and set it alight with the living still on board. Yet another version claims that the captain and crew deliberately wrecked the ship so they could plunder it and rob the passengers. Whatever the fate of the Palatine, the Palatine light, as the phantom is called, was frequently reported in the late-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by inhabitants of Block Island. Many believed that the light had been sent by God to punish the wicked pirates who had murdered the passengers and that when the last of the pirates was dead the light would go out and be seen no more. The light has, however, refused to disappear and to this day Palatine light sightings continue to be reported. PALLADINO, EUSAPIA [185-4–1918] Famous, but controversial physical medium who was investigated by a large number of European, English and American scientists and researchers. Although she was found guilty of trickery on a number of occasions, she was also able to produce phenomena such as levitations and materializations. Eusapia Palladino was born in southern Italy on 21 January 1854. Her birth cost her mother’s life and soon after her father died. Thus orphaned, she was taken into the family of friends at Naples who had an interest in spiritualism. They soon detected that Eusapia was not an ordinary peasant girl when the table began to levitate at a séance with her present. Soon Eusapia began to sit as a medium demonstrating a range of powers, although she often said she was afraid of them and never knew what would happen next. A curious incident led to the identification of the dead pirate John King as Eusapia’s alleged control. One day an unknown woman came to visit Palladino at the house she was staying at, claiming to have received a message from King that there was a powerful medium living at that address, through whom he wished to communicate phenomena. After that King was a constant throughout Palladino’s career, announcing himself through raps as soon as she sat at a séance table. The first scientist who was impressed by Eusapia’s extraordinary ability was Neapolitan Professor Dr Ercole Chiaia. On 9 August 1888 Chiaia addressed an open letter to renowned psychiatrist Cesare Lombroso and challenged him to observe a special case, saying: The case I allude to is that of an invalid woman who belongs to the humblest class of society. She is nearly thirty years old and very ignorant; her appearance is neither fascinating nor endowed with the power which modern criminologists call irresistible; but when she wishes, be it by day or by night, she can divert a curious group for an hour or so with the most surprising phenomena. Either bound to a seat, or firmly held by the hands of the curious, she attracts to her the articles of furniture which surround her, lifts them up, holds them suspended in the air like Mahomet’s coffin, and makes them come down again with undulatory movements, as if they were obeying her will. She increases their height or lessens it according to her pleasure. She raps or taps upon the walls, the ceiling, the floor, with fine rhythm and cadence. In response to the requests of the spectators something like flashes of electricity shoot forth from her body, and envelop her or enwrap the spectators of these marvellous scenes. She draws upon cards that you hold out, everything that you want - figures, signatures, numbers, and sentences - by just stretching out her hand towards the indicated place … This woman rises in the air, no matter what bands tie her down. She seems to lie upon the empty air, as on a couch, contrary to all the laws of gravity; she plays on musical instruments - organs, bells, tambourines - as if they had been touched by her hands or moved by the breath of invisible gnomes. This woman at times can increase her stature by more than four inches … Her shoes are too small to fit these witch-feet of hers, and this particular circumstance gives rise to the suspicion of the intervention of mysterious power. It was not until two years later that Lombroso found time enough to visit Naples and attend a sitting with Eusapia. His first report states: Eusapia’s feet and hands were held by Professor Tamburini and by Lombroso. A handbell placed on a small table more than a yard distant from Eusapia sounded in the air above the heads of the sitters and then descended on the table, thence going two yards to a bed. While the bell was ringing we struck a match and saw the bell up in the air. A detailed account of Lombroso observations and reflections appeared in the Annales des Sciences Psychiques in 1892. He was so convinced of the reality of the physical phenomena produced by Eusapia that he arranged more tests by scientists in Milan, Naples and Rome. Although the scientists were impressed by the phenomena produced by Eusapia they and Lombroso could also not fail to notice her tendency to indulge in trickery if given the chance. Lombroso writes: Many are the crafty tricks she plays, both in the state of trance (unconsciously) and out of it - for example, freeing one of her two hands, held by the controllers, for the sake of moving objects near her; making touches; slowly lifting the legs of the table by means of one of her knees and one of her feet, and feigning to adjust her hair and then slyly pulling out one hair and putting it over the little balance tray of a letter-weigher in order to lower it. She was seen by Faifofer, before her séances, furtively gathering flowers in a garden, that she might feign them to be ‘apports’ by availing herself of the shrouding dark of the room. Similar observations were made by other investigators, and her penchant to cheat caused Eusapia no end of trouble in her later years. The sittings in Naples, which started Lombroso on his career as a psychical researcher, were followed by an investigation in Milan in 1892. Another investigation in 1894 was significant because it involved for the first time investigators from the Society for Psychical Research. The Society’s Sir Frederick Myers and Henry and Eleanor Sidgwick were present. The group was impressed and prepared a report for the Society’s proceedings. When the report was published it was criticized as leaving room for trickery, and as a result a series of sittings were arranged in Cambridge. The sittings proved to be a disaster when Eusapia was found to be adept at cheating. Palladino’s advocates fought against the Society for Psychical Research’s pronouncement of fraud. They claimed to have known all along that if given the chance Eusapia would cheat, and that if properly controlled she could still produce incredible effects. More studies followed and eventually in 1908 the Society commissioned three sceptical investigators to sit with Palladino in Naples: Mr W W Baggally a practical conjurer, Dr Hereward Carrington, an amateur conjurer whose book, The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism, was considered the standard authority on fraudulent performances, and the Hon. Everard Fielding, who had also brought many a fraudulent medium to grief. Much to the surprise of the investigators, at the end of the sittings the three admitted that the phenomena were genuine and inexplicable by fraud. Their report was published in the Society’s Proceedings in November 1909 and is thought to be among the most important documents in the literature of psychical research, compelling even a hardened sceptic like Frank Podmore, to say: Here, for the first time perhaps in the history of modern spiritualism, we seem to find the issue put fairly and squarely before us. It is difficult for any man who reads the Committee’s report to dismiss the whole business as mere vulgar cheating. In 1918, Eusapia Palladino, the overweight, almost illiterate and vulgar peasant from Naples, who thrilled, confounded and disappointed so many investigators, died. She was without doubt the medium who was more investigated than any other during this period, and whose feats continue to provoke controversy and heated debate. She helped establish the reality of what is today called macro PK and it is only fitting that the final words on the matter should be those of Everard Fielding, a sceptic until his encounter with Eusapia. After commenting on having to abandon his initial scepticism, Fielding declared: I have seen hands and heads come forth, that from behind the curtain of an empty cabinet. I have been seized by living fingers … I have seen this extraordinary woman sitting visible outside the curtain, held hand and foot by my colleagues, immobile. PALM SUNDAY CASE English case involving cross correspondences, mental mediumship and automatic writing that is important in the history of psychical research for its impressive evidence for survival after death. The Palm Sunday Case spanned more than thirty years and involved numerous mediums, spirit ‘communicators’ and psychical researchers. There seemed to be two motives for the phenomena. The first was an apparent effort on the part of one spirit communicator to make contact with a renowned English statesman and former lover. The second appeared to be a collective effort on the part of all the communicators to provide evidence of life after death. Although the case is impossible to prove scientifically, it is held up by psychical investigators as compelling evidence to support survival after death. The case is named from the death date of one of its communicators, Mary Catherine Lyttleton, who was born in 1850. In 1870 the young and beautiful Mary met Arthur James Balfour, first Earl of Balfour. Arthur fell in love with Mary instantly. It took a while for Mary to return his ardour but eventually she did and in 1875 Balfour announced his intention to marry Mary. Unfortunately, a few weeks after, Mary fell ill with typhus and died on Palm Sunday, 21 March 1875. Balfour was broken hearted and lost much of his joy in living. He never married and remained devoted to Mary’s memory until his own death in 1930. He became a firm believer in survival after death. The first communications came in 1901 when Margaret Verrall, a friend of Society for Psychical Research founding member, Frederick Myers, started to receive communications from Myers through automatic writing, full of obscure classical references. In 1903 automatic writing scripts allegedly from Myers also began to come through to Verrall’s daughter, Helen, and Alice Fleming, the sister of famous author Rudyard Kipling. In 1908 Winifred Tennant (later Willett) also began to receive scripts. All the scripts were, like those received by Verrall, laced with classical references. None of these mediums knew the story of Balfour and Lyttleton. The scripts were investigated by the Society for Psychical Research, who came to the conclusion that a group of discarnate entities must be producing the scripts. It seemed that the purpose of the messages was to reveal the post death identities of Lyttleton and Francis M Balfour, one of Arthur Balfour’s brothers who had been killed in the Alps in 1882. All the messages seemed to be directed at Arthur Balfour and it was only when he became involved in the investigation that the case began to change. In addition to Myers, Balfour and Lyttleton, other communicators allegedly included other Society founders, Henry Sidgwick and Edmund Gurney. In 1912 Mary Lyttleton began to communicate through Mrs Willett, whose mediumship had developed dramatically. It became obvious that the purpose of her communication was to reach Balfour and let him know that she had survived death and loved him in death as much as she had done in life. When told about the communication Balfour was unable to accept it at first but eventually he agreed to have sittings with Mrs Willett. During sessions with Mrs Willet in trance, the cryptic messages that had been delivered in the automatic scripts since 1901 started to make more sense and clearly relate to the Palm Sunday case. Over the years Balfour seemed to accept that his brother and former fiancée were communicating with him, and in the final years of his life the communications became a great source of comfort and inspiration to him. He died on 19 March 1930 and with his death the case closed. All those involved in the case firmly believed that they were communicating with spirits, as they claimed no knowledge of the material they received. However, since the material revealed was known to someone living somewhere the possibility of telepathy and clairvoyance should not be ruled out. Some of the material may have arisen from the minds of the mediums but the same cannot really be said about the similarities of the symbolisms and cryptic messages used by the communicators to deliver messages to a number of different mediums. Small wonder many psychical researchers believe that the scripts do offer possible evidence that discarnate entities were working together to gain the attention of the living. After the conclusion of the Palm Sunday case, interest waned in cross correspondences, and by the late 1930s they were no longer a major talking point among psychical researchers. They have not been the subject of much study since. The details of the Palm Sunday case were not released until 1960, long after the deaths of all of the participants. PALMISTRY Method of divination by the shape of the hands and fingers and the lines and mounds on the palms. Palmistry is one of the oldest forms of divination. The earliest palm prints come from the Stone Age, so from very early on people have considered hands to be of great importance. At some point in time people began to notice that every hand was different and from that discovery, palmistry -also known as cheiromancy or choromancy - was born. Palmistry is thought to have originated in ancient China around 3000 BC but evidence of the practice can also be found in ancient Indian scriptures. The ancient Egyptians were probably also students of the art and they may have passed it on to the Greeks. The famous Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote a book on palmistry for Alexander the Great and the basic principles outlined there have not altered much over the years. Palmistry spread to Europe in the early fourteenth century, but it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that it became one of the most popular fortune-telling methods. A palmist first looks at the shape of a person’s hand, as the shape is thought to reveal artistic or physical talents. The left hand is said to reveal destiny at birth; the right hand is a map of how to carry out that destiny successfully. If a person is left-handed the roles of the hands are reversed. The palmist then observes the lines and fleshy mounds, which are thought to have correspondences with the signs of the zodiac and indicate such things as health, life span, emotions, intelligence, love, luck, money, intuition, and so on. According to palmists life choices made can, to an extent, physically change the hands and the markings on the hands. Age and experience are recorded on the hands as the memory of life is written in them. The lines, mounds and other markings found on the palm of the hand all tell a story about a person’s life experiences. Taking the time to study the hands will help a person discover the quality of that journey, advantageous routes to take and warning signs for possible danger spots. Well-defined lines that are strong and clear signify positive qualities associated with that line, whereas broken weak lines indicate setbacks. As a person ages more lines will appear on a person’s hand, indicating whether potential has been fulfilled and what experiences a person has had. These lines can be read like a road map of a person’s life journey. The main horizontal lines in a person’s hand - the life line, the heart line, the head line - are the major highways, whereas the minor lines - marriage lines, health lines, travel lines and so on - are accessible only to those who wish to travel them. The thumb is thought to be like a set of traffic lights indicating which route a person is likely to follow, and fingers also signify a person’s ability or inability to cope with their destiny. Fingers and thumbs According to palmists fingers tell you how to use your talents and energies to their best advantage. For example, long-fingered people are thought to be creative and talented, whereas short-fingered people are thought to have initiative and discipline. In palmistry each finger is linked to the energy of a celestial body -Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun, Mercury. The first (Jupiter) finger: The index finger suggests to palmists your leadership qualities. A long Jupiter finger, in comparison to the third finger, represents a person who is independent and strong willed with good leadership ability. A short Jupiter finger, in comparison to the third finger, indicates a person’s lack of confidence in his or her own judgement. The second (Saturn) finger: This finger represents the logical, practical, materialistic things in life. It is often the longest on a person’s hand but if it is very long it may suggest a serious nature with great ability to concentrate and absorb study. If it is short you may lack responsible judgement at times. The finger should \ be straight, but if it leans towards theleft or right a lack of confidence may manifest itself. The third (Sun or Apollo) finger: The third finger represents the sun -growth, expansion, luck, fame and fortune. It should be about the same length as the first finger but if it is longer it indicates someone who is energetic, sociable and creative. A short Apollo finger indicates a nature that is self-motivated but sometimes selfish and insecure. The fourth (Mercury) finger: This finger relates to communication and the longer this finger is (typically it reaches to the first joint from the tip of the third finger) the better you are at communication. A straight Mercury finger is also a sign of honesty. When it is bent or twisted it could show a potential for dishonesty. Thumb: Many palmists believe that the thumb reveals most clearly a person’s personality. Thumbs contain a radial nerve that runs through the spinal column and is found in our brains and it is this radial nerve that gives us our reasoning abilities. In short, the larger the thumb the greater degree of success a person may enjoy in life. Well-developed mounds on the hand signify positive energy that comes from the planetary influences associated with the mound, while under-developed mounds seem to indicate a lack of opportunity to use these resources. Markings on the palm of the hand, such as crosses, stars, chains and dots, are all significant signs of good or bad fortune. If the lines and mounds on both hands appear identical a palmist would interpret this as the person not being able to change the course mapped out for them, but if the hands vary greatly this is a sign that a person has used their free will to change their destiny. Palmistry differs from a number of other forms of divination because it focuses both on predicting the future and on interpreting personality and character traits. Although often associated with the fairground there are indications that palmistry is starting to be taken seriously by scientists. Palmistry’s best-known twentieth century exponent, Count Louis Hamon, better known as Cheiro, was noted for the accuracy of his predictions. PARANORMAL From the Greek para meaning ‘next to’ or ‘beyond’ and nomos meaning ‘rule’, paranormal is the term used to describe events or phenomena that cannot be explained by rational and/or scientific means, or by the laws of nature, as currently understood by science. As a noun it is loosely interchangeable with the term psychical phenomena. PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION A professional association of parapsychologists that is affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Parapsychological Association is an international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of psi (psychic) experiences, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition. According to the Association’s website (www.parapsych.org): Such experiences seem to challenge contemporary conceptions of human nature and of the physical world. They appear to involve the transfer of information and the influence of physical systems independently of time and space, via mechanisms we cannot currently explain. The primary objective of the Parapsychological Association is to achieve a scientific understanding of these experiences. The Association was officially created in Durham, North Carolina, on 19 June 1957. Its formation was proposed by J B Rhine (Director of the Duke Parapyschology Laboratory) at a workshop in parapsychology that was held at Duke University. Rhine proposed that the group present form itself into the nucleus of an international professional society in parapsychology. PARAPSYCHOLOGY The scientific study of psi experiences relating specifically to the human mind, and normally encompassing the study of unusual mental phenomena such as telepathy, astral projection, out-of-body experiences and ESP. Para means ‘beyond’ in Greek, and parapsychological phenomena indicate the operation of factors currently unknown or unrecognized by orthodox science, popularly referred to as paranormal factors. Proponents of the existence of these phenomena usually consider them to be a product of unexplained mental abilities. Throughout its history parapsychology has met with a lot of resistance and scepticism by the scientific community. As a science it could be said to date back to the late nineteenth century with the formation of the Society for Psychical Research in London. Before the beginnings of parapsychology, paranormal phenomena in Western culture were typically associated with divine or malevolent forces. The ancient Greeks, for example, believed that precognitive dreams were messages from the gods. The Old Testament contains many references to paranormal phenomena including levitation, prophetic visions and apparitions but in the Middle Ages the Catholic Church declared all such phenomena diabolical unless associated with a holy person. In the eighteenth century Pope Benedict XIV investigated alleged miraculous and paranormal phenomena, and his conclusion that paranormal experiences are neither divine nor demonic but are linked to the capabilities of the person having the experience could be said to make him a very early parapsychological researcher (see Prospero Lambertini). Two other key figures in the eighteenth century were Emanuel Swedenborg, with his incredible clairvoyant visions, and Franz Anton Mesmer and his theory of mesmerism. The nineteenth century saw the rise of spiritualism and interest in mediumship and communication with the dead. In 1872 physicist Sir William Crookes conducted experiments on the famous medium D D Home and came to the conclusion that he had without doubt witnessed paranormal phenomena. Another physicist, Sir William Barrett, was not convinced and in 1876 started to experiment with hypnotized subjects and mediums. Barrett was devoted to the idea of forming an organization to study the paranormal and he realized this goal in 1882 with the founding of the Society for Psychical Research. The Society’s early years were spent investigating psychic phenomena, mediumship and survival after death. Members included highly educated researchers such as Sir Frederick Myers, Frank Podmore and Henry Sidgwick, who gathered an impressive amount of research that laid the foundation stone for future investigations of the paranormal. Their work also led to the foundation of the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR). Prior to 1930 psychical research was typically carried out outside the science laboratory. Mediums would be investigated under controlled conditions and evidence of spontaneous phenomena, such as ghosts, would revolve around eyewitness accounts and interviews. Then along came pioneer researcher J B Rhine and the era of controlled laboratory experiments and statistical evaluation began. Rhine’s objective while conducting ESP experiments at Duke University in North Carolina was to demonstrate scientifically that psychic ability was a natural faculty. Test subjects were not mediums but ordinary people, and experiments involved ESP tests such as guessing cards. The results were then evaluated statistically. In 1934 Rhine released the first of a series of impressive but controversial test results and interest in parapsychology was well and truly sparked. Rhine’s era lasted until 1965 and he is credited with adopting the term parapsychology from the German parapsychologie. (Prior to that parapsychology was referred to as psychical research.) He also coined the term ‘extrasensory perception’ (ESP) and much of the terminology still used in the field today dates back to Rhine’s research at Duke University. During the 1960s parapsychological interest shifted to the psychological processes involved in psi, and how psi is affected by factors such as altered states of consciousness, mood, personality, time and so on. Free response ESP tests were designed where individuals described whatever came to mind. One of the best examples of this is the dream work conducted at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, during the 1960s and 1970s under the direction of Montague Ullman and Stanley Krippner. Other significant research was carried out in remote viewing, clairvoyance and out-of-body experiences at the Stanford Research Institute in California. Interest in psychokinesis also revived with experiments on Uri Geller. In the 1970s some parapsychologists focused on applying psi to other fields, such as archaeology and criminology. As far as European parapsychological research is concerned, statistical research in the style of Rhine was conducted but never to the same extent as it was in the United States or Britain; most research was carried out on individual cases. In 1918 the Institut Metapsychique International was formed in Paris, and after World War II the first Chair of Parapsychology was founded at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. In 1953 the university hosted the first international conference on parapsychological studies. In recent years experimental research on psi has finally gained a foothold in Europe and some impressive research has been produced and published in the European Journal of Psychology. Psychical research societies have been established in Latin America, Japan and South America. Investigation of psi in Eastern Europe developed independently of the West with its own terminology, such as ‘bio communication’ or ‘psychotronics’ instead of parapsychology. Russian interest was sparked in 1871 when D D Home paid a visit, and by the late 1870s research was already being conducted into hypnosis and telepathy. During the Stalinist regime, however, psychical research was repressed, and little has been heard about it since. There were, however, unconfirmed reports before the death of the Soviet Union that the Soviets were more advanced compared to the West and were focusing their efforts on harnessing psychic power for military purposes. Today the veil of secrecy has lifted and films of Russian psychics at work can be seen on Western TV shows and documentaries. Despite Rhine’s remarkable efforts to gain academic acceptance for parapsychology, progress has been slow. Few universities have courses in parapsychology, although a select number do (see the Resources section). In 1969 the Parapsychological Association was finally admitted to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and in 1985 the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology was founded at the University of Edinburgh. Some researchers feel that psi has been proven scientifically but the great majority feel that evidence remains inadequate. The lack of progress can be attributed to a number of factors, including lack of research funds, lack of serious support from the scientific and academic communities and the frequent exposure of fraudulent practices, which has strained credibility and increased scepticism among scientists. Despite the lack of significant progress so far, a significant number of researchers believe that the twenty-first century will witness an explosion of interest in parapsychology and the science of unusual experience. They believe that one day it will be commonplace for individuals to develop and use their psychic abilities to enrich their lives. They also predict that advances in physics will prove that psi is, without doubt, a unique physical phenomenon common to everyone. PARAPSYCHOLOGY FOUNDATION Nonprofit, educational organization that was founded in New York in 1951 by medium Eileen Garrett to support ‘scientific and academic research about the psychical aspects of human nature’ (www.parapsychology.org). Claiming to be a worldwide forum supporting the scientific exploration of psychical phenomena, the Foundation awards research grants, sponsors parapsychology conferences and publishes the International Journal of Parapsychology and a series of informative and educational pamphlets. The Foundation also has an impressive collection of documents, photographs and videos and a library that is open to the public. When Garrett died in 1970 her daughter, Eileen Coly and then her granddaughter, Lisette Coly, took over responsibility for the Foundation. PARSLEY Since ancient times parsley has been associated with death and ghosts. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed parsley to be a herb that was sacred to the dead and it was placed on graves or made into funeral wreaths, and this association with death earned it a reputation for bad luck that it hasn’t been able to shake off. Even in fairly recent times it was considered unlucky to give parsley and there was a superstition that to transplant parsley would cause a death in the family. PAST-LIFE RECALL The remembering of alleged previous lives on earth. It is not known if the memories are actually of past lives or if they spring from the subconscious. Even though scientific investigation of past-life recall has been impressive enough to support a belief in the possibility of reincarnation, to date the evidence is insufficient to prove it conclusively. Other explanations of past-life recall suggest that the memories are not images of past lives but are produced by telepathy, spirit possession, inherited memory or cryptomnesia. Past-life recall can be induced by a number of methods such as hypnosis, meditation or rhythmic activity such as chanting, dancing or long distance running. Bodywork, such as acupuncture, has also been known to stimulate memories. According to ancient Eastern mysticism details of past lives can be awakened through yoga meditation. Past-life memories are also said to occur spontaneously, especially in young children. It is argued that children remember past lives more easily because the more mature a person is, the less open they become and the harder it is for pastlife memories to emerge. The majority of scientific research on past-life recall has focused on children, and one of the leading investigators in the field was Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia, Ian Stevenson. Stevenson began collecting cases in the 1960s and by the 1980s had a collection of over 2,000. He considered a case to be genuine when the details the child revealed accurately fitted a deceased person. Most of these cases came from the East where cultural acceptance of past-life recall is strong. The reason for the reduced number of Western cases could perhaps be that parents tend to dismiss possible cases as fantasies. A contemporary American parapsychologist and anthropologist, James Matlock, has identified four types of spontaneous past-life recall: Verbal – the recall of names. Imaged – when children recognize people and places. Behavioural – personality traits and talents. Physical – similarities in appearance to the deceased, such as birthmarks. These memories vary in intensity but certain common features do exist. In almost all documented cases the child was between two and five years old when he or she began talking about a past life. There is often unfinished business and a large number involve violent or sudden death. Birthmarks may exist where a death wound was inflicted or an unexplained phobia may relate to the manner of death. Some children talk about their experiences all the time, while others talk about it now and then. In some cases children say they can remember their past life because they did not eat the fruit of forgetfulness given to them by their spirit guides. Some people say they experience past-life recall through dreams, flashes of insight or a sense of déjà vu but the memories are often sketchy. Traumas of some kind - typically physical - have been known to stimulate alleged past-life memories. Hypnosis is perhaps the most common means of inducing past-life regression. In hypnotic regression an individual is placed in a trance and told to go back in time and describe what they see, hear, sense and feel. In numerous instances hypnotic recall has been proved unreliable but in some cases, such as the famous case of Bridey Murphy, regressions have defied rational explanation. In 1952 Morey Bernstein, an amateur hypnotist in Pueblo, California, regressed a 27-year-old housewife to the life of Bridey Murphy, who lived in County Cork, Ireland between 1798 and 1864. While under hypnosis in 1952, Virginia Tighe told Bernstein that over 100 years ago she was an Irish woman named Bridget Murphy, who was known as Bridey. During their sessions together, Bernstein was impressed with his conversations with Bridey, who spoke with a pronounced Irish accent and discussed details of her life in nineteenth-century Ireland. When Bernstein published his book about the case, The Search for Bridey Murphy, in 1956, it became famous around the world and sparked an excited interest in the possibility of reincarnation. Over six sessions, Virginia revealed many details about Bridey’s life, including her birth date in 1798, her childhood amid a Protestant family in the city of Cork, her marriage to Sean Brian Joseph McCarthy, and even her own death at the age of 60. As Bridey, she provided numerous details such as names, dates, places, events, shops and songs, but could these details be verified? Although Professor Stevenson could find no evidence of fraud the results of many investigations were mixed. Much of what Bridey said was consistent with the time and place, and it seemed inconceivable that someone who had never been to Ireland could provide so many details with such confidence. However, researchers could find no historical record of Bridey Murphy - not her birth, her family, her marriage, nor even her death - leaving the case an intriguing mystery. From the late 1960s to the late 1970s, American psychologist Helen Wambach conducted a 10-year investigation of 1,088 past lives recalled under hypnosis. She collected data on them all and concluded that genetic memory and an overactive imagination could not account for the patterns and correspondences that emerged in her data. For example, she found that 49.4 per cent of past lives were female and 50.6 per cent were male, which matched true biological balance. In the great majority of cases all descriptions of clothing, objects and attitudes were consistent with the time frame regressed to. Of those who reported experiencing death, around half claimed to have experienced calm and acceptance, 10 per cent said the experience was distressing and 20 per cent claimed to have watched their own past life death while floating above the body. PAST-LIFE THERAPY A technique often used by psychotherapists in which the causes of current psychological problems are linked to alleged past-life experiences. Past-life therapy (PLT) has allegedly been helpful for treating phobias, fears, aversions, cravings, guilt, sexual dysfunction, depression, insomnia, fatigue, headaches and other weaknesses of the body. Deep-rooted fears, such as fears of falling or burning, that psychotherapy alone can’t treat, can sometimes be successfully treated by PLT. It is said that the relief is achieved by the release of pent-up energy trapped in the past life. PLT is based on a belief in reincarnation and most therapists believe the memories reported are genuine, citing as evidence the fact that most memories reported are dreary and humdrum rather than glamorous and exiting. However some therapists acknowledge that reincarnation may not be the only explanation, and hold that fantasizing events can have the same therapeutic effect as real memories. PLT came to the fore in the 1960s following the acceptance of hypnosis as a clinical treatment by the American and British Medical Associations. Thanks to the pioneering theories of Freud and Jung hypnosis was being used to uncover deep-rooted pain and trauma from childhood, buried deep in the unconscious. Psychoanalyst Otto Rank (1884-1939) suggested going back further, to the time spent in the womb, and with the increasing use of hypnosis therapists began to discover that their patients regressed to what seemed like previous lives to address the source of a problem. The use of PLT as an alternative therapy led to the formation of the Association of Past Life Research and Therapy (APRT) in Riverside, California in 1980. In 1982 psychologist and past-life therapist Helen Wambach conducted a massive investigation of APRT therapists and their patients. According to her research almost all patients regressed to one or more past lives and many claimed to address past-life karmic ties with individuals and were able to release pent-up emotions, resulting in an improvement in present relationships. Twentyfive therapists reported regressing their patients to a past-life death: 72 per cent observed their death while floating over their bodies and 54 per cent saw a white light and moved towards it. Sixty per cent of patients who were experiencing physical problems before their regression reported relief of symptoms after it. Since the 1980s research on PLT has been patchy and in most cases the material produced during a session often cannot be proved. Despite this, most people who practise PLT today do not seem to require proof to notice an improvement in their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. They say it can shed light on present-life personal issues and relationships and can help to heal the wounds suffered in a past life. It can also change a person’s view of life, seeing it as part of a greater whole in which the soul is forever learning and striving for perfection. Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of PLT, however, is its apparent ability to take away the fear of death. PLT is sometimes used with terminally ill patients or people with an extreme fear of death to help them overcome their fears. Many clients claim that even though a past death may have been traumatic, death itself brings a feeling of freedom and relief. PAST LIVES See Reincarnation. PATHWORKING A type of visualization designed to expand consciousness for personal and spiritual development. The term pathworking derived from Kabbalistic practice and is very similar to guided imagery except that it has magical connotations. Through the use of a guide an individual is led into a semi-trance state during which they are asked to paint pictures in their mind using occult or archetypal symbols, typically from Tarot cards or the Kabbal- ah’s Tree of Life. At the end of the visualization the things experienced can be used to reject negative habits and replace them with positive habits. Pathworkings are not new. They were used in ancient Egypt and are believed to have formed an important part of Chaldean star magic. For centuries they remained in the hands of initiate occultists until the 1980s when a modern exponent of the practice, Dolores Ashcroft Nowicki, created a furore among occultists by bringing the method to a wider audience. Despite extreme disapproval from her peers she went into print and reached a wide audience with her book The Shining Paths, later reprinted as Highways of the Mind. PEAK EXPERIENCE A moment of intense and ecstatic feeling when body and mind are lost in bliss. Psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) coined the phrase to describe getting so totally absorbed in an experience or moment that an individual is lost in the present’, and experiences ‘detachment from time and space’. It often occurs in response to intense emotions such as love, or intense life experiences such as childbirth, and also occurs when communing with nature, listening to music or viewing great art or theatre. Physical exercise, meditation, religious experiences, mediumship or magical rituals and selfless behaviour can also trigger peak experiences. Maslow believed that peak experiences were within the reach of everyone and people who experienced them felt an increased sense of connection, confidence and happiness with the universe. Pathworking exercise Pathworking is generally more effective if it is led by a person or by a tape recording. (You can always make your own tape of a Pathworking you wish to follow, and then play it to yourself.) The following sample Pathworking is designed to reveal your inner self. It’s a simple but powerful exercise that should not be repeated more than twice a year. Make yourself comfortable and let go of any thoughts and preconceived notions you may have about pathworking. Let your mind drift until you find yourself in front of a large stately mansion. A wise old gardener tending the flowerbeds nods at you as you pass him on your way into the grand entrance hall. The hall is very large and every wall is full of doors of different shapes, colours and sizes. One of the doors appeals to you, so you go to it, open it and step inside a room. The room is dimly lit and you look around at its furnishing and decoration. You see a full-length mirror, and walk towards it, knowing it is magical. The surface of the mirror is misty and unclear. As you stand in front of it the mist slowly disappears and you examine the reflection before you, which is your true inner self revealed. After a few moments the mirror becomes misty again and you calmly leave the room, and the house. The sun is shining and the flowers in the garden are beautiful. As you pass the gardener he stops you and speaks to you. Listen to what he has to say as he has an important message for you. Thank him and say goodbye, then calmly, and in your own time, return back to our reality. Take your time to ponder the insights you gained. PEARLIN JEAN In the words of Scottish antiquarian, Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe (17811851), ‘Pearlin Jean was the most remarkable ghost in Scotland and my terror as a child.’ According to lore Pearlin Jean is a female ghost with head and shoulders covered in blood, which haunted the mansion of Allanbank at Edrom in Berwickshire. She was said to be the spirit of a beautiful seventeenth-century French girl named Jeanne who was scorned by her lover, Sir Robert Stuart of Allanbank and knocked over and killed by his carriage when he drove away from her pleading cries. As a result of her tragic death she returned to haunt Allanbank. Those who saw her would know it was Jean as she was dressed in the same pearlin lace she had always worn in life. PENDULUM A suspended weighted object, usually a crystal, used in dowsing and divination to locate lost people or items and answer questions. The pendulum is suspended from a fixed point and allowed to swing freely to and fro. In dowsing it acts like a pointer and in divination it is used to answer yes or no questions. The archaeologist T C Lethbridge believed that different lengths of string produced pendulums specifically tuned to various substances and emotional states. Map dowsing demonstrates one of the most curious uses of the pendulum. A pendulum is held over a map and its behaviour is thought to indicate the location of water sources, minerals and even ancient treasures. During World War II a Pendulum Institute was established in Berlin to determine the location of Allied shipping convoys by pendulum dowsing sea charts. A pendulum is also used in radiesthesia diagnosis to locate the source of illness in a person’s body. A pendulum is held above a chart on which is placed a patient’s blood sample and the movements of the pendulum are thought to determine the nature of the illness. Dowsing has its roots in ancient civilization. Its revival in the twentieth century has led to a refinement of the art, and while willow branches and metal rods are still popular tools for detecting underground water and mineral sources sometimes even buried treasure - the pendulum is often the tool of choice for modern dowsers, because it is attractive, portable and easy to use. Like the dowsing rod the pendulum is thought to work on the principle that every organism is encased in positive or negative energy and, just as radios pick up information from unseen radio waves, pendulum dowsers believe that pendulums are powerful antennae that receive information from the vibrations and energy waves emitted by people, places, thoughts and things. The process by which this takes place is unknown but users claim to be able to ‘tune in’, perhaps using psi, to the energy of what is being sought or requested. As far as pendulum divination is concerned, some say that the pendulum connects them with a higher power. A few pendulum users also claim the ability to communicate with astral entities by way of the pendulum. In this process, the pendulum user questions the spirits present in much the same way as one might question an Ouija board. Yes and no answers are indicated by the swing of the pendulum, and other patterns of communication can seemingly be established with individual entities. Others believe that the pendulum creates a bridge between the logical and intuitive parts of the mind and the basis of using a pendulum for divination purposes can be explained by ideomotor effect. This is when thoughts or ideas are automatically translated into specific patterns of muscular activity. The pendulum works by measuring ideomotor response when a question is asked. In many ways it could be said to work on the same principle as a lie detector. The involuntary muscular response is translated as answers by the direction of pendulum movement. This process bypasses the conscious mind or ego and allows direct access to intuitive information from the unconscious. The pendulum therefore has no power of its own, as it is a person’s thoughts and muscle responses that bring about the pendulum’s motions. Pendulum power Pendulums can be particularly helpful if you have a question that requires a simple yes or no answer. You may want to buy a pendulum but you can also make your own. Tie a thin white or red natural string to a golden ring, a needle, a crystal tip, acorn, hazel nut or herb bundle. Hazel nuts make particularly good pendulums, as they are associated with wisdom, occult knowledge and dowsing. To make a herbal pendulum, tie a string tightly around one end of a herb bundle. In all pendulums made with string, leave enough string so that, when held at one end, the pendulum can dangle freely from the other. Before using your pendulum you must charge it. Hold the string in your hand between the thumb and first finger with your elbow slightly bent at your side and let the string hang down. It is important to let the natural vibrations of your body move the pendulum. The pendulum works like muscle-testing or kinesiology: your unconscious knows what you need to know. The pendulum will show you the answer by picking up and amplifying the subtle vibrations from your subconscious, causing the pendulum to swing. Tell your pendulum which direction will indicate Yes. It can be clockwise or counter-clockwise or a straight line -either horizontal or vertical. You decide. Then tell the pendulum to indicate No. This time tell it to move in another direction. After you’ve charged it, ask it to show you Yes and see if it moves as you had directed it. Do the same for No. The pendulum can provide a good second opinion. Remember, it draws its strength from your energy so it should not be touched by others who might impart their vibrations into the pendulum and thereby reduce its reliability. Keep the pendulum with you as much as possible during the first few weeks to have it absorb your own energies. Ask the pendulum simple questions that will help build your trust in the answers. The pendulum will learn to resonate with you, within your own energy field. Your pendulum will answer any question with either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, so it is important to ask your questions correctly. For example, ‘Will I pass my driving test?’ is a good question as the answer will either be a yes or a no. A poor question is ‘Will I pass or fail my driving test?’ This does not give the choice of a yes or no answer. You can hold your pendulum over any object to determine a range of answers. For example, hold the pendulum over food to determine if it is suitable for you to eat. If you need to determine a date to do something, you can use your pendulum over a calendar. Hold the pendulum over each date of the month, waiting until the pendulum registers an answer. The more you use your pendulum the more likely it is that the answers will become almost instant. It’s not precisely known how pendulum dowsing and/or divination works, and scientists remain sceptical; but despite this pendulums continue to be universally popular and, according to those who use them, uncannily accurate. PENTACLE/PENTAGRAM The five pointed star, and an important symbol in magic. In white magic it represents the five elements of earth, air, fire, water and ether. The pentagram or star is a symbol of power and protection; when it is placed on a disc or a circle is drawn on the outside it is called a pentacle. If the pentagram is inverted it suggests the practitioner is involved in black magic. Upright pentacles and pentagrams have been used throughout history by many cultures and religions of the world: by ancient Pagans, ancient Israelites, Christians, magicians, Wiccans and others. This symbol apparently originated as the symbol of a goddess called Kore, the divine maiden, who was worshiped in ancient Egypt and Greece. Kore’s sacred fruit was the apple. When an apple is cut through its equator, both halves will reveal a near-perfect pentagram shape at the core, with each point on the star containing a seed. Many Wiccans continue to cut apples in this way. In ancient Greece, Pythagoras (c.580-500 BC) established a school to pursue knowledge in mathematics, music, religion and other specialties. Driven underground, his followers used the pentagram as a secret sign to identify themselves to each other. Today many religious and spiritual groups continue to use the pentacle or pentagram as a symbol of unity, community, power and protection. PERCIPIENT A person who receives impressions in an extrasensory perception ESP test. PERFUME GHOSTS Some researchers hold that certain ghosts are sensed only as ‘phantom scents’, i.e. they often appear in the form of a phantom scent in the air. There have been numerous reports of people who have suddenly become conscious of a smell they can instantly identify with people who have died. Perhaps the most famous historical instance of a ghostly scent was given by John Aubrey, in his Miscellanies (1696): Anno 1670, not far from Cirencester, was an apparition. Being demanded whether a good spirit or bad, it returned no answer, but disappeared with a curious Perfume and most melodious Twang.’ PERIWINKLE In folklore, this trailing evergreen plant, which blooms in five-petaled purple or white flowers, is thought to have powers associated with ghosts and witches. It was traditionally grown on graves or used in garlands for the dead. In France it is called violette des sor-ciers (‘violet of the sorcerers’) and if hung over doorways is believed to ward off evil spirits. In Welsh folklore if a periwinkle is plucked off a grave it is said that one will be haunted by the dead for a year. In magical tradition, periwinkle is considered a powerful herb that should be gathered according to strict procedures before it is of any efficacy in magic. It should be gathered when one is ‘clean of every uncleanness’, and when the moon is one night old, nine nights old, eleven nights old or thirteen nights old. After gathering the plant can be carried to obtain grace, to attract money, and to protect against snakes, poison, wild beasts, terror, the evil eye and spirits. Periwinkle is also thought to increase passion when carried or sprinkled under the bed. PERKS, Thomas [1680–1703] The story of Thomas Perks, who attempted to raise spirits from the dead and in the process drove himself mad, has been repeatedly cited as a warning to all those who attempt to control the spirits of the dead. Perks, a gunsmith who lived in Man-gotsfield, near Bristol, became fascinated by the supernatural. He acquired an old book of magic spells and discovered a spell that gave instructions for raising ghosts. One night in 1703 he drew a ritual circle at a crossroads and, according to Lionel A Weatherby in The Supernatural (1891), ‘the spirits appeared faster than he desired, and in most dismal shapes, hissing at him and attempting to throw spears and balls of fire, which did very much affright him and the more so that he found it was not in his power to lay them, insomuch that his hair stood upright and he expected every minute to be torn to pieces.’ According to Weatherby these spirits trapped Perks in his circle until daybreak and ‘he never recovered from the shock and pined away and died.’ PETERHOUSE COLLEGE The oldest college in Cambridge, England, dating back to the thirteenth century, which was the site of a much publicized haunting. One night in April 1997 a white hooded figure floating outside the combination (or common) room was allegedly seen by two members of pantry staff who were fetching food for an official dinner upstairs. The college dean was informed and other staff members came forward reporting strange knockings and sudden drops in temperature. In November 1997 the apparition appeared again to members of staff. The college dean was present and although he did not see a ghost he heard the strange knocking. It was noticed that the ghost disappeared through a window that had originally been a door until 1870. A month later the apparition put in another appearance in the combination room, this time to the college bursar. The bursar described hearing a knocking sound and feeling a cold presence behind him, before seeing a small man in a wide-brimmed hat wearing a jacket. The haunting attracted media interest and in April 1999 an exorcism was performed, despite opposition from those who said the ghost was doing no harm. The ghost was not seen again and was never identified, although it was suggested that it could have been the ghost of former college bursar Frederick Dawes, who committed suicide in 1789 by hanging himself in the stair turret next to the combination room. PHALLOMANCY The science and divinatory art of judging a man’s character and lovemaking style by the shape of his penis. Forms of phallomancy have been practised for centuries in China, India and other cultures. In Tibetan and Hindu tradition it is considered unlucky for a man to be over-endowed and a large penis brings problems in all areas of life. The ideal husband should have a penis no longer than the width of six fingers. Divining by the penis starts with the flaccid, not erect, penis. Taking its natural length first, if less than three inches it is classed as short; longer than three inches is long. A long penis is considered to be the mark of an extrovert and innovator. (According to the Hindu tradition, a very long penis means the man will be poor and have no sons.) A short penis denotes a romantic and a dreamer. (Hindus believe that a small penis foretells of riches to come.) A thick penis is considered a sign of energy and determination. A thin penis indicates a sensitive, poetic lover. If the penis curves to the left, in matters of love and sex the man is a taker, not a giver. If, however, it curves to the right he is a giver in love and sex. Thick bushy pubic hair indicates a strong and physical lover. Thin sparse pubic hair indicates someone with refined sexual tastes and a libido that fluctuates according to the level of self-confidence. PHANTASM Archaic term for an apparition. PHANTASMAGORIA A ghost-making machine that was a popular form of entertainment in the closing years of the eighteenth century and through into much of the nineteenth. Since the fifteenth century the principle of using an apparatus like a magic lantern to project ghostly figures before an audience had been known, but it was Belgian optician in the 1790s, E G Robertson, who is credited with developing ghost illusions that were both convincing and popular. As one reporter wrote in 1798, ‘Go to Robertson’s exhibition and you will see the dead returning to life in the crowds. Robertson calls forth phantoms and commands legions of spectres.’ The phantasmagorias were so convincing that once the techniques were understood by fraudulent mediums they were put to use all over Europe to raise the ‘spirits of the dead’. It took a concerted effort by the authorities and psychical researchers to prove trickery and to wean a gullible public away from them. PHANTOM Something apparently seen, heard or sensed but having no physical reality. Alternative term for an apparition, ghost or spectre. PHANTOM ARMIES Places of violence, trauma and tragedy are often associated with haunting phenomena and because of the terrible carnage that typically occurs during battle it is no surprise that phantom armies have been reported throughout history in many different cultures. The earliest reports of phantom soldiers date back to the ancient Assyrians, when ghostly warriors were said to have made attacks on desert cities, and it is said that on certain nights of the year armoured knights from the time of King Arthur can be heard at Glastonbury. There have been continuing reports of men in Civil War uniform (both English and American) and that both World Wars have produced a large number of phantom army stories. Perhaps the most recent sighting occurred in 1971 when a group of American soldiers in Vietnam were mystified by the footsteps of a ghostly platoon close behind them. See also Battlefield hauntings. PHANTOM BELLS The ringing of phantom bells that once tolled in churches now submerged in the sea is a commonly recorded phenomenon all over the world. For example, many people living near Dunwich, a city that was once prosperous but is now submerged off the Suffolk coast in England, report hearing bells when stormy weather is due and at Christmas time. The people always check after hearing the bells to make sure no church bell is ringing on land, and they say that the real proof that the tolling comes from a phantom bell is that there is always a note missing. There have also been instances when families have claimed to be haunted by phantom bells ringing shortly before a person in the family is about to die. These sounds cannot be traced to any source in the house or from church bells nearby. One of the most famous instances of a family haunted by a bell sound whose source could not be traced is the appropriately named Pine-Coffin family from Portledge in North Devon, whose story is related in Apparitions: A Narrative of Facts by Revd B W Saville (1905). PHANTOM BIRDS There are a number of examples of phantom birds appearing at a person’s bedside when they are close to death. A good description of this appears in a seventeenth-century pamphlet entitled: A True Relation of an Apparition in the likeness of bird with a white breast that appeared hovering over the death bed of the some of the children of Mr James Oxenham of Orehampton in Devon. The pamphlet goes on to describe the phantom bird, which had been reported as appearing for over a hundred years whenever a member of the Oxenham family was close to death. PHANTOM COACH A phantom coach that, according to lore, comes to collect the dying and is also used by the dead as a means of late night transport. It is either a coach or a hearse but it is always black and the driver and horses are typically headless. The coach never makes a sound and travels at lightning speed. If anyone sees the coach it is thought to be a death omen. According to an anonymous writer in 1847 in the Athenaeum: The spectral appearance often presents itself in the shape of a great black coach, on which sit hundreds of spirits singing a wonderfully sweet song. Before it goes a man who loudly warns everybody to get out of the way. All who hear him must instantly drop down with their faces to the ground as at the coming of the wild hunt, an hold fast by something, were it only a blade of grass; for the furious host have been known to force many a man into its coach [and] can carry him hundreds of miles away through the air. Although the motor car has long since replaced the coach and horses, phantom coaches are still being reported in parts of rural England, France and Germany. A famous example is the phantom coach of Francis Drake, which from time to time is allegedly seen driving across Dartmoor, on starless nights, followed by a pack of baying hounds. PHANTOM HEADS There are many cases of hauntings of floating heads in both Europe and America. One of the best accounts was reported in 1891 and comes from Oakville near San Francisco. According to the San Francisco Examiner a family with the name of Washington was haunted by a phantom head that first appeared as a phantom light and gradually developed into a head with long, grey, matted hair and bloodstains on its forehead. The head is said to have floated about six inches above the floor and if anyone came close to it they felt the sensation of icy fingers choking their throat. Such was the terror the head caused that the Washingtons moved out and requested that the house be destroyed. Remarkably a headless skeleton was discovered when the house was being pulled down, and according to local rumour the mystery was solved. PHANTOM HITCHHIKER Also known as the vanishing hitchhiker, the legend of the phantom hitchhiker is popular and widespread all over the world. It appears in Europe and in Asia but is especially popular in the United States, perhaps due to the accessibility of automobile travel and the romance of the open road. There are literally hundreds of different versions of the legend, many with sexual undertones and a woman-in-distress motif, and the story continues to be reported to this day. Typically the phantom hitchhiker is a girl in a distressed state. She often stands by the side of a stretch of lonely road in the middle of the night, or she suddenly looms up in the headlights. She is often dressed in white. The driver, who is usually a man, stops and asks her where she is going and it is always in the same direction as him. He offers to give her a lift and when she gets inside he notices how beautiful she is. As they drive on she rarely says a word. When the driver reaches the address she has given him he turns around and she has vanished, although the seat she sat on may be wet and she may have left something -an object like a scarf, a pin or a book -behind. The man knocks at the door of the house and is usually answered by a woman. The driver explains what has happened and is told it has happened before - the girl or woman is her daughter who was killed some time ago and the night is the anniversary of her death. The girl was either murdered or killed in an accident at the spot where the driver picked her up. The driver is shown a photo of the girl and it is the same girl he picked up, wearing the same clothes. Later the driver may visit her grave, and if he gave her his coat to keep her warm it may be draped across the grave. In some cases the phantom hitchhiker may pick up travelling companions at other locations such as a nightclub. Again she is driven home or walked home but this time the man sees the woman step inside the house. When he decides to visit her later he is shocked to hear that the young woman died several years ago. PHANTOM MONKS AND NUNS The ghosts of monks and nuns and other religious persons that haunt religious sites and locations, such as churches and cathedrals or buildings built on the site of former religious institutions. They can appear alone or in groups and are often heard chanting and singing. Some of these ghosts are thought to have suffered violent deaths for their religion while others are said to simply want to remain at places they love in spirit. The ghost of an abbess is said to haunt Holy Trinity Church in York. According to lore the abbess was killed when she defied soldiers who came to destroy the priory during the Reformation by saying they could enter only over her dead body. They killed her, and as she lay dying she promised to haunt the site. Perhaps the most famous location for reports of phantom monks is St James Sag Church in Chicago. The church was built in 1833 and a church, a rectory and a cemetery can be found in its grounds. Even though no monastery existed there phantom monks are still said to appear. One of the most recent sightings took place in November 1977. A Cook County policeman was driving by the church’s cemetery at around 2.30 am when he saw a group of hooded figures walking inside the gate. He called out to them that they were trespassing but they paid no attention to him. The officer tried to follow them but when he reached the top of the hill the monks had vanished. Numerous phantom monk hauntings have been reported in Britain. For instance, the ghost known as the Black Canon, because he is always dressed in a black cassock, cloak and hat, is said to haunt Bolton Priory near Skipton in Yorkshire. The cathedral at Canterbury is said to be haunted by a mysterious hooded monk who appears in the cloisters at night. Two phantom monks have been reported at Chingle Hall, a thirteenth-century house near Preston. Mowbreck House, near Kirkham, is believed to be haunted by a priest who was arrested for his faith in London in 1583 and later hanged, drawn and quartered. At Smithills Hall near Bolton, the Revd George Marsh, Protestant vicar of Deane was accused of heresy in the reign of Catholic Queen Mary. According to lore, during the investigation Marsh stamped his foot on the flagstone floor. He was later burned at the stake but his footprint can still be seen and is said to become wet and red once a year. Sometimes phantom monks allegedly speak to visitors. At Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, a local rector who was writing a book about St Edmund was told by a phantom monk that the saint’s body had been removed from its tomb and safely buried elsewhere in the church. PHANTOM SHIPS Legends and stories of ghostly ships appear in the folklore of France, Germany, Demark, Ireland, England, Scotland, Canada, America and even China, while earlier tales appear in Hindu, Norse and Russian legends. Ghost ships continue to be reported to this day, especially off the Atlantic coast. They often appear at the scene of the disaster and re-enact their final moments. The Flying Dutchman and the Mary Celeste are perhaps the best-known examples of phantom ships that are said to sail the oceans of the world and haunt the coasts of many nations, but there are numerous other less well-known stories. The SS Violet, a paddle steamer that ran aground crossing the English Channel in a snowstorm over 100 years ago, was witnessed at the start of World War II by a lookout at the East Goodwin lighthouse. A lifeboat was sent out to investigate but nothing was found. In American lore the ghost ship of the notorious pirate Captain Kidd is said to sail up and down the New England coast looking for treasure, but the Great Lakes are believed to be the most haunted waters of America. The Great Lakes are dangerous to navigate and have claimed many lives during violent storms. One of the most famous phantom ships of the Great Lakes is the Griffon. On 7 August 1679 the Griffon, one of the largest ships to sail the lakes in her day, commenced her maiden voyage. At Detroit Harbor at Washington Island the Griffon was loaded with a fur cargo before setting out to return to Niagara on 18 September. After that no one knows what happened to the ship. According to lore it ‘sailed through a crack of ice’ and vanished. A wreck was discovered in 1900 but its identity remains unconfirmed. The ghost of the Griffon is reportedly still seen drifting about Lake Huron when the nights are foggy. Nearly every town and seaside village has its tales of shipwrecks and ghost ships - those phantoms of the sea breaking through the fog and the mist on dark, stormy nights. Most of these stories are just legends, but some of them are based on truth and may even have a natural explanation. For example, in some cases the sailors may have abandoned ship thinking it was about to sink in a storm, but the ship sailed on without them. In other cases the sailors may have died one-byone of disease or starvation, leaving a perfectly good ship to sail for months, or even years on the high seas with no hand at her helm. In other cases people may have mistaken mirages and false images for phantom ships. Despite this, belief in ghostly ships that sail for all eternity with their phantom crews remains strong, and reports of sightings continue to this day. PHANTOM TRAVELLERS Ghosts of humans and animals that haunt travel routes and vehicles have been documented as early as the 1600s in Europe and Russia. They are associated with tragedies that have occurred while travelling, the excitement of travel and the joy of reunion and the pain of parting. Some phantom travellers seemed doomed to eternal wandering, as is the case with the Flying Dutchman. Another such traveller is the ghost of Peter Rugg, a man who lived in Boston around 1730. According to lore Rugg set off in an open carriage with his daughter one day to drive to Concord. He was warned on the return trip that a storm was brewing but chose to ignore the warnings and was never seen again. Their ghosts are said to be still trying to find their way home. In some cases the phantom traveller appears very real to a fellow traveller. The ghost of the black lady who is said to haunt the train from Carlisle to London is said to sit silently in a carriage staring in her lap and rocking gently backwards and forwards. According to lore she and her bridegroom were travelling on the train when tragedy struck. Her husband stuck his head out of the window and was decapitated. The headless body fell into the woman’s lap and she was found singing a lullaby to it. She never regained her sanity. Phantom travellers as well as the sound of footsteps and screams are frequently reported at railway and underground stations that have been the scenes of suicides and fatal accidents. London’s Aldgate station on the Underground Circle line is one of several haunted stations that have had so many sightings they are entered into the station log. Airports also have their fair share of ghosts. It is said that the ghost of a gentleman in a dark suit and bowler hat has haunted runway 2 at Heathrow airport since 1948. It was in 1948 that a DC3 Dakota of Sabean Belgian Airways crashed while landing in heavy fog, killing everyone on board. Other Heathrow apparitions include a ghost in a light grey suit that is said to haunt the VIP lounges. Phantom travellers typically appear in the travel mode they used in their day. They use trains and planes and ships, ride bicycles or motorcycles or drive carriages, cars, buses and vans. Sometimes they walk and if this is the case they can suddenly appear in the middle of the road. Drivers of vehicles may swerve to avoid hitting them but when they stop to see if the person is hurt there is no sign of anyone. PHANTOM VEHICLES Ghostly cars, buses, carriages and trains travelling at high speed along the same piece of road or highway are a common form of haunting. In many cases drivers of other vehicles will swerve to avoid them; in some cases they swerve too late and injury and death result. Sometimes the scene of the haunting is associated with tragedy or murder but in some cases the origins of the haunting are unknown. The Midlothian Turnpike, which runs along Bachelors Grove Cemetery in Chicago, is an area where numerous phantom cars and trucks have been reported at dusk and at night by witnesses. The phantom cars and trucks are said to appear out of nowhere and in some cases they will hit the witness’s car and sounds of splintering glass and crashing metal are heard. When the witness gets out to take a look at the damage there is never any sign of impact or the other car. An apparition of a bright red double-decker bus has allegedly made hundreds of appearances in London. One night on 15 June 1934, a young man was driving his car in North Kensington when he found himself heading on a collision course with a driverless bus at the intersection of St Mark’s Road and Cambridge Gardens. The man tried to swerve but was killed. The bus was allegedly a phantom vehicle. Over the years the phantom double-decker continues to cause accidents and is reported to this day. PHASMOPHOBIA An abnormal and persistent fear of ghosts and the unknown. This surprisingly common phobia causes countless people needless distress. Known by a number of names - spectro-phobia, phasmophobia, fear of spectres and fear of ghosts being the most common -the problem can significantly affect quality of life. It can cause panic attacks and keep people apart from loved ones and business associates. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea and overall feelings of dread, although everyone experiences fear of ghosts in their own way and may have different symptoms. The condition is typically caused by the trauma experienced while watching Hollywood films of ghost and/or horror stories, such as the Exorcist. Treatment options are similar to those for any phobia and may involve counselling, therapy, alternative therapies such as hypnotherapy or, in severe cases, medication. PHENOMENA In general, apart from its specialized use as a term in philosophy, phenomenon stands for any observable event. Phenomena make up the raw data of science. The phenomena considered relevant for the field of parapsychology are called anomalous phenomena, which means they are observed phenomena for which there is no suitable explanation in the context of current scientific knowledge. Often used as a synonym, but actually a subclass of anomalous phenomena, are the paranormal phenomena studied by parapsychology. Paranormal phenomena can be divided into three main classes: 1. Mental phenomena: unusual mental states or abilities, such as telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition. 2. Physical phenomena: unusual physical occurrences that may be controlled by a consciousness, such as psychokinesis, poltergeists, stigmata or materializations. 3. Out-of-body experiences and near-death experiences. PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT Allegedly in the fall of 1943 a US Navy destroyer was made invisible to enemy detection and teleported from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Norfolk, Virginia, in an incident known as the Philadelphia Experiment. Records in the Operational Archives Branch of the Naval Historical Center have been repeatedly searched, but no documents have been located which confirm the event, or any interest by the Navy in attempting such a thing. PHILIP Artificial poltergeist created by Canadian parapsychologists in the 1970s. The aim of the experiment was to create, through intense concentration, a collective thought form and demonstrate how spirits can be the products of human desire, will and imagination. The research was carried out by eight members of the Toronto Society for Psychical Research, under the direction of A R G Owen and Iris Owen. First the group, none of whom were gifted psychically, created a fictitious personality and personal history. They fabricated a ‘Philip Aylesford’ who was born in 1624 England. At the age of 16 he was knighted and played a leading role in the Civil War, fighting for the royalists. He was a personal friend of Charles II and worked for him as a secret agent, but he brought about his own undoing by having an affair with a Gypsy girl. When his wife found out she accused the girl of witchcraft and the girl was burned at the stake. Philip committed suicide as a result in 1654. In September 1972 the Owen group began to hold sittings to conjure Philip. They meditated and visualized him but no apparition appeared. After several months of no communication the group decided to try table-tilting, an activity where spirits allegedly move or tilt a table, although sceptics argue the effects are created by the expectations of the sitters. After a few sessions the tabletop began to move and Philip began to communicate to the group by rapping in response to questions. Philip gave information consistent with his fictitious character as well as other accurate information, and the group theorized that this came from their collective unconscious. Sessions with Philip continued for a few years and in 1974 table movement was recorded on camera. The success of the ‘PK by committee experiment’, as it was called by the group, prompted other groups in Toronto and Quebec to try the same. A World War II French-Canadian spy, Lilith, Sebastian, a medieval alchemist and Axel, a man from the future, were all created and all eventually communicated to the groups with rappings. In 1977 the original Toronto group, buoyed by their success, attempted to progress beyond raps and create an apparition. This proved to be impossible and after numerous time-consuming, frustrating attempts interest in the project waned and the experiment was discontinued. PHILOSOPHER’s STONE In alchemy the philosopher’s stone was the original metal from which all metals derived, and consequently could be used in the transformation of lead and other base metals into gold. It was also thought that the philosopher’s stone was held together by all the elements of the universe, that it had remarkable healing powers and was the key to eternal life. The philosopher’s stone was not actually believed to be a stone but a power or elixir, and attempting to discover its formula was one of the main goals of alchemy. Many alchemists devoted years of study to searching for physical examples of the substance, but when it proved impossible the theory arose that it was non-physical, spiritual in essence, and could only be recognized by initiates. PHONE CALLS FROM THE DEAD It seems that the dead are willing to make use of whatever means or whatever technology is available to them to make contact with the living, and there have been numerous reports of communication with spirits via the telephone. Phone calls from the dead appear to occur randomly and the great majority are exchanges with loved ones or people who shared close bonds with the deceased when they were alive. Sometimes the communicator wishes to impart a message but at other times there is no other purpose but to make contact. Those who claim to have received phone calls from the dead say that the voices sound the same as when a person was alive but the connection is often bad. The phone rings normally, although some say it sounds odd or flat. In most cases the voice starts strongly and then begins to fade away, leaving the line open. In other cases the line simply goes dead. The phantom phone call usually occurs when the person is in a relaxed state of mind and within 24 hours of the death of the caller, although sometimes it can be weeks or months after death. The longest interval recorded is two years. Some calls are made on special occasions such as birthdays or anniversaries. If the recipient is shocked and knows the caller is dead the phone call is very brief and lasts only a few seconds, but if the person does not know the caller is dead it can go on for up to half an hour. Later checks with the telephone company show no evidence of a call being placed. In some cases a person may make a call to someone and have a conversation with them only to find out later that they were already dead at the time of the call. In other cases the caller is a stranger who says they are calling on behalf of a third party, and the recipients later find out that the third party is dead. Researchers of such cases have also found that deceased callers sometimes make reference to a mysterious ‘they’, who have allowed the call to take place. The implication is that communication between the dead and the living is not just difficult but undesirable. Intention phone calls are similar to phantom phone calls but are far rarer and not quite the same, as they occur between two living people. In an intention phone call the caller thinks about making a call but for some reason never makes it; the recipient nevertheless receives a call. Two main theories have been put forward to explain phone calls from the dead: they are created subconsciously by the recipient, whose intense desire to communicate with a lost loved one creates a psychokinetic hallucination; or they are indeed communications with dead spirits who have found a way to manipulate the phone system. Although interest in phone calls from the dead was strong in the early to mid-twentieth century, in general modern parapsychologists don’t take phantom phone calls seriously as evidence for survival after death. PHYLLOMANCY Ancient method of divination by studying the shapes, patterns, veins, colours and movements of leaves. Methods differ from area to area. For some the sound of leaves rustling in the wind was significant. For others the falling of leaves in the autumn -the way they fell and how many fell - was significant. If a leaf fell face up it was considered a positive sign. If it landed face down this was considered unfortunate. PHYSICAL mediumship Mediumship, the ability to communicate with spirits, takes two forms: mental mediumship and physical mediumship. In contrast to mental mediumship (when the phenomenon is demonstrated through the mind of the medium), the physical medium is able to produce for the benefit of those taking part in a séance physical phenomena such as lights, sounds, materializations, levitations, etc. Physical mediumship often (but not always) involves a state of trance. PHYSIOGNOMANCY Divination by facial features - judging mental and moral characteristics and future success in life by the features of a face. Physiognomy was a popular divinatory art in ancient Greece. Aristotleis thought to have written the first systematic treatise on the subject (History of Animals and a Treatise on Phsyiognomy) and many Greeks studied and practised the art. The principles of physiognomy are a little vague, but in general faces are divided into seven planetary types. The solar face is round and joyful and framed in fair hair. The Venus face has perfect features, fair hair and a lovely smile. The Mars face is rugged and square cut. The Mercurial face is beautiful with black hair. The lunar face tends to be pale, cold and melancholy. The Jupiter face is beautiful and noble with bold features. The Saturn face is mournful and may have black hair. The forehead is considered especially important. In his Traite de Metoposcopie et Physiognomonie (1635), physiognomist David L’Agneau writes: Those with a high forehead are lazy and ignorant and if it is fleshy and sleek they are wrathful, and if with this they have prick ears they are still more wrathful, according to Aristotle. Those who have little foreheads are bustling and foolish, as are they likewise who have them great and narrow. Those with long foreheads are docile and gentle with good sense; those who have them as it were square and pleasant are magnanimous and strong. PICKENS COUNTY COURTHOUSE The ghostly face of a hanged man that is said to appear at about 4 pm every day on a windowpane of Pickens County Courthouse in Carrollton, Alabama. Numerous versions of the story exist but the face is said to be the ghost of a black man called Burkhalter who, in the early 1800s, was accused of burning down the courthouse. Even though he protested his innocence he was convicted of the crime. On route to the state penitentiary in Montgomery the unfortunate Burkhalter was seized by a lynch mob and hanged from the branch of an oak tree. According to lore just as he was hoisted in the air, lightning struck and illuminated his terrified face. The next day a member of the lynch mob passed the newly built courthouse and saw in the window the clear outline of Burkhalter’s face as it had looked when he was being murdered. Over the years numerous panes have been replaced, and the glass has been scrubbed and cleaned countless times, but all to no avail. The face of Burkhalter allegedly remains in the window. PICTURE TEST Mediumistic test, similar to the book test and the newspaper test, in which a communicator predicts what picture the sitter will soon come into contact with or see. The picture test, like the book and newspaper test, was invented by Feda, the spirit control of Gladys Osborne Leonard as a means of proving survival after death. However, like the other tests, the picture test could be said to represent no more than the medium’s own psychic abilities. PIKE, Bishop JAMES [1913-1969] Former official of the Episcopal Church in America who became a spiritualist after communication with his dead son. When the bishop died, messages were allegedly sent from him to mediums to support the case for life after death. James A Pike was born in Oklahoma City on 14 February 1913. He was raised a Catholic and planned to become a priest but left the church when he disagreed with the Pope’s stance on birth control. He went on to practise law in Washington DC, joined the Episcopal Church in 1944 and was ordained a priest in 1946. In 1953 Pike became Dean of the Cathedral of St John Divine in New York. Although Pike came from a family with psychic ability and had had experience of poltergeist activity in at least two of his homes, he did not become seriously interested in spiritualism until the suicide of his eldest son, James Jr, in New York on 6 February 1966. Beginning on 20 February, strange things began to happen at Pike’s apartment in Cambridge, England, where James Jr had recently spent several months living with his father. Postcards and books would be rearranged, fresh milk turned sour, the heart would turn up with no explanation, and cigarette butts appeared from nowhere. Bishop Pike arranged the first of numerous séances with the medium Ena Twigg on 2 March 1966. After examining a passport belonging to James Jr, Twigg became very agitated and reported that James was desperate to communicate with his father and ask forgiveness for his suicide, saying it was an accident. By the summer Pike had resigned his post as Episcopal bishop of California. He sat with other mediums and they too made contact with his son. James Jr urged his father to protest against the charges of doctrinal heresy made against him, charges which Pike addressed in his book If This Be Heresy, and encouraged Pike to establish the New Focus Foundation as a channel for his unorthodox views on church reform. On 3 September 1967, Pike sat for a Canadian television séance with medium Arthur Ford and once again James Jr came through with information. By publicly revealing his connections to the spiritualist cause Pike became an even more controversial figure within the church, and in December 1968 the new bishop of California requested that Pike be kept from performing any priestly function in a church or elsewhere. Pike left the Episcopal Church and formed the Foundation for Religious Transition in April 1969. On 1 September Pike and his wife, Diane Kennedy, took a trip to the Holy Land and got lost in the desert. Diane had to leave her husband behind to find help, and when she returned he was missing. Almost immediately efforts were made to contact James Jr in spirit to help with the search, but on 4 September a message came through from Pike himself indicating that he had died and was struggling with his transition to the other side. On the 7th his body was found. Pike’s wife Diane strongly believed in life after death, and she went on to publish an account of her husband’s life and spiritual journey in the book Search (1970). PIPER, Leonora [1859–1950] One of the foremost trance mediums in the history of spiritualism, Mrs Piper was investigated by psychical researchers on both sides of the Atlantic and is thought to have produced some of the best evidence for survival after death. Born in New Hampshire on 27 June 1859, the first sign of Leonora’s future career came at the age of eight when she felt a blow to the head while playing in the garden and heard a long sibilant ‘S’ in her ear. This sound melted into the word ‘Sara’ and then the words, ‘Aunt Sara is not dead but with you still’ She told her mother who made a note of the day and time, and several days later it was found that Leonora’s Aunt Sara had indeed died at that time. Leonora had several other psychic experiences as she grew up. At the age of 18 Leonora married William Piper of Boston. Shortly after this she consulted Dr J R Cocke, a blind, professional clairvoyant who had a reputation for psychic diagnosis and cures. While there, Leonora fell into a spontaneous trance, and at a later trance, when Cocke put his hand on Leonora’s head, she saw a ‘flood of light in which many strange faces appeared.’ Then, while entranced, she began writing some notes on a piece of paper and handed it to Judge Frost of Cambridge, a member of the circle. It was regarded as one of the most remarkable messages the judge had ever received from his dead son. Soon after Piper began to give private sittings in her home and before long she was besieged by prospective clients. She withdrew from public and saw only close friends and relatives. Then she agreed to see a Mrs Gibbons, who happened to be the motherin-law of Professor William James, a founding member of the American Society for Psychical Research. Mrs Gibbons was so impressed with Leonora Piper that Professor James spent the next eighteen months in deep investigation of her séances. In this early period of her mediumship Piper’s trance control was called ‘Phinuit’, who claimed to be a French doctor but actually knew very little medicine and very little French. Even though Phinuit was probably not who he said he was, and many regarded him as a secondary personality, through Phinuit Piper was able to tell things about other people she had no other way of knowing. In 1889 and again in 1906 Piper visited England, and was investigated by the Society for Psychical Research with remarkable success. In 1901 the New York Herald led with ‘Mrs Piper’s plain statement’, and although it is often said she confessed to fraud she in fact wrote only that she could not be sure the spirits were always controlling her and that she may have got her results through ESP. This was to be the key issue when questions were asked about her mediumship, with researchers finding themselves on both sides of the divide. From 1908 to 1911 Piper’s mediumship lapsed and when it resumed it returned in the form of automatic writing rather than trance. Some of the automatic writing she produced formed part of what is known as cross correspondences. All of the material produced appears to have come from the deceased psychical researcher, Sir Frederick Myers. Piper died on 3 July 1950 at the age of 91. As a result of her work, many people, including Frederick Myers and James H Hyslop, were convinced that life after death was possible. She may even have convinced the hardened sceptic William James. In the Psychological Review of 1898 James wrote: Dr Hodgson considers the hypothesis of fraud cannot be seriously maintained. I agree with him absolutely. The medium has been under observation, much of the time under close observation, as to most of the conditions of her life, by a large number of persons, eager, many of them to pounce upon any suspicious circumstance, for nearly fifteen years. During that time not only has there not been one single suspicious circumstance remarked, but not one suggestion has ever been made from any quarter which might tend positively to explain how the medium, living the apparent life she leads, could possibly collect information about so many sitters by natural means. PK See Psychokinesis. PK PARTY A gathering of between 15 and 40 people for the purpose of psychokinetic metal bending. A party leader will teach the others how to create a peak emotional experience’ by focusing the group’s unified mental energy on willing the metal objects to bend. Interest in metal bending was inspired by the media attention given to Uri Geller in the 1970s for his alleged ability to bend keys and spoons. The idea behind psychokinetic metal bending is to create an intense point of concentration in the mind and bring that concentration down through the arm and hand to the metal, where energy is released and the metal bends. Participants say they feel the metal become warm and sticky and then soft enough to bend. Participant may also try other versions of metal bending, the most advanced of which is to bend metal without touching it. According to experts, silverware works best. Experiments with Geller did yield some positive results, but whether or not psychokinetic metal bending is actually possible has yet to be proved conclusively. PLANCHETTE An early variation of the Ouija board, the planchette is an instrument used to communicate with spirits in spiritualism. It is typically about three inches wide and four inches long and rests on four legs. In use, one or more people lightly rest their fingers on the top edge of the device to channel into it the power to make it move. The planchette slides about the surface of a smooth board pointing at letters to spell out messages, allegedly from spirits guiding the movements of the planchette. The legs are usually covered in felt to make it easier to slide on a polished surface, or they can have small wheels on them. If automatic writing is to be done one of the legs may be replaced with a pencil, the point writing letters on to a sheet of paper over which the planchette moves. A very simple and effective planchette can be made by writing the letters of the alphabet on pieces of paper and laying them down in a circle around the edge of a table. A wine glass is turned upside down and the participants rest their fingers on the now top edge of the glass. The glass acts like a planchette and slides over the table surface to stop in front of the appropriate letters. The term planchette comes from the French meaning little board’. It was named after M Planchette, who invented it in 1853, but it probably has much older origins. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras was said to hold séances at a mystic table mounted on wheels that moved to signs on stone slabs. Although rarely in use today, during the nineteenth century the planchette became a popular tool for mediums. In 1868 it was discovered by American toymakers, who produced and sold it through bookshops. PLANETARY CONSCIOUSNESS Concept of the earth as a living, self-regulating organism. Planetary consciousness involves a growing awareness of the interconnectedness between all living and non-living things on the planet. However, no such leap in awareness can take place if the human race continues to abuse and pollute the planet. The Gaia hypothesis - that the earth is a self-regulating, living organism - was put forward by a British scientist, James Lovelock, in the 1970s. Lovelock believed that an evolutionary leap into unified human consciousness with no national boundaries was possible. This theory was developed a few years later by British physicist Peter Russell, in The Global Brain: Speculations on the evolutionary leap to planetary consciousness (1983). Russell hypothesized the evolution of a completely new and planetary level of consciousness called Gaiafield - a kind of super mind that would emerge from the interaction of all minds, working in harmony with the planet. In other words, if an increasing number of people meditate the beneficial effects may be felt on the human race as a whole. PLANTS Many cultures around the world believe that plants have consciousness and that it is possible to communicate with them psychically, a gift called ‘biopsychokinesis’. Even in the West there are those who talk regularly to their plants, and many studies have shown that an empathetic understanding and emotional connection to plants by a gardener tends to produce larger and healthier plants. Other studies found evidence for a plant memory. Russian scientists attached electrodes to a geranium and it reacted negatively to a person who had pinched and burned it but positively to someone who had cared for it. Experiments with music have demonstrated that the type of music played to plants affects their growth. Disjointed and inharmonious sounds do not help them, but harmonious tunes do. While experiments with prayer have indicated that praying over seeds and plants seems to make them grow faster than control seeds that are not prayed over. The Findhorn community in Scotland has demonstrated that by talking to plants, encouraging them and loving them they grow better and provide a bumper harvest. Sceptics argue that the evidence from psi experiments on plants is unconvincing because the fact that plants are healthier when a psychic connection has been established has nothing to do with communicating messages of love and encouragement but everything to do with the regular tending, care and feeding they receive while being talked to. PLATO [c. 428–c. 347 BC] Greek philosopher, and one of the most creative and influential thinkers in Western philosophical, religious and mystical thought. Born in Athens in around 428 BC, Plato dropped his political ambitions after the trial and death of his friend Socrates in 399. He began to travel through Greece, Italy and Egypt and write dialogues in defence of Socrates. In c. 387 he returned to Athens and founded the Academy, the first university, to explore all fields of knowledge and their interrelation. His greatest pupil was Aristotle. Plato is best remembered for his dialogues, among them Meno, Phaedo, Sympo- sium, Phaedrus and Republic, which outline his philosophy. Central to the dialogues is the theory of forms or ideas and a belief in the immortality of the soul as surviving the body and the mind after death. According to his theory of forms, the material world is an imperfect copy of the real and perfect world. Forms are the ideas or blueprints behind the material world. When an object is seen, it is seen for what it is, but the object’s essence is the idea of the object or form, which is sublimely beautiful, good and perfect. Plato believed the world of forms to be the ultimate highest reality, which he also named the Higher Self. In Republic Plato suggested the idea that most people go through life asleep and in a dream and it is the job of the philosopher to awaken them. He illustrated this with his famous metaphor of people living in caves preferring the shadows to the light because that is all they have known. Plato died in Athens at about the age of 80 and his disciples divided into two camps. In the first century AD Neo-Platonism developed out of his ideas. In one way or another Platonic thought has had a huge impact on philosophy, science, religion and mysticism throughout history, enjoying several revivals. PODMORE, FRANK [1856–1910] Well-known psychical investigator and distinguished author who is best known for his critical approach to the phenomenon of spiritualism. Podmore rapidly and enthusiastically became a convert to survival and communication with the deceased during his student days at Oxford, but his youthful enthusiasm turned sour when a number of the mediums he believed in were exposed as frauds. From beginning as a ‘believer’, over the years he developed into an extremely sceptical and cautious critic. Despite his scepticism Podmore remained fascinated by the paranormal and was elected to the Council of the Society for Psychical Research and served for an unbroken period of 27 years. For eight or nine years he held, jointly with Sir Frederick Myers, the office of honorary secretary. He was a collaborator with Myers and Edmund Gurney in Phantasms of the Living. In Phantasms Podmore reviewed the evidence for telepathy and apparitions and argued that they could be explained as hallucinations by the percipient in response to information received via telepathy from the agents. Podmore wrote a number of books, including Apparitions and ThoughtTransference (1892); Studies in Psychical Research (1897); Modern Spiritualism (1902); Spiritualism (Pro and Con Series, against Wake Cook) (1903); Biography of Robert Owen (1906); The Naturalisation of the Supernatural (1908); Mesmerism and Christian Science (1909); Telepathic Hallucination; The New View of Ghosts (1909); and The Newer Spiritualism (1910). He is perhaps best known for Modern Spiritualism (1902), where he discusses and discredits numerous mediums of his day. The only medium to significantly impress Podmore was Leonora Piper, although he did attribute her success to telepathy rather than communication with spirits. PODOMANCY Also known as solistry podomancy is divination from signs derived from examination of the feet. At one time very popular in China and Persia, podomancy is similar to palmistry. It was once believed that a person’s feet were the ‘symbol of the soul’, and would reveal their personality and future characteristics when certain signs -size, shape, lines, etc. - were properly interpreted by a skilled diviner. With feet, high arches are an indication of a high intellect, but also of being a dreamer. Low arches or flat feet are a sign that the person is a practical realist and should perhaps dream a little more. Swollen feet suggest someone who is introverted. POLARITY THERAPY A bodywork touch therapy that is based on energy principles found in Ayurvedic medicine. Dr Randolph Stone (1890-1981) developed this method of healing after decades of study of alternative therapies. He believed that the key to health was to balance out the body’s subtle energies or universal life force. Stone mapped out what he called ‘The Energy Anatomy of Man’, which showed the electromagnetic fields around the body and how the life force should appear in balance. Polarity therapy works with the Human Energy Field, electromagnetic patterns expressed in mental, emotional and physical experience. Health is viewed as a reflection of the condition of the energy field, and therapeutic methods are designed to balance the field for the benefit of health. Like any energy field, energy can become positive or negative and polarity therapy seeks to balance this through an exchange between giver and receiver during a session. There are four ways to balance body energy: triggering chakra points on the body with a light touch; stretching exercises; dietary changes; and mental; emotional balancing exercises. POLICE PSYCHICS See Psychic Criminology. POLTERGEIST From the German words poltern, ‘to knock’, and geist, ‘spirit’, poltergeist is the term used to describe a ghost or energy which specializes in making sounds and moving things about a house or building, often resulting in breakages. These spirits can be malevolent but on the whole are thought to be mischievous nuisances. Some believe poltergeists to be manifestations of telekinesis due to the frequency of their occurrence in households with disturbed adolescents experiencing frustration and emotional tension. The earliest reports of poltergeist activity date back to ancient Rome, and they continue to be reported to this day. Since the late nineteenth century poltergeists have been the subject of serious study by psychical researchers and a number of theories have been put forward to explain them. Characteristics of a poltergeist attack typically include flying objects, especially dirt and rock throwing, extremely loud noises, terrible smells, raps, strange lights and apparitions and the opening and shutting of doors and windows. Up-to-date characteristics include light bulbs exploding or spinning in their sockets and telephone malfunctions. In a tiny percentage of cases physical assaults, such as scratching, biting, spitting and sexual molestation, are reported. In most cases poltergeist activity starts and stops suddenly and lasts from a few hours to a few years, although most often it is a few months. Activity usually occurs when a particular individual is present and that individual is most often female and under 20 years of age. Until the nineteenth century poltergeist activity was blamed on demons, witches or the devil. Such cases resembled possession and clergy were often called in for exorcisms. In the 1800s, however, poltergeists became associated with the physical mediumship of spiritualism. In the 1930s Nandor Fodor came to the conclusion that is still widely held today - that poltergeists are a type of unconscious psychokinesis on the part of the living, the so-called agent. In other words unconscious thought processes produce the phenomena. At first attention focused on repressed sexual tension as a cause or factor but later researchers theorized that poltergeists were projections of repressed anger and hostility. In 1947 the Cottage City Poltergeist case came to the attention of J B Rhine at Duke University’s Parapsychology Laboratory. A few years later the Seaford Poltergeist case came up and Rhine sent J G Pratt and William G Roll to investigate. Roll went on to specialize in poltergeist investigation and described his work in his 1972 book, The Poltergeist. According to Roll poltergeist activity involved ‘recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis’, in other words, psychokinesis that occurs repeatedly in a natural setting as opposed to the laboratory. Since the poltergeist phenomena tend to occur when one particular person is present, Roll believed that they were expressions of unconscious psychokinesis on the part of that person. Roll created a typical scenario or set of conditions for poltergeist activity. It typically involved a child or teenager who harboured internal anger from some sort of stress within the family. Psychokinesis was an unconscious way of expressing that anger without the fear of punishment, and in most cases the child had no idea they were causing the disturbances. Roll also noticed that agents are often in a poor state of health physically or mentally, and in some cases psychotherapy eliminates the problem. Despite Roll’s convincing model of a typical poltergeist attack, other poltergeist investigators have been at pains to point out that in numerous cases the agent is emotionally stable. Some believe that the theory that poltergeists are spirits of the dead has been too often overlooked. Others suggest that the poltergeist activity is activated by a stressful situation but the activity is not psychokinesis from the agent but a projection of some element of the agent’s personality into an apparition-like form. The form could then separate from the agent’s body and be the cause of the disturbances. POSITIVE THINKING According to psychics and occultists, thoughts (also known as the magical will) are the key elements in helping us create and manifest our reality. Negative thoughts are said to create obstacles whereas positive thoughts create a path with hardly any obstacles. Positive thinking is believed to literally raise a person’s energy, making it easier to open up intuitive ability. POSSESSION Condition in which a person feels they have been taken over, or ‘possessed’, mentally, physically and emotionally, by an outside spirit entity or separate personality. This entity then controls all aspects of their personality. Temporary possessions that take place during a séance are considered benign, as are voluntary possessions by gods or spirits that take place during religious and healing rituals; but more often it is a malevolent spirit or demon that attempts to take over the personality and life of an unwilling subject permanently The power of positive thinking In order to create your reality, psychics and occultists say you must start with your thoughts. You cannot desire or pray for something but at the same time believe you are never going to get it or do not deserve it. This is how powerful your thoughts are: negative attracts negative, whereas positive attracts positive. If you think negative or bad thoughts, you literally create more negative or bad energy. If, however, you think joy, you create more joy. It works like this: if you walk into a room and assume you are going to have a problem with those in the room, you literally put yourself on guard, and the other party is subconsciously going to pick up on this attitude. Hence you will get exactly what you expect because negative draws negative. But walk into a room with a smile, believing you are surrounded by light and love, and people will respond positively to this because positive draws positive. This does not mean everything will go your way all the time but you will be clear enough in your mind to not take everything personally, respond appropriately and see the bigger picture. Unwanted possessions have been recognized since ancient times and have been blamed for a number of problems and ills. The cure for unwanted possession is exorcism, performed according to a specific ritual. Except for possession by the Holy Spirit, Christianity regards possession as the work of the devil, and cases of demonic possession with formal exorcisms to remove them continue to be reported to this day. Possession is not always viewed as demonic, even in the West. It is sometimes held that possessing spirits are souls of the dead who do not realize they are dead and try to return to a body, or that they are spirits who have a message they want to communicate to someone. In either case the victim experiences mood disorders, strange noises and lights, voices, poltergeist phenomena and, possibly, temporary insanity. The belief that mental illness may be caused by possessing spirits is also an ancient one. A European offshoot of spiritualism, spiritism, founded by Allan Kardec in the nineteenth century, holds that certain mental illnesses have a spiritual cause and can be treated through communication with spirit guides. Kardec’s theories caught on in France but not the rest of Europe. They have, however, found an enthusiastic response in Latin America, particularly in Brazil, where Brazilians still practise spiritist healing. In the early part of the twentieth century James Hyslop, president of the American Society for Psychical Research, put forward the theory that many people suffering from mental problems such as multiple personality disorder could be showing signs of possession. This view has the support of some psychiatrists, but it is not endorsed by the wider medical or scientific community. POSTCOGNITION See Retrocognition. POWER SPOTS There are certain areas of the earth that are regarded as power spots or places where subtle earth energies collect. It is thought that these places possess magical or supernatural energies and are the dwelling place for spirits. The power at these power spots is thought to come from a spiritual force generated by ley lines. Ley lines are straight lines that connect these natural power points and where one or two ley lines cross, a power spot is created that is thought to naturally draw people to assemble or build structures, such as temples, churches and standing stones or megaliths, as is the case at Stonehenge. Today many people use dowsing rods to map out ley lines and the power spots for themselves. Many manmade structures at these power spots are also believed to have been constructed according to principles of sacred geometry, or sacred architecture. There are thousands of power spots all over the earth. Mountains and water sources are particularly venerated for their healing powers. Many of the greatest power spots have some structure erected over them, such as the pyramids in Egypt, megalithic sites, burial grounds, temples and so on. Paranormal phenomena are often reported at power spots, including apparitions, earth lights and poltergeist activity. In addition individuals have also reported psi ability such as clairvoyance and out-of-body experiences when visiting such sites. Some believe that there is a link between geomagnetic field activity and psi activity in humans. In 1977 the Dragon Project Trust was founded in Britain to research paranormal phenomena at ancient sites. It was hoped that understanding these phenomena might lead to an understanding of and perhaps communication with some form of planetary intelligence or spirit. PRANA See Universal life force. PRATT, JOSEPH GAITHER [1910–1979] American parapsychologist and associate of J B Rhine at Duke University, who is best known for his work with mediums and poltergeists and his contributions to experimental parapsychology. In 1934 and 1935, while a graduate student working in Duke University’s Parapsychology Laboratory, Pratt was put in charge of studying mediumistic communications with Eileen Garrett. When he analysed his data Pratt found that it supported a paranormal interpretation. Later he refined his methods of evaluating verbal material delivered in trance by devising a procedure called the Greville method, where sitters score items as right or wrong for them and then all items are judged against each other. In 1958 Pratt was sent by Rhine to investigate the Seaford Poltergeist: the first poltergeist case to be studied by the parapsychology laboratory. Along with William Roll, Pratt invented the term recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis’ to describe poltergeist cases. From 1962 until his death Pratt served as president of the Psychical Research Foundation and in the 1970s he became a trustee of the American Society for Psychical Research. He died in November 1979. A few years earlier he had set a combination lock; he’d refrained from writing down the combination, lest anyone discover it, but every year he opened the lock using a mnemonic phrase. If he survived death his aim was to communicate this phrase through a medium, but to date the lock remains closed. PRAYER A form of communication, distant healing or thought projection with the divine or supernatural. The simplest forms of prayer are requests for oneself or others or thanksgivings. These are directions of psychic energy towards a goal and involve words, symbols and images. Today more scientists are prepared to acknowledge the power of the mind to affect the material world, and although the scientific community isn’t sure what to call this force, the spiritual community calls it God, the universal life force, magical will or chi. Many religions call efforts to direct this force prayer. Numerous studies have explored the relationship between healing and prayer. In 1988, at San Francisco General Hospital, Dr Randolph Byrd conducted one of the most frequently cited studies. For 10 months he studied 193 patients with heart disease, assigning people to pray for half the patients and leaving the other half with no assigned prayer helpers. The patients who received prayers showed improvement rates up to 7 per cent higher than those who were not prayed for. This group also required less medication and suffered fewer deaths. Recently psi researchers have investigated the distinction between directed and non-directed prayer. When you pray in a directed manner you have a specific goal and outcome in mind, as in ‘I want to win the lottery’ In nondirected prayer you ask God for the highest good for all concerned. Spindrift, an organization based in Salem, Oregon concentrating on prayer research, conducted studies on plants to see which technique was more effective. They discovered that both forms of prayer were beneficial to plant growth, but that the non-directed technique was the more effective. The results of the Spindrift studies suggest that a prayer healer is most helpful if the individual keeps his or her mind free of specific goals. In other words to simply pray for what is best for the person seems to be the most effective form of prayer. It is important to point out that although this approach worked best in the Spindrift studies it has not been widely tested on humans, and the jury is still out on the best way for a person to pray for their own or someone else’s healing and growth. Although a person doesn’t need to believe in a specific God to pray, love, faith and positive thinking are considered important ingredients to increase the chances of success. This is because research has shown that the body-mind connection can exert a powerful influence over almost every aspect of life and the first step towards creating positive change is adopting a positive outlook. If a person doesn’t choose to pray they can still achieve an optimistic attitude that increases their chances of success and happiness, by using their mind to direct their thoughts. Psychic phenomena and power are associated with prayer and meditation in the literature of Western mystics, who often describe clairvoyance, levitation, precognition and so on as by-products of prayer. Early in the history of parapsychology attention was focused on the link between psi and prayer. Frank Laubach’s best selling book, Prayer: The Mightiest Force in the World (1946), suggested that prayer had the power to change the world. In the late 1960s Karlis Osis from the American Society for Psychical Research conducted experiments which showed that prayer done in a group was more powerful than prayer done by an individual, for a synergy of brain waves, as demonstrated by his research on meditators, often takes place in group dynamics. PRECOGNITION The ability to know impending events before they happen through extrasensory perception (ESP). Precognition is the most frequently reported of all ESP experiences, occurring most often in dreams. It can be induced through meditation and trance but also occurs spontaneously in waking visions, hallucinations, thoughts that flash from nowhere into the mind and through a sense of somehow just knowing. Most cases of spontaneous precognition occur within two days of the future event but some occur months or even years before. The majority concern unhappy events such as death and disaster, and psychical researchers estimate that about half of all precognitive experiences may prove helpful in averting disaster. In a number of cases intimacy is a key factor, with over 80 per cent of experiences involving a family member or loved one. The remainder involve strangers or casual acquaintances. Since ancient times precognition has been known and valued. The difficulty with precognition as far as researchers are concerned is the individual’s apparent ability to alter the future. If a precognitive experience reveals a flash of the future then the effects are seen before the causes, which, according to quantum theory, is impossible. The most widely held belief is that precognition offers a glimpse of a possible future that is based on current conditions and information and which can be altered depending upon acts of free choice. A few researchers have attempted to explain precognition by proposing more complex theories of time. Our common sense impression of time is purely linear; at a given moment we are at one point on a continuum linking past, present and future. It has been proposed that it is possible to move above this linear dimension to another temporal plane where points in the past and future may be observed. Another theory is that precognitive experiences somehow unleash powerful psychokinetic energy that helps create the future. In other words, the premonition becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. In his book Scared to Death, written in the 1960s, London psychiatrist J A Barker revealed that people who died in the manner predicted by fortune tellers contributed to their own demise with their fear. Barker went on to establish the London Premonitions Bureau, which collected precognitive data with the aim of averting disaster. Precognition may be difficult to understand but it is one of the easiest phenomena to test in the laboratory. In 1927 J W Dunne published the first serious study of precognition in the classic An Experiment with Time, and came to the conclusion that precognition is common, so common that many people fail to observe it, perhaps because they fail to remember their dreams or to interpret their dreams accurately. J B Rhine was the first researcher to establish precognition via tests. His experiments with ESP cards initially aimed to prove telepathy but also revealed strong evidence for precognition and psychokinesis. PREDESTINATION Ancient Greek belief that a person’s fate has been established before birth, that he or she has no choice or free will but can only follow his or her destiny. PREDICTION A form of prophecy in which insight into the future is gained through the use of psychic ability, divine inspiration or the reading of signs. Prophecies tend to concern large groups of people, whereas predictions concern the individual or a small group of people. Predictions are based on knowledge gained via intuition, dreams, precognition, visions, scrying or reading signs such as is the case in divination methods like numerology or astrology. Predictions will be coloured by the perceptions of the individual. PRE-EXISTENCE Belief that the intact personality or soul exists prior to physical birth. See Survival after death and Reincarnation. PREMONITION A sense or feeling of foreboding concerning a possible event in the future. Premonition is similar to precognition but differs in that it conveys a sense or gut feeling of unease rather than specific knowledge, which is the case with precognition. Premonitions can occur in both the waking state and dreams and are regarded as an intuitive early warning system. Some cause people to change their plans or act in a different way than planned without knowing why. In the 1960s researcher W E Cox did a survey of rail passenger loads on trains that had had accidents between 1950 and 1955 and compared them with passenger loads on days when no accident occurred. He discovered an incredible drop off in passenger counts on some of the days. Cox concluded that some people who had intended to travel on the days the accidents occurred had unconsciously altered their plans or missed the train by being late. Why some people did this is and some did not is unknown but it has been speculated that it may have something to do with an individual’s overall psychic and/or intuitive openness. On 21 October 1966, 29 adults and 116 children were killed in a landslide of coal waste that tumbled down a mountain in Aberfan, Wales and buried a school. Up to two weeks beforehand at least 200 people claimed to have experienced both premonitions and precognitions about the disaster. Premonitions included a feeling that something bad was about to happen, as well as sensations of choking and gasping for breath. Following the disaster the British Premonitions Bureau was established to collect warnings to potentially avert disaster. A year later, in 1968, the Central Premonitions Bureau was established in New York for the same reason. Unfortunately most of the tips these bureaux received did not come to pass or were too vague to be interpreted meaningfully. PRESENCE A subjective feeling that a person, animal, or discarnate entity is present. Premonitions of disaster The sinking of the Titanic remains the single most famous shipwreck of all times. Not surprisingly, it also represents the strongest case for the veracity of premonitions of disaster. The story of the Titanic is well known. On 14 April 1912, the ship struck an iceberg and sunk in the North Atlantic, taking with her more than 1,500 lives. The lack of sufficient lifeboats has often been blamed as the leading cause of fatalities; however, what is significant here is the large number of premonitions that foretold this disaster. Probably the first premonition came from author Morgan Robertson, who published a novel about a shipwreck in 1898, which reveals remarkable similarities to the circumstances surrounding the sinking of theTitanic. Another author, W T Stead, wrote numerous stories and articles predicting that a large ocean liner \ would sink with the loss of over half on board, due to the lack of sufficient lifeboats. Stead was also interested in f psychic mediums, and allegedly received | three separate warnings that can be easily linked to the Titanic disaster. Despite all these warnings, Stead booked a passage on the Titanic, and died in the disaster. Several people went as far as to act on their premonitions and cancelled their passage. Second Engineer Colin MacDonald declined his position on the Titanic because of a ‘hunch’ that disaster lay ahead. One of the most dramatic premonitions occurred as the Titanic was steaming past the Isle of Wight. Hundreds of people lined the coast to watch the largest ship in the world. Among them was a Miss Marshall who suddenly began to scream in horror: ‘It’s going to sink! That ship is going to sink! Do something! Are you so blind that you are going to let them drown? Save them! Save them!’ Later, after the disaster, investigators were amazed by the huge number of premonitions about the sinking, numbering (according to some accounts) to over 50. More sceptical investigators, after discarding ‘vague forebodings’ and ‘after the fact claims of prescience’, came up with the still impressive figure of 19 cases of premonition that occurred during the two weeks prior to the Titanic ’s sailing date of 10 April. PRESLEY, ELVIS [1935–1977] Sightings of Elvis, the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, have been reported all over the world, even though he died on 16 August 1977. Graceland, Presley’s ranch located at 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis, is one of Tennessee’s greatest tourist attractions. Every year, millions of Elvis fans and non-fans make the trip to Memphis to see the home of Elvis Presley. Ignoring the official reports of his death a number of fanatics are convinced Elvis is still alive and he has been spotted all over the world, from sporting events to the local corner store. The problem is that almost all these sightings describe Elvis as wearing his trademark white cloak and looking the same as he did when he died, nearly 30 years ago. This has led some to believe that perhaps it’s not Elvis in life they are seeing, but instead his ghost. Graceland is, not surprisingly, the place where the most sightings of his ghost appear. Since Elvis’s living quarters are closed to the public, some believe his ghost still resides there. PRETA A type of ghost in Buddhist and Hindu lore. In Hindu belief the preta is a tiny ghost of the dead, no bigger than a thumbnail, that resides in the corpse or lingers near the home of the dead person for one year after the funeral. When the year is ended rituals are performed to send the soul to heaven, where it will be rewarded for good deeds performed while on earth. In Buddhist belief the preta or hungry ghost is the lowest segment of the wheel of life. Their task is to work off, in a state of constant hunger, the bad karma accumulated by anger, greed, envy, etc. Their hunger is only relieved when their karma has been balanced. Pretas are said to have tiny throats and huge bellies. They are thought to live at crossroads, which are well-known hiding places for witches, spirits and ghosts of the underworld. PRICE, HARRY [1881–1948] One of the most influential and colourful figures in the history of ghost research, Price was instrumental in bringing ghost research to the general public and was the author of numerous popular books on the subject. He was heavily criticized by contemporaries within the psychical research field because of his flamboyant manner, his frequent use of trickery to keep an audience entertained and, most of all, his lack of scientific training. Harry Price was born in London in 1881 and had his first encounter with the supernatural at the age of 15, when he locked himself and a friend overnight in a reportedly haunted house and allegedly saw a ghost. By the time he joined the Society for Psychical Research in 1920 he was already an expert on conjuring and fraudulent mediumship. One of Price’s first efforts exposed the work of spirit photographer William Hope, who was making a fortune taking portraits of people which always seemed to include the sitter’s dead relatives. In May 1922 Price visited Munich to investigate the famous medium brothers, Willi and Rudi Schneider, at the laboratory of Baron Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, a flamboyant investigator. Price was impressed with what he saw there and later said that the experience had made him realize that not all physical phenomena could be explained in terms of deception. Price now began to measure aspects of séances in a scientific manner. He managed to record strange temperature drops and other phenomena and from this time on devoted his time to pursuing genuine phenomena rather than debunking mediums, which did not sit well with the Society for Psychical Research. The relationship between Price and the Society grew more and more strained. In 1923 he established his own National Laboratory for Psychical Research. It would take three additional years for the laboratory to get up and running but the fact that it was housed in the quarters of the London Spiritualist Alliance did not endear him to the conservative psychical researchers, and in 1927 the Society returned Price’s donation of a massive book collection. From 1925 to 1931 Price was foreign research officer for the American Society for Psychical Research. He was also one of the British delegates to the second International Congress on Psychical Research in Warsaw in 1923, where he investigated the Polish medium Jan Guzyk. Guzyk did not impress Price but a Romanian girl, Eleanore Zugan, did. In 1929 Price invited the Schneider brothers to his laboratory for tests and a series of experiments was conducted. All were initially successful, but then in 1933 Price claimed to have photographic proof that the brothers were using trickery. This accusation earned him points with the academic community and finally, after years of rejection, the University of London accepted his book collection and a University Council for Psychical Investigation was set up in 1934. Three years later the University gave office space for the council and made room for Price’s books and equipment. His library remains housed at the University of London today, as the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature. Price was a prolific author and his books include Confessions of a Ghost Hunter (1936), Fifty Years of Psychical Research (1939) and Poltergeist Over England (1945). Also to his credit are contributions on Faith and Fire Walking in the 1936 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and a film, Psychical Research (1941). Outside of psychical research Price is perhaps best known for his investigation of Borley Rectory and for his popular books on the subject, The Most Haunted House In England: Ten years investigation of Borley Rectory (1940) and The End of Borley Rectory (1946). During his life suspicions that the phenomena Price reported were not entirely genuine were harboured, but they were not made public until after his death, in The Haunting of Borley Rectory written by Trevor Hall, Eric Dingwall and K M Goldney (1956). PROPHECY A divinely inspired vision which is a form of precognition or knowledge of the future. Throughout history prophecies have been made through oracles, prophets, prophetesses and psychically gifted lay-people. The Old Testament has a large number of prophecies and the New Testament has the Book of Revelation in which St John gives an account of his vision of the end of the world. In Islam, Muhammad is chosen to be last of all the prophets. Nostradamus also discusses future history in verse and Joan of Arc was said to have visions of the future for France. The most famous prophet of the twentieth century was Edgar Cayce, while American psychic Jeanne Dixon prophesied the death of John F Kennedy. PROXY SITTING A séance in which another person sits in on behalf of the person receiving communication from the spirit world. Proxy sitting is an attempt by psychical researchers to eliminate the possibility of telepathy during a séance. Typically a third party goes to the sitting in place of the person who desires evidence of spirit communication. This proxy sitter knows nothing about the person he or she represents, nor about the deceased who will be requested to communicate. Thus, although clairvoyance or other ESP phenomena may be in operation, telepathy from the sitter is ruled out as the explanation of any information the medium may give. PSEUDOPOD Term used for the ectoplasmic material that emerges from a medium and develops into a false hand or arm. The first recorded pseudopods were attributed to Eusapia Palladino in 1894. In sittings with Professor Charles Richet and Frederick Myers she allegedly produced a third arm and hand, which had the ability to lift and push objects, but her emanations were soon to be spectacularly outdone by the ectoplasmic emanations of French medium Marthe Béraud. From 1909 to 1913 investigators witnessed writhing tentacles extruding from Béraud’s mouth, ears, eyes and nose. Sometimes the tentacles would assume the faces or shapes resembling popular government or historical figures. Critics noticed that some of the faces were identical to magazine photographs. In 1911 Béraud allegedly produced a pseudopod that resembled an unformed baby. She was totally naked at the time. Sceptics argued that such occurrences were sexual rather than paranormal manifestations. Medium Mina Crandon claimed that many of the phenomena produced at her séances were the work of a pseudopod that also emanated from between her legs. The pseudopod formed hands, rang bells and threw objects. Photographs taken at the time show a poorly formed hand that resembles a filled glove. PSI An acronym derived from paranormal sensory information’ and used to describe ESP, psychokinesis and other related powers. Psi is also the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet and was traditionally associated with psychic phenomena because it was the first letter of the word psyche, meaning ‘breath’, ‘spirit’, life’ and ‘soul’. Occultists believe psi to be a vibration that manifests in the universe but scientists are unwilling to accept this explanation due to lack of evidence. In 1946 English psychologist Dr Robert Thouless and his colleague, Dr W P Weisner, started to use the term psi to describe ESP and psychokinesis because they were so closely linked. The term has since expanded to include almost any paranormal phenomena or experience. Decades of research on psi have bought researchers no closer to understanding how it functions; all that is known is that it operates outside the boundaries of space and time. It has been suggested that psi is some kind of wave, force or particle but all these theories have been discarded as psi is not affected by the laws of physics. Neither is it subject to the laws of thermodynamics or the law of gravity. It does not require any exchange of energy and is not governed by the laws of relativity, which holds that nothing can move faster than the speed of light. The inability of researchers to explain psi scientifically has forced some to look for alternative explanations. One way researchers have attempted to identify psi is through measurements of involuntary physiological processes in the automatic nervous system. The Galvanic test response (GSR), which measures sweat gland activity, the plethysmograph, which measures changes in blood volume, and the electroencephalograph (EEG), which measures brain wave activity are the most common measures used. The measures monitor emotional arousal and show that automatic nervous system activity increases when information that is emotionally charged for the subject appears to be conveyed psychically. Ganzfeld stimulation experiments have revealed that an alpha state of brain wave activity is most conducive to psi. Psi performance also seems to improve with positive thinking and expectation and a friendly atmosphere. It decreases with anxiety, negative thinking, boredom and a hostile atmosphere. PSI HITTING AND PSI MISSING In laboratory guessing games tests for psi, a correct response is called a psi hit and an incorrect response is called a psi miss. The results of hits and misses are calculated against chance. The performance of a test subject in psi tests can be affected by his or her mood and overall attitude towards psi. It can also be affected by the environment created by the experimenter, the mood and attitude towards psi of the experimenter and by boredom. PSYCHE According to psychiatrist Carl Jung the psyche is the mind or spirit of a person, consisting of the conscious part of the brain, the ego, the unconscious and the shadow. If the ego and the shadow are in harmonious balance a person will enjoy physical and mental wellbeing, but if either the ego or the shadow dominated the personality, anxiety and neurosis can occur. PSYCHIC Used as a noun the term psychic describes someone with ability to acquire information through extrasensory perception (ESP) and a host of other paranormal abilities such as telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, etc. Used as an adjective it is an umbrella term used to describe the essence of these paranormal powers. The word psychic comes from the Greek word psyche meaning ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’. Throughout history psychics have appeared. They have taken many roles, from priests and priestesses to prophets, healers, shamans and witches. In recent times there have been efforts to integrate psychics into professional fields such as archaeology and criminology. Psychics are not necessarily the same as mediums, who obtain their information from spirits of the dead, but a psychic may possess mediumistic abilities. Occultists believe that everyone is born with psychic ability and tapping into it is just a matter of training and practice. A large number of people do claim to be psychic but few reach the level of exceptional psychics, and even the latter are not accurate or able to perform on demand 100 per cent of the time. Psychics are either born with their talents, or some emotional or physical stress triggers that ability later in life, or their psychic ability is developed by study and practice. Typically psychics find their ability unsettling, confusing and in some cases terrifying at first, but in time the majority learn to live with their gifts and use them. Stimulating your psychic senses The exercises below are classic psychic development exercises for beginners. They are all designed to stimulate your mind and help you become more open to psychic impressions. They will help you cross a very special line - the line between your non-psychic self (your physical self and five senses) and your psychic self (your mind, thoughts and spirit). Walking backwards For this exercise you don’t have to walk backwards, you have to remember backwards. It sounds simple but it’s harder than you think and is an extremely powerful way to stimulate your mind. Choose a quiet, comfortable place where you can pay attention to your thoughts and not be interrupted. Take a deep breath to relax your body and prepare your mind. Start from this moment and remember the events of the day backward to the moment you got up. If you get stuck go back for just a chunk and then work forwards to untangle yourself. As you think backwards don’t push yourself. You may only manage five-to ten-second bursts at first, but a mere ten or fifteen seconds now and then is sufficient for psychic purposes. Different levels Choose something familiar that you see or use every day - your coat, for example. Now you are going to think about your coat on four different levels: Level one: Think about your particular coat. What colour is it? Where did you buy it? Have you had good or bad times wearing it? In short just think about your coat and your associations with it. Level two: Think about coats in general - think of all coats everywhere. Coats you like. Coats you dislike. How coats are made. Level three: Think of the purpose of coats. What do they do? Why do people wear them? Level four: Think about the quality coats have in the abstract, universal sense. For example, protection and warmth are the main features of coats. So let your mind focus on the image of warmth in the broadest sense. You might think of fire, or the taste of warm comforting soup. Scanning Scanning is about seeing the energy of others. The next time you meet someone new take a moment to imagine that person as a ball of light or pure energy. Now scan that person from top to bottom, bottom to top, noticing any words, images, colours, thoughts and sensations that you feel. If you can, write these impressions down. Once you get to know the person better, look back at your notes. Do your first impressions make sense? Tomorrow is another day Choose a comfortable place where you can concentrate on your thoughts. Close your eyes and breathe deeply, then project yourself into the next day. See yourself following through your plans for tomorrow. See, hear, feel and taste what your day will be like. What will you be wearing? Who will you meet? When you are through, write down your impressions and read over them tomorrow night to find out if you were able to make any predictions. PSYCHIC archaeology The use of psychic skills in the field of archaeology, in particular to locate sites and identify artefacts. Psychic skills employed include psychometry, dowsing, retrocognition, clairvoyance and automatic writing. Also known as intuitive archaeology, psychic archaeology has had some good results but it remains a controversial technique. A dramatic example of psychic archaeology in practice happened in 1893 when Herman V Hilprecht was able to decipher a cuneiform inscription following a dream in which an ancient Temple priest gave him vital information. But perhaps the most famous case was that of Frederick Bligh Bond’s use of automatic writing while excavating the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey in England. Bond was asked by the Church of England in 1907 to find the remains of two chapels. He employed the services of his friend, John Bartlett, who was an automatic writer and with him requested the help of spirits to help him locate the ruins. According to Bond, entities that collectively called themselves the ‘watchers of the other side’ gave him the details of the chapels’ locations, and when excavation began he found everything exactly as the spirits had allegedly told him. Psychic archaeology has been used since the 1960s to find dig sites all over the world. Canadian archaeologist J Norman Emerson worked with psychic George McMullen and in the 1970s the two men went to Egypt to test the viability of psychic archaeology. McMullen was able to provide information that helped locate the ruins of Mark Antony’s palace and the probable sites of the library of Alexandria and Cleopatra’s palace. Sceptics point to experiments that show that psychic archaeology is not reliable, and argue that archaeologists naturally use knowledge and instinct to guide them. Despite this psychic archaeology is still considered by some to be a valuable aid when attempting to locate sites and uncover information about the past. PSYCHIC ATTACK An alleged supernatural attack that causes physical and/or emotional distress to a human or animal. It is typically caused by non-physical agents, such as thought forms, spirits and demons, which attack a person, mentally and/or physically. In most, but not all, cases these agents are sent by one person to another. Occultists believe that psychic attacks are the manipulation of supernatural energies and forces. They occur when dark and negative energetic vibrations are sent from one individual to another or to a place, creating disturbances in the energetic and physical bodies of that person or place. This negative energy can be called a spirit, an entity, a thought form or a dark negative energy. Each of these energies can create harmful effects within the person receiving them. Some of these dark energies are sent unconsciously, for example, when a person thinks negative things about someone else. Others are sent intentionally to create harm and damage, often to control, manipulate or punish the individual. They can involve the psychic powers of the mind and/or ritualistic techniques or ceremonies, typically when the moon is either new or waning, as the moon is said to govern psychic forces and these phases rule the so-called left hand or evil path of magic. Almost every culture has its techniques of psychic attack, from the Huna death prayer, to the Voodoo dolls of Haiti. In sorcery the equivalent of psychic attack is the curse. One of the most well-known examples of psychic attack is hag syndrome, in which a victim awakes from their sleep to feel a crushing weight on their chest. In her classic text, Psychic Self-Defence (1930), occultist Dion Fortune said that psychic attack was much more common than believed. She gave an account of her own experience of psychic attack. When she was 20 she believed she was psychically attacked by her employer, which depleted her aura to such an extent that she suffered a nervous breakdown. According to Fortune symptoms of psychic attack include overwhelming feelings of dread and fear, nervous exhaustion, mental breakdown, poor health, bruises on the body and poltergeist phenomena. The prescribed defences against psychic attack are to sever all contact with the suspected people and places; to avoid going to the sea, for water is the element of psychic forces; to keep the stomach full as this shuts down the psychic points of entry; to get plenty of sunshine; to avoid being alone; and to undertake certain protective and banishing rituals. See Psychic protection. Most psychical researchers assume that if psychic attack works it is through suggestion, and that superstitious, poorly educated people are likely to be the most gullible and therefore the most vulnerable. It seems, however, that well educated, non-superstitious people are not immune to psychic attack, and that even domestic animals, not normally expected to react to suggestion, are affected. Occultists believe that psychic attack is real and, although they admit that in certain circumstances suggestion plays a part, they believe that the real technique operates via the astral plane. PSYCHIC COLD A situation in which a person feels unnaturally cold. There are thought to be two types of psychic cold. In the first a spirit materializes and draws energy from the environment, resulting in a lowering of temperature. In the second the materializing spirit will draw energy from people that are present in a séance. The people will feel cold but the thermometer will not register a lowering of the ambient temperature. PSYCHIC CRIMINOLOGY The use of psychics and/or psychic ability in the investigation of criminal cases and the location of missing persons. From ancient times seers and dowsers have been petitioned to help solve crimes and mysteries, but it wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that the field of psychic criminology really developed, when American physiologist Joseph R Buchanan coined the term psychometry. According to Buchanan objects retain imprints of the past and their owners that can be picked up by psychics, and psychics who handled objects belonging to crime victims could provide important information to the police. Psychic detection was used during the world wars, and by the latter part of the twentieth century hundreds of psychics were working regularly with the police all over the world, although their success was variable. Today some law enforcement agencies maintain close links with psychics whereas others will have nothing to do with them. If a psychic does come up with helpful information, more often than not the news is kept from the public. When headline-grabbing cases occur the police often find themselves swamped with calls from psychics, the great majority of which are of no help whatsoever. Police psychics often prefer to call themselves intuitives, sensitives or viewers in an attempt to have their efforts taken more seriously. Most of their detection work involves psychometry of items belonging to the missing person or, if a murder has taken place, from items at the crime scene. Allegedly by handling these items they are able to see images or receive information relevant to the crime. Some also receive information through channelling, dreams, automatic writing, flashes of intuition and dowsing. In some cases psychics will visit the scene of the crime to pick up useful information. Lawyers also sometimes use psychics in selecting jurors and witnesses that will be beneficial to their case. Psychics may advise lawyers as to whether or not clients are lying. Results are variable but many lawyers remain open to the possibility of psychic help. It has been argued in America that psychics who read a suspect’s mind are violating constitutional rights but as long as psychics are not called to the witness stand this is unlikely to be contested in court. PSYCHIC HEALING Therapeutic technique which is said to involve the channelling or transfer of psychic power or universal life force through the healer to the patient. It often involves the laying on of hands and/or prayer and healers claim to use psychic powers to cure illness. PSYCHIC PHOTOGRAPHY General term used to designate the documentation of the paranormal through photographic images. See also Kirlian photography, Spirit photography and Thoughtography. PSYCHIC PROTECTION Phrase used to define practices and routines designed to protect a person’s energy from psychic attack and curses. These routines can be complex and detailed, such as conjuring up certain spells and charms, or they can be extremely simple, such as imagining oneself surrounded by a spinning wall of light that protects against negative energies. Psychic protection routines can also be performed by healers prior to treating someone so that they don’t pick up the ill energy of a patient. They can also be used as a guard against everyday energy drains, like pollution or angry and depressed people. Occultists believe that most forms of psychic attack take place through the astral plane by making contact with the victim and manifesting in his or her subconscious mind. Because of this astral association psychic protection will normally involve the visualization of defence structures on the astral plane to stop external influences coming in. Methods of psychic protection vary but most involve the use of visualizations where a person imagines him or herself surrounded and protected by a shield of healing light. Amulets can also be worn for protection. The theory behind all these techniques is to activate and strengthen the aura, the energy field that surrounds everyone. A strong aura is thought to protect against psychic attack. Psychic protection Here are some simple psychic protection; self-defence exercises that only take a few minutes to do and can be done as many times a day as you feel a need. Shield of light: When sensing a negative atmosphere it is easy to imagine yourself wrapped or surrounded in brilliant light of whatever colour most appeals to you. Once this is done, imagine yourself and those you love being covered in this protective light, which acts like a reflective shield, to bounce negative energy away from you and yours. Orb of light: This can easily be combined with the method above. Image an orb of white (or blue if this seems more effective) light hovering and sending out rays of light about 9 inches to a foot above the crown of the head. Colour defences: Imagine strong colours of white, silver or gold light around you. Let these cling to your body and then move out to about a foot away from the body. Mirrors: Another way to protect yourself if you feel threatened is to envision a circle of mirrors around you that face outwards. Do not visualize these mirrors reflecting the negativity back to whomever or whatever it came from but rather upwards towards the heavens to be dissipated. PSYCHIC READING A sitting with a psychic or medium in which the psychic uses their psychic ability to answer questions, predict the future, give advice or speak with the dead. In most but not all cases the psychic will charge a fee for the reading. Throughout history psychics have offered their services to people. Methods vary according to the individual psychic. Some will simply rely on their powers whereas others will use methods such as astrology, tarot, palmistry and so on to tap into their powers. Most psychics prefer to work in comfortable, pleasant environments and in low light, as they say it enhances their attunement to the sitter; some psychics give readings over the phone. Reputable and responsible psychics do not believe their clients should seek frequent readings or become dependent on them for making decisions, as they believe that readings are simply one of many tools a person can use for personal growth and self-knowledge. PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENCE See Psychic protection. PSYCHIC SURGERY Healing technique when a psychic allegedly performs surgery with his or her bare hands without administering anaesthetics to the patient who remains fully conscious throughout the procedure and allegedly experiences no pain. Simple knives or bare hands instead of surgical instruments are used to remove tumours and diseased organs and repair damaged tissue. The psychic surgeon claims that the power to cure comes from paranormal powers or the guidance of spirit helpers. Some psychic surgeons say they operate only on the etheric body of the patient; they do not touch the flesh but make hand passes and signs in the air above the body. Others claim to cut into the body with hands, kitchen knives or scissors to remove growths. The operations are often accompanied by spurting blood and the production of lumpy masses said to be tumours. The patient is left with little or no scar if an incision was made and walks out to resume their daily lives. If patients complain of pain, surgeons often blame it on spirits, past life karma or lack of healing vibrations between the patient and surgeon. Some psychic surgeons also give spiritual injections, in which the surgeon points his finger and allegedly injects the patient with spiritual medicine. In some cases patients who have been ‘injected’ report feeling tingling or jabbing sensations. This controversial healing method is practised mainly in Brazil and the Philippines and while a few observed surgeries remain unexplained many have been exposed as fraud. ‘Tumours’ removed have been found to be animal organs or balls of cotton or pebbles. Animal blood has been concealed in little bags and then squirted out on to the patient. Using diversion techniques, such as sheets and wads of cotton, the appearance of surgical penetration has been created by folding the knuckles against the skin. The high level of fraudulent practice that has been exposed over the years prevents the serious study of psychic surgery by parapsychologists, but it is possible that some psychic surgeons have the ability to stimulate the body’s natural healing processes. The most well-known psychic surgeon to emerge in the twentieth century was Jose Pedro de Feitas of Brazil, known by his nickname Arigo, who allegedly treated several hundred patients for two decades, correctly diagnosing their illnesses and writing out correct prescriptions. In operations his trademark was a rusty knife and it was said that he could stop blood flow with verbal commands. He claimed to be guided by a Dr Fritz, the spirit of a dead German doctor. Between 1958 and 1964 Arigo was jailed by the Brazilian Medical Association for illegal medical practices. In 1968 he was investigated by an American doctor, Andrija Puharich, who came to the conclusion that Arigo controlled some form of life energy. PSYCHIC VAMPIRE Term used by occultists for someone who is believed to suck mental energy out of another person. This can be done unconsciously through the presence of a needy and/or gloomy person or it can be done through a concerted spiritual attack, such as curses or voodoo. According to Dion Fortune, author of the classic Psychic Self-Defence (1930), psychic vampirism is rare. She defines a psychic vampire as someone with sharp teeth who travels astrally at night to bite victims and suck the life blood out of them. The term has since been used by occultists to mean any person whose presence is draining or depressing. Everyone has experiences with people who seem to lower their energy level rather than raise it. They are the kind of person who has low self-esteem, is never satisfied with anyone or anything and always wants constant reassurance from other people to make them feel better. They are not, however, interested in getting better but only in feeding off the optimism, energy and care of others, which is why they are always attracted to caring people. There are numerous methods of psychic protection to use, from spells and rituals to simple psychic self-defence routines, such as visualizing a great shield of protective light. See also Psychic attack. PSYCHICAL RESEARCH Archaic term, with its origins in the late nineteenth century, to designate the scientific study of the paranormal. Now largely superseded by the term Parapsychology. PSYCHICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION Nonprofit organization devoted to research and education on survival after death and other paranormal phenomena, such as near-death experiences, outof-body experiences and poltergeists. The Psychical Research Foundation (PRF) was founded in 1960 by Charles E Ozanne, a benefactor of the parapsychology laboratory at Duke University, who became dissatisfied with progress made there. J G Pratt was named president and William Roll was named as administrator and project director. The PRF was initially based at Duke University but in 1962 Roll took the headquarters to Durham, North Carolina and then to Georgia College in California when he was offered a teaching position there. The best-known research conducted by the PRF is Roll’s investigation of poltergeists, described in his book The Poltergeist (1972). The PRF also hosted an important out-of-body experiment involving psychic Keith Harray and one of his kittens. When the kitten was placed in an enclosure by itself it got distressed, but when Harray allegedly visited the kitten out-of-body the kitten calmed down. PSYCHOGRAPH Supernatural curiosity much in evidence at the beginning of the twentieth century. Allegedly psychographs were photographs on which appeared ghostly messages or scripts from people who had died. The blurred and often illegible words appeared on photographs of relatives who posed in the hope of being contacted. Virtually all psychographs were exposed as frauds and the subject was discussed and the methods of perpetrating the fraud explained in Ghost Photographs (1923) by psychical researcher Fred Barlow. PSYCHOKINESIS [PK] General term for using the mind to control matter - without using any outside physical force. The term psychokinesis comes from the Greek words psyche, meaning ‘breath’, life’ or ‘soul’, and kinein, meaning ‘to move’. It is thought to occur spontaneously and therefore unconsciously, as may be the case in hauntings, apparitions and poltergeists, but it is also thought to occur deliberately and through conscious effort. Psychokinesis could be said to be a form of psi where the mind influences matter through invisible means, but what psychokinesis is and how it actually operates remains a mystery. Psychokinesis can include activities such as prayer and healing to influence the outcome of events or amazing feats like tabletilting, fire walking, metal bending and the movement of objects. An individual who is psychokinetic can influence an object from a great distance or in a close proximity to their selves. Some psychokinetics can also manipulate their own bodies and mind. Psychokinesis has been observed and recorded throughout history. Levitations, healings and movement of objects have been attributed to holy people all over the world. Magic spells, curses and rituals may all involve psychokinesis. For example, the evil eye is the universal belief that certain individuals have the power to harm with a look. Psychokinesis has been frequently observed in mediumship in alleged materializations, apports, levitations, and table tipping. Rudi Schneider and D D Home were two mediums renowned for their psychokinetic abilities. Since the 1930s psychokinesis has been a major interest for parapsychologists and researchers, particularly in the United States and the former Soviet Union. Statistical results from laboratory experiments have so far produced inconclusive reports. The conclusion frequently drawn is that psychokinesis does occur but it is not known how or under what circumstances, although there are indications that it is affected by anxiety and boredom. A significant contribution to psychokinetic research was made by J B Rhine at Duke University, North Carolina. He began studying the subject in 1934 and experiments with a gambler who claimed to be able to influence the way dice fell yielded positive results beyond the possibilities of chance. Unfortunately follow-up research yielded uneven results but it was found that subjects tended to score better early in the experimental sequence, before boredom set in. Rhine noticed that psychokinesis did not seem to be connected to any physical processes of the brain or the laws of psychics. It seemed to be a non-physical force of the mind that could act on matter, even if that matter was far away. Rhine also found that psychokinesis is affected by the mental state of the subject and is similar to extrasensory perception (ESP). In fact he concluded that ESP is a necessary part of the psychokinetic process and one is unlikely to occur without the other. Thanks to Rhine’s pioneering work, from the 1940s onwards psychokinesis was no longer limited to physical mediumship but fell into two classes: macro PK (observable effects) and micro PK (weaker effects, requiring statistical analysis to evaluate), with emphasis placed on the latter. In the late 1960s, American physicist Helmut Schmidt devised an apparatus called the ‘electronic coin flipper’, which operated on the random delay of radioactive particles. Subjects were asked to exert mental energy to flip a coin to tails or heads so that bulbs on the device would light up in one direction or another. Some were successful. The electronic coin flipper was the precursor for random event generators, computerized methods that have played a significant role in recent tests for both ESP and psychokinesis. Schmidt also conducted experiments on animal psychokinesis, but it proved difficult to tell if it were the animals or the researchers that were using psychokinesis ability. During the 1970s and 80s a number of psychokinetic experiments were conducted on humans, animals, plants and microorganisms and enzymes. In many of these experiments a so-called linger effect’ has been noticed. For example, temperatures that have been influenced by psychokinesis continue to rise and fall for a period of time after the experiment has finished. Although results have been less than impressive there have been some successes and researchers continue to believe that the area has potential, particularly for healing purposes. In recent years, the term ‘remote influencing’ has become popular to describe the application of psychokinesis to biological systems. This may be to impact either positively or negatively upon health, mood or to influence decision making. PSYCHOKINETIC ENERGY The hypothetical energy source which fuels psychokinesis and other similar psi phenomena. PSYCHOMANTEUM Term used to refer to a place where communication with the dead can take place, such as the oracles that were commonplace in ancient Greece. Modern interest in the concept of the psychomanteum was triggered by Dr Raymond Moody, who coined the term near-death experience. Moody first became interested in mirror gazing in the late 1980s and began to investigate ancient oracular practices and folklore about mirrors as portals to other dimensions. He eventually came to the conclusion that a mirror could be of benefit to those grieving the loss of loved ones, as the mirror, as a portal to the otherworld, could help bring closure. As he continued to research he considered the visions in a mirror to be more than imagery as they could take a person into the middle realm - another dimension, similar to dreams, which mediates between the physical realm and other realms. In order to experiment further Moody constructed his own walk-in psychomanteum from a closet at home. The idea behind the psychomanteum is to eliminate as much outside distraction as possible so that the inner eye can see in the mirror. He covered the floor, walls and ceiling of his cupboard with black carpet and constructed it in such a way that a person could sit in the psychomanteum and not see his or her own reflection. In this way, if the person relaxed and gazed steadily into the mirror, the mirror could become the gateway through which the inner eye - or psychic vision - could see the unseen. Moody spent many years researching and experimenting with the psychomanteum as a way to resolve grief. Numerous people reported a wide variety of experiences in it, from holding conversations with the dead to catching glimpses of the afterlife. Moody published his research in his book, Reunions: Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved Ones (1993). PSYCHOMETRY The ability to gain intuitive impressions of an object’s past history and associations simply by touching or handling it. An American professor of physiology, Joseph R Buchanan (1814-1899), coined the term psychometry in the 1840s after observing experiments in which students were able to identify drugs held in tubes simply by holding the tubes. He saw psychometry as a way of measuring the ‘soul’ of things. The term is derived from the Greek word psyche, meaning ‘soul’ and metron, meaning ‘to measure’. The concept of measuring soul refers to the idea that every object possesses certain vibrations that reflect its inner essence, and that these vibrations can be read by people open to them. In 1854 American geology professor William Denton took Buchanan’s ideas a stage further when he found that his sister was able to record vivid mental images of the appearance of geological specimens wrapped around her head. He recorded his experiments in his book, The Soul of Things. During the height of spiritualism psychometry was popular at séances. Typically a medium would handle a sealed envelope and reveal the contents inside. They might also take a ring, watch or similar object that had been in close contact with a person and read the past and present of the object and those who have been in close contact with it for any length of time. From 1919 to 1922 psychical researcher Gustav Pagenstecher conducted over a hundred psychometry experiments with a medium called Maria Reyes de Zierold. If given an object Maria would fall into a trance and provide information about its past and present. Pagenstecher came to the conclusion that this was not telepathy but the ability to pick up vibrations imprinted on the object by the thoughts of the object’s owner. Psychics and sensitives have traced lost and stolen property and even found missing people through the use of psychometry (see Psychic criminology). Metal is thought to be the best psychically conductive material and if an object has been owned by several people a psychometrist may pick up information about all of them. The theory is that everything that has ever existed has left its mark, and this applies to people and places too. People can be psychometrized. The percipient focuses on a person and tries to pick up impressions and information. Places can also be psychometrized and a psychometrist can tune into past events when they are receptive to the vibrations of a place. It has been suggested that haunted houses demonstrate this on a large scale - events have taken place and left their impressions in the rooms to be picked up by psychics. Psychometry exercise It is thought that everyone has the ability to psychometrize, although regular practice is needed to tap into it. The steps are easy and the following exercise will help develop the ability Take five samples of different substances - cloth, cotton, leather, fur, wood, metal or stone. Sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Take a few deep, relaxing breaths. Choose an object and hold it in your hand. Concentrate fully on that object; feel its texture; think about its origins. Don’t rush. Pay attention to images that come to your mind. You may receive fragments of information. They may come in words, feelings, symbols or a physical sensation. Some people just hold the object in their hands, others hold it over their forehead or their heart. Experiment till you find what comes naturally to you. If you pick up a strong impression that is upsetting try to shift your perspective to being an observer of the information and not an absorber of it. Go through each of the five objects several times, ideally for five to ten minutes, and then place the samples in individual envelopes. The envelopes should all look the same from the outside so you have no idea what is inside. Go through the concentration exercise again, but this time try to pick up a clue regarding what is in the envelope. You may find that you get a clear impression of the object inside or an impression of its origin - tree, animal, mountain, etc. When you are finished you may want to shake or wash your hands to release any of the vibrational impressions that came to you from the objects you were handling. Move on to actual objects to see how you do with them. Take a friend’s ring, watch or brooch. As you hold the object first think of the thing itself. Then ask yourself who has handled it the most? Where has it come from? How was it made? See if you can get a picture of a previous owner. Practise as much as you can with a wide variety of objects from a number of different people. Initially concentrate on personal objects and avoid coins, as they have been handled by too many people. You can also do this with letters; hold a sealed letter in your hands and try to pick up what is in the letter and who wrote it. Check your results and keep a record of them. Many psychics regard psychometry as a form of clairsentience, which is perhaps the most common form of psychic ability. For this reason it is often recommended that beginners focus on psychometry as a first step to awakening their psychic powers. It is said that the ability can be mastered in a few months and lends itself to a natural progression towards more challenging skills. PSYCHOPOMP In mythology and folklore all over the world psychopomps are soul conductors: mythical beings with the ability to search for lost souls, find them and guide them to the afterlife. According to lore, in some cases when a death occurs the soul is caught unprepared and may not know where it is or where it should go. It is the job of the psychopomp to find that soul and conduct it safely to the underworld. Animals, such as dolphins, can be psychopomps, as well as deities and spirits. In shamanistic tradition shamams use mythical horses as psychopomps to conduct them to the underworld where they can commune with spirits. PSYCHOTROPICS Psychotronics is an interdisciplinary study of the relationship between matter, energy and consciousness. It was developed in Eastern Europe but has gained a following in the West and in the United States. The term psychotronics was coined by Czechoslovakian researchers in the 1960s as a replacement for the term parapsychology, and the first international congress on the subject was held in Prague in 1973. In 1975 the United States Psychotronics Association was founded. Psychotronics is based on the theory that everything is comprised of humanity, universe and psychotronic energy, which is the universal life force in all living things. Psychotronics focuses its research on applying psychotronic energy to other fields such as medicine, physics and psychology. Its particular interest is in harnessing cosmic energy in devices. The idea that psychic energy can be transmitted from humans to objects dates back to the eighteenth century, when German chemist Baron Karl von Reichenback suggested that energy could be stored. In the 1920s devices were designed that seemed to show movement when gazed upon by a human. In the late 1960s Czech inventor Robert Pavlia produced psychotronic generators which allegedly collected energy from any bological source and then used it to enhance plant growth. In the United States a device called a psionic generator was designed by Woodrow Ward in the 1970s. The device was allegedly activated by energy from the eyes. In general the field of psychotronics is not recognized by mainstream science. Credibility has been further strained by its association with ideas that governments may be secretly developing psychotronic weapons for mass mind control. PUCA A spirit in Irish folklore that is said to be both helpful and mischievous. According to lore the puca (also known as the pooka) can change shape and is often seen in the guise of a black animal. He may favour humans and protect them from evil, and even perform household chores such as cleaning and tidying, but people who are not grateful will incur his anger. In English folklore puca is known as Puck, a household spirit who in medieval times was thought to be particularly malicious. Puck is also known as Robin Goodfellow and is said to be the child of a human girl and a fairy who has the ability to change into animals and play tricks on humans. PURGATORY A state of transition where it is said the soul goes to await judgement following the death of the physical body. Within the Roman Catholic belief system a soul in purgatory may atone for sins committed during its physical life and then qualify for eternal life in heaven. PURPOSEFUL GHOST A term used to describe a ghost that returns with a purpose for its haunting activity, such as to direct the living to the location of a hidden body or treasure, or to pass along a message that was left uncommunicated in life. Once the purpose has been fulfilled, these types of ghosts are normally never reported again. PYRAMID POWER The geometry of the four-sided conical shape of the pyramid is alleged to generate supernatural powers. Pyramids are ancient structures found throughout the world, and are thought to have been built for ceremonial purposes or as burial chambers. Various occult theories suggest they were used for initiation into sacred mysteries or were the focus for cosmic forces. According to the Egyptian Book of the Dead the power of the pyramid awakens the god who sleeps in the person’s soul, and pyramid power is the belief that pyramids or sitting beneath a pyramid shape can enrich a person’s psychic and healing power. It is thought by some that pyramids act as repositories or transformers of the earth’s magnetic energies and atmosphere. The unique shape of the pyramid sucks vibrational energy from the earth up to the peak of the pyramid and at the same time cosmic or solar radiation is attracted to the peak, in an effect described as lightning rod’. The energy produced supercharges the atmosphere within and around the pyramid. Experiments with pyramid power have yielded intriguing results. In 1959 Karl Drbal, a Czech engineer, claimed that razor blades placed in the cavity of a pyramid would be sharpened by some sort of energy within 24 hours. In another experiment plants grown in a pyramid-shaped greenhouse increased in growth by over 150 per cent when compared to plants raised in the same growing conditions, including soil and location, in a greenhouse that was a normal shape. Pyramid power is best known for focusing psychic power and for demonstrating therapeutic properties. If a pyramid is placed under a bed or chair on which a person is sitting, or pointed towards the source of pain, some people claim that relief is almost immediate. Other people say that meditation under a pyramid helps open their psychic faculties. PYROMANCY Term used to describe a number of ancient divination methods using fire for predicting the future and uncovering knowledge. These methods ranged from interpreting the movements and sounds of flame to throwing sacrifices into flames and interpreting how they burned. This type of divination was widely practised in ancient Greece and Rome. For example, the Vestal Virgins in Rome were in charge of divining by the observation of the perpetually burning fire. Fire was considered one of the primary elements of the universe and intrinsically pure, so anything sacrificed in fire, from plants to animals to people, was considered purified and acceptable to the gods. The colour of the flames during a sacrifice would have been taken into account, as would the way flames flickered, the height they attained, their rise and fall and all other aspects of them. The presage was good if the flames quickly consumed a sacrifice, but bad if the fire refused to start or was disturbed by wind and took a long time to burn the sacrifice. If there was little smoke, if the flames burned with no sound or if they were bright and orange the interpretation was favourable. Not so if there was a lot of smoke, the fire crackled and the flames were deep red in colour. The ancients divined not only by observing the flames of sacrificial fires but also by the flames of a torch. If the flame divided into two it was a bad omen, but a single point or three points was a good sign. If the flame bent it was a sign of sickness or even death to come. If the flame suddenly went out it was a sign of great disaster. PYTHAGORAS [C. 580–500 BC] Greek philosopher and mathematician, best known for the geometric theorem named after him, which states that the square of the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides, but he was also the father of many mystical and divinatory practices, including numerology. His teachings influenced Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and other philosophers down the centuries, and continue to influence thinkers in numerous disciplines to the present day. Pythagoras conceived of the universe as a living being animated by a great and intelligent soul. He called this soul God the Monad, the Supreme Mind. Humans were separate from the supreme mind apart from the soul, which was an immortal spark of the supreme mind imprisoned in the body until death released it. Furthermore Pythagoras believed there were associations between the supreme mind, humanity and numbers that could be codified to predict the fate of a person or future events, when certain number patterns appeared. He described numbers as an intrinsic virtue of the supreme mind and ascribed to each a principle and an active force in the universe. The first four numbers - 1 to 4 - contain the basic principles of the universe, since adding or multiplying them produce all other numbers. Special meanings were given to the numbers 3, 7 and 10. Number 7 is comprised of the numbers 3 and 4: the union of humanity and divinity. It is the number of intuitives. Ten is the perfect number (1 + 2 + 3 + 4) and represents all the principles of the supreme mind. According to Pythagoras the whole universe, including the heavens, could be interpreted using numbers, and centuries before the telescope was invented he attempted to record and analyse the orbits of the sun, moon and stars. He also formulated the ‘music of the spheres’ theory, describing it as a ‘divine symphony beyond perception by most humans played by the planets as they spin along in their orbits’. He believed in the healing power of music, thinking it could inspire and purify the soul. Q QABALAH See Kabbalah. QI GONG Ancient Chinese art and science of breath, motion, sound and visualization to cultivate Qi, the vital force throughout the body (see universal life force). Translated Qi gong literally means to ‘work on qi’ (chi), and involves the expelling of toxins by forceful breathing; a kind of ultimate physical and spiritual detox. It typically involves the coordination of sound with breath, movement, vibration, visualization and intention to purify the major organs of the body. Medical qi gong is often referred to as ‘acupuncture without the needles’, and qi gong doctors allegedly possess remarkable abilities, such as the ability to heal from a distance by projecting intention on acupuncture points. Buddhist and Taoist qi gong combine mental and spiritual development with martial art practices and meditation. QUACKERY Integrating metaphysics with sympathetic magic, or spiritualism with healing. The term is generally used to describe frauds that dispense useless or harmful treatments to vulnerable people. QUANTUM HEALING A variation of self-healing and mind/body medicine advanced by physician and writer Dr Deepak Chopra. Quantum healing draws its inspiration from the interconnectedness or wholeness of universe, mind and matter suggested by quantum theory. Deepak Chopra, a respected New England endocrinologist, began his search for explanations when he saw patients in his own practice who had completely recovered after being given only a few months to live. In the mid-1980s he returned to his native India to explore Ayurvedic medicine and immediately began to see connections between Western medicine, neuroscience, physics and Ayurvedic theory. He put forward the theory that the human body is controlled by a network of intelligence grounded in quantum reality, and that this intelligence can change basic physiological patterns and has the potential to defeat cancer, heart disease and even ageing itself. According to Chopra, quantum healing is an alleged process of peacemaking wherein one mode of consciousness - the mind - corrects mistakes in another mode of consciousness -the body. Quantum healing is healing the body and the mind from a quantum level. That means from a level which is not manifest at a sensory level. Our bodies ultimately are fields of information, intelligence and energy. Quantum healing involves a shift in the fields of energy information, so as to bring about a correction in an idea that has gone wrong. So quantum healing involves healing one mode of consciousness, mind, to bring about changes in another mode of consciousness, body. QUANTUM THEORY The theoretical basis of modern physics that explains the nature and behaviour of matter and energy on the atomic and subatomic level and, by so doing, opens up the possibility of interconnection between mind and matter. In 1900, physicist Max Planck presented his quantum theory to the German Physical Society. While attempting to discover why radiation from a glowing body changes in colour as its temperature rises, he made the assumption that energy exists in individual units in the same way that matter does, rather than just as a constant electromagnetic wave (as had been formerly assumed), and was therefore quantifiable. The existence of these energy units became the first assumption of quantum theory. Planck called these individual units of energy ‘quanta’ and so began a completely new and fundamental understanding of the laws of nature. Over the next thirty years or so a number of scientists made their own significant contributions to our modern understanding of quantum theory. In 1905, Albert Einstein suggested that not just energy but radiation itself was quantized in the same manner. In 1924, Louis de Broglie proposed that there was no fundamental difference in the makeup and behaviour of energy and matter; on the atomic and subatomic level either may behave as if made of either particles or waves. This theory became known as the principle of wave-particle duality. In 1927, Werner Heisenberg proposed that precise, simultaneous measurement of two complementary values, such as the position and momentum of a subatomic particle, is impossible. This theory became known as the uncertainty principle. The two major interpretations of quantum theory’s implications for the nature of reality are the ‘Copenhagen interpretation’ and the ‘many-worlds theory’. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory suggests that a particle is whatever it is measured to be (for example, a wave or a particle), but that it cannot be assumed to have specific properties, or even to exist, until it is measured. The emphasis here is placed on the act of observation, which alters that which is being measured. The second interpretation of quantum theory is the manyworlds theory. This holds that as soon as a potential exists for any object to be in any state, the universe of that object transmutes into a series of parallel universes equal to the number of possible states in which that object can exist, with each universe containing a unique single possible state of that object. Furthermore, there is a mechanism for interaction between these universes that somehow permits all states to be accessible in some way and for all possible states to be affected in some manner. Quantum physics revolutionized scientific and philosophical thinking by challenging the fundamental principle of cause preceding effect, and assigning as much importance to the observer as to his observations. It gave reasons to suppose that life is more than just a complex arrangement of physical matter brought about by chance and provides a more optimistic view of things. It opened up many possibilities by suggesting an interconnectedness or wholeness to the universe reminiscent of the teachings of many mystics. In itself it does not postulate the existence of soul or spirit, but it does provide a mechanism in which mind can affect matter, as is the case with ESP and psychokinesis, and a mechanism in which non-physical entities such as ghosts, spirits and other paranormal phenomena could exert their influence upon the physical universe by slightly shifting the probability distribution associated with individual quantum events. QUARTZ Some quartz crystal spells/remedies Transformation spell: Rose quartz is thought to transform anger into love or at least into mild affection. Wear it. Give it as a gift to those who have problems with you. Talisman of love: Rose quartz also allegedly draws lovers to you. Wear it as jewellery or carry it with you. Should it draw too many, too fast, overwhelming you, add an amethyst for a stabilizing effect. Heart spell: Sew a rose quartz within a thin muslin sachet. Add healing herbs if desired and wear this sachet next to your heart for healing and vitality. Clear quartz crystal spells: Store tarot cards, runes and other divination devices with a quartz crystal to empower them and make them easier to read. You may also want to wear a clear quartz crystal around your neck or sleep with itunder your pillow to enhance access to your psychic powers. Amethyst headache remedy: Immerse an amethyst in moderately hot water for seven minutes. Gently pat it dry. Carefully rub the amethyst over the affected areas plus the back of the neck. Cleaning spell: Place large amethyst or clear quartz crystals in room and office corners to serve as spiritual vacuum cleaners and to boost mental powers and concentration. Talisman of protection: Wearing an amethyst allegedly protects against pickpockets and thieves. Topaz burn-healing spell: Gently place a topaz over the burned or bandaged area. Let your open palm rest several inches above the topaz and the burn, transmitting healing energy. This allegedly speeds up healing. General term for a number of different crystals used for divination and magical and healing purposes. These crystals include citrine, amethyst, jasper, agate and topaz, but clear quartz is most often used to make crystal balls and scrying mirrors. Quartz is also used to rid the environment of unhealthy toxins and is believed to have a vacuum-cleaner effect on negative energy, helping to maintain a fresh atmosphere. It is thought to be especially good for cleansing an area full of electromagnetic toxins, such as an office with computers. In magic, quartz is used as a protective amulet against evil and for enchantments and spells. Rose quartz is believed to have special powers to attract attention, so it is often used for love spells. Quartz is also believed to help boost psychic powers and has been used for this purpose for centuries by cultures all over the world. QUEEN ANNE’S COUNTY GHOST The ghost which allegedly appeared in Queen Anne’s County is the subject of a famous American ghost story first related in a rare early nineteenth-century pamphlet that bears the following title: Authentic account of the appearance of a ghost in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland. Proved in said County Court in the remarkable trial, State of Maryland, use of James, Fanny, Robert and Thomas Harris versus Mary Harris, Administratrix of James Harris. From attested notes taken in court at the time by one of the council, Baltimore, 1807.’ The lengthy account that follows reports how the ghost of James Harris allegedly returned to torment his eldest daughter, Mary, who was attempting to deprive his other children of their rightful share of his estate. It was apparently as a result of Harris’s appearances in spirit form, telling them of the deception, that the four other heirs took their elder sister to court and established their claim. Unfortunately the pamphlet does not state the outcome of the claim but it is rumoured that so vividly and convincingly were the ghost’s actions described in court that the judge ruled in favour of the four children. The ghost of James Harris was never seen again. QUEEN MARY Historic ocean liner that is believed to be haunted by numerous ghosts. Considered the most luxurious ocean liner ever to sail the Atlantic, the Queen Mary first set sail in 1934, carrying 3,000 passengers and crew. Refitted during World War II, the ship carried as many as 16,000 troops at a time. After over a thousand voyages across the ocean, in 1967 the Queen Mary was permanently docked in Long Beach, California, where it is now an art deco hotel and interactive museum. The First Class Swimming Pool is reportedly haunted by the ghosts of two women who drowned there, one in the 1930s and the other in the 1960s. The changing rooms near the pool are the source of negative feelings allegedly detected by numerous psychics. Other haunted areas of the ship include the Queen’s Salon (with the ghost of a young woman in a white dress), the First Class Suites (a man in a 1930s suit), the Forward Storage Room (children playing) and the Tourist Class Swimming Pool (a drowned woman). Cabin B340 is believed to be so full of psychic disturbance that it is rarely rented out. Bosun’s Locker is the site where the Queen Mary once sliced through her escort ship to evade German U-boats. Because of wartime sailing orders, the ship was not permitted to stop for survivors, so over 300 men drowned. It is said that pounding on the walls can still be heard in that area of the ship. The kitchen is another haunted area. During the war a cook was murdered by troops aboard the ship who didn’t like his cooking. He was stuffed into an oven and burned to death; his screams are said to still be heard. About 50 people have died aboard the Queen Mary, and it’s no surprise that the ship’s morgue is thought to be haunted too. The most well-known ghost to appear in the morgue is believed to be that of 18-year-old John Pedder, a crewman who was crushed by door number 13 during a watertight drill. He is sometimes spotted wearing the blue overalls in which he died. QUEEN’S BANK GHOST Alleged haunting of Coutts & Co., one of the most prestigious banks in England, which gained international media attention. Coutts & Co., called the Queen’s bank because of its wealthy clientele and royal connections, was founded in 1692. Its headquarters have been at 440 Strand since the late 1970s. In 1992 a number of female employees began to complain of unusual phenomena, including light and computer malfunctions, plummeting temperatures and a terrifying shadowy black figure, sometimes without a head, darting around the building. When some employees became too frightened to work the bank contacted the College of Psychic Studies for help. The college sent medium Eddie Burks to help. Burks visited the bank and interviewed the employees. He also allegedly made contact with the ghost and described him as a wealthy gentleman lawyer from the Elizabethan era. Sadly he had refused to cooperate with the Queen and was charge with treason and beheaded on a summer’s day in a location not far from the bank. His execution had left him angry and bitter and unwilling to depart. The ghost knew that this anger and bitterness was holding him back in the afterlife and asked Burks to help him let go of it. Burks agreed and held his contact with the ghost until the man’s daughter, dressed in Elizabethan clothing too, arrived in white and radiating light. According to Burks she took her father’s hand and the two melted into the light. When the media got hold of the story a search began for the identity of the ghost. It was suggested by Father Francis Edwards, a Jesuit priest and member of the Royal Historical Society, that it might have been Thomas Howard, the fourth Duke of Norfolk. During his lifetime Howard had been involved with plots to overthrow Queen Elizabeth in favour of Mary Queen of Scots. When Elizabeth found out about Howard’s disloyalty he was arrested, sent to the Tower of London and beheaded on 2 June 1572, at the age of 37. The description of Howard matched that given by Burks and many of the details about his life also matched. This wasn’t the end of the story. On 12 January 1993 Howard allegedly told Burks that he was grateful for his release and was now in a peaceful place with his daughter. He returned again on 2 June 1993, the anniversary of his death, to acknowledge that he had let go of his bitterness. In the meantime, Howard’s descendants, the seventeenth Duke of Norfolk and his family, had decided to organize a memorial service for him on 15 November 1993; the next day Burks informed them that the spirit of Howard had once again come to him to express his thanks for the service. The final communication came on 23 December 1993, when Howard expressed his thanks to Father Edwards for identifying him correctly. QUEEN’S HOUSE The Queen’s House at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, was built in the seventeenth century and in 1966 it provided the setting for one of the most famous spirit photographs ever taken. The photograph was taken by R W Hardy, a retired clergyman from Canada, and his wife. The couple were visiting the house as tourists and had no interest in ghosts. They took numerous photographs, including one of the beautiful Tulip Staircase. When the photograph was developed the staircase, which had seemed empty at the time the photograph was taken, appeared to be occupied by two shadowy figures in the process of climbing the stairs. Experts examined the film and could find no evidence of fraud or technical interference and no explanation could be found. Subsequent investigation of the area has yielded reports of ghostly footsteps and strange muttering noises. QUINN’S LIGHT Strange ghostly phenomenon reported in Australia, similar to the corpse candles of the British Isles. Quinn’s light is said to appear as a phosphorescent light that goes round and round in circles before disappearing as mysteriously as it appeared. It is often reported in bush areas and there are a number of reports from people who have followed the light and even fired at it - but to no effect. The Australians also have the Min-Min lights, which are said to appear in cemeteries and seem to dance around the gravestones. Explanations for Quinn’s lights, Min-Min lights and other similar ghost lights are as numerous and varied as the sightings themselves. They typically fall into the following five categories: 1. Misidentifications of natural phenomena such as wind-blown mists, escaping marsh gas (considered by many to be the most likely explanation as ghost lights typically appear in marshy areas), light refraction effects, ball lightning or other electric discharge and so on. 2. An unknown natural phenomenon involving low-level air oscillations, or ionisation in geophysically generated electrical fields. 3. Psychokinetic or poltergeist effects unconsciously produced by an individual. 4. Small UFOs acting as remote-control probes. 5. Non-physical apparitions/ghosts. Numerous accounts exist in folklore of the supernatural origin and appearance of ghost lights. R R-101 CASE Case involving the Irish medium Eileen Garrett, who allegedly solved the mystery of the crash of the British dirigible R-101 using information communicated to her from the spirit world. Garrett claimed to have had a series of premonitions of the disaster, which killed 48 passengers and crew. She sent a warning to the director of civil aviation, Sir Sefton Brancker, but he refused to take it seriously and declared the R-101 to be as ‘safe as a house, except for the millionth chance’. She received a message during a séance from a deceased Captain Hinchcliffe, warning his friend, Ernest Johnston, the navigator of the R-101, not to go on the ship’s flight because it would crash, but Johnston also did not take the message seriously. The R-101 lifted off on 4 October 1930 and crashed the next day near Paris. Garrett allegedly knew about the crash before news reached the media. Brancker was one of the victims. A few days after the crash Garrett conducted a séance and, through her control, Uvani, began to receive messages from the dead captain of the R-101, Flight Lieutenant H Carmichael Irwin. The information that was received about the airship was of such a confidential nature that Harry Price, one of the sitters who was investigating Garrett’s mediumship, worried about espionage. He sent a copy of the séance transcript to Sir John Simon, chairman of the Court of Inquiry investigating the disaster. The press got involved, as did a number of military officials, including Major Oliver Villiers, a close friend of Brancker. Lieutenant Irwin allegedly communicated again and was joined by other members of the crew. The spirits claimed that the R-101 had had a gas leak and a number of other problems, which had been ignored by officials who wanted to launch the vessel on time. Major Villiers was convinced Garrett had been communicating with the spirits of the dead crew but Sir John Simon ruled that nothing could be done with the testimony as it would not be accepted in a court of law. Villiers, however, remained convinced that the dead crew wanted the world to know what had really happened, and 25 years later he gave a copy of the séance records to author James Leasor, who went on to write The Millionth Chance: the Story of the R-101. RADIANT BOYS Ghosts of boys who have been murdered by their mothers. They appear in glowing or misty light and are believed to be an omen of bad luck or death. Radiant boys feature in the folklore of England and Europe and may trace their origin to the kindermörderinnen (child murderesses) of Germanic lore. Impressive Corby Castle in Cumberland is said to be haunted by a small, glimmering spirit known as the radiant boy. His origins are uncertain but he has been reported for over 200 years in a room in part of the old house adjoining the tower. His most famous appearance took place on 8 September 1803. The Rector of Greystoke and his wife were among a number of guests who planned to stay several days, but after just one night they announced that they would be leaving. Some time later the Rector confessed to the owner of the house his reason for leaving: Soon after we went to bed, we fell asleep: it might have been between one and two in the morning when I awoke. I observed that the fire was totally extinguished; but although that was the case, and we had no light, I saw a glimmer in the centre of the room, which suddenly increased to a bright flame. I looked out, apprehending that something had caught fire, when, to my amazement, I beheld a beautiful boy, clothed in white, with bright locks, resembling gold, standing by my bedside, in which position he remained for some minutes, fixing his eyes upon me with a mild and benevolent expression. He then glided gently away toward the side of the chimney, where it is obvious there is no possible egress, and entirely disappeared. I found myself again in total darkness, and all remained quiet until the usual hour of rising. I declare this to be a true account of what I saw at Corby Castle, upon my word as a clergyman. Another famous encounter with a radiant boy occurred in the last years of the eighteenth century to a man called Captain Robert Stewart. There are different versions of the story but according to one, Captain Stewart was out hunting while stationed in Ireland when he was caught in a terrible storm. He sought shelter at a country gentleman’s house and was given a makeshift bed to sleep in beside a roaring fire. He awoke abruptly in the night and saw, gradually disclosing itself, the form of a beautiful naked boy, surrounded by a dazzling radiance. The boy looked at him earnestly, and then the vision faded, and all was dark again. When Stewart told the owner of the house what he had seen the gentleman explained that the room was haunted by the radiant boy, and that anyone who saw him would obtain great power, but would die a violent death at the height of his fame and influence. Robert Stewart later became Viscount Castlereagh, second Marquis of Londonderry, and entered the British House of Commons, becoming Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary. In 1822, depressed by overwork and responsibilities he cut his throat with a penknife. Castlereagh’s rise and fall is often cited as an example of the curse of the radiant boy, even though it took three decades to come to fruition. RADIESTHESIA A method of medical dowsing that uses a pendulum to determine if someone is ill or potentially ill. Typically a pendulum is held over the body and the direction in which it rotates or swings indicates the nature and location of the illness. Measures are then taken to rebalance the flow of energy (see universal life force) throughout the body and restore health. RADIONICS Medicine system developed by Dr Albert Abrams in the early twentieth century. It is based on radiesthesia (medical dowsing) but instead of a pendulum uses a ‘black box’ to detect and rebalance energy patterns in the body. All bodies radiate an electromagnetic field, and according to Abrams the ‘black box’ he created could distinguish which tissue was healthy and which was diseased, based on the vibrations of a person’s electromagnetic field as they were scanned. Radionic instruments could then be retuned to emit ‘healing vibrations’ which could cure disease. Abrams’s theories enjoyed a couple of years of popularity, and a few enthusiasts still practise radionics today, but it has yet to gain scientific backing. RAISING CONSCIOUSNESS The theory that change in the world can be created when large numbers of people concentrate, meditate or pray for that change. Modern physics supports the idea that everything exists as waves rather than specific points in time and space, and these waves or fields include time, space and gravity. Some scientists have also recently suggested that consciousness itself is a field. Research in the area of field consciousness is new but scientists have been researching the theory that if many minds focus on a single topic they can have a measurable impact or effect on that topic. Experiments have attempted to show that normally random results can change when people focus their minds on a single event. Results have been measured by the use of random number generators - computerized machines that indicate when there is a definite change from randomness to order during such moments of intense mental focus. In recent years many scientists have studied the phenomena of group mental focus. Random number generators have been used to measure the public’s focused attention at events. Although the events vary in their topic of focus, location and the number of people involved they all show surprising evidence that something does occur when large numbers of people focus on the same event. In other words, experiments with random number generators show that thought alone, without any physical action, can somehow create an enormous amount of synchronization or order out of randomness. The potential power of unity of thought adds a scientific basis to the idea of creating change by raising consciousness in large numbers of people. It also suggests that concentration, meditation and prayer may indeed be potent sources of healing. RAKSHASA Demon spirit that appears in Hindu folklore as a black figure with yellow hair wearing a wreath of entrails. The name literally means ‘destroyer’, and rakshasa are believed to be evil, destructive and dim-witted creatures. According to lore rakshasa are shape-shifters that can take on the shape of animals and humans, but generally they are hideous in appearance with huge bellies and slits for eyes. Some are believed to be particularly wicked and they are notorious for disturbing sacrifices, desecrating graves, harassing priests, possessing human beings and so on. Their fingernails are poisonous, and they feed on human flesh and spoiled food in a futile attempt to satisfy their insatiable hunger. They can reanimate corpses and can take possession of a human through his or her food, causing illness or madness. It is believed to be easy to banish them however - all a person needs to say is ‘uncle’. RANDOM PSYCHIC INTUITION Random psychic intuition differs from deductive psychic intuition in that it is thought to be totally unrelated to anything that is known consciously or unconsciously. It can be about anything that has taken place, is taking place or will take place in the future. It can be induced during a light trance or meditation but typically comes at the most unexpected or unwanted times, when the conscious mind is open to images sent to it from the unconscious. It can create a powerful impression and may leave a person feeling confused and dazed. Sudden premonitions of disaster that appear for no reason are typical examples of random psychic intuition at work. RAPPING Means of alleged spirit communication during a séance that involves any knocking, thumping, bumping or tapping. It is also a characteristic of numerous poltergeist cases and hauntings. Rappings associated with spirit messages appear in the ninth-century chronicle Rudulf of Fulda and rapping spirits were conjured away at the benediction of the medieval Catholic Church. Rappers also appeared in 1521 in Lyons, France and in 1610 in Ayr, Scotland. In 1661 Revd Joseph Glanvill mentioned rappings at Tedworth, England (see Drummer of Tedworth), and in 1716 Revd Samuel Wesley heard rapping at Epworth Rectory. It wasn’t until 1848, however, when the Fox sisters asked ‘Mr Splitfoot’ to answer questions via rapping, that large number of people began to believe in it as a form of spirit communication. At first Spitfoot rapped twice for yes and not at all for no, but in time an alphabet code was worked out to communicate messages. From then on mediums all over America and Europe were communicating with spirits via rapping and the phenomenon remains an important part of spirit communication today. Clearly much of the rapping was produced fraudulently and a number of mediums, including the Fox sisters, admitted that the raps were made by their toes cracking against the floorboards. The famous magician Harry Houdini offered a number of techniques and explanations for rapping, including the clicking of thumbnails together, slipping a shoe against a table leg and sliding moistened fingers across a table top. Others made use of trick magnets and devices operated by wires and hidden in their clothes and shoes to create the raps. Despite this many people were convinced that rappings were genuine proof of survival after death. The medium D D Home believed that spirits had to rap to obtain relief: by remaining in the earth’s atmosphere they get so charged with electricity that the only way to release energy is to rap. RASPUTIN, GRIGORI EFIMOVICH [1871–1916] Russian prophet, healer and mystic who predicted not just his own death but the downfall of Tsar Nicholas II and the Russian nobility. Rasputin was born in Pokrovskoye to Siberian peasants. He had his first vision of the Virgin Mary in his early twenties, which prompted him to set out on a two-year pilgrimage to Athens. When he returned home he allegedly possessed the ability to heal and cure by prayer alone. Despite his odd ways, womanizing and unkempt appearance, Rasputin’s healing abilities soon attracted the interest of Tsar Nicholas and his family. The Tsar’s son, Alexis, had haemophilia and Rasputin was able to ease the boy’s condition. Rasputin soon became a favourite in the royal court but the more his popularity grew the more he attracted jealously from the nobility, who plotted to kill him. In a letter Rasputin predicted his own death by 1 January 1917. He also wrote that if peasants killed him the monarchy would prosper but if he was killed by the nobility the royal family would collapse within two years and after 25 years of unrest the nobility would be erased from the country. On the night of 30 December 1916, Rasputin was poisoned. Allegedly, when the poison failed to take effect, he was then shot and beaten with a bar. When this didn’t work either he was bound and thrown into the Neva River. This did kill him but when his body was recovered no trace of poison was found. True to his prediction the royal family was murdered within the next two years. Twentyfive years later the nobility finally came to an end under Stalin’s regime. RAUDIVE, KONSTANTIN [1909–1974] The pioneering force in exploring electronic voice phenomena (EVP), German psychologist Dr Konstantin Raudive discovered his life’s work when a tape recording he had made of bird song produced anomalous voices speaking in long extinct dialects. This prompted him to set up equipment that he believed could record communications from the spirits of the dead. The results of his experiments yielded a huge range of responses, sometimes in foreign languages, at times quite audible, and at other times almost imperceptible, but the overall results were generally regarded as impressive. Raudive went on to publish what is still regarded today as the major work in the field of EVP - Breakthrough—An Amazing Experiment in Electronic Communication with the Dead (1971) - and his methods and theories have become almost standard references in the field of paranormal investigations. RAVENS Considered to be the most intelligent birds with a long life span, corvids ravens, crows and magpies - have been surrounded by superstition and myth for centuries. The ancient Greeks and Romans considered the crow to be a weather prophet and the raven is still regarded by the Greeks as a ‘thunderbird‘ because of its alleged ability to predict a storm. In Britain to find a dead crow on the road is considered to be a sign of good luck, while to find one in a churchyard is considered bad luck. In Wales, if one crow crosses your path it is good luck but if two cross it is a bad omen. In Scotland, a raven circling a house is thought to predict a death for someone in the house, while in England it is said that as long as ravens remain in the Tower of London the country will never fall to enemies. An old Irish saying is ‘to have raven’s knowledge’, meaning to have the ability to see and know all things. In Tibet, the raven is the messenger of the Supreme Being. Counting crows has been a popular method of foretelling the future in many countries for hundreds of years: One crow—signifies bad luck, possible death. Two crows—good luck, change for the better. Three crows—a celebration, a possible marriage or birth of a girl. Four crows—birth of a boy or significant event to do with a son. Five crows—a positive transaction. Six crows—gold, wealth. Seven crows—a secret. Eight crows—something profound, or a life-altering experience. Nine crows—denotes passion, or something sensual. Ten crows—denotes something overwhelming. Eleven crows—uncertainty. Twelve crows—fulfilment. RAYLEIGH, LORD [184.x—1919] Celebrated physicist with an interest in the paranormal, Lord Rayleigh is often recalled as one of the pioneers in the science of acoustics who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904 for his part in the discovery of argon. Apart from his Theory of Sound, his other extensive and groundbreaking studies are reported in his Scientific Papers - six volumes issued during the period 1889 to 1920. It is often argued that Lord Rayleigh was among the first British scientists to speculate on the connection between electromagnetic field fluctuations and paranormal activity, although this remains highly speculative. What is positively known, however, of Rayleigh’s involvement with the paranormal is that he was an illustrious member of the British Society for Psychical Research and was involved in numerous investigations of allegedly haunted locations. REBIRTHING A technique of breath control that aims to release physical and emotional tension through relaxation, concentration exercises and the release of breath. Rebirthing involves a series of breathing sessions that are designed to reestablish the natural breathing patterns of birth. These breathing patterns have the effect of building up energy that has a vitalizing effect on the body. The increased physical and psychological relaxation can trigger the release of memories from the subconscious, which often date back to birth, life in the womb or even previous lives. The technique was discovered in America by Leonard Orr in 1975 and has many similarities to Eastern breathing exercises, such as yoga breathing. Orr found that it helped his clients resolve repressions, negative attitudes and low self-esteem that supposedly originated with experiences before and during birth. Rebirthing practitioners instruct their clients in various breathing exercises that trigger hyperventilation and during the ensuing physiological response encourage clients to re-enact their birth. According to theory this leads to a cathartic rush of emotions and a renewed sense of physical and psychic energy. There is no formal code of practice or formal training for rebirthing practitioners and it remains a controversial technique. During the 1990s it attracted a lot of negative publicity when a young girl died during a rebirthing ritual designed to ‘help’ her bond with her foster parents. R SYCHOKINESIS NTANEOUS PSYCHOKINESIS Expression coined by William G Roll to refer to paranormal physical effects which occur repeatedly over a period of time, especially used as a neutral description of poltergeist disturbances. REFLEXOLOGY Alternative therapy in which pain relief and the alleviation of certain ailments is achieved by applying pressure and massage to different areas of the feet. Reflexology has been known for centuries with references found in ancient Chinese, Egyptian and Indian texts, but it was first used in the West in 1915 by Dr William Fitzgerald, an ear, nose and throat specialist with an interest in acupuncture. Fitzgerald noticed that applying pressure to one part of the body had a numbing effect on another and he mapped out ten body zones of energy (called chi) similar to the meridians in traditional Chinese medicine. In the 1930s physiotherapist Eunice Ingham took this one stage further when she suggested that all parts of the body could be treated by pressing certain areas of the foot. She coined the phrase ‘reflexology’, and mapped out many of the foot reflex points that are used today. According to reflexology theory, specific foot zones are linked to every important organ, gland and muscle in the body. When a physical response occurs this is reflected in the relevant foot zone, which carries crystalline deposits beneath the skin. Reflexology breaks down these crystalline deposits so they can be taken away by the lymphatic system. This helps to detoxify the body. Most of the body’s nerves also end in a reflex point on the feet and when these reflexes are pressed they stimulate the nerve and increase the flow of positive neurotransmitters, like endorphins, to the brain. Finally, like any therapy that aims to balance chi, reflexology helps break up blockages and regulate the flow of energy so that the body’s self-healing mechanism can be stimulated. Whether crystalline deposits are present or not there is plenty of evidence to suggest that reflexology works. There are no known side effects and it is thought to be particularly therapeutic for stress-related conditions such as insomnia and headaches, as well as for back pain, constipation, emotional distress and pain relief in general. REGARDIE, F ISRAEL [1907–1985] Israel Regardie was an occultist, author and one-time secretary to the legendary Aleister Crowley. As an adept of the secret order known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, he became infamous among the occultists of his day for breaking his oath of secrecy and publishing the Order’s complete rituals in his book The Golden Dawn. Today this book is a classic bestseller and has been revised and reissued several times. Regardie’s decision to go public earned him the contempt of his fellow occultists but by the time of his death in 1985 he was regarded as the world’s acknowledged authority on ceremonial magic. Born in England in 1907 Regardie spent much of his life in the United States where he worked as a body therapist. He was strongly influenced by Aleister Crowley and became his secretary for a number of years. He joined Crowley’s magical order but managed to steer clear of the excesses associated with Crowley. In addition to his popular and bestselling four-volume Golden Dawn, Regardie also published other books, including The Art of True Healing and The Middle Pillar - both of which remain classics for serious students of the occult. REGRESSION See Past-life therapy. REICH, WILHELM [1897–1957] Psychoanalyst who is best known for taking Freudian doctrines to the extreme by suggesting that orgasm is the ultimate key to physical and psychological health. Reich claimed to have discovered the concept of orgone energy, which has similarities with prana or the universal life force (chi), and which he believed to be the specific basis for love and orgasm. He insisted that there was a physical bioelectric flow of energy through the body and this was not a metaphysical concept as there were biological entities in the body called bions, which carried the energy. According to Reich, when emotions and sexuality are repressed this energy flow becomes blocked and poor physical and emotional health are the result. The body holds these repressions as sexual armour but this shield can be dissolved using a series of approaches, such as deep breathing, massage and physical movement; a system called bioenergetics. Despite his dubious claims, Reich’s bodywork concepts and psychoanalytic theories have had glowing testimonials from those undergoing Reichian therapy. They have also heavily influenced other bodywork schools of thought, like Rolfing, that believe there is a correlation between muscular tension and repressed emotions and/or sexuality. REIKI Reiki is a holistic alternative therapy based on Eastern concepts of energy flow and the seven chakras (energy centres) in the human body. Reiki was formulated by a Japanese teacher, Mikao Usui, around 1890, but incorporates meditation techniques, beliefs, and symbols that are considerably older. Reiki (pronounced ‘ray-key’) is a Japanese word representing universal life force energy, the energy that is all around us. It is derived from rei, meaning ‘free passage’ or ‘transcendental spirit’, and ki, meaning ‘vital life force energy’ or ‘universal life energy’. Reiki masters, called ‘initiates’, are trained to act as channels for universal life energy. They use their hands to direct healing power down to a patient where it can promote healing and wellbeing, reduce stress and alleviate the symptoms of serious illness. In a similar way to therapeutic touch the Reiki master moves his or her hands above the body with hardly any physical contact, or they are placed on the body using specific movements and massage to direct the healing energy. Reiki is believed to have originated thousands of years ago in Tibet. It had fallen out of use until it was rediscovered in Japan by Buddhist monk Mikao Usui, during the mid-1800s. After a three-week meditation on a mountain top Usui claimed to have been knocked down by a beam of light from heaven filled with bubbles of light containing symbols. He took this to mean that the symbols had healing power and started to use them in his healing practice with good rates of success. Usui kept these symbols secret and only passed them on to a chosen few followers. Reiki finally arrived in the West via Hawayo Takata, a Japanese woman who learned it from one of Usui’s pupils. The theory behind Reiki is similar to the concept of body energy in traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine and spiritual healing. Everyone has an energy field that, in good health, runs around and through their bodies in flow or vibration. When illness occurs the energy flow becomes unbalanced and the aim is to rebalance these energies and stimulate the body’s self-healing mechanism. Reiki practitioners can also perform absent healing on a patient who is not physically present. When this is the case practitioners are believed to act as passive channels for the life energy that comes from a universal source. Practitioners do not direct the energy, which guides itself solely to where it is needed. Training to become a Reiki master is a challenging process that is both expensive and exhausting. There are three levels of training and only the highest and most accomplished pupils are shown Usui’s healing symbols. In a typical Reiki session the client would be asked to focus on their own ‘healing intention’, while the initiate goes into his or ritual to channel beneficial vibrations into the patient’s energy centres, the chakras. Clients report feeling tingling and warmth in these areas and many say they feel relaxed and energized after a session. Reiki is believed to be particularly beneficial for emotional and spiritual crises as well as health problems. According to a vast body of primary anecdotal evidence and uncontrolled trials it has a high rate of success. Its popularity as an alternative therapy mushroomed in the 1990s and continues to grow today. Reiki is reported to be growing in popularity among clinicians too, but because of the lack of supporting evidence, and the secrecy and controversy surrounding its spiritual roots, orthodox medicine remains understandably cautious about embracing it fully. REINCARNATION The doctrine that the soul returns after death to a new physical body to live another life. Reincarnation is a central belief in Buddhism and Hinduism but it is not limited to the East and is also common in the West. For many people the idea that a person can be reincarnated is substantiated by stories of past-life recall that can be backed up with corroborating evidence. Accounts of people who claim to remember events between lives are often similar to accounts of out-ofbody experiences and near-death experiences. According to a 1981 Gallup poll, one in four Americans said they believed in reincarnation. Most people’s ideas about reincarnation derive from Hinduism or Buddhism. These religions grew out of a set of animistic soul beliefs characteristic to the indigenous tribal peoples of India. One common characteristic of animistic beliefs about reincarnation is that the spirit of the dead person divides after death: one part travels to the land of the dead where it becomes a spirit, while the other part returns to earth to be reborn. Various methods were and still are employed in tribal societies to determine the past-life identity of a child. The parent may have an announcing dream, which predicts that a certain person will be born to them. Babies are checked for birthmarks or birth defects, which might indicate who they are. Reincarnation is facilitated or impeded through burial custom; for example, dead infants are sometimes buried beneath the floor of the home to make it easier for their souls to return to their mothers. Human beings may not always be reborn as human children; in many societies they may be reborn as animals. Of the several ways animistic reincarnation beliefs differ from those typical of Hinduism and Buddhism, the most important is the concept of karma - the idea that the circumstances of a person’s present life are moulded by their actions, good or bad, in previous lives. The theory of karma is absent from animistic beliefs about reincarnation. This is significant because scientific investigations of reincarnation support the animistic idea of reincarnation better than the Hindu and Buddhist view. Scientific studies of reincarnation have also shown how important beliefs about reincarnation are to the alleged recall of past lives. For example, children who claim memories of past lives, sometimes in the opposite sex, are common in cultures where this belief is considered acceptable, but less common in cultures when this belief is not taken seriously by parents. The jury is still out as to whether reincarnation is a genuine phenomenon. Efforts have been made to investigate reincarnation scientifically and validate claims of past lives. Most notable is the research conducted by Ian Stevenson, professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia, who began investigating reincarnational memories of children all over the world in the 1960s with impressive results. The main problem, however, is that science does not recognize the existence of an essence that survives the brain after bodily death, and reincarnation by its very nature implies survival after death. RELAXATION A state of deep rest - not sleep, but rest -in which the metabolism of the body slows and brain waves slow to an alpha state. Relaxation of body and mind is stressed in all Eastern religions as a prerequisite for meditation and is believed to be vital for the development of psychic powers. In 1952 the first scientific study of relaxation in relation to psi was conducted, by the American parapsychologist Gertrude Schmeidler. Schmeidler found that patients who had been hospitalised with concussion scored much better in psi guessing tasks than those suffering from other disorders, and came to the conclusion that it was due to their greater relaxation. Subsequent studies have confirmed Schmeidler’s conclusion. Relaxation can be achieved through yoga and meditation techniques as well as through muscular relaxation of every part of the body from top to toe. Some people use other techniques, such as visualization, deep breathing, self-hypnosis and calming music tapes. A basic relaxation exercise Choose a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Before you start, do a few gentle stretching exercises to relieve muscular tension. Make yourself comfortable, either sitting or lying down. Start to breathe slowly and deeply, in a calm and effortless way. Gently tense, and then relax, each part of your body, starting with your feet and working your way up to your face and head. As you focus on each area, think of warmth, heaviness and relaxation. Push any distracting thoughts to the back of your mind; imagine them floating away. Don’t try to relax; simply let go of the tension in your muscles and allow them to become relaxed. Let your mind go empty. Some people find it helpful to visualize a calm, beautiful place such as a garden or meadow. Stay like this for about 20 minutes, then take some deep breaths and open your eyes, but stay sitting or lying down for a few moments before you get up. REMOTE VIEWING The ability to see distant or hidden objects, events and locations beyond the range of the physical eye. For example, a viewer might be asked to describe a location on the other side of the world, which he or she has never visited; or a viewer might describe an event that happened long ago; or describe an object sealed in a container or locked in a room; or perhaps even describe a person or an activity - all without being told anything about the target, not even its name or designation. The term ‘remote viewing’ was coined in the 1970s by American physicists Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff. Used extensively by so-called ‘psychic spies’ during the Cold War for classified military projects, it has a long history both as an intelligence-gathering tool and as the subject of research and applications in the civilian world. It is believed to be one of the oldest forms of psi and has been used for centuries in Tibet, Africa, India and the Americas. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, the founder of the Society for Psychical Research, Frederick Myers, suggested that remote viewing - or ‘travelling clairvoyance’ as it was called then -was a combination of telepathy, precognition, retrocognition and clairvoyance. Sometimes the events ‘seen’ were taking place simultaneously but sometimes they were displaced in time. In the early twentieth century, American writer Upton Sinclair recorded data relating to remote viewing. This data was used in 1972 by Targ and Puthoff, who set up a remote viewing research project at Stanford Research Institute in California. Targ and Puthoff researched remote viewing for 10 years. They conducted hundreds of experiments and collected some impressive results. They came to the conclusion that remote viewing is a psychic experience that occurs naturally in people but can also be learned. They found that they could train people to remote view regardless of psychic ability. For example, people could be taught to ‘see’ into a container to describe the contents inside. Other major research in remote viewing has been done at Princeton University by the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research group (PEAR) established in 1979. PEAR is the first research group to apply modern engineering science techniques to the study of psi. In studies of precognitive remote perception PEAR came to the conclusion that it is possible to obtain information by means that cannot be explained by ‘known physical phenomena’. Other researchers in America and Canada have found that remote viewing is affected by geomagnetic activity; the higher the incidence of geomagnetic activity before a viewing test the less successful the results. In 1972, during the height of the Cold War, the American CIA launched a classified project to train and utilize psychic spies. The ‘remote viewing’ project, based at the Stanford Research Institute, was a direct response to the USSR’s similar training of military personnel for longdistance spying. The project, which purported to develop a systematic strategy for accessing latent clairvoyance, operated surreptitiously for 24 years, under such evocative code names as STARGATE, SUN STREAK and CENTER LANE, before it was finally declassified and terminated in 1995. Due to the secrecy intrinsic to espionage, it is unknown whether remote viewing is still in use or still being researched within the intelligence community. Many private individuals, companies and nonprofit organizations claim to be conducting continued research on remote viewing, although not all of these independent remote viewing projects approach the subject from the perspective of performing controlled studies. Research operations in remote viewing continue today for such purposes as locating missing persons and equipment, in solving crimes and in commercial information gathering. Both scientists and occultists alike remained intrigued by the possibilities remote viewing can offer. According to the International Remote Viewing Association (www.irva.org) remote viewing is not really a ‘psychic phenomenon’ as such, but actually an imposed discipline or skill that helps the viewer to facilitate or harness his or her own innate, underlying intuitive abilities. RESIDUAL HAUNTING Term applied to hauntings in which the ghost characteristically goes about the exact same routines of behaviour without deviation, often re-enacting historical events or some great tragedy. As opposed to the traditional form of a haunting, the residual haunting is believed to be the result of psi energies being imprinted upon the environment and replayed time and again in a seemingly endless cycle. RESURRECTION MARY One of Chicago’s most famous and often reported ghosts. Resurrection Mary is said to be a beautiful, blonde, blue-eyed young girl who wears a white dress, dancing shoes and a thin shawl. She is named after Resurrection Cemetery, a large burial ground on Archer Avenue in Justice, Illinois, where she is said to be buried. According to the legend, a young woman was killed by a car in the early 1930s when she was walking home after an evening of dancing at the former Oh Henry Ballroom, now the Willowbrook Ballroom. The driver took off and was never seen again. The woman was buried by her parents, in her dancing dress and shoes, in Resurrection Cemetery. Since 1936 when she made her first appearance several people have reported picking Mary up as a hitchhiker, taking her to or from the ballroom; as the car passes Resurrection Cemetery she usually vanishes or gets out of the car and disappears through the locked gates. She has also been seen inside the cemetery, staring through the bars of the gate. In some cases motorists have reported hitting a girl who runs out into the road in front of them. The car either passes through her or she vanishes. She is described as looking like a living person, speaking very little and wearing a 1930s’ ball gown. Sometimes her flesh is cool to the touch. In a 1976 incident, a passer-by saw a woman locked inside the fence of the cemetery after dark. Rather than stopping, he called the police, who came to let her out. When the police arrived, she was nowhere to be seen, but they discovered that two bars of the main gate had been bent outwards, and the bars bore the imprint of human hands. Officials quickly removed the bars but, embarrassed, later reinstalled them, using a blowtorch to obscure the handprints. The two burned areas can still be seen. Mary’s true identity has never been established although plenty of candidates have been put forward, including a young Polish girl who crashed her parent’s car near Resurrection and was buried there, and a 12-year-old Lithuanian blonde girl called Anna Mary, who was killed in car crash following an evening of dancing at the Oh Henry. Mary’s story follows the phantom hitchhiker legend. She also has similarities to the so-called ‘spectral jaywalker’ - a person, typically a woman, who appears in front of cars and is struck. She usually vanishes immediately or lies down without moving until help arrives, whereupon she vanishes. RETROCOGNITION Retrocognition is the alleged ability to know, see into, or sense the past through psychic means. Psychometry and past-life recall can both be considered kinds of retrocognition. Retrocognition is used in applied psi fields where past events need to be reconstructed, such as psychic criminology and psychic archaeology. The retrocognition is typically done by using psychometry on an object. Results have been impressive but it is difficult to test retrocognition scientifically because of the possibility of clairvoyance by obtaining access to historical records and/or information. Retrocognition can occur spontaneously in daily life, dreams and parapsychology experiments. It typically manifests with a vision, sometimes featuring sounds, smells and movements, that replaces the present with scenes from the past. Retrocognition is a key feature of some hauntings and cases of apparitions that seem to be replays of past events, particularly violent and tragic ones such as murders and suicides. It has been suggested that reports of ghosts can be explained by retrocognition: an individual becomes displaced in time momentarily and witnesses scenes from the past. One of the most famous cases of retrocognition occurred in the summer of 1901 in Versailles, when two Englishwomen believed they saw appartions from the 1770s (see Versailles ghosts). Another retrocognitive experience consisting only of sound occurred in 1951 in Dieppe, France, when two Englishwomen believed they heard sounds of the famous air raid that took place there in World War II (see Dieppe Raid case). In the 1960s a woman called Coleen Buterbaugh entered an office in the music building at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Almost immediately she said she saw a tall woman with old-fashioned clothes. Looking out of the window she witnessed the campus as it had appeared 50 years before. Buterbaugh realized that she had somehow slipped back in time. Another famous retrocognition took place on 2 January 1950 when a woman in her fifties, E F Smith, allegedly witnessed the aftermath of the battle of Nechtansmere, which took place in 685 in Scotland, while walking to the village of Letham, near Nechtansmere. REVENANT Term used to describe the undead. In earlier times it was used as a synonym for ghost (i.e. the returning dead). The revenant is in fact quite different to the traditional ghost for it may wait years or even centuries to appear. In actuality, a revenant is any type of undead and that loose definition can include ghosts and vampires as well as mythical creatures we currently think of as zombies, ghouls and animated skeletons. The legends of revenants are widespread over many countries throughout history, but occur most notably in the areas of Albania, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Silesia, Transylvania and the Ukraine. Revenants can take many forms, from filmy beings to solid forms that appear living. If they appear in human form they typically appear fully dressed in the garments they wore when alive. RHAPSODOMANCY According to Ephraim Chambers’ Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences of 1728, ‘Rhapsodomancy is an ancient kind of divination performed by pitching on a passage of a poem at hazard and reckoning it as a prediction of what was to come to pass.’ The typical method was to close one’s eyes, say a brief prayer and then open a book of poetry at random, placing a finger on the page before opening the eyes. The verse touched by the finger would supposedly relate to the question being asked and give some indication of what the future held or what was the best course of action to take. Some diviners would use a pin or the tip of a dagger instead of a finger. Rhapsodomancy is therefore similar to bibliomancy but instead of any book being chosen, a book of poetry must be used. The ancient Greeks tended to use Homer’s work, while the Romans favoured Virgil. RHINE, J B [1895–1980] Considered by many to be the father of parapsychology, the scientific study of psi and paranormal abilities such as clairvoyance and telepathy, Rhine was co-founder of the revolutionary Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Rhine was born on 29 September 1895 in a log house in the Pennsylvania Mountains. In 1920 he married Louisa Ella Weckesser and in 1925 he received his PhD in botany from the University of Chicago. But Rhine did not find botany fulfilling and more and more his interest turned towards the paranormal. He joined the American Society for Psychical Research and began to work for the Society’s Journal. In 1926 Rhine moved to Boston, where he investigated spiritualist mediumship with William McDougall and Walter Franklin Prince, two prominent figures in psychical research. Initial investigation proved disappointing when a sitting with Mina Crandon turned out to be a fraud, but later sittings with Minnie Meserve Soule proved to be more encouraging. When it came to interpreting the Soule sittings there was disagreement as to whether the séance communications were genuine messages from the dead or whether they could be explained on the basis of the medium’s extrasensory perception (ESP); Rhine favoured the later interpretation. In the fall of 1927 Rhine went to Duke University to assist McDougall in his data analysis. Encouraged by McDougall he set up a programme of statistical validation of ESP, with emphasis initially on clairvoyance and telepathy using Zener cards as test cards. The ESP experiments that followed would make the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University world famous. Even though Rhine believed that ESP played a key part in mediumistic communications he never lost interest in the question of survival after death. He did, however, place an emphasis on his conviction that until the limits of ESP were established the question of survival after death could not be investigated scientifically The parapsychology unit continued to operate at Duke University until Rhine retired in 1965 and moved it off campus to the new Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man (later the Rhine Research Center), where it is still in existence. Rhine died on 20 February 1980. His bestselling books include New Frontiers of the Mind (1937), The Reach of the Mind (1947) and New World of the Mind (1953). RHINE, LOUISA ELLA WECKESSER [1891–1983] American parapsychologist and wife of J B Rhine, Louisa Rhine is best known for her analysis of spontaneous case accounts, including apparitions. Like her husband, Louisa studied at the University of Chicago and changed direction from botany to psychical research. In 1948 she took up the study of spontaneous cases at the Parapsychology Laboratory set up by her husband at Duke University. Her aim during the investigation was not to determine the truth of individual cases but to see if patterns existed. She came to the conclusion that the percipient, not the agent, was the key figure in ESP and apparition cases. (The terms percipient and agent were in use during the early days of psychical research; the agent was responsible for sending the communication of ESP experience to the percipient.) Rhine’s theories were controversial because they undermined one of the main lines of evidence for survival after death. If the percipient alone was responsible for spontaneous cases then there was no need for agent or spirit involvement. For example, falling objects in poltergeist cases could have been a result of the percipient’s psychokinesis. In 1981 Rhine became president of the Society for Psychical Research, one of the few Americans to have held the position and only the third woman to do so. Besides publishing numerous papers in parapsychology journals, her books include Hidden Channels of the Mind (1961), ESP in Life and Lab (1967), Mind over Matter (1970), Psi What is it? (1975) and The Invisible Picture (1981). RHINE RESEARCH CENTER Parapsychological research and education centre, formerly the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man that developed out of the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The Rhine Research Center dates back to the 1930s when ESP card tests conducted by J B Rhine were created within the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University an offshoot of the psychology department. In 1965 Rhine retired from Duke University and moved the parapsychology unit off campus to form the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man. In 1995 the Foundation was renamed the Rhine Research Center in his honour. The Rhine Research Center has published the quarterly Journal of Parapsychology since 1937. The Center maintains a library and summer study programme for training in parapsychology. It is committed to the scientific exploration of: Telepathy (mind to mind communication). Clairvoyance or remote viewing (extrasensory awareness of a physical object or contemporaneous physical event). Precognition (extrasensory awareness of a future event). Psychokinesis (mind over matter effect on physical or living systems). Survival of consciousness (including studies of mediumship, neardeath experiences, out-of-body experiences and hauntings). According to its website (www.rhine.org) the Center strongly believes that: Scientific knowledge gathered thus far strongly suggests that these capacities are real, but there is a critical need for more understanding of these anomalous mental phenomena. Very few scientists or scholars are committed to a critical and serious study of them. The Rhine Research Center (and the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory before it) has long stood in the forefront of gathering such scientific knowledge. RIGHT-HAND PATH Phrase often used to describe the path of white magic, where the magical practitioner’s intention is to heal and cause no harm to anyone. In other words it is a path of light and spiritual awareness and contrasts with the left-hand path where there is an intention to harm a person, object or other living being, or to use force against a person’s free will. RITUAL MAGIC The term ‘ritual‘ really describes any sequence, action or habit that is frequently repeated, for example buying the same newspaper each day, but it has developed into a description of religious and magical ceremonies characterized by a particular set of actions and, typically, special clothing and equipment. Although the inner nature of ritual magic was kept secret for centuries it is now known that magical ritual has an inner as well as an outer aspect - in other words practitioners typically engage in a series of visualizations, intentions and affirmations in tandem with actions that are visible. ROBERTS, JANE [1929–1984] Twentieth-century author and poet who is best known for channelling an entity called Seth. Jane Roberts was born in Saratoga Springs, New York and was the author of numerous short stories and poems. One day in September 1963, while she sat writing poetry, her mind was suddenly flooded with astonishing and new ideas and her consciousness allegedly lifted out of her body. When it returned she discovered that through automatic writing she had recorded the ideas that had come into her mind. The notes even bore the title The Physical Universe as Idea Construction. Thereafter Roberts began to experiment with an Ouija board despite being warned that it could invite negative spirits. Roberts ignored the warning, maintaining that it was not the Ouija board but a person’s superstitious fears that produced unpleasant results. Initial communications with the board were supposedly from Roberts’s grandfather but then, on 2 December 1963, a communication came from a dead English teacher, whom Roberts identified as Frank Withers. Checks of local records indicated that he had indeed existed. After several sessions with Withers the entity indicated that he wanted to be called Seth, to express ‘the whole self I am, or am trying to be’. Withers, the entity said, was part of a much larger personality and on occasions he even called Withers a ‘fat head’. Seth described himself as an energy personality essence that no longer had physical form. He told Jane and her husband, Robert Butt, that he had known them in a previous life in seventeenth-century Denmark. Seth also claimed to have had numerous lives as both a man and as a woman. He had been a cave man, a Roman, a spice merchant in the seventeenth century, when he met Roberts and Butt, an Ethiopian black man, a courtesan during the time of David, a Dutch spinister and several incarnations as a humble wife and mother. Seth suggested communications should take place twice a week, and so began Roberts’s incredible career as a channel for Seth. Over time she discarded the Ouija board for clairaudient channelling and it was noticed that in deep trance her voice would deepen and her features would change. Seth explained that speaking through Roberts involved a ‘psychological extension, a projection of characteristics on both of our parts.’ Seth claimed to be a personality with a message and said that he had lived many lives, in various forms. His central message was that human beings create their lives with their thoughts, actions and beliefs. He also stated that each person has multiple personalities and there are no limits to the growth of the self. Humans reincarnate many times and the past, present and future exist in a simultaneous now. According to Seth there is no karma that punishes or rewards a person for actions in past lives; rather progress of the soul depends on its psychic and spiritual development. Famous Seth quotes The following quotations are from Seth as channelled by Jane Roberts and recorded by Rob Butts. ‘You get what you concentrate upon … there is no other main rule.’ ‘Therefore, as always, make of this voice what you choose to make of it. Make of me what you choose to make of me, but recognize within yourselves the vitality of your being. And look to no man or no idea or no woman or no dogma, but the vitality of your own being, and trust it. And that which offends your soul, turn away from, but trust yourself ‘I come here because it is fun. I have fun when I come here. I do not come here because I feel that I have any great responsibility for your beings or welfare. Who am I to set myself against the innate wisdom of your own individual being, or to take upon my invisible shoulders the great privilege or joyful responsibility for your behaviour and destiny?’ The self has no boundaries except those it accepts out of ignorance.’ If you are in poor health, you can remedy it. If your personal relationships are unsatisfactory, you can change them for the better. If you are in poverty, you can find yourself surrounded by abundance … Each of you, regardless of position, status, circumstances, or physical condition, is in control of your own experience.’ In the most basic sense, the purpose of life is being - as opposed to not being.’ ‘Using your free will, you have made physical reality into something quite different than what was intended. You have allowed the ego to become overly developed and specialized. You were here to work out problems and challenges, but you were always to be aware of your own inner reality, and of your non-physical existence. To a large extent you have lost contact with this. You have focused so strongly upon physical reality that it become the only reality that you know.’ ‘You create your reality according to your beliefs and expectations; therefore you should examine these carefully. If you do not like some aspect of your world, then examine your own expectations.’ Seth maintained that God is neither male nor female but the sum of everything that exists within each one of us. The drama played out by Christ was a manifestation of God in a way that humans can understand. Seth also predicted the ‘second coming’ in 2075, when an individual would emerge as a great psychic destined to teach others how to use their inner senses to make true spirituality possible. Roberts was unique in that she never sought large audiences or fees when she channelled Seth. All her sessions were done at home before a small group of family and friends. Her husband took most of the notes during the channelling and in this way Seth dictated several books. Roberts also wrote other books herself about her contact with Seth and other channelled sources, which included the American philosopher William James and the French painter Paul Cezanne. ROLL, WILLIAM [1926– ] American parapsychologist and professor who specialized in the study of poltergeists and survival after death phenomena. William Roll was born on 3 July 1926 in Bremen, Germany. He enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley in 1947 and majored in philosophy and psychology. After a year of graduate work in sociology, Roll went to Oxford University to do research in parapsychology under Professor H H Rice until 1957. His thesis was entitled ‘Theory and Experiment in Psychical Research’ and he was president of the Oxford University Society for Psychical Research. In 1957, Roll joined the staff of the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, working under J B Rhine until 1964. During this period he investigated the Seaford poltergeist and came to the conclusion that the disturbances were most likely caused by unconscious psychokinesis on the part of a teenage boy in the family. Along with fellow parapsychologist J G Pratt he coined the term ‘recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis’ to describe cases of recurring psychokinetic activity. The term continues to be used today as a synonym for poltergeist activity. In 1959 Roll was named director of the Psychical Research Foundation and began to devote himself full time to the investigation of poltergeist cases and survival research. In 1986, when he was appointed Professor of Psychical Research and Psychology at West Georgia College (now the State University of West Georgia), he took the Psychical Research Foundation with him. Roll has authored more than a hundred scientific papers and several articles for anthologies, has edited 11 volumes of Research in Parapsychology and has written five books: The Poltergeist (1972), Theory and Experiment in Psychical Research (1975, his M.Litt. thesis), This World or That: An Examination of Parapsychological Findings Suggestive of the Survival of the Human Personality After Death (1989), Psychic Connections (1995, with Lois Duncan) and Unleashed (2004, with Valerie Storey). In 1996 he received the Parapsychological Association’s award for a Distinguished Career in Parapsychology, and in 2002 he was awarded the Dinsdale Memorial Award by the Society for Scientific Investigation for his recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis studies. Throughout his research Roll remained sceptical of evidence for personal survival. He outlined a model of survival that holds that although the body disintegrates at death memory impressions may be connected to one another in a psi field, through which they are accessible to psychically gifted living persons. Roll also held fast to his theory that poltergeists should be viewed almost entirely in terms of recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis caused by repressed tensions on the part of subjects, typically young children or teenagers. ROSE HALL Rose Hall Great House in Montego Bay, Jamaica, was formerly the home of Annie Palmer, the so-called White Witch of Rose Hall. Raised by a Voodoo nanny, Annie was in her late teens when she came to Rose Hall. Schooled in black magic and voodoo curses, Annie would often ride her white horse throughout the plantation, terrorizing her 2,000 slaves. While she lived there it is said that she murdered three husbands and was eventually murdered herself in 1831 at the age of 29 by one of her slave lovers. Rose Hall was left in ruins for many years. Local residents were afraid to go near it, remembering Annie’s declaration that it was her house, and no one else would ever have possession of it. Eventually a couple bought it and began to restore it themselves. When work began on the house a servant woman fell to her death from the observation balcony Annie allegedly used when she witnessed whippings. The fall was considered mysterious due to the waist-high railing that encircles the balcony, and it was rumoured that the woman was somehow lured there by Annie’s spirit, and pushed over the railing. Several years later, the house was restored and given to the Jamaican people as a historical landmark. It is open for guided tours but many Jamaicans still believe it is haunted. Tours of the house typically end early so that all of the employees can leave before Annie’s spirit comes out to wander. Many visitors have reported strange images in photographs taken at the house. Some report the appearance of woman’s face in the mirror in Annie’s bedroom. Others report lights and glowing areas on the bed in Annie’s room. It has also been noted that film used in certain rooms of the house will not develop, while the rest of the roll in other parts of the house is fine. Some of these mysterious photographs are on display at the gift shop belonging to Rose Hall. ROSENHEIM POLTERGEIST Poltergeist case that took place in 1967 in the Bavarian town of Rosenheim. The case began in a law office in Rosenheim with sharp banging noises and a series of electrical problems: fuses blew without any apparent cause, numerous problems erupted with the telephones, neon lights went out and photocopying machines went crazy. Investigators were called in and it seemed that the human focal point was a 19-year-old employee called Anna S. Whenever she walked down the hall light bulbs would explode and light fixtures would swing from side to side. Soon after the investigation began pictures began to rotate and move. Test apparatus seemed to indicate that telephone numbers were being dialled by invisible means. The investigators concluded that the phenomena defied explanation in terms of theoretical physics and the movements, in particular the telephone dialling, seemed to be performed by ‘intelligently controlled forces that have a tendency to evade investigation’. The case of the Rosenheim poltergeist remains unsolved. ROSICRUCIANS Umbrella term for a number of esoteric and occult sects which claim to be the oldest secret societies in the world. Many of them base their teachings on those of ‘Christian Rosenkreutz’, who was allegedly a medieval monk who travelled the Middle East studying mystic traditions. On his return he founded the Order of the Rosy Cross, where he and his fellow monks applied the lore of magic and healing Rosenkreutz had learned on his travels. Rosenkreutz’s writings may have remained in obscurity had it not been for the publication in Germany in 1615 of a pamphlet entitled Fama Fraternitatis, supposedly written by Rosenkreutz but probably the work of Johann Valentin Andreas, a Wittenberg theologian. The pamphlet told the story of the founding of the Rosicrucian order and attempted to fuse the Reformation with advances in scientific knowledge. Although obscure and difficult to read the publication sparked immediate interest and was reprinted four times within the space of two years and translated into Dutch and English a few years later. The Fama was followed in 1615 by another pamphlet on the subject, the Confessio Fraternitatis R.C., spelling out the order’s aims, which included bringing an end to sectarianism and expressing the fraternity’s opposition to the papacy, Islam and fraudulent alchemists. In 1616 the final book in the series was published, the Chymische Hochzeit Christian Rosenkreutz, which was translated into English as The Hermetick Romance. It was a lively story full of esoteric symbolism and alchemy. These writings inspired the formation of a secret brotherhood of Rosicrucians with roots in occult mystic philosophy. By 1620 interest began to wane however, only to revive again in 1710 with the formation, by Sigmund Richter, of the Order of the Gold and Rosy Cross, an alchemical fraternity. Later the terms ‘Rose cross’ and ‘Rosicrucian’ found their way into Freemasonry and the legend of Christain Rosenkreutz was taught to members of the Victorian Order of the Golden Dawn. Today there are numerous organizations claiming links to this secret society and the answers to life’s mysteries. Perhaps the best known is the American Ancient and Mystic Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC), founded by H Spencer Lewis (1883-1939), which teaches a wide body of esoteric doctrine and technique. Rosicrucian symbols and beliefs have changed little from those early pamphlets published in the seventeenth century. Through study and practice members must strive for the perfection embodied by the Master of the Great White Lodge, with the ultimate goal being admittance into the Lodge and the attainment of true knowledge. Students must progress through 12 degrees of mastery, with the final three attained psychically, usually in the Order’s temples in the East. Worthy members who have mastered the first nine degrees may enter the Illuminati, a higher organization of the Order. Rosicrucians place an emphasis on reincarnation but they have most often been associated with alchemy. Members stress healthy living and abstain from meat, alcohol and tobacco. All Rosicrucian organizations employ the symbol of the rose - to represent love and secrecy - and the cross - to represent death, suffering and resurrection - although the combinations they appear in differ from organization to organization. The symbol of AMORC shows one red rose centred on a gold cross, with looped ends. AMORC also uses an equilateral triangle, point down, inscribed on the cross and has had both these symbols registered with the United States Patent Office as the only true Rosicrucian symbols. RUNES Ancient Norse and Teutonic alphabet sigils that are believed to have magical and divinatory properties. The term rune comes from the Indo European root ru, which means secret mystery. Rune divination consists of a set of 24 or 25 small tablets or stones with Norse symbols inscribed on them. Typically the runes are kept in a small drawstring bag. One popular method of using them is simply to concentrate on a question, reach into the rune bag, pull out one rune out at random and interpret the symbol to fit the situation. This is called ‘Odin’s Rune’ and is an indication of where your path lies. Another method is to spread all the runes on a table or the ground, face down, and then to pass the hands lightly over the backs of them until one rune in particular draws the person to it. This one is then turned over as ‘Odin’s Rune’. Yet another method is the Three Rune spread, when three runes are drawn from the bag to be interpreted as past, present and future, or as present situation, suggested course of action and new situation evolving and so on. Other variations are a five-rune spread, a seven-rune spread, etc. Each rune character is made up of a combination of vertical and diagonal lines each with symbolic meaning. If the runes are cast down on the ground and the character appears upside down, it reverses the meaning of that rune. No one knows exactly what each rune meant originally; over the centuries meanings have been given by various authors. It is often suggested to those who wish to work with runes that they take each individual rune in turn and spend some time meditating on it in order to find what it means to them personally. Archaeological finds show that runes were created by the Germanic peoples, the Saxons and Scandinavians, sometime between 1300 and 1200 BC. Typically they were made of wood, metal or stone and the act of inscribing the name of a natural element was thought to endow the rune with sacred power. This made runes popular for divination and as protective amulets. They were also used in weather rites, fertility, birth and death rights and to seal contracts, and in the writing of poetry. Each rune was also associated with a different Norse deity who was thought to serve as a guiding spirit to the person using them. Runes began to disappear from use around the fourteenth century when the Christian Church started to persecute rune casters and Northern Pagans, who were burned at the stake until the seventeenth century. In the late nineteenth century German occultists revived interest in runes, which then became associated with Teutonic racial supremacy. In World War II the Nazi use of the swastika, originally Thor’s hammer and the symbol of the Earth Mother and the sun, and the S sigil, used by the SS, threatened to condemn these symbols forever. Only recently have runes begun to cast off their negative associations and their use in divination and guidance has started to rise again. Today rune tiles are typically drawn from bags and meditated upon, or cast in lots or laid out like tarot cards. In much the same way as tarot cards, runes do not give answers but provide the means to create an answer; they are considered keys to personal growth. RUNNING WATER Universal, age-old superstition that no ghost can cross over running water because streams are thought to be holy places - especially those that run in a southerly direction. In exorcisms holy water is used to rid the haunted place or the possessed person of troublesome entities and it is thought to be most effective if it is drawn from a clear, fast running brook. RUNOLFUR RUNOLFSSON CASE Case of a drop in communicator who claimed he was searching for a missing part of his body. This unusual case took place between 1937 and 1940 and involved Icelandic trance medium Hafsteinn Björnsson. During a séance in the autumn of 1937 an unknown entity dropped in asking for his missing leg. Asked where the leg was he said, ‘It’s in the sea.’ For the next year the entity continued to drop in on Björnsson asking for his leg. The entity was rude and would often brush other spirits aside. Progress wasn’t made until a fish merchant called Ludvik Gudmunsson joined the sittings. The entity said Gudmunsson would know about the leg, which was at his house in Sandgerdi. Gudmunsson got confused and professed to know nothing. The entity then revealed his real name, which was Runolfur Runolfson, or Runki for short, and he had died in October 1879 at the age of 52. One night after drinking at a friend’s house he had tried to walk home but had passed out on the seashore and the tide had carried him out. His body washed ashore a few months later and birds and animals had picked at his bones. His corpse was buried but a thighbone was missing. The entity wanted the bone back. An investigation was carried out and the life and death of Runki was verified. In 1940 a room in Gudmunsson’s house was torn down and a thighbone that looked like it was human was discovered. A year later the bone was given a proper religious burial at Utskalar and at a subsequent séance Runki expressed his gratitude. He said he had been present at the burial and was able to describe it in great detail. This wasn’t the last that was heard of Runki, as he allegedly stayed in contact with Björnsson and became his main control. Over the years he modified his crude ways and even began to help other discarnate entities to make contact through Björnsson. RUSALKA According to Russian lore, rusalka is the spirit of a maiden who drowned by accident or was murdered by drowning. She haunts the spot where she died. She is not particularly malevolent, and will be allowed to depart in peace if her death is remembered and/or avenged. Rusalki (plural) are also beautiful river nymphs with long green hair that are said to inhabit small islands in southern Russia where, according to lore, they try to help poor hard-working fishermen. S SACRED GEOMETRY The idea that people respond with awe and reverence to certain structures, patterns, designs and objects, either manmade or natural, because they conform to a concept of mathematical harmoney and ratio and by so doing represent the spiritual connection between human and divine. In other words, certain structures and designs are believed to be symbolic of the underlying metaphysical principle of the inseparable relationship of the part to the whole and as such they provide a continuous reminder of humanity’s relationship to all things created. Some believe that sacred geometry is the universal language of the subconscious, causing the five senses and the psychic sixth sense to respond intuitively to the proportions of certain structures and designs. Examples of sacred geometry in practice are the Taj Mahal, Leonardo’s masterpiece ‘The Last Supper’, Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Egypt and crop circles. SAGE LEAVES Superstition credits this aromatic spice with the power to enable people to see ghosts. In Native American traditions, burning bundles of sage are believed to purify an area or rid it of ghostly influences. In English folklore, a young girl who gathers 12 sage leaves from a garden at midnight on Halloween night is said to see a vision of her future husband. In the English county of Lancashire, it is said the same thing will happen if a young woman walks around a churchyard 12 times. SAI BABA [1926– ] Hindu avatar whose alleged miraculous powers have attracted a following in both the East and the West. Sai Baba has been studied by Western psychical researchers and no evidence of fraud has been found. He is renowned for his healing powers, his ability to materialize objects, levitation, bilocation and precognition. Sai Baba was born into a low caste family on 23 November 1926, in Southern India. His miraculous powers allegedly began to manifest after he was stung by a black scorpion on 8 March 1940. On 23 May he announced that he was Sathya Sia Baba reborn; the original Sai Baba was a Brahman fakir at the turn of the century, who had allegedly produced astonishing miracles. After announcing that he was reborn Sai Baba presented his family with gifts of flowers and sweets, which he seemed to materialize with a wave of his hand. Although Sai Baba immediately attracted followers he was also criticized and shunned, as avatars traditionally came from high caste families. Despite this prejudice, by the 1970s Sai Baba had a huge following and thousands of people would camp outside his ashram hoping to get a glimpse of him, touch him, receive an apport or just listen to him. Sai Baba’s trademark is his ability to produce apports with the wave of his hand; three-quarters of his followers claim to have seen or received one. The apports produced include food and drink, ash, religious statues, jewellery, photographs and stamps bearing his likeness. He is said to fill empty bowls with food and to produce enough to feed hundreds of people at a time. He can also reach into sand and pull out food. All the food produced is fresh and new and if a person does not like a particular apport he has been known to change it to meet their requirements. Sai Baba has explained that his powers came from God and that he produces apports by imagining them first and then transporting them from the superconscious where they already exist to the physical world. Other phenomena attributed to Sai Baba include the instant changing of colour of his clothes, psychic surgery, telepathy, clairvoyance, levitation and the changing of water into other beverages and gasoline. He has also been known to go into convulsive trances lasting several hours; during these trances his body is said to be cold to the touch. The explanation offered by Sai Baba for these trances was that he had been called to help someone in a far distant location and in this distant location he reportedly appeared as if in the flesh. Sai Baba generally refused to submit to experiments to test his powers but he did allow Erlendur Haraldsson, a psychologist and psychical researcher from the University of Iceland, to investigate his work for a 10-year period from 1973 to 1983. In his research Haraldsson closely observed the materialization of vibuti, holy ash, but also came to the conclusion that not all of Sai Baba’s precognitive predictions were accurate and not all of his cures worked. Despite this a number of prominent Indian scientists believe his powers to be genuine and his followers believe him to be God. Sceptics say that Sai Baba’s miracles are performed by sleight of hand, and in recent years the guru has been associated with a great deal of negative publicity including sexual allegations. As to whether Sai Baba is a genuine miracle worker or a fraud the jury is still out, and to this day Sai Baba remains an enigma. Sai Baba has predicted that he will die in 2020 at the age of 94 and be reborn as Prema Sai Baba. ST ELMO’S FIRE Ghost lights that typically appear on ships and have been reported by sailors for centuries. St Elmo’s fire is a bright bluish-white glow, appearing like fire in some circumstances, often in double or triple jets, from tall, sharply pointed structures such as masts, spires and chimneys. It can also appear between the tips of cattle horns during a thunderstorm or sharp objects in the middle of a tornado. It is not the same phenomenon as ball lightning, although the two are related. The phenomenon commonly occurs at the mastheads of ships and makes eerie cracking sounds during thunderstorms at sea. According to superstition, if one of the lights should fall to the deck and glow near a particular sailor it is believed this person will soon die. The lights are named after St Elmo, who was the patron saint of Mediterranean sailors. St Elmo died during a storm at sea but before his death he promised the crew that if they were not destined to die like him he would get a message to them. Later, when a glowing light appeared near the mast, the sailors believed it was a message from St Elmo and ever since the appearance of St Elmo’s fire is believed to be a sign that the worst of the storm is over. It seems there is a natural explanation for the phenomenon. Benjamin Franklin correctly observed in 1749 that the lights are electric in nature. What in fact happens is that the light is caused by electrical discharges when the weather begins to clear. SAINT JOHN’S WORT Herbaceous shrub of the genus Hypericum bearing yellow flowers that is believed to have the power to drive away devils, demons, witches, imps, fairies and ghosts. The ancient Greeks used it in exorcisms, as they believed the aroma would drive away the spirits. In Christianity the plant was dedicated to St John the Baptist whose feast day is observed on 24 June, a few days after the shrub starts to flower. In the seventeenth century it was used for the exorcism of demons and ghosts and to expose witches and protect against harmful spells. Around midsummer, it is still believed that if Saint John’s wort is draped around a child’s neck it will protect them from illness for a year. Midsummer, however, isn’t the only time this plant is thought to be effective; if gathered on a Friday and worn on the neck it is said to dispel anxiety and drive away all kinds of spirits. SAKURA, GHOST OF Famous Japanese ghost story involving the vengeful ghosts of farmer Sogoro and his wife. Seventeenth-century Japan was ruled by feudal lords, many of whom were corrupt. The practice of demanding payment of tax in advance and never repaying the tenants was commonplace. Kotsuke no Suke, the Lord of the Castle of Sakura, was no exception, and when he succeeded his father’s estate he imposed additional taxes on an already over-taxed population. The toll on the farmers was great and, finding it impossible to sell their farms because of the high taxation, many fled to other provinces or took to begging in the streets. Eventually the chiefs of the villages in the province gathered together in a council. Sogoro, the 48-year-old chief of the village of Iwahashi, urged them to go to the capital, Yedo, and petition the Shogun directly. A petition was duly drawn up. The village chiefs then heard that a highranking official, Kuze Yamato, was travelling to the Shogun’s palace. The chiefs intercepted him on his journey and handed him the petition. However, the petition was returned to them and they were reprimanded for their audacity. Whereupon Sogoro decided to lie in wait for the Shogun himself to leave the palace and present the petition directly to him. A few weeks later when the Shogun, Prince Lyemitsu, left his palace, Sogoro tied his petition to a six-foot long bamboo stick and hid himself under a bridge along the route. Boldly, when the Shogun’s litter passed over the bridge, he thrust the stick directly into the litter. The Shogun got the petition but Sogoro was arrested and thrown into prison. Prince Lyemitsu read the petition and forced Kotsuke no Suke to pay back all the money he had extorted from his tenants and to reduce the taxes. Furious and humiliated Kotsuke ordered that Sogoro and his entire family be executed for their conspiracy against him. As he died, Sogoro cursed Kotsuke. He declared to the watching crowd, Listen my masters! All you who have come to see this sight. Recollect that I shall pay my thanks to my lord Kotsuke no Suke for this day’s work. You shall see it for yourselves, so that it shall be talked about for generations to come. As a sign, when I am dead, my head shall turn and face towards the castle. When you see this doubt not that my words shall come to pass. True to his words, when he eventually died Sogoro’s head turned towards the castle. Frightened councillors acknowledged in public that the execution had been unnecessarily cruel and suggested that Sogoro be canonized as St Daimyo. Kotsuke mocked their fear and said that Sogoro had received his just desserts. He then displayed even more cruelty by dismissing, banishing or executing the councillors. For two years nothing happened, but when Kotsuke’s wife was about seven months pregnant ghostly lights began to appear every night in her chamber, accompanied by fiendish laughter and wailing. The ladies-in-waiting were so distressed they petitioned to their lord for help. Kotsuke agreed to stay in his wife’s chamber at night. At midnight the ghosts of Sogoro and his wife appeared and grabbed Kotsuke’s wife by the hand, saying, We have come to meet you. The pains you are suffering are terrible but they are nothing in comparison to those of the hell to which we lead you.’ Kotsuke tried to strike the ghosts but they shrieked with laughter and vanished. Kotsuke tried to have the ghosts exorcised but the hauntings grew worse with the ghosts tormenting Kotsuke’s wife both day and night. When she eventually died of fear the ghosts turned their attention to Kotsuke and his sons. For two years Kotsuke endured the ordeal. His family urged him to canonize Sogoro and erect a shrine to him as a way to appease the ghost. Kotsuke relented and a shrine was built. Almost immediately the hauntings stopped. Two years later Kotsuke was in trouble when he fatally wounded a nobleman at a ceremony at the Shogun’s castle. He was arrested on charges of treason and thrown into prison. While in prison Kotsuke had a chance to reflect on his misfortunes. He came to the conclusion that he was being punished for his treatment of Sogoro and he pledged that if he and his family were spared ruin he would see to it that the spirit of Sogoro was worshipped with even greater honour. Soon Kotsuke was pardoned and a few months later, when the Shogun died, he was promoted to the lordship of another castle, Utsunomiya, which had even greater revenues. He kept his promise to elevate the worship of Sogoro as St Daimyo, and the shrine in the saint’s honour was continually maintained. People would travel long distances to visit the shrine in the hope of receiving good fortune. SAMADHI The highest goal in yoga meditation, to attain Samadhi is the final stage on the inner path where absolute unity between mind, body and spirit is achieved. This unity leads to self-realization and recognition of the mystic unity of manifestation. SAMPFORD GHOST For three years from 1807, the family of Mr John Chave at Sampford Peverell, near Tiverton, Devon was allegedly plagued by a ghost. The events were recorded at the time by the Revd Caleb Colton, and were published as The Narrative of the Sampford Ghost (1810). Terrible crashes during the day and night, invisible hands attacking the occupants and objects flying around the rooms were the main activities. No explanation has ever been provided, however, the later discovery of secret passageways in the house and the knowledge that smugglers were active at the time suggests the likelihood of fraud. SATAN/SATANISM Satan, translated from the Hebrew, means ‘an enemy’. Considered to be the embodiment of evil in Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. Satan has many aliases, the Devil, the Prince of Darkness and Beelzebub being among the most common. It is usual not to refer to him directly by name as to utter the sound or name of Satan is thought to draw unwelcome attention. There are those who revere him as a deity, as a source of black magic, and rituals are performed to him. The worship of the Devil is known as Satanism. Unlike many religions and philosophies, Satanism generally focuses upon the spiritual advancement of the self, rather than upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes. It should be noted also that so-called classic ‘Satanism’ is not actually known to be practised in the world today. This is the Satanism depicted during the Inquisition with tales of murder, incest and baby-eating. The emergence of modern Satanism was largely the result of a hoax carried out by French journalist Leo Taxil in the late nine-teeth century. In 1884 Taxil published pamphlets detailing a vast Satanic organization, the Palladian order, which was associated with Freemasonry. After several years, during which the Catholic Church lent the anti-Palladian crusade its full support, Taxil announed that the whole thing was a fraud, concocted to demonstrate how gullible the Catholic Church was. The word ‘Satanism’ first entered the English language in media accounts of the Palladian affair. Aleister Crowley’s activities gave a major boost to Satanism but the first public Satanic religious organization did not surface until 1966, when Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco. As much about showmanship as about religion, LaVey’s group spawned a number of copycat groups who took Devil worship more literally, and also gave rise to the temple of Set, dedicated to the study of the left-hand path. The 1960s and 70s saw a large-scale campaign to prove that secret conspiracies of Satanists were at work in American society, committing crimes and encouraging sex, violence and revolution. These claims reached a peak of frenzy in the 1980s with dozens of satanic abuse accusations and prosecutions. The 1980s also saw the emergence of Satanism as a small but high profile subculture among American teenagers. Drawing their inspiration from Anton LaVey’s Satanic Bible, and from other Satan-related ideas in literature, music and popular culture, adolescent Satanists became the focus of a great deal of debate and uproar in the media when a few disturbed teenagers committed crimes in the name of Satanism. Many contemporary Satanists eschew traditional religious beliefs, attitudes and worship in favour of a more egotistic worldview and practices such as magic. SATURDAY The last day of the week, representing the end of a cycle which to the superstitious is both lucky and unlucky. For example, some people believe that people born on Saturdays can see ghosts. In the lore of Eastern Europe people born on a Saturday are believed to be able to see vampires, while in Greek folklore Saturday is believed to be the day for killing vampires in their graves, as it is the only day of the week vampires allegedly sleep in their graves. SAUCHIE POLTERGEIST Poltergeist outbreak that occurred in Sauchie, Scotland, in 1960-61. It centred around an 11-year-old girl and is believed to have been caused by intense, repressed emotions on the part of the girl. Virginia Campbell was the youngest of seven children belonging to James and Annie Campbell. The family was Irish and had been raised in County Donegal, but around 1960 the Campbells decided to move to Scotland. One of their sons, Thomas, lived near Sauchie and worked in the coalmines. In the autumn of 1960 Virginia and her mother went to live with Thomas, his wife, his daughter, Margaret, aged nine, and son Derek, aged six. James Campbell stayed behind in Ireland to dispose of the house and farm. While her mother went out to work at a boarding house, Virginia was left to live with the family and share a bedroom with Margaret. She was also enrolled in a local primary school. Her teacher found her to be bright and well-mannered but noticed that she had problems mixing with the other children. The first disturbances began on 22 November 1960, in the Campbell home, when a ‘thunking’ noise like a bouncing ball was heard in the girls’ bedroom. The noise followed the girls around the house and only ceased when Virginia went to sleep. The following day, as well as the knocking a sideboard moved out from the wall and back again. The worried Campbells summoned a local pastor from the Church of Scotland, Revd T W Lund. Revd Lund heard the knocking and also witnessed a large chest rise up and travel about 18 inches. For the next few days the disturbances continued. The family doctor, Dr Nisbet, saw unusual movements, and at school Virginia’s teacher witnessed a desk rise off the floor. On 1 December Dr Nisbet set up a movie camera and recorded a variety of noises while Virginia entered a trance. At 11 pm an unsuccessful exorcism was performed; knockings and a rasping, sawing noise continued throughout. Following this Nisbet felt it best to curtail the publicity and announced that Virginia had been cured. Apart from the odd incident here and there, the phenomena gradually began to diminish thereafter. Mathematician and parapsychologist A R G Owen investigated the case and interviewed the Campbells. He concluded that the Campbells were well-adjusted people and the atmosphere in the house was stable. He declared the phenomena to be paranormal. Geophysical conditions, atmospheric drafts and trickery on the part of Virginia and the other children were ruled out. Discarnate entities were also ruled out for none manifested during Virginia’s trances and none of the witnesses sensed anything evil. Even Virginia herself did not feel harassed by the phenomena occurring around her. The conclusion drawn was that Virginia herself was the most likely cause. When the incidents took place she was undergoing a rapid pubescence, which may have generated the energy to create poltergeist forces. These forces may have been triggered by homesickness, shyness or loneliness, or represent a bid for attention or self-consciousness about the physical changes she was going through. SAWSTON HALL A sixteenth-century house in Cambridgeshire, England, that is believed to be haunted by the ghosts of Mary Tudor and a grey lady. On the night of 7 July 1553, Mary Tudor, the daughter of Henry VIII of England, was taken in and hidden at Sawston Hall by the occupants, the Huddleston family, when Lady Jane Grey, Henry’s grandniece, was declared Queen in Mary’s place. On the morning of 8 July, fearing for her life, Mary escaped disguised as a milkmaid. In revenge supporters of Lady Jane burned the house down. Lady Jane Grey’s reign lasted only nine days before Mary Tudor was declared Queen and Lady Jane imprisoned as an impostor and executed. In gratitude for helping her in her hour of need Mary -who later became known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants - rebuilt Sawston Hall. A portrait of her still hangs in the Great Hall and her ghost is said to have been seen gliding serenely and at great speed through the house. The other ghost associated with Sawston Hall, the lady in grey, is of unknown origin. She is said to knock three times at the door and then float across the room. SCAPULOMANCY Method of divination that was done by interpreting the cracks and marks on an animal’s shoulder blade. The practice was common in Wales, England and Ireland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The bone used in the divination was typically the right shoulder blade of a slaughtered sheep, as opposed to an animal that had died from disease or been killed by wild animals. To begin with, the shoulder blade must be cleaned of meat and washed in clean water. The diviner then fumigates it with juniper and holds it up with his or her right hand to be reflected in a mirror. Next, he or she invokes the deities, requesting them to give a clear answer. The shoulder blade is then burned in a smokeless fire. During the burning, if the shoulder blade makes a rattling sound it means evil spirits are haunting the house. Accompanying clucking sounds indicate that they are causing harm and discord in the family. The spine of the shoulder blade falling away very quickly indicates that the above troubles could be dispelled with appropriate rituals. The shoulder blade would then be divided into different areas to enable the diviner to make more detailed predictions. On the night of the treacherous massacre at Glencoe, Scotland (12 February 1692) it is said that some members of the Macdonald clan were examining the shoulder blade of a sheep that had been prepared to feed the government troops billeted with them. One of those studying the shoulder blade said there would be a great shedding of blood in the glen. Sensing some kind of treason (early next morning the billeted troops would attack the Macdonalds on the command of Sir John Dal-rymple, master of Stair) the Macdonalds hastily departed and so escaped the great massacre that would take place. SCARAB Ancient Egyptian symbol of rebirth and immortality. The dead were often buried with carvings in the form of a scarab typically in the linen wrappings that bound the body to ensure a safe passage to the underworld. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung believed the scarab to be an important archetype for rebirth and in his writings cites its appearance in a case study as an example of synchronicity. SCATOMANCY Divination based on the examination of faeces. James Sanford, in Agrippa’s Of the vanitie and uncertaintie of artes and sciences (1569), wrote that scatomancy was ‘the divinations or Prognostications of Physicians gathered by odours and urines’. The odour of faeces probably played an important part in its interpretation; it was a pointer to age, for example. Consistency also played a part, as did the location of faeces. The faeces were also examined for their contents: seeds, nuts, etc. were all believed to be of significance. SCEPTIC A person inclined to discount the alleged reality of the paranormal and to challenge parapsychological research methods and conclusions by seeking rational or conventional scientific explanations for anomalous phenomena. SCHNEIDER BROTHERS Austrian physical mediums, Rudi (1908-1957) and Willi (1903-1971) Schneider were celebrated in their day. Rudi, the younger brother, was studied extensively by psychical researchers in Europe and the United States. Rudi and Willi’s father was a printer in Braunau-am-Inn, Austria, where both were born. One night, when the Schneider family was playing with an Ouija board, they discovered that whatever requests were made, such as the movement of objects, they were carried out. Willi was only 14 at the time but it wasn’t long before he had developed mediumistic skills with a female control called Olga. News of the phenomena associated with Willi’s séances spread and came to the attention of Baron Albert von Schrenck-Notzing. Schrenck-Notzing was an experienced and respected psychical investigator alert to the potential for trickery. Between December 1921 and July 1922 Willi held 56 séances for Schrenck-Notzing, many of which were witnessed by scientists from a number of different fields. Before each séance the room and Willi were searched. He was also required to wear a skintight outfit covered with luminous pins and buttons so that any movement he made could be detected in the dark. Willi’s arms and legs were held by sitters and the objects he was to influence were placed on a table with red light bulbs and separated from him by a wire screen. Under these tightly controlled conditions Schrenck-Notzing and the other sitters saw objects levitate as well as materializations of shapes that resembled human limbs. They also heard rappings and felt cold breezes. Among those attending the 1922 sittings were Harry Price and an inveterate sceptic, Eric Dingwell. Both Price and Dingwell signed a statement to indicate that what they had witnessed was genuine. Despite a promising start Willi’s career as a medium was short lived. He wanted to be a dentist and the more he concentrated on that the weaker his abilities became. It wasn’t long, however, before his younger brother Rudi began to demonstrate similar talents. One night at a séance with Willi at the Schneider home, Willi’s control Olga announced that she needed Rudi as his power was stronger than Willi’s. Rudi was still a young man at the time and asleep in bed so his parents didn’t want to wake him. A few minutes later Rudi, deep in trance, opened the door and joined the séance. After that Olga attached herself to Rudi and never communicated through Willi again. In the spring of 1926 Harry Price brought a reporter from the London Daily News to witness phenomena caused by Rudi. The reporter was impressed and Rudi’s mediumship began to be widely publicized. Despite this Rudi was accused of fraud by a number of sceptics, who implied that Schrenck-Notzing’s experimental testing methods were inadequate. Stung by this criticism SchrenckNotzing arranged for a series of tests to be conducted under a new part-electrical and part-tactile system. Sadly, before the experiments could be carried out, Schrenck-Notzing died. Price invited Rudi to visit his laboratory for psychical research in London, and in 1929 and 1930 a number of experiments were carried out. These experiments included use of the electrical controls Schrenck-Notzing had planned which included the entire circle of sitters, making it impossible for them to help the phenomena without knowing it. The experiments were highly successful. Cold breezes, movement of objects, levitations of the table and materializations of arms and hands all occurred. Price offered, £1,000 to any magician who could conjure the same effects under the same conditions. Nobody took up the challenge. Rudi was also tested at the Institut Metaphsychique International in the winter of 1930. This time an infrared beam was shone across the room between Rudi and a table on which were placed the objects he was to move. If the beam was crossed an alarm would go off automatically. The alarm went off many times but Rudi would always be hunched in a chair. Laser experiments to measure the deflection of the beam indicated that something was crossing it and moving the objects on the table but that something was only quasi material. In 1932 Rudi conducted another series of tests at Price’s lab. This time he was distracted by his fiancée, whom he insisted on taking with him. Test results were mixed, suggesting that Rudi’s powers were on the wane. Then Price dropped a bombshell into the investigations. He claimed to have found photographic evidence that Rudi had managed to free an arm and move a handkerchief at sittings held in March 1932 at the National Institute for Psychical Research. There were those who believed that Price’s vanity and hunger for publicity could have encouraged him to sacrifice his earlier work with Rudi, but whatever the truth of the matter Rudi’s reputation was irreversibly damaged. Rudi married his fiancée and gave up mediumship to become a successful mechanic, eventually owning his own garage. SCHRENCK-NOTZING, BARON ALBERT VON [1862– 1929] Renowned German psychotherapist and psychical researcher famous for his study of physical mediumship, Baron Schrenck-Notzing became known as the ‘Ghost Baron’. Born into a noble family Schrenk-Notz-ing earned his MD in 1888 in the study of the therapeutic use of hypnosis in a Munich hospital. He soon became one of the foremost authorities of his day on hypnosis, sexuality and the criminal mind. His study of hypnosis introduced him to the psychic world and in 1892, following his marriage to a wealthy heiress, he was able to give up his medical practice and devote himself entirely to psychical research. Schrenk-Notzing first confined himself to the study of telepathy but after witnessing a series of sittings with Eusapia Palladino he started to turn his attention to physical mediumship. He began to travel through Europe to work with different mediums - some of whom he exposed as frauds. The Phenomena of Materialisations (1913) gives a detailed account ofSchrenk-Notzing’s investigations into physical mediumship, but his work was given the cold shoulder both by the public and fellow researchers alike, who had long since come to the conclusion that physical mediumship was little more than expert conjuring. Despite this Schrenk-Notzing continued his investigations and went on to conduct the most successful experiments of his career with the Schneider brothers. This time elaborate precautions against trickery were taken but when this work too was criticized he developed an electrical system for controlling a medium during séances. Sadly Schrenk-Notzing died before he could use this method of electric control in his research, and it was left to others to develop and use the idea. SCIENTOLOGY Religious movement started by an American science-fiction writer, L Ron Hubbard, in the mid-twentieth century. Scientology combines elements of psychology, occultism and story telling into a self-help belief system. The main text used is the bestselling Dianetics. Scientology beliefs are structured in a series of levels, with new initiates working their way up by steps to the more advanced strata of esoteric knowledge. This is described as the passage up ‘the bridge to total freedom’, or simply ‘the bridge’. The more advanced teachings are kept strictly confidential, and are not revealed to those who are not sufficiently ‘spiritually prepared’ to learn about them. The central beliefs of Scientology are that a person is an immortal spiritual being (termed a ‘thetan’), who possesses a mind and a body, and is accompanied by a lesser ‘genetic entity’; that the thetan has lived through many past lives, stored memories of which can cause problems in the present day; and that a person is basically good, but is ‘aberrated’ by the memories of past traumas. Scientology claims to offer an exact methodology to help a person achieve spiritual and ethical education, awareness and improvement, so that he or she may attain a level of spiritual purity as well as greater effectiveness in the physical world. The ultimate goal of Scientology is to ‘rehabilitate’ the thetan, restoring its superhuman abilities to control ‘matter, energy, space and time’. Scientology is officially represented by the controversial Church of Scientology. The Church presents itself as a nonprofit religious organization dedicated to encouraging development of the human spirit. Providing counselling and rehabilitation programmes, the Church offers itself as an alternative to psychiatry, which Scientologists believe to be a barbaric and corrupt profession. Church spokespeople attest that Hubbard’s teaching (called ‘technology’ or ‘tech’) has freed them from drug and alcohol addictions, depression, learning disabilities, mental disorders and other problems. Of the many new religious movements to appear during the twentieth century, Scientology has been one of the most controversial almost since its inception. Some investigators have noted similarities in Hubbard’s writings to the doctrines of Aleister Crowley, though the Church of Scientology denies any such connection. Critics have characterized the Church of Scientology as an unscrupulous commercial organization; it has often been described as a cult that harasses its critics and exploits its members. Public awareness of Scientology has been promoted by the patronage and testimonials of a number of high-profile celebrities, such as actors John Travolta, Kirstie Alley and Tom Cruise, who aim to spread its goal of spiritual evolution through esoteric testings and great proselytizing efforts. Cruise in particular has made a reputation as an outspoken Scientologist, publicly criticizing actress Brooke Shields on national television in 2005 for her use of antidepressants in recovering from post-natal depression. Cruise has also publicly attacked psychiatry. SCOLE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP Group of sitters in Scole, Norfolk, who practised physical mediumship for four years in the mid-1990s. The group believed their purpose was to pioneer a new creative energy as an alternative to ectoplasm for spirit communication with the material world. The group was investigated by the Society for Psychical Research for two years and no evidence of fraud was ever found. They did, however, believe they had found evidence of intelligent forces - either discarnate entities or originating from the human psyche - that may have been able to influence material objects and deliver messages. As soon as the case was published it became controversial. The Scole group was initiated by Robin and Sandra Foy both experienced mediums and well-known in the spiritualist community. In August 1991 they transformed a basement room in their house in Scole for a circle to meet, but it wasn’t until 1993 that phenomena developed. Strange noises were heard, splashes of water were felt and dancing lights were seen. A control named Manu announced himself, and explained to the sitters that they would be working with new and safer energies made up of a blend of Earth, human and spirit energies. From then on phenomena significantly increased. There were said to be over 40 different types - from apports, to materializations of walking forms, to direct voices to levitations, to raps, to dancing lights, and so on. The spirits encouraged the group to take photographic records of the phenomena produced and often described phenomena before they occurred. One apport that allegedly appeared in 1994 was a pristine copy of the Daily Mail newspaper dated 1 April 1944. Visitors were also allowed to witness the phenomena and most testified to the phenomena that occurred. The first serious investigation of the group was conducted in 1995 by three Society of Psychical Research members: Montague Keen, Arthur Ellison and David Fontana. The spirit team appeared willing to work with the investigators but only if they could first approve procedures set up to protect against fraud. The investigators were witness to supposed direct voices and music from the other side as well as apports. They also were shown the results of photographic experiments in which the spirits allegedly impressed a series of images on undeveloped and sealed film. The images that appeared ranged from alchemical symbols to poems to the front page of the pre-war Daily Mirror newspaper. Despite a willingness for the investigations to continue on the part of the sitters and researchers, the spirits explained that contact had been lost because all the experiments conducted on them had caused ‘time space problems relating to an interdimensional doorway’. Allegedly the group’s energy vortex had attracted experiments from the future, which were making it difficult for the spirits to make contact. Not surprisingly the lack of strict protocol surrounding the experiments brought heavy criticism from sceptics, who pointed out that the photographic images could easily have been produced by human hands. The investigators were especially criticized for not allowing infrared equipment for the detection of movement and for agreeing to imperfect protocols. Other criticisms were that luminous hand bands worn by sitters were easy to remove and various phenomena produced, such as music and voices and cold breezes, could easily be done by human agency. Despite such heavy criticism The Scole Report published by the Society for Psychical Research concluded that the sitters had no motive for fraud, as they had received no financial benefit. The investigators were convinced that they had witnessed genuine phenomena even though they acknowledged that they had not been able to achieve ‘watertight conditions’ to eliminate the potential for fraud. The Scole group inspired a number of other home circles around the world to form and most reported similar phenomena. Enthusiasts believe that this is a sign that the spirits are trying to build an interdimensional web or bridge to the world of the living. SCOTT, SIR WALTER [1771-1832] Scottish writer and poet Sir Walter Scott will long be remembered as the author of Ivanhoe and other classics of English literature, but he also wrote a number of ghost stories, including ‘The Tapestried Chamber’ and ‘Wandering Willie’s Tale’. Scott’s interest in the paranormal began after he heard mysterious scratching noises in his home, Abbotsford in Roxburghshire. (Even today, Abbotsford is still widely regarded as haunted because of Scott’s stories of phantom encounters there.) In his later life, Scott frequently travelled to other reputably haunted locations throughout the United Kingdom in search of ghosts, many times with his literary peer and close friend, American writer Washington Irving. SCREAMING SKULLS Ghosts associated with skulls are believed to haunt numerous places, especially in England. Often the skulls seem to wish to continue to live in spirit in a certain house and when they are removed for burial or to a new location they protest with hauntings and poltergeist phenomena. Many screaming skulls are those of people who lost their heads through execution or murder. They also often share a wish to be buried within the walls of a house and when their wishes are ignored they allegedly protest with strange noises and unexplained activity. If a house’s occupants make the connection between the skull and the haunting and disinter the skull for placement in the house, the hauntings cease. Problems only occur when someone tries to remove the skull from the house. If attempts are made to destroy the skull it is said that the skull will take its revenge by bringing either some type of bad luck, even death, to a relative or by destroying the property. One famous screaming skull story is that of a skull named Dickie that is believed to haunt Tunstead Farm, near Chapel-en-le-Frith, England. According to lore a girl was murdered in the room where the skull is kept. Another story says that Ned Dixon, an ancestor of the farmhouse’s owners, was murdered in the room. Dickie is said to function as a guardian spirit of the farm. If strangers approach the farm knockings will be heard. Dickie has also sounded warnings upon the imminent death of a family member. On one occasion Dickie was stolen and taken to nearby Disley. The racket that followed at both Tunstead farm and Disley were allegedly so unbearable that the thieves gladly returned the skull. Similar disturbances were supposedly heard when attempts were made to bury Dickie. There are a number of other well-known screaming skulls from England, including the Bettiscombe Skull from a house near Lyme Regis, Dorset, the Burton Agnes Skull from North Yorkshire and the Wardley Skull from Wardley Hall near Manchester. SCRYING The word scrying means ‘seeing’, especially seeing into the future. An object or surface is gazed into until visions are seen on the surface or in the mind’s eye. Scrying is an ancient form of divination that dates back to the early Egyptians and Arabs. The tool of scryers is called a speculum and although this is often thought of as a crystal ball used by gypsies, any reflective surface can in fact be used, for example, polished stones, metals, crystals and mirrors, ink blots and other dark liquids. An experienced scryer may even be able to use their own polished thumbnail for scrying purposes. The French physician and astrologer Nostradamus scryed with a bowl of water set upon a tripod. Scryers usually have their own unique way of inducing visions. Those who use crystals may focus on points of light. Others enter into a meditative state and allow images to float into their inner awareness. It is believed to be possible to learn the art of scrying with patience and practice. The most important ingredient for success is the ability to relax both body and mind, leaving the mind in a passive, unfocused state. It is said that when clairvoyance develops the speculum clouds over with mist and then parts to reveal images. SEAFORD POLTERGEIST Poltergeist case characterized by bottles inexplicably popping and spilling their contents that took place in a Seaford Long Island household in 1958. The case involved no communication of any sort, as is sometimes the case with poltergeist disturbances. The disturbances, which began without warning and ceased equally abruptly five weeks later, affected Mr and Mrs Hermann, their 13-year-old daughter, Lucille and their 12-year-old son, Jimmy. The disturbances began on 6 February, with the inexplicable opening and spilling of bottles in the house when the children were present. On 9 February at 10.15 am, when the entire family was in the dining room, bottles could be heard popping and spilling in the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. The Hermanns called the police and when an officer arrived to investigate he also heard the sound of popping. A shampoo bottle that had been recapped had supposedly popped open again. Scrying exercise One of the easiest ways to make a speculum is to get a small bowl of water and add some drops of black ink. Use a bowl that is plain and unobtrusive and gives you some pleasure to see. If possible reserve this bowl for scrying purposes only. There is a tradition that scrying powers are at their best when the moon is waxing, preferably when it is nearly full. So you may want to choose that time to begin practising. In any event select a time when you won’t be interrupted for at least half an hour. Complicated ritual isn’t considered necessary for successful scrying but the right attitude of mind and the right mood are essential. You should have absolute silence if possible, so that you are not distracted by sounds. You should then do a series of deep breathing exercises to help calm your body and mind. When you feel ready, light a candle and place it behind you so that it doesn’t cause a glare on the surface of your speculum. Set the speculum on a plain dark cloth on a table before you and seat yourself comfortably. The soft indirect light of the ^candle will help you set the correct mood. Turn off the lights, close your eyes and relax. Concentrate on your breath. Feel it going in and out rhythmically. If your thoughts wander gently bring them back to focus on your breath and your breath alone. When you are ready open your eyes and look at your speculum with a firm but relaxed gaze. Be prepared to look at it for at least ten minutes. On your first session you may see nothing at all, but with a little practice you may find that you are looking at the speculum when suddenly the room and everything around you seems to go grey and misty. The speculum stands out, almost luminous. There may also be visual effects such as shimmering lights and flashes. A grey mist will seem to whirl over the surface of the speculum and cloud shapes may appear and fade to reveal images. If this happens try not to get too excited as it will jolt you out of your trance state and the visions will end. Endeavour to stay calm and relaxed throughout. After about ten minutes rouse and shake yourself and put on the lights. Don’t blow out the candle yet. Let it burn for a while, then snuff it out gently. The case was brought to the attention of parapsychologists William Roll, J G Pratt and J B Rhine, who spent a total of 10 days investigating the house, the family and the popping. In addition to the bottles household objects such as figurines were thrown about or broken. Some of the disturbances were heard but others were witnessed. Pratt and Roll investigated the matter thoroughly to determine if there was some natural explanation for the bottles popping, but found none. They also eliminated radio waves, floor vibrations and electrical malfunction, down drafts from the chimney, aeroplane noise, plumbing problems and underground water level changes as possible causes. Jimmy Hermann was immediately suspected as being the agent of the disturbances as they tended to happen when he was in the house. The police accused him of trickery but Roll and Pratt believed that fraud was unlikely given the fact that a 12-year-old would have found it virtually impossible to create the effects. On 10 March the disturbances ended as suddenly as they had begun when a bleach bottle in the basement popped for the last time. It’s conceivable that Jimmy was an unconscious agent, causing what Roll and Pratt termed recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis’. SEANCE A meeting of a group of people who wish to communicate with spirits of loved ones or other supernatural entities. It is led by a medium who acts as a go-between for the group and the spirits. One of the first references to séance communication dates back to the writings of Porphyry in the third century AD. In 1659 Revd Meric Casaubon wrote A True and Faithful Relation of What Passed Between Dr Dee and Some Spirits, but it wasn’t until the mid-1800s with the Fox sisters and, later, with the rise of spiritualism that séances became popular. Early spiritualist séances were dramatic; they would take place in darkened parlours and feature feats of physical mediumship, typically produced from behind a cabinet, such as apports, materializations, rappings or strange lights. More recently séances have been more informal and tend to involve mental mediumship. General observances are typically adhered to for success. Contrary to popular opinion it is not necessary to sit round a table and join hands in order to conduct a séance - it can take place wherever two or more people gather for such a purpose. However a table is still preferred by many mediums. A circular table with approximately eight sitters is thought to be best. Hands are placed flat on the table with the fingers touching, or sometimes clasped. As far as sitters are concerned the younger they are the better, as youth is believed to exude more favourable psychic attraction. Sitters should also be equally divided by gender. No more than two or three séances should be held weekly and each séance should last no more than two hours. It is considered dangerous to reach out and touch the medium in any way as this could result in an abrupt return to consciousness, potentially resulting in death. Some mediums consider music, prayers and conversation to be conducive to spirit communication. Sceptics argue that this can provide cover for a multitude of fraudulent noises. Houses and locations steeped in history such as castles and old churches are thought to help set the tone, as can simple furniture, preferably made from wood. Lighting is considered important and although some mediums work in full light most prefer darkness; critics again would claim this helps them to perpetuate fraud. Success rates vary and first time sitters may find themselves disappointed at a séance. Nonetheless the anticipation associated with attending a séance fires the imagination and the nerves. A séance is powerful, dramatic and intense and many believe it can lift the veil between this world and the next so that the living and the dead can temporarily reunite and communicate with one another. SECOND SIGHT Term used to describe psychic powers; the ability to obtain information about a person, place, event or situation through ESP or other paranormal means. Although it has become almost synonymous with ESP there is reason to believe it was originally coined to describe someone with non-ocular perception of energy field manifestations and auras. SEDONA, ARIZONA Area in central Arizona said to be a psychic vortex or power spot. The site is in the red rock country near the town of Sedona and is believed to lie on a ley line. The area is sacred to the Yavapai Native Americans who believe deities live in the rocks. There is also a legend that the remains of an advanced civilization lie buried deep beneath the rocks. The site is visited by thousands of people every year. Paranormal experiences reported when visiting the site include visions of spirits, auras over the rocks, past-life recall, clairvoyant dreams, automatic writing, ESP, physical cures and spiritual transformation. SEER Alternative name for a clairvoyant or prophet. SELENOMANCY Ancient practice of divination by the appearance of the moon. Patterns on the surface of the moon, the phase of the moon and its visibility through cloud cover are all interpreted in this form of divination. There are countless moon-related omens that have evolved since prehistoric times. The moon has long been used to divine the fate of babies when they are born. For example, there is the belief that if a child is born when the moon is one day old, this person will be blessed with wealth and longevity; if the birth occurs during the moon’s waning phase this indicates the child will be unhealthy; if the child is born when the moon is full, he or she will be a very strong individual, but if a child is born in the dark of the moon he or she will need special care and could die young. In ancient Assyria diviners interpreted the appearance of a ring or halo around the moon as an omen of an impending siege, but if a break appeared in it, it indicated a lucky break. See also Lunomancy. SENSITIVE Alternative name for a psychic. SETH See Roberts, Jane. SHADOW According to Carl Jung, the shadow is the hidden or unconscious aspect of a person that the conscious self (the ego) has either repressed or ignored. The shadow is mostly composed of those elements of themselves a person finds distasteful, such as taboo urges, resentments and animal instincts. These repressed elements, however, still find a way to be heard by the projection of those qualities on to someone else. In other words, someone else is blamed for a person’s own weaknesses. Despite the negative associations of the shadow, acknowledging and assimilating it into the ego is, according to Jung, a sign of a healthy person. SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM [1564–1616] The celebrated Bard, William Shakespeare, was deeply interested in all aspects of the supernatural, and ghosts in particular. Several of his plays, including Julius Caesar, The Tempest, A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Hamlet all prominently feature spirits of the dead, often to the point where ghosts dominate the action in the scenes in which they appear. He, perhaps more than any other dramatist before or since, realized the problems associated with presenting something as etherial as a ghost on stage, as F E Budd has written in A Survey of the Occult (1935): Shakespeare clearly realized that ghosts and witches could not of themselves guarantee the highest imaginative effect. To achieve this, he saw, it was essential to show a sensitive mind reacting to the power of suggestion, and the finer the mind, the richer would be the effect. Moreover, like all great dramatists, he suggests the presence of supernatural forces without necessarily introducing the spectral. The working of fate, the use of tragic irony, and the description of such perturbations of nature as accompanied by the murder of Caesar and Duncan are among the means whereby he endows human action with more than human significance. Shakespeare combined his own beliefs and experience with a good deal of personal research. He was familiar with many of the classic ghostly tales of Elizabethan England and paid visits to many of these sites in the hope of encountering a ghost himself. His involvement with the supernatural, as well as his great interest in otherworldly phenomena, are subjects that have been explored numerous times in various studies. It could be said that Shakespeare was one of the greatest ghost hunters; not only did he attempt to seek out the truth behind ghostly activity for himself, but through his writings countless others have been inspired to open their eyes to the possibilities and magic of the supernatural. SHAMAN A magician-priest-healer-wise person who serves tribal peoples of the Americas, India, Australia, Siberia and Mongolia, as well as in some northern European traditions. In other traditions shamans are also known as witch doctors or medicine men. The shaman is a follower of a visionary tradition that reaches back to prehistory and is based on animistic ideas about the world. They are often well versed in herbalism and spiritual healing and can enter altered states of consciousness to tap into the elemental powers of nature and the spirit world for the health and well being of their people. They will typically use rhythmic drumming, dancing, chanting, fasting, drugs and vision quests to induce trance states, which allow the shaman’s soul to enter the spirit world in order to heal, divine the future, communicate with spirits of the dead and perform other supernatural feats. Shamans also consult spirit guides in the form of animal guardians called totems. They guide their people to awareness and maturity by helping them to contact their own totem guides, or sometimes through the use of psychogenic or psychedelic substances. The shaman lives in two worlds: ordinary reality and a non-ordinary reality called the ‘shamanic state of consciousness’. Non-ordinary reality is believed to be a unique altered state of consciousness in which the shaman has access to three cosmologies: earth, sky and underworld. The shaman remains lucid throughout his altered state, controls it and recalls afterwards what transpired during it. In this state he has access to information that is closed off during ordinary reality. This ability to enter the shamanic state at will is essential to a shaman. Techniques for doing so include drumming, chanting, dancing, fasting, sweat baths, staring into flames, visualization and isolating oneself in darkness. In some instances psychedelic drugs will be used for this purpose but they are not essential for the shamanic process. The shaman also has the clairvoyant skills to see spirits and souls and the mediumistic ability to communicate with them. He is able to take magical flights to the heavens where he serves as an intermediary between the gods and his people; he can also descend to the underworld to the land of the dead. The flights are achieved through shape-shifting. The shaman’s primary function is to heal and restore the connectedness of his people to the universe. No distinctions are made between body, mind and spirit: all are seen as part of a great whole. Shamanic healing differs from Western medicine in that it is not so much concerned with extension of life but rather in protecting the soul and preventing it from eternal wandering. The kidnapping of lost souls of the living (see soul loss) is believed to be responsible for many kinds of illnesses and only by retrieving the soul can a shaman effect a cure. Other cures are effected by sucking out the disease or illness with the help of spirits. Dream interpretation is another important function of shamans. They also perform various religious rites, divine the future, control the weather, identify thieves and protect their community against evil spirits. Shamans can sometimes resort to sleight-of-hand tricks, particularly when it comes to sucking out illnesses or psychic surgery. They produce evidence such as stones and pieces of bones, which they say are responsible for the illness, and then palm them and make them magically disappear. Some shamans say that this has nothing to do with the cure and is simply to reassure the patient that a cure has taken place. Like Western mediums shamans can demonstrate their powers at séances, which take place in darkened areas such as tents. The séance commences with singing and phenomena include levitation, spirit voices, rapping, handling of hot coals without injury speaking in tongues and other poltergeist effects. Another similarity with Western mediums is the belief that if a shaman is disturbed during a séance it can jeopardize his life. Differences also exist between the two. The path to becoming a shaman is long and painful and this is not always the case for a medium. Shamans live outside the everyday life of their people and are regarded as part of another world, which is not the case with mediums. Shamans also tend to be invigorated by séances, whereas mediums are often exhausted by them. And although the spirit helpers contacted during a séance parallel the Western medium’s controls in that they offer assistance, they exert much more influence on their human agent. The shaman is told by his spirit helpers how to dress, how to live and what to do. If he fails to follow their instructions there is the danger they may become unhappy with him and even kill him. SHAMANISM Term used to refer to the spiritual practices of a shaman, a person who can access altered states of consciousness through the use of spirit guides and through invoking a trance-like state using rhythmic drumming, chanting or dance. Once in a deep state of trance the shaman is said to be able to access his or her guardian spirit known as a totem, for healing, guidance and advice. Shamanism has been described as the ‘world’s oldest profession’; archaeological evidence suggests shamanic techniques are at least 20,000 years old. Shamans were probably the first healers, priests and magicians, who helped people make sense of the world they lived in. Until recently the shamanic tradition was regarded simply as a precursor to modern religion, but today a new breed of urban shaman is attempting to adapt this ancient system to Western life in an effort to regain an understanding of the interconnection of all life. SHAMBHALA In Tibetan Buddhism, a mysterious lost land that has existed for all time. It is believed that this mystical land is a hidden paradise of green valleys, high mountains, hot springs and rich vegetation, and those who are able to find it can attain all the esoteric wisdom in the universe. The legend of Shambhala was the inspiration for author James Hilton’s Shangri-La, the fictional paradise of his novel Lost Horizons (1936). While there is widespread mythic agreement about the existence of Shambhala there is considerably less agreement about where it is and how to get there. The Tibetan Buddhists believe it is located somewhere beyond the peaks of the Himalayan Mountains. Theosophists favour the Gobi dessert. The Chinese think it may be the Kun Lun Mountains. Greek sources favour the Altaic Mountains. Russian legend claims it lies in the Belovodye ‘white waters’ region; in 1923 an expedition set off across the Kokushi Mountains to find it and never returned. The fate of the expedition would not have surprised some Buddhists, who believe that Shambhala does not exist on the earthly plane but on another dimension altogether, possibly the astral plane; it will return to our existence one day to usher in a new Golden Age. Despite such pointers to an inward Shambhala, rumours of its physical existence still persist. SHAPE-SHIFTING Conscious and deliberate act of transformation from human to animal form through magical or spiritual means. Shamans, witches and sorcerers are believed to use this supernatural power to increase their understanding of a situation or to gain the power the chosen animal or bird possess. Types of shapeshifting include the shaman transforming into the tribe’s totem animal to seek advice and wisdom for his tribe. SHEEP/GOAT EFFECT Phenomenon demonstrated in psychical research that demonstrates that people who believe in psi tend to score more positively in psi tests and people who do not believe in psi tend to score more negatively. The phenomenon was discovered by American parapsychologist Gertrude Schmeidler, who called it the sheep/goat effect. The sheep are the believers and the goats are the nonbelievers. Schmeidler found that sheep are more likely to score hits in psi guessing games and goats are more likely to miss targets and score below chance scores, but the sheep/goat effect only seemed to come into play with strong believers and strong non-believers. Mild believers and mild non-believers tended to score at chance. Schmeidler and other researchers also found that other factors influence psi hits and misses. Those subjects who are outgoing, happy and relaxed tend to score above chance and those who are shy, reserved and introverted tend to score below chance. By the 1970s the sheep/goat effect began to disappear. It has been suggested that this may be because public attitudes about psi have altered significantly since the 1940s. More people are willing to consider the possible existence of psi, and in experiments now they are more likely to be influenced by the attitude of the experimenter. SHELL HEARING A branch of conchomancy - an African form of seashell divination - shell hearing is believed to be one way of promoting clairaudience. In spiritualism a medium may hold a shell to his or her ear and listen. Through the sounds of the sea that are associated with this, voices may be heard. These, according to spiritualists, are voices of the dead who may then be questioned. Some mediums hold one large shell, such as a large conch, to each ear in turn; others hold two shells, one to each ear. SHIATSU Japanese holistic massage technique that uses fingertip pressure to stimulate the body’s energy pathways. These pathways, called meridians, circulate bioelectric energy (chi or the Japanese term ki) throughout the body along specific channels. It is believed that when ki flow is blocked pain or illness is the result. The practitioner presses down on the meridians with their fingers, thumbs, elbows, knees and feet to free up this bioelectric flow. The therapy, which is a form of acupressure, is used for a number of different health conditions and is most often recommended for stress-related conditions, such as depression and anxiety, to produce a feeling of wellbeing and relaxation. SHINS General term used to refer to malevolent ghosts in Chinese tradition. The Chinese have more ghosts than any other people -their tradition lists no fewer than 60 different kinds of shins. Each of these spirit types has a specific day for appearing, during a continuously repeated 60-day cycle. To appease these spirits, the Chinese leave small gifts of cakes outside their homes with a letter attached to the ‘honourable homeless hosts’, begging the ghosts to enjoy the gift, but then depart from the property in peace. These ghosts sometimes initially appear in the form of a mist before gradually assuming a human form, with the head materializing first, then the feet, and finally the body in between. Some subforms of shins are also reported to have no chins. SHINTO The state religion of Japan, Shinto is known as the Way of the Gods. The religion itself combines ancient nature worship with elements of Buddhism and Confucianism, notably those elements that suggested that the emperor was the divine leader of the nation. Until 1946 it was closely linked with the Japanese monarchy but in that year Emperor Hirohito renounced his status as a living god, effectively disestablishing Shinto from the position it had held since 1868. Shinto remains a thriving religion in modern Japan with numerous shrines throughout the country. Shinto links living Japanese to their ancestral spirits, ancient gods and the elemental energies of land and nature in a mysterious, shared cosmos where all natural phenomena are considered manifestations of the divine. SHOJO A traditional Japanese ghost form that haunts the open sea. They are said to have flaming red hair, but intend no harm to humans. They are supposedly addicted to drinking, dancing, and merry-making. Because their favourite drink is saké, some Japanese traditions hold that these spirits may be caught by luring them on to land with a jar of the liquor. SHRIEKING PITS At Aylmerton in Norfolk, there are a large number of large, circular pits which are thought to have been the remains of a prehistoric settlement. Over the years they have been called the ‘Shrieking pits’, because a white figure is said to haunt them with the most terrible, agonizing cries. Possible natural explanations for the phenomenon are mist and the cries of birds. SHROUD OF TURIN Strip of linen bearing bloodstains and the faded image of the body of a bearded man, which for centuries was believed to be the shroud in which Christ was buried. The linen measures about 14 feet long and 4 feet wide and has been the subject of controversy and debate and research since it came to light in 1353 in a French church. According to the Vatican the shroud is the most important relic in Christendom; it takes its name from St John’s Cathedral in Turin where it has been locked in a silver case since the fifteenth century. In 1988 the Vatican allowed carbon-dating tests on samples of the cloth and, according to the test results, the shroud proved to be a medieval forgery. Despite this, believers maintain that the image was imprinted on to the shroud by some kind of spiritual energy when Jesus rose from the Holy Sepulchre. SIBYL A woman who is able to foretell the future. The term comes from ancient Greece where sibyls were prophetesses whose special function was to communicate with the gods on behalf of others. They usually lived in isolated places like caves or rocky precipices. SIDDHIS Name ascribed to the alleged paranormal powers sometimes associated with the practice of Yoga. SIDGWICK, ELEANOR [1845--1936] Mathematician and teacher, principal of the first women’s college at Cambridge and a prominent member of the Society for Psychical Research. She was married to philosopher Henry Sidgwick, who shared her interest in psychical research. Eleanor was born on 11 March 1845 at the Balfour family estate at Wittinghame, East Lothian, Scotland. She was encouraged in her studies by her parents, who supported the education of women, and at the age of 27 she inherited the management of the estate. Like most of the other members of the Balfour family she was interested in psychical phenomena and was part of a group formed in 1874 to investigate spiritualism. It was at this group that she met Henry Sidgwick, whom she married in 1876. The couple shared a commitment to women’s education as well as an interest in mediumship. From 1892 to 1910 Eleanor served as Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge. Her academic career made her contributions to the Society for Psychical Research even more authoritative and she became actively involved in researching and writing for the Society’s journal. In a paper published in the Society’s Proceedings in 1886, entitled ‘Results of a Personal Investigation into the Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism’, she came to the conclusion that although work such of that of Sir William Crookes with medium D D Home supported the possibility of psychic powers, in her personal experience she had encountered a great deal of trickery and fraud. Another noteworthy contribution was her discussion of the mediumship of Leonora Piper in the Proceedings of 1915. In this Eleanor concluded that Piper’s controls behaved more like secondary personalities than discarnate entities, and that some of these secondary personalities may have displayed ESP. In 1901 Sidgwick was elected to the Society’s governing council and later became President in 1908 and again in 1932. Throughout her career she exercised a strong influence over the Society. For much of that career she was sceptical about whether there was survival after death but in her acceptance speech for her second presidency in 1932, she confessed that her long study of the evidence had finally brought her to a belief in such survival. SIDGWICK, HENRY [1838–1900] Cambridge philosopher and founding member and president of the Society for Psychical Research. Henry Sidgwick was born on 31 May 1838 in Skipton, Yorkshire. In 1855 he went to Trinity College, Cambridge to study classics and mathematics. In 1859 he was appointed to a teaching fellowship at Trinity but was unable to commit to being a ‘bona fide member of the Church of England’ (a requirement for appointment at that time) and resigned in 1869. Despite his religious doubts Trinity created a position for him in moral sciences, and in 1883 Sidgwick was elected Knightsbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy. Throughout his career Sidgwick was interested and involved in psychical research. As an undergraduate he joined the Cambridge ghost club and in 1860 attended his first séance. He later denounced the medium at this séance as a fraud but this did not dampen his enthusiasm for the psychic world. In 1869 one of Sidgwick’s students, Frederick Myers, recalled how, on a ‘starlight walk’ he had asked Sidgwick ‘whether he thought that when Tradition, Intuition, Metaphysics had failed to solve the riddle of the Universe, there was a chance that from any actual observable phenomena - ghosts, spirits, whatever they may be - some valid knowledge might be drawn as to the world unseen.’ Sidgwick replied that he believed there was a chance, and in 1874 he joined with Myers and two others of his students, Arthur Balfour and Edmund Gurney, to begin a series of detailed investigations. The investigations that followed proved to be disappointing. Either nothing happened or trickery was discovered. The investigations did, however, help Sidgwick become acquainted with Balfour’s sister, Eleanor, and the two were married in 1876. Henry and Eleanor Sidgwick both shared a passion for psychical research and an interest in the education of women. Despite discouraging results from his investigations with Myers, Sidgwick was not deterred from accepting an invitation from Sir William Barrett, a physicist who conducted a series of experiments on telepathy, to serve as the first President of the Society for Psychical Research in 1882. In 1884 Sidgwick proposed the creation of a committee to investigate the mediumistic claims of Madame Blavatsky, the co-founder of the Theosophical Society. He played a major role in organizing a census of hallucinations conducted between 1889 and 1894 and took part in investigations of Eusapia Palladino, which confirmed his distrust of physical mediumship, and Leonora Piper, who also failed to impress him. SLGIL A symbol, seal or sign that is used in magic rituals of witchcraft and occultism. The symbol is constructed by transforming a set of written words or letters into another word or picture. Sigils date back to prehistory and may represent complex concepts. In Western magic, sigils are symbols connected to a set of ideas by which supernatural powers may be summoned to awareness and controlled. They are used in divinatory and magical practices. The sigil itself does not call forth the power, but it serves as a physical focus through which the practitioner can achieve the desired state of mind. The pentacle is the most powerful sigil used in Neo-Pagan witchcraft and by many occultists. Other sigils serve as identifying logos of organizations. Individuals can adopt their personal sigils by selecting a letter from the runes or the Theban alphabet. They have personal, secret meaning and are often inscribed on magical tools used in occult practices and ceremonies. Sigils also serve as amulets, talismans or meditation tools. Creating a symbol of intent, a sigil, can be done with or without magical ritual or ceremony. Sigil designs can be derived from geometric shapes, astrological signs or symbols used in alchemy. They may be of various signs, such as crosses, associated with different deities. Other sigils are attained through intuition and inspiration. Many come through meditation and the practice of scrying - when a certain pattern seems to appear upon the object which the individual is gazing at. Since sigil magic is generally considered Will Magic (see Magical Will) the goal of sigil usage is to mobilize the unconscious mind towards accomplishing the desires of the conscious mind. It is thought that the sigils a person creates for him or herself in their own individual way are the most potent and can be used to enhance magical working by placing the symbol on pertinent clothing, packages, letters and so on. In some instances, after creating and meditating on them, sigils are burned or destroyed in some way so that they can pass from the conscious mind into the unconscious mind. Basic sigil magic Grab a piece of paper and simply write out a statement of your intent. Be blunt, specific and brief. For example: ‘I will pass my driving test next week.’ Write it out in plain English. Now look at the letters of the alphabet. What are they? Symbols. They are just symbols of a statement of intent. So play with them. Rearrange them, move pieces of one letter into another. Leave out repeated letters to make it smaller. They are just lines and curves so make them into some other design. Play with them until they cease to resemble anything remotely associated with your intent. Once you have your own little symbol you can copy it on to an index card. Now you have a sigil of your own design for your own specific magic. Carry it with you at all times, or place the sigil in your car or on your desk. How sigil magic works Sigils (symbols) are our native language. We respond to them daily and filter them and sort them rapidly. The language we speak and think with is an artificial system of order we impose over the natural language of symbols to make sense of them. When you create your own sigil what you are doing is taking a conscious statement of intent and returning it to a symbolic form. The method involves obscuring the original meaning and that part of the procedure is what makes it so effective. The entire process is geared to remove as much of the conscious focus and inherent conflicts between the conscious and unconscious from the intent. The sigil returns the idea to the realm of the will, and that is where the magic -your magic - begins. Another way of using sigils is to place them in plain sight and then to forget (in your conscious mind) about them and their original purpose. The idea here is to let your conscious mind’s guard down so the message can be seen unhindered by the unconscious mind. There are many ways to utilize these powerful tools. Occultists believe sigil magic to be one of the most effective forms of magic because the essential part of manifesting magical acts is the ability to communicate conscious intentions to the subconscious mind, and one of the best ways to do this is via symbols, specifically sigils. SILKY Female ghost who is believed to wear rustling silk clothing and according to lore performs domestic chores in the house after the family have gone to bed. Although silkies can be helpful they are also said to be perverse at times and a house that is left tidy by the owners may be disarrayed. Silkies are particularly found in the borderland between Scotland and England and are said to terrify lazy servants and people who do not do their work. The most famous of these ghosts was the Silky of Black Heddon, who is referred to in William Henderson’s FolkLore of the Northern Counties (1879). SILVA MIND CONTROL Jose Silva was born in Texas in 1914. His childhood was poor and he was forced at an early age to work to help support his family. However, by the age of 15 Silva had decided that material gain was not his primary motivation in life. He began a lifelong investigation of the potential of the human mind which moved via hypnosis to mind control, and later he developed exercises to raise IQ, improve memory, increase learning speed and even, his followers now claim, stimulate psychic powers. The Silva method of mind control has similarities to visualization and pathworking, but the non-mystical, down-to-earth way the exercises are presented has appealed to modern audiences. Today the Silva mind control movement has established a good international following. SILVER In folklore, silver is believed to be an effective tool for warding off evil. For example, silver bullets are thought to stop vampires, bogies, giants, witches, spirits and so on. Silver nails in a coffin are thought to prevent the spirit of the dead escaping and silver is also thought to protect against bewitchment, the evil eye and evil spirits. Since ancient times silver has been used in protective amulets. Some occultists believe the metal enhances psychic ability. It’s likely that silver’s power against the supernatural has to do with its association with the silvery glow of the Moon, which in folklore has always been linked with magic and mystery and the Otherworld. SILVER BIRCH Native American spirit control of English journalist and medium Maurice Barbanell (1902-1981) Barbanell was born on 3 May 1902 in London. As a young man he was an atheist and sceptical of spiritualist claims but this changed when he attended a home circle with a medium known as Mrs Blaustein and discovered that he had became a medium for a Native American spirit. Barbanell formed his own home circle, which met in secret for several years. At this early stage the name of the spirit communicating through Barbanell was kept confidential. Barbanell’s mediumship remained anonymous for several years until he was persuaded by a member of his circle, Hannen Swaffer, to disseminate the spirit’s messages to a wider audience than the home circle. Barbanell eventually agreed to publish them in a spiritualist newspaper called the Psychic News on the condition that he remained anonymous. For publication the spirit guide chose the pseudonym Silver Birch. Throughout his life Barbanell was active in the Spiritualists National Union and lectured widely, publishing numerous books and articles. He widely rejected the theory that controls were secondary personalities of a medium and sitters in his circle noticed how different in personality Silver Birch and Barbanell were. For example, Silver Birch believed in reincarnation and Barbanell didn’t. Barbanell died on 17 July 1981 and the teachings of his control were edited and published posthumously by his wife. Silver Birch’s messages focus on the importance of love, spiritual healing, service to others, the immortality of the soul and the oneness of all life. According to Silver Birch he had been reluctant to leave his own world and return to earth but he had a mission to remind humanity of ‘old, old teachings’. He said he had chosen Barbanell because of his scepticism, as it would make him more receptive to the material he wanted to communicate. SILVER CORD A silver thread that acts as a connecting link between the physical and the astral body that has been reported by some practitioners of astral projection. The Bible makes a passing mention of a ‘silver cord’, severing at the moment of death: Remember him - before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12: 6-7) Occultists often take this as a reference to the cord sometimes seen in astral projection. SITTER GROUP A group of people who meet on a regular basis in the hope of producing paranormal physical phenomena such as table-tilting or rapping. It is similar to a home circle but different in that it is not centred around a medium. The sitter group was first developed by an English psychologist, Kenneth Batcheldor, in the 1960s. Batcheldor believed that psychic energy arising out of interpersonal group dynamics rather than any one person was responsible for psychokinesis. According to this concept it would be possible for a group of people to produce phenomena without a medium being present. Batcheldor’s theory has been proved by several groups, such as the Bindelof Society. Batcheldor experimented with his own group and believed that for a group to be successful sceptical resistance had to be surmounted and a deep level of acceptance of the possibility of psychokinesis had to be induced. This could even be achieved by trickery because once disbelief was overcome then inhibitions would be freed, opening up the possibility of genuine phenomena. SIXTH SENSE Popular alternative term for extrasensory perception (ESP), as people who possess this ability can often perceive things beyond the powers of their other five senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch). SKY CLAD Working magic while naked. Occasionally impractical but preferred way for a Wiccan witch to work a spell to better channel natural energies and to feel connected to earth, sky and nature without the distraction of clothes. It also suggests a return to purity, innocence, openness and honesty. SLADE, DR HENRY [1840–1905] Famous nineteenth-century slate writing medium whose slate writing ability impressed scientists, journalists and royalty. Slade first appeared on the spiritualist scene in the 1860s when he began holding séances in New York City. After conducting séances for 15 years he received the endorsement of Madame Blavatsky and was recommended to study at the University of St Petersburg in Russia. En route to St Petersberg in 1876 he visited London and began holding séances in rooms at Russell Square, impressing sitters by writing on sealed slates, with levitations and with materialized hands. Various scientists and psychical researchers met with Slade there and almost all were won over by his abilities. However, not everyone was so impressed; in September 1876 E Ray Lankester, Professor of Zoology at University College London, attended a séance and discovered a slate with writing on it before it was supposed to appear. He submitted his discovery to The Times newspaper and charges were brought against Slade for taking money under false pretences. A controversial court case followed. Spiritualists claimed that the message could have been penned by spirits at any time, as spirits followed no timetable, but eventually Slade was convicted and sentenced to three months in prison. Slade was released on bail pending appeal and when the case was reheard his conviction was overturned on a technicality. In December 1877 Slade submitted to vigorous investigation by Johann Zollner, Professor of Physics at the University of Leipzig. Zollner was impressed by Slade and his abilities and published his findings in Transcendental Physics. Henry Slade returned to America but his career never fully recovered from the London trial. He was accused of fraud on numerous occasions and both his career and his health deteriorated rapidly. He died a penniless alcoholic in a Michigan sanatorium in 1905. SLATE WRITING Also known as psychography slate writing is the appearance of writing on a blank slate, thought to be produced through the intervention of spirits. Slate writing appeared to offer spiritualists indisputable proof of spirit presence because séances could be held in full light and observers could watch the medium at all times. Despite this, fraud often occurred. Slates were commonly used for school-work in the nineteenth century. They typically came in single or double frames and could be latched closed. In some cases sitters would bring new, clean slates to the séance, locked and sealed, and be amazed to find that the blank surfaces were covered in writing by spirits. Typically during a slate writing séance slates would be washed and examined beforehand. A sitter would ask a question and the medium would hold the slate at one end underneath the table top with the fingers of his right hand and keep his thumb above the table. The sitter would hold the other end with one hand and grasp the medium’s left hand with his or her other one. Soon scratchy sounds would be heard followed by raps when the spirits were finished. The answer to the question would appear on the slate. In some cases the medium would perform what is known as ‘mirror writing’; the medium would write backwards on a slate and then hold it up to a mirror to read. The most famous slate writer was Henry Slade who, despite impressing numerous scientists and psychical researchers, was accused of fraud. Magician Harry Houdini later demonstrated that there were two ways of producing slate writing phenomena. The first was to attach a ring or pencil to one of the fingers holding the board to scratch out an answer; the other involved writing the answer beforehand and switching the slates while the sitter’s attention was diverted. Slates were very common and most mediums kept a supply of all the types available ready to substitute in any situation. Another method involved writing the answer beforehand and concealing it with a flap covered in silicated gauze or thin slate. Trick slates and manipulation of the hinge mechanism also allowed slate writing mediums to produce writing on the inside of the surface of a locked double slate. Some mediums even employed plants to help make the switch or to read and provide answers. Magnets were also used to move slate writing pencils filled with iron filings, and if mediums needed any more help a number of firms offered trick slates in all shapes and sizes through mail order catalogues. Sometimes the sitter’s question would be sealed in an envelope but once again frauds found a way around this. A tiny wire prong could be inserted into the unsealed part of the envelope, which could pull the message out and replace it with the envelope remaining sealed. SLEEP PARALYSIS Sleep paralysis is a condition that occurs in the state just before dropping off to sleep or just before fully awakening from sleep. The condition is characterized by being unable to move or speak. It is often typically associated with a feeling that there is some sort of menacing presence, a feeling that often arouses fear but which is also accompanied by an inability to cry out. The paralysis may last only a few seconds. Sleep paralysis is thought by some to account for alien abduction hallucinations and other paranormal or supernatural experiences (e.g., old hag syndrome, incubus and succubus phenomena). SMITH, HELENE Pseudonym for Catherine Elise Muller, a late nineteenth-century medium from Geneva, Switzerland, who inspired huge controversy over her alleged astral trips to Mars. Smith’s séances were characterized by trances, automatic writing and speaking in tongues. Once in trance her control, Leopold, would speak and write through her. Smith claimed to have been a Hindu princess and Marie Antoinette in previous lives and one of the spirits she claimed to channel in her trances was a contemporary of the French queen, the eighteenth-century Italian sorcerer Cagliostro. When he appeared witnesses observed that Smith’s voice developed a deep bass tone. Leopold, Smith’s control, communicated through Smith that he had been transported to Mars and when in trance he took her there. The results of these journeys were crude drawings of the Martian landscape and automatic writing of the Martian language. In the late 1890s Smith was researched by Theodore Flournoy, a psychology professor from Switzerland and an experienced psychical researcher. Flournoy concluded that Smith had a very active imagination that may have been complemented by telepathy. Words used in her so-called Martian language were traced to existing languages and it was suggested that Leopold was a secondary personality. Flournoy published his conclusions in 1900 in From India to the Planet Mars. Instead of decreasing her popularity as might have been expected the book only increased it. Many people sided with Smith and believed that she had in fact visited Mars with the spirits. For the rest of her life she enjoyed comfortable life of fame and wealth. SMITHFIELD MARKET GHOST Ghost that allegedly haunted the Smithfield meat market in London in the middle of the seventeenth century. In 1654 a pamphlet called A True Relation of the Smithfield Ghost, complete with an illustration, described the ghost as dressed in the gown of a lawyer, with horns on his head, long pointed shoes and a meat cleaver in his hand. The spirit apparently appeared every Saturday night between nine and ten o’clock and pulled joints of meat from the stalls of butchers. Some of the butchers attempted to drive the ghost away but, according to the pamphlet, ‘they cannot feel anything but aire’. The description of the ghost wearing a lawyer’s gown led to rumours that this was the ghost of a lawyer named Mallet who had died just before the hauntings began from eating poisoned meat. Mallet was said to be unsure who had sold him the meat, because after Smithfield he moved on to terrorize the butchers at Whitechapel and Eastcheape. The ghost eventually disappeared and the mystery remains as to whether it was a genuine haunting or a clever prank. SMOKE GHOSTS A curious phenomenon not to be confused with ectoplasm or ‘mist’ phenomena, smoke ghosts are said to be ghost forms which give the appearance of smoke and are often accompanied by the pungent smell of burning wood. These ghostly columns of smoke are said to move of their own accord while maintaining a disciplined column shape, though it may assume other similar forms, before dissipating in a manner that is alleged to be completely different from smoke drifting in the wind. Smoke ghosts have been reported in both Europe and the United States for many years. A famous story is that of a girl in the United States who was burned to death during the seventeenth century and her ghostly presence has ever since been recognized by the pungent odour of burning wood. In 1954 a sentry at the Tower of London reported a smoke cloud that moved on its own, changed shape and did not seem to diffuse or drift like ordinary smoke. When the man tried to follow the smoke it disappeared instantly. SMUDGING Native North American practice of cleansing an environment with an ancient smoke ritual. Smudging is a form of geomancy, a practice that works with the universal life force energies of the earth. It involves burning small bundles of herbs and sweet smelling grasses to physically and spiritually cleanse homes and people, replacing negative energy with positive. The theory is that during the ritual, as the smoke drifts upwards, it carries all desires and intentions to the Great Spirit in the Native American religion, who will grant them if the sender’s intentions are pure. SMURL HAUNTING Alleged haunting that took place in the home of Jack and Janet Smurl in West Pittston, Pennsylvania from 1985 to 1987. The case attracted widespread interest from the media and even though several exorcisms were performed, the demon refused to leave. Sceptics believed the case, which was later dramatized in a book and movie, to be a hoax. In 1973 Jack’s parents, John and Mary Smurl, bought the house in West Pittson, which was a duplex built in 1896. They lived in the right half and Jack and Janet and their two daughters, Dawn and Heather, moved into the other half. The Smurl family was a close and loving one and by all accounts they enjoyed living together for the first 18 months. Strange things, however, began to occur after that. In January 1974, a strange stain appeared on a new carpet. Water leaked from pipes after repeated soldering. Scratches appeared on furniture. A television set exploded. Toilets flushed when nobody had used them. Drawers were opened and footsteps were heard. Radios sounded even when unplugged. Strange smells filled the house. Jack felt ghostly caresses. His eldest daughter Dawn allegedly saw figures floating in her bathroom. In 1985 the annoying disturbances turned into terrifying experiences. The house was often ice cold. Loud and abusive language could be heard and then, in February, a black human-shaped form, about five feet nine inches tall with no face, materialized first to Janet in the kitchen and then to her motherin-law Mary. According to family reports the haunting increased dramatically after that. Light fixtures fell from the ceiling. Jack levitated. Terrible rapping or scratching noises were heard. The children were tossed out of bed and down the stairs. Bedspreads were shredded and footsteps were heard in the attic. Even the neighbours were not spared, with many of them detecting a presence in their own homes. In January 1986 Janet contacted psychical researchers from Monroe, Connecticut - Ed and Lorraine Warren. They investigated the house and interviewed the Smurls and the conclusion they came to was that three minor spirits and a demon were haunting the house. Without any evidence of family discord the Warrens could only conclude that the demon had lain dormant for centuries but had risen to draw on the emotional energy generated by the girls’ move into puberty. The hauntings again intensified, with the Smurls now reporting assault and rape by a succubus and an incubus. The Warrens brought in Father Robert F McKenna to perform an exorcism but this only succeeded in infuriating the demon still further. There was little point in the Smurls moving house as by now the demon followed them everywhere, even on family camping trips. Exhausted by the ordeal and disappointed by the repeated refusals of the Catholic Church to help, they decided to appear on television. Remaining anonymous behind a screen the Smurls were interviewed on a local Philadelphia talk show. The demon reacted by levitating Janet and then hurling her against a wall. In August 1986 the Smurls decided to risk ridicule by going public with the story and granted an interview to the Sunday Independent newspaper. As soon as the article appeared their house became a tourist attraction. Paul Kurtz, chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal in Buffalo, New York, offered to put the family up in a hotel for a week, where they could be observed with cameras. The Smurls refused, saying that they believed Kurtz had already made up his mind that the story was a hoax. Kurtz later wrote in an article that the case was not paranormal and the Smurls had denied him access because they were afraid of what he might discover. He pointed out a number of discrepancies in the Smurls’ story, such as Mrs Smurl saying she had contacted the police when there was no record of her complaints, and suggested natural explanations for the phenomena experienced by the Smurls. These natural explanations included a broken sewer pipe causing foul smells, pranks by the teenagers, delusions and abandoned mine voids in the area creating strange noises. Kurtz also wondered about a possible financial motive as the Smurls had already begun talking to Hollywood producers. Ed Warren increased doubts more by declining a reporter’s requests to stay in the house or to watch alleged recordings of the phenomena. The Warrens meanwhile were planning a mass exorcism with several priests, now that the press coverage had pushed the diocese into action. This time the rituals seemed to have more of an effect and in 1989 the Smurls finally found peace. The movie version of the Smurl haunting, entitled The Haunted, was released in 1991. SNARLY YOW Terrifying spectral dog with huge paws and a snarling red mouth that allegedly haunts the South Mountain area of Maryland. The Snarly Yow is also called the black dog and is quite similar to the Black Shuck of England, although it is not regarded as a death omen as is the Black Shuck. According to lore the dog has appeared for generations, although its origins are not known. It haunts woodland on the mountain east of Hagerstown and when horses were the usual mode of transport it was said to suddenly appear and frighten the horse so that the rider was thrown off. Today the Snarly Yow is said to block the passage of oncoming cars on the National Pike roadway. Sometimes drivers think they have actually hit a dog, but when they stop and get out they see a glimpse of the Snarly Yow with its teeth bared. Then the creature abruptly vanishes. SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH First major organization established to investigate the paranormal scientifically, set up in London in 1882. The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was formed by a group of individuals whose aim was to discover scientific proof of spiritualist phenomena. The SPR had its origins in the ‘Sidgwick group’ set up by Trinity College, Cambridge fellows Henry Sidgwick, Frederick Myers and Edmund Gurney, and later included Sidgwick’s wife Eleanor Sidgwick. Although most of the Sidwick group investigations exposed fraud this did not dent the enthusiasm of its members, and when Sir William Barrett invited them to join with various spiritualists to form the SPR they readily accepted. Sidgwick was elected the Society’s first president. The Sidgwicks attracted noted scientists and scholars to the Society, including Sir William Crookes, William James and later Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. The first subject areas to be investigated were telepathy, mesmerism, hypnosis, clairvoyance, apparitions, hauntings and physical mediumship. In 1885 the SPR helped found the American Society for Psychical Research in Boston. In time the SPR turned its attention from physical mediumship to other phenomena that might suggest evidence for ESP or survival after death, such as mental mediumship. By 1900 the Society had produced thousands of reports and articles as well as substantial works such as Phantasms of the Living (1886), a huge study of apparitions, and Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death, a comprehensive study of evidence for survival. By 1910 most of the key members of the Sidgwick group had died but after death they reportedly communicated through various mediums, providing evidence for cross correspondences. The SPR differs from the American society in that for the most part it leaves research to its members, whereas in the ASPR that is left to the staff. Currently it runs a programme of monthly lectures with a variety of invited speakers, held in the Lecture Hall of the Kensington Public Library. Admission is free to SPR members, with an admission fee for non-members. The SPR also runs courses in psychic development and holds an annual conference at different venues around the UK. According to the SPR website: The principal areas of study of psychical research concern exchanges between minds, or between minds and the environment, which are not dealt with by current, orthodox science. This is a large area, incorporating such topics as extrasensory perception (telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and retrocognition), psychokinesis (paranormal effects on physical objects, including poltergeist phenomena), near-death and out-of-the-body experiences, apparitions, hauntings, hypnotic regression and paranormal healing. One of the society’s aims has been to examine the question of whether or not we survive bodily death, by evaluating the evidence provided by mediumship, apparitions of the dead and reincarnation studies. The SPR maintains an impressive library and publishes research articles in the Society’s Journal and Proceedings, which, since 1995, have appeared in a magazine called the Paranormal Review. Research and information about the society is also available online at www.spr.ac.uk. SOMNAMBULIST The term applied to people who perform physical activity while asleep (such as ‘sleep-walking’). It also applies to a person in a deep hypnotic trance (see hypnosis). SOOTHSAYER Alternative name for a prophet or seer, a person capable of divining and telling the future. SORCERY, SORCERER Form of magic that uses spells, charms and incantations to summon up supernatural powers or spirits, mostly, but not always, for evil purposes or to gain power. It is typically associated with black magic and the left-hand path and can also include divining the future. Someone who practises sorcery is called a sorcerer if they are male and a sorceress if they are female. In the late Middle Ages the term sorcerer was applied to men of higher learning such as alchemists, magicians and physicians, as these were the people most likely to be involved in attempts to foretell the future. SORTILEGE Divination by the casting of lots, popular in ancient Rome. It was typically done by casting objects such as stones or dice after they have been mixed together and interpreting how they landed, although drawing straws from a clasped hand was an alternative method. Sortilege has stood the test of time and is still practised today in Western cultures, using straws or dice or taking a card at random from a pack. SOUL The soul is believed to be the animating presence within a person and represents the individual’s core identity, as distinguished from the physical body. It is thought to live on after death on this plane of existence and, depending on beliefs, lives in heaven, hell or purgatory, is reincarnated or is transformed into another living person, animal, plant or other organic material. If a distinction is made between mind, body and spirit, soul refers to the essence of a person and spirit refers to the life force. The concept of the soul is difficult to define as it differs according to belief systems. However, in almost all religious traditions, except Buddhism, it is believed to be immortal. In spiritualism the soul is conceived of as discarnate and indivisible and each person is normally allocated one. The soul, however, can detach from the body and may leave it during out-of-body experiences and near-death experiences. It is also the part of a person that is said to travel in the astral plane. In some cases apparitions are regarded as a reflection of the soul itself. SOUL LOSS In traditional societies around the world illness is often explained by a temporary departure of the soul from the body. A permanent departure results in death. In some cultures a person’s soul is thought to detach from the body and to wander at night while a person is dreaming. Shamans are believed to be able to direct these wanderings, which may in fact be out-of-body experiences. This is considered normal and problems only occur when for some reason the soul can’t find its way back into the body. Soul loss may be caused by a ghost attempting to draw the soul away. It may also be due to witchcraft or evil spirits or it may result from physical injury to the body. The illnesses caused by soul loss include fainting fits, seizures and comas. When it leaves the body the soul is believed to head for the land of the dead and the closer it gets to that the weaker the person becomes. It is left to the shaman to search for the soul or fight for the soul if it is being possessed by an evil spirit and bring it back to the body. SOUL MATE Romantic belief that every person’s soul has a counterpart and true happiness and fulfilment can only be found by meeting and joining with that counterpart. In some cases this search may span several reincarnations. The soul-mate tradition is a popular one and so many definitions of soul mate have been put forward that it is difficult to determine its origins. A popular theory is that in a remote time and place a breakage occurred, leaving each soul imperfect and destined to search for its other half. Another theory suggests that a soul mate is not a missing half but another soul with whom one has spent many lives and developed a strong affinity. Such soul mates gravitate towards each other every time they are reincarnated to further develop their relationship and help each other find fulfilment. They are so in tune with each other they can communicate without words. They love each other unconditionally and cannot bear separation. Other theories suggest that soul mates are not necessarily lovers or relatives but certain people with whom we have intimate bonds, or people who come into our lives to teach us important lessons, or people who share a common purpose or ideal. Some people consult psychics, astrologers and so on in an effort to find or attract their soul mate. Opinions differ as to whether soul mates will come together naturally or whether they must earn their affinity. It is generally thought, however, that an obsession with soul mates puts unnecessary pressure on a relationship by creating impossible expectations. SOULE, MINNIE MESERVE [1867–1936] American mental medium who worked closely with the American Society for Psychical Research. Minnie Soule, as she was later known, was born in Boston on 12 November 1867. She trained to be a teacher and taught in Somerville, Massachusetts, where she met her husband Charles L Soule, whom she married in 1897. As a child she had already begun to have precognitive dreams but it was only after her marriage that her mediumship began to develop, when she began automatic writing and would receive messages from unknown people who had died many years previously. Her husband took her to meet spiritualist friends who immediately recognized her talents. In the years that followed Soule came to be controlled by several American Indian spirit guides. One, called ‘White Cloud’, was a skilled and talented herbal healer. Another, called ‘Sunbeam’, claimed to be a 16-year-old Choctaw and when she gave spoken messages she gave them in her native tongue. For the most part Soule was fully aware of the communications but she grew weary of this and asked the controls to help her. They obliged by putting her into full trance when she spoke. In 1907 Soule began to work with James Hyslop who in that year took over the leadership of the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR). Her work as a medium proved to be impressive and she helped Hyslop with the Thompson-Gifford case and in his efforts to treat the multiple personalities of Doris Fischer. Hyslop believed that such cases were actually caused by spirit possession and Soule’s communications with spirits supported this explanation. After Hyslop’s death Soule began to work for Walter Franklin Prince who succeeded Hyslop at the ASPR. When Prince left to head up the Boston Society for Psychical Research in 1925 Soule followed him. During this time she had a series of successful sittings with John Thomas, who was trying to contact his dead wife. Soule died on 28 April 1936. Between 1907 and 1920 Hyslop’s work with her was published in the Proceedings of the ASPR. SPACE CLEARING The practice of clearing clutter from the home and office in order to improve the flow of natural energies through the environment. The aim of space clearing is to create harmony and balance in a person’s life by first creating it in personal living spaces. Many believe space clearing to be the first step in applying feng shui principles to living and working spaces. It is certainly similar to geomancy and other practices that work with the energies of the earth. Generally there are believed to be three types of clutter: physical, vibrational and internal. Physical clutter relates to the clutter of objects, papers and things that create an untidy environment. Vibrational clutter is those unresolved and negative issues in a person’s life, such as unanswered letters, debts and stressful relationships. Dealing with these matters clears the unconscious mind and results in more energy. Internal clutter is associated with health and concerns lifestyle choices and habits such as poor diet, lack of exercise and so on. Balancing the internal clutter through positive lifestyle change or energy enhancing treatments like massage or acupuncture is thought to result in improved health and wellbeing. SPASMATOMANCY Method of divination that utilizes convulsive twitching of the limbs, in other word involuntary movements made by the body. For example, in ancient and modern Greece, if the left eyebrow throbs or twitches this can mean an enemy will soon be encountered. If it is the right eyebrow then it will be a friend. Similarly a buzzing in the ear is believed to be a sign that someone will soon be speaking to you - slander and unpleasant words if it is the left ear and good wishes if it is the right. If the left palm itches then money will be paid out. If it is the right palm then money will be coming in. If the sole of the left foot itches then an unsuccessful journey lies ahead, but if the right sole itches the journey will be successful. Sneezing or hiccupping or choking over food indicates a backbiter at work. The cure is to guess the name of the person. If anyone is interrupted when they are speaking by a sneeze, either his or her own or someone else’s, then whatever was being said is regarded as the absolute truth. SPECTRE Word that is generally thought to mean a ghost or apparition but among ghost hunters it has become employed to describe hauntings that eventually prove to be explainable or deliberately fraudulent. The most famous example of this is the ‘Spectre of the Brocken’ from Germany. For many years people were fearful of climbing the Brocken Mountains in Germany in case they met an awesome ghostly figure that was said to loom up out of the mist at unwary travellers. The fear was heightened when photographs were produced that supposedly captured a phantom monk on film. The photographs were later proved to be fraudulent and in 1818 German scholar Gustave Jordan made several trips to the Brocken and concluded that so-called sightings could easily be explained by a trick of the light caused by the rising and setting sun. Despite this natural explanation the legend of the Spectre of the Brocken still persists in Germany and attracts many tourists to the Harz mountains. Spells The following are simple spells for love, luck and psychic power. They can be performed by any responsible, mature adult, as long as intention is pure and due attention is paid to safety. The spells are gathered from various sources and quoted in The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells by Judika Illes (HarperElement, 2004), which provides an excellent and comprehensive introduction to the art of successful spellcasting. Win Your Heart Candle Spell This spell allegedly enables you to win the heart of the one you desire. 1. Carve your name and that of the desired party nine times each on a pink seven-day candle. 2. Gently warm honey in a bain-marie and then blend in rosewater and powdered orrisroot. 3. Roll the candle in this mixture and burn it. Dandelion love letter Blow on a dried dandelion’s head and scatter the seeds to the winds. Most people do this for fun; however the dandelion will also provide magical messenger services. Allegedly the seeds will carry loving messages and wishes to the one you love. Focus hard on your desires and blow. First Star Spell for good luck and fortune 1. Pay attention at twilight, it’s easy to miss your opportunity. 2. If you can catch sight of the very first solo star in the sky, gaze at it and make your wish. 3. You may want to incorporate the following rhyme: ‘Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight.’ 4. If the first star can’t be identified, luck isn’t with you; save the spell for another night. Happy Times Powder Blend the following ingredients together, powdering further if necessary: dried ground strawberry leaves, dried powdered vanilla bean and finely grated orange zest. Sprinkle this powder around the perimeter of your home, behind doors and in all corners for a change of luck and an improvement in fortune. Problem-solving spell to untie the knots that bind you 1. Write an explicit description of your situation on brown paper. 2. Wrap the paper around some knot grass. 3. Charge the packet with your desire by holding it and focusing on it, and then burn it. 4. Pay attention to your dreams and random words overheard; solutions will appear and you don’t want to miss them. Basil Psychic Power Spell Create an infused oil of fresh basil leaves. Add the oil to your bath or apply to the body and visualize yourself as regal, commanding and filled with power. Artemisia Psychic Potion 1. Beginning at the New Moon, soak dried mugwort leaves in a bottle of wine of your choice. 2. Let this steep for seven days, ideally exposing the bottle to nightly moonbeams. 3. Decant the wine straining out the botanicals. 4. Drink small quantities at a time, a glass here and there to increase clairvoyance. Botanical Psychic Protection Grow some plants in the garden or indoors in pots. Sit next to them with a clear, meditative mind. Absorb their energy and let inspiration appear unbidden. This is believed to be particularly beneficial when engaged in divination. SPELL Procedure usually performed by a witch, wizard or magician that is believed to change a certain situation or outcome. Spells are written or spoken words or intentions (thoughts) believed to have magical power. They are activated by the invocation of spirits, by chanting, by ritual or by the use of magical tools and ingredients. Spells can be positive, for example to improve a person’s health or to attract good things into their life, or they can be negative, for example to do harm or to force someone to do something against their will. Whether or not a spell is good or evil depends on the intentions of the spellcaster. Belief in spells and their use dates back to antiquity. Spells have always been an important part of magical practice. Their methods vary from culture to culture, but all spells function on ritual activity. The spell itself usually consists of words, intentions or incantations (sometimes called charms or runes), which are recited or visualized while a prescribed set of actions (rituals) are performed. There are various types of spells and their purposes are limitless including healing, love, success, money, fertility, longevity, protection against disaster, illness, misfortune and evil, exorcism of ghosts and spirits, victory in war and over an enemy, truth in divination, weather control, accomplishment of supernatural feats and so on. A person can cast a spell for himself, or direct it towards another person. A positive spell is called a blessing. A negative spell is usually known as a hex or curse. Archaic terms for spells include bewitchment and enchantment. Spells are in some respects similar to prayer, in that they both are a means of petitioning something greater than ourselves for a particular desired outcome. They both require a statement of desire and/or ritualized movements or body positions, such as the bowing of the head, the folding or clasping of hands or the shutting of the eyes. Spells are also closely related to certain methods that employ the power of the mind, such as visualizations, affirmations and positive thinking. Such methods help the person casting the spell to emphasize his or her mental images so he or she can better identify with these images and form a clear goal in their mind. The person repeats his or her intention to achieve a particular goal and then combines it with the projection of Magical Will and the invocation of the aid of the spirits, deities or inner strength. SPIRIT A supernatural force of nature, discarnate entity or the animating essence within our physical bodies; sometimes referred to as soul but not precisely the same as the soul. Spirits can also represent places, such as the spirits of lakes, trees, mountains and sacred sites. Spirit is the divine essence of who we are, an indivisible part of the three aspects of human existence: mind, body and spirit. In many belief systems the spirit survives death and can be contacted by a medium on our plane of existence. Spirits are commonplace in the religions and folklores of the world and come in a multitude of shapes and forms, such as fairies, elves, demons and angels. In some cultures they are also thought to personify characteristics and forces of nature, which are worshiped. They are believed to exist in an invisible realm but can be seen by persons with clairvoyance. They are also thought to intervene at times in the affairs of humanity, for better or for worse. The term is often used to describe all non-physical entities, including ghosts, but a spirit is not strictly speaking the same as a ghost even though the distinction between the two is sometimes vague. Spiritualism refers to a belief in the immortality of the soul and to communication with spirits of the dead. According to medium Arthur Ford, spirit was ‘nothing more than the stream of consciousness of a personality with which we are familiar in every human being. This is what survives death not as a spiritual wraith but as an oblong blur’ Society for Psychical Research founder Frederick Myers suggested in his book Human Personality and Its Survival After Death (1903) that the spirit is the unknown part of a man’s personality, ‘which we discern as operating before or after death in the metetherical environment.’ SPIRIT ATTACHMENT Form of possession in which a discarnate entity attaches itself to a human being, much like a parasite. Spirit attachment is similar to possession but is the preferred term in modern times because it does not imply demonic possession. According to therapists who perform spirit releasement, most entities are not evil or demonic but simply confused. Attachment is thought to occur when a person dies but for some reason, such as unfinished business, emotional ties or lack of awareness of death, his or her spirit cannot leave the earth. The confused spirit attaches itself to a human host at random, although a living person is thought to be more vulnerable if they drink alcohol, use drugs, have suffered a traumatic accident or have had major surgery involving anaesthesia. Being close to a dying person is also believed to make a person more vulnerable, as immediately after death the spirit will be looking for a new host. Some attachments are also believed to be karmic in origin and if the spirit is not released it may remain attached for the lifetime of the host. Symptoms of spirit attachment include depression, mood swings, multiple personality disorder and sudden changes in behaviour. Symptoms vary according to the degree of attachment; it is thought that when spirit attachment is benign a person may not even know they have attached spirits. The first medically trained expert to approach mental illness due to spirit attachment was Carl Wickland (1861-1945), an American physician who used electric shocks to exorcise unwanted entities from the auras of his patients. Since the late 1980s reports of spirit attachment have become more common, especially with the development of past-life therapy. SPIRIT GUIDE A discarnate entity, often perceived as the higher self or a spirit of the dead that serves as a communications bridge, guardian or guide. In shamanism the spirit guide is known as a totem animal in spiritualism it is known as the medium’s control, while in witchcraft it is known as a familiar. It is widely held around the world that every person has one or more spirit guides from birth that remain with the person throughout their life. At death these guides assist the soul in crossing over to death. Psychics are often very aware of their spirit guides. Some speak to them in dreams, see them clairvoyantly or receive clairaudient messages through meditation and visualization. Children who have imaginary friends may be communicating with their guides. The belief in spirit guides may come from the ancient Greeks who believed in the existence of daemons, intermediary spirits between man and the gods. Daemons could be either good or evil. Socrates claimed to be guided by a good daemon throughout his life, but British psychical researcher Frederick Myers suggested that Socrates’s daemon was most likely his own inner voice. The Church later turned all daemons into evil demons, but retained the concept of protector spirits in the form of a guardian angel. SPIRIT LIGHTS See Ghost lights, Orbs. SPIRIT OBSESSION See Possession. SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY Photographs allegedly showing a person who is alive complete with the head and shoulders of a deceased relative or a swirling mist hovering above or around them. Most spirit photographs can be explained as flaws in the film or the development of the film and the great majority have been judged as hoaxes. Like many phenomena associated with spiritualism, spirit photography originated in America in the mid-nineteenth century. A man called William Mumler of Boston is credited with having produced the first spirit photographs in 1862 and from this a whole new style of photography blossomed on both sides of the Atlantic. Individuals would sit for photographers, like William Hope, in the hope of seeing the images of dead loved ones (called ‘extras’) revealed in the print. Early spirit photographs revealed ghostly faces - sometimes famous faces floating above or around the person being photographed. In some photographs mists appeared or full spirit forms. Almost without exception the spirit figures were introduced on to the photographic plates by double exposure and the liberal use of cotton wool to give a misty effect. Many fraudulent photographs were accepted as real both by the public and by experts such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Spirit photography diminished in popularity when the public learned about the tricks the camera was capable of and most successful fakers were unable to continue beyond 1930. Today spirit photography is very different from the spirit photography of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The camera has become an important tool in ghost investigation and sophisticated cameras are used in an effort to record anomalies on film. Cameras are linked to computers and are triggered when a device is activated by possible phenomena. Regular and infrared film is used, as the latter will show invisible sources of heat. Digital cameras are used with caution as prints can easily be manipulated using a computer so most investigators steer clear of these when attempting to take spirit photographs. When phenomena do show up on film they typically appear as balls or streaks of light or patches of fog and, in some cases, filmy shapes. With the use of hightech equipment investigators have also captured on film orbs, which are invisible to the naked eye but seem to be associated with haunted sites. An explanation that has been offered is that the spirit photograph is created unconsciously by psychokinesis on the part of the investigator whose desire to see a ghost somehow imprints itself on the film. The term used to describe this phenomenon is thoughtography’, and it was coined in the early 1900s by Tomokichi Fukurai, then president of the Psychical Institute of Japan, who discovered thoughtography in experiments with mediums. Later, in the 1960s, Ted Serios of Kansas allegedly created images on a film by staring into a camera lens. This may explain cases of spirit photography when investigators at haunted sites are intent on seeing a ghost, but it does not explain circumstances when an unusual photograph appears and the person who took it had no interest or desire to see a ghost at all. The famous photograph of the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, which has been declared free of fraud, illustrates this point as the apparition that was photographed was seen by the photographer’s assistant and not the photographer. The Ghost Research Society of Oak Lawn, Illinois houses the most impressive collection of spirit photographs from around the world. According to the Society about 90 per cent of the photographs of alleged spirits or ghosts can be explained naturally by flaws in the film developing process, fog or specks on the camera lens or light reflected from the camera lens. Some people also mistake simulacra for ghosts. ‘Simulacra’ is the term used to describe shapes that are created by random patterns in vegetation, shadows or other elements in the background of the photograph. The 10 per cent of spirit photographs that do not seem to have any natural explanations include photographs of blotches of light, fog, streaks and shapes that have no reason for being there. These photographs are considered paranormal and for enthusiasts the ‘spirit energy’ they capture on film provides tantalizing evidence for survival after death. SPIRIT RELEASEMENT Modern term for the exorcism of a discarnate entity attached to a person or place. The term is particularly used for exorcisms that are performed without a religious element. Spirit releasement has become much more common with the growth in popularity of past-life therapy. Some past-life therapists say that their clients have spirit attachments relating to past lives. Past-life therapist Edith Fiore began releasing entities in the 1970s. In the 1980s Dr William Baldwin began studying releasement and developed techniques now used by many therapists, published in his 1991 book Spirit Releasement Therapy: A Technique Manual. Modern practitioners of spirit releasement work with spirit guides who make contact with the spirit haunting a site or a person. In many cases it is said that this is an earthbound spirit who has no idea he or she is dead or is bound to the earth because of unfinished business. Practitioners believe that simply finding out the entity’s business or story is often enough to persuade the spirit to depart to the next world. Typically the transition to the next world is marked by the appearance of a white light that the spirit moves towards or is guided towards by spirit helpers. Following releasement many clients report feeling much lighter and happier and experience an end to their troubles. The possessing spirits do not return but clients are shown how to protect themselves from future attacks. See also Spiritism. SPIRITISM Philosophy associated with Allan Kardec that is closely linked with the Spiritualist movement of the nineteenth century. In 1857 a French writer and physician called Hippolyte Leon Denizard Rivail (1804-1869) published Le Livre des esprits (Lives of the Spirits) under the pseudonym of Allan Kardec. In this seminal work Kardec outlined his belief that some illnesses, such as epilepsy and multiple personality disorder, have spiritual causes and can be treated through communication with spirit guides. He also suggested that these psychic illnesses were not only the result of possessing spirits but of unfinished business endured by the individual in past lives. Kardec’s belief in reincarnation separated him from many spiritualists of his day who did not hold that belief. He wrote that each time a soul is reborn it brings with it remnants of past lives that may blur the reality of the current life. Each rebirth, however traumatic and difficult, is necessary for the soul to improve and perfect itself. Souls will continue to be reborn until they have nothing left to learn. According to Kardec, a person has three parts: an incarnate soul, a body and a perispirit that is semi-material and unites the body and soul; at death the perispirit helps the soul separate from the body. This process of separation is effortless for spiritually advanced souls but for those who are attached to the material existence it takes longer, and in a case of sudden or violent death the spirit may cling to the body not knowing it is dead. Once the spirit has left the body it returns to the spirit world where, Kardec believed, it reviews its progress and decides which life path to pursue next. Kardec believed that mental illness was caused by spirits who should have progressed to a higher level devoting their energies to persecution of the living instead. He did not believe, however, that all cases of spirit possession were intentional, rather that many spirits were simply confused. Exorcisms, he maintained, must be originated by the possessed person him or herself, through prayer; they were not possible through the help of outsiders. He strongly believed that ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ Spiritism was briefly popular in Europe but its draw soon waned as other interests and crazes took hold. Kardecism, as it became known, did however take hold in Brazil, with its strong association with African spirits and superstition. It remains a powerful religious force there today with centres all over the country. It also flourishes in the Philippines. Kardecist healing involves prayer, counselling, past-life therapy through a medium guided by spirits and, in some cases, psychic surgery. In Brazil Kardecist psychiatric hospitals staffed by trained doctors operate alongside their traditional counterparts and have impressed many non-spiritist physicians with their emphasis on non-material and non-personal gain. Spiritists do not proselytize or try to convince others to follow their faith. They accept without question the existence of spirits and do not feel the need to seek proof of their existence. Dedicated spiritist mediums insist their talent is God given and refuse to use it for personal gain. They modestly insist that the spirit guides are the true healers. Such humility and selflessness, however, does not characterize every spiritist medium. Little research has been done on spiritist phenomena as it is considered a religion, not a science. SPIRITUAL BODY Alternative term for soul or spirit. See also Astral body. SPIRITUAL EMERGENCE Term evolved from ‘spiritual emergency’, which was coined in the 1970s by psychiatrists Stanislav Grof and his wife Christina to describe a range of nonordinary states of consciousness that can be unsettling because of their sudden onset. From the point of view of psychotherapy such experiences can be described as signs of a mental breakdown, but to the Grofs they are interpreted as indications of spiritual awakening. In 1980, after founding the Spiritual Emergency Network, Christina replaced the word ‘emergency’ with ‘emergence’ to emphasize that such experiences need not always be upsetting or traumatic. Christina Grof drew on her own experience of spiritual awakening, which began shortly after her marriage to Stanislav Grof in the late 1970s. Symptoms of her awakening included feeling overwhelmed with psychic energies, emotions and inner experiences. In response to this the Grofs founded the Spiritual Emergence Network to help others ‘find their way through unexpected and often unsettling mystical and psychic openings’, rather than limit them with traditional psychotherapy. According to the Grofs spiritual crises last seconds, minutes, hours or weeks and are most likely to occur during times of great physical stress or crisis, such as childbirth, surgery, near death or during sex, during spiritual practices such as meditation and during transitional stages of life. In most cases the crisis disrupts the person’s ability to function normally. Spiritual emergences are common to humans and need to be integrated into the person’s consciousness, not ignored or suppressed. Integration, which can last several years, leads to spiritual growth. Failure to integrate these experiences can lead to poor mental and physical health. SPIRITUA FRONTIERS FELLOWSHIP Organization founded in 1956 by medium Arthur Ford to focus the attention of the Christian Church on the insights and contribution psychic phenomena could offer it. The mission statement of the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship, whose headquarters are in Philadelphia, is to ‘sponsor, explore and interpret the growing interest in psychic phenomena and mystical experience within the church, wherever these experiences relate to effective prayer, spiritual healing and personal survival’. A similar organization - the Academy of Religion and Psychical Research, based in Connecticut - is also devoted to an exchange of ideas between religion and psychical research. Despite encouraging signs of an overlap, mainstream Christianity remains disinterested in the psychic world. SPIRITUAL HEALING General term used to describe a multitude of methods in which a healer serves as a channel for healing energies to be directed into a patient. This healing energy is believed to stimulate the body’s self-healing systems and the healing can be physical, emotional or spiritual. The source of the healing energy depends on individual belief. Some say it is from God, others from the universal life force, spirit guides and so on. Although the spiritual healer acts as a channel he or she still needs to have innate healing or psychic ability. Healers sometimes touch the person in need of healing to concentrate and focus the energy; at other times they keep their hands just above the body. Sometimes healing takes place from a distance (see absent healing). Spiritual healers do not guarantee a cure but many people who have attended spiritual healing sessions report feelings of tingling or warmth where the energy is directed and a feeling of relaxation afterwards. Because spiritual healing is a holistic therapy that aims to treat the whole person it has been found to be particularly beneficial for stress-related conditions and emotional upsets. SPIRITUAL PLANES Levels of existence where discarnate entities and spirits are thought to exist and where there are no boundaries of space, time or tangibility. See also Astral planes. SPIRITUALISM Religious and social movement that began in the United States in 1848 and quickly spread to Britain and Europe. Interest peaked in the early twentieth century and then subsided, although today it still remains a vigorous religion around the world, especially in Britain and America. Its appeal originally derived from the evidence it purported to provide of survival after death, manifested through mediums who allegedly communicated with spirits and performed paranormal feats. The official start date of Spiritualism is considered to be 1848, as it was then that the Fox sisters of New York became well known for their rapping communication with spirits. Public interest in the phenomena of spirit communication had been prepared by mesmerism and the writing of Emanuel Swedenborg. Mesmerism was popular in the United States in the early nineteenth century, with large audiences gathering to hear hypnotized subjects report their experiences of the spirit world and demonstrate psychic powers of telepathy, clairvoyance, automatic writing and so on. Another key figure was Andrew Jackson Davis, who delivered lectures on the fate of the soul after death in trance state. Following in the footsteps of the Fox sisters, numerous other mediums sprung up claiming to be able to communicate with the dead. Séances were extremely popular. Early séances were mostly rappings but in time they became highly entertaining affairs with huge audiences witnessing incredible paranormal feats such as levitation, apports and materializations. Fraud was commonplace but even this did nothing to dampen the public’s enthusiasm. Private home circles were also conducted and by 1855 Spiritualism claimed 2 million followers on both sides of the Atlantic. Spiritualists believe that the soul survives death and makes a transition to the spirit world. Communication with these souls is made possible through purposeful contact with the departed - a séance - via a medium. The medium goes into a trance and through his or her psychic ability allegedly establishes a link between this world and the afterlife. The spirits then speak through the medium, who is temporarily possessed by this entity. This contact is taken as proof by believers that there is indeed life after death. Traditionally Spiritualism rejected a belief in reincarnation although today opinion among spiritualists on the subject of rebirth is divided. Spiritualism had a difficult relationship with Christianity from the outset. Some Christians rejected it as Satanic and even tried to have it legally banned. Some spiritualists believed in breaking ties with religion while others sought the endorsement of the Church by advocating belief in Christian principles. Mediums in the early days were typically shunned by their friends and family. Most of the mediums were women and through spiritualism they were able to find freedom from many Victorian restraints, since entranced mediums were thought to be controlled by spirits and not responsible for their actions. This, along with the social equality encouraged by spirit teachings, attracted women involved in the suffragette movement to the spiritualist camp. When spiritualist phenomena began to be investigated scientifically in the mid-to late nineteenth century it was sincerely hoped that evidence for survival would be found. Unfortunately, scientific proof was and remains inconclusive. What was uncovered, however, was a lot of trickery and gullibility on the part of the mediums and their audiences. Systematic investigations of psychic phenomena began in earnest in 1882 with the formation of the Society for Psychical Research in London, followed soon afterwards by the American Society for Psychical Research. Sadly scientists who were also keen to explore psychical research tended to see their academic careers suffer because of prejudice from their peers. The exposure of frauds and the lack of scientific proof for survival after death took its toll on the movement, and by the turn of the twentieth century Spiritualism was on the decline. There was a brief revival during World War I, when the bereaved sought comfort at séances, but it was not significant enough to lift Spiritualism to its former popularity. Despite this, interest in Spiritualism continued quietly on both sides of the Atlantic and in the 1930s psychical research finally moved from the séance into the laboratory, with the work of J B Rhine. Today Spiritualist churches remain active in Britain, the United States, Brazil and other countries. The majority are modelled on protestant churches but without a ministry. The emphasis is on spiritual healing (prayer, laying on of hands, energy transfer) and mental mediumship, which can include trance messages communicated from spirits to the congregation. Spiritualists believe that their religion has been scientifically proved by the paranormal feats of mediums. This is because, according to believers, Spiritualism offers proof of life after death in a way no other religion can; the living can talk directly to their dearly departed, and, more importantly, learn how best to live to later profit after they themselves pass on. The largest spiritualist organization in the United States is the National Spiritualist Association of Churches of the USA but the largest spiritualist organizations in the world are in the UK: the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain and the Spiritualists National Union. Until 1951 Spiritualism had no legal status in the UK due to the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which enabled the prosecution of mediums as witches, but in 1951 that law was repealed and replaced by a fraudulent mediums’ act. SPIRITUALIST ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN One of the largest spiritualist organizations in the world. The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain was founded in London in 1872 as the Marylebone Spiritualist Association, and its function was to study psychic phenomena and mediumship and ‘to propagate spiritual truth’. Even though interest in spiritualism was steadily growing at the time there was opposition to the group and it had difficulty obtaining halls for meetings and séances. In an effort to counteract some of the opposition it changed its name to the Spiritual Evidence Society. The association managed to survive and by 1960 it had greatly expanded both its membership and its interests. The name was changed again to the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain. Today thousands of visitors are attracted to the society’s headquarters in Belgrave Square, London, in particular for its spiritual healing services. Describing itself as one of the busiest spiritualist organizations in the world, the society runs events, workshops, classes, demonstrations and meetings. The organization has a prayer room, a library, a chapel and a meeting hall. According to its website (www.sagb.org.uk), the society’s mission statement is as follows: To offer evidence to the bereaved that man survives the change called death and because he is a spiritual being retains the faculties of individuality, personality and intelligence and can willingly return to those left on earth ties of love and friendship being the motivating force. To offer spiritual healing to those suffering from disease, whether in mind, body or spirit, in a warm and loving environment. With both of these objectives in mind, to offer only the best and the highest so that those on both sides of the veil can progress in a truly spiritual sense. SPIRITUALIST CAMPS Holiday-camp type settings that offer spiritualist activities, church services, lectures, home circles and classes in mediumship and psychic development. There are 12 such camps in the United States and all are affiliated with and follow the guidelines set by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches of the USA. The most famous spiritualist camp is Lily Dale Assembly in New York. Lily Dale was founded way back in 1880 as the Cassadaga Free Lake Association and its current name was chosen in 1906. Lily Dale consists of about 80 acres of land, with a hotel, hundreds of cottages and meeting places, a library, bookstore and post office. SPIRITUALISTS NATIONAL UNION Probably one of the largest spiritualist groups in the world, the Spiritualists National Union was founded in Manchester as the Spiritualists National Federation, in an attempt to bring Britain’s spiritualists together in one organization. Spiritualism spread to Britain from the United States in the early 1850s and it soon found followers. The first British spiritualist church was established in 1853 in Yorkshire, and in 1855 the first spiritualist newspaper, the Yorkshire Spiritualist Telegraph, was published. By the early 1880s there were numerous spiritualist organizations and churches in all parts of Britain and in 1887 medium Emma Hardinge Britten founded a weekly spiritualist journal called Two Worlds. Even though spiritualism had its supporters it became clear that some sort of federation would help unite the churches and societies and assist them to win respect and recognition. In 1890 Britten championed the idea of a federation in her journal and a year later the Spiritualist National Federation was formed. At first the Federation was only an annual conference; in 1901 it was legally incorporated as a charitable organization. In 1948 it joined with the British Lyceum Union, which had been founded in 1890 for the spiritualist education of children, and in 1970 it launched a Guild of Spiritualist Healers as a branch of the SNU. The guild was formed to establish guidelines for spiritual healing. The SNU adheres to seven principles, which were allegedly given to Britten by the discarnate spirit of an early supporter of spiritualism. According to the society’s website (www.snu.org.uk) the seven principles of the SNU, which also serve as a philosophy of life, are: The fatherhood of God. The brotherhood of man. The communion of spirits and ministry of angels. The continuous existence of the human soul. Personal responsibility. Compensation and retribution hereafter for all good or evil done on earth. The opportunity of eternal progress for every soul. Membership of the SNU consists of churches and individual members. In 1964 Scottish businessman Arthur Findlay bequeathed his family home, Stansted Hall, to be used as a college for psychic studies. Today Stansted Hall is known as the Arthur Findlay College and it offers courses in psychic development, mediumship and healing. SPITTING According to American and British folklore, spitting is believed to protect a person or object against ghosts and evil spirits. It is said that if a ghost is encountered one must spit on the ground in front of it and say, ‘In the name of the Lord, what do you want?’ The spittle supposedly protects the individual from harm. The protective power of saliva dates back to ancient times. Spitting on one’s breast was supposed to avert the jealousy of the gods. The Bible records innumerable instances of its superstitious use and its symbolic personification, for example, Jesus healing the blind man by spitting on his eyes. Until quite recently in parts of rural Ireland, a newborn child was spat on by its father; neighbours spat on the child for luck the first day it was brought out, and older women spat on the ground all around it to ward off evil. The origins of the superstition are uncertain but it is likely to have originated as a way of instilling humility in those blessed with good fortune, wealth or beauty in case that good fortune invoked the jealousy of the gods. SPOOK Generally accepted as an alternative term for ghost, the origins of the word may be traced back to American Indian lore and thus regarded as a uniquely American term. In its purest sense, these spirits are regarded as benevolent and benign, capable of temporarily taking control of a living body to perform good works. This type of ghost is sometimes said to be able to haunt a person without him or her ever being aware of it, and can absorb themselves into the person at will. Along the Eastern United States, stories can still be discovered in rural areas of men who had achieved little in their lives until a spook took over them, enabling them to achieve wealth and success. The term is also now much used in America and the UK to describe intelligence operatives and government spies. SPORTS, PSYCHIC PHENOMENA IN People who push their bodies to the limits often report experiencing a wide range of phenomena, ranging from a heightened state of awareness and psychic experiences such as clairvoyance to a feeling of mystical oneness. In most cases the experience improves the performance of the person who is exerting intense physical and mental effort. Athletes describe this experience as being in the ‘zone’. According to a study of several thousand athletes there are at least 60 different sensations that can occur in the zone. At one end of the spectrum are bouts of coordination, energy and the ability to make all the right instinctive moves. At the other end are out-of-body experiences, ESP, in terms of knowing what the opposition will do next, and the movement of objects (psychokinesis). In some cases mystical illumination and a feeling of oneness with all creation may occur. Athletes who report entering the zone tend to be the best in their fields. Research has shown that during periods of intense concentration there is a decrease in the brain’s overall metabolic rate, making it more efficient. It has been suggested that the lower the brain’s metabolic rate and the more efficiently it works, the better the sporting performance. The experience differs according to the sport. For example, football players report feeling that they are bigger and stronger than they are. Runners experience sensations of floating or flying. Baseball or basketball players and golfers report changes in time perception and moments when time seems to stop enabling them to accomplish extraordinary feats of concentration and activity. In solitary sports such as mountaineering and sailing, awareness of ethereal beings is most common. Mountaineers who have climbed the Himalayas report the presence of silent companions or invisible presences who in some cases guide them through dangerous areas. Transformative, mystical experiences in sports - a sense of oneness with the universe - can be compared to those experienced in yoga and martial art disciplines. These experiences make superior or peak performances possible. It seems that relaxation, stillness of mind and a letting go that frees the person from concerns about winning or losing allows the sportsperson to be in the moment, and an effortless, superior performance follows where mind and body are as one. Many athletes describe this moment as like being in a trance. In the West cultivating the zone and focusing on right-brain thinking intuition and instinct - instead of left-brain thinking - anxiety, analysis, fear and judgement - is becoming increasingly common. Athletic and sports training now includes Eastern concepts of meditation, visualization and relaxation. Sports psychologists believe that the same conditions that contribute to peak performance in sports can be applied to almost any area of life. SPUNKIE According to lore, spunkies are sad and lonely ghosts, the spirits of unbaptized children. They are said to be found on both land and sea, wandering in search of someone to provide them with a name. In Scotland, it is said that spunkies sometimes gather together in groups for companionship, while legends from the English West Country state that they can take on the shape of white moths, which flitter about unnoticed by the living. It is thought that these lost spirits are doomed to wander the earth until Judgement Day, but every Halloween night they can be found in churches meeting the spirits of those who have recently died. STAINED GLASS WINDOW EFFECT Term coined by British journalist and psychic researcher William Stead (1849-1912) to describe how psychic perception can be influenced by the subconscious mind. Stead attended numerous séances and was able to discover his own ability for automatic writing. Drawing on his own experiences he came to the conclusion that the subconscious mind stains and distorts every piece of information that passes through it to the waking self, much as a stained glass window superimposes colours, patterns and shades upon the white light that passes through it. According to Stead, the stained glass window effect can be seen in psychic perception when information that is received psychically is influenced by the receiver’s subconscious attitudes, predispositions and prejudices. Stead believed that all psychically received information is suppressed or altered often without the receiver knowing it is happening. STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE In July 1995 the CIA declassified, and approved for release, documents revealing its sponsorship in the 1970s of a programme at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California to determine whether such phenomena as remote viewing ‘might have any utility for intelligence collection’. Thus began disclosure to the public of the two-decade-plus involvement of the intelligence community in the investigation of so-called parapsychological or psi phenomena. It appears that throughout this period the CIA had a number of remote viewers operating from Stanford Research Institute and other locations on a contract basis under an umbrella funding agreement known as Project Star Gate. The exact details of the arrangements are somewhat unclear, as expected for a project being run by the intelligence community. See also Remote viewing, CIA Star Gate programme. STARHAWK See Witchcraft. STAUS POLTERGEIST Nineteenth-century poltergeist named after the village of Staus on the shores of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland. From 1860 to 1862 members of the Joller family who lived in Staus were allegedly victimized by unexplained activities. The hauntings started when a servant girl heard knocks on her bedstead. A short time later Mr Joller’s wife and children also heard the raps. Within a few days a close family friend died and the raps were interpreted as a death omen. Strange occurrences continued in the months that followed. One of the Jollers’ four sons saw an apparition and the servant girl said she saw and heard a sobbing spirit. The servant girl was replaced in the hope it would put an end to the haunting but instead the haunting grew worse, with the rapping now accompanied by invisible hands moving objects and locking doors. The Jollers were forced to seek help for the disturbances and for six days the family left the house for the police to investigate. The police saw or heard no signs of the poltergeist but as soon as the family returned the haunting started up again. Eventually Mr Joller decided to leave his home and put in a tenant, who heard nothing from the poltergeist. The case remains unsolved but it has been suggested that a member of the Joller household, probably one of the children, was the agent for the hauntings (see psychokinesis). STEAD, WILLIAM [1849–1912] A campaigning journalist who helped outlaw the practice of child prostitution in the 1880s, and a keen supporter of spiritualism. He edited his own paper, the monthly Review of Reviews. The Christmas 1891 issue of the Review was Real Ghost Stories. He warned readers to be careful of dabbling in the supernatural in case they became exposed to the threat of spirit possession. He also put the case for ghosts in terms of eyewitness accounts. As early as 1880 Stead had experienced premonitions and by early 1892 he had developed a talent for automatic writing. He claimed to receive letters from various persons and his interviews with the dead caused a sensation. Stead’s principal control was allegedly a woman called Julia Ames, a fellow journalist who had befriended Stead a year before her death. Julia communicated with Stead about a variety of topics and Stead had these communications published as ‘Letters from Julia’ in the quarterly review of psychic literature called Borderland in 1893. In 1907 Stead’s oldest son, Willie, died and this prompted him, under the guidance of Julia, to set an office wherein the bereaved could reach their loved ones on the other side. Almost immediately the office was inundated with applications but lack of funds forced it to close in 1912. Stead resolutely accepted the concept of the afterlife and denied the possibility of fraud; however, he did believe that communications from the other side were influenced by the subconscious (see stained glass window effect). Throughout his life his premonitions had involved great disasters at sea and on 14 April 1912 Stead was one of 1,600 lives lost on the Titanic. This wasn’t the last that was heard of Stead, however, as he allegedly appeared to his daughter, his secretary and a number of others three weeks later. They claimed his face looked radiant, he was bursting with joy and called out, All I told you is true.’ He also allegedly predicted the horrors of World War I through a medium called Mrs Tuner and communicated in spirit to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, reassuring him that the work he was doing was ‘holy’. STEINER, RUDOLF [1861–1925] Austrian mystic and educator who in 1909 founded a movement called Anthroposophy which is a blend of Rosicrucian, Theosophical and Christian tradition. Steiner described Anthroposophy as a path for spiritual growth on four levels of human nature: the senses, imagination, inspiration and intuition. Steiner experienced clairvoyant visions in childhood and at the age of 19 his friend and mentor Felix Korgutski introduced him to an adept who gave him his spiritual identity. Steiner called this adept the Master and from the Master he learned his spiritual mission in life, which was to develop a knowledge that synthesized science and religion. Steiner earned his philosophical doctorate at the University of Rostock in Austria in 1891 and a distinguished teaching career followed. At the age of 40 he felt ready to become a teacher of occultism, suggesting that anyone under 40 was too young for such a challenging task. By this time in his life he had learned a great deal about his own psychic abilities and claimed to have learned how to bridge the physical and non-physical realms. He believed that the clues to the secrets of the universe lie inside each one of us. He also claimed to be able to access the Akashic records, from which he learned the true history of humanity. He said that at one time mankind had possessed superior supernatural qualities but had lost them in a descent to the material plane. At the nadir of human descent Christ had arrived to offer humanity an opportunity to redeem itself. In the course of his development Steiner allegedly encountered numerous spiritual beings which he called ‘Ahrimanic’ beings, some of which wanted to encourage humanity’s spiritual development while others wanted people to remain mired in materialism. Although he said that anyone could walk the path to higher consciousness he warned that this path required incredible discipline and moral courage. In 1902 Steiner joined the Theosophical Society, which shared many of his basic tenets of belief, but he grew disillusioned with what he described as the ‘triviality and diletantism’ he observed there. In 1912 he left the society to form his own Anthroposophical Society as a vehicle to continue his work. That same year he began to design the Goetheanum, a school for esoteric research, at Dornach near Basel in Switzerland. The school opened in 1920 but was burned down in 1922. A new building was constructed which now serves as the headquarters for the Anthroposophical Society, which became an international society with Steiner as president in 1923. During the final decades of his life Steiner travelled across Europe to give thousands of lectures on spiritual sciences, religion, art and education. He published more than 350 titles, most of which are collections of his lectures. His major works outlining his philosophy are Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and its Attainment (1923) and Occult Science: An Outline (1913). The Anthroposophical Society has branches all over the world and is strongest in Europe. Steiner’s guidelines for holistic medicine are still adhered to and his agricultural methods inspired chemical-free gardening and farming. He also developed a system of movement to express the inner meanings of music and words called eurythmy But Steiner is perhaps best known today for his controversial school theories, which include esoteric spiritual practices and colour healing as part of the curriculum. The Waldorf or Steiner school movement is an approach to the education of children that he developed from his spiritual and scientific research concerning child development. In 1919 Steiner established the first Waldorf School for girls and boys in Stuttgart. With over 600 schools in over 30 countries around the world the Waldorf system, along with the Campbell homes and villages for children with special needs Steiner also founded, is among the most highly regarded (and largest) non-sectarian systems of education in the world. Steiner designed the curriculum of his schools around the theory that children pass through three seven-year stages and that education must take into consideration what is appropriate for ‘body spirit and soul’ at each stage. STIGMATA Stigmata are the wounds that were, according to the Bible, inflicted on Jesus during his crucifixion. There have been many reports of other individuals who display similar wounds, the causes of which have been subject to considerable debate. Stigmatics have been measured bleeding as much as a pint of blood a day. Some contend that stigmata are miraculous, others argue they are hoaxes or can be explained medically. There have been over 500 reported stigmatics who have displayed wounds similar to those supposedly inflicted upon Jesus. The first recorded case of these wounds was in the year 1222, by Stephen Langton of England. St Francis of Assisi also suffered the wounds in La Verna, Italy, in 1224. Other famous stigmatists include St Catherine of Siena, St John of God and the Blessed Marie of the Incarnation. The most famous stigmatist of the twentieth century was St Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), better known as Padre Pio. Stigmata were more recently experienced by a Brother Roque, a novice in the order of Los Hijos de Los Hijos de La Madre de Dios (The Sons of the Sons of the Mother of God) in Villavicencio, Colombia; Jane Hunt, an English houswife, who began bleeding from her palms in 1985; and a Canadian called Lilian Bernas, who began exhibiting stigmata in 1992. Stigmata seem to mirror the placement of wounds on the stigmatic’s favourite crucifix. Blood at first seems to ooze through the skin but when the skin is wiped no wounds or marks appear. In the later stages blisters and actual wounds may appear that on occasion resemble puncture wounds or give the appearnce of a nail piercing through the skin. In some instances the wounds close up, disappear and then reopen later, typically around the time of religious festivals. Stigmatics tend to be deeply religious and often follow lengthy contemplations on the crucifixion or deep personal crisis. British researcher Ian Wilson, who conducted a comprehensive study of stigmatics, published as The Bleeding Mind (1988), came to the conclusion that bleeding is self-induced by persons undergoing stress. In the experience of stigmata they find refuge from their suffering. He also drew similarities between stigmatics and people with multiple personality disorder, explaining that in both cases an individual is caught up in a flight from reality that provides release and escape. Wilson also proposed that in some cases the mind may cause the bleeding: experiments on people who have been hypnotized show that the body has the ability to bleed on command. Another theory put forward is that people who fake stigmata suffer from Munchausen Syndrome, characterized by an intense desire for attention. People with Munchausen Syndrome hurt themselves or others or fake an illness hoping to end up in a hospital where they can enjoy attention and care; similarly, people may fake stigmata to get attention and to be recognized as holy. There is debate over the historical method of crucifixion and whether or not nails were driven through the hands or wrists of the victims. Stigmata appear on the hands of some stigmatists and the wrists of others, and sceptics see this as evidence that the wounds have a human origin rather than a divine one, as divine wounds might be expected to be more consistent. STONE AGE GHOST Possibly the oldest ghost on record anywhere in the world is the Stone Age man who is said to gallop on horseback across Cranborne Chase in Dorset. This curious phantom is said to be clad in fur skins and riding a shaggy mount without any bridle or stirrups, brandishing what looks like a stone axe in his hand. The ghost has been reported in the vicinity of the Roman road to Old Sarum and the site of the prehistoric camp on the Chase. It has been suggested that he is a warrior who once lived in the camp. STONEHENGE One of the most famous prehistoric monuments in the world, located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. Stonehenge was built in stages between 2800 and 1800 BC and appears to have been constructed to mark the sunrise and moon-rise of the summer and winter solstices. The remains include a henge and a horseshoe arrangement of standing stones and bluestones weighing up to 26 tons apiece. Some of the stones are topped by lintels, which suggested to the Saxons the name Stonehenge, meaning ‘hanging stones’. The construction of Stonehenge represents an incredible feat of engineering for primitive times and numerous legends exist as to how it was accomplished. The original architects and reasons for building this megalithic stone circle are unknown but since the Roman conquest of Britain it has become known as an important part of Druid practice and worship. It is also believed that the site is a repository of psychic power. Because of the precise solstice orientation of the stones Stonehenge is thought to have some astronomical significance. It may also have had a religious, social and political function as well. Fifty-six burial pits containing the remains of bones, flints and pottery have been discovered, and it has been suggested that these burial pits, like all burial pits, were associated with entry points to the Underworld. Many of the stones are bluestone from the Preseli Mountains of South Wales, over 135 miles away. This particular site amplifies sound, and if people stand it the centre of the circle even the smallest whisper can be heard. As Stonehenge is also thought by some to be constructed along ley lines, it is said that the resonant quality of the stone might also be connected to the theory of sacred geometry, where the earth’s energy may be tapped for magic and healing. Dowsers believe the stones are charged with powerful geomagnetic energies, possibly fixed by ancient builders, and there have been reports of light and sound anomalies associated with the stones. However, research conducted in 1987 and 1988 by the Dragon Trust Project, a British organization that studies ancient sites, showed no magnetism registering on the compass or any unusual radiation detected by instruments. Until 1985 Stonehenge served as a site for pagan and occult festivities but in that year they were banned due to increasing vandalism by spectators. Today Stonehenge is a designated World Heritage site, but access to it remains limited and tourists can only admire it from afar. STONE-THROWING DEVIL Seventeenth-century poltergeist case that took place at Great Island, New Hampshire. It was characterized by a mysterious hail of stones that rained down on victims. According to a pamphlet written by Richard Chamberlain, secretary of the Province of New Hampshire, entitled Lithobolia, or the Stone-throwing Devil (1698), the stone-throwing case occurred between May and August 1682. One Sunday night in May at around 10 pm, wealthy landowner George Walton and his family were surprised by a great pounding of stones upon the roof and sides of the house. Walton ran outside and the stones continued to fall, but it was impossible to tell who or what was throwing them. For four hours the stones rained down, smashing windows and doors, but fortunately no one in the house was harmed. The next day servants reported that items in the house had been rearranged in odd places. The stoning continued for the next two weeks. Sometimes there would be a day of silence only for the attacks to start up again a day or so later. On Monday 28 June the stones fell on members of the household as they ate their supper, breaking the table into small pieces. On another day Walton was injured by what he claimed was an attack of more than 40 stones; he suffered from his injuries for the rest of his life. No agent of the stoning was ever seen and no single member of the household seemed to be the focal point of the attacks -all were attacked on one occasion or another, although most of the incidents occurred when Walton was present. A number of individuals, including the governor of West Jersey, signed a statement that they had witnessed some of the stone-throwing attacks. Chamberlain, who was a guest at the house during this period, was a sceptic about the supernatural, but the attacks convinced him that ‘there are such things as witches and the effects of witchcraft, or at least the mischievous actions of evil spirits’. At the time the stone throwing was believed to have been down to witchcraft and the suspect in this case was a neighbour of Walton, who was an elderly woman in dispute with him over a piece of land. Walton won his claim to the land and the angry woman was heard to remark that he would ‘never quietly enjoy that piece of ground’. In August 1682 Walton decided to fight witchcraft with witchcraft and, with the help of someone who knew about such things, he tried to cast a spell to undo the curse and punish his neighbour. This consisted of boiling a pot of urine and crooked pins on the fire but before the urine could boil a stone fell into it and broke the pot. The hail of stones continued and Walton lodged a complaint with the council in Portsmouth, which summoned him and his neighbour for questioning. The outcome of this council meeting is not recorded although at some point during it the stone throwing stopped. The case remains unsolved and is likely to remain so given the length of time that has passed. Fraud on Walton’s part is unlikely as he suffered personal injury but he may have been an unwitting agent, even though such agents of hauntings are usually adolescents. The only logical explanation is that the angry neighbour or perhaps protestors opposed to Chamberlain’s unpopular administration were to blame. STRING THEORY The theory that what are perceived as particles are actually vibrations on strings or membranes in a 10-or 11-dimensional space. This theory resolves the incompatibility between general relativity (the principle that gravitational and inertial forces are equivalent) and quantum theory and unifies them. String theory has been developed for several decades, with a goal to become ‘the theory of everything’, that is, to unify all four fundamental forces - gravity, electromagnetism, and strong and weak nuclear forces. A revolutionary discovery of the theory is that the whole universe should have nine or ten dimensions of space, instead of three (length, width and height). In an earlier version of string theory, it was assumed that only three dimensions are observed because the other extra dimensions are too small to be seen. However, a few years before 2000, researchers suggested that these extra dimensions could be as large as the ordinary three dimensions. The reason why they cannot be seen is because all matter and electromagnetic waves are confined in a three-dimensional sub-universe, called ‘braneworld’. String theory tries to explain multidimensional phenomena beyond Einstein’s four dimensions (the three spatial ones, plus time) and because it does this it has been proposed by some physicists as an explanation for so-called paranormal phenomena. It attempts to address the mystery of the multidimensional nature of reality by hypothesizing the existence of hyperspaces that exist beyond the perceptual boundaries of the physical senses, and by so doing it could potentially validate psychic phenomena. Ultimately, it has been suggested that string theory will be capable of explaining everything there is to explain, including paranormal phenomena, but scientific research has not reached that stage yet and the suggestion remains controversial. SUBCONSCIOUS See Unconscious. SUBLIMINAL SELF An unconscious aspect of a person that is thought to perceive sensations, emotions and thoughts below the threshold of the conscious thought. This perception may be of spirit beings and other entities on another plane of existence or of taboo impulses not acceptable in society. It is thought that unconscious reactions to such taboo ideas are harnessed in subliminal advertising. In other words, advertisers use images and sound to influence people without them being aware of it. SUBTLE BODY Alternative term for the astral body. SUCCUBUS Female demon or spirit who is said to disturb the sleep of a man and initiate sexual intercourse with him. Unlike the male equivalent, an incubus, whose attentions are typically horrifying to women, in some cases the succubus’s attacks are not always unwelcome. SUM–RS, MONTAGUE [1880-194,8] Celebrated as the world’s foremost authority on occult matters in the 1920s, Summers was considered to be an expert on many aspects of the paranormal including spirits, witchcraft, vampires, werewolves, and demonology. Britishborn Summers achieved notoriety within the field for writing several books on paranormal subjects which have become classics. His numerous works included such titles as The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926), The Vampire: His Kith and Kin (1928) and the first English translation of the fifteenth-century witch-hunter’s manual, the Malleus Maleficarum. To the sceptic Summers’ research seemed a little naïve and over-trusting of his sources but he was known to have gone to great lengths to gather evidence of ghosts and hauntings, particularly in the latter part of his life when he was able to explore Europe at leisure with a reputation that allowed him ready access to many allegedly haunted locations. SUPER ESP Theory that attempts to explain how apparitions of the dead are the result of extraordinary or limitless ESP by the living. The term super ESP was coined in the 1950s by American sociologist and psychical researcher Hornell Hart, but the concept had already been put forward by the early founders of the Society for Psychical Research in the late nineteenth century. In investigating the question of survival after death it was suggested by the Society’s researchers that some mediums could use telepathy and clairvoyance to gather personal information about the deceased person from the minds of the sitters. Support for the super ESP theory came in 1925 with the Gordon Davis case. Psychical researcher S G Soal took part in a series of sittings with the medium Blanche Cooper, who contacted a friend of Soal’s called Gordon Davis, whom Soal believed had been killed in the War. The information Davis provided was accurate and included personal reminiscences and idiosyncratic speech patterns. Soal was later shocked to discover that Davis was alive and living in London. He theorized that Cooper had telepathically picked up information from either his or Soal’s mind. In the 1940s American researcher Gardner Murphy suggested that the phenomena of ESP may create pseudo-spirit personalities as well as apparitions of the dead, but researchers have since rejected that idea. Opponents of super ESP argue that it cannot explain those cases when mediums provide information unknown to the sitters; and if it were possible, mediums should be able to perform extraordinary feats of mind reading, which has not yet been demonstrated in the laboratory. Super ESP also fails to explain drop in communicators, unknown entities who show up unexpectedly at a séance or sitting, and cases of children who claim past life memories, because such cases involve not just statements of fact but also behaviours consistent with the person talked about. Nor does super ESP successfully explain apparitions of the dead to its critics. Despite these objections and inconsistencies, super ESP still maintains a number of adherents and it continues to be hotly debated. It is impossible to rule out completely as to date too little is still known about the nature of psi and its relationship to human consciousness. SUPEREGO According to Sigmund Freud, the superego is the higher part of the mind that gives a person a sense of right and wrong, of pride and guilt and of what is acceptable and what is not. It is the opposite of the id, which is the unconscious part of a person that only desires gratification of its own needs. The superego tends to make a person act in ways that are acceptable to society by repressing the needs of the id. An example of this would be the desire to eat another slice of cake when already full. The id would urge a person to gratify their appetite but the superego would impose guilt at the thought of eating something that is unhealthy and unnecessary. The ego, the conscious part of the mind, is in the middle of this battle between the id and the superego, attempting to balance out conflicting desires. This is made easier by the fact that the id and superego tend to operate on an unconscious level. If an adult is a reasonably mature person then the id, ego and superego will act in a balanced way, but if not the result is childish, immature behaviour. SUPERNATURAL Any experience, occurrence, manifestation or object that is beyond the laws of nature and science and whose understanding may be said to lie with religion, magic or the mystical. The term is often used interchangeably with paranormal. The most popular view of the supernatural contrasts it with the term ‘natural’, i.e. the assumption that some events occur according to natural laws and others do not, because they are caused by forces external to nature. In essence, the world is seen as operating according to natural law normally until a higher force external to nature, for example God, interferes. Others deny any distinction between the natural and supernatural. According to this view, because God is sovereign, all events, even seemingly supernatural ones, are directly caused by God not by impersonal powers of any kind. Another view asserts that events that appear to be supernatural occur according to natural laws which we do not yet understand. Some believe the supernatural is a form of magic but others, particularly among the sceptical academic community, believe that all events have natural and only natural causes. They believe that human beings ascribe supernatural attributes to purely natural events in an attempt to cope with fear and ignorance. SUPERSTITION Belief in the power of supernatural phenomena to direct our lives. For example, the belief that a broken mirror means seven years’ bad luck. Superstitions originated at a time when humanity knew very little about how the universe worked and because of this the borders between daily living, magic, religion and nature were much less defined than they are today. In essence a superstition is a behaviour that is related to a kind of magical thinking, whereby the practitioner believes that the future, or the outcome of certain events, can be influenced by certain specified behaviours. The idea of good or bad luck has given rise to a number of superstitions, such as the belief that it is bad luck to walk under a ladder. For reasons that are not known superstitious belief can lead to a disregard of reason under what sceptics would say is a false assumption of a divine or paranormal form of control over the universe. For instance, a gambler might credit a winning streak in poker to a lucky charm he or she is wearing or to sitting in a certain chair, rather than to skill or to the law of averages. An airline passenger might believe that it is a medal of St Christopher (traditional patron saint of travellers) that keeps him or her safe in the air, rather than the fact that aeroplanes statistically crash very rarely. SURVIVAL AFTER DEATH The belief that a spiritual component survives the death of the physical body is associated with all religions, with the exception of Buddhism, which denies the existence of the soul, and is also a tenet of the animism characteristic of tribal societies in America, Africa, Asia and Australia. For spiritualists belief in the afterlife rests not on belief but on evidence provided by the manifestations of discarnate entities in mediumship, although many psychical researchers believe that such manifestations can be more easily explained by ESP between living persons. Belief in survival after death in one form or another is found all over the world and reaches far back in time. It has been suggested that belief in survival once existed alongside animistic beliefs in reincarnation and that these beliefs evolved into those of Hinduism, Buddhism and the Christian idea of resurrection. It could also be said that animistic soul beliefs, grounded as they were in apparitions, shamanic trances and out-of-body experiences, have a direct link to spiritualism. Spiritualism reached the peak of its popularity on both sides of the Atlantic at the turn of the twentieth century and this popularity led to attempts to prove the genuineness of its claims. The discovery of trickery and deception among a large number of the mediums investigated led to disillusionment and many psychical researchers concluded that spiritualist claims had little substance. Interests and opinions began to change, however, when the mediumship of Leono-ra Piper was investigated by both the Society for Psychical Research and the American Society for Psychical Research. Instead of producing physical phenomena such as levitations and materializations, Piper went into trance and seemed to deliver verbal messages from dead people. After Piper other mental mediums such as Eileen Garrett and Gladys Leonard were also responsible for encouraging many psychical researchers to believe in survival after death. The communications provided by mental mediums were significant because they could be checked for accuracy among written sources and the memories of the living. Establishing the supernatural basis for their insight therefore depended on showing that they could not have obtained their information naturally (or fraudulently), such as by reading the obituaries columns of local papers. Despite this encouraging step, however, it was still possible for mediums to obtain personal information about the deceased from the minds of the living or via ESP. To make sure ESP wasn’t responsible, experiments were done with proxy sitters, i.e. standins for the person who wanted to communicate with dead who knew nothing about the dead person. Special attention was also paid to drop in communicators and cross correspondences, although even in these unique cases it still proved to be impossible to rule out ESP (see super ESP). Growing awareness of an inability to prove that ESP was not the case contributed to a decline in psychical research to prove survival in favour of experiments, such as those conducted by J B Rhine, to test the limits of ESP. As far as physical mediumship as proof of survival after death was concerned, better evidence was provided by mediums such as Eusapia Palladino, who was never found guilty of fraud, and the Schneider brothers. Some psychical researchers were convinced that discarnate entities were responsible for physical phenomena such as table-tilting and rapping but others believed they were still produced by the mediums themselves via psychokinesis. The psychokinesis explanation is still popular today among psychical researchers and has also been touted as an explanation for poltergeist activity, when objects are thrown around. Poltergeist attacks also tend to concentrate around one person who is regarded as the focus or agent causing the action, either consciously or unconsciously. The evidence for survival provided by out-of-body and near-death experiences is inconclusive as it could be argued that they are simply hallucinations. Good evidence for survival can, however, be provided by cases that involve more than one mode of existence. For example, it is hard to imagine how ESP and psychokinesis could explain all of the following: a discarnate entity that communicates through a medium, a poltergeist that moves objects and an apparition that can be seen. Good evidence can also be provided by cases, such as the Chaffin Will case, where the spirit seems to have a special purpose such as to convey information unknown to the sitter. Sceptics point to the numerous examples of so-called communications from the dead that were later proved to be false or to be examples of ESP. For example, in one case the communicator presented as dead by the medium turned out to be alive a few months later. Despite this many researchers, such as Frederick Myers, James Hyslop and Hornell Hart, have argued that survival after death is at least theoretically possible in a fragmentary way. Spiritualism’s popularity in the West has declined, but it does still continue, and the Society for Psychical Research attracts many new members each year. The latest Gallup poll regarding the survival question suggests that as many as two in three people believe in, or hope for, survival after death. See also Afterlife, Apparitions, Cross correspondences, Deathbed visions, Mediumship, Near-death experience, Out-of-body experience, Reincarnation. SURVIVAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION Research and educational organization based in Miami, Florida, that is concerned with the question of survival after death. The Survival Research Foundation was established in 1971 by authors Frank C Tribber and Susy Smith. The Foundation has investigated and continues to investigate survival tests, deathbed visions, near-death experiences and mediumship. Awards are offered for those who want to explore new directions in paranormal research. SURVIVAL TESTS Tests created by people when they are alive with the intention of communicating their solutions through mediums after death to provide evidence for survival after death. The most popular of these types of tests was the sealed envelope test, which has since been replaced by combination locks and tests encrypted with special codes. In The Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death (1903), psychical researcher Frederick Myers described some tests with positive outcomes. In one case study a brother left his sister a sealed envelope and a piece of a brick marked in a special way, telling her he would hide it in a place no one would know. After his death his sister communicated with him through mediums and not only did he allegedly communicate the contents of the sealed letter but he also told her where to look for the brick. The brick was discovered in the place he had indicated. It has been suggested that sealed letter tests could be interpreted as examples of clairvoyance and telepathy rather than spirit communication. The living person could have read the mind of the deceased person while they were still alive or simply have read the contents of the letter clairvoyantly The sealed letter tests eventually proved to be problematic as they could only be opened once. In order to find a way round this, British mathematician and psychical researcher Robert Thouless came up with what he called the ‘cipher test’. He invented a code and encoded two messages with the idea that after his death he would communicate not just the message but also the key to the code that would allow the message to be read. This cipher had the advantage that it could be tried any number of times and if the medium provided the solution only after Thouless’s death this made it all the more likely that it was received from his spirit. The cipher test proved to be too complicated for some, prompting psychical researcher Ian Stevenson to introduce the combination lock test. With this, a person would buy a combination lock and set it, committing the solution to memory. As with the cipher test, the idea was that the person would, after death, communicate in spirit a key word that allowed the lock to be opened. Despite numerous attempts neither the cipher test nor the combination lock proved to be very successful. Psychical researcher J G Pratt set a Stevenson combination lock before his death in 1979 but to date no successful communication has been reported from him. Thouless died in 1984 but no successful communications about the code he set have been received either. SWEDENBORG, EMANUEL [1688–1772] Swedish scientist, mystic and medium who became famous for his otherworldly visions and travels to the spiritual planes where he allegedly met the souls of the dead. Swedenborg was born in Stockholm in 1688, trained as a scientist and was noted for his work in the field of astronomy where he developed a theory to explain the creation of the planets. He was also something of a technician and produced plans for an air gun and submarine that were way ahead of his time. But having established his scientific credentials he made one of the greatest Uturns in history by suddenly announcing, in his fifties, that he had become a visionary and a mystic. Swedenborg revealed that he was in direct communication with spirit beings and had frequent visionary experiences, which left him convinced of the mystical truth that all things ultimately were contained within a single godhead. He also demonstrated certain psychic powers, such as clairvoyance of future events, perhaps via out-of-body experiences, including a famous incident in 1759 when he saw a great fire in Stockholm some 300 miles away. Swedenborg believed he was a divine messenger and his purpose was to disseminate his visions and revelations to others. He quit his job so he could devote himself exclusively to his visions. He experienced automatic writing and sometimes his trances, which were both spontaneous and self-induced, lasted days. In his otherworldly travels he claimed to have met famous figures from history, including Plato and Aristotle. Many of Swedenborg’s peers opposed him and thought that he had gone insane. It wasn’t until after his death in 1772 at the age of 84 that a Swedenborg movement began to develop, in London. Along with mesmerism Swedenborgism is credited with paving the way for the advance of spiritualism in the nineteenth century. According to Swedenborg God created man to exist in both the physical and spiritual worlds. The spiritual world is an inner vision that most people have lost contact with, and it is this inner world that survives death with its own memory of life intact. The memory influences the soul’s fate of heaven or hell. Swedenborg believed that after death souls go to an earthlike place where they are met by dead loved ones and, after a period of self-judgement, they choose heaven or hell. Swedenborg did not believe Christ’s crucifixion saved humankind from its sins and the hell he describes is a hideous place, inhabited by faceless demons. Heaven is a copy of earth with angelic souls. In both worlds life is carried on with work, marriage, war, crime, etc. Swedenborg did not believe in reincarnation and although souls could advance in the afterlife he also believed that heaven and hell were permanent states a soul could not escape from. Spiritualists later adopted many of Swedenborg’s views but rejected his concept of hell and divided heaven into seven spheres through which a soul had to pass after death. The Swedenborg movement became a religion that is still practised today by a select group of followers from all parts of the world. The first churches were established in England in 1778 and in America in 1792. The Swedenborg Society was established in 1810 to spread his message. His most well read text is On Heaven and Its Wonders and on Hell (1758), which outlines his theory of life after death. SYMBOL Some common symbols There are thousands of symbols that are recognized by most people all over the world, and millions more that are limited to certain regions, religions, societies, etc. Here is just a sample of the best known: Balance (scale) justice Bald eagle USA Bat vampire (Western), luck (Chinese) Boomerang Australia Caduceus Medical profession Cheetah speed Cherry blossom Japan Compass rose navigation Crucifix Christianity Cupid, heart love Dragon China/Wales Females ♀ Flags the associated countries Horseshoe luck Kangaroo Australia Lightbulb idea Lightning bolt electricity, speed Lotus flower Hinduism and Buddhism Males ♂ Maple leaf Canada Mount Fuji Japan Panda China Penguin South Pole Pestle and mortar Pharmacy Pink triangle gay men Pointed hat and wand magic Polar bear North Pole Rainbow flag homosexual people Red Crescent/Red Cross First Aid St Bernard dog rescue Shamrock Ireland Skull and crossbones poison, danger Star and crescent Islam Star of David Judaism Statue of Liberty USA Uncle Sam USA Windmills Netherlands Yin/yang symbol Taoism A symbol, in its basic sense, is a representational object or visual image for a concept, object, idea, quality or quantity It expresses a concept or idea beyond the object or image itself. A symbol can be a material object whose shape or origin is related to the thing it represents: for instance, the cross is the main symbol of Christianity A symbol can also be an image (icon) or a pattern or colour, for example, the halo is a conventional symbol of sainthood in Christian imagery and the colour red is often used as a symbol for socialist movements. Symbols can also be immaterial entities like sounds, words and gestures, for example, bowing is a common way to indicate respect. The discipline of semiotics studies symbols and symbol systems in general; semantics is specifically concerned with the meaning of words. People respond to symbols both consciously and unconsciously every day. Symbolistic thought dates back to primitive times and in every culture, past and present, symbols play a crucial role both in religion and in society as a whole. Religious and metaphysical writings are known for their use of esoteric symbolism, because they are believed to contain secret wisdom accessible only to the initiated. Alchemical writings also made extensive use of symbols for spiritual and chemical processes (which practitioners also saw as symbols of each other). Symbols also play a key part in magical ritual and practice because magic symbols are believed to be the keys to raising within the magician the qualities or abilities expressed by the symbols (see Sigil). The interpretation of dreams as symbols of one’s experiences is a main feature of Freudian psychoanalysis and Jungian analytical psychology, and the understanding of symbols and the integration of them into consciousness is an important part of various psychologies. Carl Jung believed that objects and ideas that become symbols are endowed with a great psychological power and can carry empowering messages to the psyche. According to Jung symbols are the language of the unconscious, but to be effective they must not be interpreted literally as their true meaning must always be beyond the reach of logic and comprehension. SYNCHRONICITY The phenomenon of simultaneous events occurring that are related but which have no discernible link to each other. Psychiatrist Carl Jung, who coined the phrase, felt the meaningful coincidences that linked seemingly unrelated and unconnected events happened for a reason. He spoke of synchronicity as being an ‘acausal connecting principle’ (i.e. a pattern of connection that is not explained by causality). The concept of synchronicity has always been integral to Eastern thought but Jung was largely responsible for developing it in the West. He gave Albert Einstein credit for his inspiration - the two met when Einstein was developing his theory of relativity and it prompted Jung to consider a possible relativity of time as well as space. In his research Jung had encountered numerous synchronicities that he could not explain and which were so meaningful that their occurrence by chance would be highly improbable. As an example Jung quoted an incident that happened to one of his patients, who was describing a dream she had about a golden scarab. As she spoke Jung heard tapping at the window and when he opened it he found a scarabaeid beetle. His patient was so surprised by the coincidence that she stopped being defensive in therapy and started to consider what this could mean. Jung pointed out that the scarab was an archetypal symbol of rebirth and this led to greater maturity in his patient. Jung also cited a personal example, and the following, from his Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962), sheds light both on the phenomenon itself and how Jung came to think about the relatedness between the inner and outer realms: I recall one time during the Second World War when I was returning home from Bollingen. I had a book with me, but could not read, for the moment the train started to move I was overpowered by the image of someone drowning. This was a memory of an accident that had happened while I was on military service. During the entire journey I could not rid myself of it. It struck me as uncanny, and I thought, ‘What has happened? Can there have been an accident?’ I got out at Erlenbach and walked home, still troubled by this memory. My second daughter’s children were in the garden. The family was living with us, having returned to Switzerland from Paris because of the war. The children stood looking rather upset, and when I asked, ‘Why, what is the matter?’ They told me that Adrian, then the youngest of the boys, had fallen into the water in the boathouse. It is quite deep there and since he could not really swim he had almost drowned. His older brother had fished him out. This had taken place at exactly the time I had been assailed by that memory in the train. Jung spent many years studying synchronicity in an attempt to discover why it occurred and in the latter part of his life explored quantum theory in an effort to explain it. However, he eventually came to accept that the mysterious connection between two seemingly unrelated aspects of mind and matter was that they were two different expressions of the same thing -vibrational energy. Synchronicity for Jung was an alignment of ‘universal forces’ with the life experiences of an individual. Jung believed that many experiences perceived as coincidences were not merely due to chance, but instead reflected the creation of an event or circumstance by the coinciding or alignment of such forces. The process of becoming intuitively aware and acting in harmony with these forces is what Jung labelled ‘individuation’. Jung said that an individuated person would actually shape events around them through the communication of their consciousness with the collective unconscious. Synchronicity has increasingly come to the fore in modern research by psychologists, parapsychologists and scientists on the nature of consciousness. For example, similarities between quantum physics and Eastern thought have been pointed out by Fritjof Capra in The Tao of Physics (1984), and in his groundbreaking text Synchro-nicty: The Bridge Between Mind and Matter author F David Peat observes that synchronicity may appear naturally to a mind that is constantly evolving and sensitive to change. Sceptics argue that the theory of synchronicity is not scientific at all, but an example of magical thinking, but despite this the notion remains popular today and is an important concept in the modern mind/body/spirit canon. Enthusiasts believe that even just being aware of the phenomenon can increase a person’s awareness of universal harmonies and correspondences and open him or her up to new ways of thinking, being and living, and to new orders of political, social and spiritual unities. The utopian possibility of a new world order, where due attention is paid to the awesome power and meaning of synchronicity, is explored in James Redfield’s surprise bestsellers of the late 1990s, The Celestine Prophecy and The Celestine Vision. T TABLE-TILTING Spiritualist technique in which psychokinetic effects, such as the table vibrating or tilting or turning, sometimes manifest when a group sits around a table with their hands placed lightly on it. Most table-tipping séances are for the purposes of communicating with spirits or for divination. Typically the sitters are evenly placed around a table, sitting with their fingertips resting lightly on the top edge. One of the members acts as a spokesperson and calls out for a spirit to make contact. Sometimes the table may start to move, shaking and vibrating first. It may rise up on one or two legs or turn, pivoting on one leg. To spell out words, the spokesperson may call out the letters of the alphabet and the table will drop down when the specific letter is reached. According to the psychical researcher Nandor Fodor, table-tilting, tipping or turning is ‘the crudest form of communication with the subconscious self or with extraneous intelligences’. Yet tables have been associated with divination and communication with spirits since antiquity. For example, Ammianus Marcellinus (AD 330-395), the author of a history of the Roman Empire, described a table with letters of the alphabet engraved on it, above which a ring was suspended from a thread. The ring would swing to various letters and spell out words. Table-tilting became extremely popular in the mid-nineteenth century with the rise of spiritualism. It originated in America, spread to Europe and arrived in England in 1853. One of the main attractions was that a medium was not required; table-tilting was a mediumistic technique that could be done with any group of people in any living room. The phenomenon became so popular that scientists attempted to explain it by showing that the movement was due to the unconscious muscular action of the people with their fingers on the table. In other words, people may have thought they were pressing downwards on the table but they were in fact pressing it in such a way that the table tilted or turned. The force exerted by the people was even given a scientific name, ‘ectenic force’, but this still did not answer the question as to what or who was directing this force and how tables were sometimes able to give answers that were unknown to those present. TAI CHI Chinese martial art derived from Kung Fu, which consists of a series of postures linked by slow, graceful movements and accompanied by meditative breathing techniques. The purpose of Tai Chi is to enhance a person’s chi or universal life force and boost health and wellbeing. Tai Chi is believed to have originated in the thirteenth century. A Taoist priest, Chang San Feng, adapted the hand techniques of the martial arts he had learned from the Buddhist monks of Shaolin into smoother, softer movements after he had had a visionary dream of a snake and a crane dancing and fighting. His teachings evolved into five main styles, which are still practised today: Yang, Wu, Chen, Woo and Sun. The most commonly practised in the West is Yang style, with its sweeping, open gestures. Tai Chi is believed to balance out energies in the body to ensure a smooth flow of chi. Studies have indicated that the regular practice of Tai Chi has a number of health benefits, including stress reduction, the lowering of blood pressure and an improved quality of health in people suffering with age-related ailments, such as arthritis. TALIESIN Legendary magical bard who is associated with the stories of King Arthur. Taliesin is also believed to have been a historical figure who lived in Wales during the second half of the sixth century. He is believed to have been a shaman and a shape-shifter in the ancient Druid tradition. Almost as many myths surround Taliesin as the legendary wizard Merlin, whom he resembles in some respects. The Welsh legend of Taliesin’s birth tells how Gwion Bach, fleeing from Ceridwen’s anger after accidentally supping from her Cauldron of Rebirth, changes himself into a hare to get away. Ceridwen changes herself into a greyhound to chase the hare and the shape-shifting continues until Ceridwen changes herself into a black hen, which picks up and eats the grain of wheat into which Gwion Bach had finally transformed himself. After a period of gestation Gwion Bach is reborn as the bard Taliesin. Taliesin’s musical talents were said to be unearthly with the power to charm fairies and animals. He allegedly penned the collection of Welsh myths, the Mabinogion, while on his travels, and after his death all other bards took the name ‘sons of Ceridwen’ in his honour. TALISMAN Object, drawing or symbol that is believed to be a source of supernatural or magical power and which then confers its power to those who possess it. Talismans have been used throughout history to attract good fortune, success, health, virility, love and power and to attempt to control the forces of nature. In the Middle Ages talismans were holy objects and relics prized for their healing powers, and in the Renaissance alchemists sought the talisman of the philosopher’s stone. As opposed to the passive power of amulets - which protect and ward off evil - talismans are believed to be active in seeking out good luck and may even bestow magical powers on the person carrying, using or wearing one. Horseshoes, four-leaved clovers and lucky stones or coins are talismans, as are magic wands and lamps. Almost any object can be a talisman but generally it is endowed with power through nature (for example, a gem) or supernatural powers (the sword Excalibur) or by creation in a magical ritual (e.g. a wand). There are hundreds of rituals in ceremonial magic textbooks for creating talismans for virtually any purpose. Although ancient talismans were often inscribed with magical names or spells, today talismans are more often objects charged with the personal power of their creator through meditation and/or ritual. TALKING BOARD A device similar to the planchette that is used for divining answers to questions and talking with spirits. Talking boards feature letters of the alphabet and the numerals zero to nine and the words yes and no. The user asks a question, puts their fingers on a pointer and waits for the pointer to spell out the answer. It is thought that the movement of the pointer is directed by discarnate entities and spirits of the dead. Sceptics believe the users move the pointer unconsciously without realizing it. The best-known talking board is the Ouija board. TALKING MONGOOSE Extraordinary animal ghost story. In the autumn of 1936 strange noises were reported at an old farmhouse known as Cashens Gap at Dalby in the Isle of Man. The owner of the house, Mr Irving, claimed to have seen a shadow move about the rooms of the farmhouse and then tiny furry feet were spotted through a crack in the ceiling. Most curiously, the creature allegedly began to ‘talk’ to Mr Irving, identifying itself as Gef, a talking mongoose. The house was investigated by journalists and psychical researchers and none were able to prove that it was a hoax. After the initial flurry of publicity interest in the first recorded instance of a ghostly animal able to communicate with a human began to decline and Gef appeared less frequently. The full story of this remarkable and unusual haunting was recorded in great detail by Harry Price and R S Lambert, in The Haunting ofCaspens Gap (1936). TANTRA, TANTRIC School of Hindu and Buddhist thought which attempts to seek enlightenment through ecstatic religious and sexual practices. There is an emphasis on carnal pleasure and intercourse with the aim of awakening kundalini energy, the primal psychic force that is believed to lie dormant at the base of the spine. This is done by invoking both the female and the male energies of the universe, embodied by the Hindu gods Shiva and Sakti, and delaying orgasm for as long as possible to stimulate the upward movement of kundalini. TAO Fundamental mystical principle in the Chinese religion of Taoism. Although often translated as ‘the Way’, the term Tao is a state of being that incorporates three aspects of mystical Chinese thought which have no real English translation: ultimate and unimaginable reality, the universal life force and wise order in a person’s life which harmonizes with the universal whole. In other words Tao is a state of being, of ‘doing but not doing’, that accepts that everything is a part of the flow of chi. The Tao is everything and everywhere and it flows unchallenged. It is always changing but never changes. It can be experienced but not defined. It simply is. TAO TE CHING Translated as ‘The Book of the Way’, Tao Te Ching is the principal mystical text of Taoism, supposedly written by the great Chinese sage Lao Tzu in the sixth century BC. Through a collection of 81 poems it describes the necessary interaction between three things that make up life: tao, the way, te, power and ching, the universal life force that flows through all the universe. If a person can balance these three elements life will feel balanced and flow smoothly. This balance can be achieved through techniques such as meditation, breath control, dietary change, sexual techniques and alchemical processes, all of which are described in the book. The main emphasis of the text is on ‘the way’, which is all about going with the flow and the power of non-action that is a central feature of Taoism. The following quotation from the Tao Te Ching sums up Lao Tzu’s recipe for a fulfilled and successful life. There is no need to run outside for better seeing nor to peer from a window. Rather abide at the centre of your being for the more you leave it, the less you learn. TAOISM Chinese religion that is based on the concept of Tao. Taoism is a religion that places great emphasis on non-action, on going with the flow and letting nature take its course. Choosing to do nothing is in itself a choice, and a choice that is thought to balance out the natural energies of yin and yang. It is believed that the secret to a happy life is a continuous balancing of yin and yang, to achieve harmony in all aspects of life. The origins of Taoism are thought to date back to the Tao Te Ching, supposedly written in the sixth century BC by the sage Lao Tzu. The gentle harmonizing philosophy of the Tao Te Ching had great appeal to the Chinese who had grown weary of constant feudal warfare and it quickly became a popular faith. In 440 BC was adopted as a major religion. The goal of Taoism is positive inaction. This goal is based on Lao Tzu’s statement, ‘The way to do is to be.’ Latter-day followers interpret this as the need to achieve harmony with the universal life force, and for those with a more magical turn of mind it is about the exercise of power generated by the fusion of opposites. The influence of Taoism has spread beyond China and has served as a conceptual basis for many practices of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and meditation and martial arts like Tai Chi. Taoism, with its emphasis on being, not doing, also appeals to many Westerners exhausted and stressed by the pace of modern life. TAOIST ALCHEMY System of Yoga developed in China in which practitioners believe the individual will not survive physical death unless he or she has prepared, while living, a ‘diamond body’ as an immortal vehicle for the spirit. The diamond body appears to be similar in many respects to the astral body of Western occultism, but it is reinforced and strengthened during the adept’s lifetime by a mingling of male and female chi or universal life force energies. This mingling is typically achieved by intercourse with multiple partners. It is commonly thought that orgasm dissipates the vital supply of chi in men, but that women are blessed with an inexhaustible supply. As a result, in Taoist alchemical intercourse the man suppresses his orgasm while multiple orgasms are encouraged in the woman. TAROT Card deck that is used for divination, self help, the development of intuition and spiritual and psychic growth. The deck of cards known as the tarot is divided into two parts: the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. The word ‘arcana’ is from the Latin word for secret. The Major Arcana consists of 22 cards, each separately titled. These cards depict symbolic figures, such as the Fool, the Magician, the High Priestess and the Empress, elements of nature such as the Star, the Moon and the Sun, and human experiences on the spiritual journey as well as joys, hopes, fears and sorrows. The symbols are universal, drawn from legend and from magical belief. Typically the Major Arcana cards are subject to broad interpretations. In essence they are archetypes and their sequence from 0 to 21 is believed to represent the soul’s journey to awareness, the process of becoming whole or the alchemical process of spiritual transformation. Some have equated the Major Arcana with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and work them with the Kabbalah’s Tree of Life. The Minor Arcana is a combination of four suits; each suit is comprised of cards numbered from one to ten, plus court cards of Page, Knight, Queen and King. The four suits of the Minor Arcana are most commonly known as Cups, Pentacles, Wands and Swords, and it can clearly be seen that the Minor Arcana is the ancestor of our modern playing cards, with their corresponding suits of Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades. Each suit of the Minor Arcana has a meaning. Traditionally the swords indicate ill fortune or difficulties, the pentacles indicate financial and material success, the cups indicate good fortune and love and the wands indicate enterprise and knowledge. The actual origins of the tarot are lost in time. There is some evidence to suggest that they originated in the North of India and were brought out of that region by the Romany people. Certainly the Romany were responsible for much of their distribution across Europe, but there is also speculation that the cards originated in China and Northern Italy. The earliest surviving tarot cards were individually painted on thin sheets of ivory, parchment, silver and gold. A set of tarot cards were painted exclusively for France’s Charles VI in 1392 and 17 of these cards survive today in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. With the invention of block printing in Nuremberg in the early part of the fifteenth century tarot cards became more available and more popular. In mid-fifteenth-century England King Edward IV forbade the importation of tarot cards but they were smuggled in by soldiers fighting in France and found their way into the homes of the nobility. By the time of the French Revolution there was a revival of interest in esotericism and use of tarot cards was widespread. In 1910 English occultist Arthur Waite published his interpretation of the tarot with images designed by fellow occultist Pamela Colman Smith. According Waite the tarot cards themselves dated back to the fourteenth century but the images on them were much older. He claimed to have restored the images to their original meaning and when interpreting the cards drew from the Hermetic Kabbalah tradition favoured by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of which he was a member. The Rider Waite deck still sets the standard today among tarot packs, even though hundreds of other tarot decks with different designs and themes have since been designed and published. Many of these new designs have broken away from the traditional symbolism and names. Tarot cards are used in meditation and creative visualization exercises as a means of spiritual transformation and personal growth. Some people draw a single card at the start of each day and meditate on it to trigger their imaginative and intuitive powers, but the most common method is to use the cards for divinatory purposes. There is a traditional way of doing this with a variety of different spreads, or layouts. Typically tarot cards are read by shuffling and then laying out the cards, face down, in various spreads. The cards are then turned over and interpreted. Each position in a spread is thought to have particular significance and each Major and Minor Arcana card laid down has an individual meaning which is influenced by the position it is placed in and whether or not it is upright or reversed. Even though each card has an individual meaning the entire layout must also be considered as a whole. Like the I Ching those who use the tarot believe it should not be read for definitive yes or no answers to questions but for a reflection of existing energies and directions concerning a situation. In other words, the tarot is good for helping a person see life from a new perspective. Sample tarot spread In Tarot divination, results can be achieved with analysis of just one card, but for more thoroughness combinations of several cards in set patterns are usually used. These patterns are called spreads. There are many, many spreads, although the Celtic Cross is often taught to beginners as their first spread. More experienced practioners will use their own spreads, assigning their own meanings to the relevant positions represented. The Celtic Cross is one of the best known of spreads and its most common version consists of ten cards, or ten cards plus an optional, eleventh card (the ‘significator card’). The significator card represents the person or situation. The enquirer shuffles and cuts the pack with the cards face down while thinking about the question he or she wants an answer to. Then, with the cards still face down, so the person has no idea which cards he or she is going to pick, the first six are picked from the deck; the first card is placed atop the significator card, and the others placed as shown below. The final four of the ten cards are placed in a column to the right. The cards should be read as they are turned up, which means some will be upright and some will be reversed. Usually the reversed meaning is a negative aspect of the upright meaning, though [not always. Some readers believe that it doesn’t matter whether the cards are upright or reversed; the full meaning will come out just through the interpretation of the card itself, regardless of how it lies. Many readers will ‘feel’ the cards by saying what they feel about them, rather than giving the traditional meanings as listed in some books. Cross Spread Card 1: The present. Card 2: The immediate challenge facing the enquirer. Card 3: What the enquirer aspires to, what they are capable of achieving. Card 4: The enquirer’s deep, basic inner self. Card 5: What is behind the enquirer, i.e. in the past. Card 6: The immediate future (i.e. the next few days or weeks). Card 7: Factors or inner feelings affecting the situation. Card 8: External influences that will affect the outcome of the question. Card 9: Hopes or fears around the situation. Card 10: Final outcome in six months or a year ahead. Tarot cards only see the situation with the forces currently at work around the enquirer. With this in mind the final outcome is not truly final and nothing is set in stone; it is within everyone to change positively what is indicated. An even simpler spread is the three-card spread, which gives a quick answer; overview to a single question/issue. Lay out three cards in a row from left to right. Reading from left to right, the cards represent the past, the present and the future. Below are some traditional interpretations of the Major Arcana, based on the Rider Waite pack. These are by no means the only set of meanings that exist for the tarot. Different traditions are followed in different countries and even between different decks, and it is universally agreed that by far the best interpretation you can give a tarot card is the one you feel and sense yourself in response to the image on the card. 0 The Fool: a jester figure, sometimes shown beginning a journey and accompanied by a dog, representing impulse, birth and youth. 1 The Magician: sometimes shown as a juggler or illusionist at a fair, sometimes playing with the symbols of the four suits, representing consciousness, sense of self, control, dexterity. 2 High Priestess: shown as a female religious leader, representing women’s liberation, wisdom, independence, psychic development. 3 Empress: shown as a queen on her throne or as a mother goddess, representing illumination, intelligence, understanding, maternity, creativity. 4 Emperor: sometimes shown holding sphere and sceptre, a king on his throne, representing sight, vision, realization, power, strength. 5 Hierophant or Pope: sometimes shown as the Pope seated on a throne, religious leader, representing the link between God and man, spiritual discovery, paternal, transcendent, teacher. 6 Lovers: shown as two people surrounded by cupids and flowerbeds, representing struggle, beauty, sovereignty, synthesis, union. 7 Chariot: sometimes shown as warriors parading triumphant in a chariot or an icon of a hero being paraded around, representing victory, domination of humankind over nature, power, war, selfcontrol. 8 Strength or Lust: representing love as a source of strength, endurance, will to survive, strong desires, perseverance. 9 Hermit: representing withdrawal, solitude, abandonment of convention via inner conviction, preoccupation with details, often shown as a hermit holding an hourglass. 10 Wheel of Fortune: representing karma, reincarnation, consequences of chance happenings, cycles, motifs, optimism, generosity. 11 Justice: often shown as lady justice’ (blindfolded with scale), representing decision, equilibrium. 12 Hanged Man: representing sacrifice, violence, transition. 13 Death: often shown as a skeleton or as the grim reaper, representing stagnation and routine but also fresh starts, a clean slate, liberation, renewal. 14 Temperance: representing enthusiasm, moderation, truthfulness, mixing of opposite ingredients in proper proportion, working together. 15 The Devil: representing superficiality, confusion, ignorance, apathy, limitations, frustrations, sexual problems. 16 The Tower: representing spiritual awakening, destiny, often shown as ‘house of god’ or as a ruin. 17 The Star: representing meditation, inspiration, hope, immortality, often shown as a woman kneeling on a seashore. 18 The Moon: representing illusion, self-deception, confusion, the growth of intuition. 19 The Sun: representing enlightenment, clarity, understanding, comprehension, wisdom, happiness, splendour. 20 Judgement: often shown as angels blowing trumpets, representing awakening to something new, rebirth. 21 The World or Universe: representing completion, reward, perfection, a unity of positive and negative. TASH Irish word for a ghost that can appear in human or animal form. Ireland has a strong ghost story tradition and gave birth to one of the greatest ghost-story writers of the nineteenth century, Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-73). Irish folklore is particularly rich in legends about phantom horses, birds, rabbits and even insects such as butterflies. A large number of these ghosts are believed to be the spirits of people who have died a violent death, either having been murdered or having committed suicide, and condemned to haunt the place where they died as a lesson for others. In many parts of Ireland it is considered unwise among the superstitious to mourn a person for too long, ‘or else they will be kept from their rest and return as a ghost’. TASSEOGRAPHY Reading tea leaves To read your tea leaves, you must prepare a cup of tea with loose tea leaves. A small, white cup with no designs or patterns on the inside walls is ideal. The tea most often used is China tea but any large leaf variety will do, such as Ceylon or even mint tea. Finer mint tea or coffee grounds can be used but they don’t tend to leave such interesting patterns. Drink your tea, and leave a tiny amount of liquid, as well as some tea leaves, in the bottom of the cup. Holding the cup in your left hand, slowly swirl the contents of the cup around three times clockwise. Try to make sure that the leaves are moved towards the rim of the teacup. Then place the cup upside down on a saucer, holding it there for a few seconds while the fluids drain. When the teacup is placed right side up again, make sure the handle faces towards you and take a look at the patterns made by the tea leaves remaining in the cup. If you have swirled correctly, the leaves should now be clumped together in several different places on the cup’s inside, including the rim, sides and bottom. These clumps will form the symbols that you will read. You should always begin the interpretation by looking for the simplest symbols first. Several of the leaf clumps may clearly form shapes, letters, or numbers. Letters may refer to the names of friends or relatives, whereas numbers can indicate spans of time, like months or years. With shapes, triangles indicate good karma, squares a need for caution, circles great success and hearts, love (although if combined with a triangle, it could indicate jealousy). Most of the clumps, however, will form random shapes. With a little staring and a bit of creativity, these shapes can easily be distinguished. Some of their meanings with be traditional and obvious (such as a horseshoe shape indicating luck), but remember, the beauty of tea-leaf reading is that it is entirely up to your creativity. Seeing and interpreting symbols is always best done when that interpretation comes from yourself. Divination by means of reading the pattern of tea leaves left in a cup. The art of reading tea leaves for divination was an ancient Chinese practice, which makes sense as tea originated in China. In the mid-1800s it spread to the Western world via nomadic gypsies. Around the turn of the twentieth century tasseography was a popular method of divination in the West, with Gypsy Tea Rooms commonplace in most cities and towns. It is less popular today but still practised. When a person drinks a cup of tea (or coffee) the leaves or grounds are thought to pick up sympathetic vibrations from that person’s aura. When the liquid has been drunk the tea leaves remaining at the bottom of the cup form shapes that are said to correspond to that energy. The symbols are not always obvious to the naked eye, and imagination must be used by the diviner. It will be found that there may be a suggestion of, say, a bird or a rabbit and this suggestion can trigger the mind into making connections and associations that can then be interpreted. As with so many forms of divination what is actually seen is used as a focal point or trigger for the reader’s intuition. TEILHARD DE CHARDIN, PIERRE [1881-1955] Theologian, philosopher and palaeontologist whose theories were influential in the development of New Age thought. According to Teilhard the universe has a complex consciousness with its own evolutionary history. Humanity is psychically connected to all life forms and has the power to become co-creator in the evolutionary processes. Teilhard believed that humanity was on the verge of a leap of consciousness, ‘where it must either lose all belief in the universe or quite resolutely worship it’. This new consciousness, he suggested, would be similar to mystical enlightenment in that it was likely to have collective and cosmic elements that would help bring people closer to God. The ultimate goal is convergence towards Christ, which he called the ‘Omega Point’, a place or moment where human consciousness finds ultimate unity. Teilhard’s theories do not advocate living in harmony with the earth, and in his opinion earth’s true meaning could only be found in its subordination to humankind. Nevertheless, his theories can be applied to modern ecological concerns on the basis that as we share a connection with all life forms, exploiting the earth is to exploit and destroy an intrinsic part of ourselves. His theory was an attempt to reconcile Christianity with the advances and discoveries of modern science. TELEKINESIS The spontaneous movement of objects and people through the air without any physical intervention. These objects are either moved through paranormal means, like levitation by spirits or a poltergeist, or by thought or will power alone. If the movement is intentional, it is known as psychokinesis. Perhaps the most famous demonstration of deliberate telekinesis occurred in the 1970s when a young Israeli psychic called Uri Geller came to public attention for his ability to bend spoons and other metal objects using mind power alone. One theory put forward to explain telekinesis is that the concentration of energy from a person’s mind somehow alters the energy structure of the object they are focusing on. When the mind’s stream of energy is released, the object reforms itself according to the energy patterns that have been sent. If the person has sent ‘bending’ the spoon bends, but if he or she sent ‘floating’ the spoon floats. An alternative term used for telekinesis is teleportation, although the latter tends to imply the paranormal movement or materialization of objects across a distance whereas telekinesis tends to refer to the bending, reshaping and vibrating of objects through deliberate use of psi. TELEPATHIC HYPNOSIS Term coined in the late nineteenth century by psychical researcher Frederick Myers to describe a combination of telepathy and hypnosis in which a person is induced into a hypnotic trance by thought projection from a distance. The ability to hypnotize someone from a distance was first discovered by mesmerists in Europe. In 1881 a Russian surgeon and Professor at the Imperial Academy of St Petersburg recorded an experiment that showed how a person could be acted on from a distance by a hypnotist concentrating his thought. In 1845 another Russian, a hypnotist called Andrey Pashkov, had recorded how he hypnotized a woman who lived 300 miles away. Allegedly she obeyed his thought command to fall asleep. In the late 1880s experiments observed and recorded by Myers on French medium Leonie B also yielded positive results for telepathic hypnosis, from a distance of about two-thirds of a mile. From the mid-1920s, Russian scientists began to concentrate more fully on experiments with telepathic hypnosis with the aim of manipulating the behaviour of people from a distance. The experiments were led by L L Vasiliev, who claimed to have successfully hypnotized subjects who were more than 1,700 km away to fall asleep and awake on command. Today some Russian scientists believe that a person may be telepathically hypnotized from a distance without being aware of it, although they do believe the phenomenon is limited to only a small percentage of susceptible people, around 4 in every 100. It has been suggested that telepathic hypnosis could one day prove to be useful to the military for espionage and warfare. In 2002 a study conducted by clinical psychologist Susan Simpson, from the Royal Cornhill Hospital in Aberdeen, suggested that telepathic hypnosis (or ‘tele-hypnosis’) could prove to be more beneficial than face-to-face hypnosis. It is well known that hypnosis can help with treatment of a range of problems from chronic pain to eating disorders, but if a person lives in a remote area it can sometimes be difficult to find a suitably qualified therapist. Based on the results of her pilot study of patients in the Shetland Isles, whom she treated using teleconferencing, Simpson has suggested a possible solution. More than a third actually preferred telepathic hypnosis over face-to-face therapy, and all said they felt much improved and would like further sessions. TELEPATHY The mind-to-mind communication of thoughts, feelings and ideas through psychic means, especially ESP. Telepathy is described in folklore all over the world. In some tribal societies it is accepted as a natural ability everyone possesses but in other societies it is considered an ability that only psychics possess. The word telepathy derives from the Greek terms tele (distant) and pathe (feeling) and was coined by psychical researcher Frederick Myers in 1882. Research into telepathy began with mesmerism in the late eighteenth century when practitioners discovered an apparent ability of some of their subjects to read their minds and carry out unspoken commands. This phenomenon was observed later by psychologists and psychiatrists such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and William James. When the Society for Psychical Research and the American Society for Psychical Research were founded in the mid-1880s, telepathy was the first psychic phenomenon to be studied scientifically. Early experiments were very simple and involved a person in one room attempting to transmit the thought of a number, image or taste to a person in another room. French physiologist Charles Richet not only observed that telepathy could occur without hypnotism but also introduced the idea of matching results against mathematical chance. Over the years interest in telepathy grew steadily and mass telepathy experiments were attempted in the United States and Britain. Studies have shown that when telepathy occurs it frequently happens spontaneously in times of crisis, for example, when one person becomes aware of another person being in danger from a distance. Telepathic information may come in the form of a dream, a mental image, through clairaudience, through thoughts that pop into the mind or through vague feelings of dread or anxiety. The person who is receiving the information may change their plans or attempt to warn or contact the other person. It appears that telepathy is closely tied to emotion and it is no coincidence that most receivers tend to be women because women are often (but certainly not always) thought to be more in tune with their emotions and intuition than men. It also seems that telepathy has some biological connection as experiments show that the recipient’s brain waves change to match those of the sender. Telepathy is adversely affected by drugs but positively affected by caffeine. It also improves as a person gets older. Studies on geriatric telepathy seem to indicate that when the physical senses become impaired telepathy becomes stronger. In the 1930s American parapsychologist J B Rhine began a series of experiments using ESP cards to test telepathy. He discovered that it was often hard to distinguish between telepathy and clairvoyance or precognition and concluded that they were different manifestations of the same thing. Rhine also discovered that telepathy is not affected by the degree of distance between senders, and this has been proved correct by later tests. Sharpening your telepathic skills Here’s an exercise you can do with a friend to practise and sharpen your telepathic skills. Agree on a time when you and your friend, in separate locations, both can sit down to meditate for approximately 10 minutes. Use the first five minutes of this time to send and the other five to receive a message, and make sure your times are opposite so that one of you receives when the other sends. At the agreed-on time begin your meditation. Start with three deep breaths and concentrate on sending a message to your friend. Perceive the message in whatever way you wish but stick to a single representation. When the sending time is up take three deep breaths and shift to receiving mode. Concentrate on opening your mind to the message your friend is sending. When the meditation is finished bring yourself back to physical reality. Write down everything you can remember about the experience, both the message you were trying to send and the messages you think you received from your friend. Phone or visit each other to compare experiences. How often were you right? How often were you wrong? Generally speaking if you are more on target than not, you’ve exceeded the odds of chance. Don’t be discouraged if at first results are poor; most people improve with practise. Over the years numerous theories have been put forward to explain telepathy but because telepathy like all psychic phenomena, transcends space and time they are difficult to prove scientifically Nineteenth-century chemist Sir William Crookes believed that telepathy depends on radiolike brain waves. The twentieth-century Russian scientist L L Vasiliev suggested electromagnetic theory. American psychologist Lawrence LeShan proposed that every person has his or her own reality and that psychics share different realities, which enable them to read the minds of others. According to twenty-first-century scientists, because empathy is intrinsic to human nature we are all naturally telepathic, without being aware of it. Every time we place ourselves in another person’s ‘mental shoes’, and wonder what it must be like to be them, or feel like them, we are using our own mind as a model for theirs and by so doing are ‘reading’ another person’s mind. TELEPORTATION Also referred to as telekinesis, teleportation is the movement of objects or people across a distance without you yourself moving through the intervening space; it is a form of psychokinesis. The term also refers to the passage of solid objects through matter by dematerialization and materialization. Also known as the ‘apport phenomenon’, teleportation has allegedly been studied by the United States and Russian governments for its potential use in times of war and for espionage. A whole generation of Star Trek fans has grown up familiar with the idea of teleportation, when crew members routinely teleported from spaceship to planet using a high technology transporter. This sounds improbable but there are some indications that suggest that teleportation may actually be possible. For example, a remarkable example of teleportation was reported in 1815 at a Prussian prison in Weichselmude when a chained prisoner, called Diderici, simply vanished before the eyes of fellow inmates and warders. He was never seen again. Teleportation is allegedly accomplished by an adept who combines breathing exercises and intense concentration with manipulation of universal energy forces. It was a common occurrence of Victorian Spiritualism. The séanceroom phenomena included apports in which small items such as flowers or jewellery allegedly materialized in thin air. Investigation suggested that these items were not created by spirits but somehow taken from other locations and transported to the séance room. Teleportation also appears to be a common phenomenon in reported cases of poltergeist activity, where objects move to distant locations or materialize from nowhere. TEMPORAL DISPLACEMENT See Time travel. TEMPORAL LOBE ACTIVITY Electrical activity in the temporal lobes of the brain. Temporal lobe activity is often associated with strange sensations, time distortions and hallucinations. It is sometimes used as an explanation for seemingly paranormal experiences such as apparitions and alien abduction experiences. THEOSOPHY The term ‘theosophy’ comes from the Greek words theos (god) and sophia (wisdom) and it is used to refer to a school of mystical thought and belief that arose out of the formation of the Theosophical Society. Theosophy teaches that one can gain knowledge through practise of the occult tradition and claims that all religions stem from the same roots of ancient wisdom, and that the study of ancient myths and symbols will lead to truth and spiritual awareness. The primary expression of theosophy is the Theosophical Society, an international, non-sectarian and non-dogmatic organization. Founded in 1875 by Madame Blavatsky and others the Society has three stated aims: to form a universal human brotherhood without distinction of race, creed, sex or colour; to encourage studies in comparative religion, philosophy and science; and to investigate the unexplained laws of nature, power and magic. The Society has attracted many prominent intellectuals in its time, including Aldous Huxley and W B Yeats, who were involved in one of the Society’s main activities translating holy works from Eastern cultures. Much of the credit for the introduction of Indian and Chinese philosophy to the West must be given to theosophists who first translated into English many of the texts still used today in Yoga, Buddhism and New Age movements. According to Blavatsky, ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians and Greeks understood esoteric wisdom better than we do today. Masters live on through the centuries in various incarnations guarding their knowledge and teaching it to students. Most of the Masters, Blavatsky said, reside in Tibet or India, forming the Brotherhood of Adepts, and it is these Masters who are the real founders of the Theosophical Society. Blavatsky said that, following the instructions of the Masters on 9 March 1875, she formed the Society with the help of Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, an American attorney and federal government official, and others. At first the Society struggled to survive in England but following a visit by Blavatsky and Olcott to India in 1879 it started to gather a following among the British in India, and also attracted high caste Indians. In 1889 Blavatsky met Annie Besant, an ardent freethinker and feminist activist who had converted to theosophy. Besant became Blavatsky’s last major disciple. Following Blavatsky’s death in 1891 Besant, a gifted writer and orator who devoted a great deal of her efforts to political and social reform in India, took an active part in running the Theosophical Society. One of the movement’s later gurus was Indian-born Jiddu Krishnamurti, who became a popular spiritual leader between the two World Wars and attracted a large following. Theosophy is a secret doctrine that only reveals its practices and beliefs to the initiated, so it is hard to define exactly. Its motto - current to this day - is the adage ‘There is no religion higher than truth’. It remains a curious blend of esoteric Buddhism, Hindu mysticism, Lamist doctrines from Tibet and a picture of world history that includes a series of root races stretching back to Atlantis and a non-physical period of prehistoric evolution in which the ecosphere gradually solidified into matter. Today the Theosophical Society’s headquarters is based in Adyar, near Madras, but it is a worldwide organization that has lodges and reasonable-sized followings in America, the UK, Europe and other countries. According to the Society’s international website (www.ts-adyar.org/): The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body whose primary object is Universal Brotherhood based on the realization that life, and all its diverse forms, human and non-human, is indivisibly One. The Society imposes no belief on its members, who are united by a common search for Truth and desire to learn the meaning and purpose of existence by engaging themselves in study, reflection, purity of life and loving service. Theosophy is the wisdom underlying all religions when they are stripped of accretions and superstitions. It offers a philosophy which renders life intelligible and demonstrates that justice and love guide the cosmos. Its teachings aid the unfoldment of the latent spiritual nature in the human being, without dependence or fear. THERAPEUTIC TOUCH A type of energy medicine whereby the therapist moves his or her hands over the patient’s ‘energy field’, allegedly directing the flow of universal life force so the patient can heal. Therapeutic touch was developed by Dora van Gelder Kunz, a clairvoyant and meditation teacher, and Dolores Krieger, Professor of Nursing at New York University, in the early 1970s. The hands are used to identify and balance out disturbances in the energy field, or aura, of patients. It is said that this can help alleviate pain and encourage the healing process. THIRD EYE The location of the third eye in the middle of the forehead corresponds to the brow chakra; psychic energies are believed to be connected to the energy that supposedly emanates from this chakra. Certain mystical and esoteric belief systems postulate that in the far reaches of prehistory, the predecessors of humanity possessed a third eye in the middle of their foreheads which allowed them to see the spirit realms directly. According to this theory, as millions of years passed the third eye was used less and less so that it disappeared into the folds of the brain, with the result that spiritual perception was all but lost. Incredibly there may be a degree of truth in this obscure occult doctrine. Scientists have discovered that the pineal gland, a smallish organ buried within the brain at the approximate site of the third eye, has been found to retain a small degree of sensitivity to light, leaving scientists to suggest that it might have been an evolutionary remnant of an organ of sight. Only recently has the actual function of the pineal gland been discovered. It has been found to be one of the triggers in physical growth and the hormonal changes of puberty. It also secretes one of the so-called ‘feel good’ chemicals known to boost mood, serotonin. Occultists believe that the pineal gland is unusually active in psychics and can be stimulated by techniques such as massage, acupuncture, concentration, meditation and so on, to produce psychic powers. THOMAS, JOHN [1874–1940] Psychologist and teacher from Detroit who was the first person to receive a doctorate in parapsychology from a US university. Thomas’s dissertation for Duke University, entitled ‘An Evaluative Study of the Mental Content of Certain Trance Phenomena’ (published as Beyond Normal Cognition in 1937), was a study of communications he supposedly received from his dead wife through a number of mediums, in particular Gladys Osborne Leonard. His systematic method for assessing material presented by a medium presented a major advance in the analysis of mediumistic communications. He broke down the communications into categories and evaluated them as verifiable, unverifiable or inconclusive. The verifiable points he then judged as right or wrong. Of a total of 1,908 points from 24 séances with Leonard, 89 were judged to be inconclusive and 99 unverifiable, leaving 1,720 verifiable, of which 1,587 were right. Thomas then composed a questionnaire listing points from the records and had this completed by several groups of people as a way of determining to what extent these points were specific to him. THOMPSON-GIFFORD CASE Psychical researcher and early founder of the American Society for Psychical Research, James Hyslop investigated the Thompson-Gifford case and eventually came to the conclusion that it offered proof for the reality of spirit attachment or possession. In January 1907 Frederic Thompson, a 39-year-old engraver and part-time artist visited Hyslop. Thompson claimed that he was under the influence of the deceased Robert Swain Gifford, a famous turn-of-the-century landscape painter, and was experiencing unexplained urges to paint trees and rocky coasts that he had never seen before. Thompson had briefly met Gifford one summer but the two men were not friends, or even acquaintances. Thompson moved to New York in 1900 and didn’t even know that Gifford had died in January 1905. By the end of the summer in 1905 Thompson was visualizing pictures he knew Gifford had painted, but he didn’t learn about Gifford’s death until January 1906, when he saw an exhibition of the works of the late R Swain Gifford’. At the exhibition he was struck by the similarities between Gifford’s paintings and his own recent work and he allegedly heard a voice saying to him, ‘You see what I have done. Go on with the work.’ Thompson continued to paint but his work and health suffered under his compulsion. He believed he was going insane. Hyslop at first suspected some kind of personality disorder but he also organized Thompson to meet with a medium called Margaret Gaule on 18 January 1907. Gaule immediately sensed the presence of an artist, even though she had been given no prior information about Thompson. On 16 March Hyslop took Thompson to see celebrated medium Minnie Meserve Soule, who gave detailed information about Gifford that was later confirmed by Gifford’s widow. In the summer and autumn of 1907 Thompson travelled to many of Gifford’s favourite haunts, recognizing scenes he had felt compelled to paint. By early 1908 Thompson had embraced his compulsion and was selling paintings that critics noticed bore amazing resemblances to Gifford’s work. Hyslop was still not sure whether Thompson’s case was about spirit attachment or about a fellow artist incorporating the ideas of another artist in their work, so he decided to try and establish spirit contact with Gifford. During a séance on 4 June 1908, Soule began to receive what appeared to be messages from Gifford. The messages revealed how excited he was about his power to return and finish his work through Thompson. Later in the year Hyslop attended another séance with a medium called Mrs Willis Cleaveland and this time the spirit finally identified himself as Gifford through automatic writing. By now Hyslop felt he had all the evidence he needed to establish a genuine case of spirit attachment and although later investigators suspected fraud, Hyslop’s conclusion has never been completely refuted. Gifford’s spirit stopped bothering Thompson after the 1908 séances, and Thompson left his engraving work to make a good living as a full-time artist. THORNTON HEATH POLTERGEIST Case involving a house in London that was allegedly haunted by a poltergeist in 1938. The poltergeist activity seemed to centre around Mrs Forbes, a 35-year old woman who was the owner of the house at the time. Psychical researcher Nandor Fodor described her case as ‘poltergeist psychosis’. By this he meant that Mrs Forbes’s unconscious mind was responsible for the activities. He believed that the cause was sexual trauma that Mrs Forbes had suffered as a child and which had been repressed. Almost from the very first day that Fodor investigated the case he suspected that Mrs Forbes might be causing the poltergeist activity by normal means, despite her obvious distress in reaction to the activities and his lack of proof. Fodor insisted that Mrs Forbes be studied at a college where he could keep an eye on her but the strange activities continued even when she was there. Objects from Thornton Heath mysteriously appeared and crashed to the floor, glasses and other objects flew out of Mrs Forbes’s hands and choking marks appeared around her neck. At the same time as Mrs Forbes was being investigated, Fodor also examined her psychological background and discovered that her past clearly showed a history of hysteria and dissociated personality, which included hearing voices. He became convinced that Mrs Forbes was a neurotic with a disorganized personality and that she was somehow hiding objects in her clothing. Searches revealed nothing but an X-ray proved Fodor to be correct. Two small objects seemed to be hidden under Mrs Forbes left breast and they both appeared after she allegedly collapsed. This event convinced Fodor that Mrs Forbes was fabricating the hauntings and taking great delight in fooling her observers. He did, however, believe that the case was important because it suggested a new direction for psychical research - one that attempted to understand the mental patterns that accompany such occurrences, even if these occurrences are fraudulent. The full story of Thornton Heath did not reach the public until 1945, when Fodor finally published it in the Journal of Clinical Psychopathology. The reason for the delay was the criticism that had been directed at him from both the public and psychical researchers for his emphasis on the psychological explanation of the case. Eventually, though, Fodor won recognition for his theory. THOUGHT FORM The shapes, patterns or vibrations assumed by thoughts and emotions, which allegedly can be perceived visibly by clairvoyants or sensed intuitively by others. THOUGHTOGRAPHY Form of paranormal photography when images are projected by psi onto photographic film. The term ‘thoughtography’ was coined by Tomokichi Fukurai, President of the Psychical Institute of Japan, who conducted the first study of it in the early 1900s. Fukurai stumbled on the phenomenon accidentally while testing the clairvoyance of a medium called Mrs Nagao. He asked her if she could discern three characters he had photographed on an undeveloped film plate. To his surprise Fukurai discovered that the entire surface of the plate had been exposed, not just the characters, and came to the conclusion that the exposure was caused by Nagao’s psychic energy. In later experiments Fukurai obtained actual images of film that he called ‘thoughtographs’. In the 1960s research into thoughtography was done under the direction of psychiatrist Ian Stevenson of the University of Virginia and Denver psychiatrist Jule Eisenbud. The research team attracted national attention for its work with psychic Ted Serios, who seemed to be able to create images on film simply by staring at a polaroid camera. In 1967 Eisenbud published the results of his work with Serios in his book The World of Ted Serios. In it he concluded that the only possible explanation for Serios’s thoughtography was psychokinesis. Even though Stevenson and Eisenbud had taken great care to guard against fraud, and Serios never admitted to cheating, they were nevertheless charged with fraud. The charges were never proved and Stevenson and Eisenbud countered by arguing that many of Serios’s images were distortions that could not be explained or duplicated with trick camera or other methods of transferring images. For example, on one of Serios’s thoughtographs, which has been identified as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Air Hangar in Ontaro, the word ‘Canadian’ is mysteriously misspelled ‘Cainadain’. TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD Also known as the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book of the Dead is basically a guide to the afterlife. Translated, bardo thodol means liberation by hearing on the after death plane’ and aims to be an instruction manual for the soul during the state that intervenes between death and the next rebirth. It suggests that following death the soul is faced with the possibility of absorption into the godhead, but for the average soul this possibility is terrifying and so the soul flees through a succession of dream worlds in which the environment is unconsciously created by the expectations of the soul. It teaches that awareness, once freed from the body, creates its own reality like that of a dream. This dream projection unfolds in ways both frightening and beautiful. Peaceful and wrathful visions appear, and these visions can be overwhelming. Since the awareness is still in shock from no longer being attached to and shielded by a body, it needs guidance and forewarning so that key decisions that lead to enlightenment are made. The Tibetan Book of the Dead teaches how one can attain heavenly realms by recognizing the enlightened realms as opposed to being drawn into the realms of seduction that pull incorporeal awareness into cyclic suffering and rebirth. The unevolved soul pines for the pleasures of the flesh and draws close to the physical world. Sexual fantasies attract it towards couples making love and it is trapped in the womb for another incarnation. The origins of the Tibetan Book of the Dead are unknown. For centuries it was passed down orally and was first put into written form by the legendary Padma Sambhava in the eighth century AD. This Tibetan Buddhist scripture was traditionally read aloud to the dying to help them attain liberation. It guides a person to use the moment of death to recognize the nature of mind and attain liberation. TIME TRAVEL Temporal displacement, also known as time travel, has long captured the imagination of people around the world, but is time travel possible? Einstein’s theory of relativity proved travelling forward in time was possible and today the possibilities, uncertainties and paradoxes surrounding the concept of time travel continue to lie right at the cutting edge of modern physics. Humans are in fact always travelling in time - in a linear fashion, from the present to the immediate future. Some theories, most notably special and general relativity, suggest that suitable geometries of space-time, or certain types of motion in space, may allow time travel into the past and future, if these geometries or motions are possible. In physics, the concept of time travel has been used often to examine the consequences of physical theories such as special relativity, general relativity and quantum mechanics. There is no experimental evidence of time travel, and it is not even well understood whether any of the current physical theories permit any kind of time travel, although theories do exist suggesting the possibility of ‘folding’ time to hop from one point to another. In contrast to the scientific community, among occultists there is no such controversy or indecision about time travel. Most psychics believe it is possible to travel, psychically, to any location in any time period - past past or future using techniques such as meditation, remote viewing, lucid dreaming, out-ofbody experiences, past-life recall, or sometimes spontaneously in a dream, or a ‘daydream’, or using mind-control exercises. Time travel is also believed to occur in episodes of precognition, retrocognition and bilocation. TOAD According to ancient occult lore, the toad is believed to be psychic and can detect the presence of ghosts. Keeping a toad in the house or garden was thought to protect against evil, although in some areas toads are death omens. Folklore also holds that toads were once the favoured familiars of witches. TOKOLOSH A semi-human black creature who is supposed to live in rivers and other water courses. The tokolosh is believed to be cruel and revengeful and is sometimes called upon by people to cause trouble for others; a witch doctor may be needed to banish him. Most of the time only children can see the tokolosh; and in contrast to its behaviour with adults it shows kindness towards them and it is not unusual for a friendship to develop. The tokolosh myth is of uncertain origin but well known and feared in most southern African countries. Many people lift their beds high off the ground so that the tokolosh cannot reach them. Some people are afraid to mention its name. The tokolosh can also become invisible and when it vigorously haunts a person or a site there is a strong similarity in many of its actions to that of the European poltergeist. TOTEMS Spirit guides that appear in animal form, each with symbolic meaning. Totems were also known as power animals and the tribal communities of North America’s Pacific Northwest associated themselves with a specific totem they believed represented the spirits of their character and personality - for example the bear is associated with strength, the eagle with nobility and the leopard with speed. When a shaman sought wisdom from the community’s spirit world, their spirit guide would appear in the form of their selected totem. In some instances a totem was not necessarily an animal - it might be a natural phenomenon, a physical feature or even a hand-made object. The totem pole custom came from North America where some native peoples would carve their selected totems into logs as protective amulets for their villages, and to help channel the qualities of their tribal animals into the hearts and souls of their communities. TOWER OF LONDON This historical site, now a major tourist attraction, once served as a prison and execution site and not surprisingly is believed to be haunted by numerous ghosts who lost their heads on its scaffold. Many ghosts have been spotted by sentries and members of the public. The ghosts are often headless and include men, women and children, and even a bear that dates back to the Tower’s days as a menagerie. The Bloody Tower was the scene of the infamous disappearance of the two young medieval princes, Edward V and his brother the Duke of York, who are thought to have been murdered in 1483 on the command of the Duke of Gloucester, because they stood in the way of him becoming king. According to one report, guards in the late fifteenth century spotted the shadows of two small figures gliding down some stairs. In 1674 workmen found a chest that contained the skeletons of two young children. They were thought to be the remains of the boys and were given a royal burial not long afterwards. The ghost most frequently seen is that of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, whom he beheaded in 1536. She is said to haunt the vicinity of the White Tower, the King’s House, Tower Green and the Chapel of St Peter, where her headless body was interred in an arrow case under the floor. In 1864 a sentry is said to have challenged a figure thought to be Anne Boleyn; his bayonet passed straight through her, and he fainted in shock. Sir Walter Raleigh, executed in 1618 on the orders of King James I, makes an appearance now and again, and has been seen as recently as 1983 by a Yeoman Guard on duty in the Byward Tower. The bungled execution of Lady Salisbury is said to be re-enacted on Tower Green on the anniversary of her death in 1541. The executioner needed several attempts to sever her head and she screamed and struggled between each attempt. Her screams of terror are heard from her ghost about the time of the anniversary of her death. Lady Jane Grey, the nine-day queen, is also said to appear on the anniversary of her death on 12 February 1554. Other ghostly traditions include the screams of Guy Fawkes echoing through the Tower, as they did when he was tortured before being hung, drawn and quartered; the ghost of the Duke of Northumberland who was executed in 1553; the ghost of Catherine Howard, another wife executed by Henry VIII; and various other apparitions and spirits associated with the Tower’s bloody history. TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE [TCM] Holistic Chinese philosophy encompassing yin and yang and the five elements of the universe that evolved into a complex system of external examination and diagnosis of health and disease. TCM places a greater emphasis on the prevention of disease than on treating it and in ancient China physicians would only be paid if their patients stayed well, not when they fell ill. TCM dates back 5,000 years and is based on Taoist principles surrounding the concept of universal life force energy or chi. It has been suggested that TCM is rooted in the practice of Ayurvedic medicine and then combined with Taoist philosophy in the fourth century BC. TCM is based on the ancient Chinese belief that each person is born with a certain amount of chi. This amount is determined by heredity and by the way a person lives their lives. Healthy living can add to chi, but unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as poor diet and lack of exercise, can deplete it. When a person’s chi is depleted they die. The physical body is made up of chi (life energy) jing (vital fluid) and shen (spirit) and to maintain health chi needs to be balanced as this will balance out jing and shen. Certain factors are believed to block the flow of chi and lead to imbalance or disease: The six excesses—wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness and phlegm. The five emotions—joy, anger, sympathy, fear and grief. Unhealthy eating and drinking habits. Too little or too much sex. Too much or too little work or exercise. Any of these five factors can block the flow of chi running through the body and can lead to excesses or deficiencies in energy in the different parts/organs of the body. Four methods of treatment or prevention are used in TCM: herbal medicine, acupuncture, regulation of diet and nutrition and exercising the body through active exercises, like the martial arts, or passive ones such as Tai Chi. TCM practitioners use the philosophy ‘to see, to hear, to feel‘ to diagnose their patients and their four main diagnostic methods are Tongue diagnosis. Wrist pulse diagnosis. Palpation of specific acupuncture points on the body. Specific questioning of the patient’s moods, symptoms and past and present lifestyle. All this information is then put together and any disease or illness is revealed as a pattern of disease or disharmony in chi. The diagnosis points to the type of long-term or short-term treatment recommended. The practices of TCM are discussed in detail in two classic texts which are still in use today: Divine Farmer’s Classic of Herbal Medicine, written in the third century BC, and Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, written in the first century BC. TCM practices were first brought to the West in the seventeenth century by French Jesuit priests and were standardized by Mao Tse-tung during the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the twentieth century. TCM remains the main healthcare option in China today. In the West it is regarded as alternative medicine. TCM practitioners in both the East and the West must go through rigorous medical training. TCM methods are thought to work best for chronic illnesses, such as arthritis or environmental disorders such as stress, hormonal imbalances, obesity and back injury, where permanent changes in lifestyle are often needed to maintain or regain health. TRANCE State between sleeping and waking, when a person is half conscious and focusing exclusively on their internal thoughts and visions and is unaware of what is going on around them. This altered state of consciousness can occur spontaneously or be induced (and self-induced) by hypnosis, by shamans via sensory deprivation, by a medium during a séance, by hallucinogenic drugs, by meditation, and by rhythmic chanting, music and movement. TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION Type of meditation, popular in the United States, Britain and Australia, that was advocated in the 1970s by Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, where the meditator concentrates on a particular mantra known only to them. The aim of transcendental meditation (TM) is to increase spiritual awareness and find inner peace by achieving transcendental consciousness. TM is said to bring results more quickly than any other type of meditation, especially Yoga and Zen. It has been shown to decrease drug use, to increase energy, alertness, concentration, coordination and to ease stress and illness. Physiological changes include lowered blood pressure and increased brain-wave activity, and practitioners report overall health improvements. According to the Maharishi, TM is so powerful because it is rooted in traditions that are thousands of years old, for practices that resemble TM can be found in the Hindu Vedas. The knowledge was, however, lost and found many times over the centuries. After founding the TM movement in the 1970s the Maharishi turned his attention to health and world peace. His work in health is directed to spreading the ancient Ayurvedic medicine of India and finding the key to reversing ageing. His world peace programme states that if 7,000 people collectively practise TM the coherence of the brain waves will lead to a reduction in crime, accidents and illness. According to the Maharishi, 7,000 people represent the square root of 1 per cent of the world’s population, which is the minimum necessary to cause mass change. During 1983 and 1984 the Maharishi assembled 7,000 people at the Maharishi International University, now in Fairfield, Iowa, to test this hypothesis. TM researchers claimed that for three weeks after the event the world was a less accident-prone place and disease levels dropped, but critics believe the study was biased towards proving the hypothesis to be true. In 1988 TM meditators claimed responsibility for the peaceful unification of Germany, and in 1990 TM meditators assembled on four continents: TM researchers claimed that international conflict dropped by 44 per cent, although once again critics cast doubt on the conclusions drawn. TM differs from traditional Eastern teachings in that there is no requirement for withdrawal from daily life in order to achieve enlightenment. Instead the Maharishi insists on the importance of wellbeing in the natural world, but without attachment to it. TM also differs from other forms of meditation in that it does not involve concentration or contemplation, but the use of sacred sound. The Maharishi maintains it can only be taught through personal instruction by a qualified teacher. The student is given a personal mantra and instructed how to use it while meditating twice a day for around 20 minutes. The mantra has no meanings or associations and is not chanted verbally or mentally, rather it is a sound that is thought. The chief feature of TM is that regular use of the mantra enables the practitioner to reach a higher state of consciousness, which the Maharishi describes as pure creative intelligence or pure thought. Thoughts rise from the depths of the mind like tiny seeds rising to the surface, growing in size till they reach the level of conscious awareness. The Maharishi likens the mind to the ocean; its surface is active but its depths are still. TM enables practitioners to experience the origin of thought and thus gain greater access to the state of creative intelligence where the true self lies in a state of restful alertness, where there is no mental activity. This is a fourth state of consciousness, different from waking, sleeping and deep sleep, where boundaries between subject and object disappear and the two become one to find silent joy in seeming emptiness. Even higher states of consciousness, called the fifth, sixth and seventh states, can be achieved with practice. However, these states can only be achieved when one is permanently and totally free of stress and the aim is to attain absolute awareness of the external world and one’s essential unity with all that is. The Maharishi claims that with TM it is possible to reach this enlightenment in around five to ten years, as opposed to decades or a lifetime through Yoga or Zen. TRANSLIMINALITY Term introduced by Michael A Thalbourne, Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide in the 1990s, which means literally ‘the tendency to cross the threshold into awareness’. According to Thalbourne, persons exhibiting a high degree of transliminality are more likely to believe in, and claim experience of paranormal phenomena, as well as to report a more creative personality and be more prone to fantasies, as well as having a history of experience associated with depression and mania. Therefore, transliminality is defined as ‘susceptibility to, and awareness of, large volumes of imagery, ideation and emotion - these phenomena being stimulated by subliminal, supraliminal and/or external inputs.’ TRANSLOCATION See Teleportation. TRANSMIGRATION Belief similar to reincarnation that after death the soul can be born again in another physical body. It differs from reincarnation in that this body can be either human or animal. TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY Controversial school of psychology, still in its infancy, that tries to understand what parts mysticism, peak experiences and transpersonal experiences play in forming personality and character. In a transpersonal experience the consciousness overcomes space and time to identify with other consciousnesses, phenomena or states. Various paranormal phenomena, including telepathy, out-of-body experiences, clairvoyance, precognition and time travel, are regarded as transpersonal experiences. In the early twentieth century, Italian psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli (18881974) developed what he called ‘psychosynthesis’; an approach to psychology that focuses on achieving a coming together of various parts of the personality. Once a person’s lower self has been psychosynthesized together they can then turn their attention to the ‘higher’ or ‘transpersonal self. This gives life purpose and meaning, which all people need to feel psychologically healthy. In transpersonal psychotherapy ego is illusion, something that must be transcended so that the individual can identify with the total self. Body and mind are not separate but sub-systems of each other, and everyone therefore has the capacity for self-healing. Transpersonal psychotherapy includes both Eastern and Western methods of working with the consciousness, including Western methods of dream analysis and imagery and Eastern meditation and Yoga. TREE OF LIFE Complex symbol that is central to the practice and philosophy of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical religion. The Tree of Life incorporates 10 circles, symbolizing 10 different spheres of knowledge (known as sephiroth) that a person must achieve to attain wisdom or the ‘godhead’. These sephiroth are usually perceived as energies or states on the physical level but also exist as defined places on the astral plane. Connecting each of these spheres to one another are 22 pathways, comprised of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each path is a specific astral track to be studied and investigated by the initiated. Followers of the Kabbalah must work their way up the Tree of Life from the foundation of the tree by study and initiation into the secret knowledge associated with each level, before moving up to the next sphere of wisdom. The base sphere of the Tree is called Malkuth and it signifies the physical aspect of reality, the everyday world we live in. Above Malkuth is the sphere of Yesod, which is associated with imagination and the astral plane. To Kabbalists Yesod is the literal foundation on which physical reality rests. As the Kabbalist moves upwards through the spheres of Hod, Netzach, Tiphareth, Geburah, Chesed, Chokmah and Binah more and more subtle aspect of reality are reached, until the final sphere, Kether, is attained, which symbolizes the essential unity of the universe. Combining the 10 spheres and the 22 paths, Kabbalists believe there are 32 ways to reach Kether and the self-development work to get there is known as pathworking. TREE SPIRITS Trees are believed to be dwelling places for ghosts and spirits in many parts of the world. In ancient Egypt numerous deities were believed to inhabit trees. In the Old Testament there are numerous references to sacred groves and altars being set up under trees. In Rome tree omens were considered important. For instance, the withering of laurels foretold Nero’s death. Trees were also sacred to the Celts; in fact they had a whole alphabet based on them. Throughout Eastern countries there has been a tradition of hanging gifts on sacred trees so that good luck can be enjoyed by the giver. Similarly in England many trees growing alongside sacred wells are decorated with pieces of paper or cloth to attract good fortune. In Northern India many local shrines are built under trees for the propitiation of the resident ghosts. In some cultures trees and their spirits were so highly revered that felling a tree that still had its spirit inside it meant losing your life In 1981 thousands of people from all over the United States flocked to see an allegedly haunted and crying pecan tree in Gilberton, Alabama. The tree was in the front garden of a home belonging to Mrs Linnie Jenkins, who had reported hearing strange crying sounds coming from the tree. A rumour started that the house was built on the site of an Indian burial site and the noise was the sound of unhappy warrior spirits crying. The media got hold of the story and the crowds descended; Mrs Jenkins began to charge people who wanted to come and listen to the tree. The noise died away within the month and no satisfactory explanation was ever put forward. Sceptics believe it was caused by insects or gasses produced from the souring wood in the tree. Tree spirits The Celts valued every kind of tree and plant. They would associate trees with a particular character or properties and believed that spirits lived in every one of them. The following is a sample of some of the many superstitions and magical beliefs associated with certain trees: Alder - The spirit of the alder tree is very protective, and has great knowledge about scrying with the use of water and mirrors. When it leaves the tree, it will often take the form, of a raven. Apple - The apple tree is the home of the unicorn. Traditionally, the unicorn lives beneath the apple tree. The spirit of this tree holds the knowledge of eternal youth and beauty. Ash - The ash tree has great mysticism and power associated with it. It can teach the magic of poetry and how to weave words into powerful effects. In Norse tradition, it was called the great tree of life. It is a doorway to many dimensions of the fairy realm. Its spirit is strong and holds the knowledge of how events and people are linked together. Cedar - This tree and its spirit are both protective and healing. This spirit brings calm and balance to emotions and can stimulate inspiring dream activity. Cherry —The cherry tree is home to the magical phoenix. The spirit of this tree is often fiery in appearance. It has the ability to bring individuals to the threshold of a new awakening. Elder - The elder tree is sacred to the Druid and Celtic traditions. It was the tree of birth and death, beginning and ending. It teaches how to awaken opportunity to cast out the old and bring in the new. The tree’s spirit has knowledge of great magic and can add power to even the slightest of wishes.’ Hawthorne - The hawthorne is sacred to the fairies and elves. This tree can stimulate growth and fertility in all areas of your life, making it seem enchanted to others. Oak - The oak tree is home to a very powerful spirit, which has great strength and endurance. It holds the ancient knowledge of the continuity of life, and just being near it is strengthening to the entire aura field. It is a natural doorway to the fairy realms and their mysteries. Every acorn has its own little fairy and bringing an acorn into your home is a way of inviting more intimate contact with the fairies for brief periods. Pine - Pine trees found along shorelines are often gathering spots for water spirits and sprites. This tree spirit is healing and balancing, especially to emotions. It is protective against all forms of negativity. Rowan - Another ancient and magical tree whose spirit understands the mysteries of nature. The wisdom of this spirit is so strong that when linked with, it can help a person invoke spirits, guides and elementals. Sycamore - The sycamore was sacred to the Egyptians. It can teach humility and how to receive from the universe - be it in the form of assistance, compliments, or any other form. It holds the knowledge of the laws of abundance and supply and how to utilize them to your greatest benefit. Willow - The willow has a long association with the fairy realm and the spirits and elves that live under it are keepers of the knowledge of herbs. The willow tree can speak audibly to us if we learn to quieten ourselves and listen. The willow tree opens vision, communication and stimulates dream activity. The best time to attune to it and its energies and spirit is at night. TREGEAGLE, JAN Ghost of a seventeenth-century sinner from Cornwall who, according to lore, was summoned from the grave and now performs, under protest, an eternal and fruitless task. Today the term ‘Tregeagle’ is assigned to anyone who protests and to children who wail. It seems that a historical Jan Tregeagle did exist and he wasn’t a very pleasant fellow by all accounts. He was an unpopular magistrate who used his position to amass a personal fortune. Rumour has it that he accomplished this by fraud and by selling his soul to the devil. Although no proof exists it is also said that he murdered his wife and children. Concerned about his fate in the afterlife he was said to have bribed local clergy to have him buried in consecrated land. According to the legend, several years after his death Tregeagle was summoned from the grave to begin his eternal suffering during a court dispute concerning a loan between two men witnessed by Tregeagle when he was alive. The debtor denied receiving the loan and declared in court that if Tregeagle had witnessed the deal he should declare himself. To the court’s amazement and horror Tregeagle appeared to set the record straight. The ghost then told the debtor it would not be easy to return him to his grave. True to his prediction Tregeagle’s ghost followed the debtor everywhere. The debtor asked the clergy for help, who managed to get Tregeagle to Gwenvor Cove and there assigned him the impossible task of making a truss of sand, to be bound with ropes of sand and then carried. According to reports, Tregeagle is still labouring away on the shores of Whitsand Bay, and when a storm destroys his work it is said his howls can be heard throughout the countryside. TRUMPET Trumpets made of cardboard and aluminium were once popular in Spiritualist séances to amplify the alleged voices of spirits, so they could communicate in direct voice mediumship. Trumpets were also said to levitate and dance in the air in some séances. The craze seems to have been started by a medium called Jonathon Koon in the mid-nineteenth century under the instruction of his control, John King, but interest declined along with the decline of interest in physical mediumship in the twentieth century. TSUKUMOGAMI Spirit in Japanese folklore that closely resembles the Brownie. Translated as ‘old tool spirits’, the tsukumogami inhabit tools and perform household and cleaning chores by themselves at night. If the tools are mistreated or neglected they take revenge by attacking their owners while they are asleep. TULPA Tulpa is a Tibetan word used to refer to an entity that, according to Tibetan occult beliefs, supposedly attains reality solely by the act of imagination. The entity is created entirely within the confines of a person’s mind, not drawn out, written down or even verbally described. If its creator wishes, this ‘Tulpa Creation’ may become physical reality through intense concentration, meditation and visualization. However, experts strongly advise that great care be taken to only bring to reality what is helpful to the world, lest its destruction becomes more problematic than its creation. TURN OF THE SCREW, THE Classic ghost story by Henry James that was published in 1898 and continues to send shivers up the spines of readers to this day. The Turn of the Screw tells, with incredible skill and marvellous atmosphere, the story of two small children who are possessed by the evil spirits of two dead servants. TURPIN, DICK [1705–1739] In his lifetime Dick Turpin was one of Britain’s most infamous highwaymen and a popular hero as his habit of robbing the rich delighted the poorer folk. His ghost is still said to haunt Hounslow Heath and large stretches of highway between London and Scotland. In contrast to the legendary Robin Hood, Turpin did not give his money to the poor and he was no hero. He committed a number of heinous crimes to increase his wealth. He was finally caught and hanged for his crimes, but the gallant manner of his death impressed the crowd so much that they stole his body and buried it in quicklime to prevent it being sold to anatomists, as was the custom of the day regarding criminals. Ghost stories about Turpin are connected to his exploits as a highwayman. His cloaked figure astride a spectral black horse has been spotted in so many locations that almost any spectral horseman reported is said to be Dick Turpin. For example, he is said to haunt the A5 between Hinckley and Nuneaton in the Midlands, the A11 between Norwich and London, especially the stretch through Epping Forest, and he has also been spotted by airline staff working at Heathrow Airport in Hounslow, an area once believed to be plagued by highwaymen. TWAIN, MARK [1835–1910] One of the most beloved authors in American literature, Twain achieved international acclaim when he penned such classics as Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His interest in the paranormal began in his youth when a travelling mesmerist visited his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, to give a demonstration of hypnotism and ‘mind reading’. Later in life Twain noted on several occasions that he had premonitory dreams and joked that he was capable of ‘mental telegraphy’: a term he coined to describe the mental exchange of letters and thoughts with his wife. He also reputedly visited numerous haunted locations and claimed on a few occasions to have spotted an apparition. Twain joined the Society for Psychical Research in 1885 and his interest in paranormal research became even deeper following the death of his daughter, Susy, at the age of 24. TWIGG, ENA [1914–1973] Famous late-twentieth-century British medium who promoted spiritualism through radio and television broadcasts. Her high rate of success and her downto-earth ways prompted thousands of people to seek her advice, either in private séances or through letters and phone calls. Twigg was born in Kent in 1914. From a very early age she claimed to have been aware that she was psychic, remembering out-of-body experiences while still a toddler. She also said she often saw spirits. Following her marriage at the age of 17 to childhood friend Harry Twigg, Ena’s paranormal experiences increased. She had visions of Harry wherever he was in the world and also communicated with her dead father. Eventually she decided to develop her psychic talents as a clairvoyant, healer and trance medium for the good of society. The Twiggs did much to revive the profile of spiritualism. Following the repeal of the 1754 Witchcraft Act in 1951, Ena appeared on television on numerous occasions to promote the spiritualist cause. The Twiggs also travelled all over Europe and the United States, gaining many converts with Ena’s public clairvoyant performances. One of her most famous communications began in March 1966 when she sat with Episcopal bishop James Pike. The bishop’s flat had been plagued with poltergeist activity for the previous two weeks and during a séance with Twigg the Bishop’s son, James Jr, who had recently died of a pill overdose, came through. Throughout her career as a medium Twigg taught that spiritualism was about life, not death. She was convinced that death was not the end and that the spirit survives deaths, and felt that if people could only believe this they would find their lives and their living much enriched. TYRELL, GEORGE [1879–1952] Mathematician, engineer and leading psychical researcher and member of the Society for Psychical Research, Tyrell is best known for his studies on apparitions and ESP. Throughout his research and writing Tyrell’s main concern was the relationship between the unconscious and ESP. In his book, Science and Psychical Phenomena (1938), he suggested that the human personality disintegrated into fragments after death and it was these fragments that mediums came in touch with in séances. It is for his influential theory of apparitions, however, that Tyrell is best known today. Tyrell believed that apparitions were hallucinations of the percipient based on information received via ESP from the agent. He suggested that a part of the unconscious, called the ‘producer’, became aware, via ESP, of the agent’s situation and then a ‘stage carpenter’ produced the apparitional drama using dreams, visions and impressions. TYRONE GHOST The Irish legend of the Tyrone ghost, who allegedly appeared to Lady Beresford in 1693, is unique in that that ghost left a memento of his visit by signing his name in a notebook! Prior to his death Lord Tyrone had made a pact with his friend Lady Beresford that whoever would die first would make every effort to return to comfort the others. According to a manuscript written by Lady Elizabeth Cobb, granddaughter of Lady Beresford, Tyrone did return with news that accurately predicted the future for Lady Beresford. And to prove that he was indeed the ghost of Lord Tyrone he left his easily recognizable signature in her pocket book! U UFOs Unidentified flying objects (UFOs), or ‘flying saucers’ as they are popularly known, have been the subject of endless debate as to their likelihood and possible source of origin. The existence of extraterrestrials, alien life forms from other planets, continues to be hotly debated even though UFO incidents are currently being researched and investigated by governments all over the world. One of the most well-known cases occurred in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico. In this incident an alien spaceship allegedly crashed, and despite evidence that suggests this was a US Army experiment that went wrong many people continue to believe that this explanation is a cover-up for the truth. Another more recent incident occurred in 1980, when a UFO falling to earth was tracked by radar and was witnessed by a large number of people, including three soldiers from the US Air Force. News about the incident was suppressed until 1984. It has never been satisfyingly explained. Reports of UFO sightings date back to prehistory. For example, an island in the Hunan Province of China contains rock carvings not only of UFOs but also of strange alien beings with them. The carvings have been dated back to 45,000 BC. Reports of UFOs continue to this day with many witnesses and even videotape evidence adding to the belief that perhaps ‘we are not alone’. Those who do not accept that UFOs are sent by aliens from outer space have put forward alternative explanations for the phenomena. Apart from the many cases that can be put down to tricks of the light, strange cloud formations or even natural objects like weather balloons and aircraft, it has also been suggested that people who report seeing a UFO or encountering an alien are suffering from hallucinations they mistake for physical reality. This sounds plausible but does not take into account the incidences when a psychological interpretation does not appear to be enough to explain evidence provided by credible witnesses. Another explanation put forward is that humanity shares the planet with other alien races. These races are normally invisible but they will make themselves known to certain selected individuals at selected times. Contact has been interpreted as meetings with fairies and elves. Yet another explanation suggests that UFOs are actually spirit forms, strange materializations that have been created from the energy of machinery. UNCONSCIOUS At a simple level, the notion of an unconscious is a useful way to account for aspects of the mind of which we are not directly conscious or aware. In other words the unconscious mind is a storage facility that retains and recalls memories sent there by the conscious mind for use at a time when the unconscious perceives action is needed. When this happens the conscious mind often accepts the suggestion and automatially sets it in motion. However, when this simplistic interpretation is examined on a deeper level the topic becomes more complex. Probably the most detailed and precise theory out of the various notions of ‘unconscious mind’ - and the one which most people will immediately think of upon hearing the term - is that developed by Sigmund Freud and his followers, which lies at the heart of psychoanalysis. Freud’s concept was that the unconscious directs the thoughts and feelings of everyone. According to Freud the unconscious mind is the primitive instinctual hangover we all suffer from and which we must overcome in a healthy way in order to become fully and normally developed, i.e. not neurotic or psychotic. Freud aside, throughout history many different ideas about the unconscious have been advanced. At the present stage, there are still fundamental disagreements within psychology about what the nature of the ‘unconscious mind’ might be, whereas outside formal psychology a whole world of psychological speculation has grown up in which the ‘unconscious mind’ is held to have any number of properties and abilities - from the innocent and childlike, to the all-perceiving, mystical and occult. According to psychotherapists the unconscious is not directly accessible to ordinary introspection, but it is capable of being ‘tapped’ and ‘interpreted’ by special methods and techniques, such as random association, dream analysis and verbal or Freudian slips. It is assumed that thoughts, feelings and urges that are repressed are all present in the unconscious mind. Psychics believe there are three levels of consciousness that play a role in psychic experiences. The conscious, the unconscious and the subconscious, also known as the universal mind. These three levels either work with or against each other, and each person must learn to balance the messages from all three levels of awareness. The conscious mind is in charge of reasoning, analysing and making decisions and its focus in on being objective. This isn’t always easy as the conscious mind is always receiving input from the unconscious mind, which impairs its ability to remain objective. Some psychics also believe that the unconscious mind possesses a kind of ‘hidden energy’ or ‘potential’ that can realize dreams and thoughts with minimal conscious effort or action from the individual. Some also believe that it has the power to influence and shape a person’s destiny. All such claims, however, have so far failed to stand up to scientific scrutiny. UNDERWOOD, PETER [1923– ] Respected British investigator of the paranormal and president of the Ghost Club Society. From an early age Underwood felt drawn to the paranormal. He saw his first apparition at the age of nine, when he awoke to see his father (who had died a few hours earlier) before standing at the foot of the bed. Underwood joined the Society for Psychical Research in 1947 and in that same year was asked to join the Ghost Club, where he joined forces with Harry Price to investigate Borley Rectory. In 1960 Underwood became president of the Ghost Club and 10 years later left his publishing career to research, write and lecture about the paranormal fulltime. By now he had become known as ‘Britain’s number one ghost hunter‘ and had had witnessed countless hauntings as well as seances and experiments into ESP and other psychic phenomena. In 1993 he left the Ghost Club as a result of internal conflict and the following year formed the Ghost Club Society, where he became president and chief investigator. Throughout his career researching the paranormal Underwood has investigated hundreds of alleged hauntings. His aim has been to establish some kind of middle ground between scepticism and belief. Although he has acknowledged that the majority of hauntings can be explained naturally he believes that there are some types of ghost certain people can see. He defines some of the different types of ghosts as follows: Elemental or primitive racial memory manifestations. Poltergeists or phenomena activated by intense emotions and trauma such as crisis apparitions. Historical ghosts associated with old, historic houses. Mental imprint manifestations, which appear to be a kind of psychic energy imprinted on the atmosphere. Time-distortion ghosts, which are replays of events from the past. Ghosts of the living, which may be a projection of a double or doppelganger, as in cases of bilocation. Haunted objects, which are associated with poltergeist phenomena. As well as lecturing internationally Underwood is the author of numerous books on the paranormal, ghost hunting and other subjects. His best-known titles include Into the Occult (1982), The Vampire’s Bedside Companion (1975), The Ghost Hunter’s Guide (1985), Dictionary of the Supernatural (1978), Exorcism (1990) and Death in Hollywood (1993). UNDERWORLD In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly dead souls go. UNDINE The undine is said to be a beautiful, ghostly female spirit that wanders stretches of water in many European countries. The ghosts are believed to be those of young women who died by drowning, often having committed suicide as a result of a broken love affair. Although they are tragic figures they are said to mean no harm to anyone - except ungrateful lovers. UNICORN Mythical creature in folklore. It appears as a white horse with a single horn protruding from its forehead. In many pagan religions the unicorn is a divine creature belonging to the moon goddess. The unicorn is a potent symbol of purity and it was thought no one could tame this fierce beast except those with an honest heart. The horn of a unicorn was believed to have magical, purifying and healing qualities. UNIVERSAL LIFE FORCE/ENERGY Universal energy or vital force that is thought to transcend time and space, permeate all things and upon which all things depend for health and life. Since ancient times the existence of a life force has been universally acknowledged and different cultures and belief systems give it different names, many of which are listed below. Whatever it is called, however, the characteristics of the life force remain the same. In some systems it can be controlled and manipulated for improved health, healing and happiness. Prana In Hindu Yoga, Prana is a life force associated with breathing that is absorbed into and used by the human body to maintain health and wellbeing. The control of prana plays an important role in Hindu magic and healing, as well as yoga. Prana is the energy that the soul uses. It may be regarded as the soul of force and energy in all forms. It is the principle that causes activity and accompanies life. Prana is in the air, but it is not the air, or even one of its chemical constituents. Prana is taken up by our physical system along with oxygen, yet it is not oxygen. All one can say is that Prana is the One Force, penetrating where the air cannot reach, all pervading, the Spirit of the Breath of Life. In short Prana is believed to be the essence of all life forms and things, including inanimate objects. While Prana permeates all things it is believed to be more concentrated at the tops of mountains and near running water. It occurs naturally in the atmosphere and is believed to be absorbed into the body by a series of subtle energy centres known as chakras. It is thought that healthy people have plenty of Prana but sick people are depleted in it. It may be transferred by a healthy person to a sick person by the laying on of hands. The aim of Hatha Yoga is to direct the flow of Pranic energy to promote health and fitness. Prana is not breath but it is manifested in breath and the control of the flow of breathing (pranayama) is central to yoga. Pranayama is also thought to control the mind, which in turn controls Prana. During life the mind keeps Prana within the body, but when death occurs both mind and Prana leave the body. In Tantric yoga Prana is used to raise latent psychic powers, called siddhis. In Hindu magic Prana is the energy source for all magical feats. Magicians use Prana to energize the will and imagination, which are believed to be the keys to genuine magic. Prana breathing exercise According to Pranayama experts, Prana comes to us in its freest state in the air we breathe. It is therefore easy to see that it is a comparatively simple thing to keep ourselves charged with Prana, the basic force of all life, when we have learned to breathe correctly Do this practice twice a day, for a period of five minutes. Through both nostrils, breathe in and out to a count of four. Close your right nostril; breathe in through the left nostril to a count of four. Close your left nostril and breathe out, completely, through your right nostril, keeping the left nostril closed to a count of four. Keeping the left nostril closed, breathe in through the right nostril to a count of four. Close your right nostril and breathe out, completely, through your left nostril, keeping the right nostril closed to a count of four. As you progress increase the counts for inhalation and exhalation. Qi or Chi Qi, also known as chi, literally means breath or gas or ether. It was developed as an esoteric principle and regarded as the source of health, harmony, creativity and courage by ancient Chinese philosophers, who conceived of it as a dualistic principle that later evolved into the negative/positive polarities of yin and yang. Yin and yang are said to be in constant ebb and flow and for optimum health they must be in balance. Qi courses through the body in 12 meridians connected to the internal organs. The flow of Qi can be enhanced by the manipulation of points along the meridians (see acupuncture). All living things are believed to be in a constant energy exchange with Qi and if it is depleted illness results. If the exchange ceases death occurs. Qi is received through breath, food and from the environment in general. Unfortunately our ability to absorb it decreases with age. Control and manipulation of Qi is also part of Chinese Yoga and some branches of the martial arts. In Tai Chi, for example, Qi is controlled through breathing to bring mind and body into balance. Ki The Japanese for Qi. The esoteric principle of Qi was introduced into Japan in the Nara period (AD 710-794) and absorbed into Shinto beliefs about nature. Concepts of Ki began to change with the rise of the Samuri class when Ki became part of the warrior’s code of discipline, willpower and courage, when conserving energy and prolonged breathing were considered a matter of life and death. These principles of power breath have carried over into and remained a key part of modern-day martial arts. Qi breathing exercise The Chinese believe it is the disruption of the flow of Qi within the body that causes many diseases, and that reestablishing Qi flows can bring about an upturn in our wellbeing. It is thought that deeper, steady breathing increases the amount of oxygen the body can use to burn out disease, and the amount of chi the body can use, for health and spiritual matters. A word of caution: be very mindful when performing this yoga breathing exercise and return to normal breathing if you feel light-headed, dizzy or faint. Unless stated all inhalations and exhalations should be through your nostrils -this allows the body greater control over respiration. Lie down, totally flat, on a comfortable surface. Relax for a second or two. Now breathe in deeply through your nose. Push your belly up while taking the air inside. Stick your chin on your chest and watch your belly rise. When you’ve taken in as much air as you can hold, stop and hold your breath. Try holding it for 10 or 20 seconds. Breathe out slowly and completely. You’ll probably find this feels strange at first but keep practising. It will take a while to get used to how deep breathing feels. Close your eyes and sense the rhythm of the deep breath you’re taking. You will find this relaxing and energizing. Mana Term used by native Polynesian and Melanesian cultures to describe the energy of the universe, the life force that is inherent in all living things and all matter. It also forms part of their beliefs about the spirit world - that the Mana of someone who has died or the powers of a sacred object can be transmitted to someone else for their magical use. Mana is also thought to flow through the human body in a figure-of-eight pattern and can be manipulated through breathing and visualization exercises. Od German chemist Baron Karl von Reichenbach (1788-1869) used the term ‘Od’ to describe a substance that he believed emanated from all things in the universe. According to Reichenbach, Od can be seen and sensed by clairvoyants. He also believed it could be affected by breath. Reichenbach’s Od theory is important because it was the first attempt by a scientist to put forward a case for the universal life force, by conducting numerous experiments with sensitives. Reichenbach published his research in 1845, but it was rejected by the scientific establishment. One of the first tasks of the Society for Psychical Research was to study and later validate many of Reichenbach’s conclusions. Despite this Reichenbach and his work continued to be shunned by the scientific community. Orgone See Orgone energy. Bioenergy Eastern European concept of the universal life force which permeates all things and which can be controlled and directed at will. The term was borrowed from William Reich, who was probably the first to use it to describe life energy within the body and the universe. Bioenergy is believed to radiate from human bodies and is strongly associated with psychic phenomena. It is unclear as to whether this force is created within the body or drawn from outside. Eastern European researchers have studied Bioenergy with great interest in the hope that they might be able to store the energy in generators. UNIVERSAL MIND Psychics believe there are three levels of consciousness that play a role in psychic experiences: the conscious, the unconscious and the universal or higher mind, also known as the subconscious. The universal mind is believed to be the place where spontaneous insights or intuition come from. According to psychics it acts as an internal guidance system or a higher self, which helps keep a person in line with their life purpose. UPANISHADS Esoteric texts of Hindu philosophy, believed to have been written between the eighth and seventh centuries BC, which reflect on the mysteries of death and the oneness of the universe. The Upanishads lay the foundations for meditation techniques and ideas later developed in Buddhism and Hinduism. The term ‘Upanishad’ derives from the Sanskrit words upa (near), ni(down) and sad (to sit): thus ‘sitting down near’ a spiritual teacher to receive instruction. Due to their mystic nature and intense philosophical bent, which does away with all ritual and completely embraces the principle of oneness, the Upanishads have a universal feel. There are over 100 treatises in the Upanishads, which cover the four stages of consciousness: waking, sleeping, dreaming and higher consciousness. To reach the last stage - higher consciousness - is the goal for all spiritual seekers, as it is only there that one can gain true self-awareness and transcendence over the self. A distinctive quotation that is indicative of the call to self-realization is as follows: Get up! Wake up! Seek the guidance of an Illumined teacher and realize the Self. Sharp like a razor’s edge is the path, The sages say, difficult to traverse. (Death instructing Nachiketa in the Katha (Word) Upanishad) URBAN MYTH Term used to describe a strange but supposedly real event that happened to a friend of a friend, and so the legend grew. Typically there is some truth to the story but fictional elements are added with the retelling. The central theme or image remains the same but details differ from region to region. With the expansion of the media in the form of books, newspapers, magazines, radio and television reports and the Internet, whole new avenues have been opened for the spread of urban myths. Some hauntings, such as the Phantom hitchhiker scenario or stories involving a faceless woman, are urban myths. UROMANCY Also known as urimancy. Divination by observation of urine, either by its colour, by its taste, by its flow patterns or the patterns formed when it hits the ground or in a swirling bowl. The ancient Romans practised uromancy by looking for bubbles in the chamberpot after passing water. If any were present it would mean that one would soon receive a very large sum of money. Uromancy was also used by witch-hunters in the seventeenth century. A common practice was to place iron nails, pins, needles or half horseshoes in a bottle filled with the urine of the accused person, and then stop it up with a cork. If the cork popped out of the bottle of its own accord, it was taken as a sign of guilt. The use of urine as a therapeutic substance, either by drinking it or bathing skin and wounds in it, is an ancient therapy that dates back to 1500 BC, when the Egyptians used it to cleanse burns. Ayurvedic scriptures dating back to 1000 BC also suggest the use of urine for poultices. Research has shown that urine therapy may not be as disgusting or as unhealthy as one might think. Urea, which is found in urine, is salty and when applied to a wound or sore skin it creates pressure that sucks water out of the area. This has an antiseptic effect on open wounds. The high levels of melatonin in urine also give it a sedative and antiviral effect that may help fight infections. Some people believe it is also a good cosmetic tonic for the skin. US CAPITOL BUILDING Headquarters of the Congress of the United States in Washington, DC, which is said to be haunted by numerous ghosts. The Capitol has been occupied since 1800 and stories about ghosts are as old as the building itself. Just some of the many restless entities alleged to haunting the Capitol are detailed below. The French engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant was commissioned by President Washington to design the new capital city; his plans included streets that were 100 feet wide, and an avenue 400 feet wide and a mile long. L’Enfant demolished a new manor house because it blocked the view, which led to Washington firing him. Congress refused to pay him for the work that had already been done. Consequently, the apparition of Monsieur L’Enfant has been seen pacing the cavernous Capitol halls, still awaiting payment for his bill, now over 200 years overdue. This ghost is described as a ‘sad little man’, dressed in eighteenth-century attire, who scurries along the corridors of the Capitol Building with many papers stuffed under his arm, which were probably his city plans. It has been reported that whenever a street change is proposed, his ghost moans and cries as he hurries along the corridors. The glowing ghost of John Quincy Adams has been seen in the grand hall that was formerly the House of Representatives Chamber, at the exact spot where his desk used to be located. He collapsed at his desk and died in a room off this grand hall before he could give a speech honouring the military leaders responsible for the victory in the Mexican-American War - a conflict that Adams had been against from the outset. Kentucky Representative William Preston Taulbee is said to remain in the Capitol to continue a feud with the press that did not end when a reporter, Charles Kincaid, shot him on the steps to the House Press Gallery on 28 February 1890. He died of his wounds 11 days later. Stains on the steps leading to the House Press Gallery are said to be bloodstains from Taulbee. Charles Guiteau, who fatally shot President James Garfield on 2 July 1881, has been seen at a doorway leading to a basement, while the easily recognized ghostly form of General John Alexander has been known to appear at 12.30 am, looking displeased, while listening at the door of the room once used by the Senate Committee on Military and Militia, a committee that he once chaired in the 1890s. He is described as having a long moustache, with dark, piercing eyes, and long black hair. A ghost of a custodian, who died at work, has been known to help living employees do their job. A mop was seen swishing back and forth over the marble floors, being pushed by this unseen entity. Finally, a demon cat appears and scares late-night workers who have to go to the deep, dark parts of the basement of the Capitol Building. These frightening appearances usually take place before a national tragedy happens and when administrations change. It is first seen as a normal, black cat, which purrs happily as it approaches the unsuspecting human victim in the dimly lit hallway. As this apparition comes closer, though, its body swells to the size of a tiger, and the sweet purring turns into a vicious snarl. With its claws extended, this huge cat leaps at the poor person and then vanishes into thin air, leaving the person terrified, but unhurt. UTUKKU Name given by the ancient Assyrians to the ghost of evil intentions that lay in wait for unsuspecting travellers and could make anyone it encountered fall ill. Records suggest that the Assyrians were one of the first people to think about ghosts seriously. They believed that ghosts were the result of leaving bodies unburied or failing to observe the proper rites when a person died. Apart from the Utukku the Assyrians had names for two other malevolent entities that plagued them: the alu and the ekimmu. The alu, a hideous-looking phantom that attempted to suffocate its victims, and the ekimmu would appear outside a house to give warning of an impending death. All three spirits made dreadful wailing sounds and to hear their cries was believed to be as ominous as seeing the phantom themselves. V VAMPIRE The undead. A vampire is either the living dead - a resurrected corpse - or the ghost of a corpse that leaves its grave at night and enters the world of the living, feeding off them to survive. Some cultures have myths of non-human vampires, such as demons or animals like bats, dogs and spiders. Vampires are often described as having a wide variety of additional powers and character traits and are a frequent subject of folklore, cinema and contemporary fiction. The term ‘vampire’ entered the English language in 1732 and was handed down by German and French accounts of vampire superstitions in Eastern Europe. In the Balkans a vampire cult flourished in the Middle Ages. Vampires were suspected of haunting a graveyard when people reported sightings of apparitions of the dead that pestered and bit them, or sat on their chests and suffocated them at night. Vampires were also frequently blamed for wasting diseases that caused death, and for invisible terrors. A search of the graves was made and if a body was found with signs of fresh blood or recent movement it was declared a vampire and was burned or a stake was plunged through the heart. Such measures were universally employed to keep ghosts and vampires from leaving their graves. Premature burial is a sound natural explanation for corpses that look like they have moved or started to bleed. For example, it is now known that corpses can shift and this may have given the appearance of life when a coffin was opened. It may also make strange noises as air is expelled and blood may still ooze from wounds or orifices. Despite its early depiction as a revolting, blood sucking and disfigured corpse that roams graveyards at night, over the centuries the vampire has been glamourized, sexualized and popularized by Western ficiton, poetry and film into a fatally attractive and seductive living person who bites people on the neck to drink their blood - a practice popularly described as vampirism. VAMPIRE GHOSTS A distinctly different form of the vampire, these spirits have been recorded in the histories of several European countries, as well as India, where traditions surrounding this spirit type are very prevalent. These spirits are generally regarded as invisible entities that occasionally attack human beings, leaving behind a characteristic bite mark in the flesh. VAMPIRISM The practice of drinking blood. In folklore and popular culture the term generally refers to a belief that one can gain supernatural powers by drinking human blood. The historical practice of vampirism can generally be considered a more specific and less commonly occurring form of cannibalism. The consumption of another’s blood has also been used as a tactic of psychological warfare intended to terrorize the enemy. Vampires in popular culture Bram Stoker’s Dracula has been the best-known description of the vampire in popular fiction for the last century. Its portrayal of vampirism as a disease (contagious demonic possession), with its undertones of sex, blood and death, struck a chord in a Victorian England where contagious disease, sexual repression and a preocupation with the afterlife were common. It was, however, the flamboyant poet Lord Byron who first introduced many common elements of the vampire theme to Western literature in his epic poem the Giaour (1813). These include the combination of horror and lust that the vampire feels and the concept of the undead passing its inheritance to the living: But thou, false Infidel! shalt writhe Beneath avenging Monkir’s scythe; And from its torment ’scape alone To wander round lost Eblis’ throne; And fire unquenched, unquenchable, Around, within, thy heart shall dwell; Nor ear can hear nor tongue can tell The tortures of that inward hell! But first, on earth as vampire sent, Thy corpse shall from its tomb be rent: Then ghastly haunt thy native place, And suck the blood of all thy race; There from thy daughter, sister, wife, At midnight drain the stream of life; Yet loathe the banquet which perforce Must feed thy livid living corpse: Thy victims ere they yet expire Shall know the demon for their sire, As cursing thee, thou cursing them, Thy flowers are withered on the stem. Curiously Byron’s own wild life became the model for the protagonist in the first ever vampire novel, The Vampyre (1819) by John William Polidori. Polidori’s protagonist, Lord Ruthven, resembles modern interpretations of a vampire as an undead being with superior intellect and charm, whereas previously the vampire of folklore had been characterized as an ugly, repellent and revolting creature. Stoker’s classic 1897 depiction of the vampire, however, remains the most well-known today. Dracula has all the now familiar themes of sex and wealth, as well as frequent use of Gothic settings and iconography and the vampire’s aversion to sunlight and crosses. The book has been the inspiration for numerous authors and film makers. The most recent descendants of the vampire tradition in twenty-first-century literature are the popular Vampire novels written by Anne Rice. VANISHING HITCHHIKER See Phantom hitchhiker. VEDAS Four texts, written somewhere between 1800 and 1200 BC, which constitute the beginnings of Indian philosophy and the Hindu canon. Each text covers a different subject and tells the story of the creation of the universe. The four texts are the Rig Veda, which discusses religious consciousness; the Sama Veda, which is a collection of chants and mantras; the Yajur-Veda, which contains rituals and prayers; and the Atharva-Veda, which consists of spells and sacrifices and forms the basis of Indian or Ayurvedic medicine. VEDIC ASTROLOGY Form of astrology practised in Indian culture. Vedic astrology is steeped in the philosophy of the Vedas. It differs from Western astrology as it uses fixed star (sidereal) constellations in conjunctions with planets to determine a horoscope, as opposed to the tropical system used in the West. It is based on the true celestial position of the constellation and takes into account the precession of the equinoxes; this means that everyone’s birth sign moves back a month (Leos become Cancers, etc.). Vedic astrologers believe that the standard sun sign and aspects give a person’s general qualities but the fixed constellations supply particular details of character. Vedic horoscopes indicate a person’s spiritual destiny. The Hindu culture believes in reincarnation and if a person chooses to follow their spiritual destiny they will be closer to escaping the endless cycle of death and rebirth. VERSAILLES GHOSTS The story of two academic English lady tourists who allegedly saw a whole group of ghosts in the gardens of the Trianon near Versailles is widely regarded as one of the most famous hauntings of the twentieth century. On 10 August 1901, Eleanor Jourdain, the daughter of a Derbyshire vicar, and Annie Moberly the daughter of the Bishop of Salisbury, were on their way to looked at the Petit Trianon after walking round the Palace of Versailles. The ladies were keen to visit the Trianon as they knew it had been a little retreat that Louis XVI had created for his queen, Marie Antoinette, as a place for her to relax with her courtiers. According to later accounts the ladies seemed to get lost for a while. Upon finding the garden and entering it Moberly suddenly felt a strange and rather depressing atmosphere around them. The women saw a couple of men whom they mistook for gardeners, dressed in period costumes of grey-green coats and small three-cornered hats. They asked for directions and were told to continue straight ahead. They saw a bridge and a kiosk and near the kiosk an unpleasantlooking man sat with a slouched hat and cloak. A man with an odd accent ran up behind them and gave them further directions to the house. Near the house, in the English garden in front of the Petit Trianon, Moberly saw a woman wearing a pale green fichu sitting on a seat in the garden. Both women then saw a young man who came out of the house banging the door behind him. He looked amused about something. Puzzled the two women walked on and were soon conscious of another change in atmosphere, back to the normal humidity of an August afternoon. Later, while discussing their experiences, the two women came to the incredible conclusion that they had stepped back into time to the year 1789 and actually mingled with ladies and gentlemen of the court of Marie Antoinette! Moberly was also convinced that the lady in the gardens was the queen herself, who reputedly liked to sit at that spot. They recalled that though a breeze had been blowing when they started their walk, the air had been ‘intensely still’ when they arrived at the Petit Trianon and there had been no effects of light or shade. Moberly later said that she felt as if she was walking in her sleep, ‘the heavy dreaminess was oppressive’. Over the next 10 years Moberly and Jourdain revisited the Petit Trianon several times in an attempt to understand the mystery. On her second visit, on 2 January 1902, Jourdain again encountered the heavy eerie feeling they had experienced before, and thought she saw two labourers dressed in tunics and capes with pointed hoods loading sticks into a cart. When Moberly returned for the second time on 4 July 1904, accompanied by Jourdain, they could not find the route they had taken in 1901 or the bridge and kiosk they had seen. Where the lady on the grass had been seen they found instead an enormous rhododendron bush, many years old, and the door of the house the young man had banged was in fact the ruins of an old chapel. In 1911 the ladies published their experience in a book, An Adventure. Critics from the psychical research community derided them immediately for their amateurish and unreliable research. They had not written down their experiences until November 1901, too long a time for the memory to be certain, and there did not seem to be sufficient grounds to prove a paranormal experience. It was suggested that Moberly and Jourdain had seen real persons and things and the details had been altered by tricks of the memory when they decided they had seen ghosts. Despite widespread criticism An Adventure received a lot of publicity and it wasn’t long before other people came forward claiming to have had similar experiences at the Trianon. John Crooke from England reported that in July 1908, when he had visited Versailles with his wife and son, he had seen a fairhaired lady in a cream-coloured hat and a white fichu sketching on a piece of paper. The lady paid no attention to Crooke as he passed by her and immediately Crooke believed that she was a ghost as she seemed to grow out of and fade into the scenery. However, critics were quick to point out that Crooke has only come forward with his story after An Adventure had been published. A number of other ghostly reports surfaced from visits to the Trianon. In October 1928 two English women, Ann Lambert and Claire Burrow, also allegedly saw men and women dressed in period costume. In September 1938 Elizabeth Hatton claimed that she saw a man and woman in period peasant dress drawing a wooden trundle cart bearing logs. On 10 October 1949, Jack and Clara Wilkinson allegedly saw a woman in period dress with a parasol. And on 21 May 1955, a London solicitor and his wife claimed to have felt a heavy, oppressive atmosphere as they headed towards the Trianon. They then saw coming towards them an elegant man and a woman in full period costume. Suddenly they noticed that the man and woman had vanished seemingly into thin air - there was nowhere else for them to have gone. The Society for Psychical Research investigated all these reports of ghostly sightings thoroughly. Sceptics were keen to point out that from the standpoint of evidence it was impossible to ascertain later who exactly was in the park and what they might have chosen to wear. Others were more inclined to believe that the hauntings were genuine and a high number of consistencies with the account of Moberly and Jourdain and historical fact were found. In 1965 an explanation was put forward by Philippe Jullian in his book Un Prince 1900 - Robert de Montesquiou. According to Jullian, Montesquiou was in the habit of spending days in the park in period costume at the turn of the century and Moberly and Jourdain had simply witnessed an outdoor party. The matter has, however, not ended and more hauntings have since been reported and investigated by both English and French researchers. It has been suggested that the haunting fits into the pattern of a so-called ‘aimless haunting’, as the paranormal phenomena reported do not seem to be associated with traumatic or violent events as many hauntings are. Life at Versailles just before the French Revolution was fairly peaceful and it is possible that the area gained great emotional power as its inhabitants may have sensed that an era was drawing to a close. The mystery of Versailles continues. VETALA In Indian lore the vetala are not spirits of the dead, but spirits that are believed to possess corpses. It lurks in cemeteries, snagging fresh bodies for reanimation. It turns the hands and feet backwards, delighting in the shock value of its appearance. Vetala love to tease the living, but if they feel so inclined they may also guard their villages. In some respect the vetala resembles the vampire, but it is distinct from more traditional vampires in that it can reside by day in the corpses of others, whereas traditional vampires tend to shun the daylight. VIBRATIONAL HEALING According to the ancient sages, who understood the workings of the universal life force, we are all born with a certain amount of this energy that flows through us. When this energy is flowing smoothly all is well but when it is not every aspect of our life can become out of balance. Understanding and working with this energy is thought to be a big step towards creating happy, fulfilled and healthy lives. Many alternative healers, some of whom are called energy healers, work with this energy. Some see it (a form of clairvoyance), others feel it (clairsentience). The field of energy is referred to as an aura - a vibrating field of energy that pulses around and through the body at all times. Vibrational healers work with the auric field and focus on repairing, balancing, charging and clearing the energy field on many levels: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Whether their healing or energy balancing involves the laying on of hands, healing touch or faith healing they all involve the idea that the healer and patient are somehow connected on a higher vibrational plane, possibly psychic, that opens an inflow of healing energy to the patient. VINGOE FIRE A curious, ghostly phenomenon reported to occur before the death of members of the Vingoe family, who once held the Treville estate in Cornwall, England. The phenomenon is said to appear first as a shimmering light, which gradually takes on the appearance of spurts of flame, gradually growing larger in size. In some cases the flames were reported to be so bright they were said to temporarily blind witnesses. They would also sometimes appear as multiple flames linking together into a ring or circular chain, often accompanied by ‘strange and appalling noises’. VIRGINIA, THE GHOST STATE Virginia is said to be America’s most haunted state, and the town of Fredericksburg in Virginia is thought to be one of the most ghost-ridden places in the United States. The explanation most often offered for this is that many famous people, such as George Washington and James Monroe (President from 1817 to 1825), lived there and haunt the area. The best known of all the ghosts is the so-called Lady in White, who is believed to haunt eighteenth-century Chatham Manor. This ghost is said to be the spirit of a young woman who was unlucky in love and who returns every seven years on the anniversary of her death on 21 June. Her next scheduled visit is in 2010. Fort Monroe, built in 1609, and the longest manned army post in America is also believed to be haunted by a number of ghosts, including those of Abraham Lincoln, Edgar Allan Poe and Jefferson Davis, who was president of the confederacy. Virginia cannot claim to be America’s most haunted city, however, as that honour goes to New Orleans, which has around 25 regularly reported ghosts, most of which appear in the atmospheric old French quarter. VISION A religious apparition or a vivid episode of clairvoyance. Visions generally have more clarity than dreams, but traditionally fewer psychological connotations. In religion, visions typically comprise of renderings of a future state and/or of a mythical being, and are believed (by followers of the religion) to come from a divine source to inspire or prod the recipient as part of a revelation or an epiphany. Many mystics take the word vision to be synonymous with apparition. VISION QUEST A Native North American ritual where wisdom is sought by provoking a visionary trance in order to commune with spirit guides for supernatural wisdom and power. It is typically undertaken by young men on the brink of manhood and the vision quest is considered to be a powerful force in the maturation process that aims to provide a focus and sense of personal power. Before the quest the seeker is expected to spend a number of days or weeks purifying himself through fasting or sweat baths. Usually the seeker is assisted and guided in preparations by a tribal elder. The seeker then isolates himself in a place of natural power, such as the wilderness or forest, in a small tent he has constructed and will neither eat nor sleep until his task is completed. He will pray for a message from the Great Spirit and a talisman to represent the message or vision of power conferred, such as a feather, rock or flower. This may be given to the seeker from his spirit guide, who typically will appear in the form of an animal. VISUALIZATION Technique that uses mental images and affirmations to produce positive change within a person. It is thought that the ability to make pictures in the mind can lead to an improved self-image, a greater sense of purpose, better health and can help a person obtain other personal goals. Visualization has formed a part of religious practices for centuries but it only became popular in the West when Shakti Gawain published Creative Visualisation in 1977. Gawain’s belief that people can use their imagination to help them achieve life goals soon spread beyond esoteric circles into mainstream culture. Visualization The technique for visualization is simple. First, find a quiet place where you can relax and concentrate. Then construct a detailed mental picture of whatever situation you want to change and/or improve. Then imagine the desired outcome. Think of this outcome as if it were already happening. You may also choose to repeat a positive phrase or affirmation that you will attain your goal. The technique should be repeated for days, weeks, months or years until the goal is achieved. One simple visualization for general wellbeing and stress-reduction is to first quiet yourself and, after taking some deep breaths, to visualize yourself inhaling golden or white light/energy, and exhaling grey, stale, old energy. The white or golden light represents new, fresh, rejuvenating energy, while the grey energy represents any stress, unhappiness, worries, anger or other negative emotions you may be holding inside you. This visualization is a great way to release the stress and tension of the day and give yourself more energy. If you have a specific ailment you are trying to relieve yourself of, visualize the same white or golden energy surrounding the area of your body that is in need of healing. Focus on that white or golden light/energy healing and energizing that area of your body. Try to repeat this procedure daily or multiple times daily if you feel compelled to do so. As always, do what feels right for you. Solid research has shown that visualization works. The scientists aren’t sure why but those who study the effect of the mind on health have found visualization to be particularly beneficial in fighting certain diseases. A particular form of visualization, called guided imagery, is increasingly being used in psychotherapy and medicine, especially for treating people suffering from stress, anxiety and/or life-threatening illnesses. VITAL FORCE Alternative term for universal life force. VITALISM The theory that vital forces are active in living organisms, and the strength of these vital forces determines health and wellbeing. Some believers in vitalism equate this element with the soul. Vitalism has a long history in medical philosophy. Most ancient healing practices posited that disease was the result of some imbalance in the vital energies which distinguish living from non-living matter. For example, in Eastern traditions these vital forces were presented as Qi, Prana, etc. (see universal life force). Over the centuries chemical and anatomical discoveries gradually pushed aside the vital force explanation for poor health, as more and more life processes came to be described in purely scientific terms, and explanations for disease focused more and more on the failure of particular organs and processes in the body. Vitalism in medicine did, however, experience a resurgence in the late twentieth century, when attention began to be directed towards preventative medicine and the role played by an individual’s state of mind. Modern medical vitalism, as represented by such schools as homeopathy, acupuncture, and chiropractics, tends to emphasize this role in both the cause and treatment of diseases. In terms of the biology of the cell itself, a return to vitalism may be seen in the theory of intelligent design; and the holistic idea that life and health are emergent and evolving processes involving mind, body and spirit, which cannot be accurately described simply by understanding any number of chemical processes that occur in the cell. VOICES, HEARING See Clairaudience. VOODOO Magical tradition practised in Haitian and African communities in the Caribbean and Southern United States, which combines Roman Catholic religious traditions with African magical rites. Although Voodoo is specific to Haiti and the Southern US, offshoots and related cults appear all over the world. It is estimated that currently Voodoo has around 50 million followers worldwide. Voodoo, also known as Voodun, is a product of the slave trade. The African slaves transported to North and South America were forbidden to practise their religion and their masters baptised them as Catholics. As a result Voodoo became a mixture of Catholicism superimposed upon secret native beliefs and rites and some say this is the reason for the ferocious anger at the heart of the religion. Tribal deities took on the form of Catholic saints. Fetishes were replaced by Catholic statues, candles and holy relics. Animal sacrifices, spirit possession, black magic, sexual magic and shamanic trances are common features of this religion, although some sects do practise white magic. Voodoo priests are said to have supernatural powers, including the power to raise zombies from the dead to do their bidding. One of the most terrifying and well-known Voodoo magic spell is for the voodoo practitioner to make a small doll or puppet in the shape of the person they wish to curse. The doll is then tortured and abused with the intention of transferring that pain and harm to the person. It’s likely that this voodoo doll is something slaves assimilated from their masters, rather than the other way round, as ‘puppet magic’ has been practised in European cultures for a long time. VORTEX A ghost-hunting term that is applied to photographic anomalies which display a spiral motion, and which is sometimes thought to be indicative of a spirit form. The term is also sometimes used to describe a portal between worlds or a site that seemingly draws in energy towards its centre with a spiral motion. W WAITE, ARTHUR [1857–1942] Victorian magician associated with the Golden Dawn whose most lasting effect on the occult community was to produce the Rider Waite Tarot deck, which has since become the most popular tarot card deck in the world. Born in Brooklyn, America, in 1857, Waite was brought to England by his mother while he was still a baby. Despite living close to poverty Waite had a good education at Roman Catholic schools in London. When he left school he became a clerk and in his spare time he spent long hours in the British Museum reading room studying the occult. Waite’s thinking was heavily influenced by the spiritualist movement and by the writings of Madame Blavatsky. He entered the Order of the Golden Dawn and passed through the grades of the first order, but then resigned due to internal conflicts. A few years later he rejoined and entered the second order, rewriting its body of ceremonial from the viewpoint of Christian mysticism. Later his interest turned towards Freemasonry, where he attempted to chart a secret tradition underlying various aspects of occultism. He wrote numerous books and poems, which have largely been forgotten mainly due to his scholarly, tedious and at times pompous style. The Rider Waite Tarot deck he produced in collaboration with the artistic talents of Pamela Colman Smith has, however, stood the test of time and remains to this day the most well known and used tarot deck. WALPURGIS NIGHT Throughout Europe, 30 April is known as Walpurgis nacht and it is the night when ghosts, witches and the spirits of darkness are said to be on the loose. The night was named after St Walpurga, who is regarded as the protector of humanity against black magic. Walpurga was actually the daughter of the Saxon King Richard who went to Germany over 1,200 years ago. While there she gave her support to the campaign against demonism and her efforts were thought to be so impressive that she was made Abbess of Heidenham. In about the year 777 she was canonized. WAND Traditional tool used in magic to help control the energies of a spell and send it in the direction that the wand is pointed. In Wicca and modern-day witchcraft, practitioners use wands to channel energy. The wand represents the air element and is typically made from the wood of living trees. Hazel or elder are considered the best types of wood to use, but willow wands are said to be good for working with the energies of the moon, ash for prosperity spells, oak for strength, apple for binding love spells and rowan for healing and protection spells. If a crystal is placed on the top of the wand, it is said to have the effect of intensifying the directional power of the tool. Practitioners usually get a stick from a tree, or even buy wood from a hardware store, and then carve it and add decorations to personalize it; however, one can also purchase ready-made wands. WATER One of the four natural elements used in pagan rituals and magic. In Wicca a water elemental is one of the four spirits that energizes a spell and brings its wishes into being. Water is a symbol for the female principle - the moon goddess, intuition, emotion, love, relationships and the natural cycles of birth, death and rebirth. The magical tool associated with the water element is the cauldron or chalice. Its colour is blue and it is associated with the zodiac signs of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. In Chinese philosophy water represents the deep hidden characteristics of a person. Hearing in general is also associated with this element. Water flows deep and water people tend to be thinkers. WATSEKA WONDER Case of spirit possession that is considered unusual by parapsychologists because it was for the victim’s benefit and not harm. It is also thought to be one of the best cases on record of apparent spirit possession as reincarnation. Mary Roff was a young girl of 18 who lived in Watseka, Illinois, in the nineteenth century. For many years she had suffered fits of depression and self harm. In July 1864, after cutting herself with a knife, she fainted and woke up with psychic powers that included clairvoyance. This state of heightened reality continued for five days and then Roff died. Mary Lurancy Vennum, a neighbour but stranger to the Roffs, was threemonths old when Roff died. Thirteen years later, in 1877, she appeared to go mad. She experienced visions of angels and spirits of the dead and her physician, Dr E W Stevens, diagnosed spirit attachment/obsession when Vennum revealed under hypnosis that she felt controlled by evil spirits. Stevens suggested that one of the spirits might be able to help Vennum control the others and she answered that Mary Roff was willing to do this. On 1 February 1878, the spirit of Roff took possession of Vennum and for the next four months took over Vennum’s life for the purposes of healing her. Vennum moved to the Roff home and generally lived as Roff had done 13 years before. She also demonstrated clairvoyant powers and had out-of-body experiences. On 21 May, Roffs spirit told her family that Vennum was coming back and said goodbye, before Vennum fell into a trance. After a few minutes she became Vennum again and was completely healed, mentally and physically, after supposedly having been protected from evil spirits by Roffs inhabitation. In 1882 Vennum married a farmer and moved to Rawlings County, Kansas. Over the years Roffs spirit continued to watch over her, taking control from time to time by causing Vennum to go into a trance; during childbirth, for example, she protected her from pain. Vennum did mention that Roff gave her information clairvoyantly but she never developed her mediumship due to her family’s disapproval. She died in the late 1940s. WEIR, Thomas [1600–1670] Major Thomas Weir was a respected and influential citizen of Edinburgh but close to his 70th birthday he announced that he and his sister, Jean, had long practised black magic, incest and sexual crimes. At first nobody believed that such model citizens could be capable of such evil, but the Weirs insisted they were servants of the devil. The Weirs were charged with sexual crimes and were brought to trial. Doctors and clergy tried to help but the Weirs remained contemptuous of everyone. They were convicted of adultery, incest, fornication and bestiality and were executed in April 1670. Thomas Weir was strangled and burned and Jean was hanged. Following their deaths reports soon began to circulate of Thomas Weir’s cloaked ghost appearing, clutching the magical staff that was said to run before him in the streets to clear the way when he was alive. At Bow House where the Weirs used to live a spectral coach was allegedly seen arriving to drive the Weirs to hell. Because of its reputation for being haunted the house remained empty for a hundred years until the low rent encouraged an elderly couple to move in. The first night they stayed they interpreted a calf staring at them through the window as a death omen and left immediately. No one else ever lived there again. In 1830 the house, in ruins through neglect, was demolished. Its site is unknown but to this day it is said that the Major’s staff can still be heard tapping at Grass-market in Edinburgh. WELL According to folklore wells are believed to be entry points for ghosts and spirits to enter the material world, and if a home or building is built on top of a well it is more likely to be haunted. Covering the well is no solution as it will simply infuriate the spirits and they will clank about looking for another entry point. The water in wells has a long history of superstitious belief. Water spirits and monsters and other creatures are believed to be the guardians of well waters, hence the custom of propitiating the spirits by throwing in gifts and coins. Water is also believed to have spiritually cleansing properties and evil things cannot cross running water. As a result many wells are also regarded as having healing properties. WEREWOLF GHOST The werewolf is believed to be a person who can change into a wolf when the moon is full, feeding on human flesh. The legend of the werewolf comes from the magical tradition of lycanthropy, the belief that it is possible through witchcraft to transform into the shape of an animal. There are also a number of stories of werewolf ghosts, spirits that have returned from the dead as shape-shifters. The most famous of these stories concerns England’s cruel King John, who was said to have been poisoned and then rose again as a werewolf to terrorize the countryside. A more recent example comes from Flix-ton in Yorkshire, where it is said that a werewolf ghost haunts the town changing from man into beast and glaring with bloodshot eyes at all those who dare cross its path. WHALEY HOUSE Mansion house located in San Diego, California, believed to be haunted by several ghosts. The ghost most often reported is said to be that of Jim Robinson, who was executed in 1852 for attempting to steal a pilot boat in San Diego Harbor. It is thought that Whaley House is built on the site where he was hanged and died a long, lingering death due to an improperly built scaffold. In 1857, Whaley House was completed after being commissioned by businessman Thomas Whaley and his bride, Anna. After moving in, the Whaleys began to hear heavy footsteps upstairs. It was thought that Robinson’s spirit, still upset over his death, was making his presence felt. After the death of the last remaining Whaley family member in 1953 the house was saved from demolition and made into a historic home open to the public. In the 1960s some students staged a play there and once again reports of ghostly footsteps upstairs were made. Over the years poltergeist phenomena as well as apparitions of various members of the Whaley household have been reported. Psychics who have visited the house say it is home to a whole range of ghostly men, women, children and animals. WHIRLWIND According to Native North American lore whirlwinds are the vehicles by which spirits of the dead travel and spread their evil about. Various beliefs also exist that whirlwinds can poison or carry off children. WHITE EAGLE LODGE Non-denominational Christian Church that was founded by British spiritualist Grace Cooke in 1936 according to instructions from her spirit guide, White Eagle. The White Eagle Lodge has an international following. It centres on an eternal spirit composed of the divine energy of the father, the enfolding love of the mother and the Christ light, which is the pure love and light that can be found in every human being. White Eagle’s teachings are said to be handed down from the ancient wisdom of the ages. They include the five cosmic laws of reincarnation, karma, opportunity, correspondence and equilibrium. Great emphasis is placed on healing, which is done via natural remedies, colours, scents and music, or via meditation or the laying on of hands. Followers believe that the soul must be healed before any physical cure can take place. The Lodge preaches living in harmony with nature, and the divine laws of love. WHITE, EDWARD [1873–1946] American psychical researcher and author who wrote the non-fiction occult classic, The Betty Book. On 17 March 1919, during a séance, Edward White and his wife, Betty, made contact with the spirit world when a whisky glass spelled out the name Betty who, scornful of the whole business, was not participating in the séance. The glass went wild in circles and spelled out that a pencil was needed. The astonished Betty got a pencil and so began almost a year of automatic writing in which communicating entities informed Betty that they would be relaying ideas and realities through her. The Whites named the entities ‘the Invisibles’ because of their wish to remain anonymous. They said their aim was to encourage humanity to devote more effort to spiritual growth, as there were certain opportunities for spiritual growth on earth that could not be found on the other side. In the months that followed the Invisibles began to use Betty’s vocal cords to communicate instead of automatic writing. Betty did not go into trance but remained in a dissociated state. Allegedly, Betty experienced scenes through clairvoyance to help get across the point that if spirituality is neglected in this life the result is a pathetic existence in the next. Over and over again the Invisibles stressed the importance of spiritual development while a person is still alive and how it is up to each person to rise up to spirit instead of passively waiting for it to descend. They also stressed how powerful the mind is and how thoughts can magnetize things, people and circumstances. The sessions lasted for around seven years and in 1937 The Betty Book was published. Betty died in 1939, and within half an hour of her death White sensed her invisible presence, an experience he was to have many more times in his life. He organized a séance with medium Ruth Finley and received a communication from Betty about the afterworld. In 1940 White published The Unobstructed Universe, which was the first full first-person account of life after death since the alleged communications with psychical researcher Frederick Myers some 25 years before. The Betty books proved to be so popular that White went on to write a number of other books concerning the occult. He also served as president of the San Francisco chapter of the American Society for Psychical Research. WHITE HOUSE Residence and workplace of the president of the United States in Washington DC. The White house is believed to be haunted by numerous ghosts. Construction on the White House began in October 1792 and was completed in 1800 when President John Adams took office. Today the White House is the only private head of state home that is open to the public free of charge, and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in America. It has with six residence levels and 132 rooms, but only two floors are open on the public tour. The house is said to be haunted by several spirits, the most prominent being Abraham Lincoln. He was the 16th President of the United States, whose election to office in 1860 incited the secession of the Southern states, leading to the American Civil War (1861-65). He was assassinated by a Southern sympathizer by the name of John Wilkes Booth in April 1865, shortly after beginning his second term in office. Since his death, Abe has been spotted numerous times on and off the White House grounds. His ghostly second-floor footsteps were first reported by the White House staff. He has been spotted putting his boots on in the Lincoln bedroom, and has been reported to knock on the bedroom door late at night, materializing long enough to spook guests. The oldest known ghost of the White House is former First Lady Abigail Adams who (along with her husband, John Adams) was the first occupant of the home. The house wasn’t quite finished when they moved in so the washing needed to be dried in the East Room of the residence. Frequently, Mrs Adams can be seen carrying spectral laundry towards the East Room and disappearing through the doors. Other lesser-known spirits are said to reside at the Executive Mansion. A man by the name of David Burns gave the government the land that the White House stands on. It is said that in the Rose Room and the Yellow Oval office, a man’s ghostly voice can be heard saying, ‘I’m Mr Burns’. It has been rumoured that President Andrew Jackson’s ghostly laughing and swearing can still be heard in the Rose Room, a room he liked to sleep in. The attic is said to be haunted by the first president to pass away while in office, William Harrison. And in the basement, on the eve of national tragedies (such as the 1929 Wall Street crash and the assassination of JFK), a ghostly apparition of a black cat can be seen prowling around. The White House grounds are also said to be haunted. In 1809, James Madison became the fourth president of the United States. He and his wife Dolley occupied the residence and she planted a lovely Rose Garden. When Woodrow Wilson took office in 1912, his wife decided that the Rose Garden needed to be replanted. But before one flower was touched Dolley’s ghostly apparition appeared to the garden staff and demanded that they leave her precious roses as they were. The gardeners were so terrified that they refused to touch the garden. Today, it continues to bloom just as Dolley planted it around 200 years ago. WHITE LADIES Type of ghost found in British castles and old houses. They are often the spirits of noblewomen who were murdered or died in tragic circumstances. They are also widely known in France, where they are said to be very beautiful and found in the vicinity of bridges. The reason offered for this is that it was once the custom to offer young women as human sacrifices to the spirits of rivers so the spirit would allow people to cross in safety. As in Britain the white ladies have also been reported in castles, where they wander the passages and pathways, sometimes with a cup of poison in their hands. The White Lady of the Hohenzollerns is a well-known German ghost who is often reported at a number of former royal residences in Germany, including castles at Berlin, Bechin, Neuhaus, Tretzen and Raumleau. The lady is said to be dressed in white, and to wear a widow’s band around her head. It is rumoured that she may be the ghost of Princess Bertha, who was cruelly treated by her husband, Baron Steyer-mark. She died in 1451 but her unhappy spirit cannot bring itself to leave. WHITE MAGIC The use of supernatural and psychic power for healing and promoting what is good; the opposite of black magic, which is magic for evil and/or selfish ends. WICCA Wicca (Celtic origin: wicce, ‘wise’) is a Neo-Pagan religion of nature and goddess worship that has become the dominant force in the occult community and the English-speaking world in recent years. Wicca was originally founded by the British civil servant Gerald Gardner (1884-1964) probably in the 1940s, although it was not openly revealed until 1954. Gardner claimed that it was the original pre-Christian religion of the British Isles, handed down in secret for centuries. Since its founding, various related Wiccan traditions and offshoots have evolved or been created. Though sometimes used interchangeably, Wicca and witchcraft are not the same thing, even though practitioners of both Wicca and witchcraft are often called witches. However, not all practitioners of Wicca are witches, and not all witches are practitioners of Wicca. Wicca refers to the religion, and can be a reference to both the initiatory tradition, where initiates are assigned a degree and generally work in groups or covens, and to solitary Wicca, where practitioners self-dedicate themselves to the tradition and generally follow the practice on their own. Both initiates and solitary Wiccans worship the Goddess. On the other hand, witchcraft does not require a belief in gods and goddesses and is not a specific spiritual path. The term witchcraft also refers to the use of black magic as well as white magic; whereas Wiccans only practise white magic. According to Gardner, Wicca descended from the ancient pre-Christian religion of the British Isles - the worship of a primeval goddess of fertility and a Horned God, which he called the ‘Craft of the Wise’. Other covens have made the same claim. According to this view the witchcraft persecutions were Christianity’s attempt to stamp out the old religion, but Wiccan covens survived in isolated areas. Many outside researchers and present-day Wiccans now doubt Gardner’s claims of an origin for Wicca, as there is no evidence to support it and all the elements of Wicca were available to him from sources in the occult scene of his day, including the Druid movement, the teachings of Aleister Crowley and elements of Eastern magic he gathered from his travels to Malaysia. Whatever the origins of Wicca it has established a strong presence in the English-speaking world since Gardner and his followers formed the first known Wiccan coven in the 1940s. Gardner’s public books on the Craft, JVithcraft Today (1954) and The Meaning of Witchcraft (1959), attracted a large following and helped to spark a movement of Wicca as a religion on both sides of the Atlantic. The greatest growth occurred in the 1960s, which saw a proliferation of Gardnerian covens. In the 1980s, along with the rest of the Neo-Pagan scene, Wicca expanded hugely and covens of one sort or another spread throughout America and established themselves in Australia, Canada and several other countries. The introduction of Wicca to America was spearheaded by Raymond and Rosemary Buckland, who were initiated by Gardner prior to moving to the United States. Other traditions appeared. Some claimed roots as ancient as Gardner’s version, and were organized along similar lines. Others were syncretistic, importing aspects of Kabbalah or ceremonial magic. In recent years the Wiccan movement has become even more diverse as Wiccan traditions and other forms of modern paganism have blended together more freely; today many groups calling themselves Wiccan have essentialy nothing in common with the movement launched by Gerald Gardner in the early 1950s. In addition to Gardnerian Wicca, some of the many branches of Wicca practised today include: Alexandrian Wicca. Celtic Wicca. Dianic or Feminist Wicca. Eclectic Wicca. Faery Wicca. Feri Tradition. Gnarrains. Kemetic Wicca. Kingstone. Myjestic Order. Odyssian Wicca. Seax-Wicca. Stregheria. West Country Wicca. In an environment that is so diverse, few generalizations can be made about modern Wicca. The following refers essentially to what is sometimes called traditionist Wicca, that is, Wicca that remains close to Gardner’s original teachings. Wicca is a duotheistic religion - it worships two dieties, a God and a Goddess, whose names vary widely in different branches of the movement. The God is typically horned and the Goddess has the three forms of Maiden, Mother and Crone and is associated primarily with the moon. Both are powers of fertility and nature and their mating is the creative source from which all things are born. Teachings and traditions about the God and Goddess make up the lore of Wicca and are passed on to members though a grade system of three degrees. Each degree is preceded by a course of study that covers a wide range of magical exercises and teachings. An important part of some branches of Wiccan magic is the Great Rite, which is a ritual dramatization of the creation of life - the coupling of the spark of life with life’s substance. A traditional and complete Great Rite is the sexual copulation of a man and woman but today this is usually performed symbolically. Alongside the degree ceremonies and training processes the activities of the coven include seasonal ritual and ceremonies which are ideally performed sky clad, that is naked, although today ceremonial robes are typically worn. Standard equipment for Wiccans includes the athame or black-hilted knife, the wand or staff, the cauldron, the pentacle and the witch’s garter - a length of scarlet cord that is normally worn tied above the left knee when not in use. These correspond to the elements of air, fire, water, earth and spirit, although in some tradition it is just the four elements of air, fire, earth and water. The elements are thought to symbolize different places, emotions, objects, and natural energies and forces. For instance, crystals and stones are objects of the element earth, and seashells are objects of the water element. Each of the elements are commonly assigned a direction and a colour. Elemental, directional correspondences and colours may vary between traditions. It has been claimed that the points of the frequently worn pentacle symbolize the five elements. Those who wish to be initiated into the craft must undertake magical training and in his Book of Shadows, Gardner listed the eight ways to raise magical power: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Meditation or concentration. Chants, spells and invocations. Trance and astral projection. Incense, wine and drugs. Dancing. Blood control by binding parts of the body with cords. Scouring but not to draw blood. Ritual sex. Although the Book of Shadows, the grimoire that contained the Gardnerian rituals, was supposed to be a secret that could only be obtained from a coven of proper lineage, since the 1970s most of the material covered in the book has been published numerous times. Today Wiccans join groups called covens or work alone as solitaries. Many beliefs hold that the ideal number of members for a coven is 13. When a coven grows beyond their ideal number of members, they often split (or ‘hive’) into multiple covens, yet remain together as a group. A grouping of multiple covens is known as a grove. Wiccan weddings are called handfast-ings. In usual rites the Wiccans assemble inside a magic circle, which is drawn out in a ritual manner followed by a cleansing and then a blessing of the space. Prayers to the God and Goddess are said, and spells are sometimes worked. Traditionally, the circle ritual is followed by a meal. Although modern Wicca has countless characteristics the most distinctive remains that of the Wiccan Rede, which is akin to an oath of benign magical intent. The final line sums up the Wiccan philosophy; An it harm none, do what ye will.’ Others follow the slightly adapted Rede of An it harm none, do what ye will; if harm it does, do what ye must.’ Either way, the Rede is central to the understanding that it is within personal responsibility, rather than a religious authority, where moral structure resides. The Rede is one of the major differences between Wiccans and other types of witchcraft. Many ‘traditional’ witches or followers of other craft paths, do not believe in the Rede. The Wiccan Rede is taken very seriously by Wiccans, who abjure casting spells to harm others. Magic is to be used to help and heal; harmful magic will bounce back to the perpetrator. Contrary to what is often thought, Wicca is in fact a very peaceful, harmonious and balanced way of thinking and life which promotes oneness with the divine and all which exists. It is perhaps best summed up by the following quote from one of the largest pagan, wiccan and witchcraft websites, www.wicca.com: Wicca is a deep appreciation and awe in watching the sunrise or sunset, the forest in the light of a glowing moon, a meadow enchanted by the first light of day. It is the morning dew on the petals of a beautiful flower, the gentle caress of a warm summer breeze upon your skin, or the warmth of the summer sun on your face. Wicca is the fall of colourful autumn leaves, and the softness of winter snow. It is light, and shadow and all that lies in between. It is the song of the birds and other creatures of the wild. It is being in the presence of Mother Earth’s nature and being humbled in reverence. When we are in the temple of the Lord and Lady, we are not prone to the arrogance of human technology as they touch our souls. To be a Wiccan Witch is to be a healer, a teacher, a seeker, a giver, and a protector of all things. If this path is yours, may you walk it with honour, light and integrity. See also Witchcraft. WICKLAND, DR CARL [1861–1945] Carl A Wickland was born on 14 February 1861 in Liden, Sweden. In 1880 he left Sweden and arrived in St Paul, Minnesota in 1881. He married Anna W Anderson in 1896 and shortly thereafter they moved to Chicago, where Wickland entered Durham Medical College, graduating in 1900. Dr Wickland became chief psychiatrist at the National Psychopathic Institute of Chicago in 1909, where he remained until 1918. Later the Wicklands moved to Los Angeles, where the doctor founded the National Psychological Institute, a nonprofit organization to conduct research in psychology. At the Institute’s sanatorium, between six and ten patients at any one time were cared for and brought back to sanity and health. In 1924 Dr Wickland, in collaboration with Celia and Orlando Goerz and Nelle Watts, his assistants, wrote and published Thirty Years Among the Dead, a book that has become a classic in the field of abnormal psychology. In it he warns: The serious problem of alienation and mental derangement attending ignorant psychic experiments was first brought to my attention by cases of several persons whose seemingly harmless experiences with automatic writing and the Ouija board resulted in such wild insanity that commitment to asylums was necessitated … Many other disastrous results which followed the use of the supposedly innocent Ouija board came to my notice and my observations led me into research in psychic phenomena for a possible explanation of these strange occurrences. Wickland found that he was able to cure many of these cases of diagnosed insanity by using an entranced medium (his wife), who was taken over by the spirit that was obsessing the psychiatric patient. He found that many of these entities were unaware that they had died; without any knowledge of the afterlife they found themselves in a kind of twilight condition. With help from higher intelligences on the other side he was able to persuade them to leave the aura of the patient whose light had attracted them. Thirty Years Among the Dead is a book crammed with thrills, dramatic incidents and poignant emotions. One of its revelations concerns Harry Thaw, the eccentric American millionaire who, for no earthly reason, killed Stanford White, the famous architect of Madison Square Gardens in New York. According to Dr Wickland, Thaw was a psychic sensitive ‘unquestionably obsessed by avenging spirits who desired retribution for real or fancied injustice done to themselves or kindred’. Wickland was the first medically trained expert to approach mental illness as being due to spirit attachment. He also used electric shocks to exorcise unwanted entities from the auras of his patients. His approach was dismissed as humbug by sceptics and was not taken seriously by the scientific or medical community of his day. Since the late 1980s claims of spirit attachment have grown more common, especially with the development of past-life therapy. WILD EDRIC According to an old Shropshire legend, whenever England is threatened with war, the ghosts of an Anglo-Saxon fighter, Wild Edric, and his followers ride out from the old lead mine where they dwell to do battle with the enemy. The ghostly soldiers always ride off in the direction from which the opposing forces are coming from. They were last spotted just before the start of the Crimean War in the 1850s. Edric is said to be dressed in green clothes and cloak with a white feather in his cap, while at his side rides a beautiful woman, also in green, with long blonde hair, known as Lady Godda. According to legend Edric was a real person, the nephew of Edric Strenona, Ealderman of Mercia and it was he who led the men of Shropshire when they rose against William the Conqueror. He was never defeated but eventually made peace with William and settled down with the Lady Godda, whom some say was a fairy wife. WILD HUNT Spectral nocturnal procession of huntsmen, ghosts of the dead, horses and hounds. The huntsmen are said to be spirits of the dead and as they fly overhead the spectral dogs often set off the howling of earthly dogs below. The legend of the Wild Hunt is found all over Northern Europe and has its origins in Norse and Teutonic mythologies, where the god Odin/Woden, in the guise of a huntsman, rides across the sky with a pack of spectral hounds bringing death or disaster to all who watch him pass. The Wild Hunt has several leaders, both male and female. In British lore the hunt is sometimes led by Herne the Hunter or simply the devil. In the lore of Northern Germany it is often led by Holda, goddess of the hearth and motherhood, and in Southern Germany it is led by Bertha or Diana. WILLARD LIBRARY Willard Library is largely known for its wonderful collection of art books and research materials but it’s also famous for its ghosts. Located at 21 First Avenue in Evans-ville, Indiana, Willard Library is an impressive Victorian Gothic-style building dating back to 1885. The most-often reported apparition is known as The Grey Lady. A former janitor first reported seeing a ‘grey lady’ in the building’s basement in a winter month sometime in the 1930s. The ghost was seen just after 3 am and was clothed in early 1800sstyle attire. The library’s basement was almost destroyed by a storm in 1977. After undergoing extensive renovation in 1980, the room was dedicated to Margaret Maier because of her 40-year employment service to the library. Maier had seen the Grey Lady ghost many times herself and during the four-month renovation the Grey Lady allegedly moved into Margaret’s home, which she shared with her sister, Ruth. Both sisters saw the ghost on a regular basis during its stay. She would materialize in full at times, at other times marking her presence by turning on the clothes dryer, and sometimes by the overpowering scent of her unmistakable perfume (strange aromas are commonly reported at haunted sites). The ghost returned to the library after the renovations were complete. After Margaret Maier retired, the hauntings slowed but did not stop. To this day, the Children’s Room remains a popular haunting spot for residing spirits and people continue to report sightings. It is thought by some that children have the ability to communicate with ghosts and maybe that can explain the popularity of this room for the spirits. WILLINGTON MILL Haunting of a large house in Willington Mill, England, during the nineteenth century. One of the house’s residents, John Procter, a Quaker, kept a diary of the disturbance, which was published in the Journal of the Society of Psychical Research in 1892. The disturbances began for the Procters towards the end of 1834 when the nursemaid confessed to being frightened at night by sounds of thumping and pacing coming from an unoccupied room on the second floor. The housemaid left and another was hired, but she too heard noises coming from the room. Soon the unexplained noises began to occur during the day as well as the night. Witnesses thought a man in heavy boots was roaming about. Curiously if anyone slept in the room or sat up to hear the noises nothing happened, but as soon as they left or went about their business the sounds would return. As time went on apparitions also began to appear; a white lady was seen in a second floor window and later, from the same window, a figure that looked like a priest in a white surplice also was seen. Other noises were heard including moans, cries, voices, whistling and drumming. Objects also began to move. Beds shook and the floor vibrated. In 1840 there was a brief respite from the haunting, but in May 1841 it began again. As well as noises more apparitions appeared, this time of a monkey and a man opening and shutting the window. After nearly 13 years of haunting the Procter family left the house. The house was divided into two and occupied by a foreman and chief clerk of a flour mill. These families were disturbed by strange noises and apparitions but not to the same extent as the Procters. In 1867 a firm of millers rented the house and the new tenants suffered greatly. The Procters eventually put the house up for sale and it remained vacant for some time. During the time it was vacant a séance was held when phenomena were produced but no communication with spirits was established. Eventually the mill was closed and turned into a warehouse and the house was divided up. No further disturbances were reported. WILL-o’-THE-WISP Perhaps the most popular name in Europe for the mysterious ghost lights that are often seen hovering around or near graveyards or over marshy areas. One tradition says the will-o’-the-wisp are the souls of dead people appearing as a death omen or guarding lost treasure; another claims they are lost souls who cannot enter heaven or hell and therefore become malignant and do their best to lead those foolish enough to follow them into trouble. Recent research has suggested a natural explanation: the lights are caused by the igniting of gasses escaping from rotting plants or animals. WILMOT APPARITION Apparition that occurred on board a steam ship in 1863. Connecticut manufacturer S R Wilmot set sail from Liverpool, England, to New York on the steamer City of Limerick on 3 October 1863. He was accompanied by his sister, Eliza, and shared a stern berth with an Englishman, William Tait. On the second day of the journey a storm broke out, which lasted nine days. Wilmot, who suffered from seasickness, stayed in his berth most of the time. On the eighth night of the storm Wilmot had a dream about his wife clad in her white nightdress coming to caress him. When he awoke he was surprised to see Tait staring down at him. Tait explained that he had seen a woman in a white nightdress enter the berth and kiss the sleeping Wilmot. His description matched Wilmot’s dream. The ship reached New York on 22 October and a day later Wilmot went by rail to Watertown, Connecticut where his wife and children were staying. His wife immediately asked him if he had received a visit from her on the night he had had the dream. She told him that on that particular night she had been so worried about his safety during the storm that she couldn’t sleep. At about four o’clock in the morning it seemed to her as if she actually went to find her husband on the ship. She described his room accurately and also described how Tait had been watching her. When she awoke the next morning she felt as if she had physically visited her husband. In 1889 the case was examined by the Society for Psychical Research. Tait was deceased but Wilmot and his wife and sister were interviewed at length. The researchers came to the conclusion that the case was unique as it seemed to offer evidence for both collective and reciprocal apparitions. Collective apparitions, in which an apparition is seen by more than one person, are not common, and reciprocal apparitions in which both the agent (Mrs Wilmot) and percipient (Tait) see one another are even less common. The case is also unusual in that Wilmot saw his wife in a dream and Tait saw her while awake. Psychic investigators Edmund Gurney and Eleanor Sidgwick suggested that the most likely explanation was telepathy and clairvoyance, triggered by Mrs Wilmot’s intense desire to know if her husband was safe. Tait in turn had received telepathic vibrations from Wilmot which manifested visually. Another possible explanation, although one that was rejected by the researchers, was that Mrs Wilmot had somehow projected her doppelgänger/ double out of body. The case remains a mystery. WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE Nineteenth-century San Francisco mansion with a bizarre history. Sarah and William Wirt Winchester, son of the inventor of the Winchester repeating rifle, were married during the American Civil War. Sadly their happiness was short-lived as their first and only child died a month after being born. Fifteen years later William died and Sarah never seemed to recover from her grief. Her behaviour changed and, despite a fortune of about $20 million and a substantial share in the rifle business, she remained a housebound recluse. Sarah attempted to contact her husband through séances. None were successful until she found a medium from Boston called Adam Coons. Coons allegedly made contact with William and gave Sarah a message from him, which warned her that she was under a curse. All the spirits of the people who had been killed by Winchester rifles had taken their revenge with the death of their child and William, and if Sarah wanted to escape this curse she must make amends to these souls. Sarah followed William’s instructions to sell her New Haven house and move to the West, to build a new house for both herself and the ghosts. She found an eight-room house in the Santa Clara valley and hired dozens of construction workers to enlarge the house, and domestic workers to take care of it. For the next 38 years, until her death in 1922, building work took place on the house. Gardeners were hired to plant a five-foot high hedge, as she did not want any person not employed by her to see the house. The builders worked to Sarah’s bizarre instructions, which had them destroying work and then redoing it. She kept to a Victorian style but the finished product was an architectural nightmare, with odd-angled rooms, stairways that lead nowhere and doors that opened on to blank walls. In all, the house ended up with 160 rooms and over the years Sarah spent about $5.5 million on the construction of it. She became obsessed with the number 13, and each room had to have 13 windows, 13 lights, 13 closets and so on. The ghosts allegedly wanted no mirrors so none were found in the house. The grounds were just as bizarre as the house itself. Sarah rarely left the house and not surprisingly her strange behaviour attracted gossip and fanciful stories that probably have little basis in fact. For example it was said that every night at midnight, Sarah would go to her secret chamber, called the blue room, to entertain her ghostly guests by throwing dinner parties. Sarah died in 1922 at the age of 82. She bequeathed the house to her niece with the instructions that the ghosts continue to be welcomed and cared for, but within six weeks the contents were removed. The house was sold and opened to the public. Today the Winchester mystery house remains a popular tourist attraction. Many visitors claim to have been haunted there by various phenomena, such as phantom footsteps, odd sounds and smells, cold spots and windows and doors turning by themselves. WINDIGO According to Native American lore, the Windigo is a spirit said to haunt the forests of Canada and portions of Minnesota. It is described as extremely tall (some accounts place it at 12 feet high or taller) and white in colour, while other traditions state that a blue star adorns either the forehead or the chest of the spirit. In myth and legend, the Windigo moves with the speed of the wind and is known to eat men and animals alike. Its appearance is considered to be a death omen. Shamans consider Windigo sickness to be the most terrifying type of sickness as it can be triggered by the egotistical abuse or loss of control of shamanic powers. WINDSOR CASTLE Originally built by William the Conqueror, Windsor Castle in Windsor, England is said to be haunted by four British sovereigns. The ghost of King Henry VIII has been reported from time to time in the courtyard, groaning and dragging his ulcerated leg. The ghost of his daughter Elizabeth I allegedly puts in an appearance now and again in the royal library, which is also believed to be a favourite haunt of Charles I and George III. The ghost of Richard II’s forester, Herne the Hunter, has also been reported several times over the centuries since he hanged himself from a tree on the castle grounds. A young royal guardsman who committed suicide in 1927 is reportedly seen too. WITCH DOCTOR A magical and medical practitioner who uses spells and potions to cure the sick and contact spirit guides for wisdom and divination purposes. The witch doctor can be found in the tribal communities of Africa, South America, the Native North American Indians (where he is known as a medicine man) and in parts of Australia and Polynesia. WITCH of ENDOR One of the most well-known tales of the paranormal to appear in the Bible, which continues to generate debate to this day. The story of the Endor Witch is told in 1 Samuel 28. King Saul, anxious at the possible outcome of a battle with the Philistines, summons the Witch of Endor to raise the ghost of the prophet Samuel to ask his advice. The spirit was of little help to Saul and some feel strongly that the entire event might well be an illustration of one of the earliest cases of paranormal fraud to have been committed, arguing that the Witch of Endor was little more than a ventriloquist who summoned a spirit using smoke and mirrors. WITCHCRAFT, WITCH A belief system of nature and goddess worship, magical practice and folk religion that incorporates numerous other traditions including divination, herbalism and paganism. A female practitioner is called a witch and a male practitioner is called a warlock. In contrast to Wicca, a decidedly white magic movement, witchcraft utilizes both white and black magic, depending on the choice made by the individual. Witchcraft is an ancient art that utilizes the powers of nature and the mind to bring about a desired effect. Specific combinations of natural elements draw specific energies. One can tap into these energies by stimulating the senses to induce altered states of consciousness that intensify moods and feelings. The origins of witchcraft are uncertain but there is mention of it as far back as the time of Moses. It is known that magic and sorcery were practised in ancient Babylonia, Egypt and throughout the classical world of Greece and Rome. Although black magic was known to exist, witchcraft was not really considered evil until the rise of the Christian Church, which linked witches with the devil. In almost all cultures since witches have been feared as evil and believed to possess paranormal powers of invisibility, shape-shifting, clairvoyance and astral projection, all of which they are said to use to harm others. In the fifteenth century witchcraft was declared a heresy and reports were issued outlining the practices of witches, which included devil worship, baby eating, the destruction of crops and murder. Witches were invariably thought to be women, for according to the wisdom of the time women were weak and susceptible to corruption by the devil. Over 250 years an estimated 200,000 people were executed for witchcraft in the most brutal manner. Most of the executions took place in Europe, especially in Germany. In America the worst case was the Salem witch trials in 1692, in which 141 people were falsely arrested on the basis of accusations by hysterical children; 20 were sentenced to death. Victims of the witch-hunts typically included village wise men and women who had reputed healing or magical powers or psychic powers such as clairvoyance. Victims were often tortured into making confessions. The advance of science and industry and the growth of urban centres from the eighteenth century onwards contributed to a decline in a belief in witchcraft and to the end of official persecution of witches. Witchcraft remained active, however, in rural areas where folk magic cures were called upon to ensure love, cure sickness and so on. It never quite shook itself of its association with the devil though. It wasn’t until 1951 that witchcraft ceased to be a crime in England. One of the first, if not the first, people to bring witchcraft into the open after the repeal of the Witchcraft Act was Gerald Gardner. Gardner had been initiated into a coven of New Forest witches in 1939, and eventually formed his own coven in 1953, giving birth to the tradition of Wicca. In the early years a person could only be initiated into witchcraft by an initiated witch and then advance through degrees of hierarchy in a coven. Today this has changed and the craft is more open; anyone can self-initiate him or herself, and even establish a new tradition. Many witches prefer to practise alone and are known as solitaries. The witch’s year is organized around seasonal festivals and meetings that provide a framework for worship and celebration. They also provide a chance to gather together and concentrate the group’s powers to make magic. The practice of witchcraft is ritualistic, involving the use of knives, wands, cauldrons and so on, and spells, charms, incantations and potions. Witches gain their magic powers through harnessing the powers of the four natural elements of the universe: air, earth, fire and water. If witches decided to follow the code of the Wiccan Rede of white magic -‘An it harm none, do what ye will’ - then they are said to have taken the right-hand path of light, healing and inspiration. If instead they use their magic for selfish or evil desires they have taken the lefthand path of darkness and black magic. Only a small proportion of witches practise their religion openly today, due to the dangers of misunderstanding and hostility from a public that still links witchcraft with the devil. Witchcraft is still confused with sorcery, Satanism and Voodoo and many witches advocate finding another name for their craft. Even though there are some differences between the two, Wicca, with its emphasis on the practice of white magic, remains the most popular alternative name for those who wish to practise witchcraft. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess by Starhawk, an American witch (b. 1951) is a generally accepted and informative introduction to the craft. It contains specific instructions for circles, chants, spells, invocations, creating rituals and in short, everything needed to get started. Other accepted introductory texts include Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today by Margot Adler and What Witches Do: The Modern Coven Revealed by Stewart Farrar. Your bewitching week According to witchcraft every day of the week is a magical day. Each day has its own magical correspondences such as deity associations, colours, crystals and herbs, and an awareness of each day’s bewitching specialities is one way to bring magic into your life. Sunday is the day of the sun. It is a day to work for healing as the sun is the life bringer. It is also the planet concerned with the personality, the self. The colour of the sun is gold. This day is full of wonder and all sorts of magical potential for success, wealth, and fame. Monday is the day of the moon and is more concerned with matters of a psychic nature. The colours of the moon are white or silver. Try sitting under the light of the moon at night to absorb her magic. As the moon is concerned with psychism, Monday is a good time for any sort of meditation or divination, particularly scrying or crystal gazing. Tuesday is ruled by Mars, the planet associated with fighting and soldiers. Mars is concerned with courage, strength and determination. The colour is red, the metal iron. If you are working a week of magic now is the time to call for the i courage to help you achieve your goals. Wednesday is the day of Mercury, the messenger of the gods, the communicator and bringer of news. However, he is also a joker and a thief so beware of this aspect. His colour is orange or light blue and his metal is quicksilver or mercury. Wednesday is a day of communication, change, cunning, and the arts. Today is a practical day to make travel plans and design talismans for safety or use in all forms of communication. Thursday is a Jupiter day. Jupiter’s colour is a rich, royal blue and the metal is tin. This is the day of the week for prosperity, abundance and good health. Friday belongs to Venus, both the planet and its namesake the Roman goddess of love. This day of the week is for magical topics such as love, birth, fertility and romance. Colours for today include emerald green, pink and aqua. Saturday is associated with the planet Saturn. The colour is black and the metal is lead. Today is a good day for protection, banishing negative situations and tidying up loose ends. It is a good day to burn black candles to absorb negativity and to cleanse your mind, replacing draining thoughts and feelings with positive and energetic ones. WITCHING HOUR According to superstition the hour of midnight on the night of a full moon, when ghosts, witches, fairies and other supernatural entities visit the earth and are most likely to be seen. The term is often used to mean the hour of midnight in general. Typically hauntings occur between the hours of midnight and 4 am as, according to popular belief, this is the time when psychic energies are at their strongest or the veil between the world of the living and the dead is at its thinnest. WIZARD Term applied to male practitioners of the magical arts or to one who has attained a high level of skill in summoning spirits and supernatural powers. Alternative titles include warlock, sorcerer, adept, conjuror, magi or magician. The term derives from the Middle English term wis, or ‘wise’. WOBURN ABBEY Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, England, was originally a Cistercian abbey but was rebuilt in the mid-eighteenth century. It has been the residence of the dukes of Bedford for over three centuries and is said to be haunted by a number of ghostly forms. The ghost of a monk is said to haunt Woburn. The monk is thought to be the abbot of Woburn who was hanged when he opposed Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn. He has been seen most often in the crypt. The summerhouse at Woburn Abbey is believed to be haunted by the present Duke’s grandmother, who died in her early sixties when the plane she was flying crashed. Her ghost has not been reported but, according to witnesses, an overwhelming feeling of sadness and coldness appears to linger on in the summerhouse. The most recent haunting to allegedly take place at Woburn Abbey is thought to be the ghost of a young man who may have been murdered there. He is never seen but doors are said to open and close for him as he walks through rooms. Witnesses say that a door handle turns and opens, as if a person was coming through. Then a few moments later the door at the other end of the room opens and closes again, as if an invisible figure has walked across the room. WOOD One of the five elements in Chinese philosophy that make up the building blocks of the universe. In traditional Chinese medicine wood symbolizes the season of Spring and new beginnings. The colour green, the sound of shouting and the emotion of anger are also associated with this element. WOODLAWN PLANTATION Nineteenth-century home located in Virginia that belonged to the nephew of George Washington, Major Lawrence Lewis. It is said to be haunted by numerous ghosts. The stately house was built almost entirely by slave labour. Major Lewis and his wife, Nelly, were its first occupants and took up residence there in 1805. They had eight children there, five of whom died. When Lawrence died in 1839 Nelly moved to Audley, a plantation nearby. The house passed to a succession of owners until the mid-twentieth century when it was acquired and restored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Paranormal phenomena have been reported at the house since the early twentieth century. They include footsteps, slamming doors, noises and whispers. Objects also move about and a ghost, believed to be that of a previous owner, John Mason, who lived there during the American Civil War and who had a wooden leg, is said to thump around. The Lafayette bedroom is believed to be haunted by a figure that stands by the window when the house is empty. Lorenzo’s bedroom (the Lewises’ first child was called Lorenzo) is also said to be especially haunted by mysterious noises and doors that open by themselves. In the master bedroom, lights turn on and off mysteriously and animals are said to avoid the central hall where ghostly forms have been reported. The ghost of George Washington is also believed to haunt Woodlawn. He is seen on moonlit nights riding his white horse in the grounds. Apparitions have been said to appear all over the house but most of the phenomena seems to concentrate on the south side where a well was once located. It has been suggested that restless spirits are able to return to this world through the well. WORRALL, AMBROSE [1899–1972] British-born clairvoyant who became well known for healing with his American wife, Olga Worrall. Worrall was a gifted psychic from an early age, claiming that he could see the spirits of the dead in his bedroom. As a teenager he discovered that he could project himself out of body to visit others at night. During World War I he began to see impending deaths clairvoyantly; a small thin skeleton would float over someone’s head along with a number to indicate the length of the remaining lifespan. Throughout his adulthood Worrall felt compelled to heal. He explained that he felt an invisible force, eight inches in diameter, emerge from his solar plexis and protrude about ten inches in front of him, and that this force literally dragged him towards people in pain and in need of healing. In 1922 Worrall moved to the United States for a better way of life and began to work as an engineer for the Martin Company. People began to ask him for healing and he was astonished to find that most of those he touched were cured or significantly improved. In 1927 Worrall met Olga. He felt they had known each other before in a previous life and the two were married in June 1928. In his healing work Worrall never knew what he was going to do, waiting for his intuition or the force from his solar plexis to direct him. He believed the healing power originated from the universal life force. He called it paraelectricity’ because he believed it had electrical properties. From 1929 Worrall began to devote himself more to the healing ministry set up by himself and his wife. Like his wife he was always aware of spirit presences and believed they were instrumental in the healing process, directing healing energy to the patient using him as a channel. One particular entity that manifested to him was a seven-foot tall Native Indian called XYZ. XYZ directed Olga to find a new home in Baltimore, where they established a healing centre. After his death in 1972 Worrall allegedly began communicating with his wife Olga. He told her that his transition to the other side had been made easier with the help of XYZ. He also told her he would continue to help her in spirit and add to her healing power, and that many doctors, nurses, surgeons and healers were helped in a similar manner by other spirits. WORRALL, OLGA [1906–1985] American clairvoyant who, along with her husband, Ambrose Worrall, became famous as a healer. Like her husband, Olga’s psychic powers manifested early. She claimed to be able to see spirits of the dead from the age of three and by the age of five could see her own aura by looking in the mirror. By the age of 11 she was making precognitive predictions. Her healing ability also manifested early and as a child she found that she could banish headaches simply by placing her hands on people. Olga met Worrall in 1927 and the two were married the following June. In December 1928 the couple moved to Baltimore in Maryland and lived there for the rest of their lives. Their only children, twin boys, died when they were a month old and their grief prompted them to devote themselves to healing, especially children by setting up a healing room in one of their bedrooms. They refused payment and insisted that their healing be accompanied by traditional medical help. In 1950 Olga was asked by a Methodist minister, Albert E Day, to establish a spiritual healing clinic with him. The New Life Clinic ran for nine years from Mt Vernon Place Methodist Church before moving to Mt Washington Methodist Church. Olga’s healing often involved communication with spirits of the dead and this came to the attention of parapsychologist J B Rhine. She had no medical training but was adept at intuitively knowing what was wrong with a person and how to help them. She believed that prayer, love and compassion and the desire to see a person healed were of crucial importance to the healing process. Like many other healers Olga never believed the power came from within herself but from a higher source. She said gifted healers are like battery chargers that take in the high voltage energy of God and transform it into healing energy that can be used for humans, animals, birds and plants. Over the years the Worralls did have many spectacular successes, including tumours that shrank in size. Ambrose died in 1972 and almost immediately Olga began communicating with him in spirit. He confirmed to her that healers have an astral body that is perfect and healing energy flows through it. He said he would stay near her to help her in her work and when she placed her hands on a patient his hands would be placed on them too. Until her death in 1985 Olga continued to work and heal at the New Life Clinic. Olga felt strongly that science needed to support spiritualism and agreed to numerous scientific experiments designed to see if some kind of energy does indeed flow through healers. During her career as a healer she was tested numerous times by parapsychologists, physicians, physicists and others. Biophysicist Beverly Rubik observed a unique transfer of energy when Worrall prayed or healed, which could energize water, speed the growth of rye grass and create wave patterns in cloud chambers. In 1979 Olga underwent experiments at the University of California in Berkeley. Tests revealed that there were increases of energy flowing from her hands. They also showed that during healing her brain waves were at the delta level, the state of deep sleep - yet she was wide awake. WORTH, PATIENCE Famous case of automatic writing. Patience Worth was an alleged spirit who manifested in 1913 through a St Louis housewife called Pearl Curran. On 8 July 1913, during a Ouija board session, the pointer spelled out a message: ‘Many moons ago I lived. Again I come. Patience Worth is my name.’ In the séances that followed Patience Worth spoke in archaic dialogue and revealed herself to be an English woman, born in Dorset in 1649. A spinster, she emigrated to the American colonies late in life and was killed in an Indian massacre. Worth then began to dictate a total of a million words over the next five years. Her works, which included poems, plays and six novels, were published and enjoyed great success. Her first novel, The Sorry Tale, a 300,000word epic about the life of Christ took two years to dictate via the Ouija board. For seven years Curran used the Ouija board and after that she simply recited the words as if they were dictated to her in automatic speech. In 1922, when Curran became pregnant at the age of 39, the relationship between Curran and Worth began to decline, occurring less and less frequently. Curran died in 1937 when public interest in her had declined. There is considerable debate among researchers as to the real identity of Patience Worth. The novels and writings have been investigated and found to be accurate in historical detail and well constructed, although doubt has been cast over the authenticity of the English used. Some say that even though Curran was uneducated she merely channelled material from the depths of her subconscious. Others think that Worth was indeed a discarnate entity who, centuries after her death, found a way to express her literary talent. WRAITH The ghost of a person on the verge of death. According to lore the wraith appears as an exact likeness of its human counterpart, and commonly reveals itself to the friends and family of the person who is about to die. If a person is unfortunate enough to see his or her own wraith, it is regarded as heralding death within a fortnight. The tradition appears to have developed from the ancient belief that a person’s soul is a precise duplicate of the person’s physical form and that it escapes the body when death is imminent. Perhaps the most famous example occurred to the poet Shelley (1792-1822), who supposedly saw his own wraith as he was about to step on a boat which was to take him across the Bay of Spezia in Italy to the town of Livorno and a meeting with his old friend, Leigh Hunt. A storm hit the boat on the return trip and Shelley drowned, fulfilling the tradition of the wraith. See also Doppelgänger. X XENOGLOSSY The sudden ability to speak in an unlearned language or a language that is usually unrecognizable to the speaker. It is not to be confused with glossolalia or ‘speaking in tongues’. Xenoglossy is a phenomenon that is associated with altered states of consciousness, such as trance and sleep and mediumship. Often the language spoken can’t be identified by the speaker and this has led some people to believe that the person may be speaking in an angelic or otherworldly language. The term ‘xenoglossy’ was coined in the late nineteenth century by French physiologist Charles Richet, from the Greek words xeno (strange) and glossia (tongue). Theories on the origins of xenoglossy range from the spiritualist viewpoint of spirit communication to the psychologist’s view that it comes from a person’s subconscious memory, which stores words from foreign languages that are heard in childhood and subsequently forgotten. Sceptics argue that the most likely explanation is fraud by the medium during séance communications. There are said to be two types of xenoglossy: recitative xenoglossy, when a person speaks in a language but doesn’t understand its meaning, and responsive xenoglossy, when a person is able to carry on a conversation in an unlearned language. The former is believed to be more common than the later. One of the most famous cases of recitative xenoglossy is that of a Hindu girl called Swarnlata Mishra. Between the ages of four and six she was able to perform and sing Bengali songs and dances without ever having been exposed to Bengali language or culture. She said that she had been a Bengali woman in a previous life. An early example of responsive xenoglossy was reported in 1862 by a mesmerist called Prince Galitzin, who allegedly mesmerized an uneducated German woman who could not speak French. While in a trance the woman spoke and conversed in fluent French. From 1955 to 1956 a 37-year-old Philadelphia housewife was hypnotized by her husband in a series of sessions. The personality that the woman subsequently revealed was a male peasant farmer called ‘Jensen’, who spoke in seventeenthcentury colloquial Swedish. The woman claimed to have no knowledge of this language, and under hypnosis no subconscious knowledge was discovered. Another responsive xenoglossy case is that of ‘Gretchen’, a German-speaking girl, who manifested in 1970 during the hypnotic regression of Doloros Jay from Virginia. ‘Gretchen’ understood simple English but communicated in imperfect German. She said she was the daughter of a German major, and had lived in the later half of the nineteenth century, dying at the age of 16. Xenography is the term used to refer to the writing of unlearned languages. As with xenoglossy, some believe it to be a paranormal phenomenon while others believe it to be an ability that was learned earlier in life and forgotten. The significance of cases involving xenoglossy is that, if they are authentic, the super ESP hypothesis would be hard pressed to explain them. Is it really possible for a medium to acquire by the sole means of ESP the vocabulary and pronunciation of a foreign language? Parapsychologists simply don’t know, but if ESP can stretch to this extent then the informational limits of ESP must be virtually boundless. XENOMANCY Divination by the chance meeting with or actions of strangers. In Greece to meet a priest is always considered unlucky, but for men so more than women. The luck will be far worse if the priest happens to be riding a donkey. The main action of xenomancy is, however, concerned with the actions of the person met. For example, a raised right hand would be a positive sign while a raised left hand would be unfortunate. Pointing and wild gesticulation and the interaction between two or more strangers would all be significant. X-RAY VISION The paranormal ability to see into a person’s body to diagnose disease and potential problem areas. More than a hundred years ago, German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered an invisible form of radiation that could be used to make photographs of bones and organs inside a living human body. Many scientists were sceptical at first but over time they were convinced that this was perhaps one of the greatest discoveries in science and medicine. Natasha Demkina, a teenaged girl from Saransk, Russia, claims to have X-raylike vision, which lets her see inside human bodies, to make diagnoses that often are more accurate than those of doctors. Natasha says she has been able to see abnormalities down to the cellular level from the age of 10 and her mother says her readings are 100 per cent accurate. Widely recognized in Russia as ‘the girl with X-ray eyes’, 17-year-old Natasha has convinced a number of patients, doctors and journalists that her powers are genuine. She reached the height of her popularity in 2004, but it began to decline that same year when she agreed to be tested by experts for a Discovery channel film. The experiments yielded disappointing results. Another teenager with alleged X-ray vision is a 16-year-old called Adam from Vancouver, who claims to be able to use his X-ray vision to heal people. In fact, he’s credited with curing rock ’n’ roll legend Ronnie Hawkins of terminal pancreatic cancer. The scientific community has yet to be convinced that X-ray vision is a genuine phenomenon. Sceptics argue that most cases of X-ray vision can be explained by a remarkably simple but effective technique called cold reading, which is commonly used by fortune-tellers. Typically, the psychic fires questions or makes statements while looking for any that are confirmed or get a reaction. See also Medical intuitive. XYLOMANCY Divination by reading omens from the positions of small pieces of dry wood found in one’s path, or divination by the casual arrangement of sticks when stacked for burning. Xylomancy is practised extensively in the Slav lands. There the placement of bits of wood is believed to be significant, indicating good or bad fortune lying ahead, further down the path. Large pieces of wood are seen as major obstacles while smaller pieces indicate minor worries. The relationship of various lengths and thicknesses of wood when building a fire possibly originated from the building of pyres for the burning of bodies, and so related to the final destination of the deceased person’s soul. Y YANG See Yin/Yang. YEATS, WILLIAM BUTLER [1865–1939] Celebrated Irish poet and playwright whose deep fascination with mysticism and spiritualism is attested to in his dramatic works such as The Countess Kathleen (1892), The Land of Heart’s Desire (1894), Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), The King’s Threshold (1904) and Deirdre (1907). Yeats was initiated into the Order of the Golden Dawn in the summer of 1887, taking the secret name of Diabolus est Deus Inversus (The Devil is God Reversed) and later helped write various of the Golden Dawn rituals, drawing on the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the visionary works of Blake and various other esoteric classics. Yeats was also leader of the movement that expelled Aleister Crowley from the Golden Dawn, an action that ultimately led to the Order’s fragmentation and gradual decline. The Golden Dawn was not Yeats’s only esoteric interest. He was fascinated by fairies, took a critical interest in spiritualism and Theosophy and became a member of the London Ghost Club, making him arguably one of England’s foremost authorities on ritual magic and ghostly phenomena. His reputation as a great poet and playwright is without question. His reputation as an occultist and psychical researcher is, however, less well known but it came with numerous investigations of hauntings and his association with various other individuals in search of otherworldly phenomena. YIN/YANG Chinese Taoist belief that the universal life force or energy of the universe, known as chi, and everything in it is based on a pair of opposite forces: Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang are complete opposites but they are also interdependent and cannot exist without each other. The concept of Yin/Yang was first introduced in the second century BC in the I Ching, which placed Yin and Yang behind Chi on the existential pyramid of the universe. Below Yin and Yang are the five elements of the natural world. Together Yin and Yang outline the experience of life, which is forever changing. Something is never just Yin or Yang but a combination of the two extremes in different stages of flux. There is always some Yin in Yang and vica versa. Yin is the feminine embodiment of Chi, which represents and symbolizes shadows, earth, night, the moon, dark, cool, calm, passivity, downward motion and moisture. Yang is the masculine component, which represents heaven, day, light, warmth, upward motion, activity, fullness and dryness. The interdependence between the two is symbolized in the taiji or Yin/Yang symbol, showing a two-tone circle with a dynamic curve and a contrasting dot that separates Yin from Yang. The line between the two halves is not straight and abrupt, as transitions are never sudden, but gradual like a waving curve. The dot of contrasting colour is there to remind us that there is always some Yin in Yang and some Yang in Yin. Although everything in the universe is an interdependent combination of Yin and Yang some things will be more one than the other and this holds true for people too. The goal in Chinese philosophy and traditional Chinese medicine is always to maintain an equal amount of both, as too much Yin or too much Yang can lead to disease and decay. YOGA Yoga is an Indian spiritual philosophy that seeks to join all aspects of a person’s body, mind and spirit so that the self can be united with universal consciousness. Its origin is impossible to trace, because it dates back to as far as 3000 BC, when references to it have been found in historic artefacts. Yoga comes in many forms specifically designed to suit different types of people. As a result, some forms of Yoga have gained significant popularity outside India, particularly in the West during the last century where it is best known as a physical discipline. The word Yoga originates from the Sanskrit word Yuj (‘to yoke’) and is generally translated as ‘union’ or ‘integration’. According to Yoga experts, the union referred to is that of the individual soul (atma) with the cosmos, or the Supreme (Brahma). The Yoga Sutras, which were written sometime between 200 BC and AD 200, refer to the eight limbs or ashtangas that make up yogic practice, and if practitioners are able to follow these eight limbs it is thought that they will also develop spiritually and achieve ulitmate bliss or enlightenment. The eight limbs are: yama (moral conduct with groups of people); niyama (moral individual conduct); asana (physical postures); pranayama (breath control); pratyahara (sense control); dharana (concentration); dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (self-realization). The nine obstacles to yogic practice are also listed in the Sutras and these are sickness, laziness, self-doubt, inattention, lack of mental effort, overindulgence, false knowledge, lack of concentration and lack of perseverance. Yoga has both a philosophical and a practical dimension. The philosophy of yoga deals with the relationship between the individual soul and the cosmos. The practice of yoga, on the other hand, can be any activity that leads or brings the practitioner closer to this mystical union - a state called self-realization. Over thousands of years, special practical yoga techniques have been developed by experts in yoga, who are referred to as Yogis (male) and Yoginis (female). There are numerous yoga disciplines but the Sutras mention four distinctive paths that are the most important: kundalini, mantra, hatha and raja. Over time all these paths have led to offshoots but hatha yoga, which focuses on physical routines of the body over the development of the mind, is without doubt the most popular in the West. People of all ages and levels of fitness and experience now practise yoga. Benefits are thought to include stress reduction, relaxation, increased flexibility improved blood and breath circulation, better concentration and overall improvements in self-confidence, health and wellbeing. Schools of Yoga Westerners tend to think of Yoga largely as a system of gentle, stretching exercises, but there are in fact at least 10 different types of yogas which are recognized as valid paths to the goal of self-realization. Bhakti Toga is described as the path of love, devotion and faith. Practitioners believe that love and devotion directed towards God and/or humanity and any living creature is the path to enlightenment. Dhyana Toga is the path of contemplation and meditation, a purely mental discipline often involving trance states. Hatha Toga emphasizes the development and control of the physical body to such a degree that it no longer interferes in any way with the individual’s search for enlightenment. It is the most popular form of yoga in the West by far. One of the most famous positions of Hatha Toga is the the Lotus Position - a cross-legged sitting posture which originated in meditative practices of Hinduism. The position is said to resemble a lotus flower and to encourage ‘proper‘ breathing and physical stability. Famous depictions of the lotus postureinclude those of Shiva, the meditating ascetic god of Hinduism, and Buddha. In the lotus position the right foot is placed on the left thigh and the left foot on the right thigh, with the soles of the feet turned up and the spine straight. Hand positions vary but in Hinduism the hands are placed on the knees. Jnana Toga is the yoga of knowledge and calls for an understanding of the sacred Vedas of Hinduism. Karma Toga is the way of good deeds, usually expressed in helping those in need. Kriya Toga is concerned with religious observance and the carrying out of ritual acts. Kundalini Toga is concerned with arousing the power of kundalini at the base of the spine so it can climb upwards and illumiate the brain. Laya Toga is concerned with the activation of chakras and uses specific mantras to awaken them. Mantra Toga is a yoga of sound, using chants and mantras in order to drive the mind towards a higher state. Raja Toga charts a system of mental and physical development with the goal of reaching enlightenment. Yoga was first introduced to Western culture when Queen Victoria brought yogis over to Britain to demonstrate yoga postures for her and her guests. It could be said, however, that yoga’s growth in the West is due to followers of theosophy who, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries translated many of the Hindu Sanskrit texts that outline Yoga philosophies. Z ZEN Buddhist sect that developed in China and Japan and has become the bestknown Buddhist sect in the West because of its intelligent, gentle and mystical nature. Zen is the Japanese translation of meditation and the way of Zen is the way of meditation that stresses the development of an intuitive wisdom that sees the oneness of all. Zen can be considered a religion or a philosophy but it is something that can’t really be conceptualized and must be experienced. It has been described as a way of life, work and an art form. The role of meditation in pursuing enlightenment is stressed. Enlightenment is the awakening to the true nature of one’s being. It is the sole responsibility of the individual to find this enlightenment and it cannot be found through a saviour or faith or in any other way than individual experience. Zen developed from the teachings of Bodhidharma, an Indian monk with alleged miraculous powers who arrived in China sometime in the sixth century. The true founder of Zen in China is, however, believed to be Hui-neng (637713), who influenced the adaptation of Buddhism to Chinese thought. It was Hui-neng who described Zen as ‘seeing into one’s own nature’. After his death Hui-neng was named ‘Zen Master of the Great Mirror’. In Zen the mirror symbolizes the enlightened mind, the absence of all thought in pure mirror activity, in which the mind clings to no thought. Hui-neng’s own experience of enlightenment helped him understand that the mind already possesses enlightenment; it just needs to be realized. Following Hui-neng Zen rose to great prominence in China and two streams of thought emerged concerning it: the Linchi sect, which developed the use of paradoxes (koan) as a way to enlightenment, and the Ts’ao-tung, which stressed passive, silent meditation as a path to enlightenment. In Japan Zen ideas arrived during the seventh and eighth centuries but did not fully flourish until the monk Eisai (1141-1215) founded the Rinzai sect of Zen with its Lin-chi emphasis on paradoxes in 1191, and another monk, Dogen (1200-1253), founded the Soto sect with its emphasis on silent meditation. In Japan Zen took on a unique character of its own and has permeated into all parts of Japanese culture. In particular it has influenced the arts and is the basis of the tea ceremony. In Zen enlightenment (Satori) can only be found by turning inwards and meditation is the best way to do this. One of the most basic types of Zen meditation is called zazen, which literally means ‘sitting meditation’. It is typically done in the lotus position or sitting cross-legged, or even kneeling on a bench, with the eyes open and cast downward and hands resting on the abdomen. Breath counting is used to train the mind to achieve concentration (Samadhi). In order to reach this state the mind must empty itself of thoughts, delusions, fantasies (makyo) self-doubt, preoccupation with personal problems and physical pain. The koan or paradoxes in Zen are designed to be illogical so that they can achieve a breakthrough in consciousness. Perhaps the best known is ‘What is the sound of one hand clapping?’ The student may meditate on a paradox for months until an answer comes with sudden illumination. Satori or enlightenment in Zen is a breakthrough of consciousness and is thought to be the beginning of the Zen experience. Satori is the opening of the heart and the third eye, seeing things from a new point of view, an awareness of one’s own nature and the burning away of material attachments and negativity. Psychiatrist Carl Jung interpreted Satori as the great liberation of the unconscious, the totality of the nature of the soul. Satori can occur spontaneously after years of preparation and contemplation but more often than not it occurs during meditation. Once Satori is awakened it is then deepened through further meditation into a state of no-mind or no-thought, which is really seeing beyond the duality of subject-object. The state of no-mind often takes years and lifetimes to achieve but when it does it permeates daily life and manifests in everything a person does. No-mind occurs once a person realizes that nothing and now constitute all there is, that what happens in the present is what life is, not future goals or past dreams, which is why a Zen Buddhist lives by the mantra ‘be here now, in this moment’. ZENER CARDS Card set designed by parapsychologists J B Rhine and Karl Zener for use in card-guessing tests of ESP abilities. A set of Zener cards consists of 25 cards in total, comprised of five each of a circle, a square, Greek cross, five-pointed star and three wavy lines. Also commonly referred to as ESP cards. ZERO BALANCING Form of massage therapy that concentrates on aligning body energies (chi, prana, etc.) with the body’s physical structure. Zero balancing was designed as a scientific technique by Dr Fritz Smith in 1975. He felt there was a need for an energy balancing medicine that concentrated on bones and joints, and developed zero balancing after years of study and experimentation. In a typical session the client lies or sits comfortably while the practitioner applies gentle pressure to various places on the trunk, legs, neck and feet. People often report an enhanced sense of wellbeing after a treatment and it can also trigger a cathartic release of emotion. ZODIAC The system astrologers use to mark out and name constellations in the sky that the planets move through on a regular basis. The zodiac consists of an organized belt of constellations which, in Western astrology, are divided into 12 signs of 30 degrees each, which encompass the stellar constellations symbolized by an animal or mythical person or process, and known as Aries, the Ram; Taurus, the Bull; Gemini, the Twins; Cancer, the Crab; Leo, the Lion; Virgo, the Virgin; Libra, the Balance/Scale; Scorpio, the Scorpion; Sagittarius, the Archer; Capricorn, the Goat; Aquarius, the Water Bearer; and Pisces, the Fish. Each sign acts as an indictor for various personality traits. The correlation between the movements of these constellations is used to interpret future events. See also Astrology, Horoscope. ZOMBIE In Haitian and West African Voodoo traditions, a zombie is a soulless, reanimated corpse resurrected from the dead by a Voodoo priest, known as a ‘Bocor’, for the purposes of indentured servitude. Etymologists and anthropologists speculate that the term is derived from Nzambi, a West African deity. A natural explanation may exist for this phenomenon. It has been suggested that the zombie may have been a person who was buried alive and only seemed dead through the administration of a drug containing the poison of various plants and animals and various human remains. The poison puts the victim in a deathlike state. Not all those who take the drug survive; those who do remain conscious and witness their own burial and funeral. After two days the Bocor raises the victim from the tomb and administers a hallucinogenic concoction that awakens the ‘zombie’, who is now so psychologically traumatized that he or she is willing to answer to a new name and follow the Bocor into a new life, which is usually to work in the fields. Not surprisingly zombification was once described as the African slave’s ultimate nightmare, as not even death can release them from never-ending labour. Voodoo sorcerers are said to create zombies by capturing the souls of the deceased. If the sorcerer is able to capture the soul he can make a zombie ghost who wanders eternally in the astral plane at the command of the sorcerer. To prevent this happening relatives of the deceased will often stab corpses in the heart or decapitate them. ZOOMANCY Divination by the appearance and/or the behaviours of animals. Also interpreted as predictions made based upon the appearance of imaginary or mythical creatures such as the unicorn or salamanders. Zoomancy can differ from country to country and area to area. Perhaps the best-known example of zoomancy is that of a black cat crossing your path, which is believed to be a warning of bad luck to come. In some areas it only is a bad omen if it crosses from right to left. If it crosses from left to right then it signifies the onset of good luck. In other areas this is reversed. Ailuromancy, divination by the movement of cats, is but one example of zoomancy. There are a tremendous number of signs and omens based on the behaviour of animals. This isn’t much of a surprise as animals have always provided people with inspiration and teaching as well as food, clothing and companionship. Animals and divination go together naturally. Tribal societies have often wanted to ally themselves with the power and strength they can see in animals. Clans and tribes have adopted totem animals and the names of places today often recall the tribes and their totems. From the very beginning, early humans must have watched the way the animals behaved. Survival often depended on being able to ‘read’ the natural world, not simply for direct indications of food, but also the oddities that might be taken to be signs from the Spirit. Over time some of the ways that animals behaved must have accrued symbolic meanings. In Roman times the art of augury - divination by the behaviour of birds - was taken very seriously indeed. If the signs were inauspicious then the meetings of the Senate the next day would be cancelled. Many forms of zoomancy still manifest today in superstitions concerning the behaviour of animals. For example, bats flying at twilight, a robin flying into the house, seeing a ladybird - are all signs of good luck, whereas bats hitting a building, a frog croaking in the daytime and cattle lying down are all signs that it will rain soon. If a cat washes one ear three times then expect a visitor from the direction in which the cat is looking. If your cat appears around the door, think of a question and call her. If her right paw appears first around the door the answer is yes, if it is the left paw then the answer is no - and so on. There are countless superstitions associated with animals, and almost as many books detailing them. Two recommended ones are David Pickering’s Dictionary of Superstitions and The Encyclopedia of Superstitions by Christina Hole. Resources 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Selected Books/Bibliography Research Facilities Online Parapsychology Journals Parapsychology/Psychic World Organizations/Research Institutes/Societies Spiritualist Organizations Exploring the Psychic World Online Popular Magazines Quotations 1. Selected books; Bibliography Acorah, Derek Ghost Hunting (London: HarperElement, 2005) Alcock, James E Parapsychology. Magic orScience? (Oxford and New York: Pergamon, 1981) —Science and Supernature. A CriticalAppraisal of Parapsychology (New York: Prometheus, 1990) Allison, L W Leonard and the Soule Experiments (Boston: Boston Society for Psychical Research, 1929) Almeder, Robert Death and Personal Survival: The Evidence for Life After Death (Boston: Rowman & Littlefield, 1992) Ashby R H The Guidebook for the Study of Psychical Research (London: Rider, 1972) Atwater, P M H Beyond the Light. Near-Death Experiences - The Full Story (London: Thorsons, 1995) Auerbach, Lord, Ghost Hunting: How to Investigate the Paranormal (Berkeley, Calif.: Ronin Publishing, 2004) Barrett, William Death Bed Visions (reissued Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1986) Barrington, Mary Rose (ed.) Guide to the Investigation of Apparitions, Hauntings, Poltergeists and Kindred Phenomena (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1966) Beard, Paul Living On. A Study of Altering Consciousness After Death (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1980) —Hidden Man (Norwich: Pilgrim Books, 1986) Becker, Carl B Paranormal Experience and Survival of Death (New York: State University of New York Press, 1993) Beloff, John (ed.) New Directions in Parapsychology (London: Elek Science, 1974) —The Importance of Psychical Research (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1988) —Parapsychology: A Concise History (London: The Athlone Press, 1993) Berger, Arthur S Lives and Letters in American Parapsychology: A Biographical History, 1850-1987 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1988) Berger, Arthur S and Berger, Joyce The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research (New York: Paragon House, 1991) Bernstein, M The Search for Bridey Murphy (Garden City, NY Doubleday, 1956) Besterman, Theodore Collected Papers on the Paranormal (New York: Garrett, 1968) Blackmore, Susan Beyond the Body. An Investigation of Out-of-the-Body Experiences (London: Heinemann, 1982) —Dying to Live. Near-Death Experiences (New York: Prometheus Books, 1993) Blavatsky, Helena Isis Unveiled 2 volumes (1877) —Secret Doctrine 2 volumes (1888) —The Key to Theosophy (1889) —Voice of the Silence (1889) —Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge (1890-91) Bozzano, E Animism and Spiritism: A reply to M. Sudre’s Introduction à la Métapsychiquer Humaine (London: Arthur H Stockwell, 1926; first published in French, 1926) —Discarnate Influence in Human Life (London: John Watkins, n.d.) 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One Doctor’s Fascinating Account of Near-Death Experiences (Michigan: Zondervan Grand Rapids, 1998) Sagan, Carl The Demon-Haunted World.Science as a Cradle in the Dark (New York and London: Random House, 1995) Sage, M Mrs Piper and the Society forPsychical Research (London: Brimley Johnson, 1903) Sahay, K K N Reincarnation: Verified Casesof Rebirth after Death (Bareilly: N L Gupta, 1927) Salter, W H Trance Mediumship: AnIntroductory Study of Mrs Piper and MrsLeonard (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1950) —Zoar Or the Evidence of Psychical Research Concerning Survival (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1961) Salter, Mrs W H Ghosts and Apparitions (London: Bell, 1938) Saltmarsh, H F Knowledge andForeknowledge (London: Harrison, 1937) —Evidence of Personal Survival from Cross-Correspondences (London: Bell, 1938) —Foreknowledge (London: Bell, 1938) Schrenck-Notzing, Baron von Phenomenaof Materializations (London: Kegan, Paul, Trench & Trubner, 1920) Schwartz, Gary The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Evidence of Life After Death (New York: Pocket Books, 2002) Shermer, Michael Why People Believe Weird Things. Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of our Time (New York: W H Freeman and Co., 1997) Sidgwick, Eleanor Mildred HenrySidgwick. A Memoir (London: Macmillan and Co., 1906) —Phantasms of the Living: Cases of Telepathy Printed in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research During Thirty-five Years (New Hyde Park, NY University Books, 1962) Sinclair, U Mental Radio (Springfield, Ill.: Thomas, 1930) Smythies, J R (ed.) Science and ESP (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967) Soal, S G The Experimental Situation inPsychical Research. Ninth F W H Myers Memorial Lecture (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1947) Soal, S G and Baterman, F ModernExperiments in Telepathy (London: Faber & Faber, 1954) Soal, S G and Bowden, H T The MindReaders: Some Recent Experiments inTelepathy (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1960) Society for Psychical Research Hints on Sitting with Mediums (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1965) —Notes for Investigators of Spontaneous Cases (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1968) —Psychical Research. A Selective Guide to Publications in English (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1976) Solomon, Grant and Solomon, Jane The Scole Experiment (London: Piatkus, 1999) Stein, Gordon (ed.) The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal (New York: Prometheus Books, 1996) Stemman, Roy Spirit Communication. A Comprehensive Guide to the Extraordinary World of Mediums, Psychics and the Afterlife (London: Piatkus, 2005) Stevens, E W The Wateska Wonder (Chicago: Religio-Philosophical Publishing House, 1887) Stevenson, I The Psychiatric Examination (London: Churchill, 1969) —Telepathic Impressions: A Review and Report of Thirty-Five New Cases (Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia Press, 1970) —Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation (rev. ed., Charlottesville, Va: University Press of Virginia, 1974) —Xenoglossy: A Review and Report of a Case (Charlottesville, Va: University Press of Virginia, 1974) —Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation (Charlottesville, Va: University Press of Virginia, 1987) —Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1997) —Where Biology and Reincarnation Intersect (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1997) Sudre, Rene Treatise on Parapsychology (trans. C Green) (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1960) Swann, Ingo Natural ESP (New York: Bantam Books, 1987) Tabori, Paul and Phyllis, Raphael Beyond the Senses: A Report on Psychical Research and Occult Phenomena in the Sixties (London: Souvenir Press, 1971) Tanner, A E Studies in Spiritism (New York: Appleton, 1910) Targ, Russell Miracles of Mind: Exploring Nonlocal Consciousness and Spiritual Healing (Novata, Calif.: New World Library, 1998) —Limitless Mind: A Guide to Remote Viewing (Novata, Calif.: New World Library, 2004) Targ, Russell and Haray, Keith The Mind Race. Understanding and Using Psychic Abilities (Westminster, Md: Ballantine Books, 1985) Targ, Russell and Puthoff, Hal Mind-Reach. Scientists Look at Psychic Ability (New York: Dell Publishing/Delta Book, 1977) Tart, Charles Altered States of Consciousness (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1969) —States of Consciousness (New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1972) —Learning To Use Extrasensory Perception (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1976) —Psi: Scientific Studies of the Psychic Realm (New York: E P Dutton & Co., 1977) —Body, Mind, Spirit: Exploring the Parapsychology of Spirituality (Charlottesville, Va: Hampton Roads Publishing Co., 1997) Thalbourne, Michael A Glossary of Termsused in Parapsychology (London: Heinemann, 1982) Thomas, C Drayton Some New Evidence forHuman Survival (London: W Collins Sons & Co. Ltd, 1922) —Life Beyond Death with Evidence (London: W Collins Sons & Co Ltd, 1928) —Life Beyond Death (London: W Collins Sons & Co Ltd, 1933) —An Amazing Experiment (London: Lectures Universal, 1936) Thomas, John F Case Studies Bearing Upon Survival (Boston: Boston Society for Psychical Research, 1929) Thouless, Robert H Psychical Research Past and Present. Myers Memorial Lecture for 1952 (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1952) —Experimental Psychical Research (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1963) —From Anecdote to Experiment in Psychical Research (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972) Tietza, T R Margery (New York: Harper & Row, 1973) Tischner, Rudolf Telepathy andClairvoyance (London: Kegan, Paul, Trench & Trübner, 1925; first published in German, 1921) Turner, J (ed.) Stella C (London: Souvenir Press, 1973) Tyrrell, G N M Grades of Significance (London: Rider & Co., 1930) —Science and Psychical Phenomena (New York: University Books, 1938) —Apparitions (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1973; first published 1942) —The Personality of Man (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1946) Van Over, R and Oteri, L (eds.) William McDougall, Explorer of the Mind: Studies in Psychical Research (New York: Garrett/Helix, 1967) Vasiliev, L L Mysterious Phenomena of the Human Psyche (New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1965) Vesme, C de A History of Experimental Spiritualism 2 volumes (London: Rider & Co., 1931; first published in French, 1928) Wallace, Alfred Russel Miracles and Modern Spiritualism (New York: Arno Press, 1975; first published 1896) Walter, Grey The Neurological Aspects of Hallucinations and Illusionary Experience. Myers Memorial Lecture for 1963 (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1963) Warcollier, René Experiments in Telepathy (London: Allen and Unwin, 1938) Warcollier, René, Swann, Ingo and Targ, Russell Mind to Mind. Studies in Consciousness (Charlottesville, Va: Hampton Roads Publishing Co., 2001) Warrick, F W Experiments in Psychics (London: Rider & Co, 1939) West, Donald Tests for Extra Sensory Perception: An Introductory Guide (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1953) —Psychical Research Today (London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., 1954) White, Rhea A and Dale, Laura A Parapsychology: Sources of Information (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1973) —Parapsychology: New Sources of Information (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1990) Wilson, Colin Afterlife. An Investigation of the Evidence for Life After Death (London: Caxton Editions, 1985) —Beyond the Occult. Twenty Years’ Research into the Paranormal (London: Bantam Book, 1988) Wilson, Ian The After Death Experience (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1987) Wiseman, Richard Deception & Self-Deception. Investigating Psychics (New York: Prometheus Books, 1997) Wiseman, Richard and Morris, Robert L Guidelines for Testing Psychic Claimants (New York: Prometheus Books, 1995) Wolman, B B Handbook of Parapsychology (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1977) Wright, Silvia Hart When Spirits Come Calling. The Open-Minded Skeptic’s Guide to After-Death Contacts (Nevada City: Blue Dolphin Publishing, 2002) Wyndham, H Mr Sludge the Medium (London: Bles, 1937) Zöllner, J C F Transcendental Physics (New York: Arno Press, 1975; first published 1888) 2. Research Facilities C.I.R.P. Cognitive Sciences Laboratory USA Tel: +1 (323) 549 5025 Fax: +1 (408) 904 6195 Institut Metapsychique International 51, rue de l’Aqueduc 75010, Paris France Tel/fax: +33 (0)1 46 07 23 85 Institut fuer Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene Wilhelmstrasse 3a D-79098 Freiburg i. Br. Germany Tel: +49 (0)761 20721 0 Fax: +49 (0)761 20721 99 Institute of Noetic Sciences 101 San Antonio Road Petaluma, CA 94952 USA Fax: +1 (707) 781 7420 General Inquiries: +1 (707) 775 3500 Instituto Latinoamericano de Psicologia Paranormal Apartado Postal 156 San Juan del Rio, 76800 Queretaro Mexico Instituto de Pesquisas Interdisciplinares das Areas Fronteiriças da Psicologia Rua Vicente Jose de Almeida, 228 Jardim Cupece - Sao Paulo/SP CEP: 04652-140 Brazil ISLIS National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) 9-1, Anagawa-4, Inage-ku, Chiba-shi 2638555 Japan Tel: +81 43 206 3066 Fax: +81 43 206 3069 Koestler Parapsychology Unit (University of Edinburgh) Department of Psychology University of Edinburgh 7 George Square Edinburgh EH8 9JZ UK Tel: +44 (0)131 650 3348 Laboratories for Fundamental Research Tel: +1 (650) 327 2007 Fax: +1 (650) 322 7960 Pacific Neuropsychiatric Institute Northwest Outpatient Medical Center 10330 Meridian Avenue N. Suite 380 Seattle, WA 98133 USA Tel: +1 (206) 527 6289 Fax: +1 (206) 526 2335 http://www.pni.org/ Perrott-Warrick Research Unit University of Hertfordshire College Lane, Hatfield, Herts AL10 9AB UK Tel: +44 (0)1707 284800 Fax: +44 (0)1707 284870 Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) C-131, Engineering Quadrangle Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544 USA Tel: +1 (609) 258 5950 Rhine Research Center (Institute for Parapsychology) 2741 Campus Walk Avenue, Building 500 Durham, NC 27705 USA Tel: +1 (919) 688 8241 Fax: +1 (919) 683 4338 3. Online Parapsychology Journals Frontier Perspectives (CFS, Philadelphia, USA) http://www.temple.edu/CFS/index.html International Journal of Parapsychology (PF, New York, USA) http://parapsychology.org/dynamic/050100.html Japanese Journal of Parapsychology (JSPP, Tokyo, Japan) http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jspp2/issue_e.htm La Revue de Parapsychologie (1971-1989) (GERP, St Denis, France) (in French) http://gerp.free.fr/REVUEP.htm Luce ed Ombra (Bologna, Italy) http://www2.comune.bologna.it/bologna/fbibbdb/leo.htm Metapsichica, the Italian Journal of Parapsychology (AISM, Milan, Italy) (in Italian) http://www.metapsichica.it/pubblicazioni. htm Psychological Bulletin (PB) http://www.apa.org/journals/bul/ Quaderni di Parapsicologia (CSP, Bologna, Italy) http://digilander.libero.it/cspbologna/csp-new1/QP/QP.htm Revue Française de Parapsychologie (GEEPP, Toulouse, France) (in French) http://geepp.or3p.free.fr/geepp-or3p/or3p/rfp.htm Revue Métapsychique (IMI, Paris, France) (in French) http://geepp.or3p.free.fr/geepp-or3p/abreges/index.htm The electronic Journal for Anomalous Phenomena (eJAP@psy.uva.nl) http://www.fmg.uva.nl/psychologie/PsychologieActueel.cfm The European Journal of Parapsychology (EJP) (KPU, Edinburgh, UK) http://ejp.org.uk/ The Journal of ISLIS (International Society of Life Information Science) (Chiba-shi, Japan) http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/islis/journal.htm The Journal of Paraphysics (J. E. Beichler and S. Stansfield) http://members.aol.com/jebco1st/Paraphysics/issue7.htm The Journal of Parapsychology (JP) (Fairhaven, Vt, USA) http://www.rhine.org/ The Journal of Scientific Exploration (JSE) (SSE, Stanford, USA) http://www.scientificexploration.org/ The Journal of the Society forPsychical Research (SPR, London, UK) http://www.spr.ac.uk/index.php3? page=journal The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR, NewBern, NC, USA) http://www.aspr.com/jaspr.htm Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie (APGP, Freiburg, Germany) (in German) http://www.psychologie.uni-freiburg.de/einrichtungen/Grenzgebiete/zfpgdp.html 4. Parapsychology/Psychic World Organizations/Research Institutes/Societies American Association for Parapsychology Box 225, Canoga Park, CA 91305 USA Tel: +1 (818) 883 0887 http://www.parapsychologydegrees.com/ Offers complete course in Parapsychology American Society for Psychical Research, Inc. 5 West 73rd Street New York, New York 10023 USA Tel: +1 (212) 799 5050 Fax: +1 (212) 496 2497 http://www.aspr.com/who.htm Anomalous Cognition Group Department of Psychology University of Amsterdam Holland Antioch University 13274 Fiji Way Marina Del Ray, Los Angeles CA 90192 USA Tel: +1 (310) 578 1080 Offers Psi-related course work or degree programmes Association for Research and Enlightenment PO Box 595 Virginia Beach, VA 23541-0595 USA Tel: +1 (804) 428 3588 www.are-cayce.com Offers Psi-related course work or degree programmes Association for the Study of Dreams PO Box 1600 Vienna, VA 22183 USA Tel: +1 (703) 242 0062 www.ASDreams.org Association for Transpersonal Psychology PO Box 50187 Palo Alto CA 94303 USA Tel: +1 (650) 424 8764 www.atpweb.org Atlantic University 215 67th Street Virginia Beach, VA 23451 USA Tel: (toll free) 1 800 428 1512 www.atlanticuniv.edu Offers Masters Degree in Transpersonal Psychology Australian Institute ofParapsychological Research PO Box 445 Lane Cove, NSW 2066 Australia Boundary Institute 18488 Prospect Road, Suite 14 Saratoga, CA 95070 USA Tel: +1 (408) 996 7184 www.boundaryinstitute.org Investigation of anomalous phenomena relating to consciousness California Institute for Human Science 609 South Vulcan Avenue, Suite 201 Encinitas, CA 92024 USA Tel +1 (619) 634 1771 Offers Psi-related course work or degree programmes California Institute for Integral Studies [Course:] Intuition, Parapsychology and Consciousness 1453 Mission St San Francisco, CA 94103 USA Tel: +1 (415) 575 6100 Offers Psi-related course work or degreeprogrammes Centro Italiano di Parapsicologia Via Poggio de Mari, 16 80129 Napoli Italy Centre for Frontier Sciences Temple University, Ritter Hall (003-00), Room 478 1301 Cecil B. Moore Ave. (13th & Montgomery Streets) Philadelphia, PA 19122 USA Tel: +1 (215) 204 8487 Fax: +1 (215) 204 5553 Central Premonitions (http://mainportals.com/precog.shtml) College of Psychic Studies 16 Queensberry Place London SW7 2EB UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7589 3292 http://www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk/ index.html Offers psychic development classes Esalen Institute Highway 1 Big Sur Online Registry CA 93920 USA Tel: +1 (408) 667 3000 www.Esalen.org Exploration of human potential Exceptional Human Experience Network Rhea White 414 Rockledge Road New Bern NC 28562 USA Tel: +1 (919) 636 8734 www.ehe.org Foundation for Mind Being Research FMBR PO Box 449 Los Altos CA 94023-0449 USA http://www.fmbr.org/ Global awareness/mind change Fondation Odier de Psychophysique Route de la Capite 77 1223 Cologny (Genève) Switzerland Franklin Pierce College PO Box 60, College Road Rindge, New Hampshire 03461-0060 USA Tel: +1(603) 899 4100 Offers Psi-related course work or degree programmes Global Consciousness Project http://noosphere.princeton.edu/index.ht ml Greenwich University 103 Kapliolani Street Jilo HI 96720 USA Tel: +1 (808) 935 9934 www.greenwich.edu Offers Psi-related course work or degree programmes Inner Vision Extended Remote Viewing Training Inner Vision 1836 Pinchot Street Las Vegas, NV 89115 USA Offers Psi-related course work or degree programmes Institut Metapsychique International 51, rue de l’Aqueduc 75010, Paris France Tel/fax: +33 (0)1 46 07 23 85 http://www.metapsychique.org/ International Science of Life Foundation ISLIS Head Office c/o International Research Institute (IRI) 40A, KK Buildg., 1108-2, Sonno, Inage, Chiba 263-0051 Japan Tel: +81 43 255 5481? Fax: +81 43 255 5482? http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/islis/en/islis.htm Institute for Parapsychology Rhine Research Center PO Box 6847 College Station Durham, NC 27708-6847 USA Tel: +1 (919) 688 8241 www.rhine.org Offers Psi-related course work or degree programmes Institute of Noetic Sciences 101 San Antonio Road Petaluma, CA 94952 USA Tel: +1 (707) 775 3500 www.noetic.org Research on psychic themes Institute for Transpersonal Psychology 744 San Antonio Rd., Palo Alto, CA 94303 USA Tel: +1 (415) 493 4430 www.itp.edu Psi-related course work or degree programmes Instituto de Psicologia Paranormal Asociacion Ibero-Americana de Parapsicologia Salta 2015 (1137) Capital Federal Buenos Aires Argentina Instituto de Parapsicologia Zabala 1930 1712 Castelar Prov. De Buenos Aires Argentina International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine 11005 Ralston Road Arvada, CO 80004 USA Tel: +1 (303) 425 4625 www.issseem.org Japanese Society for Parapsychology 29-24-204, Sakuragaoka-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo-to 150-0031 Japan http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jspp2/jspp_e.htm John F. Kennedy University (JFK) 12 Altarinda Road Orinda, CA 94563 USA Tel: +1 (510) 254 0200 Psi-related course work or degree programmes Koestler Parapsychology Unit PPLS, University of Edinburgh 7 George Square Edinburgh EH8 9JZ UK Tel: +44 (0)131 650 3348 Fax: +44 (0)131 650 3369 Psi-related course work or degree programmes Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health PO Box 793 Lenox, MA 01240 USA Tel: +1 (413) 448 3400 www.kripalu.org National Guild of Hypnotists PO Box 308 Merrimack NH 03054 USA Tel: +1 (603) 429 9438 www.ngh.net Omega Institute for Holistic Studies 260 Lake Drive Rhinebeck NY 12572-3212 USA www.eomega.org Parapsychology, Chair of Univ. of Utrecht, Postbus 80125 3508 TC Utrecht Holland Parapsychology Institute Springweg 7 3511 VH Utrecht Holland Parapsychology Foundation 228 East 71st Street New York NY 10021 USA Tel: +1 (212) 628 1550 www.parapsychology.org Parapsychological Association, Inc. 2474-342 Walnut St Cary, NC 27511 USA http://www.parapsych.org Parapsychological Study Centre of Bologna CSP c/o Dr Piero Cassoli Via Valeriani 39 40134 Bologna Italy Tel: +39 (0)51 614 31 04 Fax: +39 (0)51 614 31 04 http://digilander.libero.it/cspbologna/csp-new1/English/english.htm Rhine Research Center Institute for Parapsycology 2741 Campus Walk Avenue Building 500 Durham, NC 27705 USA http://www.rhine.org/index.shtml Rosebridge Graduate School 1040 Oak Grove Road, Suite 103 Concord, CA 94518 USA Tel: +1 (510) 689 0560 Psi-related course work or degree programmes of Integrative Psychology Saybrook Institute 450 Pacific 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA 94133 USA Tel: +1 (415) 433 9200 or 1-800 825 4480 Offers Psi-related course work or degree programmes Society for Psychical Research 49 Marloes Road Kensington London W8 6LA UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7937 8984 http://moebius.psy.ed.ac.uk/~spr/ Society for Scientific Exploration (without limits) Department of Astronomy, PO Box 3818 Charlottesville, VA 22903-0818 USA Tel: +1 (434) 924 7494 http://www.scientificexploration.org/index.html Touching Spirit Center 16 South Street PO Box 337 Litchfield CT 06759 USA Tel: +1 (860) 567 0600 www.touchingspirit.org Offers training in intuitive development and healing West Georgia College Department of Psychology Carrolton, GA 30118 USA Tel: +1 (404) 836 6510 Offers Psi-related course work or degree programmes 5. Spiritualist Organizations USA Lily Dale Assembly (school) 5 Melrose Park Lily Dale, NY 14752 Tel: +1 (716) 595 8721 www.lilydale.org Morris Pratt Institute (school) 11811 Watertown Plank Road Milwaukee WI 53226-3342 Tel: +1 (414) 774 2994 www.morrispratt.org National Spiritualist Alliance Lake Pleasant Montague Franklin County, MA http://www.thenationalspiritualallianceinc.org/ National Spiritualist Association of Churches in the USA General Offices PO Box 217 Lily Dale, NY 14752 Tel: +1 (716) 595 2000 http://www.nsac.org/contacts/index.htm UK The Spiritualists National Union Redwoods Stansted Hall Stansted Mountfitchett Essex, CM24 8UD Tel: 0845 4580 768 http://www.snu.org.uk/home02.htm Arthur Finlay College Stansted Hall Stansted Mountfitchett Essex, CM24 8UD Tel: +44 (0)1279 813636 E-mail: afc@snu.org.uk The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain 33 Belgrave Square London, SW1X 8QB Tel: +44 (0)20 7235 3351 http://www.sagb.org.uk/ 6. Exploring the Psychic World Online www.Akashicuniversity.com Online learning community focusing on intuition, astrology and spirituality www.beliefnet.com Information on all aspects of spirituality www.parapsychology.org/www.PsiResearch.org Parapsychology FAQ www.Interluderetreat.com Meditations and thoughts for the week www.intuition.org Website devoted to the development of inner intuitive resources www.SoulfulLiving.com Soul study www.spiritualityhealth.com Spirituality and holistic health www.dreamgate.com www.dreamtree.com Websites for people interested in dreams and dreaming http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/ Online information on the teachings of Madame Blavatsky http://www.theparasychologist.com/ Exposing the facts about ghost investigation so you can decide http://www.parascience.org.uk/ Para.Science was established to conduct serious study, research and investigation into all types of paranormal phenomena http://www.psychicworld.net/ An informative and interactive site dealing with the paranormal in an enlightening and entertaining way http://www.paraworld.info/ Website devoted to parapsychology and psychic development www.haunt.net How to deal with hauntings http://www.allspiritual.com/index.php3 Gateway to spirituality online http://www.topsitelists.com/bestsites/mystic/topsites.html Online resource for psychics and mediums www.OfSpirit.com Energy healing, spirits and angels www.snu.org.uk Information about spiritualism www.astrology.com Astrology on the web www.spiritweb.com Information about chakras www.dowsers.com American Society of Dowsers www.tarotsociety.org International Society of Tarot www.lightofthesoul.net Links to mediums www.theseance.com Information about séances http://istina.rin.ru/eng/para/gadanie.html http://www.serenapowers.com/ Informative websites that explain and explore numerous methods of divination and also offer fortune-telling services online www.ufomind.com Well organized paranormal website www.spirit.web.org www.spiritonline.org www.newagecom Explore the psychic world 7. Popular Magazines USA Body and Soul 42 Pleasant Street Watertown MA 02472 www.bodyandsoulmag.com Fate Magazine PO Box 460 Lakeville MN 55044 www.fatemag.com Magical Blend Magazine PO Box 600 Chico CA 95927 www.magicalblend.com New York Spirit Magazine 107 Sterling Place Brooklyn NY 11217 www.nyspirit.com Earthwise Spirituality Blessed Bee Inc PO Box 641 Point Arena CA 95468 www.pangaia.com Shaman’s Drum PO Box 270 Williams OR 97544 Whole Life Times PO Box 1187 Malibu CA 90265 www.wholelifetimes.com Intuition Magazine 275 Brannan Street San Francisco CA 94107 www.intuitionmagazine.com UK Fate and Fortune H Bauer Publishing 24-28 Oval Road London NW1 7DT Fortean Times Box 2409 London NW5 4NP www.forteantimes.com Kindred Spirit Sandwell Barns Harberton, Totnes Devon TQ9 7LJ http://www.kindredspirit.co.uk/ Prediction IPC Country and Leisure, Focus House Dingwell Avenue Croydon CR9 2TA http://www.predictionmagazine.com Spirit and Destiny Academic House 24-28 Oval Road London NW1 7DT E-mail: spirit.destiny@bauer.co.uk 8. QUOTATIONS I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.’ (Thomas Paine) ‘The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant …We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.’ (Albert Einstein) ‘The spiritual life does not remove us from the world, but it leads us deeper into it.’ (Henri Nouwen) ‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it, boldness has genius, power and magic in it.’ (Goethe) ‘Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.’ (Thomas Merton) ‘The deeper I listen, the more wondrous life becomes.’ (Anon.) ‘Let us remember that within us there is a palace of immense significance.’ (St Teresa of Avila) It is only when we realize that life is taking us nowhere that it begins to have meaning.’ (P D Ospensky) ‘The only way to find the limits of the possible is by going beyond them to the impossible.’ (Arthur C Clarke) ‘The universe is filled with magical things patiently waiting for us to Awaken.’ (Anon.) ‘Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.’ (Albert Einstein) ‘What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.’ (Buddha) ‘We cannot discover new oceans until we have the courage to loose sight of the shore.’ (Anon.) ‘Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier.’ (Dorothea Brande) ‘When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.’ (Lao Tzu) ‘What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.’ (Ralph Waldo Emerson) ‘There are only two ways to live a life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.’ (Albert Einstein) ‘Knowledge of any kind … brings about a change in awareness from where it is possible to create new realities.’ (Deepak Chopra) ‘Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.’ (Stevie Wonder) In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities.’ (Anon.) ‘Unity consciousness is a state of enlightenment where we pierce the mask of illusion which creates separation and fragmentation. Behind the appearance of separation is one unified field of wholeness. Here the seer and the scenery are one.’ (Deepak Chopra) What is essential is invisible to the eyes.’ (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) ‘When one realizes one is asleep, one is already half awake.’ (Anon.) ‘Yesterday is but today’s memory, and Tomorrow is today’s dream.’ (Kahlil Gibran) ‘Surrender is faith that the power of love can accomplish anything … even when you cannot foresee the outcome.’ (Deepak Chopra) ‘The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind.’ (William James) ‘The world we are experiencing today is the result of our collective consciousness, and if we want a new world, each of us must start taking responsibility for helping create it.’ (Rosemary Fillmore Rhea) ‘The authentic self is the soul made visible.’ (Sarah Ban Breathnach) ‘The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.’ (Aristotle) Insight occurs when, and to the degree that, one knows oneself (Andrew Schneider) ‘Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding about ourselves.’ (Carl Jung) ‘Divinity is the true self of man.’ (Kahlil Gibran) ‘Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.’ (William Jennings Bryan) ‘The man who can see all creatures in himself and himself in all creatures, knows no sorrow.’ (Eesha Upanishad) ‘Everyone and everything around you is your teacher.’ (Ken Keys Jr) ‘Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you imagined! As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.’ (Henry David Thoreau) ‘Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful … Just put forth a clear enough request and everything your heart desires must come to you.’ (S Gawain) ‘The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.’ (Marcel Proust) Each today, well-lived, makes yesterday a dream of happiness and each tomorrow a vision of hope. Look, therefore, to this one day, for it and it alone is life.’ (Sanskrit poem) ‘You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.’ (Henry David Thoreau) ‘Remain open. There is something bigger than you know going on here.’ (Ivanla Van Zant) ‘Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond belief (Nelson Mandela) Watch your thoughts, for they become words … Choose your words, for they become actions … Understand your actions, for they become habits … Study your habits, for they become your character … Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.’ (Anon.) ‘I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.’ (Albert Einstein) ‘Know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.’ (Jesus Christ) ‘To see things in a seed, that is genius.’ (Lao Tzu) A coincidence is when God performs a miracle, and decides to remain anonymous.’ (Anon.) ‘Life is 10 percent of what happens to you, and 90 percent of how you respond to it.’ (Anon.) Everything seeks its source.’ (A universal principle) A closed mind is a dying mind.’ (Edna Ferber) ‘We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.’ (Winston Churchill) ‘Vision: the art of seeing things invisible.’ (Jonathan Swift) ‘The secret to health in both mind and body, is not to mourn for the past, nor worry about the future … But to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.’ (Buddha) ‘If you can dream it, you can do it.’ (Walt Disney) ‘Yesterday is history … Tomorrow is a mystery … Today is a gift, that is why it is called the Present.’ (Anon.) All the darkness of the world cannot put out the light of one small candle.’ (Anon.) ‘When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.’ (Charles A. Beard) ‘We must be the “change” we wish to see.’ (Mahatma Gandhi) ‘You must do the thing you think you cannot do.’ (Eleanor Roosevelt) In order to disprove the fact that all crows are black, it is enough to find one white crow.’ (William James) If you hear a voice within you saying, “You are not a painter”, then by all means paint … and that voice will be silenced.’ (Vincent Van Gogh) A single grateful thought raised to heaven, is the most perfect prayer.’ (G E Lessing) ‘Perhaps it would be a good idea, fantastic as it sounds, to muffle every telephone and halt all activity for one hour some day to give people a chance to ponder for a few moments on what it is all about, why they are living, and what they really want.’ (James Truslow Adams) A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest -a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.’ (Albert Einstein) ‘If you are not shocked by quantum physics, then you do not understand it.’ (Ernest Schroedinger) ‘Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.’ (Anon.) ‘We still do not know one-ten thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.’ (Albert Einstein) Index The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader. Note: Page numbers in bold indicate main entries abacomancy 5-6 Aberfan disaster 501, 560 Abrams, Albert 597 absent healing 6, 101 Acheri 6 acupressure 6-7 acupuncture 7, 364-5 Adam, Jean 383 Adams, Abigail 764 Adams, John 764 Adams, John Quincy 743 Adare, Lord 298 Addams, Jane 304 Adelphi Theatre, ghost of 7-8 adept 8, 393, 435 the Master 680 see also hidden masters; illuminati Ader, Robert 66 Adler, Alfred 228 aeromancy 8 Affair of the Diamond Necklace 95 affirmation 9-10, 753 Africa viii tokolosh 720 witch doctors 502 witch lights 317 Afrit 10 afterlife 10-11 Bridge of Souls 86-7 burial rites 90 deathbed visions 149-50 see also near-death experience Age of Aquarius 11-12, 411 agent 12, 611 Ahrimanic beings 681 Aikido 432 ailuromancy 12 air 13 Airlie, Earls of 173 akasha 13, 28-9, 394 see also ether Akashic Records 13-14, 680 Alamo 14 Albertus Magnus 16 Alcatraz 14-15 alchemy 15-17, 254, 258, 291, 367 Rosicrucians 617, 618 Taoist 703 see also philosopher’s stone alectromancy 17 aleuromancy 17 Alexander the Great 291, 520 Alexander, John 743 All Souls’ Day 148, 243 Allanbank Mansion 530-1 Alley, Kirstie 634 Allhallows Eve see Halloween Allison, Ralph 197 alomancy 17 Alphonsus Liguori, St 70 altered state of consciousness (ASC) 17-18, 371, 412, 785 achieving 72, 107, 124, 321, 464, 775 near-death experiences 474 out-of-body experiences 509 see also clairvoyant reality; hypnosis; trance alternative medicine 18 acupressure 6-7 acupuncture 7 affirmations 10 aromatherapy 31-2 biofeedback 73 bodywork 78 colour healing 122 homeopathy 299-300 reflexology 601-2 reiki 599-60 traditional Chinese medicine 723 see also energy balancing/medicine alu 744 Ambrose of Milan, St 70 American Airline crash 501-2 American Civil War 63, 277, 282, 419, 498, 773, 779 see also Antietam; Gettysburg American folklore banshee 62 candles 97 deathwatch beetle 150 Halloween 278 spitting 676 tommyknockers 368 American Ghost Society 19, 248 American Revolution 420 American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) ix, 20, 21, 63, 80, 84, 103, 129, 149, 212, 219, 236, 283, 311, 328, 341, 359, 417, 443, 462, 502, 506, 524, 548, 556, 557, 558, 563, 610, 659, 662, 674, 689, 711, 716, 764 Amherst Haunting 20-1 Amityville Horror 21 Ammachi (Mata Amritanandamayi) 51 Ammianus Marcellinus 699 amniomancy 21 amulet 22, 572 crystal 136, 588 evil eye protection 196 fetish compared 209 iron 335 mantras 428 red 6 runes 619 silver 651 talisman compared 700 totem pole 721 see also Eye of Horus; glyph; sigil ancestor worship 22, 90 see also Day of the Dead Ancient and Mystic Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC) 618 Ancient Order of Druids 173 Anderson, Anna W 768-9 Andreas, Johann Valentin 617 Andrews, Miles Peter 413-14 angel 10, 22-3, 204 Enochian Calls 152, 190 guardian 267, 668 see also archangels Angels of Mons 64 anima mundi 13 animal divination 799-800 hauntings 24, 701 psi 23-4 superstitions 800 totem 720, 800 animal magnetism see mesmerism animism 24-5, 209 and reincarnation 24, 604-5 Ankou 25 Anne, Queen 280 Anson, Jay 21 Anthony of Padua, St 70 Anthroposophical Society 681 Anthroposophy 680 Antietam 25-6, 111 Apache people 249 apantomancy 26 apparition 26-9 Encyclopaedia Britannica 379 familial 206 hag 277 Hart’s theory 283 Marian 426-7 studies 63, 132–3, 611 Tyrell’s theory 731 Wilmot 772-3 see also ghost applied psi 29-30, 609 apport 30, 329 Charlton House teacup 109 Guppy 269 Sai Baba 30, 624 see also teleportation Arabian tradition Afrit 10 alchemy 16 scrying 637 arcana 354 archangels 30 archetypes 30-1, 120, 233, 346, 431 cellular memory 102 scarab 631, 694 tarot 703 Arguelles, Jose 282 Aristotle 16, 463, 520, 545, 551, 582, 692 arithmancy 31 Arnaud, F L 152 aromatherapy 31-2, 194, 434 arrival cases 32-3 art, psychic 33 Artemidorus 168 Arthur, King 50-1, 252, 258, 446, 700 Arundel Castle 33-4 Ash Manor ghost 34-5, 220 Asimov, Isaac 123 asport 36 Assagioli, Roberto 725 Association for Research and Enlightenment 100-1 Association of Past Life Research and Therapy (APRT) 528 Assyrians channelling 106 evil eye 196 iron amulets 335 moon divination 641 omens 500 phantom armies 536 utukku 744 astral body (subtle body) 36-7, 162, 195, 393, 412, 781 dream travels 171 ectoplasm 181 silver cord 509, 652 astral doorways 37 astral plane 36, 37-8, 195-6, 336, 393, 661, 726 and psychic attack 569, 571 astral plane inhabitants devas 155 Eck masters 180 hidden masters 294 illuminati 318 intelligence 330 People of the Rainbow 330 zombies 799 astral projection/astral travel 38, 393 Eckankar 180-1 to Mars 655 using tattwas 37 see also out-of-body experience astrology 38-43, 291, 450 Vedic 749 see also horoscope; zodiac Athenodorus, The Haunting of 4/3-4: Atlantis 44-5, 190, 249, 714 atmosphere 45-6 Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) 324 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) 324 Aubrey, John 46, 534 augury 46, 160, 800 Augustine, St 168, 409 aumakua 47 aura 47-8, 77, 709, 715 colours 122 halo 278 Indigo Children 322-3 Kirlian photography 364-5 medical intuition 78, 437, 438 strengthening 572 thought form attack 473 trapped spirits 154, 769 vibrational healing 751 see also astral body; etheric body auric sight 47, 117, 278, 640 Australia 590 Australian aboriginals 171 Austria 86, 259 automatic painting see art, psychic automatic writing 48-9, 179, 316, 355 Bond 80, 568 Moses 459 from Myers 519, 548 Roberts 613 Stead 680 White 763 Worth 781-2 automatism 50 Ouija board 507 Avalon 50-1, 252 avatar 51 see also Sai Baba Avebury 52 axinomancy 52 Ayurvedic medicine 52-3, 195, 322, 552, 585, 723, 749 Aztecs viii, 39, 377 ba 57 Babbitt, Edwin 122 Babcock, Joseph P 425 Babylonians 98, 488, 775 aeromancy 8 astrology 39 capnomancy 98 channelling 106 evil eye 196 haruspicy 283 iron amulets 335 magic and sorcery 775 numerology 489 omens 500 oneiromancy 501 Bach, Edward 218 Bach Remedies 217-18 Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery 57-8, 248, 541 Bacon, Francis 48 Bacon, Roger 16 Baggally M W 518 bakechochin 58 balance 58-9 Baldwin, William 669 Balfour, Arthur James 519, 648 Balfour, Francis M 519 Balinovski, Eduardo 398 Ballechin House 59-60 Baltimore poltergeist 60-2, 220 banshee 62, 296, 391 Barbanell, Maurice 651-2 Barker, J A 559 Barksdale, William 241 Barlow, Fred 574 Barrett, William Fletcher 63, 149, 462, 523, 649, 659 Barrington, Mary Rose 344 Barron, James 151 Barry, Clive 235 Bartlett, John 568 Batcheldor, Kenneth 652-3 Batten, Mabel 390 Battle Abbey 63 battlefield hauntings 63-4 see also Alamo; Antietam; Chickamauga; Gettysburg; phantom armies Bealings House bell ringer 64-5 beans 65 Beardie, Earl 250-1 Beethoven 50, 328 behavioural medicine 65-6 Beldoff, John 189 Belk, William 305 Bell Witch 66-8 Benedict XIV, Pope 523 Benedictsson, Einar 295 Bennett, Ernest 219 Bennett, William 215 Benson, Herbert 439 Bentham, Jeremy 68 Béraud, Marthe 181, 237, 435-6, 564 Beresford, Lady 731-2 Berger, Hans 72 Bermuda Triangle 68-9 Bernard of Clairvaux, St 366 Berne, Eric 294 Bernstein, Morey 527 Berry Pomeroy Castle 69 Bertha 770 Besant, Annie 714 Betty Book, The 763 bhut 69 Bible 163, 168, 196, 381, 652, 676 Witch of Endor 775 see also New Testament; Old Testament bibliomancy 70 bilocation 70-1 see also arrival cases Bindelof Society 71, 653 bioenergetics 71-2, 603 bioenergy 741 biofeedback 72-3 biopsychokinesis 550 Bird, Malcolm 129 birds 73 see also augury; orinthomancy; ravens Björnsson, Hafsteinn 172, 620 Black Elk, Nicholas 73-4 black magic 74-5, 292, 321, 421, 616, 759, 761, 765 haruspicy 283 left-hand path 385 pentagram 533 psychic attack 473 see also curses; Satanism; sorcery Black Shuck 75 Blackburn, Charles 126 Blackwood, Algernon 257 Blake, William 76 Blatty, William Peter 127 Blavatsky, Madame 13, 44–5, 76-7, 293, 318, 361, 362, 388, 436, 461, 649, 653, 714, 759 Blickling Hall, Norfolk 79 Block Island Wreckers 515 blocked energy 77 Blyth, Maureen 192 Boa, Bien 435 Bocor 799 Bodhidharma 797 bodhisattva 77 Bodin, Jean 153-4 body scanning 78, 117 bodywork 78 see also acupuncture; bioenergetics; energy balancing; massage; reflexology; reiki; shiatsu; therapeutic touch bogey 78 boggart 78 Boirac, Emile 449 Bole, Robert 165 Boleyn Anne 79, 280, 721, 778 Bolivia 398 Bolles, E C 401 Bond, Elijah J 507 Bond, Frederick Bligh 79-80, 253, 568 bones, reading 80-1 Bonny, Helen L 463 Book of Changes see I Ching Book of Revelation 239, 564 Book of Shadows 81, 767 Book of the Dead see Egyptian Book of the Dead; Tibetan Book of the Dead book test 82, 391 Booth, David 501-2 Booth, John Wilkes 399, 401, 764 Borden, Lizzie 404 Borley Rectory 82-4, 245, 310, 563, 737 Bose, Jagadish Chandra 216 Boston Society for Psychical Research 84, 417, 662 Boswell, James 343 botanomancy 84 Bothwell, Earl of 166-7 Bradford, David 465 Bradshaw, John 471 Braid, James 308 brain 84-5 cerebral anoxia 102 EEG 183 and enteric nervous system 272-3 and mystical experience 467 right-brain thinking 85, 332, 678 and sporting performance 677 temporal lobe activity 713 brain waves 84-5 in altered states of consciousness 18 biofeedback 72 in healing 781 in hypnosis 308 and psi 565 in relaxation 605 synergy in prayer 558 synergy in telepathy 711 Brandywine, battle of 420 Braud, C D 391 Brayne, John 403 Brazil psychic surgery 573 spiritism 356, 556, 671 spiritualism 672, 674 breath 85-6 breathing exercises 86, 739, 740 Brewster, David 297 Bridge of Souls 86-7 Britain/UK 46 haunted battlefields 64 ley investigation 398 lithomancy 401 lucks 411 Paganism 480 phantom monk hauntings 539 psychic healing 287-8 spiritualism 673, 674-5 White Ladies 765 British folklore Black Shuck 75 bogeyman/boggart 78 candles 97 corpse candles 127 crow superstitions 600 deathwatch beetle 150 fairy horses 357 jack-o’-lantern 340 spitting 676 Wild Hunt 770 Brittany 25, 204 Britten, Emma Hardinge 676 Brancker, Sefton 595 Brontë, Charlotte 169 Brooke, Peter 272 broom 87 Brown, Anthony 63 Brown, Dan 318, 368 Brown, John 282 Brown, Rosemary 50 Brown Lady 87-8, 669 brownie 88, 204 Browning circle 88-9 Browning, Elizabeth Barrett 88-9, 297 Browning, Robert 88-9, 297 Buchanan, Joseph R 570, 577 Buckland, Raymond and Rosemary 766 Budd, F E 641 Buddhism 646, 741 akasha 13 bodhisattva 77 chakras 104 and death 148 devas 155 exorcism 197 healing practices 287 karma 356 left/right hand distinction 385 mantra 428 meditation 439 nirvana 289, 484 Om 108, 500 preta 562 qi gong 585 and reincarnation 11, 604, 605, 689 self-levitation 394 tantra/tantric 701 see also Zen Buguet, Edouard 89 Bull, Ethel 82 Bull, Henry Dawson Ellis 82 Bull, Titus 89-90 burial rites 90 Burkan, Tolly 212 Burks, Eddie 589-90 Burma 335 Burns, David 764 Burnside, Ambrose E 26 Burrow, Claire 751 buruburu 90 Bush, George 147 Butcher, S H 179 Bute, Marquis of 60 Buterbaugh, Coleen 609 Byrd, Evelyn 90-1 Byrd, Randolph 557 Byron, Lord George Gordon 91, 206, 483-4, 748 cabinet 95, 145, 435 Caddy, Peter and Eileen 211 caduceus 370 Cagliostro, Count Alessandro 95, 213, 318, 367, 655 Cagliostro, Lorenza 95 Calvados Castle 95-6 Campbell, Donald 96-7 Campbell, Joseph 119 Campbell, Virginia 628-9 candles 97-8 capnomancy 98 Capra, Fritjif 695 card guessing 98 Cardan, Jerome 450 Carlson, Chester 20 Carol, Lee 322-3 Carpenter, William B 316 Carrington, Hereward 219, 518 Carrington, Whitely 159 Carroll, Lewis 98 Carstairs, David 224 Carteret, Louisa 407 cartomancy 99 Casaubon, Isaac 291-2 Casaubon, Meric 639 Catherine of Aragon 79 Catholicism, Catholic Church 79, 485, 657 distrust of the paranormal 523 exorcism 153, 197 and incorruptibility 321 and Marian apparitions 431 and miracles 378 Palladian fraud 628 possession signs 253, 394 and purgatory 580 and rapping 598 and Voodoo 382, 755 cattabomancy 99 caul 99 amniomancy 21 Cauld Lad of Hilton 99-100 causinomancy 100 Cayce, Edgar ix, 12, 13, 45, 100-1, 112, 356-7, 438, 507, 564 Cele, Clara Germana 394 celestial light 102 cellular memory 102 Celtic Spirituality 515 Celtic tradition Ankou 25 Arawn 74 Avalon 50-1, 252 channelling 106 cloud reading 118 fairies 204 Halloween 278 handfasting 280 hippomancy 295 horse soul-carriers 301 sacred trees 726 see also Druids, Druidry Central America 196 Central Europe 78 cerebral anoxia 102 ceremonial magic 239, 291, 421-2, 478, 602 Ceridwen 700 Cernunnos 293 ceromancy 102 Cezanne, Paul 615 Chaffin will case 102-4, 169, 690 chair test 130 Chaitanya 51 chakras 77, 104-6, 136, 195, 273, 278, 370, 392-3, 603, 738 kundalini meditation 372 see also third eye Chaldeans 169, 529 Chambercombe Manor 264 Chamberlain, Richard 684 Chambers’ Cyclopaedia 464, 610 Chang Sang-fen 432, 699 channelling 106-7 A Course in Miracles 5 music composition 50 Seth 613-15 chanting 107-8 see also mantra chaos theory 108 charismatic 109 Charles I 182, 229, 280, 471, 774 Charles II 34, 174, 361 Charles VI of France 704 Charles VII of France 342-3 Charles IX of France 487 Charlton House 109 charms 6, 110, 196 see also amulet; talisman Chase, Salmon P 399 Chase Vault 110-11 Chave, John 627 Cheltenham haunting see Morton case Chester Beatty Papyrus 167 Chevreul, Michel 316 chi seeQi/Chi; universal life force Chiaia, Ercole 516-17 Chiang-shih 111 Chichester, Arthur 326 Chickamauga 111-12 Chihuacohuatl 377 children 112 ghost sickness 249 invisible friends 334 mini Geller 452 past-life recall 526-7, 605 spunkie ghosts 678 China alchemy 15 astrology 40 channelling 106 Chiang-shih 111 communication with the dead 507 dowsing 163 dragon paths 398 dream precognition 169 elements 211, 449, 722, 778 exorcism 197 Feng Shui practice 207 Freemasonry banned 226 ghosts 242 graphology 259 grateful dead 259-61 Hunan Province carvings 735 jade 340 mah-jong 425 martial arts 431-2 massage 434 music 463 names 471 out-of-body experience 509 palmistry 520 peach amulets 22 phallomancy 535 podomancy 552 qi 739 qi gong 585 reading bones 80-1 scrying 135 shins 646 Taoist alchemy 703 tasseography 708 Zen 797 see also I Ching; Taoism; traditional Chinese medicine Chopra, Deepak 585 Chou, Duke of 315 Christianity, Christian Church 22, 77, 253, 479, 482 afterlife 10 archangels 30 chanting 108 cross symbol 693 death obsession 148 denial of magic 421 divination condemned 160 divine guidance 106 dolphins 161 exorcism 197 faith healing 286-7 fish symbol 316 forced conversion 74 and ghosts 27 and Glastonbury 252 glossolalia 253-4 Gnosticism 254 guardian angels 267 hell 289 Last Judgment 381 levitating saints 394 meditation 439 neo-pagan rejection 479 necromancy condemned 477 oracles banned 502 pagan deities demonized 78, 153 pagan persecution 619 and possession 555 and the psychic 672 resurrection 689 Saint John’s Wort 625 Satan 627 and spiritualism 673 Virgin Mary cult 256 witchcraft persecution 766, 775 Church Fathers 168 Church of All Worlds (CAW) 480 Church of Scientology 634 Churchill, Winston 226 Churchward, James 388, 461-2 churel 112 CIA psi research 678-9 STAR GATE Programme 113, 607, 679 cipher test 691 circle 113 fairy ring 205 Circle Sanctuary 480 City of Limerick 772 clairaudience 23, 114-15, 645 medical intuition 437 mental mediumship 442, 445 clairfragrance 115 clairgustus 115 clairsentience 45, 115-16, 186, 273, 359, 579 medical intuition 437 mental mediumship 442, 445 clairvoyance 101, 115-17, 242, 248, 281, 506, 637 and apparitions 102, 772-3 chakra diagnosis 105-6 and haunting 247 medical intuitives 437 and mediumistic communication 117, 131, 519-20, 687, 691 mental mediumship 442, 445 testing 194 see also auric sight; precognition; retrocognition clairvoyant dreams 341-2, 426 clairvoyant reality 236, 287 Clark, James Langton 98 Clark, Willliam C 175 Cleaveland, Mrs Willis 717 cledonomancy 118 Clement V, Pope 367 Clement XIV, Pope 70 Clemm, Virginia 182 Clemons, Albert Adsit 277 cloud busting 118 cloud reading 118 Coates, Nancy 420 Cock Lane ghost 118-19 Cocke, J R 548 Cockeram, Henry 478 Coe, Myrne Reid 212 coincidence see synchronicity cold reading 119 and X-ray vision 786 Cold War 113, 606, 607 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 169 collective unconscious 42, 102, 119-20, 153, 168, 193, 543, 695 College of Psychic Studies 120, 235, 459, 589 Colley, Thomas 300 colour divination 121-2 colours 121, 122-3 Colton, Caleb 627 Columbus, Christopher 68 Coly Eileen 525 Coly Lisette 525 combination lock test 691 Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal 123 cone of power 108 Confucianism 646 Confucius 315, 463 consciousness 123-4 four stages 741-2 and hauntings 64 as healing force 53 higher states 426, 724 planetary 550 projection 163 psychic concept 736, 741 raising 597 second 193 subliminal 28, 342, 464 transformation 439 transpersonal 725 universal 709 see also altered state of consciousness Constellation, USS 124 control 125, 439-41 Ames, Julia 680 Feda 82, 389, 390-1, 483, 546 Fletcher 220 Leopold 655 Manu 635 Olga 631, 632 Phinuit 548 Runki 620 as secondary personality 125, 441, 648, 652, 655 Silver Birch 651-2 Uvani 35, 235, 595 Walter 125, 129 see also King, John; King, Katie Cook, Florence 125-6, 270, 362, 435, 442 Cook, Mary 296-7 Cooke, Grace 126, 473, 762 Coons, Adam 773 Cooper, Blanch 687 Cooper, Robert 363 Copenhagen interpretation 586 Corby Castle 595-6 Cornwall 88, 204, 368, 515 corpse candles 127 see also ignis fatuus corpse lights 127 Corpus Hermeticum 290-1 Costello, Father 282 Cottage City poltergeist 127-8, 554 Cottingley fairies 128 Course in Miracles, A 5 Coutts & Co 589-90 Covenanters 88 Covent Garden 8 Cox, Esther 20 Cox, W E 560 Cranborne Chase 683 Crandon, Mina Stinson 125, 128-9, 181, 417, 564, 610 creative visualization 129, 319 Crewe Circle 129-30, 300 criminal anthropology 407 crisis apparitions 27, 272, 379 Lord Lyttelton 413-14 Croiset, Gerard 130 Cromarty, Jim and Barbara 21 Crooke, John 750-1 Crookes, William 126, 130-1, 298, 301, 363, 435, 442, 459, 523, 648, 659, 712 crop circles 52, 131, 623 cross correspondences 131-2, 406, 417, 464, 548, 659 Ear of Dionysius 179 Palm Sunday case 518-20 crossroad ghosts 132 crow counting 600 Crowe, Catherine 132-3 Crowley, Aleister 75, 108, 133-4, 257, 318, 330, 385, 421, 424, 428, 602, 628, 634, 766, 791 Cruise, Tom 634 cryptomnesia 134-5, 442 crystal ball 135 crystals 136-9, 240, 767 jade 137, 340 quartz 138, 587-8 see also lithomancy Cunningham, Scott 480 Curran, Pearl 507-9, 781-2 curses 139 gypsy 274 Little Bastard 402 mara 430 voodoo doll 756 Winchester 773 see also evil eye; hex dactylomancy 143 daemon see demon Dagg poltergeist 143-4 Dalai Lama 316 Dalton, Kathy 426 daphnomancy 144 Darrell, William 402-3 Darwin 77 Davenport brothers 95, 145-6, 243, 361, 363 David, St 127 Davis, Andrew Jackson 10, 146-8, 673 Davis, Gordon 687 Davis, Jefferson 222, 753 Davis, Varina 221-2 Dawes, Frederick 535 Day of the Dead 148 Day, Albert E 780 Dean, James 402 death 148-9 deathbed visions 149-50 angels 23 studies 359, 506 death chart 150 death omens 150 banshee 62 black birds 73, 150 Black Shuck 75 candle wax 97-8 corpse candles 127 corpse lights 127 doppelgänger 163 dreams 169, 413, 501 falling mirror 454 fetch 209 ghost of William Darrell 403 ignis fatuus 317 kelpie 357 La Llorena 378 phantom coach 539 radiant boys 595 seeing ghosts 249 toads 720 Windigo 774 de Broglie, Louis 586 Decatur House 151 decline/incline effects 151 deductive psychic intuition 151-2 Dee, John 152, 189-90 de Feitas, Jose Pedro (Arigo) 573 DeFeo, Ronnie 21 de Glapion, Louis Christopher Duminy 382 déjà vu 152-3, 466 Delphi oracle 160, 502 demon/daemon 153, 667 Afrit 10 dybbuk 175 ghoul 249 and grimoires 265 mana277 Smurl haunting 657-8 summoning 239, 265, 478 types of 154 see also incubus; succubus demonancy 153 demonology 153-4 Denton, William 577 depossession 154 dermography 155 dermo-optics see eyeless vision de Rudder, Pierre 408 Deslisle, Anthony 383 de Soulis, Baron 292 Despard, Rosina 549 d’Esperance, Madame 181 de Spina, Alphonse 154 devas 77, 155, 211 Devil 156, 206 duppy 175 and Earl Beardie 250-1 and Jack 340 ‘devil baby’ legend 303-4 Devil worship see Satan/Satanism devil’s mark 156 Devils, The 306 Diamond, John 360-1 diamond body 703 dice test 156-7 Dickens, Charles 157 dictiomancy 157 Dieppe raid case 157 Dingwell, Eric 83, 632 direct voice mediumship 107, 158, 324, 390-1 Flint 214-16 use of trumpet 362, 729 discarnate entity/disembodied spirit 158, 212 intelligence 330 mara 429-30 see also control Disneyland’s haunted mansion 158-9 displacement 159 divination 159-60 abacomancy 5-6 aeromancy 8 ailuromancy 12 alectromancy 17 aleuromancy 17 alomancy 17 amniomancy 21 apantomancy 26 arithmancy 31 astrology 38-43 augury 46 axinomancy 52 bibliomancy 70 botanomancy 84 capnomancy 98 cartomancy 99 cattabomancy 99 causinomancy 100 ceromancy 102 cledonomancy 118 cloud reading 118 colour 121-2 crystal ball 135 dactylomancy 143 daphnomancy 144 demonancy 153 dictiomancy 157 elemental 185 entomancy 190-1 floromancy 216 gastromancy 237 geomancy 239 graphology 259-60 gyromancy 274 halomancy 279 haruspicy 283 hippomancy 295 hydromancy 306-7 I Ching 315-16 icthyomancy 316 Internet 331 kephalonomancy 357 knissomancy 368 kumalak 370 labiomancy 377 lampadomancy 378 lecanomancy 384-5 lithomancy 401 logomancy 406-7 lunomancy 412 macromancy 419 mah-jong tiles 425 mazomancy 437 meconomancy 437 metagnomy 448-9 metopomancy 450 micromancy 451-2 mirror gazing 453 moleosophy 454-6 myomancy 465 by numbers 490 oculomancy 498 odontomancy 499 ololygmancy 500 oneiromancy 501-2 ophidiomancy 502 orinthomancy 505 ovomancy 512 palmistry 520-2 phallomancy 535 phyllomancy 545 physiognomancy 545-6 podomancy 552 pyromancy 581 reading bones 80-1 rhapsodomancy 610 scapulomancy 630 scatomancy 631 scrying 637 selenomancy 641 shell hearing 645 sortilege 660 spasmatomancy 663 table 507, 699 tarot 705-6 tasseography 708-9 by trance visions 448 uromancy 742 xenomancy 786 xylomancy 787 zoomancy 799-800 Dixon, Jeanne 160-1, 564 Dogen 797 dolphins 161-2 domovik 162 Don Pedro, Captain 496, 497 Donne, John 209 Donnelly, Ignatius 44 doors 162 doppelgänger/double 162-3, 509 see also arrival cases; bilocation; fetch; ka doshas 53 Dossey Larry 6 Douglas, Janet 250 Dowding, Lord Hugh 163 dowsing 50, 163-5, 316, 396 Geller 238-9 ley lines 165, 396 map 428-9 medical 596 power spots 556 use of pendulum 531 Doyle, Arthur Conan 75, 128, 130, 165-6, 215, 221, 297, 303, 362, 431, 433, 668, 680 Dragon Project Trust 444, 556, 683 Dragsholm Castle 166-7 Drake, Francis 537 Drayton Thomas, Charles 391 Drbal, Karl 581 dreamcatcher 167 dreams 167-71 and archetypes 31 Chaffin will case 102-3 of death 169, 400, 413, 501 displacement 159 Dragon Project Trust project 444 and ESP 193, 234 expression of the id 316 false awakening 206 ghosts in 242, 248 of horses 301-2 incubation 322, 501 interpretation 97, 167-8, 170, 227, 643, 694 journals 171 Jung’s 347 Maimonedes experiments 234, 426, 524 oneiromancy 501-2 precognitive 159, 169, 473, 501-2, 558 of snakes 502 telepathic 169-70, 426 two types 392 see also lucid dreaming; nightmares/terrors dreamtime 171 drop in communicator 171-2, 687 Runolfur Runolfsson 172, 619-20 drugs 172, 306, 643 Druids, Druidry 172-3, 396 capnomancy 98 cloud reading 118 revival 173, 479 scrying 135 Stonehenge 683 tree worship 84 drummer of Cortachy 173 drummer of Tedworth 174, 251 Drummond, Lillias 229 Drury Lane Theatre 174 Dudley Town, Connecticut 174-5 Duke, Carolyn 89 Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory 84, 283, 417, 462, 506, 523, 554, 557, 574, 610, 611, 612, 615 Dunne, J W 559 Dunninger, Joseph 303 duppy 175 Du Pre, Mr 210 dybbuk 175, 199 Ear of Dionysius 179 earth 179-80 earth lights 180 earthquake effect 180 Eastern Europe bioenergy concept 741 psi investigation 525 psychotronics 579 Eastern European folklore broom 87 kikimora 359 Saturday births 628 vampire superstitions 747 Eckankar 180-1 eco-paganism 515 ectoplasm 130, 158, 181, 279, 435, 436 pseudopod 564 voice box 215-16 Edenhall luck 411-12 Edgar Allan Poe House 182 Edgehill, battle of 182 Edison, Thomas 183, 215, 328 Edmund, St 539 Edward II 367 Edward IV 704 Edward VI 280 Edwards, Francis 589 Edwards, Frederick 84, 417 EEG (electroencephalography) 183 Eglinton, William 250 ego 227, 346, 566, 641, 688 Egypt, ancient viii afterlife 11 alchemy 15-16 astrology 39 aura 47 ba 57 burial rites 90 candles 97 channelling 106 Chester Beatty Papyrus 167-8 death obsession 148 dowsing 163 dream precognition 169 evil eye 196 Eye of Horus 22, 199 halo 278 hermeticism roots 289-91 hydrotherapy 307 hypnosis 308 illuminati 317 incubation 501 iron amulets 335 jade 340 ka 162, 353, 509 khu 358 Kore 533 lampadomancy 378 magic and sorcery 775 maze 436 mystery cults 466 names 471 palmistry 520 pathworkings 529 scarab 631 scrying 637 snake dreams 502 spirit-releasing images 268 tree spirits 726 urine therapy 742 Egyptian Book of the Dead 11, 57, 81, 580 Einstein, Albert 165, 328, 329, 448, 452, 478, 586, 694, 719 Eisai 797 Eisenbud, Jule 718-19 ekimmu 744 El Greco 186 electrokinesis 183 electronic coin flipper 575-6 electronic voice phenomena (EVP) 183-5, 248, 329, 599-600 Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery 58 element 185 and alchemy 16 Chinese system 211, 449, 722, 778 and Feng Shui 207 Hindu system 13, 185, 195 in Wicca 767 in witchcraft 776 see also air; earth; fire; water elemental divination 185 elementals 155, 185, 422, 446, 473 Elf Land 204 Elizabeth I 79, 152, 209, 589-90, 774 Elliotson, John 438 Ellis, D J 184 Ellison, Arthur 635 elongation 186 Emerson, J Norman 568 empathy 186-7, 712 Empedocles 16 encounter phenomenon 188 ‘encounter theories’ 198-9 Encyclopaedia Britannica 379, 563 endorphins 463 energy balancing/medicine 122, 188, 434 see also magnetic healing/therapy; radiesthesia; radionics; therapeutic touch; zero balancing Enfield poltergeist 188-9 England crop circles 131 ghost seers 248 phantom coaches 537 scapulomancy 630 screaming skulls 632 Tower of London ravens 600 tree decoration 726 see also Witchcraft Act English Civil War 64, 403, 471, 500 English folklore crows and magpies 505 Halloween customs 623 mara 430 Puck 580 radiant boys 595 spunkie 678 enneagram 271-2 Enochian magic 152, 189-90 enteric nervous system 272-3 entity see discarnate entity entomancy 190-1 epilepsy 467, 670 Epworth Rectory 191-2, 598 equinox 192 Ernie 482-3 Erskine, Lord 224 Eskimos 24 esoteric 192 and the Grail 258 hidden masters 293 higher self 294 levels of existence 392-3 occult compared 496 open eye symbol 199 see also Anthroposophical Society; Gnosticism; Golden Dawn; Kabbalah; mystery cults; Rosicrucians; Theosophy; Upanishads ESP (extrasensory perception) 192-4 in animals 506 and automatisms 50 and creativity 328 and dreams 171 enhancement 18 Ganzfeld technique 234 and mediumistic communication 135, 179, 548, 610, 648, 689 and psychokinesis 575 studies 84, 405, 524, 610-11 and the unconscious 731 see also clairvoyance; GESP; precognition; psi; super ESP; telepathy ESP (Zener) cards 98, 194, 417, 559, 798 essential oils 194-5 ether 195, 406 etheric body 195-6, 365 psychic surgery 572 Etruscans 368, 502 Europe 354, 397 lithomancy 401 psi research 524 European folklore crossroad superstitions 132 crow/raven death omens 73 deathwatch beetle 150 Herne the Hunter 293 iron barrier 335 red charms 6 eurythmy 681 Evans, Penry 224 evil eye 196 protection 196, 335, 502, 651 evocation 196, 335 exorcism 197 broom 87 Catholic/Christian 153, 197, 555 drum banging 387 in healing 287 holy water 619 and mental illness 213 prayer 285, 670 Saint John’s Wort 625 see also depossession; spirit releasement Exorcist, The 127, 542 experimenter effect 198 extrasensory perception see ESP extraterrestrials 180, 198-9, 252, 735 Eye of Horus 22, 199, 335 eyeless vision 199-200 Faceless Gray Man of Pawleys Island 203 faceless woman 203 fairies 203-5 Cottingley 128 see also menehune fairy horses 357 fairy ring 205 faith healing 286-8 fakir 205-6, 394 false awakening 206 familial apparitions 206 familiar 206, 267 Redcap Sly 292 toads 720 Fanny, Miss 118-19 Faraday, Michael 316 Farquar, Walter 69 Farr, Florence 257 Fawkes, Guy 721-2 feliomancy see ailuromancy Feng Shui 45-6, 240, 206-9 see also space clearing Fenwick, Elizabeth 476 Feraferia 480 Ferguson, Jesse Babcock 145 Ferreira, Maria Jose 339 fetch 209 fetish 209-10 see also gris-gris Fielding, Everaud 518 50 Berkeley Square 210 Findhorn 155, 211, 551 Findlay Arthur 676 Finley, Ruth 763 Finnish folklore 398 Fiore, Edith 154, 669 fire 211 pyromancy 581 fire walking 211-12 Fischer, Doris 212-13, 311, 662 Fishbough, William 147 Fisher King 258 Fitzgerald, William 602 Flammarion, Nicolas Camille 213 Fleming, Alice 519 Flight 401 213-14 Flint, Leslie 158, 214-16 floromancy 216 Flournoy, Theodore 655 flower remedies 216-18 Flying Dutchman 218-19, 540 flying saucer see UFO focal person 219 Fodor, Nandor 30, 34-5, 61, 155, 219-20, 235, 243, 364, 553-4, 699, 717 Fohan, Louis (Yram) 509-10 Fontana, David 635 Forbes, Mrs 717 Force, the 220 Ford, Arthur 220-2, 226, 303, 442, 547, 666, 672 Fort, Charles 223 Fort Monroe 222, 753 Fortean phenomena (Forteana) 222-3 Fortune, Dion 223-4, 253, 257, 294, 326, 354, 569, 573 fortune-telling 159, 225 Fortune Telling Act 166 Foster, Charles H 155 Foundation of Inner Peace 5 Fourth Way (Way of the Cunning Man) 272 Fox, Oliver 510 Fox sisters ix, 106, 147, 225-6, 435, 598, 639, 673 fox spirits see kitsune Foy, Robin and Sandra 635 Foyster family 83 France 421 phantom coaches 537 spiritism 556 White Ladies 765 Francis of Assisi, St 682 Franklin, Benjamin 225, 226, 435, 625 fraud 226 and cold reading 120 levitation 395 mediums/mediumship 303, 417, 431, 552, 610, 648 apports 30 direct voice 158 materialization 126, 273, 436 mental 442 physical 341, 442, 443, 517-18, 633 rapping 225-6, 598-9 skin writing 155 slate writing 654-5 Palladian order 628 psychic surgery 573 psychographs 574 spirit photography 89, 300-1, 431 Witch of Endor 775 see also quackery fraudulent hauntings see spectre Freemasonry 95, 226-7, 256, 317, 320, 325, 404, 405, 421, 479, 496, 618, 759 French Revolution 486 Freud, Sigmund 119, 168, 219, 227-8, 316, 345, 346, 448, 504, 528, 659, 687, 711, 736 Freudian slip 228-9 Fu-his, Emperor 315 Fukurai, Tomokichi 669, 718 Fyvie Castle 229 Gabriel, Archangel 353 Gaia 233, 550 Galitzin, Prince 785 galley beggar 233-4 Ganzfeld 234, 240, 425 Gardner, Gerald B 134, 480, 765, 766, 776 Gardner, J H 301 Garfield, James 743 Garrett, Eileen 35, 125, 163, 234-6, 442, 525, 557, 595, 689 gashadokuro 237 gastroenterology 273 gastromancy 237 Gaule, Margaret 716 Gautama Buddha 51 Gawain, Shakti 754 Geley, Gustave 237-8, 329 Geller, Uri 238-9, 419, 449, 524, 549, 709 gematria 239 Geoffrey de Gonneville 367 geomancy 206, 239 see also smudging geopathic stress 240 George III 774 George IV 87 German folklore crossroad protection 132 elf dreams 430 Irrlicht 317 kobold 369 nixies 485 rainbow bridge of souls 86 Schleswig crossroad ghost 132 split candle wick 98 Wild Hunt 770 Germany Freemasonry banned 226 graphology 259 illuminati 318 phantom coaches 537 rune revival 619 ‘Spectre of the Brocken’ 663 White Lady of the Hohenzollerns 765 GESP (general extrasensory perception) 240 Getty, J Paul 240 Gettysburg 240-1 Ghadiali, Dinshah 122 ghost 241-3 Adelphi Theatre 7-8 Ash Manor 34-5 bakechochin 58 and beans 65 bhut 69 Brown Lady 87-8 Burkhalter 546 buruburu 90 churel 112 creation 380 crossroad 132 Ernie 482-3 faceless woman 203 fear of see phasmophobia first extant report ix, 43-4 galley beggar 233-4 gashadokuro 237 grateful dead 259-61 Gray Man of Pawleys Island 203 Greenbriar 262-3 Green Ladies 229, 261, 407 Grey Ladies 166, 229, 251, 264-5, 629, 770-1 innocence 327 Jimmy Squarefoot 342-3 kikimora 359 kubikajiri 370 La Llorona 377-8 Lady in White 752-3 lemure 387 Lucretius’s shell 412 Mad Anthony 420 Mary Worth/Bloody Mary 433-4 Miscellanies 46 mononoke 456 Morton case 458-9 Ocean-born Mary 496-7 Pearlin Jean 530-1 perfume 533-4 preta 562 purposeful 580 Queen Anne’s County 588 Queen’s Bank 589-90 radiant boys 595-6 Resurrection Mary 608 retrocognition explanation 609 Sakura 625-7 Sampford 627 screaming skulls 636-7 in Shakespeare 641-2 shins 646 shojo 646 silky 651 Smithfield Market 656 smoke 656 spirit compared 11, 666 spook 677 spunkie 678 Stone Age 683 talking mongoose 701 tash 707 Tregeagle, Jan 728-9 types defined 737 Tyrone 731-2 undine 737 utukku 744 vampire 747 Versailles 749-51 Virginia 752-3 werewolf 762 White Ladies 58, 69, 166, 280, 482, 765 Wild Edric 770 wraith 782 see also names of specific people and places Ghost vii ghost buster 243 Ghost Club 96-7, 109, 130, 163, 243-4, 306, 736-7, 791 Ghost Club Society 244, 736, 737 ghost dance religion 244-5 ghost illusions see phantasmagoria ghost investigation/ghost hunting 245-7 use of cameras 668 ghost lights 247-8, 444 explanations 590-1 see also earth lights; St Elmo’s fire; will-o’the-wisp Ghost Research Society 58, 248, 503, 669 ghost seers 248 ghost sickness 249 ghoul 249 Gifford, Robert Swain see Thompson-Gifford case Gladstone, William 249-50 Glamis Castle 250-1 Glanvill, Joseph 251-2, 598 Glapion, Marie Laveau 381-4 Glastonbury 51, 252-3, 258, 282, 436, 536 Bond’s excavations 79-80, 253, 568 Fortune and 224, 253 Glencoe massacre 630 glossolalia 253-4 glyph 254 Gnosticism 254 goal-focused intuition 255 goat 255 goblin 255, 369 Godda, Lady 770 Goddess 255-6 neo-Pagan worship 481 Triple 256, 457, 767 Wiccan worship 766, 767 Goerz, Celia and Orlando 769 Goethe 318 Gog and Magog 392 Golden Dawn, Hermetic Order of the 11-12, 74, 133, 190, 192, 224, 256-8, 265, 293, 326, 332-4, 354, 405, 421, 422, 479, 602, 618, 704, 759, 791 ‘Goldilocks phenomenon’ 233 Goldney Kathleen 83 Goodheart, George 360 Gopi Krishna 371-2 Gorbachev, Mikhail 295 Gorique, Erikson 32-3 Graceland 561-2 Grail, Holy 252, 258, 368, 436 Grant, General 419 graphology 259 handwriting features 260-1 grateful dead 259-61 Great Lakes 540 Great Rite 767 Greece, ancient viii aleuromancy 17 arithmancy 31 augers 160 aura 47 axinomancy 52 bean beliefs 65 burial rites 90 chanting 108 cledonomancy 118 daemons/daimons 113, 153, 667 dream interpretation 168, 501 dream precognition 169, 523 evil eye 196 floromancy 216 halo 278 haruspicy 283 hydrotherapy 307 hypnosis 308 imagery 268 incubation 322 insect beliefs 190-1 kere 358 magic and sorcery 421, 775 mind-body link 319 mole interpretation 456 moon beliefs 457 Mount Olympus 289 music 463 mystery cults 466 nature spirits 473 necromancy 477 orinthomancy 505 ovomancy 512 palmistry 520 parsley 526 pentagram 533 physiognomancy 545 predestination 559 pyromancy 581 raven superstitions 600 rhapsodomancy 610 Saint John’s Wort 625 sibyl 502, 647 snakes 502 spasmatomancy 663 table divination 507 Thessalian Trick 457 Greek folklore priest meeting 786 Saturday vampire killing 628 Greek mythology 44, 203–4, 233, 301, 377 Green, Celia 408 Green Ladies 229, 261, 407 Greenbriar ghost 262-3 Greene, Betty 216 Gregory, Anita 189 gremlin 263-4 Greville method 557 Grey, Lady Jane 630, 721 Grey Ladies 166, 229, 264-5, 251, 629, 770-1 Griffiths, Frances 128 Griffon 540 grimoires 265 see also Book of Shadows gris-gris 265, 382 Grof, Christina 671 Grof, Stanislav 85-6, 671 Grosse, Maurice 189 Grottendieck stone-thrower 266 grounding 267 guardian spirit 267, 430 aumakua 47 Dickie 637 lar 380 snake 502 Gudmunsson, Ludvik 620 guide 267 see also spirit guide guided imagery 268-9, 754 Guinevere 51, 252 Guiteau, Charles 743 Guppy Agnes 269-70, 361, 435 Guppy, Samuel 270 Gurdjieff, Georgei Ivanovitch 270-2 Gurney Edmund 28, 50, 272, 519, 552, 648, 772 guru 272 gut feelings 273 Guy Fawkes Night 278 Guzyk, Jan 237, 273-4, 329, 563 Gwion Bach 700 gypsy magic 274 gyromancy 274 hag 277, 430 Hahnemann, Samuel 299 Haitian Voodoo 755, 799 Halcyon House, Georgetown 277 Hall, Radclyffe 390 Hall, Trevor 83, 563 Halloween (Allhallows Eve) 278 crossroad spirits 132 jack-o’-lanterns 340 mirror ritual 434, 454 ovomancy 512 sage gathering 623 spunkie meetings 678 hallucinogens see drugs halo 278 halomancy 279 Hamilton, Glen 363 Hamilton, Thomas 279-80, 364 Hammett, Nina 134 Hampton Court 79, 280 Handel 23 handfasting 280-1, 768 Hannesson, Gudmundur 325 Hanussen, Erik Jan 281 Haraldsson, Erlendur 624 Hardy, R W 590 Hare Krishnas 108 Haring, Andrea 461 Harmonic Convergence 282 Harold Reilly School of Massotherapy 101 Harper, Charles 210 Harper family 188-9 Harpers Ferry 282 Harray, Keith 574 Harris, James 588 Harrison, William 764 Hart, Hornell Norris 27, 283, 686, 690 haruspicy 283 Harvard Exit cinema 284 Harvey, Neil 124 Hasted, John 452 Hastings, John 495 Hatton, Elizabeth 751 Haunted Museum, Illinois 19 haunting 284-5 animal 24, 701 battlefield 63-4 explanations of 242 ghost lights 247 odours 499 residual 608 see also ghost; poltergeist hauntings see names of sites Hawaii aumakua 47 faceless woman 203 Huna 304-5 marchers of the night 430 menehune 444-5 rainbow soul bridge 86 Hawken Paul 211 Hawkins, Ronnie 786 Hawthorne, John 286 Hawthorne, Julian 286 Hawthorne, Nathaniel 285-6 Hayden, Father 60 Hayden, Jack 8 healing absent 6, 101 colour 122 crystal 136-8, 340, 587 faith 286-8 Kardecist 671 laying on of hands 384 Lourdes 408 magnetic 425 miraculous 322, 431, 452 prayer and 557-8, 570, 597, 599 psychic 286-8, 570 qi gong 585 quantum 585 shamanic 643 spiritual 672, 676 use of imagery 319 vibrational 752 White Eagle Lodge 763 Worrall, Ambrose 779-80 Worrall, Olga 780-1 Hearn, Lafcadio 203, 288-9 Heaster, Mary 262-3 heaven 289, 692 Heisenberg, Werner 452, 586 hell 289, 692 Helpidius, Deacon 289 Hemi-Sync 510-11 Henderson, William 651 Henry II of France 486 Henry VIII 63, 79, 280, 402, 630, 721, 774, 778 Hermann family 637-9 Hermes 396 Hermes Trismegistus 291 Hermetic Kabbalah 422, 704 hermetica/hermeticism 289-92, 421 Hermitage Castle 292 Herne the Hunter 293, 770, 774 Herring, Constantine 300 hex 293 hidden masters 293-4, 714 higher self 294 Hildegard of Bingen 294-5 Hilprecht, Herman V 568 Hilton, James 644 Hinchcliffe, Captain 595 Hinduism akasha 13 avatar 51 bhut 69 breath 85 chakras 104 chanting 107 death as release 148 devas 155 elements 13, 185, 195 exorcism 197 Goddess worship 256 guru 272 healing practices 287 horses 301 karma 356 left/right hand distinction 385 magic 738-9 mantra 428 meditation 439 nirvana 484 Om 108, 500 penis divination 535 preta 562 qi gong 585 rakshasa 597-8 and reincarnation 11, 604, 605, 689 self-levitation 394 swamis 30 tantra/tantric 701 Upanishads 741-2 hippomancy 295 Hirohito, Emperor 646 Hitler, Adolf 280, 448, 486-7, 488 Hockley, Frederick 257 Hodgson, Richard 213 Hofdi poltergeist 295-6 Holda 770 holism/holistic medicine/holistic therapy 108, 296, 755 see also aromatherapy; Ayuverdic medicine; homeopathy; reiki; spiritual healing; traditional Chinese medicine holistic massage 322, 434 Holotropic Breathwork 86 Holy Trinity Church, York 265, 539 Home, Daniel Dunglas 88, 180, 186, 296-9, 395, 436, 441, 459, 523, 525, 575, 599, 648 home circle 296, 636 homeopathy 299-300 Homer 300 Homerton, Charles 234 Hong Kong 207 Hook, Sidney 123 Hope, William 130, 300-1, 562, 668 Hopkins, Robert Thurston 301 Horned God 481, 766, 767 horoscope 39-40, 152, 301 Vedic 749 horse 301-2 hot reading 302 Hotel Del Coronado 302 Houdini, Harry 129, 145, 181, 221, 299, 303, 599, 654 Howard, Catherine 280, 722 Howard, Thomas 589-90 Hubbard, L Ron 633 Hudson, Henry 446 Huff, Mari 58 Hughlings, John 467 Hui-ning 797 Hull House 303-4 Huna 304-5 hunch 305 Hunt, Leigh 782 Hurkos, Peter 305-6 Hurle, Henry 173 Hutchins, Imogen 458 Huxley, Aldous 306, 714 Huxley, Julian 244, 306 hydromancy 306-7 hydrotherapy 307 Hyman, Ray 123, 316 hypnagogic state 307 hypnosis 227, 272, 307-10, 447, 633 and past lives 527, 528 telepathic 448, 709-10 hypnotherapy 310 Hyslop, James Hervey 212-13, 310-11, 548, 556, 662, 690, 716-17 I Ching 81, 160, 207, 315-16, 482, 791 Iamblichus 481 icthyomancy 316 id 227, 316, 688 ideomotor effect 316 pendulum 531-3 ignis fatuus 317 ikiryoh 317 Iktomi 167 illuminati 317-18, 618 imagery 318-19 healing power 66 hypnagogic state 307 see also guided imagery imagination 319-20 and self-image 129 incantation 321 incorruptibility 321-2 incubation 322, 501 incubus 322, 430, 657 India animistic soul beliefs 604 aura 47 Ayurvedic medicine 52-3 churel 112 crossroad superstitions132 fakir 205-6 fire walking 211 hydrotherapy 307 hypnosis 308 iron as protection 335 Masters 714 palmistry 520 phallomancy 535 tree spirits 726 utukku 744 vampire ghosts 747 Vedic astrology 749 Indian head massage 322 Indian Religious Freedom Act (1978) 74 Indigo Children 322-4 indirect voice mediumship 324 Indonesia 266 Indridason, Indridi 324-5 Ingham, Eunice 602 initiation 325-6 fraternal lodges 404-5 Inner Child 326 Inner Light, Society of 224, 326 inner voice/inner guide 114-15, 326-7 innocence ghost 327 inspiration 328 Institut Metapsychique International 237, 273, 329, 506, 524, 632 instrumental transcommunication (ITC) 329-30 intelligence 330 intelligent design 755 International General Assembly of Spiritualists 220, 221 International Network for Instrumental Transcommunicaton (INIT) 330 International Spiritualist Federation (ISF) 331 Internet 331 intuition 332, 333-4 deductive psychic 151-2 goal-focused 255 and lucid dreaming 410 medical 437-8 and right brain 85 random psychic 598 see also applied psi; gut feeling; hunch invisibility 332-4 invisible assailants 334, 339 invisible friends/invisibles 334-5, 339 Invisibles 763 invocation 196, 335, 422 Ireland Celtic Spirituality 515 Celtic survival 173 scapulomancy 630 Irish folklore banshee 62 crossroad protection 132 fairies 132, 204 fairy horses 357 fetch 209 jack-o’-lantern legend 340 puca 580 spitting protection 676 tash 707 iron 22, 335 Irving, Washington 336, 636 Irwin, H Carmichael 595 Islam/Muslim Afrit 10 angels 22 apports 30 chanting 108 divine guidance 106 exorcism 197 ghoul 249 hell 289 prophecy 564 Satan 627 self-levitation 394 Isle of Man 342 Jabuticabal poltergeist 339 Jack in Irons 339 jack-o’-lantern 340 see also ignis fatuus Jackson, Andrew 66, 67 Jacolliot, Louis 394 Jacques de Molay 367 jade 137, 340 James I 721 James, Henry 341, 460 Turn of the Screw, The 729 James, William 20, 341-2, 443, 466, 548-9, 615, 659, 711 Japan aroma systems 32 bakechochin 58 buruburu 90 Feng Shui 207 gashadokuro 237 ghost of Sakura 625-7 ikiryoh 317 Ki 739-40 kitsune 365-6 konakijijii 369 kubikajiri 370 martial arts 432 mononoke 456 Mujina 203 ninja-assassin-mystics 334 nurikabe 491 rainbow soul bridge 86 Reiki rediscovered 603 shiatsu 645-6 Shinto 646 shojo 646 tsukumogami 729 Zen 797 Japhet, Celina 355 Jay, Dolores 785 ‘Jeanne Dixon effect’ 161 Jenkins, Linnie 726 Jimmy Squarefoot 342 Joad, C E M 342 Joan of Arc 114, 318, 342-3, 564 John, King 762 John, St 161, 239, 564 Johnson, Samuel 343 John the Baptist, St 625 Johnston, Ernest 595 Joller family 679 Jonas, Hans 254 Jones, Eryl Mai 501 Jones family 60-2 Jordan, Gustave 663 Joseph (Hebrew patriarch) 384-5 Joseph of Arimathea 252, 258 JOTT (just one of those things) 344 Jourdain, Eleanor 749-50 journals, parapsychology 344-5 Judaism angels 22 archangels 30 divine guidance 106 dybbuk 175 exorcism 197 hell 289 Last Judgment 381 meditation 439 Satan 627 see also Kabbalah Ju-jitsu 432 Jullian, Philippe 751 Jung, Carl 16, 30-1, 42, 119, 168, 169, 193, 227-8, 254, 258, 292, 301, 316, 322, 345-9, 426, 467, 528, 566, 631, 641, 659, 694-5, 711, 798 Jürgenson, Friedrich 183, 330 Justinian, Emperor 481 ka 162, 353 Kabbalah 175, 224, 257, 353-4, 367, 481, 485, 766 gematria 239 Hermetic 422 see also Tree of Life kachina 355 Kaczmarek, Dale 248 kahunas 304 Kamilya, Joe 72 Kant, Immanuel 355 karate 432 Kardec, Allan 355-6, 555-6, 670 karma 356-7, 605 Kazakh tradition 370 Keel family 34-5 Keen, Montague 635 Kelley, Edward 152, 190 Kellner, Karl 318 kelpie 357 Kennedy, Diane 547 Kennedy, J F 486, 564 Kent, Mr 118-19 kephalonomancy 357 kere 358 khu 358 Ki 739-40 Kidd, Captain 97, 540 Kidd, James 358-9 kikimora 359 Kilner, Walter 47-8 Kilner, William 438 kinaesthetic sense 359-60 Kincaid, Charles 743 kinesiology, applied 360-1 King House, Florida 361 King, John 145, 361-2, 435, 516, 729 King, Katie 125-6, 362-4, 435 Kipling, Rudyard 226 Kirlian, Semyon Davidovich 48, 364 Kirlian photography 364-5 Kirtz, Camille 222 kitsune 365-6 Klass, Philip 123 Kluski, Franek 237 Knapp, George W 262 Knights Templars 226, 366-8, 421 knissomancy 368 knockers 368-9 koan 797-8 kobold 369 Koestler, Arthur 369 koko 355 konakijijii 369 Koons, Jonathan 158, 361, 729 Koran 381 Kore 533 Korea 207, 432 koshas 369-70 Kotsuke no Suke 625-7 Krieger, Dolores 715 Krippner, Stanley 524 Krishnamurti, Jiddu 714 kubikajiri 370 Kulagina, Nina 394 Kuleshova, Rosa 199 kumalak 370 kundalini 370-3, 701 Kung Fu 431-2 Kunz, Dora van Gelder 715 Kurtz, Paul 658 Laberge, Stephen 410 labiomancy 377 labyrinth 377 see also maze Lafayette, General 420 L’Agneau, David 545-6 Lakota people 74, 167 La Llorona 377-8 Lamarckian theory 417 Lambert, Ann 751 Lambert, R 238, 701 Lambertini, Prospero 378 lampadomancy 378 Lancelot 51 Landes, Bertha 284 Lang, Andrew 118, 379 Langhorne, William 109 Langton, Stephen 682 Lankester, E Ray 653 Lao Tzu 315, 702-3 La Pierre, Joseph 380 Lares 380 Last Judgement 10, 380-1 Laubach, Frank 558 Lavater, Ludwig 381 Laveau, Marie 381-4 LaVey, Anton 628 Lawrence of Arabia 385 laying on of hands 197, 286, 308, 384, 407, 570, 738 lecanomancy 384-5 Ledenfrost effect 212 Lee, Robert E 25-6 Leek, Sybil 385 le Fanu, Sheridan 707 left-hand path 385-6, 612, 628, 660, 776 Legge, James 315 Leikind, Bernard 212 Lemp Mansion 386-7 lemure 387 Lemuria 45, 388, 461 L’Enfant, Pierre Charles 743 Leno, Dan 174 Leo XIII 196 Leonard, Freda 82 Leonard, Frederick 389 Leonard, Gladys Osborne 388-91, 406, 483, 546, 689, 716 Leonardo da Vinci 165 LeShan, Lawrence 236, 287, 712 Leslie, Baronet Shane 391 Lethbridge, T C 391-2, 531 levels of existence 392-3 Levi, Eliphas 393, 421 Levin, Ira 304 levitation 393-5 Home, 297, 395 Palladino 516-17 Lewin, John 292 Lewis, H Spencer 618 Lewis, Lawrence 779 ley lines 395-8 dowsing 165, 396 Glastonbury 253 megaliths 444 and power spots 556 Stonehenge 683 libido 504 Liekko 398 life after death see survival after death life force see universal life force life review 399 Lily Dale Assembly 675 limbo 47, 377, 399 Lincoln, Abraham 106, 399-401, 501, 753, 764 Lindbergh, Charles 264 Ling, Per Henrik 434 linger effect 576 lithomancy 401 Little Bastard, curse of 402 Littlecote House 402-3 Littledean Hall 403-4 Livia Drusilla 512 Livingstone, David 279 Lizzie Borden’s house 404 Locker, Victor 8 lodge, fraternal 404-5 lodge, magical 405 Lodge, Sir Oliver 385-6, 405-6 Loft, Bob 213-14 logomancy 406-7 Lombroso, Cesare 213, 407, 516, 517 London Spiritual Alliance (LSA) 459 Long, Max Freedom 304-5 Longleat 407 López de Rojas, Gabriel 318 López de Santa Anna, General Antonio 14 Lorenz, Edward 108 Louis XVI 749 Lourdes 408, 431 Lovecraft, H P 265 Lovelock, James 233, 550 Lucas, George 220 Lucian 408 lucid dreaming 171, 408-10, 510 lucidity 410 luck 410-11 lucks 411-12 Lucretius 412 luminous phenomena 412 Lumley Brown, Margaret 326 Lund, T W 629 lunomancy 412 Luther, Martin 163 Lutz family 21 lycanthropy 412-13, 762 Lyon, Mrs 297 Lyon, S Silas 146-7 Lyttelton, Lord Thomas 169, 413-14 Lyttleton, Mary Catherine 519 Lytton, Edward Bulwer 393 Maat 340 Mabinogion 700 Macbeth 251 McCartney, Paul 169 McClellan, George B 25 MacDonald, Colin 561 Macdonald clan 630 McDougall, William 417, 610 McKenna, Robert F 657 Mackenzie, Andrew 29 McKenzie, James 235 MacKenzie, Kenneth 296 MacLaine, Shirley 482 McLean, Dinah 143-4 Maclean, Dorothy 211 McLoughlin House 418 McMullen, George 568 McPherson, Captain 419 McRaven House 419 macro PK 419 macromancy 419 macrophages 193 Mad Anthony 420 Madison, Dolley 498, 764-5 Madison, James 764 magi 420 magic 421-3 candle 97 chanting in 108 elementals in 185 Eye of Horus 199 gypsy 274 Huna 304-5 illuminati 318 imagery in 319 incantation in 321 jade in 340 and Kabbalah 354 mandrake in 426 mantra in 428 Maori 428 and metaphysics 449 mirrors in 453 moon 457 periwinkle and 534 quartz in 588 ritual 612-13 self-transformation 423 sigil 650 symbols in 694 see also black magic; Enochian magic; mentalism; sorcery; white magic magical personality 423-4 Magical Will 421, 424, 479, 554, 557 magician 424 invisibility 332-4 see also Houdini, Harry; Levi, Eliphas; Marriott, William magick 424 Maginot, Adele 118 magnetic energy fields 398, 424-5 magnetic healing/therapy 425 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 723-4 mah-jong 425 Maier, Margaret 770-1 Maimonedes experiments 234, 426, 524 Malaysia 207, 766 Malcolm II 251 Maltwood, Katherine 253 Mana 304, 740 mandalas 426, 427 mandrake 426-7 manes 428 Manson, Charles 305 mantra 428, 429 Om 500 transcendental meditation 723, 724 many-worlds theory 586 Mao Tse-tung 723 Maori tradition magic 428 rainbow soul bridge 86 map dowsing 428-9, 531 mara 277, 429-30 marchers of the night 430 Marcus Varro 464 Marfa Lights 180, 430 Marian apparitions 430-1 Marie Antoinette 749, 750 Marquis, Pat 199 Marriott, William 431 Marryat, Frederick 87-8 Marsh, George 539 Marshall, Mary 279 Marshall, Miss 561 martial arts 319, 431-2 Mary Celeste 432-3, 540 Mary I (Bloody Mary) 434, 539, 630 Mary, Queen of Scots 261, 292, 589 Mary, Virgin 149, 408, 599 Marian apparitions 430-1 Mary Worth/Bloody Mary 433-4 Maslow, Abraham 467, 529 Mason, John 779 massage 194, 434-5 zero balancing 798 materialization 435-6 Béraud 237, 435-6 Cook/Katie King 125-6, 270, 362-3, 435 fraud 126, 273-4, 436 Guppy 269-70, 435 Guzyk 237, 273 Kluski plasters 237 Mathers, Moina 224 Mathers, Samuel Liddell MacGregor 256, 257 Matlock, James 526 Mayans 282 maze 436 mazomancy 437 meconomancy 437 medical intuition/intuitive 78, 437-8 medicine man 438, 473 see also shaman; witch doctor meditation 439, 440 biofeedback and 72 brain waves in 18, 85 grounding 267 and healing 597 Holotropic Breath Work 85-6 imagery use 319 kundalini 372 labyrinth use 377 magical aids 422 mandala use 426 occult 445 under pyramid 581 samadhi 627 Zen 797 medium/mediumship 439-43 cryptomnesia 134-6 drop in communicator 171-2 fraud see fraud and ghost investigation 247 shaman compared 643 and super ESP 687 see also control; direct voice mediumship; indirect voice mediumship; mental mediumship; physical mediumship; spiritualism mediums see names of mediums Meek, George 184 megaliths 239, 395, 444 see also Avebury; Stonehenge Melampus 456 Melanesia 740 Melmoth, William 43 menehune 444-5 mental illness and mediumship 442-3 and past life experience 528 and spirit attachment/possession 89-90, 154, 197, 212-13, 555-6, 662, 667, 670, 769 mental mediumship/phenomena 442, 445, 639 fraud 442 psychical research into 443 survival after death evidence 442, 689 mental plane/body/energy 445 mentalism 445-6 meridians 6, 7, 136, 645 Merlin 50, 224, 318, 424, 446 mermaids 446-7 Mesmer, Franz Anton 47, 308, 318, 335, 425, 447-8, 523 mesmerism 438, 441, 447-8, 673, 711 Mesopotamia 135, 501 Messing, Wolf Grigorievich 448 metagnomy 448-9 metal 449, 577 metal bending 449 mini Geller 452 Geller 238, 449, 549, 709 PK party 549 metaphysics 449 meteors 449-50 metopomancy 450 Mexico Day of the Dead 148 evil eye 196 La Llorona 377-8 Meyer, Jean 329 Miami poltergeist 450-1 Michell, John 398 Michon, Abbé 259 micro PK 451 micromancy 451 Milbanke, Anne 91 Miller, Hugh 205 Milward, Jessie 7, 8 mind reading see telepathy mini Geller 452 Min-Min lights 590 miracle 452 mirror 452-4 Halloween ritual 434, 454 mirror gazing 453 as otherworld portal 576 stagnant chi remedy 207 in Zen 797 Mishlove, Jeffrey 29 Mishra, Swarnlata 785 Moberly, Annie 749-50 moleosophy 454-6 Mompesson, John 174 mononoke 456 Monroe, James 752 Monroe, Marilyn 456 Monroe, Robert A 510-11 Montgomery, Ruth 221 Moody, Raymond 474, 475, 576 moon 456-8 moon-infused waters 457 and silver 651 see also lunomancy; selenomancy Moore, Edward 64-5 Mordred 51 Morgan, Kate 302 Moriarty, Theodore 224 Morton case 458-9 Moses, William Stainton 134, 243, 459-60, 464 Moses ben Shemtob de Leon 353 Mount, The 460-1 Mountbatten, Earl 244 movement of objects see psychokinesis moving coffins 461 Mozart 226, 328 Mu 388, 461-2 Muhammad 564 Muldoon, Sylvan 510 Muller, Catherine Elise see Smith, Helene multiple personality disorder and channelling 107 and higher self 294 and mediumship 442-3 and possession 212-13, 556 spiritist view 356, 670 Mumler, William 400, 668 Munchausen Syndrome 682 Murphy, Bridey 527 Murphy, Gardner 198, 462-3, 687 Murray, Margaret A 391 muscle reading 463 music 463-4 music composition, automatic 50 music of the spheres 582 music therapy 463 Mussolini 133 Myers, Arthur 461 Myers, Frederick 28, 48, 70, 131, 242-3, 285, 342, 458, 459, 464, 517, 519, 524, 548, 552, 564, 606, 648, 659, 666, 667-8, 690, 691, 710, 711, 763 Myers, L 359 Myers, Mr 210 myomancy 465 Myrtles Plantation 465 Myss, Caroline 438 mystery cults 466 mystical experience 466-7 mysticism 306, 354, 467, 759 see also Gnosticism nadis 104 Nag Hammadi gospels 254 Nagao, Mrs 718 names 471 names of God 108, 239, 353 Napoleon III 297 Napoleon Bonaparte 297, 488, 501 Nasby battle of 471 National Spiritualist Association 221 National Spiritualist Association of Churches of the USA (NSAC) 471-2, 674, 675 Native Americans viii Acheri 6 Alcatraz 14 bean rituals 65 chanting 108 crossroad superstitions 132 dreamcatcher 167 dream precognition 169 earth lights 180 ghost dance religion 244-5 ghost sickness 249 hydrotherapy 307 kachina 355 little people’ 204 medicine man 438 rainbow soul bridge 86 sage burning 623 smudging 656 spirit traditions 472-3 spook 677 stars as souls 450 totems 720-1 vision quest 753 whirlwind 762 windigo 774 see also Black Elk, Nicholas nature spirits 473 see also devas Navajo people 33, 268, 426 Nazis 280, 619 near-death experience (NDE) 148-9, 473-7, 576 angelic visions 22 Hurkos’ 305 Journal of Near Death Studies 344 Jung’s 348 and kundalini 371 life review 399 and out-of-body experience 474, 509 necromancy 477-8 necyomancy 478 negative energy 478-9 Neilhardt, John 74 neo-Paganism 256, 422, 479-81, 649 see also Wicca Neo-Platonism 421, 481, 551 Neri, Philip 395 Nero, Emperor 144, 239, 726 Neuburg, Victor 133 New Age ix, 108, 478, 481-2 Findhorn 211 influences 77, 345, 709 karma concept 357 music 464 pure white light of the universe 102 see also Age of Aquarius New London Ledge Lighthouse 482-3 New Orleans 265, 384, 753 Voodoo queens 381-4 New Testament 420 newspaper test 483 Newstead Abbey 91, 265, 483-4 Nicholas II, Tsar 599 nightmares/terrors 484 nirvana 484 nixies 485 Norse tradition runes 618 Wild Hunt 770 North Africa 163 Northern Europe 204, 770 Northern Paganism 515 Norway 32-3 Nostradamus ix, 39, 99, 161, 485-8, 564, 637 Nowicki, Dolores Ashcroft 529 nuggle 488-9 numerology 370, 489-91, 582 see also arithmancy; gerematria nurikabe 491 Oakland poltergeist 495 Oatway William 264 object reading see psychometry occult/occultism 496 devas in 155 elementals in185 Eye of Horus 199 and freemasonry 405 hidden masters 379 Lemuria 388 magical lodge 405 mental plane 445 and metaphysics 449 nineteenth-century revival 76, 292 and psychoanalysis 228 pyramid theories 580 sigil use 649, 650 third eye doctrine 715 toad in 720 see also Betty Book, The; black magic; Hermetica/Hermeticism; Rosicrucians; Theosophy occultists see Crowley, Aleister; Fortune, Dion; Gurdjieff, Georgei; Levi, Eliphas; Regardie, F Israel; Summers, Montague Ocean-born Mary 496-7 Octagon 497-8 oculomancy 498 Od 740-1 Odin 75, 770 Odin’s Rune 618 O’Donnell, Elliott 498-9 odontomancy 499 odours 499 Ogilvy family 173 Olcott, Henry Steel 76-7, 714 Old Hag Syndrome 277, 569 Old Shuck 499-500 Old Testament viii, 175, 353, 384-5, 477, 501, 523, 564, 726 ololygmancy 500 Om 428, 500 Omega Point 709 omen 500 see also death omens; divination oneiromancy 437, 501-2 ophidiomancy 502 oracle 160, 502 orbs 248, 503-4 on film 669 Order of Perfectibilists 317 Order of the Knights Templars see Knights Templars Ordo Templi Orientis 318 orgone energy 504-5, 603 orinthomancy 505 Oro Templi Orientis 133 Orr, Leonard 601 Osis, Karlis 149, 505-6, 558 Ostrander, Sheila 364 Osty Eugene 329, 448, 506 otherside/otherworld 507 mirror portal 576 Ouija board 60, 172, 316, 507-9, 613 Ouspensky, Pyotr Demianovitch 271, 272 out-of-body experience (OBE) 509-12 cerebral anoxia 102 and déjà vu 153 kundalini and 373 and near-death experience 474, 509 see also astral body; astral plane; astral projection/astral travel ovomancy 512 Owen, A R G 543 Owen, Iris 543 Owen, John Dale 435 Owen, R G 629 Ozanne, Charles E 574 pagan, paganism 515 Allhallows Eve 278 cone of power 108 equinoxes 192 fertility rites 377 Goddess worship 256, 515 Grail in 258 Herne the Hunter 293 handfasting 280-1 moon symbol 457 persecution 619 unicorn in 738 see also Druidry; neo-paganism; shamanism; Wicca; witchcraft Pagan Federation 480 Pagan Way 480 Pagenstecher, Gustav 577 Palatine light 515-16 Palladino, Eusapia 362, 407, 442, 464, 516-18, 564, 633, 649, 690 Palm Sunday case 518-20 Palmer, Annie 616 palmistry 520-2 Paracelsus 16, 319, 438 paranormal 522 classes of phenomena 542 dreams and 169-71 orbs 503 statistical procedure 443 Parapsychological Association 522-3, 525 Parapsychological Society 616 parapsychology 523-5 Edinburgh chair 369 first US degree 417, 716 and Jung/Freud split 346 metal bending controversy 449 and Ouija board 507 see also applied psi; psi testing; psychical research Parapsychology Foundation 236, 506, 525 parapsychology journals 344-5 Parapsychology Laboratory Laboratory Paris, Jacques 381-2 Parker Brothers 507 parsley 526 Parsons, Mr 118-19 see Duke University Parapsychology Pashkov, Andrey 710 past-life dreams 170-1 past-life nightmares 484 past-life recall 308, 526-8 cryptomnesia 134 and karma 357 past-life therapy 528-9 depossession 154 spirit releasement 669 past lives see reincarnation pathworking 354, 529, 530, 726 Patrick, St 252 Paul, Philip 244 Paul, St 253 Pauls, Ted 60-2, 220 Pavlia, Robert 579 Pawley, Percival 203 Pawleys Island, Faceless Gray Man 203 peak experience 467, 529-30 Pearlin Jean 530-1 Peat, F David 695 Pedder, John 585 pendulum 531-3 dactylomancy 143 radiesthesia 596 see also dowsing; map dowsing Penfield, Wilder 467 Penn, Sibell 280 pentacle/pentagram 533, 649 People of the Rainbow 330 percipient 533, 611 Perelandra 211 perfume ghosts 533-4 periwinkle 534 Perks, Thomas 534 Persia magi 420 mirror origins 453 mystery cults 466 necromancy 477 podomancy 552 ‘persona theory’ 283 Peru 395 Peter, St 340 Peterhouse College 534-5 phallomancy 535 phantasm 535 phantasmagoria 536 phantom 536 phantom armies 536 Edgehill 182 phantom bells 536-7 phantom birds 537 phantom cats Lang family death omen 379 US Capitol building 743-4 White House 764 phantom coach 537 Littlecote death omen 403 Ocean-born Mary 497 phantom dogs Black Shuck 75 Bosun 75 Lemp Mansion 387 Littlecote House 403 Old Shuck 499-500 Snarly Yow 658 phantom funeral train 400 phantom heads 538 phantom hitchhiker 538 phantom horse see nuggle phantom monks and nuns 539 Borley Rectory 82, 83 Brocken Mountain 663 Newstead Abbey 91 Woburn Abbey 778 phantom rabbits 109 phantom ships 539-40 Flying Dutchman 218-19 Mary Celeste 432-3 Palatine light 515-16 phantom travellers 540-1 phantom vehicles 541-2 Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery 57 phasmophobia 542 phenomena 542 Philadelphia Experiment 542-3 Philip 543 Philip IV of France 367 Philippines 572 philosopher’s stone 15, 16, 258, 543-4 Philoxenus 179 phone calls from the dead 544-5 Photius 401 phyllomancy 545 physical mediumship 442, 545 fraud 341, 442, 443, 517-18, 633 psychical research 443, 633 survival after death evidence 690 see also apport; asport; levitation; materialization; rapping; table tilting physiognomancy 545-6 Pickens County Courthouse 546 picture test 546 Pike, Bishop James 221, 546-7, 731 pineal gland 715 Pio, Padre 70-1, 682 Piper, Leonora 341, 391, 406, 442, 443, 462, 464, 547-9, 552, 648, 649, 689 Pius VI, Pope 95 PK see psychokinesis PK party 549 planchette 549-50 see also Ouija board Planck, Max 586 planetary consciousness 550 plants 550-1 Plato 44, 191, 509, 551, 582, 692 Pliny the Elder 456, 509 Pliny the Younger ix, 43 Plotinus 481 Plutarch 162, 505 Podmore, Frank 132, 270, 299, 518, 524, 551-2 podomancy 552 Poe, Edgar Allan 147, 169, 182, 222, 753 poetry see rhapsodomancy polarity therapy 435, 552-3 police psychics see psychic criminology Polidori, John William 748 poltergeist 284, 553-4 agent 12 Amherst Haunting 20-1 Baltimore 60-2, 220 Bell Witch 66-8 Borley Rectory 82-3 Calvados Castle 95-6 Cock Lane 118-19 Cottage City 127-8 Dagg 143-4 drummer of Tedworth 174 Enfield 188-9 Epworth Rectory 191-2 focal person 219 Glamis Castle 251 Grottendieck stone-thrower 266 Helpidius attack 289 Hofdi 295 Jabuticabal 339 and levitation 394-5 Miami 450-1 nurikabe 491 Oakland 495 and odour 499 Philip (artificial poltergeist) 543 and (recurrent spontaneous) psychokinesis 21, 191, 220, 451, 495, 553-4, 601, 611, 615, 616, 639, 690 Rosenheim 617 Sauchie 628-9 Seaford 637-9 Staus 679 stone-throwing devil 684-5 studies 219, 381, 557, 574 Thornton Heath 717-18 Polynesia 86, 211, 740 Pomeroy family 69 Pomona 278 Poole, Elizabeth 279 Porphyry 481, 639 ‘portal’ theory 285 positive thinking 554, 555, 558, 565 possession 554-6 demonic 50, 106, 153, 253, 394, 555 and mental illness 89-90, 154, 197, 212-13, 555-6, 662, 667, 670, 769 Watseka wonder 760-1 see also exorcism; spirit attachment postcognition see retrocognition power spots 556 Sedona, Arizona 640 prana 13, 53, 738-9 see also universal life force pranatthana 371 pranayama 738 Pratt, Joseph Gaither 443, 450, 462, 554, 557, 574, 615, 639, 691 prayer 557-8 and exorcism 285, 339, 670 and healing 286, 557-8, 570, 597, 599 spell compared 664 precognition 101, 117, 558-9 in horses 301 testing 194 see also prophecy precognitive dreams see dreams predestination 559 prediction 559-60 see also Dixon, Jean; Nostradamus pre-existence 560 premonition 560 R-101 case 235, 595 Titanic 561, 680 presence 560 Presley, Elvis 561-2 preta 562 Price, H H 28 Price, Harry 82-4, 244, 245, 252, 300-1, 342, 562-3, 632-3, 701, 737 Price, John 16 Prince, Richard 7 Prince, Walter Franklin 84, 212, 610, 662 princes in the Tower 721 Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research group (PEAR) 607 Procter family 771 prophecy 563-4 see also prediction proxy sitting 564 pseudopod 564 psi 565 animal 23-4 applied 29-30 and brain function 84-5 effect of drugs 172 and geomagnetic field activity 556 and hypnosis 308 and prayer 558 and relaxation 605 see also parapsychology ‘psi field’ theory 450-1 psi imagery 318-19 psi testing biofeedback 72 card guessing 98 decline/incline effects 151 dice test 156-7 displacement 159 experimenter effect 198 Ganzfeld 234 goat (non-believer) 255 psi hitting and missing 565 sheep/goat effect 645 psionic generator 579 psyche vii-viii, 346, 566 dissociation 188 psychic vii-viii, 566-8 animal companions 24 children’s ability 112 cold reading 119, 120 consciousness concept 736, 741 hot reading 302 vs stockbroker 29-30 see also ESP; psi psychic archaeology 568 psychic art see art, psychic psychic attack 568-9 by Crowley 133 on Fortune 223, 569 by elementals 473 Old Hag syndrome 277, 569 psychic cold 569 psychic criminology 570 Croiset 130 goal-focused intuition 255 Hurkos 305-6 psychic development exercises 566-7 preparation xii-xiii psychic healing 66, 286-8, 570 psychic photography 571-2 psychic protection 570-1 botanical spell 665 essential oils 195 psychic reading 572 psychic self-defence see psychic protection psychic surgery 287, 572-3, 643 psychic vampire 573-4 psychical research 574 into mediumship 443 see also American Society for Psychical Research; parapsychology; Society for Psychical Research Psychical Research Foundation 443, 539, 574, 615 psychoanalysis 219, 227, 228, 345, 603, 736 psychograph 574 psychokinesis 574-6 dice test 156-7 and electronic voice phenomena 184 group reproduction 652-3 and physical mediumship 690 and poltergeist activities 21, 191, 220, 451, 495, 553-4, 601, 611, 615, 616, 639, 690 revival of interest 524 and spirit photography 669 and thoughtography 718 see also electrokinesis; metal bending psychokinetic energy 576 psychology and automatic writing 49 Jungian 348-9 of luck 410-11 transpersonal 725 psychomanteum 576-7 psychometry 577-9 and hauntings 285 and Little Bastard 402 and kinaesthetic sense 359-60 and psychic criminology 305, 570 psychoneuroimmunology 66, 268 psychopomp 579 psychosynthesis 725 psychotronics 112, 579-80 puca 580 Puharich, Andrija 238, 305, 573 purgatory 580 purposeful ghost 580 Puthoff, Harold 113, 606, 607 pyramid power 580-1 pyromancy 581 Pythagoras 31, 463, 489, 533, 550, 581-2 Pythagoreans 438 Qabalah see Kabbalah Qi/Chi 739 breathing exercise 740 see also universal life force qi gong 585 quackery 585 quantum healing 585 quantum theory 193, 287, 345, 452, 559, 586-7, 685, 695 see also chaos theory quartz 138, 587-8 Queen Anne’s County ghost 588 Queen Mary 588-9 Queen’s Bank ghost 589-90 Queen’s House 590 Quinn’s light 590-1 Quintus Fabius Maximus 464 R-101 case 235, 595 radiant boys 595-6 radiesthesia 531, 596 radionics 597 rainbow 86-7 raising consciousness 597 rakshasa 597-8 Raleigh, Walter 721 random psychic intuition 598 Rank, Otto 528 rapping 225-6, 598-9 Rasputin, Grigori Efimovich 599 Raudive, Konstantin 183-4, 599-600 Rauscher, William 222 ravens 600 Rawlings, Maurice 476 Rayleigh, Lord 600-1 Reagan, Ronald 401 Raynham Hall 87-8 rebirthing 601 recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis 220, 557, 601, 615, 616, 639 Redfield, James 696 reflexology 434, 601-2 Regan, Ronald 295 Regardie, R Israel 257-8, 602 regression see past-life therapy Reich, Wilhelm 504-5, 603, 741 Reichenback, Karl von 579, 740-1 Reichstag fire 280 Reiki 603-4 reincarnation 11, 604-5 and animism 24, 604-5 and apparitions 28 déjà vu evidence 153 Druidic belief 172-3 and ghosts 242 and higher self 294 Jung’s belief 348 liberation from 108, 271, 484 MacLaine’s belief 482 neo-pagan belief 480 and past-life recall 526, 604 and past-life therapy 528 possession as 760-1 Rosicrucians and 618 and soul mate 661 and spiritism 355, 356, 670 spiritualist beliefs 221, 673 relativity theory 452, 478, 685, 694, 719 relaxation 605-6 aromatherapy 31 and biofeedback 72 brain waves in 85, 605 and fire walking 212 and healing 66, 287 and hypnotherapy 310 and psi 605 REM sleep 167 remote influencing 576 remote viewing 113, 606-7 Repo, Don 214 Rescue Remedy 218 residual haunting 608 Resurrection Mary 608 retrocognition 63, 101, 117, 609 see also Dieppe Raid case; Versailles ghosts revenant 609-10 Reyes de Zierold, Maria 577 rhapsodomancy 610 Rhine, J B 24, 84, 118, 192-3, 194, 283, 344, 417, 451, 462, 506, 523, 524, 554, 557, 559, 575, 610-11, 615, 639, 674, 689, 711, 780, 798 Rhine, Louis B 193 Rhine, Louisa Ella Weckesser 610, 611 Rhine Research Centre 611-12 Riccardo, Martin V 248 Rice, H H 615 Richard II 134, 293 Richet, Charles 118, 165, 181, 436, 711, 785 Richmond, Cora 441 Richter, Sigmund 618 Rider Waite tarot deck 704, 759 right-hand path 385-6, 612, 776 Ring, Kenneth 474 Ritalin 324 ritual magic 612-13 Rivail, Hippolyte Leon Denizard see Kardec, Allan Roberts, Jane 107, 61315 Robertson, E G 536 Robertson, Morgan 561 Robinson, Jim 762 Roff, Mary 760-1 Roll, William 450-1, 554, 557, 574, 601, 615-16, 639 Romains, Jules 199 Roman mythology 203-4 Romany people dukkerin 224 gypsy magic 274 Tarot 704 Rome, ancient viii alectromancy 17 augury 46, 800 aura 47 bean rituals 65 breath ritual 85 candles 97 channelling 106 cledonomancy 118 crow superstitions 600 dream interpretation 501 dream precognition169 Druidism banned 173 garlic amulets 22 graphology 259 haruspicy 283 Lares 380 laurel trees 144 lemure 387 magic and sorcery 775 manes 428 meteor beliefs 449-50 mirror origins 453 nature spirits 473 necromancy 477 orinthomancy 505 ovomancy 512 parsley 526 poltergeists 553 Pomona festival 278 pyromancy 581 rhapsodomancy 610 sibyls 502 sortilege 660 table divination 507, 699 tree omens 726 uromancy 742 Röntgen, Wilhelm 786 Rose Hall 616 Rosenheim poltergeist 617 Rosenkreutz, Christian 617 Rosicrucians 13, 257, 293, 317, 367, 421, 496, 617-18 Roswell incident 198, 735 Roy family 496-7 Rubik, Beverly 781 Rudolph, Kurt 254 Rugg, Peter 540-1 runes 618-19 running water 619 Runolfur Runolfsson case 172, 619-20 rusalka 620 Russell, Peter 550 Russia/Soviet Union 448 dowsing experiments 165 eyeless vision research 199-200 psychokinetic research 575 psychotronics 113, 525 remote viewing projects 607 telepathic hypnosis research 710 Russian folklore domovik 162 rainbow ‘Gate to Heaven’ 86 rusalka 620 sabbats 481 Sabom, Dr 476 sacred geometry 623 sage leaves 623 Sai Baba 30, 36, 623-4 St Elmo’s fire 624-5 St Germain, Comte de 367 St James Sag Church, Chicago 539 Saint John’s Wort 625 Sakura, ghost of 625-7 Salem Witch Trial 286, 775 Salisbury, Lady 721 salt 17, 110, 279 Salter, W H 390 Saltmarsh, Henry 443 samadhi 422, 627, 797 Sambhava, Padma 719 Samhain 278 Sampford ghost 627 Samuel 775 Sanford, James 631 Sartre, Jean-Paul 289 Satan/Satanism 385, 627-8 Satori 798 Saturday 628 Sauchie poltergeist 628-9 Saul, King 477, 775 Sawston Hall 629-30 Saxons 335, 619, 683 Scandinavian folklore 429 scapulomancy 630 scarab 340, 631, 694 scatomancy 631 sceptic 631 schizophrenia 442-3 Schmeidler, Gertrude 605, 645 Schmidt, Helmut 575-6 Schneider brothers 329, 562, 563, 631-3, 690 Rudi 506, 575, 632-3 Willi 631-2 Schreiber, Klaus 329-30 Schrenck-Notzing, Albert von 181, 562-3, 631-2, 633 Schroeder, Lyn 364 Schucman, Helen 5 Scientology 633-4 Sclater, Philip 388 Scole experimental group 634-6 Scot, Reginald 234 Scotland Celtic Spirituality 515 Celtic survival 173 Glencoe massacre 630 Scott, Walter 336, 636 Scottish folklore banshee 62 brownie 88 departure of the fairies 205 ghost seers 248 kelpie 357 raven superstitions 600 ‘spirits of the living’ 32 spunkie 678 screaming skulls 636-7 scrying 99, 135, 498, 637, 638, 649 Dee and Kelley 152 Nostradamus 487 Seaford poltergeist 554, 557, 615, 637-9 sealed envelope test 691 séance 639-40 home sitting 296 popularity 225, 673 proxy sitting 564 psychic cold 569 psychometry 577 shamanic 643 see also medium/mediumship second sight 640 Sedona, Arizona 640 seer 640 selenomancy 641 Semkina, Natasha 786 sensitive 641 sephiroth 354, 726 Serios, Ted 669, 718-19 serotonin 715 Seth 107, 613-15 Seton, Alexander 229 Severus of Ravenna, St 70 Seymour, Jane 79, 280, 402 shadow 346, 566, 641 Shakespeare, William 152, 168, 251, 381, 641-2 shaman viii, 642-3 astral body beliefs 36-7 channelling 106 and development of mediumship 441 evil eye 196 exorcism 197 ghost seeing 248 glossolalia 254 incantation 321 inner voices 114 kumalak 370 out-of-body projection 509, 661 psychic healing 287 psychopomps 579 spirit helpers 264, 643 Taliesin 700 trance state 18, 160, 642, 643, 723 Windigo sickness 774 see also totems shamanism 644 sacred art 33 Shambhala 644 shape-shifting 598, 643, 644-5, 700, 762 Sharpe, Charles Kirkpatrick 530 Shealy Norman 438 sheep/goat effect 645 shell hearing 645 Shelley, Mary 169 Shelley, Percy Bysshe 163, 782 Shetland Isles 488 shiatsu 434, 645-6 shins 646 Shinto 365, 456, 646, 739-40 Shira, Indra 88 shojo 646 Showers, Rosina 436 shrieking pits 646-7 Shroud of Turin 368, 647 Shue, Elva Zona Heaster 262-3 Shue, Erasmus Trout 262-3 sibyl 502, 647 ‘sick building syndrome’ 240 siddhis 647 Sidgwick, Eleanor 285, 517, 647-8, 649, 659, 772 Sidgwick, Henry 459, 464, 517, 519, 524, 647, 648-9, 659 Sidgwick Group 658-9 Siegel, Ronald 476 sigil 649-50 see also runes silky 651 Silva mind control 651 silver 651 Silver Birch 651-2 silver cord 652 Simeon bar Yohai 353 Simon, John 595 Simonton, O Carl 268 Simpson, Susan 710 Sinclair, Upton 607 Singapore 207 Sinnett, A P 293 Sioux people 74, 245 sitter group 652-3 Sitwell, Osbert 244 sixth sense 192, 330, 623, 653 skin reading see eyeless vision skin writing see dermography Skutch, Judith 5 Skutch, Robert 5 sky clad 481, 653, 767 Slade, Henry 653-4 slate writing 654-5 Henry Slade 653-4 Slav tradition kikimora 359 xylomancy 787 sleep paralysis 277, 655 Smith, E F 609 Smith, Fritz 798 Smith, Helene 655 Smith, Jeffrey 305 Smith, Pamela Colman 704, 759 Smith, Susy 690 Smith family 82-3 Smithers, Alan 42-3 Smithfield market ghost 656 smoke ghosts 656 smudging 656 Smurl haunting 657-8 Snarly Yow 658 Soal, S G 443, 687 Society for Psychical Research ix, 27, 32, 48, 50, 63, 70, 80, 98, 109, 131, 165, 169, 179, 184, 189, 192, 215, 219, 228, 240, 242-3, 249-50, 266, 272, 285, 300, 311, 341, 344, 346, 379, 388, 405, 406, 417, 443, 458, 459, 462, 464, 517-18, 519, 523, 548, 552, 562, 563, 601, 606, 611, 635, 636, 647, 648, 649, 658-9, 666, 674, 687, 689, 711, 731, 736, 741, 751, 771, 772 Society of the Inner Light see Inner Light, Society of the Socrates 224, 509, 551, 581, 667 Soguru 625-7 Solomon, George 65-6 somnambulist 660 soothsayer 660 sorcery, sorcerer 335, 424, 660 mechanical 421 see also black magic; curse sortilege 660 Soubirous, Bernadette 408 soul 660-1 animist beliefs 24 aumakua escorts 47 Bridge of Souls 86-7 Druidic beliefs 172-3 Egyptian beliefs 353, 358 and breath 85 and ghosts 241-2 meteors as 450 mirror reflection 453 moon destination 457 psychopomp conductors 579 and purgatory 580 relationship with cosmos 792 as seat of consciousness 124 spirit compared 660 spiritualist beliefs 673 Swedenborg’s views 23, 692 transmigration 725 and vital force 755 world (anima mundi) 13 zombie ghost 799 soul loss 643, 661 soul mate 661 soul rescue 441 Soule, Minnie Meserve 213, 311, 610, 662, 716-17 Soviet Union see Russia/Soviet Union space clearing 662-3 spasmatomancy 663 spectre 663 Speed, Joshua F 399 spell 108, 665-6 examples 664-5 neo-pagan spell work 422 see also curse; hex Spencer, Lewis 45 Sperry, Roger 85 Spindrift 558 ‘spiricom’ 184 spirit 666 ghost compared 11, 666 Native American traditions 472-3 soul compared 660 see also disembodied spirit; ghost spirit attachment 154, 667 and mental illness 769 Thompson-Gifford case 716-17 see also possession spirit beliefs, psychological explanation 346-8 spirit conjuring necromancy 477-8 necyomancy 478 spirit evocation 196 spirit guide 667-8 and Akashic Records 14 fruit of forgetfulness 527 Lincoln advice 106-7 medicine man 438 and near-death experience 474 Soule 662 and spirit releasement 669 vision quest 753 White Eagle 126, 760 witch doctor 774 see also control; familiar; totems spirit lights see ghost lights; orbs spirit obsession see possession spirit photography 248, 498-9, 668-9 Brown Lady 87, 88 Buguet 89 Crewe Circle 129-30 fraud 89, 300-1, 431, 562 Hope 300-1, 562 Mumler 400 Queen’s House 590 spirit possession see possession spirit raising dangers 534 spirit releasement 63, 669-70 spiritism 339, 355, 555-6, 670-1 spirits Acheri 6 bogey 78 brownie 88 Cauld Lad of Hilton 99-100 devas 160 domovik 162 duppy 175 dybbuk 175 elementals 185 fairies 203-5 gremlin 263-4 guardian 267 invisible assailants 334 kachina 355 kelpie 357 kere 358 knockers 368-9 kobold 369 konakijijii 369 Liekko 398 manes 428 marchers of the night 430 nature 473 nixies 485 nuggle 488-9 puca 580 rusalka 620 tree 726-7 tsukumogami 729 vetala 751-2 spiritual body 671 see also astral body spiritual emergence 671-2 Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship 672 spiritual healing 672, 676 spiritual planes 393, 672 see also astral planes spiritualism ix, 673-4 birth of 147, 225, 673 Doyle and 165-6 Jung and 345-6 Houdini and 303 Lincoln and 399 Lombroso and 407 NSAC definition 472 Pike and 546-7 soul concept 660-1 spirit concept 666 and survival after death 673, 689-90 see also medium/mediumship; séance Spiritualist Association of Great Britain 674-5 Spiritualist camps 675 Spiritualists National Union 652, 674, 675-6 spitting 676 spook 677 sports, psychic phenomena in 677-8 Spraggett, Allen 221 Sprengler, Anna 257 spunkie 678 stained glass window effect 678 Stalin 448, 599 Stanford Research Institute 524, 678-9 Starhawk 776 Star Trek 713 Starr, Ellen Gates 304 Staus poltergeist 679 Stead, William 678, 679-80 Stead, W T 279, 561 Steiner, Rudolf 13, 388, 680-1 Stevens, E W 760 Stevenson, Ian 526, 605, 691, 718-19 Stevenson, Robert Louis 169, 279 Stewart, Robert, Viscount Castlereagh 596 stigmata 155, 681-2 Stirling Castle 261 Stoddert, Benjamin 277 Stoker, Bram 257, 748 Stone, Randolph 552 Stone Age ghost 683 Stonehenge 239, 282, 556, 623, 683-4 stone-throwing devil 684-5 Strathmore, Earls of 250-1 string theory 685 Stuart, John 59-60 Stuart, Robert 59 subconscious see unconscious subliminal self/consciousness 28, 342, 464, 686 subtle body see astral body succubus 322, 430, 657, 686 Suetonius 512 Sufism 30, 205, 367, 439 Sumerians 196, 500, 501 Summers, Montague 686 super ESP 686-7 and xenoglossy 785-6 superego 227, 316, 687-8 supernatural 688 superstition 688 animal 24, 800 candle 97 crossroad 132 doors 162 evil eye 196 fairies 204 ghosts 242 insect 190 and luck 410 mirror 454 nixie children 485 parsley 526 raven/crow 600 sage leaves 623 St Elmo’s fire 624-5 salt 17, 279 spitting 676 survival after death 689-90 common beliefs 10 and ESP 611 evidence Chaffin will case 102-4 cross correspondences 132, 179 deathbed visions 150, 506 Leonard 388-91 mental mediumship 442, 689 Palm Sunday case 518-20 physical mediumship 690 Piper 547-8 rappings 599 séance communications 279-80 spirit photography 669 Kidd’s legacy 358-9 Roll’s model 616 Theta 344 see also afterlife Survival Research Foundation 443, 690 survival tests 442, 691 book test 82 newspaper test 483 picture test 546 Sutton, Charles 83 Swaffer, Hannen 652 swastika 619 Sweden 317, 430 Swedenborg, Emanuel ix, 23, 48, 76, 146, 300, 523, 673, 691-2 Swinhoe, Henry 458 Switzerland 259 symbol 693-4 enneagram 271 mah-jong 425 Nazi 619 Rosicrucian 618 tarot 703 Yin/Yang 791-2 see also glyph; sigil; Tree of Life synchronicity 348, 694-6 table-tilting 71, 543, 699 Tacitus 43 Tai Chi 432, 699-700, 739 Tait, William 772 Takata, Hawayo 604 take away apparitions 149 Taliesin 700 talisman 700-1 dreamcatcher 167 fetish compared 209 gris-gris 265 see also glyph; sigil talking board 701 see also Ouija board talking mongoose 701 tantra, tantric 701 tantric yoga 738 Tao 702 Tao Te Ching 315, 702 Taoism 185, 197, 207, 287, 315, 702-3, 721 see also Yin/Yang Taoist alchemy 703 Tappe, Nancy Ann 322-4 Targ, Russell 113, 606, 607 tarot 37, 99, 134, 160, 703-7 Tart, Charles T 17, 305 tash 707 tasseography 708-9 Tassili Caves 163 Tattwas 37 Taulbee, William Preston 743 Taxil, Leo 628 Tayloe family 497 Taylor, Amy and Troy 19 Taylor, F C 396 Taylor, John 238, 398 Teilhard de Chardin 709 telekinesis 709-10 telepathic hypnosis 710-11 telepathy 101, 711-12 and apparitions 28, 272, 552, 772-3 dream 169-70, 426 genuineness 98, 165, 341 and hauntings 247 and mediumistic communication 131, 135, 406, 442, 519-20, 687 proxy sitting protection 564 and psychic ability 228 testing 194, 234, 279, 711-12 see also muscle reading teleportation 710, 713 Temple Mount, Jerusalem 366 temporal displacement see time travel temporal lobe activity 713 Tenhaef, Willem 130 Teresa of Avila, St 394, 395 Terriss, William 7-8 Terry, Ellen 216 Tetragrammaton 353 Thackeray, W M 328 Thailand 207 Thalbourne, Michael A 725 Thaw, Harry 769 Theocritus 500 Theodosius 17 Theosophical Society 76, 77, 356, 479, 681, 713-14 theosophy 13, 36-7, 77, 155, 292, 388, 713-15, 794 therapeutic touch 715 Theseus 377 ‘thetan’ 634 Thetford, William 5 third eye 117, 323-4, 715 Thomas, Charles Drayton 483 Thomas, John 417, 443, 662, 716 Thomas Aquinas, St 168, 501 Thomas of Ercildoune 292 Thompson-Gifford case 33, 311, 662, 716-17 Thorn, Alexander 444 Thornton, William 497 Thornton Heath poltergeist 220, 717-18 thought form 464, 473, 718 see also intelligence thoughtography 669, 718-19 Thouless, Robert 565, 691 Tiberius, Emperor 512 Tibet channelling 106 hidden masters 76, 293, 714 mandalas 426 oracles 502 phallomancy 535 raven messengers 600 reiki origins 603 sand painting 33 tra 453 tulpa 729 Tibetan Book of the Dead 409, 474, 509, 719 Tibetan Buddhism 719, 644 Tighe, Virginia 527 time travel 719-20 Titanic 561, 680 Titus, Mrs 341-2 toad 720 Tober, Jan 322-3 Todd, Mary 399, 400 tokolosh 720 Tolkien, J R R 169 Tolstoy, Leo 391 totems 24, 642, 644, 720-1, 800 Tower of London 79, 600, 656, 721-2 Townshend, Dorothy 87-8 traditional Chinese medicine 360, 722-3, 778, 792 see also acupressure; acupuncture trance 212, 723 glossolalia 253 hypnotic 100, 527-8, 723 metagnomy 448-9 mediumistic 125, 441, 545, 723 shamanic 18, 160, 642, 644, 723 see also clairvoyant reality; mesmerism Transactional Analysis 294 transcendental meditation 394, 439, 723-4 transliminality 725 translocation see teleportation transmigration 725 transpersonal psychology 725 Travolta, John 634 Tree of Life 257, 354, 703, 726 tree spirits 726-8 Tregeagle, Jan 728-9 Tribber, Frank C 690 Trois Frères caves 421 Troubridge, Una, Lady 390 Truman, Harry 302, 401 trumpet 158, 362, 729 Truxton, Thomas 124 tsukumogami 729 Tuatha de Danaan 204 tulpa 729 Tunstead Farm 636-7 Turn of the Screw, The 729 Turpin, Dick 730 Twain, Mark 730 Twigg, Ena 547, 730-1 Twitchell, Paul 180 Tyler, Thomas 479 Tyrell, George 731 Tyrone ghost 731-2 Ueshiba, Morihei 432 UFOs 180, 198, 238, 735 UK see Britain Ullman, Montague 71, 524 uncertainty principle 586 unconscious 735-6 accessing 310, 318, 439, 533 deductive psychic intuition 151-2 and déjà vu 153 and ESP 731 exteriorization 188 Freudian slip 228-9 and inspiration 328 mobilizing 649-50 and nightmares 484 projections 431 stained glass window effect 678 and symbols 694 see also collective unconscious; id; shadow; superego Underwood, Guy 398 Underwood, Peter 244, 736-7 underworld 289, 428, 436, 737 entry points 683 lunar deities 457 maze map 377 undine 737 unicorn 738 universal life force/energy 738-41 akasha 13 and chakras 104 Feng Shui enhancement 206-7 and levitation 394 male and female mingling 703 and martial arts 431, 432 medical intuitives 437 orgone energy 504 pagan beliefs 515 and prayer 557 Tai Chi enhancement 699 and Tao 702 therapies involving see absent healing; bodywork therapies; energy balancing/medicine; faith healing; hydrotherapy; kinesiology, applied; psychic healing Yin/Yang 791 universal mind 736, 741 Upanishads 255, 741-2 urban myth 742 urine therapy 742 uromancy 742 US Capitol Building 743-4 CIA, STAR GATE Programme 113, 607, 679 crop circles 131 dowsing 165 fire walking 212 Great Seal 199 haunted battlefields 63-4 ley investigation 397 neo-Paganism 480 New Age teaching 482 phantom hitchhiker legend 538 psychokinetic research 575 psychotronics 579 Satanism 628 smoke ghosts 656 spiritualism ix, 471-2, 673, 674 spiritualist camps 675 Wicca introduced 766 see also American entries Usui, Mikao 603-4 utukku 744 Valens 17 Valenski, D 308 Valentino, Rudolph 215 vampire 747 Glamis Castle 251 in popular culture 748 protection from 335 psychic 573-4 and the Saturday-born 628 vetala compared 752 vampire ghosts 747 vampirism 747-9 Van Hoestenberghe, Dr 408 vanishing hitchhiker see phantom hitchhiker van Lommel, William 476-7 Vasiliev, L L 710, 712 Vedas 356, 723, 749 Vedic astrology 749 Vennum, Mary Lurancy 760-1 Venus figurine 256 Vernay, Jacques 163 Verrall, A W 179 Verrall, Margaret 519 Versailles ghosts 749-51 vetala 751-2 vibrational healing 752 Victoria, Queen 794 Villiers, Oliver 595 Vingoe fire 752 Violet, SS 540 Virginia, the ghost state 752-3 Vishnu 51 vision 753 Black Elk 73 Blake 76 divination by 448 Fortune 224, 342-3 Hildegard of Bingen 294 Home 296 Osborne 389 prophetic 160-1, 485-6 see also deathbed visions vision quest 267, 753 visualization 753-4 and colours 123 grounding 267 and healing 66 magical aids 422 and psychic protection 572 see also creative visualization; pathworking vital force see universal life force vitalism 755 Viviane 446 voices, hearing see clairaudience Volckman, William 270, 435 Volpe, Jan 339 von Knigge, baron 317 Voodoo 254, 616, 755-6 gris-gris 265 necromancy 477 zombie 799 voodoo doll 756 Voodoo queens see Glapion, Marie Laveau; Laveau, Marie vortex 756 Waite, Arthur 704, 759 Waldorf schools 681 Wales Celtic Spirituality 515 scapulomancy 630 Taliesin 700 see also Welsh folklore Wallace, Alfred Russel 269 Walpole, Robert 87 Walpurga, St 759 Walpurgis Night 759 Walton, George 684 Wambach, Helen 527-8 wand 759-60 and air element 13, 759 crystal 136, 759 fire association 211 Ward, Woodrow 579 Warren, Ed and Lorraine 657, 658 Washington, George 23, 226, 420, 743, 752, 779 Washington family 537 Watchers 79-80 water 161, 760 hydromancy 306-7 hydrotherapy 307 running 619 well 761 Watkins, Alfred 395-6 Watseka wonder 760-1 Watts, Nelle 769 wave-particle duality 586 Weatherby, Lionel A 534 Weir, Thomas 761 Weishaupt, Adam 317 Weisner, W P 565 well 761 Wells, H G 385 Wells family 418 Welsh folklore bwca 88 corpse candles 127 crossroad spirits 132 crow superstitions 600 fairies 204 periwinkle 534 Wen, King 335 Wenzel, Martin 329 werewolf see lycanthropy werewolf ghost 762 Wesley, Samuel 598 Wesley family 191-2 West Africa ancestor worship 22 juju 265 zombie 799 West Indian tradition duppy 175 Westcott, William Wynn 256-7 Whaley House 762 Wharton, Duke of 412 Wharton, Edith 460-1 whirlwind 762 White, Betty 763 White, Edward 763-4 White, Stanford 769 White Eagle Lodge 126, 762-3 White House 401, 764-5 White Ladies 58, 69, 166, 280, 482, 765 white magic 321, 421, 765 pentagram 533 right-hand path 612 Wicca 766 Whiteman, J H M 510 Wicca 765-8 apple pentagram 533 elementals 13, 185, 760 Gardner and 134, 480, 765, 766, 776 Herne the Hunter 293 sabbats 481 Samhain 278 sky clad 481, 653, 767 wand 759 witchcraft compared 765-6 Wiccan Rede 768, 776 Wickland, Anna 154 Wickland, Carl 154, 197, 666, 768-9 Wild Edric 770 Wild Hunt 770 Wilhelm, Richard 315 Wilkinson, Jack and Clara 751 Willard Library 770-1 Willett, Winifred 179, 519 William the Conqueror 8, 63, 770, 774 Willington Mill 771 will-o’-the-wisp 772 Wilmot apparition 772-3 Wilson, Colin 294 Wilson, Ian 682 Wilson, Mary see Ocean-born Mary Wilson, Nancy 418 Wilson, Robert Anton 318 Wilson, Woodrow 764 Winchester, Sarah 773-4 Winchester mystery house 773-4 Windigo 774 Windsor, Anna 48 Windsor Castle 774 Winter, William 465 witch doctor 502, 720, 774 see also medicine man; shaman witch lights 317 Witch of Endor 477, 775 witchcraft, witch 775-7 accusations 339, 684 Book of Shadows 81 broom 87 cone of power 108 devil’s mark 156 familiar 206 as fertility religion 391 Fortune and 223 Goddess worship 256 horse susceptibility 301 imagery in 319 and iron 335 Leek 385 low magic 421 magical weekdays 777 mara role 430 and the moon 457-8 persecution 250, 286, 367, 433, 766, 775 sigil 649 wand 759 water test 307 Wicca compared 765-6 Witchcraft Act (1735) 674 repealed (1951) 480, 731, 776 witching hour 778 wizard 292, 446, 778 Woburn Abbey 240, 778 Wolsey Thomas 280 wood 778 Woodlawn Plantation 779 Woods, Sidney George 216 Woodstock, Percy 143 World Trade Center attack (9/11) 488 precognitive dreams 169, 502 World War I 109, 221, 224, 235, 389, 779 Angels of Mons 64 book tests 82 gremlins 263-4 phantom army stories 536 predictions of 80, 680 Spiritualist revival 674 World War II 68, 109, 293, 331, 540, 588, 589 battlefield hauntings 64 Dieppe Raid case 157 gremlins 263 Padre Pio’s bilocation 70 Pendulum Institute 531 phantom army stories 536 predictions 302, 448 swastika 619 Worrall, Ambrose 779-80 Worrall, Olga 779, 780-1 Worth, Patience 507-9, 781-2 wraith 782 Wren, Christopher 226, 280 Wright, Elsie 128 Wright, Machaelle Small 211 Xavier, Chico 339 xenoglossy 253, 785-6 xenography 785 xenomancy 786 X-ray vision 117, 786 xylomancy 787 XYZ 780 Yang see Yin/Yang Yeats, William Butler 62, 257, 714, 791 Yin/Yang 315, 386, 702, 722, 739, 791-2 and Feng Shui 206-7 Yoga 792-4 akasha 13 breathing exercise 86 and clairaudience 114 conscious dreaming 409-10 and imagery 319 koshas 369-70 left and right-hand tantra 385 meditation 439, 500 nirvana 484 prana 738 schools of 793 siddhis 647, 738 see also kundalini; Taoist alchemy Yogananda, Paramahansa 321-2 zazen4s39, 797 Zen 797-8 Zener, Karl 194 Zener cards 798 zero balancing 435, 798 zodiac 301, 798-9 ages of 11 air signs 13 earth signs 179-80 and facial spots/moles 450 fire signs 211 at Glastonbury 253 and palm lines 520 and personality traits 40-1 water signs 760 Zohar353 Zollner, Johann 653-4 zombie 365, 477, 756, 799 ‘zone’ 677 zoomancy 799-800 Zugan, Eleanor 563 Zulus 11 Zuni people 355 Acknowledgements A project this huge simply couldn’t have been completed alone. A big thank you to my team of researchers and all the paranormal experts, societies and organizations who provided help and information while we compiled the entries. I’m indebted to you all. I’d also like to thank my editor, Katy Carrington, for her vision and for encouraging me when the going got tough; Charlotte Ridings, for her very fine editing; and Wanda Whiteley, for her help, humour and support. Special thanks go to my husband, Ray, and my two children, Robert and Ruth, for their love and patience while I went into exile to complete this project. Last but by no means least, if any spirits were watching over us and subtly guiding our choice of entries and words as we worked, I’d like to thank them too. Copyright HarperElement An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB The website address is: www.thorsonselement.com and HarperElement are trademarks of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd First published by HarperElement 2006 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 © Theresa Cheung 2006 Theresa Cheung asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN-13 978-0-00-721148-7 ISBN-10 0-00-721148-1 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. 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The Astral Projection Guidebook: Mastering the Art of Astral Travel Copyright © 2013 by Erin Pavlina All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever including Internet usage, without written permission of the author. ISBN: 978-1491246979 (pbk) Book design by Maureen Cutajar www.gopublished.com To all the intrepid explorers of the unknown. Be brave and you will see all. Acknowledgements Thanks go out to my product manager, Stephan van Coppenole, for handling all the details so I could concentrate on writing. To Erin Ashley Kerti for her feedback, encouragement, and support in reviewing the book to make sure I was making sense. To Traci Shoblom, for her excellent copywriting. To Maureen Cutajar at GoPublished.com for handling everything including the editing, design, and formatting. I’m so glad you do what you do. And to the thousands of people who emailed me asking about astral projection…this book exists thanks to you. CONTENTS Part 1 Understanding Astral Projection Chapter 1 My Astral Projection Experiences Chapter 2 Astral Projection Basics Part 2 Preparing to Project Chapter 3 Preparing Your Environment Chapter 4 Preparing Yourself Energetically Chapter 5 Sleeping and Astral Projection Part 3 Achieving Separation Chapter 6 Indicative Sensations Chapter 7 Emotional Control Chapter 8 Leaving Your Body Part 4 Navigating the Astral Realms Chapter 9 Traveling Chapter 10 The Planes Chapter 11 Interacting with People and the Environment Part 5 Safe Traveling Chapter 12 Protecting Yourself Chapter 13 Interactions with Low Vibrational Beings Chapter 14 Avoiding Astral Projection Your Astral Projection Checklist Enjoy the Journey CHAPTER 1 My Astral Projection Experiences T HE S CIENCE F AIR My journey into discovering and eventually mastering the art of astral projection began, ironically, at my junior high science fair. I had decided to do my project on dreams and their interpretations. My teacher warned me it wasn’t a very scientific topic, but I would not be dissuaded. We were required to read at least three books on our subject, but when I got to my local library, I found eleven books I wanted to read on this subject. For me, it wasn’t just a school project, it was a subject that fascinated me completely. I checked out and read those eleven books cover to cover. From studying my books, I learned all about dreams, how to interpret them, and how they were tied to our sleep cycle. But in the process I also learned about two other phenomena I had never heard of before: lucid dreaming and astral projection. I was intrigued. Lucid dreaming is when the dreamer becomes aware that he is dreaming while he is still dreaming. That sounded super awesome to me. I wanted to learn how to master lucid dreaming very badly. The second item, astral projection, sounded like a fairytale. It was described in my books as an out of body experience, where people reported leaving their bodies and traveling on another plane, while fully aware and NOT asleep. I really didn’t think such a thing was possible, but I was curious nonetheless. I decided to start with lucid dreaming. It took me about three months of study, effort, and experimentation before I had my first lucid dream. After that, I learned how to control my dreams and even program the dream I wanted to have in advance. More on lucid dreaming later, but it was an important first step for me to eventually learn how to astral project. Once I was well-versed in lucid dreaming, I decided to try having an out of body experience. This was not nearly as simple as learning lucid dreaming. I really had no reference experience for it, and didn’t even know what I was shooting for. The books at the time were quite vague on how to achieve one, they mainly described what it felt like once it happened. Getting to the place where I could initiate an astral experience was elusive. I tried meditating. I would lie in my bed, breathe deeply, quiet my mind, and imagine I was outside of my bedroom. Nothing. Although I could easily and vividly imagine myself somewhere else, I wasn’t actually there. I was simply inside my imagination. Then I tried mentally projecting myself to my ceiling so I could look down on my body. Nothing. Again, I could easily imagine it and visualize it, but I never escaped my body, I only escaped my mind. I tried adjusting what time of day I tried it – before I went to sleep, upon first waking in the morning, during naps, and just spontaneous times like in math class when I was bored. Failure. Since I had mastered lucid dreaming, I decided to try dreaming about astral projection. I reasoned that if I could just know what it felt like to fly around outside my body, then maybe my real soul could really leave my body. I had success dreaming that I was flying, but that wasn’t astral projection. I couldn’t even mimic projection in a dream because I hadn’t experienced it in real life, so I had nothing on which to base my programming. I tried looking for real people who had real success but found none. I read everything I could find on astral projection, which wasn’t much back then in the 1980s. With no friends who had ever done this, no Internet, and getting all my information from books in a library, I was very limited in my reach. I worked on this for three years with zero success. I was frustrated. I decided that astral projection was a fantasy and people didn’t really leave their bodies consciously. I gave up on ever learning the skill. I stopped trying completely. M Y F IRST A STRAL P ROJECTION M Y F IRST A STRAL P ROJECTION I started tenth grade in 1984. By this point, I was fantastic at lucid dreaming but had given up on astral projection. When I started my new school, I met two people who would become my closest friends, and who would become integral in my study and mastery of astral projection. The first was a girl I met in Spanish class, and we clicked and hit it off as friends instantly. We had the same sense of humor, and were a little bit “out there” compared to our peers. To protect her identity, let’s call her Ashley. From day one, we bonded like sisters and slipped into a very easy and close friendship. The second person I met was a boy. Let’s call him Jared. I was crushing hard on Jared, and the beauty was, he was just as “out there” as Ashley and I were, maybe even more so. He was into the occult and liked studying the paranormal. It wasn’t long before the three of us would put our heads together and be discussing all manner of crazy arcane things. It was so nice to finally have people to talk to who understood me and accepted me for who I was. It allowed me to open up more to my own internal intuitive abilities, and explore unusual things without fear of judgment. I was so grateful for Ashley and Jared’s presence in my life. Some of the things we played at were telepathy, dream sharing, and a fun game where we tried to get someone to look up at us on telepathic command. Neither of them had ever astral projected, so they were also a dead end to me in terms of having an expert to learn from. That was all right though. I didn’t really care at this point; I was having fun with everything else we were doing. But everything changed on January 7, 1985. That was the night my 15year-old self finally experienced astral projection. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before or could even imagine. I went to bed like usual. In the middle of the night I woke up in my bed, on my back, and felt an intense tingling sensation throughout my entire body. It was like someone had attached electrodes to me and current was passing through my body. It wasn’t painful, but it was intense and extremely unsettling. The next thing I noticed was that I could see my room, but could also feel that my eyes were closed. I thought that was particularly unusual. How could I clearly see my room, in the dark, yet my eyes were closed? Next I became aware of the presence of three other beings in the room with me. If I had to physically locate them, I’d say they were up near the ceiling to my left. Their presence was distinct and palpable. I didn’t have much time to consider who they might be, what they wanted, or whether they were friend or foe, but their presence was unmistakable. Next there was a high-pitched whining sound in my head. I can only describe it as the sound of acceleration. Kind of like the sound a jet airplane makes as it’s speeding down a runway getting ready to take off into the sky. A fairly apt analogy as I was soon to discover. To my absolute horror, I then started feeling my “self” being pulled slowly out of my body. It felt like someone had grabbed hold of my soul and was dragging it out of my body. It was not a comfortable sensation whatsoever. It didn’t feel natural, normal or healthy in any way, shape or form. I was so terrified that I tried to scream, only no sound came out of me, nor did I have any control over my mouth. I was trying to resist being pulled, and I felt like I was choking. Then one of the beings in the room spoke to me in my mind. It said, “Breathe through your nose, it will be easier.” So I concentrated on my nose and started breathing through it, only that had the opposite effect I was hoping it would have. I started getting pulled out much faster. I went back to trying to scream, again to no avail. But my resistance and strong desire to get back into my body where it was safe did have the effect of merging me back in with my body. Just when I thought the experience was over, the tugging started again. Something was pulling me out of my body! I did not want to go. For what seemed liked several minutes, this tug of war was happening with “them” pulling me out and I pulling myself back in. Finally I heard one of the beings say, “This isn’t going to work. She’s too frightened.” Another responded with, “She’s got to learn one way or another.” The original voice said to me, “It’s okay, just let it happen.” I responded mentally with, “Nope. Not interested. Forget I ever wanted to learn this stuff. I’m over it. Just please let me back into my body and I’ll be a good girl.” Eventually, I made it fully into my body and got control of it once again. As soon as I could, I sat up and turned on my light. I sat there with my knees drawn up to my chest, shaking a little from the trauma. What does one do when one has just had their soul assaulted? There was no hotline I could think of to call. I didn’t want to wake my parents. I knew they’d think I was nuts. I wasn’t so sure I wasn’t! I stayed awake until morning and got ready for school. I was completely haunted by the experience and preoccupied with what had happened. When I got to school, I ran into Jared in the parking lot. He gave me a quick hug and said, “So I tried to contact you telepathically last night while you were asleep, but I guess nothing happened.” I looked at him in shock and burst into tears. I beat my fists on his chest and said, “No, no, something did happen.” For some reason, I blamed him for my experience. I thought maybe he had opened a door that I didn’t really want open and without even warning me. I was upset. I told him about my experience, and he told me that a demon was trying to possess me. I’m going to insert right here and now that he was wrong, it was not remotely a demon trying to possess me, but at the time, and with no experience or experts in sight, I believed him, which was unfortunate because it put me in a place of deep fear. T HE R OAD TO M ASTERY The door was open. I now knew what it felt like to be separate from my body, at least a little. In the seven days that followed that initial experience, I had three or four more incidences just like it – an astral tug of war over my soul that made me ridiculously fearful of turning out my light at night. I would wake up, feel the tingling sensation, hear the highpitched whine, and start moving out of my body. I would scream, resist, fight back, and get back in, only to be tugged out again. I must have looked like a banshee at the end of the week. I had gotten very little sleep and I probably looked like I’d been dragged through hell. That’s certainly what it felt like. Although I assumed each experience was an attack, I did notice that the three presences in my room didn’t seem evil. They seemed more like patient teachers…the kind that push you out of an airplane even though you’re scared to sky dive because they know you have a parachute and won’t jump on your own. Spirit tough love, as it were. I eventually realized they weren’t going to give up. Jared promised he would find a way to protect me, and Ashley got me a crystal to use as a talisman. They were both as supportive as they could be, but they couldn’t prevent the nighttime experiences. After the first week, the experiences died down a bit. They happened maybe once per week. I was finally getting some sleep, and things were returning mostly to normal. Ashley and Jared were researching as much as they could, and we were trying different things to get a handle on it all. Finally, Ashley hooked me up with a friend she met through work who was a couple of years older than us. Let’s call him Sam. Sam was an experienced astral projector and someone I could talk to who wouldn’t think I was nuts. I remember the first two-hour conversation we had. He really set my mind at ease. Sam explained that the reason the experience was so terrifying was because I was afraid. Uh, damn skippy I was afraid! But Sam taught me that I didn’t have to be afraid, and that the reason I was having a terror reaction was because I thought something was trying to “get me.” He taught me how to initiate the astral separation on my own, how to change my frequency so I wasn’t on the “fear channel,” and he explained all the ins and outs of astral travel in a way that made perfect sense for me. Within a few months, I had made such good progress that I was able to astral project at will, protect my soul and my body while projecting, and I even learned how to go after and put down any low vibrational being that attacked me. I went from zero to hero in a few short months. Once I got on top of the astral wave, I surfed it regularly. I loved astral projecting, exploring, experiencing, and dealing with astral bad boys. What I once had thought impossible became just as easy as lucid dreaming. By the time I’d reached my early twenties, I’d projected at least a thousand times, and had so many awesome adventures, experiences, and insights. If it wasn’t for Sam, I’m not sure what would have happened to me. My desire for everyone reading this book is to learn to astral project without fear, and know how to handle themselves on the astral plane. That is why I’ve written this book, to be the guide for you that I wished I’d had before it first happened to me. Astral projection doesn’t have to be frightening. If you’re already experiencing projection and you’re afraid, I will help you understand how to avoid those experiences. If you’re new to astral projection, I’ll teach you how to safely and effectively travel the astral realms and enjoy the process! Throughout the rest of this book, I’ll share more of my stories to help illustrate my points. Let’s get ready to fly. Your journey is upon you! CHAPTER 2 Astral Projection Basics It will be helpful to understand exactly what astral projection is and what it isn’t, so that as you foray into this realm you’ll know what to expect and what it’s really all about. This chapter will cover the basics and answer some common questions people have about astral projection, which will help you decide if this is something you even want to commit to learning. W HAT IS A STRAL P ROJECTION ? Let’s start with a basic definition. Astral projection refers to your soul, spirit, or consciousness leaving your body. Astral travel refers to your soul moving around outside your body on the astral plane, or other planes of existence. Is there a difference between the terms out of body experience and astral projection? Functionally, no. They both refer to the soul leaving the body. But in practical terms, I would define out of body experiences as those happening spontaneously to people who had no intent of leaving their bodies, and I would classify astral projection as those who consciously and with intent decide to leave their bodies. In this book, we’ll be discussing astral projection. C AN A NYONE L EARN TO A STRAL P ROJECT ? I believe it’s possible for anyone to learn how to astral project. The same way it’s possible for anyone to learn a sport. Success at that sport depends on how much effort you put into learning it. Just as some people are more naturally gifted when it comes to sports, with astral projection I do find there are certain factors that make it easier to learn. You’ve got the time. Learning astral projection will take time. You’ll need to study, practice, experiment, interact with experts, learn new skills, and more. But if it’s very important to you, just set aside some time each day or each week to make progress. This is a practice that builds success over time, so if you put in the time, you’ll be much more likely to achieve it. But you can’t go to bed every night wishing and hoping it will spontaneously happen to you. You’re patient. It’s unlikely you will master astral projection right away. There will be starts and stops. There will be sudden or spontaneous small successes followed by weeks with no progress. There will be “almost got it!” moments followed by intense feelings of frustration about why it’s taking so long. Or you might get lucky and it all just comes together for you in a weekend. There’s no way to predict. But at this point you’ve got to be ready for this to take a while, and you’ve got to be ready to be patient. You’re willing to experiment. I spent three years experimenting and even though in that time I had no real success leaving my body, I was priming myself for success later. I mastered lucid dreaming; I mastered meditation. I learned how to research. And I learned lots and lots of different ways how not to do it. All of that happened because I was willing to try, willing to experiment, and willing to fail until I succeeded. You’re young. When it comes to astral projection, it appears that young people, between the ages of 13 and 18, have a natural advantage. I suspect this age group has an easier time learning this because they have not yet been taught it’s impossible, they are not saddled with a lot of responsibilities such as paying bills, managing relationships, or worrying about their health, and paranormal activities tend to be strong at these ages. However, that doesn’t mean that older people can’t learn it. Older people sometimes have a harder time believing it’s possible, and they’re more fully rooted in the material world than kids. But age has its advantages. Likely, older people have more self-discipline, are better at studying and learning, and can spend a little money to interact with experts, take classes, or buy support items like meditation programs. You’re open-minded. If you decide in advance that this is impossible, you will surely fail, unless you have a spontaneous out of body experience or a near-death experience to wake you up. But if you believe this is possible and if you keep an open mind about it, you will allow it to happen and attract the experience more easily. You have a strong desire. Nothing takes the place of conscious desire. If you truly wish to learn how to astral project, you can. Follow the map that others have laid out before you, and you will get to the top of this mountain. It may be difficult, it may be frustrating, it may take a long time, but you can make it, one step at a time. Desire and will power are what will keep you going when frustration sets in. D O W E A STRAL P ROJECT IN O UR S LEEP ? There’s a lot of discussion and opinions on this subject. Some spiritual teachers will tell you that every night when you go to sleep, your soul leaves its body and travels on the astral plane, and you can wake with no memory of this. Some believe dreams come from the astral plane, and you go there every night to have them. I don’t agree with this philosophy at all. When you leave your body, you remember it. You can’t help but remember it because your entire consciousness leaves your body behind like a peanut leaving a shell. If you don’t remember the experience of leaving your body, you didn’t leave your body. Astral projection is a 100 percent conscious experience. When you dream, you may not remember what you dreamed because you were unconscious at the time. But when you astral project, trust me, you’ll remember it. You’ll feel more conscious than you do right now. It’s a ridiculously high-awareness experience that will feel more real to you than being in your body. So no…you don’t astral project every time you sleep. Your astral body may become “active” but not leave your body. To use our peanut analogy, it’s like shaking the shell and hearing the peanut rattling around. Rattling the shell doesn’t mean the peanut has escaped the shell. It just means the peanut is separate from the shell but still contained within it. More on this when we talk about sleep, dreams, and astral projection. I S A STRAL P ROJECTION S AFE ? C AN Y OU D IE ? I S A STRAL P ROJECTION S AFE ? C AN Y OU D IE ? This is a question I’m asked frequently and with good reason. Astral projection can be very safe, or it can be very unsafe. It’s like asking if skydiving is safe. With a functional parachute and knowledge on how to use it, skydiving is very safe. With no parachute, it’s very unsafe. Why do beekeepers wear those white protection suits? Because they know they’re going to interact with a hive full of bees, and they don’t want to get stung. With the right awareness, education, and equipment, astral projection is extremely safe and extremely rewarding. But with no training, with the wrong mental state, or interacting with the wrong entities, astral projection can become a thrill ride into a nightmare that can leave you bruised, battered, beaten, and worn. It can damage your mind, it can deplete you of vital physical energy, and it can cause psychological damage. Sometimes people have encounters that leave them with low physical energy. Sometimes people develop anxiety, hallucinations, psychotic tendencies, and even thoughts of suicide. Sometimes people attract low vibrational entities that attach themselves and drain mental, physical, and psychic energy. It’s not something you want to go into blind. On the other hand, there is nothing more exhilarating or wonderful than astral projection. It leaves you with a sense of completely knowing that you have a soul, that the soul can survive outside the body, and that there is life after death. For many, that certainty is worth all the risk. But can you die? Truthfully, how would we know if anyone died during astral projection? They wouldn’t be able to come back to tell us. I personally believe it’s possible to die during an astral projection, but I also believe the probability is very low. Your astral cord keeps you tethered to your body (more on that later) and there are guardians out there who protect you while you project (more on them later too) and it would be extremely unlikely that you die. But you’ve been warned. So learn to do it safely and you should be just fine. There is a risk in any activity. Walking out of your house can kill you. Skydiving can kill you. Having a baby can kill you. Make peace with the fact that death is possible, and protect yourself as best you can. C AN A STRAL P ROJECTION BE P ROVEN ? There are studies that have been conducted to prove whether astral projection is real. They usually involve putting a random object someplace where the subject can’t see it, then asking the subject to project, fly to the location, and then report on what they see. It’s a good experiment. But when subjects are successfully able to report on the object, some skeptics say, “It doesn’t prove they projected, it just proves they’re telepathic, or could read someone’s mind, or are able to do remote viewing.” Hey, that’s not bad either! But I understand why people want proof. The most reliable way to prove astral projection is real is to learn to do it yourself. I’m not sure we have an iron-clad reliable tool that can measure astral projection. If you need proof in order to attempt it, you may be waiting a long time. My recommendation is to do it yourself and see how you feel. One of the best proofs I’ve had in my own life happened one night while I was in my teens and still living at home. I woke up inside my body, sensed some evil presence in my home and decided to go investigate it. I lifted up out of my body, flew down the hall and down my L-shaped stairs. Just as I turned the corner, I saw my father walking up the stairs. With no time to stop, I flew right through him. I took note of the time when I got back to my body, and the next morning my dad reported hearing strange flapping sounds in the house. He got up to investigate and went downstairs. He was coming up the stairs at the exact time I flew through him. This is not irrefutable proof, nor am I claiming it is. But when you can report on things other people are doing, and you had no idea they were doing them, that’s fairly good evidence, at least for yourself. One day, science will catch up and develop tools we can use to test our theories. In the meantime, if you want to play scientist, go study science. If you want to astral project, learn how to do it and experiment yourself or with friends. One great experiment is for one person to randomly select a card from a deck of cards, and place it on their night table by their bed, face side up. Then have your buddy who is a master astral traveler fly to your house and look at the card and report back to you the next day. Keep a log of your efforts and see what you find. W HO S HOULDN ’ T A STRAL P ROJECT ? Although I believe astral projection can be safely enjoyed by anyone, there are some conditions under which I feel a person should think long and hard before attempting to learn this skill. People on certain medications. If you are on any medication that causes drowsiness, suppressed breathing, or hallucinations, you should not astral project while you are on those drugs. During astral projection, you may encounter situations that require you to get back into your body quickly, turn on a light, or stay very alert. If your body drags you back down into a sleep state, you are vulnerable to attack. People with sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition where you stop breathing for short periods of time while you’re sleeping. It can cause you to wake up gasping for air, often with no memory that this is occurring. If you have a sleep apnea episode and you are not in your body at the time, you are risking a serious health situation. Without your soul in your body, your body doesn’t move. With sleep apnea, you may need to turn over onto your side to help you breathe, and most of the time that people project they do it from their backs. So be careful if you’re prone to apnea episodes. People looking for an escape or distraction. A lot of people who gravitate towards astral travel are looking for more than their own lives can provide. Whether that’s excitement, danger, or adventure, you can become addicted to astral projection and spend too much time playing in the astral world. Please use astral projection responsibly. Your body needs you in it. And your life is worth living. Don’t use astral projection to avoid handling the things in your life that you need to handle. They’ll just be waiting for you when you get back anyway. People who want to spy on others or be bad guys. Yes, when you’re astral you can see what your friends are doing, you can spy on the president of the United States, and you can watch girls taking showers. But come on now. Have some moral fiber. If you wouldn’t do it while in your body, why do it outside of your body? Plus, you’re going to find that when you’re astral, those banal human things aren’t of interest to your soul. It’s not going to be as easy to accomplish as you think it will. The other concern is that if you sink to a depth where you violate the freedom and privacy of others, you’re moving to a vibration that could easily attract some of the more negative entities that wander the astral plane. Do you really want them to be your new best buddy? Attached to you? Whispering things in your ear when you’re not able to slough them off? You’ve been warned. People who aren’t committed to safety. Astral projection can be an amazing spiritual experience. Or it can become a nightmare. If you jump into the shark-infested ocean without a cage to protect you, you’re asking to get bitten. It’s like climbing a rock face with no rope or safety harness. Yeah, you might make it, but with the right equipment you can do this safely. Invest in the time and knowledge to make this a safe experience for yourself. Suicidal or depressed people. Astral projection will put you right in the middle of being alive and dead. If you’re suicidal, you could probably find a way to cut your astral cord and be done with life. If you’re depressed, you may be tempted to stay out of your body a lot longer than is healthy for it. It’s like scuba diving with a sinus infection, or trying to climb a mountain with two broken legs. Your best astral experiences will come if you are whole in body, mind, and spirit. Otherwise, you’re going to be a tasty morsel to a stronger entity who wants to eat you for breakfast. Please project responsibly. CHAPTER 3 Preparing Your Environment Now that you’ve decided you want to learn astral projection, let’s get into the nitty gritty of learning how to do it. Before you step one toe outside your body, you need to prepare yourself for what lies beyond. Otherwise, it’s like jumping over a cliff and hoping there’s a big body of water below you instead of really hard ground. In the next three chapters, you’ll learn how to prepare your environment to support your endeavors, how to prepare yourself energetically to increase your odds of succeeding, and you’ll learn how sleep, dreams, and mastering your consciousness can help you learn how to project at will. S ELECT A L OCATION Let’s start with something basic. Where do you think you’ll be projecting from most often? Probably not your desk at work or school. Probably not your car while you’re driving. You’ll need a nice, safe, controlled environment where you can safely store your body while your consciousness roams the universe. If your body doesn’t think it’s safe, it will resist you leaving it. The three most common locations are your bed, your couch, or in a chair. There are pros and cons to each of these locations. Your bed. Your bed is a great choice for several reasons. First, your body will be very comfortable and not cramped. Second, a lot of people project right before they go to sleep or as they wake up, so being in bed just means more chances to take advantage of good conditions. Plus you won’t have to worry about your body falling out of position. There are a couple of disadvantages to projecting from your bed, however. If you are attempting to project before you go to sleep, you may be so conditioned to sleep while in bed that you fall asleep before you can achieve separation. Also, if you have a partner in bed with you, they can easily disrupt your concentration, or cause your body to become uncomfortable which will cause your body to recall your spirit before you’re done playing. Your couch. A lot of people choose to project from their living room couch. One advantage to using a couch is that you can “program” it to be your astral projection location of choice, which you can use as a psychological anchor that says to your body, “Every time I lie on this couch, I’m going to project.” If you get good at it, you can lie down on the couch and begin projecting immediately. Another advantage is that you will be alone on the couch so your body won’t be disturbed by your partner rolling over, stealing your covers, or kicking you under the sheets. A possible problem with couch projecting is that you need to make sure your couch is very comfortable. If you’ve got hard pillows or edges sticking into your back, it could make you too aware of your body, which will block projection. You also need to make sure your couch is wide enough so your arms or legs don’t flop off. Try your couch to see if you can lie on it comfortably like you can in your bed. Tucking a blanket around you can often keep your limbs from slipping off the couch. Another variable you’ll have to control is whether your living room is a source of foot traffic. If you’re taking an afternoon journey and people are walking around in the house, or watching television, or otherwise making noise, you’ll be unable to get away. Your chair. Believe it or not, you can project while sitting up in a chair. Your body does not have to be prone for projection to occur. One of the benefits of projecting from a chair is that you are way less likely to fall asleep if you’re sitting up. Another advantage is that you’re definitely going to be alone in your chair, so you don’t have to worry about anyone moving around in your chair and disturbing you like you would if you were in bed. However, as you can probably guess, there are some serious disadvantages to projecting from a chair. It’s much easier for your body to fall over, which will pull your astral self back into your body just in time to hit the ground. Also, your head can flop forward at the neck, leaving you with a possible breathing problem that will wake you or potentially cause you to be deprived of oxygen. If you want to project from a chair, I recommend using a recliner where you can adjust the degree at which you are lying down. A 45-degree angle is great, but experiment to find what’s comfortable for you. Being in a recliner can also act as an anchor, just like your couch. And, like a bed, you are less likely to roll out of it like you might on a couch. Whether you use a bed, a couch, or a chair, the bottom line is to find something comfortable for your body so it’s not disturbed when you leave it. If your body is in need, your spirit will come back to tend to it. G ET A L OG B OOK You’re about to explore a vast new realm and other planes of existence. You’re going to want to keep track of what you’re experiencing and how you succeeded or failed so you can improve your process. A log book doesn’t have to be fancy. You basically need a place where you can write down your experiences and notes. Get a journal, a spiralbound notebook, use a word processor, a typewriter, or scraps of sticky notes. All that matters is that you have a place to log your experiences. So acquire something and commit to keeping it at your main astral location. When you have an experience, take note of all of the following and keep it for your records so you can use it as your own personal resource in improving your ability. Write down the date and time. Was this at night or during the day? Was it a weekend or a weeknight? Was it within an hour of going to bed or right as you were waking up in the morning? The reason you want to note all of this is to look for patterns later which you can then use to increase your chances of success. Log the precursory conditions or events. Did you meditate and it happened? Were you just coming out of a lucid dream when separation occurred? Did you pass out from drinking heavily? Had you just listened to some music? Write down enough information so that if you wanted to repeat the conditions, you could. Note what happened. Then write a detailed account of the experience. Did it take you a minute to separate or was it instant? Did you fly around your house or just hover over your body? Did you see anyone or anything interesting on the journey? Also take note of what you heard, what you saw, and what you felt. Was there tingling? Did you hear the high-pitched whine? Did you hear voices? Did you feel like someone was climbing on the bed with you? Did you see other entities? How did you return to your body? Write down how you ended up back in your body. Did you consciously step back in? Were you snapped back? Were you blocked by a negative entity? Did a guide put you back? Again, noting patterns will be integral to success. If you always snap back into your body due to a disturbance in your physical environment, you’ll want to take steps to ensure that you’ll be alone and that your environment is more controlled. If you always seem to project after listening to certain music, you can use that as your trigger more often. You won’t have to keep a log book forever. And once you’re more skilled, you can just jot down some notes like this: April 14, 10:00 p.m., meditated. Projected within 30 minutes of going to sleep. Visited my friend, Rob. Got pulled back after 10 minutes because someone flushed the toilet in the house. C ONTROL THE E NVIRONMENT Nothing kills your projection attempts faster than something in your physical environment that disturbs or prevents your success. Here are some tips to control your environment so you have the best chance of achieving separation, and so you can stay out much longer. Make sure your alarm is off. How awful would it be if you finally got out of your body, you were exploring Mount Everest, and your alarm clock goes off? Your body is going to startle, which will snap your astral body back into place. Make sure the alarm is off and that you have time to finish an experience. If this means only attempting projection on your days off when you can afford to stay in bed longer, then so be it. Control your house sounds. Is there a grandfather clock in your house that chimes or gongs loudly on the hour or half hour? Disable it unless you’re extremely good at ignoring it. Is your air conditioner particularly loud when it goes on? Use a fan instead (good for white noise too!). Do your windows rattle when there is the slightest wind? Seal them better. Give yourself every possible chance. Anything that would normally wake up your body from sleep could end your astral experience. Prepare your pets. If you’re used to sleeping with Rover on your bed, you may run into some difficulties getting out of your body. First, if Rover pounces your body, you’ll snap back. Also, Rover or Fluffy may react to entities that are drawn to you astrally. I highly suggest keeping pets outside of your projection place, and make sure the door is secure. Also check the doggy door and make sure it doesn’t clang or flap too loudly when the dog goes out. People can be problems too. Does your mom wake you up every morning to get ready for school? She could interrupt a seriously awesome projection. Does your wife like to cuddle in the middle of the night? Just the act of her touching you can disrupt your astral energy and cause a snap back. Does your neighbor go to work at 3:00 a.m. and gun his engine on his way out of the driveway? You’ll have to learn when to project and when it’s likely to be interrupted. Does your kid get up before you do and turn on every light in the house on his way downstairs? Make sure your door is closed, your blinds are shut, and do the best you can to make sure other people’s habits aren’t affecting you. If you live in a house full of people, it can be difficult to create the right environment to support your astral training. Do the best you can to set up the conditions that will lead to your success, even if that means sleeping in the guest room a night or two a week, or letting the kids have more sleepovers at their friends’ houses. CHAPTER 4 Preparing Yourself Energetically Now that your physical location is selected and controlled, you’ve got to work on your energy. After all, astral projection is an energetic experience. You’re going to slip onto another plane of existence, you’re going to encounter other conscious beings, you’re going to be challenged to keep your vibration high. Mastering your energy will allow you to achieve separation, travel safely, and handle the entities you may encounter on your journey. You’ll need focus and commitment as well. If you want to learn to astral project, you can’t just dabble, or it will take years for you to achieve separation. So in this chapter we’ll discuss ways to clear your mind, boost your energy, get focused, committed, and find social support. C LEARING Y OUR M IND Your mind is running 24/7. It never shuts off. You’re thinking about your responsibilities, your plans, the people in your life. You’ve got stress, challenges, and hurdles. At night when you’re sleeping, your subconscious mind begins to process your stressors, which is why you sometimes dream about them. Or you may lie awake at night unable to sleep because you’re overwhelmed or anxious about the problems you’ll have to face in the morning. When you’re overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious about life’s physical, material, real-world challenges, your mind will be preoccupied, which will energetically tether you to this world and to your body. It’s much harder for your spirit to leave your body if you’re bogged down with life problems. The mind will act as an anchor, keeping your energy focused on the physical, and prevent you from releasing your body so you can astral travel. This doesn’t mean you have to remove every stressor from your life. That would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. It just means you have to learn to switch it off temporarily so you can achieve separation. There are several ways to get your mind clear. First, you can use meditation, which we’ll discuss in depth in a moment. Second, solve some of your problems. Seriously. Make a list of your biggest problems and see if you can get some of them off your list. Got money problems? Pay down your debt, increase your income, or get on a payment plan you can live with. Got relationship issues? Communicate with your partner, clear the air, don’t ruminate or have conversations in your mind when your partner isn’t even present. Failing school? Get a tutor, catch up on assignments, meet with your counselors, raise your grades. Whatever your life problems are, see if you can make some progress on dealing with them so they don’t take over your mind’s resources. Third, change your beliefs. Sometimes problems and stressors can be relieved by changing your perspective about them. “I’ll never get out of debt,” can become, “If I continue to put two hundred dollars a month towards my debts, I’ll be out of debt in 24 months.” Find ways of looking at your problems that make them non-problems. Instead of thinking, “Man, I’ve got problems,” start thinking, “I’ve got a situation, and these are my options for dealing with the situation.” Get on top of your thinking, don’t let it steam roll you into a cycle of fear and worry. Your chances of successful astral projection are greater when your mind is relaxed. You don’t have to solve your problems; you just have to learn how to put them aside so your mind can be at ease. When you go to sleep at night, you should breathe a sigh of contentment, not anxiety. M ASTERING M EDITATION If you can learn to master meditation, you will greatly increase your chances of being able to astral project. Meditation will help you clear your mind, release negative thoughts, boost your energy, raise your vibration, breathe deeply, and allow separation to occur. If you are not familiar with meditation, I’m going to give you a crash course right now, but you should also read up on it and practice, practice, practice! Meditation is about breathing, relaxing, and letting go. I’ll take you through the process right now and explain the components and how they relate to astral projection as we go. Prepare your environment. Make sure the room temperature is comfortable for you. Use a light blanket if it’s chilly, but not something so heavy that it makes you hot. Turn off the phone and any other distractions. Make sure the pets won’t be able to pounce you. As I mentioned earlier, getting control of your environment will increase your chances of successful projection, and it’s the same with meditation. Get comfortable. Find a comfortable position for your body. I highly recommend selecting the location and position you’ll be using when you project. So go to your bed, couch, or recliner and get comfortable. This will help anchor you and psychologically tie your meditation location with your projection location. Breathing. Now that your environment is secure and you’re physically comfortable, begin to do some deep breathing. Take a breath in through your nose and release it slowly from your mouth. Alternatively, you can breathe in and out through your nose. The goal is to find a comfortable way of breathing, so pick what is most comfortable for you. You want to put your body’s breathing on auto pilot, but you first want to establish a deep rhythm. You also don’t want your breathing to become a source of distraction for you, so find the breathing pattern you like best. Relax your body. As you continue breathing, put your awareness on your feet and toes. Let them relax with each breath you take. Then move to your lower legs, breathe deeply, and feel the muscles in your calves relax. Move up to your knees and thighs. Continue to breathe deeply throughout the relaxation process as you relax the muscles in your body. Then slowly move your awareness to each body part – your pelvis, stomach, back, chest, shoulders, neck, arms, hands, and finally your head. This can take just a few minutes, or you can spend 20 minutes or longer to relax your body. There are no hard and fast rules. Go at your own pace. You may feel floaty. After you’ve physically relaxed your body, you may feel like you’re floating or like you can’t feel your body anymore. That’s great. That’s not astral projection or separation, but it’s a good start because it means you are conscious but cannot feel your body. That will come in handy later. The goal here is for you to remain conscious without being too attached to your bodily sensations. You may feel tingly. Some people report tingling sensations in their heads or face area. It should feel pleasant, not prickly. If you feel a tingling sensation, this is good. It’s not an indication of separation but, like feeling floaty, it’s good to start getting used to the sensation because it means your vibration is higher than it was before you started, and that’s integral to separating easily from your body. Thoughts. Once you achieve this relaxation, just try to be in the present moment. Don’t allow thoughts about your problems or stressors to invade your relaxed state. This may take some practice. Just enjoy the sensations of floating and tingling. If you’re not floating or tingling, just enjoy the sensation of relaxation for as long as possible. You are training your body to stay relaxed while your mind stays active. Wander. Try to stay in this state for as long as you can. You may even notice you have no sense of time. Then let your mind wander. Imagine you’re flying over the mountains. Imagine you’re relaxing on a sunny beach with a cool breeze. Imagine you’re floating in water or on a cloud. Just put your thoughts and attention on feeling relaxed and at peace. The longer you can master this sensation, the better. Meditation will train your mind and body for astral projection. When you’re ready to project, your body must feel safe and relaxed so that your consciousness can roam free. Meditation is great exercise for experiencing this. Make a regular practice of meditating. Pick a time of day where you do it regularly. It won’t hurt to meditate before you go to sleep because it will send you into your dream state in a much higher vibration, which will be helpful. Try not to meditate sitting straight up and cross-legged. That’s fine if you’re just meditating for peace of mind, but for astral projection practice, get yourself into the same position you’ll be in later when you project. More on positions in the next chapter. The bottom line on meditation is to become comfortable breathing regularly, staying in the present moment, relaxing the body, and freeing your mind. C OMMITMENT AND I MMERSION Preparing yourself to be an accomplished astral traveler is going to involve commitment and immersion. You’re not going to achieve it by thinking about it occasionally, or by dabbling. How does NASA launch a rocket into space? Do they generate small bursts of power, a little bit at a time, days apart? Or do they fire that baby up and give it all they’ve got in order to overcome the gravitational pull of Earth? Once the rocket escapes our atmosphere, they can throttle back on the power and let it coast through space on minimal power, but to get it launched they’ve got to ignite a lot of fuel. Astral projection is similar. It’s very difficult to break orbit, so you’ve got to give it all you’ve got in the beginning, and then you can coast later. This means you’ve got to commit to studying and practicing astral projection, and you’ve got to immerse yourself in it completely. Every shot you take will bring you closer to achieving it, so don’t let too much time pass in-between attempts, and make sure you’re using every tool and trick at your disposal to make it happen. So let’s talk about ways to really immerse yourself in this study and stay committed. Don’t get discouraged. I worked at this for three years and I got discouraged. That didn’t help me one bit. Go into this understanding that success is not guaranteed. You can’t just flip a switch and be out of your body. It’s going to take time and patience. But you significantly increase your chances of success if you practice regularly. Even a failed attempt is important. Don’t quit. The time is going to pass anyway, so you may as well work on this. Give it some thought. Go to bed every night thinking about astral projection. Imagine what it will feel like. Think about where you’ll go and what you’ll do. If you end up having a spontaneous experience, you’ll be less likely to freak out and snap back to your body if you’ve got a plan for success. Read about it. Reading books or articles online will help you immerse yourself. There are many techniques and stories out there. You never know which one will resonate with you. Don’t just stick to one resource or method. Fill your mind with knowledge and pull from as many experts as you can. T HE I MPORTANCE OF S OCIAL S UPPORT You will succeed faster at learning how to astral project if you’ve got a good social support system in place. I worked on astral projection alone for three years. It wasn’t until I connected with new friends who were into this sort of thing that my experiences began to happen. If it hadn’t been for Jared and Ashley, I probably would have stopped trying to learn astral projection. Social support will help reinforce concepts and give you someone to talk to. Some tips on getting social support for this endeavor include: Online forums. Thanks to the Internet, you can now connect with people all over the world who are accomplished astral travelers. Find a forum, connect online, share stories and experiences, ask questions, and learn new techniques. Just make sure that the people you’re connecting with have actually done it, and make sure they’re giving you advice that’s coming from a positive, high vibration place. Meet-up groups. Find a group in your area that meets regularly to practice or discuss astral projection. It’s helpful to share knowledge and information, techniques and methods, plus you can meditate together. If you can’t find a group that already meets, create one of your own and invite people to attend meetings. Avoid negative people. Like any intrepid explorer of the unknown, there will be people around you who are skeptics. Avoid talking about astral projection with people who don’t believe in it, or who think you’re nuts. It’s going to discourage you. If they’re not an expert on the topic, why would you even listen to them? Trust yourself and your own experiences, and seek advice from those ahead of you on the path. They’ll be able to guide you and help you navigate through the masses of information out there on this topic. Practice clearing your mind, learn how to meditate and how to relax your body, and make a firm commitment to learning astral projection. All of these will increase your chances of successfully projecting. Stack the deck in your favor. CHAPTER 5 Sleeping and Astral Projection Understanding the relationship between sleep, dreams, and astral projection is going to be crucial to your success as an astral traveler. Most astral travelers hit the astral trail right before they go to sleep, right as they are coming out of sleep, or in the middle of the night when they are between dreams. You must understand the role that sleep plays in astral projection because you’ll use it to your best advantage in helping you slip out of your body. In this chapter, I’ll explain how body position and time of day affect your success. I’ll also cover lucid dreaming and how it relates to astral projection. And then we’ll talk about how to master your consciousness. B ODY P OSITIONS Does it really matter what position you’re in when you astral project? If you’re leaving the body behind, why not just leave it in whatever position it happens to be in? Body position does matter. Here’s the deal…unless your body “agrees” to the separation, then separation will not happen. You might think your soul is in charge, but while you are incarnated, your body has control of the ship, and you must coax the body into letting you out for a joyride in the cosmos. The body has a primal instinct and need to keep your soul in your body. That’s what keeps your body alive and well. If the body isn’t on board with you astral traveling, you won’t get very far. You’re living a physical existence. Your spirit is housed in your body and acts like the battery that keeps the machine running. When you die, your soul leaves the body behind forever and the connection is severed. When you astral project, you are leaving the body, but you are still attached to it with a cord that continues to pump energy into your body to keep it functioning. But the body gets “nervous” when you leave it because it’s afraid you aren’t coming back. So we’ve got to keep the body happy so we can take trips outside every once in a while. Anything that adversely affects your body is going to cause you to snap back to your body. If the body is uncomfortable or feels like it’s in danger, you will not succeed in your attempts to leave it. So let’s talk about ways to keep the body happy, calm, and still. Body position. The best position for astral projection by far is to lie on your back. In this manner, all your limbs are resting comfortably, nothing is crossed or kinked, and your circulation is at its best. Arms at your side is better than arms crossed over your stomach or chest. Most people project upwards, and if you are lying on your back, it is very natural to float up and out of your body, totally energetically intact, without strange positioning in your astral body. Once you get extremely proficient at astral projection, you can project from any position and be able to sort yourself out once you’re astral. But for beginners, you’ll want to be on your back. If you try to project from your side, your body is more likely to get uncomfortable. Side sleepers know that you can’t lie on one side for too long without having to flip over. Your hips get sore, your arms can get crunched, and your top leg lies on your bottom leg. If you decide to project from your side, you’d better have just gotten into that position, otherwise your body is going to start to feel uncomfortable and will pull you back so you can turn over. Forget about projecting while lying on your stomach. It’s confusing because most people float upward. If you’re on your stomach though, you’re going to either project down into your bed (which is not comfortable especially for beginners) or you’re going to have to project out of your back or your head, which is more difficult and doesn’t feel natural. I’m not saying you can’t project from the stomach position, but it’s vastly harder, and sometimes you end up lowering your vibration as you sink or plummet down into the earth. When in doubt, always go upwards. If you’re projecting from your recliner, you’ll be on your back even if you’re at a 45-degree angle, so no worries about that. Bodily needs. Take care of your bodily needs before you project. If your body finds itself in discomfort, it either won’t let you out or it will snap you back if you’re already out. Nothing ruins a good projection faster than a full and urgent bladder. Likewise, if you have allergies and your nose is stuffed up, try to clear that before you go to sleep. Same with a cold, flu, or other ailment that affects your breathing. If you suffer from sleep apnea, you’re going to have to take extra care to make sure your body is in a position where your breathing will continue normally. For safety, you may have to project while lying on your side. If you’re sick, have a sore throat, a stomach bug, or a migraine, you’ll have a difficult time achieving separation. The only exception to this is when you have a fever, which can sometimes make it easier to project. However, I don’t recommend projecting with a fever if you can help it because you’re more prone to hallucinations, and you’re more likely to attract negative entities. More on that in a future chapter. Clothing considerations. What do you wear when you’re sleeping? You want your body to be unfettered. If you wear a nightgown and it’s all twisted, that’s going to cause your body some discomfort. If you’re wearing flannel pajamas, you may get too hot. If you’re sleeping naked or just in your underwear, that’s probably the best, but if that’s not a good option for you, then wear pajamas that don’t pull and tug at your body when you move around at night. T IME OF D AY Technically, you can astral project at any time of the day. There’s no magical time that makes astral projection easier. However, each time of day comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, which I will cover in this section. In the end, you’ll need to experiment with different times of day to find what’s easiest for you and what gives you the best experience. Right before you go to sleep. The advantage to attempting astral projection right before you go to sleep is that your body is at its most tired. If the goal is to put the body down so your soul is free to roam, this is a good time to make the attempt. Use meditation to calm and relax your physical body while keeping your mind awake. You’ll also be able to use your conscious will and intent to invite the sensations into your body that are indicative of astral separation. Another advantage is that you’re less likely to be disturbed. You probably just emptied your bladder, your alarm clock isn’t about to go off, and you’ve got all night to explore without having to worry about getting up in time for work or school. One difficulty of projecting right before sleep is that you’re more likely to fall right to sleep instead of projecting. This is exactly because you are the most tired at the beginning of the night. Your brain wants the rest. Your body wants the rest. Unless you’re skilled at keeping your mind awake while your body goes to sleep, this will be a difficult time to attempt it. A way to combat this is to lie down about 30 minutes before you would normally go to sleep, before you’re dead tired, so that you have time to meditate and get out of your body before it falls asleep. Before your first REM cycle. Your sleep cycle is roughly 90 minutes long. You’ll go through various sleep stages (alpha, delta, theta waves) and then you’ll start to dream during the REM portion of sleep (REM stands for rapid eye movements). Then the cycle repeats. You’re coming up and going down through brainwave stages all night long. As the night progresses, however, you’ll spend less time in alpha, delta, and theta waves and more time in REM. By morning, your dreams are longer, and your time in the other stages is shorter. Projecting before your first REM cycle is an easy time to initiate a projection. You haven’t begun dreaming yet, so you don’t need to wake up from a dream first, and you won’t confuse your experience with a dream. You can go right into separation. It’s the perfect time to wake up your mind while your body is caught in the beginning throes of muscle paralysis. The only downside to projecting at this time of night is that sometimes you’re going to encounter negative entities. When you project before REM there is a tendency to be a little confused at first, which could give the advantage to the bad guy. So you’ll want to project at this time of night only when you’re prepared for defense and know how to switch channels. More on how to do that in upcoming chapters. In the middle of the night. The middle of the night is a great time to project because your body is fully relaxed from having been asleep for a while, and you still have plenty of time for a nice long travel before you have to get up to start your day. As you’re moving through the various sleep stages, there will come a natural break in the middle of the night where you will begin to wake up before heading back down to sleep. This is a great time to flop yourself onto your back if you aren’t there already, and initiate the astral separation. One possible downside is that, by the middle of the night, you may need to get up to use the bathroom, which could easily wake you up so fully that you have to start the process of meditating yourself down again when you get back to your bed. If that’s you, don’t worry. Just get up, handle your business as fast as you can and with minimal alertness, and settle back into your bed quickly. You may miss an opportunity or you might actually enhance it. It depends on how practiced and skilled you are. If you can hold it though, it’s best not to get out of bed. Just go right into a projection. Upon waking in the morning. Many people project just as they are waking up from a full night of sleep. Often you will experience sleep paralysis at this time which is a precursor to projecting. We’ll discuss sleep paralysis in an upcoming chapter, but for now all you need to know is that this is a common and ideal time to initiate separation. The disadvantage is that you may not have much time to enjoy your journey if you have to get up for work or school. Also, your alarm clock may ring which is going to snap you back, and people in your house might be getting ready to stir and make noise. Plus, if you didn’t have to empty your bladder in the middle of the night, you’ll surely need to by morning. Midday naps. One of the best times to practice astral projection is during the midday when you take a nap. Your sleep cycle is a little different during naps. You’re more likely to have a spontaneous sleep paralysis episode which will give you a great opportunity to project. I’d say a third of my astral projections happened during naps. I used to come home from school and take a two-hour nap just so I could practice astral projection. You’ll want to secure your location though, and control for environmental noise and people moving around your house. Also if light bothers you, definitely nap in a darkened room. It’s very helpful to nap only when you feel sleepy though. If you try to force a nap when you’re not tired, you’ll just be frustrated, but once you are an accomplished projector, you’ll be able to park yourself and slip out of your body fast. Planned sleep breaks. This is possibly the best way for beginners to induce sleep paralysis, which will lead to astral projection. Here’s how it works. Go to sleep at your usual time, but set an alarm to wake you three hours before you normally get up. When the alarm goes off, go use the restroom if you need to, then get back into bed. Keep the lights off, don’t engage in conversation with anyone, and don’t start thinking about your day. Stay awake in your bed for 30 minutes and then go back to sleep. Lucid dreams or sleep paralysis are extremely likely to happen under these circumstances, and you will be able to initiate astral separation at that time. Alternatively, when your alarm goes off, sit up in bed and turn on a dim light. Read a magazine or book, but don’t get out of bed, do chores around the house, or start typing emails. Stay awake for one to two hours, then go back to sleep. Same thing will happen – lucid dream and/or sleep paralysis. Experiment to determine whether staying up for a short amount of time or a longer amount of time leads to a better outcome for you. But this is the best way to trigger the right conditions. L UCID D REAMS Lucid dreaming simply means you become aware that you’re dreaming while you are still dreaming. There’s nothing more fun than becoming aware that you’re dreaming and then doing things in your dream that you can’t or don’t do in real life. Imagine the possibilities. You can fly, have super powers, spend quality time with celebrities or fictional characters, put yourself in an action thriller movie scenario, visit with deceased loved ones that you miss. If you can imagine it, you can do it in a lucid dream. Lucid dreaming is the perfect accompaniment to astral projection. When you project, your mind is awake while your body stays paralyzed. In lucid dreaming, your mind is awake while your body stays asleep. Learning the skill of maintaining your consciousness while your body and brain are asleep is vital in order to achieve astral projection. So lucid dreaming becomes a fantastic and safe training ground to prepare you for the complexities, excitement, and possible danger when you project. Learning how to lucid dream is a little easier, in my opinion, than learning how to astral project, so if you can master lucid dreaming, you’ll use that skill and that awareness to help you with astral projection. It will be beyond the scope of this book to go into depth on how to lucid dream, but there are many resources and books on the Internet, and you can read my articles on my blog (www.erinpavlina.com/blog). For now, I’ll explain the difference between dreams and astral projection, how to control your emotions and excitement, how to direct your will, how to create and manifest what you desire, and how to use your consciousness to protect yourself. Difference between dreams and astral projection. As I mentioned in the beginning of this book, many people think that we astral project every time we sleep or dream. Not so. Dreams and astral projection are totally different phenomena. It’s crucial that you understand the differences so you’ll know if you’re having success projecting or if you’re just an accomplished lucid dreamer. When you’re dreaming, you are asleep. When you astral project, you wake up first, and then leave your body. This is an important distinction. When you dream, the dream was just a dream, it didn’t really happen. For example, “Oh, I dreamed I was at the top of a volcano and when I looked inside, I saw kittens.” That didn’t really happen, did it? When you astral project, the experience is real. You actually left your body, you traveled around your house or the cosmos and could report on real circumstances. For example, “I flew into my child’s bedroom and saw her stuffed dog had fallen onto the floor, right on top of her lollipop. Boy that’s going to be a sticky mess.” And you can go into your child’s room the next day and find the stuffed dog on top of the lollipop. In dreams, your location is just magically possible. Examples: your old room when you were a child, the set of your favorite TV show, in bed with Brad Pitt. When you astral project, you begin the experience where your physical body is located, so that will be your bedroom, the couch, or a chair. You don’t project from Brad Pitt’s bedroom, you project to it. There’s a difference. In dreams, you are not always conscious of who you are or what’s real, and the nonsensical makes sense. In a dream, it may make perfect sense that Brad Pitt is buying you dinner. In real life, it probably isn’t as likely. In a dream it might make perfect sense that you are a character in your favorite TV show, but in reality that can’t happen. Alternatively, when you astral project, you are entirely conscious of the situation, circumstances, and environment. You remember who you are, that you are lying in your bed, that you are projecting. You’re extremely conscious and everything is real. In a dream, the characters you encounter are not real. They are constructed from your own thoughts and your own mind. They are part of your mental construct. In an astral projection, any beings you encounter are conscious, free, and not part of your subconscious mind at all. In a lucid dream, you can control the actions of your dream character because you are the boss, the creator of the dream. In an astral projection, you can’t control anyone you meet because they are not part of your mind, dream, or subconscious. This is why you need to know how to handle yourself accordingly. In a dream, when the dream is over, you wake up. You realize you’ve been dreaming or at least sleeping. You sometimes forget your dreams. In astral projection, when the experience is over, you merge back into your body, consciously, and open your eyes. You remember what you just did and what you just experienced. Dreaming you are projecting. One confusing situation is when you dream that you are leaving your body. It’s quite possible to dream that you’re astral projecting, but dreaming it isn’t achieving it. If you dream you’re projecting, you’re still inside your mental construct, you’re still just dreaming. One way to tell it’s just a dream is if you don’t wake up first. Example: “I was dreaming that I was in my high school math class and all of a sudden I realized I was dreaming, so I told the dream to go screw itself and started flying up out of the ceiling. Then I was flying all over the world, and I saw my friends, and I went to the White House, it was so cool. Then I woke up.” Not astral projection. Just a dream. How can you tell? You didn’t wake up first in your bed. Dreams of flying are not astral projection. Obtaining emotional control. In order to astral project successfully, you’re going to need to learn to keep your emotions in check. Becoming too excited or thrilled with your accomplishment is going to snap you back into your body and end the experience. That doesn’t mean you can’t be happy that you’re projecting, but if you want to stay out of your body for more than a few seconds, you’re going to have to be chill about it. Lucid dreaming, like I said, is a training ground, and it’s a perfect place for you to learn emotional control. When you realize you’re dreaming, nothing will wake you faster than getting too excited about it. Excitement, fear, any overwhelming emotion will trigger something in your physical brain, which will anchor you back to your body, and you’ll wake up. Just like during a nightmare, don’t you often wake up just as the bad guy is going to stab you with the knife? Or just before you hit the ground while falling? Practice staying calm when you have a lucid dream, and if you can master that, your lucid dreams will last much longer, and this skill will carry right over to astral projection. When you find yourself lucid in a dream or during projection just carry this attitude, “Cool, here we go, I’ve got this,” instead of, “Oh my god, I can’t believe this is happening, I’m totally freaked out right now, and what’s that creature I see coming towards my bed!” Keep calm and carry on. Learn to direct your will. Whether you’re lucid dreaming or astral projecting, you must take command of the situation. You must exert your will on the situation, otherwise you’re going to be at the whim and mercy of other beings. During a lucid dream, once you become aware that you’re dreaming, you become the dream’s architect. You can change the scene, you can add characters, delete characters, you can make characters do whatever you want. But you have to decide what to create. Practice doing this and master it. If you can learn how to exert your will, then when you astral project, instead of just floating aimlessly around your bedroom or staying stuck on the ceiling, you can move with purpose and speed to your destination. Maybe you want to visit a friend. Maybe you want to go read the card that your friend has placed on his nightstand so you can prove astral projection. Maybe you want to reach a higher plane and talk to a deceased loved one. If you know in advance what you’re going to do, you’ll be ready to do it when you go astral. Along the way, you’ll potentially have to fight off a lower vibrational entity, and you’ll want to have a solid plan for that ahead of time. More on that soon. Learn to create what you need. In a lucid dream, if you need a sword, you just have to will that sword into existence and there it is. In dreams you can snap your fingers and create what you want; a person, place, or thing. You can change your environment, you can teleport to a new location. The same is true during astral projection, except instead of creating it from dream material, you’ll be creating what you need from the ether. We’ll talk more about the kinds of things you’ll need in a future chapter, but for now it’s important to practice creating, so do it in your lucid dreams. Practice creating objects with a thought or snap of the fingers. When you’re astral, you can’t hope the object will appear, you need to know it’s going to appear. Your will determines your success. If you don’t think you can make a sword, guess what? No sword will be forthcoming. So practice in your dreams where it’s safe, and practice so you know what it feels like to create something out of nothing. M ASTERING Y OUR C ONSCIOUSNESS Even if you decide not to learn lucid dreaming, you’ll still need to become aware of your consciousness in order to astral project. You can’t separate your consciousness from your body if you don’t know what your consciousness feels like. Lucid dreaming is the perfect place to become aware of your awareness, so I do highly recommend taking the time to learn it. Many people spontaneously learn to lucid dream while attempting to learn astral projection, so it may just happen for you, be on the lookout. One way of beginning to master your consciousness outside of the dreamscape is during the day. Suddenly say to yourself, “Oh gosh, I’m awake, and I’m walking, and I’m about to go into that grocery store.” Seriously. “But I know I’m awake of course.” Do you? Prove it. Several times during your day, consciously acknowledge that you are an awake and aware human being. You’ll start to notice that when you’re not consciously acknowledging your existence, that you’ll feel more asleep, more at the mercy of the tides of life. And when you start to consciously note events happening during your day, you’ll start to feel more conscious and alert more often. This is a good thing. Another way to practice your consciousness-raising is to pinch yourself sometimes. Ask yourself, “Am I dreaming or awake?” and then pinch yourself. Do that enough during your day and you’ll start to do it at night when you’re sleeping, which will trigger more lucid dreams, and more chances to play in your dreamscape. And lastly, before you go to sleep each night, say out loud or to yourself, “I will remember my dreams. I will stay conscious tonight as I sleep.” It begins to program your mind. Here is a technique I used with great success when I was learning lucid dreaming. It allowed me to remain conscious until the last possible moment before falling asleep, and I found that I had more lucid dreams because of it. Lie on your back and stare at the ceiling. Normally when you go to sleep, you lie down, close your eyes, and eventually drift off, right? Well now you are going to keep your eyes open. Let yourself blink normally when you need to, but then go right back to staring at the ceiling with your eyes open. You’ll begin to notice that your eyelids become heavy and want to close. Every time you notice your eyelids closing, open them. Don’t fling them open or force them open, just open them nice and easy. After a short while they’ll close on their own again and probably stay closed longer. If you are still conscious, open them again. Keep doing this for as long as you can, until finally your eyes will close and you slip away into sleep. The beauty of this exercise is that it will train you to stay consciously conscious, if that makes sense. You are mastering your consciousness, and only slipping into sleep when you can’t hang on any longer. Try it a few times and see what it does for you. When I used this technique, not only was I more likely to have a lucid dream, I was more likely to project within 45 minutes of getting into bed, before REM sleep kicked in. CHAPTER 6 Indicative Sensations You’re done with preparation so let’s get you out of your body! If you’ve done everything from Part 2: Preparing to Project, you’ll have really stacked the deck in your favor. You’ll have your log book and will have written down and noticed patterns. You’ll have picked a nice location and position from which to project. You’ll have controlled your environment. You’ll have learned how to meditate, breathe, and relax your body fully. You’ll be so immersed in astral projection that you have friends to talk to who share your interest, and you’ll be thinking about it a lot before you go to sleep. You’ll be dabbling in lucid dreaming or be an expert dream architect by now. And you’ll have become conscious of your consciousness. Even if you haven’t mastered all of this yet, you may still begin having experiences that are indicative of astral projection. In this chapter, I’ll explain the five sensations you’ll get which will indicate to you that you are primed and ready to project. In Chapter 7 I’ll explain how to get emotional control when you’re projecting, which is crucial if you want your travels to last longer than a few seconds. In Chapter 8, I’ll teach you how to get free of your body once separation has occurred. S LEEP P ARALYSIS Sleep paralysis refers to the condition where you are awake but can’t move your body at all. Your body is paralyzed, but you are fully conscious. Normally when we are conscious, we can move our bodies, right? But during sleep paralysis you will be unable to move a muscle, and yet you’ll be completely awake. This can be a very disconcerting sensation because it’s literally going to feel like you woke up paralyzed. It can cause great panic and with good reason. Being unable to move your limbs is frightening. Unfortunately, fear is the worst possible thing you can allow yourself to feel while in this state, because it’s going to invite a host of negative entities to you who will want to feed on your fear like you were waving a bloody limb at a shark. In the next chapter we’ll discuss overcoming your fear, but for now I want you to know that if you are trying to learn to astral project and you find yourself in a state of sleep paralysis, you should throw yourself a party, because you’re right on the verge of successful projection. Sleep paralysis is the exact state you want to be in if you want to astral project. Body asleep, mind awake. So how does this even happen? During sleep, your body secretes a chemical to paralyze your body, so you don’t physically act out your dreams. Sleep paralysis occurs when you are rising up from a sleep state and the chemical hasn’t worn off yet, thus you are awake but your body is still asleep. This happens most often in the morning or during naps, which is why those times are good for beginning astral travelers. What most people don’t realize is that when you are in a state of sleep paralysis, your astral body is activated. It’s like the shell on the peanut was opened and the peanut is just sitting in the shell, unaware that it is free to move about the world without the shell. I’ve received hundreds of emails from people who describe getting to the sleep paralysis state but not knowing what to do next. I’ll cover this in detail in Chapter 8. Is there a way to activate or consciously create sleep paralysis? I haven’t found a way to consciously induce it, however, there are several conditions which almost always lead to sleep paralysis. One is being on your back. Another is coming out of a lucid dream. And the third is taking a nap or going back to sleep in the middle of the night after you’ve been up for a short while. For now what I want you to know is that sleep paralysis is a natural precursor to astral projection, don’t be afraid of it, and get excited and happy if you achieve it. D UAL V ISION The next indicator that your astral body is ready for separation is dual vision. Simply put, this is when you can see but your eyes are closed. Yeah, how cool is that? When you achieve sleep paralysis, you may not be able to move your limbs, but you’ll be surprised to discover that you can somehow see even though you know your eyes are closed. It’s an unusual sensation. You can look all around your room and see everything you’d be able to see if your eyes were open. The first time this happened to me, it caused me a great deal of confusion and surprise. I could clearly feel my body lying on my bed. I could clearly feel that my eyes were closed. And yet I could see perfectly, in the dark even! How is it possible to receive visual information if your eyes aren’t open to perceive it? The answer is because you are not using your eyeballs or your brain. You’re using your astral vision, which I will discuss in more detail when we talk about navigating the astral realms. This astral vision continues when you are outside of your body, completely unattached to your body. If you think it’s weird, realize that when you dream, you are seeing your dream even though your eyes are closed. Vision is happening in your brain. During astral projection, vision is happening without your brain processing the stimuli. So if you ever wake up in your bed, are paralyzed, but can still see, you are golden! Get ready. H YPNAGOGIC H ALLUCINATIONS During sleep paralysis it’s extremely common to hear and see things around you that “aren’t there.” I put that in quotes because the scientists will tell you that you’re hallucinating, creating these sights and sounds in your own mind. I find it interesting that most people experience the same hallucinations during sleep paralysis. Did we all get together one day and decide our hallucinations were going to match up? I don’t think so, that’s a pretty big stretch. The truth is that what scientists think are hallucinations are actually other beings on the astral plane who are technically around you all the time, but which you can’t see, hear or detect until you’re on the same frequency with them. Think of it like coming into phase with them. You’re tuning to their station, and you are suddenly able to hear and see them. In reality, they are occupying that space all the time, just on a different plane, so you don’t normally interact with them. But when you astral project, you will interact with them. I’m here to teach you how to avoid them, deal with them, or shut them up if they’re bothering you. I’ll cover this in great detail in Chapter 13. When I had my first astral projection, if you recall from Chapter 1, I heard voices explaining to me how to relax and breathe so I could escape my body faster. Those weren’t just voices; they belonged to conscious beings who were trying to guide me out of my body. In the beginning of my astral experiences, I would go from a lucid dream straight into sleep paralysis. Then the hypnagogic hallucinations would begin. I’d feel someone climb onto my bed. I’d hear the sound of doors slamming nearby, sometimes windows breaking. I’d see entities hovering over me or worse, touching my body! I’d see swarms of tiny creatures flitting by. I would hear entire conversations around me. I’d see strange lights all over my room. If you look up “night hag” on the Internet, you will read stories of a grisly female entity who sits on your chest while you are paralyzed and is trying to choke you or suffocate you. If we’re all hallucinating, why do so many different cultures report the same kind of entities doing the same kinds of things under this condition? As I mastered astral projection and learned how to change my frequency, I was able to experience sleep paralysis without being visited by scary creatures and sounds. When you first start out, there is a primal fear, which attracts these entities to you. Once you get control of it all, then when you wake up paralyzed, you will see and hear guides, angels, and other high-vibrational beings. My purpose in even mentioning the night hag and other lower vibrational beings is so you won’t be surprised if that’s what you attract. Many people write to me asking how to prevent sleep paralysis because they don’t know how to handle the lower vibrational entities. Instead, I want to teach you how to deal with them instead of running scared, so that if you want to astral project, you won’t turn around just as the door opens for you. Think of them like bees. If you know the hive is there, you don’t poke it. You avoid it. But if you get stung, it’s not the end of the world. I don’t want you to fear being in the meadow of astral projection because you’re afraid of the astral bees. T INGLING IN THE B ODY Once you are in a state of sleep paralysis, you may begin to feel a tingling sensation spread through your entire body. This isn’t because you’ve lost circulation. This tingling sensation is your astral body “waking up” and becoming active. Tingling is your clue that your astral body is separating from your physical body. You’re raising your vibration and putting your consciousness into your astral body. When I first felt the tingling sensation, it was uncomfortable, mainly because it was odd and unexpected. It feels like an intense energy growing inside your body, and at first you have no idea what it’s about so you try to resist it. It can be frightening. It almost feels like you’re being electrocuted, which would be a serious cause for concern, but what’s actually happening is your energetic body is firing up. It feels like your molecules are speeding up. It feels like pushing the accelerator while your car is still in park. There’s also a sensation of needing to move away from the tingling before it gets so intense that you can’t take it anymore. I credit the tingling sensation with actually driving me out of my body upon occasion. It’s like being struck by lightning, but it’s not painful, just intense. And you feel so full of energy that you must release it or be overwhelmed by it. As I became very skilled at astral projection, I was able to induce the tingling sensation at will. I would wake up paralyzed, think “awesome!” and induce the tingling sensation. I couldn’t have induced it in the beginning because I didn’t know how and had no reference experiences to draw from, but once you’ve had the sensation a few dozen times, it becomes a simple matter to induce it in your body. You’re simply raising your vibration. You’re sucking in the energy around you to help you break out of your body. If you find yourself with the tingle, get excited. You’re filling your astral gas tank and are almost ready to peel away from the curb. H IGH -P ITCHED W HINE The fifth sensation indicative of astral projection is the high-pitched whine or buzzing sound that you’ll hear when you’re in sleep paralysis. I can only describe it as the sound of acceleration. If you’ve ever been on an airplane when it’s about to take off, you know that as it picks up speed there is a high-pitched sound you hear as the pilot accelerates the plane in order to achieve lift-off. The high-pitched whine often accompanies the tingling sensation. It’s the sound you hear when you are raising your vibration to the point where you are in your astral body instead of your physical one. If you hear it, don’t be scared by the sound. It can be intense, just like the tingling. But it’s part and parcel to exiting your body. So when you hear it, be glad. Just like with the tingling sensation, this sound of acceleration can push you out of your body. It’s like the peanut becomes so excited in the shell that it starts vibrating or shaking, and squeals with delight as it leaps out of the shell, ready to explore on its own. CHAPTER 7 Emotional Control When you awaken in a state of sleep paralysis, can see with your eyes closed, start hearing and seeing things you wish you weren’t, feel the tingling sensation, and hear the high-pitched whine, you have separated from your body. But you’re still sitting in it. The emails I get the most are of this variety, “I woke up in my body, heard the whine, felt the tingle, heard the voices, but nothing happened. I didn’t go anywhere. Eventually the paralysis stopped, and I was able to move again. Where did I go wrong?” You never got up and out of your body. You fired up your rockets but never left the launch pad. I’m going to teach you how to get out of your body, but first I need to explain how to have emotional control, or your rocket will launch and drop right back down to the ground. O VERCOMING F EAR Fear will turn astral projection from a pleasant, spiritual, exciting adventure into a hellish experience that can make you afraid to go to sleep at night. The faster you can learn to overcome your fear, the sooner you’ll be enjoying the benefits of astral travel. I’m not saying you’re definitely going to feel fear, but in case you do, I want you to know how to handle it and get over it fast. So why does astral projection even cause fear? There are several reasons. First, when you wake up in sleep paralysis mode, it causes panic. You’re conscious but can’t move. Because that’s not a usual situation for you, it may cause intense fear. You wonder if and when you’ll ever be able to move again. Second, when you begin to separate from your body, it’s like a bright light going on in the dark, and entities are attracted to the light and come to investigate it. Having low vibration entities sniffing at you, tugging at you, and even sucking on your energy is also quite terrifying. It’s like walking into a room and suddenly being swarmed by a thousand bees. How much worse that you can’t move to swat them away? Third, when you actually leave your body, you may see and hear things you wish you didn’t. I’m not going to lie, there are some scary, nightmarish beings wandering the astral plane, and sometimes they attack you. If you’re not ready and you don’t know how to escape or protect yourself, you’ll be very afraid. So how do you get over the fear so you can safely project and have a pleasant experience? Here’s what you need to know. Expect the fear. Knowing that fear might happen is half the battle. Usually when someone wakes up in a state of sleep paralysis, they panic and in their minds are screaming, “Help! I can’t move. Oh my god, what’s that sound? Is there someone on the bed with me? Hello? Help!” But not you. You’re reading this guide book so when sleep paralysis happens to you, you’re going to be thinking, “Wait, what’s this now? I can’t move but I feel wide awake? Oh wow, this is it. This is awesome. Hey, who are you hovering over me? Be gone foul creature, I have work to do!” If you rail against the fear, it will take hold of you and you’ll sink into the fear vibration which will make you an easy target and a tasty snack. Similarly, when you achieve projection and you’re traveling around, if you encounter a being that doesn’t have your best interests at heart, you’ll know exactly what to do because you’ll have read Chapters 12 and 13, and you’ll be a rock star! So when you feel the fear, you’ll acknowledge it and wave it away because you’ll have a plan and tactics to deal with anything that bothers you, so you won’t need to be afraid of anything. Be ready. Another way to overcome the fear is to prepare yourself for what you’re going to encounter. The best defense is a good offense. By the time you’re done reading this book, you’ll know how to avoid or defend against any entity you might encounter, and you’ll know how to actively protect yourself so you can’t be harmed. The more time, practice and effort you put into your preparations, the more pleasant your astral experiences are going to be. Take a short trip. More than likely, your first astral experience will be very short. You might get a limb out of your body, or maybe you’ll even make it to your ceiling. This is a good way to open the door and get a peek at the astral realms without running headlong into trouble. Don’t feel you have to go too far from your body initially. Some short flights around your house are a good way to reassure your body that you aren’t abandoning it. This will allow you to take longer trips later. You’re the boss. One of the biggest fears people have is the fear that something or someone can come and steal their body while they’re out. This cannot happen. Your astral cord is like a bookmark or placeholder. Nothing gets into your body while you are traveling outside of it. You may encounter beings that want to attack your body, or scare you into thinking they will take possession of it, but that’s not going to happen. Knowing that you are the boss of your own body should help to ease your fear. When I first started astral projecting, I always encountered the negative entities. I lived in absolute fear of lying down at night because invariably a tug of war over my soul would begin. I was often at the mercy of the creatures that attacked me during sleep paralysis. At first, I didn’t know how to fend them off, and I certainly didn’t feel safe leaving my body while they were around, but eventually, with the help of my friend Sam, I learned how to protect myself, raise my vibration, and safely leave my body. Remember that some fear is very normal, and you may get lucky and not feel an ounce of fear when you astral project. Once you lose the fear of projection, the real fun begins! C ONTROLLING E XCITEMENT When you get to the place where fear is no longer your master, then the excitement of being able to astral project starts to come into play. If you’re not careful though, that excitement will be the very thing that prevents you from achieving projection, or snaps you back into your body before you’re done playing. When I finally learned to overcome my fears, I would leave my body and start flying around my house, intent upon visiting my family. Once that became easy, I ventured out to visit friends in other homes. I remember one time I got to my friend’s house, flew into her bedroom, saw her lying on her bed and instantly became so excited to be there, to have achieved that milestone, that I got snapped back to my body. It was frustrating. This excitement really became a problem. If I got too excited during sleep paralysis, I’d wake up. If I got too excited during a projection, I’d snap back. I was sort of annoyed at this because it had taken me months to overcome my fears, so why shouldn’t I be excited about being free? But I soon learned that excitement was just as much a hindrance to astral projection as fear. And I had to learn to stay calm and in control during every projection, or it would end much earlier than I wanted it to. One of the most important skills you’ll need to master is mental and emotional control. Without them, you’ll either succumb to the low vibrational entities or you’ll be taking very short trips. Imagine the control a person in a shark cage must have, submerged in water, with scuba gear, inside a metal cage, while a swarm of sharks come towards you. If you panic, you can’t breathe, or you drown. With astral projection, it’s very similar. Control is everything. So how do you stay calm in the face of something so thrilling, terrifying, and exciting? Avoid adrenaline spikes. Nothing will put you back inside your body faster than adrenaline. Is it even possible to feel adrenaline while you’re outside your physical body? I’m not sure of the physiology of it, but if you encounter a situation that would normally cause a fight or flight response, an energetic adrenaline surge happens. If you’re too excited, you’ll snap back. If you’re super afraid, you’ll snap back too. So if you want to stay out longer, avoid adrenaline. This means not getting overly excited even when something great happens. I recall one experience where Jared drew a picture on a white board in his room and told me to come look at it so I could describe it when I got to school the next day. I had just gotten into his room and saw the white board when I became so excited that I snapped back. Control your breathing. If your breathing becomes rapid due to fear or anxiety, you’ll be unable to project. Learn to take your meditative breathing with you into all your astral experiences. When you wake up in sleep paralysis mode, try to take some deep breaths. Attempting to scream will cause your heart rate to rise, which will keep you in place. Be an observer. One of the best ways I found to stay calm, control my fear, and control my excitement, was to project in passive observer mode. To get free of your body, you’ll need to be nonchalant about the whole experience. “Yawn, just another day in astral land. No biggie. I’m just going to fly about a little and see what’s going on at my friend’s house. It’s cool. No worries. Yeah I see you following me, you varmint, but I’m not worried. Toddle off now.” If instead, you leave your body thinking, “Oh. My. God. This is the bomb! I can’t believe this is happening. I’ve got to hurry before something attacks me! Holy cow, what’s that over there? Is that a skeleton? Holy f —!” you’re going to snap right back to your body, because your fear or excitement will trigger your body to recall you to the flight deck. Try to take the experience in stride. Try to be passive in your thoughts. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the experience. Far from it. You’ll enjoy it more if you can stay calm, which will allow you to stay out longer, and have richer experiences and interactions. Avoid emotional attachment to the outcome. Another way to increase your success and your time outside your body is to try not to have any emotional attachment to the outcome. If you’re extremely stressed, or you feel like you’re in a hurry, or that this one experience is your only chance, you’ll end up putting so much stress on yourself that you snap back. You will have many chances to project. Even if you only get up and stand next to your bed looking down at your body before you snap back, you’ve succeeded. The next trip could be longer. Even if you only get down the street but don’t make it to your friend’s house, it’s nothing to be concerned about. Once you become proficient at astral projection, you’ll stay out longer, accomplish more, and interact with many beings. If you allow yourself to become too attached, you may give up in frustration right before things were going to get great! In summary, the secret to getting out of your body and staying out for long periods of time is emotional control. Without it, it’s like pouring water on the hot coals in your barbecue just when you’re ready to grill your steak. Don’t extinguish your fire, and don’t stoke it either. Just be calm, cool, and collected. Be a pro. You got this. CHAPTER 8 Leaving Your Body The big moment has arrived. You’ve achieved sleep paralysis, your body is tingling, you hear the buzzing high-pitched sound of acceleration. You can see even though your eyes are closed, you’re sensing, seeing, and hearing other beings around you. Your astral body is activated. You’re in the rocket, and you want to take off. How do you get out of your body? The biggest mistake people make is right at this moment. They’re waiting for something to happen. They’re waiting to float out of their body or start flying. They’re expecting movement to just begin. But that’s not how it works. Astral projection is not something that happens to you. You’ve got to happen to it. You’ve got to move. You’ve got to get up, fly up, move up, stand up, roll out, step out, stretch out…in other words, take action. Astral projection is voluntary. You need to make all the moves here. So let’s discuss how to get you out of your body. S TRETCHING O UT The most common method of leaving the body is stretching up and out of it very slowly. When you’re in a state of sleep paralysis, if you try to lift your physical arm, it will not move, but your astral arm will. With your dual vision, you’ll probably even see an energetic arm lift up out of your body. If you don’t see it, you’ll definitely feel it. It will feel exactly the same as if you lifted your physical arm. Next, lift your other arm. You’ll see it or feel it coming up and out of your body. You may also at this time feel a stronger tingling sensation. It feels like something is magnetically trying to pull your astral arms back into your physical arms. Don’t let them fall back in. If you can manage it, stretch your arms further out and let them lift the rest of your body out. Imagine you’re reaching for something above you. Let your body follow your arms. Again, you’re going to feel strong sensations that are going to make you want to just fall back in. Don’t succumb to the pull. Keep going. It doesn’t hurt to send reassuring thoughts of calmness to your body. “Shh, there there, it’s all right, I’m not leaving you for good, just want to step out for a minute and get some air. There’s a good body, just stay here, and I’ll be right back.” Stay calm and in control. One big mistake people make in this state is trying to imagine their astral body leaving their physical one. That takes you inward, into a mental construct much like lucid dreaming. In fact, if you’re not careful, you’ll simply slip into a dream state and dream you are projecting or flying around. If you actually succeed in stretching out of your body, it will feel like you are physically stretching out of your body. Because your body is paralyzed and cannot move, when you attempt to move, you’re going to move your astral body instead of your physical one. This is why being in a state of sleep paralysis is the bomb diggity of all states. It will anchor your body so your astral body can get up and out. You literally just want to stand up or sit up. Use your “muscles” to pull you to a sitting or standing position. I can’t stress this enough. It will feel like you physically stood up out of bed, except, when you look down, you’ll be very surprised to see your body still lying on your bed. That’s because your consciousness is now in your astral body, not your physical one. In fact, you won’t feel your physical body anymore at all, and couldn’t move its real physical arm if you tried because you’re not in it anymore. Once you are out, you are all in! All in your astral vehicle that is! You are then free to move and travel. We’ll discuss navigating and traveling the astral realms in the next chapter. The stretching out method is the simplest and most common method of getting out of the body, but it’s not actually the one that creates the most success. Read on for other ways to break your body’s gravitational pull. R OLLING O UT Stretching out of your body happens very slowly, giving your body many chances to convince you not to leave. Some people have found better success with a rolling out method. When you awaken in your sleep paralysis state, simply roll off the side of your bed. There is strong conditioning to avoid doing this because when you’re awake, you’ve learned that falling off your bed usually results in pain, bumps, and bruises. But rolling out of your body is done quickly, all at once, leaving your body wondering what the heck happened to you. You’re sort of sneaking up on it and jumping out before it has a chance to keep you there. When you roll out, your entire astral body is coming out at the same time, which helps you avoid that strong magnetic pull on your limbs. You’re doing it all in one fell swoop. However, rolling out of your body is not an easy method. It’s effective for sure, but not easy. For one thing, when you roll out quickly, you may feel like you’re falling. And that falling sensation is very primal, you’ll instinctively jerk, which can cause you to snap back into your body. But if you can get used to the sensation and actually like it, then rolling out is a great way to break free of the body quickly without having to coddle it and get its permission to let you out. I imagine it’s how skydivers must feel after they’ve jumped out of airplanes many times. The falling sensation becomes a thrill instead of invoking panic. If you achieve separation by rolling out of your body, you’ll want to be careful not to continue your descent into your floor and then possibly the ground. It’s disconcerting to project and find yourself immediately encased in tons of earth. Once I got comfortable with astral projection, I would roll out of body and instantly take flight. If there was anything around me I didn’t want to play with, then I would roll out, deliberately fly into the earth, and come up and out somewhere different. The entities didn’t expect it, and it gave me the upper hand right away. S INKING D OWN Similar to rolling out, you can also try sinking down and exiting your body out the back, so to speak. So instead of stretching up and out, and instead of rolling quickly out and to the side, you’re sinking down into your bed, through your floor, and then out. The advantage of this technique is that it is a little easier to just let go and slip downward than it is to rise up. Same as if you were in a physical body, it’s easier to let go and fall then it is to rise up or climb. Another advantage is that it’s easier to avoid the baddies when you slip out the back. Often they aren’t expecting it and it takes them a while to recover and realize you’re gone. By then you’ll be far away and beyond their reach both “physically” and energetically. One disadvantage is that you can accidentally sink to a lower vibration while in the process, so I only recommend the sinking technique if you’ve got a strong hold on your mind and your will is very strong. Also, you don’t want to sink so low that you end up in the lower realms. But if you can sink down and out, then take control, it’s an effective way to slip out quickly and begin your travels. T ELEPORTING O UT If you’ve tried stretching, rolling and sinking and just can’t get free of your body without it snapping or pulling you back, then try teleporting out. I discovered this technique accidentally. I had woken to sleep paralysis, got my buzzing and tingling going, had my dual vision, and was attempting to stretch up and out of my body, but it was hard, and I kept being pulled back. It suddenly occurred to me that if I was already in my astral vehicle, as evidenced by the separation sensations, then why did I have to obey the laws of physics and go from my body outward into the world? Why not just fold space and pop out in a new location? So I gave it a try. I decided I wanted to be on the roof of my house, and willed myself there. When my astral vision caught up, I was floating above the roof of my house. It’s instant freedom. You completely bypass the stretching and pulling and struggling and go right where you want to be. Once I discovered I could do this, I did it a lot. Why go through the struggle when I could just pop out? There are a few disadvantages to this method, however. First, when you teleport out, you need a very strong grasp on where you’re going. You need to know it well so you can create a sort of anchor with it. If you decide to just teleport out of your body and let yourself land in a random location, you could arrive very disoriented and also land in a nest of things you don’t want to play with. I also found that I couldn’t teleport too far away from my body. Maybe up to a block away from my house or starting location. I’m sure there are people out there who can teleport farther, but a block or so was my limit. I almost always just popped over to my roof because it was familiar to me and I could get to it easily. Also, when you teleport out, you want to be sure that all of you is there when you arrive. Sometimes I ended up fragmented in some weird, twisted ways, and I’d have to go back to my body, gather myself up, and start again. My solution to that was to teleport to the same location, using it like a preset radio station. And I would wait a moment or two until all of me caught up. If I tried to teleport to other random locations, I’d have to pull myself together when I got there. It’s like pieces of me stayed behind in my physical body and were stretching out to my current location. Not comfortable at all. So this is again a case where you want to muster your will and intention and get all of you to your teleport location. But the biggest advantage of this technique is that you don’t struggle with the body. You pop out and you’re free. The farther away you are from your physical body, the less gravitational pull you’ll feel. So if you’re having trouble getting more than a limb or two out of your body, try teleporting out. G ETTING A SSISTANCE There is another way to achieve astral projection, and that’s by allowing someone to help you out of your body. Once you’ve experienced astral projection, it’s much easier to experience again. Just like when you were learning to swim, if someone held you up and prevented you from drowning while you got used to the water, it made it that much easier to learn, and you probably felt safer and more comfortable in the process. There are a couple ways to get assistance. Spirit Guides. If you recall my first experience, I woke up in a state of sleep paralysis and then felt my soul being slowly pulled out of my body. It was frightening because I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t know who the entities were that were assisting me. One even told me to breathe through my nose because it would be easier, and when I listened, I just got pulled out faster. I felt betrayed, so I struggled to get back into my body. But what was actually happening was that I was receiving assistance from my own spirit guides in helping me astral project. If I had simply surrendered, I would have left my body, probably been fairly surprised, but not too upset, especially if they were able to reassure me that I was safe. As the months passed, and I started to accept the fact that astral projection was finally upon me, after years of waiting for it to happen, I started to trust my guides and my experiences, and let myself go. Once I did that, they were able to show me around the astral plane, help protect me, and help me reach new realms. If you want your guides to help you, it’s as simple as asking and allowing. Always put yourself in a nice high vibration before you speak to or communicate with your guides. Do this by meditating, doing some deep breathing, and imagining yourself walking up a long staircase in space that leads into a garden. Talk to your guides there. If you can’t visualize well, then meditate and simply talk to them in your mind. It can take some practice to make sure you’re tuned in to your guides instead of your own imagination, but it’s very possible. For articles and information on how to do this, visit my website, www.erinpavlina.com. Even if you’re not an expert at communicating with your guides, that’s no problem. Simply tell them that you want assistance and that you’re willing to allow it. They will hear you, and if they feel it’s safe for you to project and that you’re ready, they will likely assist you. Be ready. Prepare yourself. Do everything listed previously in this book to prepare yourself mentally, physically, and energetically. They can’t throw you in the pool if you’re not even standing near it. Meet them halfway by intending and preparing for the experience. If you wake up in the sleep paralysis state, or if you’re having difficulty getting out of your body, simply call out to your guides and ask them for assistance. Then prepare yourself for the experience, because it’s likely going to be uncomfortable the first few times. Surrender to the experience, trust in your guides, and make sure you’re not in a state of fear. Friends. If your guides won’t help you, perhaps your friends will. Someone who is astral projecting is capable of assisting someone else out of their body. Here’s how that works. When you are astral projecting, one of the things you will notice if you go visit other people, is that you’ll often be able to see their astral bodies. It’s like having X-ray vision and being able to see the peanut inside the shell. They’re still inside their bodies, but you’ll often see their astral bodies wiggling around in there. It’s like they’re lit up from the inside. When I would project and fly down my hallway to see my parents, I often saw my mom’s astral body staring back at me, even though her physical form was sound asleep on the bed. As I flew into the room, her astral body would watch me flying around. On some occasions, I would see her astral body a few inches outside of her body, but never fully out. I rarely saw my dad’s astral body. It wasn’t as active as my mom’s. Similarly, I could fly to a friend’s house and see their astral body awake inside their physical ones. When I visited Jared and Ashley, I could see their astral bodies easily. They were bright and shiny lights sitting inside their bodies. We discovered quite by accident that we could assist each other. I flew over to Ashley one night and simply reached my astral hand towards her head. As soon as I made contact, she would get some kind of energy burst, and pop out of her body. We were able to see each other, telepathically communicate with each other, and fly around together. It wasn’t easy and it didn’t always work. Sometimes I’d touch her, and she’d shrink back from the touch. It worked better if she was expecting me. And sometimes we’d start out together but drift apart, or one of us would slip into another plane and the other didn’t follow. One night I slept over Ashley’s house, and we asked Sam to come visit us and take us out traveling with him, as he was way more accomplished at the time. I remember sometime in the early morning hours waking up and feeling his presence the way an intuitive person might sense a ghost. I said out loud, “Ashley, he’s here!” and she responded in a sleepy voice, “Yeah, I know.” I immediately settled onto my back and felt the tingling and high-pitched whine. I wasn’t in sleep paralysis, so this was unusual. But Sam was reaching out to me and was able to activate my astral body so I could leave quickly and easily. When I would try to coax other friends out of their bodies, I would simply hover nearby and telepathically project my thoughts at them. I would reassure them that they were safe, that I would protect them, and touch their energy with mine. Some friends and family made it out with me, and some didn’t as they were too afraid. This technique works much better when the person knows you’re attempting it, and when the person you’re assisting is practiced at initiating separation. So if you happen to have a close friend who is accomplished at astral travel, see if they can help pull you out of your body. This does not work that well with strangers. If you don’t recognize someone’s energy, you may mistake it for a negative entity, especially if you’re in a fear state. I’ve had numerous people ask me if they can pay me to come take them out of their bodies. It’s not something I do unless I know the person very well. And even then, it’s not as easy as it seems like it should be. There is a lot of resistance to overcome, same as if you’re learning to project on your own. But if you do have a close friend who is great at astral projection, ask them to try. Make sure you prepare yourself as best you can and make sure the conditions are as good as they can be. D RUG -I NDUCED A STRAL P ROJECTION People often ask me if they can more easily achieve astral projection while under the influence of mind-altering drugs. I’ve received a lot of emails from people who had a “trip” that they felt was an out of body experience. I’m not a fan of using substances to create out of body experiences for several reasons. First, depending on the substance you’re using, what you believe is an astral experience may simply be a hallucination. How will you know if the experience you had was real or a figment of your hallucination? You won’t know for sure. If you don’t care about that and if you’re comfortable just hallucinating, more power to you. But you’ll never be sure if it was a real experience or just in your mind. Second, if you do manage to achieve separation you’re putting yourself at great risk. If you force an out of body experience, you may not be able to get back into your body too easily. And if you’re surrounded by negative entities, you’re going to want to get back in your body pronto. It’s like walking outside to get some fresh air, getting swarmed by bees, and being unable to get back into your house because the door is closed. Safe astral projection requires that you be in control of the duration of your experience. Don’t allow yourself to be locked outside. Third, many of these substances and drugs can have side effects that affect you physically. Is it worth damaging your body in order to have an out of body experience? True and natural astral projection won’t eat away at your brain or body. It will energize and enhance you. I’ve never done any drugs that would cause or create an out of body experience. For me the risk is too great. And after all the creatures I’ve sent packing, I can only imagine what they would do to me if I was thrown into jail with them and unable to end the experience when I wanted to. I shudder at the thought. It’s your choice, but I think if you practice and prepare yourself, you can achieve astral projection without drugs. U NINTENTIONAL P ROJECTIONS Sometimes people unintentionally leave their bodies. Lucky, right? Not so. An unintentional projection is not what you’re after because if you didn’t initiate it, that means there’s a problem. For something to knock your astral body out of your physical body, there had to be a glitch or a problem. Here are some examples. While driving. Rare, but it happens. You can be in such a hypnotic state, super relaxed, and zoning out, maybe on a long drive, and pop. You’re out of your body. Guess what? The car isn’t going to drive itself. Without you being in your body, your physical body is going to go limp or collapse, which is not what you need while operating heavy machinery. The way to avoid this is not to listen to any music that causes severe brain relaxation. Don’t meditate while driving. And be sure you’re not so tired that you can’t drive consciously. If you do find yourself popping out of your body while driving, I suggest you pop yourself right back in! During surgery or medical procedures. You may have heard about people under anesthesia reporting that they floated up out of their body while unconscious and could see and hear what their doctors were doing. Sometimes when the body is in a twilight sleep or fully under, the astral body is unanchored and is free to roam. This can be bad news if you want to get back into your body. Usually people just hang out near their bodies and wait to go back in. Don’t worry about this too much because there’s no way to prevent it and you may not even remember if it happens. During near-death experiences. You’ve probably also heard about near-death experiences, where the body is clinically dead and the person is moving on into the afterlife. In these cases, I believe the astral cord is still intact but wavering, as the connection prepares to sever forever. Or, the cord is severed but is somehow reconnected by beings on the other side who have decided it’s not your time to die. I’m not really sure which, but this is an unintentional projection that often requires the assistance of other higher vibrational beings to get you back to your body. While on drugs. Like I mentioned in the previous section, some drugs can pop you unintentionally out of your body. This puts you at great risk of being attacked by a negative entity. And sometimes you’re not thinking clearly enough to use your will to fend them off or get back into your body. You’re also more likely to wander, float away, or get pulled along by psychic wind, which we’ll discuss later. During accidents. Many years ago a friend told me that the day he got hit by a Mack truck, he popped out of his body instantly, and watched his body get thrown into the air and land many feet away. He was shocked to witness his own body being tossed about. A sudden impact can knock you out of your body, often for its own protection. Whether you get back in or not, depends on whether you live or not. Randomly. I remember one time walking into my bedroom, early in the evening. I climbed into bed to watch TV and have a little snack. I felt a pop, and suddenly I was standing outside my body three feet away. I seriously thought I had died instantly somehow. I had no indicative sensations of astral projection. I had simply popped out. It was very unnerving. I looked around a bit, nothing was out of the ordinary, so I walked back to my body, lay down in it, and remerged with it. To this day I don’t know what triggered that. If you find yourself out of your body randomly, I would get back in as soon as possible. CHAPTER 9 Traveling You’ve made it out of your body. Congratulations! Now it’s time to get moving. In the next three chapters you’ll learn how to move your astral body, how to reach different planes of existence, and how to interact effectively with people and your environment once you are astral traveling. Your wild ride is about to begin! Once you’ve successfully separated from your body, the first thing you’ll want to do is start exploring and moving around. There is much you need to know about movement, so in this chapter I’m going to explain how to move through space, time, and objects. We’ll also talk about how to control your speed, and some things that might knock you around a bit. Then we’ll discuss how to quickly and safely return to your body. M ETHODS OF M OVEMENT There are several ways to move when you’re astral. You can walk, fly, float, or teleport. You’ll probably experience all four at some point, but eventually you’ll pick the one you like the most and that’s easiest for you. Let’s discuss each method and how to master them all. Walking. Walking is common because you’re used to it. Some people step out of their bodies and simply walk around their house. When you walk, you move somewhat slowly, and you tend to follow the natural curvature of your space. For example, if you get to some stairs, you’re going to find yourself walking up or down the stairs like you would if you were corporeal. This is wholly unnecessary as you are actually on a plane that doesn’t have stairs, but you see them, you’re used to walking up or down them, so you force your astral body to mimic the movements as if you were physical. If walking makes you comfortable, keep doing it, but eventually you’ll probably want to go somewhere that you can’t reach by walking. Imagine how long it would take you to walk to a friend’s house three thousand miles away. Imagine how long it would take to climb a mountain step by step? Or harder yet, try walking to Mars. So one disadvantage to walking is being limited by what you expect you can do physically. On the other hand, an advantage to walking is that it’s easy and familiar, plus you can go slow and at your own pace, which allows you to explore in more depth and with more focus. But as a method of travel, it’s definitely limited. If you’re going to go far, you’ll want to fly or teleport. Floating. Once you’ve decided that walking is too limiting or too slow, you may decide you want to fly. So you get yourself into a horizontal position, and try to fly. But instead of flying, you find yourself floating, bobbing along through space like a two-day-old helium balloon. It’s extremely common to find yourself floating just a few inches or feet off the ground. Again, it’s a perception. In your physical body, you don’t fly or float, so it’s sometimes hard to believe you can actually move without your feet touching the ground. Your own expectations or beliefs can create limitations that aren’t really there. Floating is an extremely slow method of movement. Probably the slowest. And it can cause great frustration because you want to move faster but can’t seem to get going. But if you find yourself floating, unable to pick up speed, just enjoy the sensation and explore the area. In time, you’ll get more confident about traveling out of your body, and you’ll begin to pick up speed naturally. Floating will eventually lead to flying. Flying. Most astral travelers eventually figure out how to fly, and this becomes the most common method of travel. When you can fly, it’s much easier to soar into the sky and even into space. You can zoom quickly to locations halfway around the world. You can evade negative entities and leave them in your dust. You will have a sense of freedom and control the likes of which you have never experienced! In short, flying is awesome! Tilt yourself into a horizontal position, put your arms out in front of you, and focus all your will and intent on your objective. You will begin to move in that direction. Your will and intent are critical. If you believe you are a bad-ass flying machine, you will be. If you’re scared or tentative, you’ll end up floating. Be confident, in control, and fierce. Pick a place you want to go and push your energy in that direction. When I was first learning to fly, it helped if I took a few “running” steps first and launched myself into motion. It’s a psychological trick, but it works. Another great way to learn to fly is to jump off your roof. You’ll either fall really fast or learn to fly. It’s exhilarating. Once you’re flying, you can fly high up in the sky, or stay low to the ground. When I was visiting friends, I often stayed low and flew near the ground so I could turn down the right streets. When I tried flying high up in the air and going to a friend’s house, I had difficulty navigating and recognizing their rooftop from the crowd of rooftops I encountered. But when I wanted to fly to far off locations, I went high up into the sky and zoomed around quickly, doing aerial feats along the way like somersaults and flips. It’s addicting to be able to move your “body” in this way. One disadvantage is that if you’re flying too fast, you may miss some interesting details. But if your goal is to get somewhere quickly, flying is a fun and great way to go. Practice flying in your lucid dreams and you will be a pro when you go astral. Teleporting. As I mentioned earlier, you can teleport out of your body, which also means that once you are astral, you can teleport to other locations around the globe. Just concentrate on where you want to be and pop yourself there. Teleporting is mentally difficult. It’s not something we’re used to when corporeal, so your own mind may prevent you from achieving it. But if you practice, you can do it easily. Start by teleporting back and forth between two very familiar points, like your bedroom, and your street corner or roof. When you teleport, sometimes it feels murky, and when you arrive at your destination, it can take a few moments to feel like you’re all there. So if you’re going to use teleportation as a method of travel, I recommend doing it one time per trip. Pick your spot, teleport there, then fly around and explore. If you teleport too much, you’re going to become somewhat dissociated. If you find yourself in this situation, take a moment to collect yourself (literally), and then move again. If it’s really bad, just snap back to your body and start again. While teleporting is the fastest way to get to a new location, it’s not the easiest method to master. Experiment with all the different travel methods until you find the one that works best for you and your needs. M OVING T HROUGH T IME Most people assume that when you astral project you’ll fly around your area, your neighborhood, go see friends, check out Mars and maybe soar to the top of Mount Everest. And that’s all well and good, and you’ll have a great time doing it. But one of the more interesting things you can do while astral that you certainly can’t do while corporeal, is time travel. Imagine witnessing the creation of the universe. Imagine watching great historical moments with an unobstructed, unbiased viewpoint. What really happened behind closed doors during some of the most interesting political moments of our time? Yes indeed, you can move yourself through time, not just space. Once you are astral, you are an energy being, completely unrestricted in terms of time and space. Time and space are for three-dimensional beings. You’re now a four-dimensional being. Just as you can move through space, you can move through time. And yes, that even means moving forward through time. But before you get too excited, let me explain the limitations, as there are a few. First, if you thought moving through space was tough to get used to and master, you’re going to have an even tougher time with time (excuse the pun). You’re going to have to move in a way that is wholly foreign to you. You’re going to need extreme focus and intent. And one thing you lose very quickly when you are astral, is extreme focus and intent. When you go astral, you step back into your soul’s energy. Your regular human problems and interests wane, and you become a point of consciousness moving around the cosmos. While your corporeal self may be very interested in how the dinosaurs really got wiped out, your astral soul consciousness may not care anymore. And if you don’t have the will or the intent, you won’t get where you want to go. The best way around this is to concentrate really hard before you go astral and set the intention to visit a certain time, place or event in history. Then when you are astral, launch your “program” and teleport yourself to that time. Moving through time is more difficult than moving through space. If you think it’s disorienting to teleport your astral self from your bedroom to your roof, you’re going to really be spinning when you try to teleport billions of years into the past. So don’t be surprised if it doesn’t work. Just keep trying. The first time I discovered I could move through time, I was flying to Ashley’s house. Along the way, I encountered a male spirit that wanted my attention. When he got close to me, he initiated something energetically and all of a sudden I found myself moving backward through time. It was flashing past me like a movie in rewind mode. He took me to a place roughly 30 years prior, and he showed me how he was in his house that caught fire and burned down, with him still in it. He showed me how he burned to death. I was watching as an observer. And he kept fast forwarding and rewinding the scene until I finally broke free of his hold and pulled myself back to the present. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience, but I understood that he was confused and just wanted my help. I conveyed to him that he was dead and should move on, and then I left him because honestly I was a little afraid of him, but not the way I was afraid of negative entities from the lower planes. After I realized I could witness past events, I started initiating them consciously. I would stand still, and send out my intention to the universe to be taken to various events. I didn’t always succeed. Sometimes nothing would happen. Sometimes I’d start to experience that sensation of rewind, but stop or get stuck before getting to the right point. And sometimes I’d feel blocked from viewing something entirely. I could often hear an event but not see it. Very frustrating. I came to understand that the more personal and psychological connection I had with an event, the more likely I was to be able to witness it. So I was taken back to my own past lives and witnessed many aspects of them. I found this to be awesome and interesting, so I’m grateful for the experiences. I was also sometimes waylaid by spirits who wanted to show me their life or death. More about these experiences in Chapter 11. Once I figured out I could go back in time, I tried to also go forward. I had some measure of success with this but was quite limited by my own expectations and blocks. Also, anytime I saw future events I understood intuitively that they were only possible events, and not set in stone. I recall one instance in which I was taken to a time in the world when the entire planet was at peace and being ruled by a council of 13 people. I got an entire download of how the world was, and then like a flip book going backwards, I was shown how we got there as a planet. It was beautiful, but it moved so fast I couldn’t consciously note exactly how it happened. By the time I was brought to the present, I knew only that it was possible and beautiful, but I couldn’t consciously remember the steps we took to achieve it. Yeah, I was bummed. But I was also filled with incredible hope and the knowledge that there is a path to world peace and that it’s possible. I hope if you practice time travel, you are successful at viewing everything you want to see. When you want to get back to your body, sometimes it’s easier to come back to the present and then step in. I found that to be the case for me. If I was in say 1969 and wanted to go back to my body, I would find myself in my bedroom but the 1969 version of it. Then I’d have to sort myself out from there. Very disorienting and confusing. You’ll see what I mean when you’re out there. You may also want to know if you can affect past events. Not that I’m aware of. You are a witness only, an observer. Unless you were there corporeally, I don’t believe you can affect past events. But sometimes being a witness is enough. The other issue with time travel is that it’s very hard to prove, unless you go back to a time and witness an event that you can then discuss with the people who were there, who can verify it for you. Good luck in this endeavor. It’s an interesting aspect of astral projection, and while it sounds powerful and awesome, I think you’ll find when you get out there that what you think you’ll be interested in viewing won’t actually hold as much interest for you. But by all means, do what you will and explore away. M OVING T HROUGH O BJECTS Once you’re moving through space, you’re going to run into some obstacles, or what appear to be obstacles. So let’s discuss how to get through them and what it’s going to feel like. One of the first things I did when I went astral was attempt to fly outside my window and into the crisp, clear night. As I floated towards my window, I wondered how I was going to open it. I reached my hand out and was surprised to discover that my hand started to move through the window. It felt like I was pushing through some viscous liquid, but I got my hand through. Then I pulled my hand back. Same sensation. A thick liquid. I backed up a little and took a run at the window with more speed. I was able to fly through the window no problem, but as the window intersected with my astral body, it felt like I was moving through gel. There was resistance, but not much. Once I was outside, I felt whole again. Light. Airy. Intact. I tried the same thing with my wall. Very thick. To me it felt like my energetic molecules were mixing with the atoms of the wall, and I had to keep pushing through quickly, or it felt like I might get stuck in the wall. It felt like my energy was merging with the wall’s atomic make-up, and if I didn’t keep moving through quickly, I might become part of the wall forever. Here’s what you need to know about moving through physical objects when you’re astral. You can move through any object you see, but I don’t recommend staying intersected with it for very long. It’s an unusual sensation, not very comfortable, and just feels wrong. So when an object like a wall or window or tree is in your way, move through it quickly and keep on going. I don’t believe you could ever get truly stuck inside a physical object, but you are energy, the wall is energy, and if you stick around too long, you may find yourself experiencing what it’s like to be wall atoms for a while. When you want to return to your body, coalesce your essence, and snap back into your body. Once you become an expert at astral travel, you’re going to realize the walls and other obstacles aren’t really physical objects at all. They are just energetic representations of what is physically present on the threedimensional plane. This is the reason that ghosts appear to walk through walls. It’s because on that plane, the walls aren’t even really there. You expect them to be, so you see them. In time, you’ll zip through walls and windows like they were air. Some people get hung up on trying to get through an object because their mind is telling them it’s impossible to move through something solid. If you find it difficult to get through the wall or window easily and quickly, it helps to focus on what’s beyond the object and move towards that. Then the wall or window don’t even come into play. S PEEDING U P One of the most common questions I’m asked about motion is how to speed up. It’s not much fun to float and bobble along at a snail’s pace when you’re trying to reach something wonderful before you’re snapped back, or when you’re trying to escape something that’s faster than you. Imagine being a balloon trying to swim away from an attacking shark! Speed is important to master when you’re astral. The trick with speed is time, practice, patience, and will. First, you will absolutely get faster over time. The more you project and the more experience you have with flight and movement, the faster you will become naturally. So worst case scenario, you will eventually speed up the more times you travel. Practice makes perfect. If you don’t practice your flying, you’ll move slowly for a long time. If you’re working on or mastering lucid dreaming, practice flying in your dreams. You’re going to use the same motions during astral travel. If you have the reference experience of knowing what it feels like to fly during dreams, you’ll be much faster at speeding up once you’re astral traveling. Patience is key, as well. Don’t give up in frustration. Flying quickly will happen at some point. It might come when you’re very scared and absolutely need to get away from something. It might happen when your desire to get something awesome overcomes your fear, conditioning, or reluctance to travel, but if you keep projecting and you keep trying, you’ll get it. And lastly, your will is very important. When you’re on the astral plane, what you resonate with is what you’ll experience. If you believe you can fly fast, you will fly fast. If you take limited thinking with you to the astral plane, you’ll continue to bob along a few feet off the ground, even with time, practice, and patience. Your belief will create the reality. When I was first learning to project, I was already very accomplished at lucid dreaming, and flying was second nature to me. It didn’t take me very long on the astral plane to discover that I could fly like Superman. In fact, there came a point when I wanted to see just how fast I could fly, and I’m pretty sure you’d have clocked me at several hundred miles per hour. You can probably warp yourself to light speed and beyond, as well. I never found that necessary, but I’m sure it’s possible. Speed flying is an awesome sensation. I highly recommend it. And there are no police officers around to ticket you for speeding. Bonus! A STRAL W IND I discovered astral wind quite by accident. I’d left my body, flew out of my bedroom window, and started flying to Ashley’s house. I was tooling along at a nice clip when all of a sudden I felt a wind come up and blow at me. I found myself tumbling uncontrollably down a street. I felt like an astral tumbleweed. It took me more minutes than I’d like to confess to right myself, get in control of my movement, and get back on my trajectory. The next day I talked to Sam about it (Oh how I wish Google or the Internet had existed back then!) and we went to the library to see if we could find any reference to this experience in any books. Remember, the number of books even mentioning astral projection was so limited, but eventually we found something that referred to psychic wind. And sure enough, it was described as the sensation of being blown around the astral plane like you were a leaf on a windy day. We further read that it was not an attack. Even though it sort of felt like something was shoving me around, it’s not a conscious entity trying to knock you down or get control of you, any more than wind is trying to kill you. In fact, the psychic wind seemed as relatively harmless as a light breeze on a summer day. But what if the wind turned into hurricane force gales? If you ever find yourself completely out of control and unable to direct your course, you can always snap back to your body. Then you can stop for the night or try moving out again. I don’t think you’re going to encounter the astral wind very often, if ever. I only encountered it two or three times out of a thousand flights, so it’s really not a big concern, but I wanted to mention it in case you do experience it, so you’re not overly troubled by it. R ETURNING TO Y OUR B ODY Another big question people ask me is, “How do I get back into my body when I want to? Is there a chance I won’t be able to get back in?” Let me reassure you about this. When you astral travel, you are still very much alive, you’re merely taking a temporary journey outside of your body. Just like in physical reality, when you take a trip, you come home and your house is still there, and it’s still yours, and you can still get in, that’s how it is with astral travel. Your astral cord acts as a placeholder or bookmark, holding your spot for when you’re ready to return. There are only two reasons you wouldn’t be able to get back into your body. The first is if something severs your astral cord. In our physical reality trip analogy, that would be like losing your key. Your house is still there, but you no longer have access to it. What can sever your cord? Only something ridiculously powerful that desires to end your life that can also get past your guides, angels, and the Source. The second reason you may not get back is if something kills your physical body, which will snap your cord by default. That’s like coming home from Aruba and finding your house got bulldozed to make way for a hyperspace bypass. You’ve still got the key, but there’s no lock because there’s no more house. What can kill your physical body while you’re astral? Anything really. Earthquake knocks tons of rubble onto your bed. You’re dead. Someone walks in your room and shoots you in the head. You’re dead. But it’s not any more likely to happen while you’re astral than when you’re not. No being can step into your body while you are projecting and take it from you, leaving you floating along behind it, knocking on your skull to get back in. Nothing. Now let’s talk about how to return to your body. For the most part, all you have to do is think about being back in your body and you’ll get there. You’ll snap right back. Your body is happy to recall you back to base any time you’re willing to come back. But sometimes an entity may try to mess with your mind. I recall a lovely incident when I was roaming astrally and a pretty bad-ass vampirelooking thing was standing between me and my body when I got back to it. It hissed at me, “Are you sure you want to go back to your body?” I replied, “Yes, God damn you!” It recoiled like I hit it with holy water and dissipated. I then got back into my body. Was I scared? Uh, yeah, a little bit, but I also recognized that it could not prevent me if I really wanted to go back. If necessary, I could have gotten back into my body without lashing out at him first. Another easy way of getting back into your body is to fall. The sensation of falling creates a primal instinct in your body that will snap you back really fast. Simply fly to a tall place high in the sky or on top of a mountain and throw yourself off. It’s even more effective if you fall backwards. Snap! You’ll be back in your body before you can count to one. This doesn’t work too well if you enjoy the sensation of falling or you get too used to it, which is what happened to me over time. I would simply fall, “hit” the earth and keep falling into the core. You can also simply fly back to your body and step in. You’ll see your body lying on your bed or couch, looking all peaceful and content. Just lie down right on top of it and feel yourself merge back into place. In a few moments, you’ll be reconnected, and you’ll open your physical eyes and be back. It’s very gentle, and a preferred method for those who hate the sensation of snapping back to their bodies. Experiment to find what works best for you. In Chapter 13 we’ll talk more about what to do when a negative entity tries to prevent you from returning, but for now just know that nothing can stand in the way of you moving back into your body. CHAPTER 10 The Planes A lot of people assume that when you astral project you just fly around your house, visit friends, and go spy on celebrities. There’s a lot more to it than that. You become an energy being, and physical limitations are a thing of the past. There are many planes you can explore. Let’s talk options! P RIME M ATERIAL P LANE The first plane is referred to as the prime material plane. I don’t know if that’s what scientists call it, but that’s what it’s called in my astral social circles. The prime material plane is simply the three-dimensional plane you live in. It’s the plane you’re on right now. It’s generally viewed as quite physical, full of matter and solid objects. In reality we know that solid objects are made up of energy and space, but let’s set that aside for now and just refer to this plane we’re living on as the prime material plane. When you first project, you’re generally going to find yourself as an astral being on the prime material plane. In other words, when you step out of your body you’ll still be in your bedroom or house. You can fly down your hallway. You can tear off down the street and go explore the world. All the physical things you’re familiar with and expect to see, you will see. You are an energetic being intersecting with the prime material plane. Some people never go beyond this plane and that’s fine. There is a lot to explore. You will visit obvious places like your house, your family and friends, and your neighborhood. But you can also go where you’ve never physically gone before. You can fly to the top of a tall mountain, swim into the depths of the ocean, explore caves, the pyramids, look for Atlantis. You can soar into the sky. You can time travel through the prime material plane. It’s rich with interest. When you’re ready, though, pack your astral bags, because there are other planes to explore! T HE L OWER P LANES I’m no physicist, so my explanation of planes is coming from a place of subjective experience only. What I refer to as the lower planes are simply the planes where lower vibrational beings reside. Think of the planes as frequencies on a radio. The lower planes are simply a band of frequencies on the lower end of the scale. You can visit the lower planes if you want to, but I don’t really recommend it. The lower planes are where you’re going to find lower vibrational beings. I don’t know what they call themselves, but around here we refer to them as energy vampires, demons, ookie spookies, negative entities, and lower vibrational beings. But hey, everyone needs someplace to live, right? If you slip into the lower planes, you’re going to almost assuredly be attacked or swarmed by these beings. They’re going to see you as a tasty snack and feed on your light. This will result in you going back to your body with a feeling of malaise and low energy. Imagine how you’d feel if someone drained half the blood out of your body. That’s what it will feel like when these guys are done with you. So how do you get to the lower planes? If your vibration is negative or fearful, you could slip down there. This means you’re emanating fear, anger, anxiety, sadness, grief, shame, or guilt. You shouldn’t be projecting at all if this is your dominant energy. Another way to get to a lower plane is to be dragged there. We’ll talk more in Chapter 13 about what happens when you are wrongfully and willfully attacked by one of these fellows and how to escape them, but for now it’s important to know that if you’re not careful and you’re not totally in control, you could be dragged against your will to the hellish planes. Another method to visit the lower planes is to go there on purpose. I used to go there a lot. Not because I was in a low vibration, but because I was sick and tired of the ookie spookies trying to attack me and feed off my energy, so sometimes I’d go hunting there on purpose, and I’d stab lower vibrational entities with my light sword. You’ll learn about that soon. Sometimes I would follow a nasty back to its proverbial lair, and send it so much love energy that it would scurry away like a cockroach in the light. That was fun for me, and how I got my kicks on the astral plane when I was a teenager. So you can consciously or unconsciously go to the lower planes. I’m here to tell you, though, that you can astral project thousands of times and never go to the lower planes. It’s simply unnecessary and not recommended. If you’re afraid to project because you’re afraid you’ll end up there, don’t be afraid. By the time you finish this book, you’ll have the tools and knowledge necessary to avoid the lower planes altogether, and you’ll know how to get out of them if you end up there against your will. You also need to know that nothing can keep you in the lower planes against your will. You can always snap back to your body. And assistance is always close by. More on that soon. Keeping your vibration high will keep you from slipping into the lower planes, and will prevent negative energies from kidnapping and dragging you there. High vibration energies are love, compassion, gratitude, and joy. If you’re projecting in that state, you’ll never see the lower planes. R EACHING THE H IGHER P LANES The antithesis to the lower planes is what I call the higher planes or the higher realms. It is here that you will encounter other four-dimensional beings including spirit guides, angels, deceased loved ones, ascended masters, and even God or Source itself. That’s right, the party is in the heavens and the upper planes! How do you get your ticket to ride? Your vibration is your pass. That, and your intention and desires. When I first began projecting, I was in a state of fear most of the time. This was partly because my first projection was forced, and then Jared told me the entities were trying to possess me. You’d be scared too! So in the beginning, when I stepped out of my body onto the prime material plane, I’d encounter or be attacked by the lower vibrational entities. They’d drag me around, feed on me, scare the crap out of me, and I’d end up back in my body tired, scared, and flipped out of my mind. It wasn’t until I started talking with Sam and learned about the different planes and the different opportunities that awaited me that I started having positive experiences. One of these experiences was reaching the higher planes. Here’s what happened. Sam had told me the next time I found myself in sleep paralysis and beginning to tingle, to call out to my spirit guides and ask them to guide and assist me on my astral journeys. I’m not sure at the time I was super clear on what a spirit guide was, but I knew they were assigned to us at birth and were there to guide us and help us navigate the maze of our lives. So there I was, tingling, dual vision, hearing the high-pitched whine, and beginning to feel and hear the usual suspects crowding around my body just waiting for me to leave so they could eat me, and instead of stepping out of my body, I silently and telepathically called out, “Guides? Come help me.” I felt a whoosh of air around me. It was like the hand of some mighty being swished away all the bugs. I could sense the area was clear. Then I felt a hand grab onto me and pull me out of my body. I saw a being of light next to me, radiating strength, power, and positive energy. Its masculine energy said, “Where would you like to go?” I replied, “Just show me around and let me see what you think I should see.” Thus began one of the most wonderful and positive astral experiences I’ve ever had. I was taken to the higher realms. I interacted with deceased people. I connected with angels, ascended masters. I saw beauty that went so far beyond the physical that it would have brought tears to my eyes if I had them with me. I was in a state of communion with Source. I was introduced to celestial beings that weren’t even human. It filled me with such positive energy that when my guide dropped me back into my body, I came back to the physical with more energy than I’d started. Yes! Now this is what I wanted! More, more, more! Once I learned the frequency of the higher realms, I visited them often. I explored small areas in great detail. Sometimes I was denied entry to certain places. A friendly cuff on the astral ear would send me scurrying. Sometimes I encountered pockets of beings interacting with each other, and sometimes they’d let me into their “conversations.” At times I felt like I was eavesdropping on creation, but I was mesmerized by the workings and energetic interplay of these beings. As long as I kept my vibration high, I could reach them. This became easier to do over time. If you want to experience these realms, you can. You are allowed. But you must keep your vibration high, or you will be unable to connect with them. You can ask your guides, higher self, and angels for assistance. Avail yourself of your helpers and your posse on the other side. Some people ask me how you know if these “guides” are positive energy beings or just negative entities masquerading as guides. You will feel it. When you are astral, you can see energy and gauge it clearly. Your gut instincts will tell you whether something is truly good or not. T HE A STRAL H IGHWAY What connects all the different planes together? It’s generally referred to as the astral highway. It’s the place of energetic intersections with astral roads that can take you from one end of the spectrum to the other. Think of it like a freeway system, with on-ramps, exits, and miles of roads in between. Travelers use it to go from one plane to another. It’s a very busy place in some areas, and other areas are not well traveled. You don’t need to worry about the astral highway very much. You’re either going to be passing through it, largely unaware of it as you zip off to your next destination, or you may decide to stop and interact with other travelers on the highway. It’s not more safe or dangerous than a real highway. You’ll want to use your intuition to determine if any beings you might be interacting with are of a high vibration or a low vibration. But it’s a great place to interact with other beings. In my travels, when I bothered to just stop and see what’s around me, I met a vast array of beings, many of them non-human, who reside on one plane or another and are moving around out there. I couldn’t always communicate with them, but I was aware of their presence and received some information about who they were and what they were about. Think of it like going to an astral bar and meeting new people. If you want to go there, my advice is to simply intend to go there. Like I said, you’re using the connectors anyway, usually without realizing it. So it’s really a matter of just stopping and staying still so you can perceive what else is around you. I highly recommend you only do this when you’re in a high vibration. If you need or want assistance, ask your guides to take you there and babysit you, so you don’t make a social faux passé and get metaphorically slapped in the face. E XPLORING THE G ALAXY When I first started projecting regularly, I got pretty comfortable with my routine. Leave the house, visit friends, try to pull them out of their bodies, and play around the neighborhood. Then I got interested in seeing how far I could go, so I started traveling the planet. I even went overseas. I thought I was a total bad ass world traveler. Then one day I got an offer. I was getting ready to project and noticed there were two beings in my room with me. Both felt masculine. One of them projected into my mind, “Would you like to go visit the moon?” The moon? Really? That’s possible? I replied tentatively, “Uh yeah, sure, that sounds like fun.” He replied, “Okay, but we’ll have to get past the guard dogs first.” I immediately got the prickle up my spine that told me these dudes were up to no good. I knew if I took their “hands” they would snatch me away someplace not at all good. Always trust your intuition when you’re astral. I pulled away from these guys and called upon my guides to help me. I heard the beings cackling as they left. Not cool. I was young and inexperienced at that point and quite gullible. But it got me thinking. Could I go to the real moon? Could I even visit other planets? Could I explore the universe? I talked about it with Sam, and he agreed it must be possible since planets and stars were part of the prime material plane. I decided to give it a shot. I wondered if my astral cord would stretch that far and was a little nervous about being so stretched and far from my body. I felt vulnerable to attack. This of course put me in a low vibration, and I didn’t get very far before having to defend myself from the ookie spookies. The next time I wanted to try it, I asked my guides to take me on a journey through the cosmos. And journey we did. They whisked me to other planets, some in our solar system and some obviously outside of it. I don’t think there’s any way I could have gotten myself to these places on my own, so I highly recommend that if you want to try this that you book travel with your spirit guides. I felt safe the entire time, which left me free to just enjoy the journey. I ended up at the moon many times, and my fascination with Mars put me in proximity to it, as well. There wasn’t a whole lot to do or see though and I didn’t spend a lot of time exploring the galaxy, but if that’s something you desire to do, you can definitely do it when you’re astral. The farther away you move from your body, however, the more vulnerable you may feel. Godspeed to you though! You don’t need to worry about whether your astral cord can sever while you’re out so far. It’s a tough little bugger and it can stretch farther than you can imagine. CHAPTER 11 Interacting with People and the Environment Now that you’re moving around in time and space, soaring to new heights, and visiting all the planes and realms you can find, it’s time to learn how to interact capably and effectively with the beings you meet and the environments you land in. H OW T HINGS L OOK AND S OUND One of the first things you’re going to notice when you step out of your body is that you can still see and hear, even though your eyes, ears, and brain are back in your body. You are just pure consciousness, tethered energetically to your body and your identity. I heard recently that people who are born blind are able to see during near death experiences. That doesn’t surprise me because when we slough off this mortal coil we are whole and complete, and we can hear and see even without a body. When you first step out of your body and are standing on the prime material plane you’re going to look around the room and, generally, it will look like it normally does. You’ll see your bed, your door, your closet, your lamp or clock, etc. But don’t be surprised if there are some things missing. I’m not sure why this happens, but sometimes when I’d go astral, some of the items in my room disappeared visually. I suspect this is because matter is energy vibrating at a certain frequency or speed, and when we are on a different plane, not everything is perceptible. I also think our expectations can manifest what we want to see or expect to see, which may account for me seeing a few extra things on the astral plane that are not perceptible to me when I am in my physical body. Experiment with your reality and see what you see. Your hearing on the astral plane is usually much sharper than when you are physical. You will hear noises and sounds that are unusual, and even seem to be coming from a different plane altogether. Hearing feels very non-linear on the astral plane. It’s like being able to hear many radio stations at the same time. You have to learn to sort through them, focus on what you want to hear, and stay tuned in to that frequency. This will get easier with practice. Don’t be surprised if you hear sounds that are loud and sharp, or even sounds that are static. It will sort itself out as you get going and as you get used to being in the astral state. One phenomenon that happens often is having cloudy vision. You go astral, expecting to be able to see just fine, but it’s like looking through layers of cloth. Your vision is obscured, like trying to look through opaque stained-glass. Nothing is sharp. It’s very frustrating. Sometimes the vision clears up, and sometimes it doesn’t, and your entire trip is visually impaired. I found the best way to clear my vision was to merge back in with my body and step out again. Some people experience visual cloudiness when they teleport out of their bodies. I hope one day science can give a good explanation for why this happens, but at this point, it’s something to be aware of and to accept. But don’t let it alarm you if you go astral and can’t see very well. A FFECTING THE E NVIRONMENT Can you affect your physical environment when you are astral projecting? I get this question frequently. Yes, you can alter the physical environment, but it is ridiculously difficult to do, especially in the beginning. You are like a ghost, traveling through your home, moving through walls and solid objects. How will you get a hold of one of those objects and move it? With what hands will you grasp it? With no physical body, you can’t just grab something and move it around. Instead, you’re going to have to interact with its energy. And then you’re going to have to convince it to move. And because it’s not a sentient, conscious being, that’s going to be tough. I only managed to affect my physical environment twice that I can recall. In one instance I remember being very cold in the middle of the night. I left my body, flew downstairs, hovered in front of the thermostat dial and willed it to move. I remember watching the dial spin all the way counter-clockwise. Then I flew back to my body and got back inside. In the morning my father said at breakfast, “Who turned the thermostat all the way to the 90s? It sure got hot last night!” Realizing that it must have been me, I began to experiment with affecting the physical environment, imagining all kinds of useful and fun things to play with. I tried using my will on an object, “Move, damnit, move!” No movement. I tried reaching my ghostly hand into an object, but all that did was merge my energy with the object and feel weird. I tried pushing it with my mind. Nothing. It seemed as if trying to use physical methods of motion while in an energetic state was not conducive to success. Next I tried changing my reality. I put a necklace on my nightstand, and when I went astral I looked very carefully at the necklace, trying to wrap my mind around its energy and existence. Then I imagined it being on the floor. I expected it to be on the floor. I knew it was on the floor, and when I looked again, hey, it was on the floor! When I got back to my body and got out of bed, the necklace was on the floor. I felt like I had reprogrammed its location in the matrix. I never spent much time working on this because it took a ton of time and energy and didn’t gain me much. Frankly, it wasn’t that interesting. But try it for yourself and see what you can move or reprogram. I’d love to hear about your experiences with this. If ghosts can learn to move photographs, and if poltergeists can toss furniture across the room, there’s got to be a way for astral travelers to do it too. V ISITING S PECIFIC P EOPLE One of the most enjoyable activities to engage in when you’re astral projecting is visiting people you know. There’s a natural inclination to want to stand in front of someone while you’re astral and jump up and down, waving your arms, to see if they can see you and hear you. Also, it’s really fascinating to see the energies in physical people while you’re astral. I mentioned earlier that sometimes I’d see my mom’s astral body awake inside her physical one, staring at me, sometimes in surprise, sometimes in delight. So what is the best way to visit people, and what can do you when you get there? Pick a friend, any friend. The first thing to do, in advance if possible, is decide whom you’re going to visit. Deciding in advance is important because once you’re astral you can sometimes be distracted by other things going on around you and forget what you wanted to do. If you know in advance what you want to do and whom you want to visit, you’ll be more likely to remember it when you’re astral. If you live with other people, it’s going to be pretty easy to move to their bedroom to see them, so in the beginning you might want to pick someone in the same house as you. If you live alone, pick a specific person you’d like to visit. I highly recommend you pick someone in close proximity to your starting location because you can easily get distracted or blown off course as you travel to them. Go to them. Once you are astral, use your preferred method of travel to get to your friend’s physical location, whether that is just down the hallway, or down a few blocks. If you have to go to another city, I recommend teleportation if you’re familiar enough with their room to be able to pinpoint it. Otherwise, flying is fast and keeps you on track visually. But the farther you have to go, the more chance you will get distracted, attacked, blown around by psychic wind, or simply lose your way. When was the last time you accurately flew three hundred miles without a compass or an airplane? Concentrate on their energy. What if your friend isn’t home? What if they aren’t even in their bedroom? If you project during the day, or if there is a significant time difference between you and your intended, you may not find them in their bedroom sleeping peacefully. In that case, you must seek them out energetically. I had to do this many times with my friends because I often projected during a midday snooze. Once you’re out of your body, simply concentrate on their energy. Will yourself to go to them. You may feel yourself pulled along by some invisible tether, or you may find yourself teleporting to their current location. All it takes is thought. Think about your friend, and you will get there. Watch out for shields and guardians. If your friends are accomplished at astral projection, chances are they have set up shields or guardians around their bodies. Guess what happens when you try to visit someone with a shield or guardian. Sometimes you get repelled or snapped back to your body. The first time I discovered this was even possible was one night when I got out of my body and decided to visit Sam. I was elated that I remembered my goal, and I was even more pleased that I made it to his house, but I wasn’t prepared for what greeted me. I got to his room and it was dark. I approached his bed so I could touch him astrally, wake him up, and see if he wanted to travel with me, but I was met by two red eyes and a growl. Holy hell hound, Batman! What the heck is that? A creature that looked marginally like a bulldog came at me. I backed up immediately. I remember trying to reason with the animal, to reassure it that I was a friend of Sam’s, but it just kept growling at me. Eventually, it latched on to my astral arm and pulled me away from Sam. I left, deflated and dejected to be so close to my goal and run into this astral mutt. In the morning I told Sam that I tried to visit him but ran into this creature. Sam chuckled and said, “Ah, you met my guard dog.” In the next chapter, I’ll explain how to set up guardians and shields. For now, you need to make sure that whoever you’re visiting wants to be visited, and you need to remember that if you can guard your body while you’re gone, so can other people. Make advance arrangements. The best way I found for connecting with friends was simply to tell them I was coming and to expect me. This worked even better once I had mastered astral travel and was able to leave at will. In the beginning, you may not have enough control over your projections to reliably make it to a friend’s house on the night you say you’re going to. Just let them know you might be coming for a visit and that you mean them no harm. If they have shields or guardians they’ll be able to call off the guardians or lower the shield when your energy comes knocking. Be respectful. I hope it goes without saying, but be respectful of others. When you go visit your friends, don’t spy on them in the shower or while they are undressing. This goes for visiting strangers as well. Character is how you behave when no one else is watching. Treat others as you would want to be treated. Sometimes people who are awake can feel someone else in the room with them if they are intuitive or sensitive. You’re going to seriously creep them out if you’re standing next to them. Now if you have permission, go for it. It will be fun to see if they notice you when you are actually there. People ask me whether you can use astral projection to spy. Yeah, technically you can. When you’re astral you have the opportunity to go anywhere on this planet. You could go see what the president of the United States is doing. If you got good enough at astral projection, you could conceivably sell your spy services to the government. But you’re more likely to find you don’t have a real interest in that kind of work and can’t do it reliably enough to be useful. You could go visit a celebrity. I once found myself floating around a birthday party on a Saturday afternoon that a famous celebrity couple was throwing for their son. I remember wanting to see what their house was like so I flew in and wandered around the rooms. That’s when I saw the male partner canoodling with a woman who was not his spouse! I was so shocked. I just stood there for a moment, then I pulled myself away. I remember thinking, “Wow, this couple is viewed as extremely close and faithful to each other, one of the few Hollywood couples who are making it work.” It bugged me for years, and then I found out recently that the couple has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when it comes to extramarital affairs. Maybe that’s how they’re making it work in Hollywood. When I was a teenager and projecting frequently, I did visit as many of my celebrity crushes as I could. I’m not overly proud of this, but I did it. But you know what? It’s not terribly interesting watching them sleep, or walking around unable to make them aware of your presence. I soon got tired of that. Set up experiments. Here’s something you can try. Ask a friend to take a card out of a deck and lay it face up on a table. Then astral project to their house and look at it. In the morning, tell them what card you saw. There should be a fair degree of accuracy in this, but sometimes you can be obfuscated. Here’s what can knock you off course… First, remember that when you’re astral, you lose a lot of interest in things that your corporeal self might be interested in. So you may not care to go look at the card. Second, you may get to their room, but have cloudy vision and be unable to see it clearly. If the room is too dark, you may also not be able to make out which card it is. See if they can set up a nightlight with low wattage near the card. Third, the card may morph, which is something I’ve seen physical objects do, especially when you’re trying to view them closely. There are other games you can play that are often easier though. A playing card is small. Instead, have your friend put a large piece of paper on their wall with a number on it or a drawing of an object. The bigger the better. Keep it simple. You can also ask them to put a larger object in a special pre-arranged location and tell them what object you saw when you arrive. Do this enough and you’ll probably convince people that astral projection is real, and maybe they’ll even want to learn it themselves. Do it for science, do it for the fun! Think of other games to play and enjoy yourself! T RAVELING WITH O THERS Visiting friends is fun, but traveling with friends is even more interesting. Sam came and pulled me out of my body in the beginning. He taught me a little about how to do it and maintain the connection. Then I started arranging to travel with Jared and Ashley. I never pulled someone out of their body against their will. You will scare the bejesus out of them. Just like my first experience when my guides were pulling me out of my body, it nearly scarred me for life. Be respectful! Sometimes, in my travels I would see people partly out of their bodies, or hovering inside their bodies, and I knew I could go over and gently guide them out. But I still never did it. It didn’t feel right to me. As I would approach them, they would emanate a fear vibe like an animal backed into a corner, and I would back off until they calmed down again, and then go on my merry way. When you decide you want to travel with someone, try to select someone who is already accomplished at astral projection or wants to learn it and is willing to give you permission to pull them out. I can’t stress this enough. Be gentle. This is a soul you’re playing with. Assuming you’ve found a willing travel partner, here’s what you need to know to travel together safely. It’s difficult. Meeting up on the astral plane is not easy. There are a lot of pieces to get right in order for this to work. You have to astral project at the same time, on the same plane, and at the same frequency. There are a lot of factors that are in your control and a few that are not, so you want to maximize your chance of success. Arrange a time. Discuss with your intended partner what day you will attempt it. Then make sure you know what time of the day to project. If you’re in the same time zone and you both prefer projecting at sunrise, you’ve got it made. But if your partner is half a world away, one of you will be projecting during the day and one of you at night, so make sure you’ve got your time zones worked out and that you know when the attempt will be made. Jared, Ashley, and I all lived within a few miles of each other, so that was easy to arrange. But sometimes one of us would project at 12:45 a.m. and the other wasn’t able to initiate separation until 4 a.m., and we’d miss our rendezvous. This is why being an advanced student will help you because you’ll be able to initiate your separation when you want to. Still, if you go to sleep first, you may completely sleep through the appointed time. It was often hit and miss with me and my friends, but you try enough times, and you’ll eventually succeed. Pick a location with a strong anchor. When we first attempted to meet up on the astral plane, we’d pick a location like the lamppost on the corner to meet up. It was easy for me to get to because it was right outside my house, but Ashley or Jared had to fly miles to get there and would often get distracted or run out of time before they got there. Then we decided we’d meet up at our high school parking lot because it was a location with a strong energetic connection. That worked fairly well. We were all familiar with the energy because it’s where we spent most of our days. But still some nights we’d become distracted and couldn’t meet up. What we found worked best was for one person to project and then go pick up the others from their bodies directly. That took care of the time and location problem in one fell swoop. So we knew what night we were planning to do it, and whoever got out of their body first would simply go to the others’ bedroom and initiate a wake-up. This won’t work well if you have never been to your partner’s physical location. I’m not saying it can’t work, just that it’s going to be more difficult if you don’t have a strong energetic connection to that location. You’ll instead focus on the person’s energy and use your love and care for them as your energetic anchor. Think of them, and go to them. Sleep in the same room. If possible, be in the same room with your travel partner ahead of time. Then the distance between you is gone. Slip out of your body and you’re right there beside them already. There’s much less time for you to become distracted or knocked off course. Sometimes if I was spending the night at Ashley’s house we would meditate before bed, which helped sync our energies, and raise our vibrations. That seemed to increase our success on nights we did that. Knock, knock. So you’ve picked a time, date, and location, and you’re ready to rock and roll. Exit your body and fly, teleport, or walk to your partner’s body. Their astral body may be looking at you when you arrive. You’ll see it as an ethereal, energetic version of them that is not remotely asleep or unconscious. It will look alert and possibly frightened. With Ashley and Jared, seeing my astral form by their bed was often enough to trigger them to project. But if you’re working with someone who is new to this, gently reach your astral hand out to them and touch them lightly. Sometimes touching the head triggers a connection and sometimes you just need to touch their hand or arm. Send out reassuring thoughts of love and care. “It’s me, I’m here, you’re safe. Come on out.” If the person is scared, they likely won’t come out. But if you’ve discussed travel ahead of time, and if they remember they agreed to do this, you’ll probably be able to coax them out. Remember that the sensations they are feeling might scare them. They’re going to have sleep paralysis, dual vision, tingling, and buzzing. Continue to gently reassure and coax until they release from their body. Obviously trust is important here. Once they are out, you should be able to see each other. If not, you’ll feel their presence around you. The first challenge is accomplished, getting out of the body at the same time and in the same place. Now the next challenge comes into play. Staying together. Remember all those different planes? Which one will you travel on? How will you convey that to your partner? What if you lose each other? How will you get back together? Jared, Ashley, and I quickly found that going astral at the same time and place was the easy part. Staying together was harder. As we’d begin flying off together, sometimes one of us would slip off the prime material plane and onto a higher or lower plane. We couldn’t always find each other when that happened. We learned that we had to sync our frequencies. It’s like creating a preset station on a radio. We’d tune in to each other’s energy before flying off together. Or we’d create an energetic tether between us. It also helped if we designated one person as the leader and the others are followers. Then we allowed ourselves to be pulled or dragged along with our leader. It helped us stay together. It seemed to work best if we stayed on the prime material plane, which is the plane that was most familiar to us. You can communicate telepathically with your partner(s). It just takes some practice. Reconnecting. If you do lose each other, you can reconnect. Again it’s all about will and intention. The better you know your partner, the more easily you’ll recognize their energy signature and frequency. Practice stopping, tuning in, and pulling them back to your location, or finding and going to them directly. It’s very easy to lose track of each other on the astral plane, so this will take time, practice, and patience. Keep at it. Sometimes if I lost Jared or Ashley, we would just agree to meet back in one of our bedrooms and start again. Most of our journeys lasted just a few minutes, but there were some that lasted much longer. We also managed to attract the attention of something very mean and nasty which had to be dealt with. More on that in Chapter 13. Let’s just say for now that we were a big cluster of bright shiny lights emanating a lot of power, and a lot of things wanted to take a bite out of us. Coming back. When you’re done traveling, you can just disengage from each other and allow yourself to snap back to your body, or you can continue traveling on your own. Totally up to you. It’s best to disconnect consciously though, otherwise your energy can get tangled up, and you’ll probably end up with a headache or a sore body as you move throughout your day. What do you even do out there? Once we got together, maintaining the connection was pretty tough, so usually we would fly around a bit and go home. As time went on, we started to be able to visit other planes while we were still together. If we lost each other, we’d just wait for the other person to catch up. In time, we would encounter other beings or other groups. Some were nice, and some would attack us. We learned how to fight together, and we learned how to commune with higher vibrational beings together. You and your travel partner will find your way. Experiment. A lot. The day after a mutually shared projection experience we would discuss what happened. Since we all remembered the same details, we knew it was real and that it really happened. A STRAL S EX There are other connections you can make during astral travel, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it and make you aware of the joys and dangers involved. I’m talking about astral sex. It’s not the same as the sex you have when you’re corporeal. In some ways it’s a lot better, but there are also dangers you need to learn about so you can protect yourself. Astral sex takes place when you connect your energy to another person or being and allow that energy to flow through the pleasure center of your being. It’s not physical, but in some cases you’ll derive just as much pleasure from it (or even more!) than if you were having a physical experience. Find a consenting individual who can go astral when you go astral. Embrace their energy as if you were hugging them, and allow your thoughts to turn to sexual feelings. A warmth and loving positive energy will flow between you two, and it will feel like you are having an energetic orgasm. It’s an extremely pleasurable sensation, and as long as you are both into it, you can enjoy this experience and get back to your body feeling quite energized. It’s all good. But there is a darker side to astral sex, and that’s when a lower vibrational entity decides it wants to suck energy away from you, and it essentially rapes your energy. Referred to as incubi or succubi, these entities will crawl on top of you while you are still in your body (usually in a sleep paralysis state) and merge their energy with yours. It feels extremely pleasurable, which is why a lot of people don’t fight back or pull away. In fact, sex with a demonic energy or a lower vibrational entity can feel so good that it can become addictive, and the more you allow the entity to drain you, the less resistance you’ll have in the future. But you’ll wake up from these encounters feeling lethargic and energetically depleted, because the entities are stealing your vital energy from you. It’s not healthy. Repeated sex with them can also cause feelings of depression, shame, guilt, and anxiety. It’s a downward spiral. If you want to get them off you, you’re going to have to use one of the tools in your arsenal. Calling on the archangels works well, stabbing them with a light sword, or commanding them to leave you alone will work. We’ll discuss this more in Chapter 13. For now, you need to know that merging your sexual energy with a higher vibrational being or a friend is awesome, but that allowing yourself to have sex with lower vibrational beings will drain you badly. C OMMUNICATING WITH THE D EAD C OMMUNICATING WITH THE D EAD The final interaction I want to discuss is communicating with the dead. When you are in an astral state, you can absolutely interact with and speak with those who have crossed over. There are several ways to accomplish this. Bring them to you. Go astral and call out to the deceased person you’d like to communicate with. If they are interested in communicating with you, and are paying attention, they may come right to you. You will increase your chances of this being successful if you prepare yourself in advance by thinking about the person or people you want to connect with. You’ll be acting like a beacon. Be sure you’re in a high vibration when you call them to you. Otherwise, they’ll have to lower their frequency considerably in order to communicate with you. Experiment with this and see what happens. Go to them. You can go astral and move yourself to their energy instead of asking them to come down to your level. This will involve you using your will and intent to get you to the right person. Just as you can focus your intention on meeting up with a friend, you can focus your attention on your deceased loved one and go to them, allowing yourself to be drawn to their energy. Again, be absolutely certain you are in a high vibration (think about the love you have for them) so that you are not inadvertently drawn down to the lower realms where someone may masquerade as your loved one. Talking to strangers. On some occasions I would be exploring the “afterlife” realms, and I would encounter deceased people I didn’t know. I could talk to them, and they would talk to me. Sometimes I would ask their assistance in finding a specific person. They never seemed to know the person I was talking about, which makes sense as there are so many souls out there. But they would often point me to a new level or realm or plane and tell me to try there. Helping people cross over. One night, early in my astral experiences, I went astral like normal and started flying around my neighborhood. Suddenly I was being pulled at breakneck speed. It was like someone lassoed me and was pulling me with it. I remember soaring through brick buildings and trees, and trying to stop, but I was moving too fast. When I finally stopped, I was standing in an attic next to a bed. There was a man in the bed and his skin looked burned. He reached out a feeble hand to me and said, “Help me!” I was so scared, I snapped myself back to my body. But the experience wasn’t over. I got pulled out of my body and again felt myself moving through the air at super-fast speed. I landed again at the bedside of this old man. He reached out his hand beseechingly and said, “Please help me. I don’t know what’s going on.” I took a moment to try to figure out what was happening. He didn’t feel evil. In fact, he seemed scared. I looked around his room and saw a brilliant white light. It occurred to me that he was dead and was too afraid to cross over. I leaned in and touched his hand and said in a reassuring tone, “I think you’re dead. You’ve got to cross over.” He replied, “No, I’m afraid. I just want to stay here in my bed.” I told him not to be afraid to cross over and eventually after some convincing, he agreed to go into the light and was gone. It was a troubling experience for me because I was very young at the time and had no idea what had just happened. I wasn’t expecting to encounter souls who were keeping themselves anchored here after death. It was also troubling because I felt like I didn’t have a choice in the matter; I got summoned and couldn’t seem to say no. The next time something like this happened, I went astral and heard a baby crying. I was immediately drawn to the baby as it sounded like it was in distress. I found the baby in a dumpster and realized it had been abandoned and was dying of exposure. I didn’t know what to do. It was still alive! I stayed with the baby and comforted its soul until it died and went into the light. That experience really shook me because, in the next day or two, I read a story in our local paper about a baby who was found dead in a dumpster. I believed it to be the same baby I had sat with. The time and location matched. After that experience, I realized I didn’t need to be afraid of the experience, so I would allow myself to be called by frightened deceased people and I would help reassure them that it was safe to cross over. I actually felt like I was finally doing something useful by being able to astral project. It didn’t happen a lot, but it happened enough. I am not sure this will happen to you. I believe that my strong intuitive abilities and my future work as a medium were probably factors in my even hearing these souls, but try it and see if it’s something you’re interested in doing. It’s altruistic and loving to help a spirit feel safe crossing over. CHAPTER 12 Protecting Yourself You’re learning how to travel and perhaps you’ve even traveled with friends. I hope you’re enjoying yourself, and I hope all your experiences have been pleasant, exciting, and fascinating. In the next three chapters, we’re going to talk about how to protect yourself while you travel, and what to do if you are challenged by astral baddies. I’m also including a chapter on how to avoid unwanted astral projection because there may come a time when you want to close the door on these experiences, temporarily or for good. First, we’ll talk about how to protect yourself. It’s a good habit to adopt whether you expect to encounter an astral nasty or not. I had to learn about protection on the fly because I was the target of so many negative beings that I had to quickly figure out how to protect my body and my astral energy. I had some helpful teachers, both corporeal and noncorporeal, and I am so thankful for their instruction. My goal is to help you set up your protections early so that all, or at least most of your astral experiences are positive. A STRAL S HIELDS First let’s talk defense. When you go astral you’re going to leave your body behind. After all, there’s very little joy in going astral and then standing next to your body the whole night. You might be worried that something will come along and attack your body while you are off touring the cosmos. I’d love to tell you that nothing will bother your body while you’re astral, and I hope nothing does, but it can happen, and I want you to be prepared. Many times when I was astral projecting I’d come back from my travels to find something sniffing around my body, or standing between me and my body, challenging me. It was scary. It was frustrating. It just wasn’t cool at all. I consulted with Sam and I also consulted with my own spirit guides on how to protect my body when I was out of residence. I was told by both of them that I could make a shield of light and place it over my body. They said it would block contact with other beings and keep my body completely safe from harm. So the next time I left my body I wanted to see if I could make a shield. Sam and the guides had told me I could create a shield using a combination of will, intent, and my own high vibration energy. So the first thing I did was allow intense feelings of love and gratitude to wash over my being. Then I imagined and intended for there to be a white light energy shield around my body. What appeared was a shell, that looked like crystal light, which settled above my body and around the sides. I reached out to touch the shield and it felt solid. I liked it. I told it to stay put, and off I went for my usual journey. When I came back, my body was as I had left it. I removed the shield when I was ready to get back in my body. It was a simple matter of willing and intending for it to be gone, and gone it went. Experiment by creating a shield around your body. Your shield may look different than mine. I know some people who just put a strong white light around their body that acts to repel low vibrational beings. I preferred to use something that looked like a hard shell. Your shield is made of energy and light. Know that nothing harmful can get past it. You will feel a lot safer leaving your body with a shield in place. Even if dark entities are attracted to the light, they won’t be able to get in and mess with you. Now that your body is shielded, let’s talk about your astral self. Does it need a shield too? Sometimes when I encountered something scary, I would create a shield of white light around my astral body. But in general, my high vibration was my shield. As long as I was in a high vibration like love, gratitude, compassion, or joy, I didn’t encounter low vibrational beings and didn’t need to shield myself. But believe me, there were hundreds of encounters with the dark side, and being able to create an energy shield around my astral body at will became highly necessary. Sometimes I surrounded myself with light, and sometimes I got creative and made a suit of bright light armor. I looked like an astral Valkyrie or Amazon warrior. The bottom line on shielding is that it may not be necessary, but it’s a good habit to get into. Practice making your shields before you need them, and then enjoy your time on the astral plane without fear. A STRAL W EAPONS Now let’s talk about offense. You may, upon occasion, encounter a low vibrational being who wants to attack you, steal some of your energy, feed off your fear, or hurt you psychologically. In those cases, a shield is a good start, but it doesn’t send the bad guys packing. That’s when you want to create something you can use offensively to dispel and disperse their energy. In my teen years when I was first learning astral projection, I had hundreds of encounters with astral entities that wanted to feed off my energy or hurt me. I learned shielding because of it. But then I talked to Sam about how to proactively get rid of these ookie spookies. He talked to me about creating astral weapons. You create astral weapons in the same way you create an astral shield; using your will, intent, and vibration. I recall a time when I left my body and flew out my window, intending to go explore the Earth. But something jumped me. I felt a creature pounce on me as soon as I exited my window. He pushed me right down to the ground, and I felt myself beginning to move into the ground. I knew he was trying to push me down to a lower plane. I was frightened and unprepared for the assault. Once I got my wits about me, I activated my astral shield of light and the being jumped off me. It was like I burned him with the light. But he was still hovering close by. I remember thinking in my mind, “Screw this!” I was tired of being jumped, tired of being the victim, and really tired of playing nice. I hopped to my astral feet, opened my hand, and willed a sword to appear. I succeeded instantly on my first try. I was holding a long, pointed sword of light and I stabbed the creature with it. It howled and dissipated. Man that felt good! After so many encounters where escape and running back to my body seemed to be my only options, it felt so good to get the upper hand and be able to take action. Once I dispelled the first creature, I became something of a hunter. I started looking for the low vibrational entities around the neighborhood and would stab them with my sword. It got to be really fun. I felt like an astral warrior, slaying the dark entities for the good of us all. I was eventually able to tune in to people who were being fed on and go there and free them of their entity problems. This got the attention of something really big and really bad, which put me and my friends in a lot of danger. We’ll discuss that in the next chapter. For now, you need to know that you can use your light offensively as well as defensively. I carried a sword when necessary. Instead of a sword, you could use a bow and arrows, a spear, a mace, all made of light. Anything you can think of, you can create. Sometimes I’d dispense with the sword and just shoot light out of my astral hands like a laser. Works just as well. I found that as long as I was aligned with goodness, love, and was working to help others, the light came, and never drained me. I’d get back to my body totally energized. You will not have to deal with creating astral weapons if you don’t want to. At the time that’s what I was into, and that’s what I did. In my twenties, I spent my time in the higher realms because I wasn’t riddled with so much fear, and I retired my light sword. A STRAL G UARDIANS You are not alone on your astral journey. Astral guardians keep the planes in order. Think of them like astral police officers patrolling the realms and keeping the peace. If they didn’t, then astral beings would intersect with our plane and run amok, feeding on you while you were at work, on the bus, or sitting at the park. It would be energetic chaos. However, these guardians can’t protect you from your own will and your own actions. If you go poke the beehive, don’t be upset when the bees come and sting you. Free will exists on the astral plane. If you consciously engage with an astral entity (good or bad) the guardians will stand back until you cry for help. So who are these astral guardians? Archangels. The biggest and baddest of the guardians are the archangels. They keep the doors between our world and the other planes closed. If you have a problem, if you are in trouble, if you fear for your life, you should call upon Archangel Michael. You can call upon other archangels if you desire, but trust me, if you call on Michael, your problems will be solved. Michael and I became good friends back in my teen years because I got myself in hot water many times. He is your failsafe. If the archangels are so powerful, how come you are attacked in the first place? Think of it like going into the boxing ring. You are deciding to engage. The archangels respect free will. If you say, “Hey, Michael, I’m going to go play in that astral vampire nest over there. Don’t worry about me, I’ve got my light sword and shield.” Then Michael will stand back and let you play, and get hurt if you so choose. But he will always come if you call. Guardian angels. I tried not to call on Michael unless something was attacking me that I couldn’t handle on my own. But along the way I started to notice there were light beings nearby in various states of interaction with me. Sometimes they were right next to me as I traveled, like dolphins who swim near ships. They’d keep their distance, but I’d know they were there. And sometimes I would interact with one or more. When I engaged with them, their energy was so loving and protective. I would sometimes just bask in their light. It was like filling up my gas tank with love and light. Look for them when you’re out and about on the astral plane. They can help keep your energy protected and safe and are happy to do so. Spirit guides. Every time you project, your guides know it and are watching you. Again, free will trumps all, so even if your guides see you in trouble they won’t intervene unless you ask them to. Spirit guides are not as powerful as archangels, though. So if you’re in real trouble, call the archangels. Guides should be used as guides. I spent many journeys asking my guides to take me somewhere or show me something. They’ve been around the block a few times and can show you things you wouldn’t even think to ask about. You will feel safe with them. My guides were also the ones who would help me find and interact with deceased friends and relatives. They’ve got good connections and are quite useful in the information department. If you don’t know your guides and have never interacted with them, you can call to them when you go astral and let them introduce themselves to you. Have a nice chat. Your friends. Ashley and Jared ended up rescuing me from myself and my encounters often. If you have friends that you travel with or who are accomplished projectors, they can watch your back or help you fight off a horde of angry imps. There were times when I’d hear Ashley calling to me for help, and there were many more times when Sam, Jared, and Ashley heard me calling for help. If they were able, they’d come to my rescue and I to theirs. It pays to make friends with other projectors. Astral familiars. I mentioned going to Sam’s house one night and encountering his astral guardian, which resembled a bull dog. He had put that “dog” there on purpose. When I asked him where he got the animal he said he invited one to be his astral familiar and bound it to himself. There are creatures on the astral plane that you can ask to guard you. This mutt was one of them. I never had an astral familiar, preferring to use shields and weapons, but if you’re so inclined, you could invite an astral familiar to assist and guard you. Just make sure it doesn’t turn on you. You’ve got to have a strong will and be quite confident to manage a familiar. Tread lightly and be wise. C HOOSING THE C HANNEL My goal in writing about protection is not to scare you but to prepare you. If you encounter something frightening, you can change the channel. You can move away. You don’t have to engage with it. In the beginning, every time I projected, I felt fear. I would see scary things in my room, waiting for me. At the time, I didn’t know about how to change my vibration so that I could move out of phase with those creatures. Sam told me if I saw the ookie spookies, to just turn my back on them. I thought he was nuts. How can you turn your back on something that’s trying to eat you? He said, “Trust me. Just turn your back.” Shortly after I received this sage advice, I projected and saw a huge skeleton sitting in my desk chair. I kid you not. There were prismatic colors swirling around inside him. He stood up and started walking towards me. I was paralyzed with fear. I knew if it touched me, I would die (or so I believed). But I remembered what Sam said and I flipped around so my back was to the skeleton. There was a palpable shift or click sensation and suddenly I could feel that I was on another plane, a much higher plane. When I looked around the room, I saw only light, not darkness, and the skeleton was gone. I felt a huge sense of relief. I felt free and light! I felt good! No more fear. After that experience, I knew that my vibration and my plane location was a choice. Yeah, something could pop out and startle you, but you don’t have to be afraid of it. Just wave it off, leave its plane. It won’t be able to follow you. If you do get stuck with negative thinking or fear, then you may need to go into fight mode. But trust me, you can step out of the boxing ring anytime you want by switching channels. This is why it’s important to master your vibration. Be able to switch to love and gratitude at a moment’s notice. I NTENTION , W ILL , AND V IBRATION Your vibration, will, and intention are your greatest allies or your greatest enemies. Whatever thoughts you sow, you shall reap. If you stay in a place of fear, you will attract negative entities to you. If you put yourself in the vibration of love, you will have amazing and positive experiences and encounters. If you will something into existence, it will be created. So be careful what you create. Likewise, if you need something, you can create it. If you don’t believe you can, you can’t. Your thoughts manifest quickly on the astral plane. There is no delay. Control your emotions, your fear, and your desires. Think clearly. Preplan for emergencies so you’re not in a state of panic. You decide what experiences you’re going to have. And remember that other entities operate under the same conditions. They are using their will and intent against you sometimes. But you can always change the channel and leave them where they are. Try to go into all your experiences from a place of love and gratitude and you will be just fine. CHAPTER 13 Interactions with Low Vibrational Beings I sincerely hope that every single one of your astral encounters is positive, and that all your adventures and travels leave you feeling fantastic. It’s quite possible that you will never have a bad encounter in your life. But you might, and I want you to know what to do if it happens. Just like in the waking world, when you travel, it can be so much fun. You get to visit new places, try new things, meet new people. But sometimes when you travel, you get mugged or attacked. It’s prudent to know how to protect yourself and avoid the worse areas of town, so you minimize your chances of being attacked, right? So in this chapter I’ll explain who these astral muggers are, why they attack you, and how to recover from an attack if it happens. F EEDING F RENZY When you astral project, it’s like a light goes on all around you. You light up with a bright white light that says to the rest of the astral denizens, “Hey, look, there’s someone over there!” Like moths to a flame, they go to investigate. When they arrive they give you the once over. Are you easy pickings? Or are you shielded? Are you on their channel, or are you vibrating with love? If you are in a place of fear and if you don’t have any guardians or shields around you, they’ll see you as easy prey. These entities love to feed on fear, so if you go astral and are afraid, they will start attacking your energy in an attempt to drain you dry. You become like dog food to them. It’s not even so much that they want to hurt you. You’re simply food to them, and they’re hungry. If you go astral and immediately put yourself in a place of love, gratitude, compassion, joy, and confidence, they will still see your light, but be unable to reach you. It’s like a mugger trying to reach you while you are inside a shop surrounded by police. They’re not going to be able to touch you, feed off you, or attack you. Your best defense against these bad guys is to simply not walk in their neighborhoods when you’re astral. Don’t be where they are, and they are always on Fear Street. A STRAL E NTITIES So what exactly could you encounter while on the astral plane? Let’s go over the most common entities you’ll find on the fear channel and discuss their power level and ability to do you serious harm. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it will give you a good idea of what you might expect and how to handle it. Imps. Think of these guys like mosquitoes. They swarm you almost as soon as you go astral, biting and sucking at your energy. They are not very powerful, and you can swat them away with your energy as long as you don’t succumb to fear. One good blast of light and love and they will recoil and go away. They’re going to appear small and dark, no bigger than a small bat. They’re not going to be your worst problem. Poltergeists. These are like a higher level version of imps. They are stronger, bigger, and more mischievous than imps. They will play around with your mind and your reality in order to create a vibration of fear inside you. Think of them like tenderizers and you’re the meat. They’ll scare the proverbial pants off you so that you make a tastier snack. Again, just change the channel, cast some love into the room, or tell them to take a hike. Incubi and succubi. An incubus or a succubus is a sexual creature who will climb on top of you in bed or push you to the ground and attempt to rape you. They will create sexual feelings inside you and then feed off that energy. At first, it can seem like a very pleasurable experience, even bringing you to a full orgasm, but they will leave you feeling so worn out and depleted with all your energy sapped from your body. There are better and easier ways to get your sexual needs met. An incubus is a masculine entity and a succubus is feminine. You’ll know what you’ve got by the body parts you feel touching you. People often experience them during sleep paralysis. The less you’re able to fight back, the easier it is for them. If you’re in sleep paralysis when you’re attacked, call upon Archangel Michael to assist you in removing them. If you’re already astral, they are less likely to attack you because you won’t be easy prey, but if it should happen, just put up a shield and run them through with your light sword. Alternatively, you can shoot love and light at them. They don’t care for that. Resist the urge to engage with them in sexual play, even if it feels good. The same way a bed bug will anesthetize your skin before it sinks its teeth into you, a succubus or incubus will put you in a state of physical pleasure in order to lull you into letting them suck away your energy. If you let them do it once, they’ll come back for more, and you can slip into such a low state physically that you become depressed or sick. Astral vampires. I’m not sure what they call themselves, but I call them astral vampires because that’s how they look. Humanoid but not human. In between animal and human I would say. Small beady red eyes, fangs, funky looking pointy ears, and claws at the end of their fingers. They’re conscious, intelligent, and powerful. They’re not remotely nice. This is the story of my encounter with an astral vampire, which I alluded to in an earlier chapter. My boyfriend and I were having an argument in the middle of the day. I was sitting on my floor, and he was sitting on my bed. The fight petered out, and before I knew it, we had both fallen asleep. That was odd and unusual for me to just fall asleep on the floor. When I woke up, it was dark and the clock read midnight. I felt something wrong in the air. I decided to go downstairs and investigate. I felt like something was watching me, and when I went through my dining room I thought I saw a red orb bobbling around outside the window. The air had a strange crackling energy to it. I felt fear and raced back upstairs. Instead of waking my boyfriend who was asleep on the bed, I decided to go astral and see what this energy was. If I was sensing it on the physical plane, I could only imagine how powerful it was on the astral. I went astral and manifested my light sword. I flew downstairs and looked out the dining room window again. This time instead of a red orb, I saw two red eyes staring at me. I flooded my dining room with intense white light to keep this thing out. I figured my job was done. I flew back upstairs intending to get back into my body, mission accomplished. But there he was, an astral vampire standing between me and my body. In a sibilant whisper he said, “Are you sure you want to go back to your body?” I replied, “Yes, God damn you!” and he recoiled like I had flung holy water on him. He dissipated. But that’s not the end of the story. I climbed into my body but couldn’t merge. Weird. So I got up, still in astral form, and went to my boyfriend’s body. I saw his astral self and my intention was to get him to wake me up. But as I got close to him, his astral hands snaked around my astral neck and he started choking me. I pried his hands off me and reassured him it was just me, then begged him to wake up so he could wake me up. I knew that if he just shook my body a little, it would cause my astral body to snap back into my physical body. He assured me he would wake up, but he didn’t. He just went back to sleep. So frustrating! Eventually, I got back in my body and got myself up, now fully corporeal. I went to wake up my boyfriend on the bed, but as I gently shook him, his hands snaked out and grabbed me around my neck and he flung me onto the bed and started choking me. It seemed like he was still asleep. I pummeled at him until he woke up fully. He let go of me, and before I could say anything he said, “I just had the weirdest dream. There was a vampire in the room, and when he got close to me I choked him and threw him out the window.” I said, “That wasn’t a dream. That happened, on the astral plane.” We talked about it for a while. We were both really shaken by the encounter. I was annoyed by the astral creature and decided if I ever encountered him again I would be ready. When that day finally came, I went astral and saw him beckoning to me outside my window. He had strong mindcontrol powers, and I could feel him eroding my will. It was like I was under a spell. But I wasn’t. I retained my full awareness and resisted his urgings. I flew out the window at full speed and tackled him. Then I pushed him down to the ground, sat on top of him, whipped up my light sword, and stabbed him through the chest. He turned into black smoke and sunk into the ground. I never saw him again. He had so many qualities of mythical vampires that I started to wonder if perhaps the story was based on the author’s own encounter with such a creature on the astral plane. Regardless, I was very happy to never encounter one again. If you encounter an astral vampire, take heed, they are somewhat powerful. I’m not sure what he would have done to me if he had gotten a hold of me, but I’m glad I never found out. Run them through with your sword. You can try moving to a different channel. I never got that opportunity. As the years progressed, I kept my vibration high every time I traveled, that might explain why I never encountered one again. Shadow people. A lot of people report shadow people when they are awake. It’s like you see someone move past you but when you turn to look head on, you see nothing. They flit and fly by too quickly to really see them. Well imagine looking at them while on the astral plane. You can see them a lot more clearly. I don’t have a lot of experience with shadow people, but some of my friends do. They report that shadow people appear human on the astral plane, but are definitely not living beings with bodies to go back to. They roam around the astral plane. Perhaps they are lost souls who chose not to cross over. They too feed off your fear, it’s probably what keeps them at the frequency needed to avoid crossing over. I also get the feeling they weren’t exactly upstanding citizens while alive. Avoid them if you can. Remember to just change the channel. Demons. Well, let’s just get right up into it. Demons exist. However, before you whip out the crucifix and start praying, please understand that the likelihood of you ever encountering a demon is really, really small. Demons are totally kick ass, bad ass, conscious, intelligent, dark energies that want nothing more than to hurt you, kill you, or possess you. These are not religious demons from Hell or the ones you see in the movies. Think of them as the antithesis to angels. Instead of love and light, they are fear and control. They are strong and powerful, and there’s not a lot that stops them. As such, the archangels keep a very tight leash on these guys. That does NOT mean that you should stand in the center of your bedroom while astral and say, “Demons, come and get me!” because if you invite one to you, it will come. Once it gets there, it will grab hold of you like a dog with a bone, and thrash and beat you into a pulp. Even when you cry out for mercy, and mercy shows up, you will be wrecked emotionally and physically for days, months or possibly even years if you have a mental breakdown. It’s like when you go to the zoo. They don’t let you play with the lions, right? Only the trained professionals can interact with the lions. If you crawl into the lions’ exhibit, don’t be surprised if it tears off your limbs. But you’re the one who decides if you’re going to do that. No one will ever push you into a demon’s den. Don’t go looking for trouble or you will find it. Ashley, Jared, and I ran into some trouble with a demonic entity, and it took us four months and a lot of assistance before we could get it away from us. It took a strong toll on us all, though. Jared had a psychotic episode and became very violent. Ashley became suicidal, but she got help and recovered. And I developed an anxiety disorder that I eventually got over, as well. But it took years to fully recover. Demons don’t just suck your energy away. They pull you apart and put you back together wrong. It takes serious sorting out to survive and recover from a demonic attack. If you think you’re being attacked or targeted by a demon, stop projecting until you no longer feel the demonic energy around you. Demon energy can pervade your waking life. Luckily nothing too terrible happened to me or any of my friends, but we were scarred for years after our encounter. That encounter was one of the reasons I tried to shut down all my intuitive abilities in my twenties. If you’ve got a demon on your tail, seek professional help from a demonologist (google them), or someone experienced in demon detachment like an angel therapy practitioner, a priest trained in how to deal with demons, or a paranormal investigation team with experience in these matters. Remember this above all…love trumps fear. Don’t go to the demon zoo and you won’t end up as a demon’s chew toy. Use common sense and avoid the dark if you can help it. Vibrate with love and light, and you will be just fine! N EGATIVE E NTITY A TTACHMENTS In my work as a professional intuitive, psychic, and medium, I occasionally encounter clients who have a negative entity attachment. This is a serious but totally fixable situation. It’s also extremely rare. In several thousand readings, I’ve only encountered it six times. A negative entity attachment (NEA for short) occurs when a low vibration entity from the astral plane decides it wants to attach to your energy and not let go. So instead of it just feeding off you while you sleep or go astral, it’s feeding off you all the time. It’s with you all the time. It tethers its energy to you and goes where you go, using your energy as a snack whenever it gets hungry. An NEA will also begin to influence you. It will get into your mind and give you ideas that aren’t very healthy. Maybe you’ll feel like you want to start doing heavy drugs. Maybe you’ll become violent or angry around people you used to love. Maybe you’ll begin to have thoughts of suicide. You may become depressed, lethargic, paranoid. You can become physical ill or develop chronic health conditions. How do you know if you’ve got an attachment or you’re just having a bad time in life? You’ll go from having a normal, healthy, routine life, to suddenly and without cause doing drugs, becoming promiscuous, sabotaging your career, losing your energy, becoming suicidal. In other words, your friends will be thinking, “What the heck just happened to Larry? It’s like he’s a different person now. He just turned on a dime.” There won’t be any real world triggers causing this, just a sudden or noticeable change in your personality and habits. NEAs are particularly attracted to people who are depressed, sad, angry, fearful, or in other low vibrational states. This is why I don’t recommend even attempting astral projection unless you are in a healthy and positive state of mind. Otherwise, it’s like handling black mold without gloves on. Like I said, the chances of you attracting an NEA are slim to none. For them to stay attached to you, you’ve got to have no positive energy at all. Which brings me to how to get rid of them. They don’t like it when you’ve got your stuff together. They don’t like love, joy, gratitude, or compassion. They can’t hold on to that energy. So if you’ve got a verified NEA, you’re going to have to get help or work on improving your vibration on your own. It can be difficult to do this without help because the NEA will try to prevent you from reaching a high vibration. So it’s helpful to get some therapy or work with a psychic or energy healer who can get the NEA off you long enough for you to heal. Worst case scenario, Archangel Michael can assist you as well. Call to him when you’re in trouble and let him do the heavy lifting. But if you don’t fix your energy afterwards, you’ll just invite the NEA back. L OSING AND R ESTORING Y OUR E NERGY I often went to high school totally drained and depleted from a night of fighting astral bad guys. It’s got to be how boxers feel after a match. Partly it was my fault for seeking them out because I really enjoyed sending them packing, and partly it was because I’d attracted the attention of the astral mob whose boss wanted me gone. I have only myself to blame. If you open a can of worms, you’re going to get worms! Your vital energy is stored in your astral body. It’s your soul, your spirit, your consciousness. If some of the energy is left behind, or sucked away, you’re going to feel like a toy with a dying battery inside of you. So let’s discuss ways to restore your energy if you’ve lost it, and these tips will also include prevention. Keep yourself in good physical health. Don’t let your body deteriorate. Feed it lots of water, good healthy foods, and exercise it. You need to live in this body. It has a vibration too. Don’t let it become slothful, overweight, or dehydrated if you can help it. Coming back from an astral journey to a whole body will keep a lot of energy inside your body. Don’t project every day. There came a time when I was projecting every night. It was too easy and too fun, so I did it a lot. But if I was sorely depleted or I’d lost a few fights, I would take some time to fully ground myself back in the physical world, and let my batteries recharge. There’s no point in projecting if you’re already on empty. That’s like deciding to go on a road trip with a quarter tank of gas. Don’t leave your body when you’re sick. Try not to project when you’ve got a fever or other illness. It leaves the body weaker and less able to defend against physical threats like viruses and bacteria. If you do leave your body while sick, go seek healing on the higher planes. There are many beings there that can restore some of your energy. Let your angels protect and guide you while you journey. Be of good cheer. Vibration determines your experience. Walk around your life happy and of good cheer. Raise other people’s vibrations around you. Be loving, kind, considerate, and caring of your fellow man. Laugh. Sing. Dance. Make other people feel better. Nothing will restore your energy like someone blessing you or gifting you with gratitude. Help others and you’ll help yourself. Then when you project, you’ll be riding such a high vibration that you could easily come back with more energy instead of less. Get some good rest. When you’re astral projecting, you are not sleeping. Your mind and body aren’t going through the same rhythms as they do when you’re just plain sleeping and dreaming. Take some time to nap or rest on days when you feel energetically or physically drained. Only interact with good beings. If you do often find yourself depleted of energy, make a point to only interact with the positive beings on the astral plane. Go to the higher realms. Talk to a deceased loved one, an angel, or guide. You will return to your body with tons of energy. It’s like going shopping in the energy grocery store. B ODY S NATCHING One of the top ten questions people ask me about astral projection is whether something else could take their body while they are out. No. Remember, your astral cord is your bookmark. Nothing can slip in while you’re out. At worst, something might feed on you, suck on your energy, or try to drain you like you were a battery, but nothing is going to take over your body, leaving you hovering outside of it, knocking to get back in. I never projected and came back to my body to find something trying to slip into it or take it over. I encountered beings that were picking at it, or trying to scare me away from it, but nothing that ever tried to slip into it. Hollywood movies have put this fear into many would-be projectors, which is unfortunate. If you’re afraid something will take over your body, you’ll project right into fear central and have a bad trip. Don’t succumb to this line of thinking. Body snatching is not real. A STRAL P ROJECTION I S F UN …R EALLY ! My intention is not to frighten you, but to prepare you. You can use astral projection to have the adventure and experiences of a lifetime. Or you can dig around in the muck and play with demons. It’s totally your choice. If you decide to go spelunking in the dark, just make sure you bring your light with you. CHAPTER 14 Avoiding Astral Projection In this book, I’ve taught you how to astral project safely and effectively. But at least a quarter of the questions I get about astral projection are from people desperately trying to stop or avoid projecting in the first place. They are having encounters that frighten them so badly that they just want it to stop. When you constantly wake in a state of sleep paralysis, or if you are being attacked by entities and you don’t want to learn to fight or raise your vibration, then you can stop or prevent astral projection from occurring. If you are plagued by unwanted astral encounters, this chapter is for you. I’ll explain how to prevent astral projection, but bear in mind, there isn’t one single switch you can flip and turn it off. Just as it takes some time, energy, attention, and practice to learn astral projection, it will take some effort to avoid it if you’re having unwanted experiences. So do the best you can. P OSITIONS THAT H INDER P ROJECTION Remember how I explained that lying on your back is the best position from which to project? Well, if you want to avoid astral projection, you’ll want to avoid ever sleeping or napping on your back. Instead, try sleeping on your side or on your stomach. You are much less likely to experience sleep paralysis in these positions. Also, sleep with your limbs crossed. If you cross your ankles or hands you will be more anchored in your body. Imagine if you were in a boat in turbulent waters and you were afraid of capsizing or being tossed out of your boat. You could wrap your feet and hands in rope and stay anchored in the boat even if the elements try to toss you out. Crossing your limbs will hinder your projection. T RY S NUGGLING It’s almost impossible to project when you’re touching someone else’s energy. If you can find a partner to snuggle at night, you will have less encounters with unwanted astral projection and sleep paralysis. Touching another person disrupts your energy. Just as having someone shake you awake can cause you to snap back into your body, touching someone else physically will create a disruptive pattern from the get go. Your incidences of spontaneous astral projection and sleep paralysis will go down significantly. If you don’t have a snuggle-partner, but you have a pet, see if you can get your animal companion to sleep next to you on your bed. S TAY G ROUNDED Just as you had to prepare yourself energetically to be able to astral project, one of the best ways to avoid astral projection is to turn your attention and energy back to the physical world. Stay grounded. When you go to sleep at night think about your daily life and your to-do list. Think about what you’re going to do the next day, think about any problems you may have, or any issues you’re trying to work out. Anything that keeps your mind on your life will help you avoid astral projection. Also, be physical. Do some exercise before you go to sleep. Concentrate some of your time and energy on building up your muscles, stamina, endurance, strength, etc. People who are very physically oriented tend to project less often than the airy fairy spiritual woo-woo types who listen to spirits all day. If you’re not tuned in to the ether channel, the ether channel won’t tune in to you. C LOSE THE D OOR Just as immersing yourself in the study of astral projection is a good way to bring on an encounter, if you want to avoid astral encounters you have to close that door. Stop pursuing psychic abilities. If you’re studying intuition and trying to improve your intuition, you’re holding that door open. Stop tuning in to your own spirit guides and intuition, at least until you’ve got a handle on your projections. Create a permanent shield. Set up a shield around your body and then forget it. This isn’t the kind of shield you put up when you begin an astral journey. This is the kind of shield you put up that says, “Closed. Out of business. Sorry.” You’re basically turning off your light. This will help you avoid attracting negative entities whose presence might induce a sleep paralysis episode in order to feed off your energy. Close your crown chakra. Your crown chakra is located at the top of your head. A bright white light comes out of your crown chakra and connects you with Source energy. It is the doorway from which you project. Close it. Imagine a manhole cover in place on your crown. Bolt it down so nothing can pry it open. Again you’re telling the world you are closed. Don’t be surprised though if you feel less connected spiritually. Close your brow chakra. Your brow chakra is located right between your eyebrows and is responsible for your intuitive connection to the unseen world. Close that sucker down too. It’s like closing your eyes so you can’t see anymore. Just imagine putting a cap on it like you’d see on a water bottle. Screw the cap onto your chakra and tell the astral world, “I can’t see you because I’m not looking at you anymore.” Close any open doors. If you’ve been astral projecting and are now deciding you want to stop, make sure to close any astral doors you may have left open. You can do this by pulling your energy back to you. Any energy you’ve left tethered to friends, locations, any bookmarked frequencies you’ve generated, you want to recall all that energy, suck it back into your body, and zip yourself closed. You can do all of this via meditation without having to go astral to do it. J UST S AY N O Quit cold turkey. Stop astral projecting. If you want it to stop, you can’t keep your toes in the water. When you awaken in sleep paralysis mode, resist the urge to slip out of your body, even if you feel the tingling sensation or hear the high-pitched whine. If you do find yourself moving out of your body, pull yourself back in as fast as possible. Shout NO into the void. If you find yourself opening up, you just close right back down. Pull your energy back inside you and resist the urge to expand. If something tugs at you, beckons to you, or tries to assist you, you tell it NO. If you normally project with friends, make sure you tell them you’re done and not to come pick you up. Just having an astral person next to you could trigger a projection, especially if you used to travel with them frequently. Just like when you’re trying to give up drinking you don’t hang out with friends at a bar, let your friends know you are serious and not to tempt you. Stop studying astral projection, stop talking about it, stop reading about it. Stop praying, stop meditating, stop raising your vibration. You need to broadcast the “I’m done” message. A VOID N APPING AND L UCID D REAMING Oh, those pesky but refreshing naps. If you want to avoid astral projection, try to avoid napping. If you must nap, sleep on your side or stomach. Sleep paralysis is more likely to happen during naps, and you want to avoid sleep paralysis at all costs, or the astral door will remain open. If you are an accomplished lucid dreamer, you’re just asking for trouble. Staying conscious while sleeping is a good way to slip into an unwanted projection. To avoid lucid dreaming, think about your problems before you go to sleep. Your subconscious mind will take over and use your dream time to process your problems and issues and help you work out a solution. K EEP THE L IGHTS O N If nothing else works, try sleeping with your lights on for a while. It’s a great way to keep the astral bad guys at bay. It’s not a permanent solution, but if you’re wanting to avoid astral projection because you’re being attacked or stalked by something negative, then keeping the lights on will disrupt the dark frequencies around you. This will give you time to heal, restore your energy, and possibly avoid a nervous breakdown if you’re about to have one. L AST R ESORT As a last resort, if you want to avoid astral projection from the get go, or you need to take a serious break, just ask Archangel Michael to assist you. Tell him to keep your door closed, keep the negative entities at bay, and even keep your guides or other helpful beings from enticing you out. Think of him like a bodyguard. He will keep you zipped up and away from the astral plane. YOUR ASTRAL PROJECTION CHECKLIST READ THROUGH THE BOOK THOROUGHLY BEFORE YOU BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY, THEN USE THIS CHECKLIST TO HELP YOU REMEMBER THE STEPS TO LEARNING AND MASTERING ASTRAL PROJECTION, AND KNOWING WHAT TO EXPECT ONCE YOU GET OUT THERE. P REPARATION Select a location: Decide if you will use a bed, couch, or recliner. Keep a log book: Use a log book to track your progress and get an idea of when and how you are most successful. Then use that information to plan your projections better. Control the noise: Turn off your alarms, put the dog out, keep the doors closed. Clear your mind: Practice turning off your thoughts through meditation and solving your worldly problems as much as possible. Meditate: Learn how to control your breathing, learn to relax, learn to control your thoughts and your consciousness. Immerse yourself: Read, sleep, and think about astral projection as much as possible. Get social support: Find people online and in person who can help you or who are willing to discuss it with you openly. Pick a sleep position: Learn to sleep on your back with your limbs uncrossed for greatest success. Pick a time of day: Decide if you prefer to project in the daytime, at the beginning of your night, in the middle, or at the end of your night. Different times will offer a different level of success. Experiment to find the one that works best for you. Learn to lucid dream: Nothing will increase your success as much as mastering lucid dreaming. Learn to keep your mind conscious while your body is asleep and you will carry this mastery into your astral projection experiences. Master your consciousness: While you are awake notice consciously that you are awake. It’s a good habit to get into and will help you astral project. A CHIEVING S EPARATION Know the indicative sensations: Sleep paralysis: You are awake but can’t move or open your eyes. Dual vision: You can see but your physical eyes are closed. Hypnagogic hallucinations: You see and hear beings around you and unusual sounds. Tingling: You feel intense tingling inside your body. High-pitched whine: You hear a high-pitched whine that sounds like acceleration or a jet plane taking off down the runway. Overcome your fear: The more prepared you are for what awaits you, the less fearful you’re going to be. Have a plan ready to go. Control your excitement: Getting too excited when you achieve separation can pull you back into your body, so learn to be nonchalant about your success so you can stay out longer. Move out of your body: Stretch out: Lift your arms into the air and let your body follow them up. Roll out: Roll off your bed and to the side. Teleport out: Pop yourself out of your body to a new location away from your body. Sink down: Release your body and let your astral self sink down out of your back. Get assistance: Ask your guides or friends to assist you. Avoid drugs: A drug-induced projection may or may not be real, plus you can get trapped someplace you don’t want to be, with someone you don’t want to be stuck with. N AVIGATE THE A STRAL R EALMS Travel options: Move through space: Roam your neighborhood, visit friends and family. Move through time: Visit the past or the future. Move through objects: Learn to push your way through solid objects like they’re not even there, because they aren’t. Practice speeding up: Floating and walking will only get you so far, practice flying at super speeds. Where to go once you’re out: Prime material plane: This is the earthly three-dimensional plane you’re in right now. The lower planes: This is where the low vibrational beings hang out. Avoid. The higher realms: Where you can interact with celestial beings, spirit guides, angels, deceased loved ones, and a host of other lovely folk. The astral highway: Like a freeway system that connects all the planes together. Spend short amounts of time standing on the highway or you will get run over. Galaxies, planets, and space: The sky isn’t the limit! Go beyond the Earth and out into space. Don’t worry about distance. You can go anywhere. Interacting with others: Make a visit: Visit people you know and people you don’t know. Be respectful! Travel with friends: Get some other projectors with you and travel together. You’ll need to really plan this out well in order to be on the same frequency at the same time. Astral sex: Share some astral ecstasy with some willing friends. Communicate with the dead: Go to them or ask them to come to you but be ready for the experience. You can also assist people in transitioning to the other side. S AFE T RAVELING Protect yourself: Learn to shield your astral and physical bodies. Learn to create astral weapons if you need to go on offense. Connect with the astral guardians who will save you when you’re in trouble. Connect with your spirit guides who can keep you from sinking into the lower realms. Master your intention and will, since they are what determine your experiences. Learn to change the channel. If you don’t like where you are, you can move to a different frequency. Avoid astral entities: Things you may encounter but probably want to avoid include: imps, succubi, incubi, astral vampires, poltergeists, shadow people, demons. Learn what they are and how to defeat them. Negative entity attachments are possible but not likely. Stay in a place of love and gratitude and you will easily avoid having something negative attach itself to you. Learn how to restore your energy so you are not drained by your experiences or encounters. Remember that body snatching is not possible. Nothing is going to take up residence in your body while you’re out. Keep your protections in place to guard your energy, though. Avoiding Astral Projection: If you need to take a break or you need to stop astral projecting altogether, follow these steps: Sleep on your side or stomach. Snuggle another person, stay touching all night. Stay grounded in the physical world, stop thinking about, reading about, or discussing astral projection. Close any doors you may have opened. Cut any energetic threads that tie you to the astral plane. Shut down your intuitive capabilities, and don’t open your chakras. Avoid napping, but if you do nap, sleep on your side with your limbs crossed if you can. Avoid lucid dreaming as it can easily lead to a projection experience. Sleep with the lights on until you’ve gotten away from anything hunting you. ENJOY THE JOURNEY I want to end this book by making a wish. It is my hope that you use the techniques and strategies in this book to experience the joy and magic that is astral projection. I hope you will have many positive encounters, travel to amazing places, communicate with high-vibration beings, and even get some friends to travel with you. Astral projection is a skill you can master and keep with you for a lifetime. When you realize that you are a soul inside a body, and that your soul can never be lost, you will enjoy your life more and no longer fear death. People who astral project understand that although our physical existence has an expiration date, our souls can never die. When you awaken your consciousness you will shine like a beacon into the cosmos. You will begin to remember who you really are and why you incarnated. My wish is that astral projection will enrich your life as it has mine. I wish you many pleasant journeys out of your body and encounters that excite and thrill you. Carry love and peace in your heart. Good luck on your journey! ABOUT THE AUTHOR Erin Pavlina discovered and developed her intuition at a very early age. Today, her skill as a psychic medium combined with her witty sense of humor and compassionate, down-to-earth personality makes her one of the most sought-after intuitive counselors in the world. Erin has written hundreds of articles related to personal, spiritual, and psychic development, which you can find on her popular blog. She also answers reader questions via YouTube videos, teleseminars, and podcasts. Erin lives in Las Vegas, NV with her two children. In her free time, she assists law enforcement agencies with her intuitive abilities, and volunteers on a search and rescue team. For more information on Erin, her books, products, and classes, or to book a session with her, visit her website at ErinPavlina.com.
THE MENTALIST'S HANDBOOK "The Human Soulpossesses, from the fact of its being of the same essence as all creation, a marvellous power. One who possesses the secret is enabled to rise as high as his imagination will carry him; but he does that only on the condition of becoming closely united to this universal force. " -HEINRICH CORNELIUS AGRIPPA, de Occulta Philosophia (trans. H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled) CONTENTS Illustrations ..................................... xi Foreword by Jeff Hoke ........................... xiii Introduction .................................... xvii The Camelopard ................................ xxi Instructions for Recording Experiments ............. xxiii Lesson One. The Nature of Aether .................. 3 The Basics of Meditation and Visualization-The Basics of Meditation-An Initial MeditationThe Basics of VisualizationA Simple Visualization-The Importance oflmagination-A Description of the Aetheric Plane-Imagining the Aetheric PlaneThe Location ofThis Place-"What Good Is theAetheric Plane?"The Nature ofAetherAether as a Substance-The Scu ptor's Studio-Some Questions about the Sculptor 's StudioAether and the Supernatural World-Two Bodies in One PersonVisualizing the Aetheric Body-Visualization and Memory-Observation and Memory-Memory of the Commonplace-The Mentalism ConnectionPsychismsAstral Projection-Spiritism-Mind Is Matter, Matter Is Mind-Letters from Aspirants Lesson Two. Aetheric Beings ...................... 33 The Aetheric Plane, Its Worlds and Vibrations-The Astral WorldThe Elemental WorldThe Elysian World, or Elysium-An Introduction to Vibrational Theory All Is Aether-Below and above the Material-Elemental Vibration-Perception and Reality in the Aether-Inky Flares-An Aetheric Bestiary-Animal Spirits-Astral Hounds-Departed Spirits-Devas-The Dweller on the Threshold Elementals (Nature Spirits-Elementals ThoughtForms-False Gods-Gestalts-Ghosts-Ghost Stars-Lost Souls-Manfested Spirits-Phantoms (Plant and Object DoublesPoltergeistsProjected Astral Bodies ofMentalists-Revenants-Secret MastersStar Guides-Vapors-Wraiths Lesson Three. Aetheric Exercises .................... 69 Entering the LowerAstral Vibration-The Body'sAetheric LinksThe Forehead Link-The Eye LinksThe Chest Link-The Navel Link-The Sex Organ Link-The Hand LinksThe Foot LinksActivating the Aetheric Links-Daily Exercises for MentalistsThe Aetheric Dozen-Starter PsychismsAn Initial Exercise in Clairvoyance-An Initial Exercise in Telepathy--An Initial Exercise in Telekinesis-Adjusting Your Daily Routine Healthy Materialism Lesson Four. Ascension ............................ 99 Internal Aether-Strengthening InternalAether-Common Questions about InternalAether-Many Bodies, One SelfThe Sublime Bodies-Initial ExercisesAwake around the BlockGetting to Know You-4 Material DissolutionA Separate SelfProjecting the Astral BodyAscension-YourAstral NeighborhoodGoing Higher-Psychic ResidueAetheric HousekeepingDissolution ofEveryday Objects-The Dweller on the Threshold-Crossing the ThresholdGoing On Lesson Five. The Spirit World ................ ..... 129 The Living and the Dead-Centuries of Spiritism-Spiritism Today-Questions from Readers-Aether and the Afterlfe-Where Do We Go When We Die?A Word for BelieversAnother for Nonbelievers-The Nature of Spirits Human SpiritsAnimal Spirits-Phantoms-Mediums among Us-The New New WorldStrengthen ing Attention-The Power of PhantomsA Phantom Companion-Reaching Out-Sensing SpiritsSpiritism in Everyday Life-Spirits Surround Us Even You Lesson Six. Mental Influence ....................... 167 Visualizing the Invisible-A Complete Picture-The Shape of Thoughts Emotions Illustrated-The Nature of ThoughtForm Elementals-Clairvoyance andAetheric Gradation-A Clairvoyant Exploration-Telekinetic Influence and Emotion-Bowls of Emotion-Further Telekinetic Experiments-The Thought-Clouds of TelepathyTelepathic Conversation-The Unspoken Message-The Ethics of Mentalism Index of Exercises by Number and Title .............. 191 Index of Exercises by Topic ........................ 193 Acknowledgments ................................ 197 About the Author ................................ 199 Aetheric Beings Identification Chart ....... inside dust jacket ILLUSTRATIONS The Camelopard ................................ xxi The Manifestation of Aether ........................ 1 A Simple Figure for Initial Visualization Work ......... 7 An Aetheric Landscape ............................ 10 The Sculptor's Studio .............................. 16 Visualizing the Aetheric Body ...................... 21 Testing Observation and Memory ................... 22 Elementals from the Four Kingdoms ................. 31 A Vibrational Map of the Aetheric Plane ............. 39 Visualizing the Elemental Body ..................... 41 Aetheric Beings ............................... 45-64 Postures from the Aetheric Dozen ................... 67 The Ten Aetheric Links ........................... 75 Activating the Aetheric Links ....................... 78 The Aetheric Dozen ............................ 80-87 Telekinetic Manipulation of a Coin .................. 93 Astral Flight above a Town ........................ 97 Strengthening Personal Aether ..................... 102 Awake around the Block ......................... 107 Dissolution of Sugar ............................. 109 Separation of the Astral Body ...................... 113 Dissolution of Everyday Objects ................... 120 Facing the Dweller on the Threshold ................ 123 Inhabitants of the Spirit World .................... 127 Emanuel Swedenborg ............................ 131 Meeting a Spirit ................................. 161 Aether is All around Us .......................... 165 Visualizing the Invisible .......................... 170 Sample ThoughtForm Sketches ................... 172 Aether in a Common Pen ......................... 176 An Aetheric Bowl ............................... 183 The Unspoken Message .......................... 187 Aetheric Beings Identification Chart ...... inside dustjacket FOREWORD CLINT AND I SHARE A SECRET. It's a secret that's difficult to describe, even to ourselves. It comes from a hidden desire to believe in the unknown, mixed with a particular skepticism. We believe there's more out there than what reasonable people have answers for, but the realities of everyday life reinforce our pragmatism. We experience things in life that mystify us, we read, we talk it over, and we try to make sense of it all through what we create. Belief spurs creativity. Creativity beckons belief It'd be a pretty dreary world without either. I first met Clint at the Alternative Press Expo in San Jose, California, in 1999. I was there exhibiting the first physical manifestation of the Museum of Lost Wonder, a velvet-curtained facade hovering over a few of my early pamphlets. The show surrounded me with a dizzying array of young artists spewing forth their cartoon characters. I didn't quite fit in. Somehow my own brand of quirkiness attracted Clint. He introduced himself and shared a few jokes. He didn't seem to fit in either. Clint exuded warmth and a peculiar sense of humor (one immediately recognizable to fellow Midwesterners). Two weeks later he showed up on my doorstep, a hundred miles away, to talk to me about my work. We became fast friends. Clint was, and still is, an amazing mixture of magic and common sense. He and I share a sense of wonder inherited from metaphysical books, Fortean magazines, and adventure comics that infected our minds as kids. It's a bug we never shook as we passed into adulthood. The enchantment has never gone away. Walking the thin line between reason and belief is what has drawn us together. The mystery, the work, has always been in reconciling the seemingly contradictory worlds of imagination and day-to-day life. To accomplish this we had to make worlds of our own where it all worked together. I created a world contained within a museum that, although it is a fantasy, is a very real place for me. Clint was able to materialize his world in the aether. Where I created a specific place in the imagination, Clint explores an entire region-one that is very real to many people-and gives us a kind of road map of how to get there. I think my museum lies somewhere on that plane. Clint's work is a personal exploration into the unknown, one where all he's read, experienced, and wondered about makes sense. We had a heart-to-heart talk once, trying to figure out if this personal kind of investigation has any value for others. It was one of those "Why do we do this?", "Who cares?", and "Why does it matter?" conversations. We talked about finding our inspiration in the writings and ideas of esoteric thinkers throughout history. Thinking about those who came beforewith their meandering, obfuscated, sometimes enlightening, oftentimes frustrating texts-made us realize our link to the past. From the Neo-Platonists and Renaissance thinkers to the turn-of-the-century visionaries who combined Eastern and Western thought, intrepid pioneers of the imagination have always mixed personal fact and fancy in their philosophies (despite what they might want us to believe). They tried to make sense of the writings that inspired them. They mixed what these books taught them with their own personal experience, and they made their passions meaningful by sharing and expressing their ideas in terms of their own time. They syncretized and manifested esoteric thought into something meaningful, something useful. They did, in their own eras, the same thing we are doing now. Clint has emulated a style that nods to the past, but his pragmatic approach is totally modern. If our work has any value, it's in our being part of this continuum of idealists who have reached into the past, embraced the present, and tried to carry their inspiration into the world they lived in. Clint was the first editor of my writings for The Museum of Lost Wonder, and he continues to help make sense of my creations. I'm proud to have drawn the pictures that help give life to the very practical, but uncommon, sense you'll find in the book you're reading now. The secret Clint and I share remains difficult to describe, but at its heart it's that we believe everyone has the ability to suspend disbelief, explore the imagination, and apply what they find to everyday life. The secret is out there for everyone to discover and make their own. Here is a guidebook. Enjoy the adventure. Jeff Hoke INTRODUCTION WHEN I BEGAN WORK ON THE ESSAYS that would eventually be collected in The Menta/ist's Handbook, my intention was to create a starting point for discussion and investigation into the world's more inexplicable phenomena, those things we ponder but can't explain through thinking alone. I'd been fascinated with the power of the human mind and its purported ability for astral projection, communication with the spirit world, and psychic feats for as long as I could remember, reading any related books I got my hands on and talking to whomever would share with me stories of their own experiences. I was sure there was a reason for such phenomena to exist, and I had a sense that it was all related somehow. But no one could explain any of it to my satisfaction. Could this all be true? I was insecure, too, about being called a fool for questioning the limits of human knowledge in the rational world that we live in today. Eventually my frustration got the upper hand, and I took it upon myself to build a home for all things unexplainable. Using a combination of visualization techniques, art class exercises, ideas from esoteric books, and healthy doses of intuition and imagination, I forged a place called the aetheric plane, a realm that could be explored through the contemplative practice known as mentalism. Strange as it may seem, I wasn't the first person to visit the aether. The Theosophists of the Victorian era and other thinkers throughout history had been there before me, so when I began publishing a series of pamphlets about my own take on the aether, my writing and production styles were in homage to those who had gone before. Each issue of The Camelopard explored a different aspect of this fantastic realm. My love of the authoritative voice of secret society publications, combined with my own anxieties about my interest in these strange topics, led me to write in the grandiose style of a master mentalist, one who already had all the answers. To my surprise and delight, letters from around the world began to come to me in response to the pamphlets. It seemed I was far from alone in my search for answers. Throughout this project's decadelong development, I've gone back and forth constantly in my mind about what I really think about mentalism and the aetheric plane. Just like the aether itself, my own approach to this material is an ungraspable blend of the concrete and the imaginary. My exploration style has been that of the enthusiastic amateur, a self-made scholar taking perilous leaps between other people's investigations and my own experience and instincts. My thesis has been built up through accretion, osmosis, and the weird alchemy that goes on in each of our imaginations. I've maintained my skepticism every step of the way, yet whenever I try any of the experiments in this book, I gain real and valuable insight into the power and workings of the human mind and, in doing so, of the aether itself. I suppose the Wizard of Oz has days like this, too. If attempted with dedication and openness, this coursework will leave no one unchanged. Some of you will perceive the world of the aether exactly the way it is described in this book, in all its fantastic strangeness. Others of you will gain a deeper understanding of your capacity for memory and visualization. The aether manifests itself in subtle ways and never exactly how we expect. I am sincerely interested in reading accounts of your own experiences with the various aspects of the aetheric plane, either through the techniques presented in The Mentalist 's Handbook or using other methods. Please feel free to send written correspon dence to me at the postal address below or via my Web site, www.wonderella.org, which has current information about The Camelopard and other publications. Thank you very much for your interest in the aether. I wish you the best of luck in your explorations. THE CAMELOPARD AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR GLORY, the ancient Romans controlled vast amounts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Merchants brought wonders from the far reaches of the empire to Rome to be displayed for the enjoyment of the emperor and the public alike. One of these wonders they called the camelopard-a creature with the head of a camel and the spots of a leopard. Now known as the giraffe, this graceful, elevated animal evoked a sense of mystery and wonder in its day. This fine beast serves as the mascot for aspiring mentalists. By bringing far-flung knowledge before the public, this book's author hopes to inform and enlighten in the manner of the merchants of ancient Rome. The Mentalist's Handbook endeavors to explain to the common man the nature and practice of mentalism and of the aetheric plane, which makes possible extraordinary feats including astral projection, spirit communication, and psychic powers. As you study this book you will gain insight into the aetheric plane through general theory, historical examples, everyday comparisons, and easy-to-follow exercises. It is hoped that, as an aspiring mentalist, you will attempt the exercises to the best of your ability and contact the author to tell of the results. INSTRUCTIONS FOR RECORDING EXPERIMENTS AS YOU LEARN ABOUT AETHER, it is important to keep a record of the exact methods and results of your experiments in mentalism. Outlined here are instructions for recording such experiments. Aspiring mentalists should follow the instructions as closely as possible and send a copy of the results to the author. Just as a carpenter cannot build a house without a hammer and nails, so the mentalist cannot faithfully record his or her experiments without the proper tools. Perhaps the most important tool in the recording of aetheric experimentsbeyond pen and paper-is the secretary. The secretary need not be in your employ, per se. He or she may be a friend of yours, ideally one who shares your interest in mentalism. The secretary's role is to sit nearby and faithfully record the exact goings-on during your experiments. If no secretary is forthcoming, and your funds allow, you might consider placing an advertisement for one in the classifieds section of your local newspaper. Or you could buy a tape recorder. It is crucial that your early experiments be recorded as faithfully as possible. Communicate the need for clarity and thoroughness to your secretary before the two of you commence recording. Each record should include a brief synopsis of your general state of mind (calm, agitated, etc.), your diet for the past twentyfour hours, any thoughts weighing heavily on your mind, and any abnormal external conditions that may affect your session, such as a thunderstorm, a change in venue for your meditations, or anything else like this. When this is done and you are ready, signal to your secretary (or turn on your tape recorder) and begin your aetheric session the way you would any other. If you are using pen and paper to record, try not to break from your experiment to jot down your thoughts; rather, wait until the experiment is over. If you are recording via tape or secretary, you may make commentary aloud for a better account of the session. The secretary should take note of any shift in temperature, weather, or other atmospheric conditions as they occur. Relax and go through your session as you would normally, but bearing in mind that you must clearly remember what happens so as to better compare your impressions to the recorded account. When you are through, mentally review your recorded account for accuracy. Add as much detail as you can and whatever conclusions you draw from the experiment. The author is glad to receive copies of your recorded experiments, as well as general questions or commentary on the material in this course of study. Correspondents should include their full name and address. Mail all manuscripts via post or electronic mail using the contact information given in this book's introduction. IMAGINATION-VISUALIZATION-REALIZATION REMEMBER! ALL IS AETHER MENTALISM = WILL OVER AETHER THE MENTALIST'S HANDBOOK LESSON ONE. THE NATURE OF AETHER The Basics of Meditation and Visualization-The Basics of Meditation An Initial MeditationThe Basics of VisualizationA Simple Visualization-The Importance oflmagination A Description of theAetheric Plane-Imagining theAetheric PlaneThe Location of This Place-"What Good Is the Aetheric Plane?"The Nature ofAetherAether as a Substance-The Sculptor's Studio-Some Questions about the Sculptor's Studio Aether and the Supernatural World-Two Bodies in One PersonVisualizing the Aetheric Body-Visualization and Memory-Observation and Memory-Memory of the Commonplace-The Mentalism Con nectionPsychismsAstral Projection-Spiritism-Mind Is Matter, Matter Is Mind-Letters from Aspirants "Little brother, give me thy hand; for the first step is hard. " -ALEISTER CROWLEY ABOVE, BELOW, AND THROUGHOUT the world you and I call home, the aetheric plane dwells also. Everything we see, hear, touch, think, and feel has a counterpart in this place, and when you visit the aetheric plane, you will see how the material and mental qualities of these things begin to blur and intermingle. "Aether" is the word used to signify the substance that makes up the aetheric plane. In this lesson, the qualities of aether and the aetheric plane are set, to form a foundation for exploration into this vast and fascinating realm. You will learn much more than you thought you would and think more than you knew you could. Your curiosity will be set alight, and you will dare to pierce the veil between this world and the others. Using the simple exercises described in this lesson, your faculty for mentalism will increase. Don't be discouraged if at first you are not as successful as you like with the lessons. All will be yours through practice and diligence. And now, let us proceed with our worthy goal, informing the world of the facts surrounding the nature of aether. THE BASICS OF MEDITATION AND VISUALIZATION Meditation and visualization are two important practices used in the exercises in the rest of this book. They are the first skills anyone aspiring to mentalism must learn. These pages will introduce you to the concepts behind meditation and visualization and will lead you through preliminary trials of both. The Basics of Meditation Meditation is the root skill of the aspiring mentalist. By relaxing us and shifting our attention from the everyday, meditation is the tool that allows us to connect to the aetheric plane. In order for meditation to be effective, it must be practiced daily. These directions will help you with your first simple meditations. As your aetheric studies progress, you will learn much more about this skill. If this were a book for bodybuilders, it would include exercises for you to repeat to strengthen your physical muscles. We are going to strengthen our "mental muscles" the same way weightlifters build their biceps-through practice! You will find that frequent meditation on a certain thing (in this exercise we'll focus on the breath) will help you concentrate your thoughts and relax your body. A calm mind and body are essential to mentalism. Exercise 1: An Initial Meditation Find a quiet space where you can go and not be disturbed by noise or others. Sit in a chair or on the floor, in a comfortable position but with your back straight. Meditation is about breathing, and with a straight back, you allow your lungs optimal expansion. If you are in a chair, you can resist the temptation to slouch by sitting on its front edge. Relax. Concentrate on your breath. Breathe slowly and deliberately, letting yourself relax more and more. Try to think only of your breath as it enters, fills, and exits your body. It may help to close your eyes. Although it is not necessary to time your meditation, you should concentrate on your breathing for about five minutes. This will grant you a deeper attention to your body and the physical act of breathing. If you find your attention wavering from your breath, gently return your thoughts to the simple rhythm of the air flowing in and out of your body. Don't be frustrated if you get distracted again and again, especially if you are new to meditation. This takes practice. With time, meditation will come more and more naturally to you. Continue to breathe slowly-with your mind focused on your breath-for another five minutes, ten if you're enjoying it. When you are through, stand up from your sitting position and stretch, letting your attention come back to the world around you. Repeat this type of meditation for fifteen minutes at least once every day. If you do, you will develop your ability to concentrate on something very intently (in this case your breath) while entering a relaxed state of being. Just as important, you will find yourself happier and more relaxed in general. All these traits are essential to mentalism. The Basics of Visualization Perhaps the most versatile skill of the mentalist is visualization, the ability to see with the mind's eye things not readily visible to the physical eye. Visualizations are used by mentalists to help them picture the aetheric plane. This is how you will use visualization at first, seeing the aetheric plane in your imagination. Later, it will be the tool you use to see aether for what it truly is. Taken at face value, visualization is written off by many as pure imagination. At first this is true. Visualization, for beginners, is little more than concentration on certain thoughts to the point that those thoughts are integrated into the real scene before the mentalist. In mentalism and aetheric studies in general, visualization is an important skill to practice, because it is the first step on the road to true sensing and interaction with aether. Exercise 2: A Simple Visualization Here is an elementary visualization that you can perform even if you are new to the discipline. This exercise works in part because of certain physical principles that govern the eye. It is based on an optical illusion. Sit in a room with a white or light-colored wall. Stare at the simple geometric figure of the hand while counting slowly to thirty, then quickly shift your gaze to the aforementioned wall. It may help if you blink rapidly when you do. Do you see the afterimage of the figure upon the wall, the white parts black and the black parts white? The effect is caused by a physical afterimage left upon your eyes from staring so long at the image and is an example of your mind interpreting the afterimage as a picture that is really before your eyes. This is a shadowy start to your visualizations but a start nonetheless. Do this a few more times, then take this little leap: Try to visualize the same image upon the wall. Can you see it without staring at the illustration first? Try it now. It's all right if you can't at first, but you should keep practicing this to develop your visualization abilities. The difference between the first and second way of seeing the image is that the second time you are seeing without the aid of any physical stimulus. You are using your mind. Compare the two styles of seeing by practicing both, then see if you can play with your visualizations. Can you visualize the shape against different walls? Can you visualize it suspended out from the wall a bit? Can you add parts to the image, maybe extra fingers, for example, and then take them away? If so, good for you! You are well on your way to more complex visualizations. The Importance of Imagination As you practice the visualization exercises in this lesson, you will realize just how crucial imagination is to the work. Don't think of imagination as a crutch, something you have to overcome to get to "real" visualizations. Imagination is less like a roadblock to visualization and more like a map. You've been imagining things all your life, and visualization is an ability very akin to imagination. A DESCRIPTION OF THE AETHERIC PLANE To the question I am often asked-"What is the aetheric plane like?"-I respond with a question of my own: "How can one describe such a place?" The answer to the second question is, "Not nearly enough." The simplest way to put it is this: There is another world beyond, yet inside, the material world you and I know and inhabit. This place is at once different from and the same as ours. Everything in this other world looks as though it is made of light. In fact, all things on the aetheric plane are made of a superfine substance known as aether. Given the newness of your interest and studies, were you to see the aetheric plane now, put plainly, you would go mad. It is best to start with a visualization of this place. As you progress through the exercises in this and further lessons, you will find that visualizations are second only to realizations, so heed this exercise carefully. Exercise 3: Imagining theAetheric Plane Here is an exercise to help you envision the aetheric plane in relation to the material world we inhabit. It involves creating an aetheric scene that corresponds with the landscape you are already in. The first few times you perform this exercise, simply use your imagination to picture the scenes. Once you feel comfortable with your visualization skills, you should try this exer cise again for a heightened sense of the omnipresence of the aetheric plane. When you are an accomplished mentalist, you will be able to see and interact with aetheric landscapes. The tools you will use will be those of the mentalistvisualization, clairvoyance, and astral projection. For now, however, you will be instructed in this exercise using a tool you already possess: imagination. It might be helpful for a friend to read the following text to you while you do this, as most of it is done with your eyes closed. Take a look out your window or, if you are fortunate enough to be reading this outdoors, across the furthest landscape available to you. This place that you see before you exists in tandem on the aetheric plane. Examine it in detail. Note the dimensions of the scene before you-the height, breadth, and depth of the landscape. What are the main features of the scene? What are the little details that take some time to notice? When you are satisfied that you have a good idea of the lay of the land, take a deep breath. Let it out slowly and close your eyes. Picture the scene that you just took in through your sense of vision. Think about the dimensions of height, breadth, and depth. Remember the features you noted and fit them into the landscape in your mind. This mental landscape is not the same as the scene before you-it is a product of your imagination. Continue to breathe deeply. Keep your eyes closed and scrutinize your mental visualization, adding as many objects as you can remember from the "real" landscape into your imaginary one. When you think your mental landscape is as complete as you can make it, you will need to make one final change to it. The scene you have built in your mind is a section of the aetheric plane, a world that mirrors our own. In this place, everything seems to be made of light. Color everything in your mental landscape a light blue, or a yellow, or whatever color you fancy, so that it looks as if the whole scene has a translucent glow to it. Now, holding your glowing mental landscape at the forefront of your thoughts, open your eyes and superimpose it over the actual scene, as if it were a translucent shell that wraps around all you see. If you can do this, you have already begun to develop your capacity for visualization. The "double vision" you have created is imaginary, but there is more to what you are seeing than pure imagination. In reality, beyond the gross material of our world exists another world of wonder and possibility-the aetheric plane. It is a place and a feeling, a thought and an emotion, and all of these things at once. It is the sum total of reality and of life itself It is the purest-and at the same time the most practical and realincarnation of the stuff we call imagination. The Location of This Place Another question I often field in regards to the aetheric plane concerns its precise location. "Where could this fantastic realm be?" aspirants wonder aloud. The answer at first seems overly enigmatic: "The aetheric plane exists in many places at once." It is important to realize that the "floating" location where we placed the aetheric plane in our visualization is just one of an infinite number of places to visualize the plane. As you learn more about the aetheric plane, you will more easily understand the omnipresence of this place. Technically speaking, the aetheric plane is above, below, beside, and beyond our world, existing in all places at once, boundless and invisible, or at least invisible to you for now. The aetheric plane is experienced through a shift in consciousness brought on by meditation and visualization, and it is right here, within us, now. With practice, you will catch a glimpse of the aetheric plane, and before you know it, you will see it clearly. "What Good Is the Aetheric Plane?" This is a valid question, especially today, when time is a valuable commodity and so much of it is required for the study of aether and mentalism. Here is your answer: Think back to every extraordinary story you have ever heard, every anecdote or legend that involved unusual beings or abilities. Recall every example of haunting, supernatural strength, deja vu, or extrasensory perception. Do you know what common element is shared by all those stories, what factor lies behind the fantastic feats or occurrences described? If you haven't guessed it yet, know this: It is the aetheric plane. All things tangible and intangible in this world-beings, objects, forces, thoughts, and emotions-are manifest on the aetheric plane in very substantial ways. There, a thought can be as mighty as a hurricane wind, destroying cities and ruining ecosystems. One person's emotion can profoundly affect another person's movement. A sound can build a civilization. An image can start a fire. All things are part of a common system, shared language understood by those tapped in to the power of the aetheric plane. That said, the aetheric plane is not a place that can be known easily. Years of practice and study are required of aspirants to mentalism. The payoffs of this study are extraordinary. For if aether and the aetheric plane are part of a language, then those who speak that language fluently are no less than masters of reality. Now can you see the good in learning of such a place? THE NATURE OF AETHER Some well-meaning aspirants to mentalism ask me, "What is aether made of?" Better for them to ask, "What isn't made of aether?" Answering the second question is much easier than answering the first. Aether is all around us and within us as well. It surrounds and imbues our bodies, our atmospheres, and everything in between. Beneath the surface of our thoughts, our feelings, and our movements, aether lies. It is as alive as anything in the world, for in fact it constitutes everything in this world and beyond. To explain something to a material person, one must use material terms. With this in mind, it is best to think of aether as a fluid, one that inhabits all space. This fluid is infinitely malleable and can change its color and density, so that it may look and feel like anything imaginable. Furthermore, the way one person perceives aether is quite often very different from the way another person does. A slippery substance indeed. But aether is more than just a substance. It is also a force, like wind or ocean currents, like magnetism or infatuation. It is a force that can be gentler than a loving thought or more powerful than an apocalyptic storm, depending on how it is used. In its natural state-or perhaps I should say in our natural state-aether is invisible and intangible. I stress that it is our natural state, the state of body and mind most people are in every day of their lives, that prevents us from seeing, touching, and otherwise actively experiencing aether. The natural state of mankind is so called because of its connection to the "natural" material world and material awareness. The practice of mentalism elevates the physical and mental states of man to a higher level, from a natural state to a supernatural state, as it were, of aetheric awareness. Mentalism creates a shift in consciousness that opens our mind to the aetheric plane. If you are at all familiar with the tenets of science, I am sure several alarms are now ringing in your mind. This talk of aether surely sounds too fantastic and unbelievable to be real. Everything we are taught about science refutes the theory of the aetheric plane, yet it is not scientists who bring us knowledge of aether, but mentalists. These men and women are pioneers in the newest and yet most ancient science: mentalism. Whereas scientists and their hangers-on cannot see aether, trained mentalists see the stuff easily. As a mentalist, the world is your workshop as well as your playground. As a trained manipulator of aether-and hence of reality itself-the mentalist is one of the custodians of the world. To the mentalist, aether is the only thing of importance, because it is the basic substance of all substances. Through strict practice of meditation and visualization, mentalists are able to manipulate aether to their will, each according to his or her level of expertise. Beginning mentalists are capable only of small feats of aether manipulation; those that continue their training eventually master marvels undreamed of by modern man. As you advance in your studies of aether and mentalism, your expertise will grow as well. Everyone on earth has the potential to become a mentalist, but few follow the path. In matters of consciousness, mankind is a sleeping, dreaming bunch. Mentalism offers an awakening, an opening of eyes. Unfortunately, this awakening is a process that takes time and great effort, given the materialistic worldview we are born into. When you finally see aether clearly and accept its place in your view of the cosmos, you will see the interconnectedness of all things. This is the goal of mentalism. Aether as a Substance Aether is a material that can assume any shape, texture, color, or density. As a substance, it is much finer than the air we breathe, finer than any element on the periodic table, finer even than any thought ever to pass through our minds. Travelers to the aetheric plane find that this other world is composed of "doubles" of the places and beings found in our world. The things on the aetheric plane are ghostly in nature. It is as if the finest sheet of spider silk settled on all things on this earth, took the shape of what it touched, and floated away, all forms intact. This is not to say that aether is a static material. No, it is constantly changing according to the will of mentalists practicing their skills. To the mentalist, aether is like a clay that can be sculpted by sheer willpower. Through intense concentration on a segment of the aetheric plane, a mentalist controls the form and feeling of the aether. And because aether embodies all things-objects, feelings, thoughts, actions-the mentalist who can manipulate aether thus controls these things as well. Exercise 4: The Sculptor's Studio This visualization exercise illustrates the richness and depth of the aetheric plane. First, just read the following description so you can understand the potential of aether and aetheric manipulation. Later, you may want to visualize the scene and manipulate the aether in other ways. When you are ready to try this exercise as a true visualization, begin with at least ten minutes of breath meditation to relax you and clear your mind of jumbled thoughts of the everyday world. As with the other exercises in this book, you can have a friend read you the following description of the sculptor's studio while you visualize it. If aether can be described as a substance much like clay, the mentalist can be described as a sculptor. Think of a busy sculptor's studio, one with huge masses of wet, malleable clay placed on tables throughout. Try to picture the studio as fully as you can, with many details. Take a while to connect with this imaginary place you are visualizing. With this image set in your mind's eye, begin to change objects in the studio, one by one, to clay. The table the sculptor works at, for instance, changes, in your visualization, from wood and metal to clay. The studio floor becomes slick and permeable, ready to be molded. The walls, the windows, and the ceilingall clay. Now imagine the clothes of the sculptor changing to clay. The sculptor can form them into whatever costume he desires. His flesh and bones and skin, his entire body, also shifts, to clay. Just as aether makes the whole of the aetheric plane, so clay composes all in this sculptor's studio. All these things that are now clay can be approached by the sculptor, and each can be molded according to his desires. He may mold one of his hands into the form of a bird, detach it, and cause it to fly away. His other hand may be molded into the shape of a knife, and, without kiln or sunlight or even heat, the sculptor can harden this shape to the density of a knife much like one you or I would use to chop vegetables. With this knife he can slice through other pieces of aether, which, if your imagination has continued in the vein we began at the onset of this exercise, comprises now not only the physical objects in the studio. but also the air, the shafts of sunlight coming in through the windows and all the dust in those shafts, the flight path of the hand/bird, and the thoughts and emotions of all sentient beings within the studio. Spend some time in the sculptor's studio and have him alter the clay around himself. He can change it with ease, as if there were nothing to it. Anything can happen in his studio. Let your imagination run wild with the possibilities. When you're ready to leave the studio, bring your thoughts back to your breath and meditate for at least five minutes before opening your eyes. This will give you time to internalize the possibilities inherent in aetheric manipulation. Some Questions about the Sculptor's Studio How could the sculptor mold his second hand, when his first has already flown away? The answer to that question gets at the crux of the idea of aether. The man in this visualization is not actually a sculptor working with clay, but a mentalist exercising his will over aether. Material things, like hands and knives and birds, are manipulated by other material things. But because the sculptor was working not with clay but with aether, he is able to shape his second hand using mentalism, which by definition is "will over aether." Let me clarify the question: If material objects need material manipulation, and aetheric objects need aetheric manipulation, how could the sculptor mold his second (aetheric) hand if his first (aetheric) hand is missing? Surely he needs aetheric tools in order to shape aether. The only "aetheric tool" the sculptor (mentalist) requires is the power of his own mind, which he has developed through the practice of visualization. Remember that in addition to all visible things in the studio turning to clay (aether), all invisible things were turned as well. This includes the air, the thoughts of the sculptor, his emotions, and so on. Any of these "intangible" things could be manipulated just as easily as the "physical" objects in the room. To a mentalist, it makes no difference. So did the sculptor need to change his second hand to a knife, or could he have used his mental ability to chop up aether instead? This is a good point. It wasn't necessary for the sculptor to actually have an aetheric knife to use for aetheric manipulation. Sometimes, however, mentalists find it easier to visualize tools that they can use. This is a throwback to everyday materialistic perception of reality, but as we all live in the material world, that world carries over and influences the way we visualize the aetheric world. Aether and the Supernatural World Aether (and its malleability) is at the root of every so-called supernatural phenomenon. Think about it. With your new understanding of aether, it is easy to explain the existence of shape-shifters such as vampires and werewolves. These creatures are merely mentalists, ones who have specialized their ability to allow them to change their shape as well as their persona. Does this make you more curious yet? All will come to be known in time. For now, know this about aether: 1. To the vast majority of people, aether is invisible, intangible, and imaginary. To mentalists, it is the only real thing in existence. 2. Aether is the whole of the aetheric plane. On the aetheric plane, all things-be they thoughts, things, energy, people, or what have you-are made of essentially the same stuff. 3. Aether is a substance that can be manipulated mentally. 4. The stronger the mental abilities of the mentalist, the stronger that mentalist's influence on the aetheric plane. You too will be able to manipulate this substance, this life force, as you learn more of the power of mentalism. TWO BODIES IN ONE PERSON When you visit the aetheric plane, you will be in a different place, and yet you will remain in this world. The dual nature of each individual is that he or she possesses a material body (the flesh and blood) and an aetheric body (the mind). Each of these bodies is capable of easy movement in its own world (the material and the aetheric, respectively) and can move in the other world as well. What follows is an exercise to help you imagine your aetheric body. You will use this body to travel to some of your favorite places in the world, without your physical self leaving the place you are right now. Don't discount this exercise as "just imagination," for it is imagination that fuels mentalism. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed, go back to the initial practices in "The Basics of Meditation and Visualization." As with the previous exercise, you may want to ask a friend to guide you through, having them read the text aloud slowly while you close your eyes and visualize. Exercise 5: Visualizing theAetheric Body Go to a quiet place where you can meditate. Close your eyes, relax, and breathe, focusing on your breath. Do this for ten minutes or until you are completely relaxed. Breathing and relaxing. When you are completely relaxed, begin this exercise for your imagination: Picture a person standing in a big, open field. That person is your mind. That person is your aetheric body. That person is you. You find that you can move your aetheric body around quite easily. It's as easy as imagining you are somewhere else, and there you are. Let the field around you fade away and think of one of your favorite places to be. Maybe it is a vacation spot. Maybe it is your home or the home of a friend. Picture yourself there, in a specific room or secluded spot. How clearly can you see everything? Can you recall much of this place clearly, or is the scene hazy? Look around, checking things out a bit. (If you are reading this to your friend, pause here for a minute or so and let them wander around in their visualization, then resume with the next paragraph.) After you've spent some time here looking around, think of another favorite place of yours. This time choose a public place, a special shop or restaurant you like to visit. Take a little while to let the vision of your first place fade, while the new vision comes to the forefront of your thoughts. Picture yourself in this new place-construct it using your imagination-and take a look around. Spend some time here, in this second place. If you are in a shop, look at all the displays, all those objects. If you are in a restaurant, look at the table settings, the food on the tables. Even though you are visiting this place in your mind, the things around you seem very real. Stay here as long as you like. When you are ready to leave, let the scenery around you fade, and return to the big field where you began. Imagine the grass and trees around you. Feel the sun on your skin. Relax here. Relax. When you are totally relaxed, return your attention to your breathing. Slowly bring your consciousness back to your physical body. It is sitting here, breathing. Think of the place where you are sitting, and carefully bring your conscious thoughts to this place, remembering what it is like to see it. Continue to breathe slowly, and when you are ready, open your eyes and return yourself to the material world. Congratulations, you have just taken your first trip using your aetheric body! VISUALIZATION AND MEMORY A good memory is essential to mentalism. The more you can remember about places and things, the better your visualizations will be. Here are some exercises to help you develop your memory and visualization skills. Exercise 6: Observation and Memory Try this experiment to test your powers of observation. Sit at a table that is clear but for one object. The object you choose should be simple, without moving parts if possible. A ball, a knife, or a dish all work well for this experiment. See how long you can examine the object before your mind begins to wander. Not long? Take a breather, a few minutes, and try again. Do this until you can examine the object for at least three minutes. Use a timer to keep time. After you have examined the object for this long, put it out of your sight but keep it in your mind. Write as many notes as you can about the object, observations that point out the physical characteristics of it. You have observed this object, examined it for three minutes. How many observations can you make? Can you fill a page with observations? When you are satisfied with your observations-that is, when you have finished cataloging your recollections about the object-bring it back onto the table and examine it some more. Examine it for three more minutes, then return to your page, turn it over, and fill the back side with more observations. Exercise 7: Memory of the Commonplace In mentalism, it is often necessary to visualize commonplace items, things we see every day but often take for granted. Test your ability by conducting this simple experiment. Take a pencil and a piece of paper and, sitting inside your house, draw a picture of your front door as viewed from the outside. (Draw your back door if it is the one you use most often.) Don't sit in view of the door or go outside to have a look or even peek out the window. Just sit and draw the door as best you can, including every detail, from memory. It should be easy, right? After all, you use this door each day when you leave home and again when you return. You probably take at least a quick glance at it on your way into your house. But what a mindless lot is mankind! For chances are very likely that when you have finished your diagram and gone outside to compare it against the real thing, there will be many errors in the drawing-some more grave than others-that you cannot believe found their way in. Now make a second drawing of the door, this time sitting in front of the door and looking at it for reference. Make the drawing as detailed as you can and pay close attention to the things you left out or bungled in the first drawing. Fix them in this drawing. The next day, sit inside again and draw your door looking neither at the door nor your previous drawings. Stop frequently as you draw, closing your eyes and picturing the door in your mind. Try to picture the door itself, not the technical lines of your previous drawings. Now compare your drawing to the first one you made yesterday. Did you make any of the same mistakes? Were there new mistakes? Compare the drawing with the actual door, then draw the door while sitting before it, like you did yesterday. If you continue making these sets of drawings each day for two weeks, your power of visualization will develop immensely and be well on its way to helping you achieve flight to the aetheric plane. THE MENTALISM CONNECTION If you have read this far, you know that aether is a substance permeating all things in reality, a material that can be manipulated mentally, by force of will, to various ends, the practice of which is called mentalism. The types of feats described in the "Sculptor's Studio" visualization could be defined as telekinetic in nature (as in telekinesis, the ability to move material objects using thought). But telekinesis is only one of the many abilities at the mentalist's disposal. This book will instruct aspirants in three of the mentalist's most common uses of aether, namely psychisms, astral projection, and spiritism. An introduction to each of these disciplines is offered here. Throughout this book we will explore each in detail. Psychisms Humans perceive the world around them with five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Mentalists share these senses with untrained (also called "mundane") humans, but whereas mundanes are limited to their everyday range of senseseeing only the things in front of them, hearing only the sounds within earshot-mentalists can perceive at a much greater distance, depending upon their level of mastery. Clairvoyance (remote viewing) and clairaudience (remote hearing) are the most common types of remote sensing, but many mentalists develop remote senses of taste, touch, and smell. Have you ever tried to guess the number of fingers a friend was concealing behind his or her back? Chances are that you could not correctly guess the number, because you couldn't see your friend's hand. Wouldn't it amaze both you and your friend if you could guess the number not once, but ten consecutive times? A well-developed sense of clairvoyance makes this feat not only possible, but likely. By using aether in various ways, mentalists can perform astonishing psychic feats. Mentalists develop their psychisms through practice with Zener cards and daily work with meditation and visualization. Mental powers like extrasensory perception (ESP), telekinesis, and mind reading all come from the aetheric plane. Astral Projection The aetheric plane is not a mere static, duplicate universe of our own. It is an active, changing place of great possibility. Things impossible in the material world are commonplace in the aether. By expelling and condensing a portion of his or her own aether, a mentalist creates an aetheric, or astral, body that can move about independent of the physical self This body is much like the aetheric body that you visualized in the earlier exercise. Using an astral body, the mentalist can travel to places that are inaccessible or dangerous to the physical body. Who needs a spaceship when you can travel to the moon without help from anything but your own mind? Astral projection is perhaps the most dynamic use of aether. Mentalists can use astral projection to dive to the bottom of the ocean or to fly to the next star. Practicing astral projection takes much work and involves complex visualizations, but the freedom that comes with mastery of this study is without equal. Other uses of astral projection combine with psychisms, enabling clairvoyance, telekinesis, teleportation, and other stupendous feats. Spiritism Have you ever wondered what it would be like to talk to the spirits of those who have died? Perhaps you have attended a seance or used a Ouija board to attempt such a communication. What happened when you did? It is possible to contact the spirits of the dead via the aetheric plane. Mentalists tap into the realm of the dead during individual and group seances. This study is called spiritism and is a highly controversial topic among mentalists and mundanes alike. The beings you contact in the spirit world are made of the same material that moves the planchette across your Ouija board or that settles your tea leaves at the bottom of your cup. That material is aether. The belief held by many mentalists-that as our souls, when disembodied, subsequently inhabit the spirit world and can be contacted by means of mentalism, so then our souls themselves are constructed of aether-has caused no end of debate. But the disembodied spirits of the dead are not the only aetheric beings available for conversation by means of spiritism. Other aetherics dwell or travel on the aetheric plane as well, be they the aetheric aspects of mentalists practicing astral projection, or manifestations of powerful thought and emotion that have taken on an independent, rudimentary existence (such as poltergeists), or even the secret, invisible masters who have dwelt exclusively on the aetheric plane for all eternity, guiding and mentoring aspirants and accomplished mentalists alike. You will learn to communicate with them all. Each of these disciplines has a distinct set of regimens to be followed for best results. Future lessons will be devoted to astral projection, spiritism, and psychism. MIND IS MATTER, MATTER IS MIND If the discussions in this lesson have planted but two thoughts in your mind, the author hopes they are that all of creation is made of a material called aether and that practitioners of mentalism may hope to manipulate aether at will. These concepts form the foundation of mentalism. Meditate frequently, remembering to focus on your breath. This practice will help you relax and think more deeply about the nature of aether and the aetheric plane. If you spend a small amount of time each day-as little as half an hourpondering the ramifications of your knowledge of aether, you will strengthen your capacity for mentalism in what seems like no time at all. LETTERS FROM ASPIRANTS Dear Editor, Why do you insist on the ae" spelling of aether? Isn't that a bit antiquated? -D. A., San Francisco, Calif. I chose the "ae" beginning for the word because I wanted to differentiate these lessons from other theories and for the substance to be recognizably different from the vapor ether, which no doubt deserves its own course of study, judging from the response I've received from ether enthusiasts. The spelling is also a nod to my predecessors from the nineteenth and eighteenth centuries, who wrote in a time that encouraged ligatures like the e combination. Dear Editor, I have a concern. If truly everyone has the potential for mentalism, then perhaps this power might be used by bad people. Is mentalism used to harm others? -0. S., Iowa City, Iowa Mentalism can be used to harm others, but happily, it rarely is. Like all studies and practices, our ethics in mentalism mirror our everyday ethics. So if I am a basically "good" person, one who spends time helping others and not harming them, then my use of mentalism will reflect that. On the other hand, if I am "bad," I will likely use mentalism to the detriment of mankind. Consider this, though: There are so many ways to hurt someone else that take little or no effort at all, unlike mentalism. If someone studies mentalism for his own personal development, he is taking time and energy away from all the other things he could be doing. Spiteful or vengeful thought detracts from the learning. The skilled mentalist is one who can clear his mind of all other thoughts, good or ill, and focus on aether. Dear Editor, Can animals manipulate aether? Can plants? -N. H., Cleveland Heights, Ohio The thought processes of most animals are too basic for aetheric work, which is not to say there aren't instances of mentalism in animals. Bouts of strong emotion can trigger mentalism in animals just as in humans. Plants, by and large, think too slowly for humans to measure. They are undoubtedly manipulators of aether, but the effects are too subtle for us to notice. Ancient material beings like the redwood tree and the Galapagos tortoise are potent mentalists in their kingdoms of Vegetable and Animal. Dear Editor, What happens to old thoughts and emotions on the aetheric plane? -D. I., Boston, Mass. Thoughts in the aether age as they do in your mind, eventually dissipating and disappearing. Stronger thoughts last longer in the aether, though, as is evidenced by the existence of vapors (a being described in this book's aetheric bestiary). All moments in history, including the aetheric counterparts to emotions, thoughts, and objects, are cataloged in the Akashic Record, a kind of library of aetheric history. The Record is accessible from the astral world and is a very powerful tool in mentalism, albeit one that can be used for irreparable harm. Dear Editor, What happens to an aetheric double when its material counterpart dies? -T R., Portland, Oreg. I'll make no attempt to skirt the issue of the afterlife-it's as prickly a subject among mentalists as it is among the rest of humanity. Theories of the afterlife vary from place to place and religion to religion. The soul and the aetheric body can be thought of as one and the same. The aetheric body lives on the aetheric plane during the lifetime of its material body and remains there after death. This "aetheric survival" is the benefit of consciousness of our nature as sentient beings. The same can't be said of the chair you're sitting in or the car you drive. They're both has-beens in the aether as soon as they're destroyed in the material world. Souls in the aether wait around for a time after death, until their next material form is ready for inhabitation. At that point they join with the material world once again and resume their dual nature in the material and the aetheric. LESSON TWO. AETHERIC BEINGS The Aetheric Plane, Its Worlds and Vibrations-The Astral WorldThe Elemental WorldThe Elysian World, or Elysium-An Introduction to Vibrational Theory A lIsAether-Below and above the Material-Elemental Vibration-Perception and Reality in the Aether-Inky Flares-An Aetheric Bestiary-Animal Spirits-stral Hounds-Departed Spirits-Devas-The Dweller on the ThresholdElementals (Nature Spirits)-Elementals (ThoughtForms)False Gods-Gestalts-Ghosts-Ghost Stars-Lost SoulsManifested Spirits-Phantoms (Plant and Object Doubles)PoltergeistsProjected Astral Bodies of MentalistsRevenants-Secret MastersStar Guides-Vapors-Wraiths "It is absurd asking me to behave myself, "he answered, looking round in astonishment at the pretty little girl who had ventured to address him, "quite absurd. I must rattle my chains, and groan through keyholes, and walk about at night, if that is what you mean. It is my only reason for existing." -OSCAR WILDE, The Canterville Ghost IN YOUR TRAVELS IN THE AETHER, you will encounter a number of interesting intelligences. These creatures will help or hinder your cause, each according to its nature. Presented here in field guide form are listings for twentyone beings that may be encountered in the astral, elemental, and elysian worlds. Although we have not yet devoted individual lessons to these realms, a brief note on each can be found in the essay directly following this introduction. No aetheric bestiary can ever be comprehensive, due to the infinite number of realities created by mentalists the world over. Keep in mind that the listings of aetheric beings in this lesson are merely composite accounts of the creatures and forces as they have been encountered in the past. Your own experiences with the same beings may be markedly different. It is hoped that this guide will give you a glimpse of some of the most common intelligences you may encounter in your experiences with aether and provide you with a framework for the classification of aetheric beings no one has yet encountered. THE AETHERIC PLANE, ITS WORLDS AND VIBRATIONS The aetheric plane encompasses all of reality. For most people on earth, reality seems to be bound by the limits of their material surroundings. This need not be the case. For with knowledge of aether, there are many worlds to discover and explore. As we have already discussed the aetheric plane in detail, outlining its functions and qualities, you no doubt by now understand that the aetheric world is a separate place from the world we call home, and yet it is the only true world there is. When you visualized your aetheric body in the previous lesson, you went on a journey in your imagination. Soon you will be able to take similar trips in worlds not far removed from the material world, realms linked to us by aether. These worlds will be referred to throughout your aetheric training, so it is important that you are able to tell the difference between them. Here is a set of brief descriptions of each of the worlds we will discuss. The facts below should give you an idea of how the planes differ and of the native environments of the intelligences described in the aetheric bestiary presented later in this lesson. The Astral World Like the aetheric plane itself, the astral world appears at times to be made of light. Other times it seems very similar to the material world. The astral world is a conduit, a four-dimensional highway that allows us free passage to other parts of the material world and also to Elysium. Vibrationally, the astral world is closest to our own world and is the most easily accessible. Through a slight shift in consciousness, usually attained through meditation, a person can alter the vibrational frequency of his or her body and travel to the astral world. This is called astral projection. People sometimes visit the astral world unintentionally, spontaneously projecting their astral body. This happens most often during sleep or in the hypnagogic state between wakefulness and sleep. Some theorists believe that dreams are actually astral travels. While a trip to the astral world may seem dreamlike, your author does not endorse the idea that dreams and astral projection are one and the same. The Elemental World On earth, the substances we will call "elemental" fall under the classification of philosopher Empedocles of Agrigentum, Sicily (495-435 BCE), who postulated that all material things were combinations of four basic substances-fire, air, water, and earth-which he called elements. Empedocles's elements are crucial to many belief systems, including Hermeticism and earth religions. Perhaps the combined beliefs of these systems' practitioners created the elemental world, or perhaps it has always existed and created earthly faith to sustain itself Such is the power of belief. As you progress in your aetheric studies, you may want to travel to the elemental world. It is divided into four kingdoms of equal size, one for each of the elements. To say the kingdoms are harsh environments is the understatement of a lifetime. Major portions of each elemental kingdom are composed solely of the purest form of its element. A trip to the earth plane, for example, could reveal nothing but solid, stonelike material extending as far as one's imagination can interpret. This singularity quickly disorients the mind and makes movement difficult. Other areas within each kingdom are made of simple elemental combinations, resulting in realms of steam, for example, or of dust. While advanced students of mentalism are encouraged to visit the elemental kingdoms, beginners should keep their distance. The exercise provided later in this lesson will give you a taste of the vibration of the element of earth without putting you in harm's way. The elemental world is home to the elementals, nature spirits who visit the material plane to carry out duties in the name of fire, air, water, or earth. The Elysian World, or Elysium The elysian world, also called Elysium, is the most unknowable of all the aetheric worlds, for it is the furthest removed from our own material home. It is the resting place of those spirits finally free, the hallowed realm of souls unbound from obligations to the material world, or to any other, for that matter. For this and other reasons, travel to Elysium is most dangerous and therefore the least documented. The spirits of the forever dead inhabit Elysium. No one who "lives" in this place awaits reincarnation, resurrection, or the like. Their eternal cycles are at an end. Elysium is also home to the Greek pantheon and all of the sylvan creatures below the godscentaurs, fauns, nymphs, and the rest. In this place, these beings are similar in appearance and function to the characters described in the Greek myths. If you are fortunate enough to meet them, you will recognize them at once, but you may find them subtly different from what you'd expect. Even the most carefully plotted trip to Elysium is subject to the powerful forces that guard the place. A Lethean field exists on the near side of the elysian frequency. This vibration, named after the River Lethe in Dante's Divine Comedy, causes rapid decay in the short-and long-term memory functions of the human brain, often to the point where people remember nothing of their time in Elysium. Intense study of the nature of the elysian world is, in the opinion of this author, a foolhardy undertaking for mentalists of less than two decades' experience. AN INTRODUCTION TO VIBRATIONAL THEORY All Is Aether The differences between the material, astral, elemental, and elysian planes are chiefly vibrational. Each of the worlds is made of aether, albeit aether vibrating within a frequency unique to that world. When you contact any of the other worlds, your aetheric body is vibrating within a range distinct from its usual rate, the one that keeps us rooted in the material world. These subtle differences in vibration allow us to see beyond the material world and into the aether. As you can see from the title of this lesson, you are about to learn of the intelligences you will encounter in your studies of mentalism. It is a bit of a misleading term, "aetheric beings," because no matter where you go, in this world or another, you are always in the aether. Truth be told, we are all aetheric beings. The difference between us is in which vibrational range we primarily dwell. You are familiar with the beings to be found within the materialworld vibration, as you yourself are such a creature. Plants, animals, insects, and microbes share this world, too. The intelligences that exist in the astral, elemental, and elysian worlds do so at the specific frequencies unique to that plane. In this way, beings indigenous to the astral world will never encounter beings in the elemental world without the use of mentalism, and vice versa. Mentalists, however, truly have the best of all worlds, as they can "tune" their bodies to the frequencies of any of the other worlds, if only for a short while. Despite the inability of most aetheric beings to shift vibrational frequency from one world to the next, some aetherics visit the material world. The material plane acts as a sort of interplanar meetinghouse, and here elementals, elysians, and astralites can find one another. Certain high-level intelligences, such as the select beings known as the secret masters, are exempt from such restrictions and can move among all the worlds effortlessly. The chart provided here simplifies and compares the vibrational ranges within the aether, showing how they correspond with each world. Think of it as a map of the aetheric plane that shows not necessarily the distance but rather the terrain one must traverse to get from one place to another. Notice that the material world, the place where we live our everyday lives, is situated between the lower astral and the elemental worlds. In our day-to-day life, each of us vibrates physically at a frequency within the range for the material world. If we didn't, we would cease to exist here. No frequencies are listed on this chart, as mankind has no instruments to measure the vibrations outside the material world and thus no way to quantify them. Until we do, we must be content to say that the higher a world is placed on the chart, the higher (or faster) the frequency associated with that world. Think of each world as a state of consciousness, or a state of mind, if you will. This will help you understand not only the relationship between thought and place but also the relationship between state of mind and state of being. Below and above the Material Look at the chart. You'll notice right away that the elemental world resides below the material, vibrating at a lower frequency than you or I do. Just as the astral world is experienced at a higher, finer vibration, the elemental world is visited by tuning the mind and body down (to a lower vibration). The border between the material and lower astral frequencies is the one most often explored by humans. The barrier between these two worlds is more porous than the boundaries between other worlds in the aether. The lower astral world is where rudimentary astral projection takes place and matches the vibration of hypnosis subjects. It is the gateway to the higher worlds of the astral and elysian. The lower astral frequency is home to spirits of the human dead who have unfinished business on earth. Spirits still connected to their possessions or to mortal life on earth dwell within this frequency range and are called revenants. We can communicate more effectively with revenants and other spirits when we vibrate at a frequency similar to their own. This is commonly achieved through meditation. Some humans in the material world vibrate naturally near the high or low end of the material frequency range. Their existence is distinct from that of those in the middle, and they are often recognizably different. Early cultures recognized such men and women as shamans and went to them for spiritual advice. Today, high-and low-vibration humans have great potential for mentalism. In the best of cases, high or low vibrators are blessed with superior levels of intelligence and intuition, sensing things others do not. In the worst cases, the same are also sadly prone to conditions akin to schizophrenia and dementia. Exercise 8: Elemental Vibration In nature, we are surrounded by rocks, soil, wind, and water. It is our preoccupation with the material representation of the elements that keeps us from experiencing their subliminal antecedents in the elemental world. If you can use meditation and visualization to move from a material understanding of an elemental substance such as soil to an aetheric understanding of the same material, you will be that much closer to your preliminary travels from the material world. Gather some soil on a plate and sit in front of it at the table, as if you were about to eat it for dinner. Without touching the stuff, do a thorough examination of the soil. Use only your senses of sight and smell and, where your senses fail you, let your imagination fill in the blanks. What do you know about soil? What are its properties? What are its limitations? What is soil made of? What separates it from the rest of the world? If soil represents the element of earth, how is it different from a flame, a glass of water, or a breeze, each a representative of another element? Spend some time asking yourself these and other questions that come to mind. Once you have stared intently at the soil and pondered these questions for more than five minutes, you will no doubt have already entered a sort of meditative state. Notice your breathing and let your mind focus on the soil before you. Continue your examination as you meditate, and try not to move. Soil is immobile. It rests, supports the living things above, below, and within it. Take slow, deep breaths and feel your consciousness coming closer to the nature of the soil. Now close your eyes and meditate upon the new discoveries you've made about soil. What would it be like to be made of this stuff? Breathe, and as you do, focus your consciousness on your breath. With each breath you mentally gain more of the rich, earthy, solid qualities of the soil. Your consciousness is slowing down, coming closer to the submaterial vibration of the elemental kingdom of earth. Can you feel it? Of course you can. Remain at this reduced vibrational frequency for a few minutes before slowly bringing your consciousness back to a normal material vibration. It is best to ease back into material consciousness, slowly envisioning your limbs and internal organs changing from rock and soil back to flesh and blood. Once you have returned to your regular body and frame of mind, write down your thoughts regarding your elemental vibrational experience. If you like, you may send a copy of your notes to the author. Try this exercise again later and see if you notice anything new. PERCEPTION AND REALITY IN THE AETHER Because all things on the aetheric plane-objects, actions, thoughts, emotions, and so on-are made of aether, relative perception of reality is profoundly important, as the thoughts of one being alter the nature of reality for all those around it. The consensual nature of reality is valid in the material world as well, to a certain extent. Social constructs like those surrounding work, relationships, and day-to-day life corral our actions and, whether we like it or not, our thoughts and feelings. One person's words can affect our emotions, and another person's looks might put certain thoughts in your head or mine. If provoked by external means, some thoughts are inevitable. If I say, "Don't think of pink elephants walking tightropes!" you're bound to do just the opposite. Into your thoughts sway the pachyderms on the high wire. You can't help it, because you've been given a very specific instruction not to do something. Your thoughts go to the topic of the sentence. There is no way to get around thinking of pink elephants walking a tightrope, or at least it is inevitable that you will think of the elephants before you think of something else. Even the act of consciously not thinking of pink elephants walking a tightrope fails you, because at least initially you will think of the thing you are not supposed to think of. Just as the pink elephants are best kept out of your mind if you don't ever think of not thinking of them, so your aetheric reality is protected if you go into the aether without preconceived notions of what you'll find there. Despite all the instruction given in this book, individual interpretation is king in the aether. This book can only give you a frame of reference. Nothing is more important than your own experience. Stray thoughts in the aether are akin to stray dogs. They can run wild just like dogs, to good and ill effect. In the aether, where appearances can mask intentions, what you see is most certainly not what you get. "Why then an aetheric bestiary?" you might ask. It's a good question, because at first glance, this lesson looks like a natural history of the creatures of the aetheric plane. In fact, it's no such thing at all. The entries herein are provided as a framework for you, the aetheric traveler, to use to understand the roles played by the dwellers of the elemental, astral, and elysian worlds. It is not a prescriptive text that should overrule your own judgment when you encounter these creatures. Beginning mentalists must exercise extreme caution around more powerful aetheric beings. A creature with a better grasp on aetheric theory will always have the upper hand in a meeting with a lesser mentalist. The aether is not a place for bravado and the reckless approaching of higher intelligences. There is an initial mental shock all lesser aetheric beings experience when they come in contact with a higher aetheric. The shock feels like the sensation of thinking you're alone and suddenly finding someone quite close to you. Another feeling people have compared to aetheric shock is the sensation of being awakened while in the hypnagogic state between wakefulness and dreams. In much the same way as this type of disturbance, an aetheric shock often snaps the mentalist back to his or her material body. A lesser shock is felt upon settling at a nonmaterial frequency, but this shock doesn't usually snap your consciousness back to earth. Scale plays a dominant role in the aether. Things can never be assumed to have the same magnitude they hold on earth. This is true because the powers of thought, emotion, and perception are so crucial to how scale manifests itself in the aether. Just as time can be distorted there, so can space. Something that seems to tower over one visitor in the aether may appear miniscule to the next. As with all things aetheric, scale is all in the mind ofand to a great degree, the minds around-the mentalist. Exercise 9: Inky Flares Try this experiment, which illustrates how consciousness represents itself on the aetheric plane. Fill a basin or large bowl with water. Let a single drop of blue ink fall into the water. Do you see how the ink explodes out from its initial contact point with the water, dropping down and sending blue flares in all directions? Your consciousness ribbons out similarly as you travel in the aether, influencing other consciousnesses it encounters. Now add a single drop of red ink to the bowl, near the blue. Streams of blue and red ink now intermingle in the water, each drop exploding and arcing ribbons over and under the other. In some places the two colors of ink meet and form a third. Eventually, as the ink dissipates, the water in the basin takes on a very pale shade of the combined color of the two inks. So it is as your thoughts meet and are exchanged on the planes. When two beings meet on any of the planes, they partake in a consensual reality, one formed by the combination of their mental abilities. This gestalt reality affects the shapes and properties of things, as well as sound, color, light, and atmospheric mood. The reality of a weaker mentalist visiting the aether will always yield to the power of a being with stronger command over aether. In this way, it is very easy for a greater mentalist to control the reality of the lesser mentalists around him or her. Beginning mentalists should exercise extreme caution around all aetheric beings, as there are many who desire nothing more than your utter destruction. AN AETHERIC BESTIARY In the following pages, you will be introduced to a number of intelligences that dwell in the aether. This brief bestiary is by no means comprehensive, but it does detail some of the more prominent inhabitants of the astral, elemental, and elysian worlds. The descriptions and illustrations given here are the result of interviews with mentalists who have encountered said beings and, as such, are composite views. Use these listings as a reference for your encounters with these creatures, but look for the unique qualities of individual spirits and entities. All are living beings, and all have idiosyncrasies just like you and I do. Animal Spirits Animals have aetheric doubles just as naturally as any other thing on earth. When an animal dies, its double continues to live in the aether, manifesting to the material world when necessary. Unlike human spirits, which may haunt sites from their life on earth in order to fulfill karmic duties, animal spirits exist mostly to aid humans, performing any of a number of functions. An animal spirit may serve as a guardian, a retriever, or a messenger. These functions are innate duties of the animal's soul, not tricks, so no training is necessary. In fact, more often than not, animal spirits aid humans without prompting from a mentalist. The spirits of departed animals may be contacted through a formal seance or may appear spontaneously in the vision of people familiar with the animals during their lives. In the case of pets, owners are often the only mundane (nonmentalist) humans able to see the animal after death. Visually, an animal spirit keeps the same size and shape the animal had when living, albeit with a translucent, pale-colored body. Like other ghosts, animal spirits glow slightly and are more visible in the dark than in sunlight. When an animal spirit enters a room, the vibrational frequency of the aether in the room raises slightly, increasing static electricity. Living animals in the vicinity of an animal spirit react much the same as they would if the animal were physically present (e.g., cats will often exhibit fear around dog spirits). Animal spirits rarely continue on to Elysium after death. Those that do are often the spirits of "eternal animals"-such as the phoenix, manticore, or gryphonthat took a lesser animal's form for a period of time in the material world. Other animal spirits in Elysium act as servants to the masters and other highly evolved human spirits. Astral Hounds Dwelling primarily in the deep-space wildernesses of the astral world, astral hounds are highly evolved intelligences. They are solitary creatures, not at all prone to packs like material world dogs. An astral hound manifests itself in the material world as a large black dog the size of a small horse. It may appear as any breed of large dog, but is always male. On earth, an astral hound speaks fluently in the language of any human he encounters. Astral hounds do not come to earth unless summoned. Mentalists can summon an astral hound through a torturous regimen of meditation and fasting that lasts three days. The summoning ritual depletes the mentalist physically and mentally, so that when the hound arrives the mentalist poses little threat. A summoned hound will manifest in the form of a large black dog and sit calmly before its new master. Once called, the hound may be assigned a task to perform in exchange for a portion of the summoning mentalist's personal aether. Astral hounds are highly efficient guardians, messengers, detectives, advisors, and killers and will not betray their summoning master even if offered a better bargain. An astral hound can move very quickly and can dematerialize its physical body with ease to accomplish its task. This shift to its astral body allows the hound the ability to fly, teleport, or pass through walls. The arrival of an astral hound is preceded by a chill in the immediate area, as well as a sharp metallic scent, both of which provide a bit of warning to those destined to meet this mysterious and dangerous creature. Departed Spirits Human afterlife is carried out in the other worlds. The exact qualifications for an assignment to the astral, elemental, or elysian world are so intricate and convoluted that no scholar could ever lay them down in printed form. One theory contradicts another, and all are faulty. This is why we have religion. Let it suffice to say that after death, a person's aetheric body leaves the material world for an existence on one of the others. Until it returns to inhabit a material form once more, by means of resurrection or reincarnation, this body is known as a departed spirit. As you move through the worlds in your projected body, you will encounter souls who once lived in the material world. They are quite similar in appearance to astrally projected bodies, and are usually dull gray in color. For the most part these spirits will pay you no mind. The afterlife is more like a waiting room than a cocktail party, after all. There have been cases of souls who imprison astral bodies in exchange for their freedom, so mentalists must be very cautious when they encounter a strange new soul. When this happens, the projected body is detached from its material form on earth, and the lost soul returns to earth to inhabit its new form. This type of swapping maybe the basis for changeling phenomena in some cultures. D evas Immortal and unfathomable, devas (also called angels) are the guardians of the aether. They are ranked directly under the secret masters in the aetheric hierarchy, and they work in harmony with one another to carry out the unknowable plan of the universe. Human contact with devas is uncommon, although recently there has been a great resurgence of popular interest in angels. Although the deva has no true visual form, it usually conforms to the beliefs of its viewer. A common form is that of a beautiful, androgynous human standing twelve feet tall. When no form is necessary, devas are invisible and undetectable. Otherwise, form follows function, and the deva can be abstract or flatly mundane, according to the need. All is possible for the deva. Reality bends and stretches at its will. When necessary, devas can create life-forms (plant, mineral, animal, or human) from the aether to fulfill the needs of the overarching plan, including the speeding of an individual human through his or her past karma. Devas can be invoked through concentrated meditation and visualization (in the form of prayer, if the summoner is invoking the deva through religious faith) and will arrive if the summoner's need is genuine. The most common requests of devas are those of protection and guidance. Devas will not partake in petty vengeful schemes of mortals. All works they perform are for the good of the universe. The Dweller on the Threshold Early on in your astral travels, you will come to a place in the aether that, although it looks new, feels very familiar. This is the Threshold. In our earthly lives, each of us accumulates a great deal of psychic baggage. This karma weighs us down and prevents us from achieving further study of the aether. As do all things, this burden exists in a tangible form on the aetheric plane. In this form, your past exists as the Dweller, an aetheric being that haunts the Threshold and stops you dead in your tracks. The Dweller on the Threshold exists for a sole purpose-to keep mentalists from progressing in their studies until they have resolved the baggage they bring with them. There is only one Dweller, but it looks different to each traveler. It appears as a fearsome monster to some. To others it is an insurmountable landscape or wall. Time does not exist at the Threshold. The past and the present are the same, and the traveler must face and reconcile both before continuing on his or her path of mentalism. In one encounter or several, the traveler confronts his or her life up to that point and begins to understand his or her new life on the path of mentalism. It is a difficult process for everyone, but know that once the Dweller is overcome, your understanding of aether will deepen dramatically. No more will be said here, so as not to taint your meeting with the Dweller, which will be as individual as you are. Elementals (Nature Spirits) True elementals are nature spirits personifying the four material elements, manifesting in the form of salamanders (element of fire), sylphs (element of air), undines (element of water), or gnomes (element of earth). When they show themselves in the material vibration, it is as shapeless masses of their element. Sometimes they appear huge, other times they are infinitesimal. Elementals do not speak human or earthly languages, and elemental speech is incomprehensible. That said, telepathic communication with an elemental is quite effective, if the mentalist is attuned to the being's low frequency vibration. Elementals protect sites of wild nature, moving between the elemental world and the material as necessary. Elementals are never encountered in the elysian or astral worlds. Their work in the material world is carried out not from emotion or intellect, for elementals have neither. Instead they are directed by the overarching need of their element and carry out their role in the plan of the universe with a single-minded efficiency. The kingdoms of the elemental world are unimaginably harsh environments for human travelers. There, any foreign object or being is destroyed immediately, much as our body destroys disease. Mentalists traveling to the elemental world prevent their own demise by vibrating at the exact frequency for that element. If they falter, they will either skip to an adjacent world or fall out of vibration and perish. Smaller versions of the elementals can be called upon at a seance-type gathering or ceremony. They can be ordered telepathically to carry out small tasks, but they are unstable and unpredictable, not to mention destructive if left unattended. Nature-spirit elementals should not be confused with thoughtform elementals (see the entry following). Elementals (ThoughtForms) If there is one lesson to be learned from mentalism, it is that the human mind has phenomenal power over its material surroundings. The thoughtform elemental is the manifestation of this tenet. Although different than spirits from the elemental world, the thoughtform elemental carries out its tasks with an equal efficiency. Thoughtform elementals are created with an intense concentration session that lasts a full day. One or more mentalists focus their every attention on a particular thought or emotion. Once materialized, usually in an abstract form, the elemental needs attention to maintain its existence. This maintenance attention need not be as strong as the concentration needed to create the elemental. One mentalist may trade off with another to maintain the elemental, the two meditating in shifts. Although elementals are mute and do not understand speech, they are highly attuned to telepathic command. The mentalist who has created the elemental may put it to work at tasks too dangerous or difficult for the mentalist's material body to perform. The elemental grows with more thought power and shrinks and becomes unpredictable with neglect. If concentration is broken, the elemental runs astray and causes ill effects. Stray elementals will slowly shrink in power, but they should be actively dissipated through visualization by the creating mentalist so as not to cause major harm. Thoughtform elementals are not always created intentionally. Often, they are the product of an obsessive mind focused on a strong emotion such as jealousy, love, or hate. Thoughtform elementals sometimes appear when two new lovers meet, spreading overwhelming goodwill, or on the frontlines of war, spreading fear. Some prisoners have spontaneously formed elementals, as have paraplegics. False Gods How utterly easy it is to please most humans! Money, material goods, and the attentions of others are child's play for a skilled aetheric being. Thus even minor spirits can grant many of our material wishes easily. This is why the genie is such a powerful figure in Arabian mythology but is not viewed as a god. To put it quite frankly, the gods do not visit earth on a regular basis. They have avatars and devas to carry their messages and choose to use them the overwhelming majority of the time. This being the case, mentalists should be wary of any visit from an aetheric or material intelligence purporting to be a god, as false gods can in reality be any number of aetheric beings bent on deceiving man. As the vast majority of humanity has no regular interaction with the supernatural, even lesser aetheric beings can fool people by using their seemingly amazing abilities as proof of their divinity. A specific type of false god is the Trickster. The Trickster archetype is common to many earthly mythologies. It arises in the Christian context as the devil, in Norse myths as Loki, and as Coyote in Native American belief. All three are separate and distinct entities, but all draw from the same primeval energy. With such a universal presence, it should come as no surprise that your aetheric path will probably cross that of the Trickster sooner or later. Meetings with the Trickster may happen in the material world or elsewhere. While there is no good place per se to meet the Trickster, one can usually handle an encounter a little better in one's own world. True to its nature, the Trickster will appear as someone or something you think you recognize, the better to take advantage of you. How you deal with the Trickster is up to you. If mythologies worldwide have taught us anything, it's that honesty usually pays off in the end. Gestalts When one aetheric being's will comes in contact with another will vibrating at a similar frequency, each one shapes the other's reality to a certain extent. The ways in which reality bends to fit the conflicting wills in a given area of the aetheric plane are innumerable, but one of the most fascinating results is the creation of a gestalt. The aetheric intelligence known as the gestalt is a sentient mass of aether that breaks away from the reality formed by two or more aetheric beings' wills. In essence, the gestalt is the illegitimate child of an unintentional aetheric union, and it combines several of the less savory attributes of thoughtform elementals and poltergeists (see individual entries). Like the elemental, the gestalt requires concentration to be controlled. Like the poltergeist, it is juvenile and often quite destructive in its tendencies. Fortunately, the average life span of a gestalt is usually only a few seconds. Those that last longer rapidly begin to pull aether toward them from other parts of the plane and in time will develop their own personalities, intellects, and emotions distinct from those of their aetheric "parents." The more developed the gestalt, the harder it is to control through mentalism. A more scattered-but heartier-version of the gestalt is the vapor (see entry). Ghosts The term "ghost" encompasses several of the beings you will encounter in the aether. Into this category fall manifested spirits, revenants, wraiths, and lost souls, to name a few. Individual entries are provided elsewhere for each of these creatures. Generally speaking, a ghost is composed of the barely noticeable aetheric remains of a material being after its soul or spirit (also called the "aetheric body") has left it. The portion of the aetheric body remaining after death sometimes becomes visible in the material world and is identified as a ghost. Even though the most famous examples of ghost encounters occur in the material world, ghosts dwell in the astral, elemental, and elysian worlds as well. In human literature and mythology, ghosts are reminders of death, and while often frightening, their existence assures us of a world beyond that which we can see and touch. Ghost Stars The doubles found on the aetheric plane are by no means limited to the solar system you and I call home. Across the galaxies, billions of stars are going through the various stages of birth, life, and death. All their actions, powers, histories, and (some argue) intelligences are mirrored on the aetheric plane, which is boundless and timeless. Ghost stars are the remaining aetheric traces of stars that have played out their lives. They remain near the site the stars held during their life cycles and communicate with other aetheric beings in the vicinity. Some mentalists have reported success in communicating with ghost stars or at least in sensing the thoughts of these unfathomable specters. Ghost stars can be used as a kind of databank, as their memories include the entire history of the solar system they once commanded. Mentalists who have traveled to a ghost star may also use it to draw energy for further travels in the aether. Although no record exists of a mentalist using ghost star energy to journey to the edge of the universe, such a trip is theoretically possible. Your first encounter with a ghost star will no doubt be overwhelming, as this account from Terry K., a mentalist in Philadelphia, attests: My first encounter with the aetheric remnants of a star came during an astral session in which I intended to travel to ancient Russia. As my astral and physical bodies separated, I could sense that something was wrong. I felt a "tugging" of my astral body, as if something were pulling me skyward. My memories are hazy, but I saw the earth vanish like a coin dropped into a well as I departed this world and hurtled, blindly, into space. In a flash I passed the moon, a place I had traveled to astrally in the past. Mars and Jupiter sped by with alarming alacrity. I'm not an astronomer, so I have no idea which part of space I was in when I finally stopped nearly an hour later. Somehow I knew I was near the resting place of a dead star. There was no light around, but there was no black hole either, just an unimaginable material emptiness filled with a massive shrieking sound. I stayed there for about twenty minues, just floating in space and experiencing the sound. The tugging sensation began again, only this time it was tugging me back toward earth. I let it happen, and I snapped back much faster than I had come. The trip home took about half an hour. Even though I was traveling fast, there wasn't any jarring return into my physical body. Lost Souls A lost soul is an aetheric body that has departed completely or nearly completely from the material body without killing it. The material body continues to live but is markedly impaired. In some cases the person falls into a coma. Other cases find the person sleeping most of the time, reacting dully or mechanically to stimulus when awake. It is unclear why an aetheric body would leave its material host and whether or not it is a voluntary action. Sometimes the split can be traced to a serious injury, a near-death experience, or a traumatic psychic shock. In these cases, it is feasible to conclude that the aetheric body leapt to soon, thinking death was inevitable. Lost souls can be found wandering the aether without purpose and are not very useful for much of anything. They are usually just as impaired and confused as their material counterparts. Lost souls can be coaxed back to the material world by a skilled spiritist, but sometimes the soul holds to the idea that it is supposed to be dead and puts up resistance to the reintegration. It is important to return a lost soul to its material body as soon as possible, as the inert physical body may be mistaken for dead and destroyed. Manifested Spirits Spiritism is the art of contacting and communicating with the dead-more specifically, the departed aetheric bodies (or spirits) of the once living. Individually or in a group, mentalists attune their consciousness to the vibration of one of the other worlds and project a sense of warmth and openness, hoping to attract the attentions of one or more spirits. This practice is known as a seance and is a useful tool for discovering information about the aether or communicating with loved ones lost from the material world. The beings who answer the call of the seance and manifest themselves in the material world do not always have the best interests of the mentalists at heart. Even though a loving feeling is required to attract the attention of spirits, the spirits who arrive aren't necessarily the spirits you'd hope for. In fact, the spirits most likely to answer the call are those still attached to the material world in some way. The lower astral world-which is nearest to the materialis the home of all sorts of spirits with unfinished business on earth. The souls of murderers and their victims, the greedy, the vengeful, and the spiteful all fall into this category. Their karma has not been resolved properly, and they reside near the material vibration in hopes that someone will come to their aid. Do not fall victim to the manipulations of these spirits. Just as a shout reaches those nearest us first, even if we are shouting to a friend much farther away, calls into the aether reach our nearest, but not necessarily our dearest, aetheric neighbors. All the same, the seance remains a valuable tool for information gathering and communion. It is best left in the hands of trained individuals. Phantoms (Plant and Object Doubles) Aetheric doubles are not limited to living beings-not in the slightest. The aetheric counterparts of inanimate objects are called phantoms. The Egyptians and other early civilizations believed in phantoms to the point of burying food and tools with the dead, in hopes that the aetheric doubles of everyday items would aid the spirits in the next world. It makes sense for us all, really. Think of the material objects that define your existence. We all form bonds with nonliving things at a very early age, the toys of childhood being the first. Objects give us comfort and focus in our lives and help us define ourselves. Do you have a hobby? If your hobby is woodworking, for example, you know that the tools you use are essential to the art. Could you imagine a life on this or any other plane without such objects? They are tools for imagination and bring meaning to our lives. Mentalism teaches us that all things exist essentially in our own perception of reality. Material objects (be they tools or toys) ground us and focus our attentions in the material. The same objects exist in the aether and can be used to comparative effect there. Phantoms of natural objects like rocks and trees are very potent touchstones on the aetheric plane. Ancient sacred sites like Stonehenge have an aetheric counterpart, a place on the aetheric plane where energy is gathered and focused. The druids of Britain worked their "magic" more in Stonehenge's aetheric counterpart than among the crude rocks and grass-no matter how splendid-of this earth. Poltergeists The aetheric phenomenon known as the poltergeist is a parasitic spirit that attaches itself to a person, taking personal aether and using it for its own chaotic ends. Poltergeists are usually found in the homes of families with prepubescent or adolescent children. Children of these ages can be uncontrollable and destructive, and their aetheric selves mirror this behavior, attracting the poltergeist. Throughout adolescence, our bodies change in ways that are new and strange to us. Our aetheric bodies are changing too, and as much as we wish to, we cannot control them. The poltergeist attaches itself to a member of the family and induces unintentional telekinesis, flinging objects and sometimes other members of the family around the house. Emotionally speaking, the poltergeist is more immature than other spirits. It cannot be reasoned with most of the time, but, like a hysterical suicide case, can be "talked down" by a skilled mentalist. Poltergeists have no physical or visible form. They are "seen" by their actions-flinging household objects around like a miniature tornado. Poltergeist episodes are usually sporadic and spread out over a number of years. If a "host" (a family member) is identified as manifesting a poltergeist, it is important not to blame him or her for the destruction, as it will only increase the frequency and severity of the episodes. Another theory of the poltergeist phenomenon posits that the family undergoes a mass hallucination, a warping of the aether in the household, while one or more family members physically wreak havoc in the house. Once the flurry of destruction is complete, the family snaps out of the hallucination and remembers nothing of what happened, only that something came through the house in such a rage. Even impartial observers called to the house to observe the phenomenon fall into the fugue, remembering little about the cause of the destruction. This theory suggests a possession, perhaps by a malignant spirit or stray thoughtform elemental. Projected Astral Bodies of Mentalists Did you know that you are among the number of creatures known as "aetheric beings"? Well, part of you is, at least. When you project aether from your material body, your form joins the ranks of the dead and living spirits haunting the planes. This knowledge should make every astral traveler feel more at home on his or her journey. While you are in the aether, you will no doubt come across the projected bodies of other mentalists. Seeing these bodies is no more jarring than seeing another person as you walk down the street. Although faces and forms are slightly different on the aetheric plane than they are in their material manifestations, when you encounter a friend's astral body, you will recognize it at once as belonging to your friend, just as you can tell your friends apart from other people you see on the street. Because these aetherics are manifestations of human consciousness, they follow human codes of conduct, for better or worse. Therefore, trust or distrust these aetheric mentalists as you would any other person. Revenants Revenants are the most common type of "ghost" described by spiritists. They are the spirits (aetheric bodies) of humans that remain attached to some place or object after death. They flicker in the space between the material and astral worlds, hovering in the lower astral frequency, occasionally bobbing down into the material vibratory range and coming into view as translucent, smoky figures. Revenants are sometimes the spirits of murderers tormented by their crimes. Other revenants are the souls of the jealous or the vengeful, beings that envy and hate the living and, as such, are very dangerous. A revenant that is so spiteful it preys on living beings is called a wraith (see individual entry). These helpless aetherics often want to leave their place in the material world, but they can't because of a karmic debt they must resolve. They can be assisted by others in this resolution. As revenants are often driven in nature and singleminded to a fault, mentalists should indulge their ghostly pleas and help them if they wish aid from the revenant in return. Revenants are useful sources of information about the aetheric plane and the history of the place they haunt. In exchange for their release, revenants may also be "hired" to haunt a person or gather information inaccessible to the mentalist. Revenants are the most popular type of aetheric being in literature. Nearly all ghost stories are about revenants and their plights. Oscar Wilde's story "The Canterville Ghost" takes a humorous look at one such being who requires a prayer from a young girl before his soul may be laid to rest. Secret Masters Mysterious, remote, aloof, supreme. All these adjectives have been used to describe the ultimate aetheric beings known as the secret masters. Rumors abound as to their true nature, but conjecture is futile. The masters exist, and that is as much as we may ever really know about them. The masters command the devas (see entry) and, in doing so, the fate of the universe. They dispatch their devas to correct imbalances in the aether, deliver messages to other beings, and intervene in the karmic resolution of souls. When a master deems a message or other task too important to be trusted to one of these angelic servants, it undertakes the job itself. Masters have appeared to humans over the course of history, often dictating to them new doctrines for life on earth and spawning new movements in aetheric thought as a result. The Great White Brotherhood and Aleister Crowley's A.'.A.'. both owe their existence to such aetheric dictations. The masters are an exception to the rule of vibrational interplanar travel. Like the most skilled mentalist, a master moves easily from place to place and world to world according to its own will. While the masters are most often encountered in the material and astral worlds, they may appear anywhere in the aether. Star Guides Even devas (see entry) are not infallible. Or rather, despite their devotion to the masters, devas do have minds of their own. "Willful" devas, as they are known in the parlance, are usually rewarded with obliteration by their peers. Those that escape this fate go on alone, forever banished from the company of their former league. These disenfranchised angels are known as star guides. Freed from the strictures of the masters and the overarching plan of the universe, they follow their own path and assist mortals whose intentions are aligned with their own. Even though the Bible's Lucifer falls into this category, star guides are not necessarily evil. In fact, as a class they have never been noted as such. A star guide's ethics are often not far removed from those of the mortals it contacts, however. They tend to concern themselves with the mental and aetheric progress of humans, rather than the progress of the plan of the universe. When speaking with a star guide, it is easy to be fooled into thinking you are communicating with a deva or even with one of the masters. In fact, star guides are responsible for many of the holy doctrines of man, and their messages are often wrongfully interpreted as the word of a god. Use your judgment (see entry for "false gods") and hope for the best. Star guides are highly mysterious creatures, appearing only to those who can help their cause. They can appear in different forms: animals, humans, lesser deities, creatures from mythology, and ghosts and spirits are all common. Sometimes star guides make themselves known through automatic writing, precipitated letters, and other means. Mentalists enter into a relationship with star guides at their own peril. History is full of "heretics" killed by their fellow man in the name of a god. Those who follow the advice of a star guide risk retribution from even greater powers. Vapors As you know by now, all of our thoughts, emotions, and actions are mirrored on the aetheric plane. When we stop thinking something or lose a feeling we once had, it stays for a period of time in the aether before dissipating. This makes the aetheric plane rich with memories, emotions, and forgotten thoughts. Crossroads of these old notions are legion on the aetheric plane. Sometimes, when two or more of these stray thoughts meet, they combine in a strange alchemy. A new personality is born, blind and stumbling, but sentient. These personalities are the vapors. Whereas gestalts (see entry) are formed from the active wills of two or more aetherics, vapors can form spontaneously at any time. A long-dead man's thoughts can combine with those of a living child. Napoleon's dying words might join with the emotions of Aristotle. For the most part, vapors are harmless. They may manifest themselves in the material world as a fog, a hazy vision, a soft sound, or a slight wind. If infused with strong feelings, vapors can be harmful. The presence of wrath or hate in a vapor can cause it to seek out mortals and suffocate them, for instance. Fortunately, vapors are easily controlled and dispersed by trained mentalists. Wraiths Wraiths are a certain strain of revenant, intent on killing any mortals that come near their homes. Like all revenants, wraiths are attached to the material and aetheric space they inhabited in life. Wraiths are vengeful and spiteful because of ill fortune during their material life, and they cannot rest until their karmic debts are paid. The wraith phenomenon is likely responsible for the vampire legends common to cultures worldwide. It is impossible to settle their affairs for them without supreme effort, and it is foolish to try unless absolutely necessary. While revenants seek assistance from humans to be freed from their bonds to the material world, the wraith would rather work things out itself, using aether from a material being. Wraiths despise the living and kill humans and other material beings trespassing into their domain by draining the aether from their bodies. This gathering of aether weakens the victim and increases the tangibility of the wraith. If a wraith collects all the aether from a victim (enough to kill the being), it materializes on the material plane to the point where it may move about and interact with material objects as easily as any person. The wraith holds its stolen aether near its form and may disperse or collect it at will, allowing feats such as flight, invisibility, and movement through small spaces such as keyholes and the narrow spaces under doors. It is in this form that the wraith is the most dangerous. The best defense against a wraith is to remove yourself from its vicinity immediately. If you encounter a wraith in the astral world, stop projecting and return to your material body at once. Strong counter-mentalism will help against an aether drain, and is best performed while in your material body. LESSON THREE. AETHERIC EXERCISES Entering the Lower Astral Vibration-The Body's Aetheric LinksThe Forehead Link-The Eye LinksThe Chest Link-The Navel Link-The Sex Organ Link-The Hand LinksThe Foot LinksActivating the Aetheric Links-Daily Exercises for MentalistsThe Aetheric Dozen-Starter PsychismsAn Initial Exercise in Clairvoyance-An Initial Exercise in Telepathy-An Initial Exercise in Telekinesis Adjusting Your Daily Routine Healthy Materialism "Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world. This is an error of the intellect as inevitable as that error of the eye which lets us fancy that on the horizon heaven and earth meet. " -ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, Studies in Pessimism SO FAR WE HAVE EXPLORED the nature of the aetheric plane and its inhabitants. "Aetheric Exercises" takes a look inward, explaining the way in which aether and the mentalist interact. This lesson offers step-by-step instruction for those who wish to perform their first feats of mentalism in the aether. The lower astral world serves as the staging area for these feats, and the initial exercise in this lesson explains how to get there and back. Our own bodies contain the tools we need to step into the aether. Each of us possesses ten distinct centers of psychic energy. These centers are called "aetheric links" and correspond with parts of our physical bodies, including hands, eyes, and feet. Just as we interact with the material world using the parts of our material bodies, so do we experience and move about in the aether using our aetheric links. The portion of this lesson titled "The Body's Aetheric Links" introduces you to these points in your own body, outlining the purpose of each. The centerpiece of this lesson is a very important section outlining twelve daily exercises for the aspiring mentalist. Dubbed "the aetheric dozen," these exercises strengthen the body's ties between the aetheric and the material worlds. With regular practice of these simple techniques your understanding of the aether will increase exponentially. Also introduced in this lesson are rudimentary experiments in psychisms, those mental feats skilled mentalists perform as second nature. Through practice and concentration, you will learn to perform simple feats of clairvoyance (sensing faraway places), telepathy (speaking and hearing using thought), and telekinesis (moving objects with thought). Exercise 10: Entering the LowerAstral Vibration Here is an exercise that is absolutely vital to your progression in mentalism. This technique brings the vibration of your consciousness to that of the lower astral world, which is the theater for basic feats of mentalism. It is the initial exercise you must perform before any others in this lesson. If you have performed the exercise in elemental vibration outlined in "Aetheric Beings," then this exercise in astral vibration should come easily to you, because the two practices are very similar. Like the elemental vibration exercise, the astral vibration exercise alters your mind's vibration to a frequency zone adjacent to your natural vibratory range in the material world. The elemental world exists in a lower frequency than the material world, so when you were in the elemental world you decreased your mind's vibration to reach a frequency somewhere in the elemental range. With the exercise outlined here, you will increase your mind's vibration considerably, raising it to the higher frequency range of the lower astral world. This exercise should be performed in the same place you've been meditating since beginning your aetheric studies. If you can, you should open a window in the room to let in a slight breeze. If this is impossible, use a fan. Any fan will do, but the quieter the better, as you don't want to be distracted by mechanical noises during your meditation. Your meditations thus far have focused mainly on your breath. This is not by chance. Breath and air itself are perfect metaphors for aether. Air is something that cannot be seen, but it can convey scents and light gasses such as smoke. In the same way, aether can be imbued with properties. In this exercise you will use your breath and the air around you to achieve a nonmaterial vibration, tuning your consciousness to a frequency within the range just above the threshold of the material world, the realm of the lower astral. Stand in a part of the room that is receiving a direct breeze. Close your eyes and begin your meditation, focusing on your breath. Relax, breathe slowly and deliberately, and let your thoughts settle on the inhalation and exhalation of air. Do this until you are completely relaxed and find that your mind stays fully focused on your breath. Now let your attention wander to the breeze that's moving through the room. In the astral world, everything you encounter appears to be in a state somewhere between a solid and a gas. The forms and consistencies of things change depending on how you (and others around you) think of them. Notice the breeze as in touches your skin or moves your clothing. Do not think of the breeze as a breeze but rather as a continuous wave of blue liquid. Don't worry, you will not drown-you can breathe this liquid. Things like this are possible in the aether. The wave washes around you, above you, and below you. You are floating still in the center of a sea of this liquid. As you breathe, it enters and exits your lungs. It is a special fluid. It makes you more alert and energetic than you usually are. Continue to breathe at a normal rate, even though the feeling you get from the wave is exhilarating. The liquid is washing over you and entering your lungs, and your body loves the sensation. You notice that not only is your skin tingling, but the insides of your lungs are tingling too as they soak in the energy. It's a feeling that slowly but steadily spreads both inward from the surface of your skin and outward from the insides of your lungs, until your whole body is positively alive and glowing with energy. This sensation is the result of a subtle shift in vibration. The wave you are in is made of pure aether. It is the aether of the lower astral world, and the moment the energetic feeling finally takes over your entire body is the same moment that you step mentally into the astral world. This realization can sometimes be shocking-so much so that you might be jolted out of your meditation. Do not let this happen. Instead, remember that you are always in complete control of your mind and your body and that you can come back to the material world any time you please. Rest in this new vibration for at least a minute. Notice how this new sensation makes you feel. From here you may go on to perform any of the other exercises in this lesson. You should also try this vibration as a starting point for experimentation with other exercises from this book. Do whatever you please-it is your mind and your body, after all. Unless for some reason you are shocked out of the astral world and back into the material (which is jarring and never advised, although most times it cannot be helped), you should try to ease your consciousness back to its normal vibration. Coming down from the lower astral vibration is no more difficult than going up; it is merely a matter of reverting your attention back to the material side of the astral border. Do this slowly. With each inhalation, visualize your body collecting a portion of your astral energy in your lungs. As you exhale, this portion exits through your mouth and flows back into the wave of blue liquid. Keep inhaling (collecting energy from your body) and exhaling (sending it forth) until your mind returns to its familiar materialworld vibratory frequency. Let the wave of blue liquid shift slowly back into an earthly breeze, and let your mind come back to earthly thoughts. All this will become much easier with practice. THE BODY'S AETHERIC LINKS Without complete use of our hands, feet, eyes, and other parts of our bodies, life in the material world can be challenging. This is also true of life on the aetheric plane. Concentrated vortices of energy in vital parts of our aetheric body serve as our aetheric hands, feet, eyes, and so on, and they allow us to move and interact with others in the aether. These vortices are called "aetheric links," and in this essay we will explore each of them. The aetheric links are in many ways similar to the chakras described in Eastern mysticism. In fact, some of the links exist in the same place in our bodies as the chakras. Like the chakras, the links are centers of vital energy that serve to collect and distribute aetheric energy. In mentalism, the functions of the links can be very dynamic, freeing our aetheric bodies for astral flight and allowing us to perform psychisms such as mind reading and telekinesis. There are ten aetheric links in the human body. The uppermost link is located in the center of the forehead. There are two more aetheric links in the head, one in each eye. Three aetheric links are in the human torso-one in the center of the chest, another just behind the navel, and another within the sex organs. The final four aetheric links are located in the hands and feet. Each aetheric link is infinitesimally small, occupying a space no larger than the tiniest point imaginable. But as you know, size matters little in the aether, and, in fact, sometimes the smallest things have the most potential for power. In thinking of each aetheric link, imagine a narrow cone with its flat part flush to the surface of your skin and tapering to a point within your body. This helps you to visualize the aether flowing between each link and the outside world. In reality, though, each aetheric link is an exact point of aether inside you, with an influence radiating outward in all directions. Just as your material body uses its different parts to perform different tasks, so your aetheric body uses each link for a specific set of purposes. Here is a breakdown of the aptitudes of each aetheric link. Use the diagram to pinpoint the location of the aetheric links on your own body. The Forehead Link The forehead link is the one used to project your will upon the aether directly around you and is used in shor-range (also called "local") feats of telekinesis, telepathy, and other psychisms. It is also the link by which we lead our aetheric bodies through the aether, much as we lead an animal on a leash. Other psychic systems have called this link "the third eye." The Eye Links The aetheric links in our eyes are arguably the most useful when performing mentalism, as they are the links through which all our senses-not just sight but all the others as well-operate. The eye links are used to visualize the aetheric plane and provide help with all related visualization techniques, such as the solidification and transformation of aether. The Chest Link Astral projection is one of the most marvelous feats of the mentalist, and it is performed by using the aetheric chest link. Personal aether is expelled from this link-which is nestled behind the center of the sternum-to form astral bodies that may travel independently in the aether. The chest link draws these forms back into the aetheric body when their journeys are at their end. The Navel Link Resting just behind the navel, this aetheric link serves a similar function to the stomach, taking aether of one sort and dividing and transforming it into something more useful for the aetheric body. The navel receives the mentalist's personal aether from the sex organ link. It also collects external aether from the hand links. The Sex Organ Link The sex organ link concerns itself chiefly with the collection and concentration of personal aether from within the body. It gathers aether and prepares it for use by all the other links. This link is located just above the testes of the male mentalist and within the uterus of the female. The Hand Links The hand links are the points from which mental influence can extend the furthest into the aether. They are located just inside the flesh of the center of each palm and are used in long-range (or "distant") feats of psychism, much as the forehead link is used for more localized feats. Hand links are also used to draw external aether to the mentalist for use by the other aetheric links. The Foot Links These links are located just under the skin of the center of the soles of each foot. Their function is to ground the aetheric body partially in the material world, such that no matter what may happen during an aetheric session, the aetheric body can always find its way home. Exercise 11: Activating theAetheric Links Here is an experiment that helps you attune your consciousness to your aetheric links. Begin with a ten-minute breathing meditation to relax yourself. Once you have relaxed completely, focus your thoughts on your forehead. Breathe in slowly, and as you do, visualize a rapidly swirling sphere of blue light floating inside your head, just behind your forehead, like a tiny ball of blue fire in your brain. It glows brighter when you breathe in, as if you were drawing air across a wood fire. Between breaths the sphere glows steadily and continues to swirl. As you breathe out, it burns brighter still. After concentrating on your forehead link for a minute or so, move your concentration to your chest, imagining another blue sphere behind your breastbone. Concentrate on it as you did on your forehead link, remembering to visualize it surging with light with each breath, be it in or out. Continue such visualizations with the navel and sex organ links. When you are through, return your thoughts to breathing for a few minutes. Now it's time to activate the paired links in the eyes, feet, and hands. You can use the following techniques to increase the flow of physical and mental energy to these links. Still standing, lift up one foot and, using your thumb, massage the center of its sole for about twenty seconds. This will cause a stimulated sensation in your foot. Do the same for the other foot and for each hand. The hand links should be visualized as roiling, fiery blue spheres that exist half-inside and halfoutside your hands. The feet links are similar, burning half-inside and halfoutside the center of the sole of each foot. Concentrate on each pair for a minute or so, just like you have for the others. Now close your eyes and place your index fingers on the sides of your eyeballs. Push the eyes in just a little, gently but firmly. This exercise will physically stimulate the eyes and, if done long enough, will produce psychedelic patterns that resemble the aether in all its otherworldly brilliance. Do this for less than a minute, as prolonged pushing can damage your eyes. Once you have stimulated the eye links physically, it is time to visualize them in the aether. Picture them as balls of blue flame that exist in the same place as your eyes. This will probably be a little overwhelming at first, but take your time and soon you'll have a good grasp on it. It can be tricky, but it's vital that you're able to visualize each set of paired links as a unity in itself. When you visualize your hand links, for example, don't attempt to split your concentration between the two specific points. Just think, "hands." It's the same thing you do when using your material hands-when you want to do something with them, you can concentrate on their combined actions. In the same way, we shouldn't be limited to the use of only one aetheric hand at a time. As you become more comfortable and skilled with your hand links, you'll come to possess a certain amount of ambidexterity. That's something most of us don't have even in our material bodies! DAILY EXERCISES FOR MENTALISTS You are already performing daily meditation and visualization sessions to sharpen your mental ability. These exercises are vitalplease continue with thembut there is so much smore to learn about mentalism. To become proficient with even the simplest feats of mentalism, you must practice some basic aetheric skills every day. This essay outlines twelve exercises-the aetheric dozen-aspiring mentalists should perform as a daily regimen. All these aetheric sessions should begin with the lower astral vibration exercise to put you into the proper state of mind, attuning your mind with the aether of the lower astral world. As you advance in your studies, spend more time-up to half an hour-vibrating in the lower astral before beginning the aetheric dozen. As you become even more skilled, your meditation time will drop, as you will be able to put yourself in the proper state of mind more quickly. There are many theories as to why the most talented mentalists require little to no meditation before performing astonishing feats of mentalism. Perhaps they are so used to the altered state of mind produced by meditation that they are able to slip into it immediately, or perhaps their natural vibration has shifted toward the border of regular materialworld frequency. Exercise 12: The Aetheric Dozen Use your regular meditation space for the aetheric dozen. This exercise will show the best results if performed at the same time every day. Illustrations for each of the steps in the aetheric dozen accompany the instructions. Step 1. Grounding the Aetheric Body The first step involves the foot links. It is a grounding to keep your aetheric body tied to the material body. Of all the steps you are about to learn, this is the most important one to perform properly. If the aetheric grounding is not achieved sufficiently, your aetheric body runs the risk of being permanently separated from your material body. Stand with your feet apart at shoulder's width, per the illustration. Let your arms rest at your sides. Spread your fingers and face your palms out. Imagine energy radiating from the soles of your feet. Visualize a sharp sphere of light around each of the soles of your feet and a lesser glow on the floor or ground around them. This energy is the part of your aetheric body that lives closest to the material world, grounding you in it. As long as you can visualize this strong energy being emitted from the soles of your feet, you will remain grounded in the material world and should have no fear of being lost in the aether. GLOWING LIGHT SURROUNDS THE SOLES OF YOUR FEET. Focus on this energy for at least a minute before continuing on to the next step. Step 2. Visualizing the Aetheric Plane In this step you use your eye links to visualize the aetheric plane around you. This step is very similar to the "Imagining the Aetheric Plane" exercise in lesson one. Using your material sight, examine the space in which you are standing, be it a room, a park, or anywhere else. Study your surroundings well enough to see the same scene in your mind's eye, or with your aetheric eyes, to be more precise. THE HIDDEN WORLD AROUND YOU IS NOW SEEN. Now close your eyes and visualize your surroundings, knowing that you are seeing the aetheric double of your environment. It may be helpful to keep your eyes closed as you perform the rest of the aetheric dozen. Remain focused on the aetheric representation of your surroundings until you are comfortable in this scene, until it feels as natural or nearly as natural as the material surroundings of your everyday life. When you are ready, move on to the next step. Step 3. Visualizing the Aetheric Body Once you've visualized your portion of the aetheric plane, you'll need to visualize your own aetheric body before you can work within the aether. Form your aetheric body by using the techniques described earlier in this lesson. Focus on your forehead link before moving down the body to eye, chest, navel, sex organ, hand, and foot links. Visualize a webwork of energy connecting the links and form your aetheric body around this frame. YOUR BODY IS A WEBWORK OF ENERGY CONNECTED BY AETHERIC LINKS. Your aetheric body occupies the exact space occupied by your material body. Performed with the right amount of concentration, this step will make you fully aware of your aetheric body. Rest for a minute or so before moving on to the next step. Step 4. Gathering Personal Aether Using the sex organ link, collect an amount of personal aether already in your aetheric body. This personal aether comes from below (from the foot links) and above (the other links in your torso and head). Wisps of aether will flow freely from these places, gathering around your aetheric sex organ link. PERSONAL APT!IER COLLECTS AROUND YOUR SEX ORGAN LINK. Picture the massing aether as a pink cloud, about the size of your fist and roughly spherical. This is only a small portion of your personal aether, but it belongs to you and no one else. With it, you can performterrific feats of mentalism. We will use this small quantity of aether to conduct the remaining steps in the aetheric dozen. Step 5. Transferring Personal Aether to the Abdomen Now transfer the cloud to the navel link. Imagine it floating up a cord between your sex organ and navel links. Try to keep the cloud as cohesive as you can; don't let it stretch out too much as it travels to your abdomen. When it has risen up through your intestines and stomach to the space in your body directly behind your navel, let it stop. Rest the sphere here for at least a minute and continue to concentrate on its form, color, and consistency. When you are ready, go on to the next step. IT MOVES UP AN INVISIBLE CORD TO YOUR ABDOMEN LINK. Step 6. Transforming Personal Aether This step reminds us that all aether is mutable and that our minds can shape aether into anything we can imagine. Focus on the aetheric sphere now resting in your aetheric abdomen. Like your material stomach, the abdomen link can transform substances. In this step we will perform a simple transformation, one of shape and color. Meditate on the pink cloud for a few moments and then visualize it condensing to a light blue pyramid shape. This new shape should be of a slightly lesser volume (total mass) than the previous shape, as it has been concentrated a little for better use. IT BECOMES A BLUE PYRAMID OF LIGHT. Step 7. Transferring Personal Aether to the Chest Using the same technique as before, float your mass of personal aether up to your chest link. The chest link is just behind the center of your breastbone. Visualize the blue pyramid of aether rising slowly from your abdomen to your chest. Make sure the pyramid maintains its shape as it travels. When it is resting around your chest link, concentrate on it for a few breaths before moving to the next step, which will move the aether out of your body. IT RISES ONCE AGAIN, THIS TIME TO YOUR CHEST LINK. Step 8. Ejecting Personal Aether Here is the first step in which you manipulate aether outside your body. The transition from controlling inner aether to controlling outer aether can be jarring, but it doesn't have to be, because the outer aether you will be working with is really just the same personal aether you've been using all along. THE PYRAMID STREAMS FORTH FROM YOUR CHEST. At this point in the aetheric dozen, you have raised the blue pyramid of personal aether to your chest link. Feel the shape in your body. It surges with light as you inhale energy into the pyramid, glows steady at the height of your breath, and then glows brighter still as you exhale. At one of your exhales, visualize a stream of aether coming from your chest. It looks like the smoke of a cigarette being blown from a tiny hole in the center of your breastbone. This smoke comes out on each of your exhalations, and you emit it of your own accord. You have complete control over this aether. Don't let the smoke dissipate. Instead, collect it one to two feet from your chest into the same pyramid shape as was resting inside your chest. As the shape before you grows, the shape inside you dissipates. This can be the most frightening step in the aetheric dozen and with good reason: no one is used to casually separating parts of their body from the greater whole. Why should we remain composed, in a word, as we decompose our aetheric selves? Stay calm. This split happens at a crucial point in our progress as mentalists, for as we allow a bit of ourselves to separate from our aetheric bodies, we take our first hesitant steps into the aether itself. Step 9. Manipulating Local Aether At this point your aetheric pyramid should be floating fully formed in the space in front of your chest. Keep it there for a little while so you can get used to it. It is a part of you, yet it is apart from you. Even though this realization may come as a shock, don't allow it to break your concentration. MOVE AND SHAPE THE AETHER WITH YOUR FOREHEAD LINK. You can manipulate the aether using your forehead aetheric link. Try it. By sending concentrated thoughts from your forehead to the pyramid you can make it change its shape, color, or any other properties that you can imagine. Do this a little bit if you can, but keep it simple at first. As you repeat the aetheric dozen each day, you will become more confident in your mental abilities and will try more complex transformations. Your forehead link can also be used to push the aether away from your body. Do this now, moving the blue pyramid to a distance about ten or fifteen feet away from your body. You should also use your hand links to move the aether as it gets further from your body. If you are performing this exercise indoors, you may have to imagine the pyramid moving through a wall to get it this far away. The aether will move through walls-and anything else-easily if you are focusing your concentration on it. When the pyramid is sufficiently far away, rest it there for a few moments before moving on to the next step. Step 10. Manipulating Aether at a Distance Once you've moved the aether a good distance from your body, let it hover in space around the level of the chest link from which it projected. This aether is your envoy, and it can act on your behalf anywhere on earth-and beyond for that matter. For now, let's try some simple experiments with it close to home. You are free to manipulate your aetheric envoy however you like, giving it abilities like hearing or sight. If it has gone through a wall into the next room in your house, try to listen to conversations or ambient noise in that room. Perhaps you would like to use your envoy as an independent "third eye" through which you can see the world. If so, it is only a matter of transferring your eyesight to this mass of aether separated from your body and floating freely in space. As with all aetheric experiments, the only thing holding you back is your own imagination. Use your hand links to move your aetheric envoy from place to place. Use your forehead link to imbue your aetheric envoy with powers of sight, hearing, or speech. Play with your aetheric envoy, instructing it to do your will. When you are ready, bring it back to a distance no more than ten feet from your body and float it there for at least a minute before continuing. Step 11. Drawing Aether to the Body Now, using your hand links in the aetheric world, draw your aetheric envoy back to your body. Do not let it put up any resistance. This aether is a part of you, and it performs on your behalf. It is not a sentient being, and should it act like one, it is your duty to put it back in line. Bring your envoy closer as you breathe. It pulses brighter and draws nearer with each breath. When the pyramid (or whatever shape your envoy is after its journeys) draws near to your body, rest it a foot or so away from your chest. You will use your chest link to draw the aether back into your body, a reverse of the process you used to emit it. Take your time in order to avoid shock. Bring your aetheric traveler back into your body slowly, inhaling it directly into your chest a little bit at a time. As the aetheric shape before you diminishes, you should feel a complementary shape growing within you, inside your chest. Continue to draw in the aetheric envoy until there is no more of it outside you, and all that is inside you is gathered as a cohesive whole. Reacquaint this aether with your body, letting it glow and burn with each inhalation as you continue the meditation that keeps your consciousness on the aetheric plane. It's a complicated procedure, to be sure, but it's the type of thing you need to learn as a basis for even more complex feats. Step 12. Distributing Personal Aether EACH OF YOUR AE'I'IIERIC LINKS RECEIVES ITS SHARE. This final step assures that the aether you've drawn into you is redistributed evenly throughout your body. The aetheric pyramid you drew in through your chest link should be floating in the same place it was before you ejected it, just behind your breastbone. Make sure it's there and that you are concentrating on it as intently as ever before continuing with this step-this is no time to break concentration. MOVE AND SHAPE THE AET}IER USING YOUR HAND LINKS. BRING THE AETIIER BACK USING YOUR HAND LINKS. When you formed the aetheric cloud in your sex organ link earlier, you did so by drawing personal aether from above and below. Now is the time to dissipate the pyramid and redistribute its aether to the whole body, concentrating especially on the body's aetheric links. Start with the foot links. Let some of the aether float away from the pyramid, like smoke off dry ice, and float down to the soles of your feet. Let it stop when it gets there. Because you have ten aetheric links in your body, each link should receive about a one-tenth portion of the pyramid's aether. Let two such portions fall down to your feet, reducing the size of the pyramid in your chest. When your feet receive the portions, rest. Visualize your feet glowing with a bright light. The aether belonging to your feet has been redistributed. Let another portion fall down to your sex organ link, stopping it when it gets there. When the proper amount of aether has dropped to your sex organ link, visualize a bright light around it. Continue to distribute portions of aether to your hands, your navel, your chest, your eyes, and your forehead. Aether moves from the chest link to the eyes and forehead link like steam rising off a bowl of hot soup. As each link receives its aether, that link radiates a bright glow. When all the links are re-energized, the light spreads out to fill your body. Soon your whole body is glowing with a bright light as the aether emits from each link to the surrounding tissues. Let the light glow brightly for a minute and then let it fade, slowly, as you return your consciousness to your breath and begin to return from your astral vibration to a materialworld vibration, following the technique you learned in the beginning of this lesson. Give yourself as long as you need to reduce your vibration, and let your mind come back to earthly thoughts and earthly surroundings slowly. When your vibration reaches its natural material frequency, open your eyes. You are back at home in the material world. Good job! STARTER PSYCHISMS Your work with the aetheric dozen provides an excellent foundation on which to build your psychic abilities. Supernatural feats achieved using the aether are known as psychisms. Psychisms can be divided into two classes-passive and active. Don't be fooled into thinking that the word "passive" in this sense means "weak." Passive psychisms include many powerful phenomena you have no doubt heard of before, including clairvoyance (seeing things not physically visible), clairaudience (hearing things not physically audible), astral projection (out-ofbody experiences that can include other psychic phenomena), precognition and postcognition (mental sensing of events before and after they have happened), thought reception, and mediumship (communication with aetheric beings). Active psychisms are equally fantastic and include among their number thought transmission, telekinesis (moving objects using mental energy), psychic healing, teleportation, levitation, invisibility, and time travel. Numerous theories exist as to the true mechanics of each of these psychisms. Obviously, given the nature of aether, there are many ways to perform a simple psychism. For the purposes of consistency, we will touch on many techniques but instruct in only a few. Here are three exercises you should practice regularly to increase your psychic abilities. These exercises provide basic instruction in clairvoyance, thought transference and reception (also known as telepathy), and telekinesis. Exercise 13: An Initial Exercise in Clairvoyance Clairvoyance is also known as remote sensing. Specifically, clairvoyance pertains to the phenomenon of seeing things hidden from our direct line of physical sight. Using clairvoyance, a mentalist can see the face of a person standing behind a closed door, look around a corner in the house without physically moving, or take a (very) private tour of a closed museum or other building. These are just three examples of how clairvoyance can be used, of course. The limits you face with this and any other psychism are the exact limits of your own imagination. You can perform some psychisms using the aetheric envoy formed in the eighth step of the aetheric dozen, "Ejecting Personal Aether." In fact, the exercise outlined here is an excellent one to incorporate into the daily regimen you've just learned, as are the exercises in telepathy and telekinesis to follow. Try this the next time you perform the aetheric dozen: Once your aetheric envoy is formed and floating in front of your chest, it can perform simple actions in your stead. By extending certain senses and abilities to the envoy, you enable it to do things you wouldn't normally be able to do. To make a clairvoyant envoy, you must transfer a portion of your sight to it. This is simple and yet amazing. Float the envoy up to eye-level and then bring it close enough to your face that it comes in contact with your eye links. Once it is there, look through the envoy to "see things from its point of view." At this point, visualize your sight transferring to the envoy. Allow the envoy to take on sight for your consciousness. This may take more than one attempt. Once it is done, though, you will gain sight via the envoy no matter where you send it. If at first this exercise does not produce satisfying results, try it again and again until you can at least achieve rudimentary remote viewing. Sight can be transferred back to you by bringing the envoy back in contact with your eyes. Don't worry about losing the envoy. It will snap back to you immediately if you are jolted out of your meditation. Use the envoy to explore places far from your meditation space. To lessen the shock of this dual existence, imagine that the envoy is, in fact, you and that you are traveling to these faraway places. For all intents and purposes, it is you. Practice this all slowly at first. There is no rush. In fact, if you do hasten your clairvoyant progress you will no doubt falter. Expect failure at first, just as toddlers should expect failure at their first attempts at walking. But like those toddlers, be sure to expect wonder as well. Exercise 14: An Initial Exercise in Telepathy Telepathy-the reading of thoughts-is not far removed from clairvoyance. Just as all things in the material world can be seen with material senses, so can things in the aether be seen with aetheric senses. Ride with me a distance on this train of thought: If, in fact, all things tangible and intangible are represented in palpable forms on the aetheric plane, then it is nothing at all for a person exercising aetheric sight to "see" a thought as it emanates from a person's head! This is one method of telepathy, and you must agree that it is the most straightforward. If thoughts can take shape on the aetheric plane, then they can be seen using aetheric eyes. Develop your telepathic ability by practicing this exercise, which involves a friend. The two of you should sit across from one another at a table. One of you should enter the lower astral vibration-perhaps your friend could help you by reading aloud the astral exercise from the beginning of this lesson while you perform the meditation. Once you are vibrating in the astral range, you should notify your friend by some sort of preset signal, by dropping a hand to the table, for example, or by uttering a secret word the two of you agreed on beforehand. Now you are aetherically awake and ready to read the aether like a book. Have your friend think a thought and think it strongly. It is important to stress that this thought should be one with a relatively powerful emotion behind it, as this will make the message much more clear to your aetheric eyes. Only you and your friend know where each other's passions lie, so no example is given for this portion of the exercise. It's difficult to say exactly how the thought will appear when your friend thinks it. It could be seen like a picture, it could read like the front page of the newspaper, it might even be heard like a voice. What matters is not the thought's form, it's that you can perceive it using your aetheric senses. To get a better sense of thought having shape and mass, think of it as being as tangible on the aetheric plane as a coffee cup or a shoe is in the material world. Once you see the thought floating in the aether, make a good effort to remember every detail about it. When you return to your material vibration, record the entire experience and compare notes with your friend. Exercise 15: An Initial Exercise in Telekinesis Telekinetic experiments follow the same basic premises as techniques for clairvoyance and telepathy, but there is a crucial difference between those exercises and this one. That is, telekinesis crosses over from the aetheric world to the material world, visibly affecting both at once. The practice of telekinesis is a difficult one, because it requires the mentalist to concentrate dually on two realities-the aetheric and the material. In a successful telekinetic trial, you will use your mental energy to affect physical phenomena in the material world. It's an incredible thing to witness, to be sure, and competent practitioners of telekinesis are few and far between. Sit at a table devoid of all objects save a piece of white typing paper and a coin. It is best to use a penny, as its color is much different than that of the paper. It is also lightweight. Trace the outline of the coin onto the paper with a pencil. This circle you have drawn represents the space the coin fills, and if your experiment is successful, the coin will move from its current space, leaving the circle behind on the paper. If you have another coin of a dark color you would like to use, make sure it is as dark as or darker than a penny. Dimes are too light in color for this experiment (your aetheric eye might confuse them for the paper), and quarters or dollar pieces are out of the question, as they are much too heavy for beginning telekinesis. Close your eyes and use the exercise from the beginning of this lesson to enter the lower astral vibration. Once there, activate (visualize) your forehead and hand links-these are the points of your aetheric body you will be using in telekinesis. Concentrate on each link as you do. Picture the links as sources of light, each one of them a glowing orb of aetheric energy. Once you have activated your aetheric links, open your eyes. (You may keep your physical eyes closed if you prefer and open your aetheric eyes only. Any telekinetic force on the coin will be apparent by the circle you drew on the paper, so you need not "see" the coin move with your materialworld eyes.) Focus your attention on the coin. Your hands are glowing with a supernatural light, as is your forehead. These points are the tools you will use to move the coin. The coin is an object in material space. But it exists in the aether as well, and you are in the aether now more than ever before. Moving the physical coin with your aetheric skills is very difficult at this point in your training. Strive instead to move the aetheric coin that is also there before you. This will be difficult at first, because the psychological barrier between the material and aetheric worlds is very strong. Now, using aetheric force from your hands or your forehead, move the coin. If at first this does not work, remember to focus on the aetheric coin before you. You are made of aether, the coin is made of aether, and the space between you and the coin is made of aether. When you move your aetheric hand, all the aether around it moves, including the aether of the coin. Try this and see what happens. Amazing, no? It is nothing compared to what you have yet to learn. ADJUSTING YOUR DAILY ROUTINE Make no mistake: At first you will struggle to practice these exercises several times a week, let alone daily. It is important that you not let this struggle discourage you from your practice of mentalism. The goal is to slowly make mentalism and the aether a part of your conscious daily life. In making a daily habit of the aetheric dozen, it can help tremendously to always perform the exercises at the same time of day. Morning works better for some, nightfall for others. Some prefer to visit the aetheric plane on their lunch break. Still others report that an aetheric excursion brings them closer to the twilight realm of sleep, and so they perform the exercises just before retiring to bed. Have you got any regular daily habits? Most people do, and you would be an exception to the rule if you did not. An easy way to integrate the aetheric dozen into your life is to tie the exercises to another daily habit. Most of us shower or take a bath at the same time every day. What if you were to perform your aetheric exercises after your bath? There is more time in the day than you think. Each of us is given the same twentyfour hours each day to do with what we wish. Before starting the daily aetheric dozen program, you may want to take a mental inventory of a usual day's activities. Take a look at yourself. Are there things you do every day that aren't really that productive or things that are even destructive? By cutting out some habits or pointless daily activities, you will free up time and energy for a new routine, like the aetheric exercises you have just learned. It is up to you to decide what is and isn't healthy in your life and make adjustments accordingly. Even when you have made the aetheric dozen part of your daily routine, you will likely still struggle with the practice. At first the exercises will be difficult and time consuming, and they might seem like more of a bother than a help, especially if you are not seeing results right away. Don't be discouraged. Continue your practice and slowly you will see results. Just like you can't rush physical training when you are trying for a certain physique or a diet to achieve a certain body weight, you can't rush mental development. It is a slow process, but one that each day builds on the previous day's successes. Keep it up! HEALTHY MATERIALISM If this lesson has achieved its goal, you are now aware that the only way to mental mastery is through a daily regimen of aetheric exercises. Aspiring mentalists should know, however, that the aetheric dozen outlined herein are only half of a regular program that exercises both the mind and the body. In addition to your daily excursions in the aether, you should also remember that physical exercise is an immense help to your growing mentalism skills. A healthy body feeds a healthy mind. If you do not already follow a regular workout, consult your doctor and ask that he or she prescribe physical activities at least as strenuous as the mental regimen you are now engaging in. The intensity of your physical routine will be unique to you. For some people it will be as simple as a daily walk around your neighborhood. Others will be prescribed a vigorous workout requiring modern gymnastic equipment. The author of this book is not qualified to tell you what is or is not good for your physical body. Your physician's advice is important. Heed it and do not overexert yourself. Aside from your workout, another key element in cultivating a healthy body is diet. Review your eating habits with a professional nutritionist, explaining that you are involved in a program that emphasizes both bodily and mental health. Ask for a diet outline that will give you the proper amount of vitamins and nutrients to bring your body to its peak potential. Avoid fad diets and stick to a mixed intake that includes lots of fruits and vegetables, which are excellent sources of physical and mental nutrition. If you do these things, you will find that you have more energy to perform the aetheric dozen outlined in this lesson. Your day will stretch out before you, and you will wonder how you ever whiled it away so effortlessly. Before you know it, you will be eating well and exercising as if it were second nature, and even though it seems like a chore at first, soon you won't mind the effort it takes to lead a healthy life. LESSON FOUR. ASCENSION In ternal Aether-Strengthening InternalAether-Common Questions about InternalAether-Many Bodies, One SelfThe Sublime Bodies Initial ExercisesAwake around the BlockGetting to Know You-4 Material DissolutionA Separate SelfProjecting the Astral BodyAscension-YourAstral NeighborhoodGoing Higher-Psychic ResidueAetheric HousekeepingDissolution of Everyday Objects-The Dweller on the Threshold-Crossing the ThresholdGoing On "It's not far, by bird, from a cloud to a man ... everything is transmutable into everything." -PAUL ELUARD, A Toute Epreuve OF ALL MANKIND'S FANCIES, the dream of flight is one that has diminished little since the days of Icarus. The advent of air travel in the early twentieth century brought people to the skies, but still the dream lives on in everyone's mind, including, no doubt, yours. And it is the mind that will serve as the vehicle for your first true experience of flight. As a practitioner of the exercises described in these pages, you are already well versed in the basics of aether, the universal substance that ties all things together. Now you are about to learn how you can use the aether to perform a singularly spectacular feat-astral projection. Building on the aetheric dozen, the set of exercises you've just learned, you will use memory and visualization techniques that will open your eyes to an entirely new world, one made of a much finer grade of aether than the world we normally inhabit. By forming and then separating your astral body from your material form, you will achieve free movement-including flight-in this other realm, a place known as the astral world. INTERNAL AETHER So far you have learned much about a type of aether called internal aether. In this section we will explore the functions and limitations of this substance. Keep in mind that internal aether goes by many names. All these names mean essentially the same thing: internal aether personal aether the mind the consciousness the aetheric body Internal aether is differentiated from external aether in that it is the aether that composes what you think of as your selfthat is to say, your personality or consciousness. Internal aether composes your physical and aetheric bodies, your thoughts, your feelings, your memories, and your personality. In a word: you. Your internal aether is controlled in much the same manner as your physical body. Think of this: Some of your material body's functions are subconscious or involuntary. These functions include breathing, blinking, reflexes, and other reactions and essential life processes. Other functions of your body come naturally to a grown person but are voluntary, such as walking, talking, and performing complex tasks like driving a car or cooking. Just as you control your body to do these things, so you control your internal aether to perform its functions. In fact, as you are cooking or sleeping or breathing in the material world, your aetheric body is doing the same in the aetheric world. External aether, in contrast, is defined as all the aether that composes things that are not you. You can no doubt name a countless number of things that are not you. Right now, the things closest to you that are made of external aether are the clothes you're wearing, the air you're breathing, and the place in which you're reading this book. In fact, this book itself is made of external aether. Exercise 16: Strengthening Internal Aether In order to use your internal aether to its fullest potential, an aspiring mentalist must exercise his or her aetheric body (composed of internal aether) just as an athlete would exercise his or her physical body. Here is a simple exercise you can perform as part of the aetheric dozen set of exercises you learned in the last lesson. The next time you complete the aetheric dozen-that is to say, when you have performed all the exercises and are standing with your replenished aetheric body in your practice space-do something totally mundane while your consciousness remains in the astral frequency. What are the objects in your practice space that you could pick up or use? If you have properly visualized the aetheric plane around you, then they should all look like faintly glowing doubles of the actual material objects. Keeping your mental vibration high, walk over to one of the objects and use it the way you would normally. Keep this simple at first-it is better to pick up a ball and toss it from one hand to the other than to read a book, as reading takes more of the focused concentration and reflection you need in order to keep your consciousness in the astral frequency. Tossing a ball, folding some laundry, eating a cracker-all these things are perfectly good to do for the purposes of this exercise. What's important to think about as you do it is not so much the activity itself but the motions your body is making to perform the activity. Your hands are moving, no doubt. Maybe your legs are too. What about your head? If you've chosen a mundane task like those listed above, you will be able to think about how your body is moving and how what you think translates directly into what you do-or rather, what is done. Because your internal aether is your consciousness, the more conscious you are of your body-its movements and functions-the stronger your internal aether becomes. Do this exercise after your daily dozen for a few days and see if you notice anything about yourself that you didn't know before. It is not necessary to keep doing this exercise every day after that, but remember that it is there for you if you need to strengthen your consciousness of your body. Common Questions about Internal Aether Under what circumstances does external (or personal aether become internal aether, and vice versa? The answer to this question is more complicated than it appears at first glance, and, in fact, there are no hard and fast rules governing what is and is not internal aether. What are some examples of the external becoming the internal in the material world? Drinking a glass of water, smoking a cigarette, even the simple act of breathing all take outside material and incorporate it into our bodies. As aetheric beings we can take the external into ourselves in much the same way. In fact, we do it as a matter of course, for when you eat a piece of fruit in the material world, you take the fruit's aether just as you take its flesh, and both provide nourishment to your respective bodies. Think about the penultimate exercise in the aetheric dozen, "Drawing Aether to the Body." In that exercise, you bring your aetheric envoy (internal aether sent forth from the body) back into your aetheric body. With practice, you can consciously bring external aether into your aetheric body. Does internal aether have a personality of its own? Yes, it does, but that personality is the same as your own. In rare cases, the personality of an individual's aether is significantly different than that of his or her materialworld personality. This is usually caused by mental illness or possession by a poltergeist or an even more powerful aetheric being that commands the personality. In those instances, the internal aether is still the victim's own, even though it is no longer under his or her control. At what rate does internal aether vibrate? I'm so glad you asked that question, because it brings us to our next subject. Many Bodies, One Self Depending on its vibrational frequency, your internal aether composes one of a number of sublime bodies that exists in tandem with your material self. Most of the time your internal aether is vibrating at a rate within the material range, albeit on the aetheric plane. Our material and aetheric selves can exist simultaneously due to the existence of the aetheric plane. As you meditate and raise or lower your internal aether to other worlds within the aether, your consciousness changes from its normal materialaetheric form to one more suited to the new world it inhabits. If you've been practicing the aetheric dozen, then you may have already made an astonishing realization: each time you have raised your mind's frequency to the astral world, your personal aether has done likewise and formed an astral body. While you practice the exercises, the astral body inhabits the same space as your physical body. In this lesson you will learn techniques for moving your astral body to other places while your physical body remains still. The Sublime Bodies The Elemental Body: The aetheric form known as the elemental body exists at the lowest aetheric vibration and is the most dynamic of all the sublime bodies, due to the variegated nature within the elemental vibrational frequency range. Depending on where in the elemental world your travels take you, your elemental body will become fiery, airy, watery, earthy, or a combination of the four. In some instances, the elemental body can exist in the material world. The MaterialAetheric Body: This body is known as the "materialaetheric" body instead of just the "material body" to help you keep from confusing it with the physical body you use every day in the material world. Your consciousness is in its materialaetheric form when you go about your mundane, daily affairs, not practicing mentalism or altering your mind's vibration through meditation or other means. You use your materialaetheric body when you daydream, putting yourself in places or situations that are totally imaginary. The Astral Body: Most of the feats and techniques you will learn as a mentalist will use the astral body. The astral body is an ideal vehicle for mentalism and aether manipulation for a number of reasons. Firstly, the heightened awareness achieved through astral-vibration meditation focuses your mind sufficiently for aetheric work. Secondly, the astral world is a remarkably pliable place, so you will find it a welcoming venue for your experiments. Thirdly, the variety of beings and energies existing in the astral world provide the range of experience essential to your progress as a mentalist. There are other, lesser reasons why the astral world is ideal for mentalism, and as you perform your own studies there, you will no doubt come up with a list of your own. The Elysian Body: The elysian body is the aetheric form your consciousness takes on once its vibration is raised past the upper limits of the astral world and the Lethean field separating the astral and elysian frequencies. At this point in your studies, Elysium is nothing but the remotest of destinations reachable in your aetheric travels, so for now we will not dwell on the functions of this sublime body. INITIAL EXERCISES The activities we take part in every day can also be performed in the astral world. In fact, a simple thing like a walk around your neighborhood can serve as the perfect introduction to astral projection. The material world offers many such illustrations to help you understand the aether more fully. In this section you will learn three materialworld exercises that will prepare you for your initial forays into the astral world. Exercise 17: Awake around the Block Have you got a short route you walk on a regular basis? Perhaps you go to a store or a bus stop a few blocks from your house several times a week, or maybe you have incorporated a short stroll into your exercise program. Regular walks such as this improve your physical health. When you practice mentalism, you can perform similar walks in the astral world to improve your aetheric wellbeing! Make sure the route you choose is a short one, with your farthest point no more than three blocks from your house, and try this: the next several times you go out on your walk give yourself extra time to notice the details of the world around you. Set aside a week in which you'll take your walk a few times in a much more conscious manner than usual. Take half again or twice as much time on your walk, so you can observe as much as possible. Look, listen, and smell the things around you on your way, paying extra attention to sensations you don't normally notice. Breathe deeply, getting a real feel for the air of the place. Is it sunny? Are there lots of buildings? How many trees or other plants do you pass on your walk? Are there many people around? When you return from your walk, take some time to remember what you can of it. Retrace your steps in your mind, ideally spending as much time in recollection as you did on your stroll. Memory can be very selective. We tend to remember only certain obvious or remarkable things we see or hear. As a student of mentalism, you must remember what all your senses are telling you and the details of everything you perceive. At first you may find that you are remembering your journey as a series of more powerful sensations connected by less memorable ones. As you practice your recollections, your memory will improve, thus improving your visualizations of this trip. Exercise 18: Getting to Know You Here is an exercise that will help you visualize your projected astral body. Stand naked in the bathroom or any other well-lit room that has a full-length mirror in it. Examine your reflection standing about an arm's length from the mirror. You already know your body so well, because you inhabit it and use it constantly, but now you are looking at it the way you've been looking at your neighborhood in the previous exercise. Get a good sense for the proportions of your body and how you look from the side and front. Look over your shoulder or use another mirror to get a look at yourself from behind. Then close your eyes and take a few minutes to picture your reflection from each angle. Open your eyes and compare your mental image to the reality in the mirror. Do this a few times. Remember: you are trying to build a strong mental visualization of your body. This is not the time to attach any negative or positive thoughts to your body image. Try to remain as objective as possible. Now stand very close to the mirror, almost to the point where you're so close you can't focus. Look at your face. Study its details just as you studied your body's details. A mental picture of your face is vital to beginning astral projection, so pay close attention. Now close your eyes and visualize your face. Can you see it? Concentrate on its image for a minute or so and then open your eyes to your reflection. How close is your mental picture to the real thing? Keep studying your face and picturing it in your mind until you know it well. Step back from the mirror and see your whole body again. Begin to notice your breath. Take a few deep breaths, and on one of your inhales, close your eyes and picture your body. When you exhale, open your eyes and see your reflection. Do this several times to increase your mental familiarity with your body, and then repeat the exercise focusing on your face. When you are through with this exercise, take a break from such introspection. Read a book or go outside. Be around other people. It will do you good and will let the things you've just learned sink in to your subconscious for recall later. Exercise 19:,4 Material Dissolution As you learned in the "Inky Flares" exercise, water is an excellent medium for illustrating the properties of the aether. In the exercise described here, you will need a (preferably transparent glass) bowl of water filled nearly to the top, a sharpened pencil, and a small box of sugar cubes. Imagine that the bowl of water represents the room you are in. The room is filled with aether, as it always is, and you are in it. With your fingers, carefully set a sugar cube in the bottom of the bowl. Now look closely at the sugar. After a moment or two you will see the sugar beginning to dissolve. Watch as it does. Notice how the solid cube slowly comes apart and melds with the water around it. Make note of how this particular sugar cube dissolves. Put another cube in the bowl and notice if it behaves the same way. After you've watched these two dissolve on their own for a bit, put a third cube in the bowl. Stir the water around with your pencil, creating a whirlpool. Pay close attention. How does this movement affect the dissolution of the sugar cube? Try other things with the pencil. Flake away bits from the edges of the cube, poke directly into its center, twiddle the pencil just to the left or right of the cube and notice how the sugar comes apart when you do. Perform these experiments again the next day, always noting how different conditions affect the dissolving sugar cube. Write down your perceptions and don't forget to keep track of them mentally as well. Try to remember the way the sugar cubes dissolved during your next meditation session. A SEPARATE SELF This section will guide you through the formation and separation of your astral body from your material body. Because of the importance of this exercise, aspirants are advised to read this section through at least once before following any of its instructions. This exercise should be performed at the end of your daily aetheric session, while you are still vibrating in the astral world, and one day after performing the "Getting to Know You" exercise presented previously. It's okay to go back and repeat the mirror exercise if it's been more than a day. Remember to wait until the next day to try this exercise, though, to give your mind some rest and to be sure you can truly recall the memories. Exercise 20: Projecting the Astral Body Lay down on your bed or on the floor near a wall, facing the ceiling. When you are more accomplished with this technique, you can try it while standing or sitting, but for now, it's safer to try astral projection on your back, so you don't have to worry about keeping your physical body's balance. The aetheric-material grounding you perform in the aetheric dozen involves your foot links. Your foot links continue to provide your firmest grounding while you are on your back. Put your bare feet against a wall, if possible, while you are lying down, to keep physical contact between the soles of your feet (and their respective aetheric links) and the material world. If you have just completed the aetheric dozen, your consciousness is already vibrating in the lower astral range. Your initial astral trips will take place in this vibration. At this point your astral body occupies precisely the same space as your physical body. What we must do is transfer your consciousness outside your material form. The first step in accomplishing this is to form a very clear, very precise mental picture of your body. Continue the deep meditation used for your aetheric exercises-focus on your breath. If it helps, think of the astral world as a deep blue wave of energy washing over you, as you have done before. Remain in this state for a minute or two before continuing. When you are ready, shift your focus from your breath to the memory of your face in the mirror the night before. Allow yourself plenty of time to form a clear mental picture of your face, with all its details. Think deeply on it. Imagine this face floating directly above your own face, so that you are looking into a mirror image of your own visage, just like last night. The difference is that this time it is real. Once you've established a good representation of your own face floating directly above your own, move your attention down to your chest link. From this microscopic portal in your solar plexus you must now emit a good deal of your personal aether. Do not be frightened by this prospect. At all times during your astral travels, you will be in complete control of your aetheric body. There is no danger in emitting this internal aether. Start slowly, letting the aether come from your chest link like a steady stream of smoke or steam. It should coalesce just above you into a cloud of vaguely human form. Let your awareness gradually shift with this emission, your consciousness expanding to include the space above your physical body. Emit enough aether to make a cloud about the size of your body, even if it seems a bit vapory. Now rest in this mode for a minute or so, your consciousness split between your material body and the cloud of aether above it. Now stare into the cloud of aether and look at the face you've formed in it. Take some time to make sure the face remains as close as possible to your own, a steady vision with all the features there. The eyes are the same; the facial structure, the lips, nose, and hair are all the same. This is an important step, so take your time. There is no hurry. Once your visualization is strong, hold it in your mind and feel your consciousness filling the cloud. The visualization of your face, and the eyes in particular, anchors your shifting consciousness as it moves from the space within your material body to the space just above it. Blink when you need to, keeping the face right above yours with those eyes blinking right back. Once you've brought your consciousness completely up to the floating space, blink again and realize that the face you see is no longer the face of your astral counterpart, that floating double made of so much of the stuff that is, essentially, you. No, the face you see is that of your material body, and you are looking down at it from above. Your consciousness is now floating freely above your physical form. Your initial movement in your astral body shouldn't be too difficult if you take it slowly. Float higher into the room until your astral body is about five or six feet above you. Continue to focus on your face below so you don't get disoriented. Once you're high enough, lower your astral feet to the floor so that your astral body is standing upright. When this is done, take a deep breath or two and look around the room. What do you see? Is everything as you remember it? You will find that walking isn't really necessary while your consciousness is in this form. Simply think of where you want to move to, and you go gliding along, your feet just above the floor. Try it. Spend some time moving about the room or even the house in your astral form. Don't leave the house during this trip, though-the exercise following this one will guide you through your first "outdoor" astral trip. Although it's unlikely, you may run into one or more spirits, elementals, or other aetheric beings on your initial journey. Do not be alarmed. Nearly all these beings are harmless, and most won't even notice you as they go about their otherworldly business. If you are ever frightened by them and do not wish to remain in their company, simply leave the area. If you feel safer nearer your physical body, move there. When you're ready, begin to reintegrate your personal aether. Do this gradually, as a quick reconnection of your two selves can cause an unpleasant mental shock. Successful reintegration can be done by merely reversing the process by which you projected in the first place. Float your astral body above your prone material world form, ideally no more than twelve inches away. Align your astral face with your material counterpart, and focus on your breathing. Allow yourself to remember what everyday physicality is like, the way your material body feels. Let this feeling grow slowly in you, a gradual realization throughout your entire body as you shift your consciousness back to its earthly state. Now close your eyes, breathe deeply, hold the breath, and as you exhale, open your eyes to see the ceiling of the room. You are back in your physical body. Gradually bring your vibration back to the material world. There's no need to rush. Relax and breathe for a minute or so in the material vibration. It is no doubt quite exhilarating. You've just made your first astral journey away from your physical body. Way to go! ASCENSION This is a very exciting time in your aetheric development. You've just completed your first astral trip, and, although it was very brief, it was astoundingly important. This section will instruct you in your first astral excursion of any considerable length. You're well prepared for this trip, because it will take you on the same route you've been traveling on your walks around the neighborhood. This time, however, you will take your walk using your astral body. Exercise 21: Your Astral Neighborhood This exercise is best performed on a day when you've gone on your neighborhood walk, followed by a session of the aetheric dozen. Like the previous exercise, this one should be done lying down with the soles of your feet touching the wall. Go through the procedure of forming the astral body, floating it just above your prone form. Once your consciousness has been transferred to this suspended body and you feel relaxed in it, bring your feet to the floor and look around the room. You have been outside your body at least once before. Do you notice that anything has changed from before? Look at your material form, breathing in unison with you. It will be fine while you are away. If you are ever in danger, your astral and material bodies will rejoin in an instant. Do not be afraid. Now move from this room to the door of your house. Can you see the door plainly? Reach out and open it. "Walk" through and close the door behind you. Pause here. Remember to breathe. Float several feet away from the door and look around. Take in the view-what do you see? Breathe deeply and savor the air. The air out here is different than that in your house. Give yourself a few seconds to get accustomed to this scene, and then begin your trip around the block. Move at a normal pace along your path, if not a little slower than usual. There is a lot to see, a lot to hear. What do you notice? Does the sky seem familiar? Look at the buildings and the ground around you. Are there trees? Are there people? Keep moving but retain an active awareness of what's happening around you. Continue your route to its farthest point, if you can, and then turn around and head for home. Aside from the floating, gliding attitude your body takes on during astral flight, remember to move as you normally would, using your hands to open and close the door when you return. Return to your practice space. You'll reintegrate your personal aether into your material body just as you did before, floating above and staring face-to-face into your own eyes. Keep breathing. Close your eyes and visualize your body growing more solid, more heavy, more anchored in the material world. When you are back in your physical form-and when you are ready-open your eyes. It's natural to feel a bit disoriented after an astral projection session. Allow yourself time to regain your bearings once you've come back to the material vibration. Lie still and think about your trip. If you've maintained a slow, steady reduction in vibration on the way back down to the material world, you shouldn't have any adverse reaction to your projection. Take things slowly. You might even feel invigorated and excited once you're back. After all, you've just done something amazing! Going Higher If you've closely followed the directions given so far in this lesson, all your astral travels to this point have covered the same ground you've tread during your normal, materialworld walks around your house and the neighborhood in which you live. No doubt you're hungering for something a little more spectacular in your astral projections. Perhaps you're thinking about flight to higher and more inaccessible places. Even though humans are earthbound creatures by nature, we've all dreamed (while awake or asleep) of flying high above the earth at one time or another, hoping perhaps to escape from some dreary reality below or just to feel the thrill of unencumbered movement among the clouds. This being the case, the barrier the aspiring mentalist has to surmount to achieve true astral flight (that is to say, astral flight unlimited by gravity) isn't the imagining of the act of flight-it's the visualization. As you know from your work so far, the imagination is the starting point for all mentalism, but before any imagined idea can have any validity in the material or astral world, it must be visualized with a great deal of concentration. Everyday experiences can help you visualize astral flight. Within reason, you should have a materialworld experience as close as possible to your astral flight. I say "within reason" because I don't want to encourage you to put your physical body in danger as part of your aetheric studies. In fact, one of the greatest advantages of mentalism is that the aspirant can use his or her mind to do things that are impossible for the body to achieve. So please don't go out and jump off a cliff in search of the feeling of flight necessary for this exercise. The aether in the astral world behaves like water at times, so if you are to excel at astral flight, it's good to have a working knowledge of how your body moves underwater. Swim often, taking careful note of how the water feels around your body. Scuba diving is also recommended, as the prolonged dives beneath the surface will accustom you to floating movement in another world. Equally important to the sense of flight is a visual picture of what the earth looks like from above. Do you ever travel by plane? The next time you do, pay special attention to the ground below you. How does it look? Can you see your house from the air? Study maps of your hometown, paying close attention to your neighborhood. Then go outside and compare what you see on the maps to the actual houses and geographical features there. Stand on your roof and look around. How does your neighborhood look from up here? When you're ready, you should try to visit the skies above your town on the aetheric plane. Psychic Residue When you move on the aetheric plane, you leave a trail behind you, a psychic residue that is similar to the signs and scents left by an animal moving through the forest. This residual trail is made up of internal aether that breaks away from your aetheric body as you take in new experiences and sensations. In the material world as well as in the aetheric one, this trail also accounts in part for our ability to remember places we've been and things we've done. The trail is nearly imperceptible to beginning mentalists, who will see aetheric bodies as glowing forms that seem to be trailed by a blurred afterimage only a few inches in length. Experienced mentalists see the psychic residue clearly and can use it in tracking other aetheric beings or in determining what type of intelligences have come through an area in the astral world. It is this psychic residue trail that your astral body follows to get back to your material body. Even though it's best to retrace your steps back to your material body when finishing an astral trip, your consciousness and all your faculties are able to snap back instantly, if need be, by following the psychic residue trail. AETHERIC HOUSEKEEPING At times you may find it useful to clear out a roomlike space on the aetheric plane for use as a mental workshop. Perhaps you are plagued by distracting thoughts and need to focus your attention on a particular thing. Maybe you are unable to practice in your normal quiet space and need to find stillness in the midst of boisterous surroundings. Recall the sugar exercise from earlier in this lesson. In it, you watched as a sugar cube dissolved slowly into the surrounding water. With proper visualization, you can mentally dissolve objects on the aetheric plane, temporarily obliterating their influence on you. This technique-like all others you are learning-is limited only by your imagination. Exercise 22: Dissolution of Everyday Objects Start out with this simple exercise. Clear your practice space of all objects save a chair, a book, a glass of water, and a pair of shoes. Sit in the chair, facing the objects, and enter a meditation in the lower astral frequency. Visualize the room, its walls defining the boundaries of the space that will become your aetheric workshop. Visualize the book, the glass of water, and the pair of shoes in the room, and also yourself in the chair. Think about the book; focus your attention on it. The book represents an object or thought standing in the way of your concentration. It must be removed from the space before you can continue. Look closely at the book (you can do this with your eyes open or closed, whichever feels more comfortable to you), so closely that you can see the texture of the cover. All surfaces have a texture, even if at first glance they appear smooth. Look at the texture of the cover of the book, and as you do, imagine an eddy of aether washing away at it. Bits flake off, float away from the cover, and dissolve into nothingness. Keep concentrating on the book. Once the cover is broken away and gone, let the pages come loose. See them float above the book and break apart rapidly, joining the eternal flow of the aether. Keep up this thought until the whole of the book has been dissolved. If you like, visualize a sharp spike of aether working away at the book, just like your pencil did to the sugar cube in the earlier exercise. You might well wonder, is the book now destroyed? No, it is not-not in the slightest way. What you did was dissipate the thought of the book, the image of the book in your mind. If you look again, you may see the book back where it was, as solid as ever. Try not to let this happen as you move your attention to the glass of water and then to the shoes, dissipating each in the same way, as if they were made of sugar and submerged in a turbulent pool. What difficulties do you notice as you dissolve these other objects? Does the glass shatter, or does it flake away like the book? Does the water in the glass steam as it disappears, or does it drain into nothingness, as if someone were drinking it with an invisible straw? Do you picture the laces of the shoe untying before they dissolve, the elements of the shoe coming apart as if it were being disassembled by hand, or does the shoe break up as if it were made of a single substance-as you and I know it truly is? Once you've dissolved all three objects, rest a bit in your meditation and enjoy the room in its new uncluttered state. Does it take much effort to keep the objects invisible? Do they keep slipping back into view? Maintain the room's blank state for at least five minutes before allowing the objects to come back in. When you do, there is no need to rebuild them in the aether. You'll no doubt find that the objects reappear with little effort on your part. It's just a matter of noticing them again. The paradox behind this exercise is that in the aether, thought is reality. The things you actively try not to think about are the very things that will crop up in front of you. It's vital that you learn to clear your mind of thought, making your self as blank as the room you've just cleared. This can only be done through regular meditation on the subject. You may find it easy to dissolve things like books and glasses of water-all it may take is to close your eyes to forget about their presence. Out of sight, out of mind, after all. But what if you need to clear unwanted sounds from a room? What about smells? You must form techniques that help you clear these intruding sensations from your attention. Practice sitting in a crowded cafe, focusing on one conversation for a while and on another later. Then let the overall warble of voices merge, and, closing your eyes and your mental ears, dissolve the cacophony into nothing. Memorize scents, including the smell of nothing at all, and bring them back as needed. With practice this will become easier. THE DWELLER ON THE THRESHOLD The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter, if you do not carry them within your soul, if your soul does not set them up before you. -CONSTANTINE P. CAVAFY, Ithaca Being human, each of us carries within ourselves a tremendous amount of psychic baggage. Most often the result of experiences gained in childhood, this mental burden weighs us down and hinders our capacity for mastery over aether. In order to move ahead in your studies of mentalism, it's necessary to take stock of your own burden and free yourself from its weight. As it invariably does, the aether gives aspirants a very concrete representation of this psychic burden. It is called the Dweller on the Threshold, and you will meet it in the astral world early in your travels. The Dweller's appearance is unique to everyone. One person's Dweller might appear as a great beast crouched in the middle of a road. To another person, the Dweller is a wall of fog or an endless field that cannot be crossed. No matter its appearance, in each case the Dweller's purpose is the same: to stop your aetheric advancement dead in its tracks. It seems unfair, doesn't it? Here you are on the verge of great achievement on the aetheric plane, and this creature, this monstrosity, now stands in your way. Why? That, dear aspirant, is a question that only you can answer. For just as the Dweller looks different to each and every one of us, so is the Dweller different. It is made up of all your past failings, your fears, your insecurities. Everything that's ever stopped you from fulfilling your desires and living out your dreams is bound up in the flesh of this unsettling creature, be it bottomless sea or stony serpent in appearance. Facing the Dweller is not as awful a fate as you might think. In a way, the Dweller is giving you an opportunity, forcing you to come to grips with everything that's ever held you back, to examine why it is that you limit your own capacity-which is phenomenal-by believing falsehoods about who you are or what you can achieve. By setting it all before you now, when you are at the brink of terrific personal development, the Dweller is actually doing you a great favor. Exercise 23: Crossing the Threshold The ancient Egyptians, among others, believed in a being similar to the Dweller, one who guards the crossing point between life and death. The role of the aetheric Dweller you'll encounter isn't much different, for when you meet it you are ending your first life-that of a mundane-and stepping fully into your new life as a mentalist. Despite its outward appearance, which as you know by now could be anything, the Dweller is not a single entity but an amalgam of legion thoughtform elementals, each one representing a particular aspect of your life that has stifled you or held you back. Just like the Dweller, these creatures can appear as something completely unrelated to their true nature, but when you see each one, you'll soon realize what it is. These elementals will appear to you separate from the Dweller, breaking off from the greater form one by one. Each one must be met and understood for what part it has played in your life. It must then be dissipated using the technique you learned earlier in this lesson. When you dissolve the elemental, you are not momentarily wiping it from your memory or temporarily clearing it from the space in which you are standing, like you did with the glass of water or the book. No, you're doing something much more powerful. By dissolving each elemental at the Threshold, you are accepting its influence in your life and making it clear that you will no longer let it hold you back. The work you are doing here is mental-it is for the good of your mind. This process will not remove bad habits or unpleasant thoughts from your life, but it will stop you from being mentally restricted by them. Expect the process to be emotional, as it is will bring up old memories and experiences that may have been swept under the rug. This process is also slowdo not expect it to be easy or fast. Take as much time as you need. It may take more than one ses sion with the Dweller to overcome all its aspects. This is okaythere is no need to push yourself too hard. Take your time at the Threshold, long enough to appreciate what it is you're doing for yourself. You will appreciate the time you took, because the experience is deeply personal and rewarding, and it will make you a more whole person. Once you have reconciled with the Dweller, you can pass freely across the Threshold and into the next stage of your mental development and your life. You will not meet this being again. In a sense, crossing the Threshold will be one of the greatest feats of mentalism you will ever perform, because you will be overcoming yourself, your past, and all the things that have ever limited you. All is aether. Mentalism is will over aether. And in the end, nothing's really holding you back, is it? GOING ON This lesson has outlined a number of practical exercises for the aspiring mentalist to perform in the astral world. No doubt you can think of many others you would like to try. By all means, experiment! Practice your astral flight and attempt feats as they come to mind. Astral travel is a dynamic, fantastic experience. Try to get the most from it. Use the skills you've learned in your practice here to do things you wouldn't normally try with your material body, to go places that are physically impossible for you to visit. Try the psychism experiments you learned earlier in this book. You may find clairvoyance, telepathy, and telekinesis to be surprisingly different while projecting. Notice how your thoughts affect your surroundings, how even your daydreams alter the environment in a subtle way. Keep an eye out for other aetherics in the astral world. Most of them are benign, many not even paying much attention to you. You are all like fish swimming in a vast ocean, each inhabitant going about its own business. All the same, remain aware that there are aetheric beings out there that wish harm on others. The aether is a "transparent" substance in that a being's motive or purpose is often clear when you encounter it, but powerful aetherics can throw up a mental smoke screen that masks their true intentions. Be careful. Above all, enjoy your new knowledge and work to use the aether in a meaningful way. Keep practicing the aetheric dozen, and meditate on what the aether means to you. LESSON FIVE. THE SPIRIT WORLD The Living and the Dead-Centuries of Spiritism-Spiritism Today-Questions from Readers Nether and the Alfterlife-Where Do We Go When We Die? -4 Word for BelieversAnother for Nonbelievers-The Nature of Spirits-Human SpiritsAnimal Spirits-Phantoms-Mediums among Us-The New New WorldStrengthen ing Attention-The Power of PhantomsA Phantom Companion-Reaching Out-Sensing SpiritsSpiritism in Everyday Life-Spirits Surround Us-Even You "There is no death, there are no dead." -INSCRIPTION ON THE MEMORIAL STONE OUTSIDE THE FOX FAMILY COTTAGE, HYDESVILLE, NEW YORK DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO HAS DIED? Would you like to see their face again or speak to them once more, even if it is just to tell them you love them? Do you ever wonder if plants can think or if they have souls? What does it mean when some of your possessions mean more to you than some of your friends? The practice of spiritism-a specialization of mentalism-allows you to look for answers to these questions. By using your basic understanding of the aether, you now have a chance to explore the spirit world and meet its inhabitants, be they the aetheric doubles of humans, plants, animals, or even seemingly inanimate objects. During life, the aetheric body can be used for many things. It is useful for performing psychisms, such as the clairvoyance and telekinesis exercises you've tried. Astral projection is a practice you learned in the previous lesson, and by now you've no doubt found a number of advantages to knowing this skill. One use you may wish to develop further is the ability to hold congress with other aetheric doubles. The spirit world is a bustling, exciting place. By practicing the spiritism exercises presented in this lesson, you'll gain access to this fascinating realm, a place few people see during earthly life. THE LIVING AND THE DEAD Centuries of Spiritism Spirits have appeared in mankind's stories since the dawn of time. The earliest mention of a spirit in a written story occurs in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Babylonian tale dated around 2000 BCE. Belief in the souls of the dead returning to the world of the living goes back much further, though. Excavated remains from prehistoric gravesites have shown that some of our ancestors were buried with hands and feet bound together or weighted down with stones, leading archeologists to believe that early man meant to hinder the return of the spirit. Other cultures have similar traditions, which they carry out even today. The modern spiritism movement traces its roots back to the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, a mentalist and author who visited the spirits of kings, popes, and saints, writing of his experiences and founding a spiritualist church. Sweden borg's work greatly influenced later spirit world investigators, including William Blake. Authorship makes us all immortal, in a way, but Swedenborg was apparently not content with mere indirect influence on future generations of mentalists. Nearly eighty years after his death, Swedenborg's spirit, along with the ghost of second-century Greek thinker Claudius Galen, appeared to the American shoemaker Andrew Jackson Davis. The ensuing conversation between the three changed Davis's life, and within two years he had produced the spiritist manifesto The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind, in which he predicted that proof of the spirit world would manifest in "a living demonstration." After publication of The Principles, Davis waited for such a phenomenon to occur, and on March 31, 1848, he entered the following passage in his notebook: "About daylight this morning a warm breathing passed over my face and I heard a voice, tender and strong, saying: `Brother, the good work has begunbehold a living demonstration is born."' That very same day, two young girls in Hydesville, New York, began their soon-to-be famous communications with the spirit world. Seven-year-old Kate Fox and her ten-year-old sister Margaret came into contact with the ghost of a murdered peddler living in their family's cottage. They found the spirit could answer questions posed to it by making sharp rapping sounds (one for yes, two for no) that could not otherwise be accounted for. The congruence of Davis's notebook entry and the beginning of the Fox sisters' mediumship ushered in an era of intense interest in spiritism that consumed American and European society. Kate and Margaret Fox toured both continents, giving presentations of their remarkable abilities. London's Ghost Club and the British Society for Psychical Research were founded to further investigate the spirit world. Seances became regular happenings at bourgeois and upper-class homes, and general interest in spirits reached a level not seen before or since. Spiritism Today The fervor associated with the spiritism craze of the late nineteenth century has died down, but people today have some of the same experiences as the mediums of yesteryear. Ouija boards and books on the subject of spirits continue to sell well. Mediums advertise in your local newspaper, and television shows feature evangelistic spiritists who promise to bring viewers in touch with the spirits of their loved ones. Ghosts do not start or stop appearing just because they are popular. They couldn't care less about fads, ads, or television programs. No, spirits have their own reasons, their own agendas. In this lesson we will examine the various beings waiting to communicate with us from beyond the veil of death and how we can seek them out ourselves. Questions from Readers Before we begin our examination of the different types of aetheric doubles that make up the spirit world, allow me to answer a few common questions about the subject. What do spirits look like? Popular culture, such as that presented to us by books and films, paints a somewhat limited picture of the average spirit. It is often pictured as a semitransparent figure, perhaps dressed in flowing robes or a sheet, emitting a low moaning sound. This is not always how a spirit appears to us. As you'll find, spirits are seldom as "ghostly" as we might imagine them to be. Quite often, in fact, spirits look exceedingly solid and "real," and you may not realize you have been visited by one until it does something out of the ordinary, such as walk through a wall or appear or disappear abruptly-"into thin air," you might sayalthough the spirit is merely flitting its visible form in and out of the material world vibration. Why do spirits return to the material world? While some spirits' motives will never be discerned, people fortunate enough to be visited by a spirit sometimes learn why it has returned. Some spirits wish to communicate with a loved one or a person they didn't have a chance to bid farewell before leaving this world. Others come to issue a warning or to give information that would never be discovered otherwise. Rare is the spirit who seeks revenge, but they do exist. More often a spirit comes to see that justice is done, that a culprit is found out or that the innocent are protected. How is it that spirits walk through walls? This is an interesting question, as it would appear that some spirits have a mastery over solid objects such as walls and doors and may pass through them with ease. If you chance to see a spirit pass through a solid wall, for example, pay close attention to the spirit's other movements and mannerisms-you may be surprised at what you notice. It is likely that the spirit can pass through the wall not because it has power over the corporeality of the wall, but because the spirit is very much removed from the reality in which the wall exists. Perhaps the spirit lived in human form on earth in a time before the wall was constructed, or perhaps the spirit has such a great need to get from one place to another that it will not let materialworld impediments get in its way. One way we can compare this phenomenon with things that go on in our own lives is to think about what happens when we are "lost in thought." Have you ever been so deep in your own head as you walk through your house or down the street that you run right into some obstruction, such as a wall or post? Some would say that we hit these barriers because we are not paying attention. In truth, we are paying attention, just not to the material world around us but to an interior world of our own construction. The difference between the spirit's passing through the wall and our colliding with it lies in the degree to which the spirit is immersed in the interior world of the aetheric plane. When humans are lost in their own thoughts, they are still a part of the physical world. Spirits do not have such a strong connection to earthly life and so are less affected by it. Why is it that when spirits are present they are sometimes seen and sometimes unseen? If only spirits would act in a consistent manner, then we could say so much more about their true nature! Alas, it is not to be. Spirits may appear to be of solid form or may seem ghostly, and in some cases they will not be visible at all. This phenomenon is partly explained by the aforementioned flickering of the spirit between the astral and materialworld vibrations. Remember, too, that in the aether our perception of reality is continually influenced by the notions and needs of other aetheric beings in the vicinity. When our own mental picture of life is weaker than that of another aetheric's, our reality and perception can be overruled to accommodate their own. When spirits make themselves known to us, it is often because their presence in the aether is so strong that their form crosses the normal boundaries of perception. AETHER AND THE AFTERLIFE When we talk of spirits, we generally think of them as beings different than ourselves, but the truth, as you will learn, is otherwise. Your aetheric studies thus far have taught you the basics of aether and the aetheric plane, as well as some fundamental exercises with which to strengthen your control over this universal substance. Most recently, you learned about astral projection, the practice of moving the consciousness (also known as your internal aether) away from the physical body and traveling free of all ties to the material world. Many names were assigned to the vessel you traveled in-the astral body, the mind, and the self, among others. Now we will make two very important additions to that list, for your internal aether also goes by the names of spirit and soul. The truth is that you are also a spirit, different in no way from the ghosts of the realm of the dead except that you inhabit a fleshy form in the material world, one that you will shed upon physical death as you rejoin your brethren in the eternal aether. The experience we know as physical life is merely a transition between our soul's eternal existence before and after this earthly interlude. Spirits have throughout history perplexed and frightened most people, and they probably always will. As representatives of the world of the dead, spirits are certainly strange to us and can seem scary. But what do we have to be afraid of, really? If indeed the spirits of the dead are merely the disembodied doubles of those once living, then these spirits are probably not far removed in temperament from their former selves, and meeting one of them might be no more dangerous than meeting any other new person. Among your meetings in the aether you might find a spirit still clinging to memories of earthly life (a being known as a revenant), or you may encounter a soul at eternal rest upon whom you can call for knowledge of another time or place. Meetings with these spirits seem less alien and bizarre once you realize how close you yourself are to them (especially when you are traveling in your aetheric form, removed from your physical body), although to call the encounters more "human" would be missing the point. All this is simple to state but may be difficult to believe. I don't ask you to take my word on it. Instead, do your own investigation using the aetheric skills you've already learned. With time and practice you will no doubt come to your own understanding of an eternal life existing before and after earthly life, if for no other reason than that this theory makes more sense than one stating that life begins and ends with the birth and death of our material bodies, given what we know about the power of the human consciousness and its potential for feats unexplained by everyday logic. Your discoveries may serve as a balm to you when thinking of loved ones who have passed out of this life. They are not as far away as you think, and your studies of mentalism and the aether are bringing you closer to them every day. Where Do We Go When We Die? If you were brought up with any sort of religious or spiritual background, you've no doubt spent a lot of time thinking about the spirit or soul, an entity that survives death. Belief in the afterlife is nearly universal among adherents of the world's major religions, but nothing could be more diverse than the theories describing what happens to that soul after death. Here are notes on the beliefs of four major religions regarding the soul and the afterlife. Hinduism: Hindu belief dictates the existence of an individual soul known as the Atman, or deep self The Atman is truly immortal in that it is a fragment separated from the greater godhead of Brahma, the universal soul from which all life is formed. Through a succession of material incarnations, the Atman strives to reunite with Brahma in the afterlife by doing good deeds while on earth. Serving the function of a cosmic scorecard, the natural law of karma keeps track of an individual's deeds, rewarding good behavior and punishing evil acts. It is necessary for the soul to be reincarnated on earth in order to "reap the karma" on the way to eventual enlightenment and reintegration with the godhead. Ancient Hindus held that for individual spirits this reintegration would feel like being a drop of water falling into the sea, the individual's personality obliterated as it merged with the oversoul and yielded to a state of eternal bliss. This belief was challenged by adherents of devotionalism, who claimed that in the afterlife the soul would retain individuality and would enjoy a never-ending blissful existence worshiping the godhead. Hindus believe in a number of places of spiritual punishment where the souls of evil people meet tortures according to their misdeeds. Eventually, though, even these souls are reincarnated to live out another life on earth. Judaism: The afterlife is less of a concern than the present life to followers of Judaism, but the history of this faith reveals an interesting variety of beliefs about the fate of the human soul. Early Jewish belief in the afterlife mirrored that of the Mesopotamians and Greeks, speaking of a shadowy existence in a dull netherworld known as Sheol. They thus strove to live life to the fullest while on earth. God was believed to have a covenant with man, giving rewards and punishments during life, not after death. As the centuries passed, it became clear that not all people were meeting with divine justice in this life, and among some of the mystics a reincarnation theory arose, granting second chances on earth for individuals who had committed the most horrendous sins. While some Jews share a belief in a heaven or hell similar to that of the Christians, there are a number of opinions among Orthodox, Secular, and Reform Jews as to the nature of the soul and its fate after bodily death. Christianity: Christianity developed a keen interest in the afterlife almost immediately upon the faith's inception. The bodily resurrection of Christ was the model for the Christian belief in mass bodily resurrection for all of mankind on the Day of Judgment, the pious going to the blissful heaven and the wicked to the torturous hell. Other cultures have had a marked influence on Christian beliefs relating to the afterlife and the soul. Early Christians borrowed their belief in an apocalyptic world from their Jewish contemporaries. The idea of the immortality of the soul came from the Hellenistic beliefs of the Romans and Gnostic Greeks. After death, the human soul is assigned to one of three possible places-heaven, hell, or purgatory, an intermediary between the extremes of joy and agony where the soul may be cleansed before gaining admission into heaven. The Protestant sect of the sixteenth century rejected the notion of purgatory, claiming that salvation and entrance to paradise is granted by the grace of God. Islam: Another faith with strong beliefs in the eternal soul and rewards and punishments in the afterlife is the Muslim system, or Islam. After bodily death, the soul (known as nafs) is separated from the physical body and travels to Barzakh, a place where it gains knowledge of its true nature. The soul stays in this dreamlike place until the Day of Judgment, at which time it is assigned to hell or heaven based on its deeds during earthly life. The Muslim paradise promises all manner of pleasure to the believers. This heaven is arranged in a spherical, many-layered manner, surrounding God, and the Islamic hell borders this paradise's outermost layer. Assignment to hell can be temporary, the soul gaining admission to heaven after its earthly sins have been burned away. Islamic opinions vary on the exact relationship of the soul and the material body after death. Sunni Muslims hold that both the soul and the physical body die at the moment of earthly death. A second death comes after a trial overseen by a godlike judge and two angels. Upon this second death, the soul is obliterated until its reunion with the physical body on Judgment Day. Shiite Muslims believe in the commencement of rewards and punishments for the soul upon bodily death. The soul rejoins the physical body upon the Day of Judgment, and its stay in heaven or hell continues for eternity. A Word for Believers Many aspiring mentalists are believers in one religious faith or another, and they often wonder if the aether runs counter to their faith. Some ask how it is possible to believe in God and aether at the same time. You need not reject God or mentalism just because your religion teaches nothing of the aether. For many people, God is the supreme embodiment of aether and the originator of the aetheric plane. It is not sacrilegious to think that there is a structure and system underlying all of creation. Another for Nonbelievers It can be troubling to some people, looking at all the various theories of the afterlife and wondering which one of them, if any, reflects the actual journey of the soul upon bodily death. Even stranger than any of the above theories is the actual truth: that they are all true. Just as an individual's faith and concentrated belief can change the aether in the material world, so centuries of strong belief by millions of religious adherents have sustained the various heavens, hells, and systems of rebirth. It is important, therefore, not to discount another person's spiritual beliefs, and it is equally important to know where your own faith lies. THE NATURE OF SPIRITS Because the aether composes absolutely everything, the aetheric plane contains a counterpart for every man, woman, and child, every animal and plant, and every object in existence. Knowledge of these doubles is important, because as you proceed in your studies of mentalism, you will encounter them all. The doubles of living beings dwell in the aether both during life and after the death or destruction of their physical forms. During life, they exist in an aetheric location comparable to their place in the material world. After death the doubles are known as spirits, and they may no longer be under any obligation to stay near their former earthly body. The doubles of inanimate objects mirror the state of their material counterparts and remain in a space in the aether corresponding to the matter and mass of their earthly forms. Mentalists have never been able to pinpoint in the aether the locations of realms such as the Christian hell or heaven, and some believe that these places are not actual locations at all, but rather states of being incomprehensible to the living. The spirits remaining in the astral vibration after death make up the segment of the spirit world most accessible to us as mentalists. Their reasons for pausing in the astral world are various, as will be explained in the remainder of this section. With few exceptions, rapport with these aetheric beings is no more or less difficult than conversation with new people you might meet in the material world. Human Spirits There are four classes of human spirits you can expect to encounter in the astral world, three of them the spirits of the dead and one-the lost soulthe disembodied spirit of someone yet living. Departed Spirits: As you learned in the previous essay, human souls undergo different afterlife experiences after death. Some are immediately transported to places of eternal torture or reward, others are put in a sort of cosmic waiting room where they remain until an apocalyptic day of reckoning occurs. Still other souls are seemingly obliterated, reduced to a non-sensory existence while they, too, wait for judgment. Finally, some souls are part of a cycle of reincarnation, inhabiting the afterworld for a time between their rounds on earth. It may surprise you to know that some of these souls wish to communicate with those still living an earthly life. Whether they manifest themselves to us in the material world or while we project our consciousnesses into the aether, departed spirits often have a message they want us to hear. Sometimes spirits are known to appear at the moment of their earthly death, yet miles from their physical bodies. This type of spirit is called a crisis apparition, and it shows itself to loved ones in an attempt to make its goodbyes to the material world. Other times the spirits of the departed return to deliver a message of love or comfort to friends and relatives distraught over their death. These visits are usually single, solitary events, but they occasionally occur again and again over time. Spirits are sometimes sought out by surviving family members or others who wish to speak with the departed. This is the purpose of the seance. Other departed spirits have no connection at all to the living people who see them. If the visit is merely to impart information useful to those of us still on earth, the ghost can rightly be classified as a departed spirit. If, however, the spirit needs something from us in response to its appearing, that spirit may be a revenant. Revenants: These are the aetheric bodies of people who, even though dead, have unfinished business in the land of the living. They remain near the place they occupied during life, floating between the lower astral and the materialaetheric vibrational frequencies. They are often seen performing tasks indicative of their time on earth. Revenants are popular in literature, and if the folktales of countless cultures are to be any guide, these spirits need the intervention of a living being to settle their cosmic accounts here on earth. Revenants are not always powered by greed or memories of material life. Other forces can keep them bound to earth. Some people die and cannot fully move on to the afterlife because of a strong belief that it does not exist or that it is remarkably different from what they are experiencing in the aether. Others spend their time as revenants because they don't realize they are deadthey go on with their day-to-day activities as if nothing has changed save a noticeable disregard from their colleagues. Of those who understand their earthly demise, a sense of purpose regarding their death takes hold of some spirits, and they feel they must learn more about its cause or warn others still living about whatever was their undoing. Finally, some spirits are kept earthbound by mourners whose constant thoughts about the deceased hold the aetheric body near, in much the same way thoughtform elementals are created and sustained. In order for a revenant to be released from its bondage to the material world, its questions or conflicts regarding life and death must be laid to rest by someone still living. Because mentalists are especially skilled at communication with spirits, this task is often up to them. Wraiths: When a soul has unfinished matters on earth and needs human intervention to come to rest, it is a revenant. When a soul seeks out this intervention through destructive deeds, it is a wraith. Wraiths are perhaps the most dangerous and treacherous aetheric beings you will encounter in your travels on the astral plane. They are usually invisible, even when vibrating on the same frequency as other aetherics around them, but they can be detected by the tight, suffocating air that surrounds them. Some theories hold that this phenomenon is a natural extension of the wraith's aetheric form, others state that the tightness is the result of a sense of repulsion that the surrounding aether feels toward this being, a sort of communal thoughtform elemental of dread formed by the aether itself. Whatever the case, wraiths hold unbelievable power over the aether. The hate and jealousy seething throughout their form gives them great levels of telekinesis, telepathy, and clairvoyance but relatively little control over the power. Wraiths are very scattered aetherically, their thoughts and personality so random in life that in death their aetheric body is thin, spread out, and amorphous, exercising a mild influence over a large area around their body's resting place, sometimes through vapors (see this book's aetheric bestiary for a description of vapors). This wispy aether accounts in part for the chills you may get when visiting a graveyard or the site of a violent death. Wraiths strengthen their insubstantial forms by draining the internal aether of any hapless humans they meet on the astral plane. The wraith will seek control over one or more of the projected body's aetheric links, usually the chest or forehead link, in an attempt to paralyze the being. Once this is done, the wraith begins sapping the body's aether, adding it to its own and bringing more corporeality to its form. The aether available in a projected body is not usually sufficient to complete this transformation, so all too soon the wraith sends mental feelers along the trail of psychic residue leading back to the material body. Once these feelers find their way to the physical body, they open a conduit through which the remaining internal aether of the victim can flow. A person thus attacked by a wraith is in grave danger and will likely enter a coma or die if some intervening measure is not taken. To protect against aether drain by a wraith, mentalists are advised to travel in pairs when visiting dangerous areas on the astral plane. Because the wraith must invest a large amount of concentration on the initial seizing of the aetheric link, a nearby partner can be a lifesaver, as he or she can snap back to the material vibration and arouse the victim's physical body before the attack is complete. Recovery from a wraith attack is for the most part swift. What personal aether is lost in the attack is replaced by aether from food, water, stimulating conversation or activity, or simply through rest and meditation in the material world. It's natural to be frightened of astral projection after going through such an experience, but you must remember that just by surviving such an attack you will eventually gain back everything that was lost. Lost Souls: Occasionally a person's aetheric body will separate from its material counterpart involuntarily, in part or in whole, leaving the person incapacitated. The escaped aetheric body is known as a lost soul. There are several circumstances under which a split like this may occur. Most revolve around what has become known as the near-death experience. People who undergo a sudden physical shock sometimes report that they experience a separation of the consciousness or self (what you and I refer to as the aetheric body) from their gross material form. The aetheric body floats upward and looks down upon its materialworld counterpart. It is rare for these accounts to include any anxiety or negative emotion from the victim, as panic-inducing as such a situation would seem. Almost invariably, the disembodied spirit feels an overwhelming sense of peace and may regard those below itself on earth quizzically, wondering what the great rush is to shorten the serenity it has found in the aether. From here the experience either ends abruptly with the rousing of the incapacitated fleshy body or continues with a brief astral voyage on the part of the lost soul. The spirit travels through the aether to a portal between this world and the afterlife, and it must make a choice. Understandably, most of the accounts we have from this voyage are from those who chose to come back to this world despite the peacefulness they found in the aether. But what of those who fall into long periods of unconsciousness, those who remain living but spend day after day in a coma or otherwise vegetative state? Their personality has departed and yet they live. What becomes of their aetheric bodies? While there are exceptions, based on our investigations it is safe to assume that their sublime selves travel in the astral world as lost souls. They have chosen the serenity of the aether, andwhile they are not physically dead-their earthly bodies are inert and useless. Some souls wander the aether aimlessly, appearing as glowing, ghostlike apparitions to those who encounter them in the astral world. They are lost in their own thoughts, mildly confused but peaceful enough in their wanderings that without intervention by another being (such as a mentalist projecting into the aether), nothing will alarm them or suggest that they should return to their material bodies and lives. Here let us pause for a moment to address an important point that many aspiring mediums raise regarding the ways in which the various classes of human spirits differ in appearance. Students ask me questions such as, "How can I tell a revenant from a wraith?" and "What do lost souls look like?" This is what I tell them: These are good questions and ones that are not easily answered. The distinction between a revenant and a wraith is one of the most important ones you can make, as the price of failure can be terrible. For the most part, wraiths emit a chilling force through the aether that should alert even the most casual astral traveler to their presence. If seen, a wraith will often appear less substantial than other spirits you've encountered, usually to the point of taking on a vaporous quality. Be aware, though, that wraiths are not the only members of the spirit world that may wish you harm. Revenants are rightfully listless after long periods of solitude, and while they are not evil by intention, some of their actions and involvements with the living may seem extremely selfish. Be wary of this and avoid being taken advantage of by spirits, no matter what situation you find them in. Lost souls are actually quite easy to spot. Wandering without any sense of where they are or where they are going, these spirits stumble through the aether like blindfolded men on a busy sidewalk. Because of their connection to a living body in the material world, these astral bodies glow a bit brighter than the surrounding aether. Although some unscrupulous aetherics have taken to impersonating lost souls for the purpose of tricking the mentalists who would help them, this sort of treachery is rare. Animal Spirits The spirits of animals are peculiar things indeed. They embody the traits of their materialworld counterparts, but they have some mysterious qualities as well. The majority of animal spirits you encounter will be not so dissimilar from everyday animals you are used to seeing. These are not the only animal spirits wandering the aether, however. Departed Animal Spirits: The aetheric doubles of animals live on after bodily death in the same manner as those of humans. Instead of heavens or hells or reincarnations, however, animal souls are assigned to a location in the aether of one of the other worlds, be it the elemental, astral, or elysian. Here the animals spend eternity, assisting other aetheric beings or just prowling and lurking in the wilds of aetheric space. Animal spirits in the elemental world take on the qualities of lesser salamanders, sylphs, undines, or gnomes, depending on their assignment (see the aetheric bestiary for more information on each of these elementals). Elysium provides safe haven for the spirits of animals, and they may find themselves the companions of one of the native creatures there. Animal spirits in the astral world retain most of the functions and personality traits they held in the material world, and they may be called upon for aid or guidance when necessary. More often, though, the spirit of the animal will come at an unexpected, though fortuitous, time, intervening in a dangerous situation to prevent harm to beings yet living. Sometimes, an animal spirit will appear to signal a death in the family. The spirit of a dog or cat will occasionally adopt a family for generations, making itself visible a day or so before the loss of one of the family members. Archetypes: Greater animal spirits are called archetypes. These beings are composite spirits made up of a number of animal (and sometimes human) souls to create a powerful aetheric being. Archetypes are worshiped by aboriginal, animistic cultures around the world. Whole tribes and cults can spring up around the veneration of wolf or bear spirits, for example. Less common are archetypes made of two or more species of animal, and the cults based on them are quite rare. Examples of these monstrosities include the gryphon and the chimera. Eternal Animals: While similar to archetypes, eternal animals are even more rare than their composite cousins. The phoenix and the dragon come to mind, along with all other creatures of myth with characteristics utterly distinct from any living animal. These beings are not usually found in the astral vibration, instead making their home in the lofty elysian world. Phantoms Two types of phantoms exist in the aether, the doubles of nonsentient objects and the doubles of plants. Doubles of Nonsentient Objects: Everyday objects have their own doubles on the aetheric plane. In most cases, calling these entities spirits would be a stretch. However, some objects are imbued with enough meaning and significance on earth that their double develops a personality of its own. Think of your favorite possessions from childhood or family heirlooms passed from previous generations to your own. Practically speaking, these objects are no more than simple toys or trinkets, but years and years of attention have increased their significance to the point where you may see them as something more special. This is especially apparent when you look at these objects' aetheric doubles during your meditations. Ancient cultures believed in a material object's usefulness crossing the boundary between this world and the next, and they buried useful tools with their dead. While this practice has died out somewhat, phantoms are still very much useful to us in our aetheric studies. Material objects can also carry qualities of the substances from which they were made, such as wood or petroleum, into the aetheric plane. All manufactured objects are made from something that was once alive, even if this "family tree" must be traced back a few generations to find a living ancestor. Thus the spirits of trees can sometimes be found in the houses constructed from them, and metallic jewelry can retain a trace of the elemental forces of the mine from which it was wrought. Plant Doubles: Science has recently shown us that plants have a certain intelligence of their own. "Rudimentary" is the closest word we have in English to describe the nature of plantlife intelligence, but closer to the truth, it's better to say that plants have an extremely slow (by human standards) mental process. What's even more amazing is that this thinking process is one that is shared among all plants as a whole. Plants "talk" to each other through various chemical and aetheric exchanges. A redwood tree might lend its ancient wisdom to new saplings of other species budding elsewhere on the forest floor, for example. Plantlife has a unique signature in the astral world. The space around the base of a tree will glow with a green energy that offsets the usual blue tinge of the astral world. Just as in the material world, each part of the plant has a different function in the aether. Roots draw elemental energy from the soil and water below, trunks act as beacons and antennae for communication within the matrix of plant intelligence, branches and leaves reach out for interactions with the rest of the aether and also transmit psychic messages that can be understood by other plants and, in some cases, by carefully attuned animals and humans. Fruit is a powerful tool among plants, and, as with most things, its aetheric function is tied closely to the role it plays on earth. Through fruit (or spores, when dealing with fungi), plants maintain a nearly immortal status. Each fruit contains a concentrated mass of aether that holds the plant's entire history and the collective knowledge of the plant's ancestors. When the fruit is dropped to earth, it does one of three things: its seed grows into another plant of the same species; it is eaten by a human or animal, which then drops the fruit's seeds elsewhere; or it is absorbed into the soil around it. All of these functions occur in the aether as well. Think of the fruit as a letter, a message, or an autobiography of the plant from which it dropped. In the aether, dropped fruit may be used as such and read like a book by those tuned in to its relatively low aetheric frequency around the border of the material and elemental worlds. The Biblical tale of Adam, Eve, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil provides a terrific example of how fruit can be used not only for physical sustenance but for mental development as well. Eat your fruit. MEDIUMS AMONG US You have learned much about spirits in your readings so far, but the written word can describe only so much, so your studies must extend beyond it and into the spirit world itself, where there is much to learn. Mentalists who focus their aetheric studies on the spirit world are known as spiritists or, more commonly, mediums. The medium is a sort of specially tuned astral traveler, one who pays closer attention to the relationships among aetheric beings, particularly the spirits of the dead, although the medium regularly examines phantoms and the aetheric doubles of the living. The priests and spiritual advisors among so-called primitive peoples are good examples of mediums who deal with all manner of spirits. What makes a medium? There are a few things that distinguish mediums from other mentalists. Mediums maintain a profound belief in the immortality of the aetheric body, faith that this aspect of living things survives the death of the physical body and lives on, either on the aetheric plane at one vibration or another or by coming back to earth for reincarnation in a new form. Some spiritists hold that our souls come back to inhabit human bodies exclusively; others believe that the aetheric double of a human can return as that of an animal or plant. Theories are as multifarious as those of the religions that inevitably spring up around such beliefs. The medium makes regular attempts at contact and communication with the spirits of the dead. Reasons for this discourse are varied-curiosity of the unknown is a common factor among most spiritists, but other reasons exist. Some wish to communicate with the recently deceased, perhaps to put loved ones still living in contact with these souls. Some mediums volunteer with law enforcement agencies to help with homicide cases or otherwise lend their services to those without access to the aether. They sometimes investigate hauntings, which are not common but are underreported by the press. Another sort of medium acts as a type of Good Samaritan for souls in need, helping revenants settle their karmic debt and guiding lost souls back to their material bodies. People who have seen spirits without any preparation or training are more apt to be successful as mediums. They are very likely already vibrating a bit high in the materialaetheric world to begin with and may find all mentalism practicesnot just spiri tism-to come a bit easier than their more "grounded" colleagues. A medium is constantly aware of the dual nature of all things. For him or her, nothing on earth can be taken at face value-everything has an aetheric counterpart that must be considered. The New New World With the spirit world incorporating the phantoms of plants and inanimate objects among the already burgeoning population of human and animal spirits of the dead and doubles of the living, you'll find this realm an incredibly rich place for exploration. The closest parallel one could draw to explorations of the material world would be the voyages of James Cook, Christopher Columbus, and Ferdinand Magellan-or, to use a contemporary example, the investigations of the earth's oceans currently underway. In the case of the early explorers, the discoveries made aboard their ships and in the various lands they found altered the basic worldviews of their countrymen, as no doubt will our findings under the surface of the sea. But what can these forays into the unknown be called if not incomplete-naive even-compared to the explorations you can now undertake in the aether, a place where one can communicate with every imaginable thing: the spirits of the dead, the plants and animals, even the air and the ocean itself? Indeed, the initial question most new travelers in the spirit world face is not "Where should I go?" but "Where does one begin?" There can be so much activity packed into a small area in the aether that to go in unprepared is ill advised. Attentionstrengthening exercises are a good way to prepare yourself for your interactions in the spirit world. Exercise 24: Strengthening Attention The next time you're in a crowded or cacophonous place in the material world-a mall or busy restaurant, for example-take some time to concentrate on individual sights and sounds around you. You may think this would come easily, especially the idea of training your eye on one particular thing at the expense of all others. Try it, and you may find it a greater challenge than you expected. Focus your gaze on something simple-a potted plant in the mall, for example. Interesting looking people may walk by; loud sounds or strong smells may vie for your attention. You must not let them have it. Can you stare at the plant for ten whole minutes without breaking your gaze except to blink? Listening to one conversation in the din and then refocusing your attention to a fainter conversation somewhere else can be a much more difficult task but interesting and rewarding enough to merit much practice. Perhaps it's possible to try it in the same busy place where you just looked at the plant. Anywhere there are lots of conversations going on is a good place to practice this exercise. You may find that a certain person's voice will naturally make itself clear among all the others. Mentally latch on to this voice and listen closely. Close your eyes if it helps. More important than the physical act of looking or listening is your concentration on the subject itself. It's one thing to stare at a plant for ten minutes or to keep track of the sound of two voices having a conversation. But how long can you look at the plant and think "plant" above all other thoughts or put yourself in its place? How long can you follow the conversation the strangers are having and actively think about it, drawing conclusions about the people talking or the subject they are discussing? Developing this type of attention will bring you closer to the spirits or doubles you will soon observe in the aether. A strong attention serves us well in the material world as well as in the aether. Increased powers of attention help with reading, meditation, conversation, studying, and many other tasks you perform on a regular basis. The Power of Phantoms Phantoms-the aetheric doubles of inanimate objects-are the least understood of all the inhabitants of the spirit world. For the most part, phantoms are useful to mediums and astral travelers as sources of energy, repositories of aether of a quality related to the material object. Personal effects are often the most powerful transmitters of this type of energy, and it's easy to explain totems, fetishes, and charms using this model of aetheric thought. The objects from childhood that we keep into our adult lives are imbued with so much meaning to us that this naturally translates to a strong material and aetheric connection between the object and its owner. In this way, a teddy bear helps us feel comforted and protected on earth, but in the aether it can be much more powerful. From its protective energy-which has been concentrated for decades, perhaps-you could use your visualization skills to construct an aetheric shield, a cocoon, or even a vessel to carry you safely from place to place. As usual, your only limits are the boundaries of your own imagination. Exercise 25:14 Phantom Companion Choose an object you've owned since childhood and focus on it during your next meditation session. Concentrate on the associations it brings up in your mind, the emotions it makes you feel. Try to remember specific events in your life when the object was near and think about how your associations with this thing are formed from those experiences. Spend at least half an hour thinking about this while you're in a materialworld (nonastral) meditation and record your impressions afterward. List the emotions you felt during your meditation and write down a few experiences you've had with the object during your life. Do this again a day or two later, with another childhood object of yours, writing down your impressions later. If your first object was something that brought to mind pleasant or happy feelings, try the meditation with an object with which you share a more difficult history. Again, follow the meditation with the writing exercise. Take one of the objects you focused on (preferably one with good-natured associations) with you on your next astral trip. Hold the object near your chest link as you emit the internal aether necessary to create your projected astral body and form a comparable astral counterpart from the aether of the object you've selected. Bring this phantom along with you on your journey and notice if it changes as you move through the aether. Do its emotional properties lend it any new attributes-a different appearance or texture? Does it seem larger than usual? Is this size difference due to the great importance you've placed on the object? Has the object gained a personality of its own? Consider it all with an open mind. Try this type of experiment with other objects and see what you discover. As you gain experience traveling with phantoms, you'll learn more about aetheric doubles in general. This knowledge will serve you well in the aether, where we are surrounded with just as many objects as we are here on earth. REACHING OUT You may have practiced your meditations indoors since beginning your study of mentalism. If so, this exercise, which takes place outdoors, will be a welcome change. If you are already experienced in outdoor meditation, I hope you'll appreciate the subtle differences between this exercise and your regular sessions. Your travels in the aether have no doubt led to encounters with one or more of the beings that make their home in the astral world. In this exercise, you will learn specific ways to seek out these spiritual inhabitants. As mentioned previously, the notions we carry with us about familiar places in the material world color our perception of those places when we visit them in the aether. While more advanced mentalists can compensate for this phenomenon and even use it to their advantage, beginning students are better off steering clear of sites too familiar lest their memories interfere with their perception of the aether there. The exercise outlined next will introduce you to a new site and allow you to make some preliminary observations about the place without getting as wrapped up in it as we do with the places we visit every day, such as our homes or workplaces. Exercise 26: Sensing Spirits Take an afternoon and evening for the first portion of this exercise and try to get out of town if you can. Pack some food and take a notebook or tape recorder, as well as a flashlight. Go for a drive to a place you've never been before, somewhere with lots of open space that's been that way for a long time. State and national parks are usually a good choice for the type of meditation you'll be trying. If you don't live near any such parks, choose a place in a field or in the wilderness where you are unlikely to be disturbed. Arrive a few hours before sundown. Once you've found a suitable area, hike out away from the car and any other people who might be around. You'll need your full attention focused away from the material world and its peoples and doings, so get out there and find a nice quiet spot. Spend the rest of the day there. Eat your food, wander around, look at things, listen for the natural sounds of the place. What do you notice? What does the air smell like here? How is this place unique? Also consider how this place makes you feel. More energetic? Less inhibited? Apprehensive? Take some notes on all these things by writing in your notebook or speaking softly into your tape recorder. As the sun goes down, how does the environment change? What sounds come with dusk? Do new animals emerge? Keep observing and writing down notes about what you discover. Keep your senses alert as the sun sets and the first stars begin to blink above. Take note of changes in the environment but also be aware of how your mood changes with the coming of night. Places usually have different effects on our psyches at night than they do during the day. Make a careful record of as many details as you can about how you feel and any conclusions you can draw from what you see, hear, and smell. Remember that this is not a psychic exercise. Use your material world senses today-there will be time for aetheric exploration later. After you've recorded everything you've noticed about this place, walk back to the car and head for home. Think about the place you visited. Let its presence sink into your thoughts. In order to get a good sampling of everyday reality in the spot you've chosen, you'll need to return at least a few more times for more observation. Go back at the same time of day as soon as you can-no more than a week later-and conduct more observation. Make a note of anything different you notice in yourself or the environment. If it is autumn, you may witness leaves changing or new habits among the local animals. You might even try sketching some of the details you see. After you've visited your new place three or four times, you will have a good idea of what to expect when you go back. Review your notes and try to make any extrapolations you can about what to expect when you return. When you are finished, do something else for the rest of the day to ground your thoughts in everyday life. The next day, at the usual time, take your notes and drive back to your place once more. As you walk from the car to your observation point, think of this: Billions of people have lived and died on this planet, and you are merely a member of one of its most recent generations. What became of the earlier inhabitants? Well, for one thing, nearly all of them are dead, passed on from this world to another, different life in the aether. Perhaps some have been reincarnated to live again in a new form, but what about those who remain in the spirit world? These are the spirits you will try to contact today. When you can no longer notice the drone of traffic, the chatter of people, or any other indicators of humanity, stop and stand still. Even though you're alone, you're hardly the first person to ever come to this spot. Thousands of people before you have stood right here. Now it is your turn, but unlike them, you won't be hindered by time or regular perception. You won't be alone for long. You will reach out and meet those travelers who have come before you. Have a seat on the ground or anywhere else that feels comfortable and begin the astral vibration meditation that commences all your formal aetheric sessions. Keep your eyes open if you can and pay close attention to the scene around you as you cross the threshold between the material and astral worlds. As you know, the lower astral vibration is the home of revenants and other aetheric beings with a close affinity to the material world. Pause in your meditation once you've entered the lower astral, as it is here that you're most likely to find the spirits you came to visit. Look around. What do you see? Do all the trees and other natural features nearby seem to be where they were before and in the same shapes and arrangements? Make a mental note of anything that seems different or unexpected given what you already know about this place. Don't be alarmed to discover spirits right away upon your arrival in the lower astral, but also don't be surprised if they take their time in showing themselves. You're a relatively new face around here, and depending on the curiosity level or shyness of the local spirits, they will either make themselves known to you quickly or gradually. Be patient, if necessary. There is no rush. There is never any rush when it comes to the dead, the inhabitants of the eternal realm. While it might take a while for the first spirit to appear, and while there is no guarantee that it will be hospitable to you upon your first meeting, always remember to be on your best behavior, treating the spirit with as much courtesy as you would a new acquaintance in the material world. It's worth stating here that hostility is an especially dangerous thing in the aether, as it can be turned against its wielder quite effectively by more powerful aetherics. As far as this exercise is concerned, it is less important to make a new friend than it is to determine what type of spirits you encounter in this new place. You should be able to classify the spirit quite easily after you ask yourself certain questions about it. Does the spirit appear confused or at least dazed? If so, it's likely that it is of the lost soul variety. Is the spirit preoccupied, doing something seemingly incongruous with life in the afterworld? Then you're probably in the company of a revenant. Does the spirit seem to be at ease, ecstatic, or, alternately, in agony? Perhaps you are witness to a departed spirit going through the extremes of a heaven or hell experience. Is the spirit vaporous and somewhat sinister? On the off chance that you've just met a wraith, you are advised to end your meditation session at once. As for interaction with nonwraiths, it is truly up to you whether you interfere with their aetheric existences. Some spirits might welcome the company; others may very well wish to be left alone. When it comes to temperament, spirits are really much closer to we humans than we realize. Just like the living, some enjoy company, while others prefer solitude. Lost souls and revenants need intervention by mentalists such as yourself if they are to move on from their trapped states. Be wary but also approach these poor souls with an open heart and open mind, as you would hope someone would do for you if you were in such a situation. Spend as much time as you like among the spirits in this place. Keep an eye out for the spirits of animals, as well as any interesting phantoms of plants or other inanimate objects. If no spirits make themselves known to you on your first visit, don't give up. It may take another session or two before they come to you. And as always, should anything extraordinary happen while you're exploring the spirit world, please make a record of it and send a copy to this book's author. SPIRITISM IN EVERYDAY LIFE You now have a good idea of how to find spirits during your journeys to the astral world. The techniques you tried can work anywhere, really, but for your initial attempt it was good to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Try it again in more familiar areas such as parks and commercial areas in your hometown or even in your own neighborhood. Just remember: If you'd rather not know the souls who still inhabit your house or those nearby, it's up to you to keep from investigating these areas. Spirits Surround Us Just as your first steps into the astral world changed your mind about so many things you'd taken for granted in your life, so your new knowledge of the spirit world should give you an equally new perspective on reality. We are surrounded not only by people and animals in everyday life, but also by so many things. More than ever, the world is filled to bursting with manufactured objects of countless origins. Take some time to consider the objects you surround yourself with in everyday life. Where do they come from? What is their material lineage? By what means are they transformed from their original components to the form they now take in your possession? Likewise, what sort of interactions do you undertake with the natural world, the plants and animals that live in your neigh borhood? It is good to get to know them better, on a spiritual level, for just as the air and water sustain both us and these beings, an even finer substance connects us all. Remember, too, that you can improve your understanding of the spirit world merely through more conscious interaction with the people around you. By now you realize that a person doesn't have to die before you can get to know their spirit. Cherish your friendships here on earth. Learn from them and let your experiences in the material and aetheric worlds inform one another so that you are constantly developing mentally and spiritually. Even You Benjamin Franklin is noted for his remark that nothing in life is certain save death and taxes. While this author is unqualified to counsel its readers on the latter, I do hope that you have found enough in this lesson to stimulate thoughts on your own mortality. We all live, and if that is so, then it is equally certain that one day we shall all die. Someday, even you will become a full member of the spirit world. Keep this in mind as you explore this fascinating place and meet the souls that live there. Think of your voyages as an early glimpse of the afterlife and of yourself as a fortunate guest in this mysterious, powerful realm. LESSON SIX. MENTAL INFLUENCE Visualizing the Invisible AA Complete Picture-The Shape of Thoughts-Emotions Illustratated-The Nature of ThoughtForm Elementals-Clairvoyance andAetheric Gradation AA Clairvoyant Exploration-Telekinetic Influence and EmotionBowls of Emotion-Further Telekinetic Experiments-The Thought-Clouds of Telepathy-Telepathic Conversation-The Unspoken Message-The Ethics of Mentalism "If the doors ofperception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite." -WILLIAM BLAKE, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell THROUGHOUT YOUR STUDIES of aether and mentalism, you've read time and again that everything existing in the world around you-people, landscapes, everyday objects-dwells also on the aetheric plane. There, too, exist thoughts, emotions, and other seemingly abstract things like time or the cultural impact of actions and objects. These things, insubstantial even in the material world, are easily observed and manipulated by the skilled mentalist. When you are in the aether, thoughts are as visible as a hand before your face, emotions can be felt as if they were rain or wind (or even a hailstorm), and you can share sensory awareness and mental insights with others, even those long dead or not yet born. In this lesson, you will learn more about the three basic psychic feats of mentalism, also known as psychisms. These psychisms are clairvoyance (extrasensory perception of material and aetheric traits), telekinesis (the manipulation of aetheric and physical material using the power of the mind), and telepathy (the sending and sensing of thoughts). The key to each of these deeds lies in a keen perception of the subtleties of your personal aether and the aether around you. Through simple exercises, you will see that although these mental abilities may seem to be the stuff of fantasy, they are all rooted in the objects, feelings, and thoughts we interact with every day. VISUALIZING THE INVISIBLE It is simple enough to comprehend that your physical bodywith its arms, legs, torso, and head-exists in parallel on the aetheric plane. The place where you are reading this book, be it indoors or out, is easily understood to be mirrored in the aether. If there is a physical table here, an aetheric table exists there, too. The same trees and stones you may see from where you are also stand firmly in the aether. But there is more to your body than static parts-there are processes, too. Blood flows through your veins. Your nerves relay messages from one part of yourself to another. Individual cells that comprise your organs are born, live, and die. The wood in the table ages, as do the pages of this book, becoming imperceptibly more brittle as time passes. The trees pass through the stages of the year and grow, and the stones are ever so slowly worn by weather and time. All this happens in tandem on the aetheric plane, and perhaps it is no great feat of imagination for you to understand this. These are examples of things and processes directly observable in the material plane. But if all of life were made of what is merely observable, how strange the world would seem! We would witness actions, but not consider the motives behind them or the consequences they might bring about. In such a place there would be no feeling of love, for example, nor any sense of belonging to a family or a community. Even a rudimentary sensation, such as hunger, wouldn't exist. We would see a table, but the word "table," a very simple thought, would not come to mind. In fact, there would be no mind to speak of! The world would seem like a simulacrum, a lifeless shadow-place. We could not recognize such a world as being "real." How then, do we convince ourselves that our observations of material things and processes show us all there is to see in the aether? Exercise 27: A Complete Picture You can familiarize yourself with how much goes unnoticed in everyday life. Go by yourself to a small, furnished room; an office or a bedroom in a house works well for this exercise or perhaps the very room you've used for your practice of the aetheric dozen. Close any doors or window blinds that would otherwise let in views from another part of the world. Stand in the middle of the room and slowly turn around, taking in everything you can see. Try to create a basic mental inventory-floor, walls, ceiling, desk, bookshelf, door, window, books, cup (perhaps containing coffee), pens, paper, and so on. Some of the objects may be engaged in the process of electrification: fans turning, lamps emitting light. Add this process, electrification, to your inventory. Also add any wind, light, temperature changes, and sounds created by the electrified machines. You can see how quickly such a task becomes daunting. The mind reels when we stop and think of all the things and processes that exist in one small, furnished room, and this is not even considering the solitary person in it. Blood flow and synaptic actions must be added to the inventory, to be sure, as well as thinking, and beyond that, thinking about thinking! As you can see, this sort of observation reveals much more to you than is perceptible in your everyday life. With practice, your ability to see aetherically will open your capacity for amazing feats of mentalism. THE SHAPE OF THOUGHTS In the aether, thoughts and emotions emerge from our aetheric bodies and move into the common space around us, where they can be viewed, heard, even touched and related to as if they were living things independent of their creator. Do you subscribe to a newspaper? One of the most entertaining portions of a major newspaper is the Sunday comics section. Did you know that you can catch a glimpse into the aether each time you read these comic strips? Although today's comics are more sedate than those of years gone by, you can still find examples of what American cartoonist Mort Walker called symboliathe circles, lines, and other shapes drawn near characters in comic strips to indicate speed, frustration, surprise, and other conditions. Walker codified these symbols that are now cliches of the comic-strip form. If you see a cloud of dust behind a running character, you are viewing a briffit. Someone working hard or enduring a stressful situation may be drawn with plewds, exaggerated sweat droplets bursting around their head. Emanata shoot forth in a similar way from the heads of surprised characters, and squeans seem to rise and pop above those who are drunk. Designers incorporate similar devices into their work when trying to evoke a particular emotion or state of mind. Shapes which taper from a wide base to a narrow top elicit a sense of strength in a way similar to the pyramids of ancient Egypt. Rounded forms calm us, reminding us of clouds, perhaps, or the comforting arms of a parent. Of course, these simple forms are, like all illustrations, gross simplifications of that which they attempt to represent. However, they give us a jumping-off point for further examination of how ideas and feelings, invisible by their very nature, can be seen. Exercise 28: Emotions Illustrated Carry a small, unlined notepad and a pen in your pocket for a week and try this experiment. Whenever you notice yourself experiencing an emotion or a particular state of mind, be it impatience, curiosity, fatigue, or anything else, bring out your notepad and make a few abstract doodles that seem to fit with your mood. Make a note of the emotion you've just illustrated and add any pertinent notes for later reference. You might find that some experiences bring forth multiple sensations. For example, you might stub your toe on a piece of furniture, giving rise to many feelings, including surprise, pain, and frustration. If you keep close track of the particulars of each experience, you will get a better sense of how you tend to visualize thoughts and emotions. This will serve you well in your visits to the aetheric plane, a place where everything can be seen. The Nature of ThoughtForm Elementals When mentalists concentrate strongly for a sustained period of time on any one subject, they run the risk of their thoughtaether gaining sentience and a will of its own. A renegade thought is an aetheric being known as a thoughtform elemental. Thoughtform elementals are the embodiment of our ideas and ideals. They take our emotions and intentions beyond our individual human limits and make changes in the aether that can affect earthly life. Like breeds like, and the more of one emotion or state you have in your life (love, greed, envy), the more that state will naturally occur. Lesser incarnations of thoughtform elementals are actually quite common in our lives. Whenever we feel so strongly about something that our emotion "carries us away," or each time we are "lost" in thought, we are actually in the grasp of a concentrated mass of aether that, while not quite as powerful as a thoughtform elemental, is still potent enough to override our own senses (or at least our common sense). Thoughts sensed via aetheric sight might appear differently to two mentalists standing side by side. To one mentalist, a thought might appear as a puff of smoke blowing out of its thinker's mouth or forehead. To another, this same thought might look like a geometric pattern surrounding its creator. At times of great stress or concentration, thought and thinker can seem as one, an amalgam that combines human traits of the thinker and the abstract aspects of the thought. Visions of supernatural beings as varied as deific incarnations and werewolves are thought of by some as examples of these thinker/ thought combinations. Because of the vagaries of perception, which have to do with many things including experience, culture, and spiritual beliefs, it is impossible to set hard and fast guidelines for recognizing this or that thought. Entires branches of psychology and art are devoted to the study of symbols and their meanings. Alchemy and the mystical paths of the world's religions are also rife with explorations of practical symbolism. If you are already studying such a tradition, it will no doubt shape the way you perceive aether. If you aren't, and if you are having trouble making sense of abstract perceptions in the aether, it may behoove you to explore one or more of these systems. CLAIRVOYANCE AND AETHERIC GRADATION So far in your studies of mentalism you have learned of clairvoyance as a means of transferring your earthly senses-sight, hearing, and so forth-beyond the confines of your physical body. In itself, this is much akin to astral projection. In this essay, you will learn of a different sort of clairvoyance-one that can give you insight into the nature, history, and impact of the objects we see every day. In order to understand how this clairvoyance works, you'll need a better understanding of the multifaceted nature of aether. There are many aetheric aspects to even the simplest of ordinary objects. If we look at a pen, for example, we can see that it is made of material substance such as wood, metal, or plastic. It has a cap, perhaps, of the same substance. The pen also contains ink. It is simple enough to understand that all this material is mirrored in the aether. On the aetheric plane a pen made of metal, for example, is made of an equal "mass" of the intangible aether. There is aether for the pen's main body, aether for the cap, aether for the tube containing the ink, and aether for the ink itself. That said, there is more to see in this pen than the aether of its physical components. Ore was mined from the earth to create the metal from which the pen is fashioned. The ink, too, came from a natural source. These sources can be discovered through clairvoyant sight. Many hands went into the manufacture of the pen. Aside from those who gathered the raw materials, there was at least one maker, a person who put the pen together. For every individual involved in the pen's making, there is a bit of his or her personal aether in the pen. If you are the first owner of the pen, then you know what has been written with it. Perhaps it doesn't require any meditation at all to remember the shopping lists, the phone messages, and the letters you've written using this device. If the pen isn't brand new, however, you can use clairvoyance to learn what writings have come from the pen before it came into your possession. Such feats of mentalism are possible because of the range of frequencies contained in the aether. In past exercises, you've been directed to modulate the frequency of your personal aether from its normal materialworld state to that of the astral and elemental realms. It is also possible to attain the ultimate frequency, that of the elysian. Each of these gradations in your personal aether brings about a different state of mind in you, a different state of being. It may surprise you that pedestrian objects have the same sorts of variance in their own aether. Here is a comparative listing of the aspects of various gradations of aether, as relates to a simple metal pen. Material Aether: The physical mass and makeup of the pen is reflected in the aether most readily visible by mentalists when they first tune their consciousness to the aetheric plane. Anything having to do with size, shape, color, weight, or other physical dimensions or measurements is the business of the realm of the material aether. Elemental Aether: When we reduce the frequency of our awareness below the normal confines of the materialworld range of the aether, we reach a consciousness of the elemental world. This is the realm of fire, air, water, and earth or a combination of two or more of these elements, such as steam, metal, magma, or dust. Any aether we observe here reflects the earthly origins of the object before us, telling us what form its parts were in before the object's manufacture. In the case of the pen, this would include the rocky ore from which the pen's metal was smelted, any of the natural or chemical beginnings of various details on the pen (a different metal for the clip on the cap, perhaps, or plastic for the interior tube, or the paint used to mark the manufacturer's seal), and the source of the pen's ink. Astral Aether: When we raise our consciousness to the aetheric frequencies higher than the material realm, we find ourselves in the astral world. This is the place where thoughts and emotions reign, where we can see with our mind's eye those things that we most often think of as intangible. Viewing the pen while in an astral state of mind will reveal the intellectual and emotional conditions of its manufacture, as well as whatever writings have come from the pen. The astral world is seemingly boundless, and there is much contained in the astral aether of everyday objects. Therefore, it may take quite a few aetheric sessions to discover all there is to know about the astral aspects of your seemingly simple pen. Elysian Aether: The highest of all aetheric frequencies lies in the elysian world, also known as Elysium. This is the realm of the shared consciousness of the earth and the planets and stars beyond it, and it is also the most difficult place to reach in your meditations. Here, we can stand among the heroes and gods of all cultures, as well as the group-soul of current and past civilizations. What does this have to do with the prosaic pen before you? Nothing, perhaps, but it depends on the pen's historical and cultural importance. With an elysian attentiveness, you can become aware of the influence this pen has on the world as a whole. Perhaps it was used to write an important piece of legislation or even a love letter between two people who went on to change the course of history, such as Napoleon and Josephine. Exercise 29:,4 Clairvoyant Exploration Practice such clairvoyant observation of an everyday item during your next meditation. Sit with the object before you, preferably resting on a table or other flat surface, so you can see it without holding it. Concentrate on your breath and shift your awareness to the aetheric plane. You are there, and the object is there with you. If you are recording your session either through audio or written notesperhaps even with the help of a secretary-describe the object you see as it exists in the material aether. What are its clearly observable dimensions and characteristics? Take as long as you like with the object, modulating your aetheric attention among the various realms. Record your observations in each of these states. With practice, your clairvoyant examinations of even the simplest items will likely yield surprising discoveries! TELEKINETIC INFLUENCE AND EMOTION Just after you began your practice of the aetheric dozen, you used your new knowledge of the aetheric links-points of connection between a person's physical and sublime bodies-to conduct a very simple, yet nonetheless astounding, telekinetic experiment. If the exercise was successful, you were able to move a coin a fraction of an inch using nothing but the power of your mind. Whether or not this exercise worked for you, your curiosity about telekinesis is no doubt piqued. We will now explore further mechanics and applications of this most extraordinary mental practice. When we talk of telekinesis, we are speaking of feats of mind over matter. In a very basic way, this is something we do every day. Every time we go for a walk, answer a ringing telephone, tie our shoes, or do any number of seemingly mundane tasks, we are applying our mental forces to move our bodies and manipulate the objects around us. Some days this is easy, and other days it is a chore to do the simplest thing. As it is in the everyday, material world, so it is in the aether. The reasons most aspiring mentalists fail in their telekinetic attempts are akin to why they also have trouble getting out of bed in the morning. They are tired, perhaps, or they are bored. They see no compelling reason to get up and start the day. They feel unchallenged by the life they have arranged for themselves. These same people will never find themselves to be effective telekinetics until they discover their own reason for being in the material world. Without this, what business do they have nosing around in the aether? Anyone who wishes to show off telekinetic ability by levitating people or causing household objects to fly to his or her hand is likely lacking in the willpower to lift these things physically. How, then, do they expect success as a mentalist? It baffles. The wise aspirant realizes that such feats are less desirable than the more subtle effects telekinetic ability can have on our inner life, particularly as regards our emotions. The motivation needed for any particular action in the material world arises out of our desires and emotions, and it is this same part of ourselves that makes telekinesis possible. The exercises that follow deal with observation of your emotions. It is best to practice these exercises as the emotions arise naturally, not creating false circumstances to bring the emotion to the forefront of your consciousness. It is also important to remember that the moments you feel the strongest emotion often coincide with instances of physical strain or danger. Your safety is of the utmost importance, so please do not attempt this or any other mentalism work if you are in a situation where the more prudent act would be to remove yourself from harm's way. That said, let's move on. Have you ever felt an emotion so strongly that it seemed to have a life of its own or at least a form that you could sense within your body? In moments of danger or surprise we sometimes seize up, stunned by the sudden turn of events. When we fall in love, our hearts feel as though they will burst. A similar feeling comes over us during times of tremendous grief. It is easy to dismiss these sensations as instinctual reactions contained solely within your physical body, but the truth is that when you feel such things you are actually subconsciously shaping your personal aether into forms that can be mentally manipulated by yourself and others. Exercise 30: Bowls of Emotion If you have been practicing the exercise in which you jot down notes and doodles on your everyday thoughts and sudden surges of emotion, then it is a simple matter to expand it into a practical telekinetic feat. Review the doodles and sketches you have made out of your experiences with different emotions. Have you found that one or more emotions elicit consistent pictures? Do you feel the same sort of physical sensation each time the emotion occurs? If so, this emotion is ripe for aetheric study. The next time you feel overwhelmed by this particular feeling, try this exercise. Stand up straight, your feet about shoulder distance apart and your arms at your sides, just as you do at the beginning of each of your sessions with the aetheric dozen. Bring your consciousness to the aetheric plane. Feel the earth beneath your feet and ground yourself in this place, no matter how jumbled or lost you may feel. Now open your eyes (you may open just your aetheric eyes if you wish, keeping your physical eyes closed) and look at the scene before you and around you. What do you see? The color and form of the emotion manifesting itself should be familiar to you, given your preparatory sketchbook work. Perhaps your feelings are exhibiting themselves in a jumble of chaotic shapes and colors swarming around your head, maybe even surrounding your entire body. Or it could be that your emotion is blinding you to everything but a particular color, such as red or black. Are there sounds associated with this state, noises that you know aren't coming from outside sources? Do the sounds create their own shapes in the aether? Pause until you're able to observe the emotion clearly and calmly. Keeping your elbows where they are, lift your forearms up with your palms facing out. It is a gesture of surrender, but you may be surprised at how this particular form of giving in will help you. Visualize your forehead and hand aetheric links, the links used most often in works of telekinesis. In order to perform this exercise, you need to gather all of the turbulent emotional aether into the space in front of you, where you can see it. Extend your arms out from your sides, your palms still facing forward. Now pivot at the waist to the left and reach a little more to this direction. Gather up some of the aether that is to your sides and back with this motion and, pivoting back to your original position, bring it before you. Repeat this movement to the right. Remember to use broad, slow, and open movements. What you are doing could be likened to raking leaves, an activity unrewarded by sharp, fast actions. It may take a while to bring all the aether before you and keep it there, and the very act of working with the aether in this way can elicit an emotional response of its own. Carry on with the exercise to the best of your ability until you have collected it all. Once this is done, bring your arms back to your sides and face your palms out as before. Now, from the aetheric link in your right hand, send a line of blue flame out in an arc to your right. This line should go out far enough to encompass the entire mass of aether before curving back to meet the aetheric link in your left hand. It should seem that the aether is now captured in an arcing band made of your own creation. Send out another such line from your forehead link up and across the top of the mass of aether. Once it has reached the far side, loop it beneath the mass and back toward your forehead. When you have done this, you will see that you have formed two perpendicular bands around the aether. The emotion that once controlled you is now subdued and can be shaped by you, instead of the other way around. Using your visualization skills, construct latticework between the bands, such that a cage is built around the aether. When this is done, slowly begin shrinking the cage and the aether held prisoner within it. You are concentrating the aether. If you keep this up, you will eventually have a sphere of aether about the size of a softball floating before you. Bring it close to you and, when it is within a foot of your chest, reach out, take the sphere into your hands, and dissolve the cage. The renegade aether is now under your command and will not hurt you. Like all aether, this sphere is malleable like clay. Using your aetheric hands, sculpt the sphere into a small bowl. Work with the shape until it is very firm in your hands, until you know that this aether is no longer hatred or jealousy or whatever emotion it has been but is a tool for you to use. Like attracts like in the aether, and this bowl can be brought out to collect similar emotional aether the next time you feel the same sort of negative feelings rising up in you. Aether collected in this way can be easily dissipated, such that it will not bother you. It can also be transformed, through visualization, into a more beneficial emotion. An aspirant's collection of aether based on a particular emotion-love is a common example-will bring more of the same emotion to that mentalist. When you are ready to be finished with the bowl, loosen your grip and move your hands slightly farther apart. Now, slowly draw the aether of the bowl into your hand links, reincorporating it with your personal aether. It will be to your advantage to create many aetheric bowls to catch and hold the various emotions you experience. To make a rather mundane comparison, these bowls can be used aetherically in the same way you use containers to store the uneaten portions of a meal. After all, we're all just as susceptible to being washed away by good feelings as we are in loading up on too much rich food, which can give us indigestion. And besides, you never know when you'll need to bring out one of these bowls and help yourself to a leftover serving of love, cheerfulness, or satisfaction. Exercise 31: Further Telekinetic Experiments As you progress in your understanding of the aether, return to your initial telekinetic experiment, in which you moved the coin, however slightly. Practice it until it takes less and less effort to move the coin. If you like, you may try to lift the coin or move it horizontally through space, but there is really no need for this-these things are easy enough to do by hand. But what more can you do with a small object like the coin? Based on your understanding of the grades of aether from this lesson's essay on clairvoyance, you know that this simple lump of metal contains more than meets the eye. Everything on the aetheric plane contains various aspects (form, history, cultural significance, and so on) within its multilayered aether. Tuning in to the physical aether of an object allows you to telekinetically affect its physical aspects such as location, color, shape, density, and arrangement of parts. What possibilities lie in the mental manipulation of that same object's elemental aether or its astral or even its elysian aether? Experiment with these aspects for yourself and see what happens. THE THOUGHT-CLOUDS OF TELEPATHY So far in your studies of mentalism we have only touched on the topic of telepathy, the aetheric method of communication. Here we will go into how a person's thoughts appear in the aether and how they can be sent and received with ease. When we talk to one another face-to-face in everyday life, we use the medium of speech. In such a conversation, ideas are transmitted through the use of words spoken by one person and heard by another. Additionally, many unspoken messages are transferred between people through body language, context, and tone of voice. On the aetheric plane, we have no need for such materialworld conventions as speech and gesture, but there are other means by which we can converse. There, a thought emanates not audibly from our mouths but visibly from our personal aether-the aether that makes up what we call our self. Usually this emanation occurs around the head portion of the personal aether, but thoughts can also be seen coming from other areas such as the hands, the stomach, or the sex organs, depending on the nature of the idea. Once you are able to see thoughts this way, you may be amazed at how clear conversation becomes! Our thoughts drift, cloudlike, from ourselves into the space around us. Weak or frivolous thoughts, such as internal commentary about things or people seen on the street, evaporate almost immediately, dissipating like mist and leaving us with scant memory of ever having thought them. Remember, though, that nothing ever vanishes completely on the aetheric plane. Just like matter in the physical world, in this parallel place there is only so much aether, and while a portion of the stuff may change shape, color, size, and even function, traces of its previous embodiments always remain. Strong thoughts, such as ruminations on significant occurrences in our lives, hover around our bodies like clouds, sometimes wrapping themselves around us more in the manner of a cloak. Or they imprint themselves on our aetheric bodies in such a way that we cannot be seen without our thoughts there, plain as day and perhaps less than flat-tering"written across our face," as it were. We can be free of these thoughts and their effects only through intense personal work. The strongest of thoughts may never detach completely from our personal aether and can preoccupy our thoughts to the point of distracting us from everyday existence. Storms of frivolous thought can do this, too. When we are "lost in the clouds" in this way while walking, we may trip over a stone in the road. If driving a car, we may not notice that the stoplight has turned to red. Our thoughts are at their strongest the moment we think them. Once we become aware of a thought, it has already begun the process of detaching itself from our personal aether and moving into the surrounding space. We speed this departure markedly when we blurt out our every thought to those around us, but the truth is that any communication-every bit of speech or gesture, every piece of artwork-has a dissociating effect on our thought and dilutes its potency as something purely our own. Although to be fair, in the aether there is very little that we can truly call our own, either. As an aspiring mentalist, you will do well to notice your thoughts at the moment of their inception, in the hopes of making clearer mental imagery to send through the aether. Practice holding your thoughts at the forefront of your mind without expressing them in speech or any form of gesture. As you continue this practice, pause to reflect on each thought you are holding. What are the qualities of the thought? Use your knowledge of the aether to apply visual aspects such as shape and color to the thought. Once you are able to do this as second nature, you will be ready to try the following experiments. Exercise 32: Telepathic Conversation Arrange to meet with a friend, preferably one who is interested in mentalism and is at the same point that you are in your aetheric studies. Have a simple conversation together. Talk about everyday activities such as grocery shopping or washing the dishes. This conversation should have no more than four or five statements from each person. With each statement you make out loud, form a mental image out of the corresponding thought and send it forth, away from your personal aether toward your friend. They should do the same. Keep track of your impressions of your friend's statements as they make them and note any aetheric observations you have about the images they are sending you. This is not a simple exercise, as it requires not just powerful thinking, as well as thinking about thinking, but also thinking about another person's thoughts on thinking. If you try this experiment a number of times with your friend and again a few times with another friend, you will understand not only how to better notice thoughts in the aether, but you will also begin to see how one person's thoughts look and feel different from another's. Exercise 33: The Unspoken Message Is there someone in your life whom you talk with every daysomeone you live with or work with, perhaps? Maybe a bus driver or someone who works at a coffee shop you visit on a daily basis? You can test your ability to send telepathic messages with this person. It is important not to let them know you are doing anything of the sort, however, as this will influence the experiment. The next time you speak with this person, bring a simple message to the forefront of your thoughts, something brief and clear and appropriate to the setting in which you know them. For a store clerk or a bus driver you might think, "Ask me about my handbag." For someone you live or work with you could think, "Buy us some flowers." You must think this same thought exactly several times, so keep it as simple as possible. After you have finished your regular conversation with that person and have said goodbye, think the thought again while visualizing the person's face. Send this same thought into the aether several times while you two are apart, each time seeing the person's face in your mind. Say it a few times just before you see them again the next day, and once more when you're speaking with them. Don't bring up the object of your thought in your spoken conversation with them. If they do ask you about your handbag or bring in flowers, you'll know that your message may have been received. If you feel comfortable doing so, you can tell them about your experiment. Try another and see what happens! THE ETHICS OF MENTALISM Some people, when reading about the practice of mentalism and its capacity to grant the aspirant untold power, believe that the coursework outlined in this book is providing instruction in some form of black magic. That is to say, they believe that once an aspiring mentalist gains control of his personal aether and the aether around himself, he will become selfish and destructive, eager to hold this newfound influence over the wills of other people. If I believed this claim to be unreasonable, then I would not feel moved to write this word of caution. The majority of aspirants to mentalism go on to lead their aetheric lives in an ethical way. But, it is true, some who have tapped into the aether have turned its power to their own advantage over others. They eavesdrop on the thoughts of friends and strangers, make unbidden astral visits, and use mentalism to brainwash or otherwise dominate others. These uses of the aether are unethical and, as these twisted mentalists will discover, destructive not only to their victims but also to themselves. Given all you've been through in your aetheric studies, you now realize that we are not the isolated individuals, as so many people in the material world would wish us to believe. We are connected by the substance of life itself-the aether. Just as the oceans support life on earth, the aether connects and nourishes us all. And like the ocean, too, the aether can drown countless people without a second thought. Once we realize that we have a human soul that lives within us and represents us on the aetheric plane, and that this soul transcends not only material existence but also all material concerns-including mortality-we should as a matter of course lead lives of goodness and responsibility toward ourselves and others. Our souls are all connected in the aether. Any gain that comes to an individual at the expense of others is an offense against the whole and will be revisited upon its instigator in the same way disease comes to us when we mistreat our material forms. Keep this connectedness in mind as you practice your mentalism. The techniques and abilities you are developing bring you closer to everything in creation, a place we all share. In your day-to-day dealings with those around you, you may have already discovered that the smallest courtesy goes a long way in improving people's disposition toward you. People tend not to be bad-hearted, as such, but every one of us has a capacity to withdraw into ourselves and focus on our wishes and needs over those of others. A simple hello to our neighbor, a smile to someone we pass on the street, or a small, unasked-for favor for someone we know-each of these acts is a very powerful way of breaking through not only the needless defensive screens people put up around themselves, but through our own shells as well. As you begin to open yourself in this way, you will realize how susceptible each of us is to the influences of our surroundings, the other people in our lives, and our own personal thoughts and emotions. At the same time, you will see more clearly the ties between yourself, other people, and the world, and you will grow in your understanding of the aether in a healthy, nondestructive way. INDEX OF EXERCISES BY NUMBER AND TITLE INDEX OF EXERCISES BY TOPIC ACKNOWLEDGMENTS DEEPEST GRATITUDE goes to my parents, Craig and Lana Marsh, and my brother, Kirk Marsh, for teaching me kindness, encouraging my curiosity, and always believing in me. Also to Jeff Hoke for his generous companionship throughout the creation of this book. Beyond Jeff's tremendous work as my illustrator and editor, his friendship, insight, and easygoing humor about the most arcane (and mundane!) subjects have been constant sources of inspiration and rejuvenation. Thank you to Anandamayi Arnold for her love and encouragement. To Laramie Crocker, Wendi Olson, and the Cammell-Brown family for daily support and friendship. To Brenda Knight and all the other good people at Weiser for their faith and hard work. To Heather Schlegel for her support of my early work on this project. To all the friends who served as models for the illustrations or who gave comments on essays. And last but certainly not least, to my regular aetheric correspondents S. C., R. D., and A. R., and to all the patient aspirants who subscribe to The Camelopard. There is yet more on its way to all of you! ABOUT THE AUTHOR CLINT MARSH is a writer and publisher of practical esoterica. Aside from The Camelopard-the pamphlet series that inspired this book-Marsh's publications include Goblinproofang One's Chicken Coop, On Gnoming (A Pocket Guide to the Successful Hunting and Cooking of Gnomes), and Wandering Wizards Welcome (By Appointment). He has served as the consulting editor for Jeff Hoke's Guide to Lost Wonder series and as the American publisher for Phooka, The Journal of the Overland Mallet Club. He lives in Berkeley, California, and distributes his works through Wonderella Printed. TO OUR READERS WEISER BOOKS, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, publishes books across the entire spectrum of occult and esoteric subjects. Our mission is to publish quality books that will make a difference in people's lives without advocating any one particular path or field of study. We value the integrity, originality, and depth of knowledge of our authors. Our readers are our most important resource, and we appreciate your input, suggestions, and ideas about what you would like to see published. Please feel free to contact us, to request our latest book catalog, or to be added to our mailing list. IF YOU ENJOYED THE MENTALIST'S HANDBOOK, YOU MAY ALSO LIKE .. . ... Our Pamphlets, including further issues of The Camelopard Series, our quarterly day planner The Portable Head, special offerings for the holidays, and the ever growing Little Wonder Series, with well-loved titles such as On Gnoming, Goblinproofang One's Chicken Coop, Murphys Smear, Non Libri Sed Liberi by Kenneth Grahame, Lewis Carroll's Croquet Companion, and Carroll's Lanrick. ... Our Books, such as Jeff Hoke's magnum opus The Museum of Lost Wonder, published by Weiser Books, collecting and expanding upon Hoke's celebrated Guide to Lost Wonder pamphlet series. We also offer Ogner Stumps One Thousand Sorrows, chronicling the initial twentyfive misadventures of the hapless hero. ... Our Ephemera, encompassing The Museum of Lost Wonder prints and model kits, our pad of Wandering Wizards Welcome (By Appointment) forms, and occasional calendars and other objects of interest. ... Our Newsletter, the friendly and informative The Pamphleteer, which offers a peek into the workshop window at Wonderella. To place an order or to join the mailing list, please contact us directly: Table of Contents Illustrations Foreword by Jeff Hoke Introduction The Camelopard Instructions for Recording Experiments Lesson One. The Nature of Aether Lesson Two. Aetheric Beings Lesson Three. Aetheric Exercises Lesson Four. Ascension Lesson Five. The Spirit World ..... Lesson Six. Mental Influence Index of Exercises by Number and Title Index of Exercises by Topic Acknowledgments About the Author Aetheric Beings Identification Chart ....... inside dust jacket
Books by Robert Bruce ASTRAL DYNAMICS: NEW Approach to Out-of-Body Experience PRACTICAL PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENSE: Understanding & Surviving Unseen Influences MASTERING ASTRAL PROJECTION: 90 Day Program (with Brian Mercer) MASTERING ASTRAL PROJECTION CD Companion (with Brian Mercer) ENERGY WORK: Secrets of Healing and Spiritual Development (Click here for more information on books by Robert Bruce) Or go to www.astraldynamics.com Copyright Information Original Copyright © 1999 by Robert Bruce and Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Charlottesville, USA Astral Dynamics Ebook Version Copyright © 2007 by Robert Bruce All rights are reserved, including the right to reproduce this work in any form, without permission in writing from the author, except for brief passages in connection with a review. For Ebook usage copyright information… email workshops @ astraldynamics.com Artwork Copyright Information Cover designs and artwork © Copyright by Caroline Needham Interior Color Illustrations © Copyright by Caroline Needham (Original illustrations by Leslie Genette John) All artwork and illustrations are protected by international copyright law Reproduction of artwork without written permission strictly prohibited Original Copyright Information Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 1125 Stoney Ridge Road, Charlottesville, VA, 22902 Hampton Roads Email hrpc@hrpub.com Hampton Roads Website www.hrpub.com Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-71614 ISBN 1-57174-143-7 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Ebook Copyright Information While printing this Ebook for personal use is allowed, pirating, reproducing, and/or sharing and distributing or printing for sale any part of this Ebook in any form, electronic or otherwise, is illegal and prohibited by international copyright law. Copyright breaches and plagiarism are criminal offenses, not civil matters. Legal copies of the Astral Dynamics Ebook contains unique encrypted hidden file characters generated during each official purchase and download. Illegally copied and distributed versions will be traced to original purchasers. Offenders will be prosecuted according to international copyright law. Dedication To Wynne…(mom)…for enriching my life far beyond her mortal love of words And for Jeremy…”This Bright Spirit!” Ebook Preface This Ebook version of Astral Dynamics has been produced by the author, Robert Bruce. The original front and rear covers have been replaced, and the original black and white internal illustrations replaced with beautiful new full color art, all created by my wonderful artist, Caroline Needham. Some new illustrations have also been added in the process. Some sections of this Ebook version have been edited by the Author during production. *A special thank you to, Tommy Pirbos, for helping create this Astral Dynamics Ebook. Contents Foreword Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Part One — Elements of Projection Chapter 1 - Dimensional Theory Nonphysical Dimensions Traditional Dimensional Theory The Real-Time Zone The Astral Dimension Chapter 2 - The Projectable Double The Etheric Body Trance and Inner-Body Projection Etheric Body Projection Three Basic Aspects of the Projectable Double Real-Time Body Astral Reflection Astral Body Proper Children, Animals, and OBE Children Animals Chapter 3 - The Incredible Mind-Split The Reflecting Nature of Hind Portrait of the Mind-Split Shadow Memory Double Trouble — Experience Separation Point Astral Feedback OBE Success and Failure Mixed Projection/Dream Memories Higher-Level Mind-Splits Chapter 4 - Complications of Consciousness Chapter 5 - Astral Sight Remote-Eye Projection The Missing Link Chapter 6 - Waking Paralysis Related Factors Paralysis and the Physical Body Paralysis and the Projected Double Paralysis Memories Ways to Break Paralysis Unwanted Projection Symptoms Chapter 7 - OBE and Perception Blindness and OBE Perception Objective Real-Time Perceptions Subjective Real-Time Perceptions Part Two — New Energy Ways Chapter 8 - Imagination Versus Visualization Mind's-Eye Visual Ability Using Your Imagination Nonsighted Adjustment Chapter 9 - Mobile Body Awareness Increasing Sensitivity MBA Exercise Chapter 10 - Tactile Imaging Learning Tactile Imaging Circular Exercise Stirring Exercise Stimulation Notes Using Tactile Imaging Awareness Hands Awareness Hands Exercise Splitting Awareness Exercise Visibly Detecting Awareness Hands Chapter 11 - Supporting Energy Structures Five Separate Circuits Energy Flow Secondary Energy Centers Energy Exchange Pores Storage Centers Sub-navel Sub-heart Sub-brow Chapter 12 - Energy Body Stimulation Five Awareness Actions Stirring Action Brushing Action Wrapping Action Tearing Action Sponging Action Instructional Notes Preliminary Stimulation Work Toe Work Sole Work Feet and Sensations Leg Work Hand and Arm Work Finger Work Palm Work Arm Work Energy Bounce Techniques Awareness Resistance Factor Bounce Testing Leg Bounce Arm Bounce Spinal Bounce Full-Body Bounce Chapter 13 - Raising Energy Leg Energy Raising Arm Energy Raising Full-Body Circuits Arms and Legs Two-Part Storage Circuit Full-Body Storage Circuit Joining Arms into Full-Body Circuit Energy Flow and Effort Energy-Movement Sensations Common Sensations Side Effects Awareness Momentum Continuing Energetic Demands Energy Center Spin Etheric Wrap Daily Energy-Raising Time Chapter 14 - Stimulating Primary Energy Centers The Primary Centers Starting with Primary Centers Stimulation Notes Primary Center Stimulation Process Base Center Genital Center Navel Center Solar Plexus Stimulation Site Heart Center Throat Center Brow Center Extra Brow Center Stimulation Crown Center Continuing Primary Stimulation Primary Center Breathing Circuit Development Session Times Primary Center Sensations Most Common Energetic Sensations Base Center Navel Center Solar Plexus Stimulation Site Heart Center Throat Center Brow and Crown Centers The Strobe Effect Body-Rush Sensations Reducing Primary-Center Activity Potential Negative Side Effects Premature Kundalini Mental and Emotional Imbalance Increased Sexual Desire Chakra Wonder-Workers Part Three — Core Skills Chapter 15 - Deep Physical Relaxation Posture and Comfort Relaxing Muscle Groups Awareness Hands Massage Chapter 16 - Taming the Mind Thought-Control Exercises The Deeper Mind Relaxation and Concentration Single-Object Awareness Spot Focus Afterimage Retention Breath Awareness Color Breathing Practice Self-Repeating Thought Patterns Chapter 17 - The Trance State Different Levels of Trance Light Trance Full Trance Deep Trance Trance Requirements Elevator Ladder Steps Climbing down a Rope Feather Smoke Rings Personalized Trance Technique Trance Litany Common Trance Problems Falling Asleep during Trance Inability to Enter Trance Falling into Trance Too Easily Part Four — Projection Exit and Technique Chapter 18 - Preparations for Projection Trance and Deep Physical Relaxation The Projection Reflex Separation Pressure The Famous Vibrations Health, Fitness, and Projection Position and Comfort for OBE OBE or Lucid Dream Chapter 19 - Projection Technique Projectable Body Loosening Bounce Loosening Breathing Loosening Spin Loosening Loosening with Imagination Rope Projection Technique Rope Pressure Symptoms First Rope Projection — Experience Projection Sequence Full Sequence Quick Sequence Instant Projection Motivation Tips and Summary Notes on the Rope Technique Chapter 20 - Technique Variations Variations on the Rope Technique Alternative Exercises and Techniques Helping Other Projectors Out Calling and Meeting Other Projectors Alarm Clock Aid Chapter 21 - Projection Exit Problems Climbing Problems Torso Energy Surge Cobwebs — Energetic Sensations Primary Center Pressure Localized Pressure Tight Band around Head Breathing Problems Stuck to Body during Exit Exit Cramps and Pain Jewelry and Watches Magnetic North? Lunar Cycle Saliva Problems Sexual Arousal Defective Astral Vision Disorientation and Subtle-Body Misalignment Chapter 22 - Overcoming the Mind-Split Working around the Mind-Split Shadow Memory Trigger Phrases Recording Keywords Reentry Trigger Words and Phrases Position and Comfort Trance State Familiarity Astral Sight Exercise Conscious Reentry Ultrashort Projection Counting Koalas Running Commentary and Affirmations Planned Missions Working with the Mind-Split Astral Feedback Download Reentry Torso Energy Rush Reentry Falling Sensation Return and Reentry Flicker Tape Reentry Technique Projected Double's Part Physical Body's Part Chapter 23 - Lucid Dream Backup Lucid Dreaming Reality Checking Hunger and Thirst Affirmations Remembering a Lucid Dream Exit Symptoms within Dreams Position Effects on Lucid Dreaming and OBE Lucid Dream Projection Lucid Dream Projection — Experience Chapter 24 - Virtual Reality Projection First Virtual Reality Projection — Experience Creating a Virtual Reality Realm Entering a VR Realm Chapter 25 - The Astral Form in Motion A Mind of Its Own Astral Momentum Learning to Walk Learning to Fly Passing Through Solid Matter Speed, Distance, and Limitations Instantaneous Travel Long Distance Travel Orbiting Earth Outer Space and Distance Limitations Privacy, Ethics, and OBE Part Five — The Akashic Connection Chapter 26 - The Astral Planes Astral Subplanes Lower Astral Subplanes Astral Realms and KingdomsReal-Life Astral Regions Voids Astral Plane- and Tube-Type Structures Astral Plane-Type Entrance Structure Astral Plane-Type Navigation Astral Tube-Type Entrance Structure Tunnel of Light Finding Astral Entrance Structures Returning to an Astral Plane Skull Rock Navigating the Astral Realms Hand Glance Stabilization Astral Rest and Recovery Areas Chapter 27 - The Silver Cord Silver Cord Location Silver Cord Sighting Chapter 28 - The Etheric Body Death and Etheric Matter NDE Death, OBE, and Mental Coherence Chapter 29 - The Akashic Records Projecting to Akashic Records Entering an Anomaly Viewing Records Tuning in to Areas of Interest Metaphorical Imagery Associations and Predictions An Experience of the Akashic Records Chapter 30 - The Akashic Pulse The Astral Wind From Here to Akasha The Akashic Pulse Life's Little Choices Elemental Akasha Natural Purpose of Projection Astral Wind Experience Interpretation Protocol Journal Layout Abstract Nature of Symbolism Part Six — Strange Astral Phenomena Chapter 31 - OBE and Reality Fluctuations Avoiding Reality Fluctuations Confusing Astral Effects Melting Body Parts Vision-Reversal Problem Real-Time Anomalies Chapter 32 - Higher-Level Projection High-Level Technique High Level Experiences Rainbow Level Mystical Level Spirit Level The Summerland Chapter 33 - Astral Beings and Wildlife Astral Ceremonies High-Level Contact Sending Out a Request Projection Method Asking for Directions The Priest and the Curse — Experience Thought Form or Nonphysical Life-Form? Lower Subplane Wildlife Chapter 34 - Fear and Astral Noises The Many Colors of Fear Heavy Exit Sensations Excitement and Anxiety The Unknown and the Darkness Mind-Split-Generated Fear Primal Gut Reaction Dweller on the Threshold Astral noises and Other Things That Go Bump in the Plight Astral Voices Two Possible Causes for Astral Noises Dealing with Astral Noises Clutching Hands and Other Annoyances OBE Hitchhikers Overcoming Fear Religion and OBE Chapter 35 - Astral Self-Defense Astral Matter Created Thought Forms The Creative Act Shape-Shifting Chapter 36 - A Few Last Words Glossary Bibliography Foreword Traveling to other dimensions using one's finer astral body has always intrigued man, as have levitation, invisibility, and time travel. Throughout the 20th century, many fine books have been written about these topics. For over a quarter century, I have been fascinated by the Astral World and the possibility of astral travel. My introduction to this enticing subject came in the form of tattered old copies of Robert Crookall's Astral Projection: A Record of Out-of-Body Experiences and Case-book for Astral Projection. My next encounter with astral projection was H. F. Prevost Battersby's Man Outside Himself. As I continued reading about astral projection and out-of-body experiences (OBE), works by Fox, Muldoon, Powell, Smith, and "YRAM" cluttering my desk and shelves. Each book glimpsed into the astral world and higher levels. I read time and time again how many had made astral trips, bringing back words of encouragement, prophecy and descriptions of exciting "worlds" beyond ours. It soon became evident to both myself and colleagues that a newer, easier and more reliable method of projecting out-of-body must be developed, and a tutorial written, to assist first-time (and even advanced) students on their quest. It was of utmost importance that this work be written to answer students' questions and, furthermore, to assist the seasoned researcher in conducting theoretical studies and practical experiments. Therefore, an author of such a guide should be well versed in the theory, practice and behavioral aspects of such a multidimensional undertaking. Each author, however, left me slightly empty — always expecting more, but always getting less than I anticipated. Some works provided a deep philosophical theory of astral travel with no practical application. Others, though expertly written, gave some practical applications but no logical theory backing up the author's assumptions. Lastly, there were hundreds of books containing case study after case study documenting people who suddenly, and without apparent reason, experienced OBEs. Although descriptions were meticulous, these guides contained nothing but a series of good and intriguing stories. I longed for still more. Finally in the early spring of 1996, I discovered Mr. Robert Bruce's work on the Internet. In a series of constantly updated articles, I realized he was introducing an excitingly innovative approach to out-of-body projection and astral travel. An approach which included sound yet radically different theory, detailed practical experiments and, finally, individual case studies. In these studies, the reader meets many people who tried his new techniques and experiments and experienced almost immediate results in projection. I also discovered, while reading his on-line comments and correspondences, that Robert meticulously tried and retested his experiments: going down many blind alleys and often into some frightening situations, discovering the best and safest avenue for the would-be projector. In some cases, his journeys caused psychical and astral shock. In plain, jargon-free descriptions, Robert lays bare his fears, hopes and dreams. He also outlines many potential problems and practical solutions awaiting the student of astral travel. Over the months, I became an admirer of Robert's works and in September 1996 began corresponding with this Australian mystic and arcane experimenter. Robert, a true perfectionist, is constantly fine-tuning his experiments and theories. In this latest endeavor, Astral Dynamics, Robert takes his readers on a fascinating mystical, scientific and arcane journey into the astral dimension and beyond. This wonderful book has the potential for allowing anyone, regardless of spiritual or metaphysical training, to achieve a conscious exit from their body and to travel through the various levels of finer worlds. In an easily understood and well-illustrated format, Robert slowly guides reader out of body and into this world of wonder and excitement. Astral Dynamics consists of over five years of constant revisions, experiments, research, and personal insight. It is sad this book did not exist twenty-five years ago when I started my quest. My path would have been far less rocky and my results and discoveries far more amazing if it had. Professor C.E.Lindgren D. Lit. Preface This remarkable, invaluable book... I've never seen anything quite like it. In one fascinating volume, Robert Bruce has gathered together a personal narrative, a "how-to", a troubleshooting guide, and a theoretical perspective on the nonphysical structure underlying the strange and multidimensional life we all lead. Whether you are a skeptic, a veteran astral projector, a newbie, or an armchair traveler, there's treasure here. I first came across Robert Bruce as a presence in an Internet news group called alt.out-of-body ("out-of-body experience" is, of course, the modern term for what used to be called astral projection), so I recognized his name when he contacted us at Hampton Roads to see if we would have an interest in publishing his book. I said we would, but was unprepared for the quality of the manuscript that he sent us, electronically, from half a world away in Australia. It's in a class by itself. What he says here rings true. In fact, it does a lot more than ring true. It opens doors. Astral Dynamics provides the intelligent and motivated reader with everything needed to put theory into practice. The book's six parts may be read each on their own, but they have been placed to build nicely one upon the other. Part One, "Elements of Projection", presents Robert's theory of what actually goes on when the projectable double leaves the physical body. This in itself, right out of the gate, is fascinating terrain. His theory of the consequences of the mind-split that results from projection is itself worth the price of the book. Part Two, "NEW Energy Ways", presents his stunningly practical method of raising energy and awareness by using touch, which he calls Tactile Imaging. I have tried this method on half a dozen people, selected more or less at random, each of whom obtained the desired awareness within seconds! And then, as if the new method of visualization weren't enough, Robert proceeds to describe the nature and anatomy of our energy bodies, a description firmly rooted in his own personal explorations. Part Three, "Core Skills", builds on this foundation, demonstrating how to succeed at the three tasks that are essential to success in astral projection: deep physical relaxation, taming the mind, and attaining the trance state. Then part Four, "Projection Exit and Technique", tells you what you need to know to stop reading about astral projection and actually do it. Part Five, "The Akashic Connection", proceeds into the realm of the theoretical, not for the sake of getting lost in theory, but in order to make sense of things seen and heard. Particularly interesting is Robert's description of the nature and meaning of what he calls the Akashic Pulse. As to his description and analysis of the astral planes, the silver cord, the etheric body, and the Akashic record — I doubt that these have been equaled anywhere in the subject's extensive modern literature. I am confident that they have not been excelled. Finally, Robert's section on strange astral phenomena takes on a few conundrums that are worth exploring. Projection into higher realms; reality fluctuations; astral noise; what Robert calls astral wildlife... he covers the turf as it hasn't been covered to date. And he does it so casually, in so unpretentious a manner, his mood ranging from deepest awe to casually joking, with all the range between. If you have any interest at all in the subject of astral projection, lucid dreaming — higher consciousness in general — you're going to love this book. I predict that it will become a classic, read and valued for many years to come. Frank DeMarco Chairman, Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc. Acknowledgements Tommy Pirbos. . . for his invaluable help creating this Ebook Caroline Needham…for her wonderful cover art and colour illustrations Frank DeMarco…for his good taste and sparkling editing acumen. The staff of HRPC…for their many kindnesses and professional support. Leslie “Genn” John…for her illustrations in the original Astral Dynamics. Professor Carl Lindgren…for his generous advice and foreword. Gail Hyder Wiley…copy editor extraordinaire. Robert DeFord…for his sage advice and mystical support. Donni Hakansson…for her editorial assistance. My internet volunteers…for their invaluable feedback…(group hug). Wynne Bryce…for her loving support and editorial help. Ben Bruce…for his philosophical input. Matt Bruce (Yoda)…for his patient computer and internet support. Ginny and David Eldridge…for mothering my children while I worked and worked. Teresa and Bill Smith…for their kind support. Jesse, James, and Kathlene Bruce…for believing in me. Old Blue Boy…for Lab testing everything and listening…so patiently (R.I.P.). Blue Boy An Introduction to Astral Dynamics Other worlds and dimensions exist all around us that very few people ever see or step into, even though they may believe them to be there. By reading this book you take a significant step into the greater reality. Since 1993, I have made myself available to the global Internet community as consultant and adviser on a variety of issues, including OBE, energy work, psychic self-defense, and spiritual development. This service has given me an increased understanding of problem areas, allowing me to develop practical solutions. When I first stumbled upon the Internet and World Wide Web, I couldn't believe my luck. Here I had found a way to communicate my ideas to millions. I quickly became involved with OBE and paranormal news-groups, and soon wrote and published a series of articles called "The Treatise on Astral Projection". These were designed to answer questions I was being repeatedly asked, as well as to dispel common misconceptions and problems, as I saw them. The series grew to book length and became a popular online resource. I eventually wrote a more comprehensive work — Astral Dynamics — the book you are now holding. My goal was to produce a user-friendly, readable and useful tutorial, guide and reference work for all who aspire to travel out of body. You now read the fruits of my ongoing experience, exploration and seemingly endless problem solving. The guidance offered here is largely drawn from personal experience. I have practiced OBE most of my life and delight in taking a fresh look at all things considered mystical, metaphysical or paranormal. This approach has yeilded a deeper understanding of these things than would otherwise be possible. It also allows me something I dearly love — the opportunity to discover! Some of the theories, explanations, techniques and procedures given within Astral Dynamics are new, whilst others are logical improvements upon existing ones. All have been thoroughly roadtested and found to be safe and effective — provided that cautions are heeded. These are taught in simple, progressive, easy-to-grasp stages, and are written in plain English with many illustrations. The English language is not quite up to the task of discussing some of the subject matter within this book. To help with this, I have constructed some descriptive phrases and bent the meanings of some words to suit. My use of the word energetic, and constructions like bio-energetic and pureenergetic, for example. In the context of this book these refer to different qualities of energy manifested by the human energy body and its various aspects, including its projected double. Check the glossary for other word-usage peculiarities. The new techniques and procedures released in this book, especially the new energy body stimulation and development methods given in part two, "NEW Energy Ways", have proven very effective. These are easy to learn and simple to use. As a whole, they provide a powerful set of tools for manipulating and developing the energy body, and in the case of OBE, of stimulating the projection reflex and empowering all aspects of out-of-body operations. Conscious exit projection is, as I believe and intend to show, not as difficult as is commonly believed. Anyone is capable of repeatedly achieving conscious out-of-body experiences — if they will just take the time to learn how it all works and do the practice. "Per Ardua Ad Astra" Through Travail to the Stars Part One Elements of Projection 1. Dimensional Theory The Holy Grail for out-of-body projectors and researchers is a reliable key to planned and repeatable out-of-body experiences. I have spent much of my life on this quest, studying the mechanics and dynamics of OBE, from both inside and outside my body. I have come to believe that this elusive key lies only partly in projection technique and natural ability. The real key lies in understanding the relationship between OBE and how the physical body/brain stores different types of memories. To be more precise, it is the downloading of the projected double's delicate shadow memories into accessible levels of memory, than normally occurs during the reintegration of the projected double with its physical counterpart. After an OBE, the only enduring part of the experience is the memory of it. If that memory is lost, there is nothing to indicate an OBE ever occurred. Therein lays both the problem and the solution. First, lets take a look at the out-of-body environment and the projectable astral double. Nonphysical Dimensions Nonphysical dimensions are levels of existence vibrating (for want of a better word) at a higher frequency than the known physical universe. It could also be said that these levels exist at an angle of perception that we cannot normally perceive. This makes them invisible and undetectable to the normal five senses, and to all scientific means available today. Just as different types of energies — light, gravity, x-ray, heat, microwave, etc. — can occupy the same space at the same time in the normal physical universe, without interfering with each other to any great extent, so do these different dimensional levels coexist, occupying the same space at the same time. Each level has its own unique properties and spectrum of frequencies. It is difficult to give a description that imparts the look and feel of nonphysical dimensions. The astral planes are a complex nonphysical dimensional level, as compared with the relatively predictable and stable physical dimension. Many of the complexities of the astral planes are unknown, or at best only guessed at. The nonphysical laws governing this dimension (call these astral physics) are fluid and variable. On top of this, projectors' minds greatly affect their perceptions of the astral dimension. This leaves precious few constants for astral researchers and explorers to work with. When dealing with the astral dimension you cannot simply point and say, as you can in the physical universe: "This is our planet, Earth; this is its atmosphere and that is outer space, etc". You cannot even point and say, "There is the astral dimension!" Although the astral dimension permeates the physical universe, it is for the greater part nonspatial. Doorways to the astral exist everywhere and nowhere, both inside and outside of the human mind. That being said, please bear with me as I attempt to dissect and expound on the nature, mechanics, and dynamics of OBE and nonphysical dimensions. This will, hopefully, provide a workable understanding of the relationships and conflicts that exist between the physical and nonphysical aspects of our multidimensional universe. Traditional Dimensional Theory In writing this book I attempt to use Western descriptive terms where possible, and to relate from my own experience and reasoning. Traditional Eastern dimensional theory is steeped in cultural and religious concepts, which can be confusing to Westerners. The Real-Time Zone I call the nonphysical dimensional level closest to the physical universe the real-time zone. This is, naturally, the dimensional level the vast majority of projectors find themselves in when they first project out of body. The real-time zone can best be thought of as a buffer zone or intermediary area dividing the physical universe from the astral dimension proper. It shares some properties of the physical universe (a direct and objective real-time reflection of reality) and some properties of the astral dimension (a fluid, nonphysical environment). The real-time zone, although technically still a part of the astral dimension, is best considered a completely separate dimensional level. This sidesteps much of the confusion inherent in trying to relate a single set of projection-related factors and environmental properties to more than one dimensional level. The out-of-body environment is anything but simple. Each dimensional level contains a different environment, each with its own unique set of aspects and properties. Reality fluctuations are the most noticeable confusing factor in the real-time zone. These fluctuations are so consistent in the real-time zone that they actually form one of its few constants. I have found the real-time zone to be fairly stable and predictable in itself. Most fluctuations are caused, I think, from interactions between the fairly sensitive real-time environment and the generally unstable perceptions of the real-time projected double. Because the real-time zone is so close to the physical dimension, New Age thought puts it at the very bottom of the dimensional scale. This leads people to consider it to be a lower astral subplane, traditionally a negative and unsavory environment, to be actively avoided. But the real-time zone does not bear any direct relationship with the lower astral subplanes. It is a completely separate neutral area, best considered as being neither high nor low in the dimensional spectrum. The average projector finds the real-time zone fairly dark and gloomy, a totally inaccurate picture that stems from projecting only late at night, just before going to sleep. At night the world is naturally dark and gloomy and full of shadows! I would suggest to all who dispute this that they project during the daytime at least once and experience this difference. There is nothing at all dark or gloomy or scary about a real-time projection on a sunny day. On the contrary, it is one of the most delightful and thoroughly enjoyable experiences I can think of. The real-time zone overlays and permeates the entire physical universe and contains a perfect reflection of reality within it. Everything happens in real-time — as reality actually happens — hence its name. Projectors traveling within the real-time zone and remaining stable and unaffected by reality fluctuations perceive themselves to be following the actual spatial contours and geographical shape of the physical universe. They thus appear to be existing inside a direct nonphysical reflection of reality... as reality happens. I have spent a great deal of time in the real-time zone exploring its properties and limitations. The experience is very much like being an invisible specter in the real world. The normal laws of physics do not have any direct effect on real-time projectors. They are free to travel at will anywhere in the physical universe, at any speed, and can defy gravity. They can move through solid matter at will, although they may perceive some texture and varying degrees of resistance. Real-time projectors exist as invisible points of consciousness (although they usually perceive themselves quite differently) connected to the physical body via an invisible energetic linkage often called the silver cord. Their physical location is usually consistent with where they perceive themselves to be in the real world. Their movements can be tracked and ascertained if they are viewed with real-time sight, a type of clairvoyance. The only other way to verify the real-time aspects of a real-time projection is for the projectors to gather information and accurately report real-life events and facts that they would have no other possible way to know. Real-time sight enables observers to see into the real-time zone around them. The quality of this type of sight is variable. Sometimes only cloudy shapes or indistinct images of the surrounding room will be seen through closed eyelids and bedcovers. A stronger level of real-time sight can, at the other extreme, be mistaken for normal physical sight (it can be that clear) when projectors see their rooms and real-life events happening around them vividly, but through closed eyelids. A simple way of proving that real-time projection is an objective rather than a purely subjective experience is with a deck of cards. Shuffle the deck and, without looking, lay one card face up on top of a wardrobe, cabinet or somewhere high up in your own home, preferably at least twenty feet (six meters) away from where your physical body will be. Or tape the card to a window, facing outward, without looking at it. Do not use more than one card until you have some real success with this test. Do not try to guess the card. Guesswork — even simply wondering what the card is — can easily cause subconscious interference (reality fluctuations), which can make a genuine real-time observation extremely difficult. If, for example, you try to guess or intuit what the card is, you may see the card you have guessed, instead of seeing the actual card. This can undermine the real-time observation with a small reality fluctuation and make the observation inaccurate. At the very start of the projection, immediately move to where the card is and look at it. Glance at it only briefly, and remember it. When you are sure you can remember the card, re-enter your body, write down the card you saw, and then go check. To give this test a fair go, keep it very short and do not try to do anything more during the projection. When you approach your physical body to reenter it, hold the memory of this card firmly in mind and, quite literally, shout it out loud as you are reentering, e.g., "The Queen of Hearts!... The Queen of Hearts!" This will maximize your chances of remembering not only the projection, but also the face of the card you saw during the test. Please follow this procedure to the letter, or you may lose the memory not only of the card, but of the entire projection. The normal abilities of the projected double often manifest spontaneously before an actual projection. These abilities have many levels, but their most basic quality enables a physical observer to see and hear into the real-time zone around them. I usually develop fairly strong real-time sight and hearing during meditation. Most people develop some level of real-time sight and hearing just before or during projection, just before they exit their physical body. This results in the commonly reported experience of projectors seeing details of the room around them through closed eyelids, and of hearing strange noises and/or voices around them during the separation phase of an OBE. As an example of a real-time projection experience, I think of my nephew Matt's twoweek visit back in 1991. During this time, apart from many other activities, I coached Matt on projection. A few days before he was due to leave, while meditating late at night, I clearly saw Matt's projected real-time double float through the wall and come into the room I was sitting in. He waved cheerfully at me and I slowly waved back at him, without breaking my entranced state — no mean feat in itself — immensely pleased that Matt had finally managed to get out of his body. Matt floated about the room, seemingly having some difficulty with movement and directional control, but apparently thoroughly enjoying himself. He soon floated out of my sight and that was the last I saw of him that night. The next morning Matt was excited about his first conscious-exit projection. He vividly remembered using my technique and feeling heavy vibrations, then leaving his body, moving through the wall and seeing me, and us waving at each other. He lost track of the experience shortly after he floated back through the wall. Note: a few seconds after Matt moved out of my sight, I heard a distinct groan and movement coming from the direction of his bedroom. Matt appears to have briefly awakened at that time and thus ended his first conscious-exit projection. The short duration of his projection (following my advice on keeping it short) appears to have been a key factor here, allowing the easy recall of the experience after the event. The Astral Dimension The astral dimension is the next closest of the unseen dimensions to the physical universe. The astral flows from the real-time zone, but is best thought of as being completely separate from it. It is divided into seven major levels or planes, each containing many subplanes and internal realms. The astral dimension spans the universe, but for all intents and purposes is totally nonspatial. The astral dimension does not overlay the physical universe as precisely as the real-time zone does, especially at its higher levels, but it occupies the same space nevertheless. My reasoning here is that the astral is dimensionally further removed than is the real-time zone, and thus does not bear such a direct geographical relationship with the physical universe. Certainly the movements of an astral projector, in relation to the physical dimension, cannot be ascertained by astral or clairvoyant sight in the same way as can be done with a real-time projector. Astral sight is the ability to see into the astral dimension proper. This is spontaneously experienced more often by those with some level of clairvoyant ability (active or dormant) than by those without it. Astral sight allows the observer to see other projectors, thought forms, astral beings, wildlife, and even spirit beings. This ability often works in conjunction with real-time sight, giving the observer a mixed real-time plus astral viewpoint, which can be fairly confusing at times. The astral dimension is uniquely related to the inhabitants of the physical dimension, permeating the universe like a huge mind net, catching and holding all energetic reflections and emanations of consciousness. It is affected by all the finer dimensional levels above it. The structure of the astral planes appears to filter and hold all energetic reflections generated by the thoughts, awareness, and perceptions of all living beings, including inanimate matter and life forms not generally considered to contain consciousness. Even a humble rock has an energetic value on the atomic and subatomic levels. This process appears to have been going on since the beginning of time. Another way of describing this: the astral dimension contains an enduring energetic shadow generated and cast by the contents and inhabitants of the physical dimension. 2. The Projectable Double There are many different types of OBE and therefore many different types of projectable double. To make sense of OBE and projection — to obtain a better understanding of some of the energetic intricacies involved — it is necessary to examine the main aspects of the projectable double. Let us start by taking a brief look at its structure, starting at its very lowest energetic aspect... the etheric body. The Etheric Body The human etheric body (also called the energy body) is the subtle body most closely related to and enmeshed within the physical body. I do not believe this aspect can separate from its physical body while its physical body still lives. It has three main aspects: bioenergetic, pure-energetic, and expanded-energetic. The three aspects are strongly interrelated. The bioenergetic aspect of the human etheric body is the underlying, supporting bioenergetic mechanism and active living template for bodily intelligence and all biological life processes. It works in line with the biological functioning of the physical body, and exists as an exact bioenergetic counterpart that is firmly enmeshed with the living physical body. The pure-energetic aspect has at least seven primary energy centers (often called chakras or psychic centers), hundreds of secondary energy centers (minor chakras), and thousands of tiny energy exchange pores. Throughout this runs a complex network of internal and external energy pathways, connecting circuitry, and energetic structures. This aspect of the etheric body does not strictly follow the internal and external contours of the physical body. The expanded-energetic aspect occurs when the physical body falls asleep, or enters the trance state. The substance of the pure-energetic aspect of the etheric body becomes energetically excited and begins to expand outward. This allows the pure-energetic aspects of the etheric body to function independently from the physical body, without disturbing it while it sleeps. Holding the mind awake during the trance state creates a wide range of energetic conflicts. These conflicts can cause some very peculiar sensations, such as the feeling of expansion (often perceived as the sensation of shrinking or falling inward). The degree of etheric body expansion possible depends greatly on the level of sleep or trance attained. The etheric body, in its energetically excited and expanded state, is a true subtle body in its own right. The main difference between it and any other subtle body — e.g., the real-time and astral bodies — is that the expanded etheric body is not normally capable of leaving the confines of its physical body. The continuing presence of all three aspects of the etheric body appears essential for the continuance of biological life processes. I believe that the etheric body is far too dense and too firmly enmeshed within the physical body (as subtle bodies go) to allow a full projection of its energetic substance to occur. The closest subtle body to the etheric body is the real-time body, the generation of which begins inside the expanding etheric body before any type of OBE, conscious or unconscious. Thus the etheric body is found to have more than a small part to play in the process of generating and projecting the real-time double. Altered States of Consciousnes and Inner-Body Projection If the physical body falls asleep while its mind is even partially awake, it enters an altered state of consciousness, a level of the trance state. The telltale sinking heaviness and cozy warmth of the trance state will then be felt, if only momentarily, before the seeming oblivion of sleep occludes normal waking consciousness. When the first level of the trance state is attained — light trance — the etheric body begins its expansion process. To be more precise, the first stage of the expanded etheric body generation process forms the separate but still internal subtle body. The deeper the level of trance, the more strongly the etheric body will be generated as a distinctly separate and independently functioning subtle body. As the expanded etheric body is generated, the center of consciousness automatically transfers (internally projects or reflects) into the etheric body. This is the first stage of the multilevel projection process, just one small step away from the physical body and its normal level of waking consciousness. The center of consciousness has now shifted one level up from its physical body, and is now just one level down from the first projectable subtle body, the real-time projectable double. I see falling asleep and entering the trance state as having the same general effect, each causing a type of inner-body projection or energetic reflection of the center of consciousness into the etheric body. If this process occurs while falling into normal sleep, a sleeping copy of consciousness and memory are reflected into the etheric body. A short time after this event, as the sleeping body falls more deeply asleep (or as the trance state deepens), the real-time body will be internally generated in a similar fashion, in preparation for its full extrusion (or projection) by the physical/etheric body outside the bounds of the physical body. This is the second level of the natural subtle body generation and projection process. The generation and projection of sleeping subtle bodies will now continue, with the projected mind remaining undisturbed and sleeping throughout, on up through the dimensional spectrum. This is the basic outline of the natural multileveled, multidimensional sleep-projection process, as I see it, that occurs to everyone during normal sleep. The reason this process can occur so gently and naturally is that the projecting center of consciousness is asleep. When it is asleep it is safely out of the way, so to speak. A sleeping mind does not cause any energetic conflicts to arise during this natural process, whereas an awake mind will cause plenty. If the etheric body generation process occurs while the mind is held awake, a full waking trance state is achieved: body asleep, mind awake. A full copy of the awake and thinking mind is reflected into the expanding etheric body. The trance state allows waking, thinking consciousness to continue within the confines of the etheric body, while the physical body and its mind (these latter always containing the original copies of mind and memory) sleep. This is the first stage of the multileveled, multidimensional conscious-exit projection process. Now using a projection technique to exteriorize the sense of whole-body awareness, the trancer will generate a real-time double within the confines of the physical/etheric body. Once this is successfully generated — again, internally — a full copy of awake consciousness will automatically be reflected into it as it forms. The newly generated real-time body is the first level of the projectable double, but is still fully enmeshed within the physical/etheric body at this stage. With continued efforts, the projection reflex can now be triggered while the mind is fully awake. An energetic copy of the awake mind can then be projected outside the bounds of the physical body. It is now held and energetically maintained within the projected real-time double. Thus we have the basic outline of the underlying process that allows and causes a conscious-exit projection, or OBE, to occur. A deep, tickling, upward-moving, trickle of energy within the torso accompanies the internal generation of the real-time projectable double. This is especially noticeable in the stomach, solar plexus, and chest areas. This sensation is caused, I believe, by the transformation of etheric matter, as different types of energies are generated throughout the physical/etheric body to form the realtime projectable double. The conditions that allow for a conscious-exit projection, or OBE, are now complete. Full waking consciousness can now be projected free of the confines of the physical/etheric bodies along with the projecting real-time double. This is the second level of the multileveled, multidimensional conscious-exit projection process. The biggest difference between natural sleep projection and conscious-exit projection is the presence of awake consciousness during the exit. This interferes with the natural sleep projection process, as waking consciousness tries to go along for the ride during the exit, so to speak. The presence of waking consciousness causes a great deal of internal energy conflicts to arise during the now not-so-natural awake projection process. This explains the greatly increased difficulty levels associated with conscious-exit projection. It also goes a long way toward explaining why such heavy energy-movement sensations — e.g., racing heartbeat, pressure, heavy vibrations — are so often experienced during the conscious-exit projection. Etheric Body Projection? It is commonly believed that the etheric body is capable of a limited kind of low-powered projection outside its physical body. OBEs where the projected double feels weak and has difficulty moving, perhaps even collapsing on the floor shortly after the exit, are said to be etheric projections. While this is an understandable supposition, to me it is illogical to think that the etheric body can separate or project from the physical body while it still lives. The internal beginnings of projection as given above show that a progressive refinement of subtle bodies is an integral part of the whole process. This allows the generation and projection of progressively higher levels of a projectable double, while retaining firm energy links with the physical body and its original copy of mind and memory. The etheric body not only generates all projectable doubles, but it also provides the energy substance required to maintain the separate existence and functionality of all external subtle bodies. The etheric body can aptly be described as being the base-level generator and energy supplier of all subtle bodies. As the sole energy generator, if the etheric body were to completely project out of the physical body, its plethora of intimate energy links with its physical body, the energy foundation of the projection mechanism, would be grossly interfered with. This is inconsistent with the nature of the projection mechanism. It also defies logic that a subtle energy mechanism could exist that would allow the possibility of an accidental expulsion of the etheric body. If the etheric body were to be completely projected, it would logically have to have its energy supported and maintained by its physical body, which is far too gross for this purpose. The full expulsion of the etheric body only happens at death, I believe, and possibly to a lesser extent during an NDE, or near-death experience. The etheric body is the energy fountain. It is the foundation of all biological life processes and the bioenergetic generator and maintainer of all pure-energetic functions. The etheric body depends on complex bioenergetic links with its physical body for all its energy needs, to fuel and enable its pure-energetic functions. What is often called an etheric projection, I believe, is a type of energetically overextended projection. How does this happen? During the course of a full multilevel sleep projection, the physical/etheric body wakes up, usually experiencing projection-related symptoms and vibrations. The sleeping real-time double is already projected and is floating, asleep, just above the physical body at this time. All its higher aspects have, also, already been projected into their related dimensional levels. As the physical/etheric mind awakes beneath it, the real-time double only is reeled back into the physical/etheric body. All the higher projected doubles continue existing and/or functioning in their higher levels, albeit a little more sluggishly now. The now-awake projector then experiences a spontaneous real-time projection exit, as the real-time double slips back out of the physical body again — but this time while fully awake. (Projectors in these events are totally unaware that they are disturbing a fullspectrum, multilevel sleep projection in full progress. Once this projection of the awake real-time double is complete, the projected double finds itself extremely weak and has great difficulty moving. Usually, the projector will collapse in slow motion and become totally incapacitated very shortly after the exit. Added to this, it is likely that the presence of awake consciousness in the projected real-time double is contributing to the energetic tension between the physical/etheric body and all its higher sleep projected doubles. The real-time double, being the only subtle body that is properly awake, throws an energetic spanner in the workings of the natural full-spectrum sleep-projection process, so to speak. Another cause of weakness during a projection is the physical body and its mind remaining too awake and physically tense after the exit, especially if the projected double remains within close proximity (within twenty feet, or six meters) of its physical body. This can cause a great deal of energetic tension, which can cause various sensations of duality and weakness, with the center of consciousness often flicking back and forth between these two awake aspects of the same projector. Three Basic Aspects of the Projectable Double Real-Time Body The real-time body is the first level of the projectable double. If observed by an awake observer with real-time sight (a type of clairvoyance), it will be seen to have a faintly silver, ghostly, seethrough appearance. Often just a vague ghostly shape will be seen, but sometimes facial features will be made out as well. If a real-time projector observes another real-time projector, while both are out of body, they will usually look reasonably normal to each other, although often a little shadowy or transparent. They will also always look slimmer and younger, fitter and better looking than in actuality. All projected doubles are shaped by body awareness, and will always look younger and fitter than their actual physical body. With older projectors, the age of their projectable double's appearance is usually about thirty-five. The real-time double's natural level of operations is within the real-time zone. It can exist and function in real time only so long as there is enough energy flowing to it from its physical/etheric body. This energy flow maintains its integrity and mental coherence on that dimensional level. There is more than one variation and strength of real-time double possible. This is greatly influenced by the quantity of energy flowing into it from the physical/etheric body, and by its energetically developed state. A projector's real-time body parts will only become visible if that projector deliberately looks for them. The hands are the easiest body parts to observe: They vary in appearance from fairly normal to quite distorted, elongated, spectral, and ghostly. This variability in appearance is probably related to energetic flow and the corresponding strength of a projection. In all cases, though, real-time hands will begin melting away almost the moment they are observed, like white ice sculptures under a powerful blowtorch. This goes a long way toward explaining how out of body shape-shifting works. Projectors can deliberately alter their appearance by overriding their natural sense of whole-body self-awareness. They simply feel themselves as having another shape and form, and concentrate on holding their new sense of whole-body self-awareness firmly in mind at all times. Natural out-of-body creative ability does the rest, and their shape is thus altered for as long as they can maintain awareness of their new sense of form. Fig. 1A. Melting hands effect Fig. 1B. Distorted hands effect The whole real-time body of a projector can be seen clearly — with no melting effect — by other real-time projectors, and even by awake physical observers with real-time sight. This apparent contradiction appears to be caused by the nature of out-of-body perception, which is a kind of direct mind perception. It is also worth noting the apparent similarities between out-of-body perception and normal clairvoyance. Every projected double, I believe, broadcasts its own image of wholebody self-awareness energetically. This energetic broadcast is received by other projectors, and by clairvoyants, as a fixed image that will not melt and requires no interpretation. As with clairvoyance, when awake observers use real-time sight, their brow centers receive energetic broadcasts directly. This energetic reception is translated into bioelectrical signals that flow into die sight center of the brain, as per normal sight, where they automatically convert into a visual image in the receivers' mind's eye. If the natural energetic broadcast image of a projector is deliberately altered — say through shape-shifting — then the resulting image is changed. As the projected double does not have functioning eyes, per se, this shows something of how direct energetic mind perception works in all types of projected double. It also provides an insight into how tile mind's eye images of visual clairvoyance work. Astral Reflection I consider the astral body to be a completely separate subtle body in its fully projected state. A much weaker version exists as a continual astral reflection or echo of self-awareness in the astral dimension. This astral echo exists whether a person is awake or asleep. It is a mindless astral reflection of awareness, thoughts, and fantasies, with no more substance than a reflection in a mirror. This astral echo does not have the ability to think or reason independently. (If you think of the way the astral planes work, absorbing, filtering, and recording all energetic reflections and emanations of consciousness, this is not an unreasonable suggestion.) Because of this, an awake person viewed by a projector may appear to be doing some very peculiar things indeed. This is because the majority of awake people have in their minds at any given time a mixture of objective thoughts and awareness, and subjective fantasy and ideas. The exceptions to this rule are those individuals who are totally focused on a single task, or those who have conquered the necessity of having uncontrolled fantasies and a continual internal mental dialogue. As an example: Jill is hanging out her washing (objective experience) while her mind is far away, sitting on a tropical island having a romantic lunch with Jack, her favorite person (subjective fantasy). Viewed by an astral projector or clairvoyant,Jill's astral reflection might be seen to be having lunch with Jack under a palm tree on a beach in her backyard, with a line of washing hanging in the foreground and Jill's house just behind the scene. The objective parts of this scene have become mixed with subjective fantasy elements to produce this bizarre scenario around Jill's astral reflection. Astral Body Proper The next major state of existence above the real-time body is in the astral body proper. The astral planes are the natural level of operations for this subtle body. As with all subtle bodies, projected astral bodies viewed by another astral projector, or with astral sight or clairvoyance, will appear to be very solid and real looking, albeit younger and fitter than they are in reality. Once the center of consciousness has shifted from the real-time body to the astral body, the physical/etheric body diverts the majority of its energies into the astral body. This fortifies the astral body, making it able to easily support a full copy of awake and thinking consciousness. The astral body is much more stable than the real-time body and hence is easier to maintain during a conscious astral projection. And, as the astral projector is existing in an environment that bears little or no resemblance to the physical dimension, reality fluctuations are much less noticeable. In its natural environment, the astral double feels much lighter and more energized than does the real-time projected double. It is dimensionally more removed from its physical body, and as a result experiences far less by way of energetic conflicts, tensions, and pressures than the real-time double usually does. The astral body perceives itself as having a body, but as with the real-time body this will only be seen if deliberately looked for. It will also have difficulty studying its body parts closely. The melting-body-parts effect still happens to the astral body, especially with its hands, but this is visually less dramatic than it is with the real-time double. Once the quality of energies flowing into the real-time body changes-as the astral body proper is generated and energized — the real-time body quickly weakens. It soon starts falling asleep in the real-time zone. Typically, when the real-time double loses power in this way and begins falling asleep, it will either be reeled in by the physical/etheric body, to hover nearby mimicking its physical body's sleeping position, or will wander aimlessly about the real-time zone, only partially conscious. This explains, I think, why most projectors encountered during a real-time projection seem to be wandering aimlessly about, like sleepwalkers, unaware of where they really are or what they are doing. They often seem to be mentally in another dimension entirely. They still have a partially functioning real-time body, but they are not existing in it strongly enough to function mentally on that level. They can be briefly awakened by other real-time projectors, but will usually be confused and muddled. They have the annoying tendency to become suddenly incoherent and even to fall asleep midsentence. Similarly, if a higher subtle body is energized strongly enough, awake consciousness will become centered most strongly in that higher body, causing the astral body to fall asleep in the astral dimension. It may then wander about the astral in much the same way and mental state as does the real-time body under the same circumstances. Children, Animals, and OBE Children According to my observations, children frequently have OBEs, and seem to have more energy for this than adults. I often see and hear children gallivanting about the real-time zone. I have not seen babies younger than walking age though, unless being carried by their mothers. Solo OBEs appear to start when children become more physically and emotionally independent. I usually develop fairly clear real-time sight and hearing during trance-meditation sessions; especially in the evenings. At these times I will often see and hear my own children while they are projecting. There is nothing vague or imaginary about these observations. They usually cut and dive about the room calling for me to watch their antics — as children do. They do not understand the reasons underlying their temporarily enhanced state of being, but are hugely excited by it all the same. Like most adults, children generally remember little of their OBEs after-ward. But I must say children take their newfound abilities, like flying and passing through walls, in their stride, as if these were all perfectly natural for them. I can't see, hear, or feel them physically at these times, even if they all scramble onto my lap. But I can see their faces clearly and hear their voices distinctly with my real-time senses. I also feel the telltale energetic shivers that are a basic indicator of close contact with any nonphysical being. With real-time sight, children look ghostly, as if made of pale smoke, but their faces are denser, with a silvery sheen, making them clearly recognizable as who they are. Animals In my experience, animals project regularly, especially pets. I suggest this is a natural ability common to the entire animal kingdom. I have frequently observed pets and other animals roaming the real-time zone. With real-time sight I have also observed my own pets as they exit their bodies — a truly fascinating sight! I rarely see animals projecting in higher levels of the astral planes, although I frequently encounter them in lower regions, with pets often accompanying their human friends. On many occasions I have also seen and interacted with deceased pets in the real-time zone (apparently visiting) and also in the spirit worlds (often called heavens) when I have visited these. The repeatable nature of these experiences suggests animals not only project, but also survive death as independent spirit beings. This last may or may not apply to domesticated and wild animals. I believe close long-term association with humans stimulates animals' higher emotions, as in the case of much-loved pets, elevating them to more independent levels of spiritual being. In principle, this last has similarities with how humans are elevated by lives of spiritual discipline, love, and service, and by long-term contact with advanced spiritual beings. 3. The Incredible Mind-Split Exactly what departs from the physical body and brain during an OBE? How does this happen? What, if anything, is left behind to watch over the sleeping physical body? What safeguards and protects die continuing integrity of the original copy of mind and memory during an OBE? Many people, not surprisingly, are fearful of attempting projection because these questions have not been satisfactorily answered. Half-baked theories, assumptions, stories, legends, and myths abound. Two early OBE researchers and authors, Sylvan Muldoon and Hereward Carrington, attempted to deal with the subject of the commonly felt perceptions of duality — of being in two bodies at the same time, during an out-of-body experience — in their book, The Projection of the Astral Body. Muldoon stated that the physical brain receiving two sets of perceptions at the same time caused dual perception. He considered that one set came from the physical body and one from its projected double, via its silver cord connection. The sense organs of me physical body, Muldoon surmised, must continue to function even though me physical body was left empty after the projected double made a conscious exit. For some reason, Muldoon and Carrington did not consider the possibility that consciousness could continue to function in both bodies at the same time. They assumed the physical body was left as a mindless shell during any OBE. This observation, I believe, comes from the very real perception that every projector has of separating from their physical body during a conscious-exit projection. This empty body assumption, like a lot of early research and books on OBE and related fields, became source material for all researchers and writers that followed in their footsteps. This error in observation has been continually propagated ever since. It is today almost universally accepted that the physical body is left empty, unguarded, and exposed during any type of OBE. Many people even believe their essential spirit or soul leaves their physical body during a projection. These beliefs, quite understandably, raise real concerns about safety and integrity during an OBE. If the mind and spirit did actually leave the physical body empty during an OBE, it would be logical to assume that this empty body could easily be vulnerable to outside interference. The possibility of psychic attack, or even of possession, would be reasonable concerns. Over the last hundred years or so, the above empty body assumption has generated many beliefs, legends, and rituals: watcher beings, astral sentinels, and astral guardians, plus the perceived necessity for shields, magical wards, and rituals. One person I spoke to stated vehemently that all projectors must first wash in consecrated saltwater men bind themselves in iron chains to protect their supposedly empty body during a projection-or risk possession and soul damage or worse. Because these issues have remained clouded for so long, many projectors and would-be projectors worry a great deal about what might happen if they cannot find their way back to their body, or if their silver cord were to break or become damaged, or if they were unable to get back to their bodies, or accidentally became locked out of it in some way. They worry about returning to find their physical body already occupied by an invading spirit, entity, or demon — or even by another projector, for that matter. The experience of consciously separating from the physical body and leaving it behind can be extremely vivid and convincing. The experience of existing and operating remotely and independently from the physical body is also very distinct. But empty body perceptions do not allow projectors to perceive the underlying mind-split effects at work, because successfully remembered conscious-exit projection allows for only one side of a projection experience to be remembered... from the projected double's side only. If a projection is unsuccessful, the memories retained come solely from the physical body's side — all shadow memories (OBE memories) are lost. It is necessary to have memories from both sides of a single projection experience before the mind-split can be perceived for what it is. Only then can the mechanics and dynamics of the projection mechanism be truly appreciated and understood. The integrity and safety of the physical body and of its original copy of consciousness, mind, and memory, are never jeopardized during OBE. As I will show in the coming pages, the physical body is never left empty while it lives. The Reflecting Nature of Hind As part of a natural process, consciousness reflects a copy of itself, outside the bounds of the physical body, either while it sleeps or during any kind of conscious OBE. This reflection is a kind of energetic echo, containing a complete copy of consciousness, mind, and memory. It reflects into a subtle body or energetic vehicle capable of supporting and maintaining its integrity outside the bounds of the physical body. This process does not lease the physical body empty and unguarded. The reflection of consciousness usually happens unnoticed during sleep or an OBE. The mindsplit effect is not apparent even during fully conscious-exit projections, where the projectors are fully aware of their OBE from beginning to end, including the exit and reentry phases. The symptoms of the mind-split effect are often strong, and quite evident if you know what to look for. But they are seldom recognized because of the way in which the mind-split happens, and because the nature of the physical brain is to store only a single memory for any single time period. Most people have enough trouble grasping the concept of a single projected double maintaining awake consciousness outside the bounds of the physical body. Grasping that there can be multiple reflected copies of a single mind, all existing and functioning simultaneously and independently on different dimensional levels, can take a bit of a mind flip. But that's essentially what happens. Understanding the mind-split and the true nature of humankind's multidimensional existence is extremely important. The mind-split effect makes sense of a great deal of the often confusing and conflicting data available on OBE. It greatly simplifies the understanding of OBE, and provides insight into some of the more esoteric and mind-boggling complexities of inter-dimensional relationships and operations in general. As I have said, it takes a bit of a mind flip to grasp the concept of there being multiple copies of a single mind, each with the potential to exist and operate independently during an OBE. Once the first level of the mind-split is grasped, the next logical step is to consider the possibility of multiple sets of memories recorded by the brain for any given time period during sleep and OBE. This, naturally, raises questions of how the physical brain would deal with these, or even if it could cope with them at all. What types of memory-recording problems would this cause the poor old physical brain? How would this affect its overall ability to record and recall out-of-body experiences? And, if there are inherent problems with these memory processes, how can these be overcome to improve OBE operations and recall? The above questions, while appearing simple, raise complex issues. When I first tried to work it all out it gave me a blinding headache! I discovered the mind-split effect by sheer accident, during an extremely powerful projection, as told below. Subsequent experiments with the mind-split effect, sparked by this initial discovery, have since verified my original hypothesis. Once properly understood, many of the negative effects of the mind-split on OBE recall can be worked with, or worked around, instead of being suffered in ignorance. An understanding of the mind-split effect greatly improves the chances of getting out of body to start with, even for a rank beginner. It does this by improving the likelihood that projectors will remember their OBEs after the fact. The efficiency of all aspects of out-of-body operations is, in general, also greatly improved. I believe fully conscious OBE is nowhere near as difficult to achieve as is commonly believed today. The reason projection is considered difficult is because successful projectors usually do not perceive the mind-split and its effects. These lucky few, who have the knack of getting around the mind-split effect without even knowing what they are doing or how they are doing it, recall some of their out-of-body experiences. (No one recalls them all.) Because these lucky few don't really know what they are doing, they cannot explain how they do it. Therefore, studying their experiences and copying their techniques will not necessarily yield the desired results. The mind-split is the single biggest cause of OBE failure, but is virtually unknown for what it is. The mind-split leaves no trace or memory of what went wrong if a projection fails. Time and again it will turn successful OBEs into seemingly failed attempts. This thwarts the natural learning process, as it does not allow projectors to learn from their failures and thus improve upon their efforts. Because of all this, people tend to concentrate the majority of their efforts on projection techniques, searching for just the right quick fix to launch them out of their bodies. Projection technique, while important, is not the be-all-and-end-all for successful projection. There is a definite knack to remembering an OBE, which can only begin to be learned when the mind-split is properly taken into account. Portrait of the Mind-Split One full copy of thinking mind and memory — conscious and subconscious — stays at all times within the bounds of the physical body, whether awake, asleep, dreaming, or projecting. This original or master, copy never leaves the bounds of its physical body while it still lives. When the physical body falls asleep, or enters the trance state (mind awake and physical body asleep), consciousness is automatically reflected (projected) into the expanding etheric body. An energetic reflection of consciousness now exists at a slightly higher energetic state than the awake physical body allows for. The etheric body now contains within it a full reflection, a copy of all memories, conscious and subconscious. The expanded etheric body is now one energetic step above the physical body, one energetic step closer to the real-time body, which is the first level of the projectable double. The sleeping physical body contains an energetic mechanism called the dream mind. At some stage after the onset of sleep or the trance state, the physical mind (master copy) will begin dreaming. The etheric body can stay fully conscious if held in the trance state during a conscious OBE. It is also capable of functioning completely independently from its projected and dream mind aspects, even while both of these are fully active. The physical/etheric body now internally generates the real-time body, the first projectable double. This naturally occurs during sleep (sleep projection), but can occur during the trance state. As the real-time body is internally generated, another full copy of consciousness and memory are automatically reflected into it. As long as the real-time body generation and reflection of consciousness is still fully enmeshed within the physical/etheric body, its thoughts are fully synchronized with those of the etheric body. No noticeable mind-split effect has occurred at this stage, although the energetic conditions that allow the mind-split to occur are now present. All systems are go at this stage and a projection out of body can now happen naturally or can be artificially triggered by a projection technique. As the real-time body projects — at the precise moment marking the beginning of separation — the first true mind-split occurs. After projection, the real-time body exists as a completely separate entity, functioning, thinking, experiencing, and recording memories remotely and independently from its physical/etheric body. After the real-time double has projected free, the expanded etheric body, with its own copy of awake consciousness, remains aware for as long as it can hold itself awake. It will usually consider it has failed with its projection attempt, if one has been made, although it may have experienced many projection-related exit symptoms. It will feel tired, lethargic, and heavy, often experiencing partial or full waking paralysis, and will normally fall asleep fairly quickly. When the etheric copy of consciousness falls asleep, it appears to sink into and meld with the physical/dream mind, sharing its dream state. During conscious-exit projection, the real-time body will be vividly aware of the sensation of separating from and leaving its physical body behind. At this stage, the real-time double is operating completely independently from its physical/etheric double. Each will occasionally sense the other's existence, and an interchange of perceptions (sensations of duality) will often be experienced. The real-time double will, for example, often feel its physical body and hear sounds coming from that location. This sensory perception interchange, one of the most frequently noticeable symptoms of the mind-split, is greatly affected by distance. It is strongest within twenty feet (six meters) or so, and becomes progressively less noticeable with increased distance. Conditions now allow for further energetic copies of consciousness to be reflected into higher subtle bodies and dimensions, above and beyond the projected real-time double and the real-time zone. After this process has taken place, we have two complete energetic copies, plus their master copy of consciousness and memory: 1. Physical/dream mind (master copy) 2. Physical/etheric mind (expanded etheric body) 3. Real-time projected double (first true mind-split) One completely exterior mind-split has also occurred between the physical/etheric body and die real-time projected double. All three copies are energetically interconnected, and all three are capable of functioning and thinking completely independently — although in the case of the physical/dream mind, on a more internalized level of consciousness within die dream environment. The natural purpose of this multiple mind-split effect is, I believe, to allow the essential animating spirit to strip away the layers of gross matter that hold it fixed within the physical body and physical universe. This process progressively exposes the more refined spiritual aspects of the central animating core of spirit consciousness. This enables it to temporarily exist in higher dimensions, to reflect a part of itself there, during sleep or OBE. A solid base inside the physical/etheric body remains behind throughout this process, however, safely holding the original, or master, copy of its earthly consciousness and memories for its current incarnation. I suggest that shifting the base level of consciousness from the physical/etheric body directly into higher dimensional levels, in a single step, is way too big a leap. This shift appears to require a gentler series of multiple reflections into progressively higher and more refined subtle bodies, via multiple mind-splits. The conscious essence held and maintained within any projected subtle body is not just a mere energetic reflection of mind and memory, but a fully functional copy of its essential animating consciousness and spirit, plus all of its conditional and influential energetic modifiers. More on this later. My overall impression is that this process is designed to provide the central animating spirit consciousness with regular and direct exposure to the refining and adjusting influences of living karma and universal law, as they exist at vastly higher and more rarefied dimensional levels. This, I believe, is how karma and universal law actually work: the higher subtle bodies filter up and down through the dimensional scale — from the gross physical body to its highest energetic slate — whenever the physical body sleeps. You can find many clues showing the mind-split at work by examining some of the enormous numbers of case histories available today — if you know what you are looking for. Projectors often experience and make note of symptoms of the mind-split, but these have never been fully accounted for. The most commonly felt symptom is the sensation of duality — of being aware of the physical body while also being aware of existing in a subtle body at a different location. For example: "I was flying through the clouds when I suddenly became aware of feeling my physical body back on my bed, and of hearing the clock Licking in the room and traffic noises drifting in through the open window". Duality sensations are an occasional side effect of the mind-split, caused, I believe, by the silver cord, which is the two-way energetic linkage connecting the physical/etheric body with its projected double. Fig. 2. The mind-split effect, showing subtle bodies Shadow Memory Shadow memory is my term for all memories not gained during normal waking consciousness by the physical body — memories gained through OBE, including lucid dreams and dream experiences. Shadow memories are downloaded into the physical brain after an OBE, and appear to exist in inaccessible levels of memory. Full waking consciousness completely overrides and hides shadow memories, making them extremely difficult to access and thus remember under normal circumstances. A very light trance or near-daydreaming state encourages shadow memories to surface inside the conscious mind where they can become real memories. During this relaxed state, the conscious mind tends to wander through events, ideas, fantasies, and memories, which causes associations to be made with fragments of shadow memories. Associations trigger the upsurge of shadow memories into conscious levels of the mind. The first few minutes of each day, just after waking, are when most people recall shadow memories. This is thus the ideal state and time from which to practice shadow memory recall exercises, using leading trigger phrases to cause associations. Double Trouble — Experience I experimented with duality, mind-split, and astral-feedback effects for well over a decade before writing this book. I had always been curious as to how and why my physical body reacted with its projected double, and how distance affected this. I intuitively sensed there was more to this than the common belief that the physical body tries to reclaim its projected double if it gets too close. I had often experienced unexplainable and confusing mixtures of perceptions and memories, at times with two or more sets of events apparently occurring at the same time during OBEs. Like many projectors, I had also often been aware of events and noises in the real world around my physical body at the same time that I was experiencing things in my projected double at a remote location. The following is a detailed account and breakdown of my first full mind-split and astralfeedback experience. I have tried to simplify this as much as possible to ease the inherent difficulties — not to mention the grammatical nightmares — that arise when trying to explain something as unnatural and confusing as a fall mind-split experience. Please bear with me. Physical Body's Side Meditating in my chair by the fire, I slowly returned to a less-abstract level of consciousness as rain started drumming heavily on the roof. The wind was getting up and shaking the windows and doors. I glanced at the clock, briefly illuminated by a flicker of lightning. It was half past two in the morning. This was not unusual for me, as occasionally I will meditate all night. I felt wonderful, wellrested and full of energy. As the first distant sounds of thunder rolled softly over the house, I thought to myself, "I don't think I've ever projected in a thunderstorm.... I wonder what it's like?" Closing my eyes once again, I raised more energy through my still active primary centers, deepening my level of trance. When I was satisfied with my level of trance, I shifted my body awareness out in front of myself, strongly feeling myself as standing a few feet in front of my chair. The vibrations quickly started and spread throughout my body. My heart center soon began to race. The vibrations peaked and I felt a trickling upward rush of energy through my stomach and a brief falling sensation as I began to project. Then, just as I considered everything was going fine, the vibrations suddenly stopped and... nothing happened... zilch! Puzzled, I sat pondering, heavy with trance, wondering why such an apparently successful projection exit had failed. This had happened to me on many occasions, but I had never understood why. I was, however, just about to find out why... the hard way. Projected Double's Side Buzzing free of my physical body after an easy exit, I came to rest floating several feet in front of where I was sitting. At this distance, my real-time double reflected the heavy action within my heart center. It throbbed loudly as energy poured into me from my physical/etheric body. It felt as if there were a tittle petrol engine throbbing inside my chest. As I floated across the room, the little engine in my chest purred faster as if to match my speed, then slowed again to a steady throbbing whenever I stopped. I passed through the wall near the window and went out into the blustery raindrenched night. What a gloriously wet feeling! I could feel and smell and taste the rain passing through me as I floated across my front garden. The invigorating sounds and smelts and tastes of rain and wetness and plants and trees and soil and grass were everywhere. These rain smells were so strong, many times stronger than I would be able to sense in my physical body. The rain-swept night filled me with a wonderfully happy type of energy. It felt great to be so alive and out of my body on such a glorious night as this. Swooping up and over the roof with a quick loop, I hovered, looking around, the rain-filled wind buffeting and sleeting through me even more strongly up here. [The wind and rain did not actually move my projected double, but I was keenly aware of the sensation of them passing through me.] Sitting on the chimney, I gazed out over my old hometown, watching the rain dance in the streets below me, swirling and gurgling happily down gutters and drains. I listened carefully, taking everything in. The rain sounds seemed full of friendly voices, murmuring magical bubbly rhythms. Above, the low boiling clouds glimmering with hidden internal lightning. The tow sounds of heavy rolling thunder filled me with awe and tingling energy. Sitting on the roof, enjoying the storm and feeling a bit like a wet Mary Poppins, I felt something tugging at my innards. I knew that this was coming from my physical body in the room not far beneath me. I reached out with my feelings and sensed my physical body, instantly becoming aware of it. I felt the chair beneath me and the pillow under my feet. I could hear the drumming rain, but as it sounded from inside the house. Funny thing, for a moment I felt tike I was back in my body again. I could hear my father's old clock ticking on the wall. The sound of my old Labrador, Blue-Boy, snoring and dream yipping, drifted in from under the kitchen table in the family room to my far right. Floating higher above the roof, I swooped down through the garden and looped back up high, just grazing the dark-gray underbelly of a heavy storm cloud in the process. The sensations coming from my physical body eased the higher I went, soon stopping altogether. When I floated back down to the roof again, the tugging sensation began again. This was getting really weird, I thought. I had often wondered at the real cause of the proximity reaction between my projected and physical bodies. Many times I had felt myself being in more than one place at the same time, sometimes even flickering back and forth between my two bodies. But, I asked myself again, how could that be? It didn't make sense. If I was up here, then how could I be down there at the same time? Surety, once I left my physical body I was out of it and my body was left empty behind me, a mere hollow shell... or was it? My physical body was less than twenty feet below me at this time. I was intrigued now and decided to devote the rest of this projection to investigating proximity and duality sensations a little more closely. Passing through the roof, I watched the insides of tiles and timbers and plaster sheeting as I passed through them. I could feel resistance and texture and could even taste their dusty acrid flavors. Each type of matter looked quite different from any other and all were brightly illuminated on the inside, not dark as you might expect. Projected + Physical Bodies As I came through the ceiling, I saw my physical body in the armchair, right where I'd left it. At the same time, though, I also became fully aware of myself sitting in the chair, watching my own projected double coming down through the ceiling, I was seeing myself floating down through the ceiling, as well as seeing myself sitting in the armchair — both at the same time! It was me sitting in the chair, watching my projected double floating down through the ceiling. But, it was also me floating down through the ceiling, watching myself sitting in the chair, while also watching my projected double watching the other me sitting in the chair. I was aware not only of both sets of vision, but of both sets of thoughts, from both sides at once. I was aware of being aware of both sets of thoughts, and of being aware I was aware of being aware of being aware of both sets of thoughts, and this was swiftly compounding and getting worse. This was not only mind-blowing and confusing, it was also starting to make me feel quite ill... both of me. An important aspect of this experience is that until my physical aspect saw its projected double entering the room, it was totally unaware its earlier projection attempt had been successful. Luckily, at this time, my physical aspect was experimenting with real-time sight, and was observing and studying the room around it If not for this factor, I doubt I would ever have discovered the mindsplit. Nor would I have experienced the full-on duality and astral-feedback effects that occurred, which gave me such an insight into the nature of the mind-split. My physical aspect was only momentarily surprised when it saw its own projected double. As soon as it connected visually, a strong telepathic link formed between them and memories flooded both ways. An exchange of memories occurred between my physical and projected aspects. Both aspects, physical and projected, then knew exactly what had happened to each other from the moment of separation, when the mind-split had initially occurred, until then. This provided me with a unique experience: that of having two completely different sets of memories, for a single time period, coexisting within my mind (within both aspects of my mind) at the same time. Physical Body As stated, my physical aspect was aware of attempting a projection and feeling the usual energetic sensations associated with a powerful real-time exit. These sensations had then stopped cold, leaving my physical aspect sitting in the chair wondering what had gone wrong. It (I) decided to carry on with some energy work and real-time sight experiments. My physical aspect was totally oblivious, at this time, that it had already successfully projected its real-time double. My physical aspect felt a little heavy and sluggish after the supposedly failed projection attempt, with all the symptoms of a fairly deep trance. I also had fairly strong real-time sight, and could see the room much clearer than before. This was all fairly normal for the type of meditation and energy work I was doing at the time. I did not suspect that anything extraordinary was happening to me at this time. I decided to play around with real-time sight instead of falling back into a more abstract mystical state of deep trance meditation. I studied the room around me, slowly shifting my view so I could see behind me without physically moving. I was moving my etheric body around, quite literally, inside my own skin. There was no real sensation of movement, although it took considerable effort and concentration to do it, but my point of view moved as if my head were turning. By the way, this indicates that the etheric body (if awake) can gain some freedom of movement inside its physical body while an OBE is in progress. After several minutes, I felt an uncomfortable tension building up in my torso. This had happened a couple of times already during the course of my current experiments, but I thought that my effort to rotate my etheric body inside my physical body was causing it. I tried to extend a part of myself through the wall behind me, to project my point of view through it, but failed, although I could see behind me fairly clearly. I then felt a tangible presence in the room with me. I rotated my gaze to the front again, just in time to see an astral being slide down through the ceiling. I was momentarily surprised and perplexed, but realization flooded me the moment my gaze connected with the gaze of my projected double. This caused an incredibly strong telepathic connection, visual plus mental, and another set of memories suddenly flooded into me... feeling almost as if they had been there all the time. As we connected, the uneasy tension in my physical body worsened. I started to feel steadily increasing symptoms of nausea and something like physical shock. This connection was the start of what I now call astral feedback. Physical + Astral Bodies As my physical aspect and its projected double connected, we both became aware of both sets of memories from the moment of our initial separation at the projection exit. Once the telepathic connection and astral feedback started, I began to feel weak and nauseous in both bodies. My physical heart began pounding erratically — and this was reflected into my projected double. I was experiencing two completely different sets of vision, thoughts, and feelings, all at the same time, reflecting back and forth and swiftly compounding. This was, apart from the growing disorientation and nausea, absolutely fascinating. It also made a lot of sense. This first full mind-split experience provided answers to a lot of questions about certain projection oddities and phenomena. Just because my projected double was separated from its physical body, why would my physical mind (original copy) have to stop thinking and being? Why would it be left empty? I now had firsthand evidence that the mind splits, reflecting itself into two or more identical and independently thinking aspects during a projection. My projected double moved with some difficulty, carefully observing and studying its physical body in the chair, while the physical aspect of me watched it back and tried to do the same. This was no mean feat and took some very real effort on both sides. The nausea and mental pressure steadily increased in both aspects. I studied these effects as best I could in the short time I had. My heart center was throbbing unevenly and it felt like my physical heart was also pounding heavily and erratically. My level of trance began eroding at the start of the telepathic connection and I was now feeling more paralyzed than tranced. My physical body felt disoriented, dizzy, and highly nauseous. I could feel cold sweat trickling down my face and a chill spreading through my stomach and bowels. I felt like I was going into physical shock and would soon lose control over my bodily functions or pass out, or both. Throughout all of this I remained calm and controlled, but my mind(s) were definitely being stretched way beyond their design limits. I started to worry, considering the possibility that I might damage or kill myself if I continued with this experiment for too long. This would obviously negate its value entirely, to say the least. As my projected double was the only aspect capable of moving, and as this aspect was fully aware of the danger we were both in, he (it? I?) quickly moved out of the house. The feedback ceased the moment he went out through the wall and we soon lost contact with each other entirely. The nausea, etc., quickly eased off. Projected Double — Same Time Period I felt weak and heavy; movement was becoming extremely difficult, like wading through thick mud. I struggled to move about the room while trying to study and understand the strange effects I was experiencing. I had very little energy and felt the nausea my physical body was feeling, which seemed to make it even worse, somehow reflecting and compounding it. I felt an incredible pressure, as if something were dragging at me and sucking the life out of me. I moved away from my physical body, an extremely difficult thing to do. I felt a great weight pull ing at me from behind as I turned my back on my physical body. It was as if I were moving in slow motion. A chill went through me as I turned and an atmosphere of fear settled over me that I could not explain. We understood what was happening to us, both aspects of myself, and both of us concentrated on clearing our minds in an effort to ease the telepathic tension between us. This helped a little, and with enormous effort I made it through the wall and back out into the rain-drenched night. The pressure eased off quickly as I left the house and soon disappeared altogether. I flew away from the house, skimming rooftops and enjoying the thunderstorm once more. Flying through heavy rain is a truly invigorating experience and I felt the strength flowing back into me. Looping high under the heavy storm clouds and swooping down again, I followed the wet road at motorcar speed close to the surface, watching the heavy raindrops dancing off the road as I slid along it. I could taste and smell the wet bitumen intensely and could also feel the texture of the road's surface as I scooted along it, weaving through the shadows of the dimly lit, tree-lined street. I mulled over the implications of what had just happened and decided I had better get back to my physical body fairly soon, as it had been quite distressed when I'd left. My physical aspect probably would expect me back very shortly and would not appreciate it if I stayed out for too long. I knew I'd feel that way if I were he, which I was, or am. On that slightly confusing note, I turned and made a beeline back to the house and my waiting physical body. Physical Body Once the projected double departed, the nausea eased quickly, but I still felt quite shaky and my heart continued thudding erratically, missing the occasional beat. I could move again, but only just, and I still felt partially paralyzed. I figured my projected double was still out but would return very soon. I knew I would if I were he, or rather, if he were me, which he was, or I was, or I am, or he is (whatever the correct grammar for this is). I relaxed, trusting myself, and cleared my mind to make the coming reentry easier. Astral + Physical My projected double returned a few minutes after leaving, slipping quietly through the wall and into the room. He/I approached my physical body, feeling at the last moment like he/I were being sucked into it. My physical aspect became aware of its projected double's return when the feeling of tangible presence and tension began again. A few seconds later, my physical aspect felt a tingling energetic body rush as its projected double reentered and reintegrated with its physical body. The tingling surge of energy started in my legs and quickly rushed up through my torso (a trickling, tingling excitement kind of energetic sensation) from my groin up through to my heart. The gap in my memories, from the time my two aspects had last parted company, suddenly vanished. I now had full recall of both sides of the latter part of the experience, the most recent part. I must say, it is an extremely odd thing to have two sets of memories for a single time period, but you soon get used to it. Separation Point The mind-split experience, as given above, and the many controlled experiments I have done similar to this, indicate that when the projected double leaves the physical body it takes with it a full copy of all memories up to the exact moment of the mind-split. From that moment onward, the projected double records its own memories completely separately. The physical body also continues recording its own set of memories after the moment of separation — memories of a continuing and unbroken existence within the physical/etheric body after an apparently failed projection attempt. The physical body has no further contact or way of knowing what is happening to its projected double after the moment of separation. When the mind-split occurs, there is a very definite break in the connection between the physical brain and its projected copy, as though a switch had been thrown. Many projectors hear a definite "Click" at the moment of separation, sounding much like a light switch being thrown. This may be a symptom of the mind-split occurring. Both physical and projected aspects continue to record two completely separate sets of memories, in two unbroken streams, separately and independently, until reintegration. If the download of the projected double's shadow memories (into an accessible level of the physical brain) is unsuccessful, the physical/etheric mind will have no way of knowing that a projection ever took place. In this case, only the memories of the physical/etheric aspect will remain. This is what normally happens after a seemingly failed projection attempt, where projection-related symptoms have been experienced, e.g., vibrations, rapid heartbeat, and falling sensation, but an OBE is neither experienced, realized, nor remembered, after that moment. On reintegration, the strongest set of memories for the same time period — usually the physical/etheric body's side of the experience, its thoughts and dreams — becomes the memory stream retained and recorded in the physical body's permanent storage mechanism, the human brain. This is because the physical/etheric body's memories are automatically recorded by the physical brain as they happen, making shadow memory recall, by nature, a fairly difficult proposition. If the projected double does not succeed in impressing its shadow memories strongly upon the physical brain during reintegration, or if the physical brain is unreceptive, its shadow memories will usually fail to make any noticeable impression at all. They thus become effectively lost to the conscious mind. Shadow memory loss is far less likely if the physical/etheric mind works with its projected double before, during, and after their reintegration. This is part of the reason why I strongly advise people to keep their early projections ultrashort, as this greatly increases their chances of reclaiming their shadow memories during reintegration. Astral Feedback Astral feedback can occur if the physical/etheric mind (the normal physical mind) connects directly with its own real-time double while this is out of body. Direct astral feedback is a powerful and unpleasant energetic, telepathic phenomenon. Direct astral feedback is like forcing the human mind to grasp actual infinity — the limitlessness of which no human mind is capable of grasping. Fig. 3. Dual memory streams of mind-split effect, from separation to reintegration during OBE, showing failed memory download. Full astral feedback, as shown above, occurs only when both the physical body/mind and its projected double are awake and focused directly on each other at the same time. This can be avoided by not looking too closely at your physical or projected bodies, from either aspect, during a projection. If this does happen, however, astral feedback can be broken when it first starts by shifting your attention elsewhere, from either physical or projected aspect. If it continues, the projected aspect should leave the immediate area, which will alleviate the problem. But the energetic sensations caused by the reintegration of the projected double with its physical body are extremely important to shadow memory recall when working with the mind-split. All reasonably competent real-time projectors can re-create a full mind-split experience with astral feedback, provided they can hold their physical/etheric aspect awake for long enough after the exit, and if they can use real-time sight ability to make the necessary visual/telepathic connection. This will provide firsthand evidence of the mind-split and its far-reaching effects. To sum up, astral feedback has three main aspects: 1. Telepathic connection: Astral feedback results from the physical/etheric and real-time mind focusing directly on each other during a projection, forming a direct two-way, reflecting, compounding, and incredibly strong telepathic connection. This is something like the infinity effect you get when you hold two mirrors facing each other. Each mirror (or mind) reflects a reflection of its own reflection (identical minds) and this compounds back and forth into infinity. 2. Visual Connection: When the physical/etheric mind is awake during a projection, it usually gains some degree of real-time or astral sight. This allows it to see into the real-time zone around it, making it possible for it to see its own projected double. This in itself presents no real problem unless the projected double looks back at it. They then begin seeing through each other's eyes, and this causes a reflecting visual link that begins compounding into infinity, along with their thoughts and feelings. A direct two-way visual connection appears necessary to cause astral feedback. This is a very disturbing phenomenon and I don't recommend you try it for more than a few seconds at a time. 3. Emotional Connection: Emotion can also form a part of astral feedback, as above, but will more often cause a different type of feedback on the emotional level alone. Emotional feedback, which does not appear to require a telepathic or visual connection, is quite different from astral feedback. It does not cause the same nauseating feedback effect, but can affect the physical/etheric body and its projected double quite strongly. Fear, anxiety, anger, excitement, and the sexual urge — especially primal urges such as fear and sex — all have very strong emotional undercurrents that can cause particularly strong emotional feedback between the physical/etheric, real-time, and astral bodies. If not taken into account and controlled, primal urges can reflect back and forth, growing in strength and compounding. This can cause enormous problems for an unwary projector. OBE Success and Failure Apart from my own extensive projection experience, I have also dealt with an enormous number of case histories during my years consulting on the Internet. In this time, I have dealt with a great many almost projection experiences sent to me by projectors who appear to be doing everything right. In most cases, they have learned and practiced the necessary skills and techniques, but keep failing the exit. Everything goes fine up to the moment when separation should occur: they feel a falling or floating sensation, then nothing happens... zilch. The whole experience ends right there. All the projection-related sensations vanish. This usually leaves them blurry, heavy, and sometimes even partially paralyzed — though no more so than a good level of trance will. Most people are so tired and disappointed by their seemingly failed projection attempt that they just roll over and go to sleep. They believe they have simply failed... once again. (Does this sound familiar?) But in most cases like this, the projection itself has been a complete success. Falling asleep is the very last thing you should do after the projected double has made its exit. A light sleep does not cause too many problems, as long as the projected double does not stay out for too long. A deep sleep, however, causes plenty of problems. The projected double should always plan to re-enter before its physical/etheric body falls into a deep sleep. Once the physical/etheric mind falls into a deep sleep, the projected double may not be able to re-enter its physical body at that time. A deeply sleeping physical/etheric body is, at the very least, unable to respond to the energetic sensations caused by its returning projected double. If it does not recognize the symptoms of re-entry and reintegration, it cannot help in recapturing shadow memories. It may wake up suddenly after reintegration, but it may not be able to recall any projection memories — usually not. The energetic sensations caused by the returning projected double are very distinct and noticeable, if you know what they are and are awake enough to feel them. These are extremely important. They can be used with great effect to capture shadow memories at the precise moment of reintegration, when they are strongest. An awake or only very lightly sleeping physical/etheric mind allows for much easier and more reliable shadow memory downloading during the tricky reintegration phase at the end of a projection. The projected double cannot re-enter its physical/etheric body unless this is partially awake, or only very lightly asleep and easily awakened, to allow full reintegration and a successful shadow memory download. If the physical/etheric body and mind have fallen into a deep sleep, the projected double may be held outside the bounds of the physical/etheric body until it wakes up and causes reintegration to occur through the act of waking. Just as a partially sleeping or tranced physical body and mind are required for projection to occur, so a body and mind at least partially waking are required for reintegration to occur. On top of this, if the projected double stays out of its body for too long it will at some point lose control and begin to fall asleep itself. When the physical body finally wakes up, there may be — if anything — only a vague blur remaining of any projection memories, often mixed up with fragments of dreams. Ignorance of the mind-split, projection, and shadow memory recall is the major cause of projection memory failure. If the mind-split effect is properly taken into account, however, it can be made to work for projectors, not against them. Out-of-body projection, in itself, is reasonably easy to learn. Most people can learn to project with a minimum of training and fuss. Very few, however, remember their projections, although they will most likely succeed during many early attempts. Working with or around the mind-split, to recapture shadow memories, is the key to successful OBE. In most cases, it is not the projector's projection technique or abilities that cause projection failures, but the mind-split phenomenon itself. Successful projectors may doubt my theories on the mind-split and its wide-ranging affects on all aspects of OBE, because they have always experienced a single continuance of memory during OBE — the few they remember, that is. They remember consciously exiting their body with their memory continuing to record in a single and apparently unbroken stream. This gives them the vivid impression that they have actually left their physical body behind (and they have, in one sense) but does not prove they have left it completely empty. They might say: "Hey man, I remembered my entire projection and my whole mind came with me, pal! I got out and traveled and did some really neat things, then got back into my body and remembered it all, as simple as that, just like any normal memory". But, I ask you this, does it really happen quite as simply as all this? Do poor skill, poor natural ability, and poor projection technique really account for the extremely high failure rate associated with conscious-exit projection? I don't think so. It is more logical to consider that when an entire projection is remembered from exit to reentry, memory has simply continued recording in an apparently unbroken stream throughout the entire projection, from start to finish. The projectors are unaware that the shadow memories have simply overwritten the physical/etheric body's memories for that time period. The mind-split still occurred, but was completely unnoticed. This provides a single memory, apparently unbroken, of a projection from the time of separation to reentry — one single memory stream for a single time period. In this case, they have simply lost the physical side of the experience, rather than losing the projection side. Mixed Projection/Dream Memories Understanding and taking into account the mind-split takes us a long way toward explaining a great many projection and dream memory problems. Logically, of two or more memory sets for a single time period, the strongest parts will form the dominant memory set. These will form the final wrinkle in the physical brain, so to speak, replacing weaker ones. If there are strong elements in each memory set, only fragments of the strongest parts may be retained. Counting the basic reflected copies created by the mind-split effect: (1) dream mind, (2) etheric mind, (3) real-time mind, and (4) astral mind, we have the potential for three distinct mind-splits to occur between these copies: one internal and two external. This list does not include anything above the astral body. Please note that the awake physical body/mind becomes the etheric body/mind before any mindsplits occur. So the physical body/mind is not counted as a separate entity in the list below. This is because when the physical body/mind is in the awake state, all reflected copies are fully integrated and contained within it — i.e., they don't exist in this state. [Time lines (memory streams) are shown below as —————] —————————————————————————-----————-------------— 1. Dream mind. First unbroken memory stream recording. Mind-Split #1 — Internal Split ———————————————————————————-------------------—— — 2. Physical/Etheric mind (master copy). Second unbroken memory stream recording. Mind-Split #2 — External Split —————————————————————————————------------------— 3. Real-time projected mind. Third unbroken memory stream recording. Mind-Split #3 — External Split ————————————————————————————---------------------— 4. Projected astral mind. Fourth unbroken memory stream recording. The above shows four independent and separate memory streams being simultaneously recorded for a single time period during an OBE. These are recorded by four identical copies of the same mind, each existing independently on a different dimensional level. The bottom line here is that the physical brain's final memory for any single time span during an OBE (that final wrinkle) can come from more than one source. Any or all of these four reflected aspects of the same mind can contribute to this final memory. An important point to keep in mind is that the etheric body/mind is so closely enmeshed with the physical brain that it has much less trouble storing its memories therein. This, in itself, can cause shadow memory recall problems. During the trance state, for example, the center of thinking consciousness shifts into the etheric body, thus allowing the physical body to fall sleep. However, if the etheric mind stays awake in the trance state, it is capable of recording a single unbroken memory stream directly into the physical brain's storage mechanism. Etheric body/mind memories recorded during the trance state continue in a single unbroken memory stream. These memories are recorded directly into the physical brain, which, therefore, may not allow the projected double to interfere with previously recorded memories. This would involve overwriting previously recorded and stored memories (real memories) with another memory set for that same time period. This may be unacceptable to the physical brain's memory storage mechanism. If projection occurs during the trance state, and the etheric mind stays fully awake for some time after the exit, reentry is crucial and must be handled intelligently to capture and download the projected double's delicate shadow memories into accessible levels of the brain during reintegration. But projection memories are generally easier to recapture from a tranced or semitranced state than if the physical/etheric minds are allowed to enter the deep sleep state. Higher-Level Mind-Splits My experience indicates that higher subtle bodies, operating above the astral level, may undergo similar mind-split processes, and have similar properties, as their lower counterparts. These, however, operate at vastly higher and more abstract levels of consciousness. I do not mean to deliberately complicate matters here (I think I've done enough of that already), but as I am fond of saying, "The further away you get from the physical universe, dimensionally speaking, the more bizarre and complicated everything all too soon becomes". This shows, I think, the enormous difficulties inherent to projecting into dimensional levels above the astral planes, and of remembering this after the fact. It goes a long way toward explaining why projections into the mental and higher dimensions are virtually unheard of. And, let's not forget that we are also dealing with multiple copies of the subconscious mind, and multiple altered states of consciousness. I think there is enough to deal with just studying the lowest levels of the mind-split and of its effects on OBE and shadow memory storage. The higher levels can be disregarded for now. Anything above the astral planes is pretty much out of the reach of the majority of projectors anyway. Problems of reintegration and shadow memory recall appear mostly to concern the first two mind-splits. These undoubtedly cause similar problems with higher levels of projection. All projection memories, no matter at what level they were gained, must eventually be downloaded into the physical brain in the same way, in order to form a memory at the base level of consciousness. The complications raised by breaking down the entire mind-split effect from start to finish are staggering. While it is certainly something to ponder, it is definitely headache material and not entirely relevant to normal levels of projection. 4. Complications of Consciousness Further examination of the mind-split effect leads to a very interesting concept: that the majority of people probably succeed at conscious-exit projection when they attempt it, even during very early attempts. Those who attempt OBE and feel projection-related symptoms, like the heaviness of trance, racing heartbeat, vibrations, torso rush, etc., are most probably successfully projecting out of body. They just are not aware of this at the time, and are therefore not remembering it afterward because of the mind-split effect and shadow memory recall problems. A popular theory is that everyone projects out every night to play and explore and learn and do all kinds of neat spiritual stuff, as if we were the astral otters of the universe. Then why do 99 percent of people have no memories of any kind of out-of-body existence? Where are the memories of all these lost OBEs? If the average projectors remember one projection out of a hundred, then surely during that one successful projection they would have some memory of the ninety-nine forgotten experiences? It is also quite common for projectors to become aware halfway through astral-plane projections, skipping the exit and first part of the projection entirely. Surely they would then have some recall of what they had been doing for the first half of their experience? The simple truth is that they never do. If you have been in the astral dimension for an hour, and you suddenly become aware you are in the astral, you never have any recollection of what you have been doing during the hour before you became aware. In a way, this is like waking up in the astral and taking over the astral body, which appears to have been operating independently up until that moment. The memory of what it had been doing for the previous hour is lost from that moment onward. Are these the symptoms of yet another subtle body reintegration and shadow memory recall problem, but on the astral level? The mind boggles at the potential complexities of inter-dimensional subtle body relationships and energetic conflicts. Further, consider the compatibility problems that could arise between different levels of consciousness, different levels of understanding, and memory sharing between these. And let's not forget basic reintegration problems and the fickle nature of the eventual shadow memory download into the only permanent storage medium all subtle bodies share, stretched between all aspects of the mind-split: the humble physical brain. Everything experienced out of body must eventually be downloaded into the physical brain, in base level understandability format, if it is to generate recallable memory. If you examine case histories, or have experienced this yourself, you find that every projection starts fresh, from the very beginning, just as if it were the very first OBE. Projectors never find available any continuing memories of astral-otter type of life, even if they suddenly shift into an astral projection that has been going on for some time. They remember other successful projections, sure, but absolutely nothing of their ninety-nine failures, and all the other nights when they just fell asleep. Few people state that their experience contradicts this scenario. I consider dreams and overactive imagination to account for them. So, what does happen to all these lost astral- and higher-level memories? Do they download into inaccessible levels of the subconscious mind and hide in places where even the deepest level of hypnosis cannot dig them out? Why does one successful conscious-exit projection provide vivid and lasting memories while the other ninety-nine unconscious projections do nothing? It seems possible that an intrusion by the base level of consciousness (the physical/etheric mind in its normal waking state) into the astral double causes the astral double's level of consciousness to drop sharply. This causes the astral level of consciousness to revert to its lowest form, its fully integrated or base level of consciousness. The lowest and coarsest level of a consciousness unit appears, in all cases, to be far stronger than any higher level or aspect of that same consciousness unit (consciousness unit = the whole person or being). When present, the base level thus replaces any higher levels of consciousness and overwrites any memories gained independently by those levels of consciousness on higher levels. This is what I believe happens when higher and lower levels of consciousness reintegrate on any dimensional level or level of consciousness. The stronger base level simply replaces and overwrites the higher level. The projection continues from that point at the base level of consciousness and understandability, neatly replacing higher-level experience memories. The higher-level memories still exist after this event, but they are driven into inaccessible levels of the subconscious mind and memory. The overall effect is that a projection continues from that moment on as if it had just started. This occurs whether reintegration occurs at the bottom end of the scale (in the waking physical body) or at a higher level, say in the astral body, when the projector suddenly becomes aware and wakes up inside the astral body mid projection. The lowest level of consciousness always replaces and overwrites any higher level of consciousness and effectively wipes out all trace of its memories at the moment of reintegration. This same thing appears to happen every time during the re-integration of the real-time projected double with its physical counterpart. The real-time double contains the experience memories of all of its higher aspects within it. All memories of higher levels of existence are therefore usually lost, downloaded into inaccessible levels of subconscious mind and memory. This shows there is an inherent problem with reintegration: downloading and storing shadow memories in accessible levels of the physical brain. By default, shadow memories must be accessible to the base level of waking consciousness, and stored in base-level format, if they are to be recognized by the physical brain as recallable memories. While I think it is unlikely as a continually ongoing process during every moment of sleep, it does seem possible that the projected double and all of its higher selves could lead separate lives while they are out of their physical body. They could be, as is commonly believed, continually gathering experience memories that the base level of consciousness is simply not privy to. The physical brain is not capable of storing and recalling higher-level memories unless they are first converted into simple base-level format. As a very rough guess, I'd say that less than one percent of high-level experience memories are potentially accessible to the physical brain at the base level of consciousness. The great limiting factor of living a multidimensional existence would be the availability of energy to all higher projected aspects. It takes a lot of energy to maintain the integrity of a single projected double. It would take a great deal more, requiring a high level of energetic development, to simultaneously maintain multiple copies of awake consciousness on multiple dimensional levels. Memories from higher levels of consciousness may not even be in sync with what the physical brain is capable of recognizing and storing as viable memories. This factor causes the full memories of high-level experiences to be stored deep within the subconscious mind. The only parts of highlevel experiences that are storable as recallable memories are those parts the physical brain is capable of recognizing and converting into base-level format. I believe the above factor accounts for the metaphorical abstracts, symbols, images, and feelings that are sometimes remembered after high-level OBEs and dreams, instead of more recognizable types of OBE and dream memories. This, if true, goes a long way toward explaining the abstract and metaphorical nature of prophetic OBEs, visions, and dreams and why these are so difficult to understand and interpret. The physical brain is only capable of storing the surface layer of highlevel experience memories. The thin surface layer of memories that can result from high-level experiences are the physical brain's interpretation of higher and more abstract levels of its own existence in higher dimensions, while it is operating at a correspondingly higher level of consciousness therein. I have found that the higher the level of consciousness attained, and the higher the dimensional level projected into, the more abstract and metaphorical existence becomes. Dreams and lucid dreams can also be affected by high-level experiences. High-level experiences may not be able to download into accessible levels of memory, but they will impinge upon the dream mind and affect its environment and experiences. If these dreams are remembered, meaningful and prophetic elements will often be found within them. This is very similar in cause and effect as to how akashic pulse episodes (see part 5) will often leave tantalizing fragments of high-level abstract metaphorical imagery inside normal dream memories. Because of this, the importance of dream memories to the life path of all individuals here in the physical dimension should never be undervalued. This raises the very real possibility that conscious-exit projection causes a shift of the base level of consciousness (normal waking consciousness) into higher subtle bodies. This may be the only thing that allows any memories of existing in those levels to be captured and downloaded into the physical brain. To even begin to work around the complexities of this event requires serious energetic, psychic, and spiritual development. It also requires a major rethink of the belief system of any aspiring highlevel operator. High-level projectors must learn to handle all their experiences as a very young child would do, without prejudice or preconceived ideas. They must learn to see with the eyes of a child. For this purpose, their belief system must be pruned back to include only what they can do themselves, and what they have experienced for themselves. Every experience should be accepted simply, as a child would, and not interpreted or explained and overcomplicated to death according to any belief system or dogma, as adults so often tend to do. An overcomplicated or faulty belief system not only blinds high-level seekers, it also effectively blocks their ascension into higher levels. Higher dimensional realities simply cannot be experienced if these realities are contradictory to the seeker's own foundation belief system. This helps explain some of the enormous difficulties encountered when operating in dimensional levels above the midastral planes. It would seem that a fully conscious exit from the physical body would be the most basic requirement for conscious high-level projection. A fully conscious shift into the astral body, and from there into the high astral planes, and from there into the mental body and mental planes and so on, would also seem to be basic requirements to operating in those dimensional levels. These basic requirements may be the only thing that allows conscious projectors to bring back anything resembling real memories from higher levels, even if these are only the surface layers of those memories. Memories gained by the base level while operating at a higher level can then be recognized by the base level of consciousness. Keep in mind, this does not overcome the difficulties encountered with high-level abstract metaphorical imagery natural to all levels of existence higher than the base level of consciousness. High-level surface-layer memories stored in base-level format will still be abstract and difficult to understand by the base level of consciousness. 5. Astral Sight In-body real-time or astral sight is a subtle body ability that allows projectors to see through closed eyelids, and even through heavy bedcovers (see chapter 1). Projectors frequently note this phenomenon during the prelude to OBEs and during waking-paralysis episodes. This can also occur during the trance state alone, due perhaps to partial internal generation of the real-time projectable double. The etheric body itself, while glued firmly within the physical body, also seems capable of developing independent real-time and astral-sight abilities, under the right circumstances. This is a complexity of the mind-split effect that most commonly occurs after the projected double has made its exit, and during waking-paralysis episodes. The quality of these abilities is extremely variable. They seem dependent on bioenergetic development, and on natural ability. Many people, when they experience in-body real-time sight, do not realize their physical eyes are actually closed at the time, or that they are seeing through their bedcovers, often in a direction away from where their physical body is actually facing. There appears to be more to real-time and astral sight than meets the eye — if you'll pardon the awful pun. They may seem to result from a part of a subtle body peering out from within the confines of the physical body, but subtle bodies do not contain functioning sense organs, nor functioning copies of sense organs (see chapter 7). Everything seen in this way is better described as being directly perceived by the mind/senses of the subtle body in question. The etheric and realtime bodies, once internally generated and partially freed from the limitations of their physical body, are capable of perceiving energy directly and of interpreting it in a visual way. While separation is still only partial, the physical brain shares the subtle body's perceptions. Under this circumstance, out-of-body sight is shared simultaneously with the sight center of the physical brain. It is therefore perceived as if seen through the eyes of the physical body. These visual perceptions, although technically experienced out of body, cause immediate memories to form in the physical brain. In a way, it can be said that out-of-body perception and shadow memory sharingis taking place, causing direct sight and memory input into the physical brain. Remote-Eye Projection Remote-eye projection is a term I use for another complication of consciousness and of the mindsplit. A remote point of consciousness can project out of the physical body without any kind of normal projection being sensed or even appearing to take place. This occasionally happens spontaneously to an awake but extremely tired person, but it can also occur during the somnambulistic or deep-trance states. Accidental remote-eye projectors are always extremely tired and hanging right on the edge of sleep, forcing themselves to stay awake. (There is normally another person involved, keeping the remote-eye projector awake.) The overtired person suddenly sees a vision of a remote scene very clearly, as if with physical eyes. This is usually a real-time scene fairly close to the projector's actual location in the real world. Remote-eye projectors are usually, but not always, able to see in all directions at once. They are also usually unaware of having any type of body or mind at their remote eye's location, although they will be fully aware of their physical body and its surroundings. They also usually have only limited influence over the movement of their remote-eye aspect, if any. Note here that remote-eye projection occurs while the physical body and mind are awake and functional, if only just barely. The physical body is still capable of sluggish movement, even of standing and walking and going to the bathroom — especially if the projector has some experience operating in the full-trance state. Speech is possible, but takes effort and is usually slurred. However, the projectors are fully capable of speaking and of giving a running commentary of the movements and perceptions of their remote-eye aspect — if they can stay conscious long enough to do so. The view from their remote eye may come and go, especially if the remote-eye projectors attempt to undertake any activity requiring more than partial attention. Remote-eye projections are less dramatic and hence less commonly associated with OBE than are normal spontaneous projections, but they are not exactly a rarity. They are caused, I think, by the projection of a very low-powered version of the real-time double, with a barely noticeable mindsplit. A weak version of the real-time double is projected, or more aptly ejected, from an extremely overtired physical body and mind that, quite literally, cannot hold itself together any longer. The remote eye (projected double) will, if effort is applied, be found to respond sluggishly to the will of the awake remote-eye projector. This is more of an influence than a control. If left alone, the remote-eye aspect will continue moving about, changing direction and even flying at times, completely under its own volition. This last factor strongly indicates that the remote-eye aspect has its own copy of mind, albeit maybe a weaker copy or reflection of the original. The mind-split effect is quite evident here. Projectors clearly perceive themselves as existing in two separate locations simultaneously. Neither aspect is aware of the other's thoughts and no astral feedback is apparent between them. This can aptly be called a genuine type of out-of-body experience, although the projector is fully aware of being within the bounds of the physical body at all times. The following is a typical remote-eye projection: It is late and I am very tired. My eyes sting with dryness and feel like lead and I have to force them to stay open. The room is dimly lit, with only a little moonlight coming through the window. I can just make out the shadowy shapes of the furniture in the room around me. My body is heavy with trance symptoms. If I stand, I feel like I am walking on big, fluffy pillows, and I can hardly feel my legs at all, though I know they are still there and can still use them if I try. I feel a bone-deep tickling throughout physical my body whenever I move any part of it. My eyes droop closed briefly, and suddenly I become aware of seeing clearly from a remote point of view outside my body. My remote-eye aspect is floating down the road near my house. I can see in all directions at once. I am still aware of listening to my friend talking, and of mumbling a few short replies here and there, when prompted. I can still talk and move my physical body, after a fashion. If I pull myself together, taking a deep breath and forcing my attention back to the room and the conversation, my remote eye view and that of the room around me flickers back and forth. Each time this happens, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach and chest, like the sensation you get when your airplane hits an air pocket. This is the same sensation you get when the projection reflex starts to kick in, just before the separation of the physical body from its projected double. I can hold this remote eye view if I relax and concentrate on it with my eyes closed, but I can also see the same view, superimposed over the darkness, although not as clear, if my eyes drift open. My remote eye view is exactly what I would experience if I were actually projecting in real time. I am not really there, but I am seeing from there. If I drift a little too deeply toward sleep, I feel myself switch to the remote location, inside my real-time body. When this happens, my mind comes with me. I shift back to my physical body again if my friend touches my arm or speaks to me. While focused on my remote-eye aspect, it feels like I am connected to something like a flying remote TV camera, and my eyes are little TV sets receiving the view from there. Control of my remote-eye aspect is difficult, but I do seem to have a slight influence over it. This type of experience usually happens spontaneously, but I have had some success re-creating the necessary conditions and causing it deliberately. If I am not with another person who is instructed to keep me awake, I will usually shift into the remote-eye projection fairly quickly. It is a very delicately balanced and difficult state to hold for any length of time, even with assistance. If I allow myself to fall asleep, the experience invariably becomes a real-time projection without noticeable separation or exit sensations. In my remote-eye projections, I have never experienced waking paralysis, only physical heaviness and sluggishness. I have always been able to think, talk, and move my physical body, albeit very sluggishly. It is quite possible that remote-eye projections involve a different type, level, or strength of the real-time projected double than is normally generated during an OBE. This may be more like a realtime reflected double, rather than a real-time projected double. It is also possible that when the physical body becomes overtired, it internally generates a weak real-time double as its bare minimum requirement for that level of tiredness. This then slips out if the physical body is held semiawake for too long. On the other hand, if the physical body drifts into sleep for only a brief second or two while in this extremely tired state, a projection exit occurs. This may account for the lack of exit-related sensations, or the missing memory of them. The mind-split is quite evident here, with consciousness residing in both the physical body/mind and its projected double at the same time. Each acts independently of each other, with the physical body receiving the remote-eye visual connection as something like secondhand input. The center of consciousness flickering back and forth between these two aspects also shows the strong and intimate link between them. The visual connection between the awake physical body and its remote-eye aspect is most likely provided via the silver cord, as per any other type of projection, but the brow center is also very likely involved here. The awake but tranced physical/etheric mind can be thought of as receiving a type of remote-eye, real-time vision broadcast from its projected double, via its silver cord. If I am right here, this vision is received and seen by the physical/etheric mind in its mind's eye, in a very similar way as normal clairvoyant mind's-eye visions are seen. This type of experience also supports my theory that the physical body's original copy of consciousness stays firmly inside the physical body, but is energetically connected with its projected aspect at all times. This suggests that any other type of out-of-body projection will be found to have similar basic properties, although these may not be quite so apparent nor so well perceived. Remote-eye projection also adds weight to my theories on the mind-split effect, that OBE can occur at any time during the trance state, often without being noticed. The physical/etheric mind stays awake and functional, but remains totally unaware that a projection is in full progress. This often, I believe, happens to people during meditation, usually without them being aware of it at the time. There are some other, more subtle, contributing factors at work during a remote-eye projection. When people are extremely tired, their brain waves slow and their physical bodies feel heavy, fuzzy, and sluggish: These are classic trance-state symptoms. Full trance is the ideal state not only for projection, but also for clairvoyant visions. The will and mental effort required to force overtired eye and eyelid muscles to respond localizes and focuses body awareness in the eyes and brow area. As these muscles are not working properly, most of the eye-opening effort causes a strong, localized body-awareness action in the eyes and brow area. The brow center (third eye) is situated in this very same area. Fig. 4. Tired eyes lifting action, showing body awareness effect on brow center The brow center is intimately connected with the eyes and with the sight center of the brain, with all other types of non-physical sight, and with many aspects of projection-tube-type projections for example. Forcing tired eyes to stay open stimulates the brow center quite effectively, and energizes whatever developed or natural clairvoyant capabilities the brow center has. The full-trance state also causes a naturally increased flow of energy throughout the physical/etheric body, making available to the brow center and its supporting energetic circuitry far more energy than usual. This combination of increased energy flow and brow center stimulation is usually enough to stimulate the brow center into an energetically receptive mode. The Missing Link There is nothing simple about OBE. Many subtle variations are possible. This chapter outlines a variation that falls somewhere between astral projection and remote viewing (modern term for clairvoyance). A more apt description would be real-time remote viewing, rather than OBE. Projections falling into this category often involve clear perceptions of duality, with consciousness often flickering back and forth between the physical and its remote aspect for the duration of the experience. A remote-eye projection experience has a different look and feel to it than more common types of projection. It is also far more mentally and energetically draining, if continued for any length of time, which is not surprising if you take into account the overtired state of the physical body and mind necessary for this phenomenon to occur. 6. Waking Paralysis Waking paralysis (also called sleep paralysis) is extremely common: you wake up paralyzed, or suddenly become paralyzed while relaxing or trying to get to sleep — but while still awake. Most people will probably experience it at some time. This can be terrifying, as the cause is always unknown at the time. Paralysis is a well-known symptom associated with out-of-body experience; natural projectors will, more often than not, be found to suffer frequent bouts of waking paralysis throughout their lives, especially during their teens and twenties. I was plagued by it during my childhood, teens, and twenties. It slowly lessened in frequency over the years, but only after I began regular energetic development and learned how to project in my early twenties. I still get it occasionally, a couple of times a year. Waking paralysis is extremely complex and no single explanation can really explain its causes. The two most popular theories are dissociation and spontaneous projection. Dissociation: The general scientific explanation is that the brain dissociates itself from its physical body during sleep, as it enters the dream state, ostensibly to stop the physical body from thrashing about, mimicking its dream actions and injuring itself. Waking paralysis is said to occur when the mind accidentally wakes up inside its dissociated sleeping body. This explanation does have merit, as the physical body does progressively dissociate itself from its mind during sleep, and during the trance state. However, I do not believe this explanation holds all the answers. Entering the trance state brings the first symptoms of dissociation; the deeper the trance state attained, the more difficult movement becomes. But dissociation brought on by the trance state comes on slowly, in degrees, over many minutes. Waking paralysis, on the other hand, comes on very swiftly, usually within only a couple of seconds. And I have never experienced full waking paralysis during trance, not even during the virtual catalepsy of the deep-trance state. Spontaneous projection: The popular New Age explanation is that waking paralysis is caused solely by spontaneous projection, more specifically by a projection that is about to occur or is trying to occur. Many people recommend, because of this, that waking-paralysis victims relax and go along with the experience, so they can convert their waking-paralysis episode into a full OBE. This explanation also has merit, as paralysis definitely appears related to some aspects of projection. However, in my opinion, waking paralysis is a complication of consciousness with many contributing factors. I think it is more complex than is commonly believed. Waking paralysis is often not accompanied by vibrations or other projection-related exit sensations. Very often, for no apparent reason, people will either suddenly become paralyzed while relaxing, or while trying to fall asleep, or they will wake up to find themselves paralyzed. Everything is quiet and they have no major projection-related sensations (vibrations or rapid heartbeat); they just find themselves suddenly and inexplicably paralyzed. Many people (myself included) can detect the onset of a waking-paralysis episode, especially when it comes on during a relaxed but awake state. They feel an almost irresistible sinking sensation moments before the onset of paralysis. This happens very quickly, with only a couple of seconds' warning. While the sinking feeling can be called a projection-related symptom, this is often the only sensation experienced during the entire paralysis episode. Most paralysis episodes, in my opinion, happen after the projection exit has occurred. Full waking paralysis cannot occur before the projection exit. So, why are no projection-related exit sensations usually experienced during waking paralysis? The most logical answer is that spontaneous natural projection has already occurred, and the exit sensations have already passed, or have been missed altogether due to the mind-split effect. The paralysis victim either sleeps through them and wakes up paralyzed, while an OBE is in progress, or the symptoms are so swift and mild they go unnoticed, as with remote-eye projection (see chapter 5). The physical/etheric mind awakes inside its dissociated, mind-split, paralyzed physical body during an OBE, while its projected double is out and about. When projection exit symptoms are experienced only at the beginning of a waking-paralysis episode, it is a fairly safe bet that a spontaneous projection was taking place at that time. The projection exit has been missed due to the mind-split effect. This has left the projector's physical/etheric mind (original copy) fully awake and paralyzed during the remainder of that projection. The projection itself is causing the waking paralysis. While some waking-paralysis victims claim to succeed at converting it into a projection, the vast majority fails to do so. Most people are too afraid at the time to even contemplate a conversion. Those who do try for a conversion usually fail, even if they completely give in to it and genuinely go along with the whole experience. They usually lie there paralyzed until it ends on its own accord, or until they manage to move a part of their physical body and thus break out of it. In this case, they have succeeded in aborting the projection and forcing their projected double to reenter and reintegrate. This ends the paralysis, but causes their projected double's shadow memories to be lost in the process. If paralysis is caused by a projection already in progress, as I suggest, then it would obviously not be possible to have another projection at that same time. This may account for the extremely high failure rate of attempts to convert waking paralysis to OBE. If an episode of waking paralysis has no projection-related symptoms during its onset, but is later converted successfully into an OBE, I would suggest that the projected double has been reeled in after an unnoticed exit (the one that caused the waking paralysis), but with only partial reintegration taking place. It has then been immediately projected out again, but this time produces normal projection-related symptoms because of the presence of awake consciousness during the second exit. Memories of the first exit (the cause of the waking paralysis episode) are not downloaded into the physical brain. These are automatically overwritten during the second exit, leaving no trace of what really caused the waking paralysis in the first place. I would suggest that when an entire episode of waking paralysis is accompanied by vibrations, plus other exit-related sensations, internal energetic mind-split conflicts (most likely caused by the presence of awake consciousness during the projection process) are stalling the spontaneousprojection mechanism. This is another complication of consciousness. Actual projection may or may not occur. In this case, attempting to convert waking paralysis into an OBE by relaxing and going with the experience, or by using a projection technique to aid it, will have much more success. I have experienced waking-paralysis episodes literally hundreds of times, but have never managed to convert one into an OBE. I have had hundreds of spontaneous projections from the waking state, or have wakened in the middle of them, but these always result in either a partial or full OBE. I perceive a marked difference between spontaneous projections and waking-paralysis episodes. Each feels quite different and, while spontaneous projection is quite acceptable to me, I absolutely loathe waking paralysis. I consider spontaneous projection and waking paralysis to be two different sides of the same coin. Sometimes spontaneous projection is experienced and remembered, but at other times waking paralysis is experienced and remembered. These are two different aspects of spontaneous projection, caused by the mind-split effect, providing two totally different experiences. Only one side of a spontaneous paralysis-cum-projection episode is usually remembered — the side perceived and remembered by the physical/etheric mind. The other side, that of the projected double, is neither perceived at the time nor remembered after the event. Shadow memories are completely lost because of the trauma or excitement waking paralysis always causes. This trauma firmly cements the physical/etheric side of the experience into physical memory, totally disallowing any shadow memories. With certain types of projection, exit symptoms can be extremely mild, often not noticed at all. This is most common with projections involving the brow or crown centers. This indicates natural clairvoyant potential, often unsuspected. It also means the projector has the potential for high-level projections, because clairvoyance and high-level projection are intimately related. It is possible, therefore, that some types of waking paralysis are caused by brow- or crown-center projections in progress, where the exit has been missed. Fear and dread accompany many waking-paralysis episodes, often with a tangible feeling of presence coming from a particular direction. Fear may be caused by mind-split effects combined with emotional feedback (fear and anxiety) between the physical/etheric body and its projected double during a real-time projection. Other kinds of projections may also contribute incidences of waking paralysis and spontaneous projection. There is a strong possibility, for example, that akashic pulse episodes — astral wind — may prove to be a major contributing factor in some waking-paralysis episodes. An akashic pulse episode could, conceivably, force projection on people who are deeply relaxed, even though they are technically still wide awake. They could then experience waking paralysis while left awake inside their physical/etheric mind, until their projected double is released and allowed to reenter and reintegrate after the akashic pulse episode is over. We will look at the akashic pulse in part 5. Related Factors The physical/etheric mind on its own does not usually have the power to animate its physical body during an OBE. To awaken even partially and restore some degree of physical movement, the reintegration of the physical/etheric with its real-time double appears to be the minimum requirement. To restore full waking consciousness and functionality, the complete reintegration of all subtle bodies is required. Another contributing factor may be that the state of energetic development of paralysis sufferers may not allow conscious-exit projection to occur easily. This creates internal energetic conflicts that stall the projection mechanism, causing waking paralysis to occur more easily than projection. Early conscious projection exits are usually marked by extremely heavy vibrations, rapid heartbeat, and other heavy energy-movement sensations. These heavy sensations always reduce in severity during subsequent projections. Logically, there must be a reason for this progressive lessening of sensation. The answer, I think, is that increased energetic development reduces internal energetic conflicts. Attempts at conscious-exit projection involve a lot of primary-center activity, and a great deal of energy flows throughout the etheric body, which forces some degree of energetic development to take place. This forced development appears to account for progressively milder exit sensations being experienced during subsequent projections. If you add energetic underdevelopment to potential conflicts caused by mind-split, and take into consideration shadow memory download problems and other complications caused by the presence of waking consciousness, you have a recipe for disaster. Waking paralysis can thus occur at any time and for many reasons, because of the delicate interactions between these potential complications. In most cases, the waking-paralysis victims remain none the wiser before, during, or after the fact, because of the nature of the mind-split effect. The following two scenarios may explain some other types of waking paralysis, in particular those where strong feelings of fear and dread and a tangible sense of presence are involved. Both of the following scenarios involve strong emotional feedback between the physical/etheric body and its projected double, interfering with and stalling a projection in progress. Emotional feedback has many similarities to astral feedback, but happens on the emotional level only. It is, therefore, only felt, not realized. Paralysis and the Physical Body: The mind awakens inside its paralyzed physical body. It may or may not have felt any projection-related exit sensations earlier. It has awakened for a very good reason: Something has just scared the daylights out of its projected double! It has no way of knowing this has happened, though, or that it is actually in the middle of a projection. It just wakes up paralyzed and scared, sensing a tangible presence somewhere nearby in the room. It cannot move to see what it is sensing, so its fear steadily increases, and floods along the silver cord and into its projected double, as it fights to break free of the paralysis. The projected double keenly feels this new surge of fear. It has no apparent cause or source, but is sensed as coming from a particular direction — from its body, although the projected double does not know it. The projected double now begins to feel a strange pressure dragging upon it, a pressure coming from its own physical/etheric counterpart as it desperately struggles to break free of its paralysis. This struggle has the effect of dragging the projected double back toward its physical body. The projected double does not recognize this dragging force for what it is, and so fights against it with everything it has. Fear escalates quickly on both sides, as both aspects feed and compound the emotional feedback problem. Both sides of the mind-split — physical/etheric and projected double — are scared to death; each senses a tangible dread presence coming from a particular direction — coming from each other, but neither side knows this. The tug of war continues until either the physical/etheric side succeeds in dragging back its terrified projected double (which is usually the case), or until the physical side faints or gives up and falls back to sleep again in exhaustion. Paralysis and the Projected Double: The following scenario again relates to emotional feedback, but in this case a conflict between the dream mind and its projected double, where the dream mind has not actually awakened inside its physical/ etheric body. A projected double is floating about in real time, having fun and minding its own business, when it suddenly has a fright. It sees some bushes moving in the shadows and its imagination plays tricks on it: an ominous shape reaching for it. It freezes, not knowing quite what the shape is or what to do about it. It tries to flee, and suddenly senses a very tangible fearsome presence right behind it. An irresistible force starts dragging it backward. It tries to move away, but suddenly feels weak, as if its very life force were being drained. It now feels trapped and has extreme difficulty moving. The dream mind, throughout this, feels the initial fear surge from its projected double, but does not know the cause. The fluid dream state changes at this point and takes on a more sinister aspect. The dream mind may even slip into a nightmare. The dream mind does not awaken inside its physical/etheric body, so it doesn't actually experience true waking paralysis. It will, however, experience a dream-state version of waking paralysis or a slow-motion type of bad dream. The projected double feels trapped, snared by some powerful unseen evil foe. Now so weak it can barely move, it feels like it is wading through rapidly setting concrete. No matter how hard it tries, it cannot seem to break the grip of its unseen assailant. Weak, trapped, and afraid, it moves one step closer toward absolute terror. The fear increases and the projected double fights in vain, growing steadily weaker. The sense of dread increases, and fear builds into mindless, paralyzing terror. It cannot move at all now and feels a cold weight spreading through its chest. The dreadful thing behind it is getting closer and closer, dragging it heartlessly backward toward its evil clutches. The monster almost has it now and is ... just... about... to ... grab it! The projected double can almost feel the monster's fetid breath on the back of its neck. The unseen monster has it now, and is raising its dreadful ax, when, suddenly, the projector wakes up in a pool of sweat, heart pounding, gasping for breath, and shaking with terror. Memories of the projection (just a bad dream?) flood the projector's terrified mind. Paralysis Memories The dominant memories retained after any waking-paralysis episode always come from the strongest and most memorable side of the experience, the side most traumatized. This is usually the physical/etheric side, as that side of the mind-split has a much more direct effect on the physical brain than shadow memories generally do. If the dream mind does not awaken inside its physical/etheric aspect before the end of the paralysis episode, these memories will be from the projected double's side of the mind-split instead. Sometimes, because of the complex and unreliable nature of shadow memory downloading during reintegration, these memories will become mixed. Memories of a bad dream, plus a terrifying projection experience, plus waking up paralyzed and terrified, blend into a uniquely compounded shadow memory download. Ways to Break Paralysis Learning and practicing conscious-exit projection reduces the frequency of paralysis episodes. Projection attempts encourage the energetic development of the projection mechanism within the etheric body. If projection is unacceptable due to fear of OBE, short daytime projection attempts are advised. Energetic development work, like meditation and energy work, as well as developing other core skills, will also help resolve projection-related energetic and mind-split conflicts, which are the underlying causes of waking paralysis. Many people advocate giving into waking paralysis and attempting to convert it into an OBE. I would advise doing this only if vibrations or other projection symptoms are present; otherwise it seems a pointless exercise. If paralysis is frequent, this would definitely be worth a shot at least once. If the conversion continually fails, and no reliable way is found to stop paralysis episodes, a progressive course of energetic development and meditation becomes the most viable option. The simplest and most direct approach, the one most people prefer, is to clear the mind (refuse to fear) and concentrate on moving a single big toe. For some reason, a big toe is the easiest body part to reanimate during a waking-paralysis episode. Once a big toe moves, even slightly, waking paralysis will end. To increase the effectiveness of the above technique, I also recommend using the brushing awareness action (see chapter 12) on the big toe to break paralysis. This helps by strengthening body awareness there, making it easier to force movement. Paralysis, like spontaneous projection, is more likely to occur in certain resting and sleeping positions. Lying on the back, for example, tends to promote both projection and waking paralysis for most people. It is worthwhile checking to see if the resting position is a factor, and avoid those positions most likely to promote waking paralysis. When waking paralysis strikes a deeply relaxed but still-awake person, or one trying to fall asleep, it usually comes on with a noticeable sinking sensation, giving a few moments of warning. That is the prime time to fight off paralysis. Rolling out of bed as quickly as possible (you have to be really, really quick) stops waking paralysis before it can take hold. I recommend getting up and taking a short walk, or raiding the refrigerator at this time, as eating helps. It is not advisable to return to bed for at least ten minutes, or waking paralysis will usually happen again immediately. Keeping a clear mind and refusing to fear during a paralysis episode will, in most cases, reduce emotional feedback. If both the physical/etheric mind and its projected double stay calm, the severity and duration of paralysis episodes can be greatly reduced. Overtiredness and sleep deficit are, more often than not, contributing factors with frequent waking paralysis, as well as with frequent spontaneous OBE. Avoiding overtiredness, especially during the week surrounding the full moon, when spontaneous OBE and waking paralysis are more likely to occur, is strongly advised. Food can also play a part with waking paralysis. An empty stomach tends to increase energetic activity within the etheric body, thereby increasing the likelihood of waking-paralysis and spontaneous-projection episodes. A heavy meal can make projection more difficult, as it significantly slows energetic activity in the etheric body and promotes sleep. Unwanted Projection Symptoms Frequent bouts of waking paralysis and spontaneous projection are a big problem for some people. Most people prone to this cannot stop it from happening and do not like the experience one little bit. Often, they dislike the idea of any kind of deliberate projection. They just want to be left alone so they can sleep in peace. This condition will normally happen to those prone to this condition only a couple of times a year, in clusters of a few days or so at a time, usually around the full moon. In rarer cases, however, this problem can be much more pronounced. If this continues overlong, it can develop into a severely debilitating health problem. Many people try to avoid sleep entirely to avoid the disturbing symptoms. This is the very worst thing anyone could do! Avoiding sleep has the opposite effect and will greatly worsen the overall condition. Lack of sleep also causes a loss of appetite, which, in itself, further aggravates the underlying causes of the condition. An empty stomach heightens energetic activity in the etheric body (raising its vibrations), which greatly increases the likelihood of waking-paralysis and spontaneous-projection episodes. Frequent waking-paralysis and unwanted spontaneous-projection episodes, especially if involving great fear, can generate an extremely unpleasant psychological condition that can become more and more debilitating the longer it is allowed to continue. Long-term sleep deprivation plus a profound loss of appetite can be extremely debilitating and even physically damaging. Combined with other serious health problems, this condition could even be fatal if left unattended for too long. The first thing to address with this type of problem is the sleep deficit, which is the major underlying cause of the whole problem. This is also the factor most easily rectified. I strongly urge people with this condition to seek prompt medical advice and to tell their doctor exactly what is happening. Sleep disorders like this, regardless of their actual cause, are well known to medical science, and doctors are thus well versed in their treatment. A doctor will usually prescribe a specific type of sleeping medication designed to promote long-lasting, dreamless sleep. This can also stop spontaneous OBEs and waking paralysis. As the sleep deficit is overcome and the normal sleep pattern returns, appetite will return and the projection-related symptoms will begin to ease. Keep in mind that any medication must be taken regularly, as prescribed, until the sleep deficit is completely overcome, before it can be stopped, or the problem may recur. Sleeping in a well-lit room with a TV or radio on low, plus napping during daylight hours, will also help with the fear problems that can be caused by repeated spontaneous projections. If the presence of light inhibits sleep, wearing a sleep mask will help. Also, if spontaneous projections are unavoidable, daylight ones are much less intimidating. Even the most timid of reluctant projectors will usually find daylight projections enjoyable, or at the very least bearable. 7. OBE and Perception Let's define an objective experience as one in which perceptions are gained directly through the physical body senses, and a subjective experience as perceptions gained or affected by mind or imagination. In those terms, when dealing with out-of-body experience, everything is subjective. I think it helps to realize that the brain is capable only of receiving bioelectrical signals. It is not capable of receiving direct sensory input. Instead, sense organs break down these perceptions into complex bioelectrical impulses. The brain exists in total darkness and silence, inside a heavy bone box (the skull), isolated from the physical world. It has no nerves and can feel neither pressure nor pain, heat nor cold. It might be said to float in a dark, voidlike dimension, receiving sensory input from the real world (physical dimension) only via remotely gathered and transmitted bioelectrical signals. This is similar to a description of how the brain receives — or remembers receiving — sensory input gained during an OBE. Keep in mind that every OBE ends up as a memory of an OBE, and there is no memory of OBE (not counting remote-eye experiences) unless the projected double successfully downloads its shadow memories into the physical brain during reintegration. Once this happens, the physical brain then remembers sensory perceptions received during the OBE as if it had received them directly and firsthand. The only real difference between how the brain perceives the physical universe (objective experience), and how it perceives out-of-body experience (subjective experience), is the way in which the sensory input for each type of experience is gathered and transmitted to it. The brain simply cannot differentiate between physical and nonphysical input sources. Regardless how sensory input is gathered and received by the brain, it is all interpreted as firsthand sensory input. The projected double uses the same basic senses as the physical body, albeit at a greatly enhanced level. It can still see and hear and smell and taste and touch, but through direct energetic mind sensing. For example, the projected double can receive light energy directly, without needing physical eyes, although it must of course have experience with sight to translate this energy in a visual way. Whether the projected double is seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, or tasting, it is perceiving and interpreting the energies associated with these senses directly, completely bypassing the need for physical sense organs or subtle copies of them. Blindness and OBE Perception Supporting evidence can be found in the study of the dream and projection abilities of blind people. It is fairly well known that blind people who have experienced sight before they became blind are capable of having fully sighted dreams and projections. Obviously, if the physical condition of the eyes were reflected into the sight capabilities of the projected double, physical blindness would blind the projected double out of its body during an OBE — which is simply not the case. However, if the physical eyes had nothing to do with OBE perception, then people who have been blind since birth (never experiencing sight) should also be able to see clearly during dreams and projections — which unfortunately is also not the case. Therefore, OBE sensory perception must also be dependent on the learned sensory reception capabilities of the physical brain, not the current functioning or nonfunctioning abilities of the physical sense organs. These principles also apply to profound deafness. Physical blindness does not prohibit OBE or the ability to project, but it does affect sensory perception abilities. Spatial awareness perception, the sense of touch, hearing and other nonvisual sensory perceptions — all very highly developed in blind people — are also greatly enhanced during an OBE. This level of perception allows blind-since-birth projectors to sense and perceive the out-of-body environment very clearly. This level of nonvisual sensory ability may, in many ways, even be superior to normal sight during an OBE, as the case history below suggests. The biggest problem facing blind projectors is that the majority of today's energetic development and projection techniques are heavily reliant upon visualization. Visualization techniques require basic learned sight experience. The techniques given in this book, however, based not on visualization, but on tactile imaging, are eminently suitable for nonsighted projectors. They work well for blind people, and are superior to visualization-based techniques when used by sighted people. A blind projector gave me the following explanation regarding his perceptions during dreams and OBEs. Being blind since birth and being a successful projector is a fairly unusual combination, to say the least. Over the years, my investigations in this area have unearthed many important clues concerning the nature of perception. These provided me with further clues as to the nature and dynamics of other aspects of OBE. In the out-of-body environment, perception is absolutely everything. Therefore, understanding the nature of perception is paramount to understanding the dynamics of OBE and the entire range of related phenomena. My question to CB was "Could you please expound on your nonsighted condition and how you perceive things during your OBEs?" C.B.: I've been blind since birth. My optic nerves didn't develop while I was in the womb, but I still have vivid OBEs and dreams. It's hard to explain just how I sense things and get around while I'm out of my body, but I'll give it a try. I experience no real difference between my OBE and dream perceptions. When I have a dream or OBE, I am very aware of what is around me, but everything is always three-dimensional. I can't perceive anything as two-dimensional, such as what's on the surface of a picture, but can perceive the canvas and frame as a whole very clearly. The area around me is extremely vivid in my mind, in all directions, and is very detailed. This awareness is much stronger than my normal awake perceptions are in my own home. When I project it's like I can feel everything around me, as if I am continually touching everything with my fingers, with my mind, with my senses reaching out and touching everything around me all at once. My senses extend a long way, much further than usual, and I can feel into the distance around me in probably much the same way as sighted people do with their eyes. I get around fine when I'm out of my body, with no hesitation or doubt about my surroundings at all. I never worry about bumping into things and can sense exactly what is ahead of me and around me at all times. If I meet people during an OBE or dream, I can instantly tell what they look like and what they are wearing, just as if I were running my hands all over them. This isn't really sight, as I have no idea of what color or light is, but my dream and OBE perceptions are about as close to sight as it gets for me. All this points to the projected double having a far more direct link with the perception of its environment, energetically bypassing the need for physical sense organs or subtle copies of them. The projected double can thus be thought of as a direct mind-sense energetic perceiver. The learned sensory capabilities of the physical brain are the major limiting factors when it comes to interpreting sensory input gained during OBEs and dreams. Objective Real-Time Perceptions For the purposes of this book and of dealing more clearly with OBE, objective experience is best extended to include some sensory input gained through real-time OBE. This should include all perceptions of reality that do not appear to be affected by the mind and imagination of a projector, or any other mind or imagination. During a real-time projection, for example, an objective perception of reality is best thought of as something that is consistent with what a projector knows to be real and true of the physical universe. These perceptions can then be described as being apparently objective, although they were gained remotely from the physical body and its sense organs. Although the real-time zone appears to be actual reality, and projectors existing in real time feel they are existing as invisible ghosts in the real world, they are not, I believe, actually in the physical dimension, nor are they in the astral dimension proper. They are slightly out of phase with both, at a slightly higher vibration than the physical universe, and at a slightly lower vibration than the astral dimension. They are existing inside a direct dimensional reflection, or subtle energetic echo, radiating directly from the physical universe as it happens, in real time. Real-time projectors can be thought of as something like reflections in a mirror. They perceive the real world from inside that mirror and are existing inside a kind of real-time mirror world. A mirror reflects a real time view of actual events happening in the physical world, but in itself the mirror's reflection has no substance and cannot be thought of as real. Or, real-time projectors can be thought of as being on the other side of an invisible mirror, a mirror capable of moving around in response to the projector's will. This allows the projector to clearly perceive the real world as it happens, without being able to directly affect or interact with the real world in a physical sense. The real-time projector experiences the real world through perceptions reflected into it through this mirror, from the real world and in real time. Subjective Real-Time Perceptions A subjective real-time perception is best considered as projectors perceiving something that they know to be incorrect, untrue, or unreal in relation to the real world as they know it. For example, if projectors find misplaced, altered, missing, or new objects and people in their home that they know are definitely not there in reality, then these are best thought of as being subjective perceptions or, more accurately, reality fluctuations. The definition of subjective perception here does not strictly include sightings of other projectors or spirit beings as unreal, even if these are seen during an apparently objective real-time projection. The difference between objective and subjective perceptions, in this case, can become blurred and quite difficult to ascertain. Astral or higher experiences, while technically being entirely subjective, are also not included here. These usually bear no relationship whatsoever with normal objective reality, or with the actual physical universe in real time. Part Two New Energy Ways In my opinion, New Energy Ways (NEW for short) is the most advanced bioenergetic manipulation and development system in the world. A cut-down version of the entire NEW system (OBE specific) is included here in Astral Dynamics. The ability to raise and manipulate personal energy is invaluable during OBE training, development, and opera-dons. After all, the projected double is generated by the energy body, and is wholly composed of energy. So when it comes to OBE, the manipulation and development of personal bioenergetic resources are primary considerations. The NEW system is very easy to understand, learn, and use. It has a wholly Western approach that does not rely on tongue-twisting Eastern concepts and terms. The NEW system was developed from scratch, independently from existing bioenergetic systems. However, a few similarities will be found with NEW and the underlying principles of some Eastern bioenergetic systems: Qi Gong (Chi Kung), t'ai chi, acupuncture, etc. These similarities were pointed out to me after I had developed the NEW system. "They exist simply because the human energy body is what it is, and has not changed in thousands of years. In my opinion, the ancient originators of these Eastern disciplines (logically) must have used similar hands-on trial-and-error procedures as I used while developing and roadtesting the NEW system. The skills required for any kind of metaphysical or psychic development, including the ability to project out of body, seem pretty daunting — but please do not panic! Taken one at a time these skills are easy to learn, especially when explained and taught the right way. The following units are carefully structured to present everything in easy-to-understand, bite-sized pieces, and in just the right order to make the learning process easier. No prerequisite skills or abilities are required here. Anyone can learn and use these techniques. I say this without reservation. Using these tools, it will not take years of work before achieving noticeable results. Many people will get results the very first time they use them, especially with the NEW system. 8. Imagination Versus Visualization Let's face it, 99 percent of people can't visualize for peanuts. That is, 99 percent of people think they cannot visualize for peanuts. But, this is all wrong too, because 100 percent of people can visualize perfectly — they do it all the time — but they just don't know they are doing it! This confusion comes about simply because visualization is generally so poorly explained and taught. Visualization is very easy and does not take any time at all to master. It is a natural ability everyone uses all the time. I have come across countless developmental problems relating to the issue of energy-body manipulation and development techniques. This problem significantly increases the difficulty encountered with any kind of serious energetic development, seriously lengthening development time. Consequently, most people give up before getting worthwhile results. Note: I use the term energy body as simply another way to describe the pure-energetic aspect of the etheric body. If you belong to a meditation or development group, ask people — one at a time and in private — how they really get on with visualization. Note the slightly worried and uncomfortable looks you get, especially from those teaching it. Most people, if they are completely honest, will admit they have a few problems with visualization, or that they just can't do it. You will find the occasional few who claim they have no problem whatsoever with visualization. These lucky few can easily see in their mind's eye whatever they visualize, just like watching TV behind their closed eyelids. The lucky few with this type of visual ability are unintentionally also a big part of this widespread and self-propagating problem. Mind's-Eye Visual Ability The commonly used term visualization is at the root of this problem. Many teachers tell their students that, with a little practice, they should be able to see what they are visualizing. Unfortunately, while this is partly true, it is not something that can be learned quickly, barring strong natural ability. To put it in a nutshell: visualization is not a visual skill. You are not supposed to actually see what you visualize. If you do see something, it is no longer visualization, but a mind's-eye vision type of ability. During any meditation or training exercise requiring deep physical and mental relaxation and visualization, a few people will develop partial clairvoyance, or an awake semilucid dream type of visual ability, or both. These mind's-eye visual abilities enable these people to actually see what they are visualizing, as in the lucid dream state — in which the conscious mind takes creative control of the dream environment. Clairvoyance and lucid dreaming are both very visual abilities. Now, there is nothing wrong with using this type of lucid dream-cum-clairvoyance type of ability to enhance visualization. It's very interesting and useful-but it is not an ability that most people can easily learn. The problem compounds when this type of creative visual ability becomes the accepted norm, and people think they must develop this visual ability to visualize properly. When one person, especially a group leader, tells the rest of the group that they can really see what they are visualizing, the rest of the group thinks they are doing something wrong or that they lack natural ability, and therefore cannot keep up. If they continue believing this, they never will be able to develop themselves to any significant extent. A similar problem can arise when neophytes are exposed to more advanced students, or to those who have realized that visualization is really the constructive use of imagination. These people, although they do not truly see anything when they visualize, use visual terms when describing their visualizations or nonphysical perceptions. Development groups and the New Age movement commonly use the visual terms I see, I saw, lam seeing. More accurate terms should be used instead, such as I sense, I perceive, I feel, I intuit, I am imagining, or lam imaging. But they are not. Now, here's the other side of the problem: The vast majority of energy work, energetic developmental exercises, and projection techniques taught today completely rely on visualization techniques. Given no viable alternative, you obviously cannot do development exercises properly and simply cannot develop yourself if you have a problem with what we might call "visual visualization". Understanding exactly what visualization is and is not thus becomes a crucial issue to all aspects of development. Yet everyone, without exception, can visualize easily and perfectly if taught correctly. The development exercises and techniques in this book are based not on visualization, but on a concise, nonvisual imaging system I developed called tactile imaging, based on the active use of the sense of touch and feel and body awareness. This is very easy to learn and is extremely effective, far more effective in energetic manipulation and development than visualization-based techniques could ever be. People who actually see what they visualize may be at a slight disadvantage when they begin using the nonvisual tactile imaging techniques in this book, if they do not change their way of doing things. They will have to stop trying to see what they are doing and learn how to feel what they are doing for these techniques to work effectively. If you are like most people and cannot visualize very well, you are going to do very well indeed with these new techniques. Using Your Imagination We are all capable of easily creating and visualizing the most complex scenario in our minds, without training and with no exceptions. Over the years, I have asked many people who claim they cannot visualize if they ever reminisce, fantasize, daydream, or imagine things. The answer is always "Yes!" Everyone is perfectly capable of using imagination to build complex and detailed fantasies in the mind's eye. So, let's get something straight here: Imagination is visualization. Visualization is imagination. They are one and the same. And neither is truly a visual ability. Visualization is not a visual ability. You do not actually see what you visualize, just as you cannot actually see your imagination or fantasy. True visualisation is pure imagination. Imagination is the generator of all daydreams and fantasies, whether memories are relived or something fictional is created based on memory. You cannot really see memories or fantasy creations, but they are so vivid and realistic that they are indistinguishable from any mind's eye creation that is more visual. Concise imagination and concise imaging are terms that are much more apt and workable for the use of imagination to construct detailed fantasies or visualizations. Memory plays an important part in constructive imagination. Imagination is based on memory. If you have ever lost anything, you have most probably tried to re-create your past actions in your mind's eye to help you remember where you lost it. You have replayed these, using imagination, going over your every movement step by step. This is perfect visualization, concise imaging — based entirely on memory. As a sample exercise: get up and go to the kitchen, get a drink of water, and return. As you do this, carefully take note of everything you do and see and feel along the way. Then sit down, close your eyes, and relax. Remember what you just did, from the beginning, and re-create this sequence of actions in your mind — in your mind's eye. It is important to feel everything as if you were actually doing it. This is exactly like creating a fantasy based on real-life events. Remember getting out of your chair and how the room looked as it moved around you as you turned; remember your steps as you walked to the kitchen, what you saw and felt when you arrived, and how your hand looked and felt as it reached out for a glass; remember filling it and drinking; remember how the water tasted and smelled and felt; and remember returning the glass, walking back to your original position, and sitting down again. Do this in real time, taking roughly the same length of time to re-create it in your mind's eye as it took to actually do it. You cannot actually see these actions, but you can remember them and feel them easily. This is exactly like any fantasy you have created in your mind's eye. You can almost see a good fantasy, they can be so real. Fantasies are constructed with imagination. Today this is more commonly called visualization. Again, relaxed and with your eyes closed, try constructing a completely fictional scenario in your mind's eye, with all the necessary parts taken from memory. Remember what it's like to brush your hair. Rehearse this action in your mind, in your mind's eye, without actually doing it first. Imagine there is a table in front of you with a hairbrush on it. Carefully feel yourself reaching out (without actually moving your arm), take the imaginary brush, and lift it slowly to your head and brush your hair. Feel your arm moving all the way as you do this in your mind's eye. Feel your hand pulling the brush through your hair over and over, without actually moving. This is constructive imagination (fantasy or visualization) only. Finally, return the imaginary brush to the imaginary table. You must feel all these movements as you construct them in your mind's eye. Do not try to see this happening, imagine and feel it happening. If may help if you consider that you are using your projected double's arms and hands to perform these actions. You have just successfully created a construction of pure imagination (a complex fantasy or visualization) in your mind's eye. Any visualization or imagination exercise, no matter how lengthy or detailed, is simply an extension of what you have just done in these two exercises. One last constructive imagination exercise: with your eyes closed, remember what it feels like to walk barefoot across a beautiful lawn on a lovely sunny day, with trees and shrubs and flowers all around you. Construct this from your memories in your mind's eye, and ^/yourself as being there inside your creation. Remember a time when you actually did something like this, or remember a scene from a movie you can use for this purpose. Feel yourself walking across the lawn toward a massive ancient tree with heavy leafy branches hanging down all around it. Some of these branches are touching the ground. Imagine the tree becoming bigger and bigger as you approach it. Walking through a small break in the branches, you now move into the restful shade under its leafy boughs. You find yourself standing inside a secret clearing behind the branches. You can smell the living wood and leaves of the tree, intermingled with soft, earthy smells like moss, bark, decaying leaves, and damp earth. Walking around closer to the great bole of the ancient trunk, you see the shape of a comfortable chair carved into the wood and massive roots of the tree. Soft green moss is everywhere and you can feel its friendly touch underfoot. Moving over to it, you sit in this chair and relax. Leaning back, hands clasped behind your head, you close your eyes and listen and feel and smell the secret world around you. You hear the wind gently whispering and murmuring through the branches. You hear small birds fluttering and fluting and insects humming and buzzing all around you, calling and chirping softly to each other. Sit here a while, feeling totally relaxed and at peace with the world, letting all your cares and problems melt away into nothingness. You have just successfully constructed a detailed fantasy scene in your mind's eye. This was full of actions, sights, sounds, smells, and tactile perceptions, based entirely on your memory and imagination. This is exactly what you need to do when you follow any led meditation, where a voice leads you through a fantasy scenario while music and special effects help stimulate your imagination and transport your mind there. You don't actually see what you are visualizing or imagining, but you can generate a detailed mind's-eye perception of it all the same. Nonsighted Adjustment If you are blind and cannot imagine in a sighted way, please convert the exercises in this book into more tactile imagination exercises by replacing the colors, scenes, and sighted descriptions with something from your own nonsighted memory. Use your remembered perceptions of a lovely walk taken in a park and adapt the exercise to suit. Enhance all exercises like this to take into account enhanced perceptions of sound, smell, texture, taste, and spatial awareness. This can easily be done with any constructive imagination or visualization exercise, and can also be done with any led meditation containing sighted details or instructions. Note: Some of these early exercises may cause slight feelings of vertigo or localized dizziness in the stomach and lower chest areas, and even some bone-deep tickling sensations in the arms and legs. Many of these exercises move a point of body awareness outside the bounds of the physical body, which tends to affect the etheric body and often causes energy-movement sensations. 9. Mobile Body Awareness Body awareness is normally centered in the eyes, but it does not have to stay there. Mobile body awareness (MBA) — the ability to focus body awareness on any specific part of the body — is simple and easily learned, and is an extremely important skill. Combined with other techniques, it enables the dynamic manipulation of the energy body and its energy centers, or chakras, allowing specific parts of the energy body to be directly stimulated, and the flow of energy into and through it to be increased in a controlled way. In the coming exercises, a deep level of relaxation or trance is not required. Light relaxation is quite adequate. Just close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and allow your mind to wind down and settle for a few moments. This is all that is required. I suggest that you do not use a bed for these early exercises, unless you really have to, but instead sit in a comfortable chair with your shoes off. Place a cushion under your feet, wear loose clothing, and do not cross your legs. In these coming exercises, lightly scratch or rub specified body parts as needed, using a small stick or ruler if you have difficulty reaching some parts. This helps to highlight and target specific areas, so that body awareness can be focused more easily and accurately. This scratching is not necessary after you become used to the technique; you will be able to target specific areas with body awareness alone. Repeat the MBA exercises below without scratching and see how you get on without this aid. Try to do this with eyes closed, so you are focusing with body awareness only. Use your eyes if you really need to, but do without using your eyes as soon as targeting can be done with body awareness alone. To demonstrate shifting your center of body awareness and targeting specific areas on the body, lightly scratch the skin of your left knee with your fingernails, just hard enough to leave a slight tingling sensation after you stop scratching. Close your eyes and feel this tingling area with your body awareness. Become intensely aware of that area. Highlight it with body awareness. Feel for this tingling area with your body awareness alone, with your sense of touch and feel. Forget about the rest of your body for now. Next, feel for more of the same knee and become more acutely aware of it as a whole joint. Feel its outline and shape and really get the feel of it with your body awareness. Your center of awareness is now focused entirely in your left knee. Shift your point of body awareness to your right knee, scratching it first to highlight it. Feel its shape and outline with your awareness. Center your awareness entirely in your right knee. Shift your point of body awareness to your right big toe. Scratch it on top of the large joint, where it joins your foot. Wiggle the toe a bit to help you get the feel of it, so you can zero in on it with your body awareness. Feel the whole toe. Feel the tingle on top of it, then feel its outline and shape with your body awareness. Center awareness entirely in your right big toe. Shift your point of body awareness to several other parts of your body — anywhere you like — highlighting them first by a light scratching or rubbing. Feel these different areas as you target them with your (now mobile) point of body awareness. Increasing Sensitivity To improve your body awareness sensitivity, do the following MBA exercises as often as you can until you get the feel for this technique. They will progressively improve your sensitivity, which is extremely important for all the exercises and techniques given in this book. When first learning to move awareness through the surface of your body, it helps if you trace the pathway along your skin with fingertips or a paintbrush, to highlight the path for your body awareness, making it easier to follow with your point of awareness alone. If this is not enough, lightly and slowly scratch or rub the pathway along your skin with your fingernails or a ruler. Follow the slightly tingling trail this leaves behind on your skin with your point of body awareness alone. For tracing and learning wider energy pathways, I suggest you use a paintbrush of the appropriate width. You can do this yourself or have a partner do it for you while you follow the sensations caused by the touch of the moving brush with your point of body awareness. Or you can rub a pathway with your fingers, stroking them repeatedly along the chosen pathway. To start with, I suggest tracing a pathway from the base of your left thumb, along the sensitive inside of your arm and on up to your left shoulder. Close your eyes and concentrate on the feel of the brush or fingers touching and moving along the surface of your skin. Ignore the hand doing the brushing. Repeatedly stroke this pathway, from thumb to shoulder and back to your thumb again, following this with your point of body awareness until you have a good feel for this path. Repeat the above exercise with your right arm. Next, trace and follow a path from your left big toe, up the outside of your shin, over your kneecap, and on up the outside of your thigh to your left hip joint, then back down to the big toe again. Repeat the above exercise with your right leg. Practice this technique until you can trace a pathway to anywhere on your body with your point of body awareness alone, feeling your way along the surface of your skin without having to follow a manually highlighted pathway. Rub and scratch and highlight, as often and for as long as you need to in order to learn this technique. If you are training with a partner, you can help each other by brushing each other's body to stimulate pathways, or with a stroking one-handed massage. Massage is a very good way of learning how to focus and move a point of body awareness. Have your partner give you a slow onehanded massage and follow the touch of his or her hand with your point of awareness. Have him or her trace pathways up your legs and arms, and up your back, following touch with your awareness. Using only one hand for this makes it easier to follow with your awareness. MBA Exercise Focus your awareness in your right knee again until you can feel it well with your awareness. Shift your center of awareness slowly down the outside of your right shin, feeling your shin as your awareness slides down it. Keep moving your awareness slowly until your center of awareness comes to your right foot. Move your awareness slowly out to your right big toe. Feel this toe with your awareness. Wiggle it a little and make sure you can really feel it and are targeting it well. Move your point of awareness to the toe next to it and feel its shape and outline with your awareness. Tense, move, wiggle, touch, or scratch each toe as needed, to highlight and target it. Next, move your awareness across to your left foot and feel that foot with your awareness. Flex and tense your left foot slightly to get the feel of it as a whole. Next, center awareness in your left big toe. Feel your awareness sliding back toward your ankle, then slowly on up over your left shin until it comes to rest in your left knee. Keep it moving, sliding up your thigh and slowly on up the left side of your body until you can feel your left shoulder. Move your awareness down the outside of your left arm, moving slowly past your elbow to your left hand. Feel your whole left hand with your awareness. Move and center your awareness in your left thumb. Feel its shape and outline with your awareness. Wiggle it a little if you need to highlight it. Feel all your other fingers, one at a time, with your awareness. You have just moved your center of body awareness all around your body, targeting and focusing your awareness in many parts of it. You have also been stimulating your energy body in the process, without knowing it was happening, as your center of awareness moved through your energy body. You may have felt some peculiar tingling or fuzzy sensations as you moved your point of awareness around your body. These sensations are caused by energy movement within your energy body, and are normal for this type of body awareness exercise. To effectively manipulate your energy body, it is necessary to be able to focus your point of awareness at a single point on your body, then to manipulate that point of awareness. This manipulation is done with active body awareness, with something I have called tactile imaging. Tactile imaging is very easy to learn and use. You have already learned the skills required for this and will soon get the hang of it. It just takes a little practice. 10. Tactile Imaging Tactile imaging (T.I.) is the active use of body awareness to directly stimulate and manipulate the substance of the energy body. This is simply an extension of MBA. When body awareness is focused on a specific area, and that point of awareness is given motion, this motion directly stimulates the energy body in that area. When done at the site of a primary or secondary energy center (a major or minor chakra) that energy center will be directly stimulated. Individual energy centers can then be targeted and manipulated in a strong and dynamic way. I developed MBA and T.I. for a person who had been blind since birth and of course could not visualize at all, having no conception of what visual sight was like. This person contacted me on the Internet, via a Braille computer, and asked if I had a projection technique that did not rely on visualization. This was an interesting challenge, so I put my mind to solving the problem. After a few significant Eurekas, I came up with MBA and T.I. — both based on the sense of touch. When I road-tested this new technique, I was amazed at how effective it was. It was light years ahead of any other energy-body manipulation technique, far more powerful than visualization techniques. Since that time, I have used this discovery as the foundation for all my energy-body manipulation, development, and projection techniques. Ironically, I lost contact with the blind person who started all this, while the new T.I.-based projection technique (called rope) was in the throes of development. Learning Tactile Imaging Focus body awareness alone on the specified target area and try not to use your eyes unless you really have to. Many people find they cannot learn MBA or T.I. techniques without using their eyes to help target specific areas. Do what is necessary, but wean yourself from using your eyes as soon as you can. Many advanced exercises and techniques given later in this book do not allow the use of eyes or other targeting or highlighting aids. Circular Exercise The best way to learn tactile imaging is by doing it. Rest your hands comfortably in your lap, or on the arms of your chair, palms down and fingers slightly spread. Close your eyes, relax, and shift your awareness to the base of your right thumb, topside. There are important secondary energy centers (small chakras) in the thumb joints and you are now going to stimulate one of them. Many people will feel one of the thumb centers (small chakras) activate the first time they work on them. The first area to work on is on top of the large joint where your thumb joins the right hand. Flex your thumb while holding this joint between your other fingers to help locate it. Lightly scratch a circular area, clockwise, on top of the thumb joint, about half an inch (1 cm) or so across, to highlight it with awareness. Slowly trace a finger around this same circular path, while following the touch of that finger with your point of awareness. That point of touch, that point of feel, is your point of awareness. Continue following this action until you can remember the exact feel of this circular movement and can re-create this action with your point of awareness alone. (A small artist's paintbrush can also be used for this purpose.) Feel the tingling target area on top of your thumb joint with your point of awareness. Re-create and feel the circular stirring action. Move your point of awareness in a small clockwise circle in that area, as if you were stirring it with an imaginary pencil. Concentrate and feel this action, continuing the motion with your point of awareness alone. Move your sense of feel through your skin with a circular motion. Keep stirring this center with one or two circling actions per second. (The timing is not crucial.) In a short time, this action will gain its own momentum and become almost automatic. It will then take very little effort to continue this action. Hold your point of awareness very close inside your skin as you do this. Feel your point of awareness continually circling and moving through your skin in the target area. Fig. 5. Tactile imaging stirring technique on thumb joint After a while — anything from a few seconds to a few minutes during a first attempt — you should start to feel a slight localized heaviness, pressure, tingling, buzzing, or even a bone-deep tickling sensation inside your thumb joint. This may extend into more of your thumb and hand. This sensation indicates that the energy center in the thumb joint has been successfully stimulated into a higher level of energetic activity. If you feel this, immediately move on to the next exercise. If you feel nothing, after trying for several minutes, move on to the next exercise anyway. Stirring Exercise Move your point of awareness in a straight brushing action up and down through your right thumb, from just above the joint at the base to the tip of the nail, feeling this pathway as you go. Move your point of awareness continually back and forth through this area. You are now brushing your entire thumb with your point of awareness and are thus stimulating that whole area energetically. Feel the brushing action through the whole of your thumb. The sensations you may have felt earlier will intensify and spread through more of your thumb as you do this, as more and more secondary energy centers and energy exchange pores in the thumb become energetically active. Repeat both exercises on the thumb of your left hand. Repeat the exercise on the big toes of both feet, one at a time, starting on top of the large joints of the big toes only, where they join each foot. Stimulation Notes Often there are inactive secondary energy centers (small chakras) on one side of the body, but rarely on both sides. If you feel nothing after doing any awareness action for several minutes, move on to the next exercise. While energy-movement sensations become apparent in the majority of cases, some may feel nothing at all, although I have found a complete lack of sensation to be rare. No sensation at all indicates the energy body is blocked or inactive in that area. If this is the case, continue with these early exercises as best you can. It is important to learn and practice the technique. Later exercises in this book restore inactive areas and remove energy blockages. A hot shower or bath not only relaxes the physical body and cleanses the skin, but also promotes a stronger energetic flow throughout the energy body. If you have trouble doing these exercises, try bathing first. The tingling in the skin caused by the scratching used to highlight target areas is not the cause of energy-movement sensations. Test this, if you wish, by repeating this exercise in the middle of your forearm, or in the middle of a bleep or thigh, where there are no significant secondary energy centers. This test will be found to cause no discernible energy-movement sensations. Alternatively, try this same exercise on another small energy center, but without the scratching. It is the movement of the focal point of body awareness through the energy body, at the site of an energy center, which causes energy-movement sensations. Using Tactile Imaging Following are some simple but important exercises that build on those given in the previous chapter. These take you one step closer to taking manual control over your own energy body. Please take your time over these, as the practice of tactile imaging is fundamental to most of the procedures given within this book, including trance and projection techniques. Their importance cannot be overemphasized. Awareness Hands The most natural way to use your point of awareness is to feel you have an imaginary pair of hands. Awareness hands are the business ends of tactile imaging. These are powerful awareness tools and you will be using them for raising energy and manipulating energy centers, as well as for projection techniques. You will soon learn how to use them over larger areas and in many other practical energetic ways. Awareness hands are, in practice, simply extensions of body awareness. You have a left and a right awareness hand. Each hand is to be felt as being attached to an imaginary awareness arm coming from each of your shoulders, although the awareness arms themselves are not important. With practice, you will feel that each awareness hand is attached to a different side of your energy body. Each hand is attached to a different side of the brain, and one awareness hand is usually slightly weaker than the other, depending on which side of your brain is dominant. The more you use awareness hands, the stronger they become and the easier they are to use. Awareness Hands Exercise Close your eyes and relax, while sitting or lying comfortably. Using your body awareness alone (without actually moving), take both your awareness hands down to your left foot, as if you were grabbing hold of it. Scratch or rub the top of your left foot and wiggle it a bit to highlight it and make this exercise easier. Feel the whole of that foot. Draw your awareness hands through your left foot, from toes to heel, back and forth several times. After this, draw your awareness hands through your foot to your ankle, and then slowly take them on up through your whole leg. Feel the whole of your leg as you move your awareness hands upward through it. Draw your awareness hands all the way up your shin, past your knee, up your thigh, and on up to your hip. When you get to your hip, flick your awareness instantly back down to your toes again and repeat the upward-stroking, energy-raising action. Do not stroke your awareness back down your leg. Repeat this action over and over, taking several seconds per stroke, feeling the whole of your leg each time. This action forces energy to flow into your foot and draws it up through your leg. You may feel some peculiar sensations as you do this, like tingling, buzzing, warmth, cold, pressure, heaviness, or even bone-deep tickling sensations. Repeat the entire exercise with your right leg. Splitting Awareness Exercise Splitting body-awareness is very simple and easy to do. It feels quite natural in practice, just like using both your real hands at the same time. As an example exercise, split your awareness and feel both your feet at the same time, after targeting them, feeling one in each of your awareness hands. Draw energy up both legs at the same time, exactly as you did with the previous exercise, over and over. With a little practice you'll be able to do this effortlessly. If you have trouble splitting awareness, stick to using one at a time until you feel more comfortable with splitting them. When you have had some practice at splitting your awareness hands, increase the speed of the upward stroking action until you can draw your awareness up through your legs at the same time, taking two or three seconds for each upward sweep, from feet to hips. To add to the above, imagine and feel as if you were sweeping water up through the whole of your legs with your awareness hands. Imagine your awareness hands are each holding a large sponge and you are sponging water upward through the whole of your legs. The water keeps trying to run back down your leg, so focused awareness effort is used to force the water to rise. This action provides more energetic resistance and gives your awareness hands something to grip onto, so to speak. This increases the effectiveness of any whole-of-limb energy-raising action. Visibly Detecting Awareness Hands After a little practice with using your awareness hands, you may start detecting them when they move past your closed eyes. This is especially so if you have been meditating at the same time. You may see vague shadows and indistinct moving shapes. It does not matter, though, if you never see anything, as it is not necessary to see anything for these techniques to work effectively. Watch for this side effect for interest's sake only: many people have reported this phenomenon. I always see my awareness hands when they move past my eyes, but I've had a lot of practice at this, so am not really a fair test subject. I rely on my volunteers to provide me with more realistic feedback. As an experiment, relax and close your eyes. Concentrate on feeling your awareness hands. Slowly raise your awareness hands past your face and eyes and on up over your head several times (don't actually move your real hands), stroking your awareness hands over your face and head. Try to sense this from behind your closed eyes. See if you can detect shadowy movements, or if you can see the shape of your awareness hands as they move past your eyes. If you succeed at this, you are using a type of energy sight similar to real-time or astral sight, as discussed earlier. This experiment is most effective if done immediately after meditation. 11. Supporting Energy Structures To project out of body while fully conscious and have some hope of remembering it afterward, it is an enormous help to be able to increase the flow of energy into and through the energy body. A well-known side effect of the trance state is that it produces a stronger flow of energy than does the normal waking state and with regular use causes slow but progressive development. The majority of case histories on OBE mention energy-movement sensations. The well-known vibrations and rapid heartbeats are nothing more than intense energy-movement sensations associated with the generation and extrusion of the projected double. Underneath our fleshy exteriors we are all bioenergetic beings. When the energetic part of us moves to the forefront, as it does during conscious-exit projection, energy becomes simply everything. At a very early stage, when I saw the many conflicts between New Age thought and various Eastern schools of thought over energetic manipulation and development, I decided to take a fresh hands-on approach with my investigations. My research and experimentation with the energy body over the years has yielded significant discoveries and a great deal of insight. Almost a decade ago, I decided to map out the energy body the hard way, using tactile imaging to feel my way through my own energy body. I literally picked my way through every inch, searching out the smaller energy centers. I probed and stimulated and felt how they worked, what they did, and how they fitted into the structure of the human bioenergetic body as a whole. I avoided researching existing works on this subject at the time, as I wanted to make a completely fresh and unbiased exploration of the human energy body. This work allowed me to unearth much of the underlying support structure of the energy body. This is not unknown today, if you research acupuncture, reflexology, t'ai chi, Qi-Gong, and other energy-related disciplines, mainly of Eastern origin. My fresh investigations, however, have given me a far more workable hands-on understanding of the energy body than would otherwise have been possible. My initial discoveries led to a plan to apply what I had learned. This necessitated the development of many techniques, which in turn led to a great deal more experimenting and testing. The new system was then extensively road-tested by dozens of volunteers who provided extensive feedback. This enabled me to fine-tune my initial theories and techniques, and to develop NEW, a simple but highly efficient energy-body manipulation and development system. It has proven itself extremely valuable and versatile in all aspects of energetic development and OBE. This book contains a modified version of the complete NEW system, tailored to suit the needs of projection training. Five Separate Circuits The human energy body can be likened to an energetic reflection of the physical body, composed of stable and highly structured etheric matter (see chapter 28). It contains within it several different but interdependent energetic circuits. I have defined these circuits logically, through experimentation, observation, and what I consider to be sound reasoning. My definitions and descriptions strive to provide a good rule-of-thumb way of understanding and dealing with the pureenergetic processes of the energy body, without being overly technical or mysteriously esoteric. There are five basic energetic circuits within the human energy body. (I will not discuss the master circuit to any great extent. I have shown it here only to illustrate relationships between the different circuits.) Master Circuit Kundalini Circuit Storage Circuit Three Main Energy Storage Centers Primary Circuit Seven Primary Energy Centers (major chakras) Secondary Circuit Supporting Energy Centers Tertiary Circuit Energy Exchange Pores Each circuit has many different functions on the physical, bioenergetic, and pure-energetic levels. All are interconnected and work together to support each other's energetic requirements, and all are integral parts of the human bioenergetic body as a whole. The primary energy centers (major chakras) and their higher functions cannot properly be used and developed to any extent (barring accident or natural ability) until the lower circuitry and smaller energy centers have been stimulated, developed, and stabilized. If attempts are made to develop and use the higher energetic circuitry first, a great deal of time — often years — must be spent waiting for the lower levels of circuitry to catch up with the new demands being placed on them. Early attempts at energy work, especially with the primary energy centers, can cause major disruptions and realignments within the existing structure of the energy body. New energy pathways must be formed, and old or blocked energy pathways redefined, widened, and cleared. Until the support structure develops to the point where it can handle the greater energetic demands placed on the energetic support structure by the changed requirements of the higher primary centers, energy is often taken from the vitality storage areas of the energy body. This can cause the physical body to become energetically depleted. Fatigue, disorientation, headaches, digestion problems, depression, and a variety of emotional disorders and other odd problems can temporarily manifest, in varying combinations and degrees of severity. These can be especially pronounced if the procedures and cautions recommended within this book are not followed. Primary-center work, especially, should not be undertaken too vigorously at too early a stage of development. Before primary centers are worked on to any great extent, the support structure needs developing so it can better handle the greater flow of energies required of it. The first step is to stimulate and clear individual secondary energy centers, exchange-port clusters, and their interconnecting pathways, one part at a time. While this process may sound a bit tedious, it is well worthwhile. Once the development process is begun, energy begins flowing far more freely and strongly through the energy body than was possible before. This solves many underlying projection-related energetic problems by making projection easier and reducing the severity of heavy exit sensations. Energy Flow The average person normally absorbs only a small amount of the energy and vitality available each day, and steadily less with age. Energy is absorbed during sleep, digestion, breathing, and exposure to sunlight. Let us say that you absorb 100 units of raw energy per day, enough for your average daily requirements. Energy-development exercises increase energy usage, and you begin using 200 or more units of raw energy (vitality) per day. This deficit of 100 units will usually be made up for by the energy body's storage areas, sometimes causing the physical symptoms of energy body disruption and depletion. With a little time and attention, the energy body can be conditioned to handle just about anything. The best way to start is by stimulating, developing, and nurturing the all-important secondary and tertiary energetic structures. The energy body is then better able to adapt and develop in response to its new energetic requirements. Secondary Energy Centers Secondary energy centers are similar to primary energy centers, but are smaller and have fewer functions. Their main purpose is to transform and condition energies received through the tertiary system (energy exchange pores) into the specific qualities required. These smaller parts of the energy body can be likened to something like bioenergetic electronic components. The diagram on the following page represents a typical skeletal-type secondary energy center. These have four poles each and a central connecting core running through their center. Each pole is a small vortexlike energy structure that flowers on the surface of the skin directly above the joint. These poles are connected to a larger internal conduit that runs through the center of all bones, through the bone marrow. Energy flowing through these cores is the cause of the bone-deep tingling sensations commonly felt while raising energy, especially during early exercises. The skeletal secondary centers are interconnected through energetic pathways running through the flesh. muscles, tendons, and nerves, and along the surface of the skin. Fig. 6. Close-up of typical secondary (skeletal) energy center, showing cross-section of finger joint (cutaway) Slightly different, but with similar functions, are those secondary centers attached directly to physical organs, nerve ganglia, glands, and muscles. These types of secondary centers are not attached to the skeletal system, and usually have only one or two poles flowering on the surface. I have not been able to determine a great deal more about this particular type of secondary energy center. The secondary centers and their connecting pathways are, not surprisingly, fairly well in-line with traditional acupuncture meridians and acupoints. There are also striking similarities between the secondary system, as a whole, and the human nervous and circulatory systems. Energy Exchange Pores Energy exchange pores (tertiary system) are very small energy centers with very simple functions, much like the millions of tiny pores covering the surface of the skin. Their basic function is to absorb and discharge energies. The whole surface of the skin is covered with these, but they are more heavily concentrated in several main areas: the soles of the feet, the palms of the hands, the nasal passages, the mouth, lips and tongue, and the genitals. The hands and feet are the largest energy conduits into the body and therefore contain the highest concentrations of exchange pores. So these are important areas to stimulate, develop, and make awareness-sensitive during early development exercises. Storage Centers The human energy body has three major vitality storage centers, where different qualities of energies are accumulated. These are quite different from the primary energy centers (major chakras) that share the same general areas, although they can be considered to be energetically related. Sub-navel Position: Midway between bellybutton and pubic line, two inches inside average body Function: Raw physical vitality energy storage Sub-heart Position: Center of chest, at base of sternum, two inches inside average body Function: Raw emotional energy storage Sub-brow Position: Between eye-socket ridges in center of brow, just inside skull Function: Raw mental and psychic energy storage Of these three storage centers, the most important and safest to actively fill is the sub-navel storage center. When this center is full, it overflows into the sub-heart storage center, which when full overflows into the sub-brow storage center. Fig. 7. Three energy storage centers, plus major energy exchange pore concentrations Deliberately filling the two higher storage centers first is a very unwise practice that can unbalance the energy body and significantly lower vitality levels. This not only is developmentally counterproductive, but can also adversely affect emotional, mental, and psychic stability. Filling all the storage centers is a lifetime's work. It can take months of regular energy raising before subnavel storage levels significantly increase, because a great deal of energy is used up during early development exercises. There are no safe shortcuts. If you long for psychic abilities, practice regular trance meditation and work daily on filling your sub-navel storage center. Make trance meditation and energy raising a part of your daily life, and your energy body will develop in a natural, balanced, and healthy way. Any dormant psychic abilities will begin to manifest when the energetic conditions that allow them are created. Forcing this process causes predictable problems. 12. Energy Body Stimulation Five Awareness Actions Five tactile imaging actions are used to manipulate the energy body, using the same basic techniques throughout. Scratch or rub each energy center or energetic pathway as needed, to help target it and make it easier to follow with awareness alone. As well as feeling these actions on the surface, feel them happening beneath the skin and slightly inside the body. With all the above awareness actions, it is the action of feeling a point of body awareness moving on or through the physical body that stimulates the substance of the energy body. The size of the awareness actions given below are to be varied to suit the body part or energy center being worked on. Stirring Action: Move your point of awareness in a clockwise circle through the surface of your skin. This is as if you were stirring the target area with a single finger of one of your awareness hands. This action can be counterclockwise if preferred. Fig. 8. Stirring action on kneecap Brushing Action: Move your point of awareness back and forth through the skin as if brushing that area with a paintbrush. Feel this action, move the feel through your flesh, and don’t just imagine it. Fig. 9. Brushing action on kneecap Wrapping Action: Move your point of awareness around the targeted area, joint, or limb, as if continually wrapping an imaginary bandage around it. Fig. 10. Wrapping action on kneecap and leg Tearing Action: Use your awareness hands in a two-handed tearing action. Imagine you are holding a small bread roll or do-nut on the skin, or just under it, and are repeatedly tearing this apart with your awareness hands, over and over. This action is mainly used on primary energy centers, but can also be used as an alternative method for stimulating secondary energy centers and groups of exchange pores. Fig. 11. Tearing action on kneecap Sponging Action: Imagine or feel your awareness hands holding a large sponge, with you sponging water upward through the entire area being worked on. This is mainly used as a wholelimb action. It can be used to sponge energy up just one side of a limb, but is primarily used for raising energy through the whole of a limb or body part. Fig. 12. Sponging action on leg Instructional Notes The NEW system does not require a deep level of relaxation, nor even a great deal of preparation. Once these techniques are learned, it is possible to raise energy at any time, even while traveling, walking, talking, working, or watching TV, etc. For the following training exercises, use light relaxation only, except where you encounter problems learning these techniques and getting energy moving during early exercises. While deep physical relaxation is not necessary for the NEW system, if you encounter difficulties, some preliminary deep physical relaxation and trance work will usually help. I recommend sitting in a comfortable chair, with your legs reasonably straight and slightly out in front, preferably with bare feet or loose socks. Do not wear tight clothes, especially on legs, as anything tight or uncomfortable will interfere with awareness targeting and energy raising. Place a pillow or cushion under feet. Do not sit cross-legged during training sessions, as this makes awareness targeting and learning how to raise energy more difficult. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, generally settle yourself, and begin. When unresponsive secondary centers or groups of exchange pores are found, do not stop your progress to concentrate on blocked areas. Work on them for the suggested length of time, then move on to the next exercise. Working around blockages in this way helps clear them. I suggest that eyes be kept closed and not be allowed to look at the target area. I have found that looking toward the target area, even from behind closed eyes, tends to dilute the effectiveness of awareness actions. Still, some of my volunteers reported having difficulty learning to focus awareness without using their eyes to aid targeting. It is permissible to use your eyes to aid awareness targeting, by looking at the area being working on, but I suggest that the use of the eyes for targeting be slowly discontinued as soon as is practical. Many of the coming exercises do not allow the eyes to be used at all, as with trance and projection techniques, etc. Preliminary Stimulation Work These exercises are designed to isolate and stimulate individual secondary centers and small clusters of exchange pores. Picking through them like this allows blocked areas to be identified so they can be cleared and strengthened. Each successfully cleared area significantly increases the flow of energies into the energy body. Individual fingers and toes do not have to be worked on every time, only in the early stages and to remove blockages. Connecting pathways in the energy body can become blocked and narrowed to the point where they become virtually disconnected, just as the physical body can malfunction in similar ways. Energy pathways can be healed and redefined by repeatedly drawing energy through and around them. The energy body, like the physical body, learns very quickly and develops a kind of energetic memory of often-repeated awareness actions. Toe Work Toes are important parts of the larger and more powerful energy structures within the feet. Each toe joint contains a secondary energy center, with four poles flowering on the skin's surface. These are connected to the heavy concentration of energy exchange pores on the undersides of the feet and toes. As energy-raising structures, the feet are bases for the largest and strongest conduits into the energy body. They are therefore important structures to stimulate and develop. One foot — usually the left — will normally activate much easier than the other. It may take many development sessions before the less-active side begins to respond. If, in the first exercise below, no sensation is felt in either big toe, this means that both of these areas are currently dormant or blocked. It does not mean the NEW system will not work for you. It will. These sluggish areas will progressively clear as more of the energy structures within the feet clear. Fig. 13. Main secondary centers in toes Awareness-target the top of your left big toe. There is a fairly large secondary center in each of its joints. Give this toe a light scratch or rub along its length with your fingernail to highlight it, until it tingles slightly on top. Use the brushing awareness action and brush along its whole length, from its tip to a couple of inches past where it joins the foot. Concentrate on feeling this action inside the skin. Vary this action occasionally and brush each side of it as well, inner and outer. Keep brushing until you feel a slight buzzing or localized heaviness or pressure in that toe. Continue brushing for several minutes, or until some noticeable sensations are felt, then move on to the next exercise. Repeat the above exercise on right big toe. Use the sponging action through the whole of both big toes, one at a time. The stirring action can also be used on top of each joint, if they are difficult to activate. Try splitting awareness and brushing or sponging both big toes simultaneously. Use the brushing and sponging actions on all lesser toes, starting with the toe next to the big toe on the most responsive foot. Spend slightly more time on the less responsive foot, and on any unresponsive toes to help free them up. Using a slightly wider brushing action (width from tips of toes to just past where they join foot) and starting with your best foot again, brush across the entire tops of all toes at the same time, from side to side, from big toe to small toe, back and forth. Repeat this action on your other foot. Try splitting awareness and repeating the above on both feet simultaneously, in whatever direction is felt as being easiest and most effective. Sole Work The energy exchange pores on the undersides of the feet and toes form the outer layer of the complex energy exchange structures within the feet. The soles are therefore extremely important to energy flow into the body, and the following exercises should be thoroughly worked through for best results. Awareness-target the middle of the sole of your left foot. Scratch or rub this area if you need help targeting it. Using a small clockwise stirring action, approximately one and one-half inches in diameter (3.5 cm), circle your point of awareness there continually. Move this stirring action slowly over the underside of your foot and its toes. Keep this stirring action moving at all times, covering that entire area thoroughly. Continue this mobile stirring action until you have covered the entire underside of your foot several times, including the undersides of all toes and the heel. This awareness action is a little like you are using a small rotating electric massager. Spend at least five minutes on each sole with this rotary action (early exercises only) or until the surface of each sole begins to respond well. Fig. 14. Rotary stirring action on sole of foot Using a wide brushing action, as if painting the soles with a large paintbrush, brush awareness back and forth, from heels to toes, covering the entire underside of each foot deeply with the brushing action, one foot at a time. Try splitting awareness and repeating the brushing action on both feet at the same time. Using a deep sponging action, draw awareness from tips of toes to heel, back and forth through the whole of each foot, one foot at a time. Feel this action as filling the inside of the whole of each foot as you do this. Try splitting awareness and sponging through the whole of both feet at the same time. Fig. 15. Brushing action on sole of foot Feet and Sensations Working on the undersides of the feet can cause very strong energy-movement sensations indeed. These can be extremely uncomfortable, even painful, especially in the very early stages of these development exercises. Unfortunately, this cannot be helped and therefore should be accepted as the price of development. Intense buzzing, tingling, tickling, and bone-deep vibrating energymovement sensations are commonly felt. These may continue for some time, even after the awareness actions that caused them have been discontinued. This will sometimes be accompanied by nervous twitching and muscular spasming in the feet and legs. This can also be quite strong in the early stages. Occasional hot or cold burning spots and heavy patches inside the feet and legs can also be felt, indicating blocked and damaged areas. All these sensations are normal for this type of energetic development work. The degree of sensations felt indicates the degree of resistance to the energy being raised. Strong energymovement sensations are caused by larger-than-normal amounts of energy being forced through narrowed energy pathways and conduits. This overstimulates the nerves in the skin and surrounding tissue near the affected energy pathways. Strong energy-movement resistance sensations should be ignored. If sensations become too strong for comfort, move on to the next exercise. If these sensations go way beyond acceptable comfort levels, immediately discontinue all exercises at least until the next day, to give them a chance to settle down. Sensations will always be less the next time. Strong sensations are a good energetic sign, indicating good energy flow potential in affected areas. Sensations usually ease off gradually over five or ten minutes, sometimes a little longer. Walking helps ease them. If only very mild sensations are felt, this can indicate that a good flow of energy already exists, producing significantly less resistance with reduced sensations. But if no sensations are felt at all, large blockages should be suspected, and extra work will be required to clear them. Actual physical pain is quite rare, but hot or cold or painful aching spots, plus needlelike pains, are not uncommon. These indicate particular types of energy blockages that normally reduce only gradually, as they are cleared and conditioned to the greater energy flow. It is a good idea to take extra good care of your feet and hands, at least while doing these early exercises. I recommend that this become a habit for anyone doing serious, long-term energetic development. If you have difficulty getting foot energy moving, try soaking them in comfortably hot water, then scrubbing them with a nailbrush, paying particular attention to the soles and heels. Scrub feet until they tingle slightly, then dry and rub some light body oil or cream into them. This extra attention will make you more aware of your feet, as the whole-foot tingling sensation caused by this attention will last for some time. This can help with awareness targeting. The application of essential oils, plus massage and reflexology techniques, can also help activate and clear blocked energy structures in the feet. Leg Work Each leg sweep should take approximately three seconds for each pass, up or down. This exercise is designed to stimulate the energy pathway, not to raise energy up through the leg, which is why awareness is brushed in both directions. Repeat this process for each of the following leg exercises. Use a wide brushing action on the front of each leg, one at a time. Scratch, rub, or stroke the whole leg pathway, if required to help target and trace the pathway being worked on. Move awareness from tips of toes, over top of foot and ankle, up shin to knee and on up to top of the hip joint on the front of each leg, one leg at a time. Stroke awareness steadily back and forth a dozen times or more each way. Repeat this on the back of each leg, one at a time, from heel to rear of hip joint (top of buttock), then back down again. Repeat this on outer sides of each leg, one at a time. Pay attention to taking energy from the smallest toe with this exercise, through outer side of foot to heel, to side of ankle, up to side of knee, to top of outer hip joint, then back down again. Repeat this on inner legs, one at a time: from big toe through the inner side of foot to the inner side of ankle, to inner knee, to inner groin creases at top of each leg, then back down again. Raise energy with large sponging action through the whole of each leg, feeling all of the leg. Draw awareness from toes, through ankle, and on up through knee joint to hip, then back down through the whole leg again. Try splitting awareness and doing this last exercise on both legs at once. Hand and Arm Work The energy body also exchanges and draws energies into itself through the hands and arms. Rather than overcomplicating matters, it is best to think of these energies as being simply atmospheric subtle energies, as opposed to the more earthly energies that flow into the feet and legs. The hands, like the feet, each have a heavy concentration of exchange pores in the palms and undersides of fingers. Finger Work The process for hand and finger stimulation is similar to that used with the feet, with minor differences. Some find it easier to do early finger and hand exercises if they look at each finger as they work on it. This is permissible, but please discontinue using your eyes for this purpose once the techniques are learned. Fig. 16. Main secondary centers in hand First, spread fingers slightly and use a narrow brushing action to stimulate the entire length of each finger on top. Work on one finger at a time and brush from fingertips to wrists for thirty seconds each, or until they begin to respond, and longer if you so choose. Turn hand over and repeat this with each finger on its underside. Use a wide brushing action, as if you were using a large paintbrush, and stimulate the backs of each hand, covering all fingers from tips to a few inches above wrists, one hand at a time, for thirty seconds or more, even if they responded well earlier. Use a wide brushing action across all fingers, from side to side, covering all fingers. Try splitting awareness and repeating the above on both hands at the same time. Fig. 17A. Wide brushing action on hand Fig. 17B. Wide stirring action on hand Palm Work Palm work can cause intense energy-movement sensations in the palms and fingers. These sensations usually reduce more rapidly than those in the feet. Repeat the same process you used with the sole of each foot, on the palm of each hand, one at a time. First use a tight, mobile stirring action, moving this action about until you have covered the whole of the palm of each hand, including the undersides of all fingers. Use a wide brushing action, back and forth, from a few inches above the heel of hand to finger tips, covering the entire surface of palms and undersides of all fingers. Use a large sponging action through the whole of each hand, from fingertips to above wrists. Try splitting awareness and stimulating both palms, from above wrists to fingertips. Arm Work Move awareness back and forth from fingertips to shoulder, a dozen times in both directions for each of the following exercises. Take approximately three seconds over each upward arm sweep, and the same for each downward sweep. Along outer left arm, use a wide brushing action from fingertips, along back of hand to wrist, over forearm to elbow, over outer biceps to outer shoulder joint, back and forth. Repeat above on inner left arm from fingertips, palms, inner wrist, inner elbow, to armpit. Repeat on whole of left arm, using sponging action, feeling all of arm, inside and out. Repeat all above exercises with right arm. Try splitting awareness and repeating with whole of both arms at the same time. Quick Reference Guide Feet and Legs Brushing action on each toe, add sponging action to big toes Wide brushing action across all toes on each foot Mobile rotary stirring action over surface of each sole Wide brushing action along length of each sole Sponging action through whole of each foot All Toes " Soles " Whole Foot Brush front, back, outer, and inner leg pathways, both ways Legs Sponge through whole of each leg, toes to hips, both ways " Hands and Arms Brush each finger and thumb, top and bottom sides Fingers Wide brushing action along length, back of each hand Hands Wide brushing action across all fingers Rotary stirring action, then wide brushing action on each Sponging action through whole of each hand Wide brushing action along outer, then inner, pathways Sponge through whole of each arm, fingertips to shoulder, both ways " Palms Whole Hand Arms " Energy Bounce Techniques Energy bounce is a simple and effective awareness technique that helps to clear, redefine, and strengthen all energy pathways. Awareness Resistance Factor When you move awareness rapidly through the energy body, you encounter natural energetic resistance. This feels like you are dragging your point of awareness through an almost-liquid substance, which allows you to feel the substance of your own energy body. The bounce action creates a kind of ripple inside the energy body, causing energetic disruption, which forces energy to flow. This helps clear blockages and develops internal conduits. As an example (using a rapid sponging action) bounce your awareness up and down through the whole of one leg, from foot to hip, feeling it moving in both directions, as with the earlier whole-leg sponging exercise. Bounce from foot to hip and back, rapidly and repeatedly. Your body awareness is capable of lightning movements, and of flicking from one body part to another instantly, but not so when moving through the energy body in this way. Slowly increase the speed of the bounce action and you will soon feel resistance. You will find there is a natural speed limit of about half a second each way. If you move faster than this, your awareness will tend to lose contact with your energy body and start flicking from foot to hip and back, while skipping the leg in between. Once this happens, you are no longer moving awareness through the energy body and are therefore no longer stimulating it. Bounce Testing Whatever part of your body you wish to bounce awareness through, first experiment with the speed, increasing the bounce frequency until resistance is encountered. Once this is felt, slow the speed a little until you are quickly and comfortably bouncing awareness through your body, while retaining the feel of contact with it. This will be the correct speed for the bounce action in that area. Do not count or time this with a watch, just feel the most comfortable speed for you in that area. Leg Bounce As above, take awareness through one or both legs, from feet to hips. First test for resistance and find the correct frequency, then bounce repeatedly from feet to hips. You will quickly develop a natural rhythm and will feel the slight dragging effect it has in your energy body. Energy-movement sensations in the bounce area are usually quite mild. Continue bouncing for at least a minute, or for as long as you wish. It's quite a pleasant sensation when you get used to it and the bounce action quickly becomes almost automatic. Try splitting awareness and bouncing through- both legs at the same time. Holding your legs together makes this last easier. Fig. 18. Leg bounce action Arm Bounce As above, bounce awareness through both arms, one at a time, from fingertips to shoulders and back again repeatedly. First test for resistance and adjust bounce speed to suit. Try splitting awareness and bouncing through both arms at the same time. Spinal Bounce This is a wonderful technique if you suffer back tension or spinal pain. I have a few spinal injuries myself and find this very soothing and healing. Once you master the spinal bounce, you can set it in motion and use your mind for other things. Only a small part of your mind is required to keep the bounce action going in the background. This promotes deep physical relaxation, helps ease knots of tension in the spine, as well as gently stimulating the spinal roots of most primary centers. Awareness-target the coccyx (tailbone) at the base of the spine. Move awareness along the full length of your spine to the top of your head. Bounce awareness back and forth, from top to bottom, feeling it all the way. Increase speed and adjust frequency, then slow to a more comfortable rhythm — about half a second or so in each direction. Take care to breathe naturally while doing this. The spinal bounce action tends to interfere with the natural breathing pattern. This can cause shallow breathing and intermittent breath holding. Full-Body Bounce The full-body bounce takes awareness up and down through the entire body. This can be done from any position, but is best learned while lying down with arms raised above the head. Take awareness from both feet, up through legs, torso, head, and arms, all the way to just above fingertips. Bounce awareness back and forth, from feet to fingertips. The bounce rhythm should be fairly quick, about one or two seconds each way, but whatever feels most natural is best. Try to feel the whole of your body, inside and out, with each full-body bounce. A variation of the above is with arms resting at your sides, where awareness is bounced from your feet to just above the top of your head. This is far more practical when sitting or standing. Keep in mind, after working so laboriously and painstakingly through your newly discovered energy body, that this is only the early training part. The NEW system is very progressive and, once you learn it, large parts of your energy body will quickly begin responding to single awareness actions. The smaller parts of the stimulation exercises given so far quickly combine into larger and simpler whole-of-limb stimulation and energy-raising actions. Everything starts getting easier, faster, and more effective once this happens. 13. Raising Energy Raising energy is an essential part of stimulating, developing, and powering the higher functions of the energy body, including out-of-body projection. This makes use of many of the skills you have learned so far in this book. Feel energy-raising actions as if you were drawing a large sponge up through each pair of limbs, as if you were sponging water up through them. Stay as physically relaxed as you can while doing these exercises, but don't worry if you tense up a little or tend to twitch a bit at times. A little physical tension will not interfere with this type of energy raising. In time you'll learn how to do this while standing, walking, and even running. With all the coming energy-raising exercises, if you cannot easily split awareness and work on two limbs at the same time, work on one limb at a time. It is much more important to be able to raise energy through one limb than to be able to split awareness. The following techniques, though, will have to be modified to suit single-limb energy-raising actions. Do not worry if one leg or arm does not appear to respond well. Usually one side of the body is more active and energetically responsive, and hence easier to draw energy through. Keep trying with the unresponsive side, and continue trying to use arms and legs in pairs while doing these exercises. If one leg or arm is all you can feel, draw energy through it but do not neglect its weaker partner. The weaker side always requires more development. A little extra time should be set aside for this during each training session. Regular stimulation slowly revitalizes inactive areas as energy pathways widen and are redefined. Leg Energy Raising There are two ways to raise energy into your body: with awareness alone or with awareness aided by breathing. The basic techniques for raising energy with awareness alone are generally used as part of a full-body circuit, or for raising energy to primary centers. They are also very useful when it is impractical to do anything more elaborate. For example, try this if you are tired and just want to raise some quick energy before falling asleep. Prestimulate feet, using the techniques learned in the previous chapter. First brush across all toes with a single action, then use the whole-foot sponging action, one at a time or both together. Continue with this until you feel some activity. Split awareness (optional) by reaching down and grabbing the energy in both feet with your awareness hands and pulling it upward with a deep sponging action. Sponge it up through the whole of both legs to hips, as if sponging water up through them. This action forces energy to flow into feet and up through legs. Take energy up through your thighs and over the front of your hips, skipping the groin area, letting it flow directly into your sub-navel storage center from each side. The sub-navel is midway between your bellybutton and pubic line and about two inches inside your body. This action does not have to be precise; the general feeling of raising and pushing energy into this area is all that is required. Develop a rhythmic drawing action, sweeping and sponging energy upward through your legs and into the storage center. Take two to three seconds over each upward sweep, or whatever feels most natural. At the end of each upward sweep, flick awareness back to your feet, ready to start over. If awareness does not split easily, use one leg at a time, alternating between them with each upward stroke. When you get a good flow of energy moving into your sub-navel, you may feel a fluttering, bubbling sensation similar to stomach wind. This is a very good sign, indicating energy is successfully being raised, converted, and stored. The exact site of this sensation varies slightly from person to person, but is usually within an inch or two of the center. Fig. 19. Leg energy raising to sub-navel energy storage center Arm Energy Raising Energy can be raised through arms as well as legs. The arms are normally only used as part of a full-body circuit or for stimulating primary centers, but can also be used on their own. If you are sitting in a chair, either hang your hands by your sides or rest them palm upward in your lap. If you are lying down, hold your hands above the bed with elbows resting on the surface of the bed. Alternatively, spread your arms wide and rest them on the bed. Any position will do for this purpose and comfort is important. If you cannot split awareness easily, alternate arms and raise energy through them one at a time. Prestimulate both hands, then center awareness firmly in hands. Split awareness and draw energy through both hands, through the whole of both arms to the shoulders, and on up through to the back of the neck. This is where it will join with the energy stream being raised through the spine, as part of a full-body energy-raising circuit (see below). If this technique is being used on its own, take energy through the shoulders, down over the chest and stomach and directly into the sub-navel storage center. Use two- to three-second energy sweeps, flicking awareness back to hands at the end of each arm sweep, ready to start on the next. This technique can be combined with breathing, by raising energy through the arms during the IN breath, and flicking awareness back to hands during the OUT breath, ready for the next IN breath. Fig. 20A. Arm energy raising to sub-navel center Fig. 20B. Arm energy raising to sub-navel center, taking energy over head Full-Body Circuits Breathing creates a natural motion within body awareness, that of something flowing in and out of the body. This has a natural upward and downward, inward and outward motion to it. This motion is very useful when combined with awareness energy-raising techniques. Breathing also provides energy-raising actions with a natural rhythm. Arms and Legs The first step is to loosen up and prestimulate the energy structures in the feet, legs, hands, and arms. Repeat the above two sections on basic arm and leg energy raising as needed, until you feel some energy-movement sensations. If you feel nothing, continue with the following exercises anyway, as energy will still be drawn into and through your body even if you cannot feel anything. Two-Part Storage Circuit First, here is a simple technique to take arm and leg energy directly into the sub-navel storage center. This technique soon develops a natural rhythm that makes it very easy to do, and soon becomes almost automatic. Feel free to vary the positions of your arms and legs to whatever feels most natural. This circuit can be done while sitting, lying down, standing, or even walking, but is best learned while lying down with arms spread wide or above your head. 1. Prestimulate as needed, then center awareness firmly in both feet. 2. During the IN breath, raise energy up legs and flow it into the sub-navel. 3. Continue flowing energy into the sub-navel until IN breath is finished. 4. When IN breath finishes, flick awareness instantly into both hands. 5. As OUT breath starts, draw energy through the arms, down the chest, and into the sub-navel. 6. Continue flowing energy into the sub-navel until the OUT breath is finished. 7. At the end of the OUT breath, flick awareness back to feet again. 8. Repeat steps 2 through 7 continuously, settling into a natural rhythm. 9. If awareness cannot be split, alternate arms and legs, using one limb at a time. 10. IN and OUT can be reversed if preferred. Full-Body Storage Circuit The full-body circuit combines awareness energy raising with breathing, as with the above technique, but covers the whole body with one continual flow of energy, rather than two separate flows. This stimulates the majority of energy conduits, pathways, and energy centers in the body, including the primary energy centers. A full-body circuit should be done, if possible, for ten to fifteen minutes per day to gain significant developmental benefits from it. This can also be split into many smaller sessions, and even a minute per session is valuable. Once learned, this technique can be used to make better use of free waiting and traveling time. There is no limit to the length of time this can or should be practiced, the more often the better. If this technique is done for just a few minutes before falling asleep, the extra energy raised increases the vividness of dreams and lucid dreams. This empowers all subtle and dream bodies, thus making conscious-exit projection easier to do and to remember. The energy-raising action used in the full-body circuit can be fairly wide; it does not have to be narrowed to just the spine. Allow it to spread out as energy is raised up through your back and down over your front, narrowing it just before it flows into your sub-navel. Use slow, deep, natural breathing. Prestimulate feet and hands and bounce awareness through your whole body a few times before beginning the full-body circuit. The full-body circuit can be done in any position, but is best learned while lying on your back with arms resting comfortably at sides. During the downward sweep over the head, the energy is best taken into the mouth and down the throat, and then out onto the upper chest as it continues moving down toward the sub-navel. Otherwise the throat area will be skipped as awareness passes over the face and chin, and it contains important centers that should be stimulated. It helps if the tongue is rolled back and held gently against the roof of the mouth during the full-body circuit. Taking energy into the mouth can be omitted entirely if this is found to be too difficult or too distracting. In this case, simply take the energy down over the face and chest, skipping the mouth entirely. The mouth part of the full-body circuit should not be forgotten. Add it at a later time when you are more comfortable with it. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Prestimulate as needed, then center awareness firmly in both feet. During the IN breath, raise energy up the legs and through the back. Raise energy through arms as awareness passes where hands are resting (optional). Continue raising energy up the neck to top of the head. Hold awareness in the top of your head and accumulate it there until the IN breath is completed. 6. As the OUT breath starts, sweep energy over your face, into your mouth, throat, and chest to the sub-navel. 7. Continue flowing energy into the sub-navel until you complete the OUT breath. 8. At the end of the OUT breath, flick awareness back to the feet, ready for the next IN breath. 9. Repeat steps 2 through 8 while settling into a natural rhythm. 10. If you cannot split awareness, alternate and use one limb at a time. 11. IN and OUT can be reversed if preferred. Joining Arms into Full-Body Circuit Once you are comfortable with the above circuit, join your arms into the energy flow. This increases overall energy flow as well as drawing in different types of energies through your hands. During the above full-body circuit, as your upward-moving awareness passes your hands, draw energy through the hands and up arms as well. Raise arm energy in line with the rest of your energy from this point onward, in one fluid upward sweep. Feel your arm energy joining into the spinal energy flowing through the back of your neck. Smoothly continue this awareness action up into the crown center. Continue with the full-body circuit as given above. The only change is the addition of hand and arm energy into the flow with each upward sweep on the IN breath. Everything else stays the same. Fig. 21. Full-body circuit Follow UP arrows on IN breath Down arrows on OUT breath Using the arms with the full-body circuit should be considered optional. It can be omitted if you have difficulty with it, or find that this addition makes it too complicated. It is more important to have some kind of a full-body energy circuit that you can use than to slavishly follow every step of these techniques. Just do the best you can. None of the awareness actions used with these energyraising techniques needs to be precise. A roughly approximate feeling of moving energy from one place to another in your body is quite good enough. You'll get better with practice. If you cannot easily split awareness, raise energy up alternate sides of the body, taking energy up one leg and arm to crown, then continuing as normal. With each new IN breath, change the side being used, first left then right, etc. Energy Flow and Effort As I have mentioned, a deeply relaxed physical state usually is not required for learning the NEW system. Effort can thus be put into the energy-raising actions without breaking any delicate mental state. The amount of energy that can be raised is greatly affected by the application of will. This is particularly useful when there are low background energy conditions, or for times when a greater energy flow is needed, e.g., for clearing stubborn, unresponsive, and blocked areas with brute awareness force. Apart from clearing blockages, for normal development I strongly recommend that only a normal level of effort be used. This is not only easier but is far more natural. It will encourage more even and robust development of the energy body as a whole. Too great an effort can cause too rapid expansion and growth in certain areas, which can make developing energetic structures far too delicate to be of much practical use. Forced development through excessive effort grows large but weak, temporary, and unstable energetic pathways. These will retract back to their original narrowed state very quickly, maybe even smaller than before, if not nurtured gently during development. Using too strong energy-raising efforts to unblock damaged or depleted structures within the energy body can cause continuing energy demands and high energy usage far in excess of the amount of energy raised. This can result in temporary physical exhaustion. Often, more energy is used to repair blockages than is actually being raised and stored, thus causing a temporary energy deficit. This can also cause noticeable energy-movement sensations that continue for some time after energy-raising actions have been discontinued. This is quite normal and often unavoidable. Energy-Movement Sensations I would like to make one thing very clear. Strong energy-movement sensations are primarily caused by resistance within the energy body — natural resistance to an increased flow of energy through blocked or narrowed energy centers and circuitry. Many people, during the early stages of development, will feel some very strong energy-movement sensations indeed. These sensations fluctuate, gradually reducing in severity as the energy body develops to handle increased energy flow. The energy, when it responds in the early stages, will most commonly cause a surging, bubbling, rushing-water sensation. This is especially strong and noticeable in the shins and thighs. These can be quite intense and even breathtaking at times. You may also feel strong, bone-deep tingling sensations that appear to come from deep inside the marrow of your bones. Many of my volunteers have reported they have fallen off their chairs and been unable to stand for a while, because surging energy-movement sensations in their legs have been so strong. Several peculiar energy-movement sensations, often very strong, can be caused by the NEW system. It is fairly normal, while stimulating the feet, legs, hands, and arms, to feel extremely strong buzzing and tingling sensations within them. These sensations will fade slowly with regular use and development, reducing to a warm and comfortable, gently tingling, energy flow. Levels of sensation can also be affected by other factors, such as the condition of the physical body and the strength and availability of free energy, which fluctuates daily and varies from one place to another. Common Sensations • • • • Tingling, tickling, buzzing, and vibrating in the soles of feet and toes Rushing-water sensation up legs and arms Bone-deep tingling inside hands, feet, legs, and arms Tingling energetic body-rush feelings up arms, legs, and spine • • • • • Muscular spasming and twitching Cobweblike tickling, like ants crawling all over you Localized stinging and prickling sensations Aching, cold or hot spots, especially in soles and palms Muscular cramps Keep in mind that heavy energy-movement sensations always reduce as the energy body develops. Masters of energy raising, with highly developed energy bodies, feel only a gentle, tingling warmth as massive amounts of energy are drawn into their bodies. Look upon the lessening of energy-movement sensations as signs of real progress in energy-body development. Side Effects The NEW system, especially in the early stages, will occasionally cause temporary swellings, lumps, rashes, and even small watery blisters. In my opinion, this is caused by narrowed energy pathways having far greater than normal amounts of energy forced though them. This seems to overload some of the nerves and nerve endings in the physical body, temporarily affecting surrounding soft tissue and skin and causing these side effects. If you get any of these symptoms, treat them as you would any normal swelling, rash, or blister. Consult your medical doctor if they worry you. Energy rashes and blisters usually sting and itch quite noticeably when energy is drawn through them. These will heal very quickly if you continue regular development exercises, usually within a day or two, and will often disappear completely overnight. If your energy body does not respond at all, even after weeks of regular effort, I advise you to have a mil medical checkup by a qualified medical doctor. Energy blockages of this magnitude are not a good health indicator. This can indicate early disease conditions that have not yet become symptomatic. As early diagnosis of most medical conditions is paramount to their successful treatment, this can be an extremely valuable side benefit of energy work. Awareness Momentum After repeating any energy-raising action several times, you will find it develops a tendency to continue on its own accord. Awareness actions thus often continue after you have stopped consciously doing them. I call this effect awareness momentum. It seems to be caused by a kind of energy-body memory taking over, which shows just how easily these techniques can be learned. Continuing Energetic Demands After an energy blockage has been cleared, the energy body will often continue flowing energy through newly cleared areas. Energy-movement sensations may thus continue to be experienced for some time after stimulation actions have ceased. Energy blockages will also often clear themselves spontaneously, in response to earlier energetic development exercises. This can happen at any time of the day or night, which can cause energymovement sensations to begin spontaneously and for no apparent reason. Energy Center Spin Primary energy centers are nonphysical vortexes of energy that look (to clairvoyant sight), like spinning wheels of multicolored light. Although secondary centers cannot so easily be observed, it is logical to suggest they may have similar attributes. The natural direction in which a center is spinning can often be felt with the stirring awareness action. If you feel resistance while stirring an energy center, try reversing the direction of that action. If the new direction feels easier and more natural, or has a more positive effect, there is a good chance that that center works better being stimulated in that way. Etheric Wrap Etheric wrap is a versatile and useful technique for clearing blockages and restoring damaged parts of the energy body. Areas that are unresponsive, tingle noticeably, feel heavy, or sting, or buzz, or bum, or act in any way different from the rest of your body, usually indicate some kind of blockage, depletion, or damage. These areas need more attention to repair and restore them. When you draw or bounce awareness through your body, you may also come upon areas that feel heavier or lighter or fuzzier or thicker, or that provide more or less resistance to awareness actions. These sensations indicate those areas need extra work to clear them. Use a wide-wrapping action over the damaged area. Imagine you have an endless white bandage of pure energy flowing from your awareness hands. Feel this bandage of energy flowing directly into the damaged area as you wrap it. Feel the substance of your energy flowing with this bandage. This action is to be varied to suit the size and position of the area being worked on. Etheric wrap is useful for getting inactive areas working. For example, if you want to etheric wrap a leg: Awareness-target your foot and begin wrapping from the toes up, as if you were carefully wrapping an overlapping energy bandage around it. Feel your energy flowing into that area, into the foot, through your awareness hands. Continue wrapping up over the foot, over the ankle, and on up the leg, all the way to the hip. Take your time over this and be careful to overlap the wrapping action all the way. Repeat this as many times as required, as this exercise cannot be overdone. Note that some energy blockages will not show up for some time. Many will only become apparent after energetic development work has become a regular practice, as the energy body becomes more energy sensitive and energy demands increase. Daily Energy-Raising Time There is no limit as to how much energy raising can or should be done, as long as this is taken only into the sub-navel storage center. The more often energy is raised, the more energy will be stored and the more energy will be available for physical, bioenergetic, and pure-energetic purposes. It is far more beneficial for long-term energetic development to raise energy gently and slowly and for longer periods of time, than it is to raise large amounts of energy in short bursts only. Rushing development creates fragile energetic structures that have little practical use, as they tend to break down when put under pressure. 14. Stimulating Primary Energy Centers What have the primary energy centers (major chakras) to do with projection? Well, just as the NEW secondary system conditions the energy body and helps prepare it for conscious-exit projection, so does a little work on the primary circuit. With conscious-exit projection, energy is simply everything. During an OBE, the entire energy body, including all the primary centers, becomes active and contributes energetically toward the generation, projection, and maintenance of the projected double. Some people (those having plenty of natural ability) may not need what is given in this chapter, but experience has taught me that OBE training and preparation should be tackled in the same way as any other psychic ability. If standard energetic development procedures are applied to OBE training, results are far easier to obtain. Using today's visualization-based methods, successfully stimulating and developing the primary energy centers (major chakras) can take many years. The NEW techniques make successful primary-center activation possible even in the very early stages of development. Because of this, I urge you to be careful when using these techniques on the primary centers. The NEW techniques are far more effective than are the more obtuse visualization-based methods commonly taught. You may have heard a lot of hype about the dangers of primary energy center work and kundalini energy. I believe this comes from a lack of understanding of the energy body and how its energy centers and structures work. While there are some potentially adverse side effects, the primary energy centers and the kundalini are not energetic time bombs waiting to go off should you accidentally touch the wrong energetic button or wire inside your own energy body. If primary-center development work is undertaken with care, respect, and intelligence, there is very little to worry about. Triggering a full raising of the kundalini takes enormous preparation, effort, and self-discipline over an extended period of time. I do not believe this could happen accidentally or through simple experimentation while using the energetic development system given in this book. You may come across a few accounts telling the experiences of some very special people, where kundalini is reputed to have spontaneously arisen in response to their intellectual and spiritual development. Cases like this are rare in the extreme. I would hazard an educated guess that the chances against this happening to the average person undertaking normal levels of energetic development would be more than a million to one. Working on primary centers is only one step above working on their supporting secondary centers. Raising energy and stimulating primary energy centers is very simple. You have already learned all the skills required. There is, however, quite a bit more to learn about the primary centers before beginning any serious work on them. They are far more complex and powerful than the secondary centers, and must be treated with great respect. Make no mistake about it; mistreating the primary energy centers can be dangerous — physically, emotionally, mentally, and psychically. I have given several cautions and warnings within these pages and strongly advise these be carefully heeded. To me, primary energy centers are the major energetic organs of the energy body. When observed clairvoyantly, these may look like simple wheels or vortexes of multicolored light, but in reality these are extraordinary complex energetic structures. They are always active to some extent, even if not perceived as active. They are an integral part of all bioenergetic and pure-energetic functions of the human energy body. For the purposes of training and development, however, I mink these are best thought of as being simply primary energetic transformers. Many types of raw energies are collected through the energy exchange pores and channeled throughout the secondary system, where these energies are conditioned. These energies are then either used for bioenergetic life processes, fed into storage areas, or channeled into primary energy centers. The primary centers transform these into energies with higher pure-energetic values, as set by current energetic demands. Other than the crown and brow centers, which are directly attached to parts of the brain, primary centers have their roots within the spine. These are also attached or energetically related to major organs, glands and nerve ganglia, and are linked with each other and interconnected with the rest of the energy body's supporting circuitry. The complete energetic structure of the human energy body is as complex as its biological nervous system. One more thing before I continue: There are conflicting opinions over the number and placement of the primary centers (chakras). My own hands-on research agrees, in these matters, with the Hindu science of Tantra. For further reading on the more esoteric intricacies of chakras, according to Hindu Tantra, I recommend the excellent book by Harish Johari, Chakras — Energy Centers of Transformation. The Primary Energy Centers Fig. 22A. The primary energy centers (major chakras) For energetic stimulation purposes, primary energy centers are best imagined as circular energy vortexes roughly the size of the palm of your hand, except for the navel and crown centers, which are larger. • Base center: center point between anus and genitals (perineum) The base center has its roots in the base of the spine, but the center of its external vortex is best thought of as flowering between the anus and the genitals. This is the area that is generally worked on. It may seem as if this would be difficult to stimulate because of its location, but in practice this area is quite easy to work on. • • • Genital center: center point in genitals (male and female) Navel center: center point in navel (bellybutton) Solar plexus site: center point in solar plexus According to the Hindu science of Tantra, the solar plexus area does not contain a separate primary energy center, per se, but is related to and connected with the larger navel center below it. My hands-on exploration of the primary centers supports this view. There is, however, most definitely a large, important, and fairly sensitive energetic structure at this site. It feels and behaves like other primary centers when worked on, and if successfully stimulated, produces similar energetic sensations. The larger size of the navel center may be part of the problem. People may simply be working on and stimulating the higher parts of the larger navel center. When the navel center is stimulated, it often causes a throbbing sensation in the solar plexus just above it. Parts of the heart center, when stimulated, can also cause chakralike sensations in the solar plexus. The sub-heart storage center — quite active in most people — is situated in the upper region of the solar plexus. Regardless, I suggest the solar plexus be treated for all intents and purposes as a primary energy center. I have therefore included the solar plexus as a primary energy stimulation site, while not listing it as a primary energy center, per se. • • • • Heart center: center point in heart Throat center: center point in base of throat Brow center: center point in middle of forehead, between eyebrow ridges Crown center: center point in middle of crown The crown center is much larger than the other primary centers. With its entire support structure, when it is fully active, it flowers and covers the whole top of the head above the hairline. All awareness actions on the crown center should therefore be much larger to reflect this greater size. All energy centers, primary and secondary, are connected with and represented in the crown center and its support structure. The crown center can be likened to being the central energetic brain of the energy body. This bears the same relationship to the energy body as does the physical brain to its physical body. Fig. 22B. Side view of primary energy centers Starting with Primary Centers Beginning work on the primary circuit is a significant step forward in energetic development, especially with the very effective NEW techniques given in this book. I do not recommend serious primary center development work be undertaken to any great extent until the NEW secondary system given earlier has been practiced for at least three months. The energy body must first become used to the secondary system and be given time to stabilize. All heavy energy-movement sensations, as caused by the NEW system, should be given time to reduce before primary centers are worked on. A great variety of potential problems can be avoided simply by conditioning the energy body first. This will make the energy body more robust and responsive, while generally increasing conscious control over energetic flow through hands-on experience. The lighter secondary energetic circuitry powers the heavier-duty primary energetic circuitry. The secondary and tertiary circuits need exercising, developing, and conditioning before primary circuit work can safely and effectively be done. At the very least, I suggest the NEW secondary work be concentrated on regularly, preferably daily, for a few weeks before any serious primary-center work is done. The timing is, of course, up to the individual. Some early experimentation with primary centers, say during OBE attempts, will rarely cause any problems. However, if problems occur, or if you have difficulties getting primary centers working, please return to the secondary system and spend more time on it. Continue until you can progress onto the primary circuit with more confidence. Stimulation Notes In the beginning, you may have to spend several minutes stimulating each primary center. You may also find in the early stages that some primary centers seem not to be responding well. This is normal. It is unusual to find persons with no primary center response at all, especially if they have worked successfully with the secondary system. As with the secondaries, primary centers become progressively more awareness-sensitive and hence easier to work with. For training purposes, you will not need a deep level of relaxation or the trance state. But a slightly deeper level of relaxation than that used for secondary work is recommended. Primarycenter work is more effective when done during the trance state, as the energy body is naturally more active then. If you have trouble stimulating primary centers, use the full relaxation and trance techniques before each session of primary-center work. The techniques for stimulating primary energy centers (stirring, brushing, tearing, and wrapping) are the same as those used with secondary energy centers. The actions should be slightly larger to reflect the greater size of the primary centers. Adapt these as you see fit and vary the size of each action to what feels the most natural and effective. Try to feel primary center awareness stimulation actions as penetrating a couple of inches inside the body as you use them. Just as with secondary energy centers, scratch, rub, stroke, or brush the sites of primary centers, as needed, to highlight and target them with body awareness. Do away with this type of manual targeting as soon as you can. The large, whole-limb sponging awareness action is used to raise energy up through the legs to the base center. This same action is also used to raise energy up to and through all of the primary centers, as if sponging liquid energy up through the body. With all primary centers, cease stimulation actions as soon as energetic sensations are felt. There is no need to overdo primary center stimulation, especially for the purposes of projection training. Overstimulation can cause a great many problems. Once a center starts to stiffen, cramp, throb, pulse, buzz, tingle, bubble, or feels warm or cool, consider that center active, and move on. Overstimulation of primary centers is unwise, especially during the early days of primary-center work. The base center is the most important primary center to stimulate during early exercises. Unless the base center is sufficiently stimulated, energy may not flow strongly enough into the higher centers to enable any noticeable activation. I suggest that more time be spent on the base center than on any other, unless noticeable energetic sensations are felt therein. An apparently inactive base center will not stop the activation of higher centers. If you can successfully activate even one of the higher centers, then energy is definitely flowing through the base center. I recommend that the genital center not be stimulated or used at all. This center is extremely sensitive and can be somewhat volatile. If the NEW stimulation techniques are applied to it, this center can become unstable and cause a great many problems. It is intimately linked with the powerful sexual energy structures within the groin and genitals of both males and females. If this center is activated, even accidentally, it can create conditions that can make it difficult to continue with further development exercises at that time... for obvious reasons. However, do not worry if you occasionally feel some mildly erotic sensations coming from this center during these exercises. Sometimes this cannot be avoided and it will not usually interfere with further primary-center work at that time, nor cause any serious or ongoing problems. Primary Center Stimulation Process This process can be done while sitting or lying down, but I recommend that the sitting position be used while learning it. Try both positions and use what works best for you. Run through the relaxation exercises once, then clear your mind with the breath awareness technique (see chapter 15) until you are well settled. You do not need to be in the trance state. Alternatively, close your eyes and settle yourself while taking ten long, slow breaths before beginning. Use a full-body circuit for a few minutes before beginning primary center stimulation. In particular, make sure you spend a little time stimulating the whole of both feet and both hands before starting. They will be providing the majority of the energy raised and used during these exercises, and it helps if you have them energetically ready. Base Center Raise and sponge energy from feet to base center, repeatedly using a deep sponging action up through the whole of both legs. (Alternate one leg at a time if you cannot split awareness.) After several upward leg sweeps, use the stirring, then brushing, then tearing actions on the base center, one at a time. Continue stimulation for several minutes, alternating awareness actions, or until energy sensations are felt When energy sensations are felt, or if nothing is felt after several minutes, continue with the next stage. Genital Center Raise and sponge energy from feet to base center again. Smoothly take energy up through the base center, sponging energy up through the genital center and on up to the navel center. (Again, direct stimulation is not advised.) If taking energy up through the genital center causes sexual arousal or other problems, avoid this center entirely by taking the energy around it. Loop it under the genital center, taking it through your body and directly to the navel center on the surface of the stomach. Adapt this to what feels most natural and comfortable. Navel Center Raise and sponge energy from feet to base center again. Smoothly take energy upward through the base, through or under the genital center, and on up to the navel center. Stimulate the navel center with the three stimulation actions. The navel center is larger than the other lower centers, so work on an area at least double in size for the best effect. Continue stimulation for several minutes, or until you feel energy sensations. When you feel sensations, or if you feel nothing after several minutes, continue to the next stage. Solar Plexus Stimulation Site Raise and sponge energy from feet to base, to genitals, to navel, and smoothly on up to the solar plexus stimulation site. Stimulate the solar plexus site with the three actions. Continue stimulation for several minutes, or until energy sensations are felt. When you feel sensations, or if you feel nothing after several minutes, move on to the next stage. Heart Center Raise and sponge energy from feet to base, to genitals, to navel, to solar plexus, and smoothly on up to the heart center. Stimulate the heart center with the three stimulation actions. Continue stimulation for several minutes, or until energy sensations are felt. When you feel sensations, or if you feel nothing after several minutes, continue to the next stage. Throat Center Raise and sponge energy from feet to base, to genitals, to navel, to solar plexus, to heart, and smoothly on up to the throat center. Stimulate the throat center with the three stimulation actions. Use the wrapping action around your throat for extra stimulation, wrapping around the entire neck a dozen times or more. Continue stimulation for several minutes, or until energy sensations are felt. When you feel sensations, or if you feel nothing after several minutes, continue to the next stage. Brow Center Raise and sponge energy from feet to base, to genitals, to navel, to solar plexus, to heart, to throat, and smoothly on up to the brow center. Stimulate the brow center with the three stimulation actions. Feel these actions as penetrating inside your forehead. Try not to let your forehead or eyes tense up as you do this. Continue stimulation for several minutes, alternating between all the above techniques if necessary, or until energy sensations are felt. When you feel sensations, or if you feel nothing after several minutes, continue to the next stage. When the brow center reaches a normal level of activity, a pulsing, throbbing sensation will usually be felt in the middle of the brow. Cease stimulation as soon as this is felt. Extra Brow Center Stimulation If no activity is felt in the brow center after doing the above, or if a high-level projection attempt is to be made, the following will provide extra stimulation. Use a deep stirring action on the left and right temples for twenty seconds or so on each, stimulating the two large secondary centers there. Then, bounce awareness smoothly from temple to temple, through the center of your head, for another twenty seconds or so. Use the wrapping action around the entire forehead, as if wrapping a bandage around the circumference of your head, a dozen times or so. Then use the brushing action across the entire forehead, from temple to temple. Finally, use the brushing action up and down from the tip of your nose to just above your hairline, a dozen times or so each way. The above process can be repeated several times for high-level projection attempts, but is not advisable for regular stimulation sessions done for development purposes. Overdoing brow center stimulation can cause brow center pain, headaches and a plethora of other physical, mental, and psychic problems. Crown Center Raise and sponge energy from feet to base, to genital, to navel, to solar plexus, to heart, to throat, to brow, and smoothly on up to the crown center. Larger actions are required for stimulating the crown center and its support structure. Start by using a wide brushing action, as if painting the whole top of your head with a large paintbrush, in all directions, covering the surface above the hairline. Next, use a large stirring action that covers the whole top of the head. Finish by using large tearing actions, as if repeatedly tearing apart a large, round, flat loaf of bread that is covering the whole top of the head. Feel all these actions penetrating inside your head. Try not to let your head, brow, or eyes tense up while doing this. Alternate these actions and continue stimulation for several minutes, or until energy sensations are felt. When you feel sensations, or if you feel nothing after several minutes, cease work or continue to the next exercise. As with the brow center, do not overdo crown center stimulation. You will usually feel stronger sensations in some primary energy centers than in others. Spend a little more time on inactive centers than on active centers to promote more even energetic balance and development. Active primary centers showing noticeable signs of activity should be left alone. Continuing Primary Stimulation Once you have completed the above primary center stimulation exercises, it helps if you keep some energy flowing gently through all these centers. You do not need to repeat the above process to do this. Using an upwardly sponging awareness action from the feet, sponge energy smoothly upward through all the primary centers to the crown center in one long sweep, then flick awareness back to your feet again. Move your awareness through all the primary centers during the upward sponging action. Do not sponge downward; just flick awareness back to feet at the end of each upward sponging action. Alternatively, this action can be done from the base to the crown center only, as long as your legs are providing a reasonable flow of energy. These two methods can be alternated for variety. Additional energy can also be drawn into the body through the hands and arms with this process, but this should be considered optional as most people find this addition difficult. Try both methods and see what works best for you. Repeat this action gently and continually for as long as is required. Another good way to raise energy through all the primary centers is to use the smoke rings trance-induction technique (see chapter 17). The full-body secondary circuit can also be used here with good effect, as can the two-part energy-raising and storage circuit (see chapter 13). Do not overdo or use too much effort with any of the above methods, as gently and steadily really is the best way to work on the primary circuit. Stimulation exercises can be returned to at any time, during any exercise or practice requiring energy usage, to increase energetic flow whenever needed. Primary Center Breathing Circuit The whole idea of the primary breathing circuit is to raise energy upward into the primary circuit to provide continual stimulation of all centers with a steady, gentle flow of energy. Raising energy upward through the whole body tends to interfere with the natural breathing rhythm. You will often find yourself breathing IN and holding your breath as you raise energy upward through your body. Breathing can thus be used with good effect to enhance energy-raising actions. Following is a very simple breathing circuit that not only enhances energy raising, but also regulates the breathing pattern. Breathe naturally at all times during this circuit and avoid shallow, stilted breathing. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Center awareness in feet at the start of the IN breath. During IN breath, sponge energy up legs, through all primary centers, to crown center. Draw through arms as energy passes where hands are resting (optional). Hold awareness centered in crown center until IN breath is completed. At the end of each IN breath, flick awareness to feet and hold, ready for next IN breath. Repeat steps 1 through 5 continuously, for as long as required. Development Session Times In the beginning, when primary-center work is first undertaken, development sessions will tend to be fairly lengthy affairs. Just as with learning the NEW secondary system, primary-center work takes a little time to learn and do well. With a little regular practice, the time necessary to accomplish this will significantly reduce. Primary-center stimulation work can then be included in regular development sessions. This can be incorporated as a part of the full-body circuit, using the NEW secondary system, with a little primary center stimulation being done before starting the fullbody circuit. The length of time the primaries are stimulated depends greatly on the type and level of development sought after, but I suggest that this level of work not be overdone. Once the techniques are learned, a half-hour session each day is quite adequate for most developmental purposes. Any more than this is overdoing things and could cause problems to arise. Primary Center Sensations Primary energy center sensations can be quite strong and variable, depending on their natural state, the level of activity, and the amount of energy flowing through them. Active primary centers can affect nerves, muscles, and surrounding flesh in many peculiar ways. Strong energetic movement in a primary center can cause the flesh around it to twitch, pulse, and/or throb quite noticeably. These sensations can often be felt with the fingertips, showing that they are real, not just subjective sensations. The condition of the secondary and tertiary supporting structures of the energy body plays a large part in the type and level of primary-center activity that can occur. If you experience uncomfortable or painful primary-center activity, or no activity at all, please return to and spend more time on the NEW secondary system, especially the full-body storage circuit, as this will help alleviate these problems. Regular work on the secondary system should not be stopped just because you have begun work on the primary circuit. You should always use the full-body circuit as the mainstay for all energetic development practices. Most Common Energetic Sensations • • • • • Localized heaviness, pressure Throbbing, pulsing, fluttering Cramping, heaviness, tightness Tingling, buzzing Hot or cold sensations It would seem logical that the heavier the energetic sensation, the more active the energy center. This is partly true, but overly strong or uncomfortable sensations are fair indicators of energy blockages and malfunctioning parts of primary energy centers, and of their supporting energetic structures. Typically, a primary energy center at a normal level of functioning will cause a fairly noticeable localized throbbing and pulsing sensation and a steady feeling of pressure. The speed and heaviness of this throbbing will vary according to the energetic demands being placed on a center. Some primary centers, however, will be found to cause some fairly predictable sensations during development exercises or projection attempts, and thus deserve special mention here. Base Center Working this center will often cause a bruised, buzzing kind of aching feeling. This may last for a few days after it has first been successfully activated, and seldom any longer. This sensation will eventually settle down to a steady and comfortable throbbing. On that note, base center stimulation exercises may appear to intrude slightly into the lower genital area, because of the proximity of the genitals to the base center. This will not generally cause any problems, as long as awareness is focused specifically on the base center. It is quite normal to feel slight tickling, tingling, or buzzing sensations in the genitals, even verging a little on the erotic side, while working on the base center. This is quite normal and is no cause for alarm. It will not usually cause any problems, as long as awareness is not allowed to drift into and become locked in the genital area — a definite no-no for the serious aspirant. Navel Center A generally comfortable warm throbbing and pulsing around the belly button, extending a few inches all around it, is normal for this center. You may also feel a fluttering, bubbling, gassy feeling of movement inside the stomach, between the belly button and pubic line and a few inches either side of there. This odd bubbling sensation is related to the workings of the sub-navel storage center, which, although a separate energetic organ, is also related to the energetic workings of all primary centers, especially the lower ones. Solar Plexus Stimulation Site This site can generate a feeling of pressure, tension, and even anxiety, and the feeling you are not getting enough oxygen. Move on to the next stage of the exercises, breathing slowly and deeply, and this sensation will usually pass fairly quickly. If this plagues you, however, reduce the amount of time you spend stimulating this area, or even skip it entirely if this persists. This is more commonly felt the first few times it is successfully stimulated into full activity, and will generally pass if development exercises are practiced regularly. Heart Center Heart center sensations can be extremely visceral and hence are the most worrying and difficult of all to ignore. Normal heart center activity feels like a throbbing in the flesh and ribs in the surface of the chest, much like the heavy heartbeat you get after exertion, but on the surface of the chest and without any shortness of breath. Anything more than this is unusual for normal development exercises. Heavy sensations can occur, though, especially if a spontaneous OBE, or near OBE, occurs. This will often happen during primary center development work, especially during the trance state. These potential extra-heavy sensations are thus well worth a special mention here. Heavy heart center sensations are at their very strongest during the exit stage of an OBE. This occurs as the projectable double is internally generated as well as during its projection. Extreme heart center sensations associated with projection indicate unavoidable energetic conflicts caused by the presence of an awake mind during the projection process. The heart can feel like it is racing, sometimes at a seemingly impossible rate. It is not the actual physical heart racing, however, but the heart center. The heart center works overtime to provide the greater amount of energy required for a conscious-exit OBE to occur. The heart center causes these heavy sensations, which makes it feel like the physical heart itself is racing. If you hook yourself up to a heart monitor during a conscious OBE exit, you will find your heart rate increases only slightly and that this increase is mainly due to excitement. A racing heart center will not hurt or damage you at all, but it takes quite some getting used to, I must admit. The heart center, when fully active, especially during an OBE exit, feels something like this: Place one hand on your chest, with your fingertips resting over your heart. Tap your fingertips on your chest, roughly in time with a normal heartbeat — thud-thud... thud-thud... thud-thud. Increase this rate until you are thudding on your chest as fast and as hard as your fingers can move. Add some really heavy full-body vibrations, a continual falling sensation, and some really strange noises, and this is something like how the heart center may feel during a conscious-exit projection. Be warned, and be ready to accept and weather these heart center sensations during your first successful projection attempt. If you are not fully prepared for these they will cause you to panic and shock you out of your first real projection success. On the brighter side, heavy heart-center sensations always reduce during subsequent projection attempts, albeit often slowly. Throat Center When active, the pressure and throbbing in the throat center can sometimes cause mild but uncomfortable choking sensations, and even shortness of breath, as if something were touching and pressing against the windpipe. This is partly caused by the sensitive area this center is in, but also can be tied in with strong heart center activity. These sensations are mainly felt during early successful stimulation attempts during the trance state. If you bear with them, they will ease off gradually in response to regular energetic development work. If, however, choking sensations continue to disrupt development exercises and projection attempts, either reduce the amount of time spent on this center or skip it entirely. In fact, any primary centers that cause sensations that are too uncomfortable or painful should be worked on only very lightly or skipped entirely until the sensations reduce. Brow and Crown Centers You will usually feel pressure and throbbing in the brow center during stimulation and development exercises. This is quite normal. These sensations can be very strong and noticeable in some people. Strong brow center pressure sensations will usually be felt at some time during the course of long-term energetic development, especially if dormant psychic abilities are present. You will feel pressure as either localized in the middle of the forehead — as if someone were pressing a thumb hard into it — or as a tight band around the circumference of your head at the brow level. This last feels as if a wide leather belt were tied around the head and being slowly tightened by an invisible sadist. If the crown center is also involved, this pressure may also involve the entire top of the skull above the hairline. Brow and crown center pressure can be uncomfortable, even painful at times, but is generally sporadic. It will not happen every time. Strong pressure is a fairly common sign of development, and can aptly be thought of as energetic growing pains. If headaches or migraines result from this pressure, treat this as you would normally. Please see a medical doctor if pain persists. Ice packs and hot-water bottles, alternated, usually ease this type of pressure pain. The Strobe Effect The strobe effect is my term for an occasional energetic-cum-visual phenomenon that can happen at any time during normal meditation or sleep, as a delayed side effect of energetic development. A sudden flash of stunningly bright silver-white light is seen behind closed eyes, in the mind's eye, usually accompanied by a slight feeling of concussion over the whole brow and facial area, as if from an open-handed blow. The wide area over which this painless slap is felt involves the support structure in the face. The strobe feels something like it would if a powerful camera flash were set off at very close range while the eyes are open, but without hurting the eyes. Many people have contacted me over the years, extremely worried, believing they were under some kind of entity attack because they had experienced the strobe effect. They often break off energetic development because of this. But this phenomenon is caused solely by the brow center, as it strobes accumulated energy upward into the crown center. This effect is strongly related to clairvoyance and is a strong indicator that clairvoyant potential is present. Being an energy clairvoyant myself, I am all too familiar with this effect. The strobe effect marks the beginning of the energetic creation of the vision screen, which forms the visual backdrop that holds the vision stream. The vision stream is the flood of vivid mind's eye visions seen by an energy clairvoyant. Energy clairvoyance is my term for visual mind's eye clairvoyance, brought about through pure energetic stimulation during the trance state. One of the most basic functions of primary energy centers is their ability to accumulate energy, acting much like subtle energy capacitors. Once a primary center's energy accumulation reaches a certain point, it strobes its accumulated energy upward into higher centers. The strobe flashactivates surrounding energetic structures, and forges many new energetic connections, which allows for a much stronger, higher-quality, energetic flow. This enables the higher functions of primary centers, e.g., in the case of the brow center, clairvoyance and other psychic abilities. Temporary energetic connections and structures dissolve when the energy centers responsible for their creation become energetically exhausted. With the brow center, unlike all other centers, the strobe effect is extremely visible in the mind's eye. I consider this similar to how the electronic condenser in a camera flash works. When the brow center achieves a full charge, it strobes powerfully once. If the energetic flow permits, the brow center will strobe several more times. The energetic creation of the vision screen used for energy clairvoyance, however, takes a slightly stronger and more stable energetic flow than nature usually provides for. If the energetic flow is stable enough to maintain the full-energy clairvoyance process, a few seconds after the first initial strobes the brow center will begin strobing regularly every few seconds. This will quickly increase in frequency to about quarter-second intervals, speeding up to a continual blurring strobe. The vision screen will then begin to form in the mind's eye. The vision screen looks very much like an oval mirror. Imagine one about two feet high and one foot wide, hanging at arm's length in front of you in your mind's eye, bordered by dense, dark-gray smoke. The surface of the vision screen is made up of very pale-gray textured smoke. Its surface moves and swirls slightly, with occasional sparks and flashes of light coming from within it. On this backdrop, energetic flow permitting, you see a stream of brilliant 3-D visions, often with full sound and color. Clairvoyant operators eventually learn to manipulate their vision screen, and mentally tune in to areas of interest. They even shift out of their bodies and enter the vision screen and experience visions firsthand, which can be likened to a powerfully akashic-records type of OBE. The creation of the vision screen, from the first strobe to its formation, is absolutely fascinating to watch. The strobe effect is completely natural, energetically speaking. It simply means the brow center in question is better developed than average, or has stronger natural potential. The strobe effect will never cause any harm and is a very good sign, if you are planning to develop any type of psychic ability. It also indicates a strong potential for developing high-level projection abilities. Body-Rush Sensations While doing secondary or primary center development work, it is fairly normal to experience periodic tingling adrenaline-type rushes up through the body, especially through the back and spine. These tingling body rushes are caused by energy movement resulting from secondary and primary centers generating pulsing waves of energy up through the energy body. These are not to be mistaken for kundalini-type energy spikes. Kundalini energy spikes are far heavier, often uncomfortably hot, and come with a fairly strong cramping sensation in the anus, perineum, coccyx, colon, and lower spine. These sensations are generally localized to the lower half of the spine. Normal energetic body-rush surges can be triggered by many things, including energy-raising efforts that release significant blockages, as well as by emotional upsurges. These can be likened to the surging, tingling waves of energetic feeling caused by uplifting music. Energetic waves affect nerve endings in the physical body, particularly in the spine and back muscles. This causes the tingling, surging adrenaline-type body-rush sensations. These can be quite strong, even breathtaking at times, but are normal. However, if these energy rushes are felt as particularly strong and cramping, and are felt shooting up through the lower part of the spine and stomach, and if burning heat or cold and pain are felt, stimulation should be stopped immediately. These sensations indicate premature kundalini activity. If any symptoms cause worry or continue to be a problem, I suggest you stop primary-center work and use only the secondary system. The NEW secondary system is much gender, safer, and more predictable than primary-center work. It has far fewer side effects and is a much gender system overall. You can return to primary-center work later. If you suspect that a kundalini spike has occurred, I would suggest that you take at least a three-month break from all primary-center work, to give the energy body time to adapt. Development exercises can then safely resume. Reducing Primary-Center Activity After any type of energetic work involving the primary centers it is, traditionally, thought to be very important to close all energy centers that have been opened (that is, stimulated). This is illogical and ineffectual. No localized awareness action, and no visualized action either, will be found to cause an energy center vortex or chakra to reduce activity, deactivate, or close. A visualized stimulation action (commonly called a chakra opening or closing action) will only affect the energy body if it is localized to the site of a primary energy center. It thus becomes a type of body-awareness action, albeit a fairly obtuse one. Experience has taught me that no matter how an awareness or visualized action is performed at the site of an energy center, if it has any effect at all it will cause further stimulation. I consider it illogical to think that any reversed action will succeed in shutting down or closing an energy center once it has become active. This is, in principle, a lot like fanning a spark into a flame with a stimulation technique and then trying to make this flame go out by fanning it from a different direction. Whatever the technique used, opening and closing methods both involve a similar localized action at the site of a primary center. Primary energy centers (chakras) are complex nonphysical organs, each with many subtle bioenergetic and pure-energetic functions. They should not be likened to simple mechanical devices that can be opened and closed. Primary energy centers are not just little doorways that can be opened and shut with good intentions and a little visualization. Some people may dispute this, being convinced energy centers must be deliberately closed. Be that as it may, my logic is based on solid firsthand experience: Energy centers simply cannot be deactivated or closed in this way. Those who believe they have succeeded at doing this will find that their actions are merely coincidental with their supposed result. The energy centers in question would have been deactivating on their own anyway. In most cases, primary centers begin deactivating the moment relaxation and trance disciplines are broken and normal levels of physical and mental activity are restored. The best way to deactivate energy centers is to leave them alone and stop using them. Energy centers will also cease activity when the energy body becomes energetically exhausted. This can happen when the energetic support structures in the energy body become exhausted, and are rendered incapable of supplying the energies necessary to support energetic activity. If no significant continuing energetic activity is felt in primary energy centers after a development session, they should be left alone. An attempt should be made to reduce activity in them only if continuing energetic sensations are pronounced or uncomfortable. Following is a list of ways to reduce activity in the energy body. Combinations of these actions will, under normal circumstances, significantly reduce energetic activity in the primary centers. • • • • • • • • • • • • Reverse energy-raising actions in the legs and arms, dumping energy. Stop focusing awareness on the energy body and its primary energy centers. Break physical and mental relaxation disciplines. Move, stand, talk, stretch, and restore full circulation and movement. Curl up and go to sleep — if this is appropriate. Hug a hot-water bottle into an uncomfortably overactive center, then go to sleep. Alternate die above hot-water bottle with an ice pack. Vigorously rub or slap hands, arms, and legs, to draw awareness away from primaries. Walk, jog, swim, do aerobics — physical exercise can help. Take a shower or two — ice cold if necessary. Avoid any type of energetic exercise or practice until all activity has ceased. When all else fails, EAT, and keep eating until all unwanted sensations cease. I have had a few cases where primary centers have refused to deactivate for some days after stimulation. This problem can arise when severely depleted parts of the energy body suddenly have their energy flow restored. A strong, continuing energetic demand can thus continue long after stimulation and energy-raising efforts have ceased. If this ever happens — and this is quite rare, I might add — make use of all the above-listed ways of reducing primary-center activity. I suggest that alcohol and recreational drugs be avoided, and meditation and energetic practices be curtailed. I suggest you concentrate on normal physical life and activity until the problem corrects itself, as it always will. The general rule with any type of energetic problem is to take an energetic break, for as long as is necessary. In the worst case I have ever come across, it took almost a month before energetic activity stopped altogether. This consisted mainly of pulsing and fluttering in brow and heart centers, along with frequent adrenaline-type energetic body rushes. This problem slowly eased and eventually disappeared. Note, this person also had a serious eating disorder, was fairly hyper, and was steadily losing weight at this time, and against my advice, continued to diet all throughout this episode. I think the diet factor significantly contributed to the overall energetic problems and the lengthy time this condition took to stabilize. I have found that die fastest way of slowing energetic activity is to eat large amounts of heavy food, especially heavy protein. (This is an excellent short-term solution, but long-term use will obviously cause weight gain.) Digesting a heavy meal takes a great deal of energy. After a heavy meal, the energy body diverts its resources into bioenergetic digestion processes. The energy body virtually shuts down when the stomach is overloaded. A large meal thus uses up all available energy, leaving nothing to support pure-energetic activity. For this reason, any energetic or development-related work, even simple meditation, can be a waste of time if undertaken within an hour or two of a heavy meal. This is one of the most common problems presented to me, where energetic development exercises have seemed ineffective. A light meal, or even temporary abstinence, is recommended before development exercises. If you have problems getting your energy body to respond to any of the exercises given in this book, going on a low-fat or low-protein diet for a couple of weeks, or any similar diet, can make all the difference. Potential Negative Side Effects While conceivably some risks are involved with primary-center work, I consider it quite safe to undertake at the levels given within this book, provided all procedures are followed and cautions are duly heeded. The main problems that can arise from primary-center work, apart from those already discussed, are dealt with below. The incidences of serious problems are rare. Other contributing factors, apart from energetic development, are almost always involved. Out of the hundreds of people who have consulted with me on energetic development, in person and through the Internet, only a small handful have developed what could be deemed serious problems. In all cases, I have found outside factors have been contributing to or causing these problems. Any problems that can arise through primary-center work can easily be overcome if they are recognized early and handled with a little common sense. Premature Kundalini While raising the kundalini is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do, it can be very worrying if kundalini energy begins manifesting prematurely. The body and mind must be energetically, mentally, and physically prepared to handle this level of energetic movement. Normally it takes several years of mental, energetic, and spiritual development and purification before it can be done with reasonable safety. A small number of people will, however, occasionally feel symptoms of kundalini energy stirring when they undertake serious energetic development of the primary circuit. This can result in spikes of energy shooting up through the lower spine, often accompanied by stinging and cramping sensations. This is not to be mistaken for the normal, often breathtaking, adrenaline-type energetic rushes up through the base center and spine associated with normal levels of secondary and primary energy movement. These energetic body rushes are completely normal symptoms for that type of development work. In more than two decades of personal energetic development work, because of my need to find my own way in these matters, I have experienced and lived through just about every stupid mistake and foolhardy blunder it is possible to make. Through experience, I have found that no matter how bad the mistake, or how severe its effects, it can be overcome. Taking a complete break from all energetic work, including meditation, and concentrating on real-life physical matters is the very best way to alleviate problems and undo mistakes of this nature. For example, in the late eighties when I first raised my kundalini it almost killed me, quite literally. My body experienced severe physical shock. Once I had recovered from that, the resulting onslaught of energies and impressions at work within and around me began unbalancing me in many subtle ways. I was fully aware of what was happening and why, but also intuitively knew the cure. I shut down everything for just over one year, apart from gentle meditation and prayer, and concentrated solely on my physical life, family, work, health, and intellectual pursuits. I kept my feet firmly planted on the ground at all times, until my energy body and perceptions were completely stable again. Once I was totally satisfied that everything inside was functioning normally again, I returned to my energetic and mystical practices. I found, after my energetic holiday, that everything inside worked beautifully once more-much better than before, in fact. There was no recurrence of my problems, nor has there been for the last decade. Mental and Emotional Imbalance In cases where I have come across psychological or emotional problems that appeared to have been caused by energetic development, other contributing factors have always been present. Upon investigation, I usually find that suggested procedures are being modified and cautions ignored. Either that or preexisting mental or emotional instabilities are at work, causing or contributing to the overall problem — more usually both. Because of this, I strongly recommend that people with preexisting weaknesses and instabilities in these areas think very carefully about this. These factors must always be considered before any type of serious energetic development, especially primary circuit work, is undertaken. If in doubt, please seek the opinion of a qualified therapist or medical doctor. If energetic development is undertaken regardless, I suggest that the NEW secondary system be practiced on its own for at least one year, or until such time as it is felt that primary-center work can be undertaken with confidence. It is quite possible to cause mental or psychic instabilities if the brow or crown centers are overworked, or if they are worked on to the exclusion of other development exercises. In the same way, too much work on the heart center can cause emotional problems to manifest. These same problems can also arise if my warnings are ignored and the sub-brow or sub-heart storage centers are actively filled. No matter how often or how firmly I warn people about these dangers, they often think they know best and do it their own way regardless. While I can relate to this attitude, please understand that the warnings and cautions given in this book are very carefully thought out. They are not given lightly. All are based on hard firsthand experience and have been given for very good reasons. Heeding my advice on these matters will help avoid many unpleasant side effects, mistakes, and potential problems. This, in itself, will greatly speed overall development time. In many cases, where cautions are not heeded, problems will not arise immediately, but the conditions that allow potential problems to manifest have been created. A problem may thus arise later, or occur intermittently, especially if unwise energetic practices are continued. Most people who have ignored cautions and then come to me for help fully believed that they could safely take shortcuts to psychic abilities. This was something they wanted at any cost, without having to bother about all that seemingly time-wasting and boring old development stuff. More often than not, these people paid a steep price for their lack of foresight, through slowed or indefinitely suspended development. Breaking the rules here may gain a person some quick temporary psychic abilities, but at what price, I ask. At what price? Mental, psychic, and emotional instabilities are no laughing matter. These can have devastating effects on all aspects of life. A good example came my way recently. A young man e-mailed me about some advice I'd given in one of my very early online tutorials (published on the World Wide Web several years ago) not to overwork the brow and crown centers during primary center development work. He said that, after reading this caution, he had worked exclusively on his crown and brow centers for almost a month, just to see what would happen. He was most annoyed that nothing weird had happened — while I was most relieved. This type of reckless behavior totally defies logic and common sense. Another common reason for defying my cautions, I have found, is that people take advice based on people's experiences gained through using ineffective visualization-based methods. Because of the powerful nature of the NEW system's awareness-based techniques, anyone not fully experienced with them in the long term is a totally unfit adviser, no matter what their background or experience. I say this without reservation. There are right ways and wrong ways to do just about everything, and this saying particularly applies to the many aspects of energetic and psychic development. The development exercises given within these pages nurture psychic abilities in a safe and totally natural way. If these exercises are regularly practiced and not overdone, all warnings and cautions are duly heeded, and if a little common sense is applied as required, any latent psychic abilities will soon rise to the surface. These can then be used and nurtured safely and naturally, one small step being taken at a time. There are no safe ways to rush these matters. Increased Sexual Desire It is fairly well known today that primary-center energy work has the potential to cause a plethora of energetic problems, of which greatly increased sexual desire is probably the most well known. This fairly rare genital center problem is more related to kundalini energy than to normal levels of primary or secondary energetic activity. This is a potential problem only — something to be aware of but not overly concerned about. As with all potential energetic developmental problems, this is a common-sense matter. It is easy to spot the signs and rectify matters before they can grow into serious problems. Increased sexual desire can potentially become a problem with the NEW primary center manipulation and development techniques given in this book, mainly because of the very effective nature of the techniques used. Barring accident, however, deliberate misuse and sexual energy experimentation are the biggest causes for this type of problem. Problems normally will arise only if the genital center is deliberately focused on and actively stimulated. Body awareness can thus become locked into the genital center; it can then be very difficult to shift the focus of body awareness away from that area. If this is allowed to continue, it will not usually cause any lasting damage or harm — barring sexual and energetic exhaustion, of course. The solution is to quickly move body awareness and move on to the next exercise. If, however, body awareness tends to keep flicking back into the genital center of its own accord, discontinue the session immediately, break relaxation discipline, and use the deactivation measures given earlier. Clapping hands and stamping feet are also good ways of forcing body awareness away from the genital center. If all else fails, a cold shower will normally do the trick. The ultimate cure for this malady probably is standing in a bucket of ice water, with both hands also submerged in iced water. Chakra Wonder-Workers There are people in the world today advertising their services, under many different tides, as energetic masters capable of opening primary energy centers (chakras) for other people. This service usually has a steep price attached to it, often thousands of dollars. They claim to have high levels of knowledge and ability, and that once chakras have been opened by them, psychic powers will be enabled in the recipient of their services. They claim they can save people many years of boring old development work. They offer a quick fix and an easy shortcut — for a price. Without exception, these people are frauds and charlatans, more interested in opening people's bank accounts than in opening their chakras, which they cannot truly do anyway. Activating a person's primary energy centers from the outside (often from a great distance) simply cannot be done. Persons like this, if they have any ability at all, may be able to cause a few energetic sensations in another person's primary centers (but in person only), by raising and directing energy into them. If at all possible, this would be a simple energetic transfer similar to healing. However, this will not have the intended long-lasting effect on the recipient's primary energy centers. The persons receiving this energy would feel no more by way of energetic sensations and gain no more benefit from it than they would get by raising their own energy and stimulating their own primary centers. Primary centers are not simple mechanical devices that can be opened and shut like little doors. Barring accident or natural ability, primary energy centers have to be nurtured out of dormancy and their supporting energetic structures developed and strengthened. This must be done in a balanced way or the energy body will become unbalanced, which can cause serious problems. The development of the energy body and its primary centers takes time, as long as it needs to take. Shortcuts and quick fixes are neither wise nor advisable. Part Three Core Skills Part 2, "New Energy Ways", and part 3, "Core Skills", contain a comprehensive series of training units that teach the necessary skills for developing projection-related abilities. If you find yourself getting bogged down, you may wish to skip ahead to other parts and return to these later. Note that some terminology and techniques discussed and used in later parts relate to the contents of parts 2 and 3. The glossary at the rear of this book will help. 15. Deep Physical Relaxation The first big hurdle faced by projectors is deep physical relaxation. This essential skill needs to be thoroughly learned. I cannot stress it strongly enough; of the thousands of projection-related problems I have dealt with over the years, in person and on the Internet, one skill area stands way out in front as causing the majority of problems — deep physical relaxation — or rather, the lack of it. Everyone seems to rush through learning this most important of all core skills, to get on with the seemingly more interesting stuff. Many people seem to think that because they can stay awake long enough to attain some level of trance, they must therefore be physically relaxed enough. Wrong! It is quite possible to achieve the trance state without having a deep-enough level of physical relaxation to create the conditions that allow conscious-exit projection. The trance state means that your physical body is asleep while your mind is still awake. But your body can still contain significant physical tension and muscular knots, even when fast asleep or in the trance state. A tense trance state does not allow the proper generation of the projectable double. It simply will not generate in areas containing physical tension. This can result in partial or even painful semiprojections, and a great deal of frustration. Deep physical relaxation is the foundation on which everything else rests. Without it, consciousexit projection becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible. If you do not thoroughly learn this valuable skill, you will waste an enormous amount of time and effort trying to project before you are ready, only to fail every attempt right on the brink of the exit. More time and effort must be spent learning deep physical relaxation than with any other skill — it is that important! Relaxation improves with time and practice. It is very important to develop effective relaxation skills and good relaxation habits in the early days of development. Deep physical relaxation is quite easy to achieve, if you go about it in the right way and practice regularly. Posture and Comfort Before you begin using the deep physical relaxation system (coming up soon), please make sure you are not overtired. A sleep deficit can be a real problem, interfering with your ability to stay awake during the coming exercises — especially if you do them lying down, which I do not advise. The value of these exercises will be greatly reduced if natural tiredness is allowed to interfere with the deliberate relaxation process. I suggest that these exercises be done when you are wide awake and well rested. I also suggest that you do not practice these exercises immediately after a heavy meal, as this will tend to promote sleep rather than deep physical relaxation. If simple relaxation is a problem, bathing before starting these exercises can be a great help, especially in a hot, mineralsalts bath. Wear loose, comfortable clothing and have bare feet or loose socks, depending on the local temperature. Start by sitting in a comfortable armchair with good back, neck, and arm support, and with a pillow under your feet. This pillow is necessary because when the physical body relaxes to a very deep level, supporting muscles in the feet tend to relax and expose bones, reducing circulation and causing distracting discomfort. If an armchair is not an option, use whatever is available. Even a dining chair can be substituted, although more attention must be paid to finding the perfect balance point for your head. It is possible to use a bed, but falling asleep can be a big problem. If you must use a bed, lie on your back and hold your forearms vertical above the bed, with elbows resting on the surface of the bed. This will help prevent you from falling asleep. Good posture helps a great deal with deep physical relaxation. Do not allow yourself to slump in the chair. If you start with good posture, your body will stay well balanced. If your posture is not good, when your muscles deeply relax, your body will sag. This can cause discomfort in the spine and joints, as well as circulation problems, all of which will interfere with relaxation. Put pillows behind your lower back and neck as necessary, to make sure you are not sagging. The head must be balanced and not be allowed to sag to the back or front or to one side. Close your eyes and let your head and neck relax. Move your head back and forth slowly and you will find there is an exact balance point, between where it falls, either way, through gravity. This balance point is the perfect position for your head. If you have a pillow behind your neck, it is permissible to let it fall lightly back into the pillow. A balanced head position has the added benefit of keeping you awake, as, if you drowse, your head will tend to fall onto your chest or to the side and so wake you up. Once you have some practice at balancing your body and working on deep physical relaxation, you can use anything, even a hard-backed wooden dining chair. If you have balance, you can relax to a very deep level anywhere and anytime and in virtually any situation. Relaxing Muscle Groups I have kept the deep physical relaxation exercises here as simple as possible. All that is required is to progressively tense and relax opposing groups of muscles. If you already know a full-body relaxation discipline, you can adapt it to this one, making sure all muscle groups are covered. Warning: Proceed slowly and gently with these exercises when you first start using them. It is very easy to strain little-used muscles and tendons with any system using opposing muscle groups, especially neck muscles. If in any doubt about your ability to do these exercises safely, please consult with your medical doctor or physical therapist first. With all these exercises, pay particular attention to the relaxation part at the end of it. Allow your muscles to sink and droop and totally relax after tensing. In the early stages of relaxation training, I suggest that this system be practiced repeatedly, until a whole-body feeling of cozy warm heaviness is achieved. Near enough is not good enough when it comes to deep physical relaxation for OBE. Practicing this thoroughly will save you a great deal of time and effort later, and will make projection much easier. This system, as with any other, will become quicker and more effective the more often it is used. With regular practice, a deep level of physical relaxation can be achieved in only a few minutes. Full-Body Stretch: Do this standing up or lying down, before settling yourself to begin the following exercises. Take a long, deep breath while stretching your arms and legs and arching your back and neck. Stretch yourself right out, as if very tired and having a full yawning stretch. Ten Breaths: Sit comfortably and get ready to begin. Close your eyes and relax for a minute or two, letting yourself settle down. When you are ready, take ten long, deep breaths, filling your lungs each time, then emptying them all the way out. Feel the tension draining out or your body every time you breathe out. Imagine a white cloud of sparkling energy is entering your body with each IN breath. Imagine this entering your nose and moving through your nasal passages, throat, and down into and filling your lungs. Imagine a dark cloud of tension is leaving your body with each long, OUT breath. Take your time over this. After the ten breaths, and throughout all the following exercises, if you can, keep a small part of your mind focused on your breathing, feeling it entering and leaving your body. This will help keep your mind clear, which aids deep physical relaxation enormously. Feet and Calves: Stretch back all toes and tense both feet and calves at the same time, for five seconds, then relax them. Curl toes downward and repeat, tensing both feet and calves, then relax them. Thighs: Tense both thighs, hold for five seconds, then relax them. Press down with both heels and tense them again, then relax again. Hips and Buttocks: Push buttocks backward into the chair and tense them, hold this for five seconds, then relax them. Rock hips forward slowly and tense for five seconds, then relax them. Whole of Legs: Tense all muscles in the whole of both hips, legs, calves, and feet, all at the same time. Hold for five seconds, then relax them, really letting them go. Stomach and Lower Back: Push out stomach and tense up all stomach and lower back muscles. Hold for five seconds, then relax. Suck in stomach and tense lower back muscles. Hold for five seconds, relax. Chest and Upper Back: Arch shoulders forward while exhaling and caving in chest. Tense all upper back and shoulder muscles, tense for five seconds, then relax. Push shoulders back and take a deep breath while pushing out chest. Tense all upper back and chest muscles. Hold for five seconds, relax. Arms and Shoulders: Tense both shoulders, arms, and hands, making tight fists. Tense and hold for five seconds, then relax. Curl both forearms and fists in toward shoulders, wrists curling inward. Tense and hold for five seconds, then relax. Face and Head: With eyes closed, roll head back, open mouth wide, and screw up face, tensing all the muscles in head and face. Hold for five seconds, then relax. Also with eyes closed, smile widely while screwing up whole face and eyelids, tensing all facial, scalp, and jaw muscles. Hold for five seconds, then relax. Frown deeply while screwing up face and tensing all scalp, jaw, and facial muscles. Hold for five seconds, then relax. Jaw: With head held in its balanced resting position, force lower jaw straight out. Tense jaw and hold for five seconds, then relax. Neck 1: Without tensing, arch neck forward slowly and press chin down firmly onto chest as far as it will go. Hold it there for thirty seconds, breathing normally, and then slowly relax it back to its normal resting position. (If you have neck tension problems, hold chin on chest for up to three minutes.) Neck 2: Again without tensing, slowly push head way back and firmly push chin straight up above. Keep pushing chin out but do not tense neck muscles. Hold for thirty seconds, breathing normally, then slowly relax back to balanced resting position. (Again, if you have neck tension problems, hold this position for up to three minutes.) Neck 3: With head in its normal resting position, slowly grit teeth and tense all neck muscles, feeling the tension spreading right through the entire neck and up into skull. Hold for ten seconds, then relax. Full-Body Stretch: Stay in relaxed position and give yourself a full-body stretch, as best you can. Gently stretch and tense as much of your whole body with this as you can, while taking a long, slow, deep breath. Tense and hold for five seconds or so, then deeply relax your whole body while exhaling. Check posture and readjust resting position at this point, as needed, but while holding on to relaxed state. Ten Breaths: Repeat this step thoroughly, really feeling all the tension leaving your body with every OUT breath. Really feel your whole body sinking into your chair or bed, sinking and getting heavier, warmer and more blissfully relaxed with every OUT breath. Awareness Hands Massage The head, neck, and shoulder areas are the most difficult of all body parts to deeply relax. Stress and inner tension particularly affect the muscles in these areas. This tension comes from within, so we must go deeper to remove it. Use your awareness hands to massage the tension from these areas. Feel уour awareness hands massaging deep inside your neck and shoulders and up into your skull, as if someone were actually massaging them for you. Use your memory to re-create these awareness actions. Feel your hands penetrating deeply within the muscles and tendons and spine in your neck and shoulders. Feel your hands stroking deeply along your spine and up into and through your head. Feel all the tension leaving your body and feel it sinking and growing warmer and heavier and more deeply and blissfully relaxed. After you've been through the whole relaxation process, relax and focus on your breathing while you move your awareness hands throughout your body, searching for muscular knots, tension, or other problem areas. Note these tight areas for future reference, to save having to search for them every time. Recheck all known problem areas occasionally, during all the coming exercises, and rerelax them as needed. 16. Taming the Mind The surface mind is always active while you are awake. It can be likened to a huge message and reminder pad. Its function is to keep you aware of everything that is going on around you. It chatters away constantly, reminding you of everything, constantly stating and restating the obvious; playfully making witty comments about everything while making sure you know exactly what is happening in the world around you at all times. "Is that a car in my drive? Milk, I've got to get milk! Damn, my car's well overdue for a service! Why did she say that last night — what did she mean by that look she gave me?" Et cetera. This is what is called internal dialogue, or monkey mind, using the more Eastern term. We don't really notice these thoughts and images as they constantly flutter through our minds, and they do serve a useful purpose in our daily lives. These are, however, absolute nuisances when you are trying to clear, relax, and focus your mind. It's like having someone inside your head constantly chattering away at you while you are trying to do serious work. You cannot concentrate fully unless you have a little mental peace and quiet in which to do it. This is part of the reason why many people can concentrate better while listening to music. Music occupies the surface mind and slows internal dialogue, thus allowing deeper levels of thinking and concentration. Most teenagers can work and study perfectly well with loud music blaring. They cannot, however, do the same in total peace and quiet because of the incessant internal dialogue. While music can help silence internal dialogue, with regard to mental training it is best considered an artificial prop. I do not advise it be used unless absolutely necessary. To deeply relax the mind and attain the trance state, where you can work with a deeper and more powerful level of mind, it is necessary to silence the constant chattering of internal dialogue. Surface thoughts also create inner tensions that reflect into the physical body as physical tension, making projection more difficult. Thought-Control Exercises Breathing Thoughts Away: Center your attention on the process of breathing, using this to hold your mind totally clear. Feel each breath entering your body and filling your lungs, then feel it leaving your body. Follow the breathing process with your mind, but do not think about it. Feel it, be aware of it, let the feeling of breathing occupy your entire mind. This exercise is enough to occupy the surface mind and to keep its rambling thoughts at bay. If you need more than this, count your breaths. Count up to ten breaths, then start over again. Mentally counting is not a breach of thought-control discipline. When you count each number, drag out the mental word over the whole of each breath. For example, follow the IN breath carefully and then count (mentally) "Onneeeee" (one) for the entire OUT breath. Hold your mind clear during the next IN breath and count (mentally) "Twwooooo" (two) for the whole of the OUT breath. While you are holding your mind clear, surface thoughts will attempt to creep back into your mind. When this begins to happen (and it always will in the early stages) quickly and firmly push them away before they have a chance to take hold and complete their message. You will get progressively better at this with a little practice. You will soon be able to detect thought pressure alone, and thus stop thoughts before they have the chance to form into actual mental words inside your surface mind. When you get to the stage where you can sense the pressure of thoughts as they are about to start, you are really getting somewhere. You can then begin pushing thought pressures away before they can form into actual thoughts. Eventually, with a little practice, you will be able to hold your surface mind totally clear, like a blank slate. The pressure of thoughts wanting to start will stay with you for some time, even after you master them. This pressure will, however, progressively ease with regular practice. Thought-Control Example A surface thought: "Right, I better get the cat a new flea collar..." "Right, I better get the cat a new fl..." Becomes: "Right, I better get the ca..." "Right, I better ge..." Getting better: "Right, I bet..." "Right, ?..." "R???..." Nearly got it: "???..." "...?..." — This is the pressure of a thought about to start Almost there: "......" — Lessening thought pressure "..." — Hardly any thought pressure Perfect!: "?" — No thought pressure at all = clear surface mind Thought-control and concentration exercises should be done daily for at least five minutes in total, and for longer if possible. This is best spread out over the day and made into several smaller exercises. (Waiting and traveling time can be put to good use.) Although this can be difficult and frustrating in the early stages, with a little regular practice the surface mind can be held clear with very little effort for extended periods of time. The Deeper Mind Once the surface mind gives in and the internal dialogue is silenced, you will experience a profound silence inside your mind that may feel a litde strange at first, a bit like sitting alone in the middle of a quickly emptying sports stadium after a big game and listening as it falls slowly into total silence as everyone leaves. You miss all the activity, and it suddenly feels strange and unnaturally quiet. This is because you are stilling surface thoughts that have been chattering away unnoticed in your mental background for your whole life. You have created a kind of forced, hollow feeling, a forced mental silence inside your mind. Holding this takes effort and concentration, which adds to the forced-silence kind of feeling. It will take some time for your deeper mind to get used to this mental silence and begin relaxing and expanding, so be patient. You will grow used to this and one day will learn to love it more than anything else. Once you have attained inner silence, you can think more profoundly and focus your mind completely on whatever you are doing. The criticism by religious groups of the practice of meditation and of clearing the mind stems, I believe, from people jumping to conclusions when they hear terms like emptiness, emptying the mind, inner silence, or entering the silence. Some religious people claim it is not safe to empty the mind, as tile devil or some evil entity may then try to enter and inhabit it. If, however, you take into account how difficult it is to empty die mind and hold it clear for any length of time, it becomes evident that this emptiness only comes through disciplined mental effort. You are blocking your own thoughts, and are thereby also blocking any other thoughts from entering your mind. In a way, meditators fill their minds with silent mental static and use this to suppress all thought. The clear mind, or empty mind, associated with meditation can more accurately be thought of as forced mental silence that has become easier through practice. I have found that the practice of holding the mind forcibly clear can be an effective countermeasure against intrusive energies and thoughts, regardless of their nature or origin. A spirit entity that wanted to invade or mentally interfere with someone would find it much easier to slide in among that person's internal mental dialogue, and hide among the meaningless chatter of an undisciplined mind. If that surface mind is held clear and silent through disciplined mental effort, there is no place left for spirits to hide. Relaxation and Concentration Great mental effort can generate great physical tension. The physical body is intimately connected with all its mental processes; whatever affects the mind affects the physical body to some extent. Learning how to concentrate and relax at the same time teaches how to divorce mental and body-awareness actions from physical actions. Being able to separate these different types of actions is extremely important for all trance, energetic, body-awareness, and projection-related techniques. The following three exercises are designed to improve concentration and mental focus. They can be done any time and any place during the day. Take advantage of travel time to and from work, waiting time, traffic jams, and any other free moments during the day when you are required to do nothing. Just take a deep breath, relax a little, and begin, standing or sitting. At least one of these exercises should be done for a couple of minutes, several times each day. The more often these are done, the faster concentration and mental focus will improve. Single-Object Awareness Pick out an object — tree, chair, picture, cloud, cat (any-thing) — and stare gently but fixedly at it. Do not focus on any part, but let your eyes gently gaze upon the whole of it. Use breath awareness to hold your mind clear while you do this, breathing your thoughts away. Hold this object in view as long as you can without shifting your gaze or allowing any thoughts to start up. Focus on this object to the total exclusion of everything else. Feel the whole of the object and feel the image of it growing inside your mind as you gaze at it. Do not allow your eyes or forehead to tense up. Continue this for three minutes, or for as long as you can. When you end this exercise, close your eyes and cover them quickly with the palms of your hands, shutting out all light. Try to hold and follow the afterimage of the object in your mind's eye for as long as you can. Try to make this afterimage grow stronger. As the afterimage fades, hold the memory of it in your mind's eye, imagining the details in the same way as you would build and hold any fantasy. As an alternative, or if you are nonsighted, hold an object in both hands and feel it. Feel its shape and texture and fill your mind with the perception image this generates, feeling this to the exclusion of all else. Any object will do. Spot Focus Pick a small speck or mark on a wall and focus gently but fixedly upon it. Hold your mind clear of all thoughts. Use breath awareness to help hold your surface mind clear. If you concentrate and stare hard, an optical effect will occasionally cause your vision to darken. Your view will go dark around the edges, getting darker and closing in until you temporarily lose your sight. Ignore this, or just blink it away without breaking concentration. Your vision will return to normal as soon as you stop concentrating. Keep your eyes and forehead relaxed and this will not happen as often. Continue for three minutes, or for as long as you can. As an alternative, hold the tip of a pencil to your finger and press gently until you can feel a tiny point of pressure. Move your finger very slightly to make this small point of pressure continue to be felt. Focus on this point of pressure to the exclusion of all else, using breath awareness to hold your mind clear of all thoughts. Afterimage Retention Relax, calm your mind, and stare fixedly at any gentle light source: the moon, a candle, a lowwattage light bulb, an open window, etc. (Of course, do not look at the sun or any light source bright enough to damage eyes. And note that these exercises, if overdone, can cause eye strain or a tension headache. If this happens, treat it as you would any normal eye strain or tension headache.) Gaze gently but fixedly at the light source for thirty seconds or so without shifting your gaze or changing your focus. Don't focus directly on it, just gaze at it. Use breath awareness to hold your surface mind clear while you do this. Then close your eyes and quickly cover them with the palms of your hands, shutting out all light. Hold and follow the glowing afterimage that has been generated in your mind's eye. Keep sight of this for as long as you can. Try to make it grow and last longer every time. If you use an open window, try to also retain the afterimage of the scenario seen through the window and not just the light, using your imagination to re-create and hold it. Manipulating the focus of your eyes behind your closed eyelids will affect this afterimage. Play with this focus until you find what helps retain afterimages the longest. As an alternative, focus on the texture of an object. After memorizing the texture, hold the afterfeel perception in mind for as long as you can, holding your mind clear with breath awareness. Breath Awareness Please pay particular attention to this exercise, as the breath awareness technique is used extensively throughout this book. Just as we did earlier, breathe slowly, deeply, and regularly, in through your nose and out through your mouth. Focus your entire awareness on the action of breathing. Feel your breath entering and leaving your body. Feel the leading edge of the air entering your nose, moving in through your nasal passages, down your throat, and filling the inside of your lungs. Follow and sense and feel the air passing through the inner parts of your body. Hold your mind totally clear of all surface thoughts while doing this. Your mind must be held as a blank slate. Do not allow any surface thoughts to start up. Do not count your breaths or imagine anything with this exercise. Focus your entire attention solely on the flow of air into and out of your body. Time yourself and see how long you can keep this up without thinking any thoughts at all. Keep note of how long you can do this, as this will indicate how you are progressing with these exercises. Continue this exercise for three minutes, or for as long as you can. Once you reach the three-minute mark, you will be able to hold your mind totally clear for an indefinite period of time. The effort of doing this will progressively ease with regular practice until it becomes effortless. Color Breathing Start breath awareness, as above. Imagine your favorite bright color (anything but black, brown, or gray) entering your body with the leading edge of the air moving through your nose as you breathe IN. Imagine this color (in your mind's eye) as if the air you are breathing IN were a cloud of sparkling, colored vapor, full of life and energy. Imagine a murky cloud of discolored air leaving your body with the leading edge of your OUT breath as you breathe OUT — this being tension and waste energy. Concentrate solely on this and hold your mind totally clear of all thoughts. This particular exercise has the added advantage of causing a flow of atmospheric energy into the body and through the lungs, which is invigorating and invaluable for building both physical and mental vitality. Continue this for three minutes, or for as long as you can. As an alternative, or if you cannot imagine color, imagine your favorite scent instead, or use a real scent to focus on. Follow the leading edge of this scent as it is inhaled and exhaled. Practice Silencing the surface mind may sound very easy, but it is definitely not an easy thing to learn. It takes time and practice, but this is an absolute necessity for any kind of serious development. In the early stages of mental training, if you can silence your surface mind for more than ten seconds you are doing very well indeed. The ability to clear the surface mind is very progressive, however, and regular practice pays big dividends. Keep working on this ability regularly and your original ten seconds of mental silence will quickly grow into twenty, then thirty, then a minute, then two minutes, then more and more, getting easier all the time. Please, do not be discouraged if some of the exercises in this book seem difficult when you first try them. Learning anything new can be difficult, but everything gets easier with a Hide regular practice. Working on these skills individually will save you a great deal of time and effort in the long run. Remember, anything skipped or poorly done during the early stages of development will one day stop all forward progress. This will necessitate a return to basics in order to redo what has been skipped. Just do the very best you can with these exercises and practice regularly. You will soon find yourself making steady progress. Self-Repeating Thought Patterns Self-repeating thought pattern problems occasionally arise during or as a result of mental development exercises. This problem can happen to anyone at any time and for no apparent reason. What happens is this: A line from a song, an advertising ditty, a poem, a snatch of dialogue, worries and upsets, or anything similar will suddenly appear in the surface mind, for no apparent reason. It will begin repeating itself over and over and over, ad nauseam. To a lesser extent, this problem can also take the form of fantasy or memory images. This can be a serious, infuriating, and frustrating problem. It makes any kind of serious mental work, or even sleep, virtually impossible. This is no laughing matter. I have seen people lose days of sleep over this. I have seen grown men and women streaming tears of frustration. I have also seen children banging their heads against doors and walls trying to silence self-repeating thought patterns. This may never happen to you or anyone you know, and hopefully it never will, but in case it does, there is a solution, in four stages. Stage One: Clear your mind through sheer force of will, blank slate it, silencing the repetition and brutally holding it clear, while taking deep, powerful breaths, for as long as you can, gritting your mental and physical teeth if necessary. Whip and cudgel your mind into temporary obedience. Physical relaxation is not required for any of this. Put everything you have into this and be prepared to shed some honest mental sweat over it. Use breath awareness to help with this as needed. This first step is designed to highlight the problem thought pattern, as well as being a brutal but excellent thought-control exercise. If this fixes the problem, fine, but if the rogue thought pattern persists or resumes, continue with stage two. Stage Two: Replace the rogue thought pattern as soon as possible after it begins repeating, before it grows any stronger. Do not allow it to continue! Replace it with a simple but slightly longer thought pattern and deliberately and strongly repeat this in your mind, over and over. Say this new one aloud a few times, or sing it, as this will help to strengthen it. Concentrate on repeating the replacement until you sense the pressure coming from the original thought pattern weakening. The replacement used can be absolutely anything, a snatch of song, a verse, a ditty, a jingle, a prayer, an affirmation, etc. Something that flows easily or rhymes will work better. Once the original problem begins to weaken, change the replacement thought pattern again. Use anything but the original thought pattern for this purpose. Repeat the new repetition until the first replacement weakens. If this solves the problem, fine, but if not, proceed to stage three. Stage Three: If the original problem returns, repeat stages one and two, but double or even triple the number of replacements used. Shorten these slightly and use more enthusiasm and mental volume. Take a shower and sing loudly! Try to make the last few replacements in the set tail off, using progressively shorter phrases. If any of the replacement lines begin repeating, repeat this entire process using the new rogue thought pattern as the base. This will also help to bury the original problem. Avoid the original problem thought pattern: never use it as a replacement. Stage Four: Clear the surface mind through sheer force of will and breath awareness, silencing the final repetition used. Hold the mind clear, well away from any repeating thought patterns, even replacements. Finally, relax and allow your mind to return to normal thought activity. If the surface mind behaves itself, you can stop fighting and return to what you were originally doing, or go back to sleep. But stay alert for problem thought patterns in the future and deal with them quickly as they appear. Repeat these steps as often as necessary to control the problem. As a last resort, use headphones and play music, as loud as necessary, to drown out the repeating thought pattern. This will occupy the surface mind and encourage silence. Continue for as long as necessary to overcome the repeating thought pattern. Sleep with the headphones on. Have the music on continual play or on a timer, as necessary, but do not allow the problem to continue untreated. This last method is best used for children who cannot do the above mental exercises. If the process fails and you are still plagued with self-repeating thoughts, you most likely will not succeed with any serious mental development work at this time. I suggest you give up on it and try to get some sleep, watch TV, or get some work done to take your mind off it, whichever is most appropriate. If you can not overcome this problem, it will usually also interfere with your ability to fall asleep. If this happens, please treat it as you would normally treat insomnia, and please see your family medical doctor for advice if this problem persists. The most common cause of repeating patterns, especially those containing tormenting dialogue and painful real-life images from the past, is stress and anxiety generated by unresolved internal life conflicts. Your subconscious mind is simply throwing up what it considers to be serious problems, and is demanding they be dealt with immediately. Handle these problems intelligently and the thought pattern repetition will usually disappear. If you cannot deal with this alone, though, please do not hesitate to seek professional medical advice and treatment. 17. The Trance State A trance is a very simple and natural state of being, the state entered when the physical body goes to sleep while the mind stays awake. Very simply, the frequency of brain waves changes in response to the changed level of mental activity. The less mental activity, the deeper the level of trance. Normal levels of consciousness cause a lot of bioelectrical activity, which is associated with the awake activity of the surface mind, called the beta level. When the trance state is entered, this activity is significantly reduced, causing many peculiar physical and mental sensations. Changes in brain-wave activity are measurable with an electroencephalograph, or EEG, machine. The human brain has two halves, two hemispheres, each side associated with different physical and mental functions and abilities. The left side of the brain is the rational and logical problemsolving part, while the right side is the more emotional, creative, and intuitive part. I believe the trance state causes these two hemispheres to begin working together, synchronizing more strongly than they are able to in the normal waking state. The more time spent in the trance state, the stronger the bioenergetic connections between hemispheres become, and the more easily the two hemispheres can work together. While the two hemispheres are linked, the mind becomes calmer, stronger, more whole and balanced. This enhances the quality of thought, making it more profound and open to inspiration, while providing great clarity of mind — albeit in an altered state of consciousness. A deeply relaxed physical body with a clear mind holds this connected trance state longer than would naturally occur. We all experience this every night, even if only briefly, while falling asleep. Most people don't even notice this when it happens, but everyone knows how good it feels. Who does not enjoy falling asleep? Similarly, who does not enjoy entering the trance state? Trance is a delightfully blissful, comfortable, stress-free state of being, like submerging yourself in a pleasantly warm physical/mental spa or bath. While falling asleep you will find, if you observe closely, that you begin losing yourself among rambling half-thoughts and impressions. Your body starts to feel heavy and warm and cozy and your thoughts become silly and meaningless. This happens right on the borderline of sleep, just before you lose coherence altogether and fall into the seeming oblivion of sleep. The heavy-body sensation is the sign you have entered the trance state. The mental incoherence (in the case of entering the trance state while falling asleep) is caused solely by mental and physical tiredness. Once the physical body falls asleep, the center of waking consciousness transfers into the etheric body. This is best thought of as a type of inner-body projection. The heavy-body feeling of the trance state indicates that the center of waking consciousness has shifted one step away from its physical body and into the first of its subtle bodies, its etheric body. This takes consciousness one step closer to the real-time projectable double. Next time you are falling asleep, hold your forearms vertical with your elbows resting comfortably on the bed surface. This will keep you awake a little longer than normal. Observe what happens while you are falling asleep. You will experience the trance state for at least a few moments longer than usual before falling asleep, and for still longer if you are not too tired and can stay focused. If you relax and use the breath awareness technique while falling asleep, instead of allowing your mind to drift and ramble, you can drag out the falling-asleep process and stay in the trance state even longer. As a part of projection training, it is necessary to learn how to put your body to sleep while remaining mentally awake and in control — in other words how to enter the trance state and stay awake. This can be a little tricky at first, but is not at all difficult if you follow the correct procedure and get some regular practice in. The physical and mental tiredness that naturally causes the trance state while falling asleep can be replaced by a deep level of physical relaxation and a clear surface mind. If you allow yourself to react to distracting sounds during trance work, you can develop a habitual response to them, becoming easily distracted and irritated. This can seriously affect your ability to enter and hold the trance state. It may cause you to use artificial aids like music or tapes to create just the right conditions for you before you can trance effectively. This will make your trance state dependent on those conditions. A dependency like this is an unhealthy trance habit, as it makes the habitual foundations of the trance state weak and sensitive, rather than strong and resilient. If you are a beginner with no trance habits, please heed my advice on this. Accept sounds and let them wash over you, without tensing, reacting, or mentally complaining about them in any way. Accept and tolerate sounds kindly and without irritation. Look upon unavoidable distractions as valuable opportunities to test your powers of focus and concentration, as sound waves crashing gently over you. This problem will progressively ease with time and patience. The need for total quiet denies the pleasure of trance meditation outdoors, amid all the many wonderful distractions of life: water gurgling over rocks, animal sounds, wind and storm sounds, rolling waves crashing on beaches, children's sounds, and the sweet morning chorus of bird song. These are nature's gift to us all, and all can be better appreciated in a tranced meditational state. Different Levels of Trance I have divided the trance state into three basic levels, and have used sensation descriptive names (rather than the more commonly used technical terms like alpha, beta, theta, and delta) for simplicity's sake, and to help avoid confusion while working in these levels of trance. This will enable you to tell what level of trance you are in simply by noting the sensations you are experiencing. The three basic levels of trance given here are meant as a basic guide for beginners only. Light Trance Light trance is the first level of trance, very similar to the daydream state. While relaxing, your physical body starts feeling warm, cozy, and lethargic. Your eyelids suddenly feel heavy and your eyes begin to glaze over and droop. A mild wave of heaviness and warmth flows over you. Your mind takes on a mildly fuzzy quality and tends to begin drifting. You have some slight difficulty focusing thoughts, especially if you are mentally tired and need sleep. Patterns of light and color (hypnagogic imagery) are seen occasionally during the light-trance state. Mind's-eye visions may also be seen if natural clairvoyant potential is present. Cobweblike tickling is occasionally felt in the facial and neck areas, caused by energy movement through the energetic support structures of the brow and crown centers. (The trance state on its own causes an increased flow of energy, hence the resulting sensations.) With this level of trance comes a mild, whole-body feeling of warm comfortable fuzziness and a slight dissociation from the physical body and the surrounding environment. Time appears to slow down a little and sounds appear to be slightly louder and from further away than they really are. Once light trance stabilizes it is easily held for long periods of time. Great internal mental clarity can be attained with it, as long as tiredness is not a problem. This is the trance state most usually attained during early-light meditations and led-group meditations. If this level of trance is accompanied by a deep-enough state of physical relaxation, conscious-exit projection becomes possible. This level of trance, while easily held, is also quite delicate and easily broken. Physical movement, even walking and talking, must be slow and deliberate to hold the light-trance state. Full Trance The full-trance state has many similarities with light trance, but trance sensations are more pronounced. Entry into full trance is marked by a quite noticeable wave of bodily heaviness and a very slight falling sensation. This comes on fairly quickly, like a warm, heavy wave flowing through you, seeming to sap your physical and mental strength as your body falls away into sleep. Concentration and mental focus are needed at this point to stop the mind from following its body into sleep. Your sense of time changes, slowing down or speeding up, depending on your level of mental tiredness. If you are tired, time tends to speed up; otherwise, it tends to slow. You become noticeably dissociated from your physical body and its environment. Your sense of background atmosphere changes noticeably the moment you enter the full-trance state. The room around you feels like it has suddenly become much larger, thicker, and emptier. Background sounds take on a muffled, faraway quality, something like they would if a cardboard box were gently lowered over your head without touching or disturbing you. You may feel a muffled, bone-deep tickling sensation in your arms and legs if you move them to ease your physical body during trance, similar to how it feels when an arm or leg falls asleep, but not at all painful. Some physical movement is still possible, but takes more effort and feels like it's happening in slow motion. If you manage to stand during full trance (no mean feat, but still possible), you can hardly feel your legs at all. If you can manage to walk (also possible), it feels like you are walking on two huge pillows that used to be your legs. Any kind of physical activity tends to erode the depth of trance, unless done in a slow and dreamy way. Sharp sounds cause an uncomfortable sensation in the stomach and solar plexus that can feel almost like a physical blow if you allow yourself to react to it. (This sound sensitivity can be reduced only by experience gained through regular trance meditation.) Your thoughts begin to feel different, more sluggish than normal yet extremely clear. This is caused by the surface mind shutting down and revealing a more profound level of mind. Holding your mind clear and focused is the real trick to staying awake and mentally functional. If you do not concentrate and stay focused, you will tend toward fantasizing and drifting off among weak and meaningless thoughts. When you first start experiencing trance states, you need to concentrate, forcibly holding your mind awake without allowing yourself to tense up physically or mentally. Hypnagogic imagery is seen behind closed eyelids, in the mind's eye, as are occasional visions. REM (rapid eye movement) activity happens sporadically; when it does, fragments of dream imagery occasionally intrude into the mind's eye. This can indicate a sleep deficit, meaning the physical mind lacks energy, has fallen asleep, and is now dreaming. Ignore REM as best you can if it starts. It normally comes and goes in bouts of a few minutes each, sometimes longer. REM feels like the eyes are fluttering and buzzing beneath their eyelids. This can be very distracting when it occurs in the trance state. If it becomes a problem, gently rub the fingers and thumbs of each hand together and take a couple of deep breaths, stretching and moving your body slightly and resettling it. This slight physical activity is usually enough to stop REM and shut down the dream mind, while allowing trance and development work to continue. This procedure also helps reduce the level of trance. When REM stops, cease all physical movement and continue with your trance meditation. You will be spending most of your time somewhere between the light-trance and full-trance states. As you gain ability and experience, this level will vary. The ability to put yourself into a full trance is very progressive, like most developed abilities. It has to be worked at, but with regular practice can be reached quickly and easily. Deep Trance Deep trance starts with the symptoms of the full-trance state, which become noticeably more pronounced as you fall into a much deeper level of trance. There are many odd sensations associated with deep trance, felt in many combinations: with whole-body coldness and a continual falling sensation being common. The deep-trance state is not dangerous. It cannot hurt you any more than deep sleep can. It is very difficult to get into the deep-trance state, even deliberately. It could not reasonably be expected to happen spontaneously or accidentally to one who has not yet mastered the full-trance state. But the symptoms associated with deep trance are often so strong that they can be frightening if you do not know what is happening. If you are ever worried that you might be going too deep, simply feel yourself moving upward, slowly moving your head, mouth, fingers, and toes, progressively restoring movement to your body until you can pull yourself out of trance completely. If movement is extremely difficult, or if you feel totally paralyzed, you have most probably projected but missed the exit out of your body; you may even have experienced vibrations earlier. In this case, concentrate on moving a single big toe. Ibis will pull back your projected double and end paralysis. If all efforts to pull out of deep trance fail, do not panic. Simply allow yourself to fall asleep and you will wake up shortly after, well rested and none the worse for wear. Trance Requirements Entering the trance state requires three things: deep physical relaxation, a clear surface mind, and a mental technique. Deep Physical Relaxation: Do the full deep physical relaxation exercise (see chapter 15) until you are as physically relaxed as possible. Some preliminary physical exercise to get the kinks out of tense muscles, followed by a hot bath or shower, is advised for all beginners. Clear Surface Mind: Allow your thoughts to wind down and settle while doing the relaxation exercises, then clear your mind by focusing on breath awareness. You may find this easier to achieve if you deal with any pressing thoughts your mind may throw up at this time. Simply consider and deal with these for a few moments each and then let them go. This will greatly ease their clamoring thought pressure. Mental Technique: A mental falling technique speeds up the time it takes to enter the trance state, rather than waiting for the body to fall asleep of its own accord. Focusing on this also helps to occupy and hold your surface mind clear and awake. In all the mental falling exercises given below, use your imagination to construct the falling scenario and feel as if you were there in reality. Produce the strongest internal whole-body awareness sensation possible. Call on a memory of yourself doing something similar, or borrow a scene remembered from a movie. Use this memory to re-create the feeling of yourself performing that same action with your imagination. Feel the falling action; don't just think about it or try to see it in your mind's eye. Once you attain a level of the trance state, heralded by a wave of bodily heaviness and warmth, relax and breathe slowly and naturally. Keep your mind clear — thus holding on and settling in to the trance state X by focusing a small part of your mind on breath awareness. If you need to deepen your level of trance, continue with the mental falling exercise until you attain it. I have given several variations here. Please try them all and find the most effective one for you, or the one you most like. When you find one that suits you, stick with it. This helps to program your subconscious mind to react to the technique, helping you shift into the trance state easier and faster each time. You do not need to overdo the imagined details of scenarios used with mental falling exercises. The rock wall in the elevator shaft below, for example, only needs to be an indistinct blur moving upward. It is the downward movement or falling sensation constructed by your imagination and felt in your body awareness that causes your brain waves to slow, thereby forcing it to enter the trance state. It is not the imagined scenario in itself that does the trick. Deep physical relaxation and a mental falling technique basically trick your subconscious mind into beginning the sleep process earlier, while you are still wide awake. Elevator Imagine that you are in an elevator with one side of it — the side you are facing — open to bare rock. Feel the elevator start moving down with you in it. Imagine you can see the rocky sides of the elevator shaft passing upward as you move ever downward, falling deeper and deeper into trance as you go. Imagine that this rock shaft has an irregular texture and features you can easily see, moving upward past you as the elevator carries you down, down, down. If you like, imagine you can see a large number as you pass a floor every few seconds, and count these as the elevator moves deeper and deeper. Call on the memory of the last time you were in an elevator, or go and ride in one and memorize the sensation. Remember the slight feeling of vertigo it caused in your stomach as it started going down. Re-create this feeling; feel it in your body awareness. Keep imagining and feeling this, while making sure you do not allow your physical body to tense up. Feel your body letting go and sinking deeper and deeper into the trance state as you ride the elevator down, down, down. Ladder Imagine that you are on a ladder. Re-create body-awareness feelings of remembered arm and leg movements, and slowly begin climbing down. Move one awareness foot and its opposite hand down one rung. Then move the other foot and its opposite hand down another rung. If this is too complex, imagine you are holding on to each side of the ladder and climbing down only with your feet, with the sides of the ladder gliding easily through your hands. Continue down the ladder one rung at a time. Feel your body moving down the ladder. Imagine a rock face or brick wall in front of you, close to the ladder. Imagine this textured face moving upward past you as you climb further and further down the ladder. Feel yourself climbing downward and falling deeper and deeper into trance with every downward step you take. Steps Imagine that you are standing at the head of a long flight of steps with a high stone wall on either side. These steps are large, imposing, and steep. Lift one imaginary foot at a time-carefully feeling yourself doing it — and take the first step down. Feel your body move downward as your feet move one at a time onto the lower step. Repeat this action and take the next step down, then the next and the next. While you are moving down the stairs, imagine you can see the textured stone walls on either side moving upward past you as you move one step at a time down the flight of steps. Continue this, slowly and deliberately, feeling yourself moving downward and falling deeper and deeper into the trance state as you go. Count the steps if you like, slowly, as if you were counting your breaths, "Oneeee, Twoooo, Threeee", etc., taking one step down with each exhale. Climbing down a Rope Imagine that you are hanging by your hands from a strong rope and have your legs wrapped securely around it. Your arms are very strong and there is no chance of falling. Move one imaginary hand down, then the next, climbing down the rope hand over hand, with the rope sliding easily between your legs. See the textured rope moving upward past your face as you climb down it. Continue this, feeling yourself climbing downward and falling deeper and deeper into the trance state as you go. Feather Imagine that you are a feather and are gently floating down from a great height. Feel yourself gently falling, re-creating a falling sensation in your body awareness every time you breathe OUT. Feel yourself holding position and floating in midair as you breathe IN. Feel the atmosphere around you; imagine strands of textured clouds moving upward as you fall gently through them. Continue this, feeling yourself floating gently downward and falling deeper and deeper into the trance state with your every falling breath. IN and OUT can be reversed to whatever feels most natural. Smoke Rings This versatile old favorite of mine can be done from any position, even while walking. Imagine that your feet are in the center of a dense smoke ring as thick as your arm. Imagine and feel this smoke ring rising up over your body and disappearing overhead. The smoke rings are very dense and move close to your body. Imagine that you can feel them moving over your skin as they rise. Imagine that you can see these smoke rings as they move past your eyes. The smoke rings should repeat about two seconds apart, but this can be varied to suit the individual. Feel the rising smoke rings with your body awareness, puffing regularly up over your whole body. Feel an internal falling sensation as the imaginary smoke rings rise upward. Feel yourself falling deeper and deeper into the trance state with the caress of every smoke ring as it rises up over your whole body, over and over, from feet to head. Personalized Trance Technique Imagine any scenario that you are familiar with that involves going down, or any kind of downward movement or falling sensation. This can be anything: an escalator, a water slide, a fireman's pole, a parachute jump, mountain climbing, scuba diving, high diving — anything that could induce a natural falling or downward sensation of movement in your body awareness. Trance Litany Many people find it helps to repeat a simple litany or mantra, said over and over in their head, as an accompaniment to their mental falling trance technique. This also helps keep the mind clear and well focused, and in time you will become conditioned to react to the litany. It will program you to start falling into the trance state whenever the litany is used. Repeat: "Down, down, down... deep, deeper, deepest", or something similar, slowly and calmly and meaningfully. Say this over and over inside your head and feel yourself falling down, down, down as you say it. You can make up your own litany, but keep it simple and downward meaning and stick to the same litany all the time. The longer you use the same litany the more effective it will become and the more conditioned you will become to it. Common Trance Problems Most common trance problems stem from the three main problem areas given below. These come mainly from our modern Western lifestyle. They must be addressed and overcome before you can successfully operate in the trance state and hold it strongly enough to achieve conscious-exit projection. Falling Asleep during Trance This very common problem is usually caused by a sleep deficit. Although you may feel fine, there is always a possibility you have not been getting enough sleep. (Most people don't.) If you have a sleep deficit, you normally have very little trouble entering the trance state, even if you do not attain a state of deep physical relaxation first, because you are mentally overtired. But you usually have trouble maintaining mental coherence and operating in the trance state once it is attained. Your mind will lack mental vitality and will be unable to hold itself together. You will tend to lose control very easily and will often just fall sleep for the main part of your trance meditation. It may be easier to induce the trance state when the body and mind are tired, but mental coherence and control during trance are very limited if a sleep deficit is present. The oblivion of sleep is the ever-present companion of the tired trancer. Overtired-ness can easily cause a natural trance state all on its own. Trance, after all, is an extremely natural thing that everyone does while falling asleep. Because of the lack of mental vitality, in this case the trance state is too unstable to allow the operator enough control to do any kind of serious work. Many people, when they meditate, find their meditations naturally end after a set period of time. They usually have very little awareness of the passing of time, or even of what takes place during the major part of their trance meditations. They remember falling into trance and feeling totally blissful for a while, before coming back to earth later, feeling relaxed and refreshed. After entering the trance state, they simply have had a pleasant trancelike nap. The obvious solution is to get more sleep, then return to trance practice wide awake and refreshed. If this is difficult, try changing the time of day you practice trance exercises. Doing trance exercises in the morning, or just after a refreshing nap, will usually solve most sleep-deficitrelated trance problems. Many people wake an hour or so early each day for this purpose. They get up, do a little exercise, shower, then do their meditation, trance and energy work. They find trance meditation far more successful when done early in the morning, due to a combination of natural deep physical relaxation and the mentally refreshed state of mind brought on by a good night's sleep. Deep physical relaxation and a clear, fresh mind are essential ingredients for successful trance work. For these same reasons, projection attempts are also usually more successful at this time of day. Some people find projection easier if they go to bed early and set their alarm to wake them during the night. They wake up, holding on to the deeply relaxed state induced by sleep, and immediately attempt a projection. In this case, all preliminary exercises can be skipped, with the projector going straight to projection technique — usually with good results. This points out just how important to projection deep physical relaxation and a stable trance state are. Inability to Enter Trance An inability to enter the trance state is usually caused by an insufficient level of deep physical relaxation, and/or by poor concentration and mental relaxation skills. Whatever your trance problem, examine it and identify weak areas. Then, return to the relevant sections of this book and repeat the necessary exercises until these problems are rectified. Practice, practice, practice, is my very best advice here. If you have worked through all the exercises in this section but find you still cannot get into the trance state, please don't give up. Go back to the beginning and start over again if you have to. Redo the lessons and exercises one at a time and don't rush them. This may seem a laborious process, but you must be patient with yourself. Everyone has a different psychological makeup and it is impossible to generalize, or to compare one person's progress with another. Do not measure your progress against the progress of another. Take your time and work at your own speed. Some people take to trance work like a duck to water, while others find they really have to work at it to achieve the levels of relaxation and mental clarity trance requires. But' you can master the trance state if you learn the individual skills and practice regularly. Falling into Trance Too Easily This is an occasional side effect of long-term development work. If a person spends a lot of time in trance, the trance state eventually becomes second nature and is then very easily attained. People with this tendency can find themselves accidentally sliding into the trance state many times each day, at the drop of the proverbial hat. If not checked, this can cause frequent dissociation from reality, which is an unhealthy way to live. This can become a serious psychological disorder and may require professional treatment if it is not addressed. A sleep deficit will compound this problem. The best way to stop accidental trance is to be aware of it and to watch out for it, especially at the times it is most likely to occur, e.g., while driving, watching TV, waiting, traveling, etc. Be ready to work against this, pulling yourself out of trance the moment you feel it coming on. Physical and mental activity focusing on the world and people around you is the best way to avoid accidentally falling into the trance state. If this problem arises, my best advice is to take a break from all development exercises and meditation, especially trance work, for a few weeks. During this break, concentrate on physical life and activity, catching up on your sleep, and doing all the odd jobs and visiting you have been putting off till later. Part Four Projection and Technique 18. Preparations for Projection Consciously projecting out of body is nowhere near as difficult as is commonly believed. It is simply a matter of deeply relaxing the physical body, clearing the mind, then triggering the projection reflex with an exit technique. Most people, if they are prepared to put a little time and effort into developing the necessary skills, will have no trouble accomplishing this, right up to the actual exit phase of projection. What happens from that moment onward depends greatly on their energy, self-control, balance, attitude, and intelligent planning. Trance and Deep Physical Relaxation I have found that the majority of people who fail conscious-exit projection either have a problem with the trance state (too light, too deep, or too little control) or they have neglected to fully learn and practice deep physical relaxation — more usually both. It is quite possible to enter the trance state without having a deep level of physical relaxation, just as it is possible to fall asleep with muscular tension still in the physical body. This, in itself, can cause enormous problems for projectors during the exit phase. Many people hurry through or skip the deep physical relaxation exercises, often believing they are physically relaxed enough simply because they can get into the trance state fairly easily. They do not understand that the trance state, plus tiredness resulting from a sleep deficit, can override deep physical relaxation as a requirement for entering the trance state. They go on with projection attempts thinking they are doing everything correctly, while actually not fulfilling the requirements for conscious-exit projection. This can be extremely frustrating, with unsuspected physical tension ruining what might otherwise be a string of successful OBEs. Time and again I tell people — and time and again they don't seem to hear me when I say — "The real secret to projection is deep, deep, deep physical relaxation!" Too simple a solution, you might say, but it's the simple truth. A light-to-normal trance combined with a deep level of physical relaxation is the best combination for a smooth and successful projection exit. A lighter level of trance than most people usually seem to attain during projection attempts allows for greater clarity of thought. This makes the exit easier and provides better control during and after the exit. Many people go way too deep into the trance state, usually because of a sleep deficit, then experience heavy REM (rapid eye movement) activity, cobwebs, and other heavy trance-related energy-movement sensations, all of which can be very distracting during the exit. The Projection Reflex When the energetic balance between the physical body, the expanded energy body, and the mind reaches the critical point where projection can occur, a built-in energetic event that I call the projection reflex triggers the full generation and extrusion of the projectable double. The first requirement is for consciousness to reflect itself into the expanding etheric body, as happens when the physical body falls asleep or enters the trance state. This causes an internal shift of consciousness into the first level of subtle body, the expanded etheric body, as it is internally generated. Normal sleep takes awake consciousness right out of the projection equation. With the awake mind out of the way, safely asleep, the natural generation and projection of the real-time double occurs gently and swiftly. The projection reflex is thus triggered naturally and causes no heavy exit sensations that might awaken the sleeper. But if the awake mind holds itself coherent long enough, in a deeply relaxed and tranced state, it can trigger this reflex with a projection technique. Once triggered, the projection reflex makes the rest of the exit automatic, and even difficult to stop. Separation Pressure To consciously project out of body, it is necessary to shift and hold a strong point of body awareness outside the bounds of the physical body, strongly enough and long enough to trigger the projection reflex. All projection techniques, if you analyze them, are designed to shift body awareness outside the physical body in some fashion. Logically, the stronger and more direct an awareness action is, the more pressure it will exert on the projectable double. The more separation pressure exerted, the more quickly and easily will the projection reflex be triggered. One of the most popular projection techniques today involves reaching out for the vibrations. As you attempt to project you reach out with your mind, imagining or visualizing yourself doing this, trying to find the vibrations somewhere outside yam physical body and imagining yourself trying to pull these vibrations into your physical body to cause projection. This is reasonably effective, although I consider the idea that the vibrations could exist apart from the physical body to be illogical. What causes separation pressure is the exterior body-awareness action of reaching out for something and pulling on it. It does not matter what is being reached out for, as long as something is being reached for and pulled on with body awareness. The vibrations technique, however, is not as effective as techniques based on tactile imaging, such as the rope technique and others given in the following chapters. Tactile imaging can be used to mimic any physical action with body awareness alone, both inside and outside the bounds of the physical body. The simpler the action, the easier it is to focus on, and thus the stronger its effect on the projectable double. Hand and arm actions are the easiest and hence the strongest actions to mimic with body awareness. The ease of use and sheer effectiveness of simple awareness hands actions is shown in the training units given earlier in this book. Most meditation and trance-induction techniques exert some degree of separation pressure on the projectable double. Whatever the mental technique, they are all designed to induce some kind of inner movement away from the physical body, causing dissociation from the physical body and loss of normal levels of waking consciousness. This is usually done through some kind of imagined or visualized falling or downward motion. Any internal downward-moving mental action will cause body awareness to shift slightly outside the confines of the physical body. This causes gentle separation pressure over a wide area of the body. These actions are usually the reverse of what is needed to trigger the projection reflex. This is more like trying to get the projectable double to fall out of its physical body under its own steam, rather than to project out. These types of actions will bring on the trance state, but will not usually trigger the projection reflex unless it happens spontaneously. The Famous Vibrations In my opinion, the famous vibrations are not the cause of projection, but a symptom of the energetic activity associated with the internal generation of the projectable double. When energetic conditions are ripe for projection, the physical/etheric body begins to internally generate its projectable double aspect. This causes some pretty major energetic activity, felt throughout the body as vibrations. But even though the buzzing sensation of vibrations is strongly felt in and by the physical body, no detectable physical vibrations are present. The physical body does not actually vibrate or buzz. This indicates that these vibrations are felt from within the etheric body only, or from within the projectable double as it is being generated, not from the physical body. Often, the vibrations start well before projection actually occurs. Vibrations often are localized to parts of the physical body, which indicates that only parts of the projectable double are being generated. For example, if only the legs and lower torso are vibrating, then only the legs and lower torso of the projectable double are being generated at that time. At times like this, projectors will often feel their legs or arms floating loose and moving about outside the bounds of their physical body. When vibrations are felt in only part of the body, those vibrating parts only have reached the deeply relaxed and energetically excited state required for projection to occur. The parts that are not vibrating, therefore, must be suspected to be unready for projection, possibly due to hidden physical tension in those areas. Many people find themselves stuck to a part of their physical body during the exit. They also often experience pain and discomfort in these stuck areas if they continue trying to force themselves out of their body regardless. I would suggest here that a lack of whole-body deep physical relaxation is the major contributing factor to this common problem. Health, Fitness, and Projection While physical fitness is most definitely not a necessary precursor for conscious-exit projection, it can be a big help. A reasonable level of fitness makes it easier to attain and hold a deep level of physical relaxation and the trance state. A healthy physical body will generally have less discomfort caused by coughing, cramps, and circulation problems. Problems like sleep apnea can also be caused or made worse by a poor level of fitness, and anything like this can have a negative influence on projection ability. Poor health and fitness do not prohibit conscious-exit projection. Some illnesses may even make projection easier. Projection techniques may need to be modified, especially the resting position used, to compensate for an illness. For example, if coughing is a problem, a more upright projection position will help ease the trouble. If poor circulation is a problem, more attention will have to be paid to bed or chair padding. For muscular or spinal cramps, the position and padding used during projection attempts will need modifying to provide better support. If a health or disability problem is severe, it may be wise to consult a medical doctor, physical therapist, or chiropractor. You don't have to say why you are seeking increased comfort. You can merely cite the desire for deep physical relaxation. Position and Comfort for OBE The resting position of the physical body during projection attempts can have a great effect on what happens before, during, and after a projection. Lying prone on your own comfortable bed in your natural sleeping position is not the ideal scenario for conscious-exit projection. We are all conditioned to start falling asleep when we get into bed — which increases the likelihood of falling asleep and losing shadow memories if projection does occur. I recommend either using another room for projection, or changing the position of the bed being used. If change is not possible, relax with your head at the other end of the bed. It is also possible to condition yourself for projection by using a low-wattage colored light, with perhaps a favorite incense. If you use these only when a projection attempt is going to be made, you will soon become conditioned to them. I always recommend a sitting or semisitting position for projection, if at all possible. It is not only easier to project from a sitting position, but it is also easier to recall a projection after the event. Sitting helps overcome many shadow memory loss problems caused by falling into too deep a sleep too early during a projection. If you have ever fallen asleep in a chair, you will notice that you do not sleep as deeply or as soundly as you would in your own comfortable bed. It is also much easier to wake up from a sitting or semisitting position, just as it is easier to stay awake while holding the trance state in the sitting position. This also makes it easier, if you have accidentally fallen asleep, to notice and react to the energetic sensations that herald the return of the projected double during reentry and reintegration. There are several ways to adapt the sitting or semisitting position to your situation and needs. Keep in mind that you are preparing for a projection, not settling down for a comfortable night's sleep. While comfort is important, the ability to deeply relax the physical body while holding the mind awake is far more important. A little discomfort can be a good thing for projection. An armchair or recliner works well for projection, as long as it has good back and neck support and you put a pillow under your feet. If you use a plain armchair, I suggest putting a telephone book or brick under the front of the chair to angle it slightly backward. This stops your head from rocking forward onto your chest and helps avoid breathing problems. Use pillows or cushions to make sure your neck and lower back are correctly supported. You can also place pillows under your arms and hands to increase their comfort. If the back of the armchair is too low and provides no neck support, position it against a wall and place another pillow behind your head to support it. Wear loose and comfortable clothing and loose socks — depending on the local temperature, of course. An oversized tracksuit is ideal. If the room is cold, it is better to use a heater than to pile on heavy covers. If insects are a potential problem, spray the room thoroughly first or use mosquito netting and insect repellent. If you cannot use an armchair, you might use a folding pool-side recliner with arms and a fulllength foam mattress. Use pillows to increase the comfort of your arms, legs, and neck. Probably the easiest and most convenient method is to prop yourself up as if you were about to have breakfast in bed. You don't want to be too upright, as this can be uncomfortable. Neither do you want to lie too flat. I suggest that you try an angle of approximately 45 degrees, and then vary to suit yourself. A hospital bed with an adjustable back would be perfect, if you could acquire one. Bedcovers should not be so heavy as to cause discomfort. Use several pillows to prop yourself up in bed, or use a dense foam bolster and a few pillows. Cut a foam wedge-shaped bolster to size (quite cheap from most foam suppliers), or use a bean bag. It is important that your body be well supported and not tend to sag or slide or cramp up while deeply relaxing. Bad posture causes tension and will eventually lead to distracting pain or may require movement to ease cramps and circulation problems, either of which will break the deeply relaxed state. Disconnect your telephone or turn down the volume, or take it off the hook or set an answering machine to take calls in silence. Most background noise can be overcome by using "white noise". Simply mm on a radio or TV and tune it to an off station. Turn up the volume until the hiss of white noise covers background noises. I do not recommend that music be played during projection attempts, as music is generally distracting and can cause emotional responses and tension, which can ruin a projection attempt. But long-play recordings of rain or surf sounds, etc., are an acceptable alternative to white noise. Comfortable earplugs or headphones also help eliminate noise. Practicing trance exercises in fairly noisy places — say while watching TV — will, with practice, enable you to totally ignore any distracting noises, making projection possible even when total quiet cannot be achieved. Finally, since fear caused by the lack of suitable lighting is a major contributing factor to projection failure, I suggest that you use a night-light or lamp with a low-wattage bulb. Many people find themselves in gloomy darkness once they get out, and abort their OBE soon after the exit, simply because darkness makes everything appear sinister. Even a mild fear of the dark, added to the natural trepidation caused by being in the experientially unknown out-of-body environment, is a recipe for anxiety, fear, and a failed OBE. The very best way to overcome it is to project during daylight hours. Early morning, just after dawn, is probably the most suitable time for most busy or working people. By the way, the physical body's eyes must be kept closed at all times during OBE exercises and projection attempts. This may sound obvious to most people, but I've had a large number of queries over the years on this point. The projected double will gain real-time sight just before or during the exit. There is no need to open the projected double's eyes or do anything else after leaving the physical body. OBE or Lucid Dream The resting position of the physical body can affect not only the ease but the type of experience that will occur. This does not affect everyone, but it is definitely worth a mention. Many people, including myself, have difficulty projecting while lying curled up on their side. I must be either lying on my back or sitting in a chair, or any variation between these. For projection, I much prefer a recliner laid back about twenty-five degrees from the vertical. If I curl up on my side, in bed or on a recliner, I either fall asleep or have a lucid dream. For some reason, my body needs to be flat or upright for easy projection, although it does not seem to matter if my head rests straight or slightly to either side. I suspect the physical position needed for lucid dreams and OBEs may vary from person to person. This may play a significant part in early projection attempts, especially if the strength of this effect is unknown. If the resting position affects you as it does me, this could stop you from projecting. I suggest that you vary your projection position slightly after repeated failed attempts, or if falling asleep is a problem, just to see if this has any effect. 19. Projection Technique Achieving conscious-exit projection requires learning a delicate mental and physical balancing act. This can be likened to a baby learning how to walk. A baby has to learn how to cope with gravity, body weight, and balance, and must coordinate many undeveloped muscles, nerves, and skills, all at the same time. The first few times babies try to stand, they totter and fall over because their brain does not know how to coordinate everything. Similarly, during early conscious-exit projection attempts, would-be projectors attempt to hold a deeply relaxed physical and mental state while trying to exteriorize their sense of body awareness, while also trying to deal with some pretty major energetic sensations. There are so many new things to do and adapt to, and these must all be done just right while so much else is happening, that it is very easy to lose control and fall back into the full waking state. Applying the skills that make up projection can take time. The brain learns to coordinate multiple tasks best through applied effort and regular practice. The more time spent trying to project, the better the brain will get at coordinating everything and the easier the whole exercise will become. Before you attempt any of the projection techniques in the following chapters, consult the training and development units earlier in this book. All the required terminology, background, and techniques are there. Projectable Body Loosening Projectable body loosening involves temporarily shifting body awareness outside the bounds of the physical body with simple awareness exercises. The following exercises are all designed to loosen up the projectable double. They also get the projector used to exterior body-awareness actions during a deeply relaxed and/or tranced state. While deep physical relaxation and trance are recommended for these exercises, they can also be done from a lightly relaxed state only and still make for good practice. The exercises are very easy to do and are capable of triggering an OBE on their own, so be prepared. If this does happen, or a partial projection is achieved, use the exercise that caused this as the basis for your main projection technique, or adapt and combine this with a similar method. With projection, if you do something that works, stick to it and build on it, as what works... works! Bounce Loosening Put yourself in the required state for projection with a deeply relaxed body and mind. Ideally, use the full-body deep physical relaxation and trance-induction techniques, then use the full-body energy circuit for a couple of minutes. Leave your primary centers alone for this exercise. Feel the room around you with your mind and imagination, and build a picture of it in your mind's eye. Using your memory, take note of how everything would look from your position if your eyes were open: where doors, windows, ceilings, walls, and furniture are. Take a good look and memorize everything before starting. Start a full-body awareness bounce action from head to feet, arms resting comfortably at sides (see chapter 12). Continue this until you are settled into a comfortable bounce speed and rhythm. Next, extend your point of awareness — the part of your awareness you are bouncing through your body — out past your head and feet until you are bouncing your awareness from the wall above your head to the wall below your feet, if lying down. If you are sitting, bounce from the floor, through your body, to the ceiling above you, then back down through your body to the floor. Repeat this as a continual bounce action. Adjust the angle of the bounce action so it is directly in line with your torso. As your awareness bounces off the wall, ceiling, or floor, use your memory-based imagination to sense what each surface would look and feel like close up. See this as if you were really there, right up close to it. Try to momentarily feel your new spatial position as it would be if you were actually there. Be aware of the spatial change and of the new position, of where your physical body, walls, doors, windows, and furniture are for that single moment as your awareness bounces off each surface. Create a snapshot of this new position in your mind's eye each time you bounce your awareness off a surface. Feel yourself being there, out of your physical body for just a moment. If you have trouble with this, stick small targets to the ceiling and walls and memorize what it is like to be up close to these targets. Re-create the image of these with your imagination in your mind's eye during these exercises. Before starting this, if you like, get up and place your face against these targets so you can really get the feel for each position. Memorize what it feels like to really be there. Momentarily re-create this feeling at the end of each bounce. Once you get the bounce action going, pay more attention to bouncing your awareness off the wall or ceiling than to feeling your awareness passing through your physical body. Once your body awareness is at work outside your physical body, the feel of your physical body must be allowed to slide gently into the background. The next stage is to bounce your point of awareness away from your body in line with your face, in line with where your eyes would be looking if they were open and looking straight ahead. If lying down, repeatedly bounce to the ceiling above you, then back down through your face to the floor beneath the bed. If sitting, repeatedly bounce off the wall opposite you, then back through your face and to the wall behind you. Again, once you get this bounce action going, allow the feel of your physical body to slide into the background and concentrate on the exterior bounce action. As I said, this bounce technique can trigger the projection reflex on its own. Bounce techniques are also useful for getting the look and feel of projection without actually getting too close to the exit. The bounce technique momentarily shifts your point of awareness outside your physical body, causing something like a brief, low-powered projection each time your point of awareness bounces off a surface. Repeat this exercise for as long as you wish, before continuing widi an actual projection attempt. Fig. 23A. Bounce actions for loosening projectable double Breathing Loosening Put yourself in the required state for projection. Feel the room around you and take note of its spatial layout. Concentrate your awareness in your breathing action and feel yourself breathing slowly and naturally IN and OUT. As you breathe IN, feel yourself expanding outward as your lungs fill to capacity, as if your physical body were rapidly expanding outward like a balloon. Feel the room shrinking around you as you expand to fill it. At the end of the IN breath, try to feel your awareness filling the whole room to capacity. As you breathe OUT, feel yourself shrinking into yourself like a collapsing balloon. Feel the room around you expanding rapidly away from you as you get smaller and smaller. At die end of the OUT breath, briefly feel the spatial coordinates of tile entire room as being far, far away, as if you were a minute point of consciousness, a tiny spark in a giant, oversized room. Repeat this exercise for as long as you wish, before continuing with a full projection attempt. • Bounce actions for loosening the projectable double • On the IN breath, feel yourself expanding to fill the whole room…feel the room shrinking • On the OUT breath, feel yourself shrinking back into your body…feel the room expand Spin Loosening Any body-awareness action that holds a point of awareness exterior to the physical body is extremely difficult to hold if kept in one place only. It is, though, fairly easy to hold a point of awareness if it is kept moving. Movement tricks the mind into momentarily accepting an exterior point of awareness. Put yourself in the required state for projection. Bounce your point of awareness, at eye level, back and forth to the wall or ceiling directly in front of you a few times. Move your point of awareness clockwise around tile room, briefly touching each wall, ceiling, and floor surface in passing. Circle the room continually, taking one to three seconds for each circuit. This speed can to be varied to suit what feels natural. As your point of awareness circles the room, feel it sliding and brushing gently over the interior surfaces of the room. Stay aware of your changing perspective in the room as your point of awareness spins around you. Feel yourself and your point of awareness spinning around the room. Try to feel your spatial coordinates changing around you, exterior to your body, as you spin. Feel yourself spinning inside your body, and feel the room around you moving as you spin. Settle into a steady spin at whatever speed you feel most comfortable with. If you continue this, your mind will at some point be tricked into believing you are actually spinning outside your body. When this happens you will feel a momentary falling sensation inside yourself, a brief sensation of vertigo that will usually happen many times while using this technique. This technique can trigger the projection reflex, so be prepared. • Spin loosening actions • Bounce awareness back and forth at eye level a few times • Move your point of awareness around the room • Circle the room continually • Take 1 to 3 seconds for each circuit Fig. 24B. Spin loosening action Loosening with Imagination Please take your time over the following exercise. Do it slowly and thoroughly. Put yourself in the required state for projection. When you are really settled into yourself, imagine yourself as slowly getting out of your body and floating to the door of your room. Feel and be aware of your body still being in bed or sitting behind you as you float away. Move through your door, as if you were really projecting, and feel yourself floating away from your physical body and moving around the house, imagining as much detail as you can as you proceed. Look into a few rooms, then leave the house and walk farther afield. Go as far as your memory will take you with some accuracy. This imaginative view does not have to be perfect. Stop and briefly examine points of interest along the way. As you move, try to feel yourself actually being away from your physical body, being aware of where it would be in relation to your imagined remote location. This is difficult to hold, I know, but the movement helps, so keep moving your imaginary double at all times to ease the mental pressure. Moments will occur during this exercise when you will suddenly experience the feeling of actually being where you are imagining yourself to be. This will cause a momentary falling sensation, often accompanied by a trickle of energy up through your stomach and chest. This is a very good sign and shows you are successfully exteriorizing your awareness and are exerting a great deal of pressure on your projectable double. The trickle of energy indicates that the projectable double is being generated. Once you can imagine yourself as being out of body, you can also imagine yourself flying or instantly projecting to other familiar but remote locations, to other houses or towns. Imagine yourself floating up into the air and flying around. Imagine what this would feel like and what the world would look like from way up there in the sky. Imagine yourself instantly projecting to another place. Feel this new location, anywhere, appearing around you. To finish this exercise, see yourself projecting back into your room and watching your physical body as it awaits your return. Imagine yourself floating up to and reentering it. As you do this exercise, work on feeling yourself as being away from your physical body, and of seeing your imaginary re-created world as it would be through your projected double's eyes. This exercise can also trigger the projection reflex. If this happens during this particular exercise, you may feel projection sensations only remotely, as if from a distance. You may also feel nothing and just suddenly find yourself in your projected double, at the remote location where you are imagining yourself to be. Rope Projection Technique If you have worked through all the core skills and energy-work training units in this book, you will have learned how to use your awareness hands very well. Now is the time to put into practice all that you have learned, and use your awareness hands to climb out of your body. The rope technique optimizes the use of mental energy resources and enthusiasm by shortening the time needed to trigger the projection reflex during a projection attempt A key ingredient to the rope projection technique is an imaginary rope hanging down from the ceiling. This rope is used to exert strong and continual pressure at a single point on the projectable double. The hand-over-hand awareness action of climbing the rope tricks the mind into accepting and holding a point of awareness exterior to the physical body. This stimulates the projection reflex more strongly than any other projection technique I have come across. The first step is to imagine a large, strong rope hanging down in front of you, just above your chest, in a natural position for you and for the position you are in. If you are lying down, imagine the rope end hanging over the center of your chest within easy reach of your hands. If you are sitting, imagine the rope hanging just in front of your face, with the rope end being firmly attached to the ceiling. The rope is within easy reach of your hands. Vary the position and angle of this imaginary rope to suit yourself as to what feels most natural. Center your awareness hands in the middle of your chest. Reach out with both of them and grasp the rope. Climb hand over hand strongly up the rope. Pull the rope to your chest with each climbing hand action. Feel yourself, in your projectable double, moving up the rope as you climb it. Stay aware of your physical body remaining behind as you climb out of it. Concentrate on the climbing action, but don't let your physical body respond or tense. Breathe naturally and do not hold your breath or allow it to become ragged. Hold your mind clear and focused solely on climbing the rope. Try to develop a powerful, natural, two-handed climbing action, just as you would if you were actually climbing a rope in real life. One hand reaches out while the other hand holds on. Both hands work together at all times. As one hand pulls on the rope, the other hand should be reaching out to grip the rope above it, ready for the next pull on the rope. Try not to use only one hand at a time. Using both hands together makes the rope technique easier to do and more effective. Vary the speed of the climbing action to what feels easiest and most natural for you, but do not climb too slowly. Just as with a bounce action, increase climbing speed until resistance is felt, then back off to a more comfortable speed. I find varying my climbing speed from about a half a second to one second for each completed hand action (reaching out and pulling rope in with each hand) is best for me. Feel your awareness hands as very strong and feel yourself climbing effortlessly and powerfully up the rope. Try to feel your projected double, your body, moving upward as you climb the rope. It is the exterior awareness of the climbing action that makes this technique work. The climbing action also provides a natural upward and outward movement away from the physical body. Some people may have difficulty bringing awareness hands all the way back to their chest with every pull on the rope. Some may find that one or both of their awareness hands do not obey orders. If this is the case, just do the very best you can to keep your hands moving and climbing and scrambling up the rope in any way you can. Ways of getting around many common rope-climbing problems, plus alternative projection techniques, are given in coming chapters. Many people have found it helpful to pin or tape a length of ribbon or string to the ceiling above their beds or chairs, hanging within easy arm's reach. Touch this occasionally until you get used to its position in your mind. The position and feel of the rope will grow in your awareness memory, making it easier to imagine yourself reaching out and climbing it with your awareness hands. Position your rope aid at the most natural and easy to imagine position for you. (This aid has one added bonus, if you are an animal lover — cats absolutely love it!) Fig. 25. The ROPE exit technique Rope Pressure Symptoms The first sign that the rope technique is working is a peculiar dizzy feeling, a localized energymovement type of trickling vertigo in the pit of the stomach and in the chest. If you feel this sensation, the rope technique is exerting good pressure on your projectable double. Keep climbing and you will trigger the projection reflex — as long as you stay physically relaxed enough to allow the generation of the projectable double. As an experiment, try this short exercise now: close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to settle yourself, nothing more. Feel yourself reaching out and climbing strongly hand over hand up an imaginary rope for twenty seconds or so. Concentrate and really feel your awareness hands doing the climbing action as you do this. Use your memory and imagination to re-create the actual feeling of what it would be like to actually do this. You should feel something happening fairly quickly: a slight, localized dizzy sensation or trickle of energy in your stomach and chest. This is similar to the feeling you get when an elevator you are in suddenly starts moving downward. This slight vertigo and trickle of energy are symptoms your projectable body is coming under pressure from the exteriorized rope-climbing awareness action being used. When your body and mind are deeply relaxed and you are fully prepared for projection, the pressure caused by this action will be greatly increased and have a far greater effect. First Rope Projection — Experience For interest's sake, here is an account of my very first rope experience: I lay down on my bed in the early evening, just after sundown, thinking about the new rope technique I had been working on. I had been asked to develop a projection technique that blind people could use, specifically for people who had been blind from birth. I used the sense of touch as the foundation for the new technique, as touch and tactile perceptions are highly developed in blind people. I had, theoretically, discovered a new way of using this sense — tactile imaging, I'd called it — to exert enough pressure on the projectable double to trigger the projection reflex. It was just a working idea at this time; the next step was to road-test the technique myself to see if it could be made to work. The theory was sound and the technique should work, but was it practical? I did not do any relaxation, trance, or energetic stimulation work. I just wanted to see if the new rope technique would exert any noticeable pressure on my projectable double. I lay there for several minutes, mulling all this over in my mind while I relaxed and settled myself, ready for a short nap. Then I thought "what the heck", and decided to try the new rope technique out in earnest. The enthusiasm of discovery flared within me and I formed a very strong intention to project and give this new technique my very best shot. I reached out with my awareness hands and re-created in my awareness what a strong rope would feel like in my hands. I did not bother with fine details, just the barebones feel of holding on to something like an imaginary rope. That done, I began climbing the rope hand over hand in earnest. I immediately felt a strong sensation of vertigo in my stomach and chest. I also felt a bone-deep, tickling, dizzy type of sensation deep inside my body, most noticeably in my arms and legs. I cleared the excitement from my mind and focused all my attention on the rope-climbing action. It really seemed to be working! As I climbed, I felt a kind of energetic pressure building up inside me. I felt my body grow suddenly very heavy as I quickly slid into a solid level of trance. This was all happening way, way faster than usual. My head and chest were already starting to lift free, trying to go up the rope and follow the line of pressure I was exerting. I had never before experienced an exit quite like it! I kept climbing and my heart center began throbbing and vibrations started coursing throughout my body. I was simply amazed! I had been climbing rope for less than a minute! I kept climbing strongly and, quite suddenly, the projection reflex kicked in and my real-time double buzzed free, coming to rest floating near the foot of my bed. This had all happened so fast, I barely had time to register the changes in my body as I projected! The heaviness of entering trance, the heart center thrumming and then racing, the full-body vibrations, the exit, it all happened so quickly! I returned to my body soon after the exit and excitedly recorded the experience. This was definitely the easiest, fastest, and smoothest exit I had ever made. I tried the rope technique several times, that night and the next morning, and had no trouble leaving my body each time. It wasn't so much that the idea of climbing a rope as a projection technique was new — it's not. But the deliberate use of body awareness and the application of tactile imaging was something new. It was understanding how this worked that made it so important to me at the time. Projection Sequence It is not advisable to have only one projection sequence. Everybody has different levels of experience and natural ability. Circumstances also change; what helps one day may hinder the next. For this reason, I give three flexible rope sequences and suggest that these be alternated to suit the time a projection attempt is being made. For example, you might wake up early in the morning (the very best time for easy projection) and want to go straight to the rope technique. At other times, more work may be required to put yourself into a relaxed and projectable state. Full Sequence The time spent on each part of this sequence should be varied to suit ability, experience, and circumstances. Do not spend too long on each part if falling asleep is a potential problem. At least several minutes, however, should be spent on the deep physical relaxation part at the start — longer for beginners. I cannot overemphasize the importance of deep physical relaxation to the projection process. If you have never had a conscious-exit projection before, but have made several unsuccessful attempts, I recommend spending thirty minutes or more on deep physical relaxation. The secondary and primary energy work recommended in this procedure is an enormous help to novice projectors, especially those who have not yet made a conscious exit. Its practice makes projection much more achievable. The primary-center work can be dropped by more experienced projectors, if desired, but projection experiences will then tend to be weaker. With projection, energy is everything! Do the full deep physical relaxation exercise — ten minutes minimum. Prestimulate hands and feet and use the full-body circuit for a few minutes. Clear your surface mind and induce a light- to full-trance state. Raise energy and stimulate each primary energy center (don't overdo this). Return to raising energy with primary and secondary circuits as needed during the attempt. Loosen the projectable double with an exterior bounce technique (optional). Use the rope (or an alternative) projection technique and go for the exit! Quick Sequence The quick sequence is handy if you feel you have the energy to project but don't have the time or mental energy to go through the full sequence. Prestimulate hands and feet and use a full-body circuit for a few minutes. Run through the deep relaxation procedure only once. Induce a lighttrance state only. Use the rope (or an alternative) projection technique and try for the exit! Instant Projection Instant projection is best used when you awaken in a deeply relaxed state, when vibrations are being felt, or when everything feels just right and you know you have a good chance of projecting. A good time for an instant projection attempt is when you have partially wakened in the middle of a nap, during the night, or in the morning, and are thus already deeply relaxed. Hold on to that deeply relaxed state, form a firm intention to project, and start using a projection technique. Whenever you feel vibrations — partial or whole body — immediately use your projection technique and try for the exit, no matter what you are doing or at what stage of your projection sequence you are. Whenever vibrations occur, especially whole-body vibrations, it is possible to project quickly and easily. All you need to do is make a firm decision to project, then use your projection technique. Put everything you have into this and you should get out of body very quickly. Remember to keep the projection experience ultrashort! Motivation The most important ingredients for any successful projection are enthusiasm and motivation. Without these, there will not be enough mental energy to succeed; you will either fail the exit or give up and fall asleep. It is thus very important to keep the preparation time for any projection attempt as short as possible, so it is not lengthy and mentally exhausting. One thing a new projector has in abundance is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is pure mental energy. One thing that stands way out from all the success stories I have received is the word resolution. Resolution + Action = OBE Success. A great many people have e-mailed me over the years with projection success stories. In every case, they have been practicing the rope technique when they have suddenly decided to really do it! They have put everything into their exit attempt and in the majority of cases have succeeded in having their first major conscious-exit projection, often on their very first attempt. This type of resolution can make that all-important difference. Make a firm decision, be brave and resolute, and just... do it! This will focus all your mental energy into a single, powerful, onepointed effort, for a single purpose: to project out of your body! Tips and Summary Notes on the Rope Technique The feelings of localized dizziness, pressure, and energy movement caused by the rope technique should be carefully noted. Adjust your rope-climbing action with this in mind so it can be fine- tuned to have the maximum effect. If you have trouble with any part of the rope method, find the related training exercises and problem-solving sections in this book and review or practice them until you overcome the problem. Concentrate on maintaining a calm inner balance at all times during a projection attempt. Focus on climbing rope to the exclusion of everything else. Put everything you have into the climbing action and tune everything else out. Do not analyze or think about what you are doing! Watch your breathing and do not hold it or allow it to become shallow or ragged. Do nothing but climb the rope until you get out of your body. When the vibrations start, they may be localized to just one part of your body. If you focus your awareness on these vibrations, you will find you can move them, and may often be able to intensify and spread them with your awareness hands. The vibrations will respond to and follow bodyawareness actions. I do not advise this during a projection attempt, however, as this will draw your attention away from the rope-climbing action. Stay relaxed and concentrate on your projection technique and the vibrations will spread naturally. They can be especially strong during early attempts — be ready for a huge buzz when they hit. Be ready for the racing-heartbeat sensation. This is a major event. It can be incredibly strong during early projection attempts, terrifying many people into aborting their long-sought-after first exit. Totally ignore this. It will not hurt you in any way. The heart center races to provide energy for the projecting double. It is not the actual physical heart that's racing. Also ignore sensations like head and brow pressure, no matter how strong or uncomfortable. The sooner you get out of your body, the sooner they stop. Ignore any noises or voices you hear before or during a projection attempt — no matter how real or loud they may appear to be. These are a type of auditory hallucination with no real substance. If you feel anything touching you or tugging at you, or even hands grabbing at you, ignore them. These are a type of tactile hallucination. None of these hallucinations can hurt you, but they can distract you — can break your nerve and focus — and lessen your chances for a successful projection, if you react to them. Keep all early successful projections ultrashort. Ten seconds out then jump straight back into your body. Please trust me on this! Your chances of recalling that projection will then be dramatically increased. A ten-second projection remembered is worth a thousand all-nighters forgotten! In many cases, just when the projection reflex is about to kick in, you might feel a sudden energetic surge rising through your stomach and chest area. This feels like a huge body rush of excitement. This sensation marks the moment of separation between the physical/etheric body and its projecting double. The projection reflex has been triggered and you are teetering right on the verge of the exit. You may or may not have experienced vibrations before or after this moment. Stay calm and try not to react to this sensation when it hits. If not handled carefully, this will throw you completely out of trance and back into the full waking state. If the above happens and everything just stops cold, leaving you groggy and tired, or maybe even partially or fully paralyzed, it is a pretty safe bet you have already projected. You have missed the exit due to the mind-split effect. Stay calm and keep your mind awake and clear; wait for your projected double to reenter. Return to the secondary full-body circuit at this time. Use this to keep your mind clear and occupied and awake until your projected double returns. The wisdom of keeping early projections ultrashort will now be demonstrated to you — if your projected double pays heed. If you feel vibrations but they just go away, and you find yourself groggy or paralyzed, again, chances are you have already projected and have missed the exit due to the mind-split effect. It then becomes a matter of trying to stay semiconscious until your projected double returns. It should not keep you waiting for too long, not if you kept the projection ultrashort. Be patient and try to recapture the projection during reintegration by keeping your mind clear. Full memories of the projection experience will flood into your mind during reintegration, if everything goes according to plan. Keep in mind that in some cases it is possible to find yourself buzzing out of body, or flying up a tube-type structure, with only very mild exit sensations being present, if any. In the majority of early projections, though, these sensations will be present and they will be major, so always be prepared for them. Some people have problems with the rope technique because they cannot stop visualizing the rope in their mind's eye. Some say they find themselves bumping up against the ceiling and cannot go any farther. Some feel a great pile of rope building up beneath them. The solution to any problem like this is simple: if visualization is causing a problem, then use visualization to create a solution. For example, imagine that a small hole beneath you is swallowing up the used rope. Or, imagine you are climbing through the ceiling and up into the sky instead of hitting the ceiling. 20. Technique Variations This chapter offers solutions to some common projection-related problems. It also offers rope technique modifications and alternative projection techniques that may suit some people better. I also find it helps new projectors if they try several different projection techniques during each projection attempt. This not only provides a much-needed variety of exercise for awareness hands actions, but helps prevent boredom. Using the same projection technique for long periods of time can become a trifle monotonous and may cause some projectors to lose interest or fall asleep. Also, the relaxation, trance, and energy work exercises can be done separately from an actual projection attempt. Go through the full sequence right up to the projection technique, then get up and take a short break to relax or refresh yourself. During this break, try to hold on to as much of the deeply relaxed physical and mental state as you can. Return to your bed or chair and spend a few minutes resettling and re-relaxing yourself, both physically and mentally. Once you are settled and ready, use the quick or instant projection method. If climbing the rope has a strong effect on you, the rope technique can be used on its own as a viable alternative to other trance-induction techniques. This can speed up the preparatory work required for a projection attempt. Variations on the Rope Technique One-Handed Rope: If one awareness hand does not appear to obey or feels weak or uncontrollable, the rope technique can be done with one hand only, using the hand that is most responsive. If you can manage it, have the weaker hand just hold on to the rope (as if the rope were slipping through the grip of the weaker hand), while the stronger hand does the real climbing. Feel the strong hand reaching out and pulling the rope toward your chest, then reaching out and pulling again, in a continual one-handed climbing action. Try reaching out much farther than your physical arms could. Imagine that your awareness arms are made of rubber and feel they are stretching way out as you climb up the rope. Chasm-Crossing Rope: Instead of a rope hanging down from above, imagine a strong, taut rope running across the ceiling of your room, in line with your body and just above it, within easy reach of your hands. This rope is firmly attached to strong brackets mounted on two opposing walls of your room. Feel your hands reaching out and feel yourself climbing along this rope, dragging yourself across the room toward the wall behind your head and out of your body. If you have a wall behind your bed and this puts you off, either change ends in the bed during projection attempts or imagine you are climbing through the wall. Hanging Rope: Another way to get around weak or uncontrollable awareness hand actions is to reach out and feel they are hanging on to a strong rope coming from above. Don't try to climb this rope; just feel yourself hanging on to it. When you get used to this, imagine you are being slowly winched upward by a helicopter, dragging you up and out of your body. Feel yourself being lifted and sliding out of your body, moving higher and higher. Feel yourself slowly leaving your body behind you. Feel your spatial coordinates in the room changing as you rise up and out of your physical body and through the ceiling. Water Ski Rope: Instead of a rope hanging from the ceiling, imagine you are holding the handle of a ski rope attached to a powerful speedboat in front of you. Feel yourself hanging on tightly to the handle of the ski rope, as if you were floating on your back, ready for a deep-water start. Adjust the angle of the ski rope to whatever feels most natural. Imagine you can hear the engine revving up, the excitement building, then suddenly the boat takes off and drags you out of your body in a flurry of astral spray. Rope Cargo Net: Imagine that you have a large rope cargo net hanging down in front of you, similar to the heavy rope netting used on military assault courses that is hung from poles to make a short, high rope fence that trainees have to climb. If sitting, imagine this heavy rope netting hanging in front of you within easy hands' reach. If lying down, imagine the net hanging from above you. Climb the rope netting in the same manner as described for the normal rope technique. With this method, it does not matter where your hands go, as they will always find a piece of rope to grab. Scramble up this net any which way you can, using hands and arms and legs and feet in any way that works to propel you upward and out of your body. This technique solves many awareness hands control problems, where they appear to have a mind of their own and flop and slide all over the place. Alternative Exercises and Techniques Washing Hands Exercise: Hold both awareness hands out in front and perform a washing action, as if washing your real hands and forearms with soap and water. Vary the speed of the washing action from slow to rapid and keep it at arm's length from your body. Steam Engine Exercise: Hold both awareness arms out in front of you. Imagine a circle whose diameter is the distance between your chest and hands. Circle your awareness hands around each other, following the outside diameter of this circle (something like the hand and arm actions if you were playing at being a steam engine). After a short time, the action will settle into a rhythm. Now, here comes the difficult part: after doing it for twenty seconds or more, stop and reverse the action. The awareness action momentum will force this circling to continue in its original direction, making it difficult to stop or change it. If you concentrate, you will find this can be achieved with effort. Don't worry if you fail to do this the first few times you try. Keep at it and you'll succeed. The difficulty of this exercise shows its training value. If you practice this regularly you will quickly gain better control and strength with all awareness hand and arm actions. This benefits all stimulation and energy-raising actions, including those used with projection techniques. This exercise can also trigger the projection reflex on its own. Look on this as a muscle-building workout for your awareness arms and hands. Big Wheel Method: An extension of the above method is to imagine yourself holding a large bicycle wheel upright in front of you. This wheel should fill the room, with its center hanging in space in the middle of the room between your physical body and the farthest point of the wheel from it. Prepare for projection. Feel a single point of awareness moving out from your body, from your head area, and flying upward and away from you. Push this point of awareness up and over the top part of the circumference of the big wheel, moving it all the way over and down and around and back to your body. Feel this point of awareness moving up through your body, through your base center and up through all other primary energy centers until it moves out through your head. Feel this point of awareness as being heavy and solid. Move your point of awareness around and around this big wheel until you build up a steady rhythm. As with all bounce-type actions, vary this speed until you find the most natural speed for it. Feel the heavy point of awareness tearing upward through your body each time. You will notice as it passes through your body that this action slows, then speeds up again as it moves away from you each time. This momentary drag is caused by the awareness resistance factor that is encountered with any awareness bounce action through the body. It shows that this action is stimulating your etheric body as it passes through it. This method is quite powerful and will easily trigger the projection reflex if you can hold it reasonably steady for long enough. It does not matter if your point of awareness wavers or wiggles a bit from side to side as it circles the big wheel, as long as you keep it roughly under control and circling. Keeping it steady can take a bit of effort, but as with the above steam engine exercise, it is also invaluable for training the will to control exterior body-awareness actions. Ladder Method: A good alternative to using a rope is to imagine a strong ladder hanging from the ceiling. The lowest rung of this ladder should be within easy reach of your hands, or whatever feels most natural. Climb this ladder hand over hand, feeling yourself moving up the ladder toward the ceiling. Feel the room changing around you and your spatial coordinates changing as you climb. Feel yourself moving higher and higher up the endless ladder. If you imagine yourself reaching the ceiling, feel yourself climbing through it and beyond as if the ladder were infinite in length. Point Shift Method: Point shift is the most direct and powerful projection technique of all, although it can be somewhat difficult to learn. It requires a great deal of concentrated mental effort, in that projectors must hold their whole-of-body awareness image exterior from their physical body for some time in order to trigger the projection reflex. This is the technique I first learned and used for most of my early conscious-exit projections. Its difficulty accounted for many of the projection-related problems I had at that time. Despite this, it is extremely effective when mastered. It is well worth the effort of learning it; some people will find they'll take to it like a duck to water. I currently use a combination of rope and point shift for most of my projections. I start by using point shift, then when I am partly out, I include rope. I generally switch back and forth between these techniques many times during an exit. I find alternating techniques like this makes the exit easier and quicker. If I am projecting from a bed, I also use the rolling-out method (described later) to finish off the exit. First prepare yourself for a projection attempt in the usual way: Go through the relaxation, trance-induction, and energy-stimulation techniques, as per the full-, quick-, or instant-projection sequences — whatever is required. Feel and become aware of your whole body. Feel your body's spatial coordinates in relation to the room around you. Run your mind over where the doors, walls, windows, and furniture are in your room. Build a spatial map of this with your imagination, in your mind's eye, in your perception of yourself and the room around you. Using imagination powered by whole-body awareness, feel yourself rising or stepping out of your body, then floating or standing just out of arm's reach from your physical body. If you are lying in bed, feel yourself as floating at arm's reach above your physical body, staying in line with it and facing the ceiling. If you are using a chair, feel yourself as standing three feet (one meter) away from your physical body. Imagine, feel, and perceive as strongly as you can what it would feel like to actually be out there in front of your physical body. Hold your whole-body awareness firmly centered in your imagined exterior body in its new location. Do not try to see or feel your double as being above or in front of you; feel yourself as being above or in front of your physical body, from your projected double's perspective. This is tricky but will get easier with practice. Concentrate on sensing the changed spatial coordinates of the room around you from this new perspective. Feel and be aware of your physical body waiting behind or beneath you. Imagine and feel your projected double as already having separated from your physical body. Concentrate on holding your point of whole-body awareness inside your imagined projected double in its new location. Feel the pressure of your physical body trying to pull you back into it. Feel yourself fighting this pressure. Concentrate and use your strength of will to force your projected double to strain and fight against this pressure. Fill your mind with the single-minded, determined intention to project free of your physical body. Use maximum willpower, but do not allow your physical body to tense or respond in any way. If you are projecting from a bed, mentally grit your teeth (without tensing) and feel yourself slowly but forcefully rising away from your physical body. Force yourself to rise an inch at a time. Roll your projected double's shoulders one after the other and try to shoulder yourself higher and farther away from your physical body a bit at a time. Try to feel yourself rolling away toward the center of the room if that helps. If projecting from a chair, mentally grit your teeth (without tensing) and take one small but forceful step at a time away from your physical body. Step away an inch at a time, struggling against the force binding you to it. Feel this force steadily weakening in response to your efforts! Feel your imagined projected double's shoulders hunching and heaving and your head straining forward as you slowly but steadily tear through the force binding you to your physical body. Hold the above actions strongly enough and they will trigger the projection reflex very quickly. Do not allow your physical body to tense up while doing any of the above — this is the real trick to point shift. These are all imaginative body-awareness actions. Steam Method: Prepare for a projection attempt as normal. When you are ready, become aware of your whole body and of where it is in relation to the room around you, as in the above point shift technique. Imagine yourself becoming lighter and lighter, as if your body were turning into steam. Steam expands and rises. Feel yourself becoming bigger and lighter and, slowly but gently, rising up and out of your physical body. Feel your perception of the room changing as you rise higher. Stay aware of where your physical body is beneath you as you float free. Feel your whole-of-body awareness centered firmly inside your steam body and feel this as being just above your physical body and slowly floating free of it. Do not hold your steam body rigid. Encourage it to gently bob and sway about wherever it wants. This slight floating movement makes the steam method easier. Rolling-Out Method: Rolling out of body is a popular and reasonably effective projection technique. It makes use of a natural whole-of-body awareness movement — that of rolling over or out of bed — something you have done thousands of times. This method is especially useful if a spontaneous projection has already started, or if you find yourself partially stuck to your body during an exit attempt. When used as a main projection technique however, it leaves a lot to be desired, as it can be difficult to cause a projection with this method from scratch. I consider this method best suited to assisting with difficult projections or for finishing off projections. Feel yourself rolling to the side, as if you were rolling over and out of bed. Repeat this action as many times as necessary. Get a whole-of-body awareness feeling into the body roll as if you were really doing it. Do not allow your physical body to tense or respond to this action in any way. Alternatively, if using a chair, feel the rolling action as if you were curling up and rolling out of your chair. Feel your perspective of the room changing around you as you roll. This technique is definitely worth a shot as a main projection technique if other methods have failed you. I find the rolling-out action also helps during difficult projections, say if I find myself glued to a part of my body, as occasionally happens if I have not prepared myself correctly. Rocket Method: Prepare for a projection attempt. When you are ready, imagine you are lying flat on the tip of a very large rocket. The bulk of the huge rocket is hidden deep inside a subterranean tube beneath you. Your bed or chair is firmly attached to the tip of this rocket and enclosed by an impenetrable glass nose cone. The ceiling and walls slowly fall away, disappearing all around you to reveal the stars. Feel the rocket rumble and tremble beneath you as its enormous engines fire and it slowly lifts off, taking you with it. Feel and imagine yourself slowly rising toward the stars with the great engines thundering beneath you. Feel the rocket's vibrations coursing through you and feel yourself rising out of your body and room and toward the stars. Stay aware of your physical body remaining where it is as you rise. Feel these vibrations increasing and spreading and coursing through your whole body, as the rocket blasts off and roars into the star-filled night. Boomerang Method: This technique uses a one-pointed bounce action from the brow center. It neatly overcomes the difficulties encountered when holding a point of body awareness exterior to the physical body, by using an awareness bounce action. This causes you to feel and see a brief flash of a new spatial location in your mind's eye at the end of each outward bounce action. This tricks your mind into accepting a momentary shift of a point of awareness to an exterior location. First, pick a target on the ceiling above your bed, or high on the wall opposite you if using a chair. This can be a light fixture or picture (anything) or you can affix a small paper target there instead. Stand on your bed, or stand on a chair (be careful not to fall!) and get the feel of what it's like to be right up close to this target. Lock the image of this target in your mind's eye. Get the feel of how the furniture, windows, doors, and bed all look and feel like from there while you are facing the target. Memorize what it feels like to be at the target area. Lie down or sit and prepare yourself for a projection attempt. Spend a little extra time stimulating your brow center, using the extra brow center stimulation method given earlier (see chapter 14). Hold your point of awareness firmly in your brow center, in your mind's eye. Bounce your point of awareness away and feel it touch the target, then rebound it back to your brow center in your physical body. Try to see this happening in your imagination, in your mind's eye. As you bounce outward and your point of awareness touches the target, for that single moment, briefly become aware of being at that location, as if your face were right up next to and facing the target. Feel this with your awareness and see it in your imagination, in your mind's eye. The details of this action do not have to be precise: A vague blurring feeling, the room changing and feeling yourself bouncing off the target, being there, with this perspective being momentarily highlighted in your mind's eye, is all that is required. As you rebound your point of awareness back to your physical body, feel your perception of the room suddenly change back to your brow center. Briefly try to see in your mind's eye your target across the room, as from the perspective of your physical body, from within your brow center and mind's eye. Once under way, this action causes a blurring in the mind's eye, with the target being seen and felt briefly from two different perspectives, from the physical body's brow and then from up close to the target, alternately. It is not necessary to keep close track of what happens between these points in the mind's eye. Feeling this change in your awareness and seeing it in your mind's eye is enough. Each bounce, in or out, should take about one second each way, but this speed should be varied to suit what feels natural to you. Repeat this process, continually bouncing back and forth between your brow center and your target, until the projection reflex is triggered. If you feel close to projection during this but it does not actually happen, change to another technique like rope or rolling out, to finish the exit. Driving Method: If you have ever been on a long drive, or spent a long time on a computer driving game, you may have noticed that later a shadowy but animated image of your long drive will be impressed into your mind's eye. This imagery will be much clearer if you are overtired as well. When you close your eyes and relax, the view you had, of that long road, and the scenery on either side unwinding toward you, continues to play in your mind's eye for some time. This often lasts for an hour or more if you have spent several hours driving. This effect can be used to trigger the projection reflex. All you have to do is relax and let this scenario play itself in your mind's eye while you deeply relax and allow your sense of body awareness to move along the road toward the horizon. Use the scenery to hold your mind clear of thoughts, aided by breath awareness if necessary. See the road and trees and buildings moving toward you and feel yourself moving toward them as the scene unwinds. In the back of your mind, feel your physical body being left behind as you drive toward the horizon and away from your body. If you can feel this forward awareness movement strongly enough, it can trigger the projection reflex fairly quickly. Two-Person Remote-Eye Projection Method: It is possible for a type of projection to occur while the physical body and mind are still partially awake (see chapter 5). To re-create a remote-eye projection under controlled circumstances requires some preparation and dedication. You must allow yourself to become extremely overtired, by missing a night's sleep, or by staying up very late until the wee hours of the morning, then waking your controller for the projection attempt. What is needed is not a normal level of tiredness, but a deeply relaxed state, both mental and physical, caused by overtiredness, the kind of tiredness that can make you literally fall asleep on your feet. Coffee and other stimulants should be avoided during the preparations for this experiment. When you are tired enough, lie or sit down in a comfortable position. You must not be disturbed by anything other than your controller. For that reason, this experiment is best done fairly late at night — with the telephone off the hook. The other person, the controller, must talk to you and keep you just awake, but they must not overdo this or break your delicate mental state. The controller must also monitor you for REM (rapid eye movement) activity. The REM state is an important sign, because it indicates that you are entering the dream state while still awake. The REM state is easily detected by a continual flickering motion disturbing the eyelids. You must be gently kept awake and reasonably coherent throughout the entire experiment. The controller should gently wake you if you fall asleep, by talking to you and rubbing your arm, or even by lightly shaking you awake. You can aid this process by deliberately stimulating your brow center before and during this process. This same thing also happens if you force your tired eyes to stay open for part of the time, but your eyes must also be allowed to regularly close. If everything goes to plan, you should soon begin seeing things behind your closed eyes: patterns of light, colors, images, pictures, and scenarios. These will be hypnagogic images, lucid dreams, or clairvoyant visions, or a mixture of these. You must try to describe everything you see so that the controller knows what is happening. At some point, a part of you will project out of your body, and you will be able to give a running commentary of a projection as it happens. The mind-split will occur at the moment of separation, and your mental coherence will tend to weaken from this point. The controller must work on keeping you just awake and coherent enough to talk, but not so awake that your delicate relaxed state is altered. Perspective will often flicker back and forth between your projected and physical bodies, and even the dream state may become involved here. The heavy trance state (caused by deep overtiredness, brow center stimulation, and the partially awake state being forcibly held) can enable you to maintain a fairly stable visual connection with your remotely projected double. Once you manage to connect with your projected double, you will become aware of seeing through your double's eyes, but will not be aware of actually feeling yourself at that remote location, unless your physical body and mind are allowed to fall too deeply asleep. I suggest a tape recorder be used and turned on as soon as you begin seeing hypnagogic imagery. One of the best times to attempt a remote-eye projection is after a lengthy period of lovemaking, when a couple finds them selves deeply relaxed, maybe even exhausted, but still awake enough to be talking together in the early hours of the morning, when everything is quiet and there are no distractions. This is when spontaneous remote-eye projection is most likely to be experienced. If both partners lie talking in the near dark, with their eyes gently opening and closing, they can keep each other awake and both try for a remote-eye projection. The first one to succeed should become the subject, and the other the controller. Helping Other Projectors Out While I have heard many rumors to the contrary, I do not believe it is possible to directly assist another person out of body. I have tried many times and it does not seem to be feasible. In my opinion, if this is remembered at all by the subject, it will be sense-interpreted as a direct psychic attack, which is extremely unpleasant. It is possible, however, to awaken sleeping real-time projectors while they are out of body. When natural sleep projection occurs, the real-time body drifts out of its physical body and hovers just above it, often mimicking its sleeping position. The real-time projectors in this state are asleep, just as their physical bodies and minds are. A helpful conscious projector can then try to help by gently waking the person from real-time-zone sleep. Sleepers who can be made to focus and realize they are projecting could then interact with or become a travel partner for the conscious projector. Whether awakened projectors remember their experience or not after the event will remain to be seen. All the factors that make projection difficult to remember are still there, and still need to be overcome by awakened projectors. Without the skills necessary to project under their own steam, remembering an experience like this will be a difficult proposition at best. The best chance for success would be if the awakening comes before the sleeping projector has fallen into a deep sleep. The original projector can then instruct the other on how to maximize chances of remembering that projection. But this is still a very hit-and-miss thing. I have tried this many times with sleeping real-time projectors and, while I have managed to awaken and travel with quite a few, none so far have remembered it after the fact. As a side note, over the years many people have reported feeling hands dragging them out of their bodies, or touching them in some way during spontaneous projection exits. I suspect these people were already at least partially out of body at this time, hovering close to their sleeping physical bodies without realizing they were already out. The hands they felt may have originated from overzealous friends or even from helpful spirit beings; it's very hard to say for sure. This may also be a tactile hallucination generated by the projector's own subconscious mind, which I think is the most likely scenario. If anything like this happens during a projection (and this is quite rare, I might add), I suggest that you clear your mind of fear and go on with your projection regardless. Conscious-exit projections are way, way too precious to waste, especially in the early days while you are still learning to get out and about. You must not allow yourself to be fooled or tricked into aborting successful projections for any reason. As with all common astral noises and voices, once out of body nothing will ever be found that might have caused the original worrying sensations or problems. Look upon this type of event — as worrying as it may be at the time — as a true test of bravery. If you don't like what you find when you get out, you can always turn around and dive straight back into your physical body. This is not only the fastest and easiest way to abort a projection, but it also gives you firsthand experience with the conscious exit and reentry, which is invaluable. It also helps to keep firmly in mind during the exit — spontaneous or deliberate — that nothing can truly hurt a projected double. The original copy of mind and all memories are always safely tucked away inside the physical/etheric body, which cannot be destroyed and is not vulnerable to interference or possession merely because it is projecting. In my opinion, the physical/etheric body is far more protected during an OBE than in the awake or normal sleep state. There is really nothing to fear but fear itself. Calling and Meeting Other Projectors Many people have asked me how to project to, or meet, other people or projectors. I have found the most reliable way is to call the target person just before the exit. When you are in the trance state and/or close to the exit, imagine your target person. Everyone has a distinct essence of personality. This feeling can be used to tune in to and locate other people. Hold the image of your target firmly in mind and call his or her name several times, voicing this strongly in your mind. If the target person is asleep or out of body, he or she will usually hear and appear just before the exit, or be waiting close by when you finish getting out of your body. He or she will often reply audibly. This is not an actual voice, although it sounds real, but is a telepathic transmission that is heard with a kind of clairaudience, or astral hearing. If you have real-time or astral vision at this time, you may also see him or her in the room waiting for you, usually a little perplexed about why he or she is there, often not realizing he or she is out of body. If this fails, repeat the above process after the exit out of body. First, move at least twenty feet (six meters) away from your physical body, then call out to the target person aloud. Another way to target people is to tune in and project to them using the instantaneous-travel method (see chapter 24). Simply tune in to them and feel yourself moving toward them. This will cause you to shift to where the target persons are. None of these methods will be truly successful if you do not know the target person fairly well. Do not expect to be able to project to famous personages or to people you do not know well. On that note, it is also extremely difficult to project to people you do not like, or who do not like you. A certain level of harmony is required to make an astral connection and rendezvous. The target does not have to be living, but projecting to a deceased person's spirit is far more difficult than might be expected. If a spirit person is targeted, you may find yourself shifting to an astral level, usually one of the spirit worlds, where you can interact with your target. Your energetic makeup, development, and projection skills will have a lot to do with whether or not you are successful. Alarm Clock Aid Many people find it easier to project if they set their alarm clock an hour or two before their normal waking time, then attempt a projection. The physical body is already deeply relaxed and heavy with sleep — trance state — making projection much easier. (If you have to get up for work at a set time in the morning, I suggest using two alarm clocks to avoid oversleeping, one for projection and one for work.) Another use for an alarm clock is to use the snooze button for short projections. This is also a handy way to get around some mind-split effects by limiting the time of a projection. Set your snooze button to gently wake you at ten- or fifteen-minute intervals. When the alarm goes off, hit the snooze button and attempt a quick projection, going straight to your projection technique each time. Every time the alarm wakes you, hit the snooze button and try to recall a projection, in case one occurred, then repeat the projection attempt. The longer you do this the more chance you'll have of scoring a hit with a remembered projection fragment. As soon as you remember something, write it down. It helps if you have the alarm clock, pen, and notebook within easy reach, so you will not have to disturb your relaxed state too much while using them. 21. Projection Exit Problems The problems besetting new projectors are many and varied. With any recurring OBE exit problem, it is important to isolate the cause and take remedial steps sooner than later, or interest may flag and the goal of wake-induced OBE never be realized. Taking prompt action also avoids the possibility of becoming negatively conditioned by a problem, making the exit more difficult than it should be. Out of the thousands of projection exit problems I have advised on over the years, it is clear that several main problem areas exist. The following sections offer some advice on overcoming these. Climbing Problems Some people find they have difficulty using awareness hands climbing actions. Usually, one awareness hand will seem weaker and less controllable than the other, and will continually slip away from the rope or ladder, which makes everything more difficult. This problem may also affect stimulation and energy-raising actions. Persevering with awareness hands and energy-raising actions will progressively help overcome this type of problem. The more often awareness hands are used, the stronger and surer they become. Alternatively, some projection methods given here require no complex awareness hands actions. Find what works best for you and what has the strongest effect on your projectable double. Stick to what works and build on it. Using a combination of techniques that do not require awareness hands actions is probably the best way to overcome climbing problems. Torso Energy Surge The torso surge is not unpleasant. It is much like the surge of emotional energy and excitement you'd get if you suddenly won a million dollars. But it can be very distracting. Just as the projection reflex begins to kick in, a strong falling sensation combined with an energetic body rush surges upward through the stomach and chest area. The strong energy-movement sensations caused by the torso surge appear to come mainly from the lower primary energy centers. My theory is that the moment the projection reflex is triggered, some primary energy centers strobe powerfully, temporarily creating a delicate network of new energetic connections throughout the physical/etheric body. This new network creates the energetic conditions that allow projection to occur. Energy flares throughout this new network as the projection mechanism internally generates the projectable double, before its expulsion out of the physical/etheric body. The torso surge is not to be confused with the racing-heart sensation or the vibrations that are also commonly experienced during the exit, although these appear to be energetically related. The torso surge is an extremely visceral sensation and can be very difficult to overcome. It is felt within the physical body as if it were a physical sensation. It causes an immediate tension response within the physical body that causes a breach of relaxation and trance discipline, and hence projection failure. Expect this sensation to hit right on the verge of the exit. Stay calm and do not allow yourself to react to it. The physical reaction can be controlled, as long as it is not too strong. This sensation is a perfectly normal part of the projection process, and will not hurt you. The surge is far stronger during early projections, and progressively eases the more often you attempt conscious-exit projection. A side effect of projection attempts, even failed ones, is to cause widespread energetic development, as well as development of the projection mechanism. If the energetic surge is too strong to ignore, and leaves you gasping and wide awake every time, spend more time raising and working with energy during regular training sessions. This work is best done separate from actual projection attempts. If the problem continues, it would also be worthwhile to familiarize your body with a similar sensation. Seek out a highspeed elevator and spend some time in it, getting used to the sudden falling sensation every time it starts down. Close your eyes and relax while doing this and allow the sudden movement to catch you by surprise. Another way would be to spend some time on amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. For the more adventurous, skydiving, high diving, bungie jumping, or water slides may help. The physical body quickly becomes accustomed to anything it experiences regularly. The effects of the torso surge will then be lessened as the sudden tension response of the physical body to it will be reduced. Cobwebs — Energetic Sensations Cobwebs are a very common and well-known sensation — a serious problem for some people — associated with trance and energetic development. This sensation of localized tickling, itching, or stinging is usually felt on the face and neck, varying in intensity from a slight tickling or itching to a more intense stinging sensation on the skin. The most common place to get cobwebs is on the face, especially around the mouth and nose. In rarer cases, cobwebs can be experienced in other places and over much larger areas of the physical body. You can expect to get cobweb sensations at some time or another. Severe cobweb problems are quite rare, and appear to be symptoms of energy blockages and narrowed energy pathways in the connecting circuitry on the surface of the energy body, felt in the skin of the physical body. Cobwebs are caused by energy movement through the myriad smaller energy centers and connecting pathways that cover the entire body. The most common cobweb sites correspond with acupuncture points and major nerve endings in the facial area. Cobweb sensations will normally reduce only gradually as the energy centers and their connecting circuitry develop to handle the greater flow of energy caused by the trance state and projection attempts. Some cobweb activity usually is present in people with a strong or more than usually active brow center, even if the brow center is undeveloped. The face contains a powerful and complex energetic support structure for the brow and crown centers. Any increased energy flow through this structure causes at least some cobweb sensations to be felt there. The stronger the energy flow in this area, the stronger the sensations it causes. This continues until the support structure develops enough to handle the increased energy flows required by these higher centers. Even if the facial support structure and the brow and crown centers are all fairly well developed, some cobweb activity is usually still felt, especially when these higher centers are being actively used during the full-trance state. The NEW secondary system helps to reduce cobweb sensations by progressively developing the circuitry of the energy body. Specific problem areas such as the face should also be targeted and deeply massaged with a suitable awareness action, brushing or wrapping, to nurture the development of those areas. Keep in mind here that rectifying serious cobweb problems can take time. Please be patient and work through this problem until it improves, and don't give up on OBE just because of it. I recommend that cobwebs be ignored as far as possible, but if they become unbearable you can scratch them. If you do, take care to move slowly and deliberately, and scratch them in a dreamy, relaxed way, so that you do not break your relaxed physical and mental states. When I get cobwebs, I look on them as a test of my concentration and ignore them totally. They usually fade after a few minutes, but occasionally I have had to scratch an intensely itching or burning one, just in case it is a feeding mosquito, which has often been the case. It is therefore wise to spray your room before trance sessions and projection attempts, to eliminate this possibility. I have come across very few people with really bad cobweb problems. In rare cases, cobweb sensations can cover the entire surface of the body. This feels, or so I have been told, like a horde of insects crawling all over your body, which sounds unbearable and probably is. Conscious-exit projection becomes impossible under these circumstances. I suggest concentrating on relaxation techniques, meditation, and energy work until the blockages in the energetic circuitry clear. Once these areas are more developed, cobwebs sensations will lessen. Primary Center Pressure Mild to intense pressure sensations are sometimes felt in the head as a result of primary energy center activity and energy movement during trance work or projection attempts. These are natural sensations, caused by some of the higher functions of the brow and crown centers, as these grow out of dormancy. Ignore pressure sensations as best you can. They are a good sign that these energy centers are responding to the stronger energetic flow caused by development exercises and projection attempts. Pressure sensations, especially when localized to the brow center, indicate clairvoyant potential. Pressure is rarely intense enough to cause actual pain, but it will often be extremely uncomfortable. Intense episodes of pressure are unpredictable and infrequent. They are more often experienced by novice projectors who have done no significant energetic development before their projection attempt. Localized Pressure Localized brow center pressure feels much like a thumb being firmly and steadily pressed into the center of the forehead. This is felt either in a small area in the center of the brow or in a larger circular area covering the whole middle of the forehead. This can vary from mild to intense pressure, and can last for several minutes or longer. More rarely, a small area of intense thumblike pressure is felt in the center of the top of the head. This last sensation is related to crown center activity and development. Tight Band around Head This feels much like a leather belt tied around the head being slowly tightened. Pressure is felt around the entire circumference of the head, in a wide band level with the brow, and all over the whole top of the head, including the whole forehead, as if the whole head were bandaged too tightly. This top-of-head pressure sensation is caused by crown center activity. Brow and crown pressure sensations are related and will often occur together. More rarely, the facial area will also be involved; this feels like the entire skull is coming under pressure. Energy center pressure can be quite uncomfortable, even painful at times. Although this is rare, it can spark strong headaches, even migraines if you are prone to them. Actual pain will be more frequent if the brow and crown centers are being worked on more than the rest of the energy body, which I do not recommend. If pain becomes a problem, the best solution is to stop all stimulation and development work. Take a break and allow everything to settle down. This may take several days or more. You can work around problem areas with energetic development exercises, but this may still cause some pressure pains to occur. In all the cases I have come across like this — including my own experiences — crown and brow center pressure pains progressively reduced once regular energetic development exercises were undertaken. You must stimulate the brow and crown centers very gently in the early stages of development. It is very important not to overwork them, especially if strong pressure sensations are being experienced. A lot of time and patience may be required to gently and safely bring these centers out of dormancy. Breathing Problems Pressure is sometimes felt in the chest and throat and feelings of choking or even asphyxiation can result from this. This can feel like you are not getting enough oxygen, or as if you are forgetting to breathe during a projection attempt. The chest and throat pressure is normally caused by primary energy center activity, but the lack-of-oxygen sensation often has another cause. Sleep apnea, a fairly common sleep breathing disorder, causes a person to stop breathing many times while they are asleep, and to gasp for air when their lack of oxygen becomes acute and wakes them. This problem is not caused by projection attempts, but is a preexisting medical condition that has not been noticed. During trance work or a projection attempt, the physical body is put to sleep while the mind stays awake. Any sleep breathing problems become much more apparent during this time because the mind is awake and thus notices them. One possible solution to this problem, if it is not too severe, is to adjust your trance work or projection position so your head is tilted further back and your airways are held more open. Even a slight change in position can make a big difference with breathing problems like this. Please consult a medical doctor if you feel you have any type of sleep breathing disorder. These conditions, while treatable, can be dangerous if left unattended. Smoking, drinking, and being overweight worsen them. Improving the health of the physical body usually cures the condition. Stuck to Body during Exit Some people at times experience feeling themselves glued to a part of their body during an otherwise successful exit, usually at their stomach, head, or legs. This appears to be caused by an incomplete projectable double being generated, resulting in only a partial projection. There are several possible reasons for this. Heavy protein meals eaten before projection attempts appear responsible for many partialseparation problems. It takes a lot of energy to digest food; the heavier the meal, the more energy is diverted into bioenergetic digestion processes. The energy body will virtually shut down for an hour or more after a heavy meal of any kind. After this time, just having a large amount of undigested heavy protein in the stomach can cause energy centers in that area to become sluggish and unresponsive to the projection reflex. The sub-navel storage center is also situated near the lower stomach area, and energy flowing to and from this important center may become restricted while the stomach is busy digesting a heavy meal. Trying to force primary energy centers open during a projection attempt in this case can cause varying levels of discomfort, cramps, and even pain during the exit. This is easily overcome by not eating such a heavy meal so late, and by cutting down on the amount of heavy protein eaten, especially in the last meal before bed. Exit Cramps and Pain I have had many reports of varying levels of cramping and pain, from mild to severe, in the stomach or chest — and more rarely, in other areas — during projection exits. I have also experienced this myself on several occasions. The action of pulling yourself out of body using a climbing technique can sometime cause internal cramping and tugging sensations, as if the stomach, heart, or lungs were twisting and cramping. This is directly related to the projection attempt. For example, each pull on the rope can be found to cause a painful internal tugging sensation that stops as soon as the climbing action causing it is ceased. This can be quite uncomfortable, even painful, if you continue trying to force yourself the rest of the way out of your body at this time. This problem appears to be caused by inactivity in a single part of the energy body. This interferes with the generation of the projectable double in a single area. There are many possible causes for this. One possibility is continued projection efforts after a successful separation has already occurred. Continued projection efforts after projection has occurred is likely to cause problems for the etheric body, which cannot normally leave the confines of the physical body. The solution is to stop and look for projection-related symptoms. If you've felt vibrations or the torso energy surge, or if partial or full waking paralysis is present, or if some degree of real-time or astral sight is present, the chances are you have already projected. You must now await the return of your projected double. If this appears to be the case, it is worth trying to contact your projected double. Reach out with your feelings and attempt to feel yourself inside your projected double, imagining you are already out of body. This will often result in a telepathic connection and an instantaneous transfer of memories from the projected double. If you manage this, remember to still keep the projection short. Try to reenter your physical body well before it can fall into the deepsleep state. Jewelry and Watches Gold, jewels, and other solid metal objects can interfere with the generation of the projectable double. I learned many years ago, through experience, that wearing watches, rings, or neck chains caused me problems during the exit, as well as during trance and energetic work. I have also had many reports of jewelry and watches causing problems and pain during otherwise successful projections. One young man reported severe pain in his tongue during several otherwise successful projection attempts. He was a fairly experienced projector and had never had problems before this. The pain always started as pressure in his tongue that quickly became painful and spread through his jaw and neck, becoming more and more painful as he continued toward the exit. The pain became so bad it caused him to abort each projection during the exit. I questioned him thoroughly and it came to light that he had recently had a gold stud inserted through his tongue, with the wound not being quite healed. He did not see how this could possibly interfere with projection, but, on my advice, removed the gold stud and successfully projected later that same night with no recurrence of the pain. Along similar lines, a young female projector recently reported to me that she had experienced intense pain and pressure in her chest during a conscious-exit projection. She was forced to abort her projection attempt. On her return, she found her pet rat asleep on her chest, where it normally slept. The presence of the pet rat on her chest appears to have been the cause of the pain and pressure she felt during the attempted exit. The projected double can pass through solid metal and gem-stones with ease. The presence of them on the physical body during projection attempts however, appears to interfere with the generation of the projectable double, which causes the projecting double to become stuck to its body at that area. For some reason, this also causes pressure and discomfort during the exit. This appears to affect some more than it does others, but every thing points to the presence of gold, jewelry, and other items on the physical body causing problems during the exit. It is possible that gold fillings, false teeth, and other solid items may also cause problems for some people. If you feel localized pressure and pain during projection, it is worth taking a good look at the affected area to see if any item is present that could possibly be causing it. The variable energetic makeup and levels of development of individual projectors may cause a wide range of seeming inconsistencies, with particular projection-related problems affecting some projectors and not others. Magnetic North? The direction the physical body faces during a projection attempt does appear to have an effect on the ease of the projection exit for some people — and every little bit helps. I prefer to have the top of my head pointing north if I am lying down, but if I am sitting up I like to be facing either north or south, although this may just be a foible of mine. But I have projected many times while facing east and west, lying down and sitting up, and experienced no noticeable difference. While direction does seem to have an effect on some people, it does not affect everyone equally and will not stop a determined or experienced projector. I suggest that new projectors experiment with the direction they face and see for themselves whether it makes any difference. Lunar Cycle The lunar cycle also seems to have an effect on projection exit difficulty levels, as well as on the frequency of spontaneous projections. I find the best time for OBE to be the week surrounding the full moon, with the first night of the full moon being my prime projection time. Although I have projected on every day of the month, all year round, I feel the urge to project more strongly during a full moon. Some people appear to be more affected by the lunar cycle than others. I suggest that projectors check the lunar cycle against their successful projections, especially spontaneous ones. It is also worth checking this against lucid dreams and patches of vivid dreams, as opposed to uneventful dreamless nights. This will give a clear indication of the best time of the month for them to project, and whether or not the lunar cycle is affecting them. The moon factor may also contribute to or cause many common projection difficulties like cramps and pains and partial exits, especially when there is no moon at all. Saliva Problems Many people have problems during trance, development work, or projection attempts with either an excess of saliva, necessitating continual swallowing; or a lack of saliva, causing a dry throat and mouth. Both conditions can be very distracting and will interfere with conscious-exit projection. If your mouth and throat tend to become dry during development exercises or projection attempts, first make sure you have had enough to drink before beginning so you are not becoming dehydrated, especially if you live in a warm climate. The only other thing that could cause dryness is breathing excessively through the mouth. The solution is to breathe more through the nose. Make sure the nasal passages are clear by blowing and clearing them beforehand. A slight change of position may also help if your mouth tends to fall open naturally. Snoring can also cause dry mouth and sore throat problems. When the physical body is put to sleep during the trance state and projection attempts, it often begins to snore on its own, even though the mind of the projector is wide awake. In many cases projectors will not be fully aware of this, especially if they are having problems and drifting in and out of the sleep state. The solution is to restore the sleep deficit so that falling asleep is less likely, and to change the resting position of the physical body until a position is found that does not promote snoring. If excessive saliva tends to build up, try not to think about it. Thinking about it causes you to become more aware of your mouth and tongue, which, in itself, can cause an increase in saliva flow. Avoid sweet drinks, tea, or coffee, and anything that leaves a flavor residue in your mouth that may cause saliva to flow. Brushing your teeth and using a saltwater mouthwash, then rinsing with fresh water, helps rid the mouth of unwanted tastes. Prop yourself up slightly higher if lying flat; this will help slow the tendency for saliva buildup at the back of the throat. Keep your mind off of it; swallow normally whenever you have to, in a relaxed and dreamy way. Swallowing, or moving the body to ease it, must be done at times, even during trance work and projection attempts. Minor movements like this can be done without breaking relaxation and trance disciplines, as long as they are done slowly and in a dreamy and relaxed way. Sexual Arousal Sexual arousal is a less common problem that is related to energetic activity in the lower primary centers, specifically the genital primary center. This can be very distracting, for obvious reasons. The solution is to spend more time raising and working with energy, separate from projection attempts, so the energy body can develop to the point where an increased energy flow from or through the genital center will not cause arousal. If a sex partner is available, having sex before a projection attempt can help alleviate this problem. If a sex partner is not available, imagination can be used to serve this purpose. Many people have asked whether having sex before a projection attempt will interfere with it or not. Some worry that sex may drain the energy body and make projection more difficult until it has replenished itself. In my opinion, sex before a projection attempt has more positive than negative aspects to it. Sexual fulfillment greatly eases physical and mental tension by promoting energetic balance and deeper physical and mental relaxation. It causes a lingering warm energetic glow and a state of well-being, which can be a great help with projection, especially with early attempts, as energetic balance and deep physical and mental relaxation are essential ingredients for successful projection. The main reason people think sex is energetically draining, I think, is because most people have sex at night before going to sleep. The deeply relaxed state experienced during the aftermath of sex, especially if people are already tired, will usually tend to make them fall asleep very quickly. If this is the case, I suggest you use the quick or instant projection methods to take advantage of the situation before the need to sleep becomes too urgent. In some cases, however, sex energizes people and they have trouble falling asleep for some time afterward. In this case, sex may be temporarily detrimental to projection. On the other hand, this is a very good way of temporarily overcoming tired-ness so a projection attempt can be made before the onset of sleep. When projecting after sex, though, remember to keep the projection very short, as the physical body will tend to fall into the deep-sleep state much more quickly than usual. Defective Astral Vision Defective astral vision occasionally causes problems during or immediately after the exit. I'd say about ten percent of all new projectors will encounter some kind of vision problem during their first few exits. The most common vision problems are blurred vision; one eye not working; having to squint and strain to focus; tunnel vision; partial blindness, and full blindness. The cause of all OBE vision problems is a lack of energy flowing into the projected double from the physical/etheric body. The projected double is pure energy, generated and maintained for the entire projection by the physical/etheric body. The energy flowing into it gives it life and greatly affects its functionality and abilities. The most effective method I have found to overcome vision problems is to draw energy directly from the physical/etheric body during the projection. This is quite simple to do and very effective. Use your awareness and feel yourself drawing energy from your physical/etheric body. If you can, use your imagination to see a flow of sparkling energy coursing into you. You don't have lungs and do not have to breathe while out of body, but you can use the remembered feeling of breathing to aid with this process. Re-create the feeling of breathing IN and of drawing in energy, feeling yourself sucking energy from your physical/etheric body and feeling energy flowing into your projected double. This will create a strong energetic demand in your projected double that will cause a flow of energy from your physical/etheric body to fulfill it. Once you get the hang of the energy-drawing action, you can draw extra energy into your projected double anytime you have need of it. Keep in mind here that the more energy the projected double has to operate with, the stronger and more vivid will be its experience, and the stronger and more vivid will be its memory. Here are a few more ideas and solutions that have helped other projectors with vision-related problems. All of these are done while out of body. • • • • • • • • Ask for your sight, speaking aloud if possible, and you'll often get it. Use your creative ability to imagine and feel light all around you. Create a lit torch or a lamp and use it. Use the instant travel method and shift to a well-lit destination. The room you are in may actually be dark, so move to a well-lit room. Leave a lamp or nightlight on while you are projecting. Leave a lamp on in another room and shift into it after the exit. Project during daylight hours. Disorientation and Subtle-Body Misalignment Weakness and disorientation are sometimes experienced after an OBE, especially if it has been too lengthy or has been abruptly ended. This can happen even if the conscious exit has been missed and the projector has become aware some time after the exit. This malady is popularly believed to be caused by some kind of subtle-body misalignment, where the projected double has not correctly realigned itself within its physical counterpart during reentry and reintegration. Many people today believe the projected double is a perfect copy or template of the physical body, containing a subtle copy of all internal organs. The "body inside a body inside a body" theory is popularly used to illustrate the way subtle bodies can separate from the physical body and hold consciousness exterior to it during an OBE. This illustration looks good on paper and does effectively show part of what happens, but it is not a workable theory when applied to some of the more complex energetic aspects of projection. Subtle-body misalignment is not, I think, a reasonable or logical explanation for weakness or disorientation following a projection. According to my understanding, the projectable double is internally generated by the etheric body, then extruded as an energetic point of consciousness that contains within it a reflected copy of consciousness. The body of the projectable double, when observed, is created and shaped by its own sense of whole-body self-awareness, but only when it or parts of it are deliberately observed. When the projected double reenters, it reintegrates with its original physical/etheric self, downloading its shadow memories in the process. The energetic substance of which the projected double was composed then effectively dissolves back into the physical/etheric body. It turns back into the raw energy from which it was made. This raw energy is instantly reabsorbed back into the vitality storage areas of the etheric body. It is believed that the astral body is simply enmeshed within the physical body during its waking state, and that it is released to pursue an out-of-body astral existence whenever its physical body sleeps. Some people even claim that the astral body is capable of becoming misaligned with its physical counterpart while in the full waking state. The reasons stated for astral-body misalignment are many, but usually involve improper or too-abrupt reentry. Some psychics and healers actually blame a patient for having OBEs at too early a stage of development, even though this may be spontaneous and totally beyond the patient's control. I think this line of reasoning has spawned a blanket excuse — astral-body misalignment — that is used whenever a psychic or healer cannot work out what is actually wrong with his patient. A more reasonable blanket explanation would be bioenergetic conflicts involving the etheric/physical interface. My reasoning here is that any subtle-body problem capable of affecting the physical body must logically stem from the etheric body. This is the closest subtle body to the physical body, energetically speaking, and therefore has the greatest effect on it. 22. Overcoming the Mind-Split A lifetime of projection experience, exploration, and research leads me to believe that mind-split effects are the largest contributing factor to OBE memory failure. This problem is complicated by many subtle factors, many of which can be overcome fairly easily with a little understanding and preparation, plus a few tricks. I call memories gained during any kind of out-of-body experience shadow memories. They exist for some time after reintegration, in energetic form, waiting to be triggered through mental associations into living memories. While in the shadow state, memories are extremely delicate and are easily lost, behaving much as dream memories do. If shadow memories are not downloaded into accessible levels of consciousness during the reintegration of the projected double with its physical counterpart, they cease to exist; it is as if the experiences that caused them never happened. Remembering an OBE is the most fickle part of any successful projection. To reiterate: When the mind-split occurs, a full copy of consciousness and memory stays resident inside the physical/etheric body at all times. This, the original master copy, is fully capable of independent thinking if it has the energy and training to hold itself awake. But it normally becomes semiconscious and falls asleep soon after the mind-split occurs. The copy of consciousness that was reflected into the projected double is completely independent. It is energetically generated, projected, and maintained, exterior from the physical/ etheric body. Once the mind-split occurs, it records its experiences separately. But even though the real-time double has successfully projected and is awake and aware, the physical body is left lying there, also fully aware, but usually unaware of its successful projection out of body. The projector just lies there, disappointed and heavy with trance, often partially paralyzed and pondering another seemingly failed projection attempt, maybe even going on with projection attempts that all too soon give way to sleep. The short time spent pondering a seemingly failed projection attempt is enough to form a solid memory in the physical brain for that time period. This memory thus becomes the strongest resident memory for that time period. During reintegration, shadow memories for that same time period will have a hard time overwriting these. The resident memories may be very short, dull, and boring, perhaps only a couple of minutes' worth, but these will easily replace hours of exciting shadow memories. The physical/etheric body's memories have a much stronger and more immediate connection with the physical brain. Its memories are automatically recorded as they happen and thus make more of an impression upon it. When the dream mind becomes active, it tends to weaken the integrity and coherence of the projected double. The etheric body then has to energetically support another functioning copy of consciousness, its physical body's dream mind. This causes a general weakening of all exterior copies of consciousness and all energetically recorded shadow memories. This can have a pronounced effect on the shadow memories of the real-time and astral doubles, which seem to be last on the list during reintegration. Dream memories can be very strong and immediate, and will often overwrite or mix with real-time and astral memories. Because of this, shadow memories for most people are usually remembered only as disconnected bits and pieces floating in a sea of unrelated dream fragments. Fully conscious out-of-body projection requires the physical/etheric body to be in a light-tonormal sleep state, or in the trance equivalent. Successful reentry and reintegration requires the physical/etheric body to at least partially awaken, or the projected double becomes effectively locked out of its physical body until its physical body wakes, which may take all night. During the several hours or so that a projected double can be locked out of its physical body during a normal night's sleep, it too will eventually fall asleep, as its higher-dimensional aspects are projected or become active. These higher aspects operate at much higher levels of consciousness than the physical mind or its real-time double does, and these higher aspects may only be vaguely aware they even have a physical body to return to. The thought of returning to the physical body in an attempt to salvage high-level shadow memories may be an extremely low priority to these higher aspects. As I said in the beginning of this book, I believe that the key that allows for reliable, planned, and repeatable projections out of body lies in the relationship between OBE and physical memory storage at the base level of consciousness. My research points to the key factor for successful shadow memory downloading being a small and previously unrecognized element of the trance state, something that happens naturally in those hazy few moments between the sleeping and waking states. This element is a simple flickering of consciousness. This flickering happens when the projector's almost-awakening consciousness briefly flickers between the sleeping and waking states before waking completely. This flickering can allow shadow memories to successfully download into accessible levels of memory during reintegration. While consciousness is flickering between these two states, the physical brain's memory storage vaults lie wide open, waiting but not recording. This provides a brief window through which the physical brain can receive a full shadow memory download. Miss this window and — chances are — no shadow memories at all will be downloaded into accessible levels of the physical brain. The projector then has to rely on something triggering the shadow memories before they vanish completely. Some people seem to have a natural inborn OBE memory key and can download a higher-thanaverage percentage of their shadow memories with very few problems. These lucky people, however, are few and far between and cannot tell us how they do it. Neither can they tell us why others fail when they diligently copy what appears to be the very same process. A well-controlled and stable trance state is not the key. The nature of physical memory storage in the human brain is to record only one set of memories for any single time period. An active mind, even during a controlled trance state, will block the shadow memory download from the projected double during reintegration. Tantalizing clues to solving the OBE memory download problem can be found when it is considered that deliberate reentry into the physical body can be extremely difficult, if not downright impossible, once the physical/etheric mind falls into the deep-sleep state, or enters the trance equivalent of it: the deep-trance state. The key to unlocking and using this briefly open memory-download window lies in knowing exactly how long it will be before a projector's waking consciousness starts to flicker. Reentry and reintegration should be timed to coincide with this hazy flickering moment. Shadow memory loss can be minimized by creating this flickering state deliberately, by causing consciousness to flicker at regular intervals during the course of a projection. This provides brief windows through which potential shadow memory downloading can occur. It is quite difficult for the average person to re-create this flickering state without losing control and falling asleep. Synchronized timing is the best way to overcome this difficulty, done from both within and without the physical body. The projected double and its physical/etheric counterpart must work together. An attempt can then be made to coordinate reentry and reintegration at times when this window is known to be open, with the mind being artificially caused to flicker at prearranged times. The bottom line here is that the key to a successful and reliable OBE is for you to develop the ability to work with your projected double during planned projections, rather than leaving shadow memory recall to the fickle winds of chance. Working around the Mind-Split You can do several things to work around the mind-split and minimize OBE shadow memory loss. All tricks aside for the moment, improving and exercising the ability to recall dream and OBE memories is an important step in this learning process. The physical brain is capable of recalling significantly more shadow memories if it has some practice at doing this. The more often shadow memories are recalled, the easier recalling them becomes. Shadow Memory Trigger Phrases Recalling dream memories trains the mind to recapture shadow memories. Doing this is quite easy and takes only minimal time and effort. Each morning, as soon as you wake up, spend your first couple of minutes pulling back the previous night's shadow memories. Sit up on the side of your bed with your feet on the floor, or sit in the bathroom, and reach out for shadow memories and pull them back. Set your mind in search mode, as you would for some small fact you have temporarily forgotten. Keep searching and trying to pull them back, even if your mind feels a total blank. The memories are there, they just have to be triggered and dug out. Use the trigger phrases given below, over and over. • • • • • • • • • • • • I felt these awesome vibrations and then...? I buzzed out of my body and then...? I floated across the room and then...? I passed through the wall and then...? I looked at my hands and they...? I was just about to...? I was inside...? I was talking to...? There were lots of...? I was flying over...? I was with...? I saw a...? You can make up many more phrases yourself. These must be related to something you are likely to be doing while dreaming or projecting. After a planned projection, use trigger phrases related to primary mission goals. You may think you failed the OBE mission, but there is a good chance that you succeeded and just lost the memory during reintegration. Push the trigger phrases with your mind. Reach out and feel for shadow memory fragments in your memory as you say them to yourself. With each trigger phrase, imagine yourself doing what the trigger suggests. Adopt the attitude of having forgotten something you know well and are scanning and searching your memory for. Confidently expect it to pop into your mind at any moment. Try to imagine what it would be like to come out of your body while still awake. Imagine the vibrations, the rapid heartbeat, the falling sensation, then floating up and out as you buzz out of your body. Put some effort into this, and re-create it in your mind's eye as if it had really happened, because chances are it did. Say the trigger phrases out loud if you like, as this can help with the recall process. Once you can lock onto a single fragment of shadow memory, you have the key to finding and unlocking many more. This fragment may be of a projection, a lucid dream, or a dream. All are valuable, and any type of shadow memory recall makes for good practice. Concentrate on these fragments. With a little effort, your mind will start finding more and more shadow memories associated with them. Soon, the memories will start flooding back into your mind. They might be garbled and disjointed, but now they are real memories. You can sort them out and deal with them later. Some shadow memories are always accessible! You just have to trigger them, lock onto them, and drag them back, sometimes kicking and screaming. If you practice daily, your shadow memory will become progressively stronger and its memories will become easier to recall. After the initial recall attempt, for the next few hours keep a small part of your mind searching in the background as you go about your affairs. Real-life events, words, and thoughts will often provide mental associations that will cause shadow memories to surface. When a shadow memory fragment is triggered, write it down, then spend a few moments pondering and strengthening it, trying to expand upon it and find other shadow memories related to it. Keep a small notebook and pen handy. If you do not write them down or pay attention to them immediately, shadow memories usually vanish again fairly quickly. Persevere, be patient, and work at this over the long term for a few minutes each day. This is especially helpful if you seem to be continually missing the exit, with projection sensations just fading away at the last moment. Recording Keywords It is important to record keywords and phrases as soon as possible after locating shadow memory fragments. Recalled shadow memories can feel vivid and substantial and you may think, "Wow, I'll never forget this!" but most likely you will, a few moments later. Shadow memories are transient by nature and are very easily lost. Immediately record shadow memories as soon as they surface. It is not necessary to write a complete account, as this may take too long and cause you to forget more than you record. The first thing to do when you locate shadow memories is to vocalize the experience immediately, mentally or out loud. This will help hold them long enough for you to write them down. Keep talking until you get the keywords down. Just jot down a few words and phrases to cover the memories. Once this is done you can relax and flesh them out later, using these fragments to trigger more associated memories. The more often you work at recalling and recording shadow memories, the better you will get at it. Eventually it becomes second nature. I advise you to make this a lifelong daily habit. I have been doing this for more than twenty-five years. When I wake each morning I can now skim through most of the OBEs, dreams, and visions I've had during the night, and choose any important and interesting ones for recording. Apart from the incalculable spiritual life path value I have gleaned by monitoring my dreamtime, I frequently dream innovative solutions to current real-life problems. I have learned to depend on this for guidance and inspiration. I also occasionally dream movie-length sagas. Apart from being thoroughly enjoyable (better than the movies), I have recorded some of the more interesting ones and plan to write novels based on them one day. Reentry Trigger Words and Phrases It is a great help if the projected double holds the memory of its out-of-body experience strongly in mind during reentry. To help with this, use a trigger phrase or a keyword that represents the projection experience. Pick a couple of the most memorable and interesting events from the projection and make up a short phrase to encapsulate the experience. Hold this trigger phrase firmly in mind and shout it during the reentry into your physical body. For example, during a short projection you watched your hands melt before passing through a wall, saw its inside structure, then flew over your house in the rain and came back through your roof and reentered your physical body. This can be represented by the keywords wall, rain, flying, roof, or by easier-to-remember theme trigger phrases like melting hands, flying in the rain, through the wall, or over the roof. Holding a single trigger phrase strongly in mind and literally shouting this during reentry will greatly facilitate the downloading of shadow memories into accessible levels of memory. Position and Comfort The position and comfort of the physical body during a projection directly affects the ease of staying awake and aware, and of sleeping only lightly if sleep does come. Sitting in an armchair or being propped up in a bed with several pillows, you will find, does not encourage deep sleep, or will at least slow down its onset. Being very slightly uncomfortable helps to hold the mind more alert during projection attempts. This also helps lengthen the in-between sleeping and waking state, creating a flickering semiwaking state for slightly longer than usual, which is invaluable for early, ultrashort, conscious-exit projections. Trance State Familiarity It is important to develop the ability to hold a comfortable level of trance and to be able to function within it. This must be done without falling asleep too often or too deeply, and without falling into too deep a level of trance. The longer you can hold your physical/etheric mind awake in the trance state after a successful projection (which may seem like a failure at the time) the longer your projected double can stay out of your body. This also makes the projected double stronger during this time, making for stronger and more vivid experiences and shadow memories. This alone increases the chances for successful shadow memory downloading during reintegration. If you tend to fall asleep quickly after a projection attempt (which can be quite lengthy and exhausting during early attempts) you will usually fall into a deep sleep fairly quickly. Your chances of remembering a projection are then sharply reduced. If you can hold yourself semiawake, flickering for just a few minutes longer, you can use this time with good effect. If, when you get out of body, you discipline yourself to return and reenter your physical body fairly quickly, knowing roughly how long you. are able to hold yourself semiawake, and both you and your projected double work along with this, you will have more chance of a successful reentry and a full shadow memory download for that experience. Even a brief conscious-exit projection lasting ten seconds is an extremely valuable accomplishment. It provides firsthand experience and makes projection real! The length of subsequent projections can be gradually increased, but the first successful, deliberate, conscious-exit projection and reentry is the most important one of all. This is the one that gives you something real to build on. Astral Sight Exercise Experimenting with astral sight is very interesting and valuable. Apart from its developmental value, it helps keep you awake and aware in the physical/etheric body for an extended period of time after the exit. Some degree of real-time or astral sight (seeing through closed eyelids) usually manifests just before or during a successful projection exit. If the physical/etheric body perseveres after a projection attempt, even if it seems to have failed, it also often gains this ability. The resulting point of view can be moved to observe the entire room without any corresponding physical movement. This is not only a fascinating exercise of the etheric body, but it also enables the use of another shadow memory reclamation technique: using astral feedback to download shadow memories directly into the physical brain. Concentrating on observing the room around you through closed eyelids and on improving your control over this ability helps keep you occupied and awake enough to help with reintegration. The use of real-time or astral sight improves steadily with practice. Even if you can't see much of the room around you through your closed eyelids, you will usually see something. This can vary from hypnagogic imagery to complex astral visions. You may see nothing but faint sprinkles of light. Whatever you see, observe it and play around with the focus of your eyes behind your closed eyelids, trying to bring whatever you see into sharper focus. This will help activate and improve astral sight, or at the very least occupy you until your projected double returns for reintegration. Never open your physical body's eyes or move your eyelids to check if your eyes are open or closed. Relax and trust that they are closed. If they are open your eyeballs will quickly dry out and you'll be forced to blink every few seconds. If you do not feel the urge to blink, trust that they are closed and that you are seeing with real-time or astral sight. Conscious Reentry I've noticed over the years that successful reintegration with a full memory download works much better if reentry into the physical body is done consciously and deliberately by the projected double. This must be done before the physical body falls into the deep sleep state. During an OBE most projectors become so engrossed with their new state of being, and with exploring the potential of their new environment that they forget all about their waiting physical body. They never think about reentering their physical body until they are reeled back into it when it finally wakes up, usually several hours later and with no shadow memories. They assume that they will never forget the powerful and memorable experience they are having. Assuming that an OBE will be remembered — forgetting the mind-split and the fickle nature of reintegration — is a sure-fire way of losing the memory of an experience altogether. Ultrashort Projection A consistent factor in the majority of OBE success stories I have received from people I have coached is that these projectors have listened to a simple but extremely important tip I have drummed into them. They kept their first projections ultrashort. They made a deliberate reentry into their physical bodies shortly after their exit. I cannot emphasize enough the importance and effectiveness of this. Novice projectors simply must return to their bodies before their physical/etheric mind loses track of things and falls into a deep sleep. This is the only thing that will overcome the beginner's lack of skill, discipline, and experience. That first successful fully conscious exit and a fully conscious reentry, even of an ultrashort tensecond projection, is of paramount importance to all beginners. It makes OBE achievable and experientially real to them. It fuels enthusiasm for future projections. This knowledge and firsthand experience significantly affects their personal belief system, making a lot of other things possible, empowering all aspects of future training and development. It takes a lot of mental energy to hold the mind of the projected double focused during an OBE. Most projectors only have a few short minutes, if that, before they lose focus and control over their experience and miss their prime chance for downloading shadow memories. Every minute that passes during an OBE makes it harder for the projected double to focus and function coherently. Discipline yourself to return to your body very soon after you achieve the conscious exit. For a first-time projection especially, get out, move twenty feet (six meters) away from your body, and get your sea legs; breathe in what it's like to be out of body, take a quick look at your hands and watch them melt, then dive straight back into your body — shouting your trigger phrase as you do! Then, get straight up and write down what happened. Lock those precious shadow memories into your brain! A successfully remembered ten-second projection is worth a thousand all-nighters forgotten! The most important thing for all struggling beginners is to experience that first fully conscious exit, to feel what it's like to be out of body, then to experience a fully conscious reentry. Nothing else matters! Do not attempt to do anything else the first few times out of body! Please trust me on this point and keep your early projections very, very short. You can slowly increase OBE time as you get better at making conscious reentries and downloading shadow memories. Counting Koalas Counting koalas (or any other animal or item of choice), "One koala, two koalas, three koalas, four koalas", etc., can be a great help during early short projections. The physical/etheric mind must begin counting as soon as it experiences projection-related symptoms, like vibrations and rapid heartbeat, and suspects that a projection may be in progress. The projected double must plan to do exactly the same thing. It must plan to reenter its physical body at a predetermined count, say at a twenty-koalas count — no longer with early projections. The physical/etheric body and its projected double must work together to make this method work. All the projected double has to do is float or dive back into its physical body at the agreed-on count. The rest of the reentry is a reflex action. The projected double must firmly hold its OBE success in mind and shout a trigger phrase as it makes its move for reentry. I suggest that the physical/etheric mind be allowed to relax and flicker, be allowed to start falling toward sleep when it gets to the twenty count, ready for reintegration. This will keep the physical/etheric mind focused and awake for the required length of time, and create a strong relationship between physical and OBE memories. Both aspects of the projector will be counting in sync and both will be attempting or expecting reentry and reintegration at around the same time. Both must work together on this. The physical/etheric mind will be expecting its projected double to return shortly after the twenty-koala count, so it can watch itself carefully for the torso energy rush and slight falling sensation that signal the reentry of its projected double. At the twenty count, the physical/etheric mind should stop counting and relax, holding its mind clear with breath awareness, while allowing itself to drift toward the sleep state. This creates the flickering of consciousness needed for a successful reintegration and shadow memory download. This flickering state should hold the physical/etheric mind aware just long enough for it to feel the energetic reentry sensations when they occur. These sensations will jolt it back to full awareness, hopefully with a full load of shadow memories. Once this has been done successfully, the koala count can be steadily increased to the limit of the ability of the physical/etheric mind to hold itself awake while counting. Keep in mind here that the projected double's memories may, or may not completely replace the physical/etheric memories, for that time period during reintegration. If projection is successful and this appears to have occurred, there may be no memory at all of the physical/etheric side of this joint projection effort. If the projection is successful, take it as read that this technique worked. If the projection fails, try to work out what went wrong, and keep trying until you master it. It is also well worth using the memory-recall trigger phrases and putting your mind on search after an apparently failed attempt, in an effort to pull shadow memories back to a conscious level of memory. Running Commentary and Affirmations Another valuable device that aids shadow memory recall is to keep up a running verbal commentary during projection. Talk all the time during the OBE, describing every little thing being done, seen, and experienced. This commentary helps strengthen shadow memories and makes them easier to recall after reintegration. It also helps if, at the end of the description of each item, action, or scene, you regularly reaffirm that you will remember everything. Firmly say, "I will remember all this!" as an affirmation to help cement that memory into the subtle energetic brain of the projected double. Planned Missions Plan projections and get into the habit of sticking to your plan. Have primary, secondary, and tertiary mission goals, and focus on these during the projection. Make these mission goals achievable within a realistic time frame so time out is not overly long. Apart from making projections more productive, this also gives the projected double something definite to focus on during each OBE, and gives the physical/etheric mind some idea of what its projected double has been doing during each projection. This last is a significant help when trying to recapture shadow memories, allowing far more specific trigger phrases to be applied to the trigger-phrase recall process. Working with the Mind-Split There are a few ways to use the mind-split to advantage, to help cement shadow memories into the physical brain during a projection, especially during reintegration. Three energetic effects are strong enough to be useful for this purpose: astral feedback, reentry torso energetic surge, and the reentry falling sensation. Astral Feedback Download To use astral feedback for a memory download, discipline yourself, once out of body, to attempt an immediate connection with your physical/etheric counterpart before it drifts away into sleep. Both sides must work together on this, and agree that the projected double will stand or float in a particular place in the room near the physical body, but no closer than seven feet from its physical body or it will usually get sucked back into it. It must try to telepathically and visually connect with its physical counterpart. The physical/etheric aspect must also reach out and try to connect with its projected double, using real-time or astral sight if these abilities are present, or reaching out with its feelings if these abilities are not present. The physical/etheric side must trust that its projected double will cooperate and be in the target area, and must reach out with all its available senses. Its projected double should be in the target area doing exactly the same thing, if everything is going according to plan. The projected double is out there somewhere nearby. With connection, all its shadow memories will come flooding back into the physical brain. An emotional connection, if made first, may cause an uncomfortable feeling of presence and anxiety on both sides. Stay calm on both sides and this feeling will not escalate. If it becomes too strong, the projected double should leave the immediate area, putting some distance between itself and its physical/etheric counterpart. It can return and try again as soon as astral feedback pressure subsides. The best way to develop real-time and astral sight is to use it as regularly as possible, so that even if this connection fails it is still a beneficial exercise. Keep in mind that, once located, the projected double may look quite different from the physical body. It is usually younger and slimmer than its original, but it may also look a little ghostly. Once both sides of the mind-split connect, projected and physical memories transfer both ways. If all goes well, this causes dual but solid memories for that single time period. Once a connection has been made, the projected double must back away from its physical counterpart within a few seconds or risk nauseating astral feedback. A connection will energize both physical and projected minds. This energy will allow a longer-than-normal projection while still enabling good control and strong shadow memories. Still, keep the rest of the projection fairly short, under two minutes, or risk losing the memory of the second part of the experience entirely. If contact can be managed without adverse side effects, with astral feedback being used to download shadow memories into physical memory storage, the projected double can return regularly during the course of a projection — say every couple of minutes — and reconnect with its physical counterpart. This will allow the duration of a projection to be lengthened considerably. Regularly reconnecting in this way allows the physical brain's memory to be topped up with the latest set of shadow memories each time. These memories will be stored in the physical brain as solid and easily recallable memories. As soon as the projected double begins experiencing reality fluctuations, I suggest an immediate reentry. This is a sign that the dream mind is becoming active and that the physical/etheric body is falling into a deeper level of sleep. If the projected double tries to weather severe reality fluctuations, it runs the risk of losing the experience from that moment onward. It may also miss out on making a conscious reentry, which is a real buzz in reverse. Reentry Torso Energy Rush When the projected double returns and reenters its physical counterpart, it causes a quite noticeable energetic surge upward through the physical body, especially strong in the stomach and chest. If the physical/etheric body is even partially awake during reentry, the energy rush will jolt it back to full awareness. It is an upwardly moving, surging, tingling, energetic sensation very similar to the torso energy surge felt during the exit. It starts and finishes very quickly, taking from one to three seconds depending on the speed and smoothness of the reentry. A tingling adrenaline-type of energy rush moves rapidly upward through the legs and lower body, then spreads rapidly up through the stomach and chest before stopping abruptly. If you have felt projection-related sensations earlier, the reentry sensations are a certainty that the projected double has returned and reentered its physical body. This is the prime time to reach out and reclaim shadow memories. Reach out with a strong feeling of having just forgotten something, and use the shadow memory recall trigger phrases. If you are lying prone in bed, sit up, put both feet on the ground, and put some real effort into recalling the projection. The memories are there, just beneath the surface. You just have to reach inside and trigger them. Once you locate a fragment, a whole set of shadow memories will flood back into physical memory. If the projected double reenters the physical body deliberately, it can do a great deal to help with a successful shadow memory download. As with the exit, one of the biggest problems with reentry is that the projected double feels a huge, tingling energetic surge. It tingles with energy and feels a dizzy falling sensation as it is drawn rapidly back inside its physical body. These heavy sensations can easily break its concentration. In a way, it momentarily blacks out as it gives way to these sensations at the critical moment of reentry. The projected double must hold its awareness of being out of body very strongly in the forefront of its mind during its reentry. When it begins the deliberate reentry process, it must not give in to the wave of energetic sensations associated with reentry and reintegration. It must continue thinking and concentrating on being aware of what it has been doing, which is projecting out of its body. I always suggest, for every conscious reentry, that the projected double hold a trigger phrase firmly in mind and shout this as it dives back into and reunites with its physical body. This vastly improves the chances of carrying shadow memories back into conscious levels of the physical brain. Reentry Falling Sensation People often feel noticeable falling sensations while they are trying to fall asleep. This may happen several times before falling asleep, and will often cause people to gasp and catch the sides of their bed, as if to stop themselves from falling. It happens to most people who spend any length of time hovering on the verge of sleep, flickering between the waking and sleeping states. This sensation is caused by a brief projection exit and reentry. If great heaviness and lethargy are felt immediately after the falling sensation, or if real-time or astral sight becomes evident, then a projection has most likely occurred and is in full progress. If you catch the side of the bed and come immediately awake, a full reentry has most likely been experienced. There are often no other noticeable projection-related symptoms associated with this type of semisleep type of projection. The projected double slips out very easily if conditions are just right. This is a natural type of sleep projection exit and the conscious mind is not involved, being briefly asleep and out of the equation. No heavy exit sensations are therefore generated by this type of projection exit. If the falling sensation is felt, know what has caused it and immediately use shadow memory recall techniques in an attempt to recall the OBE. Hold the intention firmly in mind that if you find yourself out of body, even if only briefly, you will immediately dive back into your body, shouting a trigger phrase as you do. This might only yield a brief memory of a spontaneous OBE, but it's an easy way to gain some type of projection experience, and is definitely a very good start if you are new at OBE. If you are prone to the falling sensation, you might want to experiment by holding yourself awake longer than usual, hovering and flickering between the waking and sleeping states. An easy way to do this is to hold your forearms straight up, elbows resting on the bed. Your hands will start falling to the bed whenever you fall asleep; this will wake you up each time. This extends the time spent falling asleep and the number of times you will fall asleep. This increases the chances of capturing the memory of a brief out-of-body experience of some kind. Return and Reentry Many people worry about getting lost, or of not being able to get back into their physical bodies after a projection. According to my experience and all that I know, the silver cord cannot be severed, and the projected double cannot be permanently held or locked out of its physical body while the physical body still lives. The projected double can usually return to its physical body at any time during an OBE, simply by feeling for its body and the room around it. This transports the projected double back into or close to its physical body. However, there is one notable circumstance that can make reentry into the physical body difficult, if not temporarily impossible. If, when the projected double returns, the physical body has entered the deep-sleep state, the projected double can find itself temporarily locked out of its body, which can cause it serious anxiety, as it may believe its physical body has died during its absence. I have experienced this myself, and have advised many people to whom this has happened. This is the only circumstance, as far as I am aware, that can interfere with the automatic reintegration process. It can be a terrifying experience. The physical body will feel cold, clammy, and lifeless to the touch of its projected double. In all cases where this type of experience has been recorded, some physical event or noise — e.g., an alarm clock or telephone ringing — has caused the physical body to awaken soon after the projected double has begun to worry. This event wakes the deeply sleeping physical body, thereby reactivating the reentry mechanism and allowing the projected double to successfully reintegrate. Shadow memories from cases like this always contain a strong emotional content (often terror) that immediately floods into the physical mind as it flickers into wakefulness. This forces the complete recall of a very unsettling experience, of the type most projectors would much rather forget — which is quite ironic, really. This type of experience usually leaves the projector emotionally unsettled and disturbed, often with a long-lasting or permanent dread of any type of OBE. The very best advice I can give to anyone finding themselves temporarily locked out of their body is to trust that this is quite normal and will not hurt you. Go exploring or return to the astral planes and enjoy the time you have left out of your body. You may not remember much later, but that doesn't matter, so enjoy it while you can. The most important thing here is that you don't panic. Death is a fairly extreme event, to say the least. Even if you had died peacefully in your sleep from a heart attack or something, you surely would have been at least momentarily awakened while taking your last gasping breath. If you have indeed passed away during an OBE, then there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it. However, staying calm will help you a great deal if you really have suddenly deceased. This will spare you a lot of torment and distress and will make your passing easier for you to deal with. If you look around yourself, thinking you might have died, and see no religious figures or angels, spirit friends, or deceased relatives, and no tunnel of light or anything out of theme with a normal real-time projection, chances are extremely high that your physical body is just in a deep sleep. If this is the case, it will wake up shortly none the worse for wear, as long as you don't panic and make things worse for yourself than they really are. Flicker Tape Reentry Technique The flicker-tape reentry method was designed with an eye to applying mind-split theory to overcome mind-split problems. This is particularly useful if early projection attempts are continually failing, with projectors falling asleep and having no way of knowing whether they were successful or not. I recommend that you record a simple tape to wake you very gently. This works much better than any other type of alarm. Tap a pencil lightly on a table once per second for five seconds and record the sound. This is the first level of awakening noise. This should be followed by a ten-second period of silence. Follow this with a slightly louder tapping-noise segment, once per second for five seconds, then another ten seconds of silence. This should be followed by a light chinking noise, created by tapping a pen on a glass or china cup once per second for another five seconds, then another ten seconds of silence. After this, progressively increase the level of noise, varying its source (table, china, glass, metal, etc.) in five-second segments with ten second gaps of silence, until you are rapping a spoon onto a metal saucepan fairly loudly — loud enough to definitely wake you up. A child's xylophone or recorded bird songs — anything you like — can be used to create a more interesting flicker tape. Once you have this tape made, the volume can be set to what is just right for you. To find the perfect level of noise that begins to wake you, have someone else wake you using tapping noises, as shown above. Get them to monitor your reactions carefully, especially facial expressions and movement for signs of waking, for the signs that you are flickering between the waking and sleep states. This will give them some idea of what level of sound is required to wake you. Recording this process will yield more accurate results, as this information can then be applied to making the real flicker tape. Projected Double's Part Once out of body, stay at least twenty feet (six meters) away from your physical body, if possible, to stop yourself being accidentally reeled in. If you feel pressure dragging you back into it, fight it and force yourself to move quickly away. Alternatively, have another clock in a nearby room that is synchronized with the one next to your physical body. Watch this clock and move back to reenter your body at the appointed time. Carefully keep an eye on the time and make sure you return to your body in ample time to watch the clock as it nears alarm time. Be prepared for a conscious reentry the moment it goes off. Be aware that your physical counterpart has probably fallen into a light-to-medium sleep, possibly even into a deep sleep. A successful, deliberate, and conscious reentry is now entirely up to the projected you. One clock should be placed in such a position that the projected double can easily see it while standing or floating near the foot of the bed or chair being used, without it having to get too close to its physical body. When the alarm goes off and the first set of tapping noises begins, you should be waiting nearby, ready for reentry, with a reentry trigger phrase being held firmly in mind. You must be poised and ready, waiting to feel the first tugging sensations that signal your physical body is beginning to flicker awake. Once you feel this first tugging, you should immediately slide back into your physical body, shouting your trigger phrase exuberantly! Be ready to take control as you reenter and force your physical body to wake up, remembering all, then write down your experience. Always have a notebook and pen beside you. Physical Body's Part When you, in your physical body, first hear the tapping of the flicker tape and begin to awaken, you must try not to wake up immediately. Try to ignore the noise and allow yourself to doze and flicker. Try to fall back to sleep. Waking your physical body is your projected double's job, not yours. The flicker tape will continue its tapping at regular intervals, slowly getting louder each time, with ten-second gaps of silence. Keep an eye out for the torso surge or falling sensation, either of which are signs that the projected double is reentering. When you feel either of these sensations, know that your projected double is in the process of reintegrating. If you miss this moment and just slowly come awake with no apparent memories, put your mind on search, and use OBE recall trigger phrases to pull back shadow memories. The memories are there, you just have to reach in and trigger them. The ten-second gaps of silence between each waking segment can be increased if the waking physical body does not have enough time to flicker back into a light sleep after a tapping segment has started the waking process. It must be able to flicker or fall back into a semisleep or very light sleep for this technique to work properly. In time, if you practice this technique regularly, you will become programmed to respond to the noises on your flicker tape by flickering in and out of the sleep state. This will maximize your chances of a successful planned projection and reentry with a full shadow memory download. One last way to use the above flicker-tape technique is with no projection technique being used at all. Set the flicker tape alarm for fifteen or twenty minutes after you calculate you will fall asleep. Simply set the alarm and allow yourself to fall asleep as normal, noting the time at which it is set to go off. Using the flicker-tape method is then entirely up to your projected double. It is solely responsible for waking you up and forcing a full shadow memory download by watching the clock and using the shouted trigger phrase reentry technique. When the tape wakes your physical body, allow yourself to flicker for a while, but if you come fully awake with no projection memories, use the OBE recall phrases to assist with shadow memory recall. 23. Lucid Dream Backup The training exercises given in this book, especially the energetic development work, will heighten your dream, lucid dream, and spontaneous OBE activity considerably. It is a shame to waste all this energy on uncontrolled dreams, so I suggest that you use a lucid dream technique as a backup and secondary goal. This will provide some out-of-body experience by way of lucid dreaming and will help keep interest high until you succeed at having an OBE. A lucid dream is a genuine type of OBE, although the dimensional gate traveled through to achieve it is best thought of as being internal. And while it doesn't work for everyone, a lucid dream can often be converted into a real-time OBE by feeling for the physical body and returning to it, or near to it. It is also sometimes possible to project from a lucid dream into the astral planes by imagining and targeting an astral destination. Everyone dreams when asleep and most people remember some dreams, if only the occasional fragment. Some people claim they never dream, but they really mean they just don't remember their dreams. Dreaming is commonplace, but there is much more to dreaming than meets the eye. For most people, dreams are their only connection with the greater universe and their spiritual roots. I think of dreaming as a natural internal energetic process of the mind. Free of the constraints of normal waking consciousness, the subconscious mind takes over, reflecting thoughts and fantasies and creative energies into the mind's eye of the sleeping but never totally dormant mind. The dreaming process can be thought of as something like an energetically generated personal dream space, infinite in size and scope, inside me human mind. The brow center is energized during sleep, creating and hosting the dream environment, a personal dream space that also connects the human incarnation with its original animating spirit mind, the higher self. The mind's eye can be thought of as a personal link to other dimensions, a doorway to the great beyond. As the physical body and mind fall asleep, a copy of consciousness is reflected into the etheric body, and from there into the projectable double as it is generated, and later into the astral and higher subtle bodies. While this is happening, the physical/etheric copy of the mind begins sliding toward another type of projection, an internal projection into the dream environment. At the start of the process, while falling asleep, the physical/etheric mind begins losing the strength of will to form coherent and logical thought patterns. It slowly loses itself among wandering fragments of thought and subconscious impressions. It loses touch with reality and begins to experience dreams, some of which appear to be generated by the subconscious mind. This is part of a fairly well-known natural process whereby the mind works at solving problems and internal conflicts. It plays out dream scenarios and situations, and lives these internally within the safety of the dream environment. This helps the mind find peace and balance in a natural way. I think dream environments are simply other dimensions, dream dimensions that are reached via an internal mental gateway. All the action therein is played out in the mind's eye of the dreamer, or is reflected into it. Dream dimensions can be every bit as real and infinite in size and scope as any other dimension or parallel universe. Just as you cannot point to the astral dimension, so you cannot point to a dream dimension. I consider all nonphysical dimensions to be subtly related alternative gateways into related and possibly even interconnected dimensions. Lucid Dreaming With a normal lucid dream, full waking consciousness returns to you at some point during the course of a dream. You suddenly become aware you are dreaming, effectively waking up inside the dream environment. You can then take some measure of control over the dream scenario and over the course of events. Lucid dreams differ from OBEs in that they often seem much more substantial and realistic. A powerful lucid dream can be indistinguishable from reality, even if entered from the full waking state. A lucid dreamer is much more aware than a real-time or astral projector of having something like a physical body. Lucid dreamers often experience physical sensations like gravity, texture, temperature, taste, pleasure and pain. These sensations are generated by the subconscious mind from similar remembered experiences. The more powerful the lucid dream, the more real these sensations become. Lucid dreaming, real-time projections, and astral projections share a fair bit of common ground. The dreamer's center of conscious awareness often flicks back and forth many times between these states during a single experience. Often, more than one type of experience is perceived or remembered as happening simultaneously. This is caused by different aspects of the mind-split intruding on each other during the eventual shadow memory download at the end of the experience. This causes a confusing set of mixed memories, being part dream, part lucid dream, part real-time OBE, and part astral projection. Reality Checking To become lucid, you need to program your mind with a trigger to make you realize you are dreaming, so that you can take control. The best way is by forming the habit of frequent reality checks. (Reality checking also works with spontaneous OBE.) It takes time and perseverance to make reality checking a habitual action, and it will not work until it becomes habitual. But once it does, lucid dreams or spontaneous OBEs can be experienced just about every night, even many times each night. Because of this, reality checking is well worth the effort. Program yourself to stop what you are doing for a moment, in real life, and check the reality of your current situation. This is very quick and simple to do, but must be done regularly, many times each day, for it to become a habitual action. The reality-checking habit must become a habitual response to a frequent real-life event. Every time you do a reality check, look around and ask yourself • • • • Is this situation normal? Do my surroundings look normal? Do my hands look normal? Can I float, levitate, or fly? The key to effective reality checking is a simple trigger. This trigger must be a frequent action or event that can be used several times each day. The idea is to isolate a simple action and program yourself to habitually react to this event by doing a reality check every time it happens. For example, every time you have a drink during the day, do a reality check. A few ideas for realitycheck triggers: • • • • • Hands: Every time you notice or wash your hands Drink: Every time you have a drink Toilet: Every time you go to the toilet Time: Every time you check the time or time is mentioned Food: Every time you eat something Whichever primary trigger you choose, it is a good idea to in-dude drinking and going to the toilet as fixed reality-check situations. These both involve urges in the physical body and both of these urges can be felt quite strongly from within the dream or projected state. Most people get at least one of these urges during sleep every night. These urges often lead to false awakenings, where dreamers or projectors wander off to get a drink or go to the toilet, or both, not knowing they are actually out of body. They often go through the motions of drinking or of starting to empty their bladder, with their physical body still asleep in bed. So, every time you go to the toilet, turn the light switch on and off twice, to check that it is working normally. If you are projecting in real time (a false awakening), the light switch may sound as if it clicks, but the light will not go on and off and the switch will not actually move. Try passing your hand through the wall or some other solid object. Check your hands to see if they look normal, or if they melt. If you find yourself outside using a tree or a bush, which often happens when the urge to urinate is felt within a dream or OBE, check the reality of the situation before continuing. If the physical body needs to urinate and this wakes you up inside a dream or OBE, you can fight this urge and continue the experience for several minutes or so, before being pulled back into your physical body. Alternatively, feel for your body and project back into it, then get up and go to the toilet while holding on to as much of your deeply relaxed state as possible. Jot down a quick outline of your experience, just a few keywords before returning to bed. When you get back into bed, you will often be able to slip straight back into the dream or OBE state to continue where you left off. The next morning, use your notes to help reclaim shadow memories of further experiences. Hunger and Thirst It is possible to use the hunger and thirst urges to cause lucidity during dreams. It is also possible to use this to wake yourself up during an OBE, or even to cause a false awakening. A false awakening is a short real-time OBE, in which the projectors believe they are awake instead of projecting. The thirst and hunger urges are quite strongly felt from within all these states, and will often make the dream or projected double go for a drink or a snack. The first step is to program yourself to do a habitual reality check whenever you have a drink. Note if the fluid you are drinking is actually moistening your throat and slaking your thirst. If you are dreaming or projecting, no amount of fluid will do this and you will find yourself drinking a ridiculous quantity of fluid in an attempt to do so. The next step is to deny yourself fluids, and/or food, for a few hours before going to bed. Place a large glass of water and some food on a tray in your room. Put these well out of reach on the far side of the room. Behind this food and drink, place a large piece of white paper on which is printed clearly, "You are having an OBE!" or "Do a reality check NOW!" Make sure you only put this sign up before retiring or you will get so used to it being there, you will not pay any attention to it during an OBE. If you try to consume this food and drink during a dream, you'll find yourself eating and drinking dream copies of the originals. These will look and feel and taste the same but will not slake thirst nor satisfy hunger. This discrepancy can be used as a trigger. Normally, if you try to consume these during an OBE or false awakening, your hands will pass through it. The sign will alert you to the fact that you are having an OBE. When this happens, it is a good idea to reenter your physical body and write down what happened. Then return to sleep and try to repeat the OBE or false awakening. Sometimes, though, a projector's subconscious creative ability will automatically mask many aspects of the out-of-body environment. Unaware real-time projectors may inadvertently create copies of food and drink. As with dreaming, these will not satisfy hunger or thirst. This discrepancy, again, can be used to trigger realization that an OBE is in progress. Affirmations Affirmations are repeated sayings used to program the subconscious mind. These are most effective if said just before falling asleep. Before you go to sleep each night say, "I will remember to do my reality check!" replacing the words "do my reality check" with whatever your primary reality check really is — for example, "I will remember to look at my hands!" Do this twenty times or more before falling sleep. Concentrate on the content and meaning of what you are saying; do not just rattle it off parrot fashion. The whole idea behind this affirmation is to convince your subconscious to remind you to do your reality check during a lucid dream or OBE. Remembering a Lucid Dream After a successful reality check during a dream or OBE, you will suddenly realize you are lucid dreaming or having an OBE. Stay calm! Strong emotions like excitement can ruin an experience by waking you up in your physical body. Once you become aware, you can take control of the situation and continue from there. Once lucid, it is important to begin affirming to yourself that you are going to remember everything. This greatly improves your chances of remembering the experience. Tell yourself repeatedly, "I will remember everything!" Another excellent way of strengthening this memory is to give a constant running commentary throughout the experience. Speak aloud to yourself, describing everything you see and do at all times, but still regularly affirm you will remember it. Exit Symptoms within Dreams It is quite common for a dreamer to experience the energetic sensations associated with a projection exit (vibrations, rapid heartbeat, falling sensation, etc.) from within the dream state. These sensations will often trigger the lucid dream state, making you suddenly aware of your situation. But the transfer from one out-of-body level to another, say from real-time to the astral planes, is not accompanied by the same energetic sensations as a normal conscious-exit projection. You may perceive yourself to be having a spontaneous OBE exit, and feel all the normal sensations, especially if you have been trying to cause a real OBE exit earlier. You may even be dreaming that you are in the process of attempting a conscious-exit OBE, which is not uncommon. If you become aware of projection-related symptoms during a dream or lucid dream, keep calm and do not fight them. You will experience something very much like a conscious-exit projection, but it will be your dream body experiencing it. Projection sensations felt within a dream, while they can be quite strong, are always much less alarming than they might be in the physical body. Most people will feel only vibrations, partial paralysis, and a floating sensation, as if they are levitating within their dream. They may not, however, realize they are dreaming at this time; more usually they will not. Position Effects on Lucid Dreaming and OBE The resting position of the physical body can have quite an effect on whether an OBE or lucid dream is achieved. I find that I cannot make a conscious exit while lying on my side. I must be either sitting, reclining, or lying flat on my back. If I lie on my left side, I tend to project directly into a lucid dream. Lying on my right side does not encourage me to sleep or anything else, and if I do manage to fall asleep, it is usually dreamless. While the resting positions given above may not affect everyone in exactly the same way, I suggest that their potential effects be explored. Lucid Dream Projection One of the most powerful experiences I know of results from deliberately projecting into a lucid dream environment from the full waking state, with no break in consciousness. I call this mindblowing experience lucid dream projection, although others have also called it WILD (wake induced lucid dream). Although this is technically a lucid dream, it can aptly be called the ultimate out-of-body experience as it has many similarities with a conscious-exit OBE. A lucid dream projection is essentially no different from a conscious-exit projection. Both cause the same clarity of perception, that of operating remotely from the true physical body. The only difference of note is that lucid dream projections are far more realistic and true to life than are projections or normal lucid dreams. Sensations like gravity, the weight and feel of the physical body, its ability to taste and smell and feel pleasure and pain, the limitations of solid matter, the feeling of temperature, etc., are all indistinguishable from true-life perceptions. Lucid dream projection is particularly useful when OBE attempts continually fail on the verge of the exit. All that is required is to make a normal projection attempt. If this fails, or if you get apprehensive and do not want to go through with the full exit, simply stop what you are doing and try for a lucid dream projection instead. All the deep physical relaxation and energetic preparation for the projection attempt can be used to power a lucid dream projection. After almost triggering the projection reflex, simply snuggle down into your most comfortable, sleep-inducing position. Relax into yourself as if in the process of falling asleep. If your first position does not provide the desired results, try other positions during future attempts. Stay tranced and mentally focused while allowing yourself to drift right up to the edge of sleep. Gently observe yourself mentally while imagining a target dream environment. Hold this target firmly in mind and allow yourself to drift off into yourself, as if drifting off to sleep. If all goes well, you will slip directly into your target scenario. You will find yourself suddenly standing there fully conscious. There will be a definite continuance of waking consciousness, with no break in it at all, just as occurs with a normal conscious-exit projection. You will not just fall asleep and wake up there, you will project there directly from the waking state. The transition is sudden and breathtaking. You will feel as if you have suddenly slipped through a curtain into the dream environment while fully awake. Your target dream scenario can be anything you like, but I strongly recommend a large department store or shopping mall scene that you know personally. For some reason, this scenario makes lucid dream projection much easier to achieve. I have no idea why this works but, what works... works. Remember a scene from a store or mall with which you are familiar. Construct this scenario in your imagination until you have a clear feel and imagined view of it in your mind's eye. It also helps if you name your lucid dream's staging scene. Vocalize the target's name in your mind as you imagine its image while attempting to project there. Image this scene in your mind's eye and silently but continually repeat its name, as you allow yourself to slide deeper and deeper into yourself and toward the target environment. Once you appear at the target, try not to get distracted. Plan to move out of the store and into the mall, if you are not already there. Keep moving. Walk through the mall and look for a door or an elevator. Either of these should take you to another environment, if you want to leave the mail. Avoid sexual thoughts at all times, as this will severely affect the quality and duration of the whole experience. Before you open a door, imagine and expect to find the environment you want, or a way leading to it, on the other side. Hold this image and intention firmly in mind as you open each door. If this fails, go back inside the mall and find an elevator. Ask a dream character where the nearest one is if you cannot find one. Once inside the elevator, press a button and imagine your chosen destination; hold this and its name firmly in mind as the elevator moves. Expect to find this destination or a way leading to it when the elevator stops and the doors open. If this does not work, try other floors at random. If this fails entirely or you get lost, find a door leading out of the mall completely and follow your instincts from there on. Once you know where the elevator is, or where a convenient door is, you can return to it during future excursions. From there, you can quickly navigate wherever you wish. If you cannot think of a destination, either spend some time creating one in your imagination before the lucid dream projection, or explore at random. The more often you use the mall as a staging area, the easier and more reliable lucid dream projection will become. Lucid Dream Projection — Experience The true differences between a lucid dream and an OBE only become fully apparent if both are experienced very close together, which allows a fair comparison. Studying case histories simply does not provide enough data to allow this. The following account of my first lucid dream projection shows the effects of the resting position, while also highlighting what are some fairly obvious differences between lucid dream projections, OBEs, and normal lucid dreams. I awoke at about two in the morning, lying on my back with my whole body vibrating. I could feel myself about to spontaneously project. My arms and legs were already starting to float out. However, I did not want to project. I was tired and had a busy day ahead of me, and just wanted to go back to sleep. I'd been having a very interesting dream up until then and wanted to go back into it if I could. I felt heavy and sluggish but managed to roll onto my left side. The vibrations stopped immediately and the heavy sinking feeling soon left me. Happy now, I snuggled down and relaxed back into myself, concentrating on the dreamscape I had just left and the name I had given it: "Advantage". I hoped this would take me back into it, as this trick often seemed to work. After only a few seconds, I popped directly into the dream I'd left earlier. The transition was breathtaking. There was a full continuance of waking consciousness. I did not fall asleep and then wake up within the dream, but projected directly into it from the full waking state. I suddenly appeared in a busy, brightly lit department store, just like the one I'd been dreaming of earlier. In front of me, a dark-haired young woman was setting up a dining room display. I saw people everywhere, shopping, serving, packing shelves, etc. Everything looked and felt real, stable, and solid. It was simply mind-blowing! I jumped up and down few times to feel the weight of my body, then pinched myself, "Ouch!" This hurt just as it would in real life, and my body weight felt normal. I was fully dressed and could even feel the texture of my socks when I wiggled my toes inside my shoes. I glanced at my hands. They looked normal and did not melt. I tried creating an apple in my hand, but nothing happened. The dreamscape I was in did not waver in the slightest. Curious, I thought, in a normal lucid dream the environment can be altered and anything can be created by imagining it. Regardless, I was fully aware that I was dreaming. I walked over to the young woman and asked her what she was doing. She told me they were getting ready for the big day, whatever that was. I picked up a large vase of flowers from the table in the middle of her furniture setting. The china felt like real china and the flowers smelled like real flowers. I pulled a rose petal off and ate it. It tasted dry, scented, and faintly bitter, just as a rose petal should taste, but the taste did not linger in my mouth as it normally would, I tipped the vase and splashed some of the water into my hand. It felt cold and wet, just like real water. I braced myself, hoping that I was truly inside a lucid dream as I believed. I yanked the linen tablecloth from under the main table setting in the display. It almost worked, but the vase and a couple of plates smashed noisily on the floor. A few people looked, but no one seemed to care about the breakage, not even the shop assistant whose display I had just ruined. She went on unpacking and arranging things as if nothing had happened, shaking out another linen tablecloth as she busied herself resetting the table. More confident now, I walked down an aisle and pushed over several large pieces of cheap-looking pottery from the top shelf, one at a time. I looked around to see if anyone noticed. These made very loud smashing sounds and broken pieces flew in all directions. A few people looked over, but no one seemed to care. Reassured by this, I walked over to the checkouts and jumped up onto one of the benches. A few people looked at me, but no one seemed to care and no one said anything. I slipped back into my body and rolled onto my back thinking, "Wow! That was incredible ... so real!" I fought to control my excitement and settled back into myself again, trying to get back into the dream. This was getting really interesting. I held the store and its name in mind again and tried to sink back into it, but to no avail. The vibrations started up again and I felt myself starting to project. This time the projection reflex caught hold and buzzed me out of my body. I came to rest at the foot of my bed. The house was dim and quiet as I floated around my bedroom deciding what to do. I took a quick look at my hands. They looked strangely elongated and started melting away. Not wanting to continue the OBE, I dove back into my body and opened my eyes. I lay there for a moment, then closed my eyes and tried to get back into the dream. The vibrations started up again and another wave of falling, floating heaviness came over me as I started projecting again. I fought it off and rolled over onto my right side. The projection symptoms stopped, but I couldn't get back into my dream. I rolled over onto my left side and settled back into myself again. This position felt much better. Holding the image and name of the dreamscape in mind again, I soon found myself back there. I reappeared in the store where I had started during my last visit, several minutes ago. The same shop assistant was busily setting up the same dining display. The vase I'd broken earlier was whole again and back on the table where it had been earlier. I walked through the store, looking for signs of damage from my earlier visit. Everything I had broken earlier was whole and back on the shelves again. It was like nothing had ever happened. This was incredible! No matter what I did, the scenario restored itself. I slipped back into my body again and rolled over to my back, trying to settle myself and get back into my dream. I think my excitement had interrupted it. The vibrations started again, so I rolled over to my left side again. I was getting the hang of this now, and realized that projecting into the dream was much easier from my left side. Settling back into myself and holding the store's image and name in my mind again, I slipped back into the store. Everything was normal and I was back where I had originally started from again, with the same young lady busily setting up her dining display. She looked up and smiled as I waved, then happily went about her work. I decided to explore further afield before anything else happened, and walked out past the service desk into the mall. I walked for some time, exploring the huge mall. There were a fair number of people around. Everyone seemed very busy shopping, or preoccupied with whatever they were doing. Of note, all the children I saw were very quiet and well behaved, walking like polite little robots beside their mothers. There was some light background organ music playing and the usual noise of people quietly bustling about. A few people were talking on telephones here and there, but no one seemed to be chatting or talking to each other. People answered when questioned, but their replies were uninteresting and not very helpful. It seemed impossible to start a conversation that did not involve talking about the person's immediate task at hand. Everyone seemed to lack personality, like background characters in a movie. On the surface this dreamscape was incredibly real, maybe too real, but beneath the surface it lacked something. This looked like real life, but was definitely not the same type of real life I am familiar with. I had decided to look for a way out of the mall and do some further exploring when I suddenly felt weak and heavy. The strength flowed out of me and I felt like I was moving in slow motion. My legs floated slowly upward as I fell ever so slowly to the floor, settling there weak and paralyzed. People stepped over and around me as I lay there, but no one paid any attention to me. I felt like a child's balloon bobbing about on the floor. I was weak and heavy and could no longer feel the normal weight of my body, nor could I feel the floor beneath me. I slipped back into my body again, coming wide awake this time. I rolled over to my back and lay there pondering the significance of these experiences. The vibrations did not start up this time, probably because I was pretty much wide awake now. It was obvious to me that my resting position had been affecting the different types of experiences I'd been having. I was far too excited and wide awake by now to do any kind of further exploration with this phenomenon, so I gave up and went to get a drink and record this experience in my journal. The type of paralysis that occurred at the end of the above experience generally indicates the physical body and mind are either too awake, too tense, or in the process of waking up. Tension in the physical body will disempower, and often paralyze, any subtle bodies that are active at the time. 24. Virtual Reality Projection Virtual reality projection (VRP) is an out-of-body technique through which the subconscious mind can be tricked into creating custom-made virtual realms. This is achieved during real-time projections by passing into a picture or painting, while the mind is held empty and the gaze is held fixed and unfocused ahead. This is very easy to do once you can project, and can be a whole lot of ran to experiment with. It's also a very good way of getting into the astral planes if you are having trouble getting through the real-time zone. I discovered this phenomenon completely by accident while road-testing the rope projection technique. The projected double has enormous creative potential during any type of astral or real-time OBE. It can be difficult to deliberately create anything durable enough to be useful, though. If a sword is deliberately created by a real-time projector, for example, the sword will slowly appear, exactly as imagined. However, it will quickly fade away once the projector ceases holding its image in mind. To create anything durable, the subconscious mind must be tricked into helping. A projector is a point of consciousness with no actual size or shape. The body of the projected double is created by the projector's own sense of body awareness, and only becomes apparent when noticed or deliberately observed, with the act of self-observation affecting the appearance of what is seen. If no body is being observed, projectors revert to being a point of consciousness. This variability in size can be used to create some very interesting out-of-body special effects. Because this point of consciousness is so small, anything it approaches and observes closely can be perceived as steadily growing in size as the distance between it and the projector decreases. Consider what happens when a real-time projector passes slowly through a solid wall. Once the surface of a wall is breached and the projector's head begins passing through it, the interior of the wall becomes highlighted and can be clearly seen as if greatly magnified. If the projected double had kept its copy of normal physical size while passing through solid matter, it would not see so much texture and magnified detail. Passing into a two-dimensional picture or mirror, however, gives the illusion of passing into something much larger than it really is. The trick is to keep the surface mind clear and the gaze unfocused and straight ahead as the picture or mirror is approached. The projector then moves into the target rather than passing through it. This seems to trick the subconscious mind into creating a virtual astral realm around the projected double, identical to that shown in the picture or mirror being approached. Following is my first accidental experience with this fascinating phenomenon. First Virtual Reality Projection — Experience It was an early winter's evening. Using the new rope technique, I projected out of my body. It was fairly dark in the room, with only a crack of light from the streetlight outside coming through a chink in the heavy curtains covering my window. I floated toward the wall leading to the living room, where my mother was watching TV, and was about to pass through, when I noticed something strangely familiar in front of me. Before I could properly see what it was, I suddenly found myself in a strange new world. "Where the heck am I?" I thought, surprised. Still at the start of a fairly strong realtime projection, I seemed to have suddenly shifted into an astral realm for no apparent reason. This was highly unusual at this stage of a projection. I was not expecting reality fluctuations for at least another five or ten minutes. I found myself in a dimly lit and misty world. The atmosphere felt damp and gloomy but I did not feel threatened in any way. An enormous rail fence made of massive, rough-hewn timbers was in front of me. I could see a large, dilapidated timber building a short distance behind it. To the right of it I saw dim, silvery reflections, seeming to indicate a body of water in the distance. I heard muffled noises coming from beside the old building and, looking over, saw movement in the shadows. I did not feel threatened, so I climbed through the fence and walked over to investigate. The ground felt almost spongy beneath me as I waded through a low mist clinging to the ground and swirling about my legs. This world felt fairly solid compared to most astral realms. I could vaguely feel my body, the ground, and the fence as I climbed it, although these were nothing like real-life sensations. A large, roughly dressed man with an old black dog came shambling out of the shadows. The man was a giant compared to me, a roughly featured shadow looking to be at least eight feet tall. They moved across to the right and away from me, stopping near another oversized but lower fence. They stood there looking off toward the lake in the distance. I called out to them, but they didn't seem to hear me. They climbed over the fence and walked off toward the lake, slowly fading away into the mist. I went over to check out the old building. It appeared to be a huge barn with a large open door on one side and some kind of lean-to at the rear. I looked inside but saw nothing but mist and shadows. Circling the barn, I found it even gloomier at the rear, so I decided to follow the man and his dog. None of this made any sense to me and there was nothing here of interest to me, but it all seemed vaguely familiar. I could not think why. Had I been to this realm before? I gave up on it and decided to try moving to a different realm. I looked at my hands. They appeared white and unreal looking and my fingers melted quickly away into stumps. Realization dawned on me and I suddenly knew why this realm was so familiar to me. I was inside a large painting that hangs on the wall of my bedroom, left to me by my father. It is painted in autumn colors and depicts an old barn with a rough-hewn timber fence running past it. There is a small lake in the background and a man and a black dog are standing near the barn and looking out toward the lake. It is twilight and misty and fairly dim-looking overall, with lots of deep shadows. It hangs in the spot where I had tried to pass through the wall. Excited and not wanting to lose track of what had just happened, I focused on my physical body and soon found myself back in my chair. I turned on the lamp beside me and recorded the experience in my journal — just a few keywords and phrases in the correct sequence to lock it into my brain. I turned off the lamp and let my eyes adjust to the light. Sure enough, a thin beam of light fell onto the painting from the chink in the curtains. I got a small torch (flashlight, to Yanks) from my bedside drawer, wrapped an old coat around it and positioned it on the dresser under the painting so a thin beam of light fell onto the face of the picture. This highlighted the picture quite well while still leaving the room in virtual darkness. I used the new rope technique again, buzzed free of my body, and hovered near the ceiling. On the wall in front of me, now clearly illuminated in a puddle of light, was my painting. It struck me how much like a window this looked. I moved slowly toward it to see if it would happen again. The first time had been an accident, so I had doubts regarding being able to repeat the experience. I moved closer; the closer I got, the larger the painting grew. My projected double seemed to shrink until it was just a tiny point when I got right up close to it. I moved back and forth a few times, studying this effect. I had the impression I was looking into the picture when I got very close to it, rather than just looking at it. I moved up to the painting and inside it again. Suddenly, there I was in the same misty world. This time I was on the other side of the barn near the small lake. Everything was much better illuminated this time, probably because of the light provided by the torch. I turned around, half expecting to see the glare of the lamp from my room, but saw nothing but the vague images of distant trees in far-off shadows. I felt for my body again and soon returned to it. Getting up, I recorded everything in my journal. Instert pic of actual painting involved above Creating a Virtual Reality Realm To create a custom virtual realm, get a picture, painting, or poster of a pleasant scene, something bright and sunny. Hang it on the wall or ceiling, or even in another room close by. Get a small, lowpowered directional lamp, spotlight, or torch and set it so that part of the poster is softly illuminated by it when the main light is off. Customize a virtual realm by affixing small pictures of objects and people you want to find there. Try to make these extras blend in by keeping them roughly in the same scale as the picture. You can use a mirror to enhance a virtual reality (VR) realm. A mirror adds depth to a twodimensional picture, which helps create a much clearer and more realistic virtual realm. Place your picture facing a mirror so its reflection can clearly be seen therein. You do not have a body to interfere with this reflection during a projection, so the picture can be fairly close to the mirror. Dressing tables or wardrobe mirrors are ideal for this purpose. Simply stand or hang your chosen picture opposite a mirror and place a low-wattage lamp so that the picture reflects into the mirror. Or use a wallpaper mural. This can be entered directly or through its reflection. A small picture of someone living or deceased can trick your subconscious mind into creating a replica of them in a VR realm. This may be an effective way to communicate with deceased persons and spirits in a controlled and safe environment. The VR replica has the potential to attract the actual spirit of the original person, which could make meaningful communication possible. A custom-made realm will contain a great many familiar elements that you will always find there whenever you enter it. This helps enormously with overcoming natural fears associated with projecting into the unknown out-of-body environment. A safe haven is thus created, a kind of bolthole that can be entered whenever you become anxious during a real-time projection. A virtual realm can also be used as a staging area for projecting into the astral planes. It can be used to avoid the real-time zone completely if this is causing you apprehension. To enter the astral planes, travel beyond the limits of what is depicted or reflected inside a virtual realm. Move over that hill, behind those trees, or off the edge of whatever is depicted in the picture being used to create the virtual realm. Once you move beyond the picture's limits, you will be in an anomaly and will soon fade into or find your way into the astral planes. Where in the astral planes you end up will depend on your energetic value and angle of perception at the time of the projection. Fig. 26. Picture box setup with mirror Spotlight: A simple spotlight can be made by wrapping a pencil torch (penlight) in aluminum foil and making a small hole in the foil through which light can pass. Adjust the torch to direct a thin shaft of light onto the picture being used. You do not need a great deal of light for this purpose. Picture Box: Another way of setting up a VR entrance is to use a cardboard box. A small oblong packing carton will do for this purpose. Paint the inside of the box with blackboard paint, or line it with black crepe paper so the inside is all matte-black. Affix the picture being used to the bottom of the box, face up. Leave the other end open to provide access for the projected double. Lay the box on its side and illuminate the picture by taping a pencil torch or torch bulb to the inside of the box, so its light falls onto the picture. Take care not to use a lamp that could create enough heat to ignite the cardboard box. You do not need a lot of light. The above setup can be enhanced by placing a mirror in the bottom of the box. A cheap mirror tile is perfect for this purpose. Affix the mirror to the bottom of the box and set the picture at about a forty-five-degree angle at the other end so it reflects into the mirror. Leave a gap above where the picture is set to provide access for the projected double. Set the light so it falls onto the picture and causes it to reflect into the mirror at the other end of the box. A clear reflection can then be obtained. One end of the picture box should be left open above or behind the picture so the projected double can see into it and thus gain access to the mirror at the other end of the box. The picture box setup can be put atop a wardrobe or somewhere else convenient in the room and its light turned on before a projection. It can also be hung from a doorknob, affixed to a wall, or simply put on the floor somewhere. However, it is advisable to put it as far away as possible from where the physical body will be in the room, to lessen the pressure between the projected double and its physical body. If the room being used is very small, the picture box setup can also be placed in an adjacent room. Entering a VR Realm To enter a virtual realm, project into real time and immediately move toward your chosen picture. Keep your mind clear. Do not think about what you are going to do. Gaze steadily ahead and feel yourself moving toward the picture. Stay calm and do not think about the picture or of passing through it or the wall behind it. Think of nothing as you move closer, letting the picture fill your view. The picture will appear to grow in size. Simply move up to and inside. It's as simple as that. If you want to return to your physical body, feel for it and you will be transported back to it. Look on this picture as being a doorway into another world. 25. The Astral Form in Motion Once you get out of your body and are ready to get moving and start exploring, you may come across some perplexing difficulties with even the simplest of motions. Getting from A to in the outof-body environment, especially in the real-time zone, is not as easy as you might think. This chapter provides advice on how to solve the most common movement and travel problems. A Mind of Its Own If your projected double seems to have a mind of its own, tends to move in directions you do not want to go, and you feel resistance when you try to correct this, it is quite possible that your physical/etheric body is having a remote-eye type of projection experience. It may be seeing through your eyes and trying to remotely control its projected double — meaning it is trying to control your movements. This problem is caused by the mind-split and can be very confusing, but has a simple cure. Move well away from your physical body; you'll find these remote-control effects progressively ease with distance. The remote-control effect seems to pretty much disappear when the projected double gets a hundred yards or more away from its physical body. The awake time of the average physical/etheric mind is quite limited during a projection. It is guaranteed to begin losing control and start falling asleep fairly quickly. Its attempted control over its projected double will thus not last very long, usually a few minutes or so at the most. Astral Momentum Most new projectors experience simple movement problems during their first few projections. Movement problems are more noticeable in the real-time zone than in the astral planes. In real time, simply moving across a room in the right direction can be a major accomplishment for a novice projector. This lack of control is quite normal, and happens simply because new projectors are unfamiliar with the real-time projected double and its environment. This is a little like finding yourself suddenly in zero gravity and not knowing how to move around properly. Some experimentation and practice is necessary. A type of momentum problem very much like one you would find in a real zero-gravity environment causes most early movement problems. This momentum causes projectors to continue moving after they have decided to stop, and may take them through walls, ceilings, doors, etc. I think this is caused by the strength of the awareness action used to cause the initial motion. If this action is too strong or is continued for too long, projectors will move farther than they planned and find they have no brakes with which to stop. If the movement-causing action is not done right, they can also move in the wrong direction entirely. Only practice teaches projectors how to get about with any degree of purpose, accuracy, and grace. Learning to move while out of body can be a very comical process — in my early childhood experiences with real-time projection, I always started by trying to navigate my way through the house to get outside. I would float and slide and blunder through walls and doors and usually end up getting stuck in the roof. Then, when I finally managed to leave the house, I'd skim along the road trying to get up enough speed so I could take off like an airplane or a bird. I would get airborne for a while by flapping my arms or using a swimming action (which really does help with flying), but could never seem to clear the surrounding trees and rooftops. Falling was interesting, as it seemed to happen in slow motion. I would feel a kind of slow and heavy impact when I hit the ground. I remember feeling something that could be likened to out-ofbody concussion, and something like a vague feeling of remembered pain, but falling never hurt me or sent me back to my body, and I never seemed to penetrate the ground on impact. I would skim down the road taking a series of giant leaps, getting airborne for a while and flapping my arms like crazy, trying to will myself higher and faster. I wanted to fly like Superman, but could never quite break free of the strangely slow gravity I felt that kept pulling me back to earth every time I got airborne. Because of this, I often floated unintentionally into strange houses, blundering about like a drunk in zero gravity. I seemed to be continually apologizing to an endless number of perplexed strangers in passing, as I floated in and out of their houses. Learning to Walk Once you project, you'll find you don't really have a body as such, and therefore have no legs with which to stand or walk or run. To move, do not think about what you are going to do or how you are going to do it, just do it! Will yourself into motion by using your sense of whole-body awareness to provide the forward motion. Imagine that every direction you want to move in is downhill and that you are wearing roller skates, and you will just start rolling forward whenever you want to move. For forward motion just feel yourself moving forward. Call on the memory of what it feels like to move. Re-create this feeling with whole-body awareness. Feel what is in front of you moving toward you, as if you were already moving. With a little practice you will find yourself gliding gracefully over the surface. This is probably more accurately described as skimming. Changing direction and stopping takes a little more practice, but can be a whole lot of fun if you have the right attitude. A sense of the ridiculous is an invaluable asset in the real-time environment. Once you master simple movement, get out into the open or on a road and practice skimming along the surface at a higher speed. Imagine you are driving an automobile or motorbike. Don't try to visualize or see or create anything, just feel the movement of it. Adopt a natural driving or riding position and feel yourself moving forward as if you were actually driving or riding along the road. Feel the road and its surroundings moving toward and past you just as they would if you were actually driving. Feel yourself accelerating and braking just as you would in a real car, using imaginary pedals if you like. Turning corners, you will find, does not have the same inertia limitations as it does while driving a real car, but the habit of having to slow down to turn a corner will continue to affect you until you realize you can zoom around corners while maintaining a constant speed. Learning to Fly As with simple motion, most people encounter problems when learning to fly. It is, funnily enough, far easier to blast yourself at hyperspeed into outer space than it is to hover or fly like a bird over rooftops and trees. There is no actual gravity affecting the projected double, but there is the gravity habit to deal with. Flying is exactly the same as skimming above the ground, no matter at what height, and is accomplished in exactly the same way as simple movement. Once airborne, you notice something very like gravity slowly dragging you back to earth. This is the gravity habit, the habit of being continually aware of your body's weight and of the possibility of falling over in any given situation. Awareness of gravity is a very strong, ingrained survival instinct, guaranteed to have a strong effect on the projected double while it is learning to fly. If you persevere with flying, you'll find yourself moving along in a series of great leaps and short arcing flights. The height of these arcs will be affected by the height of your surroundings. In the beginning, you'll find your ceiling will be roughly in line with the average height of the buildings and/or trees around you. You will repeatedly sink back to earth when your motion-causing awareness action finishes and the gravity habit takes over. You will also find yourself thinking about what you are doing and wondering what happened to gravity. Thinking about flying and gravity and height is what causes flight momentum to stop, and the gravity habit to pull you down. Don't think about it, just do it! Flying can be exciting; this excitement could also cause your downfall. Excitement will stimulate your physical/etheric body, and may cause it to begin waking if it is only lightly asleep. This will either disempower the projected double, causing it to fall, or end the projection completely if the physical body wakes up. Adopt a ho-hum, dispassionate-observer kind of attitude and control your excitement. This will not only make flying easier, but will extend the length and strength of your projection considerably. In the early stages, you may start flying by skimming down the road building up speed, then feeling yourself leaping into the air while flapping your arms and feeling yourself lifting off. Don't knock it; this is a very good way of learning to fly, and is a whole lot of fun too. And, you can still have fun without allowing yourself to get overexcited. Get out onto a straight road or clearing and slain along until you feel you are moving as fast as you possibly can. Feel yourself flapping your arms and feel yourself springing into the air like a water bird taking off from a lake. Angle your vision upward slightly and feel the open air above the ground moving toward you. Keep flapping your arms and feel them propelling you faster and higher, adding lift and speed to your forward motion. Once you get the hang of flying, flapping your arms or using a swimming action still comes in handy at times. It provides extra speed and lift whenever this is needed. This also works inside the astral planes. The astral environment may be quite different from the real-time zone, but most of the basic real-time principles are still applicable, especially those concerning movement. Another technique you might like to try is to clear your mind and just feel yourself floating up into the air, feeling as if you were lighter than air. Feel yourself rising and feel and expect the ground to slowly fall away beneath you as you rise. This is also good practice for hovering. Simply feel yourself suspended in midair and feel the ground and surrounding area holding their places as you hover. All flying actions take whole-body awareness effort; in the early stages a novice projector may have to put in quite a lot of effort to overcome the gravity habit. If you continually find yourself falling back to ground, refuse to accept this and apply more willpower to feeling yourself rising upward in the direction you want to move in. Willpower and whole-body awareness effort are the only things that will overcome the gravity habit until you thoroughly convince yourself that you are no longer bound by gravity and can fly at will during an OBE. Once the internal chains that cause the gravity habit are thrown off, you'll be free to fly anywhere in the universe at any speed you desire. OBE flying is not as limited as in real life. You can fly in the air, in outer space, and even underwater. There is no resistance or turbulence underwater; it is just as natural as flying in the air or in space, although traveling speed is reduced underwater, due to the decrease in visibility. With practice you will soon get the hang of this and will find it immensely pleasurable. It is an incredible sensation, especially during the daytime: able to leap tall buildings at a single bound; capable of the infinitely variable speed of thought; able to hover like a helicopter or to sit on lonely tufts of cloud; able to fly rings around birds of the air; able to safely explore the ocean depths, playing with whales and dolphins; able to leave the earth and explore other planets, stars, and galaxies. You can explore and experience all, seeking out the new and the interesting, and going where no human body has gone before. When you get out of your body the sky is no longer the limit, it is just the beginning . Passing Through Solid Matter Most novice real-time projectors have some difficulty moving through solid objects like walls, doors, and windows, not to mention solid rock. Their belief system seems to play a large part in this difficulty. If they believe they can move easily through a solid wall or door and are willing to just do it, without even thinking about it, novices will be able to do so. If just believing they can move through solid matter does not work, it may mean they are not subconsciously accepting this ability. Awareness effort and willpower can be used to overcome this. There are also a few ways of tricking the subconscious mind and getting around this problem. Once it has been done a few times, it quickly becomes easier as the subconscious mind begins accepting this ability. I've listed below a few tricks that have worked for other people with this same problem. 1. Avoid windows and mirrors during real-time projections, as well as any other highly reflective surfaces, even still water that is reflecting the sky. Passing through a reflection can shift you out of real time and into a mirror-image world, into an anomaly. This is, in principle, very much like how virtual reality projection works. Once inside an anomaly, it can be difficult to return to the true real-time zone without returning to the physical body. Use walls, ceilings, and doors, wherever possible, to maintain me real-time aspect of your projection. Even looking into a mirror or reflection is a potential hindrance to the integrity of a real-time projection. It is very easy to unintentionally slip into a reflection without noticing the shift out of real time, into an anomalous copy of it. 2. Moving through obstacles backward has helped many people overcome their difficulties passing through solid matter. Position yourself in front of the barrier or wall you wish to pass through, then turn around and simply push yourself through it backward, without looking and without thinking about what you are doing. Don't think about it; just do it! This method is also handy for passing through reflective surfaces without shifting into an anomaly. If projectors cannot see a reflection, it will not usually affect them. 3. Take a run at the obstacle by putting your head down and barging your way through it quickly, without thinking about what you are doing. 4. Find a crack, keyhole, or window and look through it. Concentrate on what you can see on the other side and feel yourself as being there on the other side. Really want to be there. Wish for it as hard as you can! In most cases you will find yourself suddenly on the other side. This is something like very short-distance instant projection. 5. Approach the barrier while keeping your mind clear. Reach out with one hand and, without directly looking at your hand, push it into the wall. Push your arm into it up to the elbow. Observe that your arm easily moves inside the wall and remember what it feels like on the inside. Your hand will feel slightly tingly and fuzzy. Will yourself to start moving forward. Push yourself forward firmly, head slightly lowered so it enters the wall first. You don't really have a head, so just feel yourself as lowering it. Keep your mind clear and do not think about what you are doing. Once you feel yourself moving through the wall, keep going and walk on through it. If you have to, claw, wriggle, or swim the rest of the way through. There is no possible way projectors can become stuck inside solid matter, so there is no possible way this could cause them harm. 6. If you know what is on the other side of a barrier, imagine yourself being there. Feel yourself being there as if you really were there and you will usually find yourself suddenly there on the other side. Make sure you imagine this destination correctly if you want to stay in real time. If you are wrong about what is on the other side, you may cause yourself to shift someplace else. 7. Use resistance and texture. While moving through the brick wall of a house, for example, you will see layers of paint, plaster, mortar, and brick, well lit and clearly defined. Try standing next to a brick wall, then slowly putting your hand inside the wall. Feel what it's like on the inside. Next, try slowly pressing your head inside the wall, just enough to see what it looks like on the inside. You will not only see and feel inside it, but you will also be able to taste and smell it. This is an incredible experience and will not hurt or damage you in any way. If you manage to penetrate a wall with your hand and head, what's wrong with going all the way and passing right through it? Fig. 27. A projector's eye view of passing through solid matter Speed, Distance, and Limitations While speed is not strictly a limiting factor for the projected double, the maximum speed at which it is possible to travel during an OBE appears to be set by the subconscious mind. There is a direct relationship between what appears to be a reasonable speed and the maximum speed that is actually possible. This is most likely set according to the distance seen ahead to be traversed. Speed is thus relative to the distance seen ahead. Walking Speed: Inside buildings and enclosed areas, walking speed appears natural and is quite adequate for the short distances to be traveled. A faster speed seems unacceptable to the subconscious mind and does not seem possible. Road Speed: Anything from walking speed to approximately 200 miles per hour (320 kph) seems natural on a roadway. Possible speed is affected by how clearly the distance ahead is seen. Projectors can travel much faster on an open freeway in the daytime than through the suburbs at night. Traveling speed at night in real time is also limited by available light. Flying: Anything from walking speed to supersonic speed seems natural, again depending on the height and the distance that can be seen ahead by a projector. The higher projectors get and the farther they can see clearly ahead, the faster it seems to be natural, and hence possible, for them to travel. At a great height on a clear day, several times the speed of sound seems quite natural. Underwater: Underwater visibility is far more limited than in the open air, and the speed possible is therefore much slower. Outer Space: Faster than light speed feels perfectly natural and is therefore possible. Top Speed: There is no speed limit at all. The speed of thought is infinite and the top speed of a projector is also infinite. Possible speed increases in direct proportion to the distance seen ahead to be traveled. In outer space, it is possible to see incredible distances ahead, to other galaxies and beyond. If something is seen ahead, you can be there in virtually no time. Intergalactic speed far in excess of the speed of light feels quite natural and is hence easily attained. Instantaneous Travel It is generally accepted today that if you can visualize a destination, you can project yourself there at the speed of thought. This method works reasonably well, but can be a bit of a hit-or-miss affair while traveling in real time. The accuracy of this method depends on whether you have actually been to your target destination, and how well you can image it in your mind's eye. If a projector has not personally seen the destination, instant projection will usually take that projector straight into an astral location resembling it — and occasionally into an astral realm totally unlike the intended destination. An astral reflection or copy of an intended location often appears to be created (or tuned in to) through the act of imagining the target. This may be based on the projector's idea of what the destination is like. Projectors may seem to arrive at their true real-time target, but will usually find discrepancies between the real-life location and where they have actually projected. For example, a group of serious projectors once told me they regularly held group OBE outings on the top of Uluru (previously called Ayers Rock) in Australia. As I have visited Uluru a few times myself and know this area fairly well in real life, I asked them to provide me with a few details about the great rock so I could verify their accuracy. They described many aspects and features that were inaccurate or were simply not there at all, like carved stone steps, etc. These projectors had most likely been traveling to an astral reflection of Uluru. They possibly created unreal extras there, filling in what they imagined it would really be like. There are exceptions with traveling instantly to distant locations the projector has never been to in real life. Some reality fluctuations, though, will usually be found at the target site. It is possible to instantly project to another person in real time, regardless of where that person might be, if you know that person well or have strong feelings for them. In this case, you can lock on to the remote location and person by feeling their personality and essence. Just knowing about a person from a magazine or film or having met them a few times is not enough. You need to know that person and be able to feel and taste their essence very well, to instantly project to them in real time. If the target person is asleep when projected to, you will either project to their actual location and see them as they really are, which is asleep in bed, or you will project to an astral reflection of their location. This copy will usually be strongly influenced by the dream mind of the target person. If the target person is in the real-time zone or astral planes, it is also possible to project directly to wherever he or she happens to be. If they are found asleep in real time near their physical body, it is usually possible to wake them up and communicate with them. Real-time projectors can have the perception of being able to physically touch other real-time projectors if they so choose. If the target person is awake (in real life) when projected to, it is sometimes possible to travel to their actual physical location and observe them in real time. This location will usually be found to be influenced by reality fluctuations, caused by the mind and imagination of the target person. These reality fluctuations may not be obvious, especially if the projector is unfamiliar with this location. The target site may therefore be overlaid with some degree of mental imagery. If the target person is in a crowd of many other people, say in a big city, mental imagery (static) from all the other people in the area will also be found to intrude on and affect the real-time environment. The clearer the target area is of other people, the clearer it will be of mental static. For example, a target person on a midocean yacht or in a remote cabin in a forest can be projected to far more successfully than would otherwise be possible. Projecting to a person well known to the projector is probably the most effective and reliable way to travel long distances while retaining some of the objective aspects of a real-time projection. Long Distance Travel Flying is the best way to travel for short- to medium-distance projections, say up to a few hundred miles. This may not sound like much of a distance when you take into account the potential speed of a projector. Even this distance, though, can be quite a challenge if the objective qualities of a real-time projection are to be held. It is all too easy to slip into an astral copy of reality while traveling in real time. Reality fluctuations are constant travel companions of any real-time projector. These will spring into existence whenever a projector relaxes or breaks focus. Strict mental control must be maintained at all times while traveling in the real-time zone. It is not practical to follow Earth's surface for long-distance real-time travel. For example, a country on the other side of the world may be around twelve thousand miles away. You would need to travel at roughly sixty times the speed of sound to reach there in under fifteen minutes. This level of speed is not natural for a projector within Earth's atmosphere, and anything close to this kind of hyperspeed will cause a projector's view to blur. Blurring causes disorientation and an immediate shift away from objective real time. The real-time objective aspects are then lost, usually for the duration of that projection. Fifteen to twenty minutes is about the maximum length of time seasoned projectors can hold themselves strongly enough in real time to be able to return for a conscious reentry before slipping away into the astral planes. Novice projectors can usually only hold themselves in real time for a few minutes. In either case, the physical body must be capable of being woken up by the return of the projected double, or reentry may not even be possible. Any long-distance real-time travel is therefore limited by how long it takes for the physical/etheric body of a projector to fall into a deep sleep. Traveling long distances in real time is like flying a superfast helicopter by the seat of your pants at night, with no instruments and only the stars and landmarks to guide ,you. Long-distance realtime projectors need to study geography, plus road maps and photographs of their target destination, as these would be seen from the air. They need to be able to recognize oceans, continents, countries, states, cities, towns, roads, and landmarks. Traveling long distance by following the surface is possible only if projectors have the time and energy to do all this and return to their physical body for reentry before slipping away into the astral planes. Orbiting Earth To project to a distant location, after all the details are memorized, it is far easier to go into orbit and reenter the atmosphere directly above the target. As the projectors approach Earth's surface, they must adjust their angle of approach, aiming for the geological features, landmarks, and roads around their target destination. This method is suited to any projection where the distance to be traveled is over a few hundred miles, like taking a giant leap a few hundred miles straight up then back down onto the target. This is much faster than surface travel. Entering orbit for the purpose of taking giant geographical leaps is a little more difficult than it sounds. Getting up there is easy; you just feel yourself going straight up very fast. But stopping when you get high enough for the drop back down can be quite difficult. Some people, myself included, tend to blast themselves right out of the solar system, sometimes out of the galaxy as well. To avoid this, it is important to control the speed of ascent by keeping an eye on the surface and keeping a constant check on height. I find it easier to project toward the Moon or Sun first, as a way of limiting the initial leap out of the atmosphere. This provides a large visual target that can be projected to in moments. As the target can clearly be seen, speed is not limited. Once out in space, it is a simple matter to head back to Earth, reentering directly over the target and descending rapidly to the surface. In space, away from Earth's atmosphere, there are no problems with speed blurring vision and causing reality shifts. While this may sound like a lengthy process, it can actually be accomplished in a few seconds. Outer Space and Distance Limitations Over the years, I have heard many people claiming they regularly visit the planets of the solar system and other star systems. This appears to be something that could quite easily be done by the projected double, but it is difficult in practice. While the Sun and the Moon are relatively easy to find and to project to, finding other planets in our solar system is not. The solar system is an enormous area and its planets are tiny dots moving in space. They can be difficult to identify with the naked eye, even from orbit. Because our planet rotates once every twenty-four hours, while also orbiting the Sun, the positions of the planets and stars change rapidly and are never in exactly the same place twice. To project to a planet by line of sight, with no navigational instruments to show the way, a real-time projector must have a reasonable grasp of astronomy and must be able to plot the position of the target planet in relation to the surrounding stars with some degree of accuracy. Traveling to the planets of the solar system using the instant projection method does not really work. If an attempt is made to do this, even if using actual photographs taken by space craft as a guide, the projectors usually just shift into an astral realm resembling what they believe their target planet looks like. Real-time projectors need more than just a few photographs and a good imagination to project to a remote real-time location they have never been to. Several astral realms have the definite look and feel of being other planets. I think it's quite possible that over the years some fairly solid astral realms have been created and maintained by the imagination and dreams of the human race. Many projectors travel to these planetlike astral realms, believing they are traveling in real time to their actual locations. There are no limitations to distance, destination, or speed, apart from those few already mentioned. It is therefore possible to travel to the most distant star or galaxy. The speed of thought is infinite, which is really, really, really fast! Traveling at infinite speed in outer space feels like space is folding itself around you. There is hardly any sensation of forward movement apart from the millions of stars flashing by, but enormous distances are traversed in the blink of an eye. If projectors see something ahead and wish to go there, all they have to do is to feel themselves moving toward it and feel it moving toward them; they can be there as quickly as that. I occasionally go out into deep space, where galaxies are just tiny smudges in the distance, just to think and meditate and be alone. I have traveled far into deep space in an attempt to see just how fast and how far I could go, and to find the end of the universe if there is one. I have traveled way beyond the range of mortal telescopes of any type. I have seen galaxies flashing past me like streetlights blurring past the window of a speeding car at night. As far and as fast as I have gone in intergalactic space, with ever-increasing speed, I have never found any place totally devoid of galaxies and stars. Whenever I put a group of galaxies far behind me and think I am getting clear of matter and light, another faint smudge appears on the interstellar horizon. The best I have been able to do so far is to position myself between the faint smudges of far-off galaxies. The physical universe appears to be infinite in size, according to my real-time outof-body observations. That is, unless I have been somehow traveling in intergalactic circles, which is not inconceivable. Returning from a long-distance projection, no matter how far you, as a projector, have traveled, is very simple. Reach out and feel for your physical body, become aware of it and the room around it. This will usually return you into or close to your body and end the projection in a moment. Following the silver cord back to your physical body only works when you are relatively close to it. At great distance, like in deep space, this will only give you a very rough idea of the direction home. Trying to keep an eye on the silver cord on the way home from a long-distance projection causes a dramatic reduction in speed. This method is thus rendered useless when you consider the vast distance involved and the time limitations, which must always be kept in mind during an OBE. Privacy, Ethics, and OBE An unfounded belief that out-of-body activities are policed from above continues in popularity today. Some believe that if projectors misbehave they will be stopped from having further OBEs — banned by a higher authority. Some even believe an astral police force watches out for and punishes unethical and immoral behavior. According to my experience, this is a complete myth. There are some natural barriers associated with OBE, but no ethical or moral limitations. Conscience and natural consequence are the only true behavioral modifiers. Can you imagine the mind-boggling logistics keeping tabs on several billion projectors — on planet Earth alone, every night? I have found no astral overseers policing the out-of-body environment during my many years of OBE exploration. Some of my out-of-body experiments have most severely tested this theory over the years. But nothing has ever hindered or stopped me from having further OBEs at will. While there are no actual laws governing OBE, there are some natural energetic repercussions to consider. If base emotional urges and behavior are not well-controlled, the quality of OBEs will steadily deteriorate. Deliberate misbehavior seems to affect projectors' energetic values more than anything else, lowering their potential level of astral operations. Like attracts like in a big way in the out-of-body environment, even in the real-time zone. The attraction of other like-minded projectors and beings is another natural consequence worthy of consideration. This has the effect of segregating miscreants from more civilized projectors, with each operating on different levels of the astral planes. Intentions surrounding real-time privacy issues are also important. Occasional or accidental misbehavior will not attract any noticeable consequences. But repeated, deliberate invasions of privacy and other types of antisocial behavior will quickly generate negativity in the sensitive outof-body environment. This will progressively worsen until a more civilized approach is taken to OBE. Invading the privacy of others accidentally or through well-intentioned exploration, and not for self-gratification or unethical gain, will not generate any negative repercussions at all. I think the idea that out-of-body behavior is policed stems from some of the early books on OBE, written around the turn of the twentieth century. I am sure their authors would have realized the truth, but they seem to have worried that if the unlimited freedom of OBE were known, projectors may behave in unacceptable ways-unacceptable to them that is. They would have considered it their duty to hide the shocking truth. Motivated by Victorian morality and conscience, a "Stop it or you'll all go blind!" kind of blanket caution was thus given. Considering that early books on OBE have been used as reference material ever since and still are quoted in modern works, this warning continues to influence projectors today. Many versions of the astral police force myth have been generated over the years, and continue to be believed in and expanded on today — but not through personal experience, I might add. Part Five The Akashic Connection 26. The Astral Planes The astral planes are, in my opinion, an energetically generated reflection of universal consciousness. They have definite form, order, and structure and are one of the true wonders of our incredible multidimensional universe. The structure of the astral planes can be clearly observed, and even used for navigational purposes, if they are approached from the correct energetic "angle of perception". This is my term for the angle at which a projector perceives the astral planes through the direct mind-senses of his or her projectable double. Perception angles vary from projector to projector, with tube-type and plane-type angles of perception being by far the most common. The angle of perception is set by the projectors' energetic makeup and activity during a projection, and is also affected by their belief system. Traditional esoteric theory tells us that the astral dimension contains seven major levels, or planes, each housing a plethora of lesser subplanes, internal realms, and kingdoms. The many different descriptions for this structure — Hindu, Buddhist, spiritualist. New Age, etc., even the multidimensional theory of modern physics — often appear to conflict, mainly because of cultural and religious beliefs. I have found it impossible to verify any one version of dimensional theory as more accurate than any other. I therefore base my version of the structure of the astral planes on my own experience. Exploring and mapping the astral planes is like trying to explore a whole planet on foot, without maps or instruments. It cannot be done during any single projection. It would have to be done over a great length of time, by highly skilled projectors with good shadow memory recall and excellent organizational and recording skills. Astral planes are complex, multilayered, energetically generated dimensional environments with variable perception-based aspects. A tongue twister, I know, but accurate all the same. The way the astral planes and their contents are perceived, experienced, and remembered can be extremely variable, depending greatly on the projector's level of energetic activity at the time of projection, and on the state of their belief system, their level of consciousness at the time of projection, and the state of their base level of consciousness. All this affects how the physical brain works, and how much of what is perceived during a projection the brain is capable of storing as a recognizable memory. After all, the only thing left after a projection is the memory of it, which will be perceived, interpreted, and recalled by the base level of consciousness only. In the astral dimension, the energetic qualities of travelers' projected doubles strongly affect their angle of perception, more so even than their state or level of consciousness at the time. This is true, I believe, not only during the experience, but also afterward. It affects the memory and how it will be stored in the physical brain at the base level of consciousness, and thus, obviously, how an experience memory will be recalled after the fact. I have explored only a very small part of the astral planes, which constitute an enormous dimensional structure with many different aspects and facets. I have not finished making observations of the primary layers and their surface entrance structures, let alone tried to map out their plethora of internal subplanes and realms. But I will proceed to paint a word picture of the astral planes for you, based on how I have perceived them during my many journeys there. I believe this will provide you with a much better and more understandable look and feel than theory alone could provide. The astral planes, experienced firsthand, can be likened to the pages in a gigantic book, with lightly color-tinted gaps between the pages. These pages, or planes, appear to be hundreds of miles apart during an astral projection. The areas between planes are, I believe, something like buffer zones separating each primary astral plane from the next. These areas vary in color, but have a distinctly similar feel to each of them — a kind of thick, quiet, color-tinted nothingness — oceans of colored empty space. A relationship appears to exist between the colors of these dividing areas and the energetic colors generated by the primary energy centers (major chakras) of the human energy body. The surface of an astral plane is two-dimensional and covered with perfectly straight horizontal and vertical grid lines. This makes for a uniform checkered appearance over the entire surface. Each square on a surface contains a brilliantly multicolored geometric design, repeated endlessly in every other square. The surface of each astral plane has its own unique pattern, completely different from that of any other astral plane's surface pattern. Each astral plane appears two-dimensional when its surface is approached. However, a fully three-dimensional environment is experienced when this is penetrated. Each astral plane also contains connections with every other primary astral plane. These connections appear in the colors and patterns of the surface skin. For example, the violet/purple dot in the middle of each centerpiece of every square (see rear cover) can provide a link with the seventh and highest primary astral plane. And the four gold petals surrounding each dot can provide a link with the sixth primary astral plane. Although I have not yet fully explored its potential, the navy-blue star on which the above structures sit appears to link these with the fifth primary astral plane, the one depicted. However, please keep in mind that if projectors do not have the energetic abilities necessary to transcend the fifth astral plane, entering any of the above will take them to higher internal realms within the fifth astral plane. Experimentation is the only sure way to ascertain whether these structures can be used as doorways to higher primary astral planes. The surface of an astral plane is magnificent and awe-inspiring to behold. These structures are absolutely beyond compare in their artistic, crisp, and colorful beauty; their enormity and grandeur; and their spectacular awe-inspiring power and deep mystery. I am certain that they are logically and intelligently designed structures, much too geometrically neat and intelligently functional to be merely accidental or natural. They appear to have been designed by an intelligence far beyond ours. Fig. 28. A lower astral plane, showing projector's view during approach Also see rear cover for full color art of 6th astral plane This illustration and its perspective are not abstract. It is based on my living memories of many conscious-exit projections and entries into the astral planes. (See rear cover for full-color version of this sketch.) This accurately represents the surface of what I believe to be the fifth astral plane and shows what the surface of an astral plane actually looks like when encountered firsthand during an astral projection. If you can stretch your imagination just a little after looking at these illustrations and the rear cover, try imagining yourself there. Close your eyes and imagine yourself hovering five miles high, looking down onto a spectacularly checkered wonder as depicted above. The following illustrations show how I perceive the primary astral planes. Fig. 29. The seven primary astral planes Astral Subplanes My journeys within the astral planes have shown me that each primary astral plane has a complex internal structure, a tangled spectrum of interconnected levels, subplanes, and internal realms, both positive and negative. Dimensionally speaking, many of the internal parts are situated at right angles to the primary astral plane holding them. This description (right angles) is to be considered abstract; there is nothing in the physical dimension to use by way of fair comparison to show how this internal structure actually works. However, the following diagrams attempt to do so in the abstract. Modern physics says that energy cannot be destroyed, but only changed. I believe that this also applies in all other dimensions. Reflected energies of consciousness, radiated into the astral planes from the physical dimension, have many forms, positive and negative, each with many subtle variations. The reflected energy contained within the astral planes originates from raw primal consciousness energy, conditioned by the minds from which they have emanated. The subplanes and lesser realms within each astral plane are parts of an extremely complex energetic filtration system. I can think of no other way to describe the mind-boggling complexity of this process. Internal energetic structures channel negative and positive energies (energetic reflections of consciousness) into different dimensional areas. This appears to be accomplished by natural forces acting as energetic attraction and repulsion mechanisms. Positive and negative energies radiate away from each other then congeal in energetically related holding areas, so that positive and negative energies generated by consciousness are separated and channeled toward the dimensional levels with which they are most precisely in tune. The astral energetic filtering process is most noticeable in the lower internal subplanes. It is not apparent at all on surface structures, nor can it so easily be perceived within the higher astral planes. Higher astral levels seem to attract and filter only refined high-level energies. These flow freely into them from coarse lower-dimensional areas that are not capable of handling high-level energies. Once filtered, these energies appear to take root and energetically contribute to the environment in the dimensional layer, area, realm, or kingdom with which they are most in tune. Positive and negative areas coexist within all subplanes and realms, holding each other dimensionally apart through natural energetic repulsion mechanisms. This energetic filtering effect can often be perceived, during a projection, as a subtle gradient of light, as a gradual brightening or darkening, or as a heaviness or lightness. Gradients of light and atmosphere exist between connected groups of related opposites. There appear to be no hard divisions between positive and negative areas. In practice, if you maintain a single directional heading for any length of time, you will perceive the astral landscape as slowly changing, for better or worse. Your will can override the natural energetic filtering mechanism, allowing you to go wherever you choose. Astral projectors will always naturally project to the astral level they are in tune with energetically, but they can move on from there into positive and negative areas with which they are not naturally in tune. In the astral planes, each connecting energetic gradient has many directions, not all of them obvious to the naked astral eye. Emotional, spiritual, and psychic directions can be taken intuitively, but they must be innate to the projector, as they are not always visibly represented in the internal parts of astral planes. The majority of visible astral plane directions have a reasonably positive outcome. If a positive direction is taken and held, a projector will generally move into a progressively brighter and lighter area, into higher-level areas. The reverse usually will not happen by accident, although it can be brought about by a deliberate act of exploration. If travelers remain focused on what they are doing and have positive-oriented minds, they have very little to worry about in this respect. In practice, travelers wandering the astral planes at random will find themselves experiencing a great many varied and interesting environments. They will not come across any seriously negative areas in their travels unless they actively go looking for them. The underlying intentions and qualities of thought of astral travelers safeguard them from accidentally entering negative areas they are not in tune with energetically. I hope the above description and explanation sheds some light on the question — which I am regularly asked — of why negative areas are found within the astral planes, when the astral is at a higher-dimensional vibration than the physical universe. Fig. 30. Exploded astral plane, showing internal structure (abstract representation) Positive and negative aspects are related; neither could exist without the presence of the other, as magnets could not exist without having both positive and negative poles. The opposites contained within the structure of the astral planes are not as precisely defined as are the poles of a magnet. Therefore, an often-perceivable atmospheric gradient of energetic opposites exists. Lower Astral Subplanes The lower astral subplanes (traditionally the ones to be avoided) appear to be areas where negative emotion, thought, and fantasy-generated energies have been collecting for a very long time. These areas are home to negative manifestations of the darker side of the human mind and imagination. The fringes of these areas are not dangerous, but are decidedly unpleasant. The very bad lower subplanes are dark, shadowy areas populated (more aptly polluted) with all kinds of demons, monsters, and nightmarish figures. The lowest of these dark areas could aptly be called hellish dimensional areas. If you find yourself in or near a negative area, the common-sense solution is to project away to a brighter area as soon as possible. The fastest way to move away is to strongly imagine somewhere nicer and use instant projection to shift there. Holding an image of the entrance structure firmly in mind and instantly projecting there will usually return you to the surface, without your getting lost or aborting the projection. If this does not work, fly straight up while using uplifting spiritual thoughts, prayer, or song to elevate consciousness. Fly toward the brightest area or spark of light that can be seen above or ahead. An upward direction will usually take a projector away from a negative area. Astral travelers need not pass through negative or lower astral subplanes to travel to more positive and higher astral levels. The negative areas in the astral planes are, in a way, energetically sideways to the normal planelike dimensional structure. It is quite difficult to project deliberately into a seriously bad lower subplane area — or to project into a seriously higher level or plane, for the very same reason. Energetic differences and the natural attraction and repulsion effects generally prohibit this from occurring accidentally. Every projector will have his or her own energetic limitations. The only cases I have come across where projectors have had seriously bad experiences with lower subplanes involved hallucinogenic drugs being used to precipitate out-of-body experiences. Drugs, while capable of causing out-of-body experiences, sidestep the required skills and abilities necessary for safe conscious-exit projection. This breaks many natural laws concerning projection while artificially overcoming many natural safeguards and barriers. Natural barriers are there to protect the novice from operating in dimensional areas they are not equipped to experience. Many drug users have laughed at my stance on this, saying they usually only have positive experiences. But, it only takes one bad experience, one hellish experience, to ruin your mind and your life, possibly forever. Using drugs to achieve OBE is like playing Russian roulette with a live round in the revolver. Astral travelers normally only project into areas with which they are naturally in tune. We each appear to have a natural energetic value set by our level of consciousness, a value affected by many things, including karma, life's path, current lifestyle, and past actions, as well as by natural and developed states of energetic being and potential. During a direct astral projection with no specific astral destination, astral travelers automatically project to the astral plane they are most energetically in tune with at that particular time. This plane will always bear an energetic relationship with their most naturally active primary energy centers. Long-term energetic and spiritual development thus considerably affects which astral planes a projector can attain naturally. Astral Realms and Kingdoms The astral planes can be likened to a vast ocean of reflected thought and emotion and memory that has been slowly filling since the dawn of time. Internal energetic filtration mechanisms of repulsion and attraction cause this ocean to stratify into layers. Many of these layers develop a cohesive integrity that holds them distinctly separate from any other dimensional area. These areas, traditionally called astral realms and kingdoms, are generated by pools of structured, like-minded energies, thoughts, memories, ideas, beliefs, and fantasies that have collected over time. An astral realm is best thought of as a specific environment or world. An astral kingdom is an island or city or town inside a realm: a place that has a single theme and consistent structure. Astral kingdoms are usually civilized areas containing groups of like-minded astral beings. Astral realms vary greatly in size and scope, some appearing to be as small as a country village, while others seem infinite in size and scope. Each realm has a distinct and enduring flavor and atmosphere, and its own unique environment. Many contain native astral inhabitants, with varying levels of intelligence and society. Some appear to be fairly modern structures, while others seem ancient. Astral travelers will normally experience more than one realm or kingdom each time they project into the astral planes. As the astral level to which travelers project is set by their energetic values at the start of a projection, this will normally be well to their liking. They thus will normally find themselves in pleasant areas each time, where they will always feel reasonably comfortable; albeit often a little perplexed. For most novice astral travelers, a jaunt into the astral planes can be likened to taking a mystery flight and landing in a strange city. A city is a city, however, and although the language, customs, and laws may be different, all cities are peopled mostly by recognizably human types. In time, as astral navigation experience is gained, it becomes possible to travel to more-specific destinations and to then explore the astral planes, realms, and kingdoms in a much less haphazard way. Fig. 31. Exploded view of internal subplanes and sub-subplanes, showing realms and kingdoms Real-Life Astral Regions Some parts of the lower astral areas contain approximations of real life that are often mistaken for reality, or for the real-time zone. These can be thought of as extensions of the real-time zone, containing raw energetic reflections of consciousness, both objective and subjective, that have not yet undergone any noticeable dimensional filtering and ordering. These contain a fluid and changeable mixture of landscapes and structures. While these often seem to bear similarities with the physical dimension, closer examination reveals nothing more than a fluid concoction of subjective astral reflections. Lower astral areas seem to be quite heavily affected by dreaming minds in the local area. They may be a kind of no man's land or a crossover between the real-time zone, the astral planes, and the dream dimensions. Just wandering across what appears to be your hometown, in the lower astral dimension, can take you through many different cities and countries, and often into alien places that do not exist in the real world at all. The lower astral areas are fairly dismal places. Although heavily traveled by projectors, they lack order, are usually badly lit, and seem shoddily put together, a confusing mishmash of cities, landscapes, peoples, and times, all of which appear to be in a constant state of flux. Experiences here can be quite confusing. While these areas are often heavily populated, many of the people found here appear to be halfasleep and wandering astral projectors. They are usually not aware of where they are or of what they are doing, although on the surface many seem actively engaged in performing some task or other. If wakened by another projector, they usually remember who they are but are amazed at where they are. This area is best considered a lower astral subplane, but is not truly negative, although parts of it can contain negative aspects, and anything and everything can be found there. The last time I visited this dimensional area, I found myself floating through a wide corridor, full of twists and turns and crossroads and underpasses. It teemed with people, most of them — judging from the tingly energetic reactions I got as I passed through some of them — other projectors. The place had a faintly ruddy tint to its dim and clammy atmosphere. I felt as if I was inside some giant underground maze. I stopped and spoke politely to several people, but although most were happy to chat, I could not get any real sense out of anyone. Low-level astral projectors, if they are aware, are usually hyper and overexcited. This overexuberance results from the astral experience itself, although it will rarely be remembered. On the other hand, many people in these areas do not know they are projecting. Overall, they mill around like ants with no particular purpose, talking to each other about nothing in particular. I found a few open areas with buildings and more people here and there, but there was no order and the whole place made little sense. I soon got bored with all this and aborted the projection. Voids Dimensional gaps, commonly called voids, are found around the astral planes. They are totally dark and featureless empty areas. Void areas appear to contain absolutely nothing and are thus not in any way dangerous. Entering a void area causes total sensory deprivation in a projector, a quiet blackness with no sensory input. Void areas, according to some versions of esoteric theory, lead to the more abstract causal and transcendental dimensional levels beyond the astral planes. My experience supports this theory. There is no way I know of, unfortunately, to explain or describe the process of transcendence through a void, although an altered state of consciousness is obviously the basic requirement. Voids do not appear to lead into the mental or higher levels of the standard dimensional scale. Many reasons have been given for the occurrence of a void but, by its nature, it is difficult to observe and analyze a void, let alone to try to understand its natural place in the scheme of things. Void areas appear to be null-dimensional areas containing no subjective or objective structure or form whatsoever. It is possible that voids lie completely outside the normal dimensional structure — something like black holes in the physical universe. Do not be scared if you find yourself floating in a void during a projection. There is, quite literally, nothing to be scared of. I do not know how to deliberately enter a void dimensional area. This is just something that happens occasionally. It is not something to be overly concerned about. It is possible that many void OBEs are simple astral vision problems. Many people have problems perceiving the out-of-body environment. An extreme vision problem could, therefore, cause total OBE blindness, leading the projector to perceive being in a void area (see chapter 21). Three ways to project out of a void that occasionally work: Try looking at your hands and watching them melt. Feel for your physical body and try projecting back near to it. Imagine another place and project there using the instant projection method. These methods will often take a projector to somewhere brighter and more tangible. If they fail, simply relax and enjoy it. I find void areas wonderful places for introspection, meditation, and prayer. Nothing will disturb you while you are suspended in a void. Astral Plane- and Tube-Type Structures As you advance in your ability to get about in the real-time zone, and around the first levels of the astral planes, you will begin to see definite structures at the start of astral-plane projections. These structures mark the entrances to different astral planes and subplanes, and can be used for astral-plane navigation. The geometry, colors, and patterns of an astral-plane entrance structure, I believe, represent its internal subplanes, realms, and kingdoms in an abstract visual way. Projectors can perceive two basic types of structures when they enter the astral planes through their surfaces: Astral Plane-Type Structure — a flat, two-dimensional plane of infinite proportions, usually first seen as if from a great height, with the plane's surface seen below extending to all horizons. The surface is covered in thin, black, neatly spaced, horizontal and vertical grid lines, making for a neat, checkered appearance. These grid lines outline squares that cover the entire surface. Each square contains a single, identical multicolored geometric pattern, repeated endlessly in every other square. Astral Tube-Type Structure — a more complex tunnel or tubelike structure, containing internal grid lines and geometric patterns, often brightly colored. The grid lines and patterns are internal, thus are not as easily viewed in their entirety as with the astral plane-type of entrance structure. Projectors also usually hear a rushing sound, musical notes, tones, and other sounds as they move through an astral tube. These sounds are, I believe, part of the obviously more complex astral tube structure. Moving through a tube usually produces a rushing sound; each exit point passed often produces a change in sound or tones and melodies or a series of complex musical notes. Projectors can use either of these structures to successfully enter and navigate the astral planes. Which type of structure is perceived appears to be set by the projector's energetic value and angle of perception at the time of projection. The similarities between astral tube-type and plane-type entrance structures indicate they share an underlying relationship. In both cases, projectors see definite astral structures containing grid lines and colorful geometric designs. Using either type also has the same result. These structures are consistent and will be found unchanged every time the same part of the astral planes is visited. It is reasonable to suggest that tube-type and plane-type structures are one and the same thing — astral-plane surface entrance structures. I further suggest that the apparent differences in these entrance structures are caused solely by the angle of approach, the energetic perception angle, used by different projectors. Projectors are approaching the same astral entrance structure from different dimensional angles — from a different point of view. These different angles of approach show projectors completely different aspects of the very same astral entrance structure. The tube-type astral entrance structure can thus be thought of as something like a rolled-up astral plane-type entrance structure, but whether rolled up or unrolled it is one and the same thing, just perceived differently, from different angles of perception. These different perception angles, I think, are caused by different patterns and levels of activity of primary energy centers within individual projectors. Primary energy center activity (chakra activity) sets the dimensional angle of a projector's approach. Which type of astral entrance structure is perceived is set by the level, quality, and pattern of energetic activity within the energy bodies of individual projectors. Projectors with strong brow or crown centers often feel themselves leaving their physical bodies through their head or brow areas; they generally perceive a tube-type astral entrance structure. Projectors with strong heart or throat centers usually feel themselves leaving through the front of their physical bodies; they generally perceive a plane-type astral entrance structure. The type of projection exit therefore gives some indication of the level on which you are operating, and, in turn, indicates the type of entrance structure you can expect to encounter. The level of primary energy center activity (chakra activity) affects the complexity of the two basic types of astral-plane entrance structures at the time of projection. For example, a projector with a naturally strong, but only lightly active, brow or crown center at the time of a projection may only perceive a very basic tube-type astral entrance structure, perhaps black and white, with no colorful embellishments or musical notes and tones. This same projector, projecting at another time when the brow or crown centers are more energetically active, may perceive a much more elaborate and colorful version of the same astral tube-type entrance structure. Another way of explaining the above is to draw a comparison between these different angles of perception using three different types of cameras. Let's say we take a picture of you first with a normal camera, then with a movie camera, then with an x-ray camera. The first picture will show you in all your glory, with your surface and face and hair all intact (astral plane-type entrance structure) in still life. The second picture will show more detail and movement, but is really just an enhanced version of the first type of picture. The third picture shows your complex internal structure and organs, minus your surface (astral tube-type entrance structure). Each camera shows essentially the same thing, but each provides a quite different view, from a different energetic angle of perception. Astral Plane-Type Entrance Structure The astral plane-type entrance structure is the one I am most familiar with. I use it more often than I do the tube-type structure, as I find it easier to find, use, and navigate with. The atmosphere above the plane, surrounding the projector, is faintly color-tinted, as if consisting of thin vapor radiating from the astral plane's surface. This color-tint is not apparent when looking directly down upon the surface, but can be seen misting all horizons. If projectors tear their eyes away from the spectacle of the surface beneath them, and turn around and look behind, they will see a colored blur as far as they can see, like looking into deep space on a clear and starless night. To enter an astral plane-type entrance structure, simply dive toward it while gazing upon its surface and keeping your mind reasonably clear. Chose a square as you get closer — any square will do — and aim for the part of its pattern you wish to enter through. The chosen square and its pattern will grow steadily larger, until it is about football-field size. The transition through the surface is quite distinct, but is accompanied by no real sensation. Once through the surface pattern, you will usually find yourself inside an astral realm, or you may find yourself temporarily in another faintly colored buffer zone, which indicates that you are approaching an internal subplane. If you enter a colored buffer zone, you must keep traveling in the same direction until you get to an astral realm. This usually only takes a few seconds. To move among the subplanes, you can change direction while inside, moving at a different angle from your original direction. If you are not sure which way to go or cannot make up your mind, any angle between straight ahead and straight up will generally have positive results. This is a bit of a hit-and-miss affair and it's usually best to explore the realm at hand, rather than risk accidentally aborting the projection while trying to shift elsewhere. Always keep in mind that like any OBE, astral projection time is limited. Time out is best linked to how long it takes the physical/etheric body to fall into the deep-sleep state. Wise projectors take advantage of what they find and explore what is at hand while they have the time to do so. This is not as limiting as it sounds, as time is quite variable in the astral environment. Time generally passes much slower there, especially in the higher astral planes, and quite a lot can be accomplished even if you only have a few minutes of real time to work with. Astral Plane-Type Navigation A fairly reliable way to navigate with the astral plane-type entrance structure is to use the surface pattern as a guide. There is a direct relationship between the individual parts of this design and the internal parts, subplanes, and realms within. The point of entry defines exactly where you will appear. Therefore, if you remember the exact point of entry and note it in a journal after the projection, you can return to a given astral realm or kingdom again and again during future projections. With a little experimentation, you can develop an astral map for that astral plane. The comers of each square contain small but distinct dots and splashes of color that look like yellow, green, orange, and red paint. Each of these appears to be an entry point into a specific internal realm or kingdom. The fifth astral-plane surface pattern centerpiece (see rear cover) is a curved, six-pointed, darkblue star surrounded by a crisp, thin, yellow outline, topped by a four-petaled gold flower, topped by a circular purple center, set in an indigo-blue background. The background color appears to denote the level of that plane in the astral spectrum. Any part of the comer patterns or centerpiece will take you into the more structured realms within that astral plane. If the purple centerpiece is penetrated dead center, it will take you to the highest possible internal realm within that plane. The gold flower and its purple center, I believe, is what is referred to by the famous Buddhist mantra: "The jewel in the heart of the lotus". As with all astral entrance structures, different projectors will experience slight differences peculiar to them due to slight variations in their energetic angle of perception. But astral planes and their entrance structures are dimensionally solid and consistent structures, and will be found to be in line with the descriptions I have given. Astral Tube-Type Entrance Structure Many projectors leave their bodies by way of their heads and find themselves rushing through an astral tube-type structure, or they find the entrance to the astral tube waiting nearby after their exit out of body, leaving them the option of entering the tunnel or not. This is useful if a projector wants to spend a few minutes in real time before entering the astral planes. Personally, I much prefer the astral plane-type entrance structure, as I can find my way around a lot easier that way. I do not know any reliable way of deliberately finding an astral tube-type entrance structure during a projection. They are either found or not found at the start of it. Please do not be afraid of entering and exploring the astral tube if you come across it during a projection — no matter what you might have heard. They will not harm you in any way! Many people have reported to me that the sight of this tube is too much like the tunnel of light they have heard about, as reported by people who have had near-death experiences. They have thus refused to enter them through simple caution or fear — and missed out on the experience of a lifetime. Let me reassure you, there is no possible way you can hurt yourself. There is also no possible way you can go too far simply by using an astral tube-type entrance structure. Enter the astral tube-type structure and you immediately find yourself rushing through it. You feel a sensation of great speed and often hear a rushing sound like air whooshing past you. Grid lines and colors and patterns and tones and musical notes change as you move through it. Exits appear at regular intervals, marked by definite changes in the colors, tones, and patterns around you. Sometimes you experience brief mind's-eye visions and/or intuitive feelings of where exits lead. Use your intuition to pick an exit that appeals to you, or choose one you know from experience, or just take a wild guess and jump into one. Alternatively, just hang on, enjoy the astral tube rollercoaster ride, and see where you end up. The tube will not hurt you no matter what you do. The look and feel of the colors, patterns, and musical tones surrounding exit points inside a tubetype structure can provide a fair guide to the type of astral level or realm they lead to. Murky colors with too much black or gray, with low and discordant or unpleasant-sounding tones, for example, will most probably take you to lower astral subplanes. Lots of pretty red, orange, green, blue, yellow, purple, and gold, on the other hand, accompanied by harmonious or pleasant-sounding tones or musical notes, will take you to higher levels and realms. Simply dive into your chosen exit as you pass by it and you'll suddenly find yourself inside an astral realm. The exit is quite dramatic, like entering another world. If you memorize the patterns, colors, tones, and the look and feel of an exit, you will be able to find this realm again during later projections. More astral tube-type entrance structures may appear during the course of a single astral tubetype projection. If you want to return to the tube and cannot see it, image it strongly in your mind's eye and it will often appear somewhere close by. Alternatively, you can try an instant projection back inside it. Another way of finding it again is to reach out and feel for your physical body and try to project back near to it. The astral tube will often be found waiting near your physical body — but sometimes not. As projection time is always limited, I suggest that you explore whatever is at hand instead, rather than starting all over and wasting good projection time. Tunnel of Light Many projectors report shooting at high speed through a tunnel of light when they project, then ending up somewhere inside the astral planes. Some people perceive the astral tunnel-type entrance structure as plain black and white with grid lines. Others perceive it as being multicolored or embellished in many other ways. It is, therefore, reasonable to suggest the tunnel of light may simply be another perception angle version of the same basic astral tube-type entrance structure. On the other hand, it is also possible that at times a brief tunnel-of-light effect can be caused by the initial blurring of stars as a projector travels at extreme velocity through the galaxy, until reality shifts and they enter the astral planes proper. By this, I do not mean that the astral planes have an actual spatial location in the physical universe. A sudden burst of great speed through the atmosphere and into outer space, however, can blast a projector quickly out of real time and straight into the astral planes, with simple disorientation causing the resulting dimensional shift. Finding Astral Entrance Structures Many projectors, though able to operate well in the real-time zone, seem unable to deliberately enter the astral planes. They may occasionally slip into astral realms spontaneously, but they are unable to perceive any type of astral entrance structure at all, which makes astral navigation extremely difficult. Perceiving some type of entrance structure (either tube-type or plane-type) is necessary for projectors to explore and return to specific astral regions, or to find their way into higher dimensional levels. On the other hand, many projectors seem unable to operate in the real-time zone. They tend to slip directly into astral realms, while also bypassing any recognizable type of surface entrance structure. I spent many early years of conscious-exit projection stuck in the real-time zone. I found it difficult to deliberately enter the astral planes, although this did happen occasionally, until I learned a few tricks to overcome this awkward dimensional hurdle. The method I use and recommend for getting into the astral planes is this: Starting near ground level, aim midway between the horizon and straight up and take off. Fly at the greatest speed possible. Start moving upward and feel and become aware of the star-filled universe spread out before you. Even if it's daylight, image this in your mind's eye as you reach out and feel for the stars beyond Earth's atmosphere. Fill your mind with the feeling of enormous distance and shoot for the stars. The incredible acceleration this causes makes your vision blur momentarily, and you may experience a brief tunnel-of-light effect. To increase accuracy, you can instead hold an image of the rear cover art of this book in your mind's eye as you shoot for the stars. The first sign you'll have that you have succeeded is the dimensional shift, which feels like a brief falling sensation accompanied by a moment of blurring disorientation. You will then either find yourself in a color-tinted area close to an astral plane-type entrance structure — (which is most likely) — or you may find yourself already inside an astral realm, which is slightly less likely. Even less likely, you may find yourself near or inside an astral tube-type entrance structure. This method takes a little practice, but does work and is fairly reliable. Once you get to an astral entrance structure, you should be able to find your way back there again. Simply hold the remembered image or the look and feel strongly in mind as you shoot for the stars. The rear cover art of this book gives a fairly accurate representation of what a real astral-plane entrance structure actually looks like. This is taken from my living memory and has been interpreted by an artist for this purpose. If you can image this strongly enough in your mind's eye, you should be able to project to this plane fairly easily. Look on this picture as a kind of astral mud-map to an entrance structure. If this method fails entirely, which is highly unlikely, you may find yourself on the other side of the galaxy, or in another galaxy. If this happens, enjoy space flight and explore. Nothing you might do can possibly hurt you, no matter how far or how fast you go. You simply cannot get lost in space. Do not worry about finding your way back to your body, either. Your physical body will pull you back if it needs to, or you can simply feel for your body and return to it. Returning to an Astral Plane The colorful geometric pattern on the surface of each astral-plane entrance structure is distinctly different from that found on the surface of any other astral-plane entrance structure. This pattern appears to be a kind of dimensional color-coding, abstractly representing the internal components of each astral plane. The different color tinting found in the open-space areas near astral planes may also correspond with the level of the astral planes being traveled. Using the known spectrum as a basic guide can give projectors some idea of where they are among the astral planes. Keep in mind that there are many colors above the normal physical spectrum that can only be perceived while out of body. Some astral colors are impossible to describe, there being nothing in the physical dimension with which to compare them. I suggest these be judged intuitively and by their beauty. It may be possible to use buffer zone colors to project to specific levels of the astral planes. This is a good start for new projectors, and definitely worth experimenting with, especially if you are having trouble getting into the astral planes. The success of this will depend on how well you can fill your mind with the chosen color during a projection. You must image the color and let it fill your mind's eye, while feeling yourself moving or falling into it, in exactly the same way as you would use the instant projection method. When you appear there, you must keep moving ahead in your original direction; hopefully, an astral-plane entrance structure will soon appear. The virtual reality projection method (see chapter 24) can also be used for this purpose. If a poster of a single bright primary color is entered, as per the VRP technique, it may be possible to cause a dimensional shift directly into the astral level associated with that color. If the surface pattern of an astral plane can be re-created as a picture, this can also be used, as per VRP technique, to project directly to the surface of that astral plane. The rear cover of this book is, again, ideal for this purpose. Skull Rock The following is an astral-plane experience of mine, showing typical astral plane-type entrance structures, as I perceive them. This projection happened at about one in the afternoon. I did no energy work, trance, or meditation before it, as I was intending to have a nap and not a projection. I was resting well, but although I was extremely tired I could not fall asleep — too much morning coffee maybe. I soon felt myself falling into trance and the first trickles of energetic movement and vibrations started spreading throughout my body. I began seeing into the real-time zone around me through my closed eyelids, so decided to go astral for a while. I exited using the instant rope technique (see chapter 19) and staggered free of my body. I literally staggered, feeling weak and having little energy or directional control. This told me I was too close to my too-awake physical body and mind. I floated with some difficulty through the wall of my room to get away from my physical body. As I passed through the wall, I felt a tingling, electrical type of buzzing and heard a definite Velcrolike ripping sound. I saw the inside of the wall very clearly and brightly lit as I passed through it. I staggered away toward the main room like a drunkard, intending to give my nephew, Matt, a good dose of goose bumps by passing through his physical body. I had very little control and felt my physical body trying to drag me back to it. I was still too close to my physical body, and was probably further weakened by making too rapid an exit without any preliminary energetic work. I decided to get out of the house for a while, thinking this should fix the problem. I staggered into the spare room and fell sideways through the window and out into the front yard. I rolled and floated over the front lawn and dragged myself away from the house. I soon started feeling better. I skimmed across the road into the park opposite the house. I waited there for a few moments, hugging a big old gum tree while I concentrated on drawing more energy into myself, feeling it coursing into me from my physical/etheric body back in the house. Much stronger now, I flew toward the beach just over a mile away, feeling better now I was airborne and well away from the house. It was a glorious sunny day with a brilliant-blue sky and very few clouds. Picking a point well above the horizon, I reached out and felt for the star-filled universe hidden beyond the blue. I willed myself to hyperspeed, increasing speed dramatically. Everything blurred as I shot myself out into space through a brief tunnel of blurred starlight. I felt a dimensional shift and found myself somewhere in the astral dimension. After I flew through darkness for a few moments, a brighter area of deepest blue, like the evening sky, appeared all around me. I came upon a vast astral-plane entrance structure. Spread out several miles beneath me, its crisp-blue surface beckoned me, covered with spectacular grid-lined patterns. This was absolutely breathtaking to behold firsthand and I hovered a while, breathing it all in. Every square of its grid-lined structure was filled with the same spectacular, multicolored geometric pattern. This was the doorway to an astral plane, to other worlds within. It spread out beneath me as far as I could see in all directions, filling my every horizon. It is difficult to describe such an enormous spectacle as lay beneath me. In the physical world there is nothing with which to draw a fair comparison. I suppose skydiving from a great height over checkered fields of farmland would be the closest to it. I was excited and awestruck by this spectacular geometric beauty. Without further hesitation I swan-dived toward the surface. A tingling rush of energy flooded through my astral body and I screamed out joyfully, as loud as I could, "Geronimoooo... Heeeee... Haaaaaa!" and heard my voice booming loud and clear throughout the astral dimension. As I neared the patterned entrance, I felt an almost tangible humming of power in the atmosphere around me. The square I'd picked as a target grew steadily larger and larger, but remained sharply distinct until the final moment as I plunged into it. There was no sensation of impact, but the transition was dramatic. I suddenly found myself in what seemed like deep-blue water, much thicker than the tinted atmosphere I'd just left. Visibility was extremely good, and I could see for hundreds of meters in all directions. Fora moment I thought I was in another buffer zone. Then I noticed tiny bubbles and bits of matter all around me, indicating I was indeed under water. I headed upward at a slight angle toward a lighter area that I guessed to be the surface. A sparkling movement caught my eye. Angling back down I flew to investigate. I saw a school of several enormous fish in the distance. Drawing closer, I saw these were round, flat, and brightly colored, looking much like tropical Discus fish. These were much larger than the biggest whales that ever swam the oceans of Earth. Swimming among these fancy behemoths were sharks, but the sharks were tiny compared to the enormous fish — like minnows among stately giants. One of the great fish looked at me as I flew slowly through their giant school. It watched me calmly with one great big friendly eye the size of an automobile as I floated past. I sensed intelligence, curiosity, and... something like amusement coming from the great fish. Spiraling upward, I surfaced among lively ocean waves, and soared into a glorious indigo sky. Two suns shone down on me, one large and orange and one small and yellow. Several miles away to my right was a shoreline with a small bay lined with creamy yellow sands. Sparkling-white strips of surf rolled endlessly toward the beach, standing starkly out from the blue ocean. Jutting out from the shore on the left point of the bay was a massive pale shape. I looked closer: A skull-shaped rock with cavernous shadows for eyes peered back at me, looking to be several hundred feet high. Spinning around and taking it all in, I spied several large sailing ships of curious design several miles away. They were tall, wooden, oceangoing vessels, heavy, high, and bull-nosed in the prow, but impossibly low from midship to stern. The sails were rigged in a way I had never seen before, with V-angled masts underlined with heavy booms, looking something like giant batwing sails, stretching way out across their beams. People were crawling like ants over the decks and rigging. I dived toward them as they tacked, all turning in unison with sails and tackle cracking, spray blasting from their ornately carved bows as they heaved gamely into the lively white-crusted rollers. I landed near the ship's wheel on the high foredeck of the lead ship. I had served for several years on merchant ships as a lad, so knew something of nautical matters, but this looked and felt like no other ship I had ever seen. I couldn't work out how they angled their sails to tack properly, but they seemed to be doing just fine and were moving along at a fairly good clip. The stern of the ship was impossibly low in the water and, looking back, I could see it was loaded with cargo held down with what looked like heavy nets. Each time the ship tacked, waves washed over the nets, which seemed an odd way to store any kind of cargo. Intrigued, I floated back to take a closer look. The cargo was made up of bales of broad-leafed, green-brown spotted seaweed, fine net bags of black shellfish, and tied bundles of some kind of sea worm that looked like coils of rope lashed to wooden pallets. Everything was covered with heavy netting to keep the cargo from washing away. The wet storage area now made a lot of sense. The crew were vaguely European looking, dark haired and heavily built, tanned and dressed in rough gray shirts with brown pants cut and frayed at the knees. They had beaded rope headbands and black cloth belts rolled and knotted about their waists. As I made my way back toward the ship's bridge, I saw a woman perched near the ship's wheel on a large bale of something like wool. She was watching me, but turned her head sharply whenever I looked back at her. The only woman on deck, she seemed in charge of the ship. She was smaller and lighter than the men, wearing a seamless knee-length shift of fine off-white material tied at the waist with a wide, braided rope belt. Her dark-brown hair hung almost to her waist when it wasn't fanned out by the breeze. A small bone-handled knife protruded from under her belt. She touched this briefly as I approached her, then seemed to change her mind and folded her arms tightly. She glared at me, her almost-golden eyes glinting a silent warning. I glanced down at myself to make sure I was dressed. Fair enough, shorts and Tshirt, my standard astral garb. Sporting my most winning smile, I respectfully asked her what this world was called, but she turned her head sharply away. I moved to catch her eye again, but she snapped her head away again. Moving closer, I proffered another smile, but she hopped off the bale and marched to a raised wooden hatchway nearby. I called after her and she half-turned and barked something at me as she disappeared down the hatch. I couldn't make out what she'd said, but could pretty much guess what it meant. Shrugging, I approached a few of the deck hands as they went about the business of running their ship. They either turned away or stood staring sullenly at the deck, ignoring me. This was most peculiar, I thought. The people in most astral realms will usually talk to you, if only to tell you what they think of your intrusion into their lives. They could all see me and I felt fairly solid here, but no one wanted anything to do with me. I felt very unwelcome and soon left the ship. I circled around the fleet for a short while before giving up on it, deciding to take a long sweeping pass over the shoreline. Landing atop the skull-shaped rock, I explored its top. It had a smooth, weathered limestone surface with an ancient kind of musty feel to it. This reminded me of a time I had played in Stonehenge as a boy, before they put the big fence all around it. I saw no one and nothing of further interest along the shore or on the rock, apart from a few peculiar furry-looking seagulls. Everything appeared very peaceful here and, apart from the unfriendly seagoing inhabitants hereabouts, I decided I quite liked the place. Knowing my time was probably short, I decided to get moving and explore some more of this realm. Lifting off, I flapped my arms for extra speed (don't laugh, this works) and took up my original trajectory, soon leaving the skull-shaped rock far behind me. Before I could go any further, I felt that old familiar weakness tugging at me as my body started dragging me back to it. The dimensional shift blurred my vision with a brief falling sensation. I fell back into my body and caught the sides of the bed as I awoke. Sitting up I reached for my journal, feeling well rested after my unexpected astral jaunt. As an example for future reference, the keywords I entered into my journal to describe the above experience were weak, stars, blue plane, patterns, swan-dive, fish n ships, skull. This is all I needed to cement the memories of the experience into my brain so they could not get lost. I then proceeded to fill in all the details. Note that the order of the keywords is used as a guide to denote the sequence of events. Navigating the Astral Realms It is not necessary to perceive an astral-plane entrance structure in order to enter realms and to move among them, although this is obviously a far more accurate way of navigating. Most people will find they can project directly into astral realms without too much trouble, bypassing any kind of entrance structure entirely. This can be likened to taking mystery flights every projection. There are many ways to get into astral realms and to move from one astral realm to another. These all cause a dimensional shift, moving the projector into an astral realm, or to other astral locations. • • • Imagine a place you'd like to be (instant travel). Don't be afraid to imagine a fantasy destination. For example, if you'd like to travel to the Skull Rock astral realm, as given above, re-create the illusion generated in your mind's eye by my description of it and feel yourself shifting toward it or falling into it. Raise your energy level by drawing more energy from your physical/etheric body. Feel yourself sucking and drawing energy into your projected body. As you do this, feel your vibrations increasing. Feel yourself buzzing and humming all over with power, increasing in intensity and pitch, while feeling yourself growing lighter and rising. Feel yourself rising and shifting into the astral planes. Fly as fast as you can, aiming midway between the horizon and straight up, while reaching out and feeling the star-filled galaxy ahead of you. Will, imagine, and feel yourself shooting through the stars at hyperspeed. • • • Walk into a mirror, picture, or TV screen, as per the virtual reality projection technique (see chapter 24). Use this as a staging area and fly in one direction until you find yourself in an astral realm. Look at your hands and watch them melt away until they are completely gone. Your subconscious mind will have trouble accepting this, which will cause a dimensional shift, transporting you into an astral realm. This can also be used for shifting to another realm. Spin around as fast as you can and attempt to disorient yourself. This will often cause a dimensional shift and move you into an astral realm, or cause a shift to another realm. Hand Glance Stabilization Your projected double's hands can be very handy during a projection — if you'll pardon the awful pun. You can not only use them to cause a dimensional shift, but you can also use them to stabilize a wavering projection whenever reality fluctuations begin eroding it. To stabilize a projection, briefly glance at your hands then look away again before they start melting. Do this as often as you need, briefly glancing at them every half minute or so if you need to. The hand-glance technique seems to send a small energetic shock wave back down the silver cord, which stimulates the physical/etheric body and mind, causing it to provide the projected double with more energy. This also appears to delay the physical body's entry into the deep-sleep state. The duration of a projection can thus be lengthened and made more memorable. This is especially effective during real-time projections. Astral Rest and Recovery Areas Many people, when they die, seem to shift into astral rest and recovery areas. Spirits rest and sleep in these areas until they recover from conditions imposed on them during their lives and are ready to progress into the spirit world proper and take more active roles in their afterlives. If you enter these recovery areas, you usually perceive a hospital-like scenario. You see spirits resting and sleeping and being cared for in a hospital-like environment. You even see nurses and doctors caring for these spirit patients. This does not mean there is an actual hospital-like astral realm where advanced spirit beings care for recovering spirits; most likely the projector's mind creates the hospital scenario. The projector's angle of perception interprets the energies contained within astral rest and recovery areas, and translates them into living metaphorical imagery. Raised energetic activity and altered states of consciousness can allow projectors to project into higher dimensional levels. All experiences of this nature must be downloaded and interpreted before the physical brain can interpret and store them as understandable and recallable memories. This accounts for the abstract metaphorical nature of all higher-level experiences. It also accounts for the difficulties inherent in interpreting and understanding them, at the normal base level of waking consciousness natural to the physical body. I have visited astral rest and recovery places many times. The hospital-like scenario and atmosphere is always similar, but each room I visit is quite different. These rooms seem to reflect the life conditions surrounding patients at the time of their passing. As I said, I do not really think there is an actual hospital floating around somewhere in the astral dimension, staffed by beings intent on nursing sick and tired spirits back to good health, although this is a beautiful thought. I believe this scenario is created by my own mind as it interprets the energies broadcast from these areas in the only way it can. This perception interpretation is done according to my mind's own learned mental associations, as well as by those set in me by the collective consciousness of mankind. As this is a healing, rest, and recovery area for the recently departed, my mind interprets this as a hospital-type scenario staffed by caring doctors and nurses. The doctors and nurses who staff and run this astral hospital do not appear to be real spirit beings. So far I have not been able to strike up anything resembling a meaningful conversation with any of them. They seem to be very two-dimensional. On the other hand, many of the people/spirits I have met there who seem to be visiting or waiting for a patient in the hospital seem to be quite real. Many spirit visitors respond and converse in a reasonably normal fashion. Spirits I have spoken with in this situation do not seem to be aware of the length of time that has elapsed since they passed over, or of many details concerning their afterlife since that time. Memories of their earthly life also seem vague, much like a half-forgotten dream. Many spirits seem to be aware only of their present reality, that of being in one place, the hospital scenario, for an indeterminate length of time. Some spirits do have vague memories of coming from other dimensional areas, but have so far given me only very sketchy details. Often they will speak of a warm, brightly lit, interesting place where they have many friends and loved ones, but with little more detail than this. The most common response I get from asking spirits what it's like where they come from is: "It's really lovely there and everyone is so nice. I don't understand this. I'm very sorry. I know it well and can picture it in my head, but I just can't describe it to you". The dreamlike quality of memory exhibited by visiting spirits in this astral hospital area may be caused by their being too far away from their natural base level of consciousness at the time. Keep in mind here that the natural, or base, level of a spirit is, logically, in one of the spirit worlds, and no longer in the physical dimension. It seems that any shift away from the natural base level of consciousness, either for spirit beings or human beings, causes memory translation problems. This translation problem also accounts, I believe, for the many difficulties and vagaries common to spirit communications and channeling in general. 27. The Silver Cord The famous silver cord is an intricate structure of energy filaments that, like an umbilical cord, links the physical/etheric body (original copy) with its projected double, during any type of OBE, including near-death experiences (NDEs). The silver cord forms an unbreakable energetic link between the physical/etheric body and its projected double, enabling a continual two-way telepathic, emotional, and energetic flow, not all on the conscious level. I say including NDEs as, logically, if a person survives temporary physical death there must have been some unsevered energetic linkage between the physical/etheric body and its projected NDE double. This is the only thing that would enable the reconnection of the temporarily defunct physical body with its projected double when the physical body is brought back to life. The projected double must be constantly supplied with the correct type of energy needed to support its functionality and integrity on whatever level it is operating. The amount and quality of energy flowing into the projected double greatly affects its capabilities during any type of OBE. A good flow of energy strengthens its ability for coherent thought and movement and enables a stronger memory download during its eventual reintegration with its physical counterpart. Without enough energy flowing into it, consciousness and memory become weak and muddled and control over the projected double becomes difficult. Consciousness needs a lot of energy. The presence of waking consciousness in any subtle body creates a strong energy demand, which causes a much stronger flow of energy into that particular subtle body than into any other. This tends to weaken all other subtle bodies, but allows the active subtle body to better maintain its conscious integrity and functionality. Energetic development can overcome this to some extent, but all projectors have only a finite amount of energy with which to operate. The amount of energy available to any projector will only spread so far. Silver Cord Location There is disagreement about the silver cord's existence and location. Some people claim that it is attached to the navel, some that it is attached to the brow, and others claim that it does not exist at all. My out-of-body observations show the silver cord does indeed exist, but is seen only when deliberately looked for. The attachment site of the silver cord on the physical body is extremely difficult to ascertain during projection. There appear to be several smaller cords, one extending from each of the primary energy centers (major chakras) of the physical/etheric body, as well as many smaller, wispy filaments extending from some of the larger secondary energy centers (minor chakras), especially in the torso and head areas. These appear to flow over the surface of the physical body and finally web together to form a single main cord, a couple of inches from the surface of the physical body. To my way of thinking, the silver cord is attached not to the physical body but to the etheric body. The attachment of the silver cord to the projected double appears to be at a single point only and shows no such weblike structure of smaller filaments making up a larger main silver cord. The silver cord is not always attached to the same area on every projected double. It will always be seen on the side directly facing the location of the projector's physical body, but this direction can often be quite difficult to ascertain, dimensionally speaking. Fig. 32. Silver cord, showing attachment variations on physical body and projected double There are several possible reasons for reports by many different projectors over the years of different silver cord locations on the projected double. The first is the effect belief can have on the fluid out-of-body environment, and hence on the appearance of the projected double. Beliefs are strong foundation structures for thought. They can have a strong effect on what is perceived during any projection. Just as self-image shapes the projected double, so the silver cord will usually be seen just where it is expected to be seen. If a silver cord is not believed in, and as a result is not expected, it usually will not be seen or noticed at all during a projection, even if actively looked for. I remember, during early childhood projections, seeing my silver cord as attached to my navel area. I had no beliefs that could affect the silver cord at this time, having no idea what it was — which adds weight to my observations. I have since observed the silver cord attached to three other places on my projected double: chest, throat, and brow. This positioning seems to vary according to the type of projection I am experiencing at the time. The silver cord is named for its overall silvery, sparkling appearance. It is quite beautiful. It seems to vary in size and apparent density, probably affected by the energies flowing through it at the time of observation. It usually appears to be about an inch or two in diameter. The outer covering of the silver cord glows with a faintly sparkling-silver hue, but closer inspection reveals a constantly moving, multicolored, speckled type of structure all through it. Inside the silver cord, clouds of tiny, fast-moving motes of energy can be seen flowing rapidly in all directions. This looks a bit like the moving static seen on a color TV that has been tuned off-station. Projectors touching the silver cord or passing their hands through it sometimes feel a faint tingle. In real time, if closely observed, the location of the silver cord is seen to change as the projected double moves and turns. It always stays fairly straight, never bent or kinked, and is always seen on the side of the projected double facing its physical body. This in itself can cause the silver cord to be seen as being attached to a variety of locations on the projected double. In more dimensionally removed areas, where there is no real direction toward the physical body, the silver cord is usually seen extending from the front of the projected double. Also, the level of energetic activity within the physical/ etheric body at the time affects the observation of different attachment sites. The strength and level of activity within each primary energy center vary greatly, and different primary energy centers work in varying combinations and strengths for different types of projection and projection-related activities. This is because many different types of energies are necessary to maintain the integrity of the projected double in different dimensional levels and circumstances. The strongest and most active primary energy centers will logically have more visible energy filaments extending from them. Energetic activity in the physical/etheric body is reflected into the projected double, and this very likely affects the location of the silver cord's attachment there. If a projector has a naturally strong and active brow center, for example, the silver cord will usually be most visible in that area. It will be seen extending from the brow area of both their physical and projected aspects. There appears to be a widespread belief that the silver cord is vulnerable. Many people have written to me over the years, worried about what might happen if their silver cord were somehow damaged or — heaven forbid — even severed, through a mishap or some kind of entity attack, during a projection. Many people refuse to even attempt projection because of this. These fears are totally unfounded and based entirely on the empty body assumption, which I have already dealt with earlier in this book (see chapter 3). I have never come across a single instance where this has happened, not even a near miss. I have come across nothing that would make me entertain this as even a remote possibility worthy of serious consideration. In my experience it is not possible to damage the silver cord. The silver cord, as far as I can ascertain, is invulnerable and therefore unbreakable. I have spent a lot of time out of my body, and have experimented, explored, and ranged widely. I have often found myself in some pretty extreme situations. If it were possible to be destroyed by severing the silver cord, I would certainly have died many times over. Nor can it be damaged simply because a projection is suddenly ended, no matter under what circumstances or how abruptly. Silver Cord Sighting This case history from my e-mail files shows an extremely rare sighting of a real-time sleep projector and his silver cord by another awake person. Note that the silver cord was seen here as coming from the projected double's side and not from an actual primary energy center site. The attachment site of this was most probably affected by the position of the projected double at this time (floating on his side) as previously discussed. I tried to project with your new rope technique. My wife and I watched TV in bed until both of us were drowsy and falling asleep. I then relaxed and tried to feel myself climbing hand over hand up a rope to the ceiling of my bedroom. I passed out sometime during this and do not remember succeeding with the projection, but my wife awoke later during that night to go to the bathroom. She saw what she described as a big "teddy bear" floating in the air a few feet above my sleeping body, connected to my side by a glowing silver ribbon. She thought she was dreaming and rubbed and closed her eyes several times, but the same image remained whenever she reopened them. She waved her hand through the teddy bear and silver ribbon several times but could not feel anything solid. Perplexed, she convinced herself it was not real and that she must be dreaming and eventually fell back to sleep again. Later that night she reawoke and the image was gone. This case history shows the sighting of a typical sleep projection in progress. The extruded realtime body here mimics the sleeping position of its physical body, and is basically asleep and dreaming itself, albeit out of its body. This man's wife was apparently still half asleep when she saw her husband's projected double and his silver cord. She probably still had some residual real-time or astral sight ability because of this, which enabled her to make this rare observation. We all project our real-time body during sleep, but the majority of people stay fast asleep during and after this event. The projected double usually imitates the physical body, adopting a sleeping position just above it, usually within arm's reach. I have observed a great many incidences of this myself during my own real-time out-of-body investigations. If awakened by another real-time projector, sleeping projectors often wake up, but they are usually quite befuddled and confused, often believing they are really somewhere else. They tend to drift back to sleep again fairly quickly. It is frustrating trying to hold a conversation with projectors in this state as they appear to be trying to function on two or more levels at the same time. 28. The Etheric Body I consider the etheric body to be composed of stable and highly structured etheric matter, rather like a complex and detailed ice sculpture compared to the more fluid types of subtle matter generated during a projection. In its contracted state (when the physical body is fully awake) the etheric body is surrounded by a dense sheath, commonly called the vitality sheath, which acts both as an energetic storage layer and as a protective barrier. It shields the sensitive interior from intrusive external energies, atmospheres, and influences. The etheric body will normally only loosen this dense shieldlike structure when it expands during sleep or during the trance state (in varying degrees, depending on the depth of trance attained). Fully expanded, it appears to begin absorbing fine energetic radiations — universal or cosmic energy? chi? prana? — from the universe around it. The energy exchange porescovering the skin of the physical body, especially in their expanded sleep state, seem to flower during this expansion and become able to absorb and condense subtle energy radiations, trickling them into the etheric body's vitality storage areas. This process of etheric body expansion and refinement leaves neither the physical body nor the original copy of mind, memory, and consciousness energetically vulnerable during sleep or projection. In its expanded state, the etheric body seems to become far more sensitive to intrusive energies, and forms something like an energetic perimeter alarm around the sleeping physical body. I believe the underlying purpose of all subtle bodies, including the very densest of them, the etheric body, is to allow the animating spirit consciousness to manifest through a living flesh-andblood being. The subtle bodies hold the essential spirit firmly inside the physical body, thus binding it inside the dimension of matter and hard experience. Etheric matter can thus be thought of as a gluelike, bioenergetic vitality substance, binding and sustaining the animating spirit in its physical body. This allows the spirit to manifest and express itself in the physical dimension, while still allowing it to maintain firm energetic links with all of its higher levels of existence through a spectrum of higher and progressively more refined subtle bodies. Death and Etheric Matter For interest's sake, and as this relates to energetic processes pertaining to projection, let's take a brief look at what seems to happen to the etheric body, etheric matter, and the projectable double during the death of the physical body. Physical death can be considered the final projection out of body, the ultimate OBE. When physical death occurs, the real-time body is projected in its strongest possible form, far stronger than would be possible under any other circumstances. In the case of sudden death, the real-time body contains most of the living bioenergetic and pure-energetic substances that were stored within the etheric body. In a way, the etheric body projects out of its physical body along with its real-time counterpart, forming what could be called the etheric-plus-real-time body. This is a far stronger and more stable version of the normally projected real-time double. It contains a full copy of consciousness and memory (now the sole original or base-level copy) held safely within it, along with the full spectrum of higher subtle bodies, in a now fully integrated, but out-of-body, waking state. As one function of the etheric body is to safely store all memories in energetic form, when the physical body dies and the etheric body breaks free, it carries the memory of its recent physical incarnation with it. To my way of thinking, when the physical body first dies, the etheric-plus-real-time body is promoted. It now rests at the bottom of the subtle body and dimensional scale, taking the place originally held by its now-defunct physical body. It takes over the holding and maintaining of the master copy of mind and memory. It holds itself fully integrated and in the full waking state, albeit now out of its physical body and existing in the real-time zone. Because the etheric-plus-real-time body now maintains full integration in the awake state (previously an exclusive property of the physical body) there are none of the energetic conflicts or weakening mind-split effects normally associated with any other type of OBE. According to some recently deceased spirits I have communicated with during real-time projections, though, reality fluctuations can still be a problem, with other minds and energies continuing to affect the real-time environment. During the final moments of death, most of the dying physical body's etheric matter is rapidly transferred into its newly forming etheric-plus/real-time body. A transfer of residual etheric matter also appears to continue, albeit far more slowly, for a few days after death has occurred, until everything left within the physical body has been transferred into its brand-new etheric-plus-realtime vehicle. As a related side note: the destruction of the physical body by cremation, explosion, etc., at any time during or after physical death, does not appear to interfere with the transfer of residual etheric matter. Etheric matter cannot be destroyed by physical means, but the physical body can; therefore the destruction of the physical body should logically only serve to free up any residual etheric matter. This would possibly have the effect of making residual etheric matter more readily available to the etheric-plus/real-time body of the recently deceased spirit. The large amount of etheric matter (pure life energy or vitality) released during the death process sustains the integrity of the etheric-plus/real-time vehicle in the fully awake state. This holds it (plus the animating spirit) very close to the physical dimension (often) within the real-time zone. The actual duration of a spirit's real-time afterlife existence appears quite variable. I believe this is greatly influenced by the physical and spiritual vitality of the deceased person concerned, as well as by his or her level of spiritual development, psychological makeup, desires, and emotional problems. Some spirits appear to skip this intermediary afterlife stage entirely, while others appear to have a prolonged existence there. This whole process appears to give departing spirits much-needed time to stabilize and come to terms with their new state of existence — maybe even allowing for a few good-byes. Once a spirit's etheric matter and vitality are used up, it appears to experience something called the second death. It then passes out of the real-time zone for good, proceeding to the next natural stage of its existence. This is usually one of the spirit worlds, or one of the recovery or staging areas. The second death is gentle and totally painless — so I have been told by those who have experienced it — and is in no way distressing for a spirit. It is best thought of as being just another projection, brought on by further natural changes in the energetic qualities of the etheric-plus-real-time body, naturally shifting or projecting it up to the next level. Another related side note: the second death can be delayed only if the spirit finds some way of replacing its steadily shrinking store of etheric matter. This can apparently only be done by close association (touching and hugging) with living beings with whom the spirit has an empathic relationship, leading to an etheric-matter transfer from the living into the deceased spirit's ethericplus/real-time body. This, in essence, can be thought of as an accidental type of etheric matter feeding. In most cases (earthbound spirits and ghosts, etc.) this causes no real problems for the living. It is also usually not an intentional act on the part of the deceased spirit — although I have come across some notable exceptions to this in my travels. The sections dealing with death in this book are best thought of as showing some elements of the basic death process only. There appear to be many different ways death and the immediate afterlife process can happen. This depends greatly on the level of spiritual development and foundation belief system of the person concerned. Many people experience a tunnel of light effect as they die. This tunnel or tube-type exit from the physical body indicates heavy crown center involvement in the dying process. While difficult to prove, this type of dying seems very closely related to the tunnel or tube-type projection exit, where projectors perceive themselves as exiting their physical body through their head. The tunnel of light effect may therefore indicate a higher level of death experience. Departing spirits may, in this case, be projecting directly into one of the spirit worlds, skipping the real-time zone and other intermediary stages of death, like rest and recovery areas within the astral planes, etc. NDE A large amount of etheric matter can also be generated and projected in response to temporary physical body death, or by severe trauma where there is the strong possibility of physical death occurring. This type of event can cause a near-death experience, or NDE, to occur. An NDE happens when a person is, literally, ejected from their physical body as a result of some kind of massive trauma, e.g., car accident, bad fall, drowning, difficult childbirth, surgery, or heart attack. An NDE is similar to the death process: The real difference is that the out-of-body experience is temporary. Persons experiencing an NDE usually find themselves existing very strongly in the real-time zone, often for a fairly lengthy period. As they are so close to the physical dimension, they are usually fully aware of events happening in the real world around them. Because of the nature of NDE's, these events are often centered on their traumatized physical body. Many people, when they experience an NDE, are very scared and unsure of themselves and hence have some difficulty — quite understandably — in accepting and adjusting to what is happening to them. The sheer trauma of this type of event also ensures a strong shadow memory download during reintegration. In many cases they have accurately reported real-life events and actual conversations that occurred while the NDE projectors were clinically dead. NDEs surpass any other type of OBE in power, clarity, and memorability, because of the sudden temporary generation and projection of the etheric/plus/real-time body, which is the ultimate realtime out-of-body vehicle. (An NDE can be as clear and memorable as the normal physical waking state.) This indicates how the etheric body plays a part in OBE clarity, and memory in general. Death, OBE, and Mental Coherence These sections suggest that the base level of existence (normally the awake physical state, unless you happen to be dead) allows for the clearest and strongest manifestation of consciousness, as well as for the strongest memory retention. I thus define the base state of existence as the level where full integration of all subtle bodies can be achieved during a full waking state. For living persons, the base level of consciousness is the normal waking state in their physical body. For recently deceased persons existing in the real-time zone, the base level of consciousness is that of their etheric/plus/real-time body. Projecting away from the base level (any type of out-of-body projection) may explain the vagueness of thought that begins to plague most projectors soon after the projection exit. This can be thought of as something like progressive mental incoherence-cum-creeping amnesia. This increases in severity the farther away from the base state a projector travels, and is affected by the length of time away from the base state. This may also explain why vividly remembered OBEs are usually of fairly short duration. 29. The Akashic Records I believe the fabled akashic records are part of a medium that permeates all dimensions, on all levels, and has many different aspects. They are a permanent record of every thought, perception, and event that has ever occurred, like a huge and infinitely detailed history book, where past events can be accessed, viewed, and even experienced firsthand. The akashic records can be accessed and experienced within the astral planes (during OBEs) or with clairvoyance, remote viewing, and other psychic abilities. The akashic records also contain probability energies that are records of the future. Probability energies stem from and are generated by past and present events, actions, and thoughts. These energies can be tuned in to and read, visually or otherwise, in many different ways, both in and out of the astral planes, but the akashic records are far more accessible as a searchable type of records structure from within the astral planes, where they can be searched, viewed, and experienced firsthand, even by unskilled projectors. Like the astral hospital, the akashic records are an energetic dimensional structure with no actual shape or form. The appearance of this structure is affected by projectors' angles of perception, belief systems, and creative abilities. Projectors' needs for a definite and well-known structure within which to work have created a fairly solid library-like astral structure, which has been added to and maintained over many years. Fig. 33. Traditional akashic records library scenario The most popular structure is the traditional library scenario. Imagine a large and imposing white stone building, beautifully kept, with wide marble steps leading through several large stone pillars that mark the main entrance. This building is set well back among neatly kept lawns and gardens. Inside is a large main foyer with high ceilings. Several hallways lead off from this into different parts of the library. Sometimes a librarian will meet projectors and may guide them to the part of the library they wish to use. If not — which is more often the case — projectors must use their intuition to choose a hallway and move down it to a section of the records. If they feel nothing and all the hallways look and feel alike, they must guess. While guessing, projectors must hold their area of interest or query firmly in mind. The chosen hallway opens into a larger room full of books and scrolls. Even computer terminals can be found and used there these days. An item must then be selected for viewing and, once again, it is important the query be kept firmly in mind at all times. Projecting to Akashic Records Direct Projection: The sooner you project to the akashic records after your exit, the better, as projection time is always limited. After the exit out of body, move at least twenty feet away from the physical body and stop. Imagine the library scenario strongly. Hold the intention of visiting the akashic records firmly in mind. Feel yourself moving toward the imagined destination and feel it moving toward you. Alternatively, project into the astral planes in the usual way, while holding the intention of finding the akashic records firmly in mind. Either method can take you there. You will suddenly find yourself standing on the grassy lawn in front of the library building after the dimensional shift. Using Entrance Structures: If, after the dimensional shift, you find yourself hovering above an astral-plane entrance structure (see chapter 26), dive into it and penetrate the central part of the pattern as close as you can to dead center. This will take you to the highest realm your energetic value can attain within that astral plane. As you plunge through the centerpiece, hold the intention of seeking the akashic records firmly in mind and picture the traditional library scenario. You should find yourself there shortly after the transition through the surface. If you are using an astral tube-type entrance structure, hold the intention of finding the akashic records firmly in mind as you are Shooting up the tube. Either use your intuition to select an exit, or wait for a mind's-eye vision flash that shows something resembling a library-like structure. Alternatively, just keep this in mind and wait until the tube drops you somewhere. Hopefully, this will be at or near the akashic records. Instantaneous Travel Method: After the exit out of body, strongly imagine or visualize the library scenario. Hold this as clearly as you can and project there, using the instantaneous travel method (see chapter 25). Feel yourself moving toward your destination and feel yourself as being there. Creating a Door: Another good way of entering the akashic records is to use your creative ability to create an imposing door. This is much easier to do than it sounds; even a novice can do it. After projecting out of body, strongly image a heavy iron- studded door with massive hinges. Construct it in your mind and imagine it slowly appearing before you as you construct it from the memory of a similar door you have seen in the past. If you can, create a heavy brass sign on it that says "Akashic Records". Hold your intention of finding the grass lawn-fronted library steps beyond the door. If you concentrate your creative energies, this door will slowly appear in front of you, as if by magic. When you can see the door clearly, simply open it and you will usually find the traditional library scenario just beyond it. If you cannot touch or open this door, use your creative ability, imagine it opening, feel it opening, or pass through the door itself as you would pass through any other door or wall. Entering an Anomaly Another way is to enter an anomaly. Look for a false or misplaced door in your house. Hold the intention of finding the library scenario on the other side as you pass through it. If you find a corridor of some kind with more doors behind the first anomalous door, enter one of the new doors while still holding the intention of finding the akashic records beyond it. Repeat this process, entering anomalous doors each time you find one, until behind one of them you find the library scenario you are searching for. Virtual Records: You can also use virtual reality projection to gain access to the akashic records from within the real-time zone (see chapter 24). Use a picture of an imposing building, similar to the one described above, or get a picture of a real library or take one yourself, as the mental association this will cause may also help this process. Hang this picture on a wall in your room, or as per other VRP methods. Write the words "Akashic Records" on the building in the picture, just over the doorway. After the real-time exit, move toward and through this picture and you will usually find yourself at or near a semblance of the akashic records. This picture can also be reflected into a mirror, as per the VRP mirror technique, for added depth and realism. If using a mirror, write the words "Akashic Records" backward, or write them on a piece of clear plastic, then reverse it and tape it to the picture, so the words will read normally when reflected in the mirror. Using the VRP method, as you shift into the picture or mirror, hold a firm intention in mind of your desire to visit the akashic records. This should be enough to shift you into the real akashic records. Once there, proceed to enter the building as normal, and consider yourself as being in the real akashic records. Viewing Records Once you arrive at the akashic records library building, by whatever method, enter the building and expect to find inside exactly what you are looking for. As you climb the steps and enter the building, firmly hold in mind whether you are going to look at past or future events. When you get to the records room, you may find books, scrolls, or pictures on walls, shelves, desks, or tables, or even computer terminals. Alternatively you may find yourself transported to a mysterious cloudy world, as often happens to me, filled with strange symbols and living metaphorical imagery. If you use the traditional library-building method, you will most probably find books. However, these will be quite unlike normal books. Inside record books, you will see titles, pictures, images, and symbols. It usually doesn't matter which book you pick up. It matters more what your intention is when you select and open a book. You will usually see moving images and living pictures within it. Concentrate on one of these images and allow it to fill your mind, which will happen automatically if you stare at it. This will usually move you inside the page where you can experience an akashic vision — a record — firsthand. To return to the library from within a book/vision and start over, imagine and feel for the library scene you just left and you will be transported back to it. In most cases, once a record has been experienced, projectors automatically slip back into the records room as it finishes, or when they have seen enough, simply by wishing for it. Whatever method used, hold a firm intention in mind of the time period required: past, present, or future. Future events seen in akashic records are strong probabilities. They are not to be thought of as being completely unchangeable destiny. The keys to changes that could be made to affect future events will be symbolically or metaphorically represented as a part of the event being viewed. These potentially modifying elements may be subtle and can be quite difficult to recognize, but they will always be there. Unfortunately, these elements are usually apparent for what they are only in hindsight. Tuning in to Areas of Interest If you tune in to the akashic records without a, definite subject in mind, you will usually find yourself viewing one of two general subject areas: 1. Disasters: Wars, earthquakes, airline crashes, floods, fires, train wrecks, mass murder, assassinations, death and destruction, etc. Disasters have a far greater energy surrounding them than any other type of event, because of the dramatic effect they have on the lives of so many people. The energy surrounding these records makes them stand way out above everything else. In a way, they bubble to the surface where they are much easier to see. 2. Personal: The events surrounding your own life, property, and interests, and the lives of all those connected with you — past, present, and future — are also very strong. As with disasters, high-energy events will stand well out from the more mundane events. If you look into the general future, into the area of probabilities, you often experience a confusing maelstrom of symbolism and complex, multilayered metaphorical imagery mixed up with apparently real-life events. This can be very confusing at times, but a great deal can be gleaned from this, if you understand something of the underlying nature of the energetically generated metaphorical imagery you are dealing with. Metaphorical Imagery As poetry, art, and music are the twin languages of the soul, so symbolism and metaphorical imagery are the languages of the spirit above the base level of consciousness. At higher levels of consciousness, the thoughts and words used by the base level of consciousness become progressively redundant. Communications and perceptions always match the altered level of consciousness being experienced. My experience with higher levels of consciousness, through high-level meditation and projection, has shown me that the further I move away from my base level of consciousness, the more abstract and complex perception and communication become. At higher levels, perceptions, thoughts, and communications become progressively more abstract and compressed. Living, abstract metaphorical imagery is the universal language of spirit above and beyond the base level of consciousness. This is a highly compressed form of perception-based communication, where a great deal of information is packed into high-speed, multilayered telepathic interchanges, with emotional and intuitive overlays. The end result is living, abstract metaphorical imagery. The higher the dimensional level experienced, the more abstractly simplified this becomes. I say simplified, because this factor, in essence, reduces a book-length saga into a simple picture or vision that only appears to be simple on the surface. The reason it appears so simple, I think, is because much detail is lost in the translation, from high-level format to base-level format, when it is recorded as a memory by the physical brain. When the base level of consciousness receives any form of perception or communication from a higher dimensional level, or higher level of consciousness, it interprets this in the only way it can, at the base level of consciousness, in base-level format. Complex energetic impressions and communications are thus interpreted and rendered into anything from simple pictures and abstract symbols, to living metaphorical imagery. Instead of words, sentences, and paragraphs, the end result is something like a selection of abstract art pieces appearing amidst a series of brief one-act plays, where every item, costume, word, action, and gesture has deep meaning to it. When projectors' consciousness shifts into higher dimensional levels, they take with them their base level of consciousness and understanding. This base level of understanding overrides higher levels of perception and communication natural to higher levels, which means that perceptions and communications received there cannot be completely understood. The base level is only capable of fully understanding base-level perceptions and communications natural to it in the physical dimension, at its normal level of waking consciousness. I know of no way to directly overcome this. Even if a raised state of consciousness is incorporated into a projection, eventually everything has to be downloaded, interpreted, and stored in base-level format by the physical brain as a normal memory. This factor alone, I suspect, is responsible for the extremely heavy loss of details and meaning common to any projection above the real-time zone. (The only exception is with spirit communications. Spirit beings can deliberately couch their communications at the base level of understandability, to communicate with projectors or people in the physical dimension. Any higher-level perceptions or communications that are not immediately understandable, therefore, are unlikely to be intentional communications from an intelligent spirit being.) This problem of interpretation particularly applies to information gleaned from the akashic records. The natural levels of perception and communication within the astral planes and akashic records are not completely understandable at the base level of consciousness, because information gleaned from the akashic records must be interpreted at the base level of consciousness, by the human mind and its physical storage medium, the brain. Information gained from higher sources is interpreted into something the brain believes it most closely resembles. This causes the brain to interpret high-level energetic perceptions into metaphorical abstracts, into pictures and images that most closely resemble the raw and compressed essence and meaning of what is received. Unfortunately, the end product, the memory, may appear not to make sense. (As a related side note, this line of thought suggests that ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and other ancient symbolic pictorial languages may be a high level of written communication, rather than the simple picture languages of low-level civilizations that they appear to be.) Associations and Predictions We all perceive and experience the akashic records differently, according to our energetic angle of perception and learned mental associations. The energy units representing each recorded event are stored in compressed energetic format natural to that level. When records are viewed and interpreted, they are seen as a type of in-astral mind's-eye vision experience, with overlays of emotional and intuitive impressions. How this energy affects the mind's eye of projectors depends not only on their angle of perception, but also on how their subconscious mind works. Subconscious mental associations appear to be affected by ancient symbolism embedded within the collective consciousness, even though it may appear on the surface to be contemporary mind'seye imagery. This historical symbolism can be used to index the akashic records. For example, the reference symbol Dogs of War is easily understandable as representing the subject of war. The Grim Reaper is a symbol representing the subject of death. Thus, to find "war" in the akashic symbolic index, you might use the combined symbols of the Grim Reaper and Dogs of War, or other symbolic variations. You could then browse through past, present, and future wars, and related areas. Future wars are Great Big Disasters and carry a lot more energy than any other type of human-precipitated event. These are, therefore, much easier to tune in to, and thus usually appear first if you are searching within or near that subject area. This is the main reason, I think, why many prophets, psychics and remote viewers have made such doom-and-gloom predictions about the future of the world and mankind. They have accessed the akashic records either in or out of body, and have seen a stream of terrible disasters looming ahead in the near future. An Experience of the Akashic Records When it comes to indexing, viewing, and deciphering past and future world events, some knowledge of history, geography, ancient symbolism, current affairs, and world leaders is a definite help. If when I had the following vision I had been able to recognize the person I saw addressing the crowd, and had recognized the landmarks of the country, I could have accurately predicted an important future event — instead of being wise only in hindsight. After completing some experimental energy work on my brow center during a deeptrance session, I projected out of my body, passed through a brief tunnel of starlight, and held a strong intention in my mind that I wanted the Akashic Records. At one point I experienced a soundless flash of silver-white light in my mind's eye and a momentary feeling of something like concussion in my face, blinding my perceptions for a moment. This was my brow center strobing back in my physical/etheric body (see chapter 14). My brow center had strobed several times in the past hour, but this was the first time it had ever happened during a projection. When my perceptions stabilized I found myself under a flickering purple-indigo sky, knee-deep in clinging mist. It billowed all around me, forming strange misty sculptures in the air. Each of these collapsed back into the misty soup after only a few moments of life. It wasn't long before I realized that if I held or pushed a thought into the mist a shape erupted, somehow representing the thought. The longer I held this thought, the more detailed and alive-looking the shape became, filling with color and movement. Concentrating, I focused on future disasters and the mist boiled upward, humming and flashing into a sea of multicolored sparks. As the mist engulfed me, I began seeing on several levels at once. I was bombarded with glimpses of wars, earthquakes, famine, volcanoes, disease, floods, plane crashes, murders, and explosions. Visions of multitudes of people suffering and dying filled my mind and I felt their terrible pain and anguish. It was nauseatingly confusing, not to mention thoroughly depressing. These visions seemed connected with the strange mist. I felt connected with these clouds like they were a living part of me, but everything seemed horribly mixed up. It was like trying to watch several TV channels at the same time, with the pictures superimposed. Very confusing. I cleared my mind and the onslaught of impressions slowed. This was very tricky, as I carefully focused more clearly and calmly on my original intention. The clouds boiled and hummed around me again, but much less chaotically. Deep in the clouds, hundreds of vague shapes and symbols sprouted in the field of mist around me. They flickered in and out, some clearer than others, but they kept their distance and individuality this time. I saw one piece of symbolism I recognized, The Grim Reaper, and fixed my attention on it. This quickly grew larger and more solid than the others. I floated toward it and focused on it, holding the thought of war in the back of my mind. The Grim Reaper suddenly stood up, larger than life and walked toward me — as my astral heart skipped several beats. He suddenly looked very real and threatening. The clouds darkened and the atmosphere turned sinister, filling with the clammy stench of death and decay. The Grim Reaper threw back his ugly head and laughed, roaring evilly, raising and shaking his scythe threateningly at me. In his other hand he now held a bunch of cords, which were holding several evil-looking dogs that suddenly appeared beside him. They were huge, heavy-chested, narrow-hipped, short-haired, dirty-yellow brutes with oversized snarling jaws and burning red eyes. Their sheer aggression and bloodlust was terrifying. They strained and bayed and dragged the laughing Grim Reaper toward me. These dogs appeared to be the infamous Dogs of War (another symbol come alive). I concentrated on the scene and felt myself beginning to shift again. The Grim Reaper released the terrifying dogs right in front of my face and they leapt straight at me as I shifted (most thankfully) into a spectacularly clear vision. I found myself floating above a strange city under a clear-blue sky in brilliant, cloudless sunlight. The baking sun burned through me and the air filled with pungent aromas I did not recognize. A couple of hundred feet below me, a dark-haired, swarthy, heavily built, mustached and uniformed man stood on a raised dais under two giant scimitars. I flew down to get a better look, coming to rest hovering about fifty feet above and in front of him. The swords were huge, looking to be about forty feet or more high. He was giving a charismatic speech and exhorting an enormous crowd of people in an unrecognizable language. I had never seen a crowd so large, there seemed to be millions of people here. They were dressed in robes and turbans, some looking like old rags. The crowd cheered wildly whenever the speaker made a point or stopped for breath. As I watched, one of the swords slowly changed into a large, two-handed Crusadertype broadsword with a golden crucifix engraved on the blade near the giant crosspiece and hilt. The scene continued for several minutes then faded as I willed myself to return to the cloudy akashic records structure I had just come from. I returned instead to my still-entranced physical body. I had been out of my body for almost twenty minutes. The man giving the speech, I now know, was Saddam Hussein. The scene was in Baghdad, at the Iraqi monument to the unknown soldier. This monument was, I believe, built to honor the dead of the Iran-Iraq War. I saw this future vision seven months before the Gulf War started. I did not learn who Saddam Hussein was until the Gulf War started, or where this scene would take place — until I saw my vision televised during the Gulf War. In real life, there are two giant scimitars affixed to this monument. The changing sword (from a scimitar to a crusader's sword) was morphing symbolic imagery, indicating a future probability. The crossed swords were also an easily recognizable symbol, representing the probability of a coming military conflict between East and West. 30. The Akashic Pulse This chapter could be called either fantastical conjecture or groundbreaking metaphysical discovery. I leave this up to you to decide. The entire nature of OBE research is subjective in the strictest sense of the word. Be this as it may, coming up is my finest dish of food-for-thought yet. This is the best I can do. If the experiential evidence and reasoning I offer here are sound, they provide a glimpse into many complex interdimensional mysteries: universal law, karma, the akashic records, and the collective consciousness, and how these relate to the living of our everyday lives in the physical universe. The Astral Wind If you project regularly into the real-time zone, from time to time you will come across a mystifying phenomenon that I call the astral wind. The astral wind, one of the most awesomely powerful natural forces in the universe, is most dramatic and noticeable when experienced during a conscious real-time projection. It is caused, I believe, by what I call the akashic pulse. I am sure some projectors will recognize the following scenario, through clearly remembered projections, dream fragments, or through vague impressions and feelings hovering near the edge of memory. You are traveling about the real-time zone, minding your own business, when all of a sudden you are gripped by an irresistible force. You feel yourself being dragged away against your will, usually backward. It feels like you are being blown away by an incredibly strong wind, but you cannot feel or hear anything resembling a wind. Everything is quiet and there is no noticeable disturbance in the surrounding environment. The astral wind force is similar to that feeling caused by the physical body when it attempts to reclaim its projected double, but is far more powerful. There is no anxiety, no feeling of dread or weakness, just an irresistible force dragging you away. But, why does this happen, where does it take you, and what does it do to you? You may fight the astral wind for a few moments, feeling as if you are battling a silent hurricaneforce wind. This grows progressively stronger until you are dragged away, seemingly by the scruff of your neck, up into the sky and the great beyond. You watch as your house and town dwindle beneath you, as you are sucked through the clouds and... into the unknown. After what seems like a short time, you find yourself floating downward again... but into another time and place. You float down at roughly the same angle as you were originally dragged away. You may see the rooftops of a town or a city, which you may or may not recognize at the time, growing steadily larger as you fall toward it. You are deposited into a mundane setting, sometimes recognizable, maybe only a few months into the past or future — more usually the future. The astral wind releases you there for a short time, and you are free to wander about for a while — never scared but always perplexed. The entire astral wind experience may appear to be completely unrelated to you. You may see and interact with people you know, or total strangers, or both. Sometimes these other people will be aware of your presence, sometimes not. They will always be just as confused as you as to why the meeting occurred and what it means. You may witness a real-life scene from your past or future. You may feel you are just a point of consciousness without a body, an invisible spectator seeing in all directions at once. Sometimes you merge with your past or future self and see through a new set of eyes, as if you were really there. You may arrive somewhere in the distant past and observe peculiar events. You may see an old town and houses and people and events from hundreds of years ago, and wander among unrecognized streets of olden days. No reason for any of this is usually apparent at the time. When faced with evidence of this phenomenon, most OBE researchers say, "Well... fancy that", and immediately throw the whole astral wind thing into the "Too Hard" basket. The astral wind is not an uncommon event. It has been experienced and discussed by many other frequent projectors. In The Projection of the Astral Body, Muldoon and Carrington call this phenomenon "SuperConscious Projection", and describe it as caused by a higher intelligence, forcibly taking the projector to a higher dimensional level for obscure reasons. Muldoon mentions one such experience of his own, where he landed in a house and saw strangers whom he claims to have met in the flesh several months later. The most popular theory is that the astral wind force is a high-level demonstration by spirit, giving the projector some cryptic proof, the purpose and meaning of which almost always eludes the projector concerned. Generally speaking, these experiences usually appear to make no sense, even in hindsight. Let's examine the logic of this theory: Just why would any intelligent being do something so apparently bizarre and meaningless? Why go to all this trouble to confuse sincere and intelligent projectors and seekers? Higher beings could quite easily give projectors clear messages and understandable experiences. They could, for example, easily create a blackboard and write a simple message on it, or show simple pictures and symbols. They would surely choose a message of some import to the projector, rather than something totally defying interpretation. I think that the astral wind is not deliberate action by a higher intelligence, but a natural phenomenon with a natural cause. But what is the purpose of the astral wind and how does it work? And how does this apply to all of us down here on Earth in the physical universe? First and foremost, the vast majority of people do not have conscious OBEs, and most frequent projectors (a very small minority group indeed) spend only a short time in the real-time zone before shifting into the astral planes. Projectors usually lose track of an astral wind experience on the astral level and remember little about it. This type of event has been explained away as some kind of forced or spontaneous high-level projection, or a projection from within a projection that shifts them to a higher dimensional level. A real-time astral wind experience is far more down-to-earth and recognizable than its astralplane counterpart, because memories of astral wind experiences above the real-time zone appear to be greatly affected by the base level of understandability. The physical brain's translation of this type of higher-level experience apparently does not allow wholly recognizable memories to form after a projected double reintegrates With its physical body. Most frequent projectors are lucky to have two or three decent projections per month. These are always of short duration, especially the real-time parts of them. Mind-split, base-level understandability, translation, and shadow memory loss problems cause the vast majority of projection experiences to be forgotten. This all suggests that people are not meant to be operating consciously in the real-time zone when the astral wind arrives. Their projected doubles are meant to be floating in real time, fast asleep, as in normal sleep projection. The majority of people in the world are sound asleep whenever the astral wind hits and gathers them up, so it is not surprising that astral wind experiences are only rarely reported. It is fairly obvious from this train of reasoning, that the astral wind cannot be explained away as deliberate high-level spirit contact, spontaneous high-level projection, or super consciousness. There must be a natural cause and effect at work, and even a natural purpose, behind the whole astral wind phenomenon. Doesn't all this make you wonder, just a little, about the origin and purpose of the astral wind? The tantalizing fragments of past and future events, shown in the tail ends of astral wind experiences, strongly indicate the akashic records are involved. If so, where do the akashic records come into the equation? For that matter, what are the akashic records? How do they work and why are they there at all? What is their natural purpose and function? And, what has the astral wind got to do with them? Well... I have spent many years pondering these very same questions. From Here to Akasha To quickly recap: the akashic records, I believe, do not exist in any particular place or time, nor in any particular part of any dimensional level or realm. They are generated by consciousness in an underlying, interdimensional, energetic medium that flows throughout all levels of our infinite multidimensional universe. I call this underlying medium simply akasha. Akasha is everywhere and every-when, an aspect of the ether that absorbs subtle energetic reflections radiated into it by all levels of consciousness through the act of living and existing. One aspect of akasha, the akashic records, can be thought of as being a complete energetic record of past events and future probabilities. Past events exist as lingering energetic reflections. Future records are generated by these lingering energies. The future thus exists as abstract probability energies, generated by past and present events, actions, and thoughts. The stronger the probability of a future event, the stronger the energies associated with it. Some probabilities, like big natural disasters, are so strong as to be virtually unchangeable by any possible humanprecipitated modifying action. These events can thus aptly be called the inescapable energies of destiny. Past and present thoughts and actions cause reactions in the energetic medium of akasha, energetic ripples that affect future probability energies being generated within akasha. It can aptly be said, I think, that every action recorded in the energetic medium of akasha causes an equal and opposite reaction therein. This energetic action-causing-reaction mechanism has a strong modifying influence on probability energies, an effect more commonly called karma. Karma generates an equal and opposite future energetic reaction to match and balance each action. Karma is not reward and punishment, but is the long-term process of energetic balancing whereby individual consciousness units (spirits) progressively attain balance throughout multiple incarnations within the physical dimension. Karmic Law: Every action generates an equal and opposite energetic reaction within akasha. Universal Law: Like attracts like and opposites repel, but only as modified by karmic law. Influential karmic probability energies are, I believe, compounded for each individual consciousness unit (each single spirit) into something I liken to an influential akashic pool. This is something like a private energetic storage area, containing both positive and negative attributes. Positive influential karmic energies have a positive effect, and negative influential karmic energies have a negative effect, on the life of the person/spirit concerned. Karmic law sets the balance of these positive and negative energies. The akashic pool concept can be further simplified as a kind of energetic scoreboard accounting for positive and negative actions of consciousness. These are balanced against the scores of all other players in the game of life. Conditional life influences are set and applied to all players according to the rules of balance governing the universal karmic scoreboard. Probability energies do not exist just as part of a peculiar set of records that show past and future events (which is how the akashic records are normally considered). These energies also have an incredibly strong effect on the present and future. They are the energetic modifying essence of now and the future. Probability energies generate all present and future energetic conditions (life influences) according to karmic law. This mind-boggling process involves an incredibly complex, interconnected, time-spanning series of delicately arranged attractions and repulsions. Like energies attract like and opposites repel, but only as set and applied by karmic law. Karma is the underlying modifying factor of universal law, the rule-maker and scorekeeper wrapped in one. Karma and universal law work hand in hand as aspects of the same influential lifeaffecting mechanism. This leads me to believe they are energetically indivisible, with universal law the influential arm of karma. This is why probability energies exist, in my opinion, and why they affect us all so profoundly. Akasha is a fluid interdimensional medium, an infinite time-spanning ocean filled with the abstract energies generated by consciousness. It contains passive energetic reflections and the notso-passive influential energies generated by karma. Akasha exists and flows through everywhere and every-when. Like a true ocean, it is full of complex tides and currents, has depths and shallows, shoals and reefs, and islands and continents. Above all else, it is absolutely bursting with life in all its wondrous varieties. The Source of all consciousness lies in the center of the universe. From this comes the living instrument of karma and the actual working mechanism of universal law, the akashic pulse. When astral winds blow through akasha, they absorb and record, compute and modify, and finally apply karma, through universal law, to all living beings in the universe. Akasha is the ether, the interconnecting interdimensional medium, the universal carrier wave that allows the regular adjustment of all life influences, down to the minutest details of even the lowliest of life forms. This absorbing, computing, and adjusting mechanism is initiated by The Source of all consciousness, from within The Great Center, as it reaches out through the multidimensional universe, generating the incredible astral wind phenomenon. The Akashic Pulse But akasha is not just some strange energetic medium and carrier wave, part of which contains a peculiar collection of time-spanning records. It is a living, breathing, dynamic force that affects everyone twenty-four hours a day. It is the heartbeat of universal consciousness. Akasha is responsible for all life conditions and influences surrounding everyone's lives. It affects us all profoundly and is as much a part of us as we are a part of it. The Great Center is at the very top of the dimensional structure, the highest of all dimensional levels. It holds within it the seat of universal consciousness, The Source, that great spark of original life that thought, imagined, created, and filled the whole universe with the original energies of light and life. The aspect of The Source responsible for the workings of the akashic pulse, and for the application of karmic and universal law, can be likened to an infinitely powerful, intelligently aware, computer processor. Please forgive me for the overly mechanical description of what can be called an aspect of God. I am trying to simplify and explain the unexplainable at the base level of consciousness and understanding we are all forced to live with. The astral wind phenomenon occurs when The Source reaches out and breathes IN a subtle reflection of the life essences of all individual units of consciousness in the universe. Each projected double, sleeping or conscious, contains within it a complete energetic record of all past and present thoughts and actions. It also contains within it a set of conditional and influential energies that are regularly collected, examined, modified, and updated by The Source during the astral wind phenomenon. I call these energies consciousness seeds. Consciousness seeds profoundly affect the lives of each and every incarnated spirit in the universe. They are responsible for luck, both good and bad, in all aspects of life. These consciousness seeds are drawn in for checking, processing, and updating during what I call an akashic pulse episode. The Source checks and processes each current set of thoughts, actions, and events contained within each individual spirit. These are weighed and computed against the sum total of all past actions and thoughts, throughout all incarnations, including their effects on all other spirits. These energies are then balanced and modified, individually and in groups, according to karmic law. The consciousness seeds are thus regularly updated by karmic and universal law, according to the divine equation of balance, harmony, and spiritual growth. The Source then breathes OUT the modified essences of all projected doubles as a massive interdimensional energetic wave that I call the akashic pulse. This wave contains within it all the newly adjusted life essences of all individual consciousness units in the universe. The essences are now full of updated influential consciousness seeds, life-adjusting energetic droplets of consciousness. All this is breathed back down through the dimensional spectrum and back into the physical universe, back into the dimension of hard experience. If you are caught up by the astral wind during a real-time projection, you return to full awareness as you start falling through the clouds back toward earth. As each projected double reintegrates with its physical body, these consciousness seeds are carried into its etheric body, where they take root. Some seeds begin their energetic influence immediately, while others lie dormant, ready to surface whenever their energies are triggered by real-life events. When a coded seed is triggered, the energies it releases begin to modify the set of attractions and repulsions contained within a person. This profoundly affects how that person interacts with the environment and with all other people, because it affects how the attractions and repulsions of universal law work at the grass-roots level. This, by the way, may explain deja vu. A powerful seed triggered in a person causes deja vu — a strong feeling of knowing, of having seen, experienced, or done something before. I consider deja vu to be caused by a consciousness seed's coded trigger sequence as it explodes upward through the subconscious mind. It feels like an important memory has suddenly surfaced within the conscious mind — a memory of something only now being experienced. Many people realize this at the start of the trigger event, and thus often know exactly what is going to happen next. This type of experience is most remarkable and can have a great effect on people's lives. It is much like knowing the future before it happens, then of witnessing a small part of that future as it unfolds. Life's Little Choices Life is full of little choices. Everyone makes a stream of seemingly insignificant choices every day of their lives: what we eat and drink, what bus or train we catch, what we read, etc., etc. The little choices we make — and those made for us by other people — profoundly affect our lives and the lives of others. We have freedom of choice; our lives are not mapped out like a script to be followed blindly. We have the power to change the future by choosing our paths in life as we live them, making life's little choices. And little choices can be just as important as big choices. We never know when a small choice, or a chance happening resulting from one, is going to have a big effect on our lives and the lives of others around us. Our choices are influenced by four main factors: reason, circumstantial pressure, emotion, and intuition; but not necessarily in that order. Intuition provides the most random element of choice, often making us choose to do what we feel like doing. Often when we follow our feelings no other element is involved. This random factor is the element most affected by influential energies. These shape our lives and the lives of others, working through us and through all those around us, creating long-term reciprocating influential effects. Elemental Akasha The akashic pulse is a massive, influential energetic carrier wave. It influences our thoughts and feelings and adjusts the life influences and surrounding conditional energies affecting each and every one of us, on a personal as well as a group basis. It is a vast outpouring of universal law, the heartbeat of universal consciousness. It breathes IN and causes the astral wind to blow throughout the universe. It breathes OUT, causing the akashic pulse to flow through all time and space, permeating all dimensional realities. The infinite complexity and scope of The Source sees all. It observes and assimilates and calculates and balances and adjusts all, down to the minutest details of the highest and lowliest of lives. Fig. 34. The astral wind and akashic pulse phenomenon The Source, shown as a star at the top of the pyramid, is inside The Great Center, which is at the top of the dimensional spectrum. This is the original center of universal consciousness, the highest level of consciousness. At the bottom is the physical dimension, our reality, the dimension of hard experience, where all our lives are lived and played out at the base level of consciousness and understandability. Between these two extremes of consciousness are ascending and descending dimensional layers. Akashic pulse episodes occur, as far as I can ascertain, two or three times each twenty-four-hour period. However, I may be completely wrong here and regret that I cannot be more specific about timing. (To be more precise it would be necessary to project in real time for many consecutive twenty-four hour periods. No one can spend that amount of time out of their body and retain a clear memory of it.) At certain times during the year the astral wind phenomenon seems to be much stronger than usual. I have no firm answer as to why this is so, but suspect astrological influences may play a major part in this equation. Natural Purpose of Projection During normal sleep, the etheric body expands, refines, and generates the projectable double, which, as stated, contains a complete reflection of consciousness and all memories, both conscious and subconscious. In other words, the projected double holds a perfect copy of its physical self in subtle energetic form, one small step away from the physical dimension. The projected double can also be thought of as containing all the higher subtle bodies. As the projected double, sleeping or otherwise, is breathed IN by The Source, its denser subtle bodies are progressively stripped away like the layers of an onion as it rises up through the dimensional spectrum toward The Great Center. This is why the projected double exists separate from the physical body during sleep. It waits, sleeping or awake outside its physical body, for the next akashic pulse. When the astral wind arrives, the projected double is irresistibly drawn upward toward The Great Center, becoming more and more refined as it progresses. The coarser layers of its energetic body are progressively shed as it moves upward, until only its pure essence remains: the highest possible energetic expression of itself. This highest and purest of all energetic bodies is assimilated directly into The Source. A timeless moment later it is breathed OUT, now fully updated, and the akashic pulse carries it back down through the dimensional spectrum. It regains its coarser subtle bodies along the way, as it is blown back into the physical universe, to finally reintegrate with its waiting physical body. This happens naturally during sleep. The assimilation of adjusted influential consciousness seeds is thus not normally experienced or remembered by the conscious mind — unless it happens to a fully awake real-time projector. Real-time projectors will experience the entire astral wind phenomenon, and may also experience the abstract metaphorical imagery associated with the coded trigger sequences of updated consciousness seeds. This can happen as these seeds are transferred into their awake real-time double, before they are downloaded into the physical/etheric body. This event can cause the awake real-time projector to experience firsthand a powerful out-of-body mind's-eye vision. Because of the fluid nature of the out-of-body environment, this is usually experienced as an event rather than as a vision. I believe that this process causes some prophetic dreams. All this points to conscious OBE being an unnatural act of consciousness; possibly even a loophole in the working mechanisms of life. But I think this is far too simple an answer when the long-term potential of OBE is considered. OBE is way too powerful and meaningful to be accidental. So it seems logical to suggest that conscious OBE may be an important part of the spiritual evolutionary process. As mankind evolves, I believe the OBE factor will steadily become a more profound and meaningful part of life, on the individual as well as on the species growth level. OBE allows for a strong experiential connection with The Source, The All, The Great I Am, with the originator of everything — tiny sparks of which rest deep within our hearts. Astral Wind Experience The following is an astral wind experience I had several years ago during a very powerful realtime projection. I was fully awake in both my physical/etheric and real time bodies, which gave me a unique perspective of the astral wind phenomenon. With time and hindsight, the results of the seeded influences involved here, and their coded trigger sequences, can be better examined and understood. It was a hot summer's night and I was meditating late in the evening. In full trance, I was raising energy and working on my higher primary centers. My body started to tingle and I soon felt whole-body vibrations, which is an occasional side effect of this type of energetic work. I decided to go with it and project. I buzzed free into the room, floating several feet in front of my physical body, and moved toward the back of the house, intending to leave through the back wall. A force like the grip of a powerful wind (all that was missing was the buffeting and howling of a real wind) pulled me backward. My other aspect, the physical me sitting in the chair, watched with great interest what was happened to our real-time double. Neither of us had any idea of what was happening or why. We decided to go with it and see what happened — not that we could do anything about it anyway. I was dragged through the wall and up into the sky at roughly a forty-five degree angle, backward and facing my house. I could not turn around and face the way I was moving. I had experienced this several times before and knew I was in the grip of a powerful phenomenon, but did not understand exactly what it was. I was not scared, as this had never hurt me, but was fascinated. I watched my house grow steadily smaller as I was dragged away by the scruff of my neck through the night sky into the unknown. I seemed to momentarily black out after being dragged through a thin cloud layer. I remember clouds flying past me as if I were skydiving in reverse. I became aware again as I was falling back to earth; it seemed like a short time later. I was facing forward this time, but at about the same angle and speed as when I had left. The astral wind dumped me in the middle of the road in front of my house, at the end of a neat, tree-lined cul-de-sac in the suburbs. In front of me stood a large, solid-looking refrigerator, standing in the middle of the road, with a massive red brick wall standing about twenty feet or so behind it. I couldn't see the top of the wall. (In real life there is no wall or refrigerator there.) I moved toward the refrigerator. Its door was hanging partly open and its light was on. I somehow knew that it was broken, and saw it was full of old toys and junk. The next moment my wife appeared beside me. She looked at the refrigerator then glared coldly at me. She firmly said, "Goodbye", then turned and marched angrily away from me, walking away from our house. Just before she rounded the corner she stopped and turned, looking back at me. Her face softened a little, and with a sad little smile and a small wave, she turned and continued on her way, climbing over a small fence and walking out of sight. I stood there, stunned, looking at the desolate scene around me. I had a fair idea that the imagery meant that my wife and I were destined to split, permanently, at some time in the not-so-distant future. This staggered me, as we were happily married at the time, busily raising our four small children. The vision experience ended there and I suddenly found myself back in my physical body. I got up and recorded in my journal everything that had happened. About half an hour had passed since I had left my body. This experience, I now know, was an akashic pulse episode. I had witnessed the workings of the akashic pulse firsthand during an extremely powerful real-time projection. Any projection-related experience, vision, or dream can contain residual elements from akashic pulse episodes. Along the same line, mind's-eye visions can also be triggered in a clairvoyant when they tune in to consciousness seeds contained within the energy body of the subject they are reading. This is, very basically, how I consider personal clairvoyant or psychic readings to work. This type of mind's-eye vision visually discloses the triggers of influential seeds, as happened in the above experience. The visual equivalent of what these triggers represent can appear as simple signs and symbols (like a refrigerator) or as living metaphorical imagery blended with apparently real-life events. Real-life events seen in visions and dreams often resemble simple pantomime. They are also often seen as a series of one-act plays (a series of vision segments) with abstract modifying touches showing karmic influences and future probabilities. They are, by nature, extremely complex because of high-level understandability and base-level memory translation problems. It is possible to learn a great deal about present influences, coming events and conditions, and changeable factors by analyzing vision experiences. Possible choices and their probable outcomes, positive and negative, are very often clearly shown. ; Unfortunately, the prophetic content of visions and dreams is often way too simple and clear for easy interpretation at its face value. Did I say simple? This is more aptly described as a sophisticated blend of overly simplistic abstract representations and real-life events that can look anything but clear and simple at the time. In hindsight, though, the true meaning of a vision can be absurdly simple. This is part of the reason why a set protocol is necessary for accurate interpretation, to get around the abstract, overly simplistic metaphorical absurdity of it all. Following is an OBE-specific version of a universal vision-interpretation protocol I have been developing for some time. The nature and interpretation of metaphorical imagery is something of a passion of mine, as are its universal applications to perceptions gained through dreams and visions. This protocol can be applied and used to decipher any type of vision, vision experience, or dream, whether experienced in or out of body. Interpretation Protocol Dreams and vision experiences often have such vague, cluttered, and seemingly random content that their interpretation can be extremely difficult, if not impossible. This is why interpretation is best saved for clearer and more powerful kinds of experiences, or parts of experiences, although it never hurts to analyze the smallest and most insignificant vision segment. With a little practice, it soon becomes clear which experiences or parts of experiences warrant serious interpretation and which are best ignored. An interpretation protocol — a set procedure — helps. Keep a journal and record all significant dreams and OBE experiences. This is sage advice for anyone hungering for personal spiritual insight and progression. Dreams and visions show and teach you everything about your past, present, and future. They will guide you along life's rocky paths, if only you have the eyes to see through the infuriating simplicity of it all. Usually only in hindsight do certain vision elements become meaningful. A record of past experiences allows them to be researched and compared with other visions and real-life events. The knowledge and insights gained from repeated comparison of symbology and real-life outcomes can then be applied to present and future visions and dreams. The accuracy of this kind of prophetic analysis, based on identifiable personal vision symbology, works better over the long term. Everyone's mind works in different ways when it comes to dream and vision experiences. We all have our own personal built-in set of mental filters, made up of symbolic associations peculiar only to us. Learned mental associations, and those set within us all by the collective consciousness, are used by the physical brain on the subconscious level to interpret vision-causing energies from dimensional levels above and beyond the base level of understanding. These energies-perceived or received in their pure form during dreams, visions, and OBEs — must be translated into base-level format (standard physical brain memory storage format) before they can be downloaded to become real memories. I include dreams here, although this book is not about dream interpretation, as it is often impossible to differentiate between OBE-gained visions and dream-gained visions. Very often, during OBEs, only the tail ends or segments of clairvoyant visions and akashic pulse episodes are remembered, with everything else being lost to memory. These often seem like normal vivid dreams. Only by the process of recording and interpreting visual experiences, in the long term, can the all-important peculiarities of personal psychological associations be identified. Long-term recording and analysis allow the identification of the symbolism and imagery generated within vision experiences by the subconscious mind. In time, repeated patterns appear. These show the forms, structures, and symbology that make up the metaphorical imagery of the visions and dreams of an individual. When the basic elements of these patterns become known, that knowledge can be applied to personal vision interpretation. A great deal of valuable personal insight can then be gleaned from seemingly meaningless visions and dreams. As a bonus, the more a set protocol is used, the more powerful and accurate it becomes as a prophetic tool and guide. Journal Layout The layout shown below can be simplified or elaborated on as required. At least a full page should be used for each experience, with space left blank at the end for hindsight notes and connections to be added later. If a vision is lengthy or complex, more than one page may be needed to break it down. In time, a more-practiced eye will allow the bulk of interpretation to be done mentally, with much less attention then being needed on a formal layout. It can be progressively simplified to reflect increased understanding. It helps if you use the same layout every time. The keywords can be added first, transcribed from the notepad you should keep beside your bed at all times. The full experience can be written, using the keywords as a guide, later in the day when you have more time. Header: At the top of each journal entry (always use a new page for each vision or dream) show the page number, full date, and moon phase in bold. On the same line, write a brief phrase to encapsulate the experience, e.g., "Whale Watching" or "Disneyland", or "Refrigerator". Do not be afraid to alliterate, as this helps lock it in memory. These headers make it easier to search for particular experiences at a future date. Adding the moon phase is optional, but I find this a useful reference that, over a full year, shows the times when significant visions and dreams occurred. This can be a good indicator as to when more of the same are likely to occur in the coming year, and how they are affected by astrological influences. Keywords: List the keywords of the experience on the first line, below the header, keeping the true sequence of events. Separate vision segments with a dash — like this — if more than one is involved. Full Experience: Leave a blank line, then write the full experience using the keywords as a guide — again using dashes — to indicate distinctly separate vision segments. (Leave a blank line between each of the following sections.) Setting: Briefly describe the background and setting of the vision, listing each change of background if the vision has multiple segments. Players: List all the players in the vision, in order of the importance of their connection to you and your life, as well as by the significance of the part they play in the vision. If there are many people in the vision, list those not taking active or meaningful parts in descending order, as "Supporting Cast" and "Extras". Sequence of Events: Note and mark the sequence of events, using keywords as guide. You can list these separately for a short vision, but for a longer one it is probably easier to insert these into the "Full Experience" section, as #1, #2, #3, by inserting numbers, especially if you are interpreting a lengthy or complex vision. Symbols: Things that seem odd or out of place are usually symbols that have deeper meaning than is apparent on the surface. Symbols can be anything: objects, animals, people, or even the way people are dressed. Often, several items will appear odd or out of place; these must all be accounted for. For example: a police officer may symbolize legal matters, whereas a firefighter may symbolize damage, danger, or urgency. An automobile, or any other form of transport, will usually indicate your life's path. A particular type of vehicle, say an ambulance, furniture van, truck, or hearse can add important meaning and indicate future events. An ambulance, for example, may indicate a coming illness. Interpret each symbol, once identified, in the most basic way possible and you'll seldom go wrong. Symbolic Actions: Any action that stands out or has meaning, or that is performed in such a way as to attract attention, is a symbolic action. Even small and seemingly insignificant actions can be extremely important. If someone passes an item, or points, or reveals something, or waves, or smiles, or frowns, or laughs, or turns away, etc., these symbolic actions hide deeper meaning. Think simple pantomime here. Usually, an important symbolic action will stand out and your attention will be drawn to it during a vision or dream. Keep in mind that the memory you have of a vision is only a very small part of the total information held within it. Any feelings or intuition you have concerning any part of a vision can be considered an important indicator that, if properly accounted for, can unearth more information and meaning. Also, keep in mind that in many cases you will find yourself central to the action. You will often be trying to do something or to get somewhere. The rest of the vision will often be built up around this central action. This, if present, reveals the central theme or thrust of the experience and generally indicates what the rest of the symbology is associated with, or can be applied to during interpretation. Symbolic Modifiers: These add meaning to symbols and symbolic actions. If, for example, someone passes an object to you, and the object is damaged or dirty, the condition of that object is to be considered a modifying element, altering its meaning. When traveling in a vehicle, the type and condition of that vehicle is an important modifying factor. If you find yourself traveling on foot, the condition of the road and the surrounding scenery will be the modifying elements to look for. Signposts: These are the most important elements to look for. They will always be there, although they may not always be as clear as the refrigerator symbol given earlier. Signposts symbolize the date stamps for coming events, something that will mark or trigger them. They may not be related in any way to the actual events. A signpost is usually something out of place that cannot be missed; there will usually be only one symbol that fits the bill, if it can be identified. For example, you may see a car battery sitting in the middle of your living room during a vision or dream experience. This would indicate that when a car battery becomes significant, the other events depicted in the vision will be active, or are about to become active. It may be something small, like a Christmas gift or birthday card. It could be anything. Connections: Note anything connecting players, objects, and events in vision to your real life. Questions: What is it in itself? What does it do? How does it symbolize a connection with my life? What is its simplest and most basic meaning? Ask these questions of each part and symbol and action, then apply common sense, logic, intuition, and — most especially — personal life knowledge to it. This will provide valuable insight into hidden meanings. Take care to give each part the most simple and basic meaning possible. Wishful thinking and jumping to conclusions will ruin any interpretation, as may ignoring the obvious. If no clear meaning can be found, simply leave a large question mark. Its meaning will often become clear only in hindsight. Do not overcomplicate the interpretation process or you will erode the meaning and worth of any vision experience. The most important rule: Keep this line of questioning ultrasimple. Do not overlook the obvious, but also do not overlook the more subtle modifying touches. Comments and Guesswork: After applying these questions to each part of your vision, list or write your interpretation of the vision here. Apply current knowledge here, taken from past visions and dreams, plus feelings, intuition, and reason. If you have already started a symbolic index, apply what you have in it. If you are still lost as to the meaning of a vision or dream experience, take a wild guess based solely on intuition. Watch out for wishful thinking and try not to jump to conclusions; these are real killers of accurate interpretation. Hindsight: This part is to be left blank until parts of the vision pan out in real life. Once this happens, the vision must be re-checked carefully for repeating symbolism and patterns that can be used to interpret other visions. Indexing: Make a note of recurring themes, symbols, patterns, and their apparent meanings, according to past vision and dreams experiences. Once these are identified, transfer them to an index in the back of your journal and use this to enhance the interpretation protocol. The index becomes especially powerful once these items are linked with real-life events. List page numbers where symbols recur to make it easier to trace and identify particular elements. Example Interpretation — The Refrigerator Header: "Busted Refrigerator" (date) (Full Moon) (page number) Keywords: OBE, wind — on road, broken refrigerator, brick wall, wife angry, good-bye. Full Experience: [Already given above.] Setting: #1. OBE started inside my house. #2. On the road outside my house. Players: My wife; myself Sequence of Events: I projected; I was blown away by a mysterious wind; I landed on the street; I saw the broken refrigerator and wall; my wife appeared, looked at the refrigerator, said good-bye, and marched off; wife stopped and waved before continuing out of sight. Symbols: Road outside my home [why was I there... out on the street?]; large brick wall [a barrier or ending-or a date stamp?]; refrigerator [odd symbol, maybe a date stamp?] Symbolic Actions: Wife said good-bye; wife walked away from me; wife stopped and waved. Symbolic Modifiers: Refrigerator light was on [showing light worked?]; refrigerator appeared to be broken and was full of old toys and junk; brick wall was huge and looked impassable; wife appeared angry and coldly said good-bye to me; wife walked away from me and away from our home [indicating she'd precipitate split]; wife waved sadly back at me [indicating belated remorse?]. Signposts: Refrigerator? Brick wall? Connections: I was there; my wife was there [connected by marriage]; I was on the road outside my home [linking these events with family life]. Comments and Guesses: Although I could not see how or why, I guessed this vision foretold that my marriage would end in the near future; most likely date-stamped by a broken refrigerator. Hindsight: All the events depicted in this experience came true. A year after I had the refrigerator experience, my next-door neighbor built a large brick wall (eight feet high) all around his house. A few months after that, my family and I moved to another town three hundred miles south. The day we moved into the new house, our refrigerator broke down. We borrowed one from a relative while ours was in for repair. The borrowed refrigerator did not work either, apart from its door light, which did work. After ours was repaired, the borrowed refrigerator sat on our porch for almost two years, waiting to be collected. Every time I looked at it, as the children slowly filled it with old toys and junk, I remembered the refrigerator experience. I had a feeling that when it was finally collected it could well signify the end of my marriage. For all this foreknowledge, I still could not see this happening. Our marriage had its share of the usual types of ups and downs, but seemed stable and everything appeared perfectly normal. One day, the relative came and collected the broken refrigerator. A strong feeling of deja vu came over me and I wondered again if this meant the end of my marriage, but still could not see that anything was wrong. But exactly one week after the old refrigerator was collected, my marriage ended suddenly, permanently, and for no reason I could have foreseen. I ended up out on the street, quite literally, as the vision depicted in its simplistic metaphorical way. It seems the road I was standing on, outside my house in the vision, was also a symbol with hidden meaning to it. Looking back, aided by hindsight, the meaning of every item and action becomes crystal clear. The brick wall I saw was high and impassable, indicating a definite ending. If there had been any way to change the future events depicted, a way through, around, or over the wall would have been depicted in the vision — for example, a ladder resting against it, or a hole in the wall. By sheer coincidence, a large brick wall was built by my next-door neighbor just before we left town — or was this just a coincidence? Maybe this was yet another date stamp, or a cunningly disguised trigger, releasing influential seeds that began their effect in and around our lives at that very time. Of note, the old toys and junk in the refrigerator played a significant part in the outcome of this experience. I cannot give details of this here; it is very personal, but I can say that this symbol was extremely accurate. While the knowledge of this future event did not allow for any change in the inevitable outcome, it did make this event much easier to deal with when it happened. I was mentally and psychologically prepared for it. I therefore got my life back together very quickly after this upsetting event. And, here I am today writing this book only a few years later, which I would never have been able to do if these events had not transpired as they did. And that is most definitely food for thought Abstract Nature of Symbolism I would like to sound a general caution here about the abstract nature of the symbols and metaphorical imagery commonly found in any vision. Misunderstanding the nature of metaphorical imagery, plus wishful thinking and jumping to conclusions, can not only generate a lot of confusion, it can cause damage to your life. If, for example, projectors see a loved one die, they may emotionally deny this and deliberately use their creative ability to change the outcome of the vision. This may happen because they simply cannot face the alternative, whatever it actually means. Emotion can ruin the importance of any vision experience. Any useful warnings or modifying elements showing ways to change or modify an outcome can be lost. For example, the full vision in its unchanged form may have contained information that had the potential to save the life in question — if it truly were in danger, that is. The dispassionate-observer approach is really the only way to handle any type of vision experience. The setting, sequence, players, symbols, actions, modifiers, and connections in any type of vision experience or dream are all meaningful aspects of it. And the emotional state of the viewer and how the experience affects them is another very important factor to take into consideration during analysis. Only experience, logic, intuition, and a truckload of common sense can teach anyone how to clearly interpret a real-life prophetic vision experience. Until this experience is gained, it is best to treat any sort of vision, especially those depicting high-interest subjects like relationships, money, or death, with extreme caution. Part Six Strange Astral Phenomena 31. OBE and Reality Fluctuations There are no simple explanations for the underlying causes of the reality fluctuations that plague real-time projectors shortly after their exit out of body. I wish there were; it would make my work that much easier. In most cases, especially with new projectors, reality starts to fluctuate only a couple of minutes after the exit. Reality fluctuations are more noticeable during real-time projections, especially inside projectors' own houses, as the details of this area are well known. Several possible factors have the potential to cause or contribute to reality fluctuations. The surface mind, if not strictly controlled, provides a continual stream of random dialogue and guessworklike thoughts. Some of this surfaces from the subconscious in response to associations triggered by thoughts, surroundings, and events. Part of the problem here is guesswork, or what is commonly called the overlay. The overlay plagues psychics, clairvoyants, and remote viewers alike: guesswork thoughts interfere with objective perception and analysis. In the case of real-time OBE, the overlay has a far more creative effect than in real life. It is much more visual, and hence will often trigger the creative powers of the subconscious mind. For example, if an object, shape, or shadow is vaguely seen during a projection, the surface mind will often guess what it is, even if the projector is not thinking about it. This can stimulate the subconscious mind into altering the object, or into creating a form to fit whatever has been halfguessed. If a projector is subconsciously fearful of the out-of-body environment, these vague shadows can easily transform into fearful images. During any type of projection, the subconscious mind holds the bulk of creative power. Once triggered, it can create complex objects and scenarios instantly, without the time and effort required to build a similar creation using the weaker creative powers of the conscious mind. The subconscious mind waits in the background, ready to leap out and create something at the drop of a hat. But there is usually no intelligent purpose in what is created. The dream mind, when it becomes active, can access the strong telepathic, energetic, and empathic links between the physical/etheric body/mind and its projected double, via the silver cord. It is therefore capable of causing reality fluctuations — something like dream-generated real-time hallucinations — around the projected double. The effects of dream mind interference are most noticeable within a hundred yards (ninety meters) or so of the projected double, and lessen with distance. The length of time it takes any projector to enter the dream state is extremely variable. The start of reality fluctuations during a real-time OBE can be used to indicate when the dream mind is becoming active. This is a very good time (recommended for beginners) to end a projection, and to attempt a conscious reentry while the physical/etheric body is still easily awakened, before it falls into a deeper level of sleep. However, as projectors gain experience and get to know their strengths, weaknesses, and limitations, reality fluctuations can be weathered and even overcome to a certain extent. Time out during an OBE can then be gradually extended, with successful reentry still being possible. With any projection attempt, the desire and effort to induce projection will often carry over into the dream state. The dream mind of a projector will often believe it is still involved in a projection attempt when it becomes active, especially if it fell asleep right in the middle of one. When it feels projection-like symptoms coming from its physical/etheric body (vibrations, rapid heartbeat, etc.), it will believe it is having an OBE exit from inside its physical body. It will then experience a false but very realistic dream version of a conscious-exit projection. The dream mind's imaginary OBE will seem extremely real to it. The real-time aspect of this dream OBE will be based on the projector's actual memories of the surrounding area. This has the potential to overlay the true real-time OBE (which is already in progress) with a false dream version of exactly the same thing. The false dream projector will always have a different viewpoint from the true real-time projector. The false projector may believe it is in another part of the house, or it may be simply facing another direction than the true projector really is. This can overlay the true realtime environment with a twisted, backward, or fluctuating scenario that will not make any sense at all to the true projector. Other minds, awake or asleep, are also capable of contributing to reality fluctuations. This can be thought of as mental static or background noise. Distance affects the strength of this type of interference. The reason for this is directly related to how the projected double becomes noticeably less affected by its own physical/etheric body with increased distance from it. Projectors operating in sparsely populated areas will notice much less background noise. Heavily populated areas have greatly increased background noise. For this very reason, serious metaphysical pursuits and magic rituals are never carried out in densely populated areas. The brow center or third eye of a projector is also capable of receiving visions during an OBE. Primary energy centers are far more active during OBE than during the normal waking state, due to the increase of energetic activity within the physical/etheric body. An active brow center during a projection can thus act as something like an untuned vision receiver. (This varies according to the level of the clairvoyant ability of individuals and is hence less frequent.) It can cause strange visions and unexplainable imagery, seemingly unrelated to the projector during a real-time OBE. Brow center activity can also cause complex visions to be experienced during OBEs. If a projector's brow center receives a strong vision during the course of an OBE, the projected double can find itself experiencing that vision firsthand, from inside the vision. In effect, a strong vision can cause a dimensional shift that transports the projected double into an astral realm. A vision experience like this will usually end the real-time aspects of an OBE for its duration. Once reality fluctuations start during a real-time OBE, it can be difficult to make sense of what is happening. I do not recommend even trying. Attempts to do so will lead to further complications and generate even wilder reality fluctuations. It is usually best for projectors to accept whatever is happening, to keep their mind as clear as possible, and to continue on with their OBE as best they can. If reality fluctuations become pronounced, though, it often helps to move away from the affected area and hope things will be more stable elsewhere. If this fails, wise real-time projectors will attempt to reenter their physical body while they still can, or risk losing the memory of that experience entirely. While energetic development can extend the objective real-time aspects of an OBE, a mixed bag of perceptions is to be expected by most real-time projectors shortly after the exit. The norm is a strange and fluid mixture of objective and subjective perceptions, with reality fluctuations steadily increasing as the projection continues. This leaves most projectors floundering for some kind of a logical cause or explanation, which is unlikely to be found. While annoying, reality fluctuations are not bad or negative elements of an OBE. They are usually just a little on the wild and ridiculous side, that's all. Avoiding Reality Fluctuations • • • • Focus on what you are doing at all times and don't let your mind wander. Keeping control during a projection strengthens it and makes shadow memories stronger. Keep moving at all times and do not stay in one area for too long. Move away from your physical body immediately after the exit and stay at least twenty feet (six meters) away from it at all times — the farther the better. Concentrate on forward vision and turn slowly and deliberately. • • • • Keep up a running commentary during the projection. Talk aloud to yourself at all times, describing what you are seeing and doing. If your voice does not work, say it in your mind. Do not concentrate on any one object or scene for too long. Observe each object and scene only briefly in passing, noting it aloud, then moving along. Glance briefly at your hands frequently, and whenever reality fluctuates, but not for long enough to cause them to melt. Each time you do this, a small shock wave is sent back down the silver cord to the physical/etheric body. This gives it a small shock that slows its entry into the dream state, thereby strengthening the projected double. End the OBE when reality fluctuations become pronounced, while you still can. Confusing Astral Effects You do not have a real body during an OBE. You are an infinitesimally small point of consciousness, a spark created by the pure energies of your consciousness. You have no real size or shape. You are totally free of the limitations of your physical body and of all the laws of the physical universe. In many ways, the physical body and its projected double can be likened to a car battery and the energy stored within it, or to an electrical capacitor and its stored charge. If you could somehow separate one of these physical devices from its stored energy, releasing yet containing its energy in a single cohesive unit, what size would the energy unit be? What would the energy unit weigh? What would the energy unit look like? There are no real answers to these questions, as energy has zero size, zero mass, and zero weight. But the product of these questions would exist in some form and have an energy potential that could be calculated. It should, hypothetically, exist as pure energy once freed of the restraints of matter. I asked a friend of mine, a mathematical physicist, if these questions could be stated or proven mathematically, and a comparison drawn to the projected double. I received a chapter-length reply. The high-level math and physics involved are way above layman level, but the end result was that the projected double was likened to a potential well. For all that, the projected double is indeed a body of sorts, albeit an energetic one. A projector can perceive this body, but only when parts of it are deliberately self-observed. The subtle body parts that appear seem to be created by the subconscious mind. The mind of a projector does not seem able to accept the total nonexistence of its body, so temporarily creates body parts when they are looked for. Melting Body Parts If you try to look closely at parts of your own projected double during an OBE, especially your hands, you will find they start melting away very quickly, within two or three seconds. You can glance at any body part and look away again and it will appear to be fairly stable and solid, but studying any body part closely will cause it to melt. For example, if you look at your feet and then lift one of them for closer inspection, it will begin melting just as hands do. Hands, being the most commonly looked-at projected body parts during an OBE, look pale and unearthly. They sometimes even appear macabrely elongated and spectral (see figure 1, chapter 2). Do not panic if you observe this effect, as this is quite normal. It usually is seen only during lowpowered OBEs. In all cases, after only a few moments of observation, the fingers will begin melting rapidly away into pale stumps. The rest of the hand and forearm will soon follow suit if the observation is continued. If you look away and then look back at your hands, the melting process will begin again from the start. Any other real physical object observed closely during an OBE will not melt. Things will change; they'll morph, disappear, reverse, and mutate into other things, but they will not melt away as body parts do. This points to the act of self-observation as the cause of the melting-body-parts phenomenon. I think the melting-body-parts phenomenon is caused by a conflict within the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind provides temporary subtle body parts, seemingly as a reflex action triggered by the act of self-observation. It knows its real physical body exists in another place, and knows it should have a body with it during an OBE. So, when the projected double looks for its body, the subconscious mind is tricked into creating temporary body parts. However, these body parts cannot be maintained in existence, because the subconscious mind cannot accept that its body is existing in two different places at the same time. Internal subconscious and energetic conflicts cause the body parts to rapidly melt away. If my reasoning is correct here, this conflict goes a long way toward explaining why the melting-hands phenomenon can have such an effect on projectors. A brief glance at the hands during an OBE, for example, causes a small shock wave between the projected double and its physical counterpart that helps stabilize the projection. A longer observation often shifts a projector from real time straight into an astral realm. This last effect is especially powerful during an astral projection and can be used by projectors to shift themselves among the astral planes, albeit at random. This dimensional shift is most likely brought about by the subconscious mind becoming momentarily disoriented because of the conflicts arising from the act of close self-observation. This last effect is variable, though, and appears to affect some projectors more than others. This variability is most likely caused by several factors; experience, excitability, fear, and trepidation affect the strength of the shock wave that self-observation generates. The stronger the shock wave, the stronger its effect on the projected double. The melting-body-parts phenomenon is more noticeable in real time than in the astral planes or higher, although it still happens in much the same way. And, as it is one of the rare few constant factors associated with OBE and the projected double, it is worthy of much further study. Vision-Reversal Problem Vision reversal is an occasional real-time problem. In my opinion, this problem arises because the physical body has a natural frontal vision perspective of approximately 220 degrees. It can see the front half of its visible environment, but cannot see behind itself at the same time. However, the projected double is a point of consciousness with the potential to have real-time vision in all directions. I call this spherical vision, for want of a better term. The projected double does not contain functioning sense organs, nor even energetic copies of them. It is therefore not bound by the vision limitations imposed on its physical counterpart. It can see in all directions at once if it can get past its ingrained natural frontal vision perspective. This increased vision potential will occasionally cause problems when it happens accidentally. A 360-degree viewpoint is not readily acceptable by the conscious or the subconscious mind. In a similar fashion, this real-time vision problem can also interfere with the projected double's ingrained sense of left and right, which can further compound the spherical vision problem. Spherical vision can cause some very peculiar real-time effects and some pretty mind-twisting reality fluctuations. For example, frequent real-time projectors often find that their world suddenly becomes reversed during a projection, as if in some kind of mirror dimension or reversed astral realm. Everything looks the same, with the same objective qualities as normal, but everything is back to front and/or out of place. During some OBEs, projectors' visual senses have become disoriented and they have momentarily experienced a change of perspective that has reversed their left and right perspective. This can happen if they suddenly change direction without noticing the change. Their viewpoint suddenly changes, without them actually moving or rotating, as they would have to in their physical body. This action has reversed their natural frontal, left and right, back and front, up and down viewpoint. This disorients and tricks the vast creative powers of the subconscious mind into instantly remaking the environment to suit how it feels it should be. A split second of unnoticed disorientation and the OBE environment goes haywire. The diagram below illustrates the reversal of viewpoint without turning, and the strange effect this can cause. The natural sense of front and back, up and down, left and right are so deeply ingrained in us that it can have a strong effect on real-time perception, which is a direct mind sense. Note that in the diagram below that the natural sense of direction does not change when the projector's point of view suddenly turns inside out without the person actually turning. Fig. 35. Vision-reversal problem during OBE Please bear with me here, as explaining such an unnatural phenomenon as vision reversal is a real headache. The real-time projector @ is in the center of the diagram facing toward (A) with the door clearly perceived to be on his natural right-hand side. He has normal frontal vision with a natural left and right perspective, as in real life. The projector knows, as does his subconscious mind, that if he turns around and faces (B), the door and TV will be on his left-hand side, and the chair on his righthand side, as shown above. Now, if you as the projector are facing (A) and you suddenly turn inside out without moving around, and without noticing this lack of movement, your viewpoint will suddenly reverse without you actually turning. Viewpoint (A) will suddenly become viewpoint (B) but without your turning around as you would in real life. Your sense of left and right has suddenly reversed. When your viewpoint suddenly changes from (A) to (B), without you actually turning and experiencing a rotation of viewpoint that your mind can accept and adjust for, the door stays in view and causes a big problem, as do the chair and TV when they suddenly spring into view. You were aware of the door on their right-hand side with viewpoint (A), but you do not lose sight of the door when you suddenly turn inside out and change your viewpoint to (B). Your subconscious mind cannot accept this sudden reversal of viewpoint. Even the conscious mind would have problems accepting this. The door seen on the right-hand side while facing (A) at the start of the inside-out reversal would have to vanish and reappear again on the right-hand side after it turns and faces (A). But, this would place the door on the other side of the room, which is clearly impossible. The TV and chair would also have to reverse positions to keep your natural left and right perspective in order, which is also clearly an impossible proposition for the subconscious mind. The new viewpoint with unchanged left and right perspective, gained by the sudden change in viewpoint without turning, becomes clearly impossible for the subconscious mind. It therefore takes the easy way out and changes the view to suit that with which it can deal more comfortably. Now, keep in mind here that what the subconscious mind can accept and what the conscious mind can accept are two completely different kettles of fish. This seemingly impossible change in viewpoint has caused the subconscious mind to creatively correct the view by reversing it, or by reversing and changing parts of it, to fit what it feels is more acceptable. The subconscious mind makes instantaneous alterations as its viewpoint changes. It either makes the real door vanish and reappear on the other side of the room, then switches the TV and chair to fit this new perspective, or more likely simply creates another door, another TV, and another chair for both sides of the room. You may now find that you have a room with two doors, one on each side, with a TV and a chair on both sides to match. Or, you could suddenly find that you no longer have any chair or TV — but you shouldn't complain, because you now have two doors to make up for it. The basic cause for the real-time OBE vision-reversal problem can be simulated by lying on your back with your head hanging over the edge of the bed. Clear your mind about what you are doing and do not try to work it out beforehand. Open your eyes (in real life) while upside down and quickly try to pick left and right and up and down. You can do the same thing by looking behind yourself with a mirror. This, you will find, causes a mild disorientation in your innate sense of left and right. You'll find you have to deliberately calculate which is left and right from your upsidedown (or reversed) position. This slight disorientation is all that is needed to trigger the subconscious mind into creating something it feels more comfortable with. During a real-time projection, the subconscious mind will usually create something to help with what it feels is its natural left and right perspective at the moment of reversal. This is done according to the visible evidence it has before and after the change of viewpoint occurs. This generates an anomalous view of real time; once this happens, it's way too late to correct it. The subconscious mind will not accept a conscious change of left and right, and anything it has created will stay in existence for the duration of the OBE. If you understand spherical vision and happen to get reversed during a projection, you'll find it's not really a problem. You simply take what has happened into account and continue to function reasonably well in objective real time, rather than thinking you are wasting your time in some strange mirror dimension. This means that if you have plans to do something in real time, you still can. You just have to adjust for it in the best way you can. My best advice is if this happens while inside a house, leave that house through the most normal part of it you can find. Then, stay away from that house for the duration of the projection, or reenter it from another direction or side. If you go through an anomaly — through a created door, say — you'll usually find yourself in an astral realm. Real-Time Anomalies Comparing the subconscious mind's creative power to that of the conscious mind is like comparing a bank of supercomputers to a child's calculator. During any conscious OBE, this difference in creative ability can cause a great deal of confusion. This vast difference in creative power, combined with vision-and perspective-reversal problems, is the underlying cause of many OBE anomalies. Take these all together, and you have a recipe for total confusion: • • • • Strong creative powers of the subconscious mind Weak creative powers of the conscious mind Sensitivity of the projected double's perceptions Sensitivity of the out-of-body environment to creative energy • Spherical vision, with left and right perspective reversals For example: You exit your body and explore your house in real time. Everything appears normal, but as you move through your house, you suddenly notice a door in the wrong place. Noting this anomaly, you move on toward the kitchen, but find this is either incomplete or on the wrong side of the house, or both. While moving through the house you have somehow accidentally reversed your natural viewpoint, and confused your natural sense of left and right. Your subconscious mind has therefore rearranged the layout of the house to fit what it feels is more natural. This confuses you to no end. The furniture, pictures, windows, doors, etc., all appear to be normal, but nothing is where it should be, and some parts seem to be missing completely. Moving along, you find another door where there should be no door. This door appears real, although it is in the wrong place. Once created, it may change in appearance but will rarely be uncreated. Solid doors don't have the habit of vanishing, even during an OBE, so you're stuck with it for the time being. When you turn to where the real door should be, you sometimes find the door there, sometimes not. You may end up with two or even more doors where there should only be one. If you go through the real door — the one still in its correct place — you usually find the rest of the house behind it just as it should be. But, if you go through a false door, you enter a created anomaly. This will always lead to an astral realm. The subconscious mind knows that a false door is an anomaly. It won't accept this as opening to a normal part of the house that can't possibly be there. Anomalies like these are reality fluctuations caused simply by moving about in the real-time zone. Anomalous doors can be used as fairly reliable entrances into astral realms. Enter one then continue opening other doors as you find them. These other, anomalous, doors will open into more astral realms. If you concentrate and hold in mind the type of astral realm you wish to enter as you open these doors, more often than not you will find what you are seeking. 32. Higher-Level Projection Higher dimensions are similar in structure to the astral dimension, but exist at much higher levels or vibrations of consciousness. Like the astral dimension, each is a completely separate dimensional area, although they can all be said to occupy the same space. Between each level is an intermediary area, or buffer zone, similar to the color-tinted buffer zones that divide the major planes of the astral dimension, but wider and harder to traverse. Each major level of consciousness corresponds with a particular dimension, and each has a subtle body to match it. Higher levels become progressively more abstract and complex in nature, as do the levels of consciousness associated with them. We all reflect, to a greater or lesser extent, an energetic facet of ourselves into all higher dimensions and levels of consciousness, at all times, just as an aspect of the astral body is constantly reflected into the astral dimension (see chapter 2). The strength of these reflections, and their effect on inner and outer realities, depends greatly on the energetic development, intellect, spirituality, and natural potential of the individual. High-Level Technique To project into a higher level, aspiring projectors must first raise their energetic value to harmonize with that level. This is best done before the exit, but can also be done during a projection, and can happen spontaneously. The most effective way of reaching higher levels — barring natural ability — is through the practice of consciousness-raising meditation, energetic development, and other related spiritual practices. The generation of a high-level projectable double is affected by the level of consciousness, by the active configuration of primary energy centers, and by the quality of energies they produce. The higher-body generation process is therefore limited by the projection mechanism's ability to generate the energetic qualities required. Projecting consciously into levels higher than the mid to high astral, say past the high fifth or lower sixth astral plane, takes either a high level of skill and development or strong natural ability, or both. A projector usually needs to be proficient at both consciousness raising and energetic stimulation to do this. There are, however, ways to achieve this that take advantage of latent natural ability. Ideally, an aspiring higher-level projector needs some experience with projection. However, it is possible to begin right here and use the following procedure as a stand-alone projection technique. If you have failed at projection using other methods, try this. It may suit you and work better, even for a very first projection attempt. Note: All the skills and techniques required here are given elsewhere in this book (see parts 2, 3, and 4). 1. Stimulate feet and hands, as per NEW system, then use a full-body circuit for ten minutes or longer. 2. Use a deep physical relaxation technique, then attain the full-trance state. 3. Stimulate all primary energy centers. 4. Use extra brow and crown center stimulation exercises. 5. Raise energy through the whole body, including arms, and up through all primary centers in one smooth action to the crown center on the IN breath. Hold awareness in the crown center and feel energy flowing into there all through the IN breath and all through the following OUT breath. Flick awareness back to feet and repeat at start of next IN breath. This exercise is designed to draw and accumulate energy in the brow and crown centers. 6. Continue the above exercise for at least ten minutes, or until you start seeing a color suffusing or tinting your vision behind your closed eyelids. Purple is the best color to see for this, but any bright primary color is a good sign. If you see nothing, continue with the next part of this exercise anyway. 7. Using your body awareness, generate a continual "Aummmm" sound in your heart center. Imagine it and feel it growing stronger and stronger in your heart. Once this is established, slowly move this awareness sound up to the throat center, and from there up to brow center, and finally spreading to the crown center. This is a fairly deep tone, as if vibrated softly in the back of a mature man's throat. Feel it humming there and let this spread and fill the entire head. This sound may continue on its own accord, or even spread through the entire body, or it may not. If you can hold this tone without too much effort, try to continue it throughout this whole projection attempt. If this part is too difficult, try to hold the "Aummmm" sound in either the throat or brow center only, whichever is easiest. Just do the best you can with this for a few minutes, then proceed to the next part of this exercise. 8. From behind your closed eyelids, look for a distant point of light, or a small pattern of light that is brighter than any other you can see. This may appear as a tiny bright dot, star, or multicolored structure, or even as a geometric pattern. It may also appear as a distant scene, single or multicolored, as if seen through the wrong end of a telescope. Gently lock on to and hold this target firmly in your mind's eye. 9. Shift your awareness toward and into the target and feel yourself moving toward it. Feel yourself as being there already inside it. Imagine and feel a strong spiritual love connection with the target. Love the target and want to be there with all your heart and soul. Use the point shift technique at this point and feel yourself moving directly toward the target. Rope or other projection techniques can be added or alternated as necessary. 10. If the above method cannot be made to work, I suggest that the secondary full-body circuit be used for half an hour or more, added to step one, and that step five also be continued for half an hour or more. This is often necessary to provide the quality of energies required for a high-level projection. If, at any time during the above process, the brow center strobes, and you see a heavy flash of bright silver-white light in your mind's eye, go straight to steps eight and nine and complete the projection. When you succeed at projection using this method, you may experience any of the normal variety of projection-related sensations, or you may feel none at all and just find yourself instantly there inside your target. This method will always cause a higher level of projection than would otherwise be possible. Usually I feel a moment's disorientation, a brief upward-falling sensation, a flash of light as my brow center strobes, then I suddenly appear wherever it is I am going. High Level Experiences The Eastern names commonly used to describe higher levels are to the average Western person fairly meaningless. Higher dimensions also do not have signposts in them saying "Welcome to the Astral Planes — Ta... Daaa!" or "Mental Planes — Watch Your Mind!" or "Buddhic Planes — Love One Another!" I have therefore chosen to use my own names for some of the more understandable and less abstract higher dimensional levels, as I have perceived them during some of my more extraordinary projection-cum-mystical experiences. I have entered high levels spontaneously through real-time and astral-plane projections, but normally use the high-level projection method. This includes the extra time and energy raising mentioned in step ten. Rainbow Level I project into a distant multicolored pattern seen sparkling in the distance through the purple-edged vista suffusing my mind's eye. [I find I must wax eloquent here to pass on the look and feel of this incredible place.] I fly over a rainbow bridge and float along an iridescent river until I arrive at a shore of pulsating light. Mind-blowing varieties of indescribable color abound, most not found even in the high astral planes. Thoughts appear and disappear as solid kaleidoscopic crystalline patterns of living light and sound — sparkling vivid imagery exploding like fireworks inside my mind's eye. A brief walk through strobing fields under sparkling skies raining incandescent streamers of ideas yields tantalizing glimpses of the higher abstract workings of consciousness. A stroll through an ever-growing forest of crystalline structures in a constant state of creative flux feeds my hungry imagination and I feel myself swelling greatly in size. Looking to the sky, I fall upward into a flickering maelstrom of gleamingviolet light. More and more abstract it all becomes, swiftly compounding with utterly incredible complexities, ever-changing shapes and colors and sounds. Sweet music fills the air and resonates throughout my being, plucking delicate notes on my heartstrings as my spirit soars. Never have such wondrous sounds been heard by mortal ears... with angelic voices offering song-notes my mind knows not, but that my soul knows well. I have no idea where I am or what is happening, but it is so incredibly beautiful here. It is almost painfully alive and vibrant and I feel invigorated and am empowered with an overwhelming urge to create something wonderful. A poem springs to life inside my mind! With a final mind-numbing purple explosion in my mind's eye, I fall back into my chair, wincing with stunned amazement. My mind aches and races with residual inspirational energies that only moments earlier had pumped through my entire being. If you enter this level, please do not try to rationalize or understand it, for this is way beyond mere mortal understanding. Just accept what you find there, go with the flow and enjoy it! The feel of this level is what, I believe, led the ancient Vikings to name the mythical path into Azgard the Rainbow Bridge. It truly looks and feels as if you are walking up a living rainbow bridge into a spectacular wonderland where it would be easy to imagine the gods must surely dwell. Exist here in wondering amazement. Let loose the child within you and enjoy this fairy wonderland, soaking inspiration from every passing cloud. Everything feels very real and solid here, time is more distorted than in the high astral dimension, and reality is fluid, kaleidoscopic, and abstract in the extreme. Beneath all this brilliantly colorful and changeable crystalline imagery, there is an enormous feeling of power here. There Seems to be a great deal of activity going on everywhere I look. I have glimpsed angels, fairies, and other wonderful beings. Some of these appear as beautiful animated human-looking beings, with an incredibly high-quality cartoonlike look to them. These are, I believe, high-level spirit entities that have no set or recognizable form relating to humanity. Very likely my mind's eye interprets the energies given off by these beings, giving them form and shape. This gives them a beautiful, unworldly appearance that transcends any mere mortal form, encapsulating their beautiful essence while retaining a basically human shape I could relate to. I find meaningful communication with these beings virtually impossible. Tangible warm feelings of love and understanding flood through me whenever I attempt contact, but an exchange of anything resembling words does not seem possible while operating within this dimensional level. My mind's eye, however, literally percolates with multilayered metaphorical imagery, and I am flooded with intuitive impressions at these times. There appear to be many different planes, levels and realms here; overall, it is vastly more complex and abstract than even the highest of the astral planes. Mystical Level This is a beautiful, warm, abstract level, filled with utter peace and infinite love. Soul-deep motherly patience and fatherly understanding permeate the atmosphere here. This is totally different from any other dimensional level I have ever experienced. It has the visual appearance of beautifully textured fluffy-white clouds. There are no sights or sounds here at all, other than the allpervading, gently billowing white-fluffiness, and a gentle soul-deep humming — beyond sound, almost inaudible — that is wonderfully soothing and healing. There is no sky or ground and no ups or downs-just beautiful, fluffy-white clouds everywhere. In this dimension you very quickly relinquish conscious thoughts of individuality and begin melting into The One, into total and absolute bliss and atonement. Thought is possible here, but the urge and need to think fades very quickly. An irresistible urge draws you deeper into the bliss of total silence and the comforting soul-deep rest of infinite love. You cease being old or young, male or female here. Being here is like returning to the universal mother's womb. Once your mind becomes silent, silence becomes you and you feel as if your mind is immersed in something like warm cotton-wool and you are being cuddled by your soul-mother. You are surrounded, absorbed, and assimilated by infinite love, understanding, forgiveness, and wonderfully healing atonement. Just before you lose track of this experience, you will fully realize who you are, the greater you, but you will never be able to put it into words afterward... more's the pity. Time has no meaning whatsoever here. It has no place here at all. If you enter this world, you will never ever want to leave it. It is impossible to generate the intention of deliberately wanting to leave this place. You could bask here forever in perfect contentment and happiness, or until your all-but-forgotten physical body drags you back, kicking and screaming. This is, I believe, the healing and resting place of the soul, which it passes through on its long journey of ascension through the spirit worlds at life's end. Spirit Level My journeys and experiences here are either in the actual spirit world, or possibly in a region bordering it. Here, spirits appear to be waiting for their loved ones. This, I have been inspirationally led to believe, is the happy place of the gathering, where the reunion of souls takes place at life's end. I have been to this level only a few rare, precious times. I always see the same basic structure and features, but the events change. The background is purest, brightest silver-white, much brighter than the Sun could ever be. Yet it is a supremely gentle light for all its incredible brightness, very soothing and healing. It seems to me to be the pure light of divine love. The ground is creamcolored, smooth and feels cool and solid underfoot, like polished textured marble. In front of me is always a large amphitheater-like structure about the size of a football field, sunk into the creamy rock with gentle slopes on all sides, looking to be several feet deep. Behind is a natural incline, rising some twenty feet above the ground. This rises in the middle, spreading out to both sides and then gently sloping away at each side of the amphitheater. The light source comes from behind this rise. I am usually standing about twenty paces or so from the edge of the amphitheater, facing across to the rise on the other side. Usually about a hundred people are spread out over the amphitheater, often clustered in small groups, appearing just as they were in the physical world, but at their most magnificent. They all look younger and fitter, but are fully recognizable. They glow ecstatically with an inner light, ablaze with the brightest of love, happiness and joy imaginable. The atmosphere here is electric and vital but at the same time deeply spiritual and serious. On this level, you can actually feel the Divine Presence as a tangible and all-pervading force. The natural level of communications here is high-level, telepathic metaphorical imaging, with an empathic, intuitive underlay. This is similar to high-quality clairvoyance, from the clairvoyant's side, but is much more powerful than anything I have ever experienced. Normal speech is superfluous. (The few words shown in this experience were not heard as normal speech.) Time stands utterly still and reality is surreal but stable, feeling more real than the physical dimension. I have entered this dimension on only a few rare occasions, each time from the deepest of consciousness-raising meditation, during what I can liken only to a mystical out-of-body experience. Each time, I have experienced extreme crown and brow center activity. On these rare occasions, mystical energy has soared to seemingly impossible heights and consumed me, carrying my spirit along with it. At the climax of this deeply mystical experience, I have seen an incredible bright silver-white light structure. This is always a great distance ahead, at the very edge of my mind's-eye vision, and I can sense it moving closer. Here is one example of my personal experience in this dimensional level. I have tried to write others, but, so far words have failed me... emotions being what they are. The sacred "Aummmm" sound surrounds and permeates me and I hear a long, soft, musical note slowly rising in pitch, coming from deep within the light, tugging at my very soul. I have felt this pure high note deep within my heart, calling and drawing me to it. Filling my mind with this note and fixing my mind's eye upon the light, I feel it calling me to it. With every ounce of my strength and energy I hold on to this calling and relinquish my body and life, full of mystical joy. A massive surge of tingling effervescent energy floods through my spine as my body falls away and I soar away... into the light and beyond. Momentary vertigo, a brief sensation of infinite speed through an exploding tunnel of silver-white light, and I am suddenly there. I stagger slightly, catching my balance as if I had tripped, as this wonderful place appears around me. My eyes fill with awe as I see, standing right in front of me, my firstborn son, Jeremy. He was almost eight years old when he left us. He waited politely, but threw himself into my arms like a cannon-ball the instant I looked at him, bubbling with laughter: "You did it, Daddy, you did it! I told them you'd come... I told them you could do it!" He looked just as he had when I'd last seen him, sparkling full of life. He hadn't aged a day, although I knew he should have grown some since I last saw him. Jeremy was beaming with happiness and chattering nonstop, his brown eyes shining up into mine. I cuddled him up and my spirit wept with the joy of seeing him again. I felt the sting of quick heavy tears burning the back of my eyes and a huge sob started way down inside me. Stifling this with an act of will, knowing my time here is short and not wanting to spoil it, I took Jeremy under my arm and quickly walked down into the amphitheater. A large crowd of people was waiting for us there. There were friends and family I had known and loved, plus many people I did not recognize. Everyone seemed very friendly and familiar, and I had the feeling I knew many of them ... from some-where or some-when. There were a great many tears of joy and lots of hugging and kissing all round. One other person I dearly wanted to see was an old sweetheart of mine. She was, as usual, jumping higher and cheering louder than anyone else. She stepped out of the crowd and hugged me, her long honey-blonde hair a bright halo tor her impish face. As our eyes met, a mind's-eye vision of startling clarity exploded in my mind, superimposed over my sight. In the vision, she was wearing a spectacular bejeweled and tasseled cowgirl suit, with fancy hat and sparkling, oversized silver guns. She was firing the guns into the air, soundless bright flashes, while she danced an Irish jig and laughed. A lot passed between us in those few moments. Her nickname in real life had been Cowboy, but she was an Irish lass at heart, born and bred in Dublin Fair City ... as she was fond of saying. I glanced at the rise backing the amphitheater. At the top of the ridge were several angels. They looked just as the master Michelangelo painted them. They were truly beautiful beings, but strangely cool, aloof, and serious. Some of them appeared to have what looked like large, folded wings at their backs; some had nothing. They had shoulder-length, curly pale-golden hair; alabaster skin; and wore full-length, flowing white robes. They were all blowing thin golden horns that looked to be several feet long. The pure high note that guided me here came from these magical horns. Stepping clear of the crowd, I walked alone into the open, looking in awe at the angels and at the brilliant light flooding down from behind them. I waved at them, but they did not wave back. The beautiful note coming from the golden horns started fading then and the angels slowly lowered their horns as one. I spun around, trying to breathe everything in all at once and lock it into my brain forever. I stood still for a timeless moment, filled with awe-struck wonder by the enormity of it all. The trumpets' note died away and the air shimmered around me in a timeless moment of profound silence. Rainbow light imploded in my mind's eye and, with a brief falling sensation, I found myself back in my physical body. I gasped and caught the arms of my chair, then wept as realization dawned on me that I was back in my body. I have never wanted to come back from that beautiful place ... and words fail me utterly at this point. The Summerland There is one more level I have experienced but not yet entered, that I would like to share with you here. I call this the Summerland. Many may think of this as heaven, or one of the heavens (also called spirit worlds), but I cannot really say for sure. It does seem likely, though. The only sources I have ever heard for these descriptions, which are consistent with my experiences, have been elderly spiritualist mediums. The term Summerland is an early spiritualist term for the spirit world — seldom used today. What I have seen and experienced of this level has always been through a rectangular doorway that appears above me. (Imagine a normal-sized door fixed to the ceiling with its door hanging open, the open part facing you, and you have the general idea.) While meditating, a powerful atmosphere of love and tranquillity pervades my room with a quality unlike any other. Kaleidoscopic colors explode ever so slowly inside my mind's eye. Awed and a little stunned at the power of this manifestation, I open my physical eyes as they are drawn to a rectangular doorway, flooding golden light into the room as its door falls slowly open. This light is not only tangible, but also very real, making normal sight possible even in a pitch-dark room. Unmoving, I peer up through the doorway in amazement. Aptly named the Summerland, it looks and smells and sounds and feels like the most wonderful summer's day imaginable. My reeling senses tell me a spectacular wonderland is just on the other side of this heavenly doorway. From all I can see, beyond the doorway is bursting with life, with trees and flowers and birds singing. I can see and hear some of these against a backdrop of blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds. Flowers blossom slowly through at the edges, framing the doorway with beauty as they hang gracefully into the room. The smell of their perfume is indescribably intoxicating. I feel the warmth of a summer day caressing my skin as golden light bathes my upturned face and hands. Tangible feelings of love and peace and bright-eyed happiness radiate through the doorway. Vivid smells permeate the air, layer on layer of intoxicating beauty: of earth, flowers, grass, hay, leaves, wood, trees, water, and fresh country air warmed by the Sun. I sense and hear gentle waterfalls and streams splashing nearby. Sweet sounds of children playing and laughing, birds fluttering and fluting, and wind playfully gusting through the shady boughs of ancient treetops caress my ears. I ache to rise from the ordinariness of my life and be in this wondrous place, but want to prolong and not spoil what is happening. I wait... patiently. This place feels very familiar, like some lovely place I once knew well, but have now sadly all but forgotten. All I have left are distant heartfelt images and feelings tickling the very edges of my memory, and a soul-deep longing to return. These are like distant childhood memories of dreamy summer days spent traipsing along old adventurers' trails, and of long days spent in the company of beloved siblings and playmates in the faerie playgrounds of a once-enchanted forest. 33. Astral Beings and Wildlife The astral dimension contains a wide variety of nonphysical energetic life forms, whose intelligence level varies enormously. The vast majority of each type appear to have their own agendas, like to keep to themselves, and in general do not like being bothered or interfered with. Not counting high-level beings like demigods, angels, and spirit masters, they range from friendly, to occasionally helpful, to playful, to neutral, to mischievous, to malicious, to downright nasty and evil. These beings appear in a wide variety of illusory forms. Some of the less-intelligent types seem animalistic and predatory by nature, much like the animal and insect wildlife found in the physical dimension: I call these last astral wildlife. Although these all appear to come from somewhere in or near the astral dimension, many are capable of operating in the real-time zone. And some of these, unfortunately, delight in tormenting projectors, especially new ones. In a way, the astral dimension can be likened to the ocean — given the fluid nature of its many internal environments, you can find absolutely anything there: fish, shellfish, octopi, dolphins, whales, sharks, barracuda, sea snakes, crabs, shrimp, jellyfish, turtles, seals, and penguins, etc., etc. Some ocean wildlife is friendly; some is harmless; some is harmful only when disturbed, annoyed, or hungry; some can be unintentionally harmful; and others are downright dangerous all the time. There are also many travelers, some even from far-off lands, found sailing, flying, or swimming (hereabouts. Although many parts of the astral planes appear to be full of life, it is fairly rare to meet up with interested beings while traveling there. But it does happen occasionally. Just about every astral plane and realm has some kind of local inhabitants. These life forms often live in specific areas or realms, and often seem quite unaware of any reality or dimensional level other than their own. They are often amazed when they meet an astral traveler. Other types seem to be well aware of other dimensions, but most seem to have little patience with projectors and tend to ignore them. In a way, approaching astral beings you do not know is very much like approaching strangers in the physical dimension. Most strangers ignore other people, even when politely asked directions or questions. Strangers will, at best, give cursory answers as they hurry away while actively trying to ignore you. Astral beings, too, don't seem to enjoy getting involved with the affairs of strangers, usually having much more important things to do with their time. While projecting, you'll also occasionally meet up with other projectors like yourself, but most of these will not even be aware they are projecting. Projectors' awareness and memories of their physical existence, of who and what they are, vary greatly. Many seem to be sleepwalking or dreaming, or are just going along with the flow of life and events in an astral realm as if they were a part of it and actually lived there. They are often quite surprised when it is pointed out to them that they can fly, etc. I suspect this variability in awareness and memory is caused by many factors, such as energetic development and activity, the amount of energy flowing into the projected double from its physical/etheric body, and whether a projector has made a conscious exit and has retained awareness afterward. The conscious exit out of the body seems to cause a much greater flow of energy into the projected double than is usually available to sleep projectors. It is also possible that the unbroken continuance of awareness provided by a conscious-exit projection removes much of the dreamlike qualities associated with existing in other dimensions. The most important thing to realize about any beings you might come across in the astral dimension is that they are not all dream beings or creations of your own subconscious mind. Intelligent or otherwise, they usually have their own life, meaning, and purpose, whatever that might be. They are, in most cases, not mere decorations to be toyed with or used by any passing astral traveler. And yet, some astral beings will converse with and even actively encourage astral travelers, especially if projectors are courteous and sincere. Like attracts like in the astral planes; if you are friendly and sincere, you are far more likely to meet beings who are also friendly and sincere. The best conduct and safety rule is to keep to yourself, be polite, and mind your own business unless approached or invited to do otherwise. And — always be ready to move quickly away if anything strange or threatening happens, or if you feel uncomfortable in any way. Only very rarely will projectors come across advanced spiritual beings, and even more rarely will they encounter angels. In my opinion, angels are a race of highly advanced spiritual beings. They most definitely exist. I have seen angels many times, in OBEs and visions, as well as with my bare eyes on a few rare and precious occasions. They are impossible to track down or find intentionally during an OBE. They are especially rare in the real-time zone and the low- to midastral planes. You occasionally come across them accidentally, especially in the high-astral and mental dimension. Angels, and other advanced spiritual beings, seem to make themselves visible only when they have a very good reason for doing so. They are definitely not the type to stop and chat in passing. Angels and advanced spirit beings, unlike most astral inhabitants, do not appear limited to any particular plane or dimension level. They have the ability, I believe, to manifest in any level, even in the real-time zone and the physical dimension. They have the ability to enfold lesser beings in their energy and temporarily transport them into other dimensional levels. In this way, they will often be seen helping the spirits of deceased people to manifest temporarily in the real-time zone, or even to help them appear visibly in the physical dimension itself. This kind of thing always has very good reasons behind it, although those reasons may not be apparent at the time. Typically, a spirit manifestation like this will begin with a strong buildup of energy in the room, accompanied by many silver motes and tiny sparkles of light. A tangible aura of power and presence spreads throughout the room and the atmosphere becomes electric. A narrow, vertical shaft of brilliant-silver light then appears and quickly expands, as if curtains of light were being drawn apart just wide enough for a person to walk through. A huge gush of brilliant-silver light, along with a tangible feeling of power, excitement, and love spills through this parting in the dimensional veil. The visiting deceased spirit then simply walks through this opening and stands just inside the room, bathed and held within this pool of light. At this time, if you have the sight and you look further back into the light behind the deceased spirit, you will usually see at least one advanced spirit being or angel standing there, as if patiently waiting a dozen or so feet behind the spirit visitor. A deceased relative or friend of the visiting spirit will also often be seen standing just behind and to the side of the spirit visitor, often holding a hand or resting a hand on a shoulder. Astral Ceremonies Whenever projectors consciously exit their bodies, especially new projectors, there is always a small chance they may find themselves in the middle of some kind of extraordinary ceremony. These are incredibly exciting and powerful events. They are usually very nonthreatening, although they may cause some anxiety simply because of their unusual and powerful nature. These are rare, though, and catch most projectors totally by surprise. Perhaps this kind of event takes place to mark a significant milestone in a projector's spiritual development and life's path. The projector may be totally unaware of the significance of this first conscious-exit projection, but the higher spirit beings mark it as an occasion that warrants ceremony. Often a projector appears to experience internal changes during these ceremonies. This type of event can have a considerable effect on a projector's belief system and future life path. I am not suggesting that new projectors should expect anything like this to happen to them, as usually nothing will. And, if nothing does happen, please be thankful for the peace and quiet and use this time to get your astral sea legs, so to speak. On the other hand, it pays to be prepared for the unexpected at all times ... just in case something extraordinary really does happen. High-Level Contact It is possible, while out of body, to contact advanced beings in the astral planes, but this is far more difficult than most people imagine. Just because projectors can get out of their bodies and stumble about the astral planes does not mean they have instant access to advanced spirit beings or guides. For high-level contact to be made at all-in or out of body — it seems that there must be a genuine need for advice or help. High contact does not always work even then. I suspect this is because the need must be important enough to warrant such intervention. Wanting general advice on life, or having a bucketload of questions, does not seem to fit this bill. Advanced spirit beings rarely contact or allow themselves to be contacted by humans. Contact will be made when they think it is warranted — when they think the time is right. Many in our modem world feel directionless, lost, spiritually starved, isolated, and deprived. They naturally yearn for contact with advanced spirit beings to show them the way. They think that if they could only get out of their bodies they could visit these higher beings, or demand an audience, but this just doesn't work. If an advanced being needs to contact someone, it does so. Nothing that person could do would be able to miss or block this contact. People do not need to be out of body, nor psychic nor developed in any way whatsoever for high contact to occur. High-level contact will occasionally happen during a projection, and I have learned a few projection-related ways of helping this along. Projecting consciously out of body and into the astral planes will often, in itself, precipitate some level of contact with advanced spirit beings. I have found, though, that making any kind of high contact is best thought of as a long-term goal, something to be looked forward to, patiently, while making the most of your life in the best way you can; no one can do any better than that. The best way to cultivate high-level contact, and to speed this moment along a little, is through regular, meaningful spiritual service and development, complemented by energetic and psychic development, in that particularorder of priority and effort. There are, however, a few projection-related ways that could encourage high-level contact. Sending Out a Request Form a strong intention and hold it in mind every night while falling asleep, especially before making a projection attempt. Visualize and voice this intention, this request, daily through prayers and meditations, or through simple thoughts during quiet moments of each day. Keep this request in the back of your mind during the day, and fall asleep with this on your mind. This will make your request known on higher levels. Symptoms of high contact may appear through dreams and lucid dreams, and not through projections. Projection Method Immediately after each real-time exit, move at least twenty feet away from your physical body and stop. Stand quietly for a moment and reverently state your request for high contact, speaking aloud or mentally. Then, leave your house and fix your eyes on the stars above. If it is cloudy, fly above them, or fly into orbit if it's daylight. Pick out the brightest star you can see, or a group of stars that appeals to you, and while holding your request strongly in mind, project toward them at hyperspeed. Feel yourself moving toward the target and feel it moving toward you. This will cause a dimensional shift into the astral planes and will, hopefully, transport you to a higher-than-normal level, where you will have more chance of finding the contact you desire. Asking for Directions Astral travelers often come across intelligent astral beings, and some will be kind and helpful. They may not have the answers the traveler seeks, but some will proffer advice or give directions, if approached with respect and asked nicely. Some astral beings often seem a bit out of place when you find them, just sitting or standing about looking very unimportant. They seem to delight in tricking projectors and testing out their true nature and intention. They may appear as a small child, an old beggar, or even an animal of some kind. They may appear as a beautiful young man or woman, often scantily clad and with a sexually provocative demeanor. This last is a severe test, as projectors must control not only their thoughts, but also their primal instincts and urges. These beings can be very hard to spot, appearing as absolutely anything, and will usually pick something a projector would least expect. If approached in just the right way, they will often be found to be far more than what they appear to be. Some are only too pleased to give advice and directions, although this will often be a bit on the cryptic side. They may not, as I said, have the answers the projector seeks, but will often point them in the right direction, which is a very good start indeed. Alternatively, advanced spirit beings often appear as something more easily recognizable. They will thus often appear in a more traditional and acceptable guise, such as a wise man or woman, often in a form taken from the mind of the projector. Many people today believe they have a spirit guide of a particular appearance and name. An advanced spirit being will sometimes take on this guise to make a planned contact. The Priest and the Curse — Experience A good example of high-level contact came about recently when I had a serious problem. I had been studying the dynamics of psychic attack, and had allowed a fairly strong attack to continue on my person for a little too long before attempting to break away from it. I was observing the methods and tactics used by the perpetrator, and by the entities involved, and was experimenting with wards and countermeasures. It had been ongoing, on and off, for several months. The attack was complex, but my biggest problems were exhaustion and stress. I had found a significant energy blockage in my right hip, which had appeared sometime during the course of the attack. This was draining me of energy and causing a lot of pain. I was in a real mess and could feel myself getting steadily weaker. I could not even balance myself well enough to meditate properly, especially at night. To tell the truth I was getting a bit worried by the mess I'd gotten myself into. The experiment had seemed like a good idea at the time, but I would not recommend this kind of thing to the fainthearted. On a brighter note, I learned a great deal from all of this, which added significantly to my knowledge of these matters. After a great deal of effort, I finally managed to project, albeit somewhat weakly, out of my body. I immediately formed a strong request for help and projected to the stars, aiming for the brightest star in the Southern Cross. My vision blurred and I experienced a brief tunnel-of-light effect as the dimensional shift took me, before it cleared and solidified. I found myself in a candlelit room with rough stone walls and floor. Twenty feet or so in front of me sat a being, in appearance a small, thin old priest well into his eighties. He was wearing a full-length white cotton robe with a plain rope belt tied at the waist, A white skullcap covered the back of his balding gray head, his hair cut very short around this. For all his apparent age, his face seemed young and soft and his eyes sparkled with wisdom, strength, and gentle kindness. Across his lap lay a wide sash, white with gold knotted tassels and edging, with a beautiful gold crucifix emblazoned on it. Around his neck hung a simple gold chain holding a small gold crucifix. I was standing outside a wide circle of candles surrounding him. I stepped up to the circle and introduced myself, feeling a tangible sensation of love and raw power emanating from this insignificant-looking being. The priest looked up at me, his eyes twinkling with amusement as he nodded a pleasant greeting. He beckoned me to come closer and I sat facing him, cross-legged on the floor as he was. I told him my whole story and of the trouble I was in. He listened quietly, eyes halfclosed, occasionally asking pertinent questions and steering my discourse. I found him very easy to talk to, and love and respect for him blossomed within me. After I was done talking, the priest sat for a while with his eyes closed then began speaking quietly, offering advice and generally clearing the air about the whole situation. I learned a great deal from this conversation and listened intently. His knowledge and wisdom in these matters astounded me. Never before had I met anyone, living or otherwise, with whom I could talk on this level. At one point, as the priest began talking about my right hip, he moved his hands and beckoned me toward him. I felt myself gripped in a powerful force. I was rolled onto my side and drawn to lie horizontally in front of the priest, facing him, floating just off the floor, suddenly finding myself naked. The priest moved his small hands over my body and finally laid them on my hip. My hip joint moved and felt like it was being turned inside out. This did not hurt but felt rather uncomfortable. The priest moved his hands slowly back and a murky-dark, roughly shoebox-shaped object, shot through with dull-reddish and orange lumps and grisly black lines floated out of my hip. He pulled this away from my skin slightly and showed me angry red and black cords extending like sticky strings into my hip, groin, and upper thigh. It was an ugly-looking thing and felt like it was attached to my nerves in those areas. When the priest moved his hands under it, I could feel nerves tugging and twanging uncomfortably, deep inside my body. He smiled with interest and said: "Goodness, I have not seen one of these in ages. Most of them wear off after a few years, but one like this can last for generations". "What is it?" I asked. "A curse, most likely from a witch", he decreed, "and a powerful one at that. I would say you've had this for a very long time. You will remember how you got it one day", he said, stopping what he was doing for a moment and looking deep into my eyes. "And then you must come back and see me again. Luckily, being so old, it's in a greatly weakened state, although still quite active. It seems to have been altered many times, and is now working in a way it was not designed for. This has probably come about through the many attacks you have suffered during your earthly life, especially this current one. "You have powerful enemies, Robert. Curses like this affect the atmosphere around a person, causing false attractions and repulsions in them, and in the people around them, something like a bad luck charm, only much worse. The energetic fields emanating from this device cause disruptions in the currents of universal law; much as a steel object can interfere with the accuracy of a magnetic compass. "Curses like this are not of your world. They are usually designed to have a particular negative effect. This is most likely the reason why the source of your current attack was attracted to you in the first place, and why she has been able to cause you so much trouble. I'll see what I can do with it". With that, the priest reverently lifted and laid the wide sash over my hip. He then closed his eyes and began speaking softly in a tongue I did not understand, although it sounded a bit like Latin. A brilliant-white light then spouted from his hands and bored deep inside me, all around and through the strange thing on my hip. I felt nerves twanging and pricking and then a tickling, almost erotic, feeling flooded through my groin as the thing brightened suddenly and then faded. It changed visibly, filling with sparkling-white motes of light, then dissolved back inside my body. "Robert, please listen to me very carefully. Mine is the magic that binds and releases. I cannot harm, remove, or destroy this thing for you. It is alive in its own special way and I cannot kill it for you. I can only bind it in such a way that its effects on you will be reduced to a more tolerable level. Only you can remove this, but first you must remember how you got it, who gave it to you, and, most importantly, why they would do such a terrible thing". It felt like a great weight had been lifted off me and my hip felt tender and a little numb. The numbness spread and soon became an intense buzzing. The priest's face slowly faded as the stone room disappeared and my own room materialized around me. I slid down and gently swam back into my body. I came wide awake to find my right hip and thigh really were numb and buzzing, so I took a limping walk around the house (raiding the fridge in passing) until it settled down to a more comfortable level, I returned to bed an hour later and soon fell peacefully asleep, voicing my thanks in prayer to the wonderful being I had just met. After being under attack for so long, night after night after night, the peace and quiet and lack of activity in my room was tangible, like a healing balm to me. I awoke the next morning greatly refreshed, with no cramps or pain at all and my hip felt a whole lot better. The aftermath of this experience was that I grew quickly stronger and the debilitating effects of the psychic attack reduced considerably. As soon as I was strong enough, with a few more good nights' sleep under my belt, I broke the connection and threw off the attack completely. Thought Form or Nonphysical Life-Form? There is a popular argument, regularly put today, that all negative-type nonphysical entities are simply thought forms, created and propagated spontaneously or deliberately by the fears, thoughts, and fantasies of mankind. These are generally considered manifestations of the darker side of the collective consciousness of mankind, given form in the lower astral subplanes over an extended period of time. These are also thought of as something like independent, self-motivated thought forms. I believe that this is a simplistic way of accepting the obvious existence of nonphysical beings, as simple thought forms. It avoids the uncomfortable issues raised by the possibility that some negative life forms may have different origins and be completely independent. This last possibility upsets many people's framework of how the universe works. Entertaining this possibility seems to foster belief-system confusion, discomfort, and insecurity in many people. This also generates a feeling of helplessness when confronted by something they actively wish to discount and disbelieve in. The majority of people, I have found, do not like to believe in or talk about the existence of devils and demons, demonic realms, and other nasties that might go bump in the night. Similarly, many people disbelieve there may be any other intelligent life form in the universe: All UFO sightings are explainable as natural phenomena or weather balloons. Accepting the possibility of intelligent alien life forms, possibly with a higher level of intelligence and technology than our own, fosters deep-seated belief-system confusion, discomfort, and insecurity — simply through the many issues this possibility raises. There is a fine distinction, I believe, between real nonphysical life forms from another dimension, and simple thought forms. Many nonphysical life forms, while generally classified today as mindless thought forms, seem to originate from other dimensions entirely, possibly even from dimensions parallel to our own. The distinction between these types, thought forms or independent beings, is basically one of intelligence. Their limitations of intelligence are shown by their ability to think, adapt, and innovate. Thought forms, by nature, are mental creations, and exhibit only the behavioral traits or intelligence programmed into them during their creation. They have no innate natural intelligence with which to think, adapt, and innovate when faced with new and intellectually challenging situations. True nonphysical life forms, on the other hand, would logically have some level of natural intelligence, and would therefore be capable of some adaptation and innovation. The level of flexibility and originality exhibited would, obviously, be set by their level of intelligence. This would make classification through the observation of their reactions to stimulus at least feasible. If all negative entities are thought forms, then logically so are all positive entities, including all advanced spirit beings, spirit guides, and angels. And it cannot be said that our universe-living physical beings as well as nonphysical beings — contains only positive manifestations of consciousness. In my life and explorations I have found distinct similarities between the physical dimension and nonphysical dimensions like the astral. Each contains both positive and negative aspects, and many subtle gradients in between. This whole argument does not appear to have any reasonable solution. Neither type can be captured, examined, dissected, and properly classified, or even accurately traced back to its origins, in anything resembling a reliable scientific way. This leaves observation, experience, and reasoning as the only tools with which to form any kind of opinion. It becomes a bit of a moot point when you have to deal with astral wildlife and other nonphysical beings of any type on a firsthand basis. I will, therefore, continue to expound on this subject as I see it, according to my own observations, experience, and reasoning. Lower Subplane Wildlife The most troublesome types of astral wildlife appear to come from the notorious lower astral subplanes that contain the darker and more negative aspects of the astral planes. These can be likened to parallel shadows of the more positively oriented parts of the astral planes. While still a part of the astral planes, technically speaking, they are a distinctly separate aspect or part of it, containing all the darker qualities. Another way of looking at this is to consider this to be the night side of the astral planes. Low astral wildlife normally seem capable of operating only in dimensions similar to or lower than their dimension of origin. This is reasonable, based on the energetic limitations set by their nature and dimensional level of origin. Some of these beings do seem capable of operating in the real-time zone. (The real-time zone can be thought of as being fairly neutral territory, dimensionally speaking.) All lower types, regardless of classification or origin, appear to be predatory loners showing varying degrees of strength, intelligence, and ability. Negative beings exhibit a cold and almost insectlike nature. Higher feelings like love, compassion, and mercy are totally alien to them. This does not, however, mean they are evil; it just means they have no higher feelings. A garden spider has no higher feelings; it is not evil for killing and eating a beautiful butterfly. It is a spider and acts according to its nature; spiders feed on insects to survive. In my experience, negative types do not work well together, regardless of possible shared origins. They usually appear to be quite aggressive and combative toward each other, which results in a distinct pecking order whenever they are found together. Astral wildlife may sometimes be forced to work together, temporarily, through circumstances where they have a common interest or need. Astral wildlife can manifest in an enormous variety of illusory and changeable forms. Regular favorites are ugly grinning monkeys, gargoyles, and harpy forms. Some seem to prefer a more traditional horned-demon look, while others go for a more contemporary appearance. These latter forms are possibly modeled on horror movies and TV shows, or even from the modem nightmares of mankind. The size and appearance of an entity, as seen by a projector, or with real-time or astral sight, gives no fair indication of its actual strength and intelligence. Many small and weak entities seem to delight in looking big and dangerous, much as an animal will fluff up its fur during a confrontation to make itself seem bigger. Stronger and more intelligent entities do not seem to bother overmuch with pretense and may even use their original form — if they have one, that is. I have seen entities the size of polar bears run screaming when "BOO!" is said to them. I have also seen others the size and appearance of large rats with which I would not interfere by choice. Many entities seem to choose a form taken from the mind of a projector (which indicates some degree of telepathic ability) and use it to generate the maximum possible level of fear. This is a very good reason for projectors to keep their minds clear and mask their true feelings when they encounter or are forced to deal with astral wildlife. The weaker and by far the most common types of astral wildlife, those responsible for the majority of elemental and dweller-type scare attacks (see chapter 34) seem to have little power of their own. These are fairly weak, timid creatures and their appearance is always a greatly exaggerated illusion. They generally avoid direct encounters with projectors, and usually beat a hasty retreat whenever approached by a projector with a firm or confrontational attitude. Most negative entities dislike direct attention and actively avoid being seen. Some types of astral wildlife seem attracted to, and possibly even feed on, the energetic vibrations generated and broadcast by overly fearful projectors. Continued fear and timidity on the part of a projector seems to make astral wildlife more aggressive. Their intimidating behavior is, however, always without direct attack. This indicates they are not capable of mounting a direct attack on a projector, and my experience supports this. Increased and continuing fear on the part of a projector will often attract others of the same type, thus increasing their numbers and making things generally worse for a projector. Still, the appearance of these types is quite rare. The vast majority of astral wildlife do not, I believe, have the power to directly injure a projector, but caution is always advised in these matters. It is commonly thought that nonphysical entities of any type are completely harmless to projectors, and are only capable of scaring them. While this is generally true, as with the elemental and dweller types discussed later in this book (see chapter 34), there are exceptions. Real-time, astral, and all higher bodies are virtually invulnerable, and definitely cannot be destroyed or killed. But it is possible to suffer energetic damage and weakness through intense or prolonged attack by the stronger and more intelligent types of nonphysical entities. Cases of this are extremely rare, but if the energetic substance of a projected double became damaged, this damage could reflect back into its physical body. In this case, the physical body could experience unusual tiredness. Even more rarely, swellings, rashes, and strange marks could also appear on the physical body. These are much like the swellings, watery blisters, and rashes that are an occasional side effect of energetic development work (see chapter 13), especially during the early stages when energetic pathways are being cleared and conditioned. All these symptoms heal unusually quickly, often disappearing within just a few hours. The energy body heals and restores itself very quickly if its substance is disturbed or damaged in any way. Any significant attack causing energy substance loss in the projected double has a fail-safe side effect. It causes the immediate abortion of that projection as a reflex action. Projection is a delicately balanced process involving a constant two-way energetic-cum-telepathic exchange between the physical body and its projected double. It does not take much to interfere with this process and cause it to abort, resulting in the immediate return of the projected double to the safety of its physical body. Please keep in mind here that attacks, and especially attacks causing actual energetic damage or substance loss, are rare in the extreme and not something to overly worry about. The risk is roughly equivalent to a recreational swimmer being seriously injured by dangerous marine life. For the average swimmer, injuries are fairly rare events, with the biggest danger being nothing more than an occasional jellyfish sting. Professionals and deep-sea divers, however, spend a great deal more time in unexplored and untamed ocean depths, and thus face a slightly greater risk of harm than do recreational swimmers. This also applies to frequent projectors, especially those with a natural propensity for the more occult and metaphysical aspects of out-of-body exploration. Lastly, this also applies to the more experienced projectors who actively help people suffering from psychic attacks and other such entity-related problems. To the best of my knowledge, if projectors mind their own business, stay calm, use common sense, and project away if they ever find themselves in a bad situation, they have very little to worry about. Out of all the thousands of projection-related case histories I have been consulted on, I have only come across a very small handful of situations where really troublesome astral wildlife were involved. In the majority of these cases, once this situation was confronted with a braver and more positive attitude, the problem entities, whether real or imagined, simply vanished. 34. Fear and Astral Noises Fear — produced by unexpected or heavy exit sensations, by unexplainable astral noises and voices, or simply by exposure to the out-of-body environment — represents a significant barrier to OBE. Fear is a natural barrier that shields unready projectors from exposure to the out-of-body environment until they are able to cope. This especially applies to novice projectors who, although they may be keen, have a more delicate emotional disposition than they realize. Fear stops nervous and unsure projectors cold, as any good fail-safe mechanism should, until they are mentally resilient enough to cope with the pressures and strains involved with out-of-body operations. An important aspect of learning how to project is to progressively overcome all related fears. As each level of fear is overcome, the projector conquers a significant natural barrier. Facing and overcoming each type and level of fear as it appears prepares and conditions the projector for more extensive out-of-body operations — one step at a time. The Many Colors of Fear Fear related to the projection exit is a natural gut reaction caused by unusual and often extreme sensations, events, and situations. It causes would-be projectors to abort their exits time and time again, usually right on the brink of their very first, long-sought conscious-exit projection. However, most projection-related fears are born of simple ignorance. Knowledge replaces fear by making the unknown and unexpected the known and expected. The feelings that can be generated by heavy exit sensations, if not fully prepared for, can cause needless terror and panic. Bad projection experiences, if left unexamined and uncounseled, can psychologically condition projectors against future OBEs. This can significantly increase difficulty levels during future attempts, much as a tender tooth will make you flinch as you go to brush it from remembered pain, even long after it has healed. The physical body/mind remembers pain and unpleasant experiences, and quickly establishes conditioned responses to avoid any recurrences in the future. Many people have come to me with this problem, although most were thoroughly warned of what they might expect, after reading my on-line (Internet) tutorials. In the majority of cases, projectors were forced to abort their first successful exit simply because they were unprepared for the enormity of the resulting sensations. Please do not think I am exaggerating here. This is a major issue for all new projectors! I would spare you surprises and give you fair warning in advance, thereby fully preparing you for what you might have to face. You may face no heavy exit sensations at all, or none you cannot easily deal with. Some firstprojection exits are quite gentle affairs. Some people just seem to pop or buzz out of their bodies with no problem. However, be warned that these lucky people are in a fairly small minority. Heavy Exit Sensations The presence of the awake mind during the separation phase of projection, even though the fulltrance state has been achieved, causes major energetic conflicts between the physical/etheric body and its projecting double. This is especially true for novice projectors, whose energy bodies have not had time to develop and allow for the conscious-exit projection mechanism. Unwary projectors are usually completely unprepared for the visceral enormity of the final stages of the exit. They are usually blown away by a massive sensory overload. Many people honestly and sincerely believe they are dying, which panics them into aborting the exit in any way they can. Exit sensations are always much heavier during the first few conscious exits. However, they progressively ease during repeated attempts, as the projection mechanism begins energetically adapting and developing. This makes early projection attempts, even failed ones, something of a two-edged sword. They force the energetic development of the projection mechanism and the energy body, thereby making future projection easier. But, they can also cause intimidating stresses and strains that may create a psychological flinch response if not handled carefully, thereby making projection more difficult during future conscious-exit attempts. Understanding the mechanics and dynamics of the projection process helps overcome a great many projection exit problems. "Forewarned is forearmed". I intend to make aspiring new projectors fully aware of just what they might have to face. Hopefully, this hands-on knowledge will help them maintain control so they don't totally freak out and blow their first conscious-exit OBE. The positive psychological conditioning generated by a first successful conscious-exit projection, even an ultrashort one, is extremely important. There is nothing like success to empower the learning of any difficult skill. Because of the above, I advise against attempting a partial conscious exit, "just to see what it feels like", before committing to a full exit. A partial exit attempt will always generate much heavier than usual energetic conflicts and sensations, which can be heavier and longer lasting than with a full-blown conscious exit. A bad experience can condition and deter projectors against future exit attempts. Negative conditioning can increase not only the exit difficulty, but also the severity, of future exit sensations. Do... or do not! Project... or do not project! No in-betweens are advised. The faster you get through the exit phase of a projection, the sooner heavy exit sensations cease. When you are ready to try for a full exit, just do it and be ready to put everything you have behind it. Commit yourself, psych yourself up, and be ready to go through with the exit bravely, come what may. This attitude will also give you a much higher chance of succeeding with your first consciousexit attempt. Be prepared for a fairly rough time during your first exit. Be prepared to weather an inner earthquake of unbelievable magnitude. I want you to be ready to handle this storm calmly and stoically if it does happen to you — and calmly is an absolute must! Be prepared to tough out the exit come what may, calmly and intelligently, knowing that it cannot hurt you and will very soon end. Heavy exit sensations can last anything from ten seconds to five minutes, depending on the speed and difficulty of the exit. However, these will always be milder, and end far sooner, if the exit phase is kept short. If you stay calm, balanced, and under control, the exit will become smoother much more quickly. Heavy exit sensations end the moment separation is complete. Projections involving the brow and crown centers, where projectors perceive themselves as leaving their body through their head, are generally accompanied by fairly gentle exit sensations. On that note, according to my research, a far higher percentage of women than men can expect to experience head-or brow-type exits. However, the majority of projectors should expect strong activity in their heart centers. Heavy exit sensations will not be experienced by everyone. Nor will they happen during every type of projection. It is far better to expect them, though, than to be caught unprepared, as happens so often to so many new projectors. To illustrate heavy exit sensations, here is a very early experience of mine. I was teaching myself conscious-exit projection and going through the same exit problems and frustrations many of you may now be experiencing. This illustrates the strongest exit sensations, I think, that any new projector could be expected to face. I have been projecting since a very early age, three or four years old, but all my early projections were spontaneous and involved no real technique or conscious effort. Later, when I became interested in OBE, I had to start at the very beginning. I had to develop all the necessary skills like deep physical relaxation, concentration, and trance. I then had to learn the conscious exit, just as many of you are learning now. I knew it was possible, having vivid memories of many childhood OBEs, but that did not make the learning process any easier or shorter. I had tried many times to project before this, but so far with only one successful exit. (But that experience was so unusual that I cannot reasonably use it here as a fair example.) I had been lying in bed for more than an hour, relaxing my physical body and trying to induce the trance state. I finally felt the heaviness of trance spread through my body, then started raising energy and stimulating my primary energy centers. I was using a fairly obtuse visualization technique here, which was all I knew at this time. I worked on each of my primary centers until I felt some sign of activity in them, then started using my new projection technique. I shifted my point of awareness out and tried to feel as if I were floating above my physical body. I worked hard on being aware of how the room changed and felt from that position, and of staying aware of where my physical body was from this new perspective, which was extremely difficult and required a lot of concentration. I held my mind clear, and strained to hold my point of whole-body awareness fixed above my physical body. A bone-deep tickling sensation spread through my body, and a kind of localized dizziness started in my stomach and chest. My heart, or rather my heart center, began fluttering noticeably; this sensation grew steadily stronger. The bone-deep tickling, dizzy sensation soon began surging and droning through my body in waves, also growing steadily stronger. This was especially strong in my stomach and chest. It soon grew into a much heavier type of whole-body vibrational droning wave. I started to feel a steadily increasing pressure all over my body. This was particularly strong around my head. The dizziness felt like a spinning or falling sensation. This quickly intensified and it soon felt as if I were caught up in some kind of insane amusement park ride. These were major weird and incredibly strong sensations. In the back of my mind, I began to wonder if I might be dying, but was also thrilled by the sensory enormity of it all and of the likelihood of OBE success. I gritted my mental teeth, determined not to let this get the better of me as it had on previous attempts, and to go through with it come what may. Strange noises faded in and out around me, like the sounds of furniture being dragged and thrown roughly and loudly about on wooden floors. I also heard the muttering of voices and occasional laughter. I ignored all this, knowing (hoping) they were just astral noises like I had read and heard of before. Incredible colors, shapes, patterns of light, and images floated across my vision behind my closed eyes. The bone-deep buzzing, droning waves and dizziness increased, accompanied by an even heavier falling sensation, as if I were continually falling backward from a great height. This falling sensation made me feel quite nauseous. The pressure around my head increased painfully, as if I had an overtight leather belt wrapped around it and an invisible sadist were slowly tightening it. By this time, my heart felt like it was close to jumping out of my chest. My body felt incredibly heavy and tight with pressure. In the back of my mind, I wondered again if I might actually be dying. The vibrations, pressure, racing heart, and falling sensations all increased until I thought I would either scream or pass out — they were so very, very strong. Loud noises thundered and crashed in the room around me, now sounding like heavy chains were being noisily dragged over corrugated iron sheeting near my bed. I ignored everything and stayed focused on keeping myself relaxed and focused on what I was doing, holding my point of whole-body awareness out in front of me. Steeling my mind, I strained to maintain control. I could now see details of the room around me through my closed eyelids, as if my eyes had opened. My whole body surged with massive, droning waves of vibrations and surging energy movement. My heart center raced like a lawnmower engine and my head felt as if it were going to be crushed under the painful pressure. Vibrations literally roared throughout my body and my heart center raced impossibly faster and faster, feeling as if my actual heart were racing. Suddenly, everything changed and I felt myself separating from my physical body. I began rising upward, buzzing out of a storm of major uncomfortable body sensations. Rising faster and smoother now, I finally buzzed free of my body. The really heavy sensations stopped the moment I achieved separation. They changed to an intense whole-body buzzing as the projection reflex buzzed me out of my body. The wholebody buzzing stopped as I came to rest near the foot of my bed. I was out of my body and free at last! I could see the room around me clearly even though it was fairly dark, with only a little moonlight filtering through the blinds into my room. It was very quiet; there was no sign of any cause for the strange noises and voices I'd heard on the way out of my body. I felt marvelous and full of energy, exhilarated by my success but strangely calm inside. A little nervously, I floated around the semidark room, getting my sea legs. I wondered what might be lurking in the shadows or waiting for me in the dark night outside. Probably nothing, but I am by nature fairly cautious. While this was basically similar to the many spontaneous projections I'd had as a child, it was also strangely different. It felt much more powerful and real. I willed myself into motion and floated away from my body and out through the wall. Outside, the moonlight cast eerie moving shadows through the windswept trees onto the cold, damp pavement. I floated out onto the road and skimmed along it. I could feel and smell and taste the dew-laden night air intensely. The world around me felt very solid and real. Picking up a little speed, I swooped into the air, flapping my arms and skimming through the tree-tops, just clearing them as I circled my home. I hovered a while, then it all came back to me, all the OBE skills I'd learned and used as a child. I spun around a few times, taking everything in before letting myself float gently down through the branches of an ancient pine tree. I could smell and feel and taste the leaves and all the bitter-dry tastes of sap and living wood and bark as I floated through the twisted trunk to the ground. Flushed with success, but for some reason feeling a little anxious, I floated back to my house and waiting body. I had no idea why I felt so anxious, especially after all the time I'd spent fearlessly out of body as a child. Maybe it was just because it was dark and creepy out here in the dead of night. I returned to my room, entering through the roof and moving down to my body. As I got closer I felt something almost like gravity pulling me toward it. As I reentered, I felt a tingling, buzzing, whole-body rush. I felt myself being sucked upward through my stomach and chest — but I felt this from my physical body's perspective, as if something were entering me. My eyes opened and I came wide awake... immensely pleased with my new success. Next time I vowed I'd stay out longer and do some exploring! Later, over a respectable snack of cheese-and-pickle sandwiches and a jug of ice-cold milk, I began filling out the second entry in my new OBE journal. Excitement and Anxiety Excitement and anxiety, combined with the flush of imminent success, can generate an adrenaline-type body rush that can ruin an exit attempt in moments. This may appear to have similarities with the torso energetic surge, dealt with earlier, but has a quite different cause. A combination of trepidation, anxiety, and sheer excitement causes a surge of adrenaline through the physical body. This instantly breaks the delicately balanced state required for projection, usually just as the projection reflex starts to cut in and the projector suddenly realizes he or she is about to have a fully conscious OBE. A great many projectors have problems with this. They work hard and do everything right and then, just as the vibrations start and the projection reflex starts to kick in, it happens again. Suddenly, they realize what is about to happen and get overexcited, thereby losing focus and control over the experience. As quickly as it began it stops right there, leaving them wide awake and cursing themselves, knowing it was their fault. Many people have the impression that once they manage to trigger the projection reflex and are about to exit their body, they have succeeded. They think they can just sit back and enjoy the experience from there on in. This is definitely not the case... so be warned. The requirements for holding a deeply relaxed physical body and a clear, focused mind do not suddenly end the moment a projector starts to exit the body. It is necessary to continue holding the delicately balanced state at all times, not only before and all through the exit, but for the entire projection. Any surge of excitement or strong emotion can abort a projection before, during, or after the exit. Uncontrollable excitement during the exit shows a lack of mental and emotional control in any would-be projector. This also has, apart from the above, the potential to cause a great many problems in the out-of-body environment. This is another aspect of the natural barrier that fear forms, which like all natural barriers has a certain fail-safe beauty to it. These safeguard unready projectors (no matter how keen) from exposure to the sensitive out-of-body environment where emotions are not quite so private, internal, and harmless. An overly excitable projector could easily run into trouble during a projection through a simple lack of self-control. The out-of-body environment is fluid and easily affected by thought and imagination, most especially by those of the subconscious mind. A slight tingle of fear, caused perhaps by a glimpse of something imagined moving among the shadows, combined with a slight fear of the dark, could easily escalate into a major fear episode. This could result in trauma and negative psychological conditioning against further OBEs. There is another, more subtle, aspect to consider, concerning the mind-split effect. Often a projection can be successful but the physical/etheric mind is so excited by the exit sensations that strong memories form in the physical brain. In this case, awareness remains firmly centered in the physical/etheric body. This can make it difficult for the projected double to download its shadow memories into accessible levels of the physical brain during reintegration. The projection side of an experience can thus be lost. This can be a major problem with new projectors who have little experience with shadow memory recall. The solution to all these above problems is to stay calm, focused, and relaxed. Keep a firm grip on emotions before, during, and after the exit and throughout the whole course of the projection. If projectors can ignore heavy exit sensations and overcome fear, anxiety, and excitement during the exit, they can also refuse to feel these after the exit. They can jump up and down and celebrate and release all their emotions once they return to their physical body! They can, in fact, use this emotional release to empower shadow memories, and make them literally more memorable during the reentry phase. It is therefore permissible, even advisable, to mentally jump up and down and shout out success — only during the reentry phase. This will help overwrite existing physical/etheric body memories for the same time period, and will cement shadow memories into the physical brain for easy recall. Once projectors have successfully passed through the conscious-exit barrier, managed to maintain self-control, and have returned for controlled reentry, they have passed an important test. They are now ready to begin learning how to operate in the out-of-body environment and to travel and explore farther afield. The Unknown and the Darkness Fear of the unknown out-of-body environment is another natural barrier all new projectors face. This is an experientially unknown environment. It is quite natural to feel some measure of trepidation, even a little healthy fear. New projectors may have read many stories about what this is like, but they have never truly experienced it for themselves. Many children are afraid of the dark. Their parents tell them there's nothing to be scared of. They open the wardrobe doors and prove there is nothing lurking there or under the bed. After all that, children still fear the unknown and all-encompassing darkness and demand a nightlight. This is natural caution turned into fear by imagination, simply because they cannot see in the dark and hence don't know what's really there. This is very much like what can happen in the back of new projectors' minds, fed by imagination, when they first get out of body. The unknown qualities and changed aspects of the once-familiar environment, plus the rumors, horror stories, and movies can scare them witless. This can easily break their nerve and ruin their focus, time and time again ruining otherwise successful projections, driving them back into the perceived safety of their physical bodies. Some courage is definitely required during an OBE, especially when sojourning into the real-time environment at night. These fears must be quashed before they can take root and start interfering with the OBE. Always remember that the sensitive out-of-body environment is greatly affected by emotion, and like attracts like in a big way. If fear is allowed to grow, then a more fearful or even sinister aspect can be added to the out-of-body environment, manifested around projectors by the creative ability of their own subconscious mind. Even if deep inside some genuine fear is felt, it is strongly advisable not to allow it to surface in the conscious mind. Be positive and brave and act as if you are totally fearless. Face the unknown out-of-body environment bravely! If you cannot do this, you really should not be projecting. Always remember that nothing can hurt you while you are out of your body. The projected double is an energetic being and therefore virtually invulnerable. It can swim in molten lava or fly through the middle of a supernova without getting a scratch. Cultivate becoming a calm and dispassionate observer at all times, fearless in mind and spirit, and you will soon become unafraid of the out-of-body environment. This attitude will help you progressively overcome any genuine fears you may have, even little ones, through the accumulation of personal out-of-body experience. This turns the unknown into the known and familiar, which progressively reduces fear levels. Mind-Split-Generated Fear In the real-time zone, especially, fear can cause compounding and tangible feelings of presence, dread, and mindless terror to be generated and compounded between the physical/etheric body and its projected double. This is an emotional energetic interaction related to waking paralysis and astral feedback. It is not caused by an independent source. This feedback will progressively intensify and compound if nothing is done about it. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the feedback, especially if the projector is operating close to the physical body in the real-time zone. This effect pretty much disappears if you put some distance between yourself and your physical body. Leave the house and keep on moving until the feeling subsides. Mental focus and control, plus a calm and dispassionate observer attitude, stop emotional feedback from starting and reduce the likelihood of other potentially negative problems manifesting. Primal Gut Reaction Probably the most difficult type of fear for any new projector to overcome is the primal gut reaction caused by energies generated by the physical/etheric body during the projection process. During the conscious exit, or the spontaneous exit in which the projector becomes aware during the exit, the body and mind of the projector experience strong, full-body sensations caused by energies normally only generated during the sleep state. The presence of waking consciousness magnifies these energetic sensations greatly; the conscious mind has no experience with these energies and therefore has nothing to fall back on as it tries to get used to them. Projectors experience a fearful gut reaction, a strong sense of wrongness and great danger all around. I believe this is caused by the primal fight or flight response. Projectors sense danger, but as no source of danger is apparent, they intuitively sense flight as being the only option for survival. This primal survival instinct floods the projector's mind with overpowering primal fear. Most new projectors will have to deal with some level of primal fear during early OBEs. This fear progressively eases as they gain experience, but some level of fear is usually always present. This fear forms a strong natural barrier to OBE. Your ability to master your fears and plow through this barrier shows you have passed a significant test and are ready for OBE. Dweller on the Threshold The infamous dweller on the threshold type of experience, plus astral noises and voices, are probably the most well-known manifestations faced by some new projectors. The dweller phenomenon is, I believe, another aspect of the natural barrier that fear creates. This must be faced and dealt with bravely before new projectors affected by this problem can operate freely out of their bodies. The dweller type of manifestation, while well known, is definitely not a universal OBE-related problem that everyone has to face. Far from it. My research shows that a dweller-type manifestation will trouble less than one in twenty new projectors, and then only during their first few OBEs. Astral noises and voices, however, will intermittently bother most new projectors. Please do not expect this to happen when you first get out of your body. Worrying about this could easily cause your own subconscious mind to manifest it. I think this is what happens in most cases, considering the sensitive out-of-body environment and the effect that fear can have on it. The dweller can happen in a great many variations, but is usually a combination or variation of the following: Immediately after exit, you find a shadowy, menacing humanoid shape, usually all featureless black with burning red eyes. It may just stand there motionless, or it may take a few steps forward and make threatening gestures. It may be silent or may breathe heavily and loudly. It may snarl, growl, giggle, or laugh. It may even speak and order you back into your body, often by name. It may threaten you with doom and gloom if you continue with your projection. The classic dweller monster never attacks or harms a projector. I have not had a single report of a dweller so much as touching a projector. It is an illusion. It should be confronted and ordered away, or totally ignored, or both. My best advice is to be brave, march right up to it, glare at it, and as loudly as you can order it to (#*&) off! Then, turn around and leave the area, totally ignoring it from then on. It will not be there waiting for you on your return. I have given here what may appear to be some fairly extreme examples of the dweller type of experience. These examples are pretty standard, though, and are not exaggerated in the slightest. I much prefer to prepare new projectors for what they might have to face, rather than to play all this down and have them taken by surprise in the middle of the exit. The dweller on the threshold is a bully! Like all bullies, when bravely confronted, the wind is taken from its sails, and it either runs or is reduced to harmless ranting and raving. Logic suggests that if the dweller were indeed a genuine threat capable of causing actual harm, it would not just stand and threaten. It would attack immediately, making use of the element of surprise and of the fearful state of the projector. Dwellers would most certainly not consistently warn and scare projectors back into their bodies before the exit with astral noises and voices, not if they were genuinely interested in harming them, or if they were capable of doing so. All this indicates that they are probably afraid of projectors and have no real power with which they could harm them. I believe that some dweller types of experiences can be considered manifestations of a projector's own subconscious fears. At other times, interfering low-order astral wildlife appear to be responsible, possibly attracted by the projector's own fears and by the energetic vibrations these produce and broadcast before and during early projections. I have not come across any evidence or experience, mine or anyone else's, to support the idea that the dweller is any type of personal watcher or guardian angel of projection. I have never experienced any type of being that fits this bill. The watcher being or guardian idea, I think, stems from the widespread belief that the physical body is left empty and vulnerable during projection. I have never faced a true dweller type of experience. My mother, though, had dweller experiences during her first few conscious-exit projections, many years ago when I was still in my teens. Being a spiritualist, my mother actively ignored these beings when they appeared, and kept repeating the Twenty-third Psalm until they left her alone, as she had been instructed to do by her church. For her, the dweller manifestation appeared as many small, ugly, monkey-sized beings that growled and sniggered and clutched at her as she was leaving her body. When this happened she repeated her prayer and actively ignored them while continuing along her way, soon leaving the area and the elementals far behind. They were not there when she returned to her body some time later. I have heard the same story from many other spiritualists and found they were all in some way instructed that this was to be considered normal. They were told to expect these elementals to be there when they first got out of body. This brings me to consider that psychological conditioning may be partly responsible here, and that the dweller will sometimes manifest as a form the projector either consciously or subconsciously expects. The projected double is an extremely powerful being, even if a projector does not know this and has no idea how to use its defensive or offensive capabilities. The projected double of a living human being, with all its enormous resources, is definitely not to be trifled with. Negative entities can sense this potential and are naturally wary of all projectors and most especially of strong realtime projectors. I think the above provides some very real clues as to why these negative types go to all this trouble to inhibit novice projectors in the first place. I think that any new projector about to consciously project into the real-time zone causes negative entities in the local area to panic. They then do everything in their power to stop them from projecting, simply because they fear the potential consequences. I consider all elemental and dweller-type manifestations to be illusions. The sources of these illusions may vary, but if generated by an independent source there must, logic suggests, be a reason for it. In the case of negative entities, everything points to this being a widespread push against projectors that appears to have been going on for a very long time. Knowing this, I suggest that all new projectors do not give these negative types the pleasure. A little competition is said to be healthy, and every new projector let loose in the real-time zone adds one more potential soldier to the ranks of the good guys. Always keep in mind, no matter what happens during a projection, that projectors never leave their physical body empty and exposed during any type of OBE. The physical body always safely contains the original copy of mind and memory. The physical/etheric body is never, ever, left empty, exposed, unguarded, or vulnerable. Having an OBE does not expose you in any way, shape, or form, to any kind of interference you would not otherwise be vulnerable to during your normal waking and sleeping states. Astral noises and Other Things That Go Bump in the Plight Astral noises may be heard during the exit, with scary voices and things going bump in the night, like chains dragging, sinister giggling and muttering, evil laughter, and nasty growling and snarling. These intimidating sounds are a type of audio illusion; they have no substance and are therefore no threat. They are a big distraction, though, and must be totally ignored before and during the exit. Astral noises are quite common during the exit, but always cease the moment the exit is complete. It is much more common for new projectors to hear astral noises and voices than for more seasoned projectors. I rarely hear them these days, but used to hear them regularly during my early years of conscious projection, about every fifth projection. Strange noises are often heard as a prelude to OBE, usually right on the verge of the exit, conscious or spontaneous, just as the projection reflex is about to kick in and buzz the projector out of body. Be ready to deal with these when they happen. This may appear to contradict what I said earlier, but I have found astral noises so prevalent that their likelihood does not seem to be affected by suggestion. A great many people who have approached me with astral noise problems had never previously heard about astral noises. They did not expect them, but they happened anyway. I have already mentioned some of the scarier types of astral noises, but think they deserve more thorough mention. The types of noises vary enormously. They can be very loud and incredibly real. You may hear bells ringing, sirens wailing, heavy chains dragging and rattling across corrugated iron sheeting, the sounds of someone smashing their way into your house with sledge-hammer blows, the sound of many people talking noisily, racing engine noises, chain saws, knocking and banging on your bedroom door, even the sounds of children playing and laughing or crying or pleading for help. You may hear your name being called loudly and clearly, sometimes by a voice you know well. This voice will usually report some kind of an emergency in your house, or simply demand you get up as there is something important you need to attend to right there and then. They are so real you may decide (if not prepared) to abort your projection and find out just what the heck is going on in your house. "What timing", you'll think, "just when I am right on the verge of my very first OBE". These noises will usually appear to be from fairly close by, often from just outside your window or bedroom door, or even from inside your room. You may think your locality has gone completely nuts and decided to do some late-night road repairs just outside your door, withjackhammers and chain saws going full bore; they can be that loud and that real. I have been tricked out of the conscious exit many, many times, especially during my first few years of conscious-exit projection. Astral Voices A loud and aggressive astral voice may order you (often by name) to stop what you are doing and return to your body immediately, or face a terrible doom. The dialogue and timing of this voice(s) will vary greatly from experience to experience, but the main thrust will always be the same: to intimidate you into aborting your projection. You may also hear a voice talking to another voice about you, loudly discussing and criticizing you for your stupidity for trying to leave the body, intimating strongly that this is a very dangerous thing to do, or that this is a very dangerous time for it. "Look at him! Doesn't he know anything? What the hell is he up to now? Look at what he's doing... oh no... how stupid can he be!" Et cetera. This onslaught of negative input causes projectors to begin seriously doubting themselves. They begin to worry that they might indeed be doing something foolish or dangerous. But these distracting and intimidating voices never harm projectors and should be totally ignored. Once the exit has been made, these voices will stop immediately and no cause for them will ever be found. Two Possible Causes for Astral Noises I believe there are two possible causes for astral noises: Accidental: It is possible that natural sounds and voices are picked up by the heightened senses of the projecting double, as it tunes into parts of the local real-time or astral environment during the prelude to the exit. The random nature of these noises suggests they may only be heard when there is activity in the local real-time or astral area to cause them. The state of your energy body, specifically your active configuration of primary centers at the time of projection, may also play a part. It is possible that some projectors sporadically develop a type of clairaudience, the ability to hear into the real-time zone and astral dimension and to hear spirit voices and sounds, as well as the voices of other projectors. Where simple astral noises and voices are heard, and the projector is neither directly nor indirectly referred to, this is the most likely scenario. Deliberate: Another possibility is that some astral noises are deliberately produced and telepathically aimed at projectors by low-order astral wildlife. These noises appear to be a very cleverly designed audio illusion, a sneaky distraction designed to worry or trick a projector into aborting an imminent exit. This trickery and deceit is well in theme with the whole apparent purpose of elemental and dweller-type manifestations. If this is indeed the real source of astral noises, then they are simply an audio scare alternative to the more visual dweller-type manifestations. Where the projector is addressed or called by name, or indirectly referred to in any other way, this is the most likely scenario. Dealing with Astral Noises Any and all astral noises must be totally ignored during the exit stage of an OBE. These harmless sound effects will distract and disrupt your balance and keep you from projecting if you pay any attention to them. This is especially so when it comes to being pestered or called by someone inside your own house. No matter what you hear and no matter what is said, totally ignore it! The chances of any real emergency happening right at that particular moment, when you are on the threshold of an OBE exit, is remote in the extreme. Think about it. If there were a real emergency, someone in your house would surely enter your room and wake you up. They would physically shake you awake if you were really and truly urgently needed. On top of this, if someone were actually banging on your door, the real noise from this would instantly shock you out of the trance state. Friends and family members also will not usually just stand on the other side of a closed door, pounding and shouting through it, especially late at night or in the early hours of the morning. If you continue with your projection, you can go and check to see if there is a real emergency in your house, as your projected double. If anything is really happening and you are truly needed, you can then simply return to your body, reenter it, and deal with the situation moments later. I have projected countless times while ignoring astral noises and voices. Everything is always dead quiet when I finally get out of my body. There is never anything there waiting for me that could have caused all the earlier noise and kafuffle. This shows that astral noises and voices are not directly related to the more visual elemental and dweller-type scare manifestations. Just because you hear astral noises and voices, it does not mean any kind of visual scare manifestation will follow this if you continue with the exit. I have been caught out by astral noises many times over the years. It is absolutely infuriating! I've learned to ignore most astral noises when they happen, but they still catch me out occasionally; they can be that convincing. Clutching Hands and Other Annoyances Before or during the exit, you may feel cold and clammy hands grabbing and clutching at your body. You may even see fleeting images of monstrous faces leering and snarling at you. You may hear these shadowy beings apparently scuttling about the room. These hands never hurt projectors; they can only scare them. They are a type of sensory illusion and should be ignored. No cause for them will ever be apparent once the exit is completed. Before or during the exit, you may feel, see, or hear an annoyance; a small animal, often a dog or a cat, may jump onto your bed and start washing your face, or start scratching and snarling, or annoying and distracting you in some other way. A variation is a friend or relative coming into the room, or trying to get into the room. This person promptly begins distracting or annoying you in some way: demanding you get up immediately or entering the room and touching or even tickling you. This is an illusion, and should be ignored, as hard as this might be at the time. OBE Hitchhikers A rare type of OBE problem that affects approximately one in two hundred projectors at some time in their life — a real-time or low-astral problem — is an OBE hitchhiker, which can happen to seasoned projectors as well as novices. After the exit, you become aware that some being is holding on to you from behind. You often see a pair of arms encircling and holding on to you. This being may be silent or may speak and make threats or threatening sounds. It will often answer if spoken to. You may feel you are being carried around by it, or you may feel you are carrying it yourself. If it answers at all, this being will usually give short, cryptic, negative, or nonsense replies, which may or may not contain threats. It may even state it is there to help you in some way-do not believe this. You will usually be able to turn around and see your hitchhiker. You will often see a rough-looking male face with glaring eyes. When looked at, it may abuse you loudly or scare you in some other way. Alternatively, it may do and say nothing at all. It may even appear to be asleep or unconscious when looked at. In case you are concerned about missing a chance of beneficial spirit contact: a simple way to test a spirit (to tell a good spirit from a bad spirit) is to politely but firmly ask it to leave and return another time when called on. A good spirit will understand and leave immediately, and will return another time when called on. A bad spirit will either point-blank refuse or will make up some excuse, e.g., that they know what's best for you. The consensus among projectors is that these hitchhikers are attracted to fear. They are most likely to appear at times when projectors become fearful or anxious during an OBE. In some cases, you have only to think of the hitchhiker briefly and it will appear. The wisest preventative measure is to control fear and not think about the hitchhiker in any way, not even for a moment. Drive all thoughts of it out of mind and focus on the OBE at all times. Providing you are courageous enough, a good way of dealing with this situation is to bravely confront or attack it. Do not listen to it no matter what it says. Demand it leave immediately and threaten dire consequences if it does not obey. If this does not work, create a baseball bat or other weapon of choice and use it to beat the manifestation until it leaves. The created weapon should be held firmly in mind so it does not melt away while being used. This procedure should be repeated during any future OBEs if it reappears. Chapter 35, "Astral Self-Defense", provides details on the creation and use of astral weaponry. If the above does not work, or if you are too timid for a confrontation, or if the manifestation repeats, denying its existence will sometimes work, although this generally takes longer. Totally ignore it and deny its existence. Actively disbelieve in it and unmake it with creative ability. Imagine and see its arms fading away and feel the rest of it fading out of existence behind you. An alternative is to make it burst into flames with creative ability and try to burn it away. Shape-shifting can also be used and the shape of the projector changed to unhorse or better deal with the manifestation. Small is usually more effective than big here, but both should be tried. If you can hold the shape of a bee or wasp, you will often lose the hitchhiker in the process. The use of any level of creative ability is often enough to drive off a hitchhiker, as this seems to intimidate astral wildlife. Passing slowly through walls and other solid objects can also help. Look at this as scraping off the hitchhiker onto the wall as it is penetrated. Another idea is to project into the nearest church or house of worship. As this type of manifestation is a real-time or low-astral problem, projecting directly into higher levels of the astral planes will lose the hitchhiker in the dimensional shift. If all these methods fail, I advise that you seek out the services of a good practicing shaman (see bibliography). I have referred projectors with this type of problem to shamans many times, and the results have always been positive. Overcoming Fear Fear is a natural defense mechanism. True bravery is the ability to control fear while continuing to function in a reasonably normal fashion. Bravery is not the ability to feel no fear at all. One of the greatest causes of out-of-body fear is the tendency most projectors have to project late at night before sleeping. An OBE can definitely be a bit on the creepy side during the dead of night. But some people find themselves surrounded during an OBE with at least enough light to see by, even on the darkest of nights. This light, generally localized to the projector's immediate area, is called astral light, and is generated by the projector's subconscious mind. It can usually be brightened simply by willing it to brighten. The out-of-body environment is sensitive to the mind of a projector. Feel the light brightening and will it to happen. Look for this brightening and expect the area around you to brighten. See the shadows fading and everything becoming clearer and more distinct. The area around you will soon become much brighter; this brightness will follow you wherever you go. Expect it to follow you and it will. Everything will then be much less gloomy and intimidating. The simplest and most effective way to reduce fear is to project during daylight hours. Instead of taking an afternoon power nap, you could have an afternoon OBE. You'll get the same amount of rest, but will have a great deal more fun. There is nothing at all creepy about projecting in daylight, and there is a great deal more to do and see during daylight hours. If you do not have the opportunity to project in daylight hours, I suggest an immediate shift into the astral planes shortly after the exit. The astral planes are very interesting places to be and are generally well lit. There is nothing at all creepy about the astral planes; often you will find yourself in full sunlight once you arrive there. Some type or level of fear usually will continue to plague new projectors until their self-control is better suited to OBE. In time, repeated exposure to the out-of-body environment removes its unknown qualities, causing fear levels to drop significantly. Out-of-body endurance and functionality will also steadily improve as personal experience is gained. This gives projectors progressively more and more freedom. There is nothing wrong with having some fear when you project. Fear is healthy and forces you to be cautious. A little fear and caution will keep you alive and kicking much longer than foolhardy bravery will. As long as you can control your fear and don't let it consume you, it will serve you well. I still feel a little trepidation and anxiety whenever I leave my body. I never really know what I'll find each time I go out. I will probably always feel this healthy respect, even though I have projected countless times and can control myself extremely well. I know what to do and what to expect, but when it comes right down to it there is always a little anxiety at the back of my mind. This is especially so with an exit in the dead of night, when the real-time world is always a little on the creepy side. Control yourself and be as brave as you can and just do your level best, no matter how scared you really feel inside. No one can do any better than that, my friends. Religion and OBE Many people worry that they are violating some religious law if they project out of their bodies. They worry there might be a line of text in the Bible or some other holy book that forbids it, and that they might thus be doing something detrimental to their soul. As far as I am aware, there are no direct warnings given in the Bible or any other holy book, anywhere, which clearly prohibit or warn against projection. I do not intend to get into a religious debate over this. I am sure that many good people in the world would delight in correcting me on this matter, and cite biblical text that could be construed into meaning projection and OBE are bad things. But religious opinion against OBE comes not from personal experience and an investigation of the evidence, but from what I believe to be unrelated textual interpretations. This type of argument is therefore best considered as being uninformed conjecture. Everyone in the world projects in some way or other whenever they sleep. There are no exceptions to this rule. This includes all the people who decry the practice of projection on religious grounds. The vast majority of people simply do not remember it, or as sleep projectors have nothing to really remember apart from an occasional dream. There is nothing occult or mysterious about OBE. It is a completely natural function. And, as everyone does this unconsciously anyway, what logical reasoning could there possibly be showing this perfectly natural activity should not also be done consciously? I sincerely apologize if I have upset anyone here. No offense is intended. I believe our Creator designed and made us exactly as we are, with a bioenergetic body that naturally generates the energies required to project during sleep. We are all inherently capable, with a little practice, of deliberately stimulating the generation of these same energies. And, we can also learn how to simulate the natural sleep state by entering the trance state (body asleep + mind awake) so we can leave our bodies consciously. If we were not all meant to have the ability to function out of body, then why were we all born with the innate ability to do just that? Did God make a mistake when God gave us, one and all, our bioenergetic and pure-energetic aspects, along with our inherent projection capabilities? I do not happen to think so. I believe God is perfect, as are all God's creations, and that God is incapable of error. 35. Astral Self-Defense Whether or not you believe in astral wildlife or nonphysical entities will depend on your beliefs and personal experience. Many people claim that these things, if they even exist, are probably just harmless thought forms. They claim this even though they have no real experience in these matters, and have never had to deal with this kind of situation firsthand. Intellectual belief becomes a bit of a moot point if you have to deal with this kind of thing in person. Regardless of belief and of whether or not anything threatening or potentially dangerous is ever seen (and usually nothing ever will), it is psychologically comforting and fortifying for projectors to have some idea how to protect themselves if they should ever need to do so. I don't like to dwell on negative possibilities, but here are several methods of self-defense during an OBE. The projected double — especially the real-time double — is an extremely powerful being when compared to nonphysical entities. It has a strong and renewable energy source; the physical/etheric body, constantly supplying its energy requirements. It also has the ability to change its size and appearance, and has innate creative ability with which to forge tools, armor, and weapons. All jokes aside, an aware projected real-time double does not have to put up with the unkind ministrations of others. It is capable of protecting its integrity in any situation, up to and including extreme energetic confrontation. The personal freedom and integrity of any projected double, if even slightly aware of its true potential, is not only a God-given natural right, it is enforceable. You only have to be a little bit brave and do what you are naturally capable of and most astral wildlife will beat a hasty retreat. Those that do not run immediately will find themselves outmatched by the constantly renewable energetic potential and versatile creative ability of the projected double. Astral Matter The question of whether or not astral matter exists is moot when operating in the out-of-body environment. Astral matter is the ether, the underlying substance of which all subtle dimensions are composed, including the real-time zone. This is extremely sensitive to consciousness, and reacts to thought energy in the same way as physical matter reacts to force. Astral matter can be molded by thought into any shape or form imaginable. Thought creations can be so perfect as to be indistinguishable from reality. One way to describe the nature of astral matter, especially when dealing with thought-form creations, is to draw a comparison between astral matter and unexposed photographic film. When unexposed film is exposed to light energy, focused by the lens of a camera, an image is burned onto the film when the photosensitive chemicals coating the film react to light energies. The quality of the camera's lens and the quality of the film and paper it's printed on, plus the skill of the operator, determine the quality of the resulting image. When astral matter is exposed to thought energies, focused by the lens of the mind, an image begins to form, caused by the reaction of sensitive astral matter to focused creative thought energies. The thought form's complexity, strength, and durability depend largely on the strength and duration of the creative thought generating it. The strength and skill of the creative mind determines the quality and durability of the resulting creation. Created Thought Forms The ability of the projected double to deliberately create thought-form objects is fairly well known. Maintaining the existence of a thought-form creation for any length of time, however, depends largely on the creative strength, skill, and experience of the projector, and by the nature of the dimensional level in which they are operating. In the real-time zone, for example, it is more difficult to deliberately create lasting thought forms, as this is a much less fluid environment than is the astral dimension proper. Objects can be deliberately created, but this takes a lot more time and effort than it does in the astral planes. Real-time creations tend to fade away fairly quickly, when compared with the more durable creations possible in the astral planes. A created thought form can be absolutely anything: a person, an animal, an object, or even a complex scenario or panoramic view. Many magical, pagan, and shamanistic practitioners spend a great deal of time and effort doing just this. They create and maintain buildings, temples, workshops, tools, weapons, and even helper beings for their craft. When a new thought form is created, it will usually start to decay and melt away fairly quickly, often almost the moment its creator ceases working on it. For example, if a novice projector creates a new sword in the real-time zone, it will take shape over several seconds. As the projector focuses and constructs it with imagination, it will slowly appear. However, once the effort used to generate it ceases, the sword will begin melting away. To hold an item in shape, a projector must hold the awareness of that new item in mind at all times until it starts to set and becomes more durable. The longer this is done and the more often the same item is generated, the more durable it will become. The short-lived nature of new thought forms does not, however, stop a novice projector from creating effective weaponry. Energy bolts, for example, only need to be held in existence for a very short time to be effective. The difficulties of creating lasting thought forms in the real-time zone do not affect the subconscious mind's creative ability in the same way. It has vastly greater creative powers than the conscious mind. If the subconscious is tricked into a creative act it will usually hold its creation in shape, often for the duration of that projection. Creative power can be used with devastating effect in the out-of-body environment, to deter and even damage troublesome astral wildlife. Anything created in the out-of-body environment is relatively solid there. As it is composed of the same basic substance as the environment itself, it is thus capable of directly affecting the contents of that environment. The effectiveness of a created object also depends on how much of a projector's energy is imparted into it during its creation. Projectors must feel a part of their own substance flowing into any item they create. This strengthens it and makes it more effective and enduring. The traditional approach to astral combat weaponry is for a projector to visualize and create a sword and armor. The armor offers protection and the sword is used as an offensive or defensive weapon. Swords, when created, must traditionally be blessed with the power of God before they are used. This increases their effectiveness dramatically; I recommend this be done before engaging in astral combat. Energy bolts can also be created and launched at offending astral wildlife. These are made to explode on contact. To use an energy bolt, construct a glowing-white ball of energy about the size of a golf ball with your imagination. You should feel some of your own energy flowing into this as you create it. This should be made to appear just in front of you and then quickly launched at the target. You should move the energy bolt with your mind as soon as it forms, feeling and seeing and imagining it as moving rapidly, expanding as it flies toward the target. This is made to explode sharply and loudly on impact by imagining and feeling it exploding as it strikes. With a little practice, an energy bolt can be made in a fraction of a second, with this process being rapidly repeated to create an energetic barrage. Energy beams and flames can also be created and made to shoot from the tip of a sword, although this takes more concentration and practice. Another way to fire energy bolts is to create a rocket launcher and use this to shoot explosive energy projectiles. Imagine and create the rocket launcher by holding its shape and image firmly in mind. Concentrate on this until it forms in your hands, feeling a part of yourself flowing into it as it forms. Alternatively, simply feel yourself as holding one without actually trying to see it. This weapon is fired with the mind, by feeling it as firing and imaging a bright projectile shooting from it and exploding on impact. You should feel a part of yourself going with each rocket fired. You always have plenty of energy to spare; it is constantly being resupplied by your physical/etheric counterpart. Any type of energy bolt will cause damage to entities, disrupting their substance and draining them of energy. The color used for projectiles can be varied and any bright color but black or gray can be used. White is the easiest and most popular color, but many people prefer to create energetic weaponry using their favorite color. As creating complex items can be difficult, I suggest new projectors focus on one simple object at a time. Creating a single weapon like a sword, or simple energy bolts by creating and using them one at a time, are probably the easiest ways to start. The distraction of creating and holding in shape multiple items may cause some items to fade, thus defeating the whole point of the exercise. If a simple sword is all a projector can manage to create, then the projector should use this on its own and not attempt creating fancy armor. Staying aware of the shape and feel of any created object will prevent it from fading, unless it has a shape and solidity of its own that does not take any effort to hold. The Creative Act To create a thought-form object, clear your mind and focus completely on what you are creating. Construct and hold the desired object with your imagination and see and feel this object as if it were already in existence. Hold its image firmly in mind at all times; fill your mind with the shape of the desired object and hold this while it forms, feeling a part of yourself flowing into it. Will the object into existence and keep focused on it until it is fully formed. In the astral dimension, a created object will spring into existence in very short order and with little conscious effort. Creation in the real-time zone, however, requires more effort and time. A created object will tend to fade into sight over several seconds, depending on the projector's effort and creative skill. If the desired item tends to melt away quickly, more effort will be required to hold it in existence, just as with shape-shifting. If a more-lasting object is planned, one that can be used during every projection, some time should be spent re-creating the same object at the start of every projection. In the beginning, keep created objects as simple as possible and use exactly the same mental recipe every time. Created objects — thought forms — slowly become more solid and take less time and effort to create every time they are remade. In time, you will find your created items waiting there for you whenever you project, or you will be able to call them into existence with a simple thought when required. They will then stay in shape, requiring little conscious effort to hold them in existence. An interesting phenomenon associated with sword, armor, and weapons creation is that fine detail and workmanship often appears on them, as do variations in size and style from what is actually imaged during the creative act. The end product may look quite different from the mental recipe it sprang from. It is fairly easy to hold the basic shape and details of a sword in mind while creating it, but delicately etched patterns, filigree, complex runes, scripting, diagrams, elaborately bejeweled handles, and sparkling energy fields are most definitely not. These additional details appear to be provided by something other than the mental recipe the creation sprang from. There are two possible reasons, I think. It is quite possible the projector's subconscious mind plays a part in this, prettying up a created sword as it forms. This seems unlikely, however, because if the subconscious mind were at work here it would most likely create the whole sword in the first place. The creation would then be much more durable and have less of a tendency to fade away. More likely, the projector creating the sword (totally unawares) actually owns the sword that appears. The projector may have a long-term association, possibly through past-life connections or long-term astral ownership, with that particular sword. This same sword is thus summoned into existence by the projector's attempt to create a sword from scratch. Astral combat experiences like these show some of the enormous potential of the projected double. It is quite capable of looking after and defending itself — if the projectors realize they are capable of doing so. As I said earlier, the projected double is a very powerful being. It does not have to meekly put up with the unkind ministrations of troublesome astral wildlife of any kind. This may be the reason why astral wildlife in general seem to actively avoid direct encounters with real-time projectors. I would hazard a guess these beings either know or can sense the energetic potential of real-time projectors and that they are naturally afraid of them. This may be why they go to such great lengths to unnerve new projectors and scare them back into their bodies, often causing them to give up OBE altogether. Every aware projector is a serious threat to them and to their way of life. Think about it: if enough aware projectors were allowed to roam around the out-of-body environment at will, the bad guys might have to vacate the real-time zone and return to whatever dark dimensional backwater they originated from. Receiving a sword and armor when requested is the sign that a projector has long-term connections in the astral planes and higher, of which they may be totally unaware. It may also mean they have in some way passed the test and been promoted to active astral duty, so to speak. Asking for your sword should ideally be done at the very start of a real-time projection, after moving away from your physical body. You should raise your hand and ask aloud, with deep sincerity and reverence, for your sword. If you are ready for it, you will receive it. It is as simple as that. If your first request is not answered, try again the next time you are out, and keep on trying until you are ready. Shape-Shifting It is also possible to change your size, shape, and appearance in the sensitive out-of-body environment. Shape-shifting is quite possible during a real-time projection, but is of course easier to hold in the astral dimension proper. You can become whatever you think and feel you are. You can also be as big as you like by simply feeling yourself expanding and growing, until you tower over whatever it is that has had the temerity to annoy you. You can then step on it, kick it, or hit it with your oversized fist or created weapon of choice. Alternatively, you can feel yourself changing into a large predator — like a lion, wolf, elephant, eagle, even Tyrannosaurus Rex. Awareness of any new shape must be held firmly in mind and whole-body awareness at all times. It can take some effort to hold a new shape for any length of time. The secret behind successful shape-shifting is much like the secret of learning how to be a successful tree in a drama class. Learning any new shape is like learning how to play a new part in a play, and thus takes regular practice. Creative imagination and the ability to maintain a changed sense of whole-body self-awareness are the only limitations in shape-shifting. I suggest all new shape-shifting projectors choose one shape and stick with it until they learn how to use it. As with any thought-form creation, the new shape will become progressively easier to use with practice. 36. A Few Last Words If the enormous implications of the mind-split and the akashic pulse are considered, some of the more elusive complexities of life and consciousness can more easily be grasped, and even understood a little. I ask you this: Which is more real, the physical body or the subtle perfection of its projected double? Each is capable of independent thought and action, with each being fully capable of standing alone and stating, "I think... therefore I am!" So which is the more real? If the multidimensional nature of human consciousness is accepted, as can be experienced firsthand through the simple duality of the mind-split at close range, a great many complex issues and questions arise. These suggest the very real possibility that multiple copies of the same mind can simultaneously exist on many dimensional levels. This opens the way to a greater underlying possibility on a higher level of consciousness: that multiple incarnations of a single spirit may occur at the same time, living through many different physical bodies simultaneously. If considered, this points to an even greater possibility: that of there being an underlying spiritual kinship between every living being on this planet. In the truest sense of The Word, I believe we are all brothers and sisters beneath our fleshy exteriors. We are all intimately connected and related, all one in the light of the Great White Spirit shining from the heart of our multidimensional universe. If you ponder a while on the workings of the akashic pulse, it is reasonable to suggest that ultimately we all share a common source and destination, regardless of race, religion, or gender; even of species for that matter. Each of us is an integral part of The One, with all of us sharing the same spiritual roots. We also share an incredibly complex interconnected relationship through the delicate balancing ministrations of karma, as energetically applied through living universal law when astral winds through akasha blow, profoundly affecting all our lives. And what of death, I ask you? What of that last great journey into the unknown that each one of us shall assuredly undertake one day? What of death? Death is the final projection out of the physical body, that last outward-bound journey at life's end. The only difference between any living projection and the final one is the lack of having a physical body to return to at the end of it; because there will be no end to it. We will then stand free and unfettered by limitations of fleshly ignorance, all boundaries lost, with more freedom and ability than we ever imagined during any living projection; truly a projection unlimited. And, if you have had some experience with conscious-exit projection already, you will not be doing anything you have not done before. The fear and sting of death can thus be greatly eased, with the possibility of life continuing after death transcending mere possibility, growing into a very real probability. The realization of life after death is much easier to accept through personal experience, through the living experience gained through OBE. We can then go gently — nay, stride boldly — into that dark night! I believe untold potential lies dormant within the human race, individually and collectively. I have enormous hopes and see a bright future for our race. I believe that somewhere in our growing understanding of the profound energetic unity of our collective human spirit, and of its profoundly enmeshed interdimensional nature, we will find greater meaning to life itself. I dream that one day we shall find the key to unlock this greater potential, thus freeing ourselves from the slavery of flesh and beginning to understand the true nature of this reality we all share. This can lead us to a profound understanding of ourselves and of each other and of all other life forms in the universe. More importantly, this may lead us a little closer to the greatest understanding of all — The Meaning of Life. Before closing, I would like to thank you for reading my book and to leave you with one last thought-provoking morsel: If you begin to understand your creative potential as it is liberated during an OBE, where you become a true creator in your own right, could you begin to accept your own personal relationship with an infinitely more creative mind? That mind once said, a very, very long time ago, way back in the very beginning of everything... "Let there be light!". Glossary Akasha: The underlying energetic medium, the ether, that permeates all dimensions. Akashic: From, of, or related to Akasha. Akashic Pulse: The cosmic outpouring of The Source, during an Akashic Pulse Episode. Also see: Akasha, Akashic Pulse Episode, Akashic Records, Astral Wind, Consciousness Seeds, The Source. Akashic Pulse Episode: A regular cosmic interdimensional event, the frequency of which is unknown at this time. It begins with the Astral Wind collecting the projected doubles of all conscious beings in the universe, including those of sleepers, and transporting them to the highest dimensional level for adjustment by the Source, according to Karmic law. This event ends when the Akashic Pulse returns everyone back to their physical bodies, all then containing new or updated consciousness seeds. Also see: Akasha, Akashic Pulse, Akashic Records, Astral Wind, Karma, Karmic Law, The Source, Universal Law. Akashic Records: An infinite, never-ending, interdimensional, energetic echo field, containing perpetual echo's generated by each and every act of consciousness, in energetic form. Levels of The Akashic Records can be accessed and perceived (viewed) in various ways during an OBE, with the most common being the traditional "library" scenario. While The Akashic Records are generally considered to be a structured esoteric repository of all knowledge, they are (according to the author) a natural, life-related, interdimensional phenomenon, an energetic medium that can be "accessed" and "perceived" in an "apparently" structured way. i.e., as containing detailed records of all past events; plus future probabilities generated by these, that can be perceived as "viewable" events. Past and future events can even be experienced "first-hand" during an OBE, with the projector entering a record/vision and becoming an invisible spectator. Also see: Akasha, Akashic Pulse Episode, Akashic Records, Astral Wind, Consciousness Seeds, Karma, Karmic Law, The Source, Universal Law. Angle of Perception: In the context of this book, meaning the way in which a projector perceives the out-of-body environment during an OBE, with this being particularly affected by their energetic makeup at the time. Also see: Energetic Makeup. Astral Body: The energetic vehicle (or projected double) used to travel within the astral planes. Also see: Real-Time Body. Astral Feedback: Telepathic feedback between the physical/etheric body and its projected double. Also see: Complications Of Consciousness, Energetic Conflicts, Mind-Split, Mind-Split Effects. Astral Momentum: The tendency of the projected double to continue moving after the mental/awareness action used to cause its movement it has ceased. Also see: Awareness Momentum. Astral Noise: A harmless but often disturbing phenomenon. This is best described as being an auditory hallucination, where a projector hears loud noises and even voices around them, during the prelude to an OBE exit. Also see: Astral Sight, Astral Wildlife, Dweller On The Threshold, Elementals. Astral-Plane Entrance Structure: A perception-based entrance structure, through which the internal parts of an astral plane can be entered. There are three main types: tube-type, plane-type and the tunnel of light. Which type is perceived by a projector during an OBE, is greatly affected by their energetic makeup at the time of their projection. Also see: Angle Of Perception, Astral-Plane Surface Skin, Energetic Makeup. Astral Planes: The structured part of the astral dimension, which is reputedly divided into seven distinct levels (commonly called astral planes) with each of these containing many sub-levels and parts. Also see: Astral-Plane Entrance Structure, Astral Realms and Kingdoms, Astral Sub-Planes. Astral-Plane Surface Skin: The surface skin of an astral plane. This is an infinite, two dimensional, grid-lined structure. Its surface is divided into neat squares, with each square having a base color and an elaborate centerpiece pattern, repeated endlessly in every other square. Also see: Angle Of Perception, Astral Plane Entrance Structure, Astral Planes, Energetic Makeup. Astral Projection: An OBE, where the projector enters and operates within the astral dimension, or astral planes. Also see: Astral Planes, OBE, Real-Time Projection. Astral Realms and Kingdoms: Distinct internal parts of the astral planes, with each having a set environment and theme. Varying greatly in size, from that of a small country village to an entire world or larger, these are sometimes inhabited by astral beings of varying intelligence. Astral Sight: The visual sensory ability of the projected double during an OBE. Also used to describe an ability of the physical body to see into the astral dimension; which is a type of clairvoyance. This ability is often experienced by projectors during the prelude to an OBE, or during projection attempts where no actual exit is achieved. Also see: Astral Noise. Astral Sub-Planes: Internal levels and parts contained within a single astral plane. Astral Wildlife: Any energetic being or inhabitant of the lower astral planes, having a low order of intelligence. These beings are harmless to projectors, although many types have a mischievous, animalistic or negative disposition. Their power is limited to inducing fear in projectors, through various types of illusion, trickery and deception. Although best thought of as a rarity, these beings are occasionally found in the real time zone — mainly during the night, as they seem to avoid daylight. Astral Wind: A phenomenon occasionally experienced by frequent projectors, where a strong wind-like force blows the projector up through the dimensional spectrum to The Great Center. Also see: Akashic Pulse, Akashic Pulse Episode, The Source. Awareness Hands: Focal points of bodily awareness, used to manipulate and stimulate the etheric body and its energy centers. Also used for trance and OBE exit techniques. Also see: Mobile Bodily Awareness, Tactile Imaging. Awareness Momentum: The nature of a bodily awareness action to continue on its own accord for some time after the deliberate awareness action that caused it has been ceased. Also see: Astral Momentum, Awareness Hands. Awareness Resistance Factor: The resistance that is felt when Awareness Hands are moved too rapidly through the substance of the energy body. Also see: Awareness Hands, Bounce Action. Bioenergetic: A construction based on "Energetic" relating in particular to energetic (energy) functions and manifestations of the human energy body that affect, are affected by, or are related to the biological functions of the physical body: I.E., raising energy causes energy movement that is felt as a physical sensation, resulting from "Bioenergetic" stimulation of nerve endings within the physical body. Also, Bioenergetic conflicts, Bioenergetic stimulation, Bioenergetic development, et cetera. Also see: Energetic, Energetically, Pure-Energetic, Energy-Movement Sensations. Body Awareness: The sense of physical body awareness, the tactile sense of touch and feel, and the awareness of space occupied by the physical body. Also see: Awareness Hands, Mobile Body Awareness, Tactile Imaging. Bounce Action: Where a point of body awareness is moved rapidly through the physical/etheric body to cause widespread stimulation in the etheric body. Also see: Awareness Resistance Factor. Breath Awareness: Similar to an old Zen technique, where the breathing action is focused upon. Breath Awareness is used to empty the mind and hold it clear for extended periods of time, for meditation, trance work and astral projection. Brow Center: A primary energy center (or major Chakra) situated in the brow, between the eyes. Also called The Third Eye. Also see: Chakras, Primary Energy Centers. Buffer Zone: An in-between area, or zone, dividing two distinct dimensional levels. Chakras: Eastern term, also called Psychic Center, Energy Center, or Primary Energy Center. Cobwebs: An irritating, tickling, sometimes slightly-stinging, energy-movement sensation, that feels like cobwebs or tiny insects are touching the surface of the skin. Often felt during the trance state, this is most commonly felt in the facial area, although it can occur anywhere on the physical body. This is caused by energy movement through and over the skin of the physical body, which can over-stimulate nerves in the skin, causing mild irritation. Also see: Energy-Movement Sensations, Vibrations. Complications Of Consciousness: Complications and conflicts caused by a nonphysical spirit incarnating in a biological being. Also see: Astral Feedback, Energetic Conflicts, Mind-Split, MindSplit Effects. Consciousness Seeds: Influential droplets of energy, or seeds, deposited into the physical/etheric body after an Akashic Pulse Episode. These set the relative strengths and weaknesses of the complex attractions and repulsions, that govern the actions of Universal Law, as set by Karmic Law. Also see: Akashic Pulse, Akashic Pulse Episode, Akashic Records, Astral Wind. Deja-Vu: A type of precognitive experience, a feeling of inner knowing, of having seen, done or experienced something before an actual event. This phenomenon is (according to the author) a common side-effect of Akashic Pulse Episodes. Also see: Akashic Pulse Episode. Dream: Dreaming is an internal mental process of the physical body, that normally occurs after it has fallen asleep. While the author classifies dreaming as an internal mental process, dreams take place in another set of dimensions, dream dimensions, which are no less real than any other dimension, i.e., The Astral Dimension. Lucid Dreams also take place in dream dimensions. Duality: The sensation of realizing you are existing in two separate bodies, the physical body and its projected double, during an OBE. Duality is caused by the mind-split effect, and is usually only realized when perceptions are received from both bodies simultaneously. For example, you project and begin operating at a remote location from your physical body, but you are still aware of some sensory input, usually sounds and tactile senses, coming from your physical body. The center of consciousness will also often flicker back and forth, between the physical and its projected double during an OBE. Also see: Mind-Split, Mind-Split Effects, Remote Eye. Dweller On The Threshold: A harmless but disturbing (often frightening) manifestation, where a projector is confronted by a dark, threatening being, immediately after they exit their physical body during an OBE. Also see: Astral Noise, Astral Wildlife, Elementals. Elementals: Harmless beings with little power and very low intelligence. Often having a monkeylike appearance and mischievous nature, these beings seem to delight in frightening and tormenting novice projectors, through trickery and illusion, especially during their first few conscious exit projections. Also see: Astral Noise, Astral Wildlife, Dweller On The Threshold. Energetic: Extensively used throughout this book. With no viable option the dictionary meaning of this word is "bent" to cover energy (Energetic) manifestation of the human energy body, and of its various subtle bodies, including its projected double: i.e., Energetic value, Energetic activity, Energetic aspect, Energetic function, et cetera. Also see: Energetically, Bioenergetic, PureEnergetic, Etheric Body. Energetically: An extension of "Energetic", relating to any type of energetic (energy) manifestation, sensation, affect or effect: i.e., Energetically speaking, Energetically sound, Energetically based, Energetically sensed, Energetically experienced, et cetera. Also see: Energetic, Bioenergetic, Pure-Energetic. Energetic Angle of Perception: See: Angle of perception. Energetic Conflicts: In the context of this book, meaning any energetic, empathic or telepathic conflicts between the physical/etheric body, and its projected double. Also meaning the energetic conflicts caused by the presence of awake consciousness, during a fully conscious OBE exit. Energetic conflicts are responsible for heavy exit sensations, e.g., rapid heartbeat, heavy vibrations, throbbing, pressure and adrenalin-like body rushes, often experienced by novice projectors during early OBEs. Also see: Astral Feedback, Complications Of Consciousness, Exit Sensations. Energetic Makeup: The energetic quality, value and relative strength of a projected double. This is strongly affected by the active configuration of the primary energy centers (or major chakras) during an OBE. This sets the capabilities of a projected double. It also limits its level of operations to dimensional levels in tune with its energetic value at that time. Also see: Angle Of Perception. Energy Body: See Etheric body. Energy-Movement Sensations: As energy is generated, transformed, accumulated, and moved about the physical/etheric body, nerves within the physical body often become over-stimulated. This causes a variety of tingling, buzzing, throbbing, pulsing and fluttering sensations, often felt as sweeping through the physical body in waves, or as whole body adrenalin-like rushes. Also see: Bioenergetic, Cobwebs, Vibrations. Etheric Body: The subtle body most closely associated with and enmeshed within the physical body. Also often called the energy body, etheric sheath, vitality sheath, vitality body, or perispirit. The etheric body can also be said to be the essential glue-like substance, that binds an incarnating spirit to the flesh of their physical body. Parts of the etheric body can be seen with clairvoyance (or auric sight) as extending an inch or so out from the physical body, as a band of pale-blue or offwhite mist. Also see: Energetic, Etheric Matter. Etheric Matter: The nonphysical energetic substance of the energy body (or etheric body). This can be caused to exist in a variety of different forms, and is best thought of as being something similar to ectoplasm, but is generally invisible to the naked eye. This can be seen with clairvoyance or auric sight, and will also often inexplicably appear on photographs, as pale, indistinct, cloudlike shapes and figures. Also see: Etheric Body, Thought Forms. Etheric/Real-Time Double: The base-level energetic vehicle (or subtle body) generated during a Near Death Experience (NDE), after the physical body has become temporarily deceased. Also the state of existence experienced immediately after physical body death; which is usually within the real time zone. Also see: Etheric Body, NDE, Real-Time Body, Real-Time Zone. Exit: In the context of this book, often meaning "The Exit" of the projectable double, as it leaves the confines of its physical body during an OBE or astral projection. Exit Sensations: The often heavy energy-movement sensations, experienced during the exit phase of an OBE, e.g., rapid heartbeat, vibrations and pressure. Heavy exit sensations are often experienced by novice projectors during early projections. These always gradually ease, as experience and development are gained by a projector. Also see: Cobwebs, Energetic Conflicts, Energy-Movement Sensations, Vibrations. Flicker Technique: A technique designed by the author, to help overcome OBE memory-loss problems. An OBE reentry technique, where consciousness is allowed to flicker between the sleep/awake state at a predetermined time. A brief window is thereby artificially created, by the flickering state, through which OBE memories can be downloaded into accessible levels of memory. Also See: Memory Download, Shadow Memory. The Great Center: Top level of dimensional spectrum. Also see: The Source. Inner-Body Projection: The internal transfer of waking consciousness into the Etheric Body, as the trance state is entered. This also occurs while falling asleep. Also see: Trance State. Internal Dialogue: Surface mind chatter caused by random thoughts, also called monkey mind. Also See: Surface Mind. Karma: In the author's opinion, Karma is what is referred to as Sin in the Holy Bible. Karma is the accumulated influential force generated by all past acts of consciousness, positive and negative, of good and bad deeds. Through Karma, a spirit is enabled to obtain the real life experiences it requires to progress spiritually (through living experience), via multiple incarnations into the physical dimension. Karma allows a spirit to maintain a healthy spiritual balance, life after life, and helps avoid the possibility of soul corruption. Karma is not a process of reward and punishment. Karma provides spiritual harmony through a process of enforced spiritual balance. Also see: Karmic Law, Universal Law. Karmic Law: For every act of consciousness performed by an individual, an equal and opposite reaction is generated, which is eventually inflicted upon them in turn by Karmic Law. This is aptly expressed by the popular sayings: "What goes around comes around" or "as you sow so shall ye reap". Also see: Karma, Universal Law. Koala: A Koala is a small, herbivorous, tree dwelling, bear-like, pouched mammal, found on the island continent of sunny Australia; commonly called a Koala Bear. Kundalini: Kundalini is the traditional Eastern name for what is called: "the master circuit" within this book. Kundalini is the strongest of all human bioenergetic circuits - the ultimate bioenergetic expression of being. When this is fully activated (when Kundalini rises), a powerful, internal, snakelike energy movement is felt, often accompanied by a painful burning sensation. This "snakelike" force is felt as uncoiling three-and-a-half turns inside the physical body, in an upward and clockwise direction: hence the Eastern term often used to describe this profound energetic phenomenon: "The Serpent of Fire". Lucid Dream: When a dreamer becomes aware, or wakes up inside a dream, they are said to be "lucid dreaming". Lucid Dream Projection: A technique whereby a W.I.L.D. or Wake-Induced Lucid Dream, can be achieved as an alternative to a full OBE exit. Memory Download: In the context of this book, meaning the downloading of OBE memories into conscious and recallable memory storage levels, of the physical/etheric body/mind. Failed memory downloading occurs when OBE memories are downloaded into subconscious and unconscious levels of memory. This is the primary cause of the vast majority of failed OBEs. Without the memory of it, an OBE did not take place; not according to the conscious mind and its recallable memories, after a failed memory download, or failed OBE. Also see: Shadow Memory. Metaphorical Imagery: Within the context of this book, this term particularly applies to live action visions and OBE vision experiences, viewed or experienced first-hand during an OBE. These contain layered metaphorical symbols and symbolic actions, full of hidden meaning, often disguised as apparently real life scenes, during visions and out-of-body vision experiences. Mind-Split: The splitting of consciousness into two identical parts, that occurs during any type of OBE. The mind-split occurs at the beginning of any OBE, prior to the exit of the projected double out of its physical counterpart. There are two bodies during an OBE (one physical and one subtle or energetic — projected double). Two minds (one physical and one energetic) therefore exist. Each of these function independently for the duration of an OBE, until reentry occurs where they reintegrate, becoming one mind again. Also see: Mind-Split Effects. Mind-Split Effects: In particular, the effects the mind-split has upon OBE memory recall. The commonly felt sensations of dual existence, that of existing in more than one place at the same time, during an OBE. Also meaning the telepathic, energetic and empathic interactions and conflicts, that occur between the physical body/mind and its projected body/mind. Also see: Astral Feedback, Complications Of Consciousness, Energetic Conflicts, Memory Download, Mind-Split. Mobile Body Awareness (MBA): The ability to move and focus body awareness at different locations, on or within the physical body. Also see: Awareness Hands, Body Awareness, Tactile Imaging. Near-Death Experience (NDE): Where a person temporarily dies and experiences a powerful OBE, until they are resuscitated. Also see: Etheric/Real-Time Double. Out-of-Body Experience (OBE): Where consciousness is perceived as existing and operating outside of its physical body. Also called OOBE, projection, or astral projection. Physical/Etheric body: Combined physical and etheric bodies. In particular, where these are experiencing the trance state, where the etheric body has become active and expanded slightly. Also applies to the physical/etheric body during an OBE, after the projected double has already parted. See also: Etheric Body, Inner-Body projection, Mind-Split, Trance State. Primary Energy Centers: The major bioenergetic organs, or energetic transformers, of the energy body. Also see: Chakras. Projectable Double: Internally generated real time double, prior to its projection out of its physical/etheric body; where it then becomes the projected double. Projected Double: The energetic vehicle (or subtle body) housing a functioning, energetic copy of a projector's mind and memories, outside of their physical body during any type of OBE. Projection Mechanism: The energetic mechanism that generates and then ejects the projectable double, outside the bounds of its physical body, during the OBE or projection exit. Also see: Exit, Projection Reflex. Projection Reflex: When the projection mechanism gets to a certain stage, the energetic point of no return is reached. The ejection of the projectable double outside the bounds of its physical body, then becomes a reflex action. An OBE cannot be aborted once the projection reflex has been triggered. Also see: Projected Double, Projection Mechanism. Pure-Energetic: A construction based on "Energetic" relating in particular to high-level energetic (energy) functions and manifestations, of the human energy body, that do not specifically apply to its physical body. For example, the higher energetic (energy) functions of the energy body and its primary energy centers (major chakras) cause psychic abilities. A psychic ability is thus a PureEnergetic function, or Pure Energy manifestation, of the human energy body. However, PureEnergetic manifestations will often cause Bioenergetic sensations, felt as physical sensations, i.e., the typical throbbing and buzzing emanating from active primary energy centers (major chakras). Pure-Energetic can also refer to energetic functions and manifestations of subtle bodies above the human energy body, i.e., the astral body. Also see: Bioenergetic, Energetic, Energetically, Etheric Body, Primary Energy Centers. Real-Time Body: The subtle body (or energetic vehicle) that houses a projector's reflection of consciousness, mind and memory during an OBE, and holds it close to the physical dimension in the Real-Time Zone. Also see: Real-Time Projection, Real-Time Zone. Real-Time Projection: An OBE, where a projector exists in a direct reflection of reality, where they have the perception of being an invisible person in the real world, observing real life events as they happen. Also see: Real-Time Body, Real-Time Zone. Real-Time Sight: Similar to Astral Sight, but where the projector sees into the real time zone around them. Also related to clairvoyance, this ability is often experienced during the prelude to an OBE, or during a projection attempt where no exit is achieved. This is often mistaken for normal optical sight, but where the projector is seeing through their closed eyelids and bed covers. Also see: Astral Sight. Real-Time Zone: The closest nonphysical dimensional area to the physical universe. A buffer zone separating the physical universe from the astral dimension proper. The real time zone is neither in the astral dimension, nor in the physical dimension. It is a nonphysical dimensional environment that contains a direct reflection of reality, as reality happens, i.e., in a real time frame. Also see: Real-Time Body, Real-Time Projection. Reality Fluctuations: Fluctuations in the out-of-body environment, changing what is perceived as being real or normal at that time, into something that is known to be false or inaccurate. Reentry: When the projected double returns to and reenters its physical counterpart at the end of any type of OBE. Also see: Reintegration. Reintegration: The automatic energetic process, whereby the projected double is reintegrated with its physical/etheric body. Also see: Reentry. Remote Eye: A mind-split effect. This phenomenon is a type of OBE, but where the projector remains partially awake and ambulatory. A weak version of the mind split occurs, and type of a low-powered OBE happens. The OBE side of this type of experience is perceived by the partially awake physical body of the projector, as a vivid mind's-eye vision of an OBE in progress, from the projected double's perspective, but where no actual OBE exit has been noticed. Also see: Duality, Complications Of Consciousness, Duality, Mind-Split, Mind-Split Effects. Rope: A OBE projection exit technique, using Awareness Hands to climb an imaginary Rope. Also see: Awareness Hands, Tactile Imaging. Secondary Energy Centers: Minor energy centers (minor Chakras) that support the primary energy centers. Also see: Chakras, Primary Energy Centers. Shadow Memory: Any dream or OBE experience memory, gained by any subtle or dream or projected body while it is separated, or while it perceives itself to be separated, from its physical body. Also see: Memory Download. Silver Cord: The energetic, telepathic, empathic linkage that connects the physical body to its projected double. This is often seen as a sparkling Silver Cord, extending away from the projected double during an OBE. This is usually only seen when it is deliberately looked for. The site of attachment on the projected double varies, according to its energetic makeup at the time of projection. Also see: Energetic Makeup. Sleep Projection: Natural sleep projection occurs whenever a person sleeps. The projected double is projected outside the physical body during sleep, often floating just above it and mimicking the sleeping position of its physical body. Alternatively, a sleep projector may travel the astral planes for some time before falling asleep. Also see: Akashic Pulse Episode, Astral Wind. The Source: The Supreme Being. The central creative consciousness of the physical universe. The Source is the original spark of consciousness that creates and maintains the universe, and all that lies and lives within it. Also see: The Great Center. Storage Centers: In the context of this book, these are called the sub-navel, sub-heart and subbrow energy storage centers. These are the major energy storage areas of the energy body, with each storing a different type of energy. Strobe Effect: When a primary energy centre accumulates a critical charge of energy, it strobes powerfully. When the brow centre (or brow chakra) strobes, it causes a brilliant flash of silver-white light to be seen in the mind's eye, and a feeling of very-light concussion to be felt, in the whole facial area. Surface Mind: The most commonly used part of the human mind, that can be said to hold the short-term working memory. Used for light thinking and internal mental speech, it spontaneously generates a constant stream of random thoughts and impressions. This part of the mind is responsible for the ceaseless internal mental dialogue found within an untrained or unfocused mind. Also see: Internal Dialogue. Tactile Imaging (T.I.): The active use of focused body awareness, to manipulate and stimulate the energy body, to raise energy into it and stimulate its energy centers. T.I. is also used for projection techniques. Also see: Awareness Hands, Mobile Body Awareness. Tertiary Energy Centers: Tiny, pore-like energy centers found all over the body, like the pores of the skin. These are heavily concentrated in several areas, e.g., palms of hands, soles of feet, mouth and genitals. These exchange energy with the environment, and energetically support the functions of the larger secondary and primary energy centers. Also see: Chakras, Primary Energy Centers, Secondary Energy Centers, Storage Centers. Third Eye: See, Brow Center. Thought Forms: Energetic objects, thought creations, created by a sustained thought or act of consciousness, and then existing for a limited time in the out-of-body environment. Thought forms are best considered as being composed of structured Etheric Matter. Thought forms can take any shape: human, animal or inanimate object. Reputedly, they can be programmed to react to stimuli, to perform independent actions, and even to take on a limited kind of pseudoconsciousness of their own. The length of time a thought form can exist, depends largely upon the strength and duration of the thought used to create and maintain it. Also see: Etheric Matter. Torso Energy Rush: The adrenalin-like energetic body rush, felt by the physical body as rushing upwards through its legs and torso, as its projected double begins to exit or reenter it. Also see: Energy-Movement Sensations, Exit, Projection Mechanism, Projection Reflex. Trance State: The altered state of being entered when the physical body falls asleep, while the mind stays wide awake. The trance state has many levels and uses, with each level being related to a level of sleep. Altered states of consciousness are attained, by staying awake and varying the level and focus of the trance state. Also see: Inner-Body Projection. Light Trance: Similar to the Alpha trance state. Full Trance: Similar to the Theta trance state. Deep Trance: Similar to the Delta trance state. Trigger Word or Phrase: A descriptive word or short phrase used during the reentry phase of an OBE, to help strengthen OBE memory recall. Also see: Memory Download, Reentry, Reintegration, Shadow Memory. Universal Law: The incredibly complex set of attractions and repulsions and conditional influences, that emanates from every conscious being. Like may attract like and opposites may often attract, but only as set by karmic law. Also see: Akashic Pulse Episode, Consciousness Seeds, Deja vu, Karma, Karmic Law. Vibrations: In the context of this book, meaning strong, usually whole-body, energy-movement sensation, that are felt as vibrations in the physical body. This is associated with the internal generation of the projectable double, at the start of an OBE. Also see: Energetic Conflicts, EnergyMovement Sensations, Exit, Projection Mechanism. Virtual Reality Projection (VRP): V.R.P. is a technique whereby a custom made astral realm can be created and then entered. Wake Induced Lucid Dream. (W.I.L.D.): A term coined by S. LaBerge (see bibliography). A deliberately induced lucid dream, from a deeply relaxed but awake state, where there has been no discernible break in consciousness. A W.I.L.D. dreamer enters a dreamscape directly from the full waking state. Although technically a lucid dream, this is possibly the most powerful type of OBE possible. Also see: Dream, Lucid Dream, Lucid Dream Projection. Waking Paralysis: Also called sleep paralysis. Disassociation between the physical body and its mind, often causing total physical paralysis to occur. In the author's opinion, this is a powerful mind-split effect caused by OBE. The mind literally wakes up inside its disassociated, paralyzed physical body while a powerful OBE is still in full progress. Also see: Complications Of Consciousness, Mind-Split, Mind-Split Effects. Bibliography Battersby, H.F. Prevost. 1961. Man outside himself. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books. Crookall, Robert. 1974. Astral projection: A record of out of the body experiences. London: Carol Publishing Group. Crookall, Robert. 1972. Case-book of astral projection. Secaucus, N.J.: University Books. Fortune, Dion. 1988. Psychic self-defence. Wellingborough, England: The Aquarian Press. Fox, Oliver (Hugh Callaway). 1962. Astral projection. Secaucus, N.J.: The Citadel Press. Fox, Oliver (Hugh Callaway). 1920. The pineal doorway. The Occult Review 31 (April). Johari, Harish. 1987. Chakras: Energy centers of transformation. Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books. LaBerge, Stephen. 1985. Lucid dreaming. New York: Ballantine. MacDougall, Duncan, M.D. 1907. Soul Substance. American Medicine Vol. #8, (April), http://www.artbell.com/duncan.html. Submitted by W.E. Fair, and transcribed by Marie Juba and Karen Day. Page last updated Feb. 19, 1999. Muldoon, Sylvan. 1936. The case for astral projection. Chicago: The Aries Press. Muldoon, Sylvan J., and Hereward Carrington. 1968. The projection of the astral body. London: Rider. Powell, Arthur Edward. 1927. The astral body. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Publishing House. Powell, Arthur Edward. 1927. The etheric double. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Publishing House. Rampa, T. Lobsang. 1966. You forever. New York: Pageant Press. Smith, Suzy. 1965. The enigma of out-of-body travel. New York: Signet. Smith, Suzy. 1968. Out-of-body experiences for the millions. Los Angeles: Sherboume Press. YRAM (Marcel Louis Forhan). 1972. Practical astral projection. New York: Samuel Weiser. World Wide Web References Robert Bruce's Home Pages (Astral Dynamics) — http://www.astraldynamics.com Higher Astral Plane Surface Skin About Robert Bruce Biography & Achievements Robert Bruce is an internationally respected mystic, author and speaker from the land down under (Australia). For over 30 years he has actively explored paranormal and spiritual phenomena, making some groundbreaking discoveries. A spiritual pioneer, the experiential depth and scope of his knowledge is remarkable. Robert has actively explored the mechanics, energetics and dynamics (how things work) of all things paranormal: including OBE; the human energy body, healing, spiritual development, and psychic self-defense. Robert is a man who lives in the greater reality and invites others to join him. Born in England in the year of the Sheep, Robert currently resides in The Land Down Under, Sunny Australia. Books: Robert is the author of the bestselling books, Astral Dynamics, Practical Psychic SelfDefense, and Energy Work (Hampton Roads, VA) and coauthor of Mastering Astral Projection, and Mastering Astral Projection Audio Companion (Llewellyn Worldwide, MN) with, Brian Mercer. Media: Robert has been radioactive since 2000, including multiple appearances of ‘Coast to Coast AM’ and ‘Dreamland Radio’ and other radio and TV shows, videos and documentaries. Lectures & Workshops: Robert presents seminars and workshops internationally. These range from feature 7-day residential workshops to evening and weekend events, author lectures and book signings. Online Workshops: Robert has developed a range of video-based online training workshops, co-hosted with Bob Felix at www.halloflearning.net using remote learning software and altered state producing sound technology. The first online workshop is called: Practical Astral Projection Intensive, PAPI, launched in late May 2007. More online workshops on various spiritual subjects follow, including energy work, healing, self healing, spiritual development, kundalini, etc. Books by Robert Bruce Click on the book covers above to read more and/or to order online Astral Dynamics: a NEW approach to Out-of-Body Experience. (Hampton Roads, VA, 1999, 560 pages) Astral Dynamics launches inspirationally new concepts. It provides a new outlook and understanding on the nature of out-of-body experience. The dynamics and underlying bio-energetic mechanisms of OBE are expounded upon, with compelling evidence given in support. This includes the many bio-energetic conflicts and OBE memory download problems that arise as side-effects of the mind split effect, with practical solutions offered. This knowledge greatly improves OBE success rates, and empowers all aspects of OBE. Mastering Astral Projection: (Llewellyn MN 2005, 440 pages) coauthored by Robert Bruce and Brian Mercer. A step-by-step manual teaching how to have out-of-body experience (OBE). A systematic approach for projecting out of body. This program makes OBE more accessible than ever before. An ideal astral projection course, one that will help newcomers understand the key elements of the process while avoiding common pitfalls. The 90-day course focuses solely on the skills necessary for inducing Astral Projection. Includes a CD Rom with the BrainWave Generator program. This generates a range of trance inducing sounds using binaural beat technology. Practical Psychic Self-Defense: (Hampton Roads, VA, 2001, 333 pages) understanding and surviving unseen influences (PPSD for short), was not conceived as a popular book, but to help real people with real supernatural problems. Conflict with some popular New Age type beliefs was unavoidable. PPSD offers sound experience-based advice and a range of practical countermeasures that can be used by the average person with no background in applied metaphysics. Everything is explained and taught as simply and practically as possible. PPSD focuses on educating people on the how's and why's of supernatural problems and what can be done about them; from mild psychic influences and hauntings, to major psychic attacks and possessions. PPSD is a supernatural expose' for the uninitiated, and a survival guide for those living the nightmare. Mastering Astral Projection Audio Companion: (Llewellyn MN 2007) Coauthored with Brian Mercer. Audio course with 6 CD’s and illustrated book. CD’s hold altered-state inducing sound to enhance learning process, making OBE more accessible. The first CD contains one hour of voice instruction for energy work, development exercises, and OBE exit techniques. The next three CD’s in the series each have two thirty-minute tracks. The first track has voice instructions over altered state inducing sounds, the second track has altered state inducing sounds with no voiceover instructions. The fifth CD in the series is specially designed for using when you wake up during the night, to induce an OBE exit. The sixth CD in the series is dedicated to inducing an OBE exit. This last is also split into two tracks, the first with voiceover instructions over altered state producing souncs, and the second track with no voiceover and altered state producing sounds, so you can work at your own pace. This CD series is a masterpiece of high quality audio engineering. Energy Work: The secret of Healing and Spiritual Development (Hampton Roads, VA, 2007) by Robert Bruce, presents an effective new energy work system that anyone can do. A true armchair system, this utilizes the sense of touch, with focused Body Awareness Tactile Imaging. Most people experience noticeable energy movement during demonstration exercises. This has universal applications and will improve any traditional form of energy work or healing system, including Chi Gong, Yoga, Quantum Touch, and Reiki. This book focuses on doing energy work rather than discussing its complexities. Learning this system will put you in touch with your energy body and greatly expand your spiritual horizons. This provides a wonderful onramp for approaching the greater reality and evolving spiritually. World Wide Web: Robert Bruce has a popular website and forums. The subject matter relates to spiritual research and development, energy work, astral projection, healing, psychic self-defense, plus other related topics. A large range of informative articles, stories and tutorials are available free to download. Have a wonderful day! www.astraldynamics.com
90-DAY GUIDE TO OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE ROBERT BRUCE & BRIAN MERCER INCLUDES CD-ROM WITH 25 CUSTOM-DESIGNED TRANCE MEDITATION SOUND PROGRAMS About the Authors Robert Bruce (left) is a metaphysicist and the author of numerous articles and two groundbreaking books. He has spent most of his life exploring the dynamics of all things paranormal and testing the boundaries of reality. He lives in Australia with his two sons. His website is www.astraldynamics.com. Brian Mercer (right) is an information technologies professional and part-time novelist. For as long as he can remember he has been interested in the paranormal. He is the author of the metaphysical science fiction trilogy The Kaladrious Reflection. His current out-of-body explorations originate in Seattle, where he lives with his wife, Sara. To Write to the Authors If you wish to contact the authors or would like more information about this book, please write to the authors in care of Llewellyn Worldwide and we will forward your request. Both the authors and publisher appreciate hearing from you and learning of your enjoyment of this book and how it has helped you. Llewellyn Worldwide cannot guarantee that every letter written to the authors can be answered, but all will be forwarded. Please write to: Robert Bruce and Brian Mercer % Llewellyn Worldwide P.O. Box 64383, Dept. 0-7387-0467-9 St. Paul, MN 55164-0383, U.S.A. Please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope for reply, or $1.00 to cover costs. If outside U.S.A., enclose international postal reply coupon. Many of Llewellyn's authors have websites with additional information and resources. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.llewellyn.com. 90-DAY GUIDE TO OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE ROBERT BRUCE & BRIAN MERCER Llewellyn Publications St. Paul, Minnesota Mastering Astral Projection: 90-Day Guide to Out-of-Body Experience © 2004 by Robert Bruce and Brian Mercer. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. First Edition Third Printing, 2005 Book design and editing by Joanna Willis Cover design by Lisa Novak Illustrations on pages 51, 52,53, 79, and 111 by Wendy Froshay Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bruce, Robert, 1955Mastering astral projection: 90-day guide to out-of-body experience / Robert Bruce & Brian Mercer. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7387-0467-9 1. Astral projection. I. Mercer, Brian, 1967- II. Title. BF1389.A7B78 2004 133.9'5—dc22 2004048569 Llewellyn Worldwide does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business transactions between our authors and the public. All mail addressed to the author is forwarded but the publisher cannot, unless specifically instructed by the author, give out an address or phone number. Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific location will continue to be maintained. Please refer to the publisher's website for links to authors' websites and other sources. Llewellyn Publications A Division of Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. P.O. Box 64383, Dept. 0-7387-0467-9 St. Paul, MN 55164-0383, U.S.A. www.llewellyn.com Printed in the United States of America 90-DAY GUIDE TO OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE ROBERT BRUCE & BRIAN MERCER Llewellyn Publications St. Paul, Minnesota For Professor Barbara S. Raines, teacher, mentor, friend . . . —Brian Mercer For the late Robert Bruce (senior), father, mate, inventor, dreamer . . . —Robert Bruce Also by Robert Bruce Astral Dynamics (Hampton Roads) Practical Psychic Self-Defense (Hampton Roads) Contents Acknowledgments Preface xv xvii Introduction: Preliminary Instructions for the Ninety-Day Program How the Ninety-Day Program Develops What to Expect in Part 1 4 5 Parti: PREPARING FOR LIFTOFF Week 1: Flexing Your Astral Muscles 9 What to Expect 9 Setting up Your Meditation Space Learning to Relax 11 9 Breathwork: Breath Awareness 12 Stimulating the Energy Body 12 Preparing for Energy Work Your Dream Journal 14 13 Daily Affirmations 16 About the Brain Wave Generator 17 Optional: Brain Wave Generator Preset "Week 01: Relaxation" 18 Week 1 Daily Pages 20 Before Moving On 41 viii Contents Week 2: Manipulating the Energy Body 43 What to Expect 43 Energy Body Development 44 Setting the Stage for an OBE 45 What Happens During a Projection 47 The Projection Process 50 Transferring Consciousness and How Shadow Memory Works 53 Preparing for the First Inner-Body Projection (Part 1 of the Program) Breathwork: Deepening the Breath 55 55 Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 02: Relaxation (Deep)" 56 Week 2 Daily Pages 57 Before Moving On 75 Week 3: Mind Taming 77 What to Expect 77 Raising and Storing Energy 77 Clearing Your Mind 79 Taming the Mind 81 Developing Lucid Dream Objectives 82 Breathwork: Cloud Breathing 85 Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 03: Meditation" 85 Week 3 Daily Pages 88 Before Moving On 107 Week 4: Primary Centers and Their OBE Connection 109 What to Expect 109 Raising Energy Before Bedtime 109 Primary Center Stimulation 110 Mapping and Stimulating Primary Energy Centers Primary Center Stimulation Notes 114 Overcoming Energy Stimulation Side Effects Rousing Dormant Primary Centers 118 Final Word on Primary Center Stimulation Additional Body Awareness Actions 119 Breathwork: Expanding the Breath 119 115 119 111 Contents Optional: Brain Wave Generator Preset "Week 04: Meditation (Primary Center Stimulation)" 120 Week 4 Daily Pages 121 Before Moving On 143 Week 5: Trance Practice 145 What to Expect 145 Trance Work 145 Trance States 146 Trance Preparation 148 Trance Hurdles and Ways Around, Over, or Through Them 150 Trance Practice: Using Slight Discomfort for Altered-State Conditioning 156 Additional Methods for Slight Discomfort 159 Breathwork: Valving the Breath 160 Optional: Brain Wave Generator Preset "Week 05: Trance Meditation" 160 Week 5 Daily Pages 162 Before Moving On 183 Week 6: Loosening up the Energy Body 185 What to Expect 185 Preparing for an OBE 185 The OBE Walk-through: Rehearsing Your First Projection Experience Planning Your First OBE 187 OBE Walk-through Example 189 Brow Center Trigger 190 Projectable Double Loosening 186 191 Responding to Spontaneous OBEs 191 Grounding Cords and Conscious-Exit Projection 192 Preparing Your Meditation Space for OBE Practice 193 Breathwork: Pacing the Breath Cycle 194 Optional: Brain Wave Generator Preset "Week 06: Energy Body Loosening" 195 Week 6 Daily Pages 196 Before Moving On 218 ix x Contents Part 2: LIFTOFF Week 7: Anatomy of an OBE 221 What to Expect 221 A Step-by-Step Walk-through of the Exit 222 Reality Fluctuations 225 Returning to Your Body 226 Recalling Shadow Memories 227 Your OBE Journal 227 Breathing and the OBE 228 Using Brow Center Trigger to Cause Vibrations 230 The Preprojection Routine, from Relaxation to Body Loosening Overview of Exit Techniques 231 Rolling-out OBE Exit Method 232 230 Important Things to Remember 233 Optional: Brain Wave Generator Preset "Week 07: Exit Training" 233 Week 7 Daily Pages 234 Before Moving On 251 Week 8: Overcoming Mental Blocks 253 What to Expect 253 Mental Barriers 253 Fear and Surprise: Facing the Unknown Tips for Confronting Fears 255 Belief System Cleansing 262 Trying Too Hard 263 Where Your Attention G o e s . . . Prayer and the OBE 265 253 264 Optional: Brain Wave Generator Preset "Week 08: Exit Training" 265 Week 8 Daily Pages 266 Before Moving On 283 Week 9: Dreams and the OBE 285 What to Expect 285 Inevitable Questions 285 Mind-Split Review and the Model of Projection 286 Contents Nightly Spontaneous Projection 288 Lucidity as a Function of Energy 289 Reality Fluctuations as They Relate to the Dream Mind Making a Sleep Programming Recording 291 291 Optional: Brain Wave Generator Preset "Week 09: Exit Training" 293 Week 9 Daily Pages 294 Before Moving On 309 Week 10: Troubleshooting 311 What to Expect 311 Reassessing and Making Adjustments 311 Energy-Raising Problems 312 Primary Center Stimulation Problems 313 Relaxation Problems 313 Breathwork Problems 314 Brow Center Trigger 314 Mind-Taming Problems 315 Trance Problems 315 Body-Loosening and Exit Problems 317 Setting Achievable Goals 321 Ideal Conditions for Practicing the Exit 321 Optional: Brain Wave Generator Preset "Week 10: Exit Training" 323 Week 10 Daily Pages 324 Before Moving On 343 Week 11: Advanced Methods 345 What to Expect 345 Taking Those Last Few Steps 345 Fasting to Enhance Personal Energy Levels Juice Fasting 346 Water Fasting 348 346 Fasting Tips 348 Substance Fasting Alternatives Day-Long Meditation 349 349 Influencing Sleep Patterns to Effect Projection Final Word on Advanced Methods 354 351 xi xii Contents Optional: Brain Wave Generator Preset "Week 11: Exit Training" 355 Week 11 Daily Pages 356 Before Moving On 371 Week 12; After the Exit 373 What to Expect 373 A Quality Projection Experience Strength and Vitality Issues Reasoning Problems 373 374 374 Sight and Visual Complications 375 Body Magnetism 377 A Fearful Presence Astral Feedback 377 378 Self-Hypnosis to Recall Shadow Memories Self-Hypnosis Recording Script 379 379 Notes on Using Your Hypnosis Recording 382 Optional: Brain Wave Generator Preset "Week 12: Exit Training" 383 Week 12 Daily Pages 384 Before Moving On 403 Week 13: The Basics of OBE Navigation 405 What to Expect 405 Another Door Opens . . . 405 Astral Physics 406 Getting into the Real-Time Zone 407 Getting into the Astral 407 Astral Tubes 409 Projecting into Void 410 The Subconscious Mind, the Higher Self, and Astral Travel The Astral Wind Phenomenon 413 Astral Sight and Projection 414 410 Developing Your Own Exit Techniques 414 Astral Transference: Mentally Projecting into the Astral 414 Optional: Brain Wave Generator Preset "Week 13: Exit Training" 419 Week 13 Daily Pages 421 Where Do I Go from Here? 440 Afterword 443 Appendix A: Suggested Supplemental Reading List 445 Appendix B: BrainWave Generator Installation Guide and Tips Appendix C: Dream Journal Template and Instructions Appendix D: Projection Position Posture 451 453 Appendix E: Keys to a Successful OBE by Laetitia M. Kimball Appendix F: My OBE Successes by Brian Mercer Glossary 475 Bibliography Index 479 478 448 462 454 We want to thank the volunteers who gave of their spare time road testing this program. Your comments and ideas were invaluable in shaping the content and organization of this book. Our sincere appreciation also goes to Tracy Weber of Seattle's Whole Life Yoga for her guidance in ensuring that the breathing techniques featured in this program are both safe and effective. We are also grateful to Adrian Cooper, aspiring projector and web master extraordinaire, for his enthusiasm and technical support; to Ben-Jamin Bruce for his invaluable encouragement and intellectual contribution; to Michael Ross for his OBE literature input; to Laetitia Kimball for kindly allowing us to publish her essay on the OBE; to Richard and Michele Kaplowitz for their loving support and photographic expertise; to Keith Alderslade for being so annoyingly intelligent; to Tommy Pirbos for technical input; to Nancy Mostad for her OBE insights on "just letting go"; and to Sara Mercer for tirelessly reviewing and proofreading version after version of this manuscript. Additional thanks go to all those in the Brain Wave Generator user community whose advice played a role in the development of the presets that complement this program, and to the early users of the web version of this manual and the www.astraldynamics.com forums community for their guidance and suggestions. And to Joanna Willis, Lisa Novak, Wendy Froshay, and all the folks at Llewellyn Worldwide Publications: thank you! xv Preface Welcome to Mastering Astral Projection! This book is devoted to teaching you how to have a fully conscious astral projection (also called out-of-body experience or OBE). It focuses on practical OBE exit training and advice, rather than on covering everything relating to the history, speculation, and practice of astral travel. My first book, Astral Dynamics: A NEW Approach to OBE (Hampton Roads, 1999) covered not only projection training and OBE exit techniques, but also many related issues, phenomena, and theories associated with astral travel. During the latter stages of writing Astral Dynamics, it was clear that I needed to include a practical training program to help readers apply the information I was giving in a step-by-step and goal-oriented way. Given the eventual size of Astral Dynamics (560 pages), however, such a weighty addition was impractical. A few chapters had already been cut to save space. After Astral Dynamics was published, I received many requests for an OBE training program. One of my readers, American computer programmer, writer, and OBE aficionado Brian Mercer, sent me the bones of such a program. He had developed it for his personal use, and offered me a copy out of courtesy. After studying Brian's ninety-day program, I uploaded it to my website and made it available to the public online. It quickly became popular and resulted in a lot of constructive feedback. I passed the feedback along to Brian, plus my own ideas for improvements, and he revised and fine-tuned it accordingly. It soon became obvious that we were building the foundations of a valuable OBE training manual. Brian and I soon became good friends. Following my instincts, I invited Brian to coauthor a book with me, the book you are now holding. In the months that followed we discussed the theme and content of this book at great xvii xviii Preface length. We recognized that an old hand like me and a keen novice like Brian teaming up as OBE teachers would create a winning combination of knowledge, experience, and priceless enthusiasm. I am not really a fair test subject for any kind of OBE training program, as I have way too much firsthand experience. Brian, however, was a well-read novice with little actual OBE experience. He was not one of those fortunate few who can easily induce an OBE. At that time Brian had tried for many years, but with only enough success to fire his continuing interest. Brian road tested each section of the program repeatedly. He put in time and enthusiastic effort, as I watched for problems and worked on solutions. Together we fine-tuned the methodology of the program for optimal results. During this process we gained a profound understanding of the numerous problems that beset novice projectors and came up with many new and innovative solutions. We also began researching and experimenting with helpful technologies, such as light and sound machines and audio devices that help induce altered states of consciousness. We wanted to include everything that could possibly help projectors. The structure of this ninety-day program is simple. Information and instructions are given in bite-sized chunks, while readers follow a progressive series of OBE-related exercises. Only enough instruction and theory are given at any one time to provide context to the work at hand. Basic skills like deep relaxation, clearing the mind, concentration, and energy body stimulation are taught first, and then a variety of OBE exit techniques are introduced one at a time. Advice and tips from Brian and me are given every day of the program as students practice and develop their skills. Common problems are identified and solved along the way. Extensive problemsolving sections are included. Each week begins with a new case history to familiarize readers with the OBE and to fire their expectations. Introductory information required for that week's activities follows. Each week builds upon the previous week. Summary and review sections are given at the end of each week. By the end of the program, readers will know and will have practiced everything required to wake-induce an OBE exit. After that it is just a matter of patience and practice. Projecting out of body requires a delicate balance of mind, body, and spirit. Everyone is different and the time it takes to achieve this balance varies greatly from person to person. Some people take to OBE like a duck to water, whereas others have to practice harder to achieve results. This program levels the playing field with structured training and experiential advice. Everyone following it has an even chance of getting out of body. Throughout the ninety-day program we release new information that has been found to help induce the OBE exit. An example of this is my slight discomfort theory. In a nutshell, a very slight level of discomfort helps the physical body/mind stay more closely connected with itself and with its projected double during an OBE. This makes it easier to download and recall OBE memories. After all, Preface without the memory of an OBE after the fact, it might as well not have happened. Everything that helps students retain their precious OBE memories must be recognized and used. An unavoidable side effect of this program is that it can cause the development of psychic abilities. This is understandable, as learning to induce an OBE requires training that can be applied to any other metaphysical pursuit. Our program contains extensive energy body stimulation work and, combined with deep relaxation, mind taming, and induced altered states of consciousness, dormant psychic abilities will begin to manifest. I wish you the very best luck as you begin our ninety-day training program. Astral projection might seem a giant leap for you now, but taken one step at a time it is not nearly as daunting as it appears. I suppose this is a bit like eating an elephant. If one looks at a whole elephant, the task of eating it all seems preposterous. But once the elephant has been reduced to frozen TV-dinner-sized portions, such a task would seem far more achievable. One might be eating elephant for a very long time, but success will always be in sight at the bottom of one's proverbial freezer. R O B E R T B R U C E It can be easy when going about mundane, everyday tasks like working, eating lunch, and driving to the store to be lulled into thinking that the world we can see and touch is the only thing there is. On this planet of exponentially evolving science and technology, the notion of having a soul—of life after death—seems xix almost anachronistic. Healthy skepticism is a good thing; it is essential. Yet occasionally something very personal happens to make us ask questions. Is there more to my existence than I can readily observe? What happens to people when their bodies are used up? Is there a greater purpose for my being here? We can have complete faith in our belief system, whether that is science or atheism or some form of religion or spirituality, yet in the end they are only beliefs. What do we really know? In the absence of the known, we are left with its poor cousins assumption and conjecture. We can say what we don't know, perhaps, but for want of tangible answers we are only left to ponder. Even when we read about competent, respected people having out-of-body or neardeath experiences, it can still seem a little implausible. If we accept these accounts, in the final analysis, it is still just a belief. With something like this, you can't really know until you've experienced it yourself, and that's what this book is all about. This is the moment to lay beliefs aside and to do—to find out for yourself who you truly are and what this reality is all about. This is the time to not just read about it, not just hear people talk about it, but know it and do it. I am talking about the survival of the soul. Are we more than these fragile, fleshy shells? The exercises and techniques in this book work. I've always been interested in astral travel, and since high school have tried dozens of methods for fueling an out-of-body experience. At first I experimented with hypnosis recordings, but received little more than pleasant xx Preface relaxation sessions for my efforts. A powerful dream I had one summer in college led me to explore lucid dream-induced OBEs, but I was discouraged by this method's hit-and-miss results and how often dream elements imposed themselves on the experience. Since then I have explored dozens of books and recordings promising an out-of-body experience, yet I'd only advanced a few steps toward a true understanding of larger realities. After all this, I achieved noticeable results the first time I tried the techniques in Robert Bruce's book about out-of-body experiences, Astral Dynamics. The aspect I loved most about the program was that, from the beginning, I received daily validation that there is something to astral travel. I learned very quickly that one does not need to have a full-blown out-ofbody experience to develop a profound understanding that we are spiritual beings inhabiting physical bodies. When I finished Astral Dynamics I immediately organized a comprehensive, progressive program that I could more easily learn and implement. I e-mailed what I'd done to Robert Bruce and, with suggestions from him and his friends, I created an electronic version of the program, which was an amalgamation of a day planner, journal, and Astral Dynamics reference manual. Robert posted the program on his website, which allowed me to receive even more feedback. Before long, Robert and I recognized that a guidebook was evolving, something that might help many other people experience the out-of-body state. This book is the result. This book is the guide I wish I had had when my interest in out-of-body exploration started all those years ago. The amazing journey that awaits you is something you must experience to understand. I promise, if you follow the blueprint laid out in these pages, you will know a great deal more about yourself than when you started—but like any great journey, it all begins with that first step. B R I A N M E R C E R Preface without the memory of an OBE after the fact, it might as well not have happened. Everything that helps students retain their precious OBE memories must be recognized and used. An unavoidable side effect of this program is that it can cause the development of psychic abilities. This is understandable, as learning to induce an OBE requires training that can be applied to any other metaphysical pursuit. Our program contains extensive energy body stimulation work and, combined with deep relaxation, mind taming, and induced altered states of consciousness, dormant psychic abilities will begin to manifest. I wish you the very best luck as you begin our ninety-day training program. Astral projection might seem a giant leap for you now, but taken one step at a time it is not nearly as daunting as it appears. I suppose this is a bit like eating an elephant. If one looks at a whole elephant, the task of eating it all seems preposterous. But once the elephant has been reduced to frozen TV-dinner-sized portions, such a task would seem far more achievable. One might be eating elephant for a very long time, but success will always be in sight at the bottom of one's proverbial freezer. R O B E R T B R U C E It can be easy when going about mundane, everyday tasks like working, eating lunch, and driving to the store to be lulled into thinking that the world we can see and touch is the only thing there is. On this planet of exponentially evolving science and technology, the notion of having a soul—of life after death—seems xix almost anachronistic. Healthy skepticism is a good thing; it is essential. Yet occasionally something very personal happens to make us ask questions. Is there more to my existence than I can readily observe? What happens to people when their bodies are used up? Is there a greater purpose for my being here? We can have complete faith in our belief system, whether that is science or atheism or some form of religion or spirituality, yet in the end they are only beliefs. What do we really know? In the absence of the known, we are left with its poor cousins assumption and conjecture. We can say what we don't know, perhaps, but for want of tangible answers we are only left to ponder. Even when we read about competent, respected people having out-of-body or neardeath experiences, it can still seem a little implausible. If we accept these accounts, in the final analysis, it is still just a belief. With something like this, you can't really know until you've experienced it yourself, and that's what this book is all about. This is the moment to lay beliefs aside and to do—to find out for yourself who you truly are and what this reality is all about. This is the time to not just read about it, not just hear people talk about it, but know it and do it. I am talking about the survival of the soul. Are we more than these fragile, fleshy shells? The exercises and techniques in this book work. I've always been interested in astral travel, and since high school have tried dozens of methods for fueling an out-of-body experience. At first I experimented with hypnosis recordings, but received little more than pleasant What you hold before you is a hands-on, stepby-step manual for learning how to have an out-of-body experience (OBE). It provides a systematic approach for astral projecting out of your body in a fully awake state. The exercises in this program are largely based on the New Energy Ways (NEW) system of raising and stimulating personal energy. This method uses body awareness movements for conscious and direct manipulation of one's energy body. The NEW system is easy to understand and learn; anyone can do it. The CD that accompanies this book is a supplementary aid for this training manual. It contains a PC program called the BrainWave Generator. The BrainWave Generator is an advanced artificial aid for inducing deep physical relaxation, stimulating altered states of consciousness, and creating the perfect state for inducing an OBE. Using it is not essential for this program's success, but is an added extra. The version of the BrainWave Generator included on this CD includes twenty-five custom presets designed especially for this ninetyday program. You will be introduced to at least one new preset per week, including seven presets specially developed for astral projection. We designed this ninety-day program so that it was: • specific and easy to understand; • comprehensive and goal-oriented; • flexible and easy to apply; • fear-eliminating through small, gradual steps; • progressive with measurable results. 1 2 Introduction In short, our program makes the OBE more ing if you are not completely prepared and accessible to those uninitiated in the process. know what to expect. It takes courage to go This book represents our continued efforts to that final distance, but the rewards of facing hone an ideal astral projection program, one and overcoming your fears can scarcely be put that will help newcomers understand the key- into words. elements of the process while avoiding com- Learning conscious-exit astral projection mon pitfalls. The idea is that for ninety days takes persistence. Like learning a sport or play- you will commit to spending a set amount of ing a new instrument, it takes time to master the spare time applying this program. We supply fundamentals before you are good enough to the tools and you supply the enthusiasm and perform well. Some people manage to project stick-to-itiveness. during their very first effort. For others it takes Achieving a conscious-exit out-of-body experience is not as complicated as it may more perseverance. Sometimes ultimate success requires dogged, long-term determination. seem at the outset. It is primarily about focus- In this course we will be primarily focusing ing your thoughts, harnessing your will, and on the skills necessary for having an out-of- overcoming your fears. It is also about learn- body experience, with less emphasis on theory ing to relax your body to new levels, honing (unless it is necessary for understanding and your ability to remain awake and lucid as your applying the daily exercises). There are a num- physical body falls asleep, and balancing all ber of fine books on the market that attempt this to achieve the desired result. Perhaps most to explain the complexities of OBE theory. importandy, it is about cultivating your ability Because there is so much ground to cover, this to remember altered-state experiences. OBE program focuses on training students to memories are just as elusive as dream memo- achieve the actual OBE exit. ries. Because of this, it does not matter how We have included a recommended reading quickly you learn to have an OBE or how list for astral projection in appendix A. We often you have one. If you do not remember suggest you read at least one of these books it, it is as if you never had it. while you are following this ninety-day pro- Learning to project out of body is also gram, especially one containing case histories. about courage and mastering one's natural In addition to helping you better understand fear of the unknown. It is one thing when OBEs, it is important to saturate your brain OBE is just theory, something you read and with the subject matter. This helps program all talk about and would like to try. But it can be levels of your mind and body toward achiev- altogether different when you start experienc- ing an out-of-body experience. ing what can be rather intense OBE exit symp- What you read prior to falling asleep affects toms and find yourself suddenly slipping out the theme and content of your dreams. For of your body. All at once OBE is not just the- example, read a horror novel and you may ory. Early experiences can be quite intimidat- have bad dreams; read about romance and Preliminary Instructions for the Ninety-Day Program you may have romantic dreams; read about OBEs and you may have OBE flying dreams. All dreams aside, presleep reading can generate out-of-body experiences because you have OBE on your mind, consciously or subconsciously, while you are falling asleep. Everyone has some type of out-of-body experience whenever they sleep, even if the projected double just slips out and hovers, mimicking the sleeping physical body. If the dream mind is infused with thoughts and tales of OBEs, waking consciousness will sometimes return to the projected double. You may find yourself waking up already outside your physical body or having a false awakening. (A false awakening is where you believe you are awake in the real world but are actually having an OBE.) For these reasons, it is advisable to read about OBEs during this program, especially before sleeping. A word about skipping ahead and prematurely trying some of the later exercises in this program: don't! If you have read other books on OBE, particularly Robert Bruce's Astral Dynamics, you will already have been exposed to some of the exercises and techniques contained herein. But there is definitely an effective order in which this program should be followed. Early attempts at advanced exercises before mastering the basics may create mental blocks that can grossly interfere with the ultimate purpose of this program. Brian discovered this firsthand in the following experience. I had for some time been trying to have an OBE, using a mishmash of techniques, 3 when I first stumbled across Robert's book, Astral Dynamics. I skipped ahead and read some of the more advanced exercises on my lunch hour and couldn't wait to experiment. As soon as I returned home, I lay down and tried an OBE exit technique without even relaxing properly. I immediately felt my body turn to liquid as huge waves of my energy ran up and down from my head to my feet and past the borders of my physical body. I suddenly found myself instinctively holding on, trying with all my power not to project. I had tried the exercises too soon; I simply wasn't ready. In all the collective years that I'd been experimenting with different processes, I'd never experienced anything so powerful so fast. The effect of this failed experiment and its resulting trauma was that I developed a gut-level response to abort the projection process once it started. It took me years to undo that simple, five-minute experiment. There is a lot to this program. It has been designed to be consumed in small bites so as not to overwhelm students with too much information at one time. For best results, focus all your efforts on each week's material and exercises. This is not to say you cannot peek ahead to see what is coming, but only that you should avoid getting too involved in what's ahead. Please do not let your enthusiasm go to waste, however. Pick up something in the reading list from appendix A and immerse yourself. 4 Introduction How the Ninety-Day Program Develops This program is divided into thirteen chapters called Weeks; one new chapter of material should be read per week. The first half of each week's chapter contains information necessary for completing that week's exercises. This includes special instructions, background information, diagrams, and relevant tips. Each week's chapter also includes directions for using the BrainWave Generator, the computer program on the CD that accompanies this book. The BrainWave Generator is a computer program that generates sounds to induce altered states of consciousness. Use of the BrainWave Generator is optional; it is definitely not required for this program to be effective. However, it can help enormously. When used with headphones, the BrainWave Generator is capable of helping users relax, meditate, and induce altered states of consciousness ideal for having an OBE. When used with light and sound machines, which add light goggles into the mix, the BrainWave Generator becomes an even more powerful OBE aid. For more details on the BrainWave Generator, see appendix B. The second part of each week's chapter consists of a day planner-style calendar that includes the following: • Daily tasks: A list of OBE programrelated activities divided into morning, daytime, and evening "to do's." • Affirmations: Short, present-tense, positive statements help program you for OBE success. Daily affirmations are used during waking hours. Nightly affirmations are used as you drift off to sleep. • Daily exercises: Step-by-step instructions on how to complete each day's exercises (mind taming, breathwork, energy work, OBE exit methods). • Author comments: Advice from both expert and novice perspectives. • Journaling space: A place to write down your progress, make observations, and catalogue your OBE-related experiences. The ninety-day program itself is divided into two distinct parts. Part 1 (Weeks 1-6) focuses on learning core skills associated with the OBE. Primarily it's about learning to relax, how to breathe, and how to keep your mind clear of intruding thoughts. It's also about developing your energy body, which greatly aids the OBE exit process. Key, too, is training your ability to recapture what we call shadow memories, those dreamlike OBE memories that you bring back with you from your astral travels. Part 2 (Weeks 7-13) focuses on OBE exit training. During this part of the program we will introduce you to a number of proven techniques for achieving an OBE. We also introduce ways of overcoming key fears and how to adjust your mindset for best results. More importantly, we give advice for setting up conditions that are most favorable for having an OBE, discuss common roadblocks, and offer solutions. We also provide some advanced projection-inducing techniques for the OBE challenged. Preliminary Instructions for the Ninety-Day Program The idea is that you will be spending the next ninety days eating, sleeping, and breath- The first six weeks of the program will cover the following core skills: ing this training program. You might have noticed that the title of this course refers to a Breathing: An ancient way to increase "90-Day Guide," whereas there are ninety-one the flow of subtle energy and vitality days (thirteen weeks) listed in this book's daily through the body is by using breathing pages. You should consider this course flexible. techniques. The breathing exercises Do not feel constrained by its weekly schedule. employed herein have been designed If you need to take longer for a given day's to start simply and continue in small, exercises, you can always take more time. The incremental steps. If the core OBE weekly format and the task schedule are guide- skills were a tree, the breath would be lines only. It can be reworked to accommodate the trunk from which the branches of your needs. You can extend the 91 days into all other skills grew. Deep physical 100 days or 110 days or 120 days. The impor- relaxation, clearing the mind, energy tant thing is not to feel rushed so you learn body stimulation, and the trance state everything well. However, the reverse does not are all intimately associated with the apply. You should not take less time than the proper flow of breath and energy. prescribed ninety days unless you already have the prerequisite basic skills. Deep physical relaxation: Deep physical relaxation involves more than just sitting back and willing your body to relax. The What to Expect in Part 1 Part 1 of this book focuses on basic training— teaching the core skills necessary to achieve conscious-exit projection. Each day there will be an exercise or a series of exercises that will take you through one or more of the core skills. The steps for an entire technique are not always given all at once. For example, on Day 1 5 method given herein involves contracting and relaxing specific muscle groups to progressively relax your whole physical body. Without deep physical relaxation, all the core skills that follow are useless. In order to project you must be deeply relaxed, physically and mentally. Shadow memory recall: This is key to you will learn the first few steps of a deep having a successful OBE. You will need physical relaxation routine. On Tuesday you'll to be able to "download" your OBE learn the next few steps, and so on, until by memories in order to recall and realize the end of the week you are well-versed in the them. The ability to remember your entire routine. This lets you get comfortable dreams is the first step toward remem- with each part of an exercise before moving bering your out-of-body experiences. on to the next part. It also allows you to mem- We give techniques to help you remem- orize a few small steps each day, rather than ber dreams and to capture the shadow trying to digest the whole thing in one sitting. memories from your projectable double Introduction so they are successfully transferred to recallable levels of your physical brain/mind after an OBE. Energy body stimulation: Some of the most profound exercises for discovering that you are more than just physical matter are the revolutionary methods for stimulating your energy body that are given herein. Throughout one's life, due to a variety of factors, one accumulates energy blockages. The energy techniques provided here allow you to heal these and increase your flow of personal energy. Quieting the mind: Where your attention goes, so, too, does your energy. The ability to clear your mind of internal dialogue and maintain a calm perspective is critical to astral projection in order to remain composed and in control during and after an OBE exit. For the average person, stilling the mind can be quite a challenge, but the techniques provided here are introduced in easy, progressive steps. Anyone can learn how to do this with a little regular practice. Primary energy center stimulation: Primary energy centers (also called chakras) can be thought of as gateways between the physical body, the energy body, and the projected double in the OBE state. The main purpose of energy body stimulation exercises is to prepare you for the higher flow of energy that both allows and accompanies the OBE exit. The purpose of stimulating the primary centers is to open the floodgates through which that higher level of energy can flow. The trance state: Trance states are altered states of consciousness. The basic trance state occurs when your physical body goes to sleep while your mind remains awake and lucid. There are varying degrees of sleep, with corresponding levels of trance. Deep physical relaxation and the ability to hold your mind awake and clear are prerequisites for entering trance states. Energy body loosening: There are ways to stimulate your energy body that prepares it for projection. Energy body loosening is one of the final steps in preparation for employing OBE exit techniques. By the end of the first six weeks of this program you will be reasonably comfortable with these fundamental skills. Along the way you will no doubt come to understand a great deal more about your nature as a spirit inhabiting a physical body. Do not think of Part 1 as being just a set of tasks required for having an OBE. Learning these core skills is a journey in itself that opens doors to just about everything metaphysical and spiritual. What follows are the results of my first night of energy work. I've had sporadic instances of involuntary projection throughout my life. I've tried gaining control of it for many years hut nothing has ever worked. I've always thought that energy work for astral projection was a waste of time. It was annoying to he hogged down with silly "New Age" energy rituals, when all I wanted to do was project. Then I read Robert Bruce's tutorial. Maybe there is something to this! This was the first time I'd ever read anything that spelled out the mechanics behind this type of energy work, why it's needed, and what it does at a core level. Posts on Robert's online forum further reinforced the validity of doing the energy work. Over and over I was running across postings from people who were getting very measurable results. I went to bed thinking that this would never happen to me and started doing energy work. For a few minutes I felt an ache in my heart center. I kept "circling" there between passes up the legs and down the arms and in a few minutes it stopped. Then I felt a lot of activity and itching in my brow center, then something like electricity going through that area, as if the blood vessels had been shut off, then suddenly opened. After that I must have woken up thirty times during the course of four hours of sleep. Every time I woke up it was like another memory was being restored, and each time I was still on autopilot, doing the energy exercise. By now I can't remember what I was remembering specifically, but I do remember that every memory that surfaced served to connect me to something else I had long forgotten. One by one I kept remembering connections to things, people, places, experiences. Life became a lot bigger than I ever thought it was. What to Expect • Setting up your meditation space • Energy body stimulation • Learning to relax • Your dream journal • Breathwork • Affirmations • Body awareness exercises • Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions This book emphasizes goal-oriented action supplement your OBE program, we'll offer rather than just sitting and reading about instructions for the current week's preset. OBEs. Just enough information is given at the Now that you have read all the instructions start of each week to guide you through the in the introduction, let's waste no time getting coming week's activities, building on what has started. come before. This week we'll show you how to organize a place for your daily energy work and teach Setting up Your Meditation Space you a deep physical relaxation and breathing First on the list is to select a suitable place to technique. We'll also give instructions for this practice energy work, meditation, and other week's energy work, setting up a dream jour- OBE-related training exercises. nal, and using affirmations. Finally, for those There are several desirable qualities for an using the optional BrainWave Generator to ideal meditation space. It should be quiet and 9 10 Week 1 allow you to practice undisturbed. Lighting is also important. There will be exercises requiring full lighting and those requiring low lighting or darkness. A room with a curtained window or a variable illumination lamp will suffice. Headphones or earplugs are ways to eliminate sound, but you also don't want to be unexpectedly disturbed by others. People in busy households may need to innovate to create suitably private spaces. One aspiring projector partitioned a large walk-in closet and turned half into a small private area. Another rigged a makeshift tent in her bedroom. Others have found useful areas in attics, basements, and garages. Think creatively. Depending on its size, your private space should have a bed, cot, or easy chair or some place where you can lie down comfortably. A hard-backed kitchen or desk chair will also be required for some exercises. Your space should be big enough to accommodate this chair, with the option of placing it against a wall for exercises that require head support. Ideally, your space should be somewhere you feel comfortable and safe. Try to avoid using the room in which you normally sleep. If you must use your bedroom, it is best not to use your bed for the daily exercises. We are all conditioned to start falling asleep when we get into our own beds. The purpose of the exercises in this program is to learn how to achieve a deep level of relaxation without falling asleep. If you must use your bedroom, find a comfortable place on the floor where you can do your exercises using a folding bed, small mattress, or a combination of pillows and blankets. An easy chair, deck chair, or beanbag chair are other good options. Another handy item is an illuminated clock, preferably analog with a second hand. Many of the coming exercises need to be timed, so a clock that's easily visible from your practice position will help. A countdown timer, such as those used for baking, can be used to supplement the clock. You can set and forget this, so you won't have to keep looking at the time to see when an exercise is over. The atmosphere of your meditation space is also important. It should feel comfortable, safe, and friendly. Atmospheres are affected by decor, as well as by how a place smells and feels. Burning incense and essential oils is one of the most efficient ways of changing an atmosphere and giving it a spiritual quality. For the purposes of this program, it will help if you select a particular incense or essential oil that you do not normally use elsewhere. Use this during every training session. This will set the mood and help program your body/mind to respond to your daily exercises more quickly than you otherwise would. In time, tension will begin oozing out of you the moment you smell your special OBE training scent. Your daily exercises don't all have to be done in the same location. Some techniques will be practiced numerous times during the day wherever you happen to be. These mainly consist of reciting affirmations, doing short concentration and mind-clearing exercises, energy work, and so on. Put daily travel and waiting time to good use for these. Flexing Learning to Relax One of the first tasks is to learn how to make yourself so comfortable that your mind and body will almost disassociate. We say almost because a slight body/mind connection is crucial for straddling that fuzzy edge between sleeping and waking. Deep physical relaxation is the foundation upon which everything else in this program will rest. If you do not thoroughly learn this essential skill, you could waste a lot of time and effort making projection attempts with little chance of success. This program contains an excellent routine that, once learned, will progressively take you to the deeper levels of relaxation that are required to induce trance and an OBE. Deep physical relaxation is the one OBE preparation skill that is most commonly overlooked or poorly done. Being relaxed enough to fall asleep does not mean that you have a sufficient level of relaxation to induce an OBE. Even though you may feel deeply relaxed, your body can still possess significant levels of physical tension. For example, you can still fall asleep while you are tense or in pain. Physical tension can prevent you from projecting, even if all the other skills required for having an OBE have been mastered. The purpose of this first week's relaxation practice is to learn the steps of the routine. Staying awake and lucid in a state of deep physical relaxation takes practice. With this in mind, try to avoid doing the relaxation exercises when you are overly tired. Falling asleep during this routine will condition you to fall asleep every time you perform it, in much the Your Astral Muscles 11 same way as you habitually start falling asleep when you go to bed. Relaxation training begins on Day 1. Each day more steps are added until, by the end of the week, the full routine is revealed. Your goal for the end of this first week is to complete the routine without having to refer to the instructions. It is easy to miss steps at first, so this week be sure to review the instructions after each session to make sure you are not forgetting anything. The deep physical relaxation routine is progressive, and in time will become almost automatic. If you find that you are physically or mentally tense before relaxation practice, first take a hot shower or bath and/or a short nap. Some light exercise, a stretching routine, or a massage will also help relieve tension. Another factor involved with deep physical relaxation is temperature. The body reacts to cold by tensing and shivering its muscles to generate heat. Even if you are a little cold, your body may not actually shiver but your muscles may tense. This can increase the difficulty of physically relaxing to the degree required. If you are doing this program in a cold climate, keep your body temperature at a comfortable level during the exercises. Use light blankets, comforters, and loose-fitting, warm clothes. If practical, heat your practice area to a comfortable level. The general rule is, if the method you are using to keep warm is distracting (e.g., if the blankets or clothes are too heavy or restrictive), try another approach. Novices often start by paying good attention to relaxation exercises, but then pay only 12 Weekl cursory attention to them later in the program. Avoid this mistake or one day you will find yourself having to backtrack to relearn what has been poorly done. Each time you do it, approach the routine with care and attention. Think of each minute bit of tension in your body as a barrier to success. Each day try to become more relaxed than the day before. In time this will become habitual. Breathwork: Breath Awareness Breathing is key to conscious-exit projection. It promotes deep relaxation, provides clearer inner focus, and increases the amount of energy available for projection. The breathing methods in this program are safe and straightforward. You begin this week very simply with daily, five-minute practice sessions. Each week hereafter you will build on and refine the basic technique. By the time you reach Part 2 of the program, you will have all the breathing skills required for OBE exit practice. This week you will be learning breath awareness. All this involves is quieting your thoughts by focusing on the internal sensations of the breath cycle. Sit quietly, close your eyes, and focus your attention on the leading edge of the airflow as it passes into and out of your body. It is easier to focus on the leading edge of the breath than it is to hold the entire mental picture of the breathing process itself. If you find the above leading-edge breathwork method difficult, you will find it easier to focus instead on the rise and fall of your chest and abdomen. Just close your eyes and focus your awareness on the feeling of your body filling and rising, then emptying and contracting. Focusing on this action helps keep your mind clear. Do not change your breathing rate or depth during this exercise. Do not try to count out breaths to a prescribed rhythm. Simply observe your breathing and use this as a focus of attention to help clear your mind. If your thoughts wander, simply release them and bring your attention back to your breathing. No matter how many times foreign thoughts creep in, push them aside and refocus on your breathing. This takes a little practice, but you will quickly get the hang of it if you persevere. During Week 1, the breath awareness technique is used at the beginning of your daily practice routine, right after deep physical relaxation. This promotes further relaxation and helps quiet the mind for the exercises that follow. However, breath awareness can be done anytime and anywhere. Do it for five minutes; no more time is required. Waiting and travel time are excellent opportunities for practice. Stimulating the Energy Body This week you will also start learning how to stimulate your energy body. Your energy body is a subtle energy counterpart of your physical body. It has many parts, aspects, and functions, including several large primary energy centers and hundreds of smaller ones. Primary energy centers are often called chakras or psychic centers. In essence, these can be thought of as nonphysical organs that are involved with the underlying spiritual, biological, emotional, Flexing and mental processes that are associated with the complexities of living. Your Astral Muscles 13 On Days 2 through 7 you will explore other ways to stimulate your energy body. When body The ability to stimulate, raise, and manipu- awareness is focused on a primary or secondary late your personal energy is invaluable during energy center and given motion, that energy OBE training. The substance of your projected center is stimulated, causing noticeable sensa- double is generated by the energy body and is tions. Individual energy centers can thus be tar- wholly composed of your living energy. So geted and manipulated in a controlled way. (We when it comes to having an OBE, the develop- will explore primary energy centers more dur- ment and manipulation of your personal ing Week 4). energy resources is a fundamental skill. Lucidity during an OBE is also dependent upon the flow of personal energy. The exercises in this program rely primarily on the use of body awareness. This is the abil- Preparing for Energy Work Little preparation is needed for energy work, but there are a few general guidelines. ity to focus and localize your attention on spe- First, it helps not to be overtired during cific parts of your body. By giving this point of practice, at least while learning the techniques. focus movement, it is possible to stimulate Varying your level of alertness or tiredness your energy body at that location. Combined during practice sessions will be a factor later with other techniques, this enables you to when you are actually learning how to project. deliberately manipulate the substance of your It also helps not to be mentally distracted. energy body. This in turn allows you to raise, If you have pressing issues, a task to complete, move, and store vital energy and to activate a phone call to make, time constraints, and so energy centers in a controlled way. on, try to take care of these before your energy No prerequisite abilities or skills are required work session. This will help you concentrate. to learn and use body awareness techniques. Conversely, energy work practice can be a They are easy to understand and use. Most peo- good way to take your mind off worries. ple will get noticeable results the very first time they use them. Additionally, it helps to be physically and mentally relaxed. If you practice energy work Body awareness exercises begin on Day 1 of right after getting home from a busy day, con- the program. To improve your body awareness sider taking a walk, a shower, or some other sensitivity, repeat the exercises as often as you grounding activity to help you unwind before can until you get the feel for the technique. you begin your daily energy work routine. Each time you do this you will improve your If you are using the optional BrainWave sensitivity to energy movement, which is Generator, listening to Week l's relaxation pre- important for all the exercises and techniques set for fifteen to twenty minutes with closed eyes that follow. Make good use of travel time and and a clear mind can be an excellent mental waiting time for extra practice. 14 Week 1 cleansing exercise. Breath awareness will also help with this process. Avoid eating a heavy meal before energy work practice. Digestion takes a lot of energy and after a big meal the energy body virtually shuts down for a while. For this reason, energy work and other OBE-related exercises are more difficult if undertaken within an hour or so of a heavy meal. If you must eat immediately before practice, a light meal is recommended. Your Dream Journal An essential ingredient of successful astral projection is improving your ability to remember it afterward. Unless OBE recall is sharpened to the point where you remember the experience, it will seem like it never happened even if it did. This is the biggest and most prevalent cause of apparent OBE failure. OBE experiences can be breathtakingly vivid, but memories of them, like dream memories, have the annoying habit of disappearing unless precautions are taken. We call these types of memories shadow memories, as they lie just beneath the surface of conscious recall like vaporous shadows in the mind. Memory storage and recall functions are complex matters, including both short- and long-term memory processes. Shadow memory is related more to the former. How many times have you walked into a room to do something, only to stop and wonder what it was you were planning to do? Then something triggers an association with the memory and you suddenly remember. This is similar to what happens when you first wake up clearly remembering a dream or OBE, only to have it vanish a few moments later. Recalling shadow memories is all about triggering memory associations to make them resurface. Dream journaling is one method that helps trigger fragments of shadow memories to reappear in conscious memory. Once a fragment appears, further efforts are then applied to trigger more memories associated with it. In this way, more complete dream and OBE memories can be recalled. With practice, the mind learns to access shadow memories more efficiently, making dream and OBE memories easier to recall. Some will be recalled immediately upon waking and others will surface when associations trigger them. Anything can trigger shadow memories: radio or TV, a snatch of conversation, thoughts and fantasies, a passing car, and so on. OBEs that take place during sleep are often masked by or blended with dream imagery. The more dream memories that are recalled, the more chances there are to identify OBE-related memories plus OBE symptoms such as flying, vibrations, rapid heartbeat, falling sensations, paralysis, astral sight, and so on. More discussion on shadow memory will be in Week 2. An excellent way to improve OBE memory is to keep a dream journal. A dream journal can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. In this program, the emphasis is on capturing key words and phrases and using these to trigger shadow memory fragments. Always keep a notepad and pen handy, especially by your bed. It is also a good idea to have a bedside lamp or flashlight for recording Flexing Your Astral Muscles 15 key words and phrases when you awaken dur- ing into the same position in which you were ing the night. A small voice-activated tape last sleeping. Behind your closed eyelids, look recorder can also be used, though recordings up and focus your eyes in the middle of your are less accessible than notes. forehead, which is where your brow center or Before going to sleep, draw a line across a third eye is located. This helps promote dream page in your notepad to signal the beginning recall. Next, try to pull back the last memories of a new entry and add the date. This is a sym- you have of your dreams. bolic action that will help trigger your subcon- If nothing surfaces, think about people scious mind, like an affirmation, to provide with whom you frequently interact or about you with dream memories. When you wake whom you often think or dream. Review from a dream or should anything unusual hap- places you habitually visit, such as work or pen during sleep, jot down a few key words school or locales that are frequently part of describing what happened. Write clearly or you your dreams. Think of other houses you've may not be able to read it later. If you have fly- lived in, schools you've attended, homes ing or falling dreams as you are going to sleep, you've visited often or lived in during your write something like "Flying, falling, woke with childhood and teens. Review what you were a jerk" on the notepad. If you have a dream thinking about the night before, what you about vacationing in Italy, write something like were doing, conversations you had, what you "Rome, fountains, pizza," giving only a brief watched on TV. Frequently, things on your description to help trigger shadow memories mind before you go to sleep bleed into your when you wake the next morning. dreams and remembering these can help trig- Recording key words provides strong mem- ger more interesting memories. Try to recall ory association sequences that can trigger the flying or falling sensations too. Any of the shadow memories they represent. Avoid writ- above can trigger shadow memory fragments. ing long descriptions during the night unless Some people say they never dream, but something spectacular happens that you want what they really mean is that they don't to remember in detail. In the morning, as soon remember their dreams. Everyone dreams and as possible after awakening, review your list of these memories are there somewhere. If you key words and try to recall more details, flesh- do not usually remember your dreams, put ing out each section as necessary. more time and effort into the remembering Once or twice a week transfer these notes techniques above. This will help train your to a separate dream journal or into the daily mind to recall shadow memories. Do not give journaling space in this book. They will build up if you keep drawing blanks. In the begin- a record of your progress. ning you may only recover some tiny frag- If you were unable to write key words dur- ments and these may not seem worth the ing the night, spend some time recalling dream effort. But even the smallest fragment pro- imagery the moment you wake. Start by shift- vides something from which you can build. 16 Weekl To review: • Keep a notepad, pen, and light source near your bed. • When you wake, take time to recall your dreams and then write key words and phrases in your notebook. • Spend a few minutes each morning reviewing your key words and trying to recall more information about your dreams. • At least once a week transfer your key words into your dream or OBE journal. For an example of how to keep a more detailed dream journal, refer to appendix C. Your dream journal need not be this elaborate, but this should give you ideas. Daily Affirmations Each week you'll be given two short affirmations to memorize: a daytime affirmation and a nighttime affirmation. The purpose of these affirmations is varied. Generally, daytime affirmations are geared to program your beliefs to accept and allow you to have OBEs. Later, these can be associated with overcoming astral projection-related fears and difficulties. In essence, they are to help you focus and to reassure you, to program all levels of your mind and body toward what you are trying to accomplish. Nighttime affirmations are commonly used to program your dreams or to prompt you to remember dreams and OBE experiences. Sometimes they will contain cues to help you recognize inconsistencies in dreams so you will realize you are dreaming and can take control, or have what is called a lucid dream. Other times they will be directions for your body to project as you are slipping into the sleep state, or triggers to alert you when an OBE begins spontaneously. By design, we have made these affirmations simple and short so they will be easy to remember. They are meant as guides only. Feel free to add, revise, or to create your own. If you do write your own affirmations, there are some factors to keep in mind in order to program your subconscious effectively. Always keep them in the first person: "I am . . . , " "I believe . . . , " "I have the ability...," and so on. Make them positive: "I remain calm and relaxed . . . " instead of "I am not afraid." The subconscious has trouble comprehending negative words and phrases like don't, won't, can't, non-, and not, as in "I am not afraid." So if you use an affirmation like "I am not afraid," the subconscious will pick up on the word afraid and this could program you to become more afraid. It is important to write affirmations in an active present tense. For example, "I now leave my body..." or "I am leaving my body..." will work. "I am about to project..." or "I will project tonight..." which relate to the future, will be less effective. The subconscious mind exists entirely in the present moment, so it must be programmed with active present-tense phrases. It does not understand the future or the past, only the now. You can perform a simple procedure each week to prepare for the daily affirmations. On Day der. Close your eyes and concentrate on the sensation of the tracing. Imagine someone is tracing the path again for you. Retrace the path again and again with your body awareness to get the feel of it. J 23 Daily Tips Robert: Practice the body awareness technique until you can trace a pathway to anywhere on your body with your point of body awareness alone, feeling your way along the surface of 6. Now trace and follow a path from your left your skin without having to follow a manually big toe, up the outside of your shin, over highlighted pathway. But rub and scratch and your kneecap, and on up the outside of highlight pathways as often and for as long as your thigh to your hip, then back down to you need to in order to learn this technique. the big toe again. Do it first with the fingernails or ruler and then try tracing out the path mentally with your body awareness alone. Move your point of body awareness up and down your leg several times. Repeat this exercise for your right leg. 7. Practice the above exercises until you become familiar with mentally shifting Brian: The first time I tried body awareness exercises I found it easier to use a washcloth dampened with warm water. Do whatever works best for you. The idea of an aid of this sort is to help you focus your attention on a specific part of your body with your eyes closed. If you can get by with using nothing but your body awareness, that is ideal. your point of body awareness to different parts of your body. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 2 Relaxation, Breathwork, and Introduction to Energy Body Stimulation Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morninp affirmations 1 am a spirit in a body capable of experiencing dimensions beyond physical existence. 1 have the ability to separate from my body, return safely, and AFTERNOON Opf/ono/; Week 1 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) remember. Relaxation: Lower body (5 min.) Breathwork: Breath awareness (5 min.) EVENING Every morning 1 faithfully write dream key words in Energy body stimulation (5 min.) my notebook. 1 recognize each morning as a fresh Write program notes/observations opportunity to hone my astral memory. 1 attract dreams that help me achieve my goal of conscious NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material out-of-body exploration. Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 15 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 01: Relaxation" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed, sitting quietly. Turn off the preset when you begin your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Lower Body (5 Minutes) 1. Lower legs: Follow yesterday's steps for relaxing your feet, calves, and thighs. 2. Hips and buttocks: Now push your buttocks backward into the chair and tense them. Hold this for five seconds and then relax them for another five or ten seconds. Rock your hips forward slowly, tense for five seconds, and then relax them. 24 Day 3. Entire lower body: Tense all muscles in your lower body at once—hips, legs, calves, and feet—all at the same time. Hold for five seconds and then relax them, really letting them go. 4. Repeat steps 1-3. The goals here are to relax your entire lower body thoroughly and remember the steps. Breathwork: Breath Awareness (5 Minutes) Follow the instructions for breath awareness given earlier. Focus your attention on your breathing for about five minutes. Introduction to Energy Body Stimulation: Stirring, Brushing, and Sponging Actions (5 Minutes) 1. From your hard-backed chair, rest your hands in your lap or on the arms of your chair, palms down and fingers slightly spread. 2. The first area to focus on is on top of the large joint where your thumb joins your right hand. Flex your thumb while holding this joint between your other fingers to help locate the joint. With your left finger, lightly scratch or rub a circular area clockwise on top of your thumb joint about one inch (two centimeters) or so across to help target it with your body awareness. 3. With your eyes closed, trace a finger around this same circular path while following the touch of that finger with your point of awareness. Continue following this action until you can remember the exact feel of this circular movement and 2 25 can recreate this action with your point of body awareness alone. 4. Stirring action: Stop rubbing with your finger and close your eyes. Feel the tingling target area on top of your thumb joint with your point of body awareness. Recreate and feel the circular stirring action. Remember the touch and feel of the circular action. Move your point of body awareness in a small clockwise circle in that area as if you were stirring it with an imaginary finger. Concentrate and feel this action, continuing the motion with your point of body awareness alone. Continue this for thirty seconds to a minute. You may feel a throbbing or pulsing at the site of the stirring action. 5. Brushing action: Imagine someone is brushing a small paintbrush back and forth along the skin on the top of your thumb. Feel it moving from the tip of your thumb to the joint and back to the tip again, over and over. If necessary, scratch or rub this area before taking over the remembered feel of this action with your body awareness. It should take about a half second each way for this imaginary brush stroke. Close your eyes and reproduce this action for about a minute. You may feel tingling energy sensations or a peculiar throbbing or heaviness in your thumb. 6. Sponging action: (Similar to the above, scratch or rub as necessary.) Imagine your right thumb is a hollow pipe and that you are cleaning the inside of it with a sponge. 26 Day 2 Imagine the sponge going through your pressure, tingling, buzzing, or even a bone-deep whole thumb from tip to joint and then tickling sensation. This may extend into more of back again, over and over. Close your eyes your thumb and hand. This sensation indicates and feel this action with your body aware- that the energy center in your thumb joint has ness. Like the imaginary brushstroke, the been successfully stimulated to a higher level of sponging sensation should last roughly a activity. Most people are more energy sensitive half second in each direction. You may on one side of their bodies than the other, so feel some peculiar energy movement sen- you may find one hand produces more energy sations in your thumb. sensations than the other. Congratulations! You've just successfully stimulated part of your energy body. Practice for as long as you like; you can't overdo this. These body awareness actions are key to all the energy work that is to follow. Brian: If you have trouble with the stirring or brushing actions after several minutes, try this: Open your eyes and point your left index finger to your right thumb joint. Your index finger should be about an inch or so above but not touching your thumb joint. Use your index finger to stir or brush the area above the Daily Tips Robert: After a while—anything from a few seconds to a few minutes during a first attempt— you may start feeling some peculiar sensations joint. This does wonders for jump-starting energy movement sensations. Once you get the feel for this, try again using body awareness actions alone. inside your thumb joint: a localized heaviness, Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 3 Relaxation, Breathwork, and Energy Body Stimulation (Thumb/Big Toe) Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 am a spirit in a body capable of experiencing dimensions beyond physical existence. 1 have the Recite morning affirmations ability to separate from my body, return safely, and AFTERNOON remember. Optional: Week 1 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Legs, stomach, chest, back (5 min.) Breathwork: Breath awareness (5 min.) EVENING Every morning 1 faithfully write dream key words in Energy body stimulation (5 min.) my notebook. 1 recognize each morning as a fresh Write program notes/observations opportunity to hone my astral memory. 1 attract dreams that help me achieve my goal of conscious NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material out-of-body exploration. Recite nightly affirmations 1 Esrimatea energy work rime: 15 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 01: Relaxation" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed. Turn off the preset when you begin your relaxation exercises. Relaxation: Lower Body, Stomach, Chest, Back (5 Minutes) 1. Lower body: Follow the steps you learned for relaxing your lower body. Relax your feet, calves, thighs, hips, and buttocks before tensing all muscles in your lower body at once. Hold for five seconds each and then relax them before continuing with the steps given below. (Consult the directions for Days 1 and 2 if you forget the steps.) 27 28 Day 3 2. Stomach and lower back: Push out your stomach and tense up all your stomach and lower back muscles. Hold it for five seconds and then relax. Suck in your stomach and tense your lower back muscles. Hold it for five seconds and then relax. 3. Chest and upper back: Arch your shoulders forward while exhaling and caving in your chest. Tense all your upper back and shoulder muscles for five seconds and then relax. Push your shoulders back and take a deep breath while pushing out your chest. Tense all your upper back and chest muscles. Hold it for five seconds and then relax. 4. Take at least a minute to settle, getting as comfortable and relaxed as possible. Feel yourself getting heavier as all the tension flows from your body. Breathwork: Breath Awareness (5 Minutes) Focus on breath awareness for about five minutes. Feel the leading edge of your breath enter and then leave your body, or focus on feeling your chest and abdomen rise and fall. Do not change your breath cycle depth or frequency. Use this to help clear your mind. Push away thoughts as they arise and refocus on your breath cycle. Energy Body Stimulation: Thumb and Big Toe Stimulation (Approximately 5 Minutes) Scratch and rub your thumbs and toes as necessary for targeting, and continue each exercise for thirty seconds to a minute. 1. From your hard-backed chair, rest your hands comfortably in your lap or on the arms of your chair, palms down and fingers slightly spread. 2. Close your eyes and shift your body awareness to your right thumb. Using the brushing action, brush up and down along the top, and then repeat along the bottom side. 3. Now use the sponging action back and forth through the thumb. 4. Repeat the above actions on the thumb of your left hand. 5. Now split the body awareness action, simultaneously brushing both thumbs. 6. Brush each big toe one at a time, top and bottom, starting on top of the large joint where it joins the foot. 7. Sponge each big toe one at a time. 8. Split your body awareness, brushing and then sponging both big toes at the same time. Daily Tips Robert: Body awareness techniques are not as difficult as they seem. They feel quite natural when you do them and the techniques involved just take a little practice. The small energy body stimulation exercises you have done so far are very progressive. They are primarily used to learn body awareness techniques and to clear energy blockages from small energy centers in joints. Soon you will be using much larger body Day awareness actions (whole arm and leg actions) to raise energy into and through your body. Brian: If splitting awareness is difficult at first, place your hands together so that your thumbs are side by side. This works for the feet, too, when having trouble splitting awareness on the big toes. After you practice this exercise, you'll notice your awareness splitting automatically. 3 29 For example, you might start by stimulating the energy in your right thumb and focusing your awareness there, but you'll also notice your left thumb being activated automatically. When you get better at splitting awareness, you can do it as a matter of routine. It's faster, and after a while it's just as easy as practicing body stimulation on one hand at a time. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 4 Relaxation, Breathwork, and Energy Body Stimulation (Toes) Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook Recite morning affirmations AFTERNOON Optional: Week 1 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Wbole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Breath awareness (5 min.) Energy body stimulation: Toe work (10 min.) AFFIRMATIONS MORNING ability to separate from my body, return sofeiy, and remember. EVENING Write program notes/observations NIGHT 1 am a spirit in a body capable of experiencing dimensions beyond physical existence. 1 have the Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Recite nightly affirmations Every morning 1 faithfully write dream key words in my notebook. 1 recognize each morning as a fresh opportunity to hone my astral memory. 1 attract dreams that help me achieve my goal of conscious out-of-body exploration. Estimated energy work time: 20 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 01: Relaxation" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed. Turn off the preset when you begin your relaxation exercises. Relaxation: Lower Body, Torso, Arms, Shoulders, Face (5 Minutes) 1. Lower and upper body: Follow the steps you have learned for relaxing your lower body. Relax your feet, calves, thighs, hips, buttocks, stomach, lower back, chest, and upper back. Hold for five seconds each and then relax. Consult earlier instructions if you forget the steps. 2. Arms and shoulders: Tense your shoulders, arms, and hands, making tight fists. Tense and hold for five seconds, then relax for five to ten seconds. Curl your forearms, wrists, and fists inward toward your shoulders. Tense and hold for five seconds, then relax for five to ten seconds. 30 Day 4 31 3. Face: With your eyes closed, roll your head back, open your mouth wide, and screw up your face, tensing all the muscles in your head and face. Hold it for five seconds and then relax for five to ten seconds. Also with your eyes closed smile widely while screwing up your whole face, tensing all facial, scalp, and jaw muscles. Hold it for five seconds and then relax for five to ten seconds. Frown deeply while screwing up your face and tensing all scalp, jaw, and facial muscles. Hold it for five seconds and then relax. 4. Take at least a minute to settle after doing the above, getting as comfortable and relaxed as possible. Feel all the tension drain from your body. When you feel deeply relaxed, begin the breathwork routine. Breathwork: Breath Awareness (5 Minutes) Quiet your mind and observe your breathing for five minutes. Learn patience. Enjoy these few moments of silence and inner peace. Feel your body growing heavy with deep relaxation as you quiet your mind and breathe all your tension away. Do not fret if thoughts keep popping into your mind. Just keep pushing them away and going back to feeling your breath moving in and out of your body. You'll get better at this steadily with practice. Energy Body Stimulation: Toes (10 Minutes) Spend thirty seconds to a minute on each of the following exercises. 1. Target the top of your left big toe with your awareness. Use the brushing action and brush back and forth along its whole length, over and over. Concentrate on feeling this action inside your skin. Vary this action occasionally by brushing each side of it as well: inner and outer, top and bottom. Repeat this exercise with your right big toe. 2. Use the sponging action through the whole of both big toes, one at a time. The stirring action can also be used on top of each joint if they are difficult to stimulate into noticeable activity. (Noticeable activity would include the feeling of localized tingling, throbbing, or heaviness.) 3. Split your body awareness, brushing and then sponging both big toes simultaneously. 4. Use the brushing and sponging actions on all lesser toes, starting with the toe next to the big toe on your most responsive foot. Spend slightly more time on your lessresponsive foot and on any unresponsive toes to help clear energy blockages. 5. Using a slighdy wider brushing action and starting with your best foot again, brush across the tops of all toes at the same time from side to side, from big to small toe, back and forth. Repeat this action on your other foot. 6. Split the body awareness action and repeat the above on both feet simultaneously. 32 Day 4 Daily Tips Robert: When you pause to relax your whole body after doing the relaxation routine, it can help if you imagine oily, black fluid leaking out of your feet and draining away into the earth. This black fluid contains all your tension and negative energy. Feel your whole body growing warm and heavy and cozy and deeply relaxed as all the tension drains away. today you'll work on all the toes at the same time, which goes a lot quicker. It pays to take a little more time and care the first day of toe work. The first time you get all your toes stimulated and buzzing with energy, it can be a little overwhelming. This is because they aren't used to this level of energy movement and activity. It may take several days before strong sensations ease and it feels more comfortable. Brian: The first day of toe work is a little more complex than the energy work to come. After Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 5 Relaxation, Breathwork, and Energy Body Stimulation (Feet) Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 am a spirit in a body capable of experiencing dimensions beyond physical existence. 1 have the Recite morning affirmations ability to separate from my body, return safely, and AFTERNOON remember. Optional: Week 1 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Breath awareness (5 min.) EVENING Every morning 1 faithfully write dream key words in Energy body stimulation: Foot work (10 min.) my notebook. 1 recognize each morning as a fresh Write program notes/observations opportunity to hone my astral memory. 1 attract dreams that help me achieve my goal of conscious NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material out-of-body exploration. Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 20 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 01: Relaxation" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed. Turn off the preset when you begin your relaxation exercises. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) 1. Lower and upper body: Follow the steps you learned for relaxing your lower and upper body. Relax your feet, calves, thighs, hips, buttocks, stomach, lower back, chest, upper back, face, and head. Hold for five seconds each and then relax. Consult earlier instructions if you forget the steps. 2. Jaw: With your head held in its balanced resting position, force your lower jaw straight out. Tense your jaw and hold it for five seconds, then relax. 33 34 flay 5 3. Neck I: Without tensing or forcing, arch your neck forward slowly and press your chin down firmly onto your chest as far as it will go. Hold it there for thirty seconds while breathing normally, and then slowly relax it back to its normal resting position. (If you have neck tension problems, hold your chin on your chest for up to three minutes.) 4. Neck II: Again without tensing or forcing, slowly push your head way back and firmly push your chin straight up. Keep pushing your chin out but do not tense your neck muscles. Hold it for thirty seconds while breathing normally, then slowly relax your head back to its balanced resting position. (Again, if you have neck tension problems, hold this position for up to three minutes.) 5. Neck III: With your head in its normal resting position, slowly grit your teeth and tense all your neck muscles, feeling the tension spreading right through your entire neck and up around your skull. Hold it for ten seconds and then relax. 6. Full-body stretch: Give yourself a full-body stretch, pushing out your arms and legs with your head back. Stretch and tense as much of your body as you can while taking a long, slow, deep breath. Tense and hold it for five seconds. Then deeply relax your whole body while slowly and deeply exhaling. Check your posture and readjust your sitting position at this point, but hold on to your relaxed state. 7. Take a minute to setde, getting as comfortable and relaxed as possible. Feel all the tension draining out of your body. When you are settled, begin the next exercise. Breathwork: Breath Awareness (5 Minutes) Spend five minutes observing your natural breathing process. Keep pushing those thoughts away and returning your focus to your breathing. Keep it simple. Energy Body Stimulation: Foot Work (10 Minutes) Perform the following exercises for approximately one minute each, but cease stimulation if energy movement sensations become too uncomfortable. 1. Using wide brushing and sponging actions, stimulate all the toes of your most responsive foot at the same time. Repeat this on your other foot. Then split your body awareness and do both feet at the same time. 2. Target the middle of the sole of your left foot with your awareness. (Scratch or rub this area as necessary for targeting.) Using a small clockwise stirring action (approximately one and a half inches in diameter [three centimeters] from the perspective of looking at the bottom of the foot), circle your point of body awareness there continually. Move this stirring action slowly over the underside of your foot, heel, and toes. Keep this stirring action moving at all times, covering your entire sole thoroughly several times. This action is a little like using a small rotating electric massager. Spend at least a minute or two on each sole or until the surface of each Day 5 35 sole begins to respond well. Do your best actions, especially sole stimulation actions, and keep trying with this technique, but can cause some unbelievably strong energy skip ahead to the next technique if you sensations in some people (e.g., extreme tin- find it too difficult. gling, buzzing, and bone-deep heaviness). 3. Use a wide brushing action for this, as if you are painting your soles with a large paintbrush. One foot at a time, brush your awareness back and forth from heel to toes, covering the entire underside with each brush stroke. This feels a bit like it does when your leg falls asleep and you suddenly restore circulation. Apart from their natural sensitivity, the feet are the main energy conduits into the energy body, so they are obviously very important to get "online" in an energy sense. Very strong sensations indicate energy blockages. These 4. Split your awareness and repeat the wide brushing action on both soles at the same time. sensations will steadily reduce over future energy work sessions. Brian: I found the clockwise circular action on 5. Using a deep sponging action, draw aware- the bottom of the feet to be the most challeng- ness from the tips of your toes to your ing of all the awareness actions in the pro- heel, back and forth through the whole of gram. Practicing with a brush on the bottom each foot, one foot at a time. Feel this of your feet beforehand to get the hang of it action inside the whole of each foot as you doesn't help much if you're ticklish. Ulti- do this. mately, I found that taking it slow and putting 6. Split your awareness and sponge the whole of both feet at the same time. my feet together to stimulate both soles at the same time worked the best. Having both soles to stimulate simultaneously increased the surface area and made the body awareness action Daily Tips easier to do. Robert: The feet are very sensitive and powerful energy structures. Whole-foot stimulation Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 6 Relaxation, Breathwork, and Energy Body Stimulation (Legs) Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 am a spirit in a body capable of experiencing dimensions beyond physical existence. 1 have the Recite morning affirmations ability to separate from my body, return safely, and AFTERNOON remember. Optional: Week 1 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Breath awareness (5 min.) EVENING Every morning 1 faithfully write dream key words in Energy body stimulation: Leg work (15 min.) my notebook. 1 recognize each morning as a fresh Write program notes/observations opportunity to hone my astral memory. 1 attract dreams that help me achieve my goal of conscious NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material out-of-body exploration. Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 25 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 01: Relaxation" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed. Now that you know the entire relaxation exercise, try listening to the preset while relaxing. Stop the preset during the energy body stimulation if you need to consult the directions. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise that you learned this week. Breathwork: Breath Awareness (5 Minutes) Practice breath awareness for five minutes. 36 Day Energy Body Stimulation: Leg Work (15 Minutes) Perform each step for one minute or more. 1. Use wide brushing and sponging actions to stimulate all your toes. Then move on to the stirring and whole-foot brushing awareness actions on the soles of your feet. Finish your feet off with a whole-foot sponging action. 2. Continue the stimulation with the legs, one at a time. Each leg sweep should take approximately three seconds for each pass, up or down. Use a wide brushing action on the front of each leg. (Scratch, rub, or stroke the whole leg pathway if it is required to help target and trace the pathway being worked upon.) Move your awareness from the tips of your toes, over the top of your foot and ankle, up your shin to your knee, and on up to the top of your hip joint on the front of each leg. Brush your awareness steadily back and forth a dozen times or so each way. 3. Repeat this on the back of each leg, one at a time, from your heel to the rear of your hip joint (top of buttock) and then back down again. Sitting in a chair will not interfere with this action. 4. Repeat this on the outer sides of each leg, one at a time. Pay attention to taking energy from the smallest toe with this part of the exercise, through the outer side of your foot to the heel, to the side of your ankle, up to the side of your knee, to the top of your outer hip joint, and then back down again. 6 37 5. Repeat this on your inner legs, one at a time: from your big toe through the inner side of your foot to the inner side of your ankle, to your inner knee, to your inner groin creases at the top of each leg, and then back down again. 6. Raise energy with large sponging actions through the whole of each leg, feeling all of your leg. Draw your awareness from your toes, through your ankle, up through your knee joint to your hip, and then back down through your whole leg again. (Avoid the genitals, as stimulating this area can cause distracting erotic sensations. More on this later when we deal with primary energy centers in Week 4.) 7. Split your awareness and repeat step 6 on both legs simultaneously. Daily Tips Robert: When learning leg actions, it helps if you put your feet out in front and place your legs side by side. This also makes split awareness actions much easier to learn and do. Later, when you've practiced the technique more, you'll be able to do whole-leg actions in almost any position. In step 4, the small toe is important. It helps if you spend a little time awareness brushing the side of each foot, from small toe to heel, before doing the outer leg exercise. If you can shift over to doing all split awareness actions, you will get more value from your daily exercises. 38 Day 6 Brian: You may already find that when you the body is being energized to a greater extent stimulate the foot or leg on one side of the than the one on which you are working. A body, the corresponding area of the other side simple way to alleviate this problem is to split starts to respond automatically. This can be a awareness and, from the very beginning, stim- little distracting, especially if the other side of ulate both sides of the body simultaneously. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 7 Relaxation, Breathwork, Energy Body Stimulation, and Bouncing Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am a spirit in a body capable of experiencing dimensions beyond physical existence. 1 have the ability to separate from my body, return safely, and AFTERNOON Read chapter 2 remember. Optional: Week 1 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) NIGHT EVENING Every morning 1 faithfully write dream key words in Breathwork: Breath awareness (5 min.) my notebook. 1 recognize eoch morning as a fresh Energy body stimulation: Leg work (15 min.) opportunity to hone my astral memory. 1 attract Energy body bouncing: Leg (5 min.) dreams that help me achieve my goal of conscious Write program notes/observations out-of-body exploration. Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 30 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 01: Relaxation" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair. Keep your eyes closed for maximum benefit. Stop the preset during the energy body stimulation if you need to read the directions. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Breath Awareness (5 Minutes) Practice breath awareness for five minutes. 39 40 Day 7 Energy Body Stimulation: Leg Work (15 Minutes) Stimulate your toes, feet, and legs the way you did yesterday using stirring, brushing, and sponging awareness actions. your awareness and bouncing through both legs at the same time. Holding your legs together makes this easier. Daily Tips Energy Body Bounce: Legs (5 Minutes) 1. Use sponging awareness actions up and down through the whole of one leg, from foot to hip, feeling it moving up and then down as with the earlier whole-leg sponging exercise. Bounce from foot to hip and back repeatedly, faster than you did before. Your body awareness is capable of lightning movements and of flicking from one body part to another instantly, but not so when moving through the substance of the energy body. 2. Slowly increase the speed of the leg bounce action and you will soon feel resistance. You will find there is a natural speed limit of approximately a third of a second each way. If you move faster than this, your awareness will lose contact with your energy body and start flicking from foot to hip and back, skipping the leg in between. Once this happens, you are no longer moving awareness through the energy body and hence no longer stimulating it. 3. Continue bouncing for several minutes. It's quite a pleasant sensation when you get used to it and the bounce action quickly becomes almost automatic. Try splitting Robert: The bounce action starts to become almost automatic after a while. The body's intelligence and/or the subconscious mind take over the bounce. You will find that when you stop a bounce action, it will try to continue on its own. Try this and you'll see what I mean. The longer you have been doing a bounce action, the more noticeable this becomes. This is a very useful phenomenon, as it makes energy raising and storage easier. Brian: This was the day on which I began to really notice energy blockages in my own energy body. I found that when I began doing the leg energy bounce, the sensations in my right leg were a lot more pronounced than in my left leg. At first I thought this was a good thing, but then I noticed that my right foot would begin to tense up and the right foot's toes curled downward. Knowing that body tensions like these make a conscious OBE exit nearly impossible, I spent more time than usual on stimulating this leg to strengthen and clear the pathways. As you continue energy body stimulation, identify similar blockages in your own body and spend extra time stimulating and clearing them. Day/ Your Program Notes/Observations Before Moving On This week you should have: • set up your private meditation workspace; • practiced and memorized all the steps necessary for deep physical relaxation; • learned to focus on your natural breathing process while quieting your mind with breath awareness; • learned stirring, brushing, and sponging awareness actions; • stimulated the lower half of your energy body. 41 I had my first OBE at 6 a.m. I had been up all night meditating, but I usually meditate from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. trying to OBE. Last night I was pretty bummed from trying to project and failing. I tried again for a short time with no results. Afterward, I decided to lie down and go to sleep. I lay on my side facing the couch to prevent any OBE symptoms. I'd read that it's harder to project on your side and I was hoping to get some good rest. The next thing I knew I was looking through my closed eyes, staring at the couch in kind of a weird perspective. It was like one eye was open and one was not. I tried to turn over onto my back but couldn't. I tried again, harder, but nothing happened. I began to think of the waking paralysis I'd read about in Astral Dynamics. I've experienced it only once before that I remember. It only lasted a few seconds but it was pretty weird. Then I tugged upward and could feel my astral double rising out. I could feel a tug from my physical body. At the same time, my defective astral vision was giving me problems. I couldn't really see anything. I moved several feet away to the nearby window, and the tug from my physical body lessened. I then tried to crouch and jump really high, in kind of a blast-off-through-the-roof maneuver. I felt the rush as I ascended, but with defective sight I had problems really appreciating it. At this point my vision shifted to my physical body and it seemed that my body was breathing heavier. I could feel it as I looked through my eyes to the couch from where I lay. After the blast-off attempt I decided that I'd had enough and I tried to wake up, but it didn't work. I went over to my physical body as it lay there and, through blurred vision, tried to get a closer look. I actually tried to grab my physical body and roll it over to examine my face and make sure that I was breathing. Of course, that didn't work! I don't think I ever forced my re-entry. I just ended up waking up later. Also, these memories didn't come right away. I had to spend a few minutes recalling them, but they were easy to recall. manipulating The Energq Bodq What to Expect • Energy body development • Multiple energy body model for OBE • More body awareness exercises • The projection process • Arm energy bounce • Shadow memory download • Spine energy bounce • More breathwork ' • Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions Full-body energy bounce If having a conscious-exit OBE were easy, and effort to nurture OBE ability. The good everyone would be doing it! Some people have news is that you are now one week closer to a natural talent for it. But even those with nat- making this happen. With each practice ses- ural OBE ability as children can lose it as sion—even if it's just a few short sessions adults and find they have to relearn every- spread throughout the day—you move another thing. Even for them, the path toward discov- step closer to having an OBE. And hopefully ering how to project requires time, patience, you are also learning a thing or two about your and discipline. true spiritual nature along the way. As you enter your second week of OBE The more time you put into relaxation, training, it's important to consider that OBE energy work, and other skills, the more at ease ability is a talent that requires cultivation. To you will be with the slightly altered state of reap the rewards, you need to put in the time consciousness required for having an OBE. 43 44 Week 2 This comfortableness can mean the difference advanced exercises. By now you should be get- between a calm, controlled projection and one ting a sense of your ability to stimulate and filled with trepidation and angst. Like most manipulate your personal energy. Some peo- things, the more experienced you are, the more ple, especially during early stages, will feel very confident and relaxed you will be when the big strong energy movement sensations. These moment arrives. sensations will fluctuate and gradually reduce Do not give up! Move forward at your own pace, but continue to move forward. Take the momentum you have gathered so far and allow it to carry you ahead. in severity as your energy body develops to handle the increased energy load. Strong energy movement sensations are caused by resistance within the energy body. Last week you practiced the essentials of This is resistance to an increased flow of deep physical relaxation. This week you will energy through blocked or narrowed energy continue to refine your ability to let go and centers and connecting pathways. release physical tension. Last week you also When personal energy responds in the started becoming more aware of your breath- early stages, it will most commonly cause a ing and clearing your mind. This week you surging, bubbling, rushing water kind of sen- will build upon this and take another step sation. This can be especially strong in the closer to the breathing technique used during shins, knees, and thighs, often appearing to the OBE exit. This week's main focus is on energy body come from deep inside your bones. These can be breathtaking and almost painful at times. development. So far you have begun to stimu- It is fairly normal to feel strong buzzing late and become aware of energy movement in and tingling sensations while stimulating the your body. Now you will learn more about feet, legs, hands, and arms. These sensations your energy body and why it is so important will fade slowly with regular use and develop- to improve its flow of energy. You will also get ment, reducing to a warm and comfortable a clearer understanding about what is actually gently tingling energy flow. Levels of sensation happening during an OBE and learn how can also be affected by other factors, such as memories are downloaded from your pro- the condition of your physical body and the jected double into your physical brain/mind. strength and availability of free energy, which The more you understand this process, the fluctuates daily and varies from one place to easier it will be for you to recognize what is another. happening during your OBE practice sessions. Common energy sensations include the following: Energy Body Development This week you will take body awareness skills to the next level by practicing slightly more • tingling, tickling, buzzing, and vibrating in the soles of feet and toes Manipulating the Energy Body • rushing-water sensations up legs and arms • bone-deep tingling inside hands, feet, legs, and arms 45 your energy body memory taking over and continuing repeated body awareness actions. This also shows just how quickly the energy body can be developed. • tingling energy body-rush feelings up arms, legs, and spine • muscular cramping, spasms, and After an energy blockage has been cleared, the energy body will continue flowing energy to the newly cleared area. Energy movement sensations may thus continue for long after twitching stimulation actions have ceased. Energy block• cobweblike tickling, like ants crawling all over you ages can also clear spontaneously in response to earlier stimulation work. This can happen • localized stinging and prickling sensations at any time of the day or night, which might result in noticeable energy movement sensa- • aching cold or hot spots, especially in soles and palms Heavy energy movement sensations always reduce as the energy body develops. After practice, those with highly developed energy bodies will feel only a gentle tingling warmth as a massive amount of energy is drawn through their bodies. Look upon the lessening of energy movement sensations as signs of real progress in energy body development. tions that begin spontaneously for no apparent reason. Again, do not be unduly concerned if, after initially feeling strong energy movement sensations, these lessen to a faint tingling warmth after several days or so. This is normal and a good sign that your energy body is functioning better. However, if after this week's exercises you feel no energy movement sensations at all, you may consider increasing time spent practicing energy work. Some people take longer than others to achieve results. You cannot overdo this KEY POINT Do not make the natural mistake, as many people do, that reduced sensations equate reduced energy flow or that you are doing something wrong—the opposite applies. type of energy work. Setting the Stage for an OBE Your relationship with the astral dimension can be likened to how a radio captures and After repeating energy stimulation exercises reproduces sounds. Multiple radio broadcasts a number of times, you will find they develop flit invisibly through the air on different fre- a tendency to continue of their own accord. quencies, but all occupy the same space simul- Awareness actions can thus continue in the taneously. If you think of a radio dial moving background for long after you have stopped through various frequencies and tuning in to consciously doing them. This is caused by radio broadcasts as it goes, you might get a 46 Week 2 sense of what actually happens when you astral project. What you are doing is transferring your awareness to a lighter vehicle of consciousness that allows you to experience different astral levels, like a radio tuning into different broadcasts. Various dimensional areas can be explored during an OBE, from those similar to the physical dimension to areas more abstract and removed. As we consider the various levels of the astral planes, it helps to consider the radio metaphor. Think of a radio tuned to the lowest possible frequency as your physical body/mind experiencing normal waking consciousness in the physical dimension. When you go out of body, your thinking consciousness is transferred to an energy body in an environment similar to but slighdy out of phase with your physical body/mind and the physical dimension. The first dimensional area, the one closest to normal physical reality and the one in which you are most likely to find yourself during your first projection, we call the real-time zone. The real-time zone is the dimensional area that exists between the physical dimension and the first astral plane. This can best be described as an area where a perfect reflection of reality is broadcast (using the radio metaphor) in real time as reality happens in real life. The real-time zone looks much like the normal physical world, with the same people and objects and with events and chronology parallel to our waking environment. While there are often slight inconsistencies (called reality fluctuations) between the real-time zone and the physical dimension (e.g., furni- ture that exists in one world is missing in the other, doors or windows might be out of place, etc.), it is essentially recognizable as the regular physical world. This is not one of the seven classic astral planes per se, but rather a buffer zone that separates the physical universe from the first astral plane. As we move slightly higher on the astral radio dial, we move into the astral dimension proper. The higher we go, the fewer characteristics the environment shares with our everyday physical surroundings. These are the astral planes. They span and permeate the physical universe but are nonspatial and do not occupy actual space any more than do radio waves. The astral planes do not reflect the physical universe as precisely as the real-time zone, but like radio broadcasts, they nevertheless occupy the same space. Sometimes projectors will find themselves in the astral planes when they first get out of body, but this is less common than a first real-time zone projection. It is not uncommon for veteran projectors to have years of OBEs and never experience the astral planes. The reverse also applies for some projectors. It is commonly believed that the lower astral planes are bad places. This is not necessarily so. Each astral plane contains within itself a broad spectrum of levels and realms associated with that frequency (or vibration). It is also a mistake to think of the real-time zone as a low astral plane, with low meaning negative, evil, or bad. It is just a buffer zone between the physical and astral that shares some of the properties of each. Manipulating the Energy Body What Happens During a Projection Keeping the radio metaphor in mind, let's examine what happens during an out-of-body experience. It is best to think of the OBE process as your conscious awareness transferring from your physical body into a subtle astral body that is best suited to the astral environment. This could also be likened to transferring your consciousness into a computer-generated virtual reality environment, as shown in movies like The Matrix and The Lawnmower Man. When you project out of body you are not leaving your body an empty shell devoid of mind, spirit, and soul. The term out-of-body experience is really a misnomer, because your spirit is not actually departing your physical body. Rather, you are transferring a perfect thinking copy of your consciousness into a projected double that can exist outside the confines of your physical body and mind. The transfer of this copy occurs automatically during the OBE exit process. In essence, this can permit projectors to experience two places at once. KEY POINT Your original mind, spirit, and soul never leave your physical body while it lives! Your astral body is always firmly connected to your physical body through an unbreakable energy filament often referred to as the silver cord. This allows energy from your physical body to flow to your astral double to keep it functional and lucid. Additionally, experience 47 tells us that two-way communications pass through this cord between the physical body and its astral counterpart. If you study case histories of OBEs, you will frequentiy come across examples of this happening. For instance, someone might be having a distant out-ofbody adventure, yet also hear the clock ticking beside his or her physical body. You will also encounter numerous examples of projectors sighting glowing cords connecting them to their physical bodies, even if they have never heard of the silver cord. Not all projectors see this connecting cord, but enough sightings have been recorded to justify its probable existence. It is likely that the silver cord only becomes visible during certain types or levels of OBEs, which would explain its absence during other types of OBEs. Also consider the fact that if the physical body is disturbed, the projected double is instantly recalled. The simplest and most likely explanation for these factors suggests that a direct connection must exist between the physical body and its projected double. Let's take a look at the various subtle bodies and how they apply to the OBE. Your Fundamental Energy Body Your fundamental energy body, the part that resides within you during your lifetime, is closely related to your physical body. It is intimately involved with all biological life processes plus all subtle energy processes, including OBEs and psychic abilities. The fundamental energy body can be thought of as the part of you that links your physical aspect with all your nonphysical aspects. The fundamental energy body 48 Week 2 is what you have been manipulating with the body awareness techniques you practiced last week. The fundamental energy body cannot leave the confines of the physical body during one's lifetime. The only possible exception to this would be an NDE (near-death experience), which would account for the stunning power and clarity of an NDE. The fundamental energy body has various aspects. One aspect is associated with biological functioning and bodily intelligence. There is also an aspect made up of at least seven primary energy centers (also called major chakras), three main energy storage centers, plus hundreds of secondary energy centers (small chakras) and dense patches of energy exchange ports. Additionally, there is also an aspect that internally generates subde bodies (the aspect responsible for projection). The very first subde body generated is always internal. This can be called the expanded energy body. This is the subtle body into which your thinking consciousness first transfers when you fall asleep or when you enter the trance state. The trance state is where your physical body falls asleep while your mind stays awake. This is heralded by a warm, heavy, and blissful wave, which happens for just a few moments before you fall asleep. This internal projection of consciousness into the expanded energy body (the trance state) is the first step of the staggered OBE projection process. All aspects of your fundamental energy body are enmeshed within your physical body, including the expanded energy body. These are never projected during an OBE. They are best thought of as the parts that keep you alive, the parts that generate all subtle bodies and anchor and support these to your physical body while you are out of your body. Your Expanded Energy Body The expanded energy body is first generated when the trance state is achieved. This is much like the projected double, but it cannot fully separate from the physical body. It can, however, develop various astral abilities and some freedom of movement within the physical body in the full trance state and especially in the pre-OBE exit state. At these times it shares some of the properties of the fundamental energy body and some of the astral double. It can also be said to be part physical body and part spirit body, a kind of ectoplasmic inbetween state of existence. To elaborate, when the complete expanded energy body is internally generated, not only consciousness is transferred to it but also the mind/spirit/soul essence. The mind can be awake or asleep, but the spirit/soul essence is always conscious at some level during sleeping, dreaming, and an OBE. This makes a lot of sense, as there must be a natural basis for these internal transfers of consciousness. It is only in this state that out-of-body projection becomes possible. Yet a study of what we call the mind-split effect (discussed later) suggests that the whole mind/spirit/soul unit is not projected outside the physical body, only a copy is projected. Logic suggests that this is a natural phenomenon designed to protect the physical body and its mind/spirit/soul unit during an OBE. In a Manipulating the Energy Body way, it could be said that the mind/spirit/soul occupies and guards its earthly vehicle at all times. The expanded energy body is most likely responsible for astral sight and hearing, because the expanded energy body can stay conscious while an OBE is in progress. It can hear and see into the real-time zone and even into the higher levels of the astral at times. The expanded energy body has limited movement inside the physical body, but with practice one can even turn around and face the other way, moving around inside one's own skin. These astral perceptions and movement abilities can be functional during an OBE where a projector is conscious of operating out of body as well as being conscious inside his or her paralyzed physical/expanded energy body. Memories of such duality, of existing in two places simultaneously during an OBE, are common if you examine case histories. For example, projectors remember being at remote locations while also being aware of real-life events and sounds near their physical bodies. Memories of flicking back and forth between the projected double and the physical body are also commonly experienced. The expanded energy body and/or its projectable double are probably also involved in the common experience where people feel only a part of their astral body floating out of their physical bodies. For example, they might feel their legs or arms or heads and shoulders floating free, but with no full projection occurring. This can also be considered a partial projection, where only a part of the projectable double is generated. 49 Your Projectable Double During the OBE exit process, the fundamental energy body combines with its expanded energy body to produce an internal projectable double. When the projectable double is produced, another internal shift of consciousness occurs from the expanded energy body to the projectable double—but this shift generally goes unnoticed. When the OBE exit reflex is triggered, a projector feels him- or herself shifting out of body. This is usually a quite noticeable and visceral sensation. Once projected, the projectable double is then called the astral double (these are one and the same). This makes sense if you look at the whole projection process, which is a staggered affair (from physical body to expanded energy body, then from projectable double to projected double, and so on). Your Real-Time Astral Body Next in line is your real-time astral double. This is the vehicle of consciousness that is projected into the real-time zone (the buffer zone between the physical universe and the first astral plane). Some people call the real-time projectable double the expanded energy body and say this can be projected out of body. We prefer to call this the real-time astral body, with its natural environment being the realtime zone, because these terms are more descriptive. Popular Eastern terminology does not do these aspects justice, so we clarified them with Western terms. If you project your real-time body and others doing the same observe you, to them you 50 Week 2 would look reasonably normal. One's self-image is a factor in how you appear during an OBE, so you will usually look younger and more perfect but similar to how you look in reality. By its nature, the real-time double exists and functions in the real-time zone only. If you project to the next higher astral plane (i.e., tune to a higher frequency on the radio dial), you automatically generate a finer astral body. The projected double is dynamic and automatically adjusts itself to suit its environment. The real-time body is only one step away from the expanded energy body. Feedback between these two aspects is a factor, especially during operations in the real-time zone. What affects one will affect the other. The intensity of this feedback is strongest within thirty feet or so (nine meters) and reduces with distance. At very close range, the physical body generates a type of magnetism that can be keenly felt by the real-time projected double as an intangible force trying to drag it back into its physical body. For these reasons, projectors are generally advised to move quickly away from their physical bodies after the OBE exit and to keep their distance until they plan to return. Your Astral Body The astral body is more stable and less affected by the physical body than its real-time cousin. As a result, the astral body is easier to manage during an OBE. By definition, the astral body is the vehicle of consciousness used to explore the astral planes. Since the astral planes are further removed from the physical dimension, the astral body experiences less energy conflicts, tensions, and pressures with its expanded energy body counterpart than does the real-time double. When you are in your astral body, you will still perceive yourself as having a body, although you will usually not see it unless you deliberately look at yourself. To summarize, there are four energy bodies associated with projection: • The fundamental energy body, the energy body related to life functions that remains rooted in the physical body throughout one's lifetime • The expanded energy body, the energy body associated with the first stage of OBE, the inner projection • The real-time energy body, the energy body that operates in the real-time zone into which a copy of consciousness is projected • The astral energy body, the energy body that operates in the astral planes into which a copy of consciousness is projected Note: Only a real-time or astral energy body is typically in use at one given time. They might both be projected at one time, but only one has the focus of energy (and thus active consciousness). The Projection Process Astral projection happens naturally during sleep without your being aware of it. Often you may have fragmented memories of out-of- Manipulating the Energy Body body experiences such as flying dreams, or exit-related sensations such as sudden falling sensations (brief falling feelings of the type that jerk you awake). This last is caused by mini-OBE exits or partial exits and can happen many times in a single night. It is particularly likely to occur when you are restless and having difficulty falling asleep. This sensation will often affect the dream mind and generate dream imagery of flying or falling. Generally, brief falling sensations are not actually caused by your projected double falling back into your physical body, which is physical-world thinking. This sensation relates to the OBE exit, which causes a continual falling sensation on the way out of body. Therefore, a partial OBE exit generates the falling sensation without any actual falling being involved. If you have experienced these 51 from time to time, it's a very good sign that you have natural OBE ability. It also shows how the OBE exit happens smoothly and naturally every time you sleep. Essentially, what the Mastering Astral Projection program does is to mimic in a very deliberate way the natural OBE process that occurs nightly. Instead of allowing it to happen naturally, however, you will be consciously directing the process and employing special techniques to retain the memories after the fact. Let's look at what happens during a conscious-exit OBE (Figure 1). During this program, you will be training your mind to remain awake as your body falls asleep. The mind awake/body asleep state is an altered or trance state of consciousness. When this happens, an inner projection occurs. Your 52 Week 2 Figure 2. OBE phase two: The real-time double is exteriorized. center of consciousness shifts into the first level of subtle body—your expanded energy body—as it expands and prepares to generate a projectable double. You may have experienced or read accounts in which people attempting to project have been able to see the room through closed eyes or even seem to have projected and yet be stuck in their body. These are examples of abilities related to inner-body projection. From this point it is usually only a matter of employing an exit technique to trigger a full OBE exit. From the first inner expanded energy projection, you next project into your real-time double (Figure 2). Again, the physical body/mind is never left empty. A projectable double is exteriorized and a copy of consciousness transfers into it. It is a fallacy to think that you may not be able to get back into your physical body after a projection, that you might get lost, or that some ghost or spirit might inhabit or abuse your body during an OBE. Projecting from the real-time zone and into the astral planes from here is merely a matter of the consciousness shifting once again into a higher, more subde astral body. Your expanded energy body is always in your body while you are alive (Figure 3). As the main focus of energy shifts from the real-time double to its astral counterpart, the real-time double appears to go to sleep as a result of the energy loss and shift of consciousness focus. Other projectors in the realtime environment would observe the projected double merely drifting there mimicking the physical body in sleep. Manipulating the Energy Body 53 Figure 3. OBE phase three: Astral projection, where the bulk of exteriorized energy transfers to the astral double. Transferring Consciousness and How Shadow Memory Works During an OBE exit, a perfect copy of your thinking consciousness shifts out with your projected double. Your consciousness is thus split into two identical parts: one in your physical/expanded energy body and one in your projected double. You will thus exist in two places simultaneously. The mind-split effect occurs at the beginning of every OBE. Each part holds within it a full copy of thinking consciousness, which functions independently for the duration of an OBE. Each thinks and gathers experience memories independently until it reintegrates with the other part at the end of the OBE. In general, the mind-split effect occurs unnoticed by either part, especially if the physical body/mind is asleep. During reintegration, memories from the projected double are downloaded into the expanded energy body and then into the physical brain/mind in a process we call the shadow memory download. As you might guess, the above process can cause some pretty serious memory storage conflicts. This is especially so when the physical body's mind stays awake while its projected double is out and about. The biggest problem is that only one memory storage facility (the human brain/mind) is available to process and store both sets of memories after the projected 54 Week 2 double returns. To complicate matters further, when you have forgotten something and then it the dream mind can also become active dur- suddenly appears in your mind. ing an OBE, and so dream memories must If a deliberate re-entry were the same as a also be considered. This is the essence of why deliberate exit, you would expect to just slip OBEs are so maddeningly difficult to remem- back into your physical body with full OBE ber. It is also why shadow memory download memories intact and locked into conscious and recall processes are so important. After all, memory. This does not usually happen, how- what good are OBE experiences unless you ever, especially if the mind of your expanded can remember them? energy body is awake and aware at that time. Your ability to download memories from The most likely scenario during re-entry your projected double into your physical brain/ involves the fundamental energy body imme- mind is key to a successful OBE. Memories are diately reabsorbing the energy substance of the only things that remain after an OBE; with- both its expanded energy body and its pro- out them it's as if the OBE never happened. jected double. Some people have a natural ability to remem- The OBE memories, on the other hand, are ber dreams and OBEs, making them successful something quite different. During re-entry, projectors, but most people have to train them- they are downloaded and held in much the selves and use memory recall techniques to same way as dream memories are: just beyond accomplish the same thing. the edge of conscious memory. This similarity When the projected double makes a deliberate return to its physical body, it "dissolves" at is why dream recall practice is so crucial for OBE training. the moment of re-entry as it reintegrates with Fortunately, like any other type of memory, its expanded energy body, which in turn then shadow memory can be trained. This is why reintegrates with its physical body/mind upon keeping a dream journal, writing down key waking. You do not just slide back into your words, and other dream recall techniques are body like a hand slipping into a glove, you "dis- so important. Hopefully by now you will be solve" with a fizzy, tingling, falling sensation at recovering at least some dream memory frag- the last moment. When this happens, your pro- ments. You may also have discovered some jected double's mind becomes momentarily factors that enhance dream memory recall unconscious as its shadow memories download (e.g., waking up naturally versus waking up into the expanded energy body and then the with an alarm clock, using the snooze button physical mind/brain. If, however, your physical on your alarm, having a sleep deficit versus body is in a receptive state and you make a per- getting plenty of sleep, etc.). Try to use these fect re-entry, after a moment of nothingness factors to improve your shadow memory you will suddenly find yourself back in your recall. As this program continues, you will physical body with full memories of your OBE. learn more techniques and tips for sharpening This transition is very much like how it feels shadow memory recall. Manipulating the Energy Body 55 Preparing for the First Inner-Body Projection (Part 1 of the Program) unnatural astral shock that grossly interferes with the OBE exit. The first part of this program, Weeks 1 through 6, is all about developing your ability to accomplish the first stage of projection: the inner body projection, which involves the expanded energy body and the trance state. You should not physically move during an OBE exit attempt. As this inner projection takes place, the center of your thinking consciousness automatically transfers into this internally generated subde body. When this happens, your physical body falls asleep. Beyond this point, in the full pre-OBE exit state, the physical body becomes paralyzed. Pre-OBE exit paralysis occurs when your entire animating consciousness (your mind/ spirit/soul unit) moves out of synch with its physical body to reside within its fully generated expanded energy body. This is a kind of ectoplasmic in-between state of existence firmly contained within the physical body. Temporary paralysis will also sometimes occur during full to deep trance, but this usually involves an unnoticed OBE exit. KEY POINT In order to project, your eyes must be closed at all times. In order to project, your eyes must be closed at all times. Having your eyes open confounds the OBE exit process. This is because during the exit your brain/mind would be forced to accept two streams of visual input simultaneously: one from the physical eyes and one from the projecting astral body. This causes a kind of KEY POINT You should not physically move during an OBE exit attempt. This is true for the same reason you should keep your eyes closed. Any movement or muscular tensing will interfere with that first level of inner projection, especially for novices. The challenge is not just relaxing but staying relaxed during the OBE induction process and not allowing yourself to tense up in response to OBE exit sensations. You began this program learning how to relax your physical body and to manipulate your energy body. This has given you some sense of how to control your personal energy in a deliberate way. These are invaluable skills, as the majority of OBE exit techniques in this book involve body awareness actions. In future weeks you will learn more about shutting down the internal dialogue that more or less flows constantly through your mind in the awake state. You will also learn how to accelerate the process of causing your body to fall asleep while your mind remains awake and lucid. Breathwork: Deepening the Breath This week's exercise has been designed to complement last week's breathwork. Last week you quieted your thoughts and observed your breathing without making any effort to change 56 Week 2 your breath cycle. This week you will learn to take fuller and deeper breaths in a gradual way. Start as you did last week by sitting quietly and silencing your thoughts. Spend a minute focusing on your breathing. After this, mentally count "one" and take a slightly deeper breath than your previous breath. On the next breath mentally count "two" and take an even deeper breath. Count up to between six and twelve, taking slightly fuller and deeper breaths each time. At some point during the above count you will reach a comfortable level of deep breathing. Count out another twelve breaths at this level. Keep your mind focused on the leading edge of your breath or on the rise and fall of your chest and stomach, whichever is easiest for you. If stray thoughts impede on your mental silence, gently push them away and focus on the next number in the count. After taking twelve deep breaths, begin a fresh count. Mentally count "one" and take a slightly shallower breath than the one before. Mentally count "two" and take an even shallower breath. Take anywhere from six to twelve counts to let your breathing settle down to its normal level and cadence. When you are through, simply sit there for a minute and observe your normal breathing. Is it deeper than it was before? Has it slowed down at all? Your breathing should never be forced. The goal for you here is to find a slightly deeper and fuller breath cycle that also feels comfortable. Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 02: Relaxation (Deep)" Use the BrainWave Generator preset the same way you did last week. Start the preset at the beginning of your relaxation exercise and listen to it throughout your energy work. If you found it effective to sit quietly and listen to the preset fifteen to twenty minutes before you began your session, or if you have a lot on your mind and are looking for a way to unwind before you begin your exercises, do so again. Use a timer or clock to time the preenergy-work BrainWave Generator session. If you should find your mind wandering while you sit quietly, try using a mantra. When you breathe in, think the word astral When you exhale, think the word projection. Inhale astral; exhale projection. Allow all other thoughts to quiet. As with last week, you want to become as relaxed as possible without falling asleep. If you find it hard to stay awake, or if you find your mind wanders too much during these exercises, make sure you are sitting in a hard-backed chair with no head support. This will help you maintain a slight level of discomfort, which will in turn help you remain awake and lucid. If this fails, take a short nap and begin again. Reminder: The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. lAf CBC1/ O * TBg iji ^ M • m # DAILY PAGES Deepening the breath: This week you will learn to breathe more deeply. Do not strain yourself by taking breaths beyond your lung capacity. Instead, use your lungs and belly to breathe more efficiently. Energy body stimulation: This week you will continue to stimulate and develop your energy body, focusing on upper-body and more advanced stimulation exercises. You may discover energy blockages or that some parts of your body don't respond as well as others. Give problem areas more attention. DAY 8 Relaxation, Breathwork, and Energy Body Stimulation (Hands) Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 communicate this desire to all levels of my mind and body. 1 attract the energies and influences that AFTERNOON Optional: Week 2 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) convert this desire into reality. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Deepening the breath (5 min.) EVENING My dream memory continues to develop. Scene Optional: Energy body stimulation: Legs (15 min.) after scene returns to me each time 1 awaken. The Optional: Energy body bouncing: Legs {5 min.) more 1 practice writing key words, the more Energy body stimulation: Hond work (10 min.) powerful and clear my dream memory becomes. Write program notes/observations NIGH! Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Recite nightly affirmations work time: 20 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 02: Relaxation (Deep)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with no head support and your eyes closed. If your mind wanders, practice breath awareness. Mentally say astral as you inhale and projection as you exhale. If possible, memorize today's instructions and keep your eyes closed during the entire preset. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 58 Day Breathwork: Deepening the Breath (5 Minutes) Take a long, full-body stretch and settle into your meditation space. Clear your mind and spend a minute observing your breathing. Now take six to twelve breaths, taking slightly deeper and fuller breaths each time. Don't strain your lungs! If you feel any strain, you are breathing too deeply. Take another twelve deep breaths, pausing normally between them. Then take another six to twelve breaths, gradually taking shallower breaths each time until your breathing returns to normal again. Spend another minute observing your breathing, and then move on to the next exercise. Optional: Energy Body Stimulation: Leg Work (15 Minutes) Follow the exercises from last week to stimulate your toes, feet, and legs. Optional: Energy Body Bouncing: Legs (5 Minutes) Complete last week's leg energy bounce tech- 8 59 4. Use a wide brushing action across all fingers from side to side, covering all fingers. 5. Perform the same process you did with the soles of your feet but on the palms of your hands. First use a tight, mobile stirring action, moving this action about until you have covered the whole of the palm of each hand, including the undersides of all fingers. Then use a wide brushing action back and forth from a few inches above the heel of the hand to the fingertips, covering the entire surface of the palm and undersides of all fingers. 6. Finish by using a large sponging action through the whole of each hand from the fingertips to just above the wrist. 7. Split your awareness and repeat step 6 on both hands simultaneously. (Once you get the hang of the exercise, you can save time by splitting your awareness from the beginning.) nique. Daily Tips Energy Body Stimulation: Hand Work (10 Minutes) 1. Spread the fingers of your left hand slighdy and use a brushing action on the top side of each finger, from fingertip to wrist, for thirty seconds per finger or thumb. 2. Turn your hand over and repeat step 1 on the underside. 3. Use a wide brushing action to stimulate the back of your hand. Cover all fingers from the tips to a few inches above the wrist for thirty seconds or more per hand. Robert: The process for hand and finger stimulation is similar to that used on the feet. Some find it easier to do early finger and hand exercises by looking at each finger during stimulation. This is permissible, but please discontinue using your eyes for this purpose once the techniques are learned. After a while—anything from a few seconds to a few minutes during a first attempt—you may start feeling localized heaviness, pressure, tingling, buzzing, or even bone-deep tickling sensations inside your finger 60 Day 8 joints. This may extend into more of your hand. fingers at the same time, especially if they all The palms, like the soles, are particularly sensi- respond well (e.g., if some level of energy tive and can produce very strong tingling and movement sensation becomes apparent). If tickling sensations. If these become too strong, you notice some energy blockages, you might rubbing your hands together, making fists, spend a little extra time on the finger or and/or clapping helps ease the sensations. thumb in question. When I first did hand Brian: As with your first day of toe work, you should stimulate each finger one at a time. In the days that follow, you can stimulate all the work, mild energy pulses spontaneously shot through my right thumb for several days. This disappeared with more energy work. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 9 Relaxation, Breathwork, and Energy Body Stimulation (Arms) AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 communicate this desire to all levels of my mind Recite morning affirmations and body. 1 attract the energies and influences that AFTERNOON Optional: Week 2 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) convert this desire into reality. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Deepening the breath (5 min.) EVENING My dream memory continues to develop. Scene Optional: Energy body stimulation: Legs (15 min.) after scene returns to me each time 1 awaken. The Optional: Energy body bouncing: Legs (5 min.) more 1 practice writing key words, the more Energy body stimulation: Arms (15 min.) powerful and clear my dream memory becomes. Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work rime: 25 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 02: Relaxation (Deep)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with no head support and your eyes closed. If your mind wanders, practice breath awareness. Mentally say astral as you inhale and projection as you exhale. If possible, memorize today's instructions and keep your eyes closed during the entire preset. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Deepening the Breath (5 Minutes) Stretch and get into position. Follow yesterday's routine: six to twelve breaths to deepen the breath, twelve deep breaths, then six to twelve breaths to get back to normal. Remember to spend a minute 61 62 Day 9 before and after the exercise to observe your natural breathing. Optional: Energy Body Stimulation: Leg Work (15 Minutes) Follow the exercises from last week to stimulate your feet and legs. Optional: Energy Body Bouncing: Legs (5 Minutes) Complete last week's leg energy bounce technique. Energy Body Stimulation: Arm Work (15 Minutes) Split your awareness on the following steps if you can. 1. Follow the steps you learned yesterday for stimulating the hands. 2. Use a wide brushing action to brush the inside of each arm from fingertips to armpit, back and forth. Continue for one minute or more on each arm. 3. Brush the outside of each arm from fingertips to shoulder. Continue for one minute or more on each arm. 4. Using a deep sponging action, sponge awareness through the whole of each arm from fingertips to shoulder. Continue for at least two minutes per arm. Daily Tips Robert: Spend as much time as you need for body awareness exercises. The times given are suggestions only. If you spend more time practicing techniques that you are having problems with now, you won't become stalled later in the program. Take advantage of travel and waiting time to do extra body awareness practice. This can be done anywhere and anytime. If you find unresponsive (blocked) areas in your energy body, use sponging and bouncing actions on them as you are falling asleep. Energy work carries on for some time after you fall asleep if you fall asleep while doing it, and this can be a great help in clearing energy blockages. Brian: One thing to consider when you're making your daily (or nightly) program notes/observations is to jot down things that happen during the day that are particularly unusual. By this time in the program I noticed that I started having more deja vu-type experiences, but it doesn't have to be anything mystical like that. Perhaps you'll find that you have more energy or you sleep better or you notice that you're growing more sensitive to energy movement in and around your body. Anything like this might be of significance later. 5. Split your awareness and sponge the whole of both arms simultaneously. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 10 Relaxation, Breathwork, Energy Body Stimulation, and Bouncing Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 communicate this desire to all levels of my mind and body. 1 attract the energies and influences that AFTERNOON Optional: Week 2 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) convert this desire into reality. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Deepening the breath (5 min.) EVENING My dream memory continues to develop. Scene Optional: Energy body stimulation: Legs (15 min.) after scene returns to me each time 1 awaken. The Optional: Energy body bouncing: Legs (5 min.) more 1 practice writing key words, the more Energy body stimulation: Arms (15 min.) powerful and clear my dream memory becomes. Energy body bouncing: Arms (5 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 30 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 02: Relaxation (Deep)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with no head support and your eyes closed. If your mind wanders, practice breath awareness. Mentally say astral as you inhale and projection as you exhale. If possible, memorize today's instructions and keep your eyes closed during the entire preset. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 63 64 Day 10 Breathwork: Deepening the Breath (5 Minutes) Stretch and get into position. Follow yesterday's routine: six to twelve breaths to deepen the breath, twelve deep breaths, then six to twelve breaths to get back to normal. Remember to spend a minute before and after the exercise to observe your natural breathing. Optional: Energy Body Stimulation: Leg Work (15 Minutes) Follow the exercises from last week to stimulate your feet and legs. Optional: Energy Body Bouncing: Legs (5 Minutes) Complete last week's leg energy bounce technique. Energy Body Stimulation: Hand and Arm Work (15 Minutes) Follow yesterday's energy work exercises to stimulate your hands and arms. Energy Body Bouncing: Arms (5 Minutes) Bounce your awareness through each arm from fingertips to shoulder and back again repeatedly. First test for resistance and adjust the bounce speed to suit. Then split your awareness and bounce through both arms simultaneously. Daily Tips Robert: The experience described below by Brian is typical of an early dream OBE that results from training rather than from natural ability. Because Brian experienced extreme OBE weakness, it is likely this involved an actual OBE as well as the dream version Brian first remembered. Weakness and vision problems usually resolve themselves in time, but they can also often be overcome by commanding your subconscious to help. For example, make commands like "Give me strength!", "Give me light!", and "Give me vision!" and these problems will often disappear instandy. Brian: From my personal dream journal, Week 2 of the program: "I went to sleep repeating the affirmations, thinking how wonderful it would be to float weightlessly. In a dream I found myself back in the bedroom I had when I was a teenager. 'I don't see what the big deal is,' my dream self reasoned. 'I go out of body all the time!' I felt myself stretch and elongate and I started to float up but got stuck halfway out of my body. With a final oomph, I pushed myself out but, lacking any energy, I fell slowly to the floor, feeling the texture of the carpet beneath me. I tried to look up but my vision was out of focus. I willed myself to gain more energy and strength and for a better sense of vision but nothing happened. 'This isn't right,' I thought, but was still unable to do much more than lay on the floor." Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 11 Relaxation, Breathwork, Energy Body Stimulation, and Bouncing Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 communicate this desire to all levels of my mind and body. 1 attract the energies and influences that AFTERNOON convert this desire into reality. Optional: Week 2 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Deepening the breath (5 min.) EVENING My dream memory continues to develop. Scene Optional: Energy body stimulation: Legs (15 min.) after scene returns to me each time 1 awaken. The Energy body bouncing: Legs (5 min.) more 1 practice writing key words, the more Optional: Energy body stimulation: Arms (15 min.) powerful and clear my dream memory becomes. Energy body bouncing: Arms (5 min.) Energy body bouncing: Spine (5 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 25 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 02: Relaxation (Deep)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with no head support and your eyes closed. If your mind wanders, practice breath awareness. Mentally say astral as you inhale and projection as you exhale. If possible, memorize today's instructions and keep your eyes closed during the entire preset. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 65 66 Day 11 Breathwork: Deepening the Breath (5 Minutes) Continue to follow the routine: six to twelve breaths to deepen the breath, twelve deep breaths, then six to twelve breaths to get back to normal. Spend a minute before and after the exercise to observe your natural breathing. Optional: Energy Body Stimulation: Leg Work (15 Minutes) Follow the exercises from last week to stimulate your feet and legs. Energy Body Bouncing: Legs (5 Minutes) Complete last week's leg energy body bounce technique. Optional: Energy Body Stimulation: Arm Work (15 Minutes) Follow this week's hand and arm stimulation exercise. Energy Body Bouncing: Arms (5 Minutes) Do yesterday's arm bouncing exercise. Energy Body Bouncing: Spine (5 Minutes) Target the tailbone at the base of your spine with your awareness. Move your awareness along the full length of your spine to the top of your head. Bounce your awareness back and forth from top to bottom, feeling it all the way. Increase the speed and adjust it until you find a comfortable rhythm—about a half second or so in each direction. Take care to breathe naturally while doing this. The spinal bounce action tends to interfere with the natural breathing pattern. This can cause shallow breathing and intermittent breath-holding. Daily Tips Robert: Spinal bounce-type body awareness actions have a strong self-healing side effect. The energy movement these actions cause helps reduce inflammation and promotes faster healing. Repeated body awareness can also help with any injury or disease (arthritis, sporting injuries, and infections). Raising energy with body awareness actions, especially through the thighs, stimulates the immune system. Viruses like influenza and common colds also respond well, especially if caught early when symptoms first appear. To do this, first perform the full relaxation exercise, then stimulate and raise energy through your legs and thighs, paying particular attention to thighs. Then use the fullbody circuit (coming up on Day 15) for twenty minutes or more. This is even more effective if done while falling asleep at night, as energy work tends to continue for some time after you fall asleep. Brian: Of all the energy bouncing exercises, I found the spine bounce the most difficult to get started. Perhaps this was because it had been the first time I'd stimulated this part of my energy body. Not concentrating more on the spine bounce in the beginning led to roadblocks for me later. Be sure to take as much time as you need to learn this technique. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 12 Relaxation, Breathwork, Energy Body Stimulation, and Bouncing Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 communicate this desire to all levels of my mind Recite morning affirmations and body. 1 attract the energies and influences that AFTERNOON convert this desire into reality. Optional: Week 2 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Deepening the breath (5 min.) EVENING My dream memory continues to develop. Scene Optional: Energy body stimulation: Legs (15 min.) after scene returns to me each time 1 awaken. The Energy body bouncing: Legs (5 min.) more 1 practice writing key words, the more Optional: Energy body stimulation: Arms (15 min.) powerful and clear my dream memory becomes. Energy body bouncing: Arms and spine (10 min.) Energy body bouncing: Full body (5 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 30 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 02: Relaxation (Deep)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with no head support and your eyes closed. If your mind wanders, practice breath awareness. Mentally say astral as you inhale and projection as you exhale. If possible, memorize today's instructions and keep your eyes closed during the entire preset. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 68 Day 12 69 Breathwork: Deepening the Breath (5 Minutes) Continue to follow the routine: six to twelve breaths to deepen the breath, twelve deep breaths, then six to twelve breaths to get back to normal. Spend a minute before and after the exercise to observe your natural breathing. feet to just past the top of your head.) Bounce your awareness back and forth from your feet to your fingertips. The bounce rhythm should be fairly quick—about one or two seconds each way. Whatever feels most natural is best. Try to feel the whole of your body, inside and out, with each full-body bounce. Optional: Energy Body Stimulation: Leg Work (15 Minutes) Follow the exercises from last week to stimulate your feet and legs. Energy Body Bouncing: Legs (5 Minutes) Complete last week's leg energy body bounce technique. Optional: Energy Body Stimulation: Arm Work (15 Minutes) Follow this week's hand and arm stimulation exercise. Energy Body Bouncing: Arms and Spine (10 Minutes) Do this week's arm and spine bouncing exercise. Energy Body Bouncing: Full Body (5 Minutes) The full-body bounce is easiest to learn while lying down with your arms raised above your head and your legs together. Take your awareness from both feet up through the legs, torso, head, and arms, all the way to just past the fingertips. (If you are sitting or if there is no room to raise your arms over your head while lying down, you can rest your arms at your sides where awareness is bounced from your Daily Tips Robert: My eldest son, Benjamin, took some physiology units at university. A part of one course involved using an ECG (electrocardiogram) to measure heart functions. Students took turns as the subject to be measured, and when it came to Ben's turn he performed an experiment. Without anyone knowing, Ben performed an energy body stimulation exercise. The ECG showed impossible readings, but worked perfectly on the students before and after him. The machine was deemed to be temporarily malfunctioning. Further inquiries yielded a possible explanation: body awareness actions cause premovement neural activity that, if strong enough, could interfere with delicate equipment measuring minute fluctuations in bioelectrical activity, as with ECG. Brian: One of the early Mastering Astral Projection road testers was practicing energy work when his large pet cat playfully leapt on the area where he was focusing his energy body stimulation exercises. This is evidence that the awareness actions may be detectable and attractive to animals. DAY 13 Relaxation, Breathwork, Energy Body Stimulation, and Bouncing Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 communicate this desire to all levels of my mind Recite morning affirmations and body. 1 attract the energies and influences that AFTERNOON convert this desire into reality. Optional: Week 2 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Deepening the breath (5 min.) EVENING My dream memory continues to develop. Scene Optional: Energy body stimulation: Legs (15 min.) after scene returns to me each time 1 awaken. The Energy body bouncing: Legs (5 min.) more 1 practice writing key words, the more Optional: Energy body stimulation: Arms (15 min.) powerful and clear my dream memory becomes. Energy body bouncing: Arms and spine (10 min.) Energy body bouncing: Full body (5 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 30 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 02: Relaxation (Deep)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with no head support and your eyes closed. If your mind wanders, practice breath awareness. Mentally say astral as you inhale and projection as you exhale. If possible, memorize today's instructions and keep your eyes closed during the entire preset. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 71 72 Day 13 Breathwork: Deepening the Breath (5 Minutes) Continue to follow the routine: six to twelve breaths to deepen the breath, twelve deep breaths, then six to twelve breaths to get back to normal. Spend a minute before and after the exercise to observe your natural breathing. Optional: Energy Body Stimulation: Leg Work (15 Minutes) Follow the exercises from last week to stimulate your toes, feet, and legs. Energy Body Bouncing: Legs (5 Minutes) Complete last week's leg energy body bounce technique. Optional: Energy Body Stimulation: Arm Work (15 Minutes) Follow this week's hand and arm stimulation exercise. Energy Body Bouncing: Arms and Spine (10 Minutes) Do this week's arm and spine bouncing exercise. Daily Tips Robert: You may have noticed that the wholelimb and whole-body awareness exercises are becoming simpler. The smaller exercises are primarily used for training and for removing energy blockages. By now you should be feeling at least some energy movement sensations while doing the energy work. Keep in mind that strong energy movement sensations will tend to steadily reduce. This is a good sign as very strong movement sensations generally indicate blockages. Brian: Try this when you're doing your energy bouncing today: once you get into the flow of the bounce, stop your mental efforts but continue to center your awareness on the body part through which the energy movement is occurring. You will probably notice that the bounce possesses its own momentum, continuing even after you stop mentally prompting it. It's amazing how it seems to assume a pace and rhythm of its own. When the bounce sensation begins to quiet, resume your conscious effort to intensify it again. Energy Body Bouncing: Full Body (5 Minutes) Complete the full-body bounce exercise from yesterday. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 14 Relaxation, Breathwork, Energy Body Stimulation, and Bouncing Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 communicate this desire to all levels of my mind Recite morning affirmations and body. 1 attract the energies and influences that AFTERNOON convert this desire into reality. Read chapter 3 Optional: Week 2 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING My dream memory continues to develop. Scene Breathwork: Deepening the breath (5 min.) after scene returns to me each time 1 awaken. The Optional: Energy body stimulation: Legs (15 min.) more 1 practice writing key words, the more Energy body bouncing: Legs (5 min.) powerful and clear my dream memory becomes. Optional: Energy body stimulation: Arms (15 min.) Energy body bouncing: Arms, spine, body (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 30 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 02: Relaxation (Deep)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with no head support and your eyes closed. If your mind wanders, practice breath awareness. Mentally say astral as you inhale and projection as you exhale. If possible, memorize today's instructions and keep your eyes closed during the entire preset. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 73 74 Day 14 Breathwork: Deepening the Breath (5 Minutes) Continue to follow the routine: six to twelve breaths to deepen the breath, twelve deep breaths, then six to twelve breaths to get back to normal. Spend a minute before and after the exercise to observe your natural breathing. Optional: Energy Body Stimulation: Leg Work (15 Minutes) Follow the exercises from last week to stimulate your feet and legs. Energy Body Bouncing: Legs (5 Minutes) Complete last week's leg energy body bounce technique. Optional: Energy Body Stimulation: Arm Work (15 Minutes) Follow this week's hand and arm stimulation exercise. Energy Body Bouncing: Arms and Spine (10 Minutes) Do this week's arm and spine bouncing exercise. Energy Body Bouncing: Full Body (5 Minutes) Complete this week's full-body bounce technique. Daily Tips Robert: Only a very small percentage of people will feel little or no energy movement sensations during the early exercises. It is usually just a matter of grasping the basic technique and practicing. The only people I have found with major problems feeling energy movement sensations have either had very poor health or have been suffering serious diseases. Therefore, if by the time you finish this program you are still not feeling energy movement sensations, a full medical checkup with your doctor would be wise. Brian: Are you continuing to relax thoroughly? Relaxation is one of the most important skills for conscious astral projection. The natural response when something unexpected happens is to tense up, an instinct you must train yourself to overcome. The exit symptoms—a sudden feeling of falling, unexpected and sometimes loud noises, vibrations, or similar energy-related sensations—all have a tendency to make the novice projector (me included) stiffen and thus interrupt the very delicate projection process. Even the exit techniques in Part 2 of the program can provoke muscles to tense if you allow your mental visualizations to translate into physical effort. You've got to become adept at not only becoming relaxed but at maintaining this so that no amount of distraction will break your passive state. Day 14 75 Your Program Notes/Observations Before Moving On This week you should have: • become more proficient at deep physical relaxation; • grown accustomed to breathing more deeply than normal; • developed a pretty good idea of how the projection and memory download processes work; • successfully stimulated the energy in your feet, legs, hands, and arms; • become comfortable with the leg, arm, spine, and full-body energy bounce techniques. My alarm woke me at 4:30 a.m. for my OBE routine. Realizing that there would be time to practice later in the morning, I went back to sleep. Right away I started dreaming and woke up again, still half in the dream state. I was lying there when I heard a distinct "click" or at least I felt some kind of inner "click." My awareness returned to my body. I seemed partially "out" already. I willed myself upward and right away slipped out through my legs and dropped featherlike to the floor near the dresser. I thought, "Thank you," and "I do have a soul." It occurred to me to be scared but thought, "Hey, I've waited too long to go out of body to be scared now." Though the room should have been dark, I could "see" everything fine. I passed the dresser and saw my partial reflection in the wall mirror. I possessed some kind of body with legs, arms, and hands. In reality there's no mirror on that wall, though we have plans to put one there. This was clearly one of the "reality fluctuations" about which I'd read. I was momentarily surprised to see the bedroom door closed but then I remembered that I'd closed it earlier. 99.9 percent of the time this door is open and it occurred to me later that if this had merely been a dream, I would have likely dreamed of an open door instead of a closed one. I started to turn the door knob but found myself unable to do so. I thought, "I have to walk through the door." In dreams when I walk through walls and such, there has never been a problem. It's always been like walking through a fog. But this time I felt definite resistance. Once I made it out of the house, I started flying awkwardly toward downtown. I was there, flying around the buildings, when I bumped into the ceiling. The ceiling? I was momentarily confused until I realized I was back in my bedroom. And at this new understanding, I suddenly found myself back in my body. I l l 1:1: I I *| mind Taming What to Expect Energy raising: the full-body circuit • Breath awareness Clearing your mind • Color breathing • Circular exercise • Developing lucid dream objectives • Spot focus ' More breathwork • Afterimage retention • Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions By now you should have a pretty good command of stimulating your energy body. The stimulation exercises you have practiced for the past two weeks help loosen up your energy body, removing blockages and strengthening energy pathways. It can be a great spiritual awakening to feel your energy body humming and tingling at the end of one of these sessions. It demonstrates that you are not just a body and intellect, but a spirit too. Raising and Storing Energy This week you will learn to raise and store energy. Without enough energy, projection is more difficult. Low energy during a projection can cause movement and perception problems, like feeling too weak to move or too muddle-headed to think clearly. Low energy projections also often result in vision distortion problems or the inability to see, not to mention complications with the all-important shadow memory download process. 77 78 Week 3 We cannot stress enough how important energy raising is for astral projection. You cannot do too much energy raising. A couple of hours spent with these energy raising techniques can make a huge difference to your OBE efforts, and in many cases mean the difference between success and failure. Under certain conditions, energy raising alone can trigger the vibrations that accompany the OBE exit. Get in the habit of practicing energy raising at every spare moment. Energy raising techniques do not require an altered state of consciousness. They can be done anywhere, even while walking, running, swimming, and so on. (Directions for energy raising are given in Day 15 of this program.) Underneath our fleshy human exteriors we are all energy beings. The human energy body can be likened to a subtle reflection of the physical body, composed of stable and highly structured etheric matter. This contains within it several different but interdependent energy circuits, including energy storage centers, primary energy centers (major chakras), hundreds of secondary energy centers (small chakras), and areas where energy is exchanged. The main energy exchange areas are the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, lips, mouth, tongue, and genitals. Each subtle energy body circuit has many different functions on both the biological and energy body levels. All are interconnected and work together to support each other's energy requirements, and all are integral parts of the human energy body as a whole. The average person normally absorbs only a small amount of the energy and vitality that is available to him or her each day, and this generally reduces with age. Energy is absorbed in many ways: during sleep, eating and drinking and digestion, breathing, exposure to sunlight, touching and sharing with other people, even from our planet and its environment. Your daily energy requirements may increase as you develop and strengthen your energy body. Until your natural energy flow catches up with this extra demand, a temporary energy deficit can occur. This can result in unusual tiredness and the need for more sleep. This condition always rectifies itself after a few days and is no real cause for concern. The human energy body has three major storage centers where different qualities of energies are accumulated. First there is the subnavel storage center, located midway between the belly button and pubic line two inches inside the average body. This stores raw physical vitality. Next there is the subheart storage, located in the center of the chest at the base of the sternum two inches inside the average body. This stores raw emotional energy. Then there is the subbrow storage center, located between the eye socket ridges in the center of the brow just inside the skull. This stores raw mental and psychic energy (Figure 4). The Taoists (pronounced like "Daoists") refer to these three storage centers simply as upper, middle, and lower tan tiens. These correspond to three different types of energy called the three treasures: shen (spirit), chi (life force), and ching (sexual and body essence energy), respectively. The tan tiens also have cultural names: Palace of Ni Wan (forehead/brain), Crimson Palace (heart), and Yellow Court Mind Taming 79 areas. It is unwise to force raw energy into the two higher storage areas. The firsthand experience of many volunteers tells us that this can result in emotional, mental, and psychic instability problems. Raising and storing energy in your subnavel center is one of the things you will be doing this week. It can take weeks or even months of regular energy raising before subnavel storage levels significantly increase because a great deal of energy can be burned up during early development. Raising energy is an essential part of stimulating, developing, and powering the higher functions of the energy body, including out-of-body projection. It is important to make energy raising an integral part of your daily routine. Clearing Your Mind Figure 4. The three major vitality storage centers. So far we have discussed several key ingredients of astral projection. First there is the abil(navel/belly button), respectively. The latter is at the belly button/navel (the subnavel storage center) and this is of great significance because this is the umbilicus vestige (i.e., where fetal nutrition was received inside the womb). We try to use Western descriptive terms wherever possible. This makes things relating to the energy body and OBE easier to understand at a glance. The Eastern arts are steeped in culture and language that Westerners often have difficulty understanding. Of these three storage centers, only the subnavel storage center should be filled with energy storage actions (described in detail on Day 15). Once filled, this overflows "conditioned" energy into the two higher storage ity to relax and to remain relaxed throughout the conscious OBE exit process. Then there is the requirement of developing your energy body substructure and raising and storing energy for projection. Now we are going to cover another vital element of successful wake-induced OBE: silencing internal mental dialogue and holding the mind clear. Have you ever noticed that little voice in your head that constantly chatters away, making observations, reminding you of things, persistently stating and restating the obvious? It is one of the biggest obstacles preventing novice projectors from inducing a conscious OBE exit. 80 Week 3 KEY POINT You cannot induce a conscious OBE exit without first silencing internal mental dialogue. The mind must be held clear and free of thought and emotion throughout the entire OBE exit process until you are completely out of and away from your physical body. Internal dialogue (also called involuntary subvocalization) and emotional thought engage the brain in such a way that it can prevent the first level of internal projection where the expanded energy body is generated. This is, of course, a necessary precursor to a wake-induced OBE exit. In order to project, you must learn to quiet inner dialogue and relax and focus your thoughts for a sustained period of time. What exactly does quieting one's inner voice mean? One thing it does not mean is shutting down all thought. Mental imagery, body awareness actions, consciously directing your breathing, and visualization can all occur, as long as internal verbal dialogue is silenced. During the OBE exit you must learn to think and act without words. A quiet mind specifically means no word-based chatter. You are trying to promote a relaxed state of mental silence—the way you would be silent while listening for a faint, faraway noise. At first there is a certain amount of pressure associated with holding your mind quiet. This is because you have been used to using and hearing this inner voice babbling away your entire life. For people who are not used to it, a mind devoid of mental chatter can be lonely and disquieting. It can cause a certain forced, hollow kind of feeling. Holding relaxed mental silence also takes effort and concentration, which adds to the subtle pressure of this quiet state of mind. It may take some time to grow accustomed to this before you begin relaxing and expanding, but you will grow used to it and come to value it in time. There are benefits of a quiet mind in addition to OBE preparation. When your mind is quiet you generally are not worrying about anything. You will also find that mental quiet roots you more completely in the moment and makes you more aware of what is transpiring around you. Accomplishing any task with a quiet, focused mind allows you to perform more effectively, whether this be sport, studying, playing a musical instrument, or simply building or repairing something. As a side note, you may encounter disapproval from others if you use a term like emptying the mind. Some people believe that if you empty your mind you open yourself to unsavory influences and even risk possession. This is a mistake caused by taking the term empty mind too literally. It simply means to relax and clear the mind of internal dialogue. Silencing the mind is a perfecdy natural thing to do. It occurs for long stretches while listening to music, watching television, or daydreaming. It also occurs while relaxing and just prior to falling asleep, even if this is not consciously noticed. Consider babies of prelanguage age who do not know words; their minds are always clear of internal verbal dialogue. A mind disciplined enough to silence its own internal dialogue is thus perfectly safe because it is stronger and more focused and aware than other minds that are incapable of doing the same. Mind Taming Taming the Mind There are many approaches to quieting inner dialogue, but they all amount to narrowing concentration to a slender band. Some methods are better than others. For the purposes of this program, it is helpful for the remaining weeks to practice shutting off your inner voice as often as you can. The more frequently you practice quieting your mind, the quicker you will become used to and value the silence. You have already made a start with this by doing the breath awareness exercise. Take advantage of travel and waiting time to practice wordless mental silence. Early attempts to force mental quietness can cause tension headaches. If this happens, think of this as a sprained mental muscle and treat the headache as you would normally. Then return to your exercises when you feel better. These exercises are very progressive, as the brain learns quickly to accommodate your needs. Totally focusing on any physical or mental activity can be used to clear the mind. This includes body awareness actions and focusing attention on the action of breathing. Physical activity is one simple way to shut down the inner voice. A task as basic as walking is a good time to practice, even if you are only walking to and from your car. As you walk, imagine that you have turned off the inner speaker in your mind. Now watch, listen, smell, and use all your senses to wordlessly observe what is transpiring around you. Do not mentally comment on what you perceive, just take it all in. If you walk the same path every day, see how far you can walk before your mental com- 81 mentator interrupts the silence. Gauge progress by how far you can walk before the silence is broken. If the above is too difficult, start with walking and narrating what you see around you. Practice staying in the moment. When you can hold your mind on what is going on around you without daydreaming, then try shutting down your inner mental voice too. Listening to music or watching television is another way to reduce internal chatter, but it is not advisable to use these for concentration practice. For our purposes, we are trying to clear the mind without the use of artificial props. The BrainWave Generator does not fall into this category. This technology can help get the mind into specific states, but it will not artificially reduce your internal chatter. You must learn to do this on your own. This is one reason why results using any artificial aid are so variable; some people can quiet their minds more easily than others. Like watching television, visualizations and fantasies can also help suppress inner dialogue. However, with the exceptions of body awareness actions, energy work, mind taming, and the OBE exit techniques described in this book, active visualizations and mental fantasies should be avoided while doing these exercises. Spontaneous mental imagery is almost inevitable, as these are common side effects of altered states. These will also often appear when you are on the edge of sleep, like vague waking dreams. If your focus wanders during your mind-taming exercises, simply ignore the mental pictures and redirect your concentration back to the exercise at hand. The biggest 82 Week 3 cause of a wandering mind is fatigue. If this is a problem, taking a short nap prior to your practice session will help, as will catching up on your sleep. Slowly counting up or down is one good way for beginners to learn to quiet their minds. In this case, one centers concentration on the progression of numbers themselves, gradually extending the silence between each count. As time goes by and students advance, mental counting should be replaced with the mind-taming exercises given this week or with those learned in advance of this program. Another way of clearing the mind is the use of chanting and mantras, spoken out loud or mentally recited. In time, the sound of chants and mantras become meaningless to the mind; this then helps induce and maintain altered states of consciousness. However, even a nonverbally repeated mantra that has become meaningless to the conscious mind will interfere with a wake-induced OBE exit. You are thus advised to use nonverbal methods throughout this program. Developing Lucid Dream Objectives One great side benefit of raising energy, especially if done just prior to sleep, is its power to enhance dreaming, lucid dreaming, and shadow memory recall. Just before going to sleep, having repeated your nighdy affirmations, quiet your mind and employ the energy raising techniques you will learn this week. This will enhance your ability to remember your dreams and improve your chances of becoming lucid in them. A spontaneous OBE is also far more likely to occur after raising energy prior to sleep. A secondary goal of this program is to take advantage of lucid dream techniques and to attempt to convert lucid dreams into out-ofbody experiences. Although the exit itself is usually missed during a lucid-dream-to-OBE conversion, it provides excellent OBE experience that keeps motivation high. A lucid dream shares many similarities with an OBE, even though the dimensional gate passed through to achieve lucid dreaming can be thought of as internal. While this does not work for everyone, lucid dreams can sometimes be converted into real-time OBEs KEY POINT The goal of your initial mind-taming exercises should be to go for three minutes or more without being interrupted by any internal verbal dialogue. If you can hold your mind silent for over three minutes, you are close to being able to hold it this way indefinitely. Your initial aim, then, should be to work your way up to the three-minute mark. by feeling for the physical body and trying to return to it or near to it. With a normal lucid dream, full consciousness suddenly returns to you at some point during the course of the dream. You suddenly become aware you are dreaming, effectively waking you up inside the dream environment. You can then take some measure of control over the dream scenario and the course of events. Mind Taming There are times when lucid dreams can be even more substantial and realistic than OBEs. A powerful lucid dream can also be indistinguishable from real life, even if entered from the full awake state during a wake-induced lucid dream (called WILD for short). A lucid dreamer is far more aware of having a physical body than is a projector. Lucid dreamers often experience physical sensations like gravity, texture, temperature, taste, pleasure, and pain— sensations likely generated by the subconscious mind remembering similar experiences. The more powerful the lucid dream, the more real these remembered sensations become. (The distinctions between lucid dreams and OBEs are covered in Week 9.) There is more than one way to convert a lucid dream into an out-of-body experience. Traditionally, it has been a three-step process. Step 1: Become lucid in a dream. Step 2: Return to your body without waking too fully. Step 3: Employ an OBE exit technique. The process of reciting affirmations, doing energy raising, and cultivating shadow memory recall will give you more opportunities for lucid dream exploration than would otherwise occur naturally. The best method for cultivating lucid dreaming is to perform reality checks. A reality check is when you stop yourself periodically during your waking hours and ask yourself if what you are experiencing is "real" or a dream. It can also include simple tests to see if you are dreaming or not, like 83 counting the number of fingers on your hand or trying to levitate or fly. Once you become aware that you are dreaming, you can then take control of your dream. For this technique to be effective, you must form the habit of doing reality checks frequendy. It takes time and perseverance to make reality checking habitual. It will not work until it becomes a matter of routine, but once it's habitual, lucid dreams and even spontaneous OBEs can be experienced frequently, even many times during a single night. Given these rewards, reality checking is well worth the time and effort. Program yourself to stop what you are doing for a moment in your day-to-day life and test the reality of your situation. This is very quick and simple but must be done many times each day for it to become routine. The reality-checking habit must become a customary response to a frequent real-life event. Every time you do a reality check, look around and ask yourself: Is this situation normal? Do my surroundings look normal? Does my food and drink taste normal? Can I float, levitate, or fly? Can I pass my hand through solid matter? The key to effective reality checking is to develop a simple trigger. This must be a frequent action or event that will occur many times each day. The idea is to isolate a simple action or event and then program yourself to do a reality check habitually every time it happens. For example, every time you have a drink during the day, do a reality check. Every time you walk through a door or go up a set of stairs, do a reality check. Set an alarm watch to 84 Week 3 chime every half hour or so to remind you to exit (vibrations, rapid heartbeat, falling sensa- do reality checks. tion, etc.). Just relax, keep absolutely still, and Another way to trigger a lucid dream is to imagine a dream scenario in your head as you hold on to the feeling of yourself floating up and out of your body. are falling asleep. For example, you might use Another slightly less complicated method your newly cultivated dream memory to of converting lucid dreams into OBEs requires replay a recent dream in your head, but this simulating the feeling of falling within the time, imagine yourself doing a reality check dream itself. To use this technique, cross your and becoming lucid in the dream. This can be dream arms across your dream chest once you very effective if you have a common dream realize you are dreaming. Relax your dream locale, such as the house in which you grew body, then allow yourself to fall backward as if up. As you fall asleep, imagine yourself at that dropping back onto a bed or into someone's locale doing a reality check and becoming waiting arms. When this method is effective, lucid. Imagine yourself looking around and the dream imagery will usually disappear and telling the dream characters in your presence you will find yourself falling through a void or that you are dreaming. through some blurred astral environment. You This brings us to step 2, returning to your can then explore from there. body without waking up. This can be more This week's goal is for you to create a lucid than simply reaching out and sensing/feeling dream objective. Write this down in the jour- for your body. It is more akin to waking up naling space of your workbook. Your lucid without moving. This is the perfect state to dream objective is a little drill that you will induce an OBE exit: totally relaxed and in a imagine yourself performing as you go to trance (with your mind awake and your body sleep. Your lucid dream objective is the answer asleep). to the following question: If I find myself lucid One way to return to your body is to com- in a dream, what will I do? You can then be mand your subconscious mind to do this for clear on how you will return to your physical you. Make the command "Home, now!" or body without waking up. For example, this "Take me to my body!" or similar. This will might be to cross your arms, relax, and fall often do the trick and transport you back into backward in your dream. Your job will then be or near to your physical body. to imagine your lucid dream objectives at The last step is to employ an OBE exit tech- every opportunity, such as during your fre- nique. This can be as simple as imagining quent daily reality checks. The idea is to make yourself floating up and out of your body. this process automatic: to realize that you are Imagine how light and relaxed you are; how dreaming and then respond with your lucid perfectly wonderful it would be to float up dream objectives. Realization, response. Real- and out. Do not be surprised if you feel energy ization, response. Realization, response. movement sensations associated with an OBE Mind Taming Breathwork: Cloud Breathing As with previous weeks, the breathwork this week builds on last week's exercise. Previously, you spent a minute focusing on your breathing without changing it. You steadily began breathing deeper and deeper. After twelve full, deep breaths, you spent another six to twelve breaths gradually decreasing to normal levels. Finally, you took a quiet minute to observe your natural breathing rhythm. This week you will add cloud breathing to the formula. Now when you take in air, visualize a silvery cloud of sparkling energy going inside you and filling up your being. Imagine that this cloud is alive with vital energy. Try to feel this energy in the pause between inhale and exhale, like a mild sense of electric current in your chest. When you release the air, imagine a cloud of old, depleted energy coming out of you. You might visualize this as a dark rain cloud or something that resembles cigarette smoke. If you feel uncomfortable imagining dark energy, simply feel and know that all your tension, worries, and anxieties are leaving you with every exhale. You can perform cloud breathing the entire way through the breathwork exercise, even in the quiet moments before you change your breathing. If you find this difficult, focus on cloud breathing during the twelve deep breaths in the middle of the exercise. This sort of focused breathing visualization is also a good way to quiet the mind. Direct all your attention on the count and the energy as it moves into and out of your body. You will 85 be performing a variation of cloud breathing as one of this week's mind taming exercises. Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 03: Meditation" This week's BrainWave Generator preset can be used with your mind-taming meditation exercises or as a separate mind-taming exercise in itself. If you do not intend to use the preset for mind-quieting practice, you should use the preset titled "MAP Week 03: Meditation (No Pulse)." If you wish to use the BrainWave Generator for extra mind-quieting practice, follow the instructions given below. This week's BrainWave Generator presets assume that you are starting the program from a normal, awake condition. The presets gradually guide you into a meditative state during the first five minutes of listening. If you are using the BrainWave Generator in conjunction with your daily energy work, we recommend extending meditation practice to at least ten to twenty minutes to get the full benefit of the preset. This week's presets are quite effective at producing an altered state of consciousness. For this reason you should not use the preset if you are tired or at any risk of falling asleep. Additionally, you should practice while sitting upright in a hard-backed chair to maintain the slight discomfort that helps keep your mind alert. This cannot be stressed enough. You do not want to condition yourself to fall asleep during practice! (And, as always, you should never listen to any of these programs while 86 Week 3 driving or operating heavy equipment, as they will make you drowsy.) The Week 3 BrainWave Generator presets last a total of ninety minutes. If you have the time, consider using the meditation program for a long meditation session at least once this week—say, an hour or more. Using the BrainWave Generator for Stand-Alone Mind-Taming Practice Several extra mind-taming presets have been included this week: • Meditation (15-Second Pulse) • Meditation (30-Second Pulse) • Meditation (45-Second Pulse) • Meditation (60-Second Pulse) • Meditation (90-Second Pulse) • Meditation (3-Minute Pulse) The idea with this structure is that you are trying to work your way up to the significant three-minute mark without having internal dialogue break your mental silence. Begin with the fifteen-second pulse meditation. Sit in a hard-backed chair, close your eyes, and relax. Focus on your breathing and use breath awareness to hold your mind clear throughout this exercise. Begin listening to the preset. Every fifteen seconds you will hear a musical tone. When you hear the first tone, mentally count the number "one." When you hear the second tone count "two," and so on. Between the tones, keep all mental chatter quiet. To mark the three-minute point you will hear two extra tones. This will let you know to start the count over at one. The object is to count all the numbers (twelve) between the three-minute tones for a total of about fifteen minutes (i.e., having heard five three-minute tones) without having internal mental dialogue. The challenges in this exercise can be both internal dialogue and the tendency for your mind to wander. This will be especially true at first. You may count "one," "two," "three," and then suddenly hear the three-minute tone and wonder what happened to the other intervening fifteen-second tones. A hard-backed chair with no head support will help keep you awake enough to hear all the tones. This preset exercise can be difficult the first few times you try it. If this is a recurring problem, consider keeping your eyes open the first few times you practice it. The more you practice with this, the easier it will become. When you find yourself counting all the numbers between the three-minute marks for an entire fifteen minutes, move from the fifteen-second pulse meditation to the thirty-second pulse meditation. When you master it, move on to the forty-five-second pulse meditation, then the sixty-second pulse meditation, and so on until you can use the three-minute meditation without being interrupted by mental dialogue. Note: If you use the BrainWave Generator as your primary means of learning mind taming, it may take several weeks before you graduate up to the three-minute meditation preset. Be patient and persistent and you will get there. Mind Taming In addition to the mind-taming meditation programs, we have also included a preset commonly reported to induce lucid dreams when used just prior to sleep. About a half hour before bedtime, lie down on the floor and listen to the program "MAP Week 03: Lucid Dreaming" for at least twenty minutes. Lying on the floor provides slight discomfort. Use a pillow for basic head and neck comfort. There is no need to keep the volume too high; you need only have the sound at a comfortable level. After the BrainWave Generator lucid dream session, go to sleep as soon as possible. For this reason, it is helpful to be a little sleepy when you listen to this particular program. Lying on the ground should help prevent you from falling asleep altogether. Remember to keep your lucid dream objectives in your head as you go to sleep and to keep your notebook handy should you awaken with any lucid 87 dream memories. Be sure to have your dream notepad next to your bed to catch any key words that might later help revive dream memories. If you wake up after having a particularly vivid or interesting dream, write down a few key words immediately to help with your morning dream recall. Be advised that the "MAP Week 03: Lucid Dreaming" program can also bring on an OBE exit. At the very least, you will likely find your energy body being stimulated. This may feel like a fluttery sort of sensation that extends past the borders of your physical body. If you should feel yourself starting to project, remain relaxed, calm, and at ease. Just clear your mind and go along with the experience. Reminder: The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. WEEK 3 DAILY PAGES Raising energy: Raising energy can be done almost anywhere, even during physical activity such as walking, running, swimming, and so on. Our minimum recommended time per day for raising energy is ten minutes, but you can do as much as you'd like. The more time you spend raising energy, the more energy you will have for projection. Taming the mind: Keeping one's mind clear of internal dialogue may in theory seem easy. In practice it takes a special kind of passive effort that takes time to cultivate. This week you will be introduced to various methods that teach you to still the babbler within. Try each new one as it is introduced, then build on the method that works best for you. 88 DAY 15 Energy Raising Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations My mind is like still water. 1 find understanding and healing in the silent space between thoughts. 1 release random thoughts and completely focus my AFTERNOON Create lucid dream objectives awareness within. Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Wbole body (5 min.) EVENING Throughout the day 1 conduct reality checks. Is this Breathwork: Cloud breathing (5 min.) real? Am 1 dreaming? When 1 drink something, 1 Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) check. When 1 start talking to someone, 1 check. Is Energy body bouncing: Full body (5 min.) this real? Am 1 dreaming? 1 recall lucid dreams as Energy raising (10 min.) readily as waking life experiences. Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 30 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 03a: Meditation (15-Second Pulse)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed. Keep your mind clear by listening for the next audible tone. Use breath awareness to help with this. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 89 90 Day 15 Breathwork: Cloud Breathing (5 Minutes) Follow last week's breathing routine, but this week imagine silvery clouds of sparkling energy going into your body on the inhale, and clouds of smoky, depleted energy being released on the exhale. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet and legs, hands and arms with sponging actions before doing the fullbody bounce and full-body circuit. Split awareness actions to save time. Prestimulating the feet and hands should now be considered a prerequisite to prepare for an energy work session. from feet to the top of your head, should take two or three seconds. 5. Hold your awareness in the top of your head and accumulate it there until the inhale is complete. 6. As the exhale starts, sweep the energy over your face, down through your mouth and throat, and through your chest and stomach. Bring it down your stomach to your subnavel storage center (between your pubic line and belly button two inches inside). Feel the energy flowing into your subnavel center. Imagine and feel that the exhale is forcing energy into your subnavel center. Energy Body Bouncing: Full Body (5 Minutes) Complete the full-body bounce exercise. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (10 Minutes) No physical actions are involved with body awareness techniques. If doing this while sitting, it helps if you straighten your legs out in front of you. 1. Take a moment to settle your awareness at your feet. 2. Now take a deep breath and as you are taking in air, sponge energy up through your legs and back. 3. As your awareness passes where your hands and arms are resting, include them with the energy raising action. 4. Continue sponging energy up your neck to the top of your head. The entire sweep, 7. Continue flowing the energy into your subnavel storage area until the exhale is complete. 8. At the end of the exhale, flick awareness back to your feet to get ready for the start of the next inhale. Repeat these steps over and over to settle into a natural rhythm. Daily Tips Robert: The "click" effect mentioned in the earlier case history is a very common and noticeable event that can occur during the OBE exit. It signals the moment of separation between the physical body and its projecting double. However, not everyone hears this click and some people only hear it occasionally. When you hear this, even if no other OBE exit symptoms are present, know that you are definitely separating from your physical body at Day 15 91 this time. When this happens, stay relaxed and projection attempt. I noticed a marked differ- keep your mind clear. Do not allow yourself to ence in the way my energy body responded to become excited or you will blow the exit. OBE exit techniques after I spent significant Focus on your OBE exit technique to move time on daily energy raising. Suddenly I was you out and away from your physical body. feeling "the vibrations" where there had been Brian: Raising energy may not seem like a very profound technique but it can make all the none before. Energy raising is a powerful tool for advancing your projection efforts. difference between a successful and a fruitless Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 16 Mind Taming: Ring Technique Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING My mind is like still water. 1 find understanding and healing in the silent space between thoughts. 1 Recite morning affirmations release random thoughts and completely focus my AFTERNOON awareness within. Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Cloud breathing (5 min.) EVENING Throughout the day 1 conduct reality checks. Is this Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) real? Am 1 dreaming? When 1 drink something, 1 Energy body bouncing: Full body (5 min.) check. When 1 start talking to someone, 1 check. Is Energy raising (10 min.) this real? Am 1 dreaming? 1 recall lucid dreams as Mind taming: The ring (10 min.) readily as waking life experiences. Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 40 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 03: Meditation { -Second Pulse)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed. Keep your mind clear by listening for the next audible tone and using breath awareness. Advance to a preset with a longer tone interval once you have successfully been able to hold your mind quiet for at least five consecutive three-minute intervals. 92 Day 16 Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Cloud Breathing (5 Minutes) Follow yesterday's cloud-breathing routine. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet and legs, hands and arms with sponging actions. Split awareness actions to save time. Energy Body Bouncing: Full Body (5 Minutes) Complete the full-body bounce from your feet to your hands (if your arms are raised above your head) or from your feet to just above your head (if your arms are at your sides). 93 4. Stick the numbers 1 and 2 on the wall a few inches apart. 5. Clear your mind, take a deep breath, and focus all your attention on the paper labeled "1." Keep your mind clear as you complete one entire deep-breath cycle. 6. If you kept your mind blank during the whole first breath, shift your eyes to the paper labeled " 2 " and focus on it while starting another deep breath. If internal dialogue interrupts, stop and begin again at 1. 7. Continue taking deep breaths, keeping your mind blank, and focusing first on the number 1 and then on 2. When you accomplish this with a clear mind, stick number 3 on the wall, arranging the numbers in a rough clockwise circle. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (10 Minutes) Spend a minimum of ten minutes doing the full-body circuit per yesterday's instructions. Mind Taming: Ring Technique (10 Minutes) 1. Set up your chair a few feet away from and facing a wall. The room should be adequately lit. 2. Cut out a dozen pieces of paper about the size of your palm or use sticky notes. Number them one through twelve in large, bold numbers. 3. Time how long it takes for you to complete one full, deep breath, from the start of an inhale to the beginning of the next inhale. Write this down. 8. Repeat the breathing ring starting at 1, going to 2, and then on to 3, and so on, holding your mind blank throughout. Do not advance to the next number if internal dialogue interrupts your mental silence but start over again at number 1 each time it happens. 9. Add numbers one at a time. Continue this exercise until you are able to complete the entire circle of twelve while maintaining a blank state. Note that it may take days or weeks to accomplish this. Keep your goals small in the beginning and gradually raise them. 10. When you finish this exercise each day, multiply the number of seconds it takes to 94 Day 16 complete one breath with the highest num- Keep working on this and your original ten ber on the wall. This shows how long you seconds of mental silence will quickly grow can keep your mind clear, thus measuring into twenty, then thirty, then a minute, then your progress. two minutes, then more and more, getting easier all the time. Daily Tips Robert: Silencing the surface mind may sound easy but it is definitely not an easy thing to learn. It takes time and practice and lots of patience, but this is an absolute necessity for serious development! In the early stages of mental training, if you can silence your surface mind for more than ten seconds you are doing fairly well. The ability to clear the surface mind is progressive. Take advantage of travel and waiting time and any other time when you are not required to actually think (even while driving) to practice mental silence. The more frequently you do this the faster you will progress. Brian: If it helps with today's mind-taming exercise, think "Ooonnneee . . . tttwwwooo . . . ttthhhrrreee . . ." and so on as you focus on each number. Discontinue even thinking about the numbers as soon as you can, however, and try to concentrate solely on your breathing. Don't let the numbers themselves distract you either. It helps if you don't actually focus on them but rather gaze at them. If you find yourself getting stuck early (i.e., never getting past the number 1), try closing your eyes and focusing only on your breathing for a few cycles. Then open your eyes and resume the exercise. Remember to blink. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 17 Mind Taming: Ring Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations My mind is like still water. 1 find understanding and healing in the silent space between thoughts. 1 release random thoughts and completely focus my AFTERNOON Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) awareness within. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Cloud breathing (5 min.) EVENING Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) Throughout the day 1 conduct reality checks. Is this real? Am 1 dreaming? When 1 drink something, 1 Energy body bouncing: Full body (5 min.) check. When 1 start talking to someone, 1 check. Is Energy raising (10 min.) this real? Am 1 dreaming? 1 recall lucid dreams as Mind taming: The ring (10 min.) readily as waking life experiences. Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 40 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 03: Meditation ( -Second Pulse)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed. Keep your mind clear by listening for the next audible tone and with breath awareness. Advance to a preset with a longer tone interval once you have successfully been able to hold your mind quiet for at least five consecutive three-minute intervals. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 95 96 Day 17 Breathwork: Cloud Breathing (5 Minutes) Repeat yesterday's cloud-breathing routine. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Body Bouncing: Full Body (5 Minutes) Complete the full-body bounce exercise. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (10 Minutes) Spend a minimum of ten minutes doing the full-body circuit. Mind Taming: Ring Technique (10 Minutes) Repeat yesterday's mind-taming exercise, trying to increase the amount of numbers you can add to the ring. Daily Tips Robert: Do not be discouraged if some of these exercises seem difficult when you first try them. Learning anything new can be difficult, like learning to play a musical instrument, but everything gets easier with regular practice. Practicing these skills diligently will save you a great deal of time and effort in the long run. Remember, anything skipped or poorly done will one day stop all forward progress. This will necessitate a return to basics in order to redo what has been skipped before you can continue with more advanced endeavors. Do the best you can with these exercises every day and you will soon find yourself making steady progress. Brian: I found concentration of this sort very difficult at first. I developed the ring technique in an effort to find a way to gauge my progress without getting distracted. I started off by watching the numbers of an analog clock. I hoped that the second hand might help me keep track of my progress but found that it merely distracted me. Try to make this process as simple as possible. The more you practice, the easier it gets. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 18 Mind Taming: Spot Focus Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING My mind is like still water. 1 find understanding and Recite morning affirmations healing in the silent space between thoughts. 1 Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) awareness within. release random thoughts and completely focus my AFTERNOON Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Cloud breathing (5 min.) EVENING Throughout the day 1 conduct reality checks. Is this Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) real? Am 1 dreaming? When 1 drink something, 1 Energy body bouncing: Full body (5 min.) check. When 1 start talking to someone, 1 check. Is Energy raising (10 min.) this real? Am 1 dreaming? 1 recall lucid dreams as Mind taming: Spot focus (10 min.) readily as waking life experiences. Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 40 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 03: Meditation ( -Second Pulse)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed. Advance to a preset with a longer tone interval once you have successfully been able to hold your mind quiet for at least five consecutive three-minute intervals. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 97 98 Day J8 Breathwork: Cloud Breathing (5 Minutes) Follow this week's cloud-breathing routine. Focus on this point of pressure to the exclusion of all else using breath awareness to hold your mind clear of all thoughts. Energy Body Prestimulation Stimulate your feet and legs, hands and arms. Energy Body Bouncing: Full Body (5 Minutes) Complete the full-body bounce routine. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (10 Minutes) Spend a minimum of ten minutes doing the full-body circuit. Mind Taming: Spot Focus Method (10 Minutes) Pick a tiny speck or mark on a wall and focus gently but fixedly upon it. Hold your mind clear of all thoughts using breath awareness to hold your surface mind clear. Continue for three minutes or as long as you can. As an alternative method, hold the tip of a pencil to your finger and press gently until you can feel a tiny point of pressure. Occasionally move your finger slightly to continue making this small point of pressure be felt. Daily Tips Robert: If you concentrate and stare hard, like with the spot focus technique, a harmless optical effect will occasionally cause your vision to darken. Your view will go dark around the edges, getting darker and quickly closing in until you temporarily lose your sight. Ignore this or just blink it away without breaking concentration. Your vision will return to normal as soon as you relax your eyes and blink. Keep your eyes and forehead relaxed and this will not happen as often. Brian: During either the second or third application of this exercise I experienced the visiondarkening phenomenon to which Robert refers. Even though I had read about it, it was still a little startling if not disconcerting. After about a minute, however, I began to enjoy it. It also had the effect of helping me to narrow my focus even further. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 19 Mind Taming: Afterimage Retention Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations My mind is like still water. 1 find understanding and healing in the silent space between thoughts. 1 release random thoughts and completely focus my AFTERNOON Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) awareness within. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Cloud breathing (5 min.) EVENING Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) Throughout the day 1 conduct reality checks. Is this real? Am 1 dreaming? When 1 drink something, 1 Energy body bouncing: Full body (5 min.) check. When 1 start talking to someone, 1 check. Is Energy raising (10 min.) this real? Am 1 dreaming? 1 recall lucid dreams as Mind taming: Afterimage retention (10 min.) readily as waking life experiences. Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 40 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 03: Meditation ( -Second Pulse)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed. Advance to a preset with a longer tone interval once you have successfully been able to hold your mind quiet for at least five consecutive three-minute intervals. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 99 100 Day 19 Breathwork: Cloud Breathing (5 Minutes) Follow this week's cloud-breathing routine. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Body Bouncing: Full Body (5 Minutes) Complete the full-body bounce technique. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (10 Minutes) Spend a minimum of ten minutes doing the full-body circuit. not just the light, using your imagination to recreate and hold it. (The open window method works best if the room you are in is fairly dim). 4. Manipulating the focus of your eyes behind your closed eyelids will affect this afterimage. Play with this focus until you find what helps retain afterimages the longest. 5. As an alternative, focus on the texture of an object—say, an orange. After memorizing the texture, hold the afterfeel perception in mind for as long as you can, holding your mind clear with breath awareness. Mind Taming: Afterimage Retention (10 Minutes) 1. Sit and relax, calm your mind, and stare fixedly at any gende light source: the moon, a candle, a low-wattage light bulb, an open window, and so on. Gaze gently but fixedly at the light source for thirty seconds or so without shifting your gaze or changing your focus. Don't focus directly on it, just gaze at it. 2. Use breath awareness to hold your surface mind clear while you do this. After you have done this for more than thirty seconds, close your eyes and then quickly cover them with the palms of your hands, shutting out all light. Hold and follow the glowing afterimage that has been generated in your mind's eye. Keep sight of this for as long as you can. 3. Try to make the afterimage grow and last longer every time. If you use an open window, try to also retain the afterimage of the scenario seen through the window and Daily Tips Robert: Of course, when practicing the afterimage retention exercise, never look at the sun or any light source bright enough to damage the eyes. Note that these exercises can sometimes cause eyestrain and tension headaches, especially if they are overdone. Treat these as you would normal eyestrain or tension headaches. A slighdy more advanced way of doing this exercise is to grow the afterimage of the open window and then feel and imagine yourself moving toward the window, with it growing larger as you do. Then imagine and feel yourself passing through the window. You can build on this by imagining you are exploring the area outside the window. If you do this extra work, it helps if you open and close your eyes a number of times to strengthen the afterimage. You can also use a candle or other gentle light source for this and imagine yourself passing through the afterimage. Day 19 101 Brian: How are you doing with your reality trouble remembering to do this, place a checks? I found them to be most effective reminder note where you will see it through when I got into the habit of doing them con- the day. The classic string-around-your-finger tinuously throughout my waking hours. Using method works well, or use an alarm watch set the affirmations at night also had the effect of to beep every half hour—whatever is most programming my subconscious to continue effective for you. reality checking in my dreams. If you have Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 20 Mind Taming: Deep-Breathing Technique Date: TASKS Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING AFFIRMATIONS MORNING My mind is like still water. 1 find understanding and healing in the silent space between thoughts. 1 Recite morning affirmations release random thoughts and completely focus my AFTERNOON awareness within. Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Cloud breathing (5 min.) EVENING Throughout the day 1 conduct reality checks. Is this Energy body prestimulotion (5 min.) real? Am 1 dreaming? When 1 drink something, 1 Energy body bouncing: Full body (5 min.) check. When 1 start talking to someone, 1 check. Is Energy raising (10 min.) this real? Am 1 dreaming? 1 recall lucid dreams as Mind faming: Deep breathing (10 min.) readily as waking life experiences. Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Recite nightly affirmations work time: 40 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 03: Meditation ( -Second Pulse)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed. Advance to a preset with a longer tone interval once you have successfully been able to hold your mind quiet for at least five consecutive three-minute intervals. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 102 Day 20 1 0 3 Breathwork: Cloud Breathing (5 Minutes) Follow this week's cloud-breathing routine. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) away! Do not count your breaths or imagine anything with this exercise. Focus your entire attention solely on the flow of air passing in and out of your body. Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Daily Tips Energy Body Bouncing: Full Body (5 Minutes) Complete the full-body bounce routine. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (10 Minutes) Spend a minimum of ten minutes doing the full-body circuit. Mind Taming: Deep-Breathing Technique (10 Minutes) This method is basically a revision of the breath awareness exercise you practiced during Week 1 of the program, this time with increased effort to shut down your inner thoughts. 1. With your eyes closed, breathe slowly, deeply, and regularly. Focus your entire awareness on the whole detailed action of your breathing. 2. Feel your breath entering and leaving your body. Feel the leading edge of the air entering your nose, moving in through your nasal passages, down your throat, and filling the inside of your lungs. 3. Follow and sense and feel the air passing through the inner parts of your body. Hold your mind totally clear of all surface thoughts while doing this. Your mind must be held as a blank slate. Do not allow any surface thoughts to start up; push them Robert: The breath awareness method of mind clearing is ultrasimple but very powerful and effective. Practice until you master the technique, as in time you will find it's all you need to clear your mind and enter trance. Try this as an added extra: sit in a chair in very dim light (even full darkness), perform the relaxation and deep-breathing exercises, and then let your head fall onto your chest. Breathe deeply, slowly, and powerfully. Clear your mind and focus your entire awareness on your breathing. Put some real mental effort into this. Behind closed eyelids, gaze down at your chest and abdomen as you breathe. Wordlessly focusing on this will help keep your mind clear. In the darkness of your gaze, you may see the breathing movement of your chest and stomach as a slightly textured movement in the darkness of your gaze. Next, raise your head, keeping your eyes closed, and, gazing ahead, move your hand past your eyes at arm's length or similar. Turn your hand, spread your fingers, raise your other hand, and so on. You might see this movement. If you do, what you see is body awareness sight, which verges on astral sight. It is the ability to see your body from behind closed eyes or in darkness. This gets stronger with practice and development. 104 Day 20 Brian: When I first went through this OBE pro- look the obvious. So as you're logging your gram, I dreamed I was wandering in the alley dreams, be sure to look for the dreams that behind my house at night. It only occurred to might contain fragments of OBE memories, me several days later that I might have been out even if they aren't the obvious exit symptoms of my body at the time. When you're examining or flying sensations that you might expect. your own dreams, it can be very easy to over- Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 21 Mind Taming: Color Breathing Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations My mind is like still water. 1 find understanding and healing in the silent space between thoughts. 1 release random thoughts and completely focus my AFTERNOON Read chapter 4 awareness within. Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator (20 min.) Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING Throughout the day 1 conduct reality checks. Is this Breathwork: Cloud breathing (5 min.) real? Am 1 dreaming? When 1 drink something, 1 Energy body prestimulafion (5 min.) check. When 1 start talking to someone, 1 check. Is Energy body bouncing: Full body (5 min.) this real? Am 1 dreaming? 1 recall lucid dreams as Energy raising (10 min.) readily as waking life experiences. Mind taming: Color breathing (10 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 3 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 40 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 03: Meditation ( -Second Pulse)" (20 Minutes) Listen to the preset in a hard-backed chair with your eyes closed. Advance to a preset with a longer tone interval once you have successfully been able to hold your mind quiet for at least five consecutive three-minute intervals. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the entire deep physical relaxation exercise. 105 106 Day 21 Breathwork: Cloud Breathing (5 Minutes) Follow this week's cloud-breathing routine. 3. As an alternative or if you cannot imagine color, imagine your favorite scent instead, or use a real scent to focus upon. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Body Bouncing: Full Body (5 Minutes) Complete the full-body bounce routine. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (10 Minutes) Spend a minimum of ten minutes doing the full-body circuit. Mind Taming: Color Breathing (10 Minutes) This technique is a variation of cloud breathing. 1. Start yesterday's deep-breathing method. Imagine your favorite bright color (anything but black or gray) entering your body with the leading edge of the air moving through your nose on the inhale. 2. Imagine this color as if the air you are breathing in were a cloud of sparkling, colored vapor full of life and energy. Imagine a murky cloud of discolored air leaving your body with the leading edge of your exhale as you breathe out—this being tension and waste energy. Concentrate solely on this and hold your mind clear of all thoughts. Daily Tips Robert: If you find leading edge-type breathing too difficult or distracting, focus instead on your chest and stomach rising and falling. To adapt this to cloud or color breathing, focus your awareness on your chest and stomach and imagine they are filling with color on the inhale. Then on the exhale switch awareness to your mouth and imagine a discolored cloud of waste air leaving your body. Brian: There are countless ways to keep your mind clear: listen to the ringing in your ears or a clock ticking, look at the back of your eyelids, remember faces of people you know, anticipate something touching your forehead, study a flickering candle, remember favorite smells, listen to yourself chanting "Ommm," wordlessly remember the furniture placement in your house or what your backyard looks like from different perspectives, bring back a wonderful memory, study a piece of art or something beautiful, or simply listen to the sound of silence. 106 Doy21 Breathwork: Cloud Breathing (5 Minutes) Follow this week's cloud-breathing routine. 3. As an alternative or if you cannot imagine color, imagine your favorite scent instead, or use a real scent to focus upon. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Body Bouncing: Full Body (5 Minutes) Complete the full-body bounce routine. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (10 Minutes) Spend a minimum of ten minutes doing the full-body circuit. Mind Taming: Color Breathing (10 Minutes) This technique is a variation of cloud breathing. 1. Start yesterday's deep-breathing method. Imagine your favorite bright color (anything but black or gray) entering your body with the leading edge of the air moving through your nose on the inhale. 2. Imagine this color as if the air you are breathing in were a cloud of sparkling, colored vapor full of life and energy. Imagine a murky cloud of discolored air leaving your body with the leading edge of your exhale as you breathe out—this being tension and waste energy. Concentrate solely on this and hold your mind clear of all thoughts. Daily Tips Robert: If you find leading edge-type breathing too difficult or distracting, focus instead on your chest and stomach rising and falling. To adapt this to cloud or color breathing, focus your awareness on your chest and stomach and imagine they are filling with color on the inhale. Then on the exhale switch awareness to your mouth and imagine a discolored cloud of waste air leaving your body. Brian: There are countless ways to keep your mind clear: listen to the ringing in your ears or a clock ticking, look at the back of your eyelids, remember faces of people you know, anticipate something touching your forehead, study a flickering candle, remember favorite smells, listen to yourself chanting "Ommm," wordlessly remember the furniture placement in your house or what your backyard looks like from different perspectives, bring back a wonderful memory, study a piece of art or something beautiful, or simply listen to the sound of silence. Your Program Notes/Observations Before Moving On This week you should have: • grown accustomed to raising energy; • practiced quieting your mind; • continued to do reality checks during your waking hours; • developed lucid dream objectives; • continued to hone your abilities to relax and stimulate your energy body. I've only been doing energy work for about two weeks. Last night I was listening to music with the lights off before bedtime and after ten minutes I felt tingling in the soles of my feet and figured this was energy movement. I did some of the energy exercises and felt the "rushing water" going through my legs and managed to extend the feeling up to my hip and through my side to the shoulder where it "joined up" with the energy from my palms. I noticed that the intensity in my right side was significantly stronger than my left. I messed around with these feelings, doing more energy body stimulation. Eventually, I settled down and noticed my body becoming much less responsive until I was in a paralysis state. It felt like my whole "being" was in my mind. The music seemed to emanate from my head rather than the speakers. I felt the music pulse around inside my head. Rather than resist, I just went with it. After a little while I got some vibrations in my head, just about where the brow center is located between and above the eyes. These vibrations quickly spread to my whole body—intense, small, extremely fast waves. A "tunnel" appeared in my vision (all this time my eyes were closed); I can't explain it any further. It had no physical image but I could see it was a tunnel and I felt my mind being pulled from my body and through the tunnel. I felt myself detaching and then recoiling from the strange feeling, falling back into more conscious thought. From there it sort of mellowed to feelings of energy movement until I turned the music off and went to bed. I guess it took me by surprise because I wasn't expecting anything like it. What to Expect Raising energy before bedtime • Crown center Primary center stimulation Primary center stimulation notes • Base center Overcoming energy side effects • Navel center Rousing dormant primary centers • Solar plexus center Additional body awareness actions • Heart center More breathwork • Throat center Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions • Brow center Raising Energy Before Bedtime It is Week 4 and you have good reason to be proud of yourself. You have come far. You have learned how to stimulate your energy body and have worked at removing blockages. You are becoming proficient at deep physical relaxation and at clearing and quieting your mind. You are also becoming more skilled at raising and storing energy. This work is key to increasing the amount of energy you have available for OBE-related work. This week you are going to learn more about energy work, including primary center stimulation work. One of the challenges of this program can be finding time to practice. One way to make better use of your time is to combine energy 109 110 Week 4 raising with other daily routines, such as doing the full-body circuit while also quieting your mind. You can also raise energy after repeating your nightly affirmations. This has many side benefits, as it increases the amount of available energy for OBEs, lucid dreams, and shadow memory recall. Practicing a little energy raising at bedtime will also help you relax and clear your mind, promoting better sleep. Ten to twenty minutes of energy raising at bedtime is ideal; any more and you risk becoming so energized that falling asleep becomes difficult. Another word about OBEs and sleep: there is anecdotal evidence suggesting that sleeping on one's back promotes an OBE better than other positions. However, some people find this position uncomfortable or that it causes them to snore. Many have simply gotten out of the habit of sleeping on their backs. If possible, try spending progressively longer periods of time sleeping on your back. You can start by trying to fall asleep on your back or by rolling over and sleeping on your back in the middle of the night. Propping yourself up on extra pillows may help. It may take a few weeks before you become accustomed to this position, but benefits may come in the form of more frequent spontaneous OBEs. Primary Center Stimulation Another key way to condition and empower yourself for projection is to stimulate your primary energy centers (also called major chakras) direcdy. So far you have worked extensively on stimulating the secondary energy body circuit (the supporting energy centers) and the tertiary circuit (energy exchange ports). You have also practiced raising and storing energy in your subnavel storage center. Now you will learn about the primary energy centers (major chakras) in more detail to prepare for primary center stimulation work. The primary energy centers are the major subtle organs of the energy body. They are always active, though normal levels of activity cause no perceptible energy-related sensations. Just as the physical body stores fat and converts it to energy as needed, so primary centers take what is required from storage centers and the environment and direct it where it is needed. During an OBE, the entire energy body—including the primary centers— becomes extremely active and provides energy for the generation, projection, and maintenance of the projected double. The more you develop and become adept at stimulating and activating your primary centers, the more energy you will have available for projection. Other than the crown and brow centers, which are direcdy attached to parts of the brain, primary energy centers have their roots within the spinal cord. These are also attached to or energetically related to major organs, glands, and nerve ganglia. Primary centers are all linked together as well as being interconnected with the whole of the energy body. The energy body's supporting circuitry feeds the primary centers and disperses energy to where it is needed. The whole structure of the human energy body is every bit as complex as the human brain and nervous system with which it is intimately related. Primary Centers and Their OBE Connection 111 Many types of raw energies are collected through the energy exchange ports and channeled throughout the secondary system to be conditioned. These energies are then used for mental, psychic, emotional, and biological life processes, fed into storage areas, or channeled into primary energy centers. Primary centers then transform these into energies as required by the energy body's constantly changing demands. Mapping and Stimulating Primary Energy Centers For our purposes, primary energy centers are best thought of as circular energy vortexes, most of which are roughly the size of the palm of your hand, positioned at various places along your head and torso. The primary centers consist of the base, genital, navel, solar plexus, heart, throat, brow, and crown centers (Figure 5). You may have noticed the above count adds up to eight and not seven. This is because there is some controversy between traditional Eastern and Western authorities concerning the number and placement of the major chakras. According to the Hindu science of tantra, the solar plexus area does not contain a major chakra, but the genital area does. According to most Western authorities, the genital area does not contain a major chakra, but the solar plexus area does. It is possible that Western occult and spiritual writers of the nineteenth century dropped the genital chakra because of the extreme modesty of the times, but needed Figure 5. The primary energy centers. to make up the seven and so adopted the solar plexus as a logical replacement. Regardless of this, there are definitely large and sensitive energy structures at both of these sites. They both feel and behave like other primary centers when stimulated into activity. Therefore, we think both should be treated as primary energy centers. We cannot please everyone, so let's just call these areas primary centers rather than major chakras or psychic centers and hopefully sidestep the debate. 112 Week 4 Base Center The base center has its roots in the base of the spine, but the center of its external vortex is best thought of as flowering between the anus and the genitals. This is the area on which you should focus for base center stimulation. It may seem as if this would be difficult to stimulate because of its location, but in practice it is quite easy once you pinpoint it with body awareness. This will often cause a buzzing kind of ache and/or pressure and throbbing. This buzzing ache will often continue for many hours, even days, after stimulation sessions, especially during early development. Because of the base center's proximity to the genitals, energy sensations may intrude into the genital area and cause erotic stimulation. This will not usually cause any problems, as long as body awareness is not allowed to focus and become locked into this area. Of all the primary centers, the base center is the most important primary center to stimulate during early development. The base is covered with several filters or webs, which progressively dissolve with long-term use. Like a blocked pipe, energy may not flow strongly enough into the higher centers for OBE-related functioning unless the base center is sufficiently activated. Unless noticeable throbbing sensations are felt in the base right away, spend more time on this than on any other primary center. Genital Center The genital center resides in the center point of the genitals (the base of the penis or clitoris), spreading out to about the size of the palm of your hand and a few inches inside the body. Naturally, this is heavily involved with sexual functioning. Body awareness actions on this center will cause erotic stimulation. This is a hindrance to energy work, as the focal point of body awareness can easily become stuck in this area, making further energy work during that session impossible. For our purposes, it is best not to stimulate the genital center at all. If you want to experiment, however, do it only very lightly and stop if it causes problems. Do not be too concerned if you occasionally feel mild erotic sensations therein, even when it has not been direcdy stimulated. This will happen now and again and will not usually cause serious difficulties. When this does occur, the solution is to use your concentration skills to shift your point of body awareness firmly to the next primary center. Navel Center The middle of the navel center is located in the belly button and is roughly double the size of other primary centers. Often when this site is stimulated, it will also cause a throbbing sensation in the solar plexus above it. In general, activating the navel center will cause a comfortably warm throbbing and pulsing in the stomach. A fluttering, bubbling, windlike feeling of movement inside the stomach may also often be felt. This odd bubbling may be related to the workings of the subnavel storage center that, although a separate energy organ, is also connected to the workings of all primary centers. All parts of the energy body are interconnected. Primary Centers and Their OBE Connection Solar Plexus Center The middle of the solar plexus center resides at the center point of your torso: between your stomach and your chest where your diaphragm extends below your ribcage. When activated, this can cause feelings of pressure and tension and the sense that you are not getting enough oxygen. Breathe slowly and deeply and this sensation will usually pass fairly quickly. Reduce the amount of time spent stimulating this area if it becomes a problem, especially during OBE attempts. This uneasy feeling usually reduces significantiy after several days of practice. Heart Center The middle of the heart center resides at the center point of the chest in the heart. When stimulated, this, too, can cause sensations to occur in the solar plexus. Heart center sensations can be quite visceral and difficult to ignore. When activated, heart center activity feels like a throbbing in the flesh and ribs on the surface of the chest, much like the heavy heartbeat you get after exertion. Heavy heart center sensations often, but not always, occur as a precursor to the OBE exit. The physical heart can feel like it is racing, sometimes at an impossible rate. This can be frightening and will easily ruin otherwise successful OBE exits. However, as much as this feels exactly like it, heart center activity does not involve the actual physical heart. Your heart will not be physically racing but rather your heart center will be working overtime to provide the energy required to generate and exteriorize your astral double. 113 Please trust us here. A racing heart center will not hurt or damage you in any way, but it can take time and an act of faith to get past this sensation during an OBE exit. A racing physical heart has never ever been detected in any sleep lab or OBE research studies, even when the resulting evidence suggests that OBEs have indeed occurred. Throat Center The throat center sits at the base of the throat where it joins your chest. When active, the pressure and throbbing from this center can sometimes cause uncomfortable choking sensations, shortness of breath, and even an urge to gag. Body awareness actions alone can cause these sensations, probably as a result of the sensitive area in which this center resides. These are mainly felt during early successful stimulation attempts and, if you persevere, they will gradually ease off in time. If uncomfortable sensations continue to disrupt development routines, reduce the amount of time spent on this center. Brow Center The brow center, often referred to as the third eye, resides in the middle of the forehead just above and between the eyebrow ridges. This center is associated with most psychic and paranormal abilities, including OBEs and astral sight. When this becomes activated, light pulsing and a localized pressure will usually be felt in the middle of the forehead. A band of light pressure across the forehead, or even around the circumference or the whole top of the head, is also quite common. 114 Week 4 Crown Center The crown center, located in the middle of the top of the head, is larger than the other primary centers, covering the whole top of the head above the hairline. Stimulation exercises should therefore reflect this greater size. All energy centers, primary and secondary, are connected with and represented in the crown center. The crown center can be likened to the central brain of the energy body. This bears the same relationship with the energy body as does the physical brain with its physical body. Primary Center Stimulation Notes It is important to establish a reasonable level of proficiency working with the secondary energy circuit (the energy structures you have been stimulating thus far in the program) before moving on to primary center work. If you are still experiencing very heavy energy movement sensations, consider repeating the detailed stimulation exercise (see Day 14) until these have reduced before moving on with this program. However, if you want to continue regardless, we suggest you approach primary center stimulation with care. Working with the secondary energy circuit prepares your energy body and makes it more robust and responsive, while generally increasing your control over energy flow. This will also help avoid a host of potential problems and uncomfortable side effects when you move on to heavier primary center work. Like stimulating the secondary energy body, during primary center work you may also feel a variety of weird energy sensations—both spontaneous and resulting from direct stimulation. The most frequent primary center energy sensations include buzzing, tingling, throbbing, pulsing, and/or fluttering. Other feelings include localized hot and cold sensations, cramping, tightness, heaviness, and pressure. Very active primary centers can affect nerves and surrounding muscles in unusual ways, causing localized muscular twitching and spasming. Significant primary center activity can usually be felt by touching the area with the fingertips, showing that these are not just imaginary sensations. Ideally, active primary centers produce noticeable but pleasant localized throbbing and pulsing sensations with a light feeling of pressure. The speed and heaviness of pulsing will vary according to the center being worked on and the energy demands placed upon it. As a general rule, should the activity of any primary center cause unusual discomfort, reduce stimulation or skip it entirely until this eases. You will notice that some form of secondary energy workout is always scheduled before primary center work. This is by design an energy body warm-up, like stretching before a workout. In the beginning, a primary center session may take a half hour or more. The actual amount of time needed will vary according to the response of each primary center. Once a center starts to stiffen, cramp, throb, pulse, buzz, tingle, bubble, or feel warm or cool, consider it active and continue on to the next center. After you become accustomed to the techniques, primary center work takes far less time. Primary Centers and Their OBE Connection Overcoming Energy Stimulation Side Effects We would like to reiterate that most people undertaking primary center energy work will experience only mild sensations in their primary centers. Light sensations are fine for the purposes of normal energy work and OBE training and practice. However, everyone is different and some people have more sensitive energy bodies than others. Because of this, the following sections focus on the most common problems that can arise and what can be done to reduce excessive primary center activity. Although many peculiar side effects can result from primary center work, the exercises herein are all reasonably safe. Complications can be overcome quickly with no harm done, as long as they are recognized early and handled with common sense. Serious problems are rare and generally result from overly focusing on one of the higher centers. The energy body and its centers are intimately connected with the functioning of the physical body, so what affects one can affect the other. For example, if you spend a half hour stimulating your brow center and only five minutes each on the others, this can cause an imbalance that can result in some well-known side effects, including psychic and mental imbalance, strong head pressures, localized pain and tension headaches, and so on. In the same way, focusing too much on the heart center can cause emotional problems, including increased emotional sensitivity, mood swings, and so on. Yet these types of problems are usually of a temporary nature, as long as common sense is applied. 115 If primary center overactivity becomes a continual problem, drop all primary center work and focus solely on secondary energy work. Logically, your energy body is already active and sensitive enough to provide you with ample energy during OBE attempts, with no primary center stimulation being necessary. Brow and Crown Center Pressure and Pain During the early stages of development, brow and crown center activity can be uncomfortable, even painful at times. Uncomfortable brow and crown pressures are fairly common symptoms of early development when these centers are coming out of dormancy. Not everyone will experience this, and the intensity will vary from person to person. This will also not occur during every stimulation session. While you should not expect anything uncomfortable, it is best to be aware of these possibilities. These pressure sensations are like growing pains. They can be quite intense at times, even painful, but are no cause for alarm. For example, a point of intense pressure, as if someone were pressing a thumb very hard into the middle of your forehead, is common. A tight band of pressure around the circumference of the head at brow level is another common symptom. Imagine tying a wide leather belt around your head and then tightening this with a stick until you can bear no more pressure and you have the general idea. Brow and crown center discomfort will not damage you, but may cause tension headaches that last for some time. If headaches result, treat these as you would normally. 116 Week 4 Cobwebs Reducing Primary Center Activity Stimulating the brow and/or crown centers will cause supporting energy structures in the face to activate. This is a very sensitive area and some unusual sensations can manifest. While these are rarely intense enough to be painful, they can be a little uncomfortable at times. This is called the cobweb sensation. Contrary to popular belief, it is unnecessary to close or deactivate primary centers after stimulation. Any attempts to do so, such as reversing the body awareness or visualization techniques used to stimulate them, will only cause further stimulation. Primary centers are not little doors that can be opened and closed with a little visualization and some good intentions. They will normally begin deactivating naturally the moment you break your relaxed state. All sensations should cease within a few minutes. In cases where strong or uncomfortable sensations continue long after a stimulation session, the following are some ways to reduce activity: Cobweblike tinkling, tingling, and stinging sensations can be felt in the facial area. These may start at any time, even during relaxation exercises or as a direct result of brow center stimulation (anything that causes increased energy flow). It can feel like mosquitoes are crawling all over your face, with some of them stinging and feeding. On the other hand, you may get only a few minor tickling or stinging areas. This is hard to ascertain, as everyone is different. The majority of people will get at least some minor cobweb sensations during energy work sessions, especially if this is done in a deeply relaxed or trance state. It is likely that energy flowing through supporting structures in the facial area overstimulates nerves therein, causing cobweb sensations. The best way to handle cobweb sensations is to ignore them. Use this as a test of willpower. Try to resist the urge to scratch as this will break your concentration and disturb your relaxed state. Scratching also seems to disrupt energy flow through the facial area, which tends to reduce brow and crown center activity. Check your room for insects before each session, as this eliminates that possibility. • Avoid focusing body awareness on the primary centers in question. • Spend some time sponging energy down your legs and arms instead of up. • Take a nap. • Perform physical exercise such as walking, jogging, swimming, etc. • Take a cold shower. • Lie on the ground and feel and imagine energy draining away. • Eat lots of heavy food, especially protein (short-term solution). • Avoid energy work and meditation until sensations ease. Primary Centers and Their OBE Connection Body-Rush Sensations It is not uncommon to experience occasional tingling, adrenalinelike rushes up through the body, especially through the back, when doing secondary or primary center development. (Uplifting music and prose can also cause such tingling energy rushes.) Many things, including energy-raising efforts that release significant blockages, can trigger surges through the energy body. These tingling energy waves can be quite strong, even breathtaking at times, but are perfectiy normal. However, if these become unusually strong or painful, you should stop and take a break. If the same thing happens every time, stop primary center work and substitute the secondary energy exercise given on Day 14 in lieu of the primary center exercises in the weeks to come. Try a session of light primary center work every couple of days and see how it feels. When sensations drop to comfortable levels, resume light primary center work, being careful not to overdo stimulation. Premature Kundalini Raising Kundalini is the Eastern term for the ultimate energy body phenomenon. If kundalini awakens spontaneously, it will usually first cause kundalini "spikes" before actually rising. These are intense, tingling, and burning electrical sensations that shoot straight up the spine. Do not confuse these symptoms with normal, adrenalinelike energy rushes that can pulse up through your back, as associated with normal levels of energy work. Spontaneous kundalini rising is rare and thus not something to be overly concerned about. It usually 117 takes many years of intensive mental preparation, energy work, and spiritual practice before one can even begin to think about raising kundalini. The most common warning you will receive about primary center work is that it can cause unusually strong and persistent sexual arousal. Experience tells us that while this definitely can occur, it is a rare problem. This is most likely to occur during deliberate attempts to raise kundalini and not just from normal levels of energy work as given herein. The root of this problem is body awareness becoming unusually locked into the genital primary center, which will cause strong erotic stimulation. The primary center deactivation methods above will help, but heavy and exhausting physical exercise is the best solution we have found so far, as this drains the body of energy. All primary center stimulation should of course be avoided if this becomes a serious recurring problem. If you suspect that you might be feeling premature kundalini activity as a result of primary center stimulation, you should stick to secondary energy body stimulation throughout the remainder of this program. If, having refrained from primary center stimulation you still feel the symptoms, take a break from all energy work and concentrate on physical world matters until you feel completely normal again. Normal levels of energy work and OBE practice will at times cause erotic stimulation. OBE exit attempts can also, in some rare cases, cause rushes of energy through the genital center and strong erotic sensations, even spontaneous 118 Week 4 orgasm. However, this is rare and as long as strong arousal does not continue overlong, it will not cause too many problems. If sexual arousal during energy work and OBE exit attempts is a problem, spending more time on secondary energy work will, in time, usually overcome this problem. When kundalini actually rises in full, a powerful, internal, snakelike energy movement will be experienced viscerally moving up through the torso, from base to crown, with three and a half clockwise coils. It feels like an actual physical snake as thick as your wrist is moving up through your body. This can be quite painful, especially the first time it happens. A powerful spontaneous OBE will also usually occur if kundalini rises. light seen from behind one's closed eyelids. This is usually accompanied by a slight feeling of concussion over the whole face, which shows the involvement of the facial energy support structure of the brow center. The visual effect— what might seem like a powerful camera flash going off at close range—is the reason for the name of this phenomenon: the strobe effect. The strobe effect is a natural result of energy body development. It simply means the brow center is better developed than average. This will not cause any harm and is an excellent sign, especially if you are interested in higher psychic development. The strobe effect also occurs when kundalini rises through the brow center, but this can occur separately so does not in itself indicate kundalini activity. Contrary to popular belief, kundalini is not a raise-once-and-it-is-raised-forever kind of thing. The raised kundalini state only exists for as long as energy resources allow it to exist. This is usually for only a few minutes each time during early kundalini raising sessions. Also contrary to popular belief, the first raising of kundalini does not bring full and instant enlightenment. It first brings a basic level of abstract enlightenment where you suddenly find that you know a lot of things that you cannot put into words. The enlightenment process—finding the words to express the abstracts—is slow and staggered, requiring many years of further development. The strobe effect can be startling if you are not expecting it and even frightening if you do not know what is happening. It is caused by a fully active brow center strobing and flaring upward into the crown center, much like a capacitor releasing energy. This indicates the presence of strong psychic and clairvoyant abilities, even if dormant and unrealized at the time. The Strobe Effect One possible result of primary center development, especially the brow and crown, is the occurrence of powerful flashes of bright white Rousing Dormant Primary Centers While you may feel activity in some primary centers right away, others may lay dormant, even after intensive stimulation. The secondary and tertiary structures of the energy body play a significant part in primary center activity. If your primary centers are unresponsive, try reviewing the energy routines given on Day 14. You should not stop regular sec- Primary Centers and Their OBE Connection 119 ondary work just because you are working on audio CDs and tapes and the BrainWave Gen- primary centers. erator presets. It is rare not to have any primary center If the energy work routines in this program response at all with direct body awareness stim- are practiced in the specified sequence, not ulation. Often, it is simply a matter of spending overdone, and all cautions heeded with a little more time on primary center stimulation. The common sense, your development can be safely most important is the base center. If, having and naturally cultivated one step at a time. Sen- gone through the entire primary circuit, no sible energy body development will help bal- response is felt, spend a little more time stimu- ance your energy body, which has strong self- lating your base center. healing side effects. If primary centers do not respond at all, going on a healthy, low-fat, low-protein or vegetarian diet for a couple of weeks can make Additional Body Awareness Actions all the difference, as can various forms of fast- In addition to brushing, stirring, and spong- ing. Also, increasing your daily physical exer- ing awareness actions, you need to add two cise will help, especially if you have a seden- more body awareness actions to your reper- tary lifestyle. If all else fails, spend more time toire for primary center stimulation: working on the secondary system via the energy body stimulation exercises of Day 14. Wrapping action: Move your point of You may simply need more preparation with awareness around the targeted area, the secondary system before your primary cir- joint, or limb, as if continually wrap- cuit begins to respond. ping an imaginary bandage around it. Tearing action: Use imaginary hands in a Final Word on Primary Center Stimulation tearing action. Imagine you are holding a small bread roll or donut on your skin or just under it and are repeatedly tear- Anyone with a history of mental and/or emo- ing it apart with imaginary awareness tional problems should approach any kind of hands over and over. This action is energy body development work, especially pri- mainly used on primary energy centers, mary circuit work, with caution. If in doubt, but can also be used for stimulating sec- please consult a qualified psychotherapist or ondary centers. medical doctor for his or her opinion. We suggest that only the secondary system be practiced until such a time that it is felt that pri- Breathwork: Expanding the Breath mary center work can be undertaken with The format for this week's breathwork remains confidence. This same caution applies to using basically the same: normal breathing for a 120 Week 4 minute, then increasing the breath, deep breathing, decreasing the breath, and then a minute of normal breathing observation. Last week you learned to use breathing to clear your mind and to inhale energy. This week you will refine the technique even more. Perform the same exercise as before, but this time pay attention to the air as it moves into and out of your body. The idea is to focus on filling up your body from top to bottom on the inhale, and on emptying your body from bottom to top on the exhale. Do not force this breathing. If you do, you may find yourself taking quick and shallow breaths in between the deep breaths. If this occurs, don't try so hard. Scale back how much air you take in. With time and practice, your air capacity will expand and you will find a natural rhythm. On the inhale, imagine a silvery cloud of energized air filling up the top of your lungs and expanding out to your shoulders. Concentrate on the vibrant air as it fills your lungs. Feel your chest expanding. Feel the air filling and expanding your belly. This week use the BrainWave Generator preset at the beginning of the relaxation exercise and continue to use it throughout the primary center stimulation routine. Like last week, this week's preset assumes you are beginning the program from a normal, awake state. The preset guides you to a relaxed, meditative state of consciousness within five minutes. The preset lasts ninety minutes, so you can take your time with the energy stimulation exercises. On the exhale, reverse the action. Contract your belly as the air passes out. Feel your lungs empty from bottom to top. Feel the dark, depleted air exit your body. This technique can be a little tricky the first time you use it, but it gets easier with practice. It can help if you imagine yourself wearing a zippered jacket a few sizes too small. As you breathe in, imagine the zipper lowering and your body expanding as the tight-fitting jacket opens. The zipper slides down from top to bottom as your chest and belly expand. The zipper then slides up and the jacket tightens, pushing the air out of your stomach and chest as they contract. Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 04: Meditation (Primary Center Stimulation)" Like last week, we have included a preset to promote lucid dreaming: "MAP Week 04: Lucid Dreaming." Listen to it before bedtime for around twenty minutes and, when it is complete, go to sleep shortly thereafter. Keep that notepad handy! Reminder: The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. if* W* | m W W MM M l I m H DAILY PAGES Primary center stimulation: The primary centers are your body's bioenergy link with your expanded energy body and projected double. Think of these as gateways to other dimensions. By learning to stimulate them, you are direcdy exciting the mechanisms that make OBEs possible. This week's exercises will help you develop them further in anticipation of OBE exit attempts you'll begin in Part 2 of the program. Primary center stimulation can also be thought of as a warm-up that prepares your energy body for projection. 121 DAY 22 Primary Center Stimulation: Base Center Only Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING Each day 1 make time to complete my energy work. 1 recognize hidden opportunities for meditation. The Recite morning affirmations pieces of my life fall into place, freeing obstacles AFTERNOON that prevent my guiet time. Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Expanding the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 remember my nightly out-of-body experiences. 1 Mind taming (5 min.) successfully download my OBE shadow memories. Energy body prestimulafion (5 min.) The more 1 raise energy, the better my astral Energy raising (5 min.) projection recall. Stimulate primary centers (base only) (5 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit ( 1 0 min.) Recite nightly affirmations btimoted energy work time: 30 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 04: Meditation (Primary Center Stimulation)" Begin listening to the preset to coincide with the start of your relaxation exercise and listen throughout your energy work. Alternatively, if you'd like to get more practice with the pulsed meditation exercises from last week, start a few minutes early and see how many three-minute intervals you can get through without being interrupted by internal dialogue. 122 Day 22 123 Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) full list of typical primary center sensations, Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. review the relevant section above.) Breathwork: Expanding the Breath (5 Minutes) This week when you practice your breathing routine, concentrate on filling up first your chest, then your belly during each inhale. Then during each exhale focus on emptying first your belly, then your chest. Mind Taming (5 Minutes) Spend five minutes practicing quieting your mind. Use breath awareness and/or the technique that works best for you. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. 3. Continue stimulation for several minutes, alternating base center stimulation actions with energy-raising upward leg sweeps. It should take about five minutes for this first session. Daily Tips Robert: The base center is the most important primary center to stimulate during early exercises. I suggest that more time be spent on the base center than on any other, unless noticeable energy movement sensations are felt at the start. However, an apparently inactive base center will not completely stop the activation of higher centers, as energy will pass through to higher centers via the secondary system. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. Primary Center Stimulation: Base Only (5 Minutes) 1. Raise and sponge energy from your feet through your legs to your base center. (The base center is located between the anus and genitals.) 2. After several upward leg sweeps, use the stirring, then brushing, then tearing actions on the base center (one at a time). You'll know when it's active, as it will tingle, throb, or feel heavy with localized pressure. (For a Brian: Take your time with the primary center stimulation exercise. The ability to feel energy movement varies at first. I felt each primary center lightly activate when I was just casually reading about them. But when I actually went through the exercise I wasn't as happy with the results. To put too much effort into the routine is to risk getting in the way of yourself. Primary center stimulation is like having a conversation: don't just talk, also listen. Stimulate each center for a minute or two, then pause and try to feel the humming and tingling sensation before resuming the rest of the exercise. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 23 Primary Center Stimulation: Base + Navel Centers TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Each day 1 make time to complete my energy work. 1 recognize hidden opportunities for meditation. The Recite morning affirmations pieces of my life fall into place, freeing obstacles AFTERNOON that prevent my guief time. Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Wbole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Expanding the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 remember my nightly out-of-body experiences. 1 Mind taming (5 min.) successfully download my OBE shadow memories. Energy body presfimulation (5 min.) The more 1 raise energy, the better my astral Energy raising (5 min.) projection recall. Stimulate primary centers (base + navel) (10 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 35 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 04: Meditation (Primary Center Stimulation)" Begin listening to the preset to coincide with the start of your relaxation exercise. You can also start a few minutes early and use last week's pulsed meditation preset to get more practice with trance. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. 125 126 Day 23 Breathwork: Expanding the Breath (5 Minutes) This week when you practice your breathing routine, concentrate on filling up first your chest, then your belly on the inhale. On the exhale focus on emptying first your belly, then your chest. Mind Taming (5 Minutes) Spend at least five minutes quieting your mind. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. Primary Center Stimulation: Base + Navel Centers Only (10 Minutes) 1. Raise and sponge energy from your feet through your legs to your base center. Repeat using a deep sponging action: through your feet, up through both legs, then to the base center. 2. After several upward leg sweeps, use the stirring, then brushing, then tearing actions one at a time to stimulate the base center. 3. While sweeping energy to the base center, smoothly take the energy up through the base center (sponging energy through, around, or under the genital center) and on up to the navel center (located at the belly button). (If taking energy up through the genital center causes sexual arousal, avoid this center entirely by taking the energy inside the body and under it.) 4. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to the base center again. Smoothly take energy upward through the base, under the genital center, and on up to the navel center. 5. Stimulate the navel center with the three stimulation actions: stirring, brushing, and tearing. The navel center is larger than the other lower centers. The size of the area worked on should be about double the size of the palm of your hand for the best effect. Continue stimulation for several minutes or until energy sensations are felt. Spend no more than ten minutes total on stimulating these primary centers today. Daily Tips Robert: I recommend that the genital center be not stimulated or used at all. This center is extremely sensitive and can cause many problems. It is intimately linked with the powerful sexual energy structures within the groin and genitals of both males and females. If this center is activated, even accidentally, it can create conditions that can make it difficult to continue further development exercises at that time, for obvious reasons. However, do not worry if you occasionally feel some erotic sensations coming from this center during these exercises. Sometimes this cannot be avoided and it will not usually interfere with further primary center work at that time nor cause any serious or ongoing problems. Day 23 127 Brian: The suggestion not to stimulate the gen- and down my body. The first few times this ital center is sound advice. The first time I felt happened my immediate—and completely the pre-OBE exit "vibrations," I was completely unexpected—reaction was to become aroused. unprepared for them. The feeling resembled That's why, in this particular exercise, I simply someone suddenly turning on a light switch. It skip the genital center altogether. felt like a current of electricity was running up Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 24 Primary Center Stimulation: Previous Centers + Solar Plexus Center Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING Each day 1 make time to complete my energy work. Recite morning affirmations 1 recognize hidden opportunities for meditation. The Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator that prevent my guiet time. pieces of my life fall into place, freeing obstacles AFTERNOON Relaxation: Wbole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Expanding the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 remember my nightly out-of-body experiences. 1 Mind taming (5 min.) successfully download my OBE shadow memories. Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) The more 1 raise energy, the better my astral Energy raising (5 min.) projection recall. Stimulate primary centers (+ solar plexus) (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 40 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 04: Meditation (Primary Center Stimulation)" Begin listening to the preset to coincide with the start of your relaxation exercise. You can also start a few minutes early and use last week's pulsed meditation preset to get more practice with trance. 128 Day 24 129 Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Expanding the Breath (5 Minutes) Follow yesterday's breathing routine. Mind Taming (5 Minutes) Spend at least five minutes practicing quieting to your solar plexus stimulation site. The area to stimulate is about the size of the palm of your hand. Stimulate the solar plexus site with the stirring, brushing, and tearing awareness actions. Continue stimulation for several minutes or until noticeable energy sensations are felt. Spend no more than fifteen minutes total on stimulating your primary centers today. your mind. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. The full-body circuit is important, effective, and versatile. Please do not skimp on this exercise. Primary Center Stimulation: Previous Centers + Solar Plexus Center (15 Minutes) 1. Raise and sponge energy from your feet through your legs to your base center. Stimulate the base center using stirring, brushing, and tearing body awareness actions. 2. Sponge energy from your feet to your base center, smoothly take the energy past your genital center, and on up to the navel center. Stimulate the navel center with the three awareness actions. 3. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel center, and smoothly on up Daily Tips Robert: In the beginning, you may have to spend several minutes or longer stimulating each primary center. You may also find in the early stages that some primary centers seem not to respond well or at all. This is normal. However, it is unusual to find persons with no primary center response, especially if they have worked successfully with the secondary system. As with the secondaries, primary centers become progressively more awarenesssensitive and hence easier to stimulate. Brian: The solar plexus center, because it's so large, can be very powerful once you get it going. Don't be tempted to keep stimulating it once you feel the energy sensations begin. This week the primary emphasis should be on memorizing each step of the exercise. That's why only one new primary center is introduced each day. Once you get more experience with the process and get to know your own particular sensitivity, you'll have a better sense of how long to spend on each primary center and which awareness actions are most effective. 130 Day 24 Your Program Notes/Observations \ DAY 25 Primary Center Stimulation: Previous Centers + Heart Center Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations Each day 1 make time to complete my energy work. 1 recognize hidden opportunities for meditation. The pieces of my life fall into place, freeing obstacles AFTERNOON Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator that prevent my guiet time. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Expanding the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 remember my nightly out-of-body experiences. 1 Mind taming (5 min.) successfully download my OBE shadow memories. Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) The more 1 raise energy, the better my astral Energy raising (5 min.) projection recall. Stimulate primary centers (+ heart) (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 45 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 04: Meditation (Primary Center Stimulation)" Begin listening to the preset to coincide with the start of your relaxation exercise. You can also start a few minutes early and use last week's pulsed meditation preset to get more practice with trance. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. 131 132 Day 25 Breathwork: Expanding the Breath (5 Minutes) Complete this week's breathing routine. Mind Taming (5 Minutes) Spend at least five minutes practicing quieting your mind. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. plexus center, and smoothly on up to the heart center located in the midpoint of the heart. The area to stimulate is about the size of the palm of your hand. Stimulate the heart center with the three stimulation actions being used. Continue stimulation for several minutes or until energy sensations are felt. Spend no more than five minutes stimulating the heart center. Spend no more than twenty minutes total on stimulating these primary centers today. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. This is the mainstay of your energy body development. Primary Center Stimulation: Previous Centers + Heart Center (20 Minutes) 1. Raise and sponge energy from your feet through your legs to your base center. Stimulate the base center using stirring, brushing, and tearing awareness actions. 2. Sponge energy from your feet to your base center, smoothly take the energy under your genital center, and on up to the navel center. Stimulate the navel center with the three awareness actions. 3. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel center, and smoothly on up to your solar plexus stimulation site. Stimulate the solar plexus site with the three awareness actions. 4. Now raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel center and your solar Daily Tips Robert: The heart center is profound, to say the least. This can also produce a strobe effect— much like the brow center strobe effect, only nonvisual, with no brilliant flashing light. What the heart center can produce in certain people is a whole-body adrenalinelike emotional body rush, upward-moving through the back and torso, which can only be described as orgasmic. Do not panic if this happens. This is a good sign in that it indicates you have good potential for psychic abilities, especially healing. Brian: Personally, I found the heart center the easiest to activate. It was also the most distracting, for once it got going, all sorts of spontaneous images began to fill my head. If this should happen during any of the primary center stimulation exercises, take a minute to refocus before moving on. Note anything that comes up in your daily notes. Distractions should be avoided where possible. You can go back and explore this mind's eye imagery phenomenon once you have completed this program. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 26 Primary Center Stimulation: Previous Centers + Throat Center Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Each day 1 make time to complete my energy work. 1 recognize hidden opportunities for meditation. The Recite morning affirmations pieces of my life fall into place, freeing obstacles AFTERNOON that prevent my guiet time. Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Expanding the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 remember my nightly out-of-body experiences. 1 Mind taming (5 min.) successfully download my OBE shadow memories. Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) The more 1 raise energy, the better my astral Energy raising (5 min.) projection recall. Stimulate primary centers (+ throat) (25 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work rime: 55 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 04: Meditation (Primary Center Stimulation)" Begin listening to the preset to coincide with the start of your relaxation exercise. You can also start a few minutes early and use last week's pulsed meditation preset to get more practice with trance. 134 Day 26 Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Expanding the Breath (5 Minutes) Repeat this week's breathing routine. Mind Taming (5 Minutes) Spend at least five minutes practicing quieting your mind. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. Primary Center Stimulation: Previous Centers + Throat Center (25 Minutes) 1. Raise and sponge energy from your feet through your legs to your base center. Stimulate the base center using stirring, brushing, and tearing awareness actions. 2. Sponge energy from your feet to your base center, smoothly take the energy past the genital center, and on up to the navel center. Stimulate the navel center with the three awareness actions. 3. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel center, and smoothly on up to your solar plexus stimulation site. Stimulate the solar plexus site with the standard awareness actions. 135 4. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel center and your solar plexus center, and smoothly on up to the heart center located in the midpoint of the heart. Stimulate the heart center with the three stimulation actions. 5. Now raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel, solar plexus, and heart centers, and smoothly on up to the throat center. Stimulate the throat center (located at the center point of the base of the throat) with the three stimulation actions. The area to stimulate is about the size of the palm of your hand. In addition, use the wrapping action around your throat for extra stimulation, wrapping around the entire neck a dozen times or more. Continue stimulation for several minutes or until energy sensations are felt. Spend no more than twentyfive minutes total on stimulating these primary centers today. Daily Tips Robert: Stimulating the throat center during energy work sessions can produce uncomfortable sensations, including choking and feeling as if you're suffocating. This is partly due to its sensitive location and partiy due to its relationship with the heart center. These are not physical sensations, so ignore them as best you can and continue the exercises. The throat center is heavily involved with astral projection. In some people, the feelings of choking and suffocation 136 Day 26 can greatly intensify when they are close to an Brian: Here's an alternative method for acti- OBE exit, but will disappear after the exit itself. vating primary centers that helps when others If this happens during an OBE exit attempt, fail: imagine the primary center being worked first observe your breathing and make sure you on is a camera shutter that's constandy open- have not stopped breathing and are taking in ing and closing, opening and closing. Using a enough air. If this problem persists, spend more body awareness action, make it go faster and time on secondary and primary stimulation to faster. After a while, stop and observe for sen- develop the throat center's ability to activate. sations. Repeat this a few more times, pausing This is a common problem but it can be over- every now and then to check for primary cen- come if you persevere with development exer- ter activity. cises. Unsuspected sleep apnea can also cause problems for some people and a change of position or extra pillows will often help. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 27 Primary Center Stimulation: Previous Centers + Brow Center Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Each day 1 make time to complete my energy work. Recite morning affirmations 1 recognize hidden opportunities for meditation. The Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator that prevent my quiet time. pieces of my life fall into place, freeing obstacles AFTERNOON Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Expanding the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 remember my nightly out-of-body experiences. 1 Mind taming (5 min.) successfully download my OBE shadow memories. Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) The more 1 raise energy, the better my astral Energy raising (5 min.) projection recall. Stimulate primary centers (+ brow) (30 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional:Week 4 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work rime: 55 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 04: Meditation (Primary Center Stimulation)" Begin listening to the preset to coincide with the start of your relaxation exercise. You can also start a few minutes early and use last week's pulsed meditation preset to get more practice with trance. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. 137 138 Day 27 Breathwork: Expanding the Breath (5 Minutes) Complete this week's breathing routine. Mind Taming (5 Minutes) Spend at least five minutes quieting your mind. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. Primary Center Stimulation: Previous Centers + Brow Center (30 Minutes) 1. Raise and sponge energy from your feet through your legs to your base center. Stimulate the base center using stirring, brushing, and tearing awareness actions. 2. Sponge energy from your feet to your base center, smoothly take the energy past the genital center, and on up to the navel center. Stimulate the navel center with the three awareness actions. 3. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel center, and smoothly on up to the solar plexus stimulation site. Stimulate the solar plexus site with the standard awareness actions. 4. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel center and solar plexus center, and smoothly on up to the heart cen- ter located in the midpoint of the heart. Stimulate the heart center with the three stimulation actions. 5. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel, solar plexus, and heart centers, and smoothly on up to the throat center. Stimulate the throat center with the three stimulation actions, then use the wrapping action around your throat. 6. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel, solar plexus, heart, and throat centers, and smoothly on up to the brow center. Stimulate the brow center with the three stimulation actions. The center point of the brow center is in the middle of your forehead between your eyebrow ridges. The area to stimulate is slightly smaller than the palm of your hand with the lower point between your eyebrows. Feel these actions as penetrating your forehead. Try not to let your forehead or eyes tense up as you do this. Continue stimulation for several minutes, alternating between all the above techniques, including a wrapping action around your entire head or until activity is felt in the brow. When the brow center becomes active, a light pulsing or throbbing will be felt there. Cease stimulation as soon as this is felt and just sweep energy up from your feet through your legs and all the lower centers to the brow center. Spend no more than thirty minutes total on stimulating your primary centers today. Boy 27 139 Daily Tips Robert: An additional technique that helps stimulate inactive brow and crown centers is to use a small body awareness bounce action. Bounce energy between your temples, taking it through your head from side to side. Do this for a minute and then bounce from the middle of your brow to the back of your head, again taking the bounce through your head and brain. These actions help stimulate the pituitary and pineal glands, which are related to the brow and crown centers. These glands are deep inside your brain and not close to the skull as some people think. Brian: If you find it difficult to sweep energy mary centers in one continuous motion, try this: start with the feet and sweep energy up through the legs to the base center during one inhale. Rest your attention there until the next inhale, when you'll sweep energy up from the base center to the genital (or navel) center and hold to the next inhale. Continue this way up through all the primary centers. When you're comfortable with this, try doing two centers at a time during an inhale. When you're comfortable with that, try three centers at a time. Continue in this way until you can make a free-flowing sweep during one inhale. The energy-raising sweep needed for primary center work is like an upward sponging/bouncetype action. from the feet, legs, and up through the pri- Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 28 Primary Center Stimulation: Previous Centers + Crown Center Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations Each day 1 make time to complete my energy work. 1 recognize hidden opportunities for meditation. The pieces of my life fall into place, freeing obstacles AFTERNOON Optional: Week 4 BrainWave Generator that prevent my quiet time. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Expanding the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 remember my nightly out-of-body experiences. 1 Mind taming (5 min.) successfully download my OBE shadow memories. Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) The more 1 raise energy, the better my astral Energy raising (5 min.) projection recall. Stimulate primary centers (+ crown) (35 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional:Week 4 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work rime: 60 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 04: Meditation (Primary Center Stimulation)" Begin listening to the preset to coincide with the start of your relaxation exercise. You can also start a few minutes early and use last week's pulsed meditation preset to get more practice with trance. 140 Day 28 141 Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Expanding the Breath (5 Minutes) Complete this week's breathing routine. Mind Taming (5 Minutes) Spend at least five minutes quieting your mind. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. Primary Center Stimulation: Previous Centers + Crown Center (35 Minutes) 1. Raise and sponge energy from your feet through your legs to your base center. Activate the base center using stirring, brushing, and tearing awareness actions. 2. Sponge energy from your feet to your base center, smoothly take the energy under the genital center, and on up to the navel center. Stimulate the navel center with the three awareness actions. 3. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel center, and smoothly on up to your solar plexus stimulation site. Stimulate the solar plexus site with standard awareness actions. 4. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel and solar plexus centers, and smoothly on up to the heart center. Stimulate the heart center with the three stimulation actions. 5. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel, solar plexus, and heart centers, and smoothly on up to the throat center. Stimulate the throat center with the three standard actions, then use the wrapping action. 6. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel, solar plexus, heart, and throat centers, and smoothly on up to the brow center. Stimulate the brow center, alternating among all techniques. 7. Raise and sponge energy from your feet to your base center, past your genital center to your navel, solar plexus, heart, throat, and brow centers, and smoothly on up to crown center. Larger actions are required for stimulating the crown center, which covers the whole crown of the head above the hairline. Start by using a wide brushing action, as if painting the whole top of your head with a large paintbrush in all directions. Next, use a large stirring/brushing action that covers the whole top of the head. Finish by using large tearing actions, as if you're repeatedly tearing apart a large, round, flat loaf of bread that is covering your head. Spend no more than five minutes stimulating the crown center. Spend no more than thirty-five minutes stimulating the primary centers today or during any future session. 142 Day 28 Daily Tips Robert: Try not to let your head, brow, or eyes tense up while stimulating the crown and brow centers. When sensations are felt, or if nothing you are still working on the lower centers, either move on past it when you get to it, or only stimulate it lighdy for a few seconds and then move on. is felt after several minutes, cease stimulation. Brian: After practicing these exercises for sev- Do not overdo crown- and brow-center stimu- eral weeks, you may find that simply holding lation. You will usually feel stronger sensations your awareness on a specific center will be in some primary energy centers than in others. enough to coax it into activity. The minimum Spend a little more time on inactive centers suggested times for primary center stimula- than on active centers to promote more even tion herein are guidelines only. You may find energy body balance and development. Pri- your primary centers activating the moment mary centers that show noticeable signs of you draw energy into them, or you may find activity should be considered active and left they require extra effort to get them working. alone. If a higher center becomes active while Your Program Notes/Observations Day 28 143 Before Moving On This week you should have: • learned about your primary energy centers; • successfully used the wrapping and tearing awareness actions; • stimulated your primary centers to the point where you can feel mild energy activity in at least some of them; • begun to raise energy just prior to sleep to enhance dream memory and lucidity; • learned to breathe so that air fills your chest and moves downward on the inhale, and empties from your belly and then your chest on the exhale. It was around five o'clock in the morning when I awoke with a thirst and got up to get a glass of water. Tired, I returned to bed and lay on my back, hands at my sides with my neck straight. I was planning to meditate to clear my mind and drift back to sleep. I took one deep breath and exhaled when suddenly a powerful electrical vibrationlike pulse moved from my feet up through my legs. At first I thought, "What the heck is this?" I realized that I wasn't even asleep, at which point I separated and floated up to the ceiling, hovered for a few seconds, then came back down into my physical body. Realizing that I'd projected, I again lay back down and again the vibrations came almost immediately. I lifted up towards the ceiling a second time and suddenly felt myself being pulled out through the wall into my front yard. I remember thinking how incredibly beautiful it looked outside but at the same time I was a bit shocked and unnerved by the experience. I went back through the wall and down into my body where I got up and looked outside to see what I had seen while out of my body. The only difference between my in-body and out-of-body view was the quality of the light. Out of body the scene had been much, much brighter. Trance Practice What to Expect Trance work • Steps Trance states • Climbing down a rope Preparing for trance • Feather Trance hurdles ' Smoke rings Trance practice: using slight discomfort • Personalized Trance induction techniques More breathwork • Elevator Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions • Ladder Trance Work It is Week 5 and the key pieces for consciousexit projection are almost in place. At this juncture your energy body should be reasonably well exercised. You should also be making progress with deep relaxation and mind-taming skills. One of the final elements to add to your repertoire is the ability to get into and trance remain in an altered state of consciousness, commonly called a trance state. The word trance comes with a lot of baggage. In fact, a trance is simply an altered state of consciousness. This is the state entered into when your physical body goes to sleep while your mind stays awake and conscious. When the trance state is entered, brain activity reduces 145 146 Week 5 significantly. Many peculiar physical and mental sensations can be experienced that would otherwise be missed if your mind fell asleep along with your body. The less mental activity you can manage while remaining awake, the deeper your level of trance can become. In a nutshell, the human brain has two halves, each associated with different physical and mental functions. The left side is the rational, logical, problem-solving part; the right is the creative, emotional, intuitive part. The trance state causes these two halves to begin synchronizing more closely than they do in the normal waking state, which changes the quality of mental activity. During sleep and altered states, the mind works more slowly and with less thought activity, but the quality of thought is amplified. The deeper the altered state, the more abstract and profound the quality of thought becomes. Putting your body to sleep while holding your mind awake is a critical skill. This allows the transference of your awake consciousness into your expanded energy body, that first inner projection we discussed in Week 2. This takes your consciousness one step closer to your astral double. Learning how to enter the trance state and stay awake and lucid takes practice. It can be tricky at first, but you have already been practicing most of the required skills. A trance state may sound mysterious, but it is actually a very natural process that is generally not recognized when it happens. Having practiced deep relaxation and mind taming these past weeks means that you have likely experienced some sort of altered state already. This week you are going to learn some of the basic characteristics of altered states, plus how to induce and maintain a basic trance state. We all experience some level of trance every night, if only briefly while falling asleep. Most people do not notice this because they make no conscious effort to keep their mind awake and focused as their body drifts off to sleep. If you did, you might observe yourself musing over nonsensical mental imagery and dialogue. Your body will begin to feel heavy and warm and cozy, right on the edge of sleep, before you lose coherence then fall asleep. These are all symptoms of passing through a trance on your way to the sleep state. If you hold your forearms vertical with your elbows resting on the bed while you are falling asleep, you will be able to experience the trance state for a little longer than usual before sleep claims you. When you start to fall asleep your arms will fall, jerking you awake. If you persevere with this, you will find yourself hanging right on the very edge of sleep in an altered trance state. There are two prerequisites for inducing an altered state: deep physical relaxation and a quiet mind. Additionally, trance induction techniques can be used to speed up entry into the trance state and for deepening trance level. These involve combinations of simple imagination and body awareness actions. Trance States We divide trance states into three basic levels, using descriptive names to help you identify Trance Practice the level of trance you are in by the sensations experienced. These are meant as a basic ruleof-thumb guide only, as opposed to the more technical terms for altered states (beta, alpha, theta, delta). Light Trance Light trance is related to the alpha level of light sleep. This is the first level of trance, similar to the daydream state. While relaxing, your physical body starts feeling warm, cozy, and lethargic. Your eyes begin to glaze and your eyelids gradually feel heavy and droop if you have them open. A mild wave of heavy warmth flows over you and you have slight difficulty focusing, especially if you are mentally tired. Patterns of light and color may be seen occasionally and your face may begin to tickle and itch (i.e., cobwebs). With this level of trance comes a mild, whole-body feeling of warm, comfortable fuzziness and a slight disassociation from the physical body and surrounding environment. Time seems to slow a little and sounds seem farther away. Great internal mental clarity can be attained, as long as tiredness is not a problem. If this level of trance is accompanied by a deep enough state of physical relaxation, an inner body projection occurs and the OBE exit becomes possible. Full Trance Full trance is related to the theta level of medium-depth sleep. This has many similarities to light trance but trance sensations are more pronounced. Entry into full trance is marked by a noticeable wave of heaviness and 147 a slow falling sensation. This can come on quickly, like a warm, heavy wave flowing through you, sapping your physical and mental strength as your body falls away into sleep. Concentration is needed at this point to stop your mind from following your body into sleep. Your sense of time passing alters, becoming slower or faster, depending on your level of mental tiredness. You become noticeably disassociated from your physical body and its environment. Your sense of background atmosphere changes noticeably the moment you enter the full trance state. The room around you feels like it has suddenly become much larger, with a thicker and emptier atmosphere. Background sounds take on a muffled, faraway quality and you may feel bone-deep tickling sensations in your arms and legs, similar to what you may feel during energy raising exercises. Some physical movement is still possible, but this takes more effort and feels like it is happening in slow motion. Sharp sounds cause an uncomfortable sensation in the stomach and solar plexus that can feel almost like physical blows. Your thoughts begin to feel different—slower than normal, yet extremely clear. This is caused by the surface mind shutting down and revealing a more profound level of consciousness. Holding your mind clear and focused is the trick to staying awake and mentally functional in full trance. A slight level of discomfort helps with this. If you do not concentrate, you will tend toward fantasizing and drifting off in a welter of meaningless thoughts and mental imagery. When you first start experiencing 148 Week 5 trance states, you will need to concentrate on forcibly holding your mind awake, but without allowing yourself to tense up physically or mentally. This is a little tricky but achievable with practice. The dream mind can become active during full trance. This indicates that an internal mind split has occurred, along with an inner body projection. This type of mind split usually goes unnoticed. Dreamlike imagery will often be seen behind closed eyelids in the mind's eye, as are occasional clairvoyant visions. REM (rapid eye movement) activity will happen sporadically. This feels like a rapid but gentie fluttering behind your eyelids. This is quite normal, as REM activity is associated with the dream state, but having REM while you are mentally awake is an unusual experience, to say the least. You will be spending most of your time in this program somewhere between light trance and full trance. This level will vary as ability and experience are gained. The ability to put yourself into a full trance is very progressive, like most developed abilities. You will have to work at it, but with regular practice you will learn to do this quickly and easily. Deep Trance Deep trance is related to the delta level of deep sleep. It starts with all the symptoms of full trance, which become noticeably more pronounced as you fall deeper into trance. There are many odd sensations associated with deep levels of trance that are experienced in many combinations, and they are often so strong that they can be frightening if you do not know what is happening. In deep trance, respiration and heartbeat begin to slow and body heat is steadily lost due to the reduction in blood circulation. All the symptoms of light and full trance will be experienced, but in more pronounced ways. A continual falling sensation is common, as is brow center strobing. Full paralysis is normal and it can become difficult to break out of the deep trance state. Spontaneous OBE exits will frequendy occur during deep trance, and are indicated by whole-body rushes of tingling energy and occasional rapid heart center activity. It is best to avoid going too deep, as this level of trance is not conducive to having an OBE exit. You may experience spontaneous OBEs, but these are hard to keep track of and sleep is an ever-present companion. Do not worry, the deep trance state cannot hurt you any more than deep sleep can. In fact, this is very difficult to induce deliberately, and then only after the full trance state has been mastered. If you think you have fallen into too deep a level of trance and cannot break it, the commonsense solution is to allow yourself to fall asleep. You will wake a short time later well rested and none the worse for wear. Trance Preparation The ideal state for learning trance work is to be deeply physically relaxed but mentally alert. If you are too tired and mentally fatigued, you risk falling asleep during trance sessions. Yet being too well rested and alert presents its own set of complications, as it then requires more work to induce the trance state. Trance Practice Caffeine-induced insomnia can sometimes be conducive to working in the trance state. In this situation, the body and mind are usually overtired, but the mind is alert because of caffeine stimulation, thereby denying sleep. We do not recommend this state be deliberately caused, but if it happens, then take advantage of it for trance work. At such times, use the deep physical relaxation and trance induction routines and see what happens. You will either succeed at inducing a stable full-trance state (ideal for an OBE exit) or you will simply fall asleep. One of the best times for practicing trance meditation is early in the morning after about six hours' sleep. You will be mentally recharged and physically deeply relaxed. This is an ideal combination for both trance work and OBE exit attempts. Many people have their first successful wake-induced OBE early in the morning just after waking. Another good time for trance is following a twenty-minute nap. If you are tired in the afternoon, this works especially well. This is enough time to refresh you mentally and to induce deep physical relaxation through sleep. In general, any time you find yourself mentally sharp but physically sleepy, you have the elements for a good trance state. While it is possible to enter a trance state without being completely relaxed, any residual muscular tension can prevent OBE induction or cause complications during the exit. When you are not completely relaxed, you are also more likely to grow physically uncomfortable during the trance induction process. This can force you to stretch, which can break your 149 trance state. If you have to move during trance, do it very slowly and carefully. Making sure you are deeply physically relaxed in the first place can prevent such complications. The final ingredient for trance preparation is simply clearing your surface mind by shutting off internal dialogue. Using breath awareness is the easiest and simplest way to do this. Give yourself at least a few minutes of this before using a trance induction technique. When you are more experienced, the breath awareness practice alone will induce trance. KEY POINT Trance states have two key ingredients: physical relaxation and a mind free of internal verbal dialogue. The trance induction techniques you will practice this week all involve combinations of body awareness and imagination to generate downward-moving or falling sensations. This shortens the time it takes to enter the trance state, rather than waiting for your body to fall asleep of its own accord. Trance induction techniques also help keep your mind clear and awake. In all mental falling exercises, use imagination to construct the falling scenario and body awareness to simulate the feeling of downward movement. Try to feel the falling action; don't just think about it or see it in your mind's eye. Once you attain a level of trance heralded by a wave of whole-body heaviness and warmth, relax and breathe slowly and naturally. When you enter trance, it is important to keep your 150 Week 5 mind clear and relaxed with no internal dialogue. Hold on to and settle into the trance state by focusing on breath awareness. Holding yourself in trance takes practice. For the beginner, becoming proficient in trance is like learning any new physical activity. It takes time to learn the proper form and for the body and mind to grow accustomed to functioning in this new way. There will be hurdles to overcome, but these are usually small and easily surmounted with a little practice. Trance Hurdles and Ways Around, Over, or Through Them Trance complications for beginners vary from the common to the unusual. In this section we discuss the most common difficulties and how to overcome them. Aches and Pains If you are not used to sitting motionless, aches and pains will often occur, especially in arms and legs. Like any new activity, the motionlessness of trance can stretch muscles, joints, ligaments, and tendons in new ways. This stretching is caused by the weight of your deeply relaxed body hanging from its frame. Fortunately, aches and pains of this sort rarely last more than a few sessions. Performing some extra relaxation and body awareness routines on problem areas will help. Yoga or stretching exercises done prior to trance sessions will also help reduce aches and pains. Changing position slighdy can alleviate uncomfortableness. A more erect and upright position is always preferable, as this balances the body and causes less physical stress. Sit in a hard chair and wiggle your buttocks and you will feel two hard points upon which you are resting. Let's call these your sitting bones. Your spine rests on top of these when you sit. When you sit neatly upright on a hard chair, your spine straightens in response. However, when you sit on a soft cushioned chair or when you slouch, one of your sitting bones will usually depress farther than the other, creating an angle. Your spine will bend and curve out of alignment in response to this angle. In a deeply relaxed state this misalignment will cause pressure and discomfort in your spine and joints. The solution is to sit neatly and erect on a reasonably hard chair during all relaxation and trance exercises. Aches and pains can also take the form of localized pressures that feel similar to sore muscles. This kind of pressure is associated with the same sort of energy blockages you might have encountered earlier while practicing energy work. Thoroughly practicing the deep physical relaxation routine at the beginning of each trance session helps alleviate this problem. If aching persists, doing some extra energy body stimulation on the sore areas will help. Cobwebs As discussed in Week 4, cobwebs are common with all forms of trance and energy development work. Cobwebs are sensations of localized tickling, itching, or light stinging usually felt on the face and neck and especially around the mouth, nose, and cheekbones. Trance Practice We recommend that cobweb sensations be ignored as much as possible. Usually, simply being aware that energy movement and not insects cause these sensations is enough to overcome them. Ignoring cobwebs is a good test of concentration and willpower. If you must scratch them, move slowly and deliberately, scratching them in a dreamy and relaxed way so you do not break your relaxed physical and mental state. Reacting to Distracting Sounds If you allow yourself to react to distracting sounds during trance work, you can develop a habitual negative response. This might cause you to become irritated and preoccupied with distractions. This will cause tension that will interfere with your ability to enter and hold the trance state. In time, this can also make your trance delicate and dependent on total silence. In general, you want to avoid making the trance state reliant on library-level silence. This will also limit the times and places you can practice trance meditation. Accept sounds and let them wash over and through you without tensing, reacting, or mentally complaining about them in any way. Accept and tolerate sounds kindly with patient understanding. Look upon unavoidable distractions as valuable opportunities to test your powers of focus and concentration. Think of them as sound waves gently washing over you. If you follow this advice, sound problems will progressively ease with time and patience. Your trance state will thus grow more robust and resilient. 151 Saliva Problems Many people experience saliva problems during early development work: either excess saliva causes frequent swallowing or a lack of saliva causes a dry throat and mouth. Both conditions can be distracting enough to cause trance and OBE exit difficulties. For a dry mouth, first make sure you have had enough to drink so you do not become dehydrated, especially in a warm climate. Breathing excessively through the mouth can also cause dryness. The solution here is to breathe more through your nose. Make sure nasal passages are clear by blowing and clearing them beforehand. A slight change of position will also help if your mouth tends to fall open naturally. If excessive saliva is a problem, try not to concentrate on it or it will increase. Focusing on it can cause you to become more aware of your mouth and tongue, which in itself is distracting and can increase saliva flow. Avoid sweet drinks, tea, or coffee, and anything that leaves a flavor residue that may cause saliva flow. Brushing your teeth and using a saltwater then freshwater mouth rinse can help rid unwanted tastes. Keep your mind off your mouth. Swallow normally whenever you must. Do this in a relaxed, dreamy, and natural way. Swallowing or moving the body to ease it must be done at times, even during trance work and projection attempts. Minor movements like this can be done without breaking deep relaxation or trance, as long as they are done carefully. However, try not to swallow once the 152 Week 5 vibrations set in or it will make the exit difficult. Once you have left your body, this problem will disappear. Distracting Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Rapid eye movement (REM) can be very distracting when it happens in trance. It feels like your eyes are rapidly moving back and forth beneath your fluttering eyelids. This is caused by the dream mind becoming active. Dreamlike images and scenarios may accompany this. REM normally comes and goes in bouts of a few minutes at a time, but it can sometimes set in for longer periods. If REM starts, do your best to ignore it. If this becomes too distracting, try gently rubbing the fingers and thumbs of each hand together, take a couple of deeper breaths, stretch your body slighdy, and then resettle yourself. If done carefully, this will not break relaxation and trance. This slight physical activity is often enough to stop REM and shut down the dream mind while allowing you to continue the session. If you are in a sitting position and need more activity, stand up slowly (being careful not to fall over), stretch slowly and carefully, and wait till the REM stops before sitting back down and continuing. These procedures will also reduce your level of trance. REM is a fascinating phenomenon. If you are in a sitting position when REM occurs, you might like to explore it by trying to shift your awareness into the dream to observe what's happening. It is possible to shift in and out of the dream state in a lucid way. This can give you valuable experience working with altered states and provide personal evidence of the internal mind split in action, helping you to understand a little better what happens during an OBE. This can also affect your belief system, making the possibility of an OBE far more real than it might have been. Inability to Enter Trance Inability to enter trance is usually caused by some form of anxiety or stress resulting in physical and mental tensions. Insufficient physical relaxation and/or poor concentration and mental relaxation skills can also cause problems. Practice, practice, practice is the very best advice here. If you have worked through this program thus far but find you still cannot get into the trance state, please do not give up. Some people will have to work at achieving the trance state. Novices who fall into trance quickly and easily often have long-term natural trance experience of which they are unaware. For example, people who spent a lot of time daydreaming as children are likely to find trance states easier to achieve than nondaydreamers. Also, a naturally relaxed and contented person will find trance induction easier. Going back to basics is wise if trance induction is overly difficult. Review and spend more time learning deep relaxation and mind taming. This may seem a laborious process, but you must be patient because trance is a key skill for having an OBE. Take your time and work at your own speed. Some people take to trance work easily, while others find they really have to work at it. Anyone can achieve trance states if they learn the basics and practice regularly. Trance Practice 153 Falling into Trance Too Easily (A Caution) Going Too Deep This is an occasional side effect of long-term development work. If one spends a lot of time in a trance state, it eventually becomes second nature and is thus very easily attained. In this case, some people may find themselves accidentally sliding into the trance state many times each day. Some people think that sliding in and out of trance a lot demonstrates their psychic/spiritual evolution, however, if not checked, this can cause frequent episodes of disassociation from reality, which is psychologically unhealthy. If you ever worry that you might be going too deep into trance, reverse the trance induction process and feel yourself move upward. If this is not enough, slowly move your head, mouth, fingers, and toes, progressively restoring movement to your body until you reduce your level or pull yourself out of trance completely. You might then be advised to try again at a time when you feel less sleepy. As stated above, do not worry, as a deep trance will not harm you any more than deep sleep. If all else fails, let yourself fall asleep and when you wake up you will be refreshed and ready to continue. Frequent spontaneous trancing is usually caused by nothing more than poor self-control. A sleep deficit will compound this problem, so catching up on sleep will help. The best way to stop uncontrollable trancing is to be aware of this tendency and to watch out for it, especially at times it is likely to occur (e.g., while driving, watching TV, waiting, traveling, etc.). Be ready to work against this, pulling yourself out of trance the moment you feel it happening. Grounding yourself by focusing on the world and people around you through physical and mental activity is the best way to avoid spontaneous trancing. If this problem arises, our best advice for you is to take a break from all development work for a week or so. During this time, focus on the physical aspects of your life. Catch up on sleep, get some walking in, visit friends, and do all the odd jobs and tasks you have been putting off. Sleep Paralysis Sleep paralysis (also called waking paralysis) is a fairly common phenomenon. You wake up paralyzed or suddenly become paralyzed while relaxing or trying to get to sleep. Waking paralysis can be frightening if the cause is unknown. This will sometimes occur during the trance state. Waking paralysis is a well-known symptom associated with OBEs. Natural projectors usually experience frequent bouts of this throughout their lives, especially during their teens and twenties. Waking paralysis is complex and no single explanation covers all the intricacies. The commonly accepted scientific explanation is that the brain disassociates itself from its physical body during sleep, ostensibly to stop the physical body from thrashing about mimicking dream actions and thereby injuring itself. This is also said to occur when the mind accidentally wakes up inside its disassociated 154 Week 5 sleeping body. This explanation does have some logic, as the physical body does progressively disassociate itself from its mind during sleep and trance states. Entering the trance state brings the first symptoms of mind/body disassociation, and the deeper the trance state attained, the more difficult movement becomes. This is fairly well in line with the scientific explanation, but the natural progressive mind/body disassociation, as brought on by trance states, generally comes on slowly and in degrees. True waking paralysis, on the other hand, comes on very rapidly, usually in only a second or two, heralded by a sense of great body heaviness and a continual falling sensation. It is our opinion that waking paralysis is caused by a spontaneous OBE. Because of this, many people recommend that waking paralysis victims relax and go along with the experience, or that they try to convert waking paralysis into a full OBE. This may work at times, but usually only if vibrations or other symptoms related to an OBE exit are present. If waking paralysis occurs during relaxation or trance practice, or if you wake up paralyzed and want to try for an OBE exit, relax and go along with the experience. No preparation is necessary. Simply clear your mind and use an OBE exit technique (introduced in Part 2) or just imagine the feeling that you are floating out of your body. If you succeed, keep the OBE very short and re-enter your body about ten seconds later, shouting your success. Hold the memory of your brief OBE firmly in mind and use high emotion to improve shadow memory download during re-entry. Write down key words and use dream recall techniques immediately coming out of trance. Following the above advice gives you a fair chance of remembering the experience after the fact. If you stay out too long, however, you will probably lose the shadow memory. (OBE exit and re-entry techniques are covered in more detail later in this program). If you find yourself suddenly paralyzed during trance practice, you have most likely already projected but missed the OBE exit. This is quite likely if you've experienced whole-body tingling energy rushes, vibrations, or other OBE exit symptoms just prior to the onset of paralysis. Letting yourself fall asleep will make it easier for your projected double to re-enter, which will not be long if the OBE is kept short. If you want to end paralysis, concentrate hard on moving a single big toe. For some reason, moving a big toe is the easiest way to break paralysis. To increase the effectiveness of this, use the brushing awareness action on your big toe. This helps strengthen body awareness there and makes it easier to force movement. The moment you move your big toe paralysis will end. If all efforts to pull out of paralysis fail, let yourself fall asleep and you will wake up later with full movement restored. The Boredom Barrier Boredom is a well-known barrier to learning and exploring altered states, including trance meditation. Sometimes it can feel as if one is trying to incubate an impossible egg that just will not hatch. Time passes and nothing seems to happen. You become restless and bored and your body and mind long to be doing some- Trance Practice 155 thing different, anything but sitting motionless. This is a natural barrier that only patience and perseverance will overcome. In time you will adapt and become used to physical motionlessness and the lack of internal dialogue. You will learn to think more profoundly as your inner horizons expand. You will soon come to love and value this new state of being. The more time you spend in trance, especially if you remain fully conscious, the more your consciousness will expand and deepen. This is very progressive work. will tend to lose focus and drift away after a few minutes, returning to consciousness later feeling refreshed but with little or no memory of what transpired. Basically, trance sessions of this type are equivalent to pleasant naps. It is easier to induce the trance state when the body and mind are tired, but mental coherence and control are limited. In general, practicing trance when you are overtired is a bad habit. The last thing you want to do is condition your body to fall asleep in response to your OBE preparation routine. There are some mental activities that can help overcome boredom. These do not involve breaking trance, but some word thinking might be required. If done slowly and carefully, a small amount of internal dialogue will not break your trance state (e.g., praying or sending distance healing, meditating on concepts like love, honesty, and friendship, etc.). Experimenting with astral sight and clairvoyance are also worthwhile. Another beneficial undertaking is to examine your life and resolve past problems and inner conflicts. If you can do some of these things and not break your trance state, you are making solid progress. The solution is to catch up on sleep and then return to trance practice refreshed. If this is difficult, try changing the time of day used for trance practice. Doing trance exercises in the morning or just after a refreshing nap will usually solve this problem. An alternative is to always take a short nap prior to trance practice. Falling Asleep During Trance This is the most common problem of all. It is usually caused by either a sleep deficit or by being too comfortable during trance practice. If you have a sleep deficit, you will find you have little trouble entering the trance state, even without a deep physical relaxation exercise, because you are mentally overtired. In this case you will find it difficult to stay conscious and mentally functional in trance. You Many people wake an hour or so early each day for their OBE sessions. They get up, do a little exercise, shower, and then do their trance development practice. Trance work is generally more successful in the morning due to the deep physical relaxation and mental refreshment provided by a good night's sleep. Deep physical relaxation and a clear, fresh mind are essential ingredients for successful trance work. With time and regular practice, the trance state becomes progressively easier to attain. Advanced practitioners are able to induce full trance at just about any time, even while standing and walking. But everyone must start at the beginning and then progressively develop this ability. It is important to keep in mind that a full trance state is not required to project out of 156 Week 5 body. Only a modest level of trance, along with deep physical relaxation, is needed to make a successful OBE exit. Snoring During Trance Some people will hear themselves snoring during a trance session, even though they are mentally awake and lucid. This can only occur during the trance state, so it is a good indicator that the trance state is being achieved. Snoring happens because the physical body is asleep. If you find this a problem, adjusting the position used for trance and keeping the head balanced (rather than allowing it to fall onto the chest) will usually help. Trance Practice: Using Slight Discomfort for Altered-State Conditioning Try not to be overly annoyed by minor distractions and discomforts during trance practice. These may be the very things that prevent you from falling asleep or losing concentration during trance sessions. Successful trance work and the OBE exit may, in fact, depend on them. KEY POINT The information that follows may make the difference between success and failure with this program. Mastering the trance state is critical to inducing and remembering an out-of-body experience successfully. A solid trance state makes it easier to download and retain OBE shadow memories. The secret to mastering trance states is to practice with a slight amount of discomfort. Let's look at the normal learning process and how it relates to trance and OBEs. As one improves new skills through repetitive practice, the brain forges and progressively strengthens new neural pathways to optimize their ease of use. The same principle applies to both physical and mental learning, whether you're learning to type or memorizing poetry. When learning to have an OBE, most people have only limited success in the early days. However, their efforts often involve lengthy times between practice sessions. This thwarts the natural learning process because they are not getting the everyday practice required to master the fragile physical/mental state required for the OBE exit. More importantly, this does not allow the brain to develop the neural pathways and subde mechanisms required to download OBE memories. Most people following this program will soon find they are able to achieve a reasonable level of trance. Many will also experience some OBE exit-related symptoms. Then they will hit an invisible barrier. They will seem to be doing everything right, getting all the right sensations, but will fail to download their OBE memories. As it happens, these same people usually also have problems remembering what happens to them during trance practice and meditation sessions. The type of early OBE remembered by the majority of inexperienced projectors usually contains a high level of emotion, often exhila- Trance Practice 157 ration or fear. This intense emotional impact to remember trance, dream, and projection provides an important shock factor. This forces experiences. an OBE memory to download into easily The reason why so many people fail to real- recallable levels of memory. If high emotion is ize an OBE relates to why they also lose track not present to cause a successful shadow mem- of trance and meditation experiences. Trance ory download, often physical discomfort or a memory involves that first inner-body projec- noise occurs in just the right way and at just tion where the expanded energy double is the right moment to partially awaken projec- generated and loosened from its physical tors and force an OBE memory download. If counterpart (see Week 2). In this case, just as you study enough OBE case histories, you will what happens after a failed OBE, one's brain find the above factors are extremely common. has failed to successfully download the memo- Projection, dream, and trance state memories are all related. They all involve a type of ries of the internal expanded energy double. Trance, dream, and OBE memory recall shadow memory. These are incompatible with abilities are closely related. They are so close normal levels of conscious and recallable that if you train your mind for one, you also memory, which is only active during the full train it for the others. Of course, the trance awake state of everyday life. But all the above state is far more easily achieved than an OBE. have to share the same memory storage facil- Therefore, this is the level you must practice in ity: the human brain. The physical brain/mind order to train and program yourself for OBE habitually stores only a single, linear memory memory recall. stream. Usually the memories retained are Traditionally, most people have been taught focused on recording real-life events that to practice the OBE exit while lounging hori- occur in the awake state. zontally on cushy mattresses or recliners. Trance Entering the sleep/dream state involves a work is also commonly practiced in this way. process similar to entering the trance state. Apart from the constant danger of falling asleep Both states require the physical body to fall if one is too comfortable, total comfort removes asleep. Each involves the mind continuing to an important body/mind connection. This function on some level (e.g., unconscious body/mind connection is important to both dreaming and conscious trance). They both trance work and OBEs. also involve an inherent memory download Group work and led meditations provide problem, which relates strongly to OBE recall. many stimuli to help keep the mind/body Most people have programmed themselves connection intact. In the case of a led medita- since birth to let their minds follow their bod- tion, the voice directing the meditation and ies into sleep; to dream rather than to hold other mild disturbances provide enough sen- their minds awake in trance. Some retraining sory stimulation to maintain the mind/body is usually necessary to strengthen the ability connection, even if one is in total comfort. 158 Week 5 Have you ever wondered why most, if not brief moment, the projector exists in a trance all respected forms of trance meditation state just before entering full awake conscious- involve a slightly uncomfortable physical posi- ness. This happens very fast and usually goes tion? For example, Zen-style open-eyed medi- unnoticed. Identifying OBE shadow memory tation and/or sitting in a lotus position is download problems must, therefore, start at slightly uncomfortable, especially for novices. the base level: during that transition from So why are these forms so effective and mem- trance to awake consciousness. If this interface orable? This is because these positions help is improved, OBE memory download also maintain a slight mind/body connection at all improves. times. The structure and discipline found in a To train this desirable ability, we specifi- Zen dojo also play their part in creating a for- cally recommend that all your trance medita- mal atmosphere. Some people make better tion practice be done in a hard-backed office progress under these conditions than they do or kitchen chair with no head support rather working alone. than in a bed or comfortable recliner. This will Avoid sensory deprivation (total physical allow enough slight discomfort to nurture and comfort) during all trance work sessions and train the necessary mind/body connection. In OBE attempts. A very slight level of discom- a way, this annoys the brain a little and forces fort helps keep your mind/body connection it to keep in touch with its subtle states of alive. Staying lightly connected with your being. Using slight discomfort thereby trains physical body/mind maintains a constant sub- the mind to download, accept, and store tle memory download. You must experiment shadow memories all through trance work with just the right level of discomfort until sessions. This in turn strengthens dream and you discover what is right for you. Too much, OBE memory recall abilities. of course, will make the trance state too diffi- Have you ever wondered why the great cult to achieve and maintain; not enough and spiritualist mediums of the early twentieth you risk momentarily "winking out" or falling century had so much success with all forms of asleep altogether. psychic ability, including OBEs? In part, this is The internally tranced expanded energy because they generally used hard-backed body/mind (that all-important inner-body chairs, wooden stools, or benches with no projection) exists between the fully awake state head support. They also had fewer distractions and the full-blown OBE state. Before reinte- by way of TV and computers, so they prac- grating with the physical body/mind after an ticed trance work more regularly and for OBE, the projected double must first reinte- longer. Practice, practice, practice—it always grate with its expanded energy body/mind. At the conclusion of an out-of-body experience the projected double reintegrates with its expanded energy body/mind and, for a pays off in the long term, regardless of what is being learned or developed. This is the way of any master. Trance Practice The process of developing metaphysical and spiritual abilities can be likened to martial 159 will also work. Experiment to determine what works for you. arts training: there is no quick and easy way. A TV or radio tuned off-station will pro- The sweat on one's brow every day sets the vide annoying white noise. This helps drown speed and level of one's progress. The same out distracting sounds. It also provides sen- level of dedication and regular practice is sory input that can help keep the mind/body required for any high-level skill if one wishes connection alive. Rain and surf recordings to gain a reasonable level of proficiency, also work. What hinders one person can help including an OBE. It is much easier to train for an OBE with another. Adapt to your situation and innovate to find ways around obstacles. modest daily trance work than to hope for Using a chair with no head support for train- success relying solely on intermittent OBE ing causes built-in slight discomfort because attempts. This is not meant to deter you from you are required to balance your head. The trick making OBE attempts when you have time is to find the balance point for your head. and energy to do so. Always take advantage of Experiment with this until you find the perfect such opportunities. However, spending time position. Once balanced, you will find this very in trance on a daily basis with very slight dis- comfortable. A small part of your mind/aware- comfort to maintain the body/mind connec- ness will have to work in the background to tion is the best way to train and strengthen keep your head balanced. Getting used to this shadow memory download ability. position takes a little practice. If you start to fall asleep, your head will rock and jerk you awake, Additional Methods for Slight Discomfort making sure you don't drift off. As mentioned before, holding your forearms vertically off the bed with elbows on the Aside from using a hard-backed chair for all mattress will achieve the same effect if you development practice, there are other ways to must practice trance in bed. They will fall to introduce slight discomfort. For example, if a the bed and jerk you awake every time you bed or a recliner is used, place a small wooden start to fall asleep. Experiment with this and board or piece of cardboard under your heels try to find a position where your arms will and/or your hands. If one must use a bed for hang back on their own slightly off the bed. practice, say because of back problems, a piece Use pillows if you need them. of board placed under the heels can be all that The bottom line here is that if you have diffi- is required to maintain the mind/body con- culty staying conscious during a thirty-minute nection. A blanket placed over the feet that is trance meditation, then you are also likely to heavy enough to provide slight discomfort have OBE shadow memory recall problems. 160 Week 5 Breathwork: Valving the Breath This week's breathwork builds on the exercises you have been practicing for the last four weeks. This week you will add a simple valving component. The valving component allows you to control the intake and release of air more precisely, thereby regulating the speed of your inhales and exhales. Previously, you have been taking deep breaths without being specifically directed to Practice this during your normal breathwork exercise. Managing how much air is released and taken in will give you control over the breath's pace, something you will be regulating more exactly next week. One's natural tendency at first is to valve the breath on the exhale only. Be conscious of this, as you should practice the valving technique on both the inhale and the exhale. This is a little tricky at first. Experiment until it feels comfortable. inhale through your nose or mouth. This week you should consciously breathe in and out through your nose. If this is impossible due to congestion, breathe in and out through your slightly parted mouth and keep a bottle of water handy, taking small sips to moisten your mouth if it gets dry. Follow the exercise the way you have before: normal breathing for a minute, increasing the breath for six to twelve breaths, twelve deep breaths, decreasing for six to twelve breaths, then a final minute observing your normal breathing. Take more than twelve deep breaths Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 05: Trance Meditation" This week you will want to use the BrainWave Generator preset to enhance your ability to slip into trance while maintaining a keen sense of lucidity. Use the advice in the earlier section titled "Trance Practice: Using Slight Discomfort for Altered-State Conditioning" for guidelines on trance practice. It is important to train yourself not to fall if you like; consider twelve a minimum. Be asleep during trance practice. You may find sure to breathe from top to bottom: expand yourself drifting in and out of consciousness your lungs and belly on the inhale, then con- while practicing, especially at first. If you find tract your belly and lungs on the exhale. that you are drifting off for longer than a few To add the valving component, contract your glottis with your throat muscles. This is the opening at the upper part of your windpipe above the throat around where your chin meets your neck. When you contract your glottis, your breath will become audible and vaguely raspy—what you might expect from a science fiction villain with a black mask and cape. Slightly audible breathing is the effect you want to create. seconds at a time, however, either enhance your level of discomfort during trance practice or practice at a time when you are not as sleepy or after a short, refreshing nap. If you still find yourself falling asleep, consider skipping use of the BrainWave Generator until you are able to maintain at least a light trance without losing consciousness. Additionally, we have included another preset to promote lucid dreaming: "MAP Week Trance Practice 05: Lucid Dreaming." Listen to it the same way you did last week. Also remember to repeat your affirmations and keep your lucid dreaming objectives in mind as you go to sleep each night. 161 Reminder: The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. WEEK 5 DAILY PAGES Trance: Achieving trance levels requires deep physical relaxation combined with mind taming and trance induction techniques. It requires a delicate balance of allowing your body to fall asleep while your mind remains awake and lucid. Key for mastering trance skill is using slight discomfort to permit you to straddle the edge of sleep without losing consciousness. This week you will practice several methods of speeding up the trance induction process. 162 DAY 29 Trance Practice: Elevator Technique Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 have the ability to operate independently of my physical body. This happens naturally every night Recite morning affirmations during sleep. The thought of being out of body is AFTERNOON peaceful and freeing. Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Valving the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize 1 am dreaming. 1 take control of my Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dreams. 1 have the power to convert my lucid Energy raising (5 min.) dreams to an OBE. Stimulate primary centers (15 min.) Trance work: Elevator technique (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optionat.Week 5 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 05: Trance Meditation" Begin listening to this preset when you start your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. 163 164 Day 29 Breathwork: Valving the Breath (5 Minutes) Follow last week's exercise with the addition of valving your breathing at your throat in order to control the rate of inflow and outflow. With this new technique, the breath should be slighdy audible. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. Primary Center Stimulation: All Centers (15 Minutes) Stimulate each center from base to crown. Spend no more than fifteen minutes total on this step. Trance Practice: Elevator Technique (15 Minutes) 1. Take a moment to stretch, relax, and resettle yourself. 2. Let your thoughts wind down and then clear your mind by focusing on breath awareness for a few minutes. You may find this easier if you first deal with any pressing thoughts or worries. Simply consider and deal with these for a few moments each and then let them go. This will greatly ease their clamoring thought pressure. If you have serious problems, write them down to remind yourself to deal with them later; this will help silence them. 3. Imagine that you are in an elevator with one side—the side you are facing-—open to bare rock or brick. Feel the elevator start moving down with you in it. 4. Imagine you can see the exposed side of the elevator shaft passing upward as you move ever downward, falling deeper and deeper into trance as you go. Imagine the texture and features of the shaft moving upward as the elevator carries you down, down, down. 5. Imagine you can see a large number as you pass a floor every few seconds, and count these as the elevator moves deeper and deeper. Call upon the memory of the last time you were in an elevator or go and ride in one and relive and memorize the sensation. Remember the slight feeling of vertigo it causes in your stomach as it starts going down. Recreate this feeling; feel it with your body awareness. Keep imagining and feeling this while making sure you do not allow your physical body to tense up. Feel your body letting go and sinking deeper and deeper into the trance state as you ride the elevator down, down, down... Daily Tips Robert: All the mental falling exercises herein provide ways to achieve a level of trance. Use your imagination to construct the falling scenario. The most important part is to feel yourself moving downward. Call upon a memory of yourself doing something similar; don't just Day 29 165 think about it or try to see it in your mind's Brian: Remember to keep your head clear of eye. Once you attain a level of the trance state internal dialogue as you go through this men- heralded by a wave of body heaviness and tal exercise. The key is to remain clear-headed warmth, relax and breathe slowly and natu- without falling asleep. Again, practicing the rally. Keep your mind clear to maintain this; trance exercises in a hard-backed chair is cru- focusing on breath awareness will help. cial at first. The slight discomfort is a critical aid to training your mind to stay aware. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 30 Trance Practice: Ladder Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 have the ability to operate independently of my physical body. This happens naturally every night Recite morning affirmations during sleep. The thought of being out of body is AFTERNOON peaceful and freeing. Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator Relaxotion: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Valving the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize 1 am dreaming. 1 take control of my Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dreams. 1 have the power to convert my lucid Energy raising (5 min.) dreams to an OBE. Stimulate primary centers (15 min.) Trance work: Ladder technigue (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 05: Trance Meditation" Begin listening to this preset when you start your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. 166 Day 30 167 Breathwork: Valving the Breath (5 Minutes) Follow last week's exercise with the addition of valving your breathing at your throat. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) 5. Continue down the ladder one rung at a time. Feel your body moving down the ladder. Imagine a rock face or brick wall in front of you close to the ladder. Imagine this textured face moving upward past you as you climb farther and farther down the ladder. Feel yourself climbing downward as you fall deeper and deeper into trance with every downward step you take. Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. Daily Tips Primary Center Stimulation: All Centers (IS Minutes) Stimulate each center from base to crown. Spend no more than fifteen minutes total on this step. Trance Practice: Ladder Technique (15 Minutes) 1. Take a moment to stretch, relax, and resetde yourself. 2. Let your thoughts wind down, and then clear your mind by focusing on breath awareness for a few minutes. 3. Imagine that you are holding on to a ladder. Recreate body awareness feelings of remembered arm and leg movements and slowly begin climbing down. Feel the downward movement. 4. Move one imaginary foot and its opposite hand down one rung. Then move the other foot and its opposite hand down another rung. If this is too complex, imagine you are holding on to each side of the ladder and climbing down only with your feet, with the sides of the ladder gliding through your hands. Robert: When you get used to trance induction methods, it can help if you repeat a mantra a few times at the start. This does temporarily breach mental quietness, but it helps set a downward theme in your mind and in time this becomes a trigger for entry into the trance state. The one I use is "Down . . . down . . . down,... deep .. . deeper .. . deepest..." Do this slowly and profoundly, feeling yourself moving downward and deeper into trance. With practice you will find that your mind begins to react automatically to this trigger, pulling you into trance more quickly. Brian: Detecting when you've crossed the line into trance can be a tricky thing. I've heard people describe a heaviness that steals over their body. Usually, for me, I get a sense that I'm drifting into an altered state when I feel the pressure of my mind wanting to wander on to nonsensical or unrelated topics. If you find your mind wandering, wordlessly bring your attention back to your body. I find that rooting my conscious awareness firmly behind my closed eyes helps me stay lucid without inner verbal dialogue breaking my concentration. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 31 Trance Practice: Steps Technique Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 have the ability to operate independently of my physical body. This happens naturally every night Recite morning affirmations during sleep. The thought of being out of body is AFTERNOON peaceful and freeing. Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breatbwork: Valving the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize 1 am dreaming. 1 take control of my Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dreams. 1 have the power to convert my lucid Energy raising (5 min.) dreams to an OBE. Stimulate primary centers (15 min.) Trance work: Steps technigue (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 05: Trance Meditation" Begin listening to this preset when you start your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. 169 170 Day 31 Breathwork: Valving the Breath (5 Minutes) Follow last week's exercise with the addition of valving your breathing at your throat. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. Primary Center Stimulation: All Centers (15 Minutes) Stimulate each center from base to crown. Spend no more than fifteen minutes total on this step. Trance Practice: Steps Technique (15 Minutes) 1. Take a moment to stretch, relax, and resettle. Allow yourself to let go. 2. Let your thoughts wind down and then clear your mind with breath awareness. 3. Imagine that you are standing at the head of a long flight of steps with a high stone wall on either side. These steps are large, imposing, and steep. Lift one imaginary foot at a time—carefully feeling yourself doing it—and step down. 4. Feel your body move downward as your right foot moves onto the lower step. Repeat this action and take the next step down with your left foot, then the next, and the next. 5. While you are moving down the stairs, imagine you can see the textured stone walls on either side moving upward past you. 6. Continue this slowly and deliberately, feeling yourself moving downward and falling deeper and deeper into the trance state. Count the steps if you like (slowly, as if you were counting your breaths: "Onnnne, twoooo, threeee," etc.), taking one step down with each exhale. Daily Tips Robert: Do not be concerned if you find it difficult to enter a trance at first. I was a natural daydreamer and had lots of spontaneous OBEs from at least the age of three. When I taught myself to deliberately induce trance, it was difficult and took considerable time and effort. However, I was using old and obtuse methods. My instruction at that time was, "Sit quietly and clear your mind and you will soon enter the trance state." The techniques introduced this week are much more effective. Brian: If you find yourself "blinking out" during trance work, even if you're well rested, that's to be expected at first. The more you practice the trance state, the less this is likely to happen. Be aware that the "blink out" signals a momentary inner projection, and possibly even a short OBE. One indication of this is a sensation of falling just before you snap back. It can be disconcerting at first but try to enjoy the falling sensation and not tense up when you feel it coming. This will give you practice staying relaxed during OBE exits. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 32 Trance Practice: Climbing down a Rope Technique Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 have the ability to operate independently of my physical body. This happens naturally every night Recite morning affirmations during sleep. The thought of being out of body is AFTERNOON Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator peaceful and freeing. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Valving the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize 1 am dreaming. 1 fake control of my Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dreams. 1 have the power to convert my lucid Energy raising (5 min.) dreams to an OBE. Stimulate primary centers (15 min.) Trance work: Climbing down rope (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 05: Trance Meditation" Begin listening to this preset when you start your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. 172 Day 32 173 Breathwork: Valving the Breath (5 Minutes) Follow last week's exercise with the addition of valving your breathing at your throat. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. 5. See the textured rope moving up past your face as you climb down it hand over hand. 6. Continue this, feeling yourself climbing down and falling deeper and deeper into the trance state as you go, "Down . . . down . . . down,. . . deep . . . deeper . . . deepest..." Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. Primary Center Stimulation: All Centers (15 Minutes) Stimulate each center from base to crown. Spend no more than fifteen minutes total on this step. Trance Practice: Climbing down a Rope Technique (15 Minutes) 1. Take a moment to stretch, relax, and resettle yourself. 2. Let your thoughts wind down and then clear your mind using breath awareness. 3. Imagine that you are hanging by your hands from a thick and unbreakable rope and you have your legs wrapped securely around it. Your arms are strong and there is no chance of falling. 4. Move one imaginary hand down and then the next, climbing down the rope hand over hand with the rope sliding easily between your legs. Feel the downward movement. Daily Tips Robert: I cannot reiterate strongly enough the value of the breath awareness technique! If you can relax your physical body and focus on breath awareness, feeling your chest and stomach rising and falling with your body awareness, you will have no problems entering a decent level of trance. If the trance state seems to elude you, redouble your efforts on breath awareness. Brian: Notes from my first week of trance work: "I was upstairs, alone in the dark and doing my trance work. I was counting myself down when I heard my wife say something from the foot of the bed. I knew that she was asleep downstairs and that something must be wrong for her to disturb me. I forced myself to open my eyes and looked up, my heart pounding (rapid heartbeat, as per OBE exit). No one was in the room with me. My wife was still asleep downstairs. While I may have fallen asleep for just a fraction of a second and dreamed it, it was so real!" I knew then that I must have been very close to an OBE exit, as this was a typical "astral noise" phenomenon. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 33 Trance Practice: Feather Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 have the ability to operate independently of my physical body. This happens naturally every night Recite morning affirmations during sleep. The thought of being out of body is AFTERNOON Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator peaceful and freeing. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Valving the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize 1 am dreaming. 1 take control of my Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dreams. 1 have the power to convert my lucid Energy raising (5 min.) dreams to an OBE. Stimulate primary centers (15 min.) Trance work: Featber technigue ( 1 5 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 05: Trance Meditation" Begin listening to this preset when you start your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. 175 176 Day 33 Breathwork: Valving the Breath (5 Minutes) Follow last week's exercise with the addition of valving your breathing at your throat. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if 5. Feel the atmosphere around you; imagine strands of textured clouds moving upward past you as you fall gently through them. 6. Continue this, feeling yourself floating gentiy downward and falling deeper and deeper into the trance state with your every falling breath. In and out can be reversed to whatever feels most natural. Be one with the feather. time permits) doing the full-body circuit. Daily Tips Primary Center Stimulation: All Centers (15 Minutes) Stimulate each center from base to crown. Spend no more than fifteen minutes total on this step. Trance Practice: Feather Technique (15 Minutes) 1. Take a moment to stretch, relax, and resetde yourself. 2. Let your thoughts wind down and then clear your mind with breath awareness. 3. Imagine that you are a feather and that you are gently floating down from a great height. Get a tiny feather and drop it from the ceiling. Become one with the feather. Feel yourself gently falling, recreating a falling sensation in your body awareness every time you breathe out. 4. Feel yourself holding position and floating in midair as you breathe in. Robert: As I mentioned earlier, it can help if you repeat a simple litany or mantra over and over in your head as an accompaniment to a downward-feeling trance induction method. This also helps to keep the mind clear and focused. In time you will become conditioned to subconsciously react to the litany. Such a mantra will program you to start falling into trance whenever it is used. You can make up your own litany, but keep it simple and downward-meaning and stick to the same one once you find one that you like. The longer you use it the more effective it will become. Brian: Another thing I noticed when I was learning the trance state was localized falling sensations in my legs or arms. This is a good sign that you are starting to master the state and generate that all-important internal projection into your expanded energy body. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 34 Trance Practice: Smoke Ring Technique Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 have the ability to operate independently of my physical body. This happens naturally every night Recite morning affirmations during sleep. The thought of being out of body is AFTERNOON Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator peaceful and freeing. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) Breathwork: Valving the breath (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize 1 am dreaming. 1 take control of my Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dreams. 1 have the power to convert my lucid Energy raising (5 min.) dreams to an OBE. Stimulate primary centers (15 min.) Trance work: Smoke ring technique (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 05: Trance Meditation" Begin listening to this preset when you start your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. 178 Day 34 179 Breathwork: Valving the Breath (5 Minutes) Follow last week's exercise with the addition of valving your breathing at your throat. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. 5. The smoke rings should repeat with about two seconds between them, but this can be varied. Feel with your body awareness the rising smoke rings, puffing regularly up over your whole body. 6. Feel an internal falling sensation as the imaginary smoke rings rise upward. Feel yourself falling deeper and deeper into the trance state with the caress of every smoke ring as it rises up over your whole body, over and over, from feet to head. Primary Center Stimulation: All Centers (15 Minutes) Stimulate each center, from base to crown. Spend no more than fifteen minutes total on this step. Trance Practice: Smoke Ring Technique (15 Minutes) 1. Take a moment to stretch, relax, and resettie yourself. 2. Let your thoughts wind down and then clear your mind with breath awareness. 3. Imagine that your feet are in the center of a dense smoke ring as thick as your arm. Imagine and feel this smoke ring rising up over your body and disappearing overhead. 4. The smoke rings are very dense and move close to your body. Imagine that you can feel them moving up over your skin as they rise. Imagine that you can see these smoke rings as they move past your eyes. Daily Tips Robert: The smoke ring technique is a personal favorite. It is extremely versatile. Once mastered, this can also be used to raise energy up through your body in an ultrasimple way. I use this method for trance induction (a few times a day in my life), but this also raises energy. When you have mastered energy raising methods, you'll find that any upwardmoving close-to-body body awareness action will cause energy to raise. As we have said many times, these exercises are very progressive and in time you will find that you can simplify them profoundly. And simple is always better, easier, and faster. Brian: Keeping your mind free of distracting thoughts can be difficult when first learning trance. By now you should be proficient at keeping your mind clear for short periods of time, but it's more difficult in a long trance session. I've read techniques that recommend mentally visualizing putting your distracting 180 Day 34 thoughts in a box and locking them up before otherwise have had in the first place. Experi- going into trance. Personally, I found the act ment with different techniques and come up of thinking of things to put in the box usually with something that works for you. revived more distracting topics than I would Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 35 Trance Practice: Personalized Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 have the ability to operate independently of my physical body. This happens naturally every night during sleep. The (bought of being out of body is AFTERNOON Read chapter 6 peaceful and freeing. Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize 1 am dreaming. 1 take control of my Breathwork: Valving the breath (5 min.) dreams. 1 have the power to convert my lucid Energy body presrimulotion (5 min.) dreams to an OBE. Energy raising (5 min.) Stimulate primary centers (15 min.) Trance work: Personalized technigue (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 5 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 05: Trance Meditation" Begin listening to this preset when you start your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. 181 182 Day 35 Breathwork: Valving the Breath (5 Minutes) Follow last week's exercise with the addition of valving your breathing at your throat. tion from this week that was most effective for you. You can also alternate between these methods to keep your mind focused and to alleviate boredom. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Spend a minimum of five minutes (longer, if time permits) doing the full-body circuit. Primary Center Stimulation: All Centers (15 Minutes) Stimulate each center from base to crown. Spend no more than fifteen minutes total on this step. Trance Practice: Personalized Technique (15 Minutes) 1. Take a moment to stretch, relax, and resettie yourself. 2. Let your thoughts wind down and silence, then clear your mind with breath awareness. 3. Imagine any scenario that you are familiar with or can imagine that involves any kind of downward movement or falling sensation. This can be anything that could induce a natural falling or downwardmovement sensation in your body awareness: an escalator, a waterslide, a fireman's pole, a parachute jump, mountain climbing, scuba diving, high diving. If you can't think of a technique, use the trance induc- Daily Tips Robert: Trance work on its own will sometimes precipitate spontaneous OBE exits. Be prepared to go with these when you are aware of them happening. If you use total comfort for your practice sessions (e.g., lying on a soft bed), you may miss these totally and put them down to temporarily "blinking out" of focus. However, if you are using the right measure of slight discomfort, you will be fully aware of these events and can take advantage of them to gain real OBE experience, if only for brief moments. Brian: Astral noise is an auditory hallucination where projectors hear noises and even voices around them during the prelude to an OBE exit. This can also happen during trance work sessions. These are very real and can be completely distracting if you don't know what's happening. Tell yourself before you start your trance work that if you hear any astral noises, you are going to ignore them. The first challenge is realizing that the noises aren't coming from your physical environment. This is difficult. The second challenge is not paying attention to them. Here's a trick that worked for me. If you hear an astral noise, immediately come up with some rational explanation for it, no matter how ludicrous. In one instance, I heard the sound of Day 35 183 footsteps on a hardwood floor in a part of the and that the sound I was hearing wasn't the house that I was certain was empty. I told sound of hammering. But it allowed me to let myself, "Oh, that must be the neighbor ham- this go and continue my energy work and mering," even though I knew it was too late worry about the noise later. for my neighbor to be working on his house Your Program Notes/Observations Before Moving On This week you should have: • learned about trance practice and how to adjust your level of tiredness and discomfort to get the best results; • an understanding of how to use slight discomfort to enhance the effectiveness of your trance practice; • become familiar with the different levels of trance; • practiced putting yourself into a basic level of trance; • learned how to valve your breathing at your throat to control the intake and outflow of air. J woke at five a.m., so decided to try an OBE. I settled on my side and stimulated my chakras and the vibrations started. I visualized myself lifting out. Then I heard my wife's voice ask me what time it was. This was strange, as she was deep asleep. The instant I heard her voice I slammed back into my body. Dohl Tricked into returning! Bleedin' astral noise trying to keep me in, eh? That wasn't going to stop me, not after trying for such a long time. So I tried again and this time lifted straight out and up to the ceiling. I tried to leave through the window, like I did in my first OBE, but I didn't want to move my "astral body" thinking I might return to my real body if I did. So I drifted backwards through the window, feeling just a light resistance. I found myself looking down on a garden from about fifteen feet up and drifting slowly backwards. Then I realized that this wasn't my garden. I was at my mother's house about five miles away. I wanted to go back to my own village and started drifting up the main road (at about fifteen feet up, a lovely way to travel) and I noticed a lot of activity in the road below. This was strange given the early hour, but it was bright as a summer's day. I tried to shift myself back home and, although I felt a rushing sound, I did not make much progress. I felt my energy waning and thought it was about time I went home. This didn't slam me immediately back into my body. It was more of a gradual "melting" back in, almost as if I was merging two memories together very slowly. KEIK Loosening up The Energy Bodq What to Expect • OBE walk-through • Spin loosening • Brow center trigger • Loosening with imagination - Projectable double loosening • Preparing your meditation space for an O B E • Bounce loosening • More breathwork • Breath loosening • Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions Preparing for an OBE This is a transitional week where you will go from learning and practicing the elements on which an OBE depends to applying them next week in Part 2 of the program. Be advised that some of the techniques and exercises this week can cause OBE exit symptoms and even full OBE separations. You have been pretty busy these past few relaxation and breathwork, spend some time raising energy and stimulating primary centers, then use a trance induction technique. This week you will learn the last few pieces of the full OBE preparation routine. There are three more components to add before regular OBE exit practice can begin: the OBE walk-through, the brow center trigger, and subtle body loosening exercises. weeks. By now you should have recognized the basic drill: take a few minutes to do your 185 186 Week 6 The OBE Walk-through: Rehearsing Your First Projection Experience After five weeks of daily energy body stimulation, deep relaxation, mind taming, and trance work, you should be feeling a little more comfortable with the idea that you are a spirit and not just a body; a consciousness and not just a brain. You should also have a fair understanding of the process required to wake-induce an OBE. can jump up and down and celebrate only after reintegration and not a moment before. Fear poses its own set of complications. Like excitement, OBE exit-related fear is a natural gut reaction. It frequendy causes would-be projectors to abort their exits, usually right on the brink of their first OBE exit. Terminating an OBE exit due to fear can traumatize you. It can psychologically condition you against having future OBEs. This can significandy increase the difficulties during further projection attempts. Yet with all this, it can still be a little omi- An unconscious psychological "flinch reflex" nous knowing that soon you will be making can be created to prevent the same trauma serious attempts to separate from your physi- from happening again. cal body. You may have no conscious fears about the idea of doing this, but it can be another thing entirely when the OBE exit begins. When theory suddenly becomes reality, you will only have a few seconds to digest the situation and react. Your training will make a big difference in how you respond to your first OBE exit. The OBE walk-through is designed to prepare you for this ahead of time so you don't freak out and blow the big event. In addition to giving you practice at remaining calm and focused, a walk-through guides you through your first OBE. How you structure your OBE walk-through can also affect your ability to remember the real thing after the fact. Given the inherent nature of the out-of-body state, it can be tempting to deviate from your walk-through plan and go on spontaneous adventures. The likely result is that you will stay out too long, your physical/expanded energy Beginners tend to have two natural reac- body/mind will fall into a deep sleep, and you tions to the pre-OBE exit symptoms: excite- will completely lose the memory of your first ment and fear, in varying degrees. Yet it is crit- OBE. ical that you avoid these primal gut reactions. The idea behind rehearsing an OBE is to Excitement will break the delicate balance make what happens during the process auto- needed for successful projection, cementing matic. You will not have to decide what to do you back inside your physical body/mind. It is a at the time. Instead, you will instinctively fol- natural reaction, yet nothing will stop the OBE low your training. The OBE walk-through exit faster than getting overexcited. As much as process only takes a few minutes. It involves humanly possible, you want to remain calm physically acting out your first OBE, and walk- and ignore OBE exit sensations. You need to ing through it step-by-step in your imagina- focus everything you have on getting out of tion. The more often you repeat this process, your body. A calm state of mind must be main- the less intimidating it will be during the real tained before, during, and after the exit. You Loosening up the Energy Body thing and the more likely you will be to stick to your plan during your first OBE. 187 Your first conscious OBE exit is important, and even more so is your first conscious reentry. Doing both involves a significant real- Planning Your First OBE ization and this will have a profound impact upon your beliefs, conscious and subcon- Your OBE walk-through plan will evolve as scious. This will make future OBEs easier and you learn more about OBE and exit symptoms more achievable. during Part 2 of the program. The following The most effective way to prevent you from are some general guidelines for setting up wandering off in the night is to have a pre- your walk-through. These will increase your planned route near your projection site. Go to chances of remembering and getting through the location where you will practice the OBE it all without fear and/or excitement ruining exit and look around. Now choose an object the experience. across the room. Walk to that object, and then look for another object on the far side of the KEY POINT Keep early OBEs very short! room. The object may be as simple as a picture or lamp. Your goal here is to create a rough triangle from your physical body to the first object to the second object and then back The shorter your first experience, the more to your physical body. This will be the route successful it will be. We recommend your first you will travel once you get out of your body. OBE be limited to between ten and thirty sec- Practicing this route during your OBE walk- onds and no more. Your first wake-induced through will provide you with concrete objec- OBE is a huge milestone that will profoundly tives. They may not be terribly exciting, but it affect your beliefs. Do not blow it by getting will help you keep your goal to re-enter your delusions of grandeur! Just because you got body shortly after the exit. out successfully does not mean that you will If possible, try to keep some distance be able to remember it after you reintegrate. between you and your physical body once you Extend time spent out of your body by about get out. If you get too close, your physical thirty seconds per experience. Obviously, you body will try to pull you back in like a magnet. cannot take a watch with you, so use your This astral magnetic field reduces with dis- judgment. tance. If practical, try to stay at least ten feet During your first few awake OBE exits, you will need to work at following your plan and away from your body until you are ready to re-enter. then returning without wandering off and los- If you plan to project at night or early in ing track of things. This significantly lessens the morning when it is dark, this might add to your chances of losing control and of losing the fear factor. There is something inherently the memory of the experience. creepy about projecting into the real-time 188 Week 6 zone at night when it is dark and gloomy. If Deliberate re-entry is a peculiar sensation. you can, project during daylight hours for It comes with a whole-body tingling upward your first few trips out of body. If that is rush and a falling sensation. As these sensa- impractical, you can overcome this uneasiness tions peak, you will feel your consciousness by having a lamp on in your room or by fade for a brief moment as your perspective preparing a "safe room" nearby. switches back to your physical body/mind. A safe room is simply a well-lit room near You will continue feeling these sensations your practice area that will make you feel safe. from inside your physical body for a moment The room you practice in should be only as they fade. This is a crucial moment. If your dimly lit, but a safe room should have plenty OBE memory is apparent, fill your mind with of light. This can be as simple as leaving a light it and speak about it aloud as you grab your on in a hallway or nearby room. The idea behind the safe room is simple. pen and write first the key words and then the whole experience. You get out of your body but it's dark and However, if your mind is blank, immedi- gloomy and a little creepy where you are. So ately apply your efforts to recalling the experi- you move into the well-lit room you've set up ence. The state of mind required here is the nearby. This plan will help quell any uneasi- same used when you have forgotten something ness. You then move back to your practice important—say, where you put your car keys. room and re-enter your physical body, keep- Run through your OBE walk-through plan, ing the experience short as planned. imagining yourself having just done this while Always use memory trigger words and out of body. This may trigger your OBE mem- phrases to download OBE memories during ories. Always write key words and phrases re-entry, even after you have had multiple suc- down immediately or risk losing them. Like cessful OBEs. Just before jumping back into dreams, OBE memories will slip out of mind your body, formulate some key words or a without warning. phrase to help remember the experience. This The OBE walk-through is designed for can be as basic as yelling out "I will remember your first real-time OBE. Keep in mind, how- this!" or "My hands melted!" or "My bedroom ever, that you may find yourself instead in an has no ceiling!" or "I saw a kangaroo!" if you astral plane immediately after your exit. If this happened to see one. Think of something par- is the case, spin around and glance at whatever ticular to the experience that will help trigger you can see, take a quick look at your hands an association with the whole memory after and watch them melt (hands will usually reintegration. Always use high emotion during appear to melt if you look at them during an re-entry to help download shadow memories. OBE), then reach out with your feelings and Literally shout your key word or phrase sav- feel for your physical body. When you do this, agely as you dive back into your physical body. hold the memory of your experience strongly Re-entry is where emotion is actually helpful! in mind in case you shift directly back into Loosening up the Energy Body 189 your body. However, if instead you find your- your projected double as it does not have real self next to your physical body in real time, re- legs. Feel yourself move and you will move. enter by diving into your body while shouting Feel yourself stopping and you will stop. Feel your success. Always use high emotion to help yourself turning and you will turn. download OBE memories during re-entry. When you reach the lamp, look for your Another way to return to your body during next target—say, a picture or window on the an OBE is to make a strong mental or verbal other side of the room. Say "I am focusing on command (one can usually speak aloud in the the picture, I am focusing on the picture," and astral). For example, say "Take me home!" or feel yourself moving toward it. Keep your "Take me back!" When you do this, you may mind clear of thoughts and emotions. Focus find a force takes hold of you from behind and solely on what you are doing. starts moving you, or you may re-enter your Next, focus on your physical body. Shout "I physical body immediately. These are both will remember this! I will remember this!" or normal. "My hand passed through the lamp!" or "My window is missing!" or an appropriate phrase OBE Walk-through Example to depict what happened. Feel yourself moving back to your starting point. Keep repeating Let's say that you are using a bedroom for your key word or phrase (it helps if they OBE practice. Assume your normal OBE exit rhyme) as you move. position. Imagine that you have made it out of Now you are standing a few feet from where body and are floating above or near your your physical body will be during the OBE. physical body. Physically stand up and say Imagine you can feel it tugging at you like a aloud, "I am out! I am having an out-of-body magnet. Shout your key words or trigger phrase experience." (A running verbal commentary furiously as you feel yourself diving headfirst will help keep you lucid during an OBE). into your physical body, aiming roughly for the Find your first object—say, a lamp on the chest or belly area. dresser across the room. Focus on the lamp to Take a minute to repeat your OBE walk- the exclusion of everything else. Say, "I am through before each exit practice session. It is focusing on the lamp. I am focusing on the important to not just visualize but to stand up lamp," as you start across the room. Move and act it out physically. Get into the role and slowly, as if you actually were your real-time make it feel as real as you can make it. Doing double. this repeatedly is a powerful way to communi- Out-of-body movement is different from cate your intentions to every level of your walking. Simulate OBE movement in your mind and body. This also helps reduce any mind by imaging that you are wearing roller uneasiness about what will happen when you skates and are being gently propelled across actually have your first OBE, as it gives you a the room. Mental action is necessary to move plan to carry out. 190 Week 6 Brow Center Trigger Brow center meditation is a yogic technique where you direct your eyes up toward the middle of your brow from behind your closed eyelids. This technique is used for mind taming, getting into trance, heightening intuition, and so on. It can also be used to trigger or strengthen OBE exit-related symptoms. When mild or patchy OBE exit symptoms arise, this can act as a switch to trigger strong wholebody vibrations and electric tingling sensations commonly experienced during the OBE exit. Use this technique whenever you get vibrations or other OBE exit-related symptoms, especially if they are mild and patchy. You will be practicing the brow center trigger daily in the weeks ahead in conjunction with the exit techniques introduced in Part 2 of the program. This trigger requires you to employ seldom-used eye muscles, which can cause a little eyestrain. So this week you will begin practicing, with the aim of getting your eye muscles used to this new position. Practice the brow center trigger position while you are quieting your mind. We suggest that you carry out the following routine to stretch and warm up your eye muscles. Eye Muscle Warm-up 1. With your eyes closed, look up as far as you can and hold it for two breath cycles. 2. Now look down as far as you can for two breath cycles. 3. Look left as far as you can for two breath cycles. 4. Look right as far as you can for two breath cycles. 5. Repeat steps 1 to 4. 6. Move your eyeballs clockwise, taking a full breath cycle to make the circle. 7. Move them counterclockwise for one breath cycle. 8. Alternate the clockwise and counterclockwise motions until you have circled your eyes three times in each direction. Brow Center Trigger Exercise The brow center trigger requires that you angle your eyes up and slightly inward as if looking at your brow center (third eye) from the inside. The point to aim for is in the middle of your forehead. This may be a little difficult at first. It helps to press a fingertip into your brow. You can locate this point of pressure with body awareness and use this point as a target from the inside. At first you will only be able to hold this position for thirty seconds or so comfortably. That is all you need for starters. Try to increase this time by ten or fifteen seconds per day. Eye muscles get used to this position fairly quickly with regular exercise. You will be able to comfortably hold the trigger position for much longer in a couple of weeks. This position may cause a little eye discomfort for several days, but this is only mild muscular strain and it will not harm you. If you have trouble performing this exercise or have particularly weak eye muscles, start with a Loosening up the Energy Body shorter time and build up slowly. This is an exercise that you can practice any time. Projectable Double Loosening Think of the OBE exit this way: relaxation, mind taming, and trance are all preparation to cause a stable, expanded, inner-body projection. Projectable body loosening techniques are designed to "excite" both the fundamental energy body and the expanded energy body to the point where they will produce the projectable double. The projectable double is generated internally and then projected or is generated as it is projected. Technically this involves another internal transfer of consciousness from the expanded energy body into the projectable double. However, as the projectable double is then projected out of body, that same transfer includes the actual shift of consciousness into the real-time astral double. We have omitted describing this complexity in too much depth in order to keep things simple, and to keep ourselves sane. OBE exit techniques (introduced next week) provide that last bit of pressure and oomph necessary to generate the projectable double and trigger its exit out of body; to bring about that final shift from inner-body to outer-body projection. The techniques introduced this week help to stimulate and in a way loosen up the projectable double. These exercises involve temporarily shifting body awareness outside the bounds of the physical body with simple body awareness actions. Take note of the effectiveness of each of these methods in your OBE 191 journaling space. Try them all and then focus on the methods that are most effective for you. These exercises are all capable of triggering an OBE, so be prepared for anything. Responding to Spontaneous OBEs Next week you will be learning about the projection process in more detail, the symptoms of an imminent exit, and how it feels when the projectable double is being generated. Since the exercises this week can induce an OBE, the following are some indicators of an impending OBE exit. First and foremost are the famous vibrations. These occur during the majority of OBE exits and thus should be expected. During early projections, these are likely to be fairly intense. They can be patchy or whole body. Vibrations feel like, well, vibrations. Imagine you are holding on to a giant massage vibrator and your whole body is being made to vibrate in tune with it and you have the general idea. Vibrations can be mild and patchy, say, with only your legs vibrating. Vibrations can also be so intense that you might start to think that you will not survive. A whole-body electric tingling sensation is also common, varying from mild to intense. Please believe us when we say that these sensations will not harm you. You will not be actually vibrating. These are energy body effects only, produced during the generation and projection of the astral body. Strong heart center activity is also very common and thus should be expected. This feels like your physical heartbeat is accelerating 192 Week 6 to an extreme rate. This can be mild or very intense—so intense, in fact, that you may fear for your life. However, this is the heart center and not the actual heart. Your heartbeat will not speed up during this. You must have faith that this is not your heart or you will panic and blow the exit, probably traumatizing yourself in the process. A sense of expanding, often beyond the borders of your physical body, is also common. Astral sight is also pretty customary (seeing through your closed eyelids into the real-time zone around you) and is often experienced just before the exit out of body. Astral sight can be dull and shadowy or as clear and bright as normal optical sight; sometimes it can be clearer than normal sight. mind clear. Remain relaxed. Continue to run through the exercise that is producing the symptoms and calmly observe what is happening. If you should project, just follow your OBE walk-through the way you have practiced and you will do just fine. The important thing to keep in mind here is that you might experience any number of extraordinary and unexpected things. You will learn more details about the exit next week in Week 7. Grounding Cords and Conscious-Exit Projection Some people employ visualized grounding methods during meditation. A grounding cord is a visualized link that is said to earth one's primary energy center (the base center, or root chakra, as it is sometimes called) to the planet. This might be visualized as going into the earth only a few feet or to the center of the planet. Its purpose is to ground one's energies and awareness in the physical body. Some of the other things you might experience during the exit are: loud noises such as a roaring sensation, the sound of buzzing, hissing, bells, footsteps, chainsaws, knocking, even voices and laughter. You may hear voices talking about you or even to you. You might hear someone you know knocking on your door calling you loudly and urgently. These are all common OBE-related audio hallucinations and they can be incredibly real. Do not believe them for a moment and do not react to them. Do not doubt yourself or be fooled! Ignore them totally! Move on to the exit and follow your planned walk-through regardless. The question then follows, does it make sense to use a grounding cord when you are trying to induce an out-of-body experience? If a grounding cord's purpose is to root your consciousness to your physical body, is this a good idea when you aim to project away from your physical body? Please trust us and know that whatever happens, you will be perfectly safe. If you should experience exit-related symptoms, the critical thing to do is remain calm. Be a passive and objective observer. Do not tense up. Do not move. Do not open your eyes. Keep your Preliminary experimentation shows that the use of a grounding cord has no noticeable effect on OBE ability. It does not seem to hinder or help, but it does involve extra work performing the visualization. We advise you to do what is most comfortable for you and your Loosening up the Energy Body 193 beliefs and to experiment to see what works for If you have ever fallen asleep in a chair, you you. Try some sessions with a grounding cord will notice that you do not sleep as deeply as and some sessions without. you do in bed. It is easier to wake up from a sitting position, just as it is easier to stay awake Preparing Your Meditation Space for OBE Practice in trance in that position. This also makes it easier, if you fall asleep, to notice and wake up to take advantage of pre-OBE exit sensations. By this time you have your meditation space There are several ways to adapt sitting posi- set up the way you like it and you should only tions to your needs. This will evolve over time. need to make minimal alterations for projec- Experiment and find what works best for you. tion exit practice. Here you should make a dis- For example, if you are mentally fatigued you tinction between meditation/energy/trance may want to practice in a hard-backed chair practice and OBE exit practice. against a wall for head support or on the floor This week when you learn energy body with only a pillow under your neck and knees loosening, and next week when you begin to help keep you awake. Keep in mind that you OBE exit practice, you will need to make slight are preparing for projection, not settling down adjustments to your posture, position, and for sleep. While comfort is important, the abil- comfort levels. The resting position during ity to relax the physical body while holding the OBE exit attempts can affect what happens mind awake is far more important. As men- prior to, during, and after the exit. Lying tioned earlier, a little discomfort can be a good prone on your own comfortable bed in your thing for projection. Try different positions and natural sleeping position is not ideal since postures until you find what is right for you. many of us are conditioned to start falling An armchair or recliner can also work for asleep when we get into bed. If you are plan- projection, as long as it has good back and ning on using a bed for projection, do not use neck support. A folding poolside-type recliner the bed in which you normally sleep if possi- and foam mattress can also be pressed into ble. If you must use your normal sleeping service. If they are used, consider placing a place, move the bed to another place in the board under your heels to provide slight dis- room or position your head at the foot of the comfort. bed and your feet at the head of the bed. A convenient method preferred by many is The ideal position for projection is a semisit- to prop yourself up in bed as if you were ting posture with a slight recline of about thirty- about to have breakfast there. You do not want seven degrees off the vertical (see appendix D). to be too upright, as this can be uncomfort- Most people have more OBE success projecting able; neither do you want to lie too flat. Try an from a sitting or semireclined position. This angle of approximately forty-five degrees and helps overcome shadow memory loss caused by then vary it to suit yourself. A hospital bed falling into too deep a sleep during an OBE. with an adjustable back is good if you have 194 Week 6 one. Hard hospital-type mattresses provide focus on setting a rhythm to the breathing excellent slight discomfort. Bed covers should process. Once you master this week's breath- not be so heavy as to cause discomfort (unless ing count, you will be one short step away this is by design), but you should have enough from the OBE breath technique used for pro- covers to ensure adequate warmth. jection in Part 2 of this program. Take your telephone off the hook or set an Regularity and flow are important aspects answering machine to take your calls in silence. of breathwork. For this reason you are going Do not play music during projection attempts. to pace your breathing cycle to a simple count: Music is distracting as it causes emotional breathe in for a certain number of counts, responses and tensions, which can ruin projec- hold for a natural pause, breathe out for the tion attempts. Long-play recordings of rain or same number of counts, hold for a natural surf sounds are okay, as are electric fans, a TV pause, then repeat the process. or radio tuned off-station, or anything else that The amount of time taken to inhale and produces white noise. These can be used to exhale depends on one's skill level and health. mask distracting sounds from the environment You can experiment with various counts. An around you, like traffic and people noises. example of a good starting count is to inhale If a safe room is not practical, use a night- for six counts, hold for a short natural pause, light or lamp with a low-wattage bulb to offer exhale for six counts, hold for a short natural a comfortable degree of room illumination. pause, then repeat. If a six count is too long, Many people find themselves in gloomy dark- then shorten it to four or five. ness once they get out and abort their OBE Obviously, the counting pace will affect the soon after the exit because everything looks number of beats used for the inhale and exhale. sinister. Even a mild fear of the dark, when Take it slow. The exact pace is unimportant, as added to natural trepidation caused by being long as you are consistent. The most important in an experientially unknown astral environ- thing about this exercise is to use the same ment, can produce anxiety. The very best way amount of time on the inhale as you do on the to overcome this is to project during daylight exhale. This must of course fit in with your hours. Dawn is probably the most suitable lungs' ability to absorb oxygen. time for working people with astral anxiety problems. Never force breathwork. If you find that six seconds is not long enough, use a seven or eight count. Adjust to whatever feels comfortable. Breathwork: Pacing the Breath Cycle The more you practice, the greater your air capacity will become. Your ability to lengthen All your breathwork so far has led to this your breath count will gradually increase with week's pacing exercise. The goal this week is to time and practice. Loosening up the Energy Body Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 06: Energy Body Loosening" This week's BrainWave Generator preset is meant to enhance your ability to master the body loosening techniques you will be practicing. As before, the preset begins with the assumption that you are starting from the full awake state. It is designed to get you into a mind awake/body asleep state of consciousness very quickly. This week's exercises are a little different in that they are practiced in more of a prone position suitable for the OBE exit. As a result, you may find the pressure to fall asleep overwhelming. If this is the case, adjust your position to provide a more suitable level of slight discomfort. If you still find yourself falling asleep, consider discontinuing use of the BrainWave 195 Generator preset until you become more adept at holding the trance state without drifting off to sleep. We have included another program to promote lucid dreaming: "MAP Week 06: Lucid Dreaming." Listen to it using the same method as you have the other lucid dreaming presets. If after several days you find that this program is not as effective as one of the previous week's programs, use the one that was most effective for you. Sometimes the lucid dream programs tend to be less effective if you use the same one too frequently. Rotate these so that you are listening to a fresh preset each night. Reminder: The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. WEEK 6 DAILY PAGES OBE walk-through: Planning and rehearsing your first out-of-body experience is an excellent way to overcome any uneasiness about OBEs. It also helps ensure that you'll keep the first projection short, which will improve shadow memory download. The OBE walk-through requires you to plan your first OBE, then to rehearse it by physically acting it out. Energy body loosening: Think of energy body loosening as an extension of body awareness actions. Unlike energy body stimulation, however, energy body loosening techniques call for the focus of body awareness to shift outside the physical body. Energy body loosening is another warm-up for the OBE exit. These techniques can be very powerful during the trance state, especially after the energy work routines. Often, projection-related symptoms such as the vibrations can be felt when employing energy body loosening techniques. Be prepared, as they can also bring on a full OBE exit. 196 DAY 36 OBE Preparation Practice and Body Loosening (Bounce Loosening) Dote: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 am present in the moment. 1 draw my energy Recite morning affirmations back to me from wherever or whenever it is. 1 OBE walk-through in my space, recognizing the healing in letting go. release other people's energy that has accumulated AFTERNOON Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 become conscious and lucid during my natural Breathwork: Pacing the breath (5 min.) nightiy projections. 1 awake full conscious in my Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) projectable double. 1 follow my OBE plan, keeping it Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) short in an effort to remember. Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening: Bounce loosening (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 40 minutes OBE Walk-through Rehearse your planned first OBE. Don't just imagine it, get up and practice. Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 06: Energy Body Loosening" Begin listening to the preset when you start your relaxation exercise. 197 198 Day 36 Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Pacing the Breath (5 Minutes) Complete your normal breathing routine, but this time pace your breathing cycle to a simple count: breathe in for a certain number of counts, hold for a natural pause, breathe out for the same number of counts, hold for a natural pause, then repeat the process. Remember not to force the breath. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Optional: Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Do the full-body bounce, then spend a few minutes doing the full-body circuit. Optional: Primary Center Stimulation (15 Minutes) Stimulate each primary center from base to crown. Trance with Third-Eye Trigger (15 Minutes) Complete your yogic eye stretches and relax. Spend a few minutes quieting your mind and use your preferred trance induction technique. While in trance, silence all internal dialogue and practice the third-eye trigger technique for as long as is comfortable. Body Loosening: Bounce Loosening (15 Minutes) 1. Feel the room around you with your senses and imagination. Build a picture of it in your mind's eye. Using your memory, take note of how everything would look from your position if your eyes were open: where doors, windows, ceilings, walls, and furniture are. If necessary, take a good look and memorize everything before starting. 2. Start a full-body bounce action from head to feet, your arms resting comfortably at your sides. Continue this until you are settied into a comfortable rhythm. 3. Next, extend your point of awareness (the part of your awareness you are bouncing through your body) out past your head and feet until you are bouncing your awareness from the wall above your head to the wall below your feet if lying down. If you are sitting, bounce from the floor through your body to the ceiling above you, then back down through your body to the floor. As your awareness bounces off the wall, ceiling, or floor, use your memory-based imagination to sense what each surface would look and feel like close up. See this as if you were really there, right up close to it. Try to feel your new spatial position momentarily as it would be if you were actually there. Be aware of the spatial change and of the new position—where your physical body, walls, doors, windows, and furniture are for that single moment— as your awareness bounces off each surface. Create a snapshot of this new position in your mind's eye each time you bounce your awareness off a surface. Feel yourself being there out of your physical body for just a moment. Day 36 199 4. The next stage is to bounce your point of awareness off the wall or ceiling than to feeling awareness away from your body in line your awareness passing through your physical with your face and with where your eyes body. Once your body awareness is at work would be looking if they were open and outside your physical body, the feel of your looking straight ahead. Repeatedly bounce physical body must be allowed to slide gently to the ceiling above you, then back down into the background. through your face to the floor beneath the bed. If sitting, bounce from the wall in front of you to the wall behind you. Vary the awareness actions by experimenting with different bouncing speeds. Try to create a snapshot view of each wall as you bounce off it. Brian: The first time I was about to do my OBE walk-through I felt a little silly. That was until I stood up and said, "Okay, I'm out of my body." Suddenly, the whole thing seemed ominous. But I stayed focused, picking out a target across the room and putting all my attention on it, mentally narrating what I was doing as I went (this helps keep your mind focused while Daily Tips Robert: If you have trouble with bounce loosening, stick small targets to the ceiling and walls and memorize what it is like to be up close to these targets. Recreate the image of these with your imagination during these exercises. Before starting, get up and place your face against these targets so you can really capture how each position looks and feels. Memorize what it feels like to really be there. Momentarily recreate this feeling at the end of each bounce—a brief snapshot of being there. Once you get the bounce action out of body). I walked over to it, trying to imagine what moving might be like without a physical body. Next, I picked out another target and moved to it across the room. I kept moving around this way until I completed my planned first OBE circuit. Finally, I focused on a target near my body (or where I imagined my body would be) and, moving toward my practice chair, I mentally yelled, "I will remember this!" before diving back into my imagined body. Night after night I drilled this way until it was second nature and there was no question about how I'd react when I finally projected. going, pay more attention to bouncing your Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 37 OBE Preparation Practice and Body Loosening (Bounce Loosening) Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 am present in the moment. 1 draw my energy Recite morning affirmations back to me from wherever or whenever it is. 1 OBE walk-through in my space, recognizing the healing in letting go. release other people's energy that has accumulated AFTERNOON Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 become conscious and lucid during my natural Breathwork: Pacing the breath (5 min.) nightly projections. 1 awake full conscious in my Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) projectable double. 1 follow my OBE plan, keeping it Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) short in an effort to remember. Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening: Bounce loosening (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimate!! energy work time: 45 minutes OBE Walk-through Rehearse your planned first OBE. Don't just imagine it, get up and practice. 200 Day 37 201 Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 06: Energy Body Loosening" Begin listening to the preset when you start your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Pacing the Breath (5 Minutes) Complete yesterday's breathing routine, pacing your breath cycle to a simple count. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Optional: Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit Body Loosening: Bounce Loosening (15 Minutes) 1. Feel the room around you with your mind and imagination, and build a picture of it in your mind's eye. 2. Start a full-body bounce action until you are settied into a comfortable bounce speed and rhythm. 3. Extend your point of awareness out past your head and then your feet until you are bouncing from the wall/ceiling above your head to the wall/floor below your feet. 4. Repeat this as a continual bounce action. Adjust the bounce angle so it is directly in line with your torso. Optional: Primary Center Stimulation (15 Minutes) 5. Bounce your point of awareness away from your body in line with where your eyes would be looking straight ahead. Repeatedly bounce to the wall/ceiling above you and then back down through your face to the wall/floor beneath you. Stimulate each primary center from base to crown. Daily Tips (5 Minutes) Do the full-body bounce, then spend a few minutes doing the full-body circuit. Trance with Third-Eye Trigger (15 Minutes) Complete your yogic eye stretches and relax. Spend a few minutes quieting your mind and use your preferred trance induction technique. While in trance, silence all internal dialogue and practice the third-eye trigger technique for as long as is comfortable. Robert: External bounce actions are crucial for stimulating dormant OBE ability. They may seem awkward and difficult at first, but they will get easier with practice. Key to making them easier is to "let go" and let the action take over. Don't think too much about what you are doing, let go and just do it. You'll find moments where this happens. Build on these moments and you will get steadily better at doing this. External bounce actions take quite a lot of concentration and energy. You will 202 Day 37 find yourself tensing up with the effort. Watch out for this and try to keep yourself as relaxed as possible at all times. Brian: It's just like swimming: wait about an hour after you eat before making an OBE exit attempt. The first few exit attempts can be critical. Whatever you do, if you feel yourself projecting, do not abort the OBE exit. This will only trigger an automatic reflex response to resist the OBE exit when the pre-exit symptoms (vibrations, heart center activity, etc.) appear next time. Before you even begin your session, commit yourself. Determine at the beginning that if you feel an OBE exit starting, you will follow through in full. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 38 OBE Preparation Practice and Body Loosening (Breath Loosening) Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am present in the moment. 1 draw my energy back to me from wherever or whenever it is. 1 release other people's energy that has accumulated AFTERNOON OBE walk-through in my space, recognizing the healing in letting go. Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING Breathwork: Pacing the breath (5 min.) 1 become conscious and lucid during my natural nightly projections. 1 awake full conscious in my Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) projectable double. 1 follow my OBE plan, keeping it Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) short in an effort to remember. Optional: Primary center stimulation ( 1 5 min.) Trance with third-eye trigger practice ( 1 5 min.) Body loosening: Breath loosening ( 1 5 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 45 minutes OBE Walk-through Rehearse your planned first OBE. Don't just imagine it, get up and practice. Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 06: Energy Body Loosening" Begin listening to the preset when you start your relaxation exercise. 203 204 Day 38 Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Pacing the Breath (5 Minutes) Complete this week's breathing routine, pacing your breath cycle to a simple count. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Optional: Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Do the full-body bounce, then spend a few minutes doing the full-body circuit. as if your physical body were rapidly expanding outward like a balloon. Feel the room shrinking around you as you expand to fill it. At the end of the inhale, try to feel your awareness filling the whole room to capacity. 3. As you breathe out, feel yourself shrinking into yourself like a collapsing balloon. Feel the room around you expanding rapidly away from you as you get smaller and smaller. At the end of the exhale, briefly feel the spatial coordinates of the entire room as being far, far away, as if you were a minute point of consciousness—a tiny spark in a giant oversized room. Repeat this exercise for as long as you wish. Optional: Primary Center Stimulation (15 Minutes) Stimulate each primary center from base to crown. Trance with Third-Eye Trigger (15 Minutes) Complete your yogic eye stretches and relax. Spend a few minutes quieting your mind and use your preferred trance induction technique. While in trance, silence all internal dialogue and practice the third-eye trigger technique for as long as is comfortable. Body Loosening: Breath Loosening (15 Minutes) 1. Feel the room around you and take note of its spatial layout. Concentrate your awareness on your breathing action and feel yourself breathing slowly and naturally in and out. 2. As you breathe in, feel yourself expanding outward as your lungs fill to capacity— Daily Tips Robert: The above exercise—expanding and shrinking your awareness—emulates two wellknown phenomena that often occur during psychic/spiritual development. The first is the feeling of hugeness, of swelling up to fill the whole room, even the whole universe. The second is the feeling of shrinking to a tiny point with the perspective of a flea. If they occur, these sensations normally happen in the trance state or similar. Brian: Don't forget to write down your dream key words and transfer at least a few dreams to your dream journal each week. This is the point in the program when things can really start to happen. You don't want to miss them simply because you forgot to write them down. Strain your shadow memory recall skills to Day 38 205 their limits. Before getting out of bed (or if you the best detail possible. Be sure to note any- find yourself awake in the middle of the night), thing unusual or possibly OBE-related, such as mentally review everything you've dreamed in flying or lucid dreams. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 39 OBE Preparation Practice and Body Loosening (Breath Loosening) Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 am present in the moment. 1 draw my energy back to me from wherever or whenever it is. 1 Recite morning affirmations release other people's energy that has accumulated AFTERNOON in my space, recognizing the healing in letting go. OBE walk-through Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 become conscious and lucid during my natural Breathwork: Pacing the breath (5 min.) nightly projections. 1 awake full conscious in my Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) projectable double. 1 follow my OBE plan, keeping if Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) short in an effort to remember. Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening: Breath loosening (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 45 minutes OBE Walk-through Rehearse your planned first OBE. Don't just imagine it, get up and practice. 206 Day 39 207 Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 06: Energy Body Loosening" Begin listening to the preset when you start your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Pacing the Breath (5 Minutes) Complete this week's breathing routine, pacing your breath cycle to a simple count. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Optional: Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Do the full-body bounce, then spend a few minutes doing the full-body circuit. Optional: Primary Center Stimulation (15 Minutes) Stimulate each primary center from base to crown. Trance with Third-Eye Trigger (15 Minutes) Complete your yogic eye stretches and relax. Spend a few minutes quieting your mind and use your preferred trance induction technique. While in trance, silence all internal dialogue and practice the third-eye trigger technique for as long as is comfortable. Body Loosening: Breath Loosening (15 Minutes) 1. Feel the room around you and take note of its spatial layout. Concentrate your aware- ness on your breathing action and feel yourself breathing slowly and naturally in and out. 2. As you breathe in, feel yourself expanding outward as your lungs fill to capacity— as if your physical body were rapidly expanding outward like a balloon. Feel the room shrinking around you as you expand to fill it. At the end of the inhale, try to feel your awareness filling the whole room to capacity. 3. As you breathe out, feel yourself shrinking into yourself like a collapsing balloon. Feel the room around you expanding rapidly away from you as you get smaller and smaller. At the end of the exhale, briefly feel the spatial coordinates of the entire room as being far, far away, as if you were a minute point of consciousness—a tiny spark in a giant, oversized room. Repeat this exercise for as long as you wish. Daily Tips Robert: If during these body awareness loosening exercises you start to feel OBE exit symptoms (like vibrations and rapid heartbeat and falling sensations), stop the bounce action, stay calm and unemotional, and use the third-eye trigger method. This should intensify the vibrations. If the OBE exit sensations begin, keep your mind clear and continue the bounce action and just go with whatever happens next. Brian: OBE exit symptoms can be startiing when they happen for the first time, especially if you've been happily doing your energy work 208 Day 39 up until now without any serious attempt at an standing, out-of-body position, lie down and OBE exit. Suddenly, the notion that you are imagine what the exit symptoms feel like. truly a spirit in a body takes on an entirely new Anticipate how calm and collected you'll be meaning. This is when it all becomes very, very when your heart center starts racing and you real. First and most importantly, remember to are consumed with whole-body vibrations; remain calm and not to get overexcited. You how nonchalantly you'll slip out and execute might even consider adding the exit symptoms your first real astral projection—following your portion of the projection to your routine OBE planned OBE walk-through, of course. walk-through. Instead of starting from the Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 40 OBE Preparation Practice and Body Loosening (Spin Loosening) Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am present in the moment. 1 draw my energy back to me from wherever or whenever it is. 1 release other people's energy that has accumulated AFTERNOON OBE walk-through in my space, recognizing the heoling in letting go. Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 become conscious and lucid during my natural Breathwork: Pacing the breath (5 min.) nightly projections. 1 awake full conscious in my Energy body prestimulafion (5 min.) projectable double. 1 follow my OBE plan, keeping it Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) short in an effort to remember. Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening: Spin loosening (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 45 minutes OBE Walk-through Rehearse your planned first OBE. Don't just imagine it, get up and practice. Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 06: Energy Body Loosening" Begin listening to the preset when you start your relaxation exercise. 209 2 1 0 Day 40 Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Pacing the Breath (5 Minutes) Complete this week's breathing routine, pacing your breath cycle to a simple count. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Optional: Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Do the full-body bounce, then spend a few minutes doing the full-body circuit. ally, taking one to three seconds for each circuit. This speed can be varied to suit what feels natural. 3. As your point of awareness circles the room, feel it sliding and brushing gently over the interior surfaces of the room. Stay aware of your changing perspective in the room as your point of awareness spins around you. Feel yourself and your point of awareness spinning around the circumference of the room. Try to feel your spatial coordinates changing around you as you spin exterior to your body. Imagine and feel that your face is circling the room, that you can almost see the walls as your view moves past them. Optional: Primary Center Stimulation (15 Minutes) Stimulate each primary center from base to crown. Trance with Third-Eye Trigger (15 Minutes) Complete your yogic eye stretches and relax. Spend a few minutes quieting your mind and use your preferred trance induction technique. While in trance, silence all internal dialogue and practice the third-eye trigger technique for as long as is comfortable. Body Loosening: Spin Loosening (15 Minutes) 1. Bounce your point of awareness at eye level back and forth to the wall or ceiling directly in front of you a few times. 2. Now move your point of awareness clockwise around the room, briefly touching and sliding off each wall/ceiling and wall/floor surface in passing. Circle the room continu- 4. Feel yourself spinning inside your body, and feel the room around you moving as you spin. Settle into a steady spin at whatever speed you feel most comfortable with. If you continue this, your mind will at some point be tricked into accepting that you are actually spinning outside your body. When this happens you will feel momentary falling sensations inside yourself, brief sensations of vertigo. These brief vertigo events can happen many times while using exterior bounce techniques. This technique can easily trigger the projection reflex, so be prepared. Daily Tips Robert: Any body awareness action that holds a point of body awareness exterior to the physical body is extremely difficult to hold if it Day 40 2 1 1 is kept in one place only because this is a Brian: The spin loosening technique is another totally unnatural thing to do. It is far easier to exercise in which you'll want to walk around hold a point of awareness out if it is kept con- the room beforehand to get an idea of what this stantly moving. Movement tricks the mind looks like when you're actually trying to visual- into momentarily accepting the existence of ize it. The challenge here is to really feel that exterior points of body awareness and con- you're moving around the room, sensing how sciousness. Doing this has the effect of slowly the perspective changes in relationship to training your subconscious mind. This teaches where your awareness is moving. It helps to the inner you that it's okay for you to exist start slow with this one until you're accustomed outside your physical body. to the visualization and then speed it up. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 41 OBE Preparation Practice and Body Loosening (Spin Loosening) Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations I am present in the moment. I draw my energy back to me from wherever or whenever it is. I release other people's energy that has accumulated AFTERNOON in my space, recognizing the healing in letting go. OBE walk-ttirough Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING I become conscious and lucid during my natural Breathwork: Pacing the breath (5 min.) nightly projections. I awake full conscious in my Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) projectable double. I follow my OBE plan, keeping it Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) short in an effort to remember. Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening: Spin loosening (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations 1 mik time: 45 minutes OBE Walk-through Rehearse your planned first OBE. Don't just imagine it, get up and practice. 212 Day41 Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 06: Energy Body Loosening" Begin listening to the preset when you start your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Pacing the Breath (5 Minutes) Complete this week's breathing routine, pacing your breath cycle to a simple count. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Optional: Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Do the full-body bounce, then spend a few minutes doing the full-body circuit. Optional: Primary Center Stimulation (15 Minutes) Stimulate each primary center from base to crown. Trance with Third-Eye Trigger (15 Minutes) Complete your yogic eye stretches and relax. Spend a few minutes quieting your mind and use your preferred trance induction technique. While in trance, silence all internal dialogue and practice the third-eye trigger technique for as long as is comfortable. 213 Body Loosening: Spin Loosening (15 Minutes) 1. Bounce your point of awareness at eye level back and forth to the wall or ceiling directly in front of you a few times. 2. Now move your point of awareness clockwise around the room, briefly touching and sliding off each wall/ceiling and wall/floor surface in passing. Circle the room continually, taking one to three seconds for each circuit. This speed can be varied to suit what feels natural. 3. As your point of awareness circles the room, feel it sliding and brushing gently over the interior surfaces of the room. Stay aware of your changing perspective in the room as your point of awareness spins around you. Feel yourself and your point of awareness spinning around the circumference of the room. Try to feel your spatial coordinates changing around you as you spin exterior to your body. Imagine and feel that your face is circling the room, that you can almost see the walls as your view moves past them. 4. Feel yourself spinning inside your body, and feel the room around you moving as you spin. Setde into a steady spin at whatever speed you feel most comfortable with. If you continue this, your mind will at some point be tricked into accepting that you are actually spinning outside your body. When this happens you will feel momentary falling sensations inside yourself, brief sensations of vertigo. These brief vertigo events 214 Day41 can happen many times while using exte- the same. There will be moments while doing rior bounce techniques. This technique can these exercises where you will "let go" for a easily trigger the projection reflex, so be moment. When this happens, everything accel- prepared. erates and there will be special moments where you will not totally be aware of where you are Daily Tips or what you are doing. This disassociation from your physical body is paramount to briefly Robert: External body awareness actions (espe- experiencing life separately from your physical cially spin loosening) can cause lightheaded- body—life as a free spirit without material ness and queasiness in your stomach when you boundaries. The whole idea is to give you a put a lot of concentration and effort into them. basis to build on. Your energy flows to where your attention goes, and your consciousness flows to where your awareness goes. In this week's exercises, your consciousness is gamely trying to keep up with some highly unusual stuff indeed. It is being stretched way beyond its normal limits, trying to be in two different places at once, rapidly changing from wall to wall. Rapid external spinning actions are like mini-OBEs. They confuse your natural sense of being singular (of being in only one place at one time). You don't realize these mini projections while doing it because they are too brief, but the inner you Brian: If you find your mind wandering during this exercise, use your will to focus on the mental imagery and the feeling of movement. The sense of disorientation during spin loosening can be dizzying, but this is the effect that you are trying to achieve. If you find yourself blanking out during the process, take a few deep breaths, refocus, and start over. Blanking out usually means you have had a momentary OBE too brief to recall. It's a bit like fainting—moving briefly in and out of exterior OBE perspectives. tries to follow your externalized awareness all Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 42 OBE Preparation Practice and Body Loosening (Imagination Loosening) Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 am present in the moment. 1 draw my energy Recite morning affirmations back to me from wherever or whenever it is. 1 Read chapter 7 in my space, recognizing the healing in letting go. release other people's energy that has accumulated AFTERNOON OBE walk-through Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 become conscious and lucid during my natural nightly projections. 1 awake full conscious in my Breathwork: Pacing the breath (5 min.) projectable double. 1 follow my OBE plan, keeping it Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) short in an effort to remember. Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening: Imagination loosening (15 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Week 6 BrainWave Generator lucid dreaming (20 min.) Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated eaetgy wotk time: 45 minutes OBE Walk-through Rehearse your planned first OBE. Don't just imagine it, get up and practice. 215 216 Day 42 Optional: BrainWave Generator "Week 06: Energy Body Loosening: Imagination Loosening Body Loosening" (15 Minutes) Begin listening to the preset when you start your relaxation exercise. Relaxation: Entire Body (5 Minutes) Complete the deep physical relaxation exercise. Breathwork: Pacing the Breath (5 Minutes) Complete this week's breathing routine, pacing your breath cycle to a simple count. Energy Body Prestimulation (5 Minutes) Stimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms. Optional: Energy Raising: Full-Body Circuit (5 Minutes) Do the full-body bounce, then spend a few minutes doing the full-body circuit. Optional: Primary Center Stimulation (15 Minutes) Stimulate each primary center from base to crown. Trance with Third-Eye Trigger (15 Minutes) Complete your yogic eye stretches and relax. Spend a few minutes quieting your mind and use your preferred trance induction technique. While in trance, silence all internal dialogue and practice the third-eye trigger technique for as long as is comfortable. 1. Imagine yourself slowly getting out of your body and floating to the door of your room. Feel and be aware of where your physical body is and its spatial coordinates as you float away. Leave it behind but be aware of where it is. 2. Move through the door as if you were really projecting and feel yourself floating away from your physical body. Move around the house, imagining as much detail as you can. 3. Look into a few rooms and then leave the house and float farther afield. Go as far as your memory will take you. This does not have to be perfect. Stop and briefly examine landmarks and points of interest along the way. 4. As you move, try to feel yourself actually being away from your physical body. Be aware of where your physical body is in relation to your imagined OBE location. Keep moving your imaginary double at all times to ease the mental pressure of this exercise (movement makes it easier). Moments will occur during this exercise when you will suddenly experience the feeling of actually being where you imagine yourself to be. This will cause a momentary falling sensation, often accompanied by a warm and tingling trickle of energy up through your stomach and chest. This is an excellent sign. It shows you are successfully exteriorizing your awareness and are exert- Day 42 217 ing a great deal of pressure on your pro- trigger the projection reflex. If this happens jectable double. This trickle of energy indi- during this particular exercise, you may feel cates that your projectable double is being projection sensations only remotely, as if generated, if only momentarily. from a distance. You may also feel nothing 5. Once you can imagine yourself being out of body, you can also imagine yourself flying or instantly projecting to other famil- and just suddenly find yourself in your projected double at the remote location where you are imagining yourself to be. iar remote locations, other houses, towns, or countries. Imagine yourself floating up into the air and flying around. Imagine what this would feel like and what the world would look like from way up there in the sky. Daily Tips Robert: During the imagination loosening exercise it is quite possible you will at times find yourself genuinely out of your body. This is a bit like the "astral transference" method 6. Imagine yourself instantiy projecting to that you will encounter late in Part 2 of this another place, anywhere. Feel this new program. You will sense when this happens as, location appearing around you. To finish suddenly, you will not have to concentrate so this exercise, see yourself projecting back hard on imagining where you are. If you find into your room and seeing your physical yourself out of body, immediately head back body. Imagine yourself floating up to and to your physical body and make a deliberate re-entering it, using high emotion and key re-entry, savagely shouting your key memory words to cement your OBE memories. trigger words. Always do this during conscious re-entry or when you feel your physical body pulling you back home. Brian: The imagination loosening method is one exit technique where it pays to have gone through a walk-through. By now, you should 7. As you do this exercise, work on feeling have no problem imagining what it will be like yourself as being away from your physical to project away from your body. If you haven't body and seeing your imaginary recreated gone through the walk-through in a while, do world as it would be through your pro- it today before your exit attempt. It's best to jected double's eyes. This exercise can also do it every day of this program. Your Program Notes/Observations 218 Day 42 Before Moving On This week you should have: • adjusted your meditation space for OBE exit practice; • begun exercising your eye muscles for the third-eye trigger techniqi • learned to pace your breathing without force; • become familiar with the most common symptoms of OBE exit; • practiced energy body loosening methods; • planned and rehearsed for your first OBE. Part 2 Liftoff Early this morning I was lying in an uncomfortable position and drifting in and out of sleep. At one point I became conscious and felt my body kind of far away. It didn't like the feeling of this and wanted to move my hand, thinking that this would bring me out of the state. Then I felt these painful electrical sensations. These really helped me become more conscious. I got curious and induced a feeling that I was in front of myself and this made the electrical sensations speed up until they turned into one enormous buzz. I tried to float out of my body but this made the buzzing recede. It didn't take me long to get the buzzing back. When they were at the same intensity I tried rolling over to see if that would get me out of body. It did. I slowly floated to the floor, then attempted to open my astral sight, but I opened my real eyes instead. * * * I projected on purpose for the first time last week! Robert Bruce's book, Astral Dynamics, really did the trick. I haven't even finished the book yet, but what I have read has helped immensely. I projected from a sitting position. I was fairly relaxed from the relaxation techniques and somewhat tired. Before I projected, I started hearing gonglike sounds. I had read about astral noises before, so I wasn't worried. I felt myself rise out of my body and saw the ceiling getting closer, even though my physical eyes were closed. Unfortunately, that is all I saw. I wonder if I didn't remember the rest of it or if I startled myself back into my body. But I have read that you shouldn't stay out too long on your first attempt, so I guess it's not that bad. At least I got out. What to Expect The exit: doing what works for you Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions Walking through an OBE Exit techniques Returning to your body • Rope Breathing and the OBE • Reverse rope More brow center trigger • One-handed The preprojection routine • Chasm-crossing rope rope Important things to remember In Part 1 of this program we introduced the everyone. A group of people can follow this fundamental skills for inducing a conscious- program to the letter, but individual results exit out-of-body experience. You learned the will vary considerably. That is because every- steps for deep physical relaxation. You prac- one is different, with different natural abilities, ticed techniques for clearing your mind and skills, beliefs, fears, and problems. Learning to inducing a basic trance. You also learned med- project is full of twists and turns. Success takes itation breathing, how to stimulate your energy patience, practice, and persistence. body and its centers, and other OBE preparation skills. Learning how to induce an out-of-body Part 2 of this program is about refining the fundamentals of Part 1. It's about learning what works for you and then applying the right experience involves a different journey for 221 222 Week 7 combination of steps. It's about practicing and learning through trial and error, adjusting and readjusting until your energy body responds in just the right way. Along the way we'll guide you around common pitfalls and teach more advanced techniques. This week we'll be walking you through what a typical OBE exit might be like for you and answer some predictable questions. Next week we'll delve deeper into fears and beliefs that might be holding you back and discuss ways to make you more comfortable with the thought of an OBE exit. In future weeks we'll cover the relationships and distinctions between OBEs and dreams, some common stumbling blocks and solutions, and ways to improve shadow memory recall. In Part 2, your daily practices will be variations upon a central theme. The idea is to adjust what you're doing in small increments and then see how it affects your ability to project. This might mean meditating in the morning rather than the evening, varying your diet or sleeping habits, or modifying how much time you spend raising energy or stimulating your primary centers. Throughout it all you'll still be writing down your dreams and using affirmations. You'll still be practicing breathwork and meditating in a hard-backed chair. At the same time you'll be introduced to new exercises and techniques in the quest to find that sweet spot: the perfect combination of factors that will project you out of your body. Each week you'll be introduced to three new OBE exit techniques. You'll have plenty of time to practice them before moving on to the next. By the end of the week, you should be comfortable enough with each of them to be able to alternate between all three. Sometimes all it takes is a little variety to take that final step to a full OBE exit. Before moving on, give yourself permission to fail. Think positively, but also know that it's okay if you don't get out of body the first, second, or even the twentieth time you attempt to project. Let go of your expectations, ambitions and fears and give yourself time to work everything out. Get out of the way of yourself and just let it happen. Commit yourself to practicing every day. Even if you can only manage to do some concentration, mind taming, and energy raising on the way home from work, try to do something constructive every day. This is the point to reaffirm your resolve, to lay aside fears, and to find the motivation—that extra little oomph—that will allow you to experience astral travel. You made it this far and it is only a short distance farther. Do not let your fears, doubts, and frustrations intimidate you. You are closer than ever before to experiencing astral projection firsthand. A hidden universe awaits you. Persevere and succeed! Now sit back and relax as we begin the launch sequence. It's time to fly! A Step-by-Step Walk-through of the Exit What will early OBE exits be like for you? This section will set reasonable expectations by giving you some idea of what you might encounter. The exit out of body can involve Anatomy major visceral sensations for some. These can be disturbing—even frightening—if you don't know what to expect. Yet once you learn that these are merely harmless energy body precursors to OBE, you will actually want to induce these sensations. Then what might otherwise have been alarming will add to your enthusiasm once you realize that you are on the verge of getting out of your body. After all, this is what our program is all about. To start with, let's cover the most commonly reported OBE exit-related symptoms in order of prevalence. You may experience none, some, or all of these symptoms during early OBE exits. These will steadily reduce in intensity during subsequent experiences. The purpose here is to highlight common OBE exit sensations so you can recognize and understand what's happening and why. This will greatly reduce your fear level during the projection process. The OBE exit is intimately linked with the sleep process in that your physical body must be in some level of sleep for an out-of-body experience to occur. Sleep is also closely related to the trance state in that the physical body falls asleep when the trance state is entered. Levels of trance have direct relationships with known levels of sleep (e.g., light, full, deep levels of trance). During an awake OBE exit, spontaneous or induced, your mind remains awake after your physical body has fallen asleep. Everyone experiences a natural period of trance while falling asleep, if only for a few moments. This period is therefore the prime time for a projection to occur and the most likely time for a spontaneous OBE. This is why of an OBE 223 this program teaches deep physical relaxation and trance induction techniques and stresses these as fundamental to inducing an awake OBE exit. During the OBE exit, your energy body will create a subtle duplicate of itself (of you), complete with a full copy of your conscious mind. This is a spectacular feat when you think about it, and yet this happens naturally and unnoticed whenever you sleep. The major difference here is that you will be fully conscious when this happens. In a way, awake consciousness throws a wrench into the workings of natural sleep-induced projection. It is the presence of awake consciousness that produces the bulk of the strange and often-powerful sensations associated with the awake OBE exit. What follows are typical OBE exit sensations. For our purposes, imagine yourself lying on a recliner at a slight angle. You are extremely physically relaxed, your mind is clear, and you are in a light to full state of trance. You feel vague, wispy energy sensations on your face. This is the cobweb sensation that is associated with energy movement in the face and brow center. They itch a little, but you ignore it and continue with your mission. Gradually your physical body falls further into sleep but your mind remains awake and alert. As this happens you feel a vague sense of swaying or a falling sensation, as if your chair or bed has disappeared. You are relaxed and in control, so none of this bothers you. You allow that internal sense of movement to happen without tensing a muscle. 224 Week 7 Now you begin using an OBE exit technique. The sensation of swaying or falling increases. You feel spontaneous energy movements tingling throughout your body and a peculiar sensation of vertigo in your stomach and solar plexus. These are similar to some of the things you have felt during energy body stimulation, but this time they are happening of their own accord. You feel the pressure to fall asleep and find yourself blinking in and out momentarily. You struggle to stay conscious and focused. You've had plenty of practice and have grown accustomed to staying lucid while straddling the edge of sleep. You might begin to feel pressure sensations in your body, especially in your forehead. This can increase until your head feels like it's being squashed. You may also feel an uncomfortable choking sensation in your throat and feel like you are not getting enough air. You might also feel your body expanding until you feel huge and swollen or you could feel yourself shrinking until you feel infinitesimally small. However, you know enough to ignore these sensations as best you can. You know they will not hurt you. At some point you may find you are unable to move, a phenomenon called sleep paralysis. This indicates that a projection is close (or has taken place without you knowing). Paralysis makes you feel a bit uneasy, but you know that this is OBE-related and will not harm you, so you continue using your OBE exit technique. (We'll discuss sleep paralysis more in Week 8.) You begin to hear astral noise, the sound of buzzing or humming or white noise static like a radio tuned off-channel. Astral noise comes in many forms—the sound of heavy chains dragging, footsteps, laughter, growling, even voices addressing you by name—and they all seem very real. But you've experienced these before during earlier OBE attempts and so know that they are nothing to fear. (We'll also cover astral noise more thoroughly in Week 8.) Now the famous vibrations begin, patchy at first and mainly from the waist down. It feels like your body is conducting electricity. This doesn't break your concentration and you remain focused and relaxed. You feel very heavy and your legs and arms feel like they are floating just outside your body. You ignore all this and continue focusing on your OBE exit technique. Suddenly your heart feels like it is racing. You don't let this distract you. You know this is not your true physical heart beating but your heart center (a primary energy center) working overtime to generate your astral body. You know you are on the verge of projecting, so you keep your mind clear and work harder at your exit technique. The vibrations increase until your whole body is buzzing and your heart center is racing impossibly fast. You feel a sense of continual falling. All these sensations increase until you feel like you are going to explode. Finally it happens: you hear a distinct "click" near your head and feel intense energy movement surging through your solar plexus. A novice projector might black out momentarily at this point. Then, with a whole-body buzzing sensation, you float out of your body. You now exist independentiy from your physical body. Anatomy You perceive the room around you clearly and float quickly away from your physical body so you don't get sucked back in. You finally did it! You're out! But as excited as you are, you don't let your emotions ruin the experience. You know that you must remain calm and in control, an objective observer at all times. You understand that the quality and duration of this OBE depends upon you maintaining a tranquil state; too much excitement will quickly terminate the experience. This is what a typical conscious-exit projection is like—that is, if typical can be used to fairly describe such an experience. In later weeks we will go into more detail about the various aspects of the exit, the projection itself, and ways of returning to your body that will make it easier to remember. You now have a basic understanding of what you might encounter during an OBE exit should you find yourself successfully projecting during a practice session. Some people will have only minor sensations, or even none at all, during early OBE exits. Still, it's best to be prepared for the stronger variety in case they happen. This gives you a better chance of ignoring them and accomplishing the OBE exit successfully. It is important to remain calm at all times before, during, and after an OBE exit. You don't want to get so excited that your first exit terminates before you get out. This is an extremely common pitfall. You also don't want to get scared and panic so you fight to abort the OBE exit. This can set up subconscious reflexes to stop future projections before they start or the moment OBE exit symptoms appear. of an OBE 225 The moment you separate from your physical body all heavy exit sensations will cease. Therefore, the best way to stop them is to go through with the exit. Fighting to abort an OBE exit in progress will only magnify and prolong heavy exit sensations. It is important to remember not to move a muscle. As tangible as exit sensations are, these are solely energy body sensations, fust go with the flow and have a little faith and you'll be just fine. Any movement of your physical body, including trying to open or blink your physical eyes, will terminate OBE exit sensations or abort the projection entirely. You do not need to open your eyes after the OBE exit. Your projected double does not have eyelids per se, and thus your "eyes" will already be open. In fact, you will often start seeing through your closed physical eyelids before you get out of body (astral sight). Finally, remember to maintain focus on your OBE exit technique. Ignore everything you hear, feel, and experience, and concentrate on completing your projection. Remain calm and motionless, relaxed and focused, and everything else will take care of itself. Reality Fluctuations Reality fluctuations are something you may have already experienced if you have had OBEs before. These are especially likely during early conscious OBEs. The first time you leave your body it's common to remain in or close to the real-time zone. This is the area of the astral that most 226 Week 7 closely resembles the real world. For example, if you are reclining in a chair when you project, once you are out of body you are likely to see the chair and your body sitting in it. The room will look basically the same as it looked before you left your body. A reality fluctuation occurs when the realtime zone differs from the known physical environment. For instance, you may find a different kind of lamp on the table beside your chair or the lamp might be on the other side of the room. You might notice missing or extra furniture, doors, windows, and various other items set out of place. Sometimes you might even find the floor plan of your house mysteriously reversed. A common reality fluctuation is to look back to where you left your physical body and find it missing. It is possible that some people find the idea of being in two places at the same time subconsciously difficult to accept. This could be enough to trigger a reality fluctuation that hides your physical body. Don't worry if this happens. It will still be safely where you left it; it just isn't visible for the moment. Reality fluctuations are so common that they are considered a characteristic of the realtime zone. They can happen at any time but generally become more pronounced as a realtime OBE continues. They can grow especially acute after you pass through doors, windows, mirrors, or walls. If you have experienced symptoms of projection and find yourself out of body but don't see what you expect, at the very least you are having a lucid dream. However, you have likely projected and are encountering reality fluctuations or you have skipped the real-time zone entirely and slipped straight into part of the astral planes. These are things that all projectors occasionally encounter. It's best to ignore reality fluctuations and go on with the OBE as best you can. (More on reality fluctuations in Week 9.) Returning to Your Body One common fear for people new to the idea of an OBE is that they will get lost or not be able to return to their physical body. As we've discussed, when you project you never actually leave your body. You create a perfect thinking energy copy that can operate independently from your physical body. Your conscious essence, mind, spirit, and soul remain firmly rooted inside your physical body. This waits for your projected double to return and, hopefully, download its OBE memories. Theoretically, if anything were to happen to your astral double during an OBE, you would still wake up just the same, maybe with a bit of tiredness and a headache. In practice, the fear of being disconnected from one's physical body is less concerning than one's ability to remain out of body for a reasonable length of time. Maintaining the OBE state, especially in the real-time zone, takes a delicate balance of mind and energy. Any focus on the physical body, however slight or inadvertent, can suddenly end a projection by triggering reintegration. For example, if you think about scratching your nose, this Anatomy of an OBE 227 thought can trigger instant reintegration and 1. Keep your first projection very short— end the OBE. Returning to the physical body under thirty seconds—then dive back into is rarely a problem. your body. The only time re-entry difficulty can arise is if your physical body falls into a deep sleep while an OBE is in progress. Reintegration requires the physical body to wake up slightly. Sometimes even a good shaking will not wake some people from deep sleep. If this ever happens to you, don't panic! Fly away and have 2. As you are diving back in, scream out a key phrase such as "I will remember this!" or "Geronimo!", something to jog OBE memories after reintegration. 3. Write down key words to describe your OBE immediately. fun and wait for your body to wake up and happen and if you are Now that we are beginning OBE exit prac- patient and don't panic you'll be none the tice, shadow memory recall skills are more reel you back. This will worse for wear. Panicking can create a morbid important than ever. This is the period where fear and subconsciously prevent future OBEs, you're more likely to wake with bits of lucid even if you don't remember the experience of dream and OBE memories. Keep recording panicking while out of body. key words and occasionally transfer them to The larger challenge is not about returning to or staying out of body, but about remem- your dream journal with full narratives. Be on the lookout for OBE exit-related bering the projection afterward. If OBE mem- symptoms when you first begin to wake up in ories are not downloaded into a recallable the morning. For example, you might feel level of memory, an OBE simply cannot be gentle vibrations in your body, a gentie puls- realized. And if you cannot remember some- ing in your heart center, a mild floating sensa- thing, it may as well not have happened in the tion, and so on. Anything out of the ordinary first place. can be used to spark associations that could trigger OBE memories. Be vigilant and aware as you awaken. Recalling Shadow Memories We'll discuss OBE shadow memory recall techniques more in Week 11. If you should success- Your OBE Journal fully project right away, follow your plan. In Part 1 of this program you used your jour- Carry out your OBE just as you practiced in nal to gauge progress, noting observations and your walk-through. transposing key words to more detailed dream The three major techniques to improve OBE memory recall are: and OBE-related entries. As your journal grows more substantial, it becomes a better tool for learning. Each night when you finish your OBE exit session, make a journal entry 228 Week 7 answering these questions: What went right did not use an eight count, apply the concepts during this session? What went wrong? How that follow to the count you used.) This week can I improve next time? you will begin to change the pace to work up to In a few weeks you will be using your jour- the following: breathe in for eight counts, hold nal to examine your progress and determine it for eight counts, exhale for eight counts, ways to adjust the program to make it more pause normally, then repeat the cycle for a ratio effective for you. Your journal will play a key of 8:8:8:0. role in that process, so please diligently record your progress. You do not want to just start breathing with an 8:8:8:0 ratio all at once, however. Begin as you have before, with a minute of breath Breathing and the OBE The OBE breathing technique you are about to awareness at normal breathing levels and gradually deepening the breath over six to twelve counts. When you reach deep breathing levels, learn can help you achieve a conscious-exit start with last week's count of 8:0:8:0 for four projection. It can augment mild or patchy breaths. Then increase it to 8:4:8:0 for four vibrations and bring on the full vibrational breaths, then 8:6:8:0 for four breaths, and pre-OBE exit state. Think of this OBE breath- finally to the 8:8:8:0 ratio. ing technique as a tool on your preflight check- The idea is that at some point during the list right alongside mind taming, relaxation, OBE breathing technique you will project out and trance induction techniques. You'll want to of body. However, if you fail the exit, you have OBE breathing at the ready when you shouldn't just stop the 8:8:8:0 breathing ratio find yourself on the edge of an OBE exit and all at once and begin breathing normally. Ease need a little extra thrust to separate. off gradually. Take it down to last week's Since the beginning of the program you have been practicing and refining your breath- 8:0:8:0 breathing ratio for six breaths before steadily decreasing to normal levels. work skills. This week fits the last component The OBE breathing technique needs to be in place. As before, you should visualize clean practiced for it to become a relaxed and effort- air coming into your body on the inhale, and less way of breathing. It might take you a little stale energy departing it on the exhale. You'll while to get used to the new pace. Take a few want to breathe in from top to bottom, and minutes to run through it apart from your OBE empty yourself from bottom to top. Also, as preparation routine until you grow accustomed before, you'll want to valve your glottis to pace to using it. If an eight count seems too long, the intake and expulsion of air. shorten it to seven or six or simply count faster. Last week you learned to apply a ratio to your breathing: breathe in for eight counts, If it seems too short, extend it to nine or ten or count more slowly. pause normally, breathe out for eight counts, You should find that this breathing tech- pause normally, then repeat the cycle. (If you nique gives you access to more energy. In fact, Anatomy of an OBE 229 if you're feeling tired and worn out in the energy leaving your body on the exhale and middle of the day, spending five minutes with clear, light, colorful energy entering on the this technique should have a pleasant, refresh- inhale can, under the right conditions, be ing effect. enough to trigger the vibrations leading to an Keep in mind that this breathing ratio will OBE exit. Again, the key is finding a natural also result in slightly higher blood pressure pace that will allow you to continue deep while it is being used. If you suffer from heart breathing without it becoming distracting. disease, glaucoma, a neck injury, or any other Breathing in general is important during condition in which temporarily high blood the exit techniques that you'll begin practicing pressure could be problematic, consult your this week and for the remainder of the pro- medical doctor before using this technique, or gram. Some people have the tendency to hold simply remain with the breathing ratio cov- their breath while using OBE exit techniques ered last week where no breath holding is or during the onset of preprojection sensa- involved. tions. This is exacdy the opposite of what you There are several ways to implement the should do. Take full, relaxed breaths at all OBE breathing technique into your routine. times while employing exit techniques, but One way is to use it in conjunction with the full- don't obsess about breathing. In general, you'll body circuit. Use full, deep, measured breathing want to make great mental exertions during while drawing energy up through your body the exit techniques and focus all your will and and down into your subnavel storage area. This awareness on triggering the exit. However, addition increases the amount of energy that mental effort should never be allowed to cause can be moved and stored. physical tension or strain, and this includes A second way is to apply breathing tech- your breathing. niques during the relaxation exercise. The key At some point while practicing OBE-related here is to develop your deep breathing skills so techniques you will probably experience the that you don't tense up during the long breath famous vibrations. When vibrations occur for cycle. Rather, it should further relax you. the first time, the challenge is to overcome Breathing should be as full and as natural as astonishment and trepidation. How you react, possible. Don't force it or allow it to distract or especially to full-body vibrations, can mean overly preoccupy you. the difference between success and failure. Sur- A third way to use the breathing technique prise can interrupt the delicate equilibrium is when you're quieting your mind before get- you've achieved to bring on OBE exit symp- ting into trance. Full, deep breathing (such as toms in the first place. Breathing can help the measured belly breathing technique) in restore calm so you can finish your exit. combination with visualizing dark, cloudy 230 Week 7 Using Brow Center Trigger to Cause Vibrations Last week we introduced you to the brow center trigger technique. This week we are going to put it to use. The brow center trigger has two functions. First, it is an effective way to quell surface mind chatter. Second, it can act like an inner switch that, under the right conditions, can trigger or magnify OBE exit vibrations. Some people may find the brow center trigger a little difficult at first. There is a tendency for new students to tense forehead and facial muscles while holding the eye position. With regular practice eye muscles and tendons soon stretch and become accustomed to holding this position comfortably. Practice this eye position for a few seconds several times a day and you will soon learn to hold it with ease. using the BrainWave Generator, put on the headphones and start the program. Now go through the relaxation exercise. You've been practicing this since the beginning and by now you might have developed a tendency to cover relaxation only superficially. This is a common pitfall. Resist the urge and be thorough. Challenge yourself to relax as much as possible. Every day try to become a little more relaxed than the day before. Take at least five minutes to practice the OBE breathing technique and begin to quiet your mind. Practice this for as long as is comfortable. You might find that this step alone is enough to get the OBE exit symptoms started. Next, spend ten to fifteen minutes doing energy work—either the full-body circuit or primary center stimulation or both. These two steps aren't necessary every time you make an exit attempt. For example, you may try early The Preprojection Routine, from Relaxation to Body Loosening in the morning just after waking. In this case it is often best to go straight to an OBE exit technique to take advantage of your deeply relaxed In the weeks leading up to Part 2 of this pro- state. In general, always practice some energy gram your daily routine changed as you learned work. Some people find that spending a little new techniques and gradually integrated them time stimulating primary centers helps bring into your daily practice. From this point on, on vibrations easier. For others, the full-body your OBE preparation sessions will have only circuit provides the same effect. Always take a minor day-to-day adjustments. This is because few minutes to prestimulate feet, legs, hands, Part 2 involves learning what works for you and and arms with awareness actions. fine-tuning your routine to get the most out of your efforts. Experiment; one day use only primary center stimulation. On another day do just the The basic pre-OBE routine is as follows: full-body circuit. On another day do both. First, take a few minutes to go through the Vary the length of time you practice each and OBE walk-through. Next, settle into the posi- gauge your sensations and results. Even if a tion from which you plan to project. If you are specific combination isn't effective one time, Anatomy repeat it at other times to make sure. As you gain experience, you'll find that your intuition will start to guide you toward the best combination for you; be flexible. Now spend a few minutes quieting your mind. This is also a good time to run though the full-body circuit. Move your eyes to the brow center trigger position, as this helps quiet the mind too. When you've spent some time shutting down verbal thoughts, doublecheck your body and try to relax even more. Often it helps at this point to target tense areas with brushing and sponging techniques to help them relax further. From this point on avoid physically moving unless you become really uncomfortable for some reason. You want to remove your attention completely from your deeply relaxed physical body. Next, employ one of the trance-inducing visualization methods. By now you may be able to determine when you're going into a light or medium trance. Use this to gauge how long to use the technique. Sometimes it helps to switch trance induction methods midstream. This adds variety and helps maintain sharpness throughout the exercise. Vary the mental imagery to keep things fresh. Now begin an energy body loosening method, such as bounce or spin loosening. This is also a good point to practice your OBE breathing technique. Try to hold your eyes in the brow center trigger position. If they've drifted away, gently coax them back into place and continue energy body loosening for several minutes. Vary the technique as desired to help maintain lucidity. Follow this by employing the exit technique given for the day. of an OBE 231 Overview of Exit Techniques Achieving a conscious-exit OBE requires a delicate mental/physical balancing act. This can be likened to a toddler learning how to walk: to cope with gravity, body weight, balance, and coordinate many undeveloped muscles. It takes practice! This especially applies during early OBE training where projectors attempt to hold deeply relaxed physical and mental states while trying to use an OBE exit technique while also trying to deal with a lot of new and sometimes pretty major sensations and emotions. There are many new things to experience and adjust to during this critical time. Plus, these things must all be done perfectly or you will lose control and fall back into the full waking state. With conscious-exit projection you are trying to balance on the edge of sleep and wakefulness (the trance state), remain completely relaxed while your body fills with strange new sensations, and stay focused when everything around works to distract you. "Don't tense up." "Keep your mind clear at all times." "Move your eyes to brow center position." "Focus on the exit technique." "Don't fall sleep." The list seems endless, but you'll soon get the hang of it with practice. Putting together all the elements required for inducing an OBE won't happen all at once. It will take time for your brain to harmonize everything. This will require practice and patience. However, the more time you spend applying these skills, the faster you'll coordinate everything until, like walking, it becomes second nature. 232 Week 7 It is difficult to judge when OBE exit sensa- pure energy in action. They are key to success- tions will appear. Be prepared for early suc- ful conscious-exit projection. This is the cess; you may project the first time you try. mechanism by which you liberate your energy More likely it will take a lot of practice and stores and form that all-important projectable many OBE exit attempts. For the next seven double. weeks you'll be introduced to many new OBE Whenever it's time to use an exit technique, exit techniques. Give yourself time, be patient, resolve that this is it, this is the time you are and stick with the program as best you can. going to have an OBE. Put all your mental Each week you will be introduced to three energy and effort into the task at hand. While new exit techniques, one every other day. On physically remaining perfectly relaxed and at the last day of the week you can practice any ease, mentally grit your teeth and focus all of the OBE exit techniques that you found your energy into the task. Be brave and res- most effective or you can use all three and olute. Decide that you are going to project alternate as desired. If you stumble onto a here and now and put all your will into mak- technique that seems to provide results right ing this happen! away, use it every day but also try the new ones and see how effective they are. Try them all but stick to what works for you. Rolling-out OBE Exit Method OBE exit techniques fall into two main cat- We have included the rolling-out OBE exit egories. Some techniques are passive. For method here because it is a great help for fin- example, you might imagine yourself com- ishing off an OBE exit. It can, of course, pre- pletely still and relaxed while something is cipitate an OBE exit on its own, but it is par- happening to you, such as floating, flying on ticularly useful when you get stuck only partiy the end of a rocket, and so on. Other tech- out of your body and need something to com- niques are active, in which you imagine your plete the exit. body moving (walking, pulling on a rope, Imagine and feel yourself rolling and twist- climbing a ladder, etc.). Yet all exit techniques ing to the side as if you were rolling out of your have one thing in common: they all involve bed or your chair. Try one side, then the other. exteriorizing your sense of self and body Recreate the feeling of whole-body movement awareness. Later in the program, once you get with your body awareness. Feel your whole experience using these techniques, you can body and feel yourself rolling out of your body. modify them or come up with your own. We'll Do not allow your muscles to tense. Use this discuss the specifics of developing your own method along with other techniques, varying techniques in Week 11. between them at times. If you feel strong OBE Before we begin exit practice, a word on exit sensations but don't feel yourself moving motivation: enthusiasm and motivation are out of body, or if you find yourself only par- Anatomy tially out, use the rolling-out method to finish off your exit. Important Things to Remember Let's review a few critical items to keep in mind as you go about your OBE exit practice. First, remember to keep your eyes closed at all times. You can't project with your eyes open. Next, relax, relax, relax. Don't move or tense a muscle, even when you're putting all your mental effort and focus into an exit technique. Periodically run through areas of your body to make sure they are perfectly limp and loose. Remember to breathe. Controlling your breathing or breathing more deeply will not interfere with the OBE exit. Practice the OBE breathing technique and remember that this can augment light or patchy vibrations. Patchy vibrations are common and techniques like OBE breathing and the brow center trigger help turn these into whole-body vibrations. Keep your head clear and don't allow yourself to get excited. Don't let verbal chatter enter your head when the exit symptoms begin. Use your newly developed concentration skills to maintain your focus on the exit technique. Don't think of your physical body, no matter how intense the exit symptoms feel. Remember, that isn't your heart beating but your heart center working overtime. Fill your mind with your OBE exit technique. Finally, let go of all your fears and surrender to the OBE exit process. You've come a long way. You're more than just a physical body. There's nothing to fear. Just allow it to happen and go with the flow and everything will be fine. of an OBE 233 Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 07: Exit Training" So far you have been introduced to two kinds of BrainWave Generator presets: one type for practicing energy work and another to help encourage lucid dreaming. In Part 2 of the program you will be introduced to a third kind of BrainWave Generator preset, this one designed to ease you into the necessary state for projection. Each of these programs is set to last about two hours with one exception (in Week 11 there is an extra preset to use for a long meditation session). This week's preset begins with a high audible tone that gradually descends over the course of the first five minutes of the program, bringing you into a mind awake/body asleep state. Ten minutes into the preset more tones join in to harmonize with the first, edging you into a deeper state of trance. The new tones are modulated so it appears that the sound is spinning around your head at different rates of speed. After you have completed the preprojection process but before you begin your exit technique, place your eyes in the brow center trigger position and spend several minutes concentrating on the sound as it spins around you. After a few minutes of this you may feel your center of gravity begin to shift. Now start the exit technique. Total preset duration is 120 minutes. Reminder: The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. WEEK 7 DAILY PAGES This week's exit techniques: Rope: After following the preprojection routine, use imaginary (body awareness) hands to climb a rope, one hand over the other. Imagine yourself rising with each pull of the rope. Reverse rope: Also a trance-inducing method, reverse rope can provoke an OBE exit. This technique—climbing down instead of up—can be easier for some people than the standard rope method given above. One-handed rope: This is a rope variation where only one hand does the rope pulling while the other hand holds onto the rope. This is useful for those who find it difficult to concentrate on both hands doing the climbing. Chasm-crossing rope: Imagine a strong, taut rope running across your room in line with your body and just above it within easy reach of your hands. The rope is firmly attached to strong brackets mounted on two opposing walls of your room. Feel yourself climbing along this rope, dragging yourself across the room toward the wall and out of your body Adapt this to suit your projection position. 234 DAY 43 OBE Exit Training: Rope Technique Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING My mind remains calm and guiet throughout the trance state. 1 successfully balance between Recite morning affirmations sleeping and waking reality. 1 ignore astral noise AFTERNOON OBE walk-through and other exit-related distractions. These sensations Optional: Week 7 BrainWave Generator are merely signs that 1 am closer to exploring the Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) out-of-body state. OBE breath technigue (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING In the morning and throughout the day, 1 recover Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) memories from my nightly astral projections. 1 use Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) key questions to provoke OBE memories. 1 attract Trance with third-eye trigger practice ( 1 5 min.) people and situations that trigger memory Body loosening (5 min.) fragments to surface. OBE exit technigue: Rope technigue (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations [stimoted energy work rime: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 235 2 3 6 Day 43 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Training: Rope Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine a large, strong rope is hanging down in front of you just above your chest in a natural position for you to grab hold and begin climbing. Vary the position and angle of this imaginary rope to suit what feels most natural for your position. 2. Imagine you have an extra set of arms and hands extending from your shoulders. Make these arms as long as they need to be. Reach out with both of them and grasp the rope. Climb hand over hand strongly up the rope. Pull rope-to-chest with each climbing hand action. Feel yourself, in your projectable double, moving up the rope as you climb it. Stay aware of your physical body remaining behind as you climb out of it. Concentrate on the climbing action, but don't let your physical body tense up. Breathe naturally and do not hold your breath or allow it to become ragged. Hold your mind clear and focused solely on climbing the rope. 3. Develop a powerful, natural, two-handed climbing action, just as you would if you were actually climbing a rope in real life. One hand reaches out while the other hand holds on. Both hands work together at all times. As one hand pulls on the rope, the other hand should be reaching out to grip the rope above it, ready for the next pull on the rope. Try not to use only one hand at a time. Using both hands together makes the rope technique easier and more effective. 4. Vary the speed of the climbing action to what feels easiest and most natural for you, but do not climb too slowly. Just as with a bounce action, increase your climbing speed until resistance is felt and then back off to a more comfortable speed. Varying your climbing speed from about a half second to one second for each completed hand action (reaching out and pulling rope in with each hand) is best. 5. Feel your imaginary hands as very strong and feel yourself climbing effortlessly and powerfully up the rope. Try to feel yourself in your projected double moving upward as you climb the rope. It is the exterior awareness climbing action that makes this technique work. The climbing action itself provides a natural upward and outward movement away from your physical body. Daily Tips Robert: Many people have found it helpful to pin a length of ribbon or string to the ceiling above their beds or chairs within easy arm's reach. Touch this occasionally until you get used to its position in your mind. The position and feel of the rope will grow in your awareness memory, making it easier to imagine yourself reaching out and climbing it with Day 43 237 your body awareness hands. Position your rope tory trance work. Right away it felt as if my aid at the most natural and easy-to-imagine consciousness was a liquid mass sloshing up position for you. and down the axis of my body. It was my most Brian: I was quite unprepared for the effectiveness of the rope technique the first time I used it. Anxious to get started, I simply lay down in the area I had been using to do my trance work and started pulling on the imagi- powerful experience to date and I was caught completely off guard. Remember to relax and get into trance before you get started and, most importantly, once the sensations start, don't stop for anything. nary cord without going through any prepara- Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 44 OBE Exit Training: Rope Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING My mind remains calm and guiet throughout the trance state. 1 successfully balance between Recite morning affirmations sleeping and waking reality. 1 ignore astral noise AFTERNOON OBE walk-through and other exit-related distractions. These sensations Optional: Week 7 BrainWave Generator are merely signs that 1 am closer to exploring the Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) out-of-body state. OBE breath technique (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING In the morning and throughout the day, 1 recover Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) memories from my nightly astral projections. 1 use Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) key questions to provoke OBE memories. 1 attract Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) people and situations that trigger memory Body loosening (5 min.) fragments to surface. OBE exit technique: Rope technique (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Enerqy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Istimoted energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction 235 Day 44 239 method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Training: Rope Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine a strong rope is hanging down in front of you, same as yesterday. 2. Reach out with your imaginary hands and grasp the rope. Climb hand over hand strongly up the rope. Pull the rope to the center of your chest with each climbing hand action. 3. Feel yourself, in your projectable double, moving up the rope as you climb it. Stay aware of your physical body remaining behind as you climb out of it. Feel your perspective of the room change slighdy as you climb. Concentrate on the climbing action. 4. Hold your mind clear and focus solely on climbing the rope. Don't let your physical body respond or tense. Breathe naturally. Do not hold your breath or allow it to become ragged. Daily Tips Robert: Most of the problems people have with the rope technique can be solved with simple imagination. For example, if you feel you are bumping your head against the ceiling, imagine there is no ceiling. If you feel a big pile of rope building up beneath you, imagine it is disappearing through a hole in the floor. Brian: One of the problems I found with the rope was an inability to stay motivated when climbing for long periods of time. For me there's nothing appealing about the thought of climbing a rope that stretches infinitely upward. My favorite way of overcoming this was to imagine a goal high up in the sky: a towering tree maybe, or a city hovering in the clouds. Then I'll place something up there that I really want. If I'm hungry, this might be a platter of freshly baked caramel rolls. Sometimes I'll put people I'd really like to see there: old friends, beloved pets and family who have passed on— someone, something, anything that I would give my eyeteeth to reach. Climbing upward subsequendy took on new meaning for me. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 45 OBE Exit Training: Reverse Rope Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING My mind remains calm and guiet throughout the trance state. 1 successfully balance between Recite morning affirmations sleeping and waking reality. 1 ignore astral noise AFTERNOON OBE walk-through and other exit-related distractions. These sensations Optional: Week 7 BrainWave Generator are merely signs that 1 am closer to exploring the Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) out-of-body state. OBE breath technique (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING In the morning and throughout the day, 1 recover Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) memories from my nightly astral projections. 1 use Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) key questions to provoke OBE memories. 1 attract Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) people and situations that trigger memory Body loosening (5 min.) fragments to surface. OBE exit technigue: Reverse rope (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes) Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 240 Day 45 2 4 1 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Training: Reverse Rope Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine a strong rope is hanging down in front of you, same as yesterday. 2. Reach out with both your body awareness hands to grasp and hold the rope. Imagine that the bed or chair slowly disappears beneath you, leaving you hanging in free space. 3. Climb hand over hand down the rope. Hold the rope at the center of your chest with each downward climbing hand action. 4. Feel yourself, in your projectable double, moving down the rope. Stay vaguely aware of your physical body being above you as you climb down, down, down. 5. Hold your mind clear and focus solely on climbing down the rope, feeling yourself moving down, down, down. Don't let your physical body respond or tense. Breathe naturally. Do not hold your breath or let it get ragged. 6. Reverse the downward action and climb up the rope occasionally, feeling yourself moving out of and above your physical body. Use your imagination to remove any physical world obstacles, like ceilings and floors and walls. Daily Tips Robert: One of the most important ingredients for successful projection is enthusiasm. Without this there will not be enough mental energy to succeed; you will either fail the exit or give up and fall asleep. It is thus important to keep the preparation time for any OBE attempt fairly short so it does not become boring and mentally exhausting. One thing a new projector has in abundance is enthusiasm, which is pure mental energy. Another thing that stands out in all the success stories I have received is the word resolution. Resolution + Enthusiasm + Action = OBE Success. Many people have e-mailed me over the years with success stories. In most cases they have been using an OBE exit method when they suddenly decided to really do it! They have put everything into it and succeeded. Resolution makes a huge difference. Make a firm decision to be brave and resolute and just do it! This will focus all your mental energy into a single, powerful, one-pointed effort to project you out of your body! Brian: One of the most difficult things I find about the rope methods is trying to visualize climbing without making my body tense up. It is so easy for me to equate motivation and the will to get higher with physical effort, especially when the vibrations or some other manifestation of the OBE exit set in. I found a way around this by practicing in the mornings after waking up but before I had opened my eyes and rolled out of bed. I found my muscles were relaxed in a way they weren't during my OBE 242 Day 45 sessions. From this place it was easy to practice having practice separating physical will and getting motivated and to "grit my mental teeth" mental will helped immensely, without actually gritting my physical teeth. Just Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 46 OBE Exit Training: One-Handed Rope Technique Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING Recite morning affirmations My mind remains calm and guiet throughout the trance state. 1 successfully balance between sleeping and waking reality. 1 ignore astral noise AFTERNOON OBE walk-through and other exit-related distractions. These sensations Optional: Week 1 BrainWave Generator are merely signs that 1 am closer to exploring the Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) out-of-body state. OBE breath technique (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING In the morning and throughout the day, 1 recover Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) memories from my nightly astral projections. 1 use Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) key questions to provoke OBE memories. 1 attract Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) people and situations that trigger memory Body loosening (5 min.) fragments to surface. OBE exit technique: One-handed rope (20 min.) Write proqram notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Enerqy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recife nightly affirmations istimotei energy work lime: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes) Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 243 244 Boy 46 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Training: One-Handed Rope Technique (20 Minutes) 1. If you can manage it, have the weaker hand just hold on to the rope (as if the rope were slipping through the grip of the weaker hand), while the stronger hand does the real climbing. If one imaginary hand does not appear to obey or feels weak or uncontrollable (this happens to some people), the rope technique can be done with one hand only using the hand that is most responsive. 2. Feel the strong hand reach out and pull the rope to your chest, then reach out and pull again in a continual, one-handed climbing action. Try reaching out much farther than your physical arms could. Pretend that your imaginary arms are made of rubber and feel them stretching way out as you climb up the rope. Daily Tips Robert: Pulling the rope to the middle of the chest while climbing helps stimulate the heart and throat centers, both of which are heavily involved in the OBE exit. If you can manage it, each time you pull on the rope, feel your hands pulling close to your forehead and throat in passing on the way down to your chest and heart. Imagine that the angle of the rope suits this added extra. Brian: I will often use the one-handed rope technique to break the repetitiveness of the normal two-handed rope technique. This will usually go something like this: two-handed rope technique for two minutes, one-handed rope technique with left hand for one minute, one-handed rope technique with right hand for one minute, repeat. Make the transitions as smoothly as possible. Once you get a rhythm going, don't break it. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 47 OBE Exit Training: One-Handed Rope Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations My mind remains calm and guiet throughout the trance state. 1 successfully balance between sleeping and waking reality. 1 ignore astral noise AFTERNOON OBE walk-through and other exit-related distractions. These sensations Optional: Week 1 BrainWave Generator are merely signs that 1 am closer to exploring the Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) out-of-body state. OBE breath technigue (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING In the morning and throughout the day, 1 recover Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) memories from my nightly astral projections. 1 use Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) key guestions to provoke OBE memories. 1 attract Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) people and situations that trigger memory Body loosening (5 min.) fragments to surface. OBE exit technigue: One-handed rope (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 245 246 Doy47 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Training: One-Handed Rope Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Using the most responsive hand, perform the rope technique with one hand. Have your weaker hand just hold on to the rope while the stronger hand does the climbing. 2. Feel the strong hand reach out and pull the rope to your chest, then reach out and pull again in a continual, one-handed climbing action. ers. It is difficult to say what will happen, but be prepared to go through with a full OBE exit the first time you use rope. If you get bored during an OBE exit session, switch between exit techniques or do the full-body circuit and some primary center work or some bounce loosening exercises for a while, then return to your exit techniques a bit later. Brian: The week I began doing the rope techniques I found myself having rope-climbing dreams. I used this to redefine my lucid dream objectives. When I found myself climbing, I trained myself to become aware that I was dreaming and to continue with the exercise as if I was trying an exit technique during my practice sessions. While I wasn't successful in having an OBE this way, I did have some interesting lucid dreams. Daily Tips Robert: The rope technique works quickly for some people, but takes more practice for oth- Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 48 OBE Exit Training: Chasm-Crossing Rope Technique Dale: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations My mind remains calm and guiet throughout the trance state. 1 successfully balance between sleeping and waking reality. 1 ignore astral noise AFTERNOON OBE walk-tbrougb and other exit-related distractions. These sensations Optional: Week 7 BrainWave Generator are merely signs that 1 am closer to exploring the Relaxation: Wbole body (5 min.) out-of-body state. OBE breath technigue (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING In the morning and throughout the day, 1 recover Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) memories from my nightly astral projections. 1 use Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) key questions to provoke OBE memories. 1 attract Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) people and situations that trigger memory Body loosening (5 min.) fragments to surface. OBE exit technigue: Chasm-crossing rope (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimatei energy work time: SS minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 247 2 4 8 Day 48 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Training: Chasm-Crossing Rope Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Instead of a rope hanging down from above, imagine a strong, taut rope running across the length of your room in line with your body and just above it within easy reach of your hands. This rope is firmly attached to strong brackets mounted on two opposing walls of your room. Adjust the angle of this rope to suit your projection position. 2. Feel your imaginary hands reaching out and feel yourself climbing along this rope, dragging yourself across the room toward the wall behind your head and out of your body. If you have a wall behind your bed and this puts you off, either change ends in the bed during projection attempts or imagine you are climbing through a big hole in the wall. Daily Tips Robert: With all climbing-type OBE exit techniques, it can help if you imagine you are climbing toward a colorful swirling vortex of light. This is the entrance into the astral planes. And this is pretty close to the truth in fact, as some people find a swirling vortex nearby after the exit. If they enter the vortex, they find themselves racing through a colorful grid-lined tube or tunnel that takes them into the astral planes. Brian: It really does help to get an actual rope and physically try out the various climbing moves. Practice is particularly helpful just before you begin your session. I found the act of mentally climbing rather awkward until I tried it physically and got a better sense of what the movements were like. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 49 OBE Exit Training: Chasm-Crossing Rope Technique Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING Recite morning affirmations My mind remains calm and quiet throughout the trance state. 1 successfully balance between sleeping and waking reality. 1 ignore astral noise AFTERNOON OBE walk-through and other exit-related distractions. These sensations Optional: Week 7 BrainWave Generator are merely signs that 1 am closer to exploring the Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) out-of-body state. OBE breath technique (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING In the morning and throughout the day, 1 recover Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) memories from my nightly astral projections. 1 use Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) key guestions to provoke OBE memories. 1 attract Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) people and situations that trigger memory Body loosening (5 min.) fragments to surface. OBE exit technique: Chasm-crossing rope (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated eaetgy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 2^9 250 Day 49 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Training: Chasm-Crossing Rope Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine a strong, taut rope running across the ceiling of your room in line with your body and just above it within easy reach of your hands. This rope is firmly attached to strong brackets mounted on two opposing walls of your room. 2. Feel your imaginary hands reaching out and feel yourself climbing along this rope, dragging yourself across the room toward the wall behind your head and out of your body. Daily Tips Robert: By the end of this program you will know and have practiced a number of OBE exit methods. It really helps if you use a variety of exit methods during each OBE exit attempt. This helps reduce boredom and also stops you getting so accustomed to one method that it begins to lose effectiveness. You can look on this like how you might pry a large rock loose from the ground with a crowbar. You would not just pry from one side, but would move around the rock and loosen it from different angles, prying and rocking and shaking it loose with many small and diverse pressures until it suddenly comes loose and rolls free. Brian: I found that the rope technique worked very well at first but that I quickly grew accustomed to it and it became more difficult to focus on it. The chasm-crossing rope method is a nice one to get a slightly different flavor to the basic rope technique, plus I found it easier to visualize advancing horizontally than rising vertically. There is something about moving this way when one is prone that is very natural. I also discovered that it was particularly helpful to imagine being on some kind of track and to notice things moving past as I went by. Varying the environment and what I saw around me was especially effective. Your Program Notes/Observations Day 49 251 Before Moving On This week you should have: • a basic idea of what to expect during a conscious-exit out-of-body experience; • learned the OBE breathing technique and know when to use it to deepen relaxation, increase energy levels, and enhance the vibrations; • become accustomed to the third-eye trigger technique for use in quieting the mind and bringing on the vibrational state; • memorized all the steps in the pre-exit OBE routine; • grown comfortable with using the rope-related exit techniques presented this week. I had a perfect OBE! I tried for about an hour and then finally did my usual roll-overand-go-to-sleep thing. After roughly ten minutes of unconsciousness, I felt a pulling on my feet. The pulls would come and go. Somehow, I managed to coax them along. I wriggled out of my body in gradual stages and then sort of slid out and onto the floor by the side of my bed. My vision came slowly. At first I sort of had it only in one eye and it felt like my sweatshirt was over the other. I asked for vision and then I could see, taking deeper breaths to draw in energy. All the while I kept restating my goal, to pass through the door and come back. This was my prearranged goal. Standing up, I moved slowly through the door of my dorm room and into the lounge. I saw eight people there at the tables playing chess, before passing back through the door. My room was lit up when I returned. I lay down on the bed, mashing myself into where my body would be until I woke up. Man, I was buzzing all over. I'd done it! * * * I frequently wake up with intense vibrations, as if I'm about to project. Then I get really excited and overdo it with the exit methods and end up prematurely ending the vibrational state. Last week I randomly woke up in a trance with some weak vibrations running up my spine. I thought, "This could lead to an OBE!" So I just breathed deeply and waited a while and they got a little stronger. Then I just decided to focus on the vibrations instead of trying an exit technique, kind of like the way you would focus on a sound that you can barely hear. The vibrations became very strong very quickly and I had a short, fully conscious OBE. The only downside is the vibrations were a bit uncomfortable, as they were very intense. EE! I t What to Expect Facing your fears Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions Dealing with surprise More exit techniques Belief system cleansing • Hanging Learning to let go • Ladder Focusing your thoughts - Point shift Mental Barriers Some level of fear or trepidation is to be rope Fear and Surprise: Facing the Unknown expected when learning to have an out-of- Projection-related fears manifest in many body experience. Similarly, your beliefs can ways, usually when least expected. If you think affect how easy or difficult it is to project. about how people often go about inducing an Your thoughts can construct unseen subcon- OBE, it's no wonder they become uneasy. scious barriers to an OBE. This week we'll OBE exit attempts are often made at night, examine fear in its many forms and look at alone in a dark room. Add to this the sudden ways of rising above or working around them. onset of heavy OBE exit sensations and the We'll also offer advice for examining your goal of the OBE exit itself: to experience exis- beliefs about OBEs and how they might be tence outside the physical body—a circum- working against you. stance naturally associated with dying. Put all 253 254 Week 8 this together and you have the ingredients for knowledge of what to expect, new projectors a traumatic experience. are frequently unprepared for OBE exit sensa- Much of the fear associated with OBEs is tions. You might think you are prepared, but related to doubt and experientially unknown are you truly ready? In essence, when OBE exit factors. Heavy exit sensations, astral noises, symptoms first hit, this becomes the moment and the sudden sense of continual falling (all when theory turns into reality. This simple commonly associated with leaving the body) realization so surprises would-be projectors are not in themselves overly scary things. If that they often fight to abort the exit right on you think about it, the vibrations aren't them- the brink of success. selves alarming so much as the thought of The question becomes, how can you pre- what might happen if they continued. Astral vent fear and surprise from ruining early pro- noises themselves are perfectly harmless, but jections? This book helps overcome this by it's their unknown source that can make you providing you with a progressive, step-by-step uneasy. We don't fear the falling, but we fear a plan. The idea of taking small steps lessens the potential impact that we naturally associate impact of new and potentially uncomfortable with falling. sensations. For example, overcoming the slight Once you've experienced the vibrations a uneasiness of sitting alone in the dark, going few times you'll realize that they are just into trance and doing energy work, and feel- harmless energy body activity associated with ing strong energy movement sensations all OBEs. After having experienced astral sight lessen the impact of stronger OBE exit-related and astral noises and learning through direct sensations when they happen. Now that you're experience that these are not to be feared, approaching liftoff itself, it will be up to you to you'll soon learn to ignore them. Realizing isolate each level of fear and overcome it—and that no impact will result from the falling sen- the first step to isolating fears and uncertain- sation, you'll learn to remain calm. ties is to identify them. It helps to think of these potentially unnerv- Listed below are some common OBE- ing sensations as natural barriers that prevent related fears and tips for overcoming them. As unprepared people from having an OBE until you read through these, identify which fears they are ready. Think of it as a test, an initiation. you relate to and think about how you might Be bolstered by the thought that countiess peo- use our suggestions to overcome them. By ple have experienced OBE exit sensations and reviewing this list you can hopefully brain- projected successfully. These things are just ele- storm ways of handling anything your first ments of the path toward an OBE, parts of the OBE exit might throw at you. terrain that will grow familiar with experience. In addition to fear, simple surprise can be a roadblock to a successful exit. Even with full Overcoming Mental Blocks Tips for Confronting Fears The Unknown Having read about OBEs for the past several weeks, you should have a good idea what to expect when it happens to you. Yet reading about an OBE and actually experiencing it are two different things entirely. There is no way to know exactly what you are going to experience until it happens. Fortunately, you've walked through your first OBE a number of times already and you can pretty much expect that your first OBE will follow similar lines. A little fear and trepidation is perfectly natural and healthy. However, when worry turns into alarm, this disrupts the delicate balance required for projection and might even end the OBE exit. The key here is to not allow negative emotions to get started. Play the objective observer at all times. React calmly and matter-of-factly to any situation. Focus on your OBE walkthrough and let your training carry you through to the end. Stick to your plan and there will be few surprises. Concentrating on your OBE exit technique during the exit, and then on your planned walk-through after the exit, will help keep your mind clear and calm. This will help stop worries and fears from taking root. This is a bit like how police and soldiers are trained to react. Intensive training stops them from giving into natural fears and freezing when the unexpected happens. 255 The Darkness The fear of projecting at night when objects cast sinister shadows and ominous dark corners suggest that unknown things could be watching is a natural fear. This goes hand-in-hand with a fear of the unknown. At night, shadowy branches may look vaguely like monsters reaching for us, but in daylight they become just another tree. What our imagination conjures as menacing and creepy in the dark is usually innocuous and absurd in the light. The solution here is to practice having an OBE in daylight hours. Who wouldn't want to project in daylight if given the chance? Life is far more interesting in the daytime when the world is awake. Yet projecting during the day isn't always practical, as free time is often only available after dark. If daytime OBE practice isn't possible and fear of the dark is a problem, consider practicing projection with someone else. Having a meditation partner has all kinds of advantages in terms of encouraging and supporting each other. Hearing about another's experiences can help generate new ideas and beneficial adjustments to your routine. If having a meditation partner isn't practical, consider setting up a safe room as described in Week 6. Any nearby pool of light will allow you to meditate more comfortably. This also offers a bright place to go when you first project. Another idea is to keep the room in which you are practicing well lit and use a sleep mask or a black T-shirt to cover your eyes. This provides an instantly friendly environment after a real-time exit. 256 Week 8 Generally, darkness is only a problem in the real-time zone. Astral plane projection is an exception, as the astral planes are usually well illuminated. sudden motion and falling, as can riding highspeed elevators. Additionally, the memory of these feelings can even be used as an OBE exit technique. Losing Control Becoming Overexcited If you're the kind of person who tenses up when your driver takes a corner too fast or when the elevator starts moving, then the idea of surrendering yourself to OBE exit symptoms may be intimidating. The sudden, visceral, uncontrolled sense of motion that occurs during the OBE exit can be breathtaking. It may cause you to abort OBE exits out of sheer instinct. Overexcitement on the brink of OBE is a widespread problem. You do everything right and get into the full-body vibrational state and the OBE exit reflex kicks in. You suddenly begin to feel yourself separating from your body. Then a big surge of excitement rushes through you and everything just stops, leaving you wide awake and wondering what happened. You were calm and in control right up to the verge of the exit, but then a surge of excitement beyond your control stopped the OBE exit cold. If this is an issue for you, first you need to prepare yourself to deal with some loss of control during the exit. The sudden sense of inner motion typical for an OBE exit (feeling much like continually falling) may cause you to abort the exit every time. Physical movement of any kind, even a slight tensing of muscles, will usually abort the OBE exit. Some loss of control is likely. You should work toward desensitizing yourself from reacting to sudden motion. Start with small steps. Practice not tensing up when your friend takes corners too fast. If you're a habitual flier, work on staying perfectly relaxed during takeoffs and landings. Find a park slide or swing and try to stay relaxed as you slide down or move back and forth. Practice falling backward into a friend's arms without tensing up or trying to catch yourself. Sit on a bed with pillows behind you and repeatedly allow yourself to fall backward onto the bed. Carnival rides and rollercoasters can help you get used to feelings of Two things can cause the above. The first is a surge of adrenaline-type excitement energy shooting up through your stomach and chest. This is caused by the sudden sense of motion as discussed in the previous section. The second is a rush of pure overexcitement. Your mind fills with the idea of all the incredible things you can do while out of your body, feeling much like how you would feel if you won the lottery. Overcoming excitement takes perseverance and common sense. Knowing what can happen in advance will help you keep better control. This is why we overstate that projectors must stay calm and in control at all times— before, during, and after the exit. No celebrations are allowed until after the re-entry or you risk aborting the OBE immediately. Overcoming Mental Blocks The overexcitement factor can be controlled with self-discipline. This may ruin a number of OBE exits before you learn how to control yourself during the exit, but this problem usually eases off gradually. The good news is that you were right on the edge of having an OBE. All you need is to exert a bit more selfcontrol and you will succeed. Sleep Paralysis A common phenomenon relating to OBEs is sleep paralysis (also called waking paralysis). This can occur shortly after waking up, during the process of falling asleep, or even while relaxing. There is a sudden sensation of falling and then a realization that you can't move a muscle. This can be frightening, even if you know that what's happening is only a temporary state. People with natural OBE ability often experience sleep paralysis. This can also occur while you are practicing OBE-related training exercises. Sleep paralysis is a common symptom of the OBE exit. When the vibrations begin, full physical paralysis is normal. This comes on with a sudden feeling of great heaviness, often accompanied by a falling sensation. The scientific explanation is that the brain reduces its ability to control voluntary muscles during sleep so the physical body won't injure itself by mirroring dream actions. Sleep paralysis is also thought by some to be associated with a spontaneous projection that is about to occur. However, the evidence suggests that sleep paralysis is solely a product of the mind-split effect, where OBE exit symptoms have been 257 mild and7or the exit out of body has occurred unnoticed. In this case, the awake mind has been left behind inside its paralyzed physical body while an OBE is in progress. Training for and practicing conscious-exit OBEs tends to diminish the incidence of spontaneous sleep paralysis. It does this by improving shadow memory download ability—so the OBE is remembered instead of the paralyzed physical body/mind side of the equation. If sleep paralysis happens to you, don't panic! You cannot break paralysis with force. Relax and keep your mind calm and clear. This state is harmless and temporary. If you sense a strong presence that makes you feel uneasy, know that this is most likely your own projected double. Focus on breath awareness or count your breaths and this will help you stay in control. The fastest and most effective way to break sleep paralysis is to focus everything on moving one of your big toes. Using brushing or sponging body awareness actions on a big toe will help. Once you move a big toe, sleep paralysis will be instantly broken. If you are prone to it, overtiredness heightens the chances of sleep paralysis, so be sure you're getting enough rest. Sleeping on an empty stomach can also be a contributing factor, so try eating something before bed. Sleeping on your back also makes this phenomenon more likely, so if possible, sleep on your side. Astral Noise Perhaps the scariest OBE exit-related symptom, especially for new projectors, is astral noise. Astral noises are best considered to be 258 Week 8 harmless auditory hallucinations. More common to new rather than seasoned projectors, this usually takes the form of clicking, buzzing, hissing, or crackling electrical sounds heard just prior to an OBE exit. Astral noises can come in more intimidating varieties, such as the clamor of banging pans, crashing furniture, chain saws and jackhammers, heavy chains being dragged, unexplained footsteps, even ghostly moaning and groaning and voices. Astral noise voices often sound like those of friends or family, but can also be the voices of strangers. Astral voices will often say things that are unnerving or distracting. They will frequently demand that you get up and attend to some urgent matter (e.g., to meet a visitor). Sometimes astral voices will address you by name. They are often critical and warn of dire consequences. Sometimes, though more rarely, they will be encouraging. Occasionally astral voices can be outright scary. You might hear sinister laughter, snarling, growling, muttering, moaning, or screaming. You might overhear two people talking to each other, criticizing you by name for trying to have an OBE. An intimidating voice might order you to halt the OBE exit, warning you of terrible danger if you continue. In general, astral voices seem designed to distract and deter new projectors from continuing with OBE exits. Astral sounds and voices only take place prior to and during an OBE exit. They always stop once the exit is complete. There is never any apparent source for them once a person is out of body. They are audio illusions. Frequent projectors can expect some kind of astral noise experience to occur during roughly 10 percent of OBE exits. The key to overcoming astral noises is to totally ignore them. They can be heavily distracting and that is the last thing you need during an OBE exit. The chances of, for example, a family member suddenly interrupting you while you are right on the verge of an OBE exit are astronomical. Do not listen to them or react to them in any way. Ignore astral noises totally! The biggest hurdle to overcoming astral noise is getting over the surprise and the fear of the unknown source. It's easy to get caught off guard. Knowing that they're illusionary and that they must be ignored is half the job. On a brighter note, astral noises are a reliable indicator that you are very close to having an OBE. So if you have never had a full OBE exit before, take heart that you are very close to success. Heavy Exit Sensations Heavy whole-body vibrations and the sense of having an incredibly rapid heartbeat are two of the most common symptoms of an OBE exit. These can be major visceral sensations. The vibrations themselves can seem like a heavy current of electricity is coursing through your physical body, as if your head and feet were connected to live wires. The rapid pulsing and pounding in your chest as your heart center exteriorizes your projectable double can be equally unsettling. It can feel like your heart is about to explode. Be warned that heavy heart Overcoming Mental Blocks 259 center activity and a racing physical heartbeat are identical sensations. The sensations associated with a consciousexit OBE can be extremely strong, especially during the first few OBE exits. We cannot stress this point enough. So many people have come to us saying, "I'd heard that OBE exit sensations were strong, but I had no idea they would be that strong. I really and truly thought I was dying!" If you get heavy OBE exit sensations, it can take a serious leap of faith to get past them. your heart center is at work, this sensation is isolated to the middle of your chest only with no sense of thudding in your temples. Use this distinction to reassure yourself that what you're feeling is simply your heart center racing and not your physical heart. When OBE exit symptoms occur, be confident. Relax, clear your head, and remain the objective observer at all times before, during, and after the exit. Stay as neutral as possible and keep your eyes on the prize. If you aren't mentally prepared for how strong they could be, the surprise when they hit can be enough to cause you to panic and abort the exit. The good news is that with practice the intensity of rapid heartbeat sensations will progressively lessen. It will still happen, but it will no longer be so visceral and disturbing. Staying calm and not reacting during your first few exits is key to progressing to higher levels of OBE exploration. Disembodied Hands Knowing what to expect helps immensely. Having recovered from the surprise that they've manifested, it becomes a matter of redoubling your efforts to go through with your OBE exit in spite of them. Heavy projection symptoms will cease the moment you get out, so the sooner you're out the sooner they will stop. Harden your resolve and go for it! There is a way to distinguish the thumping of your heart center from the beating of your physical heart. When your physical heart races, increased blood pressure and amplified pulse occur. Most notably, you'll feel your pulse pounding through your whole body, especially in your head and temples. When Many other types of sensory hallucinations can occur during the pre-OBE exit state. One example is the feeling of hands caressing, tickling, clutching, or pulling at you. These may feel like normal human hands or be cold and clammy. For example, you might feel hands pulling on your feet as if trying to pull you out of your body. Obviously, this type of phenomenon can be disturbing. Regardless of what may or may not be their actual source, they are best considered to be tactile hallucinations. Like all other types of pre-OBE exit phenomena, these will never cause harm and will only be a problem if you react fearfully. Stay calm and proceed with your projection and they will soon disappear. Ghostly Encounters For some, the thought of encountering someone or something else while projecting— human, animal, or otherwise—can be unnerving. This comes from a basic fear of the unknown, stemming in part from already being uneasy about the out-of-body state. 260 Week 8 Most projectors have minimal risk of encountering anything scary during an OBE. The real-time zone is actually a pretty lonely place, especially at night, and encounters with other projectors or beings of any kind are rare. This is mainly because most projectors spend only a short time in the real-time zone before shifting into the astral planes. The lower astral planes are, however, more populated, mainly with the projected doubles of sleepers (the millions of people who project but do not remember). If you ever encounter anything that seems unfriendly during an OBE, the best advice is to be calm and brave. Either confront it and order it away or simply ignore it and leave the area. These sorts of things are best thought of as harmless illusions. Some of the more common forms encountered look a bit like mischievous monkeys. These beings, whether real or illusory, seem designed to intimidate novice projectors and drive them back into their physical bodies. They cannot harm you and will only scare you if you let them. Just ignore them, fly away, and enjoy the rest of your OBE. Encounters with true spiritual beings are rare. One can have dozens of real-time zone projections and not encounter anyone or anything. You're more likely to feel a sense of solitude during an OBE than be bothered by anything frightening. asleep or going through the pre-OBE exit stage, your internal expanded energy body is fully generated. The first internal shift takes place—that inner projection of consciousness into the expanded energy body. In this state the expanded energy body has many of the properties of the real-time double (e.g., astral sight and hearing and sensing, including the ability to see and hear spirits). It also develops some limited freedom of movement inside its physical body. It is capable of extending parts of itself out of body and even of turning around in its own skin. The expanded energy body never leaves the physical body, not even during a projection. It always resides safely therein along with your original copy of mind and memories, spirit and soul, effectively "filling" and "guarding" your physical body. You are not exposed to intrusion or possession simply because a thinking copy of your mind projects into the astral. The physical/ expanded energy body is never left unprotected, vulnerable, or at risk during an OBE. You are no more at risk during an OBE than you are when you are awake or during normal sleep. Your expanded energy double has natural sensors against incursion by spirit entities. If a disembodied spirit approached your physical body during an OBE, your sensors would react instantly to end the OBE, snapping you back into the fully awake state. Becoming Possessed Becoming possessed during an OBE is a common fear. The assumption is that when you project your body is left empty and defenseless. This is not the case. While you are falling Getting Stuck out of Body As mentioned in Week 7, one possible scenario where it might seem as if you have been locked out of your body is where you have Overcoming Mental Blocks stayed out of body overlong and your physical body has fallen into a deep sleep. Reintegrating with your physical body requires it to at least partially wake up for a brief moment. During deep sleep, waking up can be difficult for some people. In this case, you might return to and try to re-enter your body and fail. Your physical body may feel cold and lifeless to the touch of your astral double, but this is normal. If this ever happens to you, please don't panic. Simply return to your astral explorations and rest assured that you will definitely be reeled back in when your physical body wakes up again. As mentioned earlier, the master copy of your mind and spirit perpetually occupy your physical body, including while an OBE is in progress. You never really leave it, per se. With the rare exception of the above-stated scenario, getting back to your body during an OBE is simply a matter of reaching out with your senses and feeling for your body and you will quickly return. Violating Religious Doctrine Some people worry that if they practice having OBEs they might break some kind of religious or moral code. However, everyone projects in some form whenever they sleep. This is a natural, automatic phenomenon. Most people just don't remember it happening. Sleep projection is a natural part of living. It is part of having a spirit and a body. Animals also project out of body during sleep. In essence, having and remembering OBEs is no different from having and remembering 261 dreams or lucid dreams. There is also nothing in the Bible or any other holy book that forbids having or inducing an OBE. Attracting Negative Influences Wake-induced out-of-body experiences can occasionally attract unseen spiritual influences, both good and bad, as can meditation and other spiritual practices. The chances of attracting anything truly negative, however, are extremely remote. An OBE can be done with reasonable safety provided there are no pre-existing problems, such as mental illness or poltergeist activity. In the case of pre-existing negative influences, these forces would already be at work in one's life and OBErelated practices are unlikely to seriously exacerbate such problems. Most people that practice wake-induced projection have minimal risk of attracting negative problems. Dealing with Fears Most fears can be dispelled with a little knowledge and resolve combined with an observer's detachment and an adventurer's free spirit. Using the OBE walk-through reduces uneasiness because you get to role-play what your first OBE will be like. Using self-hypnosis and tailoring your weekly affirmations to address particular fears is another good way to program your mind to accept an OBE more comfortably. Most of all, practice, practice, practice. The more routine meditation and energy work becomes for you, the more familiar and confident you will become with the whole idea of an OBE. 262 Week 8 Belief System Cleansing Beliefs subconsciously filter our perceptions of reality and shape all the information we receive to fit what we believe. This affects how we view new concepts and ideas in ways that aren't readily apparent. Beliefs, much like fears, can set up doubts and mental blocks that may hinder or even prevent OBEs. Unlike fears, which are generally apparent, beliefs can be subder and harder to discern. If at your core you believe that OBEs are unlikely to be real, how will this affect your efforts to use this program? How will this affect you when it comes time to attempt an OBE exit? If you believe that OBEs are merely an illusion or trick of the mind—only an internal mental process—then as you move through this program you will naturally look for evidence to substantiate this belief. If you believe that the body survives death, that we are in essence spiritual beings who are able to experience consciousness separate from the physical body, then this, too, will shape your expectations. Both these views will affect how you approach the OBE exit and how you respond during the experience. A belief system cleansing is all about examining your thinking processes and separating beliefs from facts. You don't have to discard your heartfelt beliefs, you just have to know the difference. What do you really know to be true from repeatable personal experience and logic, and what have you simply come to accept as true with no reliable evidence? What is actually true and what have you taken on board as a matter of course? How many of your beliefs depend upon faith to make them true? Please do not misunderstand us here. Faith is a wonderful thing. However, faith can lead one astray when one tries to separate gems from the mere stones, especially concerning OBEs and the greater spiritual reality. When one really makes the effort to tell the difference, it soon becomes apparent that there really are very few reliable facts. For most of us, conceptual models of spiritual reality are mainly comprised of beliefs. Solid, reliable evidence is extraordinarily difficult to come by on spiritual matters. Logic and common sense help a lot, but nothing replaces personal experience. Distinguishing between beliefs and facts can be difficult. Many of our beliefs provide great comfort and without them we might feel directionless and lost. At the same time beliefs can throw up invisible barriers that prevent us from exploring OBEs and the greater spiritual reality to any worthwhile depth. Beliefs can be great when they work for us, but when they work against us, they should be recognized for what they are and modified or discarded. At the very least, suspect beliefs should be shelved as possible and gently put aside until further evidence appears. If you force a square wooden block through a round metal hole, the square block will be distorted into a roughly octagonal shape. Along the same lines, if any of your fundamental spiritual beliefs are even slightly flawed, information trying to pass through your subconscious belief system filters will be distorted. Overcoming Mental Blocks The greater and more fundamental the errors in one's belief system, the greater the resulting distortion will be. All things being equal, this is why some people can receive new and inspirational ideas (be these scientific or spiritual) and others cannot receive or do so only poorly. The concept that you create your own spiritual reality is nothing new. Yet actually realizing how this works and actively applying it to one's life is an entirely different matter. So if your reality is shaped by your beliefs, then your reality depends upon the support of those beliefs. If some of your beliefs are faulty, then some of your perceptions will be faulty. The result is therefore not true reality but an altered version of reality. In psychological terms this is called a cognitive distortion. Such things can have particularly strong effects in the fluid astral environment. A belief system cleansing entails dismantling your belief system and then intelligently rebuilding it from scratch. Accomplishing this requires a disciplined approach using personal experience, logic, and common sense to build a solid foundation for a new belief system. It involves sitting down and making a list of your beliefs. For the purposes of this program, the list would focus on OBEs and related spiritual matters. For example, you might list things like subtle energy, chakras, altered trance states, and body awareness actions. If you have worked through this program, you will already have had some personal experience with these things. So you can tick these items as being substantiated. Now cross out all the things on your list that you have not actually experienced or 263 proven for yourself. You must weigh each list item against expert opinion, empirical evidence, and common sense. This process will eventually provide you with a workable foundational belief system. This sounds like a tall order, but it doesn't have to happen overnight. Take as long as you need. Ponder and revise, ponder and revise. Your resulting list of evidence-based beliefs may be rather small to start with, but that's okay. Part of what you're doing by following this program is building up experiences that will provide the foundation for your future belief system. Start taking down the barriers and you will find yourself moving in directions that were previously obscured. Question everything, especially the sacred cows of dogma, and always think for yourself. Experiment and learn from all that life has to offer you. Listen to and consider the wisdom of others, and try on their ideas as you might try on new coats for size. However, never buy a new coat just because it seems to fit. It must be practical, within your price range, and look good on you too. Above all, build the foundation of your new belief system from the wealth of your own personal life experience. Trying Too Hard A secondary objective of the daily practice routine in this program is to make the components that make up the OBE exit habitual. The idea is that you'll come to know it so well that it will no longer require conscious effort; it will just be something that you do. Motivation is necessary to succeed at having an OBE, but too 264 Week 8 much effort—wanting an OBE too badly—can throw up greedy roadblocks full of subtle tension. Have you ever watched a sporting event and cheered your team on as it came back from being behind? Do you know the feeling that you get when you really want them to win and are wishing this with all your heart? It's almost a physical thing, as if it were possible for the strength of your will alone to somehow influence events. A kind of indefinable physical tension occurs when this happens where you're mentally trying to force your desires and wishes to come true. A similar process can take place while learning the OBE exit. Wishing too hard can cause hidden tension that may prevent the OBE exit. There may be a point in time where it becomes necessary to look within yourself and try to identify that same kind of inner tension. You may want to project so badly that you could be working against yourself on the inside instead of being relaxed and letting go. Willpower and effort are great, but too much of these can unbalance you just as surely as can having too little. You must learn to relax not only physically but mentally too. It's all about letting go of expectations, internally unclenching, and finding the inner release mechanism that says it's okay to exist independently from your physical body. It's relaxing physically and a little bit more, where you unclamp the last resistance and just let it happen. Once you have your first OBE, your body will understand the experience at a core level and will know that it is okay for you to release and let go. Where Your Attention G o e s . . . Where your attention goes your energy goes, and where your awareness goes so, too, does your consciousness. This applies to OBE exit attempts. If the circumstances of your life preoccupy you with the material world, this can also make having an OBE much more difficult. All sorts of situations can arise to root our attention here and now in the material world, from challenges at work or school, to money, health, and relationship problems. Problems from the past and worries about the future can also preoccupy us and scatter our thoughts and energies. Even positive things like the purchase of a new house or car can sometimes occupy a great deal of thought and attention, thus generating barriers to having an OBE. In a sense, this goes back to opening yourself to the possibility of having conscious OBEs. Going a step further, it's about putting yourself into a spiritual mindset that is favorable to having out-of-body experiences. Reading and thinking about OBEs and discussing it with others helps align your intention and energy to this purpose. It helps to identify frequently distracting thoughts and the issues to which they relate. What are the most frequent thoughts that arise and interfere when you try to quiet your mind? What larger issues are connected with these distractions? Recurring thoughts, feelings, and dreams are your subconscious mind's way of highlighting issues that you need to confront and resolve. How can you best start resolving these issues? Writing them down and pondering them is a decidedly good start. Overcoming Mental Blocks Prayer and the OBE The power and magic of prayer are little understood. It may seem at times that there is no one listening to your prayers, but this does not mean they are not heard. Often the intelligence that receives prayer is simply imperceptible to us. It does not matter what you consider this to be—whether God or one's higher self, the collective unconscious, or even the subconscious mind—it goes somewhere that is higher and more powerful than us mere mortals. Prayers share many similarities with affirmations. Like affirmations, repeated prayers such as the Hail Mary and Our Father can be quite effective if used correcdy when the mind isn't allowed to wander on to unrelated topics. Like affirmations, holding strictly to the affirmation guidelines can enhance them: keep them positive, in the first person, and present tense (i.e., in the here and now). Like affirmations, prayers are more effective when done with a clear mind, especially in the trance state. Saying prayers aloud enhances their influence even more than when they are whispered or simply recited internally. There is a certain magic to spoken words that makes them more solid and powerful than mere thoughts. Prayers are the most powerful when they are used to align yourself with higher forces and can be used to help you have an OBE. If you feel comfortable with prayer, consider using these guidelines to incorporate prayer 265 into your routine. Pray for an out-of-body experience. It need not be anything elaborate. State your desires and ask for the guidance and understanding to make that happen. Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 08: Exit Training" This week's preset has three phases. Phase one lasts ten minutes and features six tones that take the listener from an awake state to a mind awake/body asleep state. Phase two lasts twenty minutes and consists of three tones joining with the original six to nudge the listener toward a meditative state. These voices are modulated to sound as if they are spinning around the listener's head at different rates. Phase three lasts ninety minutes. It includes nine tones that range from frequencies for producing very deep sleep to those for inducing a light meditative state. The majority of these tones are directed to hold the mind awake/body asleep state that is ideal for OBE. Be sure to use the preprojection routine and exit techniques while listening to the program. Total preset duration is 120 minutes. Reminder: The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. WEEK 8 DAILY PAGES This week's exit techniques: Hanging rope technique: Imagine you are holding on to a rope that is being slowly winched upward, pulling you up and out of your body. Feel yourself ascending, sliding up and out of your body, moving steadily higher. Feel yourself gradually leaving your physical body, and stay aware of its spatial position behind and below you. Ladder method: Picture a strong ladder hanging from the ceiling much like the rope technique. The ladder leads into a large swirling blue vortex, above which is the limitless space of the astral planes. Grab the lowest rung and begin to climb, hand over hand, feeling your feet moving from rung to rung as well as your hands. Visualize how your perspective changes as you ascend. Stay aware of your physical body below you as you climb away from it, moving higher and higher with each rung. Point shift method: Imagine you are floating just above or standing just in front of your physical body, whatever is natural for your position. Imagine and feel how the spatial coordinates of the room have changed slightly in relation to the distance between you and your physical body. Feel yourself as being slighdy closer to the ceiling or wall before you, and your physical body just beneath or behind you. Concentrate on holding the image of yourself in this position, exterior to your physical body. 266 DAY 50 OBE Exit Training: Hanging Rope Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am sensitive to the energies that move through my body. 1 remain tuned to the subtle shifts in awareness and the feelinq and effects on my body. AFTERNOON OBE walk-through Every day the passages and conduits through which Optional: Week 8 BrainWave Generator my energy flows grow clearer, cleaner, and brighter. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technigue (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize the exit symptoms from my nightly Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) astral projections. The feeling of leaving my body Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) provokes my conscious mind to become clear and Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) alert. 1 awaken and relax to the experience of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) release. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Hanging rope (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 267 268 Doy50 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Hanging Rope Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Mentally reach out and feel your imaginary hands are hanging on to a strong rope coming from above. Feel yourself hanging on to it. 2. When you get used to this, imagine you are being slowly winched upward by a helicopter or similar, dragging you up and out of your body. Feel yourself being lifted and sliding out of your body, moving higher and higher. Feel yourself slowly leaving your body behind you. Feel the spatial coordinates in the room changing as you rise up and out of your physical body and through a large opening in the ceiling. Daily Tips Robert: I cannot stress enough that the rapid heartbeat feeling is a harmless energy body sensation. This is not a physical body sensation, as your actual heartbeat does not increase. But this sensation is so viscerally "real" that you will naturally worry when it happens. It will feel like your ribcage is pounding, as if it was hollow; the rapid heart center pounding will echo through your chest. To get some idea of what this feels like, tap your fingertips on the center of your chest. This will create a noticeable thumping sensation. Increase the speed of this until you are tapping your chest as fast as you can. Now, imagine this tapping rate increasing by two or three times the speed that you can tap and you will have some idea of what this will feel like. Not everyone gets overly strong exit sensations, but it's best to be prepared just in case they happen. Heavy vibrations and rapid heart center pounding are extremely common exit sensations, so be prepared. Brian: To make the hanging rope technique a bit more mentally stimulating, I imagine that the winch that hauls me upward has a rhythm similar to climbing with slight pauses between each turn of the winch, as if someone is hand cranking it rather than it being done by a machine. I might add a slight swaying sensation to give it a little more sensory experience. Again, it also helps to have a goal, a sense that something above is waiting for you that you want with all your will to reach. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 51 OBE Exit Training: Hanging Rope Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am sensitive to the energies that move through my body. 1 remain tuned to the subtle shifts in awareness and the feeling and effects on my body. AFTERNOON OBE walk-through Every day the passages and conduits through which Optional: Week 8 BrainWave Generator my energy flows grow clearer, cleaner, and brighter. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize the exit symptoms from my nightly Energy body presrimulation (5 min.) astral projections. The feeling of leaving my body Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) provokes my conscious mind to become clear and Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) alert. 1 awaken and relax to the experience of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) release. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Hanging rope (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 269 270 Day 51 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Hanging Rope Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Mentally reach out and feel your imaginary hands are hanging on to a strong rope coming from above. Feel yourself hanging on to it. 2. When you get used to this, imagine you are being slowly winched upward by a helicopter or similar, dragging you up and out of your body. Feel yourself being lifted and sliding out of your body, moving higher and higher. Feel yourself slowly leaving your body behind you. Feel the spatial coordinates in the room changing as you rise up and out of your physical body and through a large opening in the ceiling. Daily Tips Robert: We all encounter days where, due to life's pressures and worries, it becomes partic- ularly difficult to center ourselves and clear our minds for meditation and development exercises—and even to sleep for that matter. Two good ways of overcoming this are counting sheep or breaths. For sheep, imagine you can see sheep jumping over a fence and count them. To use breath awareness, focus on feeling your chest and stomach rising and falling and count each inhale and exhale. Count to one hundred and then count back down to one. You will find that it only takes a few minutes of this to calm and settle your mind. This method will not only relax you but also put you into the trance state (or help you fall asleep). Brian: Are you still doing the primary center stimulation exercise? This is something you definitely want to continue practicing, especially before exit attempts. The more you condition the flow of energy between these centers, the more you're flexing your astral muscles and developing your ability to raise the vibrations. It's easy to skip these and go straight to the exit attempt. That is appropriate sometimes, but the more energy work you do the more conditioned your energy body will become, which will generally improve your OBE abilities. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 52 OBE Exit Training: Ladder Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am sensitive to the energies that move through my body. 1 remain tuned to the subtle shite in awareness and the feeling and effects on my body. AFTERNOON OBE walk-through Every day the passages and conduits through which Optional: Week 8 BrainWave Generator my energy flows grow clearer, cleaner, and brighter. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technigue (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize the exit symptoms from my nightly Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) astral projections. The feeling of leaving my body Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) provokes my conscious mind to become clear and Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) alert. 1 awaken and relax to the experience of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) release. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Ladder method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 271 272 Day 52 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Ladder Method (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine a strong ladder hanging from the ceiling. The lowest rung of this ladder should be within easy reach of your hands or whatever feels most natural. 2. Climb this ladder hand over hand, feeling yourself moving up the ladder toward the ceiling. Use your hands and feet to climb, or just your hands if that is easier. Feel the room changing around you and your spatial coordinates changing as you climb. Feel yourself moving higher and higher up the endless ladder. If you get to the ceiling, feel yourself climbing through a wide portal or opening and that the ladder is of infinite length. Daily Tips Robert: When you experience vibrations, remember to use the brow center trigger to enhance them. This is particularly effective at turning patchy vibrations into whole-body vibrations. Once you have whole-body vibrations, you can leave your body quite easily. It is just a matter of applying your willpower. In fact, it is difficult to stop the exit once you have whole-body vibrations. That is the time to make sure your mind is totally clear, as any thoughts or emotions will make your exit more difficult and will increase OBE exit symptoms. At this moment you only need to focus all your energy and will on performing your exit technique. Concentrating on this will help keep your mind clear. Don't think about it, just do it. Brian: I find the ladder a good alternative to the rope technique since I have more experience climbing ladders than I do ropes. Before using this technique the first few times I spent a good ten minutes climbing up and down a ladder to get a really good feeling of the visualization technique. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 53 OBE Exit Training: Ladder Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am sensitive to the energies that move through my body. 1 remain tuned to the subtle shifts in awareness and the feeling and effects on my body. AFTERNOON OBE walk-through Every day the passages and conduits through which Optional: Week 8 BrainWave Generator my energy flows grow clearer, cleaner, and brighter. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technigue (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize the exit symptoms from my nightly Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) astral projections. The feeling of leaving my body Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) provokes my conscious mind to become clear and Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) alert. 1 awaken and relax to the experience of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) release. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Ladder method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction 273 274 Day 53 method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Ladder Method (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine a strong ladder hanging from the ceiling. The lowest rung of this ladder should be within easy reach of your hands or whatever feels most natural. 2. Climb this ladder hand over hand, feeling yourself moving up the ladder toward the ceiling. Feel the room changing around you and your spatial coordinates changing as you climb. Feel yourself moving higher and higher up the endless ladder. If you imagine yourself reaching the ceiling, feel yourself climbing through a wide portal or opening and beyond. The ladder is of infinite length. Daily Tips Robert: You will have times during early OBE exit attempts where you have done everything right but your exit technique does not appear to be working and you are getting no exit symptoms at all. Eventually you will get tired and/or bored and, if you are doing this before bedtime, you will just want to sleep. When this happens, settle yourself in bed, lie on your back, and hold on to your deeply relaxed state as best you can. Raise your hands vertically with your elbows resting on the bed. Close your eyes and focus on breath awareness, feeling your chest and stomach rising and falling. Count your breaths in and out up to a hundred and then back down to one. Before you get very far, you will find you'll start losing track of the count. You will start to feel very heavy and will fall asleep for brief moments. Your arms will fall each time and this will bring you awake. At this point, examine how your body feels. Does it feel heavier and more deeply relaxed than it was during your exit attempt? Remember how this feels, as this is the level of deep relaxation required for an OBE. If you have the energy, now would be a great time to lay your arms on the bed and use an OBE exit technique. If you get out, remember to keep the OBE very short and then dive back into your body shouting your success. Then force yourself to write down key words or you will probably forget the whole thing. Brian: You might notice that before the onset of the vibrations your heartbeat seems to increase tempo. One of my early mistakes was that I would usually equate what seemed to be a faster heart rate with other situations in which my body was physically active. Thus, every time I felt what seemed like my heart beginning to beat faster, I would stop the exit technique and try to relax. Remember that the sense of an increased heart rate is actually your heart center stepping up its activity level. When you get even a sense of this starting to happen, go for the exit as if everything depended on your success. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 54 OBE Exit Training: Point Shift Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am sensitive to the energies that move through my body. 1 remain tuned to the subtle shifts in awareness and the feeling and effects on my body. AFTERNOON OBE walk-through Every day the passages and conduits through which Optional: Week 8 BrainWave Generator my energy flows grow clearer, cleaner, and brighter. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize the exit symptoms from my nightly Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) astral projections. The feeling of leaving my body Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) provokes my conscious mind to become clear and Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) alert. 1 awaken and relax to the experience of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) release. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Point shift method (20 min.) Write proqram notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 275 276 Day 54 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Point Shift Method (20 Minutes) 1. Feel and become aware of your whole body. Feel your body's spatial coordinates changing in relation to the room around you. Run your mind over where the doors, walls, windows, and furniture are in your room. Build a spatial perception map of the room around you in your mind. 2. Imagine and feel yourself rising up or stepping out of your body, then floating or standing just out of arm's reach from your physical body. Feel yourself as floating at arm's reach above or in front of your physical body, staying roughly in line with it and facing the ceiling or wall before you. 3. Hold your awareness firmly centered in this new location. Do not try to see your double as being above or in front of you. Feel yourself as being above or in front of your physical body from your projected double's perspective. This is tricky but it gets easier with practice. Concentrate on sensing the changed spatial coordinates of the room around you from your new perspective. Feel and be aware of your physical body below or behind you. Imagine and feel yourself in your projected double as having already separated from your physical body. 4. Imagine and feel as if you were attached to your physical body by many strong rubber bands and that you are fighting against them. Concentrate and use your strength of will to force your projected double to strain and fight against this pressure. Fill your mind with single-minded determination to move away from your physical body. Use maximum willpower but do not allow your physical body to tense or respond in any way. 5. Mentally grit your teeth (without tensing) and feel yourself slowly but forcefully moving away from your physical body. Force yourself to move an inch at a time. Roll your projected double's shoulders one after the other and try to shoulder yourself farther away from your physical body a bit at a time. 6. Hold the above actions strongly enough and they will trigger the projection reflex very quickly. Do not allow your physical body to tense up while doing any of the above (this is the real trick to point shift) as these are all imaginative bodily awareness actions. When they start, look upon OBE exit sensations as signs that you are winning the batde for your astral freedom. Daily Tips Robert: The point shift technique is the most direct and powerful OBE exit technique I Day 54 211 know. Yet it is more difficult, as it requires a lot imagine that I wasn't lying in my bed at all but of concentration. You must hold a whole-body actually lying somewhere else, like on the awareness image exterior from your physical couch at my nonna's house. With my eyes body for some time in order to trigger the closed, I would imagine how everything was projection reflex. This is the technique I first arranged in the room around me: where the learned and used for most of my early projec- walls and windows were, where the door was, tions. It helps a lot if you can imagine yourself how the furniture was set in relation to the moving slightly and not just floating motion- bed, how the room was situated in the house, less above or before your physical body. Feel what the neighborhood was like around me. I yourself wriggling and straining slightly, push- would often succeed in fooling myself into ing each shoulder forward one after the other believing that I was actually there. As a varia- as if trying to shoulder yourself free of your tion on visualizing a point shift near your physical body, but without tensing any mus- physical body, try visualizing yourself in cles. Like all exterior body awareness actions, another room of your house or another house the movement makes it easier to do. Brian: The point shift method is a variation of a visualization game I would often do to help me fall asleep when I was young. I would altogether. (It helps if you know the other location well.) Switching this around during exit practice will help keep your mind more sharp and focused. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 55 OBE Exit Training: Point Shift Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 am sensitive to the energies that move through my body. 1 remain tuned to the subtle shifts in Recite morning affirmations awareness and the feeling and effects on my body. AFTERNOON OBE walk-tbrough Every day the passages and conduits through which Optional: Week 8 BrainWave Generator my energy flows grow dearer, cleaner, and brighter. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize the exit symptoms from my nightly Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) astral projections. The feeling of leaving my body Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) provokes my conscious mind to become dear and Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) alert. 1 awaken and relax to the experience of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) release. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Point shift method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated eaergy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 278 Day 55 279 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Point Shift Method (20 Minutes) 1. Feel and become aware of your whole body. Feel your body's spatial coordinates changing in relation to the room around you. Run your mind over where the doors, walls, windows, and furniture are in your room. Build a spatial perception map of the room around you in your mind. 2. Imagine and feel yourself rising up or stepping out of your body, then floating or standing just out of arm's reach from your physical body. Feel yourself as floating at arm's reach above or in front of your physical body, staying roughly in line with it and facing the ceiling or wall before you. 3. Hold your awareness firmly centered in this new location. Do not try to see your double as being above or in front of you. Feel yourself as being above or in front of your physical body from your projected double's perspective. This is tricky but it gets easier with practice. Concentrate on sensing the changed spatial coordinates of the room around you from your new perspective. Feel and be aware of your physical body below or behind you. Imagine and feel yourself in your projected double as having already separated from your physical body. 4. Imagine and feel as if you were attached to your physical body by many strong rubber bands and that you are fighting against them. Concentrate and use your strength of will to force your projected double to strain and fight against this pressure. Fill your mind with single-minded determination to move away from your physical body. Use maximum willpower, but do not allow your physical body to tense or respond in any way. 5. Mentally grit your teeth (without tensing) and feel yourself slowly but forcefully moving away from your physical body. Force yourself to move an inch at a time. Roll your projected double's shoulders one after the other and try to shoulder yourself farther away from your physical body a bit at a time. Daily Tips Robert: Once you begin to leave your body, varying your exit technique will help. For example, use rope, point shift, and the rollingout methods for several seconds each one after the other. The rolling-out method is particularly useful for completing the exit if you feel that you are only partially out of your body. When whole-body vibrations are present, you can gauge the effectiveness of each technique by the immediate effect it has on your heart center. It may already be active, but the more 280 Day 55 pressure you exert, the faster it will throb. Concentrate on the techniques that cause the most rapid heart center sensations. Brian: The point shift method can be modified and expanded. Imagine that you float to the ground and begin to walk away from your body. Now feel as if your physical body is trying to reel in its projected double. Imagine playing tug of war with yourself, grabbing the floor, furniture, and the doorway to pull yourself farther and farther away from your body. Really feel the tension. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 56 OBE Exit Training: Point Shift Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am sensitive to the energies that move through my body. 1 remain tuned to the subtle shifts in awareness and the feeling and effects on my body. AFTERNOON OBE walk-through Every day the passages and conduits through which Optional: Week 8 BrainWave Generator my energy flows grow clearer, cleaner, and brighter. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING 1 recognize the exit symptoms from my nightly Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) astral projections. The feeling of leaving my body Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) provokes my conscious mind to become clear and Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) alert. 1 awaken and relax to the experience of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) release. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Point shift method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 281 282 Day 56 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Point Shift Method (20 Minutes) 1. Feel and become aware of your whole body. Feel your body's spatial coordinates changing in relation to the room around you. Run your mind over where the doors, walls, windows, and furniture are in your room. Build a spatial perception map of the room around you in your mind. 2. Imagine and feel yourself rising up or stepping out of your body, then floating or standing just out of arm's reach from your physical body. Feel yourself as floating at arm's reach above or in front of your physical body, staying roughly in line with it and facing the ceiling or wall before you. 3. Hold your awareness firmly centered in this new location. Do not try to see your double as being above or in front of you. Feel yourself as being above or in front of your physical body from your projected double's perspective. This is tricky but it gets easier with practice. Concentrate on sensing the changed spatial coordinates of the room around you from your new perspective. Feel and be aware of your physical body below or behind you. Imagine and feel yourself in your projected double as having already separated from your physical body. 4. Imagine and feel as if you were attached to your physical body by many strong rubber bands and that you are fighting against them. Concentrate and use your strength of will to force your projected double to strain and fight against this pressure. Fill your mind with single-minded determination to move away from your physical body. Use maximum willpower, but do not allow your physical body to tense or respond in any way. 5. Mentally grit your teeth (without tensing) and feel yourself slowly but forcefully moving away from your physical body. Force yourself to move an inch at a time. Roll your projected double's shoulders one after the other and try to shoulder yourself farther away from your physical body a bit at a time. Daily Tips Robert: There are other ways to capitalize on apparendy failed OBE exit attempts. Before giving up, take advantage of your deeply relaxed and tranced state to perform some experiments. For example, try to see beyond your closed eyelids. Do some extra brow center work and see what happens. Bounce your awareness from temple to temple, and then from your brow to the back of your head. Use a wrapping action around your whole head at brow level. And while you are doing this, play with the Day 56 283 focus of your eyes behind your closed eyelids. doesn't incorporate a lot of movement. When How do these actions affect what you can see? you are straddling the very edge of sleep, it is If you start to see vague images and points of easy to find yourself losing lucidity for short light, lock on to the brightest point. Then feel periods. I often incorporate movement just to yourself moving toward this and feel this point liven things up a bit. I might start off with a moving toward you. This can trigger an OBE swaying motion, then I'll do somersaults or directly into the astral planes. If you suddenly back flips or rolls. Often repeating them over find yourself floating in space amongst the and over can help get the sense of swaying stars, lock on to and move toward the brightest motion going in my expanded energy body or light, as this will be the entrance into an astral even begin the vibrations. If you try this, alter- plane. nate between rolls, back flips, and somersaults Brian: One of the things that makes the point shift method the most difficult for me is that it to keep your astral equilibrium a little bit off balance. This seems to help. Your Program Notes/Observations Before Moving On This week you should have: • some idea of what fears you're likely to encounter and plans to deal with them as they arise; • created some notes for your belief system cleansing; • understood the concept of completely letting go; • become generally proficient with this week's exit techniques. I was lying in bed wearing cordless headphones, listening to the sound of rainfall. This put me in a deeply relaxed state. I had only intended lying down for five to ten minutes, so the light was on and I was fully clothed. That's when I started to feel the vibrations. I heard just one astral noise but ignored it and continued. I felt myself floating up out of my physical body. I remember very little about what happened in the next few minutes. The next thing I recall was being back inside my body. I moved my leg and an amazing thing happened! It wasn't my physical leg that moved but my astral one. My astral body was completely inside my physical one. In a way, I had sensation of both bodies. I started to move my astral body and it felt very sticky; the word "elastic" came to mind. There's a void in my memory at this point. The next thing I remember is being out of my body and standing near my bedroom. I was completely blind, though I had a great sense of where things were. I could even sense the light on my body. I wanted to fly out of the bedroom window. I started to run at it with the intention of jumping but that's when the fear set in. What if this isn't an OBE? What if I jumped through the window and fell? When I jumped I actually did fall but then stuck my arms out and started to fly. I was still without sight, flying about five to ten meters above the rooftops. I remember reading that when you move out of your physical body your sight will come, but it didn't. I believe I witnessed the mind-split effect. Later I remember lying in my bed and saying to myself, "The experience must have failed'' Could it be that I've had many such experiences which I simply don't remember? rai Dreams and The DBE What to Expect Mind-split review and model for projection • More exit techniques Nightly spontaneous projections • Washing hands method Lucidity as a function of energy • Rope cargo net method Making your own sleep programming • Balloon method recording Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions This week we'll review the projection process between a dream and an out-of-body experi- in more depth, including how the dream ence? What about situations that appear to be mind affects OBEs. We'll also take a look at an OBE, but where dream elements intrude? how your sleeping position can affect OBEs, What about reality fluctuations? How does offer more sleep programming tools, and pro- one know that an OBE isn't just a special kind vide you with a script for creating your own of lucid dream? Where does one draw the line OBE sleep programming recording. between dreams and OBEs? For several weeks now you've saturated Inevitable Questions At some point these questions become yourself with OBE reading material, learned and practiced meditation, trance and energy work, honed your shadow memory recall, and unavoidable: How can one tell the difference 285 286 Week 9 spent a lot of time affirming your desire to project. It's likely that at some point you had flying dreams, lucid dreams, dreams of OBEs, or even spontaneous OBEs. But even if you record these experiences in detail, the memory of them fades with time and inescapable questions follow: Was that a genuine OBE or some kind of dream? Was I really out of my body or did my mind create the whole experience? So how does one begin assigning objective reality to something that is, by its nature, entirely subjective? If you stop to think about it, all life experience is received, filtered, and interpreted by your brain. Your brain has no direct way of perceiving its external environment. If your eyes or ears are damaged, for example, your brain wOl no longer receive visual or auditory input. You touch, smell, taste, hear, or see something and nerve endings send electrical impulses through your nervous system that are received by your brain and decoded into what you perceive to be direct sensory input. Your physical sense organs gather sensory data, but ultimately it is your brain that receives and processes everything. By the strictest definitions, all life experience can therefore be classified as subjective. Your physical brain cannot differentiate between subjective and objective experience. It receives all of its sensory input secondhand via bioelectrical impulses (e.g., the eyes do not send light into the sight center of the brain, but bioelectrical signals that the brain interprets as light). The brain cannot tell the difference between real life, dreaming, and OBE experiences. All these experiences are ultimately received and interpreted by your brain as real experiences. Only observation and reasoning can distinguish the subtle differences between each type of event. Mind-Split Review and the Model of Projection To get a clearer understanding of the relationship between dreams and OBEs, let's review how conscious-exit projection works. As a result of entering the mind awake/body asleep state a type of inner projection first takes place. This inner projection comes about when the expanded energy body moves slightly out of phase with its physical body. This is also called a trance state or altered state of consciousness. Recall that the expanded energy body is the closest subtle body to the physical body, and this resides within a person's physical body while that person lives. The only exception to this is a near-death experience, where a person dies and is then resuscitated. In the case of conscious-exit projection, after entering the mind awake/body asleep state people would then employ an OBE exit technique to stimulate an exterior projection or an OBE. A real-time projectable double is then created containing a full copy of consciousness (i.e., the mind-split effect). If projection is successful, the real-time double is projected out of the physical body. Now we have two separate copies of awake consciousness operating independendy from one another: the master copy contained in the physical/expanded energy body and the projected double in the real-time zone. In this situation, depending on proximity and circumstances, both copies of conscious- Dreams and the OBE ness can become aware of each other on some level. The master copy in the physical/expanded energy body might be awake and lucid enough to sense the nearby presence of its projected double. The projected double might hear a car passing outside or a clock ticking from a nearby nightstand, even though it may be far removed from its physical body's location. This vague contact is usually the only symptom that the mind-split effect is occurring. Both copies are now recording experience memories independently. Memories haven't been exchanged or downloaded yet, but some level of interaction exists. Now we arrive at a crucial time for any conscious OBE. At any time during the above situation the dream mind can become active, even while the physical/expanded energy master copy is still conscious and lucid. The dream mind affects the projected double in varying degrees. This is because the natural levels of telepathic and empathic interaction between the dream mind and its projected double are stronger than the usually vague contact the physical/expanded energy mind has with its projected double. The dream mind also uses subtle energy, as does the projected double and the physical/ expanded energy mind. One will often drain the other of energy, thereby affecting or disempowering the actions and perceptions of another. If the physical/expanded energy mind also falls asleep during an OBE, it will begin merging with its dream mind. When this happens, the energy drain on the projected double becomes stronger and more disempowering as mutual energy resources 287 are stretched. This can result in the common OBE or dream experience of suddenly losing all energy and falling slowly to the floor, weak and unable to move. More powerful and successful OBEs can be achieved by keeping the body/mind connection slightly alive. This connection is between the physical body/brain and its physical/ expanded energy mind. This can be achieved by supplying the physical body with a very slight level of discomfort during an OBE. This helps stop you from falling too deeply asleep and thus the dream mind from becoming too active during a conscious OBE. If you read lots of OBE case histories, you'll see that some type of physical discomfort or distraction is very often present. Logic suggests that this slight discomfort very likely plays an important part in successfully remembered OBEs. At the end of an OBE, the projected double returns (or is recalled) to re-enter its physical body. It reintegrates and hopefully downloads its OBE memories so they can be remembered after waking. If the dream mind becomes too active during the OBE, it will often forge strong memories that prohibit the recall of OBE memories. The end result is often a mixture of OBE and dream experiences. Obviously, if the memory download fails completely then the OBE will not be remembered at all, even if an OBE did actually occur. The key with the above model is this: there are always at least two copies of mind functioning during a conscious OBE, and potentially three copies if the dream mind becomes active. The end result—the final downloaded memory—can originate from either or all of 288 Week 9 these potential sources (the dream mind, the this is felt as an actual falling sensation that is projected double's mind, or the physical/ strong enough to jerk them awake. This can expanded energy mind). Understanding that happen many times while someone is trying two or more copies of consciousness can be to fall asleep. simultaneously functioning and interacting While people drift off to sleep, the same on some level is paramount for understanding inner projection occurs where the expanded the relationship between dreams and OBEs. If energy body slips out of phase with its physical you examine your experiences with this in body. (They enter a trance or altered state of mind, you'll find they begin to make a lot consciousness.) This is felt as the warm, cozy, more sense. heavy feeling that we all get for a few moments before we actually fall asleep. Not long after this Nightly Spontaneous Projection a smooth, sensation-free projection takes place as a sleeping real-time double is exteriorized. Let's examine the projection process as it hap- No noticeable OBE exit sensations occur here pens naturally where the projector falls asleep because the physical/expanded energy mind is and is unaware of any type of OBE exit occur- asleep. A copy of consciousness accompanies ring. This model is similar to the one given the real-time double, but it, too, remains asleep. earlier but minus the presence of the awake It will usually hover just above its sleeping physical/expanded energy mind. physical body, often mimicking its physical It is the presence of awake consciousness body's sleeping position. during the OBE exit that greatly magnifies Soon after this, the dream mind becomes natural OBE exit sensations (e.g., rapid heart- active, which disempowers the sleeping pro- beat, vibrations, pressure, falling, etc.). During jected double. This makes it difficult for the natural sleep projection, these sensations are projected double to "wake up" and attain a so mild as to be almost unnoticeable. This is functional level of independent consciousness. supported by the common experience most Because of this, the projected double usually people have at some time where they find stays asleep throughout this process until the themselves slipping in and out of lucidity physical body/mind awakens. while trying to fall asleep. This can result in This covers the typical projection process sudden, brief falling sensations that are so vis- that happens to everyone whenever they sleep. ceral that people grab the bed to catch them- However, certain events can change this sce- selves, feeling as if they are actually falling. nario and cause episodes of lucid dreaming, What happens in this situation is that the spontaneous OBEs, and even sleep paralysis to real-time double is being generated and par- take place. For example, powerful dreams or tially projected. This causes the falling sensa- disturbances in the physical world can cause tion that is commonly associated with the sleepers to partially waken, temporarily deac- OBE exit. Because persons are only half asleep, tivating the dream mind while the projected Dreams and the OBE double is out of body. Under the right circumstances, the projected double can awaken to full consciousness for a short time either in the real-time zone or in the astral planes. The duration of such an OBE is dependent on how long the physical/expanded energy body/mind stays partially awake, thereby depressing dream mind activity. Continual disturbance in the physical world (say, slight discomfort caused by lights flashing in the sleeper's eyes or a persistent annoying sound or pain) can provide for lengthy or even multiple spontaneous OBEs and lucid dreams. When a person slips back into deeper sleep and his or her dream mind again becomes active, his or her projected double may then experience weakness and paralysis. OBE exit symptoms will often manifest during the course of a dream or a lucid dream. These will appear suddenly with full-body vibrations, rapid heartbeat, continual falling sensations, and so on. This happens when the physical body/mind and/or its projected double are experiencing an OBE exit with full symptoms and these are reflected into the dream mind. When this takes place, consciousness will often switch from the dream mind to its projected double. The resulting memory download will thus give the appearance of a lucid dream being converted into an OBE. The above scenario is a primary cause for spontaneous OBEs and lucid dreams where no OBE exits are experienced but persons suddenly find themselves out of body. This is because the dream mind and the projected double's mind are both shifting in and out of consciousness with a kind of tug of war going 289 on over the available lucidity energy. Mixed memories are the common end result of such experiences where it seems like an out-ofbody experience is in progress but then dream elements impose themselves on what would have otherwise been a textbook OBE. Lucidity as a Function of Energy A dream becomes a lucid dream when the dreamer wakes up and takes control of a dream and/or realizes that he or she is dreaming. In its lowest form, dreamers realize they can influence their environment but do not actually realize that they are dreaming. At another level, dreamers understand they are dreaming but can't affect the environment or the course of events. At a higher level still, dreamers fully realize they are dreaming and can take control over the dream environment and the course of events. At this level it is possible for dreamers to fly and change or create their surroundings, to conjure any person they can imagine, and to live out fantasies within the dream environment. The pinnacle of lucid dreaming is the wakeinduced lucid dream (or WILD for short). This amounts to a conscious-exit dream projection where there has been no break in consciousness. The dreamer enters the dream without losing consciousness. OBE exit-like symptoms are never experienced at the start of a WILD, although they may occur during a WILD. WILDs are so real and visceral that the experience can be indistinguishable from normal awake reality. All the physical senses are present and appear normal. So things like gravity, body 290 Week 9 weight, physical movement, heat and cold, and double and more to do with what's remem- pleasure and pain can all be felt as they nor- bered upon waking. Are your OBE memories mally would be in real life. purely from your projectable double or have All dreams, including lucid dreams and they been altered or distorted by your dream WILDs, involve the dream mind and affect the mind? And to what extent have these memo- physical brain in scientifically detectable ways. ries been filtered, interpreted, and edited by Unlike OBEs, which don't register brainwave your subconscious mind and its beliefs? activity or provoke REM (rapid eye move- This model of the dream-OBE relationship ment) sleep, dreams, lucid dreams, and WILDs leads to a deeper understanding with which to produce identifiable electroencephalograph measure OBE success. But how free of dream (EEG) evidence that dreams are taking place. So what is the difference between a lucid elements does an OBE memory have to be before you consider it a successful OBE? Every- dream and an OBE? In a lucid dream, lucidity one has to answer this for him- or herself using itself consumes the majority of a dreamer's logic and common sense. As you gain experi- finite energy resources. During an OBE, the ence and funnel more energy into your pro- lucidity factor resides within the projected dou- jectable double, the stronger your OBE memo- ble. The focus here is on which copy of con- ries will become and the easier it will be to sciousness takes the level of energy required to distinguish dreams from OBEs. function on a lucid and independent basis. In a There are, however, some fairly well-known case where neither aspect can get enough energy signs that indicate the likelihood of an OBE for independent lucidity, the memories from rather than a lucid dream. If you look at your the dream mind are more usually remembered. hands, do they start to melt? If yes, then you're This is because of the close association of the probably having an OBE. Is moving around dream mind with the physical brain/mind. easy and effortless or is it clumsy and requires So what makes a conscious-exit OBE work? By deliberately provoking the exit you are fun- concentration? If it's difficult and unusual, you're most likely having an OBE. neling all your available lucidity energy into Did you experience any exit symptoms like your projectable double while at the same vibrations, astral noise, continual falling, or time suppressing the onset of dream mind rapid heartbeat symptoms when you pro- activity. You are thereby able to operate with jected? Even if you felt none of these typical stronger OBE lucidity and independence for OBE exit symptoms (some people feel noth- longer than would occur naturally. ing during the OBE exit), were you awake Whether an experience is a lucid dream or before, during, and after the OBE? If these last an OBE becomes more complex when we con- two items apply to you, then you can reason- sider the mind-split effect where dual con- ably conclude that you were having an out-of- sciousness occurs. This has less to do with body experience. what's actually going on with the projectable Dreams and the OBE 291 The big challenge comes when you have a and lose track of what you are doing. Giving a mixture of signs—when some characteristics running verbal commentary also helps stabi- point to a dream and some characteristics lize an OBE, as this helps keep your mind point to an OBE. Given the duality of projec- focused. It also helps to keep moving and not tion, where the dream mind influences OBE to focus too long on any one object. memory, sometimes a mixed bag of memories Once you gain more experience, you can is to be expected. Of course, the most reliable use reality fluctuations to let yourself know way to validate an OBE is to induce a fully when the dream mind is becoming active, conscious OBE exit. which is a sign that your body/mind is falling into a deeper level of sleep. At this point, it is Reality Fluctuations as They Relate to the Dream Mind Reality fluctuations are said to occur when the advisable to end the OBE as soon as possible or risk losing memory of the experience. known physical reality. The dream mind Making a Sleep Programming Recording affects the quality of OBEs by producing real- Since the beginning of this program you've ity fluctuations when it becomes active. As employed sleep programming in a basic way time continues and the dream mind becomes by reciting nighttime affirmations as you fall more active, these can become more pro- asleep. Now it's time to take sleep program- real-time zone does not accurately reflect nounced. Reality fluctuations also tend to be ming to the next level by creating and listening stronger when the projectable double is in to a sleep programming recording while you close proximity to its physical body. Try to drift off to sleep. move away from your physical body once you A sleep programming recording can be as project, as this will help lessen the dream sophisticated as you want to make it, but at its mind's influence. basic level all it requires is a tape recorder with There are a few things that help reduce the a record button and a built-in microphone. onset of reality fluctuations. It is advisable, for The idea is to recite/repeat a list of affirma- example, to have OBEs under slight discom- tionlike suggestions (a script template is pro- fort conditions as this delays the onset of vided below) to which you will then listen dream mind interference. Briefly looking at with headphones or a pillow speaker as you your hands every ten seconds or so also helps fall asleep. This is an effective way to program stabilize an OBE. This appears to send a small all levels of your mind and body with sugges- shockwave back to the physical/expanded tions to have an out-of-body experience. energy mind, which in turn helps to focus Take the tape recorder into a room where energy in the projectable double. It is very easy you won't be disturbed, turn on the recorder, to slip into a dreamlike state during an OBE and begin reading the script. Talk soothingly— 292 Week 9 something above a whisper and below your sound from only one earpiece. To solve this normal speaking voice. Speak slowly. Pause you can record your voice with a stereo micro- anywhere from five to ten seconds between phone, use adapters to channel the mono sig- affirmations. Use a confident, insistent tone. nal into both ears, or simply listen to the Speak in a voice that you would use if you were recording with one ear only. The latter has its trying to urge someone else to project. advantages in that you can arrange the head- If you have the equipment, you can read phones on your head in such a way that it each affirmation into the recorder once and doesn't make it uncomfortable for sleeping, then copy it over multiple times. It actually especially if you sleep on your side. may be easier just to spend the requisite time If you have a personal computer and the (fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, etc.) reciting know-how, you can use it to record your voice the affirmations over and over again. This also and mix in background music or ambient has the advantage of allowing you to vary the sounds of your choice. Special sound-mixing order of the affirmations once in a while or to software is required for this. Check the Inter- recite an impromptu affirmation for variety. It also helps to play some white noise such net, as some excellent sound-mixing shareware and freeware are available online. as the sound of surf, rain, or wind to keep a Recordings of the sleep programming script constant level of soft background noise. given below are included in both MP3 and Music, if it's dissonant or ambient enough, .WAV formats on the CD that accompanies will have the same effect as long as it isn't dis- this book. If you don't have the patience to tracting or will prevent you from going to record your own voice, you can use these sleep. A constant level of background noise recordings for mixing or simply listen to them will give your ears something to hear and pre- on your MP3 player while you go to sleep. vent the sound of your voice from disturbing Turn on the repeat function so they play over you or waking you up after the pause between and over again. affirmations. Again, with music or back- Below is a template of affirmations to recite ground sound, keep it simple. Play the music on your sleep programming recording. Use or nature sounds in the room with you while these or a combination of your day/night affir- you record the affirmations. mations or create new ones. If you create your If the sound of your own voice bothers you, own, remember to keep them positive, in the consider having a friend read the script for you. first person, and present tense. Speak softly Note that most microphones record in a and soothingly. Allow a good healthy pause mono signal (one channel) while most head- between each affirmation. phones are stereo (a different channel plays for each earpiece, right and left). As a result, when playing back a mono recording on stereo headphones, you're likely to hear the • I relax and clear my mind. • I am peaceful and relaxed. Dreams and the OBE • I slowly drift off to sleep. • I remain aware as my body goes to sleep. • As I drift off to sleep, I am completely aware of my out-of-body experience. • I consciously separate from my physical body after it's asleep. • I now have an out-of-body experience. I now have an out-of-body experience. I now have an out-of-body experience. • I separate from my body now. I separate from my body now. I separate from my body now. • I now have an out-of-body experience. I now have an out-of-body experience. I now have an out-of-body experience. • I float gently out and over the bed. • I am gently floating, so light, so calm, so at ease. Gently floating, gently floating, perfecdy aware, perfectly lucid, out of my body. • I now have an out-of-body experience. I now have an out-of-body experience. I now have an out-of-body experience. Repeat the above until you've finished the entire length of the tape. The recording need not be longer than thirty minutes. When you go to bed, listen to the recording. You want it to be loud enough so you understand the words but not so loud that it prevents you from falling asleep. 293 Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 09: Exit Training" This week's BrainWave Generator preset has two phases. The first phase lasts three minutes and features six tones. One tone gradually lowers in an audible frequency while its binaural beat transitions from an awake consciousness level down a small step and levels off. The other five tones remain at a constant mind awake/body asleep frequency. The second phase lasts 117 minutes and features the same six tones. The binaural beat of one dominant tone (the loudest) lowers in a stair-step fashion through various levels of meditation to a mind awake/body asleep frequency. Around the forty-five-minute mark four more tones join in at the same binaural beat frequency to form a crowned triad that enhances the audible richness of the sound. The visual frequency (if you are using light goggles) parallels the dominant tone downward in a stair-step fashion. Be sure to use the preprojection routine and exit techniques while listening to the program. Total preset duration is 120 minutes. Reminder. The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. WEEK 9 DAILY PAGES This week's exit techniques: Washing hands method: Imagine holding out imaginary hands beneath a running faucet. Feel yourself lathering up with soap while the water runs over them. Vary the speed of the washing action and the distance your hands are out in front of you. Rope cargo net method: Visualize that you have a large rope cargo net hanging down in front of you similar to the heavy rope netting used on military assault courses. Climb the rope netting in a method similar to the rope technique. Balloon method: Imagine and feel yourself taking on the form of a helium balloon. You become a lighter-than-air substance that is encased in a thin, rubbery shell. Feel yourself expanding and getting lighter and lighter until you feel yourself floating out of your body, rising higher and higher. 294 DAY 57 OBE Exit Training: Washing Hands Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 remain relaxed and calm as the OBE exit sensations caress my body. 1 recognize that this is merely a more intense form of the energy AFTERNOON OBE walk-through movement that 1 have been practicing for weeks. Optional: Week 9 BrainWave Generator This is merely a transitional thundercloud through Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) which 1 must pass. On the other side is freedom. OBE breath technigue (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken as 1 return from the astral state. Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) As 1 stir out of sleep, 1 perceive clear memories of Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) the reintegration process. 1 use key questions to Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) recover memories of my astral experiences. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technigue: Washing hands (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording tsnmutei energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 295 296 Day 57 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Washing Hands Method (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine your hands are out in front of you and perform a washing action as if washing your real hands and forearms with soap and water. 2. Vary the speed of the washing action from slow to rapid and keep it at arm's length from your body. Daily Tips Robert: The whole idea behind all the training in this program is to teach you how to recreate what happens naturally while you sleep (sleep projection). The difficulties of inducing OBE exits are solely caused by the presence of awake consciousness (you are awake instead of being asleep). To overcome this you need to train yourself to artificially recreate similar conditions as occur during natural sleep projection. Also, you need to persuade your subconscious mind that you are kind of asleep and that it's okay to have OBEs under these artificially created conditions. The OBE is a very simple phenomenon that occurs smoothly and naturally while you sleep. But inducing an OBE while your mind is awake and remembering it after the fact is, as you know, quite another matter. Brian: I like this particular method because of the many possible variations it provides and how easy it is to combine with other techniques. Instead of washing hands, sometimes I'll put myself in front of my computer and imagine I am typing. This has the added benefit of placing me away from my physical body as well as keeping my attention focused on my imaginary hands in front of me. Occasionally, for about five minutes at the beginning, I'll imagine I am typing affirmations ("I now have an out-of-body experience," this sort of thing), eventually clearing my mind again and concentrating solely on the feeling of my fingers moving over the keys. Another scenario is to place myself in front of my bookshelf holding an open book. I will imagine my hands turning the pages, one by one, paying close attention to the texture of the paper beneath my imaginary fingers. This particular one often gives me a rapid sense of falling when I do it long enough. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 58 OBE Exit Training: Washing Hands Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 remain relaxed and calm as the OBE exit sensations caress my body. 1 recognize that this is merely a more intense form of the energy AFTERNOON OBE walk-through movement that 1 have been practicing for weeks. Optional: Week 9 BrainWave Generator This is merely a transitional thundercloud through Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) which 1 must pass. On the other side is freedom. OBE breath technique (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken as 1 return from the astral state. Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) As 1 stir out of sleep, 1 perceive clear memories of Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) the reintegration process. 1 use key questions to Trance with third-eye triqqer practice ( 1 5 min.) recover memories of my astral experiences. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Washing hands (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated eaergy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 297 298 Day 58 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Washing Hands Method (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine your hands are out in front of you and perform a washing action as if washing your real hands and forearms with soap and water. 2. Vary the speed of the washing action from slow to rapid and keep it at arm's length from your body. Daily Tips Robert: Momentary lapses in consciousness (blinking in and out during OBE exit attempts) can, as Brian mentions below, indicate failed shadow memory downloads. But this also has a positive side that you can turn to your advantage. When you blink out for a short time, for all intents and purposes you have fallen asleep and had a brief nap. This automatically deepens your level of physical relaxation and trance. When this happens, your chances of making a successful OBE exit are gready increased. So don't give up just because you have blinked out a few times or you will miss a good opportunity. Brian: I've discovered an interesting phenomenon. Often I will go through a trance session with a completely focused mind. I'll be completely relaxed, my mind completely focused and clear, and have a relatively stable trance session going. Once I start to do an exit technique, I'll find myself blinking out precisely as if I drifted off to sleep for a little while. This could be a symptom of a mind-split/shadow memory download problem. If you start experiencing this, consider using slightly more discomfort to keep yourself uncomfortable enough to stay awake. It gets easier with practice. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 59 OBE Exit Training: Rope Cargo Net Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 remain relaxed and calm as the OBE exit sensations caress my body. 1 recognize that this is merely a more intense form of the energy AFTERNOON OBE walk-through movement that 1 have been practicing for weeks. Optional: Week 9 BrainWave Generator This is merely a transitional thundercloud through Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) which 1 must pass. On the other side is freedom. OBE breath technique (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken as 1 return from the astral state. Optional: Energy raisinq (5 min.) As 1 stir out of sleep, 1 perceive clear memories of Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) the reintegration process. 1 use key questions to Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) recover memories of my astral experiences. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Rope cargo net (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raisinq: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 29? 300 Day 59 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Rope Cargo Net Method (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine that you have a large rope cargo net hanging down in front of you. It is similar to the heavy rope netting used on military assault courses that is hung from poles to make a short, high rope fence that victims have to climb. 2. Climb the rope netting in the same manner as described for the normal rope technique. With this method it doesn't matter as much where your hands go, as they will always find a piece of rope to grab. 3. Scramble up this net any way you can using hands and arms and legs and feet in any way that works to propel you upward and out of your body. This technique solves many awareness hand/arm control problems where they appear to have a mind of their own and flop and slide all over the place. Daily Tips Robert: An artificially induced body asleep/ mind awake trance state is almost identical to the natural sleep state but for the presence of an awake and lucid mind. We try to hide the presence of the awake mind by holding the mind clear of thoughts. An OBE exit cannot occur while the mind is thinking in words or is too excited. The whole idea behind conscious OBE exit techniques is to fool the energy body's projection mechanism into sensing that a sleep projection is already in progress so it will react by activating the projection reflex and complete the OBE exit while your mind is still awake and lucid. This "fooling" is done by first emulating the sleep state and then by exteriorizing one's sense of body awareness and consciousness to trigger the projection reflex. Brian: After visualizing climbing for a little while, I find the ability to concentrate grows steadily more difficult and the actual feeling of my imaginary body awareness arms climbing becomes more vague and difficult to follow. The rope cargo net method helps in this regard. Often if I'm doing rope and begin to have a hard time concentrating, I'll switch to this technique to maintain my concentration. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 60 OBE Exit Training: Rope Cargo Net Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 remain relaxed and calm as the OBE exit Recite morning affirmations sensations caress my body. 1 recognize that this is OBE walk-through movement that 1 have been practicing for weeks. Optional: Week 9 BrainWave Generator This is merely a transitional thundercloud through Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) which 1 must pass. On the other side is freedom. merely a more intense form of the energy AFTERNOON OBE breath technigue (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken as 1 return from the astral state. Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) As 1 stir out of sleep, 1 perceive clear memories of Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) the reintegration process. 1 use key guestions to Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) recover memories of my astral experiences. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Rope cargo net (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raisinq: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 301 302 Day 60 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Rope Cargo Net Method (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine that you have a large rope cargo net hanging down in front of you. It is similar to the heavy rope netting used on military assault courses that is hung from poles to make a short, high rope fence that victims have to climb. 2. Climb the rope netting in the same manner as described for the normal rope technique. With this method it doesn't matter as much where your hands go, as they will always find a piece of rope to grab. 3. Scramble up this net any way you can using hands and arms and legs and feet in any way that works to propel you upward and out of your body. This technique solves many awareness hand/arm control problems where they appear to have a mind of their own and flop and slide all over the place. Daily Tips Robert: Whatever the combination of imagination and body awareness actions involved with an OBE exit technique, creating a sense of movement, even if only slight, always makes it easier to imagine/feel yourself as existing outside the bounds of your physical body. This also makes exit techniques work better. The body awareness actions involved with exit techniques are always fairly basic, but the imagination aspect can be as simple or elaborate as you like. Brian: I find it easier to get a sense of upward movement with the rope cargo net method if I put the net in front of something. It can be a tower, a rock face, a tall building—something that I can see go by as I get higher, something I can use to gauge my progress and give me a sense of upward ascent. Again, it also helps to have a goal and purpose for climbing. Put something of great importance above you and use all your will to climb up to it. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 61 OBE Exit Training: Balloon Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 remain relaxed and calm as the OBE exit sensations caress my body. 1 recognize that this is merely a more intense form of the energy AFTERNOON OBE walk-through movement that 1 have been practicing for weeks. Optional: Week 9 BrainWave Generator This is merely a transitional thundercloud through Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) which 1 must pass. On the other side is freedom. OBE breath technique (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken as 1 return from the astral state. Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) As 1 stir out of sleep, 1 perceive clear memories of Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) the reintegration process. 1 use key guestions to Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) recover memories of my astral experiences. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Balloon method (20 min.) Write proqram notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Enerqy raisinq: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording btimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 303 304 Day 61 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Balloon Method (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine that your form is changing into that of a helium balloon. You feel yourself expanding and becoming a lighter-thanair substance encased in a thin, rubbery shell. Feel yourself getting lighter and lighter until you feel yourself hovering slightly, then rising higher and higher as you slowly float up and out of your body. 2. Feel yourself gently bump and bob against the ceiling with a sense of swaying movement as you float there. Become aware of your changed perspective in the room and of your physical body below you. 3. Finally, feel yourself slipping through the ceiling or through a portal or opening. Feel yourself getting lighter and lighter as you rise slowly up over your neighborhood and beyond, getting steadily higher and higher. Daily Tips Robert: Imagination has no bounds so imaginative OBE exit techniques have no limits. For example, instead of a balloon floating over your neighborhood, you can imagine you are sitting or lying on a magic carpet. This floats up and away with you in much the same way as in the balloon scenario, but the magic carpet is capable of enormous speed and agility. Fly across the ocean and explore the world, visiting exotic countries and cities, the North Pole, and so on. Another version would be to imagine you are lifting off in a small spaceship and that the sky is no longer the limit. You can then explore the solar system and beyond. Use your imagination! Brian: This method involves a good combination of keeping your thoughts focused away from your body while simultaneously feeling the sensation of both floating, flying, drifting, and swaying. Whenever I imagine myself as the balloon—whether it is hovering over the bed or gently bumping against the ceiling—I try to lock on to the feeling of swaying and rocking. Spending time in a rocking chair (rocking with eyes closed) before attempting this exercise can be helpful. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 62 OBE Exit Training: Balloon Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 remain relaxed and calm as the OBE exit sensations caress my body. 1 recognize that this is Recite morning affirmations merely a more intense form of the energy AFTERNOON OBE walk-through movement that 1 have been practicing for weeks. Optional: Week 9 BrainWave Generator This is merely a transitional thundercloud through Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) which 1 must pass. On the other side is freedom. OBE breath technigue (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken as 1 return from the astral state. Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) As 1 stir out of sleep, 1 perceive clear memories of Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) the reintegration process. 1 use key questions to Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) recover memories of my astral experiences. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technigue: Balloon method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 305 306 Day 62 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Balloon Method (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine that your form is changing into that of a helium balloon. You feel yourself expanding and becoming a lighter-thanair substance encased in a thin, rubbery shell. Feel yourself getting lighter and lighter until you feel yourself hovering slightly, then rising higher and higher as you slowly float up and out of your body. 2. Feel yourself gendy bump and bob against the ceiling with a sense of swaying movement as you float there. Become aware of your changed perspective in the room and of your physical body below you. 3. Finally, feel yourself slipping through the ceiling or through a portal or opening. Feel yourself getting lighter and lighter as you rise slowly up over your neighborhood and beyond, getting steadily higher and higher. Daily Tips Robert: After stimulating your primary centers, raising energy and performing the fullbody circuit will have a stronger effect on your energy body. This works best if you feel light but noticeable energy sensations in most of your primary centers. If you still have some inactive areas, spend a little extra time working on inactive centers and less on more active areas. Brian: The shape of the balloon need not be the shape of your body. It can be round or oblong, and any size or color. I find that I'll start the exercise with the balloon shaped like my body but invariably, by the time I'm drifting over the neighborhood, I'll be simply an oval shape skirting above the trees. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 63 OBE Exit Training: Balloon Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 remain relaxed and calm as the OBE exit sensations caress my body. 1 recognize that this is merely a more intense form of the energy AFTERNOON OBE walk-through movement that 1 have been practicing for weeks. Optional: Week 9 BrainWave Generator This is merely a transitional thundercloud through Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) which 1 must pass. On the other side is freedom. OBE breath technique (5 min.) Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken as 1 return from the astral state. Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) As 1 stir out of sleep, 1 perceive clear memories of Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) the reintegration process. 1 use key questions to Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) recover memories of my astral experiences. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technigue: Balloon method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 307 308 Day 63 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Balloon Method (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine that your form is changing into that of a helium balloon. You feel yourself expanding and becoming a lighter-thanair substance encased in a thin, rubbery shell. Feel yourself getting lighter and lighter until you feel yourself hovering slightly, then rising higher and higher as you slowly float up and out of your body. 2. Feel yourself gently bump and bob against the ceiling with a sense of swaying movement as you float there. Become aware of your changed perspective in the room and of your physical body below you. 3. Finally, feel yourself slipping through the ceiling or through a portal or opening. Feel yourself getting lighter and lighter as you rise slowly up over your neighborhood and beyond, getting steadily higher and higher. Daily Tips Robert: OBE exit techniques involve various combinations of imagination and body awareness techniques. The goal is to fool the sub- conscious mind into accepting and allowing an OBE exit to begin. However, as you may have realized, in general OBE exit techniques only temporarily fool the subconscious mind. Because of this, a single OBE exit technique will often only work powerfully in the short term (e.g., you discover a new exit technique, like rope) and find it works very well to start with. But after using it for a while, you notice that it is not quite as effective as it was at first. This is because, much as the energy body continues body awareness actions on its own, the projection mechanism also develops a kind of memory. This also applies to OBE exit audio aids. The way around this "memory" is to vary your exit technique many times during every OBE exit. For example, you might start with rope, then after a minute switch to point shift, then to cargo net, then to balloon, then to rolling out, and so on. This has the effect of fooling your subconscious mind into accepting and allowing an OBE exit. Brian: One of the ways that I use to combat the tendency to tense up during the exit is to play dead. I imagine that I am an extra in a war movie lying dead on a battlefield. I use all my power to act this out as thoroughly as possible. I find when I do this that I go completely limp and let go of muscles that I don't when I'm doing the relaxation session. This is especially helpful when doing "active" exit techniques, like the steam engine. Day 63 309 Your Program Notes/Observations Before Moving On This week you should have: • gained a basic understanding of the mind split and how the dream mind affects projection; • some ideas for judging the difference between dreams and OBEs; • learned how to create your own sleep programming recording; • practiced each of this week's OBE exit techniques. Last night I decided to work on my relaxation and trance. For some reason things felt different than usual. I lay in bed with my wife and five-year-old daughter, who were already asleep. I did some energy work and concentrated on my breathing. It was tranquil and peaceful. I kept this up for almost an hour and then used the rope technique. I've failed so many times in the past (I've been trying this stuff for fifteen years, off and on with different methods) it is tempting to just give up sometimes. I was lying on my back and imagined climbing the rope while trying to keep my breath slow and regulated. Within a minute I felt a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, so I kept at it. Then this pounding came into my chest. I kept climbing and it got stronger and stronger. I had read the warnings about what to expect but, wow, it was so strong it was breaking my concentration and climbing visualization. Thought after thought flew through my mind. "It's the vibrations! OBE or bust, baby! No it's my heart chakra. No! It's my real heart. I'm gonna have a heart attack. How in the hell is this pounding not waking up my daughter lying right beside me? Gonna do it man. Get out, look at my hands, and jump right back in. Oh no, I've lost my breathing focus. Keep climbing! You're losing them, you're losing it." And so on. Well, I let it slip away and I don't know why. I noticed my breathing was still slow so I knew it wasn't my physical heart causing it. Surely I would have been breathing like a racehorse if my heart was really pounding like that. Maybe I just didn't keep my mind quiet enough. Or maybe the mind-split occurred and I missed the re-entry. I remember telling myself, "This stuff is for real!" It actually felt like someone was pounding a fist on my chest faster and harder. I've never been that close before. •ill 11 Troubleshooting What to Expect • Program assessment and adjustment tips • Setting achievable goals • Energy-raising problems and solutions • Ideal conditions for practicing the exit • Primary center problems and solutions • Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions • Relaxation problems and solutions • O B E exit techniques • Breathwork problems and solutions • Steam engine technique • Brow center trigger problems and solutions • Water ski rope technique • Mind-taming problems and solutions • Big wheel technique • Trance problems and solutions • Body-loosening and exit problems and solutions Reassessing and Making Adjustments conscious-exit projection. It involves a delicate balancing act where adjusting one factor can affect others. You've been practicing exit techniques for at least three weeks and it's now time to pause to examine your progress and make adjustments. For example, one objective when learning the exit is to remain deeply physically relaxed, while another is to increase mental effort with There is a lot to remember when first learning 311 312 Wee* JO the exit techniques. If you relax too much, it makes it tough to concentrate on the exit technique; but if you focus too much on the exit technique, you're liable to tense some muscles. Finding balance is key to the OBE exit. Because there is so much to think about, it's not uncommon for aspiring projectors to skip steps or to gloss over one area in favor of another while trying to orchestrate everything into a cohesive routine. Most people find it helpful at some point to examine their OBE exit sessions with a critical eye. Additionally, it doesn't hurt to review the steps for some of the more elaborate exercises (relaxation, breathing, trance induction, etc.) for a quick refresher to make sure, in the effort to put everything together, that you haven't been leaving out something important. This week is all about stepping back, evaluating your progress, focusing on problem areas, and turning weaknesses into strengths. Start by reading through your journal entries from Part 1 of the program and thinking back through the learning process. Then move on to Part 2 journal entries to find areas that could be improved on. Here you're trying to examine the program as a whole before breaking it down into its individual parts. Is there a problematic area? Is there something that only worked once but didn't work another time? Can you see any significant patterns? What follows are some common OBE induction problems and suggestions on overcoming them. These are organized by the various steps leading up to and through the exit techniques. As you read, take note of how you might apply some of the suggestions. Energy-Raising Problems Raising energy via deep breathing and the fullbody circuit may be the most important factor for achieving a successful OBE and remembering it. In an out-of-body experience energy is everything because energy equals strength of consciousness and lucidity. Not only will raising and storing larger amounts of energy help you project, it will enhance the clarity of your mind and your senses once you do get out. It also influences your ability to move around in the OBE environment. Without a clear head, what starts as a textbook OBE can quickly dull into a series of vague and dreamlike memories. Raising energy is simple and you need not be in a trance state to do it. It can be accomplished anywhere and in any position. With practice, the process can be as unconscious as breathing. The challenge has less to do with the ability to practice energy raising and more with remembering to practice. One of the quickest ways you can advance toward a successful exit is to raise energy at every opportunity: driving to work, walking to class, waiting for the elevator, and so on. Try raising energy for ten minutes before your exit sessions, then increasing to fifteen minutes, twenty, and on and upward. At some point you will find that raising energy will begin to affect the quality of your sessions as well as your ability to stay focused. If you still find raising energy difficult, go back to basics. Practice breath awareness, energy body stimulation, and energy bouncing. You should still practice these methods periodically, even in Part 2 of the program. If Troubleshooting you still find energy raising challenging or ineffective, you may want to consider devoting a few weeks to repeating the energy stimulation exercises in Weeks 1 and 2. Primary Center Stimulation Problems If you are having difficulty getting your primary centers to activate, we recommend spending fifteen to thirty minutes doing energy body stimulation, the full-body circuit, and then primary center stimulation separate from your OBE exit routine. If you find that most of your primary centers still don't activate, you may need to do more secondary energy body development work. Everyone is different in this respect. In this case, it would be beneficial if you were to focus on the energy stimulation exercises in Weeks 1 and 2 of this program before making further exit attempts. Once you begin to feel significant energy movement in response to secondary energy work, resume primary center stimulation. If you find improvement there, carry on with the OBE exit attempts. Try not to overdo primary center stimulation on the higher centers, particularly the heart and brow centers. Too much stimulation can lead to emotional problems and/or psychic/mental imbalance. However, if you are having problems activating your primary energy centers, the risks are obviously minimal. Review Week 4 for a complete list of adverse side effects and their solutions. We recommend a maximum of thirty minutes of primary center stimulation per day. 313 Relaxation Problems Difficulty Relaxing Specific Body Parts If you're having trouble targeting specific parts of your body for deep physical relaxation and a hot shower or bath isn't taking care of the problem, you might investigate yoga-style stretching exercises that target the specific area of concern. Some parts of your body (especially neck and shoulder muscles) can be very difficult to isolate and stretching is a great way to eliminate some of the tension that builds up in these areas. In the interim, consider morning OBE attempts shortly after waking up. This allows you to take advantage of postsleep relaxation with a minimal amount of effort. Muscular Tension After Relaxation If you find your body grows uncomfortable when you move on to trance induction after physically relaxing, you might benefit from changing position to make yourself more comfortable. If you're lying down, consider placing a pillow beneath your knees to relieve pressure on your lower back. If you're sitting, place a pillow beneath your feet to provide arch support. Achieving balance between slight discomfort and distracting muscle tension is another balancing act that requires experimentation and adjustment. Remember, you don't want to be so relaxed that you fall asleep entirely. At the same time, you will need to be free enough of muscular tension so that you're able to project. 314 Week 10 Neck and Back Discomfort During Exit Training Neck and back pain during exit-related exercises are common problems. If experimenting with pillows and positions doesn't help and practicing yoga stretches fails to alleviate the problem, consider consulting a medical doctor, physiotherapist, or chiropractor. Breathwork Problems Most people don't breathe very deeply during their waking hours. They take shallow breaths—only what is required. When one first undertakes breathwork it often requires effort and concentration. Learning to take long, full, slow breaths requires practice. With time and experience, however, one can breathe at the correct pace without counting out the beats. It no longer takes effort, it just happens. Some people have difficulty breathing when they enter trance. Often this is a result of a preexisting medical condition called sleep apnea, which can cause a person to temporarily stop breathing and then gasp for air during the sleep cycle. Since the object of trance is to foster a mind awake/body asleep state, sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea tend to become apparent where before they went unnoticed. If you're having difficulty breathing during trance, try adjusting your position so your head is tilted back farther and your breathing passages are held more open and clear. Also, give your nose a good blow before practice. A minor shift in position may be all that is required. If the problem persists, consult a medical doctor, as this condition can be dangerous if left untreated. Drinking, smoking, and being overweight exacerbate sleep apnea. Getting in better shape and avoiding these risk factors can alleviate this condition. Brow Center Trigger It can take several days or more to loosen up eye muscles sufficiendy to angle them comfortably upward to the brow center for significant amounts of time. Take your time and practice every other day for longer and longer periods, giving your eyes ample time to rest and recover in the interim. If you have difficulty angling your eyes up toward your brow center with your eyelids closed, practice with your eyes open for short periods before OBE exit practice. Hold a finger in front of your brow center and focus on this to get the hang of where your eyes should be. Then close your eyes while holding them in position. If you have trouble during trance, it can help to stimulate the brow center for a few minutes with sponging, tearing, wrapping, and bounce awareness actions. When you feel your brow center start to tingle or pulse, angle your eyes in its direction. Some people find the brow center trigger difficult and distracting. This isn't absolutely necessary for the OBE exit, but it is a reliable switch for triggering and augmenting vibrations and other exit symptoms. An alternative is to only use this when you actually get weak or patchy vibrations, then immediately use this eye position to boost them to OBE exit level. If you ignore it, a little temporary discomfort in the eyes will not interfere with the Troubleshooting exit. Later, when you grow more accustomed to OBE exit practice, try integrating the brow center trigger back into your routine. Mind-Taming Problems Mental Chatter Some people have great difficulty quelling internal mental chatter that no amount of practice seems to alleviate. If you are having this difficulty, you may want to try practicing quieting your mind by listening to music. Choose music that doesn't have any lyrics and focus on it to the exclusion of all other things. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and simply listen. When you have success at keeping your internal verbal process quiet, switch to music that is less melodic or use ambient sounds such as rainfall, ocean waves, wind, crickets chirping, and so on. Finally, try reverting back to the mind-taming exercises given in Week 3 of this program. Avoid playing music during your OBE exit sessions, as this could become a crutch. It can also be distracting, especially when the music provides an emotional undercurrent that might otherwise distract you from your objective. Preoccupying Thoughts or Concerns If you find life's worries and distractions are seeping into your mental quiet, it may be necessary to get up and take care of a few tasks before continuing with your OBE work. If this is impractical or impossible, try writing down your concerns, worries, or thoughts in a notebook. Writing down problems and/or distrac- 315 tions often alleviates the need to think about them or to worry that you'll forget to deal with them. Continue the writing process until you've exhausted all the thoughts that creep into your mind-taming exercise and then move on. You always have the free will to choose not to worry. Resolve that for an entire day you will not be preoccupied with worrisome thoughts. Choose to worry about them tomorrow, and when the next day comes, consider putting them off for another day. Who knows, the object of your concerns may never happen. Another way of dealing with this is to have a set time that you will devote to worrying—say, half an hour per day. Grounding activities also help alleviate stress and worry. Take a shower, do some gardening, exercise, take a walk, read a good book, and so on. These kinds of activities tend to center your energy so it can be more easily focused and directed during meditation. Trance Problems Falling Asleep Falling asleep during trance usually points to a sleep deficit. The easiest way to fix this is to get more sleep or to schedule your exercises earlier in the day when you are less fatigued. If that isn't possible, try taking a twenty-minute nap (no more than twenty minutes) and then doing some brief physical activities to help wake you up. Splashing cold water on your face and the back of your neck is an excellent way to get back to full consciousness. When you feel awake and refreshed, begin your exercises. 316 Week 10 Another idea is to adjust your level of slight discomfort to make falling asleep a little more difficult. This might be something small, like altering your position or the angle at which you're sitting or reclining. If you are using a bed, try putting a small board under your heels. Refer to the suggestions in Week 5's "Trance Practice: Using Slight Discomfort for Altered-State Conditioning" section for more ideas. Cramps and Sore Muscles Some people, especially those not used to the motionlessness of meditation, may experience pain or muscle cramps. This sensation can feel like a localized pressure or heaviness, as if someone were squeezing one of your limbs. It can also ache like a sore muscle, tempting you to move and stretch to alleviate the pressure. This often ranges between a mild distraction to something that requires you to end the trance session prematurely. Pressure of this kind can indicate energy blockages, which usually go away with regular energy development and trance practice. If this problem persists, spending more time on secondary energy work exercises can help clear stubborn blockages and solve the problem. If these are more like physical cramps, doing some stretching exercises beforehand may help. Itches and Primary Center Pressure Projection attempts stimulate the higher primary centers in a big way. People who are unused to energy body development may feel intense activity in their brow and crown cen- ters. Pressure symptoms may also be present. These can range from a throbbing in the center of the brow to a pulsing at the temples; from a sense that there is a tight band around your head to a strong feeling of pressure in the middle of your forehead. This type of pressure can become intense and painful at times and can even result in headaches. When this happens, cease all exercises for a day or two and treat the headache as you would normally. These pressures and pains can aptly be called growing pains in an energy body sense. They indicate that dormant primary centers are becoming active. Fortunately, they seldom last long and usually clear up after a few days. Additionally, activity in the crown and brow centers will usually activate a web of the supportive energy pathways in the facial area. This causes tickling and itching sensations, what are commonly called cobwebs. This will reduce with regular energy development, but for some people they never completely go away. Just do your best to ignore them. If you must scratch, use slow, dreamy movements so as not to break your trance state—but if you're close to the exit, don't move at all, as this will abort the projection. Dry Mouth or Excess Saliva If you find your mouth and/or throat becoming distractingly dry during trance sessions, it may be the result of breathing through your mouth. If this is the case, the simple solution is to breath more through your nose. Giving your nose a good blow to make sure your nasal passages are clear will also help. If this Troubleshooting isn't possible due to congestion, try having a glass of water before your session to prevent dehydration. If you find that saliva accumulates in your mouth during trance, avoid eating or drinking anything sweet prior to your sessions. Rinsing with mouthwash, brushing your teeth, or gargling with saltwater can also help by removing anything lingering in your mouth that might cause you to salivate. A change in position might also be required. Angling the upper half of your body slightiy more vertically can help prevent saliva from accumulating in the back of your throat, which increases the need to swallow. Swallowing occasionally won't break a trance or OBE exit session if you do it slowly and carefully. If you allow yourself to become too aware of your mouth, this can be very distracting and will increase saliva flow. Try not to think about it and just let swallowing happen naturally in the background. Body-Loosening and Exit Problems Tensing During Exit One of the challenges with OBE exit techniques is to not allow mental effort to affect your physical body. This is especially true with active exit techniques like rope and the point shift method. The difficulty is that sometimes you won't be aware that your muscles are tensing in response to mental effort. You can identify this problem if after an unsuccessful exit attempt you find your body moving slightly or noticeably relaxing as you cease mental effort. This can be very subtle, such as the faintest 317 easing of facial tension or a slight uncurling of your fingers and toes. Tensing muscles during exit techniques is a sign that you need to spend more time practicing the deep physical relaxation routine. Regular practice is key for learning deep relaxation. In time, deep physical relaxation will become more automatic, requiring progressively less time and effort to achieve. Another method for overcoming muscle tension during the exit technique is to try for an exit after several hours of sleep, such as early in the morning. When you've been asleep for a while, there is already a disassociation between mental and physical activity. You can use this to your advantage. Another way to release tension is to relax and visualize yourself doing some physical activity that's not associated with projection. Imagine yourself running hard or lifting something heavy, putting all your mental effort into it while keeping your muscles completely relaxed. For some reason, when you're not actively trying for an exit, there seems to be less chance of flexing muscles in response to mental effort. When you feel that you're able to imagine nonprojection-related physical activity without tensing up, try the exit technique again. If all else fails and you can't relax effectively during active exit techniques, stick with passive techniques until your relaxation skills improve. Mental Focus Problems Occasionally, aspiring projectors find active exit techniques too demanding. More specifically, they find it tricky to imagine their awareness hands climbing or pulling on ropes or ladders. 318 Week 10 Some find that one arm will feel weaker or harder to control than the other. Others find it difficult to imagine themselves getting higher as they climb or they simply lose mental focus quickly and lose touch with the exit technique being used. There are various solutions to these types of difficulties. First, try memorizing the action being employed. For example, try physically pretending to climb a rope using a prop rope tied overhead, climbing hand over hand while letting the rope slip between your fingers. After getting used to the physical action, practice closing your eyes and imagining yourself climbing. Then try more physical climbing. Alternate physical and mental climbing practice until you can easily visualize yourself climbing. The more you practice, the easier it will become. Imagination can be used to solve a lot of problems because it has no limits. If you find it difficult to imagine what it would be like to climb up through the roof of your bedroom and rise over the neighborhood, try imagining yourself in another place. Imagine climbing a ladder to reach a high-diving board. Imagine yourself climbing in a forest and look up into the sunlight. See the branches pass you as you ascend, feel the texture of the leaves as they brush past your skin, and so on. If you tend to lose focus after climbing for a while, try alternating what you are climbing. For example, start with a rope, then after a minute switch to climbing a ladder, then switch to a cargo net. Varying the climbing imagery slightly will help you maintain focus. Sexual Arousal Another complication sometimes associated with the OBE exit is when one becomes sexually aroused when pre-OBE exit symptoms occur. While a rare condition, some people experience spontaneous orgasm at this time, which aborts the exit for obvious reasons. Energy-related sexual arousal is different from normal arousal in that there is no obvious sexual stimulus or fantasy. This can be distracting to the point of ending the OBE exit completely. This type of sexual arousal is caused by energy activity in the lower primary centers, particularly the base and genital centers. This is why when stimulating the primary centers we suggested the genital center be avoided. One fix for this situation is to spend more time stimulating and developing your secondary energy pathways and using the fullbody circuit. This can be done in separate sessions from your main exit practice, so you can continue to progress in both areas. Another solution would be to relieve sexual tension before an exit attempt. This also eases physical and mental tensions and promotes energy balance. The only reason for not doing this would be if you are energized by sex and have difficulty relaxing and falling asleep afterward. In this case, it might prevent deep physical relaxation and mental quiet. At the same time, this is one way to temporarily overcome fatigue, so an OBE exit attempt can be made before going to sleep. Troubleshooting Resisting the Exit Sensations If you've never felt OBE exit symptoms, they can become overwhelming in a hurry. Some people don't like the loss of control that comes with this. Others are simply surprised by the visceral sense of vibrations and inner movement. There is a natural tendency to resist these sensations. Still others, understanding for the first time just how real the OBE exit is, suddenly decide they've changed their minds and want to stay in their bodies. An automatic resistance can occur in response to OBE exit symptoms. This can affect future projections. Negative conditioning can increase not only exit difficulty but also the severity of future exit sensations. You must be committed to the exit. Do it and don't look back. The sooner you project the sooner the exit symptoms will cease. Commit totally to the exit; focus on the exit and steel your nerves like a karate expert preparing to break a board. Turn whatever energy you might otherwise use for resistance into motivation to finish the exit and get out of body. If you've already developed a resistance to the exit, it can take some time to overcome this. The best thing to do is to continue OBE attempts with more attention being paid to deep physical relaxation and positive affirmations. Fantasizing about experiencing heavy exit symptoms can help alleviate OBE exit resistance. Here you should relax thoroughly and then imagine what the exit sensations will be like. Imagine yourself reacting calmly, every muscle going limp in response to the vibrations and heart center activity, and all your mental focus going into your OBE exit tech- 319 nique. Then imagine yourself following your OBE walk-through to the letter. Getting over negative exit conditioning can simply be a matter of being aware that it's there and responding to it appropriately. When you feel yourself tensing, even if it's only mental, tell yourself to let it all go. Acknowledge that you have the ability to experience reality separate from your physical being: that it's okay to let go and surrender yourself to the exit. There is another situation you may encounter along the same lines. If you notice that the vibrations are usually localized to a certain part of your body (e.g., your left arm, your right leg) and you notice that your body tenses up in response to them, you may simply have an energy blockage in that area or in surrounding areas. This often occurs in places of old injuries or in locations where muscles and joints are overused or suffer chronic pain. For this we recommend secondary energy work devoted to healing these areas, such as energy bouncing, sponging, wrapping, and brushing techniques to highlight and strengthen problem spots. Secondary energy work has strong self-healing side effects and can help relieve pain and heal injuries. Sudden Energy Rush Shortly before or during the OBE exit you may feel a sudden sense of falling. Frequently, an adrenaline-type rush of energy (like you get when you feel extremely excited) accompanies this falling sensation. This is the type of sensation you might experience when listening to exciting, uplifting music. While not 320 Week 10 unpleasant, this can be very distracting. It's fairly typical to experience this rush during the exit but it's perfectly harmless. Be prepared for this and try to ignore it as best you can when it happens. This can throw you right out of the trance state, aborting an OBE right on the brink of the exit. If this becomes chronic and happens every time, spend additional time raising energy and doing primary center work separate from OBE exit practice. Affirmations can also be a great help in overcoming this excitement. Mastering the OBE exit takes a delicate balancing act and this energy rush is just one of the things that needs integrating during the exit. Your first wake-induced OBE is a tremendously exhilarating event. This provides great personal proof about the reality of OBE. Think about all the possibilities that suddenly become real once the OBE exit is achieved. If you add all these together, it's clear that your first OBE will be a momentous personal event. To succeed you will need to stay perfectly calm before, during, and after the exit. Try to generate the feeling that you are a dispassionate observer and hold this at all times. Incomplete Separation It is possible to go through the exit process almost entirely only to find yourself mysteriously stuck to a part of your body. This can happen in a number of ways. Sometimes you can feel you've projected but then are unable to do anything more than move around within the confines of your own body. A projector in this situation can wriggle and even turn around within his or her own skin with complete vision, unable to escape from the shell of the physical body. Several things may have happened to projectors in the above situation. An inner projection of the expanded energy body may have occurred, but with no actual externalization of a projectable double taking place. In this case it's often best to clear one's head and resume the exit technique, focusing all one's attention away from the physical body in an effort to excite the energy body to manifest. It is also possible that an OBE has already occurred, but due to the mind-split effect this has happened unnoticed, also leaving the projector conscious but locked within his or her internal expanded energy body. If this is the case, further OBE exit attempts obviously cannot work, so it is best to clear your head and await your projected double's return. If your projected double follows a standard early OBE plan, it will return within a minute or so. The symptom of reintegration is a brief tingling sensation rushing upward from feet to head. When this is felt, clear your head and try to capture your OBE memories. Another situation in which this can happen is where the projecting double seems to be glued to a specific body part (like an arm, leg, the head, or the stomach) resulting in a partial projection. This will not damage you, but it can be painful if the projected double pulls too strongly to free itself from its physical body. Under these circumstances, one can be dealing with a body part that hasn't been sufficiently relaxed. If this occurs, more effort should be paid to relaxing that body part prior to future exit attempts. Also, more energy Troubleshooting development work on that body part is advisable in the future. 321 Look for the areas with which you are having the most difficulty or aspects of your rou- If the sticking point is in or near the stom- tine that could be improved and target these. ach, this can be a symptom of an improperly Try to have a specific goal in mind each time digested meal. Digestion, especially of heavy you practice. This might be to achieve a deeper protein, requires a significant amount of energy. level of physical relaxation or to deepen your Undigested meat can also cause problems. OBE level of trance or to stimulate your energy exit attempts should be done well after one has body better. eaten a heavy meal. Examine the steps you use for an OBE exit Watches, jewelry, and tight, restrictive cloth- attempt: energy raising, primary center stimu- ing can also make it difficult for some body lation, relaxation, deep breathing, brow center parts to externalize a projected double. Cloth- trigger, mind taming, trance, body loosening, ing worn during projection attempts should be and the OBE exit techniques. At what stage do loose and comfortable. All jewelry, including you find that you most often run into diffi- rings, earrings, watches, bracelets, and neck culty? This indicates your most logical next chains should be removed to minimize poten- step for refining your technique. This is where tial exit complications. you should set your goals for improving your next session. If you continue to repeat this formula—if you consistently look at your routine Setting Achievable Goals with a critical eye and set your sights on the When you go through your daily OBE exit next step for improvement—you will steadily practice, the aim is that before you finish the get closer to a successful projection. process you will have projected. However, after Learning to have an OBE is a big endeavor getting into a routine, one can become so for most people. It's easier and less frustrating focused on the process of inducing an OBE when it's mastered in small, achievable steps. that you lose sight of the process. If you faithfully practice night after night without apparent progress, it can be easy to feel that you are only going through the motions. Ideal Conditions for Practicing the Exit Learning to induce an OBE is a difficult One way to adjust your routine is to practice thing to achieve for most people. For that rea- the OBE exit when conditions are ideal for son, if you start feeling you've reached a success. Essentially, any time your body is tired plateau in your progress, it is helpful to change but your mind is sharp is a good time to try your objective. Rather than setting your next for an OBE exit. You've probably been in a goal as the projection itself, set your next goal position where you've stayed up late and for doing something a little better than you begun to feel tired, then had a "second wind" did last time. where you are mentally clear but physically 322 Week 10 fatigued. This is the kind of state to which objective observer at all times. You also want we're referring. to maintain the proper motivation for actually Coffee and other such stimulants can help getting out of your body while simultaneously keep the mind awake and sharp when the not trying too hard. Drive and motivation are body is overtired, but stimulants also cause a critical ingredients for going from mild exit slight tension in the physical body that can symptoms to a full OBE exit. Put all your make it difficult to achieve the required level enthusiasm and pure mental energy into this of deep physical relaxation. A combination of final step. Make the resolution during every stimulants and sleep deprivation for having an OBE attempt that this is going to be it and OBE will occasionally work for some people, you're really going to make it out of body! but a delicate balance of stimulant and tired- With this in mind, it improves motivation if ness is required, which is difficult to achieve you choose a compelling target to which to and replicate. project. This can be as simple as placing a There are plenty of times to practice where favorite food or drink (if you are very hungry conditions are ideal. It takes less sleep to or thirsty) or some object to which you are par- refresh the mind than the body, so waking up ticularly attached across the room from where early and going through your OBE routine is a you are practicing the exit. You can also choose good time to practice. a location you've visited before to which you OBE attempts don't always have to follow would love to return during an OBE. It can your full routine. Take advantage of likely cir- mean focusing your attention on a loved one— cumstances when they arise. For example, if living or deceased—whom you would like to you wake up in the middle of the night physi- see again. This can even be included in your cally tired but mentally unable to get back to OBE walk-through practice. The rule here is to sleep, this is a great time for OBE exit practice. choose a target that will heighten enthusiasm If you normally grow drowsy at certain times without it being overly exciting. of the day, consider taking a quick refresher There are other things you can do to vary nap and then making an OBE exit. A nap will your routine and make it more interesting. See refresh your mind and deeply relax your phys- if a change in conditions works better for you. ical body. When you wake up after your nap, hold on to your deeply relaxed physical and • If you normally practice in the evening, mental state and immediately use an OBE exit try practicing in the morning. If you technique. normally practice in the morning, try The proper mental state for having an OBE is part of the delicate balancing act we mentioned earlier. First and foremost you're trying to remain calm and mentally clear and stay the practicing in the afternoon or evening. • If you usually do your energy work sitting up, try lying down. If you normally lie down, try sitting up. Troubleshooting • If you normally wear clothes, try projecting without clothes or with fewer covers. • Try exercising and taking a hot shower to get your energy going and to help you relax before a practice session. • If you customarily have long routines, try breaking them up into two shorter sessions. For example, try raising energy and/or stimulating the primary centers in the morning and doing the relaxation through to the exit technique in the evening. Or do the energy work first, then take a short break, and return to do the relaxation and OBE exit attempt. Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 10: Exit Training" This week's BrainWave Generator preset has two phases. The program features six tones. During the first phase, which lasts ten minutes, one tone 323 gradually and audibly lowers from an awake level to a mind awake/body asleep level. Meanwhile, the other five, quieter tones remain at a mind awake/body asleep level, where they remain for the duration of the program. Many of the latter tones are also modulated to make it seem like the sound is spinning around your head at different rates. The visual frequency (if you are using light goggles) begins at an awake level and gradually lowers to a mind awake/body asleep level throughout the course of the first ten minutes. It remains at a mind awake/body asleep level thereafter. Be sure to use the preprojection routine and exit techniques while listening to the program. Total preset duration is 120 minutes. Reminder. The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. WEEK 10 DAILY PAGES This week's exit techniques: Steam engine technique: Imagine a wheel with the diameter of the distance between your chest and outstretched hands. Visualize the feeling of circling your hands along the diameter of the wheel as if playing at being a steam engine. After you settle into a rhythm, reverse the direction. Water ski rope technique: Imagine the motion of being pulled along by a boat while you're wearing water skis. Feel the sense of motion in the center of your stomach, see the shore blur by, feel the spray of the boat's wake. Make the sense of motion as real as possible. Big wheel technique: Feel a single point of awareness moving out from your body from your head area and flying upward and away from you. Push this point of awareness up and over the top part of the circumference of a big imaginary wheel. This wheel is in line with and is also a part of your body. Move your point of awareness up through your whole body and then out through your head and out over the circumference of the wheel, moving it all the way around and then back up through your body. Continue this over and over with a smooth circular action. 324 DAY 64 OBE Exit Training: Steam Engine Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am in control and at peace when out of body. After the OBE exit, 1 move away from my physical body, glancing at my astral hands and drawing AFTERNOON OBE walk-through energy into my projectable double. My vision Optional: Week 10 BrainWave Generator remains clear, my thoughts lucid and rational. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technigue (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken while my body remains asleep. 1 Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) stay very calm, as 1 would during trance practice. 1 Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) use the projection methods I've been practicing to Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) raise the exit symptoms successfully. 1 slip out Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) cleanly, easily, and uneventfully. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technigue: Steam engine (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated eaergy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 325 326 Day 64 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Steam Engine Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine your hands are out in front of you. Imagine a circle with a diameter of the distance between your chest and your outstretched hands. 2. Circle your awareness hands around each other, following the circumference of this circle (like the hand and arm actions you'd use if you were playing at being a steam engine). After a short time the action will settle into a rhythm. 3. Now here comes the difficult part: after doing it for twenty seconds or more, stop and reverse the action. The awareness action momentum will try to force the circling action to continue in its original direction, making it difficult to stop or change. If you concentrate, you will find this can be achieved. Don't worry if you fail at this the first few times. Keep at it and you'll succeed. Daily Tips Robert: The action of the steam engine technique has a natural circular rhythm. This makes it easier to hold your body awareness exterior to your physical body. Reversing the action takes focused effort but can be achieved and makes for excellent training. Once you get the hang of this, try increasing the size of the circle so it brushes the ceiling or wall above or before you. You'll find your imaginary hands will tend to separate and wander. This is normal, but try to keep them together as best you can. Brian: The steam engine technique was difficult for me to imagine at first. It helps to practice a version of this with your real hands first. Start practicing the move with your hands for a minute or two and then reverse the action. Next, try the same thing with your eyes closed. Lastly, try practicing with your imagination only. Repeat until you can easily visualize the motion without the use of your hands. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 65 OBE Exit Training: Steam Engine Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am in control and at peace when out of body. After the OBE exit, 1 move away from my physical body, glancing at my astral hands and drawing AFTERNOON OBE walk-through energy into my projectable double. My vision Optional: Week 10 BrainWave Generator remains clear, my thoughts lucid and rational. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken while my body remains asleep. 1 Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) stay very calm, as 1 would during trance practice. 1 Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) use the projection methods I've been practicing to Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) raise the exit symptoms successfully. 1 slip out Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) cleanly, easily, and uneventfully. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Steam enqine (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 327 328 Day 65 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Steam Engine Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine your hands are out in front of you. Imagine a circle with a diameter of the distance between your chest and your outstretched hands. 2. Circle your awareness hands around each other, following the circumference of this circle (like the hand and arm actions you'd use if you were playing at being a steam engine). After a short time the action will settle into a rhythm. 3. Now here comes the difficult part: after doing it for twenty seconds or more, stop and reverse the action. The awareness action momentum will try to force the circling action to continue in its original direction, making it difficult to stop or change. If you concentrate, you will find this can be achieved. Don't worry if you fail at this the first few times. Keep at it and you'll succeed. Daily Tips Robert: The difficulty of this exercise shows its training value. If you practice this regularly you will gain better control of hand/arm awareness actions. This benefits all body awareness stimulation and energy-raising actions, including those used with projection exit techniques. This exercise can also trigger the projection reflex on its own. Look upon this as an arm and hand awareness muscle-building workout. Brian: If you find that your primary center stimulation exercise is taking less and less time, consider spending some extra time raising energy. The more energy you have stored up, the clearer and longer your OBE is likely to be. There were several times when I went to sleep raising energy and I had dreams that were so incredibly vivid and lucid they were absolutely indistinguishable from waking reality. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 66 OBE Exit Training: Water Ski Rope Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am in control and at peace when out of body. After the OBE exit, 1 move away from my physical body, glancing at my astral hands and drawing AFTERNOON OBE walk-through energy into my projectable double. My vision Optional: Week 10 BrainWave Generator remains clear, my thoughts lucid and rational. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technigue (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken while my body remains asleep. 1 Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) stay very calm, as 1 would during trance practice. 1 Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) use the projection methods I've been practicing to Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) raise the exit symptoms successfully. 1 slip out Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) cleanly, easily, and uneventfully. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Water ski rope (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 329 330 Day 66 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Water Ski Rope Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Instead of a rope hanging from the ceiling, imagine you are holding the handle of a ski rope with outstretched imaginary hands. The rope is attached to a powerful speedboat in front of you. The rope is taut and you are pulling on this, feeling its springy resistance, which keeps your hands moving a little. If you are lying down in bed, feel yourself hanging on tightiy to the handle of the ski rope as if you were floating on your back ready for a deep-water start. If you are sitting up, imagine you are crouching ready for a beach start. 2. Adjust the angle of the ski rope to whatever feels most natural. Imagine you can hear the engine revving up, the excitement building, and then suddenly the boat takes off and drags you out of your body in a flurry of astral spray. 3. Repeat the above over and over. Alternatively, use your imagination to create an interesting water ski experience. Imagine being towed along the shore, around islands, over jumps, performing tricks, and so on. For variety, imagine that you are wearing a parachute so you can pull the ripcord and take off and fly behind the boat. Try to feel yourself as really being there and doing this. Daily Tips Robert: The water ski technique is a good combination of active and passive methods. For the active part, try to keep your hands moving at all times by feeling your extended awareness hands pulling and twisting on the water ski rope handle. For the passive aspect, use your imagination to create a vivid water ski experience; the more detailed the better. Visualizations like this can trigger an OBE exit. They can also tune you into the astral so you phase into the astral with no exit sensations. When this happens, you'll suddenly find that you don't have to concentrate on holding the visualization, as you will already be in an astral realm. When this happens, return to your body and re-enter in a reasonable time to protect the astral memory. Brian: I've never water-skied before, and the one time I tried to snow-ski, well, let's just say it wasn't pretty. It doesn't take much imagination to visualize the act of water-skiing, especially if you put it together with a sense of forward movement. I used the sensation of movement from riding a bike and combined it with water images to make the water-skiing method more effective. I found it helpful to vary the environment every few minutes to keep my mind focused on the exercise, switching from river to lake water-skiing and varying other details such as weather, landscape, and time of day to make it more interesting. Day 66 331 Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 67 OBE Exit Training: Water Ski Rope Technique Dote: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 am in control and at peace when out of body. After the OBE exit, 1 move away from my physical Recite morning affirmations body, glancing at my astral hands and drawing AFTERNOON OBE walk-through energy into my projectable double. My vision Optional: Weak 10 BrainWave Generator remains clear, my thoughts lucid and rational. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technigue (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken while my body remains asleep. 1 Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) stay very calm, as 1 would during trance practice. 1 Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) use the projection methods I've been practicing to Optional: Primary center stimulation ( 1 5 min.) raise the exit symptoms successfully. 1 slip out Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) cleanly, easily, and uneventfully. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Water ski rope (20 min.) Write proqram notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 332 day 67 333 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Water Ski Rope Technique (20 Minutes) 1. Instead of a rope hanging from the ceiling, imagine you are holding the handle of a ski rope with outstretched imaginary hands. The rope is attached to a powerful speedboat in front of you. The rope is taut and you are pulling on this, feeling its springy resistance, which keeps your hands moving a little. If you are lying down in bed, feel yourself hanging on tighdy to the handle of the ski rope as if you were floating on your back ready for a deep-water start. If you are sitting up, imagine you are crouching ready for a beach start. 2. Adjust the angle of the ski rope to whatever feels most natural. Imagine you can hear the engine revving up, the excitement building, and then suddenly the boat takes off and drags you out of your body in a flurry of astral spray. 3. Repeat the above over and over. Alternatively, use your imagination to create an interesting water ski experience. Imagine being towed along the shore, around islands, over jumps, performing tricks, and so on. For variety, imagine that you are wearing a parachute so you can pull the ripcord and take off and fly behind the boat. Try to feel yourself as really being there and doing this. Daily Tips Robert: Trance meditation and OBE training, particularly OBE exit attempts, tend to produce hypnogogic imagery (mind's eye imagery seen behind closed eyes). The lowest levels of these appear as constantly changing shadowy images. For some people these images can be very clear and distinct. These images are created by your subconscious mind, but associations drawn by your conscious mind will influence them (like how you might interpret an inkblot during a psych test). If, for example, you see a shape that vaguely reminds you of a frog, it will change into a more froglike shape. This change will begin the instant the association is made, before you can even think "That looks like a frog." This is so subtle that you will not notice that you are affecting the image. The danger here is that if a vague shape looks a bit threatening—say, like a spider—it will instantly begin changing into a more distinct spiderlike shape. This can lead one into believing that some kind of psychic attack is occurring, when the truth is that you are generating these images yourself. (See Day 69 for more on this topic.) Brian: In addition to the daily walk-through, I find it really helps to read books about astral projection, especially before bedtime and OBE practice. Reading such books before practice primes my subconscious and later my dreams 334 day 67 adapt to the subject matter. This keeps my immerse yourself in the subject matter. When motivation high and my will more focused it comes time for the exit, resolve that this during exit attempts. Use these ninety days to time you are really going to do it! Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 68 OBE Exit Training: Big Wheel Technique Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 am in control and at peace when out of body. Recite morning affirmations After the OBE exit, 1 move away from my physical OBE walk-through energy into my projectable double. My vision Optional: Week 10 BrainWave Generator remains clear, my thoughts lucid and rational. body, glancing at my astral hands and drawing AFTERNOON Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technigue (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken while my body remains asleep. 1 Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) stay very calm, as 1 would during trance practice. 1 Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) use the projection methods I've been practicing to Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) raise the exit symptoms successfully. 1 slip out Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) cleanly, easily, and uneventfully. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technigue: Big wheel technigue (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 335 336 Day 68 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Big Wheel Technique (20 Minutes) 1. This technique involves a vertical, circular, bounce-type body awareness action. Imagine a big bicycle wheel is resting upright in front of you with its rubber edge resting against you. The diameter of this wheel is taller than your height. 2. Move a single point of awareness out from your head area, up and away from you, over the circumference of the big wheel, all the way over, and then back down and around and up through your feet, legs, and body. This action does not have to be perfecdy circular. 3. Feel this point of awareness moving up through your legs and body and all your primary energy centers until it moves out of your head again. Feel this point of awareness as being heavy and solid. Move this point around and around the big wheel, passing up through your body with every circuit. 4. Vary the speed of this action until you find the most natural speed. Feel the heavy point of awareness tearing upward through your whole body with each circuit, raising energy and stimulating your entire energy body with every turn. Daily Tips Robert: The circular shape of the big wheel body awareness action does not have to be perfect. The action of your point of awareness passing up through your body also does not have to be precise. Try to feel a kind of whole-body rough sponging action every time it passes through you. Each circle should take approximately one to two seconds. This method combines energy raising with an OBE exit technique, which improves the chances of triggering an exit. It does not matter if your point of awareness wavers or wiggles a bit from side to side as it circles the big wheel, as long as you keep it roughly under control and moving. Keeping it steady takes effort but, as with the earlier steam engine technique, this provides valuable training for controlling exterior bodily awareness actions. It is okay to reverse the circling action for short periods of time, but you will find the upward action through your body is the most effective. Brian: I found the big wheel technique slightly easier to visualize than the steam engine technique. I've discovered, though, that my mind tends to drift off during this one more easily than the others. See how long you can do it without losing concentration. It helped me to take it slow at first and gradually speed it up. If you get it going fast enough, you should feel spatial disorientation fairly quickly. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 69 OBE Exit Training: Big Wheel Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 am in control and at peace when out of body. After the OBE exit, 1 move away from my physical Recite morning affirmations body, glancing at my astral hands and drawing AFTERNOON OBE walk-through energy into my projectable double. My vision Optional: Week 10 BrainWave Generator remains clear, my thoughts lucid and rational. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken while my body remains asleep. 1 Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) stay very calm, as 1 would during trance practice. 1 Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) use the projection methods I've been practicing to Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) raise the exit symptoms successfully. 1 slip out Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) cleanly, easily, and uneventfully. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technigue: Big wheel technique (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 338 Day 69 339 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Big Wheel Technique (20 Minutes) 1. This technique involves a vertical, circular, bounce-type body awareness action. Imagine a big bicycle wheel is resting upright in front of you with its rubber edge resting against you. The diameter of this wheel is taller than your height. 2. Move a single point of awareness out from your head area, up and away from you, over the circumference of the big wheel, all the way over, and then back down and around and up through your feet, legs, and body. This action does not have to be perfectly circular. 3. Feel this point of awareness moving up through your legs and body and all your primary energy centers until it moves out of your head again. Feel this point of awareness as being heavy and solid. Move this point around and around the big wheel, with it passing up through your body with every circuit. 4. Vary the speed of this action until you find the most natural speed. Feel the heavy point of awareness tearing upward through your whole body with each circuit, raising energy and stimulating your entire energy body with every turn. Daily Tips Robert: Subsequent to Day 67, your conscious mind has a fair bit of control over hypnogogic mind's eye imagery. If you experiment, you'll find you can change these by strongly imagining them as changing. However, if you are a little uneasy that you might see more scary images, you will subconsciously be on the lookout for more. This causes an atmosphere of uneasy expectancy, which can trigger the subconscious mind into creating even more scary images. If this gets out of hand, a good way to fix this is creating unicorns. Concentrate and imagine a spectacular white unicorn trotting into the field of your mind's eye. Every time a scary image begins to form, run the unicorn through the image with it kicking and rearing. If you need more, create more unicorns. (As my mother used to say, you just cannot have enough unicorns.) Unicorns are symbolic of purity, goodness, love, and strength. By creating unicorns, in a way you are invoking the spiritual forces of good. This has a calming and cleansing effect on the inner mind's eye. This technique is also excellent for helping children overcome presleep and nightmare problems. Brian: How is your OBE walk-through practice going? If you're finding you get bored doing this, try making things a little more interesting. For example, suppose you project out of body and find yourself in a different area than you expected, or a different room altogether. Maybe you don't recognize your environment at all. Add some unexpected elements. Play some games with this to make it 340 Day 69 more interesting. This is not something you scious. However, occasionally changing cir- want to do every day, as you are trying to keep cumstances allows you to practice how you'll your plan the same to drill it into your subcon- react to the unexpected. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 70 OBE Exit Training: Big Wheel Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 am in control and at peace when out of body. After the OBE exit, 1 move away from my physical body, glancing at my astral hands and drawing AFTERNOON OBE walk-through energy into my protectable double. My vision Optional: Week 10 BrainWave Generator remains clear, my thoughts lucid and rational. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technigue (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 awaken while my body remains asleep. 1 Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) stay very calm, as 1 would during trance practice. 1 Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) use the projection methods I've been practicing to Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) raise the exit symptoms successfully. 1 slip out Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) cleanly, easily, and uneventfully. Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technigue: Big wheel technigue (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 341 342 Day 70 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Big Wheel Technique (20 Minutes) 1. This technique involves a vertical, circular, bounce-type body awareness action. Imagine a big bicycle wheel is resting upright in front of you with its rubber edge resting against you. The diameter of this wheel is taller than your height. 2. Move a single point of awareness out from your head area, up and away from you, over the circumference of the big wheel, all the way over, and then back down and around and up through your feet, legs, and body. This action does not have to be perfecdy circular. 3. Feel this point of awareness moving up through your legs and body and all your primary energy centers until it moves out of your head again. Feel this point of awareness as being heavy and solid. Move this point around and around the big wheel, passing up through your body with every circuit. 4. Vary the speed of this action until you find the most natural speed. Feel the heavy point of awareness tearing upward through your whole body with each circuit, raising energy and stimulating your entire energy body with every turn. Daily Tips Robert: When you are deeply relaxed and settled into the mind awake/body asleep state, your center of consciousness shifts into your internally generated expanded energy body. At this time, your subconscious mind and higher self rise very close to the surface and some communication becomes possible. This is the state you are aiming for when you make OBE exit attempts. So if your planned OBE exit fails, before giving up for the night, try an experiment: command yourself to project. Using strong mental words, command that you are projected out of your body immediately. Use the same rules as for affirmations. For example, mentally command "Project me out of my body," or "Out of b o d y . . . now!" or similar. Repeat this command several times. If this message gets through, your OBE exit could happen immediately. If nothing happens at this time, you may find that certain parts of your energy body will begin to develop more rapidly to allow an OBE to happen sooner than it otherwise could. Brian: Be aware of the subtlest energy movement or vibrations going through your body today. After your trance session but before you begin the exit technique, shift your awareness around your body and see if you can detect the vibrations you've been hearing so much about. If something manifests, try to coax it into spreading throughout your body and, should OBE exit symptoms begin, will yourself out of and away from your body. Day 70 3 4 3 Your Program Notes/Observations Before Moving On This week you should have: • made an assessment of your progress; • recognized problems and brainstormed solutions; • set an achievable next goal, such as becoming more relaxed or getting better at quieting your mind; • realized the ideal conditions for practicing the OBE exit; • practiced this week's OBE exit techniques. / wasn't actively trying a projection technique. I only made an affirmation to become aware should it happen on its own. The moment my head hit the pillow I got a strong falling sensation. A buzzing sensation began immediately. This time I knew what was going on so I stayed calm and made an attempt to project, but then the buzzing stopped. A few minutes later I got a really strong vibration about five inches below my right armpit. The sensation quickly moved to a spot behind my right ear. Then suddenly I felt loose, detached from my physical body but still occupying the same space! I remained cool and calm. I tried spinning around in an effort to get off the bed, but I felt like a beached whale trying to roll over. Sluggish and feeling huge, I managed to roll once or twice around but didn't find a way out. A moment later I tried it again, but this time I could only rotate from the hip upwards. I guess I'd become too aware of my physical body. After a few more minutes' contemplation I decided that enough was enough and I attempted to roll my right shoulder to get rid of the buzzing that had moved back to my side. On the first try there was no result. On the second try I did roll my shoulder, then realized it wasn't my physical shoulder moving at all. I made a stronger effort, but this time my physical shoulder did roll and the buzzing stopped. For the rest of the night, every few minutes I'd get the falling sensation and electric buzzing all over my body. I'd suddenly feel a jerk as I came to full consciousness from the mild drowsy feeling just before sleep. But all night after that I didn't actually sleep. A dream preceded all the messing around with OBE. I'm interpreting it as a depiction of a lesson learned: don't try so hard, just let go and enjoy the ride. The OBE probably aborted because I couldn't find a way to completely exit my body and eventually tried too hard. I guess I got a bit too eager. What to Expect Fasting to enhance energy levels • Wake-up time patterning - Juice fasting • Controlled sleep deficit - Water fasting • Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions • General fasting advice • More exit techniques • Substance fasting alternatives • Steam method Day-long meditation • Rocket method Influencing sleep patterns to effect • Roll out method projection • Projechng in the morning Taking Those Last Few Steps Having practiced for over two months now, hopefully you've adjusted this program in ways that work for you. You've found the best conditions and time of day, the best position and level of comfort/discomfort, and have experienced some type of OBE exit-related symptoms. If you haven't yet found the right balance, keep tweaking the program until it feels right. However, if you seem to have found your equilibrium but are still finding the OBE exit difficult and elusive, this week is especially for you. This week we'll offer some more advanced techniques for raising your levels of personal energy and willpower to help you past your 345 346 Week 1 I current plateau. We'll also provide you with a formula for manipulating your sleep that will put you in the ideal state for projecting. Finally, we'll include advice for a long meditation session and guidance for incorporating these things into your regular routine. Fasting to Enhance Personal Energy Levels Some of the biggest challenges with OBE training relate to a lack of personal willpower and self-discipline, plus low energy levels resulting from a poor diet and lack of exercise. Willpower is quite different from personality strength. Just because a person has great personality strength does not mean he or she has any self-discipline or willpower. A person can be very strong when dealing with other people but weak when it comes to disciplining himor herself. Self-discipline is completely mental. Its strength comes through exercising the will, by forcing the body to obey the mind. The mind is everything and the body feasts or starves, lives or dies, by its own will. The body and its ego will always fight back and its course is always the same, encouraging less work and effort for more pleasure and comfort. Personal willpower muscle can be built up in much the same way as any other muscle or skill: by exercising it repeatedly. When an Olympic weightlifter breaks a record, he doesn't just walk in off the street and pick up a heavy weight. He trains for years, constantly disciplining himself and lifting progressively larger and larger weights, gradually building his strength until he can lift record-breaking weights. This is exactly the same with willpower. The will must be trained and strengthened through many smaller exercises until the mind becomes strong enough to control its own physical body and ego. To progress, the mind must become strong enough to overcome any negative compulsions and urges that are interfering with its mental and spiritual health and development. One way to strengthen the will is through fasting. Fasting means abstaining from food and/or substances for set periods of time. A one-, two-, or three-day fast has some immediate advantages. First, it provides your digestive system with a cleansing rest. More importantly, it strengthens your energy body and raises your level of personal energy from which you can draw upon for projection. There are two main types of fasting: juice fasting and water fasting. Both are described below. However, before engaging in any type of fasting, please consult your medical doctor to make sure it is safe for you. If you're diabetic, pregnant, breast-feeding, or have an eating disorder, you shouldn't fast without your doctor's approval. If this is the case, other types of self-discipline can be used, such as restricting your intake of coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, chocolate, and so on. Juice Fasting Start with two complete days where you take nothing but one quart (one liter) of fruit juice and one quart (one liter) of vegetable juice. The exact quantity you need can be varied to suit. Make a fresh mix of whatever you like or Advanced Methods 347 that is in season. It's best to make the juice have another glass of each juice. It helps to fresh each morning. Remember to keep a little keep a few small lunch-sized cartons of fruit juice for when you first wake up so you can and vegetable juice (V8 is good) in the fridge have some before you start preparing that for emergencies. Also, take some with you day's juice. Use only fresh, good-quality pro- when you leave the house so you don't get duce for these juices—whatever your budget caught without juice and become tempted to allows. Ask at your local health food store for a eat. If you do leave the house, you're also going booklet of juice recipes. Cabbage, celery, cucumber, and carrot with to want to have easy access to bathrooms, as you will tend to urinate more frequently than a dash of parsley makes a good basic vegetable usual. Adding a little more salt to the vegetable juice mix. Pepper and salt and fresh herbs can juice will help. also be added to improve the taste. Apple, Take some good-quality multivitamins, plus orange, grapes, and watermelon with a dash of some additional soluble calcium and vitamin C, lemon is a good basic fruit juice mix. The plus some good-quality ginseng. Soluble cal- above should be adjusted to taste and toler- cium helps during fasting, especially water fast- ance (cabbage juice doesn't agree with some ing, to protect against weakening your teeth and people) as well as seasonal availability. bones. You will also be more lethargic and tired If you don't have a juicer already, purchase without these vitamins and minerals. Soluble one of good quality rather than a cheaper calcium has the added benefit of aiding psychic model. A cheap juicer will not last very long if abilities. Training for an OBE involves develop- you use it frequently. ing the energy body in similar ways as for psy- While freshly made juices are always best, if this isn't practical, buy the best premade juices chic abilities. Calcium is not a magic fix but it will help a little. you can afford. Do not avoid cooking or being Once you feel comfortable with a two-day around others who are eating, but keep your juice fast, extend it to three days with at least a mind focused off food. If you can handle the full week of normal eating in between each temptation, this adds value to fasting disci- fast. Never fast longer than three days without pline. Do not allow yourself to fantasize about expert advice. Try starting your juice fast after food or this will trigger uncomfortable diges- dinner on a Thursday. When you wake up Fri- tive activity. day morning you'll already be at least twelve First thing in the morning drink a glass or hours into it. By Saturday you'll be well into two of each type of juice—vegetable and the second day of the fast, which will give you fruit—plus a large glass of water to wash it Saturday and Sunday to take advantage of down. From then on drink a glass (approxi- your raised energy levels to practice having an mately five ounces) of each type every hour or OBE. You can then end your fast with a well- two. Watch the time and don't forget the deserved Sunday dinner. water. Whenever you feel hungry or weak, 348 Week 11 Water Fasting If you haven't water fasted before, it is best to begin with only one full day of fasting. Start the night before and finish the morning after the chosen day. Take nothing but pure water and lots of it, plus the same vitamins and minerals used for juice fasting. Gradually build the length of each water fast (with a decent break between each fast) until you can go a full three days. Any longer than three days can harm your health, and you will lose the willpowertraining benefit. If the mind is focused away from food, the physical body does not crave food after the second day. It is thus all psychological after this point. If you develop stomach problems while water fasting, consider taking small amounts of a mineral salts sports drink such as Gatorade a few times a day. This will help keep your electrolyte balance healthy. Fasting teas are also available from health food shops. Water fasting is difficult if you are working or going to school and need your energy because it can make you physically tired and sleepy. You will find you'll need more sleep than usual, so try to nap during the day. Try fasting on a weekend when you don't have to do anything demanding. Start on Friday after lunch and end it Sunday night or Monday morning. your lips start to dry or crack, use a lip balm and change the fruit juice mixture so it is less acidic. Rinsing your lips and mouth after drinking juice also helps. You should not consume alcohol during a fast as this loosens inhibitions. It will intensify the urge to eat and make fasting difficult. Also, do not smoke too much or drink too much strong coffee or tea, as the effects of these will be magnified. Strong coffee or tea, especially first thing in the morning, can cause nausea, dizziness, clammy skin, and even fainting. Don't try to bite off more than you can chew. Start with something relatively easy and achievable. Accomplish this and then move on to something a little more difficult. Do one thing at a time and do it well. Build on your successes and you will become progressively stronger. Begin with juice fasting, as water fasting is more difficult and you can get similar energy body benefits without the physical weakness. The first day of fasting is the most difficult, as your body is accustomed to your normal eating patterns and will crave food at mealtimes. There is also a psychological factor associated with going without when you're used to eating regularly. By the second day your physical cravings will lessen considerably, as long as you keep your mind focused away from eating. From this point on the urge to eat is mostly psychological. Fasting Tips If your breath goes stale during a fast, a saltwater mouthwash will help. Carry a small saltshaker with you and shake a little into your hand or mouth, then add water and rinse. If By the end of the second day your subtle energy levels will begin to increase; they will peak on the third day. If you can suppress thoughts of food and eating, this will improve your chances of making a successful OBE exit. Advanced Methods 349 Apart from increased energy body activity, opportunity to slow down and disengage from you'll find your stomach will feel slightly life's hurried pace, to put yourself into a qui- uncomfortable and this will provide an excel- eter and more meditative space from which to lent level of slight discomfort. think and practice. Having the peaceful luxury Remember to start slowly and progressively to spend as long as you need on each step work your way up to longer and more difficult allows you to approach the subtleties of the fasts. Take a one-week break of normal eating OBE balancing act in a more thoughtful way. between fasts. Never fast longer than three During the normal course of this program, days in a row. If you water fast for three days, you might have allotted a specific amount of take a two-week break of normal eating before time for your OBE practices. You have a set you undertake another. time to raise energy, relax, get into trance, and For more information, consult the books on fasting in appendix A. so on. Under normal time restraints, spending a longer time relaxing means you have less time for trance and energy work. Spending more time on the pre-OBE process means you Substance Fasting Alternatives have less time to practice OBE exit techniques. If you cannot fast for some reason, there are These are the limitations of working on a fixed alternatives. Consider going on a raw food daily routine. diet, a vegetarian diet, a macrobiotic diet, a When you block off several hours for med- fruit diet, or a strict calorie-controlled diet for itation and OBE practice, you no longer need a set period of time. Another alternative for to be conscious of time. This doesn't necessar- willpower training is substance fasting. Limit ily mean that a long practice session must your intake (or go without) a substance that consume your entire day. If this is impractical, you crave, like tobacco, coffee, tea, chocolate, having a few extra hours set aside on, say, a and so on. If you have an addiction problem, Sunday morning will allow a more leisurely the focus of this addiction would be a healthy approach to your OBE exercises. choice. Any of the above suggestions will help improve your willpower. Ideally, spend this time totally alone. Disable telephones and do not speak unless absolutely necessary. Do not play stimulating music, espe- Day-Long Meditation Devoting a whole day to meditation and OBE- cially vocals. Put a Do Not Disturb sign on your door and ask friends not to visit. If this is impossible, consider spending the day in a related practice has many benefits. This can quiet motel. Maintaining silence is empowering help you to identify and clear inner road- because speaking and listening—communicat- blocks that might be holding you back. It is ing at all—expends subtle energy. Maintaining also a good opportunity to reflect on your silence steadily increases your personal energy OBE progress and how you might adjust and levels. improve on your efforts. Moreover, it is an 350 Week 11 Wear comfortable clothes that suit the ambi- of what you did prior to the event, anything ent temperature. Take plenty of time to settle that might have precipitated it. This is impor- and relax thoroughly. Don't be afraid to take tant for fine-tuning your methods so later you short breaks to stretch and improve your will remember what may have worked for you. physical comfort. Sitting in the sun or taking Go through your OBE walk-through, your short, solitary walks are also good break time preprojection routine, and then practice your activities. Avoid anything too stimulating. Stay favorite OBE exit techniques. You don't have focused on grounding and centering yourself. to limit yourself to one long session. Take Keep a water bottle handy so you don't have to short breaks when you need them. Hold on to get up if you get thirsty. your calm mental state during breaks. Experi- Try to keep your mind as quiet and free of ment with different ways of sitting and/or worries as possible. It helps to keep a notepad lying down. Shift positions; vary things a little. handy. If you have distracting thoughts, for- This helps if your back or neck tends to stiffen gotten tasks, worries, or ideas, write them or ache. If, for example, you find that sitting down and deal with them later. Writing these upright for a long time causes spinal pain, down will help clear your mind of them. If a switch to a bed. If you later find yourself drift- thought still troubles you, spend some time ing off to sleep, switch back to the chair; alter- thinking about it in a deeply relaxed state. It nate as necessary. also helps if you spend some time dealing with A day-long meditation session works well troubling issues in the days preceding your in conjunction with fasting, as fasting will solitary retreat to reduce their level of poten- heighten your energy levels. The only draw- tial distraction. back with this can be more frequent trips to A notepad also allows you to record any the bathroom, especially when you're juice insights you might have during your session. fasting. One way around this is to drink twice This could be about OBEs or something as much juice half as often on your meditation totally unrelated. Often, revelations such as day. Adjust the quantity and frequency of your these come during breaks, so keep the notepad juice and water consumption till you find with you always. Inspirational thoughts from what works, but do not limit your fluids, espe- above are fleeting and tend to disappear sec- cially if you live in a warm climate. onds after they appear. For those using the BrainWave Generator Clearly, you'll also want to capture your presets in conjunction with this program, we OBE experiences. You can jot down energy have provided a six-hour meditation preset for sensations or exit symptoms when you take a extended meditation and energy work sessions. break, but do not break relaxation or trance disciplines. If something significant happens, note how you were sitting or lying, the order Advanced Methods Influencing Sleep Patterns to Effect Projection Sleep patterns can be influenced to improve the chances of OBE success. The methods below take advantage of your natural ability to project during sleep, your normal sleep patterns, and the mind's capacity to recover from a sleep deficit faster than the physical body. Each of these techniques involves variations on a central theme. Experiment and refine these only after practicing them. Make adjustments with experience. A note of caution: If you have any doubts as to your ability to manipulate your sleep patterns with safety, consult a medical doctor first. Also, when you do accumulate a sleep deficit, you should not drive, operate heavy machinery, or otherwise engage in activities that might be dangerous when your mind is overtired or were you to accidentally fall asleep. Early Morning Practice Sessions We've already mentioned the advantages of waking up early to practice projection. Most aspiring projectors have their first OBE success this way. Generally, it is much easier to relax and keep your mind clear and enter trance after a good night's sleep. When you first wake up, your body is already deeply physically relaxed and your mind is still very near the ideal OBE trance state. A good start time is two hours before you would normally wake up. Get out of bed and spend a few minutes in the bathroom making yourself comfortable and washing your face 351 with cold water. You want to have a clear head before starting, but don't drink anything that contains caffeine. When you feel sufficiently awake, go to your usual OBE practice area. When practicing OBE sessions early in the morning, keep the amount of time spent on preparation to a minimum. Start with a few minutes' breathwork and energy raising; adjust this time with experience. Next, go straight into your relaxation and pre-exit routine. Be sure to have woken up early enough so as not to feel rushed. When you go for the exit, use as much motivation as you can without tensing your physical body. Another version of early morning practice is to start using an OBE exit technique as soon as you wake up while still in bed. As soon as you wake up, change your position. This will help stop you from falling back to sleep. Roll onto your back or add extra pillows so you are more upright. Do everything you can to hold on to your deeply relaxed state, keep your mind clear, and go straight for an OBE exit. If you feel any vibrations, use the brow center trigger eye position to enhance them while you continue using your exit techniques. Wake-up Time Patterning Wake-up time patterning is designed to encourage spontaneous OBE and lucid dream experiences. This method involves practicing earlymorning OBE sessions at the same time every day, including weekends. (You can always go back to bed after the session is over.) Doing this conditions your body to wake up every morning at the same time. In the beginning, practice 352 Week 11 these morning OBE sessions for at least two body goes through the routine on its own. Pre- weeks before using the second part of the wake- exit symptoms or even an OBE may occur up time patterning technique. spontaneously and lucid dreams are possible. At the end of the two weeks, get up at the This is the whole idea behind this method: to planned time, but instead of going through encourage spontaneous experiences. Have your OBE routine, splash cold water on your your OBE notebook within easy reach. When face or take a shower as if you were getting you wake up and before you actually rise or ready to go somewhere. When you feel awake even move, spend time recalling shadow mem- and alert, go to your OBE practice area and get ories and record everything in your notebook. ready (avoid caffeine). This technique can be repeated every week. Now, instead of practicing an OBE, sit or This is most convenient if you practice having lie down and clear your mind. Make yourself an OBE early every morning on the weekdays comfortable enough to get back to sleep, but and then use a weekend morning to perform without being too comfortable. Begin as you the wake-up time patterning method described normally would, going through the relaxation above. exercise and spending several minutes practic- If you don't have success with this method ing breathwork. Recite your OBE affirmations after several attempts, consider setting an and/or say a prayer requesting an OBE. If alarm to wake you a half hour after you go to you've made a sleep programming recording sleep in your OBE practice area. For example, with affirmations on it, you can play it now at if you know through experience it takes you very low volume. If you're using the Brain- thirty minutes to get to sleep, set the alarm Wave Generator, listen to the "MAP Week 11: clock to give you an hour of uninterrupted Exit Training (Long Meditation)" preset. time: a half hour to get to sleep and a half Now let yourself fall asleep. Keep your hour of sleep time. Using an alarm with a mind clear as you do this. If your mind wan- snooze button will allow you to fall asleep and ders, gently push thoughts aside and bring it awaken several times in a short period of time, back into focus. Become aware of your body thus providing more opportunities. and feel the chair, bed, or carpet under you. Suddenly waking up from a light sleep in Focus your attention on your breathing and this way can trigger a hastier-than-usual reinte- just allow yourself to drift off. Falling asleep in gration process, which can allow you to catch this way is important, as you are trying to hold of some shadow memories immediately encourage spontaneous OBE experiences and after they are freshly downloaded. Often new not just go back to sleep. projectors will recall OBE memories that would With your body conditioned to wake up otherwise have been lost had they woken up in and practice projection at this time of the a slower, more natural way. Write down key morning, there will be a tendency for you to go words quickly or risk losing them. into a sort of autopilot where your energy Advanced Methods Controlled Sleep Deficit Method If you can't wake up early and practice having an OBE every morning, you can use the controlled sleep deficit method instead. This requires that you accumulate a sleep deficit in a regimented way. Being overtired, the next step is to go to sleep just long enough for you to refresh yourself mentally while simultaneously allowing your body to remain fatigued. Physical fatigue emulates deep physical relaxation. Next, get up and remain awake for exactly an hour before going back to sleep. The resulting state puts you in the ideal mind asleep/body awake trance state. The controlled sleep deficit method is described in detail below. Step 1: Accumulate a sleep deficit. The easiest way to accumulate a sleep deficit is to do it naturally without making a special effort. For example, if you've had several nights where you couldn't sleep deeply or for long enough, you may already have accumulated enough of a sleep deficit for this method to be effective. Note that it usually takes a significant sleep deficit for this method to work properly, so just being overtired one or two nights probably won't be enough. It is more likely that you'll have to accumulate a sleep deficit on purpose. Here's where it gets a little trickier. The controlled sleep deficit method calls for purposefully skipping a whole night of sleep using a combination of caffeine, cold showers, and/or something that will engage you mentally without the risk of you nodding off. 353 Sitting up all night talking with friends is one way to go. Another is to use an event that would keep you up late anyway, such as a party or a late-night concert, and then going home and staying up for the rest of the night. Step 2: Sleep long enough so you are mentally refreshed hut physically fatigued. Once you have a sufficient sleep deficit, it's time to go to bed. Sleep for six hours exactly. This is key. If you sleep any longer, you may have too much rest and thus have trouble getting back to sleep in step 4 of this technique. If you sleep any less you may still be mentally fatigued and not lucid enough to remember an OBE. There are two times to begin the six hours of sleep. The first option is to go to sleep late on the evening after you stayed up all night. For example, if you stayed up all night at a party on Friday, you would go to sleep late Saturday evening. This means that you would wake up after exactly six hours of sleep sometime Sunday morning. The second option is to go to sleep late in the morning after staying up all night. For example, if you stayed awake all night Friday, you would go to sleep about noon on Saturday. In this case you would wake from six hours of sleep on Saturday evening. Both ways have advantages and disadvantages. The first method (going to sleep late at night and waking up early in the morning) is more difficult to do because it requires that you stay up for a longer period of time. It also means that you get up when it's dark, cold, and quiet, which requires a little more discipline. 354 Week 11 However, the advantage here is that you are more likely to be sleepy enough for this technique to work. With the second method (going to sleep at noon on the day after your all-night awake session) has one disadvantage: you might not be tired enough to get back to sleep in step 4 of this method. However, the advantage is that you can get up in the evening when it's likely to be less dark, warmer, and easier to rise after only six hours sleep. Moreover, in the summertime it may stay light outside long enough for your projection session to take place when the sun is still out. Daylight OBEs are generally more pleasant and reassuring, which helps overcome most OBE-related trepidations. Step 3: Stay awake for an hour. Get up, splash cold water on your face or take a shower, and change into the clothes you usually use for OBE practice. Unlike the similar step in the wake-up time patterning section above where you only remain awake for five to ten minutes, this method requires a full hour of wakefulness. Spend this hour going through your walkthrough, reading your OBE journal, reciting affirmations, praying, reading OBE case files, and so on—anything OBE-related that will keep you awake and mentally engaged for a full hour. After skipping a whole night of sleep, you will still be pretty sleepy after only six hours of sleep, but that's okay. You want to be able to get to sleep relatively quickly once your hour is over. Two things are important during this step. First, you want to keep yourself awake and mentally alert. Second, try to saturate your brain with your desire to project. Step 4: Go back to sleep in your OBE practice area. Follow the steps for this as specified above in the wake-up time patterning section. Relax, do breathwork, clear your mind, and so on. Remember, how you allow yourself to fall asleep is important. You are not just trying to get back to sleep, you are trying to encourage spontaneous OBE experiences. If you practice this method more than once without success, consider using an alarm clock as specified above. Give yourself plenty of time to get back to sleep. It isn't unusual to take up to a full hour to drift off. This is not a problem, as it provides more of an opportunity for spontaneous OBE experiences to occur. If you decide to repeat this experiment at another time, you can adjust the initial six hours of sleep based on your first experience. If you couldn't get to sleep after that first six hours, try sleeping for less time beforehand. If you fell asleep too easily, sleep a bit longer so you will be more mentally refreshed. On your first attempt, sleep six hours exactly. Final Word on Advanced Methods The idea with these advanced methods is to shake up your routine and give you another approach if you have hit a wall. One thing that stands out when you study OBE case histories is that a sleep deficit is a common factor with spontaneous OBEs. As we said earlier, most people have their first OBE after waking up Advanced Methods earlier than usual and then trying to get back to sleep while they are physically fatigued but mentally alert. Sleep deficit methods need not be done here in Week 11; they can be done at any time during this program. Take advantage of naturally occurring sleep deficits and turn them into opportunities for encouraging spontaneous OBEs and lucid dreams. Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 11: Exit Training" This week's BrainWave Generator preset has three phases. The first phase lasts two minutes and features one tone that gradually and inaudibly lowers from an awake level to a slightly lower level of consciousness. Four successive notes are played at thirty-second intervals by way of an introduction. The second phase lasts six minutes and features five tones. One tone gradually lowers from an awake level to a mind awake/body asleep level. Meanwhile, quieter tones remain at a mind awake/body asleep level where they remain for the duration of the program. The third phase lasts 120 minutes and features ten tones. Six of the tones resonate at a mind awake/body asleep level while the other four remain at a higher, awake level of consciousness. The simultaneous pull toward both 355 sleeping and waking consciousness causes a slight internal tension that stimulates the energy body. Three descending triads repeat during this phase every minute in an effort to keep the mind occupied while the body falls asleep. Every five minutes two extra notes are added to the triad to denote the passage of time. The visual frequency (if you are using light goggles) begins at an awake level and gradually lowers to a mind awake/body asleep level throughout the course of the first eight minutes. It remains at a mind awake/body asleep level thereafter. Total preset duration is 128 minutes. In addition to your weekly preset, we've included a long meditation program to use in conjunction with the long meditation session described earlier. This program cycles through ten segments of various mind awake/body asleep configurations. There can be as few as three to as many as nine tones going at one time during each of the segments. The total preset duration of the long meditation session is 300 minutes. This gives you plenty of time to thoroughly complete your preprojection routine before utilizing OBE exit techniques. Reminder: The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. WEEK 11 DAILY PAGES This week's exit techniques: Steam method: Imagine becoming increasingly lighter, as if your physical body were turning into steam. The steam expands and rises, gradually getting bigger as it gently rises. Feel the perception of the room changing as the steam drifts higher and higher. Rocket method: Imagine yourself on the nose of a rocket that is about to be launched. Feel the rocket's vibrations coursing through you as it launches and feel yourself rising out of your body and room and toward the stars. See the clouds and stars fly past as you leave Earth behind and journey into the cosmos. Roll-out method: Imagine the feeling of rolling out of bed and onto the floor. Recreate this with your body awareness. Imagine this happening repeatedly, first on one side and then the other. 356 DAY 71 OBE Exit Training: Steam Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 follow my first out-of-body plan with focused, Recite morning affirmations concerted effort. 1 keep my first astral experience OBE walk-through excitedly as 1 reintegrate with my body, "1 Optional: Week 11 BrainWave Generator remember this!" brief and simple, narrating it as 1 go. 1 yell out AFTERNOON Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technigue (5 min.) EVENING 1 have the power to successfully convert a lucid Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dream into an out-of-body experience. 1 am able to Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) return to my body mentally awake while my Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) physical body sleeps. My mind remains clear of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) inner verbal dialogue as 1 use an OBE exit technigue Body loosening (5 min.) to provoke projection. OBE exit technique: Steam method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work rime: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 357 358 Day 71 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Steam Method (20 Minutes) 1. When you are ready, become aware of your whole body and of where it is in relation to the room around you. 2. Imagine yourself becoming increasingly lighter, as if your body were turning into steam. Steam expands and rises. Feel yourself becoming bigger and lighter and slowly but gently rising up and out of your physical body. Feel your perception of the room changing as you rise higher. 3. Stay aware of your physical body beneath you as you float free. Feel your whole-body awareness centered in your steam body. Feel yourself floating above your physical body. Do not hold your steam body rigid, but feel it bobbing and swaying gently. This slight floating movement makes the steam method easier to imagine. Daily Tips Robert: The steam method, like point shift whole-body awareness being held exterior to your physical body to trigger the projection reflex. This is why it is so important to imagine a new perspective—to perceive your physical body as being separate from where you are imagining and feeling yourself to be. Holding a different perspective is unnatural and thus difficult to do for any continuous length of time, but this can be accomplished for short periods of time if you concentrate. You will find that your perspective will tend to flicker back and forth between your physical body and your imagined new perspective. This is normal and you will get better at it with practice. Short changes of perspective can still trigger the projection reflex. Brian: At first I found it very difficult to hold my focus on this exercise for long periods of time. It helped me to use breath awareness to form a rhythm, which I used to slowly drift about the room. It also helped if I traveled in a certain prescribed direction. Make sure you get a sense of your perspective as your position shifts from location to location. The slowness combined with the sense of swaying and drifting is quite soothing. It is easy to blink out for short periods when using this exercise. If this happens, consider upping your level of discomfort slightly. and other similar exit techniques, relies on Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 72 OBE Exit Training: Steam Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 follow my first out-of-body plan with focused, concerted effort. 1 keep my first astral experience brief and simple, narrating it as 1 go. 1 yell out AFTERNOON OBE walk-through excitedly as 1 reintegrate with my body, "1 Optional: Week 11 BrainWave Generator remember this!" Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING 1 have the power to successfully convert a lucid Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dream Into an out-of-body experience. 1 an able to Optional: Energy raisinq (5 min.) return to my body mentally awake while my Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) physical body sleeps. My mind remains clear of Trance with third-eye trigger practice 0 5 min.) inner verbal dialogue as 1 use an OBE exit technigue Body loosening (5 min.) to provoke projection. OBE exit technique: Steam method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording fsfimoferf energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 359 360 Bay 72 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Steam Method (20 Minutes) 1. When you are ready, become aware of your whole body and of where it is in relation to the room around you. 2. Imagine yourself becoming increasingly lighter, as if your body were turning into steam. Steam expands and rises. Feel yourself becoming bigger and lighter and slowly but gendy rising up and out of your physical body. Feel your perception of the room changing as you rise higher. 3. Stay aware of your physical body beneath you as you float free. Feel your whole-body awareness centered in your steam body. Feel yourself floating above your physical body. Do not hold your steam body rigid, but feel it bobbing and swaying gently. This slight floating movement makes the steam method easier to imagine. Daily Tips Robert: Some men will find that cobweb tickling will be more intense if they have not shaved for a few days. A beard is fine, but a few days' growth seems to intensify cobwebs. Also, trimming ear and nasal hair will help reduce tickling energy movement sensations in those areas if this is a problem. While rare, cobweb sensations can manifest over the entire body. If this happens, it can be terribly distracting; like being covered in ants. However, this phenomenon also indicates strong energy movement and the severity of cobwebs will generally ease over a week or two if energy work is continued. Brian: One of the more difficult distractions for me to overcome while making exit attempts was a tingling and slight itching on my face and nose. This felt almost as if little insects were crawling across my face, giving me an overall compulsion to break trance and scratch. What helped me ultimately get past this was simple knowledge. Knowing that these were secondary conduits being activated as a result of my brow center opening helped validate that I was progressing with my energy work. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 73 OBE Exit Training: Rocket Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 follow my first out-of-body plan with focused, concerted effort. 1 keep my first astral experience brief and simple, narrating it as 1 go. 1 yell out AFTERNOON OBE walk-through excitedly as 1 reintegrate with my body, "1 Optional: Week 11 BrainWave Generator remember this!" Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING 1 have the power to successfully convert a lucid Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dream into an out-of-body experience. 1 am able to Optional: Enerqy raising (5 min.) return to my body mentally awake while my Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) physical body sleeps. My mind remains clear of Trance with third-eye trigger practice ( 1 5 min.) inner verbal dialogue as 1 use an OBE exit technique Body loosening (5 min.) to provoke projection. OBE exit technique: Rocket method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Enerqy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep proqramminq recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 36! 3 6 2 Day 73 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Rocket Method (20 Minutes) 1. When you are ready, imagine you are sitting or lying on the tip of a large rocket ship. The bulk of the huge rocket is hidden deep inside a subterranean tube beneath you. Your bed or chair is firmly attached to the tip of this rocket and enclosed by an impenetrable glass nose cone. The ceiling and walls slowly fall away, disappearing all around you to reveal the stars. 2. Feel the rocket rumble and tremble beneath you as its enormous engines fire and it slowly lifts off, taking you with it. Feel and imagine yourself slowly rising toward the stars with the great engines thundering beneath you. Feel the rocket's vibrations coursing through you and feel yourself rising out of your body and room and toward the stars. 3. Stay aware of your physical body remaining beneath you as you rise. Feel the vibrations increasing and spreading and coursing through your whole body as the rocket blasts off and roars into the star-filled night. Daily Tips Robert: Imagination is a powerful thing, and it can be made even stronger with practice— to the extent where what one imagines can be seen visually in the mind's eye. The various imagination exercises in these OBE exit techniques attempt to find acceptable and agreeable scenarios whereby your conscious and subconscious minds will allow you to hold your perspective exterior from your physical body for longer than would normally be possible. This can be related to the skill of accomplished actors totally immersing themselves in various parts—belief and confidence are the keys. Everyone is different and what works well for one person may be ineffective for another. Therein lies the reason for the variations in these scenarios. Brian: Music can be distracting and a crutch. Generally, it is not recommended to listen to music during your trance sessions, but music can have its place in your program. I've found that to be particularly true of the rocket method. Listening to film scores while imagining taking off on a rocket can offer one dramatic way to promote enthusiasm for the exit. This extra thrill can then be translated into the trance session. You don't want to take the emotions into the exit necessarily, but rather use the overwhelming sense that you are poised to break free and taking the last step to a successful conscious-exit projection. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 74 OBE Exit Training: Rocket Method Dote: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 follow my first out-of-body plan with focused, Recite morning affirmations concerted effort. 1 keep my first ostrol experience OBE walk-through excitedly as 1 reintegrate with my body, "1 Optional: Week 11 BrainWave Generator remember this!" brief and simple, narrating it as 1 go. 1 yell out AFTERNOON Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING 1 have the power to successfully convert a lucid Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dream into an out-of-body experience. 1 am able to Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) return to my body mentally awake while my Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) physical body sleeps. My mind remains clear of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) inner verbal dialogue as 1 use an OBE exit technique Body loosening (5 min.) to provoke projection. OBE exit technigue: Rocket method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 363 364 Day 74 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Rocket Method (20 Minutes) 1. When you are ready, imagine you are sitting or lying on the tip of a large rocket ship. The bulk of the huge rocket is hidden deep inside a subterranean tube beneath you. Your bed or chair is firmly attached to the tip of this rocket and enclosed by an impenetrable glass nose cone. The ceiling and walls slowly fall away, disappearing all around you to reveal the stars. 2. Feel the rocket rumble and tremble beneath you as its enormous engines fire and it slowly lifts off, taking you with it. Feel and imagine yourself slowly rising toward the stars with the great engines thundering beneath you. Feel the rocket's vibrations coursing through you and feel yourself rising out of your body and room and toward the stars. 3. Stay aware of your physical body remaining beneath you as you rise. Feel the vibrations increasing and spreading and coursing through your whole body as the rocket blasts off and roars into the star-filled night. Daily Tips Robert: Belief can be a powerful ally in the pursuit of an OBE. This is the whole point behind the use of affirmations: to make you believe and realize something more strongly than you otherwise would. Believing that you are actually outside your physical body with a new perspective of the room and that your physical body is behind or beneath you is an important factor in making these types of OBE exit techniques work. While you are using these techniques, try to convince yourself to feel and to realize and to truly believe that you are actually outside your body already. The more conviction you put into this role the more likely you will be to trigger the projection reflex. Brian: What helped make this technique work best for me was to get a sense of lift as the rocket took off. I would put my concentration into feeling this massive amount of energy being unleashed beneath me, something entirely beyond my control to stop or even alter. Feel as if you are being compelled upward and you couldn't stop yourself even if you wanted to. Remain calm and relaxed but nevertheless completely helpless to curb the process unfolding around you. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 75 OBE Exit Training: Roll-out Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 follow my first out-of-body plan with focused, concerted effort. 1 keep my first astral experience brief and simple, narrating it as 1 go. 1 yell out AFTERNOON OBE walk-through excitedly as 1 reintegrate with my body, "1 Optional: Week 11 BrainWave Generator remember this!" Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breoth technigue (5 min.) EVENING 1 have the power to successfully convert a lucid Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dream into an out-of-body experience. 1 am able to Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) return to my body mentally awake while my Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) physical body sleeps. My mind remains clear of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) inner verbal dialogue as 1 use an OBE exit technique Body loosening (5 min.) to provoke projection. OBE exit technique: Roll-out method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 365 3 6 6 Day 75 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Roll-out Method (20 Minutes) 1. Feel yourself rolling to the side as if you were rolling over and out of bed. First try one side, then the other. 2. Repeat this action as many times as necessary. Get a whole-body awareness feeling into the body roll as if you were really doing it. Try to convince yourself that this is real. Do not allow your physical body to tense or respond to this action in any way. Daily Tips Robert: Rolling out of body is a popular and versatile OBE technique. It makes use of a natural whole-body awareness movement that you have done thousands of times and can thus easily imagine. This method is especially useful if a spontaneous projection has already started or if you find yourself partially stuck to your body during an exit attempt. The roll-out method should be used as a standard variation with all other techniques. For example, if you are using the rope or ladder method, climb for a couple of minutes, then use the roll-out method for ten seconds or so, then go back to climbing, and so on. Using a variety of techniques during OBE exit attempts can make all the difference. Brian: This method is a great technique for getting the energy sensations going, especially if you do a little additional visualization before the final roll out. I usually lie on my back once I've gone through the OBE preparation procedure and imagine myself turned slightly to the right at the one o'clock position. I imagine how the room is around me with this slightly skewed perspective, then once I've got it I'll imagine myself turned a little more at the two o'clock position. Then I repeat it, moving to three o'clock, four o'clock, and so on, all the way around the clock, taking it very slowly. Gradually I speed up the process until I feel myself start to move in a smooth spin. After doing this for a little while I stop and reverse the direction, again, taking it slow at first. This takes some time to master but the results are amazing. Once you start feeling the energy sensations, try repeating the roll out as mentioned in the instructions. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 76 OBE Exit Training: Roll-out Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 follow my first out-of-body plan with focused, concerted effort. 1 keep my first astral experience brief and simple, narrating it as 1 go. 1 yell out AFTERNOON OBE walk-througb excitedly as 1 reintegrate with my body, "1 Optional: Week 11 BrainWave Generator remember this!" Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technigue (5 min.) EVENING 1 have the power to successfully convert a lucid Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dream into an out-of-body experience. 1 am able to Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) return to my body mentally awake while my Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) physical body sleeps. My mind remains clear of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) inner verbal dialogue as 1 use an OBE exit technique Body loosening (5 min.) to provoke projection. OBE exit technigue: Roll-out method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 367 368 Day 76 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Roll-out Method (20 Minutes) 1. Feel yourself rolling to the side as if you were rolling over and out of bed. First try one side, then the other. 2. Repeat this action as many times as necessary. Get a whole-body awareness feeling into the body roll as if you were really doing it. Try to convince yourself that this is real. Do not allow your physical body to tense or respond to this action in any way. Daily Tips Robert: Cleanliness enhances OBE-related practices because freshly cleaned skin conducts subtle energy movement better. You will have more success if you bathe beforehand and use fresh clothes and linen, and so on. Foreign substances like dirt and grime and stale sweat interfere with subtle energy movement. This particularly applies to the brow center and the buildup of dust particles at the back of the nasal passages. This interferes with the functioning of the brow center. Clearing out nasal passages helps tremendously. Brian: Consider devoting a day to OBE practice. This is how I've structured such days: I get up at the time I normally do on weekdays. I don't like to be too well rested. Generally, I've started juice fasting a couple of days before to get my energy levels up. I'll start with a walk and a hot shower, then begin my practice session. I'll go through the normal routine, taking a little extra time to stimulate my primary energy centers, then psych myself up for the exit. The trance sessions themselves can last anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half, alternating between using a hard-backed chair and lying down. During breaks I'll take walks or sit out in the sun to clear my head and to keep me grounded. I've had amazing results at getting the vibrations using this method, so give it a try if you have the time. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 77 OBE Exit Training: Roll-out Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 follow my first out-of-body plan with focused, concerted effort. 1 keep my first astral experience Recite morninq affirmations brief and simple, narrating it as 1 go. 1 yell out AFTERNOON OBE walk-through excitedly as 1 reintegrate with my body, "1 Optional: Week 11 BrainWave Generator remember this!" Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technigue (5 min.) EVENING 1 have the power to successfully convert a lucid Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dream into an out-of-body experience. 1 am able to Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) return to my body mentally awake while my Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) physical body sleeps. My mind remains clear of Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) inner verbal dialogue as 1 use an OBE exit technique Body loosening (5 min.) to provoke projection. OBE exit technique: Roll-out method (20 min.) Write proqram notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 369 370 Day 77 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Roll-out Method (20 Minutes) 1. Feel yourself rolling to the side as if you were rolling over and out of bed. 2. Repeat this action as many times as necessary. Get a whole-body awareness feeling into the body roll as if you were really doing it. Do not allow your physical body to tense or respond to this action in any way. Daily Tips Robert: Something similar to the roll-out method can also be used when you experience OBE exit sensations but then they stop and you find yourself paralyzed but awake. In this case, you have probably already projected out of body, but one aspect of your self has been left awake inside your physical/expanded energy body at the same time. Here you need to keep your mind clear and relaxed in preparation for the return of your projected double, but you also need to stop yourself from getting bored and falling asleep. To accomplish this and also make good use of this time, experiment with the abilities of your expanded energy body. You cannot project the expanded energy body, but you can do some pretty amazing stuff with it all the same. If you have astral sight, try playing with the focus of your eyes, which "tunes" the brow center like a TV receiver. Also, try rolling inside your body. Just as with the roll-out exit method, with practice you'll find you can move around inside yourself, even to the extent of facing the other way. This takes effort but it can be done. If you have astral sight at this time, your perspective will change and you will be able to see behind yourself. When your projected double returns, you'll feel a tingling rush up through your body. Now is the time to focus on shadow memory recall. Brian: Finding long stretches of time to practice can be challenging. I think you'll find that the time it takes to do the actual exercise varies from day to day. The most important thing is that you allow enough time so you do not feel rushed. Like many things, you'll get out of your OBE practice session what you put into it. Your Program Notes/Observations Day 77 3 7 1 Before Moving On This week you should have: • an understanding of how various types of fasting increases energy levels and builds willpower muscles; • insights into manipulating your sleep patterns to heighten your chances of OBE success; • scheduled a long meditation session where you can take your time with the OBE routine; • practiced all of this week's exit techniques. / tried to meditate but had been drifting in and out of sleep. I had done rope and other projection techniques but had given up and was now just trying to keep my mind blank. I kept pulling myself out of sleep, telling myself I was supposed to be meditating and not sleeping. At one point I felt a familiar tingling in my body and knew that this was it. I felt a moment of fear and resisted the projection impulse and the tingling started to subside. I thought to myself, "It's now or never. If I come across something I don't like then I'll just have to deal with it." I relaxed and let go, thinking to myself, "I trust in God, I trust in God, I trust in God," over and over. I was frightened; I couldn't help it. The tingling had increased to a frenzy. I felt like every nerve in my body was "zinging" and vibrating at sonic speed. Just when I thought it was getting too much for me, it stopped. Everything was quiet. I thought, "Darn, it didn't work." Then, after a moment, I had this weird heavy sensation, like I was being sat upon by another body. My legs flattened, then my stomach, my chest. It didn't hurt and I didn't mind but it was heavy and usually the sort of thing that would have panicked me, but I was trying to figure out what was going on. I felt all these things yet I couldn't see much. I did see my lower legs move when they were being flattened and I had an image of my stomach being flattened but I think that is only because that is what it felt like. I had no astral sight. My mind was totally confused as to where I was, here or there, lying on the bed or off it. I just didn't know what was going on. Suddenly there were loud sounds of smashing glass and I felt something like an electric shock. Suddenly I could see. Right away I noticed that my bedroom door was open. Then I looked further into the hall (don't know how I could do this when I was lying on the bed) and I saw a policeman. All this time I was struggling to get awake and it was really difficult. I couldn't get myself together. I was panicking, trying to wake up. I was wondering what the policeman was doing in my house, then I remembered the sound of broken glass. Somebody must have broken in and I was in such a deep trance I hadn't heard anything. I finally managed to wake myself up and, leaping out of bed, I looked in the hall. Nobody was there. HTTer the Exit What to Expect Strength and vitality issues • Self-hypnosis recording script Reasoning problems • Using shadow memory trigger phrases Sight and visual complications • Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions Body magnetism • Exit techniques A fearful presence • Boomerang method Astral feedback • Walking and falling method Recovering OBE memories • Driving method Self-hypnosis for recall A Quality Projection Experience While this program is primarily focused on learning how to have conscious-exit projections, it's also important to touch upon what happens after the exit. If you are to carry out your OBE walk-through the way you've been rehearsing, you'll need to be familiar with some of the complications you might encounter when you first leave your body. Your projectable double's level of energy determines the quality, strength, lucidity, and memorability of your OBE. Remaining lucid and successfully downloading OBE memories are always challenging. Moreover, complications with clarity, sight, vitality, body 573 374 Week 12 magnetism, distorted reasoning, and various This technique works best in the real-time forms of astral feedback can also interfere zone and isn't as effective during very low- with OBE quality. energy projections because then you may not This week we'll cover the common symp- even have the strength to look at your hands. toms of low-energy projection and ways to Should this occur, spending more time rais- compensate. We'll also discuss the effects of ing energy prior to an OBE will help. Also, if remaining too close to your physical body after you fall and can't glance at your hands, try the exit. Finally, we'll provide tips on heighten- focusing all your attention and body aware- ing lucidity and extending time out of body, ness on feeling your projected double (i.e., plus more on recovering shadow memories. the subtle body in which you are currently centered). This will often help regain some Strength and Vitality Issues mobility. Once you can move, glance briefly at your hands and your mobility should fur- It's possible to have enough energy to project ther improve. If this happens, it is advisable successfully but then be unable to move around to make a deliberate re-entry immediately to easily after the exit. The same thing can occur give yourself the best chance of holding on to several minutes into a real-time OBE, when your shadow memories. your physical body begins to fall more deeply A deliberate re-entry is the best way to cap- asleep and the dream mind becomes active, all ture shadow memories, but you must do this of which drains energy from your projected with strong emotion to overwrite any physical double. This can result in a profound loss of body or dream memories. Yell out something strength, often causing your projected double like, "I will remember this!" and just dive into to fall helplessly to the floor in slow motion, your body. Be sure to record key words imme- unable to move. diately. No matter how clear and distinct these One solution is to regularly glance at your may be when you awaken, they'll fade quickly hands during an OBE. Where your attention and may disappear in a few seconds. A ten- goes, so, too, goes your energy and conscious- second OBE remembered is worth more than ness. Glancing at your hands causes some- all of your forgotten ones put together. thing like a mild shock between your physical body and your projected double. This temporarily disempowers the dream mind and Reasoning Problems causes energy to flow into your projectable If you've projected and find your mind starts double, giving it a quick boost of vitality. By getting confused and muddled (losing men- glancing at your hands every twenty seconds tal clarity), glancing at your hands can also or so (or whenever you have problems), you improve reasoning ability. Do this repeatedly, can remain in control for longer than would briefly glancing at your hands every twenty otherwise be possible. seconds or so to prolong lucidity. A running After the Exit 375 commentary (describing what one is seeing simple one-two-three-step logic from occur- and doing) also helps maintain lucidity. The ring properly. mental activity involved with this keeps the Another way one's normal sensibilities can mind of the projected double active and differ from waking reality is the tendency to be focused. more sexually excitable during an OBE. In the Projecting into the astral (see Week 13) is out-of-body state, unstable subtle energies another way to rise above the inherent tensions (including sexual energy) can escalate the of operating in the real-time zone. Doing so slightest thought into action. It doesn't take eases constraints that limit longer projections much for things to get rolling. Just a brief in the real-time zone. Astral plane projections moment of sexual curiosity can trigger the are generally more stable and durable than rapid onset of astral sex. Astral sex problems real-time zone projections. are most likely to occur in the real-time zone One's reasoning processes will often become and the lower astral planes. distorted during an OBE. A typical example of Because of the tension it causes (not to distorted logic goes something like this: A pro- mention its effect on the physical body), an jector induces his first OBE exit and finds him- astral sex encounter will quickly end an OBE. self out of body. He explores a little and then Avoid conditioning yourself to have sexual returns to his physical body for a deliberate re- experiences when you encounter the opposite entry. He tries to re-enter his physical body but sex during an OBE. This kind of behavior is fails. He tries to shake his body awake, but it addictive and will slow the development of feels cold and clammy and lifeless. He panics, OBE abilities and lower your potential for yells for help, and makes other efforts to rouse reaching higher-quality astral levels. To avoid his body, all to no avail. Eventually, he con- astral sex, keep your distance from others dur- cludes that he has died and falls into despair. ing an OBE and quickly leave the area if sexual Later, his physical body wakes naturally and he thoughts appear in your mind. is automatically pulled back into it and reintegrated. (The resulting memory will always contain high energy, so is likely to be remembered clearly.) Sight and Visual Complications Visual perceptions in the out-of-body state Let's take a look at the logic in the above can vary a great deal. At its best, out-of-body example. The projector knows he just induced sight is far more vivid than normal physical an OBE and should realize that the cold and sight. It's as if everything around you is per- clammy feel of his physical body and inability fectly in focus all at once. Many new colors to re-enter it is probably an astral phenome- exist in the astral—colors that don't exist in non and not physical death. Yet something the physical dimension—and the high quality about the out-of-body state can prevent that of illumination can make our physical world seem drab and colorless. 376 Week 12 At its worst, you will lack any visual perception at all; everything will be completely black. Yet you'll usually know where you are and what is around you. This is like how you can find your way around your home in the dark, knowing where you are in relation to walls and furniture. It's the same kind of spatial perception and knowing. There are several levels of vision distortion between perfect astral sight and blindness. You might find your vision is dark and distorted, like you are wearing a really bad pair of fogged sunglasses. You might find that part of your field of vision is hazy or grayed out. You might find yourself blind in one eye or have blurred or tunnel vision. What you see may also come in and out of focus. Any object that is focused on during an OBE, especially in the real-time zone, will be affected. It may start melting or it may change or morph into something else. It is the act of focusing on something for too long that causes these changes. This peculiar effect is variable and its cause is unclear, but this probably rests deep in the subconscious mind. To avoid affecting objects in the OBE environment in this way it is advisable not to focus overlong on any object. Just note it, shift your gaze, and keep moving. Staying in motion is another good way to keep a projection stable. Reading text and numbers in the out-ofbody state is bit of a hit-or-miss affair. You might look at a page of text that at first glance seems perfectly clear, but then it starts jumbling into nonsense. The cause of this problem seems partly related to how any object that is focused on tends to be altered by that focus, and also to a peculiar type of astral dyslexia. Pages of text that first look neat and meaningful rapidly deteriorate if focused upon. A line or two can usually be read okay, but then the words start to jumble and reverse and letters get all mixed up until you end up with an unreadable mess. Little of what has been read can usually be remembered after the OBE. This is very much like how people with dyslexia describe their reading problems. Astral dyslexia may relate to how most people read in the real world and may, in fact, relate to the physical condition of dyslexia. Most people read using subvocalization—reading thoughts aloud in their heads as spokenthought words (like an internal dialogue). A different way of reading, called visual recognition, works better in the astral. This is where lines of words are scanned whole instead of being read word by word. This uses the principles of speed-reading, where lines are quickly scanned using visual recognition alone. With speed-reading, information is taken in directly without subvocalizing the words. Comprehension is generally poor to begin with but steadily improves with practice. Reading speeds of many thousands of words per minute can be achieved with speed-reading methods. The cure for astral dyslexia-type reading problems is to learn a speed-reading method. In this way a page of text can be scanned rapidly so more information can be gained before the page of text becomes jumbled and nonsensical. Close proximity to your physical body can also contribute to vision problems. It's always a good idea to move away from your physical After the Exit body immediately after the exit. When you're 377 ble for available energy. Under these circum- too close, your projected double can also pick stances, loss of strength and vitality, muddle - up sensory input from its physical counter- headedness, and loss of lucidity can result. A part, especially when it is still mentally awake sense of duality—that you are existing in and has astral sight (discussed in Week 13). two places simultaneously—can also accom- If things are dark or blurry, simply demand- pany body magnetism. With duality, you'll ing better light and clarity will often work. often receive sensory input from two differ- Firmly command "Give me light!" or "Give me ent perspectives: from your physical body clarity!" and light and clarity will usually be and from your projected double. restored. The reason why this works seems A second reason for body magnetism occurs related to the power of the subconscious mind. when your physical body/mind starts to fall The subconscious mind works behind the too deeply asleep. In this case, magnetic pres- scenes and has vastly stronger creative ability sure can be associated with the loss of strength, than the conscious mind. It makes sense that a decrease in lucidity, and exaggerated reality this creative strength would be more available fluctuations as the dream mind begins to during an OBE than it is in the normal waking engage. state. In effect, by making a firm statement like If you experience body magnetism, our "Give me light!" you are giving a direct order to best advice is to get at least twenty feet (five your subconscious mind. This is like a super- meters) from your physical body. This should powerful affirmation, but in the sensitive OBE ease the tension between your physical and environment, results can be instantaneous. projected aspects. Yet even at this distance you may still feel some pressure. Keep moving Body Magnetism away from your physical body until the pressure disappears. Once you've projected, there are a few compli- Since this magnetic pressure does not occur cations you might encounter that involve the when you're operating in the astral (i.e., outside proximity of your physical body. One such the real-time zone), another means to over- complication is a sense of body gravity. This come this is to launch into the astral planes. feels like an invisible tether is attached to your Directions for getting to the astral from the projected double that's trying to pull you back real-time zone are discussed in Week 13. into your physical body. There are two possible reasons for this happening. First, it could be that your physi- A Fearful Presence cal body/mind is still too awake. In this case Another complication of your astral double there may be a struggle between your awake remaining too close to your physical body is body/mind aspect and your projected dou- the fearful presence syndrome. In this situation 378 Week 12 your physical body/mind aspect remains lucid and aware, usually in a fully paralyzed state, after a successful projection has occurred. Try to imagine it: You felt the exit symptoms—the vibrations, heart center activity, the sense of falling and inner motion—but then everything stopped with no exit being apparent. In fact, your projectable double effectively separated and is now gliding about the room. But your physical aspect is unaware of this, as your shadow memories (the memories of your projected double) have not yet been downloaded. In this situation it's possible for your physical body, paralyzed and in trance, to detect a very distinct ghosdy presence in the room. You might even hear something moving about nearby and may even catch glimpses of a ghostly image. Needless to say, this can cause alarm, even terror, for your physical body/ mind. The fear and emotion this can cause will form strong memories that will prohibit a successful shadow memory download after your unsuspected OBE. This leaves you with only the physical body/mind's memories of a traumatic experience. It is important to know that should you sense or hear a presence in the room with you, especially after an apparently unsuccessful OBE exit leaves you paralyzed or with extreme heaviness and lethargy, the source of this disturbance is most likely your own projected double. Do your best to relax and clear your head and wait for reintegration to take place. If you (meaning your projected double) follow your OBE plan, this will not be long. The more relaxed and tranquil your mind, the more likely your shadow memories will successfully download. When you successfully project, make the projection attempt short as planned. Stay away from your physical body and do not look at it, follow your walk-through, and then return to your physical body in fairly short order. This lessens the chances that you might disturb and frighten your own physical self. When you have more experience, leave your room as soon as you have projected and only return for re-entry. Astral Feedback By far, the severest possible complication of remaining too close to your physical body after the exit is a phenomenon called astral feedback. This happens when the physical body/mind remains awake, alert, and with astral sight and observes and telepathically connects with its own projected double. As you might imagine, this is a pretty rare situation. Normally, it only happens to advanced projectors who can stay conscious and gain astral sight in their physical/expanded energy counterparts after the exit. Still, it occasionally can happen to new projectors inadvertently, so it's a good thing to know. Astral feedback is something like the feedback one might hear on a PA system when the microphone is so sensitive it can hear itself listening to itself listening to itself and so on. It's the narrowing circle of feedback between the microphone and speaker that's responsible for the high-pitched sound that spills out into the upper registers. After the Exit 379 Astral feedback takes place when the awake alarm to prematurely end an OBE during physical body/mind becomes aware of the practice sessions to induce shadow memory mind of its projected double, which in turn downloads. becomes aware of the mind of its physical An excellent method for recalling OBE body/mind, which in turn becomes aware of memories is to use self-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis the mind of its projected double, and so on. is a guided way to enter a trance state. Using Such an infinite circle of telepathic feedback relaxation and stair-descending imagery, you can cause an incredible sense of dizziness, enter a form of the mind awake/body asleep nausea, weakness, and disorientation in both state. This leaves you open to suggestion as the physical body/mind and its nonphysical well as permitting access to levels of mind that projected counterpart. This is like holding two are normally inaccessible during your waking mental mirrors up facing each other so they state. This can allow you to tap into memories reflect back and forth to infinity. that would otherwise be beyond your reach. The solution in this situation is for your Having practiced trance work these past projected double to turn and move quickly several weeks, you should now be an excellent away from your physical body. Distance breaks subject for hypnosis. In the section below the telepathic feedback circuit and recovery is we've outlined a script for creating your own swift. The you in your physical body/mind self-hypnosis recording aimed at improving should also attempt to look away, as astral shadow memory recall. In addition, this uses sight is a prime ingredient in the astral feed- key-phrase conditioning for helping you more back loop. An astral feedback encounter with easily recall OBE memories. one's self also has the effect of causing a solid Live or recorded, the human voice works shadow memory download, so this can be a best for self-hypnosis. Reading through the useful (albeit slightly unpleasant) way to script below and trying to give yourself the recover shadow memories. However, this can OBE memory cues mentally during a trance be done with minimal discomfort, as long as session will not be as effective as a voice record- the astral feedback connection is kept brief. ing. Be sure to write down any information you receive in your OBE notebook after listening to Self-Hypnosis to Recall Shadow Memories your recording. Like shadow memories, trance experience memories fade quickly and details will be lost unless captured on paper. So far you've learned several methods of enhancing shadow memory recall. You've written key words in your dream notebook and Self-Hypnosis Recording Script used slight discomfort to prevent your body When you narrate your self-hypnosis record- from going too deeply asleep during an ing, use a slow, measured, drowsy voice. Talk OBE. You might even have used a wake-up the way you would if you were gently trying to 380 Week 12 wake a child. At the same time, speak as if you were really, really bored. Remember, the idea is to put yourself "to sleep" when you listen to the recording, so use a voice that would be conducive to making you drift off. If the sound of your own voice bothers you, ask a friend to narrate the recording. Note: Narrate the following, but do not say the words enclosed in square brackets ([]). The entire lower half of your body is now completely comfortable and tension-free. Warm. Light. Relaxed. [Pause. ] Now begin to relax your stomach. Feel the tension drain away from your stomach muscles. [Pause.] Allow your chest muscles to relax. [Pause.] Feel a warm sense of relaxation rise up from your back and spread past your shoulder blades and up through your shoulders. Let your shoulders go completely loose and limp. Recording Script [Ten seconds of silence.] Allow that warm feeling of relaxation to drain down into your upper arms. Down through your lower arms. [Pause.] Feel your hands and fingers relax and go limp. Let the tension drain away from them completely. Take a deep breath. [Pause.] Let it out slowly, calmly. Relax. [Pause.] Take another deep breath. [Pause.] As you release it, feel all the tired, used, stale energy leaving your body. As you inhale, feel new, clean, bright energy coming into your body. Filling your body. Filling your mind. [Pause. ] Take another deep breath. [Pause.] Let it out slowly, feeling all of your worries, tensions, and anxieties flowing out of your body. [Pause. ] Relax. [Fifteen seconds of silence. ] Okay, I want you to feel your body begin to relax. Start with your feet. Feel each one of your toes begin to relax. [Pause.] Feel the relaxation gradually drift down through your feet, relaxing your feet. [ Ten seconds of silence. ] Allow your calves to relax. Feel all the tension drain from your calves. Relax them completely. [Ten seconds of silence.] Feel your thighs and your buttocks relax. Let them go loose and limp. Let all of the tension slip away. Relax them utterly. [Ten seconds of silence.] [ Ten seconds of silence. ] Now feel the relaxation spread out across your face. Let your face muscles go completely relaxed and limp. [Pause.] Feel the tension filter out of your head and neck muscles. Your head and neck muscles are now completely relaxed. [Ten seconds of silence.] Your entire body is now utterly relaxed and at ease. You feel warm and drowsy. Your limbs feel very heavy and tired. You are very sleepy, so sleepy. [ Ten seconds of silence. ] Imagine a staircase going down somewhere just in front of you. [Pause.] Imagine that you are walking now, walking down the stairs, as I count backward from ten to one. Ten. Walking down, down, down, down. Nine. Walking down, down, down, down. Eight. Walking down, down, down, down. After the Exit Seven. Walking down, down, down, down. Six. Walking down, down, down, down. Five. Walking down, down, down, down. Four. Walking down, down, down, down. Three. Walking down, down, down, down. Two. Walking down, down, down, down. One. Walking down, down, down, down. [Fifteen seconds of silence. J You are now very relaxed. Very sleepy. Very deep. In a few seconds you are going to go even deeper. [Pause.] Continue to walk down the stairs as I count backward from ten to one. Ten. Walking down, down, down, down. Nine. Walking down, down, down, down. Eight. Walking down, down, down, down. Seven. Walking down, down, down, down. Six. Walking down, down, down, down. Five. Walking down, down, down, down. Four. Walking down, down, down, down. Three. Walking down, down, down, down. Two. Walking down, down, down, down. 381 [Ten seconds of silence.] In a moment, I am going to direct you to recall your most recent out-of-body experience. I'm going to count down from the number three and when I say the number one, memories of your most recent out-of-body experience will begin to filter in to your conscious mind. You might experience this as a series of images. You might experience this in the form of sounds or colored lights. Or it may be simply a matter of just remembering and knowing. However the memory comes, simply let it flow into your conscious mind without analyzing it or judging it. Simply let the information flow at a natural pace. [Five seconds of silence. ] Okay, I'm going to count back from three now and when I do, the memories will start flowing back. [Pause.] Three. [Pause.] Two. [Pause.] One. [Five minutes of silence. ] One. Walking down, down, down, down. [Fifteen seconds of silence. ] You are now very, very sleepy and relaxed. Perfectly safe. Perfectly at ease. Very, very deep. [Pause.] You feel a bright warm light filtering down from above and filling every part of your body and mind. This light protects every part of your being. You are perfectly safe, perfectly at ease. Very good. Now, all of the memories and impressions that came to you during this session will be perfectly accessible when you awaken. You will remember it all with full, multidimensional clarity. When you get up, you will write down your impressions with as much detail as possible in your OBE notebook. The more you write, the more the memories of the experience will come flooding back. [Fifteen seconds of silence.] Your mind is now very clear and open to recalling memories of your out-of-body experiences. The memories of your out-of-body experiences are completely accessible to your conscious mind. You absolutely have the power to recall your out-of-body experiences. [Fifteen seconds of silence. ] From now on, when you are having an outof-body experience, you will focus on the words crystal-clear memory. The words crystalclear memory will be a key for you to unlock the memories of your out-of-body experiences in great detail. When you wake up in the 382 Week 12 morning and are trying to remember your OBEs, simply saying the words crystal-clear memory to yourself will cause you to recall your experiences. When you are in trance, saying the words crystal-clear memory will cause memories of your OBEs to surface in your subconscious mind. [Fifteen seconds of silence.] From now on, when you are having an outof-body experience, you will focus on the words crystal-clear memory. The words crystalclear memory will be a key for you to unlock the memories of your out-of-body experiences in great detail. When you wake up in the morning and are trying to remember your OBEs, simply saying the words crystal-clear memory to yourself will cause you to recall your experiences. When you are in trance, saying the words crystal-clear memory will cause memories of your OBEs to surface in your subconscious mind. Five. Become aware of your body now, your arms and legs, hands and feet. Six. Yawn and take a deep breath. Seven. Begin to stretch your legs. Stretch your arms. Eight. Take another deep breath. Feel clean, light energy filling your body. Nine. Begin to move your arms, move your legs. [Fifteen seconds of silence.] In a moment you are going to wake up. I will count up from one to ten and when you hear the number ten, you will be perfectly awake, attentive, and refreshed. You will feel very calm and tranquil, happy to be alive. All of your OBE memories will be intact and accessible, ready for you to write them down in your notebook. If while listening to the recording you find it difficult to get any memories after a minute or two, try making something up. See yourself hovering above your body at nighttime. Imagine yourself wandering around your house at night. Visualize yourself flying over your neighborhood. Don't take it too seriously, just make up a scenario and, whatever it is, write it down in your journal and note that these memories are in response to stuff that you made up. [Pause.] One. Feel yourself rising, ascending and coming back up. Two. Rising, higher and higher. Three. Coming back up, gently rising. Four. Ascending, ascending. Beginning to wake up now. Ten. Wake up. Open your eyes, sit up, and stretch. You are now awake and alert. Notes on Using Your Hypnosis Recording It will take at least three weeks of regular use (four or five sessions a week) before you become conditioned to the hypnosis recording's key word suggestions. Keep it up. The more you use the key words, the more effective they'll become. Each time you find yourself having difficulties, make up an OBE memory. After practice with the recording, you'll no longer have to do this. The memories will start appearing naturally. The exercise of making something up is After the Exit merely so you'll learn to accept and trust the information as it comes to you. Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 12: Exit Training" This week's BrainWave Generator preset has two phases. The program features six tones. During the first phase, which lasts ten minutes, one tone lowers from an awake level to a mind awake/ body asleep level. Meanwhile, the other five, quieter tones remain at a mind awake/body asleep level, where they remain for the duration of the program. Many of the latter tones are also modulated to make it seem like the sound is spinning around your head at different rates. 383 The visual frequency (if you are using light goggles) begins at an awake level and gradually lowers to a mind awake/body asleep level throughout the course of the first ten minutes. It remains at a mind awake/body asleep level thereafter. Be sure to use the preprojection routine and exit techniques while listening to the program. Total preset duration is 1 2 0 minutes. Reminder: The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. WEEK 12 DAILY PAGES This week's exit techniques: Boomerang method: Bounce a point of your awareness from your brow center across the room to a target on the opposite wall (or ceiling if lying down). Feel your perception of the room suddenly change as your point of awareness hits the target. Briefly feel yourself there, being aware of where your physical body is behind you. Then, when you bounce your point of awareness back to your brow center, feel your perception change back to your physical body. Repeat the bounce action and settle into a comfortable rhythm. Walking and falling method: Everyone has experienced stumbling and catching themselves. For example, you put a foot down on a step that isn't there. Use the memory of the feeling of sudden, unexpected falling while simultaneously remaining perfectly relaxed and still. Driving method: Imagine driving on a road with trees and buildings moving past on either side. See the horizon in the distance and try to feel the forward movement using the memory of driving to get a sense of actual motion. Feel yourself moving toward the horizon and feel it moving toward you. 35^ DAY 78 OBE Exit Training: Boomerang Method Dote: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 readily recall my out-of-body experiences. 1 understand the temporary nature of the OBE memory and immediately record the key words to AFTERNOON OBE walk-through my astral travels, expanding on the details as soon Optional: Week 12 BrainWave Generator as possible. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breoth technique (5 min.) EVENING Toniqht 1 have a lucid dream. 1 realize 1 am Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dreaming and take control of my environment. 1 Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) manifest the exit symptoms and successfully Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) project. 1 draw energy to my astral body until the Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) dimension around me is clear and my mind is Body loosening (5 min.) completely alert. OBE exit technique: Boomerang method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 385 386 Day 78 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Boomerang Method (20 Minutes) 1. Pick a target on the ceiling above your bed or high on the wall opposite you if you're sitting. This can be a light fixture, picture, or anything, or you can affix a target there instead. Stand on your bed or a chair and get the feel of what it is like to be right up close to this target. Lock the image of the target into your memory. Get the feel of how the furniture, windows, doors, and bed all look and feel from there while you are facing the target. Memorize what it feels like to be at the target area. 2. Spend a little extra time stimulating your brow center using the extra brow center stimulation method given earlier in Week 4. Hold your point of awareness in your brow center. Next, bounce your point of awareness away and feel it touch the target, then rebound it back to your brow center in your physical body. Try to feel and see this happening in your imagination. 3. As you bounce outward and your point of awareness touches the target, for that single moment briefly become aware of being at that location, as if your face were right up next to the target. Feel this with your awareness and imagination. The details of this action do not have to be precise. A vague blurring feeling, the room changing, feeling yourself bouncing off the target, and being there with this new perspective being momentarily highlighted in your mind's eye is all that is required. 4. As you rebound your point of awareness back to your physical body, feel your perception of the room suddenly shift back to your brow center. Briefly be aware of and try to see in your mind's eye the target across the room from the perspective of your physical body. 5. Repeat this process, continually bouncing back and forth between your brow center and your target, until the projection reflex is triggered. If you feel close to projection during this but it does not actually happen, change to another technique like rope, ladder, or rolling out to finish the exit. 6. Once underway, this action causes a blurring in the mind's eye, with the target being seen and felt briefly from two different perspectives: from the brow center and then from up close to the target alternately. It is not necessary to keep close track of what happens between these points in the mind's eye; feeling this change in your perception is enough. Each bounce, in or out, should take about one second each way, but this speed should be varied to suit what feels natural to you. Daily Tips Robert: This technique uses a rapid onepointed bounce action from the brow center Day 78 387 to the target. It neatly overcomes the difficul- Brian: The boomerang method is one of my ties encountered when trying to hold a point favorites because it's easy to visualize and very of body awareness exterior to the physical effective. The first sensation I get when I use body. This causes a brief flash of the new spa- this one is a pronounced swaying effect. Keep tial location to be felt and seen in the mind's at it until you feel the vibrations but try not to eye at the end of each outward bounce action. let them distract you. This tricks the mind into accepting a momentary shift of perception to an exterior location. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 79 OBE Exit Training: Boomerang Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 readily recall my out-of-body experiences. 1 understand the temporary nature of the OBE Recite morning affirmations memory and immediately record the key words to AFTERNOON OBE walk-through my astral travels, expanding on the details as soon Optional: Week 12 BrainWave Generator as possible. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 have a lucid dream. 1 realize 1 am Energy body presfimulation (5 min.) dreaming and take control of my environment. 1 Optional: Energy raisinq (5 min.) manifest the exit symptoms and successfully Optional: Primary center stimulation ( 1 5 min.) project. 1 draw enerqy to my astral body until the Trance with third-eye triqger practice (15 min.) dimension around me is clear and my mind is Body loosening (5 min.) completely alert. OBE exit technique: Boomeranq method (20 min.) Write proqram notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raisinq: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite niqhtly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep proqramminq recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 388 Day 79 389 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Boomerang Method (20 Minutes) 1. Pick a target on the ceiling above your bed or high on the wall opposite you if you're sitting. This can be a light fixture, picture, or anything, or you can affix a target there instead. Stand on your bed or a chair and get the feel of what it is like to be right up close to this target. Lock the image of the target into your memory. Get the feel of how the furniture, windows, doors, and bed all look and feel from there while you are facing the target. Memorize what it feels like to be at the target area. 2. Spend a little extra time stimulating your brow center using the extra brow center stimulation method given earlier in Week 4. Hold your point of awareness in your brow center. Next, bounce your point of awareness away and feel it touch the target, then rebound it back to your brow center in your physical body. Try to feel and see this happening in your imagination. 3. As you bounce outward and your point of awareness touches the target, for that single moment briefly become aware of being at that location, as if your face were right up next to the target. Feel this with your awareness and imagination. The details of this action do not have to be precise. A vague blurring feeling, the room changing, feeling yourself bouncing off the target, and being there with this new perspective being momentarily highlighted in your mind's eye is all that is required. 4. As you rebound your point of awareness back to your physical body, feel your perception of the room suddenly shift back to your brow center. Briefly be aware of and try to see in your mind's eye the target across the room from the perspective of your physical body. 5. Repeat this process, continually bouncing back and forth between your brow center and your target, until the projection reflex is triggered. If you feel close to projection during this but it does not actually happen, change to another technique like rope, ladder, or rolling out to finish the exit. 6. Once underway, this action causes a blurring in the mind's eye, with the target being seen and felt briefly from two different perspectives from the brow center and then from up close to the target alternately. It is not necessary to keep close track of what happens between these points in the mind's eye; feeling this change in your perception is enough. Each bounce, in or out, should take about one second each way, but this speed should be varied to suit what feels natural to you. 390 Day 79 Daily Tips Robert: Another technique that I often use for projectable double loosening, or the OBE exit, I call the plank. Imagine a thick plank of wood the length of your body beside you. Move this body awareness plank in a clockwise circle around you, close to your body. Feel this the whole length of your body. Increase speed till you find a comfortable action. Next, let the plank move out from your body as it circles you, farther and farther till it skims the walls around you. If you are outdoors or in a large open space, see how far you can swing the plank out. This has quite a strong effect on the energy body and you will feel inner body movement fairly quickly. When you swing the plank out wide, try to keep a rough feel of its effect on the whole length of your body. Once you get the action moving, your body awareness memory will make it easier to maintain. This technique can also be used in trance induction and to clear the energy around you. Brian: Have you been on the edge of projection only to grow frightened and pull back at the last second? Consider spending some time meditating on your fears. It's one thing to think, "I'm not afraid of this," when you're reading about astral projection in a brightly lit room on a cozy armchair. It's another thing to think the same thing when the vibrations are coursing through your body and an astral noise band is playing a samba all around you. Fear is just a form of energy of which you have the power to release and let go. Be sure to replace your fear with another pattern: something positive! Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 80 OBE Exit Training: Walking and Falling Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 readily recall my out-of-body experiences. 1 Recite morning affirmations understand the temporary nature of the OBE OBE walk-through my astral travels, expanding on the details as soon Optional: Week 12 BrainWave Generator as possible. memory and immediately record the key words to AFTERNOON Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 have a lucid dream. 1 realize 1 am Enerqy body prestimulation (5 min.) dreaming and take control of my environment. 1 Optional: Energy raising {5 min.) manifest the exit symptoms and successfully Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) project. 1 draw energy to my astral body until the Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) dimension around me is clear and my mind is Body loosening (5 min.) completely alert. OBE exit technique: Walking and falling (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optioaal: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 391 392 Day 80 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Walking and Falling Method (20 Minutes) 1. Everyone has had the experience of stumbling and catching themselves or putting one's foot down on a step that wasn't there or sitting down and realizing the chair wasn't precisely where you expected. In each case, remember the lurch in your center and how surprised you felt at the unexpected sensation of falling. 2. Continue to recreate this sensation in your mind, only instead of recreating the feeling of tensing and trying to catch yourself, feel yourself letting go entirely and letting yourself fall. Expect that the ground is below you, that you are indeed going to feel it once you fall, but remain relaxed anyway. 3. Now feel how surprised you are when you don't hit the ground but instead keep falling, falling, falling. Use slightly different falling scenarios if it helps. Make the experience as visceral as possible. Daily Tips Robert: With the walking and falling method, I will also imagine that I am jumping down short flights of stairs and recreate the falling sensation with imagination and body awareness. Imagine a fire escape stairway where there are short flights of steep steps leading down, a small landing, and then another set of stairs going down. Jump down one flight, then the next, and so on. This scenario creates a clockwise downward action that can help induce trance as well as an OBE exit. Brian: In order to recall the feeling of falling, I spent about twenty minutes falling back onto a mattress piled with pillows. First I practiced with my eyes open, then after a while I kept them closed, playing with my expectations about when I would feel the mattress. I would imagine the mattress was at a forty-five degree angle and notice how my body reacted when I fell past that point, noting the tendency to want to tense up. Eventually I found I could fall back feeling completely secure and relaxed. 4. Continue to recreate this feeling starting at the beginning and repeating the sequence. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 81 OBE Exit Training: Walking and Falling Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 readily recall my out-of-body experiences. 1 understand the temporary nature of the OBE memory and immediately record the key words to AFTERNOON OBE walk-through my astral travels, expanding on the details as soon Optional: Week 12 BrainWave Generator as possible. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 hove a lucid dream. 1 realize 1 am Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dreaming and take control of my environment. 1 Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) manifest the exit symptoms and successfully Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) project. 1 draw energy to my astral body until the Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) dimension oround me is clear ond my mind is Body loosening (5 min.) completely alert. OBE exit technique: Walking and falling (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Reod supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 3°5 394 OoySI centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Walking and Falling Method (20 Minutes) 1. Everyone has had the experience of stumbling and catching themselves or putting one's foot down on a step that wasn't there or sitting down and realizing the chair wasn't precisely where you expected. In each case, remember the lurch in your center and how surprised you felt at the unexpected sensation of falling. 2. Continue to recreate this sensation in your mind, only instead of recreating the feeling of tensing and trying to catch yourself, feel yourself letting go entirely and letting yourself fall. Expect that the ground is below you, that you are indeed going to feel it once you fall, but remain relaxed anyway. 3. Now feel how surprised you are when you don't hit the ground but instead keep falling, falling, falling. 4. Continue to recreate this feeling starting at the beginning and repeating the sequence. Use slightly different falling scenarios if it helps. Make the experience as visceral as possible. Daily Tips Robert: One variation of the walking and falling method is running and jumping. Imagine you are running and that there are a series of large puddles at regular intervals before you. Imagine running fast and then jumping and sailing over the puddle, then running and jumping, and so on. The puddles are very large but as you are having an OBE you can easily clear them. Another variation of this is to imagine that you are on the moon. Imagine a moonscape before you with regular large obstacles (rocks, sand lakes, low hills, ravines, etc.). Run forward in your spacesuit and jump over each obstacle as it appears. With your imagination and body awareness, see and feel yourself sailing up and over each of them and then floating back down again on the other side. Brian: It can be difficult to feel a continual sense of falling. Instead, try to imagine yourself walking around, creating the sense of falling in the pit of your stomach for short intervals. Interchange between walking and falling, walking and falling. I find it useful to play-act this technique whenever possible before actually doing it mentally. This helps when learning new techniques. When in doubt, physicalize and memorize. It makes it easier to remember the steps and easier to visualize once you have play-acted them out. It's better to spend five minutes practicing before you go into trance rather than to go through all the steps and then realize that you are unsure how to proceed. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 82 OBE Exit Training: Driving Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 readily recall my out-of-body experiences. 1 understand the temporary nature of the OBE Recite morning affirmations memory and immediately record the key words to AFTERNOON OBE walk-through my astral travels, expanding on the details as soon Optional: Week 12 BrainWave Generator as possible. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 have a lucid dream. 1 realize 1 am Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dreaming and take control of my environment. 1 Optional: Enerqy raisinq (5 min.) manifest the exit symptoms and successfully Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) project. 1 draw energy to my astral body until the Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) dimension around me is clear and my mind is Body loosening (5 min.) completely alert. OBE exit technigue: Driving method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep proqramminq recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 396 Day 82 397 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Driving Method (20 Minutes) 1. Relax and let a driving scenario play itself out in your mind's eye. Use your sense of body awareness to help you feel yourself moving along a road toward the horizon. Use the scenery to hold your mind clear of thoughts, aided by breath awareness if necessary. This can involve day or night driving. Do not involve yourself in the actual driving. Be a passenger if this is easier. 2. See the road and trees and buildings moving toward and past you as you roll over an endless broken white line. Feel yourself moving toward the horizon as the scene unwinds in your imagination. In the back of your mind feel your physical body being left far behind you as you drive away toward the horizon. Like all imaginationbased OBE exit techniques, the more deeply you can immerse yourself in this scenario, the more effective it will become. This technique can trigger the projection reflex, but it can also phase you into the astral with no OBE exit symptoms. Daily Tips Robert: If you have ever been on a long drive and gone to bed soon after finishing, you may notice a shadowy animated image of your long drive impressed in your mind's eye. The imagery will be much clearer if you are overtired. When you close your eyes and relax, the view you had of that long road and of the scenery unwinding toward you replays in your mind's eye for a considerable time. This often lasts for an hour or more if you have spent several hours driving. This effect can be used to trigger the projection reflex. Brian: Another technique for stimulating this optical illusion, if you have a computer, is to play a game or gaze at a Screensaver that gives you the illusion that you are moving forward. Driving and racing games are particularly effective for this, as are screensavers that simulate movement through a field of stars. Note that the density and speed of screensavers are usually adjustable via your display settings. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 83 OBE Exit Training: Driving Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 readily recall my out-of-body experiences. 1 understand the temporary nature of the OBE Recite morning affirmations memory and immediately record the key words to AFTERNOON OBE walk-through my astral travels, expanding on the details as soon Optional: Week 12 BrainWave Generator as possible. Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) OBE breath technique (5 min.) EVENING Tonight 1 have a lucid dream. 1 realize 1 am Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) dreaming and take control of my environment. 1 Optional: Energy raisinq (5 min.) manifest the exit symptoms and successfully Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) project. 1 draw energy to my astral body until the Trance with third-eye trigger practice {15 min.) dimension around me is clear and my mind is Body loosening (5 min.) completely alert. OBE exit technique: Driving method (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 398 Day 83 399 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Driving Method (20 Minutes) 1. Relax and let a driving scenario play itself out in your mind's eye. Use your sense of body awareness to help you feel yourself moving along a road toward the horizon. Use the scenery to hold your mind clear of thoughts, aided by breath awareness if necessary. This can involve day or night driving. Do not involve yourself in the actual driving. Be a passenger if this is easier. 2. See the road and trees and buildings moving toward and past you as you roll over an endless broken white line. Feel yourself moving toward the horizon as the scene unwinds in your imagination. In the back of your mind feel your physical body being left far behind you as you drive away toward the horizon. Like all imaginationbased OBE exit techniques, the more deeply you can immerse yourself in this scenario, the more effective it will become. This technique can trigger the projection reflex, but it can also phase you into the astral with no OBE exit symptoms. Daily Tips Robert: I discovered the driving method after a six-hour night drive. I was overtired when I got home and went to bed soon after. Every time I closed my eyes I could see the road I had just traveled replaying and unwinding very clearly in my mind's eye. This caused a series of spontaneous OBEs. A similar thing happened after playing a computer game for several hours. How well you can visually see such a replay after a road trip or similar will vary according to your tiredness and mind's eye ability, but this can be compensated for with focused imagination. Brian: Try this today: before you begin your OBE session, postulate to yourself that going out of your body is a part of your destiny. Feel as if this is meant to happen, as if every experience you've ever had has led to this moment, that today is the day you're going to get out. Really feel this and as you go through your session, expect something to happen. Mentally ask for help. Assure yourself that you are ready for this experience and make it happen. Your Program Notes/Observations Day 84 401 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Driving Method (20 Minutes) 1. Relax and let a driving scenario play itself out in your mind's eye. Use your sense of body awareness to help you feel yourself moving along a road toward the horizon. Use the scenery to hold your mind clear of thoughts, aided by breath awareness if necessary. This can involve day or night driving. Do not involve yourself in the actual driving. Be a passenger if this is easier. 2. See the road and trees and buildings moving toward and past you as you roll over an endless broken white line. Feel yourself moving toward the horizon as the scene unwinds in your imagination. In the back of your mind feel your physical body being left far behind you as you drive away toward the horizon. Like all imaginationbased OBE exit techniques, the more deeply you can immerse yourself in this scenario, the more effective it will become. This technique can trigger the projection reflex, but it can also phase you into the astral with no OBE exit symptoms. Daily Tips Robert: There are times while trying to induce an OBE when you can get to a point where you just know beyond any doubt that you can project out of your body. This knowing time is most likely to happen when you have fallen asleep during OBE exit practice and woken later to find yourself in a perfectly balanced state. Inner balance is key to OBE. This balance has occurred because your dream mind has been unusually active during your nap and has processed so much experience material that it has left you with a temporary state of perfect inner balance. This is why most people have their first OBEs after sleeping and then waking early in the morning. This state will not usually last long, but when it occurs, an open window appears where it is possible to have an easy OBE exit. Because of this, taking a nap during an OBE exit training session is a good way to produce the balanced inner state required for an OBE. Brian: If you find yourself getting to the vibrational stage by one of the rope or bouncing methods but find that you are unable to separate, try something new the next time you experience the exit symptoms. Instead of willing yourself to separate, try visualizing some place with which you're very familiar and comfortable. Don't just see it, feel it. Be there. Get oriented to what it's like, feel the ground beneath your feet, what it smells like. Imagine it so vividly that you'll be surprised if you open your eyes and you aren't there. If you don't actually go there, it might be enough to provoke a separation. 402 Day 84 Your Program Notes/Observations Day 84 403 Before Moving On This week you should have: • discovered techniques for restoring OBE vitality and strength; • understood the hand-glance method for extending OBE lucidity; • learned to stay at least twenty feet (five meters) from your physical body to avoid astral feedback and sight/vision problems; • understood that sensing a ghostly presence, especially during paralysis, is likely caused by your own projected double; • learned how to create a memory-recovering self-hypnosis recording; • practiced each of this week's OBE exit techniques. I was in bed and glanced at the clock. It was 5:18 a.m. I wondered whether I should attempt an OBE. I was lying on my side and hadn't moved my body yet when it happened. I heard a whooshing sound and began to experience the vibrations. I just focused on rising up for five seconds or so. There was a moment's hesitation and then I felt myself rising up. Suddenly, I knew that I'd done it. I was out of my body! I went to the window and prodded it with my hand. My fingers went right through, so I dove out and began to fly. I found myself in a completely different place than what is actually outside my window (the window itself was different). I was flying above a residential part of a city experimenting with my control of flying. I would see a tree or a tower up ahead and imagine that I was zooming towards it and my flying would speed up. A sculpture on the back of someone's third-floor deck caught my eye, so I swooped down to take a look. It was a sculpture of a woman. Since the back door was open I thought that maybe I shouldn't be there, so I took off again. It was a gray, cloudy, early morning light. I had the sense that everyone was waking up for a new day. I accidentally flew through some wires but barely felt them. Then 1 flew over a cafe and market and decided to check it out. I don't really remember landing. I was suddenly just inside the restaurant. I walked around but most people didn't notice me. I was really watching them to see if they would react to me. It's a very peculiar sensation not to be noticed. Then a guy sitting at a table stood up and spoke to me. I clasped his arm and told him that he was the first person I'd ever talked to in my astral form. He didn't seem to know what I was talking about. Someone else in the group, who also seemed to know I was there, made a comment that prompted me to ask, "Oh, were you close to dying?" He said that he was but that everything seemed fine now. week 13 The Basics of QBE navigation What to Expect • Moving around out of body • Developing your own exit techniques • Getting into the real-time zone • Astral transference: mentally projecting into • Getting into the astral the astral • Astral tunnels and tubes • Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions • Projecting into void • More exit techniques • The subconscious mind and astral travel • Bouncing ball • The astral wind phenomenon • Floating turn • Real-time/astral sight and projection • Comer fingering Another Door Opens... As this ninety-day program draws to a close, we'd like to offer some advice on moving around without a physical body. Getting from point to point during a projection can be fluid and unconscious or awkward and clumsy. If you hope to complete your first planned OBE the way you've been practicing, it helps to know the basics. We'll also cover the fundamentals of the astral planes versus the real-time zone and offer advice for moving from one to the other. There are specific as well as unpredictable ways to navigate to and within these areas. Our advice can help you avoid some common 405 406 Week 13 pitfalls and make sense of sudden and seemingly inexplicable transitions between the realtime zone and the astral planes. Also covered are various types of astral phenomena—what these are and how to cope with them—including the void and the astral wind phenomenon. We will also offer some speculative thought on the involvement of the subconscious mind and the higher self in astral travel. Finally, we'll conclude the program by describing some alternate means of projecting and phasing into the astral planes and offer guidelines on creating your own OBE exit techniques. Astral Physics The laws of physics do not apply in the out-ofbody environment. Moving about without a body isn't always easy, especially in the realtime zone. Novice projectors often find that moving even short distances can be an awkward affair. While the real-time zone environment might resemble everyday reality, moving about can be likened to working in space, with no gravity to push against or to stop your momentum. You will not notice the pull of gravity but you will fall if you step off a high place, although the falling part happens in slow motion. You may feel something akin to pain when you hit the ground, but this is not real pain, it is remembered pain. You also might find yourself bouncing as you impact the ground. The sense of gravity during an OBE is aligned with one's expectations. You fall because you subconsciously expect to fall, not because there is actual gravity dragging you down. OBE gravity comes from a lifetime of constantly experiencing gravity, which forms a powerful subconscious expectation of falling. It takes time to realize that you are not moving about on legs in a normal gravity environment but rather that motion is controlled by your thoughts. To get where you want to go, focus on where you want to be and will yourself to move. This is a bit like an easy version of the point shift technique, where you imagine and feel yourself above or ahead of yourself. For example, imagine you enter a hallway and want to move to the other end. Look ahead and feel yourself moving and you will move. It can help if you imagine you are wearing roller skates and that the direction you want to move in is always downhill. To stop or change directions, feel yourself stopping by reversing the point shift action, by feeling yourself pulling back and stopping. This takes a little practice and first attempts are often ungainly, but you'll soon get the hang of it. Moving quickly along the ground is difficult. You'll find there are two basic speeds: walking speed and car speed. Walking is fairly slow and is a bit like floating along the surface. To increase speed, imagine you are getting onto a bike or into a car. Then feel yourself driving away and increasing speed, turning corners, and so on. You'll find you can go faster on well-lit, open roads and slower on smaller, poorly lit roads. The subconscious mind seems to limit one's speed to what one would normally think is acceptable for road conditions and lighting. The Basks of OBE Navigation Real-time zone flying involves similar problems. For new projectors it often feels like they 407 into the astral planes, often via a rapid tunneltype exit from the head area. are taking a series of giant leaps rather than There are two main ways of shifting back actually flying. To start with, think of flying into the real-time zone from astral planes and as being more like sailing. The more comfort- realms. The first way is to feel for your physical able you get with this, the better you will be body and room. Imagine what your room feels able to control your speed and altitude. It like from where you left your physical body takes a conscious effort to fly and to maintain and try to feel yourself as being there. This will flight. As soon as you stop the thought provid- either take you back to your room or back into ing the motion, you'll start sinking back to the your body. If the latter, it is usually quite easy ground. Many people find that flapping their to project out again into the real-time zone. Do arms like a bird helps them lift off and then not waste any time doing this, as you need to gain speed and altitude. OBE moving and fly- project again before you become too con- ing is fun to learn and quickly gets easier with nected with your physical body/mind. practice. The second way is to command that you be returned to your room in the real-time zone. Getting into the Real-Time Zone Voice a strong command saying, "Take me back to my room!" or similar. This triggers After the exit, most new projectors find them- your subconscious mind into shifting you back selves in the real-time zone, if only briefly, into real time. (We'll explain how this works before fading into the astral planes. The length after the next section.) of time one can spend in the real-time zone varies according to the attunement and focus of one's energies and one's ability to manipu- Getting into the Astral late and focus these. Still, some people find Rather than being projected directly into the themselves projecting directly into astral astral, many people find they are locked in the planes and realms and skip the real-time zone real-time zone and are unable to shift into the completely. If this is happening to you and astral planes. you want to explore the real-time zone, the following tips may help. A real-time zone OBE is heavily dependent One way of getting into the astral after the OBE exit is to move outside and launch yourself into the sky at a roughly forty-five degree angle upon energy. The more energy raising and (halfway between the horizon and straight up). primary center stimulation done prior to the Move as fast as possible. Don't think about it, OBE, the longer one will stay in the real-time just do it. You'll accelerate to an incredible speed zone. However, overstimulating the brow and very quickly. Fix your awareness on the stars crown centers will attune one to the astral before you, even if you can't yet see them. Feel planes. This will tend to project one directly the stars moving toward you and feel yourself 408 Week 13 moving toward them. This will result in a mild able during a projection. This configuration internal sense of movement followed by a sud- affects projectors' attunement and level of den shift in your location and environment. You operational ability, which affects their astral may also travel briefly through a tunnel-type perceptions. This also contributes to common structure, although this is less common. OBE vision problems. The above may take you directly into an The lowest astral plane—the one most astral plane or realm. Alternatively, you may commonly seen if you look back down just find yourself in real-time zone space or in an after leaving Earth's atmosphere and entering astral version of space. Both are filled with the astral planes—looks like a flat and barren stars and it is difficult to tell the difference. If desert of browns and grays. This is criss- you briefly look back the way you came at this crossed with grid lines that make large squares point, you may see the surface skin of one of of identical patterns. In the corner of each the lower astral planes beneath you. square is what looks like scattered rocks of If you do see an astral plane surface skin various dull colors, mainly browns and grays beneath you, then you are definitely in the and blacks. Higher astral plane surface skins astral planes. More specifically, you are in a are more sophisticated and colorful, although buffer zone between two astral planes. Buffer all are crisscrossed with grid lines, making a zones are fairly empty areas between astral flat and infinite field of identical squares. planes. The buffer zone between the first and If you see an astral plane surface skin second astral planes is much like space (dark beneath you then you are definitely not in the and filled with distant stars). real-time zone anymore but are in a buffer A typical low astral plane surface skin looks zone between astral planes. The lower astral like an infinite plane of flatness covered with planes are best avoided. These are not danger- grid lines that form large squares. Each square ous per se, but they tend to be rather boring contains a pattern and this pattern is repeated and colorless places. in every other square. The pattern denotes the To enter any astral plane simply dive down level of the astral plane being observed. The and pass through the surface, like passing lower astral plane surface skins are quite bar- through water but without a splash. Features ren affairs, but the higher astral plane surface and colored areas denote entry points into spe- skins are beautiful and colorful works of art. cific astral realms. If a structure exists in the What is actually seen when astral plane surface skins are observed varies and depends on center of a grid-lined square, this will take one to the highest level within that astral plane. projectors' energy levels and angles of percep- To reach a higher astral plane, return to tion. A great many things affect a projector's your original course and fix your attention on angle of perception, including the configura- the brightest star. Move in that direction and tion of active primary energy centers, which continue toward the brightest star you can see. affects the amount and quality of energy avail- This will grow into a bright portal, looking The Basks of OBE Navigation like a big open window, which grows in size as you approach. Pass through this window and you will find yourself inside an astral plane. An alternative scenario to the above is that you may see a higher astral plane surface skin before you. This will be colorful and covered with gridlines, with each square containing an identical pattern. Pass through the center of one of the squares, which are a football-field size or larger. This will take you to the highest level inside that astral plane. Once you enter an astral plane you will find yourself in an astral realm. An astral realm is a part of an astral plane, which is another environment that bears little or no resemblance to the real world. The most accessible astral realms look like giant shopping malls interspaced with open, parklike areas and small cities. These are heavily populated with people who are sleep projecting. This type of astral realm is very nonthreatening and can be fun to explore. There are other ways to shift into the astral planes that sometimes work, often without your consciously willing it to happen. An astral plane shift will often take place in the real-time zone when you are passing through barriers like walls, ceilings, and floors. Passing through any solid matter can trigger a dimensional shift, but this is most likely to happen when you pass through doors, windows, mirrors, pictures, and paintings. For example, passing through a picture will either trigger the subconscious mind to create a reality like the picture itself or it will cause a dimensional shift into a pre-existing astral 409 realm. Mirrors are best avoided as they can shift you into a mirror reality, a reversed copy of the real-time zone. Another way of shifting into the astral planes that works for most people is to command it to happen. Strongly state your wish by verbally commanding something like, "Take me to the highest astral plane," and you will often be transported there. Astral Tubes Astral tubes are related to higher-than-usual brow and crown primary center activity. This indicates natural clairvoyant ability, even though this may not be realized. This affects these types of projectors' angle of perception (in how they perceive the structure of the astral planes to be). Projectors can either find themselves moving rapidly through a tube or tunnel as they exit or shortly after the OBE exit. Alternatively, projectors may find a tube entrance nearby after an OBE exit into the real-time zone. This looks like a two-dimensional vortex of swirling colored water or smoke, much like the vortex in the sci-fi television series Sliders. The inside of a tunnel usually contains gridlines and changing colors, and sometimes musical tones and notes can be heard. Astral tubes are much like any flat astral plane surface skin structure, only they are rolled up to form a tube. Do not be afraid to enter an astral tube if you see one during a real-time zone projection. Move into it and you'll find yourself sliding rapidly through it, 410 Week 13 much like a waterslide tube. The colors and patterns and musical tones will change as you move. Your intuition will tell you when you reach an area that you will like or one with which you have an affinity. When this happens, reach out with your feelings for this area and you will suddenly appear inside that astral plane realm. The tube entrance will often be seen hovering nearby or can be willed back into existence and re-entered should you wish to travel elsewhere. Projecting into Void The void is a mysterious phenomenon that is occasionally encountered during an OBE, most commonly by frequent projectors. It is unknown what the void is, but we speculate that it is an area outside the structured areas of the astral planes. Describing the void is difficult as it has no features, only the nothingness of perfect darkness. The void is harmless and should you ever find yourself in perfect darkness after an OBE exit, do not worry. First, try demanding light by firmly saying, "Light... now!" or similar. If this fails, reach out with your feelings and imagine you are back in your room, and this will usually transport you back. If this happens, you can project out again and hopefully arrive somewhere more interesting. If all this fails, relax and enjoy the peace and quiet until you either shift out naturally or your physical body calls you back. The void contains nothing so there is, quite literally, nothing about which to fear. The Subconscious Mind, the Higher Self, and Astral Travel There are two main aspects of the human mind: the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. The conscious mind is the active thinking and decision-making executive aspect of the human mind. This aspect has great flexibility in that it can imagine the past, present, and future. It can also fantasize and visualize and handle sophisticated abstract concepts, including metaphor and analogy, and positive and negative language elements such as can't, won't, don't, later, or never. The subconscious mind lies beneath the surface of the conscious mind. For the most part its existence and workings go completely unnoticed. Among other things, the subconscious mind is intimately involved with emotions and memory and can remember every word and thought and moment of a life down to the finest detail. This aspect of mind lives totally in the present, in the here and now, and does not understand sophisticated abstracts like the conscious mind can. This is why affirmations designed to reprogram the subconscious mind must be given in the present and active first-person tense (i.e., clearly active and relating to the here and now). The conscious and subconscious aspects of mind work both in unison and separately. They are naturally divided, but the subconscious mind holds the bulk of the power in this relationship. The subconscious mind also holds the bulk of a projector's creative power during an OBE. The Basics of OBE Navigation The subconscious mind is an integral aspect of the awake conscious mind. If divided, the 411 OBE by transporting the projected double to the requested location. subconscious mind would lack reasoning and Another piece of this puzzle rests in OBE processing ability, and the conscious mind case histories where projectors claim that some- would lack memory, identity, and purpose, one (usually described as a person or spirit of especially in the OBE state. Together, these some kind) is clinging to them during the OBE. aspects of mind form a discrete conscious This spirit will often randomly move them entity with the sense of being an alive individ- about the real-time zone or astral and will ual that every living person naturally has. "I sometimes even obey their commands to take think, therefore I am." them to a specific location. Sometimes this It is unreasonable to conclude that the hitchhiker appears to be asleep, sometimes whole subconscious mind stays with the phys- awake. If projectors look behind themselves, ical body or becomes less active during an they often report seeing arms draped over their OBE. In fact, experience and reasoning suggest shoulders or the side of a face, and so on. exacdy the opposite: that the subconscious This phenomenon has long been debated, mind becomes far more active and powerful with several possible explanations given. One during an OBE. This makes a lot of sense is that affected projectors have spirits attached when one considers the altered mental states to them in real life and that these are manifest- of projectors (trance state) and the fluid and ing as hitchhikers in the OBE environment. sensitive environment of the real-time zone or Another is that projectors' spirit guides are astral planes. This provides insight that helps helping them, showing them things, and so us understand some types of astral phenom- on. Another is that a projector's higher self ena. This also provides clues on how to take is responsible. Another is that, for some advantage of the great power of the subcon- unknown reason, this phenomenon is created scious mind to improve OBE operations. by the projector's subconscious mind. The subconscious mind becomes more The last two explanations above may be active during an OBE, although it still rests related, as the subconscious mind seems inti- quietly beneath the surface of the conscious mately connected with one's higher spiritual mind. Examples of the power of the subcon- self. The higher self also shares something else scious mind can be found by examining with the subconscious mind in that they both how commands work during an OBE. For work invisibly in the background. Direct com- example, saying things like "Clarity now!" or munication between these two aspects and the "Light now!" is well known to impact an OBE conscious mind is very difficult. During life, by improving vision and light quality. Com- the conscious and subconscious minds work in mands like "Take me home!" or "Take me to unison and this relationship continues during the astral planes!" can also directly affect an an OBE. It makes sense that this relationship 412 Week 13 would also continue after death, which obviously involves interactions among all aspects of consciousness, including all the higher parts. The most significant common factor in all this is that something powerful, silent, invisible, and seemingly independent can at times directly affect projectors during an OBE. This something will at times act independently by moving projectors about the astral. This something will also sometimes obey direct commands given by projectors. Coauthor of this book Robert Bruce recendy experimented with this "something" phenomenon during an OBE and had some thoughtprovoking results. Here are two examples: I projected out of body after lunch, from my office chair, and drifted into my front yard. I did not have a lot of energy so shot for the stars and soon shifted into an astral realm. I found myself in a colorful but rather dim place, near a stream surrounded by trees and grass and unusually large flowers. I commanded "Light, now!" and the realm brightened considerably but was still a bit out of focus. I commanded "Clarity now!" and my vision cleared. This sparked the thought, "What is obeying my commands?" I decided to experiment further and, looking at the grassy field before me, I commanded "The grass is blue!" and the grass instantiy changed to blue. I kept at this and changed all the flowers to purple with yellow centers, the trees to orange with red leaves, the water to pink with green dots, etc. I felt like I was in a cartoon realm. With much food for thought I then returned to my body and wrote the experience in my journal. The next experience happened two days later: I projected out of body in the late afternoon and drifted into my living room. I had been thinking about the something force that obeys commands and had some experiments in mind. I was giving healing to a young woman at that time, a Ms. T, for a nervous breakdown, and thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. I had not met Ms. T but had seen her photograph and spoken to her on the telephone. I gave the verbal command "Take me to T!" and was instantly gripped by a force like a giant hand and found myself moving forward rapidly. I could feel something holding my body and realized that some projectors could easily misconstrue this as a kind of spirit hitchhiker. I passed through the wall and then shifted into an astral realm resembling a large park at twilight, with wide grassy areas, trees, shrubs, and winding concrete paths. I looked about me as I was moved, wondering where I was. My motion slowed and soon came to a stop. I commanded "Light now!" and the park brightened to daylight. Again I commanded "Take me to T!" and once The Basics of OBE Navigation 413 again I was gripped by the invisible hand short time later, regaining consciousness at a and moved quickly forward. This time it great height. took me down at an angle and I passed Often when projectors return to earth they through the ground, soon finding myself will find themselves somewhere in the past or in a star-filled outer space-type scenario. in the future. Just how far back or forward in Again I slowed and again I repeated the time projectors are taken varies greatly, from a same command. few days to many hundreds of years. When I shot forward at great speed and projectors land they will often find themselves shifted back into the real-time zone, in unidentifiable places and times. Sometimes entering a hospital through a brick wall, this phenomenon seems to involve past lives, finding myself in a common room. Sit- and other times it will involve seemingly mun- ting at a table across the room from me dane glimpses of the future. was Ms. T. I floated closer and gave her You might, for example, find yourself land- healing. I then returned to my physical ing in front of a suburban house. You might go body. (Ms. T began to recover after this.) inside and visit with strangers who will be just as perplexed as yourself. Alternatively, you Taking all the above into account, the most might find yourself landing somewhere in the reasonable conclusion here is that the mysteri- past, wandering about a strange town of yester- ous something that obeys commands during year. The future precognitive aspect of such OBEs is nothing more mysterious than the experiences only becomes clear in hindsight. presence of the subconscious mind and the Many projectors, including a number of authors higher self. This is not only the simplest expla- on OBEs, have had astral wind experiences nation but it is the only thing that makes any where they have seen places and people that sense. have actually appeared in real life months or years later. The astral wind phenomenon is usually The Astral Wind Phenomenon only experienced by frequent projectors, sim- Astral wind is a peculiar OBE phenomenon. ply because they spend more time out of body, Projectors will be in the real-time zone when a but this can also happen to novices. Without great force will suddenly grip them. This force some idea of what is happening, a novice will grow steadily stronger until it feels like could feel threatened. If this ever happens, one is being blown away by a silent hurricane- please don't panic. This experience is fascinat- strength wind. The force will push projectors ing and will not harm you in any way. at a steep angle up into the sky, where they will Because of its powerful nature and its past briefly lose consciousness as they pass through and future content, the astral wind phenome- the cloud layer or the edge of space. They will non appears to be related to the workings of life return in exactly the same manner and angle a and universal consciousness at a very high level. 414 Week 13 Astral Sight and Projection Related to real-time sight, astral sight is the ability to see into the astral planes during altered trance states. This ability most commonly manifests just prior to the OBE exit and during episodes of waking paralysis. Often astral sight operates in conjunction with realtime sight, so that one might perceive a mixture of familiar objects along with elements of astral realms. With astral sight it is also possible to see spirit beings, including other projectors. Astral sight is closely related to visual clairvoyance and thus depends largely on the presence of some degree of clairvoyant ability. If astral sight should engage while you're meditating, it's usually possible to experience a smooth shift into the astral planes. Like realtime sight, if you're "seeing" into the astral you can, with an act of will, shift to the location you perceive. Focus your awareness on something you can see and feel yourself as being there. This method is similar to the point shift OBE exit technique. Developing Your Own Exit Techniques While preparation for having an OBE is the same, the technique for actually triggering the projection reflex varies. Throughout Part 2 of this program you've been introduced to various exit techniques that essentially do the same thing: focus your complete attention and body awareness outside and away from your physical body. Some of the techniques instructed you to perform specific activities (washing your aware- ness hands, climbing a rope, water-skiing, etc.) while others told you to remain passive and imagine the feeling of movement (sitting on top of a rocket, turning into steam, etc.). You can develop your own exit techniques that are tailored to your personal experience. What can you most easily imagine that could be used to exteriorize your awareness outside your physical body? Perhaps you can imagine the feeling of being on a rollercoaster or shooting down a waterslide or climbing a tree or hanging washing on a line. Perhaps it's walking a path that is so familiar to you that you can recreate every detail of it in your mind's eye. Perhaps it's using imaginary hands to peel potatoes, work with wood, tinker with an engine, or type at a keyboard. Experiment with this and write down your results. Adjust and refine your techniques. Alternate them to keep your mind engaged. Whatever you come up with, it should be something that you can very easily imagine yourself doing in a tangible way. The more real and consuming you can make the mental fantasy and the more you can immerse yourself into it, the more effective it will be as an OBE technique. Astral Transference: Mentally Projecting into the Astral An alternative to astral projection is a method called astral transference. This involves using creative visualization to phase your consciousness into the astral. This does not involve an OBE exit and it has none of the typical OBE The Basics of OBE Navigation exit symptoms—no vibrations, rapid heart center, falling sensation, and so on. Accounts of astral transference frequently appear in modern OBE literature. The quickest way to discriminate between astral transference and a true out-of-body experience is the subject's state of consciousness. If the person having the projection is not in a trance state or is able to verbalize what he or she is experiencing in the astral planes while the experience is in progress, this is astral transference and not, by strict definitions, an OBE. Astral transference has its advantages and its limitations. The benefits include a high degree of control and stability and, in most cases, full experience recall. Beginners can have success with astral transference even the first time it is attempted, which adds motivation for further practice. If you have been consistently failing to induce an OBE exit, this is an excellent alternative. Strictly speaking, astral transference is a type of mental projection. Because it does not involve leaving the body, it is best considered an out-of-mind experience. This has many similarities with WILDs (wake-induced lucid dreams) in that visualization is used to precipitate a shift into a subtle environment with no break in consciousness taking place. The differences are that in a WILD the shift of consciousness into a subtle realm is instantaneous, whereas with astral transference the shift is gradual (although the speed of entry improves with practice). Also, the WILD environment is more solid and tangible than an astral transference type of environment. A WILD experience can be indistinguishable 415 from real life, with full senses of gravity, heat, cold, smell, hearing, taste, pleasure, and pain, and the physical body feels normal. If, for example, you bite your finger or kick a brick during a WILD, it will hurt just like it would in real life; and if you eat a chocolate bar it tastes just as chocolatey as it would in real life. Generally speaking, you won't be able to fly in a WILD the way you would in an OBE. To induce a WILD, one gets into a deeply relaxed state and then visualizes a familiar scenario—for example, a scene from a wellknown shopping mall—and then tries to fall asleep. When the WILD begins, there are no sensations at all, just a sudden shift into the shopping mall with no break in consciousness. Imagine being blindfolded and fitted with earplugs and then taken in a wheelchair to an unknown location. Then, suddenly you stand up and the blindfold and earplugs are ripped off and you find yourself in the mall. This sudden transition is very much like the start of a WILD. Because of the similarities between astral transference and a WILD, it is possible that astral transference is a type of consciously induced lucid dream—a CILD, if you like. WILD ability is rare, but the ability to lucid dream is fairly common. So it is possible that astral transference is another way to shift consciousness into the lucid dream environment. Yet the dividing line between lucid dream and astral environments is experientially indistinct. Lacking any OBE exit-related sensations, it is difficult to discern one from the other with any surety. Astral transference may indeed involve the transfer of consciousness 416 Week 13 into the astral dimension. So this point is likely to remain open for experimentation and debate until further evidence comes to hand. Astral transference can only be used for exploring the astral. It is not suitable for realtime OBEs or for transferring into the realtime zone during an experience. Astral transference can be done recreationally quite easily, but it requires a fairly decent level of concentration. Unskilled practitioners may find themselves in created or semicreated astral environments. These will vary in intensity and realism according to one's focus and concentration abilities. For full astral transference to take place where the experience can be truly likened to a fully conscious astral projection, one needs good creative visualization ability (good imagination). Astral transference has great potential and merits much further exploration. Accordingly, we have included an astral transference sequence below. Like for OBEs, preparation includes relaxation, mind taming, and trance induction methods. Slight discomfort is not necessary as, strictly speaking, no projection is taking place. In certain circumstances it may hinder you in completely immersing yourself in the astral transference visualization process. Once in a deeply relaxed state, it's simply a matter of following the creative visualization instructions given below. When you do this, try to make it as real as possible. Even more so than with OBE preparation, it is critical to shut out all links with waking reality. Leave all problems, worries, and distractions behind. Your entire reality needs to be focused on the visualization sequence. This astral transference combines ancient technique with modern imagery. The visualization protocol simulates a visit to a shopping complex using stairs, escalators, and elevators to transcend analogous levels of the astral. The marketplace is a powerful structure within the collective unconsciousness, and the shopping mall scenario particularly relates to the modern Western mind, making it easy to imagine in great detail. Take a while to memorize the symbol in Figure 6 for use with the final astral transference procedure. Additionally, an optional BrainWave Generator preset ("MAP Week 13: Astral Transference") has been provided for use with this sequence. It assumes a twentyfive-minute trance induction period before you begin the visualization procedure. When you hear three successive tones, begin creating the mental imagery. You will hear the tone change every three minutes as you ascend up through the mall, level by level. It may take repeated use of this technique before you experience a full projectionlike astral transference. The key is to lose all awareness of your body and your place in the room and to put yourself completely inside the visualized environment. You might also consider synchronizing your astral transference episodes with a friend and comparing notes at a later time. Astral Transference Sequence Quiet is necessary for this exercise. Eliminate anything that might distract you or force you to become aware of your surroundings. Use deep breathing, relaxation, and trance-indue- Ihe Basics of OBE Navigation 417 Along either side of the main walk you see bookstores, sporting goods stores, shoe shops, and novelty stores. There is an atrium above you, which allows you to view layers of shops on higher levels. Far overhead you can see a glass ceiling and, beyond it, blue sky dotted with soft white clouds. Begin walking. Feel the granite tiles beneath your feet as you weave between the shoppers. There are large fountains running down the middle of the mall and, while the crowd noise is everywhere, you hear the faint sound of running water as you approach the nearest fountain. As you near it, you feel a gentle mist on Figure 6. Astral transference symbol. your face and in the air you smell a faint scent of chlorine. Next to the fountain is a stone bench on ing imagery to get into a mind awake/body which lies a notebook and a pen. Sit beside the asleep state. As you progressively relax, try to fountain, pick up the pen, and open the note- detach from the feeling of having a body. book. On the first page write down a problem Relax your legs and then imagine that they you are currently having: an issue that's been have disappeared completely. They are so distracting you or something that has been on relaxed that you don't even feel them. Follow your mind lately—but don't look too hard for this procedure with the rest of your body, something to write if nothing has been preoc- relaxing each part so completely that you no cupying you lately. If there is something both- longer feel it, until you are but a sense of con- ering you, write down what it is, then rip the sciousness without a body. page out of the notebook and set the page on the surface of the fountain's water. As the Imagine you're walking through the doors paper touches the water, it becomes saturated of an immense shopping mall. As you enter and the ink begins to bleed and blur. The you see a broad, shop-lined walk ebbing into paper soon disintegrates and its remnants are the distance. The sounds of voices and foot- swept toward the whirlpool above the drain. steps from lively shoppers echo from the The page disappears down the gurgler and is granite tile walkway. The crowd passes you in soon forgotten. knots of teenagers, men and women carrying shopping bags, couples browsing at shop windows. There's a vague sense of excitement in the air, like the days preceding a holiday. You can continue this for a while, writing things that are bothering you and feeding them to the fountain, a single problem per 418 Week 13 page. When nothing more comes to mind, ics, carpet, and hear the faint sounds of TV stand and continue walking down the mall sets in the distance. until you see a large escalator. Get on the esca- You take the escalator to the next level and lator with the other shoppers and feel yourself this one is even less crowded. Feel the polished moving upward until you reach the next level. wood floor beneath you as you examine col- Like the main floor, this one is also crowded. lections of housewares. There are tablecloths Off to the side you can see a wide food court. and placemats, appliances, pots and pans, The pale marble floor is packed with chairs and plates and silverware, towels, and bathroom tables and along the walls are vendors offering carpets. There are beds arranged here boasting different kinds of cuisine. You can smell the new sheets, quilts, and bedspreads. You smell scents of various foods intermingled with furniture polish and fresh linen. Among the the aroma of coffee. You hear the sounds of sparse crowd you see well-dressed salespeople blenders and coffee machines cutting through scanning for needy customers. the din of voices and the scrape of chairs as You make your way up the escalator to the people sit. Spend a minute or two here before next level. Lined with potted palms, the moving on to the escalator and heading up to sounds of your footsteps are swallowed by the the next level. heavy carpet. It is even quieter here. A few This level is full of clothing shops bordered shoppers browse among fine crystal, gleaming with pillars and railings of silver and polished silverware, and elegant china. There are jew- brass. You peer inside the shops as you pass and elry and fine furniture here. Handwoven car- see patrons browsing, sorting though clothing pets hang along the walls next to oil paintings racks, holding up items and posing before mir- framed in gold and dark wood. What few rors. You hear muffled music from unseen shoppers you see move quietly among the dis- loudspeakers amongst shoppers' voices, the plays and whisper to one another. There is a slight screech of hangers moving along racks, subdued energy here, like that of a museum. and cashier sounds as they ring up sales. The Next, you see a wide stairway leading smell of perfume and leather and new clothes upward. You climb it until you reach the high- fills the air. est level, the level with the glass ceiling. You You follow the escalator up to the next find yourself alone and it is very quiet. You floor. This level is quieter and slightly less walk to the edge of the atrium and look down crowded than the others and the background to see the lower levels. The banister, walls, and music is a little more recognizable. This level is ceiling of this level are made of steel-framed well lit and lined with brick. The stores here glass. You look outside to see a brilliant blue are electronics shops fdled with cell phones sky dotted with puffy white clouds. and televisions, computers and stereo equip- You turn and move into a shallow hallway ment. You can smell the scent of new electron- where you see a grand pair of elevator doors. The Basks of OBE Navigation The astral transference symbol hangs above them. On the doors themselves are large gold letters that say "Astral Planes." Pressing the elevator call button, the doors part and you step inside a perfectly white elevator. The doors close and you press the top button that reads "Astral Planes." You feel the elevator accelerating upward. Feel the sensation in the center of your being as you rise higher and higher. Then, gradually, the elevator slows and stops. There is a pause 419 Optional: BrainWave Generator Preset "Week 13: Exit Training" This week's light and sound preset has two phases. The first phase lasts ten minutes and features two tones, one very high and one almost inaudible. The first tone lowers from an awake level to a mind awake/body asleep level, while the second tone remains at a mind awake/body asleep level. and the doors open. You step out of the eleva- The second phase lasts 110 minutes and fea- tor and into the astral planes. There you can tures nine tones set at a broad range of fre- meet friends or loved ones who have passed quencies; a single voice shifts binaurally at dif- away. Perhaps you just want to explore. Adven- ferent levels to offer a constant undertone of tures await you everywhere. If you want to movement. The deep audible tones have a pro- travel to a higher astral plane, get back into the found effect on the energy body. elevator and press the big up arrow. When you are finished, return to the elevator and press the down arrow. Feel yourself descending. After a time you hear muffled music and crowd noise. The elevator doors part and you find yourself back on the first floor of the mall, ready to wake up. The visual frequency (if you are using light goggles) begins at an awake level and gradually lowers to a mind awake/body asleep level throughout the course of the first ten minutes. It remains at a mind awake/body asleep level thereafter. Total preset duration is 120 minutes. Additionally, an extra preset ("MAP Week Make the above visualization as real and as concrete as possible. Leave all thoughts and feelings of your physical body behind you. Focus entirely on your current surroundings. The better your concentration and imagination skills, the better your experience will be. Your memories of the experience are likely to be pretty vivid when you break trance, as no shadow memory download is involved. However, details of your experience will fade quickly, so write down your adventures in your notebook as soon as you can. 13: Astral Transference") has been included for optional use with the astral transference sequence given above. The astral transference preset has three phases. Phase one lasts approximately twenty minutes. It is meant for use with the relaxation phase, where you disassociate completely from your physical body. Three tones signal you to move on to the next phase. Phase two lasts approximately thirty minutes. The phase begins with the sound of 420 Week 13 running water symbolizing the fountain on the first floor of the mall. You have about eight minutes to linger here, casting your worries into the fountain, until three tones signal you to go up to the next floor. A dominant voice (the loudest) will give you the impression that you are ascending. From here onward you will have approximately three minutes to examine each level of the mall before the next tone signals you to ascend again. Once you arrive in the astral planes via the elevator, four more voices join the original six to form a crowned triad that enhances the audible richness of the program. Phase three lasts about seventy minutes, which should give you more than enough time to explore the astral realms. Preset duration is 120 minutes. Reminder: The presets in this program are designed to induce drowsiness. Do not listen to this or any of the presets in this program while driving or using heavy or potentially dangerous equipment. luf c c Iff 1 q DAILY PAGES W W m m 1% 1 w W 901 AMI W w* M m This week's exit techniques: Bouncing ball method: This technique requires extra stimulation of the lower primarycenters: base, navel, and solar plexus. After a few minutes of solar plexus stimulation, focus your awareness there. Imagine a ball of energy is forming and rising up out of your body. Now bounce this energy ball around the room. Floating turn exit technique: With body awareness, feel your arms and legs floating slightly outside your physical body. Now, imagine that your arms and legs move till they are all pointing ninety degrees to your right. Then feel your whole-body awareness joining them so that your imaginary body is facing perpendicular to your physical body (if you were to see both bodies at once from overhead they would form the shape of a cross). When you feel vertigo sensations, begin using the roll-out method. Take your time. Corner-fingering method: Feel your body awareness arms floating free and extending out behind your body, reaching up to the right and left corners of your room near the ceiling. Feel your fingers digging deep into the room's corners and getting a grip. Now either hold this position or pull with your awareness arms until you trigger the projection reflex. 421 DAY 85 OBE Exit Training: Bouncing Ball Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 continually seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 recognize the divine in myself and Recite morning affirmations others. 1 understand that beneath our fleshy shells AFTERNOON OBE walk-through we are all the same ethereal light. Optional: Week 13 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 attract dreams that expand my state of OBE breath technigue (5 min.) awareness. 1 realize the importance of my dreams Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) and understand their value. 1 know that what is Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) looked for is often found; if answers are sought, 1 Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) need only look, listen, and remember. Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technigue: Bouncing ball (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 422 Day 85 423 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Bouncing Ball Method (20 Minutes) 1. If you have not already done so, stimulate your lower primary centers—base, navel, and solar plexus—for several minutes. Then continue sweeping energy up through them to your solar plexus center. 2. Focus your awareness completely on your solar plexus. Center the core of your being there and feel the energy accumulating therein. With your imagination, try to see a bright yellow ball of energy forming. 3. After a few minutes, imagine that your solar plexus is a living, pulsing ball of bright yellow energy. Center all your attention on this ball and imagine it moving slowly out of your body. Move it halfway out and hold it there, then move it back inside you again. 4. Imagine and feel this pulsing ball of energy moving in and out of your solar plexus. Move it out a little farther each time. 5. When you feel comfortable with holding the ball of energy out of your body, imagine it moving around the room. Bounce it off the walls and ceiling and back to yourself. Bounce it up and down and along the ground. Keep it moving at all times. Follow its progress with your awareness as you bounce it about the room, down the hallway, outside your room, out in the garden or street, and so on, getting farther and farther away from your physical body all the time. Truly center your being with the ball; imagine that you are leaving your body behind with each bounce. Daily Tips Robert: The bouncing ball method combines several OBE exit-related methods. This is excellent for people who have problems with more controlled body awareness hand and arm actions. It does not matter where the bouncing ball goes or how it bounces or twists and turns about the room, as long as it is kept moving. It helps if you stop every few minutes and raise more energy to your solar plexus center and then start again. Brian: The key with this method is to associate the core of your being with your solar plexus center. Take your time activating your solar plexus center and focus on it completely. Follow the ball with your awareness when you bounce it out of your body. Become one with the bouncing ball and let your consciousness go with it wherever it goes. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 86 OBE Exit Training: Bouncing Ball Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 continually seek to explore higher levels of Recite morning affirmations consciousness. 1 recognize the divine in myself and OBE walk-through we are all the same ethereal light. others. 1 understand that beneath our fleshy shells AFTERNOON Optional: Week 13 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 attract dreams that expand my state of OBE breath technigue {5 min.) awareness. 1 realize the importance of my dreams Energy body prestimulotion (5 min.) and understand their value. 1 know that what is Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) looked for is often found; if answers are souqht, 1 Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) need only look, listen, and remember. Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Bouncing ball (20 min.) Write proqram notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Enerqy raisinq: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite niqhtly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep proqramminq recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (30 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 424 Day 86 425 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Bouncing Ball Method you bounce it about the room, down the hallway, outside your room, out in the garden or street, and so on, getting farther and farther away from your physical body all the time. Truly center your being with the ball; imagine that you are leaving your body behind with each bounce. (20 Minutes) 1. If you have not already done so, stimulate your lower primary centers—base, navel, and solar plexus—for several minutes. Then continue sweeping energy up through them to your solar plexus center. 2. Focus your awareness completely on your solar plexus. Center the core of your being there and feel the energy accumulating therein. With your imagination, try to see a bright yellow ball of energy forming. 3. After a few minutes, imagine that your solar plexus is a living, pulsing ball of bright yellow energy. Center all your attention on this ball and imagine it moving slowly out of your body. Move it halfway out and hold it there, then move it back inside you again. 4. Imagine and feel this pulsing ball of energy moving in and out of your solar plexus. Move it out a little farther each time. 5. When you feel comfortable with holding the ball of energy out of your body, imagine it moving around the room. Bounce it off the walls and ceiling and back to yourself. Bounce it up and down and along the ground. Keep it moving at all times. Follow its progress with your awareness as Daily Tips Robert: Try to feel and see that you are the ball as it bounces off things, as if you were really there. This works best when you bounce off things that you can imagine well. Once you get the hang of the action, bounce the ball outside your room—say, off the wall of another room, off a garden fence, or off a house across the street. As you bounce off these things, just for a moment imagine a flash image of yourself being there. Brian: One of the effects of the bouncing ball method, if done shortly before bedtime, is a pronounced tendency to feel yourself falling and jerking awake when on the edge of sleep. This is especially true if you sleep on your back. If you pay keen attention when this is happening, you'll notice that this sense of falling seems to be rooted in the solar plexus center. To take advantage of this phenomenon, try deliberately sleeping on your back after performing this technique. Systematically relax your body, hold your mind clear, and concentrate on your breathing and the feeling that you are floating there at the center of your body. Now allow yourself to fall asleep. If your mind begins to wander, let go of the intrusive thoughts and 426 Day 86 direct your attention back to your breathing pressing against your quiet mind. Allow this to and the feeling of floating. Often you'll notice happen, clinging to lucidity by playing the nonsensical thoughts or hypnogogic imagery detached observer for as long as you can. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 87 OBE Exit Training: Floating Turn Exit Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dreom key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 continually seek to explore higher levels of Recite morning affirmations consciousness. 1 recognize the divine in myself and OBE walk-through we are all the same ethereal light. others. 1 understand that beneath our fleshy shells AFTERNOON Optional: Week 13 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 attract dreams that expand my state of OBE breath technique (5 min.) awareness. 1 realize the importance of my dreams Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) and understand their value. 1 know that what is Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) looked for is often found; if answers are sought, 1 Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) need only look, listen, and remember. Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Floating turn exit (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Enerqy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (30 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 42/ 428 Day 87 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Floating Turn Exit Technique (20 Minutes) Don't move any part of your physical body with this method—body awareness actions only. 1. With body awareness, feel your left leg and foot becoming weightless. Feel them rise out of your body and hover just outside. Hold that for a minute until you get used to the feeling. Next, repeat this with your right leg and foot. Now feel both legs floating free and hold on to this feeling for a minute or so, then relax. Repeat this with your arms and hands; first one arm and then the other and then both together. Hold them out for a while and then relax. 2. Repeat the above process—lifting your left leg out and then your right, then your left arm and then your right—until you are holding all four limbs slightly out of your body simultaneously. Focus on how this feels. Hold them out for a few minutes to get used to the feeling, then relax. 3. Repeat the above so all your limbs are held slightly outside your body. Now imagine your floating legs are pointed ninety degrees to your right. Hold this position in your mind's eye for a minute before moving on to the next step. 4. Now, with your legs still directed to the wall at your right, imagine your floating arms are also pointing ninety degrees to your right. Spend a minute or so holding this body awareness position, feeling it as strongly as you can, before imagining your body turned in the same direction in line with your arms and legs. 5. Next feel yourself rolling to the right with your whole-body awareness. This is similar to the roll-out method, but with the addition of the new arm and leg body awareness position. Continue this for a minute or so before repeating the above exercise, directing all your body awareness actions and roll-out movements to the left instead of the right. Daily Tips Robert: The float-and-turn method is a bit tricky, but it has a remarkably strong effect on the energy body when you get it right. Using this, you will quickly feel a strong sense of inner motion. This is a good sign that the projection reflex is under a lot of pressure. Combined with the roll-out technique this is a very effective OBE exit method. Brian: Don't become overly concerned with making the visualization of the final ninetydegree shift perfect. Just let it come naturally. It is most important to get a sense that your energy body and physical body are out of phase with one another. This can provoke the vibrations or give you the sense that your energy body is bucking and lurching inside itself. This is a signal to then attempt the roll out. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 88 OBE Exit Training: Floating Turn Exit Technique Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 continually seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 recognize the divine in myself and Recite morning affirmations others. 1 understand that beneath our fleshy shells AFTERNOON we are all the same ethereal light. OBE walk-through Optional: Week 13 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 attract dreams that expand my state of OBE breath technique (5 min.) awareness. 1 realize the importance of my dreams Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) and understand their value. 1 know that what is Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) looked for is often found; if answers are sought, 1 Optional: Primary center stimulation ( 1 5 min.) need only look, listen, and remember. Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Floating turn exit (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy wotk time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (30 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 430 Day 88 4 3 1 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Floating Turn Exit Technique (20 Minutes) Don't move any part of your physical body with this method—body awareness actions only. 1. With body awareness, feel your left leg and foot becoming weightless. Feel them rise out of your body and hover just outside. Hold that for a minute until you get used to the feeling. Next, repeat this with your right leg and foot. Now feel both legs floating free and hold on to this feeling for a minute or so, then relax. Repeat this with your arms and hands; first one arm and then the other and then both together. Hold them out for a while and then relax. 2. Repeat the above process lifting your left leg out and then your right, then your left arm and then your right—until you are holding all four limbs slightly out of your body simultaneously. Focus on how this feels. Hold them out for a few minutes to get used to the feeling, then relax. 3. Repeat the above so all your limbs are held slightly outside your body. Now imagine your floating legs are pointed ninety degrees to your right. Hold this position in your mind's eye for a minute before moving on to the next step. 4. Now, with your legs still directed to the wall at your right, imagine your floating arms are also pointing ninety degrees to your right. Spend a minute or so holding this body awareness position, feeling it as strongly as you can, before imagining your body turned in the same direction in line with your arms and legs. 5. Next feel yourself rolling to the right with your whole-body awareness. This is similar to the roll-out method, but with the addition of the new arm and leg body awareness position. Continue this for a minute or so before repeating the above exercise, directing all your body awareness actions and roll-out movements to the left instead of the right. Daily Tips Robert: With the float-and-turn method, if you have problems holding all four limbs outside your body, practice holding them out one at a time, then two at a time, and so on, until you become more adept at holding this body awareness position. Alternatively, hold only your legs out at ninety degrees (or both arms) and combine this with the rolling-out action. Experiment and discover what is most effective for you. This method is well worth persevering with, so take your time and practice until you get it right. You'll know when this happens, as you will feel a stronger sense of vertigolike inner motion. Brian: As the formal part of this ninety-day program winds down, consider devoting a 432 Day 88 larger portion of your nights in bed to honing night to night, using this time to focus on one a single skill. For example, postulate that all primary skill. I've read dozens of case histories night while you are awake in bed you will of successful first conscious-exit projections practice your breathing or the brow center when someone wasn't necessarily trying to trigger or energy raising or meditation or have an OBE but rather was just practicing energy body stimulation. Trade off skills from one skill in bed for a long period of time. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 89 OBE Exit Training: Corner-Fingering Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 continually seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 recognize the divine in myself and Recite morning affirmations others. 1 understand that beneath our fleshy shells AFTERNOON we are all the same etbereal light. OBE walk-through Optional: Week 13 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 attract dreams that expand my state of OBE breath technigue (5 min.) awareness. 1 realize the importance of my dreams Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) and understand their value. 1 know that what is Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) looked for is often found; if answers are sought, 1 Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) need only look, listen, and remember. Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Corner fingering (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 433 DAY 89 OBE Exit Training: Corner-Fingering Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING Recite morning affirmations 1 continually seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 recognize the divine in myself and others. 1 understand that beneath our fleshy shells AFTERNOON OBE walk-through we are all the same ethereal light. Optional: Week 13 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 attract dreams that expand my state of OBE breath technique (5 min.) awareness. 1 realize the importance of my dreams Energy body prestimulation (5 min.) and understand their value. 1 know that what is Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) looked for is often found; if answers are sought, 1 Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) need only look, listen, and remember. Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Corner fingering {20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 433 434 Day 89 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Corner-Fingering Method (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine that your right arm and hand are lifting out of your body and reaching upward to the ceiling above and behind you. Reach all the way back to the upper corner of the room behind your right shoulder where the walls meet the corner of the ceiling. 2. Feel your arm stretch back until your imaginary hand is pressed into the ceiling corner. Feel your imaginary hand and fingers burrowing into the corner, digging into the dry and gritty sheetrock, plaster, and wood. Feel this texture against your fingers and nails as you dig them into this material. Imagine this sensation as realistically as you can. 3. Continue holding your right imaginary hand in position and now reach your left imaginary hand back to the left corner of the ceiling. Dig your left hand and fingers into the material of the corner and imagine and feel this sensation as intensely as you can. Continue to imagine and feel both hands simultaneously burrowing into the corners. 4. There are two ways to continue from the above point. The first is to just continue holding your awareness hands in this position, feeling and imagining your fingers burrowing into the corners. The second is to pull on first one awareness arm, then the other, and then with both arms, alternating between these actions. Experiment and do what works best for you. Daily Tips Robert: The corner-fingering method seems difficult but is actually quite easy to do. The trick is to keep your fingers moving and to keep imagining what the corner material feels like. If your awareness hands slip or wander and lose contact with the corners, keep pushing them back into place. Keep your awareness fingers moving and digging and feeling at all times. Brian: Imagining your fingers moving into the corners of the walls is only one variation on the idea that your arms are growing and moving through the walls, the ceiling, or the floor. You can just as well imagine that one hand is moving through the floor while the other is moving through the nightstand. If you can split awareness and keep both hands active simultaneously, all the better. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 90 OBE Exit Training: Corner-Fingering Method Date: AFFIRMATIONS TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook MORNING 1 continually seek to explore higher levels of consciousness. 1 recognize the divine in myself and Recite morning affirmations others. 1 understand that beneath our fleshy shells AFTERNOON we are all the same ethereal light. OBE walk-tbrough Optional: Week 13 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 attract dreams that expand my state of OBE breath technique (5 min.) awareness. 1 realize the importance of my dreams Enerqy body prestimulation (5 min.) and understand their value. 1 know that what is Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) looked for is often found; if answers are sought, 1 Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) need only look, listen, and remember. Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Corner finqerinq (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 435 436 Day 90 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. OBE Exit Technique: Corner-Fingering Method holding your awareness hands in this position, feeling and imagining your fingers burrowing into the corners. The second is to pull on first one awareness arm, then the other, and then with both arms, alternating between these actions. Experiment and do what works best for you. (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine that your right arm and hand are lifting out of your body and reaching upward to the ceiling above and behind you. Reach all the way back to the upper corner of the room behind your right shoulder where the walls meet the corner of the ceiling. 2. Feel your arm stretch back until your imaginary hand is pressed into the ceiling corner. Feel your imaginary hand and fingers burrowing into the corner, digging into the dry and gritty sheetrock, plaster, and wood. Feel this texture against your fingers and nails as you dig them into this material. Imagine this sensation as realistically as you can. 3. Continue holding your right imaginary hand in position and now reach your left imaginary hand back to the left corner of the ceiling. Dig your left hand and fingers into the material of the corner and imagine and feel this sensation as intensely as you can. Continue to imagine and feel both hands simultaneously burrowing into the corners. 4. There are two ways to continue from the above point. The first is to just continue Daily Tips Robert: The awareness actions of the cornerfingering method can be varied. For example, if you have trouble reaching your imaginary hands behind you, reach for the ceiling corners in front of you. You can also use only one imaginary hand if you have trouble splitting awareness. Or you can have one hand in a corner behind you and one hand in a corner in front of you. You can even cross your imaginary arms. Another alternative is to dig your imaginary hands into the wall or ceiling before you and have them climb the wall, hand over hand, then across the ceiling, and so on— experiment. Brian: One of the first times I felt the vibrations they started in my right leg while I was raising energy. They were so amazingly strong that I was distracted and centered my awareness on my leg, which made the vibrations dim. When I continued to raise energy, they returned just as strong, the way a bellows will prime a fire. This had been an unusual practice session. It was later at night than usual and I was quite tired; too tired, in fact, to even try making a projection attempt without drifting off to sleep. Unwilling to lose the vibrations, I Day 90 4 3 7 continued to raise energy. The next practice any kind begin for you. Does this distract you session I was unable to coax them back as or can you still focus on the exercise? Do the strongly as before. I've noticed since then that vibrations grow stronger when you focus on vibrations usually begin in my right leg. Note them or do they fade? Observe! And don't for- where the vibrations or energy movements of get to put your findings in your journal. Your Program Notes/Observations DAY 91 OBE Exit Training: Corner-Fingering Method Date: TASKS MORNING Write dream key words in bedside notebook AFFIRMATIONS MORNING 1 continually seek to explore higher levels of Recite morning affirmations consciousness. 1 recognize the divine in myself and OBE walk-through we are all the same ethereal light. others. 1 understand that beneath our fleshy shells AFTERNOON Optional: Week 13 BrainWave Generator Relaxation: Whole body (5 min.) EVENING 1 attract dreams that expand my state of OBE breath technique (5 min.) awareness. 1 realize the importance of my dreams Energy body presfimulation (5 min.) and understand their value. 1 know that what is Optional: Energy raising (5 min.) looked for is often found; if answers are sought, 1 Optional: Primary center stimulation (15 min.) need only look, listen, and remember. Trance with third-eye trigger practice (15 min.) Body loosening (5 min.) OBE exit technique: Corner finqering (20 min.) Write program notes/observations NIGHT Optional: Read supplemental OBE material Optional: Energy raising: Full-body circuit (10 min.) Recite nightly affirmations Optional: Listen to sleep programming recording Estimated energy work time: 55 minutes OBE Preparation Process (35-50 Minutes) Take a minute to walk through your planned OBE before using the relaxation technique (5 minutes). If you are using the BrainWave Generator, begin listening to this week's preset as you relax. Complete the OBE breathing technique (5 minutes). Prestimulate your feet, legs, hands, and arms (5 minutes). Raise energy using the full-body circuit (5 minutes) and/or stimulate your primary 438 Day 91 439 centers (15 minutes). Quiet your mind, practice the third-eye trigger, and use a trance induction method (15 minutes). Practice your favorite body-loosening technique (5 minutes) and move on to OBE exit practice. position, feeling and imagining your fingers burrowing into the corners. The second is to pull on first one awareness arm, then the other, and then with both arms, alternating between these actions. Experiment and do what works best for you. OBE Exit Technique: Corner-Fingering Method (20 Minutes) 1. Imagine that your right arm and hand are lifting out of your body and reaching upward to the ceiling above and behind you. Reach all the way back to the upper corner of the room behind your right shoulder, where the walls meet the corner of the ceiling. 2. Feel your arm stretch back until your imaginary hand is pressed into the ceiling corner. Feel your imaginary hand and fingers burrowing into the corner, digging into the dry and gritty sheetrock, plaster, and wood. Feel this texture against your fingers and nails as you dig them into this material. Imagine this sensation as realistically as you can. 3. Continue holding your right imaginary hand in position and now reach your left imaginary hand back to the left corner of the ceiling. Dig your left hand and fingers into the material of the corner and imagine and feel this sensation as intensely as you can. Continue to imagine and feel both hands simultaneously burrowing into the corners. 4. There are two ways to continue from the above point. The first is to just continue holding your awareness hands in this Daily Tips Robert: The roll-out method is a great addition to the corner-fingering method. To do this, hold your imaginary hands in position digging into the corners, then feel yourself rolling to one side and then rolling to the other. When you feel yourself rolling, also try to pull on the awareness hand of that side, as if you are using it to help you roll over. This is like trying to wriggle out of your body with a side-to-side pulling-and-rolling action. Brian: Now that you've completed this program, chances are you've had a number of successes, even if they weren't what you expected at the start. I found it extremely motivating to list all my successes in a single document where they could be read one after another. Sometimes it is easy to dismiss OBE successes when they are mixed in with a glut of lessthan-positive results. OBE memories are like dreams and they will quickly fade unless you write them down and read them later. When they are all in one place you can say, "Well, I had this success and this success and this success; there might be something to this after all." Keep the list in your OBE practice area and read it whenever you get discouraged. Do not give up! 440 Day 91 Your Program Notes/Observations Where Do I Go from Here? Now that the ninety-day OBE program has come to a close, there are several ways to proceed if you're interested in continuing to hone your OBE skills. If you've enjoyed the structure of the past thirteen weeks, there's nothing to stop you from continuing it or even repeating the program. If you're interested in a more uninhibited approach, now is the chance to use your imagination to create a standard routine that suits your lifestyle. Whatever you decide, there are a few key areas on which to focus that provide beneficial results with longterm practice. Energy Work Continue to practice energy work whenever you meditate or make OBE attempts, including energy bounce work and secondary energy body and primary center stimulation. This will have long-term effects of developing and strengthening your ability to manipulate and control your personal energy, as well as cultivating dormant psychic abilities. It will also make it easier to handle the kind of energy movement it takes to exteriorize your projectable double. In addition, work on the technique of raising and storing energy while going about your daily routine. The more Day 91 4 4 1 energy you raise, the more you will have available for memorable, high-quality OBEs. An increased vital energy level also has a strong self-healing side effect, as this boosts your immune system. experiment and make up your own techniques. Most importantly, don't become so focused on the fundamentals of trance and energy work that you neglect OBE exit practice. Shadow Memory Recall Skills Trance Meditation If you can master the mind awake/body asleep state, you have arrived at a significant milestone. The practice of daily trance meditation using slight discomfort is key to entering the perfect state from which the conscious OBE exit becomes possible. Focus individually on deep physical relaxation, breathing, clearing your mind, and trance induction techniques. Learn to balance yourself on the edge of the sleep state without slipping over the brink. Even if you only practice fifteen minutes of trance meditation a day, this will steadily improve your abilities. This will also help reprogram your brain so you will steadily become calmer, better balanced, and more whole. Your skills will progress with the time you invest. In time you will be able to induce a trance state very quickly and easily in almost any circumstance, even while standing and walking. Exit Training The ninety-day program has exposed you to many different OBE exit techniques. Now you can focus on what has worked best for you. Alternate the methods you like most, but also If you are persistent in your efforts, your dream and OBE memory-recall ability will steadily improve so that eventually no dream or OBE experience will escape you. The more you focus on dreams, the more the line between dreaming and waking blurs. With this comes the ability to manipulate the dream state to induce lucid dreams and to operate in the out-of-body state. Dreams can be an incredible personal learning tool and the more you focus on them the more this avenue of knowledge will open to you. Continue to use your dream notepad and to transfer interesting dreams into your dream journal. Make this a lifelong habit. Learn ways to wake up and capture powerful dreams in the middle of the night as well as those had just before waking. You will be rewarded for your long-term efforts. Additional ideas for making a more elaborate dream journal are included in appendix C. For more information on energy body stimulation techniques, OBEs, and similar topics, visit www.astraldynamics.com. The site is loaded with articles, tutorials, links, and web forums dealing with all kinds of spiritual, metaphysical, and OBE-related subjects. Afteword No Endpoint There comes a point in each individual's spiritual evolution where one reaches beyond the borders of what can be seen and touched, where one grasps for something infinite. By picking up this book and practicing meditation, energy work, and conscious-exit OBE techniques, you've taken your first concrete steps toward a destination that has no concrete endpoint. This book is intended to teach consciousexit projection during the course of a ninetyday program. Hopefully, sometime in these past three months you've had a chance to realize consciousness beyond the body for at least a little while and come to understand something more about the nature of who and what you really are. If you haven't yet experienced a wakeinduced OBE, I hope you've remembered something of your spontaneous exits or, at the very least, that you've experienced something that has expanded your pool of knowns and givens beyond mere belief. All along the idea was to teach conscious-exit projection in ninety days, but the act of truly mastering astral projection takes a lifetime commitment. Don't give up now. This is only the beginning, the apprenticeship to mastery. By definition the infinite has no endpoint and neither should your journey toward it. Stay committed and enthusiastic. If you've stepped methodically through every day of this program, you clearly want it badly enough. By now you should be able to taste success. The important thing is to continue trying. Think of any skill that you have mastered. Remember how difficult it was when you first started learning it. Like any skill, if you do it long and consistendy enough, you will one day most certainly meet with success. B R I A N M E R C E R 443 444 Afterword A Parting Shot The creation of this book has been quite the journey, to say the least. I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed working through it with us—also that you succeeded in having some memorable and exciting out-of-body experiences. Just having one fully conscious projection exit makes this program worth all the time and effort. This is a dramatic and lifechanging experience! Your beliefs are changed forever once the reality of OBEs shifts from the realm of the unknown into that of personal experience. If this is the case, then you have done well and I am proud of you. If the above is not the case, please do not give up. Think about what you have gained by working through the program. Take stock for a moment and you will realize that you have gained valuable skills that you did not have before. Take heart that you now have a workable understanding of all aspects of inducing an out-of-body experience, plus experience with at least some OBE-related phenomena. You also have a solid grasp of your own projection-related strengths and weaknesses. All of this gives you something tangible to work with and improve upon in the future. No matter what people say to the contrary, learning how to induce a conscious OBE exit is not an easy thing for most people to do. Some people have natural ability and seem to get out of their bodies with minimal fuss and effort. Others may have to repeat this program a number of times before they succeed. It is difficult to tell just what one's level of natural projection ability is until one has made the effort to work through the program. So many vari- ables are involved. This can be likened to having unknown artistic or singing talent in that your level of natural ability in these areas will always remain a mystery until you actually try to paint or to sing. You may or may not have succeeded at projecting in any significant way, but at least you should have experienced some projectionrelated sensations or phenomena like energy movement, astral sight, bi-location, flying, and lucid dreams. I hope these experiences inspire you to keep working toward your ultimate goal to have a fully conscious out-of-body experience. For most people, mastering the skills required to induce an OBE will take time and effort. Those who persevere will eventually succeed. One side benefit of working through this program is worth considering: you now know your true self a little better than you did before you started. The energy work alone offers enough personal experience to suggest that there is a lot more to you as a living being than just flesh and blood and bone. You are also a spirit with an amazing energy body, which has enormous potential for personal growth and development. This opens your mind to some exciting spiritual possibilities, including the existence of spiritual life outside the gross physical universe and the continuation and evolution of spiritual life beyond the grave. The more out-of-body experiences you have, the more real all these possibilities become. Welcome to the greater reality of the spiritual universe. Mastering astral projection is well worth the effort! R O B E R T B R U C E Appendix A Suggested Supplemental Reading List The suggested reading list has been divided into recent and classic OBE literature. In general, we have tried to include books with ample case histories. Reading these helps program the subconscious mind to induce spontaneous OBEs, especially when read just before sleep. We have also tried to include only books that are currendy in print. Check your secondhand bookstores for other tides not listed here. We have also included two books on fasting for beginners. Recent OBE Books Blackmore, Susan. Beyond the Body: An Investigation of Out-of-the-Body Experiences. Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishing, 1989. An academic approach to OBE, this book begins with the author's personal out-of-body experiences and continues with a comprehensive history of the phenomenon. Bruce, Robert. Astral Dynamics: A NEW Approach to Out-of-Body Experience. Charlotte, VA: Hampton Roads, 1999. More than just an OBE how-to, this is both a practical manual and a theoretical perspective. At 560 pages, this modern classic offers profound and detailed insight into the astral planes, including their nature and structure, astral wildlife, spirit beings, and astral phenomenon. . Practical Psychic Self-Defense: Understanding and Surviving Unseen Influences. Charlotte, VA: Hampton Roads, 2002. This guide offers sound, experience-based advice and a range of practical countermeasures against the most common types of psychic attack. The methods given in this book are designed for use by the average person with no metaphysical background, skills, or abilities. This book is included here as it deals in part with OBEs and offers help for spiritually troubled projectors. 445 446 Appendix A Leland, Kirk. Otherwhere: A Field Guide to Nonphysical Reality for the Out-of-Body Traveler. Charlotte, VA: Hampton Roads, 2001. The author provides a fascinating tour of the astral planes and the creatures therein. A lot of good examples of astral transference (sometimes called phasing). Monroe, Robert. Journeys out of the Body. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1973. The first of three books about his out-of-body experiences, this is the easiest to read and the one with the most personal accounts. First published in the early '70s, this landmark book on OBEs was touted for its logical and analytical approach to the subject. Ophiel. Art and Practice of Astral Projection. York Beach, ME: Red Wheel/Weiser, 1974. This thin but meaty book on astral travel includes three methods of learning OBE: the dream method, the body of light method, and the symbol method, with some discussion of the nature of the astral planes. Novak, Peter. The Lost Secret of Death: Our Divided Souls and the Afterlife. Charlotte, VA: Hampton Roads, 2003. This book has some content on OBEs, but is more about the dual nature of the soul. Novak's binary soul doctrine (BSD) offers keen insight into understanding the nature of the OBE mind-split effect, the subconscious mind, and higher self. It contains a lot of near-death experience case histories. Fascinating reading! Peterson, Robert. Out-of-Body Experiences: How to Have Them and What to Expect. Charlotte, VA: Hampton Roads, 1997. This is an excel- lent account of one man's quest to have an out-of-body experience and his subsequent OBE adventures. Ring, Kenneth, and Sharon Cooper. Mindsight: Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind. Palo Alto, CA: Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, 1999. This book is full of interviews of blind individuals who could see during near-death and out-of-body experiences. Rogo, D. Scott. Leaving the Body: A Complete Guide to Astral Projection. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1983. One of the few "howto" manuals included on this list, the author summarizes eight projection techniques from numerous well-respected sources. It includes the method that he himself used to learn to project. Slate, Joe. Astral Projection and Psychic Empowerment: Techniques for Mastering the Out-ofBody Experience. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1989. Here the author explores the OBE, its use for spiritual growth and potential, and its connection to other paranormal phenomena. Taylor, Albert. Soul Traveler: A Guide to Out-ofBody Experiences and the Wonders Beyond. New York: New American Library Book, 1996. Written by a former NASA aeronautical engineer, this short but compelling book is full of first-person accounts of the author's OBEs. Tart, Charles T. Altered States of Consciousness. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1972. This serious study on altered states of Appendix A 447 consciousness includes the effects of meditation, hypnosis, yoga, drugs, and such phenomena on lucid dreams and out-of-body experiences. ton, a notable British psychical researcher, and Sylvan Muldoon, an experienced astral traveler, collaborate in this early treatise on OBEs. Wilson, Terrill. How I Learned Soul Travel: The True Experiences of a Student in Eckankar, the Ancient Science of Soul Travel. Crystal, MN: Illuminated Way Publishing, 1990. This book is a first-person account of the author's pursuit to have out-of-body experiences. This is a phenomenally good book at demonstrating the difficulties and pitfalls of learning astral travel and how, through persistence, one might eventually succeed. Powell, Arthur E. The Astral Body and Other Astral Phenomena. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1927. Like many of the books of its kind published in the late 1920s, this book has its roots in the Theosophical Society. This is less a book with case files and more an informational guide that includes a condensed version of the Theosophical concepts associated with astral travel. Classic OBE Literature Crookall, Robert. Study and Practice of Astral Projection: The Definitive Survey on Out-ofthe-Body Experiences. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1960. In the 1960s Robert Crookall and Celia Green gathered survey and case file data associated with OBEs. Over 150 of their case files appear in this narrative. Fox, Oliver. Astral Projection: A Record ofOut-ofthe-Body Experiences. 1929. Reprint, Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1962. Written by Hugh G. Calloway under the pseudonym Oliver Fox in 1929, this first-person account is full of the author's personal out-of-body adventures. Muldoon, Sylvan, and Hereward Carrington. Projection of the Astral Body. 1929. Reprint, York Beach, ME: Red Wheel/Weiser, 1974. First published in 1929, Hereward Carring- YRAM. Practical Astral Projection. 1969. Reprint, Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing Company, 2003. YRAM is the pen name for the French projector Marcel Louis Forhan, who conducted hundreds of personal out-of-body experiments in the real-time zone and astral planes. Full of personal accounts and techniques; a classic. Fasting Adamson, Eve, Linda Horning, and Alison Shore Gaines. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fasting. Indianapolis, IN: Alaph Books, 2002. Meyerowitz, Steve, and Beth Robbins. Juice Fasting and Detoxification: Use the Healing Power of Fresh Juice to Feel Young and Look Great: The Fastest Way to Restore Your Health. Great Barrington, MA: Sproutman Publications, 1999. Appendix B Brainwave Generator Installation Guide and Tips Included with the CD that accompanies this book is a computer program called the BrainWave Generator. The BrainWave Generator works with your personal computer to generate sound that helps produce an altered state of consciousness for the listener. The program requires the Windows operating system (Windows 95 or above), a sound card, and stereo headphones. The technology works in the following way: brainwaves are attributed to electrical activity in the brain, which can be measured with an electroencephalogram (EEG) when electrodes are placed on the scalp. The dominant brainwave frequency is said to be the current state of brain activity or one's state of consciousness. States of consciousness have been classified into various categories: beta (normal, waking consciousness), alpha (meditative state), theta (light sleep), and delta (deep sleep). The theory behind the BrainWave Generator is that by introducing external stimuli 448 (sound) one can affect brainwave patterns, thereby decreasing the amount of time it takes to get into an altered state of consciousness. (For detailed information on how the BrainWave Generator technology works, reference the "Help" files included with the BrainWave Generator program or visit www.bwgen.com.) The BrainWave Generator can also be used with light and sound machines that support AudioStrobe technology. Light and sound machines, such as the Orion, the Proteus, or the Innerpulse, look like portable music players with sockets to plug in headphones and special light goggles. When used with the BrainWave Generator's AudioStrobe technology, the light goggles flash in a way that further assists in inducing an altered state of consciousness. For more information on the BrainWave Generator's AudioStrobe function, reference the program's "Help" files and the instructions that came with your sound and light machine. Appendix B 449 When used with sound and light machines, the BrainWave Generator uses flashes of high frequency light for external visual stimulation of the brain. For this reason the following people should not use the BrainWave Generator: people subject to any form of seizures or epilepsy, people using pacemakers, people suffering from cardiac arrhythmia or other heart disorders, and people taking stimulants, psychoactive drugs, or tranquilizers. If you fall into any of these categories, do not use the BrainWave Generator. 3. The installation program wizard begins. Click the words "Install BrainWave Generator 3.1". The BrainWave Generator is a fully functional shareware program that includes all the presets necessary for following the ninety-day Mastering Astral Projection program. Registering the program is not required. However, advantages of program registration include no longer having to see the "Evaluation Copy" dialogue box at start-up. Registered users can also import presets from an existing library available free at www.bwgen.com. If you are interested in registering your copy of the BrainWave Generator, follow the instructions on the "Evaluation Copy" dialogue box when first starting up the program. 6. The program will inform you that the installation is complete. Click the "Finish" button to start the program. (In the future you can open the program from the "Start" menu.) 4. When the installation wizard starts, click the "Next" button. A message will come up asking you to accept the license agreement. Click on the "Yes" button. 5. The installation wizard asks you where you want to install the program. Use the default directory or choose an alternate location and click the "Next" button. 7. The first time the program opens it invokes the configuration wizard. (You can also open the configuration wizard from the "Options" menu.) You will need to plug in headphones for this step. The configuration wizard allows you to test the stereo orientation, test the right and left channels, set the sample rate, and turn the AudioStrobe function on or off. Follow the instructions as they appear on the screen. Installation 1. Insert the CD that came with this book into the CD-ROM drive of your personal computer. (If you don't have the CD or a CD-ROM drive, you can download a copy of the customized Mastering Astral Projection version of the BrainWave Generator from www.astraldynamics.com.) 2. Navigate to the "BrainWave Generator" folder and double-click the "Setup" icon. To operate the BrainWave Generator, set up your headphones and choose the desired preset from the drop-down menu. Press the play button (the button with the little triangle) and the stop button (the button with the little square) to start and stop the preset. Use your PC's volume controls to adjust the level of sound output. 450 Appendix B Tips • The BrainWave Generator's presets are progressive in nature (i.e., they change while you use them, even if the changes are not obvious). For this reason you should only start playing the presets when you are ready to begin your energy work or trance session. • Always use headphones. Simply listening through PC speakers will have no effect whatsoever. • The presets do not have to be loud to be effective. Somewhere between barely audible to comfortable will work best. In general, you don't want the program to be so loud that it is distracting or this may prevent you from entering the body asleep/mind awake state. • If you find yourself falling asleep while using the program, consider changing to a sitting position in a hard-backed chair with no neck support. The slight discomfort of this position will prevent you from falling asleep. • The presets tend to be most effective the first few times they are used. Take advantage of this by only listening to the presets when you are doing the exercises in the Mastering Astral Projection program. • Information about each week's presets are given at the end of each week's chapter before the daily pages. For more information on the presets themselves, choose "Preset Options ..." from the "Wave" menu within the BrainWave Generator itself and read the description information. • If you are not using a light and sound machine with the BrainWave Generator, you should turn off the AudioStrobe function. Make sure the "No Visual Effects" menu item is checked in the "Options" menu. • When using light goggles, always keep your eyes closed, as the strobe light is designed to penetrate eyelids. • Never listen to any of these programs while driving or operating equipment, as the programs have a tendency to make you drowsy. Audio Topes and CDs Sound recording aids (CDs and tapes) are also available that can help induce relaxation and altered states of consciousness. These aids range from simple led meditations using voice and music to induce relaxation, to more sophisticated recordings utilizing binaural beats and rhythms (much like the BrainWave Generator) to help induce altered states. Some of these recordings are simple, repeating continuous tones to tap specific mind states. Others have vocal guidance, inductions, and belief builders, as well as voice modulations and background noises that complement each other. If you have a particular recording or series of recordings that you prefer, feel free to integrate it into the program. Again, we must stress that the audio tapes and CDs, the BrainWave Generator and/or light and sound machines, are not necessary for the Mastering Astral Projection program to be effective. They are supplemental tools; optional extras. Appendix C Dream Journal Template and Instructions Dote! Page no.: Use the date from the night you went to sleep. Dream title: Title your dream for easy reference later. Dream key words: Transfer your dream key words Full dream experience: from your dream notepad here. Write the dream here in first-person present tense (e.g., "I am walking down a long hallway."). 451 452 Appendix C Players and connections: family, workmates, Event Sequence: Explored List the people in your dream and how they are connected (e.g., all of them are schoolmates, etc.). Insert a short version of the key dream events in chronological order (e.g., "# I Opened door. # 2 garden. #3 ..."). Symbols, symbolic actions, and symbolic modifiers: the woods), symbolic actions (e.g., burning a letter), Note obvious symbols or things out of place (e.g., a chair in and symbolic modifiers. A symbolic modifier is something out of the ordinary about a symbol (e.g., a pig flying, a locked door, a rusty car, dirty water, etc.). SignPosts: Symbolic timestamps for an meaning associated with dream Questions: might manifest upcoming event. This the overall dream events (e.g., at is usually an out-of-place symbol that might have some a Christmas tree might suggest that some aspect of this Christmastime). Before making any comments or guesswork about the dream, attempt to zero in on the important aspects of it by asking obvious questions (e.g., "Why was the path overgrown with vines?" or "Why was everything so dirty?"). Thoughts, feelings, and guesswork: dream Hindsight: events and environment and Attempt to answer those questions asked above. Add how you felt about the try your hand at interpreting anything your higher self is trying to tell you. Leave this space blank for later comments. Oftentimes other dreams and so on will offer more insights. Note: An electronic version of this dream template can be found on the CD included with this book. Projection PosiTion Posture Appendix E Keys To a Successful QBE by Laetitia M. Kimball How Badly Do You Want It? The first key to having a conscious out-ofbody experience is will or intent. Most people are not aware of their nightly projections because deep down they don't want to be. The reality of it would be too much to bear! Bringing such a level of awareness back down to the day-to-day requires dedication to this new reality. Most people don't have the will to leave their bodies consciously. Sometimes fear holds them back but most often it's laziness. How many of you gave up meditating after thirty minutes? Maybe you practiced a week and you didn't have an OBE, so you gave up. If you're not attentive, mundane life takes over. It's perfectly okay to be fascinated by astral phenomena while not wanting to make the effort to do it. Look around you: what does your lifestyle say about what you really want? 454 Your persistent, long-term efforts at having an OBE are what prove your intent to have an out-of-body experience. Relax! Total relaxation is the second key to a peaceful, controlled out-of-body experience. Practices such as meditation or yoga can help you achieve relaxation. However, given the stresses of modern society, you will probably need to meditate and contort yourself twelve hours a day before you achieve the physical and mental states needed for an OBE. Most people can hardly squeeze in a few minutes' worth of energy work per week, which is better than nothing but not enough. Mental relaxation is as critical to having an OBE as physical relaxation. You can yoga yourself into a pretzel, but if your monkey brain is chattering 24/7 or spinning out of control with anxieties, you are not going to Appendix E have an OBE. It is imperative that you create a peaceful, relaxed life for yourself if you are to make a regular practice of deliberately leaving 455 • Spend less time partying and more time pondering. • Change your diet. your body. Given this basic truth, what are the sources of stress in your life? Make a list, because you are going to need to take care of all of them. By "take care of • Give up stress-related habits (boozing, chain smoking, etc.). • See a doctor about that thing. them" I don't necessarily mean fix them. Some problems can't be fixed. However, you can • Get at least eight hours of sleep per night. change your approach to your problems. You • Turn off the TV. might have to do any or all of these things before you can genuinely relax: • Forgive your parents, siblings, and everyone who ever hurt your feelings. • Finish school. • Swallow your pride and get some therapy. When you make your list of stressors and are faced with the awesome realization of what it will take to deal with them, refer back to the first section, "How Badly Do You Want It?" • Quit your crappy job and get a more It's worth it. By changing my life and the meaningful or less stressful one, even way I think, I can now astral project without if it means making less money. devoting my entire life to a meditation practice. I still recommend meditation and yoga to • Set boundaries with your spouse and/or children. • Move to a more peaceful or more affordable location. everyone, even to those who never plan to have an OBE, since they are great for your health and your overall sense of well-being. However, other practices can bring on the same level of relaxation: • Learn to love (or at least accept) those things that annoy you. • Quit some outer activities (clubs, etc.) in order to do more inner work. • Give up video games, instant messaging, etc. • Face the problems you've been avoiding. • keeping a journal • New Energy Ways (NEW)' • loving your pets • playing with your kids, not just "taking care" of them 1. Robert Bruce, Astral Dynamics: A NEW Approach to Out-of-Body Experience (Charlotte, VA: Hampton Roads Publishim 1999). 456 Appendix E • making crazy art (the point is to express yourself, not to be good at it) • dancing (it's even better if you look silly doing it; learn not to care!) • walking around the block • napping • reading • calling a friend who makes you happy • playing sports • gardening • cooking • sex with someone you love • anything that helps you relieve stress— with like-minded people to save money. Be creative! By saying no to overwork and overconsumption and by saving money for that inevitable rainy day, you will find peace and—tada!— relaxation. Forget Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, buy (or better yet, sign out from your public library) The Complete Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle by Amy Dacyczyn. 2 Notice that my suggested stress-relieving activities above are free, or at the very least cheap. Nothing brings me more pleasure than a good nap, a cup of tea in my grandmother's china teacup, and a good book on a quiet Sunday afternoon. There is a never-ending list of free or inexpensive pleasures to choose from. hopefully it's legal Ample Amounts of Free Time A Life of Genteel Poverty Have you ever noticed that the most spiritual people in the world have very little money? This is no accident! How much do you really need to be happy? Not a lot. I'm not suggesting you throw on sackcloth, sell flowers on a street corner, or join a commune. On the contrary, I am advocating a life of quiet gentility. Get a good education so you may find decent, meaningful work, a small home, a sensible car (or public transport), and a steady, modest inflow of cash to pay the bills and save for retirement and health insurance. Simplify your life, my friends! If you can't afford a simple life where you live now, move! Join forces You need to practice to succeed at having an OBE. Stress and sleep deprivation brought on by a frenetic lifestyle might cause an involuntary OBE now and then, but these are disturbing experiences you won't be able to control. It's so much better to pick the time and place for your exits. So take it slowly and deliberately in your free time when you are well rested. We each have twenty-four hours in a day. You might say "I don't have the time!" but for the most part that's a load of crap, even if you're a single parent. Almost everyone wastes time without realizing it. Each day families in America watch hours and hours of TV and say they don't have time to do things. Please! Since 2. Amy Dacyczyn, The Complete Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle (New York: Random House Publishing, 1998). Appendix E you'll never get more than twenty-four hours per day, make your free time by rearranging your life and by saying no. What This Is All About By now some of you are probably thinking "What the heck does all this 'lifestyle' business have to do with OBEs?" Freaked-out lives, festering resentments, screwed-up finances, and poor health are going to make it impossible for you to relax, and a half hour of meditation and a stretch every now and then is not going to fix them. You need to transform your life so that you may relax and find peace, so that you may have an OBE peacefully. Your life is the true foundation for your OBE practice. When you find yourself lucid in a dream or astral landscape, what you think and believe will shape your experience. Resentments and fears will send you straight to the lower astral where you'll face demons, spiders, mean dragons, assorted negs and such. It's enough to make one vow never to go back! It is best to develop a clear mind and a peaceful soul so when you do finally leave your body, you'll end up someplace decent. Time to Practice The third key to having an OBE is constant awareness during liminal states. I progress well with my OBE practice when I spend a lot of time alone in silence in "in-between" states— neither here nor there but always aware. Liminal it is called; it means "at the threshold." Many people call this state of mind trance. I 457 meditate on fog, for instance, as it is in between rain and not-rain; those moments just before or just after thunderstorms, doorways, bridges, the forest's edge . . . Think of your own liminal places and meditate on them. When you are in a liminal state, sharpen your awareness to the fact that you are now "in between." It can be an ongoing struggle to stay aware during liminal states. When you sleep, your consciousness will leave your body on its own. Unfortunately, you are unconscious and miss the whole thing! By practicing constant awareness you can be asleep and awake at the same time. You should even practice constant awareness at work, while cooking, while talking to people and while tying your shoelaces. No matter what you do with your life, you have at least sixteen hours a day to practice constant awareness. I burn incense when I practice; it sends a signal to my brain that I'm working on having an OBE. Sometimes I play quiet music; other times I like it silent. It's good to practice achieving liminal states with normal sounds (birds, crickets, and screaming children) within earshot. I recommend practicing in a slightly sitting state—in a reclining chair, for instance. Lying on a bed is a sure way to fall asleep. However, I must confess that all of my OBEs have occurred while in bed—either lying down or propped up on my pillows—so even I don't practice what I preach in this regard. The following is what I usually do. First, I have a light meal—perhaps a salad— an hour or two before I go to bed. I don't bother to attempt a projection on a stomach full of 458 Appendix E protein because it doesn't work! Protein is very felt them yet, perhaps it's better just to wait for grounding, so you'll be "grounded" until you're them to come on their own. Don't worry, they done digesting. In general, try not to eat protein will come. The trick is staying awake for them! (or anything for that matter) after 6:30 p.m. if you want to project at night or early morning. The reason many of us botch our OBE attempts at the point of exit (presuming we Next, I lie on my back with a pillow under initially have the deep relaxation down) is that my knees to relieve back pressure. I squirm we're too excited over the shifting of our around to crack my back vertebrae. I crack energy bodies, thinking, "Are these the vibra- every knuckle I have! I wiggle my fingers and tions? Oh boy! Is it finally going to happen?" toes, clench and relax my muscles, and settle This excitement causes loss of the deep relax- in for the night. ation needed for the exit. Overcome this gid- Then I fall asleep on my back. If I roll over in my sleep, that's okay. diness by practicing your in-between states frequently. I still struggle with staying aware At some point in the evening, after perhaps during induced trance states. Most of the time one REM cycle, I sort of wake up. I am half I drift off in a fog and nothing happens, but awake, half asleep—at the threshold! I may get every now and then—shazam—there I am, up to use the bathroom and then attempt a awake in my head . . . and leaving my body projection, or I might just skip the bathroom behind. break and sink into a vibration state from whatever position I'm in. This is how I practice: I meditate/trance with the intention of feeling my energy body If I have a dream, I write it down as quickly shift and wobble without trying to push as I can before it fades. Dream recall exercises myself into an OBE. I get so used to the shifty are very good practice; the skill will be of great feeling that it absolutely bores me to death importance later when you begin remember- and ceases to cause an excited or expectant ing your OBE exits. reaction. Also, it takes the pressure off. If I Sometimes I have an OBE during weekend mornings when I don't need to be anywhere else. have an OBE, great! If I don't, I wasn't trying to have one in the first place. Here's what it feels like to me before the vibrations happen: I'm sleeping or resting and I'm in a liminal state. I trance very easily (it's The Previbrational State both a blessing and a curse; no one wants to How can you bring on the vibrations? You ride in my car when I'm driving!), so I rarely could try willing them, but only if you are in have to work at getting in the right head- the liminal space between sleep and waking. space. I assume the position for an OBE (flat Willing them while you're just lying there on my back). twiddling your thumbs won't work! It helps if I feel my energy body start to shift. Imagine you've felt the vibrations before. If you haven't what it must feel like to be a hardboiled egg Appendix E 459 when someone is peeling off your shell—something feels as though it is separating. Sometimes it feels like a little wobble or a flutter. Most of the wobbling/ shifting is in my upper body from my upper chest up to the top of my head. Sometimes I even get a little sick to my stomach! When this happens I try to lay absolutely still and act really, really bored by the phenomenon. Sometimes I get so nauseated I have to stop what I'm doing and start over. success at exiting my body using this technique has been spotty. So if you find yourself wobbly or fluttery or shifty and the vibrations don't happen after fifteen seconds or so, you might want to try feeling (not visualizing) yourself sinking deep into your bed or your chair as though someone were pressing down upon you, and pressing down hard, without letting up. Sometimes I think, "Down . . . down . . . down . . . dowwwnnnn . . . " Moving the body or even thinking about it will end the experience. Even thoughts such as "I'd better not think about my body!" will ruin it. The way to get past this problem is to turn around negative thoughts such as "I'd better n o t . . . " into positive ones, such as, "Okay, I'm moving along, whatever . . . my mind is relaxed . . . ho hum, here I go . . ." Positive thoughts will keep your mind off what you shouldn't be doing. Another option is to do nothing. I call this the Zen technique. Trying too hard to "do something" might break your relaxation and ruin the experience. Letting an OBE happen in a Zen kind of way seems to work so much better, as long as you have the patience and wherewithal to stay awake. Of course that is little consolation to folks who've been trying for years. So, if you've been trying "nothing" without results, try sinking. Often while I'm waiting for something to happen, I will roll my eyes upward and watch the white light show going on at my third eye at the center of my forehead. I simply watch the lights passively. If you find yourself in an uncomfortable position when you start to feel wobbly or shifty, lie perfectly still and put up with it. Believe it or not, the wobbly feeling doesn't last very long—just a few seconds for me when I go off spontaneously. If I move a muscle, I've blown it! When I want to bring on the vibrations faster, I feel myself going through my mattress, the floor, the ground, through the earth, and into outer space on the other side. It's always prolonged my vibration experience, but my The Vibrations The vibrations are the point of no return, so you do not have to do much at this point besides relax and take everything you feel/hear in stride, knowing that you are safe. If you've never had an OBE, the vibrations will probably feel like nothing you've ever felt before. In fact, if you feel tingling or mild paralysis and wonder if it's vibrations, it's not, although you are getting close. Keep it up! Real exit sensations are not mild. They can be downright alarming. During your first OBEs the vibrations will probably feel jarring, even upsetting. The trick is in not letting the sensations freak you out. 460 Appendix E My advice to beginners: expect to be shocked. I feel sinking and vibrations and hear roaring and buzzing all at the same time. Sometimes I feel a lot of pressure on my chest as though I am being pushed down onto the bed. I liken the vibrational state to lying on top of an unbalanced washing machine during the spin cycle. The experience is very noisy and I am completely paralyzed until the OBE is finished. Once you've had several deliberate/successful OBEs, the exits quiet down. These days my vibrations feel and sound like a large buzzing plane flying low overhead. The Exit My early OBEs were spontaneous and most unwelcome until the day I surrendered to the experience and actually downloaded some good memories from a bona fide OBE. These days I have a problem with my excitement and my expectations ruining projection attempts. Even experienced projectors have spotty success, so toss your frustration aside and know you are in good company. The fourth key to having an OBE is surrendering. Before I tried surrendering, I'd failed at having an OBE many times. By surrendering to the experience, I projected four times in one night! I like to call this exit technique flopping. I flop like a rag doll, as rag dolls have no bones or muscles. When I manage to flop entirely during vibrations, I am able to exit my body. This is how to do it: when you feel the vibrations, lose all tension in your body. Flop like a rag doll. Send out a littie prayer. It doesn't really matter to whom. Send out the prayer to the being out there who is willing and waiting to help. Keep an open mind. Completely surrender to the experience and accept any help that is coming. Accept anything (and I mean anything) that might come from that help. If you get this maneuver right, you may feel yourself floating upward. You might even feel yourself yanked out of your body a little too abruptly. At least you'll be out! The first time I deliberately consciously floated out of my body, I was amazed at how absolutely real it felt. I was myself! In my ghostly body! Wrapped up in my ghostly white sheet! I could even see the hairs on my arms. Flying was an amazing yet familiar feeling. There were a few visual fluctuations: my house wasn't perfect, but I could tell I was in my bedroom looking over my sleeping body. I felt I could have flown around for hours, but I remembered that novice projectors should jump back in their bodies right quick so as to remember the experience, so that's what I did. Even today I try not to stay out too long, lest I drift off into a dream. Re-entry Returning to my body has never been a problem. All I do is decide to return and swim or fly toward my sleeping form. Strong feelings during re-entry can help you remember your OBE. Even shouting something so simple as "I will remember this!" when moving toward your body will help solidify the memory of your OBE into your conscious mind. Appendix E In the peaceful reverie after the paralysis passes, my usually dark bedroom seems lit with flickering lights as if someone had snuck into my bedroom during my OBE, lit a bunch of tea candles, and hid them all over my room. After my first OBE I thought I'd left candles lit and I rummaged about my room looking for them, getting really confused. The candlelight effect goes away in a minute or two. Writing key words for OBEs down is very important as, like dream memories, they often quickly fade if not recorded. Sometimes I have visions after the paralysis passes, as though my dream world and the ordinary have overlapped. I will also occasion- 461 ally get a cold head. When this happens, I wrap my head in a blanket. I always sleep well afterward and wake up refreshed. Happy Travels! Remember the keys to having an OBE: intent, relaxation, constant awareness during liminal states, and surrender. Practice every day (or at least several times a week) and make it happen. Once you succeed, you will know what it feels like. Then you may engage in a variety of techniques to reproduce that feeling. Getting to this point takes a lot of patience, but in the final analysis, it is all worth it. Apendix F My QBE Successes by Brian Mercer I developed this ninety-day program over the course of four years. In that time it has gone through almost a half dozen revisions. With each new iteration, I felt compelled to test and retest it. The following represents a sampling of my experiences during those early testing phases. These notes are taken direcdy from my OBE journals. In most cases, they have been edited for brevity. May 7,2000 In the morning I lay half asleep on my right side. I felt languid waves of energy moving down me, from head to toe. I suspect that I was nearing the state from which I could leave my body, but nothing else happened. 462 May 8, 2000 Felt the snoring come on. My mind was awake, yet my body lay there snoring. May 16,2000 . . . at one point [I felt] a wave of energy traveling down my body that stopped suddenly with a jerk. May 17,2000 During [my OBE] session it seemed for a moment that it got brighter in the room beyond my closed eyes, as one might sense morning light, yet I know the room was always completely dark. June 23,2000 This morning I had trouble sleeping. I was lying on my back and, just as the sun began to rise, I finally fell asleep. Before long I became lucid in a dream. Immediately, I tried to wake Appendix F up, but was unable to move. It was quite scary. At first I assumed that I was wrapped in the blankets so that I couldn't move. Then I realized that this sort of thing happens prior to an OBE and, willing myself to project, I suddenly saw the bed fall away, my wife, the four bedposts, the lamp. "Well," I said to myself, "you wanted an out-of-body experience, now you've got one." At first I tried to will myself to Sacramento, to my parents' house, but after a few seconds I realized that I was only lying there on the bedroom floor. As I looked up I could see the wooden posts at the corners of my side of the bed. It was hard to move; I still felt wrapped in blankets. I struggled to get up, to go in the bathroom and look in the mirror to see what I looked like in the out-of-body state. I tried feeling for the bathroom door's threshold, but without success. It took all my conscious effort to get in my body again and even then it was a struggle to get integrated. I woke exhausted and still am. July 28,2000 After weeks of "energy work," I finally started my projection work this week. Last night I reclined in the chair for a half-hour nap, quieting my mind. Once I was on the edge of sleep (still reclined), I started thinking of being at my parents' house (a location I use because I know it so well), alternating it with the rope technique. I started to get vibrations in the legs, but little more. 463 August 8,2000 For the past several weeks this has been my evening routine: a half hour of trance meditation in my office chair, an additional fifteen minutes of the energy-raising exercises, and twenty to thirty minutes of primary center stimulation. Around nine at night I'll go to what I've been calling the "OBE room," sit in the recliner, relax, go into trance and have anywhere from a thirty- to a sixty-minute OBE attempt. The routine was broken Saturday night, so instead of meditating I went directly to bed. For several minutes I lay on the bed above the covers, musing about the unresolved issues of the day and quieting my mind. I did this with my eyes open, staring at the darkened ceiling. Unconsciously, I was doing the full-body energy bounce. After about fifteen minutes, I closed my eyes and began raising energy. Within five minutes, my legs grew heavier than they've ever felt during trance before. At first I questioned whether I was tensing them up. No, they were quite relaxed, just very heavy. At the same time the vibrations began, stronger than ever before. They started at the lower part of the legs and gradually moved upward as I continued to raise energy. The effect was as if very strong currents of electricity were coursing through my body. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the vibrations higher than my waist. If I tried an exit technique, the vibrations only settied down. So I continued to raise energy. Even though it didn't look like I was going to get out, at least I was feeling the vibrations at the intensity level I'd heard described so often. 464 Appendix F That night I had an incredibly long OBE. I was able to keep my head clear for as long as I did by taking quick glances at my hands every time my head started to get muddled. I remember flying over a city at nighttime. It looked like New Orleans. I was flying but it wasn't a smooth flight, especially when I went around corners. I found myself flapping my arms to maintain control. To prove that he was a spirit guide he took us outside. As one might expect in New Orleans, there was a big crowd outside, even though it was late at night. He said, "Watch this." Not long after there was a random parting in the crowd, a car careened onto the sidewalk, knocking a woman through the air. A big crowd formed around her and someone yelled, "Ew, she's all messed up." While I was flying, I noticed that above my head, where there should have been only sky, there was some kind of ceiling. I subsequently moved through it to find myself still above the city. Eventually, I landed and went into an oldlooking building. There was a door with a light on beyond it. I thought, "I bet if I asked I can get my spirit guide to walk through that door." But before I even completed the thought, a man with wavy blond hair and a white suit walked through the door and introduced himself as my spirit guide, telling me his name and spelling it. My guide told me that these kinds of accidents happen every day and that it could have been a lot worse. He said that guides were responsible for protecting people in these kinds of situations. It's hard to describe this guy other than "shiny." He said, "Congratulations, you are probably going to have a baby boy." I looked at my hands and indeed they started to melt. After this, my head began to cloud up, so I glanced at my hands and quickly looked away. I felt a sort of "click" and became lucid again. This sort of freaked me out. Probably? I asked him to get a little clearer on that. He was doing just that when my workmate, Jean, burst through the door, said hello to me, then demanded to see my spirit guide's credentials. My spirit guide obliged, telling us his name again, spelling it, then handing us each his business card. I looked at it. It was black with silvery lettering. I noticed that his name didn't have any vowels in it, which I thought was strange. An ambulance arrived. While I was standing behind it I thought, "I can test to see if I'm really out of body by looking at my hands." Robert contends that when you study your hands in the astral, they look real at first but after a few seconds they'll start to stretch and distort. He calls the phenomenon "melting hands." December 30,2000 I realized I was asleep and willed myself out of body. I could feel buzzing, shimmering sensations as I left my body and rose up over the bed. The next thing I knew I was flying through the night, houses whizzing past below me, street lamps lighting up various pockets of the neighborhood. Appendix F 465 I was in an area that resembled Seattle's Ballard neighborhood. I decided to look at a street sign, hoping to come back later and verify my experience. I stopped in front of what looked to be either a restaurant or a fish market. I began reading the fish place's signs but stopped, not wanting to fill my head with unnecessary information. lights spread out before me. Six or eight projectors hovered around me, all male, all of whom I knew but none of whom I can now remember. I recall that we would fly around, diving and doing daredevil stunts, before returning back to the group. I found one street sign and then another a little bit further down. They both had the same name, which made sense since I was moving along the same street. It read something like "Spragg." I remember almost certainly the last two letters were the same, I think the letter G. I had an out-of-body experience this morning. The memories of it trickled in after I awoke. I remembered the experience upon opening my eyes, but the more I lay there the more details I recalled. Not long after, I flew away, back toward home. September 18,2001 I had an OBE after waking up early and going back to bed while gently guiding myself into trance. I felt myself falling backwards at a rapid rate, but I didn't tense up. (I've been practicing falling backwards by setting up mattresses in the basement, closing my eyes, and falling backwards onto them without tensing up.) As I fell (a long, long way) I saw a tall building rushing past me, as if I was falling from the top of it. When I hit the ground, I landed on my feet in front of the building's lobby. An older woman, nicely dressed, was walking out the door. I gave her a big hug and told her that I was out of body Inside the building, a reception was going on and I went in and mingled with the crowd. I also have wispy memories of hovering in the dark above a major city. The grid of city September 23,2001 Like a lot of my successes, this happened after getting up on a weekend morning and going back to bed. This is the only time I seem able to sleep on my back. I think if I could learn to sleep on my back regularly, I would have more successes. After I went back to sleep I started dreaming. When the dream ended I found myself lying there. I thought, "I could probably will myself out of my body," and thinking about it started the vibrations. They were very mild, not the chaos I would have otherwise expected. But I knew they were the vibrations because they had the effect of stimulating my, er, uh, sexual center the way they have on the other occasions when I've felt them. I floated upward and could presently see the ceiling. It felt like passing through a mild force field as I rose through the blankets. When my vision came I could see the bedroom, the cat (who was on the bed), and my wife sleeping beside me. At first I was a little unnerved by the experience. Because it was light outside, this 466 Appendix F projection seemed more real than my other projections, which have always taken place in the dark. I also had a vague sense of someone else in the room with me, a sense of being watched. The presence seemed friendly and I immediately perceived that someone was trying to help me get out of body. I had drifted to the floor looking up at the foot of the bed. The bedposts in relationship to my wife and the position of the cat were wrong. Everything was a mirror image to how it was in physical life. I could feel the floor with my hand and realized that I could put my fingers through it if I applied enough pressure. There was a mild resistance, nothing more. The most frustrating thing, however, was that I was unable to get up, though I tried and tried. I did the hand-glance method and could see a vague hand/arm image the color of my skin. I expected that I would be able to see my hands clearly but once I focused upon them they immediately melted away. I kept glancing at them but was still unable to get up. Finally, I strained so hard I moved my physical body and so realigned with it. When I got up, my abdominals were very sore in my solar plexus area, as if I'd done a hundred crunches before going to bed. September 29,2001 I attempted another projection this weekend by getting up early and going back to bed while trying to fall asleep on my back. Having limited success, I turned on my left side and projected into a dream in which I was running through my parents' house and sliding across on the floor. I kept thinking how everything looked perfectly real and was amazed at how long I had managed to remain lucid (approximately three to five minutes). I could see snatches of my body as I ran around. I was wearing a blue shirt, blue jeans, with no shoes. Curiously, the color of my clothes matched the color of my aura when I look at it in waking life. I also felt a subtle shimmering around my legs, like a tingling of energy, and I reassured myself I had only projected into a dream. May 24,2002 I've been recalling more flying dreams. Only glimpses, but I have clear images of flying through the clouds off a seacoast along which enormous cliffs rose against the horizon. There are more memories but they linger out of my grasp. Last night I'd just gone to bed and was still lying on my back when I drifted to sleep. When I awoke a short time later I had memories of leaving my body, not once or twice but three times. Perhaps even more. I had been demonstrating projection for other people who were present in the bedroom, telling them that it wasn't so difficult after all. By way of proof I'd been doing this again and again. I still clearly recalled what the exit had been like, squirting out my midsection around the solar plexus area. Even as I write this the sensation is fresh and familiar. May 25,2002 I slept in a little later than usual and, waking, lay on my back and started raising energy, hoping to drift off to sleep. Unable to get drowsy on Appendix F my back, I turned on my right side and continued to raise energy. This time I fell asleep. I heard a big noisy truck in the alley behind the house. The room was filled with a grey morning light as I sat up in bed. There was a certain amount of resistance to sitting up, almost as if I was peeling away from my body. I realized that I might be "out." Everything in the room looked normal except the garage, which I could see through the bedroom window. The garage wall facing the bedroom was all built with ragged pieces of old scrap wood. Reality fluctuation, I thought, and just then my OBE vision went bad. I slumped to the foot of the bed. I didn't seem to have a body. I did a quick look at my hands to try to shift energy to my projectable double and they appeared before me looking disincarnate, two hands floating in space, but otherwise perfectly normal. The trick didn't seem to work. I had vision now only in one eye and it was blurry. I thought it best to get away from my physical body. I crawled across the floor though I couldn't "see" my body. In fact, the more I crawled, the less I could see at all. 467 a small room with another set of French doors at the far end. This set of doors had blackedout windowpanes, but I could see light between the two doors and felt if I could crawl through them I'd be able to reach the yard. Then I saw a rat-sized raccoon scuttiing across the floor. It raced toward me and bit one of my hands. This made me recoil. Our cats quickly responded to the commotion, chasing the rat/raccoon across the floor. I made another lunge for the second set of French doors, but the rat/raccoon had gotten away from the cats and was biting my hand again. I still felt the biting sensation when I reintegrated with my body. May 27,2002 I wasn't tired last night when I went to bed, so lay there on my back, clearing my head and raising energy. I never did fall asleep on my back, so I turned on my right side and soon felt myself peeling away from my body. Within seconds, I had projected to my parents' house. The configuration of the house was like it was when I was in high school (the kitchen hadn't been remodeled yet). When I reached the kitchen, I'd regained some sight. I looked down at my legs and noticed more legs than just mine. Reaching down, I pulled and one of the legs came loose. I brought it up closer to examine it and I realized that it was a small baby boy wrapped in a blue baby blanket. I called out to see if anyone was out of their body and projecting within the house and Mom appeared from a back room. There was more after that, much more, but when I regained consciousness some time later I was too exhausted to rise and record it. Now I don't remember. Argh! I set the baby on the floor and continued to crawl until my vision began to get better. I had moved outside, literally through the French doors, but instead of being on the deck, I was in May 28,2002 This time I'm writing my OBE down right away. 468 Appendix F Earlier, just before 3 a.m., I woke to feed the cat (who was pestering me) and to go to the bathroom. When I returned to bed I couldn't get back to sleep. I tried raising energy, doing breath awareness, but my mind was continually active, mostly about what I was going to say at my nonna's funeral. I didn't fall asleep until it was time to get up. I had drifted off for a short period and was lying on my right side when I heard a woman's voice coming from the foot of the bed (not Nonna, though; even in death I'd expect something of an Italian accent). This might have been my wife's voice. Now I heard it again. It was my wife. She was telling me that I was starting to go out of body and encouraging me, though I could "see" her next to me in bed, asleep. But by now I was quite sure it was her. Before I recognized the voice, I'd thought, "Astral noise; ignore it." But when I realized the voice was encouraging me, it almost helped. I did my best to clear my mind, to remain calm, and simply willed myself upward. This time I left through my head, feeling a very distinct peeling away as I did. Now I was up near the ceiling. Everything felt very real and clear, but the room seemed out of proportion, as if I was in a very highceilinged room. Here my OBE walk-throughs came in handy. "Keep it ultra short," I thought and yelled as loud as I could, "I will remember this!" and dived back into my body. July 4, 2002 I awoke early, despite the holiday, then went back to bed. I was rewarded with several OBEs, one after another, in which I kept going out of body then coming back in, as if deliberately practicing the exit. I was sleeping on my right side and the first two were an exit from the back, as if I was peeling away from the body with an audible tearing sound, then gliding back through the wall. One was an exit in which I simply rolled over and out. The exits from the back would send me through the wall at the head of the bed and into an unfamiliar living room with people I didn't recognize. They didn't seem to see me or know I was there. The time that I rolled over and out of body, I remained in the bedroom, and there noticed several reality fluctuations, including a young girl, who was also in the bedroom. I tried to talk to her but she became frightened, so I stopped. September 7,2002 I woke up at 2:30 a.m. and turned over, determined to get to sleep on my back. I tried shutting down my thoughts, relaxing, raising energy, and even used the rope technique, but was unable to get to sleep until about 5:30 a.m. I was dreaming I was waiting to get on a bus with a former workmate. Before we got on, the bus pulled away. In order to catch it, I ran with an incredible burst of speed that started the projection process. Perhaps I had projected already and the dream mind was merely fully engaged. At any rate, once I started moving, the dream images literally shattered in fragments. I was flying around my parents' house (I was sleeping in Seattle at the time). Appendix F The house was arranged and decorated the way it had been in the early 1980s. I flew from one end of the living room, through the dining room, kitchen, then turning clumsily in the service porch, I made my way back again. Everything was perfectly real; there were absolutely no reality fluctuations or fuzzy grey dream holes. I thought, "There is no question that this is an OBE. It is absolutely real!" I suddenly remembered another OBE I had earlier that morning and was still making mental observations when I thought, "Clear your head; stay objective." Things never grew hazy or unreal; there were absolutely no dream elements. I paused at the sliding glass door leading to the backyard deck and moved through it with a vague sense of resistance and a passing blurb in my vision. When I was outside I felt the temperature drop immediately; it was definitely morning. I could smell everything: the trees, the grass, the earth, the air. I flew up among the branches and swooped down toward the enormous trunk, meaning to investigate it closer. The last thing I remember was zooming toward that tree trunk. October 20,2002 This morning I dreamed I was in my parents' backyard at a family gathering. There was a small cemetery there with headstones. In one place there were holes where the coffins would be reinterred. One of the holes was for my nonna. Seeing it made me very sad. The more I thought about how wonderful she was, how much I missed her, the more I wept. It was like her funeral all over again. 469 I was somewhere near the backyard door when the dream imagery fell away. I was lying there in bed but I couldn't move. Nonna was standing there beside me, holding my hand. She was young and beautiful. She looked very different than I remember her from life, so different I don't think I would have recognized her if I'd passed her on the street. Yet I knew it was her. She was wearing a white dress with a white veil in what looked like an old-fashioned wedding dress. Holding my hand, she told me she loved me, that everything was okay, not to cry; everything she would have said when she was alive and trying to comfort me. I seemed to be crying now harder than ever. I told her I loved her, that I missed her, not to go away. But already she was stepping back and fading. There were tears in my eyes when I awoke. October 24,2002 I was lying in bed this morning in a slightly uncomfortable position. I was lying there, looking across the bedroom, when I realized that my physical eyes were closed. Nonetheless, everything looked very real. I felt a tug in my lower torso and a sensation that I was separating from my physical body. I resisted at first and the sensations stopped. Realizing what was happening, I cleared my mind and let go. I felt the tugs again and simply drifted out of my body, helicoptering to the bedroom floor. Everything seemed so real and vivid; I might have been fully awake. I made an attempt to get up, bouncing up and down, but instead of getting up I fell 470 Appendix F through the floor completely. Now I was in a room with orange/red carpet and tacky '70s decor. There was a large blond woman there, sitting on a couch. I tried to get her attention and at first she seemed to react to me, but in actuality she was reacting to something else that was going on in the room. I don't remember anything after that. November 7,2002 I woke in the middle of the night, mentally refreshed but physically tired. I got up to get a glass of water and to look for the cat. I was awake about five minutes before I went back to bed. The following OBEs came next. OBE #1:1 Thought I Was Dead. Shortly after going back to bed, I awoke. I found myself standing in our small entryway, nonsensically playing with the doorknob to the entryway closet door. It was as if I'd been sleepwalking and suddenly awakened and realized where I was. Still groggy, I headed back to bed. When I walked in the bedroom, I saw my physical body asleep next to my wife. This broke me out of my daze. I thought, "I must be dreaming," and commanded myself to wake up. But nothing happened. "Wake up! Wake up!" I yelled at my motionless body, growing more panicked as my body remained immobile. Then I roared to my wife, "Sara, wake me up! Sara, wake me up!" but to no avail. I suddenly grew terrified that I had died. It quite alarmed me for a while, until I realized I was out of body. I'm sure the intense emotions are what allowed me to download the experience successfully. OBE #2: Sara Sleepwalking out of Body. I was back in my body shortly thereafter but did not "wake up" physically. Again, I found myself out of body, walking around the house. This time I was more lucid and knew that it was an OBE. I was wandering around the house when I heard the noise of a motor and, searching the basement, noticed my wife on the Stairmaster. I said, "It's two o'clock in the morning. Why are you exercising now?" I don't remember what she said exacdy, but I remember her answer didn't make sense, as if she was sleepwalking. It occurred to me that she might be out of body as I had been before, without realizing it. OBE #3: Reality Fluctuations and Confusion. A series of OBEs followed where I returned to my body and projected, returned and projected, over and over. Like my first OBE of the night, I seemed to grow semilucid. Here the reality fluctuations began with the house taking on all sorts of strange dimensions. I began to catch myself doing things that made no sense, like ironing clothes. A sense of body gravity began, as if my physical body was trying to reel me in. OBE #4: Body Gravity and a Visit to My Parents. I slipped out of my body again and immediately I felt a sense of body gravity, as if there was a cord attached to my back and my body was trying to pull in its projected double. I crawled across the floor, trying to get farther away from my physical body so that Appendix F things might get easier. When I made it across the kitchen, I pushed my hands out through the kitchen window. I was surprised to see my bare arms looking mostly human. I was getting my nerve up to jump out the window when my cats, both out of body, flew by. Mrs. Claws leapt easily out the window and hung there suspended, as if she wanted to play. I dove out the window, too, but instead of hanging there, I plunged to the ground outside. Though it was early in the morning and should have been dark, everything was suffused in a soft twilight. My vision blurred when I hit the ground, so I glanced at my hands, hoping to get more energy. I still felt the tug of my body wanting me back, so I began mentally doing an exit technique. I thought of my parents' home as I walked around the side of my house and when I turned the corner, I wasn't in Seattle anymore but at my parents' house in Sacramento. The light was exactly the same quality. When I approached the front door I paused, wary that moving through it would take me to another locale. Instead, I backed through the door and ended up on the other side. When I moved into the kitchen, I saw a calendar on the wall. My vision blurred for a second, then cleared up so I could study it. It read "June 1987." This was the month I had my life-changing dream back in college. Shortly thereafter I found myself back in my body, but I still hadn't "woken up" yet. OBE #5: Meeting a Younger Brian. Again, I made it out of my body. Right away I found myself in my parents' house. I was standing at 471 one end of the hallway near the door to my old bedroom. From my position I could see a teenage Brian lying in bed half asleep during the early morning hours. This wasn't 1987 anymore but 1985, when I was a senior in high school. I knew this by the way the furniture was arranged. Here I tried an experiment. I thought, "What if I could jump in my high-school body and move around in 1985?" I walked up to my body and tried to dive in it but I only landed on top of it. In response, the teenage Brian sleepily embraced and kissed me, which was extremely weird and not altogether pleasant. In my attempt to get away, I found myself back in my body. OBE #6: Jaunt in the Astral Planes. My last OBE of the night was an astral projection. Again, I left my body and again I felt that sense of body gravity trying to pull me back in. I was on the ground, struggling to get farther away, when my body started bouncing a little, the way a helium balloon will bounce along the ground after it's been mostly deflated. Suddenly, I slipped through the floor and found myself in another environment. I was in the midst of a pure violet sky stretching endlessly in every direction. There were basketball-sized clouds everywhere that looked like wispy popcorn. The violet light resembled a moonlit nightscape. There was a silvery gleam that reflected off all the clouds. Everything was startlingly real and clear. As soon as I appeared in this environment, I began to fall, quickly picking up speed as I went. I could feel the motion acutely in the 472 Appendix F center of my being and at first I grew frightened. I thought, "Relax. Clear head. Objective observer," and surrendered myself to the falling. Once I relaxed and let go, I loved it! After an intermittent period of time, I started to slow down and speed up again. This time I was "falling" to my left at the same rate. I hadn't made any conscious thought to do this and when it happened I thought, "I'm being guided." Again, I slowed down and sped up. This time I was "falling" upward. The process repeated and I began to fall to my right, as if traveling full circle. Shortly thereafter I blacked out and awoke in bed. This time I moved my physical body, breaking the trance and making another projection unlikely. I let the shadow memories sink in, then reached for the pad and pen to write down my key words. November 17,2002 On weekdays I've been getting up at 5 a.m. to work out. On the weekends, even though I can sleep in, I have a tendency to wake at five anyway. It usually takes me a little while to get back to sleep. When it happened this morning, I was lying on my right side. The cat was asleep in the crook of my arm, which made for a slightly uncomfortable position. Before long, I felt a falling, tumbling sensation, as if I'd rolled out of bed. I found myself on the floor though my body was still in bed. I looked around but my eyesight wasn't working well. I remember scrambling, trying to get up, but most of the memories of that first OBE are lost to me. Not long after, I felt the falling, tumbling feeling again. Again, I was in my real-time double on the floor. This time I got a better look at my physical body in the bed, noticing my foot was out of the covers. My eyesight was still not working clearly. I remember trying to tell Sara that I was out of body. Not long after, I was in my body in bed again. I opened my eyes, then went back to sleep. Within minutes I felt like I was partially out of body or in the right state for projection, so I willed myself to slide off the bed (backwards, as it turned out). I felt vibrations in my body starting from my chest and elbows going down. They felt simultaneously electrical and like a very strong vibrating bed or chair massager. I recall being awake at the precise moment of separation and saw my physical body as I fell away and onto the floor. My vision was still bad. I had tunnel vision on my right side, the side on which my physical body was laying. I thought that getting away from my body might help, so I crawled backwards away from the bedroom and into the kitchen. While I crawled I consciously tried to see my legs. They seemed a lot smaller than I'd expected them to be, like the legs of a child. When I reached the kitchen, my vision cleared, so I decided to go further, and headed upstairs. My eyesight was fine by the time I reached the top of the stairs. That's when the reality fluctuations began. The bedroom up there looked far larger than it should have. The Appendix F decor suggested that the room belonged to a young girl. The furniture looked old fashioned. Colorful clothes and magazines were strewn all over the floor. Out of sight around a corner, I heard two women talking. At first I started to panic, thinking there were strange people in my house. I calmed myself just as the two women appeared. They were in their midforties and as soon as I saw one of them, I had the overwhelming urge to kiss her. I reached out for her, but remembered I was out of body and that lustful feelings will sometimes take over. Deciding not to become distracted, I resisted the urge and instead asked the women what they were doing here. One of the women was the mother of the young girl who owned the room; the other woman was the mother's friend. They told me that they were cleaning up and rearranging the closet. They indicated a place where I thought a litde girl should have been. I heard a young girl singing or talking to herself, but didn't actually see anyone. At this point I decided to get back to my body. I'd never had an OBE where I so clearly recalled the exit and I wanted to have a clean reintegration. I went over to the stairs, but they didn't look like stairs at all but simply a shaft going down. One wall was carpeted and ridged like something faintly resembling stairs. Jumping down the shaft, I ended up in my body. March 23,2003 I was dreaming that I was working as a checkout clerk in a drug store. I was having prob- 473 lems remembering my register code and was getting into trouble. I could see—as one of my coworkers pointed out—that I wouldn't have this job for long. The manager didn't seem to like me much. I became lucid and, trying to leave the situation, I crossed my arms over my chest and fell backwards through the floor. Soon I was rapidly falling through a dark passage and realized I was having an OBE. I realized that this would be a good way to OBE, simulating a falling sensation within the dream environment by putting one's hands across their chest and falling backward. I landed in a litde courtyard where there was a small outdoor cafe. I was still lucid. A woman was talking to me and I got the impression that she had suggested the falling technique. May 10,2003 I had two OBEs last night. Both were spontaneous from the sleep state. In the first I "came to" in the hallway just outside the bathroom. I'd been talking to someone in the bedroom, though I couldn't see her. The house was dark and I realized I was out of body. Suddenly, I became aware of my physical body lying simultaneously in the bed upstairs. I felt a perfect sense of duality, upstairs and downstairs. My consciousness wavered between the two perspectives. Then I was in bed, aware that part of me was downstairs. I had sleep paralysis. It was a litde frightening but mosdy confusing. Why can't I move? I tried with all my will to move but couldn't. Then my perspective switched a couple of times: downstairs, upstairs, 474 Appendix F downstairs, upstairs. Then I was back in my but they seemed strange and disembodied. I body again. thought, "I'd better go upstairs right now Not long after I found myself in the living while I'm conscious of my OBE. Keep it short room, "out" again. I was having trouble con- and record it." Unfortunately, I got cocky and trolling my movement, so I got on my "hands" decided to fly to my parents' house. All I and "knees" and started slowly crawling across seemed to do there was fly around the living the floor. I could see my hands as I crawled, room. I don't remember anything after that. Glossary AfBrmations—Positive, first-person, present-tense statements used for subconscious goal programming. Astral body—The subtle body (projected double) that operates in the astral planes. Astral feedback—An unpleasant phenomenon that occurs when the projected double telepathically connects with its awake physical body's mind during an OBE. Astral noise—Hallucinatory sounds, such as buzzing or voices, often loud and seemingly very real, heard just prior to the OBE exit. Astral planes—Astral dimensions that do not resemble the waking, real-time environment (though some levels can be very Earthlike). Binaural beats—The two slightly different tones played to the right and left ears; used to guide listeners into altered states of consciousness. See BrainWave Generator. Body awareness—Focusing attention on specific parts of one's body and utilizing the sense of touch and awareness of one's physical body to stimulate the energy body. Also called tactile imaging or mobile body awareness. BrainWave Generator—Computer program that generates sounds and binaural beats, which induce altered states of consciousness; uses AudioStrobe technology for use with special light goggles to enhance altered states of consciousness. Astral sight—The ability to see beyond closed eyelids into the real-time zone or astral planes. Chakra—Classic Eastern term for primary energy centers, the major subtle organs of the energy body. Astral transference—Projecting one's consciousness directly into the astral planes using a deeply relaxed state and symbolic, guided imagery. Cobwebs—Tickling and itching sensations, usually experienced on the face, that occur during trance states. AudioStrobe technology—Signals embedded in an audio stream that directs the strobing of light goggles. See BrainWave Generator. Conscious-exit OBE—Experiencing an out-ofbody projection from the fully conscious and awake state, with no break in consciousness. 475 476 Glossary Dream mind—That aspect of consciousness in the physical brain/mind that generates dreams. Empty-body theory—The inaccurate presumption that the physical body is left an "empty shell" during an OBE or astral projection. See out-of-body experience. Energy body loosening—Body awareness techniques intended to begin the process of externalizing one's projectable double. Energy raising—Body awareness techniques that draw energy into the physical body and then into an energy storage area. Energy storage centers—Sites along the body where different qualities of energy can be accumulated. They are the subnavel, subheart, and subbrow. Expanded energy body—That aspect of one's energy body that expands and moves slightly out of phase with its physical counterpart prior to and during projection. Often called the etheric body. False wakening—Dreaming of the act of waking up and carrying out mundane tasks, such as going to the bathroom, while believing one is awake in the normal world. Full-body circuit—The name of the exercise used for raising and storing energy. Fundamental energy body—The underlying aspect of the energy body that is firmly enmeshed within the physical body. The fundamental energy body contains the secondary and primary energy centers. This aspect relates to biological, as well as subtie life processes, and cannot be projected. Higher self—A highly evolved aspect of one's mind, spirit, and soul. Also called the inner genius or holy guardian angel. This aspect has many similarities to the subconscious mind. Inner projection—The transfer of awake consciousness into the expanded energy body while the physical body is in trance or falls asleep. Inner verbal dialogue—Word-based thoughts; does not include wordless mental fantasies or body awareness actions. Kundalini—Energy that lies dormant at the base center that, when activated, spirals clockwise three and a half coils up through the primary centers. Often referred to as the serpent of fire. It is the highest level of bioenergy phenomenon possible; reputed to cause enlightenment and strong psychic abilities. Light and sound machines—Small, tape playersized devices that connect to headphones and light goggles, producing visual and audio stimuli calculated to induce altered states of consciousness. See BrainWave Generator. Lucid dream—A situation in which a dreamer becomes conscious that he or she is dreaming and takes some degree of control over the dream environment. Mind-split effect—The nature of OBE consciousness where two awake copies of consciousness can exist simultaneously, with the original residing in the physical brain/mind/expanded energy body and a copy residing in the projected double. Near-death experience (NDE)—A situation where a person is clinically dead, experiences a powerful out-of-body experience, and then is subsequently resuscitated with full recall of the experience. New Energy Ways (NEW)—The process of using body awareness actions to directly stimulate and manipulate the energy body. OBE walk-through—Physically acting out a planned OBE. Glossary Out-of-body experience (OBE)—A process whereby a perfect thinking copy of consciousness is projected into a subtle energy body double, which experiences reality separate from and outside the physical body in the real-time zone or astral planes. Paralysis, waking/sleeping—A disassociation between the physical body and its mind, resulting in a complete paralysis of one's physical body. Often associated with out-of-body experiences. Presets—Preprogrammed settings directing the BrainWave Generator to produce sound and light at given levels of volume, frequency, and modulation for the purpose of altering one's state of consciousness. Primary energy centers—Major subtle organs of the energy body, which process subtle energy for all biological and spiritual requirements of human existence. These are the base, genital, navel, solar plexus, heart, throat, brow, and crown centers. Often referred to as chakras or psychic centers. Projectable double—The subtle energy vehicle or subtle body, used to transport an independent copy of thinking consciousness during an outof-body experience. Quiet mind—A situation in which the mind is held clear of word-based thoughts for a sustained period of time. Rapid eye movement (REM)—Fluttering, backand-forth eye movement behind closed eyelids that signals dream mind activity. Reality checks—Periodic examinations of day-today events to determine if one is awake or dreaming. When these become habitual, they occur in the dream state and thus alert dreamers that they are dreaming. Reality fluctuations—Inaccuracies between the real-time astral zone and the known physical environment. 477 Real-time double—The subtle body (projected double) that operates in the real-time zone. Real-time zone—The closest nonphysical dimensional area, which strongly resembles the physical universe; often characterized by reality fluctuations. It is a reflection of reality as reality happens in "real time"; a buffer zone between the physical world and the astral planes. Safe room—A lighted area or room near one's OBE practice area where one can project after an OBE exit to feel safe. Shadow memories—Experiences stored up separately by a projected double during an out-ofbody projection. Shadow memory download—The process of transferring shadow memories from a projectable double to the physical brain/mind during reintegration after an OBE. Shadow memory recall—The process of remembering OBE memories after a shadow memory download. Silver cord—The subtle energy linkage between one's physical/expanded energy body and its projected double during an OBE. Splitting awareness—Directing body awareness actions to the right and left sides at the same time (e.g., both hands, both legs, etc.). Third eye—Another term for the brow center. See primary energy centers. Trance—An altered state of consciousness where the mind is awake and lucid and the physical body is in some level of sleep. Wake-induced lucid dream (WILD)—A projection into a deliberately induced dream from a fully awake state with no break in consciousness. WILDs are distinguishable by their extremely vivid and lifelike characteristics. Bibliography Bruce, Robert. Astral Dynamics: A NEW Approach to Out-of-Body Experience. Charlotte, VA: Hampton Roads, 1999. Novak, Peter. The Lost Secret of Death: Our Divided Souls and the Afterlife. Charlotte, VA: Hampton Roads, 2003. . Practical Psychic Self-Defense: Understanding and Surviving Unseen Influences. Charlotte, VA: Hampton Roads, 2002. Russa, Joe. Suneye Method III: Sleep Deprivation Version 3.0. http://www.suneye.org (site now discontinued). Chia, Mantak, and Maneewan Chia. Awaken Healing Light of the Tao. New York: Healing Tao Books, 1993. Time-Life Books. Psychic Voyages. Mysteries of the Unknown. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1987. LaBerge, Stephen. Lucid Dreaming. New York: Ballantine, 1985. 478 Index aches and pains, 150 affirmations, 15-17, 265,292, 344, 377 alpha state, 147 angle of perception, 408-409 astral double, 42, 4 7 - 4 9 , 53, 113, 146, 191, 226, 261,377 astral dyslexia, 376 astral feedback, 373-374,378-379,403 astral hearing, 49,182,224,260 astral noise, 173,182,184,220,224,235,238,240, 243, 245, 247, 249, 254, 257-258, 284, 290, 390 astral realm, 3 3 0 , 4 0 8 - 4 0 9 , 4 1 2 , 4 1 4 , 4 2 0 astral sight, 14, 49, 103, 113, 155, 192, 220, 225, 254,260, 370, 372, 376-379,405,414,444 astral transference, 217,405,414-417,419 astral tubes, 409 astral wind, 405-406,413 author comments, 4 awareness actions, 22,26,29,35, 37,40-41,45,55, 66, 69, 8 0 - 8 1 , 90, 93, 109, 112-113, 119, 129,132, 135, 138, 141, 143, 146, 191, 196, 199,214, 230, 257, 263, 276-277, 302, 308, 314,328,336,428,431,436 bedroom, 10, 64, 7 6 , 1 8 8 - 1 8 9 , 2 8 4 , 318, 372 beliefs, 16, 187, 193, 221-222, 253, 262-263, 290, 444 body awareness, 1, 9,13, 21-23, 2 5 - 2 6 , 2 8 - 2 9 , 31, 34-35, 40, 43-45, 48, 55, 62, 66, 69, 8 0 - 8 1 , 90, 103, 109, 112-113, 116-117, 119, 129, 136, 139, 146, 149-150, 154, 164, 167, 173, 1 7 6 , 1 7 9 , 1 8 2 , 1 9 0 - 1 9 1 , 1 9 6 , 1 9 9 , 207, 2 1 0 211, 214, 232, 234, 237, 241, 257, 263, 277, 300, 302, 308, 326, 328, 336, 339, 342, 356, 374, 387, 390, 392, 394, 397, 399, 401, 414, 421,423,428,431 body magnetism, 373, 377 boredom, 154-155,182, 250 breath awareness, 1 2 - 1 4 , 1 8 , 2 0 - 2 2 , 24-25, 27-28, 3 0 - 3 1 , 33-34, 36, 39, 41, 58, 61, 63, 65, 68, 71, 73, 77, 81, 86, 89, 92, 95, 98, 100, 103, 123, 149-150, 164-165, 167, 170, 173, 176, 179, 182, 228, 257, 270, 274, 312, 358, 397, 399,401 breath, deepening, 55, 57-59, 61, 6 3 - 6 6 , 6 8 - 6 9 , 71-74, 228 breathing, cloud, 85, 89-90, 92-93, 95-100, 1 0 2 103,105-106 479 480 Index brushing action, 25-26, 28, 31, 3 4 - 3 5 , 37, 4 0 - 4 1 , 59,62,119,123,126,129,132,135,138,141, 151,154,210, 213, 231,257, 317-319,326 buffer zone, 46,49,408 buzzing, 26, 32, 35,44, 5 9 , 1 1 2 , 1 1 4 , 1 9 2 , 220,224, 252, 258, 344 case histories, 2 , 4 7 , 4 9 , 9 0 , 1 5 7 , 287, 3 5 4 , 4 1 1 , 4 3 2 chanting, 82,106 clearing the mind, 5, 82 clock, 10, 18, 47, 54, 56, 96, 106, 144, 287, 352, 354, 366,404 cobwebs, 45,116,147,150-151,223, 316, 360 cold spots, 45 copy of consciousness, 286,288 counting, 10, 12, 17, 47, 50, 52, 56, 82-83, 85-86, 103, 106, 111, 157, 164, 170, 173, 190, 194, 198, 201, 204, 207, 210, 213, 216-217, 228, 254, 257, 270, 274, 304,314,377-382 courage, 2 cramping, 4 5 , 1 1 4 , 316 crown and brow center pressure, 115, 316 daily exercises, 2 , 4 , 1 0 , 37 daily tasks, 4 deep physical relaxation, 1, 5-6, 9, 11-12, 18, 36, 39, 41, 44, 58, 61, 63, 65, 68, 71, 73, 75, 89, 93, 95, 97, 99, 102, 105, 109, 123, 125, 129, 131, 135, 137,141, 146, 149-150, 155-156, 162-163, 166, 169, 172, 175, 178, 181, 198, 201, 204, 207, 210, 213, 216, 221, 223, 313, 317-319, 322,353,441 deep trance, 5 5 , 1 4 8 , 1 5 3 , 372 deliberate re-entry, 54,188,217,374-375 delta state, 147-148 disembodied hands, 259 distracting sounds, 151,159,194 dream imagery, 1 4 - 1 5 , 51, 84 dream journal, 9 , 1 4 - 1 6 , 54,64,204, 227,441 dream mind, 3, 51, 54, 148, 152, 285, 2 8 7 - 2 9 1 , 309, 374,377, 401 dream recall, 15,54, 8 7 , 1 5 4 earplugs, 10,415 eating, 5,14, 78,116, 202,257,317, 346-349,415 energy body loosening, 6, 77, 185, 187, 189, 191, 193, 195-197, 201, 203, 207, 209, 213, 216, 218,231 energy body-rush, 45 energy exchange ports, 4 8 , 1 1 0 - 1 1 1 energy rush, 319-320 energy storage centers subbrow, 78-79 subheart, 78-79 subnavel, 78-79, 9 0 , 1 1 0 , 1 1 2 , 2 2 9 energy, conditioned, 79, 270 expanded energy body, 4 8 - 5 5 , 80, 121, 146, 158, 176, 186, 191, 260, 283, 286-289, 320, 342, 370 eye muscle warm-up, 190 eyes closed, 13, 18, 21-25, 27, 3 0 - 3 1 , 33, 36, 39, 42, 52, 55, 58, 61, 63, 65, 68, 71, 73, 89, 92, 95,97, 99-100, 102-103, 105, 108, 167,190, 220, 233, 277, 283, 304, 314, 326, 333,399 falling sensations, 14-15, 51, 54, 84, 147-149,154, 170, 176, 179, 182, 188, 207, 210, 213, 216, 223-224, 254, 257, 288-289, 319, 344, 392, 394,415 false awakening, 3 fasting juice, 345-346,348, 350, 368 substance, 345, 349 tips, 348 water, 345-348 fear, overcoming, 254 fearful presence, 373, 377 feeling weak, 77,244, 347 flying, 3, 14-15, 51, 76, 104, 205, 217, 232, 284, 286, 304, 324,382,404,407, 444 full trance, 48,147-148,155 fundamental energy body, 47-50,54,191 getting lost, 52, 148,226,262, 310,352, 379 getting stuck out of body, 260 ghost, 52,258-259,378,403 Index goals, setting, 3 1 1 , 3 2 1 , 3 4 3 grounding cords, 192-193 growing pains, 115, 316 hard-backed chair, 21-22, 24-25, 27-28, 30, 33, 36, 39, 56, 58, 61, 63, 65, 68, 71, 73, 85-86, 89, 92, 95, 97, 99, 102, 105, 159, 165, 193, 222, 368 headache, 8 1 , 2 2 6 , 3 1 6 headphones, 4 , 1 0 , 1 7 - 1 8 , 230, 284,291-292 heart center throbbing, 113 hitchhikers, 4 1 1 - 4 1 2 hot spots, 45 incomplete separation, 320 inner verbal dialogue, 167,357,359, 361, 363,365, 367, 369 internal projection, 4 8 - 4 9 , 8 0 , 1 7 6 , 1 9 1 involuntary subvocalization, 80 journaling space, 4,15, 84,191 kundalini, 117-118 kundalini raising, 117-118 light, 11, 14, 16, 22, 64, 84, 100, 103, 113-115, 117-118, 127, 132, 138, 144, 147-148, 150, 160, 184, 188, 223, 229, 231, 233, 248, 255, 265,283-284, 286, 293, 306, 323, 352, 3 5 4 355, 377, 380-383, 386, 389, 404, 410-412, 419,422,424,427,430,433,435,438 light and sound machines, 4,18 light trance, 147-148, 160 lighting, 10,406 low-energy projection, 374 lower astral planes, 46, 260,375,408 lucid dream, 16, 77, 82-84, 87, 89, 92, 95, 97, 99, 102,105, 107, 110, 120, 122, 125, 128, 131, 134,137, 140, 160-161, 163, 166, 169, 172, 175,178, 181, 195, 197, 200, 203, 205-206, 209,212, 215,226-227, 233, 246, 261, 2 8 5 286,258-290, 351-352, 355, 357, 359, 361, 363,365, 367, 369, 385, 388, 391, 393, 396, 398,4«0,415,441,444 481 major chakras, 48, 78, 110-111 mantras, 17, 56, 8 2 , 1 6 7 , 1 7 6 meditation, day-long, 345, 349-350 meditation space, 9-10, 21, 5 9 , 1 8 5 , 1 9 3 , 218 memory association, 15 mental fantasies, 81,414 mind-split effect, 48, 53, 257, 284, 286-287, 290, 320 mobile body awareness, 21-22 muddle-headed, 77 music, 17-18, 80-81, 108, 117, 194, 292,315,319, 349,362,418-419 natural OBE process, 51 near-death experience (NDE), 48, 286 negative conditioning, 319 OBE memories, 2, 4 - 5 , 14, 54, 104, 156-158, 188-189, 217, 226-227, 235, 238, 240, 243, 245, 247, 249, 287, 290-291, 320, 352, 373, 379, 382, 385, 388, 391, 393, 396, 398, 400, 439,441. See also shadow memories OBE planning, 187-188, 196-197, 199-200, 203, 206, 208-209, 212, 215, 227, 235, 238, 240, 243, 245, 247, 249, 267, 269, 271, 273, 275, 278, 281, 283, 295, 297, 299, 301, 303, 305, 307, 320, 325, 327, 329, 332, 335, 338, 3 4 1 342, 357, 359, 361, 363, 365, 367, 369, 378, 385, 388, 390-391, 393, 396, 398, 400, 405, 422, 424, 427,430,433, 435, 438 overexcitement, 186,208, 256-257 paralysis, waking/sleeping, 4 2 , 1 5 3 - 1 5 4 , 2 5 7 , 4 1 4 partial projection, 4 9 , 1 5 7 , 2 8 8 , 320 persistence, 2, 79, 86, 117,136, 150, 221, 289, 314, 316,441 physical relaxation routine, 5,11,150, 317 prayer, 265, 352 pressing issue, 13 pressure, 26, 59, 80, 98, 112-115, 123, 150, 164, 167, 190-191, 195, 216-217, 224, 229, 259, 276, 279-280, 282,288,313, 316, 377,428 prickling, 45 482 Index primary energy centers base, 22, 66, 78, 109, 111-113, 118-119, 1 2 2 123, 125-126, 129, 132, 135, 138-139, 141, 158, 164, 167, 170, 173, 176, 179, 182, 192, 198, 201, 204, 207, 210, 213, 216, 318, 421, 423,425 reality checks, 8 3 - 8 4 , 89, 92, 95, 97, 99, 101-102, 105,107 reality fluctuations, 46, 52, 76, 225-226, 285, 291, 377 real-time double, 50, 52, 189,260,286,288 real-time zone, 46, 4 9 - 5 0 , 52, 192, 225-226, 256, brow, 8, 15, 78, 108-111, 113, 115-116, 118, 132, 137-139, 141-142, 148, 159, 185, 190, 221, 223, 2 3 0 - 2 3 1 , 233, 272, 282, 311, 3 1 3 316, 321, 351, 360, 368, 370, 384, 386, 389, 407,409,432 260, 286, 289, 291, 374-377, 405-409, 411, 413,416 reasoning problems, 373-374 reduced energy flow, 45 crown, 109-111, 114-116, 118, 139-142, 164, 167, 170, 173, 176, 179, 182, 198, 201, 204, 207,210,213, 216, 316,407,409 dormant, 109,118,201, 316,440 genital, 111-112, 117, 126-127, 129, 132, 135, 138-139,141,318 heart, 8, 69, 78, 109, 111, 113, 115, 131-132, 135, 138, 141, 148, 173,191-192, 202, 208, 224, 227, 229, 233, 244, 258-259, 264, 268, 274, 279-280, 310, 313, 319, 378, 414-415, 444 navel, 79, 109, 111-112, 125-126, 129, 132, 135, 138-139, 141,421, 423,425 solar plexus, 109, 111-113, 128-129,132,135, 138, 141, 147, 224, 421,423,425 throat, 90, 103, 109, 111, 113, 134-136, 138, 141, 151, 160, 164, 167, 170, 173, 176, 179, 182-183,224, 244,316-317 projectable double, 3 , 5 - 6 , 1 3 , 4 4 , 4 7 - 5 4 , 1 1 0 , 1 2 1 , 154, 158, 185, 189, 191, 197, 200, 203, 206, 209, 212, 215, 217, 225-226, 232, 236, 239, 241, 257-258, 276, 279-280, 282, 286-291, 3 2 0 - 3 2 1 , 325, 327, 329, 332, 335, 338, 341, 370, 373-375, 377-379, 390,403,411,440 projection process, 3 , 4 3 , 4 8 - 5 0 , 74,191, 223,285, 288 psychic abilities, 4 7 , 1 3 2 , 1 5 8 , 347, 440 rapid eye movement (REM), 148,152,290 rapid heartbeat, 14, 84, 173, 207, 258-259, 268, 288-290 reading list, 2-3 reintegration, 53-54, 158, 186-188, 226-227, 261, 287, 295, 297, 299, 301, 303, 305, 307, 320, 352, 357, 359, 361, 363, 365, 367, 369, 375, 378 rushing-water sensations, 45 safe room, 188,194,255 secondary centers, 13, 20, 48, 78, 114, 117, 119, 123,313,440 self-hypnosis, 261, 373, 379, 403 sexual arousal, 117-118, 126, 318 shadow memories, 4 - 5 , 14-15, 54, 122, 125, 128, 131, 134, 137, 140, 156, 158, 188, 227, 352, 374, 378-379 shadow memory download, 43, 53-54, 77, 154, 157-159,196,257, 298, 378-379, 419 sight and visual complications, 373, 375 saliva, 151,316-317 silver cord, 47 sleep apnea, 136, 314 sleep manipulation methods, 346, 351, 371 sleep position, 193,285, 288 slight discomfort, 18, 85, 87, 145, 156, 158-160, 162, 165, 182-183, 193-195, 287, 289, 291, 313,316, 349,379,416,441 snoring, 156 sound effects, 17 spasming, 45,114 sponging action, 25-26, 28, 31, 34-35, 37, 40-41, 59,62, 90, 93, 116, 119, 123, 126, 129, 132, 135,138-139,141,231, 257,314, 319, 336 spontaneous mental imagery, 81 stinging, 45,116,150 Index stirring action, 2 5 - 2 6 , 31, 34, 37, 4 0 - 4 1 , 59, 119, 123, 126, 129, 132, 135, 138, 141, 295, 297, 299, 301,303,305,307 strength and vitality issues, 373-374 strobe effect, 118, 132,148 surprise, 108, 229, 253-254, 258-259 tension, 10-12, 22, 24-25, 27-28, 30-34, 40, 44, 55, 74, 81, 85, 100, 106, 113, 115, 138, 142, 148-149,151, 164, 170,192, 202, 223, 2 2 9 233, 236, 239, 241, 256, 264, 276-277, 2 7 9 280, 282, 308, 312-313, 317-319, 322, 351, 355, 366, 368, 370, 375,377, 380, 392, 394 theta state, 147 third eye, 1 5 , 1 1 3 , 1 9 0 timer, 1 0 , 1 8 , 2 1 , 5 6 tingling, 19, 22, 25-26, 31, 35, 4 4 - 4 5 , 54, 59-60, 77, 108, 114, 116-117, 123, 148, 154, 188, 190-191, 216, 224, 320, 360, 370, 372 483 tiredness, 13, 7 8 , 1 4 7 , 1 8 3 , 226, 322, 399 trying too hard, 263, 322 twitching, 45,114 unnoticed OBE exit, 49, 55 vibrations, 14, 74, 78, 84, 91, 108, 127, 144, 152, 154, 184, 190-191, 196, 202, 207-208, 224, 227-230, 233, 241, 251-252, 254, 257-258, 268, 270, 272, 274, 279, 283-284, 288-290, 310, 314, 319, 342, 351, 356, 362, 364, 368, 378, 3 8 7 , 3 9 0 , 4 0 4 , 4 1 4 ^ 1 5 , 4 2 8 , 436-437 vision distortion problems, 77, 376 void, 84,284, 405-406, 410 wake-induced lucid dream (WILD), 83, 289-290, 415 walking while out of body, 199 Whether you are an absolute beginner or a veteran projector interested in honing your skills, you can achieve repeatable, conscious out-of-body experiences with the help of this one-of-a-kind book. Mastering Astral Projection is a hands-on, thirteen-week training program that works. This practical guide is based upon Robert Bruce's extensive knowledge of metaphysics and firsthand projection experience, Brian Mercer's ninety-day program, and the valuable feedback from volunteers who have tested the program. Presented in an easy-to-follow workbook format, this comprehensive system is goaloriented and progressive, with daily measurable results. You'll get the inside track on what to expect at every stage of the astral projection experience, including: • The "mind-split effect" in which two independent, thinking copies of your consciousness operate simultaneously during an out-of-body experience • The difference between the astral planes and the "real-time zone" • Shadow memory download and recall processes for remembering out-of-body experiences • How out-of-body experiences differ from lucid dreams Each week's chapter offers case histories, affirmations, tips, journal space for notes, and exercises for relaxation, meditation, breathwork, and energy body stimulation. The accompanying CD-ROM* includes twenty-five custom-designed trance meditation sound programs to help you achieve an out-of-body experience. *CD-ROM is PC-compatible and works on Windows 95 or above. R o b e r t B r u c e (Australia) is a metaphysicist and writer. He has published two books, numerous articles, tutorials, and firsthand accounts of his metaphysical explorations and experiences. B r i a n M e r c e r (Washington state) has been interested in metaphysical pursuits for as long as he can remember. He is an information technology professional and part-time novelist.
THEOSOPHICAL MANUALS NO, 5 THE ASTRAL PLANE ITS SCENERY, INHABITANTS, AND PHENOMENA BY C[harles]. W[ebster]. LEADBEATER [1847-1934] THIRD EDITION (REVISED) London: 1900 The text has not been professionally proofed and experience shows that works of this vintage are likely to have more than a few errors compared to recent works. Courtesy of SpiritWritings.com PREFACE. Few words are needed in sending this little book out into the world. It is the fifth of a series of Manuals designed to meet the public demand for a simple exposition of Theosophical teachings. Some have complained that our literature is at once too abstruse, too technical, and too expensive for the ordinary reader, and it is our hope that the present series may succeed in supplying what is a very real want. Theosophy is not only for the learned; it is for all. Perhaps among those who in these little books catch their first glimpse of its teachings, there may be a few who will be led by them to penetrate more deeply into its philosophy, its science, and its religion, facing its abstruser problems with the student's zeal and the neophyte's ardour. But these Manuals are not written only for the eager student, whom no initial difficulties can daunt; they are written for the busy men and women of the work-a-day world, and seek to make plain some of the great truths that render life easier to bear and death easier to face. Written by servants of the Masters who are the Elder Brothers of our race, they can have no other object than to serve our fellow-men. CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction. 9 Scenery.—The Seven Subdivisions—Degrees of Materiality— Characteristics of Astral Vision—The Aura—The Etheric Double—Power of Magnifying Minute Objects—The "Summerland"—Records of the Astral Light 17 Inhabitants.—I. Human. (1) Living:—The Adept or his Pupil— The Psychically Developed Person—The Ordinary Person—The Black Magician 29 (2) Dead:—The Nirmanakaya—The Pupil awaiting Reincarnation—The Ordinary person after Death—The Shade— The Shell—The Vitalized Shell—The Suicide—The Victim of Sudden Death—The Vampire—The Werewolf—The Black Magician after Death 35 II. Non-human:—The Elemental Essence—The Astral Bodies of Animals—Various Classes of Nature-Spirits, commonly called Fairies—Kamadevas—Rupadevas—Arupadevas—The Devarajas 62 III. Artificial:—Elementals formed Unconsciously—Guardian Angels—Elementals formed Consciously—Human Artificials— The True Origin of Spiritualism 87 Phenomena.—Churchyard Ghosts—Apparitions of the Dying— Haunted Localities—Family Ghosts—Bell-ringing, Stonethrowing, etc.—Fairies—Communicating Entities—Astral Resources—Clairvoyance—Prevision—Second-Sight—Astral Force—Etheric Currents—Etheric Pressure—Latent Energy— Sympathetic Vibration—Mantras—Disintegration— Materialization—Why Darkness is Required at a Seance—Spirit Photographs—Reduplication—Precipitation of Letters and Pictures—Slate-writing—Levitation—Spirit Lights—Handling Fire—Transmutation—Repercussion 104 Conclusion. 125 THE ASTRAL PLANE. INTRODUCTION. THOUGH for the most part entirely unconscious of it, man passes the whole of his life in the midst of a vast and populous unseen world. During sleep or in trance, when the insistent physical senses are for the time in abeyance, this other world is to some extent open to him, and he will sometimes bring back from those conditions more or less vague memories of what he has seen and heard there. When, at the change which men call death, he lays aside his physical body altogether, it is into this unseen world that he passes, and in it he lives through the long centuries that intervene between his incarnations into this existence that we know. By far the greater part of these long periods is spent in the heaven-world, to which the sixth of these manuals is devoted; but what we have now to consider is the lower part of this unseen world, the state into which man enters immediately after death—the Hades or under world of the Greeks, the purgatory or intermediate state of Christianity which was called by mediaeval alchemists the astral plane. The object of this manual is to collect and arrange the information with regard to this interesting 9 10 region which is scattered through Theosophical literature, and also to supplement it slightly in cases where new facts have come to our knowledge. It must be understood that any such additions are only the result of the investigations of a few explorers, and must not, therefore, be taken as in any way authoritative, but are given simply for what they are worth. On the other hand every precaution in our power has been taken to ensure accuracy, no fact, old or new, being admitted to this manual unless it has been confirmed by the testimony of at least two independent trained investigators among ourselves, and has also been passed as correct by older students whose knowledge on these points is necessarily much greater than ours. It is hoped, therefore, that this account of the astral plane, though it cannot be considered as quite complete, may yet be found reliable as far as it goes. The first point which it is necessary to make clear in describing this astral plane is its absolute reality. Of course in using that word I am not speaking from that metaphysical standpoint from which all but the One Unmanifested is unreal because impermanent. I am using the word in its plain, every-day sense, and I mean by it that the objects and inhabitants of the astral plane are real in exactly the same way as our own bodies, our furniture, our houses or monuments are real—as real as Charing Cross, to quote an expressive remark from one of the earliest Theosophical works. They will no more endure for ever than will objects on the physical plane, but they are nevertheless realities from our point of view while they last—realities which we cannot afford to ignore merely because the majority of mankind is as yet unconscious, or but vaguely conscious, of their existence. 11 No one can get a clear conception of the teachings of the Wisdom-Religion until he has at any rate an intellectual grasp of the fact that in our solar system there exist perfectly definite planes, each with its own matter of different degrees of density, and that some of these planes can be visited and observed by persons who have qualified themselves for the work, exactly as a foreign country might be visited and observed; and that, by comparison of the observations of those who are constantly working on these planes, evidence can be obtained of their existence and nature at least as satisfactory as that which most of us have for the existence of Greenland or Spitzbergen. Furthermore, just as any man who has the means and chooses to take the trouble can go and see Greenland or Spitzbergen for himself, so any man who chooses to take the trouble to qualify himself by living the necessary life, can in time come to see these higher planes on his own account. The names usually given to these planes, taking them in order of materiality, rising from the denser to the finer, are the physical, the astral, the mental or devachanic, the buddhic, and the nirvanic. Higher than this last are two others, but they are so far above our present power of conception that for the moment they may be left out of consideration. It should be understood that the matter of each of these planes differs from that of the one below it in the same way as, though to a much greater degree than, vapour differs from solid matter; in fact, the states of matter which we call solid, liquid, and gaseous are merely the three lowest subdivisions of the matter belonging to this one physical plane. The astral region which I am to attempt to describe is 12 the second of these great planes of nature—the next above (or within) that physical world with which we are all familiar. It has often been called the realm of illusion—not that it is itself any more illusory than the physical world, but, because of the extreme unreliability of the impressions brought back from it by the untrained seer. This is to be accounted for mainly by two remarkable characteristics of the astral world—first, that many of its inhabitants have a marvellous power of changing their forms with Protean rapidity, and also of casting practically unlimited glamour over those with whom they choose to sport; and secondly, that sight on that plane is a faculty very different from and much more extended than physical vision. An object is seen, as it were, from all sides at once, the inside of a solid being as plainly open to the view as the outside; it is therefore obvious that an inexperienced visitor to this new world may well find considerable difficulty in understanding what he really does see, and still more in translating his vision into the very inadequate language of ordinary speech. A good example of the sort of mistake that is likely to occur is the frequent reversal of any number which the seer has to read from the astral light, so that he would be liable to render, say, 139 as 931, and so on. In the case of a student of occultism trained by a capable Master such a mistake would be impossible except through great hurry or carelessness, since such a pupil has to go through a long and varied course of instruction in this art of seeing correctly, the Master, or perhaps some more advanced pupil, bringing before him again and again all possible forms of illusion, and asking him "What do you see?" Any errors in his answers are then corrected and their 13 reasons explained, until by degrees the neophyte acquires a certainty and confidence in dealing with the phenomena of the astral plane which far exceeds anything possible in physical life. But he has to learn not only to see correctly but to translate the memory of what he has seen accurately from one plane to the other; and to assist him in this he is trained to carry his consciousness without break from the physical plane to the astral or devachanic and back again, for until that can be done there is always a possibility that his recollections may be partially lost or distorted during the blank interval which separates his periods of consciousness on the various planes. When the power of bringing over the consciousness is perfectly acquired the pupil will have the advantage of the use of all the astral faculties, not only while out of his body during sleep or trance, but also while fully awake in ordinary physical life. It has been the custom of some Theosophists to speak with scorn of the astral plane, and treat it as entirely unworthy of attention; but that seems to me a mistaken view. Most assuredly that at which we have to aim is the life of the spirit, and it would be most disastrous for any student to neglect that higher development and rest satisfied with the attainment of astral consciousness. There have been some whose karma was such as to enable them to develop the higher mental faculties first of all—to overleap the astral plane for the time, as it were; but this is not the ordinary method adopted by the Masters of Wisdom with their pupils. Where it is possible it no doubt saves trouble, but for most of us such progress by leaps and bounds has been forbidden by our own faults or follies in the past: all that we can hope for is to win our way slowly step by step, 14 and since this astral plane lies next to our world of denser matter, it is usually in connection with it that our earliest super-physical experiences take place. It is therefore of deep interest to those of us who are but beginners in these studies, and a clear comprehension of its mysteries may often be of the greatest importance to us, by enabling us not only to understand many of the phenomena of the seance-room, of haunted houses, etc., which would otherwise be inexplicable, but also to guard ourselves and others from possible dangers. The first introduction to this remarkable region comes to people in various ways. Some only once in their whole lives under some unusual influence become sensitive enough to recognize the presence of one of its inhabitants, and perhaps, because the experience does not repeat itself, they may come in time to believe that on that occasion they must have been the victims of hallucination: others find themselves with increasing frequency seeing and hearing something to which those around them are blind and deaf; others again—and perhaps this is the commonest experience of all—begin to recollect with greater and greater clearness that which they have seen or heard on that other plane during sleep. Among those who make a study of these subjects, some try to develop the astral sight by crystal-gazing, or other methods, while those who have the inestimable advantage of the direct guidance of a qualified teacher will probably be placed upon that plane for the first time under his special protection, which will be continued until, by the application of various tests, he has satisfied himself that each pupil is proof against any danger or terror that he is likely to encounter. But, however it may occur, the first actual 15 realization that we are all the while in the midst of a great world full of active life, of which most of us are nevertheless entirely unconscious, cannot but be a memorable epoch in a man's existence. So abundant and so manifold is this life of the astral plane that at first it is absolutely bewildering to the neophyte; and even for the more practised investigator it is no easy task to attempt to classify and to catalogue it. If the explorer of some unknown tropical forest were asked not only to give a full account of the country through which he had passed, with accurate details of its vegetable and mineral productions, but also to state the genus and species of every one of the myriad insects, birds, beasts, and reptiles which he had seen, he might well shrink appalled at the magnitude of the undertaking: yet even this affords no parallel to the embarrassments of the psychic investigator, for in his case matters are further complicated, first by the difficulty of correctly translating from that plane to this the recollection of what he has seen, and secondly by the utter inadequacy of ordinary language to express much of what he has to report. However, just as the explorer on the physical plane would probably commence his account of a country by some sort of general description of its scenery and characteristics, so it will be well to begin this slight sketch of the astral plane by endeavouring to give some idea of the scenery which forms the background of its marvellous and ever-changing activities. Yet here at the outset an almost insuperable difficulty confronts us in the extreme complexity of the matter. All who see fully on that plane agree that to attempt to call up a vivid picture of this astral before those whose eyes are as yet unopened is like 16 speaking to a blind man of the exquisite variety of tints in a sunset sky—however detailed and elaborate the description may be, there is no certainty that the idea presented before the hearer's mind will be an adequate representation of the truth. SCENERY. FIRST of all, then, it must be understood that the astral plane has seven subdivisions, each of which has its corresponding degree of materiality and its corresponding condition of matter. Although the poverty of physical language forces us to speak of these subplanes as higher and lower, we must not fall into the mistake of thinking of them (or indeed of the greater planes of which they are only subdivisions) as separate localities in space—as lying above one another like the shelves of a book-case or outside one another like the coats of an onion. It must be understood that the matter of each plane or subplane interpenetrates that of the plane or subplane below it, so that here at the surface of the earth all exist together in the same space, although it is true that the higher varieties of matter extend further away from the physical earth than the lower. So when we speak of a man as rising from one plane or subplane to another, we do not think of him as necessarily moving in space at all, but rather as transferring his consciousness from one level to another—gradually becoming unresponsive to the vibrations of one order of matter, and beginning instead to answer to those of a higher and more refined order; so that one world with its scenery and 17 18 inhabitants would seem to fade slowly away from his view, while another world of a more elevated character would dawn upon him in its stead. Numbering these subdivisions from the highest and least material downwards, we find that they naturally fall into three classes, divisions 1, 2, and 3 forming one such class, and 4, 5, and 6 another, while the seventh and lowest of all stands alone. The difference between the matter of one of these classes and the next would be commensurable with that between a solid and a liquid, while the difference between the matter of the subdivisions of a class would rather resemble that between two kinds of solid, such as, say, steel and sand. Putting aside for the moment the seventh, we may say that divisions 4, 5, and 6 of the astral plane have for their background the physical world in which we live, and all its familiar accessories. Life on the sixth division is simply like our ordinary life on this earth, minus the physical body and its necessities; while as it ascends through the fifth and fourth divisions it becomes less and less material, and is more and more withdrawn from our lower world and its interests. The scenery of these lower divisions, then, is that of the earth as we know it; but in reality it is also very much more; for when looked at from this different standpoint, with the assistance of the astral senses, even purely physical objects present a very different appearance. As has already been mentioned, they are seen by one whose eyes are fully opened, not as usual from one point of view, but from all sides at once—an idea in itself sufficiently confusing; and when we add to this that every particle in the interior of a solid body is as fully and clearly visible as those on the outside, it will be comprehended that under such conditions 19 even the most familiar objects may at first be totally unrecognizable. Yet a moment's consideration will show that such vision approximates much more closely to true perception than does physical sight. Looked at on the astral plane, for example, the sides of a glass cube would all appear equal, as they really are, while on the physical plane we see the further side in perspective—that is, it appears smaller than the nearer side, which is of course, a mere illusion. It is this characteristic of astral vision which has led to its sometimes being spoken of as sight in the fourth dimension—a very suggestive and expressive phrase. But in addition to these possible sources of error matters are further complicated by the fact that this higher sight cognizes forms of matter which, while still purely physical, are nevertheless invisible under ordinary conditions. Such, for example, are the particles composing the atmosphere, all the various emanations which are always being given out by everything that has life, and also four grades of a still finer order of physical matter which, for want of more distinctive names, must all be described as etheric. The latter form a kind of system by themselves, freely interpenetrating all other physical matter; and the investigation of their vibrations and the manner in which various higher forces affect them would in itself constitute a vast field of deeply interesting study for any man of science who possessed the requisite sight for its examination. Even when our imagination has fully grasped all that is comprehended in what has already been said, we do not yet understand half the complexity of the problem for besides all these new forms of physical matter we have to deal with the still more numerous and perplexing subdivisions 20 of astral matter. We must note first that every material object, every particle even, has its astral counterpart; and this counterpart is itself not a simple body, but is usually extremely complex, being composed of various kinds of astral matter. In addition to this each living creature is surrounded with an atmosphere of its own, usually called its aura, and in the case of human beings this aura forms of itself a very fascinating branch of study. It is seen as an oval mass of luminous mist of highly complex structure, and from its shape has sometimes been called the auric egg. Theosophical readers will hear with pleasure that even at the early stage of his development at which the pupil begins to acquire this fuller sight, he is able to assure himself by direct observation of the accuracy of the teaching given through our great founder, Madame Blavatsky, on the subject of some at least of the "seven principles of man." In regarding his fellow-man—he no longer sees only his outer appearance; almost exactly coextensive with that physical body he clearly distinguishes the etheric double; while the universal lifefluid as it is absorbed and specialized, as it circulates in rosy light throughout the body, as it eventually radiates from the healthy person in its altered form, is also perfectly obvious. Most brilliant and most easily seen of all, perhaps, though belonging to a more refined order of matter—the astral—is that aura which expresses by its vivid and everchanging flashes of colour the different desires which sweep across the man's mind from moment to moment. This is the true astral body. Behind that, and consisting of a finer grade of matter again—that of the form-levels of 21 the devachanic plane—lies the mental body or aura of the lower mind, whose colours, changing only by slow degrees as the man lives his life, show the trend of his thoughts and the disposition and character of his personality while still higher and infinitely more beautiful, where at all clearly developed, is the living light of the causal body, the vehicle of the higher self, which shows the stage of development of the real ego its passage from birth to birth. But to see these the pupil must, of course, have developed the vision of the levels to which they belong. It will save the student much trouble if he learns at once to regard these auras not as mere emanations, but as the actual manifestation of the ego on their respective planes— if he understands that it is the auric egg which is the real man, not the physical body which on this plane crystallizes in the middle of it. So long as the reincarnating ego remains upon the plane which is his true home in the formless levels, the vehicle which he inhabits is the causal body, but when he descends into the form-levels he must, in order to be able to function upon them, clothe himself in their matter; and the matter that he thus attracts to himself furnishes his devachanic or mind-body. Similarly, descending into the astral plane he forms his astral or desire-body out of its matter, though of course, still retaining all the other bodies, and on his still further descent to this lowest plane of all the physical body is formed in the midst of the auric egg, which thus contains the entire man. Fuller accounts of these auras will be found in Transaction No. 18 of the London Lodge, and in a small pamphlet on The Aura which I have published, but enough has been said here to show that as they still occupy the same space, the finer interpenetrating 22 the grosser, it needs careful study and much practice to enable the neophyte to distinguish clearly at a glance the one from the other. Nevertheless the human aura, or more usually some one part of it only, is not infrequently one of the first purely astral objects seen by the untrained, though in such a case its indications are naturally very likely to be misunderstood. Though the astral aura from the brilliancy of its flashes of colour may often be more conspicuous, the nerve-ether and the etheric double are really of a much denser order of matter, being within the limits of the physical plane, though invisible to ordinary sight. If we examine with psychic faculty the body of a newly-born child, we shall find it permeated not only by astral matter of every degree of density, but also by the several grades of etheric matter; and if we take the trouble to trace these inner bodies backwards to their origin, we find that it is of the latter that the etheric double—the mould upon which the physical body is built up—is formed by the agents of the Lords of karma; while the astral matter has been gathered together by the descending ego—not of course consciously, but automatically—as he passes through the astral plane. (See Manual No. IV., p. 44.) Into the composition of the etheric double must enter something of all the different grades of etheric matter; but the proportions may vary greatly, and are determined by several factors, such as the race, sub-race, and type of a man, as well as by his individual karma. When it is remembered that these four subdivisions of matter are made up of numerous combinations, which, in their turn, form aggregations that enter into the composition of the "atom" of the so-called "element" of the chemist, it will be seen 23 that this second principle of man is highly complex, and the number of its possible variations practically infinite, so that, however complicated and unusual a man's karma may be, those in whose province such work falls are able to give a mould in accordance with which a body exactly suiting it can be formed. But for information upon this vast subject of karma the previous manual should be consulted. One other point deserves mention in connection with the appearance of physical matter when looked at from the astral plane, and that is that the higher vision when fully developed possesses the power of magnifying at will the minutest physical particle to any desired size, as though by a microscope, though its magnifying power is enormously greater than that of any microscope ever made or ever likely to be made. The hypothetical molecule and atom postulated by science are visible realities to the occult student, though the latter recognizes them as much more complex in their nature than the scientific man has yet discovered them to be. Here again is a vast field of study of absorbing interest to which a whole volume might readily be devoted; and a scientific investigator who should acquire this astral sight in perfection, would not only find his experiments with ordinary and known phenomena immensely facilitated, but would also see stretching before him entirely new vistas of knowledge needing more than a lifetime for their thorough examination. For example, one curious and very beautiful novelty brought to his notice by the development of this vision would be the existence of other and entirely different colours beyond the limits of the ordinarily visible spectrum, the ultra-red and ultra-violet rays which science has discovered 24 by other means being plainly perceptible to astral sight. We must not, however, allow ourselves to follow these fascinating bye-paths, but must resume our endeavour to give a general idea of the appearance of the astral plane. It will by this time be obvious that though, as above stated, the ordinary objects of the physical world form the background to life on certain levels of the astral plane, yet so much more is seen of their real appearance and characteristics that the general effect differs widely from that with which we are familiar. For the sake of illustration take a rock as an example of the simpler class of objects. When regarded with trained sight it is no mere inert mass of stone. First of all, the whole of the physical matter of the rock is seen instead of a very, small part of it; secondly, the vibrations of its physical particles are perceptible; thirdly, it is seen to possess an astral counterpart composed of various grades of astral matter, whose particles are also in constant motion; fourthly, the universal life is seen to be circulating through it and radiating from it; fifthly, an aura will be seen surrounding it, though this is of course much less extended and varied than in the case of the higher kingdoms; sixthly, its appropriate elemental essence is seen permeating it, ever active but ever fluctuating. In the case of the vegetable, animal, and human kingdoms, the complications are naturally much more numerous. It may be objected by some readers that no such complexities as these are described by most of the psychics who occasionally get glimpses of the astral world, nor are they reported at seances by the entities that manifest there ; but this is readily accounted for. Few untrained persons on that plane, whether living or "dead" see things as they really 25 are until after very long experience; even those who do see fully are often too dazed and confused to understand or remember; and among the very small minority who both see and remember there are hardly any who can translate the recollection into language on our lower plane. Many untrained psychics never examine their visions scientifically at all; they simply obtain an impression which may be quite correct, but may also be half false, or even wholly misleading. All the more probable does the latter hypothesis become when we take into consideration the frequent tricks played by sportive denizens of the other world, against which the untrained person is usually absolutely defenceless. It must also be remembered that the regular inhabitant of the astral plane, whether he be human or elemental, is under ordinary circumstances conscious only of the objects of that plane, physical matter being to him as entirely invisible as is astral matter to the majority of mankind. Since, as before remarked, every physical object has its astral counterpart, which would be visible to him, it may be thought that the distinction is a trivial one, yet it is an essential part of the symmetrical conception of the subject. If, however, an astral entity constantly works through a medium, these finer astral senses may gradually be so coarsened as to become insensible to the higher grades of matter on their own plane, and to include in their purview the physical world as we see it instead; but only the trained visitor from this life, who is fully conscious on both planes, can depend upon seeing both clearly and simultaneously. Be it understood, then, that the complexity exists, and that only when it is fully perceived and 26 scientifically unravelled is there perfect security against deception or mistake. For the seventh or lowest subdivision of the astral plane also this physical world of ours may be said to be the background, though what is seen is only a distorted and partial view of it, since all that is light and good and beautiful seems invisible. It was thus described four thousand years ago in the Egyptian papyrus of the Scribe Ani: "What manner of place is this unto which I have come? It hath no water, it hath no air; it is deep, unfathomable; it is black as the blackest night, and men wander helplessly about therein; in it a man may not live in quietness of heart." For the unfortunate human being on that level it is indeed true that "all the earth is full of darkness and cruel habitations," but it is darkness which radiates from within himself and causes his existence to be passed in a perpetual night of evil and horror—a very real hell, though, like all other hells, entirely of man's own creation. Most students find the investigation of this section an extremely unpleasant task, for there appears to be a sense of density and gross materiality about it which is indescribably loathsome to the liberated astral body, causing it the sense of pushing its way through some black, viscous fluid, while the inhabitants and influences encountered there are also usually exceedingly undesirable. The first, second and third subdivisions, though occupying the same space, yet give the impression of being much further removed from this physical world, and correspondingly less material. Entities inhabiting these levels lose sight of the earth and its belongings; they are usually deeply self-absorbed, and to a large extent create their own surroundings, though these are sufficiently 27 objective to be perceptible to other entities and also to clairvoyant vision. This region is beyond doubt the "summerland" of which we hear so much at spiritualistic seances, and those who descend from and describe it no doubt speak the truth as far as their knowledge extends. It is on these planes that "spirits" call into temporary existence their houses, schools, and cities, for these object are often real enough for the time, though to a clearer sight they may sometimes be pitiably unlike what their delighted creators suppose them to be. Nevertheless, many of the imaginations which take form there are of real though temporary beauty, and a visitor who knew of nothing higher might wander contentedly enough there among forests and mountains, lovely lakes and pleasant flowergardens, which are at any rate much superior to anything in the physical world; or he might even construct such surroundings to suit his own fancies. The details of the differences between these three higher sub-planes will perhaps be more readily explicable when we come to deal with their human inhabitants. An account of the scenery of the astral plane would be incomplete without some mention of what have often, though mistakenly, been called the Records of the Astral Light. These records (which are in truth a sort of materialization of the Divine memory—a living photographic representation of all that has ever happened) are really and permanently impressed upon a very much higher level, and are only reflected in a more or less spasmodic manner on the astral plane, so that one whose power of vision does not rise above this will be likely to obtain only occasional and disconnected pictures of the past instead of a coherent narrative. But nevertheless these reflected pictures of all 28 kinds of past events are constantly being reproduced in the astral world, and form an important part of the surroundings of the investigator there. I have not space to do more than just mention them here, but a fuller account of them will be found in chapter vii of my little book on Clairvoyance. INHABITANTS HAVING sketched in, however slightly, the background of our picture, we must now attempt to fill in the figures— to describe the inhabitants of the astral plane. The immense variety of these beings makes it exceedingly difficult to arrange and tabulate them. Perhaps the most convenient method will be to divide them into three great classes, the human, the non-human, and the artificial. I. HUMAN. The human denizens of the astral plane fall naturally into two groups, the living and the dead, or, to speak more accurately, those who have still a physical body, and those who have not. 1. LIVING The men who manifest themselves on the astral plane during physical life may be subdivided into four classes:— 1. The Adept and his Pupils. Those belonging to this class usually employ as a vehicle not the astral body at all, but the mind-body, which is composed of the matter of the four lower or rupa levels of the plane next above. The advantage of this vehicle is that it permits of instant passage from the mental plane to the astral and back, and 29 30 allows of the use at all times of the greater power and keener sense of its own plane. The mind-body is not naturally visible to astral sight at all, and consequently the pupil who works in it learns to gather round himself a temporary veil of astral matter when in the course of his work he wishes to become perceptible to the inhabitants of the lower plane in order to help them more efficiently. This temporary body is usually formed for the pupil by his Master on the first occasion, and he is then instructed and assisted until he can form it for himself easily and expeditiously. Such a vehicle, though an exact reproduction of the man in appearance, contains none of the matter of his own astral body, but corresponds to it in the same way as a materialization corresponds to a physical body. At an earlier stage of his development the pupil may be found functioning in the astral body like any one else; but whichever vehicle he is employing, the man who is introduced to the astral plane under the guidance of a competent teacher has always the fullest possible consciousness there, and is able to function perfectly easily upon all its subdivisions. He is in fact himself, exactly as his friends know him on earth, minus only the four lower principles in the one case and the three lower in the other, and plus the additional powers and faculties of this higher condition, which enable him to carry on far more easily and far more efficiently on that plane during sleep the Theosophical work which occupies so much of his thought in his waking hours. Whether he will remember fully and accurately on the physical plane what he has done or learnt on the other depends largely upon whether he is able to carry his consciousness without intermission from the one state to the other. The investigator will occasionally meet on the astral 31 plane students of occultism from all parts of the world (belonging to lodges quite unconnected with the Masters of whom Theosophists know most) who are in many cases most earnest and self-sacrificing seekers after truth. It is noteworthy, however, that all such lodges are at least aware of the existence of the great Himalayan Brotherhood, and acknowledge it as containing among its members the highest Adepts now known on earth. 2. The Psychically-developed Person who is not under the guidance of a Master. Such a person may or may not be spiritually developed, for the two forms of advancement do not necessarily go together. When a man is born with psychic powers it is simply the result of efforts made during a previous incarnation, which may have been of the noblest and most unselfish character, or on the other hand may have been ignorant and ill-directed or even entirely unworthy. Such an one will usually be perfectly conscious when out of the body, but for want of proper training is liable to be greatly deceived as to what he sees. He will often be able to range through the different subdivisions of the astral plane almost as fully as persons belonging to the last class; but sometimes he is especially attracted to some one division and rarely travels beyond its influences. His recollection of what he has seen may vary according to the degree of his development through all the stages from perfect clearness to utter distortion or blank oblivion. He will appear always in this astral body, since he does not know how to function in the mental vehicle. 3. The Ordinary Person—that is, the person without any psychic development—who floats about in his astral body during sleep in a more or less unconscious condition. In 32 deep slumber the higher principles in their astral vehicle almost invariably withdraw from the body, and hover in its immediate neighbourhood, though in quite undeveloped persons they are practically almost as much asleep as the body is. In some cases, however, this astral vehicle is less lethargic, and floats dreamily about on the various astral currents, occasionally recognizing other people in a similar condition, and meeting with experiences of all sorts, pleasant and unpleasant, the memory of which, hopelessly confused and often travestied into a grotesque caricature of what really happened, will cause the man to think next morning what a remarkable dream he has had. All cultured people, belonging to the higher races of the world, have at the present time their astral senses very fairly developed, so that, if they were sufficiently aroused to examine the realities which surround them during sleep, they would be able to observe them and learn much from them. But, in the vast majority of cases, they are not so aroused, and they spend most of their nights in a kind of brown study, pondering deeply over whatever thought may have been uppermost in their minds when they fell asleep. They have the astral faculties, but they scarcely use them; they are certainly awake on the astral plane, and yet they are not in the least awake to the plane, and are consequently conscious of their surroundings only very vaguely, if at all. When such a man becomes a pupil of one of the Masters of Wisdom, he is usually at once shaken out of this somnolent condition, fully awakened to the realities around him on that plane, and set to learn from them and to work among them, so that his hours of sleep are no longer a blank, but are filled with active and useful occupation, 33 without in the least interfering with the healthy, repose of the tired physical body. (See Invisible Helpers. Chap. v.) These extruded astral bodies are almost shapeless and very indefinite in outline in the ease of the more backward races and individuals, but as the man developes in intellect and spirituality his floating astral becomes better defined, and more closely resembles his physical encasement. It is often asked how—since the undeveloped astral is so vague in outline, and since the great majority of mankind come under the head of the undeveloped—how it is ever possible to recognise the ordinary man at all when he is in his astral body. In trying to answer that question we must endeavour to realize that, to the clairvoyant eye, the physical body of man appears surrounded by what we call the aura—a luminous coloured mist, roughly ovoid in shape, and extending to a distance of some eighteen inches from the body in all directions. All students are aware that this aura is exceedingly complex, and contains matter of all the different planes on which man is at present provided with vehicles; but for the moment let us think of it as it would appear to one who possessed no higher power of vision than the astral. For such a spectator the aura would of course contain only astral matter, and would therefore be a simpler object of study. He would see, however, that this astral matter not only surrounded the physical body, but interpenetrated it, and that within the periphery of that body it was much more densely aggregated than in that part of the aura which lay outside it. Possibly this may be due to the attraction of the large amount of dense a astral matter which is gathered together there as the counterpart of the cells of the physical body, but however that may he, the fact is undoubted that 34 the matter of the astral body which lies within the limits of the physical is many times denser than that outside it. When during sleep the astral body is withdrawn from the physical this arrangement still persists, and any one looking at such an astral body with clairvoyant vision would still see, just as before, a form resembling the physical body surrounded by an aura. That form would now be composed only of astral matter, but still the difference in density between it and its surrounding mist would be quite sufficient to make it clearly distinguishable, even though it is itself only a form of denser mist. Now as to the difference in appearance between the evolved and the unevolved man. Even in the case of the latter the features and shape of the inner form would be recognizable always, though blurred and indistinct, but the surrounding egg would scarcely deserve the name, for it would be in fact a mere shapeless wreath of mist, having neither regularity nor permanence of outline. In the more developed man the change would be very marked, both in the aura and the form within it. This latter would be far more distinct and definite—a closer reproduction of the man's physical appearance; while instead of the floating mist-wreath we should see a sharply defined ovoid form, preserving its shape unaffected amidst all the varied currents which are always swirling around it on the astral plane. Since the psychical faculties of mankind are in course of evolution, and individuals are at all stages of their development, this class naturally melts by imperceptible gradations into the former one. 4. The Black Magician or his pupil. This class corresponds somewhat to the first, except that the 35 development has been for evil instead of good, and the powers acquired are used for purely selfish purposes instead of for the benefit of humanity. Among its lower ranks come members of the negro race who practise the ghastly rites of the Obeah or Voodoo schools, and the medicine-men of many a savage tribe; while higher in intellect, and therefore the more blameworthy, stand the Tibetan black magicians, who are often, though incorrectly, called by Europeans Dugpas—a title properly belonging, as is quite correctly explained by Surgeon-Major Waddell in his book on The Buddhism of Tibet, only to the Bhotanese subdivision of the great Kargyu sect, which is part of what may be called the semi-reformed school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Dugpas no doubt deal in Tantrik magic to a considerable extent, but the real red-hatted entirely unreformed sect is that of the Nin-ma-pa, though far beyond them still lower depth be the Bonpa—the votaries of the aboriginal religion, who have never accepted any form of Buddhism at all. It must not, however, He supposed that all Tibetan sects except the Gelugpa are necessarily and altogether evil; a truer view would be that as the rules of other sects permit considerably greater laxity of life and practice, the proportion of self-seekers among them is likely to be much larger than among the stricter reformers. DEAD. To begin with, of course this very word "dead" is all absurd misnomer, as most of the entities classified under this heading are as fully alive as we are ourselves—often distinctly more so; so the term must be understood simply as meaning those who are for the time unattached to a 36 physical body. They may be subdivided into nine principal classes, as follows:— 1. The Nirmanakaya. This class is just mentioned in order to make the catalogue complete, but it is of course very rarely indeed that so exalted a being manifests himself upon so low a plane as this. When for any reason connected with his sublime work he found it desirable to do so, he would probably create a temporary astral body for the purpose from the atomic matter of the plane, just as the Adept in the mind-body would do, simply because his more refined vesture would be invisible to astral sight. In order to be able to function without a moment's hesitation on any plane, he retains always within himself some atoms belonging to each, round which as a nucleus he can instantly aggregate other matter, and so provide himself with whatever vehicle he desires. Further information about the position and work of the Nirmanakaya may be found in Madame Blavatsky's Voice of the Silence, and in my own little book on Invisible Helpers. 2. The Pupil awaiting reincarnation. It has frequently been stated in Theosophical literature that when the pupil reaches a certain stage he is able with the assistance of his Master to escape from the action of what is in ordinary cases the law of nature which carries a human being into the heaven-world after death, there to receive the due result of the full working out of all the spiritual forces which his highest aspirations, have set in motion while on earth. As the pupil must by the hypothesis be a man of pure life and high thought, it is probable that in his case these spiritual forces will be of abnormal strength, and therefore if he, to use the technical expression, "takes his devachan," 37 it is likely to be an extremely long one; but if instead of taking it he chooses the Path of Renunciation (thus even at his low level and in his humble way beginning to follow in the footsteps of the Great Master of Renunciation, GAUTAMA BUDDHA Himself), he is able to expend that reserve of force in quite another direction—to use it for the benefit of mankind, and so, infinitesimal though his offering may be, to take his tiny part in the great work of the Nirmanakayas. By taking this course he no doubt sacrifices centuries of intense bliss, but on the other hand he gains the enormous advantage of being able to continue his life of work and progress without a break. When a pupil who has decided to do this dies, he simply steps out of his body, as he has often done before, and waits upon the astral plane until a suitable reincarnation can be arranged for him by his Master. This being a marked departure from the usual course of procedure, the permission of a very high authority has to be obtained before the attempt can be made; yet, even when this is granted, so strong is the force of natural law, that it is said the pupil must be careful to confine himself strictly to the astral level while the matter is being arranged, lest if he once, even for a moment, touched the devachanic plane, he might be swept as by an irresistible current into the line of normal evolution again. In some cases, though these are rare, he is enabled to avoid the trouble of a new birth by being placed directly in all adult body whose previous tenant has no further use for it, but naturally it is not often that a suitable body is available. Far more frequently he has to wait on the astral plane, as mentioned before, until the opportunity of a fitting birth presents itself. In the meantime, however, he is 38 losing no time, for he is just as fully himself as ever he was, and is able to go on with the work given him by his Master even more quickly and efficiently than when in the physical body, since he is no longer hampered by the possibility of fatigue. His consciousness is of course quite complete, and he roams at will through all the divisions of the plane with equal facility. The pupil awaiting reincarnation is by no means one of the common objects of the astral plane, but still he may be met with occasionally, and therefore he forms one of our classes. No doubt as the evolution of humanity proceeds, and an ever-increasing proportion enters upon the Path of Holiness, this class will become more numerous. 3. The Ordinary Person after death. Needless to say this class is millions of times larger than those of which we have spoken, and the character and condition of its members vary within extremely wide limits. Within similarly wide limits may vary also the length of their lives upon the astral plane, for while there are those who pass only a few days or hours there, others remain upon this level for many years and even centuries. A man who has led a good and pure life, whose strongest feelings and aspirations have been unselfish and spiritual, will have no attraction to this plane, and will, if entirely left alone, find little to keep him upon it, or to awaken him into activity even during the comparatively short period of his stay. For it must be understood that after death the true man is withdrawing into himself, and just as at the first step of that process he casts off the physical body, and almost directly afterwards the etheric double, so it is intended that he should as soon as possible cast off also the astral or desire body, and pass into the 39 heaven-world, where alone his spiritual aspirations can bear their perfect fruit. The noble and pure-minded man will be able to do this, for he has subdued all earthly passions during life; the force of his will has been directed into higher channels, and there is therefore but little energy of lower desire to be worked out on the astral plane. His stay there will consequently be very short, and most probably he will have little more than a dreamy half-consciousness of existence until he sinks into the sleep during which his higher principles finally free themselves from the astral envelope and enter upon the blissful life of the heaven-world. For the person who has not as yet entered upon the path of occult development, what has been described is the ideal state of affairs, but naturally it not attained by all, or even by the majority. The average man has by no means freed himself from all lower desires before death, and it takes a long period of more or less fully conscious life on the various subdivisions of the astral plant to allow the forces which he has generated to work themselves out, and thus release the higher ego. Every one after death has to pass through all the subdivisions of the astral plane on his way to the heavenworld, though it must not be inferred that he will be conscious upon all of them. Precisely as it is necessary that the physical body should contain within its constitution physical matter in all its conditions, solid, liquid, gaseous, and etheric; so it is indispensable that the astral vehicle should contain particles belonging to all the corresponding subdivisions of astral matter, though, of course, the proportions may vary very greatly in different cases. Now it must be remembered that along with the matter 40 of his astral body a man picks up the corresponding elemental essence, and that during his life this essence is segregated from the ocean of similar matter around, and practically becomes for that time what may be described as a kind of artificial elemental. This has temporarily a definite separate existence of its own, and follows the course of its own evolution downwards into matter without any reference to (or indeed any knowledge of) the convenience or interest of the ego to whom it happens to be attached—thus causing that perpetual struggle between the will of the flesh and the will of the spirit to which religious writers so often refer. Yet though it is "a law of the members warring against the law of the mind," though if the man obeys it instead of controlling it his evolution will be seriously hindered, it must not be thought of as in any way evil in itself, for it is still a Law—still an outpouring of the Divine power going on its orderly course, though that course in this instance happens to be downwards into matter instead of upwards and away from it, as ours is. When the man passes away at death from the physical plane the disintegrating forces of nature begin to operate upon his astral body, and this elemental thus finds his existence as a separate entity endangered. He sets to work therefore to defend himself, and to hold the astral body together as long as possible; and his method of doing this is to rearrange the matter of which it is composed in a sort of stratified series of shells, leaving that of the lowest (and therefore coarsest and grossest) sub-plane on the outside, since that will offer the greatest resistance to disintegration. Now a man has to stay upon this lowest subdivision until he has disentangled so much as is possible of his true 41 self from the matter of that sub-plane; and when that is done his consciousness is focussed in the next of these concentric shells (that formed of the matter of the sixth subdivision), or, to put the same idea in other words, he passes on to the next sub-plane. We might say that when the astral body has exhausted its attractions to one level, the greater part of its grosser particles fall away, and it finds itself in affinity with a somewhat higher state of existence. Its specific gravity, as it were, is constantly decreasing, and so it steadily rises from the denser to the lighter stratas pausing only when it is exactly balanced for a time. This is evidently the explanation of a remark frequently made by the departed who appear at seances to the effect that they are about to rise to a higher sphere, from which it will be impossible, or not so easy, to communicate through a medium; and it is as a matter of fact true that a person upon the highest subdivision of this plane would find it almost impossible to deal with any ordinary medium. Thus we see that the length of a man's detention upon any level of the astral plane will be precisely in proportion to the amount of its matter which is found in his astral body, and that in turn depends upon the life he has lived, the desires he has indulged, and the class of matter which by so doing he has attracted towards him and built into himself. It is, therefore, possible for a man, by pure living and high thinking, to minimize the quantity of matter belonging to the lower astral levels which he attaches to himself, and to raise it in each case to what may be called its critical point, so that the first touch of disintegrating force should shatter its cohesion and resolve it into its original condition, leaving him free at once to pass on to the next sub-plane. In the ease of a thoroughly spiritually-minded person 42 this condition would have been attained with reference to all the subdivisions of astral matter, and the result would be a practically instantaneous passage through that plane, so that consciousness would be recovered for the first time in the heaven-world. Of course, as was explained before, the sub-planes must never be thought of as divided from one another in space, but rather as interpenetrating one another; so that when we say that a person passes from one subdivision to another, we do not mean that he moves in space at all, but simply that the focus of his consciousness shifts from the outer shell to the one next within it. The only persons who would normally awake to consciousness on the lowest level of the astral plane are those whose desires are gross and brutal drunkards, sensualists, and such like. There they would remain for a period proportioned to the strength of their desires, often suffering terribly from the fact that while these earthly lusts are still as strong as ever, they now find it impossible to gratify them, except occasionally in a vicarious manner when they are able to seize upon some like-minded person, and obsess him. The ordinarily decent man would probably have little to detain him on that seventh sub-plane; but if his chief desires and thoughts had centred in mere worldly affairs, he would be likely to find himself in the sixth subdivision, still hovering about the places and persons with which he was most closely connected while on earth. The fifth and the fourth sub-planes are of similar character, except that as we rise through them mere earthly associations appear to become of less and less importance, and the departed tends more and more to mould his surroundings into agreement with the more persistent of his thoughts. 43 By the time we get to the third sub-division we find that this characteristic has entirely superseded the vision of the realities of the plane; for here the people are living in imaginary cities of their own—not, of course, each evolved entirely by his own thought, as in the heaven-world, but inheriting and adding to the structures erected by the thoughts of their predecessors. Here it is that the churches and schools and "dwellings in the summerland," so often described at spiritualistic seances, are to be found; though they would often seem much less real and much less magnificent to an unprejudiced living observer than they are to their delighted creators. The second sub-plane seems especially the habitat of the selfish or unspiritual religionist; here he wears his golden crown and worships his own grossly material representation of the particular deity of his country and time. The highest subdivision appears to be specially appropriated to those who during life have devoted themselves to materialistic but intellectual pursuits, following them not for the sake of benefiting their fellowmen thereby, but either from motives of selfish ambition or for the sake of intellectual exercise. Such persons will often remain upon this level for many long years happy enough indeed in working out their intellectual problems, but doing no good to anyone, and making but little progress on their way towards the heaven-world. It must be clearly understood, as before explained, that the idea of space is not in any wav to be associated with these sub-planes. A departed entity functioning upon any one of them might drift with equal ease from here to Australia, or wherever a passing thought might take him; but he would not be able to transfer his consciousness from 44 that sub-plane to the one next above it until the process of detachment described had been completed. To this rule there is no kind of exception, so far as we are yet aware, although naturally a man's actions when he finds himself conscious upon any sub-plane may within certain limits either shorten or prolong his connection with it. But the amount of consciousness that a person will have upon a given sub-plane does not invariably follow precisely the same law. Let us consider an extreme example of possible variation in order that we may grasp its method. Suppose a man who has brought over from his past incarnation tendencies requiring for their manifestation a very large amount of the matter of the seventh or lowest sub-plane, but has in his present life been fortunate enough to learn in his very earliest years the possibility and necessity of controlling these tendencies. It is scarcely probable that such a man's efforts at control should be entirely and uniformly successful; but if they were, the substitution of finer for grosser particles in his astral body would progress steadily, though slowly. This process is at best a very gradual one, and it might well happen that the man died before it was half completed. In that case there would undoubtedly be enough matter of the lowest sub-plane left in his astral body to ensure him no inconsiderable residence there but it would be matter through which in this incarnation his consciousness had never been in the habit of functioning, and as it could not suddenly acquire this habit the result would be that the man would rest upon that sub-plane until his share of its matter was disintegrated, but would be all the while in a condition of unconsciousness that is to say, 45 he would practically sleep through the period of his sojourn there, and so would be entirely unaffected by its many disagreeables. It may be said in passing that communication is limited on the astral plane by the knowledge of the entity, just as it is here. While a pupil able to use the mind-body can communicate his thoughts to the human entities there present more readily and rapidly than on earth, by means of mental impressions, the inhabitants of the plane are not usually able to exercise this power, but appear to be restricted by limitations similar to those that prevail on earth, though perhaps less rigid. The result of this is that they are found associating there as here, in groups drawn together by common sympathies, belief, and language. The poetic idea of death as a universal leveller is a mere absurdity born of ignorance, for, as a matter of fact, in the vast majority of cases the loss of the physical body makes no difference whatever in the character or intellect of the person, and there are therefore as many different varieties of intelligence among, those whom we usually call the dead as among the living. The popular religious teaching of the West as to man's post-mortem adventures has long been so wildly inaccurate that even intelligent people are often terribly puzzled when they recover consciousness in the astral world after death. The condition in which the new arrival finds himself differs so radically from what he has been led to expect that it is no uncommon case for him to refuse at first to believe that he has passed through the portals of death at all; indeed, of so little practical value is our much-vaunted belief in the immortality of the soul that most people consider the very fact that they are still conscious an absolute proof that they have not died. 46 The horrible doctrine of eternal punishment, too, is responsible for a vast amount of most pitiable and entirely groundless terror among those newly arrived in this higher life. In many cases they spend long periods of acute mental suffering before they can free themselves from the fatal influence of that hideous blasphemy, and realize that the world is governed not according to the caprice of some demon who gloats over human anguish, but according to a benevolent and wonderfully patient law of evolution. Many members of the class we are considering do not really attain an intelligent appreciation of this fact of evolution at all, but drift through their astral interlude in the same aimless manner in which they have spent the physical portion of their lives. Thus after death, exactly as before it, there are the few who comprehend something of their position and know how to make the best of it, and the many who have not yet acquired that knowledge; and then, just as now, the ignorant are rarely ready to profit by the advice or example of the wise. But of whatever grade the entity's intellect may be, it is always a fluctuating and on the whole a gradually diminishing quantity, for the lower mind of the man is being drawn in opposite directions by the higher spiritual nature which acts on it from above its level and the strong desire-forces which operate from below; and therefore it oscillates between the two attractions, with an everincreasing tendency towards the former as the forces of lower desire wear themselves out. Here comes in one of the objections to the spiritualistic seance. An exceedingly ignorant or degraded man may no doubt learn much by coming into contact after his death with a circle of earnest sitters under the control of some reliable person, and so may be really helped and raised. 47 But in the ordinary man the consciousness is steadily rising from the lower part of the nature towards the higher; and obviously it cannot be helpful to his evolution that this lower part should be reawakened from the natural and desirable unconsciousness into which it is passing, and dragged back into touch with earth in order to communicate through a medium. The peculiar danger of this will be seen when it is recollected that since the real man is all the while steadily withdrawing into himself, he is as time goes on less and less able to influence or guide this lower portion, which nevertheless, until the separation is complete, has the power to generate karma, and under the circumstances is evidently far more likely to add evil than good to its record. Apart altogether from any question of development through a medium, there is another and much more frequently exercised influence which may seriously retard a disembodied entity on his way to the heaven-world, and that is the intense and uncontrolled grief of his surviving friends or relatives. It is one among many melancholy results of the terribly inaccurate and even irreligious view that we in the West have for centuries been taking of death, that we not only cause ourselves an immense amount of wholly unnecessary pain over this temporary parting from our loved ones, but we often also do serious injury to those for whom we bear so deep an affection by means of this very regret which we feel so acutely. When our departed brother is sinking peacefully and naturally into the unconsciousness which precedes his awakening amid the glories of the heaven-world, he is too frequently aroused from his dreamy happiness into vivid remembrance of the earth-life which he has lately left, 48 solely by the action of the passionate sorrows and desires of his friends on earth, which awaken corresponding vibrations in his own desire-body, and so cause him acute discomfort. It would be well if those whose loved ones have passed on before them would learn from these undoubted facts the duty of restraining for the sake of those dear ones a grief which, however natural, it may be, is yet in its essence selfish. Not that occult teaching counsels forgetfulness of the dead—far from it; but it does suggest that a man's affectionate remembrance of his departed friend is a force which, if properly directed into the channel of earnest good wishes for his progress towards the heaven-world and his quiet passage through the intermediate state, might be of real value to him, whereas when hen wasted in mourning for him and longing to have him back again it is not only useless but harmful. It is with a true instinct that the Hindu religion prescribes its Shraddha ceremonies and the Catholic Church its prayers for the dead. It sometimes happens, however, that the desire for communication is from the, other side, and that the dead man has something which he specially desires to say to those whom he has left behind. Occasionally this message is an important one, such as, for example, an indication of the place where a missing will is concealed; but more often it seems to us quite trivial. Still, whatever it may be, if it is firmly impressed upon the mind of the dead person, it is undoubtedly desirable that he should be enabled to deliver it, as otherwise the anxiety to do so would perpetually draw his consciousness back into the earth-life, and prevent him from passing to higher spheres. In such a case a psychic who can understand him, or a medium through whom he can write or speak, is of real service to him. 49 Why cannot he write or speak without a medium? it may be asked. The reason is that one state of matter can ordinarily act only upon the state next below it, and, as he has now no denser matter in his organism than that of which the astral body is composed, he finds it impossible to set up vibrations in the physical substance of the air or to move the physical pencil without borrowing living matter of the intermediate order contained in the etheric double, by means of which an impulse can readily be transferred from the one plane to the other. He would be unable to borrow this material from an ordinary person, because such a man's principles would be too closely linked together to be separated by any means likely to be at his command, but the very essence of mediumship is the ready separability of the principles, so from a medium he can draw without difficulty the matter he needs for his manifestation, whatever it may be. When he cannot find a medium or does not understand how to use one he sometimes makes clumsy and blundering endeavours to communicate on his own account, and by the strength of his will he sets elemental forces blindly working, perhaps producing such apparently aimless manifestations as stone-throwing, bell-ringing, etc. It consequently frequently happens that a psychic or medium going to a house where such manifestations are taking place may be able to discover what the entity who produces them is attempting to say or do, and may thus put an end to the disturbance. This would not, however, invariably be the case, as these elemental forces are occasionally set in motion by entirely different causes. 4. The Shade. When the separation of the principles is complete, the astral life of the person is over, and, as 50 before stated, he passes into the devachanic condition. Put just as when he dies to this plane he leaves his physical body behind him, so when he dies to the astral plane he leaves a disintegrating astral body behind him. If he has purged himself from all earthly desires during life, and directed all his energies into the channels of unselfish spiritual aspiration, his higher ego will be able to draw back into itself the whole of the lower mind which it put forth into incarnation; in that case the body left behind on the astral plane will be a mere corpse like the abandoned physical body, and it will then come not into this class but into the next. Even in the case of a man of somewhat less perfect life almost the same result may be attained if the forces of lower desire are allowed to work themselves out undisturbed in the astral plane. But the majority of mankind make but very trifling and perfunctory efforts while on earth to rid themselves of the less elevated impulses of their nature, and consequently doom themselves not only to a greatly prolonged sojourn in the intermediate world, but also to what cannot be described otherwise than as a loss of a portion of the lower mind. This is, no doubt, a material method of expressing the reflection of the higher mind in the lower, but a very fairly accurate idea of what actually takes place will be obtained by adopting the hypothesis that the manasic principle sends down a portion of itself into the lower world of physical life at each incarnation, and expects to be able to withdraw it again at the end of the life, enriched by all its varied experiences. The ordinary man, however, usually allows himself to be so pitiably enslaved by all sorts of base desire, that a certain portion of this lower mind becomes very 51 closely interwoven with the desire-body, and when the separation takes place at the close of his astral life the mental principle has, as it were, to be torn apart, the degraded portion remaining within the disintegrating astral body. This body then consists of the particles of astral matter from which the lower mind has not been able to disengage itself, and which therefore retain it captive; for when the man passes into the heaven-world these clinging fragments adhere to a portion of his mind, and as it were wrench it away. The proportion of the matter of each level present in the decaying astral vehicle will therefore depend on the extent to which the mind has become inextricably entangled with the lower passions. It will be obvious that as the mind in passing from level to level is unable to free itself completely from the matter of each, the astral remnant will show the presence of each grosser kind which has succeeded in retaining its connection with it. Thus comes into existence the class of entity which has been called "The Shade "—an entity, be it observed, which is not in any sense the real individual at all, for he has passed away into the heaven-world; but nevertheless, it not only bears his exact personal appearance, but possesses his memory and all his little idiosyncrasies, and may, therefore, very readily be mistaken for him, as indeed it frequently is at seances. It is not, of course, conscious of any act of impersonation, for as far as its intellect goes it must necessarily suppose itself to be the individual, but one can imagine the horror and disgust of the friends of the departed, if they could only realize that they had been deceived into accepting as their loved one a mere soulless bundle of all his lowest qualities. The length of life of a shade varies according to the 52 amount of the lower mind which animates it, but as this is all the while in process of fading out, its intellect is a steadily diminishing quantity though it may possess a great deal of a certain sort of animal cunning; and even quite towards the end of its career it is still able to communicate by borrowing temporary intelligence from the medium. From its very nature it is exceedingly liable to be swayed by all kinds of evil influences, and, having separated from its higher ego, it has nothing in its constitution capable of responding to good ones. It therefore lends itself readily to various minor purposes of some of the baser sort of black magicians. So much of mental matter as it possesses gradually disintegrates and returns to its own plane, though not to any individual mind, and thus the shade fades by almost imperceptible gradations into a member of our next class. 5. The Shell. This is absolutely the mere astral corpse in the later stages of its disintegration, every particle of the mind having left it. It is entirely without any kind of consciousness or intelligence, and is drifted passively about upon the astral currents just as a cloud might be swept in any direction by a passing breeze; but even yet it may be galvanized for a few moments into a ghastly burlesque of life if it happens to come within reach of a medium's aura. Under such circumstances it will still exactly resemble its departed personality in appearance, and may even reproduce to some extent his familiar expressions or handwriting, but it does so merely by the automatic action of the cells of which it is composed, which tend under stimulation to repeat the form of action to which they are most accustomed, and whatever amount of intelligence may be behind any such manifestation has most assuredly no connection 53 with the original man, but is lent by the medium or his "guides" for the occasion. It is, however, more frequently temporarily vitalized in quite another manner, which will be described under the next head. It has also the quality of being still blindly responsive to such vibrations—usually of the lowest order as were frequently set up in it during its last stage of existence as a shade, and consequently persons in whom evil desires or passions are predominant will be very likely, if they attend physical seances, to find these intensified and as it were thrown back upon them by the unconscious shells. There is also another variety of corpse which it is necessary to mention under this head, though belongs to a much earlier stage of man's post-mortem history. It has been stated above that after the death of the physical body the astral vehicle is comparatively quickly rearranged, and the etheric double cast off—this latter body being destined to slow disintegration, precisely as is the astral shell at a later stage of the proceedings. This etheric shell, however, is not to be met with drifting aimlessly about, as is the variety with which we have hitherto been dealing; on the contrary, it remains within a few yards of the decaying physical body, and since it is readily visible to any one even slightly sensitive, it is accountable for many of the commonly current stories of churchyard ghosts. A psychically developed person passing one of our great cemeteries will see hundreds of these bluish-white, misty forms hovering over the graves where are laid the physical vestures which they have recently left; and as they, like their lower counterparts, are in stages of disintegration, the sight is by no means a pleasant one. 54 This also, like the other kind, of shell, is entirely devoid of consciousness and intelligence; and though it may under certain circumstances be galvanized into a very horrible form of temporary life, this is possible only by means of some of the most loathsome rites of one of the worst forms of black magic, about which the less said the better. It will thus be seen that in the successive stages of his progress from earth-life to the heaven-world, man casts off and leaves to slow disintegration no less than three corpses— the dense physical body, the etheric double, and the astral vehicle—all of which are by degrees resolved into their constituent elements and their matter utilized anew on their respective planes by the wonderful chemistry of nature. 6. The Vitalized Shell. This entity ought not, strictly speaking, to be classified under the head "human" at all, since it is only its outer vesture, the passive, senseless shell, that was once an appanage of humanity; such life, intelligence, desire, and will as it may possess are those of the artificial- elemental animating it, and that, though in terrible truth a creation of man's evil thought is not itself human. It will therefore perhaps be better to deal with it more fully under its appropriate class among the artificial entities, as its nature and genesis will be more readily comprehensible by the time that part of our subject is reached. Let it suffice here to mention that it is always a malevolent being—a true tempting demon, whose evil influence is limited only by the extent of its power. Like the shade, it is frequently used to further the horrible purposes of the Voodoo and Obeah forms of magic. Some writers have spoken of it under the name "elementary," but as that title has at one time or another been used for almost 55 every variety of post-mortem entity, it has become so vague and meaningless that it is perhaps better to avoid it. 7. The Suicide and the victim of sudden death. It will be readily understood that a man who is torn from physical life hurriedly while in full health and strength, whether by accident or suicide, finds himself upon the astral plane tinder conditions differing considerably from those which surround one who dies either from old age or from disease. In the latter case the hold of earthly desires upon the entity is sure to be more or less weakened, and probably the very grossest particles are already got rid of, so that the man will most likely find himself on the sixth or fifth subdivision of the astral world, or perhaps even higher; the principles have been gradually prepared for separation, and the shock is therefore not so great. In the case of the accidental death or suicide none of these preparations have taken place, and the withdrawal of the principles front their physical encasement has been very aptly compared to the tearing of the stone out of an unripe fruit; a great deal of the grossest kind of astral matter still clings around the personality, which is consequently held in the seventh or lowest subdivision of the plane. This has already been described as anything but a pleasant abiding place, yet it is by no means the same for all those who are compelled for a time to inhabit it. Those victims of sudden death whose earth-lives have been pure and noble have no affinity for this plane, and so the time of their sojourn upon it is passed, to quote front an early letter on this subject, either in "happy ignorance and full oblivion, or in a state of quiet slumber, a sleep full of rosy dreams." On the other hand, if men's earth-lives have been low and brutal, selfish and sensual, they will, like the suicides, 56 be conscious to the fullest extent in this undesirable region and they are liable to develope into terribly evil entities. Inflamed with all kinds of horrible appetites which they call no longer satisfy directly now they are without a physical body, they gratify their loathsome passions vicariously through a medium or any sensitive person whom they can obsess; and they take a devilish delight in using all the arts of delusion which the astral plane puts in their power in order to lead others into the same excesses which have proved so fatal to themselves. Quoting again from the same letter:—"These are the Pisachas, the incubi and succubae of mediaeval writers— demons of thirst and gluttony, of lust and avarice, of intensified craft, wickedness, and cruelty, provoking their victims to horrible crimes, and revelling in their commission." From this class and the last are drawn the tempters the devils of ecclesiastical literature; but their power falls utterly before purity of mind and purpose; they can do nothing with a man unless he has first encouraged in himself the vices into which they seek to draw him. One whose psychic sight has been opened will often see crowds of these unfortunate creatures hanging round butchers' shops, public-houses, or other even more disreputable places—wherever the gross influences in which they delight are to be found, and where they encounter men and women still in the flesh who are likeminded with themselves. For such an entity as one of these to meet with a medium with whom he is in affinity is indeed a terrible misfortune not only does it enable him to prolong enormously his dreadful astral life, but it renews for perhaps all indefinite period his power to generate evil karma, and so prepare for himself a future incarnation of the most 57 degraded character, besides running the risk of losing a large portion of such mind-power as he may happen to possess. If he is fortunate enough not to meet with a sensitive through whom his passions can be vicariously gratified, the unfulfilled desires will gradually burn themselves out, and the suffering caused in the process will probably go far towards working off the evil karma of the past life. The position of the suicide is further complicated by the fact that his rash act has enormously diminished the power of the higher ego to withdraw its lower portion into itself, and therefore has exposed him to manifold and great additional dangers; but it must be remembered that the guilt of suicide differs considerably according to its circumstances, from the morally blameless act of Seneca or Socrates through all degrees down to the heinous crime of the wretch who takes his own life in order to escape from the entanglements into which his villainy has brought him and of course the position after death varies accordingly. It should be noted that this class, as well as the shades and the vitalized shells, are all what may be called minor vampires; that is to say, whenever they have the opportunity they prolong their existence by draining away the vitality from human beings whom they find themselves able to influence. This is why both medium and sitters are often so weak and exhausted after a physical seance. A student of occultism is taught how to guard himself from their attempts, but without that knowledge it is difficult for one who puts himself in their way to avoid being more or less laid under contribution by them. 8. The Vampire and Werewolf. There remain two even more awful but happily very rare possibilities to be 58 mentioned before this part of our subject is completed, and though they differ very widely in many ways we may yet perhaps group them together, since they have in common the qualities of unearthly horror and of extreme rarity—the latter arising from the fact that they are really legacies from earlier races—hideous anachronisms, appalling relics of a time when man and his surroundings were in many ways not what they are now. We of the fifth root race ought to have evolved beyond the possibility of meeting such a ghastly fate as is indicated by either of the two headings of this sub-section, and we have so nearly done it that these creatures are commonly regarded as mere mediaeval fables; yet there are examples to be found occasionally even now, though chiefly in countries where there is a considerable strain of fourth-race blood, such as Russia or Hungary. The popular legends about them are probably often considerably exaggerated, but there is nevertheless a terribly serious substratum of truth beneath the eerie stories which pass from mouth to mouth among the peasantry of Central Europe. The general characteristics of such tales are too well known to need more than a passing reference; a fairly typical specimen of the vampire story, though it does not profess to be more than the merest fiction, is Sheridan le Fanu's Carmilla, while a very remarkable account of an unusual form of this creature is to be found in Isis Unveiled vol. i., p. 454. Readers of Theosophical literature will be aware that it is just possible for a man to live a life so absolutely degraded and selfish, so utterly wicked and brutal, that the whole of his lower mind may become entirely immeshed in his desires, and finally separated from its spiritual source in the higher ego. Some students even seem 59 to have supposed that such an occurrence is quite a common one, and that we may meet scores of such "soulless men," as they have been called, in the street every day of our lives; but this, happily, is untrue. To attain the appalling pre-eminence in evil which thus involves the entire loss of a personality and the weakening of the developing individuality behind, a man must stifle every gleam of unselfishness or spirituality, and must have absolutely no redeeming point whatever; and when we remember how often, even in the worst of villains, there is to be found something not wholly bad, we shall realize that the abandoned personalities must always be a very small minority. Still, comparatively few though they be, they do exist, and it is from their ranks that the still rarer vampire is drawn. The lost entity would very soon after death find himself unable to stay in the astral world, and would be irresistibly drawn in full consciousness into "his own place," the mysterious eighth sphere, there slowly to disintegrate after experiences best left undescribed. If, however, he perishes by suicide or sudden death, he may under certain circumstances, especially if he knows something of black magic, hold himself back from that awful fate by a death in life scarcely less awful—the ghastly existence of the vampire. Since the eighth sphere cannot claim him until after the death of the body, he preserves it in a kind of cataleptic trance by the horrible expedient of the transfusion into it of blood drawn from other human beings by his semimaterialized astral, and thus postpones his final destiny by the commission of wholesale murder. As popular "superstition" again quite rightly supposes, the easiest and most effectual remedy in such a case is to exhume and burn the body, thus depriving the creature of his 60 point d'appui. When the grave is opened the body usually appears quite fresh and healthy, and the coffin is not infrequently filled with blood. In countries where cremation is the custom, vampirism of this sort is naturally impossible. The Werewolf, though equally horrible, is the product of a somewhat different karma, and indeed ought perhaps to have found a place under the first instead of the second division of the human inhabitants of this plane, since it is always during a man's lifetime that he first manifests under this form. It invariably implies some knowledge of magical arts sufficient at any rate to be able to project the astral body. When a perfectly cruel and brutal man does this, there are certain circumstances under which the body may be seized upon by other astral entities and materialized, not into the human form, but into that of some wild animal usually the wolf; and in that condition it will range the surrounding country killing other animals, and even human beings, thus satisfying not only its own craving for blood, but that of the fiends who drive it on. In this case, as so often with ordinary materialization, any wound inflicted upon that animal form will be reproduced upon the human physical body by the extraordinary phenomenon of repercussion; though after the death of that physical body, the astral (which will probably continue to appear in the same form) will be less vulnerable. It will then, however, be also less dangerous, as unless it can find a suitable medium it will be unable to materialize fully. In such manifestations there is probably a great deal of the matter of the etheric double, and perhaps also a toll is levied upon the gaseous and liquid constituents of the physical 61 body as in the case of some materializations. In both cases this fluidic body appears able to pass to much greater distances from the physical than is ever otherwise possible, so far as is yet known for a vehicle which contains at least a certain amount of etheric matter. It has been the fashion of this century to scoff at what are called the foolish superstitions of the ignorant peasantry but, as in the above cases, so in many others, the occult student finds on careful examination that obscure or forgotten truths of nature be behind what at first sight appears mere nonsense, and he learns to be cautious in rejecting as well as cautious in accepting. Intending explorers of the astral plane need have little fear of encountering the very unpleasant creatures described under this head, for, as before stated, they are even now extremely rare, and as time aces on their number will happily steadily diminish. In any case their manifestations are usually restricted to the immediate neighbourhood of their physical bodies, as might be supposed from their extremely material nature. 9. The Black Magician or his pupil. This person corresponds at the other extremity of the scale to our second class of departed entities, the pupil awaiting reincarnation, but in this case, instead of obtaining permission to adopt an unusual method of progress, the man is defying the natural process of evolution by maintaining himself in astral life by magical arts sometimes of the most horrible nature. It would be easy to make various subdivisions of this class, according to their objects, their methods, and the possible duration of their existence on this plane, but as they are by no means fascinating objects of study, and all that in occult student wishes to know about them is how to avoid them, it will probably be more interesting to pass on 62 to the examination of another part of our subject. It may, however, be just mentioned that every such human entity which prolongs its life thus on the astral plane beyond its natural limit invariably does so at the expense of others, and by the absorption of their life in some form or another. II. NON-HUMAN. Though it might have been thought fairly obvious even to the most casual glance that many of the terrestrial arrangements of nature which affect us most nearly have not been designed exclusively with a view to our comfort or even our ultimate advantage, it was yet probably unavoidable that the human race, at least in its childhood, should imagine that this world and everything it contains existed solely for its own use and benefit; but undoubtedly we ought by this time to have grown out of that infantile delusion and realized our proper position and the duties that attach to it. That most of us have not yet done so is shown in a dozen ways in our daily life—notably by the atrocious cruelty habitually displayed towards the animal kingdom under the name of sport by many who probably consider themselves highly civilized people. Of course the veriest tyro in the holy science of occultism knows that all life is sacred, and that without universal compassion there is no true progress; but it is only as he advances in his studies that he discovers how manifold evolution is, and how comparatively small a place humanity really fills in the economy of nature. It becomes clear to him that just as earth, air, and 63 water support myriads of forms of life which, though invisible to the ordinary eve, are revealed to us by the microscope, so the higher planes connected with our earth have an equally dense population of whose existence we are ordinarily completely unconscious. As his knowledge increases he becomes more and more certain that in one way or another the utmost use is being made of every possibility of evolution, and that wherever it seems to us that in nature force is being wasted or opportunity neglected, it is not the scheme of the universe that is in fault, but our ignorance of its method and intention. For the purposes of our present consideration of the non-human inhabitants of the astral plane it will be best to leave altogether out of consideration those very early forms of the universal life which are evolving in a manner of which we can have little comprehension, through the successive encasement of atoms, molecules, and cells; for if we commence at the lowest of what are usually called the elemental kingdoms, we shall even then have to group together under this general heading an enormous number of inhabitants of the astral plane upon whom it will be possible to touch only very slightly, as anything like a detailed account of them would swell this manual to the dimensions of an encyclopaedia. The most convenient method of arranging the nonhuman entities will perhaps be in four classes—it being understood that in this case the class is not, as previously, a comparatively small subdivision, but usually a great kingdom of nature at least as large and varied as, say, the animal or vegetable kingdom. Some of these classes rank considerably below humanity, some are our equals, and others again rise far above us in goodness and power. Some belong to our 64 scheme of evolution—that is to say, they either have been or will be men like ourselves; others are evolving on entirely distinct lines of their own. Before proceeding to consider them it is necessary, in order to avoid the charge of incompleteness, to mention that in this branch of the subject two reservations have been made. First, no reference is made to the occasional appearances of very high Adepts from other planets of the solar system and of even more august Visitors from a still greater distance, since such matters cannot fitly be described in an essay for general reading and besides it is practically inconceivable, though of course theoretically possible, that such glorified Beings should ever need to manifest themselves on a plane so low as the astral. If for any reason they should wish to do so, the body appropriate to the plane would be temporarily created out of astral matter belonging to this planet, just as in the case of the Nirmanakaya. Secondly, quite outside of and entirely unconnected with the four classes into which we are dividing this section, there are two other great evolutions which at present share the use of this planet with humanity; but about them it is forbidden to give any particulars at this stage of the proceedings, as it is not apparently intended tinder ordinary circumstances either that they should be conscious of man's existence or man of theirs. If we ever do come into contact with them it will most probably be on the purely physical plane, for in any case their connection with our astral plane is of the slightest, since the only possibility of their appearance there depends upon an extremely improbable accident in an act of ceremonial magic, which fortunately only a few of the most advanced sorcerers know how to perform. Nevertheless, that improbable accident 65 has happened at least once, and may happen again, so that but for the prohibition above mentioned it would have been necessary to include them in our list. 1. The Elemental Essence belonging to our own evolution. Just as the name "elementary" has been given indiscriminately by various writers to any or all of man's possible post-mortem conditions, so this word "elemental" has been used at different times to mean any or all nonhuman spirits, from the most godlike of the Devas down through every variety of nature-spirit to the formless essence which pervades the kingdoms lying behind the mineral, until after reading several books the student becomes absolutely bewildered by the contradictory statements made on the subject. For the purposes of this treatise let it be understood that elemental essence is merely a name applied during certain stages of its evolution to monadic essence, which in its turn may be defined as the outpouring of spirit or divine force into matter. We are all familiar with the idea that before this outpouring arrives at the stage of individualization at which it ensouls man, it has passed through and ensouled in turn six lower phases of evolution—the animal, vegetable, mineral, and three elemental kingdoms. When energizing through those respective stages it has sometimes been called the animal, vegetable, or mineral monad— though this term is distinctly misleading, since long before it arrives at any of these kingdoms it has become not one, but many monads. The name was, however, adopted to convey the idea that, though differentiation in the monadic essence had already long ago set in, it had not yet been carried to the extent of individualization. When this monadic essence is energizing through the 66 three great elemental kingdoms which precede the mineral, it is called by the name of "elemental essence." Before, however, its nature and the manner in which it manifests can be understood, the method in which spirit enfolds itself in its descent into matter must be realized. Be it remembered then, that when spirit, resting on any plane (it matters not which—let us call it plane No. 1 ) wills to descend to the plane next below (let us call that plane No. 2) it must enfold itself in the matter of that plane—that is to say, it must draw round itself a veil of the matter of plane No. 2. Similarly when it continues its descent to plane No. 3 it must draw round itself the matter of that plane, and we shall then have, say, an atom whose body or outer covering consists of the matter of plane No. 3. The force energizing in it—its soul, so to speak—will however not be spirit in the condition in which it was on plane No. 1, but will be that divine force plus the veil of the matter of plane No. 2. When a still further descent is made to plane No. 4, the atom becomes still more complex, for it will then have a body of No. 4 matter, ensouled by spirit already twice veiled—in the matter of planes 2 and 3. It will be seen that, since this process repeats itself for every subplane of each plane of the solar system, by the time the original force reaches our physical level it is so thoroughly veiled that it is small wonder men often fail to recognize it as spirit at all. Now suppose that the monadic essence has carried on this process of veiling itself down to the atomic level of the mental plane, and that, instead of descending through the various subdivisions of that plane, it plunges down directly into the astral plane, ensouling, or aggregating round it a body of atomic astral matter; such a combination would be 67 the elemental essence of the astral plane, belonging to the third of the great elemental kingdoms—the one immediately preceding the mineral. In the course of its two thousand four hundred differentiations, on the astral plane it draws to itself many and various combinations of the matter of its several sub-divisions; but these are only temporary, and it still remains essentially, one kingdom, whose characteristic is monadic essence involved down to the atomic level of the mental plane only, but manifesting through the atomic matter of the astral plane. The two higher elemental kingdoms exist and function respectively upon the higher and the lower levels of the mental plane; but we are not at the moment concerned with them. To speak, as we so often do, of an elemental in connection with the group we are now considering is somewhat misleading, for strictly speaking there is no such thing. What we find is a vast store of elemental essence, wonderfully sensitive to the most fleeting human thought, responding with inconceivable delicacy in an infinitesimal fraction of a second to a vibration set up in it even by an entirely unconscious exercise of human will or desire. But the moment that by the influence of such thought or exercise of will it is moulded into a living force into something that may correctly be described as an elemental—it at once ceases to belong to the category we are discussing and becomes a member of the artificial class. Even then us separate existence is usually of the most evanescent character, and as soon as its impulse has worked itself out it sinks back into the undifferentiated mass of that particular subdivision of elemental essence from which it came. It would be tedious to attempt to catalogue these 68 divisions, and indeed even if a list of them were made it would be unintelligible except to the practical student who can call them up before him and compare them. Some idea of the leading lines of classification can, however, be grasped without much trouble, and may prove of interest. First comes the broad division which has given the elementals their name—the classification according to the kind of matter which they inhabit. Here, as usual, the septenary character of our evolution shows itself, for there are seven such chief groups, related respectively to the seven states of physical matter—to "earth, water, air, and fire," or to translate from mediaeval symbolism to modern accuracy of expression, to the solid, the liquid, the gaseous, and the four etheric conditions. It has long been the custom to pity and despise the ignorance of the alchemists of the middle ages, because they gave the title of "elements" to substances which modern chemistry has discovered to be compounds; but in speaking of them thus slightingly we have done them great for their knowledge on this subject was really wider, not narrower, than ours. They may or may not have catalogued all the sixty or seventy substances which we now call elements; but they certainly did not apply that name to them, for their occult studies had taught them that in that sense of the word there was but one element, of which these and all other forms of matter were but modifications—a truth which some of the greatest chemists of the present day are just beginning to suspect. The fact is that in this particular case our despised forefathers' analysis, went several steps deeper than our own, They understood and were able to observe the ether, which modern science can only postulate as a necessity for 69 its theories; they were aware that it consists of physical matter in four entirely distinct states above the gaseous—a fact which has not yet been re-discovered. They knew that all physical objects consist of matter in one or other of these seven states, and that into the composition of every organic body all seven enter in a greater or lesser degree; hence all their talk of fiery and watery humours, or "elements," which seems so grotesque to us. It is obvious that they used the latter word simply as a synonym for "constituent parts," without in the least degree intending it to connote the idea of substances which could not be further reduced. They knew also that each of these orders of matter serves as a basis of manifestation for a great class of evolving monadic essence, and so they christened the essence "elemental." What we have to try to realize, then, is that in every particle of solid matter, so long as it remains in that condition, there resides, to use the picturesque phraseology of mediaeval students, an earth elemental—that is, a certain amount of the living elemental essence appropriate to it, while equally in every particle of matter in the liquid, gaseous, or etheric states, the water, air, and fire "elementals" respectively inhere. It will be observed that this first broad division of the third of the elemental kingdoms is, so to speak, a horizontal one—that is to say, its respective classes stand—in the relation of steps, each somewhat less material than the one below it, which ascends into it by almost imperceptible degrees; and it is easy to understand how each of these classes may again he divided horizontally into seven, since there are obviously many degrees of density among solids, liquids, and gases. There is, however, what may be described as a perpendicular 70 division also, and this is somewhat more difficult to comprehend, especially as great reserve is always maintained by occultists as to some of the facts which would be involved in a fuller explanation of it. Perhaps the clearest way to put what is known on the subject will be to state that in each of the horizontal classes and subclasses will be found seven perfectly distinct types of elemental, the difference between them being no longer a question of degree of materiality, but rather of character and affinities. Each of these types so reacts upon the others that, though it is impossible for them ever to interchange their essence, in each of them seven sub-types will be found to exist, distinguished by the colouring given to their original peculiarity by the influence which sways them most readily. It will at once be seen that this perpendicular division and subdivision differs entirely in its character from the horizontal, in that it is far more permanent and fundamental; for while it is the evolution of the elemental kingdom to pass with almost infinite slowness through its various horizontal classes and sub-classes in succession, and thus to belong to them all in turn, this is not so with regard to the types and sub-types, which remain unchangeable all the way through. A point which must never be lost sight of in endeavouring to understand this elemental evolution is that it is taking place on what is sometimes called the downward curve of the arc; that is to say, it is progressing towards the complete entanglement in matter which we witness in the mineral kingdom, instead of away from it, as is most other evolution of which we know anything. Thus for it progress means descent into matter instead of 71 ascent towards higher planes and this fact sometimes gives it a curiously inverted appearance in our eyes until we thoroughly grasp its object. Unless the student bears this constantly and clearly in mind, he will again and again find himself beset by perplexing anomalies. In spite of these manifold subdivisions, there are certain properties which are possessed in common by all varieties of this strange living essence; but even these are so entirely different from any with which we are familiar on the physical plane that it is exceedingly difficult to explain them to those who cannot themselves see it in action. Let it be premised, then, that when any portion of this essence remains for a few moments entirely unaffected by any outside influence (a condition, by the way, which is hardly ever realized) it is absolutely without any definite form of its own, though its motion is still rapid and ceaseless; but on the slightest disturbance, set up perhaps by some passing thought-current, it flashes into a bewildering confusion of restless, ever-changing shapes, which form, rush about, and disappear with the rapidity of the bubbles on the surface of boiling water. These evanescent shapes, though generally those of living creatures of some sort, human or otherwise, no more express the existence of separate entities in the essence than do the equally changeful and multiform waves raised in a few moments on a previously smooth lake by a sudden squall. They seem to be mere reflections from the vast storehouse of the astral light, yet they have usually a certain appropriateness to the character of the thoughtstream which calls them into existence, though nearly always with grotesque distortion, some terrifying or unpleasant aspect about them. 72 A question naturally arises in the mind here as to what intelligence it is that is exerted in the selection of an appropriate shape or its distortion when selected. We are not dealing with the more powerful and longer-lived artificial elemental created by a strong definite thought, but simply with the result produced by the stream of halfconscious, involuntary thoughts which the majority of mankind allow to flow idly through their brains. The intelligence therefore is obviously not derived from the mind of the thinker; and we certainly cannot credit the elemental essence itself, which belongs to a kingdom further from individualization even than the mineral, with any sort of awakening of the mental quality Yet it does possess a marvellous adaptability which often seems to come very near it, and it is no doubt this property that caused elementals to be described in one of our early books as "the semi-intelligent creatures of the astral light." We shall find further evidence of this power when we come to consider the case of the artificial class. When we read of a good or evil elemental, it must always be either an artificial entity or one of the many varieties of nature-spirits that is meant, for the elemental kingdoms proper do not admit of any such conceptions as good and evil. There is, however, undoubtedly a sort of bias or tendency permeating nearly all their subdivisions which operates to render them rather hostile than friendly towards man. Every neophyte knows this, for in most cases his very first impression of the astral plane is of the presence all around him of vast hosts of protean spectres who advance upon him in threatening guise, but always retire or dissipate harmlessly if boldly faced. It is to this curious tendency that the distorted or unpleasant aspect above 73 mentioned must be referred, and mediaeval writers tell us that man has only himself to thank for its existence. In the golden age before this sordid present men were on the whole less selfish and more spiritual, and then the "elementals" were friendly, though now they are so no longer because of man's indifference to, and want of sympathy with, other living beings. From the wonderful delicacy with which the essence responds to the faintest action of our minds or desires it seems clear that this elemental kingdom as a whole is very much what the collective thought of humanity makes it. Any one who will think for a moment how far from elevating the action of that collective thought is likely to be at the present time will see little reason to wonder that we reap as we have sown, and that this essence, which has no power of perception, but only blindly receives and reflects what is projected upon it, should usually exhibit unfriendly characteristics. There can be no doubt that in later races or rounds, when mankind as a whole has evolved to a much higher level, the elemental kingdoms will be influenced by the changed thought which continually impinges upon them, and we shall find them no longer hostile, but docile and helpful, as we are told that the animal kingdom will also be. Whatever may have happened in the past, it is evident that we may look forward to a very passable "golden age" in the future, if we can arrive at a time when the majority of men will be noble and unselfish, and the forces of nature will co-operate willingly with them. The fact that we are so readily able to influence the elemental kingdoms at once show, us that we have a responsibility towards them for the manner in which we 74 use that influence. Indeed, when we consider the conditions under which they exist, it is obvious that the effect produced upon them by the thoughts and desires of all intelligent creatures inhabiting the same world with them must have been calculated upon in the scheme of our system as a factor in their evolution. In spite of the consistent teaching of all the great religions, the mass of mankind is still utterly regardless of its responsibility on the thought-plane; if a man can flatter himself that his words and deeds have been harmless to others, he believes that he has done all that can be required of him, quite oblivious of the fact that he may for years have been exercising a narrowing and debasing influence on the minds of those about him, and filling surrounding space with the unlovely creations of a sordid mind. A still more serious aspect of this question will come before us when we discuss the artificial elemental but in regard to the essence it will be sufficient to state that we undoubtedly have the power to accelerate or delay its evolution according to the use which consciously or unconsciously we are continually making of it. It would be hopeless within the limits of such a treatise as this to attempt to explain the different uses to which the forces inherent in the manifold varieties of this elemental essence can he put by one who has been trained in their management. The vast majority of magical ceremonies depend almost entirely upon its manipulation, either directly by the will of the magician, or by some more definite astral entity evoked by him for that purpose. By its means nearly all the physical phenomena of the seance-room are produced, and it is also the agent in most cases of stone-throwing or bell-ringing in haunted houses, 75 such results as these latter being brought about either by blundering efforts to attract attention made by some earthbound human entity, or by the mere mischievous pranks of some of the minor nature-spirits belonging to our third class. But the "elemental" must never be thought of as itself a prime mover; it is simply a latent force, which needs an external power to set it in motion. It may be noted that although all classes of the essence have the power of reflecting images from the astral light as described above, there are varieties which receive certain impressions much more readily than others—which have, as it were, favourite forms of their own into which upon disturbance they would naturally flow unless absolutely forced into some other, and such shapes tend to be a trifle less evanescent than usual. Before leaving this branch of the subject it may be well to warn the student against the confusion of thought into which some have fallen through failing to distinguish this elemental essence which we have been considering from the monadic essence manifesting through the mineral kingdom. It must be borne in mind that monadic essence at one stage of its evolution towards humanity manifests through the elemental kingdom, while at a later stage it manifests through the mineral kingdom; but the fact that two bodies of monadic essence at these different stages are in manifestation at the same moment, and that one of these manifestations (the earth elemental) occupies the same space as and inhabits the other (say a rock), in no way interferes with the evolution either of one or the other, nor does it imply any relation between the bodies of monadic essence lying within both. The rock will also be permeated by its appropriate variety of the omnipresent life principle, but 76 that is again totally distinct from either of the essences above mentioned. 2. The Astral Bodies of Animals. This is an extremely large class, yet it does not occupy a particularly important position on the astral plane, since its members usually stay there but a very short time. The vast majority of animals have not as yet acquired permanent individualization, and when one of them dies the monadic essence which has been manifesting through it flows back again into the particular stratum whence it came, bearing with it such advancement or experience as has been attained during that life. It is not, however, able to do this quite immediately; the astral body of the animal rearranges itself just as in man's case, and the animal has a real existence on the astral plane, the length of which, though never great, varies according to the intelligence which it has developed. In most cases it does not seem to be more than dreamily conscious, but appears perfectly happy. The comparatively few domestic animals who have already attained individuality, and will therefore be reborn no more as animals in this world, have a much longer and much more vivid life on the astral plane than their less advanced fellows, and at the end of it sink gradually into a subjective condition, which is likely to last for a very considerable period. One interesting subdivision of this class consists of the astral bodies of those anthropoid apes mentioned in The Secret Doctrine (vol. i., p. 184) who are already individualized, and will be ready to take human incarnation in the next round, or perhaps some of then) even sooner. 3. Nature-Spirits of all Kinds. So many and so varied are the subdivisions of this class that to do them anything like justice one would need to devote a separate treatise to 77 this subject alone. Some characteristics, however, they all have in common, and it will be sufficient here to try to give some idea of those. To begin with, we have to realize that we are here dealing with entities which differ radically from all that we have hitherto considered. Though we may rightly classify the elemental essence and the animal astral bodies as nonhuman, the monadic essence which manifests itself through them will, nevertheless, in the fulness of time, evolve to the level of manifesting itself through some future humanity comparable to our own, and if we were able to look back through countless ages on our own evolution in previous world-cycles, we should find that that which is now ourselves has passed on its upward path through similar stages. That, however, is not the case with the vast kingdom of nature-spirits; they neither have been, nor ever will be, members of a humanity such as ours; their line of evolution is entirely different, and their only connection with us consists in our temporary occupancy of the same planet. Of course since we are neighbours for the time being we owe neighbourly kindness to one another when we happen to meet, but our lines of development differ so widely that each can do but little for the other. Many writers have included these spirits among the elementals, and indeed they are the elementals (or perhaps, to speak more accurately, the animals) of a higher evolution. Though much more highly developed than our elemental essence, they have yet certain characteristics in common with it; for example, they also are divided into seven great classes, inhabiting respectively the same seven states of matter already mentioned as permeated by the corresponding 78 varieties of the essence. Thus, to take those which are most readily comprehensible to us, there are spirits of the earth, water, air, and fire (or ether)—definite intelligent astral entities residing and functioning in each of those media. It may be asked how it is possible for any kind of creature to inhabit the solid substance of a rock, or of the crust of the earth. The answer is that since the nature-spirits are formed of astral matter, the substance of the rock is no hindrance to their motion or their vision, and furthermore physical matter in its solid state is their natural element— the only one to which they are accustomed and in which they feel at home. The same is of course true of those who live in water, air, or ether. In mediaeval literature, these earth-spirits are often called gnomes, while the water-spirits are spoken of as undines, the air-spirits as sylphs, and the ether-spirits as salamanders. In popular language they are known by many names—fairies, pixies, elves, brownies, peris, djinns, trolls, satyrs, fauns, kobolds, imps, goblins, good people, &c.— some of these titles being applied only to one variety, and others indiscriminately to all. Their forms are many and various, but most frequently human in shape and somewhat diminutive in size. Like almost all inhabitants of the astral plane, they are able to assume any appearance at will, but they undoubtedly have definite forms of their own, or perhaps we should rather say favourite forms, which they wear when they have no special object in taking an other. Under ordinary conditions they are not visible to physical sight at all, but they have the power of making themselves so by materialization when they wish to be seen. 79 There are an immense number of subdivisions or races among them, and individuals of these subdivisions differ in intelligence and disposition precisely as human beings do. The great majority of them apparently prefer to avoid man altogether; his habits and emanations are distasteful to them, and the constant rush of astral currents set up by his restless, ill-regulated desires disturbs and annoys them. On the other hand instances are not wanting in which naturespirits have as it were made friends with human beings and offered them such assistance as lay in their power, as in the well-known stories told of the Scotch brownies or of the fire-lighting fairies mentioned in spiritualistic literature. This helpful attitude, however, is comparatively rare, and in most cases when they come in contact with man they either show indifference or dislike, or else take an impish delight in deceiving him and playing childish tricks upon him. Many a story illustrative of this curious characteristic may he found among the village gossip of the peasantry in almost any lonely mountainous district and any one who has been in the habit of attending seances for physical phenomena will recollect instances of practical joking and silly though usually, good-natured horseplay, which almost always indicate the presence of some of the lower orders of the nature-spirits. They are greatly assisted in their tricks by the wonderful power which they possess of casting a glamour over those who yield themselves to their influence, so that such victims for the time see and hear only what these fairies impress upon them, exactly as the mesmerized subject sees, hears, feels, and believes whatever the magnetizer wishes. The nature-spirits, however, have not the mesmerizer's power of 80 dominating the human will, except in the case of quite unusually weak-minded people, or of those who allow themselves to fall into such a condition of helpless terror that their will is temporarily in abeyance. They cannot go beyond deception of the senses, but of that are they are undoubted masters, and cases are not wanting in which they have cast their glamour over a considerable number of people at once. It is by invoking their aid in the exercise of this peculiar power that some of the most wonderful feats of the Indian jugglers are performed—the entire audience being in fact hallucinated and made to imagine that they see and hear a whole series of events which have not really taken place at all. We might almost look upon the nature-spirits as a kind of astral humanity, but for the fact that none of them—not even the highest possesses a permanent reincarnating individuality. Apparently therefore one point in which their lint of evolution differs from ours is that a much greater proportion of intelligence is developed before permanent individualization takes place; but of the stages through which they have passed, and those through which they have yet to pass, we can know little. The life-periods of the different subdivisions vary greatly, some being quite short, others much longer than our human lifetime. We stand so entirely, outside such a life as theirs that it is impossible for us to understand much about its conditions; but it appears on the whole to be a simple, joyous, irresponsible kind of existence, much such as a party of happy children might lead among exceptionally favourable physical surroundings. Though tricky and mischievous, they are rarely malicious unless provoked by some unwarrantable intrusion or annoyance; 81 but as a body they also partake to some extent of the universal feeling of distrust for man, and they generally seem inclined to resent somewhat the first appearance of a neophyte on the astral plane, so that he usually makes their acquaintance under some unpleasant or terrifying form. If, however, he declines to be frightened by any of their freaks, they soon accept him as a necessary evil and take no further notice of him, while some among them may even after a time become friendly and manifest pleasure on meeting him. Some among the many subdivisions of this class are much less childlike and more dignified than those we have been describing, and it is from these sections that the entities who have sometimes been reverenced under the name of wood-gods, or local village-gods, have been drawn. Such entities would be quite sensible of the flattery involved in the reverence shown to them would enjoy it, and would no doubt be quite ready to do any small service they could in return. (The village-god is also often an artificial entity, but that variety will he considered in its appropriate place). The Adept knows how to make use of the services of the nature-spirits when he requires them, but the ordinary magician can obtain their assistance only by processes either of invocation or evocation—that is, either by attracting their attention as a suppliant and making some kind of bargain with them, or by endeavouring to set in motion influences which would compel their obedience. Both methods are extremely undesirable, and the latter is also excessively dangerous, as the operator would arouse a determined hostility which might prove fatal to him. Needless to say, no one studying occultism under a qualified Master would ever be permitted to attempt anything of the kind at all. 82 4. The Devas. The highest system of evolution connected with this earth, so far as we know, is that of the beings whom Hindus call the devas, and who have elsewhere been spoken of as angels, sons of God, &c. They may, in fact, be regarded as a kingdom lying next above humanity, in the same way as humanity in turn lies next above the animal kingdom, but with this important difference, that while for an animal there is no possibility of evolution (so far as we know) through any kingdom but the human, man, when he attains a certain high level, finds various paths of advancement opening before him, of which this great deva evolution is only one. In comparison with the sublime renunciation of the Nirmanakaya, the acceptance of this line of evolution is sometimes spoken of in the books as "yielding to the temptation to become a god", but it must not be inferred from this expression that any shadow of blame attaches to the man who makes this choice. The path which he selects is not the shortest, but it is nevertheless a very noble one, and if his developed intuition impels him towards it, it is certainly the one best suited for his capacities. We must never forget that in spiritual as in physical climbing it is not every one who can bear the strain of the steeper path; there may be many for whom what seems the slower way is the only one possible, and we should indeed be unworthy followers of the great Teachers if we allowed our ignorance to betray us into the slightest thought of disposal towards those whose choice differs from our own. However confident that ignorance of the difficulties of the future may allow us to feel now, it is impossible for us to tell at this stage what we shall find ourselves able to do when, after many lives of patient striving, we have earned 83 the right to choose our own future; and indeed, even those who "yield to the temptation to become gods" have a sufficiently glorious career before them, as will presently be seen. To avoid possible misunderstanding it may be mentioned par parenthese that there is another and entirely evil sense sometimes attached in the books to this phrase of "becoming a god," but in that form it certainly could never be any kind of "temptation" to the developed man, and in any ease it is altogether foreign to our present subject. In oriental literature this word "deva" is frequently used vaguely to mean almost any kind of non-human entity, so that it would often include great divinities on the one hand, and nature-spirits and artificial elementals on the other. Here, however, its use will be restricted to the magnificent evolution which we are now considering. Though connected with this earth, the devas are by no means confined to it, for the whole of our present chain of seven worlds is as one world to them, their evolution being through a grand system of seven chains. Their hosts have hitherto been recruited chiefly from other humanities in the solar system, some lower and some higher than ours, since but a very small portion of our own has as yet reached the level at which for us it is possible to join them; but it seems certain that some of their very numerous classes have not passed in their upward progress through any humanity at all comparable to ours. It is not possible for us at present to understand very much about them, but it is clear that what may be described as the aim of their evolution is considerably higher than ours; that is to say, while the object of our human evolution 84 is to raise the successful portion of humanity to a certain degree of occult development by the end of the seventh round, the object of the deva evolution is to raise their foremost rank to a very much higher level in the corresponding period. For them, as for us, a steeper but shorter path to still more sublime heights lies open to earnest endeavour; but what those heights may be in their case we can only conjecture. It is only the lower fringe of this august body that need be mentioned in connection with our subject of the astral plane. Their three lower great divisions beginning from the bottom) are generally called Kamadevas, Rupadevas, and Arupadevas respectively. Just as our ordinary body here— the lowest body possible for us—is the physical, so the ordinary body of a Kamadeva is the astral; so that he stands in somewhat the same position as humanity will do when it reaches planet F, and he, living ordinarily in an astral body, would go out of it to higher spheres in a mental body just as we might in an astral body, while to enter the causal body would be to him (when sufficiently developed) no greater effort than to use a mind-body is to us. In the same way the Rupadeva's ordinary body would be the mental, since his habitat is on the four lower or rupa levels of that plane; while the Arupadeva belongs to the three higher levels, and owns no nearer approach to a body than the causal. But for Rupa- and Arupadevas to manifest on the astral plane is an occurrence at least as rare as it is for astral entities to materialize on this physical plane, so we need do no more than mention them now. As regards the lowest division—the Kamadevas—it would be quite a mistake to think of all of them as immeasurably superior to ourselves, since some have entered 85 their ranks from a humanity in some respects less advanced than our own. The general average among them is much higher than among us, for all that is actively or wilfully evil has long been weeded out from their ranks but they differ widely in disposition, and a really noble, unselfish, spiritually-minded man may well stand higher in the scale of evolution than some of them. Their attention can be attracted by certain magical evocations, but the only human will which can dominate theirs is that of a certain high class of Adepts. As a rule they seem scarcely conscious of us on our physical plane, but it does now and then happen that one of them becomes aware of some human difficulty which excites his pity, and he perhaps renders some assistance, just as any of us would try to hell) an animal that we saw in trouble. But it is well understood among them that any interference in human affairs at the present stage is likely to do far more harm than good. Above the Arupadevas there are four other great divisions, and again, above and beyond the deva kingdom altogether, stand the great hosts of the Planetary Spirits, but the consideration of such glorified beings would be out of place in an essay on the astral plane. Though we cannot claim them as belonging exactly to any of our classes, this is perhaps the best place in which to mention those wonderful and important beings, the four Devarajas. In this name the word deva must not, however, be taken in the sense in which we have been using it, for it is not over the deva kingdom, but over the four, "elements" of earth, water, air, and fire, with their indwelling naturespirits and essences, that these four Kings rule. What the evolution has been through which they rose to their present height of power and wisdom we cannot 86 tell, save only that it has certainly not passed through anything corresponding to our own humanity They are often spoken of as the Regents of the Earth, or Angels of the four cardinal points, and the Hindu books call them the Chatur Maharajas, giving their names as Dhritarashtra, Virudhaka, Virupaksha, and Vaishravana. In the same books their elemental hosts are called Gandharvas, Kumbhandas, Nagas, and Yakshas respectively, the points of the compass appropriated to each being in corresponding order cast, south, west, and north, and their symbolical colours, white, blue, red, and gold. They are mentioned in The Secret Doctrine as "winged globes and fiery wheels"; and in the Christian bible Ezekiel makes a very remarkable attempt at a description of them in which very similar words are used. References to them are to be found in the symbology of every religion, and they have always been held in the highest reverence as the protectors of mankind. It is they who are the agents of man's karma during his life on earth, and they thus play an extremely important part in human destiny. The great karmic deities of the Kosmos (called in The Secret Doctrine the Lipika) weigh the deeds of each personality when the final separation of its principles takes place at the end of its astral-life, and give as it were the mould of an etheric double exactly suitable to its karma for the man s next birth; but it is the Devarajas who, having command of the "elements" of which that etheric double must be composed, arrange their proportion so as to fulfil accurately the intention of the Lipika. It is they also who constantly watch all through life to counterbalance the changes perpetually being introduced 87 into man's condition by his own free will and that of those around him, so that no injustice may be done, and karma may be accurately worked out, if not in one way then in another. A learned dissertation upon these marvellous beings will be found in The Secret Doctrine, vol. i., pp. 122-126. They are able to take human material forms at will, and several cases are recorded when they have done so. All the higher nature-spirits and hosts of artificial elementals act as their agents in the stupendous work they carry out, yet all the threads are in their hands, and the whole responsibility rests upon them alone. It is not often that they manifest upon the astral plane, but when they do they are certainly the most remarkable of its non-human inhabitants. A student of occultism will not need to be told that as there are seven great classes both of nature-spirits and elemental essence there must really be seven and not four Devarajas, but outside the circle of initiation little is known and less may be said of the higher three. III. ARTIFICIAL. This, the largest class of astral entities, is also much the most important to man. Being entirely his own creation, it is inter-related with him by the closest karmic bonds, and its action upon him is direct and incessant. It is an enormous inchoate mass of semi-intelligent entities, differing among themselves as human thoughts differ, and practically incapable of anything like classification or arrangement. The only division which can be usefully made is that which distinguishes between the artificial elementals made by the majority of mankind unconsciously and those made by magicians with definite intent; while we may relegate to a 88 third class the very small number of artificially arranged entities which are not elementals at all. 1. Elementals formed unconsciously. It has already been explained that the elemental essence which surrounds us on every side is in all its numberless varieties singularly susceptible to the influence of human thought. The action of the mere casual wandering thought upon it, causing it to burst into a cloud of rapidly-moving, evanescent forms, has already been described; we have now to note how it is affected when the human mind formulates a definite, purposeful thought or wish. The effect produced is of the most striking nature. The thought seizes upon the plastic essence, and moulds it instantly into a living being of appropriate form—a being which when once thus created is in no way under the control of its creator, but lives out a life of its own, the length of which is proportionate to the intensity of the thought or wish which called it into existence. It lasts, in fact, just as long as the thought-force holds it together. Most people's thoughts are so fleeting and indecisive that the elementals created by them last only a few minutes or a few hours, but an often-repeated thought or an earnest wish will form an elemental whose existence may extend to many days. Since the ordinary man's thoughts refer very largely to himself, the elementals which they form remain hovering about him, and constantly tend to provoke a repetition of the idea which they represent, since such repetitions, instead of forming new elementals, would strengthen the old one, and give it a fresh lease of life. A mail, therefore, who frequently dwells upon one wish often forms for himself an astral attendant which, constantly fed by fresh thought, may haunt him 89 for years, ever gaining more and more strength and influence over him; and it will easily be seen that if the desire be an evil one the effect upon his moral nature may be of the most disastrous character. Still more pregnant of result for good or evil are a man's thoughts about other people, for in that case they hover not about the thinker, but about the object of the thought. A kindly thought about any person, or an earnest wish for his good, will form and project towards him a friendly, artificial elemental. If the wish be a definite one, as, for example, that he may recover from some sickness, then the elemental will be a force ever hovering over him to promote his recovery or to ward off any influence that might tend to hinder it. In doing this it will display what appears like a very considerable amount of intelligence and adaptability, though really it is simply a force acting along the line of least resistance—pressing steadily in one direction all the time, and taking advantage of any channel that it can find, just as the water in a cistern would in a moment find the one open pipe among a dozen closed ones, and proceed to empty itself through that. If the wish be merely all indefinite one for his general good, the elemental essence in its wonderful plasticity will respond exactly to that less distinct idea also, and the creature formed will expend its force in the direction of whatever action for the man's advantage comes most readily to hand. In all cases the amount of such force which it has to expend, and the length of time that it will live to expend it, depend entirely upon the strength of the original wish or thought which gave it birth; though it must be remembered that it can be, as it were, fed and strengthened, and its life-period protracted by other 90 good wishes or friendly thoughts projected in the same direction. Furthermore, it appears to be actuated, like most other beings, by an instinctive desire to prolong its life, and thus reacts on its creator as a force constantly tending to provoke the renewal of the feeling which called it into existence. It also influences in a similar manner others with whom it comes into contact, though its rapport with them is naturally not so perfect. All that has been said as to the effect of good wishes and friendly thoughts is also true in the opposite direction of evil wishes and angry thoughts; and considering the amount of envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness that exists in the world, it will be readily understood that among the artificial elementals many terrible creatures are to be seen. A man whose thoughts or desires are spiteful, brutal, sensual, avaricious, moves through the world carrying with him everywhere a pestiferous atmosphere of his own, peopled with the loathsome beings which he has created to be his companions. Thus he is not only in sadly evil case himself, but is a dangerous nuisance to his fellowman, subjecting all who have the misfortune to come into contact with him to the risk of moral contagion from the influence of the abominations with which he chooses to surround himself. A feeling of envious or jealous hatred towards another person will send an evil elemental to hover over him and seek for a weak point through which it can operate; and if the feeling be a persistent one, such a creature may be continually nourished by it and thereby enabled to protract its undesirable activity for a very long period. It can, however, produce no effect upon the person towards whom it is directed unless he has himself some tendency which 91 it can foster—some fulcrum for its lever, as it were. From the aura of a man of pure thought and good life all such influences at once rebound, finding nothing upon which they can fasten, and in that case, by a very curious law, they react in all their force upon their original creator. In him by the hypothesis they find a very congenial sphere of action, and thus the karma of his evil wish works itself out at once by means of the very entity which he himself has called into existence. It occasionally happens, however, that an artificial elemental of this description is for various reasons unable to expend its force either upon its object or its creator, and in such cases it becomes a kind of wandering demon, readily attracted by any person who indulges feelings similar to that which gave it birth, and equally prepared either to stimulate such feelings in him for the sake of the strength it may gain from them, or to pour out its store of evil influence upon him through any opening which he may offer it. If it is sufficiently powerful to seize upon and inhabit some passing shell it frequently does so, as the possession of such a temporary home enables it to husband its dreadful resources more carefully in this form it may manifest through a medium, and by masquerading as some well-known friend may sometimes obtain an influence over people upon whom it would otherwise have little hold. What has been written above will serve to enforce the statement already made as to the importance of maintaining a strict control over our thoughts. Many a well-meaning man, who is scrupulously careful to do his duty towards his neighbour in word and deed, is apt to consider that his thoughts at least are nobody's business but his own, and so 92 lets them run riot in various directions, utterly unconscious of the swarms of baleful creatures which he is launching upon the world. To such a man an accurate comprehension of the effect of thought and desire in producing artificial elementals would come as a horrifying revelation; on the other hand, it would be the greatest consolation to many devoted and grateful souls who are oppressed with the feeling that they are unable to do anything in return for the kindness lavished upon them by their benefactors. For friendly thoughts and earnest good wishes are as easily and as effectually formulated by the poorest as by the richest, and it is within the power of almost any man, if he will take the trouble, to maintain what is practically a good angel always at the side of the brother or sister, the friend or the child, whom he loves best, no matter in what part of the world he may be. Many a time a mother's loving thoughts and prayers have formed themselves into an angel guardian for the child, and except in the almost impossible case that the child had in him no instinct responsive to a good influence, have undoubtedly given him assistance and protection. Such guardians may often be seen by clairvoyant vision, and there have even been cases in which one of them has had sufficient strength to materialize and become for the moment visible to physical sight. A curious fact which deserves mention here is that even after the passage of the mother into the heaven-world the love which she pours out upon the children whom she imagines as surrounding her, will react upon those children though they are still living in this world, and will often support the guardian elemental which she created while on earth, until her dear ones themselves pass away in turn. 93 As Madame Blavatsky remarks, "her love will always be felt by the children in the flesh; it will manifest in their dreams and often in various events, in providential protections and escapes for love is a strong shield, and is not limited by space or time" (Key to Theosophy, 1). 150). All the stories of the intervention of guardian angels must not, however, be attributed to the action of artificial elementals, for in many cases such "angels" have been the souls of either living or recently departed human beings, and they have also occasionally, though rarely, been devas. (See Invisible Helpers, 1). 24). This power of all earnest desire, especially if frequently repeated, to create all active elemental which ever presses forcefully in the direction of its own fulfilment, is the scientific explanation of what devout but unphilosophical people describe as answers to prayer. There are occasions, though at present these are rare, when the karma of the person so praying is such as to permit of assistance being directly rendered to him by an Adept or his pupil, and there is also the still rarer possibility of the intervention of a deva or some friendly nature-spirit; but in all these cases the easiest and most obvious form for such assistance to take would be the strengthening and the intelligent direction of the elemental already formed by the wish. A very curious and instructive instance of the extreme persistence of these artificial elementals under favourable circumstances came under the notice of one of our investigators quite recently. All readers of the literature of such subjects are aware that many of our ancient families are supposed to have associated with them a traditional death-warning—a phenomenon of one kind or another which foretells, usually some days beforehand, the approaching decease 94 of the head of the house. A picturesque example of this is the well-known story of the white bird of the Oxenhams, whose appearance has ever since the time of Queen Elizabeth been recognised as a sure presage of the death of some member of the family; while another is the spectral coach which is reported to drive up to the door of a certain castle in the north when a similar calamity is impending. A phenomenon of this order occurs in connection with the family of one of our members, but it is of a much commoner and less striking type than either of the above, consisting only of a solemn and impressive strain of dirgelike music, which is heard apparently floating in the air three days before the death takes place. Our member, having himself twice heard this mystic sound, finding its warning in both cases quite accurate, and knowing also that according to family tradition the same thing had been happening for several centuries, set himself to seek by occult methods for the cause underlying so strange a phenomenon. The result was unexpected but interesting. It appeared that somewhere in the twelfth century the head of the family went to the crusades, like many another valiant man, and took with him to win his spurs in the sacred cause his youngest and favourite son, a promising youth whose success in life was the dearest wish of his father's heart. Unhappily, however, the young man was killed in battle, and the father was plunged into the depths of despair, lamenting not only the loss of his son, but still more the fact that he was cut off so suddenly in the full flush of careless and not altogether blameless youth. So poignant, indeed, were the old man's feelings that he cast off his knightly armour and joined one of the great monastic orders, vowing to devote all the remainder of 95 his life to prayer, first for the soul of his son, and secondly that henceforward no descendant of his might ever again encounter what seemed to his simple and pious mind the terrible danger of meeting death unprepared. Day after day for many a year he poured all the energy of his soul into the channel of that one intense wish, firmly believing that somehow or other the result he so earnestly desired would be brought about. A student of occultism will have little difficulty in deciding what would be the effect of such a definite and long-continued stream of thought; our knightly monk created an artificial elemental of immense power and resourcefulness for its own particular object, and accumulated within it a store of force which would enable it to carry out his wishes for an indefinite period. An elemental is a perfect storage-battery—one from which there is practically no leakage; and when we remember what its original strength must have been, and how comparatively rarely it would be called upon to put it forth, we shall scarcely wonder that even now it exhibits unimpaired vitality, and still warns the direct descendants of the old crusader of their approaching doom by repeating in their cars the strange walling music which was the dirge of a young and valiant soldier seven hundred years ago in Palestine. 2. Elementals formed consciously. Since such results as have been described above have been achieved by the thought-force of men who were entirely in the dark as to what they were doing, it will readily be imagined that a magician who understands the subject, and can see exactly what effect he is producing, may wield immense power along these lines. As a matter of fact occultists of both the 96 white and dark schools frequently use artificial elementals in their work, and few tasks are beyond the powers of such creatures when scientifically prepared and directed with knowledge and skill for one who knows how to do so can maintain a connection with his elemental and guide it, no matter at what distance it may be working, so that it will practically act as though endowed with the full intelligence of its master. Very definite and very efficient guardian angels have sometimes been supplied in this way, though it is probably very rarely that karma permits such a decided interference in a person's life as that would be. In such a case, however, as that of a pupil of the Adepts, who might have in the course of his work for them to run the risk of attack from forces with which his unaided strength would be entirely insufficient to cope, guardians of this description have been given, and have fully proved their sleepless vigilance and their tremendous power. By some of the more advanced processes of black magic, also, artificial elementals of great power may be called into existence, and much evil has been worked in various ways by such entities. But it is true of them, as of the previous class, that if they are aimed at a person whom by reason of his purity of character they are unable to influence they react with terrible force upon their creator; so that the mediaeval story of the magician being torn to pieces by the fiends he himself had raised is no mere fable, but may well have an awful foundation in fact. Such creatures occasionally, for various reasons, escape from the control of those who are trying to make use of them, and become wandering and aimless demons, as do some of those mentioned under the previous heading under 97 similar circumstances; but those that we are considering, having much more intelligence and power, and a much longer existence, are proportionately more dangerous. They invariably seek for means of prolonging their life either by feeding like vampires upon the vitality of human beings, or by influencing them to make offerings to them and among simple half-savage tribes they have frequently succeeded by judicious management in getting themselves recognized as village or family gods. Any deity which demands sacrifices involving the shedding of blood may always be set down as belonging to the lowest and most loathsome class of this order other less objectionable types are sometimes content with offerings of rice and cooked food of various kinds. There are parts of India where both these varieties may be found flourishing even at the present day, and in Africa they are probably comparatively numerous. By means of whatever nourishment they can obtain from the offerings, and still more by the vitality they draw from their devotees, they may continue to prolong their existence for many years, or even centuries, retaining sufficient strength to perform occasional phenomena of a mild type in order to stimulate the faith and zeal of their followers, and invariably making themselves unpleasant in some way or other if the accustomed sacrifices are neglected. For example, it was asserted recently that in one Indian village the inhabitants had found that whenever for any reason the local deity did not get his or her regular meals, spontaneous fires began to break out with alarming frequency among the cottages, sometimes three or four simultaneously, in cases where they declared it was impossible to suspect human agency; and other stories of a more 98 or less similar nature wilt no doubt recur to the memory of any reader who knows something of the out-of-the-way corners of that most wonderful of all countries. The art of manufacturing artificial elementals of extreme virulence and power seems to have been one of the specialties of the magicians of Atlantis—"the lords of the dark face." One example of their capabilities in this line is given in The Secret Doctrine (vol. ii., p. 427), where we read of the wonderful speaking animals who had to be quieted by an offering of blood, lest they should awaken their masters and warn them of the impending destruction. But apart from these strange beasts they created other artificial entities of power and energy so tremendous, that it is darkly hinted that some of them have kept themselves in existence even to this day, though it is more than eleven thousand years since the cataclysm which overwhelmed their original masters. The terrible Indian goddess whose devotees were impelled to commit in her name the awful crimes of Thuggee—the ghastly Kali, worshipped even to this day with rites too abominable to be described—might well be a relic of a system which had to be swept away even at the cost of the submergence of a continent, and the loss of sixty-five million human lives. 3. Human Artificials. We have now to consider a class of entities which, though it contains but very few individuals, has acquired from its intimate connection with one of the great movements of modern times an importance entirely out of proportion to its numbers. It seems doubtful whether it should appear under the first or third of our main divisions; but, though certainly human, it is so far removed from the course of ordinary evolution, so entirely the product of a will outside of its own, that 99 it perhaps falls most naturally into place among the artificial beings. The easiest way of describing it will be to commence with its history, and to do that we must once more look back to the great Atlantean race. In thinking of the Adepts and schools of occultism of that remarkable people our minds instinctively revert to the evil practices of which we hear so much in connection with their latter days; but we must not forget that before that age of selfishness and degradation the mighty civilization of Atlantis had brought forth much that was noble and worthy of admiration, and that among its leaders were some who now stand upon the loftiest pinnacles as yet attained by man. Among the lodges for occult study preliminary to initiation formed by the Adepts of the good Law was one in a certain part of America which was then tributary to one of the great Atlantean monarchs—"the Divine Rulers of the Golden Gate"; and though it has passed through many and strange vicissitudes, though it has had to move its headquarters from country to country as each in turn was invaded by the jarring elements of a later civilization, that lodge still exists even at the present day observing still the same old-world ritual even teaching as a sacred and hidden language the same Atlantean tongue which was used at its foundation so many thousands of years ago. It still remains what it was from the first a lodge of occultists of pure and philanthropic aims, which can lead those students whom it finds worthy no inconsiderable distance on the road to knowledge, and confers such psychic powers as are in its gift only after the most searching tests as to the fitness of the candidate. Its teachers do 100 not stand upon the Adept level, yet hundreds have learnt through it how to set their feet upon the path which has led them to Adeptship in later lives; and though it is not directly a part of the Brotherhood of the Himalayas, there are some among the latter who have themselves been connected with it in former incarnations, and therefore retain a more than ordinarily friendly interest in its proceedings. The chiefs of this lodge, though they have always kept themselves and their society strictly in the background, have nevertheless done what they could from time to time to assist the progress of truth in the world. Some halfcentury ago, in despair at the rampant materialism which seemed to be stifling all spirituality in Europe and America they determined to make an attempt to combat it by somewhat novel methods—in point of fact to offer opportunities by which any reasonable man could acquire absolute proof of that life apart from the physical body which it was the tendency of science to deny. The phenomena exhibited were not in themselves absolutely new, since in some form or other we may hear of them all through history; but their definite organization—their production as it were to order—these were features distinctly new to the modern world. The movement which they thus on foot gradually grew into the vast fabric of modern Spiritualism, and though it would perhaps be unfair to hold the originators of the scheme directly responsible for many of the results which have followed, we must admit that they have achieved their purpose to the extent of converting vast numbers of people from a belief in nothing in particular to a firm faith in at any rate some kind of future life. This is undoubtedly 101 a magnificent result, though there are those who think that it has been attained at too great a cost. The method adopted was to take some ordinary person after death, arouse him thoroughly upon the astral plane, instruct him to a certain extent in the powers and possibilities belonging to it, and then put him in charge of a Spiritualistic circle. He in his turn "developed other departed personalities along the same line, they all acted upon those who sat at their seances, and "developed" them as mediums; and so spiritualism grew and flourished. No doubt living members of the original lodge occasionally manifested themselves in astral form at some of the circles—perhaps they may do so even now; but in most cases they simply gave such direction and guidance as they considered necessary to the persons they had put in charge. There is little doubt that the movement increased so much more rapidly than they had expected that it soon got quite beyond their control, so that, as has been said, for many of the later developments they can only be held indirectly responsible. Of course the intensification of the astral-plane life in those persons who were thus put in charge of circles distinctly delayed their natural progress; and though the idea had been that anything lost in this way would be fully atoned for by the good karma gained by helping to lead others to the truth, it was soon found that it was impossible to make use of a "spirit-guide" for any length of time without doing him cases such "guides" serious and permanent injury. In some cases such "guides" were therefore withdrawn, and others substituted for them in others it was considered for various reasons undesirable make such a change, and then a very remarkable expedient was adopted which gave rise to the curious class of creatures have called "human artificials." 102 The higher principles of the original "guide" were allowed to pass on their long-delayed evolution into the heaven-world, but the shade which he left behind him was taken possession of, sustained, and operated upon so that it might appear to its admiring circle practically just as before. This seems at first to have been done by members of the lodge themselves, but apparently that arrangement was found irksome or unsuitable, or perhaps was considered a waste of force, and the same objection applied to the use for this purpose of an artificial elemental; so it was eventually decided that the departed person who would have been appointed to succeed the late "spirit-guide" should still do so, but should take possession of the latter's shade or shell, and in fact simply wear his appearance. It is said that some members of the lodge objected to this on the ground that though the purpose might be entirely good a certain amount of deception was involved; but the general opinion seems to have been that as the shade really was the same, and contained something at any rate of the original lower mind, there was nothing that could be called deception in the matter. This, then, was the genesis of the human artificial entity, and it is understood that in some cases more than one such change has been made without arousing suspicion, though on the other hand some investigators of spiritualism have remarked on the fact that after a considerable lapse of time certain differences suddenly became observable in the manner and disposition of a "spirit." It is needless to say that none of the Adept Brotherhood has ever undertaken the formation of an artificial entity of this sort, though they not interfere with any one who thought it right to take such a course. A weak point in the arrangement is 103 that many others besides the original lodge may adopt this plan, and there is nothing whatever to prevent black magicians from supplying communicating "spirits"—as, indeed, they have been known to do. With this class we conclude our survey of the inhabitants of the astral plane. With the reservations specially made some few pages back, the catalogue may be taken as a fairly complete one; but it must once more be emphasized that this treatise claims only to sketch the merest outline of a very vast subject, the detailed elaboration of which would need a lifetime of study and hard work. PHENOMENA. THOUGH in the course of this paper various, superphysical phenomena have been mentioned and to some extent explained, it will perhaps before concluding be desirable so far to recapitulate as to give a list of those which are most frequently met with by the student of these subjects, and to show by which of the agencies we have attempted to describe they are usually caused. The resources of the astral world, however, are so varied that almost any phenomenon with which we are acquainted can be produced in several different ways, so that it is only possible to lay down general rules in the matter. Apparitions or ghosts furnish a very good instance of the remark just made, for in the loose manner in which the words are ordinarily used they may stand for almost any inhabitant of the astral plane. Of course psychically developed people are constantly seeing such things, but for an ordinary person to "see a ghost," as the common expression runs, one of two things must happen: either that ghost must materialize, or that person must have a temporary flash of psychic perception. But for the fact that neither of these events is a common one, ghosts would be met with in our streets as frequently as living people. Churchyard Ghosts. If the ghost is seen hovering about a grave it is probably the etheric shell of a newlyburied person, though it may be 104 105 the astral body of a living man haunting in sleep the tomb of a friend; or again, it may be a materialized thoughtform—that is, an artificial elemental created by the energy with which a man thinks of himself as present at that particular spot. These varieties would be easily distinguishable one from the other by any one accustomed to use astral vision, but an unpractised person would be quite likely to call them vaguely "ghosts." Apparitions of the Dying. Apparitions at the time of death are by no means uncommon, and are very often really visits paid by the astral form of the dying man just before what we elect to call the moment of dissolution; though here again they are quite likely to be thought-forms called into being by his earnest wish to see some friend once more before he passes into an unfamiliar condition. There are some instances in which the visit is paid just after the moment of death instead of just before, and in such a case the visitor is really a ghost; but for various causes this form of apparition is far less frequent than the other. Haunted Localities. Apparitions at the spot where some crime was committed are usually thought-forms projected by the criminal, who, whether living or dead, but most especially when dead, is perpetually thinking over again and again the circumstances of his action. Since these thoughts are naturally specially vivid in his mind on the anniversary of the original crime, it is often only on that occasion that the artificial elementals which he creates are strong enough to materialize themselves to ordinary sight a fact which account, for the periodicity of some manifestations of this class. 106 Another point in reference to such phenomena is, that wherever any tremendous mental disturbance has taken place, wherever overwhelming terror, pain, sorrow, hatred, or indeed any kind of intense passion has been felt, an impression of so very marked a character has been made upon the astral light that a person with even the faintest glimmer of psychic faculty cannot but be deeply impressed by it. It would need but a slight temporary increase of sensibility to enable him to visualize the entire scene—to see the event in all its detail apparently taking place before his eyes—and in such a case he would of course report that the place was haunted, and that he had seen a ghost. Indeed, people who are as yet unable to see psychically under any circumstances are frequently very unpleasantly impressed when visiting such places as we have mentioned. There are many, for example, who feel uncomfortable when passing the site of Tyburn Tree, or cannot stay in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's though they may not be in the least aware that their discomfort is due to the dreadful impressions in the astral light which surround places and objects redolent of horror and crime, and to the presence of the loathsome astral entities which always swarm about such centres. Family Ghosts. The family ghost, whom we generally find in the stock stories of the supernatural as an appanage of the feudal castle, may be either a thought-form or an unusually vivid impression in the astral light, or again he may really be an earth-bound ancestor still haunting the scenes in which his thoughts and hopes centred during life. 107 Bell-ringing, Stone-throwing, &c. Another class of hauntings which take the form of bell-ringing, stonethrowing, or the breaking of crockery, has already been referred to, and is almost invariably the work of elemental forces, either set blindly in motion by the clumsy efforts of an ignorant person trying to attract the attention of is surviving friends, or intentionally employed by some childishly mischievous nature-spirit. Fairies. The nature-spirits are also responsible for whatever of truth there may be in all the strange fairy stories which are so common in certain parts of the country. Sometimes a temporary accession of clairvoyance, which is by no means uncommon among the inhabitants of lonely mountainous regions, enables some belated wayfarer to watch their joyous gambols; sometimes strange tricks are played upon some terrified victim, and a glamour is cast over him, making him, for example, see houses and people where he knows none really exist. And this is frequently no mere momentary delusion, for a man will sometimes go through quite a long series of imaginary but most striking adventures, and then suddenly find that all his brilliant surroundings have vanished in a moment, leaving him standing in some lonely valley or on some wind-swept plain. On the other hand, it is by no means safe to accept as founded on fact all the popular legends on the subject, for the grossest superstition is often mingled with the theories of the peasantry about these beings, as was shown by a recent terrible murder case in Ireland. To the same entities must he attributed a large portion of what are called physical phenomena at spiritualistic seances—indeed, many a seance has been given entirely by these mischievous creatures. Such a performance might easily include many very striking items, such as the answering of questions and delivery of pretended messages 108 by raps or tilts, the exhibition of "spirit lights," the apport of objects from a distance, the reading of thoughts which were in the mind of any person present, the precipitation of writings or drawings, an and even materializations. In fact, the nature-spirits alone, if any of them happened to he disposed to take the trouble, could give a seance equal to the most wonderful of which we read; for though there may be certain phenomena which they would not find it easy to reproduce, their marvellous power of glamour would enable them without difficulty to persuade the entire circle that these phenomena also had duly occurred— unless, indeed, there were present a trained observer who understood their arts and knew how to defeat them. As a general rule, whenever silly tricks or practical jokes are played at a seance we may infer the presence either of lowclass nature-spirits, or of human beings who were of a sufficiently degraded type to find pleasure in such idiotic performances during life. Communicating Entities. As to the entities who may "communicate" at a seance, or may obsess and speak through an entranced medium, their name is simply legion; there is hardly a single class among all the varied inhabitants of the astral plane from whose ranks they may not be drawn, though after the explanations given it will be readily understood that the chances are very much against their coming from a high one. A manifesting "spirit" is often exactly what it professes to be, but often also it is nothing of the kind; and for the ordinary sitter there is absolutely no means of distinguishing the true from the false, since the extent to which a being having all the resources of the astral plane at his command can delude a person on the physical plant is so great that no reliance 109 can be placed even on what seems the most convincing proof. If something manifests which announces itself as a man's long-lost brother, he can have no certainty that its claim is a just one. If it tells him of some fact known only to that brother and to himself, he remains unconvinced, for he knows that it might easily have read the information from his own mind, or from his surroundings in the astral light. Even if it goes still further and tells him something connected with his brother, of which he himself is unaware, but which he afterwards verifies, he still realizes that even this may have been read from the astral record, or that what he sees before him may be only the shade of his brother, and so possess his memory without in any way being himself. It is not for one moment denied that important communications have sometimes been made at seances by entities who in such cases have been precisely what they said they were; all that is claimed is that it is quite impossible for the ordinary person who visits a seance ever to be certain that he is not being cruelly deceived in one or other of half a dozen different ways. There have been a few cases in which members of the lodge of occultists referred to above is originating the spiritualistic movement have themselves given through a medium, a series of valuable teachings on deeply inter sting subjects, but this has invariably been at strictly private family seances, not at public performances for which money has been paid. Astral Resources. To understand the method, by which a large class of physical phenomena are produced, it is necessary to have some comprehension of the various resources mentioned above, Much a 110 person functioning on the astral plane finds at his command; and this is a branch of the subject which it is by no means easy to make clear, especially as it is hedged about with certain obviously necessary restrictions. It may perhaps help us if we remember that the astral plane may be regarded as in many ways only an extension of the physical, and the idea that matter may assume the etheric state (in which, though intangible to us, it is yet purely physical) may serve to show us how the one melts into the other. In fact, in the Hindu conception of Jagrat, or "the waking state," the physical and astral planes are combined, its seven subdivisions corresponding to the four conditions of physical matter, and the three broad division,; of astral matter which have previously been explained. With this thought in our minds it is easy to move a step further, and grasp the idea that astral vision, or rather astral perception, may from one point of view be defined as the capability of receiving an enormously increased number of different sets of vibrations. In our physical bodies one set of slow vibrations is perceptible to us as sound, another small set of much more rapid vibrations affects us as light; and again another set as electric action; but there are immense numbers of intermediate vibrations which produce no result which our physical senses can cognize at all. Now it will readily be seen that if all, or even some only, of these intermediates, with all the complications producible by differences of wave-length, are perceptible on the astral plane, our comprehension of nature might be very greatly increased on that level, and we might be able to acquire much information which is now hidden from us. Clairvoyance. It is admitted that some of these 111 vibrations pass through solid matter with perfect ease, so that this enables us to account scientifically for the peculiarities of etheric vision, though for astral sight the theory of the fourth dimension gives a neater and more complete explanation. It is clear that the mere possession of this astral vision by a being would at once account for his capability to produce many results that seem very wonderful to us such, for example, as the reading of a passage from a closed book; and when we remember, furthermore, that this faculty includes the power of thought-reading to the fullest extent, and also, when combined with the knowledge of the projection of currents in the astral light, that of observing a desired object in almost any part of the world, we set that a good many of the phenomena of clairvoyance are explicable even without rising above this level. I would refer any one who desires to study more closely this very interesting subject to my little book on Clairvoyance, in which its varieties are tabulated and explained, and numerous examples given. Prevision and Second-Sight. True, trained, and absolutely reliable clairvoyance calls into operation an entirely different set of faculties, but as these belong to a higher plane than the astral, they form no part of our present subject. The faculty of accurate prevision, again, appertains altogether to that higher plane, yet flashes or reflections of it frequently show themselves to purely astral sight, more especially among simple-minded people who live under suitable conditions—what is called "secondsight" among the Highlanders of Scotland being a wellknown example. Another fact which must not be forgotten is that any intelligent inhabitant of the astral plane is not only able to 112 perceive these etheric vibrations, but can also—if he has learnt how it is done—adapt them to his own ends, or himself set them in motion. Astral Force. It will be readily understood that superphysical forces and the methods of managing them are not subjects about which much can be written for publication at present, though there is reason to suppose that it may not be very long before at any rate some applications of one or two of them come to he known to the world at large; but it may perhaps be possible, without transgressing the limits of the permissible, to give so much of an idea of them as shall be sufficient to show in outline how certain phenomena are performed. All who have much experience of spiritualistic seances at which physical results are produced must at one time or another have seen evidence of the employment of practically resistless force in, for example, the instantaneous movement of enormous weights, and so on; and if of a scientific turn of mind, they may perhaps have wondered whence this force was obtained, and what was the leverage employed. As usual in connection with astral phenomena, there are several ways in which such work may have been done, but it will be enough for the moment to hint at four. Etheric Currents. First, there are great etheric currents constantly sweeping over the surface of the earth from pole to pole in volume which makes their power as irresistible as that of the rising tide, and there are methods by which this stupendous force may be safely utilized, though unskilful attempts to control it would be fraught with frightful danger. Etheric Pressure. Secondly, there is what can best be described as an etheric pressure, somewhat corresponding 113 to, though immensely greater than, the atmospheric pressure. In ordinary life we are as little conscious of one of these pressures as we are of the other, but nevertheless they both exist, and if science were able to exhaust the ether from a given space, as it can exhaust the air, the one could be proved as readily as the other. The difficulty of doing that lies in the fact that matter in the etheric condition freely interpenetrates matter in all slates below it, so that there is as yet no means within the knowledge of our physicists by which any given body of ether can be isolated from the rest. Practical Occultism, however, teaches how this can be done, and thus the tremendous force of etheric pressure can be brought into play. Latent Energy. Thirdly, there is a vast store of potential energy which has become dormant in matter during the involution of the subtle into the gross, and by changing the condition of the matter some of this may be liberated and utilized, somewhat as latent energy in the form of heat may be liberated by a change in the condition of visible matter. Sympathetic Vibration. Fourthly, many striking results, both great and small, may be produced by an extension of a principle which may be described as that of sympathetic vibration. Illustrations taken from the physical plane seem generally to misrepresent rather than elucidate astral phenomena, because they can never be more than partially applicable; but the recollection of two simple facts of ordinary life may help to make this important branch of our subject clearer, if we are careful not to push the analogy further than it will hold good. 114 It is well known that if one of the wires of a harp be made to vibrate vigorously, its movement will call forth sympathetic vibrations in the corresponding strings of any number of harps placed round it, if they are tuned to exactly the same pitch. It is also well known that when a large body of soldiers crosses a suspension bridge it is necessary for them to break step, since the perfect regularity of their ordinary march would set up a vibration in the bridge which would be intensified by every step they took, until the point of resistance of the iron was passed, when the whole structure would fly to pieces. With these two analogies in our minds (never forgetting that they are only partial ones) it may seem more comprehensible that one who knows exactly at what rate to start his vibrations knows, so to speak, the keynote of the class of matter he wishes to affect should be able, by sounding that keynote, to call forth an immense number of sympathetic vibrations. When this is done on the physical plane no additional energy is developed; but on the astral plane there is this difference, that the matter with which we are dealing is far less inert, and so when called into action by these sympathetic vibrations it adds its own living force to the original impulse, which may thus be multiplied many-fold; and then by further rhythmic repetition of the original impulse, as in the case of the soldiers marching over the bridge, the vibrations may be so intensified that the result is out of all apparent proportion to the cause. Indeed, it may be said that there is scarcely any limit to the conceivable achievements of this force in the hands of a great Adept who fully comprehends its possibilities; for the very building of the Universe itself was but the result of the vibrations set up by the Spoken Word. 115 Mantras. The class of mantras or spells which produce their result not by controlling some elemental, but merely by the repetition of certain sounds, also depend for their efficacy upon this action of sympathetic vibration. Disintegration. The phenomenon of disintegration also may be brought about by the action of extremely rapid vibrations, which overcome the cohesion of the molecules of the object operated upon. A still higher rate of vibrations of a somewhat different type will separate these molecules into their constituent atoms. A body reduced by these means to the etheric condition can be moved by an astral current from one place to another with very great rapidity; and the moment that the force which has been exerted to put it into that condition is withdrawn it will be forced by the etheric pressure to resume its original condition. Students often at first find it difficult to understand how in such au experiment the shape of the article dealt with can be preserved. It has been remarked that if any metallic object—say, for example, a key—be melted and raised to a vaporous state by heat, when the heat is withdrawn it will certainly return to the solid state, but it will no longer be a key, but merely a lump of metal. The point is well taken, though as a matter of fact the apparent analogy does not hold good. The elemental essence which informs the key would be dissipated by the alteration in its condition—not that the essence itself can be affected by the action of beat, but that when its temporary body is destroyed (as a solid) it pours back into the great reservoir of such essence, much as the higher principles of a man, though entirely unaffected by heat or cold, 116 are yet forced out of a physical body when it is destroyed by fire. Consequently, when what had been the key cooled down into the solid condition again, the elemental essence (of the "earth" or solid class) which poured back into it would not be in any way the same as that which it contained before, and there would be no reason why the same shape should be retained. But a man who disintegrated a key for the purpose of removing it by astral currents from one place to another, would be very careful to hold the same elemental essence in exactly the same shape until the transfer was completed, and then when his will-force was removed it would act as a mould into which the solidifying particles would flow, or rather round which they would be re-aggregated. Thus unless the operator's power of concentration failed, the shape would be accurately preserved. It is in this way that objects are sometimes brought almost instantaneously from great distances at spiritualistic seances, and it is obvious that when disintegrated they could be passed with perfect ease through any solid substance, such, for example, as the wall of a house or the side of a locked box, so that what is commonly called "the passage of matter through matter" is seen, when properly understood, to be as simple as the passage of water through a eve, or of a gas through a liquid in some chemical experiment. Materialization. Since it is possible by an alteration of vibrations to change matter from the solid to the etheric condition, it will be comprehended that it is also possible to reverse the process and to bring etheric, matter into the solid state. As the one process explains the phenomenon of disintegration, 117 so does the other that of materialization; and just as in the former case a continued effort of will is necessary to prevent the object from resuming its original state, so in exactly the same way in the latter phenomenon a continued effort is necessary to prevent the materialized matter from relapsing into the etheric condition. In the materializations seen at an ordinary seance, such matter as may be required is borrowed as far as possible from the medium's etheric double—an operation which is prejudicial to his health, and also undesirable in various other ways. Thus is explained the fact that the materialized form is usually strictly confined to the immediate neighbourhood of the medium, and is subject to an attraction which is constantly drawing it back to the body from which it came, so that if kept away from the medium too long the figure collapses, and the matter which composed it, return into the etheric condition, rushes back instantly to its source. In some cases there is no doubt that dense and visible physical matter also is temporarily removed from the body of the medium, however difficult it may be for us to realize the possibility of such a transfer. I have myself seen instances in which this phenomenon undoubtedly took place, and was evidenced by a very considerable loss of weight in the medium's physical body. Similar cases are described in Colonel Olcott's People from the Other Worlds, and in Un Cas de Dematerialisation, by M. A. Aksakow. Why Darkness is Required. The reason why the beings directing a seance find it easier to operate in darkness or in very subdued light will now be manifest, since their power would usually be insufficient to 118 hold together a materialized form or even a "spirit hand" for more than a very few seconds amidst the intense vibrations set up by brilliant light. The habitues of seances will no doubt have noticed that materializations are of three kinds:—First, those which are tangible but not visible; second, those which are visible but not tangible; and third, those which are both visible and tangible. To the first kind, which is much the most common, belong the invisible spirit hands which so frequently stroke the faces of the sitters or carry small objects about the room, and the vocal organs from which the "direct voice" proceeds. In this case, an order of matter is being used which can neither reflect nor obstruct light, but which is capable under certain conditions of setting up vibrations in the atmosphere which affect us as sound. Spirit Photographs. A variation of this class is that kind of partial materialization which, though incapable of reflecting any light that we can see, is yet able to affect some of the ultra-violet rays, and can therefore make a more or less definite impression upon the camera, and so provide us with what are known as "spirit photographs." When there is not sufficient power available to produce a perfect materialization we sometimes get the vaporouslooking form which constitutes our second class, and in such a case the "spirits" usually warn their sitters that the forms which appear must not be touched. In the rarer case of a full materialization there is sufficient power to hold together, at least for a few moments, a form which can be both seen and touched. When an Adept or pupil finds it necessary for any purpose to materialize his mental or astral vehicle, he does not draw upon either his own etheric double or any one 119 else since he has been taught how to extract the matter which he requires directly from the surrounding ether. Reduplication. Another phenomenon closely connected with this part of the subject is that of reduplication, which is produced by simply forming a perfect mental image of the object to be copied, and then gathering about that mould the necessary astral and physical matter. Of course for this purpose it is necessary that every particle, interior as well as exterior, of the object to be duplicated should be held accurately in view simultaneously, and consequently the phenomenon is one which requires considerable power of concentration to perform. Persons unable to extract the matter required directly from the surrounding ether have sometimes borrowed it from the material of the original article, which in this case would be correspondingly reduced in weight. Precipitation. We read a good deal in Theosophical literature about the precipitation of letters or pictures. This result, like everything else, may be obtained in several ways. An Adept wishing to communicate with some one might place a sheet of paper before him, form a mental image of the writing—which he wished to appear upon it, and draw from the ether the matter wherewith to objectify that linage; or if he preferred to do so it would be equally easy for him to produce the same result upon a sheet of paper lying before his correspondent, whatever might be the distance between them. A third method which, since it saves time, is much more frequently adopted, is to impress the whole substance of the letter on the mind of some pupil, and leave him to do the mechanical work of precipitation. That pupil would 120 then take his sheet of paper, and, imagining he saw the letter written thereon in his Master's hand, would proceed to objectify the writing as before described. If he found it difficult to perform simultaneously the two operations of drawing his material from the surrounding ether and precipitating the writing on the paper, he might have either ordinary ink or a small quantity of coloured powder on the table beside him, which, being already dense matter, could be drawn upon more readily. It is of course obvious that the possession of this power would be a very dangerous weapon in the hands of an unscrupulous person, since it is just as easy to imitate one man's handwriting as another's, and it would be impossible to detect by any ordinary means a forgery committed in this manner. A pupil definitely connected with any Master has always an infallible test by which he knows whether any message really emanates from that Master or not, but for others the proof of its origin must always be solely in the contents of the letter and the spirit breathing through it, as the handwriting, however cleverly imitated is of absolutely no value as evidence. As to speed, a pupil new to the work of precipitation would probably be able to image only a few words at a time, and would, therefore, get on hardly more rapidly than if he wrote his letter in the ordinary way, but a more experienced individual who could visualize a whole page or perhaps the entire letter at once would get through his work with greater facility. It is in this manner that quite long letters are produced in a few seconds at a seance. When a picture has to be precipitated the method is precisely the same, except that here it is absolutely 121 necessary that the entire scene should be visualized at once, and if many colours are required there is the additional complication of manufacturing them, keeping them separate, and reproducing accurately the exact tints of the scene to be represented. Evidently there is scope here for the exercise of the artistic faculty, and it must not be supposed that every inhabitant of the astral plane could by this method produce an equally good picture; a man who had been a great artist in life, and had therefore learnt how to see and what to look for, would certainly be very much more successful than the ordinary person if he attempted precipitation when on the astral plane after death. Slate-writing. The slate-writing, for the production of which under test conditions some of the greatest mediums have been so famous, is sometimes produced by precipitation, though more frequently the fragment of pencil enclosed between the slates is guided by a spirit hand, of which only just the tiny points sufficient to grasp it are materialized. Levitation. An occurrence which occasionally takes place at seances, and more frequently among Eastern Yogis, is what is called levitation—that is, the floating of a human body in the air. No doubt when this takes place in the case of a medium, he is often simply upborne by "spirit hands," but there is another and more scientific method of accomplishing this feat which is always used in the East, and occasionally here also. Occult science is acquainted with a means of neutralizing or even entirely reversing the attraction of gravity, and it is obvious that by the judicious use of this power all the phenomena of levitation may be easily produced. It was no doubt by a 122 knowledge of this secret that some of the air-ships of ancient India and Atlantis were raised from the earth and made light enough to be readily moved and directed; and not improbably the same acquaintance with nature's finer forces greatly facilitated the labours of those who raised the enormous blocks of stone sometimes used in cyclopean architecture, or in the building of the Pyramids and Stonehenge. Spirit Lights. With the knowledge of the forces of nature which the resources of the astral plane place at the command of its inhabitants the production of what are called "spirit lights" is a very easy matter, whether they be of the mildly phosphorescent or the dazzling electrical variety, or those curious dancing globules of light into which a certain class of fire elementals so readily transform themselves. Since all light consists simply of vibrations of the ether, it is obvious that any one who knows how to set up these vibrations can readily produce any kind of light that he wishes. Handling Fire. It is by the aid of the etheric elemental essence also that the remarkable feat of handling fire unharmed is generally performed, though there are as usual other ways in which it can be done. The thinnest layer of etheric substance can be so manipulated as to be absolutely impervious to heat, and when the hand of a medium or sitter is covered with this he may pick up burning coal or red-hot iron with perfect safety. Transmutation. Most of the occurrences of the seanceroom have now been referred to, but there are one or two of the rarer phenomena of the outer world which must not he left quite without mention in our list. The transmutation of metals is commonly supposed to 123 be a mere dream of the mediaeval alchemists, and no doubt in most cases the description of the phenomenon was merely a symbol of the purification of the soul; yet there seems to be some evidence that it was really accomplished by them on several occasions, and there are petty magicians in the East who profess to do it under test conditions even now. Be that as it may, it is evident that since the ultimate atom is one and the same in all substances, and it is only the methods of its combination that differ, any one who possessed the power of reducing a piece of metal to the atomic condition and of re-arranging its atoms in some other form would have no difficulty in effecting transmutation to any extent that he wished. Repercussion. The principle of sympathetic vibration mentioned above also provides the explanation of that strange and little-known phenomenon called repercussion, by means of which any injury done to, or any mark made upon, the materialized body in the course of its wanderings will be reproduced in the physical body. We find traces of this in some of the evidence given at trials for witchcraft in the middle ages, in which it is not infrequently stated that some wound given to the witch when in the form of a dog or a wolf was found to have appeared in the corresponding part of her human body. The same strange law has sometimes led to in entirely unjust accusation of fraud against a medium, because, for example, some colouring matter rubbed upon the hand of a materialized "spirit" was afterwards found upon his hand—the explanation being that in that case, as so often happens, the "spirit" was simply the medium's etheric double, forced by the guiding influences to take some form other than his own. In fact these two parts 124 of the physical body are so intimately connected that it is impossible to touch the keynote of one without immediately setting up exactly corresponding vibrations in the other. CONCLUSION. IT is hoped that any reader who has been sufficiently interested to follow this treatise thus far, may by this time have a general idea of the astral plane and its possibilities, such as will enable him to understand and fit into their proper places in its scheme any facts in connection with it which he may pick up in his reading. Though only the roughest sketch has been given of a very great subject, enough has perhaps been said to show the extreme importance of astral perception in the study of biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, medicine, and history, and the great impulse which might be given to all these sciences by its development. Yet its attainment should never be regarded as an end in itself, since any means adopted with that object in view would. inevitably lead to what is called in the East the laukika method of development—a system by which certain psychic powers are indeed acquired, but only for the present personality; and since their acquisition is surrounded by no safeguards, the student is extremely likely to misuse them. To this class belong all systems which involve the use of drugs, invocation of elementals, or the practices of Hatha Yoga. The other method, which is called the lokottara, consists of Raj Yoga or spiritual progress, and though it may be somewhat slower than the other, whatever is 125 126 acquired along this line is gained for the permanent individuality, and never lost again, while the guiding care of a Master ensures perfect safety from misuse of power as long as his orders are scrupulously obeyed. The opening of astral vision must be regarded then only as a stage in the development of something infinitely nobler—merely as a step, and a very small step, on that great Upward Path which leads men to the sublime heights of Adeptship, and beyond even that through glorious vistas of wisdom and power such as our finite minds cannot now conceive. Yet let no one think it an unmixed blessing to have the wider sight of the astral plane, for upon one in whom that vision is opened the sorrow and misery, the evil and the greed of the world press as an ever-present burden, until he often feels inclined to echo the passionate adjuration of Schiller: "Why hast thou cast me thus into the town of the ever-blind, to proclaim thine oracle with the opened sense? Take back this sad clear-sightedness; take from mine eyes this cruel light! Give me back my blindness—the happy darkness of my senses; take back thy dreadful gift!" This feeling is perhaps not an unnatural one in the earlier stages of the Path, yet higher sight and deeper knowledge soon bring to the student the perfect certainty that all things are working together for the eventual good of all—that Hour after hour, like an opening flower, Shall truth after truth expand; For the sun may pale, and the stars may fail, But the LAW of GOOD shall stand. Its splendour glows and its influence grows As Nature's slow work appears, Front the zoophyte small to the LORDS of all, Through kalpas and crores of years. OTHER WORKS IN THIS SERIES. By ANNIE BESANT:— The Seven Principles of Man. Re=incarnation. Death and After. Karma. Man and his Bodies. By C. W. LEADBEATER:— The Devachanic Plane.
First published in 2011 by Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC With offices at: 665 Third Street, Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94107 www.redwheelweiser.com Copyright © 2011 by Daniel Pineda. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages. Credits: p. 100: Mevlevi dervishes in 1887, by permission of the Threshold Society; p. 138: Henrich Cornelius Agrippa, 1533, and p. 140: Paracelsus, 1598, in the collection of the National Library of Medicine. ISBN: 978-1-57863-485-9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on request. Cover design by Barb Fisher/levanfisherdesign.com Cover photographs © iStockphoto/Aaltazar Interior design by Kathryn Sky-Peck Typeset in Minion Printed in Canada TCP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997). Contents Introduction PART ONE: KEY CONCEPTS The Great Work The Universal Force, the Tao, Polarity, and the Four Elements Magick and Mysticism, or The Left and Right Eye The Siddhis or Magical Gifts Esoteric Anatomy, the Chakra System, and the Aura Qabalah Alchemy Astrology and the New Age Divination and the Tarot The Astral Plane PART TWO: SYMBOLISM, THE LANGUAGE OF MYSTERY Animals and Spiritual Beings Objects The Word: Formula of the Spirit PART THREE: SECRET SOCIETIES AND HOLY ORDERS, GATEKEEPERS OF HIDDEN WISDOM Freemasons Magicians, Mystics, and Alchemists Warriors PART FOUR: LUMINARIES AND SEERS, TORCHBEARERS OF SECRET KNOWLEDGE Legends and Gods Medieval and Renaissance Masters Sages of the Enlightenment: The 18th Century Magi of the Occult Revival: The 19th Century Modern Adepti: The 20th Century Conclusion Further Reading O secret of secrets that art hidden in the being of all that lives, not Thee do we adore, for that which adoreth is also Thou. Thou art That, and That am I. —Liber XV by Aleister Crowley Thou wilt ask, What is the new regeneration? or how is that done in man? Hear and see, close not thy mind, let it not be filled by the spirit of this world with its might and pomp. Lay hold upon thy mind and break through the spirit of this world entirely; yield thy mind unto the kind love of God; make thy purpose earnest and strong to overcome the pleasure of this world and not to regard it. Consider that thou art not at home in this world, but art a strange guest, made captive in a prison; cry and call to him who has the key of the prison; yield thyself up to him in obedience, righteousness, humility, purity and truth. —Confessions of Jacob Boehme by Jacob Boehme . . . you are about to penetrate into the sanctuary of the sublime sciences; my hand is about to raise for you the impenetrable veil which hides from the eyes of common men the tabernacle, the sanctuary wherein the Eternal has lodged the secrets of nature, kept for a few that are privileged, the few Elect whom His omnipotence created that they may SEE, and seeing, may soar after Him in the vast expanse of His Glory and deflect upon mankind one of the Rays that shine round about His golden Throne. —The Most Holy Trinosophia of Comte de St. Germain, translated by Manly P. Hall Introduction Have you ever taken a good look at a dollar bill and wondered what all those strange symbols mean or why there's so much writing in Latin, a dead language? Have you been too embarrassed to ask your grandfather about why he always wears that ring with the big G on it, or what that letter means to him? Do you have friends who regularly invite you to a ritual or ceremony that they claim will instruct you in the meaning of life? Are you searching for the invisible brotherhoods that have shaped the history of the world by using magic, alchemy, and other secrets only known to the upper echelon of humanity? Let's just say that if you are interested in these subjects (which can be safely assumed due to that fact that you are reading this book), you should take heart in the fact that these mysteries have been laid out before you intentionally, in the hope that you would strive to solve them for the betterment of yourself, and all humankind. Secret knowledge can be hard to come by. Isn't a secret, after all, information that someone knows and purposely withholds or obscures from the sight of others? In the case of spiritual enlightenment, why would anybody actively stop interested parties from beholding the Kingdom of Heaven? The recurring literary and historical themes of the slaughter of innocents by tyrants fearful of a new era, and the stories of saviors murdered by the very people they had come to liberate might shed some light on the matter. In the case of the mystery tradition, secrets are not usually pieces of information being withheld by someone, but rather levels of consciousness that are hidden from our normal mental state. In most cases a secret is really just the acquisition of a new point of view. But learning to love instead of fear what you do not understand can be a long, difficult process—and perhaps some things are better kept as secrets. At the turn of the last century, there was secret society fever. Everyone, it seemed, was a Freemason, Rosicrucian, or even an emissary of the Mahatmas of the Himalayas. This may have been simply a reaction against the industrialization of the world and the insistence of science on removing miracles from the existence of humankind, as many historians suppose. Or maybe the spiritual forces that govern life on our planet were communicating something: that science and religion were the two hands of reason, and a new age of their harmonious cooperation was to bring about the next phase in the building of the New Jerusalem. I can imagine that the later supposition seems a little far-fetched to most people. Yet, when we read the writings of modern quantum physicists, they sound less like the enemy of the mystic and more like his little brother—who has the right idea, but just hasn't been around long enough to test it all out. We have a long way to go until we as a species embody "The Method of Science, The Aim of Religion." Luckily, though, we are at the very genesis of what many wise men and women believe to be a new epoch in human evolution, and the possibilities are indeed limitless. Throughout history, spiritual seekers of all persuasions have endeavored to connect directly with their ideal of being, labeled by some as divine. Gnosis, the Greek word for "knowledge," is the direct knowledge or personal contact with this divinity. There are many branches on the tree of occult knowledge, but the trunk of this tree, which unites all these seemingly contradicting worldviews, is Gnosis. To search for secret knowledge is to journey into the soul of humanity, for what is more deeply buried or obscured than the very center of ourselves? The word occult has, in modern Western society, dark and sometimes evil connotations; however, it simply means "hidden" or "secret." Any knowledge or method that is not easily perceived or obvious may be called occult. It will, for many, bring to mind images of black robes, ritual sacrifice, and communion with dangerous spiritual forces. This popular image of occultism has distracted many from the central reason for, and tenet of, the initiated secret tradition that in many ways has not changed since the dawn of civilization—that Man can become God. In order to delve into the sometimes forbidden and unseen Spiritual World, the seeker must be armed with courage, love, and an iron will. Perhaps one of the great paradoxes of what has been called the sacred science is that the very thing for which you are looking, is actually essential to finding it. PART ONE Key Concepts Occult sciences are necessarily eccentric, for so soon as they cease to be eccentric, they cease to be occult. —The Paradoxes of the Highest Science by Éliphas Lévi When you begin to explore the secret tradition, it doesn't take long to realize that you haven't just stepped onto a field of study, nor even a universe, but a multiverse—where symbols and methods that share the same name do not carry the same meaning, and nothing seems to inherently correspond with anything else. The masters of this invisible college seldom agree on everything—from the exact positions of energy channels within the body to the existence and function of nonphysical entities such as angels and demons. And then there's the discussion among believers in preternatural beings as to the existence of such a thing as nonphysicality, or whether these beings are repressed psychological impulses or independent life forms. Just as no two people are exactly alike, yet can share natural similarities betraying a common ancestor, so the occult systems of the world are neither uniform nor entirely estranged. The nexus point that connects these divergent and sometimes contradictory dimensions of inner space is you. The occult theory of correspondence assures you that "As above, so below," yet you are the bridge between these two realms, as well as the ultimate judge of what constitutes them and the meaning they will have in your personal development. Beginners will gain much in their study if they acquaint themselves thoroughly with the instances in which the masters agree and afterward endeavor to understand their reasons for disagreement. The foundation of the secret tradition lies not in its knowledge, but in its use of knowledge. The most valuable import of occultism is not what or where the first substance is, for the secrets of our shared spiritual heritage are said to be everywhere. The occult tradition's merit and relevance to the pilgrim's progress lies in its method. Following a clear methodology, keeping a record, and testing your results against the findings of others elevate the soul's desire for greater light from the stasis of doubt into the realm of investigation and, as a result, direct experience. The sacred science is only sacred insofar as its end is the realization of human evolution, and only science as long as it evolves along with the discoveries it facilitates. The following are what can be called key concepts of the secret tradition, being both technical and philosophical ideas that may be found on most branches of the tree of occult knowledge. The Great Work There is, however, one form of miracle which certainly happens, the influence of the genius. —Magick, Liber ABA: Book Four by Aleister Crowley The path of spiritual attainment is called the Great Work. In alchemy its completion is the creation of the philosopher's stone, and in magic it is called the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. It is the manifestation of genius, which can lead the world on its next great adventure. The Holy Scriptures and sayings recorded by the saints are all utterances of the genius. Success in this quest is the raison d'être of the Western mystery tradition and all sincere religious faiths. The ambiguity with which they describe the Lord is intentional and practical, as are the injunctions against idolatry. The unknown must remain so until we experience it directly. Any conjecture may color our view and defile the holiest and most pivotal moment in our lives. This principle is also the foundation of science, being the proper method of all exploration— spiritual or otherwise. It is through this experience that the religious reformers of the past have been prepared to overturn the table of culture when the food set upon it had become rotten and poisonous. The execution of the Great Work is the fulfillment of prophecy, and the continuation of an ancient dialogue between Man and God. Establishing a society where this undertaking can be pursued by any who are called to do so is the true jihad, dharma, via dolorosa, and path of the wise. The Universal Force, the Tao, Polarity, and the Four Elements All things are concealed in all. —Coelum Philosophorum by Paracelsus The Universal Force According to initiated wisdom, prana, chi, astral fluid, and the ophidian vibrations are all terms for a universal life force that permeates and connects all things. The qabalistic texts call it ChAI, which means "life." Because of the transcendental nature of this force, also called correspondence or matter, our thoughts can take the form of actions, shaping our world. Today especially, we are constantly reminded that there are various kinds of energy such as solar, wind, natural gas, coal, bio-electrical, etc. These seemingly different forms of energy are all actually variants of the same phenomenon we call movement. Matter at its most fundamental level is composed of pure energy. That is, it is moving. Science affirms that everything is energy, or can at least be said to have an energetic component. The goal of the ancient philosopher was to learn how to manipulate and experience matter at this fundamental level. In doing so, they began to read energy as movement. When we observe movement, what we see are the effects of energy. The process of harvesting energy for electricity is that of converting movements into electromagnetic pulses. A good example of how this works can be found in how we harvest wind energy. The wind moves a turbine that turns a shaft. This shaft goes into a gearbox, increasing the rotation speed, while the generator uses magnetic fields, converting the rotational energy into electrical energy. The mystics suggest we use this same process of energy conversion—except in our power plant we are the turbine, shaft, gearbox, and generator used to capture the electromagnetic "winds," in this case being the universal force. The various occult sciences are all methods of harnessing and directing this force toward spiritual light and the development of a civil society. The Tao Many volumes have been and will continue to be written about the Tao, which translates as "The Way," and its unlimited manifestations. Of the eternal Tao, however, we must remain silent in the manner of true silence. That is, there is nothing that can be said. Yet in our temporal existence may be found ways that are straighter and paths shorter, that our work may be done in harmony with the magnificent mystery. The Tao that may be spoken of—though limited in scope and virtue in comparison with that of which it is a shadow—remains to the eyes of man a brilliant star lighting his sojourn toward enlightenment. Of this Tao we say that it follows the path of least resistance and bows lowest, for it wears the greatest crown. All rivers flow to the ocean because it is below them, yet were it not for the falling rains, both would be dried up and forgotten. This mystery of the source, path and end of power, life, and liberty has been called the Tao by many a wise fool, seeking to name the mother and father of names. Polarity From the One Universal Life Force arises the polarity of positive and negative. It is one movement in two directions. This first movement is normally recanted in the Holy Scriptures as the initial step in the creation of the world, being the separation of light and darkness or of the heavens and the earth. In the secret traditions, these eternal twins have been known by names such as yin and yang, mercy and severity, right and left, and allegorically as Cain and Abel. It is the work of the Adepti to absorb and harmonize these forces. These two poles are the same in essence; their apparent difference arises from our assumption that our nervous system perceives the fullness of reality rather than only one side on the multifaceted diamond of existence. The Four Elements From the primordial swirling of the ancient universe arose duality. Within this duality were further attraction and repulsion, existing as agents of the eventual reintegration of the Many into the One. On the side of the masculine force of propulsion can be found what the ancients called Fire and Air, the elements that they observed as seeming to move from their own internal source. These they also attributed to the will and intellect of humanity, as well as to the directions of east and south, being the source of light and heat. Within the negative polarity, which exercises its feminine forces of vacuity, gravitation, and friction, can be found the elements of Water and Earth. These are seen as being passive, acting and being acted upon in a manner that conceals, dissipates, and absorbs. They were attributed to the directions of west and north, the sources of darkness and cold. These four elements form the cross of creation, combining to form the basis of all existence: Fire: Hot and Dry, Summer, South Water: Cold and Moist, Autumn, West Air: Hot and Moist, Spring, East Earth: Cold and Dry, Winter, North All that is, is composed of a mixture of these four, with one element dominating, depending on its circumstance of birth. The four elements also correspond with the seasons and the four alchemical degrees of Fire. Magick and Mysticism, or The Left and Right Eye Whoso should wish to recount all the Arts and Operations which in our times be reputed and preached abroad as Wisdom and Magical Secrets; he should as well undertake to count the waves and the sands of the Sea —The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, translated by S. L. MacGregor Mathers Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will. —Magick in Theory and Practice by Aleister Crowley The Soul, being a brilliant Fire, by the power of the Father remaineth immortal, and is Mistress of Life, and filleth up the many recesses of the bosom of the World. —The Chaldaean Oracles of Zoroaster translated by W. Wynn Westcott Magick Although any intentional act may be said to be a magical act, a less general description of the common use of the term magic is "the method by which one can cause what seem to be miracles to the uninitiated." In the past, these socalled miracles have included conversing with spirits, enchanting a lover, destroying an enemy, and at its highest level of practice, becoming God. The word magick comes from the theory that the art was first practiced by the magicians of Persia. The letter k was added to the spelling of the word by Aleister Crowley to distinguish his magick from that of the illusionist or sorcerer. The practice of magic can be divided into two general categories: evocation and invocation. To evoke is to call forth; the magician declares his divine authority as a servant of the Almighty ordering about various spirits, elementals, angels, and demons. A perfect example of this style can be found in the grimoire (book of magical instructions) The Lesser Key of Solomon, where the entity is made to manifest within a triangle enclosed with divine names. Invocation, on the other hand, calls in the desired entity (only the highest gods or one's own Holy Guardian Angel are invoked due to the dangers inherent in spirit possession). As the ceremony continues, the magician deepens his identification with the deity, assuming its form, power, and consciousness. In this case, the god manifests within the magical circle, and therefore floods the magician's being. The Adepti of ancient Egypt were skilled in the use of this technique, leaving us excellent instructions in their funerary papyri. This form of magic is undertaken in order to balance the magician's personality by invoking deities whose attributes he lacks or feels are underdeveloped. Modern magicians are trained in all forms and methods of the magical arts, in the hopes that they will be able to use any means available to accomplish the Great Work, or Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. To this end, he also employs many ritual objects or magical weapons, each symbolic of a spiritual state or philosophical concept. These include the Baculum or Wand of Will, the Cup of Understanding, the Dagger of Intellect, and the Pantacle of Corporeality and Change. The most potent weapon available to them, however, is their own purity of purpose; this will sustain them in drought and guide them when abundance tempts their soul to abandon the difficult path set before them. Mysticism In regard to their theoretical and operative methods of spiritual attainment, mystics are in many ways the complete antithesis of the magician. They do not march forth unto the horizon of being, but turn inward in search of their secret center on the path of self-annihilation. Siddhartha Gautama, known to the world as the Buddha, uttered the ultimate mystical statement, "Anatman," which translates as "no self." The attainment of non-attainment, the AIN of the Qabalists, is the god whom mystics invoke. And in this way, they resemble magicians. This path is exalted in simplicity, but beset with danger. The mystical impulse for the dissolution of the ego has driven many unfortunate men and women to become averse to life, nature, and the processes that protect and perpetuate their cycles. The very mind itself is the opponent of this work, and the mystical operation at times appears like a squall on open waters, the vessel of spirit being caught in its grip, with water both above and below, and the wind beating from all angles. Escape from this predicament is impossible. Explorers must be as hardened captains and simply wait out the storm in intense concentration. If aspirants persist in the work and continually strive for balance, then these obstacles will become the very steps by which they will mount the summit. Yoga In the Master is the perfect seed of Omniscience. —The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translated by Charles Johnston Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means "union," sharing the same etymological root as the English word yoke. There are many different methods or types of yoga, such as Kriya and Hatha. The goal of each is the dissolution of the ego and therefore spiritual union with either a particular deity or with the entire universe. In the 2nd century BC, Pantanjali authored the Yoga Sutras, setting down the first collection of ground rules for attaining control of the mind and liberating oneself from the bondage of materiality. In his system, yoga has eight "limbs" or practices: 1. Yama: Discipline and Control; known to Semitic peoples and their philosophical descendants as the thou-shalt-not routine. 2. Niyama: Virtue; the active side of discipline is doing the right thing. 3. Asana: Posture; the ability to sit perfectly still for long periods of time is considered to be extremely important in training the body to obey the mind. 4. Pranayama: Literally "breath-control"; variations on breathing patterns affect the body's chemistry and therefore consciousness. This forms a bridge between the first three practices, which are predominantly somatic in nature, and the next three, which are mental. 5. Pratyahara: Withdrawing the mind from external stimuli; the result of this training is most popularly known as the ability to not feel any pain. This is the first trance most aspirants will experience. It is the mental equivalent of Yama. 6. Dharana: Single-pointed concentration; the mind seems to stay on the object of concentration without any conscious effort. It is the mental equivalent of Niyama. 7. Dhyana: Meditation; this practice involves being absorbed into the object of concentration until it no longer appears to the mind as separate from itself. It is the mental equivalent of Asana. 8. Samadhi: Attainment of union; both subject and object are annihilated, and the boundaries of identity dissolve into what has been described as infinite bliss. Other forms of yoga that have been grouped in with these as well, such as: Mantra: Union through the repetition of a word or sacred verse Bhakti: Union through love and worship Guru: Union through obedience to a Guru or teacher Karma: Union through work or deeds While some of these methods may seem foreign or strange to a Westerner, they all have corresponding practices within mainstream religions. Pious Catholics who recite the Lord's Prayer, for example, practice Mantra Yoga daily. The Siddhis or Magical Gifts Thou therefore who desirest Magical Gifts, be sure that thy soul is firm and steadfast; for it is by flattering thy weaknesses that the Weak Ones will gain power over thee. —Liber Librae by Aleister Crowley Once spiritual seekers begin to tread the magical or mystical path, they begin to acquire certain abilities that are classified as siddhis, or attainments. These are magical gifts that act as proof to aspirants that they are on the right path. Siddhis are, however, considered to be distractions from the one goal of union with the divine. Listed below are some of the powers and abilities that may arise from the practice of an occult discipline. The ability to converse with spiritual intelligences The acquisition of a familiar spirit Transmutation Healing Clairvoyance The preparation of tinctures and potions Knowledge of sciences The discovery of hidden treasure The creation of talismans Bilocation Invisibility Flight Shape–shifting The ability to control and converse with wild animals The attainment of these abilities is an outgrowth of solid study and dedication to an occult regimen. The key to success in any undertaking is repetition, analysis, and keeping an open mind concerning the specific method in which a certain technique can be applied to your specific circumstance. Students must maintain courage, patience, and mental equilibrium in the quest for personal mastery. Esoteric Anatomy, the Chakra System, and the Aura Man has indeed all the forms of all the three worlds lying in him; for he is a complete image of God. —Signature of All Things by Jacob Boehme Esoteric Anatomy and the Chakra System In the secret tradition, the human body is considered to be the ultimate symbol of the universe. Each part of the body corresponds to a spiritual ideal, a star constellation, or an alchemical element. In this way, the ancient philosophers connected themselves directly with all things, and through that connection could influence the world around them, knowing by intuition what their senses could not yet perceive. Among the most widely used systems of esoteric anatomy is that of the Yogic Chakras. Chakras are like pools of energy connected by many flowing streams located within the body. There are seven major Chakras, or wheels, each representing a state of mental and spiritual functionality, as well as moral evolution. When one or more of the Chakras is blocked, it is due to an imbalance in the flow of energy. Through meditation and working directly with the Chakras, aspirants can clear these blockages, achieve balance, and gain greater insight into the nature of their purpose in life. The first Chakra is the Muladhara (Root Chakra). Its color is red, and it is located at the base of the spine. It represents the survival instinct and is the first requirement for physical limitation and therefore manifestation. The second Chakra is the Svadhisthana (Sacral Chakra). Its color is orange, and it is located in the sacrum and is responsible for the health of the reproductive organs. It is the source of creativity and healthy sexual expression. The third Chakra is the Manipura (Solar Plexus Chakra). Its color is yellow, and it is sometimes said to be located in the solar plexus, and at other times at the navel. Its functions include managing the digestive system, the cultivation of confidence, and the discovery of the spiritual impulse. The fourth Chakra is the Anahata (Heart Chakra). Its color is green, and it is located in the heart, thymus, or center of the chest. Anahata governs the immune and circulatory systems, as well as relationships. It corresponds to compassion, devotion, and selfless service and also forms a link between the first and last three Chakras. The fifth Chakra is the Vishuddha (Throat Chakra). Its color is light blue, and it is located at the base of the throat. This Chakra is responsible for communication and expression. The sixth Chakra is the Ajna (Brow Chakra). Its color is dark blue or indigo, and it is located in the center of the forehead. It corresponds to the pituitary gland and governs our ability to perceive truth beyond appearances. The seventh and last of the major Chakras is the Sahasrara (Crown Chakra). It is either violet or bright white in color, and it is connected with the pineal gland, being located at the very top of the head or sometimes also depicted as just above it. It represents pure being and the light of consciousness itself, along with understanding, wisdom, and a mature spiritual viewpoint. The path upward from the first to the seventh Chakra, unlocking the secrets of the yogic path, may take a lifetime to experience in full. Working with these energy centers helps spiritual seekers to focus their mind on one aspect of consciousness at a time, fully engaging and discovering the latent potential within. The body as a manifestation of consciousness is a concept that has evolved over time. From the belief that deformities are curses from malevolent spirits, to the modern medical theory of psychosomatic illness, we have always connected the unseen world of the mind with our tactile experiences. As humanity marches forward in its study of nature, science and religion will continue to merge into each other, just as the line between mind and body has been all but erased. The Aura The Aura is an energy field composed of astral fluid that surrounds the physical body. It can be seen by the naked eye in low or reduced lighting, but can also be observed by using mechanical methods such as Kirlian photography. It is not only visually sensible, but can also be felt, and even smelled by a particularly psychic person. Spiritual Adepti have learned to use the aura in order to illuminate the space around them or to become invisible. When visible, the aura displays many different colors depending on the mood, health, or spiritual development of an individual. The interpretations of these colors correspond with the Chakra colors and their meanings. Auras can also vary greatly in size—there have been Adepti whose auras could be felt for miles. Qabalah Every magician, therefore, should study the Holy Qabalah. Once he has mastered the main principles, he will find his work grow easy. —Magick in Theory and Practice by Aleister Crowley Qabalah, or QBL as it is spelled in Hebrew, is a word meaning "to receive" and refers to a system of classifying various phenomena as well as discovering the hidden meaning of the Bible and other Holy Scriptures. Many distinct philosophical movements use qabalistic symbolism and methodology, each attributing their own meaning to its mystical concepts and parables. Among these are the Jewish and Hermetic interpretations. Though Qabalah is a Hebrew word, it did not arrive from Judaism fully formed, borrowing from Greek, Arab, and Egyptian philosophy and dogma to form its deep and transcendent character. These other sects also borrowed from the Jewish sages, and in time, the advanced students could begin to see an underlying unity connecting all ancient philosophy. In modern occultism, the Qabalah forms the theoretical and operational foundation. It is the language of the secret tradition shared by practically every group. Its study can be divided into three parts: the Literal, the Practical, and the Cosmological. Study of the Literal, or written, Qabala may be divided into three parts: 1. Gematria: Discovering the hidden meaning of words by calculating their numerical value. Some ancient languages tend to have alphabets in which each letter may also represent a number. For example, the Greek words for will (Thelema) and love (Agape) both add up to ninety-three. It is therefore to be assumed that there is some sympathy between these two concepts, or that one word will shed light on the meaning of the other. 2. Notariqon: Finding a secret message by either taking each letter of a word to be the first letters of words forming another sentence, or doing the reverse and taking the first letter of each word in a sentence and forming a new word. For example, BRAShiTh is Hebrew for "in the beginning," and can be expanded to BRAShiTh RAH ALHIM ShIQBLV ThVRH, or "In the beginning Elohim saw that Israel would accept the law." 3. Temura: The permutation of a word into another word using a cipher. For example, by using the method of ALBTh, or Albath, in which the Hebrew alphabet is folded in half, and the letters of a word are substituted for its match, the word KOL or Kol, "master," is transmuted into ChMA or Chema, "heat or fury." According to this method, we can gain deeper insight into the nature of the master, meditating on the sentence, "The master may reveal himself as the fury of fire." By using this method we can make many wonderful discoveries, each aiding in the apprehension of spiritual truth. The Practical Qabalah involves the use of symbolism and scripture in the creation of spells, amulets, astrological interpretation, and ceremonial magic. Among the most famous instances of the use of the Practical Qabalah, is the story of the Golem of Prague, created by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel in the 16th century. Rabbi ben Bezalel used the golem (a creature made of clay that is brought to life by reciting special incantations) to defend the Jews from an antagonistic and corrupt government. He finally deactivated the creature after the Holy Roman Emperor promised to end the persecution of the Jews. It is said that to this day, the golem lies dormant in the attic of a synagogue in the Czech Republic. The Qabalistic Tree of Life Qabalistic cosmology has its foundation in the Otz Chayim, or Tree of Life. It is a glyph that allows Adepti to catalog all experiences and ideas in its twenty-two paths, and the ten Sephira or emanations. Preceding these emanations are three veils of negative existence (AIN, AIN SOPH, and AIN SOPH AUR) expressed numerically as (–1) + (+1) = 0. In this case the word "negative" refers not to numerical value, but to the pre-manifest state, the prerequisite polar tensions of potentiality necessary to manifestation. The universe cannot know the particular without first limiting itself, thus the first Sephira, called Kether (The Crown), is the point of view, being one, individual, and eternal. From Kether issues forth the other Sephira until reaching the tenth emanation called Malkuth, or the Kingdom. Below this are the Qliphoth, the shells or husks of materiality that are empty images and are considered to be evil by most schools of qabalistic philosophy. Each Sephira represents a state of divine consciousness, acting like the layers of an onion, enveloping the innermost core of being. The twenty-two paths each correspond with a Hebrew letter, connecting the Sephira to one another and instructing mystics on the proper method of peeling away each layer from the cosmic onion. The Four Worlds Within the Tree of Life are Four Worlds, or levels of being. These Worlds each have their own function and correspond to the Tetragrammaton, IHVH: I, Yod: The First of these is Atziluth, the realm of pure divinity. H, Hé: The Second is Briah, the realm of creation and archangels. V, Vav: The Third is Yeztirah, the realm of ideas and formation. H, Hé: The Fourth is Assiah, the realm of materiality and the heavenly bodies. Armed with this symbol, Qabalists can organize their mind and thoughts while affirming the underlying unity of phenomenal cause. They ascend the Tree of Life, from Malkuth to Kether, touching every possible plane of existence along the way while balancing each idea with its opposite. Alchemy He who can guide and control the power of life is an alchemist. —With the Adepts, An Adventure Among the Rosicrucians by Franz Hartmann Alchemy is the art of transmuting base metals into gold, refining gemstones, and creating various tinctures from plants and minerals. It is the predecessor of chemistry, and many occult scholars believe alchemy to have been founded in ancient Egypt, positing the idea that the word may have come from the Arabic name for the land of Egypt: Khemi. The two primary operations performed by alchemists are those of precipitation and of transmutation. In precipitation, the alchemist causes the subtle, invisible matter to become dense; this is also known as fixing the volatile. Transmutation deals with the spiritualization of dense matter, the consecration of the Eucharist being a parallel religious ceremony. The Elements of Alchemy The three main alchemical elements are Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury. Sulphur represents expansive, masculine force. Salt represents contraction and is considered to be the feminine component of the alchemical trinity. Mercury is the medium of equilibrium. These three manifest themselves in the four natural elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, in different combinations, the arrangements of which form the foundation of the phenomenal world. There are also the seven sacred metals each representing steps on the path to divine consciousness, these being: Silver: Reflection and Intuition Mercury: Communication Copper: Devotion Gold: Completion Iron: Defense Tin: Compassion Lead: Discipline and Patience The Four Worlds or Kingdoms of the Alchemists The alchemist sees the world as a logical, hierarchical structure that builds upon itself, from simple to complex. This is also true of a human being. The basic components of both human beings and the universe are divided into four parts. The simplest of these is the Mineral World. It contains what can best be described as inanimate substances, although this is not altogether accurate, as the Mineral World is also known to have a consciousness of its own order. This kingdom forms the basis for the chemical reactions that give birth to organic life. Next is the Vegetable World, composed of plants, trees, and flowers. Third is the Animal World, made up of beings that must consume other forms of organic life in order to survive. Fourth is the Spiritual World that includes all the internal thoughts and ideas of living things. Alchemical symbolism may either represent solid chemical processes or the stages in the spiritual evolution of humanity; it depends greatly on students' point of view. C. G. Jung, the pioneering psychoanalyst, saw in alchemy the language of the subconscious mind, dedicating much of his life to understanding its mysteries. Astrology and the New Age It is a matter of common knowledge among mystics that the evolutionary career of mankind is indissolubly bound up with the divine hierarchies who rule the planets and the signs of the Zodiac. —Message of the Stars by Max Heindel and Augusta Foss Heindel Astrology Astrology is the study of heavenly bodies and their influence on world events— marriages, births, deaths, and even physical appearance. Every great civilization of old had its own system of dividing and interpreting the stars. Connecting them all is the general theory of correspondence found in the hermetic maxim, "That which is above, is like that which is below." The principle symbols of astrology are the zodiac, the planets, the sun, and the moon. Each of these has a special significance that aligns with plants, animals, and human passions. The planets, far from being considered merely lifeless objects caught in our solar system, were conceived by the ancient philosophers as sentient and powerful mediums of divine influence. Classical astrology was limited to the seven moving heavenly bodies of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the sun, and the moon. Later, other bodies such as planets invisible to the naked eye, comets, and asteroids were discovered and added; but these newer members of the astrological family have yet to be tested. Their influence is still not entirely understood. The zodiac, or circle of animals, is the circle of twelve constellations along the yearly path of the sun as it seems to traverse the sky. Each constellation was named after an animal or mythological creature according to its observed influence on earth. The 12 Signs of the Zodiac Aries: The Ram Taurus: The Bull Gemini: The Twins Cancer: The Crab Leo: The Lion Virgo: The Virgin Libra: The Scales Scorpio: The Scorpion Sagittarius: The Centaur/Archer Capricorn: The Goatfish Aquarius: The Water Bearer Pisces: The Fish The New Age Astrological signs and symbols are used for more than mere divination. Properly understood, they tell the story of the creation of the cosmos and the spiritual destiny of humankind. Ancient civilizations as well as modern mystics have divided the history of the world into astrological ages. These are known as the precession of equinoxes, and they occur at intervals of approximately 2,150 years. Rather than moving from Aries to Pisces, the ages proceed in a retrograde, or backward direction, as our solar system is currently moving from the Piscean to the Aquarian age. Although the precise date and time of the beginning of the Aquarian age is not agreed upon by all researchers, the majority of the secret traditions believe that it is now at hand. The changes expected due to this astrological shift include a growing interest in the occult and spirituality as personal expression, an aversion to traditional patriarchal societal structure, and a global movement toward political and economic liberty. Divination and the Tarot Man's task is to discover means of recognizing and reading the signs which a generous nature spreads before his eyes. —Jewish Magic and Superstition by Joshua Trachtenberg Divination is the practice of telling the future or discovering hidden information through the use of a medium such as a deck of cards, tea leaves, or a pendulum. Diviners invoke the spirit or energy that they feel will be the most helpful, interpreting the movements or positions of their tools into an answer from beyond. In order to succeed in this, diviners must be entirely detached from the outcome of their operation, lest they unconsciously influence the result, compromising the accuracy of the reading. Here are some of the major methods of divination used in antiquity and today: Astrology: The interpretation of the movements of heavenly bodies Aeromancy: Divination by interpreting atmospheric conditions Bibliomancy: The use of randomly selected pages from books, usually a holy scripture Cartomancy: The use of various card decks including playing cards and the Tarot Cheiromancy: Palm reading Catoptromancy: Divination with the aid of mirrors Dactylomancy: Divination by interpreting finger movements, also linked with automatic writing and talking boards such as the Ouija Dowsing: The use of a rod or pendulum for divination Geomancy: Either the study of the number of marks made on a surface at random, and the translation of the marks into mystical symbols known as geomantic figures, or the interpretation of geography used for divination Necromancy: The questioning of the spirits of the dead Pyromancy: Divination by reading either a flame or the ashes of a ritual sacrifice Tasseomancy: Divination by reading tea leaves or coffee grounds Zoomancy: Divination by interpreting the presence of a particular animal as a good or bad omen The priesthood of every culture has practiced and refined techniques for deciphering the will of the gods. In antiquity, it was a common practice to disembowel an animal as a sacrifice, and to read how the stomach and intestines spilled out upon the altar, gaining a glimpse of what was to come. Perhaps the most famous divinatory device in history was the Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece. Here, a priestess of Apollo would sit on a tripod above a cavern that emitted vapors from the rotting corpse of Pytho, who had been slain by the god. She would enter into a violent trance and utter prophetic words. The priests of Delphi would then organize the message into poetic hexameters and disseminate it to the worshippers as an answer from the Deity himself. It is important to remember that regardless of method, the invocation of the proper intelligences is a vital component to successful divination. Before undertaking any experiment with divination, a short prayer should be said in order to make the right connection with the Spiritual World, as well as to set up barriers against interference from undesirable entities. The Tarot The Tarot, or the Book of Thoth as it has been called, is the visual record of the initiatory path in its entirety. Used by fortunetellers, occultists, and many ordinary people interested in dabbling in the unknown, this deck of seventyeight cards has intrigued Western civilization for the past five hundred years. The deck is divided into two parts: the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. The word Arcana means "secrets or mysteries," for it is the greater and lesser mysteries that are revealed in the study of the Tarot. The Major Arcana are made up of twenty-two cards, traditionally corresponding to the various planets, zodiac signs, and elements, as well as the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Minor Arcana contain four suits, each of which represents one of the four elements. The small cards are numbered from ace to ten and represent the ten sacred numbers of the qabalistic Sephira. Then come the court cards, usually king, queen, knight, and page, being the Four Worlds and elements of the Tree of Life. There are many opinions on the origin of the Tarot deck. On the one hand, we have evidence that the Tarot is derived from a card game whose existence dates back only to the 15th century. On the other hand, many occultists believe that the deck is the repository of all occult wisdom, and that the game was only a defilement (or intentional concealing) of the secret and sacred symbolism of the Arcana Arcanorum. These competing theories, although seemingly of little practical relevance to the modern esoteric practitioner, hold in their synthesis another valuable clue to the mystery of spiritual development in humankind. There are some occultists who are just as insulted that their Tarot is considered to be the offshoot of a humble card game, as there are scholars and religious leaders who fail to understand why an old deck of playing cards can hold the attention of the public much longer then they ever could. Let us recall for a moment the intellectual maturity necessary to create a game. Game play requires rules and agreements, symbols for gain and loss, as well as an ultimate end where successful and skillful play is rewarded with either a point or a win. In other words, game play is a mark of intelligence. Is not society and culture another type of game, or even an extension of the games of children? Being that every human being began as a child, would it not be wise to embed the secrets of the universe in a game, where adults could once again access these secrets with childlike purity? Perhaps the secrets of the universe were discovered while playing this game—and the gods have followed the worshippers from the parlor to the temple, with only the youngest of the little children noticing their presence. The Astral Plane Such is the equilibrium of all in the universal heaven that one is moved by another, thinks from another, as if in a chain; so that not the least thing can [occur from itself]: thus the universe is ruled by the Lord, and, indeed, with no trouble. —Spiritual Diary by Emanuel Swedenborg The astral, or ethereal, plane is a world within and surrounding our everyday mundane existence. It is governed by its own set of laws and principles, and it is inhabited by fantastic creatures and an infinite number of sub-realms. Most of the spiritual beings and experiences we encounter in the study of the esoteric tradition have their source in the astral. Feats of psychism such as clairvoyance and telekinesis are accomplished through the use of astral forces and beings. The astral plane is comprised of lower and higher levels, the former being composed of elementals, demons, and the shells of departed human beings (commonly known as ghosts), and the higher being home to angels, gods, and masters who have pledged themselves to the service of humanity in its evolutionary journey. Over the centuries, many great prophets and philosophers such as Emanuel Swedenborg and William Blake have received their inspiration through astral travel. Elizabethan era English Magus John Dee and his assistant Edward Kelley worked extensively with angelic intelligences of the astral plane, receiving from them a series of songs or calls that have the power to unlock visions of the different layers of reality underlying the entire universe. In the North African desert in 1909, the first recorded detailed and systematic exploration of these Aethyr (as the divisions are called) was undertaken by Aleister Crowley and his magical student Victor Neuburg. Crowley's experiences with the Enochian Astral Realms yielded discoveries that would become central to the theology and doctrine of his spiritual system of Thelema. This is a prime example of successful work in the highest levels of the astral plane. There are many systems for exploring this vast ethereal terrain, but as with all maps, the traveler must remember that experience is the ultimate guide. The methods for gaining access to the astral realms are as varied as the kinds of entities encountered there. The most common is for the seeker to enter a state of deep meditation and visualization as a bridge into the astral. Other practices include ritual drug use, sexual trance, and the repetition of special words believed to contain occult power. Part two Symbolism: the Language of Mystery By symbolism the simplest, the commonest objects are transformed, idealized, and acquire a new and, so to say, an illimitable value. —The Migration of Symbols by the Count Goblet d'Alviella Symbols inform and inspire. They have served as mentor and muse to the greatest minds humanity has ever known. In sculpture, painting, and literature, symbols allow much to be said with little, facilitating direct contact with powerful spiritual energies or marking the location of a vast treasure. Much of symbolism's allure to the transmitters of occult knowledge is that a symbol may be partially or totally misinterpreted by the uninitiated. This allows the secrets to be hidden in plain sight where they can light the way for the worthy. In many cases, there are several doctrines existing side by side or one within another, sharing the same symbol set. For example, esoteric groups such as the Freemasons use the rich symbolism occurring in the practice of alchemy, but may not ascribe the same meaning to those images as a medieval alchemist would. Ultimately, each individual must decide the true meaning of a symbol for him-or herself. Perhaps this personal relationship that symbolism requires of us is precisely what makes it such an effective and enduring part of the secret tradition. Animals and Spiritual Beings I can call spirits from the vasty deep. —Henry IV by William Shakespeare Along the path to enlightenment, you are bound to meet some interesting spiritual entities that may help you into, or keep you out of, the palaces of wisdom you seek. From proud winged serpents to humble creatures of the earth, the secret tradition teaches that there is more life in the world then we can comprehend. Understanding the functions of the various inhabitants of the astral plane can help you to deal with them more effectively and to identify the clues that the masters left behind to guide you or warn you. Angels Angels are the arbiters of divine will. They are messengers and protectors, appearing in many forms, but mostly depicted as winged androgynous humanoids. As a group, they traditionally represent the element of Air, but are also said to control the other elements. The word angel is derived from the Greek angelos, meaning "messenger." In Hebrew, they are at times referred to as MLACh IHVH, "Messengers of Yahweh," or BNI ALVHIM, "Sons of the Gods." Angels have visited prophets, martyrs, and sages, helping to found religious movements across the globe. The Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary to inform her about the future birth of Jesus, and to Muhammed to deliver unto him the Quran. In 1904, Aiwass dictated the Book of the Law to Aleister Crowley, initiating the Aeon of Horus. The major angels or archangels alluded to in the art and literatures of occultism are Raphael, the angel of the east, Michael in the south, Gabriel in the west, and Auriel in the north. Ants The ant is sacred to Mars and therefore represents military discipline and fighting spirit. Working together, ants can bring down animals many hundreds, and even thousands, of times their own size. They are individually capable of carrying many times their own weight. Some Native American legends portray ants as the first animal, and in the Amazonian shamanic traditions, ant bites are used in initiations. Ape and Monkey The ape symbolizes intelligence, fidelity, and defense. The dog-headed ape that distorts and misinterprets the word of the god Thoth is similar to the Hindu god Hanuman. Both of these have a duty to hide or defend the holy truth from profanation and misuse. In the Hindu classic text, the Ramayana, Hanuman is the leader of the armies of heaven and is venerated for his sincerity and religious devotion. Basilisk The Basilisk is known as the King of Serpents. Its name comes from Basileus, meaning "a king" in Greek, and it is traditionally depicted with a crest on the crown of its head. It is a solar creature, having the head and legs of a rooster and the body of a serpent, with wings containing elements of both animals. The Basilisk's Eye destroys whatever falls into its gaze, and it may therefore be associated with the Eye of Shiva that destroys the universe when opened. Bear The bear has symbolized great strength, protection, patience, and healing for many cultures. In hibernation, it resembles the mystics who live in the wilderness or travel inward to find illumination. Stories of great masters who retire to caves and receive divine revelations are found in nearly every culture. In the Bible, we find Elisha the prophet cursing a group of forty-two children mocking his baldness. Upon cursing them, two female bears come out of the woods and tear them to pieces. Elisha is connected with the earth and the body —his baldness showing that there was no barrier or vanity between himself and his lord. The children here may represent the forty-two-letter name of God, said by Rabbi Isaac Luria to raise the devoted's soul from the material world into that of the astral. The two bears can also be interpreted as a reference to the constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, both of which were symbols of protection in the ancient world. Beetle The beetle is, above all, an animal sacred to Keph-Ra, the lord of midnight, who rolls the black sun beneath the earth. It is the symbol of gestation and growth amid the darkness. The agent of rebirth, the beetle collects the waste of life and incubates its young within it. It corresponds with the north and with the Tarot card of the Moon. The Hebrew letter Qoph, meaning "the back of the head," is traditionally attributed to it, as well as the sign of Pisces. Camel The path across the desert, the vast abyss separating idea from actualization, is a difficult one, for there is no water and therefore no life. Yet, a person can cross the wasteland with the help of the camel, who is symbolic of success against all odds. The camel feeds off its own fat deposits in order to survive in a harsh environment, and this ability is understood by spiritual seekers to be a lesson in the nature of the Great Work; the source of spiritual sustenance is within. Chnoubis The Chnoubis is a composite creature with the head of a lion and the body of a serpent. The Egyptian Gnostics used its image in an amulet for protection from disease, poison, and as a solar image. It has been associated with Abraxas and other solar creation gods. The serpent is connected with the lion qabalistically by the Hebrew letter TETh, which means "serpent" and is attributed to Leo and the Tarot card Strength. Cock or Rooster The cock is a solar symbol, and it crows at the rising sun. As a participant in the ritual of the dawn, it represents rebirth and deliverance from darkness. Cow and Bull The cow is sacred to practically every culture. As a symbol of work, maternity, and balance, it is common to see very important deities, particularly female ones such as the Egyptian Isis, to be either depicted as cows or with the head of a cow. Its horns are reminiscent of the crescent moon, further connecting it with the sacred feminine. The bull is a slightly different symbol. It represents masculine force, dedication, and wealth. The bull is the Cherub of Earth and shares in all the qualities attributed to the element and its astrological sign Taurus. Dog The dog is a symbol of death, yet also of guidance, so it serves different functions depending on the individual who encounters it. Dogs have the capacity to read a person's heart and respond accordingly. One of the most infamous canines is the three-headed dog Cerberus, who guards the entrance to the underworld. The appearance of the dog can also be seen as a reminder that things are not always what they seem, and that the gods are watching. Donkey One of the most sacred animals to the occult tradition is the donkey. The infamous idol of the Templars was allegedly a man with the head of a donkey. In the Judeo-Christian religion, the Messiah rides a donkey, a symbol of both royalty and humility. One of the most famous tales of the Sufi master Mulla Nasrudin depicts him asking his disciples, "Have you seen my donkey?" while seated on the beast he is supposedly looking for, using comedy to draw attention to the inherent paradox of the spiritual path; we are searching for a thing that is everywhere, even right beneath or inside of us, and yet we are having trouble finding it. Dove The dove represents the Holy Spirit as well as the sexual power of IHVH. It is a symbol of peace, charity, and love. In magic, the dove is frequently used as a sacrifice, usually being stuffed with incense and burned on the altar. It is also revered as a messenger, further linking it with the Logos, or divine word. Dragon The dragon represents destructive power, greed, and agility. In Asian culture, the dragon is a symbol of royalty and temporal power. In some depictions, it breathes fire and carries the sun across the sky. In respect to the latter, the dragon is connected with the celestial boat of the ancient Egyptians—and even with Noah's Ark—as the guardian of ancient treasure and wisdom. It is featured in the heraldry of many noble families—a reference to a legendary ancestor who slew such a beast. The dragon partakes of each of the four sacred elements: hard scales for Earth, breath of Fire, wings for Airy flight, and Watery undulating body. Dragons are said to have lived deep within the earth, sometimes under a mountain. Their food of choice in fables is sheep, further identifying the dragon as the enemy of Christianity. In the form of Hydra, it is the first deacon of the sign of Leo and may be an important reason for the relationship between the serpent and the lion in ancient mythology. It also represents the nodes of the moon, where it and the sun's orbits intersect. These nodes are known as the head (Caput Draconis) and the tail (Cauda Draconis) of the dragon. Eagle The eagle has long been a central motif in magical, alchemical, and Masonic symbolism. It is the Cherub of Water and is therefore connected with the sign of Scorpio and death. It represents the soaring of the spirit. In alchemy the White Eagle (primitive feminine state) matures into the Red Eagle (the feminine that has received and balanced the masculine force), illustrating the natural process of evolution from partiality to wholeness. In the form of the Double-Headed Eagle, it represents mastery of east and west, life and death. Further, it is a symbol of the return of the soul beyond causality and the abyss of knowledge—represented by the sword in its talons— into the world of direct experience and understanding, symbolized by the crown and the triangle above it. Elephant One of the most intelligent animals—and the largest land animal—the elephant is a remarkable symbol of devotion, knowledge, and compassion. In India, the elephant is worshipped as sacred to Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati. Elves Elves are divine beings, very similar to fairies. In German folklore, they were divided into Light Elves and Dark Elves, much like the division between divine angels and fallen angels, or demons. They live in locations undisturbed by human progress and use their powers to teach people about their own weakness, and to help the humble seekers of light. Fish The fish not only appears in its natural form but also as the Vesica Piscis, an almond shape created by intersecting circles, symbolic of the divine feminine. Pisces is opposite Virgo, the virgin of the zodiac; therefore were the saviors of the previous age (the Age of Pisces) said to be of virgin birth. It is connected with regeneration, plentitude, and transcendence—as it breathes underwater (a symbol of the subconscious realm as well as of Binah, the great sea and supernal mother of the Qabalah). It is also sacred to Mercury, the messenger and transmitter of spiritual wisdom. The giant fish that swallowed Jonah was sent by God to ensure that he did not fail in his divine mission. The Greek word for fish is IXThUS and is used by Christians as an acrostic for Jesus Christ Son of God. It equals 1219 by isopsephy—the Greek equivalent of gematria—the same as Poseidon, the god of the seas. Frog In ancient Egypt, the frog represented fertility and rebirth, as people could observe frogs emerging from the life-giving Nile River, transforming from egg to tadpole to adult. The frog is thought to be a symbol of good luck in many Eastern cultures, usually depicted with coins in its mouth. Magicians of various traditions use frogs as familiar spirits for this very reason. In the fairy tales of the Western world, the frog can be the guardian of a hidden treasure, or it can be a cursed prince, hiding great beauty within an ill-formed appearance. Gnomes Gnomes are the elemental spirits of Earth, and the north is said to be their kingdom. They are industrious and hard working, yet are notoriously greedy. Guarding hidden treasure and precious gems that lie deep in the earth, the magician enlists them in procuring wealth and learning the occult virtues of stones, metals, plants, and even a particular location. Goat The goat is symbolic of hard work and accomplishment. It is connected with the zodiac sign of Capricorn and therefore the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. The goat is sacred to the god Pan—the All Begetter, All Devourer— and Bacchus-Dionysus, and is thus the sacrifice slain as the universal commencement. The tearing apart and consuming of Bacchus, later celebrated by Christians as the Eucharist, is not to be confused with dispersion. The former is the reintegration of the many in the one, the latter simply being the degeneration of the relationship between reason and faith into madness. The goat symbolizes the secret power of God, called the devil in the previous age, but now recognized as the center of all that lives. Honey Bee and Beehive The bee represents hard work, coordinated team effort, and knowledge of hidden treasures. Its yellow and black stripes connect it with the sun and with death, as shown in the Bible: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"(I Corinthians 15:55). The bee dies after it stings and is therefore connected with fertility as well as with the triumph of the spirit over death. Ibis The ibis is sacred to Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing (possibly due to its lengthy, thin beak, which looks very similar to a stylus). It hunts for worms and insects by digging with its beak and therefore also symbolizes the search for deeper meaning and wisdom. Practitioners of yoga, who meditate while standing on one leg, often imitate the ibis. The great 1st century Jewish master Rabbi Hillel was the embodiment of the wisdom of the ibis when he explained the entire Torah while standing on one leg, with, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Law; the rest is the explanation; go and learn." Lion A complete description of the lion and his occult meaning would require not only another book, but multiple volumes. The lion is first and foremost a solar figure; he is Leo of the zodiac, the persisting flame. The lion is featured in the eighth card of the Major Arcana of the Tarot, traditionally known as Strength and more recently as Lust, as a woman (see Star and Woman) is shown subduing the beast with little effort, giving us some insight into the formula of initiation in the age of Aquarius, the direct opposite of Leo. The lion's mane is both the corona and rays of the sun. He is the active going force of nature. As the eagle was the Cherub of Water, so is the lion that of Fire, the Red Lion being the primitive, purely masculine force of alchemy. Through its marriage to the eagle, the Red Lion becomes the White Lion, the balanced male. The lion is the symbol of the Israelite tribe of Judah, from which arose the legendary King David. Moon The moon is considered to be the mother of the philosopher's stone, and therefore of life itself, due to her influence on tides and menstrual cycles. She rules the subconscious realm and enhances psychic abilities. The moon is placed in the Sephira of Yesod (the Foundation) on the Tree of Life, and is personified as Hecate, Artemis, and all goddesses. Yet the moon has also been identified with male deities such as Khonsu, the Egyptian whose name translates as "the wandering one." Ouroboros The Ouroboros, Greek for "tail-devourer," is a serpent or dragon that forms a circle by devouring its own tail. The origins of this symbol extend as far back as 4700 BC, found on human remains from that period. The philosopher Plato described it as the first living creature. The image of an Ouroboros brings to mind the perfect method and completion of the Great Work in economy and silence, known to the students of Cagliostro as the circle of necessity. Pelican The pelican is usually depicted feeding its young with blood from its breast. Thus the pelican represents self-sacrifice and the continuation of life through generations. On the other hand, the pelican is also said to use its blood to resurrect its children after having slain them. Thus it is connected to both the solar and saturnine myths. In ancient Egypt, the pelican was a symbol of the four duties of a father toward his children—generation, education, raising, and informing children of the righteous life through his example. The pelican is associated with the Rose-Croix section of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Phantoms and Ghosts What is commonly called a ghost is, according to the secret tradition, an astral remnant or shell that has no life of its own but is instead fed by the auras of the living. Ghosts are known to the Qabalists as Qliphoth, or shells, and to the Japanese Shinto priests as hungry ghosts. The eternal and divine spirit of the deceased does not stay in the astral plane, where ghosts and phantoms are encountered, but moves on to other incarnations or realms of existence. What we perceive is the formless astral fluid of the lower Spiritual World, taking the shape of the departed. This shape and its energy manifest from our own minds. Phoenix The phoenix is a mythical firebird that represents rebirth. Its plumage and tail are of gold, scarlet, purple, and green. Every thousand years, it builds a nest for itself out of dry twigs and ignites it, burning itself to ashes. From those ashes arises a new phoenix, reborn from the fire. The origin of this sacred bird is said to be ancient Heliopolis, the city of the Sun. (see INRI) Ram The ram represents new beginnings and the rushing force of Fire. Aries, the sign of the ram, is the first sign of the zodiac. The ram is also the lamb, sent forth into the world and caught in the thicket, replacing Isaac on the sacrificial altar. John the Baptist hailed Jesus as the Lamb of God, signaling to his followers that a new age was at hand by connecting him with the spring equinox, which occurs in Aries. Just as the golden fleece of the winged ram Chrysomallos was hung on an oak—a tree sacred to Ares, the Greek god of war —so was John's "lamb" hung on the cross, the four points of which may represent IHVH, the four-letter name of the God of the Hebrews. The spirit, represented by the Hebrew letter Shin, also corresponds to fire or the revitalizing agent. The ram represents new life. For when the ram or lamb is hung on the sacred pole (the phallic symbol of the paternal, warring deity), we have the union of the transcendental with the mundane. Salamanders The salamander is the spiritual creature of Fire, swimming, breathing, and directing its ferocious energy. Salamanders reign in the south, and produce the warmth by which all things live and grow. Only the best-prepared magicians have gained their complete obedience, as salamanders are by nature difficult to predict or control. If they are ready, philosophers may find instruction from the salamander regarding the fortification and strengthening of the will. Scorpion The scorpion is a symbol of death and of poisons in general. The zodiac sign Scorpio is ruled by Mars, a fiery planet. Scorpio is also the fixed sign of the element of Water. Its method of war is therefore passiveaggressive and lacking passion, devoid of honor or desire for glory. The scorpion is said to sting itself when captured, further identifying it with death and putrefaction. The scorpion is a sexual symbol, giving its victim what is called the little death, which is much sought after especially by initiates of the magic of light. Its sting has also been attributed to the penetration of spirit into matter. Secret Chiefs These mysterious masters who oversee the progress of humankind rarely manifest directly, choosing instead to deliver teachings through a prophet or messenger. The founders of religions often claim to have been visited by preternatural beings—consider Moses visited by Yehova, and Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel. In modern times, we have the visits of the Mahatmas to H. P. Blavatsky, and Aiwass to Aleister Crowley. One of the main endeavors of any esoteric system is to prepare its initiates for an interaction with these divine ministers, should they choose to make contact. Other names for the Secret Chiefs include Ascended Masters, Archangels, and Bodhisattvas. Serpent The serpent is the most infamous creature in Western mythology. As a tempter, teacher, and savior, it helps us to understand by instructing through experience, and therefore initiation. The serpent corresponds to knowledge and rebirth by the shedding of its skin, and to the eternal tides of time with its undulations. Aaron's rod transformed into a serpent during his war with the Pharaoh's magicians, perhaps alluding to the awakening of the secret energy known as the Kundalini, or coiled one. The path up the Tree of Life from Malkuth to Kether is known as the path of the serpent, for treading it endows the seeker with knowledge, understanding, and truth. Sphinx The sphinx is the guardian of the mysteries and the model upon which seekers of light must base the construction of their character. It is a creature with the front paws of a lion, the head of a man, the backside of a bull, and the wings of an eagle. These are the four Cherubim of the Elements and fixed signs of the zodiac: leo for Fire, Aquarius for Air, Taurus for Earth, and Scorpio for Water. The four powers of the sphinx, which correspond to the elements, are to Will, to Know, to Dare, and to Keep Silent. It is a dangerous and vicious creature toward the enemies of truth, but to the aspirant, its presence indicates an entry to the sanctuary of light. Spider A great builder, the spider is sometimes seen as the Creator of the world. It is a weaver and is therefore connected with the mind, which may be compared to a net that catches our sense perceptions. A common practice is to place an artistic representation of a spider's web—known as a dream catcher—above one's bed to prevent bad dreams. Star The star is the guiding light of the wise as they follow it to meet the savior of the universe. It is represented qabalistically by the Hebrew letter Hé (the meaning of which is "a window"). Hé stands for the feminine elements of Water and Earth in IHVH, the four-letter name of God. The star is depicted in the Tarot as a woman emptying two vessels of water into a river and on its bank. It is the symbol of Aquarius and therefore interacts directly with Leo as its complement. The star symbol signifies destiny and divine providence. Sun The sun is the visible and sensible representative of our highest spiritual ideal. It provides light, heat, and therefore life to all orbiting about it. The sun shines equally on the righteous and the unrighteous, being a fair regent. It is therefore personified as Christ, Apollo, Buddha, Horus, and in its feminine form as Ishtar or Amaterasu. Indeed, practically every true deity that man has worshipped is a representation of the sun. It is father of life, the son of infinite space, the true center of ourselves, and the devourer of worlds. Corresponding to the qabalistic emanation of Tiphareth, or Beauty, and alchemical gold, the sun's symbol is both the hexagram and the circle with a point in its center. Swan The swan is a symbol of transformation and beauty as well as of the life-giving powers of the sun. It is the vehicle of Adepti as they wander aimlessly throughout the universe in spiritual ecstasy. It is a symbol of faithful love, associated with the planet Venus, and is used to represent the union of worshippers with their god. Sylphs Sylphs are the spirits of the Air and therefore correspond to the east. They are connected with fairies and other air spirits and, when properly acquainted with the magician, are great teachers of concentration and quick thinking. Tortoise and Turtle Serving in a similar role as the Greek Atlas, the tortoise holds up the world. It is a symbol of timeless wisdom, patience, and renunciation. In the Tantric poems of ancient Bengal, the mystic path of meditation is referred to as milking the turtle. Undines Water spirits, or Undines, are pure beings, either bringing joy and pleasure or debauchery. They rule the west and can serve worthy seekers in the development of their intuition and empathy. Unicorn The unicorn, a mythical horse with a single horn protruding from its head, is one of the most elusive creatures of the spiritual realm. It is said to willingly appear only to virgins, attracted to purity and innocence. Unicorns are attributed to the god Jupiter and to Chesed, the emanation of mercy on the qabalistic Tree of Life, its horn being an antidote for any poison. The Woman The woman is the gate of life, the joy of existence, and the soul in her purest state. Woman is the symbol of the world soul, of the conscience of kings, and of providence. She is the mother of God, in whom all seek comfort, sustenance, and light. Yet being charged with so immense a duty, she has no god herself but that inner light—with whom she must part in pain, feed from her breast, and carry in her arms, while giving all of herself unconditionally. Venus, Isis, Mary, Babalon, and Sophia are all reflections of her mystery, names that many a High Priest has uttered in fervent prayer. As the temptress of the faithful, she provides the ultimate test of loyalty to the regent of the universe, her lightest touch humbling the strong and proud. She is wisdom, beauty, and understanding, the great mother, the whore, and the virgin, so that the world might have true divinities of flesh and blood to carry the banner of liberty and breathe life into the yet unmanifested dreams of the prophets. Objects Always the symbolic must follow the actual, if it is to have reference and meaning, and the real is ever the basis of the ideal. —The Builders by Joseph Fort Newton Occultists are builders, craftsmen, and fashioners of great realms beyond the scope of the average mortal. Their tools are not only the means by which they may do their will; they are instructors that impart invaluable knowledge about how to discover the secrets of nature. Altar The altar is the place of sacrifice and the earthly position of our object of worship, usually being an elevated table or stone. It represents the world as a plane upon which we live, work, love, and die—the foundation of our existence. Altars may vary in size and arrangement depending on the particular tradition of the ritualist or the forces being invoked. Anointing Oil The practice of anointing with oil was already ancient in the time of Jesus. The magician uses it to consecrate a talisman or ritual object. To consecrate something is to set it apart for the purpose for which it is meant. The oil is attributed to the element of Fire and is a liquid representation of the astral fluid. Apron The apron worn by Freemasons is made of lambskin and represents the spiritual purity required to undertake the Great Work. In the Hebrew creation story, it is written, "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons" (Genesis 3:7). The dawning of the apron therefore is a gesture symbolizing our eyes being opened, acknowledging our faults and being ready to work on them. The Egyptian pharaoh wore a version of an apron called a shemset that, along with other official regalia, communicated to his subjects both the divine and temporal power wielded by his office. Ark The two most famous arks in the West and Near East are that of Noah and that of Moses. Noah's ark saved the physical life—the Nephesh, or animal soul, of qabalistic occult anatomy. Moses' Ark of the Covenant served to preserve the law, man's Ruach, the intellect, and the means by which the lower nature may be brought into conscious servitude of the higher. One important aspect of both these stories is that though the directive to build the containers came from God, men built them. It is through the effort of humanity that its wisdom is preserved; we are ultimately responsible for our evolution. The goal of the mystic is to write the divine commandments upon his heart. Bell The bell, when rung, represents the sound of the entire universe, much like the word AUM. The occult tradition teaches that the sense of hearing corresponds with the spiritual sense, and in the moment the bell sounds, the mind of the Adepti comes to a complete halt. This practice is also part of Zen, which emphasizes living in the present moment and stilling the mind. Bow and Arrow The bow and arrow are symbols of Sagittarius, the Centaur/ Archer, and of masculine and feminine forces in the act of creation. It is the weapon of the heavenly hunter, who chases the sun in the form of the sacred deer. An arrow shot by a hunter, who mistook him for a deer, mortally wounded Krishna, the Hindu savior deity. The bow and arrow are a manifestation of the Holy Grail and Sacred Lance. In the mystical language, death is symbolic of union; thus the bow and arrow unite strength and skill to bring forth ecstasy. Caduceus The winged wand depicting twin serpents entwined is known as the Caduceus, or kerykeion in Greek. It is the principle tool of Hermes—also called Mercury —the messenger of the gods. Among his other duties are the protection of gamblers, thieves, and merchants, and the guiding of the dead. The staff of Hermes symbolizes the path of the kundalini energy up the three main channels along and within the spinal column. The central channel known as the Shushumna is depicted as the rod, while the two snakes are the left and right channels of positive and negative polarity called the Ida and Pingala. The open wings at the top of the staff represent the liberation of the soul that accompanies the attainment of wisdom, and they also form the shape of the cross. Hermes' position as Logos, or divine word, connects him with the other saviors of the ancient world who were guides in the afterlife and were represented by the cross or other phallic objects. Candle and Lamp The candle's role in the secret tradition is to serve as a symbol of spiritual light. Just as the saints and Adepti of the past manifested the light, perhaps through the candle we can again receive their guidance and strength. The candle, like a human being, consumes air in order to survive, and in fulfilling its purpose, consumes itself. Extinguishing a candle using the universal force, or astral fluid, is a method of learning to control its currents and is still widely practiced by students of the occult arts. The lamp, though very similar to the candle in its capacity to give light, is different in two fundamental ways: it hangs above the altar, removed from the everyday accidents of life, yet life needs its illumination to see and work by; and it does not extinguish itself through use. It may be refilled or even built to burn perpetually. Therefore, the lamp is the fount of spiritual inspiration, while the candle is a single flame that is among us, temporary and beautiful. Circle The circle is the entire universe to mystics, as it is at once limited in size, infinite in length, and perfectly balanced. It is the physical body, or Asana (yogic posture), where they have chosen to work and focus all energies. Representing the horizon line as well as the disks of the sun and the earth, the circle was used by ancient philosophers to demonstrate the cyclical nature of existence. In medieval Christian art, God uses a compass (see Square and Compasses) to draw a circle that depicts the creation of the world. Thus magicians invoke the highest ideals within their own circles, gaining a vision of the Lord. Cross The cross, commonly understood to be a predominantly Christian symbol, has been used by nearly every religion and civilization to represent the intersection of divinity and humanity. It is a symbol of regeneration and the persistence of life in the face of overwhelming odds, as well as the intersection of the four elements, representing the fifth element or Spirit. A paradox that must by resolved by each aspirant is that the cross is used to slay the savior of the world and yet represents eternal life. Also appearing at times as a stake, a tree, or—in the case of Odysseus—the mast of a ship, every savior has been nailed, tied, or otherwise restricted to the cross. The savior deities are solar, their lives and deeds representing the path of the sun. The sun's daily westward journey corresponds to the horizontal line of the cross, the natural course of a person's life. Its north to south seasonal movement, represented by the cross's vertical line, instructs initiates in the spiritual life of humanity moving through each sign of the zodiac. The cross is also seen as the balance of justice: thus, the crucified savior is also a symbol of Aries and Libra, where the spring and vernal equinoxes occurred in the previous age. Cup or Chalice The cup represents aspirants' understanding as well as their emotional intelligence. In Christian mythology, the Holy Grail is sometimes a cup that was used to catch the blood of Jesus when he was pierced by the lance of a Roman soldier while hanging from the cross. This container of holy blood, or the life essence, has also been connected with the womb—the divine feminine —and with the element of Water. To drink from the same cup is a symbol of being united in purpose and in destiny, sharing both the riches and the misfortune that may arise from a certain act. Dagger The dagger is a weapon of destruction and symbolizes the mind of aspirants, actively aimed at disciplining themselves. The dagger is attributed to the element of Air and to alchemical Mercury. It cuts into the pantacle in order to engrave the karma of the Adepti and is also used to cut into the magician himself, opening him to the rays of the sun and releasing his blood into the universal stream. Eye in the Triangle The eye in the triangle, or the All-Seeing Eye, represents the omniscience of divinity. The triangle is the formation of the plane in Euclidean geometry and represents the ideal from which the actual flows forth. The eye is the Hebrew letter Ayin, sacred to Capricorn and in the Tarot Atu XV, the Devil. Thus, it is the vision of all, the highest and the lowest. Seekers of hidden wisdom develop this in themselves, taking care not to neglect truth lest they become unbalanced in their climb to the summit. The three points of the triangle represent the three alchemical powers of Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, and the three pillars of the Tree of Life. The eye is neither the right eye nor the left, but the Third Eye located in the center of the forehead, which grants aspirants the ability to see beyond the obvious. Hexagram The hexagram is a six-pointed star formed by two equilateral triangles. It symbolizes both the harmonization of masculine and feminine forces and the energies of the six planets that the ancients believed surrounded the sun. In many Hindu sects, this image is called the Sadkona Yantra, which, if meditated upon, leads to the unification and balance of Man and God. It is referred to in Freemasonry as the interlocking Deltas, the Greek letter Delta corresponding with love and union. In the qabalistic Tree of Life, the hexagram is placed in the sixth emanation of God, known as Tiphareth, or Beauty. Holy Mountain Mystics have compared initiation as a path up a perilous mountain. The Mons Philosophorum (the philosopher's mountain) is beset with dangers that can either temper or disintegrate the character of aspirants. There are traditionally two mysteries associated with the Holy Mountain. There is the mystery at its summit and the averse within its deep cave. To scale the mountain is to be at the height of one's powers, well above the mundane world, touching the heavenly realms. To travel in toward its center is to carry out the alchemical formula of VITRIOL, an acronym for Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem, meaning "visit the interior of the earth and by rectifying, find the hidden stone." The mountain stirs the heart of pilgrims; a seemingly infinite climb lies before them, yet their Holy Guardian Angel beckons them to take the next step. Incense Incense is used as a sacrifice to the gods, but it is also a way for spirits to manifest on our plane of reality. Different entities require their own recipe of incense to be used during rituals sacred to them. These recipes are usually constructed using the laws of occult correspondence, but they are also sometimes delivered to a prophet directly, such as the incense spoken of in the Book of the Law, dictated to Aleister Crowley in 1904. "For perfume mix meal and honey and thick leavings of red wine: then oil of Abramelin and olive oil, and afterward soften and smooth down with rich fresh blood" (Liber AL vel Legis 3:23). Incense is prayer itself, carried to the heavens by the holy flame. The censer where the incense burns is similar in shape to the chalice. Yet just as the chalice is a vehicle of baptism with Water, so is the censer the vessel of baptism by Fire. Lamen and Sigil Sacred signatures are an important component of mystical and magical culture. They represent the essence of the energies worked with because, according to the occult tradition, the world was created with words. The act of writing was, to our ancient ancestors, considered to be magic in and of itself. Not only could the priest of the primitive religion convert sounds into shapes, but he could also reverse the process, communicating with people over great distances of time and space, as well as receive cryptic messages from the spiritual realms. This ability to leave information outside of ourselves, to record events and ideas, is and has always been a truly magical skill. The lamen is a plate worn over the heart bearing aspirants' unique symbols, which communicate their understanding of the Great Work. They represent faith in the unknown through knowledge of the known. The most famous example of a lamen depicts the Seal of King Solomon, used in medieval magic. As the great master of the previous age, now known to us by the name Jesus, said to his disciples, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you." The sigil is the signature of a particular spirit, used to conjure and control it. It is on this principle that the stories of having to sign an infernal document when you sell your soul to the devil are based. Sigils are featured extensively in medieval Jewish lore, many times being the representation of an angel or demonic spirit. To know something's name is to have control over it. This is why, when asked his name by Moses, God said "Eheieh asher Eheieh," meaning "I am that I am." The meaning here is that there is no name or distinction in pure being, and therefore no way to control it. The sigil of a spirit, on the other hand, is its true name, and with the proper focus, magicians can learn to compel it to serve them in their quest for spiritual enlightenment. Lance The lance that pierced the side of Christ as he hung on the cross is known as the Holy Lance or the Spear of Destiny. It is a phallic symbol and is therefore very similar to the cross itself in mystical correspondence. The cross, however, is static, as it is rooted in the earth, while the lance is mobile, carried in the hands of warrior priests. Upon the cross is hung the savior of the world, the Grand Hierophant of an age when the mystical death was the climax of spirituality and the second death in the fires of hell was the consequence of failure in its attainment. The savior of the new age does not hang in one place, but is truly in each and every individual—dynamic and virile. He has caught the lance that injured the old king and, through its virtue, has healed the lands and transmuted all sorrow into joy. Masonic G The Masonic G is normally displayed within a square and compasses, and it is said to stand for Geometry, God, and the Great Architect. Its shape suggests the swirling growth of life, spiraling outward from a central point. Many have taken this feature of the G to be symbolic of the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical procession of numbers marking growth and development along logical, predictable lines. Paul Foster Case attributed it to the Hebrew letter Gimel, which, according to qabalistic tradition, represents the camel, a creature that can carry us across the desert abyss that separates the ideal from the actual. Gimel's numerical equivalence in gematria is the number 3, identifying the Great Architect with the holy trinity of Father, Mother, and Child. (See also Squares and Compasses.) Obelisk The obelisk is a four-sided, pointed pillar, which represents a captured solar ray. These pillars support the heavens, humankind's highest aspiration. Each tapering to a point, they symbolize the journey of the spirit from the gross to the subtle (see Pyramid). The obelisk's shape connects it with other symbols, such as the pillar, the wand, and the arrow. They were placed in pairs at the entrance of ancient temples and are used today to memorialize and commemorate. Pantacle The pantacle is a circular disc made of pure beeswax or gold and represents the body of initiates, the element of Earth, and the bread of the Eucharist. "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body’" (Matthew 26:26). The pantacle is also the body of knowledge of initiates, symbolizing all that they have and the matter from which all things are built. When properly prepared, the pantacle represents their Karmic momentum, ensuring the success of their magical operation because it has been made inevitable by their previous actions. The pantacle is the game piece in the game of cause and effect. Pyramid The pyramid has five sides: the four elements supported by the foundation of spirit. This is in contrast to the orthodox view that the spirit floats above the material world. The apex of the pyramid represents the transition of ever-subtler energies into nothingness. Cradled between nothingness and spirit, the Egyptian concept of the universe seems more akin to the writings of atomic scientists than to the superstitious beliefs attributed to them by some modern Egyptologists. The pyramid is said to be a tomb by some and a place of initiation by others. The secret tradition holds that it is the former because it is the latter, and vice versa. In the religion of the ancient land of Khem, candidates for initiation had to die in order to find eternal life. These teachings where passed down through the ages and would eventually become the cornerstone of the Greek mystery schools and Christianity. Pentagram The pentagram is a five-pointed star symbolic of humanity and the microcosm, literally meaning "the small order or world." Made by drawing five straight lines, it contains the mathematical expression known as the Golden Ratio. It represents the entire spectrum and evolution of nature's hidden workings from dense matter to subtle force, the five points standing for the Neo-Pythagorean elements of Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Spirit. The pentagram is also called a pentalpha, the five points (pent) connecting the phases and densities of the alchemical first matter (alpha). It has been used a symbol for the five wounds of Jesus Christ, and therefore the stigmata. Used for protection against evil spirits by gaining command over them as well as invoking angelic powers, the pentagram is a recurring element in mystical-magical culture. Robe Magicians' robes represent their skin, the outer manifestation of their innermost purpose. The color of each magician's robe depends on the type of forces invoked; these colors are traditionally derived from their correspondence in qabalistic doctrine. Robes are the barrier between magicians and the forces they seek to master, as well as an announcement to these forces of their intent to accomplish the Great Work. Rosy-Cross The Rosy-Cross—or Rose and Cross, or Cross of Gold and Ruby Rose—is a beautiful symbol of the union of male and female. It has many forms ranging from the complex lamen of the Adeptus Minor of the Order of the Golden Dawn to a line drawing of a cross atop a circle. One of the earliest forms of the Rosy-Cross is the Ankh of the ancient Egyptians, their symbol for the concept of life. The Golden Cross is symbolic of the sun and of the purified body, while the Ruby Rose is the blood, bringing new life. For most people, the concepts of life and death are understood as opposites, with a continual struggle wherever they meet. The Rosy-Cross teaches initiates that life and death are events on a continuum extending infinitely in both directions, the rose of ecstasy blooming on the cross of experience and work. The cross is fixed, like our inherited destiny, and the rose blossoming thereon is the dynamic growth stemming from the choices we make with what we receive. Sometimes the Rosy-Cross is simply a red cross, symbolizing the mark of blood that keeps out the Angel of Death. It is connected with the mark of Cain and therefore with all initiation, knowledge, and protection. The Knights Templar, believed by some to have brought back to Europe the secrets of the Holy Grail and King Solomon's Temple, wore this style of the cross. Scroll The scroll is not only a symbol of learning, but also of the method in which knowledge is imparted and preserved. It is the Promethean tube, which acts as a medium through which the holy fire, or YOD—the sacred seed letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the first letter in the name of God—can pass. Initiates learn to study the sacred scrolls, that they might siphon divine law into the world. Square The shape of the square represents matter—and limitation. The squaring of the circle is symbolic of the union of matter and spirit. Its four corners are the cardinal directions and the classical elements. In Japanese mysticism, the square forms the foundation of the elemental pagoda and corresponds directly with the element of Earth. Square and Compasses The square and compasses is probably the most commonly known image used by Freemasons. They form a shape very similar both in meaning and appearance to the hexagram. The square points downward, representing principles, virtues, and the physical world. The pair of compasses point upward, symbolizing the Spiritual World as well as the mind's ability to set goals, accept restrictions, and create a balanced environment in which to accomplish the Great Work. When the compasses are covered by the square, the mind of the apprentice is still in training and restricted by matter. Later as apprentices grow into a Fellow Craft, the tools are interlaced, representing the balanced state they have attained. The Master Mason's emblem places the compasses atop the square, a sign of the freedom masters have learned to accept and embody. This union of opposite ends of the spectrum of being produces a complete view of reality. (See also Masonic G.) Stalk of Wheat According to reports of historians, at the climax of the Eleusinian mysteries in ancient Greece, the High Priest would raise into the air a single stalk of wheat. In its tip is the seed of new life, which when buried seems to die but sprouts in due season and represents the continuous and cyclical nature of existence. Wheat corresponds to the sun, due to its color, phallic shape, and apparent resurrection. The seed, like the sun, however, does not die or perish in the earth, nor does it lay dormant, but continues to grow and change away from the sight of the worshippers. The darkness of night is the shadow of the earth as half of it turns away from the sun, so too, perhaps, is the darkness we perceive in death. Sword The sword is a symbol of military authority, discipline, and the enforcement of law. The iron ore that is refined into a steel blade is sacred to Mars and is attributed to the elements of Fire and Air. The sword is used to battle the demonic hosts encountered by magicians on their inward journey. The Hebrew letter Zayin means "sword," yet is attributed to the Lovers of the Tarot, for unless the sword is wielded in the name of love, its power becomes the deathdealing tyranny of fanaticism. The Lovers are also Cain and Abel of the book of Genesis, and in certain legends, Cain is thought to have been a blacksmith, further connecting this composite symbol with the sword. The sword is the dagger turned outward, just as the dagger is the sword used on oneself. The path of creation and emanation leading down the Tree of Life is known as the path of the flaming sword, which guards the Tree from the profane. Sword and Balances The sword and balances are usually depicted in the hands of angels. The sword of vengeance must only be used alongside the balance of justice. To do otherwise would be to establish tyranny. Likewise, the judgment of reason must be enforced by action, or the tyranny of the weak and their perpetual victim hood will infect and drain the world of its strength. The sword is sacred to Mars and the scales to Venus, ruler of Libra, illustrating the theme of balanced action inherent in the symbol. Temple The true temple of the spirit is the universe itself, also understood by initiates to be the body of Man. Any other temple must be built according to the plans laid forth in the book of nature if God is to dwell within it. The Temple of Solomon is perhaps the most famous of the ancient temples and has inspired religious movements and philosophical speculations for over two thousand years, most notably among the Freemasons and Knights Templar. As a reflection of the builders' understanding of divine order, temples signify the belief that uncommonness or holiness exists and surpasses the mundane, and that there is that which is not moved or swayed despite the turmoil of terrestrial existence. Tetractys The Tetractys is an upward triangular figure consisting of ten dots arranged in four rows. The uppermost row has one dot, the second has two, and so on. This symbol was of supreme importance to the mystical system of Pythagoras. The sum of the four rows being ten, these numbers where interpreted by the Pythagoreans as reestablishing unity in the decimal, after the initial dispersion of the Monad, thus creating the material world. The Tetractys is the perfect hieroglyph of the tetrad as a process of manifestation and is therefore related to divine order and authority. Each row also represents a divine world or plane of existence symbolized by the four elements as well as the Four Worlds of the Qabalah. Wand The wand is the will of magicians. It is phallic, the source of all creation. The wand's construction and size varies greatly depending on the nature of practitioners and their system. The staff of Aaron is a type of wand, as is the caduceus of Hermes. Both can manifest the will of the owner, and both are connected with serpents. The qabalistic teaching that the path up the Tree of Life is known as the path of the serpent, is a clear instruction in the nature and purpose of the will in occultism. Wheel The wheel is a symbol of change, reincarnation, and good fortune. In Buddhism, it is known as the dharmachakra, or the "wheel of the law," and refers to the cyclical nature of sorrow and existence. The Word: Formula of the Spirit In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. —John 1:1 According to the secret tradition, the power of words far surpasses the wildest imaginings of the uninitiated. To the Adepti, a word can reveal a magical, alchemical, or philosophical formula, can conceal a seemingly unrelated teaching through the use of a cipher, or can cause apparent miraculous occurrences by simply uttering it. There are some words that are considered so powerful and holy that they may not be uttered at all, but passed to students in cleaver riddles and cryptic sayings. AUM AUM is the most sacred word of the Indian religions; it is said to be the sound of the entire universe. It is a one-syllable word containing three components that represent birth, life, and death—therefore representing the unity of the Hindu Trinity of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the sustainer, and Shiva the destroyer. To pronounce this word fully is to go into silence. The formula of AUM differs from that of IAO in that the former is a pure representation of the mystic path to total emancipation from cyclical existence, the latter being the cyclical and regenerative process itself. ARARITA ARARITA is the notariqon of the Hebrew phrase Achad Rosh Achdotho Rosh Ichudo Temu rahzo Achad, "One is his beginning; one is his individuality; his permutation is one." It corresponds to the hexagram and asserts the unity of God that can been found in the apparent opposites found in creation. (See also VITRIOL.) AZOTH The Stone of the Wise, the Medicine of Metals, and the Universal Solvent are said to be different descriptions of that one substance known to Paracelsus as AZOTH. It is the very spirit of life that pervades the universe. The letters are the first and last of the great alphabets of antiquity that have most influenced Western civilization—Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. It represents the dissolution of difference through the completion and the maturation of the spiritual impulse. Each letter corresponds with a Tarot card and path on the Tree of Life; when taken together, they describe the way in which the One becomes the Many. A: Aleph, The Fool, Air The limitless light, or Ain Soph Aur, becomes the stage upon which the play of creation takes place. Z: Zayin, The Lovers, Gemini The formless is divided in polarity, retaining its infinitude and airy nature. O: Ayin, The Devil, Capricorn The synthesis and direction of these energies with intelligence seems to be the development of evil. Th: Tau, The World, Earth/Saturn The volatile is now fixed, the apparent restriction being due to the specialization of the original force in every possible direction. It is important to note that the first and last letter correspond with elements, and the middle two with zodiac signs. Also of importance is the fact that the two pairs correspond with each other, Gemini being a mutable sign of Air, and Capricorn the cardinal sign of Earth, ruled by Saturn. The fourfold nature of the word connects it with IHVH, TARO, and other four-letter formulas. IHVH These four letters, Yod Hé Vav Hé, are the Tetragrammaton, or the great fourletter word. It is one of the many names for God found in the sacred scriptures of the Hebrews and has been pronounced as Yehova or Yaweh by various teachers. Each Hebrew letter has an elemental attribution; taken together in this word, they describe the way in which energy is fixed into solidity. The shape of the letter Yod suggests a single flame, and so it is said to be the primal and secret Fire, personified as a king, a virile and potent man in his prime. The first Hé represents the element of Water and the queen-mother of the universe. Vav is the prince, son, and the element of Air. The final Hé is the daughter, representing Earth and matter. If this word is properly pronounced, it unites aspirants with God and dispels all illusion. INRI This is not a word, but an acronym from the Latin translation of the plaque placed on the cross of Jesus by Pilate, as told in the Gospel of John. INRI stands for Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum, or "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews." The medieval alchemists attributed to INRI the sentence Igne Natura Renovatur Integra, meaning "Through Fire is Nature Renewed," indicating the proper method of transmuting metals and achieving self-realization. Later, magicians used the Qabalah to transform INRI into the name of the secret god of the Gnostics, IAO. First, the letters are replaced by their Hebrew equivalents, Yod Nun Resh Yod. Then their astrological correspondences are placed in the order they appear Virgo, Scorpio, Sol, Virgo. Finally, the Egyptian god names representing these correspondences are noted, being Isis for Virgo, ApophisTyphon for Scorpio, and Osiris as Sol. Isis is nature in its original state. She is consumed and destroyed by Apophis-Typhon, only to be renewed by Osiris, the sun. Isis, Apophis-Typhon, and Osiris together form the word IAO, encompassing the entire process of birth, decay, and rebirth. ShMA ShMA translates as "listen" from Hebrew, and is the first word in the Jewish prayer Shema Israel YHVH Eloheinu YHWH Achad, meaning "Listen, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One" taken from portions of Deuteronomy and Numbers. ShMA can also be translated as "accept"; in both cases connecting the word with the opening of the mind in order to receive divine inspiration. The three letters Shin, Mem, and Aleph are the mother letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and traditionally correspond with the elements of Fire, Water, and Air, representing Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis. In some arrangements of the paths on the Tree of Life, they form the middle pillar leading from Malkuth to Kether. Taro This word appears on the Wheel of Fortune card in A. E. Waite's interpretation of the Tarot put forth in his book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. TARO is reformulated into four other words: ROTA, "the wheel"; TORA, "the law"; ORAT, "speech"; and ATOR, relating to Hathor the Egyptian goddess of love and the sun at midday. With these words, Waite constructs the sentence "The Wheel of Taro speaks the Law of Ator." VITRIOL Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem translates as "visit the interior of the earth and by rectifying, find the hidden stone." This alchemical acronym expresses the fundamental methodology of the secret tradition. Where shall we look for the light? "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). To look in the interior of the earth is to see past superficialities and to seek answers through experience. The seven letters in VITRIOL also represent different stages of personal development or phases of the spiritual alchemical work symbolized by the seven sacred planets. V (Mars): The spiritual impulse first manifests in seekers as the need to conquer suffering. I (Saturn): Aspirants then separate themselves from the world, undertaking a hermitage. It is their individual time in the wilderness. T (Jupiter): Ideas of mundane and spiritual are combined. Seekers now achieve a synthesis of the opposing drives to escape the cycle of rebirth and to aid others along the path. R (Sol): Adepts return from seclusion and represent the spiritual light in a tangible vehicle; they lead by example. I (Mercury): They begin to channel the new force into the world as miracles. Adepts become pointers of the way, guides. O (Luna): The conscious mind is unable to produce the effects it once could as seekers are drawn closer to the Holy Guardian Angel. They must become totally passive and renounce all previous spiritual attainment. L (Venus): Complete union with the divine occurs in silence—perfected and balanced. Each master has become the way. Part three Secret Societies and Holy Orders Gatekeepers of the Hidden Wisdom The very essence of Gnosis is the rejection of intercessors between Man and God. Gnosis is thus at odds with all power structures. —The Templars and the Assassins by James Wasserman The world of secret societies is wrought with intrigue and illumination, lofty ideals, and at times sinister plots. In this world are ancient mysteries, royal bloodlines, and magical rituals too powerful to be shown to anyone improperly prepared. The occult brotherhoods maintain that there is indeed strength in numbers, but their greatest advantage has always been secrecy. There are many kinds of secret societies. From the criminal and political to the spiritual to the social, they all share commonalities such as secret words, symbols, and member anonymity. At times it is difficult to say which type of society is which, for as with any group, members can act independently based on their own beliefs or self-interests. However, the majority of mystical secret societies concern themselves with the spiritual and moral welfare of humanity, helping people to gain greater liberty along the way. In this section, some of the most influential spiritual societies have been organized by the modality in which they transmitted the light of Gnosis. Freemasons built the foundations of modern democratic republics. Mystics, magicians, and alchemists transmuted the base, the misunderstood, and the discarded into spiritual and material wealth. Holy Warriors, however, found the discipline of steel to be a sure path to victory over enemies of the faith, and God. Behind the well-guarded doors of these secret fraternities, candidates for initiation may be subjected to a host of challenges. These trials are meant to instruct and to elevate their consciousness by leading them from belief through knowledge and into experience. To educate, not indoctrinate, has always been the goal of true initiation. Gradually, candidates learn to let go of fear and to embrace courage, to harmonize opposites, and to guide others on the path of light. Freemasons FREEMASONRY is a moral institution, established by virtuous men, with the praiseworthy design of recalling to our remembrance the most sublime TRUTHS in the midst of innocent and social pleasures,—founded on LIBERALITY, BROTHERLY LOVE, and CHARITY. —General Ahiman Rezon and Freemason's Guide by Daniel Sickels In 1717 the first Masonic Grand Lodge was created in England; this is the earliest record of the formal existence of what we know today as Freemasonry, but its origins run much deeper into history. They were the builders of ancient temples and medieval cathedrals and have also been the architects of revolutions and the downfall of tyrants. Part of their power came from their ability to travel throughout all of Europe, a luxury few non-nobles could claim. This freedom of movement meant that for most masons, the guild was the only constant authority, and being a democratic meritocracy, its members enjoyed an existence almost entirely independent of the feudal or ecclesiastical order. This helped to instill a sense of self-sufficiency and, perhaps more importantly, selfgovernance in the Masters of the Craft. For centuries, Freemasons have guarded the secrets of initiation, the mysteries, and the institution. Freemasonry, like all great schools of initiation, uses allegory to instruct worthy candidates in the proper use of their time on earth. Freemasonry defines proper as that which contributes toward the betterment of society and the deepening of fraternal bonds. There are many rites considered to be Masonic. Here is an overview of the most popular and infamous of these rites. Blue Lodge The Blue Lodge is where the first three degrees of Freemasonry are bestowed, representing youth, adulthood, and old age. These degrees are also known by the names of Ancient Craft, or Symbolic Masonry, and are dedicated to Saint John the Apostle and Saint John the Divine. The Blue Lodge rituals tell the story of the legendary architect Hiram Abiff and the initial work of erecting of King Solomon's Temple. Within the lodge are the three greater lights—the Square, the Compass, and the Volume of the Sacred Law—and the three lesser lights—taper candles that represent the sun, the moon, and the worshipful Master. The seat of the Worshipful Master is in the east, representing the rising sun. The First Degree or Entered Apprentice The first degree is known as the Entered Apprentice, in which candidates are initiated, or entered, into the lodge. They are led in blindfolded, symbolic of their ignorance of the workings of the lodge. They affirm that they are free and that of their own free will they seek admission into freemasonry. They take their first step in the journey from the west to east, a path symbolic of the medieval European pilgrims who traveled to Jerusalem in search of spiritual illumination. It is only after taking oaths to keep secret what they learn that the candidates are allowed to see the lodge, symbolic of the ground floor of Solomon's Temple. In this degree, they are instructed to strip away the inessential aspects of their life and are guided in the importance of balancing work, refreshment, prayer, and sleep. The Second Degree or Fellow Craft In the Fellow Craft degree, Masons are passed through the middle stage of life —manhood. They are again brought in blindfolded and once again state their desire to progress in the craft. In this degree, they are passed, moving farther toward the east. The Craftsmen, as the initiates are referred to, are shown the way to the second chamber of King Solomon's Temple—with special significance given to the three stages of life, the five senses, and the seven liberal arts, each considered to be an important step along the path to the chamber. Within the middle chamber, Craftsmen become entitled to receive their wages, symbolizing the fruits of the craft itself, and are taught the value of hearing, speaking, and guarding truth. The Third Degree or Master Mason In the third degree, the Craftsmen are raised, becoming Master Masons. They are received in a similar way as before, but now their chests are bare, representing an open and honest heart. They are shown the Sanctum Sanctorum, or the Holy of Holies in King Solomon's Temple. This degree pertains to old age, dying, and to brotherly love. Whereas the Entered Apprentices were occupied with learning and the Craftsmen with working, Master Masons aim to reflect on, and continue, the mysteries of Freemasonry. During their initiation, candidates play the part of the murdered master architect, Hiram Abiff. Hiram was the only man who knew the Master's Word, which held the highest secrets of the Masonry. With his death, this Word was lost. The Word of the Master Mason was changed to be the first words uttered when the body of Hiram Abiff was found. Candidates are raised with the new word and the grip of the lion's paw, symbolic of the sun, and the bond of brotherly love. The new Word was to be used until the Lost Word could be recovered by subsequent generations of Masons. Among other things, Freemasonry is the search for the Lost Word of the Master Hiram Abiff. Magicians, Mystics, and Alchemists If men were not allowed to use sympathetic words, nor the name of the MOST HIGH, it certainly would not have been revealed to them; and what is more, the Lord would not help where they are made use of. God can in no manner be forced to intercede where it is not his divine pleasure. —Pow-Wows, or Long Lost Friend by John George Hoffman The secret of the universe, the transmutation of metals, and the elevation of humanity to the divine are all common goals of these Adepti. Although the various groups and cultures listed here might use different symbols or language to describe the path of the wise, they are all concerned with the same end result: the accomplishment of the Great Work. Ordo Templi Orientis Ordo Templi Orientis—the Order of the Oriental or Eastern Temple—was founded in the late 19th century by an Austrian paper chemist Carl Kellner after returning from his travels in Asia. He and Theodor Reuss, the head of the revival of the Bavarian Illuminati, organized OTO in order to transmit what they called the Key to all Masonic rituals and occult sciences. This, they taught, was the initiated understanding of sexuality, symbolism, and the spiritual path. OTO's structure was modeled on various Masonic rites such as the Rites of Memphis and Mizraim, Scottish Rite, and the Swedenborgian Rite. Reuss initiated Aleister Crowley into the preliminary degrees of OTO in 1910 and appointed him National Grand Master of Great Britain and Ireland in 1912. It was not long before Crowley's teachings on Thelema, the philosophy and spiritual method whose aim is summarized in the phrase "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," became an integral part of the new order. After Reuss's death in 1923, Crowley became the Head of OTO, continuing to align the order with Thelema and its principle document, Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX or The Book of the Law. The modern OTO is an international Thelemic organization comprised of men and women dedicated to the study of its mysteries in preparation for the discovery and use of its Central Secret. In a similar fashion to freemasonic and other fraternities, OTO instructs its members through dramatic ritual in the form of initiations and the celebration of the Gnostic Mass, which Crowley described as the "central ceremony of its (OTO) public and private celebration." The first three degrees of OTO as well as their prologue (0°) and pendants (IV° and P.I.), represent the six stages of incarnation and existence known as man's Path in Eternity. This section of the Order is known as Man of Earth Triad and in some ways corresponds with the Ancient and Accepted Scottish rite of Freemasonry. The scheme of this Triad is as follows: 0° Minerval: The ego or soul is expressed as a single point with no relation, or as the circumference of a circle, being a prologue to I°. I° Man and Brother or Woman and Sister: Birth is experienced as the reception of light. II° II° Magician: Life is studied as a chain of cause and effect. III° Master Magician: Death is voluntarily chosen as an extension of what is known as life and the unveiling of one's true self. IV° Perfect Magician: Truth is seen as a perfect relationship—balanced, complete, and exalted. P.I. Perfect Initiate: Truth is experienced as the annihilation of difference, all of which is drawn to a point and extinguished. According to Crowley, "All subsequent Degrees of the OTO are accordingly elaborations of the II°, since in a single ceremony it is hardly possible to sketch, even in the briefest outline, the Teaching of Initiates with regard to Life." The other two triads, known as the Lovers and the Hermit, are concerned with the government of the order, service to the lower degrees, and the development of the Magic of Light. The A A The A A is an initiatory order of Scientific Illuminism, introduced to the world by Aleister Crowley, George Cecil Jones, and J. F. C. Fuller. It was first announced in its official publication, The Equinox, in 1909. The motto of The Equinox is "The Method of Science, The Aim of Religion." The A A was the vehicle through which The Book of the Law was initially delivered to humankind. It also provides quality instruction in the particulars of magick and mysticism. The entire system is geared toward aiding initiates in attaining "Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel." Today, the order is active in countries all over the world and continues to issue The Equinox, which since 1913 has also been the "Official Organ of the O.T.O." The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Founded in the late 19th century, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is a magical secret society that initiates and instructs its members in various methods of the mystic arts. Its extended membership included people who would later go on to found their own occult movements and organizations, such as Dion Fortune, A. E. Waite, Israel Regardie, Paul Foster Case, and Aleister Crowley. The ceremonies of the Order are based on the Egyptian Book of the Dead, qabalistic and alchemical writings, the Rosicrucian mythos, and Christian mysticism. The system of grading within the order is based on the Sephira of the qabalistic Tree of Life, dividing itself into three degrees—the outer, inner or second, and the third order. The original organization fell to schism in the early twentieth century when members of the second order began to question the authenticity of the teachings presented by its then head, cofounder S. L. MacGregor Mathers. He had claimed that he was in contact with the Secret Chiefs of the order and attributed his new material directly to these preternatural beings. There was very little evidence to support these claims, and Mathers lost members' goodwill with his increasing tendency to exert his authority. His initiation of Crowley into the second order, a man whom the London chapter wanted nothing to do with, was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. After the revolt of the Adepti, Mathers continued his occult work and is still considered by many to be one of the most influential magicians of the 20th century. Today there are many offshoots of the Golden Dawn, primarily due to the publication of their rituals by Crowley, Regardie, and others. Among the subjects taught by the Order are astrology, divination, the Hermetic Qabalah, ceremonial magic, and geomancy. Martinist Order Louis Claude De Saint-Martin, often called the Unknown Philosopher, was one of the most illuminated men of 18th century Europe. He was a devout Christian mystic who studied the Rosicrucian documents and was a personal student of the Portuguese theurgist Martinez de Pasqually. After being initiated into and educated by a number of occult circles, Saint-Martin discarded what he called the external way. He founded a school of philosophy and mysticism based on meditation, knowledge of the Qabalah, and a less ritualized form of magic than that which was originally practiced by de Pasqually. Saint-Martin called this new school the way of the heart. This school was to be known as the Friends of Saint-Martin, or the Martinists, and their Magister or Master is Jesus Christ. The teachings of Saint-Martin are transmitted through his writings as well as a degree system loosely based on Freemasonry. At the time of its reconstitution by Gérard "Papus" Encausse in 1884, the Martinist Order consisted of four degrees: I° Associate: Candidates are introduced to the first principles of the Order. II° Mystic: The teachings of Saint-Martin are further explained through symbols and allegory. Candidates are prepared for initiation. III° Unknown Superior: Candidates are initiated, the main goal of the ceremony being to connect aspirants with an unbroken line of consciousness leading back to Saint-Martin himself. IV° Unknown Superior Initiator: In this degree, the Unkown Superior is given mastership of the Lodge or Heptad group. Later the V° of Free Initiator was added that would have the power to initiate without a lodge or Heptad and could authorize the founding of such a group. This could have been due to the scarcity of operative lodges during World War II. Like most esoteric schools, the Martinist Order has gone through many transformations and has sprouted branches that differ slightly in their interpretation of doctrine. However, it has survived to the present due to the efforts of many talented and devoted men and women. Papus led the Martinist revival in the early 20th century, and Robert Ambelain was another influential Martinist who would later write some of the most important works on the subject. The Rosicrucian Brotherhood Allegedly founded in the early 15th century, the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross has always been concerned with spiritual advancement through scientific inquiry and with the healing of the sick. Various manifestos circulated during the 1600s, but of these three considered most authentic are the Fama Fraternitatis, the Confessio Fraternitatis, and the Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. The latter depicts the founder of the Rosicrucian Order, Christian Rosenkreutz's allegorical adventure into the perilous land of personal development. Written by the German theologian Johan Valentinus Andreae, this work is a mystical-alchemical book of the dead that has served aspirants to the Great Work since its publication in 1616. The Rosicrucian movement has influenced the entire Western mystical tradition, from magicians to freemasons, to the 20th-century New Thought commercial success of books like The Secret. The Egyptian Rite Although the Egyptian Rite of Alessandro Cagliostro was intended to be a rite of Freemasonry, it is pure Theurgy, or God Working. Cagliostro had been involved in Freemasonry, Martinism, and the Illuminati, but his order was one of the first organizations to take a structured, step-by-step approach to teaching its disciples the art of Angelic Magic and other forms of practical occultism. In many ways, it was the precursor of groups such as the Golden Dawn and the OTO. It was founded in the year 1785 and consists of ninety-five degrees divided into six parts. The first set of degrees introduces students into Egyptian Masonry, which is operative, rather than the speculative Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry. The system is one of inner alchemical work that is to be constantly tested and applied. Each successive set of degrees activates the psychic centers of candidates, taking them through the various stages of alchemical transformation. The last stage corresponds with the Red Powder of Projection, said to be able to transmute base metals into gold. Sufism The Sufis are the mystics of Islam, and perhaps the fathers of what we now recognize as Western Tantra. From Christian Rosenkreutz to Paschal Beverly Randolph, the great masters of every philosophical movement since the Crusades are said to have learned a great deal from this mystic Muslim brotherhood. The rich traditions of symbolism, poetry, dance, and fervent prayer inspired many of its followers such as Rumi and Hafiz (both are celebrated Persian poets) to create masterpieces of spiritual and erotic literature comparable to the Song of Solomon. The connection with the Illuminist movements of the West is rooted in the insistence of masters such as Idries Shah that Sufism is not a religion but rather a science whose method offers a way to one's own religion. This scientific outlook and nonsectarian spirit has always been very attractive to true artists and intellectuals seeking the light of lights within themselves. The works of Idries Shah and other modern masters have gone a long way toward introducing the heart of Sufism to Westerners looking for the spiritual center of Islam amid violent attacks from its militant fundamentalists. The Sufis have traditionally been a voice championing a deep, personal relationship with the divine; this personal approach is so incompatible with radicalism or collectivism of any kind that, intentionally or not, they have been and will continue to be the West's best hope for a peaceful future alongside Islam. The most recognizable group of Sufis is the Turkish Mevlevi Order, founded by Rumi. These Dervishes (literally meaning "Openers of the Doorway") practice a ceremonial whirling dance known as the Sema, meant to induce spiritual ecstasy among its participants. From the point of view of the Dervish, it is the world that is moving about them as they spin along like a spiral galaxy thrown out into the abyss of space. Conventional wisdom says that it is they who are spinning. However, Dervishes understand that all of their interactions with the universe are opportunities for union with the beloved. The Santeria, Palo, and Espiritismo When the African slaves were brought from the Congo to the New World, their masters tried everything they could to strip them of any cultural or religious identity. They partially succeeded in doing this, but they could not remove the rich magical and spiritual heritage of the Yoruba and Lukumi peoples. The cunning and resourceful slaves kept their old pantheon; they just replaced the old names and images with those of the Catholic religion of their masters. So was born Santeria, literally meaning "Saint Working," a powerful AfroCaribbean magical practice that combines dance, music, chanting, ancestor worship, and ritualistic animal sacrifices. In pure Santeria, the forces invoked are what would be called gods by most other religions. Practitioners are called Santero, and priests, known as a Babalaos, speak directly with the spirit world and give advice to their followers. Only they are able to offer animal sacrifices to the spirits. Alongside Santeria has flourished the two other traditions of Espiritismo, meaning "Spiritism," and Palo, which means "stick." Because of the fact that the same group of people normally practices all three, these traditions overlap in many areas. Palo is so called because of its use of various sticks in its ceremonies, based on followers' belief that spirits reside in the branches of sacred trees. It is a separate religion from Santeria and has its own pantheon. Practitioners are known as Paleros and deal with spirits of light and darkness, keeping them in a special spirit house. Using a cauldron containing sticks, herbs, consecrated soil, and human remains to work their magic, they have the power to heal, to open the doors to worldly fame and power, and to kill. In Palo, the price for help from the gods is usually paid in the form of a sacrifice. Palo's use of human remains in its rituals, particularly the skull, has given it a reputation for being purely an evil form of magic. However, it must be noted that the relics of Catholic churches are a kindred religious use of human remains. In Espiritismo, there is no blood sacrifice, and practitioners usually work in groups. They hold Misa, which is the Spanish word for "Mass" but more closely resembles a séance. They use flowers and holy water during their ceremonies, as well as prayer and trance states to obtain information from the spirits. These all serve to connect the congregation with the Spiritual World that they believe can directly influence material events. The object of Espiritistas, as members of this religion are known, is usually to bring about an external material end, like procuring love or healing the sick. Today, organizations of all three systems can be found all over the world. This is due in large part to the social and political upheaval in South America and the Caribbean that has exiled large groups of its residents searching for a peaceful, prosperous life. The Toltecs Toltec means "master craftsman" in Nahuatl. The ancient Central American civilization known to modern scholars as the Toltecs collapsed circa 1150 AD, having thrived as an economic and cultural force that some believe influenced regions as remote as the American Midwest. Today there are a number of Toltec masters who continue to transmit their spiritual teachings. Authors like Don Miguel Ruiz and Carlos Castaneda have written a great deal about the Toltec view of reality. The basis of the Toltec Path is intent or will. The proper way of living in accordance with nature's laws can be studied in the life and movements of the central Toltec deity called Quetzalcoatl, the solar, feathered serpent. As in most mystery schools, the main object of worship is the sun in its spiritual sense as the center of each individual. Also of great importance is the symbolism of the different animal spirits such as the eagle, jaguar, coyote, and spider. The Toltecs divide the population of the uninitiated into three categories: Victims, Heroes, and Villains. To the master, all of these are illusory states because they are based in a self-centered view of existence, propagating a false image. What aspirants must do in order to be worthy of receiving the secret teachings is to renounce themselves in the severest way possible. They must lose all self-importance, abandon their conventional way of life, assume personal responsibility for their actions, and finally erase their own history or reinvent themselves. In accomplishing these four tasks, the seeker becomes an Apprentice, being the first degree of the Toltec path. This stage of personal development is marked by the acquisition of what is called "Inflexible Intent." The second degree is the Warrior. As its name implies, students are engaged in a struggle of life and death. It is their task to embody the attributes of the Warrior, such as courage, and also to learn how to bring about that true peace which is the harmonious reconciliation of opposing forces. Toltec Warriors fight for love and are ready at any moment to give their life in its service. The third degree is that of the Sorcerer. They learn of the power of what men call death and take an active role in manipulating reality. It is here that initiates become intimately acquainted with the spirit world and other dimensions. The various inhabitants of these other worlds of power take Sorcerers on journeys and instruct them in the use of the word to create and channel their will. Sorcerers do not see the world in an exclusive manner; they are travelers in consciousness and always seem dangerous to the uninitiated because of their dual citizenship in this world and the other. The fourth degree is the Man of Knowledge. Here, they see how the entire universe operates and become masters of their own perceptions. For the Men of Knowledge, there is no more magic, no more spirits. There is only the divine presence that permeates and envelopes all things. These people have learned the rules that govern freedom and have submitted to them—thereby gaining true liberty. The fifth and final degree has many names and forms, but the best of these is Silence. Initiates are at last ready to renounce the greatest illusion of life, their spiritual attainment. This stage of the Toltec path has been compared to jumping into a vast abyss, with nothing of one's self escaping. The total annihilation of illusion can only be seen by those still under its sway as insanity, destruction, or heresy; these being nothing but playthings of the innermost truth that suffers not the accidents of life, death, and thought, for these three are but outer manifestations of being. The Atlanteans The ancient continent and nation of Atlantis was first described by Plato in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias as a naval superpower that ruled much of the known world, including Egypt and parts of Western Europe, a little over nine thousand years prior. Plato's account of Atlantis was as a military power that enslaved its conquered subjects and was eventually defeated by Athens, and its allies were a far cry from the Utopian kingdom written about by scholars and teachers like Francis Bacon and H. P. Blavatsky. Yet it is these accounts of an advanced civilization with magic and technology that rivaled, and in some cases exceeded our own that continues to hold the imagination of modern researchers. Atlantis was, according to legend, destroyed in the course of one day by a catastrophic event. The exact event is unknown, but theories include the eruption of a large volcano, a meteor impact, and war. The god Poseidon, who ruled the sea and the continent of Atlantis—which he named after his eldest son, Atlas—was also responsible for earthquakes. This connection with geological phenomenon could be a clue as to exactly what the Greek priests understood about the demise of Atlantis. Other continents that have, according to legend, disappeared into the depths of the sea include Mu, Lemuria, and Kumari Kandam. Among the various achievements attributed to Atlantean society included flight, mastery of atomic energy and electricity, effective medicine, and the widespread use of psychic powers like telekinesis and clairvoyance. These ideas have prompted explorers to search for Atlantis as an actual location, studying ancient maps and thoroughly combing the bottom of the sea. Rather than focusing on the ruins that may or may not exist, or speculating about what magnificent devices the Atlanteans may have developed, it will probably profit modern seekers greatly to meditate upon Plato's account as a warning about the use of military power as well as the role and size of government. Like the dim memories of early childhood that are difficult to recall with accuracy yet hold so much meaning, the stories of ancient peoples who vanished without a trace shine a light toward the present from deep within the forgotten past. Many of the descriptions of these lost worlds come from spiritual communication with the inhabitants or oral traditions passed along for centuries before they were committed to writing. As archetypes, they symbolize the common experience of the loss of innocence, the transition from the ideal to the actual, and the expulsion from the womb. Many esoteric teachers believe that the first manifestation of a thing is the greatest, be it a man or a civilization. Therefore, the motif of the greatness of a culture long since destroyed—in comparison with the corruption and idleness of the world in which we live—is one that has seemingly been with humankind since we became capable of judgment and remembrance. The Cathars The Cathars were the great heretics of 12th-and 13th-century France, and their name collectively refers to various sects of Christians who fused Manichaean Dualism and Asceticism to form their own brand of Gnosis. They were much like other Dualistic Gnostics in their belief that the material world was created by an evil deity in order to imprison and control the spirit. This deity was known as Rex Mundi, the king of the world who poses as the supreme God. Some Cathars were transcendentalists who taught that humanity's spiritual destiny was to break through the bonds of matter and dethrone the Demiurge, while others taught that humankind was to redeem the fallen material world by infusing it with the divine presence within. The God whom they worshipped was the Lord of pure spirit and love, which manifested within the worshippers who had purified themselves of the wickedness they believed dwelled in materiality and the physical body. According to this belief, Jesus Christ could not have incarnated as a human being and still have been the son of the true God; his appearance on earth was in a spiritual or astral form, so powerful that his followers confused it for a physical body. These ideas put the Cathars at odds with the Roman Catholic Church. In the 13th century, the Church launched the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars. This atrocity spread across the Languedoc and other regions of France. Whoever did not repent and convert to Catholicism was put to death or imprisoned. The estimation is that seven thousand Cathars, including women and children, were tortured and murdered during the siege of Béziers. The final blow to the Cathars came in 1244 when their fortress of Montségur was besieged by troops of the Archbishop of Narbonne. Hundreds of Cathar priests known as Perfecti (The Perfected) or Parfaits were burned at the stake. According to legend, a handful of Perfecti escaped the massacre and went into hiding, stealing away with the Cathar treasure, which some believe was in fact the secret of the Gnosis—the Holy Grail. Living as outlaws, these Perfecti continued to pass on their secret knowledge. These teachings were eventually absorbed into other secret societies, which continued to tend the flame of the Gnosis in medieval and renaissance Europe. There is some speculation as to the full extent of the relationship between the Cathars and the Knights Templar. The extent of Templar participation in the suppression and extermination of the Cathars is ironic. Not long after the Catholic victory at Montségur, the French monarchy began to plan a similar destruction of the Christian warrior knights, using many of the same accusations of heresy that were leveled at the Cathars. Among the accusations that the Church made against the Cathar Gnostics of southern France were that they participated in ritual satanic worship that included group sexual orgies, infanticide, homosexuality, and the kissing of the anus of a cat. It is even possible that the name Cathar, rather than coming from the Greek word Katharos, meaning "pure ones," is actually derived from the word cat, probably stemming from the evil connotations felines had in the Middle Ages. In the late 19th century, there was a French revival in Gnostic/Cathar history and religious practices. Jules Doinel founded the Gnostic Church in 1890 after having various astral communications with spirits claiming to be Cathars. He also claimed to having been spiritually consecrated the Bishop of Montségur and Primate of the Albigenses by an entity known as the Eon Jesus. Among his followers was the head of the Martinist Order, Gérard "Papus" Encausse. Since the time of Doinel, the Gnostic Church, representing the last remnants of Catharism, has undergone the usual array of schisms and political intrigues that have plagued nearly every occult movement of the 20th century. Among the modern successors of this lineage are the Universal Gnostic Church, which has remained a Christian organization, and the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, the ecclesiastical wing of the OTO whose primary duty is the promulgation of Thelema and the performance of Aleister Crowley's masterpiece Liber XV, the Gnostic Mass. Warriors In war, the will is directed at an animate object that reacts. —On War by Karl von Clausewitz The holy war is a motif found in every religion. It is at times an inner struggle against personal shortcomings, a social movement, or an actual armed conflict against the enemies of a way of life. The great warriors of old fought the heathen, the beasts, and sometimes the gods themselves in order to open humankind's future beyond slavery, oppression, and a meaningless death. These brothers-in-arms combated the forces of tyranny and superstition and backed their assertions with espionage, steel, and gunpowder. The mystique of the holy warrior has attracted both the best and the worst of humanity. The promise of paradise in the afterlife continues to lure the faithful and the desperate, who disregard the other divine commandments of love and tolerance in order to inflict death on their enemies and thereby be granted the remission of sins and entry into heaven. But these motivations are a far cry from the moral standard that the true Knight-Monk applies to himself. For him, the reward of combat is in the freedom to fight for the preservation of humankind's fitness as an image of the Creator. Having the right to live and die a master of his own destiny—yet also being the humble servant of the Lord— are, in the mind of the warrior, one and the same. Vigilance, courage, and decisiveness are the price that must be paid for liberty; and for the sincere members of the host of heaven, such a price is most willingly paid. Knights Templar Volumes have been written about the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, or as they were more popularly known, the Knights Templar. To fully understand their relevance to the Western mystical tradition may be impossible. One problem is the secrecy required of the few survivors after their persecution. The other is the sheer depth of the teachings that have been ascribed to these martyrs and accused heretics—who were for almost two centuries the most elite fighting force in Christendom. The Order of the Temple was founded in 1119, by two French knights, Hugues de Payens and Godfrey de Saint-Omer, both of whom had fought in the Crusades. They were a monastic group of skilled warriors whose purpose was to defend European pilgrims on their dangerous journey to Jerusalem, and their symbol was the red cross on a white mantle. King Baldwin II of Jerusalem allowed them to have their headquarters at the Al Aqsa Mosque located on the Temple Mount, site of the Temple of King Solomon. At first, the Knights numbered only nine and survived on the donations of a few supporters, hence their seal depicting two knights riding upon a single horse, a symbol of their poverty. In time, funding would cease to be an obstacle for the fledgling order after their official endorsement by the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Troyes in 1129. This was in large part precipitated by the writings of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Soon after, nobles began lining up to donate their land and join the ranks. Innocent II's papal bull, the Omne Datum Optimum, exempted the Templars from paying taxes and held them solely responsible to the Pope himself. Now that the Knights had no regent besides the Holy See, they could move about all of Europe, ignoring borders and local laws. This newfound prestige, wealth, and power would be used by the Knights to better serve the pilgrims. The order established the first banks and lines of credit to minimize the danger of robbery on the road to the east. As they won numerous victories against the formidable Islamic forces of their enemy, they gained honor as a courageous Christian army. Just as the Templars' rise to power was never before seen, so was their total destruction and utter ruin unprecedented in the history of Catholic monastic orders. As the crusading armies began to lose their dominance in the Holy Land, the militaristic mission of the Templars became less important. Support for the Knight-Monks began to dwindle, and Pope Clement V discussed merging the Templar and Hospitaller orders in 1305. In 1307 Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the order, arrived in France at the behest of the Pope to discuss the arrangement, though he and the Grand Master of the Hospitallers had made it clear that neither of them favored the plan put forth by Clement. There were charges of heresy made against the Templars by Philip IV of France, and while de Molay flatly denied them, Clement was under a great deal of pressure to investigate. The charges included spitting on the cross and homosexual intercourse during rituals as well as the worship of a bearded head (possibly that of John the Baptist), a cat, and an ass-or goat-headed idol known as Abufamet, or Baphomet. Philip IV of France, or Philip the Fair as he was also known, was in a large amount of debt to the Knights Templar for their assistance in his war with England. Upon hearing of the charges against them, he and his ministers began a campaign to convince the Pope into taking action against the Order, hoping to destroy it and thereby rid himself of his debt. On Friday, October 13th, 1307, the French king ordered the arrest of the Knights in France and seized their property. About a month later, Clement V issued a papal bull decreeing that the kings of Europe arrest all members of the Order. In 1310, some of the French Templars confessed to these charges while under torture, and later retracted the same, stating that the confessions were made under duress. Philip made sure that the retractions had no effect, burning many of them at the stake in Paris. By 1312, after continued bullying by Philip, Clement issued two papal bulls—one dissolving the Order, and the other transferring what remained of their assets to the Hospitallers. On March 18th, 1314, Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar was burned at the stake in Paris. He had retracted his confession made under torture but was deemed a relapsed heretic. He asked to be faced toward the Notre Dame Cathedral, with his hands tied in front of him in the attitude of prayer. From the flames, he cried out that both Clement and Philip would meet him before God within the year. Clement died a month later, and Philip was dead before year's end. Some Knights escaped the stake and the dungeon by fleeing to parts of Europe where the Church had no power, such as Scotland and Switzerland, or where the orders to arrest them were largely ignored, such as Spain and Portugal. It is here that conventional history goes silent on the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, and the initiated tradition begins to shed more light on the fate of these holy warriors. In the 12th century, shortly after the Order was founded and officially recognized at the Council of Troyes, Chrétien de Troyes wrote Perceval, the Story of the Grail, the first-ever written account of the quest for the Holy Grail. In the story, there is a strange procession that includes a bloody spear and a maiden bearing the Grail, which has been connected with the divine feminine, and the crescent moon, the symbol of Islam. The spear and the grail are both symbols of sacred sexuality and have legendary significance in Christian as well as Pagan beliefs. The idea that the Templars were guardians of some secret spiritual knowledge does in many ways stem from the perceived connection between their mission in the Holy Land and the Grail Romance. The fact that the Templars were involved in the suppression of the Cathars, who were themselves accused of very similar heretical practices, has also been a source of speculation for researchers. Some try to form a link between the Secret of the Heretics of Southern France, and the Lost Treasure of the Knights of the Temple—which could very well have been the same: the Holy Grail. Legend states that the founder of the semi-mythical Rosicrucian Brotherhood, Christian Rosenkreutz (Christian of the Rosy-Cross) was born in 1378, sixty-four years after the martyrdom of Jacques de Molay. The life of Rosenkreutz was similar to what could have been that of a Templar Knight, in that he was celibate, had traveled to the East, studying various spiritual traditions such as Sufism and Zoroastrianism under a vast array of enlightened masters. Upon returning to Europe in 1407, exactly one century after the arrest of de Molay, he founded the Rosicrucian Order for the purpose of spreading the information he had gathered while in the Middle East. The Rosy-Cross is also the Red Cross of the Knights Templar, symbolizing living Gnosis fueled by one's work. The Rosicrucians allegedly knew the secrets of nature and studied the occult sciences of the Qabalah and Alchemy. The Knights Templar would have been able to bring back from the East a great deal of knowledge on these subjects, as Jerusalem was a veritable melting pot of philosophies and religions, helping give rise to the Renaissance, and later to the Enlightenment. As ideas like the scientific investigation of nature and the right of people to study and understand sacred scripture for themselves became more widely accepted in European society, the descendants of the Templars began to resurface by issuing various manifestos under the name of Protestant spiritual fraternities like the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, particularly in the 16th century. By the 18th century, groups like the Freemasons had already begun to form around the philosophical and political foundations laid by the Templars more than seven hundred years earlier. Today, many esoteric groups claim descent from these warrior monks. Solid evidence in support of these claims is difficult to come by for reasons previously stated. It is important to remember that one group may influence another not only through direct contact, but also by a chain of events that can sway a culture toward the creation of new ideals and morals previously unknown. Assassins The Hashashin, or Assassins as they are commonly known, were the Nizari sect of the Ismaili Shia Muslims, led by Hassani-Sabbah, the infamous "Old Man of the Mountain." The name Hashashin is most likely derived from the word Asasiyun, meaning "people who are faithful to Islam's foundations." The group used targeted political killings to defend their interests, thus forever linking the term assassin with a ruthless killer. The legends surrounding this organization have their origin largely in the writing of the Italian explorer Marco Polo. In his account of the Hashashin, which is believed by modern historians to be fictional due to its dating (the fortress described was destroyed years before Polo claims to have visited it), new recruits were drugged so they would fall into a deep sleep. Upon awaking, the young men would find that they had been transported to the most beautiful garden paradise imaginable, with women expert in the arts of love, music, and poetry, as well as containing every manner of delicious food and drink. They would then be drugged a second time, this time awakening back in their quarters. The new members would then be given a golden dagger and the name of their victim. Given that the majority of these killings were perpetrated in public in order to enhance their dramatic effect, the odds of surviving a mission were practically nonexistent. Members were told that Hassan had transported their spirit to paradise during the night and that if they gave their life in the service of their master, they would be rewarded with eternity in the garden. The Hashashin had a graded system of initiation consisting of nine degrees that educated the elect on the finer points of philosophy, mysticism, and practical psychology. The Dais, or covert missionaries, were sent out into the greater Islamic population with the dangerous mission of converting more orthodox Muslims to the radically divergent message of the Nizari Ismaili Shia. Hasan-i-Sabbah was himself a Dai until he became the leader of the Nizari. His motto was, according to legend, "Nothing is true, everything is permissible." These men, considered to be extremely learned, specifically schooled in the doctrines of the people they intended to recruit, could successfully infiltrate and place agents inside the courts of even the most well-guarded monarchs. Part four Luminaries and Seers Torchbearers of Secret Knowledge Woe to the child who believes himself wiser than his parents, to the man who acknowledges no masters, to that dreamer who thinks and prays by himself. Life is an universal communion and in such communion do we find immortality. —The History of Magic by Éliphas Lévi Since we began keeping records, humans have chronicled the existence of exceptional individuals. These great people accomplish seemingly impossible feats through cunning, strength, and perseverance. But rarely have they acted alone. The secret tradition tells of an invisible brotherhood of initiates who have knowledge and power far above what we can attribute to any human being. Many a great prophet or leader has claimed to be in contact with these forces that transcend our apparent mortal restrictions. Here we will journey from the shadows of prehistory to the present time, meeting some of the greatest spiritual minds and hearts ever to reveal themselves to us. These heroes of progress and freedom continually return in the form of courageous teachers, soldiers, statesmen, and friends. Helping them in their quest to heal a nation or enlighten an age are usually masters of the secret arts and fellow warriors who have pledged their undying loyalty to a cause. Among the great lights of the world have been people of all ages and classes, from every nation and creed. The following Legends and Gods The appearance of God to mortals seems always to have been in brightness and great glory, whether He was angry and in displeasure, or benign and kind. —The Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries by Hargrave Jennings The existence of some people is sometimes less important than the actions and words attributed to them. There are individuals who, although not having totally escaped the net of recorded history, cannot be said to have ever really walked among us as told in their fables and songs. Yet, as long as the wisdom they represent is alive in each of us, these legendary people can take their pleasure on the earth, continuing to guide and enlighten. Apollonius of Tyana Apollonius of Tyana was a 1st-century neo-Pythagorean philosopher, magician, alchemist, and doctor, who was later worshipped as a deity equal to Jesus Christ by Greek and Roman pagans. He was admired in the medieval Christian and Muslim world as a man of learning and spiritual purity. Hermes Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus or Thrice Greatest Hermes was worshipped as the GrecoEgyptian deity and patron of magic, astrology, alchemy, and spiritual advancement. He was called thrice great because he had attained mastery over the realms of heaven, earth, and humankind, making him the epitome of priests, philosophers, and kings. It is from him that the doctrines of Hermeticism proceed, being chiefly concerned with the realization of divinity within the individual and the betterment of society through scientific advancement. Many scholars understand him to be the synthesis of the Greek Hermes with the Egyptian Thoth, thus establishing him as both messenger of God and creator of language. According to legend, Hermes Trismegistus is at times described as the contemporary of various biblical patriarchs, most notably Abraham and Noah. There are thousands of writings attributed to him, each revealing the secrets of existence and the path to uniting the soul with the eternal One. The most famous of these writings is the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, a document that has been translated by a multitude of occult scholars including Sir Isaac Newton and Giorgio Beato. Here is the Latin translation of the Emerald Tablet from Chrysogonus Polydorus, Nuremberg, 1541, along with a new English translation by the author. Verum, sine mendacio, certum et verissimum: Being true, without lying, certain, and of the highest order of truth: Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius, et quod est superius est sicut quod est inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius. The inferior is alike to the superior, and the superior is alike to the inferior, in reaching the performance of the one miraculous matter. Et sicut res omnes fuerunt ab uno, meditatione unius, sic omnes res natae ab hac una re, adaptatione. And as all things come from the One, meditating on the One, so also are all things born from the One thing, through change. Pater eius est Sol. Mater eius est Luna. His Father is the Sun. His Mother is the Moon. Portavit illud Ventus in ventre suo. Nutrix eius terra est. Carried by the Wind in its belly, He is nursed by the Earth. Pater omnis telesmi totius mundi est hic. In this is the Father of all the rites and magical workings of the world. Virtus eius integra est si versa fuerit in terram. His Power is integrated if it enters the earth. Separabis terram ab igne, subtile ab spisso, suaviter, magno cum ingenio. Dividing the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, with gentleness, greatness, and genius. Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum. He Climbs the earth to heaven, then descends back to the earth, and receives the superior and inferior powers. Sic habebis Gloriam totius mundi. Ideo fugiet a te omnis obscuritas. Therefore you have the glory of the entire world. Thus you may expel all obscurities. Haec est totius fortitudinis fortitudo fortis, quia vincet omnem rem subtilem, omnemque solidam penetrabit. She is the source of strength within the strength of force, being victorious over all subtleties, completely penetrating the hard. Sic mundus creatus est. For this reason was the world created. Hinc erunt adaptationes mirabiles, quarum modus est hic. Hence there have been miraculous changes, which have been effected through this method. Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Trismegistus, habens tres partes philosophiae totius mundi. Thus am I called Hermes Thrice Greatest, holding the three parts of the philosophies of the whole World. Completum est quod dixi de operatione Solis. Complete are my words concerning the Solar operation. The Emerald Tablet is a foundational work of the Western mystery tradition, revealing the detailed operations of the Great Work. Hermes Trismegistus, a spring of wisdom, has continued to guide aspirants both in spirit and thought within Hermetic literature. Hiram Abiff Hiram Abiff was the Master Architect of the First Temple of Jerusalem, sent by the King of Tyre to aid King Solomon. He was a man of great learning and wisdom, skilled in metallurgy, masonry, and carpentry. Although the story of his life and death are only documented in the legends of Freemasonry, the influence of his tale has extended beyond the confines of the lodge. The Grand Master Hiram Abiff organized the workers of the temple and ensured that they received compensation for their work according to level of skill. He devised signs, grips, and passwords that could properly identify the workers to one another and so they would prove themselves worthy of the pay to which they were entitled by their grade, be it Fellow Craft or Master Mason. The work continued on the temple in peace and at a good pace, and everyone admired Hiram Abiff's qualities. Well, not exactly everyone. A small group of workers, headed by three Fellow Crafts, desired the word of the master. Possession of this word and its secrets would entitle the ruffians to the Master's pay, and although Hiram had promised to give it to them upon the completion of the Temple, these men had no intention of waiting. At high noon, they confronted Hiram on his way out of the unfinished Holy of Holies, where he was offering his daily prayers to God, and they demanded he divulge the secrets of a Master Mason. When he refused, they each struck him with their tools, ending his life with a final blow of a setting maul—a wooden hammer used to set a stone in its proper place in mortar. Realizing what they had done, the murderers hid the Master's body by burying him under an acacia tree, and being unable to flee the country, they decided to hide out in the wilderness. When King Solomon learned of Hiram's murder from the Fellow Crafts that had abandoned the plot, he ordered the workmen to find the three murderers. Failure to apprehend the ruffians would be met with death. It was not long before the assassins were found and executed. The discovery of the body of the Grand Master Hiram Abiff was proof of the crime against him, yet it was also a reminder that the word of the Master had indeed been lost. Due to its state of purification, the body of Hiram could only by raised by holding his lifeless arm with a special grip known as the lion's paw, sacred to the tribe of Judah, of which King Solomon was the ruler. In honor of his pious life, the Grand Master Hiram Abiff would be buried as close to the Holy of Holies as Jewish law permitted. Horus Horus, the hawk-headed lord of magic and war, was arguably the most important god in the Egyptian pantheon. He is closely identified with the sun and is the avenger of his father Osiris's murder by his brother Set. Horus is the central deity worshipped in the rite of modern magicians, as the sun who does not die, and the falcon whose eyes are the sun and moon. Isis The goddess Isis was the most widely worshipped feminine deity in the ancient world. She had devotees in Egypt, the country of her origin, as well as in Greece, Rome, and many other locations throughout the Mediterranean. Motherhood, magic, fertility, and nature were all parts of life that Isis ruled and through which she aided humanity. She was the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus. Jesus of Nazareth Perhaps the most influential figure in history, Jesus of Nazareth is considered by over two billion people to be the only begotten Son of God and therefore the savior of the world. There are no historical records beyond the religious texts attributed to his direct followers supporting his existence, and no writings claiming his authorship have apparently survived to the present, but the power of Christianity is such that most scholars refuse to question the historicity of Jesus. The doctrine that he represents is nonetheless so revolutionary that to this day, it is more often misunderstood than skillfully applied, and the bulk of its adherents never bother to become intimately acquainted with its inner meaning. According to the initiated tradition, it is unimportant whether there was such a man or not—his existence as an archetype and deity has so thoroughly permeated modern consciousness as to render his literal existence inconsequential. There are four biblical accounts of Jesus Christ's ministry, three of them (Mark, Luke, and Matthew) are known as the Synoptic Gospels because the narratives all share a similar point of view, even using the same wording in some instances. The Gospel of John differs greatly from the others and is usually considered by occultists, along with the Book of Revelation, the most relevant of the books of the New Testament, due to its Gnostic message and its association of Christ with the eternal Word. The name Jesus is an adaptation of Iesus, a Latinized version of IHShVH or Yeshua. The initiated tradition teaches that this name contains a powerful formula of magic. The fourfold name, Tetragrammaton or IHVH, becomes the name of the Christos when we insert the Hebrew letter Shin, symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Therefore the name of the Son comes from the union of the Father (IHVH) and the Holy Spirit, or Shekina (Shin, the spiritual flame, and the female soul of God). These five letters may be arranged along the points of the pentagram, a symbol that can be thus used to invoke the highest light. The secret tradition holds that the central message of Jesus was that the Kingdom of Heaven is within, and that Man is God. Every other statement recorded in the Gospels must be interpreted with this as the basis, or the inner meaning of the passage will be missed. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus represent not only the path of the spirit, but also the understanding that 1st century Christians had of the world around them. Lao Tzu Lao Tzu, whose name means "old child" or "old master," is credited with being the founder of what would later become the Taoist religion. He is believed to have lived in China in the 6th century BC. His book, the Tao Te Ching, or the "Classic on the Virtuous Way," outlines the manner in which the enlightened should approach nature, politics, their fellow human beings, and life in general. His philosophy is antiauthoritarian and stresses noninterference as the most efficient way to help the world. According to Lao Tzu, the existence of good is just as symptomatic of the imbalance of the universe as is the existence of evil. The sage sees only cause and effect, realizing that morality is itself the cause of immorality. Taoism's emphasis on naturalness and longevity, through nonresistance to the contending forces in nature, has given rise to practices such as Qigong and Taoist Alchemy. Maria the Jewess Probably a contemporary of the writers of the New Testament, Maria the Jewess—or Miriam the Prophetess as she is also known—was one of the most illuminated people of the ancient world. She was an innovator in the field of alchemy, inventing or completing many instruments such as the bainmarie (also known as a water bath), a device used to this day to gently heat materials or keep them warm for long periods of time. According to the sayings attributed to her, she was a master of the Qabalah and mysticism in general. "One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the One as the fourth," is one of Maria's alchemical axioms that may be interpreted to be a description of the process of manifestation by the power of Tetragrammaton, or IHVH. Due to her level of education, she is thought to have been the daughter of a king or the sister of some chieftain, and is sometimes referred to as the sister of Moses, possibly to further demonstrate her prophetic status. Osiris The Egyptian god Osiris was worshipped as the patron of resurrection and immortality of the spirit, as well as being the king of the underworld. He was slain by his brother, Set, who scattered his body parts throughout the world. His sister and wife, Isis, collected them all save for his phallus, which she had fashioned out of gold. Unable to raise him, she had intercourse with the golden phallus and conceived the god Horus, who would avenge the death of his father. In Egyptian magic, the magician must be like Osiris—worthy to wear the crown, crook, and flail, representing the three manifestations of power: unity, mercy, and severity. Pan Pan was worshipped as a fertility god by the ancient Greeks and plays a central role in the mystery tradition. Christians have used Pan's image for centuries as a representation of Satan, possibly as a way to condemn the old pagan deities in the mind of the faithful. His horns and goat legs represent union with the pasture and are a mark of his divinity and correspondence with the natural world. He is a symbol of the All and of the life force. His pipes can be compared to everything that lives, the singing voice of nature deriving its beautiful sounds from the breath of Pan. Siddhartha Siddhartha Gautama was the name of the man that would later be called the Shakyamuni Buddha, or the Fully Awakened One of the Shakya Clan. He lived in the 5th century BC and founded the religion of Buddhism after years of intense spiritual studies with the great masters of the Indian subcontinent. Legend states that after his apprenticeship with various teachers, he was yet unable to find an end to Samsara, the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. He retreated into the wilderness, meditated beneath a tree for nine years, until at last he attained the supreme state, which he called Nirvana. His doctrine and method for achieving Nirvana, meaning "to be extinguished," can be summarized by the two sets of principles known as the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths are a set of spiritual theorems that aspirants meditate upon in order to free themselves from Samsara. The first of these is Dukkha, meaning "Suffering." To the unenlightened, every possible circumstance and interaction contains an element of suffering. Even the most positive experiences hold the seed of an equally painful reaction in that they will inevitably come to an end or be limited in some other way. The second Noble Truth is that of Samudaya, meaning "origin" or "cause." Desire and craving are the causes of suffering, specifically the desire for sensual pleasure, the desire for existence, and the desire for an end or annihilation. In people ignorant of the true nature of existence, these three dominate every thought, word, and deed, and they are usually unconscious of this fact. The third Noble Truth is that of Nirodha, meaning "Cessation." This is a state of being that is free from these incomplete views of reality. The fourth and final Noble Truth is called Magga, meaning "path." There is a path or way out of the cycle of rebirth, a way to achieve that state of freedom. This is found in the Noble Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path is divided into three sections. The first section is dedicated to wisdom and is composed of the first two steps: 1. Right View 2. Right Intention The second section is dedicated to ethics and is composed of the middle three steps: 1. Right Speech 2. Right Action 3. Right Livelihood The third and last section is dedicated to concentration, or the balancing of the mind: 1. Right Effort 2. Right Mindfulness 3. Right Concentration Each school of Buddhism has different interpretations of how to accomplish these steps, depending on the cultural and doctrinal influences that have entered the lineage. However, interested students should compare the Eightfold Path with the Eight Limbs of yoga in order to understand how one system influences the other—gaining direct insight into the interconnectedness of all practices and beliefs, an important aspect of the secret tradition. Solomon The wise King Solomon, the son of David, had many great skills attributed to him, including prophecy, poetry, science, magic, and the ability to converse with various animals, especially birds. In the 10th century BC, he built the first Temple in Jerusalem and composed some of the most exquisite poems of the ancient world. He prayed to God, not for the destruction of his adversaries or for wealth, but for wisdom. Though this request was indeed granted, Solomon would make many mistakes. He kept hundreds of wives and concubines, many of them princesses of foreign kingdoms, and they had him build temples to their own foreign gods in the land of Israel. According to the Bible, this not only angered his priests and people, but also his God. Solomon was a man of passion and, though a noble king, he was at times at odds with the conventions of his people. It seems that he was a perfect embodiment of the ancient Jewish people: wise, yet stubborn and sometimes fickle—always a paradox. After his death, the kingdom was divided into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, evidence of how his actions tore apart the tribes. There abound stories of King Solomon's exploits in magic, especially in the Islamic tradition and rabbinical literature. King Solomon is said to have possessed a magical ring with a powerful symbol engraved upon it, known as King Solomon's Seal. There are multiple versions of this symbol, but most include either a hexagram or a pentagram. He used the ring to command spirits, demons, and animals. Among the demons under Solomon's command were Eligos, Bael, and Asmodeus, the King of Demons. In modern magical practice, the study of evocation through the use of a circle, triangle, and ring is many times referred to as Solomonic magic. There are a number of grimoires claiming his authorship, including The Greater Key of Solomon and The Lesser Keys of Solomon, as well as The Testament of Solomon. These works describe methods of summoning angelic and demonic forces in order to find hidden treasure, acquire love, or attain the power of flight. Zoroaster Zoroaster, or Zarathustra, was a philosopher and spiritual Adept in ancient Babylon, probably in the 8th century BC. The exact meaning of his name is unknown; however, it is etymologically connected with the Avestan word for camel. He is considered to be the founder of Babylonian magic and the composer of the Gathas, which form the most sacred scriptures of his religious doctrine, known today as Zoroastrianism. Zoroaster taught that life is a struggle between light and darkness, and that humanity has free will in order to choose light for itself and the world. Through leading an honest life and studying the laws that govern the universe, humankind participates in the triumph of truth. His teaching would form the basis for much of the religious and philosophical movements of the Western world. Medieval and Renaissance Masters Therefore our mind being pure and divine, inflamed with a religious love, adorned with hope, directed by faith, placed in the height and top of the human soul, doth attract truth, and suddenly comprehend it, and beholdeth all the stations, grounds, causes and sciences of things both natural and immortal in the divine truth itself, as it were in a certain glass of eternity. —Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Henry Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim From the fall of the Roman Empire to the repressive reign of pope and king, these keepers of the holy flame of wisdom saw to it that humankind would emerge from darkness as a functional microcosm, not the bestial slave desired by his despotic overseers. During the horror of the Inquisition, the magician or mystic who did not properly conceal his craft had a good chance of being burned alive or sentenced to a life of imprisonment. And yet amid the dangerous climate of fear flourished some of the greatest Adepti of the sacred sciences that have ever lived. These luminaries led the way for a new hope to rush across Europe in whispers about the brotherhood and nobility of humankind and the coming revelations from a god that was within each and every person. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa 1486–1535 The German Magus Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa was one of the first people to systematically study and record esoteric spiritual practices and methods in the Common Era. His Three Books of Occult Philosophy are considered masterpieces, and are required reading by many modern occult teachers. Teresa of Avila 1515–1582 Considered a saint and doctor of the Roman Catholic Church, Teresa of Avila was a Spanish mystic, writer, nun, and church reformer. She was a friend of Saint John of the Cross, who wrote the Dark Night of the Soul. Her mystical writings include the Interior Castle, which describes the various stages that the soul must pass through on its journey toward union with God. She was allegedly capable of many seemingly miraculous feats, including flight, clairvoyance, and bilocation. Giordano Bruno 1548–1600 Giordano Bruno was an Italian philosopher, magician, mathematician, and outspoken supporter of the heliocentric model of the solar system. Among his ideas are that our solar system is only one of an infinite number of systems and that Jesus was a fully moral human being who accomplished his miracles through the use of natural magic. Bruno was persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church and burned at the stake in Rome for expressing his opinions. His most famous works include: The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast, On the Infinite Universe and Worlds, and Theses on Magic. John Dee and Edward Kelley 1527–1609 and 1555–1595 John Dee was a successful mathematician, astronomer, adviser to Queen Elizabeth, and master of espionage. He wrote the Monas Heiroglyphica, an enigmatic work on the unity of man, nature, and God. He was searching for a way to gain a deeper understanding of magic when he met Edward Kelley, an alchemist and clairvoyant, who impressed Dee with his abilities. Together, these Elizabethan-era magicians received what is now known as the Enochian Magical System through a series of visions and angelic communications. The system has its own language, symbolism, and rituals, and is considered by modern occultists to be one of the most powerful spiritual modalities available. Its influence on the secret tradition is immeasurable, forming a vital component of the teachings of societies like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the A A Moses Maimonides 1135–1204 Moses Maimonides was a Jewish philosopher and physician born in Cordova, Spain, but he moved to Egypt due to the rise of Islamic fanaticism in southern Spain. In Egypt, he worked as a court physician to the incomparable Muslim leader Saladin. His work, The Guide for the Perplexed was very influential in medieval European thought due to its attempt to consolidate traditional Judaism with Aristotelian philosophy and science. This mission, to unite science and religion, is part of the greater task of the initiated tradition, which seeks to unify the totality of humankind's being. Paracelsus 1493–1541 Theophrastus Phillippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim—or Paracelsus, as he is commonly known—was born in Switzerland. He was a noted alchemist, doctor, and spiritual writer in his own time. Paracelsus's main contribution to medicine was in identifying the use of minerals and various chemical substances in treating diseases. Until him, herbs were the only medicine considered in combating sickness. He taught that the universe is a sentient being, composed of interdependent parts that are pervaded by the universal life force or spirit. Abraham von Worms 1359–1427 Abraham von Worms was a German Jew who traveled to the Middle East in search of the secret wisdom of magic. He studied with various rabbis, learning the intricate science of the Qabalah. While in Egypt, he encountered a desert hermit by the name of Abramelin, who taught him a system of magic that was unique in its emphasis on the development of the spiritual and moral character of aspirants. In Abramelin's system, students must first invoke their Holy Guardian Angel, a being who will guide and instruct them on all points of life. Only after this connection has been made are the students then allowed to call forth the evil or unredeemed spirits, and subjugate them according to the methods described by the Angel. Abraham von Worms recorded the instructions of Abramelin in one of the most important works in Western mystical literature, The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. Sages of the Enlightenment: The 18th Century New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common. —An Essay concerning Human Understanding by John Locke All across Europe and America, the light of reason was beginning to shine openly during the eighteenth century, once more dissolving the phantoms of superstition and tyranny. The time was right for revolutions and bold questions. Fueling the fires that would burn down the prisons of the mind were incredible men and women who pierced the veil of nature with the method of science, exposing the divine light of spirit to all courageous enough to look. The war against the enemies of light was and is still beset with grave danger. Many who fought in these chaotic times were slain or captured. Some hid themselves in the costume of the charlatan so as not to draw the mob toward the gates of the holy temple, while others denied its existence entirely while openly living by its principles. Calling for the equality of humankind before the law and for the establishment of just government and free scientific inquiry, the great philosophers and magicians of the enlightenment were perhaps the most daring of all time. Francis Barrett c. 1770–? Francis Barrett was an English occultist, chemist, and philosopher who wrote the Magus, Celestial Intelligencer, a textbook on magic and Hermeticism that was published in 1801. This work had a large influence on writers such as Éliphas Lévi, who in turn were central characters in the occult revival of the 19th century. After 1801, there is no more information on Barrett's life or even the date of his death. Alessandro Cagliostro 1743–1795 The great Adept of alchemy, mysticism, magic, and Freemasonry, Count Alessandro Cagliostro was one of the most enigmatic and interesting personalities of the 18th century. He founded the Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry, and was well acquainted with the influential thinkers and monarchs of his time. Born into a noble family on the island of Malta and orphaned as a young child, he was called by the name Acharat and raised in the palace of Muphti Salahaym. He was instructed in the sacred sciences of the East by one of his servants, an enlightened man by the name of Althotas. As a young man, he and his tutor traveled in the Middle East, finally returning to Malta, where he received the name Cagliostro. Although the origin of this name is unclear, its root caglia descends from the Phoenician word karel, meaning "City of God." Ostro is an Italian term for the southerly wind of the Mediterranean Sea. From Malta, he went on to practice alchemy and the occult arts in Europe. While in Paris, he continued his work until imprisoned in the Bastille for his suspected involvement in the Diamond Necklace Affair. (This scandal involved the theft of a very expensive diamond necklace by the Countess de Lamotte, through defrauding the jeweler, the Cardinal de Rohan, and Queen Marie Antoinette. After her arrest, Countess de Lamotte accused Cagliostro, a close friend of Cardinal de Rohan, of being the architect of the plot.) Although Cagliostro was acquitted after spending nine months in prison, the French forced him to leave the country. Not long after arriving in England, he was accused by the blackmailer and French spy Theveneau de Morande of being Giuseppe Balsamo, a thief and charlatan. Cagliostro wrote an Open Letter to the English People refuting the allegations of fraud, demanding a retraction and an apology. These were granted, but the damage to his reputation was done, and Cagliostro left for Rome. In Rome, two of his disciples, who were actually spies for the Inquisition, betrayed him. Cagliostro was charged with being a Freemason and sentenced to death. After an audience with a mysterious and unidentified figure, the Pope changed the sentence to life imprisonment. Cagliostro was never able to rid himself of the rumor that he was an impostor whose true identity was Giuseppe Balsamo. This theory persists to this day, marring the reputation of a man who should be honored as an advocate for religious liberty and equality of the sexes. He healed the sick using what seemed to observers as miraculous spiritual powers. He also established charities and Masonic lodges throughout Europe. It is believed by some that Cagliostro escaped from the Castle of Saint Leo, but most historians agree that he perished in the dungeons there, a martyr of Freemasonry and the occult sciences. Adam Weishaupt 1748–1830 Adam Weishaupt was a Bavarian philosopher and professor, educated by Jesuits. He founded the Order of the Illuminati in 1776 that he might help reform Europe by using a secret society. The Illuminati Order was in many ways closer in design to the Jesuit Order than to freemasonry, which he joined in 1777. Weishaupt believed in the perfectibility of human beings through the restructuring of society away from governmental and religious tyranny and toward political and intellectual liberty. Benjamin Franklin 1706–1790 While most people would agree that Benjamin Franklin was a political and scientific genius, very few are aware that he was also an incredibly accomplished Freemason and mystic. His actions surrounding the founding of the United States of America prove that he was no armchair revolutionary, or even just a philosopher content with infinite musing, but an ardent advocate of human freedom and happiness. His views on the soul and nature were pragmatic, counting on results rather than theories or dogma. His writings, though simple in the puritan style, transmit an essential wisdom. His much beloved Virtues are easier to escape readers' notice than conscience. As a printer, he understood the power of the written word, continuing the longstanding relationship between publishing and personal growth. Mary Wollstonecraft 1759–1797 Marry Wollstonecraft was an English philosopher and feminist writer. Her work, particularly A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, remains influential among modern champions of the spiritual and legal equality of the sexes. Magi of the Occult Revival: The 19th Century There is no age more remarkable to the quiet observer than our own. Everywhere there is a fermentation in the minds of men; everywhere there is a battle between light and darkness, between exploded thought and living ideas, between powerless wills and living active force; in short everywhere is there war between animal man and growing spiritual man. —The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary by Karl Von Eckhartshausen The world had been prepared for contact with the Secret Chiefs that govern the spiritual forces of the planet. As science made its ascent and republics flourished, these masters began to send forth emissaries to establish new paths up the Holy Mountain. The Industrial Revolution, though granting the multitudes with new technologies never before dreamed of, left the soul unfulfilled. The 19th century saw the emergence of a new class of Adept, one who could compare the religious and philosophical with the scientific and mundane, thus beginning the process of unifying them under the banner of truth. William Blake 1757–1827 William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printer who received many religious visions during his life, revealing to him the spiritual hierarchy of nature. His works, greatly influenced by Swedenborg and Jacob Boehme, have earned him a nearly prophetic status among occultists and mystics. Blake's philosophy was decidedly Gnostic and occult, perfectly espoused in the following quote from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: The Voice of the Devil All Bibles or sacred codes have been the causes of the following Errors. 1. That Man has two real existing principles Viz: a Body and a Soul. 2. That Energy, call'd Evil, is alone from the Body, and that Reason, call'd Good, is alone from the Soul. 3. That God will torment Man in Eternity for following his Energies. But the following Contraries to these are True 1. Man has no Body distinct from his Soul for that call'd Body is a portion of Soul discern'd by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age. 2. Energy is the only life and is from the Body and Reason is the bound or outward circumference of Energy. 3. Energy is Eternal Delight. Helena Petrova Blavatsky 1831–1891 Helena Petrova (H. P.) Blavatsky was the founder of the Theosophical Society, whose motto was "There is no religion higher than truth." She was born in modern-day Ukraine, and though she married at the age of sixteen, she soon escaped her husband. It was then that she began her world travels that would take her to such diverse regions as Egypt, North and South America, and Tibet. The various cultures and religions she encountered had a profound effect on her thinking, but she had been exposed to the occult in her childhood by family members and close friends involved in the secret tradition. She was a controversial figure in her own lifetime, regarded as a fraud by many scholars and critics of spiritualism. Blavatsky wrote a number of books on the theory and theology of the Eastern occult beliefs that she had studied—the most influential of which are Isis Unveiled, The Secret Doctrine, and The Voice of the Silence. Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1803–1873 Edward Bulwar-Lytton was an English writer, politician, and occultist. He was particularly interested in the Rosicrucian tradition and the idea of human evolution. These interests would be reflected in his writing, especially in Zanoni: A Rosicrucian Tale and Vril: The Power of the Coming Race. BulwarLytton is considered by many occult groups to be a spiritual forerunner and has inspired other influential authors such as Charles Dickens and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Kersey Graves 1813–1883 Kersey Graves was an American author, spiritualist, abolitionist, and religious researcher. He wrote The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors, an inquiry into the origin of religion and its role in the life of a liberated human being. Godfrey Higgins 1772–1833 Godfrey Higgins was an English soldier, politician, and esoteric researcher. His writings include such classics of esoteric and comparative religious literature as The Celtic Druids and Anacalypsis. Éliphas Lévi 1810–1875 Éliphas Lévi was the nom de plume of the French mystic, philosopher, and magician, whose given name was Alphonse Louis Constant. His theories on the nature and practical application of magic, especially the occult correspondences of the Tarot, are still studied by many esoteric groups as the foundation of modern occultism. Lévi's most influential literary contributions include Transcendental Magic, The History of Magic, and The Key of the Mysteries. Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers 1854–1918 Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers was an English occultist and one of the founding members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. His translation of works such as The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage and The Kabbalah Unveiled helped to support the growing interest in the occult in the late 19th century and have continued to inspire and educate modern magicians. Albert Pike 1809–1891 Albert Pike was an American soldier, poet, author, lawyer, and Freemason. His magnum opus, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, has been a continual source of esoteric wisdom, controversy, and Masonic lore since its publication in 1871. Paschal Beverly Randolph 1825–1875 Paschal Beverly Randolph was an American occultist, abolitionist, writer, and physician who founded the Triplicate Order. He was a pioneer in the field of magic and spiritism, introducing sexual magic to the general public through his visionary works such as The Mysteries of Eulis and The Anseiratic Mystery. The circumstances surrounding his death have never been fully understood. The most commonly accepted theory is that Randolph committed suicide. However, the questionable methods employed by the medical examiner along with claims from R. Swinburne Clymer, one of Randolph's successors, that a close associate made a deathbed confession to murdering him in a jealous rage, have kept many researchers from accepting the suicide theory. Enjoying the friendship of men such as Éliphas Lévi, Hargrave Jennings, Napoleon III, and Abraham Lincoln, it is clear that Randolph's contemporaries held him in high regard. His writings and work in the various occult societies to which he either founded or belonged influenced the thought and structure of organizations such as the Golden Dawn, the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light, and the OTO. Modern Adepti: The 20th Century We therefore who are without the chains of ignorance, look closely into the heart of the seeker and lead him by the path which is best suited to his nature unto the ultimate end of all things, the supreme realization, the Life which abideth in Light. —The Holy Books of Thelema, "Liber Porta Lucis sub figura X" by Aleister Crowley Our universe had grown smaller, and science, the very guardian that the secret tradition had placed at the entry of the sacred temple, had begun to turn on its masters. The world would be engulfed in the fire of war, nation rising against nation. Radical Islam, Nazi Germany, Imperialism, Communist China and Russia, Global Governments, and the ecological phantom menace had all pushed humanity to yet another difficult phase in its development and survival. The Adepti of the 20th century stood for individualism in the face of a collective cry of desperation, for true compassion amid the pity driven by guilty consciences, and for the divine emanating from within each person rather than from a charismatic leader or new idol. Franz Bardon 1909–1958 Franz Bardon was a Czechoslovakian illusionist, occultist, and author. His three completed works, Initiation into Hermetics, The Practice of Magical Evocation, and The Key to the True Kabbalah, are considered to be some of the clearest and most concise practical instructions ever published. Bardon died in Czechoslovakia while in police custody, having been arrested on accusations of being a spy. Paul Foster Case 1884–1954 Paul Foster Case was an American author, mystic, and founder of the Builders of the Adytum, a school of Western esotericism. He was a member of the Alpha et Omega, a magical order founded by MacGregor Mathers after the schism of the Golden Dawn, taking the magical motto of Perseverantia, meaning "I will endure." Case's most important contributions to occult literature were in the field of the Tarot and its connection to the Qabalah, as well as his alleged coauthorship of The Kybalion. Carlos Castaneda 1925–1998 Carlos Castaneda was an American author and student of Mesoamerican spiritual practices. He wrote The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui way of Knowledge while still a student of anthropology at UCLA. In this and his subsequent writings, Castaneda became the student of a Sorcerer named Juan Matus, who initiated him into the Toltec Shamanic Warrior Path of spiritual attainment and used various meditative and magical practices along with hallucinogenic plants. Castaneda's work and philosophy have always been controversial, much like that of other occultists. However, his teachings do not differ greatly from those of other more widely accepted esoteric teachers and organizations. His works brought mainstream attention to shamanic and alternative spiritual systems and have appealed to occultists of all persuasions due to their applicable principles, humor, and intriguing cast of characters. Constant Chevillon 1880–1944 Constant Chevillon was a French philosopher, mystic, and occultist. He was the head of the Universal Gnostic Church and a member of various Rosicrucian societies. He was shot and killed by the Gestapo in Lyons during World War II. Aleister Crowley 1875–1947 Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, author, mountaineer, poet, playwright, yogi, adventurer, spy, and outspoken proponent of religious, sexual, and political liberty. He joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1898, taking the motto Perdurabo, meaning "I shall endure to the end." Crowley dedicated his life to the Great Work, continuing his search for the Secret Chiefs despite schisms within the Golden Dawn. Though he became disillusioned with magic, he still yearned for the spiritual liberation that he had read about in books such as Karl Von Eckhartshausen's The Cloud upon the Sanctuary. In 1903, Crowley married Rose Kelly, and in 1904, while on their honeymoon in Egypt, he attempted an evocation of some elementals in order to entertain her. Instead, Rose entered a trance and began to utter instructions for reception of a new era of human evolution. Crowley, an ardent skeptic who had at this point abandoned magical work altogether, was soon convinced that Rose was receiving genuine communications from what he called the Secret Chiefs. On April 8, 9, and 10, he heard and saw an angel who identified himself as Aiwass and delivered to Crowley Liber AL vel Legis, or The Book of the Law. The book announces the arrival of the New Aeon of Horus, supplanting previous religious structures that were based on an antiquated understanding of nature and the true identity of humankind. For some time after this revelation, Crowley ignored the injunction of the Book to teach and spread the Law of Thelema, which may be summarized in the phrases "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," and "Love is the law, love under will." Both phrases are taken directly from The Book of the Law itself. He soon realized the importance of this work and took up his studies once again. By accepting students and publishing his writings in The Equinox and other publications, he made known to the public at large the existence of the A A . Crowley also revealed the secret rituals of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which he believed to be defunct. Crowley's body of work is voluminous and is highly regarded by modern occultists as the standard against which all other magical writers are judged. His reputation suffered greatly for his honesty, sense of humor, and rejection of Victorian values, even being called "the wickedest man in the world" by the mainstream press. Recently, interest and respect for his work have enjoyed a renaissance. One accolade that might please him is his being regarded by modern critics as one of England's greatest poets. He served as the Outer Head of the OTO and as a servant of the A death in England. A until his Manly Palmer Hall 1901–1990 Manly Palmer Hall was a Canadian-born author, Freemason, and mystic who wrote the masterpiece The Secret Teachings of All Ages at the age of twentyseven. He founded the Philosophical Research Society, an organization dedicated to the study of mystical and occult subjects, including Freemasonry and the Western mystery tradition. Dion Fortune 1890–1946 Dion Fortune was the pseudonym of Violet Mary Firth. British occultist, author, and founder of the Society of Inner Light. Fortune's interest in the secret tradition started at an early age, when she realized that she had considerable psychic abilities. She joined the Alpha et Omega and later the Stella Matutina Order, where she studied the occult arts. She wrote various novels and books on occult subjects, of which The Mystical Qabalah is considered by modern students to be her magnum opus. Gerald Gardner 1884–1964 Gerald Gardner was an English anthropologist, author, and founder of modern Wicca or Witchcraft. He was interested in the occult and magical practices as a young man, and soon after making contact with various occult groups, he was initiated into the New Forrest Coven. Aleister Crowley initiated Gardner into the OTO and encouraged him to spread his beliefs on the Old Religion. His books, Witchcraft Today and The Meaning of Witchcraft quickly became central works on the religion of Wicca. Papus 1865–1916 Papus was the pseudonym of the French physician, mystic, author, and founder of the modern Martinist Order, Gérard Encausse. Papus was an avid occult researcher and devout spiritual seeker, joining such organizations as the Theosophical Society, the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light, the Golden Dawn, OTO, the Rites of Memphis and Mizraim, and the Gnostic Church. His writings on various occult subjects, including the Qabalah, Tarot, and magic, are still considered to be classic works on the secret tradition. Israel Regardie 1907–1985 Israel Regardie—English occultist, therapist, alchemist, and author—was one of the most important advocates of the esoteric tradition of the 20th century, He played a critical role in preserving and publishing the writings of Aleister Crowley, for whom he worked as a personal secretary, as well as in reviving the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Dr. Regardie was a friend to all spiritual seekers, and his writings exhibit his sensible approach to the mysteries. Among the most important of his works are The Golden Dawn, What You Should Know about the Golden Dawn, The Eye in the Triangle, and Healing Energy Prayer and Relaxation. Idries Shah 1924–1996 Idries Shah, the Sufi mystic, magician, and author, was born in India and raised in England. His teachings on magic, meditation, and the spiritual path are based on the universal brotherhood of humanity and on the transcendental aspects of Sufism. His writings introduced many people to the wisdom tradition of the Middle East, most notably his translation of the exploits of Mulla Nasrudin. Arthur Edward Waite 1857–1942 Arthur Edward Waite was an American-born author and occultist. At a young age, his father died and his family moved to England, where he was raised. Waite first began his study of occultism after the death of his sister, becoming especially interested in psychical research. He studied various forms of mysticism, joining the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Freemasonry, and Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. After the schism of the Golden Dawn, Waite formed the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. His writings on the history of Western esotericism as well as his translations of classical works, along with his Rider-Waite Tarot deck, have firmly placed him among the most important occult authors of the 20th century. Conclusion The first and last great frontier of human discovery is consciousness. It is from this frontier that humanity has derived all its pleasures, aspirations, cures, and curses. The secret tradition offers us all a vehicle for the exploration of this vast terrain, one that may be fitted to each individual, regardless of talent or shortcoming. Following the instructions of those who have made this realm their sanctuary, students may see the clouds that hide the summit begin to part, gaining a vision of their Holy Guardian Angel. When alchemists, mystics, or magicians leave behind their familiar surroundings, journeying out into the wilderness for the solitude that has become their soul's deepest craving, they find that in time their loneliness is shattered by a presence. This presence that intrudes upon their seclusion fills the inanimate with life, yet also seems to empty the moving shadows of self and not self of any meaning. It completely dissolves all barriers and floods existence with the consciousness that is light. Only then is the aim of their curious work finally made clear. For though they may have known it before as a symbol or letter, now the great god Pan has made them understand fully through direct contact with the source of their self. The revelation of true self, which is indistinguishable from destiny, brings not only illumination for students, but also raises the intelligence and aptitude of the entire species. At the entry to Jung's collective unconscious are doors of perception that swing both ways. It is therefore of great importance that you, my excellent reader, endeavor to exhaust all your faculties in the identification of your own true purpose, hidden as it may be in the most profound recess of your heart. For it is through this adventure that you may enlighten, comfort, and sustain the essence of human liberty that is itself the Holy Spirit of the World. Further Reading Along with the books mentioned within the text, these works are highly recommended. Alchemy Cotnoir, Brian. The Weiser Concise Guide to Alchemy. York Beach: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2006. Hurley, Philip. Herbal Alchemy. Wheelock: Maithuna Publications, 2001. Jung, C. G. Psychology and Alchemy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980. Roob, Alexander. Alchemy and Mysticism. Los Angeles: Taschen, 2005. Stavish, Mark. The Path of Alchemy: Healing and the World of Natural Magic. Woodbury: Llewellyn Publications, 2006. Waite, Arthur Edward (ed.). The Hermetic Museum. York Beach: Weiser Books, 1999. Magic and Mysticism Costello, Priscilla. The Weiser Concise Guide to Practical Astrology. San Francisco: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2008. Crowley, Aleister. The Law Is For All: The Authorized Popular Commentary of Liber Al Vel Legis Sub Figura CCXX, the Book of the Law. Tempe: New Falcon Publications, 1996. ———. Magick: Liber ABA, Book 4, Parts I-IV. Boston: Weiser, 2004. Crowley, Aleister (ed.) and S.L. Mathers (trans.). The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King. Boston: Weiser Books, 1995. DuQuette, Lon Milo. The Key to Solomon's Key: Secrets of Magic and Masonry. San Francisco: CCC Publishing, 2006. Hawkins Tillirson, Judith. The Weiser Concise Guide to Herbal Magick. San Francisco: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2007. Hyatt, Christopher S. Rebels and Devils: The Psychology of Liberation. Tempe: Original Falcon Press, 2008. Kaczynski, Richard. The Weiser Concise Guide to Aleister Crowley. San Francisco: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2009. Marsh, Clint. The Mentalists Handbook: An Explorer's Guide to Astral, Spirit, and Psychic Worlds. San Francisco: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2008. Regardie, Israel. The Golden Dawn. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 2002. Wasserman, James and Nancy. To Perfect This Feast: A Commentary on Liber XV The Gnostic Mass. West Palm Beach: Sekmet Books, 2010. Wasserman, Nancy. The Weiser Concise Guide to Yoga for Magick. San Francisco: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2007. Wilson, Robert Anton. Prometheus Rising. Las Vegas: New Falcon Publications, 2009. Qabalah Barry, Kieren. The Greek Qabalah: Alphabetical Mysticism and Numerology in the Ancient World. York Beach: Weiser Books, 1999. Kaplan, Aryeh. Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation. York Beach: Weiser Books, 1997. Mathers, S.L. (ed.). The Kabbalah Unveiled. York Beach: Weiser Books, 1992. Papus (Gérard, Encausse). The Qabalah: Secret Tradition of the West. York Beach: Weiser Books, 2000. Tarot Crowley, Aleister. 777 and other Qabalistic Writings. York Beach: Weiser Books, 1986. ———. The Book of Thoth: Being the Equinox V. III, No. 5. York Beach: Weiser Books, 2004. DuQuette, Lon Milo. Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot. York Beach: Weiser Books, 2003. Powell, Robert (trans.). Meditations on the Tarot. New York: Putnam, 2002. Waite, Arthur Edward. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. New Hyde Park: University Books, 1966. Wang, Robert. Qabalistic Tarot. York Beach: Weiser Books, 1987. Secret Societies Birch, Una and James Wasserman. Secret Societies: Illuminati, Freemasons, and the French Revolution. Lake Worth: Ibis Press, 2007. Booth, Mark. The Secret History of the World as Laid Down by the Secret Societies. New York: Overlook Press, 2008. Churchward, Albert. The Arcana of Freemasonry. York Beach: Weiser Books, 2005. Cooper, Robert L.D. and Philippa Faulks. The Masonic Magician: The Life and Death of Count Cagliostro and his Egyptian Rite. London: Watkins Publishing, 2008. Wasserman, James. An Illustrated History of the Knights Templar. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2006. ———. The Mystery Traditions: Secret Symbols and Sacred Art. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2005. ———. The Secrets of Masonic Washington: A Guidebook to Signs, Symbols, and Ceremonies at the Origin of America's Capital. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2008. ———. The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2001. Yates, Frances A. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1996. Other Subjects of Interest Baldock, John. The Essence of Sufism. Edison: Chartwell Books, 2004. Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973. Ladinsky, Daniel (trans.). The Gift: Poems by the Great Sufi Master. New York: Penguin Compass, 1999. Mead, G.R.S. Thrice Greatest Hermes. York Beach: Weiser Books, 2001. Simon, Bernard. The Essence of the Gnostics. Edison: Chartwell Books, 2004. Stanley, Thomas. Pythagoras: His Life and Teachings: A Compendium of Classical Sources. Lake Worth: Ibis Press, 2010. Wasserman, James. The Slaves Shall Serve: Meditations on Liberty. New York: Sekmet Books, 2004. About the Author Daniel Pineda is a martial arts teacher, practitioner of the Mystery Tradition, and a devotee of liberty. He holds black belts in several Eastern and Western martial disciplines, including Qigong. He lives in south Florida. This is his first book. To Our Readers Weiser Books, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, publishes books across the entire spectrum of occult, esoteric, speculative, and New Age subjects. Our mission is to publish quality books that will make a difference in people's lives without advocating any one particular path or field of study. We value the integrity, originality, and depth of knowledge of our authors. Our readers are our most important resource, and we appreciate your input, suggestions, and ideas about what you would like to see published. Visit our website, www.redwheelweiser.com, where you can subscribe to our newsletters and learn about our upcoming books, special offers, and free downloads. You can also contact us at info@redwheelweiser.com or at Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC 665 Third Street, Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94107
S O U L FLIGHT About the Author Donald Tyson (born 1954) is a Canadian who lives just outside Halifax, Nova Scotia. His books cover the full spectrum of the Western esoteric tradition, including topics such as the Tarot, runes, the Kabbalah, Enochian magic, the Golden Dawn, and the Necronomicon. He seeks in his writing to make ritual magic both comprehensible and relevant to modern readers, and believes that magic could not have survived for so many thousands of years unless it offered something essential to the human experience. He is the author of nearly two dozen nonfiction books on practical occultism and several novels related to the supernatural. To Write to the Author If you wish to contact the author or would like more information about this book, please write to the author in care of Llewellyn Worldwide and we will forward your request. Both the author and publisher appreciate hearing from you and learning of your enjoyment of this book and how it has helped you. Llewellyn Worldwide cannot guarantee that every letter written to the author can be answered, but all will be forwarded. Please write to: Donald Tyson ;/, Llewellyn Worldwide 2143 Wooddale Drive, Dept. H0-7387-1087-3 Woodbury, Minnesota 55125-2989, U.S.A. Please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope for reply, or $1.00 to cover costs. If outside U.S.A., enclose international postal reply coupon. Many of Llewellyn's authors have websites with additional information and resources. For more information, please visit our website at http:lIwww.llewellyn.com. FLIGHT ASTRAL PROJECTION & T H E MAGICAL UNIVCRSC Llewellyn Publications Woodbury, Minnesota Soul Flight: Astral Projection Q the Magical Universe O 2007 by Donald Tyson. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. First Edition First Printing, 2007 Book design by Steffani Chambers Editing by Brett Fechheimer Cover design by Kevin R. Brown Interior diagrams courtesy of the author Llewellyn is a registered trademark of Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tyson, Donald, 1954Soul flight: astral projection &the magical universe 1 Donald Tyson. - 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7387-1087-7 ISBN-10: 0-7387-1087-3 1.Astral projection. 2. Parapsychology. 3. Occultism. I. Title. Llewellyn Worldwide does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business transactions between our authors and the public. All mail addressed to the author is forwarded but the publisher cannot, unless specifically instructed by the author, give out an address or phone number. Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific location will continue to be maintained. Please refer to the publisher's website for links to authors' websites and other sources. Llewellyn Publications A Division of Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. 2143 Wooddale Drive, Dept. H0-7387-1087-3 Woodbury, Minnesota 55125-2989, U.S.A. www.llewellyn.com Printed in the United States of America Other Books by Donald Tyson 1-2-3 Tarot A1hazred Enochian Magic for Beginners Familiar Spirits Necronomicon Portable Magic The Power of the Word Ritual Magic Scrying for Beginners Three Books of Occult Philosophy CONTENTS Introduction: The Astral World ix Part One: History 3 Chapter One: Shamanic Soul Flight Chapter Two: Witches' Flying Ointment 17 Chapter Three: The Land of Fairy 35 Chapter Four: Religious Bilocation 47 63 Chapter Five: Spiritualism 77 Chapter Six: Theosophy Chapter Seven: The Golden Dawn 95 Chapter Eight: Remote Viewing and the CIA 117 Chapter Nine: UFO Abductions 135 Part Two: Practice 157 Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 179 Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 197 Chapter Twelve: The Tarot Chapter Thirteen: Pathworking 221 239 Chapter Fourteen: Runes Chapter Fifteen: Training for Soul Flight 259 275 Chapter Sixteen:Astral Guides Chapter Seventeen: Etiquette in the Astral World 291 305 Chapter Eighteen: Astral Self-Defense Conclusion: The End of the Journey Bibliography Index 32 1 331 3 19 INTRODUCTION The Astral A stral projection is usually understood to be the act of separating the subtle or astral body from the physical body, so that the astral body can travel away from the physical body, carrying with it the consciousness of the traveler. It is held that the astral body can be projected any desired distance by the force of the will, even to the farthest corner of the universe, unrestricted by the physical laws that govern the movement of matter, such as the limitation of the speed of light. Vast distances are crossed instantly. The physical body remains behind, as though asleep or in a trance state. The astral body stays connected to the physical body by an astral umbilical cord known as the silver cord that can stretch to an unlimited degree, and when stretched to its thinnest has the appearance of a strand of spider web. The link of the silver cord allows the astral body x • Sou! niglt/ to return at once to the physical body at any moment t hat the traveler conceivn of the desire to return. T hat is the popular modern concept of a.ltral projection, which waS formalized by the Thoosophish a,,(1 spi ritualist s during the la11er half of the nineteenth century. Th e word as/ml can l e a bit m~leading. It means "from Or like the stars: and signifies a subtle substance that possesses form without matter, or at least without the gross mat ter with which we are famil iar, It is sometimes descri~d as a subtle fluid, and may ~ co nceived to be :;omewhat similar to moonlight: silvery and faintly glowing. T he general idea is that this astral body lies within the physical body, taking the shape of the physical body, but at times, either by accident o r by deliberate choice, it may be dislocated from the ph}'sicall ody to roarn freel)' through tlte world . No Traveling in Astral Travel It is necessary to understand th is nineteen th-century Theosophical concept of astral project ion bcca llse it persists as the commo n view to the present day, Unfort llnat ei y, it is co milletely wro ng. There is no projecting involved in astral projection, and no traveling in aSlrallravel. not in a physical sense. The aSlTalbody is nOI a separale physical envelope for thc consciousness, l ut is a part of Ihc mind. and il nevcr kaves the mind. Astral projeCl ion i""olves I he transition of conscious ness fro m one Slate to another-from the normal everyday waking Mate we arc all familiar With. to all altered state thaI may called the astTllI world. ~ The astrJI world is nOI a place in space; rather, il is a dimension oflhe mind that resembles very closely the dream stale. Indeed, Ihe astral world and the dream world are one and the same. Conscio llsness is a pa rt oflhe mind. and never leaves the mi nd. When you thi nk aboUI it, the very idea that it could some how separate itself fro m the rest of the mind and go wandering around the mater ial world is absurd. We might as well suppose that Our Ii,·cr. an esscntial part of the body, could tear itself out and go houncillg away on a jou rney of self-discovery, leaving the rest of the body behi nd ii, To accept that ou r awareness call never leave our minds is not to impose a limitation, but to strip alllimital ions away. Each individual human mind is a part of the un iversal mind that shapes and sustains all things. There are no limits wit hin the m ind hecause mind underlies everything, extending not merely 10 every corne r of space. bUI into the C JPYTighted material ['uroduaiMI • XI past and future as well , and into other rea hlls of reah,y that are not a pan of the realm we und~rsland as the physical world, which we beli~v~ ourselves 10 inhabil. Ast ra l projection is a real phenomenon_ It has existed since Ihe early beginnings of the human species, and descriptions of it are found in the myths and tales of every cuI· ture and historiC l I period. Please do not feci th at I ha"e somehow dim in ished it when I tell )o u that there is no phys ical travel in,'olved in as tral trav~!. Astral travel is what it is. and what it has always heen. How we describe it does not change its nature, Our unde r· standing of it ma y be more useful or less useful, depending 00 how well we modd the underlying reality of astral t ra,'e!. At the end of the ninete~nth century, it wa~ possible to think of it as the physical project ioo of some material envelope or shdl of the body that carried co nsciousn ess wit h iI, but our understanding of reality has advanced in the past hundred years, and this simplistic. mechanistic view of astral travel is no longer to be accep ted. The Mind Creates Reality We now understand that Ihe mind itself crea tes the reality we perceive to surround us, not in a passiv~ way but activd)', construct ing its parts aod in terrelating them from m o· memto m oment as we experience our reality. The mind builds up the physica l world JUSt as surely as it builds the ntental world of dreams . This process was nol dearly understood in th e nineteenth cent ury by thc average person, who wou ld have viewed thc notio n thai the mind affects physical realit y as absurd. To that citizen of the nineteenth «,n tur y, there was d early an outside objective world an d an inside suhjective world, which weTC divided from each other and which did not interact. As comforting as this absolute division betwff n th e world of ma terial things aod the world of mcmal states may have seemed, it " 'as a false division tben just as it is now. The material world is as much within the m ind as the drea m world . or the astral world. Granted, the material world obeys slightly different laws, wbich we ignore only at our p~ riL It is not as malleable as the as tral world , nor is it amenable to wishful thi nking. If we decide we C"Jn fly in Ollr material body and step off a diff flapp ing our arms, we will h"'e a very brief ti me to con template our error. Yet the d irf is as much " const ruction of our mind as our personality. Jt is merely a construction of a d ifferent type, The modern un dersta nding that mind pervades everything. that there exi sts no "inside t he mi nd " o"·o utside the mind," is essential to a d ear view of ast ral project ion. What we ha"c are va rious levds o f the mind that ca n bc occupied by consciousness. When we C ;.pvrlghted material x;; • Soul flighr ocwpya level, we become aware of it just as if we had entered a dark room and turned on the light Astral projection is the process of projecting consciousness from the phrsi( alkvei of reality to the astralle"d of real ity. Astral World Similar to the Dream World It has already been pointed out that the astral ""Hid is si milar to the dream world, Per- haps the only difference is that whe n wc inhabit the astral world , we do so with fu ll self-awareness. In dreams there i~ a t~nden,y to forget ou rsclws, and to accept thc circumstances of the drc.m wit hout an alysis. With in the drc"m world, we .re us,,"Uy an actor in a pby,o r perhaps a more accurate metaphor would be a puppet on a string. Our act ions, words, cmotions, even our thoughts, are not undcr our control. We are swcpt along where'"ef the dream takes m. By contrast. in the astral world we remain ou rsel"es, and are able to respond indcpcndently of thc circumstanccs in which we find ourselves , We walk through the scenes, interact ing with the plal'ers, but we are not req uired to play a part in the dram~, although we m~y choose to do so. There is a condition know n as lucid dreaming, in which a drea mer is able to become fully conscious while asleep and dreaming. so thaI he realizes that he is dreaming. and can by .11 "(t of will change the direct ion of the dream , Lucid dreaming docs exist "nd has been recogni1ed by psychologists. What is not generally realiud is that lucid dream ing is a tyJX' of astral projcction. The dream world becomes thc astral world whcn wc enter it with full conscious awareness, because the two are at root the ~me, Those who have read descriptions of astraltra"d, or who ha"c experienced it t hcmselves, may object with indign ation that it is nolhing like dreaming, that thc astral wo rld is completely different (rom the drea m world. They may assert that an astra l traveler is able to mOl"( alJout the ph)"k al plane of existen(( like an im' isible ghust, intera(ting with other human beings who inh abit their bodies of flesh and blood.and thaI the amal world is in nery respect like the ph~kal world. True Nature of the Astral World Yes, so the astral world is like the physical world. sometimes. At other times, it is completely differe nt from the ord inary world we inhabit while we perrei,'e ourselves to remain within our material bod ies. The astral world is nOl fixed in the same way the physical world is fixcd. 11 is subject to rapid and ~dical mutation in response to our C ;.pvTlghted material [ro trodu lio" ' xi" emotional staTes and our unconscious fears and desires, It can be ahered consciously by acts of wilL It does resemble vu y dosely the physical world much of the time-because astraltravekrs have the expec tat ion that it will resemble The physical world. When an astral traveler projects his astral body with the purpose of smding it to some remote lOcaTion in The phy:sical world, it is link wonder that The aSTral world through which he projects is much like the physical world . since it is comtmined to resemble the physical world by the expc :tation in the mind of the traveler. Although the ast ral world usually appears similar to the ph)'sical world be c-~ use it sh ap -'S itsel f in resl}(lnse to the I' R'Sum pt ions of the traveler, anomalous intrusions Kcu r of a surrealistic nature. things thaI could 1I0t exisl ill the physical world . The aSlr.1 traveler, while seem illg to walk dowlI the street in front of his house ill his astral body, might encounter a dog with two heads, for example. The dog m ighl grin al him and ask forthe ti me. To Ihe Ira"eler, the streN has the app 'arance of the S lme street illlhe physi· cal world, bUI because of the plasticity of the astra l world, Ihe figure of the dog is able 10 intrude itself illlO Ihe blldscape, jusl as it mir)t t durillg a dream. The astral wo rld is often de!icribed as parallel to the physical world, overl yi ng or interpenelmling it. so that a trd,'eler on the aSlra l plane, as il is somet imes called. has aCC~S 10 al l pans of the phy:sical plane. This is a useful way to think of aSl rallravel, as long as it is clea rly understood Ihal bOlh Ihe astral plane and physical plane are comt n ,cliollS of the min d. and exiST wiThin The mind, The imponanT point is ThaT The aSTra l world is nOT isolated froOllhe physical world, bUI is able to imeraCl wilh iI, because both are Olemal levels. Ast ral tra"elers can gaTher useful information about the I'hrsial world during Iheir ITdVelS. However, Ihey do not experience Ihe physical world directly during astral projection, but rather they interact with an astral reflection of the physical world, which may not correspond with Ihe physical world in every detail. This astral fdlection of the physical world That is peT eived during astral tra,'d accou nts fOT the factua l errors thaT OCWT in descripT ions of the physical world by t ravelers, It is 1101 a direct pas.si,'e reflection, such as the reflection in a mirror, but a simulacrum of pil)'Sial reality actively conSTructed by the mind, Pa Tt of the conSTruct ion is based on the memories of Ihe tra,'eler. Other pam may be drawII from the minds of olher humall be· in gs on the unconscious level, and from sourccs the nature of whic" is as yeT completely unknown. As a result of Ihis patchwork construction of the reflection of ewryda), realil y pnceiYed by the astral travder, some of the info rmation gathered about the physical world during a51ml Imvel is acrumle, alld some of it is inacrumlc. Even when lhe info rmation is C ;.pvrighted material xiv • Soul Flighr not ~t rictly lrue. it un be of value, because it contains symbolic meaning of importance Ihe \Taveler. This poi nt is impo rtant, SO I wish to make it cr)"~tal dear. Wh~ n you travel on th e astral level to vi~il the house of your Aunt Sara who lives in l\1ilwaukee, you ~hould not aSSllm~ that ~verything you see th~re i~ faclually acc urate, even though 10 you il ~eems you are actually standing in Aunt Sara's living room. Sara may appi:ar completely her usual cheerful self as sh~ goes about her daily lasks, unawar~ that you aft' watching her in your astral body, but there may be curious anomalies in the scene, departures from the physiul reality. For example, you might see a black-and-white cat sleeping on her so fa, only to fi nd OUilater when rou lalk 10 her long diSlance on the Id ephone that Sara doesn't own a cat. Yet it may be that Sara has been thinking abo ut how nice it would be to have a cal arou nd the house to keep her company. 10 Astral Sp iri ts The astral wo rld has been called the realm of sl,irits. That view is a bit simplistic. It would be beller to think of the ast ral world as the common meeting place fo r spirits and human beings. Sp irits in their essential natures no more inhabillhe astral world Ihan we do, but the y are adept at using its underlying mind substance to shape bodies for themselves that we can perceive and wit h which we are able 10 illleract. When a spi r it ap pears 10 a huma n being who is full y co nscious, the astral body of the spirit intrudes itsel f into the physiQI world of the pnoon perceiving it, This is possible because, as has been explained, both Ihe astra l world and physiul world are levels ofthc mimi, and interconnected. It is the s.ame reason Ihal when we are very lired, we sometimes dream whi le we are awake, and su dream images wilh our eyes open. A significant Ihough often overlooked co mponent of a,ltral travel is interaction with spiritua l beings. Those who mistakenly believe that aSlralprojection invokes nothing more than the astral bod)' mov ing through the ordinary, e,'eryday ph)'skallandscape are often lerrified the fi Stt ime t her encounter a spirit on their ITa,·e!s. Some have Iried 10 e.:pla in such meetings by saying Ihat while in Ih~ astral body, we ar~ mor~ sensiliv~ In the impressions of spirits, which we would pass u nno ticed in our waking condilion. But il is not the CaSe that the aS11'J1 body has more se nsitive e)'~s than Ihe physical body; it is rather Ihal the enlire aslral world Ihrough which we n avel h inn ately congenial to the manifesla tion of spirits. who are able 10 shape their substance to express Ihemse!,·cs 10 C ;.pvrlghted malarial human beings. When Ira"ding through the astral world, we tra"e1 through a landscape that lends it~lf mOre readily to spiritual [,e ings than it does to human beings. Spi r its arc much more likely to appear to astral tra,-clers who expect to encounter them. and nen more w to those travelers who actively seek to communicate with them. A materialistically mi nded traveler who has the firm expectation that he will see noth ing more than streets and trees and houses and cars on his astral excursio n unconsciously ten ds to exdude spirits from the astralla nd~cal e shaped within his mind. He mal' still see a sp irit from time to time, [,U t his expectation that he will see only the ordina ry physi cal world tends to exclude spirits from his awareness. When a spirit does spontaneously show itself. the trd\'Clcr is apt 10 be ullcrly terrified. even though the dangers in such an encounter are small. It may afford the spirit some moments of amusement to watch the astral tra"der flee. Onl)' a ulect rew human beings are awaT\' that the human Taa' coexists with an in fi nite mult itude of spiritual beings. Those who ha I'pen to perceive a spirit on rare occasions in their waking conscious state often do their utmost to avoid having the experi ence repeated. They may misbbd the ha r mless and bemused sp irit as a ghost, or even as a demon. even though it exhibited 110 malice of any kind. It would not be strange if spirits as a group considered the human race quite mad. Spirits havc no t rouble being awa re of hu ma n beings. C\'Cn though few humans can easily see or hea r spi r its. "hny of them seek active communication and interaction with huma ns, as a way of experiencing the physical world through hu man perceptions. Nowhere is interaction between spirits and humans easier tha n in the astral world, and historically this has been the prime use for dstral projection. Shamans engaged in soul flight to travel to what they believcd to be the dwelling plac~ of t he spi ritual be ings who instructed them. Each hierarchy of spirits has its own astral realm. The interest of the shamans waS focused On the inhabi tants of the astral world, and the lands ;ap~'S through which they traveled were mere ly obstruct ions that had to be cros~d in order to reach those dwellers in the astral world with wh ich they interacted. Du r ing the twentieth century, attempts were made by various government agenci~ both in Western and Communist count ries to use astral projection as a tool of military intellige nce. A rigorous scientific outlook tended to exclude meetings with spirits on th~ cxperimcntal astral excursions aCross enemy lines. Science does not recognize the exi~tence of ~piritual beings. The result~ were mixed. due to the plasticity of the astral worl d and its responsi"eness to human emotio ns and unconsdous urges . The scientists C ;.pvrighted material xvi Soul Flight in charge of the experiments thought that their travelers were viewing the actual physical environments to which they were sent, when they were actually seeing distorted astral reflections of those environments constructed in the mind. Little wonder the results of the experiments tended to be uneven. Reasons For Writing This Book There is no underlying difference between the soul flights of prehistoric shamans and the remote viewing used in the secret government intelligence-gathering projects of the Cold War. Astral travel has always been with us from our earliest beginnings as an intelligent species. It expresses itself in such diverse forms as lucid dreaming, near-death experiences, alien abductions, the bilocation of saints, doppelgangers, remote viewing, and the occult practices of ascending the planes and scrying in the spirit vision. Because of this wide diversity of forms, I have employed the general term soul flightto embrace both conventional concepts of astral projection and its many divergent expressions. One of the main reasons that I decided to write this book was to demonstrate that even though astral travel has expressed itself in numerous seemingly distinct ways over the centuries, it always relies on a similar underlying process. The ancient shaman and the modern Cold War spy each used the same basic techniques to shift their consciousness from the physical world to the astral world. The experiences of medieval witches at their mountaintop sabbat gatherings and modern alien abductees in the bellies of spacecraft from the stars are not unlike each other even though they are called by different names. Another reason I felt a need to write this book was to dispel some popular misconceptions about the nature of astral projection, many of them fossilized relics of Theosophy and the spiritualism movement of the nineteenth century. There are numerous other texts available on astral travel, but they tend to repeat the same concepts that were formulated more than a century ago. The Theosophical theory of astral travel is both antiquated and simplistic in its slavish adherence to a materialistic view of reality. As any architect will attest, when you attempt to build from badly drawn blueprints, the result is bound to be a disappointment. This book presents a new blueprint of soul flight that the astral traveler can build on with confidence. A third important reason for writing it is the tendency of most modern books on the subject to discount or ignore the use of a ritual structure during astral travel. Even Introduction xvii though rituals were employed in ancient times to achieve the separation of the astral body, modern writers on the subject largely exclude this useful aid. When dealing with malicious astral spirits and safeguarding the security of the traveler, ritual is not merely useful but can be essential for success. The general ritual of projection that I present near the beginning of the second part of this work is what might be called the modern magician's method of astral projection. It is not the only ritual pattern that may be used, but it provides a good working framework for a ritual of projection that not only facilitates astral travel but also ensures that it is done safely on all levels. The astral world is not some alien or distant land; it is present in each of us every moment of every day of our lives. To enter it, we need only alter our level of consciousness. Then we discover to our delight that we have no need to travel out of ourselves because we were there within the astral landscape all along, but did not know it. Astral projection is a process of opening the eyes inward. It is attainable by everyone, because everyone possesses the astral world within themselves. What was accomplished by the soul flights of shamans thousands of years ago can be experienced today. Whether or not an individual claims that birthright depends on expectation,belief, and persistent practice. No one can prevent you from entering the astral world if you are determined to do so. How To Use This Book The first part of this book relates the history of astral travel through the ages, beginning with the ritual practices of the tribal shamans who were the forerunners of the priests, physicians, and magicians of later times, and proceeding up to the modern experiences of remote viewing and alien abduction, both of which are forms of soul flight. The second part is devoted to practical techniques with which to experience soul flight reliably and safely on a personal level. Those impatient to get started with the practice of projecting the astral body need not read all the chapters in the first section, but may move directly to the second part of the book and begin ritual training. Later, if you wish, you can always go back and finish those chapters about history that you skipped. They are well worth reading, since they give an overview of soul flight through the ages that is not to be found elsewhere. In my opinion, the first part of the book is even more valuable than the second part since without a clear understanding of the true nature of soul flight, it is difficult to achieve its greatest utility or to fully understand what is happening during the projection of the astral body. CHAPTER ON€ Shamanic I t has been written that shamanism is ten thousand years old, but that is only a vague guess-a nice round number meant to signify, in the biblical sense, a very long time. Whlen the first tribes started to gather in caves and chant songs of the hunt, there were shamans to lead them in their chants. When hunters were brought back to the cave dead or dying, shamans presided over their burials or called upon spirits to heal them. Shamanism is older than religion, perhaps as ancient as magic itself. There has never been a ti~nesince the human race discovered fire that shamans have not practiced their arts somlewhere on this planet. Each developing culture has had its own form of shamanism, unique in its details, but certain practices are common to all shamans around the world. Among these is the power to control spirits, to communicate with the dead, to heal the sick, to foresee the future, and 4 Soul Flight to communicate with and control beasts. Most important of these shared practices is soul flight, the ability to leave the physical body during ecstatic trance and travel to the realms of spiritual beings for the purpose of acquiring wisdom or occult essences. Feathers frequently form an important part of the shaman's costume because the feather is the universal symbol for flight. It has been asserted by anthropologists that soul flight is one of the defining qualities of shamanism. All shamans possess the power of astral projection. What concerns us in this instance is the fact that sorcerers and shamans are able, here on earth and as often as they wish, to accomplish "coming out of the body," that is, the death that alone has power to transform the rest of mankind into "birds"; shamans and sorcerers can enjoy the condition of "souls," of "disincarnate beings," which is accessible to the profane only when they die. Shamans leave their bodies during trance for two main purposes: to communicate with spirits and to gather information across great distances. The shaman of a tribe enjoys a special relationship with spirits who are linked to his family line, or the line of his clan. One or several of these spirits single him out at an early age for the shamanic profession, and then visit with him to communicate his future path in life. The shaman sees these spirits in dreams or visions. After he has accepted his fate, the spirits become his teachers and instruct him in the ways of shamanism. Frequently the shaman marries one of the spirits. He has other lesser familiar spirits who act as his assistants. Although I use the male gender for convenience, there have been many female shamans in different cultures. It is not exclusively a male profession. Female shamans also engage in soul flight, and sometimes wed the spirits who guide their progress and instruct them in their arts. A shamaness named Thorbjorg is described in detail in the Norse saga of Eric the Red. She was probably typical for her time and culture, although the appearance of the shamaness varied widely around the world. Many of her garments and ornaments were not merely decorative but had a magical function. When she came in the evening,with the man who had been sent to meet her, she was clad in a dark-blue cloak, fastened with a strap, and set with stones quite down to the hem. She wore glass beads around her neck, and upon her head a black lambskin hood, lined with white cat-slun. In her hands she carried a staff, upon which there was a knob, which was ornamented with brass, and set with stones up about the 1. Eliade, Shamanism, 479. Chapter One: Shamanic Soul Flight 5 knob. Circling her waist she wore a girdle of touch-wood, and attached to it a great skin pouch, in which she kept the charms which she used when she was practicing her sorcery. She wore upon her feet shaggy calfskin shoes, with long, tough latchets, upon the ends of which there were large brass buttons. She had catskin gloves upon her hands, which were white inside and lined with fur.2 Beast and Spirit Relations In :soul flight, the shaman is able to assume at will the shape of a beast such as a wolf, a bea.r, or an eagle, in order to more swiftly progress to his destination. The animal forms selected are those of beasts who have a magical relationship with the shaman or his tribe, and are believed by the shaman to be linked to him by ties of blood; a shaman might take on the form of a wolf if he believed his family line descended from wolves because the wollf form would confer upon him heightened abilities. In primitive cultures, there is difficulty in distinguishing between physical reality ancl spiritual reality. Members of the shaman's tribe believe that the shaman can actually change his body into the body of a reptile, animal, or bird. Sometimes even the shaman belileves this to be so because he is in trance when it occurs and, in any case, it is in his interest to inflate his own reputation by maintaining this fiction of physical shape-changing, the better to awe and control the tribe. The transformation from human to animal forin really takes place on the astral level. The entire astral world is easily molded by the mind, and this applies also to the astral body of the traveler himself. Shamans during soul flight do not meet spirits in the ordinary world, but rather they do so in the higher realms in which the spirits dwell. The shaman possesses an extraordinary fiat to travel unhindered between the intermediate human realm and both the higher realm of the spirits and the lower realm of the dead. He does so for the purpose of carrying out the duties of his profession, which is of vital interest not only to the members of his tribe but also to those classes of spirits who are related by ties of ancient blood to the tribe. In primitive cultures, it was often believed that humans and spirits could interbreed. The idea that a person might have a family connection with a particular spirit was not seen as absurd. The value in such beliefs is that it joined humans and spirits in bontds of mutual support. - 2. Anderson and Buel, Norse Discovery of America, 36-7. 6 Soul Flight Contrary to what might be assumed, this belief in the interbreeding of spirits with humans has not died out in modern Western culture, but has merely taken on a new form that is acceptable to the prejudices of the modern world. This belief has existed continuously throughout history. We will encounter it again when we examine witchcraft, the fairy faith, and alien abductions. It is also a part of the religious rapture of the saints, and relations between spirits and mediums in spiritualism, although in these cases it is less overt. It has never ceased to be believed from ancient to modern times because there is an underlying basis of truth to support it. Shamans were the only members of the tribe who could go to the homes of the spirits of the forest, the spirits of the waters, and the spirits of the air, and enlist their aid either with gifts, reasoned argument, or threats. The use of threats was uncommon because shamans considered spirits to be their kin, and treated them with respect and even affection. When a shaman married a spirit, he became a part of the clan of that spirit, just as the spirit became a part of his clan. If the crops were dying of blight, the game animals had vanished from the usual hunting grounds, or the fish no longer filled the nets, it was the shaman's duty to discover the reason, and to use his knowledge and his connections with both the animals and the spirits to solve the problem. Axis of the World Access is often made to the higher spiritual via a tree or post that is climbed by means of a spiral series of notches. The notches, called tapti or tapty by the tribes of Siberia, are usually seven, nine, or twelve in number, although they may be more numerous. Each notch represents a successive heavenly level or plane. Seven is the most common division. When we examine Theosophy, we will again encounter this concept of the spirit realms divided into a series of seven successive planes. The tapti do not correspond, as might be supposed, with ruling deities, but rather with successive levels of spiritual reality. The Altaic shaman climbs a tree or a post notched with seven or nine tapty, representing the seven or nine celestial levels. The "obstacles" (pudak) that he must overcome are really, as Anokhin remarked, the heavens that he must enter. When the Yakut make blood sacrifices, their shamans set up a tree with nine notches outdoors and climb it to carry the offering to the celestial god Ai Toyon. The initiation of shamans among the Sibo (related to the Tungus) includes, as we have seen, the presence Chapter One: Shamanic Soul Flight 7 of a tree with steps; another, smaller tree notched with nine tapty is kept in his yurt by the shaman. It is one more indication of his ability to journey ecstatically through the celestial regiom3 The tree represents the living axis of the world that has its roots in the underworld and its branches in the heavens. It is found in Norse legends in the form of Yggdrasill, the World Ash, the roots of which run so deep not even the wise god of the shamans, Odin, knows their endings. One of the many names of Odin is Yggr-he was named aft'er the shamanic tree. In the religion of Voudoun, transplanted from Africa to the New World by black slaves, it appears in the form of the central pillar (poteau-mitan) of the ritual space that holds up the roof, representing the starry heavem4 During his ecstasy, this tree or post becomes for the shaman the central channel of the universe that he is able to ascend or descend at will, with the aid of his familiar spirits. The ritual of ascent, performed before the watching members of his tribe, can be extended and elaborate. At each notch in the trunk of the tree, the shaman chants his attainment. In the Altaic ritual of ascent described in detail by Mircea Eliade, when the sha.man reaches the sixth notch in the tree, he salutes the moon. When he ascends to the seventh, he salutes the sun. Having attained the "head" of the tree, he collapses to the floor of the ritual enclosure in a trance, and his soul leaves his body to soar through the heavenly regions he accessed in a symbolic way during his climb. Descent to the Underworld Descent into the underworld of the dead was achieved by passing through an opening in the ground, reached by means of a soul flight across the astral plane. Shamans descended to ihe underworld either to escort there the soul of a member of the tribe who had died, or sometimes to retrieve a soul in order to bring the newly dead back to life. Such descents were considered dangerous by shamans, and few records of the rituals they used still exist. In one such rare description, an Altaic shaman descended vertically down through seven subterranean levels called pudak, a word that means "obstacles." In this task, he was accompanied both by spirits of his ancestors and by familiars. At the seventh level, he reached the place where the nine subterranean rivers have their mouths and met the lord 3. Eliade, 275. 4. Deren, Divine Horsemen, 36. of the dead, Erlik Khan, to whom he uttered a prayer. If the prayer was accepted, he was permitted to return to the ~ u r f a c e . ~ Sometimes a shaman who went down to rescue the soul of one who had died was not so fortunate. There is a tale in the Chronicon Norvegiae of a shaman who attempted to bring back the soul of a woman who had suffered a sudden death. In the middle of this work, a severe wound appeared on the shaman's abdomen and he fell lifeless to the ground. A second shaman revived the woman. She related how she had seen the astral spirit of the first shaman crossing a lake in the form of a walrus, and that someone had struck the animal with a weapon, causing the wound that was visible on the ~ o r p s e . ~ This story may not be a complete fiction. The appearance of marks or wounds on the physical body of someone engaged in astral travel is a common feature both of legends of the werewolf and other were-animals, and of the lore of spiritualism and Theosophy. It is known as repercussion. Werewolves are astral projections. The astral body can take any form desired, since its shape is not fixed but reflects the expectations and emotions of the traveler. Regarding repercussion, Charles W. Leadbeater wrote: The principle of sympathetic vibration mentioned above also provides the explanation of that strange and little-known phenomenon called repercussion, by means of which any injury done to, or any mark made upon, the materialized body in the course of its wanderings will be reproduced in the physical body. We find traces of this in some of the evidence given at trials for witchcraft in the middle ages, in which it is not infrequently stated that some wound given to the witch when in the form of a dog or a wolf was found to have appeared in the corresponding part of her human body.' Repercussion appears when the projected body is of so dense an astral composition that it acquires an almost physical reality, and is seen by others as though it were a solid material body. This happens most often when it is projected in animal forms, since the emotions involved are of the most primal and powerful sort, and enable this seeming density of the astral vehicle. Repercussion is uncommon in ordinary projection of the astral double, and is not a consequence to be greatly feared by those experimenting with astral travel. 5. Eliade, 200-1. 6. Ibid., 383. 7. Leadbeater,Astral Plane, 123. Chapter One: Shamanic Soul Flight 9 Sllamanic Mind-Altering Techniques In order to engage in soul flight, shamans needed to induce an altered state of consciousness. Because their role in their societies was so vital, shamans used whatever techniques were found to be effective, even those that might result in permanent injury or death. A shaman was expected to get results and often sacrificed the health of his mind and body in order to live up to his reputation. Mind-altering techniques used by shamans generally fall into three groups: (1) pain, (2) music, and (3) drugs. Pain Exalting the mind through pain or fatigue inflicted on the body takes the form of trials of endurance. The discomfort is sustained for prolonged periods, allowing normal consciousness to slip gradually into the entranced state necessary for the separation of the astral body. Frequently, the shaman denies himself water and food, denies himself sleep, exposes his body to the elements, and may even inflict injuries of various kinds upon himself, or have his disciples inflict these injuries. For example, the shaman might have his body bound in an uncomfortable position, or slash his arms and chest to deliberately make himself weak with blood loss and the pain of the cuts. Other forms of endurance include sitting for extended periods near a hot fire to induce dehydration and to overheat the body. The famous sweat lodge of the Plains Indians of America fulfilled the same function. Suspension of the body was also used by shamans. Ordeals are usually most severe during initiation. Among the Manchu, nine holes were made in the ice and a person seeking to become a shaman was forced to dive into the first hole, come out of the second, and continue in this way to the end. If the spirits were with him, they would protect him. Another Manchu initiation involved fire walking. If the candidate was able to achieve contact with his tutelary spirits, it was believed they would shield his feet from the glowing ember^.^ A member of the Jivaro tribe of South America is forced to go for days without food, and drinks large amounts of tobacco juice. When a spirit finally appears to him, the master who is controlling the initiation proceeds to beat the initiate into unconsci~usness.~ In ceremonies of initiation, there are two factors at work. One is the use of pain, hunger, and fatigue to induce an altered state of consciousness that is conducive to the 8. Eliade, 112. 9. Ibid., 84. 10 Soul Flight perception of spiritual beings. The other factor is the ordeal as a barrier that must be overcome in order to demonstrate worthiness to gain admission into the society of shamans. Even in the second case, the spirits play a part, for if the spirits have embraced the initiate and support him through his ordeals, he is able to pass the ordeals with ease. The candidate's successful fulfillment of the ordeal shows the older shaman overseeing the trials that the spirits have accepted him. Such an extreme approach to soul flight as a trial of endurance is not recommended for the modern astral traveler, who will seldom be faced with the same degree of necessity that confronted the primitive shaman trying to solve a problem vital to the survival of his tribe. However, this method of altering consciousness is not unpracticed in modern Western cultures, although it is almost never linked with astral travel by those who practice it. It occurs during extended scenes of bondage in sadomasochistic sexual play-what is generally known as the BDSM scene. Those who have been bound and whipped for hours as a way of heightening their sexual response report a sense of leaving their own bodies, accompanied by an intense euphoria. For some recipients of the physical abuse, this is the ultimate objective, more important than any sexual release. From the early centuries of the present era until the Renaissance, it was common for monks and nuns to chastise their bodies, or to have others inflict chastisement upon them, and also to engage in prolonged trials of endurance and deprivation. The most famous example is that of the Christian fanatics known as Stylites, or Pillar Saints, who lived on the tops of stone pillars, exposed to the elements both day and night. Simeon the Stylite of Syria (died AD 460) spent thirty-seven years of his life on various pillars, the final one sixty-six feet in height. It has been speculated that those monks and nuns receiving punishment derived sexual pleasure from it, and this is no doubt true, given how closely chastisements of the flesh used by the religious parallel the sexual play of submissives and masochists. However, sexual pleasure was not the primary goal, but rather freedom from the yoke of the body by inducing spontaneous astral projection, which resulted in visions that were interpreted as divine revelations. Music The second general technique employed by shamans to transform their consciousness involves rhythm and sound. It is the least dangerous of the three, but perhaps the most effective since it can be replicated with exactitude and does not reduce to a serious degree the vital energies of the body. A shaman undergoing an extreme trial of the flesh Chapter One: Sharnanic Soul Flight 11 m~aybe brought so near death when he finally achieves separation of the astral body that he is unable to fulfill his tasks in the astral world. The musical technique avoids this unfortunate outcome. As might be expected, rhythm is the most important component. The European shaman is renowned for his drum: a broad, flat instrument resembling a large tambourine that is beaten with a curved stick. It was believed to have been cut from the trunk of the World Tree that is the axis of the universe.1° The shamans of the North American Indians usled a similar drum. Rhythmic beating of this drum is able to change the heart rate and other more subtle bio-rhythms of the body. The drumming is often accompanied by singing or chanting, using either words or repetitions of sound patterns. Another component that often appears in this induction technique is rhythmic dancing to the beat of a drum or drums, or the clapping of hands. Dancing has the added effect of inducing fatigue in the body, so it is in part a pain technique. There is no rule that the three categories I have defined can never overlap. Shamans used whatever they found to be effective, without regard to formal classifications. Chanting was a popular form of rhythmic induction. The same phrase or phrases wcluld be repeated in a low voice, sometimes for hours, accompanied by rocking motions of the body. We see the same technique employed in modern society by religious groups during prayer. Catholics chant on their rosaries. Jews chant in their synagogues an~dat the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Muslims chant the verses of the Koran. The result is not always the separation of the astral body, but often this type of prolonged chanting induces an elevated mental condition or even an ecstatic state. A less well-recognized induction technique employed by shamans is the use of extended pure tones in the form of whistling. When formed by the lips, the notes are sounded as long as there is air in the lungs, then at once renewed when a new breath is drawn. In this way, the notes can be repeated indefinitely. Sometimes flutes or whistles are employed. This method can be highly effective. The mind is able to glide along on the extended musical note, which extends away from the shaman who forms it almost like a flowing river of sound. It is possible to ride this sound away from the physical body, to use it as a vehicle of separation. The tones used were originally arrived at in an intuitive way. The shaman used what he had found to give the best result in altering his consciousness. Repeated usage establishes a 10. Eliade, 270. 12 Soul Flight ritual and a tradition within the culture in which certain notes are perceived to be magical or possessed of a heightened occult potency. This process is always how rituals are established. Individuals perform actions that they intuit to be effective, and these become institutionalized and passed down through generations. Those who disparage the religious rituals of modern Western society as empty forms should bear in mind that rituals only come to exist in a society because those who institute them perceive them to have practical value. They do not arise from nothing, or without purpose. Drugs The third technique used by shamans to separate the astral body is the use of intoxicating substances derived from herbs, mushrooms, roots, bark, berries, and other natural sources. By far the most popular and common is alcohol, in the form of wine or beer. In ancient times, the Greeks considered wine a gift from the gods, to be employed only for sacred purposes such as communicating with the gods and receiving their inspiration. The Greeks held the same views regarding theater, dance, and music, since all were found to alter and exalt consciousness. This attitude is shamanic to the core. Needless to say, wine was soon debased for common purposes of pleasure, as was music and theater, but in their most ancient forms, they were sacred. Most individuals who get drunk in a bar on a Friday night probably don't consider that, at one time, intoxication was held to be an important pathway to the spirit world. Used with careful moderation, in company with drumming and chanting, alcohol can be highly effective.Excessive indulgence overwhelms the mind completely and no useful result is possible. Carried to its extreme, alcohol is a deadly poison. The wine brewed in primitive cultures was fairly weak, and was limited by the concentration of alcohol that the yeast excreting the alcohol could endure. Wine has its own natural limit on alcohol percentage, and above a certain point the yeast that makes the alcohol becomes poisoned by it. Only when wine is fortified-having additional alcohol added to it-can that limit be exceeded. To make fortified wine requires distilling, something unknown to simple shamanic cultures. Therefore, we know that the wine or beer used to induce an exalted mental state for the purpose of soul flight was quite mild by the standards of modern excess. Another popular drug employed by the shamans of the New World-and, after the voyages of discovery of the early Europeans, in the Old World as well-was tobacco. Our modern culture has so abused and debased this plant that it is sometimes difficult to realize that it was sacred for the American Indians. They regarded it as sacred for its mind- Chapter One: Sharnanic Soul Flight 13 altering properties. Tobacco was found to sharpen and focus thoughts, while at the same tirne relaxing the body; it enhances mental clarity in part by widening tiny blood vessels in the brain, a process known as cerebrovasodilation, so that more blood can flow through th~em,feeding the brain with increased levels of oxygen.Yet, paradoxically, by acting on the nervous system, tobacco constricts blood vessels in the body and raises a person's blood pr'essure, which further enhances this mental sharpness by pumping blood through the br,ain under increased pressure. In addition to these remarkable qualities, tobacco is an analgesic that reduces pain in the body, an anti-psychotic,and an effective anxiolytic that reduces anxiety levels. The shamans of the northern and central regions of the Americas relied on tobacco, rolling the dried leaves of the plant or putting them into pipes to smoke, chewing them, or drinking the extracted juice. But the shamans of the southern region of the Americas preferred the leaves of the cocoa plant, from which the modern illegal narcotic cocaine is derived. As is true of fortified wine and the hard spirits of alcohol, the ancient shamans never experienced the effects of cocaine because they did not possess the technology to manufacture it. They chewed the fresh cocoa leaves, mingling the juice gradually with their saliva, which they swallowed. The leaves of the cocoa plant induce euphoria, coilpled with a temporary freedom from pain or weakness. The cocoa leaves were often used, or abused, by the common members of the tribe in order to carry heavy loads for long distances, or to cross large tracks of countryside with unnatural swiftness. A mind-altering substance occurring naturally in the central part of the New World is peyote. Extracted from several species of mescal cactuses growing in what is now Mexico and the southwestern United States, it was used to induce visions and, thanks in large part to the books of Carlos Castaneda, is perhaps the most famous of the naturally occurring drugs employed by shamans. Castaneda wrote: My basic assumption in both books [TheTeachings of Don Juan and A Separate Reality] has been that the articulation points in learning to be a sorcerer were the states of nonordinary reality produced by the ingestion of psychotropic plants. In this respect don Juan was an expert in the use of three such plants: Datura inoxia, commonly known as jimson weed; Lophophora williamsii, known as peyote; and a hallucinogenic mushroom of the genus Psilocybe." 11. Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan, 7. 14 SoulFlight If history teaches us anything, it is that the excessive use and abuse of a substance or technique for exalting consciousness will not produce a useful result. We have learned this in the uses of music, theater, dance, poetry, alcohol, tobacco, cocaine, and it certainly applies to peyote and other mind-altering substances such as LSD. Castaneda goes on to write in Journey to Ixtlan that he was wrong in his assumption, and that it is possible to learn to induce states of "nonordinary reality" by means other than drugs. I will go still further and assert that outside of a rigorously controlled traditional ritual context, it is almost impossible to use drugs in a useful spiritual way, such as for the exaltation of consciousness and the separation of the astral body. Even within such a context, the use of drugs to force the astral shell from the body can have dire consequences. Both the minds and bodies of traditional shamans have been severely degraded by the habitual use of powerful drugs, and even by the use of milder drugs in massive quantities. For example, tobacco was not only smoked and chewed, but ingested by shamans in the form of concentrated juice from the leaves. Even today the shamans of the Campa people of the eastern Peruvian rain forest drink large amounts of tobacco syrup as an intoxicant. In large enough amounts, tobacco juice is a deadly poison, as those who have worked on tobacco farms, handing the cured leaves, will testify. Given a long period of exposure, enough nicotine can be absorbed through the skin of the hands to kill those who are not habituated to it. Music and Dance Recommended Of the three classes of technique used by shamans to induce soul flight that I have described, I must strongly recommend against the first and third classes. Both have been proven effective over centuries yet both carry serious risks that the modern soul flyer does not need to take. In the first class, abuse applied to the body can easily result in permanent injuries that will disfigure or hinder those who experiment with pain techniques for the rest of their lives. The danger of the third class, drugs of various kinds, is so amply illustrated by the fate of addicts that little more need be written. Even the very mild natural drugs used in traditional shamanic cultures can be abused, and this is doubly true of the enhanced and concentrated drugs produced by modern chemistry. For example, the tobacco plant that is transformed into cigarettes has a much higher concentration of nicotine than any tobacco plant used by the shamans of pre-Columbian America. Some modern drugs are so absurdly powerful that those who experiment with them might as well put a loaded gun to their heads and blow their brains out. LSD is so potent Chapter One: Shamanic Soul Flight 15 that the smallest speck will cause a psychotic state that endures for many hours. Those who have used LSD and believe themselves to have survived the experience intact may laugh at this caution, but in addition to the well-known genetic damage that LSD causes, those who have interacted with habitual users are aware of the more subtle mental damage the abuse of this drug can inflict. LSD burnout is a real phenomenon and the consequences are tragic. In contrast to physical self-abuse and drugs, the use of dancing, chanting, percussive rhythms, and musical tones is relatively safe. When coupled with ritual, as they invariably were when employed by shamans, they can also be effective at generating an out-of-body experience. Ecstasy through dance and song is an uplifting experience that has no negative repercussions, apart from perhaps a gentle fatigue of the body that is without lasting effect. CHAPTER TWO Witches' Flying Ointment T raditional European witchcraft descends from shamanism, which is evident when we compare the abilities attributed to witches during the medieval witch trials with the powers of shamans. Witches healed the sick. They performed divination and augury. They conversed with spirits and kept familiar spirits as their servants, usually in the forjms of small animals such as cats. Witches were able to bewitch beasts, cause storms, ancl affect the growth of crops. Spirits instructed them in the technical details of their profession. Most significantly,it was believed that they had the power of flight. All these abilities are shamanic. Sixteenth-century English author Reginald Scot gave an extended catalog of the supposed powers of witches in his Discoverie of Witchcrafi, including the following talents: 18 Soul Flight Some write that with wishing they can send needles into the livers of their enimies. Some that they can transferre corne in the blade from one place to another. Some, that they can cure diseases supernaturallie, flie in the aire, and danse with divels. Some write, that they can plaie the part of Succubus, and contract themselves to Incubus; and so yoong prophets are upon them begotten, etc. Som saie they can transubstantiate themselves and others, and take the forms and shapes of asses, woolves, ferrets, cowes, apes, horsses, dogs, etc. Some say they can keepe divels and spirits in the likenesse of todes and cats.12 Why Most Witches Were Women The term witch is gender neutral, as is the term shaman. Even so, today most people think of witches as exclusively women. There is a reason for this error. Throughout history witches have been presented in literature and in art as female. Medieval Christian theologians held that women were by their nature more susceptible to evil influences than men. They derived this belief in part from the biblical fable of Adam and Eve because it was Eve who was seduced by the Serpent. Due to this imagined vulnerability of women, theologians believed that more women than men became witches. However, many men were also accused of witchcraft and executed for it. An examination of the long lists of witch names in Appendix 111of Margaret A. Murray's Witch-Cult in Western Europe shows a ratio or roughly one man for every ten women. Since the practice of shamanism in pagan times was divided between men and women, it may be wondered why witchcraft, its descendent, came to be associated predominantly with women. A possible answer lies in tracing what became of the role in society that had been filled by male shamans. It is apparent that their functions of intermediaries with the spirit world and healers of the sick were assumed, respectively, by priests and physicians-and neither profession was open to women in medieval Europe. To be a healer, a woman had to become a witch. To converse with the spirit realms and work magic, a woman had to become a witch. Or, at least, women who healed and made charms were understood to be witches by the general population, and may have considered themselves to be witches also. 12. Scot, Discoverie of Witchcraft,bk. I, chap. 4, p. 6 . Chapter Two: Witches' Flying Ointment 19 How Many Witches Were There? It is impossible to know how extensive the practice of witchcraft was in Europe prior to and during the Renaissance, when the persecution of witches by the Catholic and Protestant churches reached its height. The records of the witch interrogations and the literary works of witch finders, demonologists, and priests of the Inquisition certainly exaggerated their number outrageously, but when this exaggeration is discarded, it must be concluded that traditional shamanic skills passed down from generation to generation as a cultural heritage of rural European communities formed the basis for the genuine practice of witchcraft. It is currently estimated that around forty thousand men, women, and children accused of witchcraft were executed in Europe over a span of three centuries-roughly between the years 1450 to 1750,the approximate duration of the witch mania that gripped the Christian churches. Rossell Hope Robbins gives a much higher estimate of executions, around two hundred thousand,13but even this is very conservative when compared with the. ridiculous numbers that have circulated, some of them in the millions! These higher estiimates are quite absurd. It is unlikely the number of executions exceeded one hundred thousand, and it was probably less than half this amount. C. L'Estrange Ewen, author of Witchcrafi and Demonianism, guessed that only about one thousand accused witches were hanged in England. The numbers executed on the Continent were much higher, but they have been wildly overestimated by many authorities. Executions for witchcraft, even were the numbers known with assurance, would be a pterilous way of computing the actual number of practicing witches. The majority of those executed had nothing to do with witchcraft and no knowledge of it, other than what they may have picked up in general gossip, or during the interrogations of their torturers. They were accused of witchcraft by spiteful neighbors or hysterical children. Practicing witches were vulnerable to discovery because it was the nature of their art that they had dealings with common people, so undoubtedly many of the accused were true witches. But we can only guess just how many genuine witches were burned or hanged for witchcraft. It was a small percentage of the total number executed. What can be stated with some assurance is that there were indeed witches-men and wornen living alone or in family groups in villages and towns, offering such services as the healing of disease, fortunetelling, protection from evil spirits, communications with 13. Robbins, Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, 180. 20 Soul Flight the dead, and the sale of charms for various purposes such as compelling love or finding treasure. They used a mixture of folk magic and folk medicine. Whether such a person was known locally as a wise woman or a witch probably depended on how highly they were regarded in the community. Until recent times, witch was a wholly pejorative term. The Bible mandated a sentence of death for witches (Exodus 22:18), so to accuse someone of being a witch was to condemn them to execution, particularly toward the close of the Renaissance when the furor against witchcraft reached an hysterical frenzy. Witch's Familiar The witch's familiar was held by the demonologists who wrote against them during the witch craze to be either an animal possessed by an evil spirit, or an evil spirit in the shape of an animal. In the second case, the familiar spirit was believed to have actually assumed a material body, conlposing it from the moisture of the air and from the dust and smoke in the air. Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General of England, wrote in his Discovery of Witches (1647) that Elizabeth Clark possessed a familiar namedvinegar Tom that had the power to change its shape. He saw it first in the form of a greyhound with a head like an ox and large eyes, and before his sight it transformed into a child of about four years with no head that went running madly around the house, then vanished at the d00r.l~ The usual assumption is that Hopkins was lying in order to ensure the conviction of Elizabeth Clark for witchcraft. However, it is possible that he was in such a heightened state of anxiety and hysteria while he interrogated the woman that he saw the familiar in the form of an astral vision. Contrary to what Hopkins believed, the spirit he identified as Vinegar Tom had no material body, and it may not even have been connected in any way with Elizabeth Clark. It is possible that it was a spirit linked to Hopkins himself, that chose to represent itself as a familiar of the accused witch in order to fulfill the expectations of Hopkins. If any man was haunted by evil spirits, it was surely Hopkins, who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent women. Goddess of the Witches As is the case with legends and stories about shamans, there is often confusion between the physical and spiritual in the medieval accounts of witchcraft. Many records of the witch trials declare witches to have the power to physically fly through the air, as well as 14. Robbins, 192. Chapter Two: Witches' Flying Ointment 21 tfle ability to vanish from sight or transform themselves into cats or other creatures. The theologians, unwilling to grant any power to the witches themselves, ascribed the power ol' flight to the Devil. Francesco Maria Guazzo wrote: "Further I hold it to be very true that sometimes witches are really transported from place to place by the devil who, in the shape of a goat or some other fantastic animal, both carries them bodily to the sabbat and himself is present at its obscenities. This is the general opinion of the Theologians arid Jurisconsults of Italy, Spain, and Catholic Germany; while a great many others are of' a like opinion."I5 Guazzo substituted the ubiquitous Devil in place of the lunar goddess Diana, as referred to in the much older ninth-century decree of the Council of Ancyra, recorded in the Canon Episcopi, which mentions that "certeine wicked women following sathans provocations, being seduced by the illusion of divels, beleeve and professe that in the night times they ride abroad with Diana, the goddesse of the Pagans, or else with Herodias, with an innumerable multitude, upon certeine beasts, and passe over manie countries and nations, in the silence of the night, and doo whatsoever those fairies or ladies command."16 Herodias is the daughter of Diana, the moon, by her brother Lucifer, the sun, according to the Italian witches' gospel published in 1897 under the title Aradia by the folklorist Charles G. Leland. Herodias is the ruling tutelary spirit of all witches, who is commanded by Diana to descend to the earth to communicate the secrets of witchcraft to human beings. The shamanic overtones are overt and undeniable: 'Tis true indeed that thou a spirit art, But thou wert born but to become again A mortal; thou must go to earth below To be a teacher unto women and men Who fain would study witchcraft in thy school." By "go to earth below," manifestation to human perceptions is intended, so that witches will be able to see and hear Herodias, or Aradia, allowing her to instruct them in Diana's forbidden arts. Until spirits manifest on the astral level, they have no existence to human 15. Guazzo, Compendium Maleficarum, 34. 16. Scot, bk. 111, chap. 16, p. 37. 17. Leland, Aradia, 4. 22 Soul Flight consciousness. There is also an echo here of the Gnostic myth of Sophia, goddess of wisdom, who incarnated as a mortal woman in order to aid human souls mired in ignorance to regain their divine birthright to dwell among the stars. Witch's Power of Flight Witchcraft is ancient in Italy, and even in its pagan beginnings involved soul flight. The second-century Roman writer Lucius Apuleius, in his novel The Golden Ass, described the flight of the witch Pamphile, who smeared her body with a magic ointment and transformed herself into the form of an owl: And when midnight came, she led me softly into a high chamber and bid me look thorow the chink of a doore: where first I saw how shee put of all her garments, and took out of a certain coffer sundry kindes of Boxes, of the which she opened one, and tempered the ointment therein with her fingers, and then rubbed her body therewith from the sole of the foot to the crowne of the head, and when she had spoken privily with her selfe, having the candle in her hand, she shaked the parts of her body, and behold, I perceived a plume of feathers did burgen out, her nose waxed crooked and hard, her nailes turned into clawes, and so she became an Owle. Then she cried and screeched like a Bird of that kinde, and willing to proove her force, mooved her selfe from the ground by little and little, ti1 at last she flew quite away.lR Notice that the metamorphosis from woman to owl was not effected solely by means of the ointment, but was triggered with the muttering of an incantation. This suggests that it took place in a ritual context, although Apuleius does not bother to describe any other aspects of the ritual. Elizabeth Style, accused of witchcraft in Somerset, England, in 1664, gave her version of the flying incantation to her inquisitors. After anointing her forehead and the insides of her wrists with a greenish, raw-smelling oil that was brought to her by a spirit, she spoke the words "Thout, tout a tout, tout, throughout and about" and was carried away. To return to her house, she spoke the words "Rentum, Tormentum."19 In the novel of Apuleius, the transformation is physical. Pamphile actually becomes an owl, the better to fly through the air. This is nonsense, as it should be needless to point out. The flight of witches as owls certainly did occur, but it was an astral-not a physi- 18. Apuleius, chap. XVI, 67. 19. Murray, Witch-Cult in Western Europe, 101. Chapter Two: Witches' Flying Ointment 23 cal-flight. We can be quite certain about this from a few eyewitness accounts of witches when they actually were engaging in soul flight. These accounts, small in number, are remarkably uniform. The witch is observed lying unconscious for an extended period of time. Sometimes she is seen to apply an ointment to her naked body before lying down or falling down and going to sleep. Attempts to rouse her from her trance are usually futile. When at last she recovers her senses, she declares that she was on a journey, and may believe that the journey was taken in her physical body, although it is evident to the witness that this was not the case. The demonologist Johann Weyer, who was the pupil of Cornelius Agrippa, quotes Giovanni Battista Porta (1535-1615) on this matter. Porta recorded in the second book of his work Magia naturalis (Natural Magic) how an elderly witch offered to give him an account of the things she experienced during her magical flight, which was effected by means of an ointment that she applied to her body. Removing her clothing, she vigorously rubbed herself all over with some ointment, while we observed through cracks in the door. She collapsed under the force of the soporific juices and fell into a profound sleep. We opened the doors, and struck her repeatedly, but her sleep was so deep that she felt nothing. We returned to our position outside, and now the strength of her remedy began to weaken and grow feeble. Awaking from sleep, she began a long raving story of crossing seas and mountains, and she brought forth false responses. We denied her story, but she insisted upon it. We showed her the black-and-blue marks, but she became all the more stubborm20 The same sort of account occurs in the 1525 Tractatus de strigibus sive maleficus of the Dominican monk Bartholomaeus of Spina (1465-1546), who relates the story told to him by his friend, Augustus de Turre of Bergamo. While still a young man, Augustus returned late one night to his rented house in the university town of Pavia, where he was studying to become a physician. For a long time he pounded on the door, but nobody answered. In frustration, he climbed the side of the house to a balcony and entered through an open window, and then went looking for the maid who was supposed to have been ready and waiting to unbolt the door when he knocked. He found her in her room, lying unconscious on the floor, and left her to her sleep. The next day, when he asked her what sht: had been doing on the floor, she replied that she had been "on a journey." 20. Weyer, On Witchcraft, 114. 24 Soul Flight Writing about the astral flight of witches in his 1597 work Daernonologie,King James VI of Scotland, who would later be crowned King James I of England, observed: And some sayeth, that their bodies lying stil as in an extasy, their spirits will be rauished out of their bodies, & carried to such places. And for verefying thereof, wil giue euident tokens, aswel by witnesses that haue seene their body lying senseles in the meane time, as by naming persones, whomwith they mette, and giuing tokens quhat purpose was amongst them, whome otherwaies they could not haue knowen: for this forme of journeing, they affirme to vse most, when they are transported from one Countrie to another.21 The Sabbat Gatherings It was the general belief of the demonologists that witches flew through the air, either in body or in spirit, to attend the great gatherings of witches known as sabbats, which were supposed to be held at certain times of year, most notably All Hallow's Eve (October 3 1) and Walpurgis Night (April 30), usually on high places such as the tops of mountains. The Brocken or Blocksburg in the Hartz Mountains of Germany was the most famous location for this gathering. More fascinating from the point of view of astral travel and the astral world is the gathering place supposed to have been used by the witches of Mora, in Sweden, who attracted the ire of the clergy and of the Swedish monarch Charles XI in the year 1669. The accused witches called the place the Blocula, according to their inquisitors, who described it as "a delicate large meadow, whereof you can see no end. The place or house they met at had before it a gate painted with divers colors; through this gate they went into a little meadow distinct from the other, where the beasts went that they used to ride on."22A schoolteacher who claimed that the Devil had carried him there described it as an island. In 1730, long after the accused witches of Mora had been executed, a thirteen-yearold Norwegian girl named Siri J~rgensdatterclaimed that when she was seven, her grandmother had taken her to visit the Blocula. "Siri told them that when she was seven years old, her grandmother took her to a pigsty, where she smeared a sow with some ointment she took from a horn, whereupon they both mounted and after a short ride through the 21. JamesI, bk. 11, chap. 4, pp. 39-40. 22. Robbins, 349-50. Chapter Two: Witches' Flying Ointment 25 air arrived at a place that her grandmother called Blaak~llen."~~ The sow was left outside the building. They entered and sat down at one of seven tables next to the Devil, who was referred to as "grandfather" by Siri's grandmother. This child's accusation of witchcraft came to nothing, and it was dismissed by the bishop who reviewed it. It contains a number of interesting details. The flying ointment was kept in a horn, which because of its crescent shape is symbolic of the moon. The sow is a lunar beast. It was the sow that was smeared with the ointment, but the girl and her grandmother straddled it, bringing their sexual parts into contact with the ointment. The mention of a pigsty recalls an incident related by Bartholomaeus de Spina, who in his Tractatus de strigibus sive malijicis told of a notary from Lugano who missed his wife w.hen he arose one morning and went searching for her around his estate. He located her naked and dirty, lying unconscious in the pigsty. When he interrogated her, she tearfully admitted that during the night she had gone "on a journey."24 The Blocula, insofar as it can be said to have had any existence, is clearly an astral pl.ace.The beasts supposed to have carried the witches there were astral beasts, carrying their astral forms. It is doubtful, however, that Swedish witches ever traveled to the Blocula, either physically or astrally, to attend large sabbat gatherings. The whole concept of the great witch sabbat was an invention of the inquisitors of the church. Rossell Hope Robbins wrote: "The conception of the sabbat seems to have been fabricated during the fourteenth and fifteen centuries, largely by the investigators and judges connected with Witches were solitary practitioners of their shamanic traditions, or at the Inq~isition."~~ most family practitioners, and never met in large groups. However, it is possible that the story of the Blocula as an astral place was derived by the inquisitors from some traditional belief among Swedish witches, perhaps a belief that descended from a pagan myth of paradise. Methods of Flight An interesting aspect of the soul flight of traditional European witches is the methods supposed to have been used to carry them through the air. Citing Nicolas Remy's Demonolatry as his source, Guazzo mentions numerous forms of transportation: - 23. Robbins, 288. 24. Hansen, Witch's Garden, 87. 25. Robbins, 414-5. 26 SoulFlight But it must be known that before they go to the Sabbat they anoint themselves upon some part of their bodies with an unguent made from various foul and filthy ingredients, but chiefly from murdered children; and so anointed they are carried away on a cowl-staff, or a broom, or a reed, a cleft stick or a distaff, or even a shovel, which things they ride. At times they are mounted upon an ox or a goat or a dog, and so are carried to their feast. And yet again they go on foot when the place is not far distant.26 In earliest times, it was by transformation into birds, as the quotation from the novel of Apuleius demonstrates. By the tenth century, the prevailing belief was that witches flew on the backs of beasts sacred to the lunar goddess Diana. In the fanatical eyes of the medieval church, pagan Diana was only one step away from Satan, so it was maintained that witches flew on beasts controlled by the Devil, or sometimes were carried through the air by the Devil or by his demons. A later evolution gives the witch a stick to ride upon. This stick takes several forms. It can be a simple forked twig-forked to indicate duality and thus duplicity, after the manner of the forked tongue of the serpent. Or it can be a homely farm implement such as a pitchfork, which had two prongs in early times, or a corn broom. Witches are shown in old woodcuts straddling the broom or sitting astride it sidesaddle. Usually the bush of the broom points forward, but there is no rule about this, and sometimes the handle of the broom is depicted foremost. This is the archetypal image of the flying witch that has come down through the centuries to our modern celebrations of Halloween. More than any other single visual image, it embodies the popular conception of the witch of folklore. That the witch is flying in the image is significant. Flight is an absolutely essential part of the archetype. Sometimes witches were said to fly to the sabbat on wands or simple rods, which they held between their legs for the purpose. This may refer to autoerotic stimulation by the witch to help achieve the altered consciousness necessary to separate the astral body from the physical body. It is possible that witches masturbated with some form of dildo to aid in soul flight. Such powerful archetypes as the witch on her broom have astonishing persistence and show up in the culture in curious ways. Recently a company was forced to stop making vibrating Harry Potter flying brooms for children. It was discovered that older girls were taking the toys from their younger siblings and playing with 26. Guazzo, 34-5. Chapter Two: Witches' Flying Ointment 27 them alone for prolonged periods of time. Whether astral travel was achieved by these girls is doubtful. There seems little difference between the soul flight of the shamans of primitive cultures-frequently induced by intoxicating drugs such as alcohol, nicotine, and peyoteand the astral flight of medieval European witches, which was often provoked by what has come to be known as flying ointment. This ointment was sometimes applied to the wands or rods that witches held between their legs during flight. If these wands were used as dildos, absorption of the active components of the ointment through the mucous membranes of the sexual parts would have been rapid. The witch's ointment was also used to cause the illusion of shape-shifting, an activity closely related to soul flight since witches as well as shamans sometimes believed themselves to fly through the air in the forms of birds, or run swiftly over the ground in the forms of wolves or other beasts. N-atureof Flying Ointment Exactly how the flying ointment worked was beyond the understanding of the times. The urlcommonly enlightened Francis Bacon (1561-1626) in his Sylva Sylvarurn, a treatise written in his last year of life, expressed his conviction that flying ointment induced a hallucination by means of "soporiferous medicines" such as the juices of smallage,wolfbane, and cinquefoil. He was undoubtedly correct, as we may surmise from our modern vantage. By contrast, Henry More wrote in his 1653 work Antidote Against Atheism that the ointment sealed up the pores of the skin, and in this way preserved the heat of the body while the soul was absent, allowing it to survive until the soul's return.z7He believed the ointment incidental to the projection of the soul, but necessary to preserve the life of the body. Eyewitness accounts of witches lying in trance, who later claimed to have been flying, indicated to enlightened men such as Bacon and More that no physical flight was involved, but the more credulous continued to believe that witches actually flew. A surprising number of recipes of witches' flying ointment have survived down to the present in written form. Hansen mentions that sixteen of them are "comparatively The active ingredients were the juices from narcotic or psychotropic plants. The inactive ingredients were occult in nature, and probably played no part in the effectiveness of the ointment. These include such things as soot and bat's blood. The base 27. Robbins, 365. 28. Hansen, 90. 28 Soul Flight of the ointment was rendered fat, into which the active and inactive ingredients were blended. The priests of the Inquisition and the demonologists such as Guazzo maintained that the fat was obtained from murdered babies. This should probably be regarded as little more than a slander against witches, who likely used the same type of lard they employed for cooking. However, it is possible that when this slander became common knowledge, some men and women who fancied themselves witches, as the Inquisition understood witches-that is, as agents of Satan -may have actually used the fat of infants. An alternative base to fat was oil, which would have been less effective since the ointment would more quickly run off the body, or be wiped off by the movements of the limbs. Some scholars suppose the "oil" specified in the formulae to be a euphemism for baby fat. The other major inactive ingredient, soot, would have the effect of coloring the ointment black. When smeared over the entire naked body it would make an effective concealment for travel at night, when the ointment was applied for the purpose of shape-shifting. As mentioned, shape-shifting is an astral event, but those who believed themselves transformed into wolves, bears, stags, or other beasts, and intoxicated by the effects of the ointment, may have run through the fields and villages in their physical bodies beneath the light of the moon, under the delusion that they had changed into the bodies of beasts. In the tale related by Bartholomaeus de Spina concerning the wife of the notary from Lugano, who found his wife unconscious in the pigsty, it may be significant that the wife is described as dirty. The dirt could have come from the sty, or perhaps if she used a flying ointment, it was from soot in the ointment. The method of applying the ointment, according to Lucius Apuleius, was to rub it vigorously into the skin all over the body from the soles of the feet to the hairline. For this purpose, the witch was more or less forced to make herself naked. The common image of a nude witch applying the ointment to her body promoted the myth of the lustfulness of witches. Reginald Scot wrote that the ointment was rubbed into the skin until the skin was reddened by the friction, bringing the blood to just beneath the surface and warming it so that the pores were opened.29It is likely that it was also rubbed into the genitals. 29. Murray, 100. Chapter Two: Witches' Flying Ointment 29 Three Recipes for Flying Ointment Margaret A. Murray provided three simple recipes for flying ointment in the final appendix of her Witch-Cult in Western Europe that are translated into English from an unnamed French source, or sources. 1. Parsley, water of aconite, poplar leaves, and soot. 2. Water parsnip, sweet flag, cinquefoil, bat's blood, deadly nightshade, and oil. 3. Baby's fat, juice of water parsnip, aconite, cinquefoil, deadly nightshade, and T.he active ingredient of the first formula is aconite, which is derived from a root and was a poison well-known to the Romans. It is an alkaloid that causes irregularity and stopping of the heart. A. J. Clark, who wrote the appendix to Murray's book, points out that the parsley (du persil in the French text) may actually have been hemlock, which he says closely resembles parsley. Hemlock, a poison used in classical times, produces paralysis of'the body that is sometimes accompanied by delirium. The second formula contains the active ingredient deadly nightshade, or belladonna. In moderate doses, it generates excitement or delirium, but eating as few as fourteen berries is known to have caused death. Clark suggests that water parsnip, which is harmless, may actually refer to the poisonous water hemlock or cowbane. The active ingredients of the third formula are aconite and deadly nightshade. Together they would cause irregularity in the heartbeat and emotional excitement. Notice that two of the recipes contain soot, which has no active function but would blacken the ointments. The first may have been thickened by a paste made from ground an'd pulverized poplar leaves, or more probably fresh green poplar buds, which yield a thick juice when crushed that was employed for the making of ointment. The second was liquid and used an oil as its base. The third relied on human fat taken from an infant. In the medieval European world, infant deaths were commonplace. Woman had many children, and the majority of them died in infancy. It is impossible to know if baby fat was ever used in a flying ointment, but it was not an unobtainable substance, and would not necessarily have required murder. Human fat is perhaps more readily absorbed through the skin than animal fat, since it is so similar to the fat beneath the skin of the person applying it. 30. Murray, 279. 30 SoulFlight Active Ingredients Harold A. Hansen lists twenty-seven ingredients that occur either once, or multiple times, in traditional flying ointment recipes. Most would seem to have no active properties, but it is possible that their inclusion created a catalytic effect, enhancing, limiting, or otherwise modifying the power of the active substances. Soot appears in seven of the sixteen recipes that Hansen regards as reliable. The only ingredient that is found more often is cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans) which occurs in eight. The main active ingredients appear to be water hemlock (Cicuta vivosa), hemlock (Conium maculatum), monkshood (Aconitum napellus), opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), black nightshade (Solanum nigrum), mandrake (Mandragora oficinarum), thornapple (Datura stramonium), darnel (Lolium temulentum), poison lettuce (Lactuca virosa) and black poplar (Populus niger). Hemlock and water hemlock have similar poisonous effects. It was a concoction of hemlock that was used to execute the Greek philosopher Socrates. Hansen asserts that the juices of the two hemlocks, when rubbed into the skin, cause the sensation of gliding through the air.31 Monkshood is poisonous when applied to the surface of the skin. The naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote in his Natural History that the Roman Calpurnius Bestia murdered a succession of wives by rubbing aconitine on their sexual parts as they slept. "It is established that of all poisons the quickest to act is aconite, and that death occurs on the same day if the genitals of a female creature are but touched by it."32 The juice of the opium poppy causes languor and hallucinations. In modern times, we are familiar with the power of the opium poppy's concentrated extract, heroin, but the raw gum that seeps from cuts in the seed pods can be smoked, or the plant can be eaten, to produce a less potent effect. Opium was known about and used by physicians in Europe during the Middle Ages. It is possible that witches mistakenly assumed that they could get the same effect from the common corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas), but both types of poppies are listed in one recipe for flying ointment. Of the corn poppy, Nicholas 3 1. Hansen, 74. 32. Pliny, (bk. XXVII, chap. 2 ) , vol. 7, p. 391 Chapter Two: Witches' Flying Ointment 31 Culpeper wrote: "The herb is Lunar; and of the flowers and seeds is made a syrup, which is frequentIy, and to good effect, used to procure rest and sleep in the sick and weak."33 Mild poisoning by deadly nightshade brings on high spirits, a sense of timelessness, and deep sleep that is often accompanied by erotic dreams. Its common Italian name, belladonna (beautiful lady), refers to the historical practice of women applying drops of its juice diluted in water to the surface of their eyes to dilate their pupils, in order to lend themselves a more fascinating and seductive appearance. Henbane contains throughout its parts the alkaloid hyoscyamine, and its seeds also contain scopolamine. Hansen asserts that henbane by virtue of these alkaloids "can produce in its victims the illusion of having been turned into an The herbalist Jo:hn Gerard wrote that "to wash the feet in the decoction of Henbane causeth sleepe; or gillen in a clister it doth the same; and also the often smelling to the floures. The leaues, seed and iuyce taken inwardly causeth an vnquiet sleepe like vnto the sleep of drunkennesse, which continueth long, and is deadly to the party."35 Mandrake was known to be both a soporific and an aphrodisiac. No plant has a greater occult reputation. It was fabIed to render the possessor of its dried root invulnerable in battle, to cure him of all sickness,to aid in the discovery of hidden treasure, and to induce any woman he desired to make love to him. By comparison, the actual physical effects of the root are mild. Wine in which the root was boiled was used to cause sleep. The same e%:ct was achieved by smelling the fruit of the mandrake and by drinking its juice. The very scent of the flowers of thornapple in the air can induce stupefaction, and when the root is taken internally thornapple causes hallucinations and temporary insanity. A larger dose can produce permanent insanity and a still larger dose, death. Pliny called it manicon, the maddening herb.36 The seeds of darnel induce dizziness when eaten, and may perhaps have some similar effect when their active component is leeched from them into the ointment and absorbed through the skin. "When Darnel has been given medicinally in a harmful quantity, it is 33. Culpeper, Cukeper's Complete Herbal, 125. 34. Hansen, 45. 35. Gerard, The Herbal, 355. 36. Pliny (bk. XXI, chap. 105), vol. VI, p. 287. recorded to have produced all the symptoms of drunkenness: a general trembling, followed by inability to walk, hindered speech and vomiting."37 Poison lettuce is said to bring on sweet dreams. The Latin name Lactuca virosa signifies "poisonous milky juice." At one time, the juice was collected by cutting the tops of the plants and scraping the milky juice that welled forth into a cup several times a day. The juice in the cup became congealed, and was knocked out in the form of a patty. It was used to cut or adulterate opium because its properties are similar to those of opium. "The drug resembles a feeble opium without its tendency to upset the digestive system. Water distilled from lettuce (eau It is used to a small extent as a sedative and narc~tic."'~ de laitue) was used in France as a mild sedative, but larger doses given to animals in the form of injections have caused death. Francis Bacon listed the leaves of the black poplar as a soporific. Gerard, writing in 1597, reported that the buds of the new leaves were made into "that profitable ointment called unguenturn p o p ~ l e o n . "It~is~ worth noting in passing that the juice of the mandrake was also put into this ointment?" and that the ointment was sometimes combined with crushed henbane leave^.^' Gerard further wrote that "the leaues and yong buds of blacke Poplar doe asswage the paine of the gout in the hands or feet, being made into an ointment with May butter."42 Given the potent qualities of many of the active herbal ingredients in flying ointment, it would be foolish in the extreme to experiment with their manufacture and use. One of the first men to do so in modern times, Dr. Karl Kiesewetter, died of poisoning as the result of one of his experimental soul flights.43Will-Erich Peuckert, who in 1927 experimented in spite of the dangers with one of the flying ointments described by Giovanni Battista Porta in his Magia naturalis, reported that it first induced a sensation - - - 37. Grieve, Modern Herbal, 372. 38. Ibid., 476. 39. Gerard, 1486. 40. Ibid., 352. 41. Ibid., 355. 42. Ibid., 1488. 43. Hansen, 95. Chapter Two: Witches' Flying Ointment 33 of rapid and wild flight, followed by the impression of being jostled amid a great throng of revelers, and finally of participating in a chaotic sexual orgy.44 There can be little doubt that some of the flying ointments worked in the intended way, at least some of the time. In the absence of a rigorous control over the amounts and potencies of the ingredients that made them up, their effects probably varied wildly from batch to batch. There is no way to know if their use was harmless, or caused cumulative damage to the organs and nervous system. The latter case appears more likely in view of the malicious effects of some of the herbs that the ointments contained. Fortunately for those who desire to project their astral bodies, drugs are not necessary to achieve useful results. 44. Hansen, 99. CHAPTER TH RE€ The Land of Fairy T he description of the vast meadow of the Blocula, with its central meeting house and smaller enclosed grassy space for the keeping of horses and other mounts, that we met with in the previous chapter in connection with the testimony of the accused witches of Mora, Sweden, is relevant in illustrating the strong connection that exists between traditional European witchcraft and the fairies. The Blocula is certainly an astral place, and is very similar to numerous descriptions of the land of fairy. The accused witches characterized it as "a delicate large meadow, whereof you can see no end," and the enc:losed grounds of the meeting house possessed a gate painted with many colors. King James VI of Scotland, who would later become James I of England, when writing about the connection between witchcraft and fairies, observed: 36 Soul Flight That fourth kinde of spirites, which by the Gentiles was called Diana, and her wandering court, and amongst vs was called the Phairie (as I tould you) or our good neighboures, was one of the sortes of illusiones that was rifest in the time of Papistrie: for although it was holden odious to Prophesie by the deuill, yet whome these kinde of Spirites carryed awaie, and informed, they were thought to be sonsiest and of best life. To speake of the many vaine trattles founded vpon that illusion: How ther was a fing and Queene of Phairie, of such a iolly court & train as they had, how they had a teynd, & dutie, as it were, of all goods; how they naturallie rode and went, eate and drank, and did all other actiones like natural1 men and women: I think it liker Virgils Campi Elysij, nor anie thing that ought to be beleeued by Christians, except in general], that as I spake sundrie times before, the deuil illuded the senses of sundry simple creatures, in making them beleeue that they saw and harde such thinges as were nothing so indeed.45 In his epic poem The Aeneid, the Roman poet Virgil described Elysium, the land of the dead visited by the hero Aeneas, as a pleasant place of smiling lawns and happy groves. "Here a bright sky robes the fields with fuller radiance and with dazzling light: and they know their own sun, their own stars. Some exercise their limbs on grassy wrestlinggrounds; in sport they contend, and struggle on the yellow sand: some mark the measure with their feet, and sing songs."46 Fairyland is the astral realm where human beings who have projected their consciousness out of the physical world perceive and interact with the race of spirits known in Europe, and particularly in Celtic countries, as fairies. It is commonly thought to be the place where fairies live, but since human beings only are aware of fairies in this place when they themselves are present, this is not something that can be stated with assurance. It is certainly one of the astral meeting places between fairies and humans. But who can say what forms fairies may have when they are not interacting with human consciousness, or if they have any form at all? If they are formless in their essential nature, they would scarcely require a three-dimensional dwelling place. 45. JamesI, bk. 111, chap. 5, pp. 73-4. 46. Virgil, Works of Virgil, 172. Chapter Three: The Land of Fairy 37 Under the Hill There seem to be two predominant descriptions of the land of fairy. One, as suggested by King James I with his reference to Virgil's Elysium, is a bright and sunny meadow, often the slope of a large and gently rounded hill, where fairies are observed to dance and play. The other is sometimes called the Underworld, and is described as brightly illuminated and lavishly appointed caverns beneath the surface of the earth, in which are set:fine houses and dining halls. The two come together in the descriptions of the portals to fairyland, which often open into the sides of low and grass-covered hills. Such hills are co.mmon in southern England, rising from the flat plains. They are not natural, but were build for religious purposes by the ancient race that erected Stonehenge and other great cosmic circles and spirals such as Avebury. The center of fairy activity in Ireland is a similarly shaped, grass-covered hill. It is named Tara, and was the residence of the ancient kings of Ireland. Tara Hill in the County of Meath stands about 510 feet in elevation, and is crowned with a series of six circular earthen works, known as raths. The largest is called the king's rath (ruth-nu-riogh), and within its boundary is the meeting place (forradh), a flat-topped mound on which important gatherings of the people were held. It contains the sacred stone of destiny (lia fail), a phallic standing stone on which the ancient kings of Ireland were crowned. The stone is not in its original location, but was moved and re-erected. It was fabled to roar when a rightful king stood upon it. Also upon the hill of Tara was a great banqueting hall some 759 feet long by 46 feet wide. For centuries, kings ruled and made their laws here. When Christianity came to Ireland, the priests condemned Tara as a seat of druidism and idolatry, and around the year AD 560 it was cursed by Saint Ruadan, and was abandoned by the Irish in fear of the curse, leaving it as the habitation of the fairies. Fairies were closely linked by the Celts to the souls of the dead, so both Virgil's sunny meadow of Elysium where the dead sing and sport, and the large and splendid caverns in which they reside in other myths, can be applied to the fairies. Many of the recognized fairy knolls or hills are barrow mounds where lie the bodies of dead heroes, although many others are natural hills. In ancient times, it was not unheard of for whole Celtic clains to live in large caves and even to keep their cattle in the caverns with them, so it would have seemed natural to place the race of fairies in caverns, as a way of explaining how fairies could appear and disappear in moments as though from the thin air. The sides of fairy hills are said to open up like great doors to allow the passage of the fairy host going to and from the wild hunt of Diana or Herodias, and at other times the fairies ride on their miniature horses directly into the slope itself and disappear. The Good Neighbors Fairies are not the harmless, tiny pixies in gauzy gowns with dragonfly or butterfly wings that usually illustrate children's books. They are spiritual creatures who can at times be both dangerous and terrifying, which no sane person would ever wish to anger through imprudent action or careless words. They were known by various euphemistic titles, among them the Good Neighbors, the Good People, the People of Peace, the Fair Family, and the Gentry. This might lead someone coming across these titles to conclude that fairies are a jolly and pleasant band of spirits with whom to have dealings. However, if that person thought for a moment, and reflected that in Greek mythology the Furies, or Erinyes, were commonly known as the Eumenides (the Gracious Ones), and if he considered why this should be so, he might begin to see fairies in a less rosy light. Robert Kirk, who wrote about fairies and fairyland in 1691, made this important point in the opening paragraph of his treatise, in which he describes the nature of fairies. THESE Siths, or FAIRIES, they call Sleagh Maith, or the Good People, it would seem, to prevent the Dint of their ill Attempts, (for the Irish use to bless all they fear Harme of;) and are said to be of a midle Nature betuixt Man and Angel, as were Dzemons thought to be of old; of intelligent fluidious Spirits,and light changable Bodies, (lyke those called Astral,) somewhat of the Nature of a condensed Cloud, and best seen in Twilight. Thes Bodies be so plyable thorough the Subtilty of the Spirits that agitate them, that they can make them appear or disappear att P l e a ~ u r e . ~ ~ Kirk, who was the minister of the Scottish parish of Aberfoyle, rightly observed that the bodies of fairies are astral, not material, in nature. He came to know only too well the dangerous nature of fairies on a firsthand basis. Kirk was a seventh son, and possessed the second sight that allows perception of fairies and fairyland. The year after writing his important work on fairies, he was found lying dead on the slope of the local fairy hill (dun-ski) in Aberfoyle, called the Fairy Knowe. Aberfoyle was the place of Kirk's birth, where he had returned to preach following the death of his father, the minister of the 47. Kirk and Lang, Secret Commonwealth, 5 . Chapter Three: The Land of Fairy 39 parish, so it may be presumed that he had enjoyed some familiarity in his boyhood with the local spirits under the hill. The legend surrounding his death asserts that he did not really die, but that he was spirited away and a lifeless duplicate of his body put in his place. His successor, the Rev. Dr. Graham, wrote in his book of local history, Sketches of Picturesque Scenery, that Kirk's ghost appeared to one of his relatives shortly after his abduction and declared that he would come again at the baptism ceremony of his child-his wife having been pregnant at the time of his supposed death-and that his cousin must cast his dirk over Kirk's head, and then Kirk would be released from his captivity in fairyland. True to his word, Kirk made his reappearance at the baptism, but his cousin was so startled and frightened by the apparition that he forgot to throw the knife, and so Kirk remains a prisoner of the fairies to this day.48 Fairies were known as the Fair Family and the Good Neighbors because the country folk who interacted with them were terrified of them. The flattering names were a way of placating their wrath. They were believed to possess considerable power in the material world, such as the ability to blight or otherwise hinder crops; to sour milk, to lame horses; to take away sight, hearing, the strength of the legs, and the power of speech; to bewitch and cause fantastic visions; to lift men and women into the air and deposit them in treetops or on roofs; to transform the shapes and appearances of humans into those of beasts; and, most sinister of all, to cause sickness or death. In spite of these and other dangers, many men and women sought to interact with fairies, not only because of their wondrous spectacles of music, dancing, and feasting, but also because of the benefits fairies could confer on humans if they took the capricious inclination to do so. Fairies controlled both good and evil fortune. A person favored by the fairies would enjoy marvelous luck, whereas one who earned their disfavor by some ill-considered act, such as the cutting down of a thorn tree beloved by the fairies, would remain unlucky to his dying day. Appearance of Fairies There is more than one kind of fairy, and their natures differ from country to country. In Ireland, they are known as the Sidhe (pronounced "Shee"). Some assert that even within Ireland they are divided into several species, the Tuatha de Danann, the Fir Bolgs, and 48. Kirk and Lang, xii-xiii. 40 Soul Flight the M i l e ~ i a n sThe . ~ ~ Welsh know them as Tylwyth Teg, the Fair Folk. In Scotland, they are known as the Sith. Although they can cause their size and appearance to change, they generally appear in human forms, sometimes of normal human stature, but more commonly smaller than the average adult person. The height of fairies generally ranges between two feet and four feet. Shamans have described many of the spirits with whom they communicate as being of smaller than normal human stature,50and the familiar spirits of witches are often diminutive. Why fairies and other similar spirits should be of less than normal height when they come in human forms is not apparent. Fairies are known as the "little people" on this account, and elves and dwarfs, who appear along with fairies in old tales, are also usually described as of less than normal height. The more noble and exalted a fairy, the more likely it is to be of human, or nearly human, dimensions. Fairies of royal or noble blood possess an inhuman beauty, but common fairies resemble common farmers and other country folk. Those scholars incapable of accepting any other than a material explanation for a mystery have asserted that fairies are a mythic remembrance of an ancient race of people who inhabited the British Isles before the coming of the Celts. This primitive people, called Picts, were smaller than the Celts who displaced them, and were driven underground to live in caves, venturing forth only at night or in remote places where they would not be observed. It is a seductive explanation for the materially minded, but there is little or nothing in hard evidence to substantiate it. Fairies are said to exist in many lands where there were no Picts. Another peculiar aspect of the appearance of fairies is that they are frequently described as wearing antique or very out-of-date clothing. If there is no underlying basis for these spirits, it is difficult to see why they would be so often seen in antique dress. My own suspicion is that both their smallness of stature and the antique clothing have a basis in the mechanism of the mind through which fairies are perceived. Perhaps there is a distortion of space, a dislocation in time, during the astral perception of this kind of spiritual being. The smaller stature and antique garments are not invariable in the appearance of fairies, but they are habitual. 49. Evans-Wentz,Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, 32. 50. Eliade, 72. Chapter Three: The Land of Fairy 41 The Fairy Queen Fairy society is a monarchy. They are ruled by a king and queen, but the king is much less prominent than the queen, and perhaps less powerful. This is not true in all the accounts of fairies, but it is so in the majority of tales. Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream (c. 1595), in which King Oberon and Queen Titania rule fairyland together as equal partners, does not reflect the countless encounters with the fairy queen that occur in more simple folktales. Sometimes the queen is met on the road mounted upon a fine white horse, accompanied only by her hunting dogs, as she appeared to Thomas Learmont of Ercildoune, who went with her to fairyland and there acquired the occult knowledge that caused him to be remembered by Sir Walter Scott as the "Merlin of Scotland." At other times she passes by travelers in a splendid procession, composed of hundreds of guards and courtiers and ladies in waiting. The prominent, active role of the fairy queen, in contrast to the more authoritative yet passive role of the king, expresses the feminine nature of all energy or force, which is recognized in the Tantra texts of the Hindus as the goddess Shakti. The god Shiva, the initiating spark, is essential and yet to some extent impotent, in the sense that he acts only in a secondary way through his agents, whereas Shakti acts directly of her own accord. We see exactly the same dynamic in the game of chess. The king is the most important piece on the board-when the king is lost the game is forfeited-yet he has little power of his own. The greatest active power in chess is held by the queen. Queen Elizabeth I of England was often compared with the queen of fairies, an association she played up to the hilt as a way of impressing her less educated subjects. Her mother, Anne Boleyn, had been rumored to be a witch, so it was not such a leap to believe that Elizabeth herself had commerce with the fairies, or even commanded their realm, just as she commanded the realm of England. The poet Edmund Syenser (c. 1552-1599) wrote the epic poem The Faerie Queene in 1590 in order to do homage to Elizabeth. Contrary to popular belief, Queen Mab was not the fairy queen of England. "When Mab is called 'queen' it does not mean sovereign, for Titania was Oberon's wife, but simply female; both midwives and monthly nurses were anciently called queens or queans. Quen or cwen in Saxon means neither more nor less than woman; so 'elf-queen' and the Danish 'elle-quinde' mean female elf, and not 'queen of the elvesY5l Shakespeare described Queen Mab as "the fairies' midwife," a diminutive creature that rides her tiny - 51. - Brewer, Dictionary ofphrase and Fable, 535. 42 Soul Flight wagon across the faces of sleepers to bring them dreams. This is in sharp contrast to the grand lady Queen Titania. Fairy Abductions It is a persistent theme in fairy legends that human beings are abducted or otherwise deceived by fairies into entering under the hill through the magic gateway into the fairy world. Those taken by fairies may be absent from their homes and family for years, and then suddenly return having no memory of where they have been or how much time has elapsed. It was fabled that they profited greatly from their time in the land of fairy, because the fairies taught them many secret arts, and continued to watch over them and assist them after their return to the human world. When fairy abductees are asked what transpired in the land of fairy, they discover that they cannot remember, or remember but refuse to speak about it, or try to speak and find themselves unable. Commonly, the elapse of time is greater in the human realm than in the fairy realm; a man who believes himself gone but a day may find that a year has passed. This is the case in the Scottish folk tale Cnoc An T-Sithein (The Fairy Knoll). A man on the Isle of Barra was out walking when he heard beautiful music coming from under the ground. He lifted a broad, flat stone and descended the hidden stair beneath to discover the piper, who kindly invited him to stay for a meal. After eating, the man returned to his home, only to discover that four generations had passed. Less frequently, the time distortion is reversed, and those who believe themselves to have spent years living in fairyland discover that only a few hours have elapsed in the human world. Scholars commenting on this time distortion have observed that the mind-altering drugs taken by shamans and witches to induce soul flight-such as mescaline, opium, and peyote-sometimes distort time. Opium addicts have written that in certain opium dreams, years seem to pass-or even entire lifetimes. If the brains of those believed to have been abducted by fairies were affected by their astral journeys in a manner similar to the way that these psychotropic drugs affect the brain, it might explain the timedistortion effect. Even if the fairy abductees did not consume or apply mind-altering substances prior to their experiences, if their brains responded in a way similar to the responses provoked by shamanic drugs such as the flying ointment, they may have experienced similar effects, among them time distortion. It is said that fairies have no use for old men and old women. The reason may be that the vital energies of the elderly are limited. Fairies abduct or lure men and women Chapter Three: The Land of Fairy 43 to their world, and are particularly eager to obtain infants, which they then raise as their own, taking care to substitute a duplicate in the place of the real child so that the theft will go unnoticed for as long as possible. These duplicates are called changelings. It is not certain why fairies should want to abduct babies. One explanation put forward is that fairies have difficulty conceiving children of their own. Or, as seems more likely to me, fairies draw upon the pure, intense vital essences of the child for their nourishment. The fable of the changeling should be understood in a spiritual rather than in a physical sense. The fairies abduct the personality and true identity of the child, substituting in its place a false identity that pretends to be the child. The deception is discovered when the child becomes increasingly strange and uncouth as it grows older. Changelings are wise beyond their years, are sly of manner, and their bodies develop an unnatural strength and vitality. They sometimes become malicious and even dangerous. Modern medicine would dismiss the changeling as a folk explanation for mental illness, yet to dismiss it in this cavalier fashion is not to explain it. The changeling is an integral part of the fairy mythology. A related type of abduction was that of nursemaids, who were taken to fairyland for the purpose of nourishing fairy children at their breasts. When their duties were fulfilled, they were either permitted to return to the human world, or were allowed to stay on in the fairy world. This myth suggests that fairies are nourished in some way on the vitality of human beings, which in the tales of the abduction of nursemaids is represented by human milk. We see in this an echo of the witch's familiar imp, asserted by the demonologists to nourish itself by sucking the blood of the witch at a small protrusion similar to a mole that was known as the witch's teat. In both instances, it is vital energy, not the physical materials of milk or blood, that provides the nourishment for the spirit-although the vital force may be said to be present within the blood, and to a lesser degree within the milk. When attempting to abduct a man who is resting on a fairy knoll, the sidhe may come with a pair of large shears and, while they believe themselves to be wrapped in a cloak of invisibility, attempt to roll up and cut off his shadow, At least, that is how the process has been interpreted by those who have witnessed it. The shadow represents, in a symbolic way, the soul. By rolling it up and cutting it off at the feet, the fairies are able to steal away the essence of personality. Perhaps the result would be coma or death. Or perhaps the man or woman whose shadow was stolen and carried off to the underworld would slowly waste away, a fate that sometimes befalls those who displease the fairies. 44 Soul Flight Quarters of the Year Abductions are more common on the solstices and equinoxes that fall on the quarters of the year. These are the days when the fairies leave their land and move abroad on the roads used by mankind. It is very unlucky to travel at these times. THEY remove to other Lodgings at the Beginning of each Quarter of the Year, so traversing till Doomsday, being imputent and [impotent of?] staying in one Place, and finding some Ease by so purning [Journeying] and changing Habitations. Their chamalion-lyke Bodies swim in the Air near the Earth with Bag and Bagadge; and at such revolution of Time, SEERS, or Men of the SECOND SIGHT, (Fzmales being seldome so qualified) have very terrifying Encounters with them, even on High Ways; who therefoir uswally shune to travel1 abroad at these four Seasons of the Year, and thereby have made it a Custome to this Day among the Scottish-Irish to keep Church duely evry first Sunday of the Quarter to sene or hallow themselves, their Corns and Cattell, from the Shots and Stealth of these wandring Tribes;52 The quarters of the year are the transitions from season to season, when the length of the day is noticed to change. On the Winter Solstice (December 21), the shortest day occurs in the Northern Hemisphere and on the Summer Solstice (June 21), the longest day. On the Spring Equinox (March 21), the day goes from being shorter than the night to being longer; on the Fall Equinox (September 21), the opposite occurs, and the day goes from being longer than the night to being shorter. The dates given for these quarter days are nominal; they vary slightly from year to year. These changes or transitions open occult doorways that allow the fairies to wander the surface of the earth. The astral world of fairies and the material world of mankind overlap in some way on the quarters of the year. They are magic days laden with possibilities. For example, there is a myth that on the equinoxes you may stand an egg up on end on any flat surface, and it will not fall over. While not true physically, it conveys a mythic truth that the equinoxes are days on which magic happens. In the quotation above, Robert Kirk expressed the opinion of his century that women are less adapted to seership than men. This was a prejudice of the same sort that once held men to be better weavers than women, and that continues to assert that they make better cooks. Experience has demonstrated the falsehood of all these beliefs. If anything, 52. Kirk and Lanp, 7-8. Chapter Three: The Land of Fairy 45 the spiritualist movement has proven women better seers than men-at least, there seem to be more female mediums in modern times than male mediums, and they have attracted a larger share of attention. The same walking abroad of the fairies occurs, on a smaller scale, at twilight, the transition between day and night, when fairies are most often to be glimpsed or their music and laughter heard in the fields and woods. The Scots call this transition period of the day the gloaming. Fairies are also to be seen in the early mornings, when the mist lies close to the ground. However, just as the wheel of the year has four gateways, so does the wheel of the day, and the other two are at noon and midnight. Sir Walter Scott wrote in a magazine article of the Boddach of the Highlanders, "who walk the heath at midnight and at noon." John Walsh of Netherberry, Dorset, when interrogated for witchcraft in 1566, was asked how he knew when a man was bewitched. "He sayth that he knew it partlye by the Feries, and saith that ther be .iii. kindes of Feries, white, greene and black. Which when he is disposed to vse, hee speaketh with them vpon hyls, where as there is great heapes of earth, as namely in Dorsetshire. And betwene the houres of .xii. and one at noone, or "~~ at midnight, he vseth them. Whereof (he sayth) the blacke feries be the ~ o o r s t . These three types of fairies perhaps correspond to another triple classification: those that do only good (the white), those that do only evil (the black), and those that do both good and evil (the green). Stone Circles A more material kind of doorway into fairyland was the stone circles that are to be found scattered throughout Britain and continental Europe. Fairies were supposed to dance about these circles to open the gateway to the astral world. It was located between two of the stones in the circle, but which two was not evident when the gateway remained inactive. How the fairies opened the gate is a mystery, unless it is revealed in the practice of one accused witch, who testified that he opened the door into a fairy hill by walking around it three times widdershins-against the course of the sun. In magic, clockwise circumambulation winds up and focuses energy, whereas counterclockwise circumambulation unwinds and releases it. Passage between two pillars of stone is symbolically 53. Murray, 240. 46 . Soul Flight akin to being born between the legs of a woman, and passing from a place of darkness into a place of light. At one time, the stone circles were thought to have been erected by the priestly and scholarly order of Druids that was great in power in Britain and northern France just prior to the time of Christ. Archeology has revealed that they are much older than the Druids, older even than the Celts themselves. They were built by the prehistoric Neolithic people who inhabited Britain before the coming of the Celts from the mainland. Work on the earliest version of Stonehenge began around 2180 BC. It did not achieve its final form until 1550 BC, still long before the coming of the Celts to Britain, which occurred no earlier than around 600 BC. The truth of the matter is that even after all the research that has been done on stone circles, no one knows with certainty why they were built. It seems reasonable to assume that such enormous investments of time and labor must have had a purpose that was of vital importance to the people who built them. One theory is that they were great cosmic clocks, but it seems improbable that such immense, permanent structures would be needed merely to keep track of the phases of the moon and the change of the seasons. Such timekeeping might just as well have been accomplished with smaller wooden constructions similar to sundials, or with wooden staves driven into the earth, which could easily be renewed when necessary. On the other hand, if the people who built the stone circles and the great earthen mounds considered them gateways to an underworld that was inhabited by spirits and the souls of the dead, it might well have been necessary to place them on specific power points on the surface of the earth, and to make them large enough to accommodate their sacred functions. They may have acted as junctions between our material world and the astral world, where spirits and humans could meet and hold commerce of various kinds. It is possible that the Celts did not originate the mythology of the fairies that is so closely bound up with Celtic culture, but instead inherited it along with the stone circles of the much more ancient inhabitants of the lands they occupied. CHAPTER FOUR Religious Bilocatio D escriptions of soul flight and communications with spirits are often encountered in the writings of saints, martyrs, priests, monks, and nuns. The church accepted the reality of the projection of the astral double, and sometimes relied on testimony of the event as proof of saintliness. It was known as bilocation, the seeming appearance of an individual in two places at once. One is the physical body and the other is the astral double, which at times can be observed and is mistaken for the physical body. It is not a projection through space, as was wrongly assumed by the church, but a projection through mind, for all human minds are connected, and the astral traveler does not travel anywhere, in a physical sense. Allan Kardec related the case of Saint Anthony of Padua, who was preaching in Spain on the same day his father in Padua, having been falsely convicted of murder, was being 48 * Soul Flight led to his execution. Just before the execution, Anthony appeared and pointed out the real murderer. It was ascertained that Anthony had never left Spain.54Brewer described the same event somewhat differently,writing that Anthony was in Padua when his father was in danger of being put to death for manslaughter in Lisbon. According to Brewer's source, Kinesman's Lives of the Saints (1623), an angel carried Anthony to Lisbon while the trial was in progress. Anthony ordered the corpse of the victim brought into the court, and asked the corpse if his father was guilty. The corpse denied it, and Anthony's father was released, whereupon the angel carried Anthony back to Padua that same night.55 Saint Anthony pulled much the same trick while preaching at the Church of Saint Pierre de Queyroix at Limoges on Holy Thursday, 1226. He suddenly remembered that he was due that same hour to perform a service at a monastery on the other side of town. He drew his hood over his head and knelt while the congregation watched and waited with puzzlement. At that moment, he appeared in the monastery chapel, read the passage of the service that he had been assigned to read, and immediately disappeared. This is clearly a case of deliberate astral projection. Similar events are recorded in the lives of Saint Severus of Ravenna, Saint Ambrose, Saint Clement of Rome, and Saint Alphonsus Liguori, who while in prison at Arezzo, took no food and went into a kind of trance state for five days. When he awoke, he stated that he had been at the bedside of the dying Pope Clement XIV. His statement was later ~ o n f i r m e d . ~ ~ Joanof Arc Historically, Christianity has had an ambivalent attitude toward projections of the astral body into other realms and communication with spiritual beings. When it is done by someone outside the authority of the church, it is almost invariably condemned as occult and devilish. However, when it is experienced by a member of the church hierarchy, or by someone regarded by the church as favored by God, public knowledge of the event is either suppressed, or if that is impossible due to the prominence of the person who had the experience, it is embraced and upheld as a prophetic miracle. Nowhere is this double standard more evident than in the tragic life of Joan of Arc (1412-1431). As a young girl, Joan heard voices telling her to be a good girl and to pray 54. Kardec, Mediums' Book, 130-1. 55. Brewer, Dictionary of Miracles, 7 5 . 56. Fodor, Encyclopadia of Psychic Science, 100. Chapter Four: Religious Bilocation 49 regularly. When the wars against the invading armies of England began to go badly against the French, and the city of Orleans was laid under siege by the Earl of Suffolk, the voices changed their message and told Joan that she must go to King Charles VII, who was as yet uncrowned, and have him place her at the head of an army, which she was to use to liberate Orleans. At first, she was ignored, but when she accurately predicted a defeat of French forces, she was granted an audience with Charles. She won his favor by relating the content of a private prayer he had recently made to God. Charles had her examined for orthodoxy before a panel of theologians at Poitiers. After a two-week interrogation in the spring of 1429, they found no fault with her. Their conclusion reads, in part: "The King.. .must not prevent her from going to Orleans with his soldiers, but must have her conducted honorably, trusting in God. For to regard her with suspicion or abandon her, when there is no appearance of evil, would be to repel the Holy Spirit and render himself unworthy of the aid of God."57The king gave his consent, and Joan rallied the army that liberated Orleans, turning the tide of the war against the English. Captured outside the city gates of Compikgne by the French forces of the Duke of Burgundy, who was in alliance with the English against Charles VII, she was sold to the English by the Burgundians, interrogated by the Inquisition, and put on trial for heresy. The voices in her head that had previously been accepted by the theologians as the voices of saints were now declared to be the voices of demons. She was accused of having consorted with fairies as a young girl, a common charge against witches. This contact with fairies supposedly took place at the site of a fairy tree, known as the Charmed Fairy Tree of Bourlemont, near Joan's home village of Domrkmy. It was a giant beech, also called the Ladies' Tree, located on the property of Seigneur Pierre de Bourlemont, and accepted as the gathering place of "fairy-ladies."58 Joan was accused of having danced around the tree, and of having made garlands for it, along with the other girls of her village. Joan admitted to having heard the rumor that she had received her divine mission to liberate Orleans from the fairy-ladies of the Ladies' Tree, but she did not confirm or deny the rumor. She stated that she had never seen fairies (but did not state that she had never heard them). She admitted that her grandmother had seen the fairy-ladies, but said that her grandmother was held to be a good woman, not a 57. Paine, Joan of Arc, vol. 1, p. 112. 58. Murray, 238. 50 Soul Flight witch. She admitted that Saint Katharine and Saint Margaret spoke to her at the spring beside the Ladies' Tree, "but would not say if they came to the tree itself,"59Perhaps most significantly, she refused to acknowledge that she believed fairies to be evil spirits. It was not the weak charges of witchcraft that condemned Joan, but rather her custom of wearing men's clothing, which she had adopted after taking up the role of a warrior. For a woman to wear the clothing of a man was against the laws of the church, except in circumstances of dire necessity. The English deliberately took away Joan's dress and left only male apparel in its place, forcing her to either fend off her jailers in the nude, or put on the clothing of a man. She was condemned as a heretic and burned alive at the stake in 1431. The executioner, Geoffroy Therage, confided to others shortly after the execution that he was in great fear of being damned, for "he had burned a saint." In 1920, Joan was canonized by the church and transformed into Saint Joan. The case of Joan of Arc is particularly interesting for the way it shows how the same behavior might be looked upon by the Catholic Church as either divine or devilish, depending on the circumstances of the moment. The theologians who examined her at Poitiers came close to proclaiming Joan a messenger of God. The Burgundians and the English, good Catholics all, conspired to have her burned as a witch by the Inquisition. Centuries later, she was elevated to sainthood. The voices in Joan's head that helped the Dauphin Charles finally be anointed as king of France at Reims were naturally viewed as holy by Charles VII and his followers, since they worked to the advantage of Charles,but the English and French opponents of Charles took the opposite view. Soul Flight in the Bible There are many examples of soul flight in the Bible, but they are always presented as divine miracles that fulfill the purposes of God. The experience of the prophets is the same as that of shamans and witches, with the difference that the soul flights of prophets were usually spontaneous, whereas those of shamans and witches were often induced. An exception is the ascent of Moses to the top of Mount Sinai, where he remained forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18). He engaged in this trial of physical endurance for the purpose of altering his state of consciousness, in a way little different from that of countless shamans around the world, who go alone into the wilderness and endure hunger and thirst to achieve what is called a "vision quest." Success came in the form of the 59. Murray, 239. Chapter Four: Religious Bilocation 51 astral vision of the laws inscribed by Moses himself on the stone tables that he carried down from the mountain. All the great prophets of the Old Testament exhibit many of the characteristics of shamans. They lived alone, outside the customs of their society, and they went into the wilderness where they received detailed visions while traveling out of their bodies on the astral plane. They acted as intermediaries or mediums, carrying the messages of spiritual beings to humanity. The true nature of the spirits that inspired their prophecies is as much a matter of conjecture as the question of whether the spirits who spoke to Joan of Arc were saints or fairies. The astral journey of Isaiah involves his great vision of the throne of God. In the final year of the reign of King Uzziah, the prophet entered the presence of God, whom he perceived sitting on an elevated throne within a temple. Above it stood the angels known as Seraphim, each with six wings, chanting "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:3). We know this vision involved astral projection because Isaiah was actually present before the throne in his astral body. He protested that his lips were too unclean to repeat the words of God, so one of the Seraphim flew down and took a live coal off the altar fire, where the offerings to God were consumed in flame, and touched it to Isaiah's lips to cleanse them. The bewilderingly complex vision of Ezekiel also involves the throne of God, but it is more concerned with flying mechanisms that are constructed of wheels within wheels. Like the vision of Isaiah, it appears to have occurred spontaneously.These biblical prophets did not choose to have visions but were chosen by the spirits to receive them. However, once they were acknowledged as prophets, and had accepted this role as their calling in life, it is possible they learned how to encourage the occurrence of these soul flights using chanted prayers and physical austerity. The astral landscape seen by Ezekiel was inhabited by four strange angels who were characterized by the prophet as "living creatures" (Ezekiel 1:5). They had six wings, as did the Seraphim seen by Isaiah, but in addition they had four faces: that of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. Again, we can be certain it was a soul flight because God gave the prophet a book in the form of a written scroll and told him to eat it. Ezekiel wrote, "So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll" (Ezekiel 3:2). The prophet Elijah is significant for another reason. He is one of only a handful of men said in the Bible to have ascended into heaven while still inhabiting his body of flesh. Out walking with his son, Elisha, who was also a prophet, beside the River Jordan, he saw 52 Soul Flight a chariot of fire drawn by fiery horses descend from the sky, and was lifted up into the heavens by a whirlwind (Second Kings 2: 11). This physical ascent may be compared with the disappearance of men, women, and children presumed by their neighbors to have been abducted by fairies. Such disappearances in the body might be permanent, or they might endure anywhere from a few hours to tens of years. It is intriguing to consider whether, on vary rare occasions, the separation between the astral world and the physical world may be crossed-not only with the mind, but with the physical body as well. It would be easy to dismiss all such transitions as either willful falsehoods or errors in perception, but there are enough of them recorded throughout the history of mankind to cause a thinking person to wonder if such a passage of the body from physical to astral has ever happened. Reports of identical abductions in the flesh are still being generated in modern times, but the context has shifted from divine whirlwinds and fairy gateways to alien UFOs. People continue to vanish into thin air, without warning and without explanation. The investigator into the strange, Charles Fort, who was a newspaper reporter by profession, collected a number of these more recent unexplained and inexplicable vanishings in his books. In addition to the patriarch Enoch, who was believed to have been taken up to heaven by God while still alive and in the body so that he vanished utterly from the earth (Genesis 5:24), there is the most famous of all such translations to a higher sphere, that of Jesus after his crucifixion (Mark 16:19).Jesus is unique among them in that he died and came back to life in his body before that body was lifted alive into heaven. He is supposed to have predicted his ascent to heaven. The event had no eyewitnesses. This is generally true of fairy abductions and UFO abductions-a person mysteriously vanishes, sometimes to reappear at a later date, but the actual disappearance is seldom witnessed. Descent into Hell It is the dogma of the church that Jesus came back to life after his crucifixion and ascended in the living body to heaven. The apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus relates the legend that after his ascent to heaven, he subsequently descended into hell to free all the souls who had been imprisoned there since the fall from grace of Adam. After shattering the gate of brass and bars of iron that closed the entrance to hell, Jesus caused the chains to fall off those languishing in hell and led them up to heaven, where they encountered two others who had ascended in the flesh. Chapter Four: Religious Bilocation 53 Thus he went into Paradise holding our forefather Adam by the hand, and he handed him over and all the righteous to Michael the archangel. And as they were entering the gate of Paradise, two old men met them. The holy fathers asked them: "Who are you, who have not seen death nor gone down into Hades, but dwell in Paradise with your bodies and souls?"One of them answered: "I am Enoch, who pleased God and was removed here by him. And this is Elijah the Tishbite. We shall live until the end of the There is no way to know if the author of the Gospel of Nicodemus related an astral vision of Christ in hell, or merely invented a charming fable. That is also true of all written accounts of descents into hell, ascents to heaven, and indeed descriptions of astral journeys of any kind, including those attributed to the biblical prophets such as Enoch, who is supposed to have been conducted through both heaven and hell by the angels. The author of the Book of Enoch, writing in the voice of Enoch, bore this witness of hell: "And beyond that abyss I saw a place that had no firmament of the heaven above, and no firmly founded earth beneath it: there was no water upon it, and no birds, but it was a waste and horrible place."61The hell of Enoch appears to have been largely a zone of negation, where the good things of the world are not. Much of what has been written concerning heaven with its choirs of angels, and hell with its legions of demons, has been obtained through soul flight.Visions of both heaven and hell were common among the saints, who saw them firsthand, being present within the landscapes in the astral body. Saint Frances of Rome (1384-1440), while in her cell at the convent, one day at around four in the afternoon fell into an ecstatic trance in which the archangel Raphael came to her and carried her away on a guided tour of hell. Above the gates of hell she read the inscription: "Hell, without hope, without cessation of torment, without repose."62 Beyond the gates, she entered a deep abyss from which emanated cries and a terrible stench. Hell was divided into three levels, the highest being the least unpleasant and the lowest the most horrifying. The lowest level was filled with damned souls of the worst kind who suffered intricate and imaginative forms of torture. Usurers were stretched over tables of red-hot brass while demons poured molten metal down their throats. Blasphemers had their tongues 60. Barnstone, The Other Bible, 377. 61. Charles, Apocrypha and Pseudepigraphia, vol. 11, p. 200. 62, Brewer, Dictionary of Miracles, 412. 54 Soul Flight stretched out of their mouths on hooks. Apostates were sawn in half. Murders wandered forever from a bath of boiling blood to a bath of thick-ribbed ice, and back again. Traitors had their hearts torn out of their chests and then replaced, only to be torn out again over and over. It is difficult not to suspect that the hell of Saint Frances was influenced in no small part by the hell described in the Inferno of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). So plausible was Dante's description of the nine levels of hell that many simple religious readers were convinced that he had actually been there. This belief is not unique to medieval times. A university professor once confided to me that a student of hers, a young nun, told her quite seriously that Dante had really visited hell, and that the scenes he described were those he had seen with his own eyes. Whereas Frances was conducted by the archangel Raphael, the poet Dante was led through hell by the Roman writer Virgil, who in this office of astral guide acted the part of the tutelary spirit of the shamans and the familiar of the witch. Dante described ingenious torments for the damned souls similar to those described by Saint Frances. His poem reads very much like an astral journey. Both heaven and hell as related in the prophetic books are astral realms, and for this reason it is quite possible for ordinary men and women to visit them while traveling in the astral body. Safe passage through hell is often secured by means of spirit guides, who have the power to shield the astral traveler from harm. Jesus, having all wisdom and all power unto himself, was without need of either a guide or a protector. Despite superstitions to the contrary, there is no direct physical danger to the body while projecting astrally, but it is possible that the intense shock of scenes in hell might cause a nervous reaction, resulting in emotional or even physical damage in a secondary way by repercussion. The spirit guide acts as a kind of shield, reducing the intensity of the astral experience when necessary, or in extreme cases causing it to be lost from the memory. Levitation For the religiously devout, astral projection often takes the form of levitation. Ezekiel told how he was lifted up by the hand of God from a lock of his hair. "And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem . .." (Ezekiel 8:3). From the wording of the verse, "in the visions of God,'' it appears that Ezekiel realized he had not levitated through the air physically, but only in an astral sense. Chapter Four: Religious Bilocation 55 The assertion has been made by numerous witnesses that, on various occasions, prophets and saints of the church have risen up physically into the air. In the case of saints, this levitation occurs most often during prayer. For example, Saint Agnes of Montepulciano (1268-13 17),while only fifteen years old, was many times lifted up five feet or more into the air, an event witnessed by the entire Convent del Sacco. Similarly, Saint Angela of Brescia (1474-1540), who founded the order of Ursuline nuns, was in 1529 seen to levitate during holy services by the entire congregation of the church, and remained suspended for "a long time."63 A primary accusation of those giving eyewitness testimony against women thought to be witches is that they flew through the air. As pointed out earlier, the power of flight is essential to the archetype of the witch. Astral flight was mistaken for physical flight when those who observed witches to fly involuntarily shared their astral vision. The ability to see the astral world overlapping the physical world can be contagious, and can be passed through a group of onlookers. It almost seems that the strong belief of the shaman or witch in the reality of the event is able to transform the perception of others who are present, causing them to believe in the experience. It is a kind of group hypnosis, for want of a better term, that takes place under unusual and infrequent conditions. One person seeing a UFO can sometimes pass that conviction on to others present, so that others think they see it also, even when it does not physically exist. Similarly, one person witnessing a miracle can convey to others by the strength of faith the ability to see the same miracle. Perhaps as a deliberate echo of the Old Testament account of the hand of God reaching down to lift Ezekiel up by the hair, the author of the New Testament book of Matthew told of Jesus walking across the sea. The apostle Peter wanted to imitate him and, encouraged by Jesus, stepped from his boat onto the surface of the water, but became afraid and began to sink. Jesus reached down his hand and drew him up, while still standing on top of the water (Matthew 1431). It is an Eastern belief common in India that the holy men called fakirs can so reduce the weight of their bodies through prayers and devotions that they are blown about like dry leaves on the breeze, or are able to stand upon the surface of water without sinking. Since this would seem to be physically impossible-for how can the mass of an object be lessened without otherwise changing the object?-it is more 63. Brewer, Dictionary of Miracles, 2 15. 56 Soul Flight likely a shared astral experience akin to the famous Indian rope trick, during which onlookers partake in a group hallucination at the direction of the fakir. Projections by Saints A definite case of astral projection is related in the Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi, an Italian work (Fioretti) based on a medieval Latin manuscript. It concerns the nun Saint Clare, who was so ill one year that she was unable to go to church on the feast of the Nativity, which was a source of great vexation to her. But Jesu Christ, her spouse, desiring not to leave her thus disconsolate, caused her to be miraculously carried to the church of S. Francis and to be present at the whole of the office of Matins and the midnight Mass, and beyond all this to receive the Holy Communion and then be carried back to her bed. When the nuns came back to S. Clare, after the office in S. Darnian's was over, they said to her: "0 our mother, sister Clare, what sweet consolation have we had on this holy feast of the Nativity! oh, would that it had pleased God that you had been with us there!" And S. Clare replied: "Praise and glory do I give unto our Lord Jesu Christ, the blessed One, my sisters and daughters most dear; for that with much consolation to my soul I have had part in all the solemn rites of this most holy night, and even more than ye: sith through the loving care of my father S. Francis, and the grace of our Lord Jesu Christ, I have been present in the church of my venerable father, S. Francis, and with the ears of my body and my mind have heard all the office and the sound of the organs that was made there, and in the same place have taken the most holy C ~ m r n u n i o n . " ~ ~ A clearer and more perfect case of astral projection could scarcely be found. Saint Clare achieved an altered state of consciousness due to her fever, and her strong desire to be present in the church of Saint Francis carried here there in her astral body, or at least bore her astral body to the astral reflection of the church, where she was able to perceive all that transpired, and according to her testimony, even believed herself to participate in the taking of communion. Yet it is evident that she was not present in her physical body, or else she would have been observed by the other nuns. It sometimes happens that those who project their astral body to locations in the physical world are observed by other human beings, but that is not the usual case. Usu64. Arnold. 103. Chapter Four: Religious Bilocation 57 ally the astral form is able to pass unseen among human beings on its travels. However, at times those close to the person projecting the astral body, such as friends or family members, observe the astral form and mistake it for the physical form of the person engaged in the projection. There have even been cases when individuals have carried on entire conversations with astral projections, never realizing until being informed later that the other was not physically present. As a young girl, Blessed Columba of Rieti (1467-1501) was in the habit of scourging herself three times every night: the first time for her own transgressions, the second for the conversion of sinners, and the third time to help souls in purgatory. When not whipping her own body, she passed the entire night in fervent prayer. Not surprisingly, she was subject to astral visions. Once, she traveled on the astral level through space and back in time to the scene of the chastisement of Jesusby the Roman soldiers. She was so overcome with anguish at the sight of his blood flowing from the strokes of the lash that she began to scourge herself in an identical manner. Her mother, hearing her screams, ran into her chamber and begged her to stop before she killed herself, but Columba was in a state of ecstasy and did not even hear her. In this case, it was not sickness but self-chastisement and prayer that triggered the change of consciousness allowing astral travel to occur. Next to prayer, pain was the trigger for soul flight most often employed by the religious. It may be suspected that Columba's enthusiasm for the lash had a sexual component, but such things were not well understood at the time of the Renaissance, and Columba's self-abuse was regarded as a sign of an admirable piety. Sometimes, in her ecstasies, her soul quitted her body. One day her mother entered her chamber, and saw her daughter sitting on her altar, like one asleep. She lifted her down, in order to lay her on her bed, when all her limbs and head fell as if the body was lifeless. The mother thought she was dead, and screamed. Some of her neighbors came, and they also thought she was dead. All blamed the confessor, and accused him of murdering his victim by enforced abstinence and austerities. No doubt, in their irritation, they would have committed some breach of the peace; but all of a sudden the damsel revived.65 65. Brewer, Dictionary of Miracles, 310. 58 - Soul Flight The deathlike state of the body during soul flight, and the near impossibility of awakening those entranced, is mentioned in connection with the astral projections of both witches and shamans. On another occasion, while Columba was seeing the star of Bethlehem on one of her astral excursions, her confessor noticed a globe of fire above her house and hurried over to learn the cause. The girl told him she had just seen the star of the Magi, which had filled her chamber with light and left behind it a sweet scent.66The intensity of her astral vision communicated itself to the priest who, being close to her on an emotional level, was able to see a reflexive manifestation of the same vision. This sort of sharing of an astral vision between the person actually having the vision and others who may be present, or who are emotionally linked with the astral traveler, is common enough that it leads to the suspicion that human minds are linked together on some unknown level beneath that of the physical brain. The strong vision in an individual appears to be capable of creating echoes or harmonics in the minds of other people. Just as one harp string when plucked will cause another tuned harmonically to it to begin to vibrate and emit sound, so one mind powerfully moved by an astral experience can cause other minds in a receptive state to perceive a shadow of the vision. It is not always possible to explain this sharing of an astral vision solely by suggestibility of mind and the physical transmission of hints and cues from one individual to another. In the incident above, the priest had no prior knowledge of what Columba would see, and was not even present in the same house at the time it occurred. Emanuel Swedenborg With the dawn of the Protestant Reformation, the rigid and complete control over the relationship between the common individual and the deity passed out of the hands of the clergy. This event gave rise to ordinary men and women having astral journeys of the kind that previously had only been experienced by priests, nuns, saints, and others involved in the church. The best known is Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), a Swedish mystic who wrote entire books describing his astral travels to heaven and hell, and his interactions with angels. He was a prominent scientist who in the year 1743believed that he had received a mission from God to reveal a new doctrine of Christianity to the world. He was instructed by angels during astral journeys, and wrote more than forty books on 66. Brewer, Dictionary of Miracles, 310. Chapter Four: Religious Bilocation 59 the subject. These books formed the basis for the Church of New Jerusalem, also called the New Church, which was established in London in 1778. Swedenborg distinguished several types of astral perception. The state he experienced most of the time was what he called being "in the spirit." In this condition, his spirit was taken to the realms of the angels, and to the spheres of the planets as well. Since by the spirit of man his mind is meant, therefore by being "in the spirit," which is sometimes spoken of in the Word, is meant a state of the mind separate from the body; and because in this state the prophets saw such things as exist in the spiritual world, it is called "the vision of God." Their state was then like that of the spirits and angels themselves in that world. In this state the spirit of man,-like his mind as respects the sight,-can be transported from place to place, the body remaining in its position. This is the state in which I have been now for twenty-six years; with the difference that I have been in the spirit and at the same time in the body, and only sometimes out of the body.67 What Swedenborg meant is that when he traveled astrally to spiritual realms in this condition of mind, he remained aware of being also present at the same time in his own body. He did not fall into a trance state and lose complete awareness of his body, as shamans and witches usually did. Swedenborg experienced the other two forms of soul flight he described only at infrequent intervals. The first, which he called being "taken out of the body:' is the soul flight of the shaman and the witch. The second is a form of abstraction or daydream in which he lost awareness of his own physical location and actions while being focused on astral visions. He may have been possessed by a spirit on these occasions, although he does not indicate this to be the case, perhaps because he remained completely unaware of it. There are two kinds of visions out of the common course, into which I was introduced only that I might know the nature of them, and what is meant by that which we read of in the Word, that some were "taken out of the body," and some were "carried by the Spirit into anotherplace." As regards the first, namely, being taken out of the body, the case is this: The man is brought into a certain state which is intermediate between sleep and wakefulness. 67. Swedenborg, Compendium, 625. 60 Soul Flight While he is in this state he cannot know but that he is quite awake; all the senses are as much awake as in the completest state of bodily vigilance, the sight as well as the hearing, arld what is remarkable, the touch, which is then more exquisite than it can ever be in bodily wakefulness. In this state spirits and angels have been seen exactly to the life, and also heard, and what is amazing, touched; and almost nothing of the body then intervenes. This is the-state described as being "taken out of the body:' and of which it is said of those who are in it that, "whether in the body or out of the body, they cannot tell." Into this state I have been introduced only three or four times; merely that I might know the nature of it, and that spirits and angels enjoy every sense,-even the touch, more powerful and more exquisite than the touch of the body. With respect to the other, the being carried by the Spirit into another place, what this is and how it is was also shown me by living experience; but only twice or three times. I may merely relate an experience:-Walking through the streets of a city and through the country, and in conversation at the same time with spirits, I was not aware but that I was equally awake and in the enjoyment of my sight as at other times, walking thus without error; and all the while 1was in a vision, seeing groves, rivers, palaces, houses, men, and many other objects. But after I had been walking thus for some hours, suddenly I was in bodily vision, and observed that I was in a different place. Greatly amazed at this, I apperceived that I had been in such a state as they were in of whom it is said that they were "carried by the spirit to another place." For while the state lasts there is no reflection respecting the way, and this although it were many miles; nor upon the time, though it were many hours or days; neither is there any sense of fatigue. Then, the man is led also through ways of which he himself is ignorant, until he comes to the place intended.68 All three types of experiences may be classed as soul flight. The first is astral projection with a divided awareness, part of which is conscious of the normal physical world, while the other part visits spiritual worlds on the astral level. It can be called partial projection. The second is what might be called classic astral projection, in which there is a complete forgetfulness of the body, which sits or lies as though entranced, insensible to pain and almost impossible to arouse from the trance. The third is astral projection with forgetfulness of the body, which however does not remain sitting or lying in one place but 68. Swedenborg, 625-6. Chapter Four: Religious Bilocation . 61 continues to function in the normal way, even though there is no conscious awareness of it at the time. This may involve spirit possession. From Swedenborg's descriptions, it seems that when he projected in the first way, he sent his consciousness to astral worlds, but was not aware of possessing an astral body while he experienced them. He did not merely see these worlds as images but was present within them and was able to converse with their inhabitants, while lacking any sense that he was embodied. In the second case, he was acutely aware of his astral body, and was amazed to find that all its senses, particularly the sense of touch, were heightened to a degree above that of his physical senses. In the third case, he believed himself present in the astral landscape in his physical body, as though he had been transported in the flesh into the astral scene. So real was his impression of the astral environment that he could not distinguish it from the everyday physical environment. William Blake and the Angels The English artist and poet William Blake (1757-1827) was also subject to astral visions and journeys to astral landscapes of a religious or spiritual nature. His perception appears to have been very similar to what Swedenborg described as habitual for himselfthe dual vision of the astral world overlaid on the physical world, so that he could move through both simultaneously. Once, when accidentally locked into Westminster Abbey, Blake witnessed an entire procession of monks in ancient habits, moving across the floor of the church. His wife remarked to a friend, "I have very little of Mr. Blake's company; he is always in Paradi~e."~~ Blake had angels visit him in his home, and sometimes caused them to sit while he drew their portraits. He told Thomas Phillips, a fellow artist who was doing Blake's portrait at the time, about a visit from the archangel Gabriel, who came to his room and offered to sit for Blake. Suspecting that it might be a spirit merely pretending to be the archangel, Blake demanded proof of his identity, and gave Phillips the response of the spirit: "You shall have good assurance," said the voice, "can an evil spirit do this?" I looked whence the voice came, and was then aware of a shining shape, with bright wings, who diffused much light. As I looked, the shape dilated more and more: he waved his hands; the roof of my study opened; he ascended into heaven; he stood in the 69. Bentley, Blake Records, 221. sun, and beckoning to me, moved the universe. An angel of evil could not have done that-it was the arch-angel GabrieL70 His visionary illustrated books such as the Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Book of Los, and The Book of Urizen are extraordinary in their poetic genius and subtlety of meaning. Like Swedenborg, he believed that he had been chosen by God for the purpose of conveying a higher spiritual wisdom to mankind. On a number of occasions, Blake stated quite simply that his poetry was not composed, but was received without effort as dictation from angels. He and his wife became members of the Swedenborgian New Church in 1789. Although his artistic works bring prices of hundreds of thousands of dollars today, in his own time they were not understood. He died in poverty, dismissed as an eccentric. 70. Cunningham, Cabinet Gallery ofpictures, 11. CHAPTER FIVE Spiritualism I t is generally agreed that the modern spiritualism movement started in the spring of 1848, at Hydesville, a small community in New York state located twenty miles or so from the city of Rochester. As with most things generally agreed upon, this information is only partially correct. Communications with spirits have occurred continuously since the beginning of human history, and the incident that marked the nominal start of the spiritualist movement was in many ways typical of its kind, though given more publicity than had previously been the case. Uncanny rappings were heard by the family of John D. Fox, who had just moved into a house in Hydesville that had been vacated by the previous tenant due to strange noises in the middle of the night. Efforts made to find a natural cause of the sounds were met with failure. 64 Soul Flight The youngest daughter, Kate Fox, who was seven years old at the time, discovered that the raps would respond to her in kind when she snapped her fingers or clapped her hands. Her mother began to ask for responses to questions, such as the ages of her children, as a way of testing the unseen maker of the sounds, and then asked if the source of the noises was a spirit. The answer was yes. By causing the spirit to respond with two raps for yes, and silence for no, she determined that the spirit was of a man of thirty-one years who had been murdered in the house and was buried in the cellar. The spirit indicated that his family consisted of a wife and five children-two sons and three daughters-and that his wife had died since his own death. If nothing else, Mrs. Fox deserves a certain admiration for extracting extemporaneouslysuch specific facts from a simple yes-no oracle. Soon Mrs. Fox and the spirit were putting on shows for their neighbors, and their neighbors' friends. The house became a kind of theater of the absurd. The cellar was dug up. Eventually, human hair and bits of human bones were discovered. It was not until 1904, when a cellar wall collapsed in the house, that an entire skeleton was found, supporting the information provided by the spirit.71The conjecture was that the murderer had buried the body in the middle of the floor, then had decided to move it under a wall, and had left a few fragments of the remains at the first site. The two young Fox girls, Kate (1841-1892) and Margaret (1838-1893), were taken out of the house to live with relatives, but the rappings followed them. Along with a third sister, Leah, who had not lived in the haunted house when the raps started, they began to give seances that featured tapping sounds and table tipping. The first seance took place on November 14, 1849, at which the spirits conveyed the message: "Dear Friends, you must proclaim the truth to the world. This is the dawning of a new era; you must not try to conceal it any longer. When you do your duty God will protect you and good spirits will watch over The news spread like wildfire, and the girls had to turn away curious hordes. Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, was one of their first clients, and he advised the Fox sisters to charge five dollars per person, as a way of limiting the crush of those seeking admission to the events. Free seances open to the general public were arranged by the benefactor, H. H. Day, who paid young Kate Fox twelve hundred dollars a year to conduct them. 71. Fodor, 146. Chapter Five: Spiritualism 65 Shades of the Dead Spiritualism soon developed into a kind of alternative religion that gave evidence of survival beyond the grave, and allowed the living to communicate with the beloved dead. It is significant that almost all of the spirits who spoke through spiritualist seances identified themselves as souls of the dead. This is a departure from the spirit communications of preceding centuries. In earlier times, the spirits who communicated had identified themselves more frequently as angels, or spirits of the natural world, or even as demons, but seldom as the dead. However, the religion of spiritualism, and its French version known as spiritism, are based on the premise that the entities that communicate during the skances were once living human beings. Those attending seances did not wish to communicate with the archangel Gabriel; they wanted to talk to Aunt Flora and Uncle Jim, and the mediums, who conducted the seances as increasingly formalized and elaborate performances, accommodated them. Allan Kardec (1804-1869) identified several kinds of spirits that interact with humanity. He understood all of them to be the spirits of once-living human beings: The spirit-protector, good genius, or guardian-angel, is the one whose mission it is to follow each man through the course of his life, and to aid him to progress. His degree of advancement is always superior to that of his ward. Familiar Spirits attach themselves to certain persons, for a longer or shorter period, in order to be useful to them. Within the limits (often somewhat narrow) of their possibilities they are generally well-intentioned, but sometimes rather backward, and even frivolous. They busy themselves with the everyday details of human life and only act by order, or with the permission, of the spirit-guardians. Sympathetic spirits are those who are drawn to us by personal affectation, and by a similarity of tastes in good or in evil. The duration of their relationship with us is almost always dependent on circumstances. An evil genius is an imperfect or wicked spirit who attaches himself to a man for the purpose of perverting him but he acts of his own motion, and not in virtue of a mission. His tenacity is proportionate to the more or less easy access accorded to him. A man is always free to listen to the suggestions of an evil genius, or to repel them." 73. Kardec, Spirits' Book, 240 (para. 512). 66 Soul Flight Spirit Mediums Mediums became essential to spiritualism. It was discovered that not just anyone could elicit useful responses from the spirits, in spite of their eagerness to communicate, but only those with a gift of second sight. As the name implies, the medium acted as an intermediary between the spirits and the people attending the ritual of the seance, just as the shaman acted as an intermediary between the totemic spirits of the tribe and its members. Like the shaman, the medium usually entered a kind of trance during which the spirits of the dead communicated through her using her voice to speak, or her hands to write. The overwhelming number of mediums were women, just as in centuries past a much greater number of witches had been women. However, some of the male mediums, such as William Stainton Moses (1839-1892) and Daniel Dunglas Home (1833-1886), achieved notable success, particularly in the production of physical events, such as the levitations or sudden apports (materializations) of physical objects. Like the witch, the spiritualistic medium relied on a guiding spirit, called a control. It fulfilled duties similar to the familiar of the witch and the tutelary spirit of the shaman. However, in keeping with the religious beliefs of the spiritualists, the control was the spirit of a dead person, who aided the medium in finding and communicating with the spirits of other dead. The control also protected the medium from the malice of evil spirits-the dead who found pleasure in deceiving and giving emotional distress to the living. Sometimes, an evil spirit would attempt to take over the medium through possession, and the control of the medium defended her against the attack, drawing on her vital reserves to increase its own power so that it was stronger than the malicious attacker. It was a general belief that a spirit allied with a medium was able to overcome any spirit without such a connection, due to the animal energy the control could siphon off from the physical body of the medium. There are many more parallels between shamanism and spiritualism. The medium does not choose her profession, but is chosen for it by her innate gift, and by visitations of the spirits, who urge her to use that gift. This differs from the priest of a conventional religion, who has no special talent of his own, but receives his power from his office. Threats are sometimes employed by the spirits to ensure that the medium does not shirk from her calling. Similar threats were used by spirits to compel reluctant men and women to adopt shamanism. Both medium and shaman form a close bond of trust and affection with one or several spirits. In both cases, this bond may become sexual. Chapter Five: Spiritualism 67 The familiar spirit of both shaman and medium acts as guide, teacher, and protector. Seances are conducted in a ritual context, as is the work of the shaman. Both shaman and medium usually enter an altered state of consciousness. Both are supposed to have power to heal and to foretell the future, derived from the spirits. In both shamanism and spiritualism, the spirits announce their presence by physical events such as loud noises, sounding musical instruments, sudden breezes, chilling cold, lights, and so on. Spiritualism might be called shamanism reborn, or perhaps a better way to put it would be shamanism reinterpreted for Christians of the Industrial Age. It was shamanism materialized in a way that was palatable to the nineteenth century, when every event was expected to have an immediate physical cause, generally one activated by steam power. Hence, the phenomena of the seance were physical phenomena-ectoplasmic projections, voices, lights, movement of objects. It was expected that the spirits could be photographed and their words recorded on wax cylinders. The astral body was characterized as an envelope or shell composed of a subtle physical substance. Nature of the Astral Double Nandor Fodor described the experiments of Dr. Hector Durville (1848-1923), who succeeded through the use of animal magnetism to draw out the astral body from a suitable "exteriorizing" subject. He also used a "seeing subject in order to learn the subtle details of its appearance, although he apparently possessed enough mediumistic ability to see it himself. Durville wrote that the double resembled the medium out of whom it was drawn, varied in luminosity, and was united to the body of the medium by a little cord. He asserted that it could see through distant opaque bodies, and most surprisingly, that it caused a calcium sulfide screen to glow when it approached the screen. "The sensory organs of the medium were seated in the phantom. At close approach it produced a sensation of cold, was humid to the touch and made the fingers luminous in the dark."74 This material appears in Durville's book Les fantdmes des vivants, and was referred to with great interest by Hereward C a r r i n g t ~ n . ~ ~ Durville concluded that astral projection proved, beyond a doubt, not only the existence of the human soul, but also the survival of the soul after death. He summed it up in two statements: 74. Fodor, 100. 75. Muldoon and Carrington, Projection of the Astral Body, 31-2. 68 Soul Flight 1. Projection of the astral body is a certain fact, capable of being demonstrated by means of direct experiment. This also demonstrates to us that the living force is independent of matter, and that our Individuality is composed of a physical body and an intelligent Soul-and a vital link, the astral body. 2 . Since this phantom can exist and function apart from the physical body, it may also exist after death. That is, Immortality is a fact which is thus proved ~cientifically.~~ Reality of the astral body was equated by spiritualists with tangibility. It does not seem to have occurred to the experimenters that a thing might appear tangible to the senses, yet not be physically present in space. They were obsessed with capturing the material characteristics of the astral body. Two researchers named Malta and Van Zelse actually claimed to have weighed it! According to their findings, the astral body weighs just under seventy grams (just under two and a half ounces)-although it might be assumed that a fat person would project a heavier double than a thin person, if it were to be assumed that the astral body had any weight at all. They reported that the double is affected by gravity and is of the same density as air, that its molecules are held together by an unknown force, and that the atoms composing it are small and heavy but widely separated.77 To the modern reader, raised on the theory of general relativity and familiar with the weirdness of quantum mechanics, chaotic systems, and multidimensional space, the idea that an astral projection can be weighed appears quaint. We are not quite so chained to a materialistic outlook as the generation that believed that Isaac Newton had written all there was to know about the physics of the universe. If it were possible to weigh the astral double, its existence would long since have become an accepted fact of science. It is not, since the astral double has no material existence. It appears to be material. It can be seen, felt, even conversed with, but it is not material. It is always projected into the astral world, never the physical world. It merely appears at times to be present in the physical world. It is difficult to know how to view the physical manifestations that are almost the invariable accompaniment of the spiritualist skance. They are a part of the materialism of the spiritualists-their need to reduce everything to the physical level while at the same time preening themselves on their enlightened emancipation from a materialistic 76. Muldoon and Carrington, Projection of the Astral Body, 32. 77. Fodor, 100. Chapter Five: Spiritualism 69 outlook. Most of the phenomena can be dismissed as deliberate and conscious frauds on the part of the mediums. The stage magician Harry Houdini spent a large part of his free time exposing the tricks mediums used to make their seances more material, and thus more plausible, to their audiences. Nonetheless, after having dispensed with the obvious frauds, there still exists a body of events that do not appear to have been consciously contrived. Perhaps a few are genuine paranormal events, but most may be explained with Occam's razor as either unconscious deceptions or shared illusions. In the same way that individuals witnessing a miracle can, in some unknown manner, cause others to see the same vision, even though it has no physical reality, the trance medium, perhaps with the aid of her control and other spiritual beings, can at times induce a shared vision in the minds of most, if not all, of those attending the seance. It also happens on rare occasions that the medium is temporarily possessed by a spirit without her awareness or permission, and the spirit then uses the body of the medium to produce an effect through hidden physical means as a way of deceiving the audience. The medium later protests with complete honesty that she did not contrive the effect, since she retains no memory of having done it. The Silver Cord The silver cord was an extremely popular concept in spiritualism. It is the one thing the average person is apt to know about astral projection. The fable is that the projected astral body is always attached to the physical body by a kind of vital conduit that maintains the life of the body while the spirit or soul is absent. Should the cord be cut, and the astral body separated from the physical body, the physical body will die. It is supposed to be infinitely elastic, becoming thinner the more it is stretched, so that on distant travels of the astral vehicle it is drawn as thin as a strand of spider web. It is supposed to glow with silver radiance, an obvious reference to moonlight-the projection of the astral body is a lunar activity, connected as it is with dreams, visions, and the astral world. Allan Kardec asserted that it is possible for the physical body to survive when the astral body, carrying the spirit, is projected. "How can the body live while the spirit is absent? We reply that it is possible for the body to live with only the organic life, which You may recall that one of the later demonolois independent of the spirit's presen~e."'~ gists, Henry More, theorized in 1653 that the flying ointment of witches preserved the 78. Kardec, Mediums' Book, 130. 70 SoulFlight life of the body while the spirit was out of it by filling the pores in the skin and thus sealing in its heat. This was a vexing puzzle for those convinced that the spirit and the flesh physically separated during astral projection, since they believed that without the spirit, the body must die. The solution of the writer More was the preservation of the heat of the body, which was its life, by trapping it inside the body. Kardec's solution was that the body had its own life independent of the life of the spirit. However, hedging his bets, Kardec wrote, "But we must add that, during earth-life, the spirit is never completely detached from the body. Spirits, as well as certain seeing mediums, perceive that the spirit of one in the flesh, when away from the body, is united to it by a luminous trail, which reaches to the body; a phenomenon that never occurs when the body is dead, for then the separation is complete."79We can gather from this that the silver cord is not always visible when the astral double is visible. It can be perceived by spiritual beings as well as mediums possessed of the second sight, but is not seen by everyone who sees the astral body. The Method of Saint Alphonsus Liguori Kardec was puzzled as to how the astral double, projected out of the physical body, could appear not only visibly but also tangibly to others in their normal waking state. He decided to ask an expert, Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), who was made a saint largely on the strength of his powers of bilocation. The evoked spirit of Alphonsus gave a useful and instructive method of astral projection. He told Kardec that a man who had achieved a "certain degree of dematerialization" as a result of his advanced moral condition could project his double just prior to falling asleep, by praying to God that his spirit be given the ability to transport itself to the desired location. If his request is granted, his spirit abandons his fleshly body, as soon as the latter falls asleep, and accompanied by a part of his perispirit, leaves the gross material body in a state closely bordering on death. I say bordering on death, because there still remains in the body a link which cannot be defined, but which keeps up its union with the perispirit and the soul. The perispirit then appears in the place where the spirit desires to show himself.80 79. Kardec, Mediums' Book, 130. 80. Ibid.. 131. Chapter Five: Spiritualism 71 The method of astral projection described by the spirit that assumed the identity of Saint Alphonsus was the method most often used by spiritualist mediums during the nineteenth century, without the component of prayer or the advantage of moral improvement. Fodor wrote, "The usual method of such experiments is to determine before going to sleep to visit someone during the night. The experiment may succeed when the least expected, and the agent may be totally unaware of the success."81The male medium Stainton Moses decided to visit a friend one night. Without informing the friend of his intention, he went to bed and fixed his thoughts intently on that individual, than drifted into sleep. He had no awareness of success, but several days later when he asked the friend if anything unusual had happened on that night, the other replied that he had seen the medium sitting in his rooms in a chair by the fire. The friend stared intently at the astral double of the medium, and after a time it slowly faded away. The spirit assumed by Kardec to be that of Saint Alphonsus went on to explain to him that the astral double can make itself tangible "by a special action on matter," but it neglected to describe that action. It also asserted that the double can be projected while awake, but that during projection the body is never in a completely normal state; it is always more or less entranced. Notice that the spirit characterized the link between the projected astral body and the physical body as one that "cannot be defined," suggesting that the silver cord, so popular with the spiritualists of the last two centuries, is no more than a visual metaphor for the actual connection. Trying to investigate another myth of astral projection popularized by spiritualism, Kardec asked the supposed shade of Saint Alphonsus what would happen if a person whose astral double was away from the body were to be suddenly awakened. The popular belief was that the person would die. The spirit denied the possibility of awakening the body without the presence of the spirit, assuring Kardec that the spirit would know of the attempt and would instantly enter the physical body before consciousness returned. Consciousness Cannot Be Divided Kardec summed up his understanding of astral projection thusly: The individual who appears simultaneously in two different places has, then, two bodies; but, of these, one alone is real, the other is only an appearance: we may say 72 Soul Flight that the first lives with the organic life, and the second, with that of the soul; on awaking, the two bodies reunite, and the life of the soul re-enters the material body. We have no reason to suppose that, in this state of partial separation, the two bodies can possess active and intelligent vitality, simultaneously, and in the same degree. It follows, moreover, from what we have just said, that the real body could not die, and the apparent body still remain visible; the approach of death always recalling the spirit to the body, if only for an instant. It also follows that the apparent body could not be killed, because it is not organic, and is not formed of flesh and bone; it would instantly disappear, if anyone tried to kill it.82 Although the double state enjoyed by Swedenborg and Blake, which Blake called his "twofold vision" and characterized as always active within him-that sense of being both in the body and in the spirit simultaneously, of viewing the physical world and the astral world at the same time -appears to be a division of the mind between the astral body and physical body, reflection shows that this cannot be the case. Consciousness occupies only one point in space and time at any given instant. Although it is possible for the point of view to jump back and forth between two places or two states with great freedom and rapidity, it cannot occupy both at the exact same instant. Kardec is correct that both the astral body and the physical body cannot possess "active and intelligent vitality, simultaneously, and in the same degree." The consciousnesses of Blake and Swedenborg danced between the astral and the physical with great facility, but cannot have resided in both at once. Neither visionary was conscious of an astral body in the usual course of affairs, but both believed themselves to reside in their physical bodies, and that their awareness focused alternately on the material world and on the astral world. However, the physical body cannot occupy the astral world. When they became aware of the astral world, their consciousnesses resided in their astral bodies even if they did not at the time perceive a separation between astral and physical bodies. It is possible to project the astral body in the same location as the physical body, so that the two overlap-that is, it is possible to make them distinct without separating them. Sylvan Muldoon The man most responsible for the two popular myths about astral travel examined abovethat of the silver cord, and the belief that to awaken the body when the astral double is - 82. - - Kardec, Mediums' Book, 133. Chapter Five: Spiritualism 73 absent causes death-was the darling of the spiritualists, Sylvan Muldoon (1903-1971), perhaps the greatest astral traveler, at least by his own accounts, who has ever lived. The well-respected psychic researcher Hereward Carrington (1880-1958) devoted a good portion of his career to studying Muldoon's ideas concerning soul flight. As a boy and young man, Muldoon suffered from weak health. His first experience of soul flight occurred when he was twelve years old. He woke up in the night and found himself unable to move his body. Later he would characterize this condition, which we now call sleep paralysis, as "astral catalepsy" and would experience it frequently, but the first time it terrified him. He became aware of a floating sensation, followed by rapid vibrations of his body and a pain at the back of his head. Suddenly he found himself lying on the air five feet or so over his bed. An unseen force pushed him into a standing position, and when he looked back at his bed he realized that his body was still lying on it. A glowing white cord stretched between the center of the forehead between the eyebrows of his physical body and the back of the head of his astral body. He tried to wake other members of his family but found that his hands passed through their bodies. After fifteen minutes or so, the silver cord contracted and pulled him back into his body in a reversal of the stages by which he had left it. In this account, we find all of the main features of Muldoon's later experiences of astral travel-the catalepsy, the exit of the astral body in a horizontal position above the physical body, the silver cord, the automatic assumption of an upright posture, the pull on the cord signaling a return to the body. How many of these details actually occurred to him during that first projection at age twelve, there is no way to know. It is possible that his abilities were mature and fully formed the first time he experienced projection of the astral double. Or he may have modified his memory of the first experience to correspond more exactly with his later technique. Muldoon found during subsequent projections that when he stood near to his physical form, the silver cord tended to try to draw him back into his body. He called this distance the cord activity range. The pulling sensation went away as soon as he moved more than a dozen feet or so from his body-the distance varied from eight to fifteen feet, depending on his state of vitality at the time. When his physical body was less strong, it was easier to project the astral body. This corresponds to what the spirit that claimed to be Saint Alphonsus told Allan Kardec. The spirit said that a man who had achieved a "certain degree of dematerialization"could project his double-that is, a refining or weakening of the gross animal spirits of the physical body, which the saints of the church achieved through austerity and denial of the urges of the flesh such as sexual desire, hunger, and fatigue. It is certainly the case that spontaneous astral projection happens most often to those who are either ill, and thereby weakened in the body, or who experience a sudden intense shock to their physical systems, such as a fall or a car accident. In the first class of spontaneous separation, the spiritualists assumed that the lowering of vital energy allows the astral body to slide out of the physical body. Muldoon theorized that it was because the lowered vitality made the silver cord weaker. In the second class of spontaneous separation, the astral body seems to be violently knocked out by a great nervous shock. Of course, the astral body is not really outside the physical body any more than it was ever inside the body-both astral body and physical body are part of the mind, and always remain part of the mind. It is the conscious awareness that shifts from one mental state to another, from physical to astral. Muldoon and Carrington were obsessed by the silver cord. They believed it was the same as the silver cord described in the Bible. Muldoon probably derived the expression, and perhaps the concept, from the biblical verse, "Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern:" (Ecclesiastes 12:6). Carrington wrote: The astral and the physical bodies are invariably connected by means of a sort of cord, or cable, along which vital currents pass. Should this cord be severed, death instantly results. The only difference between astral projection and death is that the cord is intact in the former case, and severed in the latter. This cord-the "Silver C o r d spoken of in Ecclesiastes-is elastic, and capable of great extension. It constitutes the essential link between the two bodies.83 This would seem to imply that the cord can be cut during astral projection, resulting in the death of the body. This is not the case. The cord is a metaphorical link between the physical body and the astral body, a symbolic representation of their inescapable connection. There is probably no danger the astral body can encounter during soul flight, and no action it can take, that can directly cause physical death. Prior to the rise of spiritualism in the nineteenth century, most of those who wrote accounts of astral projection did 83. Muldoon and Carrington, Projection of the Astral Body, 16. Chapter Five: Spiritualism 75 not mention the silver cord. If it were as prominent a part of the experience as Muldoon claimed, it is difficult to understand why it would be omitted from these accounts. The cord is seen by those who, consciously or unconsciously, expect to see it. It is equivalent to the mythic thread of Ariadne that guided Theseus out of the Labyrinth. Since it is natural to imagine some tangible link between the physical body and the apparently detached and separate astral body, perception of a cord, beam, cable, rope, thread, ribbon, channel, pathway, trail, or conduit of some sort may arise in a natural way, as the consciousness struggles to make sense of the experience, but its perception is not an essential feature of soul flight. Spiritualists would explain away the absence of the silver cord from many records of soul flight by saying that it requires a heightened and unusual degree of psychic perception to see it. However, after the ideas of spiritualism concerning astral travel permeated the culture and became predominant over older concepts, such as those involving witchcraft and fairies, accounts of the silver cord began to appear in a great number of the recorded descriptions of astral projection. Muldoon describes three speeds at which the externalized astral body may travel, depending on its needs. The first is the normal speed of movement enjoyed by the physical body, a walking or at most a running speed. The second level is an accelerated motion in which objects appear to approach and flash past with great rapidity. This second intermediate speed would have been difficult for his Victorian readers to visualize, but we are all familiar with it from modern cinema. When the film of a movie is speeded up, we get exactly the impression described by Muldoon, apart from the streaks of light that trail after the astral body moving at this velocity, which Muldoon wrote were similar to the scintilIationsthat trail after a meteor. The third supernormal speed involves an instantaneous, or apparently instantaneous, transition from one place to another. Muldoon's Methods The primary method used by Muldoon to induce soul flight was autosuggestion. Just prior to falling asleep in his bed he imagined that he was rising or climbing up to a higher level, and tried to induce a dream with this same content that would play out after he fell asleep. The action in the dream was imitative-the rising up of the body within the dream simulated the rising of the astral body out of the physical body. One visualization he had good success with involved imagining himself lying on the floor of an elevator as it ascended in a tall building. Another successful visualization involved climbing up a ladder. 76 Soul Flight Muldoon also observed that unrelieved stress or tension, when carried into sleep, sometimes had the effect of causing the astral body to separate from the physical body in an attempt to perform the action that would relieve the stress. He gave the example of going to sleep very thirsty one night, and finding himself in his astral body, standing at the kitchen tap trying to turn it on so that he could fill a glass with water.84As an example of stress induced by the urge of habit or routine, he wrote that a keen amateur golfer obsessed with his sport might find himself practicing his golf swing in his astral body. He suggested using stress actively by heightening it before retiring to bed, and then visualizing the action that would relieve it. Using thirst as his trigger, he would take an eighth of a teaspoon of salt immediately before retiring for the night, and then visualize himself going to some place where there was water so that he could get a drink. In this way he was able to induce several recurrences of the projection in which he found himself standing in his astral body at the kitchen sink, trying to turn on the faucet.85Certain factors encouraged success in these experiments-total darkness, silence, cool but comfortable temperatures, light bed coverings. The spiritualists such as Muldoon did more to investigate astral travel in a practical way than any other group, but their work resulted in a set of false conclusions because they were based on the false premises that the astral body is composed of a subtle material substance that occupies space and may be photographed and otherwise recorded mechanically, and that the astral body actually separates from the physical body in distance during astral projection. They were largely unaware that the phenomena of astral projection were just as much subjective experiences as the astral landscapes themselves. The other great error was to regard all of the spirits encountered during astral travel as the souls of dead human beings. This second error rendered spiritualism not only a failed science, but a failed religion as well. 84. Muldoon and Carrington, Projection of theAstral Body, 177. 85. Ibid., 193. CHAPTER Theosophy A t the same time that the spiritualists were conducting their experiments into the projection of the double and forming their materialistic theories concerning the weight of the astral body and the elasticity of the silver cord, the new religion of Theosophy was doing its own more theoretical work in the same field, supported by the wisdom teachings of India and Tibet. Spiritualists held a low opinion of Theosophists. Hereward Carrington wrote that although the literature of Theosophy was filled with references to astral projection, he was unable to find in it any practical instructions on how to actually project the astral body.86There is a mingled tone of impatience and contempt when Carrington writes of Theosophy. 86. Muldoon and Carrington, Projection of the Astral Body, 25. 78 Soul Flight Theosophists, for their part, gave forth a remarkable account concerning the origins of spiritualism that indicates by its content the condescending attitude with which they regarded the spiritualist movement. It is related by Charles Webster Leadbeater (18541934) in his book The Astral Plane: Its Scenery, Inhabitants and Phenomena. According to Leadbeater, the modern spiritualism movement began as an experiment conducted by the enlightened spiritual chiefs of a secret occult lodge known as the Divine Rulers of the Golden Gate, which Leadbeater claimed was associated with Atlantis. Appalled by the creeping materialism of the nineteenth century, these powerful spirits decided to make it possible for the average person to converse with the dead, and thereby gain direct proof of the survival of the soul after death: The method adopted was to take some ordinary person after death, arouse him thoroughly upon the astral plane, instruct him to a certain extent in the powers and possibilities belonging to it, and then put him in charge of a Spiritualistic circle. He in his turn "developed other departed personalities along the same line, they all acted upon those who sat at their seances, and "developed them as mediums; and so spiritualism grew and flourished. No doubt living members of the original lodge occasionally manifested themselves in astral form at some of the circles-perhaps they may do so even now; but in most cases they simply gave such direction and guidance as they considered necessary to the persons they had put in charge. There is little doubt that the movement increased so much more rapidly than they had expected that it soon got quite beyond their control, so that, as has been said, for many of the later developments they can only be held indirectly respon~ible.~~ The antagonism that grew up between spiritualism and Theosophy was a natural result of the competition of these two popular movements to redefine the afterlife for those who had rejected the conventional Christian framework. Spiritualists viewed Theosophy as theoretical, unscientific, over-elaborated, and foreign. Theosophists regarded spiritualism as simplistic, crude, and potentially dangerous-an unfortunate attitude considering that Theosophy was a direct outgrowth of spiritualism. 87. Leadbeater, Astral Plane, 101. Chapter Six: Theosophy 79 Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Theosophy was founded by the Russian spirit medium Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) as a way of bringing Eastern wisdom to the West. It began in NewYork in 1875, but established a second branch in Bombay in 1879,and soon shifted its headquarters from the United States to India. Blavatsky was an accomplished spiritualist who produced many of the physical phenomena that were regarded as a necessary part of any seance at the time. She was particularly adept at apports-the sudden appearance of objects out of thin air. Later it was proven that her apports were frauds. The letters supposedly written by enlightened spiritual masters known as Mahatmas that regularly popped into existence over her head were found to have been slipped through a crack in the floorboards of the room above by an accomplice. In spite of the obvious fraud of her physical effects, there is little reason to doubt that she was in communication with spiritual beings, or that she received her most significant writings from them while in a trance state. Even as a sickly young child, Blavatsky was strongly gifted with mediumistic abilities. She was a sleepwalker, and was given to fits of uncontrollable fury that caused her nurses to accuse her being possessed by devils. In order to drive them out, she would later say, she was "drenched with enough holy water to float a ship."88Her favorite playmate was a spirit that came in the form of a small hunchbacked boy. When others told her that they could not see him, she became irritated by their lack of perception. As she grew into her teens, her mediumistic gifts flowered, and she performed such tricks as locating lost objects and predicting the date of death of visitors to the house. At seventeen, her governess told her that she was so headstrong, she would never find a man who would consent to marry her. In defiance, the teenager talked an elderly general named Blavatsky into proposing, and she accepted. Almost immediately she changed her mind, but she was compelled to go through with the ceremony. After three months of constant bickering, she fled her bewildered husband on horseback and never returned. Her biographer, the Theosophist A. P. Sinnett, wrote: "Thus Madame Blavatsky abandoned her country at seventeen and passed ten long years in strange and out-of-the-way places-in Central Asia, India, South America, Africa, and Eastern ~ u r o p e . " ~ ~ 88. Kuhn, Modern Revival ofdncient Wisdom, 45. 89. Sinnett, Incidents in the Life of Madame Blavatsky, 39-40. There is undoubtedly much more myth in the unobserved portions of the life of Blavatsky than fact. She had no intention of telling the truth about herself when a more exciting lie would add to the aura of mystery and romance that she deliberately cultivated. This hidden period in her life, the ten years after her first marriage in which she is supposed to have wandered among the mystic masters of Tibet and India, was probably a good deal more squalid than she preferred to acknowledge. She traveled on the fringes of the law, taking advantage of the foolish, and it was during this period that she acquired the tricks of the seance that served her so well as the leader of the Theosophical movement. The hardship of her vagabond life was undoubtedly mitigated by the regular sums of money sent to her from her father whenever she wrote and requested funds. Even after she reconciled with her family, she continued to wander the world on various wild excursions, seeking to learn occult mysteries. There is little point in giving a full account of her adventures, the details of which as related by Blavatsky are to be regarded with the most intense skepticism. But one incident has a bearing on astral travel, and is worth relating. In 1856,while passing through Tibet in the company of a shaman, Blavatsky had the shaman leave his body as he lay in trance in their tent, and carry by soul flight a message to a woman friend living in the principality of Wallachia, in what is presently Romania. "Madame Blavatsky later verified the long distance phenomenon by receiving in writing, in response to an inquiry by mail, a letter from the Rumanian friend stating that at the identical time of the Shaman's concentration she had swooned, but dreamed she saw Madame Blavatsky in a tent in a wild country among menacing tribes, and that she had communicated with her. Madame Blavatsky states that the friend's astral form was visible in the tent."g0 In 1870, while living in Cairo, Blavatsky decided to found the Socie'te' Spirite, for the investigation of spiritualism along the lines set forth in the books of Allan Kardec. This first effort to form an organized society ended poorly when two of Blavatsky's mediums ran off with all her money. "To wind up the comedy with a drama, I got nearly shot by a madman-a Greek, who had been present at the only two public seances we held, and got possessed I suppose, by some vile spook."91This effort, abortive though it was, shows the debt the early stirrings of Theosophy owe to Kardec and spiritism. 90. Kuhn, 52. 91. Sinnett, 125. Chapter Six: Theosophy 81 While living in Paris in 1873, Blavatsky was directed by spiritual overseers to go to New York and meet with a man named Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907). She followed their directive, and was soon living with Olcott in a seven-room apartment in New York that they referred to as the Lamasery. Their union appears to have been intellectual rather than sexual. An intense period of mediumship and writing culminated in the formation of the Theosophical Society. Olcott was elected as chairman and became the organizational genius responsible for the rapid spread of the Society. Blavatsky's two greatest works, Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888), are bewildering in their scope and complexity. Somehow, from their confusion, and from subsequent spirit messages received by Blavatsky during seances, she and her closest followers were able to extract the essential ideas of Theosophy. Seven Astral Levels Madame Blavatsky claimed to receive her wisdom from a hierarchy of highly evolved human souls that were referred to collectively first as the Brothers, and then later as the Masters. When Theosophy shifted its center from America to India, this title was changed to Mahatmas, a word meaning "great souls."92Although Blavatsky undoubtedly faked the physical letters supposedly received from these spirits by apports, the actual teachings of the Mahatmas written on the letters may have been psychically received. Theosophy involves numerous sevenfold divisions of humanity, the universe, and its spiritual creatures, most of which do not concern us. We are interested in those that pertain to the astral world and its inhabitants. The astral world, which Theosophists preferred to call the astral light, is divided by them into seven levels or degrees. They are not to be thought of as one above the other, or even as concentric shells like the layers of an onion, but rather as different rates of vibration that interpenetrate and exist simultaneously in the same place. According to Theosophical doctrine, they are all physical but possess graduated degrees of density-from the most gross, which is not much removed from common matter, to the most refined, which is akin to spirit. So when we speak of a man as rising from one plane or subplane to another, we do not speak of him as necessarily moving in space at all, but rather as transferring his consciousness from one level to another-gradually becoming unresponsive to the 92. Judge, Ocean of Theosophy, 7 . 82 Soul Flight vibrations of one order of matter, and beginning instead to answer to those of a higher and more refined order; so that one world with its scenery and inhabitants would seem to fade slowly away from his view, while another world of a more elevated character would dawn upon him in its stead.93 The densest seventh level is described as a shadowy reflection of the lowest aspects of life, where nothing wholesome or pleasant is able to subsist. It may be conceived as a kind of astral underworld, or hell, in which the evil impulses and inclinations of humanity take on murky shapes. "Most students find the investigation of this section an extremely unpleasant task, for there appears to be a sense of density and gross materiality about it which is indescribably loathsome to the liberated astral body, causing it the sense of pushing its way through some black, viscous fluid, while the inhabitants and influences encountered there are also usually exceedingly ~ndesirable."~~ Level six is identical in appearance to the physical world. Those who project their astral bodies into this level may not know that they are on an astral plane, but may believe themselves to be traveling through the ordinary material environment of everyday life. Levels five and four are similar to level six but are more refined-so that, as the astral traveler ascends through these levels, the landscapes begin to diverge in their details from the corresponding locations in the material world. The remaining levels-three, two and one-are also similar in nature and form a second triplet. The astral beings who live on these levels have little contact with the material plane, so the landscapes of these three higher levels have almost no correspondence with the physical world, but are created by the astral beings that dwell there. The three highest astral planes of Theosophy appear to correspond with the land of fairy, which has been described in various folklore accounts to have its own roads, towns, rivers, mountains, trees, and other features distinct from the material world. The spiritualists referred to this astral place as Summerland. Leadbeater wrote that it contains "forests and mountains, lovely lakes and pleasant flower-gardens, which are at any rate much superior to anything in the physical These higher astral levels in the Theosophical system have a kind of magical, living beauty about them that entrances 93. Leadbeater, Astral Plane, 17-8. 94. Ibid., 26. 95. Ibid., 27. Chapter Six: Theosophy 83 the visitor and makes him reluctant to leave. This has often been said of fairyland, where everything is more perfect and more beautiful than in life. Spiritualist mediums did not see this level of astral complexity when traveling out of their physical bodies. Naturally, Theosophists had an answer for this discrepancy, one which managed to both dismiss and, at the same time, disparage the spiritualists. It may be objected by some readers that no such complexities as these are described by most of the psychics who occasionally get glimpses of the astral world, nor are they reported at seances by the entities that manifest there: but this is readily accounted for. Few untrained persons on that plane, whether living or "dead" see things as they really are until after very long experience; even those who do see fully are often too dazed and confused to understand or remember; and among the very small minority who both see and remember there are hardly any who can translate the recollection into language on our lower plane. Many untrained psychics never examine their visions scientifically at all; they simply obtain an impression which may be quite correct, but may also be half false, or even wholly mi~leading.~~ Human Souls in the Astral Planes Theosophy differs from spiritualism in its understanding of the astral world-not only in its complexity, but also in the acknowledgement that not all of its inhabitants are human. Spirits other than human are scarcely to be met within the accounts of astral journeys given by spiritualist mediums. In contrast, Theosophists recognize wholly inhuman astral beings, and astral beings created-either deliberately or unconsciously-by human thought. Theosophists believe that immediately following death, the souls of human beings go to whichever astral level best suits their degree of spiritual evolution, after first passing briefly and unconsciously through the lowest seventh level. Only the most debased souls become trapped in the seventh level of darkness. The souls of average people remain on the astral planes for periods ranging from hours to centuries, and may rise or fall on the planes as they become more or less advanced during their residence. "The average man has by no means freed himself from all lower desires before death, and it takes a long period of more or less fully conscious life on the various subdivisions of the astral plane to allow the forces which he has generated to work themselves out, and thus release the higher ego.''97 96. Leadbeater,Astral Plane, 24-5. 97. Ibid., 39 84 Soul Flight Departed souls who were very attached to worldly matters are apt to remain for an extended term on the sixth level, which closely resembles the material world and allows them to most easily interact with the still-living human beings that they knew during life. Those advanced enough to turn their backs on material existence-but who have not evolved enough to escape the astral levels-live on the third plane, where they build their own cities and establish their own societies. These cities of the third plane are said to persist in the same way that the cities of our world continue from generation to generation of their inhabitants and builders. This is the Summerland, so similar in many respects to the descriptions of the land of fairy, and fairies have indeed always been mythically linked with the human dead. The second astral plane is inhabited by dogmatic religious believers, and the first plane by intellectuals. There are two particular forms of astral inhabitants that are cast off from the souls of the dead as they finally free themselves from the astral world entirely and rise above it. The first is called a shade, and the second a shell. Their difference is a matter of degree. Neither one has any trace of human soul remaining with it. The shade is composed of the collection of habits, thoughts, impulses, and so on that bound a soul to the lower astral levels. As the soul at last rises, these are cast off, or torn away, and retain the lower aspects of human personality. For a period of time they persist, and often appear to mediums at skances, where they are mistaken for the actual souls of the dead. Blavatsky referred to this as the Spook body: "Our Theosophists know well enough that after death the higher Manas unites with the Monad and passes into Davachan, while the dregs of the lower Manas or animal mind go to form this Spook."98The shells are less animated than the shades, and are merely the final remnants of those who have passed through the astral planes on their ascent to heaven after death. Shells retain no consciousness, and nothing resembling the genuine personality. They are like astral zombies that can, briefly, be animated into an illusion of awareness by the power of the medium during a seance. On rare occasions, enlightened beings who were once human, but who have long since cast off their astral bodies, find it necessary to descend to the astral planes, and for this purpose they take on astral substance and build temporary astral bodies for themselves. Among these beings are the Nirmanakaya, "the 'spirits' (in the sense of an individual, or conscious spirit) of great sages from spheres on a higher plane than our own, who voluntarily incarnate in mortal bodies in order to help the human race in its upward 98. Blavatsky, Studies in Occultism, 187. Chapter Six: Theosophy 85 progress."99The same descent into the astral is sometimes undertaken by the adepts, who have risen beyond the astral but who are not quite so exalted as the Nirmanakaya. Astral Projections of the Living Among these human inhabitants of the astral planes are the astral projections of the living, which fall into several classes. The most numerous are those who send their astral doubles forth during sleep or illness without intending to do so, or who find themselves suddenly knocked out of their physical bodies by some traumatic shock. The second type of living traveler on the astral planes is made up of those possessing psychic abilities who deliberately experiment with the projection of the astral double, such as the Theosophist Oliver Fox and the spiritualist Sylvan Muldoon. Another type is the student of the esoteric mysteries who is taught to travel the planes by a spiritual master. His dark reflection is the student of a black magician, also taught to negotiate the planes by his master. Some souls of a debased nature are so transformed in the astral levels that they are scarcely recognizable as having once been human. Among these are souls of an extremely lustful and base disposition, who after death inhabit the seventh level and become incubi and succubi. There is an even worse fate than this, according to Theosophists. Souls in whom all traces of decency and humanity have been deliberately suppressed and erased, so that during life they cannot be said to be human at all, are too material and corrupt in their natures to be able to remain in even the lowest level of the astral planes. "The lost entity would very soon after death find himself unable to stay in the astral world, and would be irresistibly drawn in full consciousness into 'his own place,' the mysterious eighth sphere, there slowly to disintegrate after experiencesbest left unde~cribed."~~~ As a desperate attempt to avoid the fate of the eighth sphere, a few of these damned souls preserve the life of their bodies in a cataleptic trance, by feeding their bodies blood drawn while in semi-materialized astral form out of the veins of the living. These are the true, corporeal vampires, the existence of which Theosophy acknowledges. They can most easily be destroyed by burning their bodies. Another astral inhabitant scarcely to be recognized as human is the werewolf. When a human being of a particularly brutal and cruel nature, who has some knowledge of the occult, manages to project his astral body, it may be seized upon by "other astral entities" 99. 100. Blavatsky, Secret Doctrine, vol. 2, p. 636. Leadbeater, Astral Plane, 59. 86 Soul Flight the nature of which Leadbeater does not describe. These transform the astral body of the traveler into that of a beast such as a wolf, and materialize it to such a degree that it is able to roam the countryside, hunting and killing livestock and human beings for the purpose of satisfying not only its own craving for fresh blood, but also the craving of the entities that materialized it. A wound inflicted upon the materialized astral body in animal form will be reflected on to the living physical body of the projector. This is known as repercussion-when something done to the astral body instantly occurs to the physical body. Inhuman Inhabitants of the Astral Planes The completely inhuman inhabitants of the astral planes are the elementals, the nature spirits, and the thought-forms. The elementals of Theosophy are not the same as those understood in Western occultism. They are spirits formed and differentiated out of a single elemental essence, which can express all of the qualities we generally recognize as elemental-Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. They arise from random thoughts, and have a brief and mindless existence. At their lowest level, these are the hypnogogic images of faces, seen on the borders of sleep. They can no more be called independent beings than the waves on the surface of a lake, stirred into motion by a passing breeze, can be said to exist independently of the lake. Only when an elemental is deliberately shaped by sustained concentration and willpower, as is sometimes done by magicians, does it develop any sort of permanence or individuality. Then it attains the capacity to express through its nature either good or evil, and is no longer properly speaking an elemental, in the sense that Leadbeater uses the term. "When we read of a good or evil elemental, it must always be either an artificial entity or one of the many varieties of nature-spirits that is meant, for the elemental kingdoms proper do not admit of any such conceptions as good and evil."101 The nature spirits of Leadbeater include what most of us would conceive as elementals-spirits composed of only one of the four elements. His mingling of elementals with nature spirits would not be accepted by most modern Western occultists. Many writers have included these spirits among the elementals, and indeed they are the elementals (or perhaps, to speak more accurately, the animals) of a higher evolution. Though much more highly developed than our elemental essense, they have yet certain characteristics in common with it; for example, they also are divided 101. Leadbeater, Astral Plane, 72. Chapter Six: Theosophy 87 into seven great classes, inhabiting respectively the same seven states of matter already mentioned as permeated by the corresponding varieties of the essence. Thus, to take those which are most readily comprehensible to us, there are spirits of the earth, water, air and fire (or ether)-definite intelligent astral entities residing and functioning in each of those media . . . In mediaeval literature, these earth-spirits are often called gnomes, while the waterspirits are spoken of as undines, the air-spirits as sylphs, and the ether-spirits as salamanders. In popular language they are known by many names-fairies, pixies, elves, brownies, peris, djinns, trolls, satyrs, fawns,kobolds, imps, goblins, good people-some of these titles being applied only to one variety, and others indiscriminately to all.lo2 According to Theosophy, they are completely inhuman and have no connection with our line of spiritual evolution. Leadbeater described them as "frequently human in shape and somewhat diminutive in size." They can take on any forms they like, being able to mold their astral substance at will, but prefer forms that suit their essential inherent natures. They usually pass invisible to human sight, but can if they wish materialize their forms to such a degree that they become visible. Most types want nothing to do with humanity and avoid the habitations of man. Leadbeater observed that fairies are masters of illusion and are capable of deceiving not only an individual but whole groups at one time. He rightly compared this talent to the similar sensory deception practiced by Hindu fakirs, who during their public performances are able to fool their audiences into seeing whatever they will them to see. The power of these spirits to manipulate human senses is seldom accorded the importance it deserves in accounts of their natures and abilities. Another inhuman class of beings sometimes found on the astral planes is the devaswhat we in the West would call angels. Theosophists use the term in a more restrictive sense than it is used in the East, where a deva might be any of various types of nonhuman entity. Theosophists believe that human beings, when they evolve sufficiently, can if they wish become devas, but that they can also at their discretion bypass the deva state. The last type of astral entity in the Theosophical catalog that will be touched on here is the artificially formed entity, which may be created unconsciously or deliberately. The unconsciously formed are usually what in Theosophy are called elementals. They come into being in response to strong thoughts. The thought creates an astral shape from 102. Leadbeater, Astral Plane, 77-8. 88 Soul Flight the elemental essence that corresponds with it. The artificial being formed possesses its own shadow of existence for as long as the thought that sustains it persists. A repeated thought, mulled over and brooded upon with intensity, can give rise to an astral form that can endure for days. The unpleasant situation may arise in which a person who has the same thoughts of a hurtful, malicious type that return over and over for months, or even years, may create an entity that attaches itself to him, feeding on his emotions like a kind of astral vampire. Since the hurtful thoughts sustain this creature, it does all in its power to encourage them. A metaphor for this astral leech would be the black cloud that is sometimes said to follow individuals around wherever they go. Such creatures can leave their creators, when they become too weak to be of use, and attach themselves to others, provoking similar obsessive thoughts in their new hosts for nourishment, and in this manner can sustain their existence. The opposite kind of artificial astral entity is created when a person sustains loving and protective thoughts toward another human being, such as those that might be held in the mind of a mother for her child. They shape themselves into a kind of benevolent spirit that travels to the person who is the object of the love, and protects that person. This is even true when those who have died, and who inhabit the astral planes, think strong thoughts of love about those they have left behind. It is the belief in Theosophy that the love of departed parents, siblings, and lovers can help and sustain the living. Magicians are able to deliberately shape such artificial astral entities with the power of their thoughts and their will, creating beings with highly specialized personalities and abilities for specific forms of work, and even for individual tasks. Adepts of magic sometimes create astral guardians for their disciples, which remain with them as a kind of familiar spirit. Deliberately formed astral beings may escape the control of their creators, and move from person to person seeking the vital energy that sustains them. The deliberate creation of thought-forms-known in Tibet as tulpas-that take on a life and purpose of their own is described by Alexandra David-Nee1in her Magic and Mystery in Tibet, and it is undoubtedly to this type of creation that Leadbeater referred. David-Nee1 observed on this subject that once the tulpa has been infused with enough vitality to simulate an independent being, it tends to seek freedom from its maker's authority.'03 Chapter Six: Theosophy 89 There are other astral inhabitants and visitors recognized in Theosophy, but these are the most important classes. It is useful to have an overview of them in order to see how the Theosophical concept of the astral world differed from that of the spiritualists who came before them, and from that of the ritual magicians of the Golden Dawn who followed. The Astral Body Theosophy divided the human body into seven degrees or levels. We need only concern ourselves with the lowest three. The lowest body is the material or physical body of flesh and blood. Next above it is what is called the etheric body, which resembles the material body closely but is formed of a more subtle substance. Slightly more refined than the etheric body is the astral body, with which human beings are enabled to travel the astral planes. Just as, after death, the human body decays and eventually falls to nothingness, so Theosophists believe that the etheric and astral bodies also break down and fall to nothing with the passage of sufficient time. The body of flesh is the first to disappear, followed by the body of the etheric, and then by the body of the astral, and so on up to the higher bodies. Theosophists believe that the etheric body is able to separate from the physical body during life no more than a couple of feet. It is connected with the physical body by its own cord that has very little elasticity. It cannot travel far from the physical body.lo4 During the seance, it is the etheric body that becomes visible near the trance medium. It is always seen hovering near her. It can take various forms, and is dense enough to be readily felt by those who touch it. The cord that links the astral body to the physical body is elastic to an almost infinite degree. This allows the astral traveler to venture far away from the physical vessel, yet always be assured of finding his way back. A useful description of the Theosophical understanding of the astral body was given by William Q. Judge: The astral body is made of matter of very fine texture as compared with the visible body, and has a great tensile strength, so that it changes but little during a lifetime, while the physical alters every moment. And not only has it this immense strength, but at the same time possesses as elasticity permitting its extension to a considerable distance. It is flexible, plastic, extensible, and strong. The matter of which it is composed is electrical and magnetic in its essence, and is just what the whole world was 104. Fox, Astral Projection, 28. 90 Soul Flight composed of in the dim past when the processes of evolution had not yet arrived at the point of producing the material body for man.lo5 Theosophy understands the astral body to be the template upon which the physical body is formed. It exists before the existence of the physical body, and when the physical body dies, it continues to survive for some time on the astral planes. The etheric body remains closely linked to the corpse, and is said to be responsible for ghosts seen in graveyards and near the bodies of the dead. It decays more quickly than the astral body. Surrounding the human body is the aura, which Theosophy divides into seven layers that distinguish themselves by different colors and varying densities. Those projecting on the astral planes carry their aura with them. It is said to be plainly visible to spirits and to those possessed with psychic ability. The state of health, and also the level of spiritual advancement, is revealed by an intelligent interpretation of the aura. The Akashic Records Theosophists also believe in the existence of what is known as the akashic records-a perfect and complete impression of every event that has occurred in the universe. Leadbeater likened it to the memory of God.lo6The akashic records are not, strictly speaking, an astral phenomenon at all, but are merely reflected in the astral light from the higher spiritual level where they have their true existence. Because they are only a reflection, when seen on the astral levels they are imperfect, and those who attempt to read the akashic records during astral projection invariably make mistakes. Oliver Fox In view of the almost perfect understanding Theosophists claimed to have of the astral planes, the astral body, and astral travel, it is surprising that so few of them experimented with it in a practical way. As Hereward Carrington observed, useful books on astral projection written by Theosophists are scarcely to be encountered. The exception is the work of the Theosophist Oliver Fox (1886-19491, whose real name was Hugh Callaway. Like his contemporary, the spiritualist Sylvan Muldoon, Fox had been a sickly child with mediumistic abilities who received his first memorable experiences of projection at a young 105. Judge,44. 106. Leadbeater,Astral Plane, 27. Chapter Six: Theosophy 91 age. These usually took the forms of dreams, but they were dreams in which he was at least partially conscious. When he was seven or eight years old, Fox began to have a recurring dream that came to him several times a year throughout his childhood. In the dream, he sat talking with his mother, when she suddenly fell silent and stared at him strangely. The firelight and lamplight dimmed, and the air suffused with a kind of golden radiance. The door of the parlor opened and the double of his mother, exact in every detail, walked in and stared at him silently. This terrified Fox into a screaming fit, not because it was frightening in itself, but because he could not tell which version of his mother was real and which was the double. Sometimes before falling asleep, he saw a strange background of small, misty-blue or mauve circles that vibrated. To his young mind, they resembled a gelatinous cluster of frogs' eggs, and were on the limit of visibility. The blue circles would fill with tiny grinning faces having piercing steel-blue eyes, and Fox would hear a chorus of mocking voices chant in rhythm to the vibration of the circles, "'That is it, you see! That is it, you see!""07 The background of blue circles persisted into adulthood, minus the faces, and occurred during many experiences of astral projection. Fox also had, during his early childhood, numerous dreams in which objects seemed to be stretched or expanded. This sense that "things went wrong" sometimes intruded into his waking life. He gave the example of having one hand on the table and the other on the back of a chair, and suddenly being unable to move them, while having the sense that the table and chair were slowly moving apart and stretching him between them. Fox found that he could put himself into a light trance by staring at the flame of the lamp in his bedroom, although he had no awareness that he was in a trance state. He only knew that the room around him would suddenly "go wrong." First, the gas flame dimmed, and the room filled with a pale-golden brightness. Miniature bursts of blue lightning crackled and snapped from the corners of the room. This was followed by an apparition of a grotesque or frightening appearance. On one occasion, he saw a man with a horrifyingly distorted face. At other times, it was a wolf with burning eyes, a lion, a giant serpent, or a bear that reared up on its hind legs. These visions caused the boy to scream at the top of his lungs, but the moment his mother entered his bedroom, the apparition vanished and things "came right" again.''' - 107. - Fox, 19. 108. Ibid., 20-1. 92 Soul Flight The most interesting of these apparitions involved a fairy, which to the eyes of the young Fox looked like a garden gnome. He described it as "a funny little fellow dressed in brown" that climbed up on his bed with a reassuring smile and pointed to a nearby screen, in which a bright circle of light appeared. Within this circle, the mist cleared to reveal the scene of a farm, in bright colors, with all the animals moving as in life. A woman in a blue dress waved her hand from the doorway of the house. After a while, the scene faded and the fairy gave a nod and a smile before vanishing. All these early experiences of Fox are connected. They were attempts by spiritual beings to awaken and develop his natural psychic abilities. The dreams of his mother's double directed his mind toward astral projection. The dreams and impressions of being stretched resulted from partial separation of his astral double. The golden light that suffused the air is an event I have experienced during soul flight, and it indicates an astral rather than a physical perception of the scene. The faces in the blue circles, although terrifying to the young boy, were intended to call his attention to the circles and to inform him, "That is it, you see!"-that when he became aware of the background of nebulous blue circles, he was in a suitable mental state to see into the astral. The fairy that visited his bed adopted a non-threatening shape for the purpose of teaching him how to use his ability to see into the astral world. It appears that some higher intelligence was deliberating pushing the young Fox to explore and develop his innate, latent talent for astral projection. If we were to credit the existence of the adepts of Theosophy, we might suspect that Fox was being guided by a Master from a higher spiritual plane to explore his talent, so that later in life he could write about it and share it with the world. Lucid Dreams and the Pineal Doorway The main technique developed by Fox was that of the lucid dream. Fox found that if he became aware during a dream that he was dreaming, then he could move around in it consciously, and step outside it while remaining asleep to travel to other places on the astral level, such as to the rooms of people he knew, or to familiar streets. He passed other people unseen and unheard during these travels, but found that if he touched them, they could feel his touch. The difficult part was becoming aware within a dream. He accomplished this by trying to notice any incongruous detail that would alert him to the fact that he was dreaming. Once he noticed a detail that would not exist in reality, he instantly became conscious, and was able to leave the dream on his astral journey. Chapter Six: Theosophy 93 He used three kinds of locomotion during his astral excursions. The first was a gliding step that covered large distances, so that he seemed to float across the ground. The second was a swimming motion with his arms that allowed him to rise into the air to a height of from fifty to a hundred feet. The third motion Fox called "Shying," although it has nothing whatsoever to do with crystal gazing. It was a vertical ascent into the air at a high rate of speed, accomplished by an act of will, which Fox found to be difficult, and believed to be dangerous, although exactly why he felt it posed a danger, he did not write. It terrified him and he did not experiment with it further. As we will later see when we examine the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Fox had independently discovered the astral technique known as Rising on the Planes. The single time that Fox saw his silver cord was when he detached his astral body while under the influence of ether. This was also an experience of the type of travel he called Skrying. "After a few sniffs, it seemed to me that I shot up to the stars, and that a shining silver thread connected my celestial self with my physical bodyl'logOn a few occasions, he felt a pull that seemed to draw his astral body back into his physical body, but he never saw the cord before or after this drug experience. This caused Carrington and Muldoon to doubt very much that Fox had ever achieved the full and complete experience of astral projection. However, merely because Fox's experiences were different from those of Muldoon does not in any way suggest that they were inferior. Another peculiarity of Fox's astral excursions was his complete inability to see his physical body while in the astral body, even when standing over his bed on the astral level, and looking down at the place where he knew his physical body was still lying. The bed appeared empty to his astral sight. After his marriage, he was able to see his wife's sleeping form in the bed, but never his own. This appears to me to have been some sort of mental block, probably caused by an unconscious fear on the part of Fox that to view his own body while outside of it would result in his death. It is a common superstition that when a person sees their own double, they are soon to die. By unconsciously blinding himself to his physical body while in the astral body, Fox avoided this fictitious danger. He discovered by accident one afternoon in July 1908 that he was able to project while lying in a light trance state without entering a lucid dream. He propelled his astral body out of his physical body by an act of will so that it shot forth through the walls of his house and into the sky. The first method, through the intermediation of a lucid 109. Fox,68. 94 Soul Flight dream, he called the dream of knowledge method, but the second trance state method he referred to as the instantaneous method. Later in the course of his experiments, Fox developed a technique of separation that he described as the pineal doorway technique because he associated it with the pineal gland of his brain. While in a trance state, he focused his consciousness inward on the center of his forehead between his brows. This is the place known in Eastern lore as the third eye, the location of the ajna chakra. When the technique was successful, he seemed to feel a click in that place in his head, as though a door had closed behind him, and at once he was released into the astral world with a much greater degree of clarity of mind and freedom of action than he had enjoyed when traveling through his lucid dreams. Presentiments of Danger During these experiments, Fox often heard his wife calling to him, pleading for him to come back, telling him that he was in danger. This was an illusion-his wife never really called out to him. He also sometimes felt intense apprehension. It appears that he was being actively discouraged from employing this technique, perhaps by some higher spiritual intelligence. His last successful projection through the pineal doorway took place on April 10,1916. During this excursion, he tried to visit a temple in India in a past century, but for some reason he was unable to achieve his purpose. The projection ended abruptly. Always thereafter, when he tried to use the pineal doorway technique, Fox saw the vision of a mysterious black Egyptian ankh hanging in the air, as though to bar his way. With his eyes shut, the ankh appeared to be painted on the inner surface of his eyelids, and with his eyes open, it seemed to float in front of him. It would not let him pass.'1° It is clear that Fox's experiments along this line were stopped for him by some intelligence other than his own. Who can say whether it was his unconscious mind that forced him to cease the pineal doorway method for his own safety, or if it was the protective action of some higher spiritual teacher, equivalent to one of the Masters of Theosophy, who stepped in for his own best interests?Perhaps a spirit of power and authority simply decided that his experiments had gone as far as they could be permitted to progress, and placed a block on his mind to prevent them in the future. Although he was still able to use the instantaneous method of projection, he could no longer use the pineal doorway method. CHAPTER SEVEN The Golden Dawn T he Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded in an official way in 1888 with the establishment of the Isis-Urania Temple in London, although members of the Order such as the poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) had begun to receive initiation the previous year."' The Theosophical Society of Blavatsky and Olcott was only thirteen years old. At that time, Madame Blavatsky was living in London. Just as spiritualism had its influence on Theosophy, so Theosophy in its turn contributed to the mental climate that allowed the Golden Dawn to flourish. Ellic Howe observed that a kind of underground explosion of interest in the occult took place in Great Britain and France during the latter part of the 1880s."The explosion itself was hardly noticed by the Establishment, 11I. Howe, Magicians of the Golden Dawn,69. but it was felt by many who were no longer satisfied with conventional religious beliefs. The influence of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's Theosophical Society was notable in this ~ontext.""~ The Order of the Golden Dawn was a Rosicrucian society that admitted both men and women. Its purpose was the revival of the occult wisdom of the past-not merely the teaching of the esoteric philosophies of Greece, Rome, Persia, Egypt, and Judea, but also the revival of the practice of ritual magic both for the perfection of the individual and the advancement of the human species. Even though it made use of numerous pagan gods and goddesses in its rituals, it was fundamentally Christian, as all Rosicrucian societies must be. The primary symbol of the Golden Dawn was the rosy-cross-a cross with a red rose at its intersection. Many of the early members of the Golden Dawn were also Theosophists. At first this troubled Blavatsky, who prohibited Theosophists from joining the Golden Dawn or other occult societies, out of apprehension that they practiced black magic. But when members of her own Society appealed to her to rescind her decision, she relented and permitted Theosophists to also belong to the Golden Dawn. As a gesture of fraternity, a group of twenty-one Golden Dawn members joined the Theosophical Society.l13 History of the Golden Dawn The Golden Dawn was founded by three master Freemasons: Dr. William Robert Woodman (1828-1891), Dr. William Wynn Westcott (1848-1925), and Samuel Liddell Mathers (1854-1918).Woodman suffered from ill health and lived some distance from the center of London, and so played little active part in the running of the Golden Dawn in the Outer, as the more or less publicly accessible lower grades of the Order were known. He died before the Second Order, the Roseae Rubae et Aureae Crucis (Ruby Rose and Cross of Gold), where the higher mysteries of practical magic were taught to carefully selected initiates, came into being in 1892."4 The work of running the Golden Dawn fell to Westcott and Mathers. According to the history of the Order presented by its three Chiefs, the Golden Dawn was originally founded as an extension of a German secret society of the same name, Die 112. Howe, xxiii. 113. Ibid., 5 5 . 114. Colquhoun, Sword of Wisdom, 172. Chapter Seven: The Golden Dawn 97 Goldene Dammerung, run by an adept named Fraulein Anna Sprengel. Westcott claimed to have received a written charter from Sprengel permitting him to establish a branch of the German Rosicrucian society in England, and maintained that he was in constant correspondence with the Chiefs of the German Order from 1887 to 1890. This is what those joining the Golden Dawn were taught, and what they believed in the early years. It was not until friction arose between the leaders of the Order that it was revealed that this history was a fiction concocted by Westcott, perhaps with the collusion of Woodman. Mathers was not a part of the original deception, which was admitted to him by Westcott only after he gave Westcott his solemn word that he would not divulge the truth to any other member. In 1900, he wrote a letter hinting about Westcott's deception to the actress Florence Farr (1860-1917), who was a leading member of the Golden Dawn. "He has never been at any time either in personal or in written communication with the Secret Chiefs of the Order, he having either himselfforged orprocured to be forged the professed correspondence between him and them, and my tongue having been tied all these years by a previous Oath of Secrecy to him, demanded by him, from me, before showing me what he had either done or caused to be done or both."l15 The Secret Chiefs Mathers was concerned that Florence Farr not be misled into thinking that Westcott was responsible for the esoteric teachings of the Golden Dawn because he himself, aided by his wife, was at that time receiving psychic communications from the Secret Chiefs, a hierarchy of enlightened beings, and it was Mathers who transcribed their dictations into the rituals and teachings that would later constitute the Second Order. Exactly who or what these Secret Chiefs were, Mathers always remained uncertain. He was not really sure if they were living adepts who had discovered the alchemical elixir of eternal life, or spiritual beings dwelling on higher planes who descended to the material world for the purpose of teaching him, although he tended to believe they were living men. In an extraordinary manifesto written in 1896, Mathers referred to himself as "Chief Adept and Ambassador of those Secret and Unknown Magi who are the concealed Rulers of the Wisdom of the True Rosicrucian Magic of Light," and he wrote about the nature of the Secret Chiefs: 98 . Soul Flight Concerning the Secret Chiefs of the Order, to whom I make reference and from whom I have received the Wisdom of the Second Order which I have communicated to you, I can tell you nothing. I do not even know their earthly names. I know them only by certain secret mottoes. I have but very rarely seen them in the physical body; and on such rare occasions the rendezvous was made astrally by them at the time and place which had been astrally appointed beforehand. For my part I believe them to be human and living upon this earth; but possessing terrible superhuman powers. When such rendezvous has been in a much frequented place, there has been nothing in their personal appearance and dress to mark them out as differing in any way from ordinary people except the appearance and sensation of transcendent health and physical vigour (whether they seemed persons in youth or age) which was their invariable accompaniment; in other words, the physical appearance which the possession of the Elixir of Life has traditionally supposed to confer. On the other hand, when the rendezvous has been in a place free from easy access by the Outer World they have usually been in symbolic robes and insignia.l16 Both Mathers and his wife, the former Mina Bergson, sister of the famous French philosopher Henri Bergson, were strongly mediumistic. They communicated with the Secret Chiefs through a variety of methods familiar to spiritualists-Mathers specifically mentions astral projection as a key method in his manifesto, but he and his wife also used other techniques. Almost the whole of the Second Order Knowledge has been obtained by me from them in various ways; by clairvoyance, by Astral projection on their part and on mine-by the table, by the ring and disc, at times by a direct Voice audible to my external ear, and that of Vestigia, at times copied from books brought before me, I know not how, and which disappeared from my vision when the transcription was finished, at times by appointment Astrally at a certain place, till then unknown to me; and ap- 116. Howe, 129-30. Chapter Seven: The Golden Dawn 99 pointments made in the same manner and kept in the same manner as in the case of those rare occasions when I have met them by appointment in the physical body.'17 Vestigia is part of the Latin motto by which his wife, whom Mathers otherwise preferred to call by the Celtic-sounding name Mo'ina, was known within the Golden Dawn. The full Latin motto of Moi'na Mathers was Vestigia Nulla Retrosum (No Traces Behind), the choice of which perhaps suggests why she was willing to allow her husband to remake her identity by giving her not only his surname in marriage, but a new Christian name as well. The "table" refers to the familiar table-turning antics of the spiritualist seance, during which the spirits cause a table under the hands of those attending the seance to move and emit raps. The "ring and disc" was a method of divination popular within the Golden Dawn, by which a ring was suspended from the hand on a short length of silk thread over a piece of paper inscribed with a circle. Francis King, commenting on Mathers' manifesto in The Rebirth of Magic (1982), believed the "ring and disc" to be a complex device consisting of a painted cardboard ring suspended on a silk ribbon above a disk inscribed with Hebrew letters and occult symb o l ~ . "However, ~ in a footnote in the earlier work Ritual Magic In England (1970), King described the device more simply as a gold ring on a silk thread, held suspended above a disk on which were written the letters of the alphabet.l19 It is possible that Mathers and his wife used a complex wheel of Hebrew letters patterned after the mystic alphabet rose that was the central part of the rosy-cross symbol of the Golden Dawn, wherein the Hebrew alphabet is inscribed on twenty-two petals arranged in three concentric circles. I believe it is just as likely that a simpler yes-no oracle made up of a cross surrounded by a circle was employed. If so, the movements of the ring swinging on the thread, either forward and back along the vertical arm of the cross, or side to side along its horizontal arm, would be interpreted as a yes or a no response. The astral meetings between Mathers and the Secret Chiefs exacted a terrible toll upon his physical health. It is this detail that convinces me, more than anything else, that his communications with the Secret Chiefs were genuine and not in any way fabricated by him. I have myself often communicated with spiritual beings, and I have felt the seeming transformation in the quality of the air and the intense and very odd strain that is 117. Howe,l30-1. 118. King and Sutherland, 95. 119. King, 45. 100 Soul Flight brought to bear on the body during those contacts. The strain on Mathers was much greater because the beings he communicated with were of a high order, and his communications were prolonged and conveyed detailed, specific information of a technical nature. Indeed, the strain was so great that I suspect, based on my personal experience, that it very nearly killed him. Mathers described the strain of what he believed were physical encounters with the Secret Chiefs as much greater than the mere physical exhaustion that follows the depletion of nervous energy that is so familiar to trance mediums. He wrote in his manifesto: "The sensation was that of being in contact with so terrible a force that I can only compare it to the continued effect of that usually experienced momentarily by a person close to whom a flash of lightning passes during a violent storm; coupled with a difficulty in respiration similar to the half-strangled effect produced by ether; and if such was the result produced in one, as tested as I have been in practical Occult Work, I cannot conceive a much less advanced Initiate being able to support such a strain even for five minutes, without Death ensuing."120 Leaving aside the question of whether Mathers had ever experienced the effect of a close lightning strike, his description effectively conveys the strain on his body of direct face-to-face communications with the Secret Chiefs. His reference to "difficulty in respiration" is accurate; I have often experienced it when communicating with spirits. The very air around the body seems to thicken or become viscous, resulting in great difficulty inhaling. Elsewhere in the manifesto to the members of the Golden Dawn, Mathers wrote: "The strain of such labour has been, as you can conceive, enormous; in especial the obtaining of the Z ritual, which I thought would have killed me, or Vestigia, or both, the nerve prostration after each reception being terrible from the strain of testing the correctness of every passage thus communicated; the nerve prostration alluded to being at times accompanied by profuse cold perspirations, and by severe loss of blood from the nose, mouth, and occasionally the ears."121 The poet William Butler Yeats, who was a leading member of the Golden Dawn, wrote of Mathers in his Autobiographies,"Every Sunday he gave to the evocation of spirits, and I noted that upon that day he would spit blood. That did not matter, he said, because it came from his head, not his heart; what ailed him I do not know, but I think 120. Howe, 130. 121. Ibid., I31 Chapter Seven: The Golden Dawn 101 he lived under some great strain."122When Yeats was visiting, Mathers and his wife would sometimes play Enochian chess with him, a form of the game based on the older board game of Chaturanga that may have been invented by Westcott; or it is possible that it was delivered to Mathers psychically by the Secret Chiefs. It required four players, so while his wife, Molna, partnered with Yeats, Mathers would take as his partner an invisible spirit. "Mathers would shade his eyes with his hands and gaze at the empty chair at the opposite corner of the board before moving his partner's piece."123 Yeats did not share Mathers' opinion that the Secret Chiefs with whom he communicated were living human beings. On the contrary, he expressed the view in his Autobiographies that they were thought-forms created and given tangible reality by the intense concentration of Mathers. Once, when Mathers told me that he had met his Teachers in some great crowd, and only knew that they were phantoms by a shock that was like an electrical shock to his heart, I asked him how he knew he was not deceived or hallucinated. He said, "I had been visited by one of them the other night, and I followed him out, and followed him down the little lane to the right. Presently I fell over the milk-boy, and the milk-boy got in a rage because he said that not only I but the man in front had fallen over him." He, like all that I have known who have given themselves up to images, and to the speech of images, thought that when he had proved that an image could act independently of his mind, he had proved also that neither it, nor what it had spoken, had originated there.124 Yeats believed that Mathers was deluding himself, but the poet does not seem to have considered that spiritual beings might manifest themselves to an individual through the unconscious levels of the mind of that individual, yet still be independent of the mind through which they manifested. To Yeats, the projection of the Secret Chiefs through the mind of Mathers meant that they were part of his ego, but this does not necessarily follow. Spirits use the mind of a human being to become perceptible in a way that human consciousness can recognize and interact with. But to say that for this reason they are 122. Howe, 114. 123. Ibid., 115. 124. Ibid., 130. no more than personal artifacts of the ego of the individual perceiving them is to place arbitrary limits on the scope and complexity of the mind. Astral Examination of Initiates Astral projection was used in a variety of ways in the Golden Dawn and related occult orders that evolved directly from its teachings, such as the Society of the Inner Light founded by Dion Fortune (1890-1946), who had joined the Golden Dawn in 1919 while it was under the leadership of Mo'ina Mathers. Perhaps the most interesting application was in the testing of potential candidates for initiation into these orders. The writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), who created that memorable character of fiction, the detective Sherlock Holmes, experienced this astral testing firsthand. He related his experiences of 1898, the year in which he considered joining the Golden Dawn, in an article he wrote in 1924 for Pearson's Magazine. Doyle had an unnatural dream in which a member of the Golden Dawn visited him on the astral level for the purpose of testing him, to determine whether he was worthy of admission. It shook his nerves to such a degree that Doyle decided not to become a member.125 Two members of the Golden Dawn later visited Doyle in an attempt to change his mind. They told him of an astral journey they had made together to central Africa. Doyle wrote: "From what I learnt I should judge that the powers of this society included that of loosening their own etheric bodies, in summoning the etheric bodies of others (mine, for example) and in making thought images."126 This might be dismissed as merely an odd fixation in the mind of Doyle, who was a confirmed believer in spiritualism, were it not that others reported the same sort of astral experience. Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988), who attempted many years later to gain initiation into both a descendant offshoot of the Golden Dawn and Dion Fortune's Society of the Inner Light, experienced an identical type of astral probing on both occasions. Both times, she was denied admission. During the 1920s, after filling out an application to join the Alpha and Omega Lodge of the Golden Dawn, but before she received word that her admission was denied, she went through the kind of testing mentioned by Doyle. Colquhoun felt as though someone were exploring her on the astral level, trying to influence her will directly by an action that took place below the level of words, even be- 125. - - Howe, 200. 126. Ibid. Chapter Seven: The Golden Dawn 103 neath the level of thoughts. She had a strong sense of being invaded psychically and found that it required all of her powers to resist. She would later make use of this experience in her 1961 novel, Goose of Hermogenes, in which she wrote: "A kind of paralysis descended on my limbs as I fought; and so much energy was drained from my physical form that I found myself for some while unable to stir."127She wrote that she had no sense that the probing was hostile, "only searching" in an impersonal way. It was accompanied by what she described as a distant vibration. "Oddly enough, I did not immediately connect it with the A. 0. or its Secret Chiefs: only after receiving the note of refusal did I begin to do so. Before that, I had scarcely taken the Secret Chiefs seri~usly."'~~ In 1954, she tried to gain admission to Dion Fortune's Society of the Inner Light. After being put through a correspondence course followed by a rigorous face-to-face interrogation, she was told that she was not a fit candidate for initiation, but that she should wait a year and she would be reconsidered. Thirteen months later, she again experienced the same sort of astral probing, although this time it was less intense than when she had sought admission to the Alpha and Omega Lodge of the Golden Dawn. Again she was rejected. The spiritual leaders of the Society of the Inner Light were called Masters, after the practice in Theosophy, but it is evident that they were of a similar type to the spirits controlling the Golden Dawn. Colquhoun wrote that, in both instances, this astral probing was set into motion by those connected with the Secret Chiefs of the respective societies, and that it did not resemble the melodramatic type of astral projection usually described in occult literature, replete with exotic figures and echoing voices, but rather that it was characterized by an impersonal q ~ a 1 i t y . l ~ ~ Colquhoun mentioned that Yeats, writing a letter to a friend, told the story of how the ritualists of the London Isis-Urania Temple of the Golden Dawn once summoned a female member before them to question her concerning her relations with Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), who was something of a black sheep of the Golden Dawn. Colquhoun had always assumed that the woman had been summoned before them in the astral body, but she wondered if instead perhaps the astral probing technique that she herself had experienced had been employed. She wrote, "'astral examination' and 'astral judgment' 127. Colquhoun, 23. 128. Ibid. 129. Colquhoun, 33. 104 Soul Flight were standard practice in the heyday of the GD [Golden Dawn] for vetting both postulants and members aspiring to the Second Order. It seems that such methods were still in force long afterwards and may be so, to this day."130 The Sphere Group When the Golden Dawn began to suffer conflicts among its leaders, various individual members tried to establish their own astral communication link with the Secret Chiefs, so that they could carry on the work of writing down the teachings of these spiritual masters. Florence Farr headed a group within the Golden Dawn that gathered regularly to do astral work. This was known as the Sphere Group. In 1897, Farr was made head of the London branch of the Golden Dawn by Mathers. Westcott had been forced to withdraw in order to protect his public reputation and his government job as London coroner. Mathers agreed with Farr that the practice of secret groups working within the Golden Dawn on projects of their own interest, such as her Sphere Group, should be formally accepted. 131 The Sphere Group consisted of twelve members who met every Sunday at noon to "concentrate forces of growth, progress and purification."132They occasionally came together in the same physical place, but as Dr. Robert William Felkin (1858-1922), one of the original members of the group later testified, "meetings were not necessary for the work of the Felkin meant that physical meetings were unnecessary because the twelve met on the astral planes. The name of the group derived from the symbol of the "Star maps and Tree of Life projected on a sphere."134Maps of the celestial northern and southern hemispheres showing the spherical projection of the ten Sephiroth of the Tree of Life are reproduced in Israel Regardie's The Golden Dawn,'35and it was these or maps very like them that were used by Farr and her group. The twelve members stationed themselves at intervals around a circle. At the center was a being known as "the Egyptian astral" who was the Master from whom Farr received 130. Colquhoun, 34. 131. Howe, 170, 132. Ibid., 250. 133. Ibid., 251. 134. Ibid., 247. 135. Regardie, Golden Dawn, 605. Chapter Seven: The Golden Dawn 105 her group's teachings, and who controlled the work of the group. This rather mysterious figure was first contacted through a fragment of his Egyptian mummy case,136or so Ellic Howe was informed by F. L. Gardner, a Theosophist who joined the Golden Dawn and became a member of the Sphere Group. This initial contact was probably made by psychometry, a psychic ability supposed to enable sensitive individuals to divine, by touch, events connected with an object. In 1901,the Egyptian astral announced that he must retire from the Group because he was about to ascend to a higher plane, which would make it impossible for him to carry on his former work. This was in keeping with the teachings of Blavatsky's Theosophy, which held that souls after death continued to evolve and perfect themselves, rising through the seven astral planes until they escaped them entirely to the higher planes of spirit. For some time thereafter, Farr and her followers met regularly on the astral level, but they substituted the Holy Grail in place of the Egyptian adept. In 1902,a prominent member of the London Temple, Annie Horniman (1860-1937), who believed herself in astral contact with one of the Secret Chiefs she called the Purple Adept, lobbied for the performance of a special banishing ritual to cleanse the Order of what she perceived to be the corrupting taint of the Egyptian adept. By this time, the Sphere Group had ceased to gather, but Horniman's resentment against what she felt had been favoritism shown to Farr by Mathers and Westcott lingered. Whether this banishing ritual was ever done is unknown. Traveling in the Spirit Vision Astral projection, and its closely related activity, astral vision, were key parts of the Golden Dawn training in the Second Order. The techniques were fairly simple. As is true of all methods of soul flight, there was little value in elaborate external structures when almost all of the work was done internally, using concentration, willpower, and visualization. In the Fifth Knowledge Lecture, a preliminary training for initiates, basic directions are provided for what is termed traveling in the spirit vision: The symbol, place, direction, or Plane being known whereon it is desired to act, a thought-ray as before is sent unto the correspondingpart of the Sphere of Sensation of the Nephesch. The Thought-Ray is sent like an arrow from the bow, right through the circumference of the Sphere of Sensation directly unto the place desired. Arrived there, a sphere of astral Light is formed by the agency of the Lower Will, illuminated 136. Howe, xviii. by the Higher Will, and acting through the spiritual consciousness by reflection along the Thought-Ray. This sphere of Astral Light is partly drawn from the surrounding atmosphere. This sphere being formed, a simulacrum of the person of the Skryer is reflected into it along the thought-ray, and this united consciousness is then projected therein. This Sphere is then a duplicate, by reflection, of the Sphere of Sensation. As it is said: "Believe thyself to be in a place and thou art there." In this Astral Projection, however, a certain part of the consciousness must remain in the body to protect the Thought-Ray beyond the Sphere of Sensation (as well as the Sphere itself at that point of departure of the Thought-Ray) from attack by any hostile force, so that the consciousness in this projection is not quite so strong as the consciousness when concentrated in the natural body in ordinary life. The return taketh place with a reversal of this process, and save to persons whose Nephesch and physical body are exceptionally strong and healthy, the whole operation of skrying and traveling in the Spirit Vision is of course fatiguing. Also there is another mode of astral projection which can be used by the more practised and advanced Adept. This consisteth in forming first a sphere from his own Sphere of Sensation, casting his reflection therein, and then projecting this whole sphere to the desired place, as in the previous method. But this is not easy to be done by any but the practised operator.13' The Sphere of Sensation mentioned in this quotation relates to the ritual pattern adopted by the Sphere Group of Florence Farr. It is the microcosm of the Sphere's Group's macrocosm: Thou shalt know that the whole Sphere of Sensation which surroundeth the whole physical body of a man is called 'The Magical Mirror of the Universe.' For therein are represented all the occult forces of the Universe projected as on a sphere, convex to the outer, but concave to man. This sphere surroundeth the physical body of a man as the Celestial Heavens do the body of a Star or a Planet, having their forces mirrored in its atmosphere. Therefore its allotment or organization is the copy of that Greater World or Macrocosm. In this 'Magical Mirror of the Universe,' therefore, are the Ten Sephiroth projected in the form of the Tree of Life as in a solid sphere.138 137. Regardie, 108-9. 138. Ibid., 100. Chapter Seven: The Golden Dawn 107 The Nephesch is the lowest of three levels of the soul, corresponding with the animal instincts of the microcosm and with the physical world of the macrocosin. For astral projection, the lower and more visceral emotions, sensations, and urges must be aroused and used to take advantage of their more tangible force. The Tree of Life is a Kabbalistic model of the universe in ten successive descending emanations, each of which comes forth from the one above it. The Golden Dawn applied these ten emanations, known as Sephiroth, to various parts of the human body. Each emanation has other associations or correspondences that can be used to link a part of the body with an astral plane or environment. For example, seven of the Sephiroth correspond with the seven spheres of the planets of traditional astrology. These Sephiroth also correspond with parts of the body. Through the connecting bridge of each of these seven Sephiroth, a part of the body can be associated with a planetary sphere. The Ten Sephiroth The Golden Dawn system is complex and a bit overwhelming for those unfamiliar with it. I do not propose to examine it in detail here, but I will list the ten Sephiroth on the Tree of Life and show how they join various parts of the body with various astral levels. 1. Kether Above the crown of the head The Crown-sphere of the primum mobile 2. Chokrnah Left side of the brain Wisdom-sphere of fixed stars 3. Binah Right side of the brain Understanding-sphere of Saturn 4. Chesed Left arm Mercy-sphere 5. Geburah Right arm Severity-sphere of Jupiter of Mars Soul Flight 108 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Tiphareth Torso Beauty-sphere of the Sun Netzach Left leg Victory-sphere of Venus Hod Right Leg Glory-sphere of Mercury Yesod Genitals Foundation-sphere of the Moon Malkuth Entire physical body Kingdom-sphere of the four elements Those familiar with the Tree of Life will notice that when applied to the human body by the Golden Dawn, it was reflected left to right. Chokrnah, on the right side of the Tree, is placed on the left side of the brain. Hod, on the left side of the Tree, is located on the right leg. And so for the other Sephiroth on the sides of the Tree. Malkuth is often assigned to the feet, but it more &curately corresponds with the entire shell of the physical body.139 Netzach and Hod represent, respectively, the left leg and the right leg, including the feet and toes. Kether is often applied to the crown of the head, but more properly belongs above the head and resting on it gently as would a crown. Tattwa Doorways As physical aids to help focus the mind during the practice of scrying and astral travel, the Golden Dawn employed various sets of symbols to act as astral doorways. Those most often used to initiate astral projection were the tattwas-five simple colored shapes derived from Hindu ~hilosophythat embody the four lower elements of Fire, Water, Air, 139. Regardie, 102. Chapter Seven: The Golden Dawn and Earth-and Spirit. 109 the fifth universal binding element, or quintessence, known as Ether or Akasa (Spirit)-black egg Vayu (Air)-sky-blue circle Tejas (Fire)-red equilateral triangle Apas (Water)-silver crescent Prithivi (Earth)-yellow square These symbols were painted, or cut Erom colored craft paper and glued, on to cards, upon the backs of which were written the divine and angelic names corresponding with the tattwa. The symbols themselves were made about two inches in size upon blank cards around the dimensions of ordinary playing cards, for convenience of handling. The black egg is shown inverted with the small end down. The silver crescent reclines with both points upward. The red triangle has a single point uppermost. The sides of the yellow square are vertical. Each tattwa symbol was placed on five cards, and upon each was painted or glued a smaller secondary symbol in the middle of the large primary symbol. This introduced an active seed element on the passive or receptive field of the main element, and mingled their qualities, with the main element still predominating. Since a smaller tattwa symbol upon the same larger tattwa does not show up, its physical placement may be omitted, but it should be understood to reside there. AU twenty-five tattwa cards are compound and none are simple: As no element on our plane can exist in an unmixed form, but contains within itself the constituents of all the others, or possesses several grades or planes of its own substance, so each Tattwa is subdivided into five divisions, currents or planes. Akasa of Akasa, Spirit of Spirit, would be the most Tenuous and purest form of that element, the integral nature of Spirit-its highest essence. Vayu of Akasa would refer to its airy quality; Tejas of Akasa to its fiery and dynamic aspect; Apas of Akasa, its fluidic and watery phase, while Prithivi of Akasa, its most terrestrial phase, or that aspect of its power which more nearly than the others contacts the earth. The same five-fold division, in the same five-fold order, applies equally to the other elements.140 140. Regardie, 458. The method of using the twenty-five tattwa cards for both scrying and astral projection is fairly straightforward. The experimenter employing a tattwa symbol sits staring at it intently until it strongly fills the imagination. Then he closes his eyelids and attempts to transfer the image from the physical to the astral faculty of vision, without allowing it to fade away. Mathers wrote: "Transfer the vital effort from the optic nerve to the mental perception, or thought-seeing as distinct from the seeing with the eye. Let one form of apprehension glide on into the other. Produce the reality of the dream vision by positive will in the waking state . . . Then maintaining your abstraction from your surroundings, still concentrated upon the symbol and its correlated ideas, you are to seek a perception of a scene or panorama or view of the plane. This may also be brought on by a sense of tearing open, as a curtain is drawn aside, and seeing the 'within' of the symbol before you."141 Regardie described a technique that relied on retinal fatigue and generating opposite -what were known in the Golden Dawn as "flashing-colors. First, the experimenter stares at the tattwa under good lighting conditions, then shifts his gaze to a white sheet of paper or to a white wall. The color fatigue produced in the eyes by the strong colors of the tattwa symbol has the effect of generating the visual impression of opposite colors as a temporary, fading afterimage when a blank white surface is viewed. For example, staring at the all-yellow Prithivi of Prithivi tattwa card will generate the vision of a mauve square when the gaze is shifted to a white surface. The eyes are closed, and the afterimage in its flashing colors persists on the inner surface of the eyelids. Before it fades, the experimenter must mentally sustain and strengthen the image, and imagine that it is becoming larger until it is large enough for him to pass through as a kind of gateway. The experimenter should stand from his chair, and with eyes still closed imagine passing through this gateway. Regardie recommended the Golden Dawn ritual gesture known as the Sign of Horus-which is a reaching forward with the extended two arms as through groping in the darkness-as a way of facilitating this passage. From his comments, it appears that Mathers used the gesture known as the Rending of the Veil, which simulates the drawing open of two panels of a closed curtain. Both may be used: first the Sign of Horus, then the Rending of the Veil. It is useful to imagine the enlarged tattwa symbol moving toward you and engulfing you as you do - 141. Regardie, 459. Chapter Seven: The Golden Dawn 11 1 this. Regardie quoted one contributor who observed, "Deliberately will to pass through the gateway. Let him imagine that he can hear it close behind him."142 The difference between scrying an astral vision and traveling to an astral landscape when using this tattwa technique is largely a matter of the clarity and sense of reality perceived. Within the Golden Dawn, the distinction was sometimes made between "astral vision" and "etheric vision." The first was scrying through the tattwa symbol remotely, and was described as flat and two-dimensional, with objects reversed left to right as though seen in a mirror. The second was projection into the scene, which became threedimensional. Mathers wrote, "If instead of this simple vision a ray of yourself is sent out and actually goes to the place (astral projection) there is not necessarily the sense of reversal of objects . . . Scenes, things, instead of being like pictures, have the third dimension, solidity; they stand out like bas-relief, then haut-relief, then you see as from a balloon, as it is said, by a bird's-eye view. You feel to go to the place, to descend upon it, to step out upon the scene, and to be an actor there."143 Geomantic Symbols Other objects were used as astral doorways. The most popular were the Tarot cards and the symbols of geomancy. Israel Regardie wrote: "It will be found a good plan to prepare cards of the Geomantic symbols painted in their appropriate colors, for these make perfect 'doors' through which the Seer can pass. And while these symbols are also attributed to the elements, the visions acquired from the Geomantic symbols using the names of the appropriate Rulers and genii will be quite distinct in character from those of the Tattwa cards. The Hebrew letters, the Tarot cards and Sigils, the planetary and zodiacal Signs, and Sigils of every description may be used to yield the symbolic door to a subtle plane."144 The geomantic symbols are formed by randomly poking four rows of holes into the ground with a stick and counting up the number of holes in each row. An even number of holes results in two small marks that usually resemble stars or crosses, but an odd number of holes in a row results in a single mark. The shape of these marks is not important; they merely represent a dot. In this way, a figure is generated consisting of four rows ranked one above the other-each row containing either one dot or two dots. There are 142. Regardie, 459. 143. Ibid., 463. 144. Ibid. sixteen possible figures that may be made in this way. During the Renaissance, geomancy was a popular form of divination. Each figure had a Latin name and was associated with astrological symbols such as the planets, zodiac signs, and nodes of the moon. The names were constant, but the astrological associations differed from system to system. In their structure, the sixteen figures of geomancy resemble the sixty-four 1 Ching hexagrams, each of which is made up of six rows containing either a solid line or a broken line. The two dots in the row of a geomantic figure are symbolically equivalent to the broken line in an I Ching hexagram; the single dot in a row of a geomantic figure is equivalent to a solid line in an I Ching hexagram. The difference between the two sets of divination symbols lies in the number of rows of each figure: four in the case of geomancy and six for the I Ching. The greater number of rows allows for more complexity in the I Ching oracle. There is little doubt that members of the Golden Dawn employed the I Ching hexagrams as astral portals, although they are overlooked in the main documents published by Regardie. Aleister Crowley, a member of the Golden Dawn who derived his system of practical magic from the Order teachings, placed great emphasis on the I Ching. Pathworking Next to the tattwas, the most widely used astral doorways were the Tarot cards. They were widely employed throughout the Golden Dawn teachings, and in the grade rituals of the Order. The picture cards of the Tarot were used in conjunction with the Tree of Life to represent the pathways from Eleven to Thirty-two that connected the ten spherical emanations known as the Sephiroth. The Sephiroth themselves were numbered, rather confusingly, as paths One through Ten. A member of the Golden Dawn could not truly understand the Tree without exploring the linking pathways in the astral body, and the Tarot trumps were the most useful tools for defining the astral landscapes of the paths and the nature of their guardians. Investigating each pathway on the Tree astrally is known as pathworking. The connecting paths were assigned in the system of the Golden Dawn to the Hebrew letters, which could also be used as astral gateways, either in conjunction with the Tarot trumps or alone. The final Hebrew letter Tau identified the lowest of the pathways on the Tree. "The idea was to re-read the rituals, and then endeavour to re-tread the Paths astrally. One example given, was that the Seer should formulate in imagination a vast pylon, and within its gates he should visualize the Hebrew Letter Tau, the Thirty-second Path . . . Then, imagining himself passing through this Letter Tau, and entering the Pylon, he should Chapter Seven: The Golden Dawn 11 3 proceed to make the appropriate Pentagrams and Hexagrams, and vibrating the Divine Names appropriate to that plane . . . The same technique may be applied to every Path and to every Sephir~th.'"~~ Rising on the Planes A related activity that usually involved the picture cards of the Tarot known as the trumps was "Rising on the Planes." Regardie quoted from a document written by Mathers, in which the Tarot trump Temperance is mentioned. "By concentration and contemplation of the divine, you formulate a Tree of Life passing from you to the spiritual realms above and beyond yourself. Picture to yourself that you stand in Malkuth, then by the use of the Divine Names and aspiration, you strive upwards by the Path of Tau towards Yesod, neglecting the crossing rays which attract you as you pass up. Look upwards to the Divine Light shining downward from Kether upon you. From Yesod, leads upward the Path of Samekh, Temperance; the Arrow, cleaving upwards, leads the way to Tiphareth, the great central Sun."146 The path of the trump Temperance, which connects Yesod with Tiphareth on the central column of the Tree, was of special importance in the work of astrally ascending the Tree, because it was regarded as symbolically the rising arrow of a great bow formed from the lower part of the Tree of Life. This path could be ridden upward directly into Tiphareth, the central Sephiroth on the Tree that was occultly linked in the Golden Dawn system with the astrological Sun and with the Messiah, resulting in a significant degree of spiritual enlightenment (see the illustration in chapter 13). Aleister Crowley was an enthusiastic advocate of both pathworking and Rising on the Planes, and emphasized the importance of these techniques in his 1929 work Magick in Theory and Practice. "The Aspirant should remember that he is a Microcosm . . . He should make it his daily practice to travel on the Astral Plane, taking in turn each of the most synthetic sections, the Sephiroth and the Paths. These being thoroughly understood, and an Angel in each pledged to guard or to guide him at need, he should start on a new series of expeditions to explore the subordinate sections of each. He may then practice Rising on the Planes from these spheres, one after the other in rotation."147 145. Regardie, 463. 146. Ibid., 464. 147. Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice, 203. 114 Soul Flight In these words of advice, we can detect an echo of Crowley's own daily curriculum of astral work while as a young man he studied the magic of the Golden Dawn. He was not happy with the training in astral projection that he received as a member of the Order, however. He wrote of himself in the third person, "He was rather encouraged in unsystematic working."148Crowley believed that a magician should not be susceptible to the whims of spirits or to emotional responses of either attraction or aversion for particular astral planes, but should instead explore them all as a form of exercise in astral projection, in much the same way that a classical musician practices scales until he is able to play any piece of music that is set before him. "Thus, it is necessary that the technique of Magick should be perfected. The Body of Light must be rendered capable of going everywhere and doing everything. It is, therefore, always the question of drill which is of importance. You have got to go out Rising on the Planes every day of your life, year after year."149 For Crowley, the daily exercise of Rising on the Planes involved a technique much like the Skrying mode of vertical astral ascent discovered spontaneously by the Theosophist Oliver Fox. It was to imagine his astral body rising straight up into the air, propelled ever onward at a terrific rate by the force of his concentration and the directed power of his will. The experimenter should not stop until compelled to do so by physical exhaustion. He wrote that this exercise could be started from any astral landscape or level. "One can go (for example) into the circle of Jupiter, and the results especially in the lower planes, will be very different to those obtained from a Saturnian starting point."150 Thus, in the Golden Dawn system that Crowley employed, each astral sphere or woild is vertically subdivided into a series of planes that may be ascended by soul flight. The exercise of rising from the surface of the earth and continuing upward until compelled to stop from fatigue is merely a way of learning the general method of Rising through the Planes. "But, having obtained this power, it is, of course, legitimate to rise to any particular plane that maybe necessary for the purpose of exploration, as in the case of the visions recorded in Liber 418, where the method may be described as mixed."151 148. Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice, 204. 149. Ibid., 155. 150. Ibid., 154. 151. Ibid., 155. Chapter Seven: The Golden Dawn 115 The Vision and the Voice The numbered book referred to by Crowley is otherwise titled The Vision and the Voice, in which Crowley's astral journeys to the Thirty Aethyrs of the Enochian angels are described in exhaustive detail. The text of the visions themselves was initially published in 191 1 in Crowley's periodical The Equinox (Volume 1, Number 5 supplement), but was reprinted in 1929 with copious notes by both Crowley and Israel Regardie, who was then acting as Crowley's secretary. It represents the crowning fulfillment of Crowley's years of work as a member of the Golden Dawn, perfecting his ability to ascend the astral planes, and demonstrates what this type of rigorous training is capable of achieving when used by someone with a focused will and a natural aptitude for astral travel. Concerning Crowley's method, Regardie recorded in his introduction: The Seer had with him a great golden topaz set in a Calvary Cross of six squares, made of wood, and painted vermillion, which was engraved with a Greek Cross of five squares charged with the Rose of 49 petals. He held this, as a rule, in his hand. After choosing a spot where he was not likely to be disturbed he would take this stone and recite the Enochian Call and, after satisfying himself that the forces invoked were actually present, made the topaz play a part not unlike that of the looking glass in the case of Alice. (He had long learned not to trouble himself to travel to any particular place in his Body of Light. He realized that Space was not a thing in itself but merely a convenient category-one of many such-by reference to which we can distinguish objects from each other.) Frater 0.V., the Scribe, would write down his words, and incidentally observe any phenomena which struck him as peculiar. 152 Although Regardie signed his name to the introduction in which this passage occurs, the words appear to be Crowley's own. The same passage occurs in Crowley's autobiography almost word for word.153 The topaz set in the cross acted as Crowley's astral gateway. By reciting the Enochian Call, a kind of general invocation of the Aethyrs that is keyed into each Aethyr by the insertion of the name of that Aethyr, he attuned his consciousness to the particular world he wished to explore. Regardie wrote that Crowley did not trouble himself to first move his astral body-his "Body of Lightv-to any particular astral location as his starting 152. Crowley, Vision and the Voice, 7-8. 153. Crowley, Confessions of Aleister Crowley, 616. 116 Soul Flight point to begin his ascent of the Enochian Aethyrs, but instead ascended directly from his physical body. This appears to have been a shortcut of the standard Golden Dawn technique. As Crowley experienced the successive Enochian worlds, he narrated what he was seeing and experiencing. One of Crowley's disciples who was traveling with him in North Africa, Victor B. Neuburg, whose magical motto in Crowley's occult Order of the Silver Star was Omnia Vincam, took down Crowley's words as a direct dictation. Crowley generally visited one Enochian Aethyr per day. Crowley had begun this astral work in Mexico in 1900, but after exploring the lowest two Aethyrs, he found himself unequal to the task of continuing. "What I saw was not beyond my previous experience, but what I heard was as unintelligible to me as Blake to a Baptist. I was encouraged by the evident importance of these results, but I found that I could no more force myself to go on to the twenty-eighth Aethyr than I could have thrown myself from a In the desert of North Africa in 1909, he discovered that he had made sufficient progress as an adept and that the work came easily to him. The resulting descriptions of the thirty astral worlds of the Enochian angels are often enigmatic, frequently poetic, and contain a wealth of esoteric references and associations that shed light on both the Golden Dawn system of magic and on Crowley's esoteric writings. It was Mathers who introduced a simplified version of Enochian magic, first received from a hierarchy of spirits by the crystal scryer Edward Kelley in the late sixteenth century, into the Golden Dawn teachings, but it was not until the work by Crowley that it came to be investigated in a systematic way. Crowley's astral flights to the thirty Aethyrs represent the ultimate utilization of the methods of scrying and astral projection taught by the Golden Dawn, as perfected by its most controversial member. 154. Crowley, Confessions ofAleister Crowley, 613. CHAPTER Remote Viewing and the D uring the decade of the 1930s, interest in the paranormal experienced a rebirth under the umbrella term extrasensory perception, or ESP. The paranormal was taken out of the sCance room of the trance medium and brought into the laboratory of the psychologist or parapsychologist, as he came to be known. A professor of psychology at Duke University named Joseph Banks Rhine (1895-1980) was the man most responsible for this rehabilitation of the study of "wild talents" that had first been observed in an analytical way during the seance by members of that venerable Victorian body, the Society For Psychical Research. Rhine used the term extrasensoryperception to describe the apparent ability of some individuals to acquire information by means other than the use of their five physical senses. He did not coin the term ESP-that term had been used by Dr. Rudolf Tischner 118 * Soul Flight (1879-1961) in his book Telepathy and Clairvoyance, originally published in German in 1920 and republished in English in 1925-but Rhine transformed the term into a household word. He also employed the much less popular term general extrasensory perception, or GESP (which he did originate), to encompass both clairvoyance and telepathy, and the later term psi to cover both extrasensory perception and psychokinesis. Psi, a term inverted in 1946 by R. H. Thouless and B. P. Wiesner, was originally divided into the two parts psi-kappa and psi-gamma, for active or projective effects such as psychokinesis, and passive or receptive effects such as clairvoyance. It has since come to signify in a general way the mystery factor in psychic events that cannot be recorded or measured. In his effort to transform the paranormal from occult to scientific, and to make it a respectable subject for university study, Rhine disregarded aspects that had anything to do with spirits of the dead, angels, demons, fairies, or ectoplasmic manifestations. He restricted himself to such phenomena as clairvoyance, telepathy, telekinesis, psychometry, and precognition-regarding them as latent abilities inherent in the physiology of the human brain that could be generated, studied, recorded, measured, and replicated. Over the course of his work, Rhine came to the radical conclusion that ESP could not be explained by ordinary physical means. In New Frontiers of the Mind (1937),he wrote: "An extrasensory force exists in another realty, and intersects and integrates with the physical ESP Cards For the majority of his studies involving telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition, Rhine used special decks of what are called Zener cards, named after one of Rhine's colleagues, the perceptual psychologist Karl Zener (1903-1964). They are about the size of ordinary playing cards, but are marked with five symbols in black on a white background-a circle, a square, a cross, a star with five points, and wavy lines. The original Zener cards were slightly different from those that eventually evolved into what were renamed ESP cards-the original deck had a smaller star than the later ESP version, and the original wavy lines were two sets of three lines, but were replaced by a single set of three thicker lines. Each deck consists of twenty-five cards, marked in sets of five with each symbol. Subjects of the Duke ESP studies were required to guess the identities of the cards as they were selected. Random chance is a score of five correct guesses out of twenty-five, or 20 percent accuracy. - - 155. Rhine. Chapter Eight: Remote Viewing and the CIA 11 9 The best-known series of tests is the Pearce-Pratt Distance Series that was conducted between August 1933 and March 1934. They involved a subject with unusual ESP abilities, Hubert E. Pearce, Jr., a student in the Divinity School at Duke University who had approached Rhine eighteen months earlier, saying that he had inherited his mother's clairvoyant abilities. Rhine subjected him to seven hundred standard runs through the Zener cards. Random chance predicted an accuracy of 20 percent, but Pearce scored 32 percent. Because of this much higher than average score, Rhine chose him for the distance series of tests. They were conducted by a graduate student in psychology, J. G. Pratt, with Rhine overseeing a portion of the tests in order to rule out collusion between Pratt and Pearce. The student and the person testing him were located in two different buildings on the Duke campus during the tests. The distances between the two varied from one hundred to two hundred and fifty yards. After synchronizing their watches and agreeing on a time to begin a series, the two men took up their respective places in separate buildings. Each minute, Pratt selected a Zener card from a randomly shuffled deck and laid it facedown on a book without looking at its symbol. At the end of the minute, he set it aside and moved on to the next card in the deck. The subject, Pearce, attempted to identify the different card used in each minute of the test, and recorded his guesses. At the end of the run, Pratt examined the cards and recorded the symbols in the order that they had been laid on the book. A book, the appearance and title of which were known to Pearce, was used simply to give him a focal point. The results were remarkable. In 74 runs through the Zener deck (1850 cards in total), Pearce scored 558 hits. Mean chance predicts 20 percent accuracy, or 370 hits. Pearce's score was more than 30 percent. In the 1954 report on the study authored by Rhine and Pratt, Rhine wrote: "The theoretical standard deviation derived on a conservative basis is 17.57. This total of 558 hits is 188 above the theoretical expectation and it gives a critical ratio of 10.70. The probability that a critical ratio so large as this would occur on the basis of random sampling is less than 10-22."156 Parapsychology and the Nazis The early work by Rhine was regarded with interest in Europe by German psychologists, but was never effectively duplicated by them. In Germany, the rise of the Nazis during 156. Rhine and Pratt, 176. the 1930s had a chilling influence on serious scientific research into the paranormal. The Nazis were infected with mysticism and superstition, but they did not attempt to cast these interests into the pseudo-scientificframework of laboratory ESP investigation. Even though occultism in the form of mystical beliefs and secret societies was found everywhere among the upper ranks of the Nazi party, scientists were viewed with suspicion and their speculative research was seldom encouraged unless it happened to support party opinion. The man to whom Adolf Hitler dedicated his book Mein Kampf (1925) was Dietrich Eckart (18684923), a wealthy anti-Semitic publisher and an inner member of the Thule Society (Thule-Gesellschaft),whom Hitler had met in 1919. He may have instructed Hitler in the magical technique of projecting the power of his will through visualization, which Hitler would use so effectivelyin later years. He may even have introduced Hitler into experiments with peyote, the drug employed by the shamans of the New World for soul flight, as suggested by Wulf Schwarzwaller in his book The Unknown Hitler. However, there is no reliable evidence to support either of these conjectures. Hitler himself was not greatly interested in the ceremonies of ritual occultism. He manipulated occult symbolism and the intense emotion it generated for his political purposes, but he probably did not engage in overtly occult practices. What is beyond question is that the Nazi party arose directly out of the Thule Society, an occult organization founded on August 17, 1918, by Rudolf von Sebottendorff (1875-1945). It adopted as its symbol a dagger surrounded by oak leaves, superimposed on a swastikakith curved arms. Hitler would later use the swastika as the symbolism of Nazism. On November 9, 1918, just prior to Germany's acceptance of the humiliating armistice treaty that ended the First World War, the newly established Thule Society met and resolved to continue the struggle for German supremacy. Sebottendorff proclaimed as its new symbol a red eagle, declaring to his fellow members that the eagle was an Aryan symbol, and that its color symbolized its "capacity for self-immolation by fire," which, he told his audience, "warns us that we must die in order to live."157On May 9, 1945, upon hearing of the surrender of Nazi Germany to th'e Allies, Sebottendorff committed suicide by jumping into the Bosporus strait in Turkey. In order to involve the common worker in his vision of a revitalized Germany, Sebottendorff had one of the Thule Society members, a newspaper reporter named Karl 157. Sebottendorff,Bevor Hitler Kam, 57 (cited by Baker, Invisible Eagle, chap. 1). Chapter Eight: Remote Viewing and the CIA 121 Harrer, form a "workers r i n g near the end of 1918. This was renamed Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Workers' Party), or DAP, on January 5, 1919 and in February of the following year, was transformed into the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or NSDAP. One of its members was Adolf Hitler, who had been hired to spy on its activities, but who became its most ardent advocate. Thule is a mythical island far to the frozen north that was first mentioned by the Greek geographer Pytheas of Massalia (fourth century BC). It reappears numerous times in ancient historical records, although its exact location is never certain. Sebottendorff believed that it was the center for a primordial race of pure blood, remnants of which stdl survived,guarded by beings of superhuman intelligence and abilities who were similar in conception to the Mahatmas of Theosophy or the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn. By ritually establishing communication with the guardians of Thule, members of the society hoped to enlist their aid in creating a revitalized Aryan race that would exterminate the inferior races, which Sebottendorff and his followers believed to be descended from interbreeding between Aryans and animals. It is apparent that the Thule of German fanatics, insofar as it can be said to have existed, was an astral land that could be visited by initiates of the Thule Society during ritual soul flight, and that the guardians of Thule were astral beings of considerable authority. As is so often true, its purely astral nature was not understood, and the Thule Society believed it to be an actual island in the far north of the world, which they sought in various ways to locate and possess. In 1925, interest in the Thule Society waned and it was dissolved, but its core beliefs lived on within the Nazi party, Another secret society active among Germans during the decade of the 1920s was the Vril Society. The term vril originates in the novel The Coming Race by the English writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). It is an early science-fiction novel, published in 1871. Vril is a mysterious and powerful force that in the novel has been harnessed by an advanced race of human beings living in a great cavern within the earth, who use it to accomplish a wide variety of functions. It is not unlike the Force in the Star Wars films-a potent occult energy. Many Germans during the period between the two wars who involved themselves in mystical theories were convinced that the earth is a hollow sphere, so the fanciful notion that an entire race of humanity could dwell in its depths struck them as plausible. It was believed in some quarters that Bulwer-Lytton's novel was fact disguised as fiction. 122 Soul Flight In a magical sense, vril is a blind force. It can be used for good or for evil, in a way similar to electricity, which also has no moral affiliation. One of Hitler's earlier advisors, the Rosicrucian and Freemason General Karl Haushofer, founded the Luminous Lodge of the Vril Society in 1925, the same year in which the Thule Society was dissolved. The author Wulf Schwarzwiiller asserted that the purpose of the Vril Society was to investigate the roots of the Aryan race, and to perform ritual exercises designed to awaken the power of vril. He claimed that Haushofer was a student of the mystic Gregor Ivanovich Gurdyev, better known as G. I. Gurdjieff (c. 1866-1949). "Both Gurdjieff and Haushofer maintained that they had contacts with secret Tibetan lodges that possessed the secret of the 'Superman'. The Lodge included Hitler, Alfred Rosenberg, Himrnler, Goring, and Hitler's subsequent personal physician Dr. Morell."15* Adolf Hitler and the Age of Horus It is doubtful that Hitler himself ever engaged in astral projection or met the spiritual beings known as Masters that controlled the dark occult current of National Socialism. The sensationalizing writers Bauwels and Bergier, authors of the 1960 book Le matin des magiciens, mention an anecdote related by Hermann Rauschning, the governor of Danzig, who one day was chatting with Hitler about the problems in breeding a race of supermen. Danzig made the observation that animal breeders had only rarely succeeded in introducing significant desirable mutations into their bloodlines, and that the best that could be achieved is to assist Nature in bringing forth the new species. "The new man is living amongst us now! He is here!" exclaimed Hitler, triumphantly. "Isn't that enough for you? I will tell you a secret. I have seen the new man. He is intrepid and cruel. I was afraid of him." "In uttering these words," added Rauschning, "Hitler was trembling in a lund of ecstasy."159 Even if this quotation is historically accurate, it does not provide evidence that Hitler was able to travel on the astral level, or that he ever met spiritual beings who were the dark shadow-opposites of Mathers' Secret Chiefs-but it is suggestive that Hitler may have had visions of an astral nature. Hitler's admission that the "new man" made him afraid 158. Schwarzwaller, The Unknown Hitler. 159. Pauwels and Bergier, 149. Chapter Eight: Remote Viewing and the CIA 123 is interesting in the context of the belief of writer Gerald Suster that Hitler was the living fulfillment of the prophetic document received by Aleister Crowley titled The Book of the Law. This document, transmitted to Crowley psychically by his guardian angel Aiwass in 1904, formed the basis for Crowley's later cult of Thelema. It foretells of the coming of the Age of Horus that will sweep Christianity off the face of the world in a holocaust of warfare and bloodshed. Summing up his views on the almost ceaseless military conflicts that characterized the twentieth century in the context of Hitler's rise to political power, Suster wrote, at the conclusion of his book Hitler and the Age of Horus, of his conviction that the violence had at its root a mysterious hidden force unknown to science, which he called an eruption of the demonic. After the example of Aleister Crowley, Suster personified this force in the form of Horus, Egyptian god of war. It was Suster's view that certain individuals had practiced magic as a way of controlling this demonic energy for their own political purposes, and that one of them was Adolf Hitler, whom Suster called "the greatest black magician of the century."160 A black magician Hitler may well have been, but it is my own view that he was a natural magician, similar in this respect to the mad Russian monk Rasputin, and was not instructed in esoteric practices by any occult society. Hitler and the other leaders of Nazism hated intellectuals, and there is no evidence that the Nazis ever sought to develop psychic abilities in a controlled and scientific manner to be used as weapons in warfare. Just as the anti-intellectual and anti-Semitic atmosphere of Nazi Germany inhibited the development of the atomic bomb, and even the completion of the V-2 rocket program,16' it also inhibited the application of Rhine's ESP testing techniques in a practical military way. It can only be speculated what the Nazis might have accomplished with the paranormal had they devoted significant energies to its development. Psi Prodigies of the USSR There is reason to believe that, after the Second World War, the Soviets were more open to the idea of psychic soldiers and psychic assassins than the Nazis had ever been. The revelation that the USSR possessed the atomic bomb was a shock to the West in 1949. It was followed by the successful test of a Soviet fusion bomb in 1953 and the launch of Sputnik 160. Suster, 213. 161. Pauwels and Bergier, 170. 124 Soul Flight in 1957, raising the specter of orbiting nuclear weapons platforms. By the mid-1960s, parapsychologists were speculating what the Soviets might be doing in their secret psi laboratories, and how far ahead of the West they were in the development of psychic spies. Every so often, a crack in the Iron Curtain let out a glimmer of information on Soviet psychics. Rosa Kuleshova, a twenty-two-year-old Russian girl, was featured in Time on January 25, 1963, for her amazing ability to read while blindfolded. Li$e did a story on her the following year. In 1968, another Russian woman, Nina Kulagina, amazed the world when film was shown of her moving objects using only the power of her mind at the First Moscow International Conference on Parapsychology. As a young woman, Kulagina found that objects would move around in her apartment, particularly when she was angry. She discovered that she could control these poltergeist activities using the power of her will. Kulagina was tested by Dr. Zdenek Rejdak, a prominent Czech scientist of the Prague Military Institute, who testified that he could find no trickery in her telekinetic abilities. Kulagina became the favorite guinea pig of Dr. Leonid L. Vasiliev, a psychologist at Leningrad Universitywho pioneered parapsychological studies at the Institute for Brain Research in Leningrad. He made over sixty films of her demonstrations of psychokinetic ability. She was also studied by the Leningrad military physiologist Dr. Genady Sergeyev. It was Sergeyev who gave her an extremely unnerving experiment on March 10, 1970-she was told to stop the beating heart of a frog that had been removed from its body and suspended in a vessel of liquid. The result is described in detail in Psychic Warfare by Martin Ebon. Ebon quoted Larissa Vilenskaya, who participated in Russian experiments involving Kulagina from 1971to 1976, and who later wrote that under normal circumstances, a frog heart removed and suspended in solution in this way will beat for thirty to forty minutes, and sometimes for as long as ninety minutes. Kulagina was first instructed to make the heart beat faster, which she accomplished for a period of about two minutes. Then she was told to stop the heart while standing at a distance of approximately five feet. Vilenskaya wrote that it took her forty seconds to stop the heart. The electrocardiogram of the frog's heart showed a sudden flare-up of electrical activity that resembled an electric shock. Efforts to restart the heart were unsuccessful, although it is usually possible, by applying electricity, to restart a frog's heart after it has ceased to beat.16* In a separate incident, Kulagina terrified a skeptical Leningrad psychiatrist by speeding up the rhythm of his heart, demonstrating that her power was not limited to frogs. 162. Ebon, Psychic Warfare,chap. 6 Chapter Eight: Remote Viewing and the CIA 125 She also had the disturbing ability to burn the skin of those she touched. The effect was said to resemble a very bad sunburn. She did this by laying her hands on the arms of the subject. After a short while, the pain became so intense that those undergoing the experiment would break the contact, unable to endure it. This ability was characterized as Kulagina's "counter-healing force," a malignant laying on of the hands. Its reality was verified in 1972 by the British parapsychologist, Benson Herbert, who published his account in the Journal of Paraphysics (Volume 7, Number 3). Psychic Spies of the CIA It is not difficult to imagine what effectthese and similar studies on Russian psi prodigies had on planners in the CIA and American military intelligence. Rhine at Duke University had studied psychokinesis, but only in a statisticalway using repeated throws of dice. He had no one remotely like Nina Kulagina to study. The nightmare of covert Soviet assassins, possessed of the ability to stop the hearts of American targets at any time over a great distance, must have made more than a few men in Washington with jobs that officially did not exist wake up in the night in cold sweats. It was reported in 1970 that the Soviets were spending sixty million rubles per year to study what was termed psychotronics. A report written for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in 1972 concluded that not only had the Soviet Union gotten the jump on America in the area of parapsychological research, but they were outspending the U.S. and were well in advance of anything seen by American scientists: "The Soviet Union is well aware of the benefits and applications of parapsychology research. The term parapsychology denotes [in the Soviet Union] a multi-disciplinary field consisting of the sciences of bionics, biophysics, psychophysics, psychology, physiology and neuropsychology. Many scientists, U.S. and Soviet, feel that parapsychology can be harnessed to create conditions where one can alter or manipulate the minds of others. The major impetus behind the Soviet drive to harness the possible capabilities of telepathic communication, telekinetic and bionics are said to come from the Soviet military and the KGB." The DIA report even raised the possibility that Soviet psi agents were using mind control techniques to target "U.S. or allied personnel in nuclear missile silos." The leadership of the CIA decided at the beginning of the decade of the 1970s that it had to discover what the potential was for penetration of American secrets by Soviet parapsychological operatives. They were mainly concerned with the ability to read minds at a distance, and to influence the thoughts and behavior of others by psychically apply- ing mental pressure. The CIA began a research project called SCANATE. The project took on momentum when it was moved in 1972 to the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in Menlo Park, California, and merged with a program of independent parapsychological research being carried out under the leadership of Harold Puthoff, who had recently been contacted by the New York artist and psychic Ingo Swann. Swann, who had already engaged in ESP tests in New York in the laboratory of Professor Gertrude Schmeidler at City College, learned of Puthoff's interest in studying the boundary between the physics of living and non-living things, and suggested to Puthoff that he should look into parapsychology as a starting point. Swann visited Puthoff's lab in California, and there underwent a series of tests. Puthoff published the results, which came to the attention of the CIA, already engaged in its own parapsychological research. With CIA funding, they were able to bring in Puthoff's colleague, Russell Targ, to help run the program, and began to gather a small team of gifted psychics, most prominent among them Ingo Swann. The SRI program developed into two separate parts: a research branch and an active operations branch. History of Remote Viewing The term remote viewing was adopted for the primary activity of these psychic spooksthe extrasensory perception of scenes and events over extended distances. In the beginning, a person was sent to the remote location to be viewed to act as a kind of psychic beacon for the viewer. Swann discovered that a beacon was not really necessary when he did a remote viewing of the planet Jupiter just prior to the NASA Pioneer 10 flyby in December 1973, and discovered that Jupiter had its own faint ring system. The existence of this ring was later confirmed by NASA. Viewers began to work from nothing more than map coordinates of latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes, and seconds, and eventually even these coordinates were encoded to prevent possible second-guessing of data by the viewer based on geographical location. The researchers at SRI were able to determine something that J. B. Rhine had suspected decades earlier-that remote viewing did not depend on the electromagnetic spectrum. They did this by first enclosing their viewers in what is known as a Faraday cage, a metal mesh cage that stops the passage of most electromagnetic waves. This was built into the walls of the test chamber occupied by the viewers. The Faraday cage could not block out wavelengths that were extremely long or short, however. The short wavelengths, those in the microwave range, were eliminated as carriers of remote-viewing Chapter Eight: Remote Viewing and the CIA 127 information due to their limited effective distance of travel. To eliminate the ultra-long wavelengths in the ELF band of the spectrum, a remote viewer was taken deep beneath the ocean in a submarine. This effectively eliminated the electromagnetic spectrum as an explanation for remote viewing. In his book Reading the Enemy's Mind, Paul H. Smith wrote, "Apparently there was no known physical way to shield any target on earth from the prying 'eyes' of a remote viewer.""j3 It was later discovered that the Soviets in their own parapsychological research had done a similar submarine test on remote viewing. A concept developed within the program of something that was called the Matrix, a mysterious source of universal knowledge that could be somehow tapped into by remote viewers, who were able to draw upon specific portions of its data. "Getting information from the Matrix rather than from the target itself allows a remote viewer to access anything about a target site, whether it involves past, present, or (to some degree) future; inside; outside, intangible or tangible, all regardless of what the target's condition or circumstance may be at the instant of the actual remote viewing."164The Matrix is the same as what was known in Theosophy as the akashic records, which were held by Theosophists to contain both the past and future as well as the present. Over the years, the program was associated with various ancillary investigations and it came under the auspices of several governmental organizations. In 1976, it was expanded and Ed May was added to the administration to help with the increased workload. In 1977, Army Intelligence set up Operation GONDOLA WISH to investigate just how vulnerable U.S. military intelligence was to Soviet psychic probing. This operation evolved into Project GRILL FLAME, which was actively devoted to collecting data on Soviet activities. It operated out of Fort Meade, Maryland, and was made up mostly of enlisted personnel who had demonstrated parapsychological abilities. The research program being run by the SRI was integrated into GRILL FLAME in 1979, and numerous long-range psi scans were run out of Menlo Park. In 1983,the name of the program was changed to the INSCOM Center Land Project, or ICLP for short. By this time, Harold Puthoff, working with psychic Ingo Swann, had developed a training method that allowed anyone with a latent ability for remote viewing to return useful results. The accuracy was never perfect, but it was consistently above a 163. Smith, 94. 164. Ibid., 164. 128 . Soul Flight statistical average, and it was this positive return of data that kept the program running for so many years. What had been top secret suddenly became public knowledge when Washington Post reporter Jack Anderson broke the story in 1984. The U.S. Army found itself in an embarrassing position. When an evaluation of remote viewing by the National Research Council returned an unfavorable opinion, Army intelligence took the opportunity to distance itself from the program. Army funding ceased in 1985. The program was not allowed to die, but it was transferred to the Scientific and Technical Intelligence Directorate of the DIA under the redesignation SUN STREAK. In 1991, the program was moved to the Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC, and it was renamed, for the final time, as STAR GATE. Errors in management and poor morale within the program caused it to be transferred back to the CIA in 1995, with orders that it undergo a full evaluation. The two experts hired to do the evaluation were divided in their findings. The statistician Jessica Utts believed that a significant result above mere chance had been demonstrated, but the skeptical psychologist Ray Hyman, who was a prominent member of CSICOP, an organization devoted to debunking psychics, gave a negative review. The CIA closed the program down, with the conclusion-which has been hotly disputed-that in no case had the remote viewers provided information that had been used to guide intelligence operations. The remote viewing program under its various incarnations was never large. In twenty-one years of operation, it cost the American taxpayers twenty million dollars and employed around forty personnel, among them the twenty-three individuals engaged in actual remote viewing exercises. At its peak in the 1980s, it employed seven viewers, but in its last five years during its decline in management and morale only three viewers were being used-one of them a Tarot-card reader, a fact that aroused considerable disdain among its detractors. Three Techniques of Remote Viewing Over the years, three different techniques were used by operatives.The first, employed during the original SRI work at Menlo Park during the early 1970s, was Coordinate Remote Viewing, or CRV, in which the viewers were required to give a description of a location identified to them only by map coordinates, which were at first given to them openly, and then later encoded. This procedure is very similar to pendulum dowsing, which is often Chapter Eight: Remote Viewing and the CIA 129 done by psychics over a map to locate hidden or lost individuals or items. It is surprising that the CIA and Army Intelligence did not concentrate on dowsers when seeking operatives for their remote viewing experiments. Dowsers would have been naturally suited to the work, and as a group would undoubtedly have yielded the best results. The second technique was known as Extended Remote Viewing, or ERV. This technique was perfected by Puthoff and Swann around 1983 as a way of systematizing remote viewing and making it into a science that could be taught to soldiers and spies with reliable results. It involved the induction of a meditative or trance state through physical relaxation, and the visualization of a kind of astral staging zone the operative entered prior to undertaking travel on the astral level to the site of the mission. It was called extended remote viewing for the simple reason that it took more time than coordinate viewing. This is the technique that concerns us since it was a form of astral projection, even though it was not recognized as such by those using it. This method was favored during the heyday of the remote viewing program, and it yielded the most impressive results. The third technique introduced in 1988 was Written Remote Viewing, or WRV, in which information was derived from a spiritual agency through automatic writing. WRV was a form of mediumship or, to use the equivalent modern term, channeling. It was very much out of keeping with the desire of Rhine and other parapsychologists to distance their work from anything that hinted at spiritualism, but when the RV program was in its decline, those running it were willing to use anything they thought might provide the results they needed, including Tarot cards. Extended Remote Viewing The Extended Remote Viewing technique began with a period of stepped relaxation of the body and mind that was known in the STAR GATE program as the cool-down process. The viewer lay in a quiet, dimly-lit room on a comfortable recliner listening to classical music that played softly in the background. With the viewer was another person known as the monitor, who was there to ask questions and to write down the spoken responses of the viewer during the experiment. The object of the cool-down process was to enter the theta state. In the jargon of STAR GATE, the normal waking state of the human mind is the beta state. When the mind is relaxed, it enters the alpha state. Eventually this drops into the theta state. In a 1997 interview for Nexus Magazine, David Morehouse, the author of Psychic Warrior: Inside the CIA Stargate Program, explained: "In theta-wave state, it appears that the con- 130 Soul Flight duits become open. It's called the 'thought incubation state', a time when that 'limen' which separates the conscious mind from the unconscious mind becomes thinner."165 The limen is simply the threshold between the conscious state and the unconscious. Morehouse worked as a remote viewer for American military intelligence. He describes the initial process of remote viewing as falling into the fourth dimension. He was taught to construct a special place on the astral level where he went after entering the meditative or trance state conducive to remote viewing. "We were taught to go into a place we called 'sanctuary'. It was a place where you would go to gather your bearings, to acclimate yourself. Each individual viewer created his own sanctuary. For some viewers it was some sort of a garden, or a safe house, or a safe place."166Morehouse explained that he would project into his sanctuary an apparitional or phantom self, a double of his normal physical form that was transparent. Once safely within the sanctuary in his transparent astral double, Morehouse would begin what was termed "descent into the target area." His own sanctuary consisted of a cube in space surrounded on all six sides by stars. When he was ready to begin, a swirling vortex would form in the floor of this transparent box in space. Morehouse allowed himself to drop into this vortex, a stage in the process known as "jumping into the ether" and felt himself drawn headfirst down through this tunnel of light at an accelerating speed until his astral body struck a kind of membrane and punched through it to the target location. There can be no question that this was a form of astral projection. The penetration of the membrane at the end of the light vortex is equivalent to the snapping shut of the "pineal doorway'' described by the Theosophist Oliver Fox, and also calls to mind the Golden Dawn instruction that members should imagine that they clearly hear the astral portals of the tattwa cards close behind them after passing through. The construction of an astral place for ritual working is an accepted practice in modern Western magic, such as that practiced by the Golden Dawn. The sanctuary of remote viewers, which they built up in on the astral level to act as a kind of staging zone for their journeys, is very similar to the astral temple constructed by magicians for their ritual work on the astral level. It can take any form, since the substance of the astral world is malleable to the imagination. - 165. - Dowbenko, Nexus Magazine, vol. 4, no. 5 4 . 166. Ibid. Chapter Eight: Remote Viewing and the CIA 131 Morehouse, however, strongly denied that he was engaged in astral projection, possibly because he was under the mistaken belief that astral projection is harmful and dangerous. "When you tear the spiritual body from the physical, what does that mean? It's harmful. That means that you leave the physical body open, allowing inhabitation by whatever else that wants to step in because the spiritual body is now gone. We're not talking about levels Morehouse understood asof consciousness. We're talking about spiritual ~eparation."'~~ tral projection as a total separation of the spiritual body from the physical body. Spiritualists and Theosophists would strongly deny that the astral body can ever fully separate from the physical body, except in death, and therefore the physical body is never left empty and open to the entry of malicious spirits during projection of the astral double. The process described by Morehouse of creating a sanctuary, entering it in an astral body, and then sending that body to distant locations on the astral level, can only be characterized as astral projection. Morehouse even referred to the phenomenon of repercussion, so well-known to those who project the astral double, although he did not know the spiritualist term. "The physical body is never left in remote viewing. There is always contact, but the physical body begins to manifest the physiological signs of what the projected consciousness is experiencing in the target area."'68 This is clearly a reference to repercussion, the belief that an injury done to the projected astral body will show itself on the physical body. Morehouse, and presumably the STAR GATE team with whom he worked, preferred to use the term bilocation to describe the projection of his astral double. You will remember from earlier chapters that the term bilocation is used in the Catholic Church to describe the appearance of saints in two places at once. The STAR GATE team described it as folding space so that distant events came to the remote viewer, rather than the remote viewer traveling to distant locations. As I have pointed out, no form of astral travel actually involves travel since all projection is done into the astral world-and this is contained within the mind, which in its entirety embraces all points in the universe. The analogy used by the heads of the STAR GATE program to teach Morehouse and other remote viewers is that the unconscious mind is like the spine of a book, and the pages of that book are different planes of existence, all linked by the unconscious mind. 167. Dowbenko, Nexus Magazine, vol. 4, no. 5 4 . 168. Ibid. 132 Soul Flight Remote Viewing Experiences Remote viewing journeys were made not only to distant worlds such as Jupiter, but to the past and future as well. Morehouse viewed the Ark of the Covenant, which he described as a portal in four-dimensional space-time. It was discovered that the past could be examined but not changed. The future is more difficult to access because it is unfixed and variable, changing from moment to moment from the influence of present events as they unfold. Information gathered in both past and future, and even in other parts of the present, is never completely reliable. As the Theosophists pointed out, it is not the actual akashic records that are being accessed, but rather a distorted and incomplete astral reflection of the akashic records. For this reason, the information gathered during remote viewing, or during any other form of soul flight, must always remain unreliable. It may contain much useful data, but determining which parts are accurate and which are inaccurate is difficult or impossible, in the absence of some corroborating frame of reference. Remote viewers sometimes encountered spirits while on their astral excursions, as would be expected. Morehouse described benevolent beings similar to angels that radiated a sense of warmth and light, but did not involve themselves in human beings traveling on the astral plane. He wrote that they would recognize the presence of remote viewers, but would not interact with them or guide them.'69When Morehouse described these beings to his monitor, the monitor told him to approach them and engage them in conversation. The angelic beings merely smiled in a polite way and walked off. They regarded the remote viewer as harmless, but not worth talking to. Morehouse also had his encounters with hostile beings that he regarded as demons. They would approach smiling, looking in every way like normal human beings, but when he began to suspect their true nature they would immediately attack him. On one occasion, they grabbed him by his feet and dragged him away upside down. He was sure he was about to be murdered. His screams alerted his monitor, who talked him out of his trance state. Morehouse made the very astute comment that these beings know what frightens a human being, and they attempt to amplify fears. This is correct. He arrived at the mistaken conclusion that they do this in an attempt to possess the physical body. This is not true. These malicious spirits amplify fears because strong emotions of a lower order are to them not only a nourishment, but a kind of intoxicant equivalent to alcohol. They 169. Dowbenko, Nexus Magazine, vol. 4, no. 5-6. Chapter Eight: Remote Viewing and the CIA 133 induce intense fear as a way of gorging themselves on the emotion and getting drunk on human terror. The Verdict on Remote Viewing The American Institute for Research report commissioned by the CIA in 1995 that marked the end of the remote viewing program STAR GATE is as significant for what it did not find, as for its direct recommendations. It did not conclude that remote viewing was a fraud, or that no parapsychological effects exist. It did not even try to claim that the remote viewers had never achieved accurate results. Rather, it condemned remote viewing on the grounds that it was inaccurate and not dependable-that it may work, but that it does not work all the time or with enough consistency to base a military action upon. The conclusion of the Executive Summary of the report reads: The foregoing observations provide a compelling argument against continuation of the program within the intelligence community. Even though a statistically significant effect has been observed in the laboratory, it remains unclear whether the existence of a paranormal phenomenon, remote viewing, has been demonstrated. The laboratory studies do not provide evidence regarding the origins or nature of the phenomenon, assuming it exists, nor do they address the important methodological issue of interjudge reliability. Further, even if it could be demonstrated unequivocally that a paranormal phenomenon occurs under the conditions present in the laboratory paradigm, these conditions have limited applicability and utility for intelligence gathering operations. For example, the nature of the remote viewing targets are vastly dissimilar, as are the specific tasks required of the remote viewers. Most importantly, the information provided by remote viewing is vague and ambiguous, making it difficult, if not impossible, for the technique to yield information of sufficient quality and accuracy for actionable intelligence.Thus, we conclude that continued use of remote viewing in intelligence gathering operations is not warranted."' This conclusion is hardly a dismissal of remote viewing. A similar sort of criticism might have been made about the use of electricity in the eighteenth century. It is possible that two centuries from today, something similar to remote viewing will be employed with 170. Mumford, Rose, and Goslin, Evaluation of Remote Viewing. 134 Soul Flight regularity for conventional purposes in daily life, and that those using it will never even consider that its very existence was once doubted, or that it was once held to be too unreliable to use. CHAPTER UFO A ccounts of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) go back as far as human history. There have always been things seen in the sky that could not be identified, and such sightings continue unabated, although they are more numerous in some decades than in others. How they are interpreted depends on the culture in which they are perceived. For the ancient Greeks, UFOs were signs from the gods on Mount Olyrnpus, given to mankind to guide its actions. The biblical Hebrews were more apt to view them as expressions of divine wrath. To medieval Christians, they were seen as forerunners of the apocalypse. In the modern technological age of science-fiction films and rockets, UFOs are described in a more mechanical way as vessels from outer space believed to carry intelligent alien beings, visitors from other worlds. A specific event marks the beginning of the modern cycle of sightings of unidentified objects in the sky. On June 24, 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold was making the short flight from Chehalis to Yakima, Washington, a trip of about twenty-five miles, when he saw nine objects he described as "saucerlike things . . . flying like geese in a diagonal chainlike line.""I Arnold estimated their speed at around twelve hundred miles per hour when he related his story to his local newspaper. Within a single month, reports of flying saucers were being received by the authorities in forty states. Life did a story on the craze in its July 21,1947 issue. What was not so well-known to the public is that at the close of the Second World War the Air Force had been receiving similar reports from all over the world. Donald H. Menzel, a commander in the U. S. Navy who headed the Section of Mathematical and Physical Research for Naval Communications, wrote: "Immediately after the end of World War 11, sightings of mysterious flying objects began to multiply. More than one thousand such reports came from Sweden alone during 1946. I heard of these through classified channels but took no part in resolving them. Air Force Intelligence, however, fully alerted, had decided that the USSR, having taken over the German rocket program at Peenemiinde, was responsible for the ~ightings.'"~~ During the growing hysteria of the Cold War, these sightings worried the government enough to induce the Air Force to begin collecting information under a program titled Project Sign, but referred to in the popular media by the humorous name Project Saucer. On December 27,1949, after more than two years of investigation, the Air Force dismissed all but thirty-four of the sightings as hoaxes, hallucinations, or misinterpretations of familiar objects; the thirty-four sightings they could not explain, they dismissed as "psychological aberration^."'^^ But they could not get rid of UFOs so easily, reports of which continued to come in at the rate of one per day. Away from the microphones and cameras, the top brass were getting worried. They instituted another program, Project Grudge, to record and investigate these events. 171. Darrach and Ginna, "Have We Visitors?" 172. Sagan and Page, UFO's: A Scientific Debate, 130-1. 173. Darrach and Ginna. Chapter Nine: UFO Abductions 137 Investigations of J. Allen Hynek These sightings were examined under the expert control of the astronomer Dr. Josef Allen Hynek (1910-1986), who in the spring of 1948was teaching astronomy at Ohio State University in Columbus when he was approached by three military men from WrightPatterson Air Force Base in nearby Dayton. They asked him what he thought about flying saucers. He responded that he thought they were a lot of "junk and nonsense." Immediately, they offered him a job as an astronomical consultant. He joined Project Sign, and stayed with the team investigating UFOs through Project Grudge and the subsequent Project Bluebook, right up until the Air Force investigation was terminated in 1969. In 1973, he founded the Center for UFO Studies, or CUFOS, and remained active in UFO investigations until his death in 1986. Hynek began his work with the Air Force as a complete disbeliever-skeptic would be too neutral a term for his attitude. He dismissed cases as solved even though he could not explain them in any way. In a 1985 interview with writer Dennis Stacy, he admitted: "I stretched far to give something a natural explanation, sometimes when it may not have really had it." He mentioned a case from the Snake River Canyon, in which a man and his two sons reported sighting a metallic object in the air that caused the treetops to sway. Hynek explained away the sighting as some kind of atmospheric eddy, even though he admitted to Stacy that he had never seen such an eddy, and had no reason to believe that such eddies could even exist. This negative attitude of Hynek in the early years of the Air Force investigation endeared the astronomer to his military overseers. When, in the 1950%Hynek began to rethink his position, and was less willing to dismiss unexplainable reports as natural events, he fell out of favor with the brass; although he remained an advisor for Project Bluebook until the end, it was in name only. The Air Force was not interested in publicizing cases to which it could not attach a plausible, natural explanation. According to Hynek, intimately involved with the investigation for twenty-one years, it was never more than a whitewash. As he told Dennis Stacy, "They were under instruction from the Pentagon, following the Robertson Panel of 1953, that the whole subject had to be debunked, period, no question about it. That was the prevailing attitude." 138 Soul Flight Distant Sightings and Close Encounters Hynek composed the following definition of a UFO that has since become the standard definition: We can define the UFO simply as the reported perception of an object or light seen in the sky or upon the land the appearance, trajectory, and general dynamic and luminescent behavior of which do not suggest a logical, conventional explanation and which is not only mystifying to the original percipients but remains unidentified after close scrutiny of all available evidence by persons who are technically capable of making a common sense identification,if one is p0ssib1e.l~~ It is to Hynek that we owe the famous Hynek Classification System of UFO events, which was published in 1972 in his book The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. He divided reports of UFOs into two groups, each of which contains three subgroups. Distant Sightings 1. Nocturnal light-any unexplained form of light seen in the sky at night 2. Daylight disk-any unexplained object seen in the sky during the day 3. Radar-visual-any unexplained radar blip verified by visual sighting Close Encounters 1. First kind-a UFO seen at close range (within 150 yards) that does not interact in any way with the environment; may be seen in the air or on the ground 2. Second kind-a UFO at close range that interacts with the environment; quantifiable evidence of its presence remains after it has departed, such as scorch marks, impressions of landing gear, or elevated radiation levels 3. Third kind-a UFO at close range the occupants of which are observed; usually they are seen entering or leaving their craft, but sometimes the ship and the occupants are observed separately Following the death of Hynek in 1986, two additional Close Encounter categories were added by those who study UFO events. These are the categories that have the greatest 174. Hynek, 10. Chapter Nine: UFO Abductions 139 bearing on astral projection, involving as they do direct interaction between the occupants of UFOs and those who observe them. 4. Fourth kind-forced abduction of human beings against their wishes by UFO occupants; when held, the abductees are often examined or experimented upon 5. Fifth kind-direct contact between UFO occupants and human observers in which communication is established;the communication may be verbal or telepathic, and may convey information of a helpful or harmful type Abduction by Aliens There is a great degree of uniformity in accounts of alien abductions. The person taken is usually alone at the time, often lying awake or asleep in bed. A bright light or a glow may be seen, and strange noises heard. The abductee experiences physical paralysis and is levitated through the air, often in a prone position, by a beam of light or force, sometimes under the oversight of humanoid beings. The abductees feel themselves floating through the window or door and up into the air. The aliens sometimes pass through closed doors as though the doors did not exist. The abductee is taken to an enclosed chamber, usually rounded or domed, which is understood to be the interior of a spacecraft, placed on an examination table, and probed in various ways. Needles may be inserted into the abductee's head. Blood, sperm, or ova may be extracted, and tissue samples taken. Some abductees believe that small metallic or silicon objects are implanted in their bodies. While aboard the alien craft, the abductees are sometimes raped by their abductors. Some are later shown babies developing in stalls or tanks, and are told that the babies are their hybrid human-alien offspring. A woman may be permitted to hold an infant, perhaps for the purpose of creating a bond between the baby and its human mother. The abductee is returned to the place where'the abduction occurred. Often the memory is impaired, resulting in a gap in time during which nothing can be remembered. Only later do the memories of the abduction gradually surface. The recovery of the lost memories may be aided by hypnotherapy sessions. Some abductees observe small, cup-shaped depressions in their skin of which they have no prior memory. Others find strange scars at the base of their necks or elsewhere. Sometimes they develop burns on their skin similar to sunburns or radiation burns. 140 Soul Flight Types of Aliens Descriptions of the supposed aliens vary, but they tend to fall into about half a dozen well-recognized groups and a few odder varieties. 1. Grays: The dominant type are small of stature with large heads and slender limbs. They have large, black, ovoid eyes that wrap partway around their heads, and are usually described as gray in skin color. Their fingers are long and slender, their mouths small and lipless, and their noses almost nonexistent. They usually have four fingers on each hand, but sometimes have six fingers. The females rarely have sex with male abductees, and the male Grays almost never have sex with female abductees. They prefer to extract mechanically the human sperm and ova for their breeding experiments. 2. Hybrids: Found only on the spaceships of the Grays, this second type of alien is larger and almost of human stature, with smaller eyes and skin that looks similar to human skin. They are thought to be human-alien hybrids that often act as assistants for the full-blooded Grays during the examinations of abductees, and they frequently have sex with abducted humans. 3. Blonds, or Nordics: The third type are more humanlike, with well-developed bodies, blond hair, blue eyes, and golden tanned skin. They are Scandinavian in appearance. They move with catlike speed and grace, have great strength, and are somewhat taller than the average adult human. In every respect, they resemble the Nazi ideal of the genetic superman. They often rape abductees. 4. Insectoids: A less frequently encountered fourth type are of human size but insect-like in shape, and are described as giant grasshoppers or giant praying mantises. Their eyes sometimes glow with intense red light. They are said to occasionally have sex with human women, and their sexual members are described as hard and ice-cold. 5. Reptiles: There is a fifth kind of alien that resembles a humanoid reptile with green scales over its body and large snake-like eyes of a yellow-green color. This type is around eight feet tall, muscular and possessed of great strength, with claws in place of fingers. They are aggressive and violent, and have been connected in some reports with acts of torture. They sometimes rape abductees. Chapter Nine: UFO Abductions 141 6. Goblins:A sixth type consists of dwarfish, deformed little beings only a few feet tall, but broad and muscular, that like to deceive and play tricks. They are usually not connected with the abduction events. 7. Robots: This seventh type is made up of a wide variety of mechanical devices exhibiting a limited intelligence that are used by the Grays in their work. Some are mere mobile, articulated machines, whereas others resemble the human form. 8. Balls of Light: The eighth class of aliens takes the form of floating balls of in- tense radiance that are difficult to look at directly with the naked eye. They communicate by means of telepathy. 9. Apparitions: Sometimes aliens appear in a ninth class that is luminous and semi-transparent, and has the ability to walk through doors, walls, and furniture. It is speculated that these are artificial three-dimensional projections rather than living beings. We can make a few general observations about this alien menagerie. The Nordics were commonly seen early on in the flying saucer craze, but were soon supplanted by the Grays, who have dominated the UFO scene ever since. It was the Grays who were featured most prominently in the 1977 film Close Encounters ofthe Third Kind. The Nordics perhaps owe their inspiration to Theosophy and related modern mystery traditions that feature perfected, spiritualized super-humans who dwell on a higher plane of existence. The Grays were probably inspired by illustrations of aliens in science-fiction magazines and on science-fiction book covers. Science-fiction films and television series were almost certainly the inspiration for both the reptilians and the insectoids. A reptilian alien species known as the Gorn, having great strength, green scaly skin, and snakelike eyes, was featured prominently in the Star Trek episode "Arena" in 1967. Giant insects were a mainstay of Grade-B horror films in the 1950s and 1960s. The same can be said of intelligent robots. The hybrid species of alien arose from extrapolations of the widespread belief that the Grays are cross-breeding with humans. Naturally, Gray-human babies grow up to be Gray-human adults. The dwarfish Goblins, the floating Balls of Light, and the Apparitions owe their inspiration to the traditional wellsprings in the human unconscious that have given rise for centuries to tales of fairies, will-o'-the-wisps, and ghosts. The mischievous behavior of the Goblin race coupled with their small size cannot help but connect them with the 142 SoulFlight many creatures of legend that display similar traits-such as the pixies, goblins, dwarfs, brownies, but especially the fairies. In traditional lore, balls of light are often said to follow travelers in wilderness places, especially in marshes, bogs, and swamps. The natural occurrence of such things as foxfire and marsh lights probably gave rise to these tales, which have taken on their own mythic vitality. Ghosts of various kinds have been observed throughout human history, so it is not difficult to find the inspiration for the semi-transparent aliens that walk through walls. Aliens Are Astral Entities The key to making sense of this chaos of different alien types is to understand that none of them are physical in nature. They are all astral entities. Spirits in the astral world can take on whatever forms best serve their needs or adopted purposes. However, most frequently they adopt the forms that meet the expectations in the minds of those who perceive them, since doing so is the best way of establishing a relationship with those individuals. Most people today expect to see Grays when they encounter aliens, so naturally that is what most people see. By stating quite unequivocally that all aliens are astral in nature, and that none are physical, I do not intend to deprive of their significance the differences between the various types. Those who have encountered over the past six decades spirits they believe to be aliens have divided them into these distinct classes in response to fundamental needs deep in their unconscious minds. These differences did not arise by accident, but rather were driven by some psychic imperative, and for this reason the details of their appearances are worth studying and the differences between the types worth comparing. Although aliens are astral beings, and encounters with them always occur on the astral level, it is possible that they produce physical effects and artifacts, either directly or indirectly. Poltergeists are spirits, yet it is difficult to dismiss all physical poltergeist events as deceptions on the part of the adolescents around whom they usually revolve. There is observational evidence that spirits can generate physical events, and perhaps even produce physical objects and substances by drawing upon and channeling vital human energies. The mechanism by which this is accomplished remains a complete mystery. Chapter Nine: UFO Abductions - 143 Carl JungIssues a Warning One of the first observers of the UFO craze to suggest that it might not have a purely physical explanation was the psychologist Carl Jung (1875-1961). He pointed out in his 1959 book Flying Saucers: A Myth of Things Seen In the Sky that the shape of the average UFO was like a circle or disk, similar to the archetypal form of the mandala, a symbol of wholeness. Jung did not dismiss UFOs as imaginary, but he regarded them as a mystery that had a psychological component. He was not certain whether they were physically real or wholly psychological. In either case, he considered them the harbinger of a time of momentous and perhaps dangerous change in Western society that had been thrown up by the turmoil in the depths of the collective unconscious. These rumors, or the possible physical existence of such objects, seem to me so significant that I feel myself compelled, as once before when events were brewing of fateful consequence for Europe, to sound a note of warning. I know that, just as before, my voice is much too weak to reach the ear of the multitude. It is not presumption that drives me, but my conscience as a psychiatrist that bids me fulfill my duty and prepare those few who will hear me for coming events which are in accord with the end of an era.175 Jung observed that the UFO phenomenon had appeared just prior to the transition from the astrological Age of Pisces to the dawning Age of Aquarius. He regarded it as a synchronistic event, a mirroring in the outer material world of the tension within the human psyche that was generated by this transitional phase. Jung viewed the round shape of flying saucers as an unconscious compensation for the division of the Western world by the Iron Curtain, a futile attempt to restore wholeness by projecting symbols of wholeness into the heavens, the realm of the gods. The beginning of the last great astrological age, that of Pisces, coincided with the founding of the Christian religion. Each age spans approximately 2,120 years. Jung intimated, without ever explicitly stating it, that the coming of the Age of Aquarius, accompanied by these spectacular signs in the sky, might herald the ending of the present Christian era in the West, and he feared its final end would be marked by a violent nuclear holocaust. It is curious to note that Aleister Crowley believed much the same thing-that the present Christian age was ending, and that a new age of independent thought brought 175. Jung, Flying Saucers, 15. 144 Soul Flight about by the emancipation of the individual was dawning that would be initiated by a horrific period of bloodshed and chaos. Jung did not mention Crowley, but he must have had some passing familiarity with Crowley's Cult of Thelema. Prophecies of Aleister Crowley In Crowley's prophetic The Book of the Law, the warrior god Horus in his form Raheru-khuti (Horus of Behutet), which Crowley chose to render as Ra-Hoor-Khuit, spoke through Crowley's spirit control, his guardian angel Aiwass, these words: I am the warrior Lord of the Forties: the Eighties cower before me, & are abased I will bring you to victory &joy: I will be at your arms in battle & ye shall delight to slay. Success is your proof; courage is your armour; go on, go on, in my strength &ye shall turn not back for any. . . I am in a secret fourfold word the blasphemy against all gods of men. Curse them! Curse them! Curse them! With my Hawk's head I peck at the eyes of Jesus as he hangs upon the cross I flap my wings in the face of Mohammed & blind him With my claws I tear out the flesh of the Indian and the Buddhist, Mongol and Din.176 The reference to the "warrior Lord of the Forties" needs no explanation. Remember, this book was psychically received by Crowley in 1904, long before the Second World War and the detonation of the atomic bomb in the 1940s. Jung perhaps feared the ill-defined approaching threat of the 1980s, which, as it turned out, was not marked by the nuclear holocaust of a Third World War, but by the collapse of the Soviet empire and the destruction of the Iron Curtain. It might be speculated that it is in this way that Horus asserts that the 1980s "cower before me and are abased." 176. Crowley, Book of the Law, 7 3 4 . Chapter Nine: UFO Abductions 145 As can be seen from the quotation, Crowley predicted a violent antagonism toward not only Christianity but toward all the major world religions. How much of a part Adolf Hitler plays in this unfolding of the transition between the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius, and whether he is the magical child of Crowley predicted in the Book of the Law who would fulfill its prophecies, as suggested by Gerald Suster, is a matter of conjecture. My own view is that Crowley's magical child has yet to reveal himself, and that Hitler played only a part in the prophecies of The Book of the Law, not the central role. Link Between Aliens, Fairies, and Witches The astral nature of most, if not all, of the events of the UFO abductions, and their striking similarities with details of fairy abductions described centuries ago, was examined by the famous French UFO investigator Dr. JacquesVallCe, in his hugely influential 1969 book Passport to Magonia. VallCe is best known as the living model for the character of the French UFO expert in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, played in the movie by Fran~oisTruffaut. Vallke began studying UFOs as a firm believer that they were alien spacecraft, but the lack of reliable material evidence caused his views to undergo a sea change in the late 1960s. In Passport to Magonia, he wrote: "When the underlying archetypes are extracted, the saucer myth is seen to coincide to a remarkable degree with the fairy-faith of Celtic countries, religious miracles, and the widespread belief among all peoples concerning entities whose physical and psychological descriptions place them in the same category as the present-day u f ~ n a u t s . " ' ~ ~ It is not difficult to draw these parallels. I will list some of the more obvious similarities between fairy abductions and alien abductions that have occurred to me in the course of my studies. It is by no means an exhaustive list, but it does suggest that we are looking at one phenomenon under two classifications-that fairy abductions and alien abductions are, at root, the same thing. However, we should no more jump to the conclusion that fairies are responsible than we should assume that it is aliens from outer space. Both classes of beings are spirits, existing on the astral level and accessible to human consciousness only when the state of mind is elevated from the physical level to the astral level. 1. Those abducted by fairies are taken into conical hills. The shape of flying sau- cers is often said to be domed or like a truncated cone. 177. Clark, "Vall6e Discusses,"61 Soul Flight 146 2. The fairies take their abductees into rounded, windowless, womblike caverns. Aliens take their abductees into rounded, windowless, womblike metal chambers. 3. Those taken by fairies often have gaps in their memory during which they were unaware of the passage of time. Those taken by aliens experience "lost time" and gaps in memory. 4. Fairy abductees often have sex with fairies. Alien abductees often have sex with aliens. 5. Fairies substitute changelings for human babies-whom they resemble in every outward detail. Aliens breed hybrid babies half alien and half human. 6 . Fairies place their changelings into the cribs of babies they have stolen so that mothers will nurse them, believing them to be their own. Aliens attempt to get female abductees to maternally bond with hybrid infants, telling the women that the babies are theirs. 7. Those taken by fairies sometimes suffer a pattern of marks known as "fairy bruising." Those taken by aliens suffer scars or cup-shaped depressions in their flesh. 8. Fairies give humans a potion or enchanted food to sap their will. Aliens sometimes give abductees a thick liquid to drink. 9. Fairies sometimes appear in glowing spheres of light. Aliens sometimes appear in glowing spheres of light. 10. Fairies sometimes leave circular marks on the ground where they have danced, called fairy rings. Alien spaceships that have landed sometimes leave circular burn marks or impressions in the ground. 11. Fairies sometimes vanish into thin air. Aliens sometimes vanish into thin air. 12. Fairies have been observed to pass directly into solid rock. Aliens have been seen walking through doors. There are also obvious similarities between the experiences of those who believe themselves abducted by aliens and the experiences described by women accused of witchcraft during the Renaissance. Alien abductees are often marked; witches were marked by the Devil as a sign of their pact with him. Aliens try to get women abducted to care for hybrid infants; Chapter Nine: UFO Abductions 147 witches nurse the familiars that are bound to them at a mark on their bodies known as the witch's teat. Aliens carry abducted humans through the air; the Devil, or the witch's imps, carry the witch through the air. Aliens rape abducted women; the Devil or his demons rape witches. Sometimes the sex is consensual between women and aliens; sometimes sex is consensual between witches and demons. Reality of UFO Events Jacques Vallke expressed the difficulty in clearly making a determination whether or not UFO events are "real" in a physical sense in a 1978 Fate Magazine interview he did with Jerome Clark: Clark:Can we infer from the existence of physical evidence, then, that there is a physical cause? Vallie: If the UFO phenomenon had no physical cause at all, there would be no way for us to perceive it because human beings are physical entities. So it has to make an impression on our senses somehow. For that to take place, it has to be physical at some time. Clark: So in other words there is such a thing as a solid, three-dimensional flying saucer. Vallee:No, I didn't say that. That may or may not be true. I don't think there is such a thing as the flying saucer phenomenon. I think it has three components and we have to deal with them in different ways. First, there is a physical object. That may be a flying saucer or it may be a projection or it may be something entirely different. All we know about it is that it represents a tremendous quantity of electromagnetic energy in a small volume. I say that based upon the evidence gathered from traces, from electromagnetic and radar detection and from perturbations of the electromagnetic fields such as Dr. Claude Poher, the French space scientist, has recorded. Second, there's the phenomenon the witnesses perceive. What they tell us is that they've seen a flying saucer. Now they may have seen that or they may have seen an image of a flying saucer or they may have hallucinated it under the influence of microwave radiation, or any of a number of things may have happened. The fact is that the witnesses were exposed to an event and as a result they experienced a highly complex alteration of perception which caused them to describe the object or objects that figure in their testimony. Beyond there-the physical phenomenon and the perception phenomenonwe have the third component, the social phenomenon. That's what happens when the reports are submitted to society and enter the cultural arena. That's the part which I find most interesting. Clark: Before we go into that, let's clarify your views on the nature of the physical aspect. When I asked you if there was such a thing as a solid, three-dimensional flying saucer, I was thinking in these terms: Let's suppose that somebody says he has seen a UFO, the bottom part of which was flat and circular. He says he saw the object come down, settle on the soil and then fly off again, leaving a flat circular impression. Doesn't that clearly suggest the presence-at least for the duration of the sighting-of a solid object whose physical structure was more or less as the witness perceived it? VallPe: Not necessarily. We have evidence that the phenomenon has the ability to create a distortion of the sense of reality or to substitute artificial sensations for the real ones. Look at some of the more bizarre close encounter cases-for example the incident from South America in which one man believed he had been abducted by a UFO while his companion thought he had boarded a bus which had suddenly appeared on the road behind them. It is conceivable that there is one phenomenon which is visual and another which creates the physical traces. What I'm saying is that a strange kind of deception may be involved. Clark: In other words the physical traces are placed there as ostensible confirmation of what the senses perceived? Vallke:Yes. These remarks show that Vallke understood the impossibility of explaining the UFO experience in purely physical terms. Unfortunately, he had not quite succeeded in freeing his mind from the conventional view of reality that makes a clear understanding of interactions with spiritual beings on the astral level possible. He made the assertion that "if the UFO phenomenon had no physical cause at all, there would be no way for us to perceive it because human beings are physical entities. So it has to make an impression 178. Clark. 62-3. Chapter Nine: UFO Abductions 149 on our senses somehow. For that to take place, it has to be physical at some time." This might seem self-evident to someone bound to a conventional view of reality, but it is simply untrue. Sensory Metaphors Information concerning spiritual beings does not reach us through our physical senses at all. It only appears to reach us through our senses. It is generated within the mind in the form of what I have termed sensory metaphors and then is apparently projected outward into what we like to think of as our external environment. I say "apparently projected" because the external environment exists within the mind, where the sensory metaphor was generated in the first place, so no projection is required. A dream is a kind of sensory metaphor. Spirits can talk to us in our dreams, and we hear them. We seem to hear them with our ears, but we hear only a sensory metaphor of their voices. It might perhaps be argued that in order to excite the mind, in the process of generating a sensory metaphor to simulate its material presence, a spiritual being would need to affect the physical brain, and for this reason would itself need to be physical. But if that were the case, then the soul must be physical, since it affects the brain. Yet few theologians, and fewer scientists, would be willing to grant the existence of a physical soul. The important point to grasp is that information about spiritual beings does not come from outside the avenues of the five physical senses. Rather, it is generated within the mind, and it is given the illusory form of sense impressions through the use of sensory metaphors, so that the information appears to be obtained by the external senses. This illusion can be absolutely perfect. If you think about the implications of this, you will soon see how significant they are. It is often impossible to tell the difference between a sensory metaphor and a sense impression. Let me give you an example. Suppose a spirit presents itself as a Gray alien. The spirit exists only on the astral level of the mind as it has no physical existence whatsoever. However, it can only interact with the mind of the person with whom it communicates by casting itself into the form of a sensory metaphor. It puts on a body and apparently projects that body into the outer environment, making it completely solid and real to the person who experiences the sensory metaphor of its existence. It is not really in the physical world at all; it has merely overlaid an astral form of itself that exists in the astral world on top of the physical world. Yet, to the person who perceives it, it has texture, shape, and warmth. It can be seen, touched, smelled, spoken to, heard, and when it touches or grabs the arm of that person, the touch is palpable. That individual can quite easily have a full sexual encounter with the spirit, even though it does not in any way exist in the physical world. Now we will extend the example, and presume that the spirit has the power to affect not only the sense awareness of the primary individual with whom it interacts, but also with anyone else who happens to be near that individual or watching that individual. Suddenly, the person no longer appears to be talking to thin air, but is seen to be speaking with a Gray alien. If the wondering friends approach the alien, they will be able to poke its gray skin with their fingers, assuming that the spirit is that tolerant of human stupidity. They will hear its words at the same time that the primary human contact hears them. We will carry the example one step further. Suppose that one of the friends has a digital camera, and snaps a photograph of the alien. The spirit is able to create a sensory metaphor of the image on the display screen of the camera in the minds of all those who watched the picture being taken so that when the group gathers around the display of the camera, they seem to see the image of the Gray alien even though in a strictly physical sense no image was impressed upon the sensor of the camera. Yet how are these observers to determine that the image they look at is different from the image they see?Publish it in a national magazine? Yes, that might work. But how do we know how extensive the influence of a sensory metaphor is, or how greatly it can be extended?We do not know. Eventually, it might be presumed, the power of the sensory metaphor would reach its limit, and someone would notice that no alien was ever present in the photograph. But who can say when? To complicate matters, there is the factor of mind control. Spirits can possess human beings quite easily, and use their bodies to manufacture physical evidence that supports their physical presence. For example, someone who believed that they saw an alien spacecraft land and then take off again, while possessed by a spirit representing itself as a Gray, might create a burned ring, or lay down a ring of sand, to mark where the spaceship supposedly landed. After the period of possession ceased, that person would have no memory of having created the ring, and so would swear in a court of law that it had been left by the alien spaceship. A Classic Alien Abduction The clearest evidence that alien abductions are astral projections comes from an account of the experiences of Albert K. Bender. In his 1963 book Flying Saucers and the Three Chapter Nine: UFO Abductions 151 Men, he described his abduction, which took place on March 15,1953,in terms that leave little doubt about its nature. As part of a general experiment conducted by the members of the amateur group known as the International Flying Saucer Bureau, to which Bender belonged, he lay down in his bed at six in the evening in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and repeatedly attempted to project from his mind a preset message of contact to any aliens who might be able to pick it up telepathically.Around the world, other members of the group were doing the same as part of their participation in what the group called World Contact Day. After the third mental projection of the contact message, Bender felt his body suddenly grow icy cold. His head began to ache, as if with a severe headache, and he smelled an odor that resembled burning sulfur. He lapsed into a semiconscious state and the room around him seemed to fade. He got the impression of small blue lights swimming through his brain and blinking on and off. His temples continued to throb, but in addition his forehead directly over his eyes felt puffed up. The sensation of coldness continued. He opened his eyes, and was amazed to find himself floating in the air about three feet above his body. When he looked down, he saw his physical body still lying in the bed. A voice spoke to Bender in his mind, telling him he had been chosen for a special mission. He responded telepathically, and seemed to drop back down onto the bed. The room was filled with what he describes as a yellow mist. He saw a shadow figure standing in the corner of the room, but when he made a motion toward it, the figure faded to nothingness. Gradually the mist disappeared, and Bender discovered that his radio had been turned on and was tuned to a part of the band where there was only background static. This whole experience occupied only five minutes. When he sat up, he found that he felt sick to his stomach. His head still ached and his forehead continued to feel puffy. This abduction could also be described as a typical experience of astral projection. The only thing missing is the silver cord. The puffy feeling above Bender's eyebrows may have a relationship to what Oliver Fox termed his pineal doorway, which he believed to be located between his eyebrows at what is known in Kundalini yoga as the ajna chakra, the chakra of the body most associated with psychic abilities. The coldness of the body can be felt in communications with spiritual beings. The yellow mist is, again, a classic detail. Those who project the astral double often report that the air appears to be alive with tiny dust motes that dance and shimmer as though caught in a beam of sunlight. I have seen this myself during astral projection. It is very distinct. The air itself seems composed of minute discrete particles, giving it a kind of sandy texture to the visual perception. It is sometimes possible to observe a similar effect in a room at advanced twilight before the lights have been turned on, when the eyes are fully adapted to the dimness, except that during astral projection the air seems to glow golden. As for the radio being turned on, the most obvious explanation is that Bender turned it on himself during his period of projection, in the same way a person sleepwalking will perform various actions with no knowledge, after waking, of having done them. The radio set to static served as a kind of metaphor signifying the presence of the aliens to Bender, as did the smell of sulfur. It is common for those having visions of spiritual beings to smell scents. When the spirits are perceived to be saints and angels, the smells are usually pleasant flower or incense scents. But when they are perceived as demons, the smell of sulfur is often reported. This smell may have been a cue from Bender's unconscious mind that he should not trust the aliens that subsequently appeared to him. Returning from a two-week vacation, Bender discovered that his radio had been left on the whole while, tuned to an empty part of the band, and that the smell of burning sulfur lingered in his room. While preparing for bed, he felt a prickling at the back of his neck and his eyes began to water. Blue lights swirled around his room. He became dizzy, his head started to ache, and his forehead above his eyes felt puffy. As he stumbled over to the bed and threw himself across it, his body grew very cold. He reported that the room seemed to grow dark, yet he was still able to see. Three men dressed in black appeared, floating about a foot above the surface of the floor. Bender felt his body become lighter, and his fear departed. The eyes of the three suddenly lit up as they communicated with him telepathically. Vanishing Metal Talisman Informing Bender that he had been chosen to receive their revelations, they gave him a piece of metal with which he could summon them if he wished to communicate with them. Bender put the piece of metal-which he described as hard, light, and shininginto his "locked box" for the night; it was then around two in the morning. When he awoke the next morning, he went to the box to look at the metal object, only to discover that it had somehow vanished out of the locked box. Two days later, he again looked in the box, and there was the piece of metal in the same place that he had put it. He decided to use it to contact the three aliens according to their instructions, which consisted of holding the metal in his hand, turning on his radio to the empty part of the dial, and repeating several times the magic word (I cannot resist calling it that) "Kazik." Chapter Nine: UFO Abductions 153 His body immediately became cold and his head began to ache. He lay on his bed, and almost at once found himself leaving his body. Looking back, he saw his physical body still lying on the bed. He felt as if he floated on a cloud, but the place above his eyes continued to hurt. After a sudden jolt, the darkness cleared away and he found himself surrounded by a golden glow. He saw that he was seated in a circular room with metal walls and a glass dome. Outside the dome was a night sky filled with stars. Bender immediately assumed that he was inside a flying saucer. An alien activated a kind of circular picture tube, in which Bender saw scenes that were in full color and appeared three-dimensional. The alien proceeded to give Bender a kind of travel documentary of its home world and the various doings of the alien race that I will not relate, since it has no relevance to the subject of astral projection. However, the circular viewing tube is interesting because it parallels very closely the experience of Oliver Fox as a child, when the fairy came to him and showed him a circular projection of an animated farmhouse scene, in full color, which Fox from his Edwardian-era perspective could only compare to a magic lantern slide projection. The appearance, disappearance, and subsequent reappearance of the piece of metal that acted as a kind of touchstone for Bender to establish contact with the aliens strongly suggests that it was an astral rather than a physical object. This is not absolutely certain, since it lies within the power of spirits to veil the visual perception of human beings, causing them to fail to see things that are right in front of them. Lower spirits frequently do this as a kind of joke, to make people waste time searching for personal items that are in plain sight the whole time. You may have experienced this trickery in your own life, if you have ever looked for your eyeglasses, or your pen, or your car keys, have been unable to find them, and subsequently have seen them sitting on the table or counter in open view where they would have been impossible to miss. It is possible that the piece of metal was an object Bender picked up away from his house while in an entranced state of mind. Usually when metal that is supposed to have come from an alien implant or a space vessel is subjected to spectrum analysis, it is found to be composed of a common alloy. Unless spirits have the ability to cause apports and thus make objects pop into existence from empty space, either the metal object never existed, or it was acquired in the usual way from some terrestrial source by Bender. 154 Soul Flight The Men in Black The three aliens are a version of the Men in Black who figure so frequently in the lore of UFO sightings. They usually appear shortly after an event to question the one who has seen the UFO, and to warn that person not to talk about the sighting. They wear black suits, black ties, black shoes and socks, but their shirts are usually said to be white. Bender's description differs in this regard. "All the other apparel such as ties, shirts, stockings and shoes was also black. They wore hats, of Homburg style, also black. Their faces were unpleasant to look at. Their eyes shone like tiny flashlight bulbs and the teeth were pearly white, set in a very dark complexion. I could not see their hands; they were covered by black gloves."179 It is possible that these astral spirits are part of the mind's own coping and survival mechanism, and are activated when an individual is in danger of experiencing sights and concepts during astral projection that might, in one way or another, prove dangerous to either his health or his sanity. This survival mechanism probably takes many forms. For Oliver Fox, it was the symbol of the Egyptian ankh-the symbol of life-that appeared in front of his inner vision and blocked his path whenever he tried to use his pineal-doonuay mode of astral projection. It also took the form for Fox of his wife's voice warning him that he was in danger. I suspect that hearing this kind of warning voice is not uncommon for those who engage in serious experiments in astral projection. There seems to exist within the depths of the mind either an automatic mechanism or an intelligent agent of some kind capable of preventing astral projection when there is the unconscious perception that some form of danger is being approached. It is difficult to know whether the danger warned against in these instances is real or an illusion. It appears similar to the blocks, which arise during psychoanalysis, that prevent a patient from facing up to certain key truths about his own mental state. In my opinion, the Men in Black are an astral manifestation of this coping mechanism. Whether they are protecting the consciousness of the astral traveler, or secrets held by entities dwelling in the astral world, is another question. 179. Bender, Flying Saucers and the Three Men. Uses of Ritual S hamans always use a ritual structure as a support for their soul flights. As we have seen, for the shamans of Siberia it often involved ascending the trunk of the world tree that is the living axis of the universe in a series of levels, represented physically by notches cut into the trunk of whatever tree or pole was used to embody the World Tree. A shaman may also mimic the movements and sounds of the totemic beast that carries his astral body away from his physical body, as a way of becoming one with the beast. In these and other ways, he pantomimes the initialization of soul flight, but the actual journey is done while he lies in a state of trance, motionless and insensible. Drumming, chanting, dancing, and the piping of flutes or whistling sounds made with the lips may also be a part of the separation ritual. Once the soul flight begins, the ritual has served its primary purpose. It is a way of opening the astral gateway leading either upward to the heavens inhabited by gods and spirits, or down into the maw of the underworld where primitive peoples believed monsters, demons, and the souls of the dead to dwell. The shaman's use of ritualistic climbing is significant as a technique for separating the astral body. Both Sylvan Muldoon and Oliver Fox recommended that those attempting to project their astral bodies should imagine that they were climbing or ascending. AIeister Crowley advised that those seeking adepthood would do well to practice the Golden Dawn technique of Rising on the Planes once a day. Rituals involving acts of ascent are helpful in the initial stages of soul flight. The ascent may be physically represented by climbing a slope, stairs, or ladder in order to reach an elevated chamber or platform from which the actual projection occurs, but it should always be accompanied by the visualization of an ascent. A repeated ritual builds habitual responses in the mind that spill over to the body so that, when done regularly, the ritual is capable of causing physiological changes, such as variations in heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and brain-wave activity. It is the change in brain function that most concerns us. Through repetition, a conditioned response can be created that is specific to the ritual, and occurs only within the ritual context. We see conditioned responses every day. The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov received the Nobel Prize in 1904 in part for demonstrating that a dog could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell when the sound was associated in the mind of the dog with food. Because the response conditioned by a ritual does not occur at any other time except during the conduct of the ritual, the response can be isolated and separated from daily life. This is useful in order to generate a response that we would not wish to cause while doing such mundane tasks as driving a car, having dinner with friends, or working at the office. Ritual serves the double function of helping to induce the separation of the subtle body at a desired time and place, while preventing the accidental separation from occurring when it is not desired. When a change in the mind-body gestalt is keyed specificallyto a certain ritual, that change will not occur in the absence of the ritual trigger. Those with an abundance of psychic ability who practice the technique of astral projection at different times, in various places and in several ways, without enclosing it in any ritual pattern, may find that they are experiencing spontaneous soul flight when they do not wish it to occur, and do not seek to cause it. This lack of control can be frightening. The practice of astral projection only within a ritual context ensures that it remains controlled. Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 159 The ritual circle is a useful visual metaphor for ritual itself. The circle encloses a space, dividing the inside from the outside. The inside is exalted, elevated, and heightened in various ways for the purpose of accomplishing the ritual desire, whereas the outside is ordinary and unchanged. Esoteric potency or mana can be accumulated and stored within the ritual circle in the same way that energy is concentrated within a battery-because the boundary of the circle prevents it from flowing away. At the same time, the barrier of the circle excludes any discordant emotions, thoughts, or spiritual entities that might interfere with the realization of the ritual purpose. In a real sense, the entire structure of the ritual is an enclosing circle that divides the mundane universe from the heightened, special place conducive to the purpose for which the ritual is worked. Use of Ritual Often Misunderstood Spiritualists had little understanding of the use of ritual, either for transformation or for personal security. They conducted their astral experiments and dances in a casual way, disdaining what they conceived to be the outmoded trappings of the ceremonial occultism of the Middle Ages. They did not bother with a circle of protection, or with the use of symbols to act as gateways, or with names of power designed to command various types of spiritual beings, such as were used by members of the Golden Dawn. This indifference is encountered quite often in modern times. Channelers in general express contempt for ritual because they believe that they do not need it in order to establish communication with the spirits that speak through their voices. True enough. But they seldom consider that they may require ritual to prevent those spirits from speaking, or acting, through them. Similarly, the remote viewers employed by the CIA and American military intelligence during the various incarnations of Project STAR GATE had, in general, a contempt for ritual, even though they employed a ritual of their own spontaneous design for their extended remote viewing sessions. They were so concerned about being scientific in their approach to remote viewing that they refused to admit or even to recognize that they were engaged in astral projection because of the negative connotation the term holds in the scientific community. Considering that one of them was a Tarot-card reader, this nicety of terminology appears a bit silly. Because they did not use a formal ritual structure, they were poorly protected when confronted by astral entities with malicious intentions. Their response was to retreat as rapidly as possible. The formation of simple rituals is difficult to avoid when repeating the same actions on a regular basis. They define themselves spontaneously. We all have little rituals that 160 Soul Flight help us get through our daily tasks. The morning grooming ritual. The first cigarette of the day ritual. The meet a friend in the street ritual. Each of these and a hundred others are like intricate little dances we do to facilitate the particular circumstances from which they arise. We do not consciously compose them. They shape themselves as behaviors that have served us well in the past, and which we rely on to serve us in the future. We have these little daily rituals stored away in our heads, awaiting only a particular set of triggers to start them running. Life would be much more difficult without them. There is a quantum difference between a ritual that has created itself in an unconscious way, as a necessary and unavoidable response of the mind to repeated actions, and a ritual that has been deliberately and consciously structured for specific purposes, to both heighten desired responses in the mind and body and to exclude discordant influences that might hinder those responses. The one is a Model T Ford, and the other a Ferrari Testarossa. Since the natural formation of a ritual pattern of some kind is inevitable, it only makes sense to impose a pattern calculated to yield the best results. Constructing Your Own Ritual In constructing a ritual for soul flight, a factor that must always be considered is that the unconscious mind knows better than the conscious mind which symbolic forms are potent and which are weak. The unconscious cannot be relied upon to create complete effective rituals, but it knows what it likes. Sometimes a ritual that seems as though it should be effective in the abstract turns out to be lifeless in daily practice. When this happens, there is only one thing to do-the awareness must be opened to the unconscious mind so that it can express its needs, in the form of symbols, words, sounds, actions, gestures, and postures. A dead ritual can be made to live if changes in its pattern suggested by the unconscious are accepted and incorporated into it. There is nothing more pointless than the attempt to impose by brute force a ritual that the unconscious rejects. You will know your composed ritual for astral projection has been rejected if, after you have performed it for two or three weeks on a regular basis, it remains lifeless. Then there are only two recourses-you must discard it entirely and compose a new ritual, or you must open your mind and allow changes in the ritual to suggest themselves during the course of its daily enactment. The second course is better because, if you permit it, your unconscious will rewrite your ritual for you and make it effective. If you choose to impose a second ritual, there is no guarantee that it will contain any greater measure of vitality than the first, and you may end up having to discard it also. Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 161 Your own ritual is always better than a ritual composed by somebody else because your own ritual arises from your preconceptions and requirements. I can suggest a ritual structure to you that is effective in its general principles, but I cannot ensure that it is perfectly adapted to your personal needs. It may be dead to you when you practice it and, if so, you will need to allow your unconscious mind to modify it until it comes alive for you. Ritual is the most intimate of activities. The reactions of each individual to each ritual are unique, and the factors that cause those responses are so complex that it is utterly impossible to predict them. The most effective ritual structure for each person must be arrived at through the use of intuition coupled with trial and error. The process is made easier if a sound basic ritual structure is adopted in the beginning. Such a structure provides a stable symbolic foundation upon which to build your unique personal ritual. You can think of the basic ritual described below as a blueprint for a house. If designed well by the architect, the blueprint provides all the basic needs in a balanced way, but everyone who lives in a house built from a general blueprint will personalize such a house and make it unique. Bear in mind that ritual is more than the mere repetition of a set of actions. This is a large part of its effectiveness, but some actions are inherently more meaningful than others. Some symbols are more potent than other symbols, either on a universal level as archetypes or on a personal level for the individual. The symbolic elements chosen to compose a ritual are not arbitrary, but arise from a sense of necessity that lies beneath the level of words. It may be impossible to express in an articulate way the reason one symbol is more effective than another symbol, or why one ritual action is powerful and another weak, but you will sense the difference when you experiment with the two. Components of the General Ritual of Projection Before presenting a general ritual of soul flight, to serve as a template upon which to build your own personal ritual, it will be useful to examine its component parts in the abstract. Many other ritual structures might be devised, but the form presented here contains the basic requirements needed for success and security. The parts of the ritual have been divided into two groups. The column on the left pertains to the house of ritual, which is erected around what is perceived as the boundary of the body. The column on the right pertains to the inhabitant of that house, and what is done with the body and mind during the enactment of the ritual. 162 Soul Flight 1. Chamber 6. Posture 2. Door 7. Gesture 3. Key 8. Sound 4. Corridor 9. 5. Elevator Imagery 10. Will Chamber The ritual is conducted on the astral level, its parts created and sustained in the imagination. These astral components are reinforced by a physical space, material objects, and movements of the body. What is done on the physical level during ritual is reflected on the astral level, but the astral environment often differs in its details from the physical environment. For example, the physical space in which the ritual is enacted will seldom look the same as the astral space. Because the astral world can be shaped and transformed by the imagination and the will, the astral space can be made larger, richer, and more beautiful than the physical space, or it can be molded in specific ways to serve the purposes of the ritual. You will remember that the remote viewers of the CIA adopted the practice of going to their "safe place" on the astral level in their extended experiments, as a staging zone from which to depart on their assignments. This "safe place" was nothing other than a ritual space created on the astral level. The formation of a ritual chamber or temple on the astral level that corresponds with the physical ritual space is universal in modern Western ceremonial magic. Since the CIA operatives had no clear idea of what they were doingthey probably believed they were the first to have invented the technique-their physical ritual space gave poor support to their astral space. Ideally, the physical chamber or place in which the ritual is enacted should have some correspondence with the astral chamber or place that is created and sustained in the imagination. This correspondence is usually created by moving the body during the ritual in the same way the projection of the body in the astral chamber is moved so that, as the magician physically goes through the motions of the ritual, his astral form does substantially the same things on the astral level in the visualized place of working. For example, when a shaman of Siberia climbed the trunk of the tree or pole erected in the ritual enclosure, he simultaneously climbed up the astral levels of the World Tree. A modern magician will walk three times around the altar in his ritual temple in order to create an invis- Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 163 ible vortex of force, while at the same time holding clearly in his imagination that he is walking around a corresponding altar in his astral temple, invoking a visible and tangible vortex on that higher level. Ritual is thus enacted simultaneouslyon the physical level and on the astral level-that is, with the physical body in the material chamber and with the astral body in the astral chamber. Unless the mind is divided in this way between physical and astral perception, the ritual will have little efficacy. The point of consciousness cannot occupy both levels simultaneously, but it can jump back and forth between then so that it seems to occupy both levels. The ritual space is here referred to as a chamber, but on the astral level it may be a place out of doors, or even a place that bears no correspondence with any earthly environment. As a practical matter, it is useful to make the ritual place of working on the astral level somewhat similar to the physical place of working. Doing so allows it to be sustained more easily in the imagination. Most who experiment with soul flight will do so in a room of their house or apartment, so a room is a good choice for an astral place. Whenever we imagine an environment in our mind, we create it on the astral level. This happens automatically. The mind of the average person is too vacillating and weak to create an astral environment that has any significant degree of duration. Astral places are formed and discarded by the restless thoughts of every man, woman, and child from moment to moment. No doubt even the higher animals generate astral landscapes of a simple type. However, when a magician trained in the techniques of Western magic creates an astral temple, he is able through the exercise of concentration to visualize it with greater than average clarity and in uncommon detail. Each time a magician works the ritual, he reinforces the astral place of working, so that it is sustained in the back of his mind between ritual operations. It becomes as real a place as any environment can be in the ever-shifting astral world. The astral chamber is equivalent to the magic circle, in the sense that its four walls erect a boundary that separates the place of working from the greater astral world. The walls both contain the mental energies raised during the ritual, and prevent the entry of discordant forces that might hinder the ritual or even render it impossible. Even if the walls are not seamless in the physical room in which the ritual is enacted, they can be made so on the astral level because the astral chamber does not need to correspond with the physical chamber in all its details. Simply by not visualizing anything that lies on the other side of the walls, floor, or ceiling of the windowless astral chamber, those walls can be rendered completely impervious. 164 Soul Flight Door The only opening in the astral chamber described in the following ritual is a single closed door. Just as the walls of the chamber correspond in a symbolic way with the barrier of the magic circle, so the door corresponds with the point at the center of the circle through which entry or exit of the circle is enabled. A magic circle can have only one opening: the point at its center. By expanding the point, it becomes an aperture into or out of the circle. It is necessary to create a doorway in the astral chamber to allow travel in the projected astral body to other places in the astral world. On the astral level, it is possible to shift the central aperture of the circle to its circumference. This change is sometimes reflected in the physical temple of working magicians by moving the altar-which ideally resides in the center of the chamber-to one of the four walls of the room. It is usually done for convenience, to obtain a larger open floor area. The altar symbolizes the center of the magic circle, even when it is placed at its edge. The door visualized in the astral chamber does not need to have a corresponding door in the actual room in which the ritual is conducted because it represents not the physical door of the room, but rather the expanded central point of the ritual circle-which is understood to be embodied in the four walls of the astral chamber. Key The key does more than simply lock and unlock the door of the astral chamber. It determines by its symbolism what environment the door opens upon. On the physical level, there are many kinds of symbolic keys that can be used to access different astral locations and different astral planes. These will be treated in detail in later chapters. The tattwa symbols used to open astral gateways by members of the Golden Dawn are one type of key. The twenty-two picture cards of the Tarot are another type. The ancient Germanic symbols known as runes are yet a third kind of key. The key, visualized in the form of a modern keycard on the astral level, is used to unlock the door of the astral chamber when you exit the chamber in your projected astral form. The door is conceived to be of a type that will relock itself behind you automatically. The locked door keeps your physical body safe from harm while your awareness is elsewhere. Because you are protected by the magic circle, the only access from the astral world to your physical place of working, where you sit or lie during the ritual, is through the astral chamber, and entry into that chamber is only possible through the door. When the door is locked, and you carry the keycard with you, no astral spirit can gain entry. Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 165 You might object that, since the astral chamber is only visualized in the imagination, its walls are not real, and so locking the door is meaningless. However, on the astral level, things visualized clearly in the imagination have as much reality and tangibility as any astral entity. Or to put it another way, a locked astral door is as real a barrier to a spirit as a locked physical door would be to a living human being. The stronger and the more tightly sealed it is imagined to be, the more substantial it becomes. The symbol that serves as the astral key selects the particular type of astral environment to which the door will provide access. All other astral landscapes are excluded, or tuned out, by the specific occult vibrations of the key, which emits a kind of psychic musical chord that is different for each key. The key does not open the door of the chamber directly upon that astral environment, however. In order to reach the desired location in the astral world, it is necessary to travel there in the astral body. This travel is effected laterally or horizontally, so to speak, across the base level of the astral plane that corresponds closely with the physical world. When the door is opened by the keycard, it leads into a long, windowless corridor through which this journey may be safely made. Corridor There are various ways to express the transition from one astral landscape to another. A popular method is by flying through the air in the astral body until the desired location is reached. Shamans often flew on the backs of great birds, but the astral body can fly on its own, either with or without wings. A bird was helpful to the shaman as a kind of animal guide. A more mundane way is by walking to the location. In the astral world, it is possible to take giant gliding steps that cover large distances with each stride. You may remember having done this in your dreams. The lower level of the astral corresponds very closely with the physical world. Indeed, it is often difficult for astral travelers to tell the difference. They believe themselves to be moving through the physical world. This is impossible, as the astral body cannot be present in our physical reality. Physical things stay on the physical plane, and astral things stay on the astral plane. Confusion arises when astral travelers projecting on the base astral plane that corresponds most closely with the physical plane are perceived by other human beings during waking consciousness. Then it appears to those who have seen the astral double that the double is present in the physical world. Not so. The double always remains in the astral world, but for a short time the observer has seen the astral double overlaid upon the backdrop of the physical world. As members of Theosophy and the Golden Dawn clearly defined in their writings, there are two possible movements in the astral. A traveler can move across the astral landscape in the same way a traveler in the material world moves from one location to another on the face of the earth. This is the only way many individuals understand astral travel-as a change of location across the lower astral plane that corresponds with the physical world, so that the astral traveler seems to be moving through the physical world. However, in addition to horizontal movement across the base astral plane, there is vertical movement up and down the heavenly and infernal astral levels. The Theosophical system of seven distinct planes, one above the other, is an artificial imposition on the astral world, which has an infinite number of possible levels or zones of reality. Seven is a number laden with esoteric significance, and was often used in religious and occult texts to indicate related sets of realms, worlds, or ideas. Division of modes of travel through the astral world into horizontal movement across a plane, and vertical movement through successive planes, was not invented by Theosophists, but is an essential part of the objective reality of the astral world. When a Siberian shaman of the Altaic people wished to visit the land of the dead, he first journeyed across the base astral plane, traversing barren steppes and high mountain ranges, to reach the gaping black pit known as the yer mesi (Jaws of the Earth) into which he descended to reach the underworld. Sometimes, access was by direct descent through seven lower levels, illustrating that these two types of movement through the astral world are independent of each other.ls0 Each location on the earth has its astral correspondences.The level of the astral nearest the physical world is virtually identical in appearance to the physical world. It is possible for an astral traveler to travel up and down the astral levels, while staying in exactly the same place. For example, you could travel vertically through the astral while remaining in a hotel room in Baltimore, and as you ascended or descended, the appearance of the hotel room would change. The farther you ascended or descended, the greater the changes would be, until the hotel room ceased to exist and was replaced by a completely different environment. In the ritual structure presented in this book, travel across the lower astral, and hence travel across the surface of the physical world from place to place, is effected by means of a corridor extending from the doorway of the ritual chamber. Where the corridor leads is 180. Eliade, 200-2. Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 167 determined in a general sense by the symbolism on the keycard used to unlock the door. The corridor will lead to an environment that is in harmony with the nature of the key. When traveling across the landscape of the physical world, the key can be made quite narrow and specific-an address in a particular city, for example. The corridor has no windows or doors on its sides. This provides secure travel, since there is no entry to the corridor, which leads only to a single place. At its far end, there is a single locked door that is accessed with the same keycard that opens the door of the chamber. Beyond this door is a smaller square room. In the opposite wall of the room is set a second door, and when this door is unlocked with the keycard, it opens directly onto the astral landscape or location defined by the key. The traveler takes the keycard out of its slot and retains it when exiting this small room. Elevator The small, square room at the end of the corridor is a special kind of elevator. Beside the second door, beneath the slot of the cardlock, is a keypad with five buttons arranged in the shape of a cross. The central button, marked with a circle, lights up when the elevator comes to a stop, and remains illuminated while it is at rest. The top button has on it an up arrow, and the one below a down arrow; the button on the left has an arrow that points left, and the one on the right an arrow that points right. When journeying across the astral world on the base level that reflects the physical world, the elevator does not ascend or descend and none of these buttons are used. However, when the traveler wishes to rise or fall through the planes, he presses either the button marked up or the one below it marked down, in order to ascend or descend as far as desired. This vertical movement occurs at the same location that was reached by traveling through the corridor. For example, if the corridor led to the astral reflection of Paris, ascending the planes would take place in the astral equivalent of Paris. While the elevator is ascending, the up button remains illuminated. When it reaches its level, the central button lights. The elevator travels not only up and down through the astral levels in the present, but can also carry you to the future or the past. The button with the arrow that points to the left is pressed to move back into the past; the button with the arrow that points right takes you forward into the future. Movement through time occurs on the base level of the astral world, at the location accessed through the corridor. For example, if the corridor led to Paris, pressing the back button would take you to the time in the past specified 168 Soul Flight on your key. You might have written on your key, "champs-elys6es, Paris, on June 21, 1851."The corridor would take you to the physical place, and the elevator would take you to the specified time. Descent on the elevator leads to the infernal regions, and should not be casually undertaken. It is possible to reach the lower levels of the Christian hell, and to interact with the damned souls and demonic inhabitants of those levels, by descending in the elevator and exiting through the far door. Any level of any hell may be reached in this way-the levels of the astral world are infinite in number, despite the narrow templates that have been imposed on them by individual religions and cults. What you believe becomes your personal reality in the astral world. If you firmly believe that there are only seven astral levels, that is how many you will experience. If you believe that you will encounter only the spirits of once-living human beings on your travels, that is all you will encounter. Posture Soul flight is best accomplished in a reclining posture. A few gifted astral travelers, such as Emanuel Swedenborg, were able to project while walking around, but this is uncommon. The more usual posture is to fully recline on the top of a bed. Doing so makes it convenient to experiment with the projection of the astral double just before going to sleep at night, but this practice has its disadvantage, in that sleep usually comes before useful work can be done. The Golden Dawn preferred the sitting posture and employed it with good success. Most people find that they do not fall out of their chairs, as might be expected. This is also true for hypnosis-hypnotized subjects rarely fall from their chairs. The body automatically maintains its balance. My own recommendation is that experiments of projection be done lying on top of a bed. You may, if you wish, practice while seated, but better results are usually gained by those who lie on their backs. I do not recommend that you practice while in bed under the covers, as a general rule, only because it is too easy to drift into ordinary sleep due to the sleep habits you have formed throughout your life. For the same reason, it is best to practice soul flight at a time of day other than your usual time for going to bed. I prefer the afternoon or early evening. The room should be dim or dark. It is not necessary to have total darkness. The temperature should be moderate, so that you do not notice it. Wear loose clothing that leaves your breathing and the circulation of blood in your body unrestricted. You should avoid wearing jewelry and such things as a wristwatch, a hearing aid, eyeglasses, or shoes- Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 169 anything likely to feel tight or that exerts pressure on your body. However, if you are so comfortable wearing your hearing aid or watch that you never notice them, then you can leave them on. Do not worry that you will need your glasses in the astral world-you no more require eyeglasses when you engage in soul flight than you do when you dream. Soul flight is a kind of consciously directed waking dream. The trick is to induce a dream state without falling asleep. For this you need a peaceful mind, a comfortable and quiet environment, and a relaxed body. It is best to lie on your back if you project while on a bed. It is possible to project the astral body lying on your side or stomach, but success with these postures is rare. Your legs or feet should not be crossed one over the other, as doing so tends to inhibit the free flow of energies throughout the body. Your arms may be left at your sides, but you may find it better to fold your hands over the center of your abdomen at your solar plexus. Energy and warmth are focused beneath the folded hands. If you are using a physical image or inscription as a key, as you should in most cases, you will want to place it beneath your folded hands, assuming it is something that cannot be damaged by perspiration or your movements on the bed, should it slip under you. Gesture Since the ritual of soul flight is done while lying down, the motions involved occur mostly on the astral level. I have reduced the ritual structure to its necessary minimum. There are three very basic gestures: casting the circle, the sign of departure, and the sign of return. For convenience, the circle may be cast while sitting on the middle of the bed from which the projection is to be made. This is done by drawing a small circle in the air in front of your chest with your right index finger, at the level of your heart. The circle is drawn flat, as though you were projecting the tip of your finger up from under the surface of water and drawing the circle in the surface of the water from beneath. Slowly and smoothly, draw it sunwise, which is the same as clockwise from a perspective looking down at it from above. Join the end with the beginning so that the band of this invisible circle is seamless. As you draw the small reclining circle, visualize at the same time as clearly as you are able a larger circle of light painting itself upon the air of your practice chamber around your bed, so that you are completely enclosed in the larger circle. This circle of light imitates the motion of your finger, moving around the room in a clockwise direction, and forms itself on the same horizontal plane as the tip of your finger, which should be at the level of your heart as you sit up on the middle of the bed. The circle of light is the real circle you draw-the small circle only symbolizes it. Sustain this glowing circle of golden light that surrounds your bed clearly in your imagination for a minute or so, and when at last you turn your thoughts to other matters, keep it in the back of your mind. It continues to float upon the air of your chamber, surrounding you and protecting you, throughout the exercise. Lie back comfortably upon the bed, and prepare yourself to visualize the astral chamber. With your right index finger, draw upon the air in front of your face a small counterclockwise circle of blue light. Touch the center of this circle with your finger and extend a red line straight up through the circumferenceof the circle. The length of this line should be about three times the radius of the circle, so that the line projects above the circle for a distance equal to the circle's diameter. As you draw this symbol, be aware that the circle represents the circle of your body, and the line shows the departure of your consciousness from your body. Close your eyes, but hold the symbol of the blue circle and the red line in your inner sight for a minute or so, reinforcing it with your imagination when it becomes dim. Try to see it as clearly as you can, as though it were projected against the inner surface of your eyelids. The blue circle also stands for the astral chamber. The red line begins at the center of the circle, which is its natural aperture, and represents the extension of the corridor from the door of the chamber. The red line terminates at the elevator. It is not necessary to be conscious of these correspondences during the practice of soul flight, but you should be aware that they exist. The red line pierces the blue circle at its center and flies beyond its boundary to its destination. It is a sign of going out of the body. When you finish your exercise and lie on your bed in the astral chamber in your projected astral body, you must make the opposite sign of return with your right index finger upon the air in front of your face. This has the same shape and colors as the sign of departure, but is formed in a different way. The sign of return is made by drawing a blue circle clockwise upon the air, and then tracing a red line downward from outside the circle through the circumference to terminate at the center of the circle. This symbol represents the return of the astral body to the physical body. It is formed on the air of the astral chamber while still in the astral body, as a guide to its return, just as the sign of departure is formed in the physical chamber before the astral body departs the physical body, as a foreshadowing of its departure. The sign of departure is the first thing done in Chapter Ten: Uses ofRitual 171 the physical chamber after the circle is projected, and the sign of return is the last thing done in the astral chamber before the circle is indrawn. Indrawing the circle is an easy matter. Sit up on the bed in your physical chamber, so that the projected circle is once again at the level of your heart. Visualize it around your bed as before, glowing with pale golden light as it floats upon the air. Mentally cause it to shrink inward toward your heart until it is drawn all the way into your chest and forms a bright star in your heart center. Allow it to disperse its gentle warmth throughout your body, even to the tips of your fingers and toes, as it dissolves and melts away through your bloodstream. Sound Sound can act as a vehicle to carry the consciousness out of the body. It is possible to ride sound as you might ride a horse, and allow it to do the work of crossing the distance on the astral level. It can take the form of composed music, if you find that the music does not engage too closely your thoughts or emotions. Classical music is best for this purpose. Something should be chosen that can play in the background for an hour or so without any abrupt changes of tempo. You should avoid works with clashing cymbals and thundering drums. For the same reason, rock-and-roll music is not the best type of music for astral projection. Discordant sounds and jarring changes will cause you to lose your concentration, which must be focused on the visualization of the astral components of the ritual, not on the music. It is best to experiment with music, and if you find that it distracts you rather than provides you with a sound vehicle that carries your mind like a boat floating down a river, do not use it. A more reliable sound vehicle is white noise, which is any hissing or fuzzy sustained noise, such as the sound of a television tuned to a channel that has no signal. True white noise contains all possible sound tones mingled together, but you can get much the same effect from any sustained background noise, such as the low rumble of a furnace. To be effective, the sound should be sustained. The ticking of a clock or metronome is not particularly helpful because the sound is interrupted rather than continuous, although a clock ticking may not interfere with your practice if you are so accustomed to it that you no longer consciously hear it. You can create your own sound vehicle to ride into the astral by humming or whistling a single sustained tone very softly over and over. I find a low whistle effective. I sustain a tone on my breath and project it mentally outward, allowing it to carry my awareness 172 Soul Flight away from my physical location. When I run out of air, I simply breathe in and renew the tone. Sometimes it can be effective to allow the whistle or hum to vary slightly, by letting it rise or sink in pitch. This must be done according to the directive of your intuition. It is not something you can plan ahead of time. If it feels right to you that you allow the tone you are creating to gently rise or fall in pitch, do so. It may make a sort of atonal melody, but you should not let your awareness focus on the sound as music, but instead continue to ride it farther and farther away from your body. This sound technique is effective as a way of initially entering the astral chamber.Visualize the chamber as you sustain the tone, and allow yourself to be carried to the astral chamber, where you will find yourself lying on your bed, just as you are in your physical chamber of practice. When you feel yourself present in the astral chamber, you can allow the whistle or hum to cease. Do not be surprised if your low whistle has some curious effects on those in the same house or building where you are practicing. Even though the whistle may be much too low for anyone else to hear, the focus and projection of your mind will make others around you restless and uneasy. If someone is sleeping in the same house, they may begin to talk in their sleep, or they may even wake up. This is merely a side effect caused by the intense focus of your awareness, and should not be allowed to become a distraction in your work. Imagery The use of creative imagery is crucial to success in this ritual of soul flight. The protective circle, the sign of departure, and the sign of return must all be formed in the imagination so clearly that they seem present before your eyes. You do not need to actually see these symbols, but you must imagine them more clearly than you ordinarily imagine forms in your mind. The astral chamber, the corridor, and the elevator must be created in the mind, and sustained while you are present within them in your astral body. They are the ritual machine that launches you to your ultimate destination. How effectively they work depends on how well you create them on the astral level. The way to create an astral object or environment such as the astral chamber is by continuing to visualize it over and over as it fades. This is best done by focusing the awareness on details, such as the pattern of the wallpaper, the shape of the overhead lighting fixture, the texture of the quilt or blanket beneath you on the bed, the way the light reflects from the floorboards or tiles, the colors of the rug, the shape of the molding Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 173 around the door. All details of the chamber must be created by you, and re-created by visualizing them over and over. In the beginning, you will have to invent details, but as you go back to the astral chamber day after day in the course of your regular practice, you will discover that it changes in subtle ways, and that new furnishings or details of its decor suggest themselves. It is an astral place, so its form is not fixed. You hold it together by re-imagining it, but if you are successful in creating the chamber on the astral level, it will begin to sustain itself, so that the process becomes less an exercise of creating the chamber anew each day, and more a matter of visiting a place that already exists. Will Your will is the driving force that projects you from your physical body to the astral landscape that you wish to inhabit temporarily. How effectively you are able to use it depends on your powers of concentration. There are exercises designed to enhance concentration, but we will not go into them, since they should not be necessary for the average person with a strong determination to succeed in soul flight. A useful trick is to imagine that you project your astral awareness out of your body through your ajna chakra, the so-called third eye that is located approximately between your eyebrows.You can intensify your focus by turning your eyes to look at this spot with your eyelids closed, but you should not turn them so strongly that the strain becomes a distraction and reduces the effectiveness of your practice. A gentle turning inward and upward works best. Imagine that you see the sign of projection shining in the darkness, and will yourself to rise toward it. Do not attempt to visualize your astral body-simply use your willpower to lift your awareness toward the sign of projection, which recedes back into the darkness as you approach, drawing you out of your body. Eventually you will catch up to it, and when you do, visualize it changing into the astral chamber, and visualize that you are present within the astral chamber in your astral body. The use of the power of the will is crucial in successful astral projection because it is the driving energy that allows you to progress and pass from place to place. But it cannot be forced. If you push too hard, you will defeat yourself and get nowhere. A gentle, constant, determined pressure is best. It is like the straining of the muscles of the body, only it occurs within the mind and the effort is directed at achieving the desired purpose. Dripping water will wear away the hardest stone, and a constant pressure of the will toward an objective will overcome any obstacle. The Ritual of Soul Flight Sit on the center of your bed with the lights dimmed. Mentally project the circle of light around the physical chamber clockwise at the level of your heart, while using a small symbolic circle made with your right index finger to guide its projection. When you have visualized the large circle clearly, lie back on the bed. Make the sign of departure in the air before your face with your right hand. Close your eyes and sustain the sign of departure in your mind, as though it were projected on the inner surface of your eyelids or upon the inner surface of your forehead at your ajna chakra. Be aware that the blue circle in the sign of departure is your body, and is also in an expanded sense the circle of light you have projected around your bed. The red line that extends upward from the center of the circle is your flight path into the astral world. The symbolic key you have chosen to define the astral place or environment you wish to visit should be beneath your hands on your abdomen when you are lying down. If you find this positioning of the hands uncomfortable, you may wish to lay the key on your abdomen and leave your arms at your sides. The best location for the key is over the solar plexus. The slight pressure of the weight of the hands bearing on the solar plexus can assist the separation of the astral body. You will carry an astral double of the key with you when you enter your astral chamber. It is not identical to the physical key, but is always in the form of a plasticized keycard. While holding the sign of departure in your mind, let the music or white noise you have set playing in the background carry you up and out of your body, or ride the sustained tone of a quietly whistled note. The use of sound is not essential-if you find it distracting, work in silence using only visual imagery. Let the sign of departure draw you onward. With your physical eyelids still closed, shape the astral chamber around you. See it as though you lie on the bed within the astral chamber with your eyes open. See through your closed eyelids. Place yourself into the astral chamber. You will probably still feel yourself lying or sitting in the physical chamber, but you will also be present in the astral chamber. With the astral landscape you wish to visit held in your mind, get up in your astral body and walk to the door. It has a modern electronic card reader attached to the side of the frame, even though the door itself may not be that modern. Momentarily insert the card upon which your key is printed into the slot of the card reader to unlock the door. The key may be drawn or written on a piece of paper in the physical world, or printed or Chapter Ten: Uses ofRitua1 175 inscribed on some other material, but in the astral world it is always on a stiff, plasticized card. Step into the corridor beyond. It is well lighted, but has neither windows nor doors along its sides. Move down the corridor to the far end, holding the location you wish to visit firmly in your thoughts with the keycard still in your hand. The corridor may seem quite long if the place you wish to visit is far away in space. You can assist your progress down the corridor by using your willpower to push your astral body along in enormous gliding steps, as though you were almost weightless. When you reach the door at the far end, insert your keycard through the slot of the electronic lock and enter the small, square room that is the elevator. Like the corridor, the appearance of the elevator is a matter you must decide for yourself. My chamber, corridor, and elevator are from the Victorian period, paneled in rich, dark mahogany, but you may find a modern decor more conducive to success. If you are not ascending or descending on the planes, use the keycard to immediately open the opposite door of the elevator onto the place you have chosen to visit. It may not appear as you imagined it in every detail. Do not try to force the astral landscape to conform to your preconceptions, but instead allow it to express itself to you. Remember, you are traveling in the astral world not to experience what you already know, but to experience what you do not know. The door that leads to the elevator will disappear behind you, but you can summon it at any time merely by pressing the keycard to your forehead and willing it to appear. If you are ascending the planes at the location you have chosen to visit in the astral world, perhaps to communicate with shades of the dead, fairies, or angels, then press the button with the up arrow while you are inside the elevator, and the elevator will ascend to the level you wish to reach. As it ascends, hold your desired destination clearly in your mind. When the elevator stops, use your keycard to open the far door and step into the astral world at that higher level. The first door through which you entered will automatically seal itself when the elevator is above or below the base level of the astral world, and you will not be able to open it until you have returned the elevator to the base level. All other levels are higher or lower than the base level of the astral world that duplicates the physical world. The resemblance is never perfect because the astral world is a kind of mirror of the mind-and belief, expectation, and emotion distort its reflection, introducing errors. While visiting the base level of the astral, you can watch the astral doubles of the living as they go about their daily lives, and they will appear completely normal to you, so that you seem to be standing in the physical world with them. They will probably not see you or hear you, but if you touch them they will feel your touch as a cool sensation or a light breeze, or perhaps as a slight tickle on the skin. Since they are not inhabiting their astral bodies with their consciousnesses,which function in their physical bodies while they are awake, they usually remain unaware of your presence. Those with an uncommon degree of psychic ability may become aware of you. Sometimes a person with whom you share a close personal connection will see you. On higher levels, the spirits that are the inhabitants will be aware of you, but may not take any notice of you if they decide that you are not of sufficient interest or importance to engage in dialogue. If you demand their attention, most spirits will give it-very much as a human being might take notice of a particularly noisy and insistent child. Those spirits who are closer to your own level of development, or who have some personal connection with you, will talk with you freely. It really is not wise to press the down button of the elevator. The infernal levels of the astral world contain spirits of a coarse and sometimes malicious temperament. There you will find human spirits of an unhappy or aggressive nature, who cling to the physical appetites they enjoyed or were enslaved to during their mortal lives, as well as those inhuman spirits known as fallen angels or demons. Hell, if it can be said to exist at all, is an astral construction built by centuries of expectations on the part of the human race. There are different hells that correspond to the various belief systems of different cultures. None of them is a particularly pleasant place to visit. When you wish to return to your physical body, press the keycard to your forehead and will the door of the elevator to appear. If you look around, you will generally find it in a short while. It tends to merge itself with whatever environment you are visiting, becoming a door in a brick wall, for example, or a door hidden amid a tangle of brush and branches if you are in a forest landscape. It will always be near at hand when you call for it. Insert the keycard into the slot to open the door, and if necessary, press the central button with the circle on it to return to the base level of the astral world. If you are above the base level, the elevator will always stop its descent at the base level-it will never go past into the infernal regions. Then, with your card, exit the elevator through the inner door to the corridor and follow the corridor back to your astral chamber, using the keycard again to open its door. Remember, all doors are opened by inserting the keycard into the slot, and all lock automatically. Once in the astral chamber, lie down on the bed and make the sign of return in the air in front of your face. You make the sign of return by drawing a blue circle clockwise, then Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 177 a vertical red line downward to the center of the circle, so that it pierces the circumference of the circle. Hold the sign of return in your imagination and place the keycard beneath your hands on your abdomen. Close your eyes in your astral body so that you see only the sign of return and focus on the center of the blue circle. Concentrate your will on descending back into your physical body by riding down the red line to the center. When you open your eyes, you will once again be in your physical body. Sit up and mentally will the protective circle of golden light that surrounds your physical chamber in your imagination to constrict itself to a shining star in the center of your chest. Allow the light and warmth of this star to expand through your physical body to your fingers and toes. Do not neglect to indraw the circle at the end of the ritual. It returns your practice chamber to its ordinary state. Astral Doorways T he term astral doorway is used here to mean a symbol, object, or practice that aids consciousness to perceive the astral world or its inhabitants. Throughout history, certain things have been recognized to assist in both scrying and astral projection. These activities are closely related, and in my opinion are aspects of a single mental faculty that also shows itself in the form of lucid dreams and near death experiences. This psychic talent to gain awareness of the astral world is present in all individuals, but usually lies dormant unless triggered by a traumatic event such as an illness or a sudden physical injury. It appears to be related to the ajna chakra of the body, the mystical third eye between the eyebrows that may correspond with the pineal gland. The regular use of certain objects and practices can help to develop this latent talent. The underlying unity between scrying and astral projection is indicated by the way in which these activities overlap. At times, astral travelers are aware of being in their projected bodies yet on other occasions feel themselves present in astral landscapes as a disembodied consciousness. Still other times, they observe astral scenes yet remain separated from them, as though they were viewing projected three-dimensional images. Those who engage in scrying find that the boundaries tend to blur between visions viewed at a distance and visions experienced all around them in the same location they physically occupy. The alchemist Edward Kelley, who was the hired crystal gazer of the Elizabethan mathematician, cartographer, and spiritualist John Dee (1527-1608), would scry spiritual beings within a globe of rock crystal and relate their actions and words to Dee, who then copied the narrative down in his diaries. Kelley was also able to see complex astral landscapes in the crystal. Sometimes, the spirits came completely out of the crystal and were present to Kelley's astral vision in the chamber in which he scried, yet Dee could not see them because he lacked Kelley's psychic talent. On various occasions, they even touched Kelley so that he felt their contact: once pressing a heavy weight on his and another time clawing him about the head.lX2 right shoulder,lX1 Not only was the boundary between seeing astral images at a distance and being surrounded by them blurred, but also blurred was the separation between the astral and the physical worlds. Once when Kelley deliberately ignored Dee's familiar spirit, Madimi, so that he could examine a book, the spirit repeatedly tapped the book on the cover to get his attention, and at last tried to pull the book out of Kelley's hands. Dee could not see the spirit, but he heard the taps on the parchment cover of the book.ls3Another time, a spirit knocked over an object in the scrying chamber, and both men saw it and heard it fall. The most singular event of a physical kind was the apport of a crystal-scrying globe that appeared out of thin air in the scrying chamber beneath the window. This globe subsequently became Dee's principal showstone, and was used by Kelley with excellent results. Four Levels of Astral Awareness You will remember that Emanuel Swedenborgdistinguishedthree types of astral projection, although he did not use that term, but instead resorted to biblical references. The naked pro181. Casaubon, True & Faithful Relation, 25. 182. Ibid., 62. 183. Ibid., 31. Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 181 jection of his awareness into astral scenes he referred to as being "in the spirit," and regular astral projection, during which he was able to feel as well as see and hear, he called being "taken out of the body." The third type, which was a deeper and more complete experience of astral projection in which he remained in his physical body yet completely lost awareness of his physical surroundings while walking in an astral vision, he termed being "carried by the Spirit into another place."184If we add scrying to Swedenborg's three types of astral projection, the result is four successively deeper levels of astral awareness: 1. Scrying: visual perception of astral scenes at a distance 2. Projection in the spirit: direct disembodied perception of astral scenes 3. Projection out of body: direct perception of astral scenes in the astral double 4. Projection to another place: direct perception of astral scenes in the physical body Swedenborg's final kind of vision-being present within an astral landscape in the physical body-is not really possible, but it can seem completely real to those who experience it. It happens when an astral scene is superimposed on the perception of physical surroundings, completely excluding that perception, so that the person experiencing it appears to walk through the astral landscape in the flesh. This is the level of astral perception described by those who report alien abductions. They have no way to distinguish between ordinary physical reality and the imposed astral experience, so naturally they assume that the astral events are physically happening. They believe the evidence of their senses, even though their senses are lying to them. It is even possible that repercussion may occur in some cases, causing those who have alien abduction trauma to suffer some corresponding physical injury. The connection between mind and body is still a mysterious zone largely unexplored by science. Stigmata, the wounds of Christ, sometimes spontaneously appear on the bodies of Christians. If the mind can cause this degree of injury to the body, it is not difficult to accept that it can also open a lesion in the neck where an individual who suffers an abduction event believes an alien device was inserted. 184. Swedenborg, 625-6. 182 Soul Flight Soul Flight and the Moon It is important to understand that scrying is not a psychic activity separate from astral projection, but merely the first level of the induced astral perception to which I have given the general title soul flight. The activities, materials, and objects that aid in scrying can also be used to aid in astral projection. In an occult sense, scrying falls under the influence of the moon, and the same lunar influence governs astral projection. By using lunar substances and symbols, soul flight in all its forms can be facilitated. To say that something is under the influence of the moon is a bit misleading, although that is the way that the connection is expressed in the Western esoteric tradition. It is a holdover from a period when astrological terminology dominated the practice of ritual magic. In ancient times, the moon was believed to send down rays of occult influence that affected those individuals susceptible to them, as well as certain plants, animals, and substances classed as lunar in nature. These rays never physically existed, but were a kind of visual metaphor to account for the observed sympathetic response to active influences classed as lunar. The Renaissance magician Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) summarized the nature of lunar things in his Occult Philosophy: These things are lunary, amongst the elements, viz. the Earth, then the Water, as well that of the sea, as of the rivers, and all moist things, as the moisture of trees, and animals, especially they which are white, as the whites of eggs, fat, sweat, phlegm, and the superfluities of bodies. Amongst tastes, salt and insipid; amongst metals, silver; amongst stones, crystal, the silver marcasite, and all those stones that are white, and green. Also the stone selenites i.e. lunary, shining from a white body, with a yellow brightness, imitating the motion of the Moon, having in it the figure of the Moon which daily increaseth, or decreaseth as doth the Moon. Also pearls, which are generated in shells of fishes from the droppings of water, also the Agrippa included among lunar plants hyssop, rosemary, the palm tree, and the olive tree. Among animals he mentioned the dog, chameleon, pig, deer, goat, panther, otter, baboon, cat, and any beast with horns that curve inward, such as the cow. Water fowl are also lunar in nature, as are mice, flies, beetles, and any creature that breeds in the mud. Sea animals particularly lunar in nature are the tortoise, crab, oyster, clam, and frog. He particularly 185. Agrippa, 80. Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 183 singled out menstrual blood as the most lunar of substances. He mentioned a number of other creatures, but this list will give an impression of the lunar nature. Lunar elements are earth and water, making their combination in the form of moist soil or mud highly lunar. Earth was probably classed as lunar because the moon was believed to influence the germination and growth of all plants, giving plants in general a lunar quality-but not the onion, which according to Agrippa, is wholly under Mars, and is inimical to the things of the moon. Water is lunar for the obvious reason that the moon rules the tides. Hence, anything cool and moist is lunar, as is anything living in the cool, moist mud or generated in the mud, such as frogs and beetles. The colors white and silver are lunar because those are the general colors of the moon's face, yet black is also her color because she hides that face periodically. This monthly period of the moon links her to the menstrual cycle, but more generally to things that wax and wane, or open and close, particularly when they occur in darkness. Rock crystal and similar crystalline stones such as beryl are lunar because they resemble water and are cool to the touch. Stones that are white or silvery, such as pearl or moonstone, express the moon's nature in their color, as does silver marcasite, also known as the mirror stone. All the cool, milky, and tasteless or slightly salty fluids or substances of the body are lunar, especially those that are cast off such as sweat and phlegm, because they wax and wane in quantity. The dew was believed to fall from the moon as a kind of lunar sweat, making dew lunar in nature. The cow is particularly lunar not only due to its curved horns that resemble the horns of the moon, but by virtue of its white milk. The cat is lunar because the pupils of its eyes resemble the lunar crescent, but can open into full disks just as the moon expands to show a full face. It is no accident that the goddess of witches was held to be Diana, goddess of the moon, or that one of the primary activities of witches was the use of the flying ointment for travel to the sabbat gatherings. The active ingredients in the flying ointment were highly lunar substances. All narcotic or soporific plants such as monkshood and nightshade are lunar because they induce sleep or dreams and visions. It is no accident that the animal most closely connected to the witch as her familiar is the cat, one of the most lunar of all beasts. These things show the influence of the lunar virtue over witches. In paintings and illustrations of witches the moon is almost always visible in the sky, emphasizing the connection, which is understood by artists on the unconscious level. By considering lunar things individually, and comparing them with each other, we can gain a general impression of the lunar virtue that rules over or governs the act of 184 Soul Flight astral perception. Once this understanding is gained, the lunar virtue can be attracted and directed as an aid to soul flight through the conscious incorporation of lunar objects and materials into the projection ritual. The appropriate use of occult correspondences has almost been forgotten in modern times. Those practicing astral projection today might laugh at the idea of using lunar objects or symbols to assist in the separation of the astral double, yet such correspondences were employed with good results for thousands of years by philosophers, mystics, and magicians. Lucid Dreaming The moon rules over sleep and dreams as mistress of the night sky, when the world lies in sleep. Just as the sun, the great light of the day, symbolizes consciousness, so does the moon, the great light of the night, symbolize the unconscious mind. However, unlike the sun, the moon is variable, so she presides over partial consciousness as well. During waking, the awareness appears to be constant and unvarying, even as the light of the sun is unvarying. In sleep, there are various degrees of awareness that range from the complete oblivion of dreamless sleep to the full consciousness of lucid dreaming. A lucid dream is a dream in which the dreamer has full control over his thoughts and actions. In my opinion, no significant distinction can be made between genuine lucid dreaming and astral projection. Most of the projections of Oliver Fox were lucid dreams, or extensions of lucid dreams. Fox became aware that he was dreaming without waking up, and once he had attained this self-awareness, he was able to move out of the dream setting into other astral landscapes. His primary technique for astral projection involved inducing self-awareness while dreaming, which he was able to accomplish by noticing anomalies in the dream, minor details that would not or could not exist in the actual physical world. I have used a similar anomalous trigger to achieve consciousness in my own dreams. For me, it is the light switches in my house. If I am in a dream and go to turn on a light, and the light does not turn on, I think in the dream that it may be just a burned-out bulb. But if I try another light and it also fails to illuminate, I at once know that I am dreaming. Then if I choose not to remain on the astral level, I can compel myself to awaken, although it is difficult-rather like drawing myself up from the bottom of a dark, deep well. I become aware that my body is paralyzed. This is a natural condition known as sleep paralysis, a protective mechanism of the body to prevent self-inflictedinjuries during violent dreams. I also become aware that my sense of hearing has been turned off. At some Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 185 point as I force myself to wake up, my hearing will suddenly cut in as though a radio were switched on, and I am able to hear the background sounds in my bedroom. I assume that, during sleep, sound is still being monitored by some level of my mind, but it is being filtered in such a way that ordinary background noises do not intrude upon my dream awareness. Sylvan Muldoon observed that it is only unusual sounds that disturb astral projection-common and familiar noises such as the ticking of a clock pass unnoticed, lS6 This awareness of unusual noises is probably designed to guard against attacks or dangers during sleep, but common sounds that have been classed as harmless pass completely unheard during the dreaming state-not only unnoticed, but actually unheard on the conscious level. Oliver Fox mentioned something he called the False Awakening.lS7It is when the awareness passes from ordinary dreams into a condition that seems to be normal waking, but is actually still deep sleep. When I experience the light-switch trigger, I am usually in a condition of false awakening. That is, I believe myself to have just woken up in the middle of the night, and believe myself to be reaching across to switch on the lamp beside my bed. When it fails to light, I seem to get out of bed to try the overhead light by means of the switch near the bedroom door. Only when this fails to light do I abruptly realize that I am not awake at all, but still asleep. At this point, I am in a state of astral projection in my body double, and fully conscious, even though still sleeping. One method I use to wake up from this state is to lie down in my physical body, which I can see on the bed in the dimness of the bedroom, and then attempt to sit up and stand up, carrying my physical body with me. I usually have to do this several times--each time leaving my physical body behind me when I arise-before I pass into an awareness of lying within my physical body in a state of sleep paralysis. Then it is a matter of pulling myself up from the depths of sleep, which feels very similar to what must be experienced by a deep diver rising from the depths of a shadowy ocean to the surface. The apparent distance traversed in rising through the darkness can be considerable. Induction of Lucid Dreams However, we are not so much concerned with awakening from the condition of astral projection during sleep as inducing it. No induction method I have used to initiate a lucid 186. Muldoon and Carrington, Projection of the Astral Body, 198. 186 Soul Flight dream has been completely reliable. Consistent success probably depends as much on innate talent as it does on the technique employed. Some individuals are just better at astral projection than others, although with practice and the use of induction methods, the rate of anyone's success can be increased. Muldoon's advice was to hold your arm up as you are falling asleep, as a way of carrying consciousness into the sleep state. I-Iis theory was that as you start to drift off and your arm begins to fall, you can catch yourself and regain awareness. You can try this method, but I have found it to be worthless. Holding my arm balanced upright on my elbow tends to keep me from falling asleep for a longer period, but when at last I do drift off, it is not with conscious awareness. Here is a symbolic lunar trigger that you can try, as a way of encouraging separation of the astral body. Cut a small twig from a water-loving tree or plant. Trees such as the willow or poplar, both of which love to grow in wet ground, would be appropriately lunar, but which plant is available will depend on the region in which you reside. Cut the twig from a living branch. It should be quite small and light-no more than a few inches long. Tie it in the middle to a length of white sewing thread and suspend it in the air about three feet above the center of your bed. Make sure you attach the thread firmly to the ceiling with masking tape or a pushpin so that it does not fall. The thread should be tied around the twig at its center of balance so that it moves in the slightest breeze or at the touch of your breath. As you fall asleep in the darkness, be aware of the suspended twig above you and allow your consciousness to be drawn up toward it. Imagine it spinning and bobbing in the tiny currents of air stirred by your own gentle breathing. As you drift into sleep, recite this little verse, either aloud in a low voice or mentally: Diana of the silver bow, My soul has wings; Diana of the coursing hounds, My soul flies up; Diana of the leaping mare, My soul soars free. Needless to say, you may compose your own invocation to the goddess of the moon. To be effective, it should be brief and rhythmic. It is a way of indicating to your unconscious mind that you are preparing to project your astral double while asleep, and of opening your mind to those influences that will contribute to this separation of awareness. As Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 187 you recite this invocation, visualize the moon above the clouds in the night sky and see the wild hunt of the goddess pass as though racing across the tops of the wind-borne clouds-Diana on her pale mare rushing after her pack of hounds, her silver bow drawn to launch an arrow at her unseen quarry. Another trigger that historically has been effective in inducing specific dream events is a charm placed under the pillow just before going to sleep. This can also be employed to produce a lucid dream state. The charm should indicate by its symbolism the effect it is intended to produce, and will be more potent for purposes of astral awareness and astral projection if it is lunar in nature. Such a charm may be called an astral doorway. An effective design would be a disk of black craft paper three inches in diameter, on which you have drawn or painted with silver ink or silver paint the waxing crescent of the moon, between the points of which is the oval of an open, staring eye. The crescent invokes the moon, as does the black color of the paper and the silver ink. The open eye indicates conscious awareness. Because it is between the points of the lunar crescent, it is awareness under the control or domination of the moon-awareness in sleep and during dreams. If you are able to find the feather of a crow or raven, or better still the feather of an owl, it will serve as a potent lunar talisman for soul flight when placed beneath your pillow. The crow and raven are lunar birds primarily due to their color, which matches the darkness of night. The owl is a night bird that hunts in the darkness and has uncommonly keen night vision, so its feathers perfectly represent the desired conscious awareness during dreams. The feather is the preeminent symbol of soul flight, which is why it was favored by shamans the world over as part of their ceremonial costume. Crystals and Crystal Gazing Natural rock crystal (silicon dioxide) has been used since prehistoric times to induce astral visions and astral projection. Pieces of rock crystal have been discovered in caves amid the burial remains of shamans. Crystals were employed in Greek and Roman times for scrying. The crystals grow to a large size and can be polished into spheres or ovoid shapes. Pink quartz and smoky quartz are both common, but the most highly prized for scrying purposes are transparent and free from both coloring and inclusions. In ancient times, it was believed to be a form of petrified ice, created by intense and sustained cold. 188 . Soul Flight The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder repeated the popular view when he wrote "that it is a kind of ice is certain."1ss Referring to the Persian magician Osthanes, Pliny observed: "As Osthanes said, there are several forms of magic; he professes to divine from water, globes, air, stars, lamps, basins, and axes, and by many other methods, and besides to converse with ghosts and those in the underworld."189Divination by "globes" is very likely a form of crystal gazing. The conversation with "ghosts and those in the underworld" may have been effected by means of astral projection, and travel to the land of the dead. Science is at a loss to explain what power natural crystals may have to induce an altered state of consciousness that facilitates soul flight. It is sometimes suggested that staring at the shiny surface of a crystal may induce a self-hypnotic condition. This is undoubtedly correct, but does not account for the widespread use of rock crystals and similar clear gem stones, as opposed to other shiny objects, or for the degree to which crystals are prized for this purpose. Crystals are a strongly lunar substance, being like water in appearance and cool to the touch. The light shining through crystals resembles the silvery color of moonlight. Almost all of the Enochian communications recorded by John Dee between the years 1582 and 1587 were scried by Edward Kelley in several small globes of natural rock crystal. The best results were obtained by the globe Dee referred to as his principal showstone, which was given to him in the form of an apport by the Enochian angels. During the Enochian communications, the crystal appeared to act not merely as a viewing window, but also as a power matrix and astral portal. It would glow at times with its own internal radiance. Spirits came through it into the scrying chamber with Kelley and Dee, and Kelley sent his awareness through it into various astral landscapes, so that he not only saw them but was also present within them. Crystal balls of large size are expensive, particularly when they are clear with few or no flaws and inclusions. A ball of flawless rock crystal of three inches diameter or more would be considered large, and might cost two or three thousand dollars. Fortunately, good results have historically been obtained by scrying into crystal balls, globes, or natural unshaped crystals of relatively small size, and these are inexpensive. A few flaws or inclusions, 188. Pliny, vol. X, p. 181. 189. Ibid.,vol.VIII,p. 287. Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 189 or cloudiness, does not inhibit the effectiveness of a crystal. Most crystal balls used in past centuries were imperfect, as perfect crystals were quite difficult to get. Uses of Rock Crystal A use of rock crystal that I find effective is to rest a natural crystal upon the hollow just above my solar plexus when I am lying on my back, with my hands clasped over the crystal. The crystal acts as a mental focus during soul flight. At the same time, I visualize a vortex opening in the air above the middle of my body and drawing me upward. This is a simple, unstructured method of projection that can either be used by itself, or incorporated into a ritual. You may wish to experiment with arranging crystals around your body as you lie upon your bed, or with placing them upon your chakra centers. Another effective trigger is to get a small, flat crystal that has been polished in a rock tumbler, and to lay it on your forehead between your eyebrows, over your third eye. The weight and coolness of the crystal aid in focusing awareness on the ajna chakra. It would be impossible to demonstrate in any physical way why the mere touch of a crystal should encourage astral perception, but we are not dealing solely with the physical substance of the crystal, but with its astral substance as well-with the way in which the crystal affects not only the physical senses but also the emotions, imagination, and the unconscious mind. Crystals are power centers on the astral level. They accumulate and retain the potential force to cause change in the astral world. When seen with astral vision, they glow with internal radiance. It is as though a crystal, when it is contemplated and held in the thoughts, creates a gateway in the wall of separation between normal waking awareness and astral awareness. One of the ways of scrying into a crystal ball was to hold it in the hands and gaze into it in total darkness, so that the crystal was not visible with ordinary vision. My grandfather, who was an accomplished crystal scryer, covered his head and shoulders beneath a black cloth when scrying into his crystal, which he placed into a box open at the top for the purpose. Since the cloth covered the box as well as his head, he could see nothing of the crystal, or at most its dim outline in whatever trace of light may have filtered through the cloth. My mother, who often watched her father scry when she was a little girl, assures me that he could not see even a trace of the crystal ball under the cloth. This would seem to inconvenience the popular scientific theory that the crystal ball works by inducing self-hypnosis through prolonged staring at reflections of light in its shiny surface. My grandfather saw no reflections of light. He held the crystal in his mind 190 Soul Flight as well as beneath his hands, and any brightness it possessed existed only on the astral level, since to his physical eyes it remained invisible in the darkness. My grandfather's crystal globe was not crystal at all, but was made of common glass. He ordered it by mail from Chicago around the beginning of the 1920s, and it cost a considerable portion of his coal miner's paycheck at the time. He could never have afforded a genuine crystal globe. Fortunately for him and for countless other crystal scryers of limited means, clear glass is a wonderfully lunar substance. It is watery and cool to the touch, just like rock crystal. Glass is made from silica, often collected in the raw form of beach sand, and it provides another link to the moon. Anything connected with the beach falls under the influence of the ebb and flow of the tides, and hence is lunar. A Lunar Accumulator It is possible to construct a kind of accumulator of lunar virtue that can be of use in inducing astral projection. Take a clear glass flask or bottle and fill it with fresh seawater collected from an ocean beach. Seal the flask so that it will not leak. This instrument can then be left exposed to bright moonlight for several days. The best time to charge your lunar accumulator is during the three days of each lunar cycle when the moon shows a full face-the night before the full moon, the night of the full moon, and the night following the full moon. It should be stored away when not in use in a wrap of black silk or velvet, and never exposed to sunlight or even to the bright light of day. It can be taken out and used to good effect at twilight or in the evening. The accumulator should be placed near to the head while lying down to practice soul flight. A good location is immediately behind the top of the skull. Another effective location is beneath the center of the bed on which you are lying during your projection. Even if you do not see the flask, you know where it is and what it contains. Indeed, even if you should forget entirely that the flask is there, your unconscious mind will continue to be aware of its existence. Sometimes, those who are new to the concept of using traditional occult correspondences as an aid during ritual work form the mistaken notion that they must somehow trick their minds into believing that these objects are effective, or that they must infuse effectiveness into them by a kind of repeated brainwashing in which they tell themselves over and over that the object used has power of a certain kind. This is incorrect. The whole point of using such recognized esoteric materials is that they produce an effect on their own, by their own natures. Lunar materials will aid to induce a lunar state of mind, Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 191 which is a state of mind conducive to astral perception. No one can explain how they do this, since whatever mechanism produces the resonance works below the physical level. But centuries of tradition testify that such an effect is real. Mirror Portals If anything may be said to be more lunar than a crystal globe, it is a mirror. They are uncanny objects that have always been accorded a measure of wonder and apprehension. By reflection, a mirror creates an image seemingly within its depths that is similar in outward appearance to the person reflected, but it is an image without substance.A reflected image is in this sense similar to an astral form. A mirror also appears to be a kind of doorway between the physical world and the reflected world that is its duplicate, just as the base astral world is the duplicate of the physical world. This property was used by the writer Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) who, in his 1871 fantasy novel Through the Looking-Glass, had his protagonist Alice crawl through the surface of a large wall mirror into the reflected world, while she talked to her cat: "Let's pretend the glass has got all soft like gauze, so that we can get through. Why, it's turning into a sort of mist now. I declare! It'll be easy enough to get through-" She was up on the chimney-piece while she said this, though she hardly knew how she had got there. And certainly the glass was beginning to melt away, just like a bright silvery mist.lgO This fictional account has several points of interest. The cat is a lunar beast, and the primary familiar of witches, as I have mentioned. Witches are proverbial for their ability to fly up the chimney, using it as a portal to the astral world when they set off for the sabbat gathering. Alice's mirror is set over the fireplace. Her description of the change in the surface of the glass is not unlike descriptions given by scryers concerning the apparent change in the surface of the crystal just before they begin to see astral scenes in its depths. A very common feature of such descriptions is the appearance of a mist. Carroll specifically wrote that the mist was "silvery" in color. Silver is the color, and the metal, of the moon. Mirrors are lunar not merely because they seem to create astral images in their depths, but because the substances of which they are made-glass and silver-are both strongly 190. Carroll, 146. lunar materials. Add to this their common rectangular shape, which resembles a window or doorway, and it is little wonder that they were used both for scrying and as astral portals. It is a common report that astral scenes are reflected left to right, in exactly the same way as mirror images. The members of the Golden Dawn made this observation while scrying in the spirit vision. Israel Regardie wrote: There was a good deal of glib parlance within the Order as to "astral vision" and "etheric vision." The former was described as the ordinary Tattwa vision, in which objects and landscapes, though vivid and alive, are yet "flat" as though reflected on a mirror, rather like a cinematograph film. "In this form of descrying, note that you see objects reversed, as to right and left, for which suitable allowance must be made." The use of the phrase "mirror-like vision" is actually a very adequate description. Yet this is capable, as development proceeds, of merging into another type of vision-a fullblooded clairvoyance, in which things and people are seen in three dimensions, and as though the seer were not merely watching the scene, but were actually in it. Some explained that as "etheric vision" although the actual Order documents describe this as the clairvoyance ensuing from astral projection.191 It is not very difficult to make the leap between describing a scried astral vision as mirrorlike, and using an actual mirror as an astral doorway. To be most effective, the mirror should be large enough to easily step into, were the glass to become soft and mist-like, as it did for Alice. Although this is unlikely to happen in a physical sense, the astral body has no trouble stepping through the surface of a mirror. However, it is not absolutely necessary that the mirror be large. It can be enlarged in the imagination. This is what Golden Dawn members did when using tattwa symbols as astral doorways. "YOUmay modify the earlier stages of the working by so enlarging the symbol astrally that the human being can pass through it. When very vivid, and not until then, pass, spring orfly through it, and do not The same course of begin to reason till you find yourself in some place or land~cape."'~~ action can be followed with regard to a small mirror. 191. Regardie, 463. 192. Ibid., 470. Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 193 How to Use a Mirror A good location for a larger mirror that is used as an astral doorway is the wall at the foot of the bed upon which you lie when you practice soul flight. When you exit your physical body and leave it behind you on the bed, you can arise in your astral body and step into the mirror, which if you wish can be used as a conduit to carry you directly to your destination without the necessity to use the intermediary astral constructions of the chamber, corridor, and elevator. Needless to say, once you arise in your astral body, you are already on the base level of the astral world. It is helpful to imagine a vortex forming in the center of the mirror just before you step into it, a sort of whirlpool of silvery-gray light. In ceremonial magic, the symbol of the vortex, in the form of the two-dimensional spiral or three-dimensional cone, is employed to open gateways. The technical reason for this is that the vortex expands the point, which is the only entrance or exit from the circle. To fall into the mirror in your astral body, visualize a clockwise inward swirl which will draw you in toward its center. To seal an opened portal created by a vortex, you can easily still the turning of the vortex by means of a cross inscribed within a circle. This is a highly effective symbol for halting change or freezing motion. The cross both preserves and defends. A regular Christian cross will work if you prefer to use it, but I employ a cross of equal arms-inscribing first on the air the vertical column downward, then the horizontal arm from left to right, and finally enclosing the cross in a clockwise circle. As this is drawn with the right hand over the portal you wish to seal shut, it should be visualized as glowing upon the air. When using a large mirror as an astral doorway, it is best to keep it covered during the day, and not to use it for common purposes. It should be protected from the direct rays of the sun, and from strong daylight. To charge it with lunar virtue, set it outside or beneath a window where it can reflect the light of the full moon. Covering the mirror with a black cloth after it is charged will help retain this virtue. To incorporate the lunar virtue of a mirror into the standard projection ritual, in which the chamber, corridor, and elevator are visualized, a small mirror may be combined with the symbolic key that specifies the astral destination. These can be held together with tape or a rubber band. The mirror and the key can then be placed over the solar plexus beneath the folded hands while lying on the bed during the projection. It is best to leave the surface of the mirror unobstructed and to place the key against its backing. When a small mirror is incorporated into the key, the keycard in the astral world should be visualized as having a mirror backing. This small mirror can be used as an offensive weapon against astral beings. If you are confronted by an aggressive spirit and feel threatened, holding up the mirror surface of the keycard so that it reflects the image of the spirit will cause the spirit to withdraw in confusion, as its own hostility is reflected back upon it. In the astral world, a mirror reflects more than mere images. It also reflects emotions and subtle energies. For this reason it can be employed as a kind of psychic shield. It becomes a doorway only after it has been opened by a vortex, either consciously or unconsciously.When you conceive the mirror as a portal, you automatically open it even if you are not aware of this process. Hence, when using the mirror as a shield, it must be conceived as sealed and impervious. The Black Mirror Another kind of mirror that is used in magic is the black mirror. This is a sheet of glass to which an opaque black coating has been applied, rendering it into a midnight black surface that reflects shadowy images. Black mirrors were used in ancient times for common household purposes. They were made of sheets of polished volcanic glass, called obsidian, or a polished coal-like material known as jet. The black mirror is often preferred for magical purposes in our modern age because it is not found any longer in common use, having long ago been superseded by the much superior reflecting qualities of polished silver. John Dee owned a small black mirror that had supposedly been taken as plunder It was made of obsidian and may have played a part in some from the Aztec 1ndia11s.l~~ of the early scrying done by Edward Kelley, although Dee and Kelley preferred crystal globes for this purpose. The black mirror has a somewhat evil reputation in magic. This is a natural consequence of its color, which links it symbolically to the phase of the new moon, when the lunar orb is completely dark and hidden. This is the phase of the moon during which magic of a malevolent nature was worked. It is also suitable for works of necromantic magic, and for covert works of magic that must remain hidden. This association of the black mirror with evil is simplistic. Black is not a color of evil, but of negation. The dark is where the light is absent. A black mirror can be very effectively used for scrying and astral projection, by those who understand this distinction. Those seeking to project 193. Clulee, John Dee's Natural Philosophy, 206-7. Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 195 into the lower astral levels will find the black mirror particularly useful as an aid, since it resonates with the shadows of the infernal realms. The Water Mirror Another even more ancient magic mirror is the surface of water. It was employed for both scrying and divination in the form of natural springs and pools considered to be sacred. Such springs and pools were believed to be the dwelling places of spiritual beings and, without a doubt, spirits did appear and communicate with human beings through the astral doorways of these pools and springs. In a later evolution of this method of scrying, water was collected in a special scrying basin from such sacred water sources. Astral visions would be scried by peering down into the depths of the basin, which was often made of silver. The surface of the water might be stirred into a vortex by means of a wand. The great seer Nostradamus used a basin of water as part of his scrying apparatus, along with a wand, though exactly how they were employed remains a matter of conjecture. We can adapt the ancient water mirror for the purpose of an astral doorway by filling a silver or silver-plated basin with clear fresh water on a table in the scrying chamber just prior to beginning the exercise of projection. A silver-platedbasin is acceptable, since silver is plated over brass, which is predominantly copper, and copper as the metal of the planet Venus is not obstructive in any occult sense to astral projection. After leaving the body, the basin of water can be used as a portal by enlarging it on the astral level until it is large enough to dive into. The traveler should continue to descend deeper and deeper into the water of the basin until a light is perceived. He will gradually become aware that he is no longer descending into the depths of the basin, but ascending toward the light. As the light approaches, it enlarges itself into an opening through which the traveler emerges into the astral landscape he sought to reach. In this way, the basin of water can be used as a direct astral channel, bypassing the chamber, corridor, and elevator of the general ritual. I have provided this method of direct passage into the astral world, along with the method of the mirror, because I know that some individuals who practice using the formal ritual of the chamber, corridor, and elevator may find it too elaborate and cumbersome to easily manipulate in their imaginations. The ritual of projection is not an essential part of soul flight, and if it becomes more of an impediment than an aid, it should be abandoned. This should not be done casually, however, since the ritual is structured in such a manner as to provide a high degree of both precision and security to the traveler. 196 SoulFlight The light at the bottom of the basin should be conceived as a kind of astral reflection of the open surface of the expanded basin that leads to the astral world, in much the same way that the reflection in the depths of a mirror may be thought of as the astral reflection of the physical world. Since the astral world is a reflection, the traveler is, by swimming down into the depths of the basin, actually swimming up on the astral side of the water surface. The basin does not have a bottom in the astral world, but it is a water-filled passageway similar to a submerged cave. It can be opened by making a clockwise stirring motion above the surface of the water in the basin with the hand, to initiate a vortex in the water. It is useful to conceive of the basin as a kind of silver bath when enlarging it on the astral level, prior to stepping or diving into it. Lean over this bath in your astral body and stir the water clockwise with your hand. Visualize a point of light in its distant, shadowed depths. Then enter the water and swim toward the light. You can use water as an aid in the general ritual of projection by placing a silver or silver-plated basin or bowl filled with fresh, clear water beneath your bed prior to beginning the ritual. The silver and the water will both attract lunar virtue, and will facilitate the separation of the astral double during the ritual. Just before getting on the bed, you may wish to wet your fingertip in the basin and touch the water to your forehead, between your eyebrows, where your ajna chakra is located, so that this part of your skin wdl be drying and cooling as you visualize the sign of projection. The use of these and all other astral doorways is optional. They should be employed where they are found to help, and discarded without a qualm when they are tried and found to be valueless or obstructive. Every person who practices soul flight is different, and no two human beings react to symbols in the same way. Some have an irrational fear of drowning, for example. Needless to say, the method of diving into the water-filled silver basin would be a poor method for those suffering from hydrophobia. Magic is the most practical of human pursuits, and soul flight is a magical practice. You should use what works, and discard what does not work. The various lunar doorways described above are likely to be helpful in some degree to most who try them. CHAPTER The Tarot T he Tarot has been in existence since around 1425, possibly a few decades earlier. It was invented in northern Italy as a plaything for wealthy and noble families, and was based on the ordinary gaming cards used in Europe at the time. The Tarot was devised to play a trick-taking card game of the same name that is similar in some respects to bridge. In addition to four suits, each of which contains cards numbered from one to ten and four court cards, the Tarot has a special set of twenty-two picture cards, known as trumps, making a total of seventy-eight cards in the standard Tarot deck. It was in France during the second half of the eighteenth century that the Tarot first began to be used for purposes of fortunetelling. They became a popular instrument for both divination,and meditation once the notion began to circulate among French occultists during the following century that the cards had higher meanings hidden in 198 Soul Flight their symbolism. The twenty-two picture cards received the most attention. They were linked by French occultists with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and with the esoteric associations that attach to those letters in the mystical system of the Kabbalah. Chief among the French exponents of the higher significance of the Tarot was Eliphas LCvi (1801-1875), who wrote in 1860 concerning the Tarot: "Now the extant Tarot is certainly that of the gypsies and has come to us by way of Judea. As a fact, its keys are in correspondence with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and some of its figures reproduce even their forms."194 This statement is noteworthy for the number of errors it manages to squeeze into so few words. The Tarot had nothing whatsoever to do with the Gypsies, did not derive from Judea, and does not reproduce in its images the forms of the Hebrew letters, except imperfectly and by mere chance in one or two cards. The only indisputable resemblance between the trumps of the Tarot and the Hebrew letters is that both are twenty-two in number, and even this association is imperfect since some Tarot packs have more than twenty-two trumps. However, the standard Tarot adopted by French occultists in the nineteenth century does indeed have trumps equal in number to the Hebrew letters, and this was enough to cause a connection to be formed between the two. Teachings of the Golden Dawn The esoteric analysis and magical use of the Tarot was not elevated to the level of high art until it became part of the system of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Samuel Liddell Mathers, in the process of conveying the teachings of the Secret Chiefs that he and his wife received psychically by scrying, astral travel, and other means, delivered a complete set of occult correspondences for the Tarot of greater complexity and precision than any that had previously been created. It used the work of the French occultists as its foundation, but overshadowed them with its degree of sophistication. The teachings on the Tarot received by Mathers and his wife from the Secret Chiefs remain perhaps the greatest achievement of the Golden Dawn. They form the prevalent modern esoteric structure of the Tarot and are widely accepted as the standard, although other systems of correspondences exist. The Golden Dawn was the first occult society to use the Tarot trumps as astral keys. By contemplating the image of a card, a member was expected not only to attain a mysti194. Lkvi, History of Magic, 240. Chapter Twelve: The Tarot 199 cal understanding of the meaning of its symbolism, but also to be able to project consciousness into the astral plane represented by the card, in order to converse with the spiritual beings that lived there and to learn to command them. This was done by means of Kabbalistic divine names that were vibrated in a special way on the breath, so that they resonated in the chest and in the bones of the head. Dion Fortune wrote: When one is deeply moved, and at the same time devotionally exalted, the voice drops several tones below its normal pitch and becomes resonant and vibrant; it is this tremor of emotion combined with the resonance of devotion which constitutes the vibration of a Name, and this cannot be learnt or taught; it can only be spontane~us.'~~ Fortune is a bit misleading, in that it is perfectly possible to teach anyone to vibrate a word of power in a physical sense. What cannot be easily taught is the inner vibration of the word, which occurs on higher levels of the mind. The general concept of vibrating power words to control spiritual beings was derived from the magic of the Egyptians and the Gnostics, who used words composed of vowel sounds as weapons and as instruments of compulsion on the astral levels. These words were meaningless in the ordinary sense, and came to be known as barbarous words of evocation, since it was believed that they derived from ancient and forgotten languages. However, the words used by the Golden Dawn were not meaningless, but were Hebrew names of God that were sounded by members of the Golden Dawn in a manner similar to the way that the Egyptian magicians and Gnostic priests vocalized their barbarous words. Israel Regardie wrote that the supreme defense when traveling in astral realms was to assume the god-form of Harpocrates, the Greek god of healing. "The astral image should be formulated either as rising from a Lotus, or else standing erect over two crocodile^.^"^^ A manner of testing the truthfulness of spiritual beings was to confront them with the Golden Dawn symbol known as the Banner of the West, a black banner upon which is an upright white triangle having within it a red cross. "Thus, should the being be of an evil nature- 'thus far and no farther' is the message indicated to it by the Banner. The interposition of the Banner would be immediately efficacious, by causing it to disappear instantaneously. If, however, the entity is well-intentioned and not evil, no harm will 195. Fortune, Mystical Qabalah, 207-8. 196. Regardie, 465. 200 Soul Flight have been done by that formulation. No balanced force, no power of good, will object or resent legitimate forms of testing its integrity."'97 I mention these Golden Dawn practices as a matter of general interest, since in scrying and traveling astrally into the Tarot trumps, these were some of the techniques used by members of that occult order. However, it is not necessary to adopt Golden Dawn techniques in order to imitate its practice of using Tarot trumps as astral doorways, or astral keys. Concerning the Golden Dawn method of scrying in the spirit vision and pathworking, Gareth Knight observed: "It was their practice, for example, to visualize themselves in full ceremonial robes and accoutrements and to have a complex system of checking whether a symbol or scene arising in consciousness was genuine or not by projecting upon it an appropriate Hebrew letter of a planetary sign to see if it dissolved the picture. . . . Such techniques can be useful but are really unnecessary given faith and pure i n t e n t i ~ n . " ' ~ ~ There are two ways the astral worlds of the Tarot trumps can be entered and explored. The first is directly, by using the trump as a doorway through which the astral body passes. This is the simplest method, requiring no ritual structure, but it may prove the more difficult method precisely for those reasons. The second way is to use the Tarot trump as a key within the context of the general ritual of projection. Tarot Trumps as Doorways In using the first method, sit comfortably with the Tarot trump you wish to enter positioned in front of you near enough so that you can see its details clearly. The room light should be dim, but not to such a degree that you find it difficult to see the image on the card. Study the card closely and consider its symbolism as a meditation. When you feel you have formed a connection with the card, close your eyes while holding its image in your mind, so that you seem to see it projected against the insides of your closed eyelids. When the image becomes indistinct, open your eyes and reinforce your mental image of the card by looking briefly at the physical image, then close your eyes and sustain the trump in your imagination. Continue in this way for some time, striving to make the Tarot image ever more real and detailed in your imagination. Try to see beyond its edges in your mind, as though -- 197. - Regardie, 465. 198. Knight, Practical Guide, vol. 2,276. Chapter Twelve: The Tarot 201 it were a three-dimensional scene that you looked upon through a little window. Try to see behind objects in the scene. If details appear in your mental image of the trump that are not in the painting on the card, allow them to arise unhindered. If the leaves of trees begin to move in the breeze, or a stream or river in the image begins to flow, allow these animations to play themselves before your inner vision. When you have managed to open the image on the card into a three-dimensional scene, mentally will the border of the card to expand until it is like the opening of a doorway and is large enough to step through. Arise from your chair in your astral body and step into the frame of the Tarot trump. The central image on the trump will be displayed before you, but you will also see much more going on to either side, and beyond that tableau. The trump is an entire world that is colored by the meaning and emotion of the central tableau that makes up the card image, with its own inhabitants whose natures and experiences have been shaped by that primary meaning. At first, it is likely that these excursions into the worlds of the Tarot trumps will be exercises in creative imagination rather than astral journeys. Even at this level, they are an excellent way to understand the meanings of the picture cards of the Tarot. If you persevere and are successful with this technique, at some point it will no longer be necessary for you to deliberately create details in the astral landscape you imagine, but details will occur spontaneously,and you will begin to encounter the inhabitants of the astral world of the trumps. Every person who enters the trumps will experience different aspects of the Tarot worlds, because these landscapes are not fixed and unchanging, but are modified by the expectations and responses of the person who enters them. There is a certain objective level of experience that is enforced by the actual symbolism used in the Tarot image, but much of the perception of these worlds is subjective. The astral planes are reflections of higher realities, and like all reflections are subject to distortion. When you have completed your exploration of the world of the trump, it is a simple matter to return to the doorway, step through it back into your practice chamber, and return your astral body to the chair in which your physical body sits with its eyes closed. Opening your eyes will end the projection. If you find that your astral body does not want to reintegrate with your physical body, which may happen when the astral landscape within the trump is finely detailed and self-animated,you should make the sign of the circle-cross over the astral doorway of the trump once you have exited it, and deliberately visualize it shrinking back down to the dimensions of the Tarot card. Banishing the doorway in this manner will make it easier to reintegrate with your physical body. 202 Soul Flight It is also a good practice on the grounds of security, although there is little danger to be encountered in the worlds of the trumps. Tarot Trumps as Astral Keys To employ a Tarot trump for an astral key, hold it beneath your hands to your solar plexus as you lie on the bed in your practice chamber after you draw the circle of protection around your bed, and just prior to forming the sign of projection above your face. It is a good idea to place the card in a protective envelope or wallet to prevent its damage from the moisture of your hands. You should meditate on the trump before beginning the ritual of projection, so that you can easily hold the image of the trump in your imagination. Conduct the general ritual of projection as described in chapter 10, using the Tarot card as a keycard to open the door of your astral chamber and the doors of the elevator. Even if the card is enclosed in a wallet on the physical level, its image is exposed on one side of the keycard on the astral level. The astral landscapes of the Tarot trumps do not exist in either the past or future, but they are slightly above the base level of the astral world, so you must use the up button once you are inside the elevator. The landscapes of the trumps are not all on the same level, but are arranged one above the other in the mirror opposite of the way in which the trumps are ordered in the Tarot pack. That is to say, the final trump XXI The World is on the lowest of the twenty-two levels, and the first trump 0 The Fool is on the highest level. You can enter any trump you wish. There is no necessity to work your way through the series in successive rituals. However, this is a good way to gain an overall familiarity with all of the worlds of the Tarot trumps. It might seem as though the trump of The Devil would lie on one of the infernal levels of the astral world, and be accessed by using the down button of the elevator, but that is not the case. The Tarot scenes should be thought of as dramatic tableaux, or stage sets, that exist for the purpose of education. It is not the real world of the Devil that you visit; it is a kind of dramatic presentation of that world that exists in harmony with the similar presentations of all the other trumps. That is why visiting the landscapes of the trumps seldom presents any danger to the traveler. The beings who inhabit these landscapes are actors whose purpose is to teach you. They will sometimes stage short, impromptu pantomimes for this purpose, which you must interpret based on your knowledge of the trump. The function of the Tarot is instruction. Chapter Twelve: The Tarot 203 Golden Dawn Correspondences for the Trumps The order and attributions of the Tarot trumps below are based on the Golden Dawn system of occult correspondences, which is the standard system used in the modern Western esoteric tradition. It is necessary to have some familiarity with this material in order to use the trumps effectively during pathworking, which will be examined in the next chapter. This is not to imply that the arrangement is inviolable, and can never be improved upon, but the Golden Dawn order and attributions for the trumps are a good place to start when getting to know their astral landscapes, and when investigating their pathways on the Tree of the Sephiroth. This set of correspondences for the trumps occurs in what is known as the Golden Dawn cipher document,199the supposed seminal outline upon which the Golden Dawn rituals and teachings were based. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know who wrote this portion of the cipher document or when, and in the absence of confirmation I prefer to attribute this material to Mathers, or more properly to the Secret Chiefs. A member of the Golden Dawn, John William Brodie-Innes was once heard to observe that it did not matter whether the gods or the Secret Chiefs actually exist. "The point is that the Universe behaves as though they do."200Those familiar with the astral world and its inhabitants will have little difficulty accepting that the Secret Chiefs do exist, or at least that they existed for Mathers and that they transmitted their teachings through him. Once you are thoroughly familiarwith the Golden Dawn correspondencesfor the trumps and their assignment to the paths on the Tree, you may be inclined to make changes in these arrangements that appear necessary, even as I have done in my own work. You will find my reordering of the Tarot trumps described at the end of my book Portable Magic. I do not propose to give it here since it is apt to cause confusion for those new to the study of the Tarot. It does not matter which Tarot deck you choose to scry or travel into, but once a deck is selected you should continue to use it until you have investigated the astral landscapes of all the trumps. It is not a useful practice to mix trumps from different decks on successive days during experiments in projection, as the costumes, historical period, and general quality of the scenes vary considerably from Tarot to Tarot. For example, the Marseilles deck depicts figures and scenes of the Renaissance, whereas the Thoth deck of Aleister Crowley is abstract and more modern. 199. Kiintz, Complete Golden Dawn, 116-7. 200. Ibid., 34. 204 Soul Flight The descriptions of the trumps below are based on the enormously popular Tarot designed by A. E. Waite, and drawn by the artist Pamela Colman Smith. My purpose is to convey the general atmosphere of each Tarot trump, and its essential or core meaning that will determine many of the details you will encounter when you enter its landscape. The Hebrew letter, its esoteric association, and the occult correspondence are drawn from the Golden Dawn system. Your own experiences within these worlds may differ from those I describe. This is to be expected. 0 The Fool Hebrew letter: Aleph (ox) Correspondence: Air Path: Eleventh The association of the ox to the trump of the Fool, through the first Hebrew letter, Aleph, indicates the stubborn nature of the Fool's quest. He forges onward, in search of he knows not what, heedless of the dangers that may lie in his path. The Waite trump emphasizes his airy nature by showing him on a high mountain precipice, the wind blowing the sleeves of his loose coat, the sun blazing down pitilessly like a great all-seeing eye from the blue heavens. The little dog at the feet of the fool may be barking a warning to him to pay attention to where he is about to place his step, yet from its posture the dog appears caught up in the enthusiasm of the Fool, and may be encouraging him forward with its senseless barking. The world of the Fool in the Waite Tarot is a world of mountain trails, steep cliffs, and airy openness. Those who travel through it are apt to encounter wonders, but must have a care to avoid falling into snares and traps. Beyond the edges of the card may lie the stone cottages of mountain dwellers, caves that shelter dangerous wild beasts, and perhaps an abandoned fortress that once guarded a mountain pass. There are rushing streams and waterfalls, evergreen forests on steep slopes, and high meadows fdled with wildflowers, upon which mountain sheep graze, unmindful of the wolves who watch and wait in the shadows. The ruling intelligence of this world is an oracular voice speaking in riddles that may hinder or help, depending on their interpretation. This oracle is unseen, its form concealed within a shining whirlwind that dazzles with its radiance, but it may be the Holy Grail, common quest of the foolish and the wise. Chapter Twelve: The Tarot 205 I The Magician Hebrew letter: Beth (house) Correspondence:Mercury Path: Twelfth Unlike the Fool, who wanders through the wilds of the natural world, the Magician functions within the environs of men-interacting with them, matching his wits with theirs, amazing and deceiving their senses. The art of the Magician is illusion, yet his efforts to understand and control the ways of the world and the ways of mankind have given him a quick wit and a cunning mind. By striving to master others, he has succeeded in large measure in understanding and mastering his own human frailties and errors. The simple tools of his trade, symbols of the four elements that compose all things, allow him to express his command by the manipulation of the forces of nature. His world is a public market square in an old-fashioned country town of cobblestone streets and shops and houses with steeply pitched roofs. It is possible to wander out of the square through its four gates, but the streets beyond, closed on both sides by the fronts of buildings and by high stone walls, bend and twist back upon themselves like the windings of a labyrinth. The inhabitants of the town are sly and knowing in their manner toward strangers, and the children enjoy playing tricks. Even the animals that may be encountered, such as horses, dogs, or cats, have a knowing light in their eyes. The ruling intelligence of this trump is Hermes, the Greek god of commerce, communication, and wisdom. His oracle is a square pillar that has the bearded head of the god carved into its upper part, located near the central well of the marketplace. If you place a coin upon the stone ledge at the base of the pillar, the god may grant your wish. II The High Priestess Hebrew letter: Gimel (camel) Correspondence:Moon Path: Thirteenth The High Priestess is a mature, solemn woman who presides over a sisterhood responsible for the keeping of the books in a great library. Those who come to consult the library must gain her approval before they can pass between the pillars that guard its entrance, where she sits and interviews anyone who seeks entry. She has a penetrating gaze and is able to look past the superficial mask into the very heart of travelers. It is useless to try to deceive her. She dresses in a long robe that is the blue and silver of the moon, and wears a silver crescent at her forehead. A black cat, her familiar beast, is always nearby, watching and protecting her. The unspeaking sisters who move like silver shadows between the high shelves in the main reading hall care for the books as if they were their own children, and there is no sign of dust or neglect anywhere within the vast building, which is arranged somewhat like a nunnery, with a dining hall and corridors of sleeping chambers for the sisters on the upper level. The appearance of the library is gothic, its pillars carved stone, its windows of colored glass tall and narrow. Everything is done in an orderly fashion. Those who request a book wait at a reading table in the main reading hall, and a sister brings the book to them, then returns it to its place when the reader is done with it. The ruling intelligence is Diana, goddess of the moon. Her oracle is to be found in a small chapel dedicated to the lunar goddess. It has the form of a silver bowl filled with clear water that rests on a low stone pedestal. By gazing at the light from the round window above the altar that is reflected in the surface of the water, visions may be seen. III The Empress Hebrew letter: Daleth (door) Correspondence:Venus Path: Fourteenth A gracious lady of the manor who is in the late stage of pregnancy sits out of doors in the sunlight in a field of ripe grain, enjoying the fine weather and the fresh air. Her skin is flawless and lightly tanned, so that it has a golden color; her hair is blonde and has been bleached to paleness by the action of the sunlight. It falls around her shoulders in natural curls. She has an expression of pleasant expectancy on her face, as though she is waiting the arrival of someone who will amuse or entertain her. Soft cushions and rich, embroidered cloths have been arranged on her chair to give her a place of comfort. Around her brow she wears a circlet cunningly fashioned into the shape of tiny white flowers, which almost have the appearance of stars. Beyond the seated matron, a stream of rushing water divides the land, and on its far bank are visible the trees of a forest. The forest is wild, not cultivated-the cultivated land ends at the stream. What cannot been seen within the frame of the trump is the stately country manor house with its walled gardens, vineyard, and stables, toward which the Empress gazes with such delighted expectation. Soon entertainers will issue forth from Chapter Twelve: The Tarot 207 the gates of the great house and put on a pantomime for her amusement. Everything has been arranged for her pleasure. The ruling intelligence is Venus, goddess of love and sensual enjoyment-and also the goddess who presides over the health of beasts and the growth of crops. Her oracle is delivered in the form of the pantomime staged for the Empress by the minstrels who have been hired to entertain her. By observing the show, closely held truths may be revealed. IV The Emperor Hebrew letter: Heh (window) Correspondence: Aries Path: Fifteenth The Emperor is an elderly but strongly built man with a white beard, who sits upon a throne in a place of natural fortification that encloses and protects his army. It is evident from the armor he wears beneath his tunic and cloak that he is engaged in some military campaign. He looks directly forward with an unwavering gaze and a determined and somewhat grim expression on his weather-worn face. His reserves of vital energy are deep, and he is in the process of applying them through the force of his will to the accomplishment of his purpose, which is not of a personal nature, but involves the well-being of the people under his authority. It is evident that he has led his army into a canyon surrounded by steep rock walls and watered by a stream that flows across its floor, an ideal place to withstand a long siege. What cannot be seen beyond the edges of the card are the fortifications and ramparts that have been constructed to repel the hostile force from the entrance to this canyon, or the armed guards that constantly pace and keep watch on the walls of the keep. The contest will be a battle of wills as much as a physical confrontation, and the victor will be the side that does not lose sight of its greater purpose. The ruling intelligence is the god of shepherds, who in Egypt took the form of the ram-headed deity, Amon. His oracular revelations are delivered directly to the Emperor, who relies on them for his strategies of warfare. By conversing with the Emperor on his throne, they can be discovered. 208 Soul Flight V The Hierophant Hebrew letter: Vau (nail) Correspondence: Taurus Path: Sixteenth The Hierophant is the pope of a religion of ancient origins and long-established traditions, who ensures that the divine laws are observed and who punishes those who violate them. He sits in an audience hall within a great stone cathedral on a golden and jewel-encrusted throne, a crown of gold upon his head, wrapped in official robes of royal purple. At his feet kneel two priests who have been selected to plead a religious controversy he is presently judging. One priest argues in favor of the defendant, and the other argues for the prosecution. The defendant is not present at this trial nor would he be permitted to speak in his own defense. The determination of orthodoxy is purely a matter for the church to decide, and the Hierophant has absolute power of judgment. Around his throne rise the pillars of a great gothic cathedral. Sunlight streams in through the stained glass windows and lies in bright panels across the flagstones of the floor. Those who have come to hear the judgments passed by the Hierophant sit in respectful silence in pews extending down the length of the nave. They are permitted to hear the cases argued and judgments spoken, but are not allowed to speak. The ruling intelligence is a golden calf that occupies a pedestal behind the altar of sacrifice, which shows rusty traces of dried blood. It does not offer oracles, but remains mute. All of its laws have already been uttered and written down in a book bound with black calfskin, and there are no new revelations. Those who seek guidance must do so by looking into the black book on its reading stand beside the altar. VI The Lovers Hebrew letter: Zayin (sword) Correspondence: Gemini Path: Seventeenth A young man and young woman are united in marriage by a winged angel beneath the bright rays of the sun. In the Waite design, both are naked and represent Adam and Eve. The woman stands beneath the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, around the trunk of which coils a green serpent. The man stands beneath the Tree of Life, the leaves of which are flames. The angel, who may be the archangel Michael, blesses their union from a cloud of Chapter Twelve: The Tarot 209 glory. When not portraying this pantomime of the marriage rite, they come and go beneath the trees of the orchard that lies off the edges of the card. The angel is not always present. The field behind them is unfenced and uncultivated, and shows only a low green ground cover. The earth has yet to be plowed; the seed has yet to be sowed in it. Notice that the bodies of the couple are hairless apart from their heads, indicating immaturity. In the background is a conical mountain toward the peak of which the woman seems to gesture with her left hand. It may be the source of the clouds from which the angel has appeared. The ruling intelligence of this trump is the oracle on the peak of the mountain, who when approached will speak from a shining cloud on questions of personal relationships and marriage. VII The Chariot Hebrew letter: Cheth (fence) Correspondence: Cancer Path: Eighteenth Before the fortification wall of a town, a young man stands in a podium that resembles a chariot of war beneath a sheltering blue canopy decorated with stars. He wears ceremonial armor and a crown. It appears that he is just about to begin to address a multitude gathered in front of him, or has just completed his speech. It is evident that the chariot is not riding into battle by the strange creatures who are harnessed to it-they lounge indolently on the grass. Beyond the limits of the card is a green meadow that has been prepared for a medieval knight's jousting tournament. Young noblemen sit their armored and decorated horses, while their squires hurry about preparing their weapons. The leaders of the town sit to watch the display in a grandstand of wood erected for the purpose. The ruling intelligences of this trump are the sphinxes harnessed to the ceremonial chariot. When you ask a question of them, the answer, if it is favorable, is delivered from the mouth of the white sphinx. But if it predicts ill fortune, the black sphinx will utter it. VIII Strength Hebrew letter: Teth (snake) Correspondence: Leo Path: Nineteenth A graceful woman in a long white gown, with a garland of roses in her hair, gently closes the gaping jaws of a male lion with her bare hands. The tongue of the lion lolls out the side of his mouth to lick her on the hand. On the Waite design, the garland of roses around her waist extends down to wrap around the neck of the lion, joining her to the lion. The landscape in which they walk along together is pastoral and pleasant with rolling green grasses and stately shade trees in the background. In taking her pet lion for a walk, the woman, who is evidently of gentle birth, has not wandered far from the grounds of her country estate, to which she is returning. The lion has perceived a threat from a passing traveler and has snarled at the stranger in warning, but the woman admonishes her faithful guardian by closing his jaws. The danger is imaginary, not real. If you approach the woman to talk, she may invite you to her home for a feast in her dining hall. The ruling intelligence of this card is a hunter dressed in a lion skin who carried a crude club for his only weapon, which he uses to enforce the peace and order of the countryside. He is inarticulate but sometimes gives rough yet practical advice. IX The Hermit Hebrew letter: Yod (hand) Correspondence: Virgo Path: Twentieth In a snowy, mountainous region, a bearded man in a long, gray robe that is like the habit of a monk beckons with a lantern raised in his hand. His back is humped with age. He leans with care on his walking staff so that his feet do not slip in the snow on the edge of the steep slope that extends below him. In spite of his age, he shows no signs of cold. Beyond this lonely figure, the sky darkens into night. It will not be long before the stars appear. He has been expecting your approach along the mountain path to the hermitage, and the late hour has caused the old man who is the sole keeper of the high spiritual retreat to use his lantern as a beacon so that you do not become lost and wander off the path and over a cliff in the darkness. The hermitage is a rough building of heavy timbers on a foundation of native stone, build to withstand the storms of winter. The old Chapter Twelve: The Tarot 21 1 man invites you inside when he sees you, so that you may warm yourself before the fire in the common room. It is a lonely spot and he seldom gets visitors. The ruling intelligence is the virgin goddess of the heavens, Virgo, whose statue stands within a small shrine inside the hermitage. If you light a candle in her honor, she may respond to your question by either nodding or by shaking her head. X The Wheel ofFortune Hebrew letter: Kaph (fist) Correspondence: Jupiter Path: Twenty-first The Waite version of this trump is abstract and does a poor job of presenting its astral landscape. It is an old-fashioned wooden fairground wheel similar to a Ferris wheel, but turned by a crank at its axis. Various fantastic animal figures decorate the wheel. On a platform at the top is carved the image of a sphinx. A creature resembling a jackal is carved into the rim of the turning wheel and seems to rise as the wheel is cranked around by its sweating operator, and a creature like an undulating serpent is carved into the rim on the opposite side and appears to descend with the wheel's rotation. Children wearing the carnival masks of fantastic animals laugh with glee as they cling to the rungs on the edge of the wheel and try to ride it to the sphinx, who keeps as a prize a brass ring on the end of its sword. A country carnival is in progress all around the wheel. Men are engaged in contests involving balance as they try to knock each other off a narrow rail. A primitive turntable is pushed by young men as several young women cling to it and shriek with glee. Confections are sold from carts with large awnings over them. Barkers at the doors of tents attempt to intrigue the fairgoers into paying a fee to enter. The entire town appears to be enjoying itself under the warm rays of the afternoon sun. The ruling intelligence of this trump is the Roman goddess Fortuna, whose image is carved into the upright support of the wheel so that the shaft of the crank looks as if it passes between her legs, although her legs are concealed beneath the folds of her long dress. She has both hands raised and extended in invitation to an equal degree, and her gaze is expressionless and level. When asked her opinion about a future event, the turning of the wheel clockwise indicates a positive response, but the opposite turning is negative. 212 Soul Flight XI Justice Hebrew letter: Lamed (ox goad) Correspondence: Libra Path: Twenty-second A mature and serious woman sits between two pillars, robed in the costume of a judge. In one hand she holds up a set of weighing scales, and in the other, a sword-the symbols of her profession that signify respectively a fair and equal trial and the dispensation of punishment. Her artificial posture has the appearance of a formal pose as she walks into the courtroom with her instruments of justice in her hands, and sits upon the judgment seat before the audience assembled to witness the events of the trial. She soon puts aside her symbols, and the trial begins. The environment of this trump is the interior of a courtroom. Behind the lady judge is an open window covered with a curtain that conceals the place of execution from the gaze of those in the courtroom. If her judgment is for a sentence of death, this curtain is withdrawn. The astral traveler may enter this scene as a spectator, a witness, or as the accused. The manner of the officers of the court is formal and reserved. Guards prevent precipitous exits through the doors at the sides of the chamber. The ruling intelligence of the trump is the Greek goddess of justice, Themis, whose bronze statue adorns the back of the courtroom. She stands perfectly straight with a great executioner's sword balanced upright before her, its point resting on the floor at her feet, one of her hands clasping each side of its guard. She stares straight ahead. When questioned about legal matters, or matters of judgment, she inclines the hilt of her sword to her right-hand side for yes and to her left-hand side for no. XII The Hanged Man Hebrew letter: M e m (water) Correspondence: Water Path: Twenty-third An enigmatic tableau greets the astral traveler into the world of this trump. A man hangs suspended by one ankle from a wooden scaffold with his arms bound behind his back, his head low over the mouth of a pit dug into the ground at the base of the scaffold. The leg that is free crosses behind the leg that is bound. He does not speak or seem to notice his surroundings. His face bears a rapt expression, as though he peers into some unseen distant reality and strives to comprehend its meaning. Chapter Twelve: The Tarot 213 The place of his trial of endurance is at a crossroads remote from human habitation. Forest trees lower their boughs close to the dirt roads, the spaces between their trunks filled with green shadows. The pit has mud at its bottom the depth of which cannot be guessed by looking at it. Were the rope around his ankle to snap, it is possible that the inverted man would disappear below its surface. Those who come walking along the roads stop and make gestures to the Hanged Man, trying to attract his attention. They even put on little pantomimes, but he ignores their efforts. The ruling intelligence of the trump speaks oracles of wisdom through the mouth of the Hanged Man without his awareness of what is spoken. It is an angel that possesses his body while his spirit is absent. XIII Death Hebrew letter: Nun (fish) Correspondence: Scorpio Path: Twenty-fourth The pallid, ghostly figure of Death, who in Waite's trump wears black armor and rides a pale horse, bears the black standard of a white rose. He carries no weapon-his mere touch, or even his deliberate gaze through the opened visor of his helmet, is fatal. He never speaks, but only gestures with the skull of his face fixed in a permanent grin. It is prudent for the astral traveler to give his horse the right of way, and not to look at his face. Those who meet him along the road at sunset sometimes weep, or plead for mercy, or fall to their knees. The strength of their limbs leaves them so that they cannot flee. He spurns their lifeless corpses beneath the hooves of his white steed as he rides slowly past, deaf to all entreaties. The land on either side of the road is barren and blighted, showing only brown stubble of dead grass and a few dying trees in the distance that grow along the bank of a poisonous river. The ruling intelligences of the trump are the three Moires, or Fates, who determine the length of human existence-Klotho who spins the thread of life, Lachesis who sustains it, and Atropos who cuts it. They cannot be prevailed upon to extend the term of existence but may reveal some of its mysteries if invoked by name. 214 Soul Flight XIV Temperance Hebrew letter: Samekh (tent prop) Correspondence: Sagittarius Path: Twenty-Ffth An androgynous angelic figure stands at the margin of a pool, measuring the contents of one cup into another, so that the liquid makes a diagonal stream between the vessels. His--or perhaps it is her-attention is raptly focused on the task to avoid spilling even a single drop, so that the level in both cups may be made exactly equal. One cup originally held a strong wine, and the other was filled with pure water from the pool, but by pouring and repouring they have been combined. The angel will offer you one of the cups, and will keep the other to drink from as you sample yours, sharing this diluted wine with you in a spirit of harmony. It is impossible to determine whether the sun near the mountains on the horizon behind the figure is rising or setting. Green marsh grasses and flowers grow all around the edge of the pond. The land is well-watered and fertile farmland. The air is mild, and the time of year has the feel of late spring. Frogs sound their notes from the lilies and birds sing in the grasses. On the other side of the pond, cattle approach the edge to drink. The water remains pure thanks to a stream that flows in and flows out. If you explore this landscape, you will find the farming folk pleasant and cheerful. The ruling intelligence of the trump is Eirene, one of the Horae, the Greek goddess of peace to whom were made bloodless sacrifices. Her open-air shrine is not far from the pond, containing her stone statue. When invoked by name and asked a question, she may respond with a nod to answer in the affirmative. X V The Devil Hebrew letter:Ayin (eye) Correspondence: Capricorn Path: Twenty-sixth Masquers come dancing through the town street in the darkness, flaming torches in their hands, their bodies painted and their faces masked so that they resemble the demons of the infernal regions. The central piece in their procession is a statue on a black pedestal on wheels that is pulled by a naked man and a naked woman who are chained by their necks to the pedestal. Both wear horns on their heads and tails protrude from their backsides. The terrifying figure on the pedestal is a giant with bat-like wings and the curving Chapter Twelve: The Tarot 215 horns of a goat. His torso and arms are bare, showing his red skin, but his legs are hairy and his feet resemble the talons of a hawk. An inverted pentagram adorns his head like a crown. He holds an inverted torch in his left hand, while his right hand is raised in a gesture of damnation. As this procession makes it way through the town, the revelers keep up a constant din by beating on drums and pots with sticks, blowing whistles and flutes, and singing and hollering at the tops of their voices. Most of them are drunk. The townspeople watch them with amusement from the sidewalks. Now and then, the painted revelers seize one of the onlookers and refuse to release him until he ransoms his freedom with a coin. When the procession reaches the town square, the chains are symbolicallystruck off the necks of the naked man and woman by an imp wielding a sword, and the giant devilish figure is set on fire. The ruling intelligence is Pan, god of nature. The flutes invoke his presence at the celebration in the form of a goat that is led along after the statue. For the price of a coin, the masked revelers will let you ask your questions of the goat, who will bleat to indicate an affirmative response. XVI The Blasted Tower Hebrew letter: Pe (mouth) Correspondence: Mars Path: Twenty-seventh A tall tower of stone built upon a peak and accessible only by a steep and winding road is struck by a bolt of lightning during a storm. The crown of the tower catches fire and the blaze, driven by strong wings, begins to work its way down to the lower levels, its progress indicated by the flames that issue from successively lower windows. The inhabitants of the tower leap to their deaths from its windows to avoid the heat of the flames. There is no way for you to go to their aid because the entrance at the rear of the tower remains barred. The townspeople who climb the hill to watch the progress of the flames are as helpless as you are. They inform you that the owners of the tower, a wealthy nobleman and his wife, were so fearful of being robbed that they built this impregnable citadel on the hill, where they could live with their children and trusted servants in complete security from intrusion. They may whisper rumors of dark doings in the tower concerning torture and black magic. As you watch, the tower collapses and falls into a heap of rubble. The ruling intelligence of the trump is Mars, the god of warfare and destruction. If you listen, you may hear his voice speaking in the crackle and roar of the flames. XVlI The Star Hebrew letter: Tzaddi (fish-hook) Correspondence:Aquarius Path: Twenty-eighth An attractive, naked woman pours out the contents of two pitchers beneath a starry night sky as she kneels on one knee at the margin of a river. The liquid from one vessel falls on the land, and the stream from the other falls into the water. A single great star dominates the other seven above her head. It is evident that she is involved in some occult ritual that pertains to the fecundity and fruitfulness of the land and the water. In the tree visible past her shoulder, a bird sits and watches. The great star is Sirius, known as the Dog Star, which was venerated by the Egyptians because it rose above the eastern horizon at the time of the year when the Nile River flooded and overflowed its banks. In this way, the fertility of the farmlands of Egypt were annually renewed by a fresh deposit of river silt. The bird is the phoenix, which periodically renews itself and rises as a youthful bird from the remains of its former aged body. When we gaze around at the world of this trump, we find that the land is part of a green floodplain beside a river. The remains of ancient stone columns and great statues lie broken and toppled into the rich black soil, so that they are half concealed by the grass and plants. Some distance away there is a temple to the Egyptian goddess Hathor, whose statues have the shape of a cow and also that of a woman with a cow's head, or a woman with a headdress of curving cow's horns. The ruling intelligence of this trump is the goddess Hathor, from whose breasts flow the sustaining milk of the stars. The phoenix will act as her oracle, for if you pose it a question about some future event, it will cry out in its shrill voice if the answer is yes. XVIII The Moon Hebrew letter: Qoph (back of the head) Correspondence:Pisces Path: Twenty-ninth The full moon shines down her light on a path that winds its way up from the edge of a stagnant pond into the distant hills that line the horizon. Droplets of night dew shower down with her silvery beams. On either side of the path stand two animals like dogs. Or one of them may be a wolf. They try to catch the falling dew on their tongues as they howl and bark at the moon. Behind them, unnoticed, a crayfish crawls silently out of the pool Chapter Twelve: The Tarot 217 onto the path with its claws raised in menace. In the middle distance stand two similar watchtowers, so that the path undulates between them. Their windows are darkened. The scene gives an oppressive sense of danger and despair. You observe these things while standing in the reeds and rank grasses that grow on the far side of the pool of murky, slime-covered water. It has a fetid smell of decay. By making your way quietly around the pool, you escape the notice of the snarling and howling animals, who appear half mad as they threaten each other across the imaginary barrier of the path. The moonlight makes the scene almost as bright as day. Glistening dew lies like a frost on every blade of grass and every leaf. When you reach one of the watchtowers, you find the door carelessly left unlocked. All the soldiers, who are evidently the military force of the nobleman that owns the tower, lie sleeping in their beds as though drugged, and cannot be awakened. Crossing to the other tower, you discover an identical situation, but the guards wear the crest of a different noble house. Something moves in the higher chambers of the tower. The ruling intelligence of this trump is Hecate, triple goddess of the moon who presides over black magic, nightmares, and the use of drugs and poisons. Among her beasts are the dog and the wolf. If you sit on the grass with a bowl of water on the ground so that you can see the moon reflected in its depths, you can establish a communication with this goddess and learn of her many dark secrets of deception and glamoury (false appearance). XIX The Sun Hebrew letter: Resh (head) Correspondence: Sun Path: Thirtieth Beyond a low stone wall grows a garden filled with tall sunflowers. Their heavy flower heads droop and nod in the warmth of a noontime summer sun. Bees and other insects move lazily from flower to flower. You hear childish laughter, and turn to see a naked boy galloping wildly toward you on a gray pony, waving a red banner in his hand. He rides bareback but seems in no danger of tumbling off as he flashes past you and continues along the wall of the garden. You perceive an open gateway through which the child has disappeared. Faintly, you hear his laughter from within the garden, and you approach the gateway and enter beneath its stone arch. Inside are many flowers, plants, and trees, with sandy pathways winding between them. In the center of the garden is a hedge maze, and the plants that form its walls are covered with red and yellow flowers. Birds keep up a ceaseless chatter in the tops of the trees, and swoop down to peck at the seeds in the heads of the sunflowers. The air is heavy with heat and shimmers as it rises from the path. The sound of music leads you into the maze. The ruling intelligence is the god Apollo, who is sometimes depicted in the form of a young boy. He is a god of healing, but can also cause sickness and death with the arrows of his golden solar bow. At his shrine in the center of the garden maze, you may consult his oracle through the mediation of his solemn white-robed priest, who utters the inspired responses of the god. XX The Last Judgement Hebrew letter: Shin (tooth) Correspondence: Fire Path: Thirty-first Clouds roil in the sky-shutting out the rays of the sun, which lights them with lurid red and orange. From the clouds sound the tones of strident trumpets. In the ancient graveyard in which you stand beside an old stone church, a rumbling is heard from the ground. The sods above the graves split apart as the rotting coffins push their way to the surface and burst open, releasing naked men, women, and children whose bodies are miraculously restored and show no signs of decay. The risen take little notice of your presence, but begin to sing joyously and lift their arms to the heavens. Some fall to their knees in prayer. Between the gray bodies of the risen walks a figure in white, his face radiant. As he touches each person in passing, they rise upward into the sky and vanish amid the clouds. Bear in mind that this is not the actual judgment you are witnessing, but a kind of dramatic enactment of it. The ruling intelligence of the trump is the archangel Gabriel, who will sound his horn on judgment day, causing the dead to rise from their graves. Go to him and converse with him. He will give you good advice. XXI The World Hebrew letter: Tau (cross) Correspondence: Saturn Path: Thirty-second A woman dances on a stage with a great python that wraps its gleaming, multicolored coils around her naked body and weaves its head and neck in time with the music of the flute and drum. Her long hair is bound up on the back of her head in a twisted braid, and Chapter Twelve: The Tarot 219 her legs cross as she leaps in time to the music from one bare foot to the other. She uses two small white wands to guide the serpent, holding one in each hand and applying them so skillfully that there is never a threat of her being bitten. On the stage curtain behind her are painted four heads that represent the four winds at the corners of the world-the heads of an angel, an eagle, a bull, and a lion. The members of the audience in the small, dark theater strain with mingled wonder and horror as the python sways and hisses. It is evident that they are not accustomed to such worldly entertainments. Leaving the theater, you find that it is contained within a fairground tent. Other tents beckon, advertising their shows as the wonders of the world. Their lights shine brightly in the gathering twilight, but the fairground is strangely deserted. The ruling intelligence of this trump is Urania, the Greek Muse who presides over the harmony of the heavenly spheres. She speaks only through her music and the graceful movements of her dancer. CHAPTER T H I RTECN Pathworking P athworkingwas a specialized form of astral projection developed within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn for investigating astral reflections of the higher spiritual realities represented by the various parts of the symbolic diagram generally known as the Tree of Life. It is important to bear in mind that all this work was confined to astral levels, and that the environments experienced by those who ascended the Tree using this technique were not the actual higher spiritual realms, but rather astral impressions or simulations of those realms. Observing that the visual impressions of the astral world are but "representations at their own level of higher forces:' Gareth Knight wrote. "However, 222 Soul Flight if one sticks to astral imagery one is still on the astral plane, even if one seems to be floating in a brilliant blaze of glory in Kether, with the Kerubim circling all around."201 The Tree of Life is derived from the system of Jewish mysticism known as the Kabbalah, which Westcott and Mathers incorporated into the teachings of the Golden Dawn. The Kabbalah was developed mainly in Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, although portions of it, such as the text Sepher Yetzirah, are much older. The Tree was an attempt to represent in a single diagram the stages in the emanation of the universe from the undifferentiated godhead to the physical environment that most people think of as surrounding them. Kabbalists understood the process not so much as a creation, but as a coming forth or extension of the divine essence in ten stages, which were called Sephiroth (singular form: Sephirah). These stages are conceived as spheres of light. The light is always the same within them-it is the undifferentiated light of God-but each successive emanation adds its own level of veiling or shadowing to that light, causing it to be perceived in a progressively more limited way. There is only a single spiritual radiance and it never changes, but it can be partially obscured or shadowed, lending it various different individual qualities or aspects, depending on how much of the light is able to shine through the veils, and in what way it is able to reveal itself. The Kircher Diagram The emanations were affirmed to be ten in number, and were arranged in various patterns by Kabbalists as a way of emphasizing different aspects of their collective nature and interactions. The Tree of Life adopted by the Golden Dawn is only one of these symbolic patterns for the Sephiroth, although it may be the most sophisticated. It appears almost exactly as it was used by Mathers and his flock in an illustration in the 1652 work Oedipus Aegyptiacus, written by the mystical philosopher and Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680). Very similar Trees of the Sephiroth, though not in all their details, are older, but there exist numerous symbolic arrangements of the Sephiroth that do not resemble trees in the least. One of the more popular arrangements developed by Jewish Kabbalists was concentric, so that the Sephiroth are shown emanating outward in everwidening circles from a central point. 201. Knight, vol. 2,278. Chapter Thirteen: Pathworking Golden Dawn Tree of Life 223 224 Soul Flight The Kircher and Golden Dawn glyph of the Tree is somewhat unusual for having three connecting pathways leading up from the lowest of the ten Sephiroth: Malkuth (the Kingdom), the sphere of the four elements that corresponds to the physical world. This appears to me to be an error in its structure. There are other glyphs of the Tree that show only a single path connecting Malkuth with the next higher Sephirah: Yesod (the Foundation), the sphere of the moon. It makes sense to me that all access to the higher spheres would be through the sphere of the moon, which, as the lowest of the astrological spheres that encircles the earth, functions as the gateway to the heavens. However, in the Golden Dawn Tree, it is possible to bypass the sphere of the moon by following paths that extend upward on either side. The most significant aspect of the Kircher model of the Tree is that the connecting paths, or channels, between the ten spheres of the Sephiroth number twenty-two. This allows them to be associated with the twenty-two Hebrew letters. Indeed, it almost demands that such a link be made, and the Hebrew letters appear on the paths in Kircher's illustration of the Tree. Since Mathers and Westcott had developed an occult correspondence between the twenty-two trumps of the Tarot and the Hebrew letters, it was natural that they should assign the trumps to the paths on the Tree that were occupied by their Hebrew letters. This was something new in Western occultism, and it is perhaps the most significant innovation made by the Golden Dawn. The connecting paths on the Tree became identified with their Tarot trumps, and their meanings colored by the meanings of the Tarot cards. During pathworking, the traveler astrally moves from Sephirah to Sephirah along the connecting paths. What is experienced on those pathways is determined in large measure by the Tarot trumps assigned to them in the Golden Dawn system. Whether this overshadowing of the paths by the trumps is justified is debatable. Traditional Jewish Kabbalists regard it with anathema. Whereas before its imposition, the meaning of a path was determined by the two Sephiroth that occupied its ends, and by its relative location on the Tree, the meanings of the trumps became predominant after the Tarot was applied to the paths. All of these ten spheres have their astral equivalents. It is these astral reflections, not the actual spheres, that are visited during the projection of the double. The lowest of the ten spheres is not actually the physical realm, but is the astral reflection of the physical. It Chapter Thirteen: Pathworking 225 is the same as what I have called the base level of the astral world, through which astral travelers wander when they believe themselves to be traveling across the surface of the earth in the physical realm. It is an almost exact duplicate of the physical plane, and may be thought of as corresponding with the astral chamber that acts as the staging zone for soul flights in the general ritual. Rising on the Planes It is possible to move from this base astral level straight upward on the Tree by following the vertical paths. This was known in the Golden Dawn as Rising on the Planes.202Mathers wrote: "By concentration and contemplation of the divine, you formulate a Tree of Life passing from you to the spiritual realms above and beyond yourself. Picture to yourself that you stand in Makuth, then by the use of the Divine Names and aspiration, you strive upwards by the Path of Tau towards Yesod, neglecting the crossing rays which attract you as you pass up. Look upward to the Divine Light shining downward from Kether upon you. From Yesod, leads upward the Path of Sarnekh, Temperance; the Arrow, cleaving upwards, leads the way to Tiphareth, the great central Sun."203 This brief direction by Mathers requires some amplification if it is to be understood by those unfamiliar with the Golden Dawn system of occultism. The glyph of the Tree of Life is to be visualized extending up from the body, and the traveler is to conceive himself standing within the sphere of Malkuth-this lowest sphere is to be entered in this manner on the astral level by the power of the imagination, as a starting place. The traveler then casts his astral awareness straight upward along the vertical path that extends from Malkuth to Yesod, the thirty-second path that is associated with the Hebrew letter Tau and the Tarot trump the World. Standing in Yesod, the traveler than hurls his awareness upward along the twenty-fifth path, which leads vertically between Yesod and Tiphareth on the central pillar of the Tree, and is associated with the letter Samekh and the trump Temperance. This was known by those in the Golden Dawn as the Path of the Arrow, because they imagined the diagonal and horizontal paths around it as forming a great bow. Temperance is linked in the Golden Dawn system with the astrological sign Sagittarius, the Archer, which gave rise to the conception of the twenty-fifth path as a great arrow. 202. Knight, vol. 2,277. 203. Regardie, 464. The astrological sun was placed in the central Sephirah, Tiphareth (Beauty), which was understood to be the seat of Jesus Christ and all other divine human beings, or Messiah figures. To attain the level of Tiphareth in a true sense was believed to be as high on the actual Tree of spiritual worlds that the normal human consciousness was capable of ascending. Tiphareth is infused with divine radiance continually from the summit of the Tree, the sphere of Kether (the Crown), via the vertical path that links Kether with Tiphareth. To rise on the planes in this manner was to ascend in consciousness directly toward God as high as consciousness was able to rise. The divine names mentioned by Mathers are the names of God assigned to the Sephir ~ t h . ~The O ~divine name used by the Golden Dawn in Malkuth is Adonai ha-Aretz (Lord of Earth), those in Yesod are Shaddai and El Chai (Almighty and the Mighty Living One), and those in Tiphareth are Eloah Vedaath and IHVH (God Manifest and Tetragrammaton). Tetragrammaton was vocalized by means of its individual Hebrew letters as YodHeh-Vav-Heh, or sometimes as Yahweh. These names would be vibrated on the breath in a ritual way, and simultaneouslyvisualized to float in Hebrew letters of glowing white fire upon the corresponding Sephirah of the Tree. By vibrating a name upon the breath, the traveler aspired in his consciousness toward it. The "crossing rays" alluded to by Mathers are the horizontal and diagonal paths on the Tree. Were they to be followed, they would lead to the Sephiroth on the two outer pillars. This would be a distraction away from the purification of spiritual awareness that is the object of this form of Rising on the Planes. Dion Fortune wrote, "the Western magical operation of Rising on the Planes takes place up the Central Pillar of the Tree; that is to say, the symbolism employed to induce this extension of consciousness does not take the Sephiroth in their numerical order, commencing with Malkuth, but goes from Malkuth to Yesod, and Yesod to Tiphareth, by what is called the Path of the Only the four central Sephiroth on the Tree are balanced in their nature. The Sephiroth on the other pillars of the Tree are polarized, and each can only be understood in relationship with their polar opposites on the other side of the Tree. They form three pairs: Chokmah-Binah,Chesed-Geburah, and Netzach-Hod. Since the purpose of Rising on the Planes in the Golden Dawn sense of the term is spiritual integration, to visit the other Sephiroth would be a distraction and would create imbalance and discordance in the mind. 204. Regardie, 64. 205. Fortune, Mystical Qabalah, 80. Chapter Thirteen: Pathworking 227 Even the central Sephiroth may be thought of as polarized, but this polarization occurs vertically, forming the dynamic vertical pairs of Malkuth-Yesod and TipharethKether. Its tension acts to draw the mind upward from matter to spirit. The most balanced of the Sephiroth is Tiphareth, which is considered to be the center of the Tree and to express incarnate divinity, either as human consciousness ascended into divine consciousness or as divine consciousness cast down into human consciousness, so that the two mingle and become one. In a spiritual sense, Jesus lived in the sphere of Tiphareth, even though his physical body was reflected in Malkuth, since his consciousness was perpetually united with the mind of God. This Golden Dawn understanding of Rising on the Planes is a bit limited. Rising on the Planes applies to any vertical astral travel-travel that occurs up through successive astral levels, rather than across a single level to different landscapes, particularly lateral travel across the base level that corresponds with the material world. The term was used in this broader general sense of passing upward through astral planes by Theosophists.However, in the Golden Dawn it acquired the very narrow and specific meaning of an astral ascent from Makuth to Tiphareth on the Tree of Life. Golden Dawn Pathworking By contrast, pathworking in the Golden Dawn was the exploration of any connecting pathway on the Tree. It could be done by following up the paths in their reverse order from the thirty-second to the eleventh-the first ten paths are assigned in the Kabbalah to the ten spheres of the Sephiroth. This tracing of the paths in reverse numerical order was known as the Way of the Serpent because it was conceived as the winding ascent of a serpent up the Tree from its base to its crown. It was not absolutely necessary to explore the paths in order from lowest to highest, although this was the recommended way of getting an initial familiarity with them. Any path could be accessed directly by projecting consciousness into the Sephirah that formed its lower end. The lower end of the horizontal paths was the end attached to the lower numbered of the two Sephiroth that were its terminations, the left sides of these three horizontal paths. For example, to explore the twenty-seventh path between Hod on the Left Pillar of the Tree, and Netzach on the Right Pillar, the traveler would project directly into Hod, and 228 Soul Flight from there move across the Tree along the path fi-om its left to its right side, and approach Netzach. It was advised that the Sephirah into which awareness was projected be conceived as a great pylon, or gateway. Inscribed upon the double doors of this gate was visualized the Hebrew letter of the path to be explored, and the traveler moved through the gate, and through the Hebrew letter, to gain access to the path.206 Gareth Knight gave a more detailed description of the procedure that was probably used by the descendant orders that evolved from the Golden Dawn, such as Dion Fortune's Society of the Inner Light.207The Sephirah at the beginning of the path is visualized as an astral temple having a gateway that exits the temple onto the path. Closing this gateway is a curtain or veil, upon which is painted the Tarot trump of the path. The divine name of the initial Sephirah is vibrated, followed by the name of its archangel. Then the traveler approaches the curtain of the gateway, and the image of the Tarot trump assumes a three-dimensional quality. The traveler steps into the Tarot trump as though stepping through a doorway, and finds himself on the path. Its details will depend on the mind that perceives it. At the midpoint of the path, the traveler will encounter the Hebrew letter associated with it. Toward the end of the path he will see the astrological or elemental sign for the path, and will also perceive the Sephirah that marks the end of the connecting pathway in the form of the exterior of a temple. He may be able to pass through the open gates of this temple, but Knight wrote that the usual practice is not to enter it, even if it is possible to look through its open doors and see some of the details within. Knight made the extremely important observation, which I have already emphasized in chapter 10 in connection with the astral chamber, corridor, and elevator of the general ritual, that nothing should be conceived beyond the boundaries of the path itself. "Also, in astral work, the boundaries must be clearly defined and kept to. A figure that is met may disappear from sight into a landscape or building but no impression should be fostered of it breaking bounds, thus risking leakage of psychic force or intrusion of alien factors."208 When you do pathworking, the path you visit should be all that exists, apart from the interior of the temple of the Sephirah at its beginning, and the exterior of the temple of the - - - 206. Regardie, 464. 207. Knight, vol. 2,272-4. 208. Ibid., 274. Chapter Thirteen: Pathworking 229 Sephirah at its termination. If you follow an astral entity off the path, its progress will create another astral environment. This is to be avoided. Using the General Ritual for Pathworking It is possible to employ the general ritual of projection for pathworking in the Golden Dawn tradition. The key used should be the Tarot trump of the path to be explored, or a representation of it. After projecting in the usual way into the astral chamber, and following the corridor to the elevator, exit through the opposite door of the elevator is immediate when working any of the three paths that lead upward from Malkuth; there is no need to ascend or descend in the elevator. The far door of the elevator opens into the temple of Malkuth at the beginning of these three paths, and from this temple the gateway of the Tarot trump is accessed. Which of the three trumps is visualized on the curtain of the temple gateway of Malkuth depends on which of the three paths is to be worked. In the case of any path that begins with a Sephirah higher than Malkuth, the up button on the elevator must be pressed before the far door is opened onto the temple interior of that Sephirah. Malkuth represents the base level of the astral world, so no ascent is needed when seeking to enter the temple of Malkuth-the traveler is already on the base level of the astral when in the astral chamber. AU other Sephiroth are higher than Malkuth, and hence higher than the base level of the astral world. They must be ascended to in the elevator before the pathworking can begin. They can, of course, be reached directly by a leap of the imagination, which is how it was done by members of the Golden Dawn, but the use of the elevator to rise up to these levels provides a useful ritual structure. How the interiors of the temples of the Sephiroth are visualized for pathworking is left to the judgment of the traveler. Gareth Knight observed that they should each have a central altar with a flame burning both on it and the two pillars, one black and one white, that formed important ritual furniture of the physical temple of the Golden Dawn. My own feeling is that these Golden Dawn details are not really necessary. It is useful to have the astrological symbol that corresponds with each Sephirah inscribed prominently within the astral temple of that Sephirah. For example, Malkuth corresponds with the four elements, so the signs of the four elements in the form of four elemental triangles would appear within the temple of Malkuth. Hod corresponds with the planet Mercury, so the glyph of Mercury would appear within the temple of Hod. One possible general form you might wish to use is a square room with two doorways, the one that exits the elevator through which you enter the temple of the initial Sephirah 230 Soul Flight of the path, and a doorway in the opposite wall that is masked by a curtain painted with the image of the Tarot trump associated with the pathway you intend to explore. On the floor of the temple is inlaid the astrological symbol of the initial Sephirah of the path. To reach the doorway with the curtain, you must walk across this symbol. The details of each temple, such as the decoration or coloring of its walls, I will not describe, but will leave to your imagination, saying only that they must correspond to the nature of the Sephirah of that temple. The dCcor of the temple of Netzach, corresponding with Venus, would be sensual and voluptuous, for example, whereas that of Geburah, corresponding with Mars, would be spartan and military. Since the paths are worked from their lower end to their upper end, and the temple of the Sephirah at the upper end is not entered, there is no temple to be visualized for Kether, at the very top of the Tree. This is appropriate because Kether is so exalted in its nature that it is sometimes said not to be a part of the Tree at all, but to exist above the Tree, which is said to have Chokmah for its first real Sephirah. Kether corresponds with the primum mobile, which does not have an astrological symbol or glyph. The symbol of Chokmah is the zodiac, so when exploring the very highest of the connecting paths, the path of the Fool that leads up from Chokrnah to Kether, you would visualize the zodiac in the floor of the astral temple of Chokrnah. The Tarot image of the Fool would appear on the curtain masking the second door. At the end of the eleventh path, you would see the temple of Kether only as a blinding and indistinct brightness, like the reflection of sunlight in a mirror. The Thirty-Two Paths The following list of the thirty-two paths on the Tree provides the essential information you will need to do pathworking. It is vital to have a good understanding of the Tarot trumps and the seven planets of traditional astrology before you begin this ritual work, since the trumps and planets play a large part in defining the nature of the connecting pathways and the spheres. The divine and angelic names are less important, but may be useful to know if they are needed to challenge an astral being you encounter on a path. I have provided the names and their translations as they were used by the Golden Dawn, even though not all of them are perfectly accurate. Some of the divine names are compound. Because the paths are numbered as they descend the Tree, the twenty-two paths that link pairs of Sephiroth are described descending from higher Sephirah to lower Sephirah. Included with each path is the corresponding verse from a short Kabbalistic tract known as the Thirty-Two Paths of Wisdom, which was often bound under the same cover Chapter Thirteen: Pathworking 231 with the seminal work of the Kabbalah, Sephirah Yetzirah. The translation is from the 1887 edition of Sepher Yetzirah by William Wynn Westcott, one of the original human Chiefs of the Golden Dawn. Meditation on these verses is sometimes helpful in conceiving the astral appearance of the paths on the Tree. 1. Kether (Crown) Divine name: Eheieh (I Am) Archangelic name: Metatron Correspondence: primum mobile "The First Path is called the Admirable or the Hidden Intelligence (the Highest Crown): for it is the Light giving the power of comprehension of that First Principle which has no beginning; and it is the Primal Glory, for no created being can attain to its essence." 2. Chokmah (Wisdom) Divine name: Yah (Lord) Archangelic name: Raziel Correspondence: zodiac "The Second Path is that of the Illuminating Intelligence: it is the Crown of Creation, the Splendour of the Unity, equaling it, and it is exalted above every head, and named by the Kabalists the 'Second Glory'." 3. Binah (Understanding) Divine name: IHVH Elohim (The Lord God) Archangelic name: Tzaphqiel Correspondence: Saturn "The Third Path is the Sanctifying Intelligence, and is the foundation of Primordial Wisdom, which is called the Creator of Faith, and its roots are AMN; and it is the parent of Faith, from which doth Faith emanate." 4. Chesed (Mercy) Divine name: El (The Mighty One) Archangelic name: Tzadqiel Correspondence: Jupiter "The Fourth Path is named the Cohesive or Receptacular Intelligence; and is so called because it contains all the holy powers, and from it emanate all the spiritual virtues with the most exalted essences; they emanate one from the other by the power of the Primordial Emanation. (The Highest Crown.)" 5. Geburah (Severity) Divine name: Elohim Gibor (God of Battles) Archangelic name: Kamael Correspondence: Mars "The Fifth Path is called the Radical Intelligence, because it resembles the Unity, uniting itself to the Binah, or Intelligencewhich emanates from the primordial depths of Wisdom or Chokrnah." 6. Tiphareth (Beauty) Divine name: IHVH Eloah Vedaath (Lord God Manifest) Archangelic name: Raphael Correspondence: Sun "The Sixth Path is called the Mediating Intelligence, because in it are multiplied the influxes of the emanations, for it causes that influence to flow into all the reservoirs of the Blessings, with which these themselves are united." 7. Netzach (Victory) Divine name: IHVH Tzabaoth (Lord of Hosts) Archangelic name: Haniel Correspondence:Venus "The Seventh Path is the Occult Intelligence, because it is the Refulgent Splendour of all the Intellectual virtues which are perceived by the eyes of the intellect, and by the contemplation of faith." 8. Hod (Glory) Divine name: Elohim Tzabaoth (God of Hosts) Archangelic name: Michael Correspondence: Mercury "The Eighth Path is called the Absolute or Perfect Intelligence, because it is the means of the primordial, which has no root by which it can cleave, nor rest, except in the hidden places of Gedulah, Magnificence, from which emanates its own proper essence." Chapter Thirteen: Pathworking 9. 233 Yesod (Foundation) Divine name: Shaddai El Chai (The Almighty Living One) Archangelic name: Gabriel Correspondence: Moon "The Ninth Path is the Pure Intelligence, so called because it purifies the Numerations, it proves and corrects the designing of their representation, and disposes their unity with which they are combined without diminution or division." 10. Malkuth (Kingdom) Divine name: Adonai ha-Aretz Archangelic name: Sandalphon Correspondence: Earth (the four elements) "The Tenth Path is the Resplendent Intelligence, because it is exalted above every head, and sits on the throne of Binah (the Intelligence spoken of in the Third Path). It illuminates the splendour of all the lights, and causes an influence to emanate from the Prince of countenances.'' 11. Kether to Chokmah Hebrew letter: Aleph Tarot trump: 0 The Fool Correspondence: Air "The Eleventh Path is the Scintillating Intelligence, because it is the essence of that curtain which is placed close to the order of the disposition, and this is a special dignity given to it that it may be able to stand before the Face of the Cause of Causes," 12. Kether to Binah Hebrew letter: Beth Tarot trump: I The Magician Correspondence: Mercury "The Twelfth Path is the Intelligence of Transparency, because it is that species of Magnificence called Chazchazit, the place whence issues the vision of those seeing in apparitions. (That is the prophecies by seers in a vision.)" 13. Kether to Tiphareth Hebrew letter: Gimel 234 Soul Flight Tarot trump: I1 The High Priestess Correspondence: Moon "The Thirteenth Path is named the Uniting Intelligence, and is so called because it is itself the Essence of Glory. It is the Consummation of the Truth of individual spiritual things." 14. Chokmah to Binah Hebrew letter: Daleth Tarot trump: I11 The Empress Correspondence:Venus "The Fourteenth Path is the Illuminating Intelligence and is so called because it is that Chashmal which is the founder of the concealed and fundamental ideas of holiness and of their stages of preparation." 15. Chokmah to Tiphareth Hebrew letter: Heh Tarot trump: IV The Emperor Correspondence: Aries "The Fifteenth Path is the Constituting Intelligence, so called because it constitutes the substance of creation in pure darkness, and men have spoken of these contemplations; it is that darkness spoken of in Scripture, Job xxviii. 9, 'and thick darkness a swaddling band for it.'" 16. Chokmah to Chesed Hebrew letter: Vau Tarot trump: V The Hierophant Correspondence: Taurus "The Sixteenth Path is the Triumphal or Eternal Intelligence, so called because it is the pleasure of the Glory, beyond which is no other Glory like to it, and it is called also the Paradise prepared for the Righteous." 17. Binah to Tiphareth Hebrew letter: Zayin Tarot trump: VI The Lovers Correspondence: Gemini Chapter Thirteen: Pathworking 235 "The Seventeenth Path is the Disposing Intelligence, which provides Faith to the Righteous, and they are clothed with the Holy Spirit by it, and it is called the Foundation of Excellence in the state of higher things." 18. Binah to Geburah Hebrew letter: Cheth Tarot trump: VII The Chariot Correspondence: Cancer "The Eighteenth Path is called the Intelligence or House of Influence (by the greatness of whose abundance the influx of good things upon created beings is increased), and from its midst the arcana and hidden senses are drawn forth, which dwell in its shade and which cling to it, from the Cause of all causes." 19. Chesed to Geburah Hebrew letter: Teth Tarot trump: VIII Strength Correspondence: Leo "The Nineteenth Path is the Intelligence of the Secret of all the activities of the spiritual beings, and is so called because of the influence diffused by it from the most high and exalted sublime glory." 20. Chesed to Tiphareth Hebrew letter: Yod Tarot trump: IX The Hermit Correspondence:Virgo "The Twentieth Path is the Intelligence of Will, and is so called because it is the means of preparation of all and each created being, and by this intelligence the existence of the Primordial Wisdom becomes known." 21. Chesed to Netzach Hebrew letter: Kaph Tarot trump: X The Wheel of Fortune Correspondence:Jupiter Soul Flight 236 "The Twenty-first Path is the Intelligence of Conciliation and Reward, and is so called because it receives the divine influence which flows into it from its benediction upon all and each existence." 22. Geburah to Tiphareth Hebrew letter: Lamed Tarot trump: XI Justice Correspondence: Libra "The Twenty-second Path is the Faithful Intelligence, and is so called because by it spiritual virtues are increased, and all dwellers on earth are nearly under its shadow." 23. Geburah to Hod Hebrew letter: Mem Tarot trump: XI1 The Hanged Man Correspondence: Water "The Twenty-third Path is the Stable Intelligence, and it is so called because it has the virtue of consistency among all numerations." 24. Tiphareth to Netzach Hebrew letter: Nun Tarot trump: XI11 Death Correspondence: Scorpio "The Twenty-fourth Path is the Imaginative Intelligence, and it is so called because it gives a likeness to all the similitudes which are created in like manner similar to its harmonious elegancies." 25. Tiphareth to Yesod Hebrew letter: Samekh Tarot trump: XIV Temperance Correspondence: Sagittarius "The Twenty-fifth Path is the Intelligence of Probation, or Temptation, and is so called because it is the primary temptation, by which the Creator trieth all righteous persons." Chapter Thirteen: Pathworking 26. 237 Tiphareth to Hod Hebrew letter: Ayin Tarot trump: XV The Devil Correspondence: Capricorn "The Twenty-sixth Path is called the Renewing Intelligence, because the Holy God renews by it all the changing things which are renewed by the creation of the world." 27. Netzach to Hod Hebrew letter: Pe Tarot trump: XVI The Blasted Tower Correspondence: Mars "The ~wenty-seventhPath is the Active or Exciting Intelligence, and it is so called because through it every existent being receives its spirit and motion." 28. Netzach to Yesod Hebrew letter: Tzaddi Tarot trump: XVII The Star Correspondence: Aquarius "The Twenty-eighth Path is called the Natural Intelligence; by it is completed and perfected the nature of all that exists beneath the sun." 29. Netzach to Mallruth Hebrew letter: Qoph Tarot trump: XVIII The Moon Correspondence: Pisces "The Twenty-ninth Path is the Corporeal Intelligence, so called because it forms every body which is formed in all the worlds, and the reproduction of them. 30. Hod to Yesod Hebrew letter: Resh Tarot trump: XIX The Sun Correspondence: Sun Soul Flight 238 "The Thirtieth Path is the Collective Intelligence, and astrologers deduce from it the judgment of the stars and celestial signs, and perfect their science, according to the rules of the motions of the stars." 31. Hod to Malkuth Hebrew letter: Shin Tarot trump: XX The Last Judgement Correspondence: Fire "The Thirty-first Path is the Perpetual Intelligence; but why is it so called? Because it regulates the motions of the sun and moon in their proper order, and each in an orbit convenient for it." 32. Yesod to Malkuth Hebrew letter: Tau Tarot trump: XXI The World Correspondence: Saturn "The Thirty-second Path is the Administrative Intelligence, and it is so called because it directs and associates the motions of the seven planets, directing all of them in their own proper courses." FOURTEEN T here are many sets of esoteric symbols that might be used both as keys and as gateways for astral travel. The tattwa were extremely popular within the ranks of the Golden Dawn, as were the individual Hebrew letters. Astrological and alchemical symbols are effective, both the simple glyphs and the more complex compound symbols-it is quite possible to project the astral body into a scene depicted in an alchemical illustration. Indeed, the alchemical woodcuts and paintings that depict the various stages of the Great Work seem almost designed for astral investigation. They contain complex architectural structures with doors, corridors and windows, walled gardens, caves, meadows, roads and pathways, and are populated not only with human beings but with numerous strange creatures of dreamlike appearance. The strong resonance between dream symbolism and 240 Soul Flight alchemical symbolism was studied in detail by Carl Jung in his work Psychology and Alchemy, a book that contains many alchemical images suitable for astral doorways. The letters of the Enochian alphabet, received from the angels by Edward Kelley209 on May 6 , 1583, could certainly be used as portals, since each letter represents a unique spiritual being, or so the angels informed John Dee. The curious names of the individual Enochian letters, which seem to have no connection with the sounds the letters represent, may be the names of these spirits. Although there is no record that they were ever used for scrying in the spirit vision or astral projection by the original Golden Dawn, it is very likely that its members working in the Enochian system of magic, such as Aleister Crowley, experimented with them as astral portals, since the use of the Hebrew letters for this purpose was common. Fehu n uruz Hagalaz + Nauthiz p Thurisaz 1 lsa F Ansuz Jera R Raido J Eihwaz Kano )( Gebo p Wunjo Teiwaz B Berkana v Mannaz r Perth Laguz lnguz y Algiz W Dagaz 5 Sowelu 9 Othila Germanic Runes 209. Ehwaz Laycock, Complete Enochian Dictionary, 36-7. Chapter Fourteen: Runes 241 A set of symbols that did not form a part of the Golden Dawn esoteric system, yet deserves special examination due to its extreme potency, is the twenty-four Germanic runes. When used with a full awareness of their meaning, no symbols are more effective at evoking tangible astral landscapes. Perhaps due to the extreme simplicity of their shapes, the runes resonate in the depths of the subconscious with primal force. Each rune is a letter that may be used for writing, but as is true of Hebrew letters and Enochian letters, each is also a spiritual intelligence and its own astral world. The meaning of every rune expresses itself dynamically in these two ways-as a self-aware astral entity with whom it is possible to converse and interact, and as a landscape that contains and houses the entity, and reflects in its details the nature of the entity. The Shamanic Ordeal of Woden The god most closely associated with runes is Woden (the Norse god Odin), the one-eyed god of magic who became viewed as the father of the gods in the northern pantheon, on a similar footing with Zeus in the Greek pantheon. In his earlier Germanic incarnation, he was a shaman who wrested the runes from the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, during a soul flight that was induced by a trial of physical endurance. The nature of his trial, and its reward, are described in a portion of the poem Havamal from The Poetic Edda, as translated by Henry Adams Bellows. 139. I ween that I hung /on the windy tree, Hung there for nights full nine; With the spear I was wounded, /and offered I was To Othin, myself to myself, On the tree that none /may ever know What root beneath it runs. 140. None made me happy /with loaf or horn, And there below I looked; I took up the runes, /shrieking I took them, And forthwith back I The outline of the ancient Germanic shaman's initiatory trial of endurance, involving the projection of the astral body to attain the living wisdom of the runes, is evident in 210. Bellows, 60-1. 242 Soul Flight these few lines of poetry. Woden, the divine magician and the prototype of all the shamans who imitate his examples, gashed himself with a spear-his traditional weapon and the weapon favored by Germanic warriors-and then had himself suspended from Yggdrasil, the great ash that is the axis of the universe. For nine days and nights he hung on the tree without food or drink. The loss of blood and pain from his wounds and his bindings, coupled with his hunger and thirst, at last induced his astral double to leave his body and fly downward to the roots of the tree. There are several significant details we may deduce from this important poem. The runes were an infernal device. They were not of the heavenly realms, but of the underworld, the dark realm of Hel, goddess of the dead, the hidden shadow world of monsters and devils, of necromantic sorceries and blood magic. Woden did not look upward when suspended from the tree; he gazed downward at the very roots of the tree, the depths of which no man has knowledge. The runes were carved into the roots of the tree. We know this because runes are not tangible things, but are symbols similar to letters of the alphabet. There is no such thing as a rune in a material sense unless it is inscribed on some physical surface. The practice of the Germanic shamans was to carve runes into the bark of twigs and roots for various works of magic. Carving runes into the root of a tree was a type of death magic. It was done to kill an enemy. A tree was selected and given the name of the foe in order to magically unite the two. Death runes were carved on its root, and then the tree was deliberately made to wither and die. As the tree died, so died the man-or so the shamans who worked this magic believed. The twenty-four runes on the roots of Yggdrasil embody the living essence of the world ash. They express in their shapes the essential vitality of existence itself, and hence they possess the power to both give and take life. It is significant that no source is specified for the runes. The poet, speaking with the voice of Woden, does not state who carved them. They are coeval with Yggdrasil itself, eternally existing at the foundation of all things. Indeed, it might be argued that the runes are the source of the world's vitality. They are the magical marrow upon which the tree feeds. For the ancient Germanic peoples, the underlying forces that sustain existence were twenty-four in number, and expressed in their shapes the twenty-four essential qualities of being. The runes would have remained asleep and invisible at the roots of Yggdrasil, but the blood released by the spear of Woden, falling fiom his suspended body into the ground, fed the runes and made them active, causing them to glow in the depths of the underworld with Chapter Fourteen: Runes 243 lines of red fire, the color of embers. It was this glow that enabled the projected astral form of the god to see the runes and fly toward them. The runes called out to him mutely with his own life force. Because they lay buried at the very root of the tree, the primal beginning of existence, the astral body of Woden could only sustain the depths for the briefest moment, but it was long enough for him to snatch away the runes and return to his suspended physical form. The effort caused him to cry out in agony, and his bonds at once burst asunder with his newly attained power, releasing him from the tree. Snatching up the runes from the roots of Yggdrasil did not deprive the tree of their nourishing energies-because they are not things but symbols. Woden caught them up and held them safe in his mind, as his astral double soared upward through the endless darkness to the light of day. The darkness beneath the ground is akin to the darkness of the unconscious, and the daylight is an expression of the waking awareness. The parallels between this poetic fragment and the crucifurion of Jesus are obvious. Jesus was also wounded with a spear. He also hung from a kind of tree-the cross of crucifixion is frequently called a tree by poets. The identification of the cross of Christ with a tree is made in the great Anglo-Saxon poem The Dream of the Rood, where it is called the "glory-tree."21LThe poet of the Havamal calls the tree from which Woden hung suspended "the windy tree." That it was windswept suggests that it was located on a high place, such as the top of a hill, even as the cross of Jesuswas located on a hill. As Jesus was a sacrifice to himself, in that as God incarnate in human form he gave his life to God the Father, so did Woden who was known as the High One and the All Father give himself to himself in the form of the shaman undergoing the initiation ritual, who assumed the identity of Woden for the purpose of receiving the runes. Almost all of the practices of early Germanic shamans have been lost, and there is no way to know with assurance that this poem reflects an actual initiation ritual. Yet so practical is it in its details, from an esoteric standpoint, that I cannot regard it as other than an outline of the initiation rite of Germanic shamans who received the runes as their highest and most sacred mystery teaching. It may be argued that no man could endure nine days without water, yet there are religious rites still being practiced today that involve enduring nine days without water; Buddhist monks in Japan do so, for example. Nine days without water is an extreme test of human endurance, but it is not impossible, particularly if conducted under the open sky in a climate where rain is frequent. 21 1. Alexander, Earliest English Poems, 106. 244 Soul Flight Runes and Necromancy The location of the runes at the roots of Yggdrasil brings up a consideration that modern astral travelers should bear in mind when using the runes as astral keys or portals. They have the reputation as instruments of infernal or necromantic magic. This lends them a great physical power, but it also makes them somewhat dangerous. If not kept rigorously under control, they tend to act independently in unpredictable ways, not all of which may be desired by those who use them. It is something to consider when studying the runes. Woden was not a jolly, cheerful figure of fun, but a god of deception and guile who could bear malice and was never slow to exact retribution. This essential reality of his nature tends to get obscured by his later incarnation as the wise, benevolent father of all the gods. His name among the ancient Saxons was Grim, and this word best describes his true personality. Woden's spirit familiars took the forms of two ravens and two wolves, creatures that express the kind of magic worked by the runes. They are both lunar creatures. The wolf is a beast associated with the fierceness of the natural world, and also with warfare. Wolves were reputed to be unrelenting, ravenous, and pitiless. The raven is particularly connected with the gallows and with graveyards because it is a carrion bird. It ate the flesh of the dead who were executed by hanging at crossroads. One rune charm mentioned by Woden in the Havamal is a charm to make the dead speak, showing that his magic was at least in part necromantic: 158.A twelfth I know, /if high on a tree I see a hanged man swing; So do I write land color the runes That forth he fares, And to me talks.212 Those who travel astrally into the environments of the Germanic runes will encounter the raw forces of the natural world, anthropomorphized into the figures of twenty-four deities, and the corresponding wellsprings of these primal forces that arise within their own hearts and minds. Investigation of the worlds of the runes offers insight into the urges and fears in the unconscious mind. They are excellent as a way of coming to terms with your own 212. Bellows, 65-6. Chapter Fourteen: Runes 245 individual human nature, for every traveler into the runes sees them in a unique way that resonates with his own deep motivations. Woden speaks of staining the runes, as well as of carving them. The usual stain was blood, which fed the runes' symbols and rendered them active and aware. Until the runes are stained, they lie dormant as though asleep. The use of blood to awaken the runes is another indication that they were employed in necromancy. For purposes of astral travel, I do not recommend that you stain the runes with blood. This would cause their action to be more energetic and independent than would be desirable. It is better to inscribe them using red ink or red pigment, which in a symbolic sense represents blood. This was done in ancient times, so it is not a modern cheat-runes were stained with red ochre, a natural pigment dug from the ground that served as the blood of the earth itself. Using a Rune Key Draw the rune you wish to travel into about three inches tall on a small square of paper or a card, using red ink or red paint, and let it dry as you meditate upon its meaning. This will serve as the key during the general ritual of projection, and will be held over the solar plexus beneath your folded hands as you lie on your back on your bed and project yourself into the astral chamber. On the astral level, it becomes your keycard and unlocks the door of your astral chamber and the doors of the elevator. Traveling to the worlds of the runes is a rare instance when you will press the down button on the elevator. All of the runes are drawn from the roots of Yggdrasil and are in their fundamental essence infernal. The second door of the elevator may be conceived to open directly upon the world of the rune on the keycard. Each rune world is dominated by its ruling god or goddess, whose name is the same as the name of the rune. These deities may also have other names by which they are more commonly known. It was usual in the mythology of northern Europe for the gods to have many names or titles that were descriptive of various aspects of their personalities. Woden in particular had dozens of different names. It is not possible to be certain that in their earliest beginnings all twenty-four runes were named after deities, but this seems likely. It was the usual practice to personify the forces of nature as spiritual beings. Many runes are explicitly known to have been linked to deities, and those in which the link is not explicit were also probably associated with a god or goddess of the natural world. In any case, the forces that energize and define the runes express themselves as intelligent beings when the runes are entered as astral landscapes. 246 Soul Flight Once within the land of the rune, it is important to seek out and confront the ruling deity. The rune itself, drawn upon the air in front of you with the index finger of your right hand, can be used as a sign of power. It will test the truthfulness in the appearance of the astral environment-if the land is out of harmony with the nature of the rune, inscribing the rune upon the air will cause the land to dim and become indistinct. The rune can also be used to subdue the deity of the astral world it governs. It is that god's highest sigil, and it has power over the god, should the god attempt to frighten or threaten you. The following descriptions are subjective. The lands of the runes and their rulers will be different for each soul flyer who encounters them. These descriptions are based on my own early astral investigations of the runes, as presented in my book Rune Magic.213 The earlier descriptions were quite brief, and they are here expanded, and in some details corrected to correspond with my more recent impressions of the rune environments. 1 . Fehu Literal meaning: cattle General sense: possessions, ownership, wealth, submissiveness, slavery The land of Fehu is a farming community dominated by herds of cattle. There is a small village of simple houses with a market square. It is overshadowed by a fortified keep, the ruler of which is the god of the land. He is a great bull of a man-stubborn, quick to anger, slow of wits, with a loud, bellowing voice, and glaring eyes beneath a shock of shaggy black hair. He bears a whip that he uses to drive the villagers from the path of his cart when he rides into the village. He is fond of fine clothes, gold and jewels, but always appears somewhat slovenly in appearance. When he remains within his keep, the villagers and farmers enjoy a placid though squalid existence. 2. Uruz Literal meaning: aurochs, an extinct species of wild ox General sense: virility, freedom, courage, manhood, trial of strength, power, the will Uruz is a primal forest filled with wild beasts that stalk each other and engage in fierce battles. They are seldom clearly seen amid the leaves and shadows, but their presence is announced by the shaking of the undergrowth and their snorts and grunts. You may en213. Tyson, Rune Magic, 1404. Chapter Fourteen: Runes 247 counter wolves, bears, stags, wild boars, foxes, serpents, and creatures less natural in the dim and dappled light that filters through the forest canopy. There is a profusion of birds, and they keep up a constant chatter and song. The god is a barbarian hunter who carries a short spear and wears the mask of a bear. His body is nearly naked and painted with natural pigments. Around his hips he wears a bearskin, but his arms, legs, and feet remain bare. His deeply tanned face is noble, his eyes gray. He seldom speaks, and he never utters more than a few words at a time, preferring to grunt and gesture. 3. Thurisaz Literal meaning: evil giant or devil General sense: malice, wickedness, vengeance, hatred, spitefulness, slanders,underhanded dealings, evil The land of Thurisaz is a land of shadows, an infernal realm of darkness in vast caverns beneath the surface. Steam and smoke rise from fissures in the rocks. Those who dwell in this place live in fear of the monstrous creatures that haunt the fathomless black pools and hidden clefts. The place has a strange greenish glow that emanates from fungus on the walls and rocks, and the inhabitants subsist on fish and on mushroom-like plants that sprout in abundance from the soil on the cavern floors. These dwellers in darkness have white skin, white hair, and large black eyes adapted to see in the dim glow. They are surly and not to be trusted. The god is a scaled creature that resembles a dragon, with a long tail, clawed feet, and many sharp teeth. The inhabitants and lesser creatures of the land flee its approach. 4. Ansuz Literal meaning: the wise god, Woden General sense: wisdom, eloquence, persuasiveness, authority, law-giving, magic knowledge Ansuz is a land of gently rolling, wooded hills and lush meadows crossed by streams. Snow-capped mountains line the horizon. The inhabitants are a hardy northern folk who herd cattle and hunt wild beasts with spears. Within the depths of the forest is found a timber hall composed in part of still-living trees. A great tree rises at each of its corners. Its walls are rough logs with their bark still clinging to them, its roof thick shingles of enormous size split from the trunks of forest giants. The double doors of the hall always stands open, and sounds of a feast come from the interior, beckoning the traveler. The 248 Soul Flight god is an old warrior chieftain with gray hair and a white beard, who sits at the head of a long wooden table, dressed in battle-worn armor, drinking from a horn set with silver. One of his eyes is covered by a leather eyepatch. On either side, young warriors eat and drink, amply supplied by young women with braided hair who carry food and ale on broad wooden platters. 5. Raido Literal meaning: a journey on horseback General sense: travel, a quest, seeking, exploration, communication The land of Raido is a long road that winds its way between steep hills and dense forests.At intervals on the road are to be found inns for the accommodation of travelers. Many follow the road on foot and horseback, passing in either direction, bundles of their worldly possessions on their backs, or drawn behind ponies in carts. They are road-weary and seldom speak unless addressed.At the inns are to be found food and drink, along with a bed for the night and a stall for your horse. The god of the road is a wandering minstrel and storyteller flamboyantly dressed in brightly colored clothes, who rides from one hostelry to another, earning his way by entertaining the other guests. 6. Kano Literal meaning: torch, beacon General sense: a guiding star, the object of a quest, illumination on the path, truth, revelations, a guide or teacher The rocks of the seacoast in Kano are crystalline, and shot through with the many colors that pulse in the sky like the moving bands of a vast rainbow, illuminating the sparkling crests of the waves on the ocean. Trees, grass, and other vegetation seems to glow from within as though the leaves were tiny panes of stained glass. The inhabitants of this strange iridescent coast are fisher folk, slender and elf-like in appearance, moving with grace along the stony beach, where they dwell beside their upturned boats in huts made of sod and woven grasses. On the rise of a headland stands a stone lighthouse. The god is a woman who keeps the light. She comes floating upon the air across the surface of the bay, a flaming torch in her hand and a book cradled close to her breast, her diaphanous white gown rising around her slender legs, her long red hair drifting as though alive above her shoulders. When she speaks, the entire world resonates like a vast crystal bell. Chapter Fourteen: Runes 249 7. Gebo Literal meaning: gift, sacrifice General sense: a present, gift for service, something given or received, achievement, talent, avocation, devotion Gebo is the bank of a great, slow-flowing river where religious mystics have placed themselves in various strained postures as tests of their devotion and endurance. One mystic lies tied to stakes in the earth with a wooden pallet laden with large stones resting on his chest. Another stands on one foot, his raised leg withered to thinness from long disuse. Yet a third holy man lashes his back with a flail so that the blood flies off in shining red droplets. Another sits naked and stares directly into the sun with unwinking eyes. Another plays the flame of a burning torch across the skin of his arms and torso. The inhabitants of the nearby village who come to the river to bathe and wash their garments scarcely notice the devotions of the men, so accustomed are they to witnessing such self-abuse. The god of the place is a mystic bound to the trunk of a withered tree that stands on the crest of a hill. His body is suspended by his bonds from the earth-his arms spread and tied to lowhanging, leafless boughs, for the tree is dead and has lost its leaves and most of its bark. Empty, bloody sockets stare blindly from his head where his eyes once were. 8. Wunjo Literal meaning: joy or glory General sense: ecstasy, heavenly blessings, rewards, recognition, fame, celebrity, renown, victory in contests, titles bestowed The land of Wunjo is a mountain with gentle slopes clothed in woodlands and grasses that are grazed by flocks of sheep tended by shepherds who live in stone huts. At the end of the steep and winding road, at the crest of the mountain, rises a city of white stone walls. The sun-gilded clouds press close to its sides, so that at times the city almost appears to rise from the clouds themselves. It inhabitants are a cultured race of artists, athletes, and philosophers. Excellence of both mind and body is universally prized. Even the faces of the elders glow with good health. The goddess who rules the city as its queen is a slender yet athletic woman with long blonde hair held in place beneath a golden tiara, dressed in a white gown that resembles the style of ancient Greece. She speaks with a clear, melodic voice. 250 Soul Flight 9. Hagalaz Literal meaning: hail General sense: destruction, violence, loss, deprivation, disaster, wrath, punishment, injury, fury, conflict, assault Hagalaz is an evergreen forest in the midst of a raging winter storm of snow and hail. No security or haven is visible in the gathering twilight. The boughs of the trees bend low to touch the banks of snow on the ground under the weight of the snow that clings to them. In the distance, everything fades to a general grayness. The cold of the wind is bitter. Only the snow-covered trees offer a slight shelter. Movement is difficult, for the drifts of snow rise as high as the hips of the traveler. Sometimes an elk may be seen in the distance, huddled beneath a tree, and a glimpse gained of wolves circling behind it on stealthy steps. The god of the land is never seen, but is only heard as a moaning and roaring in the wind. 10. Nauthiz Literal meaning: necessity General sense: suffering, hardship, pain, need to endure, torture, servitude The land of Nauthiz is dominated by a deep chasm of rushing white water, spanned by a wooden bridge. Laborers who are little more than prisoners toil ceaselessly to maintain the bridge. Their living quarters are built on the bridge itself, along one of its sides. The bridge exists in a constant state of disrepair. The planks newly laid upon it begin to weather and rot almost as soon as they are put down, and constant rumbling in the ground and trembling of the earth shakes loose the stones that make up its buttresses. Overseers with flails drive the workers on to ever greater efforts, but it appears that all their work may be in vain. The center of the bridge is burning. It is evident that it has been on fire for a considerable time. While laborers working on either side strive to extinguish the flames, others replace blackened timbers with new planks brought down from the hills in carts. There is great shouting and confusion, and no one appears in command. The god of this place is a vague form that shapes itself in the smoke rising from the fire so that its flaming eyes and gaping mouth may be seen, and it leans down and threatens and snaps at the backs of those who labor to maintain the bridge. Chapter Fourteen: Runes 251 1 1 . Isa Literal meaning: ice General sense: fascination, allure, enticement, entrapment, deception, false appearance, heartlessness, halt in progress, an enchantress The land of Isa is a frozen lake in the midst of which is a small island covered with willows that stand leafless and naked in the winter sunlight. There is a house built upon the island. As it is approached across the surface of the lake, the traveler may gaze downward and see, through the depths of the transparent ice, the bodies of men, their sightless eyes staring upward and their hands frozen as they reach for aid that never comes. Smoke rises from the chimney of the house on the island, which is a large structure of two levels built from timbers, with a stone foundation. Those who knock upon the door are greeted by a manservant, who bows low and escorts them into the great hall, where a fire blazes in the fireplace. Women servants bring food and drink. The goddess of the place is a beautiful enchantress who owns the island and the house. She wears her dark hair gathered up on the back of her head with silver combs, but her features change with the flicker of the firelight, so that sometimes she appear young and naive, and at other times wise and mature of years. She is moody and given to flashes of anger that distort her mouth with rage. A white owl she keeps as a pet rides on the shoulder of her fox-fur cloak. 12. Jera Literal meaning: harvest season, year General sense: fulfillment, completion, end of cycle, turn of the wheel, change, reversal, reaping The land of Jera is dominated by a mill next to a fast-flowing stream. The water turns a great wooden paddle wheel that provides the power to rotate the grinding stones. It is a busy place with many villagers coming and going, bringing their grain and leaving with their milled flour. The season of the year is eternal autumn, the time of the harvest. Part of the mill is a brewery, and the ale is sold in a common room on the lower level. Patrons can sit outside at tables under the overhang of the upper story and watch wagons and riders pass along the road. The god of the place is the owner of the mill, a giant of a man with a red face and balding head, who wears a flour-covered leather apron over his immense belly. In one hand he habitually carries a mallet, and in the other a cup of water for cooling the oak bearings of his millstones. He is cheerful and talkative, but always bustling about at his work. 13. Eihwaz Literal meaning: yew General sense: resilience, dependability, strength of purpose, a trustworthiness, magical might, command of occult forces The land of Eihwaz is a medieval field of battle on the eve of conflict. Between the rustling canvas of field tents, campfires illuminate soldiers who lie asleep wrapped in their blankets or sit murmuring together as they stare into the embers. It gleams off stacks of spears and other edged weapons, and from the rounded polish of armor and helmets readied for the morning. The restless snorts and pawing of horses can be heard on the cool night air. Across the empty field, the dotted campfires of the enemy are visible in the distance like a scattering of stars. The god of the land is a stocky foot soldier with a longbow slung over his back, who walks restlessly between the campfires and speaks encouragement to the other men in a gruff voice. In spite of his unkempt black hair and brooding eyes, he projects an aura of nobility and authority that suggests he is more than he seems. 14. Perth Literal meaning: apple General sense: luxury, pleasure, sensuality, indulgence, intoxication, gambling, gaming, divination The land of Perth is an extensive grove of apple trees at the time of the harvest. The harvesters climb the trees on ladders and pick the ripe red fruit into woven wicker baskets slung on straps over their backs. Others sit at long wooden tables eating freshly made bread and drinking smoky cider from wooden tankards, or red wine from pewter cups. There is a general air of good cheer. A few men cast dice across the tables for copper coins, or play draughts. One of the laborers, an older man with a white beard, sits on a great stump and works his bow across the strings of his fiddle, and a few of the younger men and women dance in the open space before him while others watch, keeping time by clapping their hands. The goddess is a noblewoman of middle years, voluptuous in body and beautiful of face, the owner of the orchard, who moves between the tables with a pitcher of wine balanced on her shoulder, offering to fill the cups of those whose cups are empty. Her dark hair has a disheveled look, and a faint sheen of sweat is visible on her bare shoulders and her flushed cheeks. Chapter Fourteen: Runes 253 15. Algiz Literal meaning: defense General sense: warding off, protection, barrier, shield, avertive amulet, a defender The land of Algiz is a high and narrow mountain pass, in which is set an ancient gate that is defended by guard towers on either side, and which has living quarters for its soldiers along its top. The gate is of stone cut from the sides of the pass, its shape a curved arch. The doors set in its frame are of heavy oak, darkened and made hard by years and bound by great straps of black iron. Travelers along the road must await the pleasure of the gatekeepers, since there is no other way over the mountains. They must pay a fee to pass, but for the amusement of the soldiers they are also required to answer riddles correctly. Until they can find the correct answer, they are not permitted to enter the gate. Those who attempt to force their way through when the gate is opened meet a rain of fiery arrows and naked sword blades that are hurled down upon their heads. The god of the place is the chief gatekeeper, who does not reveal himself directly, but stays in the shadows of the building above the gate while speaking in a deep, threatening voice to those below. 16. Sowelu Literal meaning: lightning or solar ray General sense: fire from the heavens, divine intervention, an omen, portent, righteous wrath, retribution, judgment, justice, fulfillment of karma Sowelu is a land of desert sands that so shimmers and blazes with the reflected brightness from the noontime sun that no details can be distinguished through the rising waves of heat. Even the sky itself is bleached by the sunlight to a pallor that shows only a trace of blue. The wind sounds high overhead with a roar that is like distant flames, although nearer the ground the air is almost still. Even when it does blow fitfully, it feels like a blast from an open furnace. The god of this desert world remains unseen and unmet, but communicates with those who travel across his lands by means of haughty angelic emissaries who fly down from the heavens on great feathered wings that shimmer with iridescence. Their tone of voice is superior and their expressions are faintly disdainful, as though they resent the necessity to touch the ground. 254 Soul Flight 17. Teiwaz Literal meaning: Tew, god of oaths and battle General sense: courage, war skills, weapons, honor, nobility, promises, principles, oaths, pledges, contracts The land of Teiwaz is a battlefield cloaked beneath a heavy mist, so that nothing can be seen that is more than a few steps away. All around is the sound of the clash of steel on steel, the tortured cries of horses, and the shouts and curses of men. Sometimes a pair of combatants come into view, but fail to notice the presence of the traveler in their fierce confrontation. On the trampled brown grass lie the bloodied bodies of the dying, their faces and hair whitened by the settling mist. The god is a silent warrior in a long scarlet cloak who carries a drawn sword. His face is covered by a mask of beaten silver that has the shape of a bearded man. Around it, his golden hair streams free to his shoulders. He moves across the field, selecting who is to be slain, and those he gestures at with his sword die. 18. Berkana Literal meaning: birch General sense: sexuality, desire, lovers, virility, fertility, conception, new growth, awakenings, renewal, birth A glade of silver birch trees covers the side of a gentle hillside in the land of Berkana. Morning sunlight slants through the new spring leaves, and dapples the soft green grass and mosses that cover the ground, making the wildflowers glow as if with an inner radiance. Birds sing in the upper branches, which are moved by a gentle spring breeze. Rabbits dart across the path at the feet of the traveler, or sit nibbling the flowers. The air is laden with the scent of moist earth and new growth. Between large boulders, a spring bubbles up and winds its way beside the path, making the sound of gentle laughter as it splashes over the stones in its bed. The goddess of the land is a maiden who walks naked through the soft grass, clothed only in her long blonde hair, which hangs down almost to her knees in a loose fan, half in front of her body and half behind. She leads a stag by a leather cord that is tied around its neck. At times, she leaps upon its back and rides it through the trees, laughing with excitement. Chapter Fourteen: Runes 255 19. Ehwaz Literal meaning: horse General sense: swiftness, strength, grace, beauty, conveyance, vehicle, means to an end, instrument, the body A rolling grassy plain stretches to the horizon in all directions in the land of Ehwaz. Thunder clouds can be seen in the distance,and occasionallylightning flashes from them, but they are so far away that the rumble of the thunder is slow to reach the ears of the traveler. The land is crossed by the moving shadows of clouds, and the wind bends the tall grasses in waves. Herds of grazing animals are visible on the plain, so far away that they are no more than a gathering of dark specks. Some move swiftly, and when they happen to wheel closer, they are seen to be wild horses, but there are other beasts more sedentary in their movements. A river flows between the hills, a silver ribbon upon the brown and green of the grassland. The god of the place is a youth with long black hair and wild gray eyes, who is dressed in rabbit skins. He never walks, but rides a white stallion, clinging to its back and guiding it with his bare heels and with his fingers laced in the long strands of its mane. 20. Mannaz Literal meaning: man General sense: human nature, microcosm, intelligence, the way to an end, solution to a problem, mental virtues, the human mind, the magician, the trickster The world of Mannaz is the interior of a great mansion that has innumerable corridors, halls, staircases, and chambers, so that it is impossible to explore all of it and it is easy to become lost. Servants move silently about, perpetually cleaning the house and maintaining it. They will not notice the traveler unless they are directly addressed, and their responses are usually unhelpful. Some of the doors are locked and others are open, but this cannot be known until they are tried. Each opened door leads into a different tableau, in which the inhabitants of the chamber enact a drama for the traveler as he enters. If they are questioned, they will respond and explain what they are doing. The scene out of each window in different-some show cityscapes, others mountains, others the seashore, others forests or country scenes. The god of this place is the keeper of the keys, the owner of the house who selects what rooms the traveler may enter. He is never met directly,but may sometimes be glimpsed moving away from a door or around a corner, and the rattle of his key in a lock as he unlocks a door can be heard even when he is out of sight. 256 - Soul Flight 21. Laguz Literal meaning: water General sense: the unconscious, the womb, dreams, fantasies, hopes, vanities, fashions, fads, impermanent things, fickleness, changeability The world of Laguz is the depths of an ocean lagoon of transparent emerald water, with strange sea plants waving in the currents, and looming towers and hills of coral that create a confusion of moving light and shadow. Schools of colorful fish dart past and conceal themselves behind the coral growths. Strange creatures that are not quite human slide through the shadows on hands and flippers, watching with sly eyes. If you are patient, they will approach and converse with you, but their bubbling words are not to be trusted. Because this is an astral world, it is possible to hear them and speak to them through the water. The women of this race have lovely faces, and are sensual by nature, but fickle and apt to lose interest and dart away. Their goddess is a mermaid with bluish skin, more human in shape than the others. Only her fingers are webbed, and her feet end in small fins instead of toes. She sings haunting wordless melodies that evoke strange illusions and dreamlike vistas. 22. Inguz Literal meaning: fertility god General sense: home, hearth, family, patriarch, nurture, growth, development, evolution, decency, humanity, homely virtues The world of Inguz is a country farm, with a stone farmhouse having a thatched roof and a wattle barn. The trees of the surrounding forest press the cultivated fields on all sides, apart from the rustic track that leads away between the hills. The squawk of chickens and the grunts of pigs can be heard at the back of the house. The farm is inhabited by an extended family consisting of a grandfather, a father, a mother, a grown son, a younger daughter, and an infant. There is a hired hand who does not speak. The god of the place is the grandfather, a robust old man with a flowing white beard who spends most of his time sitting before the fire in the main room of the house. He is always willing to talk to travelers who stop in for a meal or to rest the night in the spare bedroom upstairs, and is full of homely advice and wisdom. Chapter Fourteen: Runes 257 23. Dagaz Literal meaning: daylight General sense: clarity, understanding, perception, openness, harmony, wholeness, enlightenment The land of Dagaz is a windswept open plateau on which is situated a pagan temple consisting of a single standing stone surrounded by a ring of numerous smaller stones. Twelve ridges of earth, like low walls, extend away from the standing stone in twelve spokes, so that the construction has the form of a great wheel. The sun never sets in this strange world, but moves around the horizon in a complete circle each day, just as it does in the high arctic during summer, so that the shadow of the standing stone is cast into all twelve partitions of the wheel in turn. The inhabitants of the land do not live near this solar temple, but come to present offerings of wheaten cakes and ale in the various sections. Which section they choose appears to depend on their purpose, although it is not obvious why they should choose one over another. They come to pray and to present their offerings when the shadow of the stone enters the boundary of that part of the temple suitable to their prayers. They crumble the cakes over the grassy earth and pour out the ale. The god of the place is a strange multicolored bird with shining wings that perches atop the pillar when offerings are made, and sounds its approval with shrill and unearthly cries. 24. Othila Literal meaning: native land General sense: place of birth, homeland, roots, culture, tribe, race, nation, sense of identity, name, house and estate, the grave The land of Othila is a countryside in which small holdings with houses upon them are divided by stone walls and hedgerows, so that in the distance, on the sides of the rolling hills, it gives a checkerboard appearance. Many of the fields are tilled into black furrows and are ready for planting. Large stones engraved with family symbols mark the corners of the holdings. There is a small stone church on the hill, and a graveyard behind it. The people are cheerful, but do not like trespassers, and will set their dogs on those who venture across their fields uninvited. The god of the place is a surveyor whose task it is to settle land disputes and determine the ownership of fields and other holdings. His word is the final law, to which there is no appeal. He walks the lanes and fields with a deliberate pace, carrying a long rod divided into inches, which he sometimes lies flat upon the ground to measure distances. CHAPTER FIFTEEN Trainingfor T he general ritual of projection given in this book provides a practical and secure structure that may be used for soul flights of all kinds. However, it does not explain how to actually separate your astral body from your physical body. No ritual can do this. The technique of separation must be learned through practice. It took the Theosophist Oliver Fox decades to perfect his methods. The magicians of the Golden Dawn worked on their techniques of scrying in the spirit vision and ascending the planes for years, and some of them were much more successful than others due simply to inherent natural ability for astral projection. Not all of us are as gifted as Sylvan Muldoon, who could separate from his body with ease, even in boyhood. Unless some artificial method is employed, such as the use of drugs, soul flight must be learned through an extended course of practice, which has the advantage of providing a 260 Soul Flight natural control over the experience that the use of drugs can never yield. Those who attempt astral projection with drugs, and who do so outside the supportive structure of a shamanic priesthood and in the absence of teachers, are inevitably going to get erratic and uncontrollable results that may be dangerous to their mental stability. The spirits who communicated with the medium Mrs. Minnie E. Keeler told her in 1916: "In the case of getting out by the action of anesthetics, the astral senses are dulled, so that the person rarely perceives anything while out, or remembers it."214Even when images are perceived, they tend to be disordered, and after the stupefaction of the drug passes away are found to lack meaning. It is strongly recommended that the temptation to assist the separation of the astral body with intoxicants or narcotics be avoided. There are two sides to training for the projection of the astral double. One is physical and the other mental. The physical side involves those things you can do with your physical body to facilitate separation, either before or during your period of practice. The mental side involves training the imagination and using it in ways that encourage astral perception and projection-for the two are both aspects of the same process, and to perceive an astral scene is to be present within it, whether you are aware of your astral body or not. Physical Considerations Diet On the physical side, one of the more important considerations is diet. This may seem completely irrelevant to Westerners accustomed to paying no attention to what they eat and when they eat, but the effect of diet on astral projection can determine success or failure. Heavy foods and overeating inhibit the separation of the double, while light foods and fasting encourage it. Consequently, those seeking to project astrally will do well to moderate their eating habits for a period of a week or two prior to beginning serious nightly practice, in order to create in their bodies a condition of sustained craving or tension that exerts a pressure tending to more easily release the astral body. Fasting should never be carried to an extreme, or hunger will begin to dominate the mind to such a degree that it becomes a hindrance. You may wish to try fasting for twenty-four hours, taking only clear liquids during that period, as a way of initiating separa2 14. Crookall, Techniques ofAstral Projection, 36, citing the Journal of the American Society for Psychi- cal Research (1916), vol. X , 683. Chapter Fifteen: Trainingfor Soul Flight 261 tion of the double, particularly if you have practiced without success for several weeks. During the course of any sustained period of practice that may extend over months, taking solid food should be avoided for at least four hours before each practice session. For example, if you do your experiments at ten in the evening, it would be best not to eat after six. Drinking liquids should also be avoided for at least two hours before practice. Sylvan Muldoon found that a condition of thirst was helpful in initiating separation,215 but in my opinion, this thirst should be so mild as to be almost subliminal, since otherwise there is a danger that it will constrain the astral experience. Either a wholly vegetarian diet, or a diet that is very light on red meat, will yield good results. Beef, pork, lamb, and other solid, fatty meats do the most to inhibit success. Grease appears to be the primary factor involved. Rich pastries such as meat pies or dumplings cause a similar type of hindrance. Fish and other sea foods, such as shrimp and scallops, are not bad, and may be included in such meals as stir-fries without inhibiting success. Vegetables should be at least partially cooked, so that they are easy to digest. Meals that are fried should be avoided. Olive oil or other vegetable oils are not so harmful to success as are animal fats. Avoid large infusions of sugar in the form of pies, sweet pastries, ice cream, chocolate, and so on. These generate a rush of energy, but this rush is followed by a crash of the body's vitality, often accompanied by mild emotional depression that further hinders success. Lunar foods are beneficial as a general rule. You will remember from the passage quoted from Agrippa that these include things that are bland, white, insipid in taste, or slightly salty. Pasta prepared in pale cheese is a good sort of meal, as are pale steamed or stewed vegetables, the white flesh of fishes such as halibut and haddock, and egg omelets. Choosing the proper diet is mainly a matter of common sense. Avoid foods that remain with you for long periods, or make you feel heavy and bloated, or that give you a headache, gas, or an upset stomach. Eat what you enjoy, as long as it is light on your stomach and does not remind you of its presence in your body hours later. The kind of diet adopted for serious hatha yoga practice is ideal for astral projection work. Posture Another physical consideration is the posture you adopt during practice. The posture suggested in this work is to lie flat on your back on a bed, but astral projection is also possible, and has often been done, from a sitting position. In either case, comfort for a 215. Muldoon and Carrington, Projection of the Astral Body, 192. 262 Soul Flight prolonged period is essential. The feet should not be crossed. The reasons given for this are various. Some authorities claim that crossing the legs hinders the circulation of blood in the body. Others say that it interferes with the circulation of more subtle currents of energy. Another objection raised is that crossing the legs prevents the easy release of the astral double. A spirit in communication with the medium Mrs. Keeler told her: "Crossing the hands and feet is bad. . . as it mixes up the nerve currents and hinders the exit of the Astral Body."216 Whatever the underlying cause, it is generally agreed that crossing the legs or the arms is to be avoided. The physical body acts in a manner somewhat similar to that of a hose carrying a stream of water-whichever way it is bent, the astral body follows its shape. Crossing the limbs may have an effect similar to kinking the hose so that the water can no longer flow. When the legs are crossed, the astral body may entirely withdraw for a time from the lower limbs below the intersection, even as an arm or leg falls asleep and becomes numb when placed in an awkward position. Just the opposite effect is observed in those who have suffered the amputation of a limb-the sensation appears to them to remain, as though the limb were still attached, and indeed, the astral body is sometimes perceived to project from the stump of the amputation, and takes the form of the lost limb. The scholar Henry James wrote in an article for the American Society for Psychical Research titled "The Consciousness of Lost Limbs" that those who suffer an amputation sometimes assert that they can feel what is being done to the severed appendage.''' It was a common superstition that when the severed limb suffered injury, its former owner would experience pain. This belief was perhaps encouraged by the pain that is often felt by amputees in a so-called "phantom limb"-a limb that is missing but that hurts as though it were still attached to the body. This close association between physical limbs and astral limbs suggests why such a simple posture as crossed legs may have a profound effect on the ability of the astral body to separate. It is worth noting that in medieval times, crossing the legs was reputed to be a way to prevent oneself from being bewitched or otherwise influenced by magic. Men crossed their legs for much the same reason they made a hand gesture to ward off the evil eye. Today we have the superstition that crossing the fingers behind the back will prevent the truth from being drawn out of us by an interrogator. Folding the hands over the solar 216. Crookall, 34, citing the Journal of the A. S. P R. (1916), vol. X, 679. 217. Muldoon and Carrington, Phenomena of Astral Projection, 22. Chapter Fifteen: Trainingfor Soul Flight 263 plexus, as I have suggested in the general ritual of projection, is not quite the same as crossing the arms since the folding is done at the extremities, and should not produce any problems concerning the release of the double. Although astral projection is possible while lying on either the side or the stomach, separation of the double while in these postures is unusual. The experience of Oliver Fox was not the norm. He wrote: "Speaking for myself, it does not matter whether I lie on my back or on my side . . ."218Muldoon had the curious experience of accidentally projecting while lying on his stomach. "While lying on the stomach, the sensations while moving through the air are reversed. When you move upward, you think you are moving downward, and vice versa. The only way to tell the true direction of movement is by the sense of sight."219Muldoon regarded projection in this posture as "running contrary to the laws of projection."220 Environmental Factors External environmental factors also play a part in either hindering or facilitating the separation of the astral body, though it is not always clear what does which. The French experimenter Dr. Charles Lancelin wrote in his book Mtthodes de dtdoublementpersonnel that for the best results the air should be clear and dry, with a high barometric pressure. The temperature should be slightly warm, but not uncomfortably so, and the air still and quiet. He found the best hours for success to be between eleven o'clock at night and three in the morning.221 In my own work with spirits, I have found that just the opposite conditions assist in my perception of the presence of spiritual beings, particularly my perception of their touch. This is true while I am wholly within my physical body. The best conditions to become aware of the near presence of spirits-by sight, sound, or touch-seems to be when the barometric pressure is low, and when rain is just about to begin to fall. The imminence of a thunderstorm, and the blowing of wind, seem if anything to increase the clarity of these perceptions. I mention this because it strikes me as significant that for the astral body to leave the physical body, high barometric pressure is asserted by others to be best, yet for spiritual beings to come close to the physical body and make their presence 218. Fox, 126. 219. Muldoon and Carrington, Projection of the Astral Body, 41-2. 220. Ibid., 41. 22 1. Crookall,xii. 264 Soul Flight known, or indeed to penetrate or enter the physical body, my own experience has shown that low barometric pressure is more favorable. Controlled Breathing Controlled breathing can aid significantly in bringing about the separation of the astral double. The spirits who communicated through the medium Mrs. Keeler asserted that "for getting out of the body, holding the breath is of value, but holding it out has no effect."222Two techniques come into play-the gentle, slow rhythm of breathing, which helps induce a condition of physical relaxation, and the deliberate retention of breath, which by the slight pressure it puts on the solar plexus assists the astral body to move slightly out of alignment with the physical body. This is felt variously as a dizziness, a sensation of spinning or falling, a buzzing throughout the body that resembles a sustained current of electricity, and a sense of drifting or floating. More than one of these conditions may exist simultaneously. Using the inflated lungs to press the solar plexus with the diaphragm is easy enough to learn. Take a deep breath and lock the back of your throat so that your breath cannot escape. Push down and outward with your diaphragm and hold it in that position until you feel a slight dizziness. Allow this to grow for half a minute or so, then relax and release your breath. Use your imagination to ride the resulting floating sensation out of your physical body, just as though you were floating away from the shore in a small boat. After breathing slow, deep breaths for several minutes, you can repeat this exercise. It is best not to use it more than a few times in succession. It should be employed as a trigger, to initiate the separation of the astral body. Take care never to do this exercise while standing up, or sitting where there are sharp corners or furniture on which you might fall and hurt yourself. It is very easy to pass into unconsciousness if pressure is sustained on the solar plexus for too long a period. That is counterproductive for the purposes of soul flight, and a sudden fall might be dangerous. Also, take care not to exert more than a gentle pressure, and never fill your lungs all the way-leave a little room at the top, so that it is not uncomfortable to hold your breath while you distend your diaphragm. As in true with most activities of life, moderation should be your guide. Eastern adepts often refuse to teach advanced breathing techniques because, if willfully abused and repeated excessively, they can sometimes cause injury to the body. This is not a danger if they are applied gently with limited repetitions. 222. Crookall, 33, quoting from the Journal of the A. S. P. R. (1916),Vol. X, 649. Chapter Fifceen: Training for Soul Flight 265 This breathing exercise may be applied during the general ritual of projection while contemplating the sign of projection, as a way of assisting the entry into the astral chamber. Retain the breath, apply pressure with the diaphragm against the solar plexus, and then relax and do a dozen or so slow, deep breaths with a regular rhythm. You may feel yourself rising and falling during these regular breaths, as though lying in a small boat that rises and falls on gentle waves that pass under it. Do not resist this sensation; let it occur in a natural way. Stepped Relaxation Prior to beginning the breathing exercise, but after you have drawn the sign of projection, is may be helpful to engage in a deliberate technique to relax your body. The technique used by hatha yoga instructors works well. It is sometimes called stepped relaxation because it relaxes the body in steps or stages, one part at a time. It is usually employed in conjunction with a verbal hypnotic induction, as a way of causing students to feel pleasant well-being at the end of classes. However, the stepped relaxation can be used without an accompanying hypnotic monologue, and is effective at releasing tension from the body. Lie comfortably in the posture you have adopted for soul flight, and while visualizing the sign of projection floating on the darkness of your closed eyelids, turn your attention to your left leg. Focus all your tactile perception on your leg, feeling its muscles and bones, the way the skin touches the bed, whether it is warm or cold, and the angle of your foot. Tense the muscles in your leg slightly to become even more aware of them, then relax your left leg completely and withdraw your attention from it, just as though it was no longer attached to your body. Do the same process of heightened awareness and withdrawal in succession for your right leg, your left arm, your right arm, your abdomen, your chest, and, lastly, your neck and head. Do not hurry these stages. Withdraw your consciousness to a point between your eyebrows. Some of those who perform this form of stepped relaxation like to take it in smaller degrees, starting first with the toes of both feet, then the feet themselves, then the calves, then the thighs, and so on working their way up the body to the head and face. This is a matter of individual preference. If small parts of the body are successively relaxed, the exercise can consume a considerable length of time. When used in conjunction with the ritual of projection, it should not be allowed to dominate the ritual, but should form a 266 Soul Flight brief preliminary stage designed to help consciousness shift from its ordinary waking state to a condition conducive to separation of the astral double. Body Pressure Points Another physical factor that can be helpful in initiating soul flight is pressure applied to key points on the body. I have already mentioned the usefulness of the weight of the folded hands resting gently over the solar plexus. The weight and warmth of the hands help to stimulate this body center, which some adepts of Kundalini yoga associate with the manipura chakra. Others say that the manipura chakra is located much lower on the torso, in the region of the navel. Whether or not the solar plexus is the manipura chakra, I have found it helpful to stimulate it during scrying and soul flight, both using the weight of the hands, and the pressure of the retained breath applied through the diaphragm. A body center more widely recognized as important for astral projection is the point between the eyebrows, the ajna chakra, which can be stimulated in several ways. Perhaps the most effective method is to place a small, flat object on the forehead, so that its constant pressure stimulates the chakra and draws the awareness to it. A small silver coin such as a dime works very well. An older dime is better, because older coins contained silver, the metal of the moon, and astral projection falls under the general lunar influence. S. L. MacGregor Mathers, leader of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, explicitly advised against using this technique. Describing the use of the tattwa symbols for astral doorways, Regardie, quoting from original Golden Dawn documents, wrote that "the process of working by placing the symbol upon the forehead, instead of imaginatively passing through it, is not a good practice. S.R.M.D. [Mathers] claims that it is liable to derange the brain-circulation and cause mental illusions and disturbance, headache, and nervous exhaustion."223In my own work, I have found that placing a small object on the ajna chakra is quite helpful. There is no reason why a symbol cannot be placed on the forehead, and yet still be used as an astral doorway. Contrary to what might be expected, unless the head is moved violently about, it has little tendency to slip or fall off, but will remain in place throughout the entire ritual. If a small disk of silver is incised with the sign of projection, using a punch or other sharp instrument, it would is quite useful when placed on the forehead during the general ritual of projection. Another method I have used to apply this pressure is with a 223. Regardie, 462. Chapter Fifteen: Training for Soul Flight 267 specially made circlet of copper. Silver would be a superior material, but copper is inexpensive and easy to work, and its qualities are in general harmony with those of silver. I shaped my circlet into a serpent biting its own tail, and wear it with the head of the serpent over my forehead. It does not press directly upon my ajna chakra, but it serves to draw my attention to this center by its continual presence. Any simple circlet of twine, fine chain, or wire that can be placed around the head will serve the same purpose. If you make a disk for this circlet that will hang over your forehead between your eyebrows, at your ajna chakra, its utility will be increased. If you inscribe this disk with the sign of projection, its effectiveness will be magnified still further. One of the advantages of having a silver disk or diadem inscribed with the sign of projection is that it is worn only when you practice soul flight. After a few weeks of daily practice, your unconscious mind begins to associate the placing of the disk upon your forehead with the separation of the astral body. A useful habit is formed that aids in creating the correct internal conditions for projection. If you find that the use of a disk or circlet gives you a headache, you should stop using it, or at least change to a lighter disk, or looser circlet, that applies less pressure. The pain of a headache makes soul flight difficult or impossible. Music Music can be helpful in creating a unique sensory state that you associate only with the ritual of projection. Once it becomes habitual, it will strongly aid in causing separation of the double to occur. Common sense is needed when picking what music to use. The music should be pleasant, but not overly interesting. Background music is needed that can play yet be almost ignored by the mind. Vocal music is generally a poor choice to create atmosphere because the mind tends to become distracted by the words. If the words are unintelligible, such as is the case with Gregorian chants, this condition does not apply. Chamber music is generally appropriate. Longer works should be used, and a series of similar works played so that the mind is given no abrupt changes that would distract it. The volume of the music should be quite low. The background music may be natural rather than artificial. Wind chimes, especially those made of crystal or silver, work well. Bird song may be used, if you happen to have birds outside the window of the room in which you practice. The sound of the wind rustling leaves, or the needles of pine boughs, makes a soothing background sound. 268 Soul Flight Scent Those who enjoy incense may find that burning it during the general ritual helps to create a unique atmosphere, and develops a useful habit pattern. Any mild, pleasant incense may be employed. Avoid scents that are acrid and cutting, or that are too cloying and sweet in the back of the throat. Vanilla is a good lunar scent, and the lighting of a vanilla-scented white candle is excellent, as white is one of the colors of the moon. Water Vessels A useful trick you will not find mentioned elsewhere is to set a basin of clear, fresh water under your bed. A silver or crystal basin works best-the broader its opening, the better. Even plain glass is fine to use, since clear glass is lunar in nature. If you prefer, set this basin on a table or bureau in the physical chamber where you practice the general ritual. You can float a small, flat candle on the surface of the water, though you should never do this under your bed for obvious reasons of safety. The currents of air generated over the basin by the rising heat from the candle flame will help circulate the water vapor throughout your chamber. Mental Considerations Portal Exercise As a mental exercise, visualize an astral doorway. This can be done at any time you have a few minutes to sit quietly and close your eyes. It does not need to be incorporated into the general ritual. Remember, the general ritual is designed to be an aid to soul flight; it is not a requirement. It is perfectly possible to project the astral body without using it. If you do wish to incorporate this exercise into the general ritual, perform the visualization just after forming the sign of projection, so that the image of the sign of projection merges and transforms into the image of the astral doorway. It can be used as an aid in entering the astral chamber. Sit or lie quietly. Close your eyes. Visualize yourself as a disembodied awareness gliding through the blue heavens. All around you is blue sky. In the distance, something approaches. It is perceived first as a dot, but as it draws nearer, you see that it is a doorway. You are able to see the frame of the door, and the door itself. The details of the doorway are not important. You may prefer to visualize the same doorway repeatedly, or you may find that you naturally see different doorways, depending on your mood at the time of practice, or other factors in Chapter Filfteen: Trainingfor Soul Flight 269 your life. The door can be single or double, simple or ornate, small or massive, the door to a cottage or to a pagan temple. As the door draws near through the blue sky, it slowly opens, revealing a bright glow on the other side. The radiance is so bright that you cannot make out any details of what lies on the other side. Allow yourself to glide nearer to the door and pass through it so that the glowing light envelops you completely. This may end your exercise, or you may find yourself able to see details emerge of the place beyond the door as the bright glow slowly fades away. If so, you may wish to record them in your daily journal. The opening doorway filled with white light is similar to the tunnel with light at the end that those who have had near-death experiences so often describe. Contrary to popular superstition, you will not die if you go through this tunnel. The tunnel, or the doorway of this exercise, are symbols of transition. They take your awareness to a different place. Do not be afraid to pass through the doorway. Such a transition of consciousness is essential for soul flight. You must pass into the astral world, and that involves passing through a portal of some sort. Even when we enter dreams, we first pass through what is poetically termed the "gates of sleep." If you reach the stage where you begin to see details of the landscape on the far side of the doorway, you will find the appearance of the door frame, and the door or doors hung within it, to be in harmony with what lies beyond. A simple wooden door will probably open on to a rural landscape or on the interior of a cottage or shop; a gilded and ornately carved double doorway will open on a palace or temple or a walled garden. The same door will not always take you to the same place, but it will usually take you to a place of a similar nature. Mantra During the general ritual when seeking to enter the astral chamber, or during this visualization exercise when trying to open a doorway and pass through it, the repetition of a mantra is a good way to concentrate the attention. Mantras are words or brief phrases with magical significance,such as the famous "om, mane padme hum" of Tibetan Buddhism, said to translate into "Hail! The jewel in the lotus." This is a universal mantra, but mantras are often selected specifically for an individual student by a teacher as a key to enlightenment. The idea is that if the mantra is repeated often enough, enlightenment will dawn. Since you have no teacher, you must choose your own mantra. This can be 270 Soul Flight done by meditating on your need, and then opening your mind to receive whatever mantra is given to you by your intuition. In a sense, as the author of this book, I am your teacher, so it is only fitting that I provide an effective general mantra for the use of my readers. The mantra I have chosen for you is Enochian, a phrase based on real Enochian words that were transmitted through the scrying crystal of Edward Kelley to John Dee by the Enochian angels, but never put together into the phrase that appears here by the angels or by Dee. The mantra is "Christeos Luciftias." It translates into English as the emphatic "Let there be Light!" (christeoslet there be; Iuciftias-brightness). It is a phrase of great power and authority. If you know the astral world into which you wish to travel, you can pick a mantra that resonates with that world, such as the name of its ruling deity or spirit. Sometimes, the spirit of an astral realm may be abstract, a quality or condition that perhaps serves as its common name, and this can be used as its mantra. For example, "summerland" would make a good mantra when seeking to travel into the Summerland of myth. The name or title of a god or goddess particularly associated with an astral world might be used. Passage into the land of the rune Ansuz would be aided through the repetition of the mantra "Wodenl' Whether a mantra should be voiced aloud or spoken only in the mind is also a matter of preference. I have experimented extensively with both techniques. I find that speaking the mantra with my voice so that it resonates in my chest makes it more potent, but also that speaking it can interfere with the rhythm of my breaths, particularly if I am using a breathing technique in conjunction with the mantra. I have developed a method that straddles the fence, being neither wholly verbal nor wholly mental. I voice the mantra silently, or almost silently, with my lips, and I allow my breath to express it without actually vibrating it in my larynx with my vocal cords. The result is a kind of soft, breezy whisper. This allows me to repeat the mantra on my breath both on the inhalation and on the exhalation. This technique of subvocalization is common in magic, where mantras, names, or incantations must be voiced to release their power, yet are too sacred or too dangerous to voice aloud in such a way that others can hear what is said. The result was the "wizards that peep and that mutter" (Isaiah 8:19), as they are so poetically described in the King James Bible. The muttering of wizards was a way of saying something without actually voicing it aloud for everyone to hear. It works quite well when you wish to repeat a mantra where others who are sleeping in nearby rooms might be disturbed were it spoken in a normal voice. It was also used in religion. Shortly before the Temple at Jerusalem Chapter Fifteen: Trainingfor Soul Flight 271 was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, the Jewish high priests adopted the practice of speaking the name of God in such a manner that it could not be heard by the worshippers in the temple-in this way the power of the name was released by vocalizing it, but its sacredness was not diminished by revealing it to those who were not priests. Symbol Visualization A useful way to develop a talent for astral perception is to do regular visualization exercises. The visualization of simple symbols will help develop your inner sight. A few of the symbols suitable for this exercise are the cross, triangle, circle, square, pentagram, hexagram, sign of infinity, and spiral. Slightly more complex symbols that can be used are the Egyptian ankh, the Egyptian eye, the Masonic eye in the triangle, the Celtic cross, concentric circles, the pentagram within a circle, and the signs of the planets and the zodiac. These are all twodimensional forms. They should be held in the mind with the eyes closed, as though they were being viewed floating on the darkness of space, formed from glowing light that has a soothing, pleasant golden-white color. This coloring is neutral in an occult sense. As you lie down to go to sleep, adopt a comfortable posture on your back with your arms at your sides or folded on your abdomen and take a few slow, deep breaths. Close your eyes. Imagine the symbol you have chosen for the exercise floating in the air on the darkness. Pretend that you can look through your eyelids, which have become transparent, and that in the darkness of your bedroom the symbol floats before you. Imagine that you are actually looking through the ceiling of your bedroom into a larger darkness, and that you see the symbol at a great distance. It glows with soothing light, and flickers slightly round its edges as with some sort of electric fire. Hold it before your awareness for a few minutes, renewing it with your imagination when it begins to dim, and then release it and go to sleep. Do not worry if your mind drifts away from the symbol. Just bring it back and renew the symbol in the darkness. You should be aware that when you do an exercise of this type, you are actually forming the symbol you imagine on the astral level, where it shines like a great beacon for any spirits who may be near you to notice. They cannot help but pay attention to the symbol you visualize. It is like a great searchlight stabbing its beam up into the night sky. Even though you are not present in any manifest way on the astral level, the creation of the symbol on the astral level announces your existence, and your desire to interact with the astral world and its inhabitants. This exercise will attract spirits to you, and you will become aware of their presence in various ways, even though you will probably not be able to clearly see their 272 Soul Flight forms. A visualization exercise such as this is a way for students to proclaim that they are beginning practical work in astral perception. You will be noticed. After you have practiced for several weeks using simple two-dimensionalsymbols,move on to simple three-dimensional forms. Instead of a triangle, visualize a shining pyramid of marble blocks floating in the darkness, a cube of stone, a sphere of crystal, a silver crucifix, or an Egyptian eye symbol made out of jet, ivory, and lapis lazuli. Experiment with causing the three-dimensional symbol to turn slowly so that you can see it from different angles. Practice turning it and stopping its motion. Practice zooming in with your astral vision to see its fine details and the texture of its materials. With your astral hand, reach out and touch the side of the object. This is just like extendingyour physical arm and hand, but you do not move your body-you reach out only with your mind. It is not necessary to visualize your astral hand. It can be left invisible. Feel whether the object you have created in your mind on the astral level is cool or warm, rough or smooth, dry or damp. This kind of visualization exercise just before sleep each night is easy to do, and extremely useful in developing astral perception. As I have mentioned, it is also a way to announce to the inhabitants of the lower astral world that you are open to interactions with astral entities. There is no particular danger in such preliminary communications from spirits, which may be viewed as a polite way for these astral beings to announce their existence-a tap on the shoulder or a wave of the hand, so to speak, intended to attract your attention. These beings are always present all around you, so do not become alarmed when they take notice of you. It is only when you demonstrate to them, by repeated exercises in astral perception, that you wish more interaction, that they will make the special effort to reach you. This, by the way, is what happens when an individual or group begins to play with a Ouija board or similar spirit communication device. It should come as no surprise when astral spirits notice this sort of activity, and respond to it. Nor is it dangerous. Those who proclaim the dread powers of the Ouija, and offer ominous warnings that you will be taken over and tormented if you dare to use it, are repeating a superstition.What happens is that, when you do something specifically designed to attract the attention of the inhabitants of the astral world, they will respond in kind by attempting to attract your attention, as a way of letting you know that you have reached them. There is seldom any malicious intention on the part of the spirits, but human beings playing around with a Ouija board or similar device who do not believe that such things as spirits truly exist become terrified when they Chapter Fifteen: Trainingfor Soul Flight 273 feel the spirits' touch or see their forms for the first time. Such people are afraid of the unknown, not of any specific thing the spirits may do or say. Astral Journal Another important mental consideration is to begin keeping a record of your astral visions and encounters. It is a good practice to record your dreams also, since dreams and astral travel have a way of merging, as they are closely related experiences. A dream in which the dreamer becomes conscious and acquires the power of independent action is no longer simply a dream; it is an astral projection. Unless you record dreams and astral experiences, they will quickly fade from your memory. Oliver Fox observed this phenomenon, which I find to be true in my own experience. There is some mechanism of the mind that deliberately seeks to erase the memory of both dreams and astral projections. It is an active mechanism. The memory of a dream, for example, will slip away even as you are in the process of trying to remember its details. What purpose this deliberate attempt by some level of the mind to erase the conscious memory of dreams and other astral experiences may serve is not clear, but if you wish to retain the details of your experiences,you must write them down in a journal. It is best to record them as soon after you experience them as possible, to preserve as many fine details as you can. It may seem to be a tedious chore because the last thing you wish to do when you are half-awake and half-asleep is to start writing in a notebook. However, if you leave it until the next morning, you will forget many details, so the effort is worth making. Keeping an astral journal has the additional useful effect of making it possible to remember more events. The very act of focusing the mind on recalling details of astral events makes the memories of them arise spontaneously.You may even find yourself remembering astral events that occurred to you during childhood or many years in your past. For example, until I began to think about astral projection in a serious way and experiment with various techniques, I had completely forgotten that when I was around five years old, I was in the habit of projecting myself astrally to two specific worlds, the world of the fairies and the world of the angels. It was my practice at that age to lie in bed before sleep and decide which of these two worlds I would visit, and then to project myself into whichever I had chosen for that night. The astral experiences were detailed and quite realistic. I did this for a period of at least a year or two, but until renewing my interest in soul flight, some part of my mind had blanked out that childhood practice from my memory. CHAPTER Astral Guides M odern astral travel is looked upon by most people as the mechanical projection out of the body of an esoteric double, which resembles the physical body but is insubstantial and usually invisible to others. It is hard to blame anyone for holding this view, since it has been put forward as the popular explanation for soul flight since the beginning of the spiritualist movement. A consequence of the expectations aroused by this simplistic model is that travelers will often see only human beings on their astral ramblings. Their expectations exclude the perception of more exotic spiritual creatures. After all, if we are going out of our body to wander the streets of New York City, we would expect to see the men, women, children, dogs, cats, trees, and stones of New York, not strange spirits or impossible architecture. Sylvan Muldoon wrote: 276 Soul Flight One of the greatest possible mistakes is to believe that, the instant one is outside his body, he sees thousands of spirits all about him. This is not the case, for although there are some, they are not numerous. Usually, one never sees a spirit during projection. Usually he finds himself alone-a stranger in a strange land, and yet a familiar land.224 Muldoon was writing from the spiritualist perspective, and had been taught to expect that astral projection involved actual physical travel by a subtle body across the everyday material landscape. He had also been led to believe that the only spiritual beings he was likely to encounter in the astral world were the spirits of the human dead. Since the nature of astral perception is so largely conditioned by expectation, both conscious and unconscious, this is the sort of astral landscape he found himself exploring. Only on rare occasions was this reassuring illusion disturbed. Astral travel is sometimes arbitrarily divided into two kinds-on the one hand, the actual physical projection of the double into scenes of ordinary life as a kind of invisible ghost that observes other human beings; on the other hand, a mere fantasy of astral travel through impossible landscapes populated by spirits, elementals, angels, fairies, and mythological creatures. The hard-nosed remote viewers of the CIA would laugh at the second form of astral travel and dismiss it as dreaming while awake. It is more likely to be classed under lucid dreaming, where a distinction is made between lucid dreaming and astral travel. This distinction is false. There is no difference in soul flight that appears to involve projection across the everyday physical environment of our planet and projection into strange and exotic realms populated with spirits and mythical creatures. In both cases, no actual travel of a physical kind is involved. The world the remote viewers of the CIA projected into, which seemed to them so normal and real, was an astral level that existed wholly within their minds. Even though it appeared to be solid, it had no more substance than the world of a dream. It was an astral reflection, not the physical world itself. Astral Travel Occurs in the Mind All astral travel is travel within the mind, brought about by a shift in consciousness from one level to another. As remote viewer David Morehouse observed with a surprising degree of insight during an interview for Nexus Magazine, "You're not really traveling. 224. Muldoon and Carrington,Projection of the Astral Body, 291, Chapter Sixteen: Astral Guides 277 It's like folding space. You are traveling, but you're not moving."225You do not actually project yourself to distant places; you access those places in your mind by the process he likened to folding space. One of the reasons descriptions of astral projection differ so radically is that the common concept of projection through space of some sort of subtle body is only a sensory metaphor adopted by the mind for the sake of its reassuring familiarity. Travelers are not describing a physical process, but a mental process. The mind contains the physical body, the astral body, and the entire perceived world not only of the present moment, but of all past memories of the individual. It may also be connected with the minds of other human beings, or even with the minds of the entire human race, enabling an astral traveler to explore not only his own personal world, but the worlds of others. Indeed, there is reason to suspect that the mind is linked with all life throughout the universe, and that there exists only a single mind, which is perceived in a restricted way by each living being as its own mind, according to the expectations and limitations of that creature. If this is so-and many philosophers and mystics believe it to be true in a factual sense-then in soul flight we have the potential to go anywhere, through any period of time, beyond the limits of our personal experience. Once we grasp that what appears during soul flight to be the ordinary physical world is really the base level of the astral world, we can understand why strange creatures or spiritual beings sometimes intrude on astral travelers, terrifying them into an immediate return to their bodies-that is, to their ordinary waking level of consciousness. Because the base level of the astral world is no different in its essential nature from the higher or lower astral levels, it is possible for spirits to enter it, either deliberately or by accident, in much the same way that a deep-dwelling sea creature can, if the needs arises, swim up toward the surface. Such encounters occur infrequently to those who explore the base level when they maintain in their minds the belief that they are actually traveling through the ordinary physical world, but they do happen. Muldoon's Upsetting Experience Muldoon described an upsetting experience of this kind that took place in 1923. In the evening, he listened to his mother converse with a woman about her recently deceased husband, whom the woman characterized as a brute and, in her words, "all bad." Muldoon formed a poor opinion of the dead man based on this dialogue. That night, he 225. Dowbenko. 278 Soul Flight projected his double while asleep, and discovered the ghost of the dead man waiting for him. The ghost fought with him and beat him, but could not prevent him from reentering his physical body and waking up. "Skeptics may say that this was a nightmare; but I know when I am conscious, and I know what is real when I am conscious. It was no nightmare!"226 Muldoon's astral experience was uncharacteristic for him. It illustrates two truths of astral travel. First, that the nature of the astral experience is conditioned by unconscious expectation. Second, that a spirit anomalous to the character of the astral landscape can intrude into that landscape-there is no natural barrier separating one astral level from another. Muldoon's brooding about the bad character of the dead man just before sleep acted as an invitation to the spirit of the dead man to visit Muldoon, and when Muldoon projected during sleep, the spirit took the opportunity to try to injure him. Fortunately for Muldoon, we are no more vulnerable during astral projection than we are during ordinary dreams, and he remained unhurt. Whether the spirit that attacked Muldoon was indeed the spirit of the dead man, or was an astral entity who had taken on the appearance and personality of the dead man, is a difficult philosophical question. How it is answered depends in large measure on the views concerning the afterlife of the person who asks it. Those who believe in life after death, as it is often called -the survival of the personality after death-tend to believe that spirits of human beings who have died may be encountered in the astral world. Those who take the contrary view that there is no survival of personality or individual awareness after death regard such shades as astral beings who have adopted the appearance and personality of the dead individual for their own purposes. I tend to hold the second position: that human personality cannot survive death, and that all spirits who claim to be dead individuals are playing roles they have taken on. Spirits, perhaps due to the malleable nature of the astral world, suffer great difficulty distinguishing truth from fiction. My own view is that they take on the identities of dead human beings to meet the unconscious expectations of those with whom they communicate, as a way of fulfilling their expectations,and perhaps as a way of generating a more intense personal bond with them. Spirits hunger for form, for identity, for a history, and will seize any personality that is strongly held in the mind of the living individual through whom they communicate. It is usually not a deliberate deception. They seldom 226. Muldoon and Carrington, Projection of the Astral Body, 293. Chapter Sixteen: Astral Guides 279 realize they are not the spirit of the person they claim to be. When they adopt the identity of a dead human being, it becomes their own identity. What Muldoon encountered, in my opinion, was a spiritual being of a low or infernal type that became aware of the strongly held, well-formed conception of the dead man in Muldoon's mind, and put on that personality like a suit of clothing, making it a second skin-or to phrase it more accurately, making the personality of the dead man a first skin, since until then the low spirit had no strongly defined identity of its own. Once it became the ghost of the dead man, the spirit naturally acted as the ghost of the dead man would act and attacked Muldoon in retaliation for Muldoon's contempt and hatred toward the dead man. Before the nineteenth century and the rise of modern spiritualism, it was common for astral travelers to interact with all manner of strange and exotic spiritual beings. One of the most common types was the fairies. Interactions with angels were also frequent. Ritual magicians and witches sometimes projected into infernal realms and held commerce with spirits they believed to be demonic. Mythic creatures such as the sphinx, harpie, satyr, centaur, and water nymph were also encountered on a regular basis, since Greek mythology was a part of any classical education. Expectation allowed astral travelers to reach the realms in which these creatures dwell and to interact with them. The general belief in the nineteenth century that these esoteric creatures do not exist was in large measure responsible for inhibiting spiritualists from reaching their realms or perceiving them. The Spirit Guide If you understand soul flight in the way it has been described here, as a transition of consciousness from one mental level to another, you will not face the same limitations as the spiritualists, but will be able to visit astral worlds of all kinds, and will interact with and have dealings with all manner of strange spiritual creatures. When traveling through unknown lands, it is always useful to have a guide who knows the territory, or at least one who is able to deal with any problems that might arise. When in the astral world, your guide must be an astral being, which I refer to here by the general term spirit. Dante, traveling through hell in his epic Divine Comedy, was guided by the ghost of the Roman poet Virgil. Although Dante's journey was fictional, it illustrates the utility of having a spirit guide to warn of dangers or to explain confusing events. 280 Soul Flight The spirit guide, often referred to as a control by spiritualist mediums, has a long and honorable lineage. The tutelary spirits of traditional shamans around the world were their spirit guides, as were the familiars of medieval European witches and the guardian angels of Christians. In modern times, spirit guides sometimes assume the forms of aliens to astral travelers who believe themselves abducted by UFOs. Although the type of spirits who act as guides may change from generation to generation, their role remains the same-to offer advice, guidance, and protection on matters relating to the astral world. There are two general classes of spirit guide, those that are human and those that are inhuman. When I refer to human spirits, I refer to spirits who believe themselves to be the intelligences of living or formerly living human beings. By inhuman spirits, I mean all varieties of astral inhabitants who identify themselves as something other than human. Before spiritualism, it was relatively uncommon to encounter the first kind of spirit on the astral planes; after spiritualism, it became the norm rather than the exception. Perhaps both classes exist, and it is merely a matter of selective access to their planes, the result of expectation in the unconscious minds of astral travelers. Or perhaps, as I tend to believe, all astral spirits are inhuman and essentially formless in their root nature, and when first contacting human beings, they put on whatever forms and identities they find in the minds of those with whom they communicate. This second hypothesis does not preclude the existence on the astral level of enduring realms and populations, or of spirits who have a fixed and sustained identity, since it is possible that once having adopted an identity as its own, a spirit may be enabled to keep it over a span of human generations with the support of shared human belief in the existence of that spirit. For example, a goddess such as Aphrodite may continue to exist on the astral level for many centuries because her nature and qualities are known to many human beings and are never absent from human thought. The same consideration applies to a being such as Santa Claus, or indeed, to Jack the Ripper. Human Spirit Guides The first class, spirits who appear to be human in nature-at least on the surface-make better spirit guides, simply because it is easier to communicate with a human being than with an inhuman being. The majority of spirit guides adopted by mediums over the past two centuries are of this type. Almost all trance mediums had spirit guides. In the early days of the American spiritualist movement, when the Old West was still being lived, it Chapter Sixteen: Astral Guides 281 became popular to adopt guides who identified themselves as the spirits of dead Indians. In later decades, it grew more common for guides to identify themselves as Egyptian or Babylonian priests or sages. There was a huge rise of interest in anything Egyptian around the period that the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn flourished, so we find that the astral guide of the Sphere Group of Florence Farr was identified as the "Egyptian astral:' and was believed by her group to be the spirit of a long-dead Egyptian adept. Spirits who profess to once have lived as human beings are more inclined to sympathize with human problems, and are better adapted to interaction with humans on a regular personal level. In a practical sense, it does not matter whether the spirit is actually the shade or soul of a dead human being, or only believes itself to have been human-in either case, it acts with human emotions and from human motives. You will find yourself able to talk to this type of spirit, who will listen with sympathy. If the spirit was not syrnpathetic to your situation and problems, it would never have approached you to become your guide. Another type of human spirit on the astral level that may act as the guide to travelers is not of the dead, but of the living. As curious as the notion appears on first consideration, it was believed by Theosophists and other esoteric schools that some of the guides and teachers on the astral level were living human beings that either in sleep or with full awareness projected themselves onto the astral planes for the purpose of aiding other human beings. Writing in his 1915 work Invisible Helpers, Charles Webster Leadbeater concluded about the nature of the astral beings who aid humanity: "At present, therefore, the main bulk of the work which has to be done along these lines falls to the share of those living persons who are able to function consciously on the astral plane."227Elsewhere in the same chapter he wrote: It becomes obvious then that such assistance as that to which we are here referring may most fitly be given by men and women at a particular stage of their evolution; not by the adepts, since they are capable of doing far grander and more widely useful work, and not by the ordinary person of no special spiritual development, for he would be unable to be of any use. Just as these considerations would lead us to expect, we find that this work of helping on the astral and lower mental planes is chiefly in the hands of the pupils of the Masters-men who, though yet far from the 227. Leadbeater, Invisible Helpers, ch. IV. 282 Soul Flight attainment of adeptship, have evolved themselves to the extent of being able to function consciously upon the planes in question.228 It was the belief of Theosophists that living individuals who had studied the teachings of the Society, and indeed any person of an advanced spiritual nature, performed good works on the astral level during sleep, even if that person had no recollection of their helpful deeds upon waking the next morning. Such work might well include acting as protector or guide to an astral traveler, although Leadbeater did not specify this function in his book. He asserted that exalted adepts have no time to help individuals with their everyday problems, and that nature spirits are usually uninterested in human affairs. This idea that we may encounter other human travelers who are still living when we travel on the astral planes is frequently expressed in various forms. Mathers, leader of the Golden Dawn, was unsure whether the Secret Chiefs were living men, but he thought they were living, and reported that sometimes he met with them on the physical level, and at other times on the astral level. The Tibetan adept who dictated to Alice E. Bailey her shelf of bewildering esoteric writings identified himself to her as a man living in Tibet at the time he communicated with her. "I live in a physical body like other men, on the borders of Tibet, and at times (from the exoteric standpoint) preside over a large group of Tibetan lamas, when my other duties permit."229She did not believe herself to be receiving dictation from the spirit world but from a living human being in communication with her psychically, on the astral level. When encountering inhabitants of the astral planes, it is impossible to know, without asking them outright, whether they are spirits or projections of living human beings. Even then, you may not receive a satisfactory answer, since those who project in sleep often forget their everyday human identity and assume a new identity while on the astral level, just as they forget their dreams after they wake up. Two complete lives may be lived simultaneously, one during the waking state in the physical world, and the other during dreams in the astral world, and neither of these personalities may be fully aware of the existence of the other. Sometimes all that filters through from our dream lives concerning this dual existence is a dim recollection of repeated yet progressive dreams that involve different events, but the same astral environment. 228. Leadbeater, Invisible Helpers, ch. IV. 229. Bailey, Treatise on White Magic, vii. Chapter Sixteen: Astral Guides 283 Inhuman Spirit Guides The second class of spirit guide appears inhuman, or presents itself as inhuman, even though such spirits as a rule have many humanoid characteristics. Fairies, for example, are inhuman creatures yet resemble human beings quite closely. In their earliest legends, they are not tiny creatures with gossamer wings, but wingless and of the usual human size. They acquired their wings in popular paintings and illustrations of the nineteenth century from their association with the air, being insubstantial and apt to fade into the mist or disappear when the eye is momentarily averted from them. The four classes of elemental spirits defined by Paracelsus usually appear in humanoid form. Undines may closely resemble mortal women, but may have fins in place of feet or webbed fingers, for example. Humanoid forms allow these spirits to use human language to respond to astral travelers in a more familiar fashion than would be possible were they utterly monstrous. Angels that interact with human beings are usually so nearly human in appearance and behavior that they cannot be distinguished from the living. The idea that angels must always have feathered wings is a fable that may have evolved from their association with the heavens, and their ability to rise into the air. Wings are a symbol that indicates an airy nature. In the Bible, those angels who visit and instruct men are usually very human, whereas the angels that are strange in appearance have little interaction with human beings. Angels acquired wings in popular modern art for reasons similar to those of the fairies-because they shine with inner light, appear and disappear unexpectedly, and descend from or ascend into the sky. Angels can be trusted completely as guides on the higher astral planes, but they are focused mainly on spiritual matters. They cannot descend to the infernal planes because these astral environments are harmful or destructive to their composition. Even if they are able to survive the infernal levels, they suffer unceasing pain while upon them. The same is true of demons, who suffer constant pain when forced to ascend above the base level of the astral world. They even have a difficult time tolerating an environment on the base level of the astral that contains symbols of the higher mental and spiritual levels. Angels and demons can meet and interact on the base astral level, which is the reflection and close correspondent to the physical world. When we see an angel while awake, we see the angel on this level, which sometimes overlaps the physical world to our waking perception. The angel appears to be in the physical world, but it is still on the astral level. 284 Soul Flight The same is true when we see a demon during ordinary waking consciousness-something that happens with gratifying infrequency. It never actually reaches the physical world, but remains on the base level of the astral world and only seems present in the physical world. There is really not such a great difference between the physical world and the base level of the astral world. Both exist within the mind. When I assert that the physical world exists in the mind, I mean that all we can know or experience of the physical world is within the mind -mind knows nothing beyond mind. Our everyday waking consciousness can shift from one mental plane to the other fairly easily, and even unintentionally, during daydreams or under the effects of fatigue or mild medications. Drunks who suffer the horrible effects of delirium tremens experience vivid, tangible, real hallucinations, often of a horrifying kind. The creatures of these hallucinations are not physical in nature, but have risen to the base astral level, which the alcohol craving allows the sufferer to perceive by altering his mental state. Demons make even poorer astral guides than angels. Here I use the term demon to refer to infernal spirits in general. They may be of some use when exploring the lower levels that lie beneath the base plane of the astral world, and indeed may even be necessary for this work, but they are not to be trusted. Those who are able to form a close personal bond of friendship with an infernal spirit may find that the spirit will help them to the best of its ability, and will show considerable affection toward them, but its emotional responses will always be capricious and unbalanced, its actions unpredictable. Fairy Guides Fairies and other spirits of the natural world are closer to humanity in their responses, and make better guides to the astral planes that are open to them than either angels or demons. The fairy personality is quite similar to the human, save only that fairies tend to be a little fey at times, as their name implies. They respond and act strangely, though seldom maliciously or violently, as can be the case with most other infernal spirits. They may appear somewhat odd, or a bit abstracted. Fairies of the common laboring classes tend to be short and stout of body, with dark skin. Those of the ruling class are taller, equal in height to human beings, and have generally fairer skin and hair. Fairy society is similar to human society, but maintains the social structure that existed centuries ago in Europe. Chapter Sixteen: Astral Guides 285 In a Kabbalistic sense, fairies dwell below the surface of the lowest Sephirah called Malkuth, the sphere of the four elements. Although much more benign that most other subterranean spirits, we know that they are infernal or chthonic because their dwelling places are under hills beneath the ground. On its surface, the astral world of Malkuth is almost indistinguishable from the common physical world of everyday life. Between Malkuth and Yesod is the realm of what are known as the earthbound spirits-the spiritual creatures of the natural world and the lower atmosphere who can never venture far from the sphere of the four elements. The zone between Yesod and Malkuth is given over to these spirits, and they are under the governance of the moon. When we see strange faces and shapes on the borders of sleep, or even while wide awake, we are usually seeing these lunar spirits that throng in countless numbers all around us. Fairies dwell just beneath the surface of the earth. Other nature spirits such as nymphs and satyrs dwell on an astral plane that is just slightly higher in its vibration or energy level than the base level of the astral that corresponds with the everyday world. Both fairies and nature spirits can enter the base plane of the astral world with ease. Conversely, it is a very easy matter for astral travelers to cross from the surface plane of the four elements to the lower level of the fairies, or the slightly higher level of nature spirits. It can be as quick and as simple as opening a door, or turning a corner, and suddenly you are no longer in the ordinary landscape, but in a place that is strange and rich in sounds, colors, and scents. Fairies have limitations as guides because they cannot ascend up the astral planes above the sphere of the moon, and cannot give their full interest or enthusiasm to matters of human interest. If a fairy has a strong personal affection for a traveler, that personal bond can take the place of a sense of duty. The love of the fairy for its human companion may sustain its loyalty and devotion when it is required to perform tasks it would otherwise regard with disinterest, or even distaste. Because of this bond of love, the pressing concerns of the human traveler can become the pressing concerns of the fairy guide, but of their own volition they do not persist in human affairs for any great length of time before becoming bored. Elemental Guides Those spirits that are predominantly composed of a single elemental essence, which Paracelsus divided into salamanders, sylphs, undines, and gnomes, are even less well suited to the role of general astral guide than fairies. The gnomes are elementals of Earth, and 286 Soul Flight must remain on or beneath the base level of the astral world, on the ground. The undines ascend somewhat higher, and have their natural home in a band of spiritual Water that encircles the earth. Sylphs, composed of elemental Air, dwell in a band of spiritual Air that is a bit higher than the watery band of the undines. Salamanders, of elemental Fire, have a zone of habitation just above the zone of the sylphs. All three elemental bands are beneath the celestial sphere of the moon. They are termed earthbound spirits because, even though they inhabit zones above the earth, they are bound to it and cannot ascend above the moon. The three elemental bands about the earth should be understood in a symbolic sense, as a way of dividing and ordering the elemental realms. Each is a pure elemental zone, in contrast to the zone of the earth itself where the four elements are always mingled together. All four elements have a higher aspect and a lower aspect. The lower aspects blend together on the earth, and the higher or spiritual aspects of the elements remain separated. The spiritual aspect of elemental Earth is so dense, it is difficult to distinguish it from its lower, more gross aspect, so the two are for practical purposes treated as the same, and elemental Earth does not receive its own separate zone. In the Golden Dawn system of magic, the pure spiritual essences of the three higher elements are assigned to the three Sephiroth on the Tree of Life that are immediately above Malkuth. Elemental Air is placed in Yesod, sphere of the moon; elemental Water is assigned to Hod, sphere of the planet Mercury; and elemental Fire is located in Netzach, sphere of the planet Venus. It may be postulated that an extremely rarified and pure elemental spirit might be able to ascend above the moon to its own Sephirah,were it able to purge itself of all denseness and of the remnants of the lower aspects of the other elements. That is, a very pure elemental spirit of Air might ascend to Yesod, a pure elemental of Water as high as Hod, and a rarified elemental of Fire even as far as Netzach. Above this, no elemental spirit of any kind, regardless of how pure it may be, can ascend. Practically speaking, elemental spirits cannot venture above the moon. The best astral guides are those that identify themselves as human. It is a peculiarity of human nature that we are able to travel into all three astral kingdoms-the heavenly, the earthly, and the infernal. No other being can do this without some sort of protection or higher authority, and it is a cause of envy in the hearts of some spirits, who resent the freedom humans have to move through the three realms with impunity. A spirit identifying itself as human will possess the same ability, by virtue of its belief. Whether it is truly the spirit of someone who has died, or is a spiritual being that has so immersed itself in its human Chapter Sixteen: Astral Guides 287 identity that it truly thinks itself to be human, its faith in its own humanity will give it this power to move through the three realms. Acquiring a Spirit Guide You may be impatiently asking yourself, how do I acquire a spirit guide that will assist me in my exploration of the astral planes? Most commonly, you do not find such a spirit-the spirit finds you. When you engage in visualization exercises involving symbols, or the passage through astral doorways, you attract the attention of the lower astral world just as surely as if you had sent up a magnesium flare. By your visualization and the focus of your thoughts on astral forms, you become plainly visible in the astral world and all of your details become brightly illuminated, even though previously you may have appeared as no more than one of the countless millions of human beings who are present during their waking hours only as pale, entranced inhabitants of the base plane of the astral world, little more than unresponsive walking shadows. It is very likely that you will be approached by a spirit as you practice astral visualizations, and as you make preliminary efforts to project your double. The spirit will make its presence known to you by appearing in your dreams, which is another reason why you should be keeping a record of your dreams in your astral journal. The spirit may also cause you to see its form, hear its voice, and feel its touch upon your body. The touch of a spirit can be completely indistinguishable from the touch of a human hand. Oliver Fox-among other astral travelers-reported that while he was projecting from his body, he was able to make others aware of his presence by touching them. Those he touched could not see or hear him, but they felt him. It appears that from the astral level, the tactile sense of the physical body is the easiest to affect. When you become aware of the persistent presence of a spirit near you, it is important to determine its name, so that you can address it in a unique way that identifies it. Mentally send your thoughts outward to the spirit, and think very clearly your desire that the spirit reveal its name. If you possess strong psychic abilities, you may actually hear the name spoken, or see its letters written in astral fire. More likely, the name will come into your mind, and will have a sense of rightness. Record the name in your journal, and in all future communications with the spirit, address it by this name. If the name you have arrived at is not the name by which the spirit wishes to be called, it will eventually reveal to you a new name. 288 Soul Flight The name conveyed to you embodies the very identity of the spirit. It is as much the body of the spirit as the form that will eventually be revealed to your astral perception. By calling on the name, you can summon the spirit at any time of the day or night. How well you are able to perceive the spirit depends on the development of your astral senses-your ability to see, hear, and feel astral beings. It is important to understand that even if you do not clearly see or hear the spirit, there is every likelihood that it is present at your side when you call it by its name. The longer you use a name for a spirit, the more forcefully the voicing of that name-either mentally or aloud-will summon the spirit. The link you have with your astral guide can be made even stronger through the use of a sigil that represents the identity of the spirit. A sigil is a symbolic pattern associated with a spirit. It acts as a kind of graphic signature. There are various ways to derive sigils from the names of spirits, but the simplest way is to ask to be given the sigil in the same way you were given the name, by inspiration. Very clearly and repeatedly, project your desire that the spirit should send you its identifying sigil. Then empty and open your mind. Whatever pattern of lines or shapes you perceive, draw it in your journal beneath the name of the spirit. Sigils are usually given by spirits as quite simple patterns, allowing them to be easily drawn, but if it happens that you see in your mind a three-dimensional shape or group of shapes, reduce it to its essential lines and use that simplified drawing as the sigil. How you perceive your guide when you are projecting on the astral levels depends on your psychic ability. Ideally, you will be able to see the form of the spirit as a companion who accompanies you, and hear and understand the speech of the spirit. However, if your perception is less developed, you may only sense the presence of the spirit guide, and feel the occasional touch of the guide on your astral body. The ability of your guide to protect you will not be diminished by your inability to clearly see the form of the spirit or hear its words. Astral perception is not as predictable as the perception of objects with your physical senses. For example, it is usual for those projecting the double to see their physical bodies, but Oliver Fox was throughout his years of astral travel consistently unable to see his body. Similarly, some travelers report the existence of the silver cord and others do not. It should not be assumed, because you fail to see or hear your guide clearly, that your guide is not present. Remain open to the presence of your guide during soul flight, ask for guidance or help whenever they are needed, and allow your guide to express itself to you in whatever Chapter Sixteen: Astral Guides 289 ways it finds most useful for the purpose of communication. The spirit may guide you by touches, or sounds other than words, or lights perceived in the distance. You may feel only a strong pressure to move in a particular direction, or the sense that it would be best to go a certain way or do a particular thing. Allow yourself to remain open for these signs, and follow them. In this way, trust and a working relationship will be developed between you and your guide. Etiquette in the Astral Wor I n the early stages of your practice of s o d flight, you may think that when you enter an astral world, you are in a kind of dreamland or fantasy landscape, where you can do anything that you feel the impulse to do without consequences. This wodd be an unfortunate mistake. It is true that a strong relationship exists between dreams and astral travel, but during a normal dream we automatically act in accordance with the dream, and for this reason never violate the integrity of the dream no matter how outrageous our actions appear. During soul flight, we function independent of the milieu that surrounds us, and may, if we choose, violate its natural laws. When we act irresponsibly, the result is confusion, fear, and outrage among the inhabitants of that astral plane. Every astral environment has its own natural laws that can be learned by observation. Some are limited by their level of technology-there are many astral landscapes 292 Soul Flight that appear medieval. They have somehow fallen out of synchronization with the time period of the physical world. Others, such as simple woodlands that contain no manmade structures, are limited by their lack of human inhabitants. Others are holy places composed of temples and courtyards filled with altars and statues of strange divinities, where it would be a violation to show signs of impiety. Travelers are expected to observe certain basic rules of behavior when they explore the astral levels, and if a traveler ignores good manners, the inhabitants of the level will very quickly cease to be friendly, and will become hostile and obstructive. Behavior when traveling the astral world is mainly a matter of common sense. You act as you would act if you were visiting a foreign country. Treat the native inhabitants with respect. Listen courteously when they speak to you, and watch closely when they convey information by means of gestures or pantomimes. Try to accommodate their wishes, where such accommodation does not interfere in a serious way with your own purposes. Imitate their general behavior and customs. For example, if you are in a land where nobody speaks, you should remain silent. If you travel through an astral realm where spirits greet each other with bows, you should bow in return when a spirit greets you. Nothing so disgusts and angers the spirits of an astral landscape as a traveler who acts with complete disregard for their presence, bullies them, speaks harshly, or strikes them. Do not try to play the great magus, and go around projecting pentagrams or vibrating words of power. Do not clothe yourself in imposing robes and costly jewels. This kind of bluster will not earn you friends, and is unlikely to help you acquire knowledge. Instead, it will mark you as a menace or a fool, and the spirits of the land will avoid you as they would avoid a madman. Always remember that you are a visitor, and be polite. A Gift Demands a Gift When seeking information or aid from a spirit, it is good manners to offer the spirit a gift as payment for its services. Fortunately, as a human being, you have the power to create objects and substances on the astral level using only the power of your imagination. Another way to accomplish the same end is to offer physical gifts before you begin your soul flight. The astral portion of the physical offering is received and used by the spirits for whom it is intended. The offering of physical gifts is the usual practice in religion, and indeed in ceremonial magic. However, the astral traveler, being actually present within the land inhabited by the spirits, will find it easier to shape his offerings Chapter Seventeen: Etiquette in the Astral World 293 mentally, and present them through the intermediary of his astral guide, or directly if he has no guide. The idea of giving astral beings gifts composed of astral substance may appear strange at first consideration, but it is quite an ancient practice. The magicians of Babylon and Egypt used it when dealing with spirits in their rituals. Rather than travel to the astral realms themselves, they employed scryers to see and converse with the spirits, usually a young boy or girl. Children are naturally more mediumistic than adults. For the gathering and presentation of the astral offerings, they either had a spirit act as their agent, or they caused the spirits receiving the offerings to bring the offerings themselves. The intention of the magician allowed the spirits receiving the offerings to obtain them, which otherwise they could not do. The magician's conceptualization of the offerings created the offerings on the astral level. In a ritual of Egyptian oil divination recorded centuries ago on a papyrus manuscript, the magician tells the young boy who acts as his seer to instruct the god Anubis to bring in offerings for the other gods who are invoked: You say to the boy, "Speak to Anubis, saying 'Bring in a table for the gods, and let them sit.'" When they are seated, you say "Bring in a [jar of] wine, broach it for the gods; bring in some bread, let them eat, let them drink," "let them eat, let them drink, let them pass a festal day." When they have finished, you speak to Anubis, saying "Dost thou make inquiry for me?" If he says "At once," you say to him, "The god who will make my inquiry to-day, let him stand up." If he says, "He has stood up:' you say to him [i.e. the child], "Say to Anubis 'Carry off the things from the midst."'230 In this ritual, Anubis is used as the agent who fetches the feast offerings, and even the table on which they are arrayed. He receives his instructions from the young boy who acts as the seer, who is in turn told what to say by the magician. The feast is wholly astral in nature. Later in the ritual, bread and salt are physically offered, but this first offering consists of astral bread and astral wine. It is the imagination of the seer that creates the materials of the feast on the astral level, allowing the god Anubis to acquire them. 230. Griffith and Thompson, Leyden Papyrus, 31. 294 Soul Flight In a ritual of Babylonian oil magic, recorded in a Jewish magical manuscript of the eighteenth century that is based on much older sources, the magician is instructed in the text to tell the child seer the following: And if he sees a man dressed in black tell him that he should put on white garments and return at once, and when he returns he shall say unto him: I command that thou shalt go at once to thy kingdom, and thou shalt bring a lamb and slaughter it and roast it and eat it, and after he has eaten he shall tell him: I command thee with the power and permission and command of my master and in the name of thy supreme master and by the command of thy king that thou shalt show me all that I ask clearly so that I should understand.231 This may seem a bit confusing, but is simple enough. The magician instructs the child seer to tell the spirit who comes dressed in black to put on white garments. The reason for the change of clothing is that symbols represent real qualities on the astral level. Black clothing is assumed by the author of the ritual to indicate evil intentions. When the spirit changes its garments, the shift from black to white renders benevolent its intentions toward the magician. On the matter of the significance of the clothing worn by spirits, Regardie made the following observation in which he quoted Mathers: "On these subtler planes, or within the realms of these [tattwa] symbols, form takes on symbolic implication which we, on earth, have obscured if not lost. It is only human beings who swathe themselves in garments whose shape and colour bear no relation to their true character. 'Even on our own plane, the clothing of animals is pregnant with meaning, and on the astral plane this is far more emphatically the case. An elemental may, for some purpose of its own, masquerade for a time in alien garb, but we are given a certain definite procedure to follow in dealing with them'."232 The methods of dealing with such deceptions in appearance mentioned by Mathers involved the vibration of divine and angelic names, the making of signs of the elemental grades of the Golden Dawn, and the formation of pentagrams upon the air with various elemental associations. Their purpose was to show to the spirit that the astral traveler 231. Gaster and Daiches, Three Works (Babylonian Oil Magic), 20. 232. Regardie, 460. Chapter Seventeen: Etiquette in the Astral World 295 had authority over the spirit, and to compel the spirit to present itself honestly and in harmony with the elemental level represented by the name or sign. Returning to our analysis of the Babylonian ritual, the magician tells the child what he is to say to the spirit who has put on white garments-that the spirit is to go to his kingdom, get a lamb, slaughter the lamb, roast it, and consume it, as an offering from the magician to the spirit. The lamb is wholly astral in nature. Even though the spirit fetches the offering himself, it is not an offering he could consume without the permission of the magician and the seer, because their expectations, acting through their imaginations, make the offering real and available to the spirit. Once the spirit dressed in white has eaten the offering which he himself was forced to prepare, the magician tells the boy to command the spirit by various names of powerthe first being the name of the magician, who is the boy's master, then by the master of the spirit, and finally by the king of the astral world within which the spirit resides. These names are not given in the ritual, presumably because they are specific to each spirit invoked, but during the practice of the ritual they would be voiced by the young seer. The Use of Compulsions I have quoted from these two rituals, one Egyptian and the other Babylonian, in order to show that this sort of astral offering was not unusual, but was a normal part of astral magic in ancient times. In my opinion, the second ritual suffers from a lack of good etiquette toward the spirit invoked. It seems poor manners to make a spirit fetch his own feast offering. This may have been the accepted practice, but it is better to rely on your guide, if you have one, to present the offering to the spirit you wish to question, or whose help you seek. The second bit of bad manners was the use of compulsion by means of names of power. If you are dealing with honorable spirits in the astral realms you visit, compulsion should never be necessary. The spirit will tell you what you ask if it wishes to tell you, and if it chooses to withhold its aid or advice, you should not seek to compel it, as this arouses resentment and is very apt to encourage deliberate deception on the part of the spirit compelled to serve. The exception to this rule is when you have dealings with infernal or chthonic spirits -those that dwell on planes below the level of Malkuth. These underground spirits are 296 Soul Flight by their inherent natures less trustworthy and should always be treated with care. They should never be abused, but it is wise to have ready names that you know possess authority to command these spirits. Always be alert for deception when interacting with the inhabitants of the lower levels. Elementals and nature spirits are less malicious than infernal spirits, but can be capricious and may try to deceive, as Mathers observed in the quotation by Regardie, given above. Regardie went on to write: It is but rarely that there will be necessity to resort to anything so drastic as the Pentagrams in these tattwa visions, for the vibration of the Hebrew name either of the element, or of the Archangel will restore order and harmony. The true form, colour, clothing, even adornments such as jewels and embroideries are consonant to the element and character of the beings under discussion. And unless they are, the Seer may be sure he is being imposed on, and should act accordingly-at once.233 Regardie does not mean that you should browbeat or attempt to intimidate the spirit you suspect may be wearing false colors-merely that if you are suspicious, you should test the spirit's integrity. This may be done most easily by voicing a name that you know has a natural authority over the spirit, and telling the spirit to reveal its true appearance in the name of that authority. There is no need to shout or bluster when doing this. If the name chosen is appropriate, and is indeed the name of a spirit with a rank above the spirit you are testing, it will have the power to compel the spirit to reveal its true appearance. On the general subject of how to treat spirits encountered during astral projection, Mathers wrote: "Always treat these beings with courtesy and in accord with their rank. Pay deference to the superior orders, the Archangels, Angels, and Rulers. To those of lower rank, bear yourself as an equal; and to those lower still, as to servants whom you treat politely, but do not allow familiarity."234In the England of the nineteenth century, social rank was of much greater importance than it is today. It is good practice to treat all spirits with respect, but to avoid abasing yourself before those who come in splendid robes and bedecked in jewels, and to avoid equally displays of superiority toward those of a more humble, earthy appearance. Observance of rank plays a more important role in those astral lands that maintain a medieval social structure. 233. Regardie, 460. 234. Ibid.. 461. Chapter Seventeen: Etiquette in the Astral World 297 In my opinion, the Golden Dawn was somewhat obsessed with the possible deceptions of astral spirits.Perhaps this was due to the astral levels they scried and traveled upon-all of the tattwa levels are elemental in nature. The lower the level, the more likely its inhabitants are to trick the traveler, although displays of actual malice are rare on the sublunary levels between Malkuth and Yesod. The elemental zones on and immediately above the earth can be tested by vibrating the names of the four archangels of the elements-Uriel for the zone of elemental Earth, Gabriel for the zone of Water, Raphael for the zone of Air, and Michael for the zone of Fire. Uriel may be used for the realms of nature spirits, and for the land of the fairies, who dwell very close beneath the surface of the physical world and commonly walk abroad on the base astral level that correspondswith our world. It is merely necessary to say to the spirit you wish to test, in a clear and firm voice: "By the authority of Uriel, archangel of Earth, show to me your true appearance." If the spirit is already in its true guise, there will be no change, but if it is seeking to deceive you with a veil of glamour, it will shimmer and dissolve into its true form. For the realm of the undines and other watery spirits, substitute the archangelic name Gabriel; for the realm of the sylphs and other airy spirits, the name Raphael; for the realm of the salamanders and other fiery spirits, the name Michael. Appropriate Offerings to Spirits You should not think that when you project yourself into an astral landscape that you must offer a great feast to everyone you encounter. An offering should only be given to the ruler of the place you visit, or to those spirits who assist you. In the first case, it is a sign of respect, and in the second, a payment for services rendered. An offering can be anything that will be well received by the spirit to whom it is given. Offerings of food and drink are traditional in both religion and magic, and will seldom be refused. An article of clothing can also be given, or a piece of jewelry, a book, a weapon, a musical instrument, a tool, or a flower. You should either send your astral guide to fetch the offering or, if you have no guide, get it yourself after creating it by imagining it present yet out of sight in a nearby location, such as behind a boulder or inside a cupboard. Whatever you visualize and imagine clearly on the astral level becomes real, and it has as much reality as the spirit to whom it is given. 298 Soul Flight The offering is not a mere token gesture; it has real value to the spirit that receives it. It is important to grasp this, as we are so accustomed to thinking of imagined things as unreal, and hence without value. Your gift should be given with sincerity, as a sign of respect or gratitude. When in doubt as to what is appropriate, bread and wine should be given. Only if you are sure that you understand the nature of the spirit with whom you are dealing, and the needs and desires of the spirit, should you attempt to make the offering more personal. If you know information that will be of use or amusement to a spirit, that can be given as a gift in place of an object. It was the custom for members of the Golden Dawn, when they visited a tattwa environment, to wait for a spirit guide to present itself before exploring the landscape. "Under no circumstances should the Seer wander from his doorway alone; he should always wait until one of these elemental beings or 'guides' appears, and he should continue vibrating the names until one does appear, or until he obtains the sense that one is present."235This advice is prompted by a fear that the unwary astral traveler will fall prey to some sort of deception unless he is guided by a spirit whose integrity has been tested by names of authority or other symbolic instruments such as the pentagrams of the elements. My own opinion is that it is not necessary to wait for a guide. The danger is slight or nonexistent. If you have your own general guide to the astral planes, your personal guide will supply all the protection and direction you need. If you are alone, it is very likely, as you begin exploring your surroundings, that a spirit will approach and interact with you. Ask this spirit to take you to the ruler of the place. As a matter of good manners, it is appropriate to pay a visit to the ruler of an astral world the first time you enter it. Sometimes, if the world is small and simple, the spirit who approaches you will be the ruling spirit. You should allow the spirit who first meets you to guide you to the dwelling of the ruler of that astral land. If you are granted an audience or interview with the ruler, explain your intentions and politely offer a gift as a gesture of respect. If the spirit who first appears to you is the ruler of the realm, offer your gift to that spirit. Have your personal guide fetch it, or get it yourself from some convenient location that is nearby but concealed from sight. The ruler may express wonder at your powers of magic as you pull a bottle of wine from out of a cupboard or from behind a tree and present it in offering. 235. Regardie, 460. Chapter Seventeen: Etiquette in the Astral World 299 This will enhance your standing. Resist the urge to make vain displays merely to impress the spirits. Becoming Familiar with an Astral Realm In order to really explore an astral realm, it is necessary to return to it again and again. At first, it is likely to be fragmented or vague, too much for your mind to comprehend, and a confusion of sounds and colors. Indeed, Theosophists describe the first perception of the astral world as nothing but vaguely defined forms. The Tibetan sage who instructed Alice A. Bailey wrote that "the appearance of the astral plane when first definitely seen by the 'opened eye' of the aspirant is one of dense fog, confusion, changing forms, interpenetrating and intermingling colors, and is of such a kaleidoscopic appearance that the hopelessness of the enterprise seems overwhelming. It is not light, or starry or clear. It is apparently impenetrable disorder, for it is the meeting ground of forces."236This description exaggerates the experience of most astral travelers, who find their initial views of the astral planes strange but not incomprehensible. To some degree, this initial confusion of the senses occurs whenever we are presented with a truly unknown environment. The awareness is overwhelmed in its attempt to tame the chaos of new sights and sounds. Over time the mind begins to sort things out, and what we could not initially see at all, even though it was in plain view, becomes obvious, so that we wonder how we ever failed to perceive it. The same thing happens sometimes when we are shown a photograph of a jungle beast in its native environment. At first there is only a confused mass of light and shadow. Suddenly, the shape of the animal seems to leap out of the photograph as our mind makes sense of it. After that, it seems impossible to avoid seeing the beast each time we look at the photograph. Regardie offered the rather poor advice that the traveler should imagine his astral body larger than the size of his physical body. "It is also said to be good practice, since form is symbolic in these regions, to imagine yourself as large as possible, always taller than the being conOn the contrary, this is very bad practice. When the traveler does this, he is fronting you. . no different than a deceiving spirit who puts on a false set of princely robes, or the garments of a priest, or the wings of an angel, merely to impress the traveler. What is wrong for the spirit cannot be right for the human being. In my view, travelers should appear on the astral 236. Bailey, 221. 237. Regardie, 461. 300 Soul Flight planes in their natural form and normal height, wearing what they usually wear, and should in all things conduct themselves with honesty and integrity.If they do so, they are much more likely to earn the respect of the spirits they encounter. Often a traveler finds himself returning again and again to the same astral realm. Something in its atmosphere or the behavior of its inhabitants resonates within his soul, so that he feels at ease in the place, as though he has returned home after a long absence. This is true in my own experience regarding a fairy realm that has the form of a small town located on the bank of a river. It is set in a time period several centuries before our own, a period roughly equivalent to the Elizabethan Age. There are farmlands and meadows surrounding the town. An old country road leads across them and through the town to the waterfront, where there is a dock for sailing ships that carry goods out the mouth of the river to the sea. I have visited this astral world dozens of times, and find myself completely at peace there. The inhabitants greet me pleasantly with knowing looks. It has become a sort of second home. When visiting the same astral world repeatedly, it is important not to disrupt its natural functioning by intruding yourself too much into its affairs. It is better to remain somewhat withdrawn, and to play the part of an observer rather than trying to involve yourself in the politics or social life of the place. If you become deeply enmeshed in the affairs of that world, you may inadvertently destroy those aspects of it that lent it charm in your eyes and made it attractive to you. It is best to maintain a modest demeanor and to say little, but to nod and return greetings pleasantly. Your effort should be to make the inhabitants comfortable around you, but not dependent on you for any aspect of their lives. The world should function just the same when you are absent as it does while you are present. It is an easy matter for you to create for yourself a place to live in this world, but do so in such a way that your new house does not interfere with lands held by the native inhabitants. Make your house similar in size and architecture to the houses of your neighbors. Resist the urge to play the part of the wealthy noble, since this is bound to cause disruption where you live. Either your presence will be resented, or natives will come to you for favors. Both types of disruption are to be shunned if you wish to preserve the integrity of the astral world. You may, if it is the acceptable practice of the place, hire one or two of the locals to keep your house while you are away, and to maintain your grounds. Chapter Seventeen:Etiquette in theAstra1 World 301 Romantic Relationships with Spirits Resist the urge to fall in love with a native of the astral world you have chosen as your second home. There is a great temptation to do so, since many spirits are quite charming and beautiful. However, if you join yourself closely to a spirit in a loving union, that spirit will become dependent on your presence, and will grieve and sicken when you are absent. It is kinder not to form such a bond unless you are very sure that you wiU be visiting that astral world on a regular basis for the rest of your Life. A loving relationship with a spirit is a serious commitment, and it can have serious consequences. It comes as a surprise to many people that spirits give birth to children, even though it is an accepted part of the folk tradition about fairies. The practice of fairies to substitute a changeling child in place of a human child was popularly believed until two centuries ago, and it was also held that young women were sometimes abducted by fairies to nurse fairy children. What is less widely recognized in folklore is that most female spirits, even those who are not fairies, can produce children. Spirit mothers have spirit babies; human mothers usually have human babies. Until recent years, I would have said that human mothers always have human babies, but I have had my consciousness raised on this matter. It is possible for a man, when traveling in astral realms, to engender a spirit child on a spirit woman, who becomes pregnant and gives birth to that child within her native astral world. It is also possible, as strange as it sounds, for a woman, while projecting her double into an astral world, to become pregnant in her astral body by making love to a male spirit, and for her to give birth to that astral child while in the spirit world. The baby remains in the astral land of its birth, but its human mother can visit it whenever she travels to that land. You may protest this as rubbish. At first consideration, it does seem absurd that a woman of flesh and blood could have an astral child. Yet I know a woman who was made pregnant by her spirit lover, and gave birth to a healthy baby boy. The child is presently being raised by his spirit father on the astral plane on which the father dwells, and is regularly visited by his human mother. Aside from not having a body, the child is in all other respects completely normal. Sometimes astral children mature very quickly, and then at a certain age reach their final form and remain at that age indefinitely. The spirit father of 302 Soul Flight the child informed me that rapidly maturing spirits are of a type that is different from his son, who is maturing at the usual human pace. Spirit children may exhibit otherworldly or slightly inhuman features, although just as often they are indistinguishable from human children. For example, a child born from the union of a spirit mother with catlike attributes and human father might possess eyes similar to those of a cat, or pointed ears. These secondary characteristics depend on the appearance of the spirit that is the mother. If the spirit mother is completely human in appearance, the baby will be completely human also. Marriages with Spirits Marriages between spirits and humans are possible. We know that they were recognized in ancient times, because records of these unions have been recorded in historical accounts and were regarded by the authors as factual. One of the most famous is the marriage between King Numa of Rome and the water nymph Egeria, who dwelled in a spring within a sacred grove near the Porta Capena in the south wall of the old city of Rome. The king went to her at night and received instruction in the making of religious laws, for which he was in later centuries renowned. Although the satirist Juvenal called Egeria the king's mistress, others refer to her as his wife. The Roman historian Varro believed that the marriage between Numa and Egeria was a mythic explanation for the king's use but in spite of Varro's of water divination, as Saint Augustine reports in his City of cynicism, such unions did occur. Plutarch, in his Life of Numa Pompilius, referring to Numa's "celestial wedlock in the love and converse of the goddess Egeria" was doubtful that spirits could unite with human beings in a sensual way, but remarked on the subject: Though, indeed, the wise Egyptians do not unplausibly make the distinction, that it may be possible for a divine spirit so to apply itself to the nature of a woman, as to imbreed in her the first beginnings of generation, while on the other side they conclude it impossible for the male kind to have any intercourse or mixture by the body with any divinity, not considering, however, that what takes place on the one side, must also take place on the other; intermixture, by force of terms, is reciprocal.239 238. Augustine, Saint, City of God, (bk. 7, ch. 35), vol. 1, p. 224. 239. Plutarch,Noble Grecians and Romans, 77. Chapter Seventeen: Etiquette in the Astral World 303 Human-spirit marriages still take place today, although humans who marry spirits seldom advertise these unions. To do so would brand them as mentally unsound in the opinion of their family and friends, and might get them committed to an institution. These marriages, conducted on the astral level, are often enduring and happy. Indeed, there is an entire modern subculture of not only sexual relationships between human beings and spirits, but marriages that result in spirit children. This subculture is almost completely unknown to the popular media. It is never written about in magazines or talked about on television. It exists under the radar of our modern society, in spite of our constant lust to be entertained by new and outrageous diversions. I sometimes speculate that many of the false pregnancies endured by women have, at their root, a relationship with a male spirit on the astral level. Such a connection can be established during sleep, when astral journeys occur that are not recalled upon waking in the morning. A woman may have a sexual relationship with a spirit in her sleep that she does not remember while awake, or that she remembers only in a vague and fragmented manner. It is not uncommon for a woman impregnated on the astral level by a spirit to exhibit some physical symptoms of pregnancy. The most common is the ceasing of menstruation. Morning sickness and a bloating of the abdomen are less likely, but they also occur. These symptoms were noticed by the woman I mentioned who gave birth to the astral baby boy. She was kind enough to describe them to me in detail. They caused her no great apprehension because she was completely aware of her marriage with the spirit who was the father of the child, and knew that she was pregnant on the astral level. A woman who did not know she was astrally pregnant, suffering the same symptoms, would be perplexed, and might be inclined to seek some rational physical explanation in an effort to make sense of the situation-she would naturally assume that some man must have impregnated her while she was drugged or otherwise unaware. The Care of Spirit Children The ethical responsibility to care for such a child, once it has been created on the astral level, is no less rigorous than it would be for a child of flesh and blood. When the mother is a spirit, she can remain close to the infant and supply the child's needs, but it is only common decency for the human father to ensure that she is provided with nourishment to keep her strong. He can project vital energy from his own astral body into the body 304 Soul Flight of the mother as a way of strengthening her, and she will pass a portion of the vitality on to the infant. Or he can infuse this energy into food and drink on the astral level, and present these to the mother. When the mother is human, she must rely on the love of the father for the child to cause him to watch over and protect the infant. To lighten his burden, she can supply him with vital energy. If an astral baby is abandoned, it will not die, but it will blindly seek nourishment wherever it can find it, and is likely not to grow in a healthy or natural way. It is like a human infant abandoned on the streets of a slum that looks for food in the gutters. Such hardship can pervert the nature of a spirit that would otherwise grow to be kind and wise. A spirit child that starts its life in human form can, through this neglect, become bestial and deformed, its outward ugliness reflecting its inward corruption. On the astral planes, outward appearance is a true expression of inner nature, unless deliberately concealed for purposes of deception. When they mature, astral children will go their own way in pursuit of their own unique destinies. Eventually, they will ascend to higher planes and may cease to have an active interest in the affairs of human beings. Part of this process of ascension may be an alteration of their forms, so that they would no longer be recognized by their human parent if encountered on the astral level. Yet these spirits always feel a bond with their human parent, and at times when the life of the parent is threatened, they may descend the planes to offer comfort or assistance. Taking a spirit in marriage, or having a child with that spirit spouse, are serious steps to contemplate, and should not be entered into hastily. There is nothing inherently dangerous or immoral about such unions between spirits and humans, but they can result in misfortune and have unhappy consequences unless they are conducted with the same gravity and forethought that would be given to a human marriage, or the engendering of a human child. All actions have karmic consequences, whether done on the physical level or on the astral planes. CHAPTER Astral Self- Defense T he dangers of soul flight have been vastly exaggerated by those writing about the subject, particularly the spiritualists and Theosophists of the nineteenth century. One belief is that if the silver cord is cut, you will immediately die. Another is that a malicious spirit can prevent you from returning to your body, either by blocking your return on the astral level or by invading and claiming your body while you are gone. Yet another belief is that if you suffer some grave injury on the astral level, by a process known as repercussion it will show itself on your physical body and, if severe enough, it may cause death. There is the belief that you should not stray too far from your body, or you may become lost on the astral planes and never find your way back-your soulless body would then lapse into a state of permanent coma. 306 Soul Flight In addition to these mortal physical dangers, a host of more subtle and insidious threats are recited to frighten the prospective traveler. It is sometimes claimed that the unwary can become mesmerized by the strange beauty of the astral world and its spirits, and like those who eat and drink of the fairy feast, lose all interest in ordinary physical reality. Another fear raised is that astral vampires can suck the life force from the traveler, eventually weakening the traveler's body to such a degree that he succumbs to disease or infirmity. Yet another fear is that by venturing onto the astral planes, you will attract the notice of hostile spirits, who will then follow you back to the physical world and either obsess your mind or possess your body. There is also the ominous caution that the very practice of astral projection will drive you insane. The good news is, direct physical dangers from soul flight of a life-threatening nature do not exist. You never actually leave your body; you merely shift consciousness from the physical state to the astral state. The silver cord is a metaphor for the sustained link between these two mental states. Sometimes it is perceived, but just as often it is not seen at all. Since it has no physical existence, it cannot be cut. Since you are never out of your body, you cannot become trapped out of it, or lose yourself on the astral planes and be unable to find it. The fable that repercussion can cause death is just as much false as the popular belief that if you fall off a cliff while dreaming, you will die. Neither is true. Dangers of Repercussion In rare cases, repercussion can produce minor injuries on the body such as bruises, welts, and scratches. These are not generated by spirits on the astral level, but rather by the traveler's own belief that injury has been inflicted upon him during soul flight. Strong belief can show itself in physical manifestations, the most famous of which are the stigmata, or holy wounds of Christ, which sometimes occur spontaneously to the hands, feet, forehead, and chest. They may simply appear, or they may follow an astral event such as an encounter with an angel. Stigmata wounds to the palms of the hands are the most common, and they happen most often to devout Christians. Sometimes they are found in those who protest that they have no religious faith, but it may be suspected that their faith is concealed beneath their conscious awareness. Strong faith can be formed in early childhood and then forgotten later in life, yet still remain in the unconscious. Chapter Eighteen: Astral Self-Defense 307 Dion Fortune mentioned repercussion in her 1930 book Psychic Self-Defence: "It is a well-known fact that if an occultist, functioning out of the body, meets with unpleasantness on the astral plane, or if his subtle body is seen, and struck or shot at, the physical body will show the marks."240She described the patterned bruising found on her own body after an "astral skirmish" and quite wisely compared the bruises to the stigmata of saints and the swelling or bruising sometimes seen on hysterics. She wrote that "the mind, powerfully stirred, affects the etheric double, and the etheric double acts upon the physical molecules held in its meshes."241It is evident from this that she did not believe such injuries were caused by the direct actions of astral beings, but rather were generated reflexively by the mind of the sufferer. The unpleasant encounter of Sylvan Muldoon with the ghost of his dead neighbor shows that while hostile spirits can confront and oppose travelers on the astral level, they are powerless to prevent reintegration of the astral double with the physical body. It is the same with dreams-many terrible things happen during our nightmares, but we always wake up. No spirit can prevent us from waking, and no spirit can prevent the return of the astral double. AU they can do is attempt to frighten us. Some spirits are quite good at eliciting fear from humans traveling on the astral planes. They seem to know exactly which emotional buttons to push to cause the greatest possible panic. Actual harm is beyond their ability, and when we begin to reintegrate with our bodies they can only gnash their teeth in frustration. As for the more subtle threats of fascination, vampirism, obsession, possession, and madness, it must be admitted that there is some basis to these dangers, but they are not nearly so prevalent or virulent as has been claimed by those who wish to discourage soul flight as a dangerous enterprise. It is useful to look at them each in turn, and to consider which dangers are real and which are inflated. Astral Glamour It was sometimes murmured in solemn tones by members of the Golden Dawn that poor Florence Farr and her Sphere Group had ventured too deeply into astral work, and had as a consequence become detached and lost interest in the more material pursuits of the Order. It was said that she had become caught in the spider's web of astral glamour, 240. Fortune, Psychic Self-Defence, 52. 241. Ibid. 308 Soul Flight with the implication that she was somehow no longer fit to bear the rigors of reality. Like a patron of a hall of mirrors who wanders too deeply and becomes lost in reflections, it was suspected that she had lost her way and would be unable to recover her normal personality, and would forever subsist in a half-dreaming state-half in the astral world and half out of it. This is balderdash. It is true that Florence Farr, who was a beautiful and famous actress of the London stage, lost interest in her lovers and began to devote more and more of her time to her esoteric studies, but this may be set down more to the predictability and sameness of the men who pursued her than to her entanglement with astral visions. She simply became bored with sex, having had enough of it to last any woman a lifetime. The poet W. B. Yeats, who along with the playwright George Bernard Shaw and a dozen others had been her lover, referred to her increased pursuit of the esoteric as her "insatiable, destroying curiosity,"242but we may suspect the only thing destroyed was his masculine ego. There is some truth in the fable that men and women who taste of the fairy feast can never return to the mortal world, but only in the sense that the astral planes are powerfully attractive to individuals of romantic sensibilities who are bored or sickened with everyday reality. Those seeking an escape from reality will find it somewhere-if not in astral travel, then in romantic fiction or drugs or religion. For this type of addictive personality, the astral world can exert a dangerous fascination, but the majority of those who explore its planes will be uninjured by the experience. It is similar to the effects of alcohol. Most people can drink, and even get drunk on occasion, with no ill effects in their lives, but a few cannot drink without drinking to excess. For these few, alcohol is dangerous. No evidence exists to show that Florence Farr was of this addictive type of personality. She simply lost interest in the usual rounds of London society, and preferred to devote herself to esoteric studies at the British Museum. In 1912, she left England and traveled to Ceylon, where she accepted the position as head of a finishing school for girls. Allan Bennett, another member of the Golden Dawn who was the mentor of Aleister Crowley, had also left England more than a decade earlier to live in Ceylon, where he became a Buddhist monk. It is not uncommon for early fascination with practical occultism to evolve into an interest in religious mysticism. The study of magic reveals the 242. Howe, 68. Chapter Eighteen: Astral Self-Defense 309 limits of everyday physical reality, and in individuals predisposed to religious thought, there is a tendency to move on to the study of spiritual reality. Astral Vampirism Astral vampirism is the theft of vital energy from the living, either by spirits or by other human beings. The person who serves as the vampire's host suffers from chronic and increasingly severe lethargy and physical exhaustion. This may result in the contraction of disease, since the defenses of the body are lowered, and when the body is so weakened that it cannot combat the illness, even death. However, the vampirism must go on for a long period of time-months, or even years-before such a drastic consequence becomes a serious threat. The physical body has large reserves of vitality, and it takes considerable time for it to become utterly depleted. The myth of the vampire as a physical being who ingests the blood of its victims, and who sleeps in a coffin during the day, is only an externalization of the true vampire, who functions on the astral level. Astral vampires are real, but they are harmless unless they become fixated on a single host for their nourishment. This is not a common occurrence. Such spirits usually strike where opportunity presents itself, with no more forethought or discrimination than mosquitoes. A single vital meal drawn from the body causes no harm and is seldom noticed. It results in only a slight fatigue. This can be blamed on many factors-the last thing the average person is likely to consider is that he may have played host to an energy-sucking spirit. The general ritual of projection is designed to prevent the intrusion of astral vampires. The walls of the astral chamber and corridor, coupled with the locked doors, insulate and protect the physical body during projection, while the traveler is interacting with spiritual beings. When entry is made to the astral levels only through the elevator during the general ritual, spirits that are encountered in soul flight find it almost impossible to locate the mind of the traveler during waking consciousness, or even during ordinary sleep. The ritual serves as a kind of magic circle that isolates and contains the period of interaction with astral beings, confining it to those times deliberately chosen by the traveler. 310 SoulFlight Spirit Obsession Obsession and possession are related. Obsession is the persistent intrusion of a spirit into waking awareness, so that the spirit is perceived in various ways-usually as an image, a voice, or a touch. When a spirit appears in the physical world, it can seem completely real and solid, in every respect looking exactly as it would if it were standing before the observer in a living body of flesh and blood. When the spirit speaks, its voice sounds completely normal. When it touches the observer, its touch feels no different from the touch of a human hand. There are cases in history where spirits have obsessed men or women for years, appearing wherever they go, and following them around. The person obsessed can see the spirit quite clearly, but no one else can see the spirit, except on rare occasions. In past centuries, those obsessed by spirits were naturally considered insane. They would stare at an empty chair and hold conversations with the blank air. Obsessing spirits pose little danger. They cannot injure those they obsess in any direct way, and indirect reflexive injuries caused by the unconscious belief in the attack of the spirit by the person suffering the obsession are usually minor. The danger lies in the reaction to obsession, which in extreme cases can be nervous breakdown or suicide. When I refer to obsession, I am not talking about someone who believes that the spirit haunting their steps is a living person. These individuals are deluded, and have lost the ability to separate physical reality from hallucination. In true cases of spirit obsession, the person obsessed knows full well that the spirit is not a real, physical human being, and is in every other respect completely sane, but still cannot shake off the perception of the spirit. Obsession is quite rare, and is extremely unlikely to befall those engaging in soul flight. Should it occur, one defense is to imagine that the spirit is slowly fading away. Each time you look at it, hold firmly in your mind that it is a little less solid than it was the previous time, a bit more transparent, and that its voice is more faint. This method is used in Tibet and other Eastern lands to dissolve what the Tibetans call tulpas, or thought-forms that can assume the shape of a human being, an animal, or an inhuman creature. In this way the spirit can be gradually diminished until it actually does fade into nothingness. Alexandra David-Nee1created a tulpa in the shape of a monk that was so determined to sustain an independent existence that it took her six months to dis- Chapter Eighteen: Astral Self-Defense 31 1 solve it. She wrote: "My mind-creature was tenacious of life."243Always bear in mind that on the astral level, imagination is real. It can both create and also destroy astral forms, provided there is a firm belief in its power and expectation of its effectiveness. Spirit Possession Possession is quite different from obsession. Instead of presenting itself externally to the perceptions of the person it has fixed its interest upon, the spirit assumes control of that person's body and displaces its intelligence,which enters a kind of dreamless sleep. Sometimes the displaced human awareness is still conscious, but helpless to affect the uses to which the possessing spirit puts its body, and remains in a half-trance, as though viewing events in a dream. In obsession, the spirit is interested in the human personality with which it seeks to interact, whereas in possession the spirit is mainly interested in the physical body that it has usurped and the enjoyment of sensations. Possessing spirits usually interact with the awareness of the person they take over only to the extent of tormenting the displaced human personality with shame and helplessness. There is no more danger that a spirit will sneak into your body while you are off exploring the astral planes than that you will be possessed while you dream. You never actually leave your body during soul flight, so no vacant shell exists for the spirit to rush into. Possession is real; it does occur, but it is rare. In my opinion, the average person is in no greater danger of being possessed during soul flight than during the hours of normal waking consciousness. Being struck by lightning is also a real threat, but it would be foolish to avoid playing golf merely because this chance exists with a statistical probability above zero. Loss of Sanity As for the general danger of losing sanity through the practice of astral projection, it has been stressed by many authorities on Western esotericism that no one with an unstable mind should play with the occult in any of its aspects. Israel Regardie was particularly insistent on this point. He even went so far as to assert that before anyone engaged in the study of the Golden Dawn system, they should have themselves psychoanalyzed to determine their state of mental health. Regardie himself was a practitioner of Reichian 243. David-Neel, 315. 312 Soul Flight and recommended that serious students enter psychotherapy as a general preparation for the practice of the magic of the Golden Dawn, which includes astral projection. "It is of small consequence what analytical school he selects. All are useful. All provide help for the student in his search for the Light, and serve as excellent preparation for the serious discipline of Magic and self-knowledge."245 Psychoanalysis enjoyed a much higher reputation at the time Regardie wrote those words. Since then, it has fallen out of favor among scientists, many of whom have come to look upon it as a quack profession, akin to chiropractic manipulation or aromatherapy. For Regardie, it was always a bit of a mania, a bee in his bonnet. I do not recommend psychoanalysis before the practice of soul flight, since it is unnecessary. However, anyone who has suffered from mental problems, either of a chronic or an acute kind, should be aware that astral travel can shake the foundation of their conventional view of reality. If they are determined to experiment with soul flight, they should do so with great caution, and if any problems arise of an emotional or perceptual nature, they should cease their practice immediately. Doing so is generally enough to restore a mental equilibrium. Soul flight can be frightening at times. There arise moments of sheer terror. These are not the result of any real danger, but are an instinctive reaction to the unknown. The Greek god Pan was associated with the intense fear known as panic, which is the result of confrontation with something utterly alien and inexplicable. During soul flight, panic attacks in this ancient Greek sense can occur. It requires familiarity to overcome the instinctive response to flee back to waking reality. It is important not to overreact to this fear of the unknown. For most individuals, one experience of it is enough to cure them of ever wanting to engage in astral projection for the rest of their lives. The same may be said of experiments with the Ouija board, which can terrify the unwary. For a minority of others, the attraction of soul flight will be so strong that they will overcome their fear of the strange, and will force themselves to face it again and again until it ceases to have power over them. Although there are no direct physical dangers in soul flight, there are dangers that arise from deception, misapprehension, confusion, and overreaction. It is these secondary dangers that must be guarded against. Spirits cannot harm you, but they can trick you into harming yourself by lying, startling you, threatening you, engaging in verbal 244. Regardie, xx. 245. Ibid., 5. Chapter Eighteen: Astral Self-Defense 313 abuse, or bombarding your senses with noxious sights, sounds, touches, smells, and even on rare occasions, tastes. I once had a spirit transform the taste of a potato chip into something utterly foul. There was absolutely nothing in its appearance to indicate that it was contaminated in any way, and no other chips in the bag were affected by this foul taste. It was just an amusing little trick the spirit did for its own entertainment, to observe my reaction when I put the chip in my mouth. It is rare for spirits to modify the sense of taste, but it does happen, as demonstrated historically by all the accounts of sumptuous fairy feasts and delicious wines that suddenly vanish into thin air. Dangers of Fairyland Malicious spirits are mainly confined to the infernal levels of the astral world. If you avoid exploring these levels, you may never encounter such a spirit even after years of regular soul flights. Spirits of possession are all infernal spirits. It is much less likely that you will suffer possession if you remain on or above the base level of the astral world. Elementals are capricious, but not malicious. They play trick but mean no harm. The same is true of nature spirits that inhabit the mists and woodlands of the base astral level, remaining just out of sight unless actively sought. They are mischievous but harmless, although they can become willful and childish if their desires are frustrated. Fairies are slightly different from elementals and nature spirits. They dwell just below the surface of the base astral level. They are the highest of the infernal classes of spirits and, as such, have the least malice in their natures of any of the infernals, but the innumerable frightening stories related in folklore about their malicious actions indicate that they are not to be trifled with or treated with contempt, and must be watched for signs of betrayal. They sometimes attempt to seduce the unwary traveler into fulfilling their purposes. In spite of the need for caution in dealing with them, visits to the lands of the fairies are filled with wonders and rewards of knowledge. If you travel to this highest of the infernal levels, do so with caution, forewarned about the deceptive nature of the spirits you will encounter there. By the way, you should not expect fairyland to consist only of caves and caverns. This is where many fairies have their homes, but they also roam the countryside at will, and visits to their lands will often involve rural fields and woods that contain small villages and towns of an antique appearance. Merely because an astral level is infernal, or beneath the base astral level, does not necessitate that it consist only of caverns. Caves are 314 Soul Flight the most natural symbolic expression of the infernal levels, but on many infernal levels you will not find caves. Fairyland is somewhat behind the natural world in its time period-to travel there is to travel back in time several centuries. The exact period varies, suggesting that it may in part be a matter of the traveler's unconscious expectation. It is usually medieval or Renaissance, but can be as late as the Victorian period. Fairies do not seem to like the industrial age with its smoke and machines. They prefer a simpler and quieter landscape. Although the exploration of fairyland can be rewarding, I recommend against descent into the lower levels of the astral world. These lower levels are the pagan places of the dead and the hells that are inhabited by demons. Even though the experience is no more dangerous in a physical sense than the exploration of the higher planes, the assault on the senses can be truly horrifying, with a power that can scar the memory for life. Another reason to avoid these levels is to lessen the likelihood that any demonic being will notice your existence and decide to take a personal interest in you. This would be bad. As much as possible, you are well-advised to shun the attentions of demons, even when they appear amusing or harmless. They are filled with malice and always seek some way to express it. A Protective Amulet A simple yet effective amulet of protection can be made from the rune symbol Algiz, which is shown in the illustration in chapter 14. It is shaped like the capital letter Y laid on top of the capital letter I, so that the Y has a vertical branch rising from its upright. It was used by northern Europeans as a symbol of protection. An amulet can be made by marking or inscribing the rune on any surface. That is one of the great advantages of the runes-they can be formed on anything, from any material. For example, the rune may be marked on a small square of paper in red ink and folded up, then placed in a locket and worn about the neck, or it may be inscribed on the outer surface of a pendant and worn so that it is exposed and visible. A paper with the rune drawn on it may be carried in the pocket or the wallet. In an emergency, it is possible to evoke the protective power of the rune by cutting the rune into the surface of your right palm while on the astral plane, so that the lines of the rune bleed. This can be done with the fingernail of your left index finger, or with your left thumbnail. If you have a penknife in your pocket when you lie down to project your astral Chapter Eighteen: Astral Self-Defense 315 body, it will carry over into the astral world, and you can use the knife. The blood feeds and empowers the rune. Holding up your bleeding hand so that the rune is exposed and upright will create a powerful barrier. Needless to say, this should only be done on the astral level so that no damage is done to your physical body. Another way of forming the Algiz rune with your hand is to fold your thumb against your palm and to spread your fingers with the two middle fingers together, so that your hand forms the shape of the rune. This takes a little practice, but it is not difficult. Extend your arm with your hand in this position and imagine a barrier between your astral body and whatever threat you seek to ward off. By forming two Algiz runes, one with each hand, and slowly turning on your own body axis with your arms extended to either side, you can create a protective circle around yourself. You should turn clockwise when forming the circle. This is a useful technique when you are surrounded by threats, and your retreat is cut off. It is not a good practice to carry a weapon into the astral world when you engage in soul flight. Steel blades are effective weapons against spirits, but by carrying a weapon with you when you explore an astral landscape,you project a hostile aura that will automatically arouse resentment and hostility in the inhabitants of that place. A penknife is acceptable because it is more of a tool than a weapon, but a knife that might be used for fighting is better left behind when you project your astral body. A sword is a very effective weapon, but again it is usually ill-advised to take a sword with you on astral explorations, since its offensive purpose cannot be disguised. Guns are not particularly effective against spirits, so there is no point in carrying a gun over to the astral planes. Names of Power Another type of effective protection is the use of a name of power to command spirits. Such a name should only be voiced in a time of need. The Golden Dawn practice of repeatedly vibrating names of power until a spirit finally approaches that is obedient to them is unnecessarily aggressive, in my opinion, and is likely to stir up more trouble than it is worth. However, if you find yourself threatened or obstructed by a spirit, a name of power can be a useful way of achieving dominance. When you voice a name of power, you are saying to the spirit you use it against that you are in harmony with its essential nature, and that you use it with the agreement of its 316 Soul Flight owner, in the same way a herald or messenger to a foreign land might utter the name of his king as a way of invoking the authority of the monarch. Therefore, you should only choose a name to utter that you understand and with which you feel in harmony. Names of benevolent angels and deities are the safest to vibrate. If you are religious, naturally the name of a powerful figure in your religion would be a good choice. Christians might select the name of an angel such as Michael, who is noted for his abilities as a warrior, or the name of Jesus, which has the potency to banish evil spirits. Names of God that are used in the Bible are effective for Christians, Muslims, and Jews alike. The divine name Shaddai means "the Almighty" and is an ancient name of great potency. It may be used in the simple phrase "Shaddai, protect me!" Similarly, an angelic name would be inserted into the phrase-for example, "Michael, protect me!" The invocation of the power of the name should be spoken emphatically, but there is no need to shout it out. Speak it firmly and clearly, while holding in your mind the nature and identity of the being that possesses the name. Symbols of Faith Religious symbols can make potent charms of protection for those who believe in their efficacy. The cross of Christianity, the Star of David of Judaism, and the lunar crescent of Islam are all forceful amulets of defense on the astral level, but only for those who have a firm faith in their power. Christians can also form the sign of the cross upon the air with their right hand, to act as a barrier. It should be visualized as floating upon the air, burning brightly with white flames. Wiccans and pagans may prefer to employ the pentagram. The Golden Dawn pentagram known as the Banishing Pentagram of Earth makes an effective barrier, and can repel hostile spirits who try to approach too closely. "The Banishing Pentagram of Earth will also serve thee for a protection if thou trace it in the Air between thee and any opposing Astral It is formed by drawing a pentagram upon the air with the right index finger using a continuous line that reflects back from each of the five points of the star and crosses over itself, to unite with its beginning. The Banishing Pentagram of Earth, as drawn by the members of the Golden Dawn, begins at the lower-left leg of the pentagram and is drawn in a clockwise direction. The first side of the pentagram is 246. Regardie, 282. Chapter Eighteen: Astral Self-Defense 31 7 formed by making a line from the lower-left point to the upper point of the pentagram, and then continuing on to complete the symbol. Spirit Water 3fk Air Earth Fire Banishing Pentagram of Earth Returning to the Body Always remember that there is no physical danger while you are on the astral levels. Your body remains safe, and you will inevitably return to it, even if you believe for a time that you have been prevented in some way from returning. It is a trick of malicious spirits to make you fear that you cannot leave the astral world, and that you are trapped outside of your body. If you become lost, or have trouble leaving the astral landscape you are visiting, remain calm. Eventually you will find yourself back in your body. This will occur naturally, even if you do nothing to cause it. Just as the mind naturally passes from dreaming sleep to wakefulness, so does the projected awareness naturally pass from the astral world back to waking physical reality. You can assist this natural and inevitable process of return by lying down with your astral body, closing your eyes, and going to sleep. Adopt a posture that mimics the posture of your physical body. Just let yourself fall asleep while in your astral body, and you will awaken in your physical body. If you become totally confused and lost, and cannot find the door to the elevator used in the general ritual of projection, or if hostile spirits are keeping you from reaching the door, or if you have lost your keycard, or indeed if any mishap has taken place that prevents a normal return, this method will bring you back to your body. Sometimes you will find that the more frantically you seek to wake up from astral travel, the more difficult it becomes. Anxiety prevents a reintegration with the body. During one of my first full projections, when I did not leave the room where my body rested on the bed, I lay back down into my body three times, each time trying with an act of will to reintegrate myself and lift my physical body up from the bed. Each time I failed-naturally enough, since I was doing all this while on the astral level. At last I saw that this method was not going to work, so I lay down into my body and allowed myself to drift downward through the darkness with my eyes shut. Then I willed myself to awake-not to sit up, as I had been trying to do, but to wake up. It was like swimming upward through the waters of a deep, dark well. The distance seemed quite far. When I reached the surface, I awoke in my physical body. Had I been more relaxed about it, and used less force of will to awaken myself, the effort would not have been as great. I would have naturally risen to consciousness over a longer span of time. By forcing myself upward toward consciousness at an artificial rate, I created resistance, just as when you sweep your arm through water slowly there seems to be little resistance, but when you try to sweep it through quickly, the water presses back. If I had done nothing at all, nature would have followed its course, and my projected body would have reintegrated itself with my physical body effortlessly. CONCLUSION The End of the Journey oul flight in its many diverse forms is one of the great pillars of the Western esoteric tradition, and indeed of the esoteric tradition of the entire human race. It has been used for thousands of years to access alternative realities, to plumb the depths of the subconscious mind, and to establish direct communications with spiritual beings. Those who engage in soul flight always do so for the same reason-to acquire knowledge not readily available through other methods. It is only our cynical modern age, so obsessed with material things, that devalues this knowledge and treats its possession with contempt. In all past ages, it was sought as a precious attainment, a source of wisdom and power. The concept of astral travel that evolved during the nineteenth century within the religion of Theosophy and the spiritualist movement was only a pale shadow of soul S 320 Soul Flight flight, shorn of most of its ritual and spiritual aspects, and reduced to the mechanical sending forth of the awareness across the ordinary physical plane, as a kind of invisible and powerless ghost-an ethereal Peeping Tom that could pass through walls and frighten friends asleep in their beds. The sad thing is that this crippled concept of soul flight has remained the popular understanding to this day, in the forms of modern astral projection and remote viewing. Having read this book, you know that both astral projection, as it is generally conceived, and remote viewing are based on false assumptions, and for this reason can never yield completely reliable results. It is not possible to physically project a shell of awareness out of the body and across the face of the material world. Awareness is a part of mind, and forever remains within the mind. What a remote viewer sees is not the physical reality, but a resonance or reflection of that reality in the mirror of universal mind that is inevitably distorted in various ways. However, the information available to the soul flyer is not less useful than what is provided through the senses; it is merely of different kinds. Indeed, during soul flight the awareness can access many sources of valuable information unavailable to the physical senses alone. Thanks to the work of the psychologist Carl Jung, with its emphasis on symbols and archetypes, we can no longer dismiss the astral world as unimportant, even if we persist in calling it unreal. It is the meeting place between human consciousness and spirit consciousness on all its levels, from the divine to the demonic. It is a realm of wonders and mysteries that remains largely unexplored and uncharted, a new world waiting to be discovered by those adventurous enough to enter its wilderness. I hope this book has provided some sense of how vast and strange this world truly is, and how significant a part soul flight has played throughout the spiritual evolution of the human species. Bibliography Adamski, George. Inside the Space Ships. New York: Abelard-Schuman, Inc., 1955. Agrippa, Cornelius. Three Books of Occult Philosophy [1533]. Donald Tyson (editor). 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New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1966. Fodor, Nandor. Encyclopczdia of Psychic Science [1934].New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1966. Fortune, Dion. (pseudonym for Violet Mary Firth). Psychic Self-Defence [1930]. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1979. . (pseudonym for Violet Mary Firth). The Mystical Qabalah [1935]. London: Ernest Benn. 1974. Fox, Oliver. (pseudonym for Hugh Callaway).Astral Projection: A Record of Out-of-theBody Experiences [1939]. Based on two articles in the Occult Review, 1920: "The Pineal Doorway" and "Beyond the Pineal Door." New York: University Books, 1962. Gaster, Moses, and Samuel Daiches. Three Works of Ancient Jewish Magic. Contains The Sword of Moses, translated by Moses Gaster, London, 1896; The Wisdom of the Chaldeans, translated by Moses Gaster, Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, December, 1900; Babylonian Oil Magic in the Talmud and in Later Jewish Literature, London, 1913. Chthonios Books, 1986. Bibliography 325 Gerard, John. The Herbal: Or General History of Plants. [I5971 Revised and enlarged by Thomas Johnson, 1633. New York: Dover, 1975. Grieve, Maud. A Modern Herbal: The Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folklore of Herbs, Grasses, Fungi, Shrubs and Trees with All their Modern Scientzjic Uses [1931]. London: Tiger Books International, 1992. Griffith, F. Ll., and Herbert Thompson (editors). The Leyden Papyrus: An Egyptian Magical Book. Original title, The Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden [ 19041. New York: Dover, 1974. Guazzo, Francesco Maria. Compendium Maleficarum [1608].Translated from the Latin by E. A. Ashwin [1929]. New York: Dover, 1988. Hansen, Harold A. The Witch's Garden [1976]. Translated from the Danish by Muriel Crofts. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1983. Howe, Ellic. The Magicians of the Golden Dawn: A Documentary History of a Magical Order 1887-1923 119721. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1978. Hynek, J. Allen. The UFO Experience: A Scientzjic Inquiry. New York: Contemporary Books, 1972. James I, King of England. Daemonologie [1597]. London: John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd, 1924. Judge, William Q. The Ocean of Theosophy [1893]. Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press, 1973. Jung, Carl G. Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen In the Skies. Translated from the German by R. F. C. Hull. New York: Signet Books, 1959. 326 Soul Flight Kardec, Allan. (pseudonym for Leon-Dknizarth-HippolyteRivail). The Mediums' Book [1861]. Translated from the French by Anne Blackwell [1876]. London: Psychic Press Ltd., 1977. . (pseudonym for Lkon-Dknizarth-Hippolyte Rivail). The Spirits' Book. Revised edition [1857].Translated from the French by Anne Blackwell. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Federapo Espirita Brasileira, no date. Keightley, Thomas. The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves and Other Little People. Reprint of the work originally titled The Fairy Mythology [1878].New York: Avenel Books, 1978. King, Francis. The Rites of Modern Occult Magic. Originally published as Ritual Magic In England: 1887 to the Present Day [1970]. New York: Macmillan, 1971. ,and Isabel Sutherland. The Rebirth of Magic. London: Corgi Books, 1982. Kirk, Robert, and Andrew Lang. The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies. Lang's edition of Robert Kirk's Secret Commonwealth [1691].London: David Nutt, 1893. Knight, Gareth. A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism [1965]. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1980. Kuhn, Alvin Boyd. Theosophy: A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom. New York: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, 1930. Kiintz, Darcy (translator and editor). The Complete Golden Dawn Cipher Manuscript. Edmonds, WA: Holmes Publishing Group, 1996. Laycock, Donald C. The Complete Enochian Dictionary: A Dictionary of the Angelic Language as Revealed to Dr John Dee and Edward Kelley. London: Askin, 1978. Leadbeater. C. W. Invisible Helpers. American Revised Edition. Chicago: The Theosophical Book Concern, 1915. . The Astral Plane: Its Scenery, Inhabitants and Phenomena. Third edition, revised. London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1900. Bibliography 327 Leland, Charles G. Aradia; or The Gospel of the Witches [1897]. Custer, WA: Phoenix Publishing, 1990. LCvi, Eliphas. The History ofMagic [1860]. Translated from the French by A. E. Waite [1913]. London: Rider & Company, 1986. Magnusson, Magnus, and Hermann Phlsson. The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1965. Monroe, Robert A. Journeys Out of the Body [1971]. New York: Anchor, 1977. Morehouse, David. Psychic Warrior: Inside the CIA'S Stargate Program. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996. Muldoon, Sylvan, and Hereward Carrington. The Phenomena of Astral Projection I195 11. London: Rider & Company, 1975. . The Projection of the Astral Body [1929]. London: Rider & Company, 1972. Mumford, Michael D., Andrew M. Rose, and David S. Goslin. An Evaluation of Remote ViewingResearch and Applications. American Institute for Research. September 29, 1995. Murray, Margaret A. The Witch-Cult in Western Europe [1921]. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1962. Ophiel (pseudonym for Edward Peach). The Art and Practice ofAstral Projection [ 19611. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1973. Paine, Albert Bigelow. Joan of Arc, Maid of France. New York: MacMillan, 1925. Pauwels, Louis, and Jacques Bergier. The Dawn of Magic. Originally titled Le matin des magiciens [1960]. Translated from the French by Rollo Myers [1963]. London: Panther Books, 1967. Pliny, the Elder. Natural History. In ten volumes. Multiple translators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, various years. 328 Soul Flight Plutarch. Plutarch: The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. Translated into English by John Dryden, revised by Arthur Hugh Clough [1864]. New York: Modern Library, no date. Regardie, Israel. The Golden Dawn: A Complete Course In Practical Ceremonial Magic [1938-40]. Sixth edition, four volumes in one. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 1989. RCmy, Nicolas. Demonolatry [1595]. Translated from the Latin by E. A. Ashwin. London: John Rodker, 1930. Rhine, J. B. New Frontiers of the Mind; The Story of the Duke Experiments. New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1937. and J. G. Pratt. "A review of the Pearce-Pratt distance series of ESP tests." Journal of Parapsychology, 18 (1954), 165-177. Robbins, Rossell Hope. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. London: Spring Books, 1959. Sagan, Carl, and Thornton Page (editors). UFO's: A Scientific Debate. New York: W.W. Norton, 1974. Schwarzwaller,Wulf. The Unknown Hitler: His Private Life and Fortune. Translated from the German by Aurelius von Kappau. Bethesda, MD: National Press Books, 1989. Scot, Reginald. The Discoverie of Witchcraft [1584]. Reprint of the John Rodker edition of 1930. New York: Dover, 1972. Scott, Sir Walter. Demonology and Witchcraft. Second edition [1830]. New York: Bell, 1970. Sebottendorff, Rudolf, Freiherr von. Bevor Hitler Kam [Before Hitler Came]. Munich: Grassinger, 1933. Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare: Complete Works. London: Oxford University Press, 1905. Sinnett, Alfred P. Incidents in the Life of Madame Blavatsky. London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1913. Bibliography 329 Smith, Paul H., Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate, American's Psychic Espionage Program. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2005. Stewart, R. J. Robert Kirk: Walker Between Worlds. Shaftesbury, UK: Element Books, 1990. Suster, Gerald. Hitler and the Age of Horus. London: Sphere Books, 1981. Swedenborg, Emanuel. A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. New York: New Jerusalem Publishing House, 1875. Tyson, Donald. Rune Dice Divination. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1997. .Rune Magic. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1988. VallCe, Jacques. Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers. Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1969. Virgil. The Works of Virgil. Translated from the Latin by James Lonsdale and Samuel Lee. London: Macmillan and Co., 1885. Westcott, William Wynn (translator). Sepher Yetzirah: The Book of Formation, with The Fifty Gates of Intelligence, and The Thirty-Two Paths of Wisdom [1887]. Reprint of the revised edition of 1893. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1980. Weyer, Johann. O n Witchcraft. An abridged translation of Johann Weyer's De praestigiis daemonum [1583]. Translated from the Latin by John Shea. Edited by Benjamin G. Kohl and H. C. Erik Midelfort. Asheville, NC: Pegasus Press, 1998. Index A abduction, vii, mi-xvii, 6,39, 42-44,52,135,139-141, 145-148,150-151,181, 280,301 Aberfoyle, 38 accumulator, lunar, 190 aconite, 29-30 Adam (biblical figure), 18, 52-53,208 adepts, 85,88,92,97,264, 266,281-282 Adonai ha-Aretz, 226,233 Aeneas, 36 Aeneid, The, 36 Aethyrs. See Enochian AethYrs Agnes, Saint, 55 Agrippa, Cornelius, 23, 182-183,261,321 Ai Toyon, 6 Aiwass, 123, 144 ajna chakra, 94,15 1,173-1 74, 179,189,196,266-267 Akasa, 109 akashic records, 90,127,132 alcohol, 12-14,27, 132,284, 308 Alfonso, Saint. See Alphonsus Liguori, Saint Algiz, 253,3 14-3 15 aliens, xvi-xvii, 6,52, 135, 139-142,145-147, 149-154,181,228,280, 294,312 Alighieri, Dante, 54,279 All Hollows' Eve Alpha and Omega Lodge, 102-103 alpha state, 129 Alphonsus Liguori, Saint, 48, 70-71,73 Altaic, 6-7, 166 altar, 51,57,162-164,206, 208,229 altered state, x, 9,56,67, 188 Arnbrose, Saint, 48 American Institute for Research, 133,327 Amon, 207 amulet, 253,314,316 Anderson, Jack, 128,321 Angela, Saint, 55 angels, 38,48,51,53,58-62, 65,87,109,113,115-116, 118, 123, 132, 144, 152, 175-176,188,208-209, 213-214,219,230, 240,253,270,273,276, 279-280,283-284,294, 296,299,306,316,326 animal magnetism, 67 ankh, 94,154,271 Ansuz, 247,270 Anthony of Padua, Saint, 47-48 Anubis, 293 Apas, 109 Aphrodite, 280 Apollo, 2 18 apparitions, 39,91-92, 130, 141,233 apports, 66,79,81, 153, 180, 188 Apuleius, Lucius, 22,26,28, 32 1 Aquarius, 143, 145,216,237 Aradia, 21,327 Ariadne, 75 Ark of the Covenant, 132 Arnold, Kenneth, 136 astral body, ix-x, xiii-xiv, xvii, 5,&9,11-12,14,26,33, 48,51,5 54,56-57,61, 67-77,82,85-86,89-90, 93,103,112,114-1 15, 130-131,157-158,163165,169-170,172-175, 176-177,186,192-193, 196,200-201,239,241, 243,259-260,262-264, 267-268,277,288,299, 301,303,314-315,317,327 astral catalepsy. See catalepsy, astral astral double, 8,47,67-68, 70-73,77,85,91-93, 130-131,151,165,168, 174-175,181,184-186, 196,224,242-243,260264,266267,275-276, 278,287-288,307 astral gateway, 112, 115, 158, 164 astral key, 162, 164-165, 167, 174-177,193-194,198, 200,202,229,244-245, 317 astral landscape, xiii-xv, xvii, 51,53,61,76,82, 111112,114,163,165-167, 173-176,180-181,184, 188,192,195,201-204, 210-21 1,214,227-228, 241,245,269,276,278, 285,291-292,297-298, 314-315,317 astral plane, xiii, 6-7,51,78, 81-90,93,97,104-105, 107,109-111 113-115, 132,158,164-167,175, 199,201,222,225-227, 259,280-285,287,291, 294-295,298-301, 304-308,311,314-315 astral projection, ix-xvii, 4,8, 332 Soul Flight 10,27,33,47-48,51,54, 56-58 60,67-77,8142, 85,90-93,98,101-108, 110-111,114,116,122, 129-131,139,150-154, 158-162,168-169,171, 173-174,179-182,184188,190,192,194-196, 199-200,202,22 1,224, 227,229,239-241,245, 259-261,263,265-268, 273,276-278,282,287288,296-297,303,306, 309,311-312,314-315, 317,320,323-324,327 Astral Plane, The (book), 78, 326 astrological age, 143 Atlantis, 78 Augustine, Saint, 302,321 aura, 80,90,252,315 automatic writing, 129 autosuggestion, 75 axis, 6-7, 11, 157,211,242, 315 Aztecs, 194 B Bacon, Francis, 27,32 baby fat, 28-29 Bailey, Alice E., 282,299,321 Banner of the West, 199 barometric pressure, 263-264 Barra, Isle of, 42 Bartholomaeus of Spina, 23, 25,28 bat's blood, 27,29 BDSM, 10 Bender, Albert K., 150-154, 321 Bennett, Allan, 308 Bergson, Henri, 98 Bergson, Mina. See Mathers, Mo'ina Berkana, 254 beta state, 129 bilocation, xvi, 47-62,70,131 Binah, 107,226,231-235 Blaakullen, 25 black mirror, 194-195 Blake, William, 61-62,72, 116,322 Blasted Tower, the (Tarot card), 215,237 Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna, 79-8 1,84,95-96,105, 322 Blessed Columba of Rieti. See Columba, Saint Blocula, the, 24-25,35 blood, xii, 5-6,9,13,27-29, 40,43,54,57,85-86,89, 100, 121, 139, 158, 168, 183,208,242,245,249, 262,301,303,309-310, 315 Boddach, 45 bondage. See BDSM Book of Enoch, 53 Book of Los, The, 62 Book of the Law, The, 123, 144-1 45,323 Book of Urizen, The, 62 breathing, 11, 168, 171-172, 186,199,226,264-266, 270-271 Brewer, E. Cobham, 48,322 British Museum, 308 Brodie-Innes, John William, 203 broom, 26 Bulwer-Lytton, Edward, 121 C calcium sulfide screen, 67 Callaway, Hugh. See Oliver Fox calfskin, 5,208 Campa (people), 14 Canon Episcopi, 21 Capricorn, 214,237 Carrington, Hereward, 67, 73-74,77,90,93,327 Carroll, Lewis, 191,322 Castaneda, Carlos, 13-14,322 catskin, 5 catalepsy, astral, 73,85 caves, 3,37,40, 187, 196,204, 239,313-314 celestial regions, 7 Celts, 37, 40,46 Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS), 137 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 117,125-126, 128-129,133,159,162, 276,327 cerebrovasodilation, 13 chamber, ritual, 162, 166 changelings, 43,146,301 channeling, 129, 142,159 chanting, 3,7, 11-12,15,51, 91,157,267 Chariot, The (Tarot card), 209,235 chariot of fire, 52 Charles VII (king), 49-50 Charles XI (king), 24 Charmed Fairy Tree of Bourlemont, 49 Chaturanga, 101 Chesed, 107,231,234-235 Christeos Luciftias, 270 chthonic spirits, 285, 295 Chokrnah, 107-108,230-234 Chronicon Norvegiae, 8 Church of New Jerusalem, 59 CIA. See Central Intelligence Agency cinquefoil, 27,29-30 City of God, The (book) 302, 321 clairvoyance, 98, 118-1 19, Index 192 Clare, Saint, 56 Clark, A. J., 29 Clark, Elizabeth, 20 Clark, Jerome, 147 Clement XIV (pope), 48 Clement, Saint, 48 close encounters, 138-139 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (film), 141, 145 Cnoc An T-Sithein, 42 cocaine, 13-14 cocoa plant, 13 Cold War, xvi, 136 Colquhoun, Ithell, 102-103, 323 Columba, Saint, 57-58 Coming Race, The (book), 121 controlled breathing, 264265 Coordinate Remote Viewing, 128 cord activity range, 73 Council of Ancyra, 2 1 counter-healing force, 125 cowbane, 29 cross, 96,99, 115,118,144, 167, 193, 199,218,243, 271,316 Crowley, Aleister, 103, 112-1 16,123,143-145, 158,203,240,308,323 CRV. See Coordinate Remote Viewing crystal, xiv, 93,116,180, 182-183,187-191,194, 248,267-268,270,272 CSICOP, 128 Culpeper, Nicholas, 3 1,323 D Daemonologie (book), 24,325 Dagaz, 257 dagger, 120 dancing, 11-12, 14-15,37,39, 45,49,72, 146, 151, 157, 160,214,218-219,252 Dante. See Alighieri, Dante darnel, 30-3 1 Davachan, 84 David-Neel, Alexandra, 88, 310,323 Day, H. H., 64 de Turre, Augustus of Bergamo, 23 death, 2,4,6,8-9,11,20, 29-32,38-39,43,48,53, 57,6468,70,72-74,76, 78-79,83-85,89-90,93, 100, 105, 118, 120,131, 137-138,158,166,175, 179,188,212-213,218, 236,242,244,254,269, 276-278,281,304-307, 309,314 Dee, John, 180, 188,194,240, 270,322-323,326 Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), 125,128 delirium tremens, 284 demons, xv, 26,49,53,65, 118,132,147, 152,158, 176,2 14,283-284,314 Demonianism, 19 demonologists, 19-20,23-24, 28,43,69 devas, 87 Devil, the, 21,2426, 1 4 6 147,202,214,237,247 Diana (goddess), 2 1,26,36, 38,183,186-187,206 diet, 260-261 dildo, 26-27 Discoverie of Witchcraft (book), 17,328 Discovery of Witches (book), 20 divination, 17,99,112, 188, 195, 197,252,293,302, 333 329 Divine Comedy, The (book), 279 Divine Rulers of the Golden Gate, 78 dog, xiii, 8,26,158, 182,204, 216-217 Domrkmy, 49 double, astral. See astral double Doyle, Arthur Conan, 102 Dream of the Rood, The (poem), 243 dreams, x-xiv, xvi, 4,31-32, 41-42,69,75,80,91-94, 102,110,149,165,169, 179,183-187,239,243, 256,269,273,276,278, 282,287,291,306-307, 311,317 drugs, 9,12-15,27,32-33,42, 93,120,217,259-260, 303,308 Druids, 37,46 drum, 11-12,157,171,215, 218 Duke University, 117, 119, 125 Durville, Hector, 67,324 E eagle, 5,51, 120,219,321 Ebon, Martin, 124,324 Eckart, Dietrich, 120 ecstasy (emotion), 7,15,57, 122,249,324 Egeria, 302 Egyptian astral, 104-105,281 Eheieh, 231 Ehwaz, 255 eighth sphere, 85 Eihwaz, 252 Eirene, 2 14 El, 231, 334 Soul Flight El Chai, 226,233 El Chai, Shaddai, 233 elementals, 86-88,276,283, 285-286,294-298,313 elevator, 75, 162, 167-168, 170,172,175-176,193, 195,202,228-229,245, 309,317 ELF band, 127 Eliade, Mircea, 7,324 Elixir of Life, 98 Elizabeth I (queen), 41 Eloah Vedaath, 226,232 Elohim, 231-232 Elohim Gibor, 232 Elysium, 36-37 Enoch, 52-53 Enochian Aethyrs, 115-1 16 Enochian alphabet, 240 Enochian chess, 41, 101 equinoxes, 44,115,323 Eric the Red (Norse saga), 4 Erinyes, 38 Erlik Khan, 8 ERV. See Extended Remote Viewing ESP, 117-120,123,126,328 ether, 87,93, 100, 109,130 etheric body, 89-90 Eumenides, 38 Eve (biblical figure), 18,24, 208,252 evil eye, 262 Ewen, C. L'Estrange, 19 extrasensory perception. See ESP Extended Remote Viewing, 129,159. See also remote viewing Ezekiel, 5 1,54-55 F Faerie Queene, The (poem), 41 Fair Family, 38-39 fairies, vii, 6,2 1, 3 5 4 6 , 49-52,75,82,84,87,92, 118,141-142,145-146, 153, 175,273,276,279, 283-285,297,300-301, 306,308,313-314,326 fairy bruising, 146 fairy knolls, 37,42-43 fairy queen, 41 fakirs, 55-56,87 False Awakening, 185 familiars, 4,7, 17,20,40,43, 54,65-67,88, 147, 180, 183,191,206,244,280 Faraday cage, 126 Farr, Florence, 97, 104-106, 281,307-308 fasting, 260 Fate Magazine, 147,323 Fates, 213 fatigue, 9, 11, 15,60,74, 110, 114,284,309 feathers, 4,22, 187,253,283 Fehu, 246 Felkin, Robert William, 104 Fir Bolgs, 39 fire walking, 9 flashing colors, 110 flutes, 11,157,215,218 flying ointment, 17,22-25, 27-33,42,69,183 Flying Saucers: A Myth of Things Seen In the Sky (book), 143 Flying Saucers and the Three Men (book), 150,32 1 Fodor, Nandor, 67,71,324 Fool, the (Tarot card), 202, 204-205,230,233 forked twig, 26 Fortuna, 21 1 Fortune, Dion, 102-103,199, 226,228,307,324 fortunetelling, 19, 197 Fox, John D., 63-64 Fox, Kate, 64 Fox, Margaret, 64 Fox, Oliver, 85,90-94, 114, 130,151,153-154,158, 184-185,259,263,273, 287-288,324 foxfire, 142 Francis, Saint, 56 Furies, 38 G Gabriel (archangel), 6 1-62, 65,218,233,297 Gardner, F. L., 105 Gebo, 249 Geburah, 107,230,232, 235-236 Gentry, the (fairies), 38 geomantic symbols, 111-1 12 Gerard, John, 31-32,325 German Workers' Party, 121 GESP (general extrasensory perception), 118. See also ESP ghost, xii, xv, 39,276, 278-279,307,320 glamour, 297,307 glamoury, 2 17 glory-tree, 243 gnomes, 87,92,285,326 Gnostic, 22, 199 goblins, 87,141-142 Golden Ass, The (book), 22 Golden Dawn, 89,93,95-97, 99-100,102-105,107108,110-116,121,130, 158-159,164,166,168, 192,198-200,203-204, 221-231,239-241,259, 266,281-282,286,294, 297-298,307-308, 31 1-312,315-316,323, Index 325-326,328 GONDOLA WISH (U.S. Army program), 127 Good Neighbors (fairies), 38-39 Good People (fairies), 38,87 Goose of Hermogenes (book), 103 Gorn, 141 Gospel of Nicodemus, 52-53 Grays (type of alien), 140-142 Great Work, 239 Greeley, Horace, 64 GRILL FLAME (U.S. Army operation), 127 Guazzo, Francesco Maria, 2 1, 25,28,325 Gurdjieff, George, 122 H Hagalaz, 250 Halloween, 26 Hanged Man (Tarot card), 212-213,236 Haniel, 232 Hansen, Harold A., 27,30-3 1, 325 Harpocrates, 199 Harrer, Karl, 121 Harry Potter (book series), 26 Haushofer, Karl, 122 Havamal (poem), 241, 243-244 heaven, 51-54,58,61-62,67, 84,166,219,242,286 Hebrew, 99,111-1 12,198200,204-2 18,224-226, 228,233-241,296 Hecate, 2 17 Hel, 242 hell, 52-54,58,62,82, 168, 176,279 hemlock, 29-30 henbane, 30-32 Herbert, Benson, 125 heresy, 49-50 Hermes, 205 Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. See Golden Dawn Herodias, 21,38 Hierophant, 208,234 High Priestess, 205,234 Hitler, Adolf, 120-123, 145, 328-329 Hitler and the Age of Horus (book), 122-123,329 Hod, 108,227,229,232, 236238,286 Holy Grail, 105,204 Holy Spirit, 49,235 Home, Daniel Dunglas, 66 Hopluns, Matthew, 20 Horae, 2 14 horns, 24-25,182-183, 214-216,218,241,248 Horniman, Annie, 105 Horus, 110,122-123,144,329 Houdini, Harry, 69 Howe, Ellic, 95,105,325 hybrids, 139-141,146 Hydesville (New York), 63 Hyman, Ray, 128 Hynek, Josef Allen, 137-138, 325 Hynek Classification System, 138 hypnogogic images, 86 hypnosis, 55, 139, 168, 189, 265 I I Ching, 112 ICLP (INSCOM Center Land Project), 127 IHVH, 226,231-232 incantations, 22,270 incense, 152,268 335 incubus, 18 Inguz, 256 initiation, 6,9,95, 102-103, 243 Inquisition, 19,25,28,49-50 INSCOM Center Land Project. See ICLP insectoids, 140-141 Institute for Brain Research, 124 Invisible Helpers (book), 28 1, 326 Iron Curtain, 124,143-144 Isa, 25 1 Isaiah, 5 1,270 Isis-Urania Temple, 95, 103 Isis Unveiled (book), 81,322 Islam, 11,316 J jackal, 2 11 James I (king), 24,35,37,325 James VI of Scotland. See James I James, Henry, 262 Jera, 251 Jesus Christ, 46,52-53,5456, 57,144,181,226-227, 243,306,316 Jews. See Judaism jimson weed, 13 Jivaro, 9 Joan of Arc, 48-51,327 Jorgensdatter, Siri, 24 Journey to Ixtlan (book), 14, 322 Judaism, 11,222,224,271, 292,294,316,324 Judge, William Q., 89,325 Judgement, Last (Tarot card), 218,238 Jung, Carl, 143-144,240,320, 325 336 Soul Flight Jupiter, 107,114, 126,132, 211,231,235 Justice (Tarot card), 212,236, 253 Juvenal, 302 K Kabbalah, 198,222,227,231 Kamael, 232 Kano, 248 Kardec, Allan, 47,65,69-73, 80,326 Katharine, Saint, 50,322 Kazik, 152 Keeler, Minnie E., 260,262, 264 Kelley, Edward, 116, 180, 188, 194,240,270,326 Kether, 107-108,113,222, 225-226,230-231,233 keycard. See astral key Kiesewetter, Karl, 32 King, Francis, 99,326 Kircher, Athanasius, 222,224 Kircher diagram, 222 Kirk, Robert, 38-39,44,326, 329 Knight, Gareth, 200,22 1, 228-229,326 Koran, 11 Kulagina, Nina, 124-125 Kuleshova, Rosa, 124 L Ladies' Tree, 49-50 Laguz, 256 lambskin, 4 Lancelin, Charles, 263 Le matin des magiciens (book), 122,323,327 Leadbeater, Charles W., 8,78, 82,86-88,90,281-282, 322,326 Learmont, Thomas, 41 Leland, Charles G., 21,327 Les fantbmes des vivants (book), 67,324 lettuce, 30,32 L h i , Eliphas, 198,327 levitation, 54-55,66, 139 Libra, 212,236 life after death, 278 Life of Numa Pompilius (book), 302 Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi (book), 56,321 Lives of the Saints (book), 48 lost time, 146 Lovers, 88,208,234,254,308 LSD, 14-15 lucid dreaming, xii, mi, 92-94,179,184-185, 187,276 Luminous Lodge, 122 M Mab, 4 1 macrocosm, 106-1 07 Madimi, 180 madness, 307 Magia naturalis (book), 23, 32 magic, xvii, 3-5,12,18,20, 22-23,42,44-45,69,86, 88-89,96-97,99,112, 114, 116, 120, 123, 130, 145,152-153,162-164, 182,188,193-196, 198-199,203,215,217, 226,240-242,244, 246-247,252,255,262, 269-270,286,292-295, 297-298,308-309,312, 321,323-329 Magic and Mystery in Tibet (book), 88,323 Magician, the (Tarot card), 205,233 Magick In Theory and Practice (book), 113,323 Mahatmas, 79,8 1, 121 malicious spirits, 131-132, 305,313,317 Malkuth, 108,113,224-227, 229,233,237-238, 285-286,295,297 Manas, 84 Manchu, 9 mandala, 143 mandrake, 30-32 manifestations, xiv, 21,58,68, 118,154,306 Mannaz, 255 mantras, 269-270 Margaret, Saint, 50 Marriage of Heaven and Hell (book), 62 marriages, 62,80,93,99, 208-209,302-304 martyrs, 47 Mars, 107, 183,215,230,232, 1'27 L3 / Marseilles deck, 203 masochists, 10 Masters, 79-81,87,94, 103-104,122,281,323 Mathers, Molna, 98-102, 104-105,198 Mathers, Samuel Liddell, 96-101,105,110-111, 113, 116, 122, 198,203, 222,224-226,266,282, 294,296,323 Matrix, the (source of knowledge), 127,188 May Ed, 127 meadow, 24,35,37,204,209, 239,247,300 Meath, 37 mediums, 6,45,51,65-67, 69-71,78-80,83-84,89, Index 100,117,260,262,264, 280,326 Mein Kampf (book), 120 Men in Black (astral manifestations), 154, menstrual blood, 183 menstruation, 303 Menzel, Donald H., 136 Merlin, 41 mescal, 13 mescaline, 42 Messiah, 113,226 Metatron, 23 1 Mkthodes de dkdoublement personnel (book), 263 Michael (archangel), 53,208, 232,297,316 Midsummer Night's Dream, A, 41 Milesians, 40 milk, 39,43,183,216 mirror, xiii, 106, 111, 175, 183,191-196,202,230, 320 Moires, 2 13 Monad, 84 monitor, 129, 132 monkshood, 30,183 moon, 7,21,25,28,46, 108, 112,182-184,186-187, 190-191,193-194, 205206,216-2 17,224, 233-234,237-238,266, 268,285-286 Mora, 24,35 More, Henry, 27,69-70 Morehouse, David, 129-132, 276,324,327 Moses, 50-5 1 Moses, William Stainton, 66, 71 Mount Sinai, 50 Muldoon, Sylvan, 72-76,85, 90,93,158,185-186,259, 337 261,263,275-279,307, 327 Murray, Margaret A., 18,29, 327 Muse, 2 19 Muslims. See Islam mushrooms, 12-13,247 music, 9-12, 14-15,39,42, 45,67,114,129,171-172, 174,218-219,267 Oedipus Aegyptiacus, 222 oil magic, 294,324 Olcott, Henry Steel, 81,95 opium, 30,32,42 Order of the Silver Star, 116 Osthanes, 188 Othila, 257 Ouija board, 272,312 owl, 22,187,251 N Pamphile, 22 Pan, 215,312 panic attacks, 3 12 Paracelsus, 283,285 paranormal, 69,117-1 18, 120,123,133 parapsychology, 119,124126,328 Passport to Magonia (book), 145,329 Path of the Arrow, 225-226 pathworking, vii, 112-1 13, 200,203,221,224, 227-230 paths, 112-1 13,203,224-227, 229-231,329 Pavlov, Ivan, 158 Pearce, Hubert E., Jr., 119 Pearce-Pratt Distance Series, 119,328 Pearson's Magazine, 102 Pentagon, 137 pentagrams, 113,215,271, 292,294,296,298, 316-317 Peuckert, Will-Erich, 32 peyote, 13-14,27,42,120 phantom limb, 262 Phillips, Thomas, 61 phoenix, 216,327 Picts, 40 Pillar Saints. See Stylites pineal doorway, 92,94, 130, A name of power, 159,295, 315-316 NASA, 126 Natural History (book), 30, 327 nature spirits, 86,282,285, 296-297,313 Nauthiz, 250 Nazism, 119-123,140,321 necromancy, 244-245 Nephesch, 105-107 Neuburg, Victor B., 116 Newton, Issac, 68 Nexus Magazine, 129,276, 324 nicotine, 14,27 nightshade, 29-3 1,183 Nirmanakaya, 84-85 Nordics, 140-141 NSDAP. See Nazism Numa (king), 302 0 Oberon, 41 obsession, 68,74,76,88,297, 306-307,310-311,319 obsidian, 194 Occam's razor, 69 Occult Philosophy (book), 182,321 Odin, 7,241 151,179,324 Pioneer 10,126 Pisces, 143, 145,216,237 pitchfork, 26 Plains Indians, 9 Pliny the Elder, 30-31, 188, 327 Plutarch, 302,328 Poetic Edda, The, 241,32 1 poison, 12,14,29-32,217 poltergeists, 124, 142 poplar leaves, 29-30,32,186 POPPY, 30 Porta, Giovanni Battista, 23, 32,302 Portable Magic (book), 203 possession, 20,59,61,66, 69,79-80,98, 150,307, 310-311,313,319 posture, 73, 162, 168,204, 212,261-263,265,271, 317 poteau-mitan, 7 Prague Military Institute, 12.4 Pratt, J. G., 119,328 prayer, 8, ll,49,55,57, 70-71,218 precognition, 118 priests, mii, 18-19,28,37, 46-47,58,66, 199,205, 208,218,222,234,260, 271,281,299 Prithivi, 109-1 10, Project Bluebook, 137 Project Grudge, 136-137 Project Sign, 136-137 prophets, 18,48,50-51, 53-55,59,123,144 psi, 118,123-125,127 Psychic Se2f-Defence (book), 307,324 Psychic Warfare (book), 124, 324 psychoanalysis, 154,312 psychokinesis, 118, 125 psychometry, 105, 118 psychotronics, 125 pudak, 6-7 Purple Adept, 105 Puthoff, Harold, 126-127,129 pyramid, 272 Pytheas of Massalia, 121 R Ra-Hoor-Khuit, 144 radio, 151-152, 185 Raido, 248 rape, 139-140,147 Raphael (archangel), 53-54, 232,297 Rasputin, 123 rath, 37 Rauschning, Hermann, 122 raven, 187,244 Rebirth of Magic, The (book), 99,326 reflection, xiii, mi, 56,60,82, 85,90, 106, 132, 167, 175, 189, 191, 196,201,221, 224,230,276,283,320 Regardie, Israel, 104,110-1 13, 115, 192, 199,266,294, 296,299,311-312,328 Reichian therapy, 3 11 Rejdak, Zdenek, 124 remote viewing, vii, mi-mii, 117,126-133,159,162, 276,320,327 Rkmy, Nicolas, 25,328 Renaissance, 10, 19-20,57, 112, 146, 182,203,222, 3 14 Rhine, Joseph Banks, 117119,123,125-126,129 ring and disc, 98-99 Rising on the Planes, 93, 113-114,158,225-227 ritual, xvi-xvii, 7, 12, 14-15, 22,66-67,89,96-97,99100,105-106,110,112, 120-122,130,157-164, 166,169,171-172,174, 177,182,184,189-190, 193,195-196,200, 202-203,216,225-226, 228-230,243,245,259, 263,265-269,279, 293-295,309, 317,320, 326 ritual chamber. See chamber, ritual Ritual Magic In England (book), 99,326 Robbins, Rossell Hope, 19, 25,328 Robertson Panel, 137 robots, 141 rocking, 11 rope trick, 56 rosaries, 11 Roseae Rubae et Aureae Crucis, 96 rosy-cross, 96,99 Ruadan, Saint, 37 runes, 164,239-257,270, 314-315,329 S sabbat, mi, 2 1,24-26, 183, 191 sacrifices, 6,9,208,214,243, 249 Sagittarius, 214,225,236 SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), 128 sanctuary, 130-13 1 Satan, 26,28 Saturn, 107,218,231,238 scales, 114, 140,212 SCANATE (research project), 126 Index Schmeidler, Gertrude, 126 Schwarzwaller, Wulf, 120, 122, 328 Scorpio, 213,236 Scot, Reginald, 17,28,328 Scott, Sir Walter, 41,45,328 scourging, 57 scrying, v, xvi, 108, 110-1 11, 116,179-182,187-189, 192,194-195,198,200, 203,240,259,266,270 seances, 64-69,78-81,83-84, 89,99,117,159 Sebottendorff, Rudolf Glandeck von, 120-121,328 Second Order, 96-98, 104-105 Secret Chiefs, 97-101, 103-105,121-122,198, 203,282 SecretDoctrine, The (book), 81,322 seers, 4445,111-112,115, 192,195,233,293-296, 298 sensory metaphors, 149-150, 277 Sepher Yetzirah, 222,231 Sephiroth, 104,106-108, 112-1 13,203,222,224, 226-227,229-230,286 Seraphim, 5 1 Sergeyev, Genady, 124 Serpent, 18,26,227 seventh son, 38 Severus, Saint, 48 Shaddai, 226,233,316 shades, 65,71,84,101, 175, 210,235,278,281 Shakespeare, William, 41,328 Shakti, 41 shamanism, m-mi, 3-15,1718,20,27,40,42,50-51, 54-55,58-59,66-67, 80,120, 157-158,162, 165-166,187,241-243, 280,324 shape-changing, 5 shape-shifting, 27-28 Shaw, George Bernard, 308 shears, 43 shells, xi, 14,67,84, 108,311, 320 Shiva, 41 showstone, 180,188 Siberia, 6, 157, 162 Sibo, 6 Sidhe, 39,43 Silva Sylvarurn, 27 silver cord, ix,69-75,77,93, 151,288,305-306 Simeon the Stylite, 10 Sinnett, A. P., 79,329 Sirius (star), 216 Siths, 38,40 Skrying, 93,106,114 Sleagh Maith, 38 sleep paralysis, 73, 184-185 Smith, Pamela Colman, 204 Smith, Paul H., 127,329 Sociktk Spirite, 80 Society for Psychical Research, 117,262 Society of the Inner Light, 102-103,228 Socrates, 30 solar plexus, 169, 174, 189, 193,202,245,262, 264-266 solstices, 44 soot, 27-30 Sophia (goddess), 22 sorcery, 4-5, 13,242 soul, m-mii, 3-5,7-10, 12, 14,22-23,25-27,32,37, 4243,46-47,50-51-54, 56-60,65,67-70,72-76, 78,80-81,83-85,92,105, 339 107,114,120-121,132, 149,157-158,160-161, 163,168-170,172-174, 182,184,186-190,193, 195-196,225,241,246, 259,264-269,273, 275-277,279,281,288, 291-292,300,305-307, 309-313,315,319-320, 324 Soviet Union, 123-125, 127, 136,144 sow, 24-25 Sowelu, 253 Spenser, Edmund, 41 Sphere of Sensation, 105-106 Sphere Group, 104-106,281, 307 sphinx, 209,211,279 spirals, 6,37, 193,271 spirit guides, 54,279-280, 283,287-289,298 spirits, xiv-xvii, 3-10, 12-13, 17-22,24,31,36,38-40, 43,46-47,50-51,54, 59-61,63-67,69-74,76, 78-79,81,83-84,86-88, 90,99-101,103,105,109, 114,116,118,131-132, 142,144-145,149-150, 152-154,158-159,164165,168,176,180-181, 188,192,194-195,200, 213,227,237,240,244, 259-260,262-264,270273,275-289,292-307, 309-313,315-317,320, 322,326 spiritism, 65, 80 spiritualism, vii, mi, 6,8,63, 65-67,69,71,74-76, 78,80,83,95, 102, 129, 279-280 Spook, 80,84 340 Soul Flight Sprengel, Anna, 97 Sputnik, 123 SRI. See Stanford Research Institute Stacy, Dennis, 137 Stanford Research Institute (SRI), 126-128 STAR GATE, 128-129,131, 133,159,329 Star of David, 316 Star Trek, 141 Star Wars, 121 stepped relaxation, 129,265 stigmata, 181,306-307 stone circles, 45-46 stone of destiny, 37 Stonehenge, 37,46 Strength (Tarot card), 210, 235 Style, Elizabeth, 22 Stylites, 10 submarine, 127 succubus, l8,85 sulfur, 151-152 Summerland, 82,84,270 sun, 7,21,36,45,62, 108, 113, 184,193,204,208,211, 214,217-218,225-226, 232,237-238,249,253, 257 SUN STREAK, 128 suspension, 9,99, 124, 186, 242-243 Suster, Gerald, 123, 145 Swann, Ingo, 126-127,129 swastika, 120 sweat lodge, 9 Swedenborg, Emanuel, 58-59, 61-62,72,168,180-181 Swedish witches, 25 sylphs, 87,285-286,297 T talisman, 152,187 Tantra, 41 tapti, 6-7 tapty. See tapti Tara, 37 Targ, Russell, 126 Tarot, ii, v, vii, 111-1 13,129, 164,197-198,200-219, 224-225,228-230, 233-238 Tarot trumps, 112-113,198, 200-219,224-225, 228-230,233-238 tattwa, 108-111,130, 164, 192,239,266,294, 296-298 Teachings of Don Juan, The (book), 13 Teiwaz, 254 tejas, 109 telekinesis, 118, 124-125 telepathy, 118, 125,139, 141, 151-152 Temperance (Tarot card), 113,214,225,236 Tetragrammaton, 226 theater, 12,14,64,219 Thelema, 123, 144 Themis, 212 Theosophy, x, xvi, 6,8,77-90, 92,94-96,103,105,114, 121,127,130-132,141, 166,227,259,281-282, 299,305,319,322, 325-326,329 Therage, Geoffroy, 50 Theseus, 75 theta state, 129 third eye, 94,173,179, 189, Thirty-two paths, 230-238 Thirty-Two Paths of Wisdom (tract), 230,329 Thorbjorg, 4 thorn tree, 39 thornapple, 30-31 Thoth deck, 203 thought-forms, 86,88,101, 310,322 Thought-Ray, 105-1 06 Thouless, R. H., 118 throne of God, 5 1 Through the Looking-Glass (book), 191,322 Thule Society, 120-122 Thurisaz, 247 Tibet, 77,80,88,282,310,323 Tibetan adept, 282 time distortion, 42 Tiphareth, 108, 113,225-227, 232-237 Tischner, Rudolf, 117 Titania, 4 1 4 2 tobacco, 9,12-14 topaz, 115 totemic beast, 157 Tractatus de strigibus sive maleficus, 23 trance, ix, 4-5,7,23,27,48, 53,59-60,66,69,79-80, 85,89,91,93-94, 100, 117,129-130,132,157, 280 Tree of Life, 104, 106-108, 112-113,208,221-223, 225,227,286 trials of endurance, 9-10,213, 241 Truffaut, Franqois, 145 Tuatha de Danann, 39 tulpas, 88,310 Tungus, 6 tunnel, 130,269 tutelary spirit, 9,21,54,66, 280 twilight, 38,45, 152, 190,219, 250 Tylwyth Teg, 40 Tzabaoth, 232 Tzadqiel, 23 1 Index Tzaphqiel, 23 1 u UFOs, 52,55,135-139,141, 143,145,147-148,154, 280,323,325,328 UFO Experience, The (book), 138,148,325 underworld, 7,37,43,46,82, 158,166,188,242 universal mind, x, 320 Unknown Hitler, The (book), 120,328 Urania, 219 Uriel, 297 Uruz, 246 Utts, Jessica, 128 Uzziah (king), 5 1 v Vallee, Jaqques, 145, 147-148, 323,329 vampires, 85,88,306-307, 309 vanilla, 268 Varro, 302 Vasiliev, Leonid L., 124 Vayu, 109 Venus, 108,195,206-207, 230,232,234,286 Vestigia. See Mathers, Mo'ina vibration, 8,73,81-82,91, 103, 165, 199,285,294, 296 Vilenskaya, Larissa, 124 Vinegar Tom, 20 Virgil, 36-37,54,279,329 Virgo, 210-21 1,235 Vision and the Voice, The (book), 115,323 vision quest, 50 visions, 4, 10, 13,39,51, 53-54,57,59,61,69,83, 91,111,114-115,122, 152, 180, 183,187, 195, 206,273,296,308 visualization, 75-76, 105, 112, 120,129,158,162-165, 169-174,187,189, 193-194,196,200-201, 225-226,228-230,265, 268-269,271-272,287, 297,316 vortex, 130,163,189,193-196 Voudoun, 7 vril, 121-122, Vril Society, 121-122 W Wailing Wall, 11 Waite, A. E., 204,208, 210-211,213,327 Wallachia, 80 Walpurgis Night, 24 Walsh, John, 45 were-animals, 8 werewolves, 8 Westcott, William Wynn, 96-97,101,104-105,222, 224,231,329 Westminster Abbey, 61 Weyer, Johann, 23,329 Wheel of Fortune (Tarot card), 211,235 whistling, 11, 157, 171-172, 174 white noise, 171, 174 widdershins, 45 Wiesner, B. P., 118 wild hunt, 38,187 will-o'-the-wisps, 141 willow, 186,251 wise woman, 20 witch craze, 20 witch finders, 19 witchcraft, 6,8, 17-22,25,35, 45,50,75,146,328-329 341 witches, xvi, 8, 17-29,35, 40-43,45,49-50,54-55, 58-59,66,69,145-147, 183,191,279-280,325, 327 Witchfinder General of England, 20 Witch-Cult in Western Europe, The (book), 18,29,327 witch's familiar. See familiars Witch's Garden, 325 Woden, 241-245,247,270 wolves, 5,8,27-28,86,91, 204,2 16-2 17,244,247, 250 Woodman, William Robert, 96-97 World Ash, 7,242 World Tree, 11,157, 162,241 World War I, 120 World War 11, 120, 123, 136, 144 WRV. See Written Remote Viewing Written Remote Viewing, 129. See also remote viewing Wunjo, 249 Yahweh, 226 Yakut, 6 Yeats, William Butler, 95, 100-101,103,308 Yesod, 108, 113,224-226,233, 236-238,285-286,297 yer mesi, 166 Yggdrasil, 241-245 yoga, 151,261,265-266 z Zener, Karl, 118 Zener cards, 118-1 19 ad unique articles by Llewellyn authors, recommendations by experts, and information on new releases. To receive a free copy of Llewellyn's consumer magazine, New Worlds of Mind & Spirit, simply call 1-877-NEW-WRLDor visit our website at www.llewellvn.com and click on New Worlds. Order Online: Visit our website at www.llewellvn.com, select your books, and order them on our secure server. @ Order by Phone: Call toll-free within the U.S. at 1-877-NEW-WRLD (1-877-639-9753). 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50 Shades Of Game Vol. 2 A guide to the swinging lifestyle – salacious stories and the 7 crucial seduction steps you need to master the scene ALSO BY TROY FRANCIS The Seven Laws of Seduction: How to Attract Beautiful Women and Enjoy a Supercharged Sex Life Text Game Mastery: How to Get Her Off Her Smartphone And Into Your Bed How To Get Hot Girls Into Bed: A Guide For The Modern Casanova How To Be An Assh*Le That Beautiful Women Love Still In the Game – How Men Over 40 Get Results Dating Beautiful Women 50 Shades of Game Vol. 1 – A Step-By-Step Blueprint for Attracting And Seducing the Sexiest Women in the BDSM & Fetish Scene 50 Shades Of Game Vol. 2 A guide to the swinging lifestyle – salacious stories and the 7 crucial seduction steps you need to master the scene Copyright © 2018 Troy Francis All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. Requests for authorization should be addressed to troyfrancis7laws@gmail.com. Cover design by Nikola Novakovic Interior layout and design by www.writingnights.org eBook formatted by www.writingnights.org Book preparation by Chad Robertson & Troy Francis Readers should be aware that internet sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this publication is made available, and when it is read. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in the publication of this work, neither author nor publisher makes any representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher, nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 178 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To the Sunday afternoon revelers at Rios, the Killing Kittens crew and everyone who was involved with or attended Fantasy Video and Club 487. I don’t think human beings are monogamous by nature – Scarlett Johansson I’m going to go down swinging... I’m sure as heck not going to go home and say I had a bad tournament. – Andre Agassi CONTENTS Also by Troy Francis CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION THE SWINGERS’ SCENE KILLING KITTENS THE POLITICS OF SWINGING THE OTHER END OF THE SCALE WHAT THIS BOOK CONTAINS Chapter 1 - Stories of Swinging NATASHA A NIGHT AT THE SAUNA MILLY Chapter 2 - The Other Side Of The Tracks CLUB 487 RIO’S RELAXATION SPA PARADISE SPA, ESSEX Chapter 3 - The Wider Significance of the Swingers’ Scene OMEGA MEN Chapter 4 - The Basics Of Swinging NUTS AND BOLTS UPMARKET SWINGERS’ PARTIES ARE WHERE IT’S AT TORTURE KITTENS WHY DO PEOPLE GET INTO SWINGING IN THE FIRST PLACE? WHY IS THIS GOOD NEWS FOR PLAYERS? SEXUAL COMPETITION IN ACTION Chapter 5 - Watch Outs On The Swinging Scene WHAT TO WEAR BE IN SHAPE Chapter 6 - Swinging Is Not A Free For All WHAT A TYPICAL NIGHT AT A SWINGERS’ CLUB IS REALLY LIKE Chapter 7 - Strategies for How To Pick Up Girls In Swingers Clubs 1. SCOPING THE TERRITORY 2. OPENING 3. QUALIFICATION 4. VIBING 5. ESCALATION 6. SEX 7. GOING HOME TOGETHER Chapter 8 - What Lessons Can Players Take From The Swingers’ Scene Into Their Vanilla Dating Lives? Final Thoughts About the Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All at Rio’s Spa in Kentish Town, London; Killing Kittens; Fever Parties; 32 Portland Place; Paradise Spa, Essex; Zwanglos III, Swingeroase Zwiespalt and Insomnia in Berlin for the fun and unforgettable nights. VICE, in particular Jamie Clifton and Kev Kharas - this book contains elements from articles that they commissioned and edited and originally published online. Dominique at Insomnia Berlin. Antonio, Anastasia, Shauna, Rafael, Christoph, Rob L., Pete N., Nigel, Dad, Mum and Trevor, Marc, Paul Janka, Rish, Sam, Nick, The Marquis de Shard, Roosh, Tom Torero, Craig Cassidy, Psychopathic Seduction, Gary PUA, Tom (tddaygame), Donovan Sharp, Charles Sledge, BK, Fisherman Alkali, Radwan, Jeremy, Kevin Ibanz, Spaniard, Adrian Olivas, Chad at Writing Nights for his great work editing and formatting this book and to everyone else who has supported me along the way. INTRODUCTION we stand, witnesses to the act. I n theThegloom bed is black leather. The walls are mirrors. There is a murmur of electronic music, but here the spectacle is more important than the soundtrack. A girl lies back on the bed. A man is fucking her. Beside them, standing, is another man. Perhaps he is the girl’s boyfriend, and they are here to swing. Perhaps he is a stranger invited to join, and the guy on top is the boyfriend. Maybe she came alone and all three are strangers, naked, having sex here in a humid London basement sauna. It doesn’t matter, certainly not to us, the audience. Who are we? The audience? A young couple, half-naked; a late-thirties Colombian girl in lingerie; a solo guy with a wild, lonely, haunted look; and me. I’m standing with a girl in a bikini, who I don’t know and whose name I’ve forgotten, who I fucked within five minutes of our meeting at the last Killing Kittens party. Shift our focus back to the act. The guy standing reaches down and touches the girl’s face. It’s almost tender. It’s his turn to fuck her now. The first guy just finished. This second, previously standing, guy is lean and strong and young. The girl has a beautiful body. It’s hard to make out her face at this angle. The crowd braces itself in anticipation. Even the inevitable glasses of Prosecco remain at waist rather than lip height. This is going to be good. Second guy mounts the girl, pushing himself into her. Pretty soon she is moaning in appreciation. He’s fucking her hard, his powerful hips launching his cock into her again and again. ‘Well, this is nice,’ I say to the girl beside me. It’s lame but I say it to break the tension because I’m British and shy, and because, even for me, standing in a basement sauna watching butt naked strangers have sex is strange. She doesn’t last long, the girl. Perhaps because she’s just been fucked, or maybe she gets off on being watched. Maybe standing guy is just a really great fuck. Who knows? But soon she is bucking hard, shouting out loud and then she spasms violently and then… As she orgasms she squirts, her spray exploding into the air before us. Little diamond beads of erotic moisture glint savagely in the darkness before evaporating into soft mist, floating to the floor. … he pulls out. She giggles, half-bashful, half-gleeful, a confirmation that something has happened and yes, it’s big. Previously standing guy rubs her wetness into her stomach and breasts, as the guy who fucked her first gently touches her face. ‘All over his clothes,’ he says, motioning to the other man’s trousers splayed beside them on the bed. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ says the second guy. Clearly a gentleman. There is a light round of applause from the crowd. ‘Wow. Well, I’m going to get a drink,’ says a woman, as though we’ve just seen the climax of a dramatic and emotional play. In a way I suppose we have. The crowd drifts slowly away. If this story sounds fanciful and even unbelievable I completely understand. A few years ago I would have thought so myself. But it happened – on the 13th October 2017 – exactly as I describe. Intriguing? Then read on – plenty more to come. Outlandish? Then read on too; this book will open your eyes to a sexual underworld of delights that you never even imagined existed. In cities all over the world right now, day and night, people are going to clubs and parties – with their partners or alone – in order to meet and have sex with strangers. Mind-blowing stuff, right? Furthermore, the swinging scene is not relegated merely to older couples who’ve seen better days hoping to revitalize their sex lives. Swinging is popular with the young too, and if you go to the right parties you are likely to meet some incredibly beautiful women. For some reason the swinging scene, rather like the BDSM scene, has not been covered much in traditional PUA material. Players have generally concentrated on normal, mainstream clubs and on day game, and have not concerned themselves with the strange, seedy but fascinating midnight world of sexual transgression where sex parties and partner swapping take place. But think about it for a moment. If the player’s main objective is to get laid, why wouldn’t he go to places where women go just to get laid? And why wouldn’t these be at the top of his agenda? OK, donning a pair of leather trousers, or having sex with a girl in public while wearing a carnival mask may not be your heart’s desire right now. Perhaps you’re inexperienced in such things. But to ignore these scenes is just as foolhardy as someone writing about the markets and failing to mention Wall Street, or someone into casinos neglecting Las Vegas. People get into game and pick-up artistry in order to meet beautiful women and have sex with them. There’s no reason to apologize for that. Most human beings like sex, including most beautiful women. Sex is the strongest internal drive after the need to eat and drink. It is natural for men to be attracted to sexy girls and to want to be intimate with them (with the honorable exception, of course, of gay men). We must own that, even in these politically-correct times. If you are not looking for a relationship at the moment, and have no interest in settling down, then you are in the market for meeting promiscuous women who are cool with having casual sex and aren’t bothered about getting into relationships either. The problem that many players contend with is that they go to normal, mainstream, venues to meet women. Those girls probably just want to find a nice guy to settle down with after they’ve had fun in their college years, which is their prerogative. But when the player whose desires are for fleeting fun comes into the equation, he is in danger of hurting women who thought he was offering more when he moves on to someone else. One of the great advantages of going to swingers clubs (and BDSM parties) is that you will meet women there who are like-minded and looking for exciting sexual adventures rather than domesticity, a white picket fence, and a dog. They are on the same page as you. This is why I wrote this Fifty Shades of Game series. These kinky scenes haven’t garnered much attention from the top game writers, and this seems to me a major oversight. If you want honey you go straight to the honeypot. You don’t mess around trying other jars near the honeypot hoping they might contain a little bit of honey. Given that most guys into pickup are interested in transient adventures, what better place to search for them than scenes specifically geared for just that? In the following sections I will tell you some stories from the swinging scene to open your eyes to what is possible. But before I do we need to get some basic definitions out of the way. Whenever I talk about swinging on my website or on Twitter, guys come back with objections like ‘It’s all old unattractive desperate women,’ or ‘swingers’ clubs don’t let in single guys, or if they do you have to pay a premium,’ or ‘the odds of finding a half-decent girl amongst all the detritus are 1m to 1.’ These are reasonable concerns. To answer them let me tell you a little bit about the kinds of swingers’ parties I am principally talking about here, and how to get into them. All of my life I have been interested in secret worlds and their codes. All of my life I have been fascinated with cracking those codes – with finding out the secret ways of doing things effectively. The swingers’ scene offers just such an opportunity. Clearly this is a place where sex is a given for the ‘right’ type of people. How do you become one of those people? This book will give you everything you need to know to enter the scene and begin your own voyage of discovery. The Swingers’ Scene For a long time the swingers’ scene was considered a sad haven for unhappily married couples looking to inject a little ‘excitement’ into their dull and unsatisfying marriages. Its participants were likely middle-aged or older, gone to seed in the worst possible ways. Beer guts, varicose veins, drooping breasts, and love handles everywhere – and that was just the men! The swingers would meet up in suburban houses cold chicken wings and warm coleslaw served at a buffet, along with warm, “sparkling” wine. They would throw their car keys into a bowl on the table. The car-key lottery – couples picked out at random in order to pair their owners up with new partners for the evening. Of course, this all sounds terrible, and if it were really like that – unless you have a fetish for MILFs and chicken wings – it’s not something I recommend. However, the swinging scene has grown exponentially in the last decade and now incorporates some very different, and far more exciting parties. I have to lay my cards on the table here and tell you that – as in Volume 1 of this series, which was concerned with the BDSM scene – my main experiences have been accrued in London and Berlin. What I describe in this book though, is a global phenomenon, and swingers’ parties like Killing Kittens take place in major cities in the USA including New York and L.A. Given that they are part of a growing trend, this is a scene you need to know about if you’re looking to extend your pickup activities in a novel, sexy direction. Understand this scene’s quirks and secret conventions and you will open yourself up to a world you have scarcely dreamed about. A world where attractive, sometimes extremely beautiful, young women go to enact their fantasies. If you can crack it, it stands to reason that you’ll enjoy huge benefits. Swinging as we know it today is a relatively modern phenomenon and came about in the 1960s as a result of the sexual revolution and the contraceptive pill. It wasn’t really prevalent before then. There were strict social, and religious rules in place which prevented it from happening in most Western societies. Although, of course, all manner of unconventional arrangements went on covertly. So-called ‘wife lending’ was a feature in pre-Islamic Arabian nations as well as in African countries, Inuit societies, and Venezuela. Additionally, the polygamous preagricultural revolution setup described in Sex At Dawn by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá likely provided another precursor for what we now term swinging Killing Kittens Killing Kittens is a party promotions company founded by Emma Sayle in London in 2005, who said of the name “it’s cyber-slang – every time someone masturbates, God kills a kitten. It’s about pleasuring yourself, so it fits quite nicely with our brand.” Aside from being an extremely astute businesswoman, Sayle is from an upperclass background, having famously been associated with Kate Middleton, now Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. The first Killing Kittens parties, held in townhouses and clubs around London, were filled with Emma and her friends, mainly posh and socially well-connected women like herself. There are even rumors that Kate herself attended – these remain unconfirmed. Sayle’s ambition was to create a series of swingers parties where – how to put this diplomatically – there were no ugly people, or at least, certain aesthetic standards were maintained. In a move which in 2018, only thirteen years, later feels politically incorrect, Killing Kittens became the first notable swingers’ party where you could only gain entry based on a positive assessment of your looks. To get into KK – a ‘party for the world’s sexual elite’ – you had to submit several photographs by email so the team could judge whether you were good looking enough to attend. As I say, even a few years later this feels like a risky move bound to upset the politically-correct. But it still goes on at KK and other parties, albeit more quietly than before. For the player this is, of course, both good news and bad news. Good, because it should ensure that the girls in attendance are attractive. Bad, because it means that he will have to go through the selection process himself, and there is the risk and potential humiliation of being rejected. But you needn’t worry. You don’t need to be a male supermodel to get in. As long as you are reasonably in shape, and dress well, you should be fine. Having been to these kinds of parties many times, I can tell you that the standards are a little more ‘flexible’ than you’d expect. More on that later. If you want to attend then get your weight down, style your hair, put on some cool clothes, get a friend to photograph you and you’ll be good to go. Another thing about Killing Kittens and the swingers’ scene in general is that, yes, as the name suggests, it’s about ‘swinging’ – that is: swapping partners. This explains why many think that single guys can’t attend, since a number of parties won’t let you in unless you’re with a girl. However, there are many singles parties on the scene where guys are welcome to attend. And for those events that don’t allow it? Simply befriend a girl and go with her to the parties. She doesn’t have to be a sexual partner – although it’s a great deal more fun if she is – just someone who looks the part and is happy to go along with you and to pose as a couple to get through the door. She can act as your wingwoman. If you are a reasonably sociable guy, this shouldn’t be a big problem. A great many girls are curious about this scene and will be more than happy to go with you so that you can both explore different sexual opportunities. Of course, you’ll want to avoid going with that girl who is your oneitus. You’ll wind up suffering the pain and humiliation of watching her getting railed by a bunch of other men while you sit at the bar with a towel around your waist, nursing a beer. Don’t be that guy. The other way you can get around the couple’s rule is to take a fuck buddy. I myself am always on the lookout for new girls with an adventurous edge who I can take to parties like Killing Kittens. The key here is not to be too attached to them. Establish some firm ground rules first. The Politics of Swinging Swinging is fraught with politics. Maybe you thought it was a big free-for-all where anyone can fuck anyone else. In practice it’s as highly regulated as any other social situation. I should make clear here that I personally approach the scene as a player. Other people may approach this scene differently, and good luck to them. But I like to game swingers clubs in pretty much the same way I would other environments, just with quicker escalation and less messing around. My aim is only ever to have sex with girls – one-on-one or two-on-one (or more!). I am not keen on getting involved with a guy’s wife or girlfriend while he is there, or worse, while he is participating. This might make me a bad swinger, just as my attitude to the BDSM scene (as described in Volume 1) might make me a ‘bad fetishist’. So be it. I’m happy to live with that. My interest is in meeting attractive young women with whom I can have adventures, regardless of the environment. My participation in the swingers’ scene is just another part of my overall strategy. I have no interest in watching a girl I’ve been intimate with having sex with another man. It does nothing whatsoever for me. Even if it were a girl for whom I had no feelings at all I just can’t see that particular sight turning me on. What I do like is to have sex with my girl in public – or at least in semi-public anyway. That is a turn-on. And I like to have sex with several girls at once. So when I go to Killing Kittens with a girl I make certain that we’re on the same page first. Either we are merely friends and both of us can do whatever the hell we like, or we’re there as a couple and we’ll have sex with each other and won’t involve anyone else. This second option works really well as added frisson in the early stages of a fuck-buddy relationship when you’re experimenting and trying all kinds of crazy things. A third possibility is we are there as a couple, but we are open to the idea of introducing other girls into the equation. My girl becomes the huntress. This works well with bisexual girls, or even so-called ‘bi-curious’ girls who are up for girl-on-girl fun. As I said, I have little interest in watching my girl fuck another guy, even if we are only casual. That may sound selfish, and perhaps it is, but I’m not forcing anyone to be with me. If I meet a girl who wants to fuck around that’s fine, but she can do so with someone other than with me. Many parties will let a controlled number of single guys in on any given night – they will pay more. If a ticket for a single girl is $30, a single man at the same event will likely be asked to fork out $70. Such are the realities of a sexual marketplace, based entirely on supply and demand. Nevertheless, consider what’s on offer. When you get good at swingers’ party game you might appreciate that it’s worth the extra expenditure. After all, it’s not every party that you go to where women are ready and willing to have sex right there in the venue. It’s a very libertarian scene that really has to be experienced to be believed. As mentioned, organizations like Killing Kittens also put on singles’ events. Now, singles’ parties have an even worse reputation than swingers, parties – full of sad, lonely people in crumpled raincoats desperate for one last chance at love. But relax. When Killing Kittens puts on a singles’ party their usual high standards are applied – that is, all the participants must be attractive. Here too there is the opportunity for very quick sex if your game is on-point. While the ticket for a singles’ party can also be expensive (again somewhere in the $70 area for men) you must offset that against the potential rewards. When you attend a party as a single man you are there to approach women as is natural so, given that the girls are single too, there should be no problems. Singles’ parties are just like a normal club but with that little bit extra added. This should demystify the scene somewhat. Yes, people go for different reasons: to add spice to ailing marriages, to engage in group sex with both genders, or even to be cuckolded (it’s amazing how common that is). But given that this book is aimed primarily at players looking to amplify already prolific sex lives with many different women, my job is to teach you precisely how the scene works and how best to leverage it to your advantage. The Other End of the Scale Killing Kittens, as well as Fever Parties in London and similar events, are very much at the glitzy end of the spectrum and I would be lying if I claimed that these are fair representations of the whole – of course they’re not. The clichéd representations of the swingers scene I outlined earlier are not entirely inaccurate. The more down-atheel side of the scene isn’t exactly dead and buried. There are parties where the participants are older, unattractive and (not meaning to be rude) frequently unwashed. I’ve seen witless couples trying to reengineer flagging marriages, with the guys in their stained raincoats circling, waiting for their opportunity to pounce. In terms of erotic opportunity there is little to be said in favor of these parties. You might get the odd outlier hot girl there – a stray nymphomaniac, a self-hating depressive, or an addict – but they are the minority not the norm. This is not to say that the grimier parties have no interest for us at all. On the contrary, they are fascinating – as are all swingers’ events – simply because they teach important ‘red pill’ lessons about the sexual marketplace and its hierarchy. Put very simply, only the hottest survive – or get laid, at least. And this becomes very clear when you’ve spent as much time in these places as I have. What This Book Contains Now, I’m not saying that you have to have model looks to get by – although that certainly helps. Game evens up the score. But the lessons that observing those up and down the chain teach us about how things work in the real, raw, visceral world of sexual selection are profound. For that reason, I’m not going to confine the discussions in this book to upscale parties – even though these are where the cutest girls are. There is anthropological interest to be had exploring underground dive places. In the first section I will take you into the world of swingers’ clubs, telling my real-life stories. These will show you the kinds of things that really go on, what is possible for the player to achieve, and why upmarket swingers’ clubs are a great hunting ground. After that we will take a tour of some of the dingier, dodgier venues I’ve visited. There is entertainment value here, but you will also learn a lot about the sexual marketplace. Then comes the practical stuff – where to go, what to wear, how to ensure you get in, and all of that good stuff. I’ll also take you through the do’s and don’ts of the scene. As with BDSM, swinging is very codified and you don’t want to make a mistake and annoy someone’s angry husband. Some guys think that swingers’ parties are a free-for-all – all you have to do is turn up to get laid. That is absolutely not the case. My experiences at upmarket parties like Killing Kittens show the opposite. Beautiful girls – who are often scantily-dressed and aware of their value – tend to be even more choosy than they might otherwise be. The tall, alpha jock guys regularly win the day. In addition, you often have the age-old problem of demand and supply: a surfeit of men and a dearth of attractive women. That’s not to say that the talented, game-aware player can’t outflank the jocks. But you should not imagine that this is easy street, that all you have to do is turn up with a packet of condoms and a bunch of Viagra. Nothing could be further from the truth. CHAPTER 1 STORIES OF SWINGING Natasha September 2017 Killing Kittens puts on singles’ parties every month. They also do parties for couples. Generally I attend the singles’ parties since they offer an opportunity to meet new girls. Of course, you can also meet new girls at the couples’ parties, there being partner-swaps, threesomes, foursomes and so on. But then you have to bring a girl, and I like going on the prowl alone. I do have a male wing I hang with sometimes, a Peruvian guy called Jesus. Jesus is a cool. I met him at a party. Generally he just stands there getting slowly wasted while he watches the action. I like Jesus. It’s fun hanging out with him. But tonight Jesus is away so I go alone. The party is at a large townhouse in Central London just off Oxford Circus. It’s a well-known place, allegedly owned by a member of the British aristocracy notorious for hosting sex parties and orgies. I’ve been here before. I like this place better than the sauna where they also throw parties. It’s a piece of prime real-estate worth millions of pounds. There’s a shabby-chic feel to it, with its huge chandeliers and threadbare carpets. There’s a bar downstairs where a DJ plays house music. Upstairs is the ‘play room’ – the room where people fuck. I take a look. It’s a huge empty space with high ceilings and a cluster of beds pushed together in the center. There are candles on the floor. More house music plays from concealed speakers. In contrast to a BDSM club like Torture Garden the crowd here is homogenous, largely composed of arrogant alpha males who probably work in finance. They wear well-cut suits and shirts, drink prosecco, and speak loudly. The women wear red dresses (there is a red theme tonight). I don’t immediately see anyone I fancy. I decide to wait it out and see what happens. Killing Kittens has a rule that guys are not meant to approach. Women initiate contact. In practice this doesn’t work well for everyone. Not for the women who are unaccustomed to approaching, and certainly not for the player, who wants to approach to give himself the best possible chance of success. The player needs to try to get round the no-approaching rule. I believe this can be done without going against the spirit of the Killing Kittens edict: you smile, act friendly and sociable and say hello to girls without hitting on them. You get on the female radar for selection without being pushy. After a slightly-stilted first few hours, Killing Kittens parties tend to reach a sweet spot where inhibitions are dropped, clothes are discarded, and people start fucking. This isn’t to say it’s a free-for-all: it’s not. All sex is of course consensual. That being said, because girls are here to bang and everyone is naked – or nearly naked – and horny, the seduction process is truncated to ‘approach-create attraction-sex’. Generally this takes a few minutes at most. I strike out a couple of times. The first time with an Asian girl. I don’t know why. We’re on the bed, she’s hitched her dress up all the way over her breasts and I’m playing with her pussy. All of a sudden she says she has to go to the toilet. I let her go, hang around for a while, and then, feeling like a chode, I go back down to the bar. Something similar happens with a blonde girl who I get to talking with sometime later. Failures like this occur for any number of reasons, but I have two theories why things didn’t work out in these cases. First, I spoke too much to the blonde (we were discussing Torture Garden and fetish). While building comfort through conversation is essential, too much chat can be counterproductive at an orgy where all everyone really wants to do is to bang. Second, I wasn’t really turned on by either girl and it showed. You always do best with the girls you’re genuinely attracted to. I’m about to give up and go home when I meet Natasha, a cute Tibetan girl in a red miniskirt and high heels. I speak to her for two minutes before she’s all over me, kissing me hard, and ripping at my shirt buttons. Rather than go upstairs to the big shagging room I take her into a smaller area off the dancefloor with a large bed lit by fairy lights. Here we find quasi-privacy: there is only one other couple having sex next to us. At Killing Kittens this is the equivalent of solitude. Natasha lay down and I begin licking her pussy. Well, it seemed like the polite thing to do. Soon she’s naked. She has a killer body – small and lithe and shapely with long, dark hair. I’m still going down on her as I try to get my shoes off. Getting your shoes off is a real problem in the heat of the moment at a swingers’ parties. There’s no easy way of doing it. I have to keep going while fiddling with my laces. Finally the laces yield. I stand and remove my trousers. ‘Do we need to use a condom?’ Natasha asks. ‘Er, yes,’ I say. Luckily I have one with me. I reach clumsily for my suit jacket, pull out a Durex, and sheath up. We fuck, changing positions time and again. Next to us the other couple finishes and adjusts their clothes, making ready to leave. Natasha is on top of me, riding my cock when I notice the other woman watching us. Natasha is moaning as I thrust up into her. The other woman smiles and nods at me as if to say ‘good job’. She’s watching us having sex as though it’s a performance art piece. A while later Natasha finishes me off in her mouth. ‘This is really weird,’ she says. ‘Is it your first time here?’ I ask. ‘Yeah,’ she says. ‘What do you do during the daytime?’ ‘Normal stuff.’ ‘That’s cool. It’s good to do normal stuff.’ We talk some more crap until she tells me she needs to get a drink. I watch her walk to the bar and then I go to the toilet before leaving. When I emerge she’s already all over another guy, a banker-type, on one of the sofas. I walk upstairs, through the hallway and out into the sodium-lit night. A Night At The Sauna June 2017 ‘Would you like to go anywhere, you know, more private?’ I ask. ‘No, not really,’ she says. She allows her towel to fall away entirely so she is crouching over me naked. Her head drops to my crotch and bobs up and down sucking my cock. We are lying on a low couch beneath a TV set playing non-stop hardcore porn. Next to us is another couple having sex. People walk past. Some stop to watch. Her name is Louise. She is of Russian and Italian descent. A hedge fund analyst; she works in Mayfair. The way I met her was classic Mystery Method. She was with a girlfriend who I started chatting to first, before I turned my attention to her. Even though I was quite flirtatious with the friend and even got a bit of a makeout, I had a sense that Louise was interested in me. She kept laughing with disproportionate glee at my jokes. But then she got to talking to some other dude. This was a few hours later. I met her as she walked from the Jacuzzi in a towel. At Killing Kittens you play the long game. Start of the night you walk around, watch people and observe. You do your best to initiate conversations without breaching the rules. You don’t overtly hit on girls but you do make yourself known. The invisible player, is barely a player at all. He is a forgotten, faceless man. The strategy is to distinguish yourself from the crowd. You do that through the way you dress, the way you are groomed, and most importantly, by demonstrating your personality via what you say and how you act. The trouble with Louise is that I know Jesus likes her too. As we wandered around the party talking to people, he had mentioned to me that he liked a particular girl in red who had a French accent. Louise is wearing a red dress. Her accent is French. Pretty likely he means her, although it’s not conclusive – there are a great many other similar girls here. This is where working with a wingman is problematic. It applies in normal clubs just as much as at swingers’ parties. There’s a real problem when your wing likes a particular girl but you sense that she likes you better. As I said, I’d got the idea that Louise was interested in me through her micro-indicators: laughing at my jokes, the flicker of her eyes, the way that they would meet mine time and again, each time for longer than necessary. When this kind of thing happens you really need to weigh up your allegiance to your wing and make a call. In this case I felt justified in waiting to see what happened, but not ruling out getting it on with Louise were the opportunity to arise. For one thing, there had been no interaction between her and Jesus to speak of. Also, I’d liked her from the beginning too – it wasn’t as though Jesus had ‘got in there first’. Plus, I’d approached her. The player who approaches gets first choice. Last, Jesus fancied every girl there. There wasn’t much scope for me to seduce anyone he didn’t like. I don’t see Louise again until later on in the night. This party is being held in a sauna in Covent Garden. Although the dress code specified suits for men, it is already sweaty and there is little chance of those suits staying on long. Around me many of the men have stripped down and are wearing swimming trunks or Speedos. The girls are in lingerie or swimming costumes. Here’s how the club is set out. Changing rooms on the left and the main space to the right. Once you’ve stashed your belongings you find yourself in a dimly lit bar. Here, TV screens show ancient black and white movies. Opposite there’s a selection of low couches where groups of girls sit chatting. Nothing more than that yet, but it’s coming. In the gloom, men and women talk together. They are wearing masks. This is a requirement of entry. At any Killing Kittens event, you’re meant to wear a mask until midnight when the fucking starts. Guys wear Venetian ballroom masks, those creepy Phantom of the Opera-style ones, and the ones called zanni with long noses that protrude at the front. The women prefer delicate lace or gauze, fastened together with ribbons. From a distance the whole scene looks like a demented still from the movie Eyes Wide Shut – one of the inspirations for the party. Beyond the bar is the sauna space. Here is the large Jacuzzi, big enough for twenty, plus dark corridors leading to the saunas themselves, and rooms with beds for sex. For context, it’s normally a gay pick-up joint, so to say it’s geared towards anonymous encounters is an understatement. The Jacuzzi is fun. It fills up early on with revelers, first only those few girls brave enough to get wet in public and the guys who inevitably follow. As time goes by and the drink flows, the mood gets raucous – people splashing, joking and laughing until the whole pool is a big, wet fuckfest. It’s like a Vegas pool party the way you wish they were, rather than the way they actually are. I go out to the cloakroom to get something from my locker. Here I meet Angie, a swinger in her late forties. She tells me she comes to every Killing Kittens party. ‘I just love cock,’ she said. ‘It’s just me. I love it. I love cock.’ I wander back into the main arena. I’ve opened various girls with some success, but nothing has hooked yet. My mind is still on Louise as my best bet of the evening. This is common in night game: the player becomes fixated with one of the first girls he meets in the evening, the one from whom he gets the best response. For the next few hours his mind will be on her and only her. He will shut himself off from other prospects in his pursuit of this micro-oneitus. This is not necessarily either a good or a bad thing. At the core of any great player, after all, is abundance. If you don’t have abundance then you are lost, either during the pursuit or later when you are in a relationship. On the other hand, perhaps tonight this girl is the optimal choice for you. She is your type, she is available and she seems interested. In that case it makes perfect sense for you to pursue her. But you never know if a particular girl, a particular scenario, is going to yield fruit. If it doesn’t then you’ve wasted your time. That girl could end up going home early. Or not being as interested in you as you thought she was. Or going off with another guy. You threw away other opportunities for her. Because you were in thrall to that girl, you inevitably missed out on indicators of interest elsewhere. And in the swingers’ club environment, immediacy is crucial because sexual opportunities appear and disappear quickly. I come upon Louise again by chance. We walked past one another by the Jacuzzi. She’s been for a dip. ‘Sexy towel,’ I say Not the greatest line ever but it worked that night. Within seconds we are kissing, and a moment later I walk her to the low couch beneath the porn movie screen where without ceremony, she throws off her towel and begins to suck my cock. After this preliminary I pull her up and lay her on the couch before me, where we have sex. There are people around us watching – hence my question to her about wanting more privacy – but she is clearly a game girl and happy to go ahead regardless. For that I am thankful. There is no doubt that at least a part of the frisson from going to a swingers club is in performing in public before others. When in Rome, do as the Romans. Louise is another of those girls who is just my type – long, dark hair trailing down her back and skimming her ass and firm, juicy breasts on her slender frame. We fuck with me on top and then flip it so that I’m underneath. All the while I watch her beautiful body squirm and shudder as she takes my cock deep inside her. I notice little else during the sex, except the porn. Until Jesus walks past. He sees me, gives me the thumbs up, winks and walks on. I don’t know whether or not he recognizes Louise, and, if he does, whether he is bothered but doesn’t show it. The hallmark of a good wingman is that they are happy for you when you are successful and Jesus certainly smiled on me that day. When we finish I give Louise one last deep kiss. ‘That was fun, bad girl,’ I say. ‘Always,’ she replies, and she winks before disappearing into the crowd. People often think that the player’s lifestyle is meaningless or emotionally barren. That’s not the case. Moments like this mean something – perhaps not very much, but they mean something. A bond is established, however fleeting. Of course, it is the transient nature of casual sexual encounters that bothers people. If you were connected with someone for less than an hour how can that have had any ‘meaning’? I disagree. Why should meaning or significance be defined by duration? Many marriages of twenty years and more fail, after which the spouses claim to never really have known one another. Just because people stay together for years doesn’t mean there is any huge significance in what they have. Whereas there can be a wonderful human connection to be found in a short sexual encounter. One other thing you have to get your head around though, if you really want to enjoy this scene is that girls at swingers parties are also having sex with other guys. If they have a tendency towards nymphomania they can finish with you and move on to the next pretty fast. So what? You’re in a swingers’ club. This is no place for bourgeois morality. Make sure that you always use protection, and accept the situation for what it is. Women are sexual too – probably more so than men. Just go with it. Milly June 2015 I met Milly at another Killing Kittens event, this time at a venue called The Library in Covent Garden. The Library is a private members’ club and hotel in the heart of London’s ‘theatreland’, near the bustling Covent Garden market. Killing Kittens had hired the place for one of their singles’ parties. As soon as I walked in I could see why. The place was perfect. Booklined walls, low sofas festooned with drapes and cushions. Dark alcoves, no doubt intended for stimulating intellectual conversation, would tonight be used for sex. Paintings of ancient generals and commanders on the walls, their frozen faces looking down over the unfolding scene, circumspect but impotent. There was a prohibition-era style bar selling cocktails. I walked over and ordered a soda and lime and stood looking at the crowd. The guys were all in suits and ties – I was too, as the flyer for the evening had indicated that this would be a dressed-up affair. I had gone all-out with a light grey jacket, white shirt and pale tie over a pair of dark trousers. The girls wore dresses and heels, dressed up to the nines like it was a night at the opera or a race meeting. One had on a flouncy blue dress with bustles at the front, black heels and a golden tiara that shone like a beacon. Another, a drop-dead stunner with flaxen hair and a delicious pout, stood out in a bright red gown. The place stunk of perfume like a high-class brothel. I was in good form that evening, which doubtless accounts for what happens next. Why? Because during the day I had gone out and done a whole slew of daygame approaches, perhaps ten or fifteen, to get into ‘state’. Here’s the thing. If you’re going to do night game of any sort, whether it be in a swingers’ club or vanilla, then you need to have ‘state’. In other words, you have to have momentum around women. State, mojo, or momentum is difficult to describe, but when you have it you know about it, and so do the girls nearby. It is like you have ‘warmed up’ before sports, so now your very presence radiates confidence and the sort of sexuality-on-steroids that automatically draws girls to you. It also means that when you make an approach you are rock solid – you can’t be phased, you are not afraid to be persistent, you can be cheeky and your conversations won’t falter. Even if you’re rejected you will simply brush it off. Why? Because you’re warmed up. You have become sufficiently socially lubricated so that everything is water off a duck’s back. This ‘don’t give a shit’ attitude is palpable and incredibly appealing to women. My day game approaches hadn’t yielded much success – a couple of phone numbers – no more than maybes. But it didn’t matter. It was practice for the big event tonight. Whatever the ROI on daygame itself might be, it skyrockets your night game. If you can walk up to a girl on the street, get chatting to her and get her phone number then it really should be no problem for you to approach in a club. This is because approaching is normal in nighttime environments, whereas during the day you have to step out from under the cloak of conventional behavior and put your neck on the line. So when I walked into the Library that night, I was ready to go. I was emitting the rays of entitlement and sexual dominance that prove so attractive to women in these situations. With this advantage, I walked around as though suspended on a cloud and talked to girl after girl. I was like a prince wandering around greeting his subjects. Being on form like this great – it’s fun to feel as though you ‘own’ a social event. I flirted with women at the bar. A brunette in her thirties said we should meet up later. A pretty French girl pursuing a PhD at Cambridge said that I had the best ‘rhetoric’ – by which I guess she meant chat up lines – that she’d ever heard. Nice accolades, but it was close but no cigar. Game is binary: you either get laid or you don’t. There can be no middle ground. So while these indicators of interest were encouraging, I knew that I had to step up. I continued, up the stairs into the quiet study area, invading this booklined crevice and that, searching for an elusive girl to change the night for me. It’s uncanny: when I see a girl who is so absolutely my type I recognize her. It is as though I have seen her before – that this is not the first time we are meeting. I’d been talking to another girl who’d split and there I was, looking out for my next approach, when I saw her. She was my type – but then ‘my type’ covers a lot of bases. She was a slim brunette with long, straight hair cascading down her delicate shoulders to the small of her back. She was wearing a black dress that was split at the front to her navel. Below her waist the material turned to lace, her shapely legs revealed beneath. Nothing overly revealing: she was sexy in an understated way. ‘Hey,’ I said. ‘Hey.’ She smiled and our eyes locked for a second and I knew then we would end up in bed together. This has happened to me many times. This is not to say it’s common – it isn’t. Game can be a long, thankless slog. I put up with a lot of rejections. Mostly it no longer bothers me too much what an individual girl thinks of me. Other times it can sting. Sometimes, though, you meet girls who are interested immediately. I can usually tell just through the eye contact. It’s as though with one look – accompanied by that sense of recognition I mentioned – everything that is to come is confirmed. Every man must learn to pick up on such looks. The worst thing you can do is miss out on the opportunities that are handed to you on a plate by the game gods. The more approaching you do, and the more sexual success you have, the more skilled you will become. After a while it’s instinctual. Anyway, I get talking to Milly in the black dress and I find her to be fun, flirty and bendy. I dance with her and she, balanced on my arm, leans back almost all the way, allowing the tips of her hair to skim the floor. We make out. We continue to make out. I buy drinks. She buys drinks. In night game there generally comes a point where you have met ‘the one for that night:’ the girl you are most attracted to who you appear to have the best chance of taking home. This was clearly Milly. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ I said. She nodded willingly. I took her hand and led her to the coat check. There was some issue with the tab. The venue required everyone to leave their credit cards behind the bar so they could settle up at the end. There was a glut of people waiting. Milly and I stood in this queue while a girl called out peoples’ names. It got to Milly’s turn and they called out her surname. I’ll say here it was Jones. ‘Milly Jones?’ Milly looked shocked, running forwards to shush the girl. I had no idea why but I didn’t say anything. She sorted out her bill and we left. ‘Come back to my place to watch a movie?’ ‘Cool,’ she said. The game was on. Now the usual logistical problems. How to get home? At that time I lived in Bermondsey, an area in London’s Zone 2: it was a 25 minute drive to my apartment. Of course, my phone had died, and so I wasn’t able to order an Uber. We were reduced to standing on a street corner trying to flag down a cab. Nothing wrong with that, but transport from the club to your home should always be as smooth as possible. When gaps start to show, the girl is going to get bored, irritated, or fed up, and ask for a raincheck. ‘Maybe we should just call it a night,’ Milly said. ‘‘Don’t worry, a cab will be along in a minute.’ Finally, I hailed one. We jumped in, and the drive back began. As usual, my job was to keep the mood relaxed but sexy. So we made out for most of the journey, and talked as we powered up the Old Kent Road back to my apartment. Milly told me tales of her drug taking with old school friends, and how she would go to Torture Garden and have sexual encounters with transexuals. I was struck by the contrast between her upper-class voice and the seaminess of her lifestyle. She was one of those rich, young girls who had gone off the rails, rebelling against the comfortable existence that daddy and his money had bought for her. If anything, I was even more turned on than before – there’s nothing I like more than a good English girl gone bad. By the time we got back to my apartment I’d popped a couple of Viagra and I was ready to go. I let Milly in and went about my usual routine, visiting the bathroom and fixing drinks in the kitchen. Whenever I let a new girl into my place I always do the same thing, giving her time to get accustomed to the environment and feel comfortable. The last thing you want to do is to come on too strong too early and make it awkward. Seduction is a slow process and you shouldn’t rush it. When I went into the sitting room I was surprised to see Milly kneeling beside my bookcase, checking out the many volumes I kept there in my pre-Kindle days. ‘Did you really just come here to read my books?’ I asked. ‘No,’ she said. I took her hand and led her into the center of the room where we kissed. Now I reached down and pulled her dress up over her head and shoulders. Then it was on the floor. More kissing as her bra and knickers came off. Then she backed up level with the couch and flipped her body back so that her head hung down to the seat with her legs open and her pussy exposed. Of course, I took the hint, lowering my head and licking her out. After a while she could take no more so I pulled her up and led her into my room where I fucked her on the bed. ‘God,’ she said when we had finished. ‘I normally go with submissive men. I’ve never been fucked like that before. Is there anything you’d like me to do?’ So I got her to suck my cock until I came in her mouth. After that we both fell asleep, exhausted. In the night we woke up and talked for a while. She asked me about my books and, when I told her that I wrote for a living, she became animated, telling me her mother was an author. ‘You probably don’t know her books,’ she said. ‘They’re aimed at older middleclass woman’. But the mother’s name was familiar. As it turned out she was a big name middlebrow writer whose books were widely advertised, including on large posters on the London Underground and in railway stations. ‘And what does your dad do?’ I asked. ‘He’s in media,’ she said at first. And then, ‘Well, you know my family name …’ ‘Yes,’ ‘Well, it’s him,’ she said. Finally I understood. Stupid me! No wonder she had been so careful about not revealing her full name at the Library. Her father, it turned out, was one of the most famous faces in the UK, a man who regularly appeared on British TV and had done so for the past three decades. Looking at her now, for the first time I could see her family resemblance to a celebrity I’d been aware of since my early adolescence. ‘What’s it like?’ I asked. ‘Very strange,’ she said. We talked more about her dad and how he affected her life before having sex several more times into the morning. Of course, in the scheme of things it mattered little who her parents were. But it certainly opened my eyes to the reality that the crowd that you get at sex parties is extremely diverse and much more well-connected in society than you might expect. CHAPTER 2 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TRACKS clear earlier, Killing Kittens is really only one side of the swinging coin – A stheI made other side is distinctly murky. So when men ask why I write about swingers’ venues on my website given that the ratios are often bad with unattractive people there I completely understand what they mean. They are thinking less about glamorous parties, and more about this other side of the scene. That is not to say that swinging on the wrong side of the tracks has no interest to players at all. For one thing, you might be interested in roughing it a little from time to time – and there’s nothing wrong with that. But also, there are valuable lessons to be learned about the workings of the sexual marketplace here. In this section I give you three stories from the other side of the tracks – from the down-and-dirty swinging scene. After that I discuss its significance for students of game and human nature. The first is adapted from an article I wrote when I was a reporter for VICE, focusing on weird sex trends going on in London. The location here is not a swingers club as such, but a porn cinema called Club 487, that had become a meeting place for local swingers. Club 487 February 2015 Perhaps inevitably, Club 487 – London’s last remaining porn cinema – was raided by the Metropolitan Police and by Lewisham Council officials last week. They burst into South London’s temple of sin at 1:30 PM on Thursday, with Sergeant Martin Adler of Lewisham tweeting that “the premises are believed to be a pornographic cinema. The police removed a number of middle-aged males found inside. London Fire Brigade is still conducting safety checks. Licensing enquiries also taking place.” The hapless wankers inside were allowed to leave with no arrests made, and Club 487 remains open for business. The club’s line is that the incident took place after unfounded reports of drug and alcohol sales were made. The police, finding no evidence of these, went away happy. “Two of the coppers who raided us even said good morning to me yesterday when they were walking past,” said Danny, the manager, when I asked him about the incident. No hard feelings, then. Certainly, if the cinema is able to evade further interference from the boys in blue then it will be a blessing for members of London’s swinging demimonde – like Vern, a polite guy in his late 40s who wears glasses and a homely blue pullover. I chatted to him in the bowels of 487 the week before the raid, although it’s kinda hard making polite conversation when you’re talking to a man while watching a bunch of other guys bang his wife. ‘Wave it over there, mate – not in my face,’ his wife, Melissa, gasps. ‘What if it goes off?’ She is lying on the floor in one of two private cubicles the venue offers. Lit only by a wank-flick called Uniform Fantasies, which plays on the small HD screen above, she is at the center of three men, members primed and ready, waiting to receive oral sex. Another fucks her, grunting and groaning the whole time. He finishes abruptly, then stands and buttons up his jeans. “Wooah. That was good!” he says. He’s tall, with Latin good looks. ‘Melissa’s a great fuck,’ Vern says. ‘She’s a good girl. Thank you, mate.’ ‘No – thank you,’ the guy says. He seems sincere. This is a far cry from the glam, swinging scene of Killing Kittens and Fever Parties, which caters to sexy young couples and single girls. Using online forums, Melissa and Vern advertise their presence at a variety of venues around London at short notice, inviting lone guys and couples to come down and have fun with them. Club 487, with its gloomy corridors and anonymous vibe, is just their kind of place. They’ve traveled here tonight from Acton after Vern finished his last job of the day at the garage where he works. ‘We like it seedy,’ says Vern. ‘This gaff is great for us. There’s a lot of guys coming down. And Melissa likes to go through a lot of guys.’ And does Vern have sex with other women? ‘No – I don’t need to,’ he says quickly. Melissa, when not having sex with men who aren’t her husband, is a jovial, ebullient lady, her peroxide-blond hair luminous in the dark. She runs around in lingerie and black boots, a glass of whiskey in hand, yelling at anyone who will listen that it’s a crying shame that venues like this are being closed down across London. Vern is quieter and more reflective, choosing to enhance his enjoyment of his wife’s shenanigans with the occasional sniff of amyl nitrate. Melissa and Vern have been married for 22 years and swinging for 15. Vern seems to be enjoying the action, even shouting encouragement at his wife’s lovers. But I wonder whether he’s really happy. ‘We’re careful. We get tested and everything. When you’re swinging, you’ve got to. Even if you use a condom you still need to make sure everyone’s safe,’ he says. But how does he feel watching random guys have sex with his wife? Is it a turnon? ‘It was tough at first, no doubt,’ he says. ‘First time she done it there was a bit of an argument – lot of jealousy.’ How did he get through it? ‘Maybe it was the wrong situation. The wrong guy. We done it with another guy and it was perfect. Nice guy, down-to-earth, spoke to us both – you know. And we liked him, so it was all right. It was a turn-on.’ And you’re into it now? ‘Yeah, completely. We’ve been doing it 15 years now, so we must like it, mustn’t we?’ I guess, in the end, there’s no need for jealousy because you know you’re going home with your partner. ‘Exactly. I think that’s why it was hard the first time. What if she enjoys the sex better, and fucks off with another guy? But it gets easier.’ Do they go to other swingers venues? ‘Paradise in Dagenham is OK. But you take your chances. You’re better off going as a couple, not a single guy, otherwise you’ll look like a lemon. And if you don’t know no one, you’re not going to get nothing, like. When you go with a woman, everyone speaks to each other and breaks the ice. We know guys who go down Paradise and they get nothing. We ask, “Do you speak to the other couples?” And they say no. So no wonder. It’s communication. There’s couples that look for single guys, and couples that look for couples. You don’t know that until you break the ice. And it’s down to the single guy to break the ice, ‘cause he’ll get the pleasure of fucking someone else’s wife.’ Just then another couple pass us in the gloom – an attractive young brunette in her 20s and her partner, a robust-looking guy with a shaved head. They walk into the main cinema room. ‘That’s Angelina. Nice girl. Melissa had her earlier.’ She’s certainly prolific. ‘She loves sex. She’s a good girl.’ I follow Angelina and her boyfriend. They’re in the back row with another guy. Angelina lies horizontally across them, fucking one and blowing the other. On screen, a new movie plays, Twin Cheeks. Melissa, having finished up outside, wanders in to watch with Vern. ‘She’s going too quick,” she shouts. “Slow down a bit!’ It’s like this is a live porno and she’s the director. ‘She knows what she’s doing. She’s been through a lot of guys in 15 years,’ Vern remarks. ‘She squirts a lot, too,’ says another man nearby. ‘I was with her half an hour ago and my sleeve’s still soaking.’ Vern looks proudly at his wife, smiling and nodding slowly as though someone has complimented her on her sporting prowess. ‘She’s a good girl,’ he repeats. ‘I’ve had them all,’ Melissa says. ‘Footballers – even a Member of Parliament once.” It’s an impressive résumé. Shortly, Angelina and her friends finish up and the night is over. Everyone shakes hands and promises to meet up again soon. ‘Great fuck, mate,’ says one guy, bumping fists with Vern and then lowering his head to give Melissa a kiss on the cheek. Serial cuckolding may not be for everyone, but for the denizens of Club 487 it’s all in a night’s work. ‘We’d better be off,’ says Vern. ‘It’s gonna take ages to get home, and I’ve got to sort out my sprockets in the morning.’ Now Vern and Melissa must make the drive back home across London. It may be a long way, but for them it’s a godsend that venues like Club 487 still exist. Rio’s Relaxation Spa August 2017 Sometimes I go to Rio’s Relaxation Spa in North London. This place is notorious as a prominent swingers’ joint. But I’d counsel those rushing over to Kentish Town for easy sex not to get too excited. I’ve been going regularly for about five years and I can tell you that it is aesthetically about as far from a Vegas pool party as you can possibly get. Unfortunately the crowd (and I’m happy to include myself here) aren’t the hottest. As prosaic as it may sound, the main reason most people go is simply to use the facilities. For £23 (about $30 USD) you get access to three Jacuzzis, two saunas, and three steam rooms. Plus a cold plunge pool, a swimming pool, a bar with topless barmaids and a TV room. Not bad. In fact, I can’t think of anywhere else in London you could get those same facilities for such a cheap price. For a fancy spa you’d be paying around double that. That said, Rio’s has a skanky feel to it – which I love – but it is an acquired taste. If you’re used to 5-star hotels in Dubai, it probably isn’t for you. I don’t mind the odd 5-star experience, but I like to get down-and-dirty and Rio’s (while scrupulously clean) is certainly that. An Italian friend of mine also goes. I’ll meet him there and we’ll talk about business and politics while kicking back and observing the goings-on around us. The other day we witnessed the most extraordinary display of human courtship there. There were two women opposite me in the big Jacuzzi. Both were in bathing suits, and both were – let’s be diplomatic and say – less than hot. One was an Asian lady in her late forties. The other was Caucasian, in her thirties, with a dramatic squint, overweight and covered in tats. Three young, athletic black guys got in. One of them immediately made a beeline for the Asian woman and started chatting her up. Although there was a vast and obvious chasm in their relative sexual market values (his was significantly above hers), she rejected him, turning away from him as he spoke. He shrugged and went back to laughing and joking with his friends. Now an older chap in his late fifties entered the Jacuzzi. ‘He looks like Santa Claus,’ said one of the young men. And with his pot belly and his wispy white beard he did. This guy went and stood in front of the woman with the ferocious squint. And that was it. He just stood there in front of the woman, didn’t budge, and stared at her. By the way, he was entirely naked. This entirely naked Santa Claus stood there, saying nothing, smiling wanly and moving forward incredibly slowly, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on the woman with the squint. That’s not all. Another guy was on the left hand side of the two women, a huge, overweight dude. He too kept looking over and staring at the women. He wasn’t moving towards them like creepy Santa, but it was pretty clear that he was looking for something to happen, for an opportunity to arise. Finally, the awkwardness of the situation became too much for the women, who up until this point had been studiously ignoring it. ‘Get back,’ Squinty Eye said to Santa. ‘That’s close enough.’ She spoke harshly, as though Santa was a disobedient dog. So Santa slowly retreated, then turned his back, and then walked the slow, humiliating walk up the steps out of the Jacuzzi. We all witnessed his ignominious failure – failure with a woman who was perhaps a 4, if you’re being generous. Seeing his rival thus vanquished, the overweight dude now pitched up and whispered something to the squinty-eyed girl. He too was given short shrift. He remained in the Jacuzzi but moved into a corner on his own. It was a fascinating to watch. The first thing that occurred to me was how poorly versed in game or female psychology these men were. Both had made the age-old mistake of waiting for something to happen. They hung around, stared at the girls, freaked them out and didn’t do anything until their chances were blown as a result of their own reticence. The other thing I noticed was how out of shape they were. I understand that it can perhaps be harder to stay trim when you’re older, and who knows what kind of life experiences these guys had undergone, but Christ, if strangers are calling you Santa Claus that’s a sign you should refresh your look. I found myself wondering whether I would ever be in a position where I’d be begging for sexual crumbs from such indifferent potential partners. Of course I can’t say for sure, but my gut feeling is no. I only get turned on by women who I regard as hot. That doesn’t mean they have to be supermodels, but they must be at least a little physically attractive – to me, that is. Had I pulled either Squinty Eye or her friend the chances of me getting an erection without taking a life-threatening quantity of Viagra would be nil. Paradise Spa, Essex April 2015 “You’ll get icicles on your pussy,” says the tattooed guy in flip-flops. “The Jacuzzi’s freezing.” He’s talking to Val, who’s in her sixties. She’s wearing a pair of bunny ears and is naked beneath her towel. Everyone is sitting around on tatty leather couches in the TV room, most half-watching an HD copy of Cocksucker College Girls. Val’s mate Pam – also in her sixties and dressed in a negligee with a severe Harriet Harman bowl haircut – watches the onscreen action with interest as three enthusiastic young women take turns fellating a man with a limp dick and the lifeless eyes of someone who really shouldn’t have taken a bunch of coke before turning up at a porn shoot. “You watching for tips?” Val asks. “Do I need tips?” “I dunno – you’ve never blown me. I ain’t got a cock, ‘ave I?” cackles Val. It’s Saturday night at the Paradise Spa in Essex, billed as “Dagenham’s leading Naturist and Swinging Venue”, and the Easter Bunnies party is in full swing. When I arrive, Big George – a genial man in a T-shirt with “Pants Inspector” on the back – greets me. Trying to get my bearings I wander out into the bar fully dressed. George looks me up and down and shakes his head. “You gotta wear a towel, mate,” he says. A quick change later, and Big George shows me round. There is a sauna, steam room and two Jacuzzis, along with a number of themed “couples rooms” – private spaces with red female silhouettes painted on the doors, containing double beds with thin plastic mattresses. The place is filling up now, the crowd predominantly composed of middle-aged men and their wives, with a few younger swingers in their twenties. One guy, a cabbie from Romford with a Comic Book Guy ponytail, marshals his wife, a harried, emaciated-looking woman in black lingerie beneath a long shocking-pink string vest, towards one of the bedrooms. “You can play in them rooms,” Big George says. “Leave the door open if you don’t mind others watching you do your business.” He’s expecting some action here tonight, then. “If you wanna shag, you can shag – simple as,” he says. He shrugs. “There’s birds here who’ll fuck. You’ve just got to talk to them a bit. Get ‘em frisky, like.” Big George continues the tour, leading me through the bar, where colourful vodka jellies are lined up, to a tiny dance floor. Here, two large girls in bunny ears and see-through Ann Summers nighties spin round stripper poles. Pitbull bellows through Kesha’s “Timber”, played off a laptop by the DJ, a guy in his sixties who looks as though he’d be more comfortable spinning oldies hits at the local dominoes club. With glittery tassels hanging on the walls, fake plastic flowers, fairy lights and complimentary peanuts, crisps, and Flumps on offer at the bar – plus the sense that many of the people here are regulars – the atmosphere is more akin to an Essex knees-up than an orgy. This impression is reinforced when the DJ drops Chas n’ Dave’s “Rabbit” to the obvious delight of everyone there. My tour complete, Big George shakes my hand and wishes me luck. I head to the sauna, where I find Val and Pam. “Some bloke in here hums tonight,” says Pam. “How can you hum of BO in a place with so many showers?” asks Val. “If you come ‘ere straight from work and you hum, then wash yerself.” I ask Val if she’s a regular. “I come ‘ere most nights, love. It’s me escape. It’s only five minutes from me ‘ouse in the car.” Through the glass, we are treated to the view of a bald man getting a blowjob from a blonde companion in the Jacuzzi, his head thrown back in exaggerated, PornHub ecstasy. There are cheers. “Look – Georgia’s giving Tom head! The dirty cow!” Val screeches. Pam giggles. Is there a lot of sex here, then? “Oh yeah,” says Val, smiling. “Have you put your name down for the gangbang?” Pam enquiries. “Debbie’s having one later in room five. She’s got a list going behind the bar.” A few minutes later Georgia and Tom walk into the sauna and everyone has to move up. Val accidentally brushes against my leg. “Sorry,” she says, and winks flirtatiously. I ask her why she started coming here in the first place. “I only got into the scene two years ago. My daughter and son-in-law told me about it. I didn’t know what a blowjob was before, what an orgasm was... nothing.” She adjusts the gold pendant that hangs on the sagging skin around her neck. “I’ve been married 25 years, but we’re separated. Still living in the same house, though. It’s a housing association place. Separate bedrooms. He won’t divorce me. Can’t accept it’s over.” That’s bad. “He treated me something terrible before I told him enough’s enough. He was a drinker. My granddaughter hates him. I come ‘ere most nights to get away.” It’s a poignant moment, and the sauna is silent. Georgia strokes Tom’s engorged dick meditatively as she listens. “Can’t you throw ‘im out?” she says. “He won’t go.’ Just then, Dave, a plasterer from Basildon in his twenties, comes in with Jane, his girlfriend of nine years, and their friend Alice. Alice is topless, attractive and the focus of much male attention. Dave and Jane come to swingers’ venues like Paradise regularly. They met Alice on their travels. Alice is a veteran of Rio’s in North London and the Eureka naturist club in Kent. She’s had boyfriends, but also likes to play with other girls. “I dunno why you straighten your hair before coming to a sauna,” Dave says to Jane. “Guys prefer it when your hair’s a bit rough. That ‘just got out of bed’ look,” says Alice. “It’s not like you do your hair and make-up before we have a bang in the morning, is it?” says Dave romantically. “Pizza’s up!” Big George bellows outside, and suddenly there’s a stampede for the bar. Here, eight Domino’s boxes are laid out on a buffet table, containing a selection of deep-base treats, from Hawaiian to Meat Feast. The swingers tuck in hungrily. Lionel Richie’s “Hello” plays in the background. At the bar I get chatting to Charlie. In his twenties, he’s just back from travelling around Colombia and has a passion for having sex with girls he meets while couchsurfing. It’s his first time at Paradise. He outlines his strategy for the evening. “I bought a bottle of vodka with me,” he says. (Paradise doesn’t sell alcohol, but bringing it along is fine). “I’m gonna drink up hard, then throw myself in.” Cool. “Hey, did you see that girl in the sauna with the boobs?” Alice? “With the boobs. Yeah. She was hot.” She was attractive, yes. “Do you reckon if I really drink then there’s a chance?” Maybe. “I’m gonna really drink hard, then go for it. There’s a lot of fatties in here, but the drunker I get, the better they look. You just keep seeing nipples and thinking, ‘God, they’re good!’“ I wish him luck. Back in the TV room the porn is still playing, and Sue, in her fifties, is masturbating to climax while being cheered on by Val, Pam and an assorted crowd of other attendees. “Someone get a bucket of water in ‘ere, cool her down!” shouts Val, as Sue cums loudly. It’s time to go. The next day I text Charlie to find out if he had any luck. “Ha, man, I was just desperate because I was drunk man. Got a BJ off one of the fat ones, ha!” A successful evening, then. “Sure. Hey, you know that young chick with the boobs in the sauna?” Alice? “Yeah. She was hot, man.” For many, Easter is a time for sitting in front of the TV, gorging on chocolate and alcohol. But for Essex’s fans of pizza and public sex, the Paradise Spa offers a fine alternative. CHAPTER 3 THE WIDER SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SWINGERS’ SCENE from the inherent comedic value, what lessons can be learned from the lower A side end of the swingers scene? For me it is a fascinating insight into, and confirmation of, the existence of, the sexual marketplace. What I have observed time and again by visiting these places is that the SMP is not only very real, but that it is alive and well and thriving. It is perhaps no surprise to say that the bestlooking, tallest, alpha males clean up with the hottest girls, but it’s worth stating simply because too many guys are bedazzled by false promises from the ‘PUA’ community and think that by learning a few lines from the internet they can cheat biology. The truth is this: yes, game can and does put you ahead of 90% of other men. But those men in the top 10% who are naturals, and are naturally good-looking, and great with women are hard to beat. This is why it important to be realistic, not just when you are attending swingers events, but also when you are doing game and pickup in ‘normal’ environments too. The harsh truth is that yes, on occasion you might be able to beat a top tier guy, but most of the time what you will be doing is upping your own game sufficiently so that you improve your results incrementally rather than astronomically. What going to swingers’ clubs has taught me over the years is that any false illusions I might have had about women being sweet, innocent snowflakes were just that – illusions. I don’t mean to offend anyone by saying that. Men are not innocent snowflakes either. All human beings are animals, out for themselves, simply living by the scripts that have been handed down to them by biology. But it is in a swingers’ club where you will most likely see naked female hypergamy – sometimes literally. More than once I have been talking to a girl and doing quite well with her, only for her to off to someone taller, darker and more handsome than me. Game will open doors for you, and it will sometimes take you all the way – but there are no guarantees. For a long time I have preferred to think of ‘game’ as all-encompassing, whole incorporating, self-development – weight-lifting, grooming, great dress sense, social calibration and so on. This is why. You have to attack the challenge holistically. It’s no good just learning a few lines – you are not simply competing with other pickup artists, but also with alpha male naturals. You need to raise your ‘game’ – literally – in all areas. Omega Men The other thing to note is that the underclass, omega male actually exists – he is not merely an imaginary online trope. In the saunas, in the porn cinemas and in the strip clubs (as we will discover in the next volume in this series) there are plenty of desperate, degraded men, who, having lost all dignity, will lurk in the shadows waiting for any bread crumbs they can possibly gather from the sexual banquet that goes on above them. This is very instructive but also horribly sad. I have no ill-will towards such men as Santa or Vern. I just wish they would realize that with work they could raise their game. I also view such guys as a salutary lesson in what to avoid in my own life. Presumably these men were reasonably fit, virile and attractive at one time. Where did it all go wrong? And how can I prevent the same decline? The omegas who haunt the swingers’ scene are simply guys who never learned the basics of ‘game’ in the first place. Not that game was necessarily a ‘thing’ when they were younger, but you know what I mean. They never learned the rudiments of calibrated social interaction, how to flirt, and so on. More importantly, they didn’t learn or keep on top of the basics of good grooming, dress and, in some cases, hygiene. There are natural and unavoidable consequences of getting older: such is the natural way of things. However, it should be feasible to keep on top of these very basic things, and that is what you must do if you don’t want to end up like one of these desperate men. Irrespective of whether their condition is self-inflicted, these men naturally find themselves on the bottom rung of the sexual ladder, and they serve as a reminder – if one were needed – that a sexual marketplace does indeed exist and its rules are iron-cast and, often cruel. Politically-correct Western culture sells us a Disneyfied idea of love where it is ‘personality’ that counts, and where you can ‘fall in love with anyone’ regardless of how they look and what they’re like socially. The sex clubs show this up for the nonsense that it is. There is a very strict hierarchy in these places based on, yes, looks and build, but also on confidence, social intelligence, power. It should be little surprise to anyone that those at the top of the tree – the guys who score the highest on each of these scales – are the ones who attract the most desirable women, whereas the ones who come near the bottom are left trying to catch the attention of the aesthetically-challenged Rose. Swingers’ parties make it obvious that game must include raising your value in every area if you want to have a varied and fulfilling sex life. CHAPTER 4 THE BASICS OF SWINGING we turn our attention to the basics of swinging – where to go, what to wear N ow and what to do when you get there. Nuts And Bolts Like the BDSM scene we examined in Volume 1, the swingers’ scene has its own internal logic and customs and is taken very, very seriously by its adherents. So listen up. Just as I’m not a fully paid-up fetishist, neither am I really a swinger. I am not, after all, in a position to be one, since swinging as many understand it implies that one is in a relationship and keen on swapping partners. Here is a definition of swinging from Wikipedia: Swinging, sometimes called wife swapping or partner swapping, is a nonmonogamous behavior in which both singles and partners in a committed relationship engage in sexual activities with others as a recreational or social activity. The important thing here is that sex is a form of recreation, and that the scene is non-monogamous. In that sense perhaps I do qualify since I am a single guy who goes to swingers’ clubs in search of recreational sex. When I write about attending swingers’ clubs in articles on my website guys often ask how I do it on my own. Here’s a recent comment I received: Hey mate what sort of swingers joints do you go to? There might be one or two hotties but the rest are middle age chubby fat. Not really a place to meet hot babes. How do you get into a straight swingers joint as a single guy? At the door it couples only most won’t let in single guys cheers. He has a point. Firstly, there is the issue of the caliber of swingers that you might hope to meet. In Britain and the US swinging still has an almost comical reputation. Here in Britain it is still tarnished with a 1970s brush. During that decade swingers’ parties were thought of as suburban affairs where men and women met up in modest homes to enjoy illicit sex with one another to a soundtrack of ‘groovy’ psychedelic music and a cold buffet featuring cheeses, cold cuts, coleslaw and warm, cheap white wine. At such ‘wife swapping’ events, it was assumed, the women would be average rather than stunning. That perception has persisted to this day. A fair proportion – although by no means all – of the swinging scene does seem to be dominated by older married couples looking to get their rocks off. I am not trying to suggest that ‘younger is better’, particularly given that I am approaching middle age myself. However, as players, it is our job to find the most attractive women to seduce, and the guy who wrote to me is right to question the validity of swingers’ clubs. This is why it is extremely important to pick the right parties to attend. To this end it’s worth joining an online forum like Fab Swingers so that you can find out about parties and befriend like-minded people. There are often meet-ups prior to swinging events and setting up a profile is a great way to get involved and assess the talent before you hit the club. There is, as far as I can see, one benefit to attending a less glamorous swingers’ venue: it doesn’t take a huge amount of effort for you to stand out and blow all of your competition out of the water. As we’ve noted already, a great many of the guys on the circuit are omegas: portly, badly groomed and out of shape. If you are even a few percentage points better than that – and I hope you are – then you will have no problems at all in outclassing the rest if there are any attractive women there. Upmarket Swingers’ Parties Are Where It’s At But the real win, as we’ve seen, is in finding and attending upmarket parties. To this end you should definitely check out Killing Kittens and also Fever Parties. Both of these are UK brands that also put on events internationally. It’s worth checking to see if they do so in your area. If not, Google for alternatives. You will find something. Without a doubt, this relatively new tendency for swinging to be fashionable and appeal to younger partygoers will only increase. We’ll consider why this should be the case in the next section. Before we do, though, here is another article I wrote for VICE back in 2015 about an upmarket event held in a notorious townhouse on Portland Place in London, a property that has almost mythical status on the London sex circuit It gives you a good idea of the kinds of people you can expect to run into on the upmarket scene. Working together with BDSM party brand Torture Garden, Killing Kittens put on quite a party. Torture Kittens March 2015 “This thing isn’t working,” says a man in a harness and PVC pants, gesturing at his dick. I nod in sympathy. After all, having sex in front of an audience must be tough. “It’s not that. I’ve done three pills and a shedload of Charlie,” he says. “Four Viagra and the old chap’s still not playing.” It’s 11PM in a lavish Georgian townhouse in West London. It’s unlikely that the other residents of this upmarket enclave, a stone’s throw from Oxford Street know that Torture Kittens is going on. The inaugural combination of famed swinging party for the ‘sexual elite’, Killing Kittens, and Torture Garden – London’s premier fetish blow-out – takes place here tonight. And a quiet lamp-lit street that boasts foreign embassies and the Royal Institute of British Architects as neighbors provides the perfect Eyes Wide Shut backdrop for such an event. There’s something incredibly seductive about the idea of these kind of gatherings – beautiful socialites wearing ornate Venetian masks and meeting in expensive hotel suites or private houses to get nose deep in mounds of cocaine before stripping naked and fucking, is the stuff of many people’s fantasies. To ensure a safe, sexy, place for women, rather than a perv’s paradise, the following rules are firmly enforced: “Men must not approach women. Men must not talk to women (unless invited). No means no. Only the kittens can break the rules.” Oh, and everyone has to wear a mask. “This is the vanilla playroom,” Killing Kittens’ Courtney tells me as she shows us around the venue just before the action starts. She’s worked for the company since 2014 and is in charge of the Torture Kittens parties. Like all the crew she’s posh, has a naughty laugh and is very, very organized – grade A fuckfests don’t construct themselves. We’re in a large stateroom framed by intricately patterned wood paneling. Soft candles burn and there’s the sweet smell of incense. The centrepiece is a huge bed covered with black satin. Soft rock plays quietly on the stereo. Hard to believe that, in a couple of hours, the kind of people who make it into Tatler’s “Little Black Book” are going to be banging in this very spot. Downstairs, the other playroom is presided over by London dominatrix Mistress Morrigan Hel, who runs the Murder Mile dungeon in east London. It’s anything but vanilla. Curious-looking lumps of metal and plastic hunker down on the floor: spanking tables and a whipping frame. Morrigan shows us her torture implements, to be used later. Prosaically, they’re tucked away in a supermarket carrier bag. “I had to pop to the shops on the way here,” she explains. This is Torture Garden’s domain. David TG, the promoter, now wearing a rubber suit, straightens his mask in the mirror and then wanders around checking that everything is OK. Torture Garden has been a fixture on the London club scene for an incredible 25 years, but anyone who’s under the impression that it’s tamed should have been at the recent Valentine’s ball, where its brand of banging EDM and sex was as potent as ever. It’s coming together with Killing Kittens is a momentous occasion for fans of PVC, complicated-looking lingerie and public displays of penetration. A red staircase leads down to the small club area through a dimly lit corridor, at the end of which is a huge mirror with “We Are Watching You” graffitied on it. There are twinkly blue lights wrapped around a bar serving spirits, Prosecco and soft drinks. A DJ plays techno while a cocktail reception lubes up the crowd. “At about midnight, Killing Kittens switches – the lights go down and the clothes come off,” one regular named Rob tells me. Certainly, it’s easy to pick up on the changing mood of the night. For those uninitiated to sex parties, the biggest eye-opener is probably how what initially looks like a normal club night gradually transforms into a cornucopia of jacked, hairy-assed guys pounding girls in lingerie so expensive as to make Agent Provocateur look like something you’d pick up on the last day of a Primark clearance sale. Two girls wander the room silently in cat and devil masks. They pause before a male-female couple and paw at the guy seductively for a second before moving on. As per the rules, girls definitely rule the roost. But Torture Kittens is nothing if not all-inclusive. Downstairs by the bar a bulky man in a dress slurps champagne, while a guy in a suit jacket and red leather panties, stockings and suspenders is led around on a chain by his girlfriend. In the Jacuzzi, a heavily-tattooed guy in a Sergeant Pepper’s jacket maneuvers himself between two girls, his erection waving around in front of him like an ambassadorial flagpole. You might think that there would be a clear divide between the Killing Kittens and Torture Garden aficionados, and what with some of the more outré outfits it’s tempting to guess people’s affiliations. But, in fact, this is harder than it first appears. “We thought everyone here would be Killing Kittens,” says Rob, as though assessing a football crowd. “But actually there’s loads of TG. We’re KK.” “Don’t ask if people are TG or KK,” says an intense man in a studded-leather dog collar, his eyes shooting all over the place, like snooker balls after the break. “The question should be, ‘Where is the music better?’ Here, the DJ is pretty good.” He is clearly a nightlife connoisseur. Like another man in an eye-wateringly expensive transparent suit jacket and designer jeans, who’s flanked by two glossyhaired aloof-eyed ladies in shimmering underwear, there is no shortage of the uberrich international demi-monde looking to board the public fuck train. Rob and his girlfriend Cressida, slender in red lingerie, are friendly, and exactly the sort of couple you would expect to find at an event like this. Good looking, in their early twenties and posh, Rob has boy band muscles while Cressida has the expensively-cut blonde hair of a Vogue intern who spends most of her free time riding horses in the country. Have they been to Torture Garden? “Not yet. We were going to go to the Valentine’s ball, but Cressie wanted to stay home and watch The Notebook,” says Rob. He shrugs. “Apparently an orgy just wasn’t romantic enough.” But things get romantic here pretty quickly, and after midnight there is no shortage of naked people keen to get to know each other. Upstairs, six couples are fucking on the huge black bed with a crowd standing around watching, as though this were a spectator sport. Downstairs, two Asian girls in matching purple knickers take turns in attending orally to a spannered guy in designer boxer shorts with a fluffy, InSync haircut. In Morrigan Hel’s lair a fat bloke in a leather thong is pinioned to what looks like a gym horse, being spanked with a leather paddle. Two gay guys make out in a corner while a man lies prostrate on the floor, licking a girl’s Louboutins. What’s surprising is how quickly one becomes accustomed to the revised social mores that this event presents. Wall-to-wall boning may be disconcerting at first but pretty soon you get used to it, and more interested in checking out the make of people’s PVC pants. But that such a party exists at all in London is a major shot in the arm for the capital, where puritanical conservatism and, as in Soho, the interests of property developers have led to its gradual sanitization, placing it far behind great European hubs of decadence, like Berlin or Amsterdam. Later on, Courtney passes me in a dark corner of the club. She shows me her riding crop. The leather tag on the end has come off: ‘I broke my whip spanking someone. You just can’t get the toys these days!’ she says. An occupational hazard, maybe. But judging by the success of tonight, Torture Kittens is here to stay, and it hits hard. Why Do People Get Into Swinging In The First Place? So why do people get into swinging in the first place? For one reason, and one reason alone: monogamy is very difficult. This simple fact is often denied or obfuscated. Anyone who is honest with themselves for a moment will know the truth – -that their sexual ardor is not, and nor has it ever been, reserved merely for one person. This is echoed clearly in research that has been done into the swinging lifestyle amongst couples, where 60% said that swinging improved their relationship. According to Wikipedia: John Stossel produced an investigative news report into the swinging lifestyle in 2005 which concluded that “couples swing in order to not cheat on their partners”. When Stossel asked swinging couples whether they worry their spouse will “find they like someone else better,” one male replied, “People in the swinging community swing for a reason. They don’t swing to go out and find a new wife.” Swinging amongst couples comes about as a result of the tacit – or overt – admission that sexual variety is necessary, at least for those people who indulge in it. Rather than cheat on their partners in an underhand way, they would prefer simply to be upfront and to engage in swinging together as a means of strengthening their bond rather than damaging it. This is not just the case for older swingers. This text, taken from Fever Parties’ website, a company that organizes swingers’ events for the under 40, reinforces the above: WE LOVE EACH OTHER BUT STRUGGLE WITH MONOGAMY. WHAT SOLUTION DO YOU OFFER? For attractive young men and women who enjoy sex, the hardest part of even the most wonderful relationship is monogamy. The opinion of others, the desire not to hurt your partner and avoid feeling guilty are all among the reasons people appear to stay monogamous. But we all know that when the opportunity presents itself, both men and women stray all too easily even if they are enjoying a loving relationship. The thrill of sexual adventure is so powerful that we can follow it impulsively even when it threatens our happiness in other important areas of life. We are actually all biologically programmed to be like this – the optimum procreative strategy for both sexes is monogamy plus adultery. For a couple that love each other but are unable honestly to say to each other “I am never going to want to have sex with another person while we are lovers”, swinging can be the answer. After all, if their hobby was chess nobody would suggest they should play only with each other! (By swinging we mean couples engaging in any of group sex, partner swapping and female bisexuality). Swinging allows a couple to have sexual variety in the context of a loving relationship; constantly reaffirms the desirability of each partner in the eyes of the other; completely blows away the need or temptation for sexual deceit; provides sexual opportunities that are not really attainable in other ways; and removes the prime cause of relationship breakdown. As each partner is instrumental in providing the other with fantastic sexual experiences beyond the hope of most people, swinging can actually reinforce the bonds between a couple. The truth, however hard we may find it to admit, is that monogamy, and certainly long-term monogamy, doesn’t really work. It isn’t sustainable unless you either have a very low sex drive or you are able to put your natural inclinations on lock-down. For some people – namely, players – this is reason enough simply to avoid the whole tricky issue and not get either married or into a long-term relationship in the first place. But playing still remains a minority route. Most people end up getting hitched or at least settling with a partner at some point in their lives. And that is when the issue of monogamy starts to become palpable. My personal instinct has been to avoid marriage for this very reason, and not merely because I’m afraid that I won’t be able to control my sexual urges. No, the difficulty with long-term commitment is that it is not only you that you must be concerned with. You are handing over 50% of the responsibility to someone else. Guys will say, your job is to find a ‘good woman’ who you are sure will not want to cheat or ever desire another man. But that is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Here’s the thing that all of the people who advocate such an approach forget: people change over time. In the early stages of a love affair when passion is at its height she is going to say that she will love you forever and that she would never be unfaithful. You will say the same thing. But will that still hold true after ten or fifteen years of marriage, and all of the frustrations, difficulties and compromises that will inevitably entail. Perhaps: but as I say, you are betting the rest of your life (and half of your net worth) on something that is far from certain and cannot be predicted. Does that mean that I would swing myself were I in a serious relationship or advocate swinging for other couples? Well, to the first point I would find it very difficult to watch a woman with whom I had a strong sexual and emotional bond having sex with another man. That might seem to some like possessiveness, but it’s a simple statement of fact. The sight would not turn me on in the least. I am simply not into cuckolding. This would be true even if I were also having sex with other women. Selfish? You could say that. This is why I have never taken a serious girlfriend to a swingers’ event, nor ever suggested such a thing. If the girl I’m with is a fuck buddy, though, then things might be different. I probably could go to a swingers’ party with her and not be that bothered about watching her fucking other guys. The problem – and this seems to me unavoidable – is when there’s an emotional bond. Some guys get off on cuckolding, as the growing number of porn videos on the subject demonstrates, but I’m not one of them. This, by the way, is the problem that is at the heart of the polygamous lifestyle and it affects both genders, male and female. If you want to be in a long-term relationship or a marriage and play around, then you have to be prepared for your partner to do the same thing. If you’re not, then there’s a problem, and the relationship is unlikely to be sustainable unless you are fortunate enough to strike one up with a submissive girl who is happy to look the other way every so often when you cheat. But looking at the way relationships are in the West these days, does this seem likely? This is why an increasing number of guys are avoiding marriage altogether. Why Is This Good News For Players? It’s great news because we know there are lots of women out there who are just waiting for the right guy to enjoy ‘extra curricular’ sex with, with the full approval of their husbands. There is zero ethical question about this since all has been agreed upfront. When you go to a swingers’ club or an event, the people are there to act on their desires! This is why the scene is so fertile a hunting ground for players and why you should try to get involved if you are curious. The same point applies here that I made in Volume 1 about the BDSM scene: if it’s casual sex that you’re after then you must have the swingers’ scene in your sights as a potential hunting ground: it would be crazy not to. Most players attempt to meet conventional girls in conventional places and then pull them into nonconventional, non-monogamous, fuck buddy-type relationships. Yes, this can and does work, especially if you meet the right girl at the right time. But the reason that plate-spinning over the long term is such an arduous process is that women come and go, since their preferred option – or at least, the option which best suits their longer-term goal of having and raising children – is incompatible with being a fuck buddy. The great thing about the swingers’ scene is it puts you in direct contact with women who want nothing more than quick, casual fun. You are going to the source of unfettered sexual promiscuity rather than hoping to obtain it from girls who, really, would prefer something else. That is not to say, however, that the swingers scene is by any means a free-forall. Here’s a piece I wrote back in 2017 about the harsh the sexual marketplace can be at Killing Kittens. Challenges April 2017 I’m standing in the changing rooms in a sauna in central London talking to a woman in her thirties who has apparently imbibed a lot of something narcotic and wants to imbibe a lot of something rather more meaty. Welcome to Killing Kittens, a regular ‘upmarket’ naked sex party where single guys and girls (as well as couples) come to drink champagne, splash around in the Jacuzzi together and then fuck publicly in this labyrinthine subterranean space. The invite says wear a suit, so I’m in a sleek black number with a white shirt and Alexander McQueen pocket square. The invite also says you have to wear a mask, so I have on this silver thing I found in a joke shop for a fiver. It’s still pretty early (10pm) so I buy a drink at the bar and then wander around, enjoying the anonymity, checking out the crowd. So the guys are mainly in suits, or at least trousers and shirts. The women are in flimsy nightdresses with the lingerie beneath visible. At the moment most people are hanging around the bar, which is decked out stylishly. Behind it they have video screens showing 1950s movies, a nice touch. People greet one another, stand and talk and then move on. It’s all very polite and English and looks more like a professional function than an orgy. Beyond the bar area is the sauna. Here is the huge, shared Jacuzzi. Early on there aren’t many people in it, just a couple of (fairly ropey) women who are already drunk and excited. Beyond it, as you walk over the damp and latticed floor, you will find a small network of interconnected corridors with tiny private rooms dotted around them. It’s very dark. Muted house music plays. It’s too hot for a suit and so over the course of the evening guys strip down to their boxer shorts or get naked while the girls run around in lingerie. It is in this area where the bulk of the fucking happens later. Tonight is a singles party and the only Killing Kittens event where single guys (carefully vetted via their website first) are allowed to attend. It’s not cheap. My ticket cost eighty quid. I think a couples’ goes for one hundred and twenty. Essentially you’re betting that eighty quid on getting laid, since that is really the point of coming here. Here’s the thing. In spite of what the PR says, the ratio of hot girls to guys at these events tends to be poor and weighted in the girls’ favor. So while Killing Kittens will keep the numbers balanced and ensure a reasonable maleto-female split, the quality of those females is not consistent. And don’t be naive – there will be competition. These parties are dominated by tall, built guys who are good looking and who know how to get girls, and do get them. And because of the dearth of cuties, the best-looking girls get to pick off the top 5% of men. That’s not to say you won’t get any action but rather that you shouldn’t imagine that it’s a free-for all. In fact, if you want to observe the ruthlessness of the sexual marketplace at its most vicious and brutal then go to a sex party. Here, unadorned hypergamy rules. The hot guys get lavished with attention while those perceived as ugly, weak or substandard are cruelly ignored. Tonight the pickings are slim. One girl and her friend are lavishing me with attention, trying to take off my Ralph Lauren shorts, but I’ve never been one of those guys who will have sex with anyone to get a notch and they’re really not doing it for me. Instead my wing and I walk into one of the antechambers where a porn movie is playing on the TV screen (two girls and a guy on a beach) and two girls are making out in real life on the couch in front of us. We stand watching this attractive spectacle for a while, enjoying the view of a naked blonde crouching before her lover and licking her pussy expertly. Beside us, other men are watching too: men in their forties with expensive shirts, expensive watches, slicked back hair. The kind of men who look like they should be on yachts. I talk to one of the beautiful girls for a while, a slim blonde from Essex. The vibe is good, there is touching, but then her friend gets bored and drags her off to the bar. I wander around, weighing my options. There’s no-one else I find particularly appealing. Nevertheless, I feel good. After a busy period where my game has been sidelined and I’ve felt jaded, it now feels like I’m back. My confidence is high, my voice is strong and I am challenging and dominant. This is all good. I take a sip of my drink and survey my surroundings. This is where Troy Francis should be, after all. In a late-night bar in the city surrounded by naked women and sex. I take in the sleaze and the seediness: it makes my soul feel good. So you see that while sex is definitely available it is not necessarily guaranteed (and of course consent is required at all times). Even if you take a girl with you, you can’t be sure that she won’t attract unwanted male attention while there, such is the level of sexual competition in these places, as the following anecdote illustrates. Sexual Competition In Action September 2017 It was in Rio’s that I saw the most blatant example of what is called AMOG-ing that I’ve witnessed forever. For those who don’t know, AMOG stands for ‘alpha male of the group’, and the act of AMOG-ing is asserting one’s alpha status to lord it over other guys and steal their girls. There was this young Indian couple in the large Jacuzzi. The girl was pretty and she was topless. She had fine, pert breasts. She’s not mind-blowing, but without question the hottest girl in the venue at that point. Her boyfriend was decentlooking too, albeit nerdy with a slight frame. This other guy followed them in. He was Russian (or Eastern European, anyway) with a shaved head and a gold chain around his neck. Not especially goodlooking or big, but tough – a clear alpha. This dude sat down next to the couple and started chatting to them After a few moments I worked out what was going on. This guy wasn’t a friend of theirs: he was monopolizing their time in the hope of stealing the other man’s girlfriend. Of course, Rio’s is a renowned swingers’ joint. But it was evident that this couple had no plans to hook up with anyone else. And as the time wore on, it seemed to me that they were tolerating the interloper’s presence rather than welcoming it. The girl – to whom most of this guy’s chat was directed – kept answering in that somewhat clipped style that people use when they wish someone would fuck off. The Russian offered several times to get them both an alcoholic drink. They refused. In the end, the couple left the Jacuzzi. Rather than take the hint and give up, the Russian followed them again. The last I saw of them, they were all three sitting in the TV room, with the Russian trying to engage the Indian guy in football chat, no doubt to try to befriend him and put him at ease. Clearly the Russian had calculated – correctly – that the Indian man was too polite, too ‘nice’ to tell him to fuck off. Simply too timid to pose a threat. Had the two of them gone toe-to-toe there’s no doubt who would have won. This physical advantage encouraged the Russian to keep forcing himself on this unfortunate pair. While I’m fairly certain nothing would have happened, one can only speculate on how much respect the Indian man lost from his girl as a result of the incident. Think about it like this – he demonstrated that he was unable to defend her from, or otherwise deflect, the advances of another man. That is not a position you want to be in. Because once a girl’s respect for you has started to wane it is very hard, perhaps impossible, to rebuild it. As we saw with the earlier anecdote about Rose, because of the disheveled nature of many of the male punters and the high levels of thirst they have for sex with any woman at all, regardless of how attractive she is, competition in swingers’ places is high. In the upmarket places you risk being outflanked by sculpted, alpha males. In the down-at-heel establishments you may find yourself aggressively challenged by men who, whatever they lack in inherent value they make up for with persistence. As always, the best advice is simply to have your A game on at all times. Be wellgroomed, hone exceptional seduction skills and do your research on AMOG (alpha male of the group) techniques. If you have your shit together most of this shouldn’t be of concern and you will find that you can do well in the swingers’ scene. But don’t, whatever you do, make that naive error many guys make of thinking that all you need to do is roll up and get naked in order to get laid. The sexual marketplace doesn’t work like that anywhere. CHAPTER 5 WATCH OUTS ON THE SWINGING SCENE every scene has its own particular watch outs that you must be aware of O fsocourse, as not to piss people off and make yourself unpopular. To that end, here are a few things you should think about if you are entering the swinging scene for the first time. What To Wear This depends very much on the kind of establishment that you go to. The standard advice is always to check for details on the website before you plan your outfit. If you are going to one of the more upmarket events, you will almost always be expected to wear a suit and I would advise that you invest in something that is good quality and well-fitting. You will also need a decent shirt and accessories – cufflinks and a pocket square. Why? Because you might as well give yourself the best possible chance of success. Despite all evidence, a great many men don’t seem to appreciate the importance of dressing elegantly as part of their game. Not only is this an oversight, since women clearly appreciate it, but it’s also missing out on what is a relatively easy win. It’s not that hard to put together a great outfit, particularly when it’s a suit and shirt. All you have to do is find something of the best fabric you can afford that is well-cut to your shape. It doesn’t even need to be that expensive. High street stores like Zara and even H&M these days sell decent-looking suits for a low price. There is also TK Maxx for cut-price designer bargains. You can even search through second hand stores for cheap, discarded, high-quality items which you can have altered inexpensively by a tailor. There is always a way to dress well and few valid excuses for not doing so. The other thing is that you should always do everything you can to acquire the best-quality accessories you can get. These include pocket handkerchiefs, cufflinks, and belts. Clothing, like many other things in life, is a con trick based on perception. If you sprinkle expensive-looking garnish over the whole then people will assume that the entire outfit was costly even if it wasn’t. The truth is that very few people who work outside the fashion or retail industries can tell how much you spent on an outfit, and few care. I’m not saying that flashing the cash is the way forward. However, your clothing says a lot about you: it vividly dramatizes your aesthetic sense of self, and the importance of that can’t be understated. And if you are well dressed it also suggests togetherness in other areas of your life. Again, the importance of this shouldn’t be overlooked. Don’t make the mistake of turning up at an event looking like you bought your outfit in the clothing aisle at Tescos in 2004 and expect to set panties dropping – even if you did. I personally have always been very interested in style and I like to dress well, in a way that I feel reflects my personal interests and predilections. Basically that’s a pretentious way of saying that I love a number of fairly gloomy 80s pop acts (Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Morrissey) and I steal many of my style cues from them. You will have different favorites and I would encourage you to think about the ways in which they might inspire your look. Dressing well should be fun. The whole point is to feel good about yourself and confident when you approach women. Just don’t drop the ball: recognize the importance of this area and plan for it accordingly. Be In Shape Another really obvious point but one that, astonishingly, is forgotten more than you might expect, is that if you are going to go out on the swingers’ scene regularly then you need to be in shape. That’s not to say that you have to be Arnold Schwarzenegger or a Calvin Klein underwear model, but you do have to maintain a decent body. Here’s a simple fact: much of the time you spend at a swingers’ events you won’t be wearing clothes. Again, there are guys who seem to think that just by learning a few lines of game and ingesting ‘red pill’ techniques they can shrug off the most obvious and straightforward methods of improving physical value that there are. Get real: you can’t. Do all women go for hugely muscular men of the kind you see on trashy, downmarket reality TV shows? Probably not. Do women prefer their men to be in great shape? You bet your life they do. It doesn’t even need saying. This is not the right book to go into huge detail about how to build a rocking body. If you want to find out more about those topics then there are plenty more resources for you to explore, both online via YouTube videos, in eBooks and so on. Nutrition is important and so is regular training: it’s really as simple as that. Eat the right stuff and exercise. I personally like to split up my workouts between different body parts during the week (legs, shoulders, arms, back and so on) and cardio, namely running. OK, I know there are some guys who discredit cardio, fearing that it will mess with ‘hard gains’ that they have achieved through lifting, but the reality is it would take an enormous amount of cardio to have any such effect. I personally have never been minded to bulk up to a huge degree through weight training. My goal has always been simply to stay lean, a look which I feel works very well for me and my style, and which a lot of women seem to like. The reality is that training with weights will really make a difference to your physique. Yes, running will keep you trim, but if you want that sculpted look then it really is all about picking up the weights. Would my results with girls be better if I was huge? I don’t know. I haven’t tried a controlled experiment. I know the kind of look I’m going for and I’m happy to maintain it. A good rule of thumb is this: are you happy walking around in front of other people naked? If not, and if there are annoying love handles or lumps and bumps that you wish were less pronounced about your body then you know what you have to do. Deal with what needs to be dealt with. Don’t mess around. Take action. Doing something is always better than doing nothing. If you can only spend half an hour exercising a day then exercise for that half hour. If you can’t even do that, then run for twenty minutes. Or do 25 press ups a day. Do something. Anything. Adopt a ‘keystone’ habit – something very small – and commit to it. Research shows that taking on a small habit – for example, making your bed every day – will help you form bigger habits down the line. Take small steps, commit and keep taking them: that way you will find that larger steps will become easier as you progress. Trust me when I tell you that this will be worth it. One of the most important aspects of game, as you know, is confidence. While confidence can be generated internally, and it absolutely should be, there is no doubt that you will feel a lot better, and be able to exude more confidence, if you are happy with the way you look. CHAPTER 6 SWINGING IS NOT A FREE FOR ALL the past the swinging scene has been criticized for being too lax on the issue of I nconsent. As I have highlighted throughout this book, any sexual activity that you undertake with anyone must be 100% consensual. But I think this issue is perhaps connected with the wider misconception that swinging is some kind of ‘all you can eat’ buffet where the would-be adventurer arrives and is able to have his way with anyone and everyone indiscriminately. I can’t overstate how misguided and inaccurate this view is. I’d like to hope that it is only a minority of guys who think like this, but you’d be surprised by how many men apparently believe the swinging scene is filled with women who are perpetually and indiscriminately ‘up for it’. This view is problematic not only because it sidesteps the whole issue of consent, but also because it underestimates the degree to which game is still required even in sex clubs if the player is to achieve the kinds of results he likely wants. I have already described the alphas that you will encounter in the sex clubs, as well as the ways in which your value is tested even more stringently than perhaps it would be in other circumstances. It is prudent to keep all of this in mind. Never assume that going to a swingers’ club will be an ‘easy option.’ Yes, it opens up the possibility of immediate sex, but there is never any such thing as a free lunch. What A Typical Night At A Swingers’ Club Is Really Like In this section I’ll give you further insight into how swingers’ parties really are. I’m basing my experience here on the more upmarket events I’ve attended like Killing Kittens, rather than the saunas and the porn cinemas where things naturally work differently Swingers events usually begin with a drinks reception, usually held with a kind of stiff informality before the party gets going. Here somewhat nervous men and women stand around – the women often in lingerie – and try to look casual even though they know that everyone is being sized up for sexual attractiveness by everyone else. In addition, if you are a guy at a party like Killing Kittens where women are meant to do the approaching, then you are almost certainly considering your position carefully, trying to work out how you can approach women without being seen to have gone against club rules. Generally speaking this makes for a stalemate at first, a kind of ‘school dance’ phenomenon where the men line up on one side of the room, the women on the other and no one talks. Quickly, however, the alcohol does its job and both genders become bolder and start to talk to one another. Gradually the music gets louder, jackets come off as the temperature rises and there’s a feeling of excitement and anticipation in the air. Soon people are dancing and laughing and flirting. At this point everyone is still wearing carnival masks, but even these begin disappearing from some faces. Couples are checking out other couples. The conversation is polite but loaded. Everyone is judging everyone else. Would we be a good fit? Could it work, the four of us together? Is the chemistry on point? Can this happen? Are we really about to do this? And so on. The nudity begins a little later. It spreads slowly across the floor. You might see one girl topless, just out of the corner of your eye. You think nothing of it, but then you see another. And another. And now that man’s trousers and boxer shorts are around his ankles and a girl is down on her knees sucking his cock. And it doesn’t even look strange at all. And now the full sex begins. Next to the bar, on a low futon, you see a couple enjoying themselves, she naked on top of him, bouncing up and down, he lying back with abandon in his eyes, his whole body tense, as though he is ready to run into battle – fight or flee. The sex: it seems normal. If you’d just walked in this minute perhaps you would have been shocked. But you’ve been warmed up. The evening has given you the ‘boiling frog’ experience: the heat has slowly intensified all night and you’ve barely noticed. Now that the pot is simmering you are used to it. In fact, it’s starting to feel pretty good. After a while everyone will be undressed, or at least in their underwear or lingerie. You will probably have stripped out of your clothes too, either because you have had sex or because you’re looking for one and you have intuited – correctly – that you’d be better off saving time and stripping down early. This is why you need to maintain a decent body. In these situations it’s not just about having a nice face and haircut. You’ve also got to rock a decent physique. Around this time that you’ll almost certainly end up in the orgy room. This will be situated in a different area of the club, maybe upstairs, or in an adjoining room. Here the mood is very quiet, somber. There are candles burning and low, creepy music playing. Perhaps even a Gregorian chant. There is incense. In a huge bed, right in the center of the floor, a pile of bodies grapple and groan and climb over one another in the never-ending quest for ecstasy. All you can make out are bodies and their strange movements, one atop the other. That and the sounds, the moans, the sighs, the cries. If this were a sea you’d jump straight into it, but you can’t. Even in this seeming anarchy there is order. There is a way of doing things. You see a woman crouching down on the floor. You go over to talk to her. She responds well. You take her hand. Soon you are making out. A moment later, you lead her to that mass of naked bodies. Now you are lying down and her head is between your legs, sucking your cock. You turn your head and see a couple having sex right next to you. The girl smiles at you as the man pounds her. She is close to orgasm, but she wants you too. She beckons and then, signaling to her lover to pause, she moves nearer to you and now all of sudden your cock is in her mouth, not the first girl’s any more … That first girl has taken her knickers off and she’s lowering herself onto your face, cowgirl style. The second girl stays in place, sucking your cock and massaging your balls until it is her turn to feel you tonguing her when the other girl has finished. This is a somewhat idealized version of the likely turn of events when you go out to a swinger’s event (disclaimer: results may vary!), but you get the idea I hope. It reflects the usual rhythm of these events. Certainly this is the sort of outcome you are hoping for, and that will be the subject of the following section, where I take you through my own personal strategy for meeting and seducing women in swingers’ clubs. CHAPTER 7 STRATEGIES FOR HOW TO PICK UP GIRLS IN SWINGERS CLUBS Volume 1 of this Fifty Shades of Game series, about the BDSM circuit, I fyouyouwillreadnotice that the elements of the following plan are the same as my sevenpoint plan for how best to negotiate the BDSM scene. The fundamentals of seduction remain identical regardless of the environment where you conduct it. But not everything is exactly the same. There are nuances here you absolutely must be aware of, given the discrete atmosphere and code of conduct in swingers’ venue. The rules below are specifically designed for the higher-class swingers parties I’ve been talking about, ones like Killing Kittens which I recommend you seek out. However, this broad framework should work wherever you go. 1. Scoping The Territory As always, your first task is to scope out the territory exhaustively to discover who’s there, which girls you are interested in, and which seem to be reciprocating. This is a standard process that you would carry out in any club or bar, However, there is one particular divergence that you have to be aware of in swingers’ club game and it is this: generally there is a far smaller crowd at most swingers’ events that there is at a regular club night. This means you must exercise caution. Assuming that you are there alone – if it is a singles’ night or you have been allowed into the party as a single male – then the last thing you want to do is to look like a creepy uncle. As with all night game, the important thing to consider is what value you are bringing to the party. Become a value leech and you will put people off. After all, the reason that folks go out to socialize in the first place is that they want to enjoy themselves. If you look like the kind of guy who is only there to steal value from others then you will be given short shrift. This is the case at whatever kind of event you attend. But there is an additional pressure at swingers’ parties to not look like a pervert, as that is never a winning strategy. My usual approach, then, is to take my coat to the cloakroom, make sure my mask is firmly on (since this is one of the house rules at Killing Kittens, also because frankly it’s better to remain anonymous until you know who’s around) and go to the bar. I order a drink. From the vantage point of the bar it is possible to view everyone and to look relatively relaxed and comfortable while doing so. You should get a good idea of the sorts of people in attendance, plus of any ‘sorts’ in attendance (London slang for hot girls). You will of course also look out for eye contact and IOIs thrown your way. Of course, I don’t stand by the bar all night. After a few minutes I begin walking slowly around the venue. You need to get a feel for it. If this is a club you’ve never been to before then you must acquaint yourself with all of its hidden areas. It’s preparation for later. Where can you go with a girl to get ‘friendly’? You need to have a plan, however rough. A bad plan is better than no plan. So make sure you have checked out the venue thoroughly – at least as thoroughly as you’ve checked out any potential partners. 2. Opening Approaching and opening at a swingers’ party is slightly different to doing so at a normal club, not least because a number of the girls there may be with their partners already, which is an unusual situation for some guys. There is also the added complication that at Killing Kittens girls are meant to approach men. Going about it the other way around is in breach of the rules. When I’m at a swingers’ party like this I make sure my approaching is a lot ‘softer’ than when I’m in a normal club. However much you might want to, you can’t walk around blatantly propositioning every woman you see. Doing so will mark you out as socially un-calibrated. Instead, the best strategy in these situations is simply to go around saying hello to people and starting casual conversations. This may seem a little vanilla and obvious, and if you’ve been in game for a while you may worry about demonstrating sufficient value up front. To this I say that if you have your shit together your value will shine through anyway. By all means keep that cocky grin and cheeky glint in your eye. Just don’t overdo it. Remember, too, that if it’s a couple that you’re approaching you’ll have to win over the guy as well as the girl. In this milieu, an affable, non-playerish approach works well. On the other hand, if you’re approaching single girls at a singles’ party, or groups of girls, and there is a rule about girls having to make the first move, my way around it is to go around simply saying ‘Hello,’ to girls. This is my way of attempting to stay within the spirit of the rule while at the same time extending my opportunities as much as possible through my own efforts. You can’t really be criticized for being sociable, and ‘hello’ is hardly hitting on someone. A slightly more daring technique is to call out the elephant in the room. I often say something like this: ‘Hey, I know it’s the rules here that guys aren’t meant to approach, but I just had to say how cute you’re looking wearing that hat’ (or whatever item of her clothing that catches your attention). This is a humorous nod to the rules while showing enough male boldness to be attractive. If you are polite and socially calibrated (not a weirdo) then you should be fine. I’ve never had a girl complain when I’ve used this technique. In fact many girls will be happy that you have, since they too want to be social with new people and it saves them the trouble of opening themselves. If of course a girl is not interested in having a conversation then simply smile, wish her a good evening and move on. 3. Qualification As always, qualification is key in the seduction process. You don’t want to give the impression that you are easy and you will just sleep with anyone. While that may be true, sex is a value exchange. If she is attractive then she has something of value (her beauty) to offer – -and it is in finite supply. As a result, if you demonstrate lower value by showing that you will accept her only because of her beauty (perhaps because you haven’t experienced it from other girls) then you are showing yourself to be an inferior proposition. Therefore, what you need to do is to qualify her, even if you do so in a jokey way. Basically you want to make it look as though you are testing her for fitness as a potential sex partner, even if the truth is it was already a done deal. Given you are in a sex club, a simple way to do this is to question her levels of naughtiness – is she really enough of a bad girl to be there? ‘Hmmm,I normally like naughty girls. You look too sweet and innocent for me.’ ‘You seem like a good girl. I’m not sure you could handle me.’ ‘Isn’t it past your bedtime?’ And so on. When you say these sorts of things, if you deliver them correctly, then she will seek to qualify herself to you – ’actually I’m very experienced in these sorts of parties’. Suddenly she is trying to impress you rather than the other way around. Which is exactly how you want it to be. Always remember the old game dictum ‘You are the prize.’ The degree to which that is true in the real world is immaterial. What is important is that you believe it, live it and you shape your various interactions around it. 4. Vibing After you’ve introduced yourself and begun talking then vibing in a sex club environment is the easiest thing in the world. You are in a supremely sexuallycharged environment, and there is plenty to talk and joke about. Whether you are a couple talking to another couple, or a single guy talking to a girl or a number of girls, the failsafe conversational fallback is to look at the other people and make observations about them. Whatever kind of party you are at, there will be someone around you can gently make fun of, or better still, couples who are getting amorous together who you can point out to up the sexual ante within your own group. Vibing is introducing yourself to girls and keeping the conversation going in an easy way, at the same time maintaining a cheeky edge while escalating towards sex. It’s an art learned over time. If you are entirely new to game then I’d recommend you read my book The 7 Laws of Seduction for a more in-depth discussion of how it works. The advantage of a swingers’ party is clear: everyone is there for sex so you can push the envelope more easily and quickly than in other circumstances. At the very least, you should be less afraid to be bold since you can be confident that everyone is there for sex. This is not a church picnic. I love to use double entendres when escalating, finding a reason to reference sex in the most innocent conversation and then blaming the girl for having a naughty mind when she picks me up on it. Ideally what you are aiming for is light, cheeky, sexually-suggestive conversation that presents you not as a weirdo but as a charming, charismatic, sex-worthy potential partner. In other words, avoid talking about politics, and religion. Keep it light, sexy and fluffy. 5. Escalation So now we get onto the fun part – escalation towards sex. As you would expect, how you do this this depends on the setup of the environment where you find yourself. Every party is different, and every venue will have different areas where sex can take place. My approach is to get as flirty with the girl upfront as I can, taking the interaction to the stage of making out (not too much, but enough so you can be certain that she is physically attracted) before suggesting a ‘walk’ to another part of the venue. As always, your aim is to take your girl somewhere where you can have sex. Ironically, under normal circumstances this is likely to be somewhere where you have privacy for just the two of you. In a sex club situation, though, you will almost certainly be heading for somewhere that is public, or at least semi-public. Most likely it will be the orgy room. You might find a smaller space somewhere, but even then it likely won’t be entirely private. Whether you are a part of couple and looking to play with another couple, or a single guy seducing a woman who’s there with another guy, all of the above still applies. You will simply have to negotiate with the desires and inclinations of more people, that’s all. Just keep in mind your goal, be affable and open, and carefully steer things in the direction you want. 6. Sex Now for the really fun part: the sex itself. Sex is sex, of course, and I don’t mean to teach you about the birds and the bees. But there are a couple of specific watch-outs to bear in mind. The most significant is that, given the nature of swingers’ parties, that you will be watched by others as you bang. Have a think about that for a moment. How do you feel about it? Are you entirely relaxed about it? Or does it make you fear for your life? If the latter then there is no doubt that you will need to work to prepare yourself for what is to come. Because the very nature of a swingers’ party is that it involves casual sex. I personally don’t mind having sex in public, and I also don’t mind watching other people fucking around me. As I said in Volume 1, if I do have a kink it is this one: exhibitionism and public displays of affection. If this is not you let me try to put your mind at rest. The truth is that most of the people around you at a swingers’ party aren’t taking any notice of you – they are far too interested in themselves. And after a while you get a kind of ‘sex blindness’ – rather like being snowblind – where sex is so ubiquitous you can no longer see it. It is incredible how quickly after I enter a room where an orgy is going on I grow accustomed to it and it no longer phases me. I am willing to bet you will experience the same thing. After all, plenty of people go to these events and are unfazed – so much so that it makes me wonder about how things were in primeval times, when public sex wasn’t shocking in the way we’re taught it is now. You may be worried about how your performance will hold up under these circumstances. Most men would be sympathetic to that. If you think it is likely to be an issue for you – and it has been for me in the past – then I would recommend that you get hold of some Viagra or Cialis before the event and take it at an opportune moment. I favor branded Viagra above the generic variety. This stuff has been a stalwart of mine for years and it’s helped me out when my performance wasn’t at its peak. Other guys like Cialis. Cialis has never worked for me, but it has a huge advantage in that it lasts for several days. So there’s not the question of careful timing and subtle pill-popping you get with Viagra. This is great if it helps you, since it means you can take it before going to the party and not have to worry about it again. With Viagra, there is a certain skill required in deciding the precise moment when it should be taken – ideally thirty minutes or so before sex takes place. There’s no shame in taking medication to help out with your erection if necessary. Far better that than failing to do so and missing out on the sexual opportunities you could have accrued otherwise. Viagra is easy enough to get hold of – in the UK you don’t even need a doctor’s prescription. You can simply go directly to a chemist, have a brief consultation with a pharmacist, and pick it up there and then. Ordinary high street chains like Boots and Superdrug offer this service confidentially and free of charge – although of course you have to pay for the drugs. The other thing to consider at a sex party is the kind of sex you are having and whether or not to involve other people. On this you will of course be much influenced by the types of people you meet and what they want to do. Another timely – although hopefully unnecessary – reminder that consent is required in every situation, even if you are lying in the middle of a pile of copulating bodies. But sure, once you are in the center of the action and there are other couples having sex around you ensure that you don’t make the mistake of cutting yourself off from potential fun. This, after all, is your entire purpose for being there. Watch for opportunities and make your decisions in the moment based on what is happening around you. As to the types of sex you have and the kinds of things you get up to, that is entirely up to you. Just remember, it’s far better to do something for the story than not. Be crazy! Be creative! Be ambitious! Three girls, four girls at a time? Hell yeah, bring it on! Do it for the story. 7. Going Home Together The final piece of the puzzle is to determine whether or not you go home with a girl you meet at the sex party. This is entirely up to you. Arguably one of the benefits of a sex party is that you can go, do the business and then head home to relax, unencumbered by having to bring someone back with you. Sometimes I feel this way and sometimes I don’t. It depends very much on who I meet and how much I like them. If I meet a girl I click with, and who I would like to see again – assuming she is not there with her partner – then yes, of course I will suggest we go home together, just as I would under any other circumstances. Despite my player lifestyle, the truth is that I usually like to see girls more than once, and I’m not particularly keen on one night stands. Why? Because sex gets better over time. I am not saying that you should fall into a relationship with every girl you meet, particularly not one you meet in a swingers’ club. But I enjoy minirelationships, or fuck buddy arrangements. So if I meet a girl who’s cool then I’m going to bring her back with me. As the evening progresses, after we have had sex, I will drop in suggestions that we ‘go somewhere more private’ to get to know each other ‘even better’. Something else to bear in mind is that not all girls will have full sex in public at these events. Many will, but others will want to limit their activities to blow-jobs, handjobs or whatever. Or you might hook up with a girl who is happy to play with another girl and you but won’t go the whole way at the party. Other women will observe at parties but not do anything sexual at all. All of which is absolutely fine – everyone has their own boundaries. But if you meet with this type of girl then you must try to convince her to come back with you in the manner that I describe above. Once you have agreement from the girl that she will leave with you then it’s all gravy from there – so long as you have your logistics sorted out, that is. Recall the anecdote earlier about Milly, and remember how I nearly jeopardized the entire lay by not being able to call an Uber and having difficulty in flagging down a black cab? Make sure this doesn’t happen to you. Keep your phone fully charged and have a plan. Of course, living or staying close to the venue is best but that may not always be possible. At home everything should be organized already so that your place is as ‘girlfriendly’ as possible. Make sure the sheets on the bed are all clean, that the room is tidy and well-organized. You should have subdued lighting – no-one wants to feel like they have a spotlight on them when they are having sex. You should also keep some sexy music on your computer or phone. The last thing you want to be doing is messing around trying to find something when your Wi-Fi isn’t working as has happened to me before – silence can be a vibe killer in the bedroom. If you are of a kinky persuasion then you might want to stock up on toys. I have a long black rope for tying-up which I bought in Ann Summers, and a small flogger that I found in a sex shop in Soho. I have also kept handcuffs and other similar paraphernalia in the past. This is definitely worth doing but bear in mind there is the chance you will be challenged about having used them with other girls in the past. Yes, you probably have, but no girl wants to feel like she’s just another notch in a long line. Finally, and obviously, you should keep condoms at the ready. Always practice safe sex. This seven-point plan is precisely the one that I use when I go to swingers events and sex parties. While you might deviate from this structure, or choose to augment it, follow this framework to be successful. As I mentioned, it is broadly similar to the steps I’ve used at BDSM parties like Torture Garden, but with various additions to take into account the differences in the two scenes. As with everything else, it will take time to get to know the swingers’ scene, if it is new to you, and if you are not confident then it might take a while for you to achieve the kinds of results you are hoping for. Never give up, though. It is a marathon, not a race. Remember that every time you visit a party you will feel more at home, more accustomed to the quirks and oddities of the scene, and more able to take the bold action needed to really stand out and become a master of it. CHAPTER 8 WHAT LESSONS CAN PLAYERS TAKE FROM THE SWINGERS’ SCENE INTO THEIR VANILLA DATING LIVES? the swingers’ scene reveal anything about human nature, and female sexuality D oes in particular, that the assiduous player can take into this regular ‘vanilla’ dating life? Yes and no. The first thing to bear in mind is that not every girl will swing – some women are into it, and others are not. Yes, OK, each of us has a naughty side, and many women might fantasize about what it would be like to go to a sex party, but it doesn’t follow that all of them will follow through. Swinging remains a minority interest for a reason. My reason for making this clear is that there is no use thinking that you can take any girl you meet in the ‘vanilla’ world and convert her into a crazy swinger. Yes, this kind of thing happens from time to time, but don’t count on it. What the swinging scene does do is open one’s eyes to the extremes of human sexual behavior, or potential behavior at least. I’ve already talked at length about the ways in which swinging presents a microcosm of the wider sexual marketplace. You’d be amazed how much attending these events will open your eyes to the realities of female naughtiness. Put it this way, if you have any lingering ideas in your mind that girls are all sweetness and light, angels who have come down from heaven and would never put a foot wrong, one night at Killing Kittens will free you of that notion. When you see women going from guy to guy, taking multiple partners in a night, you will realize that your ‘purity fantasy’ is purely imaginary. Even the sweetest, cutest-looking girls have the potential to be insatiable sex-monsters. It really is the quiet ones you have to watch. I don’t, by the way, intend any judgement here. It’s a simple fact that human beings, male and female are animals and remain – when freed of normal social expectations – animalistic in their behavior How can this help you in your vanilla dating life? It’s mainly a matter of perception. Once you have observed the way that women and men act when they are taking part in an orgy it is very difficult to revert back to that notion that they are innocent. Instead, it hardens you up and gives you a far more pragmatic, realistic impression of what sex is really like, and what other people are capable of. This will inevitably have some effect on the way you are when you meet new girls. You will shift towards being more sexual, more dominant, more direct, and more downright honest about what you want. A swingers’ party may also make you question any previous ideas you may have held about monogamy and the idea of fidelity. I’m not saying that watching a bunch of people all over each other in a sex club is reason enough to despair of human nature entirely, but let’s face it, if all of them were entirely satisfied in their monogamous partnerships why would they be there? I don’t mean to start an anti-marriage diatribe but it should at least raise questions in you about the practicalities of monogamy if a proportion of people who subscribe to it have to agree together to be unfaithful, even if it’s within certain agreed parameters, and is consensual. For me at least the very existence of the swinging community is an indicator that monogamy is difficult and perhaps not for everyone. Everyone else must make their own decisions about what to do with their own lives, of course. But with the evidence there in plain sight it is something to think about. At some point you will have to make a choice about whether you want to go into a monogamous partnership or not. Perhaps you are already in one. Whatever your current stance, at least understand human nature and realize that there is an inherent tendency in both men and women to crave variety in their sexual partners. With this insight in mind, bolstered by observations from the swinging scene, at least one is able to make more informed choices. Forewarned, after all, is forearmed. Perhaps your exposure to the swinging scene makes you think that you can enter into a polyamorous, open relationship with a like-minded woman, where you can enjoy the scene together. That would be great. Just be sure that you go in with open eyes, aware of the possible emotional fallout – both yours and hers. FINAL THOUGHTS you have enjoyed this excursion into the depths of the swingers’ scene with I hope all its crazy stories, outlandish characters and remarkable pleasures. If you are a dedicated player then I would highly recommend that you research your local swinging scene and find out what kind of events are going on around you. If you can find an upmarket event of the kind hosted by Killing Kittens or Fever Parties – and this more glamorous swinging scene is gaining in popularity across the world – then you should definitely investigate. Above all, the player is a sexual adventurer – an explorer who will go to any lengths in search of sexual ecstasy. It would be short-sighted, therefore, not to seek out like-minded people and get involved with their scene. Because if you can find a group whose hobby is recreational sex then they are likely to include lots of women you can have fun with. I would not recommend that you go to the more down-market events to pick up women. Of course, it depends entirely on what your tastes are, and I judge noone. But this book is aimed primarily at players whose ambition is to sleep with the hottest girls around. As such, I could not in good conscience recommend somewhere like Rio’s to you, where the aesthetic quality of the patrons is varied at best. If what you want is to gain a fuller understanding of the mechanics of the sexual marketplace then these venues are invaluable. It is fascinating to see how, in a place where there are few women of beauty, a girl who would objectively be regarded as a 3 or 4 on the outside takes on the lustre of a 9 for those omegas who skulk and stalk there. And those omegas will give you a good idea of what to avoid if you want to continue enjoying a healthy sex life. It is also interesting to observe how, across the board, it is the better looking, muscular guys who are getting the bulk of the action. I don’t say this to put you off from going, or to try to discourage you. But the fact is that everything you assumed true about sex at your most pessimistic – that the genetically blessed take the bulk of the spoils – is correct. In the sex club no one gets a prize for being a ‘nice guy’ – the sexual spoils are reserved for alphas, or at least those who can demonstrate alpha characteristics. The swingers’ scene is not a sexual free-for-all, and like everywhere else, consent is essential – don’t forget this. Having said that, if you want the kind of libertarian atmosphere that you thought only existed in books and in movies then the swinging lifestyle is definitely for you. Swingers’ clubs are a fascinating subculture where you will meet some of the most friendly, non-judgmental and sexually active people you can imagine, plus a whole host of beautiful, sexually-voracious girls. It really is a nobrainer that you should dive in and take advantage. Yes, it is a niche form of game, but when you see the kinds of girls who go to the better parties, and the results the top players are getting, then there is no way you won’t want to get involved. By the way, if you liked this and you haven’t yet read Volume 1 of this series, about BDSM and Fetish clubs, then click here to get your copy – you’re going to enjoy it. Please take this series as your cue to commence your own exploration of the wilder side of nightlife, and don’t hesitate to keep me informed of your stories and progress – I love hearing them. You can get in touch with my by joining my email list here: realtroyfrancis.com/text-mastery/ You’ll even get a free copy of my guide to messaging girls Text Game Mastery. Until next time. Troy. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Francis is a best-selling author and journalist who has written several books T roy about how guys can meet and attract beautiful women successfully, including The 7 Laws of Seduction and How To Get Hot Women Into Bed. He is also an attraction coach and a sales & business mentor. After two decades of self-created geekhood and entirely deserved virginity, Troy embarked on a journey to throw off the shackles of his sniveling, girlfriend-less existence, and climb out of the barren, female-free landscape of his existence to sample the higher climes of vaginal Valhalla. From New York to Ibiza, London to Vegas and Berlin to Belarus, Troy is a sexual adventurer who leaves no stone unturned in his quest for the pleasures of coitus with multiple, heart-stoppingly attractive, nubile wenches. Better yet, educated in literature and creative writing he is able to articulate precisely what works---and what doesn’t work---when a man seeks to seduce the world’s most erotically-appealing women. The fruits of Troy’s tireless research into cutting-edge global leg-spreading techniques beget daily updates on his website realtroyfrancis.com, the world’s foremost daily resource for tried-and-tested, down-and-dirty game and pickup advice. He also Tweets in real time at @Troy7Laws. Having enjoyed relationships, threesomes, harem arrangements and much more with some of the hottest girls of Europe, Russia, America, Latin America and beyond; and having formed friendships and partnerships with some of the planet’s top seducers, Troy’s mission through his writing is to help other men to understand attraction and intergender dynamics between men and women. The polar opposite of a misogynist, Troy loves women and wants to make the world a better place for them, as well as the men who would be intimate with them. To join Troy’s inner circle of subscribers and gain access to exclusive content as well as early access to new material, click here: http://bit.ly/2si0Rhz.
Acknowledgments The Universal Tao Publications staff involved in the preparation and production of Taoist Astral Healing extends gratitude to the many generations of Taoist masters who have passed on their special lineage, in the form of an oral transmission, over thousands of years. We thank Taoist master I Yun (Yi Eng) for his openness in transmitting the formulas of Taoist Inner Alchemy. We offer our eternal gratitude to our parents and teachers for their many gifts to us. Remembering them brings joy and satisfaction to our continued efforts in presenting the Universal Tao system. As always, their contribution has been crucial in presenting the concepts and techniques of the Universal Tao. We wish to thank the thousands of unknown men and women of the Chinese healing arts who developed many of the methods and ideas presented in this book. We extend our gratitude to Master Lao Kang Wen for sharing his healing techniques. We offer special thanks to Sarina Stone for her generous assistance in revising and editing the original edition of this book, and to illustrator Udon Jandee and photographer Saysunee Yongyod. Thanks to Juan Li for the use of his beautiful and visionary paintings illustrating Taoist esoteric practices. We also thank Susan Bridle and Vickie Trihy for their editorial expertise. In addition, we wish to thank Colin Campbell, Matt Gluck, Dennis Huntington, Annette Dirksen, and Dirk Gerd Al, for their writing and editorial contributions to the previous editions of this book. We wish to further express our gratitude to all the instructors and students who have offered their time and advice to enhance this system, especially Felix Senn, Barry Spendlove, Chong-Mi Mueller, Clemens Kasa, Andrew Jan, Marga Vianu, Harald Roeder, Salvador March, Dr. Hans Leonhardy, Peter Kontaxakis, Thomas Hicklin, Gianni Dell’Orto, and Walter and Jutta Kellengerger. We also wish to thank the scientists and testing institutes: Gerhard Eggelsberger, Institute for Applied Biocybernetics Feedback Research, Vienna, Austria; and Dr. Ronda Jessum, Biocybernetics Institute, San Diego, California. EMPEROR FU HSI Contents Cover Image Title Page Acknowledgments Putting Living in the Tao into Practice Chapter 1 Universal Tao and Cosmic Healing Chi Kung Introduction Reclaiming Heaven and Earth Three Sources of Chi Human Energy in the Universe The Three Levels of Existence and the Three Tan Tiens Universal Tao Basic Practices and Preparation Exercises Chapter 2 Taoist Astrology and the Structure of the Universe The Origins of Taoist Astrology Astrology Is Influence, Not Destiny A Brief History of Astrology Differences between Chinese and Western Astrology Chinese Astrology and the Laws of the Universe The Structure of the Universe and the Process of Spiritualization Chapter 3 Astronomical Overview How to Use the Astronomical Information in This Book The Formation of the Solar System Overview of the Planets in Our Solar System Stars and Galaxies Different Galactic Forms Chapter 4 Taoist Star Practices and Their Effect on Human Awareness The North Star and Big Dipper in the Taoist Meditation Practices Earth Axis Wobbling and Pole Shifts Universal Tao Practices That Connect Us with Unique Universal Conditions Chapter 5 The Development of Humanity Simultaneous Development of Humanity and the Universe Solar System, DNA, and Atomic Structures Energetic Embryology Waves of Endless Motion Planetary Energies and Human Development Chapter 6 The Soul in the Planetary World Process of Incarnation and Excarnation Application in the Universal Tao Practice Use of Planetary Energies in East and West Chapter 7 The Craniosacral System, Elements, Star Palaces, and Planetary Forces The Development of the Craniosacral Rhythm The Craniosacral System The Five Elements, Five Star Palaces, Five Planets, and Five Cranial Bones Balancing Planetary and Earth Energies The Palaces and Constellations Chapter 8 How to Use Planetary Forces in Your Life Sun and Moon Mars and Mercury Venus and Jupiter Saturn How to Find Your Strongest and Weakest Planets of Influence Breaking through the Circle of Attractions and Addictions The Three Trans-Saturnal Planets Chapter 9 Universal Healing Connections Creating a Chi Field for Cosmic Healing Activating the Three Fires and Healing with the Chi Field The Three Minds The World Link Meditation The Sacred Circle of Fire Healing Visualizations Transforming Negative Conditioning and Negative Thinking Chapter 10 Planetary and Stellar Meditations to Increase Awareness and Sensitivity Meditation 1: Earth-Sun-Moon Triangle Meditation 2: Strengthening the Organs and Balancing the Emotions Meditation 3: Strengthening the Body Systems and Increasing the Energy Field Meditation 4: Connecting to the Stellar and Galactic Forces Meditation 5: Balancing the Planetary and Stellar Influences Meditation 6: Balancing the Yin/Yang Extremes in the Star World Meditation 7: Yin Stage Awareness Practice Chapter 11 Using Taoist Astral Healing to Help Others General Healing Session Bibliography The Universal Tao System and Training Center The Universal Tao System The Universal Tao Training Center System About the Authors Mantak Chia Dirk Oellibrandt About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company Books of Related Interest Copyright & Permissions Putting Living in the Tao into Practice The practices described in this book have been used successfully for thousands of years by Taoists trained by personal instruction. Readers should not undertake these practices without receiving personal instruction from a certified instructor of the Universal Tao System because some of these practices, if done improperly, may cause injury or result in health problems. This book is intended to supplement individual training with a Universal Tao instructor and to serve as a reference guide for these practices. Anyone who undertakes these practices on the basis of this book alone does so entirely at his or her own risk. Universal Tao instructors can be located at our websites: www.universal-tao.com or www.taoinstructors.org Taoist Cosmic Healing, which explores some of the theories and practices upon which this book is based, is available from Destiny Books at: www.innertraditions.com The meditations, practices, and techniques described herein are not intended to be used as an alternative or substitute for professional medical treatment and care. If a reader is suffering from a mental or emotional disorder, he or she should consult with an appropriate professional health care practitioner or therapist. Such problems should be corrected before one starts training. This book does not attempt to give any medical diagnosis, treatment, prescription, or remedial recommendation in relation to any human disease, ailment, suffering, or physical condition whatsoever. Chinese Medicine and Chi Kung emphasize balancing and strengthening the body so that it can heal itself. The meditations, internal exercises, and martial arts of the Universal Tao are basic approaches to this end. Follow the instructions for each exercise carefully, and do not neglect the foundations (such as the Microcosmic Orbit practice and any other supplemental exercises). Also pay special attention to the warnings and suggestions. People who have high blood pressure, heart disease, or a generally weak condition should proceed cautiously, having received prior consent from a qualified medical practitioner. People with venereal disease should not attempt any practices involving sexual energy until they are free of the condition. The Universal Tao and its staff and instructors cannot be responsible for the consequences of any practice or misuse of the information in this book. If the reader undertakes any exercise without strictly following the instructions, notes, and warnings, the responsibility must lie solely with the reader. 1 Universal Tao and Cosmic Healing Chi Kung INTRODUCTION Taoism is a practice of studying and living the laws of the universe. It has its roots in a body of knowledge that many masters have gathered over thousands of years. The Cosmic Healing practice presented in this book is the fruit of deep meditation by highly advanced practitioners who lived an intimate relationship with the universe and nature, often in remote and isolated places. A major role in the discovery of Taoism’s practical way to work with the energy of the universe was played by the legendary Chinese emperor Fu Hsi, who has been credited in Chinese history with the discovery of the pa kua, the diagrammatic symbols that are the foundation of the I Ching, the most ancient Taoist book of wisdom. Historians of Chinese culture also credit Huang-Ti, the Yellow Emperor, for synthesizing Taoist practices in the domains of health and healing as well as the healing love practices more than five thousand years ago. He integrated a wealth of insights and practices from a wide variety of Taoist masters. This process of synthesis and accumulation of theory and practice continued to grow in subsequent millennia, until today. It is still evolving. The theory and practices presented in this book build upon those explored in Taoist Cosmic Healing and are offered so that practitioners of this system of cultivating the body, the Chi, and the spirit may advance in their practice and development. Chi means “energy” or “life force”; kung means “work.” Cosmic Healing Chi Kung is the cultivation of the ability to conduct Chi for the purposes of healing. We call this practice “Cosmic Healing” because we ultimately learn to use the forces of nature, human will, and cosmic particles to transform negativity stored in the body. The Taoist recognizes that human beings have a limited capacity for Chi. However, if we are able to connect with the sources of Chi in the universe, we gain an infinite capacity for Chi, and we constantly fill ourselves with the unlimited abundance of energy around us. This book specifically focuses on the teachings of Taoist astrology, and explores how we can use this ancient wisdom about the energies of the cosmos in our spiritual and healing practice. Taoist practice as we understand it is not religious in conventional terms, nor is it based on a creed or on transcendental principles. It is a practice of selfawareness and self-transformation through which we gradually become one with the cosmos. In this process we realize and actualize ourselves. Within the physical body, the soul body grows, and within the soul body, the spirit body evolves. It is in this process of subsequent energy transformations that we return to our origins and realize our original, intrinsic nature of which peace and freedom are the natural fruits. There is a firm insistence in the Taoist wisdom tradition that any advance in energy transformation, or what in Western culture is called spiritual development, needs to be well rooted in the earth. Thus the initiation into the higher practices bears fruit, in the Taoist view, only to the extent that the practitioner is rooted and grounded. The terms grounded and rooted explain the need to establish stability both physically and mentally. A sick or mentally ill person cannot serve his or her community at the same level the healthy person does. Through this stability, Taoist practitioners may help themselves and others to lead fascinating lives and at the same time to grow spiritually by realizing their natural potential. Essential to spiritual growth is that the Taoist practitioner cultivate a sense of purity, joyfulness in life, and a sense of wonder, thereby regaining and enhancing the openness and excitement of a small child. (Not surprisingly, the child stands in the Taoist tradition for purity and immortality.) In this way the practitioner develops his or her own sense of inner truth as a reflection of one’s innate spiritual origin. In the chapters that follow, we offer an approach to a transformative practice that integrates ancient Taoist insights with knowledge from several more contemporary sources, exploring a wide range of possibilities. We hope that the information presented in these chapters will help the reader to enhance his or her awareness, health, and quality of relationships, and thereby will also serve to improve the quality of society in general. Knowledge of this material can also be used in personal healing and by those who help others to heal themselves. The powerful and positive results of this approach in thousands of treatments have encouraged us to share this information. RECLAIMING HEAVEN AND EARTH We propose that the reason for the generally poor quality of our lives and those of all of society is our distorted perception of who we are, where we originated, and what we are doing here on earth. At times, our lives do not reflect our full potential. Many centuries of conditioning by institutional religion and toxic living conditions have lowered our energy frequencies. Many believe that humankind is falling into a horizontal, materialistic culture in which sensitivity to our true origin has become obscured and in which we live cut off from the energies of heaven. As a result of repression and disconnection, we may be lost in guilt, project negative emotions onto others, and look for truth outside rather than within ourselves. This book is designed to help us reactivate the deep memory of who we are and enable us to live up to our full potential as human beings. If this state of disconnection is further aggravated by unnatural ways of living, moving, and eating, spiritual malaise and materialist obsession may result. If we turn away from the higher intelligence of the universe, which is our only source of true knowing, we become like a space shuttle without a computer, communication, or navigation system, being run by a person with amnesia. We don’t remember who we are, where we came from, or what we want to do. When people live in an unawakened, half-numb state, unconscious of the ways in which they are caught in the past and afraid to look at themselves here and now, the conditions for health simply cannot exist. As this is the dominant state of social energy, it is not easy to avoid being trapped in it. Ungrounded people are resigned to this state, and if you ask them how they feel and how they are doing, they will tell you, “I’m doing okay.” Their lives basically revolve around eating, sleeping, mating, security, and power. If they were to look deeply inside and were honest with themselves, they would most likely see that they are rather unhappy and feel empty inside. The deep fear of looking at this pain and emptiness prevents them from noticing that they have gravely suppressed their godly nature. The figure below illustrates how, when we are trapped in this condition of spiritual disconnection, we look outside ourselves for satisfaction and security and use analytic thinking to repress our embodied experience. HORIZONTAL AXIS DOMINANT Once we truly take responsibility for ourselves, our health, our spiritual origin, and our life task, we can start to wake up from this numb state. Then we become aware of the fear and mechanisms we have cultivated to prevent ourselves from getting in touch with our true selves. Only when we have the courage to look beneath the surface of our ordinary consciousness will we be able to open up and walk the path to freedom and spiritual independence. As children of the universe, we are not only created by the divine intelligence and subtle substance of the cosmos, but if we allow it, we spontaneously will cocreate its evolutionary process. We are not only children of the universe and its love that gave us life, we are also its fathers and mothers, whose love is coresponsible for the way it evolves. As an ancient expression says: “Embrace the universe as a mother embraces her firstborn child.” The “flower power” period and the New Age movement may be seen as a reaction to the materialistic upsurge. However, many followers of these movements, in their disdain of mundane and earthly material pursuits, have moved to the other extreme: a spirituality without grounding “roots” in the earth. In embracing spiritual ideals and rejecting material realities, they are trapped in the same duality between heaven and earth that has characterized most of history’s dominant religious and philosophical traditions. People with poor groundings and a negative relationship with their bodies frequently face a host of problems in their daily lives regarding sex, money, health, self-esteem, and relationships. They often suffer from insecurity and have an unhealthy relationship with the practical and emotional realities of their lives. They tend to seek ways to avoid or deny these realities, including their own physical existence, and thus experience a growing disconnection between body, mind, and spirit. They do understand that they need to look for truth within themselves, as they carry the divine within. But they find this difficult because of the split that they have created within themselves—between what is “above” and what is “below,” between heaven and earth. The figure below illustrates this condition of physical disconnection, in which one tries to escape or transcend the complexities of embodied existence through using drugs or other avoidance techniques. The pursuit of spiritual freedom often causes such aspirants to imprison themselves in their search. As a result they are bound to end up as imbalanced as their materialist opposites. It is the deep pain they experience that pushes them onto a spiritual path that they hope will be free from all worldly obstructions. Now the same ego is hidden behind a spiritual mask. When we turn our attention away from our body we cut the intelligence away from the “matter,” and we dishonor the holiest temple on earth. The higher frequencies are not balanced and integrated in the physical body, so the vital essence will gradually leave the body or will transform into high energy frequencies that can only be partly assimilated in the physical body. Physically these individuals will start to slowly weaken and all kinds of symptoms will appear, ultimately leading to premature aging. Their heart-energy may be compared with a flower that is cut off from its roots; their spiritual condition is only momentary. They live only in the upper body, as they tend to ignore or are afraid of their sexuality, and they lack a connection with the belly, their energy center. And as love and sex are not connected, their relationships tend to be emotionally unstable and superficial. VERTICAL AXIS DOMINANT Let us be true to ourselves: we were not given our bodies to deny them. Taoist self-healing practices can significantly help people in this condition of physical disconnection by teaching them how to get in touch with the true nature of their bodies, to care for them, and to make them healthy and strong. This is essential for the growth of a healthy energy body. We can all contribute to the quality of life on this planet by dissolving the denseness and separation in our mind and our social mentality. The problem is not only in the body, but also in the absence and denial of an understanding of the infinite and unfathomable true spirit and universal mind. Taoist masters realize that truth lies in a spiritual life that includes the physical body. By consciously fusing the spirit with the core of physical existence, a new quality of life arises. The initial focus of Taoist practice is creating a healthy and strong physical body, well rooted in the source of life, the energy of our “mother” earth. At the same time, Taoist practice acknowledges that the origin of our spirit is in heaven. Our soul has chosen to incarnate on earth and seeks opportunities to grow and evolve by learning from the universe. Since everything finds its nature in Tao or the great spirit, the human body, soul, and spirit can be seen as different densities of the same substance. In view of our unawakened, unconscious state, most of us tend to get trapped in one of the two poles, either by focusing on an earthly life at the expense of heaven or the other way around. The illustration opposite shows how, like a tree, healthy men and women are rooted both in the earth below and the universe above. Over the ages, Taoist masters have obtained great understanding of the art of cultivating health and physical strength. Longevity was one of the fruits of their practice. In this way they enjoyed much time and space to cultivate their knowledge and ability to conduct the various forms of Chi for self and planetary transformation. ROOTS OF HUMAN AND TREE With the deepening of the grounding practice, one’s awareness grows step by step, and the emotions of daily life, with their ups and downs, gradually lose their uprooting effect. When one practices daily, one may reach a point where one feels the desire to withdraw from society and to live away from the hustle and bustle of modern life for a certain period of time in order to facilitate a truly intimate relationship with the universe and nature. This may speed up the transformation process, as has been demonstrated for centuries by monks within different spiritual traditions. However Taoist masters have also advised their students to give up their withdrawn lives and to return to “the world” to maintain their roots in the realities of daily life. This advice was given by a master if he observed that his students needed to mature or get a taste of social life and experience desire so that they could compare these two “directions” and appreciate the experience of true peace in their meditation practice. Additionally, before achieving a higher level of awareness and mastery over their energy, students were often sent for a few years into a busy town to work as dishwashers or do other menial jobs. Those students who reached the stage where they could maintain their inner peace, even under difficult circumstances, were seen as having become masters themselves. For most people, withdrawal from society and from social relations and earthly life is only advisable after having learned and integrated several levels of energy transformation within society. If we withdraw from society without the necessary maturity and insight, the mind is bound to remain restless as it continues to look unceasingly for physical, emotional, and mental satisfaction. When a Taoist student has achieved a strong navel center and enjoys a firm connection to heaven and earth within, he or she can freely move “upward” and “downward” without getting lost. (See the first volume of Taoist Cosmic Healing or Chi Nei Tsang, Chinese Abdominal Chi Massage, by Mantak Chia, for teachings about the navel center.) The relationship between heaven and earth may be represented by a vertical axis that goes up (heaven) and moves down (earth). Along this axis we can visualize the different centers and levels of energy and their transformations (body/soul/spirit). Because of its tradition of firm rooting, the Taoist way of energy transformation is a safe one. It has been tested for many centuries. The Universal Tao practice is a self-cultivation program that we can use and apply effectively in our daily lives. The practices lead us step by step from an initial level to the highest or “immortal” practices. The Taoist way of life teaches us to reconnect with and become aware of our true spiritual origin and bring this experience down into the lowest center of the physical body, the lower Tan Tien. It brings spirit into matter or light to earth. The figure below illustrates how, after achieving this strong rooting process between heaven and earth (vertical axis), practitioners can move freely into the materialistic world (horizontal axis) without losing their connection with the spiritual. TAOIST WAY: BALANCE BETWEEN VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL AXES THREE SOURCES OF CHI The subtle origin of the universe and the Tao is the source of all life, all beings, all things, all energy, and all their various manifestations. In the Tai Chi symbol (below, center), the circle represents the oneness and the yin and yang energies represent the intrinsic polarity of all forms of energy. Yin and yang represent a unity of opposites, always balancing, completing, embracing, and containing each other. According to the Taoist view, the energy of the universe is comprised of three different realms. The interaction between yin and yang created the “three pure ones” or the three energy sources in the universe: the cosmic force, the universal force, and the earth force. Knowing that these energies contain the pure light of the Tao, we recognize the three pure ones in the three interlocking circles of the triple unity symbol (below, right). The circle of the Tai Chi symbol can also be understood to represent the cosmic light energy while yang and yin represent the universal and the earth energy. TAO OF TRIPLE UNITY Cosmic Chi is born out of the original Chi of the Tao and literally carries the intelligence and essence of life. Guided by this intelligence, it spreads out into the universe and manifests in different densities and forms defined by the cosmic laws. This is how stars, planets, human cells, subatomic particles, and all other forms of life take form and are nourished. In particular, cosmic energy descends and materializes into the human baby as it is attracted into the world by the magnetic field between the earth and the moon. Since most people have lost the ability to consciously and directly absorb the cosmic light, we can only do this in a materialized form, either by eating living substances that have absorbed cosmic light (plants) or by eating living creatures (animals) that have eaten the plants. This means that we only consume light in a more or less materialized form: cosmic dust, which in turn becomes plants and animals. Evolution is leading us to once again be able to consume from the source: cosmic light. In this way yin and yang have become each other, as the circle leads us back into light after so many years of disconnection from the source. Taoist practice focuses on restoring this direct connection with the cosmic source (light particles) so that we regain the ability to directly live from light energy. As we develop this capacity, we become less and less dependent on eating plants and animals. Taoist legends tell us that throughout the ages, some Taoist masters have been able to live for months or even years without taking any food and without losing weight, while maintaining and even enhancing their vitality. Today, there are reports that a number of people from different backgrounds throughout the world are living only on water, tea, or fruit juice. This practice may be possible because such advanced practitioners tap into cosmic light, the original source of human life and all other forms of being. Universal and earth energy, or Chi, also have their genesis in the original energy of the Tao. The universal Chi is the radiating force of all galaxies, stars, and planets throughout the whole universe. It is the all-pervasive force that nourishes the life energy in all the forms of nature. The earth force is the third force of nature, which includes all the energies of mother earth. This force is activated by the electromagnetic field originating in the rotation of the earth. It is also integrated into all aspects of nature on our planet. The earth energy is accessed through the soles of the feet, the perineum, and the sexual organs. Earth energy nourishes the physical body. It supplies our daily life force and is one of the principal forces used to heal ourselves. HUMAN ENERGY IN THE UNIVERSE In early times Taoist masters had an understanding of what a human being truly is that is quite different from many present-day theories. Human energy was understood to be the highest manifestation of cosmic light. The primary responsibility of humankind, as this highest manifestation of cosmic light, was seen to be keeping the balance between heaven and earth. This balance between heaven and earths parallels the balance between humankind and earth; it was understood that, as intelligent creatures, we have responsibility for maintaining peace and harmony on the planet so that we may have a safe space to evolve. Today, this responsibility is frequently experienced as a burden and not as an opportunity to grow. Yet each of us holds the memory, within our genetic code, of our true potential and of our true role and responsibility as human beings. BALANCE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH THE THREE LEVELS OF EXISTENCE AND THE THREE TAN TIENS The threefold nature of the universe manifests itself in many different ways. In the Taoist vision, everything we see and experience around us has gone through three different realms or spheres of existence. The subtle origin is the source of everything, heaven and earth. It contains the realm of Chi and all phenomena. 1. The subtle origin or pure law of existence (Tao). 2. Chi, the subtle energy. 3. All phenomena, interactions, and transformations of Chi. The three realms are inseparable. Once we understand this threefold nature and experience its manifestation in our bodies, we have made a major step on our spiritual journey. THE THREE TAN TIENS IN THE HUMAN BODY We have pointed to the necessity of opening up the vertical axis and establishing a deep rooting in both heaven and earth. The three principal energy centers in our body on this axis are called Tan Tiens. They are in reality the containers of the physical, soul, and spirit energy. The way we become human is through a process of materialization (the body is the material densification of energy) in which the subtle energy of the Tao, connected to your spirit, incarnates through your soul into your body. Heaven descends into the earth, and what is above and below are united. The three Tan Tiens (above) each have specific energetic functions. The three main stages in Taoist spiritual cultivation are directly related to the three Tan Tiens. The lower energy center, or Tan Tien, also called the “lower fire,” is located behind and below the navel. It is found in the triangle between the navel, the “kidney center point” (in the spine between the second and third lumbar, also called the “gate of life”), and the sexual center. For men, the sexual center is the prostate gland and for women it lies in the top of the cervix between the ovaries. The lower Tan Tien has a strong polarity because it governs the fire element in the small intestine and the sexual and kidney energy (water) at the same time. It is the center of the physical body and of physical strength. It contains a frequency of gross energy (compared to the more subtle energies of the two other Tan Tiens). When the lower Tan Tien is strong, digestion is easy, emotions and experiences are easily transformed, and there is much sexual energy. LOCATION OF THE LOWER TAN TIEN WITHIN THE TRIANGLE The lower Tan Tien contains the basic spark that was created when your father’s sperm penetrated your mother’s egg. If this spark continues to be active and strong, it provides life force to the billions of cells throughout your body. Control of sexual energy and its transformation into life force is essential if we wish to raise our energy level in the lower Tan Tien. For men this implies preserving the life essence of the sperm during intercourse or self-stimulation. Through controlling ejaculation they can transform the essence of the sperm into Chi. For women it means learning to regulate and control menstruation, thereby transforming blood into Chi. The practices for cultivating the ability to control and transform sexual energy are presented in the first two chapters of Taoist Cosmic Healing, by Mantak Chia. For healers, it is very important to learn how to transform sexual energy into spiritual energy. The original balance between love and sex, or water and fire, contains in itself the essence of healing and creation. Self-transformation is a precondition for being able to help others on the path of transforming sexual energy into spiritual energy. Another vital transformation that occurs within the lower Tan Tien is the transformation of negative emotions. (A thorough explanation of this process may be found in the books Healing Love and Cultivating Male or Female Sexual Energy by Mantak Chia.) Once the energy in the lower Tan Tien has become pure and strong through the transformation of sexual energy and negative emotions, it will naturally ascend to the heart center, the middle Tan Tien. In this way, a purer, higher-frequency energy arises and radiates from the heart. True compassion and love, as a higher energy state, are the fruit of the transformation of the energies of the organs. This compassion is developed by cultivating positive virtues and by good deeds, and is stored in the soul body. True compassion should not be mistaken for the dualistic, sentimental love that all of us have experienced temporarily during peak love experiences at times in our life. The true, godly nature of our being and our love starts radiating through our higher-self connection in and from the middle Tan Tien, our heart center. In this state there is an abundance of energy, as the heart center is directly nourished by the cosmic light, and we experience a deep oneness with people around us. This higher energy and awareness level allows us to help others while not losing energy ourselves. The light of compassion that is born from universal love can be cultivated and will gradually attract more pure divine light and spiritual essence. This spiritual essence is then attracted by the upper Tan Tien, and experienced practitioners will guide the energy to specific ends, depending on the particular practice they are performing. The upper Tan Tien is composed of the glands in the crown of the head at the core of the nervous system, and, indeed, is the whole of one’s crown. It is seen as a compact, spiral-shaped center that gathers the spiritual essence and transmutes it into a “crystal body,” a body that does not dissolve at the moment of death and that carries us to immortality. The center of the crown is known as the “crystal palace.” The pituitary gland is located in the crown and its location in the brain directly corresponds to the “crystal palace” point. This gland, when properly activated, will assist with hormonal and glandular functions. The highest levels of refinement of energy happen in the upper Tan Tien. In this process—whereby Chi is strengthened, purified, and transformed through the three “cauldrons” of the Tan Tiens—the nature of our life changes and adopts a divine quality. The actions and directions we choose come from the laws of the universe and are no longer determined by animalistic behavior, emotional satisfaction, or a drive for wealth and power. It is a lifelong process of self-cultivation that gradually takes us from the suffering of addiction and dependence and the ups and downs of extreme emotions to a life of freedom, spiritual independence, and enlightenment. This process of transformation facilitates the cultivation of the three bodies illustrated at right and leads to: a healthy body and an abundance of life force; control and balance on the emotional level and the growth of the compassionate heart center; the maturation of the soul body, which then nurtures the spirit body; the uniting of body, soul, and spirit deep within the three Tan Tiens, enlightening the person; the ability to share this light and wisdom with everybody around one. THREE BODIES When the three bodies are established and spiritual energy is dictating the quality of life, the practitioner can transform energy from the physical into the soul body and from the soul into the spirit body. Since the soul carries the seed of the immortal or spirit body within, the development of the spirit body is the prerequisite for breaking through the law and the wheel of incarnation. In the higher levels of Taoist practice, one actualizes all of the soul’s lessons and forgoes the necessity to reincarnate in order to grow as a spiritual being. This, combined with the ability to control all forms of Chi, enables the practitioner to choose to take his or her body into the next realm. At the moment of death, the energy of the physical body is partly or completely absorbed into the spirit body. When this energy is absorbed into the spirit body, the physical body eventually dissolves. There are many legends of Taoist masters who successfully dissolved their physical body rapidly into the spirit body, leaving only teeth, hair, and nails. UNIVERSAL TAO BASIC PRACTICES AND PREPARATION EXERCISES In the Universal Tao System, we teach Cosmic Healing Chi Kung within a comprehensive framework of exercises and meditation. As a part of this system, Cosmic Healing addresses the art of healing oneself and others, and focuses on cultivating the ability to sense, control, strengthen, and project Chi. One can easily learn the simple exercises of Cosmic Healing Chi Kung without doing any other Universal Tao practices, but if one truly wishes to master the art of Cosmic Healing, it is important to have a firm foundation in the basic Universal Tao practices. Therefore we suggest that you become familiar with the basic practices and exercises outlined in the first three chapters of Taoist Cosmic Healing before proceeding with the advanced theory and techniques discussed in the following chapters. Throughout this book, we will refer periodically to these preparatory practices and will direct you to Taoist Cosmic Healing. 2 Taoist Astrology and the Structure of the Universe THE ORIGINS OF TAOIST ASTROLOGY Thousands of years ago, people experienced the shimmering stars as their natural connection with heaven. Society was organized in accordance with the laws of the universe, and people viewed their relations as a reflection of the configurations of the stars. Human arrogance, the drive for power, and a growing disdain for nature led to the vision that the earth was the center of the universe rather than our temporary home and central point from which to observe the universe. Leaders began to rule their countries without being in touch with the heavens. A mixture of power, ambition, desire for wealth, and religious conditioning led to an increasing disconnection from the natural receptivity to the energy of the universe. Since then, this self-created isolation has been growing and is dominant in present-day society. While there is a longing to reconnect, and while many healers, therapists, and practitioners of meditation or astrology understand the ancient practices with their rational minds, they often miss the subtle connections. The knowledge with which astrologists now work originated in the direct experiential connection with and deep understanding of the universe that many masters cultivated throughout several thousand years. Many people wonder how the early astrologists, who wrote down their experiences and transmitted their knowledge to future generations, gathered their information, for they had no telescopes or sophisticated equipment. Through a combination of intimately observing the universe and relating these observations to changes in the energy on earth, in nature, and in human beings, as well as through meditation and spiritual practices, the Taoist master astrologers were able to assemble their knowledge. During the Tang dynasty (618–907 C.E.) many Taoist masters and students spent their whole lives in kuans, or observatories. The masters selected unique locations in nature for the kuans, based on the presence of strong cosmic energy. Most of the kuans were located high in the mountains, sometimes in very inaccessible places. The interaction of strong natural forces with the natural “crystal antennas” of the mountains, along with the planetary/star observations and meditations in which they engaged, formed a perfect platform for the Taoist astral travel and spiritual practices. These masters clearly saw the cranium as our own bony planetarium. A key discovery was breaking through the illusion of the separateness of “inner” and “outer.” Their supernatural astrology helped them to realize the universe within the cranium, and from there, to channel the universal energies into the three Tan Tiens. In the Taoist view, these highly advanced insights could only come about through the growth of the higher centers and glands, which allowed them to perceive and understand the reality of the universe beyond the normal material and visible manifestations. Taoists say, “Without leaving the room, you can know heaven and earth.” Of course, modern astronomy provides us with a great deal of interesting information. We should realize that our understanding of universal laws can be further enhanced by the discoveries of modern astrophysics. Yet the Newtonian view of the universe, which has dominated modern science and thought for the past several centuries, uses a mechanical approach to reality. Its exclusively rational methodology, which ignores our bodies and our ability to sense and use our intuition and feelings, has gradually and increasingly disconnected us from the realm of the spirit and the living cosmos. Strangely enough, the more we attempted to know the universe through observation with a telescope, the more we became separated from its subtle origin. Because the rational mind tends to move horizontally, it finds it difficult to enter into the realm of the spiritual laws (unless, of course, it is the rational mind of a spiritually evolved person). Each time an astronomer reaches further into the universe, finding new information, scientists try to use this information to form a new concept about the history and origin of the cosmos. But these fundamental questions cannot be answered within the realm of time and space. It is good news that a growing number of modern scientists are becoming more open to a new (yet ancient) paradigm that views the universe as having a timeless and spaceless origin. And many scientists who previously subscribed to the Newtonian view now agree that the essence of the material world is energy waves that appear as matter to the external senses. Some scientists, however, believe that by the year 2030, the computer will be able to take over the complete function of the human brain. This idea shows a very limited understanding of the true nature of our intelligence and the human mind. ASTROLOGER CASTING A HOROSCOPE “As above, so below”: We tend to look at ourselves in the same way that we look at the universe, even if we are not conscious of the direct connection between the two. While the insights of modern science—from macrocosmic astronomy to microscopic biology—may expand our understanding of the universe, it is the direct, intimate connection with the universe and our bodies that provides the deep knowledge that illuminates our spiritual practice. It is this knowledge that the ancient Taoist astrologers cultivated, and that we can utilize today. What makes the Cosmic Healing Chi Kung practice so powerful is that the more we practice connecting to this vast resource we call “the universe,” the more we are able to conduct this energy for the purpose of health and healing. ASTROLOGY IS INFLUENCE, NOT DESTINY Ancient peoples believed that the specific conditions, locations, and relationships of stars and planets at the moment of birth largely determined the personality and tendencies of the human being and the influences by which his or her life are patterned. As we study and utilize the insights of astrology, it is important to see astrological influences as strong tendencies and not as a fatalistic prediction or inevitable destiny. The unique qualities of our astrological makeup will indeed influence us for the rest of our lives. But it is important to see that these conditions work on our body and soul, not on our spirit. Taoists believe that the reason for this is that the spirit is eternal. It has always existed, and will always exist. It is free from the laws of karma and reincarnation. It is therefore free from the laws governing individual incarnations. For that reason Taoist astrologists say that astrological conditions should not be seen as limitations but rather as directions based on universal influences. Astrology gives us clear information about where we come from and how our tendencies may evolve. Since our spirit is timeless and spaceless, we can still move in any direction. An intelligent person moves with the flow and intelligence of the universe in order to sustain the life force inside. It is good to remember that we can move in the direction in which we truly wish to move, always following the truth within our hearts. If we decide to join a football game, we are immediately fixed by the rules of the game. If we see all these rules as limitations, we would do better to play another game. The art of playing the game of life is to see, understand, and accept the limits in the material world and learn how to move freely within them, while maintaining awareness of our connection with our unlimited spirit. Two basic questions to ask when making a major life choice or choosing a new direction are: “Where am I now?” and “What is the best way to achieve my goal?” Through the connection with our spiritual origin and the planetary/ galactic forces, we can strengthen the weaker points in our energy system and our personality. In this way we can use astrological information as a source of personal growth and not as an excuse for unconscious or emotional behavior. A BRIEF HISTORY OF ASTROLOGY Chinese astrology is a very broad subject that contains an enormous amount of information and that may seem highly complicated for the untrained mind. There are many ways of interpreting the universal conditions, which are brought together in different systems with their own specific diagrams and calculation methods. In ancient Taoist literature much attention is given to the subject of astrology. The eighteenth-century Chinese Imperial Encyclopedia has 2,500 chapters on astrology! What we wish to do in this book is to make you aware of the nature and origin of this wisdom and how it relates to spiritual practices and the laws of the universe. In most Chinese astrological systems it is asserted that between four and five thousand years ago, the stars and planets were perfectly situated. While it is difficult to describe what this means from a pragmatic point of view, it is clear that this period was seen as a unique condition in the cosmos. From that point on, Chinese astrologists have counted the years, months, and days and calculated stellar and planetary movements by observing the sky. Noio, the Great Minister of the Yellow Emperor Huang-Ti, set the beginning of the Chinese calendar and its first sixty-year cycle at 2637 B.C.E. According to the Chinese calendar, we are in the seventy-eighth sexagesimal (sixty-year) cycle now. Each year of the sexagesimal cycle is given a name that is made up of two parts, the “heavenly stem” and the “earthly branch.” Most sources claim that Chinese astrology developed wholly independently from other cultures and traditions, but this is probably not the case. If we compare Chinese, Mayan, and old European calendars and zodiacs, as well as their language and architecture, we find parallels that simply cannot be accidental. It is clear that all these cultures were shaped by the same information source. The advanced spiritual development of these different cultures allowed them to translate this information into astrological systems that reflected the order of the universe. This translation happened in coordination with their specific locations on the planet. Ancient civilizations all over the world were already observing the stars long before the start of the Chinese calendar in 2637 B.C.E. Archaeological findings from the ancient cultures of Egypt, Sumeria, Babylon, India, Greece, and Peru indicate that these peoples observed the movements and laws of the heavens. For example, although there is still debate on the subject, the renowned Egyptologist R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz states that the starting point of the Egyptian calendar is approximately 4240 B.C.E. This calendar was based on astronomical observations made during a period more than six thousand years ago. In ancient Egyptian civilization, astronomy/astrology was used to gain knowledge about universal laws, which was then codified into laws and principles for governing human life. The Great Pyramid of Khufu was built in approximately 2500 B.C.E. One of its functions was to serve as an astronomical observatory. The entire geometry of the pyramid was based upon calculations of astronomical positions and movements. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHINESE AND WESTERN ASTROLOGY The main differences between Chinese and Western astrology are their reference points. In Western astrology, stellar positions are calculated in reference to the plane of the ecliptic, which is the plane defined by the trajectory the sun apparently makes around the earth. The plane of the ecliptic is inclined at an angle of twenty-three degrees from the plane of the equator. The ecliptic is also used in Chinese astrology, and is known as the “yellow route,” but the North Star is seen as the central reference point in the sky. Several thousand years ago, Taoist masters observed that the North Star always keeps its position while the twenty-eight constellations turn around it. For this reason Taoists have always seen the North Star as the center of the star world and also as the gate to the spiritual realm and the Tao. Therefore the celestial equator (the “red route”), which is the projection of the earth’s equator onto the sky, is seen as the baseline. THE RED ROUTE (CELESTIAL EQUATOR) AND YELLOW ROUTE (ECLIPTIC) In this context, Chinese astrology uses a lunar zodiac that references the moon’s cycle around the earth (twenty-eight days) and that divides each day into twenty-eight segments. This is also related with the twenty-eight years it takes Saturn to orbit the sun. The Chinese zodiac, or twelve-animal cycle, also refers to the twelve years it takes planet Jupiter to orbit the sun. The animal names used in Chinese astrology came to China from India. According to legend, the Buddha was visited by twelve animals that came to say good-bye to him before he left the earth. The Chinese calendar is based on sexagesimal cycles, with the years and days marked by a system that combines “heavenly stems” and “earthly branches.” There are ten heavenly stems, which refer to the five elements (water, metal, earth, fire, and wood), each of which has a yin and a yang mode. The earthly branches are twelve in number and refer to the twelve animals. WESTERN ZODIAC, ZODIAC BAND, AND PLANE OF THE ECLIPTIC The solar zodiac band extends above and below the plane of the ecliptic. Zodiacs with twelve signs are known in many different cultures. The strongest difference between modern Western and traditional Chinese astrology is the focus on the North Star as the “heavenly gate.” (Taoist Cosmic Healing Chi Kung derives very special and powerful healing energy from the North Star.) There has always been a direct relationship between Chinese astrology and the Taoist spiritual practices, and Chinese astrology has always been linked to direct astronomical observation. Chinese astrologers made observations constantly and based many of their calculations directly upon them. The movement and appearance of planets and stars, including their brightness, aura, and shades, were closely studied. Some Chinese emperors had twenty-fourhour observation crews. In this way, all signs from the universe were picked up and used to make personal and political decisions. Many stars and planets were connected to gods, emperors, or sages. Changes in the expressions of heavenly bodies were seen as direct signs from the divine world. Although they had no astronomical tools, Taoist astronomers knew about supernovae (exploding stars), black holes (imploding stars), pulsars, and quasars. As we have noted, Chinese astrology is based on direct observation of the sky, and it is used in this book as a means of understanding and working with universal energy. Many astrologists all over the world now focus solely on their charts and books, only looking down rather than connecting with the universe. Even in China, the traditional art of astrology is hard to find these days. It has been taken over by Western astrology or other methods of prediction. Very few practitioners still combine their astrological calculations with spiritual practice and close observation of the sky. Although much more of ancient China’s knowledge and information has been recorded and preserved than has been the case with other ancient civilizations, the real meaning of many of its methods and systems of knowledge is rarely ascertained. The system of heavenly stems and earthly branches is a good example of this. Today this system is used on computers and in the form of diagrams by many practitioners of Chinese medicine all over the world, but very few of them know what the system really means and where it comes from. CHINESE ZODIAC HINDU ZODIAC CHINESE ASTROLOGY AND THE LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE As human beings, we are the highest manifestation of the cosmic light, which has its origin directly in the Tao, the oneness. The life we lead originates from this source. From this one, unlimited intelligence a process of densification, materialization, and multiplication has led to our individual incarnation or manifestation in the physical realm. Taoist philosophy describes this process as “the one giving birth to the two.” The interaction between the two results in the differentiation and multiplicity of the world of phenomena. To connect to the spiritualizing spiral of true intelligence that we are will strengthen the connection to the Tao. In other words, the more we understand nature and the universe, the more we understand ourselves. We can deepen this process through astronomical observation and meditation, which is discussed later in this book. As we discussed earlier, in Chinese cosmology and philosophy, the world of duality, of yin and yang, gives birth to the triple unity. This triple unity we find in the three basic energies in the universe (cosmic, universal, and earth energies) and in the interaction between human, heaven, and earth. In the human body, the interaction of heaven and earth forces (two) gives birth to the three Tan Tiens. INTERACTION OF MAN WITH THE REALMS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, THE PA KUA AND THE STEMS AND BRANCHES The principles of Chinese philosophy and astrology apply to the cosmic, universal, and earth realms in a number of complex and interrelated ways. The ten heavenly stems are based on the yin and yang aspects of the five elements, which we will explore in more detail a little later. The eight trigrams, or pa kua, of the I Ching correspond to the “eight forces” and the “eight extraordinary meridians” in the body. In Chinese medicine there are eight forces of nature that correspond to various organs and that rule the body. Meridians are channels in the body through which energy passes. The eight extraordinary meridians are among the most important energy pathways. This meridian system is nurtured by the eight planets and the eight related star essences. The principles of the pa kua are also found in the Taoist “nine-star astrology” system, which incorporates the eight forces with the central Tai Chi (a symbol in which the yin/yang is surrounded by the pa kua trigrams) to make nine stars. The North Star and Big Dipper energy are particularly important in the Taoist Cosmic Healing practice. Taoist masters observed that nine major energy points clearly reflect the changing energy qualities of the universe and our planet. These nine points are the seven stars of the Big Dipper, Polaris (the North Star), and Vega. The twelve earthly branches, which correspond to the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, are in relationship with the earthly forces and also the twelve main acupuncture channels. The ten heavenly stems have a high-frequency energy, and are related both to cosmic law and to universal energy. The twelve earthly branches have a lower frequency and are related to the earth energy and the surroundings of the earth in the twelve different directions. The principles of the five elements, the pa kua trigrams, and, to a lesser degree, the related stems and branches, are fundamental to the planetary and stellar meditations of Cosmic Healing Chi Kung. We will go deeper into these topics as we progress. The Five Elements The law of yin and yang, the five elements, the eight forces, and the eight trigrams of the pa kua come from the unmanifested world and control the whole world of phenomena, including the world of stars and planets and life on earth. Every part of Chinese philosophy is connected with the five elements. Written evidence of the use of the five elements dates back to around 300 B.C.E., although they were certainly known and used before that time. Much confusion arises between the Greek four elements (water, air, earth, and fire) and the Chinese five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water). Both systems have a clear underlying philosophy. In the Chinese system, the five basic planets (Mars, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter) are seen as the physical manifestation of the five elements. Ancient Chinese astrology divides the sky into five “palaces.” The region directly above the North Pole is the “central palace,” which is visible throughout the year. The other four palaces can be located as the earth moves through the four seasons during its annual rotation around the sun. Each of the outer four palaces covers an area of about ninety degrees in the sky. The one (circle) gives birth to the two (yin and yang), and from there we find the three (for example, heaven, earth, and man). A further differentiation leads us to the pa kua. Inside the eight pa kua trigrams, we find the five elements: earth, fire, metal, water, and wood (see illustrations opposite). The various combinations of the eight principal trigrams gives us the sixty-four trigrams used in the I Ching. An understanding of these concepts about the order of the universe and its governing laws was traditionally necessary to be able to work with Chinese astrology. The relationship between the pa kua trigrams and the five directions and five elements can be looked at in a number of different ways. In a common manner of visualizing them, the five elements are located as follows within an octagonal form: earth as the center, south on top, north below, east left, west right. If the observers look to the south, they see the chart as shown below left. FIVE DIRECTIONS—PA KUA LOOKING SOUTHWARD FIVE DIRECTIONS—PA KUA LOOKING NORTHWARD But if we look northward, then north would be on top, south bottom, east right, west left. The illustration on the right at the bottom of the opposite page shows the diagram from the perspective of a north-facing observer. It has been a tradition in Universal Tao teachings to be aware of both points of view. A common way of working with the five elements is to relate each element to a season (adding a fifth season, Indian summer). The earth element corresponds to Indian summer; this follows the fire element, which corresponds to summer; the wood element corresponds to spring, and so on (see first diagram below). Another less popular method places the earth in the center as well as in short earth periods between every season (bottom diagram). MOST COMMON WAY OF USING THE FIVE ELEMENTS IN THE YEAR’S CYCLE There are five periods of 72 days each (within a 360-day astrological year). ANOTHER WAY TO VIEW THE ELEMENTS IN THE YEAR’S CYCLE The earth element is seen as the changing and balancing point between the seasons. The dominance of one of the five elements in a person’s basic energy will give a specific character or charge to the person’s quality and way of living. Of course, all of us have some of all five elements within our astrological makeup, but according to the year, month, and day of our birth, and in some systems also the hour and minute of our birth, one of the five elements will be stronger than the other four. Many books and websites provide instruction for determining your own predominant element and astrological influences. As we mentioned before, there are many different systems, all using different methods to make calculations. Most of them work well if we understand their point of view and if we use them as a “whole.” Mixing different astrological systems tends to create much confusion. The most typical positive or creative qualities of the different elements are: Wood: Practical, creative, casual Fire: Lively, talkative, quick Earth: Stable, reliable, conservative, primitive Metal: Vigorous, progressive, determined, calculated Water: Contemplative, attentive, communicative, adjustable (For a better understanding of this topic, see Fusion of the Five Elements 1 by Mantak Chia.) The Pa kua and Eight Forces The eight trigrams of the pa kua were first described by the legendary emperor Fu Hsi as a sign from heaven brought in the form of stripes on the back of a turtle. The I Ching, or “Book of Changes,” is based on these trigrams. The combinations of the trigrams give birth to the sixty-four hexagrams used in the I Ching and in I Ching astrology. The eight trigrams are also known as the “eight forces” and the “eight directions.” In Chinese medicine there are often three or four names for one thing or idea. Furthermore, one term may have multiple meanings. For example, the trigram Kan has a number of meanings, including: north, water, winter, kidney, and Mercury. It is the nature of Chinese symbols to explain many things with one term. The heavens are divided into numerous regions, called palaces, which refer to areas of the heavens demarcated by the projection of the different directions and the center (the North Pole) into the sky. Chinese astrology sometimes refers to five palaces (the four directions and the center), and at other times to nine (the eight directions and the center). Nine palaces are used in the Chiu Kung Ming Li, or “nine-star astrology.” The pa kua trigrams are also used in the Lo Pan, the basic tool of Chinese divination and geomancy (see below), and in Feng Shui, the art of creating harmonious environments. The eight trigrams come from the combinations between the yin and the yang . First there was the Grand One ; this produced the two poles yin and yang ; the two poles yielded four phases, the four strengths: greater yang (tai yang), lesser yang (shao yang), greater yin (tai yin), and lesser yin (shao yin). The four phases yield the eight trigrams. THE EIGHT TRIGRAMS ARE DIVIDED FROM THE GRAND ONE. LO PAN, OR NET TABLET The eight trigrams are used in different forms of Chinese and Japanese astrology and also in the Lo Shu, or magic square (see below). The eight directions and the center (the nine palaces) each have their typical quality. The central palace is above the earth axis and has the strongest effect on human energy and consciousness. Taoist masters gave a name and a number to each of the nine stars and ascribed a unique quality to each of them. THE NINE STARS According to our time of birth, each of us is more or less influenced by one of the nine stars, with its unique quality based on the five elements and the trigrams. During our lives we keep this basic quality but with time we will move to other positions in the magic square (called the houses), each with its unique influence on us. While being influenced, we are initiated into life’s other possibilities. THE MAGIC SQUARE ALWAYS ADDS UP TO FIFTEEN. Your numbers are situated in the different palaces and will show you the universal quality that is influencing you the most at that specific moment. The typical qualities of the nine palaces are: Chen 3 Sun 4 Li 9 Kun 2 Tui 7 Chien 6 Kan 1 Ken 8 Chung 5 Thunder: the arousing, the new impulse, exciting Wind: the penetrating, gentleness Fire: clarity, conscious, independent Earth: the receptive, trust, confidence, openness Lake: joyfulness, fullness, satisfaction Heaven: the creative, energetic, strong, light Water: prudence, dangerous, unreliable Mountain: keeping still, stability, rest Female Trigram: Kun-black earth, the receptive Male Trigram: Ken-mountain, keeping still NUMEROLOGY IN THE PA KUA TRIGRAMS AND THE FIVE ELEMENTS The five elements and eight trigrams of the pa kua are deeply interwoven into Chinese philosophy and astrology. The eight trigrams can be seen as a derivation of the five elements or as a derivation of the eight directions from the four. The symbolism in the eight trigrams is interpreted in two different ways. One system is called the “preheavenly pa kua,” defined by Fu Hsi during the age of the five legendary rulers (circa 2800 B.C.E.). The other is the “postheavenly pa kua,” which originally came from King Wen of the Chou Dynasty (circa 1100 B.C.E.) in his book Yixici. This is the first written explanation of the relationship between the preheavenly pa kua and the postheavenly pa kua. The preheavenly state is related to the time before the earth was formed, when everything was chaotic, like a cloud or mist. This is the state known as Wu Chi, a state in which nothing can be differentiated. The preheavenly state can also be seen as the period before the time that the earth started to materialize and heaven and earth began to separate (the Tai Chi or grand ultimate state). The postheavenly state begins at the time when heaven and earth were clearly distinguishable and the yin and yang poles were generated. In human life the preheavenly and postheavenly states are separated by birth or the moment the baby can see the light or the sky. The goal of the Universal Tao practice is to unify the pre-and postheavenly states of being. The quality of the preheavenly state is the basic energy of the newborn baby: totally soft, natural, and filled with its mother’s essence, Chi, and blood. In addition, intuition, flexibility, softness, tenderness, and creativity are components of this preheavenly or childlike state. In some Taoist practices, five children are pictured as storing and crystallizing the pure virtue energy of the five elements. PREHEAVENLY PA KUA AND POSTHEAVENLY PA KUA Through the Universal Tao practices, the vital essences remain in the body until old age. The practitioner remains flexible, strong, and full of virtue. The unification of pre-and postheavenly qualities is reached by first “training the postheaven to remedy the preheaven” and then “training the postheaven to return to the preheaven.” In other words, we learn to harness, transform, and utilize our energy as living creatures in order to fully utilize our ability to return to the state of pure energy in which we lived before we manifested as human beings. In the unified state the body and mind become one, in accordance with the heavenly principles. Through meditation and exercises, the preheavenly mind will start to guide the postheavenly body so that the body will gradually return to its preheavenly state. UNIFYING POSTHEAVEN INTO PREHEAVEN The Ten Stems and Twelve Branches As described before, the ten heavenly stems are the yin and yang poles of each of the five elements, while the twelve earthly branches are related to the twelve sections of the earth’s rotation field projected onto the star world. The sixty-year, stems-and-branches cycle occurs in correlation with the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction. The whole system describes geometrical coordinates in time and space, with Polaris as the center point and other celestial bodies used as additional references. The ten heavenly stems are often related with the planets and the five palaces in the star world. TEN STEMS IN THE SKY ELEMENTS AND STEMS PALACES, PLANETS, AND STEMS THE DEITIES OF THE TWELVE BRANCHES, FROM A TUN HUANG MANUSCRIPT DATED 978 C.E. THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE PROCESS OF SPIRITUALIZATION Evolving through the process of spiritualization, our spirit will enter different layers of universal consciousness. As discussed previously, the universe can be seen as consisting of three different realms: one of the pure law, one of Chi, and one of the manifestations of law and Chi. We have all arrived on this planet through a materialization process: a contracting spiral that led us through these three realms into the physical, condensed form we have now. The materialization and condensation process continues after the moment of birth and through the various stages of physical development. The spiritual process, an expanding spiral that projects our spirit into the universe, progresses simultaneously. When the level of consciousness grows, the intelligence and information network that connects each of us with the source will start to become more readily available and much easier for many people to feel. Thus we will, step by step, experience all the different dimensions of the universe, from our sexual energy to our spiritual origin. It is easier to take seven steps one by one than to try to jump to the seventh step at once. The same is true for the spiritual process. We will gradually grow through the three realms step by step. The seven meditations in this book will guide you all the way through the manifested world of the earth, planets, and stars to the world of pure universal laws. TWELVE BRANCHES AND TWELVE ANIMALS SEVEN STEPS OF THE SPIRITUAL PROCESS Earth/Sun/Moon Triangle Before we go on this journey, it is wise to take care of our vehicles. We will need to have healthy and strong bodies and to put on our safety belts. This is the rooting or connection to the earth. We also need to learn to control, transform, and use our sexual energy. ROOTING TO THE EARTH HUMAN ENERGY IN THE UNIVERSE THREE REALMS IN THE UNIVERSE Once we have built up a strong center in the lower Tan Tien, are enjoying a good connection with the earth, and have achieved control over our sexual energy through the basic practices and preparation exercises outlined in Taoist Cosmic Healing, we can begin expanding our awareness field. The Universal Tao practices lead us step by step through the earth, universal, and cosmic realms. Without these preparations, the effects of our planetary and stellar meditations will be limited, as we lack the power to attract, absorb, and integrate the energy in our physical body. If you have not done any Universal Tao practices, you can do the planetary/stellar meditations—however, you will have to build up your physical body, lower Tan Tien, and the star/planet connection simultaneously. Keep this balance. Build up the time spent doing practice slowly and regularly. The centering, rooting, and cultivation process of the physical body and the sexual energy should be continuously developed because these abilities and energies are further utilized as we expand and grow with the universe. In this way, we become like a big tree with deep roots and develop the ability to draw information and energy from the universe down into the earthly realm and physical body. The figure on the opposite page, “Human Energy in the Universe,” illustrates how we can visualize our relationship to the universal picture. Sexual energy is connected to the moon. The sun and the moon energies are easily experienced because we can see and feel them with our earthly senses. Yet most people do not consciously experience the effects of the moon. We cannot touch it like the earth or feel its radiant energy as easily as the heat from the sun. SUN AND MOON BALANCE The goal of our meditative practices is to tune in to the energy frequencies and awareness field of the planets and stars and integrate these into our physical body. The moon is an important step in the development of our universal awareness because the moon meditation triggers deeply hidden layers of the unconscious mind connected with our sexual potential. Our connection with the moon will help us to become profoundly aware of our sexual essence, to which we cannot relate with our ordinary mind. Through the moon and sun meditations, the sexual essence that is stored deep inside the sexual organs and kidneys becomes available and transforms from unconsciousness into consciousness, and from Jing (essence) into Shen (spirit). When we suppress or have no control over our sexual energy, the earth energy will be insufficient for us to keep balance and be stable enough to advance in the spiritual process. Unconsciously or consciously, a part of us may be blocked by sexual frustration and its associated emotions. All people in the modern world have a layer of heaviness and negativity on the level of their sexuality. This is based on the social/collective conditioning of many centuries of religious and scientific control. The cool moon energy in the lower body is balanced by the contact with the warm sun energy in the upper body. The sun will help us to open the heart center and feel connected to nature, the universe, and other people. The sun is the central point of the solar system and governs a higher awareness than the other planets. The sun is a star in the planet world and a gate out of the planetary emotional and rational mind layer into the realm of the higher mind and the spirit. The sun and the moon energies need to be balanced to create peace between the love and sex energies and between the conscious and unconscious. The figure opposite illustrates this balance of the sun and moon energies. Further Steps in Our Universal Awareness Journey The first step in our universal awareness journey involves building a strong center in the lower Tan Tien, developing a firm connection with the earth, and achieving control over our sexual energy. This prepares us for balancing the energies of the sun and moon. Step two on this journey leads us deeper into our solar system, to the sun and the five basic planets. The five basic planets (Mars, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter) are a materialized form of the energy of the five elements. In the planetary world we find the sources of our collective emotional and lower mental tendencies. First we connect with the sun and the five basic planets, then we connect with and integrate their specific frequencies and their qualities/virtues. In step three we expand further out to the border of our solar system into the three planets beyond Saturn (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto). These three planets represent the emotional, social consciousness that has recently formed (over the last few centuries) as well as the development of society and social awareness. FIVE ELEMENTS According to the Taoist tradition, the five closest planets can also represent the five elements. If we add the three planets beyond Saturn, we can link the eight planets with the eight trigrams of the pa kua and the eight directions. Since Chinese astrologists did not originally know about Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, the use of the eight planets must have been introduced in this century. Chinese astrology also uses some additional planets known as “counter planets,” which are nonmaterialized energetic formations. The fourth step in our journey leads us to the world of the stars, star clouds, and milky ways. This represents a finer quality of energy that is related to the higher world of the mind and the spirit. As we noted previously, Taoist masters observed that the North Star always keeps its position while the twenty-eight constellations turn around it. For this reason Taoists have always seen the North Star as the center of the star world and also as the gate to the spiritual realm and the Tao. In the planetary and stellar meditation, we first connect with the North Star. In this way we deeply penetrate into the star world. Then connections with galaxies are established, which are related to the five palaces and five elements. Astronomical observation of the twelve or twenty-eight constellations, combined with intensive meditation on the individual qualities of these signs, can deepen our connection with the star world and can greatly accelerate our spiritual advancement. This is, however, a quite advanced and complex practice. In step five, we will combine the two most extreme poles in the star world: the ultra yang force of a quasar and the ultra yin force of a black hole. We will use an uplifting spiral of these two to project an awareness in the pure yang unmanifested world in order to multiply our intention. When we reach the sixth step, we go beyond the realm of phenomena and the realm of Chi into the realm of the spiritual laws, the five elements, the triple unity, polarity, and the pure law. Step seven is what we call “being and living the source continuously in a state of absolute freedom.” We could also call this level “zero” because all separation will end in this state. The figure above illustrates the structure of the universe and how the different layers in the universe are connected to our bodies. In step seven, the energy cores of these different layers are all lined up on the “central thrusting channel” that is located in the center of the body between the perineum and the crown. The connection and integration of the essence of these core points into our body will automatically raise our energy and awareness level and trigger the connection with more subtle universal frequencies. In this way our body and the universe become one. Our presence and all our actions become an effortless reflection of the Tao itself. Each of the seven steps described in this section is accompanied by major changes in all aspects of the practitioner’s life. 3 Astronomical Overview HOW TO USE THE ASTRONOMICAL INFORMATION IN THIS BOOK Astronomy is a valuable tool for understanding and cultivating our relationship with the material universe. The accumulation of astronomical knowledge does not, of course, guarantee a higher energy and awareness level. The information presented may help you create a direct, experiential link between where you are living now on the earth and the heavenly energies of planets and stars. Only when this direct, experiential contact is made can the study of and meditation on the universe improve your quality of life. In this chapter, we will summarize some basic astronomical facts. They are meant to increase your understanding of the world of stars and planets. If we study some basic astronomy and use it to expand our awareness, our intellectual mind will be more satisfied and will be able to function as a vehicle that can travel beyond time and space. Together with the accompanying pictures, this information is presented to give you some specific connection points during the meditations. After you have studied the information, simply put the picture in front of you and take it in deeply. Empty the mind of all other activity. Then close your eyes, expand your awareness, and, with your intention, travel in space. Be aware that the physical objects you are connecting to are just the materialized centers of an energy field or belt. It is the frequency and the energy in the belt that you are tuning into. So, relax. Keep your hands on the lower Tan Tien and keep the energy deep inside. Repeat this process four to five times until you start to feel the connection. Use the meditation techniques that are described in chapter 10. THE FORMATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM Planet Earth is a small planet that has a 365-day cycle around a middle-sized star, the sun. There are nine planets in our solar system. Together with the planetoids, satellites, comets, meteors, and some gas and dust formations, they form our solar system. The sun is ten times as big as the biggest planet in our solar system (Jupiter) and more than a hundred times larger than the earth. Since the mass of the sun is 330,000 times greater than that of the earth, its gravitational force holds the earth in a fixed yearly cycle. Many believe the birth of the solar system was introduced by the implosion of a cloud of gas and dust. The reason for this implosion is still a mystery, but meteor analysis shows that an exploding star or supernova might have caused it. Our solar system started its materialization process about four and a half to five billion years ago. Around that time, a cloud charged with cosmic dust gathered at the edge of the Milky Way. The centripetal force in the cloud caused the formation of a more dense center. This created heat, which speeded up the rotational force and flattened the form. After millions of years, the immense gathering of energy in the center caused a nuclear reaction and self-combustion. At other places in this cloud, smaller concentrations of gas and cosmic dust gathered as a result of the lower density. They did not inflame but materialized. The specific location and orbit of each planet in our solar system is determined by a balance point between the rotation force/centrifugal force and the gravitational force centripetal force in relation to the sun. The planets closer to the sun were baked and became very hard because the gases were dispersed by the heat and the ionelectron wind sent into the universe by the sun. Further out from the sun, the temperature is much lower. The planets there materialized into big balls of fluid gas with a vast center, often with a crust of frozen substance. FORMATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM Expansion and Contraction of the Solar System Astronomical studies tell us that there are billions of galaxies in the universe and that there are also billions of stars in most of these galaxies. Our solar system travels through the universe at a speed of about 300 kilometers per second. Even at this speed it takes about 230 million years for our solar system to make a complete cycle through the Milky Way. During this cycle, or galactic year, the solar system is not always at the same distance from the center of the Milky Way. When the solar system is closer to the center, this is called the galactic summer. Our solar system responds to the stronger contractile force at this point in the galactic year. The planets come closer to the sun in this period, and the atmosphere heats up, which enhances the size of the flora and fauna. When the solar system is further away from the center of the Milky Way, the solar system expands, so a greater distance arises between the earth and the sun. This creates lower temperatures, and plants and animal species will be smaller. It is generally believed that the first life forms on earth appeared some 3.2 billion years ago. Since that time, the earth has completed about thirteen cycles through the Milky Way. OVERVIEW OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM OVERVIEW OF THE PLANETS IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM EARTH Planet Earth is a blue planet with a moderately humid climate and a slightly unstable surface, 70 percent of which is covered by water. Its atmosphere consists mainly of nitrogen and oxygen. Under the approximately 32kilometerthick crust we find a 3,000-kilometer-thick inner mantle. The core of the earth is a moving sea of liquid nickel and iron, which creates a strong electromagnetic field. It rotates around its axis in one day and the sun’s in one year. MOON The moon is a satellite of the earth. Since the moon has no protective atmosphere, it has been bombarded by objects in space for the last 800 million years. The craters that we can see from the earth are the “scars” of this activity, their presence sustained by the absence of erosion. Stones have been found on the moon that are more than four billion years old, the same age as the solar system. The origin of the moon in relation to the earth is still a mystery. Its rotational speeds around its axis and around the earth are about equal—twentyeight days. For this reason we always see the same side of the moon. Temperatures on the moon vary from between +127°C and -173°C. SUN The sun is the giant of our solar system, with a bigger mass than all of the planets put together. Compared to other stars it is small-to medium-sized. It is the main light source in our solar system and in this way generates life on our planet. Its main components are hydrogen and helium. The sun radiates enormous amounts of light particles and radioactivity. It turns around its axis in 246 days. The temperature in the center of the sun is approximately 15 million °C. Each second the sun radiates more energy than man has used since the beginning of civilization. MERCURY Mercury is like a giant cinder with a deeply pockmarked surface. Its proximity to the sun has caused its atmosphere to be burned away completely. On the sunny side the temperature rises to 430°C; on the dark side it drops to -170°C. It orbits the sun in 88 days and rotates around its axis in 58.6 days. The marked surface may also be the effect of shrinkage. VENUS In the past, Venus was called both the “clear morning star” and the “clear evening star.” The reason for this is that Venus swings across our “planetary view” over a period of about sixteen months. For about eight months it is visible in the morning, and the other eight months it is visible in the evening. Its surface is covered by a thick atmosphere, and surface temperatures rise to 500°C. The atmosphere allows sunlight in but not out, which causes a greenhouse effect. A constant acid rain (carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid) falls from the clouds. It orbits the sun in 225 days and rotates around its axis in 243 days. The pressure of its atmosphere is about 90 times greater than that of Earth’s. Mars The red planet Mars is a giant sand desert where huge storms occur regularly. It also has ice caps on the poles, just like Earth, and has several giant volcanoes. The highest volcano is two and a half times as high as Mount Everest. Mars has a thin, pink atmosphere and a deep, red surface. Temperatures are between +20°C and -140°C. It orbits the sun in 687 days. A Martian day also takes about twenty-four hours. It may have had water on its surface and a denser atmosphere in the past. JUPITER Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, with a diameter nine times greater than the earth’s. Because it is visible throughout the night, the Greeks called the planet the supreme god. Giant storms with wind speeds of 350 kilometers per hour lash the dust from the surface and send it up to 25 kilometers in the air. The atmosphere contains mainly hydrogen. Just like the sun, its composition is nine parts hydrogen to one part helium, but because of its smaller mass, it never self-ignited. Its surface temperature is between +25°C and -150°C; the center is about 20,000°C. If its mass were fifty times greater, we would have had two stars in our solar system, creating a completely different environment. Jupiter has sixteen satellites. SATURN Saturn is a pale yellow giant that looks a little like Jupiter. It has a similar atmosphere and also has huge storms. Wind speeds of more than 1,500 kilometers per hour have been measured. It is surrounded by thousands of rings (containing ice and rocks), making it look like an old gramophone record. The temperatures on its surface are around -150°C. It is the lightest planet in our solar system. If we could drop it in water it would float. Seventeen satellites have been discovered around Saturn. URANUS Uranus is the only planet that lies on its side as it revolves around the sun. It is invisible to the naked eye and was unknown until 1781. The astronomer William Herschel discovered it with the use of a telescope. According to scientific models, the outer layer consists of hydrogen and helium, which covers a layer of partially solid methane, ammonia, and water. The interior is said to consist of a stony center of metals and silicate. The surface temperature is around -215°C. It has a diffuse belt of rings and fifteen satellites. NEPTUNE Neptune’s existence was predicted by mathematicians who calculated that the deviations observed in the orbit of Uranus could only be explained by the gravitational pull of an unknown, more distant planet. In 1846, Johann Gotfried Galle discovered Neptune where the mathematicians calculated it should be. Neptune is said to have a very similar structure and composition to the earth. PLUTO Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930. It orbits the sun at a distance of about 6 billion kilometers. It has a diameter of about 2,300 kilometers (the earth’s moon is 3,476 kilometers in diameter) and a mass 0.002 times that of the Earth. This frozen stone clump has a thin atmosphere of methane and a surface temperatures of -210°C. It has an orbital angle of 17°, which is unique in the planetary world. It also has a strong elliptical orbit, causing a crossing of the Neptune orbit. The inner part of the solar system contains four similar, rocky planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. This is followed by an asteroid belt containing millions of irregularly shaped stones. Further out are the four gas/ice giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto is the planet farthest out in our solar system. It is a comparatively small, frozen rock that might previously have been a satellite of Neptune. Many astrologists and astronomers talk about a tenth planet being even farther out in the solar system. This planet would have a mass two to five times greater than the earth’s. This would explain the deviations in the orbits of the outer planets. Since Pluto’s mass is very small, another planet is probably causing this effect. The angle of the tenth planet’s orbit would probably be about 75°. The planetary field is the central area in our solar system. It is a small part of the total area of our solar system. The outer edge of our solar system almost touches other solar systems. The nearest solar system is Alpha Centauri. The many solar systems in our galaxy rotate around the center of the Milky Way at a speed of 300 kilometers per second. It takes more than 200 million years to finish a complete cycle around the center of our Milky Way. It is not accidental that the three outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) were only discovered during the last 150 years. As human evolution moves toward the “center of the spiral” and as we return to our divine origin, we experience an increasing speed of events (reaching a peak around 2100). We find that as the solar systems in our galaxy spiral around the Milky Way, we as humans seem to be spiraling back to our original knowledge as well. This whirlpool of events strongly activates the collective-consciousness field. If the body’s energy system and the soul connection are not developed, the activated collective-consciousness field and the three trans-Saturnal planets can create a great deal of confusion, exhaustion, and mental and emotional imbalance. But, if we can integrate the cosmic forces with who we are as humans, they will trigger unique human abilities at the level of mind and spirit and the collective, social consciousness. In 1977 a large, asteroid-like planet was discovered. It has an irregular orbit, at times coming nearer the sun than Uranus and at others extending far beyond Pluto. In this way, this planet connects the personal planets with the transSaturnal planets, which are related to the collective consciousness. Astronomers named it Chiron, which is the name of a Greek mythological figure that was half human and half horse. It is a symbol for healing. Also, since 1977, healing arts have rapidly developed and spread on our planet. As time goes by, more universal knowledge will be gained. This is always connected to related changes in personal and collective consciousness. STARS AND GALAXIES Images taken recently through the Hubble space telescope show the different stages in the birth process of stars. These pictures show that the powerful energy, ultraviolet radiation, and high-speed gas clouds unleashed by adult stars trigger the birth of new stars in the surroundings. Ultraviolet light emitted by the neighbor stars energizes the gas clouds. Inside these huge, interstellar gas columns, the density can become so high that gravity takes over and causes the gas clouds to collapse and split into smaller clumps or gas eggs. When compression continues, the pressure and temperature in the clouds may rise to the point where nuclear fusion ignites their cores so that they become fledgling stars. After this point is reached, a star will shine for millions of years. A star like the sun can live for over 10 billion years. Bigger stars are often burned out after 20 billion years. Generally speaking, we can say that the younger stars are violet/blue in color, the middle-aged ones are yellowish, the older ones are redbrown, and the oldest are black. According to the estimated age of many stars, it is clear that our Milky Way must be over 12 billion years old. As a star ages, it might turn into a white dwarf due to lack of fuel. It also can explode and become a supernova, a star that is as bright as 10 billion suns. The third possibility is implosion into a black hole, a concentration of density and gravity so extreme that no matter, radiation, or light can escape from it. Other kinds of stars include pulsars and quasars. Astronomers believe that pulsars are fast-rotating neutron stars that radiate light (or sound waves or radioactive waves) in a beam that we detect every time it is directed toward the earth. Quasars are the brightest sky objects in the visible universe. They often shine with a brightness of 200 billion suns and often are visible with the unaided eye even though they are at a distance of billions of light years. SUPERNOVA QUASARS Earth is located about one-third of the way from the outside border of our galaxy. The galaxy has a diameter of about 100,000 light years and contains about 100 billion stars. The biggest concentration of stars is found in the central area. There are billions of other galaxies in the universe. When we look into the night sky, some of the stars we are seeing are in fact galaxies composed of billions of stars. These galaxies are grouped into clusters and in turn these clusters belong to super clusters. Our galaxy belongs to a group of about thirty other galaxies called “the local group.” The closest other big galaxy is the Andromeda nebula, which is about 2,200,000 light years away. This means that the light we now see and measure from this galaxy was emitted 2.2 million years ago. On a dark, clear night, we can see the Andromeda nebula without binoculars or a telescope. OUR SOLAR SYSTEM IN THE MILKY WAY In Taoist astrology the sky is divided by twenty-eight or sixty-four constellations. Modern astrologers often use the different distances of the stars in one constellation as proof that there is a connection between the stars in that constellation and that, in this way, the constellation affects the human condition. However, the real distance of the stars is just one aspect of the unique quality of each constellation. The angle of the constellation, as seen from the earth, also informs the sense of connection between the stars and their specific group energy. In the Big Dipper, the five most central stars belong to the star cluster that is closest to us, which is at a distance of between fifty-nine and seventy-five light years. The outer two stars are not in this cluster and are at a greater distance. DIFFERENT GALACTIC FORMS There are many different types of galaxies, but they are mostly divided into three main groups. SPIRAL GALAXIES Spiral galaxies, like the Milky Way, have a central elliptical region filled with many old stars. Around this center there is a sphere of old stars connected with the outer spiral arms, which are composed of younger stars and regions of gas and dust where stars are still being born. ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES Elliptical galaxies contain very few young stars or gas and dust. They are mainly composed of older groupings of stars. Few stars are born here. IRREGULAR GALAXIES Irregular galaxies are those without a particular form. One of these is the large Magellanic Cloud, the companion of our solar system. MAGELLANIC CLOUD 4 Taoist Star Practices and Their Effect on Human Awareness THE NORTH STAR AND BIG DIPPER IN THE TAOIST MEDITATION PRACTICES Ancient practices viewed the stars as great sources of the subtle energy of Chi as well as material manifestations of Chi. The manifestation of the stars in brilliance, pulsation, and color shows the constant interaction of universal/ heavenly energy and the more material energy. The sun is seen as the fullest form of pure, yang energy, which is present to a lesser degree in the other stars. In the stars, we find high concentrations of the vital, primal essence, or Chi. The kind of Chi that stars produce is abundant and readily available for use in the Cosmic Healing form of Chi Kung. Because of their inherent relation to the embryonic essence (like the sexual essence in our body), stars were seen as forms of water energy. The expression of bright, white light also shows the inherent metal energy. In Taoist Cosmic Healing we learned that the healing color of the lungs is white, and that its corresponding element is metal. When one familiarizes oneself with the elements and the healing colors, one can begin to see the energetic connection in all living things. For the Taoists, stars are the places where immortal beings reside—mostly in the central star palace, but also in other locations. (The central palace is the region of the heavens above the North Pole. The stars of the Big Dipper, Polaris, and Vega all lie within the central palace.) The appearance of newborn stars demonstrates that a high master has made the transition to heaven. One Taoist master during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.), Ching Fong, predicted that after his death a new star would appear in the constellation Hercules, and indeed, a supernova suddenly appeared just after he died. FIVE PLANETS, DIRECTIONS, AND CONSTELLATIONS The Taoist masters viewed the North Star and Big Dipper as the greatest sources of stellar power. These stars were believed to be great sources of supernatural energy and “yang luminosity.” The North Star has been used by many enlightened Taoist masters as the ultimate gate to the Tao. This North Star gate was used in meditation practices while preparing for death and finally at the moment of dying. Other spiritual systems also use connection points or gates into the sky. The Chinese emperors were seen as heavenly children. Many stars around the North Star have the name of an emperor or one of his family members. The great emperors were often depicted with the Big Dipper in one hand and the North Star in the other. Because the earth’s axis wobbles every 26,000 years (approximately), different stars get aligned over the earth axis. This means that different stars take the position of the “north star” during different periods. In about 12,000 years, Vega will once again be our “north star.” From 1000 to 500 B.C.E. it was the star Kochab; during the time the Egyptian pyramids were being built it was Dra Thuban; about 13,000 years ago it was Vega. During the Ming dynasty it was Tianshu. A name that is generally used for pole stars is zhong ji, “the center of heaven.” Another name is tai yi, “the great one.” The function of the North Star is to emit the essence, the embryonic energy flow. The North Star has a close connection to the seven stars of the Big Dipper. The North Star is found along the line projected from the seventh and eighth Big Dipper stars. Traditionally the Big Dipper/North Star axis was used to mark the seasons. The North Star/Big Dipper axis moves through the “four palaces” during the four seasons. The Big Dipper is also a vehicle for the energy of the North Star. When the spiritual essence of the tai yi, or North Star, spills over, the Dipper holds and transmits its essence through its seven bright gates of celestial power. In the Taoist advanced practices, the North Star and Big Dipper energies are connected with the different bones of the skull. Through this connection with the points of the skull, the connection with the universal Chi, or universal light, is deeply integrated in the brain and the glands within the skull (see the “crystal palace,”). Each of the seven stars of the Big Dipper has a connection with the lower planetary world (the five planets, sun, and moon) as well as with the higher vibrational world of the five elements and the pa kua trigrams. According to the oracle texts of the Han dynasty, each of the Big Dipper stars has a unique earthly manifestation in the animal and plant kingdoms. The seven-star principle is not unique to the Big Dipper. It can also be found in the Pleiades, the Vermilion Bird, and other constellations. NORTH STAR, VEGA, BIG DIPPER, AND FIVE ELEMENTS In one type of Taoist astrology, the numbers 1 to 9 and the nine energies of the pa kua (the eight directions and the center) were used as a form of numerology connected to the seven stars of the Big Dipper, Polaris, and Vega. Since the star Vega, which is related to number 1, was known as a star related to destruction, it was not used with the crystal palace. In Taoism, it is believed that nine stars compose the “true Dipper.” These include the seven familiar ones and two hidden or invisible ones. According to one source these hidden stars hold the embryonic essence (Jing) and actualizing spirit (Shen). A practice from the T’ang dynasty (618–907 C.E.) that is still used in China today is a practice of visualizing the nine stars of the Dipper and the star Alcor while holding the breath. Similar to the principle of counterplanets in Chinese astrology and the modern astronomical hypothesis that quasars and black holes function together, some Taoists believe that there are nine black stars counterbalancing the nine Big Dipper stars. CRYSTAL PALACE In the Universal Tao meditation practices, we use the combined energy of the North Star and the Big Dipper to connect with the universal light, or universal Chi. The Big Dipper light (red) is absorbed by the thalamus and hypothalamus glands while the North Star light (violet) relates to the pineal gland. The pineal gland is our internal compass, while the North Star is our external compass. Taoist masters believed that if the North Star was able to keep all the constellations in orbit, its size and mass must be enormous. In Taoist astrology, twenty-eight constellations are ordered around the North Star and the Big Dipper. In each of the twenty-eight days of the moon cycle, one of the constellations reaches its maximum influence. The special magnetic field of the moon and earth energies, combined together, attracts the fine star energies and creates a special spiritual condition on our planet. Besides the twenty-eight constellations around the North Star, there are billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars. All these stars have a direct connection with the billions of cells in our body, where at the moment of fertilization and birth a specific position gives you a unique energetic charge and direction in life. Through meditation practices and through integrating new insights and higher awareness into your daily life, the information from the stars and your personal cells becomes synchronized. This brings you back to your true task in this life, but it also gives you access to the universal information field. The direct connection with this intelligence will naturally provide you with all the information and life force required for you to fulfill your true life task. EARTH AXIS WOBBLING AND POLESHIFTS The earth has three movements: it rotates around the sun (one year); it rotates around its own axis (one day); and the axis wobbles, called precession (one full cycle takes approximately 26,000 years). The projection of the earth’s two axes to the north creates a circular form between Vega and Polaris. There is a strong electromagnetic belt around the earth due to its rotational force. This belt is strongest around the equator and weakest at the poles. The South Pole is directed toward the center of the Milky Way while the North Pole is directed toward the outside of the Milky Way. For this reason the energy that comes through the North Pole is clearer and more subtle than that which comes from the South Pole. The northern sky is governed by the energy of the North Star and its twenty-eight constellations, and is considered richer in terms of star and galactic energies. EARTH’S ROTATION The wobbling movement of the axis of the earth has a strong effect on human civilization and the quality of life on earth. It takes approximately 26,000 years for the earth to make a full 360° precession cycle. The strongest activation of energy occurs when the axis is directed straight toward Polaris. Around the year 2102, the North Star will be in perfect line with the earth axis. This will highly increase the influence of spiritual energy on our planet. The galactic year is the movement of our solar system around the center of the Milky Way. Our solar system moves through the galaxy at a speed of 300 kilometers per second, taking 230 million years to make a complete cycle around the center of the galaxy. During different phases of this cycle, our solar system will be located at different distances from the center, which will create varying gravitational conditions in the solar system and on our planet, and which defines the different galactic “seasons.” GALACTIC YEAR (230 MILLION YEARS) The energy of Polaris is the yang energy from heaven related to the governing vessel. The energy of Vega is the yin energy from heaven related to the conception vessel. The governing vessel is the line of energy that runs up the spine, and the conception vessel is the line of energy that runs down the front of the torso. When we connect these two lines of energy, we have what is called the Microcosmic Orbit. During the 26,000-year precession cycle, the period in which the earth’s axis is pointed toward Polaris is traditionally seen as the “light” period. This is a time of flourishing spiritual life on earth and a period of happiness and good luck. The period in which the earth’s axis is pointed toward Vega (13,000 years later) is seen as the “dark” period, with destruction of society and a low spiritual level on our planet. NINE STARS AND GOVERNING AND CONCEPTION VESSELS When Polaris is above the earth axis, the crystal palace (pituitary gland) within the skull receives information from the governing vessel and transfers it to the conception vessel, whereby it is integrated. Thus energy is brought up the back line of the Microcosmic Orbit (the governing vessel), is affected by Polaris, via the crystal palace, and then sent back down the front channel (the conception vessel). Every time we circulate Chi in the Microcosmic Orbit while consciously connecting with Polaris, we enhance this Chi. When Vega is above our earth axis, the energy is directly absorbed into the lower centers without the spiritual/universal connection. The result is isolation, arrogance, and destruction. POLE SHIFTS The rotational force of the earth creates a centrifugal force. When this expanding force reaches a peak, an axis shift occurs. If we roll an egg away from us, at a certain point it may start wobbling and suddenly rotate, creating another axis and new poles. According to some sources, several of these sudden pole shifts have occurred on earth. These shifts happen in a few days, creating giant shifts of the water and land and the death of millions of humans and animals. There are a number of legends from different civilizations that describe these shifts and floods. There are many different influences affecting us at the same time. All of these influences have a unique rhythm. It is the correlation of all these rhythms, influences, and positions that creates a unique universal condition at every moment of our lives. Taoist astrologers believe that another strong influence on human awareness is the photon belt, which is believed to be a large band of intense photon (light) energy that is moving through the universe. Photons are very small particles of electromagnetic energy, without mass or electrical charge, and of an indefinable life span. These photons are in our atmosphere all the time, but their number is gradually increasing because our planet is believed to be traveling through the photon belt for greater periods of time every year. From the year 2013, we will be constantly surrounded by and immersed in these photons for a period of about two thousand years. The increasing influence of the North Star and of the photon belt represents a unique spiritual possibility for all of us. The North American Indians, Mayans, Tibetans, and Egyptians were among the ancient cultures that were quite aware of the age of light that would begin at the start of the twenty-first century. UNIVERSAL TAO PRACTICES THAT CONNECT US WITH UNIQUE UNIVERSAL CONDITIONS The strong Polaris energy, which carries the information of all the stars of the northern sky, shines straight down into the crown. It has a direct connection with the thrusting channels, the important energy channels that run through the central part of the body between the crown and the perineum. THREE THRUSTING CHANNELS: CHI ENERGY CAN FLOW UP OR DOWN. There are three thrusting channels: one central, one left, and one right. They create a left/right balance and a direct vertical connection between all the important organs. The influence of the spiritual activation of the Polaris energy is already quite apparent in present human behavior and interest. More and more people are attracted to meditation, spirituality, and self-development. In the next century, their number and the depth of their spiritual growth will certainly increase. POLARIS ENERGY CONNECTING WITH THREE TAN TIENS AND THRUSTING CHANNELS Another clear sign that humanity is quickly moving toward a new phase in its evolution and into a new direction is the fact that many things in society are changing at a dazzling speed. More than at any time before in human history, the pace of life has quickened. Many people feel highly pressured and confused as they desperately try to keep up with the changes in all dimensions of social life, with encompassing changes occurring in such domains as science and technology, family ties, communications, and security. Many people experience this whirlpool of change as a direct challenge to their currently weak condition and as a major reason for loss of energy. The arrival of the forthcoming period of light, in connection with the North Star activation, should be seen as a powerful opportunity for us to actively engage in further development and growth. Although the transformation of energy is in principle available to everybody, our overall condition and focus will greatly determine the level to which we will be able to integrate the newly arising energy conditions in the universe. Our health and freedom greatly depend on our ability to follow and integrate these universal changes. In the same way as an amoeba opens and closes and the heart expands and contracts, human evolution goes through phases in which it flourishes and declines. These phases are dictated by the earth’s axis in the northern sky. BELT AND THRUSTING CHANNELS AT THE LEVEL OF THE NAVEL (LOWER TAN TIEN) These energy channels run throughout the body and are interconnected by horizontal, circular energy bridges. BELT AND THRUSTING CHANNELS AT THE LEVEL OF THE HEART (MIDDLE TAN TIEN) BELT AND THRUSTING CHANNELS AT THE LEVEL OF THE CROWN (UPPER LOWER TAN TIEN) BELT CHANNELS Practicing the Universal Tao techniques will align you with the unique energy situation in the universe. This involves opening several spiritual channels. The first step in this process is the opening of the Microcosmic Orbit (MCO), the connection between the energy lines of the governing and conception vessels, which we mentioned above. This is a channel directly connected to all the orbits in the universe, reaching to the source. If this channel is open, the information from the universe can be easily picked up and integrated. As you can see in the illustration, there are many different points on the MCO that need to be opened and connected. These points are directly connected with the Tan Tiens (front and back) and with the points where the Tan Tiens are connected with each other and with the environment. As that same illustration shows, the MCO points, the Tan Tiens, and the chakras (as they are known in the Hindu tradition) actually have the same location. When the MCO opens and connects with the Tan Tiens, the thrusting channels will also start to open up. This enhances the heaven/earth connection, and energizes and detoxifies the body. Then all the five channels (the front and back channels and the three thrusting channels) connect with the belt channels. These are horizontal, circular channels that conserve and protect your life force. When these channels are open and connected, your energy level and your healing capacity will greatly increase. The belt channels connect the conception/governing vessels and the left and right thrusting channels. By activating the Tan Tiens and fusing the energy into one concentrated “pearl” in the lower Tan Tien, the dualistic experience of time in past and future diminishes and finally dissolves into one infinite experience of now. HUMAN EVOLUTION MICROCOSMIC ORBIT, TAN TIENS, AND CHAKRAS MICROCOSMIC ORBIT, TAN TIENS, THRUSTING CHANNELS, AND BELT CHANNELS 5 The Development of Humanity SIMULTANEOUS DEVELOPMENT OF HUMANITY AND THE UNIVERSE Our planet started its materialization process about 4.5 to 5 billion years ago. After the formation of a dense core and a protective atmosphere, the whole planet was covered with water. In this ancient sea, life emerged about 3.2 billion years ago, in the primitive forms of viruses and bacteria. This, of course, is not when life began in the universe. We, in our true immortal state, are pure life and intelligence. But around that time we began to manifest in physical existence. MATERIALIZATION OF PLANET EARTH The intelligence that materializes/manifests in the visible world and dematerializes/disappears in other dimensions is one and the same. When the solar system and the Milky Way developed further and became more structured, life on earth began to develop as well. According to Taoist belief, the formation of the solar system and humanity is due to a contracting/materializing force or spiral. This spiral “crystallizes” energetic laws and Chi, causing the formation of our solar system and the earth. The unique atmosphere of Earth has promoted life, with humanity as its highest manifestation. MATERIALIZATION OF THE UNIVERSE HUMANITY’S MATERIALIZING PROCESS ATOMIC STRUCTURE AND SOLAR SYSTEM STRUCTURE SOLAR SYSTEM, DNA, AND ATOMIC STRUCTURES If we look at the paths that the sun and the planets make as they move around the center of the Milky Way, we observe a very interesting spiral structure. Because the planets have increasingly wide orbits as we move outward through the solar system, the spiral structure becomes larger from Mercury to Pluto. (The orbital period for Mercury is 88 days; the orbital period for Pluto is 90,465 days.) The spiral delineated by the movement of the sun, planets, and comets as they move through the galaxy shows a similarity to the structure of atoms, as well as to the structure of DNA. DNA is the fundamental building block of all living cells. Many Taoist astrologers believe that DNA also contains a complicated transmitter and receiver system that picks up the continuous energetic changes in the solar system and Milky Way. When comparing the structure of the solar system with the structure of an atom, the sun and the planets can be seen as representing the nucleus of the atom (with the sun as the positively charged proton[s] and the planets as the neutrally charged neutron[s]). The comets of the solar system can be compared with the negatively charged electrons of the atom. DNADOUBLE HELIX ENERGETIC EMBRYOLOGY The original unity of man and woman is symbolically represented by the Tai Chi (ying/yang) symbol, in which the yin and yang are in perfect balance together within a circle of oneness. The condition prior to the state of duality is the state in which there is only one, indistinguishable unity: the Wu Chi state. The energy of man and woman originate from this oneness. This state is still deeply inherent in all of our body cells. Before the egg and sperm physically fuse, man and woman are united on a vibrational level. The original oneness literally draws the egg and sperm together. EGG AND SPERM, THE UNIVERSAL BIG BANG, AND THE LITTLE BANG At the moment of fertilization, or when the sperm penetrates through the egg’s membrane wall, a miniature light explosion happens. This event represents the complete evolutionary process of the universe and humanity. The information contained within the egg and sperm, together with the universal consciousness, enable the fertilized egg cell to know how to produce a human being. This process is very much like the birth process of a star. Energy, gas, and cosmic dust build up in the energy field between stars. The potential rises to a peak and the cloud of cosmic gas and dust divides into different “eggs.” Through increasing density and pressure a nuclear reaction ignites, and a new star comes into existence. The creative intelligence present in the zygote, or fertilized egg cell, can only be called miraculous. Although modern science can analyze many of the details about how a fully developed human infant can manifest from this one cell, many scientists agree that the mystery of life cannot be fully explained by chemistry, genes, and chromosomes. The vibrational potential between the parents resonates with the soul of the future child, which is present and interactive long before conception. (The soul is believed to enter the embryo around the forty-ninth day after fertilization.) Immediately after fertilization, the zygote divides into two cells of nearly equal size. The process is repeated again and again, so that the two cells are succeeded by four, eight, sixteen, and so on, resulting in a mass of cells known as the morula. In this process, new “axes” are created. The developing fertilized egg, called a blastocyst at this stage, stores much of its information in the space and charge between its inside and outside layers, the endoderm and the ectoderm. The inside is related to the woman’s energy and the conception vessel energy. The outside holds the father’s energy and the governing vessel energy. DIVIDING EGG CELL One gives rise to two, two gives rise to four, four gives rise to eight. Until day sixteen, the embryo consists of two layers (endoderm and ectoderm). Around this time a third layer, called the mesoderm, materializes along the central axis of the embryo. The Chong Mo (the invisible, central axis of the embryo) has been there all the time, but not in a manifested form. The Chong Mo creates the connection between the Jing (sexual essence) and the Shen (spiritual energy) of the embryo. The governing vessel within the mother functions as a “receiving station” that picks up all external vibrations. The conception vessel of the mother internalizes the information and acts as an internal transmission system. In later development the male energy stays more in the vibrational field and gathers around the developing nervous system and governing vessel of the embryo. The female energy gathers through the developing blood production system in the belly, organs, and the conception vessel of the embryo. The governing vessel is seen as the source of yang energy, the conception vessel as the source of yin energy. PARENTAL INFLUENCES ON EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT EXTRAORDINARY VESSELS From the three-layer embryo, the five different elements arise (see chart below). The fire element is divided into two parts (primary and secondary). Thus, six meridian couples are formed. This meridian network spreads throughout the body, with over a thousand vital points where electromagnetic force gathers. EMBRYONIC CELLS, SIX MERIDIANS COUPLES, AND TWELVE MERIDIANS WAVES OF ENDLESS MOTION As we have discussed, humanity developed as part of a materialization process that simultaneously manifested throughout the entire galaxy, solar system, and earth. We can say that the universe is evolving as a whole. At the same time, this evolution occurs through a cyclic, or “wavelike,” motion of life and death, materialization and dematerialization. Stars and solar systems are born and come into existence, and one day will be subject to decline and destruction, leaving behind the material that eventually will become new stars. Taoists believe that human civilization likewise has been through cycles of development. Many facts suggest that there must have been highly developed civilizations over five thousand years ago, and Egyptian, Mayan, Tibetan, and Hindu cultures speak of ancient civilizations dating long before recorded history. WAVES OF ENDLESS CREATION The materialistic, Newtonian, rational worldview, which identifies only with our external senses, prevents us from seeing the authenticity of our true origin. When we operate from this perspective, we block ourselves, and we only experience life within physical boundaries, denying the limitless nature of life. Yet we can use our innate wisdom, life experience, and inner intelligence to penetrate deep beyond the limits of the external senses. As illustrated below, all life comes out of the timeless and formless void, the source. The play and interaction of polarity creates waves that differentiate in time and space throughout the physical universe—in the Milky Way, the solar system, the earth, and the body with all its cells, particles, and waves. The deeper we go into our physical existence, the lower the vibration. Freedom lies in the experience of all these different vibrations while relating to the one timeless and spaceless reality. SUN EXPRESSING COSMIC LAW AND CHI PLANETARY ENERGIES AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT The work of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy, examines many interesting connections between planetary energies and human development. While anthroposophy is more closely related to Greek philosophy than to Chinese philosophy, it describes an interesting link between the universe and human development. Greek astrology places its own qualities on the planets, as does Taoist and Chinese astrology. Yet both traditions view the planets as the purest symbols of the personality and emotional/social human behaviors. The planetary world is the world of the soul, with the sun as the middle point or the core of the field of consciousness. For many centuries in the West, astronomy was based on the Ptolemaic view of the solar system. Ptolemy was a second-century Greek astronomer who described the earth as the unmoving center of the universe, which all planets circled around. (This is seemingly true, of course, from the standpoint of the observer.) In anthroposophy, this Ptolemaic point of view is still used as a map to describe the evolution of the soul. SOLAR SYSTEM ACCORDING TO PTOLEMY According to anthroposophy, the earth is the physical place where the human soul connects with the body. Earth, sun, and moon provide the basic energies for the development of humanity. The deep contents of these energies rise when they interact with one another. The meeting of sun and moon represents the interaction between consciousness and unconsciousness. On another level, sun and moon represent consciousness of mind (sun) and consciousness of body (moon). SUN AND MOON Mercury represents the ability to connect on a neutral, nonemotional basis. It connects the energy of sun and moon. Among primitive tribes, the group functions as a unit and is more important than the individual. Connection—the quality of Mercury—gives birth to the Venus quality, which has safety and security as its key attributes. Safety and security are the unconscious goals of forming a group. People gradually learned to increase their survival rate and enhance their security through control of the environment (through agriculture and hunting). Mars represents the desire to be independent. It stands for the formation of the conscious ego. This is a reaction to the contractile energy of the group. To create balance between the expanding energy of Mars and contractile force of Mercury and Venus, another energy was needed. This energy was found in the gods, through rituals and prayers (religion). This quality is related to Jupiter, which facilitated a deeper and higher unity within the group as well as a growing individual consciousness. The internal/external struggle in the search for balance and growing consciousness is related to Saturn. Saturn represents the process of decisionmaking based on one’s experiences of pleasure and pain. The discovery of the three trans-Saturnal planets created an extra dimension or a higher octave in our solar system’s human awareness. Thus, anthroposophy provides another model whereby we can understand the coevolution of the solar system and humanity. 6 The Soul in the Planetary World The solar system is an energy structure composed of a central area largely consisting of mass and light and nine planetary “awareness” belts encircling its center. The planets are the materialized forms of these awareness belts. Each of these belts has unique frequencies and qualities. The soul remains strongly connected to the sun, and throughout life evolves in expanded awareness through the influence of the successive awareness belts. Taoist masters clearly distinguish two forms or aspects of the soul: the sunrelated cloud soul (hun), and the moon-related white soul (p’o). The p’o is the yin aspect, which has seven parts or stages and arises at the time of conception. The hun, or yang aspect, joins to the p’o at the moment of birth. The hun is also seen as the aspect of the soul that rises to heaven at death, whereas the seven p’o are the aspects of the soul that return to the earth at death. In the following pages we will not use this dualistic principle of the soul, but rather will see the soul as one. PROCESS OF INCARNATION AND EXCARNATION When the soul starts its incarnation process, it moves through the world of stars and is attracted by our solar system, with the sun as its medium. The sun functions as a giant satellite station between the worlds of stars and planets. According to the karmic information carried by the soul, it will remain a shorter or longer period within the “frequency” or influence of some planets. During these periods it receives the necessary information to create or awaken specific learning possibilities. The fact that each soul remains longer in one sphere of influence than another creates very distinctive qualities in the character of each person. We have stronger connections to some planets and weaker connections to others. STAR WORLD, PLANETARY WORLD, AND HUMAN AWARENESS FIELD During the incarnation process the soul will move from the unmanifested world through the star world, the planets, and the moon-earth sphere, constantly attracted by the force of the sun, and later, the earth. The electro-plasmic force of humanity around the earth functions as an awareness belt that connects the soul with life on earth. When a baby is born, the incarnation process is not yet complete, as we can clearly see in the personality of the child. In the first two seven-year life cycles, the full incarnation of the soul still has to be completed. Often around puberty, at the beginning of the third stage, the true personality reveals itself, sometimes as a shock to the parents. The reverse happens in the last cycles of life. The person increasingly loses interest and connection with earth and life on the planet as the soul withdraws toward the higher worlds. Although they are on opposite sides of the spiral of life, children and old people often dwell with their soul in a higher realm. BIRTH—LIFE—DEATH DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOUL THROUGH THE PLANETARY WORLD BASED ON ANTHROPOSOPHICAL THEORY In the above illustration, based on the anthroposophical view of the growth of the soul, the sun is seen as the center of soul development. The sun reflects the law of triple unity in the universe. Three planets are placed on each side. The stages of incomplete incarnation are the developmental stages of the moon and Mercury for children, and of beginning excarnation in the stages of Jupiter and Saturn for older people. The discovery of the three trans-Saturnal planets has occurred together with growing human life expectations. This creates a different schedule. In modern society the period of withdrawal from active life into retirement has clearly become longer than in past centuries. This increased period extends in the trans-Saturnal sphere of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. For people with a low energy and awareness level, these extra twenty-one years are simply an extension, which results in an increased life span but of a lower quality of life. When this occurs, it is difficult to integrate these planetary influences, with the result that the awareness level drastically diminishes during the last stages of life. MODERN LIFE CREATES A LONGER LIFE SPAN. APPLICATION IN THE UNIVERSAL TAO PRACTICE In the Universal Tao practice the period of the sun (ages twenty-one to forty-two years) is used to build up a strong connection with the sun and the North Star consciousness (see illustration). The North Star is the Taoist spiritual gate. It is often used in advanced meditations as the focal point through which pure universal Chi may be transferred to the human plane and used in Cosmic Healing Chi Kung. This is where we derive the luminous violet color that energizes our body. Once the connection with the source is established through the North Star and the universal light, the effect of the planets on the practitioner’s emotional and mental state will be reduced. To establish the sun and North Star connection, the five elemental forces must be balanced and the frequencies of the awareness belts around the sun (related to the planets) must be integrated. During the sun period, the collective consciousness inherent in each cell of our body will be nurtured by the high quality of the sun’s frequency. This energy is mostly used to manifest oneself in the world, through relationships, work, home life, children, and so forth. In Taoist practice the awakening light of the sun period is a perfect time to establish the North Star/spiritual connection. Once the connection with the spiritual realm is established we can distinguish two different realities (spirit and earthbound). The more volatile planetary influences will still affect us, but our rooting to earth and heaven will make it much easier to stay in connection with the spiritual laws, the life force in our body, and their interaction. In this way we stop nurturing the ego and begin to live a life beyond the personality and the related planetary spheres. Through the Universal Tao practice the sun period can be used to cultivate the soul and spirit body. The soul is the medium between the physical plane and the spiritual world. The soul naturally follows the personality’s evolution through the planetary spheres, but the spirit does not have this limitation. An important factor in our development is our level of realization and point of identification: we can identify primarily with our finite personalities or with our unlimited spiritual nature. The sun period is also the time when the level of Chi in the physical body is at its peak. The physical and biological development is at its peak at around twenty-eight years of age in men and twenty-four years of age in women. At that time the body becomes a temple in which the soul and spirit can be cultivated. Taoist practitioners cultivate quantity of life (life span) combined with quality of life (spiritual realization). TAOIST DEVELOPMENT LINE Through the Universal Tao practices, this peak state can be maintained and even improved upon during the following decades. Getting older does not have to mean getting weaker. Many Taoist masters become more fit as they grow older, which has been confirmed by Western doctors. For Taoist practitioners, advancing in years means advancing in experience, intelligence, and wisdom, and integrating greater energy in the body. When the sun and North Star connections are open, your whole life will be inspired and guided by the unlimited wisdom of the universe. The connection with the light will enable you to lead an active but peaceful life. You will still experience the growth of the soul through the more emotional influences of the planetary spheres, but the spiritual connection will allow you to observe this process, see the deeper reality through the ups and downs of emotions, and integrate these energies within the physical body. In this way the energy of our experiences is integrated to nurture our consciousness. Rudolf Steiner said that the goal in life is to balance the planetary qualities to reach the highest state in the solar system, which he called “the sun awareness.” During excarnation, the soul will move again through the planetary world and will be purified from all earthly, materialistic, and emotional experiences. The fruits of the life just completed are harvested and condensed to form the seeds for the next life. This process is continued outside the planetary sphere in the world of stars and the immaterialized realm of vibrations. In the Universal Tao, the “fusion of the five elements” practice is used to balance the qualities of the five elements in the body. This practice is also called internal alchemy. (See the Universal Tao publication Fusion of the Five Elements for a detailed explanation of this ancient Taoist practice.) After strengthening and purifying the body through the basic practices and fusion practice, the energy and virtues of the five vital organs (kidney, heart, spleen, lungs, and liver) are cultivated. (See Taoist Cosmic Healing, Inner Smile Practice.) These energies are gathered in collection areas (the pa kua collection points) around the navel. From these collection points, the energy is blended, purified, and stored in the lower Tan Tien. Through these practices, the energy is condensed until it becomes a radiating pearl, located at the original meeting point where the information of the first cell and basic spark of the body is kept (in the area of the small intestine). Taoists use the metaphor of the “pearl” or “crystal” to refer to this highly concentrated, purified energy. The pearl is cultivated and slowly transformed into spiritual energy. It becomes the house of the soul and spirit body as well as one’s balance, control, and universal connection point. Once the pearl is cultivated, it can serve to open different energy channels in the body and enable one to travel, via one’s consciousness, outside the physical body into the worlds of the planets, stars, and vibrations. The pearl has the same function as the sun in our solar system: centering, collecting, controlling, and connecting to higher realms. When the center is weak (the pearl has not been cultivated), there is no central point of consciousness or control. This implies weakness and inability to decide where to go or what to do. When we use the mind to gather the energy at one point, the spark that is still glowing inside us will ignite and start to shine again—just as our sun ignited some 5 billion years ago. PA KUA COLLECTION POINTS When the pearl is shining and stable in the lower Tan Tien, it becomes the source of energy for all the organs. In Chinese medicine this is the yang meridian of primary fire, the center of transformation. When the pearl is stronger and more refined, it can be moved upward to the heart center. While the fire of the small intestine, where the pearl is initially located, is a denser, more physical fire, the fire of the heart carries a higher vibration. This fire is related to the quality of the sun, the soul, and the state of compassion. It is the practitioner’s task to create the right internal condition for moving the pearl into the heart center by self-cultivation and good deeds for the benefit of all beings. In the advanced Kan and Li and “immortal” practices, the pearl moves up to the center of the head. It moves upward by itself as the fruit of self-transformation. At this point the pearl changes and acquires a very high frequency, related to the world of spirit. CONTRACTING SPIRAL; ENERGY GATHERING IN THE CENTER; SPONTANEOUS IGNITION FUSING THE PEARL During meditation practice it is good to expand one’s energy field and connect with all forces of the universe. Concentrating and storing energy in the lower Tan Tien will make these energies available in your daily life. During meditation we can use the moon and earth force in the lower Tan Tien, the sun energy in the middle Tan Tien, and the North Star energy in the upper Tan Tien. When one completes a period of meditation practice it is good to bring the energy of the North Star together with the energy of the sun in the Middle Tan Tien. Then one should bring both of these energies together with the energy of the earth or the lower Tan Tien. This is the “three-in-one principle.” This process of gathering and connecting energy symbolizes unification, and represents the spiritual world becoming the core of one’s life. USE OF PLANETARY ENERGIES IN EAST AND WEST FIVE PLANETS AND FIVE ELEMENTS In China the planets have been used in connection with the five elements and the five heavenly palaces, in their relationship with the twenty-eight lunar mansions, for thousands of years. The planets were called the “naked-eye five” or the “five stars” or sometimes the “five pacers.” The translation of the Chinese names of the planets gives us an idea of the nature of their energy. Outside China there is a long history of the astrological use of planets. The Babylonian civilization made astrological recordings as early as the third millennium B.C.E. The Babylonians also connected the planets with different gods and goddesses, a link found in many cultures. PLANETS LINKED WITH GODS/GODDESSES IN VARIOUS CULTURES Western astrological symbols are different from, but comparable to, those used in Taoist astrology. Western astrological symbols for the planets have similar connections to the world of soul and spirit. The sun is the image of concentrated spirit. SUN The circle is a sign of wholeness; the dot represents the center of the solar system. MOON The vertical division of the circle into two half-circles is the symbol for the moon and also for the soul (divided consciousness). EARTH The cross represents the integration of matter and spirit. VENUS Venus symbolizes spirit over matter. MARS Mars shows the cross of matter over spirit. MERCURY Mercury is the planet of connection, mediating between the different forces. It also represents the role of spirit as a bridge between soul and body. JUPITER Jupiter shows the soul elevated over the cross of matter. SATURN Saturn is the cross of matter above the crescent of the soul. In Greek mythology, observation of the heavenly bodies was seen as the vehicle for getting in contact with the higher psychic world, and different soul and personality types were based on the different energies of the planets. The planets were also associated with specific gods and goddesses, thus identifying some planets as “male” and others as “female.” For example, Venus is considered a female planet connected with the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. And Jupiter is known as a male planet connected with the dominating, controlling energy of the god Zeus. In ancient Taoist astrology, the planets were seen as expressions of the five elements. The energy of the planets was also understood to be related to the colors of the five elements and the seasonal cycle. For example, wood is the element associated with spring. Spring gives birth to new life and is considered female. Wood and spring are associated with Jupiter, and Jupiter is understood to be a female planet. Metal is the element associated with autumn. In autumn, life withdraws and contracts, and is considered male. Metal and autumn are associated with Venus, so it is seen as a male planet. Because of these different associations, Chinese and Western astrology link different personality types, male/female energies, and body organs with particular planets. So it is important to use the planets according to one system only and not to mix them. TYPICAL QUALITIES OF THE FIVE VITAL ORGANS IN CHINESE SYSTEM 7 The Craniosacral System, Elements, Star Palaces, and Planetary Forces THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CRANIOSACRAL RHYTHM Taoist views about the structure of the universe and the invisible world have been partly corroborated by recent discoveries in science. These discoveries make the Taoist esoteric knowledge, particularly the health treatments, seem more pragmatic. Traditional Taoist teachings note that the power of the governing vessel (the important energy channel that brings energy up the back of the body) is controlled by the power of its two poles: the sacrum and the cranium. The governing vessel is a channel for energy that comes all the way from the Tao, and a free flow of energy between the two poles is essential to provide the body with the right information to function in accordance with universal law. The treatment of the physical manifestation of this system has been developed in a specialized form of bodywork, deriving from osteopathy, called craniosacral therapy. The governing vessel has been used as a spiritual channel for more than five thousand years, but the art of craniosacral therapy is only about a hundred years old and focuses on other energies in the human skull. The discovery of the forms of bodily intelligence that are used in craniosacral therapy appear to be directly connected with universal and human evolution. It is a further development of awareness and sensitivity of the bioplasmic field (one’s personal aura) and the electroplasmic field (which is shared with all other humans). Long ago humans were only aware of their rhythm of breathing. Primitive human beings recognized the breath as a sign of life. They were strongly physically dependent and physically oriented. The breath provided them with vital energy (cosmic light) and oxygen for nourishment. The heart center was undeveloped, and they were not aware of their heartbeat. The development of the heart center gave birth to a more conscious soul connection. As the consciousness of breathing developed and grew into the heart center, the sociability of the lung energy came forward. In the heart center, the connection with other beings, the emotions, and the virtues arises. When the heart center developed into a higher state, compassion evolved as a bridge to the higher mental and spiritual levels. Chi and awareness in the nervous system are known in every spiritual tradition, but the rhythm of the craniosacral system is a relatively new discovery. DEVELOPMENT OF RHYTHM SYSTEMS THE CRANIOSACRAL SYSTEM The craniosacral rhythm develops through the subtle cranial shifts that occur during the unfolding of the embryonic nervous system. It also can be seen as a translation of the information in the governing vessel. The brain and its ventricles produce a liquid called cerebrospinal fluid. This fluid is rhythmically pumped into the subarachnoid space between the layers of the meninges, the three membranous layers of connective tissue that envelop the brain and spinal cord. The outermost layer of the meninges, or dura mater, is extremely tough and is fused with the membranous lining of the skull. The thin arachnoid membrane lies below and in close contact with the dura mater. The innermost layer, or pia mater, is in direct contact with the brain and spinal cord and contains the blood vessels that supply them. The pia mater and arachnoid membrane are separated by the subarachnoid space containing the cerebrospinal fluid. THE MENINGAL SYSTEM CONTAINS THE ENERGY OF THE GOVERNING VESSEL. The governing vessel is located along the back of the spinal cord, in the subarachnoid space between the arachnoid membrane and pia mater. In this way the governing vessel is constantly charging the cerebrospinal fluid and the spine. The cerebrospinal fluid is produced in the ventricles of the brain and is completely renewed every five to six hours. There are about 135 cubic centimeters of this fluid present in the body, and the ventricles secrete more than half a liter daily. It must circulate continuously. In addition to the spiritual information from the governing vessel, the cerebrospinal fluid contains the deep memory of biological evolution from the oldest planetary oceans. The record of more than 3 billion years of evolution from bacteria and viruses to human beings is stored there. The fluid in the system cycles at a rate of about eight to twelve times per minute. During the phases the membrane system in the head contracts and expands, causing the movement of cerebrospinal fluid in the spine. The cranial “waves” range from 0.04 to 1.5 millimeters, but with some training they can be felt throughout the whole body. The craniosacral rhythm is fully independent of the breathing process. THREE REALMS IN THE UNIVERSE AND IN THE HUMAN BODY Even though the energy in the cranial system is more spiritually oriented, four different dimensions can be recognized (spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical). Any kind of impact on one of these four dimensions changes the quality and energy in the other three. SPIRITUAL GOVERNING VESSEL AND ITS AWARE EXPRESSION (CRANIOSACRAL SYSTEM) The whole craniosacral system is a big antenna and transmitter of information to all the different energy levels in the body. To work with it, it is necessary to practice, to feel and study the different layers of the system. The physical layer (cranial and spinal bones) and the spiritual layer (governing vessel) are the most easy and most practical ones to register in the body. Working with the cerebrospinal fluid and emotional meninges requires more study and practice. The craniosacral system has a north pole (the cranium) and a south pole (the sacrum). Under normal conditions they work together in perfect rhythm. The cranium is the pneumatic/mechanical driving force; the sacrum follows the cranium impulses. In cases of stress or blockages there can be small timing differences between the two. CRANIAL BONES The suture lines in the cranium form zigzag, pointed protrusions that have a function in receiving stellar vibrations. From these structures subtle energy/information channels spread out through the whole body. To understand the craniosacral system, it is helpful to look at some simple anatomical charts. The “cranial bowl” contains ten major external bones, five of which are used in Universal Tao meditations. FRONT AND REAR VIEWS OF HUMAN SKULL CRANIOSACRAL SYSTEM The craniosacral system has high and low “tides” according to the movement of the cranial bones and membranes. Each individual bone has a very specific movement. In addition, each bone bends subtly, like a piece of hard rubber. We can also see a general movement of the cranium as a whole. In the “flexion stage” the cranium becomes wider and shorter. In the “extension stage” the skull becomes narrower and longer. You can compare it with a balloon you hold on both sides. If you softly press and release every six to seven seconds, you get an effect similar to the cranium during flexion/extension. The bones of the sacrum also move in conjunction with the flexion and extension of the cranium. Many therapists now work with various types of craniosacral therapy. In the last twenty years craniosacral therapy has evolved into a very effective form of bodywork that can help create balance, release blockages, and energize the body. Most of these therapists work with the bones, membranes, meninges, and cerebrospinal fluid. Some therapists work with the craniosacral system as a separate unit of the body or as the only important system in the body, which is an incomplete approach. Universal laws organize all the systems and energies of the body. Working with planetary and stellar energies brings an important dimension to craniosacral therapy because it helps to get closer to the origin of the system and how it relates to universal principles. The Universal Tao practices that involve stellar and planetary meditations can be very valuable in deepening the consciousness and understanding of healers and bodyworkers. Balancing the planet and star energies will result in deep, long-lasting changes in the lives of both healing practitioners and patients. When the energies are balanced, universal information naturally reaches us in a more harmonious way, and many of the blockages on the physical, emotional, and mental levels gradually dissolve. CRANIAL FLEXION AND EXTENSION THE FIVE ELEMENTS, FIVE STAR PALACES, FIVE PLANETS, AND FIVE CRANIAL BONES The five planets are the physical representations of the different awareness layers in the solar system. They are also a materialized form of the law of the five elements. The law of the five elements is an important principle in ancient and modern Chinese society. It is used in medicine, astrology, politics, and a variety of other fields. Some Taoist meditation practices link the planets with the cranial bones. Others make connections between the stars and the sutures between the cranial bones. One Taoist practice places the planet Saturn in the heart, Mars above the head, Mercury under the feet, Venus in the right palm, and Jupiter in the left palm. In the Universal Tao practice, we see the cranial system as our own compact representation of the five planets (the central part of the solar system) and the five star palaces (the five regions of the heavens defined by projecting the four directions and the center into the sky). The five main cranial bones are in direct connection with the energies of the planets, stars, and elements, and react directly on all information coming through this channel. From the cranial bowl, the energy moves down into the organs and different body systems. Awareness of the cranial system and its connection to the planetary, stellar, elemental forces helps us to: Create a direct contact with the universe and its enormous energy source. Gain insight in our karmic influences as determined by various planets and stars. Develop the ability to understand our present lives, reactions, and physical, emotional, and mental condition. Stabilize and integrate these various energies. FIVE ELEMENTS, PALACES, PLANETS, CRANIAL BONES Once a clear connection with the planets is established, the stellar/galactic energies from the five palaces can be integrated. With continued practice, direct contact with the law of the five elements in the vibrational world can be achieved. The bone structure is our most dense body system. The crystalline and mineral structure of the bones has (besides its supportive function) a primary role in attracting high energy frequencies. Also, the hormonal activities in the glands in the head have an important role. Both the hormones and mineral structures are very condensed substances that have the ability to attract the extremely high vibrations of spiritual energies and star frequencies. OPEN AND CLOSED CRYSTAL ROOM When the crystal room is open, there is a connection to the universe. When the crystal room is closed—due to too much mental activity, stress, low energy, and negative emotions—there is no universal connection. The glands serve as transmitters and transformers of the subtle (high) energy frequencies, which can then enter into the organs and the layers of the body that have a lower vibration. These channels can only be experienced in the silence of the empty spaces between the turbulent activity of emotions and thoughts. The planetary and stellar connection generally depends on two different factors: prenatal and postnatal. The prenatal influence is the karmic information we carry into each incarnation. This is based on the tasks and messages the soul receives during the incarnation process, according to the sum of past life experiences. The postnatal influence is the physical, emotional, and mental conditions of our life, which greatly affect our ability to receive information from the universe. If we get too busy and mentally overactive, stress gathers in our body and we feel increasingly separated from ourselves and from life. This condition makes it impossible to take in information from the universe. TOP VIEW OF THE CRANIUM BACK VIEW, LEFT SIDE, AND FRONT SIDE OF THE CRANIUM, WITH ASSOCIATED PLANET FORCES EARTH ELEMENT WOOD ELEMENT METAL ELEMENT FIRE ELEMENT WATER ELEMENT BALANCING PLANETARY AND EARTH ENERGIES INNER BALANCE To prevent overheating the body and energy system while working with the Universal Tao practices, it is necessary to mix the planetary energies with the five elemental forces and the cooling energy of earth. The combination of planetary energies and the energies of the five elements gives a more balanced and stable energy. We can breathe in these energies through the third eye, the skin near the related organ, or the navel. Earthly Connections for the Planetary Energies Jupiter Mars Saturn Venus Mercury Liver Heart Spleen Lungs Kidneys Tree/Wood energy Fire/Flame energy Earth/Soil energy Lake/Metal energy Water/River energy Green Red Yellow White Blue The energies of the wind, sky, thunder, lightning, lakes, and flowers are also very useful. All natural energies are a direct source of cosmic energy for us. THREE ASPECTS OF THE EARTH FORCE The planet earth has three different energies. The different layers of the planet have different energetic qualities and colors. If we tune in to the surface of the earth, we connect to the earth/soil quality, which is yellow. If we tune in to the energy radiated by the earth’s centrifugal force, we perceive a cool, blue energy. If we go deeper into the earth, we can perceive a warm, orange/red energy, which is related to the earth’s core. The energy of the inner earth relates more to the female quality while the energy of the surface of the earth relates more to the male quality. According to traditional Taoist teachings, women are more yin in their overall energetic constitution, and men are more yang. Women are warmer inside than men, and this warmth is found in the quality of the eggs in the ovaries. Men on the other hand are cooler inside; the quality of sperm is also cool. A central aim of Taoist practice is to balance the yin/yang, female/male, and earth/heaven forces. HEAVEN AND EARTH FORCES IN MEN AND WOMEN THE PALACES AND CONSTELLATIONS As we have previously noted, the star world is divided into five parts called the five palaces, which are the five regions of the celestial sphere defined by projecting the four directions and the center into the heavens. In Chinese astrology, the five palaces and the twenty-eight lunar mansions (periods of the lunar zodiac) are fundamental. The twenty-eight constellations are divided into four groups of seven around the central palace. There are 182 stars in these twenty-eight constellations. In the past the four groups of constellations were believed to comprise four giant constellations. These mythical animals were called the guardians of the four palaces. Eastern Palace—Green Dragon (32 Stars) Northern Palace—Blue Turtle (35 Stars) Western Palace—White Tiger (51 Stars) Southern Palace—Red Bird (64 Stars) In the advanced Taoist immortality practices of Kan and Li, the palaces are connected with the hands and feet. Through the connection of the extremities and the crown with the five palaces we can integrate the galactic energy more easily. STAR PALACES AND CONSTELLATIONS FIVE PALACES AND COLORS UNIVERSAL FORCES The North Star is the balancing point above the five palaces, and the sun is the balancing point above the planets. The sun and the North Star are gates to a higher dimension and to higher energy frequencies in the universe. The earth and moon are used to keep the grounding and to integrate high frequency energies in the physical body. In order to pass through sun and North Star gates, balance and integration of the underlying energies are required. INTEGRATING THE DIFFERENT FREQUENCIES IN THE CRANIUM 8 How to Use Planetary Forces in Your Life SUN AND MOON The sun/moon balance is an important preparatory practice. (See also Meditation 1 in chapter 10). The sun and moon energies were a major influence in the development of human consciousness as it evolved from more primitive life forms (mammals and reptiles). Biological Evolution of Consciousness Area of Brain Neocortex: Self-Consciousness, Human Limbic System: Feelings, Emotions, Mammal State Brain Stem: Basic Life Features, Reptile State Approximate Time Formed 200 million years ago 300 million years ago 500 million years ago LLIMBIC SYSTEM, BRAIN STEM, AND NEOCORTEX The development of the neocortex as well as the etheric brain is the product of 500 million years of evolution. About 100 million years ago, the multiple-layer structure of the neocortex was formed. This process is still evolving. At the highest level of awareness, the neocortex expands energetically beyond the physical boundaries of the skull. This expanded “aural brain” connects one to the higher, godly levels, and facilitates clairvoyant vision and enlightenment. These auras have been depicted as golden crowns or halos in paintings of Christian saints. The hot essence of accumulated yang energy generates fire and gives birth to the sun. The cold essence of accumulated yin energy makes water and gives birth to the moon. The sun’s “cloud soul” and moon’s “white soul” are the yang and yin manifestations of the energy around our planet. The yang energy is manifested in three: heaven, sun, and constellations. The animal associated with sun energy is the three-legged crow. The sun crow stands for lively consciousness. Names that were used for the sun include “radiant numen” (yao ling) and “vermilion luminosity” (chu ming). As did most cultures, the Taoists saw the sun as the supreme, life-giving force on earth. It is the grand yang energy. The sun crow belongs to the west and has a metal energy. It is of the “yin class” and in this way clarifies and balances the light of the sun. The moon is the grand yin energy, and is complementary to the sun. The moon animal is the toad; its nature is cold and watery. The moon toad belongs to the east and has a wood energy. It is of the “yang class,” thus strengthening and illuminating the moon. Notice that the animals that correspond to the sun and moon have important counterbalancing qualities; one always finds a balancing element in Taoist medicine. The moon plays a vital role, and its value is frequently underestimated. The moon is associated with female energy, and the lack of appreciation of the role of the moon is related to the low social status of women in the East and the unbalanced view of male/female energy around the world. The moon represents “potential”; it is the receptive form of spirit. Its true brightness is latent and dependent on the light of the sun, but its cool yin energy is constant and independent. The moon is the magic mirror, reflecting the consciousness and light of the sun and bringing them to the core of the body, to our sexual potential. The water energy of the moon is closely related to the sexual energy and all body fluids. The phases of the moon strongly influence all fluids in the body and therefore human behavior. The moon energy finds its most important entrance point to the body in the sacrum. It represents the unconscious relation to the past, sexuality, and basic instinctive reactions. The moon’s journey around the earth represents the yin principle in the cosmos and in our world. The sun has a connection with the third eye and the pituitary gland. It is the star connected with consciousness and future vision. It functions as a source of consciousness and compassion and as a gate to the higher universe. The sun is also connected to the heart center, and has a controlling and regulating effect on the heart energy. The sun and moon energies contribute to keeping a balance between the lower Tan Tien (belly) and the middle Tan Tien (heart). Imbalances can also relate to the influences from the planets. When the five planets are not in balance, it is hard to receive the deep frequencies of the sun, and the sexual energy becomes distorted. A strong connection to the sun will have a balancing function throughout the whole body. Once the sun energy is collected in the heart, and the moon energy is collected in the sexual center, these two energies can be moved toward the lower Tan Tien. The most vital blood channels in the body, the aorta and the vena cava, can be used for this. The artery system, which the aorta belongs to, distributes the blood outward. It works with clear, red, oxygenated blood. It is a more yang/futureoriented system, so it has more sun qualities. The vein structure, including the vena cava, withdraws the blood from the outside. Dark or bluish blood is transported here, which will first go through the kidneys to be purified. It is a more yin/past-oriented system and has more moon qualities. Harmonizing the aorta and vena cava and the rest of the cardiovascular system will magnify the sun and moon meditations. SUN AND MOON ENERGY CHANNELS IN THE BODY A strong moon connection can give access to deeper, unconscious behavior and enable us to shine a light in the dark or transform unconsciousness into consciousness. The sexual essence, governed by the moon energy, will stimulate all energies in the body, both positive and negative. A strong stimulus of moon energy without an open sun connection can cause emotional problems and distorted sexual behavior. In the Taoist way of energy cultivation, the sun controls the hours between midnight and noon (yang energy). The moon controls the hours between noon and midnight (yin energy). Sometimes it is said that all hours of sleep before midnight count double because of the strong yin energy that charges us at that time. Taoist masters also saw the sun and moon as the eyes of heaven, corresponding to human eyes. The left eye, which is connected to the rational or intellectual part of the brain, relates to the sun, while the right eye, which is connected to the more intuitive part of the brain, relates to the moon. MOON AND SUN EYES We can use the sun and moon energies to create balance between the two hemispheres of the brain. Always integrate the sun and moon energies in the heart center, third eye, and the sexual center/sacrum before using the sun and moon energies during meditation. This is to prevent overheating the heart. In volume one of Taoist Cosmic Healing, we learned to create a Chi field and to call forth the energies of the elements for use in healing. This simple meditation is another example of how to utilize the elements. Using the power of the mind, bring the yang sun Chi and the yin moon Chi into the heart cen-ter, the third eye, and the sexual center. Imagine the golden sun Chi blending with the silver moon Chi in each center. See the two colors spiral together into clean, light, balanced pearls of white light inside the body. Once the pearls of balanced Chi have been established, stop and rest and allow this energy to flow into the rest of the body. It is important to utilize the moon and sun frequencies to get a balance between water and fire energy in the body and then to increase the levels of both energies. The moon’s color is yellow, its essence is red, and its rays are silver-white. The Taoist practices for the moon are done according to the eight articulations of the moon power, which occur during the two solstices, the two equinoxes, and the first day of the four seasons. The following diagram, from a second-century Taoist text, shows the interaction of the sun and moon in relation to the twelve directions and the five elements. METHOD OF THE ELIXIR MARS AND MERCURY Mars and Mercury are the planets of fire and water, respectively. They are on a lower vibration level than the sun. Mars is the planet of fire. Mars relates to the tongue, speech, and the physical heart. Mars energy is more male and future oriented. If the Mars energy is too strong in relation to the other energies, one may get aggressive and too talkative. This is often caused by weakness of the kidneys. Most heart problems are caused by depletion of the kidneys and the sexual energy. If Mars is too weak, the heart function/fire is withdrawn and the person feels weak. The kidneys are the seat of the sexual essence and store the ancestral energy; they have a governing function on the sexual center. If the kidneys are depleted, sexual energy will also be weak. Fire is inactive in isolation and needs the presence of the other elements to stay balanced. The play between water and fire is found in the controlling cycle of the five elements. Mars and the sun can be seen as fire qualities; Mercury and the moon are water qualities. This demonstrates the double nature in the fire element (primary and secondary fires) and the double formation of the water element (urogenital system). MARS AND MERCURY HEART AND KIDNEYS CREATIVE AND CONTROLLING CYCLES The sun and moon can be placed internally. As we mentioned earlier in this chapter and in book one, we may use external energies internally, so one may place the sun and moon Chi in specific places in the body for specific reasons. Similarly, one may connect with and use all of the elements. In the five-element creative cycle, water will give birth to wood, wood to fire, fire to earth, and earth to metal. It is a cycle of expansion and contraction in five stages (see Fusion of the Five Elements by Mantak Chia). In the Taoist spiritual practice this interaction is compared with cooking. Water controls fire. If the kidneys/sexual (water) energy potential dries up, one cannot control the heart (fire) energy. The water energy of the kidneys/sexual center has a cooling and balancing effect on the fire energy of the heart center. On the other hand, if the fire is too weak, the body can get very cold and the spine and hip area can become very stiff. At the same time there is a controlling cycle that balances the five elements. The controlling cycle relates to elements that “control” other elements. For example, water controls fire by being able to drench it and put it out. CONCEPTION AND GOVERNING VESSELS INTERACT WITH PLANETS The conception vessel connects to Mars and the sun, the governing vessel connects to Mercury and the moon. The sun/moon meditation and to a lesser degree the Mars/Mercury meditation can help people who have problems integrating their experiences of the past and balancing their concerns for the future. Today many people are stuck in past experiences. These experiences have an emotional charge and are related to pain that may be constantly denied or intellectually repressed. For these people, the sun connection will bring relief, more vision of the future, and another view of their past. Others strive only for future experiences and run away from themselves constantly. The moon/Mercury meditations will bring them closer to where they come from and to the forces and influences that have shaped their emotional body. BALANCING WATER AND FIRE VENUS AND JUPITER The distinction between left-brain activity and right-brain activity has been a popular topic for many decades. Studies have shown that the left brain governs thinking that is more sequential, analytical, objective, and that tends to focus on parts. The right brain governs thinking that is more random, intuitive, subjective, and that tends to focus on wholes. Our focus points in heaven and the body determine how we perceive this reality. DISTINCT LEFT AND RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS The wood element force has a strong influence on the right side of the body, the metal element force on the right, and the earth element force in the middle, which acts as a balance. This is a direct influence from the realm of spiritual law straight down to the physical body. The central stabilizing earth aspect is also found in the energy of the spleen and pancreas. The white stars and Venus activate the left, more rational part of the brain, which is traditionally associated with male energy. The green stars and Jupiter activate the right, more emotional part of the brain, which is traditionally associated with female energy. JUPITER AND VENUS The nerves cross in the neck, so the left brain regulates the right side of the body, with the liver as the center point. The right brain regulates the left side of the body, with the spleen and the pancreas as the center point. These energies then enter more directly into the organs and body system. The right brain is related to individual body and emotional awareness, and has a downward energy related to the spleen. The left brain deals mostly with social, external, and rational activities, and has a rising energy related to the liver and gall bladder. The neocortex (the most complex part of the human brain) developed from the mammalian limbic system. In more primitive brain states, the mental and social abilities are very limited. The limbic system has a basic center in both hemispheres of the brain. This center, called the amigdala, deals with deep emotional experiences (affection, safety, and other primal needs). The human neocortex facilitates the ability to connect with other people and the universe. But we must not forget to be in touch with our feelings and our body. If the right brain is overactive and the left-brain energy is blocked, the person tends to feel isolated, overemotional, and stuck in the past (with no spirit connection). If the left brain is overactive and the right-brain energy is blocked, the person has a hard time getting in touch with the emotions and body awareness. They tend to rationalize things and have a hard time feeling involved with others or even with themselves. A left/right brain balance is crucial for a state of well-being. The planetary and star meditations can be a tremendous help in keeping or creating this balance. SATURN The universal earth element is the center point in the planetary and star system. It balances the energies of Mars/Mercury and Jupiter/Venus. It is also related with the central thrusting channel, which connects the crown with the perineum. The elemental earth force of Saturn meets the elemental earth force of the earth in the solar plexus and middle Tan Tien. The Saturn and earth quality is of major importance in balancing the energy in the solar plexus between liver and gall bladder on one side and the spleen and stomach on the other. Bodily stress is created by an imbalance between the internal and external world, primarily stored in the solar plexus. These days many people have trouble with their digestive system. Men tend to get a blocked and overheated liver and gall bladder, caused by irritation and anger. Women often suffer from spleen weakness, caused by worry and doubt, from which kidney imbalances originate. Saturn energy has a strong balancing effect that is often experienced physically in the skull during meditations, in the form of movements, pain, or pressure. LET THE SATURN FORCE GO DOWN THROUGH THE PERINEUM. HOW TO FIND YOUR STRONGEST AND WEAKEST PLANETS OF INFLUENCE The easiest way discover which planet is your planet of strongest and weakest influence is to observe how you connect with the qualities, colors, and pictures that are associated with each planet. Observe the reactions in your body, and feel the energy that arises. If you take some time focusing on each planet, you will soon find which quality/element feels the most natural and easy to you. At the same time, you will also feel what is missing. If you study the typical qualities of each planet, you will recognize much in your daily life. (Also, use the meditations in chapter 10.) Regular evaluation will soon reveal that the energy of one of the planets is always present and that the energy of another may be deficient. It is interesting to meet people who have an abundance of the qualities we are missing. These individuals have something to teach us, but we may not like them because we may feel that they confront us too much. Observe and feel where and how they get this energy. Remember that the first goal is the sun state —the state of compassion that grows out of the virtues of all the organs and planets. BREAKING THROUGH THE CIRCLE OF ATTRACTIONS AND ADDICTIONS Balancing the planetary, galactic, and elemental forces helps us to clearly see the underlying causes of many problems in life, such as emotional patterns, addictions, irresponsible behaviors, and low self-esteem. At an emotional level, these patterns can only be temporarily released; at a mental level, they are often ignored or rigidly controlled. When we see the higher meaning and origin of these problems, and correct the information and energy imbalances that are causing them, they lose their reason for existing and gradually dissolve. THE THREE TRANS-SATURNAL PLANETS The three trans-Saturnal planets are not commonly used in the Eastern astrological systems because they were undiscovered until the last century. They can be seen as the higher octaves or frequencies of the nearer planets, which reflect the coevolution of human consciousness with universal changes. Water Metal Fire Mercury Venus Mars Uranus Neptune Pluto Thyroid Gland Thymus Gland Adrenal Gland It is not necessary to work with these planets in your meditations, but they can be used to provide an extra dimension. Sometimes they come up spontaneously during meditation. Because of their influence on the social field, they often arise in group meditations. In the Universal Tao System, eight planets are used with the eight energies of the pa kua, as seen in the illustration below. PA KUA AND PLANETS More study and meditation will bring clearer information on Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, as well as their cranial connection. The trans-Saturnal planets are the field between the basic planets (which correspond to the organs) and the stars (which correspond to the glands). They work on the lower frequency and the more physical, hormonal function of the glands. According to our experiences and those of other practitioners during group meditations, the following entrance points can be used for the trans-Saturnal planets. ENTRANCE POINTS FOR THE TRANS-SATURNAL ENERGIES Pluto enters above the Mars area, Neptune around the hair spiral area above the Mercury area, and Uranus at an angle of about 45°, just a few centimeters above the ears. 9 Universal Healing Connections CREATING A CHI FIELD FOR COSMIC HEALING Up to this point in this book, we have primarily provided a conceptual foundation and framework for Taoist cosmology and the advanced Universal Tao healing practices. We will now turn our attention to some of the most important Universal Tao practices. Fundamental to working with Chi is creating a Chi field, which is a containment area for all the Chi you might want for your Chi practice. The area can be as large or as small as you want. It can cover a city, a farm, your neighborhood, your home, a room, a group of people, or just yourself. You can create Chi fields within Chi fields, as many as you like. Use your power of visualization to project a dome-shaped, protective covering around yourself, a group of people, or whatever suits your situation. Think of the dome as a semipermeable membrane that will allow Chi in but will not allow it to leak out. It will also prevent unwanted forces or emanations from coming into your space, somewhat like the ozone layer that protects the earth. The dome may be as large or small as you want it to be. This Chi field will contain the universal, cosmic, and environmental Chi that you draw into it. You can create a Chi field to protect your house. In rural areas, Chi fields have been used to protect and fortify farmlands, resulting in greatly enriched produce and increased yields of agricultural products. We should also cover ourselves with a Chi field when we do our Chi cultivation practices. Teachers should create a Chi field in order to impart more powerful experiences when guiding students in meditative processes. Cosmic Healing practitioners should create a Chi field for a powerful healing environment. To prepare a Chi field for use in healing, first connect with the forces of the six directions (north, south, east, west, above, and below) and create a Chi field. Creating a Chi field is very important. Sense the power of thunder and lightning filling the Chi field with energy. Create a domed Chi field to cover the room you are doing a healing session in. Sense that the room has become electrified. Draw in the power of the lakes, forests, oceans, sun, stars, and high mountains. When you are ready, inhale and draw in the energy from the galaxy and universe. Next, be aware of your lower Tan Tien, and draw up this energy and pour it over the crown. Feel the energy come to your crown and let the energy flow. Feel numbness and tingling. Focus on the soles of the feet. Gradually feel that the room has become charged with universal Chi. Imagine a bright star about six inches above your head. This is your personal star, and it can be used like a computer to customize Chi from outside sources for your personal use. It can also be used to connect yourself to others or bring energy from outside sources directly into the crown point. Close your eyes and feel the personal stars of all the individuals participating in the healing session. Visualize all the personal stars becoming linked by a line of energy, beginning in the left corner of the room and continuing in a clockwise direction. Visualize the line of energy spiraling out clockwise to link all the participants’ personal stars with your own personal star. Next, project an energy body above you in the dome. (See Taoist Cosmic Healing for detailed instruction about projecting an energy body.) Then project an individual vertical connection from the energy body to each participant. Link all the stars, including your own star, to the energy body. The size and shape of the energy body is not important; just have the idea and the sense that it is there for you to use. This tool provides you with an immediate resource to draw from when you distribute energy to the participants. When you are guiding and teaching a meditative process, keep your awareness of your lower Tan Tien and the universe, and guide the students via the energy body for enhanced power and effectiveness. You may do this by telling the students to imagine the Chi in the energy body doing specific things and then telling them to visualize that Chi streaming down from the energy body and going into or through the physical body of each person in the room. For yourself, relax the analytic mind and let it sink down into the lower Tan Tien. Fill the lower Tan Tien with Smiling Sunshine Chi. (See Taoist Cosmic Healing for instruction in this practice.) Be aware of your heart; let love, joy, and happiness fill the lower Tan Tien. Extend the Chi in your lower Tan Tien up to the universe, multiply its energy, draw it down to the energy body, and then distribute this energy to those present. ACTIVATING THE THREE FIRES AND HEALING WITH THE CHI FIELD The Universal Tao practices strengthen our connection to the universe and open us up to the primordial force of the cosmos and the energy within nature. We are dynamically connected to the infinite. “As above, so below” is an echo of wisdom heard from sages and mystics throughout the ages. When we can connect to and absorb the energy that surrounds us, we are able to tap into the many splendors of the universe. We exist because of the unique combination of the forces that are around and within us. The two main forces are electricity and magnetism. Bioelectromagnetism is the Western term for life force and what the Tao refers to as Chi. For the last five thousand years, the Taoists have utilized bioelectromagnetism to enhance their way of life and to establish a relationship with the universe. Bio signifies life, electro refers to the universal (yang) energies of the stars and planets, and magnetism refers to the (yin) earth force or gravitational force present on all planets and stars. As we align ourselves with these forces, we become a conduit through which we can absorb and digest these energies through the body, mind, and spirit, thus establishing a direct connection with the universe. The Taoists recognized this connection and created the Chi Kung practices to enhance our relationship to and our understanding of this connection. Humans normally access bioelectromagnetic energy through food and air. Plants take the universal energies of the sun and the magnetic energies of the earth and digest and transform them, thereby making these energies available to all living beings. Taoists believe that the food sources with the purest form of energy are the green leafy vegetables, which have taken sunlight directly into their cells. Rather than waiting until the energy in the universe is processed through plants, the Taoist goes directly to the source of this primordial energy. There are various meditational Chi Kung exercises that enable practitioners to directly tap into the energy of the universe and direct this energy precisely. An important Universal Tao practice is the activation of the three fires, which are the three sources of fire energy contained within the lower abdomen (the lower Tan Tien), the “door of life” (the adrenal/kidney fire at the Ming Men point), and the heart center. Opening these centers fills the body with energy and life force. 1. Stand with the feet together. Feel the connection to the earth through the soles of the feet. Project your mind and extend your Chi into the earth. Continue extending your mind power and Chi until you feel the connection to the infinite space beyond the earth. 2. Hold the palms down, parallel to the ground, lifting up the fingers. Connect to the earth energy through the center of the palms. 3. Move the arms and palms out slightly to the front of the body (palms still facing down). As the arms move, expand your mind and feel the connection to the earth and the infinite space below you. 4. Gently pull the hands and arms back toward the body. As the arms move, feel the Chi flowing through your body and condensing into the lower Tan Tien. Continue to push and pull the energy with your arms and palms six to nine times, expanding your mind and gathering Chi from the infinite space into the lower Tan Tien. 5. Lift your arms and face the palms toward the lower Tan Tien. Feel as if you are holding a huge Chi ball on the lower Tan Tien. Feel the connection between the fire in the lower Tan Tien and the fire energy in the universe. Feel the warmth spread through the entire body. 6. Expand your awareness to the infinite space behind you. Move your hands to the back and hold a huge Chi fire ball on the door of life (the adrenal/kidney or Ming Men area, which is located between the second and third lumbar vertebrae just beneath the two kidneys and opposite the navel). 7. Feel the Chi ball pulsing and breathing, drawing energy into the body from the infinite space behind you. 8. Lift the hands, palms facing up, to the sides of the body under the arm pits. Feel the Chi from the fingers extend into your chest igniting the fire in the heart center. 9. Allow the heart center to open, pulsing and breathing with Chi. 10. Feel all three fires (the lower Tan Tien, the door of life, and the heart center) activated and resonating together. To further activate the fire of the lower Tan Tien, feel the energy behind and below the navel become warm as you direct a golden sunshine smile down from your face. Imagine that the energy in your abdomen is like a fireball. Create a stove burning with fire close to the sacrum and lower lumbar vertebrae. It is helpful to use the breath and to imagine the breath fanning the fire. The Taoists describe it as a burning stove that energizes the other fires in the body. LOWER TAN TIEN FIRE To further activate the fire of the door of life (the adrenal-kidney/Ming Men fire), be aware of the yang energy of the adrenals, which are above the kidneys. Move that yang energy down into the center of each kidney. This creates a “yang within yin” force, also known as the “fire under the sea.” Expand the activated adrenal-kidneys energy to the Ming Men point on the spine opposite the navel and just below the kidneys. MING MEN AND HEART FIRE To further activate the fire of the heart center (also known as the imperial fire), smile down into the heart. Feel the fire of love, joy, happiness, and compassion creating softness in the heart. This will activate the consciousness of the heart. Then make a triangle, connecting the heart center with the Ming Men center and the lower Tan Tien. This triangulation doubles or triples the Chi fire power of the three fires. TRIANGULATION OF THE THREE FIRES Move from the Tan Tien up to the heart. Another foundational Universal Tao practice involves activating the Chi field and energy body for use in healing. 1. Ask the participants to relax the analytic mind and sink their awareness down into the lower Tan Tien. 2. Connect with the energy body. Move your hands down. Touch your navel. Concentrate on the lower Tan Tien. Ask the participants to follow along with you. Your fingers touch the navel, then focus on the door of life. Feel a numbness, a tingling sensation of energy flow. When you feel it, transfer it up to the crown. Visualize the energy expanding into the universe, and multiply the feeling. Then guide and transfer the universal energy down to the energy body. Always spiral the energy in the lower Tan Tien. Imagine the lower Tan Tien in the energy body and see the energy spiral. Bring this energy down through the crown point and into the lower Tan Tien of your physical body. Use your mind to imagine a spiral of Chi that builds in strength in the lower Tan Tien. Feel your Chi condense as it clears any blockages in the abdominal area. 3. Take time to work with the lower Tan Tien. Transfer your Chi to the others present. When your lower Tan Tien is very full, you actually feel the energy charge up the whole brain. At this point, your brain has a lot of Chi to extend up to the universe. 4. At this level, there is no particular color for the energy body; it depends on what you are doing. Just transfer the Chi up through your body, through the energy body, and into the universe. When it multiplies, it will be abundant when it comes back down. You cannot teach something that you do not first have yourself. When you are teaching, you are controlling the energy. You are guiding the students’ energy, and helping them to understand and experience what you are teaching. If you are happy, they feel happy; if you feel joy, they feel joy. When you experience the feeling of the bone marrow, you transfer this to the students. The students can only be as sensitive and perceptive in working with the energy as you are at that moment. You may feel pain in your body at times. If you do, just pick out the good feeling and transfer that up, otherwise the students may feel pain that is not their own pain. You have to multiply the energy that you are feeling first before transferring your energy to the students. Transfer what you are sensing (laughing bones, tingling, numbness, etc.) out to the universe. From there, spiral the energy a few times and multiply it, and then bring the increased Chi down to the energy body. It will then spread out to the participants by itself. THE THREE MINDS In the remainder of this chapter, we will explore several advanced Universal Tao practices. Before proceeding with these practices, it is important to be familiar with the Taoist principle of the “three minds” and able to combine the three minds into one. Taoist masters discovered that human beings have three minds: the upper mind, which is the observing mind; the middle mind, which is the consciousness mind; and the lower mind, which is the awareness mind (see illustration opposite). The upper mind is valuable for analytic activity and planning, but negative emotions can cause the upper mind to be agitated with excessive thinking and worrying, which drains energy. The upper mind works practically all the time, stirring up the emotions and using up to 80 percent of our body energy. We should train the upper mind to be relaxed and to just observe when we do not need to be involved in specific mental activity. The key is to “seek the released mind” by relaxing, emptying, and sinking the upper mind down into the lower mind. Western science has recently discovered that there are nerve endings in the stomach and intestines that are related to emotional responses. By smiling into the lower Tan Tien, we can activate the lower mind. We can then use the upper mind (observing mind), middle mind (consciousness mind), and lower mind (awareness mind) together, grounded in the abdomen. If we can use the lower mind more, the upper mind can rest and listen (observe) from the abdomen. The upper mind, or, as the Taoists refer to it, the “monkey mind,” can, when agitated, suppress consciousness or awareness. Once the upper mind rests, we can be conscious and aware of much that we were never conscious or aware of before. We can be at ease, save energy, and build up strength for any tasks. THREE MINDS Taoist masters fuse the three minds into one mind, known as Yi. To fuse the three minds, stand or sit, alone or with others, in meditation. Relax and empty the analytic mind. Let it sink into the lower Tan Tien by smiling down into your lower abdomen. Bring your awareness to your abdomen and fill your abdominal brain (lower mind) with Chi. When the abdomen is filled with Chi and feels nice and warm, it will rise and fill the upper brain/mind with Chi. Sink the upper mind and the middle mind into the lower Tan Tien, combining the three minds into one mind. The unified, three-mind power will move to the mid-eyebrow area. You can use this Yi to make correct decisions and to take the correct action or nonaction. FUSING THE THREE MINDS THE WORLD LINK MEDITATION The “world link meditation” is a powerful meditation in which practitioners become a communication link between the earth and the universe. To do this practice, first you fuse the three minds into the Yi, as described above. The next step is to bring the Yi power into the third eye and expand it into the six directions of the universe (into the infinite space to the north, south, east, west, above, and below). At this point, use the Yi power to connect to your personal star six inches above your head. Expand your awareness to encompass your personal star, then expand your consciousness out to the whole universe. If in a group, spiral out and link with the personal stars of everyone in the group. Create an energy body, linking everyone together with each other and with the universe. Continue to expand the awareness from the abdomen. Next, link all the personal stars and the energy body with the universe. LINK WITH THE OTHER PERSONAL STARS LNK PERSONAL STARS WITH UNIVERSAL FORCE GROUP IS LINKED TO THE HEART OF THE UNIVERSE. FORMING A COMMUNICATION LINK BETWEEN THE EARTH AND THE UNIVERSE The world link meditators can connect with friends, other Universal Tao practitioners, or others who are doing similar work to form a communication network between the earth and the universe. THE HEART OF THE UNIVERSE (GOD) Linking to the heart of the universe, the world link meditators practice “being in unconditional love.” WORLD LINK MEDITATION NETWORK, ENERGY BODY, AND HEART OF THE UNIVERSE THE SACRED CIRCLE OF FIRE The “sacred circle of fire” is a powerful practice that can protect us from all evil, whether it be sickness, misfortune, or the negative effects of the destructive thought patterns of those around us. It allows us to connect with the power of the universe. It also helps us remove doubts of our own worthiness so that we may reclaim the best that life has to offer, which is our birthright. The sacred circle of fire is a protective ring that connects us with the elemental essences and forces in the universe that both strengthen and protect us. To create the sacred circle of fire, we use a method of inner visualization that involves the power of the three minds (the observing mind, consciousness mind, and awareness mind) fused into one mind, the Yi. It enables us to get in touch with the guardian essence (guardian angel) and the forces of the six protective guardian animals of the six directions. THE SACRED FIRE CIRCLE First, activate the lower Tan Tien fire, the adrenal-kidney/Ming Men fire, and the heart center fire. Then fuse the three minds into one, and bring the Yi up to the third eye. When we use awareness and consciousness, we turn our visualization into actualization. Using our trust and belief, we can manifest what we create in visualization with good intentions. Next, visualize and imagine a big cauldron burning with fire in the cosmos (see bottom). Feel the awareness and let it happen. FIRES AND YI PROJECT A CAULDRON OF FIRE BURNING IN THE COSMOS LONG WAND AND CAULDRON CIRCLE OF FIRE Now, visualize yourself holding a long wand. Reach out to the cauldron and ignite the wand with fire. Then use the Yi power to draw on the ground with the burning wand a circle of fire that is seven feet (two meters) in diameter. Stand in the center. Face the north. Imagine the burning wand, and light up the northern section outside the circle with fire. Pass the wand in an arc toward the south edge of the circle and ignite the southern section with fire. Then swing it to the eastern edge and ignite that section with fire. Next swing it to the western edge and ignite the western section with fire. Now expand the fire to the whole circle. This circle of fire will protect you from all evil, whether it be in the form off sickness, misfortune, or negativity. Place the wand at the edge of the circle. At this point, squat down facing north. In each direction place, through visualization, a protective animal (guardian essence or angel). In front of you (north) place a blue tortoise, in back (south) a red pheasant, to the right (east) a green dragon, to the left (west) a white tiger, above (center) a yellow phoenix, and below (earth) a black tortoise. Next, create a protective golden dome Chi field over you. Let go of all concerns and empty yourself. Ask each animal for protection. These protective animals of the six directions are the same protective animals that are associated with the vital organs. For energetic protection, ask the blue tortoise for gentleness, the red pheasant for joy, the green dragon for kindness, the white tiger for courage, the yellow phoenix for fairness, and the black tortoise for stillness. Connect with the force of universal love, saying “I am worthy of divine love and protection.” IGNITING THE FOUR DIRECTIONS Remain in this position for several minutes. Be aware of the sacred fire burning all around the circle and the golden dome Chi field surrounding you. This forms a permanent, magnetic sacred circle that is literally indestructible. GOLDEN DOME CHI FIELD HEALING VISUALIZATIONS There are a number of Universal Tao practices for affirming peace within your heart and healing yourself. We will explore several of these practices in the remainder of this chapter. Begin with the following practice of affirmation. First, calm the mind, emptying the upper mind down into the abdomen and lower Tan Tien. Direct the consciousness of the heart down to the awareness of the lower Tan Tien. Combine the three minds to fuse into the one mind (Yi). Expand the Yi awareness out to the universe. The Yi mind is the most powerful mind to use when connecting with the universe. ACTIVATE THREE MINDS INTO ONE MIND Now, repeat the following affirmations from the center of your awareness and consciousness, following the instructions associated with each statement. I am at peace, feeling love and compassion in myself (touch your heart). I am calm, warm, and still in my center (touch your lower abdomen). I am at peace with my family and people close to me (picture them). I am at peace with my neighbors (picture them). I am at peace with my friends and coworkers (picture them). I am at peace with my community (picture them). I am at peace with myself and all sentient beings (feel them). Personal Healing Visualization Below is a simple but powerful personal healing visualization: 1. Empty the mind by starting a smile on your face. Let the smiling energy flow down to the neck and into the heart area (the seat of consciousness). Make the heart feel soft and full of love, joy, and happiness, activating the conscious mind. 2. Continue smiling and relaxing the mind down to the abdomen (the center of awareness). Smile, emptying the mind and senses (eyes, ears, nose, and mouth) down until the navel area feels warm, activating the awareness. 3. Feel the observing mind of the head and the conscious mind of the heart going down to combine with the awareness mind of the lower Tan Tien. Combine and fuse these three minds into one mind, the Yi, at the mideyebrow. Expand the awareness out from the abdomen beyond your physical body to the cosmos and universe, connecting with the universal energy. 4. Take the Yi and spiral it upward through the crown into the vast energy of the universe. Continue spiraling in the universe and let the energy in the Yi multiply. Then, spiral it down to your personal star and into your whole body. Forest Green Energy You can continue with this healing practice by picturing an ancient forest with bright green leaves reaching up in the universe. Then picture a beautiful, emerald green light coming from heaven, and spiral the green light down to you. Spiral the green light down through your community, your home, and then into your crown. Let it clean your whole body, binding and absorbing any negativity, burdens, worries, and sick energy, and draining it all out of your body. Let it flow down deep into the ground. Visualize digging a hole and burying the sick, negative energy in the ground. Let your heart be happy. Repeat this three to six times, thirty-six to eighty-one times for serious illnesses. FOREST GREEN ENERGY Keep the lower Tan Tien warm and expand the Yi mind to the universe. Picture a beautiful, emerald green light in the universe. SPIRAL THE GREEN LIGHT DOWN Spiral the healing light down through your community, your home, and then into your crown. CLEANSING Let the green, healing energy cleanse all that it comes into contact with. Then spiral it down into the ground. BURY THE SICK ENERGY Picture digging a hole and burying the sick, negative energy deep into the ground, never to return. It will be transformed by the earth into positive energy. Universal Violet Energy Continue your healing practice by picturing violet light, the most abundant energy in the universe. Imagine it coming from the North Star and the Big Dipper. Gather the energy in the cup of the Big Dipper. See yourself holding the handle of the Big Dipper and pouring the violet light down over your crown. Spiral the violet energy down, filling all the cells of your body, healing and strengthening the whole body. Repeat this six times. THE NORTH STAR IS A MAJOR SOURCE OF VIOLET LIGHT In the following variation of the violet light healing practice, you focus on the brain and specific organs: 1. Fill the brain with violet light, saying, “Let all sickness go away and let the brain be at its best.” 2. Follow this method for each organ, using the same affirmation. You can also work with the organs in groups: Eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth; Thyroid, parathyroid, thymus, pancreas, prostate, uterus; Lungs, heart, stomach, small intestines, large intestines; Liver, spleen, kidneys, ovaries, testicles. 3. While practicing this visualization and series of affirmations, stay conscious of the lower Tan Tien. Expand your awareness to the universe and let the universe fill you with healing energy. Activating the Immune System The following practice activates and energizes the body’s immune and defense systems: 1. Touch the sacrum and feel your fingers grow “long” with Chi and penetrate into the sacrum and bone marrow, activating the bone marrow. 2. Activate the lower Tan Tien. Expand your attention into the universe; connect with the universal energy. Allow the universal Chi to fill the sacrum and the whole body. Feel your whole body radiate, clean and shining with light. FEEL YOUR WHOLE BODY RADIATE LIGHT 3. Allow Chi to rise up the spine to the forehead. Feel pulsating in the temple bones. This increases the production of healthy white blood cells for the immune system. ALLOW CHI TO RISE UP THE SPINE TO THE FOREHEAD 4. Keep the lower Tan Tien warm and feel the Chi flow up the spinal cord, then let it spiral up into the universe. The universe will fill you with healing energy. 5. Next, touch above the pubic bone and feel your fingers grow long with Chi, as before. Let them penetrate into the bone marrow to activate the immune system’s production of red and white blood cells. Leave your fingers there and lower your mind into the lower Tan Tien. Feel the happy, laughing, and tingling sensations in the bones. TOUCH THE PUBIC BONE, ACTIVATING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM 6. Touch the middle point of the femur bones (in the upper legs). Feel your fingers grow long with Chi, penetrating the bone marrow. This should give a tingling sensation through the whole leg. It also increases the production of red blood cells. TOUCH THE FEMUR BONES 7. Touch the middle point of the humerus bones (in the upper arms). Feel your fingers grow long with Chi, penetrating the bone marrow, activating production of healthy red blood cells. 8. Next, touch the sternum. Feel your fingers grow long with Chi, penetrating the bone marrow. Let the Chi spread throughout the sternum, then expand the Chi through the whole rib cage and chest cavity, activating the thymus gland. 9. Feel the connection to the thyroid and parathyroid glands, energizing them. This activates the immune system and increases the production of white blood cells and T-cells (T-cells are a type of white blood cell that protects you from viral infections, produces antibodies, and fights cancers). Once a practitioner has an understanding of the various qualities of Chi and their effects, one may play with the energy and alter the practice to suit the needs of the moment. Strive to practice daily until Cosmic Healing Chi Kung becomes natural. Practice these guidelines and relax into who you are as a practitioner. TOUCH THE HUMERUS AND STERNUM TRANSFORMING NEGATIVE CONDITIONING AND NEGATIVE THINKING In order to maximize Chi and integrate it throughout the body, mind, and spirit, we need to get rid of subconscious guilt. Our subconscious guilt complexes are major obstacles to our health and progress, often causing illness and frustration. It is as if we have an inner program that tells us we do not deserve to have health, wealth, and happiness. We can never bring ourselves to ask the universe for anything that we do not feel worthy to receive. Humankind is naturally entitled to everything that the earth and the universe can provide for our happiness and well-being. As children of God we deserve the best. Every thought, whether positive or negative, is a command to the universe. If our lives are not how we would like them to be, it is because we have unwittingly given negative commands to the cosmos. Humans have a deep need for love and attention, and sometimes we may try to get sympathy and attention through being sick, or by becoming a victim. Subconsciously, we may send out messages to the universe to make ourselves ill; the more attention that is given to sickness and ill health, the more energy that is received from the cosmos to make that happen. Therefore, we must be careful of what we think, feel, and say if we want our lives to change for the better. We can remove all the unworthy, guilty, sinful thoughts and ideas, replacing them with the realization that we are the children of God or the cosmos. We can accept the best the universe and earth have to offer. We need not accept the results of our negative thinking. We can initiate a positive course of action. To transform negative thinking and initiate a new direction, we must become conscious of negative thought patterns and replace them with new commands of the cosmic force. To make a positive statement is to make a direct command. A command given in the present tense—in the now—is the most powerful command that we can give to the cosmos. A command to the cosmos should be phrased clearly, as an individual statement, and always said aloud. For example, we can make the command: “I am well; I am healthy; I am happy; I am wealthy.” It doesn’t matter how sick or poor we are; the fact is, the moment we make this command, we have already begun to take on these qualities. The change begins very rapidly. The cosmic force begins to work on our inner functions immediately, according to what qualities we have claimed. Success in using cosmic power depends upon how we work with and exercise our commands. Once we have set the cosmic force in motion with a direct command, we must take action. We must be willing to take responsibility for ourselves. The universe cannot accomplish everything on its own. The key is to use the cosmic force to aid our actions. If we work with the right intent, and are willing to take action and responsibility, there is no limit to what we can accomplish. Practicing Positive Mind Power, Fusing the Three Minds into One, and the Inner Smile will help. Yi Mind Power Manifestation The center of manifestation is the frontal lobe of the brain. We manifest our affirmations in the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual body by visualizing our affirmation or cosmic command from the center of awareness and then broadcasting it out to the entire universe through the frontal lobe. The following Yi Mind Power practice cultivates and directs mind power to manifest the changes we desire in our lives. 1. Empty the mind by starting a smile on your face. Let the smiling energy flow down to the neck and into the heart area/seat of consciousness. Make the heart feel soft and full of love, joy, and happiness, activating the conscious mind. 2.Continue smiling and relaxing the mind down to the abdomen/center of awareness. Smile, emptying the mind and senses. Activate the center of awareness until the navel area feels warm. 3.Feel the observing mind of the head and the conscious mind of the heart going down to combine with the awareness mind of the lower Tan Tien. Combine and fuse these three minds into one mind, the Yi, at the mideyebrow. 4.Touch the sacrum, activating it and filling it with Chi. 5.Then move the Chi up to open the frontal lobe of the brain at the third eye/mid-eyebrow. Create a triangle from the third eye to the temple bones, filling it with Chi. THIRD EYE AND TEMPLE BONES FORM A TRIANGLE MANIFEST THE MIND POWER Activate the frontal lobe by moving Chi up from the sacrum. 6. Place the attention in the abdomen. Visualize the thought that you want to manifest here. Then bring it up to the heart connection, then to the upper mind, the frontal lobe, and the mid-eyebrow. Now, broadcast it out to the entire universe. This affirmation is multiplied many times by the abundant universal energy. It will return to you to be manifested. You can also use this practice to work with and heal your physical body, emotional body, and mental body. To work with your physical body and body image, first follow the steps outlined above, fusing the three minds into one (the Yi) at the mid-eyebrow, activating the sacrum, and filling the frontal lobe with Chi. Then picture yourself at an age you would like to be, and hold that image very clearly. Hold it in the lower abdomen and then move it up to the heart area. Continue to hold this image very clearly while moving it up to the upper mind, the frontal lobe, and the mid-eyebrow. Then send it out to the universe in all six directions, saying, “I am well and perfectly healthy.” MOVE THE IMAGE UP TO THE THIRD EYE SEND THE IMAGE OUT INTO THE UNIVERSE To work with your emotional body and emotional image, follow the initial steps above, and then visualize your emotional body: See a body-shaped image composed of all kinds of moving colors. Say to yourself: “I let go of old emotional experiences, seeing them for what they are. I fill myself with radiant joy, love, and compassion.” Bring this image up to the heart center and then to the frontal lobe. Then send it out to the universe. The universe will multiply it many times and it will be sent back to you. EMOTIONAL IMAGE To work with your mental body and mental image, follow the initial steps above, and then visualize your mental body. See a body-shaped image composed of light, and say to yourself: “I make an agreement with myself to enjoy the best of life and to live the full wealth of my potential in harmony with nature and the universe.” Follow the same sequence of moving the image up to the heart, to the frontal lobe, and out to the universe. Follow these same steps in working with your spiritual body and higher self, saying: “I am at one with my God (Source) within and manifest its Glory.” Continue the sequence of moving the image up to the heart, to the frontal lobe, and out to the universe. The Yi Mind Power practice can also be very effective in helping us to solve problems. First, follow the initial steps outlined above, then: 1. Take the questions and problems that you have into your center of awareness (the lower Tan Tien/abdominal brain), then to your center of 2. 3. 4. 5. consciousness (the heart center/heart brain), then to your center of observation (the mid-eyebrow/mind brain), then broadcast them out to the entire universe. Wait for the answers and solutions to return to you clearly and distinctly. Allow them to ripen into full understanding. You can engage this practice at any time that you have questions or dilemmas or need to take action. Exhale your problem into the universe, open yourself, wait for a moment, and let go of the problem. You will become conscious of the solutions to your questions or problems. The more you practice this, the quicker and easier the results will come. You must take action when you receive energy and information in response to the questions you have presented. The way to get extra energy for this action is by breathing red light into the heart three to six times, letting it radiate into the whole body through the heart. You will feel a lot of energy enabling you to take action and complete the task. You can use the same technique to project your goals. Sometimes it helps to ask for more wisdom from the universe or cosmos in order to understand your life’s purpose. Finish the meditation by resting for a few moments and collecting the energy in your lower Tan Tien. 10 Planetary and Stellar Meditations to Increase Awareness and Sensitivity Feeling the direct connection with the planetary energies is a unique experience that carries multiple benefits for yourself and for the healing practices you carry out for others. Practitioners of the Universal Tao meditations have noted the following benefits: An increase in emotional stability and in understanding the origin of emotional patterns. An ability to connect with information and energy from the universe. Strong healing processes in the organs and the whole body. A major increase in healing power. A greater balance between the weak and strong points of one’s character. An increased ability to be deeply in touch with the different organs and systems in one’s own body and in the people one treats. Before proceeding with the planetary and stellar meditations we will explore in this chapter, prepare yourself by practicing some of the basic exercises for generating and directing Chi. These include: Iron Shirt Chi Kung, Inner Smile, Six Healing Sounds, Microcosmic Orbit, and One Finger Art. Next, practice Opening the Three Tan Tiens to the Six Directions. (See the first volume of Taoist Cosmic Healing for instruction in these practices.) Take some time to create a good contact with these energies and to integrate them into your body. Once the organs and energy centers are connected to the universal energy, the planetary forces can be integrated easily. The planetary and stellar meditations are divided into seven parts. Each meditation represents a growing level of awareness and sensitivity. As is the case with all new practices and meditations, it takes some time to build up the connection, but with practice, it soon will become easier. As with anything in life, you will only get good at it if you master the basic principles and practice daily. If you want to go quickly in the beginning, you may have to return to the basics at a later stage. Once you really get it, you can choose to connect to the planetary and galactic energies at any moment during the day. It is important to realize that in these meditations you are interacting with enormous forces. It is not the effort, but the awareness and resonance that determine the results. If you are open and receptive as you practice connecting with the planetary energies, you will find that you are affected by the energies at a level that you are able to handle. You may experience strong emotional, mental, and physical shifts in energy, but it will be manageable. However, if you try to manipulate the universe, you may suddenly be impacted by a lot more energy than you are prepared to deal with. You may soon discover that the ego has led you in this direction, and that you have “burned” yourself. Thus your energy level will decline instead of rise, with disappointment being the result. A good way to familiarize yourself and get in contact with the planetary frequencies in the solar system (also known as “awareness belts”) is to study some basic astronomy. The information and pictures in chapter 2, “Taoist Astrology and the Structure of the Universe,” can help you gain a better understanding of how the solar system really appears. Simply look at the pictures and then close your eyes, look out through the cranium, and expand your awareness. It is important to respect the correct sequence of building up this meditation practice. Start with what you can clearly register with your senses. Begin with the sun (seeing the sun, sensing its warmth), then move to the earth (seeing it, feeling its gravity and energy), then shift to the moon (seeing the moon, feeling its coolness). You need to make contact with these three forces before you will be able to connect to the other planets. You do not have to see the planets in order to feel them; what we are getting in contact with is the energy/awareness belts of the planets. The planets in their materialized form are only the center of these belts. Practice with great respect. Do not try to force these energies with your willpower. This will not work! Try to attract them. You can use the Eastern or Western astrological signs for the planets during the meditations by projecting them into the image of the planets, but it’s better to start with only the color and quality of the planet. To practice the following planetary meditations, complete each step before moving on to the next. MEDITATION 1: EARTH-SUN-MOON TRIANGLE 1. Warm up with several basic exercises (Inner Smile, Cosmic Chi Kung, Tai Chi, Tao Yin, and others). 2. Practice Opening the Three Tan Tiens to the Six Directions. 3. Integrate the Inner Smile and the MCO (Microcosmic Orbit). 4. Connect to the Mother Earth force. Breathe deeply into the earth with every exhalation. Thank the earth for her love and nourishment. Breathe in the cool blue energy through the soles, the palms, and the perineum. Store this energy in your lower Tan Tien. This will be your safety belt and rooting during your planetary and galactic journey. 5. Bring your attention to the sacrum. 6. Picture a bright, full moon behind you, shining on your sacrum. The color of the moon can be seen and felt as silver-white. SEXUAL ENERGY 7. Breathe the moonlight into the sacrum, drawing it into the sexual center. The moonlight will be mixed inside the sexual center with the blue sexual energy. At the same time, draw the sexual energy inward. Men: pull up the sexual organ, perineum, and anus, and gently squeeze the muscles around the prostate gland. Women: softly close and contract the vagina, perineum, and anus, and gently squeeze the muscles around the ovaries and the uterus. On the exhalation (men and women) release the muscles about 90 percent but keep the Chi inside. The squeezing should be very gentle, and the other muscles in the body should remain very relaxed. Gather the energy at the sexual center. Practice this for about five to ten minutes until you feel the moonlight directly entering into the sexual center. 8. Next, bring your attention to the third eye/mid-eyebrow point. 9. Picture a bright, gold/yellow sun in front of you. Feel the light particles and the cosmic Chi tingling on your face. Absorb this light in the third eye and the pituitary gland. 10. Breathe in the light and guide it from the third eye and the pituitary gland down into the heart. CONNECTING THE SUN WITH THE THIRD EYE AND HEART 11. Make the heart sound to clean the heart and balance the heart energy. Remember, from Taoist Cosmic Healing, that the healing sound of the heart is Haww. Feel love, peace, patience, and respect while you feel the sun directly shining in your heart. Shift your focus toward the heart center, right in the middle between the nipples and behind the sternum. 12. Blend the golden/yellow color of the sunlight with the bright red color of love and compassion in the heart center. 13. Gather more sunlight in the heart center. At a certain point the heart center will open up further and will connect with the force of universal love. A deep yet unsentimental love, which can be described as “the blooming of compassion” can be experienced. 14. On the inbreath draw the silver/white moonlight into the sacrum/sexual center (blue) and at the same time draw the golden/yellow sunlight into the third eye/heart center (red). On the outbreath condense these two energies in the central point behind the navel. (See illustrations below.) Push the blue/silver/white energy up and the red/golden/yellow energy down. Keep drawing these energies in until you feel a clear connection (ten to fifteen minutes). CONNECT THE SUN AND THE MOON SUN AND MOON ENERGY IN THE BODY 15. Bring the kidney and sexual energy up through the vena cava and the heart energy down through the aorta. 16. Mix both energies in the lower Tan Tien. If you have difficulties working with the aorta and vena cava, just relax and let the two energies come together naturally in the lower Tan Tien. 17. When the love and sexual energy are combined in the sexual center, a soft orgasmic feeling will start vibrating in the lower Tan Tien, and from there through the whole body. 18. When the sun and moon energies are combined, their force is multiplied. Start slowly; do not take in too much sun and moonlight or you will begin to overheat. Give your body the time to adjust to the new energy level. If you feel that you are getting too hot, or if you have any adverse reactions or unpleasant sensations, practice the Six Healing Sounds (see Taoist Cosmic Healing) to cool down and regain equilibrium. 19. Next, move the energy from the lower Tan Tien down into the perineum and up into the Microcosmic Orbit (MCO). MICROCOSMIC ORBIT (MCO) 20. Put the emphasis on the following points and connections, stopping at each of these points to feel the external connection: Perineum—Earth Sacrum—Moon Crown—North Star/Big Dipper Third Eye—Sun 21. Circle the energy around the Microcosmic Orbit nine to eighteen times. 22. Then gather the energy in the lower Tan Tien and rest. Observe your body and energy in this resting state. Notice where the energy is moving in your body. Remain in this state for five to fifteen minutes. 23. End this meditation with Chi self-massage (see Taoist Cosmic Healing). MEDITATION 2: STRENGTHENING THE ORGANS AND BALANCING THE EMOTIONS 1. Warm up with several basic exercises (Inner Smile, Cosmic Chi Kung, Tai Chi, Tao Yin, and others). 2. Practice Opening the Three Tan Tiens to the Six Directions. 3. Integrate the Inner Smile and the MCO (Microcosmic Orbit). 4. Make a firm, condensed Chi ball in the lower Tan Tien. 5. Connect to the Mother Earth force. 6. Bring your attention to the cranium and softly touch the cranial bones with a minimum of pressure. This touch is often called the “butterfly touch,” as it is compared with the pressure you feel when a butterfly is landing on your hand. Next, connect to the craniosacral rhythm. Once you feel this rhythm, try to remain with it. Try it without hand contact. “Touch without touching”—holding your hand one to two centimeters from the skull. FEELING THE CRANIAL RHYTHM 7. Expand this cranial awareness to a distance of five to fifty centimeters away from the physical body. This will greatly increase the sensitivity in your skull and the craniosacral structure. 8. Make the connection between the organs, the cranium, and the related planets. Take a moment and connect your mind to your major organs, remembering the healing colors from Taoist Cosmic Healing. Next, bring your awareness to the head and let the awareness rise above to the planets. In time, this practice will blend into one sensation. 9. Put one hand (the “receiving hand,” usually the nonpredominant one) on the spleen/pancreas area and fill these organs with the bright yellow light of openness, fairness, and trust. Put the second hand (the “giving hand,” usually the predominant one) in the “beak position” softly on the crown point to make the internal connection with the sphenoid bone (see illustration above). 10. Hold this position and let the Chi move between the hands and between the sphenoid and the pancreas/spleen. Once you feel the connection, put the hands together in front of the lower Tan Tien. Then expand your cranial structure and look up with your eyes through your crown. 11. Visualize a bright yellow planet above you, the planet Saturn. Let the light of the planet Saturn shine down into the crown and the sphenoid bone and then directly down into the spleen and the pancreas. Feel the direct connection and feel how the spleen and pancreas are activated through this contact. 12. Feeling this connection may take some time, but once it has been established, the planets become like powerful batteries, charging your organs. Use this same procedure for the five main organs and planets, following the diagrams. 13. Use an open hand on the other bones in the cranial system and not a “beak hand” as on the sphenoid bone. Use your giving hand on the cranium and your receiving one on the organs. 14. After you have finished working with the five main organs and planets in this way, picture all five planets above the crown and let their light shine into the five cranial entrances and further down into the organs. Then bring all these energies together in the the lower Tan Tien, forming a condensed Chi ball. 15. Next, move this energy through the Microcosmic Orbit, making nine to eighteen cycles. SPLEEN/PANCREAS, SPHENOID BONE, AND SATURN 16. Then gather the energy again in the lower Tan Tien and rest, receptively observing the body and the movement of energy. 17. End with Chi self-massage. Note that during this meditation, you may meet different negative or undesirable emotions. Keep smiling down into the organs to enhance the virtue energy. If negative emotions keep bothering you, exhale them deeply into the earth and make the related healing sound. Fill the space with positive or virtue energy. (The virtue energies and healing sounds are discussed in detail in Taoist Cosmic Healing.) LUNGS, LEFT PARIETAL BONE, AND VENUS LIVER, RIGHT PARIETAL BONE, AND JUPITER HEART, FRONTAL BONE, AND MARS KIDNEYS, OCCIPITAL BONE, AND MERCURY MEDITATION 3: STRENGTHENING THE BODY SYSTEMS AND INCREASING THE ENERGY FIELD After you have practiced the second meditation for a while it will become easier to feel the connection with the planetary forces. The third meditation uses the technique of the second meditation but adds two factors: the five earthly elemental forces and the expansion of the planet/organ energy into the body structures. This practice will strengthen the different organs and body systems. It will also create balance in your energy structures. Sickness and negative energy will be discharged, and your energy field will greatly improve. 1. Warm up with several basic exercises (Inner Smile, Cosmic Chi Kung, Tai Chi, Tao Yin, and others). 2. Practice Opening the Three Tan Tiens to the Six Directions. 3. Integrate the Inner Smile and the MCO (Microcosmic Orbit). 4. Make a firm, condensed Chi ball in the lower Tan Tien. 5. Connect to the Mother Earth force. 6. Go through the same five planets/organ cycle as in the second meditation, but now add the elemental force related to each organ: spleen-earth, lungsmetal, kidneys-water, liver-wood, heart-fire. Spend some time building up a connection with the different elemental forces. 7. Next, mix the elemental and planetary energies in the organs (see illustration opposite). 8. Then let the energy/color/virtue expand in the body systems until the whole body is filled and the energy radiates out into the aural field. Work with the organs/cranial bones/planets/elements/body systems in sequence outlined in the following steps. 9. Spleen/sphenoid bone/Saturn/earth element/muscular system. Earth energy can also be used in the lymphatic system. 10. Lungs/left parietal bone/Venus/metal element/breathing system. 11. Liver/right parietal bone/Jupiter/wood element/tendon and ligament system. 12. Heart/frontal bone/Mars/fire element/arterial and veinous system. 13. Kidneys/occipital bone/Mercury/water element/bone structure and hormonal system. SPLEEN/SPHENOID BONE/SATURN/EARTH ELEMENT/MUSCULAR SYSTEM After working with each organ/cranial bone/planet/element/body system, you will feel a strong, multicolored energy filling and surrounding your whole body. 14. Complete the meditation by adding the sun and moon energy. The sun is connected to the fire element, the pericardium, the third eye, and the lymph/immune system. The moon is connected to the water element, the sexual organs, the sacrum, and the hormonal system. 15. Envision all of the planets above and around you. Just relax and let the energy move freely throughout your body. THE PLANETS’ FORCES BEAM DOWN TO THE CRYSTAL ROOM 16. Gather the energy in the lower Tan Tien until you feel a Chi ball. Condense it firmly. 17. Cycle the Chi ball through the Microcosmic Orbit. 18. Then gather it again in the lower Tan Tien and rest, receptively observing for several minutes. 19. End with Chi self-massage. NATURAL FORCES MEDITATION 4: CONNECTING TO THE STELLAR AND GALACTIC FORCES Connecting with the stellar and galactic forces is a very strong form of meditation. It brings enormous amounts of energy into the body. The stellar and galactic meditation can be approached in two ways: the “six-direction method” and the “five-palace method.” For either approach, always begin with the preparatory practices (explained in Taoist Cosmic Healing): 1. Warm up with several basic exercises (Inner Smile, Cosmic Chi Kung, Tai Chi, Tao Yin, and others). 2. Practice Opening the Three Tan Tiens to the Six Directions. 3. Integrate the Inner Smile and the MCO (Microcosmic Orbit). 4. Make a firm, condensed Chi ball in the lower Tan Tien. 5. Connect to the Mother Earth force. GALAXY CONNECTION IN THE SIX DIRECTIONS AND GALAXY CONNECTION WITH THE FIVE PALACES In the six-direction method, golden yellow is the color used most frequently, but any other colors can be incorporated as they manifest. The entrance points are the crown, the third eye, the navel, the door of life/Ming Meditations Men point, and the feet. This meditation will balance the energy throughout the body since the connection points are in the head, body, and legs. The bottom galaxy is reached through the earth, which means that good grounding is easy. This takes away the risk of overheating. Always remember that galactic energy is enormously powerful; maintain a respectful attitude as you work with these energies. (Universal Tao’s instructional video Cosmic Healing Chi Kung: Six Directions Channeling provides a thorough explanation of this practice.) In the five-palace method, the energy is brought into the body through the cranium, so there needs to be a good rooting and connection with the earth to balance the powerful, hot, universal energy coming in through the head. Meditation 1, “Earth-Sun-Moon Triangle” can be practiced first. It is advisable to begin with planetary connections and meditations, as the energy and heat these practices generate is lower than that of the galaxies. Once the planetary energies are balanced in the head, expand the awareness further, beyond the Milky Way and into the galactic world. Connect with the North Star and build up the connection with the five palaces around the North Star. Next, use the corresponding colors, organs, planets, elements, and cranial bones. Bring the energy all the way down to the five organs. Once you have mastered this meditation you can increase the energy level by connecting the seven stars of the Big Dipper with the bones of the skull. See illustrations, below. NORTH STAR AND BIG DIPPER CONNECTING WITH THE HUMAN BODY NORTH STAR AND BIG DIPPER CONNECTING WITH POINTS OF THE SKULL IMMORTAL CONNECTING TO THE GALACTIC FORCES CENTRAL PALACE–YELLOW GALAXY WEST PALACE–WHITE GALAXY EAST PALACE–GREEN GALAXY NORTH PALACE–BLUE GALAXY SOUTHERN PALACE–RED GALAXY MEDITATION 5: BALANCING THE PLANETARY AND STELLAR INFLUENCES Regular practice of the first four meditations will reveal to you which of the five elements is your strongest influence and which is your weakest. There are different ways you may discover this. For example, you may realize that you have a weak connection with one of the elements because you experience emotions, pain, and tension during the meditation, or you might notice an inability to sense its corresponding color, organ, or planetary influence. After practicing the first four meditations for some time, you will probably notice that you: 1. Are able to feel the connection between the corresponding planetary and galactic/palace frequencies; 2. Are able to feel the connection between the corresponding cranial bones and organs; 3. Are able expand the energies into the related body systems. One system of linked planets/star palaces/cranial bones/organs/elements/body systems will probably be very easy to feel, while another system may seem absent. This difference is due to unconscious physical, emotional, and mental imbalances. It is also possible that you may feel a particular planetary energy but not its corresponding star palace, or the other way around. Be as sensitive and clear as possible about the different energies and connections you experience, as this can provide a lot of information about your personality and soul. Once you have discovered particular imbalances and how they are anchored in your system, you can use this information during meditation as a tool to improve weaknesses in your personality and physical body. A sensitivity to your body, its emotional patterns, and its energy systems will develop over time. In the beginning, we do a lot of “practice” to become people who are ultimately selfaware at all times. We then come to experience a natural state of thinking and being in which negative issues become merely something to transform; we see them as temporary issues, not a permanent situation. The fifth planetary/stellar meditation, which uses the five-palace method illustrated, employs the principle of “full” and “empty” functions in the body. This principle is one of the most fundamental in oriental medicine. The cause of health problems essentially lies in a lack of energy and information in one part of the energy system that corresponds to an overactivity in other parts. One example of this imbalance can be seen in the way many people rely almost exclusively on particular, well-developed skills and personality characteristic to the exclusion of other abilities and traits, which are poorly developed. These imbalances may be informed by the individual’s karmic imprints or may arise from present life choices. Work with linking the energies of the star palaces, planets, cranial bones, organs, elemental forces, and body systems as you have with the preceding meditations, but focus on the energy systems with which you have the strongest and weakest connection. The principle of this meditation is that you use the excess energy from the overactive system to nurture the deficient system. As an example, let’s say you feel a strong connection with the green galaxy/Jupiter/right parietal bone/liver, but feel a weak connection with the white galaxy/Venus/left parietal bone/lungs. This might also show up in liver overactivity and lung weakness. You might notice a tendency to irritation, anger, and control as well as depression and discouragement. Use the strong connection you have with the green galaxy/Jupiter/right parietal bone/liver system to strengthen your connection with, and direct additional energy into, the white galaxy/Venus/left parietal bone/lungs system. In this way, you direct more vitality into the weak organ, and often information and insight about balancing your personality characteristics arises spontaneously. 1. Warm up with several basic exercises (Inner Smile, Cosmic Chi Kung, Tai Chi, Tao Yin, and others). 2. Practice Opening the Three Tan Tiens to the Six Directions. 3. Integrate the Inner Smile and the MCO (Microcosmic Orbit). 4. Make a firm, condensed Chi ball in the lower Tan Tien. 5. Connect to the Mother Earth force. 6. Begin the process of making the connection between the corresponding organs, cranial bones, planets, galaxies, and elemental forces, as outlined in the previous meditations. However, work first with the strongest system, in this case, the green galaxy/Jupiter/right parietal bone/liver system. Fill the body with the related color (green). 7. Next, change the color in the body and aural field to the color related to the weakest system, in this case the white galaxy/Venus/left parietal bone/lungs system (white). Draw this color inside the lungs. Put both hands on the lungs until you feel the energy tingling inside the organs. 8. Put one hand on the left parietal bone and feel the lung/left parietal connection. 9. Once you feel this connection, put your hands together in front of the navel and turn your eyes to the left, upward, and inward, looking into and through the left parietal bone and then outside of the skull in the direction of Venus and the white galaxy. 10. Visualize a clear white ball above you. At a certain point, the energy of Venus will shine down directly into the body. Keep your attention focused and expand your awareness through Venus toward the white galaxy. Do this transition from the strongest to the weakest system, using the related colors, several times until the energy feels more balanced. If the transition does not work, let the color of the strongest system (in this case, green) expand and project through the weakest system (in this case, the left parietal bone/Venus/white galaxy) until you feel the color of the weakest system clearly (in this case, white). Let the white light shine on your skull and fill up the whole body and aura. Feel both the strongest and the weakest systems, and balance their energies further into the body and the aural field. 11. To increase the effect, expand the energy into the respiratory system. Breathe through the skin of your whole body. 12. Now, gather the energy in the lower Tan Tien, making a condensed Chi ball. 13. Circulate it through the Microcosmic Orbit. 14. Then gather it again in the lower Tan Tien, and rest. 15. End with Chi self-massage. BALANCING THE ENERGY MEDITATION 6: BALANCING THE YIN/YANG EXTREMES IN THE STAR WORLD The star world is so immense that it is difficult for the undeveloped human mind to grasp. It is part of the materialized universe, and in this way it is part of the world of polarity and yin and yang. Many scientists believe that a black hole is the evolutionary end-point of a massive star that has collapsed to a point of zero volume and infinite density, creating what is known as a “singularity,” from which matter and even light cannot escape. Yet according to Taoist belief, in the material world, infinite density cannot exist. Infinity cannot be found within the materialized sphere. Black holes are indeed points of extreme density, but only to the point that extreme yin turns into its opposite. Extreme darkness starts to produce light again. Many contemporary Taoist astrologers believe that, although it is not yet measurable, light particles do escape from black holes. Quasars are thought to be the very bright centers of certain distant galaxies in which some sort of energetic action is occurring, probably due to the presence of a supermassive black hole in the same galaxy. From the perspective of Taoist astrology, quasars are points of extreme light where extreme yang turns into its opposite. JUPITER AND VENUS ENERGIES Black holes and quasars are the yin and yang extremes of the star world. In the sixth meditation we will use these two poles to project our awareness beyond the world of phenomena. Before proceeding with this meditation, it is important that you have taken sufficient time to master the first five meditations. Only then can this advanced meditation serve your spiritual development. If you are not prepared, it can be harmful. We advise that you contact an experienced Universal Tao Cosmic Healing instructor to introduce you to this level of practice. If you suffer regular headaches, heart problems, or mental or emotional problems, we strongly suggest that you do not undertake this meditation. The following are the principles of this meditation: 1. Start with the warm up and preparation exercises outlined with each of the preceding meditations. It is very important to establish a good centering/grounding. 2. Expand your awareness into the star world. 3. Connect high above you with the North Star and the Big Dipper. 4. Let the light from the North Star and the Big Dipper fill your upper Tan Tien. 5. Connect with two points that you visualize on either side of the North Star. One point is an extreme light/yang point (quasar). The other point is an extreme dark/yin point (black hole). (See illustration opposite.) 6. Visualize these two points circling around the North Star. 7. Let the process speed up and continue automatically while your attention goes in and through the North Star. 8. At a certain point, the process will speed up so much that you will start to feel a lifting sensation, and the edge or boundary between yin and yang will start to fade away. 9. Let this process continue naturally, until yin and yang melt together. At this point, pure yang or ultimate yang energy arises. 10. Always remember to go to the Wu Chi, the place of nothingness, at the end of a meditation. Rest and give the “practice” time to do the work it was intended to do. CONNECTING WITH QUASAR AND BLACK HOLE MEDITATION 7: YIN STAGE AWARENESS PRACTICE In this meditation the intention is to let the planetary and galactic forces enter the body spontaneously. During this practice, do not use willpower, intention, or effort to attract the energies of any particular planet or star palace; rather, allow yourself to just be open and receptive to the planetary and galactic forces. Planetary and galactic forces are influencing us every second of our lives. The only choice we have is whether or not to be aware of it—the influence is there anyway. Our dominant planetary and galactic influences change many times in a day. When we sit still and empty the mind we can observe the subtle process of shifts in planetary and galactic energies, as well as shifts in the energy fields in our cranium, organs, and body systems. During a yin-stage, or passive, meditation you can observe energy from different dimensions of the universe: nature energies, including trees, lakes, mountains, thunder, lightning, wind, and so forth; planets; individual stars; galaxies, quasars, pulsars, black holes; elemental forces When you learn to observe this process you will be able to feel the direct influence of the planets and stars in that particular moment. It will give you the freedom to understand specific universal influences and how they affect your physical and energetic condition and your emotional and thinking processes. It also will provide insight and information that can clarify tensions or dynamics in your relationships. The yin-stage awareness meditation works very well in groups. Many different processes will be occurring at the same time. As the group meditates together, the planetary and stellar energies will work on each individual, on dynamics between the individuals, and on the collective energy of the group as a whole. Experience has shown that even in large group meditations, 50–80 percent of the participants experience the same planetary and galactic forces entering their energetic fields. To practice this meditation (alone or with a group), follow these steps: 1. Warm up with several basic exercises (Inner Smile, Cosmic Chi Kung, Tai Chi, Tao Yin, and others). 2. Practice Opening the Three Tan Tiens to the Six Directions. 3. Integrate the Inner Smile and the MCO (Microcosmic Orbit). 4. Make a firm, condensed Chi ball in the lower Tan Tien. 5. Connect to the Mother Earth force. 6. Bring your attention to the cranium, feel the cranial rhythm, and expand the cranial rhythm into the aural field. 7. If you are meditating with a group, connect to the energy field of the others. INDIVIDUAL AND 2-PERSON AWARENESS MEDITATION WITH SATURN INFLUENCE 8. Then, just relax, be receptive, and observe what happens. If you wish, you can softly say to the others what you feel happening in your body or cranium. 9. At the end of the meditation session, draw the energy back into your own individual field. 10. Gather the energy into the lower Tan Tien and make a condensed Chi ball. 11. Circulate the energy throughout the MCO. 12. Then gather the energy again in the lower Tan Tien, and rest. 13. End with Chi self-massage. First, practice individually, or, if you practice in a group, stay with your individual experience. After a while you will be able to distinguish your personal energy field from the shared or group energy field. If you have difficulty feeling these energies, meditate with someone who has a better connection with the planets, but stay with your own experience. Be patient and relax. You can be sure that the planetary and stellar energies are there, it just takes some time and practice to become sensitive to them. GROUP AWARENESS MEDITATION WITH MEDITATION WITH SATURN INFLUENCE 11 Using Taoist Astral Healing to Help Others The therapeutic potential of the meditation practices described throughout this book is unlimited. The planetary and stellar energies can be used with great success in self-healing, but it is also very easy to integrate them into healing and bodywork practices for the benefit of others. This chapter discusses some basic principles for using Taoist Cosmic Healing techniques in healing treatments. It can be very powerful to combine the meditation practices of Taoist Cosmic Healing with Chi Nei Tsang (internal organ Chi massage). (See Universal Tao Publications’ Chi Nei Tsang, vols. I and II, for more information.) Both methods seek to balance the energies in the body and to activate the life force. Chi Nei Tsang uses the lower Tan Tien as the main area of diagnosis and treatment. Imbalances in energy and tension in the lower Tan Tien are treated with a firm physical pressure and with the three forces of the universe (earth, cosmic, and universal) as the nurturing source. In Taoist Cosmic Healing the emphasis is on connecting the body with the five elemental forces, the planets, and the stars, often without touching the body. Chi Nei Tsang works mainly from the lower Tan Tien toward the universe (from material energy to subtle energy), while Cosmic Healing works from the universe toward the lower Tan Tien (from subtle energy to material energy). The combination of these two systems will give you the ability to integrate internal and external energy in the lower Tan Tien. In practicing the Universal Tao system, it is important to stay clear and grounded. The purpose of planetary and galactic healing is to reconnect ourselves and our students with the energy of nature, planets, stars, and the higher universal frequencies. While spectacular healing experiences may occur, we should remember that there are no shortcuts on the spiritual path. The Taoist Cosmic Healing practices are very effective in: TTAOIST COSMIC HEALING AND CHI NEI TSANG EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL UNIVERSES activating the life force in the body, which triggers self-healing; releasing and transforming blocked and negative energy; creating a strong spiritual connection and a higher awareness level. Although the practices discussed in this book are easy to learn for anyone with enough interest and perseverance, the effectiveness of a healing treatment depends on the healing practitioner’s level of energy, connection with elemental and universal forces, and ability to perceive the student/patient’s needs. These abilities can only be cultivated by practicing the Taoist Cosmic Healing meditations on a regular basis and fully integrating them into your daily life. GENERAL HEALING SESSION The following healing session describes a practice involving only one student, however this practice can also be performed with a group. Before starting this healing session, you and the student should warm up with several basic meditation exercises. There are two ways to approach this type of healing session. One way is to focus on the energies in your own body, modeling the steps you would like the student to perform, while asking him or her to follow along, focusing on the energies in his or her body. In this way, you go through the complete healing procedure together. Another way is to work together with the student(s) to create a collective energy body between and above you that links your energy fields. You then focus on the energy body together while you practice each step of the meditation. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Sit across from the student. Together, warm up with several basic exercises. Make a firm, condensed Chi ball in the lower Tan Tien. Connect to the mother Earth force. Create a Chi field, as described in chapter 9. Gradually feel that the room has become charged with universal Chi. If you are going to work with an energy body, link your personal star with the student’s personal star. Link the personal stars to an energy body above you. (See chapter 9.) Focus on the lower Tan Tien and connect to the universe. Be aware of your sacrum area and feel the Chi. Transfer this energy up to the crown and out to the universe. Then spiral the Chi back down to the energy body and it will go down to the student’s physical body. Draw green light in from the universe with your palm and push the green light through the sacrum to push the sickness/blocked energy out to the other side of the universe. Repeat this procedure—pulling green light from the universe and pushing the sick energy out into the universe—six to nine times, until you feel the sacrum is clean. Visualize the sacrum and vitalize the complete bone structure with yellow light, which will help strengthen the sacrum bone. Be aware of the energy body above you. Extend your awareness above your crown, and channel white light down from the center of the galaxy and violet light from the North Pole. Using your mind power, invite the inside of the sacrum bone in the energy 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. body to open, allowing the white and violet light to flow into the marrow. Focus on the energy body; picture the energy body’s sacrum and bone structure. Guide the energy inside, and see the whole body light up from deep inside. Next, focus on the adrenal-kidney/Ming Men point and the navel. Flush them with green light to clean them out. Now, draw yellow light in from the universe through the Ming Men to the navel and then back out to the universe. To cool down the Ming Men (if necessary), draw blue light from a blue pool of water in the center of a spiraling galaxy in the universe in through the navel to the Ming Men and then back out to the universe. Then bring white or violet light down and activate the lower Tan Tien. Explain to your student that the lower Tan Tien is like an ocean and the body is like a hollow bamboo. The bamboo can draw on the boundless supply of water, and the energy will never dry up. Concentrate on the solar plexus and T-11 (the point opposite the solar plexus). Draw green light in through the T-11 point, spiral it through the solar plexus, then flush the green light out into the universe. Next, energize the solar plexus with white and violet light. Always allow the energy to stream through both points fully, allowing plenty of time and energy to do the intended job. When working with the solar plexus, which holds the emotions, the most important thing to remember is to connect the backside of the solar plexus to the universe. There is literally no end to this connection. Allow the Chi to come all the way down, and allow any images to form and be released. Then stabilize the energy. The mental images that may form in the mind of the person you are treating may be disturbing or evoke sadness; disturbing memories tend to get stuck in the solar plexus and cause energy blockages. The release of these images produces an emotional release. The individual being treated may laugh or cry, so be sure to stay emotionally neutral to allow a safe space for this special kind of release. Picture the Chi field encompassing the student as a big protective bubble. Cool down with blue light that you draw from a cool pool in the universe. Proceed to the heart and the point on the vertebrae immediately opposite the heart. Draw green light in from the universe and draw it through the two areas, as before. Repeat this several times. 19. Now scan the student’s heart with your palm, judging its strength. Next select the strength of the red color to use in the healing practice (from pink to deep crimson, but never too dark). We use red to strengthen the heart, but make sure there’s no infection in the body. It is best to energize the heart with white that has strands of red light. Send red light through the heart, strengthening it. 20. Cool down any excess heat in the heart, drawing blue light into the heart and flushing it out through the spinal area opposite the heart. Next, draw white light into the heart and push it out in the same way. 21. Energize the center at the back of the heart using violet and golden Chi. Picture the heart surrounded by a golden aura. 22. Move up to the throat center and flush it with green light through C-7, the seventh cervical vertebra. Next draw blue light in from the universe and push it through, as before. The throat center responds very well to blue light; it opens and clears it. 23. Next, activate the mideyebrow. Focus on the mideyebrow in your own body. Draw in golden yellow light and use it to flush and stabilize the area. Flush it all the way through to the back of the head. Then energize the mideyebrow with violet and golden light. 24. Finally, concentrate on the crown. Draw violet and golden light into the crown, and then direct the light all the way down through the center channel, flushing the entire channel and leaving the body at the perineum. 25. Cool down the system by showering blue light over the whole body. 26. Finish your healing session by standing in front of the person you are treating with your hands in a prayer position. Focus your mind on the North Star and bring the luminous violet light mixed with white light from the universe down into the energy body above you. Let the colors wash through the energy body, into the personal stars, then into yourself and the person you are treating, thus energizing everyone involved. All the participants should then rest in the yin stage/awareness meditation. Clear the mind and let the practice session do the healing work it was intended to do. Bibliography Blechschmidt, E., and R. F. Gasser. Biokinetics and Biodynamics of Human Differentiation. Springfield, Ill.: Thomas Books, 1978. Carus, Paul. Chinese Astrology. Malaysia: Pelanduk Publications, 1992. Chia, Mantak. Awakening Healing Light. Huntington, N.Y.: Universal Tao Publications, 1993. ______. Chi Nei Tsang. Huntington, N.Y.: Universal Tao Publications, 1990. ______. Fusion of the Five Elements I. Huntington, N.Y.: Universal Tao Publications, 1989. ______. Healing Love through the Tao. Huntington, N.Y.: Universal Tao Publications, 1986. ______. Iron Shirt Chi Kung. Huntington, N.Y.: Universal Tao Publications, 1986. ______. Taoist Cosmic Healing. Rochester, Vt.: Destiny Books, 2003. ______. Taoist Secrets of Love: Cultivating Male Sexual Energy. New York: Aurora Press, 1984. Gerber, Richard. Vibrational Medicine. Santa Fe: Bear & Company, 1988. Kushi, Michio. One Peaceful World. New York: St .Martin’s Press, 1987. ______. Other Dimensions: Exploring the Unexplained. New York: Avery Penguin Putnam, 1991. ______. The Teachings of Michio Kushi. Becket, Mass.: One Peaceful World Press, 1993. Liang, Shou-Yu, Yang and Wu. Baguazhang (Emei Baguazhang). Jamaica Plain, Mass.: YMAA Publication Center, 1994. Mann, A. T. The Round Art: The Astrology of Time and Space. Limpsfield, Eng.: Paper Tiger, 1979. Masunaga, Shizuto. Zen Shiatsu. Tokyo: Japan Publications, 1979. Matsumato, Kiiko, and Stephen Birch. Hara Diagnosis: Reflection on the Sea, Stems, and Branches. Brookline, Mass.: Paradigm Publications, 1998. Milne, Hugh. The Heart of Listening. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1995. Ni, Hua Ching. The Book of Changes and the Unchanging Truth. Malibu, Calif.: Shrine of the Eternal Breath of Tao, 1983. ______. Taoist Inner View of the Universe and the Immortal Realm. Malibu, Calif.: Shrine of the Eternal Breath of Tao, 1979. Nicolson, Iain, and Patrick Moore. The Universe. Oxford: Equinox, 1985. Sadler, Thomas. Langman’s Medical Embryology. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins Company, 1966. Upledger, John. Craniosacral Therapy. Seattle: Eastland Press, 1983. Veltman. Mensen en Planeten. Netherlands: Christofoor Zeist, 1993. Walter, Derek. Chinese Astrology. London: Aquarian Press, 1987. ______. The Chinese Astrology Workbook. London: Aquarian Press, 1988. West, John. The Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. Wheaton, Ill.: Quest Books, 1993. The Universal Tao System and Training Center THE UNIVERSAL TAO SYSTEM The ultimate goal of Taoist practice is to transcend physical boundaries through the development of the soul and the spirit within the human. That is also the guiding principle behind the Universal Tao, a practical system of selfdevelopment that enables individuals to complete the harmonious evolution of their physical, mental, and spiritual bodies. Through a series of ancient Chinese meditative and internal energy exercises, the practitioner learns to increase physical energy, release tension, improve health, practice self-defense, and gain the ability to heal him-or herself and others. In the process of creating a solid foundation of health and well-being in the physical body, the practitioner also creates the basis for developing his or her spiritual potential by learning to tap into the natural energies of the sun, moon, earth, stars, and other environmental forces. The Universal Tao practices are derived from ancient techniques rooted in the processes of nature. They have been gathered and integrated into a coherent, accessible system for well-being that works directly with the life force, or Chi, that flows through the meridian system of the body. Master Chia has spent years developing and perfecting techniques for teaching these traditional practices to students around the world through ongoing classes, workshops, private instruction, and healing sessions, as well as books and video and audio products. Further information can be obtained at www.universaltao.com. UNIVERSAL TAO TRAINING CENTER The Tao Garden Resort and Training Center in northern Thailand is the home of Master Chia and serves as the worldwide headquarters for Universal Tao activities. This integrated wellness, holistic health, and training center is situated on eighty acres surrounded by the beautiful Himalayan foothills near the historic walled city of Chiang Mai. The serene setting includes flower and herb gardens ideal for meditation, open-air pavilions for practicing Chi Kung, and a health and fitness spa. The Center offers classes year-round, as well as summer and winter retreats. It can accommodate two hundred students, and group leasing can be arranged. For more information, you may fax the Center at (66)(53) 495-852, or email universaltao@universaltao.com. About the Authors MANTAK CHIA Mantak Chia has been studying the Taoist approach to life since childhood. His mastery of this ancient knowledge, enhanced by his study of other disciplines, has resulted in the development of the Universal Tao System, which is now taught throughout the world. Mantak Chia was born in Thailand to Chinese parents in 1944. When he was six years old, he learned from Buddhist monks how to sit and “still the mind.” While in grammar school, he learned traditional Thai boxing, and soon went on to acquire considerable skill in Aikido, Yoga, and Tai Chi. His studies of the Taoist way of life began in earnest when he was a student in Hong Kong, ultimately leading to his mastery of a wide variety of esoteric disciplines. To better understand the mechanisms behind healing energy, he also studied Western anatomy and medical sciences. Master Chia has taught his system of healing and energizing practices to tens of thousands of students and trained more than two thousand instructors and practitioners throughout the world. He has established centers for Taoist study and training in many countries around the globe. In June 1990 he was honored by the International Congress of Chinese Medicine and Qigong (Chi Kung), which named him the Qigong Master of the Year. DIRK OELLIBRANDT Dirk Oellibrandt has been practicing various forms of martial arts since the age of thirteen. After many years of training, he has become adept at Chi Kung, Tai Chi, Aikido, and the Pa kua Practices. He also learned to work with energy in a healing capacity, and studied shiatsu, oriental medicine, and osteopathy. Dirk and his wife, Katrien, direct the Du Mai Clinic in Belgium, which explores the dynamics between universal laws and the re-creation of the human body through a diverse range of healing traditions. About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company Founded in 1975, Inner Traditions is a leading publisher of books on indigenous cultures, perennial philosophy, visionary art, spiritual traditions of the East and West, sexuality, holistic health and healing, self-development, as well as recordings of ethnic music and accompaniments for meditation. In July 2000, Bear & Company joined with Inner Traditions and moved from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where it was founded in 1980, to Rochester, Vermont. Together Inner Traditions • Bear & Company have eleven imprints: Inner Traditions, Bear & Company, Healing Arts Press, Destiny Books, Park Street Press, Bindu Books, Bear Cub Books, Destiny Recordings, Destiny Audio Editions, Inner Traditions en Español, and Inner Traditions India. For more information or to browse through our more than one thousand titles in print, visit www.InnerTraditions.com. BOOKS OF RELATED INTEREST TAOIST COSMIC HEALING Chi Kung Color Healing Principles for Detoxification and Rejuvenation by Mantak Chia SEXUAL REFLEXOLOGY Activating the Taoist Points of Love by Mantak Chia and WillIam U. Wei THE WARRIOR AS HEALER A Martial Arts Herbal for Power, Fitness, and Focus by Thomas Richard Joiner NEI KUNG The Secret Teachings of the Warrior Sages by Kosta Danaos QIGONG TEACHINGS OF A TAOIST IMMORTAL The Eight Essential Exercises of Master Li Ching-yun by Stuart Alve Olson T’AI CHI ACCORDING TO THE I CHING Embodying the Principles of the Book of Changes by Stuart Alve Olson THE COMPLETE I CHING The Definitive Translation by the Taoist Master Alfred Huang MARTIAL ARTS TEACHING TALES OF POWER AND PARADOX Freeing the Mind, Focusing Chi, and Mastering the Self by Pascal Fauliot Inner Traditions • Bear & Company P.O. Box 388 Rochester, VT 05767 1-800-246-8648 www.InnerTraditions.com Or contact your local bookseller Destiny Books One Park Street Rochester, Vermont 05767 www.InnerTraditions.com Destiny Books is a division of Inner Traditions International Copyright © 2004 North Star Trust All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chia, Mantak, 1944– Taoist astral healing : chi kung healing practices using star and planet energies / Mantak Chia and Dirk Oellibrandt ; illustrations: Udon Jandee. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. eISBN-13: 978-1-59477791-2 1. Qi gong. 2. Healing—Folklore. I. Title: Chi kung healing principles using star and planet energies. II. Oellibrandt, Dirk. III. Title. RA781.8.C468 2004 613.7’1—dc22 2003023413 Electronic edition produced by ePubNow! www.epubnow.com www.digitalmediainitiatives.com
THE ASTRAL BODY By the same Author in this series The Etberic Double The Mental Body The Causal Body The Solar System Cover Irt by and other astral phenomena by Lieut.-Colonel Arthur E. Powell ~ ~ This publication made possible with the assistance of the Kern Foundation. The Theosophical Publishing House Wheaton, Ill. I Madras, India I London, England ©The Theosophical Publishing House Allrightsreserved. First published 1927 Fifth Quest Book printing 1992, published by The Theosophical Publishing House,Wheaton, Illinois. a department of The Theosophical Society in America. This Quest edition published by arrangement with The Theosophical Publishing House. London. Ltd. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data. Powell, Arthur Edward. The astral body and other astral phenomena. (A Quest book)(Theosophical classicsseries) 1. Astral projection. 2. Theosophy. I. Title. BP573.A7P5S 1973 133.9 73-4775 ISBN o-S356-0438-1 Printed in the United States of America DEDICATION TAis 60d is '/';CIIIl' flJilA1'1I1ihlM IIU appr/(jlllioll 10 .11 IAos/ flJADSt 'llillsllllill1 11160.' 1111' "MarlAts AIIfJ/ IrtltJiJt' IAt ",.Imllis filiI oJ flJAitA il us 6ttll to",pilt' The views expressed in this book are those of the author, and must not be taken as necessarily those of The Theosophical Society. " To know man is to know God. " To know God is to know man. " To study the universe is to learn both God and man; for the universe is the expression of the Divine Thought, and the universe is mirrored in man. " Knowledge is necessary if the SELF would become free and know Itself as Itself alone." ANNIE BESANT. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. II. PAGE xiii INTRODUCTION GENERAL DESCRIPTION • I 4 COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE III. COLOURS II IV. FUNCTIONS. 23 V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. CHAKRAMS 31 K UNDALINI • • THOUGHT-FoRMS PHYSICAL LIFE SLEEP-LIFE. 38 43 64 82 DREAMS CONTINUITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 93 104 DEATH AND THE DESIRE-ELEMENTAL 107 XIII. AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PRINCIPLES 112 XIV. AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PARTICULARS. 120 AFTER-DEATH LIFE: SPECIAL CASES 136 THE ASTRAL PLANE 144 XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. MISCELLANEOUS ASTRAL PHENOMENA ISS THE FOURTH DIMENSION ASTRAL ENTITIES: HUMAN 161 166 ASTRAL ENTITIES: NON-HuMAN ASTRAL ENTITIES: ARTIFICIAL 188 174 SPIRITUALISM 192 ASTRAL DEATH 204 RE-BIRTH 207 THE MASTERY OF EMOTION 213 XXVI. DEVELOPMENT OF ASTRAL POWERS 222 XXVII. CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE AND TIME 232 INVISIBLE HELPERS 236 CONCLUSION 250 INDEX 253 XXV. XXVIII. XXIX. ill: AUTHORS QUOTED Book A. Besant C. W. Leadbeater . A. Besant C. W. Leadbeater . Sir Martin Conway A. Besant C. W. Leadbeater . C. W. Leadbeater . Edn. AbbYeviation 1897 AW 1910 AP 1909 CW 1908 C 1915 CPW 1901 DA 19°3 D 19 13 HS I C. W. Leadbeater . 19 13 Autho« Ancient Wisdom Astral Plane . Changing World Clairvoyance Crowd in Peace and War Death and After Dreams . . Hidden Side of Things, Vol. . I. Hidden Side of Things, Vol. II. Inner Life, Vol. I. Inner Life, Vol. II. Introduction to Yoga Invisible Helpers Karma Key to Theosophy Law of Psychic Phenomena Life after Death London Lectures, 1907 Man and His Bodies . Man Visible and Invisible Masters and the Path Monad Occult Chemistry HSII C. W. Leadbeater . 1910 ILl e. W. Leadbeater . 19II I L II A. Besant 1908 IY C. W. Leadbeater . 19 II IH A. Besant 1897 K H. P. Blavatsky 1893 KT T. J. Hudson 19°5 LPP C. W. Leadbeater . 1912 LA D A. Besant 19°7 LL A. Besant 19o0 MB C. W. Leadbeater . 1902 M V I C. W. Leadbeater . 1925 MP C. W. Leadbeater . 1920 M A. Besant and C. W. 1919 OC Leadbeater Occult World A. P. Sinnett 1906 OW Other Side of Death . C. W. Leadbeater . 19°4 OSD Reincarnation . A. Besant 1898 R Bhagavan Das Science of the Emotions 19°0 SE Secret Doctrine, Vol. I. H. P. Blavatsky 19°5 SDI Secret Doctrine, Vol. II. H. P. Blavatsky 19°5 S D II Secret Doctrine, Vol. III. H. P. Blavatsky 1897 S DIll Self and its Sheaths . A. Besant 19°3 SS Seven Principles of Man A. Besant 19°4 SP Seven Rays . . Ernest Wood 19 25 SR Some Glimpses of Occultism C. W. Leadbeater . 19°9 SGO Some Occult Experiences . J. Van Manen 1913 SOE Study in Consciousness A. Besant 19°4 SC Textbook of Theosophy . C. W. Leadbeater . 19 14 TB Theosophy and the New A. Besant 1909 TNP Psychology A. Besant and C. W. 19°5 TF Thought Forms Leadbeater Thought Power: Its Control A. Besant 19°3 TP and Culture N.B.-In a few cases, where the unsupported opinions of the compiler are given, they are indicated by the letters A.E.P. . xi PUBLISHER'S PREFACE THE author's purpose in compiling the books in this series was to save students much time and labour by providing a condensed synthesis of the considerable literature on the respective subjects of each volume, coming mostly from the pens of Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater. The accompanying list shows the large number of books from which he drew. So far as possible, the method adopted was to explain the form side first, before the life side: to describe the objective mechanism of phenomena and then the activities of consciousness that are expressed through the mechanism. There is no attempt to prove or even justify any of the statements. Marginal references give opportunity to refer to the sources. The works of H. P. Blavatsky were not used because the author said that the necessary research in The Secret Doctrine and other writings would have been too vast a task for him to undertake. He added: "The debt to H. P. Blavatsky is greater than could ever be indicated by quotations from her monumental volumes. Had she not shown the way in the first instance, later investigators might never have found the trail at all," The present edition has been slightly abridged and edited to avoid possible misunderstanding in the changed conditions of today. The reader is asked 'to take note of the following points: I. "Ego" is used in this book for the reincarnating Individuality; not, as in modern psychology, for the evanescent personality. 2. The words atom," atomic," sub-atomic" and " molecule " are used in a specialized sense and do not refer to a chemical atom and molecule. So also are ether" and etheric ". If If If If xii If INTRODUCTION THE purpose of this book is to present to the student of Theosophy a condensed synthesis of the information at present! available concerning the Astral Body of man, together with a description and explanation of the astral world and its phenomena. The book is thus a natural sequel of The Etheric Double and AUied Phenomena published in 1925. As in the case of The Etheric Double, the compiler has consolidated the information obtained from a large number of books, a list of which is given, arranging the material, which covers a vast field and is exceedingly complex, as methodically as lay within his power. It is hoped that by this means present and future students of the subject will be saved much labour and research, being able not only to find the information they require presented in a comparatively small compass, but also, with the help of the marginal references, to refer, should they so desire, to the original sources of information. In order that the book may fulfil its purpose by being kept within reasonable dimensions, the general plan followed has been to expound the principles underlying astral phenomena, omitting particular examples or instances. Lecturers and others who wish specific illustrations of the principles enunciated, will find the marginal references useful as a clue to the places where the examples they seek may be found. Again, so far as the complexities and ramifications of the subject permit, the method has been to explain the form side first, before the life side: i.e., to describe first the objective mechanism of phenomena, and then the activities of consciousness which are expressed through that mechanism. The careful student, bearing this in 1 1926. xiii xiv INTRODUCTION mind. will thus recognise many passages, which at first glance might appear to be repetitive, in which the same phenomenon is described first from the point of view of the outer material form and then again later from the point of view of the spirit or consciousness. It is hoped that the present volume may be followed by similar ones dealing with man's Mental and Causal bodies, thus completing the consolidation of all information so far available regarding man's constitution up to the Causal or Higher Mental level. There is to-day a great deal of information on these and similar subjects, but it is for the most part scattered over large numbers of books. In order, therefore, to make the whole of it available for the student, whose time for intensive study is limited, such books as the present is intended to be are (in the writer's opinion) urgently needed. The proper study of mankind is man : " and the subject is so vast, so absorbing, and so important that everything possible should be done to make readily accessible to all who thirst for such knowledge the whole of the information which has so far been accumulated. II A. E. P. THE ASTRAL BODY CHAPTER I GENERAL DESCRIPTION proceeding to a detailed study of the astral body. and of phenomena associated with it, it may be useful to lay before the student a brief outline of the ground it is proposed to cover, in order to give in proper perspective a view of the whole subject and of the relative dependence of its several parts, Briefly, the astral body of man is a vehicle, to clairvoyant sight not unlike the physical body, surrounded by an aura of flashing colours, composed of matter of an order of fineness higher than that of physical matter, in which feelings. passions, desires and emotions are expressed and which acts as a bridge or medium of transmission between the physical brain and the mind, the latter operating in the still higher vehicle-the mind-body. While every man possesses and uses an astral body, comparatively few are conscious of its existence or can control and function in it in full consciousness. In the case of large numbers of persons it is scarcely more than an inchoate mass of astral matter, the movements and activities of which are little under the control of the man himself-the Ego.! With others, however, the astral body is a well-developed and thoroughly organised vehicle, possessing a life of its own and conferring on its owner many and useful BEFORE powers. During the sleep of the physical body, an undeveloped man leads a dreamy, vague existence. in his relatively primitive astral body, remembering little or nothing 1 See Publisher's Preface, THE ASTRAL BODY of his sleep-life when he re-awakens in his physical body. In the case of a developed man, however, the life in the astral body, whilst the physical body is wrapped in slmnber, is active, interesting and useful, and the memory of it may, under certain conditions, be brought down into the physical brain. The life of such a man ceases to be a series of days of consciousness and nights of oblivion, becoming instead a continuous life of unbroken consciousness, alternating between the physical and the astral planes or worlds. One of the first things a man learns to do in his astral body is to travel in it, it being possible for the astral body to move, with great rapidity, and to great distances from the sleeping physical body. An understanding of this phenomenon throws much light on a large number of so-called .. occult" phenomena, such as .. apparitions" of many kinds, knowledge of places never visited physically, etc. The astral body being pa, excellence the vehicle of feelings and emotions, an understanding of its composition and of the ways in which it operates is of considerable value in understanding many aspects of man's psychology, both individual and collective, and also provides a simple explanation of the mechanism of many phenomena revealed by modem psychoanalysis. A clear understanding of the structure and nature of the astral body, of its possibilities and its limitations, is essential to a comprehension of the life into which men pass after physical death. The many kinds of .. heavens," .. hells" and purgatorial existences believed in by followers of innumerable religions, all fall naturally into place and become intelligible as soon as we understand the nature of the astral body and of the astral world. A study of the astral body will be of assistance also in our understanding of many of the phenomena of the s4anu room and of certain psychic or non-physical methods of healing disease. Those who are interested GENERAL DESCRIPTION 3 in what is termed the fourth dimension will find also a confirmation of many of the theories which have been formulated by means of geometry and mathematics, in a study of astral world phenomena, as described by those who have observed them. A study of the astral body of man thus takes us far afield and expands enormously a conception of life based solely on the physical world and the purely physical senses. As we proceed, we shall see that the physical senses, invaluable as they are, by no means represent the limit of what man's vehicles may teach him of the worlds in which he lives. The awakening into functioning activity of astral faculties reveals a new world within the old world and, when a man becomes able to read aright its significance, he will obtain such an expanded view of his own life, and all nature, as will reveal to him the almost limitless possibilities latent in man. From this, sooner or later but inevitably, there will come the impulse, and later the unshakable determination, to master these worlds, and himself, to rise superior to his earthly destiny, and to become an intelligent co-operator with what has been aptly termed the Supreme Will in Evolution. We will now proceed to study, in detail, the astral body arid many astral phenomena closely associated with it. CHAPTER II COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE M B38. M V 112 M B 38. T B z6. ASTRAL matter exists in seven grades or orders of fineness, corresponding to the seven grades of physical matter, which are solid, liquid, gaseous, etheric.' superetheric, sub-atomic and atornic.! No names for these astral states, however, having so far been devised, it is usual to describe them, either by the number of the grade or sub-plane, the finest being Number I, the coarsest Number 7, or by the corresponding physical grade. E.g., we speak of astral solid matter, meaning thereby the seventh or lowest variety: astral etheric matter, meaning the fourth from the finest: and so on. Astral matter, being much finer than physical matter, interpenetrates it. Every physical atorn.! therefore, floats in a sea of astral matter, which surrounds it and fills every interstice in physical matter. It is of course, wellknown that even in the hardest substance no two atoms ever touch one another, the space between two adjacent atoms being in fact enormously larger than the atoms themselves. Orthodox physical science long ago has posited an ether! which interpenetrates all known substances, the densest solid as well as the most rarefied gas; and just as this ether moves with perfect freedom between the particles of densest matter, so does astral matter interpenetrate it in tum. and moves with perfect freedom among its particles. Thus a being living in the astral world might be occupying the same space as a being living in the physical world; yet each would be entirely unconscious of the other. and would in no way impede the free movement of the other. The student should thoroughly familiarise himself with this fundamental conception. 1 See Publisher's Preface. s COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE as, without grasping it clearly, it is not possible to understand large numbers of astral phenomena. The principle of interpenetration makes it clear that the different realms of nature are not separated in space, but exist about us here and now, so that to perceive and investigate them no movement in space is necessary, but only an opening within ourselves of the senses by means of which they can be perceived. The astral world, or plane, is thus a condition of 0 C ... nature, rather than a locality. It must be noted that a physical atom cannot be 0 C App. directly broken up into astral atoms. If the force iii-iv. which whirls the (approximately) fourteen thousand million .. bubbles in koilon .. into an ultimate physical atom be pressed back by an effort of will over the threshold of the astral plane, the atom disappears, releasing the .. bubbles." The same force, working then on a higher level, expresses itself, not through one astral atom, but through a group of forty-nine such atoms. A similar relationship, represented by the number T B se-ar, 49, exists between the atoms of any two other contiguous planes of nature: thus an astral atom contains 495 or 282.475,249 .. bubbles," a mental atom, 494 bubbles, and so on. There is reason to believe that electrons are astral 1 L 11 265. atoms. Physicists state that a chemical atom of hydrogen contains probably from 700 to 1000 electrons. Occult research asserts that a chemical atom of hydrogen contains 882 astral atoms. This may be a coincidence, but that does not seem probable. It should be noted that ultimate physical atoms 0 C 31. are of two kinds, male and female: in the male, force pours in from the astral world, passes through the atom and out into the physical world: in the female, force passes in from the physical world, through the atom, and out into the astral worid, thus vanishing from the physical world. Astral matter corresponds with curious accuracy to 1 L 1 359]60. , THE ASTRAL BODY A p 39. S C 327-338. 11. the physical matter which it interpenetrates, each variety of physical matter attracting astral matter of corresponding density. Thus solid physical matter is interpenetrated by what we call solid astral matter : liquid physical by liquid astral, i.e., by matter of the sixth sub-plane: and similarly with gaseous and the four grades of etheric matter, each of which is interpenetrated by the corresponding grade of astral matter. Precisely as it is necessary that the physical body should contain within its constitution physical matter in all its conditions, solid, liquid, gaseous and etheric, so it is indispensable that the astral body should contain particles of all the seven astral sub-planes, though, of course, the proportions may vary greatly in different cases. The astral body of man thus being composed of matter of all seven grades, it is possible for him to experience all varieties of desire to the fullest possible extent, the highest as well as the lowest. It is the peculiar type of response possessed by S P 19. astral matter which enables the astral matter to serve as the sheath in which the Self can gain experience of sensation. In addition to the ordinary matter of the astral MY 137. plane, that which is known as the Third Elemental Kingdom, or simply as the Elemental Essence of the astral plane, also enters largely into the composition of man's astral body, and forms what is called the Desire-Elemental," which we shall deal with more fully in later chapters. M Y 137-39Astral elemental essence consists of matter of the six lower levels of the astral plane, vivified by the Second Outpouring, from the Second Person of the Trinity. Astral matter of the highest or atomic level, similarly vivified, is known as Monadic Essence. A W94. In an undeveloped man, the astral body is a cloudy, M B.3. loosely organised, vaguely outlined mass of astral matter, with a great predominance of substances from the lower grades; it is gross, dark in colour, and dense-often so dense that the outline of the physical M B M y 52. II COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE 7 body is almost lost in it-and is thus fitted to respond to stimuli connected with the passions and appetites. A W 95. In size, it extends in all directions about ten or twelve inches beyond the physical body. In an average moral and intellectual man the astral A W 98. body is considerably larger, extending about 18 inches 1 L II 251• on each side of the body, its materials are more balanced and finer in quality, the presence of the rarer kinds giving a certain luminous quality to the whole, and its outline is clear and definite. In the case of a spiritually developed man the astral A W 101. body is still larger in size and is composed of the finest particles of each grade of astral matter, the higher largely predominating. There is so much to be said regarding the colours of astral bodies that the subject is reserved for a separate chapter. Here, however, it may be stated that in undeveloped types the colours are coarse and muddy, A W 98. gradually becoming more and more luminous as the man develops emotionally, mentally and spiritually. The very name "astral," inherited from medizval M V In. alchemists, signifies "starry," being intended to M B 37-3 8• allude to the luminous appearance of astral matter. As already said, the astral body of a man not only M B 42. permeates the physical body, but also extends around it in every direction like a cloud. That portion of the astral body which extends M B 43. beyond the limits of the physical body is usually termed the astral" aura." Intense feeling means a large aura. It may here 1 L 11 252be mentioned that increased size of the aura is a pre- 253· requisite for Initiation, and the "Qualifications" should be visible in it. The aura naturally increases with each Initiation. The aura of the Buddha is said to have been three miles in radius. The matter of the physical body having a very strong 1 L 1 391attraction for the matter of the astral body, it follows 393· that by far the greater portion (about 99 per cent.) of the astral particles are compressed within tile periphery of the physical body, only the remaining 8 C 14-15. C 40. THE ASTRAL BODY I per cent. filling the rest of the ovoid and forming the aura. The central portion of the astral body thus takes the exact form of the physical body and is, in fact, very solid and definite, and quite clearly distinguishable from the surrounding aura. It is usually termed the astral counterpart of the physical body. The exact correspondence of the astral body with the physical, however, is merely a matter of external form, and does not at all involve any similarity of function in the various organs, as we shall see more fully in the chapter on Chakrams. Not only man's physical body, but everything physical, has its corresponding order of astral matter in constant association with it, not to be separated from it except by a very considerable exertion of occult force, and even then only to be held apart from it as long as force is being definitely exerted to that end. In other words, every physical object has its astral counterpart. But as the astral particles are constantly moving among one another as easily as those of a physical liquid, there is no permanent association between anyone physical particle and that amount of astral matter which happens at any given moment to be acting as its counterpart. Usually the astral portion of an object projects somewhat beyond the physical part of it, so that metals, stones, etc., are seen surrounded by an astral aura. I L I 395· If some part of a man's physical body be removed, e.g., by amputation, the coherence of the living astral matter is stronger than its attraction towards the severed portion of the physical. Consequently the astral counterpart of the limb will not be carried away with the severed physical limb. Since the astral matter has acquired the habit of keeping that particular form, it- will continue to retain the original shape, but will soon withdraw within the limits of the maimed form. The same phenomenon takes place in the case 8f a tree from which a branch has been severed. COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE In the case of an inanimate body. however. such as a chair or a basin. there is not the same kind of individual life to maintain cohesion. Consequently. when the physical object is broken the astral counterpart would also be divided. Quite apart from the seven grades of matter. arranged in order of fineness, there is also a totally distinct classification of astral matter, according to its type. In Theosophical literature the degree of fineness is usually designated the horizontal division. and the type the vertical division. The types, of which there are seven, are as thoroughly intermingled as are the constituents of the atmosphere. and in every astral body there is matter of all seven types, the proportion between them showing the disposition of the man. whether he be devotional or philosophic, artistic or scientific, pragmatic or mystic. The whole of the astral portion of our earth and of the physical planets, together with the purely astral planets of our System, make up collectively the astral body of the Solar Logos. thus showing that the old pantheistic conception was a true one. Similarly each of the seven types of astral matter . t 0 some extent, regar ded as a woe, h I a separate 15 vehicle. and may be thought of as also the astral body of a subsidiary Deity or Minister. who is at the same time an aspect of the Deity, a kind of ganglion or forcecentre in Him. Hence the slightest thought, movement or alteration of any kind in the subsidiary Deity is instantly reflected in some way or other in all the matter of the corresponding type. Such psychic changes occur periodically: perhaps they correspond to in-breathing and out-breathing. or to the beating of the heart with us on the physical plane. It has been observed that the movements of the physical planets furnish a clue to the operation of the influences Bowing from these changes: hence the rationale of astrological science. Hence. further, any such alteration must to some extent affect each man, in propertion to the amount of that type of matter which he 9 H S 1 4'-46. If S 1 4 2-4'. 43;',11 431- H S 1 46-49; 151-52. L 11 431~3. 290: 2119- 10 THE ASTRAL BODY B S 1 ,.a: possesses in his astral body. Thus, one change would 54: 56. affect the emotions, or the mind, or both, another might intensify nervous excitement and irritability, and so on. It is this proportion which determines in each man. animal, plant or mineral certain fundamental characteristics which never change-sometimes called his note, colour, or ray. To pursue this interesting line of thought further would take us beyond the scope of this book, so the student is referred to. Tiu Hidden SUU of Tllines. Vol. I. pp. 'U-S8. H S 1 41. There are seven sub-types in each type, making forty-nine sub-types in all. B S 1 .....49The type or ray is permanent through the whole planetary scheme, so that an elemental essence (see p. 6) of type A will in due course ensoul minerals, plants and animals of type A, and from it will emerge also human beings of the same type. 1 L 1~. The astral body slowly but constantly wears away, ~. S IS: precisely as does the physical, but, instead of the process of eating and digesting food, the particles which fall away are replaced by others from the surrounding atmosphere. Nevertheless, the feeling of individuality is communicated to the new particles as they enter, and also the elemental essence included with each man's astral body undoubtedly feels itself a kind of entity, and acts accordingly for what jt considers its own interests. CHAPTER III COLOURS To clairvoyant sight one of the principal features of MY 111-23· an astral body consists of the colours which are constantly playing through it, these colours corresponding to, and being the expression in astral matter of feelings, passions and emotions. All known colours, and many which are at present M Y 1 23: unknown to us, exist upon each of the higher planes 71 • of nature, but as we rise from one stage to another they become more delicate and more luminous, so that they may be described as higher octaves of colour. As it is not possible to portray these octaves physically on paper, the above facts should be borne in mind when considering the coloured illustrations of the astral body which are referred to below. The following is a list of the principal colours and the emotions of which they are an expression:Black: in thick clouds: hatred and malice. M Y 1 81. Red: deep red flashes, usually on a black ground: anger. A scarlet cloud: irritability. M Y 1 13. BriUiant scarlet: on the ordinary background of the aura: "noble indignation." Lurid and sanguinary red: unmistakable, though not easy to describe: sensuality. Brown-grey: dull, hard brown-grey: selfishness: M Y 1 82. one of the commonest colours in the astral body. BrOUln-red : dull, almost rust-eolour: avarice, usually arranged in parallel bars across the astral body. Greenish-brOUln: lit up by deep red or scarlet flashes : jealousy. In the case of an ordinary man there is usually much of this colour present when he is "in love." ra THE ASTRAL BODY wey: heavy, leaden: depression. Like the brownred of avarice, arranged in parallel lines, conveying the impression of a cage. Grey, livid: a hideous and frightful hue: fear. Crimson: dull and heavy: selfish love. Rose-colour : unselfish, love. When exceptionally brilliant, tinged with lilac: spiritual love for humanity. JI V 1 83. Orange: pride or ambition. Often found with 7' F 33: 49· irritability. Yellow: intellect: varies from a deep and dull tint, through brilliant gold, to clear and luminous lemon or primrose yellow. Dull yellow ochre implies the direction of faculty to selfish purposes: clear gamboge indicates a distinctly higher type; primrose yellofll denotes intellect devoted to spiritual. ends ; goltl indicates pure intellect applied to philosophy or mathematics. wem: in general, Taries greatly in its significance, and needs study to be interpreted correctly: mostly JI V 1 8... it indicates adaptability. Grey-green. slimy in appearance: deceitandcunning. Emeraltlgrem: versatility, ingenuity and resourcefulness, applied unselfishly. Pale, luminous blue-green: deep sympathy and compassion. with the power of perfect adaptability which only they can give. Bright apple-green seems always to accompany strong vitality. Blue: dark and clear: religious feeling. It is liable to be tinted by many other qualities, thus becoming any shade from indigo or a rich deep violet to muddy grey-blue. Light-blue, such as ultramarine or cobalt: devotion to a noble spiritual ideal. A tint of violet indicates a mixture of affection and devotion. Luminous lilfu-blue, usually accompanied by sparkling golden stars: the higher spirituality. with lofty spiritual aspiRtions. AI V 186. Ultra-violet: higher and purer developments of psychic faculties. Ult,a-re4: lower psychic faculties of one who dabbles in evil and selfish forms of magic. 1 L 11 134. Joy shows itself in a general brightening and radiancy COLOURS of both mental and astral bodies, and in a peculiar rippling of the surface of the body. Cheerfulness shows itself in a modified bubbling form of this, and also in a steady serenity. Surprise is shown by a sharp constriction of the mental body, usually communicated to both the astral and physical bodies, accompanied by an increased glow of the band of affection if the surprise is a pleasant one, and by an increase of brown and grey if the surprise is an unpleasant one. The constriction often causes unpleasant feelings.affecting sometimes the solar plexus, resulting in sinking and sickness. and sometimes the heart centre, causing palpitation and even death. It will be understood that, as human emotions are hardly ever unmixed, so these colours are seldom perfectly pure, but more usually mixtures. Thus the purity of many colours is dimmed by the hard browngrey of selfishness. or tinged with the deep orange of pride. In reading the full meaning of colours, other points have also to be taken into consideration: viz., the general brilliance of the astral body: the comparative Gefiniteness or indefiniteness of its outline: the relative brightness of the different centres of force (see Chapter V). The yellow of intellect, the rose of affection, and the blue of devotion are always found in the upper part of the astral body: the colours of selfishness, avarice, deceit and hatred are in the lower part: the mass of sensual feeling floats usually between the two. From this it follows that in the undeveloped man the lower portion of the ovoid tends to be larger than the upper, so that the astral body has the appearance of an egg with the small end uppermost. In the more developed man the reverse is the case, the small end of the egg pointing downwards. The tendency always is for the symmetry of the ovoid to re-assert itself by degrees, so that such appearances are only temporary. Each quality, expressed as a colour, has its own special type of astral matter. and the average position 13 M V lBo. M V 185-86. M V 1 90. 1 L 11 136: 2,52. M V 191. THE ASTRAL BODY H S II AI P 1.54. 104- 10.5. 1 L 1 389. JI VI 7&. JI V 1 go. of these colours depends upon the specific gravity of the respective grades of matter. The general principle is that evil or selfish qualities express themselves in the comparatively slow vibrations of coarser matter, while good and unselfish qualities play through finer matter. This being so, fortunately for us, good emotions persist even longer than evil ones, the effect of a feeling of strong love or devotion remaining in the astral body long after the occasion that caused it has been forgotten. It is possible. though unusual, to have two rates of vibrations going on strongly in the astral body at the same time, e.g.• love and anger. The afterresults will go on side by side, but one at a very much higher level than the other and therefore persisting longer. High unselfish affection and devotion belong to the highest (atomic) astral sub-plane. and these reflect themselves in the corresponding matter of the mental plane. They thus touch the causal (higher mental) body, not the lower mental. This is an important point of which the student should take especial note. The Ego, who resides on the higher mental plane, is thus affected only by unselfish thoughts. Lower thoughts affect, not the Ego, but the permanent atoms (see p. 207). Consequently, in the causal body there would be gaps, not bad colours, corresponding to the lower feelings and thoughts. Selfishness, for example, would show itself as the absence of affection or sympathy : as soon as selfishness is replaced by its opposite, the gap in the causal body would be filled up. An intensification of the coarse colours of the astral body, representing base emotions, whilst finding no direct expression in the causal body, nevertheless tends somewhat to dim the luminosity of the colours representing the opposite virtues in the causal body. In order to realise the appearance of the astral body. it must be borne in mind that the particles of which COLOURS IS it is composed are always in rapid motion: in the vast majority of cases the clouds of colour melt into one another and are all the while rolling over one another, appearing and disappearing as they roll. the surface of the luminous mist resembling somewhat the surface of violently boiling water. The various colours, therefore, by no means retain the same positions, though there is a normal position towards which they tend to return. The student is referred to the book, Man Visible and Invisible, by Bishop C. W. Leadbeater, for illustrations of the actual appearance of astral bodies:Plate VII., p. 88, Astral body of undeveloped man. Plate X., p. 94. Astral body of average man. Plate XXIII., p. 123. Astral body of developed man. (Edition 1902.) The main characteristics of the three types illustrated -undeveloped, the average man and the developed man-may be briefly summarised as follows:Undeveloped.-A very large proportion of sensual- MY 188-89· ity: deceit. selfishness and greed are conspicuous: fierce anger is implied by smears and blots of dull scarlet: very little affection appears, and such intellect and religious feeling as exist are of the lowest possible kind. The outline is irregular and the colours blurred, thick and heavy. The whole body is evidently illregulated, confused and uncontrolled. Average Man.-Sensuality is much less though still M v 194-95· prominent: selfishness is also prominent and there is some capability of deceit for personal ends, though the green is beginning to divide into two distinct qualities, showing that cunning is gradually becoming adaptability. Anger is still marked: affection, intellect and devotion are more prominent and of a higher quality. The colours as a whole are more clearly defined and distinctly brighter, though none of them are perfectly clear. The outline of the body is more defined and regular. Deueloped Man.-Undesirable qualities have almost M Y 1 entirely disappeared: across the top of the body there 2/eLI. 1 280- u,. 16 MY 1139. 1 L 12812 83. S G 0 313. M P77. THE ASTRAL BODY is a strip of lilac, indicating spiritual aspiration: above and enveloping the head there is a cloud of the brilliant yellow of intellect: below that there is a broad belt of the blue of devotion: then across the trunk there is a still wider belt of the rose of affection, and in the lower part of the body a large amount of the green of adaptability and sympathy finds its place. The colours are bright. luminous, in clearly marked bands, the outline is well defined, and the whole astral body conveys the impression of being orderly and under perfect control. Although we are not in this book dealing with the mental body. yet it should be mentioned that as a man develops, his astral body more and more resembles his mental body, until it becomes little more than a reflection of it in the grosser matter of the astral plane. This, of course, indicates that the man has his desires thoroughly under the control of the mind and is no longer apt to be swept away by surges of emotion. Such a man will no doubt be subject to occasional irritability, and to undesirable cravings of various sorts, but h. knows enough now to repress these lower _manifestations and not to yield to them. At a still later stage the mental body itselt becomes a reflection of the causal body. since the man now learns to follow solely the promptings of the higher self, and to guide his reason exclusively by them. Thus the mind body and the astral body of an Arhat would have very little characteristic colour of their own, but would be reproductions of the causal body in so far as their lower octaves could express it. They have a lovely iridescence,a sort of opalescent, mother-of-pearl effect, which is far beyond either description or representation. A developed man has five rates of vibration in his astral body: an ordinary man shows at least nine rates, with a mixture of various shades in addition. Many people have 50 or 100 rates, the whole surface being broken up into a multiplicity of little whirlpools and cross-currents. all battling one against another COLOURS 17 in mad confusion. This is the result of unnecessary emotion and worries, the ordinary person of the West being a mass of these, through which much of his strength is frittered away. An astral body which vibrates fifty ways at once is not only ugly but also a serious annoyance. It may be compared to a physical body suffering from an aggravated form of palsy, with all its muscles jerking simultaneously in different directions. Such astral effects are contagious and affect all sensitive persons who approach, communicating a painful sense of unrest and worry. It is just because millions of people are thus unnecessarily agitated by all sorts of foolish desires and feelings that it is so difficult for a sensitive person to live in a great city or move amongst crowds. The perpetual astral disturbances may even react through the etheric double and set up nervous diseases. The centres of inflammation in the astral body are 1 L 1 28..to it what boils are to the physical body-not only 29 1 • acutely uncomfortable, but also weak spots through which vitality leaks away. They also offer practically no resistance to evil influences, and prevent good influences from being of profit. This condition is painfully common: the remedy is to eliminate worry, fear and annoyance. The student of occultism must not have personal feelings that can be affected under any circumstances whatever. Only a young child has a white or comparatively 1 L 1 206. colourless aura, the colours beginning to show only ~ ~ ~~ ..~II. as the qualities develop. The astral body of a child 2 1/. is often a most beautiful object-pure and bright in its colours, free from the stains of sensuality, avarice, ill-will and selfishness. In it may also be seen lying latent the germs and tendencies brought over from his last life (see p. 2Il), some of them evil, some good, and thus the possibilities of the child's future life may be seen. The yellow of intellect, found always near the head, M v I 123is the origin of the idea of the nimbus or glory round U4· THE ASTRAL BODY 18 ::%h91. 15.5. 15"- I L II 1]6. MY 196. M VI 979 8. T B 057. I L II 1]6. the head of a saint, since this yellow is much the most conspicuous of the colours of the astral body, and the one most easily perceived by a person on the verge of clairvoyance. Sometimes, owing to the unusual activity of the intellect, the yellowmay become visible even in physical matter, so as to be perceptible to ordinary physical sight. We have already seen that the astral body has a certain normal arrangement, into which its various portions tend to group themselves. A sudden rush of passion or feeling, however, may temporarily force the whole, or almost the whole, of the matter in an astral body to vibrate at a certain rate, thus producing quite striking results. All the matter of the astral body is swept about as if by a violent hurricane, so that for the time being the colours become very much mixed. Coloured examples of this phenomenon are given in Man Visible and .Invisible:Plate XI., p. g6, Sudden rush of Affection. Plate XII., p. 98, Sudden rush of Devotion. Plate XIII., p. 100, Intense Anger. Plate XIV., p. 103, Shock of Fear. In the case of a sudden wave of pure affection, when, for example, a mother snatches up her baby and covers it with kisses, the whole astral body in a moment is thrown into a violent agitation, and the original colours are for the time almost obscured. Analysis discovers four separate effects :(1) Certain coils or vortices of vivid colour are to be seen, well-defined and solid-looking, and glowing with an intense light from within. Each of these is in reality a thought-form of intense affection, generated within the astral body, and about to be poured forth from it towards the object of the feeling. The whirling clouds of living light are indescribably lovely, though difficult to depict. (2) The whole astral body is crossed by horizontal pulsating lines of crimson light, even more difficult to represent, by reason of the exceeding rapidity of their motion. COLOURS (3) A kind of film of rose-colour covers the surface of the whole astral body, so that all within is seen through it, as through tinted glass. (4) A sort of crimson flush fills the entire astral body, tinging to some extent the other hues, and here and there condensing itself into irregular floating wisps, like half-formed clouds. This display would probably last only a few seconds, and then the body would rapidly resume its normal condition, the various grades of matter sorting themselves again into their usual zones by their specific gravities. Yet every such rush of feeling adds a little to the crimson in the higher part of the oval and makes it a little easier for the astral body to respond to the next wave of affection which may come. Similarly, a man who frequently feels high devotion soon comes to have a large area of blue in his astral body. The effects of such impulses are thus cumulative: and in addition the radiation of vivid vibrations of love and joy produce good influences on others. With the substitution of blue for crimson, a sudden M Y 1 98. access of devotion, surging over a nun engaged in contemplation, produces an almost identical etlect. In the case of intense anger, the ordinary background M V 1 100of the astral body is obscured by coils or vortices of 101. heavy, thunderous masses of sooty blackness, lit up from within by the lurid glare of active hatred. Wisps of the same dark cloud are to be seen defiling the whole astral body, while the fiery arrows of uncontrolled anger shoot among them like flashes of lightning. These terrible flashes are capable of penetrating other astral bodies like swords and thus inflicting injury upon other people. In this instance, as in the others, each outburst M Y 1 73: of rage would predispose the matter of the entire astral 11 1.5body to respond somewhat more readily than before • to these very undesirable vibrations. A sudden shock of terror will in an instant suffuse M Y 1 ICI.J the whole body with a curious livid grey mist, while horizontal lines of the same hue appear, but vibrating ;;Zs THE ASTRAL BODY with such violence as to be hardly recognisable as separate lines. The result is indescribably ghastly: all light fades out for the time from the body and the whole grey mass quivers helplessly like a jelly. T B '7. A flood of emotion does not Irreatly dect the mental body, though for a time it may render it almost impossible for any activity from the mental body to come through into the physical brain, because the astral body, which acts as a bridge between the mental body and the brain, is vibrating so entirely at one rate as to be incapable of conveying any undulation which is not in hannony with it. AI Y 1 10", The above are examples of the effects of sudden and temporary outbursts of feeling. There are other somewhat similar effects of a more permanent character produced by certain dispositions or types of character. M Y 1 106. Thus, when an ordinary man falls in love, the astral body is so completely transformed as to make it scarcely recognisable as belonging to the same person. MY 1107. Selfishness, deceit and avarice vanish, and the lowest part of the oval is filled with a large development of animal passions. The green of adaptability has been replaced by the peculiar brownish-green of jealousy, and the extreme activity of this feeling is shown by bright scarlet flashes of anger which permeate it. But the undesirable changes are more than counterbalanced by the splendid band of crimson which fills so large a part of the oval. This is, for the time, a dominant characteristic, and the whole astral body glows with its light. Under its influence the general muddiness of the ordinary astral body has disappeared, and the hues are ali brilliant and clearly marked, good and bad alike. It is an intensification of the life in various directions. The blue of devotion is also distinctly improved, and even a touch of pale violet appears at the summit of the ovoid, indicating a capacity of response to a really high and unselfish ideal. The yellow of intellect, however, has entirely vanished for the time-a fact which the cynical might consider as characteristic of the condition I COLOURS 2I The astral body of an irritable man usually shows a M v 1 109. broad band of scarlet as a prominent feature, and, in addition, the whole astral body is covered with little floating flecks of scarlet, somewhat like notes of interrogation. In the case of a miser, avarice, selfishness, deceit and M V 1 J 10adaptability are naturally intensified, but sensuality m. is diminished. The most remarkable change, however, is the curious series of parallel horizontal lines across the oval, giving the impression of a cage. The bars are a deep brown in colour, almost burnt sienna. The vice of avarice seems to have the effect of completely arresting development for the time, and it is very difficult to shake off when once it has gained a finn hold. Deep depression produces an effect in grey, instead M Y 1 UI. of brown, very similar to that of the miser. The result is indescribably gloomy and depressing to the observer. No emotional condition is more infectious than the feeling of depression. In the case of a non-intellectual man who is definitely M v 1 u3religious, the astral body assumes a characteristic U4· appearance. A touch of violet suggests the possibility of response to a high ideal. The blue of devotion is unusually well developed, but the yellow of intellect is scanty. There is a fair proportion of affection and adaptability, but more than the average of sensuality, and deceit and selfishness are also prominent. The colours are irregularly distributed, melting into one another, and the outline is vague, indicating the vagueness of the devotional man's conceptions. Extreme sensuality and the devotional temperament are frequently seen in association: perhaps because these types of men live chie1ly in their feelings, being governed by them instead of trying to control them by reason. A great contrast is shown by a man of a scientific M v 1 114. type. Devotion is entirely absent, sensuality is much us· below the average, but the intellect is developed to THE ASTRAL BODY an abnormal degree. Affection and adaptability are small in quantity and poor in quality. A good deal of selfishness and avarice is present and also some jealousy. A huge cone of bright orange in the midst of the golden yellow of intellect indicates pride and ambition in connection with the knowledge that has been acquired. The scientific and orderly habit of mind causes the arrangement of the colours to fall into regular bands, the lines of demarcation being quite definite and clearly marked. The student is urged to study for himself the admirable book from which the above information is taken, this being one of the most valuable of the many works produced by that great and gifted writerBishop C. W. Leadbeater. As we have been dealing here with colours in the astral body, it may be mentioned that the means of communication with the elementals, which are associated so closely with man's astral body, is by sounds and colours. Students may recollect obscure allusions now and again to a language of colours, and the fact that in ancient Egypt sacred manuscripts were written in colours, mistakes in copying being punished with death. To elementals, colours are as intelligible as words are to men. CHAPTER IV FUNCTIONS THE functions of the astral body may be roughly grouped under three headings :I. To make sensation possible. 2. To serve as a bridge between mind and physical matter. 3. To act as an independent vehicle of consciousness and action. We will deal with these three functions in sequence. When man is analysed into" principles," i.e., into A W 105. modes of manifesting life, the four lower principles, " 10-11. sometimes termed the" Lower Quaternary," are:Physical Body. Etheric Body Prana, or Vitality. K~ma, or Desire. The fourth principle, Kama, is the life manifesting in the astral body and conditioned by it: its characteristic is the attribute of feeling, which in rudimentary form is sensation, and in complex form emotion, with many grades in between these two. This is sometimes summed up as desire, that which is attracted or repelled by objects, according as they give pleasure or pain. KAma thus includes feelings of every kind, and 5 P 17-18. might be described as the passional and emotional A W 1°5· nature. It comprises all animal appetites, such as hunger, thirst, sexual desire: all passions, such as the lower forms of love. hatred, envy, jealousy; it is the desire for sentient existence. for experience of material joys-" the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life." KAma is the brute in us. the .. ape and tiger" of Tennyson. the force which most avails to keep us THE ASTRAL BODY S C 30S-307. S C 348. A W 231. S P 18. S S .~9. A IV 89. S C 310. bound to earth and to sLlle in us all higher longings by the illusions of sense. It is the most material in man's nature, and is the one that binds him fast to earthly life. .. It is not molecularly constituted matter, least of all the human body, Sthula Sharira, that is the grossest of all our' principles,' but verily the middle principle, the real animal centre; whereas our body is but its shell, the irresponsible factor. and medium through which the beast in us acts all its life" (Secret Doctrine, I., 280-1). K1ma or Desire is also described as a reflection or lower aspect of Atml or Will, the distinction being that Will is Self-determined, whereas Desire is moved to activity by attractions to or repulsionsfrom surrounding objects. Desire is thus Will discrowned, the captive, the slave of matter. Another way of regarding Klma has been well expressed by Mr. Ernest Wood in his illuminating book Tlu Seven Rays: KAma "means all desire. And desire is the outward-turned aspect of love, the love of the things of the three worlds; while love proper is love of life and love of the divine, and belongs to the higher or inward-turned self." For our purposes in this book desire and emotion are frequently used as practically synonymous: strictly, however, emotion is the product of desire and intellect. The astral body is often known as the KAma Rfipa : and sometimes, in the older nomenclature, as the Animal Soul. Impacts from without, striking on the physical body, are conveyed as vibrations by the agency of Prana or Vitality, but they would remain as vibrations only, merely motion on the physical plane, did not Kama, the principle of sensation, translate the vibration into feeling. Thus pleasure and pain do not arise until the astral centre is reached. Hence Kama joined to Prana is spoken of as the "breath of life," the vital sentient principle spread over every particle of the body. FUNCTIONS It appears that certain organs of the physical body are specifically associated with the workings of KAma : among these are the liver and the spleen. It may be noted here that KAma, or desire, is just beginning to be active in the mineral kingdom, where it expresses itself as chemical affinity. In the vegetable kingdom it is, of course, much more developed, indicating a far greater capacity of utilising lower astral matter. Students of botany are aware that likes and dislikes, i.e., desire, are much more prominent in the vegetable world than in the mineral. and that many plants exhibit a great deal of ingenuity and sagacity in attaining their ends. Plants are quick to respond to loving care and are distinctly affected by man's feelings towards them. They delight in and respond to admiration: they are also capable of individual attachments, as well as of anger and dislike. Animals are capable to the fullest possible extent of experiencing the lower desires, though the capacity for the higher desires is more limited. Nevertheless it exists, and in exceptional cases an animal is capable of manifesting an exceedingly high quality of affection or devotion. Passing now to the second function of the astral body-to act as a bridge between mind and physical matter-we 'note that an impact on the physical senses is transmitted inwards by Prana, becomes a sensation by the action of the sense-centres, which are situated in Ka.ma,and is perceived by Manas, or Mind. Thus, without the general action through the astral body there would be no connection between the external world and the mind of man, no connection between physical impacts and the perception of them by the mind. Conversely, whenever we think, we set in motion the mental matter within us; the vibrations thus generated are transferred to the matter of our astral body. the astral matter affects the etheric matter, this, in tum, acting on the dense physical matter, the grey matter of the brain. S P 35· M v 1 48- !9ClZ3-124: 128. H 5 11 318331 • M VI 49"".50, s5 ~Q: 86. If :t ~~z 103. M V 14. 26 THE ASTRAL BODY 102The astral body is thus veritably a bridge between 1°~' 2..9-250. our physical and our mental life, serving as a trans- .If W mitter of vibrations both from physical to mental and from mental to physical, and is, in fact, principally developed by this constant passage of vibrations to and fro. S C 2..8-2"9. In the course of the evolution of man's astral body, there are two distinct stages: the astral body has first to be developed to a fairly high point as a transmitting vehicle: then it has to be developed as an independent body, in which the man can function on the astral plane. S P 18. In man, the normal brain-intelligence is produced by the union of K~a with Manas, or Mind, this S P 35· union being often spoken of as K~a-Manas. K~a Manas is described by H. P. Blavatsky as" the rational, but earthly or physical intellect of man, encased in, and bound by, matter, and therefore subject to the influence of the latter "; this is the "lower self" which, acting on this plane of illusion, imagines itself to be the real Self or Ego, and thus falls into what Buddhist philosophy terms the .. heresy of separateness." S R 1.. 8. KAma-Manas, that is Manas with desire, has also been picturesquely described as Manas taking an interest in external things. It may, in passing, be noted that a clear understandc p 55-36ing of the fact that K~-Manas belongs to the human personality, and that it functions in and through the physical brain, is essential to a just grasp of the process of reincarnation, and is sufficient of itself to show how there can be no memory of previous lives so long as the consciousness cannot rise beyond the brainmechanism, this mechanism, together with that of Kama, being made afresh each life, and therefore having no direct touch with previous lives. S p 34. Manas, of itself, could not affect the molecules of the physical brain cells: but, when united to Kama, it is able to set the physical molecules in motion, and thus produce .. brain-consciousness," including the brain memory and all the functions of the human FUNCTIONS mind, as we ordinarily know it. It is, of course, not D A II. the Higher Manas, but the Lower Manas (i.e., matter of the four lower levels of the mental plane), which is associated with Kama. In Western psychology, this Kama-Manas becomes a part of what in that system is termed Mind. Kama-Manas, forming the link between the higher and lower nature in man, is the battleground during life, and also, as we shall see later, plays an important part in post-mortem existence. So close is the association of Manas and Kama that S S 30 : 89. the Hindus speak of man having five sheaths, one of A W 23 1• which is for all manifestations of working intellect and desire. These five are:I 2 3 4 5 Anandamayakosha the Bliss sheath Vignanamayakosha the Discrirninating sheath Manomayakosha ... the sheath of Intellect and Desire Pranamayakosha... the Vitality sheath Annamayakosha ... the Food sheath Buddhi Higher Manas Lower Manas and KAma Prana Dense physical body In the division used by Manu, the prlnamayakosha S S bg. and the annamayakosha are classed together, and known as the Bhutatman or elemental self, or body of action. The vigdnamayakosha and the manomayakosha S S 70-'1•• he terms the body of feeling, giving it the name Jiva : he defines it as that body in which the Knower, the Kshetragna, becomes sensible of pleasures and of pains. In their external relations, the vignanamayakosha and the manomayakosha, especially the manomayakosha, are related to the Deva world. The Devas are said to have" entered into" man, the reference being to the presiding deities of the elements (see p. 188). Those presiding deities give rise to sensations in man, changing the contacts from without into THE ASTRAL BODY S P28. S P29. 1/ B 77. S P30. sensations, or the recognition of the contacts, from within, this being essentially a Deva action. Hence the link with all these lower Devas, which, when supreme control has been obtained, makes man the master in every region of the Universe. Manas, or mind, being unable, as said above, to affect the gross particles of the brain, projects a part of itself, i.e., lower Manas, which clothes itself with astral matter, and then with the help of etheric matter permeates the whole nervous system of the child before birth. The projection from Manas is often spoken of as its reflection, its sliadow, its ray, and is known also by other allegorical names. H. P. Blavatsky writes (Key to Theosophy, p. IS,..): "Once imprisoned, or incarnate, their (the Manas) essence becomes dual; that is to say, the rays of the eternal divine Mind, considered as individual entities, assume a two-fold attribute, which is (a) their essential, inherent, characteristic, heaven-aspiring mind (higher Manas), and (b) the human quahty of thinking, of animal cogitation, rationalised owing to the superiority of the human brain, the Kama-tending or lower Manas." Lower Manas is thus engulfed in the quaternary, and may be regarded as clasping Kama with one hand, whilst with the other it retains its hold on its father, the higher Manas. Whether it will be dragged down by kama altogether and be tom away from the triad (!tma..buddhi-manas) to which, by its nature it belongs, or whether it will triumphantly carry back to its source the purified experiences of its earth life-that is the life-problem set and solved in each successive incarnation. This point will be considered further in the chapters on After-Deaib Life. Kama thus supplies the animal and passional elements; lower Manas rationalises these and adds the intellectual faculties. In man these two principles are interwoven during life and rarely act separately. Manas may be regarded as the flame, Kama and the physical brain as the wick and fuel which feed the flame. The egos of all men, developed or undeveloped, FUNCTIONS are of the same essence and substance: that which makes of one a great man, and of another a vulgar, silly person, is the quality and make-up of the physical body. and the ability of the brain and body to transmit and express the light of the real inner man. In brief, Ka.ma-Manas is the personal self of man: 5 P 33-33: Lower Manas gives the individualising touch that 36. makes the personality recognise itself as I." Lower Manas is a ray from the immortal Thinker, illuminating a personality. It is Lower Manas which yields the last touch of delight to the senses and to the animal nature, by conferring the power of anticipation, memory and imagination. Whilst it would be out of place in this book to 5 P 49'"51. encroach too far into the domain of Manas and the mental body. yet it may help the student at this stage to add that freewill resides in Manas, Manas being the representative of Mahat, the Universal Mind. In physical man. the Lower Manas is the agent of freewill. From Manas comes the feeling of liberty, the knowledge that we can rule ourselves, that the higher nature can master the lower. To identify the consciousness with the Manas, instead of with Kama, is thus an important step on the road to self-mastery. The very struggle of Manas to assert itself is the best testimony that it is by nature free. It is the presence and power of the ego which enables a man to choose between desires and to overcome them. As the lower Manas rules Kama, the lower quaternary takes its rightful position of subservience to the higher triad-e-atma-buddhi-manas. We may classify the principles of man in the following manner:Atml I Buddhi } Immortal { Higher Manas 2 Kama-Manas Conditionally Immortal. Prana 3 Etheric Double Mortal. { Dense Body II I THE ASTRAL BODY We come now to consider the third function of the astral body-as an independent vehicle of consciousness and action. The full treatment of this portion of our subject-the use, development, possibilities and limitations of the astral body on its own planewill be dealt with step by step in most of the succeeding chapters. For the present it will suffice to enumerate very briefly the principal ways in which an astral body can be used as an independent vehicle of consciousness. These are as follows:I. During ordinary waking consciousness, while the physical brain and senses are wide-awake, the powers of the astral senses may be brought into action. Some of these powers correspond to the senses and powers of action possessed by the physical body. They will be dealt with in the next chapter, on ChaII- '.e., ".ms. 2. During sleep or trance it is possible for the astral body to separate itself from the physical body and to move about and function freely on its own plane. This will be dealt with in the chapter on Sleep-Life. 3. It is possible so to develop the powers of the astral body that a man may consciously and deliberately, at any time that he chooses, leave the physical body and pass with unbroken consciousness into the astral body. This will be dealt with in the chapter on COfttinuity of ConsciONSfWS. 4. After physical death the consciousness withdraws itself into the astral body, and a life, varying greatly in intensity and duration, dependent upon a number of factors, may be led on the astral plane. This will be dealt with in the chapters on After-Death Life. These divisions of our subject, with numerous ramifications, will constitute the major portion of the remainder of this treatise. CHAPTER V CHAKRAMS THE word Chakram is Sanskrit, and means literally a wheel, or revolving disc. It is used to denote what are often called Force-Centres in man. There are such Chakrams in all man's vehicles, and they are points of connection at which force Bows from one vehicle to another. They are also intimately associated with the powers or senses of the various vehicles. The Chakrams of the etheric body are fully described in The Ethe1ic Double, and the student is referred to that work, as a study of the etheric Chakrams will materially assist him to understand the astral Chakrams. The etheric Chakrams are situated in the surface of the etheric double and are usually denoted by the name of the physical organ to which they correspond. They are:I. Base of Spine Chakram. 2. Navel Chakram. 3. Spleen Chakram. 4. Heart Chakram. S. Throat Chakram. 6. Between the Eyebrows Chakram. 7. Top of the Head Chakram. There are also three lower Chakrams, but as these are used only in certain schools of .. black magic,"! we are not concerned with them here. The astral Chakrams, which are frequently in the interior of the etheric double, are vortices in four dimensions (see Chapter XVII!.), thus having an extension in a direction quite different from the etheric : consequently, though they correspond to the etheric Chakrams, they are by no means always coterminous with them, though some part is always coincident. 1 "Black" has no relation to colour of skin. 1 L 1443. C 17- 18• 1 L 1 443444· 1 L 1 451. THE ASTRAL BODY 1 L 1 'Uz. 1 L 1453. H5 1 64· 1 L 1461: 347· 1L14'3. The astral Chakrarns are given the same names as those in the etheric douoie, and their functions are as follows :I. Base of Spine Chakram.-This is the seat of the Serpent Fire, Kundalini, a force which exists on all planes and by means of which the rest of the Chakrams are aroused. Originally, the astral body was an almost inert mass, possessing but the vaguest consciousness, with no definite power of doing anything, and with no clear knowledge of the world surrounding it. The first thing that happened was the awakening of Kundalini at the astral level. 2. Nave/, Chakram.-Kundalini having been awakened in the first Chakram, it moved to the navel Chakram, which it vivified, thus awakening in the astral body the power of feeling-a sensitiveness to all sorts of influences, though without as yet anything like the definite comprehension that comes from seeing and hearing. 3. SpleetJ Chak,am.-Kundalini then moved to the spleen Chakram, and through it vitalised the whole astral body, this Chakram having as one of its functions the absorption of Prana, the Vitality Force, which also exists on all planes. The vivification of the spleen Chakram enables the man to travel in his astral body consciously, though with only a vague conception as yet of what he encounters on his journeys. 4. Hearl Chakram.-This Chakram enables the man to comprehend and sympathise with the vibrations of other astral entities, so that he can instinctively understand their feelings. S. Throat Chakram.-This Chakram confers the power in the astral world which corresponds to hearing in the physical world. 6. Between the Eyebrows Chak,am.-This Chakram confers the power to perceive definitely the shape and nature of astral objects, instead of merely vaguely sensing their presence. Associated with this Chakram appears also the power CHAKRAMS of magnifying at will the minutest physical or astral particle to any desired size, as though by a microscope. This power enables an occult investigator to perceive and study molecules, atoms, etc. The full control of this faculty, however, belongs rather to the causal body. The power of magnification is one of the siddhis described in Oriental books as .. the power of making oneself large or small at will." The description is apposite, because the method employed is that of using a temporary visual mechanism of inconceivable minuteness. Conversely, minification of vision may be obtained by the construction of a temporary and enormously larger visual mechanism. The power of magnification is quite distinct from the faculty of functioning on a higher plane, just as the power of an astronomer to observe planets and stars is quite a different thing from the ability to move or function amongst them. In the Hindu sutras it is stated that meditation in a certain part of the tongue will confer astral sight. The statement is a .. blind," the reference being to the pituitary body, situated just over this part of the tongue. 7. Top r~the Head Chakram.-This Chakram rounds off and completes the astral life, endowing the man with the perfection of his faculties. There appear to be two methods in which this Chakram works. In one type of man, the sixth and seventh Chakrams both converge upon the pituitary body, this body being for this type practically the only direct link between the physical and the higher planes. In another type of man, however, while the sixth Chakram is still attached to the pituitary body, the seventh Chakram is bent or slanted until its vortex coincides with the pineal gland. In people of this type the pineal gland is thus vivified and made into a line of communication directly with the lower mental, without apparently passing through the intermediate astral plane in the ordinary way. 33 c ..s. 0 C App. IX. 1 Ya... I L 454· THE ASTRAL BODY 1 L 1 39239~: 1.5i 45.511 210- 212 C 14 : 16-18. 1191~. In the physical body, as we know, there are specialised organs for each sense, the eye for seeing, the ear for hearing, and so on. In the astral body, however, this 15 . not th e case. The particles of the astral body are constantly flowing and swirling about like those of boiling water: consequently, there are no special particles which remain continuously in any of the Chakrams. On the contrary, all the particles of the astral body pass through each of the Chakrams. Each Chakram has the function of awakening a certain power of response in the particles which flow through it, one Chakram the power of sight, another that of hearing, and so on. Consequently, anyone astral sense is not, strictly speaking, localised or confined to any particular part of the astral body. It is rather the whole of the particles of the astral body which possessthe power of response. A man, therefore, who has developed astral sight uses any part of the matter of his astral body in order to see, and so can see equally well objects in front, behind, above, below,or to either side. Similarly with all the other senses. In other words, the astral senses are equally active in all parts of the body. It is not easy to describe the substitute for language by means of which ideas are communicated astrally. Sound in the ordinary sense of the word is not possible in the astral world-in fact it is not possible even in the higher part of the physical world. It would also not be correct to say that the language of the astral world is thought-transference: the most that could be said is that it is the transference of thoughts formulated in iii. particular way. In the mental world a thought is instantaneously transmitted to the mind of another without any form of words: therefore in the mental world language does not in the least matter. But astral communication lies, as it were, half-way between the thoughttransference of the mental world and the concrete speech of the physical, and it is still necessary to CHAKRAMS 3S formulate the thought in words. For this exchange it is therefore necessary that the two parties should have a language in common. The astral and etheric Chakrams are in very close 1 L 1472. correspondence; but between them, and interpenetrating them in a manner which is not readily describable, there is a sheath or web of closely woven texture, composed of a single layer of physical atoms much compressed and permeated by a special fonn of Prana, The divine life which normally descends from the astral body to the physical is so attuned as to pass through this shield with perfect ease, but it is an absolute barrier to all the forces which cannot use the atomic matter of both planes. The web is a natural protection to prevent a premature opening up Jf communication between the planes, a development which could lead to nothing but injury. It is this which normally prevents clear recollection 1 L I 47..• of the sleep-life, and which also causes the momentary unconsciousness which always occurs at death. But for this provision the ordinary man could at any moment be brought by any astral entity under the Influence of forces with which he could not possibly cope. He would be liable to constant obsession by astral entities desirous of seizing his vehicles. The web may be injured in several ways :I. A great shock to the astral body, e.g, a sudden fright, may rend apart this delicate organism and, as it is commonly expressed, drive the man mad. A tremendous outburst of anger may also produce I L I 47~ the same effect, as may any other very strong emotion of an evil character which produces a kind of explosion in the astral body. 2. The use of alcohol or narcotic drugs, including tobacco. These substances contain matter which on breaking up voJatilises, some of it passing from the physical to the astral plane. Even tea and coffee contain this matter, but only in infinitesimal quantities, so that only long-continued abuse of them would produce the effect. 36 1L1475. 1 L 1 476. 1 L 1 477. 1 L 1 478. THE ASTRAL BODY These constituents rush through the Chakrams in the opposite direction to that for which they are intended, and in doing this repeatedly they seriously injure and finally destroy the delicate web. This deterioration or destruction may take place in two ways, according to the type of person concerned and to the proportion of the constituents in his etheric and astral bodies. In one type of person the rush of volatilising matter actually burns away the web, and therefore leaves the door open to all sorts of irregular forces and evil influences. Those affected in this way fall into delirium tremens, obsession or insanity. In the other type of person, the volatile constituents, in flowing through, somehow harden the atom so that its pulsation is to a large extent checked and crippled, and it is no long- capable of being vitalised by the particular type ot Prana which welds it into a web. This results in a kind of ossification of the web, so that instead of too much coming through from one plane to another, we have very little of any kind coming through. Such subjects tend to a general deadening down of their qualities, resulting in gross materialism, brutality and animalism, in the loss of all finer feelings and of the power to control themselves. All impressions which pass from one plane to the other are intended to come only through the atomic sub-planes, but when the deadening process takes place it infects not only other atomic matter, but even matter of the second and third sub-planes, so that the only communication between the astral and the etheric is from the lower sub-planes, upon which only unpleasant and evil influences are to be found. The consciousness of the ordinary man cannot yet use pure atomic matter, either of the physical or astral, and therefore there is normally for him no possibility of conscious communication at will between the two planes. The proper way to obtain it is to purify the vehicles until the atomic matter in both is fully vivified, so that all communications between the two may pass CHAKRAMS 37 by that road. In that case the web retains to the fullest degree its position and activity, and yet is no longer a barrier to the perfect communication, while it still continues to prevent close contact with the lower and undesirable sub-planes. 3. The third way in which the web may be injured 1 L 1 474. is that known in spiritualistic parlance as .. sitting for development," It is quite possible, in fact very common, for a man 1 L 1456. to have his astral Chakrams well developed, so that S C 260. he is able to function freely on the astral plane. and yet he may recollect nothing of his astral life when he returns to waking consciousness. With this phenomenon and its explanation we shall deal more appropriately in the Chapter on Dreams. CHAPTER VI KUNDALINI student is referred to The Etheric Double for a description of Kundalini with special reference to the etheric body and its Chakrams. Here we are concerned with it in connection with the astral body. The three known forces which emanate from the Logos are:I. Fohat: which shows itself as electricity, heat, light, motion, etc. 2. Prana : which shows itself as vitality. 3. Kundalini: also known as the Serpent Fire. Each of these three forces exists on all planes of which we know anything. So far as is known, no one of the three is convertible into any of the others: they each remain separate and distinct. Kundalini is called in The Voice of the Silence, the Fiery Power," and" the World's Mother." The first, because it appears like liquid fire as it rushes through the body: and the course it should follow is a spiral one, like the coils of a serpent. It is called the World's Mother because through it our various vehicles may be vivified, so that the higher worlds may open before us in succession. Its home in man's body is the Chakram at the base of the spine, and for the ordinary man it lies there unawakened and unsuspected during the whole of his life. It is far better for it to remain dormant until the man has made definite moral development, until his will is strong enough to control it and his thoughts pure enough to enable him to face its awakening without injury. No one should experiment with it without definite instruction from a teacher who thoroughly understands the subject, for the dangers THE 1 L 1 461• 1 L 146:z. II 1 L 1 463. KUNDALINI 39 connected with it are very real and terribly serious. Some of them are purely physical. Its uncontrolled movement often produces intense physical pain, and it may readily tear tissues and even destroy physical life. It may also do permanent injury to vehicles higher than the physical. One very common effect of rousing it prematurely is that it rushes downwards in the body instead of upwards, and thus excites the most undesirable passions-excites them and intensifies their effects to such a degree that it becomes quite impossible for the man to resist them, because a force has been brought into play in whose presence he is quite helpless. Such men become satyrs, monsters of depravity, the force being beyond the normal human power of resistance. 1 L I 464. They may probably gain certain supernormal powers, but these will be such as will bring them into touch with a lower order of evolution, with which humanity is intended to hold no commerce, and to escape from its thraldom may take more than one incarnation. There is a school of black magic which purposely uses this power in this way, in order that through it may be vivified those lower Chakrams which are never used by followers of the Good Law. The premature unfoldment of Kundalini bas other unpleasant possibilities. It intensifies everything in the man's nature, and it reaches the lower and evil qualities more readily than the good. In the mental body, ambition is very readily aroused, and soon swells to an incredibly inordinate degree. It would probably bring with it a great intensification of 1 L J 46,. intellect, accompanied by abnormal and satanic pride, such as is quite inconceivable to the ordinary man. An uninstructed man who finds that Kundalini has been aroused by accident should at once consult some one who fully understands these matters. The arousing of Kundalini-the method of doing which is not publicly known-and the attempt to pass it through the Chakrams-the order of which is THE ASTRAL BODY 40 I L I 466. I L r 467. I L I 468. TL I 469. also deliberately concealed from the public-s-should never be attempted except at the express suggestion of a Master, who will watch over His pupil during the various stages of the experiment. The most solemn warnings arc given by experienced occultists against in any way attempting to arouse Kundalini, except under qualified tuition, because of the real and great dangers involved. As is said in the Hathayogapradipika: .. It gives liberation to Yogis and bondage to fools" (III., 107). In some cases Kundalini wakes spontaneously, so that a dull glow is felt: it may even begin to move of itself, though this is rare. In this latter case it would be likely to cause great pain, as, since the passages are not prepared for it, it would have to clear its way by actually burning up a great deal of etheric dross, which is necessarily a painful process. When it thus awakes of itself or is accidentally aroused, it usually tries to rush up the interior of the spine, instead of following the spiral course into which the occultist is trained to guide it. If it be possible. the will should be set in motion to arrest its onward rush. but if that proves to be impossible, as is most likely, no alarm need be felt. It will probably rush out through the head and escape into the surrounding atmosphere. and it is likely that no harm will result beyond a slight weakening. Nothing worse than a temporary loss of consciousness need be apprehended. The worst dangers are connected, not with its upwards rush. but with its turning downwards and inwards. Its principal iunction in connection with occult development is that by being sent through the Chakrams ill the etheric body, it vivifies these Chakrams and makes them available as gates of connection between the physical and astral bodies. It is said in The Voice of the Silence that when Kundalini reaches the centre between the eyebrows and fully vivifies it. it confers the power of hearing the voice of the Master-which means, in this case. the voice of the ego or higher self. The reason is that when KUNDALINI the pituitary body is brought into working order it forms a perfect link with the astral vehicle, so that through it all communications from within can be received. In addition, all the higher Chakrams have to be awakened, in due course, and each must be made responsive to all kinds of astral influences from the various astral sub-planes. Most people cannot gain this during the present incarnation, if it is the first in whichthey have begun to take these matters seriously in hand. Some Indians might succeed in doing so, as their bodies are by heredity more adaptable than most others: but it is for the majority of men the work of a later Round altogether. The conquest of Kundalini has to be repeated in each incarnation, since the vehicles are new each time, but after it has been once achieved these repetitions will be an easy matter. Its action will vary with 1 L 1470. different types of people. Some would see the higher self rather than hear its voice. Also this connection with the higher has many stages; for the personality it means the influence of the ego: but for the ego himself it means the power of the monad: and for the monad in tum it means to become a conscious expression of the Logos. There does not appear to he any age limit with 1 L 1 411-s. regard to the arousing of Kundalini: but physical health is a necessity owing to the strain involved. An ancient symbol was the thyrsus-that is, a staff 1 L 1 13(,. with a pine-cone on its top. In India the same symbol is found, but instead of the staff a stick of bamboo with seven knots is used. In some modifications of the mysteries a hollow iron rod, said to contain fire, was used instead of the thyrsus. The staff, or stick, 1 L 1 131. with seven knots represents the spinal cord, with its seven Chakrams. The hidden tire is, of course. Kundalini. The thyrsus was not only a symbol, but also an object of practical use. It was a very strong magnetic instrument, used by initiates to free the astral body from the physical when they passed in THE ASTRAL BODY full consciousness to this higher life. The priest who had magnetised it laid it against the spinal cord of the candidate and gave him in that way some of his own magnetism, to help him in that difficult life and in the efiorts which lay before him. CHAPTER VII THOUGHT-FORMS THE mental and astral bodies are those chiefly con- T F 17. cerned with the production of what are called thoughtforms. The term thought-form is not wholly accurate, because the forms produced may be composed of mental matter, or, in the vast majority of cases, of both astral and mental matter. Although in this book we are dealing primarily with the astral, and not with the mental body, yet thoughtforms, as just said, are, in a vast majority of cases, both astral and mental. In order, therefore, to make the subject intelligible, it is necessary to deal very largely with the mental as well as with the astral aspect of the subject. A purely intellectual and impersonal thought-such T F 34-35. as one concerned with algebra or geometry-would 256• H S II 16 4 : be confined to mental matter. If on the other hand the thought has in it something of selfish or personal desire, it will draw round itself astral matter in addition to the mental. If, furthermore, the thought be of a spiritual nature, if it be tinged with love and aspiration or deep and unselfish feeling, then there may also enter in some of the splendour and glory of the buddhic plane. Every definite thought produces two effects: first, T F:H. H S 11 165. a radiating vibration: second, a floating form. The vibration set up in and radiating from the T F 18. mental body is accompanied with a play of colour which has been described as like that in the spray of a waterfall as the sunlight strikes it, raised to the nIb degree of colour and vivid delicacy. This radiating vibration tends to reproduce its own ~ ~ rate of mction in any mental body on which it may 17 1• 17 ;;-2t. 44 r THE ASTRAL BODY impinge: •.e., to produce thoughts of the same type as those from which the vibration originated. It should be noted that the radiating vibration carries, not the subject of the thought, but its character. Thus, the waves of thought-emotion radiating from a Hindu sitting rapt in devotion to Shri Krishna would tend to stimulate devotional feeling in any who came under its in1luence,. not necessarily towards Shri Krishna, but, in the case of a Christian, to the Christ, in the case of a Buddhist, to the Lord Buddha: and so on. r F 23-2.4. The power of the vibration to produce such effects depends principally upon the clearness and definiteness of the thought-emotion, as well, of course, as upon the amount of force put into it. r F 23. These radiating vibrations become less effective in proportion to the distance from their source, though it is probable that the variation is proportional to the cube of the distance instead of (as with gravitation and other physical forces) to the square, because of the additional (fourth) dimension involved. H S 11 257. The distance to which a thought-wave can radiate effectively also depends upon the opposition with which it meets. Waves in the lower types of astral matter are usually soon deflected or overwhelmed by a multitude of other vibrations at the same level, just as a soft sound is drowned in the roar of a city. r F 18. The second effect, that of a floating form, is caused by the mental body throwing off a vibrating portion of itself shaped by the nature of the thought. which gathers round itself matter of the corresponding order of fineness from the surrounding elemental essence (see page 6) of the mental plane. This is a thoughtfonn pure and simple, being composed of mental matter only. L.d D .5.5. If made of the finer kinds of matter, it will be of great power and energy, and may be used as a most potent agent when directed by a strong and steady will. T F 18-19, When the man directs his energy towards external 25· objects of desire, or is occupied with passional or B 54-56. THOUGHT-FORMS 45 emotional activities, a similar process takes place in his astral body: a portion of it is thrown off and gathers round itself elemental essence of the astral plane. Such thought-desire forms are caused by Kama-Manas, the mind under the dominion of the animal nature, Manas dominated by Kama. Such a thought-desire form has for its body the elemental essence, and for its animating soul, as it were, the desire or passion which threw it forth. Both these thought-desire forms, and also purdy mental thought-forms, are called artificial elementals. T F. 20. The vast majority of ordinary thought-forms are of the former type, as few thoughts of ordinary men and women are untinged with desire, passion or emotion. Both mental and astral elemental essence, which T F 2.5. possess a half-intelligent life of their own, respond A P 88. very readily to the influence of human thought and desire: consequently every impulse sent out, either from a man's mental body or from his astral body, is immediately clothed in a temporary vehicle of elemental essence. These artificial elementals thus become for T F 18. the time a kind of living creature, entities of intense activity animated by the one idea that generated them. They are, in fact, often mistaken by untrained psychics or clairvoyants for real living entities. Thus, when a man thinks of a concrete object-a T B 50-.51. book, house, landscape, etc.-he builds a tiny image of the object in the matter of his mental body. This image floats in the upper part of that body, usually in front of the face of the man, and at about the level of the eyes. It remains there as long as the man is contemplating the object, and usually for a little time afterwards, the length of life depending upon the intensity and the clearness of the thought. The form is quite objective and can be seen by another person possessed of mental sight. If a man thinks of another person he creates a tiny portrait in just the same way. Thought-forms have been usefully compared to a T F 26. Leyden jar (a vessel charged with static electricity). S G 0 24 6• THE ASTRAL BODY T F31. K 16-17. A P90. T P 32. T F 34. the jar itself corresponding to the elemental essence and the electric charge to the thought-emotion. And just as a Leyden jar when it touches another object discharges its stored electricity into that object, so does an artificial elemental, when it strikes a mental or astral body, discharge its stored mental and emotional energy into that body. The principles which underlie the production of all thought-emotion forms are:I. Colour is determined by the quality of the thought or emotion. 2. Form is determined by the nature of the thought or emotion. 3. Clearness of Outline is determined by the definiteness of the thought or emotion. The life-period of a thought-form depends upon (I) its initial intensity; (2) the nutriment afterwards supplied to it by a repetition of the thought. either by the generator or by others. Its life may be continually reinforced by this repetition, a thought which is brooded over acquiring great stability of form. So again thought-forms of similar character are attracted to and mutually strengthen each other, making a form of great energy and intensity. F.nrthermore, such a thought-form appears to possess instinctive desire to prolong its life, and will react on its creator, tending to evoke from him renewal of the feeling which created it. It will react in a similar I though not so perfect, manner on any others with whom it may come into contact. The colours in which thought-forms express themselves are identical with the colours found in the aura, vide pp. 11-12. The brilliance and depth of the colours are usually a measure of the strength and the activity of the feeling. For our present purpose we may classify thoughtforms into three kinds : (I) those connected solely with their originator: (2) those connected with another person: (3) those not definitely personal. THOUGHT-FORMS If a man's thought is about himself, or based on a personal feeling, as the vast majority of thoughts are, the form will hover in the immediate neighbourhood of its generator. At any time, then, when he is in a passive condition, his thoughts and feelings not being specifically occupied, his own thought-form will return to him and discharge itself upon him. In addition, each man also serves as a magnet to draw towards himself the thought-forms of others similar to his own, thus attracting towards himself reinforcements of energy from outside. People who are becoming sensitive have sometimes imagined, in such cases, that they have been tempted by the" devil," whereas it is their own thought-desire forms which are the case of the "temptation." Long brooding over the same subject may create a thought-form of tremendous power. Such a form may last for many years and have for a time all the appearance and powers of a real living entity. Most men move through life enclosed literally within a cage of their own building, surrounded by masses of forms created by their habitual thoughts. One important effect of this is that each man looks out upon the world through his own thought-forms, and thus sees everything tinged by them. Thus a man's own thought-forms re-act upon him, tending to reproduce themselves and thus setting up definite habits of thought and feeling, which may be helpful if of a lofty character, but are often cramping and a hindrance to growth, obscuring the mental vision and facilitating the formation of prejudice and fixed moods or attitudes which may develop into definite vices. As a Master has written: "Man is continually peopling his current in space with a world of his own, crowded with the offspring of his fancies, desires, impulses and passions." These thought-forms remain in his aura, increasing in Dumber and intensity, until certain kinds of them so dominate his mental and emotional life that the man rather answers to their 41 T F :16. ~":I;~. 96 : 1 L 11 J4.s- }tfii 8-J9' T B .53. .If P 88-89· T F 27. K 17. ~ ~.sli 101. 0 Will. THE ASTRAL BODY impulse than decides anew: thus are habits, the outer expression of his stored-up force, created, and thus is character built. Moreover, as each man leaves behind him a trail of thought-forms, it follows that as we go along a street we are walking amidst a sea of other men's thoughts. If a man leaves his mind blank for a time, these thoughts of others drift through it: if one happens to attract his attention, his mind seizes upon it, makes it its own, strengthening it by the addition of its force, and then casts it out again to affect somebody else. A man, therefore, is not responsible lor a thought which floats into his mind, but he is responsible if he takes it up, dwells upon it, and then sends it out again strengthened. MY 199. An example of thought-forms is that of the shapeless T F 45. clouds of heavy blue which may often be seen rolling along like wreaths of dense smoke over the heads of the congregation of a church. In churches where the level of spirituality is a low one, the minds of the men may create rows of figures, representing their calculations of business deals or speculations, while the minds of the women may create pictures of millinery, jewellery, etc. R 22. Hypnotism provides another example of thoughtforms. The operator may make a thought-form and project it on to blank paper, where it may become visible to his hypnotised subject: or he may make the form so objective that the subject will see and feel it as though it were an actual physical object. The literature of hypnotism is full of such examples. T F 3P-40 • If the thought-form is directed towards another ~ ~ II 96: person, it will go to that person. Either of two effects 1 11 145 : may then result. (I) If in the aura of the person con~rw 78-80. cerned there is material capable of responding sympaK 18. thetically to the vibration of the thought-form, then the ~ ~ ~~~t thought-form will remain near the person, or even in his aura, and, as opportunity serves, automatically discharge itself, thus tending to strengthen in the person that particular rate of vibration. If the person t THOUGHT-FORMS 49 at whom a thought-form is aimed happens to be busy, or already engaged in some definite train of thought, the thought-form, being unable to discharge itself into the man's mental body, which is already vibrating at a certain determinate rate, hangs in the vicinity until the man's mental body is sufficiently at rest to permit its entrance, when it immediately discharges itself. In doing this it will display what appears like a very considerable amount of intelligence and adaptability, though really it is a force acting along the line of least resistance-pressing steadily in one direction all the time, and taking advantage of any channel that it can find. Such elementals can, of course, be strengthened and their life-period extended by repetition of the same thought. (2) If, on the other hand, there is in the person's aura no matter capable of response, theQ the thoughtform cannot affect it at all. It will therefore rebound from it, with a force proportional to the energy with which it impinged upon it, and return to and strike its creator. Thus, for example, the thought of the desire for drink could not enter the body of a purely temperate man. It would strike upon his astral body, but it could not penetrate and it would then return to the sender. The old saying that "Curses (to which might be added blessings) come home to roost" conveys this truth and explains cases where, as many have known, evil thoughts directed to a good and highly-advanced man affect such a man not at all, but re-act, sometimes with terrible and devastating effect, on their creator. Hence also the obvious corollary that a pure heart and mind are the best protection against inimical assaults of feeling and thought. On the other hand, a thought-form of love and of LAD 58. desire to protect, strongly directed to some beloved :'38-39object, acts as a shielding and protecting agent: it K 18. 79• will seek all opportunities to serve and defend, will iI THE ASTRAL BODY strengthen friendly forces and weaken unfriendly ones, that impinge on the aura. It may protect its object from impurity, irritability, fear, etc. Friendly thoughts and earnest good wishes thus d P 92. create and maintain what is practically a ,. guardian angel " always at the side of the person thought of, no matter where he may be. Many a mother's thoughts and prayers, for example, have given assistance and protection to her child. They may often be seen by clairvoyants, and in rare cases they may even materialise and become physically visible. It is thus apparent that a thought of love sent from TBSI. one person to another involves the actual transference of a certain amount both of force and of matter from the sender to the recipient. If the thought is sufficiently strong, distance makes absolutely no difference to it: but a weak and diffused thought is not effective outside a limited area. T F36. A variant of our first group consists of those cases OS D 166. where a man thinks strongly of himself in a distant place. The form thus created contains a large proportion of mental matter, takes the image of the thinker, and is at first small and compressed. It draws around itself a considerable amount of astral matter and usually expands to life size before it appears at its destination. Such forms are often seen by clairvoyants, and not infrequently are mistaken for the man's astral body or even for the man himself. When this takes place, the thought or desire must OS D 166. be sufficiently strong to do one of three things: (1) To call up by mesmeric influence the image of the thinker in the mind of the person to whom he wishes to appear : (2) by the same power to stimulate for the moment that person's psychic faculties so that he is able to see the astral visitor; (3) to produce a temporary materialisation which will be physically visible. A P 105. Apparitions at the time of death, which are by no OS D 155. means uncommon, are very often really the astral form of the dying man: but they may also be thoughtlorms called into being by his eamest wish to see some THOUGHT-FORMS friend before he passes on. In some instances the visitor is perceived just after the moment of death, instead of just before: but for various reasons this fonn of apparition is far less frequent than the other. A family ghost may be (I) a thought-form, (2) an unusually vivid impression in the astral light, or (3) a genuine earth-bound ancestor still haunting some particular place. In this connection, it may be added that wherever . t ense passion . h as been feIt ,such as terror, pam, . any in sorrow, hatred, etc., so powerful an impression is made on the astral light that persons with but a faint glimmer of psychic faculty may be impressed by it. A slight temporary increase of sensibility would enable a man to visualise the entire scene: hence many stories of haunted places, and of the unpleasant influences of such spots as Tyburn Tree, the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's, etc. Apparitions at the spot where a crime was committed are usually thought-forms projected by the criminal who, whether living or dead, but most especially when dead, is perpetually thinking over again and again the circumstances of his action. Since these thoughts are naturally specially vivid in his mind on the anniversary of the crime, it may happen that the thought-form is strong enough to materialise itself so as to be visible to physical sight, thus accounting for many cases where the manifestation is periodical. Similarly, a jewel, which has been the cause of many crimes, may retain the impressions of the passions prompting the crimes, with unimpaired clearness, for many thousands of years, and continue to radiate them. A thought of phenomenal energy and concentration, whether it be a blessing or a curse, calls into being an elemental which is practically a living storage-battery with a kind of clockwork attachment. It can be arranged to discharge itself regularly at a certain hour daily, or upon a certain anniversary. or its discharge may be contingent upon certain occurrences. Many instances of this class of elemental are on record, A P 100. A P 106. 0C S161. D 290. A P 105 H S 1168. 0 S D 241. A P 93-9'· THE ASTRAL BODY particularly in the Highlands of Scotland, where physical warnings occur before the death of a member of the family. In these cases it is usually the powerful thought-fonn of an ancestor which gives the warning, according to the intention with which it was charged. A sufficiently strong wish-a concentrated effort of intense love or envenomed hate-would create such an entity once for all, an entity which would then be quite disconnected from its creator, and would carry on its appointed work entirely irrespective of later intentions and desire on his part. Mere repentance could not recall it or prevent its action any more than repentance could stop a bullet once discharged. Its power could be to a considerable extent neutralised only by sending after it thoughts of a contrary tendency. A p 91. Occasionally an elemental of this class, being unable to expend its force either upon its object or its creator, may become a kind of wandering demon, and be attracted by any person who harbours similar feelings. If sufficiently powerful, it may even seize upon and inhabit a passing shell (see page 171). in which it i!s able to husband its resources more carefully. In this fonn it may manifest through a medium, and, by masquerading as a well-known friend, may obtain influence over people upon whom it would otherwise have little hold. A p 96~7. Such elementals, whether fonned consciously or S G 0 21 7. unconsciously, which have become wandering demons, invariably seek to prolong their life, either by feeding like vampires upon the vitality of human beings, or by influencing them to make offerings to them. Among simple primitive tribes they have frequently succeeded in getting themselves recognised as village or family gods. The less objectionable types may be content with efferings of rice and cooked foods: the lowest and most loathsome class demand bloodsacrifices. Both varieties exist to-day in India, and in greater numbers in Africa. By drawing mainly upon the vitality of their devo- THOUGHT-FORMS tees, and also upon the nourishment they can obtain from the offerings, they may prolong their existence for years, or even centuries. They may even perform occasional phenomena of a mild type in order to stimulate the faith and zeal of their followers. and they invariably make themselves unpleasant in some way or other if the sacrifices are neglected. The black magicians of Atlantis-the " lords of the dark face "-seem to have specialised in this type of artificial elementals, some of which. it is hinted. may have kept themselves in existence even to this day. The terrible Indian goddess, Kali, may well be a relic of this type. Tbr vast majority of thought-forms are simply copies or images of people or other material objects. They are formed first within the mental body and then pass outwards and remain suspended before the man. This applies to anything about which one may be thinking: persons, houses, landscapes, or anything else. A painter, for example, builds out of the matter of his mental body a conception of his future picture, projects it into space in front of him, keeps it before his .. mind's eye:' and copies it. This thought- and emotion-form persists and may be regarded as the unseen counterpart of the picture, radiating out its own vibrations and affecting all who come within its influence. Similarly a novelist builds in mental matter images of his characters, and then, by his will, moves these puppets from one position or grouping to another, so that the plot of the story is literally acted out before him. A curious effect arises in such a case. A playful .. (Ch . nature-spirit see apter XX) may ensoul t h e images and cause them to do things other than those which the author intended them to do. More frequently a dead writer may perceive the images, and, being still interested in the craft of writing, may mould the characters and influence their actions according to his 53 .4 P 98. T F 3~37. 4.5· T F 36. H S 11 .5960. T F 37. T F 31· H S I 161. THE ASTRAL BODY H 5 11 34- Y:s3,tl!: I L II 161- ~6~ D 82. A W 81-83. T p 37-3 8. K 20-21. own ideas. The actual writer thus often finds his plots working themselves out according to a plan quite different from his original conception. In reading a book; it is possible for a genuine student, with attention fully concentrated, to get into touch with the original thought-form which represents the author's conception as he wrote. Through the thoughtform the author himself may even be reached, and additional information thus obtained, or light gained on difficult points. There are in the mental and astral worlds many renderings of well-known stories, each nation usually having its special presentation, with the characters dressed in its own particular national garb. There thus exist excellent and life-likethought-forms of people like Sherlock Holmes, Captain Kettle, Robinson Crusoe, Shakespeare's characters, etc. In fact, there are on the astral plane vast numbers of thought-forms of a comparatively permanent character, often the result of the cumulative work of generations of people. Many of these refer to alleged religious history, and the sight of them by sensitive people is responsible for many quite genuine accounts given by untrained seers and seeresses. Any great historical event, having been constantly thought of, and vividly imaged by large numbers of people, exists as a definite thought-form on the mental plane, and wherever there is any strong emotion connected with it, it is materialised also in astral matter and consequently can be seen by a clairvoyant. The above applies equally, of course, to scenes and situations in fiction, drama, etc. Considered in the mass, it is easy to realise the tremendous effect that these thought-forms or artificial elementals have in producing national and race-feelings, and thus in biasing and prejudicing the mind: for thought-form, of a similar kind have a tendency to aggregate together and form a kind of collective entity. We see everything through this atmosphere, every thought is more or less refracted by it, and our own THOUGHT-FORMS astral bodies are vibrating in accord with it. As most people are receptive rather than initiative in their nature, they act almost as automatic reproducers of the thoughts which reach them, and thus the national atmosphere is continually intensified. This fact obviously explains many of the phenomena of crowdconsciousness (see Chapter XXV). The influence of these aggregated thought-forms K:n: ts. extends still further. Thought-forms of a destructive type act as a disruptive agent and often precipitate havoc on the physical plane, causing accidents," natural convulsions, storms, earthquakes, floods, or crime, disease, social upheavals and wars. It is possible also for dead people and other non- os D 83-8,.. human entities, such as mischievous nature-spirits, (see p. 181) for example, to enter and vivify these thought-images. The trained seer has to learn to distinguish the thought-form, even when vivified, from the living being, and prominent facts of the astral world from the temporary moulds into which they are cast. Our third class of thought-emotion forms consists T F 37-38. of those which are not directly connected with any natural object, and which therefore express themselves in forms entirely their own, displaying their inherent qualities in the matter which they draw around themselves. In this group, therefore, we have a glimpse of the forms natural to the astral and mental planes. Thought-forms of this class almost invariably manifest themselves on the astral plane, as the vast majority of them are expressions of feeling as well as of thought. Such a form simply floats detached in the atmos- T F 27. phere, all the time radiating vibrations similar to those originally sent forth by its creator. If it does not come into contact with any other mental body, the radiation gradually exhausts its store of energy and the form then falls to pieces; but if it succeeds in awakening sympathetic vibrations in any mental body near at hand, an attraction is set up, and the thoughtform is usually absorbed by that mental body. II THE ASTRAL BODY T F 27. H 5 II 2~ T F 40-41 : 44: 49: .5.5. T F42. T FO. T F12. T F 43-44: .51 , 61,62. 52, 56. .57. T F 46-48. I 246ILl ~2~ 1 261- :'8~ l' From the above we see that the influence of a thought-form is less far-reaching than that of a thoughtflibrlJtion, but it acts with much greater precision. A thought-vibration reproduces thoughts of an order similar to that which gave it birth. A thought-form reproduces the same thought. The radiations may affect thousands and stir in them thoughts of the same level as the original, though none of them may be identical with it. The thought-form can affect only very few, but in those few cases it will reproduce exactly the initiatory idea. For pictorial, coloured illustrations of many kinds of thought and emotion forms, the student is referred to the classic work on the subject: Thought-Forms, by Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater. This whole chapter, indeed, is largely a condensed summary of the principles enunciated in that work. Vague thoughts or feelings show themselves as vague clouds. Definite thoughts or feelings create clearly defined forms. Thus a form of definite affection directed to a particular individual shapes itself not unlike a projectile: a thought of protective affection becomes somewhat like a bird, with a central portion of yellow and two wing-shaped projections of rosepink: a thought of universal love becomes a rose-pink sun with rays in every direction. Thoughts in which selfishness or greed are prominent usually take a hooked form, the hooks in some cases actually clawing round the object desired. As a general principle, the energy of a selfishthought moves in a closed curve. and thus inevitably returns and expends itself upon its own level. An absolutely unselfish thought or feeling, however, rushes forth in an open curve, and thus does not return, in the ordinary sense, but pierces through into the plane above, because only in that higher condition, with its additional dimension, can it find room for its expansion. But, in thus breaking through, such a thought or feeling opens a door, as we might say symbolically, of dimension equivalent to its diameter, and thus provides a THOUGHT-FORMS 57 channel through which the higher planes can pour themselves into the lower-often with wonderful results, as in the case of prayer, both for the thinker and for others. Herein lies the highest and best part of the belief T F 46- 4S. in answers to prayer. On the higher planes there ~ is an infinite flood of force always ready and waiting z6z. to be poured through when a channel is offered. A thought of perfectly unselfish devotion provides such a channel, the grandest and noblest part of such a thought ascending to the Logos Himself. The response from Him is a descent of the divine life, resulting in a great strengthening and uplifting of the maker of the channel, and the spreading all about him of a powerful and beneficent influence, which flows through the reservoir that exists on the higher planes for the helping of mankind. It is this adding to the reservoir of spiritual force which is the truth in the catholic idea of works of supererogation. The Nirmanakayas are especially associated with this great reservoir of force. Meditation upon a Master makes a link with Him, 1 L 1 69-70. which shows itself to clairvoyant vision as a kind of ~s 11 45line of light. The Master always subconsciously feels M P 73· the impinging of such a line, and sends out along it in response a steady stream of magnetism whicb continues to play long after the meditation is over. Regularity in such meditation is a very important factor. A thought of definite, well-sustained devotion may T F 48. assume a form closely resembling a flower, whilst devotional aspiration will create a blue cone, the apex T F. 46. pointing upwards. Such thought-forms of devotion are often exceedingly LAD 57· beautiful, varying much in outline, but characterised by curved upward-pointing petals like azure flames. It is possible that the flower-like characteristic of devotion forms may have led to the custom of offering flowers in religious worship, the flowers suggesting the forms visible to astral sight. L/1t:61_ THE ASTRAL BODY Intense curiosity, or desire to know, takes the form of a yellow snake: explosive anger or irritation, of a splash of red and orange: sustained anger, of a sharp, red stiletto: spiteful jealousy shows itself as TF.s+ a brownish snake. T F 66-73: Forms produced by people who have mind and 141~ 57. emotion well under control and definitely trained in meditation, are clear, symmetrical objects of great beauty, often taking well-known geometrical forms, such as triangles, two triangles interlaced. five-pointed stars, hexagons, crosses, and so on, these indicating thoughts concerned with cosmic order, or metaphysical concepts. H 5 11 259, The power of the united thought of a number of 26 5. people is always far more than the sum of their separate thoughts: it would be more nearly represented by their product. T F 75-76. Music also produces forms which are perhaps not ~3~ 1 268- technically thought-forms-unless we take them, as we well may, as the result of the thought of the composer, expressed by the skill of the musician through his instrument. These music forms will vary according to the type of music, the kind of instrument which plays it, and the skill and merits of the performer. The same piece of music will, if accurately played, always build the same form, but that form will, when played on a church organ or by an orchestra, be enormously larger than, as well as of different texture from, that produced when played upon a piano. There will also be a difference in texture between the result of a piece of music played upon a violin and the same piece executed upon a flute. There is also a wide difference between the radiant beauty of the form produced by a true artist. perfect in expression and execution, and the relatively dull effect produced by a wooden and mechanical player. T l' 77. Music forms may remain as coherent erections for a 1• H 5 1 27 considerable time-an hour or two at least-and during all that time they are radiating their characterT l' 50-51 T 1'53. T 1'52. THOUGHT-FORMS 59 istic vibrations in every direction, just as thoughtforms do. In Thought-Forms three coloured examples are given, of music forms built by music of Mendelssohn, of T F 77: Ro. Gounod, and of Wagner respectively. T F 82. The forms which are built vary much with different H S 1 269. composers. An overture by Wagner makes a magnificent whole, as though he built with mountains of flame for stones. One of Bach's fugues builds up an ordered form, bold yet precise, rugged but symmetrical, with parallel rivulets of silver and gold or ruby running through it, marking the successive appearances of the motif. One of Mendelssohn's Lieber ohne Worte makes an airy erection, like a castle of filigree work in frosted silver. These forms, created by the pelformers of the music, H S 1 270are quite distinct from the thought-forms made by 27 1• the composer himself, which often persist for many years, even for centuries, if he is so far understood and appreciated that his original conception is strengthened by the thoughts of his admirers. Similar edifices are constructed by a poet's idea of his epic, or a writer's conception of his subject. Sometimes crowds of nature-spirits (see p 181) may be seen admiring the music-forms and bathing in the waves of influence which they send forth. In studying pictorial representations of thought- T F 16-17. forms it is important to bear in mind that thoughtforms are four-dimensional objects. It is therefore a practical impossibility to describe them adequately in words which pertain to our ordinary three-dimensional experiences, still less to portray them in twodimensional pictures on paper. Students of the fourth dimension will realise that the most that can be done is to represent a section of the four-dimensional forms. T F 48-49 It is a remarkable, and possibly deeply significant fact, that many of the higher types of thought-forms assume shapes closely resembling vegetable and animal forms. We thus have at least a presumption that the forces of nature work along lines somewhat similar 60 T F 29-30. T F 28 H S I 274275· H S I 277- 27' THE ASTRAL BODY to those along which thought and emotion work. Since the whole universe is a mighty thought-form called into existence by the Logos, it may well be that tiny parts of it also result from the thought-forms of minor entities engaged in the same creative work. This conception naturally recalls the Hindu belief that there are 330,000,000 Devas. It is also wortliy of notice that, whilst some of the thought-forms are so complicated and so exquisitely fashioned as to be beyond the power of the human hand to reproduce, yet they may be very closelyapproximated by mechanical means. The instrument, known as a Harmonograph, consists of a fine point guided in its path by several pendulums, each of which has its own independent swing, all of these being welded into one composite movement, which is commanicated to the pointer, and which the pointer registers on a suitable surface. Other, though simpler forms, resemble the sand figures produced by the well-known Chladni's sound plate or by the Eidophone (vide Eidophone Voice Figures, by Margaret Watts Hughes). Scales and arpeggios throw out lasso-like loops and curves: a song with a chorus produces a number of beads strung on a silver thread of melody: in a glee or part-song intertwining threads of different colours and textures are produced. A processional hymn builds a series of precise rectangular forms, like the links of a chain or the carriages of a railway train. An Anglican chant makes glittering fragments, quite different from the glowing uniformity of the Gregorian tone, which is not unlike the effect of Sanskrit verses chanted by an Indian pandit. Military music produces a long stream of rhythmically vibrating forms, the regular beat of these undulations tending to strengthen tl.ose of the astral bodies of the soldiers, the impact of a succession of steady and powerful oscillations supplying for the time the place of the will-force which, through fatigue, may have been slackened. THOUGHT-FORMS 61 A thunderstorm creates a flaming band of colour, H S 1 279a crash making a form suggestive of an exploding 280. bomb, or an irregular sphere with spikes projecting from it. Sea-waves breaking on the shore create wavy, parallel lines of changing colour, becoming mountain ranges in a storm. Wind in the leaves of a forest covers it with iridescent network, rising and falling with gentle wave-like movement. The song of birds shows as curving lines and loops of light, from the golden globes of the campanero to the amorphous and coarsely-coloured mass of the scream of a parrot or macaw. The roar of a lion is also visible in higher matter and it is possible that some wild creatures are able to see it clairvoyantly, thus adding to their terror. A purring cat surrounds H S 1280itself with concentric rosy elond-films: a barking 2!jZ. dog shoots forth well-defined sharp-pointed projectiles not unlike a rifle bullet, which pierce the astral bodies of people and seriously disturb them. The bay of a bloodhound throws off beads like footballs, slower in motion and less liable to injure. The colour of these projectiles is usually red or brown, varying with the emotion of the animal and the key of his voice. The lowing of a cow produces blunt-ended clumsy shapes like logs of wood. A flock of sheep makes a many-pointed yet amorphous cloud not unlike a dustcloud. .The cooing of a pair of doves makes graceful curved forms like the letter S reversed. Turning to human sounds, an angry ejaculation H S 1282throws itself forth like a scarlet spear: a stream of 283. silly chatter produces an intricate network of hard brown-grey metallic lines, forming an almost perfect barrier against any higher or more beautiful thoughts and icelings, The astral body of a garrulous person is a striking object-lesson on the folly of unnecessary, useless and unpleasant speech. A child's laughter bubbles forth in rosy curves: H 5 1 283the g~ffaw of ~n emI; ty-minded person causes an ~1;l05-106. explosive effect In an Irregular mass, usually brown or dirty green. A sneer throws out a shapeless pro- THE ASTRAL BODY jectile of dull red, usually fiecked with brownishgreen and bristling with sharp points. The cachinations of the self-conscious produce the appearance and colour of a pool of boiling mud. Nervous giggles create a sea-weed-like tangle of brown and dull yellow lines, and have a very bad effect upon the astral body. A jolly, kindly laugh billows out in rounded forms of gold and green. A soft and musical whistle produces an effect not unlike that of a small fiute, but sharper and more metallic. Tuneless whistling sends out small piercing projectiles of dirty brown. M P 101. Fidgetiness or fussiness produces in the aura tremulous vibrations, so that no thought or feeling can pass in or out without distortion, even good thought that is being sent out taking with it a shiver that practically neutralises it. Accuracy in thought is essential, but it should be attained not by hurry or fuss but by perfect calmness. The strident screech of a railway engine makes a far more penetrating and powerful projectile than even the bark of a dog. producing upon the astral body an effect comparable to that of a sword thrust upon the physical body. An astral wound heals in a few minutes, but the shock to the astral organism disappears by no means so readily. The firing of a gun produces a serious effect upon astral currents and astral bodies. Rifle or pistol fire throws out a stream of small needles. H 51157. Repeated noises affect the mental and astral bodies precisely as blows affect the physical body. In the physical body the result would be pain: in the astral body it means irritability: in the mental body a feeling of fatigue and inability to think clearly. H 51286It is abundantly clear that all loud, sharp or sudden 28 7. sounds should, as far-as possible, be avoided by any one who wishes to keep his astral and mental vehicles in good order. Especially disastrous is the effect, e.g., of the ceaseless noise and roar of a city upon the plastic astral and mental bodies of children. THOUGHT-FORMS All the sounds of nature blend themselves into one tone , called by the Chinese the "Great Tone" or , KUNG. This also has its form, a synthesis of all forms, vast and changeful as the sea, representing the note of our earth in the music of the spheres. This is said by some writers to be the note F of our scale. It is, of course, possible to destroy a thought-form, and this is sometimes done, for example, where a person after death is pursued by a malignant thoughtform, created probably by the hate of those whom the person had injured whilst in the physical world. Although such a thought-form may appear almost as a living creature-an instance is given where it resembled a huge distorted gorilla-it is simply a temporary creation of evil passion and in no sense an evolving entity, so that to dissipate it is simply like destroying a Leyden jar, and is not in any sense a criminal action. Most men recognise that acts which injure others are definitely and obviously wrong, but few recognise that it is also wrong to feel jealousy, hatred, ambition, etc., even though such feelings are not expressed in speech or deed. An examination of the conditions of life after death (Chapters XIII-XV) reveals that such feelings injure the man who harbours them, and cause him acute suffering after death. A study of thought-forms thus brings home to the earnest student the tremendous possibilities of such creations, and the responsibility attaching to a right use of them. Thoughts are not only things, but exceedingly puissant things. Every one is generating them unceasingly night and day. Often it is not possible to render physical aid to those in need, but there is no case in which help may not be given by thought, or in which it can fail to produce a definite result. No one need hesitate to use this power to the full: provided always that it be employed for unselfish purposes, and for furthering the divine scheme of evolution. H S 1 z87. S D III 463464. 0 S D73· ~~ g n. 61. T F p-74' 1 191- ~3~ CHAPTER VIII PHYSICAL LIFE .IN Chapter II we considered, in general outline, the composition and structure of the astral body. We shall now proceed to study it, in greater detail, as it exists and is used during the ordinary waking consciousness of the physical body. The factors which determine the nature and quality of the astral body during physical life may be roughly grouped as follows : I. The physical life. 2. The emotional life. 3. The mental life. MB# I. The Physical Life.-We have already seen (p. 8) S P 35. that every particle of the physical body has its corresH S 118. SGOa80. ponding astral .. counterpart." Consequently, as the solids, liquids, gases and ethers of which the physical is composed may be coarse or refined, gross or delicate, so will be the nature of the corresponding astral envelopes. A physical body nourished on impure. food will produce a correspondingly impure astral body, whilst a physical body fed on clean food and drink will help to purify the astral vehicle. The astral body being the vehicle of emotion, passion H S 11 Q. S G 0 a80' and sensation, it follows that an astral body of the grosser type will be chiefly amenable to the grosser varieties of passion and emotion: whereas a finer astral body will more readily vibrate to more refined emotions and aspirations. It is impossible to make the physical body coarse LL 15. and at the same time to organise the astral and mental 1 Y 125. bodies for finer purposes: neither is it possible to have a pure physical body with impure mental and astral bodies. All three bodies are thus interdependent. PHYSICAL LIFE Not only the physical body, but also the higher S G 0 a80bodies also, are affected by the food which is eaten. 28z. Carnivorous diet is fatal to anything like real occult development, and those who adopt it are throwing serious and unnecessary difficulties in their own way, for flesh food intensifies all the undesirable elements and passions of the lower planes. In the ancient Mysteries were men of the utmost T N P uSpurity and they were invariably vegetarian. The 119· RAja Yogi takes especial pains to purify the physical body by an elaborate system of food, drink, sleep, etc., and insists on foods which are salvie, or .. rhythmic," A whole system relating to foodstuffs is built up to help in the preparation of the body for use by the higher consciousness. Flesh foods are rajdsie, r Y 126. i.e., they come under the quality of activity, being C W 124· stimulants, and built up to express animal desires and activities. They are utterly unsuited to the finer type of nervous organisation. The yogi therefore cannot afford to use these for the higher processesof thought. Foods on the way to decay, such as game, venison, etc., as well as alcohol, are tamdsie, or heavy, and also to be avoided. Foods which tend to growth, such as grain and fruits, are salvie, or rhythmic, being the most highly vitalised and suitable for building up a body sensitive and at the same time strong. Certain other substances also affect the physical 1 L r .m-B. and astral bodies detrimentally. Thus tobacco per- ~. S II 20rneates the physical body with impure particles, causing emanations so material that they are frequently perceptible to the sense of smell. Astrally, tobacco not only introduces impurity, but tends also to deaden the sensibility of the body: .. soothing the nerves," as it is called. While this may, in conditions of modem life, be sometimes less harmful than leaving the nerves unsoothed," it is certainly undesirable for an occultist, who needs the capacity of answering instantly to all possible vibrations, combined, of course, with perfect control. If 66 THE ASTRAL BODY Similarly, there is no doubt whatever that from the point of view of both astral and mental bodies the use of alcohol is always an evil. e W 124. Bodies fed on flesh and alcohol are liable to be thrown out of health by opening up of the higher consciousness: and nervous diseases are partly due to the fact that the human consciousness is trying to express itself through bodies clogged with flesh products and poisoned with alcohol. In particular, the pituitary body is very readily poisoned by even a ew 123: 197. very small amount of alcohol, and its highest evolution is thereby checked. It is the poisoning of the pituitary body with alcohol that leads to the abnormal and irrational vision associated with delirium tremens. 1 L 1 499In addition to the direct coarsening of the physical l°Os 11 7-a: and astral bodies, meat, tobacco and alcohol are 11-12. open also to the serious objection that they tend to 282 : attract undesirable astral entities which take pleasure 1 Y 128. in the scent of blood and spirits: they surge around the person, impressing their thoughts upon him, forcing their impressions on his astral body, so that the person may have a kind of shell of objectionable entities hanging on to his aura. Principally for this reason, in the Yoga of the Right Hand Path meat and wine are absolutely forbidden. M B 4.5. These entities consist of artificial elementals, given birth to by the thoughts and desires of men, and also of depraved men imprisoned in their astral bodies, known as elementaries (see p. 145). The elementals are attracted towards people whose astral bodies contain matter congenial to their nature, while the elementaries naturally seek to indulge in vices such as they themselves encouraged while in physical bodies. H S 11:12Nearly all drugs-such as opium, cocaine, the 23· theine in tea, caffeine in coffee, etc.-produce a deleterious effect upon the higher vehicles. Occasionally they are, of course, almost a necessity, in certain diseases : but an occultist should use them as sparingly as possible. One who knows how to do it can remove the evil effect of opium (which may have been used to relieve 1 L 1 499. H S 11 :8;' 0 10. PHYSICAL LIFE great pain) from the astral and mental bodies after it has done its work on the physical. Dirt of all kinds is also more objectionable in the H S II 23higher worlds even than in the physical, and attracts 25· a lowclass of nature-spirits (see p. 181). The occultist therefore needs to be stringent in all matters of cleanli- H S 11204. ness. Especial attention should be paid to the hands and feet, because through these extremities emanations Bow out so readily. Physical noises, such as prevail in cities. jar the M P 100nerves and thus cause irritation and fatigue: the 101. effect is accentuated by the pressure of so many astral bodies vibrating at different rates, and all excited and disturbed by trifles. Although such irritation is superficial, and may pass out of the mind in ten minutes, yet an effect may be produced in the astral body lasting for forty-eight hours. Hence it is difficult, whilst living in modem cities, to avoid irritability, especially for one whose bodies are more highly strung and sensitive than those of the ordinary man. In general, it may be said that everything which H 5 II 30. promotes the health of the physical body also reacts favourably upon the higher vehicles. Travel is another of the many factors which affect H S 1 II~ the astral body. by bringing to bear on the traveller Ill. a change of etheric and astral influences connected with each place or district. Ocean, mountain, forest, waterfall, each has its own special type of life, astral and etheric as well as visible, and therefore its own set of influences, Many of these unseen entities are pouring out vitality, and in any case their effect on etheric, astral and mental bodies is likely to be healthy and desirable in the long run, though a change may be somewhat tiring at the time. Hence an occasional change from town to country is beneficial on the ground of emotional as well as physical health. the astral body may also be affected by such objects H S 11 69as talismans. The methods of making them have },;" P u6. already been described in The Etheric Double, pp. II3-9. We shall here deal only with their general effects. 68 THE ASTRAL BODY When an object is strongly charged with magnetism for a particular purpose by a competent person, it becomes a talisman, and when properly made continues to radiate this magnetism with unimpaired strength for many years. It may be used for many purposes. Thus, for example, a talisman may be charged with thoughts of purity, which will express themselves as definite rates of vibration in astral and mental matter. These vibratory rates, being directly contrary to thoughts of impurity, will tend to neutralise or overpower any impure thoughts which may arise. In many cases the impure thought is a casual one that has been picked up and is not therefore a thing of great power in itself. The talisman, on the other hand, has been intentionally and strongly charged, so that when the two streams of thought meet, there is not the slightest doubt that the thoughts connected with the talisman will vanquish the others. In addition, the initial conflict between the opposing sets of thoughts will attract the man's attention, and thus give him time to recollect himself, so that he will not be taken off his guard, as so frequently happens. H S 11 72Another example would be that of a talisman charged 77· with faith and courage. This would operate in two ways. First, the vibrations radiating from the talisman would oppose feelings of fear as soon as they arose, and thus prevent them from accumulating and strengthening one another, as they often do, until they become irresistible. The effect has been compared to that of a gyroscope which, once set in motion in one direction, strongly resists being turned into another direction. Secondly, the talisman works indirectly upon the mind of the wearer: as soon as he feels the beginnings 01 fear, he will probably recollect the talisman, and call up the reserve strength of his own will to resist the undesirable feeling. A third possibility of a talisman is that of its being linked with the person who made it. In the event PHYSICAL LIFE of the wearer being in desperate circumstances, he may call upon the maker and evoke a response from him. The maker mayor may not be physically conscious of the appeal, but in any case his ego will be conscious and will respond by reinforcing the vibrations of the talisman. Certain articles are to a large extent natural amulets H 5 11 78or talismans. All precious stones are such, each 80. having a distinct influence which can be utilised in two ways: (I) the influence attracts to it elemental essence of a certain kind, and thoughts and desires which naturally express themselves through that essence; (2) these natural peculiarities make it a fit vehicle for magnetism which is intended to work along the same line as those thoughts and emotions. Thus, for example, for an amulet of purity, a stone should be chosen whose natural undulations are inharmonious to the key in which impure thoughts express themselves. Although the particles of the stone are physical, yet, being in a key identical at this level with the key of purity on higher levels, they will, even without the stone being magnetised, check impure thought or feeling by virtue of the overtones. Furthermore, the stone can readily be charged at astral and mental levels with the undulations of pure thought and feeling which are set in the same key. Other examples are (I) the rudraksha berry, fre- H 5 11 80. quently used for necklaces in India, which is especially suitable for magnetisation where sustained holy thought or meditation is required, and where all disturbing influences are to be kept away; (2) the beads of the tulsi plant, whose influence is somewhat different. Objects which produce strong scents are natural H 5 11 80talismans. Thus the gums chosen for incense give 81. out radiations favourable to spiritual and devotional thought, and do not harmonise with any form of disturbance or worry. Med!zval witches sometimes combined the ingredients of incense so as to produce the opposite effect, and it is also done to-day in LucileriaD ceremonies. It is generally desirable to avoid coarse 70 THE ASTRAL BODY and heavy scents, such as that of musk or of satchet powder, as many of them are akin to sensual feelings. H S 11 81An object not intentionally charged may sometimes 8a. have the force of a talisman: e.g., a present from a friend, worn on the person, such as a ring or chain, or even a letter H S 11 8aAn object, such as a watch, habitually carried in 86. the pocket, becomes charged with magnetism and is able, if given away, to produce decided effects on the recipient. Coins and money notes are usually charged with mixed magnetism, feeling and thought, and may, therefore, radiate a disturbing and irritating effect. H S 1197. A man's thoughts and feelings thus affect not only himself and other people, but also impregnate the inanimate objects round him, even walls and furniture. He thus unconsciously magnetises these physical objects, so that they have the power of suggesting similar thoughts and feelings to other people within range of their influence. (2) The Emotional Life.-It is scarcely necessary to insist that the quality of the astral body is largely determined by the kind of feelings and emotions which constantly play through it. 1 L 1576· A man is using his astral body, whether he be conscious of the fact or not, whenever he expresses an emotion, just as he is using his mental body whenever he thinks, or his physical body whenever he perfonns physical work. This, of course, is quite a diflerent thing from utilising his astral body as an indePewlenl vehicle through which his consciousness can be fully expressed, a matter which we shall have to consider later, in due course. },f Y 1177. The astral body, as we have seen, is the field of manifestion of desire, the mirror in which every feeling is instantly reflected, in which even every thought which has in it anything that touches the personal self must express itself. From the material of the astral body bodily form is given to the dark elementals " (see p, 45), which men create and set in motion by evil wishes and malicious feelings: from it also are II PHYSICAL LIFE bodied forth the beneficent elementals called into life by good wishes, gratitude and love. The astral body grows by use, just as every other body does, and it also has its own habits, built up and fixed by constant repetition of similar acts. The astral body during physical life being the recipient of and respondent to stimuli both from the physical body and from the lower mental, it tends to repeat automatically vibrations to which it is accustomed; just as the hand may repeat a familiar gesture, so may the astral body repeat a familiar feeling or thought. All the activities that we call evil, whether selfish thoughts (mental) or selfish emotions (astral), invariably show themselves as vibrations of the coarser matter of those planes, whilst good and unselfish thought or emotion sets in vibrations the higher types of matter. As finer matter is more easily moved than coarse, it follows that a given amount of force spent in good thought or feeling produces perhaps a hundred times as much result as the same amount of force sent out into coarser matter. If this were not so, it is obvious that the ordinary man could never make any progress at all. The effect of 10 per cent. of force directed to good ends enormously outweighs that of 90 per cent. devoted to selfish purposes, and so on the whole such a man makes an appreciable advance from life to life. A man who has even 1 per cent. of good makes a slight advance. A man whose account balances exactly, so that he neither advances nor retrogresses, must live a distinctly evil life: whilst in order to go downwards in evil a person must be an unusually consistent villain. Thus even people who are doing nothing consciously towards their evolution, and who let everything go as it will, are nevertheless gradually evolving, because of the irresistible force of the Logos which is steadily pressing them onwards. But they are muving so slowly that it will take them millions of years of incarnation and trouble and uselessness to gain even a step. 71 D A 39. 1 L 1 42521. 4 1 L 1 161~2V 1'4-1.5. T B 47. 72 M B 42. M B.... THE ASTRAL BODY The method by which progress is made certain is simple and ingenious. As we have seen, evil qualities are vibrations of the coarser matter of the respective planes, while good qualities are expressed through the higher grades of matter. From this follow two remarkable results, It must be borne in mind that each sub-plane of the astral body has a special relationship to the corresponding sub-plane of the mental body; thus the four lower astral sub-planes correspond to the four kinds of matter in the mental body, while the three higher astral sub-planes correspond to the three kinds of matter in the causal body. Hence the lower astral vibrations can find no matter in the causal body capable of responding to them, and so the higher qualities alone can be built into the causal body. Thence it emerges that any good which a man develops in himself is permanently recorded by a change in his causal body, while the evil which he does, feels, or thinks cannot possibly touch the real ego, but can cause disturbance and trouble only to the mental body, which is renewed for each fresh incarnation. The result of evil is stored in the astral and mental permanent atoms: the man, therefore, has still to face it all over and over again, until he has vanquished it, and finally rooted from his vehicles all tendency to respond to it That is evidently a very different matter from taking it into the ego and making it really a part of himself. Astral matter responds more rapidly than physical to every impulse from the world of mind, and consequently the astral body of a man, being made of astral matter, shares this readiness to respond to the impact of thought, and thrills in answer to every thought that strikes it, whether the thoughts come from without, i.e., from the minds of other men, or from within, from the mind of its owner. An astral body, therefore, which is made by its owner to respond habitually to evil thoughts acts as a magnet to similar thought- and emotion-forms in PHYSICAL LIFE 73 its vicinity, whereas a pure astral body acts on such thoughts with repulsive energy, and attracts to itself thought- and emotion-forms of matter and vibrations congruous with its own. For it must be borne in mind that the astral world I L I 47. is full of thoughts and emotions of other men, and H 5 1 102, that these exert a ceaseless pressure, constantly bombarding every astral body and setting up in it vibrations similar to their own. In addition, there are nature-spirits (see p. 181) H S 1 102: of a low order, which enjoy the coarse vibrations of I:l9-1 3° ' anger and hatred, and throw themselves into any current of such nature, thus intensifying the undulations add adding fresh life to them. People yielding themselves to coarse feelings can depend on being constantly surrounded by such carrion-crows of the astral world who jostle one another in eager anticipation of an outburst of passion. Many of the moods to which most people are sub- 1 L 1 267[ect, in greater or lesser degree, are due to outside ~~:rl8G. astral influences. Whilst depression, for example, may 99· be due to a purely physical cause, such as indigestion, a chill, fatigue, etc., even more frequently it is caused by the presence of an astral entity who is himself depressed and is hovering around either in search of sympathy or in the hope of drawing from the subject the vitality which he lacks. Furthermore, a man who, for example, is beside M V I OIIhimself with rage, temporarily loses hold of his astral lOr 1 8body, the desire-elemental (see p. 6) becoming 4 88• 4 7 supreme. Under such circumstances the man may be seized upon and obsessed either by a dead man of similar nature or by some evil artificial elemental. The student should sternly and especially disregard 1 L 1.26770. depression, which is a great barrier to progress, and 268: HSI199at least should endeavour to let no one else know that 100. he is oppressed by it. It indicates that he is thinking 1 L 11 152. more of himself than of the Master, and it makes it more difficult for the Master's influence to act upon 74 H 5 1 36337°· THE ASTRAL BODY him. Depression causes much suffering to sensitive people, and is responsible for much of the terror of children at night. The inner life of an aspirant ought not to be one of continual emotional oscillation. Above all things, the aspirant should learn not to worry. Contentment is not incompatible with aspiration. Optimism is justified by the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good, though it is true that if we take into account only the physical plane it is not easy to maintain that position. Under the stress of very powerful emotions, if a man lets himself go too far, he may die, become insane, or be obsessed. Such obsession need not necessarily be what we call evil, though the truth is that all obsession is injurious. An illustration of this phenomenon may be taken from" conversion" at a religious revival. On such occasions some men get worked up into a condition of such tremendous emotional excitement that they swing beyond the degree of safety: they may then be obsessed by a departed preacher of the same religious persuasion, and thus two souls may temporarily work through one body. The tremendous energy of these hysterical excesses is contagious and may spread rapidly through a crowd. An astral disturbance is set up of the nature of a gigantic whirlpool. Towards this pour astral entities whose one desire is for sensation: these are all kinds of nature-spirits (see p. 181) who delight in and bathe in the vibrations of wild excitement, of whatever character, be it religious or sexual, just as children play in the surf. They supply and reinforce the energy so recklessly expended. The dominant idea being usually the selfi.sh one of saving one's own soul, the astral matter is of a coarse kind, and the naturespirits are also of a primitive type. The emotional effect of a religious revival is thus very powerful. In some cases a man may be genuinely and permanently benefited by his .. conversion," but the serious student of occultism should avoid PHYSICAL LIFE such excessesof emotional excitement, which for many people are apt to be dangerous. "Excitement is alien to the spiritual life." There are, of course, many causes of insanity: it may be due to defects in one or more of the vehicles -physical, etheric, astral, mental. In one variety it is caused by a want of accurate adjustment between the astral particles and the particles of either the etheric or the mental body. Such a case would not recover sanity until he reached the heaven-world, i.e., until he had left his astral body and passed into his mental body. This type of insanity is rare. The effect on the astral body caused by astral vibrations of another astral body has long been recognised in the East, and is one of the reasons why it is such an immense advantage to a pupil to live in close proximity to one more highly evolved than himself. An Indian teacher not only may prescribe for his pupil special kinds of exercises or study, in order to purify, strengthen and develop the astral body, but also by keeping the pupil in his neighbourhood physically seeks by this close association to harmonise and attune the pupil's vehicles to his own. Such a teacher has already calmed his own vehicles and accustomed them to vibrate at a few carefully selected rates instead of in a hundred promiscuous frenzies. These few rates of vibration are very strong and steady, and day and night, whether he is sleeping or waking, they play unceasingly upon the vehicles of the pupil, and gradually raise him to his teacher's key. For similar reasons, an Indian who wishes to live the higher life, retires to the jungle, as a man of other races withdraws from the world and lives as a hermit, He thus has at least breathing space, and rest from the endless conflict caused by the perpetual battering on his vehicles of other people's feelings and thoughts, and can find time to think coherently. The calm influences of Nature are also to a certain extent helpful. Somewhat analagous are the effects produced on animals which are closelyassociated with human beings. 7S 1 L 1 483483- 1 L 1 4~48. lfo/ 1 102- . 1 L 1 47-48. M Y 161. H S I 157· THE ASTRAL BODY The devotion of an animal for the master whom he loves, and his mental efforts to understand his master's wishes and to please him, enormously develop the animal's intellect and his power of devotion and affection. But in addition to this, the constant play of the man's vehicles on those of the animal greatly assist the process, and thus prepare the way for the animal to individualise and become a human entity. H 5 1 469It is possible, by an effort of will, to make a shell ~2B 117. of astral matter on the periphery of the astral aura. This may be done for three purposes: (I) to keep out emotional vibrations, such as anger, envy or hatred, intentionally directed at one by another; (2) to keep out casual vibrations of low type which may be floating in the astral world and impinge upon one's aura; (3) to protect the astral body during meditation. Such shells do not usually last for long, but need to be frequently renewed if required for any length of time. Such a shell would, of course, keep vibrations in as well as out. The student should therefore make the shell only of the coarsest astral matter, as he will not wish to keep away, or to prevent from passing outwards, vibrations in the higher types of astral matter. H S 1 476. As a general principle, it may be said that to use a shell for oneself is to some extent a confession of weakness, as if one is all one should be, no artificial protection of -this kind would be needed. On the other hand, shells may often be used with advantage to help other people who need protection. A p 39-40. It will be recollected (see p. 6) that a man's astral os D 87-99· body consists not only of ordinary astral matter, but also of a quantity of elemental essence. During the man's life this elemental essence is segregated from the ocean of -similar matter around, and practically becomes for that time what may be described as a kind of artificial elemental (see p. 45). i.e., a kind of semi-intelligent separate entity known as the DesireElemental. The Desire-Elemental follows the course PHYSICAL LIFE 77 of its own evolution downwards into matter without any reference to (or, indeed, any knowledge of) the convenience or intention of the Ego to whom it happens to be attached. Its interests are thus diametrically opposed to those of the man, as it is seeking ever stronger and coarser vibrations. Hence the perpetual struggle described by St. Paul as .. the law in the members warring against the law of the mind." Furthermore, finding that association with the mental matter of the man's mind-body brings to it more vivid vibrations, it endeavours to stir up the mental matter into sympathy with it, and to induce the man to believe that he desires the sensations which it desires. Consequently, it becomes a sort of tempter. Nevertheless the desire-elemental is not an evil entity: in fact it is not an evolving entity at all, having no power of reincarnation: it is only the essence of which it is composed which is evolving. Nor has this shadowy being any evil designs upon the man, for it knows nothing whatever of the man of whom, for the time, it forms a part. It is thus in no way a fiend to be regarded with horror, but is as much a part of the divine life as the man himself, though at a different stage of its unfoldment. It is a mistake to imagine that by refusing to gratify 1 L 1 40S. the desire-elemental with coarse vibrations, a man is OS D 101. thereby checking its evolution: for this is not the case. By controlling the passions and developing the higher qualities, a man drops the lower and helps to evolve the higher types of essence: the lower kinds of vibrations can be supplied by an animal, at some later time, even better than by a man, whereas no one but a man can evolve the higher type of essence. All through life a man should definitely fight against I z, 1 404. the desire-elemental and its tendency to seek for the lower, coarser physical vibrations, recognising quite clearly that its consciousness, its likes and dislikes, are not his own. He has himself created it and should not become a slave to it, but learn to control it and realise himself as apart from it. THE ASTRAL BODY L L 9-10. M B 98 : 68. D 16. This matter will be further considered in Chapter XII. (3) The Mental Life.-our third and last factor which affects the astral body during ordinary waking CODsciousness is the mental life. The mental activities have the most far-reaching effects on the astral body for two reasons:(I) Because lower mental matter, Manas, is so inextricably linked with astral matter, Kama, that it is almost impossible for most people to utilise one without the other: i.e., few people can think without at the same time feeling, or feel without at the same time, to some extent, thinking. (2) Because the organisation and control of the astral body rest with the mind. This is an example of the general principle that each body is built up by consciousness working in the plane next above it. Without the creative power of thought the astral body cannot be organised. Every impulse sent by the mind to the physical body has to pass through the astral body, and produces an effect on it also. Further, as astral matter is far more responsive to thought-vibrations than is physical, the effect of mental vibrations on it is proportionately greater than on the physical body. Consequently a controlled, trained and developed mind tends also to bring the astral body under control and to develop it. When, however, the mind is not actively controlling the astral body, the latter, being peculiarly susceptible to the influence of passing thought-currents, is perpetually receiving these stimuli from without, and eagerly responding to them. So far, we have dealt with the general effects produced on the astral body, during ordinary life, by the nature of the physical, emotional and mental life. We have now to deal, but in general outline only, with the use of the special faculties of the astral body itself, during the waking consciousness. The nature of these faculties, and their connection with the various Chakrams in the astral body, we have already described in Chapter V. By means of PHYSICAL LIFE 79 the powers of astral matter itself, developed through the agency of the Chakrams, a man is enabled not M V r 16only to receive vibrations from etheric matter, transmitted through the astral body to his mind, but also to receive impressions direct from the surrounding matter of the astral world, these, of course, being also similarly transmitted through the mental body to the real man within. But in order to receive impressions in this manner direct from the astral world, the man must learn to focus his consciousness in his astral body, instead of, as is usually the case, in his physical brain. In the lower types of men, Klma, or desire, is still M v t 53. emphatically the most prominent feature, though the M 18: 34· mental development has also proceeded to some extent. The consciousness of such men is centred in the lower part of the astral body, their life being governed by sensations connected with the physical plane. That is the reason why the astral body forms L.A D .5.5the most prominent part of the aura in the undeveloped man. The ordinary average man is also still living almost M V] .53. entirely in his sensations, although the higher astral is coming into play: but still, for him, the prominent question which guides his conduct is not what is right or reasonable to do, but simply what he himself desires to do. The more cultured and developed are beginning to govern desire by reason: that is to say, the M V].54centre of consciousness is gradually transferring itself from the higher astral to the lower mental. Slowly as the man progresses it moves up further still, and the man begins to be dominated by principle rather than by interest and desire. The student will recollect that humanity is still] L I 36. 8• in the Fourth Round, which should naturally be L L 13 devoted to the development of desire and emotion; yet we are engaged in the unfolding of intellect, which is to be the special characteristic of the Fifth Round. That this is so is due to the immense stimulus given to our evolution by the descent of the Lords of the THE ASTRAL BODY 80 MY/54· 1L t 441. Flame from Venus, and by the work of the Adepts, who have preserved for us that influence and steadily sacrificed themselves in order that we might make the better progress. In spite of the fact that, in the vast majority of cases the centre of consciousness is located in the astral body, most men are quite unaware of the fact, knowing nothing at all about the astral body or its uses. They have behind them the traditions and customs of a long series of lives in which the astral faculties have not been used; yet all the time those faculties have been gradually and slowly growing inside a shell, somewhat as a chick grows inside the egg. Hence a very large number of people have astral faculties, of which they are entirely unconscious, in reality very near the surface, so to speak, and it is probable that in the near future, as these matters become more widely known and understood, in great numbers of cases these latent faculties will break through, and astral powers will then become far more common than they are to-day. The shell spoken of above is composed of a great mass of self-centred thought in which the ordinary man is almost hopelessly entombed. This applies also, perhaps with even greater force, to the sleep life, with which we shall deal in the next chapter. We spoke above of focussing the consciousness in the astral body. The consciousness of man can be focussed in only one vehicle at a time, though he may be simultaneously conscious through the others in a vague way. A simple analogy may be taken from ordinary physical sight. If the finger be held up before the face, the eyes can be so focussed as to see the finger perfectly: at the same time the distant background can also be seen, though imperfectly, because it is out of focus. In a moment the focus can be changed so that the background is seen perfectly, but the finger, now out of focus, only dimly and vaguely. Precisely in the same way, if a man who has developed astral and mental consciousness focusses himself in the PHYSICAL LIFE physical brain, as in ordinary life, he will see perfectly the physical bodies of people, and at the same time he will seetheir astral and mental bodies,but only somewhat dimly. In far less than a moment he can change the focus of his consciousness so that he sees the astral fully and perfectly: but in that case he will see the mental and physical bodies also, but not in full detail. The same thing is true of the mental sight and of the sight of higher planes. Thus in the case of a highly developed man, whose consciousness has already developed even beyond the causal (higher mental) body, so that he is able to function freely on the buddhic plane, and has also a measure of consciousness upon the ltmic plane, the centre of consciousness lies between the higher mental and the buddhic plane. The higher mental and the higher astral are in him much more developed than their lower parts, and though he still retains his physical body, he holds it merely for the convenience of working in it, and not in any way because his thoughts and desires are fixed there. Such a man has transcended all Kama which could bind him to incarnation, and his physical body is therefore retained in order that it may serve as an instrwnent for the forces of the higher planes to reach down even to the physical plane. 8x 1 L 1 441. M V 1 6,5. M V 1 66. CHAPTER IX SLEEP~LIFE real cause of sleep would appear to be that the bodies grow tired of one another. In the case of the physical body, not only every muscular exertion, but also every feeling and thought, produce certain slight chemical changes. A healthy body is always trying to counteract these changes, but it never quite succeeds whilst the body is awake. Consequently with every thought, feeling or action there is a slight, almost imperceptible loss, the cumulative effect of which eventually leaves the physical body too exhausted to be capable of further thought or work. In some cases H S 1 73-74. even a few moments of sleep will be sufficient for recuperation, this being effected by the physical elemental. In the case of the astral body, it very soon becomes 1 L 1 ..884l1e): 396tired of the heavy labour of moving the particles of 397· the physical brain, and needs a considerable period LA DO. of separation from it to enable it to gather strength to resume the irksome task. On its own plane, however, the astral body is practically incapable of fatigue, since it has been known to work incessantly for twenty-five years without showing signs of exhaustion. Although excessive and long-continued emotion tires a man very quickly in ordinary life, it is not the astral body which becomes fatigued, but the physical organism through which the emotion is expressed or experienced. Similarly with the mental body. When we speak of mental fatigue, it is in reality a misnomer, for it is 1LI the brain, not the mind, that is tired. There is no AI JI. such thing as fatigue of the tnintl. 11.14884&g· ,pl. THE SLEEP-LIFE When a man leaves his body in sleep (or in death), 1 t: 1 360the pressure of the surrounding astral matter-which 361. really means the force of gravity on the astral planeimmediately forces other astral matter into the astrally empty space. Such a temporary astral counterpart is an exact copy, so far as arrangement tis concerned, of the physical body, but nevertheless it has no real connection with it, and could never be used as a vehicle. It is merely a fortuitous concurrence of particles, drawn from any astral matter of a suitable kind that happens to be at hand. When the true astral body returns, it pushes out this other astral matter without the slightest opposition. This is clearly one reason why extreme care should be exercised as to the surroundings in which a man sleeps: for, if those surroundings are evil, astral matter of an objectionable type may fill the physical body while the man's astral body is absent, leaving behind infiuences which cannot but react unpleasantly upon the real man when he returns. When a man ., goes to sleep." his higher principles M B ..8-49in their astral vehicle withdraw from the physical body. ~~. 98. the dense body and the etheric body remaining by themselves on the bed, the astral body floating in the LAD 4" air above them. In sleep, then. a man is simply using his astral body instead of his physical: it is only the physical body that is asleep, not necessarily the man himself. Usually the astral body, thus withdrawn from 1 L 1 393the physical. will retain the form of the physical ~9~ 3-3 body, so that the person is readily recognisable 3 4· to anyone who knows him physically. This is due to the fact that the attraction between the astral and the physical particles, continued all through physical life, sets up a habit or momentum in the astral matter, which continues even while it is temporarily withdrawn from the sleeping physical body. For this reason, the astral body of a man who is 1 L 1391. asleep will consist of a central portion, corresponding THE ASTRAL BODY LAD 45. 1 H 34. M 849: 100. D 32. 1 L I 399. A P34. 1 H 34. A WC}8. to the physical body, relatively very dense, and a surrounding aura, relatively much rarer. A very undeveloped man may be nearly as much asleep as his physical body, because he is capable of very little definite consciousness in his astral body. He is also unable to move away from the inunediate neighbourhood of the sleeping physical body, and if an attempt were made to draw him away in his astral body, he would probably awake in his physical body in terror. His astral body is a somewhat shapeless mass, a floating wreath of mist, roughly ovoid in shape, but very irregular and indefinite in outline: the features and shape of the inner form (the dense astral counterpart of the physical body) are also vague, blurred and indistinct, but always recognisable. A man of this primitive type 11.lS been using his astral body, during waking consciousness, sending mind currents through the astral to the physical brain. But when, during sleep, the physical brain is inactive, the astral body, being undeveloped, is incapable of receiving impressions on its own account, and so the man is practically unconscious, being unable to express himself clearly through the poorly organised astral body. The centres of sensation in it may be affected by passing thought-forms, and he may answer in it to stimuli that- rouse the lower nature. But the whole effect given to the observer is one of sleepiness and vagueness, the astral body lacking all definite activity and floating idly, inchoate, above the sleeping physical form. In a quite unevolved person, therefore, the higher principles, i.e., the man himself, are almost as much asleep as the physical body. In some cases the astral body is less lethargic, and floats dreamily about on the various astral currents, occasionally recognising other people in a similar condition, and meeting with experiences of all sorts, pleasant and unpleasant, the memory of which, hopelessly confused and often travestied into a grotesque SLEEP-LIFE 85 caricature of what really happened (see Chapter X on Dreams) will cause the man to think next morning what a remarkable dream he has had. In the case of a more evolved man, there is a very I L 13 J9. 33. great difference. The inner form is much more distinct D A P 34. and definite-a closer reproduction of the man's 1 11 34. physical appearance. Instead of the surrounding mist-wreath, there is a sharply defined ovoid form preserving its shape unaffected amidst all the varied currents which are always swirling around it on the astral plane. A man of this type is by no means unconscious in his LAD 46• astral body, but is quite actively thinking. Neverthe- ~ lfv I;:;'" less, he may be taking very little more notice of his 101. surroundings than undeveloped man. Not because he is incapable of seeing, but because he is so wrapped up in his own thought that he does not see, though he could do so if he chose. Whatever may have been the thoughts engaging hia mind during the past day, he usually continues them when he falls asleep, and he is thus surrounded by so dense a wall of his own making that he observes practically nothing of what is going on outside. Occasionally a violent impact from without, or even some strong desire of his own from within, may tear aside this curtain of mist and permit him to receive some definite impression. But even then the fog would close in again almost immediately, and he would dream on unobservantly as before. In the case of a still more developed man, when M B 49-5°. the physical body goes to sleep, the astral body slips AD 33. W 101out of it, and the man is then in full consciousness. lOZ. The astral body is clearly outlined and definitely organised, bearing the likeness of the man, and the man is able to use it as a vehicle, a vehicle far more convenient than the physical body. The receptivity of the astral body has increased, until it is instantly responsive to all the vibrations of its plane, the fine as well as the coarser: but in the astral body of a very highly developed person 86 THE ASTRAL BODY there would, of course, be practically no matter left capable of responding to coarse vibrations. Such a man is wide awake, is working far more actively, more accurately, and with greater power of comprehension, than when he was confined in the denser physical vehicle. In addition, he can move about freely and with immenserapidity to any distance, without causing the least disturbance to the sleeping physical body. He may meet and exchange ideas with friends, either incarnate or discarnate, who happen to be equally awake on the astral plane. He may meet people more evolved than himself, and receive from them warning or instruction: or he may be able to confer benefits on those who know less than himself. He may come into contact with non-human entities of various kinds (see Chapters XX and XXI on Astral Entities): he will be subject to all kinds of astral induences, good or evil, strengthening or terrifying. He may form friendships with people from other H S 11238. parts of the world: he may give or listen to lectures : if he is a student, he may meet other students and, with the additional faculties which the astral world gives, he may be able to solve problems which presented difficulties in the physical world. H S 11137. A physician, for example, during the sleep of the body, may visit cases in which he is especiallyinterested. He may thus acquire new information, which may come through as a kind of intuition to his waking consciousness. In a highly evolved man, the astral body, being S PIg. thoroughly organised and vitalised, becomes as much the vehicle of consciousness on the astral plane as the physical body is on the physical plane. The astral world being the very home of passion and M 39-41. I L 11 85. emotion, those who yield themselves to an emotion TB71. can experience it with a vigour and a keenness mercifully unknown on earth. Whilst in the physical body most of the efficiency of an emotion is exhausted in transmission to the physical plane, but in the astral SLEEP-LIFE world the whole of the force is available in its own world. Hence it is possible in the astral world to feel far more intense affection or devotion than is possible in the physical world: similarly an intensity of suffering is possible in the astral world which is unimaginable in ordinary physical life. An advantage of this state of affairs is that in the astral world all pain and suffering are voluntary and absolutely under control, hence life there is much easier, for the man who understands. To control physical pain by the mind is possible, but exceedingly difficult: but in the astral world anyone can ir. a moment drive away the suffering caused by a strong emotion. The man has only to exert his will, when the passion straightway disappears. This assertion sounds startling: but it is nevertheless true, such being the power of will and mind over matter. To have attained full consciousness in the astral 1 L 1 376body is to have already made a considerable amount 377· of progress: when a man has also bridged over the chasm between astral and physical consciousness, day and night no longer exist for him, since he leads a life unbroken in its continuity. For such a man, even death, as ordinarily conceived, has ceased to exist, since he carries that unbroken consciousness not only through night and day, but also through the portals of death itself, and up to the end of his life upon the astral plane, as we shall see later when we come to deal with the after-death life. Travelling in the astral body is not instantaneous: M BIll-liZ. but it is so swift that space and time may be said to M 14: 39. be practically conquered: for although a man is passing through space, it is passed through so rapidly that its power to divide is nearly non-existent. In two or three minutes a man might move round the world. Any fairly advanced and cultured man has already .11IVI5~· I H 34. consciousness fully developed in the astral body, H S II 167. and is perfectly capable of employing it as a vehicle, C 3,5. though in many cases he does not do so, because he OS Dz8-zg" 88 1 L IJ 87. OS D 29. THE ASTRAL BODY has not made the definite effort which is at first necessary, until the habit becomes established. The difficulty with the ordinary person is not that the astral body cannot act, but that for thousands of years that body has been accustomed to being set in motion only by impressions received through the physical vehicle, so that men do not realise that the astral body can work on its own plane and on its own account, and that the will can act upon it directly. People remain" unawake astrally because they get into the habit of waiting for the familiar physical vibrations to call out their astral activity. Hence they may be said to be awake on the astral plane, but not in the least to the plane, and consequently they are conscious of their surroundings only very vaguely, if at all. When a man becomes a pupil of one of the Masters, he is usually at once shaken out of his somnolent condition on the astral plane, fully awakened to the realities around him on that plane, and set to learn from them and to work among them, so that his hours of sleep are no longer a blank, but are filled with active and useful occupation, without in the least interfering with the healthy repose of the tired physical body. In Chapter XXVIII on Invisible Helpers we shall deal more fully with carefully planned and organised work in the astral body: here it may be stated that even before that stage is reached, a great deal of useful work may be and is constantly being done. A man who falls asleep with the definite intention in his mind of doing a certain piece of work will assuredly go and attempt to carry out his intention as soon as he is freed from his physical body in sleep. But, when the work is completed, it is likely that the fog of his own self-centred thoughts will close round him once more, unless he has accustomed himself to initiate fresh lines of action when functioning apart from the physical brain. In some cases, of course, the work chosen is such as to occupy the whole of the time II A P 32. M !' 1 57. I n 100. IL1l87: 90-9:1. SLEEP-LIFE spent in sleep, so that such a man would be exerting himself to the fullest extent possible, so far as his astral development permits. Everyone should determine each night to do something useful on the astral plane: to comfort some one in trouble: to use the will to pour strength into a friend who is weak or ill: to calm some one who is excited or hysterical: or to perform some similar service. Some measure of success is absolutely certain, and if the helper observes closely, he will often receive indications in the physical world of definite results achieved. There are four ways in which a man may be .. awakened" to self-conscious activity in his astral body. (I) By the ordinary course of evolution, which, though slow. is sure. (2) By the man himself, having learnt the facts of the case, making the requisite steady and persistent effort to clear away the mist from within and gradually overcome the inertia to which he is accustomed. In order to do this the man should resolve before going to sleep to try when he leaves the body to awaken himself and see something or do some useful work. This, of course, is merely hastening the natural process of evolution. It is desirable that the man should first have developed common sense and moral qualities: this for two reasons: first, lest he may misuse such powers as he may acquire; second, lest he be overwhelmed by fear in the presence of forces which he can neither understand nor control. (3) By some accident, or by unlawful use of magical ceremonies, he may so rend the veil that it can never wholly be closed again. Instances of this are to be found in A BewilL);ul Life, by H. P. Blavatsky, and in Zanoni, by Lord Lytton. (4) A friend may act from without upon the closed shell surrounding the man and gradually arouse the man to higher possibilities. This, however, would .'If B 36. 1 L 1192-93. LA 1 46-47' 1 H 35· L.f D4~47. 1 H 35· go THE ASTRAL BODY M V 1 5~57f , H 67-68. I H 3,. ~ ~ I!I~5: .. 5· So 1 L 1 ..92493· never be done unless the friend were quite sure that the man to be awakened possessed the courage, devotion, and other qualifications necessary for useful work. But the need of helpers on the astral plane. is so great that every aspirant may be certain that there will not be a day's delay in arousing him as soon as he is seen to be ready. It may be added that when even a child has been awakened on the astral plane, the development of the astral body would proceed so rapidly that he would very soon be in a position upon that plane but little inferior to that of the awakened adult, and would, of course, be much in advance, so far as usefulness is concerned, of the wisest man who was as yet unawakened. But unless the ego expressing himself through the child-body possessed the necessary qualification of a determined yet loving disposition, and had clearly manifested it in his previous lives, no occultist would take the very serious responsibility of awakening him on the astral plane. When it is possible to arouse children in this way, they often prove most efficient workers on the astral plane, and throw themselves into this work with a whole-souled devotion which is beautiful to see. Also, while it is comparatively easy to waken a man on the astral plane. it is practically impossible. except by a most undesirable use of mesmeric in1luence, to put him to sleep again. Sleeping and waking life are thus seen to be in reality but one: during sleep we are aware of that fact, and have the continuous memory of both, t.e., astral memory includes the physical, though, of course, the physical memory by no means always includes the memory of astral experiences. The phenomenon of sleep-walking (somnambulism) may apparently be produced in several distinct ways. (I) The ego may be able to act more directly upon the physical body during the absence of the mental and SLEEP-LIFE 91 astral vehicles: in cases of this nature a man might be able, for example, to write poetry, paint pictures, etc., which would be far beyond his ordinary powers when awake. (2) The physical body may be working automatically, and by force of habit, uncontrolled by the man himself. Instances of this occur where servants rise in the middle of the night and light a fire or attend to other household duties to which they are accustomed: or where the sleeping physical body carries out to some extent the idea dominant in the mind before falling to sleep. (3) An outside entity, incarnate or discarnate, may seize the body of a sleeping man and use it for his own ends. This would be most likely to happen with a person who was mediumistic, i.e., whose bodies are more loosely joined together than usual and therefore more readily separable. With normal people, however, the fact that the 1 L 1 ..87. astral body leaves the physical body during sleep does not open the way to obsession, because the ego always maintains a close connection with his body and he would quickly be recalled to it by any attempt that might be made upon it. (4) A directly opposite condition may also produce a similar result. When the principles or bodies fit more tightly than usual, the man, instead of visiting a distant place in his astral body only, would take his physical body along as well, because he is not wholly dissociated from it. (5) Somnambulism is probably also connected with the complex problem of the various layers of consciousness in man, which under normal circumstances are unable to manifest themselves. Closely akin to sleep-life is the condition of trance, S p which is but the sleep state, artificially or abnormally S C :Z3s· induced. Mediums and sensitives readily pass out of the physical body into the astral body, usually unconsciously. The astral body can then exerciseits functions, such as that of travelling to a distant place, gathering 4'. THE ASTRAL BODY impressions there from surrounding objects and bringing them back to the physical body. In the case of a medium the astral body can describe these impressions by means of the entranced physical body: but, as a rule, when the medium comes out of the trance, the brain does not retain the impressions thus made on it, no trace being left in the physical memory of the experiences acquired. Occasionally, but rarely, the astral body is able to make a lasting impression on the brain, so that the medium is able to recollect the knowledge acquired during trance. CHAPTER X DREAMS CONSCIOUSNESS and activity in the astral body are one thing : the memory in the brain of that astral consciousness and activity are a totally different matter. The existence or the absence of physical memory in no way affects the consciousness on the astral plane, nor the ability to function in the astral body with perfect ease and freedom. It is, in fact, not only possible, but also by no means uncommon, for a man to function freely and usefully in his astral body during the sleep of the physical body, and yet to return to the physical body without the slightest memory of the astral work upon which he has been engaged. The break in consciousness between the astral and the physical life is due either to undevelopment of the astral body, or to the want of an adequate etheric bridge between the astral and the dense physical matter of the bodies. This bridge consists of the closely-woven web of atomic matter, through which the vibrations have to pass, and which causes a moment of unconsciousness, like a veil, between sleeping and waking. The only way in which memory of the astral life can be brought through into the physical brain is by sufficient development of the astral body and by an awakening of the etheric Chakrams, one function of which is to bring forces from the astral to the etheric. In addition, there must be active functioning of the pituitary body, which focusses the astral vibrations. Sometimes, on awakening, there is a feeling that something has been experienced of which no memory remains. The feeling indicates that there bas been LAD 6. 0 5 D 3U • M D 52. M B 50 • 100. 1L " 116. 1 L 1 156. 1 L I 151. 5 C 260-261. M B ,50-51• I L 1I 105- THE ASTRAL BODY 1 L 11 105. M B 51. t L II 116. 114- astral consciousness, though the brain is insufficiently receptive to receive the record. At other times the man in his astral body may succeed in making a momentary impression on the etheric double and the densebody, resulting in a vivid memory of the astral life. This is sometimes done deliberately when something occurs which the man feels that he ought to remember on the physical plane. Such a memory usually vanishes quickly and cannot be recovered: efforts to recover the memory, by setting up strong vibrations in the physical brain, still further overpower the more delicate astral vibrations, and consequently render success even more impossible. There are some events, too, which make such a vivid impression upon the astral body that they become impressed upon the physical brain by a kind of repercussion (see page 242). In other cases, a man may succeed in impressing new knowledge on the physical brain, without being able to convey also the memory of where or how that knowledge was gained. Instances of this, common to most people, occur where solutions of problems, previously insoluble, suddenly arise in the consciousness, or where light is suddenly thrown on to questions previously obscure. Such cases may be taken to indicate that progress is being made with the organisation and functioning of the astral body, although the physical body is still only partially receptive. In cases where the physical brain does respond, there are vivid, reasonable and coherent dreams, such as occur to many people from time to time. Few people, when in the astral body, care whether the physical brain remembers or not, and nine out of ten much dislike returning to the body. In coming back to the physical body from the astral world there is a feeling of great constraint, as though one were being enveloped in a thick, heavy cloak. The joy of life on the astral plane is so great that physical life in comparison with it seems no life at all. Many regard the daily return to the physical body as men DREAMS 95 often do their daily journey to the office. They do not positively dislike it, but they would not do it unless they were compelled. Eventually, in the case of highly developed and M B 53. advanced persons, the etheric bridge between the astral and the physical worlds is constructed. and then there is perfect continuity of consciousness between the astral and the physical lives. For such people life ceases to be composed of days of remembrance and nights of oblivion, and becomes instead a continuous whole. year after year. of unbroken consciousness. Occasionally. a man who has normally no memory of 1 L 1 377his astral life. may unintentionally, through an accident 388• or illness, or intentionally by certain definite practices, bridge over the gap between astral and physical consciousness, so that from that time onwards his astral consciousness will be continuous, and his memory of his sleep life will therefore be perfect. But, of course, before this could take place, he must already have developed full consciousness in the astral body. It is merely the rending of the veil between the astral and physical that is sudden, not the development of the astral body. The dream life may be considerably modified as a M B ~. direct result of mental growth. Every impulse sent by the mind to the physical brain has to pass through the astral body, and, as astral matter is far more responsive to thought-vibrations than is physical matter, it follows that the effects produced on the astral body are correspondingly greater. Thus, when a man has acquired mental control, i.e., has learned to dominate the brain, to concentrate, and to think as and when he likes, a corresponding change will take place in his astral life; and, if he brings the memory of that life through into the physical brain, his dreams will become vivid, well-sustained, rational, even instructive. In general, the more the physical brain is trained to M B 1°5. answer to the vibrations of the mental body, the more is the bridging of the gulf between waking and sleeping THE ASTRAL BODY I L l 19149 Z • D 4 r50. consciousness facilitated. The brain should become more and more the obedient instrument of the man, acting under impulses from his will. The dreaming of ordinary events does not interfere with astral work, because the dreaming takes place in the physical brain, while the real man is away attending to other matters. It does not really matter what the physical brain does, so long as it keeps itself free from undesirable thoughts Once a dream is started, its course cannot usually be changed: but the dream-life can be controlled indirectly to a considerable extent. It is especially important that the last thought on sinking to sleep should be a noble and elevating one, as this strikes the keynote which largely determines the nature of the dreams which follow. An evil or impure thought attracts evil and impure influences and creatures, which react on the mind and astral body and tend to awaken low and earthly desires. On the other hand, if a man falls asleep with his thoughts fixed on high and holy things, he will automatically draw round him elementals created by similar efforts of others, and consequently his dreams will be lofty and pure. As we are dealing in this book mainly with the astral body, and phenomena closely associated with it, it is not necessary to attempt to deal exhaustively with the somewhat large subject of dream consciousness. Nevertheless, in order to show the proper setting of the part which the astral body plays in the dream life, it will be useful to give a very brief outline of the main factors operative in producing dreams. For a detailed study of the whole matter the student is referred to that excellent textbook, Dreams, by C. W. Leadbeater, from which the following facts are extracted. The factors concerned in the production of dreams are:I. The lower physical brain, with its infantile semiconsciousness, and its habit of expressing every stimulus in pictorial form. DREAMS 2. The ethericpart of the brain, through which sweeps a ceaseless procession of disconnected pictures. 3. The astral body, palpitating with the wild surgings of desire and emotion. 4. The ego (in the causal body) who may be in any state of consciousness, from almost complete insensibility to perfect command of his faculties. When a man goes to sleep, his ego withdraws further D 50. within himself, and leaves his various bodies more free than usual to go their own way. These separate bodies: (I) are much more susceptible of impressions from without than at other times; and (2) have a very rudimentary consciousness of their own. Consequently there is ample reason for the production of dreams, as well as for confused recollections in the physical brain of the experiences of the other bodies during sleep. Such confused dreams may thus be due to: (I) a D 58-59. series of disconnected pictures and impossible transformations produced by the senseless automatic action of the lower physical brain; (2) a stream of casual thought which has been pouring through the etheric part of the brain; (3) the ever-restless tide of earthly desire, playing through the astral body and probably stimulated by astral influences; (4) an imperfect attempt at dramatisation by an undeveloped ego; (5) a mingling of several or all of these influences. We will briefly describe the principal elements in each of these kinds of dreams. I. Physical Brain Dreams.-When in sleep the ego, D 24-25· for the time, resigns control of the brain, the physical body still has a certain dim consciousness of its own: and in addition there is also the aggregate consciousness of the individual cells of the physical body. The grasp of the physical consciousness over the brain is far feebler than that of the ego over the brain, and consequently purely physical changes are capable of affecting the brain to a very much greater extent. Examples of such physical changes are: irregularity in the circulation of the blood, indigestion, heat and cold, etc. 97 THE ASTRAL BODY D 26. M B 30. D 29. D 89-3°. D 30-31. The dim, physical consciousness possesses certain peculiarities: (I) it is to a great extent automatic; (2) it seems unable to grasp an idea except in the form in which it is itself an actor: consequently all stimuli, whether from within or from without, are immediately translated into perceptual images; (3) it is incapable of grasping abstract ideas or memories, as such, but at once transforms them into imaginary percepts: (4) every local direction of thought becomes for it an actual spatial transportation, i.e., a passing thought of China would transport the consciousness instantly in imagination to China; (5) it has no power of judging the sequence, value or objective truth of the pictures that appear before it; it takes them all just as it sees them, and never feels surprised at anything which may happen, however incongruous or absurd; (6) it is subject to the principle of association of ideas, and consequently images, unconnected except by the fact that they represent events which happened near to one another in time, are apt to be thrown together in inextricable confusion; (7) it is singularly sensitive to the slightest external influences, such as sounds or touches, and (8) it magnifies and distorts them to an almost incredible degree. The physical brain thus is capable of creating sufficient confusion and exaggeration to account for many, but by no means all, dream phenomena. 2. Etheric Brain Dreams.:« The etheric brain is even more sensitive during the sleep of the body than it is during ordinary waking consciousness to influences from outside. Whilst the mind is actively engaged, the brain thereby being fully employed, it is practically impervious to the continual impingement of thought from without. But the moment the brain is left idle, the stream of inconsequent chaos begins to pour through it. In the vast majority of people, the thoughts which flow through their brains are in reality not their own thoughts at all, but fragments cast off by other people. Consequently, in sleep life especially, any passing thought which finds something DREAMS 99 congruous to itself in the brain of a sleeper, is seized upon by that brain and appropriated, thus starting a whole train of ideas: eventually these fade away and the disconnected, purposeless stream begins flowing through the brain again. A point to notice is that, since in the present state D 31-32. of the world's evolution there are likely to be more evil thoughts than good ones floating around, a man with an uncontrolled brain is open to all sorts of temptation which mind and brain control might have spared him. Even when these thought-currents are shut out, by D 32: 62. the deliberate effort of another person, from the etheric brain of a sleeper,that brain does not remain completely passive, but begins slowly and dreamily to evolve pictures for itself from its store of past memories. 3. Astral Dreams.-These are simply recollection in the physical brain of the life and activities of the astral body during the sleep of the physical body, to which reference has already been made in the preceding pages. In the case of a fairly well-developed person, D 33. the astral body can travel without discomfort to considerable distances from its physical body: can bring back more or less definite impressions of places which it may have visited, or of people whom it may have met. In every case the astral body, as already said, is ever intensely impressionable by any thought or suggestion involving desire or emotion, though the nature of the desires which most readily awaken a response in it will, of course, depend on the development of the person and the purity or otherwise of his astral body. The astral body is at all times susceptible to the D I(H1. influences of passing thought-currents, and, when the mind is not actively controlling it, it is perpetually receiving these stimuli from without, and eagerly responding to them. During sleep it is even more readily influenced. Consequently, a man who has, for example, entirely destroyed a physical desire, which he may previously have possessed for lacohol, so that in 100 S C 332-333. D 33. D. 34. THE ASTRAL BODY waking life he may feel even a definite repulsion for it, may yet frequently dream that he is drinking, and in that dream experience the pleasure of its influence. During the day, the desire of the astral body would be under the control of the will, but when the astral body was liberated in sleep, it escaped to some extent from the domination of the ego, and, responding probably to outside astral influence, its old habit reasserted itself. This class of dream is probably common to many who are making definite attempts to bring their desirenature under the control of the will. It may also happen that a man may have been a drunkard in a past life and still possesses in his astral body some matter drawn thereinto by the vibrations caused in the permanent atom by the drunkenness. Although this matter is not vivified in this life, yet in dreams, the control of the ego being weak, the matter may respond to drink-vibrations from without and the man dreams that he drinks. Such dreams, once understood, need not cause distress: nevertheless they should be regarded as a warning that there is still present the possibility of the drink-craving being re-awakened. Ego Dreams.-Much as the nature of the astral body changes as it develops, still greater is the change of the ego, or real man, that inhabits it. Where the astral body is nothing but a floating wreath of mist, the ego is also almost as much asleep as his physical body, being blind to the influences of his own higher plane: and even if some idea belonging to it should manage to reach him, since he has little or no control over his lower bodies, he will be unable to impress the experience on the physical brain. Sleepers may be at any stage from that of complete oblivion up to that of full astral consciousness. And it must be recollected, as already said, that even though there may be many important experiences on the higher planes, the egc may nevertheless be unable to impress them upon the brain, so that there is either no physical memory at all, or only a most confused memory. DREAMS 101 The principal characteristics of the consciousness D 35-4°. and experiences of the ego, whether or not they be remembered in the brain, are as follows : (I) The ego'smeasure of time and space are so entirely different from that which he uses in waking life that it is almost as though neither time nor space existed for him. Many instances are known where in a few moments of time, as we measure it, the ego may have experiences which appear to last for many years, event after event happening in full and circumstantial detail. (2) The ego possesses the faculty, or the habit, of D 40-42. instantaneous dramatisation. Thus a physical sound I L 11107. or a touch may reach the ego, not through the usual nerve mechanism, but directly, a fraction of a second before even it reaches the physical brain. That fraction of a second is sufficient for the ego to construct a kind of drama or series of scenes leading up to and culminating in the event which awakens the physical body. The brain confuses the subjective dream and the objective event, and therefore imagines itself to have actually lived through the events of the dream. This habit, however, seems to be peculiar to the ego which, SO far as spirituality is concerned, is still comparatively undeveloped. As the ego develops spiritually; he rises beyond these graceful sports of his childhood. The man who has attained continuous consciousness is so f12lly occupied with higher plane work that he devotes no energy to this dramatisation, and consequently this class of dream ceases for him. (3) The ego possesses also to some extent the faculty D 43-48. of prevision, being sometimes able to see in advance events which are going to happen, or rather which may happen unless steps are taken to prevent them, and to impress the same on the physical brain. Many instances are recorded of such prophetic or warning dreams. In some cases the warning may be heeded, the necessary steps taken, and the foreseen result either m0di6.ed or entirely avoided. 102 D 4~49. 1) 66-67. THE ASTRAL BODY (4) The ego, when out of the body during sleep, appears to think in symbols: an idea, which down here would require many words to be expressed, is perfectly conveyed to him by a single symbolical image. If such a symbolic thought is impressed upon the brain, and remembered in waking consciousness, the mind may itself translate it into words: on the other hand it may come through merely as a symbol, untranslated, and so may cause confusion. In dreams of this nature, it seems that each person usually has a system of symbology of his own: thus water may signify approaching trouble: pearls may be a sign of tears: and so forth. If a man wishes to have useful dreams, i.e., to be able to reap in his waking consciousness the benefit of what his ego may learn during sleep, there are certain steps he should take to bring about this result. First, it is essential that he should form the habit of sustained and concentrated thought during ordinary waking life. A man who has absolute control of his thoughts will always know exactly what he is thinking about, and why; he will also find that the brain, thus trained to listen to the promptings of the ego, will remain quiescent when not in use, and will decline to receive or respond to casual currents from the surrounding ocean of thought. The man will thus be more likely to receive influences from the higher planes, where insight is keener and judgment truer than they can ever be on the physical plane. It should scarcely be necessary to add that the man should also be complete master of at least his lower passions. By a very elementary act of magic, a man may shut out from his etheric brain the rush of thoughts which impinge upon it from without. To this end, he should, when lying down to sleep, picture his aura, and will strongly that its outer surface shall become a shell to protect him from outside influences. The auric matter will obey his thought, and form the shell. This step is of appreciable value towards the desired end. DREAMS 103 The great importance of fixing the last thought, D 68. before falling to sleep, on high and noble things, has already been mentioned; it should be practised regularly by those who wish to bring their dreams under control. It maybe useful here to add the Hindu terms for I Y 16. the four states of consciousness: Jag,at is the ordinary waking consciousness. Svapna is the dream consciousness, working in the astral body, and able to impress its experiences upon the brain. Sushupti is the consciousness working in the mental body, and not able to impress its experiences on the brain. Tu,iya is a state of trance, the consciousness working in the buddhic vehicle, being so far separated from the brain that it cannot readily be recalled by outer means. These terms, however, are used relatively, and vary according to the context. Thus, in one interpretation of jag,at, the physical and astral planes are combined, .A. P no. the seven sub-divisions corresponding to the four conditions of physical matter, and the three broad divisions of astral matter mentioned on page 148. For further elucidation the student is referred to An Int,oduction to Yoga, by A. Besant, page 16, et seq., and also to A Study in Consciousness, where waking S C 219. consciousness is defined as that part of the total consciousness which is working through the outermost vehicle. CHAPTER Xl CONTINUITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS .'tf B 1°4· 103- M B 1o,. A P 13. As we have seen, for a man to pass in unbroken consciousness from one vehicle to another, e.g., from the physical to the astral, or vice ve,s4, it is requisite that the links between the bodies should be developed. Most men are not conscious of these links, and the links are not actively vivified, being in a condition similar to that of rudimentary organs in the physical body. They have to be developed by use, and are made to function by the man fixing his attention upon them and using his will. The will sets free and guides kundalini, but unless the preliminary purification of the vehicles is first thoroughly accomplished, kundalini is a destructive instead of a vivifying energy. Hence the insistence, by all occult teachers, on the necessity of purification before true yoga is practised. When a man has rendered himself fit to be helped in vivifying the links, such assistance will inevitably come to him as a matter of course, from those who are ever seeking opportunities to aid the earnest and unselfish aspirant. Then, one day, the man will find himself slipping out of the physical body while he is wide awake, and without any break in consciousness he discovers himself to be free. With practice the passage from vehicle to vehicle becomes familiar and easy. The development of the links bridges the gulf between physical and astral consciousness, so that there is perfect continuity of consciousness. The student thus has not only to learn to see correctly on the astral plane, but also to translate accurately the memory of what he has seen from the astral to the physical brain: and to assist him in this he is trained to carry his consciousness without break from the CONTINUITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS physical plane to the astral and mental and back again, for until that can be done there is always a possibility that his recollections may be partially lost or distorted during the blank intervals which separate his periods of consciousness on the various planes. When the power of bringing over the consciousness is perfectly acquired, the pupil will have the advantage of the use of all the astral faculties, not only while out of the body during sleep or trance, but also while fully awake in ordinary physical life. In order that the physical waking consciousness S C 118. should include astral consciousness it is necessary that the pituitary body should be further evolved, and that the fourth spirillae in the atoms should be perfected. In addition to the method of moving the conscious- I L I 147ness from one sub-plane to another, of the same plane, I+S. from, e.g., the ast,al atomic to the lowest sub-plane of the mental, there is also another line of connection which may be called the atomic short-cut. If we picture the atomic sub-planes of astral, mental, ete., as lying side by side along a rod, the other subplanes may be pictured as hanging from the rod in loops, as though a piece of string were wound loosely round the rod. Obviously, then, to pass from one atomic sub-plane to another one could move by a short cut along the rod, or down and up again through the hanging loops which symbolise the lower subplanes. The normal processes of our thinking come steadily S C 161-161. down through the sub-planes: but Bashes of genius, illuminative ideas, come through the atomic sub-planes only. There is also a third possibility connected with the relation of our planes with the cosmic planes, but this is too abstruse to be dealt with in a work which purports to deal only with the astral plane and its phenomena. Merely to obtain continuity of consciousness between M B 106. the physical and the astral planes is, of course, quite 106 M B ,.- .5.5. S p 47. S p 48. c 74. o 5 D 1.5.5. THE ASTRAL BODY insufficient in itself to restore memory of past lives. For this a much higher development is required, into the nature of which it is not necessary to enter here. A man who has thus acquired complete mastery over the astral body may, of course, leave the physical body, not only during sleep, but at any time he chooses, and go to a distant place, etc. Mediums and sensitives project their astral bodies unconsciously, when they go into trance: but usually on coming out of trance there is no brain-memory of the experiences acquired. Trained students are able to project the astral body consciously and to travel to great distances from the physical body, bringing back with them full and detailed memory of all the impressions they have gained. An astral body thus projected may be seen by persons who are sensitive or who may chance to be temporarily in an abnormal nervous condition. There are on record many cases of such astral visitations by a dying person near the time of death, the approach of dissolution having loosenedthe principles so as to make the phenomenon possible for people who were unable at any other time to perform the feat. (See also page 50 for a similar phenomenon produced by a thought-form.) The astral body is also set free in many cases of disease. Inactivity of the physical body is a condition of such astral journeys. A man may. if he knows how to set about it, slightly densify his astral body by drawing into it, from the surrounding atmosphere, particles of physical matter, and thus "materialise" sufficiently to become physically visible. This is the explanation of many cases of .. apparitions," where a person, physically absent, has been seen by friends with their ordinary physical sight. CHAPTER XII DEATH AND THE DESIRE-ELEMENTAL AT death, the consciousness withdraws from the dense physical body into the etheric double for a short time, usually a few hours, and then passes into the astral budy. Death thus consists of a process of unrobing or unsheathing. The ego, the immortal part of man, shakes off from itself, one after the other, its outer casings. first the dense physical: then the etheric double: then even the astral body, as we shall see later. In almost every case the actual passing-away appears to be perfectly painless, even after a long illness involving terrible suffering. The peaceful look on the face of the dead is strong evidence in favour of this statement, and it is also borne out by the direct testimony of most of those who have been questioned on the point immediately after death. At the actual moment of death, even when death is sudden, .a man sees the whole of his past life marshalled before him, in its minutest detail. In a moment he sees the whole chain of causes which have been at work during his life; he sees and now understands himself as he really is, unadorned by flattery or selfdeception. He reads his life, remaining as a spectator, looking down upon the arena he is quitting. The condition of consciousness immediately after the moment of death is usually a dreamy and peaceful one. There will also be a certain period of unconsciousness, which may last only for a moment, though often it is a few minutes, or several hours, and sometimes even days or weeks. The natural attraction between the astral counterpart and the physical body is such that, after death, D.f 17. 0 S D 45. K T JOO. :11~ 110- D .4 Z9. I L II 91. ~I;. D 37: 1 L 1393- ~n' D 8:-. 108 THE ASTRAL BODY the astral counterpart, from force of habit, retains its accustomed form: consequently a man's physical appearance will still be preserved after death almost unchanged. Almost-because in view of the fact that astral matter is very readily moulded by thought, a man who habitually thinks of himself after death as younger than he actually was at the time of death will probably assume a somewhat younger appearance. 1 L 1 402. Very soon after death, in most cases, an important 11 102- change takes place in -the structure of the astral body, o S D 95-99. owing to the action of the desire elemental. T B 66. Much of the matter of the astral body is composed of elemental essence (see page 6): this essence is living, though not intelligent: and for the time it is cut 011 from the general mass of astral essence. Blindly, instinctively, and without reason it seeks its own ends and shows great ingenuity in obtaining its desires and in furthering its evolution. Evolution for it is a descent into matter, its aim being to become a mineral monad. Its object in life, therefore, is to get as near to the physical plane as it can, and to experience as many of the coarser vibrations as possible. It neither does nor could know anything of the man in whose astral body it is for the time living. 1 L 14°3. It desires to preserve its separate life, and feels that it can do so only by means of its connection with the man: it is conscious of the man's lower mind, and realises that the more mental matter it can entangle with itself the longer will be its astral life. On the death of the physical body, knowing that the term of its separated life is limited, and that the man's 1 L 14tl6. astral death will more or less quickly follow, in order ~Ll~.5-;-cJr. to make the man's astral body last as long as possible, ..4 W II].' it rearranges its matter in concentric rings or shells, T B 68. the coarsest outside. From the point of view of the desire elemental this is good policy, because the coarsest matter can hold together longest and best stand friction. A W 113. The re-arranged astral body is called the Yatan4, or suffering body: in the case of a very evil man in io; DEATH AND THE DESIRE-ELEMENTAL log whose astral body there is a preponderance of the coarsest matter, it is called the Dh,uvam or strong body. The re-arrangement of the astral body takes place 1 L 11 103. over the surface of the counterpart of the physical body. not over the surface of the ovoid which surrounds it. The effect is to prevent the free and full circulation 1 L 1 406. of astral matter which usually takes place in the astral ~~ 1J ~~;~I. body. In addition. the man is able to respond only to those vibrations which are received by the outermost layer of his astral body. The man is thus shut up, as it were, in a box of astral matter. being able to see and hear things of the lowest and coarsest plane only. Although living in the midst of high influences and 1 L 11 47. beautiful thought-forms. he would be almost entirely unconscious of their existence, because the particles of his astral body which could respond to those vibrations are shut in where they cannot be reached. Consequently, also, being able to sense only the coarsest matter in the astral bodies of other people. and being entirely unconscious of his limitations, he would assume that the person he was looking at possessed only the unsatisfactory characteristics which he would be able to perceive. Since he can see and feel only what is lowest and T B 70. coarsest, the men around him appear to be monsters of vice. Under these circumstances it is little wonder that he considers the astral world a hell. The re-arrangement of the astral body by the desire 1 L 1 399elemental does not in any way affect the recognisability 400• of the form within the ovoid, though the natural changes which take place tend on the whole to make the fonn grow somewhat fainter and more spiritual in appearance as time passes on-for reasons which will presently be made clear. In course of time, the outermost shell or ring disin- 1tI R 57. tegrates: the man then becomes able to respond to 1 L II ..5-,50. the vibrations of the next higher level of the astral plane, and thus "rises to the next sub-plane": and so 110 THE ASTRAL BODY on from one sub-plane to another. His stay on each sub-plane will, of course, correspond to the amount and activity of the matter in his astral body belonging to that sub-plane. A P 17-18 : When we speak of a man " rising " from one sub1:1· plane to another, he need not necessarily move in space at all: he rather transfers his consciousness from one level to another. In the case of a man with a rearranged astral body, the focus of his consciousness shifts from the outer shell to the one next within it. The man thus gradually becomes unresponsive to the vibrations of one order of matter and answers instead to those of a higher order. Thus one world with its scenery and its inhabitants would seem to fade slowly away from his view, while another world would dawn upon him. t L 1/ 18-19. As the shell usually disintegrates gradually, the man os D 60-61: thus finds the counterparts of physical objects growing 1°3· dimmer and dimmer, while thought-forms become more and more vivid to him. If during this process he meets another man at intervals, he will imagine that that man's character is steadily improving, merely because he is himself becoming able to appreciate the higher vibrations of that character. The re-arrangement of the astral body, in fact, constantly interferes with a man's true and full vision of his friends at all stages of their astral life. t L I 4°7. This process of re-arrangement of the astral body, r L II .51: which takes place with most people, can be prevented ~o~ D 10.5- by the man setting his will to oppose it: in fact, anyone 106. who understands the conditions of the astral plane should altogether decline to permit the re-arrangement of the astral body by the desire-elemental. The particles of the astral body will then be kept intenningled, as in life, and in consequence, instead of being confined to one astral sub-plane at a time, the man will be free of all the suo-planes, according to the constitution of his astral body. t L 1/ 103. The elemental, being afraid in its curious semio S D 106. conscious way, will endeavour to transfer its fear to the DEATH AND THE DESIRE-ELEMENTAL man who is jolting him out of the re-arrangement, in order to deter him from doing so. Hence one reason why it is so useful to have knowledge of these matters before death. If the re-arrangement, or shelling, has already occurred, it is still possible for the condition to be broken up by someone who wishes to help the man, and for the man to be thus set free to work on the whole astral plane, instead of being confined to one level. III 1 L I 365- tf'II 5 0 S D J• lOS. CHAPTER XIII AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PRINCIPLES L.If D s~80~ 11 279c ...~. ~2.S D 33: IT cannot be too strongly insisted that it is not found that any sudden change takes place in man at death: on the contrary. he remains after death exactly what he was before. except that he no longer has a physical body. He has the same intellect, the same disposition, the same virtues and vices; the loss of the physical body no more .makes him a different man than would the removal of an overcoat. Moreover, the conditions in which he finds himself are those which his own thoughts and desires have already created for him. There is no reward or punishment from outside, but only the actual result of what he has himself done, and said, and thought, while living in the physical world. .If p 9. As we proceed with our description of the astral life OS D 12-13. after death, it will be recognised that the true facts correspond with considerable accuracy with the Catholic conception of purgatory, and the Hades or underworld of the Greeks. .f p 45. The poetic idea of death as a universal leveller is a mere absurdity born of ignorance, for, as a matter of fact, in the vast majority of cases, the loss of the physical body makes no difference whatever in the character or intellect of the person, and there are therefore as many different varieties of intelligence among the so-called dead as among the living. This is the first and the most prominent fact to appreciate: that after death there is no strange new life, but a continuation, under certain changed conditions, of the present physical plane life. 1 L 1126-28. So much is this the case that when a man first arrives on the astral plane after physical death he by no means always knows that he is dead: and even when AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PRINCIPLES he does realise what has happened to him he does not always at first understand how the astral world differs from the physical. In some cases people consider the very fact that they are still conscious an absolute proof that they have not died: and this in spite of the much-vaunted belief in the immortality of the soul. If a man has never heard of astral plane life before, he is likely to be more or less disturbed by the totally unexpected conditions in which he finds himself. Finally, he accepts these conditions, which he does not understand, thinking them necessary and inevitable. Looking out upon the new worlds, at the first glance he would probably see very little difference, and he would suppose himself to be looking upon the same world as before. As we have seen, each degree of astral matter is attracted by the corresponding degree of physical matter. If, therefore, we imagined the physical world to be struck out of existence, without any other change being made, we should still have a perfect replica of it in astral matter. Consequently a man on the astral plane would still see the walls, furniture, people, etc., to which he was accustomed, outlined as clearly as ever by the densest type of astral matter. If, however, he examined such objects closely he would perceive that all the particles were visibly in rapid motion, instead of only invisibly as on the physical plane. But, as few men observe closely, a man who dies often does not know at first that any change has come over him. Thus many, especially in Western countries, find it difficult to believe that they are dead, simply because they still see, hear, feel and think. Realisation of what has happened will probably dawn gradually, as the man discovers that though he can see his friends he cannot always communicate with them. Sometimes he speaks to them, and they do not seem to hear: he tries to touch them, and finds that he can make no impression upon them. Even then, for some time he may persuade himself that he is dreaming, for at other times, when his friends are II3 ..4 P 4.5. 1 H 84· 1 L 1 4°5. 1 H 75· L ..4 D H M B 38-39- LAD 7~. T B 73· THE. ASTRAL BODY asleep, they are perfectly conscious of him and talk with him as of old. By degrees the man begins to realise the differences between his present life and that which he lived in the physical world. For example, he soon finds that for L.If D 10. him all pain and fatigue have passed away. He also finds that in the astral world desires and thoughts express themselves in visible forms, though these are composed mostly of the finer matter of the plane. As his life proceeds, these become more and more prominent. Moreover, though a man on the astral plane cannot t: AD 43. ILII88:6. usually see the physical bodies of his friends, yet he can and does see their astral bodies, and consequently knows their feelings and emotions. He will not necessarily be able to follow in detail the events of their physical life : but he would at once be aware of such feelings as love or hate, jealousy or envy, as these would be expressed through the astral bodies of his friends. Thus, although the living often suppose themselves to have "lost" the dead, the dead are never for a moment under the impression that they have lost the living. IL1188. A man, in fact, living in his astral body after death is more readily and deeply influenced by the feelings of his friends in the physical world than when he was on earth, because he has no physical body to deaden his perceptions. 1 L 1110-n. A man on the astral plane does not usually see the whole astral counterpart of an object, but the portion of it which belongs to the particular sub-plane apon which he is at the time. Moreover, a man by no means always recognises with any certainty the astral counterpart of a physical body even when he sees it. He usually requires considerable experience before he can clearly identify objects, and any attempt that he makes to deal with them is liable to be vague and uncertain. Examples of this are often seen in haunted houses, where stone- AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PRINCIPLES lIS throwing, or vague, clumsy movements of physical matter take place. Frequently, not realising that he is free from the I LIIzH7. necessity to work for a living, to eat, sleep, etc., a man after death may continue to prepare and consume meals, created entirely by his imagination, or even to build for himself a house in which to live. A case is recorded of a man who built for himself a house, stone by stone, each stone being separately created by his own thought. He might, of course, with the same amount of effort have created the whole house at once. He was eventually led to see, that as the stones had no weight, the conditions were different from those obtaining in physical life, and so he was induced to investigate further. Similarly, a man new to the conditions of astral life I L II 196. may continue to enter and depart from a room by a door or window, not realising that he can pass through the wall just as easily. For the same reason he may walk upon the earth when he might just as well float through the air. A man who has already during earth life acquainted 1 L 1'{ 3-4· himself, by reading or otherwise, with the general conditions of astral life, naturally finds himself after death on ground more or less familiar, and consequently be should not be at a loss to know what to do with himself. Even an intelligent appreciation of occult teaching 0 S D 4z. on this subject, as experience has shown, is of enormous advantage to a man after death, while it is a considerable advantage for a man merely to have heard of the conditions of astral life, even though he may have regarded such teachings as one of many hypotheses, and may not have followed them up further. In 1 L 11 3-4. the case of others, not so fortunately situated as to their knowledge of the astral world, their best plan is to take stock of their position, endeavour to see the nature of the life before them, and how they can make the best use of it. In addition, they would do well to consult some experienced friend. n6 D A 24-25: l7: 30. A W7 f: 107-108. LAD49. A P ..6. 1 H 75-76. () S D 83. 1 H 7~77. OSD 14-16. THE ASTRAL BODY The conditions of life referred to above constitute Kamaloka, literally the place or world of Kama or desire: the Limbus of scholastic theology. In general terms Kamaloka is a region peopled by intelligent and semi-intelligent entities. It is crowded with many types and forms of living things, as diverse from each other as a blade of grass is different from a tiger, a tiger is different from a man, there being of course, many other entities living there besides deceased human beings (see Chapters XIX-XXI). It interpenetrates the physical world, and is interpenetrated by it, but, as the states of matter in the two worlds differ, they co-exist without the entities of either world being conscious of those of the other. Only under abnormal circumstances can consciousness of each other's presence arise among the inhabitants of the two worlds. Kamaloka is thus not .:livided off as a distinct locality, but is separated off from the rest of the astral plane by the conditions of consciousness of the entities who belong to it, these entities being human beings, who have shaken off the dense and etheric bodies, but who have not yet disentangled themselves from Kama, i.e., the passional and emotional nature. This state is also called Pretaloka, a preta being a human being who has lost his physical body, but is still encumbered with the vesture of his animal nature. The Kamalokic condition is found on each subdivision of the astral plane. Many who die are at first in a condition of considerable uneasiness, and others of positive terror. When they encounter the thought-forms which they and their kind have for centuries been making-thoughts of a personal devil, an angry and cruel deity, and eternal punishment-they are often reduced to a pitiable state of fear, and may spend long periods of acute mental suffering before they can free themselves from the fatal influence of such foolish and utterly false conceptions. It ought, however, in fairness to be mentioned that AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PRINCIPLES it is only among what are called Protestant communities that this terrible evil assumes its most aggravated form. The great Roman Catholic Church, with its doctrine of purgatory, approaches much more nearly to a true conception of the astral plane, and its devout members, at any rate, realise that the state in which they find themselves shortly after death is merely a temporary one, and that it is their business to endeavour to raise themselves out of it as soon as may be by intense spiritual aspiration, while they accept any sufferingwhich may come to them as necessary for the wearing away of the imperfections in their character, before they can pass to higher and brighter spheres. Thus we see that although men should have been taught by their religion what to expect, and how to live on the astral plane, in most cases this has not been done. Consequently a good deal of explanation is needed regarding the new world in which they find themselves. But, after death, exactly as before it, there are few who attain to an intelligent appreciation of the fact of evolution and who, by understanding something of their position, know how to make the best of it. To-day, large numbers of people, both "living" and" dead," are engaged in looking after and helping those who have died in ignorance of the real nature of the after-death life (vide Chapter XXVIII on Invisible Helpers). Unfortunately, however, on the astral plane, as on the physical, the ignorant are rarely ready to profit by the advice or example of the wise. To a man who has, before he dies physically, already 1 z 11 28. acquainted himself with the real conditions of life on T B 76• the astral plane, one of the most pleasant characteristics of that life is its restfulness and complete freedom from those imperious necessities, such as eating and drinking, which burden physical life. On the astral plane a man is really free, free to do whatever he likes, and to spend his time as he chooses. As already indicated, a man who has died physically, L.If D 10. is steadily withdrawing into himself. The whole cycle JIS os D 89. LAD u. S p 41. THE ASTRAL BODY of life and death may be likened to an ellipse, of which only the lowest portion passes into the physical world. During the first portion of the cycle, the ego is putting himself forth into matter: the central point of the curve should be a middle point in physical life, when the force of the ego has expended its outward rush and turns to begin the long process of withdrawal. Thus each physical incarnation may be regarded as a putting of the ego, whose habitat is the higher part of the mental plane, outwards into the lower planes. The ego puts the soul out, as though it were an investment, and expects his investment to draw back added experience, which will have developed new qualities within him. The portion of the life after death spent on the astral plane is therefore definitely in the period of withdrawal back towards the ego. During the latter part of the physical life the man's thoughts and interests should be less and less directed towards merely physical matters: similarly, during the astral life, he should pay less and less attention to the lower astral matter, out of which counterparts of physical objects are composed, and occupy himself with the higher matter, out of which desire- and thought-forms are made. It is not so much that he has changed his location in space (though this is partially true, see Chapter XIV), as that he has moved the centre of his interest. Hence the counterpart of the physical world which he has left gradually fades from his view, and his life becomes more and more a life in the world of thought. His desires and emotions still persist, and consequently, owing to the readiness with which astral matter obeys his desires and thoughts, the forms surrounding him will be very largely the expression of his own feelings, the nature of which mainly determines whether his life is one of happiness or of discomfort. Although we are not in this book dealing with that portion of the life after death which is spent in the " heaven-world," i.e., on the mental plane, nevertheless, in order to understand fully what is happening to the AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PRINCIPLES astral body on the astral plane, it is desirable to bear in mind that the astral life is largely an intermediate stage in the whole cycle of life and death, a preparation for the life on the mental plane. As we have seen, soon after physical death, the astral body is set free: expressed from the point of view of consciousness, Kama-Manas is set free. From this, that portion of lower-manas, which is not inextricably entangled with Kama, gradually frees itself, taking with it such of its experiences as are fit for assimilation by the higher mental body. Meanwhile, that portion of the lower manas which S P ..a. still remains entangled with Kama, gives to the astral body a somewhat confused consciousness, a broken memory of the events of the life just closed. If the emotions and passions were strong, and the mental element weak, then the astral body will be strongly energised, and will persist for a considerable time on the astral plane. It will also show a considerable amount of consciousness, due to the mental matter entangled with it. If, on the other hand, the earth life just closed was charactarised by mentality and purity rather than by passion, the astral body will be poorly energised, will be but a pale simulacrum of the man, and will disintegrate and perish comparatively rapidly. II9 CHAPTER XIV THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: 1 L II 14-15. 1 L II 18-19. I H 78. PARTICULARS IN considering the conditions of a man's astral life, there are two prominent factors to be taken into account: (I) The length of time which he spends on any particular sub-plane: (2) The amount of his consciousness upon it. The length of time depends upon the amount of matter belonging to that sub-plane which he has built into lus astral body during physical life. He will necessarily remain upon that sub-plane until the matter corresponding to it has dropped out of his astral body. During physical life, as we have already seen, the quality of the astral body which he builds for himself is directly determined by his passions, desires and emotions, and indirectly by his thoughts, as well as by his physical habits-food, drink, cleanliness,continence, etc. A coarse and gross astral body, resulting from a coarse and gross life, willcause the man to be responsive only to lower astral vibrations, so that after death he will find himself bound to the astral plane during the long and slow process of the disintegration of the astral body. On the other hand, a refined astral body, created by a pure and refined life, will make the man unresponsive to the low and coarse vibrations of the astral world, and responsive only to its higher influences: consequently he will experience much less trouble in his post-mortem life, and his evolution will proceed rapidly and easily. The amount of consciousness depends upon the degree to which he has vivified and used the matter of the particular sub-plane in his physical life. THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PARTICULARS 121 If during earth-life the animal nature was indulged 5 P ZG-U. and allowed to run riot, if the intellectual and spiritual 1 H 78. parts were neglected or stifled, then the astral or desire body will persist for a long time after physical death. If, on the other hand, desire has been conquered and bridled during earth life, if it has been purified and trained into subservience to the higher nature, then there will be little to energise the astral body, and it will quickly disintegrate and dissolve away. The average man, however, has by no means freed A P 39. himself from all lower desires before death, and consequently it takes a long period of more or less fully conscious life on the various sub-planes of the astral plane to allow the forces which he has generated to work themselves out, and thus release the higher ego. The general principle is that when the astral body A P -41. has exhausted its attractions to one level, the greater part of its grosser particles fall away, and it finds itself in affinity with a somewhat higher state of existence. Its specific gravity, as it were, is constantly decreasing, and so it steadily rises from the dense to the lighter strata, pausing only when it is exactly balanced for a time. To be upon any given sub-plane in the astral world 1 L 11 211is to have developed sensitiveness of those particles in 212. the astral body which belong to that sub-plane. To have perfect vision on the astral plane means to have developed sensitiveness in all particles of the astral body, so that all the sub-planes are simultaneously visible. A man who has led a good and pure life, whose A P 38. strongest feelings and aspirations have been unselfish and spiritual, will have no attraction to the astral plane, and will, if entirely left alone, find little to keep him upon it, or to awaken him into activity even during the comparatively short period of his stay. His earthly passions having been subdued during A P 39. physical life, and the force of his will having been directed into higher channels, there is but little energy IU THE ASTRAL BODY of lower desire to be worked out on the astral plane. Consequently his stay there will be very short, and most probably he will have little more than a dreamy half-consciousness, until he sinks into the sleep during which his higher principles finally free themselves from the astral body, and enter upon the blissful life of the heaven-world. Expressed more technically, during physical life Manas has purified Kama with which it was interwoven, so that after death all that is left of Klma is a mere residuum, easily shaken off by the withdrawing ego. Such a man therefore would have little consciousness on the astral plane. r L 1114-15. It is quite possible that It man might, as a result of ..4 p 44-45· his previous incarnations, possess a good deal of coarse ..4 W u3us. astral matter in his astral body. Even if he has been so brought up, and has so conducted his life, that he has not vivified that coarse matter, and although much of it may have dropped out and been replaced by finer materials, yet there may be quite a good deal left. Consequently the man would have to remain on a low level of the astral plane for some time, until in fact the coarse matter had all dropped out. But, as the coarse matter would not be vivified, he would have little consciousness and would practically sleep through the period of his sojourn there. There is a point known as the critical point between every pair of sub-states of matter : ice may be raised to a point at which the least increment of heat will change it into liquid: water may be raised to a point at which the least increment of heat will change it into vapour. And so each sub-state of astral matter may be carried to a point of fineness at which any additional refinement would transform it into the next higher sub-state. If a man has done this for every sub-state of matter in his astral body, so that it is purified to the last possible degree of delicacy, then the first touch of disintegrating force shatters its cohesion and resolves it into its original condition, leaving him free at once to pass on to the next sub- THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PARTICULARS 123 plane. His passage through the astral plane will thus be of inconceivable rapidity, and he will flash through the plane practically instantaneously to the higher state of the heaven-world. Every person after death has to pass through all the A P 39. sub-planes of the astral plane, on his way to the heavenworld. But whether or not he is conscious on any or all of them, and to what extent, will depend upon the factors enumerated. For these reasons, it is clear that the amount of A P 38. consciousness a man may possess on the astral plane, and the time he may spend there in his passage to the heaven-world, may vary within very wide limits. There are some who pass only a few hours or days on the astral plane: others remain there for many years, or even centuries. For an ordinary person 20 or 30 years on the astral H 5 1 44% plane after death is a fai c average. An exceptional 434· case is that of Queen Elizabeth, who had so intense a love of her country that she has only quite recently passed into the heaven-world, having spent the time since her death in endeavouring, until recently almost without success, to impress upon her successors her ideas of what ought to be done for England. Another notable example was that of Queen Victoria, os D 7%. who passed very rapidly through the astral plane and into the heaven-world, her swift passage being undoubtedly due to the millions of loving and grateful thought-forms which were sent to her, as well as to her inherent goodness. The general question of the interval between earthlives is complicated. It is possible here to touch briefly only on the astral portion of those intervals. For further details the student is referred to The Inner Life, Vol. II., pages 458-474. Three principal factors have to be taken into 1 L 11 461• account :(I) The class of ego. (2) The mode of individualisation, (3) The length and nature of the last earth-life. 12 4 1 L 11 47147:1· H S 1444. T B75. 1 L 1118-1g, 1 H78. 1 L1124. 1 L 11. 2So THE ASTRAL BODY Generally speaking, a man who dies young will have a shorter interval than one who dies in old age, but is likely to have a proportionately longer astral life, because most of the strong emotions which work themselves out in astral life are generated in the earlier part of the physical life. It must be recollected that in the astral world our ordinary methods of time-measurement scarcely apply: even in physical life anxiety or pain will stretch a few hours almost indefinitely, and on the astral plane this characteristic is exaggerated a hundred-fold. A man on the astral plane can measure time only by his sensations. From a distortion of this fact has come the false idea of eternal damnation. We have thus seen that both (I) the time spent, and (2) the amount of consciousness experienced, on each level of the astral plane depend very largely upon the kind of life the man has led in the physical world. Another factor of great importance is the man's attitude of mind after physical death. The astral life may be directed by the will, just as the physical life may be. A man with little will-power or initiative is, in the astral as in the physical world, very much the creature of the surroundings which he has made for himself. A determined man, on the other hand, can always make the best of his conditions and live his own life in spite of them. A man, therefore, does not rid himself of evil tendencies in the astral world, unless he definitely works to that end. Unless he makes definite efforts, he will necessarily suffer from his inability to satisfy such cravings as can be gratified only by means of a physical body. In process of time the desires will wear themselves out and die down simply because of the impossibility of their fulfilment. The process. however. may be greatly expedited as soon as the man realises the necessity of ridding himself of the evil desires which detain him, and makes the requisite effort. A man who is ignorant of the true state of affairs usually broods over his desires, thus THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PARTICULARS 125 lengthening their life, and clings desperately to the gross particles of astral matter as long as he can, because the sensations connected with them seem nearest to the physical life for which he still craves. The proper procedure for him, of course, is to kill out earthly desires and to withdraw into himself as quickly as possible. Even a merely intellectual knowledge of the con- 1 L IT. 2.5ditions, of astral life, and, in fact, of Theosophical :16. truths in general, is of inestimable value to a man in the after-death life. It is of the utmost importance that after physical 1 L 1119-21. death a man should recognise quite clearly that he is OS 1 H 78- @O. D 60. withdrawing steadily towards the ego, and that consequently he should disengage his thoughts as far as may be from things physical and fix his attention upon spiritual matters which will occupy him when, in due time, he passes from the astral plane into the mental or heaven-world. By adopting this attitude he will greatly facilitate the natural disintegration of the astral body instead of unnecessarily and uselessly delaying himsell upon the lower levels of the astral plane. Many people, unfortunately, refuse to turn their thoughts upwards, but cling to earthly matters with desperate tenacity. As time passes on, they gradually, in the normal course of evolution, lose touch with the lower worlds: but by fighting every step of the way they cause themselves much unnecessary suffering and seriously delay their upward progress. In this ignorant opposition to the natural course of things the possession of a physical corpse is of assistance to a man, the corpse serving as a kind of fulcrum on the physical plane. The best remedy for this tendency is cremation, which destroys the link with the physical plane. A few typical examples of astral after-death life will LAD 12. best illustrate the nature and rationale of that life. ~, ~ (~. 14An ordinary colourless man, neither specially good .If W 12Znor specially bad, is of course in no way changed by 12,). 126 o 5 D 66. LA D I2-J30 THE ASTRAL BODY death, but remains colourless. Consequently, he will have no special suffering and no special joy: in fact. he may find life somewhat dull, because, having cultivated no particular interests during his physical life, he has none in his astral life. If during his physical life he had no ideas beyond gossip, sport, business or dress, he will naturally, when these are no longer possible, be likely to find time hang heavily on his hands. A man, however, who has had strong desires of a low type, who has been, for example, a drunkard or a sensualist, will be in far worse case. Not only will his cravings and desires remain with him (it will be recollected that the centres of sensation are situated, not in the physical body, but in Kama, see page 24), but they will be stronger than ever, because their full force is expressed in astral matter, none of it being absorbed in setting in motion the heavy physical particles. Being in the lowest and most depraved condition of astral life, such a man seems often to be still sufficiently near to the physical to be sensitive to certain odours, though the titillation produced is only sufficient still further to excite his mad desires and to tantilise him to the verge of frenzy. But, as he no longer possesses a physical body, through which alone his cravings can be allayed, he has no possibility of gratifying his terrible thirsts. Hence the innumerable traditions of the fires of purgatory, found in nearly every religion, which are no inapt symbols for the torturing conditions described. Such a condition may last for quite a long time, since it passes away only by gradually wearing itself out. The rationale and automatic justice of the whole process is clear: the man has created his conditions himself, by his own actions, and determined the exact degree of their power and duration. Furthermore. it is the only way in which he can get rid of his vices. For, if he were to be reincarnated immediately, he would start his next life precisely as he finished the THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PARTICULARS preceding one: i.e., a slave to his passions and appetites: and the possibility of his ever becoming master of himself would be immeasurably reduced. But, as things are, his cravings having worn themselves out, he will be able to commence his next incarnation without the burden of them: and his ego, having had so severe a lesson, is likely to make every possible effort to restrain its lower vehicles from again making a similar mistake. A confirmed drunkard will sometimes be able to draw round himself a veil of etheric matter, and thus partially materialise himself. He can then draw in the odour of the alcohol, but he does not smell it in the same sense as we do. Hence he is anxious to force others into the condition of drunkenness, so that he may be able partially to enter their physical bodies and obsess them, through their bodies being once more able to experience directly the tastes and other sensations for which he craves. Obsession may be permanent or temporary. As just mentioned, a dead sensualist may seize upon any vehicle he can steal in order to gratify his coarse desires. At other times a man may obsess someone as a calculated act of revenge: a case is recorded where a man obsessed the daughter of his enemy. Obsession can be best prevented or resisted by an exercise of will-power. When it occurs it is almost always because the victim has in the first place voluntarily yielded himself to the invading influence, and his first step therefore is to reverse the act of submission. The mind should be set steadily against the obsession in determined resistance, realising strongly that the human will is stronger than any evil influence. Such obsession is of course utterly unnatural and in the highest degree harmful to both parties. The effect of excessive tobacco-smoking on the astral body after death is remarkable. The poison so fills the astral body that it stiffens under its influence and is unable to work properly or to move freely. For the time, the man is as though paralysed- 1 L 116. ~: ~'l66. 1 L 1 ..79- ..80. 1 L 1 ..Po... 0 S D "°3· H S 11 'll. 128 THE ASTRAL BODY able to speak, yet debarred from movement, and almost entirely cut off from higher influences. When the poisoned part of his astral body wears away, he emerges from this unpleasant predicament. r L 1:.96. The astral body changes its particles, just as does OS D 1,5. the physical body, but there is nothing to correspond to eating and digesting food. The astral particles which fall away are replaced by others from the surrounding atmosphere, The pu,ely physical cravings of hunger and thirst no longer exist there: but the desi,e of the glutton to gratify the sensation of taste, and the desire of the drunkard for the feelings which follow the absorption of alcohol, being both astral, still persist: and, as already stated, they may cause great suffering owing to the absence of the physical body through which alone they could be satisfied. LA DI3-1", Many myths and traditions exist, exemplifying the ILlu:\conditions described. One of them is that of Tantalus, 128. OS D 65: who suffered from raging thirst, yet was doomed to see 70· the water recede just as it was about to touch his lips. Another, typifying ambition, is that of Sisyphus, condemned to roll a heavy rock up a mountain, only to see it roll down again. The rock represents ambitious plans which such a man continues to form, only to realise that he has no physical body with which to carry them out. Eventually he wears out his selfish ambition, realises that he need not roll his rock, and lets it rest in peace at the bottom of the hill. I L l 126Another story was that of Tityus, a man who was 12 7. tied to a rock, his liver being gnawed by vultures, and growing again as fast as it was eaten. This symbolised a man tortured by the gnawings of remorse for sins committed on earth. OS D 52. The worst that the ordinary man of the world usually T B'/6. provides for himself after death is a useless and unutterably wearisome existence, void of all rational interests-the natural sequel of a life wasted in selfindulgence, triviality and gossip here on earth. TB76· The only things for which he craves are no longer possible to him, for in the astral world there is no THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PARTICULARS business to be done, and, though he may have as much companionship as he wishes, society is now for him a very different matter, because all the pretensions upon which it is usually based in this world are no longer possible. Man thus makes for himself both his own purgatory and his own heaven, and these are not places but states of consciousness. Hell does not exist: it is only a figment of the theological imagination. Neither purgatory nor heaven can ever be eternal, for a finite cause cannot produce an infinite result. Nevertheless, the conditions of the worst type of man alter death are perhaps best described by the word .. hell," though they are not everlasting. Thus, for example, it sometimes happens that a murderer is followed about by his victim, never being able to escape from his haunting presence. The victim (unless himself of a very base type) is wrapped in unconsciousness, and this very unconsciousness seems to add a new horror to the mechanical pursuit. Such conditions are not produced arbitrarily, but are the inevitable result of causes set in operation by each person. Nature's lessons are sharp, but in the long run they are merciful, for they lead to the evolution of the soul, being strictly corrective and salutary. For most people the state after death is much happier than life upon earth. The first feeling of which the dead man is usually conscious is one of the most wonderful and delightful freedom; he has nothing to worry about, and no duties rest upon him, except those which he chooses to impose upon himself. Regarded from this point of view, it is clear that there is ample justification for the assertion that people physically" alive," buried and cramped as they are in physical bodies, are in the true sense far less .. alive" than those usually termed dead. The so-called dead are much more free and, being less hampered by material conditions, are able to work far more effectively and to cover a wider field of activity. A man who, not having permitted the re-arrangement 12 9 T B 6"~5. A W u3U4- A W 124125· T B 76. T D 113. 13° T B 71. LA D 14-1'. OS D 76-78. THE ASTRAL BODY of his astral body, is free of the entire astral world, does not find it inconveniently crowded, because the astral world is much larger than the surface of the physical earth, while its population is somewhat smaller, the average life of humanity in the astral world being shorter than the average in the physical. In addition to the dead, there are also, of course, on the astral plane about one-third of the living, who have temporarily left the physical body during sleep. Although the whole astral plane is open to any of its inhabitants who have not permitted the re-arrangement of their astral bodies, yet the great majority remain near the surface of the earth. Passing to a higher type of man, we may consider one who has some interests of a rational nature, e.g., music, literature, science, etc. The need to spend a large proportion of each day in "earning a living" no longer existing, the man is free to do precisely what he likes, so long as it is capable of realisation without physical matter. In the astral life it is possible not only to listen to the grandest music but to hear far more of it than before, because there are in the astral world other and fuller harmonies than the relatively dull physical ears can hear. For the artist, all the loveliness of the higher astral world is open for his enjoyment. A man can readily and rapidly move from place to place and see the wonders of Nature, obviously far more easily than he could ever do on the physical plane. If he is a historian or a scientist, the libraries and the laboratories of the world are at his disposal: his comprehension of natural processes will be far fuller than ever before, because he can now see the inner as well as the outer workings, and many of the causes where previously he saw only the effects. In all these cases his delight is greatly enhanced, because no fatigue is possible (see p. 82). A philanthropist can pursue his beneficent work more vigorously than ever before and under better conditions than in the physical world. There are thousands whom he can help, and with greater certainty of conferring real benefit. THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PARTICULARS It is quite possible for any person upon the astral plane after death to set himself to study, and to acquire entirely new ideas. Thus, people may learn of Theosophy for the first time in the astral world. A case is on record even of a person learning music there, though this is unusual. In general, life on the astral plane is more active than on the physical plane, astral matter being more highly vitalised than physical matter, and form being more plastic. The possibilities on the astral plane, both of enjoyment and of progress, are in every way much greater than those on the physical plane. But the possibilities are of a higher class, and it needs a certain amount of intelligence to take advantage of them. A man who has whilst on earth devoted the whole of his thought and energy solely to material things, is little likely to be able to adapt himself to more advanced conditions, as his semi-atrophied mind will not be strong enough to grasp the wider possibilities of the grander life. A man whose life and interests are of a higher type may be able to do more good in a few years of astral existence than ever he could have done in the longest physical life. Astral pleasures being so much greater than those of the physical world, there is danger of people being turned aside by them from the path of progress. But even the delights of the astral life do not present a serious danger to those who have realised a little of something higher. After death a man should try to pass through the astral levels as speedily as possible, consistently with usefulness, and not yield to their refined pleasures any more than to those of the 13 1 r L II 101- 101. .A W 73- os D 51-53. 131- 133. 1 L 11 117. physica.l. Any developed man is in every way quite as active 1 L 11 65. during astral life after death as during his physical life: he can unquestionably help or hinder his own progress and that of others quite as much after death as before, and consequently he is all the time generating karma of the greatest importance. In fact, the consciousness of a man living entirely I L II 71. 132 THE ASTRAL BODY in the astral world is usuaUy much more definite than it has been during his sleep astral life, and he is correspondingly better able to think and act with determination, so that his opportunities of making good or bad karma are the greater. I L tt 51~ It may be said in general that a man can make 5 20 • karma wherever his consciousness is developed, or wherever he can act or choose. Thus actions done on the astral plane may bear karmic fruit in the next earth life. I L 11 7-8. On the lowest astral sub-plane a man, having other A P 42. things to occupy his attention, concerns himself little with what takes place in the physical world, except when he haunts vile resorts. On the next sub-plane, the sixth, are found men who, whilst alive, centred their desires and thoughts chiefly in mere worldly affairs. Consequently, they still hover about the persons and places with which they were most closely associated while on earth, and may be conscious of many things in connection with these. They never, however, see physical matter itself, but always the astral counterpart of it. 11.11 II. Thus, for example, a theatre full of people has its H51129· astral counterpart, which is visible to astral entities. They would not, however, be able to see, as we see them, either the costumes or the expressions of the actors, and the emotions of the players, being not real but simulated, would make no impression on the astral plane. I L II 21. Those on the sixth sub-plane, which is on the surface of the earth, find themselves surrounded by the astral counterparts of physically existing mountains, trees, lakes, etc. 1 L II 7-8. On the next two sub-planes, the fifth and fourth, this consciousness of physical affairs is also possible, though in rapidly diminishing degree. On the next two sub-planes, the third and second, contact with the physical plane could be obtained only by a special effort to communicate through a medium. From the highest, the first sub-plane, even communication through a medium would be very difficult. THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PARTICULARS 133 Those living on the higher sub-planes usually provide 1 L 11 27. themselves with whatever scenes they desire. Thus in one portion of the astral world men surround themselves with landscapes of their own creation: others accept ready-made the landscapes which have already been constructed by others. (A description of the various levels or sub-planes will be given in Chapter XVI.) In some cases men construct for themselves the 1 L 1127-28. weird scenes described in their various religious scriptures, manufacturing clumsy attempts at jewels growing on trees, seas of glass mingled with fire, creatures full of eyes within, and deities with a hundred heads and arms. In what the Spiritualists call the Summerland, people 1 L 1355of the same race and the same religion tend to keep A356.W J31together after death just as they do during life, so that 132 • there is a kind of network of summerlands over the T B 8:Z~3. countries to which belong the persons who have created them, communities being formed, differing as widely from each other as do similar communities on earth. This is due not only to natural affinity but also to the fact that barriers of language still exist on the astral plane. This principle applies, in fact, to the astral plane in 0 S D zoo general. Thus, at spiritualistic seances in Ceylon, it was found that the communicating entities were Buddhists. and that beyond the grave they had found their religiouspreconceptions confirmed, exactly as had the members of various Christian sects in Europe. Menfind on the astral plane not only their own thought- 0 S D 81. forms, but those made by others-these, in some cases, being the product of generations of thought from thousands of people, all following along the same lines. It is not uncommon for parents to endeavour to H S 1435. impress their wishes on their children, e.g., with regard 0 S D 79. to some particular alliance on which their heart is set. Such an influence is insidious, an ordinary man being likely to take the steady pressure for his own subconscious desire. In many cases the dead have constituted themselves guardian angels to the living, mothers often protecting 134 THE ASTRAL BODY their sons, husbands their widows, and so on, for many years. H S r 43.5In other cases a dead writer or musical composer 436• may impress his ideas upon a writer or composer in the physical world, so that many books credited to the living are really the work of the dead. The person who actually executes the writing may be conscious of the influence, or may be entirely unconscious of it. One leading novelist has stated that his stories come M 109-110. to him he knows not whence-that they are in reality written not by him, but through him. He recognises the state of affairs: there are probably many others in the same case who are quite unconscious of it. H S II 237. A doctor who dies often continues after death to take an interest in his patients, endeavouring to cure them from the other side, or to suggest to his successor methods of treatment which, with his newly-acquired astral faculties, he sees would be useful. Whilst most ordinary "good" people, who die natural 1 L II 8-9. deaths, are unlikely to be conscious of anything physical at all, as they sweep through all the lower stages before awakening to astral consciousness, yet some, even of these, may be drawn back into touch with the physical world by great anxiety about someone left behind. r L 119-10. The grief of relatives and friends may also attract o 5 D 104· the attention of one who has passed to the astral plane, and tend to draw him down into touch with earth life again. This downward tendency grows with use and the man is likely to exert his will to keep in touch with the physical world. For a time his power of seeing earthly things will increase; but presently it will diminish, and then he will probably suffer mentally as he feels his power slipping from him. A p 47-48. In many cases people not only cause themselves an 1~~8: immense amount of wholly unnecessary pain, but often 43-4'· also do serious injury to those for whom they mourn 13P.~ 137- with intense and uncontrolled grief. T P 129-'!30. During the whole period of the astral plane life, D .4 31. whether it be long or short, the man is within the reach of earth influences. In the cases just mentioned the g; rJ THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: PARTICULARS 135 passionate sorrow and desires of friends on earth would set up vibrations in the astral body of the man who had died, and so reach and rouse his mind or lower manas, Thus aroused from his dreamy state to vivid remembrance of earth life, he may endeavour to communicate with his earth friends, possibly through a medium. Such an awakening is often accompanied by acute suffering, and in any event the natural process of the ego's withdrawal is delayed. Occult teaching does not for a moment counsel forgetfulness of the dead: but it does suggest that affectionate remembrance of the dead is a force which, if properly directed towards helping his progress towards the heaven-world, and his passage through the intermediate state, might be of real value to him, whereas mourning is not only useless but harmful. It is with a true instinct that the Hindu religion prescribes its Shraddha ceremonies and the Catholic Church its prayers for the dead. Prayers, with their accompanying ceremonies, create elementals which strike against the Klmalokic entity's astral body, and hasten its disintegration, thus speeding him on towards the heaven-world. When, for example, a Mass is offered with a definite H S I 261: 34/)· intention of helping a dead person, that person will H S 1124.5. undoubtedly benefit by the downpouring of force: OS D 17. the strong thought about him inevitably attracts his attention, and when he is drawn to the Church he takes part in the ceremony and enjoys a large share in its results. Even if he be still unconscious, the priest's will and prayer directs the stream of force towards the person concerned. Even the earnest general prayer or wish for the good OS D 17. of the dead as a whole, though likely to be vague and therefore less efficient than a more definite thought, has yet in the aggregate produced an effect whose importance it would be difficult to exaggerate. Europe little knows how much it owes to those great religious orders who devote themselves night and day to. ceaseless prayer for the faithful departed. CHAPTER XV THE 1 L 11 5. t L 11 15-16. OS D 36-37· S P :ao. ..f P ". t L 11 16. :1:: 115- AFTER~DEATH LIFE: SPECIAL CASES THERE is practically no difference between the consciousness of a psychic after death and that of an ordinary person, except that the psychic, being probably more familiar with astral matter, will feel more at home in his new environment. To be psychic means to possess a physical body in some .....ays more sensitive than those of most people: consequently, when the physical body is dropped, this inequality no longer exists. A sudden death, such as from an accident, need not necessarily affect the astral life in any way for the worse. At the same time, for most people, a more natural death is preferable, because the slow wasting away of the aged or the ravages of a long-continued illness are almost invariably accompanied by a considerable loosening and breaking up of the astral particles, so that when the man recovers consciousness upon the astral plane, he finds some, at any rate, of his principal work there already done for him. In most cases, when earth life is suddenly cut short by accident or suicide, the link between kama (desire) and prana (vitality) is not easily broken, and the astral body is consequently strongly vivified. The withdrawal of the principles from their physical encasement, owing to sudden death of any kind, has been aptly compared to the tearing of the stone out of an unripe fruit. A great deal of the grossest kind of astral matter still clings around the personality, which is consequently held in the seventh or lowest astral sub-plane. The mental terror and disturbance which sometimes accompany accidental death are, of course, a THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: SPECIAL CASES very unfavourable preparation for astral life. In certain rare cases the agitation and terror may persist for some time after death. The victims of capital punishment. apart from the injury done to them by suddenly wrenching from the physical the astral body, throbbing with feelings of hatred, passion, revenge, and so forth, constitute a peculiarly dangerous element in the astral world. Unpleasant to society as a murderer in his physical body may be, he is clearly far more dangerous when suddenly expelled from the body: and, whilst society may protect itself from murderers in the physical body, it is at present defenceless against murderers suddenly projected on to the astral plane in the fullllush of their passions. Such men may well act as the instigators of other murders. It is well known that murders of a particular kind are sometimes repeated over and over again in the same community. The position of the suicide is further complicated by the fact that his rash act has enormously diminished the power of the higher ego to withdraw its lower portion into itself, and therefore has exposed him to other and great dangers. Nevertheless it must be remembered, as already said, that the guilt of suicide differs considerably according to circumstances, from the morally blameless act of Socrates through all degrees down to that of a wretch who commits suicide in order to escape the physical results of his own crimes, and, of course, the position after death varies accordingly. The karmic consequences of suicide are usually momentous: they are certain to affect the next life, and probably more lives than one. It is a crime against Nature to interfere with the prescribed period appointed for living on the physical life. For every man has an appointed life-term, determined by an intricate web of prior causes-i.e.. by karma-and that term must run out its appointed sands, before the dissolution of the personality. 131 D A 38. TN P90-9I. CW 96. A P 51. 1 L 11 12-14. ~_~8?~77: 138 THE ASTRAL BODY The attitude of mind at the time of death determines the subsequent position of the person. Thus, there is a profound difference between one who lays down his life from altruistic motives and one who deliberately destroys his life from selfish motives, such as fear, etc. Pure and spiritually-minded men, who are the victims of accident, etc., sleep out happily the term of their natural life. In other cases they remain conscious -often entangled in the final scene of earth-life for a time, held in whatever region they are related to by the outermost layer of their astral body. Their normal kamalokic life does not begin until the natural web of earth-life is out-spun, and they are vividly conscious of both their astral and physical surroundings. 1. A D II). It must not for a moment, therefore, be supposed o S D ..8. that because of the many superiorities of astral over physical life, a man is therefore justified in committing suicide or seeking death. Men are incarnated in physical bodies for a purpose which can be attained only in the physical world. There are lessons to be learnt in the physical world which cannot be learnt anywhere else, and the sooner we learn them the sooner we shall be free from the need to return to the lower and more limited life. The ego has to take much trouble in order to incarnate in a physical body, and also to live through the wearisome period of early childhood, during which he is gradually and with much effort gaining some control over his new vehicles, and therefore his efforts should not be foolishly wasted. In this respect the natural instinct of self-preservation is one which should be obeyed, it being a man's duty to make the most of his earthly life and to retain it as long as circumstances permit, A p 55-56. If a man, who has been killed suddenly, has led a low, brutal, selfish and sensual life, he will be fully conscious on the seventh astral sub-plane, and is liable to develop into a terribly evil entity. Inflamed with appetites which he can no longer satisfy, he may endeavour to gratify his passions through a medium or any sensitive person whom he can obsess. Such THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: SPECIAL CASES 139 entities take a devilish delight in using all the arts of astral delusion to lead others into the same excesses in which they themselves indulged. From this class and from the vitalised shells (see p. 172) are drawn the tempters-the devils of ecclesiastical literature. The following is a strongly worded account of the D A 3'. victims of sudden death, whether suicides or killed by accident, when such victims are depraved and gross. Unhappy shades, if sinful and sensual, they wander about . . . until their death-hour comes. Cut off in the full flush of earthly passions, which bind them to familiar scenes, they are enticed by opportunities which mediumsafford to gratify them vicariously. They are the Pishachas, the Incubi and Succubee of medieval times: the demonsof thirst, gluttony, lust and avarice : elementaries of intensified craft, wickedness and cruelty: provoking their victims to horrid crimes, and revelling in their commission I .. Soldiers killed in battle do not quite come under this 0 S D 36. category, because, whether the cause for which they are fighting be in the abstract right or wrong, they think it to be right: to them it is the call of duty, and they sacrifice their lives willingly and unselfishly. In spite of its horrors, therefore, war may nevertheless be a potent factor in evolution at a certain level. This, also, is the grain of truth in the idea of the Mohammedan fanatic that the man who dies fighting for the faith goesstraight to a very good life in the next world. In the case of children dying young, it is unlikely 1 L 11 17. that they will have developed much affinity for the lowest sub-divisions of the astral world, and as a matter of experience they are seldom found on the lowest astral sub-planes. Some people cling so desperately to material exist- 1 L 1134-37. encethat at death their astral bodies cannot altogether separate from the etheric, and consequently they awaken still surrounded by etheric matter. Such persons are in a very unpleasant condition: they are sbut out {rom the astral world by the etheric shell which surrounds them, and at the same time they are If THE ASTRAL BODY 1 I.113~39. T B 88. also, of course, shut off from ordinary physical life because they have no physical sense-organs. The result is that they drift about, lonely, dumb and terrified, unable to communicate with entities on either plane. They cannot realise that if they would only let go their frenzied grasp on matter they would slip, after a few moments of unconsciousness, into the ordinary life of the astral plane. But they cling to their grey world, with their miserable half-eonsciousness, rather than sink into what they think complete extinction, or even the hell in which they have been taught to believe. In process of time the etheric shell wears out, and the ordinary course of Nature reasserts itself in spite of their struggles: sometimes in sheer desperation they recklessly let themselves go, preferring even the idea of annihilation to their present existence-with a result overwhelmingly and surprisingly pleasant. In a few cases, another astral entity may be able to help them by persuading them to let go their hold on what to them is life and sink out of it. In other cases, they may be so unfortunate as to discover a means of reviving to some extent their touch with physical life through a medium, though as a rule the medium's .. spirit-guide" very properly forbids them access. The .. guide" is right in his action, because such entities, in their terror and need, become quite unscrupulous and would obsess and even madden a medium, fighting as a drowning man fights for life. They could succeed only if the ego of the medium had weakened his hold upon his vehicles by allowing the indulgence of undesirable thoughts or passions. Sometimes an entity may be able to seize upon a baby body, ousting the feeble personality for whom it was intended, or sometimes even to obsess the body of an animal, the fragment of the group-soul which, to an animal, stands in the place of an ego, having a hold on the body less strong than that of an ego. This obsession may be complete or partial. The obsessing THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: SPECIAL CASES entity thus once more gets into touch with the physical plane, sees through the animal's eyes, and feels any pain inflicted upon the animal-in fact, so far as his his own consciousness is concerned, he is the animal for the time being. A man who thus entangles himself with an animal cannot abandon the animal's body at will, but only gradually and by considerable effort, extending probably over many days. Usually he is set free only at the death of the animal, and even then there remains an astral entanglement to shake off. After the death of the animal such a soul sometimes endeavours to obsess another member of the same herd, or indeed any other creature whom he can seize in his desperation. The animals most commonly seized upon seem to be the less developed ones---cattle, sheep and swine. More intelligent creatures, such as dogs, cats and horses do not appear to be so easily dispossessed, though cases do occasionally occur. All obsessions, whether of a human or an animal body, are an evil and a hindrance to the obsessing soul, as they temporarily strengthen his hold upon the material, and so delay his natural progress into the astral life, besides making undesirable karmic links. In the case of a man who, by vicious appetite or otherwise, forms a very strong link with any type of animal, his astral body shows animal characteristics, and may resemble in appearance the animal whose qualities had been encouraged during earth life. In extreme cases the man may be linked to the astral body of the animal and thus be chained as a prisoner to the animal's physical body. The man is conscious in the astral world, has his human faculties, but cannot control the animal body nor express himself through that body on the physical plane. The animal organism serves as a jailer, rather than as a vehicle: and, further, the animal soul is not ejected, but remains as the proper tenant of its body. Cases of this kind explain, at least partially, the belief often found in Oriental countries, that a man 141 1 L 114~41. 1 L 11 43- 1 L 11 30-33. THE ASTRAL BODY may under certain conditions reincarnate in an animal body. A similar fate may befall a man as he returns to the astral plane on his way to re-birth, and is described in Chapter XXIV on R,-birlh. The class of person who is definitely held down to OS D 1'4. earth by anxiety is often termed earth-bound: as St. Martin expressed it, such men are" remainers," not .. returners," being unable thoroughly to tear themselves away from physical matter until some business is settled in which they have a special interest. S P 45-46We have already seen that after physical death the D If 4z-43. real man is steadily withdrawing himself from his MBn· outer bodies: and that, in particular, manas, or mind, endeavours to disentangle itself from kAma, or desire. In certain rare cases, the personality, or lower man, may be so strongly controlled by kAma that lower manas is completely enslaved and cannot disentangle itself. The link between the lower and the higher mental, the .. silver thread that binds it to the Master," snaps in two. This is spoken of in occultism as the " loss of the soul." It is the loss of the personal self, which has separated from its parent, the higher ego, and has thus doomed itself to perish. In such a case, even during earth-life, the lower quaternary is wrenched away from the Triad, i.,., the lower principles, headed by lower manas, are severed from the higher principles. AtmA, Buddhi and Higher Manas. The man is rent in twain, the brute has broken itself free, and it goes forth unbridled, carrying with it the reSections of that manasic light which should have been its guide through life. Such a creature, owing to its possession of mind, is more dangerous even than an unevolved animal: though human in form, it is brute in nature, without sense of truth, love or justice. After physical death, such an astral body is an entity of terrible potency, and is unique in this, that under certain rare conditions it can reincarnate in the world of men. With no instincts save those of the THE AFTER-DEATH LIFE: SPECIAL CASES animal, driven only by passion, never even by emotion, with a cunning that no brute can rival, a wickedness that is deliberate, it touches ideal vileness, and is the natural foe of all normal human beings. A being of this class-which is known as an Elementary-sinks lower with each successive incarnation, until, as the evil force gradually wears itself out, it perishes, being cut off from the source of life. It disintegrates, and thus as a separate existence is lost. From the point of view of the ego there has been no harvest of useful experience from that personality: the ray" has brought nothing back, the lower life has been a total and complete failure. The word Elementary has been employed by various writers in many different senses, but it is recommended that it be confined to the entity described above. If 143 CHAPTER XVI THE ASTRAL PLANE A P 1.5. M B 42. .iI w 7f;-77· THIS chapter will be confined, so far as the complexities of the subject permit, to a description of the nature, appearance, properties, etc., of the astral plane or world. A later chapter will be devoted to an enumeration and description of the entities which live in the astral world. The intelligent student will recognise the extreme difficulty of giving in physical language an adequate description of the astral world. The task has been compared to that of an explorer of some unknown tropical forest being asked to give a full account of the country through which he has passed. The difficulties of describing the astral world are further complicated by two factors: (I) the difficulty of correctly translating from the astral to the physical plane the recollection of what has been seen: and (2) the inadequacy of physical plane language to express much of what bas to be reported. One of the most prominent characteristics of the astral world is that it is full of continuaIly changing shapes: we find there not only thought-forms, composed of elemental essence and animated by a thought, but also vast masses of elemental essence from which continually shapes emerge and into which they again disappear. The elemental essence exists in hundreds of varieties on every sub-plane, as though the air were visible and were in constant undulating motion with changing colours like mother-of-pearl. Currents of thought are continually thrilling through this astral matter, strong thoughts persisting as entities for a long time, weak ones clothing themselves in elemental essence and wavering out again. THE ASTRAL PLANE 145 We have already seen that astral matter exists in .d P 17. seven orders of fineness, corresponding to the seven A W 74. physical grades of solid. liquid, gaseous, etc. Each of these seven orders of matter is the basis of one of the seven levels. sub-divisions, or sub-planes (as they are variously called) of the astral plane. It has becomecustomary to speak ofthese sevenlevels as being ranged one above the other, the densest at the bottom and the finest at the top: and in many diagrams they are actually drawn in this manner. There is a basis of truth in this method of representation, but it is not the whole truth. The matter of each sub-plane interpenetrates that of the sub-plane below it: consequently. at the surface of the earth, all seven sub-planes exist together in the same space. Nevertheless, it is also true that the higher astral sub-planes extend further away from the physical earth than the lower sub-planes. A very fair analogy of the relation between the astral I L I 3512• sub-planes exists in the physical world. To a consider- 35 I L II 52. able extent liquids interpenetrate solids, e.g., water is found in soil, gases interpenetrate liquids (water usually contains considerable volumes of air), and so on. Nevertheless it is substantially true that the bulk of the liquid matter of the earth lies in seas. rivers, etc., above the solid earth. Similarly the bulk of gaseous matter rests above the surface of the water, and reaches much further out into space than either solid or liquid. Similarly with astral matter. By far the densest I L '353. aggregation of astral matter lies within the limits of TI LB 1172.52. the physical sphere. In this connection it should be ILI356. noted that astral matter obeys the same general laws H S 1 ....90 as physical matter, and gravitates towards the centre of the earth. The seventh or lowest astral sub-plane penetrates some distance into the interior of the earth, so that the entities living on it may find themselves actually within the crust of the earth. The sixth sub-plane is partially coincident with the surface of the earth. THE ASTRAL BODY The third sub-plane, which the Spiritualists call the "Summerland," extends many miles up into the atmosphere. 1 L 1 3.~3. The outer limit of the astral world extends nearly to I L 11'3-54- the mean distance of the moon's orbit so that at T B 26-:17. ' perigee the astral planes of the earth and moon usually touch one another, but not at apogee. (N.B.-The earth and moon are nearly 240,000 miles apart.) Hence the name the Greeks gave to the astral planethe sub-lunar world. A P 18. The seven sub-divisions fall naturally into three groups: (a) the seventh or lowest: (b) the sixth, fifth and fourth: and (c) the third. second and first. The difference between members of one group may be compared to that between two solids, e.g., steel and sand, the difference between the groups may be compared to that between a solid and a liquid. .A P :16. Sub-plane 7 has the physical world as its background, ::lO~ 119'" though only a distorted and partial view of it is visible, since all that is light and good and beautiful seems invisible. Four thousand years ago the Scribe Ani described it in an Egyptian papyrus thus: "What manner of place is this unto which I have come? It hath no water. it hath no air; it is deep. unfathomable; it is black as the blackest night, and men wander helplessly about therein; in it a man may not live in quietness of heart." For the unfortunate human being on that level it is indeed true that .. all the earth is full of darkness and cruel habitation," but it is darkness which radiates from within himself and causes his existence to be passed in a perpetual night of evil and horror-a very real hell, though, like all other hells, entirely of man's own creation. Most students find the investigation of this section an extremely unpleasant task. for there appears to be a sense of density and gross materiality about it which is indescribably loathsome to the liberated astral body, causing it the sense of pushing its way through some black, viscous fluid. while the inhabitants and the 1 L 1 '55. ... p 43- THE ASTRAL PLANE 147 influences encountered there are also usually exceedingly undesirable. The ordinary decent man would probably have little A P 42. to detain him on the seventh sub-plane, the only A Win. persons who would normally awake to consciousness on that sub-plane being those whose desires are gross and brutal-drunkards, sensualists, violent criminals, and the like. Sub-planes 6, 5 and 4 have for their background the A P 18. physical world with which we are familiar. Life on No. 6 is like ordinary physical life. minus the physical body and its necessities. Nos. 5 and 4 are less material and more withdrawn from the lower world and its interests. As in the case of the physical, the densest astral 1 L 1 358. matter is far too dense for the ordinary forms of astral life: but the astral world has other forms of its own which are quite unknown to students of the surface. On the fifth and fourth sub-planes, merely earthly A P 42. associations appear to become of less and less import- A W 129ance, and the people there tend more and more to mould their surroundings into agreement with the more persistent of their thoughts. Sub-planes 3. 2 and I. though occupying the same A P 26-27: space, give the impression of being further removed tls D 84- 8,5. from the physical world and correspondingly less A W 130material. At these levels entities lose sight of the 80.81. earth and its affairs: they are usually deeply selfabsorbed. and to a large extent create their own surroundings, though these are sufficiently objective to be perceptible to other entities. They are thus little awake ll the realities of the plane, but live instead in imaginary cities of their own, partly creating them entirely by their own thoughts, and partly inheriting and adding to the structures created by their predecessors. Here are found the happy hunting-grounds of the Red Indian. the Valhalla of the Norseman, the hourifilled. paradise of the Muslim, the golden and jewelledgated New Jerusalem of the Christian, the lyceum-filled heaven of the materialistic reformer. Here is also ¥i, THE ASTRAL BODY A P 43. A W lJJ1]3. A P 43. A W 133135· OSD86. the " Summerland .. of the Spiritualists, in which exist houses, schools, cities, etc., which, real enough as they are for a time, to a clearer sight are sometimespitiably unlike what their delighted creators suppose them to be. Nevertheless, many of the creations are of real though temporary beauty, and a visitor who knew of nothing higher might wander contentedly among the natural scenery provided, which at any rate is much superior to anything in the physical world: or he might, of course, prefer to construct his scenery to suit his own fancies. The second sub-plane is especially the habitat of the selfish or unspiritual religionist. Here he wears his golden crown and worships his own grossly material representation of the particular deity of his country and time. The first sub-plane is specially appropriated to those who during earth-life have devoted themselves to materialistic but intellectual pursuits, following them not for the sake of benefiting their fellow-men, but either from motives of selfish ambition or simply for the sake of intellectual exercise. Such persons may remain on this sub-plane for many years, happy in working out their intellectual problems, but doing no good to anyone, and making but little progress on their way towards the heaven-world. On this, the atomic sub-plane, men do not build themselves imaginary conceptions, as the,y do at lower levels. Thinkers and men of science often utilise for purposes of their study almost all the powers of the entire astral plane, for they are able to descend almost to the physical along certain limited lines. Thus they can swoop down upon the astral counterpart of a physical book and extract from it the information they require. They readily touch the mind of an author, impress their ideas upon him, and receive his in return. Sometimes they seriously delay their departure for the heaven-world by the avidity with which they prosecute lines of study and experiment on the astral plane. THE ASTRAL PLANE 149 Although we speak of astral matter as solid, it is 1 L 1 362. never really, but only relatively solid. One of the reasons why medieval alchemists symbolised astral matter by water was because of its fluidity and penetrability. The particles in the densest astral matter are further apart, relatively to their size, than even gaseous particles. Hence it is easier for two of the densest astral bodies to pass through each other than it would be for the lightest gas to diffuse itself in the air. People on the astral plane can and do pass through 1 L 1 364one another constantly, and through fixed astral 365. objects. There can never be anything like what we mean by a collision, and under ordinary circumstances two bodies which interpenetrate are not even appreciably affected. If, however. the interpenetration lasts for some time. as when two persons sit side by side in a church or theatre, a considerable effect may be produced. If a man thought of a mountain as an obstacle, he could not pass through it. To learn that it is not an obstacle is precisely the object of one part of what is called the test of earth." An explosion on the astral plane might be tem- 1 L 1 36.f. porarily as disastrous as an explosion of gunpowder on ~S4~ 385the physical plane, but the astral fragments would 3860 quickly collect themselves again. Thus there cannot be an accident on the astral plane in our sense of the word. because the astral body. being fluidic, cannot be destroyed or permanently injured, as the physical can. A purely astral object could be moved by means of 1 L 1 395an astral hand, if one wished, but not the astral counter- 396. part of a physical object. In order to move an astral counterpart it would be necessary to materialise a hand and move the physical object, then the astral counterpart would, of course, accompany it. The astral counterpart is there because the physical object is there, just as the scent of a rose fills a room because the rose is there. One could no more move a physical object by moving its astral counterpart than one could II 150 THE ASTRAL BODY move the rose by moving its perfume. On the astral plane one never touches the surface of anything, so as to feel it hard or soft, rough or smooth, hot or cold: but on coming into contact with the interpenetrating substance one would be conscious of a different rate of vibration, which might, of course, be pleasant or unpleasant, stimulating or depressing. Thus if one is standing on the ground, part of one'. astral body interpenetrates the ground under one'. feet: but the astral body would not be conscious of the fact by anything corresponding to a sense of hardness or by any difference in the power of movement. On the astral plane one has not the sense of jumping over a precipice, but simply of floating over it. Although the light of all planes comes from the SUD, yet the effect which it produces on the astral plane is entirely different from that on the physical. In the astral world there is a diffused luminosity, not obviously coming from any special direction. All astral matter is in itself luminous, though an astral body is not like a painted sphere, but rather a sphere of living fire. It is never dark in the astral world. The passing of a physical cloud in front of the sun makes no difference whatever to the astral plane, nor, of course, does the shadow of the earth which we call night. As astral bodies are transparent, there are no shadows. Atmospheric and climatic conditions make practi1 L 1 366. cally no difference to work on the astral and mental planes. But being in a big city makes a great difference, on account of the masses of thought-forms. On the astral plane there are many currents which tend to carry about persons who are lacking in will, and even those who have will but do not know how to use it. 1 L 11 103There is no such thing as sleep in the astral world. 1 L 11104It is possible to forget upon the astral plane just as it is on the physical. It is perhaps even easier to forget on the astral plane than on the physical because that world is so busy and so populous. THE ASTRAL PLANE lSI Knowledge of a person in the astral world does not necessarily mean knowledge of him in the physical world. The astral plane has often been called the realm of .A P ra, I L l 10]. illusion-not that it is itself any more illusory than the as D 46. physical world. but because of the extreme unreliability of the impressions brought back from it by the untrained seer. This can be accounted for mainly by two remarkable characteristics of the astral world: (I) many of its inhabitants have a marvellous power of changing their forms with protean rapidity, and also of casting practically unlimited glamour over those with whom they choose to sport: and (2) astral sight is very different from and much more extended than physical vision. Thus with astral vision an object is seen. as it were, .A P 12: 1819· from all sides at once, every particle in the interior C37: 40-4 1 • of a solid being as plainly open to the view as those on the outside, and everything entirely free from the distortion of perspective. If one looked at a watch astrally, one would see the face and all the wheels lying separately, but nothing on the top of anything else. Looking at a closed book one would see each page, not through all the other pages before or behind it, but looking straight down upon it as though it were the only page to be seen. It is easy to see that under such conditions even the most familiar objects may at first be totally unrecognisable, and that an inexperienced visitor may well find considerable difficulty in understanding what he really does see. and still more in translating his vision into the very inadequate language of ordinary speech. Yet a moment's consideraticn will show that astral vision approximates much more closely to true perception than does physical sight, which is subject to the distortions of perspective. In addition to these possible sources of error, matters are still further complicated by the fact that this astral sight cognises forms of matter which, while still purely physical, are nevertheless invisible under ordinary ISZ THE ASTRAL BODY conditions. Such, for example, are the particles composing the atmosphere, all the emanations which are continuously being given out by everything that has life, and also the four grades of etheric matter. A P 23-240 Further, astral vision discloses to view other and entirely different colours beyond the limits of the ordinary visible spectrum, the ultra-red and ultraviolet rays known to physical science being plainly visible to astral sight. Thus, to take a concrete example, a rock, seen with astral sight, is no mere inert mass of stone. With astral vision: (I) the whole of the physical matter is seen, instead of a very small part of it: (2) the vibrations of the physical particles are perceptible: (3) the astral counterpart, composed of various grades of astral matter, all in constant motion, is visible: (4) the universal life (prana) is seen to be circulating through it and radiating from it: (5) an aura will be seen surrounding' it: (6) its appropriate elemental essence is seen permeating it, ever active but ever fluctuating. In the case of the vegetable, animal, and human kingdoms, the complications are naturally much more numerous. A P '2-'30 A good instance of the sort of mistake that is likely to occur on the astral plane is the frequent reversal of any number which the seer has to record, so that he is liable to render, say, 139 as Q31, and so on. In the case of a student of occultism trained by a capable Master, such a mistake would be impossible, except through great hurry or'carelessness, since such a pupil has to go through a long and varied course of instruction in this art of seeing correctly. A trained seer in time acquires a certainty and confidence in dealing with the phenomena of the astral plane far exceeding anything possible in physical life. It is quite a mistaken view to speak with scorn of the astral plane and to think it unworthy of attention. It would, of course, certainly be disastrous for any student to neglect his higher development, and to rest satisfied with the attainment of astral consciousness. In THE ASTRAL PLANE some cases it is indeed possible to develop the higher mental faculties first, to overleap the astral plane for the time, as it were. But this is not the ordinary method adopted by the Masters of Wisdom with their pupils. For most, progress by leaps and bounds is not practicable: it is necessary therefore to proceed slowly, step by step. In The V Dice of the Silence three halls are spoken of. The first, that of ignorance, is the physical plane: the second, the Hall of Learning, is the astral plane, and is so called because the opening of the astral chakrams reveals so much more than is visible on the physical plane that the man feels he is much nearer the reality of the thing: nevertheless it is still but the place of probationaryJearning. Still more real and definite knowledge is acquired in the Hall of Wisdom, which is the mental plane. An important part of the scenery of the astral plane consists of what are often, though mistakenly, called the Records of the Astral Light. These records (which are in truth a sort of materia1isation of the Divine memory-a living photographic representation of all that has ever happened) are really and permanently impressed upon a very much higher level, and are only reflected in a more or less spasmodic manner on the astral plane; so that one whose power of vision does not rise above this will be likely to obtain only occasional and disconnected pictures of the past instead of a coherent narrative. But nevertheless these reflected pictures of all kinds of past events are constantly being reproduced in the astral world, and form an important part of the surroundings of the investigator there, Communication on the astral plane is limited by the knowledge of the entity, just as it is in the physical world, One who is able to use the mind-body can communicate his tbougbts to the human entities there more readily and rapidly than on earth, by means of mental impressions r. but the ordinary inhabitants of the astral plane are not usually able to exercise this 153 1L 1 102- 10.5. ..4 P 27- 28• ;oi!;::'.: ..4 P 4" C 13,5. 154 THE ASTRAL BODY power; they appear to be restricted by limitations similar to those that prevail on earth, though perhaps less rigid. Consequently (as previously mentioned) they are found associating, there as here, in groups drawn together by common sympathies, beliefs, and language. CHAPTER XVII MISCELLANEOUS ASTRAL PHENOMENA is reason to suppose that it may not be long A PII2-II •. before some applications of one or two super-physical 5 G 0 zoo. forces may come to be known to the world at large. A common experience at spiritualistic seances is that of the employment of practically resistless force in, for example, the instantaneous movement of enormous weights, and so on. There are several ways in which such results may be brought about. Hints may be given as to four of these. (1) There are great etheric currents on the surface of the earth flowing from pole to pole in volumes which make this power as irresistible as that of the rising tide, and there are methods by which this stupendous force may be safely utilised, though unskilful attempts to control it would be fraught with the greatest danger. (2) There is an etheric pressure, somewhat corresponding to, though immensely greater than, the atmospheric pressure. Practical occultism teaches how a given body of ether can be isolated from the rest, so that the tremendous force of etheric pressure can be brought into play. (3) There is a vast store of potential energy which has become dormant in matter during the involution of the subtle into the gross, and by changing the condition of the matter some of this may be liberated and utilised, somewhat as latent energy in the form of heat may be liberated by a change in the condition of visible matter. (4) Many results may be produced by what is known as sympathetic vibration. By sounding the keynote of the class of matter it is desired to affect, THERE THE ASTRAL BODY an immense number of sympathetic vibrations can be called forth. When this is done on the physical plane, e.g., by sounding a note on a harp and inducing other harps tuned in unison to respond sympathetically, no additional energy is developed. But on the astral plane the matter is far less inert, so that when called into action by sympathetic vibrations, it adds its own living force to the original impulse, which may thus be multiplied many-fold. By further rhythmic repetition of the original impulse, the vibrations may be so intensified that the result is out of all apparent proportion to the cause. There seems scarcely any limit to the conceivable achievements of this force in the hands of a great Adept who fully comprehends its possibilities: for the very building of the Universe itself was but the result of the vibrations set up by the Spoken Word. A P The class of mantras or spells which produce their result not by controlling some elemental, but merely by the repetition of certain sounds, also depend for their efficacy upon this action of sympathetic vibration. A P us. The phenomenon of disintegraJion also may be ~6~ D 359- brought about by the action of extremely rapid vibrations, which overcome the cohesion of the molecules of the object operated upon. A still higher vibration of a somewhat different type will separate these molecules into their constituent atoms. A body thus reduced to the etheric condition can be moved from one place to another with very great rapidity; and the moment the force which has been exerted is withdrawn it will be forced by the etheric pressure to resume its original condition. It is necessary to explain how the shape of an object is preserved, when it is disintegrated and then rematerialised. If a metal key, for example, were raised to the vaporous condition by heat, when the heat is withdrawn the metal will solidify, but instead of being a key it will be merely a lump of metal. The reason of this is that the elemental essence which informs the u,. MISCELLANEOUS ASTRAL PHENOMENA 157 key would be dissipated by the alteration in its condition : not that the elemental essence can be affected by heat, but that when its temporary body is destroyed as a solid, the elemental essence pours back into the great reservoir of such essence, much as the higher principles of man, though entirely unaffected by heat or cold, are yet forced out of a physical body when the latter is destroyed by fire. Consequently, when the metal of the key cooled into the solid condition again, the .. earth." elemental essence which poured back into it would not be the same as that which it contained before, and there would therefore be no reason why the key shape should be retained. But a man who disintegrated a key in order to move it from one place to another, would be careful to hold the elemental essence in exactly the same shape until the transfer was completed, and then when his willforce was removed it would act as a mould into which the solidifying particles would flow, or rather round which they would be re-aggregated. Thus, unless the operator's power of concentration failed, the shape would be accurately preserved. Apporls, or the bringing of objects almost instan- A P u6- 1I 7. taneously from great distances to spiritualistic seances ~~ 1) 359are sometimes produced in this way: for it is obvious that when disintegrated they could be passed with perfect ease through any solid substance, such as the wallof a house or the side of a locked box. The passage of matter through matter is thus, when understood, as simple as the passage of water through a sieve or of a gas through a liquid. Materialisation or the change of an object from the etheric to the solid state, can be produced by a reversal of the above process. In this case also a continued effort of will is necessary to prevent the materialised matter from relapsing into the etheric condition. The various kinds of materialisation will be described in Chapter XXVIII on Invisible Helpers. Electrical disturbances of any sort present diffi- 0 S D 370. THE ASTRAL BODY AP ~7:' 119. 1 D 37 - A P II9-IZO. o S D 357· culties in either materialisation or disintegration, presumably for the same reason that bright light renders them almost impossible-the destructive effect of strong vibration. Reduplication is produced by forming a perfect mental image of the object to be copied, and then gathering about that mould the necessary astral and physical matter. The phenomenon requires considerable power of concentration to perform, because every particle, interior as well as exterior, of the object to be duplicated must be held accurately in view simultaneously. A person who is unable to extract the matter required directly from the surrounding ether may sometimes borrow it from the material of the original article, which would then be correspondingly reduced in weight. Precipitation of letters, etc., may be produced in several ways. An Adept might place a sheet of paper before him, form a mental image of the writing he wished to appear upon it, and draw from the ether the matter wherewith to objectivise the image. Or he could with equal ease produce the same result upon a sheet of paper lying before his correspondent, whatever might be the distance between them. A third method, quicker and therefore more often adopted, is to impress the whole substance of the letter on the mind of some pupil and leave him to do the mechanical work of precipitation. The pupil would then imagine he saw the letter written on the paper in his Master's hand, and objectivise the writing as just described. If he found it difficult to draw the material from the ether and precipitate the writing on the paper simultaneously, he might have ink or coloured powder at hand on which he could draw more readily. It is just as easy to imitate one man's hand-writing as another's, and it would be impossible to detect by any ordinary means a forgery committed in this manner. A pupil of a Master has an infallible test which he can apply, but for others the proof of origin must lie solely in the contents of the letter and the spirit breathing MISCELLANEOUS ASTRAL PHENOMENA through it, as the hand-writing, however cleverly imitated, is valueless as evidence. A pupil new to the work would probably be able to imagine a few words at a time only, but one with more experience could visualise a whole page or even an entire letter at once. In this manner quite long letters are sometimes produced in a few seconds at spiritualistic seances. Pictures are precipitated in the same manner, except that here it is necessary to visualise the entire scene at once: and if many colours are needed they have to be manufactured, kept separate, and applied correctly. Evidently there is here scope for artistic faculty, and those with experience as artists will be more successful than those without such experience. Slate-writing is sometimes produced by precipitation, though more frequently tiny points of spirit hands are materialised just sufficiently to grasp the fragment of pencil. Levitation, that is the floating of a human body in the air, is often performed at seances by " spirit hands" which support the body of the medium. It may also be achieved by the aid of the elementals of air and water. In the East, however, always, and here occasionally, another method is employed. There is known to occult science a method of neutralising or even reversing the force of gravity, which is in fact of a magnetic nature, by means of which levitation may be easily produced. Doubtless this method was used in raising some of the air-ships of ancient India and Atlantis, and it is not improbable that a similar method was employed in constructing the Pyramids and Stonehenge. Levitation also happens to some ascetics in India, and some of the greatest of Christian Saints have in deep meditation been thus raised from the groundfOI example, S. Teresa and S. Joseph of Cupertino. Since light consists of ether vibrations, it is obvious that anyone who understands how to set up these vibrations can produce .. spirit lights," either the 159 .f P rzo ·122. 0 S D 3~7· .A. P 121. .A. P 121-122. 0 S D 344- ~4.5W 86. J L II 1821 83. .f P 112- 160 THE ASTRAL BODY mildly phosphorescent or the dazzling electrical variety, or those dancing globules of light into which a certain class o( tire elementals so readily transform themselves. A P 122. The feat of handling fire without injury may be ~7:' D 371 - performed by covering the hand with the thinnest layer of etheric substance, so manipulated as to be impervious to heat. There are also other ways in which it may be done. o S D 373- The production of fire is also within the resources 374· of the astral plane, as well as to counteract its effect. There seem to be at least three ways in which this could be done: (1) to set up and maintain the requisite rate of vibration, when combustion must ensue: (2) to introduce fourth-dimensionally a tiny fragment of glowing matter and then blow upon it until it bursts into fiame: (3) to introduce chemical constituents which would produce combustion. ..f P 12:1-1:13. The wansmulation of metals can be achieved by reducing a piece of metal to the atomic condition and rearranging the atoms in another form. ..f P 1:13. Repercussion, which will be dealt with in the Chapter on I,.visible Helpers, is also due to the principle of sympathetic vibration, described above. CHAPTER XVIII THE FOURTH DIMENSION are many characteristics of the astral world which agree with remarkable exactitude with a world of four dimensions, as conceived by geometry and mathematics. So close, in fact, is this agreement, that cases are known where a purely intellectual study. of the geometry of the fourth dimension has opened up astral sight in the student. The classic books on the subject are those of C. H. Hinton: Scientific Romances, Vols. I and II: A New Era of Thought: The Fourth Dimension. These are strongly recommended by Bishop C. W. Leadbeater, who states that the study of the fourth dimension is the best method he knows to obtain a conception of the conditions which prevail on the astral plane, and that C. H. Hinton's exposition of the fourth dimension is the only one which gives any kind of explanation down here of the constantly observed facts of astral vision. Other, and later books are several by Claude Bragdon: The Beautiful Necessity: A Primer of Higher Space I Fourth Dimensional Vistas " etc., Tertium Organum (a most illuminating work) by P. D. Ouspensky, and no doubt many others. For those who have made no study of this subject we may give here the very barest outline of some of the main features underlying the fourth dimension. A posnt, which has .. position but no magnitude," has no dimensions: a line, created by the movement of a point, has one dimension, length: a surface, created by the movement of a line, at right angles to itself, has two dimensions, length and breadth: a solid, created by the movement of a surface at right angles to itself, has three dimensions, length, breadth and thickness. THERE 0 S D 109l~: 4674 • H S I 28-29. 24 ~ I ! log. C 39- 8- 10 162 THE ASTRAL BODY A tesseract is a hypothetical object, created by the movement of a solid, in a new direction at right angles to itself, having four dimensions,length, breadth, thickness and another, at right angles to these three, but incapable of being represented in our world of three dimensions. Many of the properties of a tesseract can be deduced, according to the following table :- () S D 114. Points Lines A Point haa ... ALinehas... A Four-sided Surface hal •.. A Cube haa ... A Tesseract haa C 39. SO E 59. o S D 114 : 112- 122. 5urlaus Solids 1 2 1 4 8 16 4 12 32 I 6 24 I 8 The tesseract, as described by C. H. Hinton, is stated by Bishop C. W. Leadbeater to be a reality, being quite a familiar figure on the astral plane. In Some Occult Experiences by J. Van Manen, an attempt is made to represent a 4-dimensional globe graphically. There is a close and suggestive parallel between phenomena which could be produced by means of a three-dimensional object in a hypothetical world of two dimensions inhabited by a being conscious only of two dimensions, and many astral phenomena as they appear to us living in the physical or three-dimensional world. Thus: (1) Objects, by being lifted through ._Ie third dimension, could be made to appear in or disappear from the two-dimensional world at will. (2) An object completely surrounded by a line could be lifted out of the enclosed space through the third dimension. (3) By bending a two-dimensional world, represented by a sheet of paper, two distant points could be brought together, or even made to coincide, thus destroying the two-dimensional conception of distance. (4) A right-handed object could be turned over through the third dimension and made to re-appear as a left-handed object. (5) By looking down, from the third dimension, on to a two-dimensional object, every point of the THE FOURTH DIMENSION latter could be seen at once, and free from the distortion of perspective. To a being limited to a conception of two dimensions, the above would appear" miraculous," and completely incomprehensible. It is curious that precisely similar tricks can be and 0 S D Jl4. are constantly being played upon us, as is well known 11 S I 164. to spiritualists: (I) entities and objects appear and disappear: (2) "apports" of articles from great distances are made; (3) articles are removed from closed boxes: (4) space appears to be practically annihilated; (5) an object can be reversed, i.e., a right hand turned into a left hand: (6) all parts of an object, e.g., of a cube, are seen simultaneously .If P 19-111 and free from all distortion of perspective: similarly the whole of the matter of a closed book can be seen at once. The explanation of the welling-up of force, e.g., in C 17-18. Chakrams, apparently from nowhere, is of course that it comes from the fourth dimension. A liquid, poured on to a surface, tends to spread 0 5 D 122itself out in two dimensions, becoming very thin in the 12 3. third dimension. Similarly a gas tends to spread itself in three dimensions, and it may be that in so doing it becomes smaller in the fourth dimension: i.e., the density of a gas may be a measure of its relative thickness in the fourth dimension. It is clear that there is no need to stop at four dimensions: for all we know, there may be infinite dimensions of space. At any rate, it seems certain C 108. that the astral world is four-dimensional, the mental M 27· five-dimensional, and the buddhic six-dimensional. It should be clear that if there are, say, seven dimen- 1 L 11 JIBsions at all, there are seven dimensions always and ;;05 I 27. everywhere: i.e.• there is no such thing as a third or 0 S D 107. fourth-dimensional being. The apparent difference is due to the limited power of perception of the entity concerned, not to any change in the objects perceived. This idea is very well worked out in Tertium Organum by Ouspensky. THE ASTRAL BODY 1 L 11 121132. 1 L 11 12212 3. c 138-139. H S II 3.5l3.53· Nevertheless a man may develop astral consciousness and still be unable to perceive or appreciate the fourth dimension. In fact it is certain that the average man does not perceive the fourth dimension at all when he enters the astral plane. He realises it only as a certain blurring, and most men go through their astral lives without discovering the reality of the fourth dimension in the matter surrounding them. Entities, such as nature-spirits, which belong to the astral plane, have by nature the faculty of seeing the four-dimensional aspect of all objects, but even they do not see them perfectly, since they perceive only the astral matter in them and not the physical, just as we perceive the physical and not the astral. The passage of an object through another does not raise the question of the fourth dimension, but may be brought about by disintegration-a purely threedimensional method. Time is not in reality the fourth dimension at all: yet to regard the problem from the point of view of time is some slight. help towards understanding it. The passage of a cone through a sheet of paper would appear to an entity living on the sheet of paper as a circle altering in size: the entity would of course be incapable of perceiving all the stages of the circle as existing together as parts of one cone. Similarly for us the growth of a solid object viewed from the buddhic plane corresponds to the view of the cone as a whole, and thus throws some light on our own delusion of past, present and future, and on the faculty of prevision. The transcendental view of time is very well treated in C. H. Hinton's story Stella, which is included in Scientific Romances, Vol. II. There are also two interesting references to this conception in The Stefa Doctrine, Vol. I, page 69. and Vol. II, page 466. It is an interesting and significant observation that geometry as we have it now is but a fragment, an exoteric preparation for the esoteric reality. Having lost the true sense of space, the first step towards that knowledge is the cognition of the fourth dimension. THE FOURTH DIMENSION We may conceive the Monad at the beginning of its M 27-z8. evolution to be able to move and to see in infinite H S 12 7-28. dimensions, one of these being cut off at each downward step, until for the physical brain-consciousness only three are left. Thus by involution into matter we are cut off from the knowledge of all but a minute part of the worlds which surround us, and even what is left is but imperfectly seen. With four-dimensional sight it may be observed that 1 L 1 :Zl9the planets which are isolated in our three-dimensions ZlO. are four-dimensionally joined, these globes being in fact the points of petals which are part of one great Bower: hence the Hindu conception of the solar system as a lotus. There is also. vi4 a higher dimension, a direct con- 1 L 1 357nection between the heart of the sun and the centre 359· of the earth, so that elements appear in the earth without passing through what we call the surface. A study of the fourth dimension seems to lead the 0 S D 123way direct to mysticism. Thus C. H. Hinton con- 12+. stantly uses the phrase" casting out the self," pointing out that in order to appreciate a solid four-dimensionally it is necessary to regard it not from anyone point of view but from all points of view simultaneously: i.e., the" self .. or particular, isolated point of view must be transcended and replaced by the general and unselfish view. One is also reminded of the famous saying of St. Paul (Ephesians iii, 17-18): .. That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth. and length. and depth and height." CHAPTER XIX ASTRAL ENTITIES: HUMAN If P 29 : 63· To enumerate and describe every kind of astral entity would be a task as formidable as that of enumerating and describing every kind of physical entity. All we can attempt here is to tabulate the chief classes and give a very brief description of each. ASTRAL ENTITIES Human. Artificial. Non·Human. Physically Alive. Physically Dead. I. Ordinary Person I. Ordinary Person I. 2. Psychic 2. Shade 2. 3. Adept or his pupil 3. Shell Elemental Essence I. Astral Bodies of Animals 2. 7. Black Magician or his pupil 8.. Pu~l .awaitmg eincarnation 9. Nirmlnakaya Elementals formed consciously 3. Nature3. Human AI· Spirits tili.cials 4. Black Magi- 4. Vitalised 4. Devas cian or his Shell pupil S. Suicide and Victim of Sudden Death 6. Vampire and Werewolf Elcmentals formed unconsciously I ASTRAL ENTITIES: HUMAN rn order to make the classification quite complete, A P 64-6,5· it is necessary to state that, in addition to the above, very high Adepts from other planets of the solar system, and even more august Visitors from a still greater distance, occasionally appear, but although it is possible, it is almost inconceivable, that such Beings would ever manifest themselves on a plane as low as the astral. If they wished to do so they would create a temporary body of astral matter of this planet. Secondly, there are also two other great evolutions evolving on this planet, though it appears not to be intended that they or man should ordinarily be conscious of each other. If we did come into contact with them it would probably be physically, their connection with our astral plane being very slight. The only possibility of their appearance depends upon an extremely improbable accident in ceremonial magic, which only a few of the most advanced sorcerers know how to perform: nevertheless this has actually happened at least once. THE HUMAN CLASS. (a) Physically Alive. I. The Ordinary Person.-This class consists of A P "-3-4. persons, whose physical bodies are asleep, and who 1I0at about on the astral plane, in various degrees of consciousness, as already fully described in Chapter IX on Sleep Life. 2. The Psychic.-A psychically-developed person will A P 31. usually be perfectly conscious when out of the physical body, but, for want of proper training, he is liable to be deceived as to what he sees. Often he may be able to range through all the astral sub-planes, but sometimes he is especially attracted to some one sub-plane, and rarely travels beyond its influences. His recollection of what he has seen may of course vary from perfect clearness to utter distortion or black oblivion. As he is assumed not to be under the guidance of a Master, he will appear always in his astral body, since he does not know how to function in his mental vehicle. 3. The Adept and His pupils.-Thii class usually A P 2930. 168 THE ASTRAL BODY employs, not the astral body, but the mind body, which is composed of matter of the four lower levels of the mental plane. The advantage of this vehicle is that it permits of instant passage from the mental to the astral and back, and also allows of the use at all times of the greater power and keener sense of its own plane. The mind body not being visible to astral sight, the pupil who works in it learns to gather round himself a temporary veil of astral matter, when he wishes to become perceptible to astral entities. Such a vehicle, though an exact reproduction of the man in appearance, contains none of the matter of his own astral body, but corresponds to it in the same way as a materialisation corresponds to a physical body. At an earlier stage of his development, the pupil may be found functioning in his astral body like anyone else: but, whichever vehicle he is employing, a pupil under a competent teacher is always fully conscious and can function easily upon all the sub-planes. 4. The Black Magician and his pupils.-This class corresponds somewhat to that of the Adept and His pupils, except that the development has been for evil instead of good, the powers acquired being used for selfish instead of for altruistic purposes. Among its lower ranks are those who practise the rites of the Obeah and Voodoo schools, and the medicine-men of various tribes. Higher in intellect, and therefore more blameworthy, are the Tibetan black magicians. THE HUMAN CLAss. (b) Physically Dead. I. The Ordinary Person after Death.-This class, obviously a very large one, consists of all grades of persons, in varying conditions of consciousness, as already fully described in Chapters XII to XV on After-Death Life. 2. The Shade.-In Chapter XXIII we shall see that when the astral life of a person is over, he dies on the astral plane and leaves behind him his disintegrating astral body, precisely as when he dies physically he leaves behind him a decaying physical corpse, I6g ASTRAL ENTITIES: HUMAN In most cases the higher ego is unable to withdraw from his lower principles the whole of his manasic (mental) principle: consequently, a portion of his lower mental matter remains entangled with the astral corpse. The portion of mental matter thus remaining behind consists of the grosser kinds of each sub-plane, which the astral body has succeeded in wrenching from the mental body. This astral corpse, known as a Shade, is an entity which is not in any sense the real individual at all: nevertheless it bears his exact personal appearance, possesses his memory, and all his little idiosyncrasies. It may therefore very readily be mistaken for him, as indeed it frequently is at s4ances. It is not conscious of any act of impersonation, for as far as its intellect goes it must necessarily suppose itself to be the individual: it is in reality merely a soulless bundle of all his lowest qualities. The length of life of a shade varies according to the amount of the lower mental matter which animates it : but as this is steadily fading out. its intellect is a diminishing quantity, though it may possess a great deal of a certain sort of animal cunning, and even quite towards the end of its career it is still able to communicate by borrowing temporary intelligence from the medium. From its very nature it is exceedingly liable to be swayed by all kinds of evil influences, and, being separated from its higher ego, it has nothing in its constitution capable of responding to good ones. It therefore lends itself readily to various minor purposes of some of the baser sort of black magicians. The mental matter it possesses gradually disintegrates and returns to the general matter of its own plane. 3. The SheU.-A shell is a man's astral corpse in the A P .5 2-.53later stages of its disintegration, every particle of mind ~ ~~~. having left it. It is consequently without any sort 137· of consciousness or intelligence, and drifts passively T B 86. about upon the astral currents. Even yet it may be galvanised for a few moments into a ghastly burlesque of life if it happens to come within reach of a medium's tv 170 THE ASTRAL BODY aura. Under such circumstances it will still exactly resemble its departed personality in appearance and may even reproduce to some extent his familiar expressions or handwriting. It has also the quality of being still blindly responsive to such vibrations, usually of the lowest order, as were frequently set up in it during its last stage of existence as a shade. .4 p .54-.55· 4. The Vitalised SheU.-This entity is not, strictly speaking, human: nevertheless, it is classified here because its outer vesture, the passive, senseless shell, was once an appanage of humanity. Such life, intelligence, desire, and will as it may possess are those of the artificial elemental (see page 45) animating it, this elemental being itself a creation of man's evil thought. A vitalised shell is always malevolent: it is a true tempting demon, whose evil influence is limited only by the extent of its power. Like the shade, it is frequently used in Voodoo and Obeah forms of magic. It is referred to by some writers as an elementary." ~ p .5.5-.57· 5. The Suicide and Viaim of Sudden Death.-These have already been described in Chapter XV on A.fte1Death Life. It may be noted that this class, as well as Shades and Vitalised Shells, are what may be called minor vampires, because when they have an opportunity they prolong their existence by draining away the vitality from human beings whom they are able to influence. ~ p 57-60. 6. The Vampi,e and Werewolf.-These two classes are to-day extremely rare; examples are occasionally found. It is just possible for a man to live such a degraded, selfish and brutal life that the whole of the lower mind becomes immeshed in his desires and finally separates from the higher ego. This is possible only where every gleam of unselfishness or spirituality has been stified, and where there is no redeeming feature whatever. Such a lost entity very soon after death finds himself unable to stay in the astral world, and is irresistibly If ASTRAL ENTITIES: HUMAN drawn in full consciousness into" his own place," the mysterious eighth sphere, there slowly to disintegrate after experiences best left undescribed. If, however, be perishes by suicide or sudden death, he may under certain circumstances. especially if he knows something of black magic, bold himself back from that fate by the ghastly existence of a vampire. Since the eighth sphere cannot claim him until after the death of the body, he preserves it in a kind of cataleptic trance by transfusing into it blood drawn from other human beings by his semi-materialised astral body, thus postponing his final destiny by the commission of wholesale murder. The most effective remedy in such a case, as popular "superstition" rightly supposes, is to cremate the body, thus depriving the entity of his point d'appui. When the grave is opened, the body usually appears quite fresh and healthy, and the coffin is not unusually filled with blood. Cremation obviously makes this sort of vampirism impossible. The Werewolf can first manifest only during a man's A P physical life, and it invariably implies some knowledge of magical arts-sufficient at any rate to enable him to project the astral body. When a perfectly cruel and brutal man does this, under certain circumstances the astral body may be seized upon by other astral entities and materialised, not into the human form, but into that of some wild animal, usually the wolf. In that condition it will range the surrounding country, killing other animals, and even human beings, thus satisfying Dot only its own craviDg for blood, but also that of the flends who drive it on. In this case, as so often with ordinary materialisations, a wound inflicted upon the astral form will be reproduced upon the human physical body by the curious phenomenon of repercussion (see page 24I). But after the death of the physical body, the astral body, which will probably continue to appear in the same form, will be less vulnerable. 60- 61. THE ASTRAL BODY ~ P 61-6.1. It will then, however, be also less dangerous, as unless it can find a suitable medium, it will be unable to materialise fully. In such manifestations, there is probably a great deal of the matter of the etheric double, and perhaps even some of liquid and gaseous constituents of the physical body, as in the case of some materialisations. In both cases this fluidic body seems able to pass to much greater distances from the physical than is otherwise possible, so far as is known, for a vehicle containing etheric matter. The manifestations of both vampires and werewolves are usually restricted to the immediate neighbourhood of their physical bodies. 7. The Black Magician and his Pup-it.-This class corresponds, mutatis mutandis, to the pupil awaiting reincarnation, but in this case the man is defying the natural process of evolution by maintaining himself in astral life by magical arts-sometimes of the most horrible nature. It is considered undesirable to enumerate or describe the various sub-divisions of this class, as an occult student wishes only to avoid them. All these entities, who prolong their life thus on the astral plane beyond its natural limit, do so at the expense of others and by the absorption of their life in some form or another. 8. T1Je Pupil awaiting Reincarnation.-This is also at present a rare class. A pupil who has decided not to "take his devachan," •.e., not to pass into the heaven-world, but to continue to work on the physical plane, is sometimes, by permission only of a very high authority, allowed to do so, a suitable reincarnation being arranged for him by his Master. Even when permission is granted, it is said that the pupil must confine himself strictly to the astral plane while the matter is being arranged, because if he touched the mental plane even for a moment he might be swept as by an irresistible current into the line of normal evolution again and so pass into the heaven-world. Occasionally, though rarely, the pupil may be placed directly in an adult body whose previous tenant ASTRAL ENTITIES: HUMAN 173 has no further use for it: but it is seldom that a suitable body is available. Meanwhile the pupil is of course fully conscious on the astral plane and able to go on with the work given to him by his Master, even more effectively than when hampered by a physical body. 9. The Nirmanakaya.-It is very rarely indeed that ..4 P 36• a being so exalted as a NirmAnakaya manifests himself ~/ I 480on the astral plane. A Nirm!nakaya is one who, having 1L 1 , 6. won the right to untold ages of rest in bliss unspeakable, M P 237 yet has chosen to remain within touch of earth, suspended as it were between this world and Nirvana, in order to generate streams of spiritual force which may be employed for the helping of evolution. If He wished to appear on the astral plane he would probably create for himself a temporary astral body from the atomic matter of the plane. This is possible because a NirmAnakaya retains His causal body, and also the permanent atoms which He has carried all through His evolution, so that at any moment He can materialise round them mental, astral or physical bodies, if He so desires. CHAPTER XX ASTRAL ENTITIES: NON-HUMAN A P"5. A P 70-71. A P 65. A P 66-67. I. Elemental Essence.-The word" elemental" has been used by various writers to mean many different kinds of entities. It is here employed to denote, during certain stages of its existence, monadic essence, which in its turn may be defined as the outpouring of spirit or divine force into matter. It is most important that the student should realise that the evolution of this elemental essence is taking place on the downward curve of the are, as it is often called: i.e., it is progressing towards the complete entanglement in matter which we see in the mineral kingdom, instead of away from it: consequently for it progress means descent into matter instead of ascent towards higher planes. Before the .. outpouring" arrives at the stage of individualisation at which it ensouls man, it has already passed through and ensouled six earlier phases of evolution, viz., the first elemental kingdom (on the higher mental plane), the second elemental kingdom (on the lower mental plane), the third elemental kingdom (on the astral plane), the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms. It has sometimes been called the animal, vegetable or mineral monad, though this is distinctly misleading, as long before it arrives at any of these kingdoms it has become not one but many monads. We are here dealing, of course, only with the astral elemental essence. This essence consists of the divine outpouring which has already veiled itself in matter down to the atomic level of the mental plane, and then plunged down directly into the astral plane, aggregating round itself a body of atomic astral matter ASTRAL ENTITIES: NON-HUMAN 175 Such a combination is the elemental essence of the astral plane, belonging to the third elemental kingdom, the one immediately preceding the mineral. In the course of its 2,401 differentiations on the A P 67. astral plane, it draws to itself many and various combinations of the matter of the various sub-planes. Nevertheless these are only temporary, and it still remains essentially one kingdom. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an elemental in connection with the group we are considering. What we find is a vast store of elemental essence, wonderfully sensitive to the most fleeting human thought, responding with inconceivable delicacy, in an infinitesimal fraction of a second, to a vibration set up in it by an entirely unconscious exercise of human will or desire. But the moment that by the influence of such thought or will it is moulded into a living force, it becomes an elemental, and belongs to the .. artificial" class, to which we shall come in our next chapter. Even then its separate existence is usually evanescent, for as soon as its impulse has worked itself out, it sinks back into the undifferentiated mass of elemental essence from which it came. A visitor to the astral world will inevitably be C H. impressed by the protean forms of the ceaseless tide of elemental essence, ever swirling around him, menacing often, yet always retiring before a determined effort of the will; and he will marvel at the enormous army of entities temporarily called out of this ocean into separate existence by the thoughts and feelings of man, whether good or evil. Broadly, the elemental essence may be classified A P 6S- lg. according to the kind of matter it inhabits: i.e., solid, liquid, gaseous, etc. These are the .. elementals" of the medieval alchemists. They held, correctly, that an "elemental," i.e., a portion of the appropriate living elemental essence, inhered in each" element," or constituent part, of every physical substance. Each of these seven main classes of elemental 176 .If p ~70. A p 71, THE ASTRAL BODY essence may also be sub-divided into seven sub-divisions, making 49 sub-divisions. In addition to, and quite separate from, these horizontal divisions, there are also seven perfectly distinct types of elemental essence, the difference between them having nothing to do with degree of materiality, but rather with character and affinities. The student will be familiar with this classification as the ~' perpendicular" one, having to do with the seven " rays." There are also seven sub-divisions in each ray-type, making 49 perpendicular sub-divisions: The total number of kinds of elemental essence is thus 49 x49 or 2,4 0 1 • The perpendicular division is clearly far more permanent and fundamental than the horizontal division: for the elemental essence in the slow course of evolution passes through the various horizontal classes in succession, but remains in its own perpendicular sub-division all the way through. When any portion of the elemental essence remains for a few moments entirely unaffected by any outside inBuence-a condition hardly ever realised-it has no definite form of its own: but on the slightest disturbance it Bashes into a bewildering confusion of restless, ever-changing shapes, which form, rush about, and disappear with the rapidity of the bubbles on the surface of boiling water. These evanescent shapes, though generally those of living creatures of some sort, human or otherwise, no more express the existence of separate entities in the essence than do the equally changeful and multiform waves raised in a few moments on a previously smooth lake by a sudden squall. They seem to be mere reflections from the vast storehouse of the astral light, yet they have usually a certain appropriateness to the character of the thought-stream which calls them into existence, though nearly always with some grotesque distortion, some terrifying or unpleasant aspect about them. ASTRAL ENTITIES: NON-HUMAN When the elemental essence is thrown into shapes d P 7:1· appropriate to the stream of half-conscious, involuntary thoughts which the majority of men allow to Bow idly through their brains. the intelligence which selects the appropriate shape is clearly not derived from the mind of the thinker: neither can it derive from the elemental essence itself. for this belongs to a kingdom further from individualisation even than the- mineral. entirely devoid of awakened mental power. Nevertheless. the essence possesses a marvellous adaptability which often seems to come very near to intelligence: it is no doubt this property that caused elementals to be spoken of in early books as .. the semiintelligent creatures of the astral light." The elemental kingdoms proper do not admit of such conceptions as good or evil. Nevertheless there is a sort of bias or tendency permeating nearly all their sub-divisions which renders them hostile rather than friendly towards man. Hence the usual experience of the neophyte on the astral plane, where vast hosts of protean spectres advance threateningly upon him, but always retire or dissipate harmlessly when boldly faced. As stated by medieval writers. this bias or tendency is d P 73due entirely to man's own fault, and is caused by his ~ ~ 66 indifference to, and want of sympathy with, other living beings. In the .. golden age " of the past it was not so. any more than it will be so in the future when, owing to the changed attitude of man. both the elemental essence and also the animal kingdom will once again become docile and helpful to man instead of the reverse. It is thus clear that the elemental kingdom as a whole is very much what the collective thought of humanity makes it. There are many uses to which the forces inherent d P 74. in the manifold varieties of the elemental essence can be put by one trained in their management. The vast majority of magical ceremonies depend almost entirely upon its manipulation, either directly by the will of the magician, or by some more definite astral entity evoked by him for the purpose. p1 THE ASTRAL BODY By its means nearly all the physical phenomena of the sea1U:e room are produced, and it is also the agent in most cases of stone-throwing or bell-ringing in A p lob- haunted houses, these latter being the results of 10 7. blundering efforts to attract attention made by some earth-bound human entity, or by the mere mischievous pranks of some of the minor nature-spirits belonging to our third class (see p. 181). But the" elemental .. must never be thought of as a prime mover: it is simply a latent force, which needs an external power to set it in motion. A P ;6. 2. The Astral Bodies of Animals.-This is an :~. v 1 42 - extremely large class, yet it does not occupy a particularly important position on the astral plane, since its members usually stay there but a very short time. The vast majority of animals have not as yet permanently individualised, and when one of them dies, the monadic essence which has been manifesting through it flows back again into the group-soul whence it came, bearing with it such advancement or experience as has been attained during earth life. It is not, however, able to do this immediately; the astral body of the animal rearranges itself just as in man's case, and the animal has a real existence on the astral plane, the 1.ength of which, though never great. varies according o the intelligence which it has developed. In most cases it does not seem to be more than dreamily conscious, but appears perfectly happy. The comparatively few domestic animals who have already attained individuality, and will therefore be re-born no more as animals in this world, have a much longer and more vivid life on the astral plane than their less advanced fellows. tt: 11 44. Such an individualised animal usually remains near his earthly home and in close touch with his especial friend and protector. This period will be followed by a still happier period of what has been called dozing consciousness, which will last until in some future world the human form is assumed. During all that time he is in a condition analogous to that of a human 7' : ASTRAL ENTITIES: NON-HUMAN 179 being in the heaven-world, though at a somewhat lower level. One interesting sub-division of this class consists of A P 76. the astral bodies of those anthropoid apes mentioned in The Secret Doct,ine (Vol. I, p. 184) who are already individualised, and will be ready to take human incarnation in the next round, or perhaps some of them even sooner. In .. civilised" countries these animal astral bodies .of W 90""91 add much to the general feeling of hostility on the astral plane. for the organised butchery of animals in slaughter-houses and for .. sport .. sends millions into the astral world, full of horror, terror and shrinking from man. Of late years these feelings have been much intensified by the practice of vivisection. 3. Natu,e-Spi,its of all Kinds.-This class is so large .of P 76-77. and so varied that it is possible here to give only some idea of the characteristics common to all of them. The nature-spirits belong to an evoiution quite distinct from our own: they neither have been nor ever will be members of a humanity such as ours. Their only connection with us is that we temporarily occupy the same planet. They appear to correspond to the animals of a higher evolution. They are divided into seven great classes, inhabiting the same seven states of matter permeated by the corresponding varieties of elemental essence. Thus, there are nature- .of P 78. .spiri~s of the earth, water, air, fire {or ether)-deJinite, mtelligent astral entities residing and functioning in T B 8~. . each of those media. Only the members of the air class normally reside in the astral world, but their numbers are so prodigious that they are everywhere present in it. In medizvalliterature earth-spirits are often called gnomes, water-spirits undines, air-spirits sylphs, and ether-spirits salamanders. In popular language they have been variously called fairies, pixies, elves, brownies, peris, djinns, trolls, satyrs, fauns, kobolds, imps, goblins, good people, etc. Their forms are many and various, but most fre- j t::;. ISo THE ASTRAL BODY quently human in shape and somewhat diminutive in Like almost all astral entities they are able to assume any appearance at will, though they undoubtedly have favourite forms which they wear when they have no special object in taking any other. Usually they are invisible to physical sight, but they have the power of making themselves visible by materialisation when they wish to be seen. At the head of each of these classes is a great Being, the directing and guiding intelligence of the whole department of nature which is administered and energised by the class of entities under his control. These are known by the Hindus as (I) Ind"(I, lord of the Alcasha, or ether: (2) Ag"i, lord of me : (3) P(lf)(I,"" lord of air: (4) Va,.u,"" lord of water: (5) Kshiti, lord of earth. The vast kingdom of nature-spirits, as stated above, is in the main an astral kingdom, though a large section of it appertains to the etheric levels of the physical plane. ~. There is an immense number of sub-divisions or H s 141~3_ races among them, individuals varying in intelligence ~4~ 0 and disposition just as human beings do. Most of Ion: 198- them avoid man altogether: his habits and emanations are distasteful to them, and the constant rush of astral currents set up by his restless, ill-regulated desires disturbs and annoys them. Occasionally,however, they will make friends with human beings and even help them. The helpful attitude is rare: in most cases they exhibit either indifference or dislike, or take an impish delight in deceiving and tricking men. Many instances of this may be found in lonely mountainous districts and in the SNffU room. They are greatly assisted in their tricks by the wonderful power of glamour they possess, so that their victims see and hear only what these fairies impress '!pon them, exactly as with mesmerised subjects. The nature-spirits, however, cannot dominate the human will, except in the case of very weakminded people, or of those who allow terror to paralyse size. t: ASTRAL ENTITIES: NON-HUMAN 181 their will. They can deceive the senses only, and they have been known to cast their glamour over a considerable number of people at the same time. Some of the most wonderful feats of Indian jugglers are perlonned by invoking their aid in producing collective hallucination. They seem usually to have little sense of responsi- 5 G 0 I " , bility, and the will is generally less developed than in the average man. They can, therefore, readily be dominated mesmerically and employed to carry out the will of the magician. They may be utilised for many purposes, and will carry out tasks within their power faithfully and surely. They are also responsible, in certain mountainous A P 107. regions, for throwing a glamour over a belated traveller, H I 14,.. so that he sees, for example,' houses and people where 14 he knows none really exist. These delusions are frequently not merely momentary, but may be maintained for quite a considerable time, the man going through -quite a long series of imaginary but striking adventures and then suddenly finding that all his brilliant surroundings have vanished, and that he is left standing in a lonely valley or on a wind-swept plain. In order to cultivate their acquaintance and friend- H S 11 324ship, a man must be free from physical emanations 326• which they detest, such as those of meat, alcohol. tobacco, and general uncleanliness, as well as from lust, anger, envy, jealousy, avarice and depression, i.«, he must be clean and unobjectionable both physically and astrally. High and pure feelings which bum steadily and without wild surgings create an atmosphere in which nature-spirits delight to bathe. Almost all nature-spirits delight also in music: they may even enter a house in order to enjoy it, bathing in the sound-waves, pulsating and swaying in harmony with them. To nature-spirits must also be attributed a large A P 107portion of what are called physical phenomeua at ;"08 P~4I spiritualistic slanus: indeed, many a stance has been 149. t S THE ASTRAL BODY H S 1162163. H S 1139. given entirely by these mischievous creatures. They are capable of answering questions,deliveringpretended messages by raps or tilts, exhibiting .. spirit" lights, the appon of objects from a distance, the reading of thoughts in the mind of any person present, the precipitation of writingor drawings, and even 1l".aterialisations. They could, of course, also employ their power of glamour to supplement their other tricks. They may not in the least mean to harm or deceive, but naIvely rejoice in their success in playing their part. and in the awe-stricken devotion and affection lavished upon them as .. dear spirits" and .. angelhelpers." They share the delight of the sitters and feel themselves to be doing a good work in thus comforting the afBicted. They will also sometimes masquerade in thoughtforms that men have made, and think it a great joke to flourish horns, to lash a forked tail, and to breathe out flame as they rush about. Occasionally an impressionable child may be terrified by such appearances. but in fairness to the nature-spirit it must be remembered that he himself is incapable of fear and so does not understand the gravity of the result, probably thinking that the child's terror is simulated and a part of the game. None of the nature-spirits possess a permanent reincarnating individuality. It seems, therefore, that in their evolution a much greater proportion of intelligence is developed before individualisation takes place. The life periods of the various classes vary greatly, some being quite short, others much longer than our human lifetime. Their existence on the whole appears to be simple, joyous, irresponsible, such as a party of happy children might lead among exceptionally favourable physical surroundings. There is no sex among nature-spirits. there is no disease, and there is no struggle for existence. They have keen affections and can form close and lasting friendships. Jealousy and anger are possible to them, but seem quickly to fade away before the overwhelming ASTRAL ENTITIES: NON-HUMAN delight in all the operations of nature which is their most prominent characteristic. Their bodies have no internal structure, so that they cannot be torn asunder or injured, neither has heat or cold any effect upon them. They appear to be entirely free from fear. Though tricky and mischievous, they are rarely malicious, unless definitely provoked. As a body they distrust man, and generally resent the appearance of a newcomer on the astral plane, so that he usually meets them in an unpleasant or terrifying fonn. If, however, he declines to be frightened by them they soon accept him as a necessary evil and take no further notice of him, while some may even become friendly. One of their keenest delights is to play with and to entertain in a hundred different ways children on the astral plane who are what we call " dead." Some of the less childlike and more dignified have sometimes been reverenced as wood-gods or local village gods. These would appreciate the flattery paid them, and would no doubt be willing to do any small service they could in return. The Adept knows how to use the services of the nature-spirits, and frequently entrusts them with pieces of work, but the ordinary magician can do so only by invocation, that is, by attracting their attention as a suppliant and making some kind of a bargain with them, or by evocation, that is, by compelling their obedience. Both methods are extremely undesirable: evocation is also exceedingly dangerous, as the operator would arouse a hostility which might prove fatal to him. No pupil of a Master would ever be permitted to attempt anything of the kind. The highest type of nature-spirits consists of the sylphs or the spirits of the air, which have the astral body as their lowest vehicle. They have intelligence equal to that of the average man. The normal method for them to attain to individualisation is to associate with and love the members of the next stage above 'Ilem-cne astra/ angels. ]J S I '41. A P 81. 11 S 1 I"J. A P 81. 8H oS J 15 100. 11 S 1 156 ISd. 184 THE ASTRAL BODY 1 L 1 4 80• A nature-spirit who desires experience of human 11S 1150. life may obsess a person Jiving in the physical world. There have been times when a certain class of nature-spirits have physically materialised themselves and 51) entered into undesirable relationships with men and women. Perhaps from this fact have come the stories of fauns and satyrs, though these sometimes also refer to quite a dif(erent sub-human evolution. H S I 168In passing, it is worth noting that although the 169kingdom of the nature-spirits is radically dissimilar from the human-being without sex, fear, or the struggle for existence-yet the eventual result of its unfoldment is in every respect equal to that attained by humanity. .If P 82-83. 4. TItI DIII4S.-The beings called by the Hindus devas are elsewhere spoken of as angels, sons of God, etc. They belong to an evolution distinct from that of humanity, an evolution in which they may be regarded as a kingdom next above humanity. In Oriental literature the word deva is also used vaguely to mean any kind of non-human entity. It is used here in the restricted sense stated above. 1 L II They will never be human, because most of them are already beyond that stage, but there are some of them who have been human beings in the past. 1 t: II 246The bodies of devas are more fluidic than those of 253· men, the texture of the aura being, so to speak, looser; they are capable of far greater expansion and contraction, and have a certain fiery quality which is clearly distinguishable from that of an ordinary human being. The fonn inside the aura of a deva, which is nearly always a human form, is much less defined than in a man: the deva lives more in the circumference, more all over his aura than a man does. Devas usually appear as human beings of gigantic size. They have a colour language, which is probably not as definite as our speech, though in certain ways it may express more. Devas are often near at hand and willing to expound and exemplify subjects along their own line to any human being sufficiently developed to appreciate them. 2"', ASTRAL ENTITIES: NON-HUMAN Though connected with the earth, the devas evolve .. P 83. through a grand system of seven chains, the whole of our seven worlds being as one world to them. Very few of our humanity have reached the level at which it is possible to join the deva evolution. Most of the recruits of the deva kingdom have been derived from other humanities in the solar system, some lower and some higher than ours. The object of the deva evolution is to raise their .. P 8,.. foremost rank to a much higher level than that intended for humanity in the corresponding period. The three lower great divisions of the devas are: .. P 84-85. (I) K!madevas, whose lowest body is the astral: 1 L 11 245· (2) Rtipadevas, whose lowest body is the lower mental: (3) Artipadevas, whose lowest body is the higher mental or causal. For Rtipadevas and Artipadevas to manifest on the astral plane is at least as rare as for an astral entity to materialise on the physical plane. Above these classes are four other great divisions, and above and beyond the deva kingdom are the-great hosts of the Planetary Spirits. We are concerned here principally with the K~ma· .. P 115. devas. The general average among them is much higher than among us. for all that is definitely evil has long ago been eliminated from them. They differ widely in disposition. and a really spiritual man may well stand higher in evolution than some of them. Their attention can be attracted by certain magical evocations. but the only human will which can dominate theirs is that of a certain high class of Adepts. As a rule they seem scarcely conscious of our physical world. though occasionally one of them may render assistance. much as any of us would help an animal in trouble. They understand. however. that at the present stage, any interference with human affairs is likely to do far more harm than good. It is desirable to mention here the four Deva,etjas, .. " 85-86. though they do not strictly belong to any of our classes. These four have passed through an evolution which 186 THE ASTRAL BODY is certainly not anything corresponding to our humanity. They are spoken of as the Regents of the Earth, the Angels of the four Cardinal Points, or the Cbatur MaMnljas. They rule, not over devas, but over the four .. elements" of earth, water, air and fire, with their indwelling nature-spirits and essences. Other items of information concerning them are for convenience tabulated below :Name Appropriate Point of Compass Elemental Hosts Symbolical Colour Dhritarashtra East Gandharvaa White Virlldhaka South Kumbhandas Blue VirQpaksha West NAgas Red Va.ishrlvana North Yakshas Gold The Secret Doctrine mentions them as .. winged globes and fiery wheels," and in the Christian Bible Ezekiel attempts to describe them in very similar words, Ref-rences to them are made in the symbology of every religion, and they are always held in the highest reverence as the protectors of mankind. They are the agents of man's Kanna during his earth life. and they thus play an extremely important part in human destiny. The great Karmic deities of the Kosmos, the Lipika, weigh the deeds of each personality when the final separation of the principles takes place at the end of its astral life, and give as it were the mould of an etheric double exactly suitable to its Karma for the man's next birth. But it is the Devarajas, who, having command of the" elements" of which that etheric double must be composed,arrange their proportion so as to fulfil accurately the intention of the Lipika. All through life they constantly counterbalance the changes introduced into man's condition by his own ASTRAL ENTITIES: NON-HUMAN free will and that of those around him, so that Karma may be accurately and justly worked out. A learned dissertation on these beings will be found in The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, pp. 122-126. They are able to take human material forms at will, and cases are recorded where they have done so. All the higher nature-spirits and hosts of artificial elementals act as their agents in their stupendous work: but all the threads are in their own hands and they assume the whole responsibility. They seldom manifest on the astral plane, but when they do they are certainly the most remarkable of its non-human inhabitants. There must really be seven, not four, Devari.jas, but outside the circle of Initiation little is known and less may be said concerning the higher three. CHAPTER XXI ASTRAL ENTITIES: ARTIFICIAL A P 87, THE artificial entities iotm the largest class and are also much the most important to man. They consist of an enonnous inchoate mass of semi-intelligent entities. differing among themselves as human thoughts differ, and practically incapable of detailed classification and arrangement. Being entirely man's own creation, they are related to him by close karmic bonds, and their action upon him is direct and incessant. A P 88. r, Elementals f01me4 Unconsciously.-The way in which these desire- and thought-forms are called into being has already been described in Chapter VII. The desire and thought of a man seize upon the plastic elemental essence and mould it instantly into a living being of appropriate form. The form is in no way under the control of its creator, but lives out a life of its own, the length of which is proportional to the intensity of the thought which created it, and which may be anything from a few minutes to many days. For further particulars the student is referred back to Chapter VII. A p 95 96. 2. Elementals f01med Consciously.-It is clear that e1ementals formed. consciously, by those who are acting deliberately and know precisely what they are doing, may be enormously more powerful than those formed unconsciously. Occultists of both white and dark schools frequently use artificial elementals in their work, and few tasks are beyond the powen of such creatures when scientifically prepared and directed with knowledge and skill. One who knows how to do so can maintain a connection with his elemental and guide it, so that it will act practically as though endowed with the full intelligence of its master. IBg ASTRAL ENTITIES: ARTIFICIAL It is unnecessary to repeat here descriptions of this class of elemental, which have already been given in Chapter VII. 3. Human Arlificials.-This is a very peculiar class, A containing but few individuals, but possessing an importance quite out of proportion to its numbers, owing to its intimate connection with the spiritualistic movement. In order to explain its genesis it is necessary to go A back to ancient Atlantis. Among the lodges for occult study, preliminary to Initiation, formed by Adepts of the Good Law, there is one which still observes the same old-world ritual, and teaches the same Atlantean tongue as a sacred and hidden language, as in the days of Atlantis. The teachers in this lodge do not stand at the Adept A level, and the lodge is not directly a part of the Brotherhood of the Himalayas, though there are some of the Himalayan Adepts who were connected with it in former incarnations. About the middle of the nineteenth century, the chiefs 'of this lodge, in despair at the rampant materialism of Europe and America, determined to combat it by novel methods, and to offer opportunities by which any reasonable man could acquire proof of a life apart from the physical body. The movement thus set on foot grew into the vast fabric of modem spiritualism, numbering its adherents by millions. Whatever other results may have followed, it is unquestionable that by means of spiritualism vast numbers of people have acquired a belief in at any rate some kind of future life. This A is a magnificent achievement, though some think that it has been attained at too great a cost. The method adopted was to take some ordinary person after death, arouse him thoroughly upon the astral plane, instruct him to a certain extent in the powers and possibilities belonging to it, and then put him in charge of a spiritualistic circle. He in his turn If developed " other departed personalities along P 98. P w· P 100. P 101. 190 THE ASTRAL BODY the same lines, they all acted upon those who sat at their seances, and .. developed them as mediums. The leaders of the movement no doubt occasionally manifested themselves in astral form at the circles, but in most cases they merely directed and guided as they considered necessary. There is little doubt that the movement increased so much that it soon got quite beyond their control; for many of the later developments, therefore, they can be held onlyindirectly responsible. The intensification of the astral life of the" controls who were put in charge of circles distihctly delayed their natural progress, and although it was thought that full compensation for such loss would result from the good karma of leading others to truth, it was soon found that it was impossible to make use of a .. spiritguide for any length of time without doing him serious and permanent injury. In some cases such .. guides were withdrawn, and others substituted for them. In others, however, it was considered undesirable to make such a change, and then a remarkable expedient was adopted which gave rise to the curious class of creatures we have called .. human artificials. The higher principles of the original .. guide were allowed to pass on to their long-delayed evolution into the heaven-world, but the shade (see p. 170) which he left behind was taken possession of, sustained, and operated upon so that it might appear to the circle practically just as before. At first this seems to have been done by members of the lodge, but eventually it was decided that the departed person who would have been appointed to succeed the late .. spirit-guide should still do so, but should take possession of the latter's shade or shell, and, in fact, simply wear his appearance. This is what is termed a .. human artificial entity. In some cases more than one change seems to have been made without arousing suspicion, but, on the other hand, some investigators of spiritualism have II II II II II A P 103. II II II ASTRAL ENTITIES: ARTIFICIAL observed that after a considerable time differences suddenly appeared in the manner and disposition of a" spirit." None of the members of the Himalayan Brotherhood have ever undertaken the formation of an artificial entity of this sort, though they could not interfere with anyone who thought it right to take such a course. Apart from the deception involved, a weak point in the arrangement is that others besides the original lodge may adopt the plan, and there is nothing to .4 P 103. prevent black magicians from supplying communicating spirits, as, indeed, they have been known to do. CHAPTER XXII SPIRITUALISM THE term "spiritualism" is used nowadays to denote communication of many different kinds with the astral world by means of a medium, The origin and history of the spiritualistic movement have already been described in Chapter XXI. The etheric mechanism which makes spiritualistic phenomena possible has been fully described in Till Etheric DO'Uble, to which work the student is referred. There remains now for us to consider the value, if any, of this method of communicating with the unseen world, and the nature of the sources from which the communications may come. I L 13090 In the early days of the Theosophical Society, H. P. Blavatsky wrote with considerable vehemence on the subject of spiritualism, and laid great stress on the uncertainty I f the whole thing, and the preponderance of personations over real appearances. A • P. There seems little doubt that these views have largely coloured and determined the unfavourable attitude which most members of the Theosophical Society take towards spiritualism as a whole. 1 L I 109Bishop Leadbeater, on the other hand, affirms that .10. his own personal experience has been more. favourable. He spent some years experimenting with spiritualism, and believes that he has himself repeatedly seen practically all the phenomena which may be read about in the literature of the subject. In his experience, he found that a distinct majority of the apparitions were genuine. The messages they give are often uninteresting, and their religious teaching he describes as being usually .. Christianity and water": nevertheless, as far as SPIRITUALISM 193 it goes, it is liberal, and in advance of the bigoted orthodox position. Bishop Leadbeater points out that Spiritualists and 1 L 1 208Theosophists have much important ground in common, ~~ D 399'.g., (I) that life after death is an actual, vivid, ever- 40 1 • present certainty; and (2) that eternal progress and ultimate happiness, for every one, good and bad alike, is also a certainty. These two items are of such tremendous and paramount importance, constituting as they do so enormous an advance from the ordinary orthodox position, that it seems somewhat regrettable that Spiritualists and Theosophists cannot join hands on these broad issues and agree, for the present, to differ upon minor points, until at least the world at large is converted to that much of the truth. In this work there is ample room for the two bodies of seekers after truth. Those who wish to see phenomena, and those who cannot believe anything without ocular demonstration, will naturally gravitate towards spiritualism. On the other hand, those who want more philosophy than spiritualism usually provides, will naturally tum to Theosophy. Both movements thus cater for the liberal and open-minded, but for quite different types of them. Meanwhile, harmony and agreement between the two movements seems desirable, in view of the great ends at stake. It must be said to the credit of spiritualism that it A P 100has achieved its purpose to the extent of converting 101. vast numbers of people from a belief in nothing in particular to a firm faith in at any rate some kind of future life. This, as we said in the last chapter, is undoubtedly a magnificent result, though there are those who think that it has been attained at too great a cost. There is undoubtedly danger in spiritualism for s P 77. emotional, nervous and easily influenced natures, and it is advisable not to carry the investigations too far, for reasons which by now must be apparent to the student. But there is no readier way of breaking THE ASTRAL BODY 194 down the unbelief in anything outside the physical plane than trying a few experiments, and it is perhaps worth while to run some risk in order to effect this. LAD 3-+. Bishop Leadbeater fearlessly asserts that, in spite os D of the fraud and deception which undoubtedly have occurred in some instances, there are great truths behind spiritualism which may be discovered by anyone willing to devote the necessary time and patience to their investigation. There is, of course, a vast and growing literature on the subject. 1 H (13-84. Furthermore, good work, similar to that done by AP411. OSD40B, Invisible Helpers (see Chapter XXVIII), has sometimes been done through the agency of a medium, 409· or of some one present at a seance. Thus, though spiritualism has too often detained souls, who but for it would have att.ained speedy liberation, yet it has also furnished the means of escape to others, and thus opened up the path of advancement for them. There have been instances in which the deceased person has been able to appear, without the assistance of a medium, to his relatives and friends, and explain his wishes to them. But such cases are rare, and in most cases earth-bound souls can relieve themselves of their anxieties only by means of the services of a medium, or of a conscious" Invisible Helper." LADso. It is thus an error to look only at the dark side of spiritualism: it must not be forgotten that it has done an enormous amount of good in this kind of work, by giving to the dead an opportunity to arrange their affairs after a sudden and unexpected departure. T L 1 210The student of these pages should not be surprised ~m. that amongst spiritualists are some who know nothing, for example, of reincarnation, though there are schools of spiritualism which do teach it. We have already seen that when a man dies, he usually resorts to the company of those whom he has known on earth : he moves among exactly the same kind of people as during physical life. Hence such a man is little more likely 2'. SPIRITUALISM I9S to know or recognise the fact of reincarnation after death than before it. Most men are shut in from all new ideas by a host of prejudices: they carry those prejudices into the astral world with them, and are no more amenable to reason and common-sense there than in the physical world. Of course a man who is really open-minded can learn a great deal on the astral plane: he may speedily acquaint himself with the whole of the Theosophical teaching, and there are dead men who do this. Hence it often happens that portions of that teaching are found among spirit-comrnunications. It must also be borne in mind that there is a higher 1 L 1 auspiritualism of which the public knows nothing, and 1 35,5which never publishes any account of its results. The 357· best circles of all are strictly private, restricted to a small number of sitters. In such circles the same people meet over and over again, and no outsider is ever admitted to make any change in the magnetism. The conditions set up are thus singularly perfect, and the results obtained are often of the most surprising character. Often the so-called dead are just as much part of the daily life of the family as the living. The hidden side of such siances is magnificent: the thoughtforms surrounding them are good, and calculated to raise the mental and spiritual level of the district. At public siances an altogether lower class of dead people appear, because of the promiscuous jumble of magnetism. One of the most serious objections to the general .4 P 4&-47. practice of spiritualism, is that in the ordinary man after death the consciousness is steadily rising from the lower part of the nature towards the higher: the ego, as we have repeatedly said, is steadily withdrawing himself away from the lower worlds: obviously, therefore, it cannot be helpful to his evolution that the lower part should be re-awakened from the natural and desirable unconsciousness into which it is passing, and dragged back into touch with earth in order to communicate through a medium. ;rs Ig6 DA 33. ~P47· D.If 34. OS D ~02. A W 12:11:13· HSI3.58. OSD4°:l.. !Ol'o :13:1. THE ASTRAL BODY It is thus a cruel kindness to draw back to the earthsphere one whose lower manas still yearns after k1mic gratifications, because it delays his forward evolution and interrupts what should be an orderly progression. The period in kamaloka is thus lengthened, the astral body is fed, and its hold on the ego is maintained ; thus the freedom of the soul is deferred, " the immortal Swallow being still held by the birdlime of earth:' Especially in cases of suicide or sudden death is it most undesirable to re-awaken Trishna, or the desire for sentient existence. The peculiar danger of this will appear when it is recollected that since the ego is withdrawing into himself, he becomes less and less able to inftuence or guide the lower portion of his consciousness, which, nevertheless, until the separation is complete, has the power to generate karma, and under the circumstances is far more likely to add evil than good to its record. Furthermore, people who have led an evil life and are filled with yearnings for the earth life they have left, and for the animal delights they can no longer directly taste, tend to gather round mediums or sensitives, endeavouring to utilise them for their own gratification. These are among the more dangerous of the forces so rashly confronted in their ignorance by the thoughtless and the curious. A desperate astral entity may seize upon a sensitive sitter and obsess him, or he may even follow him home and seize upon his wife or daughter. There have been many such cases, and usually it is almost impossible to get rid of such an obsessingentity. We have already seen that passionate sorrow and desires of friends on earth also tend to draw departed entities down to the earth-sphere again, thus often causing acute suffering to the deceased as well as interfering with the normal course of evolution, Turning now to the kinds of entities who may communicate through a mediwn, we may classify them as follows:- SPIRITUALISM 197 Deceased human beings on the astral plane. Deceased human beings in devachan. Shades. Shells. Vitalised shells. Nature-Spirits. The medium's ego. Adepts. Nirmanakayas, As most of these have already been described in Chapter XIV on Astral Entities, little more need be said about them here. It is theoretically possible for any deceased person D.If M. on the astral plane to communicate through a medium, A P 108though this is far easier from the lower levels, becoming more and more difficult as the entity rises to the highersub-planes. Hence, other things being equal, it is natural to expect that a majority of the communications received at seances will be from the lower levels and therefore from relatively undeveloped entities. The student will recollect (see page 138) that suicides. D A 36-31. and other victims of sudden death, including executed criminals, having been cut off in the full flush of physical life, are especially likely to be drawn to a medium, in the hope of satisfying their Trishnl, or thirst for life. Consequently, the medium is the cause of developing in them a new set of Skandhas (see page 208), a new body with far worse tendencies and passions than the one they lost. This would be productive of untold evils for the ego, and cause him to be re-bom into a far worse existence than before. Communication with an entity in devachan, i.,., in the heaven-world, needs a little further explanation. Where a sensitive, or medium, is of a pure and lofty nature, his freed ego may rise to the devachanic plane and there contact the entity in devachan. The impression is often given that the entity from devachan has come to the medium, but the truth is the reverse of IgS THE ASTRAL BODY this: it is the ego of the medium who has risen to the level of the entity in devachan. Owing to the peculiar conditions of the consciousness of entities in devachan (into which we cannot enter in this book), messages thus obtained cannot altogether be relied upon: at best the medium or sensitive can know, see and feel only what the particular entity in devachan knows, sees and feels. Hence, if generalisations are indulged in, there is much possibility of error, since each entity in devachan lives in his own particular department of the heaven-world. In addition to this source of error,whilstthethoughts, knowledge and sentiments of the devachanic entity form the substance, it is likely that the medium's own personality and pre-existing ideas will govern the form of the communication. A shade (see page 170) may frequently appear and A P 49-51. D A 39-4°. communicate at seances,' bearing the exact appearance of the departed entity, possessing his memory, idiosyncrasies, etc., it is often mistaken for the entity himself, though it is not itself conscious of any impersonation. It is in reality a .. soulless bundle of the lowest qualities" of the entity. A P 51-53. A shell (see page 171) also exactly resembles the D A 39-4°. departed entity, though it is nothing more than the astral corpse of the entity, every particle of mind having left it. By coming within reach of a medium's aura it may be galvanised for a few moments into a burlesque of the real entity. S P 43. Such " spooks" are conscienceless, devoid of good impulses, tending towards disintegration, and consequently can work for evil only, whether we regard them as prolonging their vitality by vampirising at seances, or polluting the medium and sitters with astral connections of an altogether undesirable kind. A P 54. A vilalised shell (see page 172) may also communicate through a medium. As we have seen, it consists of an astral corpse animated by an artificial elemental, and is always malevolent. Obviously it constitutes a source of great danger at spiritualistic seances. SPIRITUALISM 199 Suicides, shades and vitalised shells, being minor A P 57. vampires, drain away vitality from human beings whom they can influence. Hence both medium and sitters are often weak and exhausted after a physical stance. A student of occultism is taught how to guard himself from their attempts, but without that knowledge it is difficult for one who puts himself in their way to avoid being laid more or less under contribution by them. It is the use of shades and shells at stances which D A 40. brands so many of spiritualistic communications with intellectual sterility. Their apparent intellectuality will give out only reproductions: the mark of nonoriginality will be present, there being no sign of new and independent thought. Nature-Spirits. The part which these creatures so often play at stances has already been described on pages 182 et sqq. Many of the phenomena of the stance-room are D A 41. clearly more rationally accounted for as the tricky vagaries of sub-human forces, than as the act of .. spirits" who, while in the body, were certainly incapable of such inanities. The medium's ego. If the medium be pure and D A 73. earnest and striving after the light, such upward striving is met by a down-reaching of the higher nature, .light from the higher streaming down and illwninating the lower consciousness. Then the lower mind is, for the time, united with its parent the higher mind, and transmits as much of the knowledge of the higher mind as it is able to retain. Thus some communications through a medium may come from the medium's own higher ego. The class of entity drawn to stances depends of s P 200 course very much on the type of medium. Mediums of low type inevitably attract eminently undesirable visitors, whose fading vitality is reinforced in the stance-room. Nor is this all: if at such stances there be present a man or woman of correspondingly low development, the spook will be attracted to that person and may attach itself to him or her, thus setting THE ASTRAL BODY 200 D A 73. up currents between the astral body of the living person and the dying astral body of the dead person, and generating results of a deplorable kind. An Adept or Master often communicates with His disciples, without using the ordinary methods of communication. If a medium were a pupil of a Master, it is possible that a message from the Master might come through," and be mistaken for a message from a more ordinary" spirit." A Nirmanak4ya is a perfected man, who has cast aside his physical body but retains his other lower principles, remaining in touch with the earth for the sake of helping the evolution of mankind. These great entities can and do on rare occasionscommunicate through a medium, but only through one of a very pure and lofty nature. (See also page 175.) Unless a man has had very wide experience with mediumship, he would find it difficult to believe how many quite ordinary, people on the astral plane are burning with the desire to pose as great world-teachers. Usually they are honest in their intentions, and really think they have teaching to give which will save the world. Having realised the worthlessness of merely worldly objects, they feel, quite rightly, that if they could impress upon mankind their own ideas the whole world would immediately become a very different place. Having flattered the medium into believing that he or she is the sole channel for some exclusive and transcendent teaching, and having modestly disclaimed any special greatness for himself, one of these communicating entities is often imagined by the sitters to be at least an archangel, or even somemore direct manifestation of the Deity. Unfortunately, however, it is usually forgotten by such an entity that when he was alive in the physical world, other people were making similar communications through various mediums, and that he paid not the slightest attention to them. He does not realise that others also, still immersed in the affairs of the world, will pay no more ff D A 72. 1 L 1 6I~.5. ~a:' D 32.5- SPIRITUALISM 201 attention to him and will decline to be moved by his communications. Sometimes such entities will assume distinguished names, such as George Washington, Julius Cesar, or the Archangel Michael, from the questionably pardonable motive that the teachings they give will so be more likely to be accepted than if they emanate from plain John Smith or Thomas Brown. Sometimes also, such entities, seeing the minds of others full of reverence for the Masters, will personate these very Masters in order to command more ready acceptance for the ideas they wish to promulgate. Also there are some who attempt to injure the work of the Master by assuming His form and so influencing His pupil. Although they might be able to produce an almost perfect physical appearance, it is quite impossible for them to imitate a Master's causal body, and consequently one with causal sight could not possibly be deceived by such an impersonation. In a lew instances the members of the lodge of .of P I~. occultists who originated the spiritualistic movement (seepage 191) have themselves given valuable teachings on deeply interesting subjects, through a medium. But this has invariably been at strictly private family s4ances, never at public performances for which money has been paid. The VDice of the Silence wisely enjoins: "Seek not 1 L 1 65. thy Guru in these rna-ya-vic regions." No teaching from a sell-appointed preceptor on the astral plane should be blindly accepted: all communications and advice which comes thence should be received precisely as one would receive similar advice on the physical plane. Teaching should be taken for what it is worth, after examination by conscience and intellect. A man is no more infallible because he happens to M 101. be dead than when he was physically alive. A man may spend many years on the astral plane and yet know no more than when he left the physical world. Accordingly we should attach no more importance to communications from the astral world, or from any 202 THE ASTRAL BODY higher plane, than we should to a suggestion made on the physical plane. .4 P JoS-Jog. A manifesting " spirit" is often exactly what it ~OfS: ~2': professes to be: but often also it is nothing of the kind. For the ordinary sitter there is no means of distinguishing the true from the false, since the resources of the astral plane can be used to delude persons on the physical plane to such an extent that no reliance can be placed even on what seems the most convincing proof. It is not for a moment denied that important communications have been made at siances by genuine entities: but it is claimed that it is practically impossible for an ordinary sitter to be quite certain that he is not being deceived in half a dozen different ways. D.4 73-7+ From. the above it will be seen how varied may be the sources from which communications from the astral world may be received. As said by H. P. Blavatsky: .. The variety of the causes of phenomena is great, and we need to be an Adept, and actually look into and examine what transpires, in order to be able to explain in each case what really underlies it." To complete the statement, it may be said that what the average person can do on the astral plane after death he can do in physical life : communications may be as readily obtained by writing, in trance, or by utilising the developed and trained powers of the astral body, from embodied as from disembodied persons. It would therefore seem to be more prudent to develop within oneself the powers of one's own soul, instead of ignorantly plunging into dangerous experiments. In this manner knowledge may be safely accumulated and evolution accelerated. Man must learn that death has no real power over him: the key of the prison-house of the body is in his own hands, and he may learn how to use it if he wills. .4 E P. From a careful weighing of all the evidence available, both for and against spiritualism, it would seem that, if employed with care and discretion, it may be justifiable, purely in order to break down SPIRITUALISM materialism. Once this purpose is achieved, its use seems too beset with dangers, both to the living and the dead, to make it advisable. as a general rule, though in exceptional cases it may be practised with safety and bene1it. 2°3 CHAPTER XXIII ASTRAL DEATH WE have now reached the end of the life-history of the astral body, and little remains to be said regarding its death and final dissolution. The steady withdrawal of the ego, as we have seen, causes, in a time which varies within very wide limits, the particles of the astral body gradually to cease to function, this process taking place, in most cases, in layers arranged according to degree of density, the densest being on the outside. t LII24-25. The astral body thus slowly wears away and disintegrates as the consciousness is gradually withdrawn from it by the half-unconscious effort of the ego, and thus the man by degrees gets rid of whatever holds him back from the heaven-world. Dd 30. During the stay on the astral plane, in k~aloka, SP4 1 • the mind, woven with the passions, emotions and desires, has purified them, and assimilated their pure part, and has absorbed into itself all that is fit for the higher ego, so that the remaining portion of KAma is a mere residue, from which the ego, the Immortal Triad of Atma-Buddhi-Manas (as it is often called), can readily free itself. Slowly the Triad or ego draws into itself the memories of the earth-life just ended, its loves, hopes, aspirations, etc., and prepares to pass out of kamaloka into the blissful state of devachan, the" abode of the gods," the" heaven-world." Into the history of the man when he has reached the heaven-world we cannot enter here, as it lies beyond the scope of this treatise: it is hoped, however, to deal with it in the third volume of this series. S P4r. For the moment, however, it may be said, in brief, that the period spent in devachan is the time for the ASTRAL DEATH assimilation of life experiences, the regaining of equilibrium, ere a new descent into incarnation is undertaken. It is thus the day that succeeds the night of earth-life, the subjective as contrasted with the objective period of manifestation. When the man passes out of kAmalokainto devachan, he cannot carry thither with him thought-forms of an evil type; astral matter cannot exist on the devachanic level, and devachanic matter cannot answer to the coarse vibrations of evil passions and desires. Consequently all that the man can carry with him when he finally shakes oft the remnants of his astral body will be the latent germs or tendencies which, when they can find nutriment or outlet, manifest as evil desires and passions in the astral world. But these he does take with him, and they lie latent throughout his devachanic life, in the astral permanent atom. At the end of the klmalokic life, the golden life-web (see A Study in Consciousness, pages 91-93) withdraws from the astral body, leaving it to disintegrate, and enwraps the astral permanent atom, which then retreats within the causal body. The final struggle with the desire-e1emental (see pp.6 & 108) takes place at the conclusion of the astral life, for the ego is then endeavouring to draw back into himself all that he put down into incarnation at the beginning of the life which has just ended. When he attempts to do this he is met with determined opposition from the desire-elemental, which he himself has created and fed. In the case of all ordinary people, some of their mental matter has become so entangled with their astral matter that it is impossible for it to be entirely freed. The result of the struggle is therefore that some portion of the mental matter, and even of causal (higher mental) matter is retained in the astral body after the ego has completely broken away from it. If, on the other hand, a man has during life completely conquered his lower desires and succeeded in absolutely freeing the lower mind from desire, there is practically 205 M B 59: 18. S C 105 : 93 : 101- 108• ILL ,.07408. 206 DA 31. M B 101. THE ASTRAL BODY DO struggle, and the ego is able to withdraw Dot only all that he .. invested " in that particular incarnation, but also all the .. interest," i.e., the experiences, faculties, etc., that have been acquired. There are also extreme cases where the ego loses both the .. rapital " invested and the .. interest," these being known as .. lost-souls " or elementaries (see page 145). The full treatment of the method in which the ego puts a portion of himself down into incarnation and then endeavours to withdraw it again, must clearly be reserved for the third and fourth volumes of this series, which will deal with the mental and causal bodies. The exit from the astral body and the astral plane is thus a second death, the man leaving behind him an astral corpse which, in its turn, disintegrates, its materials being restored to the astral world, just as the materials of the physical body are returned to the physical world. This astral corpse, and the various possibilities which may happen to it, have already been dealt with in Chapter XIX on Astral Entities, under the headings Shades (page 170), Shells (page 171), Vitalised Shells (page 172), etc. CHAPTER XXIV RE-BIRTH the causes that carried the ego into devachan D A 61. are exhausted, the experiences gathered having been ~ 68. wholly assimilated, the ego begins to feel again the 90. thirst for sentient material life, that can be gratified only on the physical plane. That thirst is known by the Hindus as trishnti. It may be considered, first, as a desire to express 0 S D go. himself: and second, as a desire to receive those impressions from without which alone enable him to feel himself alive. For this is the law of evolution. Trishna appears to operate through kama, which, R 3~38: ..I. for the individual as for the Cosmos, is the primary cause of reincarnation. During the devachanic rest the ego has been free D .A 6a-63. from all pain and sorrow, but the evil he did in his K T 95· past life has been in a state, not of death, but of suspended animation. The seeds of past evil tendencies commence to germinate as soon as the new personality begins to form itself for the new incarnation. The ego has to take up the burden of the past, the germs or seeds coming over as the harvest of the past life being called by the Buddhists skandhas. Kama, with its army of skandhas, thus waits at the threshold of devachan, whence the ego re-emerges to assume a new incarnation. The skandhas consist of material qualities, sensations, abstract ideas, tendencies of mind, mental powers. The process is brought about by the ego turning his 1 L 11 436attention, first to the mental unit, which immediately 07· resumes its activity, and then to the astral permanent atom, into which he puts his will. The tendencies, which we have seen are in a condition M B s9-60: AFTER IA 78: I~. THE ASTRAL BODY 208 OS D 9Z~3. of suspended animation, are thrown outwards by the themr N P 37-39. selves, first, matter of the mental plane, and also elemental essence of the second great kingdom, these expressing exactly the mental development which the man had gained at the end of his last heaven-life. He thus begins in this respect exactly where he left oft. Next, he draws round himself matter from the astral world, and elemental essence of the third kingdom, thus obtaining the materials out of which his new astral body will be built, and causing to re-appear the appetites, emotions, and passions which he brought over from his past lives. Dn . The astral matter is gathered by the ego descending .... P ZZ. to re-birth, not of course consciously,but automatically. This material is, moreover, an exact reproduction of 1 L [,404. O'S D 93. the matter in the man's astral body at the end of his H S 11283. last astral life. The man thus resumes his life in each world just where he left it last time. M B s~ : The student will recognise in the above a part of the ic0944. workings of karmic law, into which we need not enter in this present volume. Each incarnation is inevitably, automatically, and justly linked with the preceding lives, so that the whole series forms a continuous, unbroken chain. The astral matter thus drawn round the man is not 1 L 139039 1 • yet formed into a definite astral body. It takes, in the first place, the shape of that ovoid which is the nearest expression that we can realise of the true shape of the causal body. As soon as the baby physical body is formed, the physical matter exerts a violent attraction for the astral matter, which previously was fairly evenly distributed over the ovoid, and so concentrates the great bulk of it within the periphery of the physical body. As the physical body grows, the astral matter follows its every change, 99 per cent. of it being concentrated within the periphery of the physicalbody,andonlyabout 1 per cent. filling the rest of the ovoid and constituting the aura, as we saw in an earlier chapter (see page 1). :6~6;08 : ego as he returns to re-birth, and draw around RE-BIRTH The process of gathering matter round the astral K ...-enucleus sometimes takes place rapidly, and sometimes causes long delay; when it is completed the ego stands in the karmic vesture he has prepared for himself, ready to receive from the agents of the Lords of Karma the etheric double, into which, as into a mould, the new physical body will be built (see TJ.. Etheric DOfIble, page 67). The man's qualities are thus not at first in action: H 5 II 283they are simply the genns of qualities, which have ;St 11 38secured for themselves a possible field of manifestation 439. 4 in the matter of the new bodies. Whether they 0 S D 94~" develop in this life into the same tendencies as in the last one will depend largely upon the encouragement, or otherwise, given to them by the surroundings of the child during his early years. Anyone of them, good or bad, may be readily stimulated into activity by encouragement, or, on the other hand, may be starved out for lack of that encouragement. If stimulated, it becomes a more powerful factor in the man's liIe this time than it was in his previous existence; if starved out, it remains merely as an unfructified genn, which presently atrophies and dies out, and does not make its appearance in the succeeding incarnation at all. The child cannot thus be said to have as yet a definite mind-body or a definite astral body, but he has around and within him the matter out of which these are to be builded. Thus, for example, suppose a man was a drunkard os D ".16. in his past life: in kAmaloka he would have burnt out the desire for drink and be definitely freed from it. But although the desire itself is dead, there still remains the same weakness of character which made it possible for him to be subjugated by it. In his next life his astral body will contain matter capable of giving apression to the same desire; but he is in no way bound to employ such matter in the same way as !'d0re. In the hands of careful and capable parents, In fact, being trained to regard such desires as evil, he would gain control over them, repress them as they 210 THE ASTRAL BODY appear, and thus the astral matter will remain unvivifled and become atrophied from want of use. It will be recollected that the matter of the astral body is slowly but constantly wearing away and being replaced, precisely as is that of the physical body, and as atrophied matter disappears it will be replaced by matter of a more refined order. Thus are vices finally conquered and made virtually impossible for the future, the opposite virtue of self-control having been established. During the first few years of the man's life the ego has but little hold over his vehicles, and he therefore looks to his parents to help him to obtain a firmer grasp and to provide him with suitable conditions. H S II 28,It is impossible to exaggerate the plasticity of these a86. unformed vehicles. Much as can be done with the physical body in its early years, as in the case of children trained as acrobats, for example, far more can be done with the astral and mental vehicles. They thrill in response to every vibration which they encounter, and are eagerly receptive of all in1luences, good or evil, emanating from those around them. Moreover, though in early youth they are so susceptible and so easily moulded, they soon set and stiffen and acquire habits which, once firmly established, can be altered only with great difficulty. Thus to a far larger extent than is realised by even the fondest parents, the child's future is under their control. S G 0 578. It is only the clairvoyant who knows how enormously and how rapidly child-characters would improve if only adult characters were better. M P 8,-36. A very striking instance is recorded where the brulality of a teacher irreparably injured the bodies of a child so as to make it impossible for the child in this life to make the full progress that was hoped for it. M P 88. So vitally important is the early environment of a child that the life in which Adeptship is attained must have absolutely perfect surroundings in childhood. 1 L 11 437. In the case of lower-class monads with unusually strong astral bodies, who reincarnate after a very RE-BIRTH short interval, it sometimes happens that the shade or shell left over from the last astral life still persists, and in that case it is likely to be attracted to the new personality. When that happens it brings with it strongly the old habits and modes of thought, and sometimes even the actual memory of that past life. In the case of a man who has led such an evil life that his astral and mental bodies are tom away from the ego after death, the ego, having no bodies in which to live in the astral and mental worlds, must quickly form new ones. When the new astral and mental bodies are formed, the affinity between them and the old ones, not yet disintegrated, asserts itself, and the old mental and astral bodies become the most terrible fonn of what is known as the .. dweller on the threshold." In the extreme case of a man, returning to re-birth, who by vicious appetite or otherwise, has formed a very strong link with any type of animal, he may be linked by magnetic affinity to the astral body of the animal whose qualities he has encouraged, and be chained as a prisoner to the animal's physical body. Thus chained he cannot go onward to re-birth: he is conscious in the astral world, has his human faculties, but cannot control the brute body with which he is connected, nor express himself through that body on the physical plane. The animal organism is thus a jailor, rather than a vehicle. The animal soul is not ejected, but remains as the proper tenant and controller of its own body. Such an imprisonment is not reincarnation, though it is easy to see that cases of this nature explain at least partially the belief often found in Oriental countries that man may under certain circwnstances reincarnate in an animal body. In cases where the ego is not degraded enough for absolute imprisonment, but in which the astral body is strongly animalised, it may pass on normally to human re-birth, but the animal characteristics will be largely reproduced in the physical body-as witness the 21I 1 Y 129-13°. 1 L 11 30-33. ala THE ASTRAL BODY people who in appearance are sometimes pig-faced, dog-faced, etc. The suffering entailed on the conscious human entity, thus temporarily cut off from progress and from self-expression, is very great, though, of course, reformatory in its action. It is somewhat similar to that endured by other egos, who are linked to human bodies with unhealthy brains, i.e., idiots, lunatics, etc., though idiocy and lunacy are the results of other vices. CHAPTER XXV THE MASTERY OF EMOTION book will have been compiled in vain if the student has not become impressed with the necessity, first, of controlling the astral body: secondly, of gradually training it into a vehicle of consciousness, completely subservient to the will of the real man, the ego: and thirdly, in due time, of steadily developing and perfecting its various powers. The average worldly person knows little and cares less about such matters: but to the student of occultism it is clearly of fundamental importance that he should attain full mastery over all his vehicles-physical, astral and mental. And although for purposes of analysis and study it is necessary to separate these three bodies and study them individually, yet, in practical life, it will be found that to a great extent the training of all of them can be carried on simultaneously, any power gained in one helping to some extent in the training of the other two. We have already seen (page 64) the desirability of purifying the physical body, by means of food, drink, hygiene, etc., in order to make slightly less difficult the control of the astral body. The same principle applies with even greater force to the mental body, for it is in the last analysis only by the use of mind and will that the desires, emotions and passions of the astral body can be brought into perfect subjection. For many temperaments, at least, a careful study of the psychology of emotion is of very great assistance, as it isclearlymuch easierto bring under control a force the genesisand nature of which is thoroughly understood. For this purpose, the present writer very strongly recommends a thorough study of the principles laid THIS 21 4 THE ASTRAL BODY down in that masterly treatise The Science of the Emotions, by Bhagavan Das. (An admirable epitome of this work has been written by Miss K. Browning, M.A., under the title An Epitome of the Science of the Emotions.) The main thesis may be very briefly set out as follows. S E I~SI. All manifested existence may be analysed into the Self, the Not-Self, and the Relationship between these two. S E 1'-Z4. That Relationship may be divided into (I) Cognition (Gnyanam) : (2) Desire (Ichcha) : (3) Action (Kriya). To know, to desire, and to endeavour or act-those three comprise the whole of conscious life. S E SI-ZZ: Feeling or emotion is of two kinds-pleasurable or ~7 '8°9-90. painful. Pleasure, fundamentally a sense of moreness, S c 311. produces attraction, love (r~a): pain, fundamentally a sense of lessness, produces repulsion, hate (dvesha). From attraction proceed all love-emotions: from repulsion proceed all hate-emotions. All emotions arise from love or hate, or from both, in varying degrees of intensity. The precise nature of a particular emotion is also determined by the relationship between the one who experiences the emotion and the object which is the occasion of the emotion. The one who experiences the S B S9. emotion may be, so far as the circumstances connected with the particular emotion are concerned, (I) Greater SF. 55-38, than: (2) Equal to: or (3) Less than the object. Pursuing this analysis, we arrive at the six possible types of emotion-elements given in column three of the table appended. Column four gives sub-divisions of the primary elements in varying degrees of intensity, the strongest being at the head and the weakest at the foot of each group. S E 59. All human emotions consist of one of these six emotion-elements, or, more frequently, of two or more of them combined together. The student must now be referred to the treatise mentioned above for a detailed elaboration of the fundamental principles set forth above. His labour will be amply rewarded. y THE MASTERY OF EMOTION 215 GENESIS OF EMOTIONS Relation towards the object Qualitative 1 Ig.g~tati" IS__ Primary EmotionElement Degrees of the Emotion 3 ~ WOlllhip Reverence Adoration Reverence Esteem Respect Admiration A1fection Affection Comradeship Friendliness Politeness Benevolence ComplllSion Tendemess Kindness Pity I , LOVE (for)--Equal I I I \~ HOrTor /~- -, HATE (for)-Equal Fear Anger Dread Fear Apprehension Hostility Rudeness Avelliion Coldness Aloofnell Scorn Disdain Pride or Tyranny (a) Contempt Su percilloueness (a) The English language appears to possess no ene word which accurately describes this emotion-element. Another valuable line of study, for the student who is aiming at self-knowledge in order to attain self- mastery, is that of collective or crowd-consciousness. By far the best book, with which the present writer is acquainted, on this interesting subject is The Crowd in Peace and War, by Sir Martin Conway. 216 THE ASTRAL BODY With wonderful lucidity and richness of illustration, Sir Martin demonstrates the following fundamental facts. C P IV 4-8. (r) The great majority of men are brought up in, and all their lives belong to, certain psychological " crowds," •.e., groups of people who think, and above all, feel similarly. Such crowds are those of the home, friends and associates, schools and universities, professions, religious sects, political parties, schools of thought, nations, races, and so on. Even those who read the same newspapers or belong to the same club form a psychological " crowd." e P IV 26- (2) Such crowds are in the main fonned by, nour~ ¥~94- ished on, and dominated by feeling or emotion-fSOt 29". by thought. A crowd has all the emotions,· but no intellect: it can feel, but it cannot think. The opinions of crowds are seldom or never reached by reason, but are merely infectious passions which sweep through the whole body like an electric current, these frequently originating from a single brain. Once caught up in the crowd, the individual rapidly loses his power of individual thought and feeling, and becomes one with the crowd, sharing its life, its opinions, its attitudes, prejudices. and the like. (3) Very few ever have the courage or the strength to break away from the various crowds to which they belong; the vast majority remain all their lives under the sway of the crowds which have absorbed them. e p W 27- Our author then proceeds to enumerate and describe 32 • the various crowd virtues and to show that they differ from the virtues of the individual, being on the whole at a much lower and more primitive level. e P IV 8~ Every crowd, being unable to lead itself, needs and 19. finds a leader. Of such leaders there are three main types. (a) The Crowtl-CompelTu. He is one who dominates and leads the crowd by imposing upon it his own ideas by the sheer force of his own personality. Examples of this type are Napoleon, Disraeli, Czsar, Charlemagne. ;] THE MASTERY OF EMOTION (6) The Crowd-Exponent. This type, totally dis- C P IV 101tinct from the Crowd-Compeller, is one which feels by 102. natural sensitiveness what the crowd feels, or is going to feel, and which expresses in clear and usually graphic language the emotions of the crowd, which on its own account is inarticulate. Such men seldom think out problems for themselves and then proclaim their gospel. Rather they wait for the emotions of the crowd to take form: then they plunge into the thick of the fray and say with eloquence, power and enthusiasm that which people about them are dimly and vaguely feeling. Examples of this type are very common, especially in the field of politics. (c) The Crowd-Representative. Crowd leaders of C P IV n4this type are picturesque figureheads rather than 118. individual forces. Typical examples are a constitutional king, a consul, an ambassador, a judge (at any rate in England). These men are merely the people, .. public opinion," personified: they speak with the voice of the people, act for them, and stand for them in the sight of the world. They must suppress or conceal their own individual opinions, and appear to feel as the public feels, to act in conformity with the public wishes and sentiments. The above is the merest sketch of the leading principles enunciated in the extremely able book mentioned, and the student is urged to make a careful study of that work for himself. It will help him not only to appreciate more justly the forces by which .. the public" is swayed, but also to assess at their true value many of his own beliefs, opinions and attitudes towards many questions of the day. It is clearly of the utmost importance that, in all H S 12gB. his feelings and thoughts, the student of occultism should act deliberately and consciously. The Greek saying Gnothi seamon, Know Thyself, is a fine piece of I L I 260. advice, for self-knowledge is absolutely necessary to any candidate for progress. The student should not A W 81-8]. allow himself to be swept off his feet by becoming K 20. submerged in a collective emotion-or thought-form, THE ASTRAL BODY 218 B S1 292. A E P. which forms a kind of atmosphere through which every thing is seen and by which everything is coloured, and which so manifestly dominates and sways the many crowds amongst which he moves. It is no easy matter to stand against a strong popular bias, owing to the ceaseless beating upon us of the thought-forms and currents of thought which fill the atmosphere: yet the student of occultism must learn to do so. He should, moreover, be able to recognise the various types of crowd-leaders and to refuse to allow himself to be dominated, persuaded or cajoled into accepting ideas or following lines of action unless he does so quite deliberately, and with all his own faculties alert. The influence of psychological crowds and crowdleaders in the world to-day, as well probably as in every age, is very great indeed, and the forces they wield subtle and far-reaching, so that the student who aims at self-mastery and who wishes to lead his own emotional and intellectual life, must be continuously on his guard against these insidious influences. The present writer is of opinion that a study of The Science of the Emotions and The CrOUJd in Peace atul Wal' is an invaluable preliminary to the task of training and developing the astral body till it becomes a useful and obedient servant of the sovereign will of the ego. One other line of study is also strongly urged upon the student, viz., that of the sub-conscious mind, to-day often called the "unconscious," For this purpose, as an introduction to the subject, The LaUl ofPsychicPhenomena by T. J. Hudson, is recommended. In studying this book, the student should recollect that it was written in I8g2. In the light of present day knowledge it is not necessary to subscribe wholly to Hudson's analysis, classification, or terminology. Moreover, in the opinion of the present writer, Hudson builds a great deal too much on his premises, straining his theories far beyond breaking-point. Nevertheless, the book is still of great value, first as encouraging a healthy scientific scepticism towards accepting too readily plausible and glib explanations of many psychic THE MASTERY OF EMOTION 21 9 phenomena, and secondly, in bringing home with great force the tremendous potentialities latent in the subconscious part of man's nature, which may be utilised by the careful and discreet student to considerable effect in bringing his own astral nature under control and, in general, purifying and building up his own character. There are, of course, hosts of other and more modem books which will also help towards this end. Briefly, Hudson states :(I) That the mentality of man is clearly divisible L P P 29 into two parts, each with its own separate powers and functions. These he calls the objective and the subjective minds. (2) That the objective mind is that which takes cognisance of the objective world, using as its medium of observation the physical senses, and having as its highest function the reason. (3) That the subjective mind takes cognisance of its environment by means independent of the physical senses. It is the seat of the emotions and the storehouse of memory. It performs its highest functions when the objective senses are in abeyance, e.g., in a state of hypnotism or somnambulism. Many of the other faculties attributed by Hudson to the subjective mind are clearly those of the astral body, e.g., the ability to travel to distant places, to read thoughts, etc. Furthermore, whilst the objective mind is not L P P )('. controllable by " suggestion," against reason, positive knowledge, or the evidence of the senses, the subjective mind is constantly amenable to the power of suggestion, whether from other people, or from the objective mind of its owne,.. With the help of modem knowledge regarding our astral and mental bodies, and the nature and use of thought- and-emotion-forms, the student will recognise here many interesting and independent confirmations of what he has learnt from Theosophical authorities, and, as already said, he will be better able to realise that virtually limitless powers latent in his own psycho- 220 THE ASTRAL BODY logical make-up, which he may proceed to use along lines laid down by occultists of repute: such as that of meditation, for example. He will also, perhaps, realise rather more vividly than before the way in which kama, or desire, and manas, or mind, are entangled, and how they may be disentangled, to the great benefit and strengthening of both. S c 318-319, It must ever be remembered that it is by thought .IU • that desire can be changed, and finally mastered. As mind learns to assert control, desire becomes transmuted into will, the governance then not being by external objects that attract or repel, but by the spirit of the man, the ego, the inner ruler. We shall now return to our more specific" Theosophical" authorities, and proceed to consider certain other factors in the development and training of the astral body. It is obvious that the student should aim at mastering and eliminating certain minor defects, such as emotional 1 LI8g-gI. weaknesses or vices. In this task it is important to recollect that such a vice as irritability, for example, which has become a habit through repeated indulgence, is stored up, not in the ego as an inherent quality, but in the astral permanent atom (see page 207). However great the force that is there piled up, it is a scientific certainty that perseverance will in due time lead to victory. On the side of the ego, there is the force of his own will, and behind that the infinite force of the Logos Himself, because progress by means of evolution is His will. A grasp of the idea of unity thus gives the man an adequate motive for the undoubtedly hard, and at times distasteful, work of character-building. However great the struggle, the forces of infinity being on his side, he is bound ultimately to overcome the finite forces for evil which he has stored up in his past lives. lLll1~ A man who seeks to kill out desire, in order to balance III. his karma perfectly and so obtain liberation for himself, may achieve his object. He cannot, however, escape from the law of evolution, and sooner or THE MASTERY OF EMOTION 221 later he will be swept forward again into the stream by its resistless pressure, and so be forced into re-birth. Killing out desire is not the path of the true occultist. Personal loves are not to be killed out, but are to be R 40 • expanded till they become universal: loves are to be 1 Y 102. levelled up, not down. The failure to realise this, and the tremendous difficulty of the task, when realised, have led in some cases to the stiding of love instead of its growth. But overflowing love, not lovelessness, will save the world. The Mahltml is the Ocean of Compassion: not an iceberg. To try to kill out love is the way of the left-hand path. It is. however, necessary to kill out completely the 1 L 1292lower and coarser desires; the remainder must be 293· purified and transmuted into aspirations, and resolution. It is waste of force to desire or wish: the occultist wills instead. Will is a higher aspect of desire. It has also been said that we should slay the "lunar 1 L 1 293. form," t.e., the astral body. This does not mean that all feelings and emotions should be destroyed. but rather that the astral body should be completely under control, that we should be able to slay the lunar form at wiU. As the man develops, he makes his will one with the will of the Logos, and the Logos wills evolution. Needless to say, such an at-one-ment ipso facto eliminates such desires as ambition, desire for progress, and the like. The VDiu of the Silence warns us that beneath each 1 L 1103flower in the astral world, however beautiful it may be, lies coiled the serpent of desire. In the case of afiection, for example, everything of a grasping nature must be altogether transcended: but high, pure and unse1Dsh affection can never be transcended, since it is a characteristic of the Logos Himseli, and is a necessary qualification for progress upon the Path which leads to the Masters and to Initiation. CHAPTER XXVI DEVELOPMENT OF ASTRAL POWERS THE possession of psychic powers does not necessarily involve high moral character, any more than does the OS D 46,. possession of physical strength, neither are psychic powers in themselves a sign of great development in any other direction, e.g., that of intellect. While, therefore, it is not true that the great psychic L L 3-4. is necessarily a spiritual person, it is true, on the other hand, that a great spiritual person is inevitably psychic. 1 L 11171. Psychic powers can be developed by anyone who will take the trouble, and a man may learn clairvoyance or mesmerism just as he may learn the piano, if he is willing to go through the necessary hard work. Astral senses exist in all men, but are latent in most, and generally need to be artificially forced if they are to be used in the present stage of evolution. In a few they become active without any artificial impulse; in very many they can be artificially awakened and developed. The condition, in all cases, of the activity of the astral senses is the passivity of the physical, and the more complete the physical passivity the greater the possibility of astral activity. (J 21-23. Clairvoyance is often possessed by simple peoples. C W 230. TNP80- This is sometimes called the lower psychism, and is by 8a. no means the same thing as the faculty possessed by a properly' trained and more advanced man, nor is it arrived at in the same way. The occasional appearance of psychism in an undeveloped person is a kind of massive sensation vaguely belonging to the whole vehicle rather than an exact and definite perception coming through specialised organs. This was especially characteristic of the Atlantean I L 11171• ..4 P 31. DEVELOPMENT OF ASTRAL POWERS (Fourth) Root Race. It works not through the astral Chakrams, but through the astral centres connected with the physical senses. These are not distinctively astral, although they are aggregations of astral matter in the astral body. They are of the nature of connecting bridges between the astral and physical planes, and are not developed astral senses in the proper Second sight belongs to this sense of the tenn. type of sensitiveness, and is often symbolical, the perceiver transmitting his knowledge in this curious symbolical way. To stimulate the centres which are bridges, instead of evolving the Chakrams, which are the astral organs, is a complete blunder. This lower psychism is also associated with the sympathetic nervous system, whereas the higher psychism is associated with thecerebro-spinal system. To revive control of the sympathetic system is a retrograde and not a forward step. In course of time the lower psychism disappears, to re-open at a later stage when it will be brought under the control of the will. Hysterical and highly nervous people may occasionally become clairvoyant, the fact being a symptom of their disease, and due to the weakening of the physical vehicle to such a degree that it no longer presents any obstacle to a measure of etheric or astral vision. Delirium tremens is an extreme example of this class of psychism, victims of the disease often being able temporarily to perceive certain loathsome elemental and etheric entities. For those who have not yet developed astral vision, it is desirable to appreciate intellectually the reality of the astral world, and to realise that its phenomena are open to competent observation just as are those of the physical world. There exist definite methods of Yoga by which the astral senses may be developed in a rational and healthy way. But it is not only useless, it may be dangerous, to attempt these until the preparatory stage of purification has first been passed. Both the physical and the astral body must first be purifled, II 223 T N P 80- ~zc Z5I. II TN P lZ5. s C 431. C 53· M B 39. M B 47-48. THE ASTRAL BODY 224 MR4°· C 166. ..4 P 12'. ~7~ 11 17aC 24: '2-": ~6J.sIA4·'U.'I_ 461: i s Ili ltiJl. T N P 127. S G0 S3S. by breaking the bonds of evil habits in eating, drinking, giving way to hate-emotions of all kinds, etc. Speaking generally, it is not desirable to force the development of the astral body by artificial means, for until spiritual strength is attained the intrusion of astral sights, sounds, and other phenomena is apt to be disturbing and even alarming. Sooner or later, according to the karma of the past, one who follows the .. ancient and royal" path will find knowledge of astral phenomena gradually coming to him: his keener vision will awaken, and new vistas of a wider universe will be unfolded to him on every side. It is an illustration of the saying: .. Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you." The attainment of astral powers as an end in itself inevitably leads to what is called in the East the laukika method of development: the powers obtained are only for the present personality and, there being no safeguards, the student is extremely likely to misuse them. To this class belong the practices of Hatha Yoga, prtnayama or breath-control, invocation of elementals, and all systems which involve deadening the physical senses in some way, actively by drugs (e.g., bhang, haschish, etc.), by self-hypnotisation, or, as among the dervishes, by whirling in a mad dance of religious fervour until vertigo and insensibility supervene: or pflSSively by being mesmerised-so that the astral senses may come to the surface. Other methods are crystal-gazing (which leads to nothing but the lowest type of clairvoyance), the repetition of invocations, or the use of charms or ceremonies. A man who entrances himself by the repetition of words or charms may probably return in his next life as a medium or at any rate be mediumistic. Mediumship should not be regarded as a psychic power at all : for a medium, so far from exercising power, on the contrary abdicates control over his own bodies in favour of another entity. Mediumship is thus not a power but a condition. DEVELOPMENT OF ASTRAL POWERS 225 There are many stories of some mysterious ointment C 33-34or drug which, when applied to the eyes, enables a man to see fairies, etc. Anointing of the eyes might stimulate etheric sight but could not by any possibility open astral vision, though certain ointments rubbed over the whole body will greatly assist the astral body to leave the physical in full consciousness-a fact, the knowledge of which seems to have survived to medieval times, as can be seen from the evidence given at some of the trials for witchcraft. The IokoUara method consists of Raja Yoga or.d P 125spiritual progress, and this is unquestionably the best i2~.: rj4;7 2method. Though slower, the powers gained by it 173. 167: 20. belong to the permanent individuality, and are never C0 r6SS D ..64again lost, while the guiding of a Master ensures perfect 165. safety so long as His orders are scrupulously obeyed. L 12-1 4. Another great advantage of being trained by a C 21. Master is that whatever faculties the pupil may achieve are definitely under his command and can be used fully and constantly when needed: whereas in the case of the untrained man such powers often manifest themselves only very partially and spasmodically, and appear to come and go, as it were, of their own sweet will The temporary method is like learning to ride by 1 L 11 173. stupefying the horse: the permanent method is like learning to ride properly, so that any horse can be ridden. The permanent method means real evolution, the other does not necessarily involve anything of the sort, as the powers gained by it may perish with the death of the body. The wider sight of the astral plane is not an unmixed .d P 126. blessing, as it reveals the sorrow and misery, the evil C 169-1 70. and greed of the world. The words of Schiller spring to mind : Why hast thou cast me thus into the town of the ever-blind, to proclaim thine oracle with the opened sense? Take back this sad clear-sightedness; take from mine eyes this cruel light I Give me back my blindness-the happy darkness of my senses; take back thy dreadful gift I .. II THE ASTRAL BODY 226 1 L II 185188. C 19-20. 1 L 10'. r 10..- Clairvoyant power, if properly and sensibly used, may be a blessing and a help: misused, it may be a hindrance and a curse. The principal dangers attendant upon it arise from pride, ignorance, and impurity. It is obviously foolish for a clairvoyant to imagine that he or she is the only one thus endowed, and the one person specially selected. under angelic guidance to found a new dispensation: and so on. Moreover, there are always plenty of sportive and mischievous astral entities ready and anxious to foster such delusions and to fulfil any role that may be assigned to them. It is useful for a clairvoyant to know something of the history of the subject and to understand something of the conditions of the higher planes, as well, if possible, as to possess some knowledge of scientific subjects. Further, a man of impure life or motive inevitably attracts to himself the worst elements in the invisible world. A man who is pure in thought and life, on the other hand, is by that very fact guarded from the in1luence of undesirable entities from other planes. In many cases a man may have occasional flashes of astral consciousness without any awakening of etheric vision at all. This irregularity of development is one of the principal causes of the extreme liability of error in matters of clairvoyance in at any rate its earlier stages. In the normal course of things people awake to the realities of the astral plane very slowly, just as a baby awakes to the realities of the physical plane. Those who are deliberately and, as it were, prematurely entering upon the Path, are developing such knowledge abnormally, and are consequently more liable to err at first. Danger and injury might easily come were it not that all pupils under proper training are assisted and guided by competent teachers who are already accustomed. to the astral plane. That is the reason why all sorts of horrible sights, etc., are shown to the neophyte, as tests, so that he may understand them and DEVELOPMENT OF ASTRAL POWERS 227 become accustomed to them. Unless this were done, he might receive a shock which might not only prevent his doing useful work but might also be positively dangerous to his physical body. The first introduction to the astral world may come A P 14. in various ways. Some people only once in their C z6. whole lives become sensitive enough to experience the presence of an astral entity or some astral phenomenon. Others find themselves with increasing frequency seeing and hearing things to which others are blind and deaf: others again begin to recollect their sleep-experiences. When a person is beginning to become sensitive to A W 8J-84. astral influences, he will occasionally find himself ~8~ 0 Z04suddenly overpowered by inexplicable dread. This I'N P66-67. arises partly from the natural hostility of the elemental world against the human, on account of man's many destructive agencies on the physical plane, which react upon the astral, and partly to the many unfriendly artificial elementals, bred by human minds. Some people begin by becoming intennittently C 26. conscious of the brilliant colours of the human aura: others may see faces, landscapes, or coloured clouds floating before their eyes in the dark before they sink to rest. Perhaps the most common experience is to begin to recollect with increasing clearness experiences of the other planes acquired during sleep. Sometimes a person once in his whole life will C 54. perceive, for example, the apparition of a friend at the point of death. This may be due to two causes, in each the strong wish of the dying man being the impelling force. That force may have enabled the dying man to materialise himself for a moment, in which case, of course, no clairvoyance is needed: more probably it may have acted mesmerically upon the percipient and momentarily dulled his physical and stimulated his higher sensitiveness. A man with developed astral vision is of course no M D 99. longer limited by physical matter: he sees through aU physical bodies, physically opaque substances being to him as transparent as glass. At a concert, he sees THE ASTRAL BODY 228 M D 100. H S 1 345. 1 L 1 .~66. TN P 73-74· M v 178-;9. 8-39. Me 32 4 • glorious symphonies of colours: at a lecture, he sees the speaker's thoughts in colour and fono, and is therefore in a position to understand him more fully than one without astral vision. A little examination will reveal that many people gain from a speaker more than the mere words convey: many will find in their memory more than the speaker uttered. Such experiences indicate that the astral body is developing and becoming more sensitive, responding to the thought-fonos created by the speaker. Some places afford greater facilities for occult work than others: thus California has a very dry climate with much electricity in the air, which is favourable for the development of clairvoyance. Some psychics require a temperature of 80° in order to do their best work: others do not work well except at a lower temperature. A trained clairvoyant being able to see a man's astral body, it follows that on the astral plane no man can hide or disguise himself: what he truly is, that he is seen to be by any unprejudiced observer. It is necessary to say unprejudiced, because a man sees another through the medium of his own vehicles, which is somewhat like seeing a landscape through coloured glass. Until he has learnt to allow for this influence, a man is liable to consider as most prominent in another man those characteristics to which he himself most readily responds. Practice is needed to free oneself from the distortion produced by this personal equation so as to be able to observe clearly and accurately. Most of the psychics who occasionally get glimpses of the astral world, as well as most of the communicating entities at spiritualistic seances, fail to report many of the complexities of the astral plane which are described in this book. The reason is that few people see things as they really are on the astral plane until after very long experience. Even those who do see fully are often too dazed and confused to understand or to remember, DEVELOPMENT OF ASTRAL POWERS and hardly anyone can translate the recollection into physical plane language. Many untrained psychics never examine their visions scientifically: they simply obtain an impression, which may be quite correct, but may also be half false, or even wholly misleading. Also, as we have seen, frequent tricks are played by sportive denizens of the astral world, against which the untrained person is usually defenceless. In the case of an astral entity who constantly works through a medium, his finer astral senses may even become so coarsened as to become insensitive to the higher grades of astral matter. Only the trained visitor from the physical plane, who is fully conscious on both planes, can depend upon seeing both astral and physical planes clearly and simultaneously. True, trained, and absolutely reliable clairvoyance demands faculties belonging to a plane higher than the astral. The faculty of accurate prevision also belongs to that higher plane: yet flashes or reflections of it frequently show themselves to purely astral sight, more especially among simple-minded people who live under suitable conditions-what is called second-sight among the Highlanders of Scotland being a well-known example. There are astrally, as well as physically, blind persons, so that many astral phenomena escape ordinary astral vision. At first, in fact, many mistakes may be made in using astral vision, just as a child makes mistakes when it first begins to use its physical senses, though after a time it becomes possible to see and hear as accurately on the astral as on the physical plane. Another method of developing clairvoyance, which is advised by all the religions alike, and which if adopted carefully and reverently can do no harm to any human being, is that of meditation, by means of which a very pure type of clairvoyance may sometimes be developed. A succinct account of the processes involved in meditation is given in The Other Side of A P IU. M B 3tr40. :oL.II034 0: C 161. 41 . D 469- 230 C W 223. 11.132832') : 348• H S 12262 .•0. THE ASTRAL BODY Death, by Bishop C. W. Leadbeater, pages 4~476, as well of course as in many other books. By means of meditation extreme sensitiveness can be developed, and at the same time perfect balance, sanity and health. The student will readily recogmse that the practice of determined meditation builds higher types of matter into the bodies. Grand emotions may be felt, which come from the buddhic level, i.e., from the plane next above the higher mental, and are reflected in the astral body. It is, however, necessary also to develop the mental and causal bodies in order to give balance. A man cannot leap from the astral consciousness to the buddhic without developing the intervening vehicles. With feeling alone we can never obtain perfect balance or steadiness: grand emotions that have swayed us in the right direction may very readily become a little twisted and sway us along less desirable lines. Emotions provide motive force, but directing power comes from wisdom and steadiness. There is a close connection between the astral and the buddhic planes, the astral body being in some ways a reflection of the buddhic. An example of the close relationship between the astral and buddhic planes is found in the Christian Mass. At the moment of Consecration of the Host a force rays out which is strongest in the buddhic world, though also powerful in the higher mental world: in addition, its activity is marked in the first. second and third astral sub-planes, though this may be a reflection of the mental or an effect of sympathetic vibration. The effect may be felt by people even far away from the church, a great wave of spiritual peace and strength passing over the whole countryside, though many would never connect it with the Mass being celebrated. In addition to the above, another effect is produced as a result of, and in proportion to, the intensity of the conscious feeling of devotion of each individual during the celebration. A ray, as of fire, darts from the uplifted Host and sets the higher part of the astral DEVELOPMENT OF ASTRAL POWERS body glowing intensely. Through the astral body, by reason of its close relation with it, the buddhic vehicle is also strongly affected. Thus both buddhic and astral vehicles act and react on one another. A similar effect occurs when the Benediction is given with the blessed Sacrament. 231 H S 1 231. CHAPTER XXVII CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE AND TIME C 59: 61. C 6a-a. C88,~: g3. THERE are four methods by which it is possible to observe events taking place at a distance. I. By means of an astral current. This method is somewhat analogous to the magnetisation of a bar of steel, and consists of what may be called polarisation, by an effort of the will, of a number of parallel lines of astral atoms from the observer to the scene he wishes to observe. All the atoms are held with their axes rigidly parallel to one another, forming a kind of temporary tube, along which the clairvoyant may look. The line is liable to be disarranged or even destroyed by any sufficiently strong astral current which happens to cr09S its path: this, however, seldom happens. The line is formed either by the transmission of energy from particle to particle, or by the use of force from a higher plane, which acts upon the whole line simultaneously: the latter method implies far greater development, involving the knowledge of, and power to use, forces of a considerably higher level. A man who could make a line in this way would not, for his own use, need such a line at all, because he could see far more easily and completely by means of a higher faculty. The current or tube may be formed even quite unconsciously and unintentionally, and is often the result of a strong thought or emotion projected from one end or the other-either from the seer or from the person who is seen. If two persons are united by strong affection, it is probable that a fairly steady stream of mutual thought is constantly flowingbetween them, and some sudden need or dire extremity on the part of one of them may endue this stream temporarily CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE AND TIME 233 with the polarising power which is needful to create the astral telescope. The view obtained by this means is not unlike that seen through a telescope. Human figures, for example, would usually appear very small, but perfectly clear: sometimes, but not usually, it is possible to hear as well as to see by this method. The method has distinct limitations, as by it the astral telescope reveals the scene from one direction only, and has a limited and particular field of view. In fact, astral sight directed along such a tube is limited much as physical sight would be under similar circumstances. This type of clairvoyance may be greatly facilitated C 66: 86. by using a physical object as a starting point-a focus for the will power. A ball of crystal is the most common and effective of such foci, as, owing to its peculiar arrangement of elemental essence, it also possesses within itself qualities which stimulate psychic faculty. Other objects are also used for the same purpose, such as a cup, a mirror, a pool of ink, a drop of blood, a bowl of water, a pond, water in a glass bowl or almost any polished surface, or, on the other hand, a dead black one, produced by a handful of powdered charcoal in a saucer. There are some who can determine what they C 8j. see by their will, that is to say they can point their telescope as they wish : but the great majority form a fortuitous tube and see whatever happens to present itself at the end of it. Some psychics are able to use the tube method only C 66-67. when under the influence of mesmerism. There are two varieties of such psychics: (1) those who are able to make the tube for themselves: (2) those who look through a tube made by the mesmeriser. Occasionally, though rarely, magnification is also possible by means of the tube, though in these case!' it is probable that an altogether new power is beginning to dawn. 2. By the projection of a thought-form. This method C 67-69. consists of the projection of a mental image of oneself, 0 S D 166. THE ASTRAL BODY 234 C 71. C 69-71. C 78-79. C 61-62. C 7'l' 81. 1 l. '1 20.' CO~81. round which astral matter is also drawn, such connection with the image being retained as will render it possible to receive impressions by means of it: the form thus acts as a kind of outpost of the consciousness of the seer. Such impressions would be transmitted to the thinker by sympathetic vibration. In a perfect case, the seer is a')le to see almost as well as he would if he himself stood in the place of the thought-form. In this method it is possible also to shift the point of view, if desired. Clairaudience is perhaps less frequently associated with this type of clairvoyance than with the first type. The moment that the intentness of the thought fails the whole vision is gone, and it will be necessary to construct a fresh thought-form before it can be resumed. This type of clairvoyance is rarer than the first type because of the mental control required and the finer nature of the forces employed. It is tedious except for quite short distances. 3. By travelling in the astral body, either in sleep or trance. This process has already been described in previous chapters. 4. By travelling in tlt.e mental body. In this case, the astral body is left behind with the physical, and, if it is desired to show oneself on the astral plane. a temporary astral body, or m~yAvirupa is formed, as described on p. 255. It is possible also to obtain information regarding events at a distance by invoking or evoking an astral entity, such as a nature-spirit, and inducing or compelling him to undertake the investigation. This, of course, is not clairvoyance, but magic. In order to find a person on the astral plane, it is necessary to put oneself en rapport with him, a very slight clue being usually sufficient,such as a photograph, a letter written by him, an object which belonged to him, etc. The operator then sounds out the man's keynote when, if the man sought is on the astral plane, an immediate response will be forthcoming. This keynote of the man on the astral plane is a sort of average tone which emerges from all the different CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPACE AND TIME vibrations which are habitual to his astral body. There is also a similar average tone for each man's mental and other bodies, all the keynotes together forming the man's chord--or mystic chord as it is often called. The trained seer attunes his own vehicles for the moment exactly to the man's note, and then by an effort of will sends forth its sound. Wherever in the three worlds the man sought may be, an instant response is evoked from him; this response is at once visible to the seer, so that he is able to form a magnetic line of connection with the man. Another form of clairvoyance enables the seer to perceive events that have happened in the past. There are many degrees of this power, from the trained man who can consult the Akashic Records for himself at will, down to the person who gets occasional glimpses only. The ordinary psychometer needs an object physically connected with the scene in the past that he wishes to see, or, of course, he may use a crystal or other object as his focus. The Akashic Records represent the Divine memory, which is briefly mentioned on p. 155. The records seen on the astral plane, being but a reflection of a reflection from a much higher plane. are exceedingly imperfect, fragmentary in the extreme, and often seriously distorted. They have been compared to the reflections in the surface of water rufBed by wind. On the mental plane the records are full and accurate and can be read with exactitude: but this, of course, demands faculties pertaining to the mental plane. 235 C 126. CHAPTER XXVIII INVISIBLE HELPERS 1 11 II. LAD 38• 1 H 23. 1 If 29-30. LAD 4 1 • THE student of the preceding pages will by now have perceived that the instances of "intervention" in human affairs by invisible agents, which occur from time to time, and which are, of course,quite inexplicable from the materialistic standpoint. may readily be explained, rationally and simply, by one who understands something of the astral plane and its possibilities. In the East the existence of invisible helpers" has always been recognised; even in Europe we have had the old Greek stories of the interference of gods in human affairs, and the Roman legend that Castor and Pollux led the legions of the infant republic in the Battle of Lake Regillus. In mediaeval times there were many stories of saints who appeared at critical moments and turned the fortune of war in favour of the Christian hosts-such as that of St. James having led the Spanish troops-and of guardian angels who sometimes saved a traveller from serious danger or even death. Help may be given to men by several of the classes of inhabitants of the astral plane. It may come from nature-spirits, from devas, from those who are physically dead, or from those who, whilst still alive physically, are able to function freely on the astral plane. The cases in which help is given to men by naturespirits are few. Nature-spirits (see Chapter XX) mostly shun the haunts of man, disliking his emanations, his bustle and his unrest. Also, excepting some of their higher orders, they are generally inconsequent and thoughtless, more like happy children at play than like grave and responsible entities. As a rule they cannot be relied upon for anything like steady co-operation in II INVISIBLE HELPERS 237 this class of work, though occasionally one of them will become attached to a human being and do him many a good turn. The work of the Adept, or Master. lies chiefly upon 1 Hz... the arupa levels of the mental plane, where He may influence the true individualities of men, and not the mere personality, which is all that can be reached in the astral or physical world. It is seldom, therefore, that He finds it necessary or desirable to work on a plane so low as the astral. The same consideration applies to devas, those of this class of entity, who sometimes respond to man's higher yearnings or appeals, working on the mental plane rather than on the astral or physical, and more frequently in the periods between incarnations than during physical existence. Help is sometimes given by those who have recently 1 H 30. died physically and who remain still in close touch LAD 43· with earthly affairs. The student will readily perceive, however, that the amount of such help must in the nature of things be exceedingly limited, because the more unselfish and helpful a person is, the less likely is he to be found after death lingering in full consciousness on the lower levels of the astral plane, from which the earth is most readily accessible. Furthermore, in order that a dead person may be able 1 H 31. to influence one still living physically, either the latter must be unusually sensitive, or the would-be helper must possess a certain amount of knowledge and skill. These conditions are of course fulfilled only very rarely. It follows, then, that at present the work of helping 1 H Z7. 31. on the astral and lower mental planes is chiefly in the L.1 D 44· hands of pupils of the Masters, and any others who are sufficiently evolved to function consciously upon these two planes. Varied as is this class of work on the astral plane, 1 H 31. it is all, of course, directed to the one great end of ~' Y 1 45 : furthering evolution. Occasionally it is connected 1. with the development of the lower kingdoms, elemental as well as vegetable and animal, which it is possible THE ASTRAL BODY 11169. I H U-13: 13-14: 15: l~lS: 47 -51. I L I 442. to accelerate under certain conditions. It is, in fact, in some cases only through connection with or use by man that the progress of these lower kingdoms takes place. Thus, for example, an animal can individualise only through certain classes of animals which have been domesticated by man. By far the largest and most important part of the work is connected with humanity in some way or other, chiefly with his spiritual development, though very rarely even purely physical assistance may be given. In the classic book on the subject, Invisible Helpers, by Bishop C. W. Leadbeater, a number of typical examples of physical intervention are given. Sometimes an invisible helper, with his wider vision, is able to perceive a danger which is threatening some one, and to impress the idea upon the person threatened, or upon a friend who will go to his assistance. In this way, shipwrecks have sometimes been prevented. At other times the helper may materialise himself, or be materialised by a more experienced helper, sufficiently to lead some one out of danger, e.g., to take a child out of a burning building, to save someone from falling over a precipice, to bring home children who have lost their way, and so on. One instance is given where a helper, finding a boy who had fallen over a cliff and cut an artery, was materialised in order that he might tie a bandage and so stop the bleeding, which otherwise would have proved fatal, another helper meanwhile impressing the idea of danger upon the boy's mother and leading her to the spot. It may be asked how it is that an astral entity becomes aware of a physical cry, or an accident. The answer is that any cry which has in it a strong feeling or emotion would produce an effect upon the astral plane, and would convey exactly the same idea there as on the physical plane. In the case of an accident the rush of emotion caused by pain or fright would flame out like a great light, and could not fail to attract the attention of an astral entity if he were anywhere near. INVISIBLE HELPERS 239 In order to bring about the necessary materialisation of an astral body, so that a. means of performing purely physical acts may be obtained, a knowledge of the method of doing this is clearly essential. There are three well-defined varieties of materialisa- 1 H 54-55. tion: (I) that which is tangible, though not visible A P u8. to ordinary physical sight; at stances, this is the commonest kind; it is used for moving small objects and for the " direct voice." An order of matter is used which can neither reflect nor obstruct light, but which under certain conditions can be used to produce sound. A variety of this class is one which is able to affect some of the ultra-violet rays, thus enabling " spirit-photographs" to be taken. (2) That which is visible. but not tangible. (3) The perfect materialisation, which is both visible and tangible. Many spiritualists are familiar with all these three types. Such materialisations as we are here considering, I H 42-.13. are brought about by an effort of will. This effort, directed towards changing matter from its natural state into another, is temporarily opposing the cosmic will, as it were. The effort must be maintained the whole time, for if the mind be taken off it for one half-second, the matter :flies back to its original condition like a flash of lightning. At spiritualistic stances, a full materialisation is r usually brought about by utilising matter from the etheric and the physical bodies of the medium, and also from those of the sitters. In such cases, it is clear that the very closest connection is thus set up between the medium and the materialised body. The significance of this we shall consider in a moment. In the case of a trained helper, who finds it necessary r H 57. to produce a temporary materialisation, quite another method is employed. No pupil of a master would ever be permitted to put such a strain on anyone else's body as would occur were matter from that body to be used for the materialisation: nor, indeed, would such a plan be necessary. A far less dangerous method is to condense from the circumambient ether, or even from H.". THE ASTRAL BODY I H 51\ -57. I Y 131-132. the physical air, such amount of matter as may be required. This feat, though no doubt beyond the power of the average entity manifesting at a seance, presents no difficulty to a student of occult chemistry. In a case of this kind, whilst we have an exact reproduction of the physical body, it is created by a mental effort, out of matter entirely foreign to that body. Consequently, the phenomenon known as repercussion could not possibly take place, as it could happen where a fonn is materialised with matter drawn from a medium's body. Repercussion occurs where an injury inflicted upon a materialised form is reproduced, with faithful accuracy, upon the corresponding part of the medium's body. Or it may occur, as is very common at spiritualistic seances, where chalk is rubbed, say, on a materialised hand; after the materialised hand has vanished, the chalk is found upon the hand of the medium. An injury to a form materialised by a helper from the ether or air could no more affect the helper's physical body by repercussion than a man could be affected by an injury to a marble statue of himself. But if on the astral plane one is unwise enough to think that a danger which belongs to the physical, a falling object, can injure one, an injury to the physical body through repercussion is possible. The subject of repercussion is abstruse and difficult, and as yet by no means fully understood. In order to understand it perfectly, it would probably be necessary to comprehend the laws of sympathetic vibration on more planes than one. There is no doubt whatever as to the stupendous power of will over matter of all planes, so that if only the power be strong enough, practically aft.)' result may be produced by its direct action, without any knowledge or even thought on the part of the man exercising the will as to how it is to do its work. There is no limit to the degree to which will may be e.,., I H 53. I H 58. 1 L I 327. developed. INVISIBLE HELPERS This power holds good in the case of materialisation, 1 H 58-59. although ordinarily it is an art which must be learnt just like any other. An average man on the astral plane would no more be able to materialise himself without having previously learnt how to do it, than an average man on this plane would be able to play the violin without having previously learnt to do so. There are, however, exceptional cases where intense 1 H 63. sympathy and firm deliberation enable a person to eftect a temporary materialisation even though he does not consciously know how to do it. It is worth noting that these rare cases of physical 1 H 46. intervention by an astral helper are often made possible by the existence of a karmic tie between the helper and the one to be helped. In this way, old services are acknowledged and a kindness rendered in one life is repaid in a future life, even by such unusual methods as those described. Or, in great catastrophes, where many people are LAD f8. killed, it is sometimes permitted for one or two persons to be .. miraculously" saved, because it so happens that it is not their .. karma .. to die just then, i.e., they owe to the Divine law no debt that can be paid in that particular fashion. Very occasionally, physical assistance is given to human beings even by a Master. Bishop Leadbeater describes a case which happened 1 H 18-19. to himself. Walking along a road, he suddenly heard in his ear the voice of his Indian teacher, who at the time was physically 7,000 miles away, cry .. Spring back I .. He started violently back just as a heavy metal chimney pot crashed upon the pavement less than a yard in front of his face. Another remarkable case is recorded where a lady, 1 H 20-21. who found herself in serious physical peril in the middle of a dangerous street fracas, 'Has suddenly whirled out of the crowd and placed quite uninjured in an adjoining and empty by-street. Her body must have been lifted right over the intervening houses, and set down in the next street, a veil, probably of etheric THE ASTRAL BODY matter, being thrown round her whilst in transit so that she should not be visible as she passed through the air. From a perusal of the chapters on After-Death I H75-77. LAD..,: Life, it will be evident that there is ample scope for the 49. work of invisible helpers among people who have died. Most of these being in a condition of complete ignorance regarding life after death, and many, in western countries at least, being also terrified at the prospect of hell," and eternal damnation," there is much to be done in enlightening people as to their true state and the nature of the astral world in which they find themselves. The main work done by the invisible helper is that I H 86-87. I L 11 25. of soothing and comforting the newly dead, of delivering H 5 112j3. OSD38• them, where possible,from the terrible though unnecessary fear which but too often seizes them, and not only causes them much suffering, but retards their progress to higher spheres, and of enabling them, so far as may be, to comprehend the future that lies before them. It is stated that this work was in earlier periods attended to exclusively by a high class of non-human entities; but for some time past those human beings who are able to function consciously upon the astral plane have been privileged to render assistance in this labour of love. In cases where the rearrangement by the desireI L 11 51. elemental of the astral body has taken place, an astral helper may break up tha.t arrangement and restore the astral body to its previous condition, so that the dead man can perceive the whole of the astral plane instead of only one sub-plane of it. Others who have been longer on the astral plane may also receive help from explanations and advice as to their course through its different stages. Thus they may be warned of the danger and delay caused by attempting to communicate with the living through a medium, and sometimes, though rarely, an entity already drawn into a spiritualistic circle may be guided into higher and healthier life. The memory of such Of If INVISIBLE HELPERS 243 teaching cannot, of course, be directly carried over to the next incarnation, but there always remains the real inner knowledge, and therefore the strong predisposition to accept it immediately when heard again in the new life. Some of the newly-dead see themselves on the astral LAD ~o. plane as they really are, and are therefore filled with remorse. Here the helper is able to explain that the past is past, that the only repentance worth while is the resolve to do better in future, that each man must take himself as he is and steadily work to improve himself and lead a truer life in the future. Others, again, are troubled by their desire to make 0 S D 128: reparation for some injury they did whilst on earth, 220. to ease their conscience by disclosing a discreditable secret they have jealously guarded, to reveal the hiding place of important papers or money, and so forth. In some cases it is possible for the helper to intervene in some way on the physical plane and so satisfy the dead man; but in most cases the best he can do is to explain that it is now too late to make reparation and therefore useless to grieve over the trouble, and to persuade the man to abandon his thoughts of earth which hold him down in close touch with earth-life, and to make the best of his new life. An immense amount of work is also done for the 1 H 88 -&g. living by putting good thoughts into the minds of those who are ready to receive them. It would be perfectly easy-easy to a degree quite Incredible to those who do not understand the subject practically-for a helper to dominate the mind of an average man and make him think just as the helper pleased, without arousing any suspicion of outside influencein the mind of the subject. Such a proceeding, however, would be entirely inadmissible. All that may be done is to throw the good thought into the person's mind among the thousands that are constantly surging through it, and hope that the person will take it up. make it his own, and act upon it. Very varied assistance can be given in this manner. 1 H 89. LAD 47. THE ASTRAL BODY H S I 346- lf99. 1 L II 95-{16. I H 8~. 1 L I 195· 1 L I 195196. I H 90-9 1 • ~ 1f 2\~. Consolation is often given to those in sorrow or sickness; reconciliations are attempted between those who have been separated by conflict of opinions or interests; earnest truth-seekers are guided towards the truth; it is often possible to put the solution of some spiritual or metaphysical problem into the mind of one who is spending anxious thought upon it. Lecturers may be helped by suggestions or illustrations either materialised in subtler matter before the speaker or impressed upon his brain. A regular invisible helper soon acquires a number of .. patients," whom he visits every night, just as a doctor upon earth makes a regular round among his patients. Each worker thus usually becomes the centre of a small group, the leader of a band of helpers for whom he is always able to find constant employment. Work can be found in the astral world for any number of workers, and every one who wishes--man, woman or child-may be one of them. A pupil may often be employed as an agent in what practically amounts to the answering of prayer. Although it is true that any earnest spiritual desire, such as may be expressed in prayer, is a force which automatically brings about certain results, it is also a fact that such a spiritual effort offers an opportunity of influence to the Powers of Good. A willing helper may thus be made the channel through which energy is poured forth. This is true of meditation to an even greater extent. In some cases such a helper is taken to be the saint, etc., to whom the petitioner prayed, and there are many stories to illustrate this. Pupils who are fitted for the work are also employed to suggest true and beautiful thoughts to authors, poets, artists and musicians. Sometimes, though more rarely, it is possible to warn people of the danger to their moral development of some course that they are pursuing, to dear away evil influence from about some person or place, or to counteract the machinations of black magicians. INVISIBLE HELPERS There is so much work for invisible helpers on the astral plane that it is clearly emphatically the duty of the student to fit himself by every means in his power to assist in its performance. The work of the invisible helpers would not be done unless there were pupils at the stage where it is the best work that they can do. As soon as they pass beyond that stage and can do higher work, the higher work will certainly be given to them. It should be borne in mind that when power and training are given to a helper, they are given to him under restrictions. He must never use them selfishly, never display them to gratify curiosity, never employ them to pry into the business of others, never give what at spiritualistic seances are called tests, i.e., he must never do anything which can be proved as a phenomenon on the physical plane. He might take a message to a dead man, but not, unless under direct instructions from his Master, bring back a reply from the dead to the' living. Thus the band of invisible helpers is neither a detective office nor an astral information bureau, but is intended simply and quietly to do such work as is given to it to do or as comes in its way. As an occult student progresses, instead of assisting individuals only, he learns to deal with classes, nations, and races. As he acquires the requisite powers and knowledge, he begins to wield the greater forces of the lkAsha and the astral light, and is shown how to make the utmost possible use of each favourable cyclic influence. He is brought into relationship with the great Nirrnanakayas, and becomesone of their almoners, learning how to dispense the forces which are the fruit of their sublime self-sacrifice. There is no mystery as to the qualifications needed by one who aspires to be a helper: to some extent these have already been incidentally described, but it rna}:' be useful also to set them out fully and categorica-lly. (1) Single-mindedness, sometimes called one-pointedness; the would-be helper must make the work of 245 1 L 1 37· LAD •..-.. ,. 2 C 17 • I H 93. H S II 235· 1 H 93-94. LAD 51. THE ASTRAL BODY helping others his first and highest duty: the work which the Master would have him do must be the one great interest of his life. Furthermore, intelligent discrimination is needed not only between useful and useless work, but also between the different kinds of useful work. Economy 1 [. 1 38-40: of effort is a prime law of occultism, and every student 1l~' 180' should devote himself to the very highest work of 200-201. • which he is capable. It is also essential that the M p .53· student should on the physical plane do the utmost that lies in his power to further the same great ends of helping his fellows. 1 H 94-9,5. (2) Self-Control.-This comprises complete control L..4 D .51. of temper, so that nothing seen or heard can cause real irritation, for the consequences of such irritation would be far more serious on the astral than on the physical plane. If a man with fully awakened faculty on the astral plane were to feel anger against a person on that plane, be would do him serious and perhaps H 5 II 236. fatal injury. Any manifestation of irritability, excitement or impatience in the astral world would at once make a helper a fearsome object, so that those whom he wished to help would fly from him in terror. 1 I II 89. A case is recorded where an invisible helper keyed herself up to such a state of excitement that her astral body greatly increased in size, vibrating violently and flashing forth fiery colours. The newly-dead person she was hoping to help was horrified to see the huge, flaming, flashing sphere rushing at him, took it for the theological devil in proprid persona, and fled in terror, his terror being increased by the would-be helper persistently following him. 1 H 95-96. In addition, control of nerve is essential, so that LAD 51. none of the fantastic or terrible sights that may be encountered may be able to shake the student's dauntless courage. As previously stated, it is to make sure of this control of nerve, and to fit him for the work that has to be done, that candidates are always made, now as in days of old, to pass what are called the tests of earth. water, air and fire y INVISIBLE HELPERS The student has to realise that in the astral body the densest rock offers no impediment to his freedom of movement, that he may leap with impunity from the highest cliffs, and plunge with absolute confidence into the heart of a raging volcano or the deepest abyss of the fathomless ocean. These things have to be sufficiently realised for the student to act upon them instinctively and confidently. Further. control of mind and desire are needed: of mind. because without the power of concentration it would be impossible to do good work amid all the distracting currents of the astral plane; of desire, because in the astral world to desire is very often to have, and, unless desire were well controlled, the student might find himself faced with creations of his own of which he should be heartily ashamed. (3) Calmness.-This means the absence of worry and depression. Much of the work consisting of soothing those who are disturbed and cheering those in sorrow. it is clear that a helper could not do such work if his own aura were vibrating with continual fuss and worry. or grey with the gloom of depression. Nothing is more fatal to occult progress or usefulness than worrying over trifles, The optimistic view of everything is always nearest to the divine view, and therefore to the truth, because only the good and beautiful can be permanent. while evil by its very nature is temporary; unruffled calm leads to a serenity which is joyous. making depression impossible. As stated previously, depression is exceedingly contagious, and must be entirely eliminated by one who aims at becoming an invisible helper. Such an one would be characterised by his absolute serenity under all possible difficulties, and by his radiant joy in helping others. (4) Knowledge.-The more knowledge a man has in any and every direction, the more useful he will be. He should fit himself by careful study of everything that has been written about the astral plane and astral work in occult literature, for he cannot 247 1 H 96-97. LAD 51. 1 H 97-98. i/ll:iz 1H 98. tt B~I. c i25. 3· . THE ASTRAL BODY C 125. 1 H99. L.if D 51. 1 L 11 99. C 12 5. 1 H 99-IOJ. LAD 51-52. expect others, whose time is already fully occupied, to expend some of it in explaining to him what he might have learnt for himself in the physical world by taking the trouble to read books. There is perhaps no kind of knowledge of which a use cannot be found in the work of the occultist. (5) Love.-This, the last and greatest of the qualiftcations, is also the most misunderstood. Emphatically it is not backboneless sentimentalism, overfiowing with vague and gushing generalities, which fears to stand fum for the right lest it should be stigmatised by the ignorant as .. unbrotherly." What is wanted is love strong enough to act without .talking about it; the intense desire for service whicn is ever on the watch for an opportunity to render it, even though it prefers to do so anonymously; the feeling which springs up in the heart of him who has realised the great work of the Logos, and, having once seen it, knows that for him there can be in the three worlds no other course but to identify himself with it to the utmost limit of his power-to become, in however humble a way, and at however great a distance, a tiny channel of that wondrous love of God which, like the peace of God, passeth man's understanding. It will be recollected that for two persons on the astral plane to communicate with one another astrally, it is necessary that they should have a language in common; therefore the more languages an astral plane helper knows, the more useful he is. The standard set for an Invisible Helper is not an impossible one; on the contrary it is attainable by every man, though it may take him time to reach it. Every one knows of some case of sorrow or distress, whether among the living or the dead does not matter. On going to sleep a resolution should be made to do what is possible, whilst asleep and in the astral body, to help that person. Whether the memory of what has been done penetrates into the waking consciousness or not is of no consequence; it may be taken as a certainty that something has been achieved, and some day, INVISIBLE HELPERS 249 sooner or later, evidence will be forthcoming that success has been attained. With a person who is fully awakened to the astral 0 S D 35. plane the last thought before going to sleep would matter less, becausehe would have the power of turning readily from one thought to another in the astral world. In his case, the general trend of his thought would be the important factor, for equally during day and night his mind would be likely to move in its accustomed fashion. CHAPTER XXIX CONCLUSION few who possess direct, personal knowledge of the astral world, its life and its phenomena, yet there are many reasons for beLeving that this small group, of those who know these things from their own experience, is rapidly growing and is likely to be very largely increased in the near future. Psychic faculty, especially among children, is becoming less and less rare: as it gradually becomes accepted, and ceases to be regarded as unhealthy or .. tabu," it is likely to increase both in extent and in intensity. Thus, for example, books have recently been published, and widely read, dealing with naturespirits, better known as fairies, and showing even photographs of these dainty creatures and their work in the economy of nature: whilst any open-minded enquirer will experience little difficulty in finding people, young and old, who frequently see fairies, at work and at play, as well as many other entities and phenomena of the astral world. Again, the enormous vogue of spirituaUsm has made the astral world and many of its phenomena objectively real and thoroughly familiar to many millions of persons in every part of the globe. Physical science, with its ions and electrons, is on the threshold of the astral world, while the researches of Einstein and others are rapidly making acceptable the conception of the fourth dimension, which for so long has been familiar to students of the astral world. In the realm of psychology, modem analytical methods give promise of being able to reveal the true nature of, at any rate, the lower fraction of man's ALTHOUGH there are at present relatively CONCLUSION psyctuc mechanism, confirming incidentally some of the statements and teachings put forward by ancient Eastern books and by Theosophists and occultists of to-day. Thus, for example, a well-known author of books on psychology and psycho-analysis, recently informed the present writer that in his view the" complex" was identical with the "skandhlra" of the Buddhist system, while another psychologist of worldwide repute told a friend of the present writer that his psychological---not psychic--researches had led him irresistibly to the fact of re-incarnation. These are some of the indications that the methods of orthodox Western science are leading to results identical with those which have for ages been common knowledge in certain parts of the East, and which have, during approximately the last half-century, been rediscovered by a small group of individuals who, guided by Eastern teachings, have developed within themselves the faculties necessary for the direct observation and investigation of the astral (as well as higher) worlds. It would be a platitude to remark that the acceptance by the world in general of the existence of the astral plane and its phenomena-which cannot be much longer deferred-will inevitably and immeasurably enlarge and deepen man's conception of himself and his own destiny, as well as revolutionise his attitude towards the outer world, including the other kingdoms of nature, physically visible and invisible. Once a man succeeds in establishing to his own satisfaction the reality of the astral world, he is compelled to re-orient himself, and to make for himself a new set of values for the factors which affect his life and determine his activities. Sooner or later, but inevitably, the broad conception that merely physical things play a very small part in the life of the human soul and spirit, and that man is essentially a spiritual being, unfolding his latent powers with the help of the various vehicles, physical, astral, and other, which from time to time he assumes-will THE ASTRAL BODY displace all other viewpoints and lead men to a complete re-alignment of their lives. A realisation of his own true nature, of the fact that through life after life on earth, with interludes in other and subtler worlds, he is steadily evolving and becoming more and more spiritual, logically and inevitably leads man to see that, if and when he chooses, he may cease from dallying with life and with drifting on the broad current of the evolutionary stream, and may instead assume the helm of his own life-voyage. From this point in the growth of his awareness" of things, and of his own inherent possibilities, he will pass to the next stage, where he approaches the ancient and narrow" Path, upon which he will find Those Who, outstripping Their fellows, haveachieved the maximum possible in purely human development. These are They Who, eagerly, yet with limitless patience, wait for Their younger brothers to come out of the nursery of ordinary worldly life into Their higher life where, with Their guidance and assisted by Their compassion and power, man may rise to the stupendous heights of spirituality to which They have attained, and become in his turn a saviour and helper of mankind, thus speeding the mighty plan of evolution towards its goal. II If INDEX A Bewitched Life, 89 Accident, death from, 136, 138 Accidents caused by thought, 55 Accident on astral plane, 149 Adaptability, colour of, 12 Adept on astral plane, 167 Adeptship and childhood, 210 Affection, colour of. 12 Agni, ISo Airships, 159 Air-spirits, 179, 183 AkAsha, forces of, 245 AkAshic records, 235 Alchemists, 7, 149, 175 Alcohol and nature-spirits, 181 and injury to web, 35 and man's bodies, 65, 66 Alcoholics on astral plane, 128. 129 Ambition, colour of, 12 intensification of, 39 after death, 129 Amputation, 8 Amulets,6g Anandamayakosha, 27 Angels, 184 guardian, 50, 13) of the Cardinal Points, 186 Anger, colour of, II effect on web, 35 flash of, 19 thought-forms of. 58, 61 Anglican chants. 60 Animal characteristics in man, 2 II link with, 142, 2II obsession of, 140 reincarnati ng as, 141 soul, the, 24 Animals, association with men, 76 astral bodies of, 178 clairvoyance of, 61 feelings of, 25 individualisation of, 76, 2)8 Annamayakosha, 27 Anthropoid apes, 179 Apogee of moon, 146 Apparitions, 50, 51, 106, 227 Appearance of man after death, 106 Apple-green in aura, 12 Apports. 157, 182 Arhat, bodies of, 16 Arpeggios, form of, 60 Artificial elementals, 45,175,188 Artist on astral plane, 131 Arupadevas, 185 Aspiration, colour of, 12 Assimilation of experiences, 205 Astral and buddhic planes, 230 centres, 22) current, 232 currents, 84 death, 204 dreams, 99 entities, artificial, 188 human, 166 non-human, 174 light, 153 Light, the. 51, 245 matter. grades of. 4 origin of word, 7 world, size of, 1)1 Astrology. rationale of, 9 Atlantis, airships of, 159 and spiritualism, 189 black magicians of. 5) language of, 18g Atma, a principle in man, 29 Atma-buddhi-manas, 28, 29. 204 Atmosphere on astral plane, 150 Atomic astral matter, 14 matter, )6 short-cut, 105 sub-plane of astral. 148 sub-planes, )6, 105 web. 93 Atoms, 5 line of, 2)2 male and female, 5 Atoms, spirilbe in, 10) INDEX 254 Atrophy of qualities. 209 Attitude of mind after death. 125 Aura. 7. 208 forming shell round, 102 of deva, 184 of metal, stone. etc.• 8 regularity in. 22 Author. reaching thought of, 54 Authors and mental images. 53 Automatism. physical. 91 Avarice. colour in aura. I I effect on aura. 2 I Average length of astral life, 131 man after death. 121 man's astral body. 15 Awakening on astral plane. 89 Bridge, astral body a. 23, 25. 26 Bridge, etheric, 93. 95 Brown-grey in aura. I I Brownies, 179 Browning. Miss K.. 214 Brown-red in aura. I I Brutality of teacher, 210 Bubbles in koilon, 5 Buddha. aura of. 7 Buddhi and thought-forms, 43 principle in man. 29 sheath of, 27 Buddhic plane, 230 vehicle. 103 Buddhists. and skandhas, 207 Butchers' shops, 66 Butchery of animals, 179 BABY CAFFEIN,67 body, obsession of, 140 physical body. 208 Bach, 59 Bars in astral body. II. 21 Base of spine chakram, 31. 38 Beer-houses. 66 Bell-ringing. 178 Benediction (Church service). Cage of thoughts. 47 California, 228 Calmness, 247 Capital punishment. 137 Captain Kettle, 64 Carnivorous diet, 65 Casting out the Self, 165 Castor and Pollux, 236 Catalepsy, 171 Catastrophes, 241 Cat's furring, 61 Causa body. and lower vibrations, 72 effect of astral on, 14 entangled with astral. 205 gaps in. 14 luminosity, 14 of Master, 201 other bodies resemble. 16 power of magnification, 33 Cells, consciousness of, 97 Centre of Consciousness, 79 Centres. astral. 223 Cerebro-spinal system. 223 Ceremonial magic. 167 Chakrams, 31. 79 and fourth dimension. 163 and memory of astral life. 93 Chamber of horrors. 51 Change of particles in astral body, 129 Charlemagne. 216 Charms, 224 Chatter, silly, 61 Chatur MahArijas, 186 Cheerfulness, 13 Chemical affinity. 25 Chicago. 227 Child. aura of. 17 23 1 Between eyebrows chakram, 31 Bhagavan Das, 214 Bhang, 224 Bhiititman. 27 Black in aura, I I Black magic and lower chakrams 3 1,39 and shade. 169 vampires and werewolves. 17 1 and Spiritualism, 191 Black magicians of Atlantis. 53 on astral plane, 168, 172 Blavatsky and spiritualism, 192, 202 Blindness, astral. 229 Bliss sheath, 27 Blood and vampires. 171 Blood, scent of. 66 Bloodhound, baying of. 61 Blue in aura, 12 Blue-green in aura. 12 Boils. 17 Book seen astrally, 151 Books. word of dead, 135 Bragdon, Claude. 161 Brain dreams, 97 Brain intelligence, 26 Break in consciousness, 93 Breath-control. 224 INDEX Children and city life, 62 dead. 183 dying young, 139 mental body of, 209 on astral plane, 90 terror of, 74 Chinese, 63 Chladni's sound plate. 60 Chord, mystic plate, 235 Cities, life in, 17, 62, 67 Clairaudience 234 Clairvoyance, danger of, 226 in space and time, 232 not unmixed blessing, 225 reliable, 228 untrained, 228 Cleanliness, 67 Climate and astral plane, 150 and occult work, 228 Clinging to physical life, 126, 139 Closed curves, 56 Coarse astral body. 120 Coarse bodies, 64 Cocaine, 66 Coffee. 35, 67 Coils in astral body, 18 Coins. 70 Collective emotion, 217 Collision on astral plane. 149 Colour-language, 22, 184 Colourless man after death, 126 Colours, meaning of, I I of thought and emotion, 43, 46 position of, 13 quality 0(,7 Communicating entities, 197 Communication on astral plane, 34, 154 Composition of astral body, 6 Concrete thoughts, 45 Consciousness, physical, in dreams, 97 Consciousness, unbroken. 87 Continuity of consciousness, 87, 95, 104 Control of astral body. 78 Control of thought, 102 Controls, spiritualistic, 190 Conversion. religious, 74 Convulsions. 55 Conway, Sir Martin. 215 Corpse, astral, 169. 206 physical, 126 Correspondence of sub-planes, 72 Cosmic planes, 105 255 Counterpart, after death, 107 composition of. 7 during sleep, 83 quality, 64 of books, 148 of child, 208 of developed man, 85 of objects. 8 of objects, moving, 150 of physical world, 118 of rock, 151 of undeveloped man, 150 re-arrangement of, 109 seeing, 114 Cow, lowing of, 61 Cravings after death, 127 Cremation, 126, 171 Criminals, 147 Crimson in aura, 12 Critical state of matter, 122 Crowd-compeller, 216 Crowd-consciousness, 55, 216 Crowd-exponent. 217 Crowd in Peace and War, 215 Crowd-leaders, 218 Crowd, psychological, 216 Crowd psychology, 215 Crowd-representative, 217 Crowds, living amongst, 17 Crystal-gazing, 224 Crystal, nature of, 233 Cruelty, karma of. 21 Cunning, colour of, 12 Curiosity, colour of, 58 Currents, astral, 84, 150 Curses come home to roost, 49 Cycle of life and death, 117 107 appearance after, 108 astral, 204 usually painless, 107 Death-warnings, 52 Decaying food, 65 Deceit, colour of, 12 Delirium tremens, 36, 66, 223 Demons, 139 Densest astral matter, 147 Density of gas, 163 Depression, barrier to progress, 74 causes of, 73 colour of, 12.21 must be eliminated, 247 Dervishes, 224 Desire and will, 24 Desire-elemental, 6, 10, 77, 107 dominance by, 73 final struggle with, 205 DEATH. INDEX Desire, killing out, 220 Destruction of thought-forms, 63 Devachan, 204 communicating with, 197 giving up, 172 Devarajas, 185 Devas, 184 link with, 27 number of, 60 work of, 237 Developed man, astral body of, 15 Devotion, colour of, 12 Devotional thought-form, 57 Dhritarashtra, 186 Dhruvam, 109 Diet, 65 Direct voice, 239 Dirt, 67 Discriminating sheath, 27 Discrimination, 246 Disintegration, 156, 164 of astral body, 109, 126, 136 of key, 156 Disraeli, 2 I 6 Distance thoughts travel, 44, 50 Divine memory, 153, 235 Djinns, 179 Doctor after death, 135 Dog, barking, 61 Dog-faced man, 212 Dominating mind of another, 243 Doves, cooing of, 61 Dozing consciousness, 178 Dramatisation by ego, 97, 101 Dread, inexplicable, 227 Dream consciousness, 103 Dreams, 93 and astral work, 96 astral,99 brain, 97 changing, 96 confused, 97 controlling, 96 ego, 100 etheric brain, 97 how produced, 96 modification of, 95 symbols in, 102 vague, 93 vivid,94 warning. 101 Drink craving, 100 Drugs, 66, 224 Drunkard after death, 127, 129, 147 and rebirth, 209 Drunkenness, dreams of, 100 Dvesha, 214 Dweller on threshold, 2 I I Dying young, 125 EARTH-BOUND persons, 142 Earth elemental essence, 157 Earthquakes, 55 Economy of effort, 246 Egg shape of aura, 13 Eidophone, 60 Eighth sphere, 171 Einstein, 256 Ego affected by thoughts, 14 and desires, 29 and kundalini, 41 and personality, 28 asleep, 100 consciousness of, 101 direct action of, 91 dramatisation by, 97, 101 dreams, 100 hold on vehicles, 210 measure of time and space, 101 of medium, 198 prevision of, 101 symbols used by, 102 withdrawal of, II7, II8, 126, 136, 196, 204, 206 Electrical disturbances, 157 Electrons, 5 Elemental essence, 174 and heat, 157 and re-birth, 208 and talismans, 6g appearance of, 144 earth, 157 evolution of, 108 in astral body, 6, 76 in thought forms, 44 responsiveness of, 45 kingdom. third 6 kingdoms, 174 self, 27 Elernentals, 188 artificial, 45 from astral body, 71 like a storage battery, 51 of air and water, 159 of alchemists, 175 of fire, 160 Elementary, 66, 143 Elizabeth, Queen, 123 Elves, 179 Emerald green in aura, 12 Emotion, 24 collective, 217 Emotion-elements, 214 INDEX Emotions, genesis of, 215 intensity of, 86 mastery of, 21] Entanglement of kama and manas, 142 Entities, astral, 166, 174, 188 Etheric brain, 97 brain-dreams, 98 bridge, 9] currents, 155 double and karma, r86 and materialisations, 172 and re-birth, 209 principle in man, 29 pressure, 155, 156 shell after death, r 39 Evocation, 18], 185, 234 Excitement, dangers of, 74 on astral plane, 246 Explosion on astral plane, 149 Ezekiel, 186 FACULTIES, astral, 79 latent, 80 Fairies, 179 Falling in love, 20 Fatigue, nervous, 67 not in astral body, 82, 1I4 not in mental body, 82 Fauns, 179, 184 Fear, colour of, 12 on astral plane, 89 Feet, emanations of, 67 Fidgetiness, 62 Fiery Power, ]8 Fifth Root race, 80 roundv So sub-plane, 134, 147 Film on astral body, 19 Fire elementals, 160 handling, 160 production of, 160 First sub-plane, 147, 148 Five dimensions, 16] Flash of anger, 19 Fleece of Jason, 254 Flesh food, 65, 66, 181 Floating thought-forms, 55 Flower-like forms, 57 Flowers in worship, 57 Flush in astral body, 19 257 Flute, 58 F note, 6] Focus of consciousness, 79, 81, 1I0 Fohat, ]8 Food, 64, 65 Food, not for astral body, 10, 129 Food-sheath, 27 Force-centres, ]1 Forcing development, 224 Forests, influence of, 67 Four dimensions, 31, 59 Four-dimensional globe, 162 Fourth dimension, 161 Fourth Dimension, The, 161 Fourth root race, 50, 170, 223 round.Bo spirillse, 103 sub-plane, 134, 147 Freedom on astral plane, 130 Freewill, 29 Functions of astal body, 2] Fussiness, 62 GAMBOGE in aura, 12 Gandharvas, 186 Genesis of emotions, 215 Genius, flashes of, 105 Geometrical thought-forms, 58 Geometry, 164 Ghosts, 51 Giggles, nervous, 62 Glamour on astral plane, 151 of nature-spirits, 180 Glutton after death, 127 Gnomes, 179 Gnyl\nam, 214 Goblins, 179 Going to sleep, thought before, 85, 88, 96, 103, 248 Gold in aura, 12 Golden age, 177 Golden crowns, 148 Good and evil, effect of, 7 I how stored, 72 "Good People," 179 Gorilla-like thought-form, 6] Gravitation and astral matter, 145 Gravity, neutralising, 159 Great Tone, the, 6] Green in aura, 12 Greenish-brown in aura, I I Gregorian tone, 60 Grey in aura, 12 livid, 12, 19 INDEX Grey-green in aura, 12 Grief for the dead. 135. 196 Growth of objects, 164 Guardian angels. 50. 135 Guffaw thought-form. 61 Guide. spirit, 142. 190 Gums in incense. 6g Gun-fire. 62 Guru. 203 Gyroscope. 68 HABITS, how formed, 41 of astral body. 11 Hall of Ignorance. 153 of Learning. 153 of Wisdom. 153 Handling fire. 160 Hands, emanations of. 61 Hand-writing. imitating. 158 Happy hunting-grounds. 148 Hardening web. 36 Harmonograph, 60 Haschish, 224 Hate-emotions. 214 Hatha Yoga. 224 Hatred. colour of, II Haunted houses. 114. 118 Haunted places, 51 Health, physical. 61 Hearing. astral. 32 Heart chakram, 31 Heaven-world, 118, 204 Hell apparent, log a figment, 128 Helping by thought. 63 Hermit, 15 Higher manas, 29 Highlands, 51 HimAlayan Brotherhood. ISg Hinton. C. H., 161 Historical events, 54 Hooked thought-forms, 56 Horizontal divisions. 116 Host. The, 230 Hostility of elementals, 221 House, building on astral plane, 115 Hudson, T. J., 218 Human arti1icials. ISg Hungary, 110 Hypnotism, 48, 219 Hysteria, 14 and clairvoyance. 223 leHCHA-, 214 Idiots. 212 Illusion and astral plane, 151 Images in mental body, 45 Imaginary cities, etc., 141. 148 Impersonal thought, 43 Incense.6g Incubi. 139 Indian jugglers, 181 Indigo in aura, 12 IndividuaIisation, helped by man. 16, 238 mode of, 123, 12~ Individualised animals. 118 Indra, ISo Inflammation, centres of, 11 Initiation, qualifications for, 7 Injury to astral body, 149 Insanity. 36, 75. 212 Instigation to crime, 137 Intellect, colour of, 12 Interpenetration, 4, 149 Intervals between lives. 123 Investment of ego, 118•.208 Invisible helpers, 236 Invocation. 183. 224, 234 Iridescence. 16 Irritability in aura, II, 58 Irritable man, 21 Irritation, causes of, 61 on astral plane, 246 JA-GRAT, 103 Jealousy, colour of. II thought-form of, 58 Jewels. 51, 6g Jiva,21 Joy in aura, 12 Joy of life on astral plane. 94 Jumping on astral plane, ISO KALI,53 KA.ma, 23. 28. 79 and lower manas, 119 cause of reincarnation. 207 reflection of AtmA.. 24 transcended, 81 KA.madevas, 185 KA.inaloka, 116 KAma-manas. 26, 21, 28. 29. 45. 78 freein~ from. 119 KAma-rupa, 24 Karma and re-birth, 208 on astral plane, 133 Karmic deities, 186 Key, disintegration of. 156 Keynote of man. 234 INDEX Killing out desire. 220 love, 221 Knowledge, qualification of, 247 Kobolds. 179 KoHon. bubbles in. 5 Kriyi. 214 Kshetragna, 27 Kshiti,I80 Kumbhandas, 186 Kung, 63 LAKE Regillus, Battle of. 236 Language on astral plane, 34, 134, 154. 248 on mental plane, 34 Latent faculties, 80 Laughter, thought-forms of. 61. 62 Laukika method. 224 Law of Psychi& Phenomena. 218 Layers of consciousness. 91 Leadbeater and Spiritualism, 192 Length of astral life. 124 average, 131 Levitation. 159 Leyden jar, thought-forms like, 45. 63 Life-term, appointed. 137. 138 Light. destructive effects of, 158 on astral plane, I so Lilac-blue in aura. 12 Limbus. II6 Lines in astral body, 12. n Links between bodies, 104 Lipika,I86 Liver, 25 Logos, astral body of, 9 Lokottara method, 225 Loosening of principles, 106 Lords of Karma, 209 of the dark face. 53 of Venus. 80 Loss of the soul, 144 Lost souls, 206 Lotus and solar ll}'lItem. 165 Love. killing out, 22I qualiJication of. 248 selfish. colour of. 12 unselfish. colour of. 12 Love-emotions, 214 Lower chakrams, 3 1 , 39 18, 259 rnanas, 28. 29 and Rima. 119 part of aura, 13 psychism, 223 self. 26 quaternary, 23 Luminosity of astral matter. ISO Lunar form, slaying, 221 Lunatics. 212 MAGICAL ceremonies, 89. 177 Magnetised objects, 68 Magnification. 33, 233 Mahat.29 Malice, colour of, I I Manas, 29 Manas and Kima, 78. 119 Manas. projection from, 28. 29 Manomayakosha, 27 Mantrams, 156 Manu, 27 Mass, Christian, 230 Mass effect of thoughts. 54 Masses for the dead, 136 Master, causal body of, 201 communication from. 200 impersonation of, 201 meditation on. 57 work of, 237 Mastery of emotion. 213 Materialisation, 157 by drunkard, 128 of astal body, 106 of thought-form, So varieties of. 239 Materialism, breaking down, 194 Materialists on astral plane, 148 Miyivirllpa, 234 Meals on astral plane, 115 Meditation and psychic development. 229 and shell to protect, 76 on Master, 57 opens up channel, 244 thought-forms of, 58 Medium's ego, 199 Mediums and trance, 92, 106 communication through, 134, 136 passing into astral body, 91 Mediumship, 224 not a power, 225 Memory of astral life. 35, 37. 92, 93. 104 of past lives, 105 on astral plane. go, 151 MendeLssobIJ, 59 260 INDEX Mental body, affected by emotion, 20 astral body resembles, 16 consciousness, 103 of child, 209 used by pupils, etc., 170 Mental matter, entanglement of, 108 unit, 207 Mesmeric action of thought, So, 227 Mesmerism akin to glamour, 180 to stimulate psychism, 224, 233 to waken man on astral plane, 90 Metals, transmutation of, 160 Metaphysical thought, 58 Military music, 60 Mineral monad, 108 Minerals, k4ma in, 25 Minification, 33 Minor vampires, 170, 199 Miser, 21 Mohammedan fanatic, 141 Moment of death, 107 Monad,41 powers of, 165 Monadic essence, 6, 174 Monads, animal, vegetable, etc., 174 Money, 70 Monsters, 212 Moods, 73 Moon-men, 124 Moon's orbit, 146 Morality of thought, 63 Mountains, influence of, 67 Mourning, injurious, 135, 196 Movement of astral particles, 8, 15,34, 113 of astral objects, 149 Murderer after death, 130, 137 Music and nature-spirits, 181 forms, 58 Music learning on astral plane, 132 on astral plane, 131 Musk,70 Mysteries, Ancient, 65 Mystic chord, 235 Mysticism and fourth dimension, 165 Myths, ancient, 129 Nature-spirits, 179 and coarse vibrations, 73 and dirt, 67 and music, 59 and spiritualism, 178, 199 as invisible helpers, 236 ensouling thought-forms.yj, 55 faculties of, 164 glamour of, 180 higher types, 187 irresponsible, 182 playing with children, 183 seeking sensation, 74 Navel chakrarn, 31, 32 Nervous diseases, 17,66 New Jerusalem, 148 Nimbus, 17 Nirrnanakayas, 57, 173,200,245 Nirvana, 173 Noises, 62, 67 Novelist after death, 135 NJ.OAS, 186 Napoleon, 216 Narcotics, 35 National thoughts, 54 PAIN, OBEAH, 168, 170 Objective mind, 219 Obsession and religious revivals, 74 and sleep, 91 and web, 35, 36 by desperate entity, 196 by drunkard, 128 by nature-spirit, 184 by sensualist, 128 of drunkards, 66 of mediums, 140 resisting, 128 through loss of control, 73 Obstacles on astral plane, 149 Ocean influences, 67 Odours, 127 Ointments, 225 One-pointedness, 245 Open curves, 56 Opium, 66, 67 Optimism, 247 Orange in aura, 12 Orchestra, music-form made by, 58 Ordinary man after death, 123 Organ, church, 58 Ossification of web, 36 Ouspensky, P. D., 161, 163 Outline of astral body, 6, 7, 13 of thought-form, 46 Outpourings, 174 control of, 87 on astral plane, 87 produces repulsion, 214 INDEX Painters, 53 Paradise, 148 Paralysis of astral body, 128 Parents and children, 210 Parrot scream, 61 Particles, rapid movement of, 8, 15,34, 113 Passage through matter, 157 Passions and kama, 23 Passivity of physical body, 222 Pavana, 180 Pearls, a dream symbol, 102 Perigee of moon, 146 Peria, 179 Permanent atoms, 220 and lower thoughts, 14 and re-birth, 207 at end of astral life, 205 evil stored in, 72, 100 of Ninnanakllyas, 173 Peroulums, 60 Personality, the, 26, 29 Perspective and astral sight, 152 Philanthropist on astral plane, 132 Physical consciousness, 97 elemental, 82 life, 64 Physician in sleep-life, 86 Piano music-forms, 58 Pictures, precipitation of, 159 Pig-faced man, 212 Pineal gland, 33 Pishlchas, 141 Pituitary body and alcohol, 66 and astral consciousness, 105 and memory of astral life, 93 and top of head chakram, 33 link with astral body, 41 Pixies, 179 Planetary influences, 9 spirits, 185 Planets, astral,9 joined four-dimensionally, 165 Plants, feeling in, 25 Plasticity of vehicles, 210 Pleasure and genesis of emotions, 21 4 Pleasures of astral life, 132 Poet, thought-forms of, 59 Pole to pole currents, ISS Politics and crowd-psychology, 217 Population of astral world, 131 Potential energy, ISS 26I Prana, a force from Logos, 38 a principle of man, 23, 29 and kama, 24 and spleen chakram, 32 sheath of, 27 special type in web, 36 PrAnamayakosha, 27 Pranayama, 224 Prayer, answers to, 57, 244 for the dead, 136 Precious stones, 6g Precipitation, 159 Pressure of ~houghts, 7 Preta,II6 Pretaloka, 116 Prevision, 101 Pride. colour of, 12 satanic, 39 Primrose yellow in aura, I2 Principles in man, 23, 29 fitting tightly, 91 loosening of, 106 Probationary pupil, 250 Problem-solving in sleep, 94 Production of fire, 162 Projection of astral body, 106 of thought-form, So, 234 Protective thought, 49, 56 Protection against thoughts, 4 Protestantism, 117 Psychic after death, 136 faculties, 12 developing, 222 on astral plane, 167 Psychism and spirituality, 222 lower and higher, 223 spasmodic, 225 Psychology, modem, 257 Psychometer, 235 Public opinion, 217 Pupil awaiting incarnation, 16g awaking on astral plane, 88 on astral plane, 167, 168 Purgatory, 117. 127 Purification of bodies, 2 I 3 Pyramids, how built, 159 QUALIFICATIONS for initiation, 7 for the Path, 245 Quality of astral body, 120 Quaternary, 28, 29, 142 INDEX Queen Elizabeth, 123 Queen Victoria, 123 RACE-FEELINGS, S4 Radiating tbought-vibrations, 43, S6 RAga, 214 Railway engine screech, 62 RAjasic foods, 6S RAja Yoga, 22S Yogi,6S Rates of vibration in astral body. 14. 16 Ray of manas, 28, 29 Rays, 10, 176 Rearrangement of astral body, 108 breaking up, 111,242 Re-birth, 207 Rebounding thought-form, 49 Records of astral light, I S3 Red in aura, II Reduplication, IS8 Refinement of bodies, 64 Regents of the Earth, 186 Regularity of aura, 22 Reincarnation and ktma-manas, 26 and s,Pirltualism, 194 in animal, 2 II Religious excitement, 74 man, 21 " Remainers," 142 Remorse after death, 129, 243 Repentance, S2 Repercussion, 240 and sympathetic vibration, 160 injuries through, 171 on pbysical brain, 94 Replica of pbysical world, 113 Reproduction of tboughts, S6 Reservoir of spiritual force, S7 Responsibility of tbought, 63 Restfulness of astral life, 117 Reversal on astral plane, IS2 Review of life at death, 107 Revival, religious, 74 Rhytbmic foods, 6S Ride-fire, 62 Rippling of astral body, 13 Rising through sub-planes, 109 Robinson Crusoe, S4 Rock seen astrally, IS2 Roman Catbolic Church, 117 Rose-eolour in aura, 12 Rudraksha berry, 69 Rilpadevas, 18S Rush of feeling, 18 Russia, 170 SACHET powder, 70 St. ~ames, 236 St. osepb of Cupertino, IS9 St. artin, 142 St. Paul, 77, 16S St. Teresa, IS9 Salamanders, 179 Satvic foods, 6S Satyrs. 39, 179, 184 Scales, musical, 60 Scarlet in aura. 11 Scenery, imaginary, 147, 148 on astral plane, 134 Scents, 69 Schiller. 22S Science of the Emotions, 214 Scientific man, astral body of, 21 Scientific Romances, 161 Scientist on astral plane, 131, 148 Scribe Ani. 146 Sea-waves, 61 Second Outpouring, 6 sight, 223 sub-plane. 134. 147, 148 Self-centred thoughts, 47 Self-control. 246 Self-bypnotism, 224 Selfish religionist, 148 thoughts, S6 Selfishness, colour of. II Sensation and astral matter. 6 and kAma. 23, 24 and prana, 24 Sense centres, 2S Senses, astral, 34 Sensualist after deatb, 127, 147 Sensuality, colour of, 11 Separateness, beresy of, 26 Serpent fire, 32. 38 Serpent of desire, 221 Seven Rays, The, 24 Seventh sub-plane and sudden death, 136, 138 description of, 146 locality of, 14S type of inhabitant, 133, 147 Sex and nature spirits, 182 Shade, 168 and re-birth, 211 and spiritualism, 198 Shadows on astral plane, ISO Shakespeare's characters, S4 Shape of objects, disintegrated, IS6 Sbeatbs of man, 27 Sheep, baaing of, 61 INDEX Shell. I6g and re-birth, 2II and spiritualism, 198 during meditation. 76 during sleep. 102 of thought. 80 vitalised, 139 Sherlock Holmes, 54 Shield. atomic. 35 Shipwrecks. prevention of. 238 Shock. effect of. 35 Short-cut. atomic. 105 Shriddha, 136 Siddhis.33 Sight, astral. 151 Single-mindedness. 245 Sisyphus. 129 Sitting for development. 37 Six-dimensional world. 163 Sixth sub-plane, 133. 134. 145. 147 Size of astral body. 7 ofthough~fo~. 45. So Skandhas, 197, 207 Slate writing, 159 Sleep, cause of. 82 going to. 83 of astral body, 84 of average man, 85 of developed man, 85 of undeveloped man. 85 on astral plane. 151 surroundings in. 83 thought before going to. 85. 88, 96, 103. 248 work during, 88 Sleeping through astral life. 122 Sleep-life, 82 Sleep-walking, 91 Smell on astral plane, 128 Socrates. death of. 137 Solar plexus. 13 Soldiers killed in battle, 139 Some Occult Experiences, 162 Somnambulism, 91. 219 Song of birds. 61 Sons of God, 184 Sorcerers. 167 Specific gravity of astral matter. 14, 19 Spells, 156 Spine. 40. 41 Spiral course of kundalini, 38. 40 Spirit -guide, 140, 190 -hands, 159 -Iights, 159. 182 -photographs, 239 Spiritualism. 192 achievements of. 193 and reincarnation, 194 dangers of, 193. 196. 202 history of, 189 objections to, 195 Spiritualistic phenomena. 181 Spirituality. colour of. 12 Spleen, 25 chakram.3 I Spooks, 198 Sport. 179 Stars in aura, 12 Stella, 164 SthiJla Sharira, 24 Stonehenge. how built. 159 Stone throwing, lIS, 173 Storms. cause of. 55 " Strong Body," 109 Study in Consciousness, 205 Study on astral plane, 132. 149 Sub-conscious mind, 219 Sub-divisions of astral plane. 145 Sub-lunar world. 146 Sub-planes. correspondence of. 72 Sub-types. 10 Subjective mind, 219 Succu bee, 139 Sudden death. 136. 139. 170 rush of feeling, 18 Suffering on astral plane. 87 " Suffering Body." 109 Suggestion, 219 Suicide, 136, 137, 139, 170 not justifiable. 138 Suicides and spiritualism, 196 Summerland, 134. 146. 148 Super-physical forces. ISS Surprise in aura. 13 Sushupti, 103 Svapna, 103 Symbols, used by ego, 102 Symmetry of aura. 13 Sympathetic system, 223 vibration. 230 and astral phenomena. ISS and projected thought-form. 234 and repercussion. 160,240 Sympathy, colour of. 12 68 linked,6g Tamasic foods, 65 Tantalus, 129 Tea. 35, 67 Teacher. association with. 74 Telescope. astral. 233 TALISMANS, INDEX Temperature and occult work, 23 8 Tempters on astral plane, 139 Tempting" devils," 47 Tendencies in permanent atoms, 205 Terror, after death, u6, 136 colour of, 19 Tertium Organum, 161, 163 Tesseract, 162 Test of earth, etc., 149, 226, 245 Test phenomena, 245 Theatre, counterpart of, 133 Theine, 67 Third sub-plane, 134, 146, 147 Thought-control, 102 -currents, 99 -forms, 43 -transference, 34 Throat chakrarn, 31 Thunderstorm, 61 Thyrsus,41 Tightness of principles, 91 Time and space, for ego, 101 not fourth dimension, 164 on astral plane, 125 spent on sub-planes, 120 Tityus,129 Tobacco, and nature-spirits, 181 and undesirable entities, 66 deadening effect, 36 detrimental effects, 65 effect on astral body, 128 effect on web, 35 Tongue, meditation in, 33 Top of head chakram, 31, 33 Touching astral objects, 150 Trail of thoughts, 48 Trance, akin to sleep-life, 9 I and Turiya, 103 of mediums, 106 Transmutation of metals, 160 Travel, benefit of, 67 Travel in astral body, 32, 86, 234 in mental body, 234 Triad, higher, 142 immortal, 204 Trishna, 196, 197, 207 Trolls, 179 Tube, astral, 232 Tulsi plant, 6g Turiya, 103 Two-dimensional world, 162 Tyburn, 51 Types of essence, 176 of matter, 9 men, animals, etc., 10 ULTRA-RED in aura, 12 on astral plane, 152 Ultra-violet in aura, 12 on astral plane, 152 Unconsciousness after death, 107 Undines, 179 Unit, mental, 207 United thought, 58 Universal mind, 29 Upper part of aura, 13 VAGUE thoughts, 56 Vo1ishro1vana, 186 Valhalla, 148 Vampires, 52, 170 minor, 170, 199 Van Manen, J., 162 Varona, 180 Vegetables and kama, 25 Vegetarianism, 65 Venus, Lords of, 80 Versatility, colour of, 12 Vertical divisions, 176 Vertigo, 224 Vices, overcoming, 220 Victoria, Queen, 121 Vignanamayakosha, 27 Village gods, 183 Violet in aura, 12 Violin music forms, 58 Vinidhaka, 186 Virapaksha, 186 Vision, astral, 151 Visitors from other planets, 167 Vitalised shells, 139, 170, Ig8 Vitality, 12, 23, 29, 32, 36, 38, 67 sheath,27 Vivisection, 179 Vivisector on astral plane, 130 Voice of the Silence, 151,201,221 Voodoo, 168, 170 Vortices in astral body, 18 WAGNER, 59 Waking another on astral plane, 89 Waking consciousness, 103 Wandering demons, 51 War, causes of, 55 killed in, 141 Warning dreams, 101 Watch seen astrally, 151 265 INDEX Water, a dream symbol, 102 Waterfalls, influence of, 67 Water-sprites, 179 Web, atomic, 35, 93 injury to, 35, 37 Werewolf 170 Whirlpools in astral body, 16 Whistling, 62 White auras, 17 Will and desire, 24 directing thought-forms, 44 on astral plane, 125 p'?wer of, 240 WIlling and wishing, 221 Wind,61 Wine, detrimental effect of, 66 Witchcraft, 225 Withdrawal of ego, 117, 118, 126,196,204,206 delayed, 134 Wood-gods,183 World's Mother, 38 Worries in astral body, 17 Worry to be avoided, 74 Wound in astral body, 62 YAKSHAS 186 YatBna, 108 Yellow in aura, 12 and nimbus, 17 -ochre in aura, 12 Yoga, 104,223 Zanoni 89 QUEST BOOKS are published by The Theosophical Society in America, a branch of a world organization dedicated to the promotion of brotherhood and the encouragement of the study of religion, philosophy, and science, to the end that man may better understand himself and his place in the universe. The Society stands for complete freedom of individual search and belief. In the Theosophical Classics Series well-known occult works are made available in popular editions.
JJtstrafcftr#ction, cRi!.ua!MagU, ~ By the same author TANTRA FOR WESTERNERS Edited and Introduced by ifrantis CZ ..ing Additional Material by R. A. Gilbert DESTINY BOOKS Rochester, Vermont Destiny Books One Park Street Rochester, Vermont 05767 U.K. edition published by Aquarian Press Denington Estate, Wellingborough Northamptonshire, NN8 2RQ England Copyright © 1987 Francis King Cover illustration: 'The Star', from the unpublished MacGregor Mathers deck designed by Miranda Payne on the basis of pre-l900 Golden Dawn forms. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to Destiny Books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mathers, S. L. MacGregor (Samuel Liddell MacGregor), 1854-1918. Astral projection, ritual magic, and alchemy. Originally published: London: Spearman, 1971. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. 2. Magic. 3. Astral projection. 4. Rosicrucians. 5. Occult sciences. I. King, Francis. II. Gilbert, R. A. III. Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. IV. Title. 133.4'3 87-1768 BF161l.M378 1987 ISBN 0-89281-164-1 (pbk.) 10987654321 Destiny Books is a division of Inner Traditions International, Ltd. Printed and bound in the United States of America Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Harper and Row To the memories of Gerald Yorke and Francis Israel Regardie CONTENTS Foreword New Golden Dawn Discoveries 9 Introduction I. The Survival of Magic II. The Revival of Magic III. The Golden Dawn IV. The Magic of the Golden Dawn 21 28 33 37 PART ONE Imagination and Will-Power Flying Roll V Flying Roll I Flying Roll II Flying Roll VI 45 47 53 57 61 PART TWO Astral Projection Prefatory Note Flying Roll IV Flying Roll XI Flying Roll XXV Flying Roll XXX Flying Roll XXXVI Flying Roll XXXIII 63 65 71 75 85 91 93 95 PART THREE Rosicrucian Adeptship Flying Roll XVI Flying Roll XVIII Flying Roll XIX 103 105 Man, God and the Rosicrucian Initiation Flying Roll XV Flying Roll X 7 123 125 131 PART FOUR 111 115 CONTENTS PART AVE Esoteric Psychology Prefatory Note Hying Roll XX Hying Roll XXI 141 143 145 151 PART SIX Hermetic Love and the Higher Magic Hying Roll XIII Hying Roll XXVII 161 163 167 PART SEVEN Alchemy Prefatory Note Hying Roll VII 175 177 179 PART EIGHT Christian Occultism Prefatory Note Paper I Paper II Post Mortem Conditions The Devotion of the Quipus The Eagle Teachings on the Church 193 195 197 199 201 204 217 228 PART NINE Hermetic Wisdom and Mystical Prayer The Three Grades of Prayer Various Teachings On Divine Names Four States of Prayer 235 237 239 243 247 An Exegetical Note Upon the Hying Rolls Enochian Magic and the Enochian Language A Stella Matutina Hying Roll The Fugitive Hying Rolls R. A. Gilbert 'Catalogue of Hying Rolls' R. A. Gilbert 257 261 265 269 286 APPENDIX APPENDIX APPENDIX APPENDIX APPENDIX A B C D E 8 FOREWORD New Golden Dawn Discoveries In view of the current widespread interest in both the history of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the magical system which was the basis of all the occult activities of its members, who included W B. Yeats, Aleister Crowley, and Dion Fortune, it is surprising that today, in 1987, important Order-instructional documents dating from before 1900 should be published for the first time. Yet, as readers of Appendix D of this book will discover for themselves, such is the case, and it would seem probable that all the Golden Dawn instructional documents, on which the Order's magical workings were based, are now available in printed form. Only fifty years ago the position was very different, and the only people to have even heard of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, save for initiates of one or two obscure secret societies derived from it, were those comparatively few people who had read the Autobiographies of W B. Yeats, and a handful of dedicated students of the writings of Aleister Crowley. Somewhere around the middle of the 1930s the situation began to change. The fiction and non-fiction books and articles ofDion Fortune made available to the occult public a somewhat popularized version of some aspects of the Order's teachings: Israel Regardie's Tree of Life presented the Golden Dawn techniques of ritual magic in a readable and fairly easily comprehended manner; and, eventually, many of the Order's rituals and instructional documents were printed in The Golden Dawn (4 vols., Aries Press, Chicago, 1937-40). Since then much more has been published and, as a result of all this, most western occultists of the present day are well aware of the general nature of the Golden Dawn system-although few of them have worked that system in its entirety. An awareness of the one-time existence of the Golden Dawn as a working magical order now extends well beyond the ranks of those who could consider themselves to be 'working occultists' or even serious students of the occult; most people 9 FOREWORD who have, even cursorily, read such best sellers as Colin Wilson's excellent The Occult have heard the name 'Golden Dawn' and are vaguely conscious of the fact that such men as A. E. Waite, Aleister Crowley, Arthur Machen, and W. B. Yeats were, at one time or another, associated with the Order. There is no doubt that some of the men and women who received Golden Dawn initiation found the Order's teachings and its syncretistic approach little to their taste. Thus, of the four names given above, A. E. Waite rejected all the specifically magical elements in the Order's system, while Arthur Machen seems to have eventually come to the conclusion that the Golden Dawn was no more than a bad joke-in some of his autobiographical writings he sarcastically referred to it as 'The Twilight Star: What undoubtedly repelled some of those who rejected the Order was the way in which they were, after their initiation as neophytes, given 'secret manuscripts' which contained no information which could not fairly easily have been obtained from printed sources-Crowley jibed that he had been, first, sworn to secrecy, and then 'had the Hebrew alphabet entrusted to his safe keeping. Some of the most prominent members of the Golden Dawn, amongst them ]. W. Brodie Innes, were aware of this problem, which was particularly acute in relation to the instructional documents-known as 'Knowledge I..ectu~pertaining to the lower steps in the Order's grade system. Brodie Innes wrote, in reference to the first Knowledge Lecture, that given to neophytes: The newly initiated brother of our Order ... experiences an involuntary feeling of disappointment~s this all; he will say to himself, 'After all the promises, the elaborate ritual, the pledges of inviolable secrecy. A few symbols to be found in scores of books: But let him take heart. It is not to jest with him that this lecture is put forth in this way. Our curriculum is an elaborate system of occult education and training, designed many centuries ago, to lead men step by step to the highest advance they are capable in this life of attaining, and to the diligent student we can promise the unfoldment of the Spiritual Life, the development of all the faculties, and the power to fulfil the purpose of this present earth life and to enter with confidence on the future. I who write these few words have myself been a student of the Order for near on thirty years, and I can say with absolute truth and conviction I would not be without one atom of the teaching I have had. Let him 10 FOREWORD [i.e. the student of the Golden Dawn system] therefore not be discouraged at the outset. The First Knowledge Lecture indicates the plan and scope of his first studies, and gives him, as it were, the alphabet of the sciences he is to learn. I It seems to me that the contention made in the last sentence quoted above is perfectly true; without the basic information given in the First Knowledge Lecture concerning such matters as the names and symbols of the signs of the zodiac it would have been difficult, perhaps impossible, for initiates of the higher grades of the Order-notably the grade known as Adeptus Minor-to fully understand the nature of the theoretical and practical teachings contained in the Order's official instructional documents and in the semi-official Hying Rolls which form, so to speak, a 'Golden Dawn apocrypha: a Coda to the ~uthorized Version' of the system developed by Mathers and his close associates. The Hying Rolls contain much of interest to the student of the history, theory, and practice of what Dion Fortune called 'the Western Esoteric Tradition' and what is perhaps better termed as simply 'the Golden Dawn system This new and enlarged edition of Astral Projection, Magic and Alchemy now contains all the Hying Rolls not included in the many editions of Regardie's Golden Dawn. Copies of those which were not included in the first edition have been traced by Mr R. A. Gilbert, and the full texts of them, together with Mr Gilbert's account of his discovery, appear as Appendix D of this book. The long-missing 'fugitive' Hying Rolls, now, in 1987, printed for the first time are: Hying Hying Hying Hying Hying Hying Roll Roll Roll Roll Roll Roll XXII XXIV xxvm XXIX XXXI XXXII The first of these was generally known under the title of 'Free Will: but it does in fact contain two essays, only the first of which is on the subject of free will, written by a certain 'Frater Quaestor Lucis: Of I The full text of the paper from which this quotation is taken will be found in R. A. Gilbert's The Sorcerer and His Apprentice (Aquarian Press, 1983). 11 FORE'MJRD this occultist Mr Gilbert writes: Quaeswr Lucis was Oswald Murray who entered the Golden Dawn in March 1891 ... He entered the Second Order on 19 July 1892 and at some later date changed his motto from In utrumque paratus to Quaestor Lucis. He was not in the masonic Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia despite his reference to the Great Architect; I presume he was a member of the Theosophical Society and although probably a Freemason not overtly Christian and thus not able (if he had a conscience) to join the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Murray's knowledge of the nature of the work undertaken in the &cond Order is reflected in certain phrases used in Hying Roll XXII (for example, 'Is not the Wheel of Life in the door of the Vault a key to this question?), but it seems to me that he had little real grasp of the nature of the Order's teachings and that Free Will is little more than an ill-digested mixture of Theosopy and the popular science of the 1880s. Hying Roll XXIV is a derivation of a lecture, given by 'Frater Resurgan\ on the subject ofhorary astrology. 'Resurgam' was the occult pseudonym of a homoeopathic physician named Berridge, a man who was not only devoted to both the Golden Dawn magical system and the curious quasi-tantric sexual teac~ of Thomas Lake Harris, but was fanatically loyal to S. L MacGregor Mathers-Berridge, in fact, was the only senior Golden Dawn adept who remained faithful to his Chief during the 1900 'Revolt of the Adepti~ Horary astrology is that branch of this divinatory art which is concerned with answering specific questions; a chart is drawn up for the exact moment at which the question is asked, and an answer derived from that chart according to fairly hard-and-fast rules. Contemporary practitioners of horary astrology tend to argue that (a) the methods used, however seemingly irrational, work, providing reasonably accurate answers to the questions asked, and (b) horary astrology is, like the I Ching, a special case of the general principle, enunciated by C. G. lung, that ~verything done at a particular time has the qualities of that moment of time Hying Roll XXIV admirably illustrates the approach of early Golden Dawn initiates to astrology in general and horary astrology in particular. For the benefit of those readers of this book who are inclined to matters astrological it is perhaps worth adding that (a) I have quickly checked the planetary zodiacal positions as given by Berridge and they are 12 FORE~RD accurate for the date in question, and (b) I have checked his interpretations for those positions, and the consequent planetary aspects, and they seem to be in accordance with the 'cook-book rules' ofhorary astrology as given in various seventeenth-century texts. There is, however, one very curious anachronism in Berridge's working. It is clear from the House positions he gives that he had divided his chart into twelve 'Houses' on the basis of the time system of Placidus. But to those positions he had applied traditional rules which, in fact, pertain to the Houses as calculated by the system of Regiomontanus. Hying Roll XXVIII, written by Mathers and Westcott jointly, is perhaps the 'fugitive Hying Roll' which will be of most interest and practical use to contemporary practitioners of ritual magic. The application of the methods it teaches should ensure that a solemn divination does not degenerate into vulgar fortune telling. Hying Roll XXIX is concerned with an administrative matter-the appointment of four leading Golden Dawn initiates to be 'Lieutenants' of Wynn Westcott ('Non Omnis Moriar' in the governance of the Order in 'Great Britain with Ireland and its colonies! Hying Roll XXXI, written by 'V.N.R; i.e. the wife of MacGregor Mathers, is a very curious production in which an attempt is made to correlate the letters of the Ethiopic (i.e. Geez) alphabet with the 21 letters of the 'Enochian alphabet' which were revealed to the Elizabethan magus Dr Dee through the skrying of his associate Edward Kelley. While Mrs Mathers may have been, as she herself believed, an ~eptus Major: she was most certainly not an authority on such Ethiopian languages as Geez or Amharic. It is to be presumed, therefore, that the supposed correlation outlined in Hying Roll XXXI was based on some sort of revelation obtained through methods which are described in a document extracts from which are printed below as an addendum to this foreword. Hying Roll XXXII is concerned with Theban letters; a magical alphabet which has intrigued many occultists. The contents of this document are self-explanatory, but it is worth adding that the Hying Roll referred to in the first paragraph is that numbered xn and it is to be found printed, in somewhat disjointed form, on p. 61 and pp. 62-72 of Volume IV of Regardie's Golden Dawn. Regardie does not include any reproduction of the image of Adonai ha-Aretz which is referred to in both Hying Roll xn and Hying Roll XXXII; however, a description of it is given on pp. 71-2 of Golden Dawn, Volume IV, 13 FOREWORD and a rather fine drawing of it by j. E C. Fuller was reproduced in one of the early numbers of Crowley's occult periodical The Equinox. These, then, are the 'fugitive Hying Rolls: the Hying Rolls which really seemed to have taken flight, which have been discovered by Mr Gilbert and are now printed, for the first time, in Appendix D. Along with them, for the sake of completeness, I include some material which I had not thought worth including in the first edition of this book; this comprises Hying Rolls vru, ~ Geometrical Way to Draw a Pentagram: and Hying Roll ru, 'On Procedure Whence came that system of the magical theory and technique which is embodied in both the Hying Rolls and the fully official instructional manuscripts of the Golden Dawn? There is no doubt of the answer; the system was a synthetic onewhich does not, in my opinion, devalue it-created very largely by MacGregor Mathers on the basis of, firstly, books and manuscripts he had studied, and, secondly, supposed revelations of which he and his wife had been the recipients as a result of their use of techniques generally known as 'Ring and Disc' and 'Table The former involved the use of a disc divided into 32 sections, corresponding to the ten sephiroth and the twenty-two 'paths' of the qabalistic Tree of Life. These sections were coloured in accordance with their qabalistic correspondences and on them were inscribed the letters of the Hebrew and other alphabets, astrological sigils etc. The ring, which was the badge of a Golden Dawn sub-grade known as Theoricus Adeptus Minor, was usually made of thin, strong pasteboard; it was normally about an inch wide. Its hollow middle extended to about a third of the diameter of the whole ring; the remainder was divided into two distinct circles. On both sides of the ring the innermost circle was coloured white and lettered in black with, on one side, the 'magical mottd of the adept who had made the ring and, on the other, the words 'Pereclinus De Faustis: The outermost circle, which was identical on both sides of the ring, was divided into four segments of which the topmost one was coloured yellow and inscribed with the Hebrew letter Aleph, the left hand one was coloured blue and inscribed with the Hebrew letter He, the right hand one was coloured red and inscribed with the Hebrew letter Yod, and the bottom one was coloured black and inscribed with the Hebrew letter He (final). In all cases the lettering was white. In a Golden Dawn instructional document entitled Ritual Beth the 14 FORE'M)RD mode of employing 'Ring and Disc' was described as follows: Now when the Theoricus Adept shall desire to employ the Disc and Ring for the purposes of Divination or of Consultation, let him-wearing the Insignia and having his necessary magical implements at hand-invoke in the ordinary manner the particular Spirit, Force or Elemental whom he wisheth to consult. {Note by N .oM. 'By means of a Telesma if desired. Put names, seal and sigil of Force on one side, and the name ofTHMAH [spelled in Copticl on the other~ Let him place the Disc flat upon the table before him, The Top thereof, i.e. the left hand line of the 'A:. ray being always opposite to him. Then, leaning the elbow of the arm of the hand, by which he holds the thread attached to the Ring, upon the table for the sake of steadiness, let him so hold the Ring as to be suspended exactly above the White Centre of the Disc, directing his gaze to the same point. The thread by which the Ring is suspended should be passed immediately across the exact centre of the ball of the first joint of the thumb, (and this is most important) being there retained by the pressure thereon of the centre of the ball of the first joint of the finger selected to hold it with; (the first or the second finger will be found most convenient). The Ring will soon commence to oscillate and to vibrate. The mode of receiving a communication thereby is as follows. No notice is to be taken of a short oscillation that does not pass completely beyond the circle of coloured rays on to the circle of the letters. But if it goeth clearly on to the circle of letters, such letters are to be taken in order, as spelling out a word or a sentence. When the Ring circleth or oscillateth to the right hand (or with the Sun's course) it meaneth 'Yes'; but if it circleth to the left hand (against the course of the Sun) it meaneth 'Nd; and if it continueth to oscillate vaguely it meaneth 'Doubtful: The point of suspension of the Ring must be carefully maintained exactly above the centre of the Disc. To avoid self-deception, and until facility of action be attained, care should be taken that the hand should be kept as steady as possible; and every communication should be carefully tested (as in Skrying) to avoid either Automatic self-deception or Wilful deception, by either the Force invoked, or by a hostile Force endeavouring to cut between, and thus to vitiate the operation. Also, it should be clearly understood beforehand what language is being employed, and if a numerical value be intended instead of the Letter thereto belonging. And it is for the purpose of protecting against deception, and of identifying the Operator with the operation, that the Divine Names and the Motto of the Theoricus are placed upon the Disc and the Ring. 15 FORE'M)RD It will be obvious to most readers that the method described above is essentially identical with some of the techniques associated with what is now called radiesthesia. The authors of Ritual Beth were as well aware as any contemporary rediesthesist that it is very easy to deceive oneselfto get the answers one wishes to get-when employing such techniques, and warned of this possibility in the following passage: Let the Theoricus Adeptus Minor recall that which was said in the lecture on the Microcosm, under the headings of 'How the Spiritual Conscisouness can act around and beyond the Sphere of Sensation: and 'Of Travelling in the Spirit Vision: In the working by the Ring and Disc then, the Operator buildeth up partly from his own Nephesch and partly from the surrounding atmosphere a species of truncated cone of astral light. The Disc is its base, while the truncated summit thereof is at the point of suspension of the Ring where the thread thereof passeth between the thumb and finger of the Operator. The action of the Will of the Operator in formulating his desire of communication buildeth up the symbol of a receptacle of impressions. This will take the form of another inverted cone rising from the point of suspension of the Ring. So that upon the Disc as a base there will be built up in the astral light a fonn somewhat resembling an hourglass of which the centre will be the place of the finger and the thumb of the Operator, holding the thread of suspension of the Ring. And from the impressions received by the conical receptable, the hand will translate into action in the lower cone the expression of these ideas, in words and sentences spelled out by the movements of the Ring over the letters of the Disc. But were it an uninitiated person who attempted this fonn of Divination or of consultation, he or she, being ignorant of the formulas involved, would almost to a certainty open a conical receptacular funnel into the sphere of sensation (of him or her) thus preparing a ready path unto obsession. Therefore, it is not entirely the Force invoked which actually spells out the words, but to a great extent it is the Operator himself who translates his own impressions thereof. And for this reason it is that this form of Divination is not taught unto the Zelator Adept, self-deception therein being so extremely easy, and the hand being liable to translate that which the heart wisheth. Therefore it is also that the language wherein the communication is received need not necessarily be that in which the Force involved would speak, supposing it to be endowed with the human organs of speech, but the impression received by the Operator is translated according to the understanding of the Operator. And all this is in accordance with the degree 16 FORE'M: RD of the Force respectively exercised in the Upper or in the lower cone .. . Ritual Beth contains the following description of Table' workings, which it authors rather pompously referred to as 'Magical Consultation by Means of the Tripod: Now if the Theoricus Adeptus Minor shall wish to employ the Magical Consultation with the Tripod or table with three feet, let him know that the model thereof is the circular Altar of the Vault of Christian Rosenkreutz. One leg of the table should coincide with the Eastern point of the top which later should be coloured in exact representation of the Altar, and the legs should be black. (A table may have the regular painted top, and others, removable, painted for special purpose. N.o.M.) If desired, the magical Operator, the better to isolate him or herself, may trace any convenient magical circle of defence upon the floor (consonant with the force he desires to invoke) wherein to sit while employing the working of the Tripod. (Note: A circle may consist of a tape and on it at certain places, Telesma or pentacles may be placed. N.o.M.) The mode of Operation is as here followeth. The table should be placed with the same orientation as the Altar in the Vault; one leg, which we will call the apex of the triangle formed by the legs, being placed at the Eastern point as regards the design upon the top thereof. The Operator will usually, if working alone, find it best to be seated either at the Western part of the table, or at the point immediately opposite to that of the Force to be evoked. Let him then place his hands on the top of the table towards each side thereof. After a certain time, the length of which will depend upon varying conditions, the Tripod will begin to tilt up and down; and in some cases even a species of explosive knocks may be heard, which ariseth from a more sudden transmission of astral force from the cone of reception to the table. Now remember that the movements of the table should be really the combined product of the Operator and the communicating rorce, always supposing that the Operator be not obsessed by the Force invoked, nor voluntarily selfdeceiving. And the philosophical explanation is of a similar principle to that of the Disc and Ring; only that in this instance self-deception is even yet more easy. For the reception of communications by the Tripod some convenient preconceived plan of correspondences between the tilts of the table and the letters of the alphabet or simple -words should be employed. This form of magical operation is usually found to be more exhausting than the employment of the Ring and Disc, seeing that a greater amount of astral Force has to be employed in the operation. Not only one but several persons may take part in this operation by the Tripod, but in such 17 FOREWRD cases they should partition among them the points of the table corresponding either to their natures, or to the Forces with which each intendeth to ally himself, as if there be three persons, let them take Air, Fire and Water, leaving Earth vacant. If five persons, the Spirit and the four elements, the Spirit being at the point of the East. If six or seven persons the points of the hexagram and so on, according to the quarters that they occupy, so as always to form some intentionally and not accidentally equilibriated symbol. Now in the case of several persons taking part, each one will form his own cone. The synthesis will form together another Great Cone enclosing the whole, and so a large amount of force may be thus obtained. But also, careful watch should be kept against both obsession and self-deception. The greatest harmony should prevail among the Operators for the least discordant feeling will produce some error or disruption. And remember that in working with the Tripod the cone of reception will attract any passing Intelligence or Force. Thus, without the greatest care, much deception could arise, and even against the intention of the communicated Intelligence deception may result through confused mistranslations by the Operator or Operators. Results may be obtained from tables not circular in form, and having four or more legs. But the Tripod is the best form. Also the Ring and the Disc may be used in conjunction with the Tripod. In invocation, a flashing Tablet or Tablets of the nature of the Force to be invoked may be placed upon the table. Also by using the table as a physical basis of strength, and sitting thereat, even physical appearances and manifestations may be produced. In such a case it may be advantageous to have black drapery fastened around the edge of the table (not covering the table top, for this would hide the symbols. S.R.M.D.) and reaching to the ground, so as to form, as it were, a cynlindrical receptable of force extending from the top of the table to the floor. Such drapery should be in the divisions. Or three slits may be cut, one by each leg from the top of the table to the floor, so that the three are united only along the edge of the table top. In all such operations let the greatest care be taken to combat obsession, for in case of this arriving, although occasionally striking physical results may ensue, yet there will be danger therewith. And the result of such obsession will always be to make the Operator personate and imitate the action of the Force evoked, even to the extent of attempting to deceive both himself and those who may be with him. But the Theoricus Adeptus Minor hath sufficient knowledge to know what to do, and what to avoid herein, and when. Now the Formula of this operation by the Tripod will be closely similar to that contained in the Pyramid and Sphynx Formula of the Enochian 18 FOREWORD Tablets. The truncated cone will answer to the Pyramid, with a cone of reception above opening therefrom to attract the Force which shall act through the top thereof. The surface of the table will answer to the place of the Sphynx. And thus thou wilt easily see how particular the Operator must always be in discerning the Force which is acting through the vortex above. It is clear from the above that 'Magical Consultation by Means of the Tripod' is, in essence, an elaboration of that standby of Victorian spiritualism referred to as 'table turning. Such, amazingly enough, were the techniques through the use of which Mathers and his associates were enabled to construct what it, in the opinion of myself and many others, that most effective (and intellectually impressive) synthetic structure, the Golden Dawn magical system. The fact that many of the Golden Dawn's magical techniques were derived from teachings received through 'Tripod' and 'Ring and Disc' in no way invalidates them. If they work, and many occultists have found them to be efficacious, their source is unimportant. Equally unimportant are the literary merits or demerits of the Hying Rolls. What is significant is their content, not the clumsy forms which sometimes express it. Take, for example, the Hying Rolls concerned with 'astral projection' and allied subjects. Sections of them are quite unquestionably badly written. Yet the processes they teach are, properly performed, capable of unlatching magic casements which look out on 'faery lands forlorn' and even stranger regions of'inner space: In this connection it is worth reminding those who have read Alan Richardson's fascinating Dancers to the Gods (Aquarian Press, 1985) that the remarkable experiences which were undergone by Colonel Seymour, the 'unknown magus: and his coworker, Christine Campbell Thomson, were achieved as a result of using techniques derived from the Hying Rolls concerned with astral projection. The Hying Rolls demand the attention of all serious occultists, not because of their source, not because of their literary merit, but because of their magical content. FRANCIS KING 19 INTRODUCTION L ne Survival of Magic By the beginning of the last quarter of the seventeenth century ritual magic, alchemy, necromancy and the other mediaeval occult sciences were in a noticeable state of decline, seemingly doomed to extinction. There were, of course, many survivals of earlier ways of thinking, but nevertheless, the dominant intellectual trend of the period was rationalism; the belief that the unaided human reason was capable of solving all problems that were patent of resolution. In spite of this semi-deification of reason there was some resistance to the rising tide of scepticism and, against all expectation, the underground occult tradition managed to survive. Both amateur astrologers and professional almanac makers played a part of some importance in this survival, for many of them also dealt in talismanic magic-the preparation and consecration of amulets designed to undo the effects of unfavourable planetary influences, find lost goods, gain the affection of another etc.-and it is clear that at least some of them dabbled in magic of a darker hue, occasionally with unfortunate results. Typical of these was Thomas Parkes, a more than ordinarily clever young man who met his death soon after (and possibly as a result of) the terrifying climax of his occult experiments. The story is best told in the pious words of the Reverend Arthur Bedford, a clergyman of the Temple parish in Bristol, who, on August 2nd 1703, wrote to Eduard, Bishop of Gloucester, as follows: About thirteen years ago, whilst I was curate to Dr. Reid, rector ofSt. Nicholas, in this city, I began to be acquainted with one Thomas Parkes, a young man about twenty years of age, who lived with his father in Mangotsfield, in Gloucestershire, and by trade a gunsmith, with whom I contracted an intimate 21 INTRODUCTION acquaintance; he being not only a good tempered man, but extremely well skilled in the mathematical studies,. which was his constant delight-viz., arithmetic, geometry, gauging, surveying, astronomy, and algebra. He gave himself up to astronomy so far that he could not only calculate the motions of the planets, but an eclipse also, and demonstrate also every problem in spherical trigonometry from mathematical principles, in which he would discover a clear force of reason. When Mr. Bailey, minister of St. James, in the city, endeavoured to set up a mathematical academy, I advised him to this Thomas Parkes, as an acquaintance, in whom, as he told me, he found greater proficiency in those studies than he expected, or could imagine. After this he applied himself to astrology, and would sometimes calculate nativities, and resolve horary questions, which he told me oftentimes proved true; but he was not satisfied with it, because there was nothing in it which tended to mathematical demonstration. When by the providence of God I was settled in Temple parish, and having not seen him for some time, he came to me, and we being in private, he asked my opinion very seriously concerning the lawfulness of conversing with spirits. After I had given my thoughts in the negative, and confirmed them with the best reasons I could, he told me he had considered all those arguments, and believed they only related to conjuration; but that there was an innocent society with them that a man might use, if he made no compact with them, did no harm by their means, and was not curious in prying into hidden things; and that he himself had discoursed with them, and heard them sing to his great satisfaction. He gave an offer to me at one time, to Mr. Bailey at another, that if we would go with him one night to Kingswood, we should see them, hear them talk and sing, and talk to them whatsoever we had a mind to, and we should return very safe; but neither of us had the courage to venture. I told him of the subtilty of the Devil to deceive mankind, and to transfer himself into an angel of light; but he could not believe it was the Devil. I proposed to try him a question in astronomy relating to the projection of a sphere, which he projected and resolved; and afterwards did so 22 INTRODUCTION demonstrate from the mathematics, as to demonstrate that his brain was free from the least tincture of madness and distraction. I asked him several particulars concerning the method he used, and the discourse he had with the spirits he conversed with. He told me he had a book where there was the directions he followed. 1 Accordingly, in the dead time of night he went into a causeway with candle and lanthorn, which was consecrated for the purpose with incantations. He had also consecrated chalk, consisting of several mixtures, which he used to make a circle of what distance he thought fit, within which no spirit had power to enter. After he invoked the spirit by several forms of words, some of which he told me were taken from the Holy Scripture, and therefore he thought them lawful; without considering that they might, as the apostle saith, 'be wrested to his own destruction' (2 Pet. 3.16). The spirits for which he called appeared to him in the shape of little girls, about a foot and a half high, and played about the circle. At first he was affrighted, but after some small acquaintance this antipathy in nature wore off, and he became pleased with their company. He told me they spoke with a shrill voice, like an ancient woman. He asked them if there was a God; they told him there was. He asked them if there was a Heaven and Hell; they said there was. He asked what sort of place Heaven was; which they described as a place of glory and happiness. He asked wha t place Hell was; and they bid him ask no question~ of that nature, for it was a dreadful thing to relate. 'The devils believe and tremble'. He asked what method or order they had among themselves; they told him they were divided into three orders: that their chief had his residence in the airthat he had several counsellors, which were placed by him in form of a globe. Another order, they said, is employed in 1 An eighteenth century note attached to a copy of the good clergyman's letter to the Bishop identifies Parkes' book: 'William Llewellyn had in his possessiun about twenty years ago the book T. Parkes made use of in raising spirits, for more than a half a year to peruse; it was the fourth book of Cornelius Agrippa's Occult Philo- sophy'. 23 INTRODUCTION going to and fro from thence to the earth to carry intelligence from those lower spirits. And a third order was in the earth, according to the directions they received from those in the air. This description was very surprising; but being contrary to the account we have in Scripture of the hierarchy of the blessed angels, made me conclude that they were devils; but I could not convince him thereof. 2 He told me that he had desired them to sing, and they went to some distance behind a bush, from whence he heard a perfect concert of such music, the like he never heard; and in the upper part he could hear something very harsh and shrill like a reed, but as it was managed it came with particular grace. About a quarter of a year after he came to me again, and said he wished he had taken my advice; for he thought he had done that which would cost him his life, and which he did heartily repent of. He appeared to me as if he had been in great trouble, as his countenance was very much altered. I asked him what he had done: he told me that, being bewitched to his acquaintance, he resolved to proceed further in the art, and to have a familiar spirit at his command, according to the directions of his book; which was to have a book of virgin parchment, consecrated with several incantations; as also a particular ink-horn, ink, and pen. With those he was to go out as usual to a cross-way, and call up a spirit, and ask him his name, which he was to put in the first page of his book; and this was to be his familiar spirit. Thus he was to do by as many as he pleased, writing their names in distinct pages, only one in a leaf; and then, whenever he took the book and opened it, this spirit whose name appeared should appear also. The familiar spirit he had was called Malachi-id est, my king; an Hebrew name of an evil signification to him--id est, that an evil spirit was to become his king. After this they appeared faster than he wished them, and in most dreadful shapes-like serpents, lions, bears, etc., hissing at him, which did very much affright him; and the more so when he found it was not in his power to lay them, 2 Most occultists would assume that the 'spirits' raised by Parkes were elementals. 24 INTRODUCTION expecting every moment to be torn in pieces. This was in December, about midnight, when he continued there in a great sweat; and from that time he was never well so long as he lived. In the course of his sickness he often came to the apothecary in Broad Street, concerning a cure; but I know not whether he told him the original cause or not. He also came to me at the same time and owned every matter as fact, which he had told before unto the last; and insisted that whenever he did anything of that nature, he was deluded in his conscience to think it lawful; but that he was since convinced to the contrary. But still he asserted that he made no compact with those spirits, never did harm to others by their means, nor ever pryed into the fortune of himself or others: he expressed a hearty repentance for, and detestation of, his sins; so that though these matters cost him his life, yet I have room to believe him happy in the other world. 3 Thus ends Bedford's account (apart from some pious mutterings about the sobriety and respectability of Parkes' relations) but it is perhaps worth adding that Parkes died of 'a wasting distemper, without anything remarkable attending his death' and that it was only conjectured that this disease was 'occasioned by the fright he induced from the spirits the last time he raised them'. Besides the astrologers (whether professional talisman manufacturers or incompetent amateur experimenters such as the unfortunate Parkes) there were the cunning-men-to use the common eighteenth-century term for the diviners, popular healers and white witches of the period-who clearly played an important part in the survival of magic at a more 'folksy' level. Not a great deal is known about the activities of these people, for they were usually discreet enough in their doings and, in any case, their clientele was largely drawn from a social class 3 A brief and somewhat inaccurate version of these events was given by E. M. Butler in Ritual Magic (Cambridge University Press. 1949). Professor Butler seems to have relied exclusively upon The Spectre, Or News of the Invisible World (London. 1839) an unsatisfactory secondary source. 25 INTRODUCTION that made little impact on the periodical literature of the time. Nevertheless, it is clear that some of them specialised in the finding of missing property and persons; those familiar; with eighteenth-century legal history will remember the cunning-man who played such an odd part in the 'Canning Wonder', the mysterious vanishing and reappearance of young Elizabeth Canning. Others kept alive a knowledge of the use of love philtres, while a few of them may have been prepared to manufacture, at a price, philtres intended for other and darker purposes-it was not only in France that young wives afflicted with elderly husbands could obtain a 'powder of succession'. I am sure that at least one of these folk-magicians had either extraordinary hypnotic abilities or some other means of inducing collective hallucinations, for on no other hypothesis can I explain the following account (circa 1800) of the story told by a collier to a certain Stephen Penny, and relating to a conjuror (the word is, of course, used in its original sense of one who conjures spirits) named Coal. --leaving work one winter evening about ten o'clock (about twenty-five years since), he went to refresh himself at a little public house he pointed out to us with his finger, not far from us. He sat down in company with the said Coal and six or seven other persons, amongst whom was the landlord of the house, who had been joking and laughing at Coal about his pretended art of conjuration, telling him he believed nothing of it, and that it was all mere imposition. Upon this Coal told the landlord and company that if they were willing to see a specimen of his art and would sit still and quiet whilst he was performing it, he would soon convince them by causing a tree to grow up before their faces, and men, too, to come in and cut it down. They promised to sit still; upon which Coal, retiring to a corner of the room with his back towards the company, seemed to take something out of his pocket; but immediately afterwards he and the whole company very distinctly saw by the light of the candle in the room a small tree, an inch or two thick, gradually rise out of the stone floor of the room, to the height, as he thinks, of three feet, with 26 INTRODU C TION branches and leaves, and in all respects like a natural tree; that when it was thus grown up, this informant and all the rest of the company saw two little men, each about one foot high, dressed in short jackets, with caps on their heads, their complexions sunburnt, and bearing their axes, begin to cut it down with great celerity, the chips flying about at every stroke; that the tree seemed to fall with great force, and as soon as this was done, the tree, chips, and the little workmen went from their sight, they knew not how, leaving all the company in a great consternation, except this informant himself, who says he beheld the whole from beginning to end (which he thinks was about half an hour) without any sensible degree of fear, though at the same time he confessed he wished he had been elsewhere. That he observed one of the little workmen, during the gathering up of the chips, to look about very angrily, and that Coal observing the same also, said he was sure some of the company had taken away and concealed some chips of the tree, but whether it was so, this informant said he does not now well remember. The great simplicity and seriousness with which this man delivered his whole narrative was so very remarkable, that there was not the least room to suspect his having any design to impose upon us, or that he himself did not really believe he saw what he related. He assured us he was in no way disordered by liquor at the time it happened, nor does he remember any of the company were so; and said Coal had the character of being a sober, serious man, much given to mathematical and other studies, that he died to all appearances of old age, and without anything extraordinary attending his death. Parkes with his musical spirits and his unpleasant familiar, Coal with his wood-chopping gnomes, others of the same breed whose very names are now forgotten; such were the men who practised and kept alive the magical arts in the age of Locke and Voltaire. 27 INTRODUCTION D. The Revival of Magic Other magicians beside Coal seem to have chosen to demonstrate their alleged occult powers in the public houses of England, and some three quarters of a century after Coal's curious exhibition, Canon Wood the Rector of Newent in Gloucestershire, sent the following account to Father Lee of Lambeth, one of the Bishops of the Order of the Corporate Reunion: A man named Hyett of Newent told me that he was in a public house many years ago, when a stranger came in. This stranger offered in return for some refreshment given him, to show the party assembled, three or four people, the following exhibition. He put a sixpence down in the centre of the apartment. The coin untouched moved along the floor to the wall, ascended it, and then traversed the ceiling until it arrived over the spot it started from, and then dropped down upon it. Hyett remarked that he was much relieved when the stranger departed. Long before Hyett, however, there had been the first stirrings of a revival of interest in the magical-mystical tradition. This revival was at first closely associated with the late eighteenthcentury romantic movement and its admiration for all things Gothic; thus the writings of Ebenezer Sibley, which presented an ossified form of the magical tradition dressed up in a romanticised mock-mediaeval costume, were clearly the product of the same social forces that had been responsible for the architecture of Walpole's Strawberry Hill, the literary success of Monk Lewis, and the appearance of a high-grade and chivalric free-masonry claiming descent from the Rosicrucians and the Knights Templar. The same Gothic influences can be discerned in Francis Barrett's The Magus (London, 1801)-the Gothic element is particularly noticeable in the illustrations-and in Lives of the Alchymistical Philosophers, a piece of hack-work which has also been attributed to Barrett but which, on stylistic grounds, I think more likely to have been written by William Godwin, 28 INTRODUCTION whose Caleb Williams shows a considerable acquaintance with the occult literature of the period. Without question, The Magus was one of the most curious literary effusions of its century; and, in spite of its inaccuracies (the formulae given were often woefully incomplete and misleading, the Hebrew was full of errors), in spite of the author's monotonous style and excessive credulity (he solemnly described one Adept as having lived on a diet of no more than a daily gooseberry), and in spite of the over-ambitiousness of attempting to produce 'a complete system of occult philosophy', from alchemy to talismanic magic, within the compass of a single volume, it was a genuine attempt to separate the wheat of the genuine Theurgic tradition from the chaff that had become so thoroughly mixed with it; a work of real importance in, and influence upon, the occult revival-indeed, it is still a potent influence upon some occultists at the present day.' At the end of his book Frands Barrett advertised a school of ritual magic that he was engaged in establishing at his home in Marylebone: The author of this work respectfully informs those who are curious in the studies of Art and Nature, especially of Natural and Occult Philosophy, Chemistry, Astrology, etc. etc. that, having been indefatigable in his researches into those sublime Sciences, of which he has treated at large in this Book, that he gives private instructions and lectures upon any of the above-mentioned Sciences; in the course of which he will discover many curious and rare experiments. "At the present time The Magus is available from four different publishers. The first of these modem editions, ludicrously re-entitled Hindu Magic, was originally published by the late 1. W. de Lawrence who, with the impertinence and conceit that were so typical of him, claimed to be its author! There are two photolithographic reproductions of the original 1801 edition available, produced by, respectively, University Books of New York and Vance Harvey of Leicester. Finally, there is a roneo version produced by Helios Books of Toddington as part of its Rare Text series. On grounds of quality and price the Vance Harvey version is probably the best, but on no account should the serious student miss Timothy D'Arch Smith's learned and lucid introduction to the University Books edition. 29 INTRODUCTION Those who become Students will be Initiated into the choices operations of Natural Philosophy, Natural Magic, the Cabala, Chemistry, the Talismanic Art, Hermetic Philosophy, Astrology, Physiognomy etc. etc. Likewise they will acquire the knowledge of the RITES, MYSTERIES, CEREMONIES and PRINCIPLES of the ancient Philosophers, Magi, Cabalists, Adepts, etc.-The purpose of this School (which will consist of no greater number than Twelve Students) being to investigate the hidden treasures of Nature; to mind to a contemplation of the ETERNAL WISDOM; to promote the discovery of whatever may conduce to the perfection of Man; thus alleviating the miseries and calamities of this life, both in respect of ourselves and others to secure to ourselves felicity hereafter; and ~nally the promulgation of whatever may conduce to the general happiness and welfare of mankind.-Those who feel themselves thoroughly disposed to enter upon such a course of studies, as is above recited, with the same principles of philanthropy with which the Author invites the lovers of philosophy and wisdom, to incorporate themselves in so select, permanent and desirable a society, may speak with the Author on the subject, at any time between the hours of Eleven and Two o'clock, at 99, Norton Street, Mary-Ie-Bonne. Letters (post paid) upon any subject treated in this Book, will be duly answered, with the necessary information. I know that at least one student joined this school of magic, for I have seen his papers and diaries. It is likely that there were others, and Montague Summers, who, in spite of his more than ultramontane Roman Catholicism, real or assumed,S was 5 With all due respect to such admirers of him as Father Brocard Sewell it seems to me that there was at least some element of affectation in Summers' ultra-Papalistic Catholicism. He was certainly a schismatic, for, although he invariably dressed as a Roman priest, his orders were derived from a highly irregular source, thus ipso facto bringing him under a major excommunication of the Latin Rite. Summers was probably ordained by Vemon Herford who was, of all things, a Syro-Chaldean bishop who was a Unitarian in theology! If this was the case Summers' orders were not only irregular but were probably invalid, for Herford's ordinations were almost certainly deficient in intention if not in form. 30 INTRODU C TION usually historically accurate, suggested that an occult association, derived from Barrett, was established in Cambridge. He wrote: I have been told that Francis Barrett actually founded a small sodality of students of these dark and deep mysteries, and that under his tuition-for he was profoundly learned in these things-some advanced far upon the path of transcendental wisdom. One at least was a Cambridge man, of what status-whether an undergraduate or the Fellow of a College-I do not know, but there is reason to believe that he initiated others, and until quite recent years-it perhaps persists even today-the Barrett tradition was maintained at Cambridge, but very privately, and his teaching has been handed on to promising subjects. Whatever may have been the extent of Barrett's influence in Cambridge it is certain that whole generations of occultists based their first tentative experiments in Ritual Magic and Ceremonial Skrying on information they extracted from The Magus. In the second half of the nineteenth century a group of occultists using Barrett's techniques gathered round the mystic and visionary Fred Hockley, who had himself been a pupil of a member of Barrett's school, and by the 'seventies demand for The Magus was such that a London publisher brought out a new edition. Amongst Hockley's closest friends and associates was Kenneth Mackenzie who, while still a very young man, had become interested in the occult after a remarkable personal experience of the supernatural. This experience began, prosaically enough, with a conversation upon the subject of ghosts and apparitions between the Rev. T. A. Buckley' and Mackenzie himself. At the close of the conversation the two young men entered into a compact that whichever of them died first would return to 'Theodore Alois Buckley, born 27th July 1825, was one of the chaplainS of Christ Church, Oxford. He died on the Festival of King Charles the Martyr, January 30th 1856. An obituary appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for March 1856. 31 INTRODUCTION his friend 'to indicate the certainty and reality of the life beyona the grave'. Three days later, just half an hour past midnight, Mackenzie, who was lying in bed, not thinking of Buckley, of whose death he was not yet aware, suddenly felt 'a cold clammy hand very gently placed upon his forehead'. Not surprisingly, Mackenzie turned round in order to see what had caused this odd and frightening sensation. He saw 'the spirit of Buckley, in his usual dress, standing at his bedside with a portfolio under his arm, exactly as he had so often seen him in life'. Mackenzie claimed that after he had recognised the figure it 'retreated towards the window, but after remaining there most distinctly visible both in form and feature for more than two minutes, it slowly faded away'. This apparition, which Mackenzie saw twice more, seems to have had a profound effect upon his intellectual development. He began to attend seances and to make a study of spiritualism, already becoming fashionable since the commencement of D. D. Home's spectacular mediumistic career in the previous year. More significantly, he became almost the first English student of the works of Eliphas Levi-Dogme de fa Haute Magie had been published in 1854 and its companion volume, the Rituel, in 1856-and I suspect that he fell completely under the spell of that writer's limpid French style and ingenious romanticisation of the magical tradition, for by 1861, when he had two long interviews with Levi, his attitude towards the French mage was one of veneration. I am certain that Levi found his English visitor's solemnity difficult to cope with-Mackenzie actually mistook his host's tobacco-jar for a valuable statuette of the goddess Isis-and reading between the lines of Mackenzie's lengthy accounf of these visits it is clear that Levi indulged in a good deal of leg-pulling. There is no doubt that Mackenzie developed into what is sometimes called 'an advanced occultist'; he claimed a continental Rosicrucian initiation from a mysterious Count Apponyi, he became an important figure in a masonic Rosi7 This account is reprinted in full in my Ritual Magic in England (Neville Spearman Ltd. 1970). 32 INTRODUCTION crucian organisation, the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, he studied magic (whch he defined as 'a psychological branch of science, dealing with the sympathetic effects of stones, drugs, herbs, and living substances upon the imaginative and reflective faculties') and, when he died, he left behind him notebooks dealing with the extraordinary Enochian magical system of the Elizabethan occultists Dee and Kelley. m. The GoltieD Da,.. Mackenzie spent a good deal of time in Europe-both his French and his German were excellent-and I am inclined to believe that working-notes made by him of rituals he had witnessed in some German Rosicrucian temple were the basis of the odd cipher manuscripts that were found by the Rev. A. F. A. Woodford amongst the papers of Fred Hockley, who had died in 1885. It was the discovery (and transcription) of these manuscripts that was the immediate cause of the foundation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the organisation whose activities and teaching were largely responsible for the survival of the so-called 'Western Esoteric Tradition' and whose members, although few in number, exerted an enormous, while sometimes hidden, influence on their own time and times since. These manuscripts are of such importance that I feel it worth spending a short time upon an examination of their contents. Early in 1970 shortly after the completion of my Ritual Magic in England, Mr. Ellic Howe, a distinguished historian of the printing industry, showed me a xerox copy of what I am now convinced was A. E. Waite's own transcription of the original manuscript. At first I thought that there was a faint possibility that the Waite manuscript was not a copy of the original document but was simply a cipher manuscript concocted by Waite himself in order to validate the rituals he had written (circa 1910) for the Holy Order of the Golden Dawn-a splintergroup controlled by Waite and one of his friends. Later, however, with the permission of the London collector who owns the original, Mr. Howe allowed me to make a detailed exarnina33 INTRODUCTION tion of the photocopy and to complete its decoding into English, a task which had been begun by Mr. Howe himself. It soon became clear to me that my suspicions were quite unjustified; for although the manuscript was full of errors, they were not the errors of someone transcribing an English text into an alphabetic code; rather were they the mistakes of someone (presumably a professional scribe) mechanically copying symbols of whose real significance he was quite unaware. I am sure that the ordinary reader of this introduction would be bored if I went into a lengthy technical examination of the contents of the cipher manuscript; I shall therefore confine myself to simply stating my observations and conclusions in tabulated form: (a) The manuscripts give an outline of five allegedly Rosicrucian grade rituals-Neophyte, Zelator, Theoricus, Practicus, and Philosophus-all except the first of which are attributed to various stations on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. I found these rituals to be in a form far less skeletonic than I had expected, for even such minor points of detail of the design of the sash worn by initiates are given. As I compared the manuscript rituals with those actually used in the Golden Dawn I realised that the latter owed far more to the former than they did to the synthetic genius of S. L. MacGregor Mathers. (b) Those-they include Crowley, Regardie and myself-who have condemned Mathers for introducing an excessively complicated and, to some extent, antagonistic symbolism into the 'Grades of the Elements' have been quite wrong to do so. Our criticisms may have been justified, but, if so, they were aimed at the wrong target; for the confusion of symbols (even to the appearance of the Samothracian gods known as the Kabiri) comes from the manuscript, not from Mathers. (c) The manuscripts originated in the latter half of the nineteenth century, for their eclectic approach makes an earlier date inherently improbable; the high-grade masonic rituals of the eighteenth century are often boring and always technically inferior to the manuscript rituals, but their symbolism is usually consistent. If, for example, a ceremony is centred around the tomb of some obscure Old Testament figure one is not suddenly 34 INTRODUCTION dragged off to the coffin of Mahomet or the Vault of Christian Rosycross! (d) While the basic structure of the rituals was probably based on someone's (Mackenzie's?) observation of a Rosicrucian temple in Europe (Germany? There is some resemblance to 1777 rituals of the Golden Rosicrucians) a good deal had been added from English sources-for example, the 'Enochian words of power' given in the elemental grades. (e) Whoever prepared these manuscripts had a profound knowledge of even the most obscure of English occult writings; there are phrases that seem to come from such almost unknown sources as the works of the seventeenth-century mystic Jane Lead and the slightly later group of her followers known as the Philadelphians. (f) Those-they include that distinguished Yeats Scholar Kathleen Raine-who have stated that Yeats had a hand in 'working up' the Golden Dawn rituals are incorrect. There are two sentences in the later Golden Dawn rituals that are identical with lines of Yeats poetry; both are in the original manuscripts. In other words, Yeats was quoting the rituals, not vice versa. (g) Either the author of the manuscripts drew upon the writings of Eliphas Levi or, more probably, they both drew upon the same unknown sources. Thus both a diagram of 'Daniel's Man' and a diagram of the 'Altar of Incense' that appear in the manuscripts are identical with diagrams appearing in the supplement to the French edition of Levi's Key of the Greater Mysteries. The London temple of the Golden Dawn, named Isis-Urania and working the rituals given in the cipher manuscripts, was founded on March 1st, 1888, its three chiefs being Dr. Woodman, an elderly physician, W. Wynn Westcott, the Queen's Coroner for North-East London, and that flamboyant character G. S. 1. MacGregor Mathers. While the newly initiated Neophyte was assured that 'the Order of the Golden Dawn, of which you have now become a member can show you the way to much secret knowledge and spiritual progress, it can ... lead ... students ... to the Summum Bonum, True Wisdom, and Per35 INTRODUCTION feet Happiness',8 there does not seem to have been much teaching of magical practice (as distinct from magical theory) until 1892 when a new grade (Adeptus Minor) and a Second Order (Roseae et Aureae Crucis) were established. Both the ritual-based on the legend of the mediaeval adept named Christian Rosycross-Qf the Adeptus Minor grade and the magical techniques taught to its members were derived from MacGregor Mathers, who had allegedly obtained the former from a continental adept, named Frater Lux e Tenebres, and the latter from the 'Secret Chiefs of the Order', superhuman beings of the same type as the Masters who were supposed to have given Madame Blavatsky her mission. Mathers has left his own description of how these new teachings were received; a brief extract reads as follows: Almost the whole of the Second Order Knowledge has been obtained by me from them in various ways, by clairvoyance ... by astral projection on their part or mine ... by the table, by the ring and disk ... at times by Direct Voice audible to my external ears ... at times copied from books brought before me I know not how ... at times by an appointment astrally at a certain place ... 9 For some years all went well with the Golden Dawn and much magical work was done, but in course of time personality clashes and other factors-I have told the story in full elsewhere-led to quarrels, revolts and schisms. By 1903 the Order was split into various warring schisms. Some of these worked the Golden Dawn system in its entirety, others, such as the group led by A. E. Waite and M. W. Blackden, threw the magical tradition overboard, rewrote the rituals to suit their own prejudices, and took refuge in an exclusively Christian mysticism. Still another 8 From the Order's official history lecture, reprinted in full as an appendix to my Ritual Magic in England. 9 The 'ring and disk' referred to are the mediaeval equivalents of the ouija board and of the pendulum used in modem radiesthesia. The 'table' referred to is a table of letter-part of the Enochian magical system. The full text of Mathers' 1896 manifesto to the Second Order. from which the above extract is taken. may be found in my Ritual Magic in England. 36 INTROD U CTION group, the Stella Matutina, became obsessed with astral projection and many of its members wasted their time buried in the murky depths of their own unconscious minds. In spite of this unhappy end to the original Order there is no doubt that the authentic Golden Dawn system demands respect; it is a coherent, logical system of practical occultism. No one who has used the system to 'evoke' a spirit from the dark realms of the unconscious to 'charge' a talisman, to travel astrally through the Enochian 'Aires', can deny its effectiveness or doubt that it achieves what it sets out to achieve. IV. 1be Magic of the Golden Dawn With one important exception there was, as I have pointed out in the previous section of this introduction, very little practical magical work taught in the five grades of the Outer, or First, Order of the Golden Dawn. The exception was a ceremony known as the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, a rite simple enough in itself but capable of a considerable extension into what is known as the Exerdse of the Middle Pillar. The existence of this ritual, or of something very like it, was hinted at by Eliphas Levi who wrote: The Sign of the Cross used by Christians does not belong to them exclusively. It is also Qabalistic and there are two ways of making it, the one reserved for priests and initiates, the other set apart for neophytes and the profane. Thus, for example, the initiate, raising his hand to his brow, said: 'Thine is', then brought his hand to his Breast, 'the Kingdom', then transferred his hand to the left shoulder, 'the Power', finally to the right shoulder, 'and the Glory'; then, joining his hands, he added 'Tibi sunt Malkuth et Geburah et Chesed per aeonas'-a sign of the Cross which is absolutely and splendidly Qabalistic, and which the profanation of the Gnosis has completely lost to the official Church Militant. The sign made in this manner should precede and conclude the conjuration of the Four. By the 'conjuration of the Four' Levi seems to have meant the 37 INTRODUCTION invocation of the four Archangels of the Elements-Earth, Air, Fire and Water-and the full rubric of the Golden Dawn ceremony was as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Take a dagger into the right hand and face East. Touching the forehead say Ateh (unto Thee) Touching the breast, say Malkuth (the Kingdom) Touching the right shoulder, say ve-Geburah (and the Power) Touching the left shoulder, say ve-Gedulah (and the Glory) Clasping both hands upon the breast, say le-Olahm Amen (Unto the Age of the Ages, Amen) Make an Earth Pentagram with the dagger and vibrate JHVH. 8. Turning to the South do the same, but vibrate ADNI 9. Turning to the West do the same but vibrate AHIH 10. Returning to the East do the same but vibrate AGLA. 11. Extending the arms in the form of a cross say 'Before me Raphael, behind me Gabriel, on my right hand Michael, on my left hand Auriel, for about me flames the Pentagram and in the column stands the six rayed Star. 12. Repeat 2-6, the Quabalistic Cross. This ritual, at first sight almost trite in its simplicity, is capable of being transformed into a potent method of spiritual development; as Aleister Crowley said, 'properly understood it is the Medicine of Metals and the Stone of the Wise'. I would advise those who doubt this statement to (a) make a detailed study of Regardie's book The Middle Pillar and (b) to do the lesser Pentagram Ritual daily for a period of three months; they will soon come to realise that Crowley was not exaggerating. When the member of the Golden Dawn had undergone the Adeptus Minor initiation ceremony-a magnificent rite. its symbolism based on the discovery of a seven-sided Vault containing the uncorrupted body of Christian Rosycross-he entered the Second Order and began to undertake occult work of a more complex nature. His first task was the manufacture and consecration of his own magical insignia and weapons. 38 INTRODUCTION These were seven in number; a Rose Cross, worn on the breast of the initiate, a Lotus Wand, symbolising the twelve zodiacal signs and the triumph of spirit over matter, a Sword, signifying the force and power of Mars, and the four Elemental Weapons -a Cup for Water, a Pantacle for Earth, a Dagger for Air, and a Wand for Fire. After this making and consecration-the latter had to be carried out in the presence of a Chief of the Temple or some other qualified Adept-and the completion of certain advanced theoretical studies the Adept moved on to such matter as Talismanic and Enochian magic. In the former he was instructed to 'gather names, sigils etc. for a Talisman for a special purpose. Make a design for both sides of it ... make up a special ritual for consecrating to the purpose you have in mind and arrange a time with the Chief for the Ceremony of Consecration', while in the latter he had to 'make and colour a pyramid for a selected square, and to make the God-form and Sphinx suitable to it ... prepare a Ritual for practical use with this square, and in the presence of a Chief '" build it up astrally and describe the vision produced'. It is almost needless to say the initiate was not confined to a mechanical copying of magical rituals devised by others; he was expected to use his own theoretical knowledge of occult principles in the construction of ceremonies to suit his own particular circumstances. Thus Aleister Crowley, while still a member of the Golden Dawn, wrote his own complex ritual for the consecration of a Jupiterian talisman designed to heal the moth~r of a friend. Many of the rituals improvised by other initiates were much simpler, but, it would seem, still remarkably effective. Here is an example of such a simple ceremony, dating from about 1895: 10 10 The document I now reproduce (known as Flying Roll XXXIV -the term Flying Roll is explained at a later stage of this introduction) was written by J. W. Brodie-Innes, a Scottish lawyer and novelist, under his Order motto of Sub Spe. The notes, signed N.O.M., D.D.C.P., and Resurgam, which appear in the text, are by Wynn Westcott (N.O.M.), S. L. McGregor Mathers (D.D.C.P.) and Dr. Berridge (Resurgam). 39 INTRODUCTION Flying Roll XXXIV-An Exorcism by Frater Sub Spe My wife had suffered a severe attack of influenza; her recovery was followed by great exhaustion, an exhaustion which ultimately I came to share. I considered this exhaustion, which seemed more than natural and it came to me that this was the obsession of some vampirising elemental. I seemed to hear a voice say 'cast it out'. I contemplated consulting an Adept of our Order, but during intense concentration I heard an almost audible voice say 'You must do it yourself under my instruction'. Thereupon I became conscious of the presence in the room of a stately figure in a black robe, wearing some shining insignia-I did not see or hear it speak physically, but, nevertheless, I saluted it with the Portal and 5" = 6° 11 signs. The figure first responded by saluting me gravely and then appeared to merge with me, to take possession of my body. It gave me, partly signs and partly by words, the following instructions:1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Lower the gas. (I did.) Burn Incense (I used Incense on a live coal from the fire). Trace invoking Pentagram of Fire towards East. Trace the sigil of Leo in the centre of pentagram. Vibrate the Name of Power ADNI ha ARETZ. Return the coal to the fire. Face East and make Qabalistic Cross. 11 This, and similar equations, represent various grades of the Order. As the reader will frequently come across them in the course of this book I take the opportunity to give them in tabulated form:Neophyte 0°=0°) } Zelator 1 ° = 10°) attributed to Elemental Earth Theoricus 2. ° =9 ° attributed to Elemental Air and the Moon Practicus 3°=8° attributed to Elemental Water and Mercury Philosophus .. = 7° attributed to Elemental Fire and Venus Portal Grade. No Numerical Equation, attributed to Akasha, Spirit Adeptus Minor 5° =6° attributed to Air and the Sun 8. Trace invoking Pentagram of Earth. 40 0 INTRODUCTION I carried out these instructions to the letter but in default of any magical implement traced the Pentagrams with my hand. As I drew the Earth Pentagram I called up the foul thing that had troubled me to manifest visibly before me. As I did so a vague blot, like a scrap of London fog, materialised before me. At the same time I sensed my guide, standing dose to my right hand, raising his hand in the attitude of the 1 = 10 sign. I felt him (my guide) mentally order me to command the appearance of the obsessing entity, using the Names JHVH, ADNI, AGLA, AHIH. I did so and the mist thickened and formed a kind of nucleus. My guide then instructed me, 'Use the Name of the Lord Jesus'. I did so, commanding in that name a fuller manifestation. I saw, at first dimly, 'as in a glass darkly', and then with complete clarity, a most foul shape, between a bloated big-bellied toad and a malicious ape. My guide spoke to me in an audible voice, saying 'Now smite it with all your force, using the Name of the Lord Jesus'. I did so gathering all the force I possessed into, as it were, a glowing ball of electric fire and then projecting it like a lightning flash upon the foul image before me. There was a slight feeling of shock, a foul smell, a momentary dimness, and then the thing was gone; simultaneously my Guide disappeared. The effect of this experience upon me was to create a great tension of nerves and a disposition to start at almost anything. (You ought to have brought back to yourself the ray you projected. N.O.M. And you should also have dosed up the opening you made to admit it, Resurgam). Afterwards, when going upstairs, I saw floating balls of fire; this may have been hallucination. (No. D.D.C.F.) Both my wife and myself rapidly recovered our full health. Afterwards, a message carne to me that 'the unclean spirit is gone out, but it remains to purge away his traces from the house of life'. (The effect was first upon the Ruach and later upon the Nephesch. N.O.M.) A Final Note by D.D.C.F. It is not always permiSSible to completely destroy an Elemental; you must not do it on your own responsibility-but what you did was to disinte41 0 0 INTRODUCTION grate a collective built-up form, not one Elemental, but many, built up into one. Always invoke the Higher Forces first, Angelic as well as Divine. Some idea of the complexity of the magical studies and work of the Golden Dawn initiate can be gained from the following catalogue of manuscripts circulated to each member of the grade of Adeptus Minor: (A) General orders and curriculum of prescribed work (B) Full Pentagram Rituals (C) Full Hexagram Rituals (0) Instructions for the Construction and Consecration of the Lotus Wand of the Adept (E) Description of the Rose Cross Lamen together with Ritual for its consecration (F) Sigils from the Rose, being a description of the way in which the Sigils of Angels, Spirits etc. are derived from the Rose Cross Lamen. (G) Description of the sword and the Four Elemental Weapons together with consecration ritual (H) Clavicula Tabularum Enochi (a treatise on the Elizabethan Enochian magical system) (I) Notes on the Obligation of the Adeptus Minor (K) Consecration Ritual of the Vault of the Adepti and Corpus Christi ceremony (L) The official history lecture (M) The description of the Hermes Vision together with Coloured Delineations of the geometrical figures attributed to the Sephiroth of the Qabalistic Tree of Life (N, 0, P, Q, R) Complete treatise of the Tarot with attributions to Star Maps of both hemispheres and instructions for projecting the Tree of Life in a sphere; i.e. the so-called globular Sephiroth (S, T) The Book of the Concourse of Forces and the Book of the Angelical Calls: another two treatises on the Enochian magical system (U) A treatise on Man, the microcosm Oittle universe) (V) A treatise on the four colour-scales of the Tree of Life 42 INTRODUCTION (X) Ancient Egyptian god-forms applied to the letter squares of the Enochian magical system (Y) Rosicrucian Chess: yet another aspect of the Enochian system (Z 1, 2, 3) Three documents giving the symbolism of the Temple and Ritual of the Neophyte grade of the Order. Z2 is particularly important and applies the formulae of the Neophyte to such seemingly diverse magical operations as invisibility, alchemical transmutation and spiritual development Most of the material catalogued above was published in the four volumes of Israel Regardie's monumental Golden Dawn (Aries Press, Chicago 1937-40). However, in addition to these fully official documents there were thirty-six side-lectures known as Flying Rolls, dealing in depth with various aspects of the magical-alchemical tradition, that circulated among the Adepti of the pre-190o Golden Dawn. Only a few of these were included in Regardie's compilation. The rest of this material, hitherto unprinted, is included in this volume. At first I intended to present the Flying Rolls in simple numerical order (which would also have been their chronological order}-Le. 1-36, but excluding, of course, all material already printed by Regardie I soon realised that this would be confusing for the ordinary reader, and I have therefore chosen to divide the material into sections, each dealing with one aspect of occult theory and / or practice. 12 12 See also my Exegetical Note on the Flying Rolls. published as an appendix to this volume. 43 PART ONE Imagination and Will-Power being Flying Roll No. V FIying Roll No. I-Part II Flying Roll No. II-Parts I, II, and III Flying Roll No. VI Flying RoD No. V Some Thoughts on the Imagination By V. H. Fra. Resurgam 1 The uninitiated interpret Imagination as something 'imaginary' in the popular sense of the word; i.e. something unreal. But imagination is a reality. When a man imagines he actually creates a form on the Astral or even on some higher plane; and this form is as real and objective to intelligent beings on that plane. as our earthly surroundings are to us. This form which Imagination creates may have only a transient existence. productive of no important results; or it may be vitalised and then used for good or evil. To practice magic. both the Imagination and the Will must be called into action. they are co-equal in the work. Nay more. the Imagination must precede the Will in order to produce the greatest possible effect. The Will unaided can send forth a current. and that current cannot be wholly inoperative; yet its effect is vague and indefinite. because the Will unaided sends forth nothing but the current or force. The Imagination unaided can create an image and this image must have an existence of varying duration; yet it can do nothing of importance. unless vitalised and directed by the Will. When. however. the two are conjoined-when the Imagination creates an image-and the Will directs and uses that image. marvellous magical effects may be obtained. The following instances may serve to illustrate the operation of magical projection. which I have practised myself. and partly taught. But here a caution is necessary-though this method became known to me by study and reflection before I was initiated 1 Resurgam was the Order name-the s Kalled magical motto-of Dr. Berridge. (Editorial Note.) 47 IMAGINATION AND WILL-POWER into the G.D., so I only deemed it safe to entrust the process to two others, who I knew could be trusted. It must never be forgotten that an occult process which may be used for good may also be used for evil. A black magician possessed of this knowledge might strengthen himself thereby, and protect himself from the danger of the recoil of his own evil actions on the occult plane, and so become energised for further evil. Added to which-one knowledge leads to another, and a single clue may lead to further important discoveries. The more I reflect on the matter, the more I feel convinced that this knowledge should not pass beyond our Order. First Illustration A few years ago, I noticed that invariably after a prolonged interview with a certain person, I felt exhausted. At first, I thought it only the natural result of a long conversation with a prosy, fidgetty, old gentleman; but later it dawned upon me, that being a man of exhausted nervQUS vitality, he was really preying upon me. I don't suppose that he was at all externally conscious that he possessed a vampire organisation, for he was a benevolent kind-hearted man, who would have shrunk in horror from such a suggestion. Nevertheless, he was, in his inner personality an intentional vampire, for he acknowledged that he was about to marry a young wife in order, if possible, to recuperate his exhausted system. The next time, therefore, that he was announced, I closed myself to him, before he was admitted. I imagined that I had formed myself a complete investiture of odic fluid, surrounding me on all sides, but not touching me, and impenetrable to any hostile currents. This magical process was immediately and permanently successful-I never had to repeat it. Second Illustration A lady, hoping to develop herself spiritually had allowed 48 FLYING ROLL NO. V herself to become passively mediumistic, and her health began to fail. On one occasion, feeling very weak, she asked me to mesmerise her. I availed myself of this opportunity, and while apparently only making mesmeric passes over her I occultly surrounded her with a protective aura as in my own case. The result was successful, she improved in strength, and, as a wellknown student of occultism observed to me, 'she looked more human'; and with all this, her mediumistic experiences ceased. Had she followed my advice, and held herself positive; I believe she would have fully recovered her health and strength; but she again drifted back into her former condition of passive mediumship, her health broke down, and after a lingering illness, she died. I had not been initiated into the G.D. then, or should have afterwards used the Banishing Pentagram for my own protection. About two weeks after, I had a vivid dream that I was endeavouring to evoke an elemental, which attacked me, causing a sudden choking in the throat, and an electric shock in the body. The dream had an astrological meaning; and at the same time I believe it had a physical basis and that same vampirising spirit which had been preying on its victim, determined to attack me, in revenge for having thwarted its designs. Third Illustration A lady asked my occult aid against a man whom she often met, whose presence invariably made her exhausted and ill. He had bad health, and I judged it to be another case of vampirising. I obtained a description of this man, but without telling the process, or when I would undertake it. First, I imagined they stood facing each other; then I interposed a shield of defence. I then formed round her a complete investiture of odic fluid. 2 I also made the ordinary Invoking Pentagram upon her for protection. The injurious effects which 2 The phrase 'odic fluid' is derived from nineteenth-century mesmerism. It is roughly equivalent to the Astral Light of Levi and the Akasha of the Theosophists. (Editorial Note.) 49 IMAGINATION AND WILL-POWER she had formerly experienced never returned and she remained ever completely passive to him. Fourth Illustration A lady told me of a man who exercised a peculiar fascination over her; she was always thinking of him, although she did not care for him. As I had received some intimation that he had some acquaintance with Voodoo magic I determined to sever the chain. I imagined they stood facing each other and that he had thrown out currents of odic fluid, which had entangled her in their meshes. Then I imagined a sword in my hand with which I severed them, and then with a torch burnt up the ends of the filaments still floating round her. The unnatural fascination soon ceased and in a few months, their acquaintance came to an end. Fifth Illustration A man complained to me, that some years ago, he was constantly having another man make use of a peculiarly profane expression, which ever after haunted him, obtruding itself into his mind at the most inopportune times. It seemed to me that the words constituted what the Oriental occultists call a mantram; that is, a word or phrase which can produce occult effects by setting up vibrations in the akasa. I judged that some elemental had been vitalised thereby, and had attached itself to a sensitive. I advised him the next time the phrase troubled him-first to imagine he saw before him some horrible creature as the embodiment of the profanity itself -next to hold this creature firmly before him, and then to send forth an occult dynamite shell, penetrating into the elemental, and then exploding and blowing it to atoms. When I next saw him he said that he had not succeeded in disintegrating the elemental, but that he had driven it away, and was now very little troubled by it. One further caution may be made in conclusion. While it is always lawful, and often advisable, to consult with some higher Adept before commencing any important magical 50 FLYING ROLL NO. V work; yet, in every other direction, absolute secrecy must be maintained until the work be done. If it be talked about to others it tends to decentralise it, and so dissipate the force, besides running the risk of meeting with inharmonious currents from their minds. If it be mentioned to the one on whose behalf the work is done, it tends to disturb his equilibrium by causing a state of nervous expectancy, which is unfavourable for the reception of the Occult good intended. Supplementary Remarks By G. H. Fra. N.O.M. S The paper now read by our V. H. Frater Resurgam seems to me to require a preliminary chapter of introductory and more simple matter. His remarks are valuable, and his instances are such as you may yet each possibly attain to the performance of; they are a credit to himself. I can only add a few notes. Imagination must be distinguished from Fancy-from mere roving thoughts, or empty visions: By it we now mean an orderly and intentional mental process, and result. Imagination is the Creative Faculty of the human mind, the plastic energy-the Formative Power. In the language of Esoteric Theosophists, the power of the Imagination to create thought forms is called KRIYA SAKTI, that is the mysterious power of thought which enables it to produce external phenomenal, perceptible results by its own inherent energy when fertilised by the Will. It is an ancient Hermetic dogma that any idea can be made to manifest externally if only, by culture, the art of concentration be obtained; just similarly is an external result produced by a current of Will Force. The Qabalah taught that man, by his creative power through • The initials are short for Non Omnis Moriar, one of the magical mottoes of Wynn Westcott. (Editorial Note.) 51 IMAGINATION AND WILL-POWER Will and Thought-was more Divine than Angels; for he can create-they cannot. He is a step nearer the Demiurgos, the Creative Deity-even now that he is encased in matter-nearer than the Angelic Hosts although each Angel is a Spirit onlyand not tainted with matter. Even the orthodox conception of an Angel is that of a being who executes commands and not of one who originates, creates, and acts 'de novo'. 52 Flying RoD No. I, Part n A Subject for Contemplation By G. H. Frater N.O.M. To obtain magical power, one must strengthen the will. Let there be no confusion between will and desire. You cannot will too strongly, so do not attempt to will two things at once, and while willing one thing do not desire others. Example You may at times have passed a person in the street, and as soon as passed may have felt some attraction, and the will to see him again; turning round (you) may have found that he also turned to you. The will, although untrained, may have alone done this. But if you, untrained, walk out again, and decide to make the experiment of Willing that he who passes you shall turn round, and try it, you will fail. Because the desire of gratifying your curiosity has weakened the force of your will. 53 Flying RoD No. II, Part I A Subject for Contemplation By G. H. Frater N.O.M. Before even strength of will, you must have purity of body, mind, intellect and of emotion if you hope for magical power. The spiritual powers will flourish only as you starve the animal soul, and the animal soul is largely dependent on the state and treatment of the animal body. The animal man is to be cared for and protected, kept in health and strength, but not petted. Be moderate in all things human. Extreme ascetic habits, are to you here, a source of another danger, they may lead only to a contemplation of your own Heroism, in being abstinent. To be truly ascetic is indeed to submit to discipline and to curb unruly emotions, thoughts and actions. But, who is a slave to his animal soul, will practice vice even in a Forest; while he who restrains himself among the crowds of a city, and passes through a busy life-unpolluted, shows more resistance and suffers a severer discipline, and shall obtain a greater reward. 55 Flying RoD No. II, Part n Remarks upon Subject for Contemplation By V. H. Fra Levavi Oculos' Spiritual power results from the transmutation of the gross animal nature. The various centres of sensation in the human body can be harmonised by the equipose or circulation of the contrary forces of attraction and repulsion-or, on the other hand, the vehicle of excess. If 'Our God is superlative in His unity', analogy must follow between the greater and lesser worlds. One of Danton's clairvoyants once described a lake of gold in the centre of the earth, and we have the injunction 'visita interiora terrae, etc.' The primum mobile of even a commonplace vessel is placed in the centre of the ship. Now, the place of power and seat of equipoise is in numbers; the number 5 as has been pointed out:1 234 5 6 7 8 9. That is the Sephira Geburah 'Where there is Gold', whose lineal figures traced with the single point uppermost is the most powerful continuous symbol there is. 5 By the sign of the Microcosm is symbolized the athanor of the Alchemists-at everybody's hand without their knowing it. 'A strong and decided will', says Levi, 'can in a short space of time arrive at absolute independence'. This condition of equipoise is therefore necessary before the manipulation of the will is even possible; and will is something more than the ascending of Our higher desires over the lower, being a kind of electric force, the executive of desire. In this light it is the creative power, which fashions according to the ideal forms or subsisting types. It is therefore through the agency of the will that the hidden becomes manifest, whether in the Universe or Man. , Levavi Oculos was the magical motto of P. W. Bullock (Editorial Note). 5 I.e.-the Pentagram. (Editorial Note.) 57 IMAGINATION AND WILL-POWER The student has to learn to arouse those forces within him or her self. This masterly indifference is the great theme of the Bhagavada Gita and the Indian Yogis-in fact both East and West unite in teaching us to preserve that equal mean between two extremes, which is the law of immortality. 58 Flying Roll No. D, Part m Three Suggestions on Will Power By S.S.D.D. Head 1. In studying the nature of the will force we are aided by our Minutum Mundi scheme. Mars, Geburah, Fire, Aries, each expressive of the will force on different planes, are all red in colour. The Red Lion was used as a symbol by the Alchemists to express the highest powers of the Adept. The whiteness of purity having been attained, the heat must be violently increased, until the redness of perfect strength manifests itself. Head 2. Now the danger which attends our labours arises from attempting to exercise this will power, before we have purged ourselves of ignorance and darkness. Until we know we must refrain from doing. This sounds as if the case was pretty hopeless; but we have each in our own persons all the materials for experiment, and as long as we desire light, and do all we know to obtain it, we are not likely to do ourselves permanent harm; but at the same time we cannot be too careful in applying the very superficial magical knowledge we have at present to others, especially to those who are uninitiated. The danger I have found is that though the first step is most difficult, I mean it is extremely difficult to gain control over another's will so as to alter their natural tendencies; yet this once done the force you have set in motion becomes almost uncontrollable, the other individual seems sometimes to only live in your presence, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. This is a noticeable feature in the cases of those who have been cured by faith healers; or professional hypnotists. Head 3. Having explained these dangers, the method I advise for cultivation of will is, to imagine your head as centre of attraction with thoughts like rays radiating out in a vast globe. To want or desire a thing is the first step in the exercise of Will; get a distinct image of the thing you desire placed, as it • The initials stand for Sapientia Sapienti Dona Data, the magical motto of Florence Farr. (Editorial Note.) 59 IMAGINATION AND WILL-POWER were, in your heart, concentrate all your wandering rays of thought upon this image until you feel it to be one glowing scarlet ball of compacted force. Then project this concentrated force on the subject you wish to affect. 60 Flyiag Roll No. VI Concerning Flying Roll No. II A Note by G. H. Frater D.D.C.F.7-7'=4' With regard to the admirable note by V. H. Soror S.S.D.D. on Will Power and Use-I would suggest that:Before bringing the scarlet ray into such intense action in the Heart, as is explained by her, that the Adept should elevate his thought and idea to the contemplation of the Divine Light in Kether, and considering Kether as the crown of the head, to endeavour to bring a ray from thence, into his heart-his Tiphereth through his path of Gimel and then to send the scarlet ray into action; the effect will be powerful and the process safer: otherwise there is a risk to the heart, and a risk of fever, if'it be frequently done. 7 These are the initials of the Deo Duce Comite Ferro, one of the magical mottoes of S. 1. MacGregor Mathers. (Editorial Note.) 61 PART TWO Astral Projection being Flying Roll No. IV Flying Roll No. XI Flying Roll No. XXV Flying Roll No. XXX Flying Roll No. XXVI Flying Roll No. XXXIII Prefatory Note I feel it advisable to preface the following material with a short note on the Golden Dawn technique of using symbols as a means of obtaining controlled astral visions; that is to say, meaningful, extremely vivid, and completely coherent daydreams in which the dreamer retains all his normal powers of choice, will-power and judgment. In these dreams, so it is believed, the seer is enabled to come into contact with deepest levels of what Jungian depth-analysts call the Collective Unconscious and the mediaeval Hermetic philosophers called Anima Mundi-the Soul of the World. The process used is best described as auto-hypnosis by means of a symbol. The seer begins by holding before his mind a symbol-it may be physically present, painted on a card, or, more difficult, formulated in the imagination only-aId. persists in this until no other factor is consciously present in his thinking. He then, in his mind's eye, deliberately transforms the symbol into a vast door (or sometimes a curtain, ornamented with the symbol), wills the door to swing open, passes through it in imagination, and allows the day-dream to commence. It is perhaps worth saying that most experimenters with this technique have found that the dream experienced bears a real relationship to the symbol used. Thus if the seer uses a symbol equating with Elemental Fire he may find himself near a volcano or observing the self-immolation of a Phoenix, but never will he find himself bathing in a lake or flying through the air.l The symbols normally used by the beginner in this practice were, and are, the Tattvas and sub-Tattvas, coloured symbols of the Elements and sub-Elements. These simple geometic forms, which Mathers and his fellow Chiefs seem to have derived from an early Theosophical treatise, Nature's Finer Forces, by Rama 1 This congruence between symbol used and vision experienced was described by W. B. Yeats in The Trembling of the Veil, Book III, Section II-VI inclusive. Yeats claimed that he had made York Powell talk of a burning house at a dinner party by imagining Tejas, the Fire Tattva. 65 ASTRAL PROJECTION Prasad, are five in number and from them are obtained a further twenty sub-symbols. The five mother-symbols are Tejas, a red equilateral triangle representing Elemental Fire, Prithivi, a yellow square representing Elemental Earth, Apas, a silver horizontal lunar crescent representing Elemental Water, Vayu, a blue circle representing Elemental Water, and Akas, a violet-black egg shape representing Elemental Spirit. The twenty sub-Tattvas are formed by taking a mother-symbol and placing in the midst of it a small-scale representation of any of the four symbols. The various sub-symbols must not be confused with one another. For example Tejas of Prithivi, Fire of Earth, represented by a small red triangle on a yellow square, is a very different thing from Prithivi of Tejas, Earth of Fire, represented by a small yellow square on a red triangle. After Tattva-vision had been thoroughly mastered the Golden Dawn initiate went on to the use of more complex symbols, for example the Tarot trumps and the strange sigils of Phaleg, Ophiel and the other Olympic Planetary Spirits. The really advanced students used the so-called Enochian Pyramids2 as their doors to the Unseen. It may be that some of my readers may wish to undertake personal experimentation with this method of astral exploration. If so, they should bear in mind that any traditional symbol may be used to induce the required state of auto-hypnosis. Thus some contemporary occultists use the sixty-four Hexagrams of the Chinese Yi King, simple black and white symbols, made up of whole and broken lines, which are held much more easily in the imagination than more complex glyphs such as the Tarot trumps. If the Yi King is used in this way there seems to be, once again, a real causative link between the symbol used and the visions experienced. This connection is splendidly illustrated by an experience undergone by W. B. Seabrook, the American journalist and traveller. :I The last Flying Roll printed in this section is concerned with visions obtained in this way. I have therefore felt it advisable to give a brief explanation of the Enochian magical system, its lettersquares, and the Sphinxes and Pyramids derived from these lettersquares, in Appendix B of this book. 66 ASTRAL PROJECTION Seabrook had been experimenting for a year or so with 'travelng through the door'-he had probably learnt the technique rom Aleister Crowley, with whom he had at one time been riendly, using a Yi King Hexagram, chosen at random by hrowing tortoise-shell sticks in the air, as the symbol on the oor. Seabrook himself does not seem to have had any partiularly interesting experiences beyond the door, and he usually )und himself looking for a mysterious lost object, the exact .a ture of which he remained unaware. His friends seem to have een more fortunate; one was transformed from a staid Profes)r of Greek into a wanton female Corybant, another found him~lf in the body of a mediaeval Benedictine monk. The really "citing and significant experience was undergone by an exlnger named Nastatia Filipovna, a White Russian refugee. Nastatia had been experimenting with astral projection for )me time, obtaining the required disassociation of consciousess by gazing fixedly into a crystal ball. No symbol was used, nd the experiences she underwent were unpleasant, monomous, and completely outside her conscious control; almost [ways she found herself in a primitive nomadic camp, engaged 1 skinning and gutting a dead bear with a stone knife. In the summer of 1923 Nastatia re-met Seabrook, an old cquaintance whom she had not seen for some years, and told im of her crystal gazing and its unsatisfactory results. In renn Seabrook told her of the use of the Yi King Hexagrams in ~tral travel; inevitably Nastatia wanted to try the experiment nd asked her friend to arrange it. Seabrook agreed and took er along to the scarlet draped studio of John Bannister, a realthy occult dilettante, where they were joined by a young nglishman, the British vice-consul in New York, who was nxious to witness anything that might happen. The experiment began with the tortoise-shell sticks-notched n one side, smooth on the other-being thrown into the air. hey fell in a pattern which formed Ko, the forty-ninth Hexaram. Nastatia knelt in the centre of the semi-dark studio, her eyes !osed, formulating the Hexagram in her imagination. For three ours there was silence, save for a complaint from Nastatia 67 ASTRAL PROJECTION about her aching knees. Then she spoke: 'The door is moving. The door is opening. But it's opening into the outdoors! I supposed it would open into another room. Its beautiful out there ... and yes ... I'm going. 'Snow ... everything's white ... everywhere snow, and the moon ... the moon on the white snow ... and black trees there against the sky. Yes, I'm outside now, I am lying in the snow ... pressed against the snow ... I am not cold ... I am wearing a fur coat ... and I am warm in the snow ... flat with my belly and chin on the snow I lie. It is good to lie warm in the snow. I am moving now ... but I am not walking I am crawling on my hands and knees ... why am I crawling? I'm not crawling now, I'm running, on my hands and feet, lightly ... now! now! now! ... I'm running lightly like the wind ... how good the snow smells! I have never smelled the snow before. And there's another good smell. Ah! Ah! Faster ... faster ... .' Seabrook said that by this time Nastatia 'was breathing heavily, panting. Her big handsome mouth was open, drooling. And when she next broke silence, it was with sounds that were not human. There were yelps, slaverings, panting, and then a deep baying such as only two sorts of animals on earth emit when they are running-hounds and wolves.' All three observers were alarmed by the girl's condition and the Englishman attempted to bring her round by slapping her cheeks. Nastatia's reaction was astonishing; she snarled and leapt, fortunately unsuccessfully, at the vice-consul's throat. Falling back to the ground she crawled, snarling, into a corner of the studio. Seabrook described how he and his companions dealt with the crisis : 'We had the lights on, snared her in big blankets, wrapped her tight as she struggled like a maniac, put ammonia under her nose, and she came out of it. 'We helped her to a couch. We brought a towel and a basin. We didn't talk much. We brought her brandy. In a few minutes she made us find her handbag with powder and makeup. She went into the bathroom. She came out and sank into an armchair and lighted a cigarette and said "What time is it?" , It might be thought that Nastatia's experience was simply a 68 ASTRAL PROJECTION rather nasty case of wish fulfilment, that beneath her placid Slav exterior she nursed a bestial desire to rip, tear, kill and revel in blood-such unpleasant fantasies are not uncommon. I think that this was probably so, and I have no doubt that the particular form the girl's animal transformation took was conditioned by her own unconscious desires; but the really interesting thing is that there was an animal transformation. For Ko, the name of the Hexagram used, literally means skin, hide, fur, an animal pelt, moulting. Even more significant are the traditional Chinese commentaries on the lines of this Hexagram. One of them reads 'wrapped in the hide of a yellow cow', another reads 'the great man changes like a tiger', still another reads 'the superior man is transformed into a panther'. All of them express the idea of transformation in one form or another-so there was a link between Nastatia's experience and the symbol she used; a link of which she herself was unaware, for her personal knowledge of the Yi King was limited to what little Seabrook had told her of the subject. I do not think that the average astral experimenter is likely to undergo such odd experiences as the one I have related-even if he or she is using the forty-ninth Hexagram of the Yi Kingbut I would advise those who are worried by the possibility to confine themselves to the Golden Dawn symbols and their use as taught in the Flying Rolls printed in the following section. 69 r" (. r Ii ,. . " .( c· . -.~, ie .' 0 ,- ! PI-, '"" , (,,' I '. ". r 1"1"'1 Flyillg Roll No. IV An Example of Mode of Attaining to Spirit Vision and What was seen by Two AdeptiS.S.D.D. and F.3 on November loth 1892. Secure for an hour or for longer absolute freedom from interruption. Then alone, or with one or two other Adepti, enter the vault, or a private chamber. Remain in silence and contemplation for several minutes. Rise, and perform the Qabalistic Cross and prayer. Then proI.:eed to contemplation of some object, say a Tarot Trump: either by placing it before you and gazing at it, until you seem to see into it; or by placing it against your forehead or elsewhere, and then keeping the eyes closed; in this case you should have given previous study to the Card, as to its symbolism, colouring, analogies, etc. In either case you should then deeply sink into the abstract ideal of the card; being in entire indifference to your surroundings. If the mind wanders to anything disconnected with the card, no beginner will succeed in seeing anything spiritually. Consider all the symbolism of the Tarot Card, then all that is implied by its letters, number, and situation, and the paths connected therewith. The vision may begin by the concentration passing into a state of reverie; or with a distinct sense of change, something allied in sensation to a faint, with a feeling urging you to resist, but if you are highly inspired, fear not, do not resist, let yourself go; and then the vision may pass over you. If you have anything occur or disturb you, you will come to readily enough-or as from a doze; otherwise the vision ends of itself, or some can check it by will, at any stage, others can not, at first, at any rate. Example 3 The meaning of S.S.D.D. has already been explained; F. was Fidelis, the magical motto of Elaine Simpson, who later became the mistress of Aleister Crowley. (Editorial Note.) 71 1 ASTRAL PROJECTION The Tarot Trump, the Empress' was taken; placed before the persons and contemplated upon, spiritualised, heightened in colouring, purified in design and idealised. In vibratory manner pronounced Daleth. Then, in spirit, saw a greenish blue distant landscape, suggestive of mediaeval tapestry. Effort to ascend was then made; rising on the planes; seemed to pass up through clouds and then appeared a pale green landscape and in its midst a Gothic Temple of ghostly outlines marked with light. Approached it and found the temple gained in definiteness and was concrete, and seemed a solid structure. Giving the signs of the Netzach Grade (because of Venus) was 0 able to enter; giving also Portal signs and 50 =6 signs in thought form. Opposite the entrance perceived a Cross with three bars and a dove upon it; and beside this, were steps leading downwards into the dark, by a dark passage. Here was met a beautiful green dragon, who moved aside, meaning no harm, and the spirit vision passed on. Turning a corner and still passing on in the dark emerged from the darkness on to a marble terrace brilliantly white, and a garden beyond, with flowers, whose foliage was of a delicate green kind and the leaves seemed to have a white velvety surface beneath. Here, there appeared a woman of heroic proportions, clothed in green with a jewelled girdle, a crown of stars on her head, in her hand a sceptre of gold, having at one apex a lustrously white closed lotus flower; in her left hand an orb bearing across. 5 She smiled proudly, and as the human spirit sought her name, replied: 'I am the mighty Mother Isis; most powerful of all the world, I am she who fights not, but is always victorious, I am that Sleeping Beauty who men have sought, for all time; and the paths which lead to my castle are beset with dangers and illusions. Such as fail to find me sleep;--or may ever rush after the Fata Morgana leading astray all who feel that illusory influence -I am lifted up on high, and do draw men unto me, I am the 4 Corresponding to the Hebrew letter Daleth according to the G.D. system. (Editorial Note.) 5 She has a shield with a dove upon it-S.A. (Wynn Westcott.) 72 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. I v worlds' desire, but few there be who find me. When my secret is told, it is the secret of the Holy Grail.' Asking to learn it, (she) replied : 'Come with me, but first clothe in white garments, put on your insignia, and with bared feet follow where I shall lead.' Arriving at length at a Marble Wall, pressed a secret spring, and entered a small compartment, where the spirit seemed to ascend through a dense vapour, and emerged upon a turret of a building. Perceived some object in the midst of the place, but was forbidden to look at it until permission was accorded. Stretched out the arms and bowed the head to the Sun which was rising a golden orb in the East. Then turning, knelt with the face towards the centre, and being permitted to raise the eyes beheld a cup with a heart and the sun shining upon these; there seemed a clear ruby coloured fluid in the cup. Then 'Lady Venus' said 'This is love, I have plucked out my heart and have given it to the world; that is my strength. Love is the mother of the Man-God, giving the Quintessence of her life to save mankind from destruction, and to show forth the path to life eternal. Love is the mother of the Christ'Spirit, and this Christ is the highest love-Christ is the heart of love, the heart of the Great Mother Isis-the Isis of Nature. He is the expression of her power-she is the Holy Grail, and He is the life blood of spirit, that is found in this cup.' After this, being told that man's hope lay in following her example, we solemnly gave our hearts to the keeping of the Grail; then, instead of feeling death, as our human imagination led us to expect, we felt an influx of the highest courage and power, for our own hearts were to be henceforth in touch with hers-the strongest force in all the world. So then we went away, feeling glad that we had learned that 'He who gives away his life, will gain it'. For that love which is power, is given unto him,-who hath given away his all for the good of others. 73 FlyiJag Roll No. XI Clairvoyance By G. H. Frater D.D.C.F. In order to obtain a clear idea of the relation of Man to the Universe, and to the spiritual planes, it is necessary to understand and perceive that the scheme of the Ten Sephiroth, and their symbolic representation as the Tree of Life is to be applied both to the Macrocosm and to the Microcosm; to the Celestial Heavens to Stars, Planets, the World, and to Man. One aspect of this assertion that has been recently pointed out to you, and has been demonstrated to you on the globe, is in reference to the scheme of Divination; you must further extend this idea when considering the rationale of Clairvoyance and must recognise a Sephirotic arrangement in the constitution of every Star, and of every atom, of Man and his principles. We look above us into heaven, and see the Stars, and it is commonly supposed that we see the material globes, their Malkuth, but they are complex in constitution and we see but their luminous aura or atmospheres, containing the rest of the Sephiroth, etc., or a reflection of them. Then as to ourselves, we must never forget our own complex Sephirotic symbolism, and that our bodies that we feed and clothe are but our Malkuth on its lowest plane, and that the higher nine Sephiroth hover around us in our auras, or atmosphere. We pass through life affecting others, and being affected by others through these akashic envelopes that closely surround usso that when we close the eyes of the body and senses upon the material world, we first apprehend by interior vision the essences of our own and contiguous natures. This perception of our own environment is a source of error to the beginner in Clairvoyance; for he believes himself to have gone away and to see elsewhere, and may be but among the confused images of his own aura. An old name of Clairvoyance, in our ancient MSS was 'Skrying in the Spirit Vision'; becoming a 'Skryer' was not simply becoming a Seer, but one who descries what he seeks, not only 75 ASTRAL PROJECTION the impassive receiver of visions beyond control or definition. When one stands in common life in the kingdom of Malkuth. there is but little confusion of sight. but when one voluntarily leaves the dead level of materialism and passes up the Path of Tau towards Yesod. then there is a confusion of lights; one comes within the scope of the crossing. and reflected. and coloured. rays of the Qesheth. the Rainbow of colours spread over the earth. and here then we require instruction and guidance to avoid confusion and folly. And yet this stage must be passed through-to go higher. Beyond Yesod you enter the path of Samekh. the strait and narrow path which leads to truly spiritual regions of perception. this is attained by the process called Rising in the Planes. Our subject falls most conveniently into three heads. which are however. closely related. and the three forms or stages pass one into the other. Clairvoyance. Descrying in the Spirit Vision. Astral projection. Travelling in the Spirit Vision. 3. Rising in the Planes. 1. 2. Begin with simple Clairvoyance. and then pass to the other states. It is well to commence this form of practical occultism by means of a Symbol, such as a drawing, or coloured diagram, related in design, form and colour to the subject chosen for study. The simple and compound Tattva emblems are suitable for this process. It is better for them not to be in the complementary 'flashing' colours for this purpose as though more powerful, they are also more exhausting to the student. The Symbol should be of convenient size, for the eye to take it in at a glance, and large enough not to require too close an application of sight to realise the details. There are several scales of colour, but for our present purpose we need only note two. Firstly, the scale of the King, that of the G.D.; and that of the Adept Minor. Scarlet is Fire, Yellow is Air, Blue is Water, Four dull colours are Earth and White is Spirit. Secondly, the Tattva scheme, which is nearly the same as bur 76 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X I scale of the Queen, which is applied also to the Sephirotic colours in the Minutum Mundum Diagram. Red is Fire, greyish White is Water, Golden Yellow is Earth, Blue (greenish) is Air, Violet Black is Akasha or Spirit. Tablets and Telesmas are described as being made in Flashing Colours, when in one tablet, a certain colour and its direct complementary are shown in opposition and shine by contrast. In such tablets do the elemental forces manifest most readily, and most students can perceive their flashes of radiance, which are, however, partly subjective and partly objective. They attract and reflect the rays of light from the akashic plane enveloping them. These tablets when formed by an Adept of high spiritual attainments receive from him a charge of akashic force of a magnetic character; as line by line and colour by colour is added, the Telesma grows in virtue as well as progresses to completion. But the beginner fails, thus, to impregnate his work with his vital astral force and his finished Telesma needs a ceremony of consecration, after which the figure should remain sacred to his touch alone. All Telesma, however, are better consecrated ceremonially, for they then hold more firmly the 'charge' of force, and if carefully preserved, apart from contamination, and from influence by other Telesma, will retain force for an indefinite period. All powerful Occult work, such as this, exhausts the Vital force, especially from beginners, and you will feel at first distinct exhaustion from loss of akasha, which however is not lost but transferred to the symbol and there preserved, fading away from thence, only slowly into the ocean of energies. To use the Symbol for Clairvoyance, place it before you, as on a table, place the hands beside it, or hold it up with both hands, then, with the utmost concentration, gaze at it, comprehend it, formulate its meaning and relations. When the mind is steady upon it: dose the eyes and continue the meditation, and let the conception still remain before you, keep up the design, form, and colour in the akashic aura, as dearly as they appeared in material form to the outward seeing. Transfer the Vital effort from the optic nerve to the mental perception, or thought seeing as distinct from seeing with the eye; let one form of apprehen77 ASTRAL PROJECTION sion glide on with the other-produce the reality of the dream vision, by positive will in the waking state. All this will be only possible if the mind is steady, dear and undisturbed and the will powerful. It cannot lead to success if you are in an unsuitable state of anxiety, fear, indignation, trouble or anticipation. You must procure peace, solitude and leisure and you must banish all disturbing influences. But, above all, never attempt these Magic Arts if there be any resentment in the mind, anger, or any evil passion; for if you do, the more you succeed, the greater will be the evil that will follow-for yourself. With the condition favourable, the process may be continued, and this, by means of introducing into the Consciousness and by formulating into sound, the highest Divine Names connected therewith; this invocation produces and harmonises currents of spiritual force in sympathy with your object. Then follow with the sacred names of Archangelic and Angelic import, producing them mentally, visually and by voice. Then, maintaining your abstraction from your surroundings, and still concentrating upon the symbol and its correlated ideas, you are to seek a perception of a scene, panorama, or view of a place. This may also be brought on by a sense of tearing open, as a curtain is drawn aside and seeing the 'within' of the symbol before you. As the scene dawns upon you, particularise the details, and seek around for objects, and then for beings, entities and persons-attract their attention, call mentally to them by suitable titles and courtesies, and by proper and appropriate signs and symbols, such as the signs of the Grades, Pentagrams, etc. Test them by divine and angelic names, observing their attitude and responses thereto. Thus losing sight of the symbol, you see its inwardness, perceive things as in a mirror by Reflection. In this form of Descrying, note, that you see objects reversed, as to right and left, for which suitable allowance must be made. You project, in this process, part of your own nerve and spirit force upon the symbol, and by this you attract and attach to it more akashic force from the environment, hence the results obtained. If, instead of this Simple Spirit Vision, a ray of yourself is sent and actually goes to a place (astral projection) 78 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X I there is not necessarily the sense of reversal of objects. In using Symbols it is necessary to avoid Self hypnotisation. for this occurrence would dispose you to mediumship. and to be the playground of forces you must control. and not permit to control you. For this reason. partly. it is well not to have the Symbol too small. It is of advantage to pursue these researches with the aid of the presence before you of the four Magical Implements. and even to hold the one suitable to the investigation. If you enter upon the Spirit Vision without a Symbol you proceed by a mental symbol. imagined in the Astral Light: this is not a wise proceeding for learners because it opens the door to other Astral effects; you create a vortex. into which other astral influences are drawn and hence confusion and mischief may result. The process of working by a small symbol placed upon the forehead. or elsewhere. is not wholly good; it is more liable to derange the Brain circulation and cause mental illusion and disturbance. headache. and nervous exhaustion than the first method. In using symbols. placed before you-it is a useful addition to provide a large circular (or square) tablet. around which are placed Divine Names etc. related to the Elements. and to the cardinal points; then after arranging this duly. with respect to the compass. place your symbol upon and within this frame. Astral Projection. although from one point of thought a development of Clairvoyance. yet is from another distinct: in Astral Projection. the Adept emits from his Ego a perceptible ray of his identity. and by cultured and instructed Will. sends it to travel to the place desired. focusses it there. sees there-directly and not by reflection-perceives its bodily home. and re-enters it. In this Travelling of the Spirit the process may be caused to start also by the Symbol, as before. or by Will alone; but anyway the Divine names should be used and relied upon. If the ray be emitted. and you succeed in this travelling to the place-you perceive a different result to that of the clairvoyant. mirror-like vision-scenes and things instead of being like a picture. have the third dimension. solidity. they stand out first like bas relief. 79 ASTR-AL PROJECTION then you see as from a Balloon, as it is said, by a bird's eye view. You feel free to go to the place, to descend upon it, to step out upon the scene, and to be an actor there. Having attained success in projection you should practice the method when opportunity offers, and having passed to any place, should make efforts-and if you Will-success will follow -to pass through all elements, Water and Earth as well as through Air-practice will enable you to fly through air either quickly or slowly as willed, and to swim through water, or pass through earth and through fire fearlessly with the aid of the Divine Names, in this Astral Projection. Seek then the forms and persons of the place or of the Plane you reach to, seek converse with them, by voice, word, letter and symbol and claim admission etc. by signs, and by invocation. Every figure is to be tried and tested, whether he be as he appears or whether a delusive and deluding embodied power. It may be, too, that your travel is not real, and that you are wandering in your own environment, and are misled by memory etc.; hence you might be self-deceiving by your own reminiscences. Try all beings, and if offered favours or initiation by any, try and test them by Divine names and forces; and ever remember your own Adept Obligation and your allegiance to it, to your own Higher Self, and to the Great Angel HVA, before whom you stood fastened to the Cross of Suffering, and to whom you pledged your obedience. This old Proverb enshrines a great truth, as many of them do: 'Believe thyself there and thou art there.' Rising in the Planes is a spiritual process after spiritual conceptions, and higher aims; by concentration and contemplation of the Divine, you formulate a Tree of Life passing from you to the spiritual realms above and beyond you. Picture to yourself that you stand in Malkuth-then by the use of the Divine Names and aspirations you strive upward by the Path of Tau toward Yesod, neglecting the crossing rays which attract you as you pass up. Look upwards to the Divine Light shining down from Kether upon you. From Yesod leads up the Path of Temperance, Samekh, the arrow cleaving upward leads the way to Tiphereth, the Great central Sun of Sacred Power. 80 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X I Invoke the Great Angel HUA, and conceive of yourself as standing fastened to the Cross of Suffering, carefully vibrating the Holy Names allied to your position, and so may the mental Vision attain unto Higher Planes. There are three special tendencies to error and illusion which assail the Adept in these studies. They are, Memory, Imagination and actual Sight. These elements of doubt are to be avoided, by the Vibration of Divine Names, and by the Letters and Titles of the 'Lords Who Wander'-the Planetary Forces, represented by the Seven double letters of the Hebrew alphabet. If the Memory entice thee astray, apply for help to Saturn whose Tarot Title is the 'Great One of the Night of Time'. Formulate the Hebrew letter Tau in Whiteness. If the Vision change or disappear, your memory has falsified your efforts. If Imagination cheat thee, use the Hebrew letter Kaph for the Forces of Jupiter, named 'Lord of the Forces of Life'. If the Deception be of Lying-intellectual untruth, appeal to the Force of Mercury by the Hebrew letter Beth. If the trouble be of Wavering of Mind, use the Hebrew letter Gimel for the Moon. If the enticement of pleasure be the error, then use the Hebrew letter Daleth as an aid. 6 Never attempt any of these Divine processes when at all influenced by Passion or Anger or Fear-leave off if desire of sleep approach, never force a mind disinclined. Balance the Mem and the Shin of your nature and mind, so as to leave Aleph like a gentle flame rising softly between them. You must do all these things by yourself alone. No one can make you nor take you. Do not try to make, or take others. You may only point out the Path, and guide but must not help others. A strong person can galvanise a weak one, but its effect is only a temporary folly, doing good neither to the strong nor to the weak. Only offer guidance to those who are making necessary efforts of themselves: don't assist a negligent pupil, nor encourage one whose desire is not in the work. S Use the Hebrew letter Peh for Mars to coerce sense of anger and violence. Use the Hebrew letter Resh for the Sun to coerce sense of haughtiness. vanity. (Note in original.) 81 ASTRAL PROJECTION This rule is open to some alteration when, passing from our Mystic studies, you refer to the worldly guidance of childhood -a parent is in a special position, and has a natural duty incumbent upon him or her to train, guide, and protect a child. Still, even here, do protect and lead, but don't 'obsess' a child, don't override by your peculiar personal predilections all the personal aims of the offspring. A man's ideal of true propriety is often himself, and his idea of doing good to a child is to make it like himself. Now, although this father may be a good man, his form of goodness is not to be made a universal type, and there are many other forms equally existing, and equally fit to exist, and any attempt to dictate too closely a child's 'thought life' may, while failing of success, yet warp aside from the truth what would otherwise pass into a Good Path, through its own peculiar avenue. It is well to make all symbols for Clairvoyant use yourself, otherwise, to obtain a purely individual result, you have to banish the influence of him who made them. It is best to do high Clairvoyance alone, or only with others of the utmost purity, and in whom you have the utmost confidence. If more than one, is attempting in concert the same process, there is the source of error tha t there becomes formed in the Astral Light a complex symbol, and a struggle ensues as to who shall lead the direction of the currents. When two sit together, as in the Vault, they should be balanced: and so with three. For two; one each side of Pastos or one at each end; for three assume the position of the angles of a triangle, say one at head of Pastos, one at the Right and at the Left hand of the form of Christian Rosycross. Example The V.H. Soror V.N.R. 6 = f, sat at a table, robed, and took a Tattva card coloured symbol (Tejas-akasha)--an erect red triangle, upon which is a dark violet black egg 'Shaped centre. She placed her hands beside her side, or held it in turns before the eyes (held the Magic Fire Wand). Gazed and contemplated 0 82 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X I and considered as the Symbol grew before her, so enlarged and filled the place, that she seemed to pass into it, or into a vast triangle of flame. She realises that she is in the presence of a desert of sand, harsh, dry and hot. Thinks of and vibrates-Elohim. Action seems set up, increase of heat and light. Passing through the symbol and scene: seems to arrive and descend there, feels the hot dry sand-perceives a small pyramid in the distance-Wills to rise up and fly through air to it, descends beside it, passes around, sees a small square door on each side. Vibrates-- 'Elohim-Michael-ErelSeraph, Darom. Ash.' Stamps five times-figure appears at an entrance, stamps again five times and vibrates Seraphie!. A Warrior figure leads out a procession of Guards, she asks for his Seal-he shows a complex Symbol of four triangles around a central emblem-? deceptive. Draw Beth before him-he appears terrified. Withdraw Symbol-he is courteous-ask him about pyramid: he says they conduct ceremonies there-she seeks admissiongives sign of 0 = o' -there is a sense of opposition-gives sign l' = 10', this appears to suffice-But he gives signs of Adeptship -Guards kneel before her and she passes in--dazzling light, as in a Temple. An Altar in the midst-kneeling figures surround it, there is a dais beyond, and many figures upon it-they seem to be Elementals of Fiery nature-she sees a Pentagram, puts a Leo into it, thanks the figure who conducts her-Wills to pass through the pyramid, finds herself out amid the sand. Wills her return-returns-perc:eiving her body in Robes seated in the Second Order flaIl. 0 83 Flying RoD No. XXV Essay on Clairvoyance and Travelling in the Spirit Vision 7 By Sub.Spe-Zelator Adeptus Minor The best theory of the phenomenon of Clairvoyance seems to be founded on the relation between Man as the Microcosm and the Universe as the Macrocosm; regarding the former as a reflection in miniature of the latter, as in a grass field full of dewdrops each drop might present a perfect tiny image of trees and mountains, the sky, clouds, the sun and the stars. If, then, everything in the Cosmos is somehow reflected or pictured on each man's own sphere of sensation, or Akashic. envelope, it follows that if he could but be conscious of the pictures so reflected or imprinted he would at once be possessed of all actual or potential knowledge of everything in the Cosmos, and further assuming that time itself is merely an illusion, and that the reality of things is, as it were, one vast picture along which we travel seeing point after point in succession and producing the idea of lapse of time, then it further follows that the full and complete knowledge of all that is reflected in our sphere of sensation includes all knowledge past, present and future. The reason, then, why we have not such knowledge consciously to ourselves must be from the obtuseness of the Sensorium, the actual physical brain, which cannot perceive the images on the sphere of sensation. If, then, all knowledge lies within each man's own sphere, it is by looking within, or intuition, that such knowledge is made available. Know thyself and thou wilt know everything. But seeing that the brain and sensorium are physical, it is necessary at first to use physical means to produce the sensitiveness necessary to consciously perceive the images on the Sphere of Sensation. And the readiest and safest means is the use of a symbol. This is familiar in everyday life, but so much so as to escape notice. For example-to a depraved and debauched person an obscene 1 A totally different version of this Flying Roll is given in Appendix C of this book. (Editorial Note.) 85 ASTRAL PROJECTION word or figure-carelessly drawn and seen by chance, is a symbol calling up a host of unclean images and ideas. To a lover the name of his mistress spoken by chance in his hearing-the sight of a colour she usually wears, or the scent of a familiar perfume will suffice to raise the image of the beloved form almost visibly before him and to produce quickened pulse, heightened colour, etc. To the soldier the sight of the flag of his country or his regiment, produces visions of martial glory, ideas of devotion, loyalty, patriotism and unflinching courage. In all these cases ideas and visions are produced in the brain by the symbol, and if the above theory be accepted it follows that the effect of the symbol is to render one portion of the physical brain more sensitive, or it may be more translucent, so that the images lying within the corresponding region of the Sphere of Sensation may be dimly perceived (such sensitiveness of brain may be produced in other ways, such as by Hypnotism or self-induced Trance, by Obsession, Disease, etc.-but the method by symbol seems to remain the surest and the best). This theory is made use of in the practice of inducing Clairvoyance. A large number of well known and recognised symbols have a definite relation to certain portions of the Sphere of Sensation and the corresponding regions of the Cosmos, and also to the regions related thereto of the physical brain. The experimenter should know thoroughly the attributions and meanings of the symbol employed, as this knowledge produces an immediate concentration of thought, of vital energy, of nerve force, and of actual physical blood on the tract of brain related thereto, and thus materially aids the establishment of a special sensitiveness there. Thus if the Tejas Tattva card be taken, the knowledge that it belongs to fire will at once charge with nerve force and with blood all the centres of the brain relating to fire, and will involuntarily recall the various Divine and Spirit names which the experimenter has learnt connected therewith. The actual speaking of these with the solemnity and impressiveness of the Vibration will increase the effect-gazing fixedly at the symbol 86 FLYING ROLL NO. XXV and touching the appropriate implement which is also a symbol of the same brain tract, momentarily increases the force-vires acquiret eundo-until every other brain cell is shut down, muted and inhibited; the whole consciousness is concentrated on the perception of fire. The physical brains thus become sensitive and translucent in this respect and able to perceive dimly in the Sphere of sensation the reflection of the Macrocosmic idea of fire, with all its connotations. The sensation is as though one stepped out through a window into a new world. The reality probably is that the new sensitiveness enables the actual physical brain to become conscious of ideas and pictures hitherto unknown. At first it seems as though everything thus perceived were just the product of one's own imagination-i.e. that one simply took scraps of memory, scraps of other men's ideas gleaned from books, pictures, etc. and built them up at will into a composite picture. But a little further experience generally convinces one that the new country one has become conscious of has its inviolable natural laws just as the physical world has: that one cannot make or unmake at will, that the same causes produce the same results, that one is in fact merely a spectator and in no sense a creator. The conviction then dawns on one that one is actually perceiving a new and much extended range of phenomena; that, in fact, which is known as the Astral World or Astral Plane. Here, then, comes an experimental confirmation of the theory above set forth, which will probably be deepened and intensified with every experiment which is carefully made. Personal experience confirms the foregoing: On taking any symbol whereof I know the meaning, such as a Tattva--or Tarot card, the abstract idea of the meaning of the symbol comes first -as fire, or water in the abstract-and a pose of mind cognate and sympathetic thereto, a desire for that particular elementnot keen but perceptible-gradually the feeling of the physical effects of the element-as of warmth-moisture--etc.-and especially the sound as of the roaring or crackling of fire, the rush--or patter, or ripple of water. Gradually the attention is 87 ASTRAL PROJECTION withdrawn from all surrounding sights and sounds, a grey mist seems to swathe everything, on which, as though thrown from a magic lantern on steam, the form of the symbol is projected. (This I conceive is due to the withdrawal of blood and nerve force from other centres of the brain and their consequent inhibition.) The Consciousness then seems to pass through the symbol to realms beyond but, as above-said, I think it more probable that visions and pictures from beyond come on to the hypersensitive brain centres and, as these have been sensitised by the symbol and the first effect has been the vision of the symbol itself on the grey mist, so they seem to take the form of the symbol and to pass through it. At all events the sensation is as if one looked at a series of moving pictures, although there are beings in this new world with whom one can converse, animals that one can dominate, or that attract one, yet to me personally it is all no more solid than the pictures of a Kinetoscope or the sound of a phonograph. Yet when this sensitiveness of brain and power of perception is once established there seems to grow out of it a power of actually going to the scenes so visionary and seeing them as solid, indeed, of actually doing things and producing effects there. This is what I imagine is termed Travelling in the Spirit Vision. Whether it is more than an extension of the power of perceiving the pictures on the Sphere of Sensation or Akashic envelope is very difficult to determine. The sensation, however, to me personally is first to become, as it were, dimly conscious of a figure walking among the scenes of the new country-or the Astral Plane-gradually to become conscious that it is my own figure I am looking at-gradually, as it were, to be able to look through the eyes-and feel with the sensations of this doppel ganger. Further to be able consciously to direct its motions, to control it, to inhabit it, and in this body to be able to visit the scenes and persons I had previously only looked at, as it were, through a telescope. It is as though my Consciousness had extruded from my own body to take possession of a body which I had either created for 88 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X X v the purpose, or invoked out of the Astral Sphere as a vehicle for myself. It seems, however, almost more probable that as the Sphere of Sensation reflects everything that is in the material Universe so it must needs contain a reflection also of the material body of the percipient and if this be so it is not hard to suppose that such reflection can be made to travel about within the Sphere of Sensation and visit all things therein reflected with as much ease (or more) as the will of the man can make his physical body travel to material places on the earth. The Perception of the Astral plane seems to be peculiarly liable to delusions, arising probably &om defects in the sensorium or physical brain-as an object seen through faulty glass is distorted, that is to say the personal element, or what scientists call the 'personal equation', becomes so strong as to produce actual error. As the brain can be rendered sensitive in a particular direction by symbol-so can these errors also be corrected by symbol. The various qualities in each man's nature are symbolised by the planets-hence when this symbology is well known the planetary symbols may be used to correct errors arising from the particular quality attributed to each. Thus the error could be that the visions are merely compounded &om memory. In this case build up in brilliant white light in front of any image which you suspect to be merely a product of memory the letter Tau, the symbol of the Path of Saturn, 'The Great One of the Night of Time'-whose sober and steadying influence will cause a memory picture to disappear. Similarly Beth for Mercury formulated in the same way will cause to vanish any product of lying intellectual delusion-or Daleth for Venus is used for the result of intellectual vanity-Gimel for Luna for a wavering mind-Resh for the Sun for delusions of haughtiness, vanity, etc. and Kaph for the path of Jupiter against imagination, and Peh for the path of Mars against revenge, hatred etc. 89 Flying Roll No. XXX Tattva Cards and Tattvic Clairvoyance and Hierophant rising o' =o' signs By G. H. Fra. D.D.C.F Concerning Tattva Cards and Tattvic Clairvoyance or Skrying The Cards used should be of a convenient size. The Tattvas 1. thereon should be as uniform as possible, that is the full sized Apas should be as nearly as possible of the same area as the full sized Tejas-that is if it can conveniently be done. The Tattvas should be placed on the card so that their perpendicular coincides with the card's length rather than its breadth if the card be oblong i.e. Thus not thus Fig. Fig. 1 2 This is not of great importance, but the horizontal method is apt to increase the negative side too much. The Sub-Tattva should occupy about one fifth of the area of the main Tattva-one quarter is rather too large, and makes the Sub-Tattva nearly as important to the eye of the operator as the main Tattva when the former is superimposed upon the latter. The cards should be clean and the colours correct when first made; not dirty cards whose uncleanliness is covered over to the physical eye by the Tattva pasted thereon. For if the cards are thus made they are apt, without the intention of the maker, to attract evil and delusive Elemental Influences from the fact that their formulae necessarily imply hidden iniquity. 91 ASTRAL PROJECTION 2. Of Tattvic Skrying The Skryer, using the proper Names, Implements etc. should endeavour to attain the following results for passing the C. Examination in Tattvic Clairvoyance. He should test everything in the vision, that is to say, everything at all doubtful to him. He should describe carefully and in detail the landscape etc. of the vision, and discover, if possible:The special attributes and varying natures of the Plane. Its Elemental Nature. The Inhabitants (Elemental, Spiritual etc., etc.). The Plants, Animals, Minerals etc., which would be correspondent to the Nature of the Plane. The Operation of its Influence in the Universe or Macrocosm upon (a) this particular Planet (b) animals, plants and minerals. The Operation of its Influence upon the Microcosm, i.e. Man. He or she who is operating should avoid carefully any selfhypnotisation by the Tattva, for this will simply lead to foolish and hysteric visions, the offspring of the intoxication of the Operator's astral sphere by the Tattva. Of the Mode of delivering the Signs of the of the Outer Order 0·=0· in a Temple The Initiated Hierophant, or any other member of the Second Order present in a Temple of the Outer Order, should give the Signs in the manner laid down in the Z Ritual, and should teach them to be given thus; but he must on no account describe their secret formulae, confining himself to the explanation usually given in the Ritual of the 0·=0· Grade of the First Order. It does not matter so much whether the First Order members give them quite properly, but the Second Order initiated members should always do so. 92 Flying Roll No. XXVI By G. H. Fra. D.D.C.F In Flying Roll XII there appears Venus (Daleth) as Water of Earth. 8 The Planets are not Tattvas but have a sympathy with them. The Planets are not Elements but have a great sympathy with them. Planets represent, for the most part, the compound action of the Elements with the Spirit. For the Spirit enters into their composition from their attributions not only to the Paths, but also to the Sephiroth. Here follows a Table of Attributions and correlations between Planets, Elements and Tattvas. The Elements may be in any proportion, but chiefly and better with the Element first mentioned preponderating in each case. Save in the case of Luna, the Akasha Tattvic symbol is not to be expressed, but Akasha represents the darkening aspect of the Spirit, that is, in a too neutral and negative sense. Saturn Jupiter Mars Sun Venus Mercury Luna Spirit Spirit Spirit Spirit Spirit Spirit Spirit Air Earth Fire Water Fire Earth Fire Air Earth Water Air Water Water Earth and Alchemic Mercury Earth of Air Water of Fire Earth of Fire Air of Fire Water of Earth Water of Air Earth of Water The Tattvas however, are not exactly the Aspects of the Spirits with the Four Elements, as we treat them. They almost coincide with these five forces in our Hermetic and Rosicrucian Scale of the Queen-the complete understanding of which comes later. They are powerful as representing the Natural Passive condition 8 Flying Roll XII is not included in this volume as it was printed by Regardie on pages 66-73 of the fourth volume of his Golden Dawn where the attribution of Venus to Water of Earth can be found on page 67, line 4. (Editorial Note.) 93 ASTRAL PROJECTION of the Forces and are, in a sense, dangerous; because, if ill understood and directed, their operation induces too passive a condition and one too subject to fatality. Their roots are in the material reflections of the five forces in the Scale of the Queen in the Earth's atmosphere; and they are more nearly material in their nature than those of the more active Scale of the King. Wherefore their forces are more easily perceivable materially, though less powerful in reality, than ours in the Scale of the King; because there is a certain mode of combination wanting in them which is present in our Scale of the King. Used with the full knowledge of a Zelator Adeptus Minor, they are perfectly safe, because his knowledge supplies what is wanting in their teaching. Used by the uninitiated, they are dangerous, as quickly leading to a dangerously passive condition. 94 Flying Roll No. xxxm Visions of Squares upon the Enochian Tablets' A Vision of the Square A of the Airy Lesser Angle of the Tablet of Water. A.x.p.a. The Pyramid God is Ahephi Fig. 3 After vibrating the names of Airy Angle of Water and reading the Call, I seemed to be in the Air, ascending in a current of tiny drops of water which darted upward and in every direction, and were of every colour of the rainbow, very minute and light. On looking about for the cause, I saw below a tremendous volume of Water falling to a great depth, and this atmosphere in which I was, was the spray rising from it. I called on Ahephi to appear and gradually got the God form, as before, but standing above a pyramid composed of the living Elements. The Water sides of the Square were like two greenish-blue waves, always rising and falling and on all sides were in continual motion, and gave. the idea of intense restlessness. I gave the 5" = 6 Signs, tested it, and asked to be shown the Sphynx. This appeared in a greenish yellow mist behind Ahephi in a crouching position, 0 'In all this Flying Roll contains seven visions. Only four of them are printed here as the other three (the first, sixth and seventh) are reproduced on pages 318-22 of the fourth volume of Regardie's Golden Dawn. Regardie does not state whose visions he is reproducing-so I have given the correct attributions in Appendix A of this book. (Editorial Note.) 9S ASTRAL PROJECTION with the human arms stretched out in front. A silver crown on the Lion head set with sapphires. I saluted with the Signs which were returned. I asked for the explanation of the force of the Square, but could not get it clearly. It seemed an ever-moving subtle force, which working imperceptibly brought purification and cleaning with it. The elementals I got were something like those of the 'n' Square, but smaller and in Rainbow colours, and they moved more quickly. They carried cups in their hands, shaped like lotuses in which they caught drops of water and darted into the Air with them. On the Earth their work seemed to be the purifying of the magnetism. I could not get anything clearer although I tried for a long time. Vigilate. A vision of the 'x' Square in the Watery Lesser Angle of the xA Ruler Amesheth Fig. 4 Fire Tablet. I rose through the pyramid with the White Light, which streamed down from the Apex, and came into the Sky, where the same colours are repeated like sunrise etc. The colossal pyramid and Amesheth on it, a mummified figure in white, bands of colour like the pyramid and a blue human face (the same blue as I have seen in Egyptian paintings). I made the Signs and called on the Names and begged to be allowed to see the Angel. She appeared with a blue lunar crescent on her head and brown hair which was very long. Her robe was pale blue with a black border, and a pentagram in red on her breast: her wings were blue also, and so was the Cup in her left hand, in her right hand she bore a red torch. Around her was a diamond of red yods. She told me her office was 'Change and purification through suffering such as spiritualises the material nature'. I 96 FLYING ROLL NO. XXXIII told her that her pale face and blue eyes had a sad and tender expression as she spoke. The subs were similar but smaller and not all of them winged. The elementals were like blue maids. bearing flames and their robes were black bordered. Some wore blue winged helmets and cloaks. red breast-plates and Swords and black leg-armour. I was told that only through my Knowledge of Amesheth was all this shown unto me. Then I saw the Sphynx. The head was that of a Blue Eagle. and so were the back and wings. the tail and hind legs were black like a Bull and the fore legs and chest that of a Red Lion. The creature lay on a black marble pedestal. I saluted it and called on it by the Names to tell me its nature and office. its universal quality; it said 'It is change and development. not apparently harmonious. but growing stable after the first efforts'. In the Elements (weather) floods of rain and lightning refreshing the Earth. The elementals and angels are above described. The general effect of this Square upon the Earth is the partly unbalanced efforts of the material universe towards perfectionwhich efforts are all towards spirit and are all necessary-as taken all together they are balanced. In the Tablets there are equal numbers of triangles of each element. On this World the effect is that of the floods of water mingling with submarine volcanoes and so disturbing the Earth under the Sea. The animal life is that represented by the fish who rest hidden among the rocks in warm climates. I seemed to see them, blue with black or red specks. The plants are water-lilies, a root in the black mud, the leaves resting on the surface of the water, loving the Sun. In regard to minerals I saw a great blueish opal with red lights playing in it: it rested in a black marble basin, and from all sides radiated a lovely light. On man the effect of the Square is restlessness, like waves of the sea, carrying him on with enthusiasm to some completed work. I seemed to see a nervous (highly strung) person with a pale face, dark deep-set eyes, and thin white hands, making a great effort, willing to pass through fire to reach his goal, a solid black pedestal from which I knew that he could begin to 97 ASTRAL PROJECTION rise to the Higher. But hot clouds of steam and great water tried to hinder him from even reaching the fire. The lesson seemed to me that severe criticism, social difficulties, and heredity must all be overcome before we can reach the purifying fire of Initiation and, through that, the solid ground of spiritual knowledge. F.E.R. (i.e. Miss Horniman) A vision of the 'n' Square of the Airy Lesser Angle of the Fire ".O.P.m. Ruler Ahephi Fig. 5 Tablet. Formed pyramid 10 over me. Went through it, looked for pyramid of the plane and saw it immediately with its yellow face towards me, and a large glowing white brilliance on the top. Approached and saw Ahelphi in the centre of the brilliance, and himself light and white. On calling on him he turned his head and in answer to f = 6 Signs he inclined it. I said I wanted to interview the Sphynx of the pyramid, he consented to my doing and I descended thereunto. I saw him easily and at once, but his colours were not brilliant. I asked him to explain to me the forces to which he corresponded, beginning with the universal force he represented. Answer (By expression, I am deaf to words) 'I represent active forces acting between the waters above and the waters below the firmament dividing the waters and energised by Fire. Two active forces operating in the midst of a polarised passive force. You personally cannot see a universal application of this cor0 10 Remember that the pyramid is only the symbolic Formula of the plane, and not a solid material pyramid (This is only a symbolic aid). (Original Note.) 98 FLYING ROLL NO. XXXII I respondence; but you may see it in nature in the weather, where the Fire and the Air keep the upper and nether Waters apart. It represents a cloudy atmosphere with a sea below, but the air between is dry and in active motion: there is no chance of rain, nor is there much evaporation from the surface. It is a very stable weather with plenty of circling clouds high in the atmosphere.' Later on he said-'In creation I represent the separation of the Waters; the expression of physical form out of the all-containing Astral; and also the reverse, the restoration to the physical of that which keeps it in that condition; hence the return of the physical to the Astral. I am but one of the forces through which Fire would act. 1l In Man's figure you have a type with round face and full lower parts and legs, with active and strong, but perhaps less clumsy, back and arms; the type of mind, however, is a very good one, it will be meditative, and its meditation will be accompanied by subtle and keen reasoning and energetic thinking. It will lead him to compare the lower with the higher and the higher with the lower. Just the sort of mind to find out for itself that 'as above so below' is a great truth in nature. Because he directs his attention to the upper and to the lower equally he is hence a philosopher combining religion and science into a sublime union.' Among animals, I caught nothing but the Elephant, and from the nature of the Elephant's mind, which may be considered meditative from an animal point of view, his intelligence, physical force, bulky watery build, and warm blood I am inclined to think this attribution correct, although it seemed incongruous at first. Furthermore the use of Tau did not alter the vision. Among vegetables I received the impression of the banana. Among minerals I saw an orange crystal column with pyramidal ends (I think hexagonal). I asked him (the Sphynx) to show me the Angel and to accompany me outside to see her. She appeared as follows: face 11 This seems to me to be a force spoken of in Alchemy as that which 'fixes the volatile' and 'volatilises the fixed', according to which way it is directed. (Original Note.) 99 ASTRAL PROJECTION roundish, short curly hair, light brown brilliant halo, and a small golden crown. Robe blue at the neck and bottom, girt with a white and gold belt, with the name in gold, and the robe white in the centre. Wings small and bluish-white. In her right hand she held a small wand of wood .like cedar, with a gold top nearly cubical in shape, and in her left hand a peculiarly shaped, dark maroon coloured base. Then, from the summit of the pyramid, I surveyed the surrounding country. On the yellow side at some distance was a sea, passing round to the right there was a dark thick wood, the land gradually rising till opposite, the red side of it (the pyramid) rose apparently as a sandy desert hill until it encountered a fogbank which hid all behind it; passing round to the fourth side the country was very flat. There were lakes and marshes and beyond them some slightly wooded land. The lakes and marshes seemed as if partly salt and partly fresh water. As if the pyramid stood at a spot where the waters from the land came in contact with the waters from the sea, though I could not see where or how either the one or the other, the salt or the fresh, got there. There was no inlet from the sea, nor was there a river from the land. Anima Pura Sit (Le. Dr. Pullen-Berry) A Vision of the Square 'c' of the Earthy Lesser Angle of the Tablet of Air Ruler Kabexnuf c.n.m.o. Fig. 6 Having rehearsed the 8th Angelical Call and enclosed myself within a pyramid as above, vibrating the Names, I followed the ray and found myself in a hot, very dry atmosphere; I therefore invoked the God Kabexnuf by the power C.n.ID.O. on whose 100 FLYING ROLL NO. XXXII appearance I used all the tests I knew, whereby he was strengthened. At my request he then made manifest the Sphynx of his power, who became visible to me. He was resting upon a black cube. Having once more used the Signs and applied the tests I asked for information respecting the Square, when my repeated invocations brought before me the Angel, a powerful virile figure of exquisite proportion and strength. He then showed me the action in the Macrocosm, which appeared to be the solidifying of Nebulae into Worlds by mutual attraction of the particles. Then, on this planet, we rested in the mouth of a volcano in active eruption, so much so that we were surrounded by flying lava. It was intensely hot, and almost mechanically I formulated in myself the idea of wrapping myself in an Apas, but a stern voice said: 'You must not, if you want to learn you must bear the discomfort.' Embedded in the sides of the volcano were crystallised jets and drops of fire which, I was told, was living gold; I asked for another scene and was taken on to a higher plane where there was a luxuriant forest of tropical plants of gorgeous scarlet and orange waving to and fro in an imperceptible breeze. The earth in which they grew was of a rich black colour, but there poured on them such fierce rays from the Sun that I looked to see them wither, but was told that they were on a higher plane than our flowers, and defied the scorching rays by virtue of their own internal heat which sustained their life. This Square being akin to our tropics, we went there, and saw a beautiful scene smiling in the heat of the Sun; suddenly a hot wind arose, bearing with it stones and dust with which it devastated the whole landscape. Here I was shown many tigers, and for flowers tiger lilies and Japanese red lilies in abundance. The type of human being I was shown was such a man as Chopin playing madly on a piano in a large empty room. The elemental is a bird like creature which hops rapidly over the ground; its influence on human nature gives the desire for violent sensation. Resurgam (i.e. Dr. Berridge). 101 PART THREE Rosicrucian Adeptship being Flying Roll No. XVI Flying Roll No. XVIII Flying Roll No. XIX Flying RoD No. XVI The History of the Rosicrucian Order By G. H. Frater N.O.M. The opening words of that part of the f = 6 Ritual which deals with the History of the Order of R.C. are as follows: 'Know them 0 Aspirant, that the Order of the Rose and Cross hath existed from time immemorial and that its mystic rites were practised and its hidden knowledge communicated in the initiations of the various races of Antiquity, Egypt, Eleusis, Samothrace, Persia, Chaldea and India alike cherished these mysteries, and thus handed down to posterity the Secret Wisdom of the Ancient Ages .. . .' This statement is one which comes horne to every member of the f = 6 Grade, for although, in a sense, one in that position, is but on the threshold of really serious Occult study and development it is still easy enough to trace the masterful manner in which our mystic knowledges has been consolidated; and the essential unity of the system speaks eloquently of the Wisdom which formulated it. 'Albeit the manner of its introduction into mediaeval Europe' is chiefly interesting to us. C.R. is the great figure-head around which has clustered the most romantic traditions of mediaeval Occultism. History has not passed down the real name of this unique character: for C.R. is obviously a fictitious or assumed name chosen for mystic purposes. Born in 1378 and dying in 1484 a life of 106 years was apparently the term of his physical manifestation: and to his exertions and efforts, it is that we may ascribe the great reformation of Occultism in the West. Fired by a noble purpose and ensouled by divine energies, his was the beau ideal of a life of Occult usefulness: it recks little if the world knew nought of that obscure personality, but it was a matter of supreme importance to the progress of Western Occultism and the full significance of this observation will probably be only appreciated by you in proportion as you may advance hereafter. The first 0 0 105 ROSICRUCIAN ADEPTSHIP years of his eventful life were spent in study, both intellectual and occult, to be eventually followed by a series of initiations at several places (out of Europe) 'Where there existed Temples of our Order.' Thus were laid foundations 'whereon to erect a more extended superstructure of practical application' and, having chosen three other Fratres to share with him the heat and burthen of the day, the establishment of the Order was effected in Europe. With the principal features of their subsequent activity you are already familiar and it suffices to say that when our Founder 'entered into his chamber' his work was accomplished, and every member among us thereby placed under a lasting debt of gratitude. It is to be observed that there are three important epochs in the history of the Rosicrucian Order: the first being the life period of Christian Rosycross, who died before the time of the Protestant Reformation-the second, the 120 years of silence and secrecy, being the period &om 1484 to 1604-and, the third, the period subsequent thereto, and subsequent to the Reformation. It was during the latter period that the opening of the Vault formed the historical basis for the subsequent publication of the Frama Fraternitatis; or a Discovery of the most laudable Order of the Rosy Cross the publication of which took place at Cassel in 1614, though this tract is dated 1610. This event called forth most intense curiosity and excitement and the enormous effect which it had upon the learned world of that time may be better understood when it is stated that no less than 600 tractates exist at the Museum at Berlin, all criticising --either favourably or otherwise-the mysterious association revealed by the 'Fama'. In 1614, then, public attention was for the first time directed to the Order and many thousands are said to have responded to the invitation proffered by the 'Fama': those who were admitted being bound over to keep the matter secret, and that larger proportion who received no response to their overtures believing the whole thing to be an illusion. 1 1 The sudden publication by a secret Lodge of Students of a Manifesto, and semi-public initiation to Occultism-such as then occurred has been recently repeated, for similar reasons by the Eastern School-which in 1875 sent from India the learned woman H.P.B.106 FLYING ROLL NO. XVI It will be obvious upon reflection that the ceremonial and allotment of Rituals and instruction in the Second Order as now existing, cannot be identical with that which obtained prior to the opening of the Vault because the principal symbolism of the 50 =6 0 Grade chiefly centres around the discovery and opening of the Vault: this being so, it may be noted in passing that the two preceding epochs, already referred to, may be attributed by sequence of comparison to the Grades of 6° = 5" and 7°=4° respectively: the former-a degree of death and solmnity-referring to the precedent stage of obscuration, during which silent study and meditation may be considered as the typical condition-the latter-the Grade of Adeptus Exemptus-being referred to the higher and more exalted rank and attainments of him who founded the Rosicrucian Order, as a new formulation of that Occult philosophy or Wisdom Religion which, we cannot doubt, has never been entirely absent since the manifestation of human intellect with a capacity for the apprehension of things Divine. On comparing the Esoteric historical account given in the Fama with that contained in our 50 = 6 0 Ritual, several important divergencies and discrepancies become apparent: for the Fama was written for the public and is therefore not absolutely correct. Instances of the 'blinds' introduced into the Fama occur where in the description of the Vault it is stated 'This is all clear and bright, as also the seventh (the Seven Sides-the 7th was not different) side and the two heptagons .. .' And again later on-'Every Side or Wall is parted into ten squares everyone with their several figures and sentences .. .' 'Every Side or Wall' is moreover represented as having a door for a chest wherein many things and books lay-including the vocabularium of Paracelsus who lived from 1493 to 1541-or during the 120 years of closure before referred to. This was an obvious inconsistency-and was in fact an intentional blind inserted for the purpose of disappointing the critics of that day: (the an initiate to make a semi-public Propaganda-and also to admit a few selected persons to Esoteric teaching issued from a lodge of concealed instructors-whose published names are probably substitutes, mottoes. or symbols. (Original Note.) 107 ROSICRUCIAN ADEPTS HIP critic is rarely or never an Occultist: the Society, to ensure the exclusion of such men, did cunningly when it alJthorised the publication of a tract, with a blot which would condemn it straight off in their eyes-and so kept such men from clamouring for admission). For, be it remembered, the Fama was an official manifesto, the publication of which was authorised by the Fratres then empowered. Subsequently, on account of the great stir roused by its publication, and especially on the assertion of some that the principles of the Order were subversive of the simple orthodox faith of Christianity, its publication by Valentine Andreas was authorised (in 1615) with a Supplement under the Title Confessio Fratemitatis R.C. ad Erudotos Europa. This was prefaced by an advertisement to the effect that the 'gentle reader' should find 'incorporated in our Confession thirtyseven reasons of our purpose and intention, the which according to they pleasure thou mayest seek out and compare together, considering within thyseH if they be sufficient to allure thee'. The point of this, however, is that examination of the contents does not reveal the thirty-seven reasons, nor do the Hebrew Letters representing that number form any Word which might seem to be the secret meaning, but by Temurah, two pregnant words are shown forth, thus LHB = 30 + 5 + 2 = Flame, Lux. Light. IDumination and LGD = 30 + 3 + 4 = 'For the Society', or army. There is another reference to Paracelsus in the Fama which has a curious interest: it runs 'although he was none of our fraternity, yet, nevertheless hath he diligently read over the Book M., whereby his sharp ingenium was exalted.' Now Paracelsus was taught by Johann Trithemius of Spanheim, Abbot of Wurtzburg, and Solomon Trismosin: he also travelled in the East, and being taken captive in Tartary (Compare with H.P.B's initiation in Thibet.-Paracelsus was not a Rosicrucian yet after initiation taught very similar tenets-he found another allied Temple in the East) was initiated there; he is moreover said to have received the Stone in Constantinople from one Sigismund Fugger. Although the Fama is in some cases deficient in its historical account, it contains here and there redundant description, which 108 FLYING ROLL NO. XVI affords food for reflection: - thus, it is said 'In another chest were looking-glasses of divers virtues, as also in other places were little bells, burning lamps, and chiefly wonderful artificial songs... .'-The latter are of course, the Mantrams of the Easterns, Carmina or incantations,-instructions on the vibratory mode of pronouncing divine ames. The only other important Rosicrucian publication was a very curious work entitled the Hermetic Romance, or the Chymical Wedding, which likewise excited much controversy: - it is full of perplexities (for the casual reader) though the meaning is entirely allegorical and only to be seized by violence. Of this class of study, all that can be said is 'Sometimes a light surprises the student on his way.' The date of publication was 1616, the year follo.lVing the appearance of the 'Confessio Fraternitatis'. I should mention that an English translation of the Fama was done in London by Eugenius Philalthes. (Thomas Vaughan) in 1652;-he was at that time Supreme Magus in Anglia, or Chief Adept in charge in our phraseology.In conclusion it only remains for me to point out that while the historical element has a unique interest for every member of the 50 = 6 0 Grade of the Second Order; this in itself is a minor consideration as compared with the mystic symbolism involved therein. The 120 years has other references, as the 50 = 6 0 Ritual itself testifies. This was the number of Princes, which Darius set over his Kingdom,-and Daniel was a Magus among the Chaldees;-while another hint as to its meaning lies in the suggestion as to how that number was arrived at. 0 In the 50 = 6 Grade the symbolism of the Rainbow Colours is especially exemplified,-a range of Colour which may be said 0 to be the most apparent and obvious: - while the 6 = 5" Grade is of interest to many of us, especially because the colouring is 0 0 different. The 7 =4 refers still further back and possesses an even more arcane symbolism. Supplementary Notes It is especially desirable that when our brethren meet, the ancient form of salutation should be preserved: - thus on meet109 ROSICRUCIAN ADEPTS HIP ing they should salute each other in the following manner 'Ave Frater'. The second shall answer 'Roseae Rubeae', whereupon the first shall conclude with 'et Aureae Crucis'. . It was also the ancient custom after having thus discovered their position, for one to say to the other Benedictus Dominus Deus noster qUi Dedit nobis signum-{uncovering Cross or Seal). This latter form should also be observed on all formal occasions and especially when Fratres meet who are little acquainted with each other. Members are moreover further requested to endeavour upon all occasions when taking leave of each other to use the old formula Vale, adding 'Sub umbra alarum tuarum, Jehovah!'2 The effect of the foregoing observance is to directly maintain the psychic link which has ever served to bind the Members of this Ancient and Honourable Order one to the other;-in this light it is something more than a mere form. The following beautiful sentences were inscribed upon the Tablet. At the head was written. 'Granum Pectaris IH SH VH insitum'A grain-or seed, sown or planted-in the heart of Jehoshua (The worn out physical body-laid aside-from whence has escaped the Spiritual entity which shall function in a spiritual body-as Paul said; until-if ever-it be again required to clothe itself with skin, and come down-again to teach and guide others) in commemoration of Frater C.R.C. our prototype. Pater dilectissimies = Most loved father! Frater Suavissimus = Most courteous brother! Preceptor fidelissimus=Most faithful instructor! Amicus integerrimus = Strongest friend! Well indeed shall your life have been spent in helping the world, and teaching others, if you can earn such an Epigraph. 2 A wand to guide you and protect you in the ascen t of the Mountain is the Staff of Hermes, about which the twin Serpents of Egypt twine: above the wings of Binah and Chokmah-shrouding the sacred Diamond lying on the Crown of Kether-the Supernal. Sub umbra alarum tuarum; beneath the rays of spiritual Understanding emanating from Divine Wisdom, you may indeed be safe, trusting to the protection and aid of the High and Holy Powers summed up in the great Name JHVH. (Original Note.) 110 Flying Roll No. xvm Progress in the Order By F.e.R.3 A few words on the natural wish to make progress in our Order may interest some of those who have just joined us and also whose efforts seem to lead to little or no result. Of course the experience of each one is unique, and must be so; no one could have been led into the path of serious occult study without a certain determination of character, and in most cases the necessity of overcoming opposition at the outset, is a test in itself, which shows individuality and fixity of purpose. Naturally, when first asked to join and told that he is considered suitable, the Candidate feels strongly that he must be rather a remarkable person to be so chosen. That was the first stage with me, and it lasted until I was actually admitted into the Order nearly two years later. Of course some spiritual gifts are necessary to make true progress, but it is very hard to judge which person has them or even to tell our own power until time and training have developed the tendencies hidden in our innermost natures. At first it is probable that the Neophyte will exaggerate every little astral incident that happens and the only way to fight against that temptation is to force the mind to serious study so as to gain strength; and by the power which will come gradually to the earnest student, to learn to distinguish the false from the real, the Astral from the Spiritual. The uncongenial spiritual surroundings in which most of us are obliged to live out our lives have their uses; we learn to concentrate our minds amidst the distractions which are the more dangerous to our progress when they are not in active opposition to it. For the first few weeks the secrecy enforced on us by our Obligation is a novelty, but when the Knowledge in the first lecture is learned and found to be information easily gained 3 These initials are those of Annie Horniman's motto of Fortiter et Recte-but see my note on this Flying Roll in Appendix A. (Editorial Note.) 111 ROSICRUCIAN ADEPTS HIP from other sources, a questioning feeling arises as to the need of so much fuss about labels for MSS, mottoes to be used instead of names etc. etc. If we look a little closer, however, it will appear only reasonable; we must be trained to be silent and perfectly discreet, so that secrecy will be no effort to us, when after much labour and many struggles we are gradually entrusted with the hidden knowledge belonging to the higher Grades of our Order. Some of the obstacles which keep the Fratres and Sorores in the lower Grades are quite trivial in themselves and might be easily overcome by an effort of Will; but they do not realise that the fault lies in themselves and put down the fact of their standstill to many other causes. If our Order be anything deeper and higher than a mere club for the dissemination of archaeological and literary knowledge, the obstacles to be overcome must be more subtle than those which come between us and success in the ordinary aims of life. Acts which were meaningless trivialities before are serious matters to a Frater or Soror who is truly striving to rise as high as possible during this life. Habits of indecision and caprice in the minor matters of conduct have a great cumulative force and weaken the will and leave us open to astral influences which must be conquered as completely as our present strength allows. A strong feeling of disinclination for study at convenient times, once given way to, grows into indolence, and then when each succeeding lecture if found to be more difficult, the thought that perhaps it is not worthwhile after all, creeps in and gradually the student loses interest and occult study becomes tedious to him. On the contrary, great opposition and difficulty spur us on in this, as in any other, course, and when the opportunities for study have to be made they are seldom neglected. Do not accept the excuses you feel inclined to make to yourselves-that you have to live alone amongst people who are only hindrances, that no one takes particular interest in your progress, or that you will have more time bye and bye. Not one of us has any time to lose; youth and strength do not last us very long, and the present opportunities may never arise again. Work done to please or gain approbation from 112 FLYING ROLL NO. XVIII another is not what we want, but that real enthusiasm which overcomes difficulties and grows the stronger because of them. Naturally, members of higher Grades take a personal interest in those with whom they are connected by social ties, but sometimes that is a source of disappointment. Each must strive upwards by himself, for himself, no help can take away the real difficulties, for they are the tests which must be passed, and by which our spiritual fitness for Higher Things is shown. Uncongenial surroundings are an obstacle, because they seem to waste the strength, but is it truly as difficult to work when unhappy after the performance of burdensome duties, as to overcome the far more insinuating influences that come into play when all seems smooth before US? Sometimes in those painful surroundings there are others also struggling towards the light which we are longing to reach ourselves; we may not as yet be able to help except by sympathy and kindliness; but when the time comes, then we can stretch forth a helping hand with a full understanding of the need for assistance. To those who have made some little progress the true prosperity of our Order is very dear, and we look back with real gratitude to those who watched us until they thought fit, and then brought us in to what has become a great and important part of our lives. In some cases it was an intimate friend, in others a comparative stranger whose acquaintance at first seemed to be of very little importance. Of course, we are often disappointed; when beginners ourselves we were most anxious for those dear to us to come in also, but as time goes on we see how rare are the qualities required and we find that we must have great patience and hope in regard to our friends, who as yet do not want to sympathise with our Hermetic aims. Those who expect worldly or sodal gain for themselves through this Order will be disappointed, yet none of us who have made sacrifices for it in a right spirit are disappointed with the result. To some natures ceremonies are repulsive, to others they are most attractive. They are part of the necessary discipline which insists upon us all being treated exactly alike, which seems 113 ROSICRUCIAN ADEPTSHIP arbitrary to some minds, yet without it, we could be trained to understand those causes which lie behind the ordinary events of life and form our characters for good or evil. We must all take courage and look our diifficulties full in the face, neither magnifying them nor avoiding them; and we shall find in many cases that a little self-denial, a little exertion of Will, or even a little commor.place prudence will vanquish them completely. Nothing impossible will ever be asked of any of you, but what will be possible to each of you is in the Future, none can say exactly what. With knowledge will come strength, and then experience will follow and the power and the wish to use that Knowledge rightly. It is a gradual process, and often a painful one to experience, but well worth the sorrows to be borne and the difficulties to be overcome by the earnest student. Trondhjeim. June 1893. 114 Flying RoD No. XIX The Aims and Means of Adeptship By N.O.M. Among the objects for which you have joined the Second Order some are specially named by the Obligation which you have taken, and others are indicated by the documents which you have received on loan. Speaking generally however, we may say that the main object is what is called the Higher Magic or the development of the Spiritual sides of our natures in contradistinction to the purely intellectual. As regards Spiritual Development you promised in the Obligation to use every effort to purify and exalt the Spir~tual Nature so that you may be able to unity yourselves with what the Hermetist calls his 'Higher Genius'. A second aim we may say is the extension of our powers of perception so that we can perceive entities, events and forces upon the super-sensuous planes. Thirdly, and in connection with the other two, you are encouraged to practice the system of divination of which there are several but which are only aids to your intuition and methods by which the intuition may be developed and encouraged. Fourthly, there is what may be called the procuring of the influence of Divine Powers through the peculiar modes taught in our Order and Vibrating of Divine Names. There are then these four aims-Spiritual Developmentextension of the powers of perception; learning the modes of Divination and becoming familiar with the vibratory mode of pronouncing Divine Names. To these may be added the practical study of the particular influences of colour and thus we are called Lords of the Path of the Chameleon. Now as regards this Spiritual Development in the first place we mean by it that you perform or endeavour to perform the transmutation of the vital forces of life into higher currents of life or rather their transmutation out of the lower into the 115 ROSICRUCIAN ADEPTSHIP higher so that you can use them for the purposes of Theurgia. Transmutation of physical force is what is discussed in many of the old alchemical books. A large proportion of these books which have come down to us refer to purely physical processes. But there was an opposite pole of thought of which the language referred entirely to man and by transmutation was meant the directing of physical life and force into the channels of spiritual perception and the higher magical powers generally. Secondly, as to the extension of our powers of perception beyond the plane of matter into the super-sensuous world, you must remember that the Theosophical view is the correct one and that our Thinking Personalities are incarnated into these material bodies and are acting therefore under the consequent disadvantages. It is because the mind is immersed in matter that its powers are so limited, and we can readily understand that a mind freed from constraints of the body would enjoy vastly enlarged powers. Thus, although our senses are the means by which we perceive; yet at the same time they necessarily limit the extent of our perception. It is therefore our material bodily organs which circumscribe as well as bestow. All of our five senses are capable of enlargement and development. It is however the sense of sight which we most commonly seek thus to develop. Having intellectually learned the laws which relate to sight and colour we are encouraged to practice Clairvoyance and to seek to see beyond material things into the plane most adjacent to us-the Astral, and then we seek to travel in the Spirit Vision through the confusions and the uncertainties of the Astral into the planes beyond. One of the first of your experiences when practising in the Vault in the dark will be the appreciation of the minuter graduations of light and darkness. You will find it very difficult to get perfect darkness, but you will often find that there are certain days when you can get the Vault quite dark. The cultivation of your sight will enable you to perceive the variations of colour and especially to note, observe, and fix in your minds, the contrasts of colour on which our Rituals place so much importance, and the flashing colours. Allied to this 116 FLYING ROLL NO. XIX is the cultivation of View in the Mirror. The ears also require to be cultivated until you obtain some success in what is called Clairaudience. This is sometimes easier than Clairvoyance but development in either direction implies great perseverance and must be carried out with energy and enthusiasm. Among Theosophists the phenomenon which you hear most commonly mentioned in connection with Clairaudience is that known as the Astral Bell. This is almost entirely Eastern: if you find a Hermetist who can hear sounds that others cannot hear, they very rarely take the form of a bell. Those who get a certain amount of Clairvoyance also often get the power of hearing sounds which the world cannot hear and it is often a definite sound sent for a definite purpose. Touch, also is a sense which should be cultivated. I will mention some examples of the way in which this sense may be trained, and by touch I do not mean simply the touch which comes through the fingers. One of the most elementary methods is the perception of magnetism. You will find that, with closed eyes, you can detect the presence of a magnet held near the skin, and that with continued practice you will be able to appreciate the difference between the North and South Poles of the Magnet. You will find that the forehead is the best point upon which to experiment. We need not dwell upon the senses of taste and smell, but these can also be developed. Theosophy tells us that corresponding with all other Septenaries in Nature there are also two more senses. I may say that the sixth can be called that of Astral perception, or the power of perceiving forces and entities on the plane next to the earth; and the seventh, of which, no doubt, some of you will get glimpses in due time is the faculty of receiving Knowledge from spiritual sources. There is no organ corresponding to these senses, so that, where necessary, we must utilise the organs which we already possess. Now by what means do the Adepts suggest that these powers may be obtained? It has been urged against us that, as a society, we do not preach the necessity for such strict purity of life as do the Theosophists. It may be 117 ROSICRUCIAN ADEPTSHIP true that we are not always preaching it, and as we do not hold public meetings, the same opportunities for doing so do not exist. If, however, there is one thing more than another which I would impress upon you as a social sin, it is that of hypocrisy. As to asceticism, the Hermetists have always taught that this necessary purity of mind should and can be combined with the absence of all ostentatious morality and of un-natural habits of life. The Western Teachers have always recognised the fact that for so long human life has been so painful, that to most people these studies would be denied if they were to insist upon asceticism, and they have found by experience that a very considerable amount of success without attendant danger may be obtained by those who are willing to make strenuous efforts, without the aid of positive asceticism. It seems to me that the chief danger of asceticism in a city like this and at the present time is that even if we succeed, the extra advantage which we shall derive from totally abstaining from these things of the sense, will be counterweighed by a distinct and added danger of falling, on the other hand, into the Scylla of hypocrisy which I have mentioned. What is apt to happen is this,-that a man is liable to compare himself with his neighbours, and say how much better he is than others. Now self congratulation is second only to open hypocrisy, and we hold that it is just as harmful to spiritual progress. On the other hand if you make strenuous efforts to lead a moral life, if you do this while leading a pure life in the city, if you succeed in doing these things, you may depend upon it that your reward will be greater than his who removes himself from his fellows and shuts himself up in a forest. The reward of a man who can remain pure and yet live in the midst of a crowded city is greater than his who avoids the responsibilities of life by burying himself in a wilderness. It is possible even there to commit many sins which you would not like to confess! The next principle which we formulate is the necessity for studying and doing all Hermetic exercises from a positive point of view. We look upon the negative attitude of simple abstinence 118 FLYING ROLL NO. XIX from sin and exertion and effort, in which are comprised to a great extent the methods of the East, and we think that this is an error of judgment and of practice. I am sure that any attempt at a negative attitude is a mistake. Many persons are, I am sure, deterred from taking up Theosophical studies more closely by the sense of coldness, and an apparent want of human sympathy, which is sometimes exhibited and felt in Theosophical Lodges. Theosophy itself teaches that we should give ourselves up to humanity, and yet their private lodges are often marked by the absence of that enthusiasm for their work which should distinguish them. The Hermetists have always been noted for their social relations, and this is, I believe, in every way compatible with the strictest purity of life. We believe that a harmonious whole is thereby produced and one likely to lead to success in practical magic. The next point of importance which is insisted upon in our Obligation and Rituals and put forward with great solemnity in the Vault itself is the extreme necessity for refraining from judging other people. This does not mean that you are not to condemn sin, but it means that you are not to go out of your way in condemning the sinner. It does not imply that you are to condone faults, but it does imply that you are not to endeavour to seek grievances against your fellows, or seek to rule or supervise them, unless you happen to be in authority over them. Very few people are in this position of being rulers. Such have to bear the Karma of occasionally judging their fellow members. It is at any rate a duty which falls upon some of us. You must however, avoid the opportunity of thus judging others until the obligation is thrust upon you. The opportunity and the act should both be avoided as far as possible. Thus the Ritual says 'therefore art though inexcusable, whoever thou art, who judgest another'. Let me now say a word about the risks of negativity. It seems to me that the negative attitude and the negative constitution required to be checked and controlled. Firstly because we do not progress under these conditions, and secondly because they carry with them definite risks to ourselves are those from 119 ROSICRUCIAN ADEPTSHIP elemental forces which may attack us. So long as you lead an ordinary life you are safe .from the assaults of influences beyond the material world of your brother men; but as soon as you get outside of that world and put yourself in a position to seek out occult mysteries, you bring yourself under the action of forces of which you know very little or nothing. The only way to avoid being controlled by such forces, to which you have rendered yourself liable, is to preserve what we call the positive attitude, which is the extreme contrast to what is called mediumship. A medium is one who cultivates negativity and such a person is therefore one to be avoided. The condition we want you to cultivate is that of positivity. I could give you a very good example of a person who is negative and who has got into trouble almost entirely through that. The next thing which we are taught and enabled to practice is Divination. There are at least three distinct systems suggested to you, but they are all of them methods whose routine may be superseded, when you get on far enough. The first of these systems is that of Geomancy and there is also that of Astrology. It will be noticed that the lectures of the First Order give brief outlines of these systems, but there is no direct encouragement to perfect yourself in them. The third system which is virtually introduced and taught in the Second Order is that of the Tarot. This goes very much deeper than either of the other two and gives results which are more true because its points of contact with the world, with man, and the influences which surround him, are more numerous. The fact that this is more complicated gives you more of such points of contact than either of the other two systems. With a properly conducted Tarot process and with a cultivated intuition you can obtain almost anything you wish for. but as the process is so complex it is a most difficult system to learn. but having once grasped it you can get results which are most amazing. When you have mastered the first six manuscripts of the Order and are familiar with the Rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram, and have made your Implements. the Tarot is then suggested to you as a desirable system to learn. Moreover its study is so enticing that you would 120 FL YING ROLL NO. XIX be apt to neglect those things which should precede its practice. By these systems of divination you are really inducing and cultivating the intuitive power. Now in order to get success in Divination it is necessary to cultivate the Will. First you want an intellectual knowledge of the subject. Then a cultivation of the intuitive power is necessary, and finally you must develop the Will. You must have a steady will or else your intuition will be of little avail. Now this cultivation of the Will should be a process which is continually going on. There are fallacies which exist in connection with the Will. A person may say to you, I am extremely interested in all these studies and I am always willing and endeavouring to succeed in them, and he will say to you that he is thinking of the Tree of Life or of some other occult subject while he is doing his accounts or interviewing his wife. Now I am sorry to say that I have to tell such a person that he is on the wrong tack. If you want success you must will only one thing at a time. The habit of doing two or three things at once is fatal to the Occultist. The Will which is necessary is an undivided Will and its cultivation must be continued at all times. It is therefore necessary to get into the habit of never Willing more than one thing at a time. Never allow your Will to be mixed up with any desire. The Will which is divided is not the Will which can be of any use to you. It is quite impossible to Will strongly to see an elemental, for instance, unless you are able to think only for that moment. A fixed concentration of mind must be encouraged if you want to have success. We often get strange demonstrations of the strength of the Will. I will give you an example. We continually find that if we turn round in the street to look after someone whom we have just passed, that person is also turning round to look after us. If however, you deliberately try to do this you will probably fail, and the point is that in this latter case your mind is divided between the will to succeed, and the desire to show your power, and the Will is thereby weakened. The other two principal items are the Vibration of the Divine Names and the properties of colour, but as these ought to be demonstrated in the Vault, I will not go into them today. 121 PART FOUR Man, God and the Rosicrucian Initiation being Flying Roll No. XV Flying Roll No. X Flying RoD No. XV Man and God ByN.O.M. The circle of Members of the Adeptus Grade of the Order R.R. et A.C. is a fraternity of students of the Hermetic Sciences and of the Hermetic Art. The chain which unites us in the acceptance of the doctrines and wisdom contained in the Rituals of our Order. The same assertion is true of the Order of the G.D., that preliminary course of instruction through which all must have passed. The common ground of brotherhood is the sincere acceptance of the Hermetic ancient philosophy, as expressed in the Ritual, and Pictorial and Symbolic representations which have been tendered to us at each stage of our progress. The G.D. teaching has reference mainly to Religion and to Philosophy; but it is of course obvious that our Rituals are but outlines and landmarks in the world of thought. The vacant spaces each member fills for himself or leaves blank. A little consideration will assure us that these vacant spaces are filled by individual members in very different manners. Every shade of unorthodoxy is represented among us; and some of us are almost orthodox, yet we are all sensible of a mighty tie which binds us together: this is our Ritual Wisdom. Whence these rituals come, through whom they come, and even who are our present Temple Chiefs are all matters of secondary interest. The personal element of rule is but a question of the arrangements of time, place and finance, and there is no claim of authority by any beyond the accepted Ritual. You who are here today to listen to this lecture (or you who read it hereafter), have come to this Hall only to seek from my words further suggestions of thought on Occult teachings, you are well aware that I represent myself alone, in what I say, and that you are each perfectly free to take what seemeth good unto you and to reject the refuse. In my honour to the Order in which I bear a part, I have always made the clearest 125 MAN, GOD AND THE ROSICRUCIAN INITIATION distinction between the Ancient Ritual and our modern comments, and this distinction you must always bear in mind, for it must not be considered that the doctrines of any single elder or ruler are necessarily all true to the Hermetic faith. All individuals go astray even if some go farther than others. The Order here then has no Pope nor Popess and our Bible at every stage is imperfect; we are fellow students, still crying for the Light; and every lecture given here is but the expression of personal opinion, from some one who has far longer than most trod the path of Hermetic progress, and the proportion of doctrine or fact which you accept must be estimated by yourselves, for yourselves-it is a duty you owe to yourselves to work out your own transmutation-to change the powers of physical sensuous life into the refined spiritual faculties of Adeptship, in truth as well as in name. As senior Adept among you, just now, my duties are to keep you to the doctrines of our Rituals, as far as they go,-to leave you quite free where they do not lead, but to stimulate your efforts in the search for the Philosophic Gold by occasional short essays of my own, which although quite without authority, will suggest subjects and lines of thought which those who have gone before you have found fruitful of high ideals. I am about to take, today, a leaf from the clerics and say something on two texts, from the Hebrew Bible; and so you are all free to think as you please about the subject. My opinion is that a part is historical, and a part of the history is allegorical and that while it was intended as a text book for the populace, yet there are in it many references to an esoteric creed held by the priests of the Nation. It seems to me that the Divine Names of the Hebrew Volume especially hide and yet reveal a glimpse of the secrets of Divine power, majesty and governance. Occult Science has in every age seen mighty mysteries in the name Jehovah. Now the two texts I am about to refer to, alike, allude to the great name 'Elohim'. The first text is found in Exodus XXXII, Verse I, and was as I will remember, used as a text by my G. H. Fra. D.D.C.F. in a lecture he gave ten years ago to the Hermetic Society of my 126 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X v dear Friend Anna Kingsford-it is the words ·of the Israelites to Aaron, when Moses had gone up to seek God. 'Make us Elohim which shall go before us', or, let us make Gods to help us, to form our ideals. The other text is in Genesis I, 26, Veamar Elohim Nosher Adam Be Azelinunu Re demuthun. 'And the Elohim said let us make man'-'in our image and after our likeness'. Note the contrast, and alternation of expression. The men cried let us make gods-The Gods said let us make men-We are here seeking gods, or divine ideals;-and we are making men; for men make themselves and they make their own gods-The Poet singsThe Ethiop gods have Ethiop eyes Thick lips, and woolly hair; The gods of Greece were like the Greeks As keen, as cold, as Fair A modern philosopher has written 'The Gods may have made man, but men have made their own Gods, and a pretty mess they have made of it'. Let us be careful what gods we make for ourselves, and on what pedestals we place them. The great Jehovah may have made man in the Garden of Eden, it matters not to me; but I know I make myself, and I know you are hourly making yourselves-the child is father to the man indeed, quite as surely as that the man is father of the child-a mighty mystery. Now Moses had gone up into the holy mountain to seek divine help: - this Sinai was the Mountain of God'-the Mountain of the Caverns, the Mountain of Abiegnus, the mystic Mountain of Initiation-that is of divine instruction. Even so do we seek inspiration in the mystic Mountain, passing through the wilderness of Horeb, that period life which is at first a desert to us, as we cast aside worldly joys, and seek to pass through the Caverns-our Vault, to union with the spiritual powers above us, which send a ray of light to illumine our minds and to fire our hearts, the spiritual centre, with an enthusiasm for the higher life of greater self sacrifice, more self-control-by which means alone can man reach up to the Divine and become one with the All self-the great One- All. 127 MAN, GOD AND THE ROSICRUCIAN INITIATION Our V.H. Sor.-S.S.D.D. has in an earlier Roll pointed out this passing through the desert, and that volume of beautiful thoughts, the Voice of the Silence alludes to the same period of trial, which must precede success in the attainment of the Higher Life-Light on the Path too, well portrays the period of transition, when by the energy of enthusiasm the inspired pupil casts aside wordly ambition and the joys of life, the pride of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and stands seeking the foothold of the first step of the mystical ladder, whose ascent can fill the heart with such sublime aspirations that the way is no longer steep, nor the path dreary, and when the dawning Sun of Tiphereth, shedding a ray of splendour upon the Path, encourages the toiler to the consummation devoutly to be desired. I have said that we make our own gods, and this is a great secret truth. Moses made his God, and impressed· his ideal upon the people he led-Mohomet formulated his own idea of God, and of post mortem union with God, and of a Heaven where men are visitors to a vast Supernal Harem. Jesus taught his idea of his Father, and his suggestions have tinctured the God ideal of millions; but the mere adherence of the millions to any doctrine is but slender evidence of its truth, for as Carlyle has said, the majority of men are fools-Man does not alone formulate a Deity, but designs also a contrast to our notion of Supernal greatness, knowledge and power. So does Genesis, for there we find Jehovah thwarted by the Serpent; we find· in the book of Job that the Supreme One was lead into folly or ingratitude or worse, by Satan who came before him among the 'Sons of God' and by dint of applying to Job every earthly suffering, sought to degrade him before his Master. We find the Evangelists describing a Satan only second to Jesus, who had power to promise, and, we must suppose, to confer upon Jesus, either Lordship of the World or a divine supremacy over matter, -if he would but tender a nominal submission. We find the mediaeval European priest formulating the grotesque horned and tailed human demon, and lastly we are instructed concerning the Qabalistic enumeration of the Evil and Averse Sephiroth. Are not these all human ideals, and if we were but philosophic at heart, should we not confess that these 128 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X v notions are but futile attempts to express the unknown and unknowable? No man can go beyond his own powers, and if we do but formulate as divine our own highest ideal not much harm may be done, so long as we grant equal powers of formulation to our brothers. But in respect to Evil Beings, let us forbear, and beware of speculating or designing forces contrasted to our high ideals; for the mind has a creative force we but little know of, or understand, and in our ignorance we may create in our own auras evil personalities in spaces that might have remained vacant. Never risk the creation of Evil forces, let us avoid and repel all the evil promptings that attack us with firmness, courage and decision-but avoid arrogance and impertinence, for even the so-called evil forces, the contrasted powers have functions to perform, and even the evil forces may help forward the good, as is so beautifully alluded to in our Adeptus Ritual. Suffice it to say, that every man has a dual nature, or every man has dual forces-Yetza ha Ra-Yetzer ha Job--attendant upon him; or as the Theosophist prefers to put the matter, man has a higher and a lower manas, and the destiny of any individual is within limits under his own control. The general result of this present life may be upward or downward, for Man has Free Will, within limits, and very expansible limits too. God, or the Divine Powers, did, indeed design and constitute the plan of Man's constitution, origin and destiny, and it is but of slight moment, whether in philosophy we view Man as a Termary, a Septenary or as a Decad, but it is of vital importance to remember that with Free Will comes personal responsibility, and that every thought and act; that we are daily and hourly making the future history of ourselves, and piling up destiny whose realisation cannot be baulked by divine interposition nor changed by a maudlin sentimental repentance, nor by the surreptitious substituted sufferings of others. The type of man may indeed be viewed as emanating from the Elohim of Life, from the High Septenary of Powers, and his constitution may be in elementary form allotted to the Sun as the Giver of Vital Fire,-to the Moon for the Astral 129 MAN, GOD AND THE ROSICRUCIAN INITIATION Mould of Form, to the Earth for the Material body: the Planets and Stars may influence man's form, stature and tendendes, but the destiny of the Thinker will depend upon the Thoughts. This is all true of man as a type of Creation,-Man as an Individual hourly makes himself-One life makes another. There may be a final Heaven, a final rest, a re-absorption into Deity, but this is not yet. The ladder of progression from earth to heaven must be climbed, before the foot can attain the summit. Some egos may go up rapidly, some may pass slowly, self exertion is the measure of success. Let us then make Man-make the Divine Man out of the Human Man. Let us create the Hermetic ideal man from the material sensual man. It is our bounden duty to rend the Veil 'Paroketh' and to let our human intellect attain to the perception of the Holy of Holies which shines within us from above. For now we see us in a Glass darkly, but with the Veil rended, we shall see God face to face. How have the Alchemists of old, when passing from the physical, drawn the picture of the Souls transmutation or translation to eternity from time,-how have they also figured this Soul Growth and Development. They wrote in beautiful allegory:The Heart of man is as the Sun, the reception organ for the Divine Ray of spiritual intuition descending unto Man. The Brain of Man is as the Moon,-the source of human intellect. The Body of Man is the Earthy vehicle. Let the sun impregnate the Moon, or let Spiritual Fire prompt the human intellect-and let the result fructify in the womb of a purified Body, and you will develop the Son of the Sun, the Quintessence, the Stone of the Wise, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness. 130 Flying Roll No. X Concerning the Sybolism of Self-Sacrifice, 0 and Crucifixion contained in the 50 = 6 Grade By G. H. Frater D.D.C.F. This lecture was delivered on Good Friday, March 31st, 1893, to the Adepti in College Assembled. I Dealing first of all with the diagrams in the First Order and proceeding upwards, it will be noticed that in the lowest Grade in the Outer (0 = 0 there are no diagrams properly so called, but that on the two Pillars is depicted the symbolism of the passage of the Soul from the Egyptian Ritual of the Dead; this being as it were a synthetical aspect to be developed and explained with the advance of the candidate through the various stages. After the first Grade comes the 1 = 10 where we find the first form of the Sephiroth in the Tree of Ufe;-this is the representation of the Flaming Sword descending, but it is not until the 2 = 9 comes that we begin to find the actual symbolism of self sacrifice. The 2 = 9 Altar Diagram, then, represents the Serpent of Wisdom twined through the Paths. In the 4 = 7 Grade, however, you are shown the same Serpent, its representation being that of the Serpent Nechushtan. This was the Serpent of Brass that Moses made in the Wilderness, and which was turned around the central Pillar of Mildness,-having three cross bars upon it,-representing a species of triple cross. Dealing now with the Altar Diagram of the 3" = 8 Grade, it will be seen that Adam is the Tiphereth part: wherein he is extended. That is to say that the form of the man is projected from there. The figure of Eve stands in Malkuth in the form of the Supporter. 0 0 ) 0 0 , 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 I Those readers who are unacquainted with the technical terminology of the Qabalah would be well advised to read the Prefatory Note to Part Five of this book before tackling this Flying Roll. (Editorial Note.) 131 MAN, GOD AND THE ROSICRUCIAN INITIATION The first ideal form of the Man is in Adam Kadmon-behind the Kether form and, as it were, the prototype of the Tiphereth form. This Tiphereth answers to the letter Vau of the Holy Name, as representing the Prince. The letter Vau also represents the number Six and Adam was created on the Sixth Day, for Tiphereth is the symbol of the Creation. Furthermore, the Hexagram consists of the two forms Fire and Water;-i.e. the ideal Fire and the ideal Water; the Spirit and the Water of Creation,-the spiritual Ether and the Ethereal Fire (the Fire of the Holy Spirit). Thus, in the Creation the Man is extended from Tiphereth i.e. the moment Adam is created, that is the beginning of the reflection of the lower Triad, and, finally, of Malkuth. Eve is the synthesis of Creation and represents the Mother of Life, as the name Cha V aH is. The 3" = 8 diagram thus represents the establishment of life, i.e., created life, and the Good and Evil is represented in Malkuth, and it is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because it is the balance point between Good and Evil: for in the material body we are placed to give the victory to which we will. Hence the significance of the words of the Serpent, 'Ye shall be as Gods, knowing Good and Evil'. But the knowledge of Evil brought with it the descent into the Qlipoth, and although Malkuth is directly involved in the 'fall', the Sephiroth immediately above cannot be said to have actually entered into the knowledge of Evil. Therefore in the allegorical account of the Creation in Genesis, it is said that Man is checked from putting forth his hand to take of the Tree of Life, so as not to involve the higher Sephiroth in the 'Fall', which, (he being unbalanced in himself) would only have precipitated disaster. In the 4 = 7 diagram we find represented the fall and the consequent rise of the dragon, which in the f = 8 Grade is represented coiled beneath Malkuth in the Kingdom of the Shells; but it only raises its head to the Sephiroth by right of the Crowns of the Kings of Edom. These latter represent the Worlds of unbalanced force, before the Creation is established. They furthermore symbolize the places of the Sephiroth which are hollowed and before the light fills the cavities (The Light which comes down and fills the 0 0 0 0 132 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. x cavities is to be found allegorically set forth in the story of the usurpation of the younger brother in the story of Esau and Jacob). 'Before all things were the Waters, and the Darkness, and the Gates of the land of Night'. Note also the War of the Titans who rise and fight against Jupiter. The Edomite Kings, therefore, are not altogether evil, but they are partly connected with Evil. They are the forces of restriction. The result, therefore, on a higher plane, in the Tree, is that the Great Serpent rises to Daath, and if the Four Worlds be placed upon the Tree itself, it will be observed that the cutting off by the Serpent is between Yetzirah and Briah. Thus Evil cannot arise into the World of Briah, or indeed transcend the limits of Yetzirah. But if we seek for the correspondence of Evil in the Worlds of Briah and Atziluth, it will be found to consist in a lesser form of Good-a limiting, restricting and binding force without which you cannot have form on the higher planes. It is only in the Worlds of Yetzirah and Assiah that the analogue of this principle becomes absolutely Evil. This idea was expressed by the Gnostics when they said that the Achamoth 2 attempted to comprehend the Pleroma, and could not understand it, and from the grief of her were formed the demons and, the evil spirits. If therefore we seek to institute an analogy between the Microcosm it will be seen that Nepheseh refers to Malkuth and Assiah: Ruach will refer to Yetzirah, which is the World of formation, therefore the formative principle operating in Ruach gives form to all ideas, and is that which weighs, balances and works in things. Ruach can also have an evil side. Neschamah = the higher aspirations of the Soul, which aspire to the ideal. There can be no positively evil side to Neschamah:there will only be a higher or lower aspiration. If the Ruach overpowers the Neschamah; if the Neschamah seeks the lower good, both will be ruined. The following of a false idea cannot be said to be exactly evil, but is a lower Good than it should be. 2 The Gnostics called this Achamoth, but probably this was a corruption of Chokmutha. (Original Note.) 133 MAN, GOD AND THE ROSICRUCIAN INITIATION Neschamah will answer to the World of Briah : - so also will Chiah, which is allotted to Chokmah; but you cannot touch the Yechidah part of you with your Ruach,-you must use the consciousness of the Neschamah. This Yechidah will, together with Chiah, be the 'Higher Genius', though this again will not be the highest self. For in and behind Kether will reside a part of the being, which it is impossible to understand, and which one can only aim at: this is the highest Soul, and answering to the highest part of Yechidah, cannot be touched by Neschamah. There must be a mode of transferring the synthesis of the consciousness making up the Man,-to this upper Sephirah. The Fall, which cut away the higher from the lower Sephiroth in Daath, was also our descent into this life, as it were, from that Upper and Higher Soul. Therefore our object is to get into contact with that again, which is only to be done through the Neschamah, which is the Divine Mother of the Soul,-our Aima. When the Candidate enters the Vault and kneels down at the second point, he does so at the centre of the Altar above the symbolic form of the Adept, who is the synthesis of the sides of the Vault, whence he has corne forth and occupies a central position between the Kether and the World of the Shades,being there protected by the rising glory of the Golden Cross and the Rose. Then this Prayer is said: 'Unto Thee Sole Wise, Sole Mighty and Sole Eternal One, be Praise and Glory for Ever'. Now it must be the Macroprosopus, the Amen, who is addressed here, -the Lord of Kether who has permitted this aspirant who now kneeleth before Him to penetrate thus far into the Sanctuary of His Mysteries (which is in the centre of the Universe). Not unto us, but unto His Name be the Glory. (which is the name JHVH with the addition of the letter Shin) 'Let the influence of Thy Divine Ones descend upon his head,' (These Divine Ones are Angelic forces, and the higher Self is in the nature of the Angelic Forces, as the Highest Self is in that of the Divine One) 'and teach him the value of Self sacrifice, so that he shrink not in the hour of trial, but that thus his name may be written on high' (that is that the divine NAME formulated in him may be brought up, as it were, to the heights) 'and may stand in the presences of the Holy One' (which genius will be a mighty 134 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. x Angelic power and in form far different from the petty personages we are here) 'in that hour when the Son of Man is worked before the Lord of Spirits and his name in the Presence of the Ancient of Days'. This will be the synthetical form of the Son of Man, the BEN ADAM, who is the synthesis of the Ruach of the Universe: in other words, the allusion is to the Great God of the World of Yetzirah or the Microprosopus, the Son of the first Adam when he is invoked before the Lord of Spirits, which can but be in Kether; and his name in the presence of the Ancient of Days. 'He who is ancient before the Gods, ancient before time, ancient before the formation of the Worlds, He the ETERNAL AMENor even He who is before AMEN and whom the plumes of Amen's head-dress only touch'. Now the foregoing partly represents the mode in which the initiate becomes the Adept: -the Ruach directed in accordance with the promptings of the Neschamah keeps the Nephesch from being the ground of the Evil forces, and the Neschamah brings it, the Ruach, into contact with the Chiah i.e. the genius which stands in the presence of the Holy One = the Yechidah = the Divine Self, which stands, as it were, before the Synthetical God of all things. That is the only real way to become the Greatest Adept, and is directly dependent on your life and your actions in life. And upon the lid of the Pastos this process is symbolically resumed: there we see the suffering Man, pitiful and just, before whose justice and purity the heads of the dragon fall back, but on the upper half there is depicted a tremendous and a flaming God, the fully initiated Man,-the Adept who has attained his Supreme Initiation. It will be noticed that in the 4 = 7 Diagram the heads of the Dragon have seized the Sephiroth but, as before remarked, on the lid of the Pastos they are falling back from the figure on the Cross: they are dispossessed only by the sacrifice of the lower Self. Recall to your mind that passage in one of the Eddas 'I hung on the Tree three days and three nights, wounded with a spear, myself a sacrifice offered to my (highest) Self,-Odin unto Odin'. 135 0 0 MAN, GOD AND THE ROSICRUCIAN INITIATION It will furthermore be noticed that this way of looking at the matter at once makes a reconciliation between the account in the Gospel of the Christ as a calm, peaceful and pitiful Man, and the representation in the Apocalypse of a tremendous and flaming God. A glance at the top half of the Pastos shows the descent as a flaming sword which casts out the evil,-the whole surrounding being white with brilliance. 'And He had in His right hand Seven Stars ... and the Seven Stars represent the (Arch) Angels of the Seven Churches', or abodes in Assiah, at His feet .. . The Life of Nations is like the Life of men;-they are born, become intellectual, direct that intellect to black ends,-and, perish. But every now and then at the end of certain periods, there are greater crises in the World's history than at other periods, arid at such times it becomes necessary that Sons of God should be incarnated to lead on the new era of the Universe. I do not affirm that Christ was necessarily a man who obtained Adeptship in that incarnation, but rather one who had obtained Adeptship and come down to be incarnated again to lead up the new era. It was, however, necessary in the crucifixion of so great a Soul,-so that 'the form might actually suffer,-that everything except the Nephesch should be withdrawn which would be the reason of the Cry of the Nephesch, 'My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?' For the Nephesch which was temporarily abandoned in this case was the cloak of that incarnation. In other words, the only mortal part about the Man, or the God, and then only after incurring that physical death, as it were, could the other divine parts suddenly come down and make it the resurrected or glorified body, which, according to the description, had after the Resurrection, the apparent solidity of the ordinary body, and the faculties of the Spirit body. Because if you can once get the great force of the Highest to send its ray clean down through the Neschamah into the mind, and thence, into your physical body, the Nephesch would be so transformed as to render you almost like a God walking on this Earth. The Ruach, then, has to undergo a certain check and suffering in order to attain its Apotheosis-which is the work of our Adept. 136 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. x In the fully Initiated Adept the Nephesch is so withdrawn into the Ruach that even the lowest parts of these two principles cease to become allied to the body and are drawn into the first six Sephiroth. This is again brought out in the Obligation, where you say, 'I pledge myself to hereby give myself to the Great Work, which is so to exalt my lower nature that I may at length become more than human and thus gradually raise and unite myself to my higher and divine genius'. If it is a very great thing to unite yourself to the genius, how much more so must it be to unite yourself to the God that is behind it! Looking at the Pastos, it will be seen that it represents a kind of triple cube, the whole of which is placed between light and darkness. The lid is half light and half darkness, the upper end is the symbol of light, and the lower, the symbol of darkness,while the sides have the colours placed between the Light and the Darkness. At the head is placed a Golden Greek Cross, rep· resenting the Spirit and the Elements, and a Rose of 7 times 7 petals, and there are four rays which go out from it. But at the foot,-that which the feet rest on as if they were exalted by it,is the Cross exalted on a pedestal of Three Steps, viz. the Obligation Cross. This latter is also to an extent represented on the top in the crucified figure, and symbolises the voluntary sacrifice of the lower Will, which is incidental to allying the intellect with the higher aspirations and to the establishment of your consciousness therein: - thus if the ordinary consciousness were centred in the Ruach you could touch the Neschamah, while if it was in the latter you could touch the Genius. Now this transference of consciousness from Ruach to Neschamah is one object of the ceremonial of the f = 6 Ritual: - it is a thing which will be more readily understood when the Grade of Adept Adeptus Minor is reached. It is especially intended to effect the change of the consciousness into the Neschamah and there are three places where is can take place. The first is when the Aspirant is on the Cross, because he is so exactly fulfilling the Symbol of the abnegation of the lower Self and the union with the Higher Self: - and also there is the invocation of the Angel H.V.A. The second place is when he touches the Rose on the represen137 0 MAN, GOD AND THE ROSICRUCIAN INITIATION tative of C.R. in the Vault, when he has taken on himself the symbols of suffering and self sacrifice, and says that his victory is in the Cross of the Rose. . The third place is when he enters the Vault in the Third point and kneels down and the Chief Adept says 'I am the Reconciler with the Ineffable: I am the dweller of the Invisible: let the White Brilliance of the divine Spirit descend.' In these three cases a possible exchange of the consciousness from the Ruach into the Neschamah is initiated, so that whether he understands it, or not, the Aspirant actually approaches his own Genius. (There are some cases where the Genius may have attained a height and fallen: - that is when, having touched the Ruach in one incarnation, it has been so wrought upon by the sufferings of the lower part that it has for the moment consented to slacken the tension of their union. Now if the Genius part, instead of identifying itself with the God part, identifies itself too much with the Neschamah, a fall of the Genius takes place: which is not altogether evil, but may entail a certain evil effect.) The most complete point of the actual contact is in the third point, where the Chief Adept says : - 'I am the Resurrection and the Life! He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die': i.e. if you can live at will in the Neschamah and touch the Genius, you will have made a great step towards the divine Elixir, for you will be worthy to sit with the Gods, and that which you drink of is the real Elixir, the Elixir of the Spirit of Life. Then the Second Adept says: - 'Behold the Image of the Justified One, crucified on the Cross of the Infernal Rivers of death', and the Third Adept shows deific antithesis,-the exaltation into the Divine. Then the Chief Adept says again: - 'I am the First and the Last'-the Aleph and the Tau and the Yod and He final of the sacred Name,-'I am He that liveth but was dead, and behold 1 am alive for evermore, Amen', that is using the name of the Egyptian Deity AMON, or Amen, who represents the Ideal God force,-'and I hold the Keys of Death and of Hell' 138 x (Because if you stand on Malkuth and keep your touch with the Gods, you hold the Keys of that which is below)But the lower self all this time has an existence, for it certainly is not quite eliminated: - it is cast forth from the Nephesch, yet preserving a link with it, it goes down into the Qlipoth, and in this connection, it is well to observe that what may be really Evil on this Earth plane, may be even as a God among the Demons. The words 'He descended into Hell', have such a significance. This Third point then represents the attainment of the Divine: - and the Second Adept proceeds to say: - 'He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit says unto the Assemblies' (i.e. in Malkuth) and if the Voice of the Divine is found in Malkuth it must find its echo in the realms beneath. Then follows the exaltation into Neschamah of the Consciousness of the Chief Adept, whose Voice seems as if he were symbolically standing with his head in Atziluth, whence it reverberates through the Worlds, sinking down below Malkuth unto the dominion of the Shells and he says: - 'For I know that my Redeemer liveth' (the Redeemer is he that brings again) 'and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No Man cometh unto the Father but by me etc.' This whole passage of the Chief Adept is formed of a collection of utterances, which are, as it were, the speeches of the Great Gods, which he can only hear when he is still further exalted into Kether. 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life', is the reflected Triad. No Man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Then the Neschamah speaks; down to 'I have entered into the Invisible'. Then it is as if the Consciousness went into the Genius, which says 'I am the Sun in his rising, I have passed through the hour of Cloud and Night'. Then follows: - 'I am Arnon the concealed one, the opener of the Day,'-like the Great God in Atziluth-'I am Osiris Onnofris, the Crucified One,' who is perfected in the balance and risen above all considerations that corne from Maya, or illusion, and who only seeks the eternal life from above, and then, as if in a supreme moment 'I am the Lord of Life, triumphant over death, there is no part of me that is not of the Gods'. (That is the FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. 139 MAN, GOD AND THE ROSICRUCIAN INITIATION voice of Kether.) This again is followed by a synthetical culmination, as if all the divine ones united in the utterance: 'I am the Preparer of the Pathway, the Rescuer unto the Light! Out of the Darkness let the Light arise!' Then the Aspirant is prompted to say-'Before, I was blind, but now I see,'-representing again the blindness to the Neschamah Consciousness and the passage into this. Whereupon the Chief Adept says: - 'I am the Reconciler with the Ineffable! I am the dweller of the Invisible: let the White Brilliance of the Divine Spirit descend'. The Aspirant is now told to rise an Adeptus Minor of the Rose of Ruby and the Cross of Gold, in the sign of Osiris slain,and then 'We receive thee as an Adeptus Minor in that sign of Rectitude and Self Sacrifice.' The affirmation of the three parts is then proceeded with.The Chief Adept says: 'Be thy Mind opened unto the Higher,' Second: 'Be thy heart the centre of Light', and Third: 'Be thy body the Temple of the Rosy Cross'. The Pass Word is then announced, which is formed from the Mystic Number of the Grade, 21,-this Pass Word, however is the divine Name of Kether: - and it is used as the Pass Word of this Grade of Tiphereth in order to affirm the connection between the two. Then the Chief Adept says that the Key Word is I.N.R.1. The three Adepts themselves represent Chesed, Geburah and Tiphereth. The Creator, the Destroyer and the Sacrificed One, ISIS, APOPHIS and OSIRIS = the name lAO. The Symbol of Osiris slain is the Cross; V is the sign of the mourning of Isis: the sign of Typhon and Apophis: x the sign of Osiris risen: = LVX, the Light of the Cross, or that which symbolises the way into the Divine through Sacrifice. So that the symbolism in its entirety represents the exaltation of the Initiate into the Adept. 140 PART FIVE Esoteric Psychology being Flying Roll No. XX Flying Roll No. XXI Prefatory Note For the sake of those readers of this book who are not familiar with the Qabalistic system used in the Western Esoteric Tradition I think it best that I should give a brief outline of that system as an introduction to the Flying Rolls which follow. The Qabalah is essentially a system of classification. The various factors that make up both the universe (the macrocosm) and the soul of man (the microcosm) are classified in accordance with ten numbers, the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, and twentytwo letters, the Paths of the Tree of Life.! The manifested universe is further divided into Four Worlds, each containing a Tree of Life of its own. The Four Worlds are classified as follows: Atziluth, Archetypal-Pure Deity Briah, Creative-Archangelic Yetzirah, Formative-Angelic Assiah, Action-Man, Matter, Shells, Demons. In each of these Four Worlds are the ten Sephiroth of that World, and each Sephirah in turn is divided into a Tree of Life made up of ten Sephiroth. This makes four hundred Sephiroth in all-the number of the letter Tau, last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the completion of all things. When the Tree of Life is applied to the nature of Man it is divided into three, Nephesch, Ruach, and Neschamah-roughly equivalent to the Body, Soul and Spirit of St. Paul. Nephesch is equated with Malkuth and Yesod, the two lowest Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, and is usually translated as 'Animal Soul'. It is the vehicle by which the mind is brought into contact with matter and, broadly speaking, it corresponds with the 'etheric' and 'lower astral' bodies of Theosophical terminology. Ruach, the second principle, is usually translated as Mind or ! These thirty-two factors were usually represented in diagrammatic form . This diagram-the Tree of Life-may be found in such easily available works as Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah, W. Gray's Ladder of Lights, and R. G. Torrens' Golden Dawn-Its Inner Teachings. (Editorial Note.) 143 ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY Intellect. It is made up of the five Sephiroth (Chesed, Geburah, Tiphereth, Netzach and Hod) that lie above Yesod. Ruach is a set of five intermeshing intellectual principles, 'divided for love's sake, on the chance of union', concentrated upon their central core, the Sun of Tiphareth, the human consciousness and will, of which the other four Sephiroth are, after a certain fashion, extensions. The Neschamah is subdivided into three; the Jechidah, or Divine Spark, the Chiah, or Will, and the Neschamah proper. The Jechidah is the Divine Spark, 'that in me which is more than me myself', the deepest layer of consciousness. It is at the same time that which all men have in common and that which differentiates one man from another. On the Tree of Life it corresponds with the topmost Sephirah, Kether, the Crown. The Chiah, or essential will, is the creative impulse of the Jechidah, through which the latter obtains its self-realisation. On the Tree of Life it equates with Chokmah, Wisdom. The Neschamah itself corresponds with the Great Mother Binah, or Understanding, the third Sephirilh of the Tree. It is the Jechidah's own understanding of itself. It must be realised that Jechidah, Chiah, and Neschamah form a trinity-it is impossible to conceive of one of them without the other two. 144 Flying RoD No. XX The following diagram will of course be immediately recognised by all of you: - --+--T---Jechidah Neschamah - - - ' t - - --+J-- Chiah ...J;:::--=:q::--- Daath Geburah - - f - - f - - --t-- c-- Chesed - - + - - - - - - - 1 - - Tiphereth Hod - - 4 - - f - - --+--+-- Netzach ---+-- Malkuth 145 ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY Now supposing a physical man to be here represented, Kether is the Crown and is above the head. The junction of Chokmah and Binah in Daath is in the head itself. Then Chesed and Geburah will correspond to the arms and shoulders, Tiphereth and Yesod to the trunk and body, Netzach and Hod to the hips and legs, and Malkuth to the feet alone. Now I will put to you the question, where was the mystic body of our Founder, Christian Rosenkreutz discovered? In Tiphereth. And what is Tiphereth? The centre. That is to say it is in the centre of the middle Sphere and when that middle Sphere is projected what does it represent? The Polar Axis. Representing then the Polar Axis it will be in a sense invisible from the outside. Therefore the outermost form of the whole projection will be spherical. Now that would imply that Tiphereth corresponds to the heart and Tiphereth represents the place where the Chief Adept is found and it is the Polar Axis, and the influence which is surrounding this physical body of the man is a Sphere like that of the Universe. This Sphere then surrounds the body. Thus it will be the Assiah Plane of the Man, the Malkuth containing the reflection of the other Ten Sephiroth. Now this Sphere is what we of the Rosicrudan Order, call the magical mirror of the Universe, or the Sphere of sensation of the Microcosm. It is the Aura of the man. Now you will understand that as the Chief Adept is placed in Tiphereth you may expect to find the most vital portion of the body about the heart. The heart will therefore represent the King of the physical body. All this is, of course, much better explained in the lecture on the Microcosm which you will get later on. This sphere, answering to the Sphere of the Macrocosm, you will naturally expect that it will have the forces of the Macrocosm reflected in it. Towards which part of the Zodiac then would you expect the man in the centre to face? He will face towards that point in his Sphere of sensation which represents the ascending degree in his horoscope and that ascending degree will therefore be the point which is opposite. His object is the development of the Daath prindple which is in the head. This prindple is, you will observe, the link between Ruach and Neschamah. 146 F LYING ROLL NO. XX Now thus is the Consciousness attributed. In Chiah is the beginning of the Self of Man. The real Self is in Jechidah, and its presentment in Chiah. Thus Jechidah is called the Divine Consciousness 'Conscire' means 'to know with' and 'to be in touch with' and only your Kether can do this as regards the Divine and your Kether is then the Divine Consciousness. In Ruach is the human Consciousness and the human Will. In Jechidah is the Divine Will; so that the human Will is like the King of the material body. The automatic Consciousness, as it is called, is in Yesod, and has to do with the lower passions and desires. Being automatic, that is moving of itself, it can hardly be said to be Will. Now this is the danger which threatens the man who yields to the temptations of the lower desires. The Human Will which should be seated in Tiphereth, in the heart, is attracted to contemplation of, and union with, the automatic Consciousness so that the human Consciousness abdicates its throne and becomes automatic. You will find in the life history of men that vice brings about a species of automatic condition which compels them always to move in the same grooves, and it is a known fact that it recurs at regular intervals like a disease, and it is indeed a disease. This automatic Consciousness in its right place refers to Yesod which is the part which attracts the material atoms, and here it is in its proper place. When, however, it usurps the place of the Human Consciousness then it rules instead of being subject to the Human Consciousness, and this destroys the balance of the Sephiroth. Now in Daath is the Throne of the Spiritual Consciousness and Daath being the result of Chokmah and Binah it is the presentment of the seven following Sephiroth, that is to say that in the head are the seven planets of which the eyes will answer to the two luminaries-the right to the Sun and the left to the Moon. You will now at once see that spiritual consciousness does not partake of the physical body but is the light which radiates. The way in which thought proceeds is by radiation, that is to say, its rays are thrown vibrating through this sphere of Astral Light. This will explain to you a very fruitful source of mistaken Clair147 ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY voyance. The many errors arise therefrom: It is really a selfishness of the thought plane. The Consciousness is cont~nt. as it were. to receive the reflections which are in its sphere and which have necessarily been modified by the person himself. Let us take an example of individual modification and we will choose that of the planet Mars. Fire will be red. That is to say. that in all cases of a fiery nature the judgment will be fairly accurate. But the fault will be manifest when you come to a watery nature. It will then be represented by violet instead of by blue as it should be. and he will always want to bring the nature of the Fire into the watery natures. Here then is a fruitful source of error in Clairvoyance. especially arising in natures which are not selfish in the ordinary sense. but which have that more subtle selfishness which arises from too much study of oneself. This is why. in our system of Occultism we are contrary or converse to that taught by the Theosophical Society. The Theosophists apparently advise the student to commence with the study of the Universe; and while I quite agree that he may arrive at his end by that means. there is the danger of that spiritual or thoughtselfishness. and this is the reason why we study the Microcosm before the Macrocosm. This continual dwelling on one's own nature with the idea of reforming and making oneself better is apt to give you too contracted a view. and you are threatened with the selfishness which you have yourself engendered. This is also the danger of too great asceticism. because it is apt to bring about the feeling that you are better than another person. These are the dangers. If you can escape these dangers you will arrive at the goal. Therefore to the student who is studying Clairvoyance. it is particularly advisable that he should rather repress that form of it which tends in his own direction. for fear of encouraging that spiritual selfishness which is so subtle as to escape his attention until it is too late. If he continues along this path his errors will increase. and he will arrive at a period of depression. From this will arise a series of miserable feeling which might have been checked in the beginning. You see now that the sin of the Automatic Consciousness is what is commonly called vice. The sin of the Human Conscious148 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X X ness is that of the intellectual man. The sin of the Spiritual Consciousness is the error of a somewhat psychic nature; you cannot have sin of the Divine Consciousness because you cannot have any error in Kether. Here again, you see, we have the representation of the four Planes in Man, or YHVH. 149 Flying Roll No. XXI Know Thyself Address to the Zelator Adepti Minores of the Order R.R. et A.C. By Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum 6° = f Perfect knowledge of Self is required in order to attain Knowledge of Divinity, for when you can know the God of yourself it will be possible to obtain a dim vision of the God of All, for the God of the Macrocosm only re~ects Himself to Man through the God of Man's Microcosm. Therefore, before you would invoke the Shining Ones be certain that you have called upon the Lord of Yourself, that is to say, that the You in Daath (the seat of the Spiritual Consciousness) have allied yourself to the You in Tiphereth (the seat of the Human Consciousness) and to the You in Kether (the seat of the Divine Consciousness), and from thence the Kether sending rays downwards; from it to the Daath, from Daath to -Tiphereth and from thence to Yesod, which is the seat of the Automatic Consciousness. This combination must have taken place with the consent of the Lower Will (in Tiphereth) as being the Human Will. If you have succeeded in accomplishing this you are commencing the real Initiation, (therefore, should an Adeptus Minor strive to begin the practice of such an operation). It is said elsewhere that The Beginning of Initiation is the Search for the Shining Light. For if the Man through Pure Knowledge and Aspiration has been able to place himself with his head resting immediately under Kether the Crown, he has come into contact with his First Light. But his Knowledge must be true, and his aspirations pure. How else is he able to wear his Crown, upon which poureth the Influx from Jechidah? It is this development of the Man that must have been intended by the Apostle Paul when he said: - 'Till we all come ... to the Knowledge of the Son of God-, unto a Perfect Man, unto the measure of the stature, of the fulness of Christ.' That is, that Man must grow sufficiently in his Spiritual growth, that he may 151 ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY attain to that stature where his head will come into contact with his Kether-that is, unto the Knowledge of his Higher Self. Regarding this, I will also quote' another passage from the New Testament in which Christ says: - 'Whosoever shall confess me before men him shall the Son of Man also confess before the Angels of God': - signifying that he who shall raise himself by linking his Human to his Divine Self, being consequently in touch with the Kether of his Assiah, he will be able to rise still further to the Plane of the Angels, that is to say, that through the Kether of his Assiah he can be admitted to his plane of Yetzirah, his Angelic Self; for he has accepted the Christ within him, his power of Ascent. 'But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the Angels of God,' meaning that he who denies the me, the power of the letter Shin, the letter of the Holy Spirit that makes of Jehovah the Name Jeheshua, hath denied that Spirit, that Higher Self, which is his one link with the Truth of Life, and so hath refused the Christ that can be within him, the only part which would enable him to rise to his Divine Self, whence he could receive the descent of the Divine Spirit, which ever comes to him who seeketh for it. Kether is the Crown, then, which is placed on the head of the complete Initiate; and a great King must he indeed be who is fitted to bear such brilliance, and well must he have worked towards the developing and perfecting of his Kingdom to have made it worthy of that Divine Crown. Therefore must he whose aim is to become the Initiate, work well at the development of the Forces of the Being; seeking to purify and to exalt them. He, the man, standing in his Sephiroth, can well be compared to a King in his Kingdom which if he wishes to govern well, he must first learn to know and understand, for only after having a complete knowledge of the constitution, character and inhabitants of his realm, will it be possible for a just Ruler to bring about such reforms as he may deem necessary;-hence the great assistance given to us in the teachings of our Order which insist on a careful study of the Kingdoms of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm side by side with our Spiritual Development, one study helping the other; in fact the two are almost inseparable. 152 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X X I Now the Kingdom of the Microcosm, the man, with which this lecture is chiefly occupied, has distinctly its character, its constitution, its inhabitants etc.-The King is placed in his sphere, that is the boundary, the frontier of his realm. The constitution consists of his Sephiroth, upon which the principal scheme of the Kingdom is modelled. Its character would be the general aim and tendency of the Kingdom. (This would depend on the inclination of the pole of its sphere as regards the Macrocosm.) The King's abode is in Tiphereth where is placed his throne, the seat of the Human Will, whence he wields the reins of government either as a great ruler inspired by his masters above, the Spiritual and Divine Consciousness, or as the Ruler debased (inspired or, more accurately speaking, obsessed) by the voluntary abdication of his rule, through being led astray by the temptation of the Automatic Consciousness to descend therein and make Yesod his chief abode instead of Tiphereth, thereby permitting the usurption of the Higher by the Lower. This fall, according to the nature of the man, (besides leading to other evils) may bring him to the Phallic School of Symbolism or to the grossest sensuality, for these two things are merely the expression of the same error in different natures. His people are the many Forces of the Sephiroth of Ruach, working in Malkuth through Nephesch (Nephesch = Malkuth) The Priesthood, or rather the Prophets and Magicians, alone ascending as far as their Daath, they dwelling on the Threshold of their Divine Consciousness. The Nobles will be with the King himself, about his throne in Tiphereth; as well as all the petty rulers, and professions and trades governed by the Sun. In Chesed are the various occupations under Jupiter. In Geburah, Netzach and Hod are all those under Mars, Venus and Mercury. Yesod, as the seat of the Automatic Consciousness, can hardly be said to be an inhabitant, a conscious being; rather might it be represented by the machinery, works and tools of the nation. Of course each Sephira will have its own Ten Sephiroth within it, which would give its various types-professions, 153 ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY trades, etc.-for example-Chesed;-in its Kether might be the Priest (this naturally supposes the Priest to be true and upright; the Prophet as the inspired Priest, which we mentioned before, is placed in the Daath of the man.) A Philanthropist would be in its Chesed; in its Tiphereth-a judge; and probably an artisan working under Jupiter in its Yesod. Now he who is a just ruler will try to know well these people, his subjects; neither giving undue attention or preference to either one class or another, nor permitting strife in anyone of them,-therefore must one of the works of a student for Adeptship be to learn to bring perfect order into the Six Sephiroth of his Ruach, then will the Qlipoth 2 who may be called the Wild Beasts of the Nation, be forced to retire, they only having been permitted to remain through Disorder. He will then be able to banish them to their own plane, the land beyond Malkuth; as they, working in their own habitation, therefore in their own element, they will be as the lecture on the Microcosm says 'equilibrated therein and the Evil Persona (their synthesis) will become as a strong yet trained animal, whereupon the man rideth, this bringing added material strength unto the man', which is a thing to be desired, if it be completely governed by the Higher. One school of Occultism insists on the Neophyte retiring from the world, on his leading a thoroughly ascetic life, and in every way trying to exist without thought or desire for anything of that which is Human. Now to some of us this may appear to be the only method for the attainment of that self-development which we express in the Tiphereth clause of the Adeptus Minor Obligation, when we pledge ourselves to become more than human. We know that all the works of Nature are gradual in their growth, therefore must a man also be gradual in his growth, and before attaining to that more than human, that is to say, Yetziratic, Briatic and Aziluthic planes he must certainly be the Perfect Man in Assiah. It must be our object then, to become that Perfect Man, in 2 The evil and averse Sephiroth. (Editorial Note.) 154 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X X I order to attain ultimately to that Angel, that Archangel, and that Divinity, which are in Yetzirah, in Briah, and in Atziluth. And the Zelator Adeptus Minor, is not actually given any special manner of life to follow; rather is he advised to determine for himself what shall be his relations with his family business, society, etc., seeing that we human beings are so varied in our character as in our surroundings so that the discipline which will be beneficial for one may often be evil for another. One thing, however, is greatly insisted upon, and that is that we should not retire from the world, for we can succeed in perfecting ourselves in what is required of us without isolation. In certain cases, it might be advisable for the execution of certain experiments connected with more advanced studies to avoid contact with others for a short time; but this would only be permissible in special cases. One of the reasons why we are told not to isolate ourselves is that isolation tends to make a man egotistical-it will become a habit to him to study and to pay too much attention to his own Microcosm, whereby he will neglect other Microcosms which together with his form part of the Macrocosm; and this Egotism of the Spirit, (though not so gross a sin as is that of the Animal or the Human Consciousness) will yet be a far greater snare to him, as being more subtle and therefore less easy to be perceived and checked. For the chief danger of spiritual egotism lies in the selfrighteous spirit so easily developed, which while gradually absorbing the true Occult Aspiration flatters its victim with the idea that he is rapidly attaining his proposed Goal. It will be best, then, for us to live amongst our fellows, and in our contact with them are we advised to avoid preaching and proselytising; which often leads also to a condition of selfrighteousness in the Preacher, and is generally useless to the listener. Rather would we influence them by our example, and by keeping our thoughts as well as our actions pure. Our Order teaches that one of our aims should be the Regeneration of the Race of the Planet. We who are but beginners, and but on the Threshold of the 155 ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY Second Order, can do but little yet in this Great Work, but we are daily approaching this end, if we are fitting ourselves to become the Perfect Man, for he, the Perfect Man, the Adept, whose Human Will is at one with his Divine Will, therefore always in contact with his Genius, or Angelic Self, can attract yet Higher Forces. These Forces sending down Divine Rays till they radiate through him, he, the Adept, is able to give out this Force to the human beings who are ready to receive it, and thus is he helping in their regeneration; an Angel or a God not being so fitted for the contact with ordinary mortals, as is the Adept who, though exalted is still a man, and of Assiah. Most of you will recall that passage in Bulwer Lytton's Zanoni, (that romance which contains so many valuable hints on Occult study and which is a good lesson to us on the dangers of untrained Occultism) when he says, speaking of Zanoni, that 'those with whom he principally associated, the gay, the dissipated, the thoughtless, the Sinners and publicans of the more polished world-all appeared rapidly, insensibly to themselves to awaken to purer thoughts and, more regulated lives.' We who are but Neophytes in the Great Initiation, can only at 'Very rare moments be so in touch with our Higher Self, that our head is immediately under our Kether. For those few moments we are standing in the position in which the Adept e'Ver stands-yet must we on no account imagine that during those few seconds we have equal power with the Adept, for unaccustomed as we are to the Divine Vision, it almost blinds us and it can therefore only be partially transmitted to our Spiritual and Human Selves; yet is this partial vision greatly to be desired, for it is a Force unto us, and it also gives us a glimpse of what we may one day attain. Let us try then to ascend unto our Higher Self, and to stand with our head under the Crown, before deciding on any great and important action in our life, and especially, and this most especially, when we are judging another, or trying to modify the life of another, for that is indeed a grave responsibility;for we imperfect mortals are ever ready to lean towards the Pillar of Mercy or the Pillar of Severity, and even if we do remain standing in the Middle Pillar, the Pillar of Mildness; how 156 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X X I few of us raise our heads to our Kether-only with his head touching his Crown, his Kether, can a man have perfect Knowledge of the things of his Assiah. He who leans much towards the Pillar of Mercy, will think him the Perfect Judge, cruel when that Judge deems it necessary to extend his arm on the side of Severity. He who leans to the Pillar of Severity will also have corrupted vision, for judging from thence, the action of the Perfect Judge will appear to him feeble, when that Judge may have found it well to extend his arms em the side of Mercy. He who stands straight in the Middle Pillar will not be so prejudiced as his brothers who lean towards Severity or Mercy, but unless he is linked with his Kether, he does not take in the whole scheme of his Sephiroth;-is therefore incomplete, and his judgment imperfect. Let us be careful, then, in judging another, we see how easily we may be deceived, and let us insist and force ourselves to aspire to, and be convinced that we are indeed with our Higher Self, before pronouncing such a judgment, seeing how much mischief may be worked through the action of Unbalanced Mercy or Severity, or of the insufficient judgment of the Middle Pillar without the Crown;-as the Hiereus in the 0·=0· Ceremony hath said:- 'Unbalanced Severity is cruelty and oppression; Unbalanced Mercy is but weakness and would permit Evil to exist unchecked, thus making itself an accomplice of the Evil'. Referring again to the Six Sephiroth of the Ruach, and to the necessity of keeping them balanced; it will occur to most of us (who almost without exception are given to some profession or occupation) that we shall be delayed in Spiritual Development by tending, in our daily duties, to throw out more rays from the Spiritual Consciousness to some portions of our Sephiroth at the expense of the others, and thereby becoming unbalanced. Though far more difficult to live than the life in which we can dispose of our time, more or less, at will, this need not be a delay in our development; these daily duties may indeed be an increased strength to us. But in such a case, must we aim always at the Purest and the Best of that occupation, whatever it may 157 ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY be, and attempt to develop in it those qualities that we may be weak or deficient in, such as courage, resolution, patience, concentration, etc., which can be learned in the performance of any work, however petty. So that if we are really doing our best, we are bringing increase of strength to the Highest part of the Sephirah in which we may happen to be working;-and to increase the Power of the Kether of anyon~ of our Sephiroth can but be an added strength to the Self of the Whole; for the Kether of each of our Sephiroth is the reflection of that of our Microcosm, which again is a reflection of its Higher Prototypes, and being Kether (or rather its reflection) in its action, however great its strength, it will not become disorderly and attempt to over-ride another Sephirah, but will be reflected again into the Kether of the man, thereby becoming an increased force to him, for seeing that it is a presentment of the Divine no Kether can be unbalanced. For we see that even the Kether of the Qlipoth can hardly be said to be unbalanced, being composed of Two Forces, ever contending certainly, for it is that quality of contention that makes them partake of the Qlipoth; yet are they balanced, for were they not of equal strength, how could they ever be at war with one another? Sooner or later one would have to surrender. Therefore is it evident,-that many are the means to Knowledge, and many are the paths by which we may reach the Goal of the Initiate-wherefore-I would say to each of you;-absurd and ill-judged is it to rule that all shall crowd into one path, because that happens to be the one chosen by one member. There is too much tendency to wish all to follow the Ideal of one,-we are apt to forget that the Ideal of each will lead to the same Truth. We can help each other better, then, by helping each to rise according to his own ideas, rather than, as we often unwisely do, in advising him to rise to what is best in ourselves only. That error of wishing to make another as ourselves is another and a very hurtful form of most subtle egotism. All we can do is to help him to elevate himself and to study to 'Know Himself', in order that by working at that Knowledge, he may cross 158 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X X I the Threshold of the Portal, which leads to the Knowledge of the Divine. Ex Deo Nascimur! In Yeheshuah Morimur! Per Spiritum Sanctum Revivisdmus ! 159 PART SIX Hermetic Love and the Higher Magic being Flying Roll No. XIII Flying Roll No. XXVII Flying RoD No. XID Secrecy and Hermetic Love, By S.s.D.D. We have all no doubt heard of the terrible physical tests applied in Egyptian Initiations and are aware that violence amounting to torture was used in the Ancient Mysteries before the Neophyte was considered fit to take the first steps in his Ascent of the Mountain of God. Though the methods of our Order are different the Spirit is the same, and unless we have learned indifference to physical suffering, and have become conscious of a Strong Will, a will which fears nothing fate can do to us, we can never receive a real Initiation. These ceremonies in the lower grades of Our Order are principally active in disciplining our minds; they lead us to analyse and understand ourselves. They deal with the Four states of Matter, the Four Elements of the Ancients which with their synthesis answer to the five Senses. Our Senses are the paths through which our Consciousness approaches the central power which for want of a more accurate word I will call the Will. It is the object of our lives as initiates to bring this Will to such a state of perfection, strength, and wisdom, that instead of being the plaything of fate and finding our calculations entirely upset by trivial material circumstances, we build within ourselves a fortress of strength to which we can retire in time of need. The natural Man is a chaotic mass of contradictory forces. In the higher grades of the First Order, (by presenting a perfectly balanced series of symbols to the senses) we endeavour to impress upon the imagination of the initiates, the forms under which they can obtain perfection and work in harmony with the world force. In the 0 = 0 Ceremony the principles most insisted on are Secrecy and Brotherly Love. Apart entirely from the practical necessity for secrecy in our Order, it is the fact that Silence is in itself a tremendous aid in the search for Occult powers. In dark0 I 0 163 HERMETIC LOVE AND THE HIGHER MAGIC ness and stillness the Archetypal forms are conceived and the forces of nature germinated. If we study the effects of calm concentration we shall find that in silence, thoughts which are above human consciousness clothe themselves with symbolism and present things to our imagination, which cannot be told in words. The more thought and concentration of purpose that precedes an action, the more effective and effectual it will be. Again in talking on subjects such as these, there is always a terrible danger of personal influence or obsession coming into action. The Eagle does not learn to fly from the domestic fowl 'nor does the Lion use his strength like the horse', and although knowledge is to be gained from every available source the Opinion of others should receive the very smallest attention from the true student of Life. Free yourselves from your environments. Believe nothing without weighing and considering it for yourselves; what is true for one of us, may be utterly false for another. The God who will judge you at the day of reckoning is the God who is within you now; the man or woman who would lead you this way or that, will not be there then to take the responsibility off your shoulders. 'The old beauty is no longer beautiful; the new truth is no longer true,' is the eternal cry of a developing and really vitalised life. Our civilisation has passed through the First 'Empire of pagan sensualism; and the Second Empire of mistaken sacrifice, of giving up our own consciousness, our own power of judging, our own independence, our own courage. And the Third Empire is awaiting those of us who can see-that not only in Olympus, not only nailed to the Cross,-but in ourselves is God. For such of us, the bridge between flesh and spirit is built; for such among us hold the Keys of life and death. In this connection I may mention that the o· = o· of the Grade of Neophyte has a deep significance as a symbol; a 0 means nothing to the world-to the initiate in the form of a circle it means all, and the aspiration of the Neophyte should be 'In myself I am nothing, in Thee I am all; Oh bring me to that self, which is in Thee'. 164 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X I II Having so far considered some of the thoughts that the practice of silence may bring you let us proceed to the subject of brotherly love. We must of course take the word, as we take all higher teaching, as a symbol, and translate it for ourselves into a higher plane.-Let me begin by saying that any love for a person as an individual is by no means a Hermetic virtue; it simply means that the personalities are harmonious; we are born under certain influences, and with certain attractions and repulsions, and, just like the notes in the musical scale some of us agree, some disagree. We cannot overcome these likes and dislikes; even if we could, it would not be advisable to do so. If in Nature, a plant were to persist in growing in soil unsuited to it, neither the plant nor the soil would be benefited. The plant would dwindle, and probably die, the soil would be impoverished to no good end. Therefore brotherly love does not imply seeking, or remaining in the society of those to whom we have an involuntary natural repulsion. But it does mean this, that we should learn to look at people's actions from their point of view, that we should sympathise with and make allowances for their temptations. I would then define Hermetic or Brotherly Love as the capacity of understanding another's motives and sympathising with his weaknesses, and remember-that it is generally the unhappy who sin. A crime, a falsehood, a meanness often springs from a vague terror of our fellows. We distrust them and ourselves. It is the down-trodden and the weak whom we have to fear; and it is by offering them sympathy and doing what we can to give them courage, that we can overcome evil. But in practising Hermetic Love, above all things conquer that terrible sting of love-jealousy. The jealousy of the benefactor, the jealousy of the lover, or the friend, are alike hateful and degrading passions. Jealousy is deeply rooted in human nature nourished by custom, even elevated to a virtue under the pretence of fidelity. To see human nature at its very worst you have only to listen to the ravings and threats of a person who considers his monopoly of some other person's affection is infringed. This kind of 165 HERMETIC LOVE AND THE HIGHER MAGIC a maniacal passion is the outcome of the egotism deux, which has been so fostered by romance. But it is natural to wish to help and be necessary to those we love, and when we find others just as necessary or helpful, to feel bitterly that our 'occupation' is gone; but these regrets will be impossible to us when we can live in the world realising from day to day more fully that the highest and best principle within us is the Divine Light which surrounds us, and which, in a more or less manifested condition, is also in others. The vehicle may be disagreeable to us, the personality of another may be antipathetic, but latent light is there all the same, and it is that which makes us all brothers. Each individual must arrive at the consciousness of Light in his own way; and all we can do for each other is to point out that the straight and narrow path is within each of us. No man flies too high with his own wings; but if we try to force another to attempt more than his strength warrants, his inevitable fall will lie at our door. This is our duty towards our neighbours; our duty towards God, is our duty towards ourselves; for God is identical with our highest genius and is manifested in a strong, wise, will freed from the rule of blind instinct. He is the Voice of Silence, The Preparer of the Pathway, The Rescuer unto the Light. 166 Flying RoD No. XXVU The Principia of Theurgia or the Higher Magic By L.O. The obscurity reigning in the public writings of those who have treated of Occult subjects has had the effect of veiling to a very large extent, any clear conceptions, which might have otherwise been apparent, respecting the methods of the sacred Science, and it has occurred to me that it might be of service to such of our members who are entering the Second Order if I put down some ideas which it is well to have in mind upon approaching these studies. To the merely intellectual eye, much of the more spiritual instruction hereafter given out will, perhaps, appear mere wild fantasy and be difficult to comprehend, and much more so to put into practice, unless, indeed, the real significance of the symbolism and teaching of the Outer Order has been to some degree assimilated. The system before you is now only to be appreciated by a refinement of faculty, to be engendered through the recognition of certain principia which may be said to underlie all Occult operations, and the practices consequent thereupon. These principia all logically proceed from one postulate,-viz. the Unity of all things in the Divine Being,-a conception which beautifully harmonise! with the most venerable instincts of the Soul: 'In Him we, live, move and have our being I ' 'This divine basis of the Universe is omni-present,-endowing total Natu1'e with coll$dousness in varying modes : no particle can be said to contain more or less of the Divinity than any other, but the modes of expression differ according to the type. Essential Divinity was called by Plato 'the same' and manifested Nature 'the other': Divinity is archetypal-Nature is anarchic. As it is said 'Between the Light and the Darkness the colours vibrate'. 'The colours' are due to the mingled proportions of the EleDlents which engender variety and form. The World of Forma167 HERMETIC LOVE AND THE HIGHER MAGIC tion is Yetzirah-the region compounded by the Six Sephiroth of Microprosopus. Yetzirah is the Astral Light, which is especially the medium wherein operate the Ethers of the Elements under the presidency of the Planets: I use the expression Ether of the Elements in order to convey the significance of the Hermetic conception of the 'Elements'. The Elements of the ancients (called respectively Fire, Water, Air and Earth) are not at all the physical Elements but the subtle Ethers underlying these,-the presence of which is necessary before the gross Elements can be manifested. Hence the Altar symbolism. Everything formed by Nature in the Yetziratic and Assiatic Worlds is ensphered and thereby individualised: such intangible and magnetic circuli are forces evolving form, form being static force. Each individual or entity,-whether a stone, a planet or a man, energises according to its nature, i.e. gives expression to the archetype of its sphere, and this is the work of evolution. All entities are vested in the Anima Mundi, directly or indirectly according to vehiculum. In the higher kingdoms increased complexity obtains, culminating in the human being, as it is said 'Oh Man thou subtle production!' The Unity of the Divine One-'circumscribing the Heavens with convex form'-which is considered to underlie all manifestation is a necessary conception to the doctrines of Macrocosm and Microcosm,-the Greater and Lesser World: that which is a part, of necessity partakes of the nature of the Whole, and thus every entity is a Microcosm or Little World-reflecting the Greater World or Macrocosm after a certain formula. Reflection involves reversal and thus it is said 'Kether is Malkuth after another manner'. For Occult purposes the crown of manifested life is considered to be the production of spiritually perfect Man. Spiritual perfection is the work of evolution, as physical perfection is that of evolution. Once the projection into Malkuth is affected (for the second Adam must first descend and be born of her) the re-ascent commences: - with the 'recession of the torrent' comes the interior unfoldment, while instincts of association, co-operation and 168 FLY I N G R 0 L L NO. X X V II community enlarges the interest of beings,-spreads consciousness over a wider area,-and strikes a death-blow at the egotistic life. Every thought evolved takes form: elementals coalesce with such forms and thus impart thereto, as it were, life of their own. The inherent force of any thought is proportionate to the intensity of the volition which generated it. Most people are more or less at the mercy of their own creations having thereby gained a definite temperament, or character. Every man is thus the sum total of his creation plus X,the forever unknown quantity; but as the creations of life increase so the power of X may be said to diminish and for this reason it was said 'Enlarge not thy destiny! ' At the dissolution the Soul enters the region of its own Yetzirah, and unless during life it has learned to be positive to its own astral nature, the unimpeded fantasy of excarnate life would involve a fruition of good or evil to which its creator would be subject. Such post-mortem experience is therefore considered illusionary, and hence the work of the Occultist is to render himself positive to his own astral nature by living as much as possible on the creative plane,-his Briatic World,for, be it remembered, the Creator is also the Destroyer, and thus the true dignity of the Soul is maintained when in alliance with its own divine summit,-a condition involving a more or less complete detachment. It is not necessary to study Occultism in order to become good,-but rather to become wise. The means which you are taught to employ are calculated to equilibrate the spiritual nature and implement spiritual growth. The effect of spiritual growth is to extend the Consciousness in the direction of divine and superhuman things and correspondingly restrict the 'Automatic Consciousness' of animal Appetites and desires. The methods handed down by the Golden Dawn tradition are those of the divine Theurgy. Theurgia is the science of communion with planetary Spirits, the powers composing the Hierarchies of Being and 'Gods of Light'. 169 HERMETIC LOVE AND THE HIGHER MAGIC Two conditions are necessary for practice. The first is absolute purity and devotion to Truth. The second, the thoroughly trained knowledge of correspondences, the correspondences, that is to say, between the forces of the greater World, or Macrocosm, with those of the lesser World, or Microcosm, and the respective interaction of these. The normal method of Occult development is a gradual retreat within-first to the Yetziratic World, and, then beyond it. The World of Formation which the student is now called upon to traverse, is the Yetzirah of Assiah,-hence the Elemental and Planetary forces are especially those with which he is brought into contact. Man as the most completely evolved Microcosm of the Macrocosm synthesises in his own constitution the forces of the greater World of which he is a part; every entity is thus related to him, -and he to them. The World is, as it were, a vast animal, and its parts respond, being moved by mutual sympathies: sympathies obtain through approximation to type, antipathies when the types are imperfect. Theurgia is operated through the harmonious combination of the forces of sound, Colour, Number and Form,-the whole attention being powerfully concentrated upon the plane of the force the signature of which is expressed. The numbers from 1 to 10 constitute a complete progression: these are primal powers and the roots alike of force and form. Occult practice derived from the decimal numeration rests upon a basis of mathematical accuracy,-mathematics being an exact science. The number 3 is the first manifesting power, the number 10 is a return to Unity, or the commencement of a fresh series. For this reason the forms of manifestation are septenary and these are the roots of colours and of sounds. The Theurgist commands mundane natures by virtue of his own divinity, but until apotheosis be achieved it is necessary in certain higher operations to stimulate the Consciousness by identification with the divinity. The rule is 'Appeal to the Divine and Superhuman presences, and conjuration of those which are inferior'. The right to command is extended by subsequent progress. 170 FLY I N G It 0 L L NO. X X V II When in mundane affairs you wish to gain information about a distant country, you do so either from those who have been there, or by yourself proceeding thither,-so with Theurgic operations,-you can either invoke the simulacrum of your subject, or travel by projection. The intimate connection between forms and elemental forces has to be learnt and appreciated. 'Think of a place and thou art there already' says the old Hermetic axiom, and it might have added 'whether you realise it or not';-the Adept does! The endeavour to picture to yourself persons and things seen is an invocation of the simulacra and presently, with practice, much plastic power of formation will be developed and the tinge of personality overcome. Of any place or being to which such thought direction is made the true conformation thereof serves as the ideal and archetype upon which the formative power builds and to which it tends to conform naturally, unless impeded by preconceptions in the sphere of the mind. In ceremonial, let the drawing of a circle which, as you are told, is the key to all the rest, be the formulation of a true magical vortex,-raising about the sphere of the mind an absolute barrier to all extraneous impression,-thus enabling perfect spontaneity: as you are told the Mystic Circumambulation symbolises the dawning of Light. It will be seen upon consideration that every thought which is creative and positive (as distinct from a passive and mediumistic reflex) must contain, as it were, within itself the complement and completion thereof,-i.e. Intuition. In just the same way as when along parallel wires an electric current is passed down one only, simultaneously inducing a reverse current up the other,-so the fruition of thought, which is perfect intuition, complements the centrifugal action of intellectual energy. The external mode of mental activity has engendered oblivion of the fact, and so men fail to realise their own possibilities: but that Invocation involves response is the testimony of psychic sensibility. Thoughts which are expressed in some way, whether by speech or symbol, are by so much the more powerful than those 171 HERMETIC LOVE AND THE HIGHER MAGIC unexpressed. Expression is the consecration of Will. 'The Paternal Mind sowed symbols in the Soul' ,-and regenerate fantasy shall reveal them. Forces are entities; all entities are expressible by formula or signature. The Sigilla of Occult forces are employed because whatever has but a casual similitude to these forces directly participates therein. Will is the grand agent of all Occult Work; its rule is all potent over the nervous system. By Will the fleeting vision is fixed upon the treacherous waves of the Astral Light, but, as it is said, you cannot pursue the Path of the Arrow until you understand the forces of the Bow. The use of bright colours engenders the recognition of subsisting variety and stimulates that perception of the mind which energises through imagination, or the operation of images. A picture which to the cultured eye beautifully portrays a given subject, nevertheless appears to the savage a confused patchwork of streaks,-so the extended perceptions of a citizen of the Universe are not grasped by those whose thoughts dwell within the sphere of the personal life. It is selfishness which impedes the radiation of Thought, and attaches to body. This is scientifically true and irrespective of sentiment: the selfishness which reaches beyond the necessities of the body is pure vulgarity. The road to the Summum Bonum lies therefore through SelfSacrifice,-the sacrifice of the Lower to the Higher, for behind that Higher Self lies the concealed Form of the Ancient of Days, the synthetical Being of Divine Humanity. These things are grasped by the Soul: the song of the Soul is alone heard in the Adytum of the God-nourished silence. The force of association, or community, even in wordly affairs is very great, but far more so when the ties which link together take their rise in the profoundest recesses of Being. Having entered the Second Order, you come within the radius of a psychic spiritual force, which, generated centuries ago, has acquired a momentum of its own, and silently exerts a protective influence. The isolated student lacks this advantage. The history and existence of this secret organisation is a monument 172 FLYING ROLL NO. XXVII to the energy put forth by our Golden Dawn Ancestors, 'Those who are of a most excellent genius, cultivated the divine science, while yet upon Earth.' The legacy which they have bequeathed is perhaps something more than the actual knowledge preserved, great though this be, for, consciously or unconsciously, the forces they have put forward devolve upon us, and the very shades of the mighty dead stimulate to further exertion. 173 PART SEVEN Alchemy being Flying Roll No. VII Prefatory Note The following material is of extremely early date, being originally given as a lecture by Wynn Westcott in 1890, well before the foundation of the Second Order. Although Westcott made some interesting points, notably his correlation of the chemical elements with the Qabalistic Tree of Life, he displayed no knowledge of the practice of alchemy as distinct from its theory. Nevertheless, at the period in question a number of Golden Dawn initiates, among them the Rev. W. A. Ayton, were engaged in practical alchemical research. A few years later, after the foundation of the Second Order, a document known as Z2 was circulated and a section of this purported to apply the formulae of the Golden Dawn Neophyte ritual to alchemical operations. It is interesting to note that Aleister Crowley denounced both this section of Z2 and that dealing with ceremonial divination as complete rubbish; it is difficult to know on what grounds Crowley based his opinion as his diaries fail to disclose any attempt by him to put these sections into practice. After the death of Ayton and his co-workers no initiate of the Order seems to have betrayed any interest in alchemy until the 'thirties, when Israel Regardie published his Philosophers Stone-a fairly orthodoxly Jungian interpretation of alchemical writings. A little later the members of a schismatic Temple, Hermanubis, began experimenting with alchemy on the lines of Z2. An alchemical ritual of this type is reproduced in my Ritual Magic in England. In recent years a certain Frater Albertus, who runs an organisation called the Paracelsus Research Society in Salt Lake City, has been engaged in reviving the alchemical tradition in practical form. Frater Albertus, who from his published writings on the Qabalah seems to be within the Golden Dawn tradition, attaches particular importance to the works of Basil Valentine. The former's Handbook of Alchemy has led many occultists into a complete retraction of the Jungian interpretation to which they formerly adhered. 177 Flying RoD No. VII Alchemy By S.A. Chemistry, the modern science of which investigates the constitution of material substances, is the lineal descendent of Mediaeval and Ancient Cherny. The syllable AL is the Arabic indefinite article, like the Hebrew He, meaning 'The' chemistry -the Higher Chemistry, treating of the essential nature of the Elements, metals and minerals; while modern chemistry rejoices rather in being a science of utilitarian and commercial uses. The earliest use of the word Alchemy is believed to be found in the works of Julius Firmicus Maternus, the Astronomer, who lived in the time of the Emperor Constantine. Firmicus wrote that 'he should be well skilled in Alchemy, who is born when the Moon is in the House of Saturn'. So he was an Astrologer as well; what house does he mean? the Day house (Aquarius), or the Night house (Capricorn) of Saturn? Or does he, like some modern Astrologers, allot one of these, Aquarius, to Uranus? The Imperial Library of Paris is said to possess the oldest Alchemic Volume known; it is by Zosimus of Panopolis, written in Greek about 400 A.D. and entitled the Divine Art of Making Gold and Silver. The next oldest tract upon Alchemy known to exist is by Aeneas Gazius, written in Greek about 480 A.D. The Mediaeval authors often call Alchemy 'Hermetic Art', implying an origin &om Hermes Trismegistos of Egypt, the prehistoric demi-god, or inspired teacher, to whom we owe the Emerald Tablet. It it stated by one old Greek writer that the Hermetic secrets were buried in the tomb of Hermes and were preserved until the time of Alexander the Great who caused his Tomb to be opened, to search for these secrets, and that he found the documents, but that his wise men could not understand them. Many portions of human wisdom have from time to time died out of Human understanding. After the Fall of the Intellectual freedom of Alexandria, scientific attainments were almost entirely restricted to the 179 ALCHEMY Arabs, who made great progress in science-; yet some monks in Christian monasteries also studied these matter in retirement and some have become famous as alchemists and magicians; and further some of these rose to eminence also in the Church, becoming Vicars, Abbots, and even Bishops. Those who succeeded most, wrote least, and hence are almost, if not quite, unknown to us. An infinity of books have been written upon Alchemy, and they are of all sorts,-good, bad and indifferent; learned and superficial; wise and foolish-some are by good men, some by great men, others are by fools, some are by knaves. This is because Alchemy has existed as a Science upon several planes; and there have been true and successful students of Alchemy on each plane; and there have been fraudulent professors and knavish authors concerned with the Alchemy of the lower planes. Some modern students have written upon Alchemy wisely, and some unwisely; but the modern error has notably been in going to extremes of opinion. Some modern authors have insisted that all Alchemy was folly; some that all Alchemy was Chemistry; and a third party, dominant at present, have convinced themselves that all Alchemy was Religion. I am firmly convinced that each class of teacher is partly wrong-let me take the middle path. The science of Alchemy has existed, has been studied and taught upon Four planes. Upon Assiah, there has been the Ancient occult Chemistry, the Chemistry of the Adept; who added to facility and knowledge of materials, the magical skill and Will Power of the ability to act on the 'Soul of things'-their astral counterparts. Here transmutation is a physical fact, and possibility.-This was both practised and pretended, and real Treatises were written. Upon Yetzirah, is psychic alchemy, the power of creation of living forms.-This was practised, but rarely preached. Upon Briah is Mental Alchemy;-the creations of Art and Genius, the ensouled music, picture and statue;-this was practised and not preached until modern times. 180 FLYING ROLL NO. VII Upon the Highest Plane, the Spiritual, the practice was almost unknown except to a few entirely hidden Magi; but it was written about by some good and true philosophers, who couched their views on man's origin and destiny, his descent from God, and his possible re-ascent to God, in the language of the Material Plane to avoid persecution and destruction, at the hands of the priests of established churches. By the pretence of chemistry, they saved themselves from penalties for heterodoxy: by the absence of Chemical apparatus, they saved themselves from extortion and torture as Alchemists. As to Material Alchemy, the first mentioned, but few professors confessed to success and most of them lost their lives thereby. No man's life would be safe, or even tolerable-even today, who succeeded in transmutation, and confessed to it. I am entirely convinced that Transmutation of the lower metals to Gold and Silver is possible and that it has been often done; but not by Chemistry only, but by correlating with physical processes, the Will-action, and the power over the 'Soul of Nature', and the 'Soul of things', which the purity of life, and the training of the Adept can alone supply. The true Alchemist would be the last to publish his success to the world-and if he did, he would probably thereby lose his power. His elixirs and powders that succeeded but yesterday, would be powerless today,-for Isis does not sanction any tampering with the Virgin purity of Her shrine. Personal aggrandisement, as an end, or as a result, would w.eck any success in practical magical working; and the last student to succeed, would be he who cast a look behind upon the lusts of the flesh, pride of Life, and the ambition of the Devil. Let no man study Alchemy to enrich himself. Let no man study Occultism to secure the gratification of passion; it is the unpardonable Sin. Hence we may say that even Material Alchemy is a high and gracious art, for success proves purity, Adeptship and spiritual power; the Chemist alone, may be successful in his limited sphere, whatever his character, and however soiled be his ego-intellect alone sufficeth him. Pardon this digression, but alchemy has a moral and spiritual aspect, although it seems to me that my dear friend Anna 181 ALCHEMY Kingsford erred, when she saw Religion and morals in every Alchemic process. The Alchemist professed the knowledge and encouraged the pupil to search for three things above all: The Red Elixir to transform Base metals to Gold; The White Elixir to transform Base Metals to Silver; The Elixir Vitae to administer to Vegetable and animal; to intensify the life, to prolong life, and to expand the life. Health and length of Life are much to be desired, for art is long, I believe the first and second Elixirs were not sought so much for their own powers, as because they were steps leading to the Elixir Vitae-the art of prolonging life and opportunities of the Adept, that he might lose less time in his progress to a spiritually exalted goal-less than he would lose by living more and shorter lives-with passive intervals. Surely there is an advantage in living years after 'Adeptship in the Inner' is gained: - rather than early death followed by long periods of rest and then childhood. To the true student who learns to teach other men now, individuals and, perhaps, in higher lives-to guide nations; surely continuity is an advantage! Spiritual progress, which hastens to be done with man and Earth is not (say the Easterns) the highest form of Buddhahood or Enlightenment. The Buddha of compassion, who renounces spiritual joys, to assist the grovellers upon earth, or near it,is a higher type. I believe then in the three chiefs of the Rosy Cross whose earthly years of work count by hundreds; they are allegoric and symbolic possibly in name and number of years, but they express a truth, that progress in adeptship links some great Souls to earth workers: and that such a goal for usefulness, is a worthy aim and aspiration for everyone who enters here, and views the symbolic form of the Master C.R. If I am asked why the Alchemic Books are so full of the Transmutation to Silver, and to Gold, I answer that these steps being necessary precedents to the art of the Elixir Vitae, have naturally had more attention and experiment, and more professors than the third superior step, which is almost altogether shrouded from the profane. 182 FLYING ROLL NO. VII I must supplement these remarks by saying that I believe that many of the Alchemic treatises were really treatises written in the light of the Chemistry of the Age, and record real attempts at chemical processes in search of the secret of transmutation into Gold, by people who were really the chemists of the day, who did want real Gold, and who had no spiritual intuitions, and who did nothing but fail in Transmutation. To return to physical chemistry and Alchemy on the plane of Assiah.-Note-the curious, and not denied, statement that certain Gold frames have been known to be struck by lightning and discoloured by the Flash, and that this discoloration has shown traces of Sulphur.-What of this incident? Either the Sulphur was in the Gold, as ancient Alchemy taught 'a Sulphur was'; or the Sulphur was in the Lightning, which modern Science says is Electricity and contains no Sulphur. But added Sulphur is not found in other matters which contain none, when they are lightning struck. The Hermetic doctrine is that all Matter is but one in its essence, and is the lowest fall of the spirit, the most passive aspect of the Lux. Spirit Matter Active Passive Motor Moved From the one Eus, came two contraries, thence three principles, and four elements;-on all planes of matter, the one base is Hyle-of the Greek philosophers. Then arose from the Homogeneous-variation. The Heterogeneous arose by development. Under Sephirotic impulse on the plane of Assiah, differentiation spread, and forms and combinations were produced during ages of time. During the ages of gradual concretion, and setting together of atoms, the elementary substance of modern chemistry, the Metals and the Matalloids, the halogens and the earths, became definite types and permanent of constitution. They became fixed in their molecular structure, and are now in the Kali Yuga, so far in time from their origin; practically Elements in the Modern sense of structure indissoluble to all known material processes. I assert that to the Adept they are still convertible and analysable, but even apart from Adept183 ALCHEMY ship, some so called Elements will be even yet disintegrated by modern science alone. But while science prides itself on its progress, it is fatuous enough to demand implicit belief in its attitude of authority day by day. Modern Science howls down today the man who will tomorrow succeed in demonstrating its error. Science is but little less a Bigot than has Religion ever been. The Metals then, and our present Elements must have been formed, defined, and set in their present type by the work of ages. By the slow processes of Nature, by heat, by light, by electricity, by condensation, by pressure, have the metals grown in the veins of stone. Sudden, and violent agencies no doubt also produced an effect, perhaps some metals, have been only produced by the convulsions, and not by the gradual processes of Nature. Who knows but that the Gold found native and pure, as few metals are found, was produced by the Lightning and the Earthquake. Intense pressure and intense heat, would be likely to make a new combination from existing ones. Gold is intense in its weight-its specific gravity: intense pressure and high fusion point, would be likely to produce such a body, pure, homogeneous, heavy. The Alchemist taught that the well known Metals, now called Elements, were not so-were not simple substances. The 'Elements' of the Alchemicist were states; states and processes. They taught that each metal, say lead, consisted of a Metallic Root, and certain other matter-sulphurs. The nature and quantity of their sulphurs, determined the Metal.-By taking a low metal,-coarse, common, easily altered metal, by purging it from these sulphurs, stage by stage, they taught that each metal might be produced in turn, until the last transmutation produced Gold. I believe the theory is true, I believe the practice is possible, by working in the astral, contemporaneously with action on the physical basis. But if Gold could be so made, Cui Bono? What good would that be? No sooner is Gold thus made, as it were from nought-than its value ceases-it is the rarity of Gold that makes it of commercial value-that makes it buy bread and luxuries. If it be produced at will, it will be of 184 FLYING ROLL NO. VII no more value than any other dust. As to the Alchemist, who, as adept, does succeed in making transmutation, he will be so constituted that riches have no temptation for him and pride no attraction. He will know too, that wealth will be but ill spent, when gained, if squandered upon those who will not help themselves: he will know that individual progress, national progress, and world progress depend not on doles which pauperise, but on the will and effort of individual, nation, and world. The temptation to wish one could but transmute a little, just to help some one friend, or neighbour, just to provide oneself with some thing earnestly desired-for one's good-is I believe a folly, and would be an evil if attained. How few of us have not wished this tribute to our efforts? How few men of the world do not wish it? What proportion of men who are wealthy, spend daily on themselves what is best for them and no more, and give the remainder to the friend, the neighbour, the deserving? Do you say--oh, I am an initiate, I should do differently? My friend-with greater opportunities, comes a great responsibility. I will not judge such, nor you, but in my heart, I thank God I have not the power of transmutation now. God knows,-and I know-how easy it is to fall. But I constantly digress into the Spiritual, although what I really came to say, is a word on the material and physical aspect. I still defer these remarks, however, to quote two passages, one in prose narrating the sequence of the process of Alchemic work: and the other a poem written in English, translated from an old French prose account of Alchemic work, in allegoric language and myth. The first quotation is Astrological, and Astrology is inextricably mixed up with Alchemy. The second is beautiful in its poetry, and will well repay contemplation. The first quotation reads:The Great Work must be begun when the Sun is in the Night house of Saturn: the Blackness appears in forty days when Sun is in the Day house of Saturn: 185 ALCHEMY the Blackness deepens into the Night house of Jupiter on reaching Aries a separation occurs. The Whiteness of Luna develops when the Sun is in the house Cancer of Luna The Sun begins his special form of change in Leo his own house. Redness is produced in the day house of the Red metal of Copper, Venus, this is Libra, next Scorpio follows, and the Work reaches completion in Saggitarius the day house of Jupiter. This is a good example of Allegoric description, which has no doubt a physical basis,-and clearly refers to the Soul of things, matters, seasons and processes on the astral plane of evolution. The second quotation reads:- I Within the golden portal Of the garden of the wise, Watching by the seven sprayed fountain, The Hesperian Dragon li~. Like the ever burning Branches In the dream of holy seer; Like the types of Asia's churches Those glorious jets appear. Three times the magic waters Must the Winged Dragon drain Then his scales shall burst asunder And his Heart be rent in twain. Forth shall flow an emanation Forth shall spring a shape divine, And if Sol and Cynthia and thee Shall the charmed Key be thine. II In the solemn groves of Wisdom Where black pines their shadows fling Near the haunted cell of Hermes, Three lovely flowrets spring: 186 FLYING ROLL NO. VII The Violet damask tinted In scent all flowers above: The milk white vestal Lily And the purple flower of Love. Red Sol a sign shall give thee Where the Sapphire Violets gleam, Watered by the rills that wander From the viewless golden stream: One Violet shalt thou gatherBut ah-beware, beware!The Lily and the Amaranth Demand thy chiefest care. III With in the lake of crystal, Roseate as Sol's first ray With eyes of diamond lustre, A thousand fishes play A net within that water A net with web of gold If cast where air bills glitter One shining fish shall hold. N Amid the oldest mountains Whose tops are next the Sun, The everlasting rivers Through glowing channels run, Those channels are of gold And thence the countless treasures Of the kings of earth are rolled. But far-far must he wander O'er realms and seas unknown Who seeks the Ancient Mountains Where shines the Wondrous Stone. 1 1 I.e Dictionaire Mytho---Hermetique, states 'The Fountain found within the Garden', is the 'Mercury of the Wise', which comes from divers sources because it is the 'Principle' of the seven metals, and is formed by the influence of the seven planets, although the Sun alone is properly speaking the Father, and Luna, the Mother. The 187 ALCHEMY You have already been taught two symbolic schemes for allotting the metals to the Sephiroth-each is capable of defence -for pointing out certain alliances and the alchemical relations of these Metals. I add here a scheme, of my own, for allotting to the Decad ten non-metallic lighter elements recognised by modern chemistry. Hydrogen _________________ -0 Oxygen ---------- Nitrogen 0_ Chlorine 0------------------ Iodine - -0 Fluorine Carbon 0--_ _ _ __ Ol-_------------------.....!O Bromine Phosphorus o Sulphur o Binah = Nitrogen, always a Gas-very passive-neither supports life nor combustion. Fluorine = a Gas-very active, almost intangible. Chlorine = a Gas-yellow in colour like gold, acrid, caustic. Dragon who three times drinks, is the putrefaction which overcomes the matter, and is so called from its black colour, and this Dragon loses his scales, or skin, when the Grey colour succeeds the Black. You will only succeed if Sol and Luna aid thee; by means of the regimen of Fire you must bleach the Grey colour to the Whiteness of the Moon (and then obtain the redness of Sol as the last stage). By the 'Fishes', is meant bubbles in the heated crucible. 'Lake' often means vase, retort, flask, alembic'. (Original Note.) 188 FLYING ROLL NO. VII Bromine = heavier, baser, red liquid. Iodine=a red copper and hermaphraditical Brass. Carbon is Tiphereth, is the most notable non-metal-it combines with others, forming alliances with other elements of immense number-all vegetable and animal substances are compounds formed on Carbon as a Basis. Phosphorous and Sulphur, represent Yesod and Malkuth, both solids, and complete the scale. The analogies are very curious, and can be greatly extended. It may be possible also to rank the true metals along with the Sephiroth in the Chemical Order of their actual purity and as they the more nearly approach pure Basic Hyle, or the 'one matter', in addition to the G.D. Forms. The Sephiroth are progressive Emanations, each less exalted than the former, and they pass down plane after plane, and may be looked upon each as more material than the last. And in Assiah there may be scales alike of Metals, Metalloids, and other substances, in similar ratios. If such were the case, the Alchemical theory of successive steps of purification would in natural course transmute each metal into the one above. The Lead into Copper, the Copper into Silver, the Silver into Gold, the Gold into the Elixir Vitae, the gold of Vegetable and Animal life. Alchemy taught that all metals consisted of the Mercury of the Philosophers and of a Sulphur, which ~xed it-made it solid. The Merc. Phil. was not the Quicksilver of commerce, not the Hydrogen of the modern Chemist-the one fluid metal. Our Mercury they called Hydrardgyram,-Water of silverfluid, silver-coloured. They thought it to be Silver in a state of 'low temperature fusion'-They also called it 'Proteus'=of diverse forms. The Alchemists found Gold to be extremely heavy, so they experimented chiefly with those other metals which were most heavy;-lead, quicksilver and copper, believing they must be nearest to Gold in order of steps of change, or that each heavy metal needed fewer processes for conversion, or less purification. They argued-for example-Lead nearly resembles Gold in weight, therefore Lead consists almost entirely of Mercury Philo189 ALCHEMY sophorum and Gold. If a body be found, which will so work on the Lead, as to burn out of it all that is not Mercury Philos, and then we fix that Mercury by a Sulphur, we should obtain Gold as the result. Relative weights of equal bulks are about:Gold 19 Mercury 14 Lead 11 Silver 10 Copper 9 Iron and Tin 7 Antimony 6 Arsenic 5 Many of the 'Elements' so called from 1750 to 1800 have been since broken up, by analysis; notably Potash and Soda, which were shown to be compounds in 1807-by Davey. The Alchemist recognised three principal ways of making Gold. First, by Separation; for many minerals contain some Gold. Second, by Maturation, by processes designed to subtilise, purify, and digest Mercury; which convert it into a heavier body, and at last into Gold itself. They looked on Mercury as an Alloy of Gold and Something: by processes of Fire, and by adding suitable material for combustion; the impurity was to be burned off and pure Gold to remain. Thirdly, by fusing with base metals, some of that peculiar compound, the Stone of the Philosophers, a perfect transmutation was to occur, the faeces would be burned off, and the Metallic Root appear as Gold. For example of Alchemical argument, I have read 'if we take 19 ounces of Lead and fuse it with a proper Agent, and so dissipate 8 ounces we shall have 11 ounces remaining, and this can be nothing but pure Gold, because Gold and Lead are as 19 to 11. Otherwise if the process be gradation, and we reduce 19 to 14 first, the result will be Mercury, but then the process may be continued and the further reduction to 11 will equally be Gold, as without the middle step'. 190 FLYING ROLL NO. VII From another point of view, they said 'the Stone of the Philosopher's is a most subtle, fixed and concentrated fiery body which when it is added to a molten metal does, as if by a magnetic virtue, unit itself to the Mercurial body of the metal, vitalises and cleans off, all that is impure, and so there remains a molten mass of pure So!.' But as aforesaid,-I believe it is useless for anyone to waste time on purely chemical experiments. To perform Alchemical processes, requires a simultaneous operation on the Astral plane with that on the physical. Unless you are Adept enough to act by Will power, as well as by heat and moisture; by life force, as well as by electricity, there will be no adequate result. So far as I know,-I do not speak by order-power of transmutation may arise, side by side with other magical attainments -Labor omnia vincit. It is not conferred by any Grade-it is occasionally rediscovered by the private studtlllt: it is never actually taught in so many words. It may dawn on anyone of you,--or the magic event may occur when least expected I 191 PART EIGHT Christian Occultism being Hitherto Unpublished Papers of the Cromlech Temple Prefatory Note On the whole the Flying Rolls and other instructional material produced by the schismatic fraternities derived from the Golden Dawn after that organisation had broken up in internecine disputes (circa 1900) are of little interest. Notable exceptions to the general mediocrity are the papers of the Cromlech Temple, a side order to The Rosicrucian Order of the A.O.-the name adopted after 1900 by those Temples loyal to MacGregor Mathers. The membership of the Cromlech Temple consisted largely nf dedicated Anglican clergymen, who seem to have found the Temple's brand of Christian Occultism much to their liking, and a Dean of Chester (who was also an initiate of the Stella Matutina) was a prominent member. In spite of the Temple's pretensions to Anglo-Catholic orthodoxy it is clear from the papers which follow that its Christianity was essentially Gnostic; the truth of the doctrine of reincarnation, for example, was taken for granted, in spite of its condemnation by a Council of the Church as early as the fifth century. A certain confusion seems to have arisen between the Cromlech Temple and the Golden Dawn itself. Thus, in her article on the Golden Dawn published in Number 40 of Man, Myth and Magic, that distinguished Yeats scholar Kathleen Raine has written: Magic was indeed only one aspect of the work of the Golden Dawn .... Lectures and papers were circulated expounding the Catholic doctrines of the Apostolic Succession, the seven Sacraments, the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, or teaching the three grades of prayer. None of these papers is included in Israel Regardie's four volume publication of the rituals; which gives in this respect, a one-sided impression. All this is quite incorrect. The papers referred to, all of which are included in the following section of this book, were those 195 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM of the Cromlech Temple, not those of the Golden Dawn-and, while a majority of Cromlech Temple initiates were also initiates of one or other of the fraternities derived from the Golden Dawn, the Cromlech Temple was a completely independent organisation. Details of its origin and development may be found in my Ritual Magic in England (Neville Spearman 1970). 196 Paper I Received 18.4.24 To all my beloved companions of the Temple of the Cromlech, Greeting. We have watched you all with a great love throughout this time of pain and trouble and striving, and we commend your patience, hard indeed to attain when all are looking forward to the new life of service and advance. Recall then all our teachings; that death must precede birth, old things must be broken up before the new things can be manifested. And so in yourselves must the same process take place, the breaking up of old ideals that the new ideals may be born and grow, the breaking up of the will, wherein is the self-that self, which though set to do the will of God, seeks to do it in the way of the lower self rather than in the way of the higher self, and long must it be ere the children of the earth can see that such efforts can only come to naught. Yet it is by the very failure of those efforts that they rise to the higher life. Not willingly doth the Supreme (Blessed be He) afflict His children, for in very love are all these failures set as stepping stones to Himself, and the only way to the final goal of Union with Him. When this is realised, the heart is purging from the cloying of earth, and turned to a cup wherein to receive the wine of His love. And in that prepared and spiritualised heart of man, all that comes, all that chances, may be as the varied substances put into the Crucible, out of which is to come the Pure Gold. Ye have seen in our earlier teaching the World as a crucible -in which the Alchemic processes were proceeding in regular order. So now ye can look into the world of yourselves and see the same processes going on in the heart of each of you, pain and suffering, disappointment and mistakes all working to this ultimate end, and all good, when ye can see it with your spiritual eyes. And now the Gold begins to be manifest, that which will in time turn all that is base to Gold. Yet think not that it will be apparent at once. The Fire must still work to bring all to 197 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM perfection. Yet not now the fire of sorrow and suffering, but the fire of love, and joy, and laughter known to those who are the Sons of God. This year, that great symbol called the Fire of the Worldthe Sun, but called by us in truer phrase-the Sun of Righteousness, will arise with greater force than ever before since the coming of the Master. Therefore shall this year be known as 'The Year of the Risen Sun' to mark it out from all the rest. And ye Companions of the Sun will if ye set your minds and hearts to perceive it, receive the beams and the tenfold blessings they bring. Let not material thoughts like cloud-veils dim your sight. Look up and rise on the wings of Faith to that clearer air above the miasma 'of earthly things, and so shall ye bf blessed indeed. And for those who have passed on to a higher stage of work, never forget that they are still with you all, loving and working, and better able now that all material hindrances have been removed, to help and comfort you than ever before. Well have ye all done, bravely have ye wrought and striven, and all your struggles and trials are known to us in ways that will be more clear to you when ye have learnt more of our teachings. 'If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it'. This is a scientific truth, explainable by our science, and gradually will ye learn it, and marvel at the love which binds us all together in bands that may not be broken. We bid you, as so often before, to rejoice and evermore to rejoice. For the great Master of all Masters is with us now in very word and truth, more closely than before, as we are growing able to receive His Light and Love. She:me:sh 198 Paper II Easter Day 12.4.25 To all my dear Children and Companions of the Cromlech Temple-Greeting-and loving congratulations to you allwho each one, in his or her separate way, has striven to follow the command of the Master, and to rule and dominate that lower self which is the only curtain that veils Him from our sight. In the Year of the Risen Sun now past, all were enabled to see more or less dearly those errors and imperfections, likes and dislikes, all that belongs to the narrow selfhood, and seeing more dearly in that Risen Sun, have desired to alter and change that which was barring the way and stopping the progress to the Higher Life. Hence, when the desire was born in the heart by the action of the intuition, has the dearing and purging process been begun in each. With some it has brought sorrow and bitter tears, with other bodily illness, with others a breaking up of outside circumstances, but with all there has been somewhat of the death that begins new life. Look back, then, each one of you, to anything in the past year that has been akin to crucifixion, no matter how small, and rejoice that you have, even to a small extent, been following the Master and walking in His footsteps. For the divine law will work in each one of you, and after your crucifixion shall be a joyful resurrection, the greater the struggle and pain, the greater will be your joy and your own resurrection. Search your own hearts then, for the Holy Spirit will speak in each one of you without fail and without error. Having then, 0 my companions, been each one broken up and tested as ye were able to bear it, we come to a time of fresh life-effort, and the year shall be called 'The Year of New Beginnings', for the seed of a new life has been sown in each of you. See to it that it grow and bear fruit, for the Holy Spirit of God needs your co-operation, your desire, your imagination, your will. And remember, you who are attracted more to knowledge and the cultivation of brain power, that if ye see not in this also 199 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM a development of character, a spiritual growth, it is empty and worthless. The desire to know more than your neighbours, to be more advanced, as it is said, is an evil thing, .and will inevitably stop you, and finally, if yielded to, will draw you down, and you will come under the domination of an evil lower self whose power it will be difficult to escape from. You are no teachers of each other, ye are fellow-students, fellow workmen, each for the good of all, each to be encouraged in his task, however humble, for all are working with the great Master Craftsman Himself. We here do specially commend that little faithful Group in the City of Cromlech who have loyally worked in the best way to fulfil our behests, for all have been seeking unity with each other, and have been trying to overcome those fine and invisible, yet strong, barriers which the lower personality of each makes between souls who are very much at one on astral and spiritual planes. Verily brethren, this is the true advance, to try to look through the eyes of another, to feel with, for this is your first step in learning to Love. And when ye begin to love ye have joy-they cannot be separated. So we send all our loving blessings, and may this Year of New Beginnings hold for you the best of all new things; the beginnings of Love and Joy in the heart of each one of you. ShMSh. 200 Some teachings as to Post Mortem Cond'itions For the First Five only Some of you enquire mentally concerning the motives of the ancient Egyptians in mummifying the dead. The question could not then be answered-neither can it now be fully answered. But ye may know and bear in mind that a certain link usually remains between the freed spirit after death and its earthly surroundings. In the vast majority of cases the Spirit is not objectively conscious of this connection. Yet it feels a certain uneasiness at any sudden alteration of its former tenement. The practical lesson of this highly occult teaching is that the survivors valuing the comfort of their departed friends should not suddenly nor hastily change the surroundings in which they lived, nor the things which they took pride in. For thereby unwittingly they may cause great discomfort, and pain to the spirit which is slowly, as it were, losing its hold on the things of the earth and is by no means parted suddenly from them when the breath leaves the body. Remember there are four Elemental Kingdoms and what we call physical death refers not to the Kingdoms of Air and Fire. For those spirits now going through what is sometimes termed the cycle of Incarnations-the periods between two Incarnations are by far the most real and important parts of their existence -are in fact their true life. Those who teach that the Ego after an incarnation sleeps in Devachan, entertained by unreal illusions, or suffers in Avitchi-or wanders in Kama Loka-are in error, seeing only part of the truth-still more so are they who teach that the Soul's final and eternal destiny is fixed at the moment of death-for which there is no warrant in any revelation. For the truth is that in what ye earth dwellers term physical death the Ego returns to its full normal life, wherein indeed there is sleep, and dream, and suffering, and joy, yet these things are but part of its fullness. To understand somewhat of the relation of an incarnation to the fuller and larger life-imagine a young lad who once or twice a week goes to a gymnasium or a drill hall. While 201 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM there, the exercises he is engaged on take up the whole of his thought and energy, he is concentrated on horizontal bars, ladders and the like, and forgets everything else. Yet when he changes his gymnastic dress and leaves the gymnasium he resumes his real life, probably so much stronger and healthier for the keen exercise-yet, it may be, with a strain or bruise which will smart for days. As it is the microcosm of the world, so it is in the macrocosm of the larger life. In the gymnasium there are but the pupils who are in the arena, and the instructors and such parents and guardians as may accompany them, but outside, in the more real life, are countless hosts of others, very many whose childish training is long over, and who are now training children themselves. Thus, in the discarnate life, the Ego meets multitudes of other spirits-some unknown to and unconnected with him, others who to him are in the position of parents and friends or guardians-with these he walks hand in hand, in loving converse, for the stress and striving of incarnation do not exist there and rebellion against wisdom and authority is unknown. Yet note that these things in themselves are not evil-they form part of the gymnastic apparatus which ye call earthly life -and are hurtful only when an exercise is improperly done. Consider how the weight of a dumb-bell is a good thing-yet if the pupil lets it fall on himself its weight becomes a source of pain and trouble. As we have said, those going through the cycle of Incarnation are as small children-and their friends and guardians are close beside them. These are not children themselves. As parents, friends and guardians on earth often accompany children to a gymnasium, assisting, advising, and watching over them-albeit it may be that the children lose sight of everything save the arena and its apparatus-so do these spiritual Guardians stand near those they watch over during Incarnation, albeit the strong development and vitalisation of material symbols in the Aura prevents the Ego from recognising (save fitfully and by vision or intuition) his beloved friend and guide of the larger life. It is true that death is a very gradual process and that the 202 POST MORTEM CONDITIONS separation of the consciousness from the material body is not accomplished all at once. But here then must we distinguish. The consciousness of pain and of discomfort is in the living body the resistance automatically established to that which infringes its law of existence. Now conservation of the form is the law of existence-whatever, then, tends to destroy the form is contrary to its law, and the automatic action of brain and nerve set up by Prana is termed pain. But with physical death the law is reversed-dissolution of the form becomes law, and Prana is withdrawn, hence, though there is no doubt for some time a consciousness of the Physical Body-that consciousness desires its dissolution as much as in earth life it desires its conservation. The decay of the body is to the consciousness exactly as the sensation of its growing strength and vigour is to the youth or maiden-and the cause is the same viz. the fulfilment of law-sudden and abnormal development of strength is often painful and has been known to cause madness-because the law is slow development. So is cremation often painful in the West, because the law is slow decomposition. In the East it is different, for the law is much more rapid decomposition and much less consciousness of the body and its changes. In Egypt the case of mummification was different and arising out of the special circumstances of a nation of Adepts. Yet much pain was caused to the Astral therebyvoluntarily undergone for specific objects. Burial at sea does not usually fulfil the law of the condition of death-yet in some cases it may. Perhaps of all forms burial in a cave-exposed to the air but protected by a stone from birds and beasts of prey-is in the most exact conformity with the laws of the condition-and thus was the Master buried, yet in death, as in life, the most perfect conditions are rarely attainable-expense and sanitary laws-the health and well being of survivors, and numberless other conditions prevent this. A strong desire for one form of burial is mostly born of the mistaken view of post mortem consciousness, and of the non-recognition of the reversal of the law of th~ condition. If thou canst realise this reversal to thyself as did the Saints and Adepts who-as it were-practised death-thou wilt see more 203 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM clearly what thou really desirest. Only beware of one marked danger. Those who practice this, very commonly get a delusive intuition of the time and manner of their own death-very few are allowed to know this-and those must be of an advance far higher than thine .... Beware that, though believe it not! For there be those who believing such delusive intuitions have brought about their deaths before the purpose of God had decreed them. This is a species of astral suicide and very painful are the results thereof. Practice not much, then, this formula; only, when thou thinkest of death and burial-realise that thou wilt then desire gradual decomposition-as thou now desirest regaining of health and strength and that the decompositionin the grave, the air, or the water, will not appear loathsome as it does when contrary to law-but lovely because in conformity thereto. The Consciousness after death depends on the state of the Astral body here. In some cases it is weak and weary from its earthly pilgrimage here and requires a long sleep-in other cases it has periods of probation to undergo-or of purgation -but there are cases where the Astral enters at once on a career of help to those on earth-and to those also on its own astral plane. Those of the grade of our beloved Frater ShMSh and myself are associated with many helpers on the astral-some of whom worked with us in life-and after death with scarcely a break continued to work on the astral plane-their relation to us being only slightly changed. The Devotion of the Quipus 1 Second Grade It is well to recite this (at least the Key sentences) standing with the Arms extended in the form of a Cross. But to avoid fatigue-which is not desirable-stand with the back to a shelf 1 The Quipus was a cord of seven strands which the initiate5.! of the Cromlech Temple wore around their right arms. (Editorial Note.) 204 THE DEVOTION OF THE QUIPUS of convenient height-or put two stout pegs in the wall to support the arms--or put two loops of rope at a convenient height--or any other support that is convenient. Do this occasionally only-the position itself-being that of the Master in the act of Expiation for the whole Order which he founded, is a most powerful symbol against evil or opposing forces. Brethren for a long time now ye have worn the Sacred Quipus of our Holy Order, yet the deep and profound teaching and symbolism therefore have been hidden from you. It is time now that ye should learn some of the more elementary lessons thereof, that the Quipus may become to you a veritable guide, symbol and synthesis of truth and not a mere incomprehensible fetish. Seven are its strands, and they are of different colours selected (but not as ye might suppose arbitrarily) from the spectrum, whereunto the rays of Our Lord the Sun are decomposed on passing through the triangular prism which is the symbol of the Fratrix through whom the pure white light must reach Frater Shemesh who passeth it on in the form of Love to the Outer Companions and thence to all the world. Many are the scales of colour and almost infinite is colour symbology. That which is used in the lower grades of our Order, and which has been partially revealed to you, is that which is known as the Sacramental Scale, of which the mysteries will now be somewhat further shown. Take the Quipus and lay it on the table before you. The central thread directed towards you. Next to it on the left hand the red, then the yellow, and then the blue, on the other side the orange, green and purple. Now according to the Sacramental Scale the colours on the left hand represent the Supernal, those on the right the terrestrial. 'There are three that bear witness in Heaven, the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One. And there are Three that bear record on Earth, the Spirit and the Water and the Blood, and these three agree in One'. And note that the One here is the White thread wherein all are included. The same was also the symbolism of the seven branched, candlestick, as 205 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM will be more fully shown later on. But consider now the Blue Strand, the Ray of Power, the Father; Blue is also the colour of Water, but here of the 'Waters which be above the Firmament' viz. to our gross material senses, the Blue Sky. Its position at the outside of the group shows that here, by this gate, the Neophyte enters to the sanctuary at his first initiation, i.e. the purification by water. Hence in all Rituals is this purification by water the initial step, and thus in the rites of the Christian Church, wherein the form of the ancient mysteries is preserved, the first initiation is represented by Baptism. In every form of the true mysteries it was taught that at the first initiation the Great Name of God entered into and united with the life of the Neophyte, forming a talisman invisible to every eye save that of the Adept, which saved him in the hour of need, helped, taught and comforted· him through his life. Further teachings and other initiations taught him how to increase the power of this Name, how to recover it if lost, how to unite his own soul with it, and this last by lending his own soul to the constant adoration of the Great Name, till the Soul became absorbed therein. The utterance of the Soul expressing this is some form of the ejaculation 'Hallowed be thy Name', and in using it the Neophyte must regard the Name as the object of Supreme Worship in the innermost shrine of his heart, by the true hallowing of which, in constant adoration he shall attain unto his genius and become more than human. Such then is the teaching of the Blue Thread. Learn to connect the following ideas: Spirit of the Blue Ray Spirit of Power. The Father The Water above the Firmament. The Blue Sky. The Purification by Water The First Initiation. Baptism in the Christian Scheme. The Great Name of God thereby entering into the Neophyte. 206 THE DEVOTION OF THE QUIPUS His talisman unseen. The Path to union with his genius. The Hallowing and Adoration of the Great Name. The Petition of Ejaculation'Hallowed be Thy Name'. Consider next the Red Ray of the Quipus, the Ray of Love, the Son. Red is the colour of earth, of Adamah, but here it is not the dull red of material separateness and of sin, but the triumphal red of heaven, the Royal Robe of the Monarch of the Kingdom of Love which is the Kingdom of Heaven. When our Lord the Sun is transfigured in glory at his rising or setting and maketh to himself a royal robe from the Aura of the Earth the hue of it is red, the red of Love, with the scintillating orange and amber of the Wisdom of the Spirit. Thus when the Kingdom of Heaven is established in the heart of a man, the earthly red day of Adamah is transmuted to the infinite Ocean of Divine Love, the lustrous red of Heaven, by virtue of the Mystery of the Atonement. The red then typifieth the Atonement, the establishment of the Kingdom of Love in the Heart of Mortal Man. How then shall this Kingdom be established? No man can of himself attain thereto. The Masters and guides, unseen yet verily present, acting under the Master of Masters must draw him. And these act upon the ordinary man through the ministrations of the Higher Adepts who work by the magical powers conferred on them. Hence the Supreme Initiation is the note which marks the establishment of the Kingdom. In the Christian Church this Supreme Initiation is signified by the ordination of the Priesthood, symbolically passing down the magic gifts received from the mighty Master of Masters, and hence is Holy Orders the Analogue of the Red Ray in the Christian scheme. The command of the Master 'Go ye, and teach all nations' bids them exercise the Kingly function in bringing the world to acknowledge His rule, thence is Red the Ray at once · of Love and of Kingly power. Hence also the Neophyte ejaculates Thy Kingdom Come'. Learn then to connect the following ideas. 207 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM Spirit of the Red Ray. Spirit of Love. The Sun. The Fire, the prismatic Red, The Grand Initiation. Holy Orders in the Christian Church. The establishment of the Kingdom of Love. The ejaculation 'Thy Kingdom Come'. Now look to the yellow thread of the Quipus. The Ray of Wisdom, the Holy Spirit. Yellow is the colour of Air, between Earth and the Firmament of Heaven vibrateth the Air, and the more inward and subtle mood thereof, the Ether, which conveyeth unto men the pulsations of Light, the pulsations of sound, whereby the messengers of the power of the Father are transmitted to the Divine Spark incarnate in man, to that composite Being which uniteth the prismatic red Ray of Heavenly Love with the dull red clay of Adamah, until, both being fused together and heated to a loving glow in the Power of the Atonement, they respond like a perfect instrument to the vibrations of the Amber Light from the Central Spiritual Sun, the Light of Wisdom guiding the Divine Love whose uniting rosy and golden rays herald the rising of Adonai, of Mithra the Lord of Wide Pastures in the radiant hues of the morning, which the ancient mysteries symbolised among much else of the profoundest mysteries of earth under the form of a Rose, and a gleam of whose marvellous teaching one of your own poets hath set forth in the line-'God made himself an awful Rose of Dawn'. Awful indeed, and when you know all the meanings of the Rose and the Dawn, and can go forth and learn without mistake or error the Lesson of the Morning, then shall you appreciate the full force of that line, and of the teaching of the Mystery of the Ages. The Air or the Ether then, bringeth to man the message of the will of the Father, perfectly performed in the Blue, hindered and intercepted and limited in the Adamah, not through the aid, as transmitters, of the the Great Initiates, or in the Christian Church through the magic power of the priesthood. Not to all, 208 THE DEVOTION OF THE QUIPUS but to a few is this magic power given, but to all under that, the Yellow Ray, the Air Spirits bring the mystery of the Father's Will. Hence it is properly significant of the Second Initiation, which is universal in the Ancient Mysteries and is but the completion and crown of the first. In the Christian Church this is signified by Confirmation which completes and crowns the work of Holy Baptism. Consider now, how each man within himself hath all these, for as in the macrocosm so it is in the microcosm. The Blue Ray belongeth to the intellect which is of power and is the Godlike directing force of the material man. The Red Ray belongeth to the affections which inspire and move the exercise of Power and the Yellow Ray proceeding from both, as the Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son, and vibrating between them belongeth unto the Will animated by Love, to emulate the angels who in Heaven do the will of the Father. Hence then comes the ejaculation 'Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven'. It will be seen how these three prismatic rays bring us into contact with the Heavenly Trinity-Pure and Transient out of the White Ray they emerge and into the White Ray they retire again. Rightly do we rank them, as we consider the threads in the familiar order, Father, Son and Spirit. Yet rightly too do we lay them in order. Blue, Yellow, Red, for the Yellow the Spirit, ever vibrateth between the Power and the Love, carrying and executing the will, yet the Divine Love can only consummate the Atonement. Learn then, to connect the following ideas:Spirit of the Yellow Ray. The Holy Spirit the Paraclete. The Tongues of Fire at Pentecost wherein the Gold of the Spirit bore the Red of Love. The Amber Light of Dawn. The Completion of the First Initiation Confirmation in the Christian Church. The will of God thereby done. The Great Transmuting Medium. 209 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM Hence the Vehicle of the Atonement. The Ejaculation-'Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven'. Passing now over the White Thread as the synthesis of the central point and consummation of the Devotion shall be dealt with last consider next the Orange Thread. In the Veil this Orange colour signifies Intellectual Wisdom, being compounded of their Divine functions. Wisdom judges austerely and righteously, Love embraces, being blind to offences. Love guided by Wisdom sees as God sees, and judging lovingly forgives. It must be that offences corne. While the lower aspects of the Orange Ray present the snare of the Human intellect, the higher aspects show the pardon of God. But on the part of the person pardoned certain acts are necessary. First a token of regret for the injury wrought. Second an acknowledgement of the full extent of the injury, thirdly a willingness to repair it. On such terms is the forgiveness of God offered to us, and on such terms should we pardon our brother men, not with love only, but with wisdom and love. Hence the Orange or Flame colour was the robe of the priests in the ancient mysteries when declaring the acception of the purified candidate, his pardon in fact. Hence on the Day of Pentecost the commission was given to the Apostles by the cloven tongues in allusion to the Creative Word, and flame colour in allusion to the commission to pardon, the commission of the Spirit of Wisdom and Love, or of Loving Wisdom. Hence the ejaculation 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us'. And on account of the condition in which this pardon is granted the Christian Church has united this power and this ejaculation with Penance, in which word are summed up the three acts above noted as necessary to make the pardon effectual. Mistake not Brethren and let no one mislead you here, the Christian Church follows the teachings of the ancient mysteries, and though the Priest has a certain magical power, it is in respect of Penance very slight, and he who claims more is acting contrary to the teaching of his Church. The Pardon comes from the Father through the Son, the Master of Masters. The condition to make it effectual 210 THE DEVOTION OF THE QUIPUS must be produced by the penitent in himself, and consists of the above noted three-fold Penance. The function of the Priests is but to direct the penitent how to produce such condition of penance in himself, and, being sure that it is produced, to comfort him with the assurance that the Master pardons him. There are Protestant sects whose ministers take upon themselves to make enquiry into the hearts of their members and to pronounce Absolutions such as the wildest exaggeration of Priestly Authority has hardly attained to, but of these we do not speak, they are of man's invention, and shall fail accordingly. Learn then to connect the following ideas: Spirit of the Orange Ray. Orange cords of 2he Veil. The tongues of Fire of Pentecost, Yellow and Red. The Wisdom guided by Love. Seeing as God Sees. All pardoning and all wise. Pardon on condition of penance. Threefold penance in the Christian Church. The ejaculation: 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us'. Consider next the Green Thread formed by the union of the Blue of Power with the Yellow which is the Wisdom of the Spirit, the Yellow which is the symbol of Air or Ether vibrating between Earth and Heaven and carrying the messages of the Father to man on Earth. Messages thus carried are teachings, and thence in the Mystery of the Veil you were told that Green was the colour of Doctrine and of Testimony, for it beareth witness. The message being brought to man is a witness of the Power that sends it, and hence again is the green robe of vegetation wherein the Earth is clad in spring, a witness of the lifegiving power proceeding from the Blue sky and borne upon the Golden Light. In this life of the Earth generation, maturity, decay, and renovation proceed without effort, without separateness, without sin. This is the great teaching of the perfect innocence of the 21l CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM processes of Nature, the standing condemnation of the false and morbid asceticism invented by man, which professing to lead to superior goodness more often actually results in sorcery and Black Magic. In all great Occult Schools of the World hath provision been made for this great and most essential teaching. And hence in those races which have most clearly followed the occult symbology of colour, Green is to this day the colour of marriage. In the Christian Church marriage is expressly stated to be for a remedy against sin, and is elevated to the dignity of a sacrament, as being a figure of the Mystic Union between Christ and His Church. To the Green Thread then and to the Sacrament of Marriage most fitly belongs the ejaculation 'Lead us not into Temptation'. Tried we must be, when we are fit, yet we would not rush to meet the testing unprepared and unfit. The time will come to all of us when we shall be called to pass to the ascetic life, yet it is only the highest and purest of mortals who are called to this test. Of the College from whom these teachings emanate not all have yet been called upon to face it, many have rashly demanded to do so before the time, and almost without exception have fallen and failed and grievously delayed their progress. Pray then that ye be not exposed to trial until fit to bear it. Seek no trial rashly trusting in your own strength, lean on the Masters and be ready t.l face all trials when called on by them. The Christian Church which has mainly the correct symbology of colours still rightly uses green at all seasons where abstract teaching rather than commemoration is ordained. Learn then to connect the following ideas:The Green Thread. The Spirit of Doctrine and Testimony. The Message of the Father borne by the Spirit of the Air. The Fertility of the Earth. Sinless generation. The Christian Sacrament of Matrimony. The Ejaculation 'Lead us not into temptation'. The Green colour used in the Christian Church. 212 THE DEVOTION OF THE QUIPUS Look now at the Purple Thread. In the curtains that hang behind our Altar, as in the curtains of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, this is the great mediatorial colour which unites the Red of Earthly Love with the Blue of the Power of the Father, typical, therefore, of the incarnation and of that Death of the Son which was the gate of a new life to all mortals who follow His footsteps. This Death, and new Life also, was taught to the Initiates in the Mysteries of the Old World and is now opened to the knowledge (but not the comprehension) of all. Because it is the colour of the Incarnation and of all the suffering and the Death belonging thereto, Purple is appropriately used as the colour of mourning, of fasting, and humiliation in the Christian Church. This Church, watching and following all the life of her children from the cradle to the grave, blesses their last moments according to the holy custom of the Apostles in the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. Here rightly do we ejaculate-'Deliver us from evil', or more properly 'from the Evil One'. Thus the parting soul is speeded and guided on its journey through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, till, in the language of the Alchemist, from the blood of the Black Dragon ariseth the Green Lion soon to be transmuted, by the Power of the King and of the Bride, to the Pure and Living Gold. Learn then to connect the following ideas: The Purple Thread. The Mediatorial Colour. The Purple Robe thrown in mockery over Christ. The colour of Mourning and of Death. The Christian Sacrament of Unction. The Ejaculation 'Deliver us from the Evil One'. Death the Gate of Life. Observe now that as the first three colours brought us in contact with the Divine Three Persons. so do these last three show us their work on Earth, being called secondary colours. and note also that they are secondary in the blending of pigments and not in the blending of Rays. for if you superimpose the 213 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM Yellow Rayon the Blue it maketh not Green, showing that the Earthly nature, typi6ed by the pigments of Earth, must be properly prepared and harmonised in order to obtain the operation of the Divine Spirits of the Holy Rays thereon. All these colours lead up to and concentrate in the central White Thread, the Great Three in one of Purity Sublime. It is impossible here to enter into its complete symbolism, for it is the synthesis and key of all. In the Christian Church it is typified by the Holy Eucharist and it naturally leads to the central Ejaculatory Prayer 'Give us this day our daily bread'. Bread here meaning everything necessary for bodily as well as Spiritual Health and Life. Such, Brethren, are the Elementary Meanings of the Seven Strands of the Quipus, and of the Seven Sacraments of the Christian Church according to the Sacramental Scale. They have their relation also to the Seven Lower Sephiroth on the Qabalistic Tree of Life, and the Qabalistic Sign of the Cross, as it was in use among the Hebrews of Old, concludes the Prayer of the Master. This symbolism of colour was in use among the Incas of Peru and in the Temples of Mexico, and by its aid, even now, if you obtain a correct representation of Temple or Shrine you may learn much of their mysteries. Ye should then constantly, or as often as may be, place the Quipus before you and go over the Summary of the ideas as herein before expressed, placing a finger meanwhile on each thread, and finishing each meditation by repeating the Ejaculation aloud, speaking as it were in the breath, monotonously slowly and dwelling with distinct outbreathing upon the vowels. When all the ideas have become so knit in the mind that any one naturally, and without effort, recalls the others, it is no longer necessary to use the Quipus always, a series of coloured beads on a string, touching each one as you repeat its appropriate ejaculation, is commonly used in the Order and serves well; some use a model of a Rose of Seven Petals, which may be made of silk or coloured paper. Above all things in this exercise, as in everything occult. we must earnestly beseech you to cultivate the greatest possible exactness. Every word should be accurately learned, every syrn214 THE DEVOTION OF THE QUIPUS bol accurately drawn, every colour brilliant and pure. It is a favourite device of the Adversary to hinder the Student by suggesting that it is sufficient to get only the sense or the general idea, that is the Spirit that matters. Observe that this is the spirit which denyeth the Incarnation, for the material form endoseth the Divine Spirit and the Two (not the one alone) are One Christ. In an occult matters, then Brethren, let an your learning be exact, anow not a single mistake. So will you progress and be conscious of your progress, not otherwise. We who address you have trod the path ye are now treading. We have seen our comrades fan and fail from the very faults of which we warn you. Under the Shadow of the Wings of I H V H rest ye ever. Farewell. Shemesh. 215 Second Grade The Eagle Lecture on the Introductory Knowledge of the Second Grade. The element of this grade is Air. The Kerubic Sign is the Eagle, and it is under the patronage of St. John the Beloved Disciple of the Master. In the Gospel of St. John, therefore, may be found much of the learning appropriate thereto. The special number is that of the Hebrew letter Shin, or 21.2 Seek ye then in the 21st Chapter of St. John's Gospel and ye shall learn how the Master shows Himself to His Disciples, and thereby also ye shall learn how the Master shows Himself to each man who has purified his heart to receive Him. And here also ye shall learn to interpret many things in our ritual, otherwise dark and incomprehensible. A few of the secrets of this interpretation we will unfold. Others will be told you later and some may be divined by your intuition. Consider first to whom He was shown. 'There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two other of his Disciples'. Observe that there were seven, answering to the Seven Principles cf Man, and the other Seven whereof ye have been taught. Observe also that of these seven, five only are named, the two others are hidden. As in our ritual there are Five Companions, Priests of the Order, with whom two Invisible, yet present, Masters make up the Seven. Observe also that they are named from the lowest upwards, and that Simon Peter therefore represents Sthula Sharira, the lowest and most material, as is shown by his name meaning a Stone, or the Syriac Cephas, also meaning a stone, but of a different character. A stone being the emblem of all that is dead 2 This is not the Qabalistic number of the letter Shin (which is 300), but that of the Tarot trump corresponding to the Path of Shin on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. (Editorial Note.) 217 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM and inanimate-yet in another sense it is the Stone of the Wise -the Rock whereon the Church of the Master is built, and it is further the Flint of the Mysterium Magnum of Paracelsus wherein lyeth fire, and hence it corresponds also with our Frater Shemesh, whose symbol denoteth fire and heat, and the red of whose stole shows the fire of Love, the first Key to the Mysteries. Meditate on these things, Brethren, and on these correspondences. Equally appropriate are the names of the other Disciples and the correspondences therewith, but of these we speak not now. Love is the first Key, therefore we express this at present. Observe also, that all Seven were together, and learn from this that only when all the Seven Principles in each man are in thorough accord can the Master be manifested to him. Only when a group of occult students are working harmoniously together can that group advance, and hence until such an harmonious group is at least potentially formed the higher messages of the Master cannot be delivered. Now to such a group 'Simon Peter said I go fishing'. The material body, the Sthula Sharira, desired the Ichthus the Christ-whose meaning has been shown you in this grade. And not until such a desire is present in a such body is such a manifestation possible. Again it is Love which suggests the search for the Ichthus. The Stone of the Wise thus operates the change whereby in fullness of time the Divine Light shall dawn. But immediately the Word goes forth from the material Love, all the Principles unite to carry it out. 'They say unto Him we also go with Thee'. Hence in the initiation of this Second Grade it is Frater Shemesh who craves admission in the name of the rest. Observe now further what they do. 'They went forth and entered into a Ship immediately'. This ship as ye have been taught is symbolic cf the Golden Ark and means the same. In the same way did Noah enter into the Ark, in the same way was the infant Moses laid in the Ark, and both emerged to higher and nobler life. Thus too does the Life principle enter into the Womb and emerge to complete human life, and in the same great symbollies hidden all the mystery of regeneration. This Universe is but the first step. Note that Love in the 218 THE EAGLE material body must take the iniative, then all uniting must enter into the Golden Ark which is the mystery of the Covenant of God with Man. And thus the seed is shown, the process of Generation of a New Life commenced, but not as yet is the fruition. Forty days was Noah in the Ark amid the waste of waters. Moses passed a long period of seclusion and study before his mission was announced. The child in the Womb is matured into human form and life through a period of darkness and of silence. The seed lies dark and silent in the earth before its time of germination comes. It was night when the Seven entered into the Ship 'and that night they caught nothing'. Notice now especially the manner in which this first manifestation of the Master is made and the time. It was 'when the morning was come' in the light of the Dawn, and when our Lord of the Sun was risen on the Earththe Seven were still in the ship-that is the new life had not yet attained to separate incarnate existence-the new body was not yet born. And the Master 'stood on the shore'-He was perfectly incarnate-He had descended, into matter. The body of the New Association in which hereafter He was to be manifested was yet in embryo-still in the Ship or in the womb-surrounded by the Waters-unborn. And they knew him not-yet He spoke to them. Learn from this that before ye can know the Master He will speak to you as He speaks constantly to everyone. Sometimes by the Beth Kol, sometimes by the thought-flash, sometimes through the voice of a material human being. Watch therefore and be ready to listen for His voice though HimseH ye may not know. 'So he said to them "Children have ye any meat?'" They were seeking material food-in parable also they were the perfect man-the seven principles in harmony seeking the Ichtus, the Christ-and they had not found what they sought. The Voice of the Master now gives them directions how to seek. 'Cast the net on the right side of the ship'. Many are the meanings involved in this direction which will gradually be unfolded to you. Meantime note that the Ichthus, the Christ 219 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM giveth no benefit to mortal men till enclosed, limited or brought within their sphere by their own actions and that the nature of this action must be dictated by the Master, those who profess to serve the Master by doing so in their own way cannot take the Ichthus to themselves. They toil all night and take nothing. Observe too that the casters of the net would stand with their faces to the prow which was pointed to shore and facing the Master who stood on the shore-the right side of the ship would therefore be their right and the action of obedience in casting would be the second sign of this grade, which therefore also signified 'obedience'. Thus far then, Brethren, ye see that before ye can recognise the Master three things are needed. First, harmony of all the principles, whence ariseth the prompting of love to desire the Ichthus, the Christ, the Spiritual food. Second, patience, whereby after Love has sown the seed, and the Seven Principles have retired into the darkness of night and the ark during the period of incubation, the seed is matured. Third, obedience, whereby although ye may not yourselves recognise the Master yet ye believe and cheerfully perform the behest of the Voice ye hear. Strive then to follow out this process accurately in yourselves, if ye would see and speak with the Master face to face. Note then, that he who recognises the Master is the Disciple whom the Master loved. That is according to common speech, in each individual man is his higher self. And to no other doth He declare it-except to Simon Peter. Not to the intellect, not to the emotions, but to the material corporal body on this Earth plane, to the pure Spiritual Love which is its correspondence on the higher plane. That disciple said 'It is the Lord'. So to the initiate man, when the process of his regeneration is about to take place, the Higher Self will suddenly reveal to the lower material body that the voice from the shore, the material voice which has given good and wise counsel whose source was not perceived before, is the Voice of the Master. Now observe the action of the body when this great intuitive kItowledge is given, 'When Simon Peter heard that it was the 220 THE EAGLE Lord he girt his fishers coat unto him'. Therefore is it in this second Grade of the Companionship that ye, who have as a group recognised the Master by confessing the Faith of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, do gird to you symbolically the Fishers Coat, thereby asserting that ye will follow St. Peter in asserting boldly before men without equivocation or reservation the faith of Christ. He also cast himself into the sea-the waters of putrefaction -the lustral water of Regeneration-the holy water of Baptism, showing that the shtula sharira, the material flesh and blood, first emergeth from the ark which is the Womb of the new birth. Despise not then, Brethren, the body, for it shall see the Lord, when it is purified and all the principles shall worship Him, but the material body first. The other disciples however came in a little ship. Whence ye are to learn that during this materialHfe the supersensual principles of man, all, that is, which lie beyond the body or house of flesh are not yet born into outward objective life, but can lie, so to speak, in the womb. Yet as the child in the womb can be influenced, modified and developed so is it possible to work, change, transmute and purify in the mental, moral and spiritual nature. For understand that Peter stood with the Lord on the shore, and the others were still coming towards land in their boat, in obedience to the Master's Voice. Hence ye may learn how to purify the inner man, the imagination, the thought, the desire, by appropriate ceremonies. And all the ceremonies of this grade are based on the true understanding of this great ceremony, when the Master Himself, the first Dictys, initiated the first supreme group. Now whereas the Group had been in the Boat, now did the group come to land, or in other words, all the principles were able to function on the material plane and the incarnation became completely perfect. So then when by Harmony, Patience and Obedience, ye recognise the Master, the Voice of the Higher Self by Divine Intuition reveals the Mystery to the material body, and the material body thereupon emerging in the new Birth purifies 221 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM itself in the Lustral water of Creation. Then by the following of the other principles into incarnation may the Christ within be made manifest and the true Adeptus brought forth. There are mysteries in connection with the distance of the ship from land (200 cubits) and the number of fishes (153) in the net which shall be unfolded in the further ceremonies and teachings of this grade, as also will the nature of the communications made after the disciples were on the shore, signifying the teaching given by the Master to him who has purified his heart sufficiently to receive them. These things however belong to further and higher teachings. Having learnt, then, how the Master shows himself to each man and how each may expect to receive communications, it remaineth to show you the practical working thereof. And know that as there are hierarchies of angels charged with the office of ministering to humanity, and below these again many elemental spirits of mixed nature, partly good and partly evil, all of which may be controlled and put into subjection by man. So hereafter ye shall be taught their names and nature and how they may be summoned and made to appear so that ye shall be able to call those most fit for the work on which you are all engaged and compel their assistance. At present however ye must learn to use a simple and elementary formula, that ye may become accustomed to the commanding of the ministering Spirits and may learn their efficiency. Let us suppose that the disciple hath discovered in his material body some thing which is unharmonious-some breach of the law, some imperfection he desires to cure. Thus shall he proceed. First let him carefully seek in the realm of thought or imagination for the seed of the evil. Perchance it may be over indulgence in meat or drink, or it may be uncontrollable violence or irritability of temper. Impurity of thought or deed, or carelessness, idleness or self-indulgence. Whatever it may be, let him raise his thoughts out of himself. Look down on himself as a stranger, and see himself persecuted by an evil spirit. Let him imagine the personality of this spirit, clothing it with all its filthy hatefulness in God's sight-and extenuating nothing. Let him contemplate the image so raised and reflect that he, the Divine 222 THE EAGLE Man, made in the image of God, does in his thought world, whereof he is Sultan and Supreme, caress and hug to his bosom a filthy swine, by the influence of his own weakness and permits it to trouble and possess him. He must give some time to the realisation of an outward form for the trouble he desires to purge from his body, for it is the vagueness and intangibility which gives these foul spirits their power over men. Like the cuttle fish they surround themselves with a dark cloud of their own secretion. But the Adept must force them to at least visibility to the clairvoyant, that they may be dealt with and repelled. Now must the material body like Simon Peter seek the Master of Masters, casting himself into the sea, and thus must he do it. First, choose a time when not assailed by temptation, when calm and resolute (otherwise the ceremony will bind up the evil thing in thine own aura where it will torment thee). Second, retire to a place where thou canst be absolutely secure from interruption. If thou hast an occult room or oratory it is better, but any secluded place will serve. It imitates the isolation of the disciples entering the ship or Ark. Third, cast from thy mind all thought of worldly anxiety or passion, all irritability, all love and hate or annoyance, and endeavour to harmonise all thy principles. Fourth, realise that if the night seem long and the answer be delayed, thou wilt exercise patience till the dawn. Fifth, resolve an absolute obedience to the Divine Will in all things. Note: though this takes long to describe it is the work of a few moments only to properly pose the mind. If from a disturbed mental state the harmonious pose and calmness be hard to get, it is better to put off the operation for the time is inappropriate. Sixth, stand in the centre of the room facing East, make the sign of the Cross from brow to breast and from left shoulder to right, with the right hand saying 'In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit', clasp thy hands and say Amen. Seventh, trace with the right hand in the Air before thee a Cross keeping the hand extended, call on the name of the Lord 223 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM Jesus. Pronouncing the Most Holy Name as it were whispered in the breath, and lingering on the syllables, bowing the head as you do so. . Eighth, keeping the hand extended turn to the South and do likewise. Ninth, the same to the West. Tenth, the same to the North. Eleventh, bring the hand round again to the East so as to complete the circle. Twelfth, standing in the midst of the circle so formed, picture to thyself that a great ring of Shining Ones is formed around thee, and so facing the East, clasp the hands, raise the eyes to a point slightly above the head and say 'Lord Jesus, now verily on this earth, who hast conquered all forces of matter, add thy force to mine that this evil thing may be expelled, and let the Guardian ring of Holy Angels protect me now and evermore'. Thirteenth, close the eyes and breathe as deeply as possible three or four times in the fourfold rhythm, then, holding the breath, pronounce mentally the name of the Lord Jesus three times and raise mentally as clearly as thou canst the picture of the Guardian Circle of the Shining Ones under the Presidency of the Master of Masters, and of the hideous personification of that which thou desirest to expel shut without the circle and still striving to enter. Fourteenth, close with the sign of the Cross as in the beginning. Fifteenth, in turning away from the East be careful to turn to the right hand by the South, the path of the Sun. Note-it is well thou shouldst know the operation of this ceremony though its full meaning can only be told later. In fact thou dost put forth and project from thyself a certain ray of power of which the nature is to attract from the Astral Light' a similar force and the concurrence of the two formeth a vortex attracting and compelling the Guardian Spirits of a high and pure nature. 3 'Astral' is used here in Eliphas Levi's sense of all planes above the physical, not the Theosophical sense. (Editorial Note.) 224 THE EAGLE But seeing thou knowest not yet their nature and disposition and mightest ignorantly call on those prejudicial to thy work in hand, or actually evil in operation, so must thou as yet entrust this whole matter to the Master of Masters. If the spirit thou desirest to cast out assail thee at any special place or time, there and then shalt thou face the East and tracing the Cross in the Air shall pronounce the Master's Name and recall the protective circle. Know that the initial force is taken from thyself and marvel not though after the ceremony thou feel tired-thou has formed an Astral fence. Lie down then and rest if need be in calm reliance on Divine Protection. Expect not that immediate and perfect success will crown thy efforts. The Astral forces of evil will beat against thy fence and may break it down, for they are strong and thou art weak as yet. But learn perseverance and, so often as the evil thing finds admittance, as soon as may be repeat-recover the proper pose of mind and repeat the ceremony. Striving to put forth more force and to repair the broken fence. At each attempt thy powers will increase and the powers of evil be depleted·. But give heed that thou work not the ceremony for any but thyself at present, for thou art not yet strong enough and mightest do mischief to thyself and to that other also. There be further ceremonies of great importance and power belonging to this grade. Such are the consecration of the Golden Ark, and the Mystic devotion of the Quipus. Also the investing of the newly initiated brethren with the insignia pertaining thereto. 225 Eagle M.S. and the Purpose and Goal of Development The Ceremony given at the end of the Eagle M.S. is merely a carefully designed and elaborate formula for the same end as every Christian's daily acts of prayer and penance. The difference in degree if the former be performed with earnestness and Faith, is very great-the difference in character and intention, if the latter be genuine and not mere formal repetition-is nil. Our experience is that when a Companion of Our Order having attained the Second Grade has once performed the Ceremony in the Eagle M.S. with power and effect-his daily prayers-his confessions-his penances-thereafter all bear the glow of reflection from that Ceremony and are immeasurably increased in faith and earnestness-in other words he becomes a more real and devout Christian. To establish closer and more personal relations with the Lord Jesus, the Master of Masters, is, and ever must be, the ultimate object of all the teachings of Our Order. Many are admitted to the First Grade who know Him not-and follow Him not. If they diligently keep our rules and follow our teachings their prejudices must break down-their ignorance is dissolved-insensibly they are led to the Master's feet. They who know Him by the teachings of their pastors and masters-and their parents-who have never doubted-but never realised Him, are brought to know Him. Every bit of teaching we give is derived from Him-the powers we teach our disciples to use are bestowed by Him according to His promise. Only the doubting, the hesitating, the timid, fail to realise how completely Our Order emanates from Him and leads to Him. Closer and personal relation with Him is indeed our object and there is no other. Let all disciples cast off doubt-tread boldly in the way we have trodden and we will lead them to Him even as Philip led Nathaniel. 227 Teachings OB the Church Apostolic Succession There is most undoubtedly an Apostolic Succession by the laying on of hands in all Three Branches of the Holy Catholic Church-viz. the Roman, the Greek and the Anglican. The Exoteric doctrine and the historic evidence with regard to the Anglican Church is well set forth in a work by Arthur Haddan on the Apostolic Succession. The Esoteric, and for the Adept really conclusive, evidence is furnished by sensitives and clairvoyants and by those who have the power to read and to see on the astral plane. Let any such who are under no delusion of prejudice compare the Holy Sacrament as consecrated in any of the three true Branches of the Master's Church with the parody of that Divine Rite as performed in Presbyterian or Protestant Meeting-Houses. Yet in the latter the intention is usually extremely reverent; the faith often fervent-the partakers sometimes of higher ethical character and greater devotion than in the true Church. Were it possible for men by their own will and effort to invoke the Holy Spirit doubtless these would do it. And doubtless also many priests whose lives are evil, and who have no faith, could never of themselves invoke that Holy Spirit. Whence, then, can come that Power? Only from the Master Himself-according to His promise-and by His own appointed means. The Assumption The 14th of August is the eve of the Feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady. Natural therefore is it that Her influence at that season emanating like the scent of the Mystical Rose should penetrate through the serried ranks of the Companions or Our Holy Order vowed to the Quest of the Ruby at the Heart of the Rose-and should come to thee who hast so lately been added to the ranks of those bound on that Holy Quest. The Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Lady thou hast 228 TEACHINGS ON THE CHURCH done well to ask about. The whole teachings as originally given to Our Order are contained in a very ancient M.S.S. known among us as the Book of the Negative Existence. More than 600 years ago this Book was for very sufficient reasons withdrawn from the knowledge of the lower Grades of the Order, and is now in its entirety only to be studied by Companions who have attained to a great advance. Yet as with others of our great teachings is it permissible that certain elementary portions may be given out in such form as may be readily comprehended when any student hath sufficiently advanced to ask concerning them. Accordingly I ShMSh have now received from the Custodian of our Ancient Wisdom certain excerpts from this book-which in its entirety I have never seen-and have been commanded to adapt these to the mode of thought and the comprehension of the modern student. It is in Our Order an opinion-yea and much more than an opinion, for it is held by our most advanced Brethren as an absolute certainty and confirmed by those workers who are beyond the Veil-that Our Blessed Lady was verily and indeed born without the taint of original sin and was so also conceived in the Womb of her Mother. Yet we seek not to impose this great truth upon any-the Master is very tender to the ignorance, the prejudice, and the foolishness of His children and we would fain follow Him in His tenderness. As regards the Assumption of Our Blessed Ladyremember that she typifies and sets forth for us the Root of the Negative Powers. The force of the Negative and receptive, which is indeed the very germ of Faith, and has been known in all ages of the world, and is the necessity thereof before any manifestation of the Master could be-even in the soul of a man. Thus did the great Initiate of the elder world write 'Be still then and know that I am God'. In modern language the idea might be more accurately rendered 'Let thy whole being become Negative and thou wilt know Me'. Hence before the Word could become flesh it was necessary that there should be a perfect manifestation or incarnation of the Negative and that this Negativity should be absolute-and 229 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM hence the Immaculate Conception-the Virgin Birth of the Master. This, and the perpetual virginity of Our Blessed Lady are not theories or myths superstitions or corruptions, but the absolutely essential concomitants of His Divinity. But in passing out of Manifestation into the Spiritual Plane, the sequence is otherwise-for here the Positive-the Master-first enters-and when He hath prepared a plane there entereth also the Negative which shall be the entrance or first receptacle for them that follow Him. For indeed entering to His Own Kingdom He needeth no Negative receptacle as He did when He descended to earth. But we who follow Him entering by His Grace a Kingdom He has won for us do need such Negativity. Hence when He called Our Blessed Lady to Himself it was first as it were, the more positive side of Her Negativity-namely Her pure and sinless soul, that ascended to the Throne of Grace, and thereafter her ever-Virgin Body, which saw not corruption, was taken up in order that in the presence of the All Supreme there might be the positive Mediator, the Master-and the Negative recipient the welcomer -who guideth souls to Him. Hence much to blame are they who say that in the Cultus of Our Blessed Lady we detract from the honour due to the Master. For. She was necessary to His Birth on earth but detracted not from His Glory. Great is the Mystery of these things. Some Notes on the Church and Church Teachings The Master left no room fOl opinion. When He founded His Church He impressed thereon a definite form-His immediate followers from His instructions filled up the details, and the Rulers of the Church in all ages so far as they have been faithful have been guided by Him-and thus His Church hath grown and is alive today. 'Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid.' Thus every society-which hath rebelled against the Church and the Rulers thereof is cut off, even if built on the foundation of the Church it is but wood-hay-stubble-that is built thereon-and it is condemned, but observe only if necessary-the Society-the men and women composing the same are oftimes young souls learning elementary lessons-thou mayest 230 TEACHINGS ON THE CHURCH freely do justice to all noble qualities each individual may have, but no more consort with them in their worship than thou wouldst go into an infant school to learn to read with children of eight years old. The Three Great Branches of the Catholic Church contain among them all the truths taught by the Master. Their errors are in their schisms-in their separation and their opinion of each other-from any of them thou canst learn much. A Presbyterian as such is in great error-yet in spite thereof he may have much that is pure and holy to teach yet always with danger-for because he is a Presbyterian he is below thyself and the causes that make him or keep him so are points of error and thou mayest perchance be unable to sift the false from the true. Why read such where lifetime would not suffice to read the writings of the Saints? The Master of Masters hath so planned that all that is absolutely needed of His teachings are recorded literally by certain of His followers in what are known as the Four Gospels-but seeing that to human comprehension these can neither be grappled with nor understood-He has further revealed to certain special teachers appointed to guide His flock certain glosses and interpretations of His teachings whereby they may be brought down to the physical brains and translated into rules of physical conduct for certain sections of Mankind. But observe that these of their very nature are limited-only the Master's own words being universal. Therefore is closeness of touch with Him the solution of all difficulty. Thus to take one instance-the great Initiate whom we term St. Paul was specially inspired and specially trained to speak forth the Master's teaching and expound it to his own time and the countries and races committed to him. To him was given to lay down rules for the new-born and growing Church which are still valid, and therefore has that Church by Divine guidance incorporated the Epistles of St. Paul into the infallible and divinely inspired Canon of the Scripture. Yet they who set the words of St. Paul which are infallibly true considered in their connection and circumstances on a par with the words of the Master, which are infallible without limitation for all time and 231 CHRISTIAN OCCULTISM for every place, do greatly err. Consider now the Master's own words 'Other sheep I have which are not of this fold'-them also I must bring. 'Feed my sheep' 'We forbade him because he followeth not with us-forbid him not'. 'Feed my sheep'. Brother in these words of His the Master speaks to these (this message was sent to a priest, a member of a Temple). Now look back and see how thou thyself hast drawn night unto Him. It was by one of the most perfect expressions of His Divine Spirit. The formularies of the Catholic Church. This was the step that lay before thee and thou didst mount thereon and find the Lord. Highly privileged wert thou for there is no other road whereby so rapidly or so nearly approach to Him may be won. This step is a White Stone-but if thou shouldst make a fetich thereof as the Moslems do of the Caaba and say there is no other way -thou wouldst greatly err. For herein do men often confound what is useful discipline and of immense value to those who are at the stage to profit thereby with the absolute essential of the Master's teaching and the New Revelation. These limitations are easy-therefore dear to the human hearts of human teachers-very easy it is to say 'My way is the only way-walk ye in it'. Very hard it is to see the way that lies before another and to aid him to walk in the path that the Master has traced before him-much easier to force him if it may be-to walk in thy path. Much easier-but not the Master's method. 'Forbid him not, because he walketh not with you'. Now what said the Master is the highest duty? 'Be not afraid, only believe', over and over again reiterated, and what is belief or faith? 'The evidence of things not seen.' They, then, who put all their trust in what they can see and touch and handle and examine-the agnostics-the rationalists and the like, these are they who offend the Master, and any touch of faith that can be given to them is a service to Him. But they who strive to believe -who are straining their eyes into the darkness to obtain the evidence of things not seen-all these, though they see falsely and imperfectly, yet are they on the road to the knowledge of the Master. Hence have all the mystic and supernatural religions 232 TEACHINGS ON THE CHURCH the germs of truth more or less developed and all are energising upward. All materialising, denying, doubting, religions (whereof are most of those which termed themselves 'Reformed') tending away from the Master. Thou shouldst call nothing common or unclean. That man or woman who seeks a good or fancied good be it what it mayeven if it be merely sensual lust (which to him or her appears the best thing) is, all unknown to him or herself, seeking Him, the Master-the soul is young, the ideal is low and primitive, nevertheless it is an ideal-by degrees will higher ideals be substituted for low ones-'Feed my lambs' the Master said, not drive them into your own favourite pastures. Nothing is common or unclean-the sacrifice He asks of thee is the sacrifice of thy prejudices, thy limitations, in order that thou mayest feed His Sheep, above all His Lambs. Well canst thou guide members of the Catholic Church in Catholic ways. This is easy and demands no sacrifice. Thou art asked to see His hand everywhere--to recognise that faiths thou callest heathen may have a knowledge of Him. That there are grains of Truth everywhere-that thou art called to be a shepherd. 233 PART NINE Hermetic Wisdom and Mystical Prayer Being Further Cromlech Temple Papers Three Grades of Prayer Know, Oh Companions, that there be Three Grades of Prayer, appropriate to the Neophyte, the Initiate, and the Adept. The nature of these I will unfold as far as may be. Seek in your own hearts for that which ye can pray with all your mind and soul and strength, and strive not to use a grade higher than that which ye can put forth your whole strength in, thinking thereby to please God the Vast and Mighty One-for ye shall not so please Him. But rather try to develop yourselves so that ye may attain to a higher Grade, and pray naturally the prayer thereof. Herein I take no account of the mass of mankind who have not yet learned to pray at all with concentrated force and intensity on every plane of being at once. The neophyte prays for what he desireth-either for himself or others-and he prays with confidence, because he is a member of the Great Master, an integral part of that Divine Body wherein dwelleth the Divine Spirit-and he receiveth that which he prays for. The Initiate trusteth that the Lord of All knoweth his necessities before he asketh, and his chief prayer is 'Lord make me pure-make me Holy as Thou art, and bring me to Thy Eternal Glory'. Yet the more advanced Initiate prayeth also the Neophyte's prayer therewith, for he knoweth the power thereof and he prayeth for Wisdom to use aright the power of prayer. Yet notice that these prayers are self regarding-they are prayers of separateness-even at the highest, when for others. The Neophyte, moreover, cannot pray with his whole soul to be made pure and holy, for as yet he only partially desires it. He putteth force upon himself to pray this prayer, yet in his inmost soul he knoweth that it is his own prayer in the same sense that a prayer for the health or life of one near and dear to him is. The chief prayer of the Adept is 'Lord let me be an instrument in thine hands for good or for evil as it pleaseth Thee, for all that Thou desirest is good,-use me 0 Lord to fulfil Thy purposes, and teach me as part of Thyself, to yield myself at once to Thy Will.' For ye know that the Master needeth not only all whom the 237 HERMETIC WISDOM AND MYSTICAL PRAYER world calls good and holy-but those whom the world calls evil are a part of His body and move with His Will-the outer and uninitiated unconsciously-the Adept consciously and willingly. The Pharisees and Scribes despised Mary Magdalene-the woman who was a sinner, yet was she at that very time developing towards the highest Adeptship to which she afterwards attained, and why? 'Because she loved much.' She yielded herself willingly through her love to be a vessel-whether to honour or dishonour, in Her Master's hands. Few can attain to this height but one lesson ye can learn of infinite importance in this Fire Tatwa. Any person so ye see, may for aught you know be on the path of Adeptship, and in love yielding himself to the Master's Will, though seeming evil to you-as Mary Magdalene seemed to the Pharisees-therefore condemn not and ye shall not be condemned. 238 Various Teaching on Church for Second Grade only Some notes on the Sun Order and the Church. The first foundation of our Order was long pre-Christian-but seeing that our highest Adepts always maintained (as did the Hebrew seers and Prophets-many of whom were also members of Our Order) an intercourse with the spirit world. Our Order recognised only those faiths which had acted on a direct Divine Revelation. Such a revelation was, as all Christians admit, given to the Hebrews. It was also given to some before the Hebrews, as Enoch and Noah. Further it was given to the Egyptians, since Moses was learned in all their wisdom-which would not have been the case had their Revelation been false. And the same may be said of other faiths, whose revelation, though in them it degenerated and became corrupt, yet at first was pure. In all these faiths there were members of our Order, and it was known to us and is recorded in our ancient Archives that in all of them was the prophecy of the coming of the Incarnate Word in Human Flesh. To this, therefore, we ever looked forward, and when the Master came, Our Order all over the world knew and recognised Him, that is our Higher Adepts did so, and the knowledge was communicated to every Temple throughout the World-there then being some thousands. The chief of the whole Order-whose title is never revealed to the lower grades-did homage and laid down his office at the feet of the Master-who became the actual Living Head. Thus every word of the Master became and remained for ever an infallible and unalterable part of our teachings. When a society was formed to promulgate those teachings many of the most eminent and advanced of our Order assisted therein. By reason of our Organisation-its secrecy, its detachment from all material considerations and by the preservation of our ancient M.S.S. we believe that we have been able to preserve all the pure doctrines of the Catholic Church and to know 239 HERMETIC WISDOM AND MYSTICAL PRAYER and reject those which have been introduced by corruption, or for material or political ends, most of which have already been discarded by the true Catholic Church in its Three Great Branches. Our Order then-meaning thereby the governing and teaching body, is absolutely therein, as all its members are actually members of the Holy Catholic Church. Yet we do not refuse to teach Neophytes of any other faith. Only they cannot advance to higher grades u.nless they be Christians and members of one of the Branches of the Catholic Chu.rch. When the Master came, the question was definitely raised by what title should He be referred to in our Rituals-and should the existing system of Initiation be changed. After careful consideration it was resolved to make no change. One strong reason being the desire to emphasise the fact that His coming was in fact revealed to all the great revealed Religions on Earth-as was shown in the Homage of the Three Holy Kings-Magi--or Wise Men. To neglect, as some have neglected, all the history of the prophecies of His coming and to commence Christian doctrine with the Birth of Christ is to disregard the Master's own teaching and the place of that Supreme event in the World's history. To confine these prophecies, as some others have done, to the seers of the Hebrew Faith is to disregard the evidence of history and the Master's own teachings and both these errors give great occasion to those who impugn the justice of the Father in leaving the greater part of mankind in intentional darkness and ignorance. It is certain that some of the immediate followers of the Master were parties to this decision. Indeed some think that the Master Himself was consulted-but of this there is no evidence. Yet are we fully persuaded that the course resolved on was the only one consistent with His teachings-and with the doctrines of His Incarnation; it was further said that when in time to come Neophytes should ask 'What mean ye by these ceremonies?' the explanation given would bring them to a clearer understanding of the Father's dealings with the world and the purpose of the coming of the Master. 240 VARIOUS TEACHING FOR SECOND GRADE ONLY Dost thou not know that there are many titles belonging to the pre-Christian systems in constant use in the Liturgies of the Church as applied to Christ-and still more to Our Blessed Lady, who is frequently invoked with the very titles of the Greek Aphrodite? The images and symbols used are also drawn, almost always, from some pre-Christian system-and in every case the occult reason is to connect the coming of the Master with the preparations made for His coming in all Nations of the World. He who came 'not to destroy but to fulfil'. How canst thou greet the Master as the Sun of Righteousness and Our Lady as the Star of the Sea-if thou thinkest it is a transgression of Scripture? Know that the whole of our teachings as applied to that Branch of Our Order whereto thou belongest is founded first, on the very words and acts of Christthe Master-second, on the Words of His Apostles-third, on the earliest Fathers of the Church-fourth, on the Decrees of General Councils as setting forth the voice of the Living Church -fifth, on the Decrees of certain other Councils setting forth the voice of the Church as applied to certain of Her Branchessixth, on Catholic Tradition-and in the whole of our teachings there is nothing contrary thereto. Now in the messages and replies to queries these principles are applied to particular cases-and herein is much instruction -for wheresoever thou, or any Companion of Our Order, seest or fanciest any divergence from the true teaching of the Master and His Church-then thou mayest be sure thou hast misunderstood either our teaching or the authorities whereon thou restest-and thy duty as a Companion of the Order is at once to set forth such fancied divergence-and thereby wouldst thou receive full explanation. And know, that for this purpose, are continually labouring a group of learned theologians, all Companions of the Order of the second and higher Grades-many of whom are priests devoted to the service of the Master and His Church-who gave their labours ungrudgingly with no thought of fee or reward to bring wandering souls and those in difficulty to a more perfect knowledge of Him. And now when we say that in no iota do any teachings of ours differ from the teaching of Christ and His Church, we say it 241 HERMETIC WISDOM AND MYSTICAL PRAYER with a full conviction of the seriousness of the statement. But let all who profess the Catholic Faith beware lest they r~ject the commandment of God that they may keep their own tradition. 242 On Divine Names Second Grade. General Circulation. Supreme over all that is, is the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity in Unity known partially through Divine Revelation by some of the sons of men; known completely by none-nor indeed knowable, wholly unknown to some. Known unto all men in part, at all events, is the Visible Universe of things. This being finite is knowable by finite man ... the only bounds of his knowledge being his own intellectual capacity. Besides the Supreme Eternal and Ineffable Three in One, and the Material Universe, there exist vast multitudes of beings invisible, imperceptible to the bodily senses, usually imperfectly known, and barely, if at all, comprehended, yet having a vast and most important effect on the Material Universe. Of these beings, from the human standpoint, some are good, some evil, some a mixture of both, some are higher and some lower, than mankind. We say 'from the standpoint of humanity' because all are created by the Supreme God, none can do aught save what is permitted by Him, therefore none can be in essence aught but good, yet, seeing that there are some of these beings whose effect upon humanity is to persuade men to act contrary to those laws which the Supreme God hath imposed on men, and thus bring about their own destruction, so unto men they are evil and must be shunned and resisted accordingly. More of this mystery will be shown later. Now these beings are partially and imperfectly recognised in every religious system in the world. Thus in modem Christianity, Archangels, Angels and Devils are universally acknowledged. The more advanced Christians recognise also glorified Saints and know some of the names of Angels and of Demons. In the Bible are also the beings alluded to as the Four Beasts, the Four and Twenty Elders, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities and Powers, and the Hebrew Qabalah frequently recognised by quotation in the New Testament, adds considerably to the list, recognising the Domi243 HERMETIC WISDOM AND MYSTICAL PRAYER nant Spirits of the Elements and the sub-human Kingdoms of the Qliphoth. In the Brahministic and Buddhistic systems these · beingsor rather such of them as are superhuman, are termed Devas, and their kingdom Devachan-where the souls of the first wait and rest-this is the same state as the waiting Church of the Christians, though, as it were, a different section of the plane. Of this more hereafter. When men lose the knowledge of and belief in the Supreme God-they worship these beings-and, truly, it is no sin in those who worship the highest that they know. But to those who know the Infinite Supreme, to worship any of His creatures is a deadly sin-and for a Companion of the Sun Order to worship any such beings may entail expulsion from the Order and further penalties. The Ancient Greeks had lost the knowledge of the Supreme Gods and worshipped mainly the Dominant Spirits of the Elements, of whose nature powers and attributes they knew much. They also worshipped the planetary Spirits. The Phoenicians had in their later period lost, not only the knowledge of the Supreme God, but also that of the Angels or Devas; they had some imperfect knowledge of the Spirits of the Elements and Nature Spirits, but the real objects of their worship were the subhuman Qlippoth, and their cult was a species of Devil worship, this prevailed also among the Philistines of the coasts of Canaan. The purest of all the nations of antiquity after the sacred tribe of the Jews were the Persians and the Ancient Egyptians and, more recently, the Incas of Peru and the (so-called) Druids of the North. All of these knew and worshipped the Supreme God. They also knew, and revered, and studied the nature and attributes of those beings whom He has created and through whom He works. To study the nature and attributes of these beings is as lawful and as meritorious as to study any other of the works of God. Even as Astronomy, or Botany, or Chemistry are termed sciences, so is this truly termed the sacred science--for if we truly know the nature of Devas, or Angelic hosts, we 244 ON DIVINE NAMES know the link between man and God. Yet the study is fraught with grave dangers, for among these beings there are many who crave worship-who would set themselves up to be Gods and would deceive men. Against such, the Christian who truly believes in the Master of Masters who is Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word, the Co-Eternal Co-Equal Son of the AllFather-has a perfect protection. Therefore this teaching is withheld till considerable progress be made-see 0 Companion that thou reveal nothing of thisfor the temptation to the Worship of Created Things is strongly subtle to some minds. You may compare this branch of the sacred science to the study of bacteriology. Not to the unexperienced medical student is this study with its enormous possibilities, its vast results, its danger in inexperienced hands committed-but to him who has learned care, who knows all the dangers and how they may be avoided, who works calmly, methodically, taking no needless risk but fearing no danger. The powers he wields and investigates may bless or ban mankind, for the bacteria, like the spiritual beings we now write of, are necessary to our existence-yet may destroy millions of men in an hour. In Persia two opposing forces are recognised as incessantly contending-Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. In later times the knowledge of the Supreme God became dim in ancient Iran and the contending forces alone were recognised. The heretical Gnostics, especially those of Samaria, imported this idea into Europe-and it infected the Christian Church through the Manichaeans-thence reappearing at intervals among the Albigenses. Lollards, Hussites and Calvinists. Yet in origin the idea was the same as that expressed by a Master Initiate of old; 'There was War in Heaven Michael, and his Angels fighting the Devil and his angels'. Yet Ahura Mazda is not precisely Saint Michael, but rather the synthesis of the Four Archangels. The name is retained- in our rituals because there is no other name that precisely represents what is meant. But observe, 0 Companion of the Sun Order, that Ahura ~.1azda is a created being even as thou art, and is thy fellow servant. Worship then God only. Yet shalt thou ask the blessing and illumination 245 HERMETIC WISDOM AND MYSTICAL PRAYER of Ahura Mazda even as thou mightest of any wise and Holy man from this Earth. Furthermore, note that Mithra representeth all the beneficial powers of Fire. He is the Chief and Ruler of the Spirits of Fire, who as regards humanity are good-Many are his names-yet that of Mithra best expresses his attributes. He it is, who, guided by the Holy Spirit, stirs the zeal and energy of the souls of men. Hence, when the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost He came in the special symbol of Mithra-the Tongues of FlameMithra too, it is, who stirs the germinant heat of the Earth, bringing forth life and vegeta tion in the spring. Yet he too is a created being-lower indeed than Ahura Mazda. Worship then God only. Yet the benediction of Mithra thou shalt ask for-for unto thee he is the means whereby thou shalt receive the Holy Spirit. Thus, 0 Companion, shalt thou read our Rituals. Change not the names there set down for they have a meaning thou canst not yet know. The salutation of Iran with which the Ritual of Initiation commences, i.e. The Inspiration of the Supreme! The Illumination of Mazda! The Benediction of Mithra! is no essential part of the ceremony, but rather is a hymn or anthem in the Christian Ritual. Yet it containeth deep knowledge to be unfolded later. Therefore should it by no means be omitted. If thou desirest, 0 Companion, ask any questions upon this teaching. Let no part be dark unto thet Those who guide the Order deem it a privilege, and a service meet for the Lord of Hosts, to answer all questions relating to the teaching of the Order. Woe only to those who will not ask but yet condemn that which they understand not. 246 Four States of Ordinary Prayer Permission only. Feb. 1924 Writers on Raja YDga; which is the Eastern equivalent of the At-One-ment, Dr perfect Union with the Divine, after giving elabDrate instructiDns as to' means and exercises, cDnclude by saying that the alternative methDd Df devDtiDn fDr thDse who. can practice it, is far simpler and easier. This is the methDd Df prayer as taught by the great mystic writers Df the West, and advDcated in Dur Order. Prayer dDes nDt attain to. this uniDnbut it is essential fDr bringing the sDul into. the Mystic State wherein this UniDn may take place. We must, therefDre, in the first place, carefully distinguish between Drdinary prayer, as it is called, and the Mystic State. NDW, if we take the wDrld in which we live as a magnified image Df the human persDnality, we shall find SDme very useful analDgies. The sDlid glDbe may be figured as man's cDrpDreal bDdy, and the AtmDsphere as the Aura. The living creatures Df the earth, then cDrrespDnd to. man's cDnsciDUS life. ThDse that are, so. to. say, bDund to. the earth, the animals, answer to. his material cDnsciDusness. The birds which live in the air are his immaterial thDughts, which pass to. and fro. in his Aura, perching Dn the EarththerefDre affecting his material bDdy, but nDt limited Dr bDund thereto.. His prayers are therefDre apprDpriately represented by birds. NDW birds rise in the air by the effDrts Df their Dwn wings-but they cannDt rise beYDnd the air, Dr even to. its extreme limits. This then is the analDgue Df what is termed 'Ordinary Prayer'. It is made by man's Dwn effDrts. But here Dbserve that, thDugh a man's Dwn effDrt is needed, his effDrt is nDt the fDrce by which he rises-that is the fDrce Df Divine Grace which he is permitted to call into actiDn by his Dwn effDrts. Even as an engine driver does nDt supply the fDrce that drives the engine, neither can the engine move without his effDrts, but when he pulls the lever the fDrce Df the stearn is set in action. Now conceivewhen the bird, has risen as high at it can, a Divine hand takes 247 HERMETIC WISDOM AND MYSTICAL PRAYER it and lifts it to higher levels. Hence forth the bird can do nothing, it can but lie perfectly passive and trusting in the hand that carries it upward. This is the mystic state, wherein at length Union is attained-but such Union is the free gift of God, and due to no effort of the man, nor even in any sense earned by him. The consideration of this state we must defer for the present, and consider the ordinary prayer which fits the soul to receive the Supreme Grace. Resuming our analogy of the bird-we know that different birds have different powers of rising above the earth plane-from the heavy and clumsy birds who can only rise a short distance, and that for a very little time, to the eagle who soars almost out of sight and whose mighty wings seem tireless. These differences, by the great mystical writers, have been grouped into four called 'The four states of Ordinary Prayer'. This is the classification of St. Theresa of Jesus-(whom, as being a Member of Our Order of very high grade, though writing for outsiders and for the uninitiated, we shall mostly follow). These four states we shall name as follows: 1. Vocal prayer. 2. Meditation. 3. The prayer of affection. 4. The prayer of simple regard, or simplicity. These being the nearest English equivalent to the terms used by St. Theresa. The first two of these are well known and need very little comment. Vocal prayer may be either the repetition of a set form of words-as prescribed by the Master in the 'Lord's Prayer' and countless others-or maybe an extemporary voicing of our own needs. The former being adapted for the collective prayer of a number-the latter for private and solitary devotion. Vocal prayer has been called 'Spoken Meditation', and meditation has been called 'silent prayer'. Excellent models of both abound in books of devotion, and the Catholic Church of the Roman Obedience makes a special point of teaching meditation. From the Occult point of view the repetition of a definite formula aloud may act as a mantra and produce certain effects in the body favourable to prayer-also the practice of meditation, by obliging the brain to remain fixed on certain definite trains of thought, may avail to steady the Aura. But these 248 FOUR STATES OF ORDINARY PRAYER physical effects are not the primary intention. To be regarded definitely as states of prayer, the attention must be alive, the brain and the will must concur with the physical act, otherwise it becomes mechanical and automatic. The third and fourth states therefore should exist, even though unconsciously, in order that the first two may be effectual. We shall therefore proceed at once to examine these. Recurring for the moment to the image of the bird, we may say that the first two forms of ordinary prayer may be compared to a wild bird flying low in short flight, say from branch to branch in affective prayer-but where the will and the intention go not with the act, it is like the common barndoor fowl, having wings indeed, but unable to do more than flap helplessly on the ground. Assuming that the student has attained some success in the practice of meditation, he will understand that it involves reasoning. In these qualities St. Theresa was deficient. She says herself 'God never endowed me with the gift of making reflections with the understanding-or with that of using the imagination to any good purpose. My imagination is so sluggish that even if I would think of or picture to myself Our Lord's Humanity, I never could do it'. As, then, we pass from the meditation to the Prayer of Affection we leave reason and imagination behind. Now although we class numbers two and three as different states, it must not be thought that there is any fixed line between them. One melts into the other. Reason, memory, imagination gradually decrease-Love increases. Consider a man who has a woman comrade. His reason presents to him the causes for their friendship. Similarity of ideas, of pursuits, of sports-her intellect, her constancy, her sweet disposition-a thousand reasons. Memory calls up instances-imagination intensifies them. But if he falls in love with her, all these gradually fade into insignificance. He thinks of her continually, but it is always with the same object, with little or no variety. He is content to contemplate her mentally and seeks not the reason why. The reasons which swayed him before now only appear as justifications of 249 HERMETIC WISDOM AND MYSTICAL PRAYER himself, to himself, for an admitted state of mind, then grow fainter and fainter and vanish. It has been well said, that a man who can say he loves a woman does not begin to love herso with simple souls having only a few ideas-only to be nearer to God is happiness to them, and the prayer of affection is consequently easier to them than to the more developed and intellectuaL St. Theresa reproved certain great preachers who had got so into the habit of expanding and expounding a subject that they acted in the same way during prayer. She says they continue preaching, but to themselves. The true prayer of affection is that of Her of Magdala, of whom St. Francis de Sales says 'Behold her I beseech thee, Theotim us, she sighs not, he stirs not, she prays not ... and this Divine Love, jealous of the love sleep and repose of this wellbeloved, chides Martha for wanting to awaken her'. (Treatise on the Love of God.) Another example may be that of a mother watching over the cradle of her child. She thinks of that child lovingly for hours together, if interrupted she resumes the contemplationand this without arguments she never reasons why she loves that child-the thought would be absurd. We have said that intellectual natures find greater difficulty in reaching the prayer of affection than do simple ones. Loving natures are naturally attracted towards exercises wherein acts of love predominate over acts of understanding. Women, generally speaking, have more capacity for very simple forms of mental prayer than men. Men in celibate life, who have no experience of the human passion of love, find greater difficulty than others in reaching the third stage of ordinary prayer. Well said the Master 'If a man love not his mother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?' For all those who are in this state and have taken the vows of celibacy, the very difficulty constitutes the exercise whereby the necessary strengthening of their souls is to be accomplished -and by hypothesis, their souls are strong enough to face and overcome the difficulty. But for others there is no doubt that the knowledge of human love is the best preparation for the 250 FOUR STATES OF ORDINARY PRAYER knowledge of the Divine Love-as was said of her of Magdala ' ... for she loved much'. It is well therefore that they who would attain thus far should cultivate and intensify in themselves the power of loving. The third state is produced sometimes with consolation-but very often with suffering, and with what St. Theresa terms aridity, when the soul is unable to meditate, and the inaction is extremely painful. This aridity will be more fully explained, and the means of combating it described later on. But in the meantime the student should realise that it is a universal experience, and should be very careful not to be discouraged. Real prayer and meditation are for most people com paritively easy-but when we quit this degree it is no path of roses, as we may be inclined to anticipate-there are many crosses. Father de Caussade says truly 'There is nothing more sublime than contemplation as we find it in the books-there is nothing more beautiful or grander than the prayer of affection, or the prayer of simplicity-in theory, but in practice there is nothing more humiliating or more crucifying. Hence it is a worthy offering to the Lord of Light, a costly gift-like the Magdalen's vase-for which He will fully reward us'. We are apt to say 'If God approved of my praying thus, He would give me proof of His approval by consolations. I am simply wasting my time'. To which St. Ignatius replies-'Oh poor in faith and weak in love wilt thou then depart from God, because to try thy love He seems for a moment to hide Himself?' If the student then expects periods of aridity, he will not be disturbed thereby, he will know they are inevitable and will pass. Moreover, that the more completely he reaches the prayer of simplicity, the more he can render himself passive, the less will these painful interludes be,-and further-if he be assailed by doubts and difficulties, as all the Saints have been at times on reaching this state, he must recognise that this is a sure sign that he has not fully arrived at the State of the prayer of affection. For its essence is that it transcends reason. Reason is left behind, as I have already explained. But doubts spring from reason which must still be present. He must endeavour therefore to attain more completely to the state desired. 251 HERMETIC WISDOM AND MYSTICAL PRAYER I have mentioned the difficulties experienced by different types of persons in attaining this state. and the analogy pointed out by the Master Himself of human love. All the experience recorded points to this as being a most valuable, and in many cases essential, stepping stone, especially for those who, one account of the activity of their minds and the development of the reasoning faculties, find their progress impeded by doubts, difficulties, and times of painful aridity. St. Mary of Magdala has left in on record that the practice of the body in perfect self-forgetting human love for another person, by some sort of reciprocal action trains the soul to the power of experiencing a perfect love for the Master, who said 'In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me'. Meaning thereby that He accepts even an intensity of devotion shown to a fellow human being sent by Him, as though it were shown to Himself-as she showed it-in His Incarnate Human Body. Take the example of a woman meditating on the man she loves-to all the rest of the world he may be mean, contemptible, eminently undesirable, but what cares she? To her he is her hero--she no more questions or reasons why she loves him or weighs his good points, his virtues, than she does those of her child. Now if such a woman can experience this human love, and take it as an example, a model-she will reach the state of affective prayer (or the prayer of affection) quickly and readilyshe will be able at once to dispose of all doubts and difficulties; times of aridity will have little terror, little pain for her-all will be simple and easy-she will pass into the third state, and rest secure in the infinite love of the Saviour, conscious always of His Divine Presence-and from thence glide easily into the fourth state of the prayer of simplicity or simple contemplation. There be some who would affirm this state, by reason of its quiet and silence, is a state of inertia. As well say that the painter whose brush travels silently over his canvas is less actively employed than the blacksmith who deafens us with the clamour of his blows. In passing upward through the four states of prayer to medi252 FOUR STATES OF ORDINARY PRAYER tation we drop the external bodily action, that, namely, of repeating a certain formula of words-but we still retain reason, memory, imagination. In passing to the third stage we gradually part with these also, and in their place we develop the sentient or emotion of love. Passing to \ the fourth state-that of the prayer of simplicity-we drop also all active emotion, and remain in passive contemplation of God. But seeing that we ourselves do this-that it is we who place ourselves in the presence of God, it is not the mystic state as yet. This state gives great vitality to the will, but it is a vitality not at once perceived. Imagine a meadow under the direct rays of the sun. All the hidden forces of nature do their work slowly, and in silence. As one great Adept has said-'all those millions of molecules of sap circulate like a crowd of workmen engaged in building a city. So with the prayer of simplicity-the soul is like a field exposed to the rays of the Central Spiritual Sun.' We shall see the Adept, after reaching the mystic state, recurs to vocal prayer, but in a wholly new manner, for he now knows the meaning and occult force of 'The Word', and can formulate for himself how from the Transforming Union, or Spiritual Marriage, the Thought of God is conceived, and how through the Prayer of Quiet and through Contemplation, as in the darkness of the womb, it is matured, till at length the Word is made flesh in vocal prayer, and thus the process is reversed: God coming down to Earth and manifesting Himself. In conclusion of this first paper, I append some brief rules which may be of some help to the student. la. Produce a retired place free from interruption as far as possible. b. Calm and equilibrate the mind, banish all thoughts of worldly matters. Try to realise that 'Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.' c. Kneel down and say the Lord's prayer very reverently, trying to realise the full force of every repetition. It is well to couple this with the ideas of the devotion of the Quipus. d. Stand facing the East, and say the Ave Maria, striving to picture to yourself Our Blessed Lady before you, and a dim vision of the Saviour behind, whom you approach through Her. 253 HERMETIC WISDOM AND MYSTICAL PRAYER IIa. Now sit in a comfortable and symmetric attitude, and let the vision gradually glide into a meditation, say on the first of the Joyful Mysteries-the Annunciation. . b. Picture to yourself the scene-Our Lady engaged in prayer -the gradual sensation of an Angelic presence-the thrill of colours in the air-the formation of the Angelic appearancethe Words of the Salutation-Our Lady's reply 'Be it unto me according to thy word'. c. Consider the Faith, Humility and Obedience manifested by Her. d. Apply these to yourself. e. Resolve to imitate Her and to follow Her footsteps as far as humanly possible. IlIa. Try to hold this vision and accentuate the impression of the form of the Master, and the Magdalene at His feet. b. In thought centre yourself with Magdalene, Say mentally 'We love Him because He first loved us". Seem to hear Him say: ' ... For she loved much'. c. Let all faculties of reason etc. gradually sink away. This will follow naturally in most cases if the feeling of love be gradually intensified. These faculties are not banished or violently expelled, but with regard to them the sensation is as of falling asleep, till only love is left-and this is love for the Creator, and all that He hath created. As a man who loves a woman will treasure all that comes from her, whether in itself desirable or beautiful, or the reverse, and will love a soiled glove or a torn fragment of lace that she has worn-so the soul in this state loves not only the image of the Master, but all that comes from Him with great intensity. IVa. For some time it will be well for the beginner to pause there. For the preceding stage to be of benefit should be maintained for some time, say ten minutes to a quarter of an hour at least. (The great mystical writers advise longer, but their times were less restless than ours.) It will however be found naturally after some practice, that the active emotion of love is of itself giving way to a passive happiness of contemplation only. In human love this is exemplified by the joy the lover takes in merely being in the presenc~ of the beloved, not speak254 FOUR STATES OF ORDINARY PRAYER ing, not moving, content simply to exist, bathed in the atmosphere that is so dear. Finally, we reiterate here the advice given by all the great mystical writers-not to force the soul at this stage to uncongenial acts. First, for those acts for which the soul has no inclination, never to force ourselves to produce them. Secondly for those to which we have during prayer an inclination or facility-to yield to this inclination. Therefore if during the prayer of simplicity we have a strong inclination to offer a petition to God-let us do so, notwithstanding that we have resolved to banish all active thought. Thirdly, as laid down by St. Francis de Sales and by Father Balthasar Alvares-outside the time of prayer to profit by all opportunities of arousing the will, and thus training it, as it were, for the prayer itself. And here, says St. Gertrude, in a private letter, quoting from St. Mary Magdalen, 'They who are permitted to enjoy human corporeal love have great advantage for they have something wherewith they may compare this Divine contemplation, and whereby they may excite the will thereto'. And this must and will suffice for the present. They who shall well practice this Devotion shall at least be ready, if it shall please God, as I have no doubt it will do, to take them of His infinite grace into the Mystic State. Hereto I ShMSh add a note of my own. In modern life an aeroplane is a more perfect example than a bird, for the man rises, not sails, not by his own effort but by the force generated by his engine, which is like the Grace of God, but his own effort is needed to pull the lever and the machine is given thus into his control. The two lower grades may be compared to flights through the lower atmosphere comparatively easy and safe among all the familiar sights and sounds of the earth. Then soaring higher, the man passes through the clouds, typical of the doubts, difficulties, troubles, aridity etc. At the entrance of the third State--after which he reaches the calm and silence of the upper air, and soars as high as the 255 HERMETIC WISDOM AND MYSTICAL PRAYER atmosphere will support him. After this, whatever lever he pulls, whatever power he applies, he can go no higher unless God take him. . 256 APPENDIX A An Exegetical Note Upon the Flying Rolls In all there were thirty-six Flying Rolls circulating among the Adepti Minores of the pre-190o Golden Dawn. Flying Roll I was partly concerned with administrative details (how to contact the headquarters of the Order etc.) and these would be of little interest to the present-day reader. The remainder of this Flying Roll is printed in Part I of this book. Flying Roll II Included in Part I of this book. Flying Roll III (On Procedure) Purely administrative, and therefore not included in this book. Flying Roll IV (Spirit Vision) Included in Part II of this book. Flying Roll V (Thoughts on Imagination) Included in Part I of this book. Originally issued on November 30th 1893. Flying Roll VI (A Supplement to Flying Roll II) Included in Part I of this book. Flying Roll VII (Alchemy) Forms Part VII of this book. Flying Roll VIII (On Tracing a Pentagram by Geometry) I have not thought this purely mathematical piece of instruction worthy of reproduction. It was written by Dr. Pullen-Berry (Frater Anima Pura Sit). Flying Roll IX (Right and Left) Included by Regardie, under the title The Diagrams, in Golden Dawn, Volume I, pages 161-2. This Flying Roll was originally issued on March 26th 1893. Flying Roll X (Self-Sacrifice) Included in Part IV of this book. Flying Roll XI (Clairvoyance) Included in Part II of this book, and originally issued March 30th 1893. Flying Roll XII (Telesrnatic Images) Published by Regardie, in somewhat disjointed form, as part of Volume IV of his Golden Dawn. The first paragraph of the Flying Roll is also the first paragraph of page 61, Volume IV, Golden Dawn. The remainder of the Flying Roll is to be found on pages 62-3 of the same book under the title The Vibratory Mode of Pronounc- ing Divine Names. Flying Roll XIII (Secrecy and Hermetic Lore) Included in Part VI of this book. 257 APPENDIX A Flying Roll XIV (Talismans and Flashing Tablets) Printed by Regardie on pages 51-6 of Golden Dawn Volume IV. Regardie's version is not quite complete and omits a supplementary note by Sapere Aude (Wynn Westcott). The note, which is to the word AL on Regard-ie's page 56, line 20, should read as follows: 'e.g. for Fire, put Shin first, then three Fiery Signs, then AL. So far for elementary ones. For Planetary ones you may add AL to the Planet's letter or to the Planet and its Houses-the letters of them; and the Planet and Triplicity, use the hexagram made six times. For Zodiacal ones add AL to the letters of the sign and use pentagram five times. When you use the three letters of three Signs of a triplicity for elemental working you should put as the initial letter that of the Sign principally invoked as most useful to you'. This Flying Roll was originally issued on January 15th 1893. Flying Roll XV (Man and God) Included in Part IV of this book. Flying Roll XVI (History of the Rosicrucian Order) Included in Part III of this book; originally given as a lecture on August 17th 1893. Flying Roll XVII (The Seven Sides of the Vault) Like the preceding Flying Roll this was originally given as a lecture by Westcott on August 17th 1893. It can be found on pages 280-6 of Volume II of Regardie's Golden Dawn. Flying Roll XVIII (progress in the Order) This Flying Roll was written in June 1893. There is a certain confusion as to its authorship. Some copies attribute it to Annie Horniman (Fortiter et Reete) others to Elaine Simpson (Fidelis), who later became the mistress of Aleister Crowley. Flying Roll XIX (Aims and Means of Adeptship) Included in Part III of this book. Flying Roll XX (Constitution of Man) Originally given as a lecture by Mathers on September 23rd 1893 and included in Part V of this book. Flying Roll XXI (Know Thyself) Originally given as a lecture by Mathers' wife on September 24th 1893 and included in Part V of this book. 258 APPENDIX A Flying Roll XXII (Free Will) I have been unable to trace a copy of this Flying Roll. Flying Roll XXIII (Visions by V.N.R.) This account of visions experienced by Mathers' wife is printed on pages 43-6 of Volume N of Regardie's Golden Dawn. Flying Roll XXIV I have been unable to trace a copy. I am told that it dealt with Horary Figures in astrology. Flying Roll XXV (Clairvoyance) This, written by J. W. BrodieInnes, is included in Part II of this book. Flying Roll XXVI (A supplement to XII) Included in Part II of this book. Flying Roll XXVII (Theurgia) This Flying Roll, written by P. W. Bullock (L~vavi Oculos) is included in Part VI of this book. Flying Roll XXVIII (On Robes) I have been unable to trace a copy. Flying Roll XXIX (On Lieutenants) I have been unable to trace a copy; I understand that it was purely concerned with administrative matters. Flying Roll XXX (Clairvoyance and Hierophant Signs) Included in Part II of this book. Flying Roll XXXI (Ethiopic Letters) I have been unable to trace a copy, but I am told that it dealt with the numerical value to be given to the letters of the Coptic alphabet for Qabalistic purposes. If so, the information can be obtained from Crowley'S 777. Flying Roll XXXII (Theban Letters) Once again, I have been unable to trace a copy, but I am told that it dealt with the letters of the Enochian alphabet, sometimes (wrongly) referred to as the Theban alphabet. If so, it was probably identical with the table given by Regardie on Page 299 Volume IV, Golden Dawn. Flying Roll XXXIII (Visions of Squares in the Enochian Tablets) Seven visions are described, of which four may be found in Part II of this book. The remaining three visions may be found on pages 318-22, volume IV, Golden Dawn. Regardie's first vision is also the first vision of the Flying Roll-it is by Vigilate. Regardie's second vision is the sixth vision of the Flying Roll (by Shemeb~r) and his third vision is the Flying 259 APPENDIX A Roll's seventh (it is by Resurgam), Dr. Berridge. Flying Roll XXXV (Notes on the Exordium of the Z Ritual) Printed on pages 150-1 of Golden Dawn, Volume III . . Flying Roll XXXVI (Skyring and Astral Projection) Printed on pages 29-42 of Golden Dawn, Volume IV, under the title Of Skyring and Travelling in the Spirit Vision. The earliest copy I have seen is dated October 1897. 260 APPENDIX B Enochian Magic and the Enochian Language This subject is one of great complexity and it is possible for me to give only a brief outline of the system in this short appendix. While some occultists have claimed that Enochian Magic was known in fifteenth century Florence, and others have gone so far as to state that it originated in the mythical drowned continent of Atlantis, there is no hard evidence of its existence before the last quarter of the sixteenth century. In any case, whether or not the system is of any real antiquity, there is no doubt that in the form we have it available to us it is derived from the crystal-gazing activities of the Elizabethan occultists, lohn Dee and Edward Kelley. These two claimed to have received from 'Angels', seen in the magic crystal by Kelley, who acted as skryer, the following material: (a) Nineteen invocations, known as Keys, or Calls, in an unknown language called Enochian, or Angelic. (b) Translations of these same Calls. (c) An Enochian alphabet of twenty-one letters. (d) Over one hundred large squares, each divided into smaller squares (usually 2401 in number) containing letters. (e) Instructions for using these squares. (f) Much miscellaneous occult teaching. As far as the Enochian language is concerned it suffices to repeat what was said by the early Chiefs of the Golden Dawn. by Aleister Crowley, and by Israel Regardie-that it is a real language, with definite traces of grammar and syntax, and not a mere gibberish. 1 1 For those who regard the statements of such occultists with a certain amount of scepticism it is worth stating that a professional philolOgist has recently done some work on Enochian and has confirmed their essential correctness. It should also be borne in mind that the language is sufficiently complete to enable translation from English into Enochian; Aleister Crowley did this with the invocations of the grimoire known as the Lesser Key of Solomon. 261 APPENDIX B Most of the occult teaching received were extremely obscure; the following extract from a message received on May 23rd 1587 is typical: I am the daughter of Fortitude, and ravished every hour, from my youth. For behold, I am Understanding, and Science dwelleth in me; the heavens oppress me, they covet and desire me with infinite appetite: few or none that are earthly have embraced me, for I am shadowed with the Circle of the Stone, and covered with the morning Clouds. My feet are swifter than the winds, and my hands are sweeter than the morning dew. My garments are from the beginning, and my dwelling place is in myself. The Lion knoweth not where I walk, neither do the beasts of the field understand me. I am deflowered and yet a virgin: I sanctify and am not sanctified. Happy is he that embraceth me: for in the night season I am sweet, and in the day full of pleasure. My company is a harmony of many Cymbals, and my lips sweeter than health itself. I am a harlot for such as ravish me, and a virgin with such as know me not-2 Of the squares received five are of much greater importance than the remainder. They are, firstly, the 'Great Eastern Quadrangle of Air', secondly, the 'Great Western Quadrangle of Water' thirdly, the 'Great Northern Quadrangle of Earth', fourthly, the 'Great Southern Quadrangle of Fire', and, lastly; the 'Tablet of Union', sometimes referred to as the 'Quadrangle of Spirit'. Each of the four Quadrangles of the Elements is divided into one hundred and fifty-six squares while the 'Tablet of Union' is divided into twenty squares from which, by methods too complex to be explained here, are derived certain Divine and Angelic names. Furthermore each Tablet is sub-divided into four other Tablets attributed to the Elements-so in the Northern Quadrangle are contained Tablets attributed to Earth of 2 In fact I do not think this statement quite so obscure as it might appear to be at first sight. The 'speaker' is clearly Binah, Understanding, the third Sephirah of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, and the Science to which 'she' refers is the Gnosis, Knowledge, Daath, the invisible eleventh Sephirah. In Crowleyan terms the 'speaker' may be identified with Nuit, the Egyptian Star-Goddess,~or perhaps with Nuit's reflection in Babalon, the Bride of the Beast. 262 APP ENDIX 8 Earth, Fire of Earth, Water of Earth and Air of Earth. From each of the six hundred and forty-four lettered su~ sidiary squares of the five Tablets are derived the same number of truncated pyramids. On the apex of each pyramid is the letter of the square and each side of the pyramid is attributed to either an Element, or a Sign of the Zodiac, or a planet. In addition the cards of the Tarot pack and the symbols of geomancy are also attributed to the sides of the pyramids. Such pyramids are reproduced in Flying Roll XXXIII, and are to be found in Part II of this book. With each pyramid is associated a Sphynx, a composite form built up in accordance with the attributions of the four sides of the pyramid. The Keys or Calls-the strange invocations received by Dee and Kelley-are designed to be used with various parts of the squares received. Thus the third, seventh, eighth and ninth Keys are used in connection with the Tablet of Air (Eastern Quadrangle); the third used in the invocation of Air itself and the other three Keys with, respectively, Water of Air, Earth of Air, and Fire of Air. 263 APPENDIX C A Stella Matutina Flying Roll After the split in the original Order the appearance of various schismatic Orders (see Introduction) there was a considerable amount of unintelligent tampering with the Flying Rolls. This was particularly noticeable in the fraternity known as the Stella Matutina. The Stella Matutina also produced several supplementary Flying Rolls. I have examined several of these and I am of the opinion that they are of little value save for one on the Tarot trumps, written by Dr. Felkin's wife, Soror Quaestor iucis, and one on the use of the Vault, written by Dr. Felkin himself. Both these late documents are included in Regardie's Golden Dawn. The Chiefs of the Stella Matutina were responsible for rewriting many of the Flying Rolls. In my opinion their versions of this material are not only quite different &om the originals but markedly inferior. As a specimen I reproduce herewith the Stella Matutina version of Flying Roll XXV-a very different piece of work to the original included in Part II of this book. 'Consider the relationship of Man as Microcosm to the Universe as Macrocosm. The former is a reflection in miniature of the latter, in the same way that in a field a dewdrop might present a tiny image of trees, fields, mountains etc. 'Thus everything is pictured in each man's Sphere of Sensation, or akashic envelope. If he is conscious of the picture as reflected he will be possessed of all knowledge. Initiation makes such knowledge possible and available. 'Seeing that the brain and sensorium are physical, it is necessary at first to use physical means to produce the sensitivity required to perceive images consciously. 'The readiest way is the use of symbols. These produce visions in the physical brain and make it more sensitive. A large number of well-known ~'Ymbols have a definite relationship to certain portions of the Sphere of Sensation, the corresponding regions of the Cosmos, and the related regions of the physical brain. 'The experimenter must thoroughly know the attributions 265 APPENDIX C and meanings of the symbol employed, as this knowledge produces an immediate concentration of thought, vital energy, nerve force, and actual physical blood in the part of the brain related to the chosen symbol. 'For example, if the Tejas Tattwa be taken, the knowledge that it belongs to fire will at once charge with nerve force and blood all the brain centres relating to fire. It will involuntarily recall the various Divine and Spirit Names learned beforehand; the vibration of these Names will increase the effect. The force will be further increased by gazing fixedly at the symbol and holding the appropriate magical implement, which is also a symbol of the same tract of the physical brain. Eventually every other brain cell is muted and inhibited, and the whole consciousness concentrated on the function of Fire. Thus the physical brain becomes sensitive, translucent, and able to perceive the Macrocosmic Fire as reflected in the Sphere of Sensation. 'The sensation is as if one had stepped out of a door into a new world. At first it seems as if everything one sees is just the product of one's own imagination. However, experience shows that 'the next country' has its own inviolable natural laws, just as the physical world has. One cannot make it and unmake it at will. The same actions produce the same resultsone is a spectator, not a creator. The conviction dawns on the experimenter that he is perceiving a new and extended range of phenomena-the Astral. 'Taking every symbol whereof you know the meaning, the abstract idea associated with the symbol comes first (as Fire or Water in the abstract), then comes a pose of mind cognate or sympathetic thereto, a desire of that particular element-not keen but perceptible. Then, gradually, comes the feeling of the physical effect of that element. Attention is slowly withdrawn from all surrounding sights and sounds. A grey mist or steam surrounds everything and from this the form of the symbol is projected-this is due to the withdrawal of blood and nerve force from other centres of the brain and their consequent inhibition. 'The consciousness then seems to pass through the symbol to realms beyond it: probably visions and pictures from other 266 APPENDIX C planes come on to the hypersensitive brain centres. The sensation is as if looking at a series of moving pictures, and although there are beings with whom one can converse and animals one can dominate, there is no more solidity than in a cinema film. In time, however, the sensitivity of the brain increases, and one gains the power of actually going to the scenes of the visions and seeing them as three dimensional-indeed, one actually becomes capable of doing things in the vision and producing effects upon it. This is what is technically known as 'Travelling in the Spirit Vision' and whether it is more than an extension of the power of seeing the moving pictures on the Sphere of Sensation (the akashic envelope) is difficult to determine. The stages of 'Travelling in the Spirit Vision are as follows:(1) To become conscious of a figure walking amidst the scenery of an unfamiliar country. (2) To realise that it is one's own figure. (3) To look through the eyes of the figure. (4) To feel with the figure's sensations. (5) To gain the ability to consciously direct its operations, to control its inhibitions, and to get it to visit unfamiliar people and places. 'It is as though consciousness was extruded from one's own body and taken over a body either created for the purpose or invoked out of the astral sphere. It seems probably that as the Sphere of Sensation reflects everything on the physical plane it contains a reflection of the material body of the percipient. If this is so it would follow that the body could be made to travel within the Sphere of Sensation and visit all things reflected therein. 'The perception of the Astral Plane is peculiarly liable to delusion arising from defects in the sensorium or physical brain -an object seen through a faulty glass is distorted. As the brain can be rendered sensitive is any particular direction by symbol, so these errors can be corrected by symbol. The various qualities in each man's mature nature are symbolised by the planets, hence planetary symbols can be used to correct such errors. 267 APPENDIX C 'The visions experienced may be merely compounded from memory. In this case build up, in brilliant white light, in front of any image suspected of being compounded from memory, the Hebrew letter Tau, symbol of the Qabalistic Path of Saturn, the 'Great One of the Night of Time', whose sober influence causes memory pictures to disappear. Similarly the Hebrew letter Beth (for Mercury), formulated in the same way, dissipates the products of lying in intellectual illusion. The Hebrew letter Daleth (for Venus) is used for intellectual vanity; the Hebrew letter Gimel (for the Moon) is used for wavering mind; the Hebrew letter Resh (for the Sun) is used for delusions caused by intellectual haughtiness; the Hebrew letter Kaph (for Jupiter) is used against imagination, and the Hebrew letter Peh (for Mars) is used against revenge and hatred'. 268 APPENDIX D The Fugitive Flying Rolls In a postscript to his Preface to The Magicians of the Golden Dawn Ellic Howe describes the last-minute discovery of a cache of Golden Dawn documents that included the parchment Rolls of the Inner and Outer Orders and the official address book, all of which provided him with invaluable biographical information. Three years after the publication of his book Mr Howe introduced me to the custodian of these documents, who, in due course, permitted me to use further material from them for some of the Appendices in my own study, The Golden Dawn: Twilight of the Magicians. What neither Ellic Howe nor myself had realized, however, was that this second 'Private Collection' contained far more than we had at first seen or suspected, for its custodian had no idea that either of us would be interested in anything but the dry bones of the Order's history. When he learned that my own interests extended to the rituals and teaching of the Golden Dawn, the custodian showed me some two dozen bound volumes of miscellaneous rituals, essays, and records of magical working, in the autographs of Ayton, Westcott, Horence Farr, and other members of the Inner Order. Among them was a fat octavo labelled 'Hying Rolls etc~ which I borrowed-largely for the sake of the 'et~ a blanket covering revised (and unrecorded) rituals of the Neophyte and Zelator grades, records of the workings of the Sphere Group, and the Minute Book of the Ahathoor Temple in Paris. Out of curiosity I decided to compare the Hying Rolls with the printed texts in Astral Projection, Magic and Alchemy, and found that they included all the missing Rolls that Mr King had been unable to trace, together with variant texts of the early, and rather dull, Hying Rolls. Some were in the hand of Westcott, others were transcriptions by Percy Bullock, but the majority had been diligently copied in 1898 by Frater Tenax Propositi. This was the motto of Colonel Sir Henry Edward Col vile, who became a member of Isis-Urania Temple in November 1896, on the same day as his wife, progressed rapidly and entered the Second Order on 5 December 1897 (Lady Colvile entered the Second Order seven months later than her husband). Sir Henry was a diligent student, not only copying the Hying Rolls but making notes on his work in Horence Farr's Sphere Group. His associates in that group- 269 APPENDIX D Mrs Rand, Colonel Webber, Blackden, and Palmer:rbomas-Iater followed A. E. Waite at the time of the schism of 1903 (although Aorence herself did not), and it seems probable that Sir Henry also supported Waite, although there are no records of his activities in the Order after 1901. Whether or not Sir Henry Colvile followed Waite, his papers certainly did, and Waite catalogued them, bound them and preserved them for occult posterity. Now that after eighty years they have finally come to light, it seems fitting to me, if only for the sake of completeness, that the missing texts should be published. I have my own opinion as to their literary merit, but this I shall reserve to myself, presenting the texts as they were written and passing no judgement upon their intrinsic, magical worth-for I am no magician, and this is a question I must leave to others to decide. Flying Roll No. XXII Issued by N.o.M. 8 October 1893, being Essays by V H. E Quaestor Lucis on: (1) Free Will and the Theory of Separateness (2) River of'Life (No official G.O Authority) While Oriental Theosophy postulates the unity of all Life in its basic source, it makes the attainment of conscious union between the lower of intellectual aspect of mind with the Soul or Higher Manas dependent on the effort of the former, or in other words of the striving of the personality. Again in the Hermetic School, of which Dr Hartmann is an independent interpreter, the freedom of each person to decide whether to climb the Mount of Initiation or to remain on the lower plane of intellectual rational life is strongly insisted on. The position of these schools would apparently be that Primordial Being differentiates itself into Units or atoms, each of which contains the potentialities of its original. Free Will being attributed to original Being, it follows that each unit or atom possesses Free Will in potentia. Finding himself in incarnate condition, living in the sense-mediated planes of self-consciousness, it may strive or decide not to strive to attain union with its Higher Principles, or to bring the illumination of these higher aspects of its being, into functioning conjointly with the rational 270 APPENDIX D intellectual plane of normal life. This can only be effected, according to these schools, by the outer or personal degree oflife reaching up and striving to come into contact with the inner principles. This is apparently one of those veils which oriental and ancient systems considered to be necessary till the student dared himself to tear them asunder, but its retention in the sense of the teaching of transcendental philosophy ceases to be reasonable. It is in contradiction also with those portions ofTheosophic teaching which condemn 'the illusion of personal existance' and the 'Heresy of Separateness: It is also untenable in the face ofMr Maitland's theosophic teachings with the reference to the centrifugal current in man, which returns from the circumference of Being as centripetal, thus inferring that re-ascent is the sequential effect in continuity of descent, that evolution is self inherent in involution, that unfolding is implicit in involving. To teach that conjunction with the higher principles of consciousness may be effected by the will of the lower personality, is to attribute a vitality to the personality which Theosophy itself contravenes in its teachings as to the illusion of personal existence, and to lose sight of the fact that man is not the former but the formed, that personality is but the external manifestation of the one self determinating power. To teach that each atom or unit, differentiated from original Being possesses Free Will, is to imply that they are separated from Original Being and possess existence in themselves; or to fall into the 'heresy of separateness' and to forget the identity of the unit and the Universal of the self-reference which is implicit in experience and demonstrates the permanent relation, ever present, which links the unit with the fountain source. To imply that the lower aspects of mind have separated off from those which are left and dwell in the higher planes, till conjunction or reintegration has been effected by the lower, is to lose sight of the fact that, while aspects of consciousness may [be] distinguished, they cannot be separated without destroying the unity of Being. To imply that instinctual rational man may develop his own Will power, that he may make his own condition of life, is to arrogate to the external personality the prerogative of disposing of that one self determinating power which manifests through him, of which he is the instrument or media, the expression the unfoldment. The original plan of the Great Architect cannot be altered by the 271 APPENDIX D external manifestation thereof. The successive unfolding of the inner aspects of man's consciousness must be subject to the Law of the One Determiner, which alone knows itself from centre to circumference, a ground and a fulfilment. The action of the one determinating Power on the plane of nature illustrates its mode or process. It shows results achieved by a continual, gradual, consecutive unfolding from within. The Sun builds up vegetable forms oflife from the seed, beginning with the root, stem, bud, blossom, fruit. The uniformity of law manifesting in the correlated modes in different planes is a generally accepted axiom in occultism, so, by analogy, must our internal state be successively unfolded from within by the rays of our Spiritual Sun or Centre of Life. So also must the recognition of the permanent relation with our Ground of Being or fuuntain Source return Man's will to its Central Source. If for effort of the Personality we substitute the desire to have ever present recognition within us of the reception of all power from the central Source of Being, the desire to be able permanently to associate our lives, in thought, as an external manifestation of the One Determinating Power, and thus relate our actions to the original Source of Being, that will probably be more likely to contribute towards unfoldment from within. Some Considerations on the Sepher Yetzirah Transcendental Philosophy shows that the unit is permanently related with its Source or fuuntain of Being. Experience, when analysed, is found to bear relation or self reference between the permanent element of Being, which is ever present, which wells up in thought and forms the ground of cogitation on the one hand with the actual' I' on the other. Thought is a relation and the subject identity recedes ever behind the regarding mind. Hence events may be said to be in time and knowledge out of time. The phenomenal world is then related in experience by the Thinker to the subjective reality. It is this 'relating' present in thought, the self reference implied in experience, which ever unites the Unit with its ground or source its permanent element, and this would appear in the Path, on the Tree of Life by the J) or reflection which unites the Microprosopus with the Macroprosopus, its source: it would also appear to be symbolized by the River of Life 'Nahar' which unflows from the Supernal Eden or Spiritual Being or Microprosopus or Being manifested in Time. 272 APPENDIX D But the permanent relation between the unit or'!, and its subjective ground must probably have an occult natural aspect as well as the metaphysical one I have illustrated. In other words there must be a force behind thought of which what we cognise as thought is the manifestation and it must be that force which constitutes the real relation between the Unit and the Universal. That permanent relation, that mrce manifested as thought I believe is the River of Life bearing within it and unfolding the four elements of Being; Spirit, Soul, Mind, Instinct. That emanation of Life or Spirit, the Sephira, the Sepher Yetzirah says extends through all things. Through God's power and existence every element has its power and source from a higher mrce and all things have their common origin from the Holy Spirit. So God is at once both the matter and the form of the Universe, yet He is not only the form, for nothing can or does exist out of Himself. The suggestion arises whether we can form any concrete conception of that Emanating mrce-the 'River of Life' which permanently relates the 'I' with its source, as well as the metaphysical relation described and which we cognise as thought. Will not the conception of the centrifugal force in which the centripetal is inherent and inseparable, assist us, carrying as it does that unfolding is implicit in involving, that evolution and development is the sequential effect in continuity of involution. The circuit of electricity will help us further, issuing as positive until its reaches the negative pole, when it returns on itself to its source. In this indeed we have an illustration of a positive Universal Ground or Brain, as it is well known that electricity is not created de novo by the dynamo. It is generated or emanates from an under[lying?] source of which the Earth is but one reservoir or condenser. Edison's experiments, the similar research of Greenwich Observatory, show the magnetic storms of Earth which coincide with and are correlated with the Sun spots, thus showing the lives of our coal miners to depend on the state of the Sun. It is well known that magnetism is an effect of electricity. The passing of a current of electricity through a bar of iron converts it into a magnet. The presence of a current in one wire 'induces' a current in any wire near it. The action of the Sun on the Earth above referred to is under the same law. The presence of electricity in our Earth, itself entails its polarity, its positive and negative poles-consequently its attracting and repelling force or its centrifugal and centripetal currents. The Aurora Borealis 273 APPENDIX 0 of our Earth and the Solar Corona or photosphere are probably similar effects with regard to these orbs. So what the magnetic field or mdiation is to a magnet, which though not seen visually is illustrated by iron filings spread on a piece of paper and held over a magnet-What these spheres are to a magnet, the Earth and Sun, most probably our aura is to us. This aura Madame Blavatsky described as a magnetic aura, a psychic effluvium partaking both of the mind and of the body. It is Electro-vital and Electro-mental. Have we not in these examples illustrations of the force pervading the Universe, coexisting in the unit and in the whole, inter relating all into one Unity, manifesting in each in accord with one universal and all-pervading law. We have here, I think, the illustration of the one determinating force, the River of Life, manifesting Unity and its media, and cognised by these units as thought. In this connection a further reflection suggests itself for consideration with regard to the Sepher Yetzirah. While the four planes of Being may be viewed a distinguishable, they must be inseparable, as the unity of Being cannot be divided, and, as the Sepher Yetzirah itself says, the Elements of Being each have their source in a higher form and all from the Spirit which is both rorm and Substance and in which are all things. In accord with the Law of Uniformity, these Elements must coexist in Unity, as well as in the Universal, in the microcosm as well as in the macrocosm. It is probable therefore that we may consider the rour Worlds as the planes through which the unit descends from its rountain Source to its present circumferential state and by which descent it obtains a vehicle in each element or relation in each place. Is not the Wheel of Life in the door of the Vault a key to this question? showing, as it does, all four elements coexisting in the Unit. But this cannot be considered as an integration of four living creatures, each separate and having to be integrated into Unity, in as much as the Unity of Being could never be divided up and separated without entailing annihilation and chaos. If these four Elements are viewed as Spirit, Soul, Mind, Instinct, it is evident that these do not co-exist in each unit. The problem suggested is or may possibly be to attain conscious functioning of each of the elements of Being in relation with its place or World. These descending states in the ultimation of the Unit find their parallel in the process of thought. Every thought has an objective aspect, as 274 APPENDIX D well as its subjective aspect, and one may say, like the unit of being, thought emanates from original Being, is produced from the unmanifested in Atziluth, takes shape in Briah, form in Yetzirah and ultimates in Assiah, in which consideration we return to the two aspects of the River of Life, we referred to at the beginning of this paper, viz. the metaphysical and the occult. What constitutes the difference between that part of the River of Life which takes shape in Briah, and incarnates as volition, and that which emanates through us as thought, remaining disincarnate, and what becomes of that River of Thought which takes disincarnate form and is ultimated through us? We ourselves must have been produced from the unmanifest in Atziluth, taken soul and shape in Briah, mind and form in Yetzirah, a concrete shell and instinct in Assiah. Yet we remain permanently attached to our own source, by a River of Life or electricity, which conveys to us in reflection and intuition what we cognise as thought from our original source. Is this the continuation of the River of Ufe which produces us? Does that River still flow through us its selfdeluminated vehicles, and manifest as thought? Then is not our personality an objective representation of the attributes present in that River of Life? Or a reflection in form of the type on the sense mediated plane of that which involved itself by determination and is now unfolding to our consciousness, as the centrifugal current returns on itself as centripetal? The conception of the Duality of Will, good and evil, must have arisen presumably from the appearance of there being a conflict between the 'River of Life' flowing through man and the impediments or obstructions raised on the circumference by the atom cells or lives used in the construction of the outer shell or organism and which were drawn from the animal vegetable and mineral states. But these are only manifestations of the One Universal Life, equally with the Primum Mobile of Man, and the relation or reaction between these lives or states of consciousness and the consciousness of the Entity using them must in reality be a relation of harmony though in appearance there may be conflict, and it must not be forgotten that the Primum Mobile or Entity using these lives on its circumference is in reality the one River of Life, and let me now again suggest the question of what becomes of the Thought thus ultimated? and which we find to be manifested as the River of Life. 275 APPENDIX D The relation between the cells or lives used by the Unit in the integration of its form or its body and the Primum Mobile which has integrated that body, has its parallel in the Greater Universe in the relation of the Unit or outer Manifestation to the Universal, then determination whose body they form. The ultimation of each unit is undoubtedly in accord with the archetypal plan, of which we are parts, manifested objectively, yet there is all appearance of revolt, of conflict between the unity, occupying the schools of Atheism, Materialism, Evolution and their Determination. The conflict between these units of manifestation and their Determination is probably as real as that between the Wills and lives, making up the shell or organism and its constructor or controller or Primum Mobile. It is [unclear: 'it with the Sun: but that makes no sense. RG] the same 'River of life' acting in the next or more external plane, that of the shells or matter. Let it be remembered that it is the interaction between the 'Unit of life' or Primum Mobile in Man and the other units and particularisation of the Universe that begets the manifold of experience, which is the function of the unit to relate and unify. Flying Roll No. XXIV Part of a Lecture on Horary Astrology delivered in 1892 to the Adepti in college assembled, by V. H. Frater Resurgam. Verified Horary Figure by Nema. Question-Will querited li.e. the subject of a query] die of his present illness? Hearing by letter that my maternal uncle, an octogenarian was seriously ill from pneumonia, I drew a figure for the moment of intuition to do so, which was while reading the communication. His illness had commenced about February 7th and he was now confined to bed. The student can easily cast the figure for llh45m a.m. February 26th 1887 london W RA of M 22h25-6' and 332°21/24" in arc. X 0.17 culminating CY . § 4°45 ascending; 0 in X r32'47", J) in cy 16°23/, 1;1 in X 23°W, 'i' in X 27°54/, 6 in X 20°32. 1! in 111' 5°48, retrograde, l? in § 15°54/ retrograde, ~ in == U046' retrograde, Win 'rf 25°10/. Declination 0 8°43/ S. J) 2°47'19" N. 1;1 2°29/ S. 'i' 1°56' S. 6 4°31/ S.1! 12°9/ S. l? 22°25' N. ~ 3°59/ S. W17°25' N. The Moon's North node was in 61 27.35 Pars furtuna was in 61 13°32. The Moon's motion in longitude was U049/56" in the 24 hours. 276 APPENDIX D As the querited was the fourth of my maternal uncles and aunts, my mother being the youngest of the family, I took the 10th House of the figure for herself and the 12th (or 3rd from the 10th) for her eldest brother or sister, the 2nd for the 2nd, the 4th for the 3rd and the 6th for the 4th, the querited, and correspondingly the 1st (or 8th from the 6th) for his 8th or House of Death. There 6 ruled querited's 1st House and:» his 8th, the aspect being:» 25°.51. C.J , separating from the quindecile (24°) and applying to his semisextile. The past aspects being good but very weak showed his past state of health, which had been very fair considering his age, but not robust-the applying aspect being good and stronger than his preceding, 6 moreover being dignified by triplicity, term and decanate and also receiving Luna by House, sure recovery from illness was shown, but at the same time not absolute restoration to health. Had the significant been applying to a Il or even a ~ I should have predicted not only complete recovery from his acute attack, but also a continuance of a vigorious old age. Had the case been chronic I should have predicted a partial restoration of health at the time indicated, In this instance however, acute pneumonia being a self limited disease, I predicted a complete recovery from the pulmonary attack itself and an escape from death, but not restoration to-vigorous health. Nevertheless the severity and danger of the illness was shown by Cauda in querited's 4th House, by l) lord of his 4th posited in close D to :» ruler of his 8th posited in his 6th and slow in motion. As :» the applying significator, was in a movable sign and a succedent house, each degree signified a week; therefore as wanted 4°9' of the complete semisextile, I judged that querited would be convalescent in 4 weeks and 1 day, or March 27th. On March 29th he walked out in his garden for the first time and fully recovered from the pneumonia. Observations (1) This shows the necessity of selecting the exact house corresponding to querited and not generalising. Had I taken his 12th house of the figure as signifying maternal uncles and aunts in general (being his 3rd from the 10th, and the 7th (or 8th from 12th) for querited's death, the aspects of the lords thereof would have been '? 105° l) exactly, and applying to D, showing present fair health and danger to life in 8 weeks, which was not the case (Future 1.106). (2) It made no difference to the selection of the 6th house of the figure as the querited's 1st, that two elder brothers (the 1st and 3rd of the family) were deceased. They has to be taken into consideration in the calculation of his appropriate house, just the same as if they had been living. 277 APPENDIX D (3) Had I taken the 8th house of the figure as signifying querited's death, the aspect would have been 6 115.22 l?, applying to 108°, signifying recovery in 71f3 weeks which was also not the case (Future 1.107). (4) The J) was in latitude 3°58' Sand 6 in 0°50' S, adding the sum of these to the degrees and minutes required to form the perfect semisextile, and converting the total amount so obtained into time, would have prolonged the time of the event by 4°48' or nearly five weeks; yet recovery occurred only two days after the exact time predicted (Future 1.60). (5) The J) was 13° distant from the cusp of the house in which he was posited, yet this made no difference whatever in the calculation of time (Future 1.60). (6) The J) applied to par. decl. 6 being 1°43'4" distant; yet no danger to life occurred at the corresponding time (Future 1.109). (7) As the question was concerning the querited only, Scorpio, the sign of his 1st hour described him, a corpulent, strong, able body, somewhat broad and square face, short necked, a squat well-trussed fellow (Lilly p. 63). But the ascendant of the figure does not describe myself, because though the querent, the question was not concerning myself (Future, 1.171). (8) Jtt is strongly dignified in Scorpio; but the sign is not its diurnal home. Were it so, the aspect would have been J) 175°23' Jtt separating from 8, implying past danger to life and applying to the quadrasextile (150°) Signifying some illness in about 25113 weeks, neither of which significations were in accordance with facts (Future 1.29.30). (9) As 6 ruled both the querited's 1st and 6th Houses no judgement could be formed from the Lord of the 6th, otherwise it would have entered in the calculation, though in a question of the duration of life, I consider the 8th House coeteri paribus, the most important (Future 1.108). (10) In this figure 6 was in the 10th, subradius and applying to combustion, also l? Lord of the 7th, was in his detriment and retrograde both being therefore 'unfortunate Nevertheless I did not 'end in the discredit of the artist' but the reverse, neither was I unable to 'scarce give a solid judgement' (Future 1.109-1). [Note by F. K. The significance of such notes as 'Future 1.108' is not known to me. Presumably as a result of textual corruptions, RA and ST as given arc incompatible.] 278 APPENDIX D Flying Roll No. XXVIII On the value of Magic Implements and Insignia in methods of Divination. By DD.c.E and NOM. As far as the Adeptus Minor is concerned, the successful practice of Divination, whether Astrology, Geomancy, or Tarot depends upon the training of intuition. The rules of Astrology, the dots of Geomancy and the law of the opening of the Key are the guides which lead the intuition and limit its function to definite aims and ends. All processes of Divination require a concentration of mind and of the vital and astral forces of the operator upon the subject matter; this being so, it is of vital importance to success that the mind does not wander, the body be at rest and peace. No opposing forces intervene. That the personal and social attitude be cast aside. These things being so, it is of great value to furnish the physical with symbols of protection and power, and the astral form with the astral counterpart of their insignia and implements. fur by such means are the lower Elementals forced to abandon their attacks and they being absent, the opportunity is presented for the access of Superior Powers. fur it is the Higher Self which receives prompting from Higher Powers at those times when the Lower Self is set aside, and when the interference of Elementary and Qlipothic forces is provided against. Do not attempt Divination when angry, when anxious and worried, when ill, when fearful, for under all these circumstances the tendency to obsession is great. As an Adeptus Minor, Divine when calm, peaceful, healthy and courageous. To supplement your power, use the means provided by your Adeptship: the white robe, emblem of Purity. The yellow sash of5=6 rank. The Rose-Cross, that comprehensive symbol, so well able to afford mystic protection and which itself affirms the support of the knowledge and the virtues of the keys of Wisdom you have already attained. Hold, or have at hand, the magic sword of Mars and Geburah to hinder the attacks of opposing forces acting with hostile intent, and of errant forces crossing your path. It will also increase the power of your resolves. The Lotus Wand should be in frequent use, because it gives precision to your working and supplies a ready means of appeal to any special force, zodiacal or planetary, by hour or present position; or elementary by triplicity. 279 APPENDIX D The four Elemental hnplements should be all laid on the table before you for immediate use as required: the whole four must be present to preserve a certain Balance and Harmony in the sphere of your aura, and yet it is desirable to take up and hold with concentrated idea any one of them when trying to form an estimate of the strength of the corresponding force in any detail of your work: or you may hold one of them to secure physical or astral power and intensity of that character or again to preserve your own natural equilibrium. ror example, in the act of judging an astrologic Figure. Suppose you find the ascendant in Aries and Mars is found in Virgo. To ascertain more accurately their effects in the case, take the Lotus Wand in the Right hand and use the left for the Elemental Implements. Hold by the scarlet band of "Y' , consider, take up the Fire Wand, consider, then shift the grasp to 'IV' and lay down the Fire Wand and take up the Pentacle for that earthy sign. Again, suppose the end of the matter to be in ® and the 0 in b. Take the Lotus Wand first by one sign band and then by the other, taking up with the left, the Cup and Pentacle in succession. Or if l? be in := in D to the :» hold the Wand by the emerald band and take the air dagger in the left hand, if you wish to consider what mischief the square of l? does to :» .The same method will apply to a Geomantic Consideration, and the Lotus Wand is here especially suitable, for Geomantic Working is markedly Zodiacal rather than Planetary. If a Divination must be done when you are in trouble, use the sword to give strength in working and fortitude: holding it in the right hand and wand or implement in the left hand. In a Tarot judgement the same mode of working conduces to accuracy of result. In Geomancy also you may hold the sword in the left hand, while making the dot with the right hand. The actual presence of your mystical motto, painted upon your magical weapon has its special use of 'identifying the Power of the weapon with your own force You should not imprint your own motto upon a telesm or flashing tablet given by you to another member. But you may add it to such a design intended by you, for your own wearing or use. This caution does not apply to a Telesm drawn and energised by you for presentation to the Chiefs for purposes of examination or for tests of your ability: in such case you may preferably write your motto on the reverse side of the Talisman or Design. [Note by EK. Some copies of this document give it the title 'On Robes:) 280 APPENDIX D Flying Roll No. XXIX Notice to all Members of the Second Order. By G. H. Frater o.o.c.F. 7=4, Chief Adept. On their attainment of the Grade of Theoricus Adeptus Minor I appoint the four following members of the Second Order, viz. V.H. Fra. Levavi Oculos, VH. Soror Sapientia Sapienti dono data, VH. Fra. Resurgam, VH. Soror rortiter et Recte, to assist the GH. Frater Non Omnis Moriar, Chief Adept in Charge in Britannia Magna cum Hibernia et Coloniis suis, in ruling and management of the Second Order, as his immediate Lieutenants and under his immediate orders. And upon these rour, as a badge of their office I have conferred the symbols of HORUS, ISIS, AROUERIS and NEPHTHYS as a distinctive mark of the authority of each, a higher ranking superior to all other members of the Second Order until further notice; and to show to which particular one of them appeal is to be made by other members in case of difficulty. And the decisions of these rour are to be subject to the approval and ratification of the GH. Fra. Non Omnis Moriar. To the v.H. Fra. LO I have given the symbol of HORUS showing that appeal is to be made in all grave matters coming under the dominion of Horus ... such as Disagreement. All things pertaining to wrath, misunderstanding and irritation between members. Enforcement of the authority of the Chief of the Order. All frankly suggested plans requiring energy in their carrying out. Also the administration of advice to inferior members of the Second Order on all matters requiring decisive action. To VH. Soror S.S.D.D. I have given the symbol ofHICE, ISIS showing that unto her appeal is to be made in all grave matters coming under the dominion of Isis .. . such as the maintenance of peace and harmony between members. Instruction in doubtful application of occult correspondences. Decision in cases of vacillation and doubting of mind of inferior members, and decisions in matters affecting the harmony existing between different methods of occult working. To VH. Fra. Resurgam I have given the symbol of AROUERIS, showing that unto him appeal is to be made in all grave matters coming under the Dominion of Aroueris ... such as all cases of doubt and difficulty in the application of rules for divination. Matters requiring subtlety and tact, and all decisions regarding the formulation of ideas. 281 APPENDIX D To Y.H. Soror F et R I have given the symool ofNEPH1HYS showing that unto her appeal is to be made in all grave matters coming under the dominion of Nephthys ... such as all cases of difficulty in the application of given rules to material correspondences. Difficulties in the ordering of studies of inferior members. All questions regarding difficulty in the selection of Forces to work, under or with, for a fixed end. All cases of doubt or difficulty requiring a right application of rules already given. These four members aforesaid to be coequal in authority under the super-intendence of the 'Chief Adept in Charge' and in all matters of difficulty their decisions being submitted to him for ratification. And if (which is not frequently probable) a case shall fall under more than one of their heads, it is to be submitted equally to the judgement of those two or more Theorici Adepti aforesaid under whose office it is classed. And I trust that members of inferior rank will not abuse the faculty of appeal herein accorded, by constantly harassing the members aforesaid concerning trivial and unimportant subjects. (signed) Deo Duce, Comite Ferro 7 =4 [Note by EK. 'Resurgam' was, as stated, earlier, Dr Berridge; 'Sapientia .. : was Florence Farr; 'Levavi Oculos' was P. Bullock; and 'Fortiter et Recte' was Annie Horniman.l Flying Roll No. XXXI Correspondence between the Enochian and Ethiopic Alphabets, by V.N.R. and V.H. Ad.Maj. In the Book of the Concourse of the Forces it is stated that the letters of the Enochian Alphabet are of the nature of sigils and can therefore be better employed for magical purposes than our ordinary Roman characters, and we find proof of their force and correctness as to correspondence in the skrying of the squares of the Enochian Tablets. One or more of these letters being placed on the particular square employed in a vision, instead of the Roman letter will aid the skyring power by compelling the force of concentration on to the one square in question and on no other. For however great may be the power of Clairvoyance, the student will find himself obtaining erroneous results should he not carry his 282 APPENDIX D correspondences to the last detail. Therefore it is wise to use the particular sigil of the square, as well as the general one of the Tablet, and naturally as well the ruling Names (Deity, Angelic and otherwise) with the correct pronunciation and vibration thereof, the colours &c &c. The descent of the Book of the 'Concourse of the mrces' from the Egyptian Wisdom is undoubted, for we find that the very key note of the scheme of these tablets is the esoteric meaning of the Great Egyptian Symbols of the Pyramid and the Sphinx. The probability is then that this Tablet language has its origin in the Egyptian and its close resemblance to the Ethiopic (which is generally supposed to be derived from Egyptian) is very marked as the Table on page 000 will show. Certainly, certain of these letters have a resemblance only when inverted or transposed, but this is not surprising when we consider the nature of hiero-glyphics, which can be read from right to left or vice versa and downward or in groups, and that a letter may also be turned in several directions. The Ethiopic is composed (according to Gesenius' Heb[rew] Gram[mar)) of 26 letters all consonantal (as are most Semitic languages) the vowels being expressed by little curves or dashes seven in number, for instance ~ , u. (here the curve or dash is at the right side and further it is half way up. In the second case the curve is at the top.) In the Tablets, when written in the Roman character the vowels are sometimes omitted. It is for this reason that we have been told to pronouce certain vowels after certain consonants. e.g. If B in an Angel name precedes another consonant, as in SOBHA thou mayest pronounce it SOBAYHAH (Book of the Angelic Calls). [There follows a table of Ethiopic and Enochian characters for comparative purposes, with a guide to pronunciation, and a table of the Ethiopic alphabet giving all the diacritical marks. R.G.] Flying Roll No. XXXII Theban Letters. Issued by N.o.M. In the Hying Roll which explains the Yetziratic formation of an image of Adonai ha-Aretz it will be noted that the name is written upon the girdle in Theban characters. Many members having asked for this alphabet, I now issue this roll to furnish the required knowledge. 283 APPENDIX D [Here follows a table of Theban letters, as found in Barrett's The Magus, on the plate facing p. 64 of Book III .A. N D o D P Q r. E R s H T I V X K L M z These letters are recorded by Peter of Abano, also called Petrus eli Appone who derived from Honorius the Theban. This Honorius is said by many to have been a Pope. There have been four Popes named Honorius, but neither [sic] of them was called Theban Peter of Abano flourished circa A.D. 1300. This Alphabet is found in Cornelius Agrippa's Works and in Barrett's Magus . [Note by EK. The so-called Theban letters were also primed, along with other 'magical alphabets: as an appendix to Mathers' edition of The Key of Solomon.] Flying Roll No. III 1. If you are leaving home, or will be away, or if there be any reason 2. why these messages should not be sent to you-you must inform the member from whom you receive messages. Messages are to be returned to NOM. whenever they cannot be sent to the proper member; and a note is to be added, stating the reason why this is necessary. 3. A time for keeping each message will be written upon each:- any member who causes unnecessary delay will incur the risk of being omitted from the next circulation. 4. Each member must sign the form and add data of receipt and 284 APPENDIX D sending on, under a similar penalty on failure to do this duty which is required for the common good. N.o.M. 5. Do not keep anywhere, the address of the office, written out, or only written in Hebrew. Flying Roll No. VIII A Geometrical Way to Draw a Pentagram Let AB be any line of the length required for the distance between the points of Earth and Fire. Bisect AB in 0 and from 0 draw OH H perpendicular to AB. Cut off OC to equal AB. Join B with C and produce the line BC to F making FC to equal OA. From centre B, with radius BF, draw the circle FDK, cutting OH at D. 0 is then the 'Spirit' angle of the Pentagram. With the centres Band 0 draw circles with a radius equal to AB, and they cut each other at E which will be the Water angle. In a similar way [i.e. by drawing a circle of radius AB from centre A] find G the Air angle. Join A, B, 0, E, and G in the usual way. R. A. Gilbert 285 APPENDIX E Among Westcott's papers is a manuscript 'Catalogue of Rying Rolls' which lists not only the dates of issue but also the prices charged to members for copying. It is of further interest in that it gives the original titles of those Rying Rolls whose content was later changed. Flying Rolls, Catalogue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Warnings Purity and Will Instructions Spirit Vision, S.S.D.D. and F. [Later re-numbered 6. The authors were Rorence Farr and Annie Horniman.] Imagination by Resurgam [i.e. Dr Berridge] SRMD Note on 2 [i.e. Mathers' Note. Later re-numbered 4.] Material Alchymy [Enoch Suggestions; erased] Geometric Pentagram [Altered to '95' when the content was altered.] Right and Left Self Sacrifice Clairvoyance 11 12 Telesm[aticl Images and Adonai 13 Secrecy and Hermetic (Love) 14 Talismans and Rashing Tablets 15 Man and God 286 Issued on Nov. 7, [18] 92 Nov. 24 Nov. 24 Nov. 28 216 216 216 216 Dec. 11 4/4/- Dec. 27 Feb. 25, [18] 93 6/8 (7/-)* 11- Mar. 27 Apr. 8 Apr. 9 116 6/5/- May 27 5/3/6 3/6 4/- June 1 June 15 July 26 APPENDIX E 16 17 18 19 20 21 Fama Fraternitatis Vault Sides Progress Aims and Means Elementary View of Man Know Thyself 22 Quaestor on Free Will [i.e. Quaestor Lucis = Oswald Murray] 23 [Regulations for Exams. Oct. 16: erased] Tatwa Visions 24 Horary Figure by Resurg[am] [i.e. Dr Berridge] 25 [Notice re Stamping Letters, 27/1194: erased] s.s. on Clairvoyance [i.e. Sub Spe = J.w. Brodie-Innes] 26 Re Planets to Tatwas a Supplementto XII 27 Bullock on Theurgia 28 Use of Implements in Divination - NOM. & o.o.c.F. [Le. Non Omnis Moriar = Westcott, and Deo Duce Comite Ferro = Mathers'] 29 Order by o.o.c.F. as to 4 Lieutenants - declared June 18, '94 issued Nov. 8 30 Tatwas and Skrying & Hierophant's making 0=0 signs 32 [Originally numbered 31] Theban Letters 34 [Originally numbered 32] An Exorcism by S.S. [i.e. Sub Spe] 287 Aug. 24 Aug. 29 Aug. 30 Sept. 15 Sept. 23 Sept. 26 Oct. 8 3/6 3/2/4/6 2/3 4/6 (5/-)* 3/9 213 Jan. 12, [18] 94 116 3/- June 1894 Nov. 3, 1894 3/- 11- APPENDIX E 33 [New Regulations: erased] Enoch Visions 31 Ethiopic Letters 35 Notes on the Z Exordiums 5/6 216 11- Number 36 is not included as this was not issued until late in 1897, by which time Westcott had resigned from office in the Order. *The revised prices are given in brackets. R. A. Gilbert 288
THIRD EYE ACTIVATION MASTERY Proven And Fast Working Techniques To Increase Awareness And Consciousness L. Jordan Second Edition Free bonus inside this book © 2015 Copyright. Text copyright reserved. L. Jordan The contents of this book may not be reproduced, duplicated or transmitted without direct written permission from the author Disclaimer : all attempts have been made by the author to provide factual and accurate content. No responsibility will be taken by the author for any damages caused by misuse of the content described in this book. The content of this book has been derived from various sources. Please consult a licensed professional before attempting any techniques outlined in this book. Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: What, Exactly, Is The Third Eye? Chapter 2: How Do You Open That Third Eye? Chapter 3: Applying the Trataka Technique of Meditation Chapter 4: Using Open Portal Technique to Open the Third Eye Chapter 5: 2-Tier Technique to Open the Third Eye Chapter 6: Benefits of the Third Eye Chapter 7: How about opening your Third Eye in unconventional ways? Chapter 8: How to Tell That Your Third Eye Is Open Chapter 9: How You Can Close Your Third Eye Chapter 10: Interesting Facts Regarding the Third Eye Conclusion BONUS Introduction Chances are you have heard of the Third Eye. Most people have. Unfortunately, the third eye most people know is possibly the investigative eye; someone you hire to check out who could be sabotaging your business, your relationship, and such. Investigative firms, for example, might view themselves as their clients’ third eye. However, the third eye discussed in this book relates to the power of vision that you gain when you learn how to exercise some out-of-the-body discipline. In this book, you can learn more about the basics of opening the third eye. You will learn the simple things that you need to do on a regular basis, but which have enormous rewards in terms of being aware of what is happening around you. Once you have learnt how to open your third eye, you will be able to tell when you are in a hostile environment and when you are in a friendly environment. Whichever happens to be the case, you then can make a move that best suits your circumstances. Being able to open your third eye also gives you a quick and easy avenue to relax both your mind and your body, something that leaves you well placed to make objective decisions in whatever you are doing. For your information, some people have their third eye open right from birth, in fact so open that they pass as natural psychics. This book will help you see if you a natural psychic or not, or if someone close to you happens to be. This is important because some parents who have children with psychic abilities tend to think those children are mentally unstable. And that goes too for the abilities of a medium – the one with an even higher level of intuition and vision, and which happens to take a much more spiritual dimension. You will read all about the distinguishing features between a psychic and a medium in this book. Hence, you will be able to understand yourself when you feel like you are thinking out of this world, and others too when other people may see them as weirdoes. Incidentally, when it comes to the opening of your third eye, at times it just inadvertently flips open. You will read about that in this book and see how you can be so ordinary one day and the next you are all visual and prophetic. In fact, that is how the world has gotten some of its most famous mediums – in a very abrupt and unplanned way. However, as already mentioned, that there are the natural born psychics as you will clearly see in this book. And whichever way each of the psychics gets their third eye open, the fact is that they all have very high level of intuition that any person would benefit from. This book also teaches you how to close your third eye. It shows you why opening your third eye can sometimes be overwhelming, and it teaches you how to remedy the situation in such instances. From this book, you get to learn that the skills of opening and closing your third eye are not just useful to monks and other religious figures, but they are also useful to ordinary people. The future for you is waiting to be uncovered. If you are ready to get more intuitive, you need to read this book and put into practice the simple lessons given. You will realize that there is nothing necessarily religious about meditation, yet it can go a long way to opening your higher understanding of happenings in your life. You will be in a position to psych yourself for certain eventualities that you may sense during the period your third eye is highly energized. In matters of intuition and psychic competence, this book offers just the solution you have been looking for. Happy reading and best wishes in activating your third eye! Chapter 1: What, Exactly, Is The Third Eye? How many eyes do you normally have? Well, you, obviously, know of two; the physical ones that are conspicuous and clearly located within your face. But there are, very likely, times that you see something for the first time, yet you have this feeling that it is not exactly new. Chances are that you had visualized whatever it is you are seeing now, but at a subconscious level. And much as we may be using subconscious here, in certain disciplines, it comes across as a level of, say – higher consciousness. At certain times too, you have this strong feeling about something and you may reckon it is your mind directing your line and density of thought, yet it happens to be a function of your third eye. So you cannot wonder that it is sometimes referred to as your mind’s eye. Has the third eye always existed? From the old school of thought, the third eye has a lot to do with the mystical – some extraordinary ability to perceive things you cannot see with your naked eyes. In fact, in many cases, it is seen as ability to perceive things even before they happen; the reason the third eye is sometimes referred to as the speculative and invisible eye. Of course, since it is not visible it is also termed the inner eye. And, in a somewhat amusing way, in some faiths, it is even given a location. In Hinduism, for example, it is said to be on your brow – right between your eyebrows, but slightly above the eyebrow junction. You have possibly seen members of the Hindu community wear a red mark right on that spot. In theosophy, which is a study of the divine within the Greek philosophy, the third eye is considered as being located within the pineal gland. This is a serious subject but it is sprinkled with funny aspects. When it comes to this discipline that is theosophy, for instance, it is believed that once upon a time – sounds like a tale of the ogres – the human third eye used to be physically located right at the back of your head (oops!). Sure – and it did perform both the physical role of watching and also the spiritual role of seeing the invisible. Then, what the heck happened? Well, ever heard that once upon a time you were monkeys? And then you learnt how to walk on twos and your brain developed somewhat and you became the bright beings that you are today? That is called evolving. And so, apparently, you may have had that physical third eye in those early stages of development, and it sort of dissolved or disappeared into your cranium (too much imagination here…), and now what you are left with is the ability to sense out-of-body things from your pineal gland. Scientific perspective to the third eye Incidentally, some highly educated people seem to see a lot of sense in the third eye and are trying to understand its mode of operation better. There is this doctor of psychiatry, Dr. Rick Strassman, who tends to see some link between the pineal gland and the excretion of the chemical, entheogen. Entheogen, for your information is said to induce different states of consciousness. So you see – the existence of the third eye is not a matter of mythical stories; religious hypnosis and fanaticism; or such other not-easy-to-believe practices. It is some reality that you may wish to appreciate; acknowledge, and even make use of. And what is the modern sense of the third eye? In the present day, the third eye does not change its basics since it is still invisible and not necessarily easy to comprehend; but it is associated more with enlightenment of sorts. It is also associated with your ability to understand and make best use of your chakras – those nerve centers that exist in different parts of your body, and which have a lot to do with your emotional, psychological and spiritual welfare. In a religious sense, the third eye has got a lot to do with visions. In this respect, people who make good use of their third eye are often believed to be seers. On the overall, the third eye has plenty to do with non-physical experiences as well as precognition. How, for the love of mystery and wit, do I begin to comprehend the third eye? Yeah – if you are not into chakras and visions, you may be wondering what will make you understand the third eye better. Here is a case that will ring a bell: Supposing your friend is grieving and you find that whatever words you prepare to say as a show of solidarity are not sufficient. Just being around this friend and showing empathy does wonders; your friend understands that you are communicating empathy and solidarity. You know what you are effectively doing in this case? You are utilizing the power of the third eye to send your heartfelt emotions to that person. The truth is that you and everyone else have the third eye. And evidently, your third eye does not just receive information, it also transmits it. Another way of looking at the third eye You know what a student portal is, don’t you? The site where you log into and access whatever that appertains to you as a student – a place that is highly concentrated with information useful to you in particular and not the entire institution in general. That is precisely what your third eye is like – a portal that is concentrated with such great and positive energy, that it is able to sharpen your thinking and direct your focus. As such you find yourself with a high level of intuition; imagination; creativity; and also wisdom. And you can now see how you get to the high level of consciousness. Does the third eye make you a psychic? It is said that some people have their third eye open in a natural way, but you can also make a deliberate move to have your third eye open. Those people with their third eye very wide open from birth and they are aware of it are the ones you consider psychic. In their lot are some, in fact, who have been relied upon to help in criminal investigations because the energies of their third eye direct their focus on where the action is even without their physical presence. Of course opening your third eye is not necessarily going to produce a psychic out of you, but you will, definitely, be more aware of your environment – the positive and negative energy within it – and even be realistic about the possibilities of certain eventualities. Chapter 2: How Do You Open That Third Eye? Is there really only one way to skin a – no; you do not want trouble with animal activists so you dare not see yourself skinning a cat, whichever eye you are using. So let us ask, is there just one way of catching a thief? And the answer is no – there are more than one way. You could lie in wait; set up CCTV cameras; and many other ways. Likewise, there is more than one way to open your third eye. You could do this and do that; but ultimately the practice you put into the whole experience is what determines how successfully you manage to open that third eye. Meditation In meditation, you seek out some quiet place. And do not worry; we appreciate the world is one noisy place. So your place need not be as quiet as a deserted church – just quiet enough to let you focus without major distractions. Again, it needs to be a place where you can sit down. This is how you go about it: Sit right on the floor. Whether you have laid a mat or not is not consequential. Set up your back; it needs to be straight Cross your legs before you – well, you cannot really cross them any different way, can you? Rest your open hands on your knees You are now set for meditation… Hold on! Suppose sitting on the floor is a no for me? That is a question you should expect from many people, but the truth is – that is not a reason for you or anyone else to let meditation pass. So, in case, for some reason you cannot actually sit on the floor, or possibly you do not want to, get a chair and sit on it. Just ensure that your back remains straight. And how is the rest of the body in the meantime? Well: Chest – out Abdominal muscles – tight What is the big deal with abdominal muscles? Well, they are very important in supporting the upper part of your body. And shoulders – down Why down for the shoulders? Well, you are required to relax; that is the reason. In fact, you need to consciously let your body go even as you observe the areas pointed out above, of the abdominal muscles and so on. You are now set; go! Begin by letting your head that now sits on a relaxed neck move from side to side. That way, you are helping release the tension that may be in your neck muscles. Once you do that, you will feel your body generally relaxing. It is now time to address your mind. Sweep out all thoughts from your mind. Oh – and how is that possible? You may try to forget the issue of your college fees but then the thought of the energy bills surfaces. And when you have just managed to ignore that one the image of that colleague who sabotages your work in the office jumps in. Looks like this is the real sabotage against opening your third eye – lots to worry about in life! But gladly, there is a trick. Do you hear that humming of your old fridge that seems destined to go on for eternity? You can choose to focus on it single mindedly. Alternatively, you can focus on your breathing rhythm – in, out, in, out… Whatever you focus on let your mind not be distracted from it. Alright! But a tough call it is. No – do not fret about attaining perfection. Rome was not built in a day and you do not expect to master this technique overnight. So, cut yourself some slack. If a thought lands from nowhere – well, you know it is from some corner of your mind – just acknowledge it has had the better of you and switch your focus back to the one thing you chose for concentration. How long do you remain in the state of meditation? Well, you need to aim at 30 minutes in the least. However, you do not have to stick to the minimum because you know what? You often find yourself wasting the initial 10 to 15 minutes of your session, trying to get rid of all the junk that has accumulated in your mind from the daily hustles. In fact, you can refer to those first many minutes as your transition period from the normal chaotic world to your peaceful meditative state. How often should I meditate? Hey! You cannot have enough of a good thing. But since the reality of life is such that you cannot meditate as often as monks do, spare some time every day just for that. Once you make daily meditation part of you, you will begin to notice some elevated level of consciousness. And when you are seriously pressed for time? Well, just know the secret of what you want and make it happen. Even five minutes or less will do. Yes – you can do it. Once you have mastered the art of meditation, you can just leave the scene where everyone else is, dash to the toilet – supposedly, and not for real – and just go to a secluded place and have a couple of minutes’ session of meditation. You will join the rest of your pack feeling more relaxed and with more heightened level of comprehension. Some simple but important things to note: If you keep thinking about how much time is remaining for your meditation session to end, it means you will be distracted very often. Why not solve this problem by setting a timer? So, yours is to concentrate with no excuse to stray. After all, once your session is up, your timer will ring. You can meditate even as you go about some chores. Just like you can send a prayer to the Divine even when you are not in a place of worship, so too can you put your mind into meditating mode anytime, anywhere. For instance, when you are busy brushing your teeth, something that we know is very repetitive and routine; you can deliberately focus on the movement of your brush while keeping all other thoughts out. You will effectively manage to handle two things in one move – you will have clean teeth and a clear, focused mind. Here is another angle to opening your third eye: The inadvertent way. The way your third eye opens up in under this banner is surely inadvertent. You do not go out to open it and you do not strategize about it. Yet it happens. Here are some ways you can abruptly find yourself with a radically high level of intuition in a way you never experienced before: After experiencing a near death situation Instances have been known where ordinary people like you became psychics after surviving near fatal accidents. You have the mediums John Holland and Maureen Hancock of the US as great examples whose heightened psychic abilities developed after serious accidents. After losing someone you love Inevitably, even people who are ordinarily not spiritual become spiritual in the course of grieving for someone they loved. And as they let themselves get spiritual comfort, they get their third eye opened even though that was not a planned move. After giving birth to a child Automatically, your senses are on high alert when you have a newborn. You want to protect the vulnerable baby and ensure it is comfortable at all times. That in itself is a way of opening your third eye as your intuition heightens. Undertaking energetic healing If you have sessions of energetic healing, say hypnosis or something like Reiki, which is a form of physical therapy, you can have your third eye opening. Such sessions activate your sixth sense and raise the frequency of your vibrations. Just so you know, those extraordinary ways of activating your third eye are not exhaustive. If you look at the thread that cuts across all of them, you can safely come to the conclusion that any life shaking event can cause an alert in your system and hence a heightened level of intuition – activating your third eye. Chapter 3: Applying the Trataka Technique of Meditation You can open your third eye by following the technique popularly known as trataka. Trataka simply means gazing in common parlance. And the gazing in this meditation technique refers to the kind of concentration that you do, focusing on one particular point for a prolonged period of time. Exactly How Does Trataka Open The Third Eye? First of all, you need to know that this technique is based on the spiritual belief system that holds the contention that the third eye is right where your sixth chakra is: right on your forehead, between your eyebrows. And you also need to appreciate the importance of the sixth chakra so that you can appreciate its relevance here. If you have no idea, just understand that chakras are points in your body where spiritual energy converges to bring harmony to your overall being; and different chakras have different roles. When the energy is flowing nicely within the sixth chakra, you find yourself aware of your surroundings, in a way that you can sense danger if it is lurking somewhere, and you can get encouraged if there is positive energy around you. So it is just as well that when you use the trataka technique, the spot you focus on is right on your brow where that sixth chakra is. And once you manage to do that successfully, then you will be increasing your sense of awareness – what you perceive without seeing with your two naked eyes. And you will have succeeded in opening your third eye. Here Are The Steps Of Trataka: Sit upright on the floor. Ensure your spine is particularly upright. You need to position your legs in a cross-legged manner. In this technique too, if you cannot sit on the floor, it is fine for you to sit comfortably but upright in a chair. Now shut your two eyes. With your eyes well closed, do breath in and out three consecutive times. Still with your eyes closed, try and focus on your forehead; the place you recall we traced the 6th chakra. When talking on focusing, you practically try to draw your eyes towards that middle part of your brow. As you do so, begin to count the numbers from 100, one by one backwards up to 1. Just leave about two seconds between one digit and the next. In short, while sitting in an upright position and with your body well relaxed, and also with your eyes closed and focused on your brow, you begin to count silently in your mind: 100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, …1. In the meantime, do not be surprised to feel some strain on your eyes. You can be sure it does not graduate to pain or anything unpleasant. It is a kind of strain that you soon get accustomed to and actually enjoy it. What else transpires? There is also some sensational feeling around your point of focus; indicating that something is happening to your third eye. Keep your focus steady, still on the middle of your brow. Your third eye continues to open and soon you begin to see thoughts; seeing things like the way you see things in a dream. Keep your focus still on the position of the third eye until you have successfully done 10 to 15 minutes. Great! Now you can allow yourself to reverse your focus to your surroundings, but still with your eyes closed. Let your eyes relax. Let your focus now leave your third eye and return to normalcy. Remain still for a couple of minutes. With your eyes relaxed, draw air in and out three times; inhaling and exhaling. Now you can open your two eyes slowly. Great! You are done with your Trataka Meditation. And, without a doubt, you have succeeded in doing two things: 1. You have exercised your physical eyes in a way that leaves them healthier. 2. You have learnt how to concentrate and draw the power of intuition. Care that you need to take: It is normal to feel some warmth around the area of your third eye as you meditate. But if that warmth graduates to intense warmth or even heat, that is a sign that your intensity is opening an even deeper spiritual path. In fact, sometimes that effect manifests in form of irritation. And since that reaction is in the realm of things you need to rehearse for prior to this experience, it is best that you interrupt your trataka meditation forthwith. Chapter 4: Using Open Portal Technique to Open the Third Eye This technique that is referred to as Open Portal has a slightly different style. The results are, however, not affected in any way. You still get your third eye open and you feel a great sense of awareness and cognition. This is how you implement this technique: You lie down flat out on the ground or such other surface. While in that relaxed position, lift one index finger and touch the area right between your eyebrows. That is the point just above your nose bridge. Use that forefinger to press that spot in between your eyebrows, moving it in circular movements and in a clockwise direction. This is effectively some form of massage. Do the massage for something like 30 seconds and then remove your finger. Very likely, you will be left feeling some swirling sensation on that spot you just rubbed, even with your index finger already released. That is actually energy moving within you. Now move your eyeballs in an upwards direction. That movement of the eyeballs should be something like 20°. With this eye movement, you will, very likely, experience a swirling feeling that is even stronger than before. Now pull in air through your nose – inhaling. At this juncture, you will feel some energy movement right from your feet. The route that energy takes is from the soles; through the calves; via your legs; through your groin; passing through your hips and your torso; upwards via your spine; right through your throat; entering your head to reach the spot where energy has been swirling. As you now exhale, you will feel some pulsation and strength in that area of your third eye; and you will experience some powerful glow. Do a fresh round of inhalation and feel the energy traveling within you right from the soles of your feet; upwards through your lower and to your upper body; the same way the energy traveled in the first round. On exhalation, the energy you feel at that spot in between your eyebrows is even more intense. Now that you have mastered this art of inhalation and exhalation; and focusing on the movement of your energy from your feet up to your brow, you need to repeat that exercise until you hit 33 times – considering both inhalations and exhalations. After successfully doing this exercise, you will have opened your third eye. You will even be feeling the swirling effect even without touching your forehead. Within no time, you will be able to summon the swirling effect without having to touch your forehead or even doing any of those exercises. To keep the power of your third eye going, and even to make it even stronger, it is advisable that you do that routine of massaging your forehead and monitoring the movement of energy from your feet up to your forehead every time before you get up in the morning. Do the routine before you go to bed too every night. That is a way of keeping your intuitive power up – keeping your third eye open. To enhance your understanding of how this open portal technique works, you just need to imagine an indigo rose flower with its attractive petals well rounded to form the open flower. The swirling effect you feel in the middle of your forehead corresponds to the energy that swirls through the unfolding rose. You need to realize that the 6th chakra is symbolized by the indigo color. Chapter 5: 2-Tier Technique to Open the Third Eye The 1st Awakening This stage is primarily about connecting with that seat of the soul – the third eye. Which one, you may ask. This is the pineal gland, that tiny place where the famous philosopher of French descent, Rene Descartes, believed your soul resides. And that place, incidentally, happens to be the fundamental link between your body and your mind. Question: If truly every person has this very important gland, why are many people unaware of their third eye? Sincere answer: In all honesty, many people are average in many things. And it takes some prompting or some initiative to excel and leave the realm of the average. And when it comes to appreciating and opening your third eye, this is what this book aims for – to get you from the view of the average person, to the different views of a person with higher, more developed intuition. So, what we are in effect saying is that for an average person, the pineal gland just performs its biological role of secreting melatonin, that hormone that prepares you for night hours and consequently, sleep. However, with appropriate techniques and practice, you can open your third eye – activate that soul seat – and join the people with enhanced mental and intellectual vision. The 1st stage This stage is simple, but it needs to be practiced well. This is how you go about it: Sit upright somewhere – on the floor or even on some furniture Inhale air, as usual, through the nose, only this time you pull in the air slowly into your lungs Hold that inhaled air for the longest time you comfortably can When it comes to your mouth, of course, the normal thing would be to have it closed – not this time, though. Even without opening it wide, you need to part your teeth some bit, so that the tip of your tongue pushes through your front teeth a little bit. Let your tongue put some pressure against your teeth the way you do when you are preparing to say the sound, ‘th’, as in the word ‘the’, as you prepare to exhale. Now do the actual exhaling, releasing the air in a slow motion through your teeth. And as you release the long stream of air, you will be producing a sound like ‘th - h – h – o – h – h’. In short, your tongue will be making vibrations between the teeth. What is the impact of this procedure? Well, for one, you will feel the air exiting through the place of contact between tongue and teeth. Your jaw and also your cheeks will experience some kind of sensation. That experience may manifest like some sort of pressure. You will have a tone vibrate within your third eye. You may not have the hang of it at first, but with practice you are going to register the expected experience. In fact, just after completing those steps of inhaling and exhaling, restart all over, and keep repeating the procedure until you have completed five (5) consecutive rounds. Is this now the juncture at which you say, time for 1st awakening is up? Well, not yet – you have just completed its first stage. The 2nd stage The 2nd stage of this 1st awakening is where you make a repeat of the whole process of stage one. Here you have got to repeat the procedure after 24hrs. This 24hr waiting period gives your system time to take in the effects of your earlier processes. After that first repeat you need to do another one – also after another 24hrs. In short, the session for this 2nd stage ends when you have done the whole procedure in three days consecutively. So now, yes – you are done with the 1st awakening. What signs mark the end of that session of pineal gland awakening or 3rd eye opening? Expect some headache If not a headache, expect to feel some pressure right in the middle of your forehead. And so you know it is the real thing, the pressure will tend to emanate from some place about an inch into the inside of your forehead. At some point, you may feel some tingling or even throbbing within your forehead one early morning, something that comes close to a goose bump. The feeling could even continue into the day. Sometimes you may sense – what we could actually call ‘hearing’ – sounds ringing inside your head. And those sounds come across as crackling sensations or even light popping. With those physiological happenings, you are sure your third eye is pretty open. Beware: That headache we have mentioned here may actually turn out to be serious migraine, and you would be better lying down to relax. So the best advice for you is to practice your third eye opening sessions in the evenings, when you cannot affect your day work or routine. However, not everyone experiences the migraines – only those whose pineal gland is calcified in a big way. Do you know the psychic effect of opening your 3rd eye? Well, here is what you should expect after successful opening of your 3rd eye, courtesy of the 1st awakening: You begin to increase your learning pace You find yourself enhancing your retention rate of what you learn Your creativity is enhanced You get to strengthen your psychic endowments If you never knew you had psychic gifts you begin to discover them You get to appreciate human auras in a strong way You find psychic visions opening – clairvoyance You find psychic hearing opening – clairaudience You get psychic feeling or touching opening – clairsentience Let us summarize this section by saying that whereas some level of discomfort is inevitable at this initial stage of activating your pineal gland, the benefits make the whole experience worthwhile. Gladly, many are the people whose only discomfort is the slight pressure on the forehead. The 2nd Awakening The presumption here is that you have already gone through the 1st awakening. It is like talking about polishing your draft – of an assignment or anything else for that matter. You cannot have anything to polish, really, unless you have done some groundwork; laid some foundation. And that is what the first awakening was all about – laying foundation for your energy flow. It was precisely about getting your inner energy, that spiritual energy, flowing. And that you have accomplished. Now for that flow of energy to take on the best rhythm, your body needs a break of somewhere between ten (10) to fourteen (14) days from the time you complete the session for the 1st awakening. Only then can you begin your 2nd awakening session. Let us begin by whetting your appetite, for here you are talking about a 2nd session of very pleasurable experience – actually qualifying to be called euphoric. It is recommended that you undertake this session once a week – that is enough for this blissful experience. Here are the steps you undertake: While well sat and relaxed, breathe in to your fullest and then hold your breath within as you inwardly count one up to five. Then breathe out slowly Repeat the process of breathing in and out slowly three more times. How do you think this will make you feel? I will tell you – well relaxed and actually focused. From that point henceforth, put your focus on your third eye. With that deliberate focus, believe you me you are going to feel its existence – that pressure that feels within the spot of the third eye. Now undertake the process below: Breathe in as deeply as you did during the first awakening. Hold onto that breath for the longest you can within comfort, that is, without straining. Then release that air through your mouth in slow exhilaration, letting your lips vibrate the word ‘May’ as the air comes out. In effect, your air should come out with an auto sound of ‘M – a – a – a – a – a – a – a – a – y’. What feeling should you expect at this juncture? Well, the opening of the third eye is all about energy flow that causes heightened awareness. At this point in time, therefore, you should expect: Energy within your head passing through the location of your third eye That energy then heading for the middle part of your brain Finally that energy landing on the crown chakra, which is at the top part of your head Mark you all this happens as you exhale air making the ‘May’ sound. Another important point to note is that you need to be relaxed in all this, because then, you will be able to follow the flow of your energy, effectively focusing on it as it flows through those three stages of third eye, mid-brain and then your head top. When you are done with that round of inhalation and exhalation, do a repeat four more times. At the end of it all, you will have done five rounds of inhalation and exhalation, focusing on your energy flow, through all the three relevant areas. How you should expect to feel after this 2nd awakening: Soon after the exercises, you are likely to feel a kind of pleasurable lightness Sometimes you may feel some tingling in your head Other times you could feel some pressure around your crown area It is not uncommon to feel a sense of intense euphoria On the overall, this 2nd awakening gives you some welcome bliss, and the timing of that bliss can vary from one individual to the next. It could come only hours after the third eye awakening process; or even days after. You know what the icing on the cake is? Well, this blissful state could last for a very long time, almost becoming part of you. As a result, you find yourself enjoying: Void meditation Clairvoyance Enhancement of additional psychic senses Enhancement of other paranormal senses Chapter 6: Benefits of the Third Eye Do you now see how different you would be with the power of the third eye? From what we have seen so far, there is a way you can empty your fears and anxieties from your system and replace them with the tranquility that comes with awareness. And what a peaceful world you would find despite the ups and downs of everyday life! In simple terms, you do not feel at peace with the world because people stop quarreling and nations cease hostilities – no. It is the awareness of what is going on around you, and your appreciation of your abilities and limitations that gives you peace. You surely do not want to miss the chance to lead a relaxed life after understanding the potential you have with the third eye. Let us summarize the benefits of opening your third eye: You will begin to be aware of things unseen and things unheard When you have your third eye open, you get to be conscious of things that are happening distance away from you, and after a period of getting used to, you know when that awareness calls for action. So you can find yourself making a telephone call in the middle of the night to check on someone, not because you have had a bad dream, but because you have gotten insight into some bad experience the person is having. In short, you get to live your life with a kind of spiritual guide. You become in charge of your life The intuition that comes with opening of your third eye becomes like some natural wisdom. You are able to turn left and lead others in that direction when you sense danger on the right. And because of that kind of reliable sense of direction, others cannot help but respect you. To them, what they see and sense in you is a kind of admirable maturity for what you say is well thought out, and it ends up guiding you to a much better place than otherwise. With this kind of ability to control your life, walking away from danger and walking towards opportunities becomes like second nature to you. When others seek to pay a fortune to get their lives deciphered by a psychic, you just smile knowing quite well you would not need to pay anyone to do what you can do for yourself. It harnesses your intuitive wisdom and in the process transforms your life Through the various techniques of keeping your third eye open, you end up with improved self awareness; controlled emotions; and ability to keep stress levels low. This gives your life great harmony, something that is elusive in many people’s lives. Increased ability to discover hidden passions When you have heightened awareness of you as part of a complex environment, with the ability to adjust yourself to suit different situations, thanks to the third eye, you have a better chance to ignite fresh passions that you never knew you had. For the passions that you were already pursuing, you will find yourself doing far much better than before. You will appreciate that better if you think of a situation where, instead of worrying all day long about your pending bills, you find yourself coming up with intelligent ways of managing your debts. You find yourself with no propensity to absorb negative thoughts This is how this happens: during your third eye opening sessions, you allow your senses to see your inside. And as you take deep breaths in and out, you do not just acknowledge the good thoughts but also those that are not so pleasant. Simply put, you do not take, for instance, meditation exercises, in order to escape reality – no. You do so in order that you can appreciate the thoughts going through your mind, and subsequently let the negative thoughts leave. Negative thoughts do not thrive in an environment that is clear and peaceful – they dwell in toxic environments. What now guides you is the intuitive wisdom that fills your mind, which then gives you much needed patience to handle the not-so-pleasant things in your life. You get to learn things you never thought yourself capable of This is because in sessions of meditation, you are able to hear sounds and visualize things that are not within your vicinity, and you also get to feel emotions you would normally not sense as a person whose third eye is closed. In the process, you are able to handle relatively well people who are stressed out and people who are annoying. You are able to accommodate their unpleasant state without becoming victim of their negative vibrations because of your intuition and patience. In short, having your third eye active is a great way of keeping free of unnecessary pressure and also free of anxiety. You are able to look deep inside you, which makes you appreciate the outside all the more It is at the time of meditation that you get to open up to your deepest passions, and this puts you in a good position to adjust your daily life accordingly. In short, what you discover in your inside manifests on your physical life. For instance, if you are at peace with yourself after meditation, you hardly get uncontrolled temptations to shout at people – you are patient. And if you have found your passion, you set your life goals in a decisive way – you get focused. Chapter 7: How about opening your Third Eye in unconventional ways? Well, the norm feels safe and sure, and it is more often stress free, but hey! How about venturing outside the usual; the norm; the conventional? It sounds like a little adventure, and there is, really, nothing wrong with having some fun while trying to reach the realms of the highly spiritual or highly intuitive. In fact, the reality is that the norm can sometimes be boring – or not so much enticing. Of course we need to mention here that whatever you do in a bid to open your third eye needs to be done within the tenets of moderation and good health. With that in mind, let us look at some crazy sounding methods, but which ultimately end up opening your 3rd eye in ways unknown to you before: Searching for the Poetic Dragon Smoke Here, you are being called upon to make a great leap from what you know and what you have always believed, to a mental sphere where you are ready to register new things. You will be accepting to break the boundary markers of the finite, and allowing your mind to venture into the world of the infinite. In short, you will refuse to see things at face value, but instead get your mind reading between the lines with the openness to embrace new meanings and perspectives. Allow yourself some mental adventure and let your third eye embrace the great mystery. This is exemplified well in the way ancient poets laid their work. They would write things that are familiar to you in an interesting way, but then in the middle of their work they would, sort of, lose you. They would write things with pretty deep meaning, and which would call for great intellect for you to comprehend. And then they would end up resuming their initial simplicity and tone. According to the Chinese, those poets were riding on dragons and during the span that they lose you in their writing, it is the time their dragons are emitting smoke, the way it happens in major Chinese festivities; and in the process shooting the poet to the world unknown – the unconscious. Of course, the poets would later resume the common world and we begin to read something familiar. Seeking to open your third eye is an attempt to cross the bridge of the familiar to step into the arena of the unfamiliar; the apparently mystical. Unbecoming everything You see, we know you as this or that. You could be the medical doctor who is very good in mathematics and science – full stop. Or you could be the great soprano singer. Now while those statements sound complimentary, do you not see some danger in them becoming limiting? And it may be one aspect that puts pressure on you to remain as we know you. If we know you as a great mathematician and scientist, we kind of close your doors to the world of art. It is like you have got to sneak to attend a writers’ congress because we do not expect you to do well in it. However, if you erase those limiting parameters and allow yourself to be what you are yet to know, you will be opening your third eye and giving yourself opportunity to explore deep and wide. And remember it is not just other people who limit you. In fact, you are your own greatest limiting factor. And you are the only one who can liberate yourself from static limitations, to the realm of uninhibited thinking. You will let your third eye open up by clearing the self conflict you constantly experience – the conflict of fearing to lose what you have, for example, without being sure that you will have something worthwhile to replace it. Come to think of it – how can you ever add anything into your hand if it is always secured in a tight grip? Liberate yourself from society and then use the conflict within you to undergo a process of self regeneration – that is the advice from Jennifer RatnaRosenhagen, the renowned US professor of History who is also an author. By taking this route of undoing things that are said to make you, it is important that you take into consideration the possibility of not becoming something in particular. In short, you are not striving to free yourself from limitations only to jump into a different form of limitation – no. Embrace the idea of setting yourself free with a view to becoming everything possible; being the authentic you. The fact is that you are a multi-layered individual with diverse and exceptional potential. Let your third eye open your vision to those avenues. Using apocalyptic glasses to see Just as Rumi, the Persian poet of the 13th century, said, whatever you see or observe has its real roots in the world of the unseen. And for you to be able to follow those roots, you need to look through those far reaching lenses. You get to see the truth that exists but we do not see owing to our set beliefs and our perceptions. Sometimes we are blinded to our potential by where we find ourselves particularly when we are born. This is referred to as caught-reality. Of course there are perceptions we develop because of what we are taught. It could be in school, by our parents, and so on. This way of looking at things is referred to as taught-reality. Then there is the universe that is bigger than us, and with its nature doing its thing without referring to anyone for an opinion. It also has a way of influence our perceptions. This is what is referred to as ought-reality. With all these dimensions that are not necessarily in harmony, we seek to understand them all as a package. What we end up perceiving is the soughtreality. If you have clearly followed this method of opening your 3rd eye, you will appreciate that the apocalyptic glasses are not giving you any specific direction to follow. What it does is just help in opening your third eye so that you are able to see what you are capable of learning and perceiving without external influences. The apocalyptic glasses are, in effect, immanently a plain white, where they show you neither colorful optimism nor dull pessimism. Practicing Counter-weltanschauung dynamics Do not worry about the German jargon. All that the long word, weltanschauung, means is worldview. You realize that a lot of what you do and what you aim to achieve has its benchmark on the outlook the world gives you about things. But the suggestion here is: try and ignore those world benchmarks and look at things from contrasting viewpoints. See what you come up with. Inevitably, if you go all out to do that, you will find your third eye opening, and you begin critically evaluating your situation and your contentions. And you will begin to appreciate the world from an open-minded perspective. What essentially this method seeks to achieve is a state of mind that is as open and as authentic as nature itself. Practicing faux pas dynamics Well, the idea is not really to go being rude to people, but it is just to develop some carefree attitude of a kind, such that you are not uptight at the thought of going wrong a decimal. Acknowledge deep down you that the world is not stable in anything. As such, circumstances that create a state of happiness in your life are not necessarily eternal. Likewise, those that create an unhappy state are not eternal either. The lesson, therefore, is that you prepare yourself for any eventuality. Riding on the same wave, when you are succeeding and others seem to be failing, do not be haughty and contemptuous. Be good to them and be sincere about it – not patronizing. You will find yourself experiencing some double jointed spirituality; giving you a pleasant balance. Yet even with that nice feeling, you ought not to revel too much on your successful life lest you slip. Remember pride is what precedes a fall. In summary, we are saying that it is alright to laugh at everything, good or bad, and even ridiculing what others take to be untouchable. Whereas that tendency keeps the powerful people around in check, it also opens and keeps open your third eye. Practicing crazy wisdom Here what you are trying to visualize is your soul. You are seeking some package of wisdom or some software that can connect you to the world of mystery. The third eye is actually the interface you are seeking so that you can understand that mystery that nobody can solve. In fact, that is the analogy of the famous novelist and poet, Tom Robbins. In this crazy wisdom, one way of opening your third eye is trying to be the effective link between youth and adulthood. So, somehow, you get to become this beginner who is eager and open to learning, and that mature person who is full of wisdom. You will be that person that is neither a fool per se, and nor a wise person. In essence, you will be ready to critic what others take to be ideal, and you will seek to dismantle and analyze the beliefs of a pragmatist. This is not madness – not in the least. What is it then? Critiquing a pragmatist the same way you critic an idealist? Yes; there is good reason for that. Appreciate that pragmatism and idealism can go hand in hand. Pragmatism keeps you grounded while idealism keeps your vision alive. With that marriage of perspectives, you will open your third eye, embrace fresh ideas that pragmatists would otherwise smother, and then implement them in a realistic way, contrary to the way idealists do – getting lost in fantasy. In summary, this crazy wisdom of yours will widen your paradigm, and you will begin to be creative in thinking and deed. And it is no secret, really, that you need to be creative in order to emerge a genius. And that tells you how much more creative you need to be if you are to appreciate the world of mystery. Chapter 8: How to Tell That Your Third Eye Is Open Have you for a moment imagined that your two eyes might begin to pop out when your third eye opens up? That may be something some people have feared. Or possibly that a thick pimple might grow on your brow like a miner’s torch… Really, none of these scary things is going to happen – not even if you turn out to be a real psychic. You will still remain the ordinary mortal you have always been. In fact, you need not fret that the pineal gland used to be on the surface at the back of your head once upon a time. That is in the history unknown to us, and it is not about to get repeated. For now, just think of that story as mythical (nice place to hide when you can’t decipher things). Anyway, here is what tells you that you have your 3rd eye wide open: Pressure within the third eye circuit When you are not able to define it as pressure, it is possibly a tingling sensation. And sometimes that feeling is not confined to the spot between your eyebrows. You can also feel it on the crown of your head or even in other spots where different chakras are positioned. Chakras, chakras – what are they again? These are simply energy connecting points. This higher, kind of spiritual energy, is enhanced in different areas of your body depending on the role it is playing – some chakras deal with physical energy, others intuition, others self confidence, and so on. So these areas feel the impact of the enhanced flow of energy once the third eye is open. In fact, you feel the greatest sensation at the first instance when your third eye opens. Thereafter, the sensation is kind of moderate and steady. Having a strong spiritual feeling Here is where you feel like you are under the watch of a divine protector; a strong spiritual being; or even the spirit of a loved one. If you are religious you are likely to feel the presence of angels around you, taking care of you. In cases where your third eye is awakened in a big way, you could even feel the presence of the loved ones of other people, not necessarily your own. And guess what that means? It means that you are progressing to the status of a medium – where you sense things on behalf of other people. That should not scare you as it is normal for heightened intuition to move in that direction. Great desire to be a world away from negativity When your third eye is clearly open, you find yourself being empathetic to other people. So it is inevitable for you to pick up other people’s feelings. Now if those feelings happen to be negative, it leaves you drained while they themselves may appear fine and unaffected. Owing to that sensitivity, it is understandable that you should wish to protect yourself against negativity and drama. Wholly embrace your feeling and do what you need to do – seeking to dwell in positive environments. Great desire to maintain a healthy eating habit Listen – different foods have got varying vibration frequencies. Did you know that? I highly doubt that you did. And why the doubt…? Well, when adjusting your diet you often cite unfavorable rounded waistline; risk of diabetes; but really nothing about vibrations. So now you know. Fruits, vegetables and such other healthy foods vibrate at higher frequencies. And what does that mean in the whole setup of third eye opening and all? Simple – when your third eye is open, your level of intuition is pretty high. And that directly means that you are personally vibrating at a high frequency. Is it not logical then that you should need foods that match your vibrations? In fact, and this is no exaggeration, some people take up a psychic diet. This should put any anxieties to rest – if you suddenly begin to feel inclined to walk the healthy road, it is by no means an indication that you have begun to get scared of death – no. It is a direct function of your third eye opening. Propensity to read more It is normal to feel like reading diverse material and synthesizing it once you have your third eye awakened. You could also find yourself leaning more towards spirituality. This follows the awareness you are having at a subconscious level on how brilliant life can be, emanating from the luminosity of your soul. Having frequent dreams that happen to be vivid It is not surprising that you should dream more because in your resting state that is sleep, there are no thought interruptions. So what comes in through your intuition is not inhibited by self doubt and such other forms of self conflict. Incidentally, though such dreams result from a high level of intuition, they do not necessarily translate into premonitions – so worry not that every one of your dreams will translate into reality. Being highly sensitive to your body senses Once you have your third eye open, your psychic senses, what you will hear being referred to as clairs, become stronger. Mark you here we are generally talking of the senses you already know, only in the language of psychics. In essence what you are noticing is a stronger sense of seeing; hearing; feeling; smelling; tasting; and touching; which in psychic language we call clairvoyance; clairaudience; clairsentience; clairscent; clairtangency; and clairgustance; respectively. Having intuitive hits We are talking of hits just to show that not everything that comes to your thoughts has a touch of reality. So these hits are when you are getting intuitive thoughts and they end up translating into reality. For example, you get a strong feeling about someone’s presence, possibly someone who lives far away from you and someone you possibly have not seen in years and then pap – here they emerge! How exciting! But then again, it may not be good things always. You may sense a bad thing and then it happens and that can be worrying. Luckily, there is a way you can retain your psychic abilities, and condition yourself to slow down on the bad things – it is called having intuitive guidance. In short, with practice, you will be able to block out the line of intuition leading to negative revelations. This way your psychic abilities will not cause you any anxiety and you can comfortably embrace them. Experiencing frequent headaches We are not insinuating here that every headache is a result of your high level of intuition – no. In fact many are the people with high intuition levels and yet do not suffer headaches. So seek medical assistance if the way of psychics proves ineffective. When you think your headaches are a function of high energy influx through the sixth chakra, just soak both of your feet in some warm water. That way, you will be pulling that excess energy towards your feet and away from your head. If you wish to add some Epsom salts into the warm water, do it. If you wish to add essential oils, by all means, do it. They do a great job of relaxing your whole system. Parting ways with some old friends and having fresh ones into your life You see, there is nothing inherently psychic about this trend. Only that there is no way your friend is going to feel comfortable with you if she is an avid gossip and you are not into gossiping simply for its negativity. If you were materialistic earlier on and now you have relegated materialism to the back where you previously possibly put spirituality, your priorities and those of many of your old friends are bound to change. And that is alright for you will be happier with the new combination of friends; people who bring nothing but peace into your life. Chapter 9: How You Can Close Your Third Eye For starters, why would you wish to close your powerful third eye? Well, there may be varying reasons for this. If you have been on the farm, for example, and observed a farmer opening a goat pen, you may have seen how young rams behave once the pen is open: they ran amok! The farmer may smile about that but it would be a different ball game if the rams continued that behavior for hours on end. The farmer may have to call a veterinary doctor to check the animals with a view to taming them. This is the same case that happens sometimes. You may open your third eye and begin experiencing the power of vision that comes with it; the swirling energy on your brow; intuition that proves 100% reality; and vivid reading of your environment. While this can be exciting, supposing you continued to visualize every potential happening on a continuous basis? Would it not overwhelm you after a while? In fact, chances are that you may find yourself being privy to occurrences you would rather you did not know – and that can be unsettling. At this juncture, if you had your way, you would close that third eye in an instant. Other times you may just want to temper that psychic power of awareness just a little bit. Here is one way you can turn off your third eye or tone down your intuition: Deliberately switching focus from your third eye. There are many ways to do that. Here are some you could try: Tell yourself that you seriously want to get out of that spiritual energy and return to your normal surroundings. By suggesting you tell yourself, the meaning is that you deliberately try to focus your energy away from your 6th chakra and possibly onto other chakras that deal with the physique. Switch your focus on your physical surrounding, or even on doing mundane stuff. You could do something which can contribute to stimulating your root chakra, hence making you grounded in your actions and relationships too. Examples of activities you can engage in for that purpose include clearing your house of clutter and keeping yourself busy organizing it. Pay attention to details of your daily life, including analyzing your bills and paying them; analyzing your bank account and possibly doing some bank reconciliations; such things that distract you from psychic energy. Engage in some physical exercises like jogging; table tennis; or just walking. Getting a massage. Disconnecting from the realm of the psychic It is not automatic that you get yourself from matters of the head in a moment especially once you have been in it for some time, but it is important that you work on it. If you allow yourself to remain in that state of heighted intuition, you may get a shock when something happens in your immediate surroundings abruptly. So you need to make a deliberate effort to retain reasonable awareness of your worldly environment even as you get your third eye energies flowing. Involve yourself in mundane stuff and routine You could, for instance, get into the routine of taking breakfast; reading the dailies; watching mainstream media; and not doing anything creative at all. With time you will see no visions and you will stop sensing anything intuitive. This is because while you were busy attending to mundane stuff, visions surfaced but you did not pay attention to them and so they left. Soon, your third eye closes. Well, this is not Greek or Latin: just simple English. And you will appreciate this when you consider how much people talk around you and you do not register a thing. Why? This is simply because you have deliberately kept your focus elsewhere – maybe an e-mail you were replying to; a bank statement you were analyzing; and so on. Discard your own belief that the third eye exists How is that possible? Well, just like athletes on the track, if you begin second guessing yourself, you will slow down. The reason you succeed is because you remain focused. So when you want to close your third eye, telling your mind that the whole belief system was a joke and that the whole psychic business is not possible begins to weaken your psychic abilities. If you find it difficult to convince yourself since you believe in the third eye anyway, try discussing the topic with skeptics. They will emphasize to you how crazy it is for anyone to believe in such power of intuition, and that will begin to make dents on your belief too. If you keep at it, soon you will have your psychic awareness dropping, and in due course your third eye will close. Important Facts Concerning the Third Eye We are happy when our third eye is open especially because we feel confident we know where we are in life. But as observed above, if uncontrolled, your psychic awareness can overwhelm you to the extent you want it off. However, there are times when you want to enhance your psychic awareness and have your third eye clear, yet you do not reach your optimum. You need to be aware of the things that you can do and end up sabotaging your personal efforts – like: Staying up late and sleeping irregular times How is that negative in strengthening the vision of the third eye? Well, the way the pineal gland works has a connection with the 24hr cycle of the earth’s rotations. So, for your third eye to function optimally, you need to adhere to the natural day’s cycle. You use natural light working in the daytime, and you use artificial light minimally before you go to bed. Intense use of technology You are bound to find it difficult retaining your psychic awareness if you are spending hours and hours on your laptop, your Iphone and so on. These gadgets have artificial light that travels at unimaginable speed, and that, inevitably, affects your pineal gland. In fact, word has it that this techno-culture has weakened the genetic ability you used to have to ward off nightmares. Chapter 10: Interesting Facts Regarding the Third Eye Did you know that you and everyone else you know have psychic powers? Well, that is the fact, only that just as there is latent and kinetic energy, some people have active psychic powers while others have theirs dormant. Meaning…? What that actually means is that you may have intuition about something and acknowledge it, yet others never give room for possibilities of intuition; they block the idea out and always wait to see logic before accepting there may be a chance of unsubstantiated occurrences. If you want to tell if you are one of the people who acknowledge and appreciate intuition, people whose 3rd eye is open, there are certain things you can observe. Here – How To Tell You Have Natural Psychic Abilities Seek to answer the questions below, and if some of your answers are in the affirmative, then you know your 3rd eye is open – you have a high intuition level: Do you find yourself thinking of somebody and almost immediately your phone rings and it is them on the line; or better still, they appear from nowhere? Do you sometimes have a hunch about something and when you ignore it you come to regret having done so? Are you able to tell from the onset if you like or dislike someone when you meet them for the first time? Are you sometimes certain about the outcome of an event even before it takes place? Do you sometimes guess a person’s profession, without the benefit of hearing them speak and without being guided by the manner of dressing, and you are spot on? Do you experience vivid dreams of a prophetic nature? Do you get many coincidences and synchronicities in your life? Some of us do have these signs of great intuition, but we push them into the background because we are scared of what seems mysterious and strange. But you need not do that. Granted, it is normal to try and protect yourself from what you may fear to be harmful – like trying to bar anything that may seem to make you feel a little crazy – but the downside is that right there you could be blocking out some very nice things that could bring optimism and hope to your life. You could even miss a lifetime friend just because you thought your strong intuition about them was strange. There Is Nothing Crazy About Having Psychic Abilities Be happy you can tap into your intuitive abilities. Everyone else has this intricate inner guidance system, but not everyone is able to benefit from it. There is actually nothing magical about the whole thing and it is not something you can associate with any religious faith – it is simply human. Human beings are themselves a great force of energy. Everything else around us has some energy too. Is it strange then that you should be able to have some unspoken communication with fellow human beings and with all things on earth? If you follow that simple logic, you will realize that surely there is nothing really incomprehensible about having psychic abilities. In fact, the reason we often miss it is the preoccupation we have with conventions of society and other conditions that get the sensitivity of the third eye suppressed. Some people have distinct psychic abilities We have been speaking of you thinking of something and it happens; you having a good feeling about someone and you end up getting a lifetime connection with them; things that affect you. But guess what? You could go a notch higher and be able to tell things that affect other people – like the example of guessing someone’s profession and it turns out right; or even being able to tell them what they are going to become later in life. That is being psychic. It means that other people can rely on you to warn them against impending danger and you end up protecting them; or they could rely on you to pick the right option when it comes to life choices. Psychics may have varying fields of strength Just like in school where we say that so and so is bright but is a math genius or a science guru, it is the same with psychics. Some have incredibly strong intuition relating to sight; others relating to the sense of touch; others relating to the sense of hearing; and so on. In that regard, we have psychics that can be categorized as: Clairvoyants Clairaudients Clairsensitives Remote viewers Lucid projectors Lucid dreamers Precognitors Retrocognitors Telepaths In reality, psychics have the ability to strengthen even those intuitive abilities they were initially not so strong in. This is because they are already good at making good use of those high level energies. It then means that you could find a person who accurately hears sounds of happenings far off – the Clairaudient – being able to tie those sounds to actual events happening in real time, and even seeing the actual people involved in those events – meaning you are a remote viewer too. Alright! That is getting a little deep now – but clearly understandable. We all have our third eye, but only part of us behave in ways that encourage it to open and add awareness to the sensitivity of our five common senses. You see with your naked eyes; feel with your physical body; hear with your ears; taste with your tongue; and smell with your nose. But guess what – even if you lost those senses but had your third eye well open, you could still make sense of what is happening around you and know what kind of people exist in this wide world. Oh… Is that the same as being a medium? Well, not necessarily. So, what is a medium? For one, you are right to the extent that a medium is a psychic. But you cannot flip that conversely – a psychic is not necessarily a medium. You see, a medium can communicate with the spiritual world – yes, even the spirits themselves! But you as a psychic can only communicate with me and others, and also things, through the link in energies. Simply put, what you as a psychic have in common with a medium is the ability to see someone’s past life; the current life; and also the future trend. However, when you have the abilities of a medium, you find yourself getting assistance of knowing things from the spirits of people departed and other divine powers. That is why you can see a medium telling you how your late grandpa looked like and the kind of voice he had; whether he is happy with what you are doing now or not; and possibly what you should do to remedy an unpleasant situation you may be in. Can you learn to be a medium? Seriously, very few things are impossible with the help of the spiritual powers. We have already seen that you are capable of developing your psychic abilities even when all along you had your third eye closed. With the art of becoming a medium, you just need the right teacher plus the right level of patience to take you through the necessary practice. But we must acknowledge that being a medium is a pretty rare gift. How To Know You Are A Natural Medium First and foremost, if you are a natural, the things you experience do not begin after an incident or an accident. They also do not begin to happen after you undergo some seminar or such other training. You do not also begin to experience them at maturity. You begin to experience extraordinary things without any prompting or any jerking from a traumatic experience; and also without any training towards that end. Here are some telltale signs that you are a born natural when it comes to the exceptional abilities of a medium: You can feel the physical presence of someone invisible in the room, something that others with you cannot detect. In similar circumstances, you may feel a cold breeze yet you know there is no wind sweeping through. You could find yourself sometimes hearing voices even when nobody is physically speaking around you. You may clearly hear people whispering or even hear your name being called out as if someone wants your attention. You may find yourself receiving messages in your dreams, possibly from departed relatives or friends. And it is not always that the messages are meant for you; sometimes they are meant for other people. That is how you get to mediate, as a medium, between the living and the dead. Sometimes you get communication from a super power, a spiritual power, giving you insights into things you otherwise would not have known. This may come in form of a conversation within you – a kind of debate – that leaves you with a clear perspective. It becomes common for you to see apparitions from the very corners of your eyes. Conclusion Now that you understand what the Third Eye is, you can start using it every day. Start by ensuring it is open in the first place. Follow the simple steps indicated in this book and watch your life change for the better. With increased awareness about your life in relation to those around you, you will feel confident undertaking certain projects and engaging with different people. This is mostly because the intuitive power of your third eye is able to warn you when certain moves are likely to lead you to danger and when certain others would be fruitful. When you practice opening and closing your third eye, be sure you are getting full control of your life, which is a good feeling and also a good thing for practical purposes. You may also wish to put your learned skills and enhanced level of spiritual awareness to practice, and see if you can help other people. This is something you can certainly do if you realize you have stepped into the realm of real psychics or even mediums. You may also be useful to parents of children with heightened psychic awareness, so that both the parents and the children can be able to lead normal lives without feeling overwhelmed. The next step is to go back over the book as needed while you begin to do your routine practices which are bent on enhancing the clarity of your third eye. Certain practices that you do before you go to bed ensure that you have a nice, peaceful sleep, while others that you do first thing when you get up in the morning ensure you begin your day feeling energized and positive about life. Once you have managed to open your third eye, it is unlikely you will wish to ignore it again considering how great you feel when you have the feeling of being in-charge of your life. With your high intuitive power, for instance, nothing really gets you entirely unaware – at least some vibe will have warned you of the possibilities; the power of the third eye. Reach for the intuitive level you deserve and don’t forget to congratulate yourself for a job well done when you finally have your intuitive awareness! Finally, if you enjoyed this book, please take the time to share your thoughts and post a review on Amazon. We do our best to reach out to readers and provide the best value we can. Your positive review will help us achieve that. It’d be highly appreciated! BONUS MINDFULNESS AND CURING ANXIETY Powerful Mindfulness Techniques To Cure Anxiety And Live A Happy And Conscious Life L. Jordan © 2015 Copyright. Text copyright reserved. L. Jordan The contents of this book may not be reproduced, duplicated or transmitted without direct written permission from the author Disclaimer : all attempts have been made by the author to provide factual and accurate content. No responsibility will be taken by the author for any damages caused by misuse of the content described in this book. The content of this book has been derived from various sources. Please consult a licensed professional before attempting any techniques outlined in this book. Table of contents Introduction Chapter 1: Identifying Anxiety Introduction Awareness is the first step towards reducing anxiety. When you know what it is that affects you or makes you feel nervous and anxious, you can find ways to tackle the issue. Mindfulness meditation is one of the best methods available to achieve this sense of complete awareness of your world and more importantly your inner self. This method developed from the Buddhist practice of Insight meditation. This method, also known as Vipasana developed almost 2500 years ago. In our world where we constantly are on the move, trying to please the world so much that we lose insight of ourselves, the revival of this ancient practice has come as a boon. In fact, this practice is so simple that anyone can follow it. Unlike other forms of meditation where secularism is an issue, this method allows just about anyone from any religion to practice it to experience the immense mental and physical advantages. According to the University of California, this is a skill that we are all born with. However, we require some practice to use this skill in our lives. That is why we meditate and strengthen our mindfulness. It can transform our lives if the practice is consistent. There is a vast difference between mindfulness and thinking. We can choose to just think about the world we live in or choose to be mindful about it. The difference is that thoughts are controlled by our limited knowledge and judgement. On the other hand, mindfulness is completely non-judgemental. It is just the awareness of things as they are in our present moment. The way we are able to experience the sensory world is mindfulness. This includes touching, smelling, hearing and feeling the place that we are in at a given moment. The primary purpose of mindfulness can be different for different people. If you have any issues with anxiety, your purpose would be to get over the triggers. This involves strengthening your mind and making it active enough to react positively to any stimuli that can cause anxiety in you. You actually acquire sharpness through mindfulness. This allows you to think about the consequences of any action or thought. This is an ability that we often lack when we are anxious. We are unable to stay calm and think about the things that we are doing. Mindfulness allows you to be completely still and actually enjoy each moment. When you are practising mindfulness meditation, it does not imply that you are oblivious to all the experiences that you have had in your life. There will be several thoughts that come and go when you are practising this method. There is nothing wrong in that. The only thing you need to remember is that these thoughts should not let you become judgemental. Do not let your thoughts disconnect you from the resent moment. This will prevent you from enjoying the moment and will defeat the purpose of the practice. In fact, with mindfulness meditation, you develop the ability to keep anxiety inducing thoughts out when required. This book will introduce you to the practice of mindfulness meditation with the primary goal of overcoming anxiety. To begin with, we will understand how to identify anxiety. Following that, we will look at simple meditation methods that can help you reduce the symptoms of anxiety effectively. The objective of this book is to equip you with the skills necessary to remove anxiety from your life overall. Whether it is social anxiety or general anxiety, you should be able to calm your nerves whenever you feel restless or uneasy in a given situation. Chapter 1: Identifying Anxiety Do you really have an anxiety disorder? Or are you unaware of the fact that you actually have the problem? In either case, you are not helping yourself by being ignorant. The first step towards dealing with anxiety is to identify the condition. There are some very common symptoms that people with anxiety disorder experience. Of course, there are several situations when we are bound to feel anxious. For instance, if you have to speak in front of people, it can be unnerving. It is alright to feel jittery once in a while. However, when you experience these symptoms on a regular basis, it calls for some concern. If it is forceful, it can take over your life. There are several manifestations of anxiety including phobia, panic attacks or social anxiety. If you can identify them you need to consult a doctor and find out methods that will be useful to you for dealing with the condition. This chapter will tell you about 12 common signs of anxiety that you must be able to identify. If you are experiencing three or more of these symptoms, it means that you need to find a suitable method like mindfulness meditation to help you overcome the condition. Worrying too much This is the hallmark of anxiety disorder. People with anxiety disorders tend to worry about the smallest things. However, you need to know when your worrying has become too much. According to Dr. Sara Wilson who is the codirector of the Anxiety and Stress Disorder Institute of Maryland, you can differentiate between normal worrying and anxiety quite easily. The latter makes you dysfunctional emotionally and physically. It can interfere with your daily life as it causes symptoms like fatigue. This type of chronic worrying is also persistent and can go on for several weeks and even months at times. Insomnia If you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep because of your thoughts, it is an indication of anxiety. There are several psychological, physiological and circumstantial triggers that lead to sleeplessness. However, if you are awake, feeling agitated or worried about nothing then you can consider anxiety as an issue that you need to focus upon. Research suggests that most people who experience anxiety also experience insomnia. The common symptom of anxiety related insomnia is that your mind races when you are trying to sleep. Everything you do seems to be failing at calming you down and helping you fall asleep. Fear that disrupts life Sometimes your symptoms of anxiety are triggered by certain things. For instance, you can feel extremely scared of a certain animal or you may feel nervous when you are in a crowd. This is when you believe that your life is at risk because you are faced with a certain situation. The fear is so overwhelming that it can interrupt with your life itself. You are unable to function and this is a sure shot sign of an anxiety related disorder. Phobias are very crippling. But the problem with them is that they are not always obvious. You may not even know that you have a phobia about something unless you are confronted with the object that triggers it. That is when you realise that you are incapable of overcoming a certain fear. You must make sure that you get timely assistance when you realise a certain phobia. The fear is usually irrational and too intense. So, if you must go camping and you are afraid of insects, you will need to find assistance to help you deal with the situation or overcome the problem. Tension in the muscles You will feel constant tension in your muscles. Sometimes, you will feel like balling your fists or clenching your jaws to release the tension. You constantly feel like flexing the muscles in your body to feel a little relaxed. This tension in the muscles accompanies anxiety disorders almost always. If it is not persistent it is pervasive. This means that the strain in the muscles has been around for so long that the person has actually got used to it. Exercising regularly can keep this tension under control for a short while. However, the moment you experience any trigger for your anxiety, the tension flares up. This also leaves a person quite restless and irritable making them feel like they just cannot handle their anxiety anymore. This is even worse when a person has formed a certain exercising routine which is disrupted by an injury or some unforeseen causes. Difficulty with digestion While anxiety begins in the mind, there is no telling how it will manifest in the rest of your body. One of the most common physical symptoms of anxiety is a chronic digestive problem. Conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, gas, bloating, diarrhea etc. are common when a person experiences anxiety. Anxiety can extend itself to your digestive system and make it hard for you to even consume food. Of course, ingestion is not always associated with anxiety. However, if the two occur at once, they are extremely disruptive. One condition aggravates the other. Since our gut is extremely sensitive to stress in the mind, discomfort in the stomach along with thoughts that are extremely stressful is a common sign of anxiety disorder. You will also notice that the slightest social or psychological stress makes it hard for you to digest food or even eat for that matter. So, when they are coupled with anxiety disorder, digestive problems can be chronic. Fear of the stage Stage fear is a common problem. People find it hard to face an audience or even perform in front of a small crowd. Of course, we all feel butterflies in the stomach when we have to go on stage. However, if the fear is so strong that coaching and even practice cannot help you overcome it, you need to pay some attention. You may even think about an upcoming performance or speech relentlessly. This is a sign of a social anxiety disorder. A sign of social anxiety is that the person will worry persistently for days or even months that lead to a certain event. Even when they are able to get through the event, they feel irrationally uncomfortable after the event is done. They dwell on how people might have judged them or perceived them. This thought makes them deeply uncomfortable. The level of discomfort is so high that even after getting through one performance, this discomfort can break their confidence for the next one. Being extremely self-conscious Social anxiety is not restricted to addressing a crowd or being under the spotlight. There are several cases where common activities can trigger a person’s anxiety. Making a one on one conversation at a social gathering or even eating or drinking in front of another person becomes extremely difficult. This is because the person believes that all eyes are on him. Blushing is a common experience when they have to interact or even just sit with a few people. When the anxiety is a little more intense, they will experience symptoms like nausea and sweating. This makes it almost impossible for them to meet new people. As a result, they are unable to sustain relationships or make any progress in their career or their life. Panic attacks This is when your anxiety is chronic. The person experiences a gripping sense of fear and also helplessness. This feeling can last for several minutes. Sometimes it has some intense physical symptoms like sweating, stomach aches, dizziness, a sudden chill or a pounding heart. If you have a panic attack, it does not necessarily mean that you have an anxiety disorder. However, when you do experience a panic attack, you must get yourself diagnosed immediately. This will help you understand what triggered that attack and also the possible places that can trigger the attack. That way, you will be able to avoid situations that cause sudden panic attacks. Back to the past Have you seen movies in which a person tends to see visions of a certain event again and again. This is called a flashback. This is one of the primary symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. This condition shares some features with anxiety disorder. For a long time, post-traumatic stress disorder was considered a type of anxiety disorder. Today it is diagnosed as a stand alone condition with its own set of symptoms. However, flashbacks are common with anxiety disorder as well. A study conducted in the year 2006 revealed that people who have social anxiety have symptoms similar to PTSD. This report published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders revealed that people can experience flashbacks of incidences that caused them trauma or embarrassment. They may consciously avoid these memories to ensure that their anxiety is not triggered beyond their control. This is a feature that is also observed in people who have chronic PTSD. The need to be perfect People who have and anxiety disorder also show compulsive behaviour. They need to be perfect at all times. This is a symptom that is very common in people who have anxiety disorders. A person with anxiety disorders is constantly judging himself. This makes them fear the chances of being unable to perform a task efficiently. They believe that they will fall short of certain expected standards. If you notice this, you probably have some form of anxiety disorder. Perfection is a symptom that is most commonly associated with OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This condition too has been viewed as an anxiety disorder for the longest time now. This need for perfection can be very subtle. For instance, a person may not get out of her home for several hours because her make-up is not perfect or her bow is not equal. This, again, is an extension of the chronic fear of being judged and unmanageable self-judgement that people with anxiety disorder display. For a certain behaviour pattern to be diagnosed as obsessive and compulsive or even as a symptom of anxiety disorder, it needs to be chronic. Common signs of compulsiveness are the need to straighten things, inability to bear a fingerprint on glass and other things that are usually overlooked by people who do not have the condition. When these rituals begin to drive your life, you must understand that it is a symptom of OCD or some such obsessive and compulsive behaviour. For instance, if you want the volume of the radio to be on 3 and for some reason it is stuck on 2 or 4, it can cause panic till the instrument is fixed. This does not allow you to continue with any other routine activity. Although the volume of the radio is not life threatening, a person with anxiety disorder perceives it as capable of causing extreme damage. Lack of confidence Being doubtful of yourself and second guessing is a common feature of anxiety disorder. The doubts that you have are usually related to your personal identity. Doubts about sexual orientation, the feasibility of a certain relationship and one’s own abilities are quite common when a person has anxiety. This doubt is not momentary. It is an attack that can make a person very anxious and unhappy. They are so hopeless with their doubts that they are open to any solution as long as they are able to answer the plaguing question in their mind. This may lead to unreasonable decisions and conclusions as well. If you are familiar with these symptoms, you may be experiencing a generalised anxiety disorder. It may not be chronic and might still be at a stage when it is easily treatable. You must make sure that you take the assistance of professionals. The next few chapters will tell you how mindfulness meditation is one of the most powerful tools that you can employ in overcoming your anxiety disorder. It is simple and may be practiced in the comfort of your home for definite relief from anxiety related stress or symptoms.
Kundalini The Ultimate Guide to Awakening Your Chakras Through Kundalini Yoga and Meditation and to Experiencing Higher Consciousness, Clairvoyance, Astral Travel, Chakra Energy, and Psychic Visions © Copyright 2018 All rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the author. Reviewers may quote brief passages in reviews. Disclaimer: No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, or transmitted by email without permission in writing from the publisher. While all attempts have been made to verify the information provided in this publication, neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary interpretations of the subject matter herein. This book is for entertainment purposes only. The views expressed are those of the author alone, and should not be taken as expert instruction or commands. The reader is responsible for his or her own actions. Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, including international, federal, state and local laws governing professional licensing, business practices, advertising and all other aspects of doing business in the US, Canada, UK or any other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the purchaser or reader. Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of the purchaser or reader of these materials. Any perceived slight of any individual or organization is purely unintentional. Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Introduction to the Kundalini Chapter 2: Kundalini 101 Chapter 3: Kundalini Awakening Chapter 4: Troubleshooting Your Awakening Chapter 5: Kundalini Master’s Class Conclusion Introduction You have just decided to take in an incredibly useful bit of information that has the capacity to change your life for the better! While it may still sound like a foreign language at this point, by downloading this book, kundalini awakening has become a future that lies within your grasp. Thank you for choosing this book among all the others on this topic. There are plenty of books about the kundalini and its effects on the body, mind, and soul, but you chose this one, and for that, I’m grateful. Thank you. In the following pages, expect to be guided by lists based on big kundalini ideas, such as awakening myths and dispelling them, benefits to the process of awakening, techniques to guide your approach, dangers and potential risks, most common mistakes, general steps to success, and then even more metaphysical connections in the final chapter. In the first chapter, I’ll lead you through the basics of the kundalini, such as what it is, how it relates to the chakras, what you can do with it, and some frequently asked questions. In the second chapter, we’ll get into those bigger lists with benefits to awakening, myths about the process, and signs that you’re awakening. Following that, the third chapter teaches awakening techniques and additional practices that can help. In the fourth chapter, we’ll troubleshoot your awakening with potential things, people, situations, etc., that could be holding you back, as well as the potential dangers and risks, and the biggest mistakes people have made (and how to avoid them). In the fifth and final chapter, I’ll lead you through a so-called kundalini “master class,” with details about chakra healing and alignment and a guide to reaching higher planes of consciousness, to astral projection and traveling, and to unlocking your psychic gifts. While the kundalini and its awakening should not necessarily be focused on what you can gain (especially in material or psychic terms) from the process, it is still helpful to know all that you’re getting yourself into and all that could potentially exist once the kundalini is awakened. Chapter 1: Introduction to the Kundalini Before we get into the details of kundalini and its awakening, we should first become familiar with our terms. You’ll need to know exactly what kundalini is and why it’s so important in order for the later chapters of this book to make sense. You’ll need to learn the basics of your chakras also, to understand how kundalini awakening practices overlap with and influence chakra healing. As this chapter progresses, we’ll start with the history of kundalini before getting into its applications for the chakras, for overall healing, and for your life in general. Buckle up for the ride. The History of Kundalini Around the time 3,000 BC, ancient Indians were beginning to speak and write about kundalini. “Little coiled one” is what it meant to them in their language, Sanskrit, but it meant a lot more than just the image of a little snake residing at the base of one’s spine. To these ancient Indians, kundalini was their connection to the sacred and divine energy of the universe and of creation itself. They called that source or creation energy prana, and prana-shakti (or shakti) was how it manifested in lifeforms like humans and animals on earth. For humans, shakti lies at the base of the spine, infusing the body, mind, and soul of the individual with life and passion and verve. Kundalini is a vehicle for spreading shakti throughout the body, and when kundalini – that small coiled snake that sleeps at the base of all our spines – is awakened, it will make the individual a vessel for source energy in a myriad of ways. While this original practice and acknowledgment of kundalini was not attached to any religion or dogma in particular, it was attached to ancient Indian spiritual tradition and became linked with its gods and goddesses to a certain degree. Kundalini didn’t just exist in ancient India, however, which is absolutely fascinating to me. With different names and different gods and goddesses attached to its understanding, kundalini also existed in ancient Egyptian civilizations. Have you ever wondered what the ankh symbol represents in Egyptian symbology and history? Essentially, it signifies the coming together of masculinity and femininity, the divine male and female energy, for the purpose of creation (or source recreation). Egyptian rulers would then carry the ankh as a talisman of spirituality and alignment with source potential in their day-to-day rulings and other actions. In ancient Indian culture, too, kundalini was symbolized by the lingam-yoni, another combination of masculine and feminine energies in physical form. This similarity and more reveal that these two ancient cultures were on the same page about a force so intense and impactful. Then, there is ancient China, where the concept of chi arises, bearing incredible resemblance to prana, shakti, and kundalini awakening in India. Once again, however, the wording is totally different from country to country – it’s what they’re talking about that’s so fascinatingly the same. For these ancient Chinese people, chi was essentially the life or source energy that exists within all of us, but not many of us are very in control of this energy. Chi can affect the health and one’s physical energy level generally, but when it’s aligned with sexuality, chi can do even more unbelievable things. Just as kundalini-oriented sexual practices focus on the reversal of orgasm energy (see Chapter 3 for more details) to the crown rather than out one’s base, ancient Chinese people knew that sending orgasm energy back to the brain could lengthen life, reverse the effects of aging, and more. This awareness of a central channel inside the body that directs energy from place to place also harkens kundalini from ancient Indian culture, too. Kundalini arises again in world history with the onset of alchemy as a practice in the Middle Ages. Once more, with different names and terminology, kundalini came to the people through a practice in which the followers claimed they were learning it so they could turn base metals into gold. The real purpose was a little more complicated. These alchemists were really just working on spiritual awakening. And the story about turning base metals into gold? That was really more of a metaphor about the personality practice they were engaging in to find a more spiritual self-alignment. Alchemy is a fascinating topic to explore for the more and more details you learn, the more and more it almost explicitly overlaps with kundalini appreciation in Indian tradition. In sum, the basic tools used in alchemy correlate to different ways one can unlock his or her central channel for the sake of selfbetterment (enlightenment, awakening, psychic powers, and more), like what the ancient Chinese were referencing with orgasm reversal. Aside from these other world examples, though, kundalini only retained the same name and the exact same details in its country of origin, and all the while in ancient India, kundalini awareness was also backed by the practice of yoga. Physical movement and meditation were equally important to get that small coiled snake to uncoil and get going. When one Indian yogi, Yogi Bhajan, brought kundalini yoga to California in the United States in the 1960s, his practice focused on expanded consciousness without drugs and with some hearty and real spiritualism instead. Yogi Bhajan taught a method of yoga that focused on discipline and bodily awakening for the sake of the true self, and this action created a rapid-fire awareness of kundalini that continues to the present day. What is “Kundalini” All About, Exactly? Kundalini is, first of all, a metaphor for the energy flow in our bodies. The word means “little coiled one,” and it describes a snake that lies asleep at the base of our spine that’s somehow filled with godly and god-like energy. The serpent or snake sleeps there and waits to act as a vehicle for divinity in our bodies and lives. As awakening happens, the snake begins to wake up, uncoil, and move throughout our bodies like it’s swimming through a placid lake. Blockages in the body are then processed and dissolved. Irritations and personality quirks melt away. Emotional expression becomes easier and easier. With the energy of creation flowing through us, things become easier, and we become transcendent in a number of ways. So, on one hand, kundalini will always be about how divine energy can flow within our bodies with the right effort and practice. Secondly, kundalini is a practice of being in the world that focuses on your soul’s awakening to truth. Kundalini awareness–whether boosted through meditation, physical exercise, yoga, music, art, forgiveness, conversations, big life events, or otherwise–helps you learn to hear and channel your own truth better. It can help you gain insight during times of need, it can help you feel less alone, it can help you find your direction in life, and so much more. All you have to do is get in touch with yourself through a variety of techniques and then open yourself to your own inner potential. Kundalini will do the rest. Third, kundalini is an image that the ancient Indian people created to express what they felt about divinity. For them, kundalini was about the potential that rests within us. It was about the fact that we all have source energy–divinity– inside of us that can be awakened with the right combination of awareness, practice, focus, and effort. In every culture kundalini existed in, no matter what it was called, it was used as a way to connect with the gods of the time; it was always a way to unlock and harness psychic potential and learn from godly examples. Basically, kundalini was one way these ancient people found proof of their gods, but at the same time, kundalini also taught them that true “god” would never require a dogma in order to be appreciated and boosted in one’s life. For us today, kundalini is similar in that it teaches us our godly potential while denying the need for a cult of worship. Kundalini is simply there, and as it awakens, it demonstrates our connection with life, with the divine, and with the entire rest of humanity. Finally, kundalini is about healing on all levels. Across time, kundalini awareness and awakening have been tied up with healing attempts. Ancient Chinese people, along with Medieval and Renaissance alchemists, were surely using their versions of “kundalini” to try to make themselves better. Ancient Egyptian rulers carried their ankhs to help solidify and strengthen their power, effectively “healing” their rulership capabilities. Ancient Indians, too, were working on healing themselves and one another through the kundalini’s central channel. No matter what culture the message surfaces from, it seems to be the same: with increased awareness of the energy systems in the body, we can learn to reverse maladaptive processes and instigate deeper, lasting healing. Chakras & the Kundalini One of the easiest ways to think of the kundalini is to think of it in terms of your chakras. The kundalini obviously deals with inner movement, healing and divinity, but it can be confusing to see how that all actually happens for you, your healing, and your body when it’s not visible and only explained through the metaphor of a rising serpent. Let’s take a step back and start from scratch with your understanding here, and I think you’ll be able to work it out better in no time. Imagine that there are seven energetic “centers” in your body, all aligned at different spots on your spine. At each of these centers, energy flows from one point onto the next, but sometimes, things get a little stuck. Some centers close up after you experience trauma or get in a fight, while other centers might start moving energy in the wrong direction, affecting the overall flow of this intricate system for the worst. Sometimes, just a bad day or a misplaced personality trait can get things working far from their best in those centers. Now, imagine that these seven energetic centers are also connected with seven respective and important glands for your body that keep it (and you) running in ship-shape. These centers are essentially your chakras. The whole situation I’ve just described is real, and the worst can absolutely happen to you. Enter: kundalini awakening. When you come to a time in your life when you’re ready to begin a spiritual awakening, those blockages and flow stoppers will be much bigger problems than you may have thought they were. You’ll come to realize that they’re embodied in your chakras, and it’ll be up to you to dig out the poison. Those seven energetic centers linked to glands are indeed called your chakras, and we can walk through them so that you have a better understanding as we move forward. Of those seven chakras or “energy wheels,” each one associates with a different color, part of the body, energy of healing, and more. First, we’ll start with the root chakra. The root chakra is located on the base of the spine where kundalini and shakti rest. The root chakra is also called Muladhara, and it links with the color red, affecting areas of your life that deal with survival, security, safety, sexuality, and groundedness. Furthermore, this chakra relates to healing the reproductive organs, the legs, and the feet. The second chakra is the sacral chakra, and it’s located just a few inches below your belly button. The sacral chakra is also called Svadhishthana, and it links with the color orange, affecting areas of your life that deal with creativity, originality, community, trust, pleasure, and movement. This chakra has the healing capacity for the intestines, the ovaries, and the body’s detoxification system. The third chakra is the solar plexus chakra, and it’s located a few inches above the navel, around the diaphragm where the ribcage comes together in the lower chest. The solar plexus chakra is also called Manipura, and it links with the color yellow, affecting areas of our lives that deal with confidence, willpower, assertiveness, dominance, need for control, communicating one’s truth, and feeling brave. Furthermore, this chakra heals ailments related to digestion, anxiety, self-worth, and the body’s detoxification system. The fourth chakra is the heart chakra, and it’s located directly where you’d think it would be: at the heart. It’s also called Anahata, and it links with the color green, affecting areas of your life that deal with love, compassion, joy, interpersonal warmth, selflessness, and family or partnership. In addition, this chakra heals ailments of the circulatory, respiratory, and skeletal systems. The fifth chakra is the throat’s chakra, and it lies in the throat, as you’d expect. It’s also called Vishuddha, and its color is blue. It affects areas of your life that deal with communication, vocalization, truth, sharing, supporting, and purification. It can even heal ailments related to respiration, skeletal health, and ingestion. The sixth chakra is the third eye chakra, and it rests in between one’s brows. It’s also called Ajna, and it links with the color indigo, affecting areas of your life that deal with insight, intuition, literal and metaphorical sight, guidance, perception of reality, manifestation, and overall mentality. Furthermore, this chakra contains healing capacity for one’s vision, intellect, brain, skin, and hearing. The seventh and final chakra contained within one’s physical body is the crown chakra, and it rests at the tip of one’s head. It’s called Sahasrara, and its respective color is a loud and vibrant purple. This chakra affects one’s psychic abilities, spirituality, connection with divinity, sense of purpose and mission, direction in life, and consciousness of the cosmic reality. This chakra also heals issues that relate to the brain, skin, and hair growth. Now, with all seven of these chakras spinning in the right direction with no blockages whatsoever, your kundalini would be unable to help itself from rising into that state of bliss it perceives up above. Ultimately then, the goal, as one gets ready for kundalini awakening, is to help clear, open, and align those chakras. With the greatest ease of motion achieved, kundalini will respond and demonstrate how well it knows what to do. As you begin to work through blockages or energetic reversals of these chakras, you may find that those struggles look something like this. For the root chakra, blockages might look like low energy, general fear, constant fatigue, identity crisis, feeling disconnected from the world, eating disorders, general loss or inconsistent of appetite, overt materialism, trouble saving money, or constant health problems in general. For the sacral chakra, blockages or reversals might look like lack of creativity, lack of inspiration, low or no motivation, low or no sexual appetite, feelings of unimportance, feelings of being unloved, feelings of being unaccepted, feelings of being the outcast, inability to care for oneself, or consistent and repeated relationship problems with one’s intimate partners. For the solar plexus chakra, blockages might look like identity crises or deficits, low self-esteem, low or no self-worth, digestive issues, food intolerances, poor willpower, constant tiredness, constant nausea, anxiety disorders, liver disorder or disease, frequent infections, lack of core strength, lack of overall strength, consistent depression with little release, feelings of being betrayed, feelings of being rejected, feelings of being replaced, or excessive energy. For the heart chakra, reversals and blockages might look like the inability to love oneself or others, inability to put others first, inability to put yourself first, inability to get over a problematic ex, constantly holding onto grudges, trust issues, social anxiety or intense shyness, inability to express emotions in a healthy way, problems with commitment, constant procrastination, intense anxiety, or the inability to make or keep friends. For the throat chakra, blockages might look like oversharing, inability to speak truthfully, inability to communicate with others, literal laryngitis, sore throats, breathing or airway restrictions, asthma, anemia, constant fatigue, inability to find the right words, paralyzing fear of being misunderstood, nervousness in public situations, occasional intense dizziness, verbal submissiveness, verbal dominance, or conflict avoidance. For the third eye chakra, blockages or reversals might look like lack of direction in life, increasingly intense feelings of boredom or stagnancy, migraines, insomnia, eye or vision problems, depression, high blood pressure, inability to recall one’s dreams, constant and jarring flashbacks, closed-mindedness, paranoia, history of mental disorders, history of addiction, lack of feeling connected to the world and nature and others, cynicism, constant irritation, or uncontrollable acne breakouts. For the crown chakra, blockages might look like feelings of greed, intense depression, need for dominance over others, self-destructive behaviors, history of addiction, generally destructive behaviors, dissociations from the physical plane, inability to make even the simplest decisions, constant fatigue, horrible migraines, hair loss, anemia, cognitive fog, poor mental function, lack of intellectual abilities, or feeling unworthy of divinity, god, or creation. What to Do with Your Kundalini Now that you know all these details about the chakras, you can start to understand what to do with your kundalini. Once these blockages and energetic reversals are corrected and worked through, you can use the kundalini to align and open the chakras even more than you could do consciously. You can bring kundalini to the game with no holding back and make sure things get opened up from the inside out. Aside from chakras, however, you can use kundalini for so much more. “Using” kundalini feels so wrong to say, but you get the gist. There are things that can be strengthened by adding kundalini to the mix, and there are things that you’d never experience if it wasn’t for your connection to shakti through that kundalini serpent. As you approach kundalini awakening, keep the following possibilities under consideration, for there are many potential goals in the awakening process, and it’s up to you to decide what you think you can handle. To start, you can simply become increasingly aware of your kundalini through meditation on shakti and prana. Even before you reach a stage where you’re approaching awakening (or knee-deep in it), you can become aware of so much more in your body, in others, and in the world by meditating on the source energy and directing that insight toward kundalini. Your efforts, in this case, will help establish a base of potential for energetic work later on. You can become more conscious of kundalini by using it to instigate your awakening or by letting it happen naturally. If you’re interested in speeding up the process, consider any of the techniques listed in Chapter 3. If you’re more interested in taking things naturally (and thereby, a bit more slowly), simply start meditating. Try to incorporate daily meditation practice into your life, or if you already do yoga, start adding a longer meditation segment to the end of your yoga practice when you do so. When you meditate, you can either work to silence your thoughts and connect with that calm, still space within, or you can meditate on kundalini itself and its potential in order to start doing that important kundalini work in the world. You can apply kundalini to the work of developing your psychic abilities, which have always already been a part of you. One side effect of kundalini awakening is that you’ll become more connected than ever to your psychic abilities, and yes, I used the plural “abilities” on purpose. You’ll have to get used to thinking of psychic-ness as something natural instead of supernatural. It’s not crazy to think of yourself as psychic, much less with psychic abilities. In truth, humans are innately psychic creatures, and each of us has a variety of psychic gifts to unlock with time and patience. It won’t be just one thing; it will be a combination of gifts that intertwine and add context or direction to your soul mission in life. How you choose to use those gifts is up to you, but if you’re at the point of kundalini awakening when you receive them, you’ll surely want to align your use of those gifts with your highest possible potential. You can experience mystical connection and enlightenment through kundalini awakening, too. As you work through your chakras and get to the crown, you should be feeling a whole new connection with divinity. Your kundalini will then begin to move and churn through your energy centers, and things will change once again. You may find that you experience inexplicable bliss, personality trait shifts, connection with spirit guides and guardians, the release of old fears, and more as you get to this point with awakening, but your intellect won’t be boggled or left behind; it’ll be along for the ride. Remember that you don’t have to intentionally use kundalini for this end for it will happen as a symptom of your awakening regardless. You can even heal yourself and others with the power of shakti flowing freely through you. Whether you choose to use this power for yourself or others, too, that is up to you, but for now, know that you will become gifted with healing capacity as your kundalini awakening proceeds. Your body will begin to naturally heal itself, and even your cells will become replenished and repaired in ways you may never have imagined were possible. While the adjustment to kundalini awakening will be rough and there will be period(s) of detoxification, once you get into the process, you will find that you feel better than ever and ready to take on the world. You can live more authentically. With your kundalini active and engaged, you’ll feel more confident, brave, worthy, and inspired to act out your soul mission in the world, and you won’t be able to handle the expression of inauthentic emotions (whether from yourself or others). As you align with awakening, godliness, and divinity, you additionally settle yourself in the camp of the genuine, the authentic, and the honest. You will want to support the people you love, and you will want to provide service to others you know really need it. You’ll become more conscious of how the system around you works, so you’ll be picky and cautious about where you spend your money. Overall, you’ll be able to live a fuller, more hectic life, but it will also be so much more rewarding once you get there and allow the experiences to flow. As a final point for now, you can also direct kundalini energy toward any goal, whether manifestation, healing, attraction, or otherwise. When it comes down to it, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a single thing that can’t be strengthened or adapted for the better with kundalini awakening behind it. You’ll be able to harness your focus toward any means, any dream, and any goal. You’ll be able to put plans in motion that have only been passing thoughts until now. You’ll understand yourself and the world better than ever before, enabling you to act in it in ways that attract exactly what you want. Think of yourself as a powerful magnet, drawing to you whatever you need, and that’s essentially what you can expect. Get ready for the adventure! Awakening is going to be a wild experience for us all. Frequently Asked Questions “Tl;dr” version coming your way! If you’d rather just skip to the basics, this section has it all packed into one place, but if you’ve ended up here because you still read books chapter by chapter sequentially, this section may be a bit of a recap, although it may still help to hone the information you’ve been taking in so far. Overall, you’re in for some focused and purposeful information sharing before we move on to the juicier details of kundalini, awakening benefits, relevant awakening techniques, and more. What is kundalini? When it comes down to it, kundalini is a vessel for shakti–universal, cosmic, divine, godly, goddess energy–to flow in the human body. For some realms of study, kundalini actually is the goddess or goddess energy of the universe manifested in our bodies, for it is what inspires artistic creation and reproductive procreation in the human realm. Regardless, kundalini is the inward example of all that is too big for us to understand, and when it’s activated, it can provide the most incredible experiences (and life in general) for the practitioner. What is kundalini yoga? Kundalini yoga is a practice brought to the United States (and the West in general) in the 1960s by a practitioner named Yogi Bhajan. He wanted to share with these drug-using, countercultural hippies of America how to really reach spiritual “highs.” His version of enlightenment didn’t require drugs, rock and roll, or travel. Yogi Bhajan’s method was kundalini awakening as focused through yoga. Basically, the movement of the body through yoga helps to work out blockages and increase the flow of the kundalini, so this guided meditation preaches an ability to perform what all those kids using psychedelics were trying to do, but better. How does kundalini awakening? yoga tie into kundalini Kundalini yoga ties in directly to kundalini awakening. Awakening cannot truly take place without the practice of something physical to make sure that the body and mind are balanced, and kundalini yoga is the perfect tie-in to kundalini awakening in this sense. If you can find a local yoga studio that offers kundalini yoga, take them up on it! It is a wonderful guide into the experience of enlightenment. What should I expect from my kundalini awakening? For more details, you can check out Chapter 2 to see the different elements of what to expect and Chapter 4 for worst-case scenarios and ways to troubleshoot the experience. However, you can also find a general answer in the next few sentences. As you begin the process of kundalini awakening (i.e., meditation, yoga, introspection, self-and-world-analysis, and more), you will find yourself buzzing. You’ll experience more synchronicities than ever before, and you may find yourself additionally guided to work through or process old wounds emotionally and physically. As you fully engage with awakening, there will be a detoxification period in which you’re cranky, you smell, and the last thing you want to do is meditate. Work through it! Bust through this phase, and on the other side, you’ll experience the symptoms of full-fledged kundalini activation and more. Expect health, excitement, connectivity to the universe and divinity, hope, less depression, healthier eating, guidance, synchronicities, and love coming to you from every corner of your life. Is kundalini, shakti, prana, chi, qi, and reiki all talking about the same thing? Essentially, yes. Kundalini is one expression of shakti, which is the same thing as prana, qi, chi, and reiki. These terms are all talking about the intrinsic, creative, source energy of the universe. The positive and negative, the dark and the light, the attraction and loss, the creation and destruction–the opposites of existence as we live and breathe them on a daily basis--are this source energy; we just live in the midst of it. Will this experience be dramatic or Uncomfortable or easy? Painful or painless? subtle? At the start of your kundalini process, depending on what chakra blockages, old wounds, and traumas you have to work through to reach an awakening vibration, things may be dramatic and painful. But if you remain determined and keep focus, you will work through those feelings and dramatic times to reach a peaceful and stable future space that’s fully aligned with enlightenment. On the other hand, awakening will be uncomfortable, at times, for everyone. That’s unavoidabl, but being uncomfortable once in a while is a good thing! It keeps us on our toes, and it enables us to relearn our boundaries, for they do happen to change as we grow and heal. Kundalini awakening teaches us to learn from these so-called “negative experiences” of discomfort, drama, and pain so that we can see how they shape us and what they ultimately teach us about ourselves and humanity as a whole. What will I get out of it? First of all, this type of thinking isn’t necessarily aligned with the vibration of enlightenment or awakening. If you’re coming at the opportunity skeptically yet looking immediately to get something out of the experience, I’m not even sure your thinking is aligned with itself. If you’re skeptical, try it out and see what happens! What have you got to lose? If you’re not skeptical but a believer looking for gains, try meditating on kundalini awakening as a potential for you and see if you’re guided in any way. It could honestly be that kundalini awakening isn’t right for you at this time, but if you truly believe it is, hear this and ponder away: you will get as much out of it as you put into it. Do I need a guru/guardian/healer/teacher for this type of work? Short answer: No, you do not. Longer answer: Anyone could benefit from a teacher, but you don’t necessarily need one for this endeavor. Your own connection to yourself, your guides, and your kundalini can be all that you need to succeed in terms of awakening. There are also a plethora of websites to skim through when seeking advice, and Chapter 4 of this book also provides troubleshooting tactics for when you need some guidance. However, if you happen upon a teacher or guru, see where that relationship takes you! Never turn down such a gorgeous serendipity. How do you awaken the kundalini? There are a number of different techniques you can use to start things up and speed things along, and those methods can be found in Chapter 3, but until you get there, here’s a brief guide. First, you begin meditating and practicing yoga (or other light physical exercise). Then, you might change your diet to be healthier or for higher vibration. Then, you might have a plethora of other changes that you want to make in your life as your daily routine becomes more complex and oriented toward health. Eventually, in meditation, you will feel clear and open, and the kundalini will begin to rise. This marks the beginning of awakening, and you will be set on your path. What are the health benefits of kundalini awakening? A number of health benefits can be found in Chapter 2, but for now, it will suffice to know that kundalini awakening can trigger a number of healing patterns. It can help repair cells and trigger autophagy. It can heal injuries (emotional and physical in nature), it increases mental health and emotional stability, it can heal the immune system, it can help with respiratory function, it works for the heart, and it can do so much more. If I’m practicing another religion, should I try to awaken myself in this way or is it too much? Kundalini awakening will not interfere with your religious practice. You can easily overlap your faith onto the practice of awakening. If you need to, you can call shakti something else that aligns with your God. If you can’t call it meditating, call it “thinking things out.” If you can’t call it yoga, call it “stretching.” Adapt things as needed and allow them to mesh together. You can absolutely keep working on awakening no matter what truth you believe in. Will kundalini awakening be in conflict with my other methods of searching for spiritual enlightenment? I guess it depends on what other methods you’re using! However, the answer for the most part is no. Kundalini awakening shouldn’t be in conflict with your other methods; in fact, it should strengthen your overall search for enlightenment because kundalini awakening is so needless of dogma or religion to back it up. It can exist without faith, and it can be combined so easily with many other spiritual expressions. Surely, it will only bolster your other methods, and it will be fascinating to see how they all work together to help your divine truth. Is forcing the kundalini awake a bad move? Yes. You don’t want to explicitly force the kundalini to do anything. Even instigating your awakening can be too much for some people, so I always, always recommend that people start slowly with the process to ensure that they don’t hurt themselves (energetically, physically, emotionally, and/or mentally). Begin by just meditating daily for a week or so and adding in yoga and exercise when possible. Then, add in other tactics as you see fit, but incorporate them gently and slowly. Don’t try everything at once! It might seem awesome to just be in the state of awakening right now, but you likely aren’t emotionally ready to work through those chakra blockages yet, and if you force the movement of kundalini too harshly, you can do some lasting energetic damage to it, your chakras, and yourself as a whole. Will this awakening get in the way of my work? It’s not likely that kundalini awakening will get in the way of your work, but when you’re in those pre-activation stages where things are detoxifying, you may want to be a little more patient with your co-workers or even take a mental health day when possible. It’s not altogether necessary for you to take off from work, and it’s probably energetically better for you to work through any hardships rather than avoid them, but it can also sometimes help. As a piece of advice for those working through tough emotional remnants at work, try grounding as much as possible. Breathe deeply and try to find a moment or two of peace to meditate. Ground yourself in your goals and your truth, then see if anything has changed. Will this awakening get in the way of my family? There’s virtually no reason why your kundalini awakening should get in the way of family time. If you have a family and you’re concerned about this question in particular, make sure that you schedule your meditations for times when you can be alone. Make sure that you take your family’s needs into account as much as possible but be communicative about what you’re going through so that they can be compassionate and understanding alongside you as you grow. If it’s extended family you’re worried about, just stick with your truth and stay grounded if they attempt to challenge you. If grounding fails, take that quintessential step back and take a deep breath. Put a pin in the idea and allow yourself to process it fully later when you can handle it better. What happens if my kundalini starts awakening and stops? This experience is more common than you may think, and I think it happens because people are doing one of two things. (1) They could be forcing the awakening in the first place, and their bodies were catching up with them. (2) They could also be coming to a point with awakening where they feel they know everything, and then kundalini slithers back down to rest because that arrogance does not leave any space for growth. If you had an awakening start and stop in the past, consider your actions. If you’re ready to try again, keep in mind that past outcome and use it as a motivating teacher moving forward. Does exercise help or hinder awakening of this type? Exercise is a great boost to one’s kundalini awakening, as long as you’re not overdoing it! In fact, practicing an awakening without any sort of physical exercise means that the awakening would be completely unbalanced if it could even be achieved. Physical exercise helps the body process scars from trauma in ways our brains might not even be able to understand. Whether it’s dance, running, lifting, core work, aerial arts, yoga, or anything else, just do it! Your body (and kundalini) will be thankful you did! What will the awakening look like once it’s finally achieved? Awakening is never quite “fully achieved.” It’s more of an on-going process in and through the depths of spirituality and divinity as one’s life progresses. However, the individual in the process of awakening will be and act a certain way in the world as he or she gets used to the potential involved in awakening. The individual will be kinder than normal to everyone, more interested in higher-vibration conversation and food, and more open to friendliness. He or she will likely meditate daily and hold a routine that provides physical and energetic release in many forms. The individual may even dabble with tantric sex with his or her partner. This person will somehow just know things and want to work in service of others or in a healing-related profession. Will I have special abilities once my kundalini is awakened? To make a long story short, yes, you will, however, it’s not about these special abilities. Awakening is about a lifelong mission of connecting with divinity, and these abilities further the cause. Make sure that you have your eyes on the real prize when you ask questions like this. If you need a hard and fast answer, check out the final chapter of this book. How long will this process take? The process of awakening can take anywhere from a few weeks to several years. Everyone is different. Everyone comes at the experience at a different time in their lives, carrying different sets of pain from this lifetime, ancestral burdens, and chakra blockages because of them both. There is no right or wrong amount of time, and there is no one right answer, either. It will take as long as it takes, and no longer. How do I know if I’m doing something wrong? It’s relatively hard to do something “wrong” other than completely forcing the process of awakening or kundalini rising. However, if you need to troubleshoot your experience, you can check out Chapter 4, and if you need some stronger advice, I have just what you need. Basically, you’ll know if something’s wrong for you because it won’t feel right. The more you strengthen your intuition, the more you’ll have a better sense of what’s in alignment with your goals and what’s harming your vibration. Furthermore, the more in touch you become with your guardians and spirit guides, the more you’ll be able to use their support for advice for questions like this. Other than meditation and yoga, what can I do to help the process along? I would honestly recommend just taking things as they come. Try to read as much as possible. Meditate daily and practice yoga. Add new techniques into the mix over time. Check out the next chapter for some details on how to do exactly that. As always, try to take a step back if you’re consciously trying to rush things. Does kundalini awakening help with ADHD and other disorders? Absolutely. Sometimes, people with ADHD often suffer from chakra imbalances that don’t correlate well. For instance, someone’s mind is completely out of alignment with their heart or voice or solar plexus. For these people, standard medicine does not really help or cure the overall problem. Kundalini awakening won’t either, but it will get to the root of those chakra issues and help to resolve certain things from that perspective. Energetic or mood disorders are often helped by kundalini awakening, although in varying degrees. If you find that you’re working toward kundalini awakening and your mental chatter becomes unbearable no matter what you try, you may not be able to combine awakening and your disorder well at all. In that case, don’t force yourself to continue. Try doing things another way, and if that still doesn’t feel good, leave the kundalini awakening for someone else instead. Chapter 2: Kundalini 101 Now that you understand some of the basic information about your kundalini, what it is, and how it works in your body, it’s time to get into the details. This chapter will go through 10 specific benefits to kundalini awakening, 10 myths about the kundalini and awakening, and 21 signs to notice and appreciate your own awakening as it takes place. Be prepared to be blown away. 10 Benefits to Awakening As we go over these 10 benefits to kundalini awakening, it is important to keep in mind that these wonderful effects are surely impressive, but to focus on them as your only goals in awakening detracts from the full experience that’s possible for you to have. Take in each benefit and be grateful for its potential, but don’t get too caught up in the “me, me, me” mentality that is so closely connected with ego. Be grateful and glad for yourself and others that these changes are now possible for you, and then your approach will be aligned with your highest intention. Increased intelligence and IQ capacity As you begin your process of awakening, your mind will become clearer, and your mental capacities will become deepened and enriched in potential. You’ll be able to multitask and organize better than ever, and you may even see that your IQ number literally rises as your kundalini starts moving within. As shakti energy flips and rolls through your chakras, it will reach your third eye and crown chakra, unlocking these mental capacities just as easily as it works on your heart and healing. Greater sense of peace, bliss, and tranquility One of the most commonly experienced benefits of kundalini awakening includes an increased sense of peace, bliss, tranquility, and trust in the universe that you’re exactly where you should be. Chalk it up to the meditation or the yoga or even the being in nature, but it’s also true that when your kundalini awakening begins and becomes sustained, you will be able to find a deep and lasting peace even in moments outside of nature or meditation. You will begin noticing how that peace exists in an inner space that you carry with you always and everywhere. Greater sense of purpose and mission in this lifetime As shakti flows through your body, bringing light, insight, and connectivity to your mind, heart, organs, soul, and more, you will begin finding greater experience of synchronicities in your life. Patterns will emerge, and you will begin noticing signs that point you in productive or enlightening directions. Even more, you will find that you’re noticing what you’re drawn to, what you’ve always been interested in, and how that can translate to you beginning to live out your purpose and soul mission in this lifetime. As your awakening progresses, you will be more and more confident of the direction and theme of your mission, and by the height of it, you will find that mission in motion. Increased sense perceptions Most people who undergo kundalini awakening at some point realize that their senses have been heightened. From smell to taste, hearing, touch, sight, and even the sixth psychic sense, the senses of the individual blossom and become honed like the edge of a knife’s blade. You may find that one or two senses become heightened while the rest remain the same, and you may even find that some of your senses are dulled for a week or so while the others are heightened in their place. No matter how it happens for you, don’t be alarmed or overwhelmed; you will either adjust or your senses will come to balance eventually! Anti-aging capacity in the mind & body Some of the benefits that come along with kundalini awakening involve physical anti-aging manifestations, such as feeling stronger and more attractive, actually having stronger and healthier skin and hair, experiencing increased autophagy, and experiencing a generally slowed-down aging process. For the mind, too, kundalini awakening keeps you young, spry, and able to handle anything. It can even slow down or reverse the effects of degenerative brain disorders. Better connection to divinity, god, the goddess, the light, etc. As you continue on with the process of kundalini awakening, even if you begin as a staunch atheist, you can still find yourself questioning yourself and those beliefs for the incredible and connective, spiritual experiences that are possible through kundalini awakening are hard to take in without beginning to believe in something bigger than yourself. For those who think their faith is the one true faith, they may find their certainty wavering and opened up into something new and different through their experiences of kundalini awakened, but I promise, it will hardly be an uncomfortable adjustment. Increased capacity for sexual pleasure (gateway to tantric sex) As the kundalini and shakti energy start flowing in your body without blockage, you may find that your capacity for sexual pleasure is totally altered. It might sound crazy and unconnected to the kundalini and its rising but remember what the kundalini rises through--your chakras--and that base chakra is all about sexuality, security, protection, and safety. Eventually, as that root chakra gets opened and cleansed and the kundalini starts to rise, you have the possibility to experience more intense orgasms, and your orgasms may even occur spontaneously, as one of the side-effects of awakening. You will come to learn how to control and focus this orgasmic, creation energy, and part of that focus can be translated into a whole new world: tantric sex. Kundalini awakening and tantric sex go hand in hand, for the higher vibration awareness required for one is intimately connected with the other. Increased psychic abilities Along with those increased sense perceptions for your basic 5 senses, your sixth sense will get a kick in its pants, too. You stand the chance to experience psychic awakening on a number of levels as you advance through your kundalini awakening. Whether your gifts are numerous or singular, they will be lifealtering. You may receive or unlock the ability to see visions, to see signs or future events, to know things before they happen, to move things without touching them, to attract things into your life, to see or hear others’ thoughts and feelings, to heal others without touching them, to know what people need, and more. Moreover, remember that if you don’t end up experiencing any psychic abilities or their increase, it could be because your higher self knows you’re not ready to use them correctly or for the purest means. Reconsider your motivations and proceed with that insight in mind. Greater sense of o0ne’s manifestation capacity The law of attraction is one of the 12 universal laws that define the nature of our physical reality. What we put out into the universe comes back to us. Even without kundalini awakening, all humans retain this capacity to alter their worlds and draw into their lives exactly what they may need. However, with the kundalini awakened or in the process of flowing, one’s abilities to attract what one needs and to manifest one’s goals and desires will become heightened. This will warrant an increased responsibility and sensibility on behalf of the individual in question, as the saying from Spiderman is true, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Physical relief from certain illnesses & diseases Many individuals suffering from chronic illnesses or struggling through exhausting diseases will find relief from these woes during their process of kundalini awakening. Due to all the anti-aging and pain-relieving physical effects that kundalini awakening can afford, these people are clearly warranted to receive relief in this way. For those with cancer, life-threatening illnesses, aut0-immune disorders, and more, it could be that the process of kundalini awakening will give you that boost of relief that you’ve been craving. 10 Myths about Kundalini & Its Awakening There are a lot of myths floating around about what kundalini is, how it gets awakened, and what its awakening can look like. There are especially a lot of negative myths, but kundalini awakening is a practice that’s existed for millennia, and its approach can exist in multiple different incarnations. It can mean a bad experience for someone who approaches his or her awakening with impure goals in mind, but it still means such a positive experience for so many others that it’s helpful to tease out what’s fact and what’s fiction before moving forward unknowingly, with inaccurate assumptions. While it’s certainly true that no one way to awakening is the right way, this section will surely help you to spot out some of the veins of thinking about kundalini that are not worth your concern. Kundalini awakening is dangerous, and the energy released is frightening. Kundalini awakening is far from dangerous. For those who don’t understand the process, it may seem bizarre that some people have outbursts during meditation or experience muscle spasms or spontaneous crying. It may seem unhealthy that people are changing their diet to something radically different than they’ve eaten their entire lives. It may seem shocking to some that people are establishing better connections to the divine. However it may seem, kundalini awakening is safe and productive, and the energy released is far from frightening; it’s healthy, natural, and enlightened. Kundalini awakening is tied to one specific religion (or it’s a cult). While “kundalini” comes from the Sanskrit and takes its linguistic origin from ancient India, there is no specific religion attached to kundalini awakening. When the process of kundalini awakening was started by Yogi Bhajan and his practice of kundalini yoga, even that practice of yoga was a more secular appreciation of divinity and one’s connection to the powers of the universe and of creation itself. Kundalini does not connect with any cult or religious dogma. It’s simply something that exists within you in relation to source energy, and it can be awakened if you like, hence the purpose of this text. You will have to wear a headpiece constantly once your kundalini is awakened. Some believe that your awakened state makes you more sensitive, warranting the covering of one’s head to protect the crown and third eye chakras, the aura, and the brain. Whether the headpiece is a turban, a scarf, a bandana, or otherwise, these individuals think you just need some sort of covering. However, there is no evidence that this headpiece and its use in covering the head actually help in protecting one’s energetic state. Kundalini and shakti energy will not be able to escape through the top of your skull and seep out your scalp, so there really is no point for concern on this issue. Kundalini awakening all goes back to sex. While kundalini awakening obviously has correlations with sex, sexual health, and sexual awakening, it absolutely does not have to deal with such themes. Sometimes, kundalini awakening will enable one to heal from traumas caused by these themes and actions in one’s life, and the farthest thing from this individual’s mind will be to incorporate sex again as quickly as possible. Thankfully, kundalini awakening would never rush or force something like that. As with all types of healing, sex can be incorporated when and if you’re ready, and not before that point. Your relationship with your friends and your family will suffer after you’re awakened. While you may develop different interests from your family, causing you to want to spend your time differently than they do, your connections with these people never have to suffer because of your awakening process. In fact, your patience with them and understanding of them should only increase, aiding your relationship. If you find yourself having less and less time or patience for these people, you might need to reconsider what role you want them to play in your life or what role you actually want to play in theirs. In your case, it could be that kundalini is reminding you that family is more than just blood, and you don’t have to settle for those who traumatize and abuse you. Essentially, your relationship will only suffer when your higher self is ready for it to be over. Kundalini awakening is all about breathing and meditation; it’s not physical at all. Kundalini awakening was originally tied explicitly to the practice of kundalini yoga. In those times, it was always already connected between physical and spiritual, movement and breath, and yoga and meditation. Therefore, even today, kundalini awakening should not be just one of these extremes. It should never be just yoga or just meditation. It should never be just nature walks or meditations outdoors. Kundalini awakening should always incorporate both so that the mind, body, and soul–all three parts of the individual–can be awakened together, leaving no part behind and leaving nothing forgotten. You can only experience kundalini awakening if you’re led by a guru. This myth was propagated by the creator of kundalini yoga, Yogi Bhajan, and it makes sense why he would establish it. In his time, no one was practicing kundalini awakening on a wide scale. People didn’t have immediate information from the spread of the internet either. It was the 1960s, and people actually needed a guide so that they didn’t feel crazy or get something big wrong. These days, this earnest and productive sentiment on Yogi Bhajan’s behalf has much less use for us. With the onset of the internet and the abilities we have to teach one another from this information, you can comfortably teach yourself to meditate and guide yourself through kundalini awakening with hardly so much as a word of input from another person. Only certain people can have this awakening happen because it’s so difficult. For starters, it’s a misconception to think that kundalini awakening is a difficult endeavor. It’s not actually hard at all; it’s just that kundalini awakening requires steadfastness, commitment, determination, and focus. These traits are simply harder for some to come by than others, but even if they’re not naturally in your wheelhouse, kundalini awakening will help you adapt and incorporate them into your practice so that things become easier by the breath. Now, to the overall myth: anyone–I repeat, anyone–can experience kundalini awakening. It’s not that it’s difficult, and it’s not only for certain people. Anyone can handle the awakening, and it just depends on whether or not you’re ready and able to withstand the entire experience. If you’re having trouble, don’t think that it won’t work for you. Instead, look to your wounds, your traumas, and your scars. Consider going to a therapist at least once and then attempt the awakening again. It may be that you need to work something else out in a big way before you can work upwards, so to speak. The only way to awaken your kundalini is to have reiki done for you. While it may seem that reiki and kundalini awakening are explicitly tied to one another, they absolutely are not. You can awaken your kundalini without having anything to do with reiki. You can do reiki for years without ever doing a kundalini awakening, too. It’s more so that kundalini awakening and reiki healing overlap well than that they need to be used together. If you’re having a lot of trouble with your awakening, you might try having reiki done in order to tell where your chakras’ blockages are and how problematic those flow issues are for your goals. However, there’s no need to combine these practices at all, and you can absolutely awaken your kundalini without having reiki done to/for you. You’ll get superhuman powers with Kundalini Awakening. No, kundalini awakening won’t turn you into a super hero. It won’t make you superhuman, either. If you consider psychic gifts and developments superhuman abilities, though, you might want to reconsider your phrasing. It is true that kundalini awakening can unlock your psychic gifts. However, psychic abilities aren’t as extraordinary for humans to possess as we might imagine. Originally, humans had as many senses as we have chakras (which is actually 22), but we became blind, deaf, and dumb, so to speak, after a fall from grace. Now, we hardly even have enough senses as we have chakras in the body (7). The original 22 senses were all “psychic” and any ability one has to reconnect with the 17 lost senses is an extraordinarily natural ability, indeed. 21 Signs of Kundalini Awakening As you begin the process of kundalini awakening, it will be immensely helpful to be aware that many things will happen to you, some of them wild, but what’s happening to you does not mean that you’re crazy. In fact, it likely means that you’re exactly in line with where you should be in the process. In this section, you’ll be introduced to over 20 signs or “symptoms” of your ongoing awakening. They’re sure to test your ability to take your ego and pride out of your practice and focus on what good you can share with the world instead (because what you’re in for is truly, undeniably incredible). Feelings of lightning bolts in the body You can tell you’re well on your way to full-fledged awakening when you start feeling tingling sensations ranging from vibrations to lightning bolts in your body. It’s a strange experience, but it won’t last forever, and I promise you, it’s a good sign. Waves of hot and cold flashes As you’re on your way to kundalini awakening, you may experience extreme hot and cold flashes, reminiscent of a woman going through menopause. These flashes won’t be isolated to any one area of the body. You may be able to find a pattern in their waves, but they could also be totally random. Spontaneous emotional release during meditation Whether it’s anger, crying, laughter, sadness, joy, or otherwise, any strange and strong emotions that arise during meditation are sure-fire signs that your awakening is well underway. The rising kundalini is helping you process emotional blockages to your system with this effort. Making animal sounds or gestures during meditation Similarly, you may find that you experience intense moments of what can only be described as “animal expression” in meditation. Again, your kundalini is working on helping you process and clear energetic blockages, and that work is often best done through animal spirits and expressions. Hands, limbs, and feet tend to go numb and tingle As the kundalini and shakti energy of awakening start to rewire how things are working in your heart chakra, your physical heart may be occasionally affected. Don’t be worried if you experience your hands, limbs, or feet falling asleep more than usual. It’s absolutely normal for your “condition.” Increased desire to visit ancient & sacred places If you experience more and more powerful strong urges to go travel the world and see those famous ancient, sacred sites, don’t question those drives! They’re undoubtedly connected to your process of awakening, and you should follow up on them as much as you are able. Frequent sensory overload (at the beginning) If you’ve been working with kundalini and shakti energy for a while and you’re not sure you’re seeing effects, look to your senses. Have you been overwhelmed or overloaded easily recently? Have you been more sensitive than normal? Chances are that these emotional side effects are related to your senses and are therefore inspired by your awakening. Spontaneous waves of bliss or even pleasure It could be that kundalini awakening has the reputation of being all about sex because of this symptom or sign of the process. It is true that some people can experience spontaneous waves of ecstasy or tranquil bliss. It doesn’t happen often, but some people can also spontaneously orgasm, based on how their chakra blockages are being cleared and how the serpent is moving. It’s incredible, but it’s definitely a sign of awakening! Periods of extremely heightened creativity Especially as you start to work through blockages of the sacral chakra, you’ll begin to have extremely creative periods, and these moments are absolutely proof of awakening. Even if those periods don’t last very long or aren’t sustained over time, they’ll allow you to make creative works that help boost your awakening endurance overall. Mouth fills up with water during meditation You may find that your mouth keeps filling up with water during your practice of meditation. Don’t go to the doctor wondering what’s wrong with your body! It’s just a side effect of the kundalini’s movement through your system, and it’s absolutely a good sign. Spontaneous singing of old songs (you haven’t heard) or practicing of ancient yogic techniques (you’ve never even tried) Part of what happens during kundalini awakening is that one finds connections to his or her past lives, and sometimes, one will find that old techniques of the trade for awakening will surface for him or her in meditation that this person could never have known beforehand. Feeling intense headaches during meditation that resolve themselves easily If you do experience intense headaches during meditation, try not to take pain relief medicine for them! Try to ride out the meditation, and if the headache resolves itself at the end, then it’s for sure that you’re working out third eye or crown chakra blockages and your kundalini awakening is almost fully in effect. Receiving visions of skeletons or ancestors during meditation Some of the more spoken-about side effects or signs of awakening include the ability to see the dead, one’s ancestors, or skeletons. Some people make their entire focus during awakening to have this ability, but it should not be so. If you experience these visions, simply know you’re on the right path and do not be afraid. The ways you can use this ability will be revealed to you in time. For now, stay grounded and don’t let yourself get too scared or excited. Frequent mood swings in day-to-day life You may find that you’re more sensitive than normal, especially emotionally. If your mood swings are more extreme and intense than you’re used to, take it easy on others and yourself. It’s all a part of awakening, and it will definitely resolve itself in time. Hearing sounds (like music) that no one else hears As your past life and ancestral memories become unlocked, you might find yourself tapping into sound memories that no one else can perceive. As you receive messages about yoga, meditation, and spirituality through meditation, these tones may accompany the knowledge, but it’s all just a part of ascension. Don’t go running to the doctor or your therapist quite yet and don’t be afraid. Receiving spontaneous waves of wisdom, insight, or knowledge The more and more aligned your chakras become and the more freely this energy serpent moves, the more synchronicities you’ll receive in daily life and the more often you’ll experience these beautiful little moments of intense clarity and insight. These epiphanies will happen with increasing frequency through your awakening. Seeing visions from the past You may find yourself going on deep and convincingly-real walks through memory lane during awakening, and you may also receive literal visions into your past lives, those selves, and their behaviors. Don’t be alarmed. Your kundalini is guiding you through the information you need to receive to reach full awakening. Feelings of deep and unshakeable purity As you shed toxicity and layers of “dirt” from your chakras, you’ll find that you feel increasingly “pure” and connected to all aspects of divinity. It may sound strange to you now, but divine “purity” is not something to scoff at–it’s a state of mind that’s blissful, trusting, faithful, and absolutely growth-oriented. Diseases start to become healed While it’s true that some signs of awakening include the lessening of physical symptoms of disease and illness, it can also be the case that one’s diseases and illnesses begin to become literally healed in this process. Personality quirks are lessened and smoothed out Many people end up working out personality kinks when their kundalinis are awakened. Surely, when it comes to the chakras, blockages can manifest as problematic or negative personality traits, so when that awakening process starts up and becomes fully activated, the personality will become like a canvas or like clay that is ready to be painted on or sculpted to the will of divinity. Increased artistic inspiration from nature & others Especially if you’re an artist who’s gone through a dry spell in terms of creative motivation for a long while, it will be a clear sign of awakening when you find more and more inspiration from the natural and day-to-day. It doesn’t even have to be explicitly from nature, for during the process of awakening, it could be that general interpersonal interactions or the movement of cars or public transportation are enough to inspire you now. Chapter 3: Kundalini Awakening This chapter is dedicated to those readers who are ready to work directly on kundalini awakening. In the subsequent pages, you will find 29 techniques to help your kundalini awakening along, and the chapter ends with 6 additional methods that you can try to boost your experience. Whether you’ve felt kundalini awakening before or you just learned about it for the first time through this book, the tips included in this chapter are guaranteed to provide substance, depth, and insight into your experiences as you proceed. 29 Awakening Techniques Ranging from meditation techniques to interpersonal tips and simple world navigation tactics, the options provided in this section will help you move past simple knowledge of kundalini and awakening to the place where knowledge can be put into practice. Gather your yoga mat, your incense, and your mind, for things are about to get amplified. Apply kundalini yoga to your practice The more that you’re able to do so, adding physical layers to your meditative practice will be incredibly beneficial. Kundalini yoga is the best place to start, especially if you’re working on kundalini awakening in particular, rather than just awareness or chakra balancing. Kundalini yoga will help you work through those chakra blockages and get the kundalini going while boosting your meditative practice within the dimension of the moving human body. You’ll be surprised how well it all works together once you start amplifying your practice with yoga. Use visualization techniques to increase shakti movement Visualization is almost essential to use as a means of increasing shakti movement throughout your body in the form of your kundalini. The ancient Indians were on the right page when they gave relatable names to these cosmic wells of energy within us. They understood how powerful metaphor and imagery can be when it comes to the workings of the inner body (and one’s subtle energy). For example, as a reminder, “kundalini” means little coiled one–the snake of universe or source energy (shakti) that exists at the base of our spine. We are meant to imagine this snake being charmed and winding its way through our chakras. We are meant to visualize this and many more things. The more visualization you can incorporate into your practice, the better. Use guided meditation techniques to increase shakti movement A lot of people need help detaching from the distractions of the mind and the world before they can focus enough to visualize these intricate inner movements. In this cases, I always recommend guided meditation. There are so many ways to help raise your kundalini based on the techniques people share on online meditation forums and even on sites like YouTube. Audio books of guided meditations could also provide the guidance you’ll need to be able to shut off that conscious brain and simply, meditatively focus on the shakti–that pure and potent source energy that wants to move within you. Seek out these guided meditations for kundalini awakening, and you’ll be so grateful you did. Try pulling the kundalini up from your crown This technique, in terms of an awakening booster, is a little more detail-oriented than some others. It comes to the way you visualize the kundalini moving from that spinal source within you to the tip of your crown and back down. Essentially, you’ll want to try shifting your focus. If you’ve been imagining things (as most of us will innately do) as if the serpent has been rising up from your base–with that root chakra as your energetic center from which it leaves and to which it eventually returns–switch things up in an impactful yet subtle way. Imagine your crown chakra as your energetic center and see the kundalini being pulled up through your body, as if drawn by a magnet that rests at the top of your head. Then, once the kundalini rises to this crown point, imagine that you pull the “magnet” away and let the serpent “fall” down back to its opposite end before returning with the magnet replaced. Remember that you are a spiritual being having a human experience, as many have said elsewhere. Your crown chakra holds your purest potential, and shakti energy responds well to that once you reclaim it as your energetic “source.” Change your mindset There are a few unintentional roadblocks that tend to come up for many kundalini practitioners. Mainly, you’ll want to perform a couple of checks to ensure that your mindset is as aligned with kundalini awakening as possible. Reject as many sources of negativity in your life as you can. If you can’t get rid of them, try to face them and call them out, or you could just out-right ignore them. On a personal level, too, you can work to change negativity into its opposite extreme of expression when it comes to your personality traits, your routines, habits, and more. Furthermore, the less attachment you have to material things and patterns, the more open you become to the changes awakening has in store for you. Overall, therefore, reject (and possibly counteract) negativity and attachment, and you will surely flourish. (As a general note, if this method doesn’t work for you, don’t force yourself to attempt it, especially if it creates toxic effects for you. In that case, you may have a blockage of third eye or crown chakra that needs to be worked through before full awakening can be achieved.) Play the observer Do you often find yourself as the center of attention, in more than just a teamsport-member or theatre-troupe-member way? Do you generally crave that type of support and public awareness? Now comes the trickier part. When you are the center of attention, do you notice things better or worse? Do you take in the whole picture or do you get tunnel vision for only what you’re doing (and perhaps what the viewer takes in)? I’d be willing to venture a guess that you aren’t fully aware of what’s going on, particularly in your surroundings, at times when you fill that public position. Maybe a little more time spent playing the observer instead would help you. For people who resonate with the message behind this point, try to be a little more subtle in public settings. See who rises up instead and then just listen to what they have to say. Interrupt your needs and urges in this way, and your kundalini will realize what a powerful energetic shift you’re instigating, responding to its own way in kind. Find a teacher, supporter, guru, or mentor If you are ready to do so and are able, begin to approach the idea of meeting and partnering up with a teacher. Whether you consider them a strong and smart supporter, a mentor, a patron, a teacher, a guru, or otherwise, simply begin to consider the possibility of a person like this entering your life. As you continue practicing meditation, yoga, and the rest of your kundalini rising techniques, you’ll likely find that your vibration attracts exactly that which you desire. Now, this attraction effort will involve a bit of action on your part to keep the vibration going, but the actions involved are easier than they sound. Essentially, it’s this: if you get any hunches in this process, follow them. If you think you ought to talk to this new person in particular, trust yourself and go for it. If you want to try eating at a different restaurant, go there and be open to what happens. You can find your teacher in the places you’d least expect; just remain open for experiences, conversations, encounters, and situations that will change your world. Sometimes, just living out that openness is action enough. Use chanting & kirtan Some more traditional elements of kundalini awakening involve the combination of mind and body through chanting and singing. This mind-body alignment is not only already incredibly productive for shakti energy’s flow through your system, but also, this combination, in particular, with its focus being expressed through vocalization, will really help those practitioners struggling with throat chakra blockages. Spontaneous chanting is a symptom or sign of kundalini awakening, too, so maybe a bit of practicing will help you get there. To start, try chanting your mantra or your vision of either exactly what you want to happen with your kundalini awakening or your detailed “happy place.” If you follow a religious devotion, you could try a prayer to your god or goddess. If you don’t mind which religion you follow and you simply want to get involved with some sort of active divinity, seek out a local kirtan. Kirtan is a gathering where songs of Sanskrit prayer are sung about many different gods and goddesses. Interestingly enough, “kirtan” means basically “narrating or telling,” while “bhajan,” the name of the yogi who brought kundalini yoga to the West, means “sharing” in a similar context as “kirtan,” with particular emphasis through song. I’m sure this is not completely coincidence. Do things that make you truly happy Think back to the time when you were a kid. Put yourself in that mental and emotional space. What did you do for fun? What did you like to daydream about? Go back to memories before puberty. What unrealistic and absolutely fantastical goals did you have? What did you think you’d want to be, and can you remember why you felt that way? Put yourself in that space. Remember what you did to feel truly happy. Now, think of today. Is there any equivalent to that thing that made you so happy from your past that lingers today? Do you still strive to live out those goals and to be happy those same ways? Or have you given up on those feelings for any number of reasons? Now’s the time to think a little. Even if you don’t have those dreams anymore, think of what they meant to you. Think of what they could have really meant in terms of your bigger picture. For instance, one child’s unrealistic goals of being a tree climber for a future career could transform into her future needs to be outside often. The goal in this case is to align your life with those innocent and unrealistic dreams, however it is humanly possible for you to do so. Connect with that deep and lasting childlike happiness, and your kundalini will surely respond. Practice saying “yes” Especially for those who have trouble going with the flow, this practice of saying “yes” as often as possible may actually jolt their kundalinis into action! If you relate to the previous statement, it’s likely because you do attempt to hold too tightly to control in your life, so you’ll need a little help going with the flow. The most kundalini-applicable reason that this could be the case is that your solar plexus chakra is blocked, imbalanced, or spinning in the wrong direction. To those readers that need to hear this, say “yes” more often; you deserve it! Give yourself a break and go with the experiences and possibilities that present themselves to you, rather than the ones you cling to or pull desperately your way. Get loose! Say “yes,” and go with the flow. Kundalini will know what to do. Practice saying “no” Similar to the last point but decidedly different, some people are too easygoing and can’t help but get caught up in the flow. In these cases, the individual might feel like their greatest fears revolve around not being able to say “no” when it really matters. Therefore, the technique for individuals who relate to this message would be to practice saying “no” anytime you’d normally be “pushed over,” for the sake of the phrase’s appropriateness. If people like to turn responsibilities over to you, say “no” as if you aren’t going to lose anything. Turn down dates to have nights in. Turn down hangouts to give some self-love instead. Every time you say “no,” though, remember that you’re doing this to regain strength and boost your soul. Don’t let that solar plexus chakra remain imbalanced; say “no” and that blockage will start to disappear. Use music therapy A more physician-approved technique for psychological and soulful awakening of any kind would be music therapy, but I don’t mean that you have to book a doctor’s appointment today. I simply mean that you can find music that supports your goals and listen to it as much as possible. Look for artists who support your causes and check out their music. Look for songs that talk about what you want to manifest in your life. Look for tunes that remind you of being a kid. You can direct your search in a multitude of ways, and you can even find full albums of kundalini awakening meditation music on YouTube. If you’re not into the words and tunes of others, you can create your own songs to process anything you might be going through (that could also be blocking your chakras) to take possession of this music therapy experience and give it your full bodily endorsement. Use music however you need to, and if you have any spontaneous hot or cold flashes, emotional outbursts, or laughing bursts, you’ll know you’re on the right path. Use sound therapy Similarly, you could try using just one tone at a time to guide your meditation if the busy-ness of music gets distracting because of how sensitive you are. Some of us can’t handle music when we’re meditating; it’s too distracting to start off with. Some of us can’t handle words of any kind happening when we’re meditating either. Of course, some people don’t have these struggles, but others cannot escape them. Even people who don’t necessarily need to simplify found more sound therapy can work incredible wonders. As I was saying at the start of this point, you can try using just one tone at a time to boost your meditation or yoga. You can chant words at the pitch of the chakra you’re working on, or you could just say “ohm” again and again at the same pitch. You could even take your voice out of it and play one note repeated, whether through YouTube, a musical instrument, or otherwise. See what these tones do for you, for it might be just the trick. Use art therapy Instead of using music or sound, maybe art is your thing! You could always try going to a few local art museums and just wander around to see what triggers something in you. Or you could pull up some art on your phone or your laptop to see what helps you feel inspired again. Differently, you could also get back into creating your own art. I know you have it in you, no matter how deeply you’ve buried it! In addition, just because people say it’s “art” doesn’t mean what you make has to be good by their standards! Just create something. You’ll be so glad you did, and even if you’re not glad and you end up hating it, even in the act of destroying what you’ve made, you might find some inner satisfaction that triggers our slithery spirit friend, the kundalini. Use color therapy Do you remember what color really is? Do you remember being taught in science class when you were young about how color is just different wavelengths of light being bounced off things and perceived by our limited human eyes? Do you remember all that? If not, take it in because I can almost guarantee you’ve never thought about what all this really means. Certain colors will then have wavelengths and vibrations that heal things within us, sometimes even without us knowing. Each chakra has a color, and the wearing of that color is supposed to help cleanse or open that chakra, but did you ever think of the other implications? Sure, colors associate with chakras, but they also can just affect us in terms of healing that we may not be able to perceive. Colors have healing capacity that’s so subtle and so intrinsic to our daily lives that we hardly even notice. Getting back in touch with subtle energy and color healing will undoubtedly help you connect with your kundalini and instigate its rise. Spend less time on screens It may sound basic and unnecessary, but you still need to hear it: the less time you spend on technology, the better. Especially as you begin opening up and experiencing kundalini awakening, you will become very sensitive, even more so than you normally are. It’s like a vicious cycle because that sensitivity has dire implications for your awakening goals, too. You might become triggered into lower states of being by the news or social media feeds. You might be distracted too much from your higher purpose by scrolling on social media all day. You might be too jam-packed with the vibrations of your technological devices that you can’t find your own in the haze. The basic gist is this: the less technology you rely on, the more your vibration is yours and the clearer your focus will be. With less screen time, the more you’re clean. Change up your social media feed I know it’s hard to fully detach from social media. It’s really, really hard for some in comparison with others, and it’s particularly true for those individuals that I provide this recommendation to. Instead of cutting out social media completely, I challenge you to complete these steps. First, choose just one form of social media that you can use to get a bit of everything you might need (i.e., spiritual information, family contact, friend contact, self-expression, community boost, business boost, etc.) and cut out all the others. Second, on this social media, cut down your posts drastically each week. Third, change up your social media feed by cleaning up your friend’s list, the hashtags you follow, and the pages you like. Remember that you can attract spiritual information through social media, too; you just have to work for it. With these three actions taking place, you’ve made some powerful steps in the right direction, and if things don’t drastically change for you within after two weeks, I’ll be extremely surprised. Trust in the universe, in felicity, and in synchronicity It’s going to be hard at first, especially if you’ve never practiced this type of radical trust before, but you’re going to have to put some faith in the workings of the world around you. You can do a lot for yourself for the sake of healing and growth, and others can teach you a lot as well, but the world and what’s bigger can teach you more than you can ever imagine. Look up the term “felicity.” Then look up the term “synchronicity.” Now, look up “serendipity.” Start looking for these experiences in your life, and they’ll surely appear. Furthermore, start keeping a journal of the synchronicities you experience, and I almost guarantee that you’ll be making concrete life changes and trusting in the universe in no time. Every sign is a lesson and every interaction, everything you see, can be a sign. Open your eyes and relearn how to trust, and kundalini will know what to do. Pay closer attention to your breathing As you begin meditating and eventually come to incorporate it into your daily practice, you’ll start noticing your breathing more than ever. You’ll notice when you hold it unintentionally, when you hyperventilate or are triggered, when you are invited to breathe calmly, when you have the greatest smelling capacity, and more. With this breathing awareness, your kundalini can’t help but respond. What you can do to help along the process is to try to meditate daily, and when you do meditate, breathe deep into your belly. Furthermore, if you can visualize at all, try to visualize that each breath strokes the back of a small serpent that’s sleeping in the pit of your stomach. Imagine that the breath meets the serpent as if you were petting a cat that curled up in the window. With this increasingly close attention on your breathing, your health will improve, and you will only become more and more aligned with awakening. Pay closer attention to your posture If you envision the path the kundalini serpent will follow, you can see that (if you’re standing or sitting up straight) it goes up from the root chakra to the sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, and then finally the crown before going back down and repeating its flow as it can. Now, envision what happens to the flow when you hunch over and curl into the fetal position. The line from chakra to chakra becomes a curve almost like a semi-circle. In this case, the serpent’s path is less predictable and more difficult overall. You can help the kundalini, in this case, by watching your posture as much as possible. Try to sit up and stand up straight whenever possible. Don’t crunch your solar plexus chakra and don’t tuck in your root chakra if you can help it! Moreover, if you have trouble with straight posture, think of what chakras could be blocked and limiting you. Think of what traumas could be standing in your way. Regardless of what you learn, your posture can teach you a lot on your path to kundalini awakening. Try tapping into the “chakra channel” In your daily meditation, try this technique specifically. You can boost the technique with visualization, but you don’t have to, for it can be just as effective if you just imagine what’s happening, remember your goals, and let your body do the rest. Essentially, you’ll close your eyes with the meditation and begin to focus your energy into the root chakra. Breathe into your belly and sense that root chakra until you can feel a vibration there. Then, begin to chant your mantra or simply chant “ohm” over and over again. With each repetition, feel the vibration of the next higher chakra as the root energy moves into the sacral, the solar plexus, the heart, the throat, the third eye, and finally the crown. Once you reach the crown, the whole chakra channel inside you should be vibrating with energy, and your kundalini will surely see this open and cleared space as if it was a potential playground to explore. Practice seeing proof of divinity in everything Instead of closing yourself off, getting angry at everything, or shutting down when you get upset, try to reshape the way you look at the world. You can try to remind yourself that even when things get intense, it’s just a moment when divinity decided to test you, providing an experience for you to get stronger if you tap into it correctly and adequately. You can easily see the good times as proof of divinity, and positive signs are the same. Bad times and negative times, though, are harder, and that’s the real challenge. With practice, you’ll be able to see the proof of divinity in every experience, challenge, advantage, situation, and exchange, and I hope it will bring you both glee and lasting inspiration. I know, at least, it will do that much for your kundalini (as long as your feelings and connections with divinity aren’t forced just to get to awakening). Connect with your spirit guides Whether your spirit guides are real people, living or dead, who were sainted or who invented incredible things, or your spirit guides are your ancestors or other literal spirits, you can try getting in touch with them (spiritually or literally) for help in relation to your kundalini awakening. Asking for help is never something to be ashamed of, especially when it comes to something as complex and lifealtering as kundalini awakening. Reach out to your guides for advice. Let them know the situation you’re in and what you’re hoping for. Let them know what you’re working through and what you’re working on. If you don’t know who your spirit guides are yet, it’s time to do a little research and begin connecting. Think of the religion you associate with most and look at the “saints” of that religion. Think of the ancient religion you love and its myths and gods or goddesses. Do some research into the world of spirituality to see if your guides will arise, and when they do, you’ll know whom you should direct these important advice-based questions to. Use healing crystals While you’re working through subtle and physical energy blockages and flows, subtle and physical helpers can make the transition into awakening all the easier. Take crystals, for example. These earth minerals, whether raw or polished, each contain a vibration and life essence. When you hold these vibrations around you (especially if you’re lacking those vibrations in particular), they can impart healing capacities to you through direct contact with the stone. Hold a healing crystal in your hand, and you may find yourself with increased capacity for patience, love, devotion, trust, or otherwise. For kundalini awakening, too, this crystal healing potential is great. Crystals of different colors connect to the chakras, and some crystals even have the unique ability to align and cleanse all 7 chakras at once. If you’re in need of a booster for your process, I absolutely recommend going the route of crystal healing. It’s easy, it’s fun, and it can have effects almost instantly. Practice random acts of kindness or paying it forward To get your vibration in line with something kundalini can work with, you can try paying it forward as selflessly as possible. Practice random acts of kindness and pay it forward whenever you’re able to. See what’s returned and what hasn’t. See what comes back around even after you send it out. By working with this spirit of compassion and sending energy out into the world like a boomerang just waiting for it to return in some fashion, kundalini (and the shakti that gives it life) will take notice. Soon enough, these practices may become second nature, or they could even manifest material rewards for you closer and closer to the moment of your initial action. Start by sending out whatever generosity and selflessness you can into the universe and then wait to see what returns. If all that returns is insight and knowledge, be sure to feel thankful for that! It didn’t have to be anything at all. Working these practices may be difficult as you attempt to live without attachments and harsh expectations, but it will only be difficult if it poses a lesson you need to learn. Meditate to open, cleanse & align the chakras first It may sound simple, but you can always just start off your day with a chakra meditation to open, cleanse, and align everything as you’re able to yourself. Especially, if you’re well-practiced with meditation and you’re comfortable clearing your chakras, this technique may boost you exponentially. From now on, try to start your day with a shower and a chakra cleanse. As the water hits you, visualize that blockages flow out of each chakra, down to your feet, and out into the water down the drain. Visualize your inner peace and wholeness after this cleansing is complete and imagine that your chakras have become better aligned with each time you shower. By starting the day in this way, kundalini will have better motion for the rest of your waking time, and your awakening will be affected drastically. Practice active patience & forgiveness Sometimes, what holds us back from awakening is the grudge we cling to the fiercest. While it can be true that holding a grudge can remind some people of their power and their potential to determine their reality, grudges (more often than not) are spiritually toxic. They most often correlate to blockages of the heart chakra, and they can be corrected through active and radical expressions of love, patience, and forgiveness. Next time you butt up against your grudges or their related individuals, try to be the better person. Don’t just think of things that way, though, and really live that “better person” life without the judgment of being actually “better” or thinking that you are. Reject grudge. Reject anger, jealousy, fear, frustration, and irritation. As you can, just express love, forgiveness, and acceptance despite their harshness, and by rolling with those punches, you will emotionally and spiritually grow. Practice tantric sex with your partner While kundalini awakening is not all about sex, some sexual practices are incredibly useful for boosting your kundalini’s rise and increasing your shakti. Tantric sex, in particular, is one of the healthiest and most productive sexual practices linked with kundalini awakening. During tantric sex with your partner, you both will try different positions together and engage in mostly the same actions as you normally would, however, the goal of orgasm will be a little different. Tantric sex is about holding sexual positions and holding or redirecting orgasm, pushing endurance to its limits, to use very Western terms about it. You’ll enter and hold these positions, building up energy between you two and sending that energy up into your chakras rather than out into each other, so to speak. Your kundalini is directly involved when actions of this type occur, so its awakening may likely be very closely related to this ancient sexual practice. Try orgasming differently If you experience frequent orgasm but don’t yet understand or wish to practice tantric sex, you can try focusing your orgasm into a different part of your body in order to instigate awakening. As with the couple practicing tantric sex and coming to orgasm, you’ll try to focus your orgasmic energy upwards, through your chakras successively to your crown, rather than down and out through your base. This creative energy is always lost from your body during orgasm when you push that energy down out the root chakra, but if you keep some of that energy for yourself by redirecting it upwards, you will invite the serpent to move with you. 6 Other Practices That Can Help In addition to those 29 kundalini-boosters, 6 or so more intensive practices can be added to your daily routine to your benefit. Ranging from physical exercise to dietary change and other modes of subtle energy healing, the methods in this section are gateways to apply to your awakening for strengthening, deepening, and intensifying the experience as it stands. Now it all depends on what you feel comfortable with and what you’re willing to draw into your life. Start running One thing you can do is start running if you’re physically able to. Running is great for your lungs, your heart, your bones, your posture, and more. Spiritually, running can connect you with the potential you have to free yourself from restriction (to a certain degree) and to create your own reality. When you’re in the practice of running, and things really feel good, you have the sense that you are free to go anywhere your feet can carry you. This feeling evokes pure joy for me, and it helps me resolve feelings of being trapped in the system in other ways. For others, too, running can provide those feelings they’re desperately craving while increasing their bodies’ strengths and potentials. Through the practice of running, you should focus your attention on becoming strong, gaining endurance, and increasing the alignment of your body. If you find that you struggle with any of these three points despite your shift into running, you may want to eliminate it from your routine. The goal here is to promote overall health, and if you’re adding undue stress to your days, it’s not really worth it in the long run. Instead of running, these individuals are invited to try bicycling, trail walking, road walking, roller blading, or any other, less-intensive method of getting outside and getting physical. Change your diet It can be the case that your diet keeps you from following through with awakening. What vibration do the foods that you’re eating contain? Have you ever thought to look? Sure, you’ve thought of calories, fats, carbs, and proteins, but have you thought of the food’s actual vibration? If you’re trying to awaken the source of subtle yet universal energy inside you, you’re going to need some vibrationally powerful food. If you’re running into struggles with awakening that either aren’t being resolved or that feel like they’re leading nowhere, try switching up your diet. Trade out the processed foods for whole foods. Trade out the meats for fruits and vegetables. Once you start eating better foods and drinking better things, your cells will replenish themselves with the nutrients from these healthier substances, which will lead to a better and healthier overall expression of you! It might sound far-fetched, but food has energy just like crystals and herbs do, even more so. When you eat that food, you take on its energy, and if you eat death constantly, you will have a stagnant vibration. Raise your vibration through your food, and kundalini will be riding those shakti, world-shattering waves to awakening right along with you. Spend time with nature & meditate there Don’t forget the importance of going outside as you begin this life-changing practice! There will be times when you feel low as you shed what doesn’t serve you. There will be times when you feel so full of energy that you could burst. There will be times when you feel like you’ve been walking in circles with blinders on and just now realizing what’s been going on. Kundalini awakening is a strange and bewildering time and having a solid routine for grounding can be immensely helpful. Throughout your process, never forget the value of going into nature. Nature is an endless reserve of subtle physical healing energies. It’s also a wealth of signs that can help you communicate with your guides, your higher self, and your intuition. The physical environment is alive beneath our feet, and it can teach us more about ourselves (and our potential as humans) than we might like to face, but its lessons are so, so, endlessly necessary to hear and to learn. No matter what season it is for you or where you happen to live (city or otherwise), get outside! Dress appropriately and go out to take in the season! Meditate in nature whenever possible and let the visual symbolism of these beautiful spaces guide you and your kundalini through any difficult work ahead. Live a life of service or try volunteering Are you really living from the heart? Or are you living from the head or the gut? Are you maybe living from your groin instead? As you work through your chakras’ blockages into kundalini awakening, you will be forced to find yourself many, many times. You will see how your self-expression has been (and has not been) aligned with your overall growth, and you will begin to notice the patterns in your behaviors and personality traits. Eventually, you may even be made to face your inadequacies in terms of love, self-expression, self-control, creativity, survival, spirituality, psychic-ness, and more. The most intense inadequacy to face, however (especially for those involved with kundalini awakening), is the inability to love purely and selflessly. For those struggling with this heart chakra blockage, “faking it until you make it” likely won’t work. You’ll need a physical anchor for this love to connect with; otherwise, it will never feel genuine for you. In that case, you might try volunteering or switching your job momentarily to work in service of others. By putting yourself in a work-place situation of service, you will be tested, and your abilities to love others selflessly will be strengthened with each breath you take. It could be that your experiences are wholly positive, but it very well may not. Take heart, however, for those harsh experiences are the greatest teachers of all. In time, you will notice how your heart is like a flower that blossoms with every new interaction. You’ll know your kundalini’s awakening when what used to cause you the most bitter irritation now evokes nothing but love. Boost your practice with other subtle energy-healing techniques While kundalini awakening clearly connects you with realms of subtle energy in your life, it can also be greatly boosted by the presence of other subtle energyhealing modalities aside from just using healing crystals or being around physical nature. Moreover, of course, once you come to know more and more about subtle energy-healing modalities, you can begin to pair them and combine them generally as you see fit. The point is this: as you work through what helps you and what doesn’t, you’ll realize that your intuition (aka, your connection to your higher self and more) is stronger and more helpful than almost anything else; you will draw to you the healing that you need, even if it just looks like massage or a plant or a teeny pill that dissolves under your tongue. In that case, your practice of kundalini awakening (or any awakening or ascension, generally) should always be boosted by the application of other subtle energetic modalities, as you see fit. A few options are as follows. First, you could try using flower essences as a modality of subtle energy healing that supports your kundalini awakening. Flower essences work based on the extracted vibration of one type of flower at a time. Basically, you take (or buy the product created by) a few buds of a particular flower and put them in a clear bowl of water. Then, you set the bowl in the sunshine for 12 hours, either at once or over time, as the sun wills. After that point, you remove the flower buds and bottle the water with a drop or two of brandy as a preservative in each bottle. Voila, you’ve got flower essences! Now, the fun begins. Just as each person, each color, and each crystal has its own vibration, so does each flower. When the essence of the flower is “extracted,” to a certain degree, in the flower essence, you can then orally take the remedy (of a few drops of its liquid a few times a day) and work to cure certain ailments that are attached to one’s aura or subtle energetic expression. Flower essences can dissolve chakra blockages, too, without you even realizing that’s what they’re doing. Look up flower essences, for I promise, you’ll be fully amazed with the potential. Second, you could seek out reiki healing in order to remove your chakras’ blockages and help the kundalini along. Reiki healing is a traditional Japanese method of energy work that eliminates obstruction and blockage inside the individual (emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, or otherwise) through the applied insight and potential power of the practitioner. While reiki healing is often paired with massage, it doesn’t have to be, for it’s really just about the potential for the practitioner to dissolve energy blockages within the individual from afar, through the application of the right energetic methods. Reiki healers don’t even necessarily have to be next to you to heal you through their methods. By connecting their own kundalini to shakti, to their spirit guides, and to the earth, these individuals can receive guidance that blasts open your chakras from states away, paving the way for the serpent to flow within you. Just be sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before your first session! Third, you could generally receive massages that aid in blockage release. With or without the addition of reiki, massages are still an incredible thing. They feel amazing (especially when performed by someone you trust), but they do more than just make your skin and muscles feel good. Massages can also help you become more aware of any blockages you might have (i.e., through where it feels okay to be touched and where it doesn’t, through the places the masseuse tends to linger on, through the pains you didn’t realize you had, and more) as you work through that chakra opening and clearing process, making way for kundalini. If you’re not comfortable with massage, try just getting a manicure or a pedicure (Even if you’re a guy! Just be brave, schedule the appointment, and own it!). The manicurist or pedicurist will absolutely massage your hands or feet, respectively, and that smaller, focused massage will, through reflexology, affect your overall bodily awareness (and potential for kundalini awakening), too. In fact, any reflexology, acupuncture, or acupressure would be equally helpful to this extent. Fourth, you could still seek out therapy if you’re comfortable doing so. While it doesn’t help all people, talking things out can still be immensely helpful for some. Therapy doesn’t have to be completely about talk, either. Remember from earlier in this chapter that therapy can be based around art, color, sound, and music, too! If you think that you need to work through something in a bigger way than just your insides can handle, don’t be ashamed. Turning to therapy may potentially save your life. It might be daunting to know where to start or how to make the first move. Try art or music therapy first if you can. If you can’t afford a personal doctor, create your own therapies. Do whatever you need to in order to get the toxicity out and somehow neutralized, and if that means that you go to a “shrink” and talk things over, go for it. Kundalini (and your higher self) will be thankful you did. Fifth, you could try using essential oils or herbal healing to get things in gear. These suggestions are correlated through their reliance on the vibrational essences of plants and herbs. Through essential oils, the vibration is extracted and contained in oil vehicles, while the herbs could also be made into “flower” essences. Through herbal healing, as a whole, however, herbs are simply appreciated for the subtle energies they contain and the healing they can impart. Essential oils can vary in rarity and availability, but herbs themselves can sometimes be extracted from your own backyard. If you’re in a rush these days, however, you can always buy online. Make sure that you’re buying essential oils that are perfectly in line with your goals, but you can also make things purposefully ritualistic and low-tech. If you’d rather try the in-person, low-tech method, go out in nature yourself and forage for plants with a guidebook. If you’re drawn to a plant without knowing what it is, look it up and take notes. You may find that your guides (or your intuition) have been leading you to the ideal cure for so long without you even knowing it. Whether you use the essential oil, the bought plant, or the foraged herb, kundalini will be grateful and respond in kind. Sixth, you could try decalcifying your pineal gland and reprogramming your energy through sun gazing. Sun gazing requires you to be present for sunrise and sunset each day. The gist is this: you stand barefoot in the rays of the sun as it rises and sets, looking toward the sun, soaking in its life-giving energy, and learning to feel full of its potential. Then, you tie this practice in with intermittent or spontaneous fasting to get the whole experience of feeling connected to the earth in completely new ways. Sun gazing supposedly has antiaging, anti-hunger, and anti-illness benefits that are almost unmatched by modern medicine, and you’d better believe that sun gazing will affect kundalini’s movement, too. Wake up with the sun and breathe in its rays deeply. If you don’t feel kundalini stir up some shakti after just a week, I’ll be completely flabbergasted. Seventh and finally, you could try homeopathic remedies to work through what’s causing those chakra blockages within you in the first place. While modern medicine and pharmaceutical cures operate off of allopathic healing (things different from the problem cure the problem) principles, subtle energy cures lead us to investigate the older practice of homeopathy (like cures like) instead. Homeopathy sometimes gets a bad reputation but is much more worth one’s effort than you might imagine. Homeopathic remedies are constructed from the vibrational essences of plants, minerals, and animals to the point of mitigating the debilitating circumstances or illnesses. Instead of assuming, like modern medicine does, that you can only heal something by administering a cure devised separately, homeopathy assumes that poisons (in very small doses) can actually heal greater ailments. It’s worth writing a whole book on the subject, but for now, it will suffice to say that you should look into homeopathy if you’re intrigued by this point. It could be that the trigger for your kundalini awakening is a teeny homeopathy pill you’ll let dissolve under your tongue, and the greatest thing is that if you take a homeopathic cure that your body doesn’t actually need, it won’t do anything to you at all. Essentially, these wonderful subtle energetic remedies only work if you need them. What are you waiting for? You’ll never know how well these remedies can work until you do the research and try them for yourself! Take a dance class Along the lines of the first point in this section, you might try taking a dance class instead of taking up running. This decision would be much easier on your knees, your lungs, and your muscles overall, but it could still be just as worthwhile, if not more so. It just depends on your experience, your chakras, and your goals with kundalini awakening. Overall, dance classes allow for physical exercise aligned with your mental and meditative goals, but also provide an outlet for creative expression that is likely not present for those who just choose to run or work out or attend kundalini yoga classes. Therefore, attending dance class would work incredibly well for people working through lower chakra blockages (especially blockages in the sacral region). By connecting with music, rhythm, movement, passion, ecstasy, bliss, and inspiration, people who choose the dance class method will find release in the sacral and root chakras regardless. Some people need this specific release more than others. If you’re stuck with your root, sacral, or solar plexus chakras, don’t turn right toward running to be your exercise mode of release (that’s better for crown, third eye, and throat chakra blocked people, anyways). Instead, join a dance studio and take a weekly class! Whether it’s shamanic dance, modern dance, hip hop, ballet, or otherwise, just getting your body moving will inspire the kundalini, and every rhythmicallyplanned step you take will only serve to align your life more with your greatest, most creative potential. Chapter 4: Troubleshooting Your Awakening While there are many positive signs and things that can go oh-so right with kundalini awakening, it also happens to be the case that, sometimes, it doesn’t work out like you’d think. Sometimes, it doesn’t seem like it’s even working out at all. In those times, this chapter is here to help. We’ll troubleshoot three different themes that could be affecting your process. First, we’ll consider what might be holding you back. Second, we’ll look at the potential dangers and risks that might be interfering with your process. Third and finally, we’ll examine the most common mistakes people make in their awakening process, along with how you can expertly avoid them. By the end of this chapter, you should have found your personal slip-up, and you should be able to work at correcting it in no time. 12 Things That Could Be Holding You Back There are so many things that could be paralyzing you on your journey. From emotional struggles to physical ones or from going too fast to too slow, there are various ways to accidentally get in your own way, but this section will help you at least open your eyes and realize what you can do to help. Physical challenges The simple truth of the matter is that sometimes our bodies aren’t ready for kundalini awakening quite yet. In some cases, it’s due to an auto-immune disorder. Sometimes, it’s caused by a lack of ability in a certain part of the body. Sometimes, still, it’s caused by the inability to practice meditation due to extensive daily anxiety. Regardless of the physical challenges that are getting in your way, you are not a failure. You will come to a point in your healing when you will be able to handle kundalini awakening on top of everything else, but right now might not be that moment, and that’s okay. Rushing one’s kundalini awakening can be detrimental sometimes, and it’s always best to just take it at a pace that feels natural and non-stressful for your experience and needs. Experiencing things with too much intensity or too quickly Sometimes, the chakras aren’t that blocked, and they’re relatively easy to open, cleanse, and align. For people that have this experience, the kundalini awakening process may happen much faster than it would for the standard, highly-blocked individual. If this is the case for you, you’ll likely have an incredibly intense experience right from the beginning, and it could even become too intense because of the speed of transition. If you’re not rushing things and they’re still advancing intensely and quicker than anticipated, try to meditate every other day. Try to take a step back in your process and allow it to become calmer, rescaled to anticipate what you can handle. You may also benefit immensely from having a guide or guru. Some people do not do well with these types of relationships in healing and awakening, but because you’re so highly sensitive, a teacher or mentor–even just a listening supporter–may be just the thing. Diet doesn’t support awakening It may sound far-fetched to some (and I’d be willing to bet this “some” group of people is comprised mostly of meat-eaters), but sometimes, your diet will get in the way of your awakening. Saying that doesn’t mean you need to go right ahead and cut out meat or dairy or gluten or sugar. It more so means that you may be able to aid your awakening process if you make a few slight adjustments. You can start by eating less processed food and more fruits and vegetables. If that’s hard for you to do to start off, try beginning by eating one less meal with meat each week. Simply start small and see how you feel; see how your body reacts. If a positive response is evoked, make additional changes in accordance. You’re focusing on the wrong body part Some issues with kundalini awakening are rooted in the individual’s abilities to focus, and these issues are easily adjusted with a switch of where one’s attention goes when he or she meditates. For example, especially if you focus your energy into your head (or into your third eye) when you close your eyes to meditate (which most people do), you’ve found your problem right there. To instigate kundalini awakening, you need to start off by focusing your energy into your heart, belly, and gut. The kundalini needs a healthy environment to rise into, and if you’re sending all that healthy attention to your third eye, you’ve skipped way beyond that gut space that the kundalini meets first. Think of how the kundalini will move and prepare your body accordingly. In essence, during your meditations, breathe deep into your stomach for a while and see what changes for you. Your mentality ignores the body or vice versa Based on where kundalini awakening came from–in the modern day, with Yogi Bhajan and his practice of kundalini yoga–it makes sense that your practice of awakening can’t just be mental in order to succeed. It has to be balanced with physical efforts, as you’re able to complete them. The connection with yoga is important here, for that practice can do a lot to aid in your kundalini’s awakening. Mainly, kundalini yoga especially helps cleanse blockages in one’s chakras through movement and body-focused breathing. In the same vein, one cannot instigate full kundalini awakening through just the practice of yoga. There has to be a balance between mind-based and body-based approaches in your overall attempt. Otherwise, you will continue on in this state of internal imbalance. Poor or unsupportive mood To a certain degree, kundalini awakening can help readjust mood and emotional imbalances, but one has to get to that point first. It could be that those heightened mood and emotional imbalances are what’s keeping you from any clear direction in your hopes of awakening. Check your mindset! Check your most common moods! If there’s any way you can begin to adjust those mindsets and moods, you’re sure to see some difference in your kundalini practice in no time. It may sound complicated, pushy, or difficult now, but if you can somehow rise above any draining moods and emotions, you’ll see your kundalini rise in kind. Overwhelming urges for control It is true that the purest kundalini awakenings happen with absolutely no effort on behalf of the individual, but not all awakenings can happen like that. However, there are many distractions blocking the divine that are basically everywhere these days. Ultimately, there should be no ego-based forcing, pushing, or controlling involved in one’s awakening. But this whole book still helps its reader through techniques and tips to aid in his or her self-guided awakening, so it really just comes down to finding a balance. If you’re struggling with the process, try to establish a better balance between selfguidance and trying to do too much too quickly, then see what happens. Past trauma or PTSD is too strong of a blockage Sometimes, the traumas we bore witness to in the past (or that we’re currently surviving) create blockages for us that become so entrenched and so ubiquitously spread throughout our chakras that we become unable to guide ourselves through our own awakenings. That’s not a good or bad thing; it’s simply a fact of life. If you feel that this sentiment applies to you, don’t be put off from kundalini awakening, for there is incredible and life-altering hope for you. It just means that you might have to work through your traumas separately first. Based on what you’ve experienced, it may be supportive to talk to someone about that experience, whether it’s a friend, partner, guardian (on this plane or another), or therapist. Use art therapy or music therapy if you’d rather not interact with another person, you’d rather not share your trauma with someone else, or you feel that you have no one else to share it with. Get that yuck out somehow! Try to be creative or communicative about it, and your kundalini will start rising in no time. Unwillingness to face one’s true nature Awakening can be a tricky process at times. It’s not always just positive signs and good feelings and happiness. Sometimes, you’ll be made to face your flaws, and the task will be this: change them or suffer no further kundalini movement. It’s a tough situation, but it definitely means that some people falter in the process of awakening because of these self-based reality checks. Furthermore, as the kundalini rises initially through the throat, third eye, and crown chakras (before it starts free-flowing through all the open chakras), the individual will realize more and more how filled with divinity he or she is. For some, this awareness is frightening or too much to handle. Some are simply unwilling to embrace this potential. To off-set from this situation if you find you’re being held back similarly, what you can do is to practice radical openness and acceptance of yourself, divinity, and others. No community of support If you’ve ever heard someone say that kundalini awakening will take your friends and family from you, you’ve probably just interacted with someone who tried to talk about his or her awakening with those closest to him or her, but the community couldn’t or wouldn’t support those efforts. This dismissal of awakening doesn’t always happen, and even if it does happen to you in regard to your close friends or family, don’t let yourself get too down in the mouth quite yet! There are a few things you can do in this case. (1) Leave kundalini awakening out of it where these people are involved because (2) as you continue on your awakening journey, your powers of attraction will be stronger than ever. With the right combination of hope and focus, you’ll surely draw to you the right community of support in no time. (3) You can also keep trying with those friends and family, just with different tactics the next time. (4) You could even dismiss the idea of a supportive community entirely and build one yourself with information. There are a plethora of apps you can download that will help boost your awakening with supportive tips and advice, and for some people, this information switch is enough to make up for what people around them lack. No teacher or guide While some people will be self-guided in their awakenings with no issue, others do work much better toward that experience with a teacher or at least a mentor helping and guiding their paths. If you feel lost and are desperately seeking a teacher, my first recommendation is to seek out a yoga studio that teaches kundalini yoga. Strike up a conversation with the teacher there and see what blossoms from there. Alternatively, you could seek out kundalini chatrooms online, or if you prefer things in person, you could go to your local metaphysical store and ask around about meditation mentors. You never have to struggle alone. Let kundalini guide your confidence to enable you to draw in the people whose help you’ll need for growth. Environments don’t support awakening Whether it’s your home environment, your work environment, your economic environment, your natural environment, or otherwise, it is true that some spaces do not align with one’s striving toward awakening. Sometimes, people talk trash, which can affect your flow. Sometimes, people might laugh at you for what you’re passionate about. Other times, you might be surrounded with pollutants that keep, for example, your pineal gland calcified without your knowing. Trust your intuition here. If it feels like an unsafe place to meditate or do your yoga practice, try to find another space. If it feels like your well-being and sanity is threatened by being who you are and doing what you want to do, seek shelter elsewhere for this venture until you’re strong enough to fight that vibe. You don’t have to force this process, and you certainly don’t have to do it where you’re unable to feel safe. 10 Dangers & Risks Associated with Awakening While “danger” is a strong word to describe it, truly, there are some dangers associated with awakening, particularly in terms of going for more than you can handle. This section will explicitly list 10 risks so that you can check whether you’re approaching things in a way that’s more dangerous than necessary. If you relate to any of these 10 points, you will definitely have to change your approach if you ever hope to see true and lasting success with kundalini awakening. However, some of these “dangers” are just symptoms that might scare you when you experience them, and the point is just to work through them. I’ll note when this case is true for a particular sentiment. Overburdening or overwhelming the soul There’s always the risk of spiritually overexerting yourself. Any time one forces or tries to kick-start kundalini awakening, this risk is very present. Especially, if you’re not in touch with your higher self or spirit guides, you may have an extremely hard time realizing where your chakras are blocked and how exactly to clear them. Furthermore, you may not realize until too late if you’re overwhelming the kundalini and awakening process as a whole, forcing your soul to handle more than what it’s ready for. The best tactic is to just take things as they come without trying to do too much at once. Doing things too much and too quickly There’s equal risk for those who try to do too much and too quickly. This tactic almost certainly causes imbalance later, as the forced and quickened kundalini is made to rampage through your system’s vibration and somewhat ignore blockages in the chakras it passes through. This action, on the whole, damages one’s kundalini and creates addition states of disease in one’s chakras, so please take me seriously here. Be careful not to do too much too quickly so that you won’t have even more stuff to work through later on when you’re ready to try again. Your body can’t keep up with the mind Sometimes, you won’t really know you’re doing too much and too quickly because it’s all happening on the inside. In these cases, it’s likely that your body can’t keep up with the speed that your mind can handle. Like the point just above, this issue can mean future chakra imbalances and damages to your aura and kundalini, so the best thing to do in response is to make sure that your practice applies a combination of body-based and mind-based practices. Meditating and chanting is one thing, but it can’t be just this expression without yoga and even running or cycling, too. Align your body with your mind, and you will not have this issue. Lack of groundedness due to spiritual “highs” As you work through and into the depths of your awakening, you may find yourself spiritually “high” at times, and you will be much less grounded in your earthen body whenever this comes to pass. This “danger” is more like a symptom, as mentioned in the introduction paragraph to this section. Most people will experience this groundlessness through the excitement of the kundalini awakening. Your higher chakras will be opened wide, and you will stand the chance to be distracted by what you can perceive now. Whenever you’re feeling like this–dreamy, distracted, floaty, almost cloud-like–start breathing deeply. Make one hand into a fist at your navel and imagine that you can drop a cord from this spot in your body straight down into the earth. As this cord drops and connects with nature, feel grounded and affirmed with your human body. This visualization should ease such “high” symptoms whenever they come up. Jerkiness & muscle spasms As with the point directly above, jerkiness and muscle spasms are symptoms of kundalini awakening that many (if not all) will experience in their processes. It only becomes coded as a “risk” or “danger” because the individual might not think that these actions are connected to his or her awakening and get scared for his or her own well-being. If ever you do have these spasms or involuntary jerks, breathe deeply and try to feel at ease. These are natural “growing pains” associated with awakening, and they will pass. Eventually, you won’t have them at all anymore, but for now, breathe deeply and accept them. They’re a good sign, believe it or not. Finding yourself alone in the “dark night of the soul” Another symptom of awakening is the experience of the “dark night of the soul.” This period of time will come to pass for any involved in kundalini awakening, and it’s not necessarily a fun time, which is why it’s coded as a “danger” or “risk.” Essentially, the “dark night of the soul” is when you feel like you’ve hit you’re lowest low. It’s the moment after you face all the flaws in yourself and realize you can only move upwards, which is a daunting responsibility. You may lose someone close to you, like a mentor, friend, or loved one. You may find yourself feeling directionless or questioning everything you thought you knew was true and real and good. If you find yourself feeling these things, you haven’t failed at awakening yourself; know that to the depths of your core. You have not failed; you’re right on track. For those who know someone very emotionally sensitive who’s trying kundalini awakening, keep close tabs on that person. The emotionally sensitive among us stand great risk when going through these periods alone. If they’re too directionless and dejected, it can mean their lives, but we can always protect against that. We are stronger as a community together, and each of us will make it through this dark night with that backing strength. Trouble adjusting to new worldview When you go into awakening, you may not realize all that has to change. Your relationship with popular culture, music, news, media, medicine, and more will absolutely and undoubtedly change. A symptom of these adjustments that sometimes poses as a “risk” or “danger” is that people can have trouble coming to terms with the new worldview. If you relate to this message, try not to fight what you’re learning. Practice open and radical acceptance and remember that you would not be shown these things if it wasn’t necessary for your soul and your kundalini awakening. Trust in the universe and believe profoundly that the world is still beautiful without what you thought you knew. Reworking & resolving trauma (potentially alone) One symptom that gets coded as a “risk” or “danger” is that anyone who’s experienced any level of trauma will be guided to work through those wounds and scars when they begin with their kundalini’s awakening. So many traumas find their root in one’s base chakra, and the kundalini rests there, right at the base of the spine, behind the genitals and reproductive organs. When it starts to rise, it will force the individual to process those blockages and resolve them, which can mean a lot of intimidating (or even triggering) work. Try not to isolate yourself during this process. You don’t have to feel alone when you’re working on such intense resolutions, but the key may be in becoming brave enough to ask for help. Ignoring one’s transformative responsibility with drugs It may seem absolutely reasonable to combine, say, psychedelic drugs with kundalini awakening. If it’s within your means, you might even be drawn to an ayahuasca ceremony or excessive marijuana smoking. Think about it, though. The kundalini is working to move through all your chakras in their most clear expression, with no blockages and no numbness. Surely, it’s possible that drugs can open your mind, but don’t forget that sometimes that openness comes at the closing of something else. Your third eye might open, for example, but your solar plexus chakra will absolutely shut down for a moment or even a few days. Keep things on the inside on an even keel by using drugs as little as you possibly can during your kundalini’s awakening. If you find yourself unable to stop, it could be that addiction is what stands in your way more than anything else. Developing kundalini syndrome Kundalini syndrome is the reason why kundalini awakening sometimes gets a bad reputation. Essentially, all these “dangers” and “risks” can pile themselves together into a syndrome of unpleasantness for certain awakening practitioners who are highly sensitive, already unbalanced, unusually easy to awaken, or otherwise. Kundalini syndrome looks like constant jitters and anxiety with socalled “delusions of grandeur”. People with the syndrome live mostly in their heads and have trouble relating to the physical earth plane. These people are stuck in a phase of awakening, and that stuck-ness could have been caused by forcing the process, speeding it up, or working through it for impure intention. To avoid the syndrome for yourself, take things as they come with your awakening and don’t get too stressed out when things get tough. Believe with your heart that you will find balance and ease once more. You will make it to the other side of awakening, and then, with that belief planted deep in your heart, you’re sure not to get stuck. 15 Biggest Mistakes People Have Made (and How to Avoid Them) Since the onset of contemporary kundalini work in the 1960s, multiple people have gone through the process, which means that many people have succeeded in achieving awakening and that some people have absolutely floundered. These people’s mistakes will be like spiritual gold for you, for they’ll help you learn, correct your path, and adjust before the detrimental mistake is made. Though some have fallen, their efforts will lift you up, and you will surely rise through those efforts combined with your own. Falling into the “goodness” ego trap If you find yourself beginning to compare yourself with others on a basis of what’s good and what’s bad, despite having your kundalini in a state of awakening, you have fallen into an ego trap. The first step to correct this mental blockage is to realize what you’re doing. A truly awakened person will not judge others in this way. Notice what you’re doing and work directly against it. Rethink the concepts of good and bad in their entirety and start looking for their reflection deep within yourself before you go out into the world projecting them onto others. Falling into the “spiritual” ego trap If you find yourself beginning to compare yourself with others on a basis of who’s more spiritual than who, you’ve fallen into another ego trap. By judging others in any aspect, much less degrees of spirituality, you put your ego in a position where it’s more important and louder than your soul. True spirituality finds a balance of ego and soul, if not a muting of ego to benefit soul, so if you find yourself thinking these things or following these trains of logic, stop yourself right there and correct it. The more you’re conscious of doing (judgment-wise), the easier it will be to stop making such assumptions and growing as a truly spiritual being. Falling into the “love & light” ego trap If you find yourself beginning to compare yourself with other awakened others on a basis of who expresses the purest love vibration, you’re putting yourself into another ego-trapping position. Not every spiritual expression involves “love and light” at the end and not every one should. In fact, darkness and shadow are as important forces in the universe as love and light are, so focusing on these latter concepts would just create energetic imbalance. Lose the judgment and remember how important balance is in all things. Falling into insincere niceness As you proceed down the path of awakening, people will become drawn to you. You will experience an increase in natural charisma, and when people come to you, they will expect help and guidance. Unfortunately, that means it will become abundantly clear for others when you’re being insincere. Therefore, do whatever you can in the coming weeks, months, and years to only express niceness when you really believe it and mean it. Insincere niceness will turn people off from you at every turn until it’s transmuted into something more productive. If you notice yourself falling into this emotional rut, you’ll need a jolt of something to reset yourself emotionally before real progress can be made. Falling into judgmental comparisons Whether it is based on goodness, spirituality, lightness, or anything else you can come up with, any judgmental comparison you make will be proof of a big mistake in play for you. Judgment is not a part of ascension, and it will find its death in a true awakening process. As you move deep into awakening, take note of your patterns of thought. Start to notice when your thoughts, emotions, or statements involve judgment and redirect those things before they’re vocalized into the world. Change your language, change your thoughts; change your thoughts, change your world. Giving up too soon The most common mistake for kundalini awakening is to try for a few days then give up because nothing is happening. I promise, something’s happening! It’s just only beginning, and those first wiggles of the kundalini won’t feel like anything for a while. It will (and should) take a good bit of time to fully achieve awakening. Awakening should not be forced or pushed; it should not take a few days. It should not even take a few weeks. In all honesty, it can even take longer than a few months or a few years as it should, for the kundalini awakening process requires a lot of respect and responsibility on behalf of the individual. Sometimes, the personality needs a little work before it’s able to devote such energy to such a powerful development. If you’re feeling impatient and want to give up, keep going about it the way you have been. Don’t give up, for the outcome will be well worth the effort. Rushing or forcing the process Numerous pieces of advice in this chapter warn of the dangers of rushing your awakening process. Please, please, please: do not force yourself open. Allow patience and proper timing to be instilled in your process. Allow yourself to understand the importance of proper timing. Remember, too, that what you may be pushing for so intently might not be as glorious as you think. Awakening requires the shedding of layers, the transformation of unproductive to good, and the loss of what’s been toxic. It’s not necessarily easy or glamorous, and it should absolutely not be rushed into. To avoid this mistake, take things easy and remember what awakening is really all about. Losing discipline through the process While kundalini awakening should not be rushed, its practices should at least be constant in order for the best outcome to be achieved with the least harshness of transition. Make sure that you don’t fall into the mistake of losing discipline throughout the process. So many people start strong and dedicated and lose their verve after a week. Instead of falling into the same rut, try to be conscious of what’s happening with your energy level over time and plan accordingly with your awakening. Plan your meditation and yoga periods during the times that you know will work with your waking and sleeping schedule. Overall, make the practice of maintaining discipline as effortless and natural as possible. Spending less time (or no time) with nature One of the more common mistakes involved with kundalini awakening deals with one’s mindset and setting, as if one was going on a psychedelic trip. Your mindset has to be right, but so does your environment, and in this case, “environment” actually means the natural world. Make sure that you spend time with nature weekly during your process of awakening. Without that environmental boost, your awakening may become lopsided toward the benefit of humanity over the earth, and as always, balance is key. Nature will inspire you, center you, ground you, and teach you, and the kundalini is a snake after all! Get in nature; I promise that it will make everything so much more manageable. Looking at spirituality as the end-goal or destination One other common mistake is the view of spirituality or kundalini awakening as if it was the end-goal in and of itself. I’ve been trying to shape my language in this text to reflect that spirituality and kundalini awakening are not like some mountain peaks that we can climb to and conquer. They’re so much more like oceans or abysses to climb into and explore for eternity. While there are certainly goals within kundalini awakening that you’re working towards, the ultimate goal in the process is to realize that it’s exactly what it all is: process, practice, and experience. By shifting how you look at things and how you talk about awakening, you can make sure you don’t fall into the pitfalls of this mistake. Using the process simply to get psychic powers Similar to the previous point, this one insists that your end-goal should not just be psychic awakening and that’s it. If you’re going into kundalini awakening with any goals other than to experience all the facets of divinity and spirituality in yourself and the world, then your intentions are “impure,” and whether you like it or not, your kundalini can sense that. In this case, your awakening may end up becoming problematic or strife-ridden, but there’s a sure-fire way to avoid this mishap. Don’t go into awakening just to get psychic powers or even just physical healing. Consider the whole experience and devote yourself to the blossoming of your true potential, no matter what that means for your body. It’s just a shift in focus and then things can be back on the right track. Looking for answers primarily outside one’s self As you go through the process of awakening, a big mistake to fall into is that you might accidentally create a routine where you constantly look outside yourself for answers, forgetting your own intuition. Kundalini awakening is about connecting yourself to the bigger sense of you, whether manifested through your higher self, the communities you’re engaged with, your spirit guides, your family, your soul mission, or otherwise. Therefore, if you find yourself looking for answers only outside of you, you’re liable to reach imbalance in the process. Remember to look deep inside and try not to shy away from things you might not like in yourself. Processing all those kinks will be part of what helps you through awakening out to the other side. Getting overly attached to spiritual practice While your practice of kundalini awakening is certainly important and will surely become important to you, try not to get too attached to your routines, even the ones oriented towards growth. The more attached you get to anything, the more you stand to suffer, and kundalini, spirit, or divinity might just try to test you by taking away the effectiveness of your practice just to shake things up. If that happens, it’s just to get you to remember that spiritual development can happen without any practice or routine whatsoever. It just so happens that practice can help, but it is not everything. To avoid this problematic attachment, therefore, switch it up often and don’t let yourself get too connected to any one method. Stay flexible, stay open to all the experience awakening has to offer, and remember: awakening is not something you can have, own, or possess; it’s a practice, and you should never fully control that. Using the process simply to contact the dead Some people approach kundalini awakening with a specific end-goal in mind: to contact the dead. While this type of awakening has the power to connect you with planes outside and around earth and dimensions that are beyond ours, you should never practice awakening just to have this experience. Like with several points above, this end-goal makes your practice impure and will end up affecting future imbalance in your health, chakras, and intellect. You can easily avoid this mistake by making sure not to focus your awakening around just one facet, especially this one. Using the process hoping to be set free Finally, it can be the case that kundalini awakening helps the individual feel free – freer than he or she has ever felt before, more liberated to be him or herself, and more able to do exactly what spirit calls him or her to do. However, as with the point above, the end-goal of your process should not be this freedom. Instead, allow freedom to be a happy symptom or side effect if (and when) it arises, but don’t let your focus fall on it completely. Be there for the experience and let what happens happen. Let go of control, expectations, and attachments, and the kundalini shall surely rise. Chapter 5: Kundalini Master’s Class Now that you’re basically a master on kundalini and its awakening symptoms and process, it’s time to advance you to the Kundalini Master’s Class! In this chapter, you’ll be introduced to the juiciest tidbits of potential tied up in kundalini awakening, from chakra alignment to astral projection and additional psychic gifts. The challenge in approaching this chapter is to maintain a pure reason for attempting awakening in your own life. Don’t get caught up in pride and ego desires but just read this chapter and become aware of what’s in your future if you follow this path. Simply read, accept, and trust what’s to come. Chakra Healing & Alignment With the knowledge of what each chakra does and what chakra blockages mean in reference to your overall goal of awakening, you should now be able to take things a step further in reference to your own chakra healing. The following is a guided meditation for chakra alignment that you can read along to (or record yourself reading aloud and play back as you go) and try out. Essentially, we’ll walk through one method for aligning your open chakras and inviting the serpent to rise. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Imagine that you’re on a beach by a cool, clear lake. Picture the surroundings of this tranquil place, where you’re alone with maybe a lake house behind you that feels like it’s yours. Knowing that you’re in a beautiful yet safe and secure space makes you feel utterly relaxed, strong, and at peace. Suddenly, you realize that you’re not on the beach – you’re actually sitting in the lake and the water comes up to mid-chest level. You feel completely content with this decision, as the water feels somewhat warm and comforting in the summer breeze. You close your eyes in the meditation as well as in the real world. If you cared to open your eyes, you’d see that the water is in fact so clear that it almost looks like there’s nothing there. You’d see that it almost looks like you’re just sitting on a ground of colorful gravel, but when you move your arms, you know better. When you move, you can see (and feel) the ripples. In this clear and calm lake, you sit. As you find peace in being there and trust that nothing will harm you, you relax in a way that you haven’t been able to do in a long time. You allow yourself to breathe deeply and roll your shoulders down to release any tension there. You roll your head from side to side to release strain in that area, too. Eventually, you bring your neck and chest to center and you start to visualize your central channel. In this inner column of energy, you visualize a free-flowing wave of white light. You have the sense that the white light is flowing so strongly and purely that it’s turning the water around you white, too. You peep open an eye and confirm your intuition. The water you’re sitting in is still the same temperature and texture, but it now looks like a bath of milk. You breathe in that purifying feeling and close your eyes once more. Remembering that free-flowing column of white light, you take your visualization back to that space. Knowing that your chakras’ blockages have all been cleared helps you feel confident moving forward, and you allow yourself to get all but mesmerized with the beauty of that inner white light. However, the light cannot last, and you know that this channel, this powerful column, can be used for something even more important than just centering you in this moment. In this calming, milky lake in the middle of your safe, secure space, you begin to hum bravely. You don’t really know the song you’re humming, and it might just be one tone hummed with the sound “ohm.” Whatever the song is, it’s been with you always, and it’s a supportive song that feels right for this moment. As you hum your song, it’s like you’re charming a snake, for kundalini seems to love the sound. Sure enough, the small snake that lies coiled up at the base of your spine starts to move up, uncoiling and winding through your chakra energy wheels in search of the source of the sound. Normally, you might be afraid of the image of a snake within you but knowing that your body is rooted in this natural, imaginative space somehow protects you and shields you from any harm. You trust this fact and know it in your heart to be true. Unafraid and excited, you hum more and more while kundalini rises and winds through the root chakra to the sacral, around the solar plexus, and then up to heart and throat. You notice that the serpent stays a while around throat chakra, and you assume that it’s because kundalini enjoys the sound of your humming so much. Ultimately, kundalini knows it must continue, so in the peace of your body (resting in the peace of the lake, homed in the peace of this still, safe space), kundalini rises once more. Kundalini comes up into your face to lick the third eye and crown chakras before turning and coming right back down through all the same chakras once more, down through third eye to throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral, and root. As the first cycle of serpent’s winding is completed, you feel filled with potential, and you sigh with relief. You seem to feel that everything is right in the world and that your direction is being revealed to you as you draw this very breath. In the cool, completely clear water, you open your eyes and see that the world has become so much brighter, sounds are clearer, smells are crisper, and the water feels lighter than air. You stand and reach out your arms to the world of this space and simply breathe in its beauty, knowing that you are full of the same exact potential, the same prana and shakti inspiring both you and nature. You breathe deeply and open your eyes to the world. Reaching Higher Planes of Consciousness If you have goals of accessing higher planes of consciousness, kundalini awakening is a great place to start. In fact, kundalini awakening itself instigates awareness of these higher planes, and some people even gain access to them, but it always helps to have a guide at your disposal. For those interested in reaching these states of consciousness with the help of eager kundalini, the following section provides the guide that you need. The following 8 steps will lead you to the access you seek, when performed for the right reasons. First, clear your mind completely. Before you embark on the journey to other planes of consciousness, you’ll need to make sure that you don’t bring any unnecessary emotional baggage with you, so check it at the door! Close your eyes and breathe into a meditative focus. Try to eliminate as many thoughts as possible from your mind; let them dissolve like salt in water or like snow on hot pavement. Let them evaporate from your mind until a still and calm inner space is achieved. This still space is absolutely essential to attain moving forward, so you’ll want to ensure it’s a strong one. Hold this space in mind for as long as possible before even moving onto the second step. Second, evoke the central channel. Meditatively shift your consciousness now to see this central channel illuminated within you as best as possible. If you’re still working through any recent blockages, you might see those as darker spots in the channel, but hopefully, no spots exist whatsoever. As you visualize this central channel, fill it with that same bright white light as the last section and imagine that you can add love to that light energy. Love is a vibration you’ll want to carry with you as you journey into other realms, for it is part of what’s so unique about being human. If you ever get lost, you can always follow that vibration back to where you came from, but that matters later. For now, just focus on breathing and boosting that central channel with as much love and light as possible. Third, allow the serpent to rise. Once it’s comfortable to do so and once it knows the channel is ready, kundalini will come out to play. At this point, you can meditatively visualize kundalini following its winding path through your chakras once more, up from the base to the crown and back down again. See how many slow and steady cycles you can withstand witnessing before you are pushed into action. Simply watch the serpent complete its inner course and trust in its energetic potential for you. Express love to kundalini and trust in the universe and then follow the next step. Fourth, accept and express gratitude for your body, and don’t let yourself forget about what your physical body does for you even on a daily basis! It’s a source of great strength and support, and it will remain solid and secure on the earth plane while your consciousness and soul explore others. Breathe in that truth and breathe out your trust. Additionally, express a powerful wave of acceptance and love for your body. Feel grateful for all that it does for you and be proud of what you’ve accomplished with it! Whether your past life experiences come to mind or your conquering of chakra blockages to allow for kundalini awakening does instead, simply remember all your body has done for you and be proud! Know that future experiences with this earthen form will absolutely benefit your growth. Fifth, check your goals against your higher self. You must have come to this experience in search of higher planes of consciousness for a reason, and that reason might not be backed by the purest of intentions. Try to be as honest with yourself as possible as you search to define the real reason why you want this type of access to other planes of consciousness. Once you’ve divined the answer, check it against your higher self. Some people ask this question in the form of, “WWJD? What would Jesus do?” You’ll ask it in terms of, “What would my best self do?” Use that insight to inform your experience as you likely decide to move forward. Sixth, state the goal you have in mind to kundalini. Once you’ve checked and altered those goals based on your interactions with your higher self, you should also check to make sure that your kundalini can handle such cosmic connectivity right now. Check in with kundalini again and make sure it’s not overburdened, exhausted, or that it got accidentally rerouted from its path winding through the central channel. As long as kundalini is operating normally, then things should be good to go! Don’t push things, however. It sure sounds fun to visit higher planes of consciousness, but if shakti isn’t there with you somehow because you jumped the gun with kundalini’s readiness, you’ll surely regret it, for the experience will be nowhere near what you imagined. Seventh, let kundalini take you there. As kundalini expresses its approval of your goals, let go of the reins and let kundalini take control. Trust that this vehicle of source energy will get you where you need to be, and feel the company of your angels and guardians, too, for they’ll surely be able to make this trans-plane journey with you. Eighth, make sure that you’ve developed a tactic to return. Accessing higher planes of consciousness (and other planes of existence) can be an experience similar to astral projection and travel at times, and you’ll have to remember where you came from so you know where to return to. You won’t want your consciousness floating out in the ether for anyone to imprint on or get interested in. In order to ensure that doesn’t happen, make a return plan before you even “leave” for the higher plane. If you’ve seen the film Inception, take a note from their book and bring a “token” with you that will remind you which world is real. It might sound crazy, but the more awakened you and your kundalini become, the more immersive meditation experiences of this nature you’ll have for yourself. Astral Projection & Travel Different from travelling to higher planes of consciousness with kundalini’s help, you can also astrally project and travel with the same type of aid. When going to other planes of consciousness, the soul and mind go to another level of thought that impacts the body in ways standard words or knowledge would never be able to do. But when using astral travel, one can actually go to other dimensions, realities, worlds, and more. This section will serve as a guide for those who seek to develop abilities of astral projection and travel, for these gifts are more complicated than they may seem at first. First, clear your mind completely in a meditative state. Let your mind become clear of thoughts and emotions. Let any urges, desires, needs, or calculations exit your mind as well. The goal is to have calm, serene silence within the mind. Before you travel to other energetic planes, you need to make sure that you’re as pure of an energetic expression as possible. You don’t want to end up going out into these other planes with energetic blockages that keep you from coming home just because of one thought that stuck out before you left! Try to eliminate that possibility from happening by maintaining this calm, composed mind before moving any further in the process. Second, evoke the central channel and raise the kundalini. With your calm and collected mind, remember that central channel. Let it become illuminated with the same warm white light and then allow kundalini to feel invited to rise. Without any blockages in its way, the serpent cautiously yet comfortably winds and winds to your crown chakra and then back down again. Third, allow yourself and the kundalini to meld together in a hypnotic state. With kundalini flowing through your chakras and activating the central channel, close your eyes and try to visualize what’s happening in detail on the inside. Watch kundalini methodically rise and fall. Feel supported by those efforts but also allow those conscious thoughts and emotions to fade away once more. You want to get hypnotized by this motion; get lost in it! All that matters is that you and kundalini are one, and its motion within you begins to create a vibration that pronounces: I’m ready for travel. Fourth, remember that your mind has so much more power than your body. Before you embark on the astral voyage, you’ll want to partially ground yourself with this knowledge, and the best way to do so is to “ground” yourself (so to speak) in the astral body. With those eyes closed and your mind in this hypnotized state, begin to connect with the body that’s not yours. What I mean is this: when you visualize squeezing your fist, it’s not your actual body that moves, but you are imagining a body that’s yours (that’s not actually your physical body) doing the work. In this sense, I want you to connect with the version of your body that exists in the mental realm and that’s affected when you visualize things. Try to move each finger and toe of that imagined body separately. Create several other exercises for yourself to root with this astral body, and your trans-plane journey will become all the easier. A few other things you can try are imagining doing jumping jacks, doing a cartwheel, counting on your fingers, juggling, and doing an intricate dance. Fifth, connect to your subtle energy. You’ve worked to connect with your physical body, you’ve done the same and connected with kundalini, and you’re connected with your astral body, but what about what’s left? There’s always an additional layer of subtle energy vibrating all around you due to the other carbon-based life-forms (and technological devices) in our world. Try to get in touch with that energy layer now. With your still-partially-hypnotized mind and your openness to the whole experience, allow yourself to feel a buzzing at the edge of your being as your astral body begins to separate from your physical body. This buzzing or vibrating is a good sign. It says that things are going exactly the way they should. Not everyone feels these vibrations before astral projection, however. Sixth, let visualization take control. With your eyes closed, start to see your body as if you were floating above it looking down. Let your soul, essentially, become elevated and weightless as it rises above your own body. Like the rising kundalini, your soul floats up to its highest potential and back down, just starting to explore the space around you. It wanders through your room and house but does not get outside your home to start. There’s still a bit of safety-making and grounding work to do before that final step into the ether can be achieved. Seventh (and maybe most important!), always keep your root in mind! There will be a silver cord that attaches your astral body to your physical body, and that will sometimes be the only thing that can help you get back home. Don’t forget to mind this physical and energetic root cord. As you have been exploring your room or your home, did you notice that cord yet? If so, that’s wonderful! If not, you may not be having a full, pure astrally projective experience quite yet, but keep running with the visualization to see where it takes you! Eighth, allow yourself to explore the astral plane you’ve found, with baby steps first, of course. Now that you see your silver “grounding” or homing cord, go ahead and see what’s around. Look around your neighborhood and maybe your city. Stay on the earth plane at first so that you don’t get too overwhelmed. Eventually, you can try to explore completely different planes, realities, and dimensions, but your home density is always a safe and familiar place to start. Clairvoyance & Other Psychic Gifts If you approached kundalini awakening in the first place hoping for some level of psychic awakening, don’t feel dejected or misled. Kundalini awakening will absolutely align you better with your intuition, deeper insights, and soul’s mission. Furthermore, it will allow you to unlock additional psychic gifts on levels you may not have even known existed before your kundalini rose. This section will walk you through several different psychic gifts that are possible to attain, and as you strengthen your general manifestation and attraction abilities with kundalini awakening, you may even be able to pick and choose these gifts for your experience and needs, based on what you read below. Astral projection is the psychic gift explored in the previous section, and it is essentially the ability to explore other realms with your consciousness voluntarily. Aura reading is another psychic gift that is basically exactly what it sounds like. Many of us have the gift of aura reading in our own way, and if anyone tries to tell you that only one version of aura reading is right, they’re not telling you the full truth. Everyone who can see auras sees them a little bit differently because everyone is unique in their own way. Therefore, if you believe you can see auras, but it doesn’t fit with others’ experiences, don’t worry; trust yourself and believe in your gift. Automatic writing is a psychic gift that involves channeling (the next point in this list) to a certain extent. Essentially, this gift allows the writer to be able to channel his or her higher self, guides, angels, guardians, or more in that person’s effort to be verbally creative. Channeling is a psychic gift that allows the individual to enter a trance and let another spirit speak through them for a time. It’s sort of like demonic or angelic possession, but it’s voluntary. The person who acts as the channel will almost always be fully willing to let the spirit talk through him or her. Clairaudience is a psychic gift that revolves around the ability to hear outside the standard range of human hearing. People with these gifts would be able to hear into other planes of existence, even into supernatural worlds. Clairgustance is an unusual psychic gift that is oriented around taste and eating. Individuals with this gift would randomly get a taste in their mouth and then receive messages later on in relation to that taste. Furthermore, these “clear tasters” would be able to taste something before even putting it on their tongue. Clairsalliance is a psychic gift that revolves around the ability to smell outside the standard range of human smelling. Perhaps you would smell something before it happened (such as spilled food or a gas main break or fire). Perhaps you would be able to smell someone’s vice on him or her before even striking up conversation. The possibilities are virtually endless! Clairsentience is the psychic gift that allows one to simply feel the presence of something more. Whether that “more” is a spirit, a guide, an ancestor, a demon, or what have you, this individual would sense the physical (or spiritual) energy of that being before anyone else. Clairvoyance is a more commonly-heard-of psychic gift that features the ability to see information in one’s mind. These people might receive visions or see physical insights into others’ lives, but the gist is the same each time: things are always visual. Divination is the general application of one’s psychic gifts to find answers to questions. Divination can be used in terms of reading palms, tea leaves, I Ching, natal charts, tarot cards, crystals, runes, and so much more. Dowsing is a more old-school psychic gift that our ancestors used to find things. Sometimes, dowsing is guided with a rod or sticks, but the point is to find what’s important to you (it was often water or shelter) when you might even have no idea what you’re looking for. Empathy is a psychic gift that allows you to literally feel or take on the emotions of another person. Empaths are often highly sensitive to the feelings of others to a detrimental degree until they learn how to ground themselves and protect their energy from all-too-natural invasion by others. Intuition is an underrated psychic gift, for it truly is an example of precognition. Anyone whose intuition was right essentially received a momentary glimpse into the future, so the next time your intuition is right, be proud for you’re unlocking psychic gifts as you live and breathe! There’s the first piece of proof! Mediumship is the highly-coveted psychic ability of contacting those who have passed. Many people are fascinated (if not obsessed) with communing with the spirits of those who are no longer living, and kundalini awakening can help you get there, but you’ll really want to be careful. Mediumship can be an incredibly draining gift, and it’s not for the faint of heart. I guess what I’m saying is this: be careful what you wish for. Premonition is the psychic ability of being able to see into the future. This gift is often more symbolic than literal, but the gist is the same whether the message is literal or figurative: the individual with the gift of premonition will know of future events before they come to pass. Psychometry is a sense-based psychic gift that connects the individual with truth or facts about an object, thing, animal, place, or person just by touching it. Retrocognition is the psychic ability of being able to see into the past with varying degrees of detail. Sometimes, those glimpses are into one’s past lives, while other times, they’re general peeks into the past that have no relation to your experience (as far as you know!). Telekinesis is a psychic ability that allows the individual to manipulate matter with his or her mind, whether moving it, energizing it, or otherwise. Telekinetic individuals can sometimes do such amazing things as walk through walls, bend firm objects, trash a room without being in it, call people to their aid without speaking, and more. Telepathy is the final psychic gift we’ll discuss, and it relates to the power of the individual to communicate with others without opening one’s mouth. This alternative mode of communication would likely be through thought, emotion, or vibration. Conclusion As you approach this final page of Kundalini: The Ultimate Guide to Awakening Your Chakras through Kundalini Yoga and Meditation and to Experiencing Higher Consciousness, Clairvoyance, Astral Travel, Chakra Energy, and Psychic Visions, another set of thanks is in order. Thank you for making it all the way to this point! I hope that the experience you felt was worthwhile and that you learned quite a lot in the process. Now that you have this guide and all its information, the next step is to put your plans in motion. You should have a good idea about whether or not you’re ready to begin your kundalini awakening process at this point (or if it’s already happened/happening to you!), and if so, you should have this so-called plan partially drawn up. Next, it’ll be time to start changing your routines to support your oncoming awakening. It’ll be time to begin adjusting your attitude, trying out meditating, meditating more often, or even just incorporating it into your daily process. With a few simple switches, you will be surprised how quickly the effects start making themselves known. Overall, if you’ve found this text and its information useful, be sure to leave a review on Amazon. The reviews are highly appreciated and help me incorporate the best information for future books based on what my readers truly want. Let me know what works and what doesn’t; I appreciate your help regardless! Thanks again for the download and for making it all the way through this book. The next steps are up to you! It’s bound to be quite the adventure. If you enjoyed this book, a review on Amazon would be greatly appreciated because it helps me to create more books that people want. Click here to leave a review for the book. Thanks for your support!
1rs NOT HOW GOOD YOU ARE, IT'S HOW GOOD YOU WANT TO OE. The worid’s best-selling book hy PAUL ARDEN. Just as Sun Tzu’s Art of War is read as a lesson in business strategy rather than fighting in a military sense, or Machiavelli’s The Prince is written about government but used as a guide to management, so this book uses the créative processes of good advertising as a metaphor for business practice. Nearly ail rich and powerful people are not notably talented, educated, charming or good-looking. For Toni. aecome rich and arful by wanting to icli and powerful. Your vision of where or who you want to be is tlie greatest asset you bave. re “iout having a goal CONTENTS. Why do we strive for excellence when mediocrity is required?.................10 So how good do you want to be?...........12 You can achieve the unachievable.........17 ‘I want to be as famous as Persil Automatic.’ ................................. 18 Hâve you noticed how the cleverest people at school are not those who make it in life? .....................20 THE FUNDAMENTALS. Energy. ..................................................24 Do not seek praise. Seek criticism.........26 It’s ail my fault.......................................28 Do not covet your ideas......................... 30 Don’t look for the next opportunity. The one you hâve in hand is the opportunity. ...........................................32 Accentuate the positive..........................34 Eliminate the négative........................... 35 Do not put your cleverness in front of the communication.............................36 Don’t promise what you can’t deliver............................................38 Know your client’s aims........................ 40 What do you do when your client won’t buy? ...................................42 Don’t take no for an answer. .................44 When it can’t be done, do it. If you don’t do it, it doesn’t exist............46 IF YOU CAN'T SOLVE A PROBLEM, IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE PLAYING BY THE RULES. The person who doesn’t make mistakes, is unlikely to make anything.................. 50 ‘Fail, fail again. Fail better.’.................. 52 It’s wrong to be right..............................54 It’s right to be wrong............................. 56 Don’t be afraid of silly ideas..................58 GIVE YOURSELF SOME SPIN. Play your cards right..............................64 It’s not what you know.......................... 66 It’s who you know................................. 67 Don’t give a speech. Put on a show. .... 68 Getting fired can be a positive career move............................................70 AND NOW FOR A COMMERCIAL DREAK. Doing a layout means having an idea........................................ 74 Compose your ad from the weakest point......................................... 78 Rough layouts sell the idea better than polished ones..................................80 If you get stuck, draw with a different pen........................................82 Suppliers are only as good as you are............................................... 84 Don’t be afraid to work with the best...........................................86 Get out of advertising............................ 88 Do not try to win awards........................90 YOU DON T HAVE TO BE CREATIVE TO BE CREATIVE. How you can make your company great........................................94 How a senior manager can make a big différence.............................98 How a junior account handler can make a big différence...................... 99 How a media buyer can make a big différence....................................... 101 NEW BUSINESS. What is meant by the word ‘créative’? .............................................104 How to improve your strike rate..........106 FINAL TH0U6HTS. My finest hour......................................114 Notes from the pulpit........................... 118 Life’s créative circle.............................120 Wit and wisdom...................................122 WHY DO WE STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE WHEN MEDIOCRITYIS REQUIREDT THERE is little demand in the commercial world for excellence. There is a much, much bigger demand for mediocrity. The truth is, I’m glad it’s this way. Imagine a world where ail clients were wonderful, where we could produce whatever we felt like with no restrictions, with everybody having freedom to produce ail their fantasies unfettered by tedious clients. What would we do? We would react against it, saying, ‘Isn’t this boring. How can we be dull? Let’s do it badly, let’s make it ugly, and let’s make it really cheaply.’ That’s the nature of the créative person. AU créative people need something to rebel against, it’s what gives their lives excitement, and it’s Creative people who make the clients’ lives exciting. I do it for me. SO HOW GOOD DO YOU WANT TO BE? Quite good. Good. Very good. The best in your field. The best in the world. ALL of us want to be good at our jobs, but how good do we really want to be? Quite good. Good. Very good. The best in our field. Or the best in the world? Talent helps, but it won’t take you as far as ambition. Everybody wants to be good, but not many are prepared to make the sacrifices it takes to be great. To many people, being nice in order to be liked is more import ant. There’s equal merit in that, but you must not confuse being good with being liked. Most people are looking for a solution, a way to become good. There is no instant solution, the only way to learn is through expérience and mistakes. You will become whoever you want to be. It could be you. Where do you see yourself? YOU CAN ACHIEVE THE IINACHIEVABLE. FIRSTLY you need to aim beyond what you are capable of. You must develop a complété dis regard for where your abilities end. Try to do the things that you’re incapable of. If you think you’re unable to work for the best company in its sphere, make that your aim. If you think you’re incapable of running a company, make that your aim. If you think you’re unable to be on the cover of Time magazine, make it your business to be there. Make your vision of where you want to be a reality. Nothing is impossible. 1WANT TO BE AS FAMOUS AS PERSIL AUTOMATIC.’ Victoria Beckham AS A teenager, Victoria Beckham’s ambition was not just to be better than her mates or even be a famous singer but to become a world brand. She not only dreamed about it, but wanted it enough to go about getting it. That in itself makes her different from most of us. It’s not how good she was that mattered, it’s how good she wanted to be. What is interesting in her quote is that she didn’t compare herself with George Michael or Mariah Carey, rather she saw the famé of Persil Automatic as her yardstick. Laugh at it as you may, it’s this highly original imagination that got her where she is today. * One of the UK's leading détergents. You know who. HAVE YOU NOTICED HOW THE CLEVEREST PEOPLE AT SCHOOL ARE NOT THOSE WHO MAKEIT IN LIFE? WHAT you learn at school are facts, known facts. Your job at school is to accumulate and remember facts. The more you can remember, the better you do. Those who fail at school are not interested in facts; or maybe the facts are not put to them in a way they find interesting. Some people simply don’t hâve a great faculty for memory. It doesn’t mean they are stupid. It means their imagination hasn’t been fîred up by academie tuition. People who are conventionally clever get jobs on their quali fications (the past), not on their desire to succeed (the future). Very simply, they get overtaken by those who continually strive to be better than they are. As long as the goal is there, there is no limit to anyone’s achievement. ENERGY. FFS 75% ofthe job. 24 DO NOT SEEK PRAISE. SEEK CRITICISM. IT IS quite easy to get approval if we ask enough people, or if we ask those who are likely to tell us what we want to hear. The likelihood is that they will say nice things rather than be too critical. Also, we tend to edit out the bad so that we hear only what we want to hear. So if you hâve produced a pleasantly acceptable piece of work, you will hâve proved to yourself that it’s good simply because others hâve said so. It is probably ok. But then it’s probably not great either. If, instead of seeking approval, you ask, ‘What’s wrong with it? How can I make it better?’, you are more likely to get a truthful, critical answer. You may even get an improvement on your idea. And you are still in a position to reject the criticism if you think it is wrong. Can you find fault with this? 1rs ALL MY FAULT. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 IF YOU are involved in something that goes wrong, never blâme others. Blâme no one but yourself. If you hâve touched something, accept total responsibility for that piece of work. If you accept responsibility, you are in a position to do something about it. Here are some common excuses for failure: It was a terrible brief I need a better partner. There wasn’t enough money to do it properly. The director didn’t listen to me. I was too busy on other projects. I wasn’t given enough time. The client took out the best ideas. Most of these grievances are every day on every job. That won’t change. The point is that, whatever other people’s failings might be, you are the one to shoulder the responsibility. There are no excuses. The goose blâmes the boy, the boy blâmes the goose. DO NOT COVET YOURIDEAS. Give away everything you know, and more will corne back to you. YOU will remember from school other students preventing you from seeing their answers by placing their arm around their exercise book or exam paper. It is the same at work, people are secretive with ideas. ‘Don’t tell them that, they’ll take the crédit for it.’ The problem with hoarding is you end up living off your reserves. Eventually you’ll become stale. If you give away everything you hâve, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish. Somehow the more you give away the more cornes back to you. Ideas are open knowledge. Don’t daim ownership. They’re not your ideas anyway, they’re someone else’s. They are out there floating by on the ether. You just hâve to put yourself in a frame of mind to pick them up. The hoarder. She’s already reducing her capabilities. DON’T LOOK FOR THE NEXT OPPORTUNITE THE ONE YOU HAVE IN HANDIS THE OPPORTUNITE WE ARE always waiting for the perfect brief from the perfect client. It almost never happens. You’re probably working on a job or project right now and saying, ‘This is boring, let’s just deal with it and get it over with. We’ll make the next one good.’ Whatever is on your desk right now, that’s the one. Make it the best you possibly can. It may not be great, but at least you’U hâve the satisfaction of knowing you did the best you possibly could, and you may learn something from it. And you’re always free to do an alternative that does satisfy your créative standards. Good briefs don’t just corne along. That’s true, even if you’ve earned a réputation for doing good work (although that helps). Successful solutions are often made by people rebelling against bad briefs. ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE FIND out what’s right about your product or service and then dramatize it, like a cartoonist exaggerates an action. For example, you know a horse can jump a ditch, therefore you accept that it can jump the Grand Canyon. This realization accelerated my career faster than anything I hâve learnt since. Providing there is a basic truth in your idea, you can dramatize it to infinity. Here’s an example: A radio commercial for suntan lotion. An Englishman’s voice tells of the product’s benefits. As he talks his voice gradually changes to that of a West Indian man. Written by Ron Collins Brilliant. You know a suntan lotion won’t make you black, but you accept that it might make you brown. INATE THE NEGATIVE AVOID knocking the compétition. It usually serves to publicize them rather than you. It may win attention, it may win awards but the likelihood is that it won’t win sales. (It’s also much easier to do.) DO NOT PUT TOUR CLEVERNESS IN FRONT OF THE COMMUNICATION. CREATIVE people are paid to be créative. So, in order to justify their salaries, they need to be seen to hâve clever ideas. I hâve no argument with intuitive, clever ideas. These are often the best. The problem is that good ideas do not always corne along, great ideas even less often. In their need to prove their worth, Creative people often produce work which on the surface appears clever but has little substance. Instead of trying to fînd a quick fix, if they were to spend time finding out what the problem was, they would discover the solution. In other words, if you ask the right question, you get the right answer. There is a book which was written in the 1950s but is still relevant today. It’s called A Technique for Producing Ideas by James WebbYoung. It doesn’t give you ideas, but it helps sort out what you want to say and helps you arrive at an original and relevant solution. A clever idea or a logical thought? DON'T PROMISE WHAT YOU CAN'T DELIVER. WHEN selling our ideas, we tend to overpromise in our enthusiasm for our création. In our vision of how we hope it will be, we leave no room for failure. The resuit will probably be disappointing. Not disastrous, but a little less than expected. No one will say anything, they just won’t trust you quite as much next time. Basically you’ve blown it. If instead you undersell, pointing out the possible weaknesses and how to résolve them, should they occur, you are not only building a trusting relationship with your client but you’re able to solve any problems. And if it does turn out the way you hoped, it is a bonus. Would you use this architect again? KNOW YOUR CLIENTS AIMS. MOST clients are corporate people protecting their own mortgages. They mistakenly see ideas as a risk rather than an advancement to their careers. Therefore their motivation may be quite different from their brief to you. Find out what the client’s real objective is. Ail clients aspire to status. It may be their desire to become a member of the New York Yacht Club or the Jockey Club. Or to be seen at the best table at Le Cirque or the Ivy. Or a patron of the arts. To be chairman of the company. Owner of a football club. Or simply a butterfly collector. These aspirations will never be put into the brief, of course. For six months we worked on a government scheme devised to help school leavers get jobs. The best people in the agency worked with passion to help solve a social problem. The resulting work was marvellous, and there was a lot of it. It was rejected. Ail of it. We had failed to understand, not the brief, but the politics that lay behind it. Ail the minister wanted was for the public to know he was spending x millions on advertising for the scheme. To let people know he was doing something about it. It was a PR exercise for him. It had nothing at ail to do with humanity. WHAT DO YOD DO WHEN YOUR CLIENT WON'T BUY? Do it his way. Thon do it your way. A CLIENT often has a fair idea of what he wants. If you show him what you want and not what he wants, he’ll say that’s not what he asked for. If, however, you show him what he wants first, he is then relaxed and is prepared to look at what you want to sell him. You’ve allowed him to become magnanimous instead of putting him in a corner. Give him what he wants and he may well give you what you want. There is also the possibility that he may be right. ' ?a- DON’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER. No Salesmen. WE HAD been pitching for a sizeable and important government account. We were in compétition with five other companies. For three months we worked on our campaign. Then at 5 pm one Wednesday evening we were told we were not on the shortlist of three. The client gave reasons why. Normally we say, well tough, on to the next one. Not this time. I went to our chief executive* and said, ‘Call the client to tell him that we hâve another campaign prepared. Say you’ll be in his office with it at 9am tomorrow morning.’ We didn’t hâve another campaign. But by 8 am the next morning we had a completely new concept addressing the négatives he had found in the first one. At 9 am it was presented. On Friday evening we heard we had won the business. It was a good weekend. *The CEO was Paul Bainsfair. WHENIT CAN'T BE DONE, DO IT. IF YOU DON'T DO IT, IT DOESN’T EXIST. A NEW idea can be either unfamiliar, or silly, or both. It can’t be judged by description. It needs to be done (made) to exist. It is unlikely that anyone will sanction the cost of something they don’t understand, therefore you hâve no choice but to do it yourself. At whatever cost. You may hâve to beg, steal and borrow to get it done. But that’s for you to work out how you do it. It’s exciting. It’s difficult and it’s fun. If it was easy anyone could do it. The film Citizen Kane is a very good example. It was stolen not sanctioned. Orson Welles could not fînd any backers, but he did raise a small sum for casting. He begged, borrowed and cajoled people into building sets and shooting full-blown screen tests which eventually formed a third of the film. IT EXISTED. Backers could see what they were getting. He got the money. Without him doing it when it supposedly couldn’t be done, it would be another in the endless list of ideas that never happened. The Kane Mutiny. THE PEROSN WHO DOESN’T MAKE MISTAKES IS UNLIKELY TO MAKE ANYTHING. BENJAMIN Franklin said, ‘I haven’t failed, I’ve had 10,000 ideas that didn’t work.’ Thomas Edison said, ‘Of the 200 light bulbs that didn’t work, every failure told me something that I was able to incorporate into the next attempt.’ Theatre director Joan Littlewood said, ‘If we don’t get lost, we’ll never find a new route.’ Ail of them understood that failures and false starts are a precondition of success. At the last company I worked for you would not be fîred for being wrong, but you would be fired for not having initiative. It had a positive attitude to mistakes. It was a great company. Failure was a major contributor to its success. You may hâve noticed that the spelling in the headline is incorrect. This was not an intentional idea. Lucinda made a typing error. It was fortuitous that it happened on this page. THERE IS NOÎHING THAT IS A MORE CERTAIN SIGN OF INSANITY THAN TO 00 THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AND EXPECT THE RESUITS TO BE different: Einstein IT’S WRONG TO BE RIGHT. BEING right is based upon know ledge and expérience and is often provable. Knowledge cornes from the past, so it’s safe. It is also out of date. It’s the opposite of originality. Expérience is built from solutions to old situations and problems. The old situations are probably different from the présent ones, so that old solutions will hâve to be bent to fit new problems (and possibly fit badly). Also the likelihood is that, if you’ve got the expérience, you’ll probably use it. This is lazy. Expérience is the opposite of being créative. If you can prove you’re right, you’re set in concrète. You cannot move with the times or with other people. Being right is also being boring. Your mind is closed. You are not open to new ideas. You are rooted in your own rightness, which is arrogant. Arrogance is a valuable tool, but only if used very sparingly. Worst of ail, being right has a tone of morality about it. To be anything else sounds weak or fallible, and people who are right would hâte to be thought fallible. So: it’s wrong to be right, because people who are right are rooted in the past, rigid-minded, dull and smug. There’s no talking to them. IT’S RIGHT TO BE WRONG START being wrong and suddenly anything is possible. You’re no longer trying to be infallible. You’re in the unknown. There’s no way of knowing what can happen, but there’s more chance of it being amazing than if you try to be right. Of course, being wrong is a risk. People worry about suggesting stupid ideas because of what others will think. You will hâve been in meetings where new thinking has been called for, at your original suggestion. Instead of saying, ‘That’s the kind of suggestion that leads us to a novel solution’, the room goes quiet, they look up to the ceiling, roll their eyes and return to the discussion. Risks are a measure of people. People who won’t take them are trying to preserve what they hâve. People who do take them often end up by having more. Some risks hâve a future, and some people call them wrong. But being right may be like walking backwards proving where you’ve been. Being wrong isn’t in the future, or in the past. Being wrong isn’t anywhere but being here. Best place to be, eh? DON T BE AFRAID OF SILLY IDEAS. WE ALL get mental blocks. We need to get unblocked. The way to get unblocked is to lose our inhibitions and stop worrying about being right. The comedian John Cleese puts it rather more eloquently, ‘High creativity is responding to situ ations without critical thought’ (playfulness). If you are in deadlock here are a couple of tricks you might try. 1. Do the opposite of what the solution requires. 2. Look out of the window and whatever catches your eye, a bird, a télévision aerial, an old man on crutches or whatever, make that the solution to your problem. Maybe the next spread will help you with your illogic. Via de P;iv$ d'Oc I AltfflP «», *» î NÉP,VÀV-\. ï.in*MîjH ^ tH-Vi 'AU f AM?!; R. : v, ■■ W le is the daft and inélégant name that has made this French wine an international success in just six years. A very silly name. but he’s nobody’s fool. You won’t remember this. You won’t forget this. PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT. THE person in the left column is the same person as the one in the right column. But we regard them very differently. The person in the left column is saying what he is. The person in the right column is more ambitious. It’s how he wants others to perceive him. How you perceive yourself is how others will see you. When Charles Saatchi started his ad agency it was regarded as a créative boutique. His brief for the company stationery was to make it look like a bank. (About fifteen years later they tried to buy a bank.) He also invested a third of his capital in a full-page advertisement in The Times. The effect was to make his créative boutique appear an established company. John Ranson PUMP ATTENDANT Anthony Taylor ARCHITECT John C. Ranson PETROLEUM EXECUTIVE Anthony Taylor ARCHITECTS Arthur Edburg Jnr. p/je/ éMu ry DEPUTY VICE PRESIDENT DIRECTOR WITH SPECIAL RESPONSIBILFTY FOR SUB DIVISION 2 Théodore Smith CHAIRMAN & CHIEF EXECUTIVE (WORLDWIDE) Théodore Smith. Owner. (no card) IT’S NOT WHAT YOU KNGW YOU ail know this old maxim but do you ever think about it. Consider: I am a talented architect working for a prestigious company. Richard Rogers Partnership, for instance. The company knows my value, respects me and pays me accordingly, but nobody outside the company knows me. I hâve buried myself in my work. You, however, are a first year student at the Architectural Institute. You print a business card with the IT'S WHO YOU KNOW. words: Anthony Taylor. Architect. Or even better Architects. You are in a bar chatting, you talk yourself up and présent your credentials, i.e. your business card. You will be accepted as an authority or practitioner of architecture. I, on the other hand, with my lack of social skills and réluctance to push myself forward, will be unnoticed. A nobody. Unfair as it may seem, this is the reality of life. If you know what the tricks are, you can play your cards right. DON'T GIVE A SPEECH. PUT ON A SHOW. WHEN we attend a lecture, we generally go to see the speaker not to hear what they hâve to say. We know what they hâve to say. That’s why we go to see them. How many speeches hâve you heard? How many of them can you remember? Words, words, words. In a song, we remember fîrstly the melody and then we learn the words. Instead of giving people the benefit of your wit and wisdom (words), try painting them a picture. The more strikingly Visual your présentation is, the more people will remember it. And, more importantly, they will remember you. A financial director. Even a financial director’s speech doesn’t hâve to be boring. GETTING FIRED CAN BE A POSITIVE CAREER MOVE. BEING fired often means that you are at odds with your company. It means the job isn’t right for you. I hâve been fired five times, and each time my career took a step forward. Being fired used to be a négative on your CV or résumé. Now some headhunters find it an asset because it can show initiative. becomes a positive. DOING A LAYOUT MEANS HAVING AN IDEA. YOU hâve been commissioned to create a magazine ad for your client. Ail your efforts will be concentrated on fînding a good idea. The actual layout becomes a matter of fashion and taste. This is wrong. Try treating the layout with the same intensity you bring to the main idea. Don’t just arrange words and pictures. Invent a brand image for your client. Invent a look that dramatizes the product or service you’re selling without regard for fashion. Place your magazine ad at the end of the corridor. It should be recognizable at a hundred paces, and it should be obvious who it’s an ad for without seeing the brand name. However fleetingly a viewer may see the ad, they must hâve at least a subconscious realization that they’ve been exposed to that particular company’s advertising. This is an invaluable benefit to your client. In the example overleaf the brand name has been deleted. You should still know what it’s advertising. COMPOSE YOUR AD FROM THE WEAKEST POINT. IF YOU know that your client’s logo or product has to be big in an ad, don’t hope that it will fit in the corner somewhere unobtrusively. It won’t. Start your layout knowing that it’s a problem to be solved as an intégral part of the idea. Treat it as an advantage, not a problem. There is a continuous battle between the client and the ad agency’s créative department. The client wants to advertise his name, his product and its benefits. The Creative person wants to advertise him or herself. The créative idea is what the agency wants to explode on to the page. The client would be happy with his logo. Yet, oddly enough, they need one another. The Creative person has to hâve someone to sponsor his skill. And the client knows that the Creative mind increases sales. Even Procter & Gamble recognize that. The villain is not always the client. It is the fashion of the day that usually dictâtes the layout. •s |su a |E_L •aiqeuoiqsE^un ag Be like Stravinsky who said, 7 don’t write music, I invent it.’ 06 R U H LAYOUTS SELLTHEIDEA BETTER THAN POLISHED ONES. IF YOU show a client a highly polished computer layout, he will probably reject it. There is either too much to worry about or not enough to worry about. They are equally bad. It is a fait accompli. There is nothing for him to do. It’s not his work, it’s your work. He doesn’t feel involved. If he doesn’t like the face of the girl in your rendering, or the style of the trousers wom by the man on the right, or your choice of the car he’s driving, he will reject it. He won’t see the big idea. He will look at the girl’s face and think, ‘I don’t like her, this doesn’t feel right.’ It is very imagine anything show him has such detail. diffîcult else for if him what to you Show the client a scribble. Explain it to him, it, let him use his imagination. talk him through Because you haven’t shown exact way it’s going to be, scope to interpret it and and change it as you progress. the there’s develop Work with him ting him with your idea. confron- Get him invohred. Unmvolved client. rather than Involved client. IF YOU GET STUCK, DRAW WITH A DIFFERENT PEN. CHANGE your tools, it may free your thinking. For thirty years, I hâve been exposed to soulless layouts made with felt-tip pens on paper. It’s true, the plainness does help focus on the idea, but it can also lead to dull layouts. Instead, do your layouts in watercolours, charcoal, pencils, fountain pens with real ink. Use decorating paints and brushes. Blow up minuscule layouts, whatever you can think of. It is not a solution, but it does open up the mind and it’s fun. I remember turning a £150,000 budget into a £200,000 budget just because I had done a watercolour storyboard. It charmed the client and set a look for the whole project. Different strokes for different folks. SUPPLIERS ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOU ARE. Don’t hand your work over to a supplier hoping that they will produce the magic. They won't. YOU are the magic. The art of the art director is to get talented people to exceed their own capabilities. It’s difficult. If you give a film director a free hand, he will do what he does because he thinks that’s what you want from him. It probably won’t be. You are employing him for the best thing on his reel or the one which is relevant to your job. He may only hâve done one or two great jobs in his life, and you’re hoping to get a job of that standard. Very unlikely. If you brief him too tightly, it won’t allow the freedom to make his work the thing you employed him for. The art is to inspire him. It’s for you to hâve the vision that allows him to expand into something he hasn’t done before. It is the same with photographers, typographers, illustrators, directors, colour graders, editors, musicians and technicians. It’s for you to lead them along the path of enlightenment. Ail will respond if you help show them a better way. But you must show no fear. It must be what you think, not what the client may think or your boss will think. This is your job. Don’t refer back to those in authority, they will play for safety. You’re on your own. FLY OR DIE. DONT BE AFRAID TO WORK WITH THE BEST. THE best people can be difficult. They are single-minded, they hâve tunnel vision. That’s what makes them good. They are reluctant to compromise. They can be intimidating, especially to the young, but if you approach them with an attitude that you want to do something well, they will respond positively. Because they want to do some thing well too. And if you are clear about what you want and strong about getting it, though there may be arguments, they will respect you (if not at the time, afterwards - I didn’t say it was going to be easy). The chances of you coming away with a superior job is not guaranteed, but it’s greater than if you had worked with Mr Average Nice Guy. The film director Erich von Stroheim. Loathed by many, loved by those who knew better. GET OUT OF ADVERTISING. ASK an advertising director who art directed a VW ad in 1989 and he’ll tell you. Ask him who the director of the National Theatre is and he won’t know. Most advertising people live within the world of advertising. 90% of advertising inspiration cornes from other advertising. You will see the same books in every agency. Certainly, a knowledge of the techniques and the tricks of advertising can be very useful, possibly essential. True, people do look for something new, but sometimes it’s something new to copy. To be original, seek your inspir ation from unexpected sources. DO NOT TRY TO WIN AWARDS. NEARLY everybody likes to win awards. Awards create glamour and glamour créâtes income. But beware. Awards are judged in committee by consensus of what is known. In other words, what is in fashion. But originality can’t be fashionable, because it hasn’t as yet had the approval of the committee. Do not try to follow fashion. Be true to your subject and you will be far more likely to create something that is timeless. That’s where the true art lies. '«wircmtKîiET IUU! IF MEUnCim.' duritslies S Jk i," ai il vj*-" ‘ r-K^iiL1 i l . î ï » i«r. i i - . HOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR COMPANY GREAT. WE ALL want to be proud of the company we work for. It enhances our réputation, makes us look good, feel good and gives us access to the best people. The majority of us want to work for companies with glamorous réputations. If you work for one of these companies, you are probably working for them for what they can do for you. But not everybody is fortunate enough to be able to work for the outfit that is currently favoured. So, given that not everyone in your company is an idiot, what are you personally going to do to make it company of the year? Start by talking it up. Begin thinking and behaving like a winner. It will stop the rot. It will temporarily hait négative thinking and a defeatist attitude. If you fînd people talking it down, take issue with them, tell others about them. If it persists, get them fired or, as a friend of mine did, fight somebody for talking disparagingly about the company he worked for. People will soon get the idea. Don’t expect top management to lead the way. They are too busy running the company. Décidé you are going to make the company great; at least décidé you are going to make a différence. Observe that an organization’s réputation is usually built on one or two key accounts. Then pick the ground on which to make your assault. Realize that companies’ réputat ions are also built on one or two people. Aim to be that person or one of them. You are halfway there. You made the decision to do it. ail you hâve is your wits, talent, your guts and this book to help you. hâve Now your little You are on your own. Just do it. Better. HOW A SENIOR MANAGER CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE. A BELGIAN agency I visited had a car account. They had negotiated an agréément with the client. 95% of the budget would be spent servicing the client and giving him the advertising he thought he would want. The other 5% was spent by the agency doing the work the agency wanted, which the client was bound to accept. What a good idea. The client is happy because he gets given the work he wants with good grâce. The agency is happy because 5% of the créative freedom is far more exciting and rewarding than 100% of a compromise, and they say what a great client. By brokering an abnormal deal, the manager has made a huge différence to both créative stan dards and morale. HOW A JUNIOR ACCOUNT HANDLER CAN MARE A BIG DIFFERENCE. IF YOU are working on a big corporate account, you can either hide behind the bureaucracy or you can use your initiative to further your agency’s image and your own. How? You may ask. Ah, that’s the fun, but here is an example. You are in a position to manipulate money (I’m not talking large sums). Set aside some money to be used for astonishing fresh créative work on a very small part of your account or accounts. Speak to the very best créative people about doing some extra spécial work. Get the créative director (if you trust him) to oversee the quality. Not to make it politically safe but to be creatively excellent. With the money you hâve set aside, make the commercial. Then show the client. He may not like it, but he may agréé to pay for it to run somewhere. If he doesn’t, run it yourself. I believe there’s a radio station in Ireland where peak time costs £60. PR it. Enter awards if you hâve to. If you fail, do it again. Sure there’s a risk. If you lose you get reprimanded, at worst fired. But if you win ... From being the lowliest of account people, you become the person Creative people want to work with. You are the person about whom the management say watch this space. You become the new spirit of the agency. HOW A MEDIA BUYER CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE. MEDIA buyers hâve huge influ ence in where, when and in what form advertising is seen. Their decisions are determined by statistics and logic and usually err towards the safe and dull. For this reason, in my first job as créative director, I chose to share an office with the media director. The advertising became more visible. Putting a motorbike ad in a ladies’ fashion magazine or even an ad for lingerie in a motorbike magazine may not be such a silly idea. WHATIS MEANT BY THE WORD ‘CREATIVE’? Put a value on this. See back page for answer. THE word ‘créative’ is the currency with which ad agencies operate. Without it there are no agencies. It will feature heavily in any brief. But what is meant by the word ‘créative’? It means something completely different to each client. To one it may mean, ‘I want the same as my competitors but different.’ To another it may be as simple as wanting a new jingle. To another it means, ‘Give me the same as we’ve had for the last twenty years, but not quite.’ 99% will want something that they recognize from expérience. It has been alleged that Procter & Gamble’s maxim is ‘Creativity with a Precedent’. Only one in ten thousand will really mean, ‘Give me something I haven’t seen before.’ So, before you make your pitch, find out exactly what your client means by the word ‘créative’. It’s probably different from your définition. HOW TO IMPROVE ÏOUR STRIKE RATE. THE words ‘Creative pitch’ signal party time for the whole Creative department. It’s an opportunity to relieve itself of the frustrating demands of ongoing clients. It’s an opportunity for everyone to show how clever they are. It is great fun, good for morale and hard for business. A client will see up to five pitches, possibly on consecutive days. That means he will see between five and ten campaigns, with twenty pièces of work in each campaign. About 200 ideas in ail, ail of them competing for his attention. To add to the confusion, every person on the client’s side of the table has a different agenda as well as a différence of opinion about what is Creative. It’s not surprising they make the wrong decision. So how can we help them make the right decision? Unes (slogans) win business. If you can find a way of summing up what the client wants to feel about his company but cannot express himself, you’ve got him. He is yours. Here are seven examples: DRIVEN ......................... ........... THE WORLD’S FAVOURITE AIRLINE .................. ........ AU STR ALI AN S WOULDN’T GIVE A XXXX FOR ANYTHING ELSE................... .......... IT IS - ARE YOU? ........ . . . IT’S DIFFERENT OUT HERE ............... ....... WHY SLOW-MOW WHEN YOU CAN FLYMO ................ ....... THE CAR IN FRONT IS A TOYOTA....................... .......... Nissan British Airways Castleniainr XXXX The Indcpendent Nonvr.gian Cruise. Lines Flymo Lawnmowers Toyota Ail these lines won the business because ail of them made the chairman and staff proud to represent the company they worked for. Repeat the line. Repeat the line. Repeat the line. Instead of covering the walls with different ideas, placing your slogan as an afterthought in the bottom right hand corner of the advertisement, make it an intégral part of the headline. Like this: Or this: It reduces the number of ideas presented from twenty to one. Every advertisement you show is another opportunity to print your idea in the client’s mind. Wave the client’s flag in front of him. If, for instance, BP’s logo is green and yellow, feature green and yellow in your présentation. And if he’s proud of his make it big. It may not please you aesthetically, but he’U find it reassuring to see his name. Remember, advertising starts with a name. Présent créative work first. How many times hâve you sat uncomfortably through media plans, research findings and planning strategies when ail everyone wants to see is the créative work. Try opening with the créative work. If he likes it he’ll listen with interest to whatever else is said. If he doesn’t, you’re dead anyway, and it will shorten the meeting. Do not put your best people on new business pitches. The most respected créative people will probably do something too original, too controversial to be acceptable to a conservative group of clients at your first meeting. Put the people who consistently get the agency out of trouble on it. Their work may not be as dazzling, but it will be intelligent and the client will relate to the idea better. Finally. Présent on Tuesday. Assuming there are fîve pitches, on each day of the week. By Friday the client will be so overwhelmed with the quantity and quality of work that he’U find it impossible to make a decision. His thinking will go like this. Monday - great meeting, great work, nice people. Tuesday - great meeting, great people, nice work. Wednesday - good meeting, very fresh work, lovely young people. Thursday - yet another great meeting, nice people, fine work. Friday - another meeting, I don’t know. The odds are that he will pick the Tuesday présentation, the second meeting because he was still clear-headed then. Monday was too early, nothing to judge by. Wednesday and Thursday were like eating too much chocolaté. Friday. Feeling sick. MY FINEST HOUR. I HAD been working with Richard Avedon in New York for a very ordinary client in the fashion industry. The theme was African print dresses. I wanted the models to be black and oily, dusty, dirty and wild. Leni Riefenstahl’s Nuba woman was the brief. Avedon asked me whether we could paint the models up, to which I said yes. He then asked me if he could put the skirt on the head. I swallowed hard and said yes. I didn’t see the point of employing him and then not using him. I suggested a wild pig in the background. He said no; the subject itself is the story. A lesson in itself. He seemed to be enjoying the shoot, and I asked why he was so enthusiastic when he was in a position to do whatever he wanted to do ail the time. He said, ‘It’s not true Paul. I am employed by Vogue and they tell me what they want, and what they want is not always what I am interested in but I hâve a studio to run. So I do it.’ Quite an eye opener. I was freer than he was. After the shoot I walked out of the studio on 74th Street into a drizzly day with a yellow box of 10 x 8 Kodachromes under my arm. I remember the moment vividly. My feet seemed not to touch the pavement and I thought, ‘I am going to be fired for these pictures.’ Would I rather be fired for having done them or not be fired having not done them? There was no doubt in my mind. I would rather be fired. Those few seconds on 74th Street were my greatest moment in advertising. When I got back and showed them to my partner he thought I was mad. Fortunately the client loved them. ‘This is art,’ he said. They won every award there was to be won. The sad conclusion is the client got flred. NOTES FROM THE PULPIT. St Philip and Ali Saints Church, Birmingham. I AM not qualified to speak about God. I am going to speak about advertising. That is something I believe in. When I mention that I am in advertising, people’s instinctive reaction is that you are trying to sell people things they don’t want. They regard advertising as being a bit distasteful. I am no more or less distasteful than you. Yes, of course, I am selling. But so are ail of you. You are hustling and selling or trying to make people buy something. Your services or your point of view. Tupperware parties, for example. They are selling. You clean your car to sell it, showing it to its best advantage. People even put bread in the oven to make their houses smell nice when they are trying to sell them. The way you dress when going for an interview or a party, or merely putting lipstick on. Aren’t you selling yourself? Your priest is selling. He is selling what he believes in. God. The point is we are ail selling. We are ail in advertising. It is part of life. LIFE’S CREATIVE CIRCLE 0-1 NOTHING 85 -100 INHIBITIONS LOST. DONT GIVEA 1-3 MINIMAlIMi DAMN. 3-5 FANIAi- ME, ME. ME. 75 85 YOUTH REGAINED 60-75 A GENTLE DECLINE INTO SENILITY 50 50- 60 REINVENTINGYOURSELF THE WATERSHED 45-50 TRYINGTO KEEP UPWITHTHE 25-YEAR-OLDS THE most popular conception of creativity is that it’s something to do with the arts. Nonsense. Creativity is imagination, and imag ination is for everyone. Use this wheel to help you understand life’s créative circle. 40 -45 REPEATING SUCCESS WIT AND WISDOM ‘It’s better to fait in originality, than succeed in imitation.’ h e r m a n m e l v i u æ ‘Better nouveau than never.’ GROVCHO MARX ‘Pink is the navy blue of India.9 DIANA \ : REEL AND ‘Success is going front failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.9 WINSTON CH URCH1 LL ‘Early to bed. Early to rise. Work like hell and advertise.9 scholl zjjï The first thing to décidé before y ou walk into any negotiation is what to do if the other fellow says no.9 ernest bevin There are no short cuts to any place worth going.9 beverly sills Those who lack courage will always find a philosophy tojustify it.9 albert camus ‘The superior man is distressed by his want (lack) of abïlity.' confucius ‘Some people take no mental exercise apart from jumping to conclusions / HAROLD ACTON , ‘What the mind can conceive the mind can achieve * clement stone ‘Happiness is a singular incentive to mediocrity MICHEL MONTAIGNE / ‘Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you ’ c g jung ‘If everything seems under control you’re not going fast enough mario andretti / , ‘To become a champion fight one more round james corbett / . ‘We don*t see things as they are We see them as we are anais nin / ‘Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than going to a garage makes you a mechanic.' L a u r e n c e j p e t e r mmrnmrnmmmmmmimmm Well, you’ve got to draw the line somewhere. FOR A SHORT BOOK, A LONG LIST OF CREDITS ROGER KENNEDY, the designer of this book, has been the head of typography at Saatchi & Saatchi for twenty years. I would find it diffîcult to fit his list of awards on this page. He has been involved from the beginning of this book, not just with his typographical judgement but with his wit, both visually and verbally. For ail his help I thank him warmly. I wish to thank my old friend and mentor Christopher MacartneyFilgate, a contributor to this book and the first person to make me feel I wasn’t quite as useless as I thought I was. Thanks also to Jeremy Sinclair for letting me hâve the job that I wanted, his job, and then supporting me in it. Thanks also for his suggestion that I should add more pictures to this book. To Andrew Cracknell for suggesting that I Write this book. To Michael Wharton for overseeing the writing and giving me helpful pointers. To Cathy Heng for always coming to my rescue. To Lucinda Roberts for her good nature and unflagging help throughout the process. To Amanda Renshaw for believing in this book. To Christian, Harriet, Sian and Ghokan, my loyal supporters. To my friend and partner Nick Sutherland-Dodd, to whom I will be forever grateful. Above ail to my Father, my hero, who died in 2002 aged 98. I should also like to extend my thanks to Alison Jackson, Graham Cornthwaite, Nancy Foutts, Richard Avedon, Melvyn Redford, Bob Carlos-Clark, John Pallant, Matt Ryan and Jade Trott for kindly letting me use their images. Phaidon Press Limited Regent’s Wharf Ail Saints Street London NI 9PA Phaidon Press Inc. 180 Varick Street New York, NY 10014 www.phaidon.com First published 2003 Reprinted 2003, 2004, 2005 (twice), 2006, 2007 (three times), 2008 (twice) © 2003 Phaidon Press Limited ISBN 978 0 7148 4337 7 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Ail rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval System or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of Phaidon Press Limited. Designed by Roger Kennedy Printed in Italy PICTURE CREDITS Unless otherwise stated ail images are courtesy Paul Arden. Any inadvertent omissions can be rectified in future éditions. Original artwork by Lesley Arden/ Courtesy Paul Arden: 124-5; Photograph © Richard Avedon: 114; Courtesy Graham Cornthwaite: 31; Courtesy Doyle Dane Bernbach, New York: 37; Courtesy Nancy Foutts: 118; The Kobal Collection/Paramount: 87; The Kobal Collection/RKO: 47; Courtesy Mac McAloon: 15, 43; Courtesy Melvyn Redford: 29, 44; Courtesy Schweppes/Photograph Alison Jackson/Camilla Shadbolt as Victoria Beckham: 19; Courtesy Alex Thompson: 16; Courtesy Jade Trott: 108; Courtesy Fraser Withers: 20-1. Page 104: Value - eothiig. It's rubbish, but sonething net tee dissimilar was receotly seld at Sothebys for over £250,000. Paul Arden (1940-2008) is frequently described as a créative genius, albeit a wayward one. After a stormy eighteen years in advertising he found his Alma Mater in Saatchi & Saatchi in 1977, where he worked for fifteen years. During his tenure as Executive Creative Director, Arden was responsible for some of Britain’s most successful advertising campaigns - including British Airways, Silk Cut, Intercity and Fuji - and famous slogans, such as ‘The Car in front is a Toyota’ and ‘The Independent - It is. Are you?’. In 1993, he set up Arden Sutherland-Dodd, a film production company, in London. Sixty years or so ago, for a bit of fun, God created a prototype man with a mind straight out of Edward Lear. Concerned by what he may hâve produced, however, he promptly destroyed the mould and threw it away. The resuit of his labours was Paul Arden. Brilliant, bad, charming, irascible and totally off the wall. An original with extraordinary drive and energy, blessed with a créative genius allied to a kind of common sense that just isn’t, well, common. Roger Kennedy, Saatchi & Saatchi ISBN 978-0-7148-4337-7 9 www.phaldon.com is a concise guide to making the most of yourself - a pocket ‘bible’ for the talented and timid to make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible. After décades at the top of one of the world’s most compétitive industries, Paul Arden offers insights into such diverse subjects as the value of being fired and why it’s often better to be wrong than to be right. He gives original and logical answers to everyday questions. Much of it appears obvious when you read it, but aren’t ail questions easy when you know the answers? Whether you are a school-leaver, selfemployed or a managing director, this book is invaluable for everyone who aspires to succeed. It’s Not How Good You Are...
Create Engaging Scenes and Landscapes in Watercolor Dreamscapes Fantasy Worlds Dreamscapes Fantasy Worlds Create Engaging Scenes and Landscapes in Watercolor Stephanie Pui-Mun Law CINCINNATI, OHIO www.impact-books.com T able of Contents IN TR ODUC TI ON 6 CHAPTER 1 Materials & Techniques 8 CHAPTER 2 The Foundations – Stone 42 CHAPTER 3 The Mysteries – Arboreal CHAPTER 4 The Dreams – Skies INDEX 172 AB OU T THE AU TH OR 174 130 82 I ntroduction The most important thing about creating art is to create. If you want to be at ease with creativity, you have to immerse yourself in it and do a little bit every day—even if that little bit is just five minutes while waiting for the bus. Do a quick gesture drawing of a man reading his book across the street from you. Take a moment to scribble down a thumbnail idea of a concept. Try to do a little bit each day to train your brain to think visually. It can be difficult at first, training yourself to make this small bit of time. You’ll think: I don’t have enough time for it. Art is hard! I’m not good enough yet for that piece I’ve always wanted to do. Yes, art is hard. Yes, you might not feel ready to do that masterwork that you’ve been dreaming of, but I’ll let you in on a secret: No artist ever is! Sure, there is a satisfaction that comes when the last detail is polished, and your signature is scrawled across the bottom corner with its flourishing declaration of “Finished!” Every new painting is a milestone of achievement, hopefully with lessons learned and skills advanced. But if you let yourself rest too long in that satisfaction, then you’re not challenging and pushing yourself onward enough. I like to think that if I still feel a piece I did three years ago is among my best work, then I’m doing something wrong. My best is always going to be among my most recent pieces, with even better pieces on the horizon. Keep moving forward in your art. That masterwork that you just don’t think you have the skills yet to tackle? You won’t gain those skills unless you try. Take it head on. Make the best attempt you can or at least tackle a small portion or element of it. Maybe it’s dramatic lighting. Maybe it’s multiple figures interacting. Maybe it’s something small like a facial expression, or how to paint a tree. When you think you have mastered that, move on to the next item on the list, and the next, until you can face the behemoth. It might be you’ll like the result. If you don’t, then figure out what parts didn’t work for you. Learn to isolate the individual aspects that need to be worked on and then make that your goal of improvement in the next piece. Preciousness is the enemy of an artist who wants to grow. 1) Precious Time 2) Precious Artwork To let the muse work her magic, you have to let go of attachments to those two concepts. Even as a professional who has been drawing and painting every day for almost two decades, I had to learn this lesson recently. I’m not immune to these pitfalls any more than a beginning artist. Long ago I got past the hump of just getting myself to do art every day. That part I took for granted. In fact, after so long it becomes a necessity—you train yourself to have an artistic outlet, and it becomes a part of you as much as breathing and sleeping. But due to the vagaries of the grand adventure of life, I found my art time throttled back, and then I fell into the trap that (1) Time was precious. Because I had little time to dedicate to creating, it became a commodity, and every moment of it had to matter. Every second sitting at my desk with a pencil or paintbrush in hand had to be momentous because (2) Artwork was precious, and I couldn’t waste my time with non-essentials. There was only enough time for masterpieces. When you fall into that mode of thinking, your brain and your creativity do the only thing they can: They shut up completely. That kind of pressure is just too much. Every work can’t be a masterpiece. Sometimes you have to just let your subconscious have its way and let the creativity flow from whatever small outlet it feels inclined to at the moment. Great art doesn’t happen on a timeline. And I’m not talking about an individual painting that you finish for a client’s deadline. I’m talking more about the overarching body of artwork and selfimposed expectations and time limits. Make time for the little stuff ! For the gesture drawings at the bus stop. For the scribbled thumbnails in your pocket sketchbook when inspiration strikes at inopportune moments. For doodles on napkins at a cafe, or in the margins of meeting notes at your day job or class. Enjoy these little moments. They will take your creativity to new heights. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 7 Chapter One MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES IT CAN BE A DAUNTING TASK TO SIT IN front of a blank sheet of paper with the expectation of creating something magical, yet possibilities and inspiration lie all around you. From the myriad of legends and stories of the past, to the works of other artists, to the inherent beauty that exists in nature, there is no shortage of places to look for ideas. Even the mistakes you make when painting—those unplanned and at times highly frustrating marks or spills—can be utilized to create unexpected and unique results. So while it certainly can be intimidating to stare at a stark white piece of paper and wonder how your composition will turn out in the end, don’t let fear hold you back. The good news is this: By obtaining knowledge about the tools of the trade and being familiar with the basic watercolor techniques at your disposal, you can help ease the transition from nebulous imagination to successful painting. With time and experience, the medium will simply become an extension of your imagination. After all, practice is the only way to turn a once-blank sheet of paper into a colorful, whimsical and magical world filled with iconic figures of fantasy. S electing Pencils In this book you’ll use pencils in your studies of drawing ethereal fantasy worlds with the goal of a painted end result. Though the focus here is on painting with watercolors, pencils are a viable tool for completed works of art. Selecting a Pencil 8H 6H 4H 2H HB 2B 4B 6B 8B Leads Are Available in Varying Degrees of Hardness 8B is the softest lead, while 8H is the hardest. HB is a medium hardness. The softer the pencil lead, the darker your mark. If you use too soft a lead, the pencil will smear and make your painted colors look dirty. If the pencil lead is too hard, you will have to press harder to draw your lines, creating indentations on your watercolor paper with the point. For this reason, HB and 2B pencils are good choices for sketches that are going to be painted over. o. 2 ln a ion dit a r T 3 l (. ica n ha Mec ) ness k c thi der Traditional wood hol d a pencils are a Le good all-around choice. They have an expressiveness that tends to get lost with mechanical pencils. Mechanical pencils, however, are convenient and consistent. They come in a variety of thicknesses and don’t need to be sharpened. The downside of mechanical pencils is that you lose the organic flow that a uniform thickness of line cannot accommodate. If you’re planning to paint on the surface afterward, don’t use much shading if you wish to keep the colors pure. If you are just sketching for ideas or doing a pencil drawing, then go all out. A lead holder is a particular joy to use in that case. A lead holder is similar to a mechanical pencil but can hold a much thicker lead, so you can draw with its edge or sharpen it to a point. 6B leadholder (used on the hair) Mechanical pencil (HB used for the facial details and 2B used for the fins) Selecting an Eraser Vinyl erasers work fine for sketches, to clean up a piece after all the painting is completed and for removing bits of dried masking fluid. Kneaded erasers are necessary only if your intent is to create finished pencil drawings because you don’t want to lay in heavy graphite under your watercolors—it will muddy the colors. 10 Using Different Pencil Types Usually just one or two pencil types are needed for a drawing, but here’s an example that incorporates several so you can see the differences in texture and darkness. Wooden pencil (2B used for the tail and 4B used to add its shadows) C hoosing Brushes and Other Tools The two most common types of brushes are flats and rounds. Flats are useful for creating large areas of even color. Rounds work well for shaping certain areas and adding details. Items like salt and rubbing alcohol are great for adding unique textures to your painting. Flats Rounds A ½-inch (12mm) flat is a good brush for doing washes in large areas. If you decide to work with bigger paintings in the future, you should eventually acquire bigger flats that can cover a larger area with one stroke. A ½-inch (12mm) flat is suitable for working in areas up to 11" × 14" (28cm × 36cm). For surfaces larger than this, you’ll need a larger flat to hold the necessary water and pigment. Having an assortment of brush sizes gives you a nice base of tools to work from. Rounds in nos. 0, 2, 4 and 8 are a good starter set. You can add to your collection as you gain more experience with painting and find yourself in need of a better selection. Sometimes you can purchase a reasonably priced starter brush set that includes three to five brushes of different sizes. Very fine work and details like leaves, eyes and scales require a small brush with a good point such as a no. 0 round, while a large round such as a no. 10 is useful for irregularly shaped washes. Sable or Synthetic? Rubbing Alcohol Salt Sprinkle salt into wet paint. The crystals pull the pigment as the liquid dries, leaving a random starlike, mottled effect. Brush away the salt crystals after the painting has dried. Sprinkling rubbing alcohol onto wet paint causes the pigment to push away, leaving an interesting splotched effect. Brushes range in quality from synthetic fibers to top-of-the-line kolinsky sable hairs. If you are just getting started, you might not want to splurge on the most expensive brushes. Many reasonably priced mixed synthetic and sable or pure sable options are of good quality. What you want to look for in a brush is the ability of the hairs to hold a point when wet (if the hairs splay outward or don’t stick together, the brush isn’t good), and the resilience and bounce of the hairs (when bent, they should spring back into shape). Cheaper brushes eventually lose their point as the hairs get splayed or bent, but do not toss these old brushes out. They are good utility brushes to use when you need to lift paint or apply masking fluid. When you don’t want to spoil your nicer brushes with rough treatment, grab an older one. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 11 F inding Paints Watercolor paints come in tube and cake form. Don’t feel like you are limited to pans or tubes, however. You can always mix and match. Get a pan set for a basic starter set, then when you need additional colors that are not included, purchase tubes. Scarlet Lake Tubes or Cakes? Advantages of tubes: • Tubes offer more control over the intensity of color. • Tubes are easy to acquire in a variety of pigments so you can custom-select an array of colors. Ultramarine Blue Cadmium Yellow • It is easy to get the amount of pigment you need by squeezing a tube rather than trying to work it up from a dried cake. Advantages of cakes: • Starter sets offer a good variety of preselected colors. • Less cleanup is needed because a cake is more self-contained. Primary Colors • Sets are easy to take with you when traveling or painting on site—perhaps to a forest or garden for inspiration. The primary colors (red, yellow and blue) are three basic colors to get you started. In theory, the entire spectrum of colors can be mixed from them. Payne’s Gray Burnt Umber Brown Madder White Gouache Gouache is an opaque watercolor paint. When used sparingly, white gouache can be an effective way to add some white over a finished area. However, it is the transparent quality of watercolor that really makes a painting glow. When you apply opaque colors, you step away from that look. The white of untouched paper will always be brighter and more pure than the opaqueness of white gouache. 12 Lamp Black Alizarin Crimson Sap Green Viridian Green Cerulean Blue Expanded Palette Having more colors gives you a brighter palette to choose ffrom. You can mix a lot of shades from a limited set, Cadmium Yellow Naples Yellow but if you want a very bright aand light color like pale pink, an oor a light shade of a primary ccolor, you should purchase a tube or cake of that color. In addition to red, yellow and blue, I recommend some of the colors shown above. Starter sets of cake paints usually include most of these colors, though if you go with tubes you can sselect them individually yourself. As you gain more experience, you can add to your selection of ccolors. o G athering Extras Absorbent Paper Towels Keep a supply of paper towels on hand for mopping up excess moisture from a painting. Color Shapers These rubber-tipped tools with either a chisel or pointed tip are often used for sculpting or acrylic painting. Because a color shaper has no individual bristles, dried liquid frisket will not harm it, and it can be used just like a brush to apply the masking fluid. When finished, simply wipe off the tip with a paper towel. Palette A lot of cake paint sets have a built-in palette for mixing colors; therefore, it may not be necessary to purchase a separate one. However, if you are using only paint tubes, you will need a palette to set out and mix your colors. Water Container A bowl or cup of water is needed for washing off your brushes. Take time out to freshen the water every once in a while Don’t be lazy and let your water get too dirty and cloudy! Doing so will make your colors look muddy. Masking Fluid and Old Brushes Also called liquid frisket, masking fluid is a liquid latex that you paint directly on your surface to retain white areas before applying paint. Never use a good painting brush for applying masking fluid. Save old brushes for this purpose, and clean them with soap and water right after you finish. Once the frisket has dried on the paper, you can apply washes of color over it. When the paint is fully dry, remove the masking by rubbing gently with your fingertip or an eraser. The areas underneath will be white and unpainted. Palette Mixed Neutrals on Your Palette Although it is important to keep colors clean and separate (especially when using pale colors like yellows, oranges, pinks and light greens), letting colors run together on your palette can create mixed neutral tones. Use them to paint subtle shadows and in-between shades instead of a flat pure color. The less vibrant hues and neutral shifts will lend a subtle realism to your painting. Color shap er Masking fluid Old brushes Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 13 S electing Paper The type of paper you choose to paint on is as important as your brushes and paints. Papers are categorized according to the surface texture, commonly referred to as a paper’s tooth: rough, cold press or hot press. Watercolors are most suited to rough or coldpressed papers because they absorb the pigment quickly. Hot-pressed paper is better for more opaque techniques such as working in acrylics or gouache paints and drawing with inks and pencils. Selecting a paper is also a matter of personal preference. I prefer to work on lightweight illustration board, but you should try out different textures and types of surfaces to see for yourself how the paints behave. Selecting a Surface paper color r e t a hw Roug tercolor paper Cold-pressed wa Cold-pressed illustr ation board • Rough surface. This finish has the most pronounced peaks and valleys. It is not recommended for a beginning watercolorist because mistakes are hard to hide and paint can pool in the valleys. • Cold-pressed surface. This surface has a medium tooth and allows the water and pigment to be absorbed quickly. The surface is also resilient to rough treatment and can handle lots of layering and lifting. Cold-pressed paper is a good type of paper to start out with. • Hot-pressed surface. This surface is extremely smooth and nonporous. Watercolors tend to pool and bleed a bit more since the liquid isn’t rapidly absorbed into the paper. However, this does make blending easier. An Alternative to Watercolor Paper Hot-p resse d bris tol bo ard Usee Paper Us Pape Pa perr With W th Wi h a Slight Sliigh ght Texture T xxttur Te uree Onee of O On o the thee charms cha harm rmss off watercolor rm wat a er erco colo co loor iss the the he randomness rand ra nddom omne nessss aachieved ne chie ch i ve ie vedd with w thh the wi the flfloow ow off water wat ater er and pooling aandd th an thee spreading sppre read addinng an nd po pool olin ol ingg off ppigments. in iggme ment ntts.s Textured T Te xtur xt u ed ur e paper pap aper er facilitates fac a ili it itat ates ess tthis hiss lo hi look ok aand ndd kkeeps eeps ee ps the art from looking too tight and overworked. 14 Illustration board serves as a good alternative to watercolor paper. It comes in cold- or hot-pressed finishes, though even the cold-pressed tends to be on the smoother end of the spectrum. Illustration board does not get as warped from repeated washes as watercolor paper does, and it does not need to be stretched. Tape it down to a Masonite board for easy transportation and to prevent damage to the corners. You can also use bristol board, but it does not take water very well and warps easily. Bristol board is better suited for pencil or ink drawings that have very little color. Basic Watercolor Technique Stretching Watercolor Paper Unless you use prestretched watercolor paper or illustration board, you must stretch your watercolor paper to prevent it from becoming swollen with water and warping. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface watercolor paper (cut to size) , drawing board Other 4 pieces of acid-free masking tape cut to the width and height of your paper, bowl of water, paper towels 1 1 2 3 2 Wet the Paper Take the sheet of paper and soak it thoroughly in water. Remove Excess Water Wipe away excess moisture with a paper towel. Let the Paper Dry Take the paper by the corners and lay it flat on the drawing board. Tape down all four sides with acid-free masking tape. Let the paper dry completely. When it is dry, the paper is ready to be painted. Don’t remove the paper from the board until you’ve finished your painting. 3 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 15 U nderstanding Color The basic color wheel consists of the primary colors: red, yellow and blue. From these three basic colors, the rest of the spectrum can be created. The secondary colors are orange (mixed from red and yellow), green (mixed from yellow and blue) and violet (mixed from blue and red). The six tertiary colors result from mixing a primary with a secondary color. Generally reds, oranges and yellows are considered warm colors while purples, blues and greens are considered cool. Being aware of a color’s temperature can help you manipulate the mood of your paintings. Mixing Lively Grays and Blacks Grays and blacks straight from the tube are sometimes referred to as dead colors. This is particularly true of black because it is completely neutral (neither warm nor cold) and often results in a flat finish that draws the viewer’s eye toward it. As such, it’s best to use black paint from the tube sparingly. A nice alternative to pure black is to create a black mixture. After all, few things in the world are truly black; even a black object has light and shadows and is affected by the surrounding colors. Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue make a great combination for an artificial black. Add more Ultramarine Blue to the mixture for a cooler black or more Burnt Umber for a warmer cast. Warm colors Red-violet (tertiary) Red (primary) Red-orange (tertiary) Violet (secondary) Orange (secondary) Blue-violet (tertiary) Yellow-orange (tertiary) Blue (primary) Yellow (primary) Blue-green (tertiary) Green (secondary) Yellow-green (tertiary) Cool colors The Color Wheel Being familiar with the color wheel will help you when it comes to mixing your watercolors and determining the color scheme of a painting. 16 Complements and Color Mixing Complementary colors sit opposite each other on the color wheel. Complementary pairs are red/green, blue/orange and violet/yellow. Mixing complementary colors together results in a muddy brownish gray tone. The more colors you mix, the muddier the mixture becomes. Try to mix only two or three colors at most to get the color mixture you need. S uggesting Edges and Incorporating Spills The best paintings are a mixture of control and random accidents. Most artists evolve beyond the frustration of not being able to control their paint, to using an iron fist and killing all the spontaneity of watercolors, to finally finding a happy medium that uses the natural tendencies of watercolors while maintaining knowledge and control over the results. Don’t Do Create Clean Edges by Working Wet-on-Dry Be patient—a minute spent waiting for an area to dry completely will save you much hair-tearing and regret later when trying to correct an error. Working wet-on-dry will help you create crisp edges. DO - nice crisp edges delineating foreground and background. DON'T - The shadows from the wing spilled out into the surrounding blue because the glaze was applied while the background sky was still wet. Make Crisp Edges To paint details or a crisp edge, do not paint a layer of color near another wet color or it will bleed from one section to another. You can create fine-edged details only with dry adjacent colors. When in doubt and something is wet, wait. Working With Spills and Bleeds Learning to not become frustrated with how watercolors flow and bleed is one of the major hurdles to becoming comfortable with the medium. A large part of it is letting yourself work with the medium and its quirks instead of trying to minutely control every aspect of it. Watercolors bleed and spill, and rather than being a disaster, this can allow you to use to achieve effects that you can accomplish only with watercolors and not with other mediums like acrylics and oils. They are much more thick and stay put, even when you lay colors right next to other wet colors. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 17 Basic Watercolor Technique Laying a Flat Wash Washes, the most basic of watercolor techniques, are for covering large, flat background areas or for laying in basic colors on smaller elements of a painting. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed watercolor paper, drawing board Brushes ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Ultramarine Blue 1 Other acid-free masking tape Wet the Paper Tape your surface to a drawing board. Position your paper at a slight angle toward you (prop some books underneath the top if you don’t have a slanted drawing table). Use a ½-inch (12mm) flat to wet the entire area of the wash. 2 Add Pigment Load a ½-inch (12mm) flat with Ultramarine Blue. Drag the brush across the top of the paper. Since the surface is at an angle, the paint will drip toward the bottom of the page. 3 Add More Pigment 1 2 3 4 Before the previous stroke dries, drag a second stroke across the paper, right below and slightly overlapping the first stroke. Make sure you catch the drips from the first stroke for an even wash. 4 Create the Final Layers Keep layering pigment, following steps 2 and 3, until you get to the bottom. If too much paint runs to the bottom edge, reduce the angle of your work surface. Avoid going back and retouching areas you have already painted until the surface is dry. Small variations and inconsistencies will smooth themselves out as the water flows and the paint dries. 18 Basic Watercolor Technique Laying a Graded Wash For a graded wash, dilute the paint with each consecutive stroke so the pigment eventually fades into clear water and the white of the paper. It’s important to let the paint dry. Do not fuss with it too much or you may make inconsistencies more obvious. Use graded washes to change the colors of the sky’s horizon or to create the vibrant edge of a rose petal fading to the pale pink heart. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed watercolor paper, drawing board Brushes ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Ultramarine Violet Other acid-free masking tape 1 Wet the Paper and Add Pigment Secure your surface to the drawing board. Prop the surface up, angling it toward you. Wet the area with a ½-inch (12mm) flat, then load it with fairly concentrated Ultramarine Violet. Drag the brush across the paper’s top with a horizontal stroke. 2 Add Lighter Pigment For the next stroke, dilute the paint a little bit so that it is slightly lighter than the first stroke. Drag the brush across the surface, overlapping the first row. 3 4 Continue to Add Layers Keep layering pigments, following step 2, until you get to the bottom. Remember to dilute the paint for each row. 1 2 3 4 Let the Surface Dry After you’ve covered the whole area, don’t fiddle with it because that will only mar the smoothness of the wash. Minor inconsistencies will smooth themselves out as the surface dries. Practice this a few times until you can create an evenly graded wash. Applying a Graded Wash in a Curvy Area Create graded washes in areas with curves and edges by slowly building a series of washes in the area. Start with a very pale wash, let it dry, then continue building layers. This method gives you much more control. Visit im impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds p to download free wallpaper art. 19 G lazing To give your colors a glowing gemlike quality, consider using the glazing technique. A glaze is a translucent wash applied directly on top of an existing layer of color. This technique not only adds an essence of shimmer to your paintings, but also results in a subtle shifting of colors that direct mixing can’t accomplish. Each time you add a color on top of another color, it changes the tone in a way that is distinctly different from mixing the wet colors directly before painting. And, of course, you aren’t limited to just two layers. You can add as many layers as necessary to build up the colors and create the tones you desire. Creating Dazzling Results With Glazing This chart shows what happens when you use the glazing technique. Notice how a color’s intensity increases when another layer of color is added to it. Layering complementary colors results in muted brown and neutral tones. Creating a chart like this with your various pigments is a great starting point to help you determine which colors to glaze. You’ll be able to see in advance how the colors look when one pigment is layered over another. Alizarin Crimson Cadmium Orange Lemon Yellow Sap Green Ultramarine Blue Ultramarine Violet Glazing in Action I used glazing here to give the skin a transparent quality. The shadows were laid in first using Indigo, then a very pale glaze of Naples Yellow and Alizarin Crimson was added to suggest the main fleshtones. I also glazed small nimbuses of Lemon Yellow around the bits of jewelry to add even more intensity. This gradual buildup of colors produces a much richer composition than if it were done in one pass with the colors premixed on the palette. 20 Basic Watercolor Technique Layering Glazes A dragon perches on a rocky outcropping, guardian of all that he surveys. With just a few layers of a limited palette of colors, you can define forms, light and shadow to create a draconic sentinel. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0 and 2 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat brush Watercolors Burnt Umber, Naples Yellow, Ultramarine Violet 1 1 2 3 2 3 Lay a Graded Wash Over a Finished Sketch Lay a graded wash with Ultramarine Violet at the top, fading to Naples Yellow at the bottom with a 1⁄2-inch (12mm) flat brush. Glaze the Dragon Glazing Creates a Subtle Color Change These are the three colors that were used in this demonstration. Glazing them on top of each other adds multiple levels of complexity. Use a no. 2 round brush to glaze Naples Yellow on the dragon and ground. Let bits of the initial wash show through for highlights. Add the Final Details Use a no. 0 round brush and glaze finer details with Burnt Umber over the dragon and ground. Add ridges to the horn on his head, and bring out the contours of the eyes and scales. Be sure to leave highlights of both previous layers of glazing showing through. As you work, you are building up the darker areas, pushing the shadows back and leaving the light areas as highlights. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 21 B lending When it’s time to blend the tones or colors in your painting, choose one of two approaches… Blending Wet Start in the Corners It can be tricky to blend a background around the tight corners of a foreground element. Select a round brush that is big enough to hold a lot of water, yet get into tight corners. Charge the brush with moderately diluted pigment, using just enough water to flow but not so much that the tones become too pale. When dealing with large areas, graded washes work well for blending from one tone to another or from color to the white of the paper. For smaller areas though, it can be a bit unwieldy. Blending with your brush while the paint is wet can give you more control. Blend Outward Blend Until Clear As you move out from the foreground element you are painting around, start diluting the paint on your brush with water. Paint fairly quickly to keep the forward edge that you are working along wet. If it dries, a noticeable seam of pigment will show. As you pull the forward line outward, keep diluting the paint on your brush until it runs clear. Establish Basic Forms Lift Along the Edges Lay in the basic forms for the area you are painting. A brush with stiff bristles works best for this. After the initial layer has dried, load the brush with water and scrub along the edges of the paint to lift and soften the transition. Blending Dry Blending dry works well for softening edges, blurring for distance or for shading. Transitions will not appear as smooth as they do when blending wet. Results vary depending on how amenable the particular color is to lifting, as well as the paper type. 22 U sing Salt Salt is an excellent additive to help indicate texture in your paintings. It works well in creating a nice base for organic backgrounds like leaves and foliage. However, it can sometimes be tricky to achieve a controlled result. By its nature, salt creates a random effect, so be prepared to relinquish some control when using it. To a certain extent, you can control the type of effect created, depending on the type of salt you choose to work with. Sea salt, which is coarser and more irregularly shaped, generates large splotches of differing shapes and sizes. Table salt, on the other hand, is very fine and more uniformly shaped, yielding a consistent, splotched texture. Sea salt— the rough, irregularly sized grains result in splotches of varying shapes and sizes. Table salt—the standardized size of these fine crystals produces a more regular texture. Sea Salt Versus Table Salt If you wait until the paint is completely dry before removing the salt, little outlines of pigment will remain behind. This will yield a very feathery, delicate, starry texture. If you very lightly brush the salt away (using a paper towel) when the paint is almost dry, you can avoid the dark outlines. This also blurs the starry texture a bit, resulting in a more nebulous blob shape. Getting Started Lay in some wet paint, then sprinkle salt into the area you wish to texturize. Removing the Salt Watching Texture Form As the salt works, the grains suck in moisture and pull away the pigment, creating a distinctive, starry texture on the paper. When the paint is nearly dry, you can remove the salt by lightly brushing it with a paper towel. The timing for this is something you have to experiment with. It varies depending on how wet your initial wash is, how much salt you use, how absorbent your paper is and what effect you are attempting to achieve. Try it on scrap paper first if you’re uncertain about how it will work. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 23 M ore Watercolor Techniques 1 2 3 1 Layered Graded Wash 2 Drybrush By combining graded washes and glazing, you can create a multicolored melding of tones. Use a ½-inch (12mm) flat to apply a graded wash with one color. When that has dried completely, paint a second graded wash with a different color (or use the same color to intensify its appearance). Repeat this until you get the appearance you desire. Use this technique for complex backgrounds. Like the name suggests, this technique employs a dry brush (a brush with little to no water). Just load some paint on the brush, then dab it in a paper towel to get rid of excess moisture. Experiment with varying amounts of moisture and take note of the results. With less moisture, the brush will skip over the texture of the paper, and the individual hairs of the brush will be evident in each stroke. With more water you will get a very smooth, unbroken line similar to a wash. Drybrushing can be used to paint fine details in foliage, grass and hair. 3 Dry-Into-Wet Secrets to Successful Lifting Certain colors respond very differently to lifting. Blues lift very easily (for this same reason, blues are sometimes difficult to glaze because the color insists on lifting as you apply a second wet layer). Reds, on the other hand, can be extremely stubborn and require much more force to lift. The paper also affects your ability to lift a pigment. Pigments on hot-pressed paper lift easily since the paint sits mostly on the surface. A very rough cold-pressed paper might be more resistant to lifting. Cheaper papers also have a tendency to suck up the pigment and very reluctantly release any of it. 24 When using this technique, wet only the areas you will be working on with clear water. Then, with a brush loaded with relatively dry paint, work through those wet areas. The wet parts will dilute the pigment, while the dry areas hold the paint still. This technique can be used for ripples on the surface of water. 4 Wet-In-Wet If you want to achieve an organic look in your painting or to blend your colors in a looser fashion, simply use the wet-in-wet technique. To begin, wet the entire surface of the area you will be working on with clear water, then take a brush loaded with color and paint into the wet areas. The water will dilute the edges of the painted areas and pull the pigment away from the center, creating a softer, more natural look. 4 5 6 7 8 5 Lifting From a Wet Surface 8 Rubbing Alcohol Texturing Lifting is when you remove pigment from the paper after it has been applied. You can lift from a wash that is still wet by taking a paper towel, tissue or sponge and dabbing at the paint. The drier the paint gets, the less color you can remove. You can also create texture using rubbing alcohol. Start by laying a wash, and while it is still wet, sprinkle it with rubbing alcohol. The pigment will push away from the rubbing alcohol and leave an interesting speckled pattern. This technique is great for suggesting distant foliage or bubbles in an underwater scene. 6 Lifting From a Dry Surface To lift color from paint that has already dried, you must apply water. Do this by dropping water onto the dried surface and letting it sit for a moment before lightly scrubbing it with a paper towel. You can also wet a brush with water and use it to lightly scrub the surface. Using a smaller brush gives you more control over what is lifted. This technique is very useful for distant foliage, tree bark, stars, mermaid scales or for creating highlights. 7 Plastic Wrap Texturing If you want to add extra texture to your painting, lay a wash, then while it is still wet, lay a piece of plastic wrap on top. After the paint has dried, remove the plastic wrap. This technique works well for rock textures or stained glass. Flow With the Medium, Don’t Fight It If you find yourself struggling too hard to accomplish a certain effect, it might be time to take a step back and reconsider your approach. Sure, there are some unpredictable elements to painting with watercolors, but they can be controlled—to some extent—by your choice of materials and techniques. For example, wet-on-dry usually stays where your brush paints it. If you use more liquid, the stroke will be smooth. Less liquid will create a broken-line, dry-brush effect. Wet-in-wet, on the other hand, will cause colors to bleed and bloom across the wet zones. If you find details are hard to paint because everything is becoming blurry, think about the surface you are painting on. Is it wet? Is it too wet? Is the paper too rough? Are your brushes too big? By familiarizing yourself with the characteristics of watercolor materials and techniques, and applying this knowledge to your paintings, you can avoid frustrating mistakes and enhance your watercolor experience. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds m/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 25 P ositive and Negative Space Positive space refers to the object you’re dealing with. The two-dimensional shape of the areas that surround the object is known as negative space. Either one can be the main focus of the piece; being defined as negative space doesn’t mean that part of your image isn’t important. Being aware of the shape of the negative space will impact your composition and the balance of your piece. Positive Space Positive and Negative Space Enhance Depth Effective use of positive and negative space as well as the ability to switch back and forth between painting the two can greatly enhance a painting and add to the perception of depth. Negative Space 26 Impact for Watercolors With watercolors, you generally don’t paint light areas but instead push dark areas darker, allowing the white of the paper to show through. Any time you leave lighter areas unpainted and paint darker color around an object, you’re working in that object’s negative space. When working with watercolors, you have to be much more conscious of concepts of positive and negative space than with other mediums. Notice how the positive space of the lighter unpainted areas of the girl’s white dress and skin contrast with the darker, more heavily painted areas of the surrounding foliage, and how the shape of the reflective pool of water is defined by the darker contours of rock around it. Switching Between Positive and Negative Space Because watercolor is transparent and you work from light areas into dark, you often have to paint around portions of the picture that you wish to keep a lighter color. The fairy riders on their mounts are the focus here, but notice how the light source comes from the lower right corner. This makes it necessary to paint the negative space of the darker background on all edges facing the light source, while on the upper left side edges of the figures you have to flip your way of thinking and paint the positive space of the figures so that their shadows are darker against the background. Spatial Relationships Negative space focuses the viewer’s attention on the shape of the area around an object. Be conscious of the push and pull of the foreground and background and the relationship between objects and the surrounding space as you work. The dragon’s neck and head curl around the woman, showing interplay in their spatial relationship. Closest to the viewer is the head and upper neck of the dragon. This occupies the initial positive space, with the woman’s lower skirts and the skies being the background. To ensure that the dragon’s face is prominent, the skirts and sky have to be a low contrast to the head. But as the body of the dragon swings around behind the woman, she becomes the main occupant of the positive space, and the chest scales of the dragon must be played down so as not to draw too much attention from the focus on her face. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 27 U sing Opaque Whites Watercolor purists would never even think of using anything opaque. For the most part, I am like-minded. Once you start depending on being able to work light on top of dark, you lose a lot of the wonder and magic of watercolors. Part of the beauty of the medium is the transcendent glow that can only be achieved with the transparency of watercolors. So keep in mind that with these opaque techniques, you’re not replacing the transparency of the paints or compensating for forgetting to leave whites. They're more of a complement to the other techniques being employed. A Touch of White If used sparingly, a touch of white can enhance a piece. There are numerous materials to choose from: • white watercolor from a tube (still fairly translucent) • white corrective liquid (available in pen form) • white gel pens (my personal favorite) • white gouache (similar to watercolors but much more opaque) • white gesso (very bright and opaque) Working Into Wet Working Into Dry While the area is still wet, add some scribbled highlights. As it dries, the wetness of the underpainting leaches the white out, softening the edges. I used a white gel pen here, but much of the same can be accomplished using other white mediums. Go back in after the paint has dried and brighten up some areas with a second layer of gel pen on the dry surface. For harder, more defined edges, draw directly on dried areas. 28 Make the White Pop After drawing some loose textures with the white gel pen, go back in with dark color on a brush and paint some more layers of color around the pen lines. This makes the white stand out by contrast. You can also brush clean water along the edges where you’ve drawn the white. This will blend it into the surrounding colors a bit better and make the transitions more subtle. You can even use your finger to blend a little bit right after you’ve drawn— smear the ink outward a bit while it is still wet. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 29 L ifting Out When painting large swathes of smooth background, it’s sometimes hard to avoid painting over bits of the foreground. Use Broad Brushstrokes on the Background Old Brushes Are Great for Lifting There’s no need to be fastidious when you work. Sometimes you have to use broad brushstrokes to achieve that smoothness of the background, and you don’t want to disturb the paint too much by being fussy and trying to paint around every corner and crevice. After the background dries, take a round brush with a little bit of water and scrub at the edges of the foreground element to lift out the errant color. Stiff brushes work better for this because they give more resistance. Use your older or synthetic brushes for this purpose rather than your new ones with nice points. A retired brush that has lost its point for fine work is perfect for lifting. Masking Fluid Also Works Lifting Blends Elements Of course you could use masking fluid to avoid painting over certain areas, but masking leaves a very hard, rough edge. Lifting is a much softer approach than masking fluid and helps blend elements into one another so the foreground does not seem pasted on top of the background. The foreground and background are integrated because lifting doesn’t pull all the color out, just most of it. 30 D rawing on Inspiration For centuries now, mythological subject matter has been a source of inspiration for many artists, whether gleaned from the living stories and tales of one’s time or from long-ago legends cloaked in magic and mystery. The fairy tales that have inspired so many can also spark your artistic imagination. Your local library and bookstores have shelves filled with mythologies of the world. Browse through a sample of these texts to arm yourself with the concepts necessary to create innumerable creatures, heroes and goddesses. Once you’ve found the perfect inspiration for a painting—whether it’s a piece of existing art, a photo you have taken or a sketch you’ve done on flimsy scrap paper—you’ll need to copy the image to an appropriate painting surface. Employing a grid method will help you transfer your reference and maintain proper proportion and balance. Lay out a Grid on the Image and Your Surface Select a picture or study. Mark off a grid on the image with a pencil or pen and a ruler. If you have a computer, you can scan the image and digitally mark off a grid. Mark your blank drawing paper lightly in pencil with the same number of gridded subdivisions. Your paper does not need to be the same size as your gridded photo. Just be sure the grids have the same proportions of width and height. Alternate Methods for Transferring Your Image Artist transfer paper (a product similar to carbon paper) is available at most art supply stores. Just lay the transfer paper (dark side down) on your painting surface, place your drawing on top and secure both to your painting surface. Then trace over the lines of your drawing. Be careful not to press too hard or you will leave grooves on the painting surface where liquid and pigment will pool when you start to paint. If you can’t find transfer paper, use this trick: Make sure all the lines on your sketch are dark, then turn it pencil-side down on your painting surface and tape it in place. With a dull pencil (or anything that can serve to burnish) scribble on the back side of your sketch wherever your sketch lines are. The original drawing will be transferred in reverse onto your painting surface. Begin to Map out the Image Complete the Sketch Using the gridded photo or study as a reference, draw small sections of the image one at a time. Concentrate on one square at a time and try not to think of the picture as a whole figure, but just as lines and shadows. Look at where the lines are in each square of your grid. Notice how the eye is three-quarters of the way across one square. Relying on the preconceptions your brain has of the figure and of what things should look like can lead to an inaccurate drawing. Continue fleshing out the details and light shading. It’s important to keep any shading very light if you plan to paint over the sketch. If the pencil lines are too dark, the paint’s colors will appear dirty. After you finish sketching, erase the grid lines. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 31 T he Importance of Sketching A sketchbook, or even multiple sketchbooks, is a must-have for any artist. The key is that it has to be exactly what that word says. It’s a book for your sketches, not a showcase for your finished drawings. Sometimes you might get carried away with a sketch, and it’ll evolve into something that you want to show other people, but every artist needs to have one book that is for themselves. A sketchbook is a place where you can feel safe to make mistakes and to just draw what your muse inspires you to create. Don’t draw for an audience, real or imagined, because then you’re not drawing for that little voice inside you that is your creative guide. And the only way you’re going to find your own style and not be derivative of someone else is by paying heed to that voice. 32 Don’t let a desire or a need to have a style dictate what you sketch either. A style is what happens when you’re not paying attention. When you simply create what you love, when you sketch with your own rhythm, or lay the paint down just so in a way that appeals to you, that’s when your style happens. As artists, we’re all inspired by the creations of those around us. We’re inspired by what we see and what we experience. How you process that information, how you filter it from your senses to percolate through your brain and then flow out through your hands and fingertips, that’s when you find your own voice. Sketches can be very rough. They don’t have to go anywhere. A sketchbook is simply a chance to experiment and try things out without getting too attached and without letting the drawings become too precious. Fantastical art can either closely follow your reference material with only minor deviations, or you can choose to view your references more as an inspirational jumping-off point. From there, you can embellish with elements from your imagination or combine with other references to create a composite. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 33 Sketching for Its Own Sake Try to find time to let all your conscious thoughts and expectations dictate what you draw. Remember how it felt to just doodle when you were a kid. These can be rough and just skeletons of an idea, or if your creative juices really get going and you get excited about the direction a sketch goes, see how far you can take it. Shadows started off as just an experiment with a new brand of drawing paper I wanted to try out. Pencil met paper without any inkling of what would be conjured from the blankness or even how developed the image would be. Even as I finished the main bird figure, I had no idea that I would continue with background shadows or other birds. The image evolved organically on its own. A Sketchbook Is Your War Chest! On those days when you feel the need to draw and paint, but you just can’t find the right spark of inspiration, flip through your sketchbook. If you’ve been diligently depositing small sums of creativity over the days and weeks and years, then there will be a gold mine of ideas waiting to be developed in your sketchbooks. Sometimes when I’m working on a project, I’ll try several different approaches and experiment with various poses and compositions in my sketchbooks. Out of the many sketches, only one of them gets picked for the project at hand. But this leaves all the other discarded ideas sitting around. On a rainy day, with the benefit of time to distance my inner critic, I can flip back to these unused options and frequently find some aspect worth revisiting. 34 This sketch of foxes running through the night under the grand spreading arch of an oak tree was the original thumbnail concept drawing. I decided to do a closer-up cropping of the white foxes from the original thumbnail sketch. The finished piece utilized very little of the concept I had initially started with. Something about that first thumbnail sketch really attracted me. So about a year later I revisited it when flipping through my sketchbook and eventually created this painting, On the Darkest Night. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 35 C ontrast One of the key concepts to keep in mind when working on a background is contrast. You can accomplish this in several different ways: color, focus, intensity and light. Contrast by Color In this piece the area where you want to focus the viewer’s attention is a slightly angled vertical column that includes the two figures, the drapery and the fish. Scan one of your paintings and examine it in grayscale to see how your balance is. This can give you an idea of how well you’ve designed the larger image. It’s easy sometimes to get bogged down in the details of things instead of seeing a painting as a holistic experience with many overall elements that create a single design. 36 The area outside of this focus needs to contrast so it doesn't fight for the viewer’s attention. To achieve that contrast, the background areas are mostly a cooler purple tone. Use complementary colors, which can be very exaggerated or more subtle. Use complementary colors that are diametrically opposite on the color wheel (purple/yellow, red/green, blue/ orange). I prefer to use a triangular opposition. You don’t have to use direct complementary colors to achieve contrast. This piece uses mostly blues for the background, with a contrast of colors ranging from green- yellow- orange. It’s still effective though, as the green helps to soften the transition from the distant background into the foreground elements and unifies the piece. Contrast by Intensity Contrast by Focus Focus refers to the level of detail and blurring of elements. Imagine a photograph where a very close-up object is in highly focused detail, while the background is blurred. This serves to focus the viewer’s attention on what you, the artist, want them to see: the foreground elements. If you put too much crisp detail in the background, then it fights for the viewer’s attention, and you lose the ability to control the flow of the composition and how he takes in your picture. The focus of this piece is the dancing pair and the animals immediately surrounding them. Intensity of color is another way to control contrast. If you let your background contain more neutral shades, then it naturally recedes and lets the viewer see the very bright and lively foreground elements. Since most of the time you work from the background to the foreground, the early stages of the painting might feel dull and lacking in color to you. This is because you have to build the basis for contrast with the foreground if you want to create a truly striking final image. Contrast by Light Contrast of light is really the most basic kind of contrast. Light and shadow—that is what defines everything you see. Edges of an object really are just where light is bouncing, and darkness is the absence of light. Remember this and try not to paint lines and things, but instead places where light meets surface. Bringing It All Together Don’t let yourself be limited to one of these techniques. You can apply a single one to your painting or any two or even all four. Even within the examples that we’ve examined on these pages, we’ve discussed only one form of contrast on each painting, but in reality they all incorporate combinations of these techniques. Can you go back through the images and spot the other forms of contrast in each one? Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 37 C ompositions and the Importance of Thumbnailing Just as a writer gets an idea and scribbles hasty words in a notebook to make sure a moment of potential genius is not lost forever to the void of forgetfulness, an artist needs to make visual notes. This is where thumbnails come in handy. They don’t have to be masterpieces. They just need to capture the idea so that you can reinterpret them at a later time, although occasionally you may use them in trying to communicate your concepts to others if you are painting for a client. A secondary function for thumbnails is to work out composition. When you limit yourself to a smaller space, you only have room in the sketch for the key components. You don’t get bogged down in details like facial expressions, individual leaves and minutiae. What you’re left with is the overall flow of the piece. Here’s a Thumbnail Exercise! Take these various components, and pick any three of them at random. Then try doing a few thumbnail drawings by trying different sizes and locations for the various elements: Doorway, Tree, Staircase, Woman, Man, Cat, Fox, Bird, Flower, Tower, Mountain, Cabin, Cliff, Bones, Fish, Moon, Sun, Dragon. For example, here are a couple of thumbnails using Fish, Tower, Staircase. You can play around with the size of the various components, their placement or even the proportions of the paper. Don’t let your composition be limited by an 81⁄2 × 11- inch (22cm × 28cm) standard piece of paper. Let the composition dictate the shape of the piece. Make your own list of random elements and see what ideas you come up with in your thumbnails. These were various thumbnail sketches scribbled into my sketchbook. I had a concept in mind. The key points were: 1) A doorway in the woods 2) Trees framing this magical portal 3) A staircase leading up to the door With those elements in mind, I played around with various ways of arranging them—but on a very small scale, each drawing only a few inches wide. 38 The series of thumbnails eventually led to this configuration for the final painting. Demonstration Shadow Passage A traveler ventures forth onto the still surface of the lake, drawn by an elusive witch-light, which those who live upon the shores speak of seeing. What creature lurks in the depths of the lake? What spirits haunt the shallows and wander through the halls of the decrepit and forgotten tower? M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 2 and 4 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Lemon Yellow, Payne’s Gray (This step-by-step uses Payne’s Gray until the very last step, but feel free to use any color you wish to create a different mood in the piece. Blues, purples and grays give it a haunting nighttime feel. Green gives it daytime mystery. Warm reds and oranges turn on an air of danger in the glow of dawn.) Other paper towel or small sponge, sea salt, white gel pen 1 Sky Using a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush, lay a wash into the sky. Use a no. 2 round brush to blend into the the area around the moon, leaving the moon as white as possible. You can also use a very slightly damp paper towel or sponge and very gently dab at the wet paint around the moon to further lighten up the area for the glow of light. Monochrome 1 If you’re new to watercolors, or even working with paints and brushes in general, it can be a daunting prospect to launch right into the experience. That shouldn’t stop you though. Try limiting your palette to reduce the stress of having to deal with multiple colors. Work on a painting using only one color so that you focus on the simple action of working with light and shadow, just as if you were shading and drawing with a lead pencil. This gives you a chance to get used to how watercolors behave and move on paper. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 39 2 Background Glaze for the Sea and Sky Add a graded wash with a 1⁄2-inch (12mm) flat brush with the darkest part at the bottom of the page (under the water) and getting lighter as you approach the horizon line. Blend that glaze up over the horizon and the tower, still keeping the moon and the glow around it fairly light. 3 Darkening the Atmosphere Using a no. 4 round brush, glaze darker layers into the upper and lower corners of the piece and around the body of the fish. Blend the edges of these light glazes outward into the surrounding wash so that the transition is smooth. Don’t get too much pigment on the brush at once. Seamless glazes are easier to achieve if you can let yourself be patient and slowly build up to darker colors with light glazes. 4 2 3 4 5 The Tower and the Creature Use a no. 2 round and paint a layer along the rocky island and tower. Leave a thin edge of white paper showing on the edges of the tower so that it can be limned in moonlight. Dab wet-in-wet for some deeper shadows along the rocky shore and sprinkle salt into the wet paint. Add some scales to the creature, leaving an edge of lighter, unpainted space on each scale to create highlights. 5 Darkening the Details Use a no. 0 round brush with much more concentrated pigment on your brush, and start to add definition to the details. On the tower, bring the darker tones into the cracks and crevices as well as on the stones of the shore and the staircase. On the fish, push the darker tones in toward the center of the scales to add definition, as well as on the ridges of the fins by gently stroking in parallel shadows. Be sure to leave areas of the lighter underpaintings for highlights. 40 6 6 7 The Boat Again use the no. 0 round brush with more concentrated pigment and paint the shadowy boat and figure. A Tiny Bit of Color With a no 0. round brush, take a tiny bit of Lemon Yellow (or any contrasting color of your choice) and blend outward into the gray from the dangling bioluminescent lure on the creature. Add a touch of this reflected light along the edges of the shadowy figure in the boat and a dotted bit in the iris of the creature’s eye. Very sparingly, take a white gel pen and dot in some white highlights along the edges of the fins and scales. 7 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 41 Chapter Two THE FOUNDATIONSSTONE Stone—inert, solid, unmoving. The foundation from which creation and civilization rises. It is familiar, something that human hands can shape and stack and build with. It is the ground we walk upon and representative of permanence and the comfort of the unchanging, even as it contradicts that perception we carry by slowly eroding and slipping away to silt and sand. But that change is invisible during the fleeting space of time human eyes may rest upon those surfaces. The literal foundations upon which your imagined worlds rest are imbued with all these associations about stone, and these feelings are conveyed in paintings— in the majesty of distant mountain peaks and the crumbling walls of ancient castles. P ainting Stone Stone, the ground and the earth to stand upon, and the walls that rise up around. Using some basic watercolor techniques, you can create base textures upon which to build and carve a world. Loosen your control. Nature is masterful with random chaos, and the goal is to try to emulate that freedom with the properties of paint. Methods for Stone Texture B C A 1 2 [A] Wet-in-wet of Ultramarine Violet, Payne’s Gray and Viridian Green. Don’t be afraid to let the colors bleed and create blotches when drying. This makes for great stony texture. [B] Sponge base textures, and then further enhance details after the base layer has dried by emphasizing shadows. 3 Using a Sponge 1. Start with a wash of color. [C] For sharper relief and for highlights, you can use a white gel pen or white opaque paint to add some touches. Use sparingly though. 2. Use a sponge and dab at the wet paint to lift pigment and create texture. 3. Use a finer pointed brush to pull out shadows and create edges. This can be used to create texture for a pitted wall or the base texture for rocky ground. Stone Wall Background A base texture was created for this wall with some sponging. 44 Demonstration Using Bleeds and Wet-in-Wet 1 2 3 M AT E R I A L S L I S T Start With Rocky Shapes Surface cold-pressed illustration board Use a no. 4 round with Viridian Green to paint a lumpy rock shape. Brushes nos. 0, 1 and 4 rounds Watercolors Naples Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Add Multiple Colors Prussian Blue, Viridian Green Still using the no. 4 round, paint wetin-wet so that the colors bleed into each other. Add Payne’s Gray to extend. Wet-in-Wet Bleeding After you have laid the paint down, watch it carefully for about a minute. When you see that some of the edges are starting to dry and the moisture is soaking into the paper (but not gone entirely!), take a little bit of clean water and drop it into the wet areas. If you have timed it right, the water will create bleeding pale splotches of texture and nice ragged, random edges. 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 Details Let the paint dry completely now, and once it has, you can go back in with a no. 0 round brush and Payne’s Gray and add shadows and more structure to the randomness that you created with the initial textures. Be sure to leave many of the bleeding and raw edges showing and don't overwork and obscure them. 5 Context Add a background sky by painting around the rocky formation with a no. 4 round brush, using Naples Yellow wet-inwet with a mixture of Prussian Blue and Payne’s Gray. Leave some white-edged highlights between the sky and the rocks to limn them in light. 6 Birds Use a no. 1 round brush with Payne’s Gray and paint shadowy ravens winging overhead. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 45 Demonstration Standing Stones A monolithic gateway guards a passage to the unseen world. An emblem of mystery and magic. Standing stones are portals. They are places where the earth speaks with the powerful thrum of ley line energies and are imbued with the memory of those who stood beneath the same arches thousands of years before. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Cerulean Blue, Naples Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Sap Green, Ultramarine Violet, Viridian Green 1 Other paper towel, salt Sky Mix Ultramarine Violet and a little bit of Cerulean Blue and paint a wash on the sky with a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush. Overlap the top portion of the mountains in the distant background. Use a smaller no. 2 round brush to get the area of sky peeking through the standing stones and around the moon. 2 Shading the Sky After the initial wash is dry, glaze a little bit more of the same mixture of colors using the ½-inch (12mm) flat brush in the upper corners to darken those areas a little bit. Blend outward into the existing wash by diluting the paint and dabbing away the excess on your page with a paper towel. 3 Distant Hills Use a no. 2 round brush and glaze the shadow of the distant hills in the background with the same mixture of colors. Watch the paint as it dries for a minute. When you see that some of the edges are starting to dry and the moisture is soaking into the paper, take a little bit of clean water and drop it into the wet areas. Let the water bleed and create some edges within the field of color. 1 4 Distant Hills’ Details Use a no. 0 round brush with a mixture of Payne’s Gray and Ultramarine Violet to add some definition to the distant hills. 46 2 3 4 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 47 5 Closer Hill Do the same to the closer hill, glazing with a no. 2 round brush and dotting it with water to let highlights bloom in the wet paint. Then add more definition and structure with a no. 0 round and a little bit of Payne’s Gray mixed in. 6 Foreground Hillsides Use a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush and lay a wash of Naples Yellow on the foreground. With a no. 4 round, dot wet-in-wet with various mixtures of Sap Green and Viridian Green, more so in the lower corners. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle with salt and let dry before brushing the salt off. Leave the area around the waterfall mostly white, softly blending the glaze to clear in the area around it. 5 7 Foreground Hillsides’ Details Use nos. 0 and 1 round brushes with varying mixtures of Naples Yellow, Sap Green and Payne’s Gray to glaze finer details of grass and shadowed cliff edges over the hillsides. Utilize the feathering textures that the salt left as tufts of grass, leaving some of it as is, and trailing out tendrils of grass from the tips of others. 8 Stones Use a no. 2 round brush and with a mixture of Payne’s Gray and Viridian Green, paint the standing stones. Leave a thin highlight of white around the edges of the main stones and some of the larger ones. As the paint dries, drop water wet-in-wet and let the water bleed out in feathery textures. 48 6 7 8 49 9 9 10 Limned Edges Using a stiff-bristled no. 2 round with clean water, gently scrub alongside the white edges of the main stones to lift the pigment and soften the hard white highlights. Final Details Use a no. 0 round with Payne’s Gray and add some fine crevices and cracks in the stones. 50 10 51 M ountains Sleeping giants. Mountains can loom on the horizon, adding atmosphere and defining the space of the world you create. What kinds of peaks might they be? Undulating mounds like the spines of sleeping dragons perhaps? Or tall spindly spires that claw toward the heavens, defying gravity? What creatures might inhabit such a sere landscape, safely nesting in cliff-top aeries? Or perhaps a lone icy peak with the verdant sweep of tree-lined hillsides rolling upward towards the apex. 52 Drawing Mountains [A] Start with the shape of your peaks, roughly triangular but jagged. [B] Let peaks farther in the distance get overlapped. [C] Peaks closer to the foreground should be layered in front. B E D C A [D] Ridges start at the apex of a peak and snake their way down the slope in curves. Don’t limit yourself to the pinnacles. Even from very small peaks, you will see serpentine ridges winding their way down the slopes. [E] Rendering the cusps of valleys joining the ridges becomes a matter of extrapolating how the land curves down in a cup between the ridges. [A] Light source (the sun) A [B] Light side of the ridge D B C [C] Deepest shadows will be here, just on the opposite side of the ridge, and fading out into more general shadows as you extend down the slope. [D] Far distant peaks might be entirely shadowy and hazy. Shaping the Ridges Keep Your Light Source in Mind • DO let your ridges be more of a softened zigzag, primarily moving horizontally. When dealing with landscape elements as distant as mountains, most likely your light source will be either the sun or the moon. (Though a cataclysmic fire or magical eruption or mystical glowing castle are among many other possibilities too!) • DON’T get too carried away with serpentine S-shaped ridges as they will look too wild and crazy and break the planes that you are trying to create. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 53 Demonstration Painting Mountains A misty river winds through lowland hills, while high above, icy mountain ranges form a majestic backdrop. They shadow the valley, and inhabitants of the forests speak of the great sages who seek enlightenment on those distant peaks. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1 and 4 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Burnt Umber, Cerulean Blue, French Ultramarine, Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Violet Other salt 1 1 2 2 Sky Use a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush and paint a graded wash of French Ultramarine at the top of the page, with the darkest color at the top and fading to the white of the page just past the uppermost peaks of the mountains. Distant Peaks The distant peaks are just shadowy presences in the background. Using a no. 4 round brush, glaze them with more French Ultramarine, keeping the pigment darkest at the top of the peaks and fading to clear at the base, after overlapping the next closest chain of mountains. 54 3 3 Closer Peaks The next chain of peaks is closer to the viewer, and you can start adding some detail of ridges and shadows and highlights to them. Mix a little bit of Prussian Blue with the French Ultramarine and glaze the next chain of peaks in, again overlapping the closer hills and fading to clear. When the liquid is starting to soak into the page and starting to dry, drop some clear water on top to let some texture bleed into the pigment. 4 5 4 6 Shadowed Mountain Faces Use a no. 0 round brush and with a more concentrated Prussian Blue and French Ultramarine mixture, glaze the shadowed sides of the mountain ridges. Use the textures that were created by the wet-in-wet drops of water. Enhance the existing texture and don't obliterate it with overworked pigment. Keep in mind where the light source is. In this piece the sun is out of the frame of view and behind the right shoulder of the viewer. Therefore most of the shadows should fall to the left sides of the ridges. 5 Deepen the Shadows Add some deeper shadows along the shadowed side of the ridges by mixing a little bit of Ultramarine Violet with Prussian Blue, and with a no. 1 brush glaze into the inner edges of the ridges. This creates a rippled striation down the mountainside. With Cerulean Blue and a no. 1 brush, glaze similar striations on the lighted sides of the ridges, sloping the opposite way down the peaks. 6 Trees Continue forward into the foreground. Using a mixture of Burnt Umber and Prussian Blue, glaze the upper treeline with a no. 1 round brush. While the lower edge of the paint is still wet, switch to a no. 4 round and continue the glaze downward to the base of the page, mixing in more Prussian Blue as you go. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle with salt and brush away when dry. 7 Silhouettes of Trees 7 Use a more concentrated mixture of Burnt Umber and Prussian Blue to paint short dotting strokes with a no. 1 round brush to add the silhouettes of trees in the foreground. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 55 Demonstration Guardian of the Pass With a horn shining bright as a beacon of light, the guardian of the pass leaps across high peaks, and delicate bridges arch across dizzying drops. Verdant valleys plunge down into chasms and the green woods where the fey folk live. Sometimes, standing at the bridge, one can hear their eldritch voices drift up in songs carried by the valley winds. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Burnt Umber, Cerulean Blue, French Ultramarine, Lemon Yellow, Naples Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Prussian Blue, Sap Green, Ultramarine Violet, Viridian Green Other white gel pen 1 1 Glows Use a no. 4 round brush and glaze lightly around the lanterns and the unicorn’s horn with Lemon Yellow, fading out to clear. 56 2 2 Sky Use a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush and paint a wash of a mixture of Viridian Green and Prussian Blue in the sky. Let the wash extend over the upper peaks and fade to clear. 3 4 5 3 Distant Mountains 4 5 More Mountains Use a no. 4 round with the same mixture of Viridian Green and Prussian Blue. Glaze the distant mountains and castle, starting at the top and blending to clear at the lower edges. Overlap the next closer set of peaks. When the paint starts to dry and the liquid starts to soak into the page, drop clean water wet-in-wet for some texture. Use a no. 4 round brush and apply the same technique to the next line of mountains, painting around the unicorn and the bridge this time. Bright Hills Continue with the same technique onto the more verdant, closer hillsides, adding Sap Green to the mixture. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 57 6 Castle Now that you have the base layers and textures for the background, you can go back and add detail. Starting with the castle and distant bridge, use nos. 0 and 1 round brushes with more of the Viridian Green and Prussian Blue mixture. Glaze the windows and doors of the castle and add definition to the walls. Moving on to the surrounding cliffs, add a little bit of Payne’s Gray to the mixture and add the vertical cliff striations with glazes. Be sure to leave the previous layer showing through for highlights and retain any watermarked texture, working that into the cliff ’s textures. 6 7 Upper Cliffsides Use nos. 0 and 1 round brushes and mixtures of Viridian Green and Sap Green to build up the shadows of the mountain ridges. Use the textures created by the wet-in-wet watermarks and shade one side of the ridge with deeper glazes. Work Sap Green in light glazes around the glow of the unicorn’s horn, carefully blending to clear at the edges so the glow is a gradual transition. 8 Lower Cliffsides Continue with the same technique into the lower hillsides, shifting slowly as you work your way down from a mixture of Viridian Green and Sap Green to solely Sap Green so that the lower valleys are a rich and verdant emerald hue. 9 8 Bridge Mix French Ultramarine and Payne’s Gray. With a no. 4 round, drybrush the granite surrounding the bridge and continue pulling the color out in a glaze across the bridge itself, switching to a smaller no. 2 round if needed. Let the center of the bridge be the lightest. Leave an edge of white along the upper edges of the granite. Tips • A dry brush lets the bristles skip across the page a little bit and creates specks of highlights. • Water dropped into the pigment, wet-inwet creates splotches. 58 9 7 10 Bridge Textures D B A A C 10 Use varying mixtures of French Ultramarine and Payne’s Gray to build up the details on the bridge with nos. 0 and 1 round brushes. [A] Imply a rough surface by dotting a speckled texture with a no. 1 round. [B] Glaze a shaded line underneath the lip of the bridge with a no. 1 round. [C] Build texture on top of texture. Drybrush with darker pigment on top of the smoother areas of the initial wash with a no. 4 round. [D] Keep the edges of the pillars light, due to the reflected light from the unicorn’s horn and the braziers. 11 Final Bridge Details Using a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush and a mixture of Prussian Blue and Sap Green, lightly glaze diagonally in the lower left and right corners. This will slightly blur and blend the colors, helping to integrate the lower shadows with the background. Be careful not to overwork what you built up so far. With very diluted Sap Green and a no. 2 round, lightly glaze under the lip of the bridge, adding just a hint of green to the neutral stone. Then take a no. 0 round brush with Payne’s Gray and add cracks and crevices at the edges of the bridge. 12 Braziers 11 12 Use a no. 1 round and paint the bowls of the braziers with Naples Yellow. Leave an edge of white along the curve for reflected light. Use a no. 1 round to paint around the flame with Lemon Yellow, blending towards clear on the edges of the glow. Use a no. 0 round with Viridian Green and add a curve of reflected green along the edge of the brazier. Use a no. 0 round and glaze Burnt Umber alongside the edge of Viridian Green, still following the curve of the bowl. Continue using the no. 0 round and glaze speckled strokes of Lemon Yellow around the outer edge of the flame glow. Take a white gel pen and brighten the flame itself. Do the same with the other brazier. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 59 13 Unicorn Mix Cerulean Blue and Ultramarine Violet, and with a no. 1 round, glaze shadows on the unicorn’s body. Be sure to leave white highlights of the paper showing through. Use a no. 1 round and glaze the edge of reflected light on the upper contours of the unicorn’s back, tail and head. Blend outward with clear water into the surrounding background. Use a no. 0 round with Payne’s Gray and with short, curved parallel strokes add some faint hints of shadow for his coat and along the mane and tail. Glaze a bit of Naples Yellow across the back haunches with a no. 1 round and finish off the hooves with a darker bit of Payne’s Gray and a no 0. round. 60 13 R emains of Greatness Fossilized dinosaur and other Paleolithic remnants are reminders of great creatures that once walked the earth. Just as the immensity of these incredible bones tells a story for our imagination of what once lived, the bones of mythical creatures in your artwork can convey that same sense of wonder. The fantastic remains of great beasts can dwarf our presence and sense of a human-centric existence and open our minds to the possibilities of what may have once been, or perhaps still is, hiding far from the perusal of mortal eyes. Access to Bones Often you can view a human skeleton when taking figure drawing classes. But if you don’t have the leisure or opportunity for that, anatomy books, both human and animal, are another great resource. 62 Rhythm to a Composition A line of rib cage bones jutting out into a landscape creates a rhythm for the composition, allowing the eye of the viewer to wander along the path it creates. Flavor to a Piece As a contrast to the life in a piece, the presence of death (even long past) can be a reminder of the ephemeral nature of beauty and the present. It is evidence of the passage of time and the wonder of the universe, which the characters you depict are a part of. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 63 Demonstration Path of Ancients What ancient creatures once trod this land? Behemoths—who left only stark bones across the landscape to hint at their greatness. Once, their great wings lifted and blotted out the sun. Their roars shuddered along the spines of mountain ranges and echoed through the vast emptiness of the valleys. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Naples Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Prussian Blue, Raw Umber, Ultramarine Blue, Ultramarine Violet Other paper towel, rubbing alcohol, salt, sea salt, white gel pen 1 Sky Start with a very light wash in the sky, using Naples Yellow with a no. 4 round around the figure. Blend outwards into the surrounding area by diluting with water and dabbing away the excess with a paper towel. 2 Sky Textures Add some texture to the sky. Mix Ultramarine Blue with Ultramarine Violet and lay a wash in the sky with a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush. Use smaller round brushes to get into tight corners. Use a no. 4 round to flick rubbing alcohol splatters into the sky and create texture. 64 1 2 3 4 3 Defining the Clouds Using nos. 0, 1 and 2 round brushes, take Ultramarine Violet mixed with a little bit of Payne’s Gray and Burnt Umber (to add a little bit of warmth in the areas near the yellow clouds) and enhance the textures that you created in the previous step. Blend by brushing a damp brush of clean water lightly across the textures. 4 Distant Trees Use a no. 2 round brush and a mixture of Ultramarine Violet and Prussian Blue to paint a wash for the distant trees on the horizon. Sprinkle with salt for texture. While the paint is still wet, use a no. 0 brush to pull the wet paint upward to create branches and leaves on the top edge. Brush the salt away when the paint has dried. 5 Closer Trees 5 With a no. 2 round brush and a mixture of Ultramarine Violet, Alizarin Crimson and varying amounts of Prussian Blue and Burnt Umber, lay a base wash on the closer trees, varying the color mixture with wet-in-wet so that you have some texture in the base for bark and leaves. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt in the upper foliage for more texture. Brush the salt off when the paint has dried. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 65 6 7 6 Bark and Leaves Use a no. 0 round with the same colors from the previous layer, but a more concentrated mixture. Enhance the textures from the wash, making shadows of leaves and bark, trailing the color out on the upper branches and leaves for smaller twigs and branches. 7 8 Lifting out Highlights on the Trees Using an old stiff-bristled no. 2 round, gently scrub with the tip of the brush to lift out highlights along the bark and the foliage and to soften the edges of the textures painted in the previous step. Shadows in the Trees Use a no. 0 round with Burnt Umber and Payne’s Gray to paint fine shadows in the trees. 8 66 9 9 Bones Paint the bones with a no. 2 round and a mixture of Prussian Blue and Ultramarine Violet. Sprinkle with salt to add texture. Mix a little bit of Burnt Umber as well for the foreground bones. Paint wet-in-wet with some Raw Umber in the very foreground. 10 Texture 10 With varying mixtures of Burnt Umber, Payne’s Gray and Raw Umber, use a no. 0 round brush to paint detailed textures, enhancing what the salt has created. In the lower left area, use short, overlapping upward strokes of the brush to create grass. Use a warmer blend with more Burnt Umber in the bone ribs, and a cooler blend with more Payne’s Gray for the rocky outcropping and the steps. 11 Highlights in the Foreground Use a white gel pen to add some highlights along the edges of the bones in the foreground. 11 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 67 12 13 12 Deeper Shadows and Blending Use a stiff-bristled no. 2 round and with the brush slightly damp, blend and smooth the edges a little bit on the highlights and shadows. Then, with a mixture of Burnt Umber and Payne’s Gray, add some darker shadows in to the deep crevices with a no. 1 round. 13 Birds Use a no. 0 round with a mixture of Payne’s Gray and Ultramarine Blue to paint the birds and shadows on the figure. Lift along the edges to blend into the background. 68 14 14 Final Details on the Figure Use a no. 0 round brush with a little bit of diluted Naples Yellow to glaze the figure. Leave a little bit of white for the highlights of the folds on the left side of her dress. Darken her eyes with a little bit of diluted Payne’s Gray. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 69 C astles 70 What about man-made constructs? Humans attempt to mimic the grandeur of majestic mountain peaks and set the aesthetic stamp of a fleeting life upon the enduring stones. Building a Fantasy Castle [B] Cubes and rectangular boxes (rooms, walls) [C] Cones, pyramids, wedges (rooftops) [A] Cylinders (towers, columns, pillars) [A] Multiple arches can frame a doorway. C A A B B Building Blocks Turn yourself into a mad architect, and with a few basic forms you can create fantastical rambling estates. If you have difficulty visualizing perspective and angles, a set of blocks can be very handy for building a basic model. [B] Long rows of windows dot a bare wall. Arches, Windows, Doors Rectangles, squares, arches—use these forms to embellish your basic structure with windows and doors. [A] Repeating, spaced pillars can be used to support arcades and add some rhythm to the structure. B A C [C] Flying buttresses can support stone walls precariously perched upon the edges of cliffs. [B] Wedge shapes can be used under overhanging rooftop eaves. Embellishments Use repetition to create rhythm in the architecture. Staircases A winding staircase carved into the cliffside can complete the image, and silhouetted buildings in the background can fill in some of the emptier spaces. Pedestals with gargoyles can add more style and atmosphere. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 71 B asic Two-Point Perspective Take into consideration the scene that you are trying to set. Who is the observer in the world you are creating? Whose shoes do you want the viewer to step into? Choosing the right point of view can set up a much more dynamic experience for your viewer. 1 Horizon Line Start with a horizontal line. This is your horizon. This is at the height of the eyes of the imagined observer of your scene. Pick two points at the right and left sides of this line and mark them. These are your vanishing points. All your parallel lines that are horizontal to the ground are going to converge on one of these two vanishing points. 2 3 Vanishing Point Using a ruler, lightly sketch one line from each vanishing point. 1 2 3 Structure Where your two lines intersect is the corner of a building. Draw a vertical line straight through that intersection. Again with a ruler, lightly sketch another pair of lines from each vanishing point, this time going to where you want the bottom of your building to be. 4 5 6 First Building Connect the corners of the building with vertical lines. This is your basic block. 4 Define the Forms Repeating steps 2–4 with a different intersecting point for the first two lines will give you different building blocks within a consistent perspective framework. Embellish the Building After constructing your basic forms, you can go back and elaborate with details and embellishments. Remember that all the trimmings of buildings with horizontal features are subject to the same rules of perspective. Lightly sketch in your vanishing point guidelines if you need them for things like the bottom edge of a row of windows, height of a door frame, trim or carvings. 72 5 6 Perspective is an important part of world building and creating the environment for your characters. Low Horizon If the horizon is low (your vanishing point lines will mostly extend upward on your page), then your buildings will seem to loom above the characters and your viewers. It can convey a feeling of being very small, like a mouse. Mid Horizon If the horizon is near the middle of your page (the vanishing point lines will extend almost an equal distance above and below your horizon), then everything will seem very centered for your viewer. Perhaps the scene is from a bird’s low flight or from a location in an adjacent building, spying outward across the street. High Horizon If the horizon is near the top of your page (the vanishing point lines mostly extend downward on your page), then the buildings will sink down below the viewer. Your viewer might feel very large or tall, soaring above your scene on the back of a dragon or sharing a giant juggernaut’s vantage. Or perhaps your viewer keeps watch with adventurous heroes perched upon a distant aerie of a peak or cliff or mountain fortress. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 73 Demonstration Dragons’ Spire He is a journeying knight-errant and in his travels he has heard tales of the Dragons’ Spire, where the great ones gather in large numbers, wheeling through the gray skies. At last, after seeking for many long months, he finds the hidden valley and the towering spire that rises from the basin. The bones of those who have dared to issue a challenge to the winged ones line the pathway to the spire. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, 3⁄4-inch (19mm) flat Watercolors Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Yellow, Lamp Black, Lemon Yellow, Naples Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Prussian Blue, Raw Sienna, Sap Green, Ultramarine Violet, Viridian Green Other salt, white gel pen 1 1 Sky Mix Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Violet, Payne’s Gray and Burnt Umber. With a 3⁄4-inch (19mm) flat brush, lay a graded wash starting from the top of the page. Let the wash dry slightly, but while the page is still damp, drop clean water into the sky and let the clear liquid bleed outward in blotchy textures. As the wet-in-wet water slowly dries, take a damp no. 4 round brush and gently tease out the wet edges of the cloud mass horizontally. ntally. Creating Scale and Drama In order to enhance the sense of the great height of the spire, the vanishing point is set low, closer to the knight. This gives the viewer a sense of the immensity of the structure as it looms above in the hazy distance. 74 2 2 Base of the Spire Use a no. 4 round and glaze Payne’s Gray over the base of the spire, overlapping the initial wash as you work your way up. Switch to smaller round brushes if you need to get into the smaller corners around the horse and the rider’s head. Let that layer dry. Then take a 3⁄4-inch (19mm) flat brush, slightly dampened with clean water, and lightly brush in long horizontal strokes across the bottom quarter of the piece to blend the lower edges of the spire into a hazy distance. 3 4 5 3 Spire Use a no. 2 round with Payne’s Gray to paint crevices down the face of the spire. Use more diluted pigment as you reach the lower edges of the mountain. Use a stiff-bristled no. 2 round to gently scrub at the planes of the structure at the peak, lifting out some of the color so that you have broader areas of highlights. 4 5 6 Citadel Shadows Use a no. 2 round with Payne’s Gray to glaze shadows on the citadel. Citadel Windows Use a no. 0 round brush with Lamp Black to dot in the windows and shadowed eaves of the citadel. Citadel Highlights Use a white gel pen and sparingly add some highlights to the edges of the eaves and along select edges of the citadel. 6 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 75 7 Dragons Use a no. 1 round brush and glaze the distant dragons with Payne’s Gray mixed with a bit of Ultramarine Violet. For the two closer dragons glaze a layer of Raw Sienna. 8 Dragon Details Use a mixture of Raw Sienna with a little bit of Lemon Yellow. Take a no. 0 round brush and glaze some details of shadows on the dragons’ wings and bodies. Very sparingly, dot some highlights on the closer dragon’s forehead, front legs and edges of its wings. Don’t get too fine with your details since the dragons are still in the distance. You want to just hint at contours on their bodies so that they don’t fight with the foreground for the viewer’s attention. 9 Foreground Grass Mix Naples Yellow and Sap Green. Use a no. 2 round brush and paint the foreground turf. Working wet-in-wet, add Ultramarine Violet to the upper edge. Working quickly while the paint is still wet, take a no. 0 round and use short curved strokes, pulling upwards from the wet purple edge to trail off in shadowed blades of grass. Sprinkle the wet paint with salt. Brush the salt off when the area has dried. 7 8 9 10 Grass Shadows Mix Viridian Green and Ultramarine Violet. With a no. 0 round brush, use dots and short curved strokes to fill in some shadowed areas around the blades of grass, painting the negative space. Let the shadows travel up the legs of the horse away from the viewer. 76 10 11 12 11 Horse 13 Mix a tiny bit of Sap Green with Naples Yellow. Use a no. 2 round and glaze a base layer for the horse. Leave some lighter white paper highlights along his face and mane. If the background gray is too dark along the knight's neck and top of his head, use a stiff-bristled no. 2 round slightly dampened and scrub parallel to the edges to lift some of the background color. 12 Fleshing out the Horse Use a no. 1 round and add some shading to the horse’s neck and flank with a light glaze of Raw Sienna. Mix in a little bit of Ultramarine Violet for slightly darker corners. Use a no. 0 round with Lamp Black to gently drybrush the hooves, nose and facial shading. Drybrushing with a no. 0 round lets you gently shade an area and texture it slightly with implied fur. After shading the mane and tail, lightly run a damp no. 4 brush across the surface to blend and soften the edges of your paint for a softer hairlike texture. 13 14 Armor Use a no. 0 round with a mixture of Ultramarine Violet and Prussian Blue to paint the horse’s breastplate. Use Lamp Black for the shield. Be sure to paint around the details of the metalwork. Gold 14 Use a no. 0 round and glaze Cadmium Yellow over the metalwork details. Bits of white paper showing through will add highlights and sparkle. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 77 15 16 15 Knight Use a no. 2 round to paint the knight’s cloak with Sap Green. Mix Ultramarine Violet in and use that to paint a base layer for the rest of his body and the blanket across the horse’s back. Leave the knight’s face and hand. 16 17 18 Highlights in the Cloth Use a no. 1 round dampened with a little water and gently rub along the upper folds of the knight’s clothing to lift out highlights in the cloth. Pull the bottom edge of the cloth on the horse downward. Shadows on the Knight Use a no. 1 round brush with a mixture of Ultramarine Violet and Viridian Green. Glaze shadows on the knight’s armor and cloak. Final Details Use a no. 0 round and with a very diluted amount of Alizarin Crimson mixed with Naples Yellow, glaze the face and hand of the knight. Use a more concentrated mixture to paint the reins on the horse. Use this mixture to glaze over the knight's hair, close to the base of his head and for the darkest corners of shadow where his shield overhangs the saddle and his body. 78 17 18 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 79 Chapter Three THE MYSTERIESARBOREAL The shadowy recesses of the forest are places of primal mystery. The tangle of verdure is the embodiment of the wild, a contrast to the order that we can impress upon our more controlled surroundings. The deep dark woods are where heroes and heroines of fairy tales venture to seek their fortune or seek to vanquish their foes. The quiet embrace of the sun-dappled surroundings is a place of meditation, solace and peace. Seek the mysteries of the arboreal when you paint trees. The stories that the trees have seen are etched into the whorls of their bark. Trace those tales with your paintbrush as you lay the tangled branches and greenedged shadows across your pages. T ypes of Trees Simple techniques and basic shapes are often very effective. Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the complexity of nature’s chaos and then not know how to start. Branches Start with a no. 4 round brush and paint a basic branch shape. Try to capture the kinks and curves. Repeat with overlapping branch shapes and dot the tips with leaves. You can switch to smaller round brushes to trail out more delicate twigs from the main branch. The trees in the background behind the girl, as well as their reflections in the water, are branches painted in this simple way. After they dry, a finer point brush is used to add a little bit of shadow. Silhouettes A tree in full profusion of foliage The trailing branches of a weeping willow The spare silhouette of a tree sleeping in the wintertime With a no. 4 round, you can set up the base shapes. These silhouettes are perfect in the background of a piece. You can add layers on top of these initial silhouettes to bring out shadows and highlights when the trees are in the foreground. 84 This brilliant red tree is mostly painted as just a simple silhouette. The thin and delicate lower branches are added with a no. 0 round brush, trailing the Burnt Umber outward to blend into the background. Evergreen trees have a different shape to them. For large but distant trees you can sometimes add a little bit of texture to the shape by sprinkling salt or rubbing alcohol into the wet paint. Colors A silhouette on a much larger scale, and with a slightly surreal aspect to it, this giant tree towers behind the boat. You’ll notice that the examples use a variety of colors. Don’t let yourself be trapped by your perceptions of what a tree’s bark and foliage colors should be. They're not just brown and green. The colors are a combination of the season, the lighting, the shadows—and most importantly—the mood you want your image to convey. When you try these exercises, choose whatever color your mood dictates. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 85 Far in the Distance Distant Pines 1. Using a no. 2 round brush, start with a short vertical stroke. 2. Crosshatch it with a series of slightly curved horizontal strokes. 1 2 3. Layer several of these together, letting them overlap to form a distant copse. 3 4. Use a larger no. 4 round brush to blend the bases into a hillside. 5. Blend into the surrounding page by diluting with water. 4 5 1 Distant Birches 2 1. This is done wet-in-wet, so start with a no. 4 round brush and wet the area with clean water. If this is done in a painting where you are currently doing a wash in the background, you can start painting in the wash without having to re-wet. Dot in several splotches of color, letting the mixture of tones vary slightly to give variety to the foliage. 2. Let that dry and add tree trunks with thin lines drawn from the wet-in-wet splotches to the ground. Try to match the tones that you used for the foliage. 86 Clusters of evergreens line the banks of this distant river, shadowy shapes against the mountain’s edges. Hazy in the background, the forest is a dark and mysterious setting. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 87 T extures of the Forest Foliage Variety of Nature Leaves can come in all different shapes and shades of color. Occasionally you might have some highly rendered foliage in the foreground, but most of the time when crafting a landscape you will be painting textures of leaves, bark, moss and vines at a distance. The challenge then is to create enough of a hint of shape and texture that lush surroundings are implied, without detracting from the main focus or foreground elements of your painting. Creating an atmosphere means choosing your focus. The leaves in the water are rendered with great attention to the details and individual shapes and textures. The foliage and textures in the background are no less important even though they are less highly rendered. They hint at the surrounding forest, and this is what creates the atmosphere for the piece. 88 Painting Distant Clusters of Leaves 1. Start out by dotting some paint in the area for the cluster. 2. Working wet, increase the density of the dots. Vary the sizes and shapes of the dots and let them bleed together. Be careful to maintain the white of the paper for highlights showing through your dots. 3. Keep increasing the density. You can vary the colors you use as well. Working wet-in-wet lets the colors bleed and blend together. 1 2 3 4. Finish off with a no. 0 round brush and trail wet paint out from the edges of your cluster into small twigs. 4 From a Distance Looking at a tree from a distance, you don’t see all the individual details and shapes of leaves. You might get an overall impression formed by the light striking the planes of the leaves, the shadows and the density of the foliage. If you were to paint every single leaf in high detail, you would overwhelm your viewer or end up with a more graphic-design approach to a painting rather than naturalistic. Look out your window at the trees and bushes. What jumps out at you when you glance quickly? If you want to be more deliberate about your foliage, sketch scattered clusters of highlighted leaves. DON’T spend all your time sketching out every single leaf. You’ll overwhelm your viewers by not giving their eyes a place to rest. Also, you don’t want to torment yourself with this level of over-planning. You need to leave room for the watercolors to work their magic. DO study a tree in the sunlight, and take note of how shadows and light interplay and how clusters of foliage capture light while much of the rest recedes into low-detail shadow. Painting Tree Leaves 1. Lay a light wash over the area. 1 2 3 2. Use a small brush (no. 0 or 1 round) to push the shadows back around the leaves. 3. Use a stiff-bristled or old brush to lift highlights out from the leaves. Add some more intense bits of shadow by dotting a much darker pigment with a no. 0 round. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 89 Demonstration Greeting the Sun As the sun lifts up over the edge of the mountains, the denizens of the forest gather to welcome her life-giving warmth. In a ritual to greet the dawn, she bears a candle to light the brazier at the tree of life, and her voice sends a lilting melody out above the branches. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Orange, Cerulean Blue, Lemon Yellow, Light Red, Naples Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Sap Green, Ultramarine Violet, Viridian Green Other salt, white gel pen 1 1 2 Light Use a no. 1 round with Lemon Yellow around the sun and around the candle dishes. Blend outward into the surrounding white so that it is a soft glow. Sky Background Layer Use a mixture of Naples Yellow and Alizarin Crimson toward the upper areas and fade to Viridian Green in the lower sky. Use a no. 4 round to get into tighter corners. Since the glaze is thin, don’t be too concerned with avoiding all of the individual branches. Just try to work around them. Make sure the background colors stay clear of the foreground woman figure though. Brush with a 1⁄2-inch (12mm) flat to smooth and blend the colors. 90 2 3 6 3 4 5 Hills Base Layer 4 Add texture to the lower hills in the background. With a no. 1 round, paint a mixture of Viridian Green, Burnt Umber and Payne’s Gray for a neutral green tone. Blend the Hills Use clear water and a ½-inch (12mm) flat. Brush across the hills to smooth and blend the textures. Add More Depth to the Hills Use a no. 0 round and more concentrated Viridian Green, Burnt Umber and Payne’s Gray mixtures to add finer details on the hills and to pull out the shadows. Keep it relatively hazy. This is a far distant background and shouldn’t be competing for attention with the foreground. 5 6 Work on the Clouds Using Cerulean Blue mixed with Payne’s Gray and a little bit of Lemon Yellow, take a no. 2 round brush and darken the sky in the lower areas. Around the sun add neutral tones with a bit of Naples Yellow. Sprinkle with salt for added texture. Brush the salt away when the paint has dried. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 91 7 7 8 Highlight the Clouds Use a white gel pen to edge the cloud highlights, emphasizing irregularities made by the salt. Don’t overdo it. The point is not to draw white clouds but to add to the highlights you have already created and draw them out farther. 8 Further Define the Clouds Using a no. 0 round brush, take a Payne’s Gray, Cerulean Blue and Viridian Green mixture and darken the cloud shadows. Brush with a 1⁄2-inch (12mm) flat to smooth and blend. This will soften the edges of the white gel pen as well. 9 9 Leaf Shadows Using a no. 2 round and varying mixtures of Ultramarine Violet, Alizarin Crimson, Viridian Green and Payne’s Gray, paint a wash in the upper areas, leaving gaps for the leaves. Dot in contrasting colors wet-in-wet. Sprinkle with salt and brush the salt away when the paint has dried. 10 Tree Base Layer Mix Viridian Green, Sap Green and a little bit of Ultramarine Violet and paint a base layer on the tree trunk with a no. 2 round brush. Blend in more Ultramarine Violet toward the top branches so that it melds into the shadowy leaves. Around the light sources (the sun and the lanterns) edge the tree with Lemon Yellow, still with the no. 2 round brush. 92 10 11 12 13 14 11 Darkening the Upper Branches and Leaves With nos. 0, 1 and 2 rounds darken the upper branches with a mixture of Ultramarine Violet and Viridian Green. Try to blend these into the shadows you have already started. Add smaller leaves and twigs. Blend these by brushing a damp 1⁄2-inch (12mm) flat across when they have dried. 12 Leaf Details With a no. 0 round brush paint detailed texture on the leaves with Sap Green mixed with Payne’s Gray. Paint the edges of the leaves with a darker and more concentrated mixture of Ultramarine Violet and Payne’s Gray. 13 Bark Details With a no. 0 round brush paint detailed texture on the bark with a mixture of Viridian Green, Payne’s Gray and Ultramarine Violet in the upper branches, blending to slightly warmer tones in the lower areas with a mixture of Burnt Umber and Viridian Green. Add a little bit of Cadmium Orange in the edges of the branches nearest the light sources. 14 Foreground Rock Using a no. 4 round brush, use Sap Green mixed with a bit of Naples Yellow as the rock extends up onto the branch. Dot in a bit of wet-in-wet Ultramarine Violet in the lower left corner. Sprinkle the wet paint with salt and brush it off when it’s dry. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 93 15 18 15 Defining the Texture Use a no. 0 round and let your imagination follow the cracks, crenelations and whorls that the paint created as the initial glaze dried. Use a more concentrated mixture of Sap Green with Naples Yellow pulling out the shapes that you see to create texture. 16 17 18 Highlights on the Rock Take a white gel pen and use it sparingly to emphasize some of the highlights. 16 Darken Shadows on the Rock To complement the white highlights, go in with a no. 0 round brush with a mixture of Viridian Green and Ultramarine Violet, deepening the shadows around those highlights. Grass and Ground Use a no. 4 round and paint a base wash of Naples Yellow on the ground, dropping Ultramarine Violet wetin-wet in the lower right area for shadows from the figure with Lemon Yellow in the grass. With a no. 1 round brush add some definition to the grass and stones, still wet-inwet so that the paint spreads a bit. Sprinkle a little bit of salt in the lower right area and brush it off when the paint is dry. Use a no. 1 round brush after the base layer has dried, and with short curved strokes add some more grass shadows with Light Red. 17 94 19 20 19 Fox Start with a wash of Light Red using a no. 2 round brush on the body of the fox. Use a very diluted mixture of Payne’s Gray and Ultramarine Violet to lightly wash over the tip of the tail and the chest. When the initial layer has dried, load a no. 0 round brush with a more concentrated pigment of Light Red. Use short curved strokes to paint in the shadows of fur. Take a no. 2 round dampened slightly with a diluted wash of Naples Yellow and lightly brush over the textures to smooth and blend. Use a mixture of Payne’s Gray and Burnt Umber and a no. 0 round to add a few more shadowy strands to the tail and chest and to darken the paws, eye, nose and ears. 20 Braziers Do all of the following for each of the brazier dishes: Use a no. 1 round and start with a light glaze of Burnt Umber. Leave the white of the paper showing on the highlighted curve and along the very bottom edge. With a mixture of Payne’s Gray and a very small amount of Viridian Green, use a no. 0 round to add more shadowed depth to the brazier. With a no. 0 round add a final small glazed streak of Light Red curving along the surface of the brazier, through the darkest part of the shadow. Still with the no. 0 round, use Cadmium Orange to edge the bottom curve of the dish and blend outward from the flame, leaving the center of the flame white. 21 21 Shadows Using a no. 1 round and Ultramarine Violet mixed with a tiny bit of Payne’s Gray to dull the brightness, paint the shadows of the figure's clothing and flesh. Add some deeper shadows around her jewelry and ornamentation with a touch of Burnt Umber. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 95 22 24 23 22 Adding Colors Use a mixture of Alizarin Crimson and Naples Yellow with a no. 2 round to glaze over the dress. This softens the edges of the shadows you painted in the previous step. Leave an edge of highlighted white along the left side. Dilute the mixture of color and add a bit of Lemon Yellow. With a very light glaze, paint over her skin. 23 Hair and Ornaments Use a no. 0 round and glaze Payne’s Gray for her hair, darkening the shadows to sculpt the braids with more concentrated pigment. With a no. 0 round, glaze Naples Yellow on her hip adornments. With a no. 0 round lightly dot in Sap Green for the leaves in her basket. 96 25 24 Base Layer for the Birds Use a no. 2 round and glaze the birds with Burnt Umber. Make the ones who are slightly farther in the background a little darker, with more concentrated pigment than the ones in the foreground. 25 Details on the Birds Use a no. 0 round and dot in the beaks and legs of the birds with Cadmium Orange. Add definition to the feathers and shadows with a mixture of Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Violet with a no. 0 round. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 97 L ight and Levels of Detail It’s easy to get carried away with the level of detail in a painting. You have to strike a balance of elements that are highly textured and areas of shadow that let the viewer’s eyes have a chance to rest and pause. Don’t overload a piece. More doesn’t always mean better. Try to keep in mind that it is more effective to have varying levels of focus and detail. Most of the time you want to suggest shapes and to sculpt your painting out of light and shadows. Tree Textures Rough bark Smooth trunk Boles and knots Look at a tree trunk and what do you see? What stands out? 1 4 2 1 3 2 3 Smooth Slightly Rough 1. Start out with a well-charged no. 4 round and paint the trunk. 1. Drybrush with a no. 4 round brush, letting the paint skip across the paper texture. 2. While that is still wet, use the tip of the brush (or a smaller round) to pull the wet paint out and upward into branches. 3. Working quickly so that you can paint wet-in-wet, use a no. 1 round brush with a darker color to add some horizontal striations across the trunk with short horizontal strokes. 4. After that has dried, use a no. 0 round to add finer shadows to the striations. 98 2. Use a no. 0 round to add darker pigments and deeper crevices to some of the textures the drybrush created. 3. Use a no. 4 round with a light wash of the same or a different color to slightly blend the textures, being careful to maintain the highlights and not overblend. 1 1 2 3 2 4 3 Very Rough Boles 1. Use a no. 0 round brush and start with some short and crooked strokes. Keep them oriented in approximately the same direction. 1. Use a no. 2 round brush well-charged with pigment to create the shadowed bole. 2. Let your strokes overlap, creating a mesh-like network. 2. Using a no. 0 round brush while the initial pigment is still wet, pull outward from the edges to create a textured border. 3. When that has dried, take a larger no. 4 brush and paint a light wash with your chosen color on top of the texture. 3. Use a no. 4 round brush to lay a wash with the color of your choice, blending the edges of the textured area. 4. Use a white gel pen to pull out highlights. If you don’t have a white pen, you can use a stiff-bristled no. 2 round brush to scrub and lift out highlights. 3 1 2 Lighting Take note of light and shadow from the curvature of the cylindrical base form. Distinct textural elements will be most visible in the mid-lighted range. Very bright and very shadowed areas will wash out and blur and cloak the details. 1. Light from in front and above. Upper areas will be fully lighted, as well as parts of the trunk unshadowed by the canopy (this will vary depending on how high of an angle your light source is). 2. Light from the side. Brightly lit on one side, shadows round to the far side. 3. Light from the back, or backlit. There is an edge of light around the borders of objects. The rest of the tree has deep shadows. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 99 Demonstration Shadows Shadows in the forest creep closer. Is it the imagination, or do those shadows have eyes and teeth and claws? Dark woods have always been a place that touches on our primal instincts and fears. The monsters dwell there;the big bad wolves and the witches with their tempting gingerbread houses. The shadows are alive with ancient beings. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Cerulean Blue, Lamp Black, Lemon Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Prussian Blue, Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Ultramarine Blue, Ultramarine Violet Other salt, sponge 1 1 2 Background Use a no. 4 round and paint the background between the two large trees with Cerulean Blue. Paint over the background trees. Foliage Use a no. 2 round brush with a mixture of Cerulean Blue and Prussian Blue to paint some foliage for the background trees. 100 2 3 Closer Foliage Use a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush with a mixture of Prussian Blue and Payne’s Gray in the upper branches and foliage, painting directly over previous layers. Blend downward until clear. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle with salt. Brush off the excess salt when the paint has dried. 3 5 4 4 Details of the Foliage Use a no. 0 round brush and with a more concentrated Prussian Blue and Payne’s Gray mixture, paint in the negative space around the leaves that you sketched out initially. Blend outward from these areas with a clean and damp no. 2 round brush, blending into the salttextured areas. 5 Tree and Ground Textures Use a no. 4 round brush with varying mixtures of Ultramarine Blue, Payne’s Gray and Burnt Umber. Drybrush the foreground trees, leaving highlights along the edges of the branches. Extend the rough textures down to the ground and then take a small sponge and dab at the wet paint of the ground to give it a mottled texture. Use a little bit of the above mixture of colors with the addition of Ultramarine Violet and paint the path in the same way, dabbing with a small sponge while still wet to create a mottled texture. 6 6 Trees Use nos. 0, 1 and 2 rounds with Cerulean Blue to add definition to the distant trees. Don’t go overboard with short dabbed strokes on the tree trunks for bark texture. Trail off into the branches above by mixing a little bit of Payne’s Gray. Use a no. 0 round with varying mixtures of Payne’s Gray and Burnt Umber for the tree bark texture, working with the dry-brush textures you initially created. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 101 7 8 9 10 7 Tree Blending and Highlights Use a stiff-bristled no. 2 round brush with clean water and lift out color to soften the edges of the highlights along the tree trunk. If you lift out and obliterate too many of the dark lines, take a no. 0 round with Burnt Umber and Payne’s Gray and go back in on top for more definition. 8 Ground Use a no. 4 round brush and paint a wash of Raw Sienna across the foreground areas. Painting wet-in-wet, drop some Ultramarine Violet across the very lower left corner under the wolf and for texture in the rocks. Switch to a no. 2 round if you need more control, but let the color bleed a little. While the paint is wet (if the layers have dried out by now, you can apply some clear water over the lower right corner and in the rocks under the left side tree), dot some Alizarin Crimson wet-in-wet to add a bit of color and a hint of flowers or autumn-colored foliage in the ground. Let the color bleed. 102 9 Shadow Wolves For the main wolf, use a no. 2 round brush to paint a glaze of Payne’s Gray and a tiny bit of Prussian Blue around his body, blending outward towards the background. Darken the smoky aura close to his body by adding black to the mixture. For the smaller shadow wolves just use Lamp Black and a no. 1 brush and blend the edges of the shadows with a little bit of water. Dot a little bit of white for the eyes of the shadow wolves. 10 Wolf Take a no. 1 round and glaze Ultramarine Violet to shade the legs and tail. Paint a light glaze of Payne’s Gray on the back and face. Leave an edge of white for a highlight. 11 11 12 Girl 12 Final Details on the Wolf Use a no. 1 round to paint Alizarin Crimson on the dress, cloak and hood. Mix a touch of Prussian Blue with Alizarin Crimson and paint shadows on her clothing with a no. 0 round brush. Dilute a small mixture of Alizarin Crimson and Lemon Yellow and dot her face and hands with a no. 0 round. Very carefully add the shadows of facial features with Burnt Umber and a no. 0 round. With a no. 0 round paint short, curved brushstrokes with variations of Raw Umber and Payne’s Gray for the wolf’s fur. Keep the strokes consistent with the direction of the fur. Add definition to the ears, eye, mouth and nose with a touch of black. Using a no. 1 round with very diluted Raw Umber, glaze over the legs and underbelly to smooth out some of the fur texture and blend a little bit. Add darker markings with a no. 0 round and Lamp Black. Touch Lemon Yellow to the eye with a no. 0 round. Trail some dark grass under the paws with Lamp Black and a no. 0 round. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 103 Demonstration Illumination A lantern hung from the branches of a weeping cypress gleams in the night, and the wild creatures creep forth with curiosity. The many tails of a fox spirit flicker in the grass and a bed of autumn leaves. They are drawn like russet-colored moths to a flame; as fascinated by humanity as we are by their feral and elusive beauty. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1 and 2 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Alizarin Crimson, Brown Madder, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Prussian Blue Other paper towel 1 Light Use a no. 2 round and paint Cadmium Orange around the lantern and the foxes. Blend outward with clear water so that the color fades to the white of the page. 2 Background Use a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush and paint the background wet-in-wet. Use Prussian Blue muted with a little bit of Burnt Umber at the top and blend some Alizarin Crimson in as you come to the middle, with more Prussian Blue again at the bottom corners. 1 104 2 3 3 Tree Silhouette 4 4 Blending the Background Use a no. 2 round with a mixture of Burnt Umber and a little bit of Alizarin Crimson to paint the silhouette of the tree branches. Switch to a no. 0 round to do short little strokes for the pine needles at the tips of the branches. Make sure the previous layers are completely dry. Charge a 1⁄2-inch (12mm) flat brush with a mixture of Cadmium Orange and Alizarin Crimson. Starting at the top of the piece, use broad, sweeping horizontal strokes across the width of the painting. As you move downward around the top third of the piece, dilute the paint by brushing off some of the excess pigment onto a damp paper towel. This will blend and blur the branches slightly. Use a much more diluted version of the same mixture and do the same along the bottom corners of the painting. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 105 5 5 Background Details Use a dampened stiff-bristled no. 2 round and scrub in the upper shaded tree branches to lift out some splotchy patches (light coming through a tangled canopy of branches). Use a no. 0 round with a Burnt Umber and Payne’s Gray mixture and add some details of bark texture to the larger branch. Add more pine needle details as well with short crosshatched strokes and some thinner tendril branches. Use the same mixture to paint the shadows in the leaves and grass at the base with a no. 1 round brush. Gently drybrush with a 1⁄2-inch (12mm) flat brush over those shadows to blend and pull up blades of grass. 106 6 6 Foxes, Lantern, Leaves Use a no. 2 round brush and paint the foxes’ bodies with Brown Madder. Leave their chests and the tips of their tails white. Use a no. 1 round brush and paint the lantern with varying mixtures of Cadmium Orange and Cadmium Yellow, blending to Lemon Yellow on the edges. Let the white of your painting surface show through on the creases of the paper lantern and along the edges. This is your light source, so you need to be certain to maintain whites here. Edge the branches closest to the lantern with a bit of Cadmium Yellow and a no. 0 round. For the leaves, use varying mixtures of Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Orange to add some color to the foliage underneath the foxes. Leave white along the edges of the leaves and the veins of the larger leaves. For some of the smaller leaves you can blend the shadows a little by just glazing the color over the leaves and shadows. 7 7 Blending the Foxes Use a damp stiff-bristled no. 2 round brush and gently scrub the edges of Brown Madder on the foxes at the tail and chest areas to blend the color. 8 Final Details Use a no. 0 round brush and stroke along the direction of the fur for the foxes with varying mixtures of Brown Madder and Burnt Umber along their backs. Still keeping the fur texture, lightly edge their bodies with Cadmium Yellow. Add the details of eyes, noses, paws and ears with a mixture of Burnt Umber and Payne’s Gray. Use that same mixture to finish up the tassel and strings on the lantern. 8 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 107 P ortals Portals are the places where our world touches the Other. Journeys must have a beginning. Where do we leave the comfort of the predictable and familiar in our everyday lives and step into the realms of the fantastic? Whether this is a conceptual divide (and that world exists completely independently of our experiences), or it is an adjacent but altered reality, we travel to these places through real doorways (like the wardrobe of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia) and metaphorical doorways (simply opening and reading a book and submerging ourselves into the vast reaches of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth). Doorways are the thin places in the veil of Reality. The normality of the everyday is made apparent when the contrast of the Other is offered in a tantalizing glimpse: an invitation to dare to peer beyond! Come venture near! Step through! Journeys and adventures await! A Humble Portal In Irish lore the hills themselves are hollow. Under the mounds in the countryside are the domains of the fairies and the sidhe. Perhaps a portal to that Otherworld might look like a humble wooden door—not a hint on the exterior of what it might hide— but pry it open and the magic spills forth. A Subtle Invitation A portal can be as simple as a hole. A gap is all that is needed to invite the viewer to wonder at what might lie beyond. It creates a mystery and an adventurous spirit for your painting. Less Obvious Portals Perhaps less obvious, but for those who know to look, a mushroom fairy ring is a clear sign of a portal to the unseen realms. 108 Beckoning the Viewer Just as the subject of your drawings and paintings might be drawn into the mystery of a portal, so too is your viewer! A Sense of Magic A portal where logic dictates that there should be none—this is magic, and it tells your viewer that here lies something outside normality! Grandiose Portals Not all portals need to be simple and unadorned. A grandiose gateway can hint at a much more intimidating world beyond the threshold. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 109 Demonstration Hollow Hills It is said that fairies live beneath the hollow hillsides. What might a brave adventurer find if one dared to step down into that Otherworld? Golden hallways, bowers of endless summer blooms, crystalline springs to bathe in, and fantastical spreads of fairy feasts await. Graceful beings dance in the twilight, beckoning you to stay within the dream for a moment, for forever. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Naples Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Prussian Blue, Sap Green, Ultramarine Violet, Viridian Green Other: rubbing alcohol, salt, white gel pen 1 1 2 Sky Base Layer Start with a mixture of Prussian Blue and Ultramarine Violet and use a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush to lay in a base glaze for the sky. Blend softly into the lighted area coming up from the portal and keep it darker toward the edges of the page. While the paint is wet, splatter it with rubbing alcohol using a no. 4 round brush. 110 2 Building up the Depth After the initial layer is completely dry, take the ½-inch (12mm) flat brush and mix Prussian Blue with Payne’s Gray to darken the edges of the sky more with another glaze. Let the tones fade to the white of the page by diluting the paint as you move toward the pillar of light extending from the portal. To get a nice gradation into the white, clean the brush and just moisten it slightly with water then brush parallel along the length of the beam of light to blend the pigment. Dot some more rubbing alcohol into the sky using a no. 4 round brush. Painting Grass 1 2 3 1 4 2 3 5 Grass in Positive Space Grass in Negative Space 1. Using a no. 0 round brush and the color of your choice, start with scattered short, slightly curved strokes. When you paint in the area defined by an object, that is called the positive space. 1. With your pencil, roughly sketch some short curved strokes for your blades of grass. 2. Let the strokes vary in length and curvature, and layer on top of each other as well. 3. Keep building up the blades of grass in this manner. 4. When you are satisfied with a tuft, take a no. 2 round brush slightly dampened with a little bit of clean water, and brush it along the bottom edge of your tuft of blades, blending the pigment down into the surrounding page. 2. Using a no. 0 round brush and the color of your choice, start painting in the areas between the lines of the pencil, leaving the lines (the blades of grass) white. When you paint in the areas around an object, that is called the negative space. 3. Take a no. 2 round brush slightly dampened with a little bit of clean water and brush it along the top edge of your tuft of blades, blending the pigment up into the surrounding page. 5. When the paint has dried, you can continue to layer another tuft using steps 1–4 on top of the blended wash area to build up an area of grassy texture. 3 3 Hillside Textures In this next part you will be working wet-in-wet relatively quickly with a variety of colors, so try to have them ready beforehand. Using a 1⁄2-inch (12mm) flat brush, start in the left corner and paint a glaze of a mixture of Viridian Green, Prussian Blue and Payne’s Gray. As you move across toward the portal in the hillside, change to Sap Green and then a little bit of Lemon Yellow to give the ground near the portal a springtime look. Switch back to the Prussian Blue/Viridian Green/Payne’s Gray mixture for the far right side. Switch to a no. 4 round brush if you need to get into the corners around the figures and the doors. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle some large grains of salt for texture. Let the paint dry and then brush off the salt crystals. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 111 4 Shadowy Trees Using a mixture of Viridian Green, Prussian Blue and Payne’s Gray with a no. 1 round brush, paint in the shadowy trees. Leave bits of white paper showing through for highlights of leaves on these distant trees. With a no. 4 round glaze the leaves of the large tree. Then take more concentrated pigment with the same mixture to dot wet-in-wet. 5 Grassy Hillside Use a no. 0 round brush and try to match the tones that you have already used on the hillside (mixtures of Viridian Green, Prussian Blue, Payne’s Gray, Sap Green, etc.) with more concentrated pigment than you used in the earlier washes. Add grassy textures using techniques both for positive and negative space. In particular add more shadowy, darker areas around the perimeters of the hillside and try to keep the edges less defined. Keep the more crisp and defined lines of texture in the lighter Sap Green area, around the portal and the flowers that spill down the hillside. 6 4 5 Foliage Use a mixture of Viridian Green, Prussian Blue and Payne’s Gray with a no. 1 brush to paint in the shadowy areas around the leafy highlights in the tree. Allow the lighter colors from prior glazes to show through for the leaves themselves. In the area of the foliage on the far right, illuminated by the glow from the portal, use more of a mixture of Sap Green and Lemon Yellow. Use a no 0. round brush to trail the edges of the wet paint out into tendrils of twigs and small branches. 112 6 7 Tree Trunk 7 8 Paint a base layer wash of Payne’s Gray with a no. 2 round for the tree trunk. Leave white along the lower edges for highlights. Let the middle of the main trunk be the darkest. 8 Tree Textures Using a no 0. round, go back into the trunk of the tree with more concentrated Payne’s Gray and add texture to the bark, tracing the shadows as they run along the trunk. Afterward, use a no. 4 round slightly dampened with clean water and brush over the entire trunk to blend and slightly blur the texture. 9 Beams of Light 10 9 Take a very diluted bit of Lemon Yellow and with a stiff-bristled no. 4 round, paint long straight strokes parallel to the beams of light emerging from the portal. Blend and soften the hard lines into the surrounding sky and keep most of the white of the paper showing through. 10 Fairy Shadows Using a no. 1 round and a little bit of Lemon Yellow with Sap Green, add slight shadow-beams upward (and still parallel to the angle of the light) from the fairies. 11 Fairies 11 Mix Prussian Blue, Payne’s Gray and Viridian Green, and dot a little bit of the mixture with a no. 0 round in the center of each of the fairy sparks. Blend outward with water into the surrounding background. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 113 12 13 12 Opening in the Hillside Mix Naples Yellow with Payne’s Gray and use a no. 0 round brush to paint the rocky edges of the opening in the hillside. Leave highlights of white showing on contours that face inward towards the center of the hole. Use a no. 2 round brush to paint the same mixture of color on the open door facing inward to the glow, and streak the wood with a no. 0 round and Burnt Umber for texture. For the open door with the shadowed side facing the viewer, use a no. 2 round brush with Burnt Umber for the base color and Payne’s Gray with a no. 0 round for woodgrain texture. With a no. 0 round and Payne’s Gray, add a few more shadowy tufts of grass along the edge of the doorway to really anchor it to the hillside. 13 Children Mix Naples Yellow and Alizarin Crimson and paint a pale wash on the skin with a no. 1 round. Using Burnt Umber with a no. 0 round brush, paint shadows and details of the features. Glaze Lemon Yellow with a no. 1 round brush on the girl’s hair and on her outstretched hand and arm where it reaches into the light. Lightly dot the highlights of both with a white gel pen, and on the highlights of her facial features—the tip of the nose and forehead. For the boy’s hair glaze Burnt Umber with a no. 1 brush. Use a no. 1 round and paint Lemon Yellow along the front of the girl’s dress, blending wet-in-wet into a mixture of Payne’s Gray and Ultramarine Violet on the shadowed side. Use this darker mixture on the boy’s clothes. Add highlights to the clothing with a white gel pen, following the folds of cloth. Darken the shadows with Payne’s Gray using a no. 0 round. 14 Flowers Use varying mixtures of Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Orange and Cadmium Yellow with a no. 1 round brush to paint the flowers. Dot some Cadmium Orange wet-inwet in the center of a few of the flowers. 14 114 15 15 Finishing the Flowers With a no. 0 round, take more concentrated Cadmium Orange and add some streaked texture along the petals of the blossoms with short, curved parallel strokes along the length of the petals. Darken the centers of the flowers with Burnt Umber and add a little bit along the edges as well. With a no. 2 round use varying mixtures of Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Orange and Cadmium Yellow to dot some smaller flowers on the hillside. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 115 I nhabiting the Woods When you’ve stepped beyond the portals and entered the realms of the fantastic, what might you find? Denizens of the forest can come in many shapes and sizes, and their homes can be indicative of their nature. Living in such surroundings is a juggling act: How do you balance the nature of constructed order with the chaos of the wild? On a Small Scale Perhaps a small pixie lives within this tiny domicile. Let your fancy and whimsy influence your designs and sketches. What might lie camouflaged by leaves and underbrush? What creatures might be under your nose if only you would cast your eyes down to see? A Melding of Nature and Construction The arching of the branches mimics the soaring buttresses of a cathedral. Elven architecture can combine with the natural elements of the forest in an aesthetic melding of construction and growth. 116 Organic Shapes Let your imagination shape the growth of the forest, like the shaping hands of elves coaxing the trees to grow into the forms that they desire. Opulence Giving Way to Entropy Or create something more opulent! Rather than a structure that seems to have been built while the trees grew so that construction and nature could be a unified whole, perhaps it is an ancient edifice that is now overgrown by the forest, like the ancient temples of Angkor Wat entombed by the dripping roots of banyan trees. Nature is more patient than humans or even fairies and elves and dwarves. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 117 Demonstration Nestled in the Branches Warm lights glow through jewel-like stained glass windows in the upper branches of an ancient oak. This dwelling was carved into the boles and coaxed from the heartwood by fairy magic. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Burnt Umber, Lemon Yellow, Naples Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Prussian Blue, Sap Green, Viridian Green Other white gel pen 1 Background Wash Use a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush and lay a graded wash into the background. Start with a mixture of Prussian Blue and Viridian Green at the top left and blend it down into Naples Yellow in the bottom. Don’t worry about keeping the buildings white; just try to avoid the windows so that the stained glass light shining through in later steps will be more brilliant. 118 1 2 2 Tree Mix Burnt Umber and Prussian Blue and start with a no. 4 round brush to glaze the tree’s branches and foliage. Switch to smaller round brushes nos. 0–2 for the thinner branches and to trail off into delicate twigs. Use a no. 4 round and drybrush a mixture of Sap Green and Burnt Umber in the ground. Wet the lower right side of the sky and dot a hazy stand of distant trees wet-in-wet with a no. 2 round brush, using the same mixture. 3 3 Detailing the Tree Use a no. 0 round brush and a mixture of Burnt Umber and Prussian Blue to paint textures and details on the tree. Afterward, run a slightly dampened 1⁄2-inch (12mm) flat brush lightly over the textures to smooth and blend them. Use the same mixture of colors with the 1⁄2-inch (12mm) flat and gently drybrush some feathery grass in the foreground. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 119 4 4 5 Treehouses Use a no. 1 round brush and paint a glaze of Burnt Umber on the houses, painting around the windows. Leave white for highlights. After the initial glaze, use a no. 0 round brush with Payne’s Gray to add shadows and definition. 5 Stained Glass Colors Use a no. 0 round brush and carefully dot in the colors for the stained glass using Sap Green, Lemon Yellow and Prussian Blue. Leave white along the edges of the tiny panes and try to keep the color in the centers. 6 Definition on the Stained Glass Use a no. 0 round with Prussian Blue and trace the leading around the stained glass panes. Lightly brush with a damp no. 2 round outward from the edges of the circles into the surrounding brown. 7 Final Glints of Highlights Using a white gel pen, sparingly add the barest touches of highlights along the sides of the base of the tree trunk, the edges of the rocks down below and the detailing on the buildings. 120 6 7 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 121 Demonstration Autumn Glory Elven treehouses meld with the forest in its resplendent glory. Grand avenues of tree branches are lined with gold and crimson leaves. The regalia of autumn sets the branches ablaze, and the inhabitants stroll along the bark-lined boulevards. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds Watercolors Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Cerulean Blue, Lemon Yellow, Naples Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Violet Other salt 1 1 Background Sky Use a no. 4 round brush and paint a light glaze with a Lemon Yellow and Naples Yellow mixture in the background. Blend a little bit of Cadmium Orange in the lower left area and a little bit of Ultramarine Violet in the upper right. Paint around the branches, but it’s not necessary to keep them entirely white. 122 2 3 2 Textures 3 Leaves Use a no. 4 round brush. Paint a glaze of Cadmium Orange in the leafy areas of the tree. Sprinkle the wet paint with salt. While that is drying, drybrush with Burnt Umber to add some base texture to the tree trunk. Brush the salt crystals off the background when the paint has dried. Using nos. 0, 1 and 2 brushes and a varying mixture of Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Orange, paint around the sketched leaves. Blend out with water into the surrounding initial textures created by the salt. Trail off the ends of the branches with a no. 0 round for small twigs. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 123 4 4 Add More Color Use a no. 2 round brush and glaze Alizarin Crimson onto more distant branches and leaves, leaving the underlayers showing through for highlights. Take a no. 0 round brush with Payne’s Gray to add some fine shadow bits to the leaves. 5 Glaze the Tree Trunk Mix Naples Yellow with a little bit of Ultramarine Violet and glaze the tree trunk with a no. 4 round to blend in the dry-brush textures a little bit. Add more Ultramarine Violet to the mixture as you trail out into the branches. 124 5 6 7 6 Shadows 7 Blending the Shadows Add shadowy crevices to the tree with a no. 0 round using a mixture of Prussian Blue and Burnt Umber. Use the textures that were created initially by the drybrush to guide you. Use a stiff-bristled no. 2 round and with a slightly damp tip, scrub lightly at the highlights of the trunk texture, softening and blending the darkened crevices. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 125 8 8 9 Buildings Mix Cerulean Blue with Ultramarine Violet and glaze the buildings with a no. 2 round. Final Details Using a no. 0 round brush and a more concentrated mixture of Cerulean Blue and Ultramarine Violet, paint the fine details on the buildings. Darken the windows and add the shadows under the eaves. For the far right cluster of buildings, add a little bit of Alizarin Crimson to the mixture. Use a no. 1 round brush and glaze the larger leaves with Lemon Yellow. 126 9 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 127 Chapter Four THE DREAMSSKIES The skies have always fascinated humans. Stories and myths often center around celestial beings. The firmament is what we strive for, reaching toward the perfection that we imbue in heavenly beings. How else do we explain this realm of wonder that can present a breathtaking painted sunset, the jeweled night sky or be the backdrop to a meteor shower? It is the aerie from which gods and goddesses look down upon the mortal coil. It is where the sun shines forth upon us, the domain that grants us warmth and light and life. It is where the moon and stars watch over us, the domain of mysteries and guidance. Seraphic angels, sinuous dragons, fairies—these are the creatures that stories through time have told us are the rulers of the skies. So it is with a sense of wonder that we cast our eyes up and populate the heavenly realms with fantastical creatures in art. C louds Painting clouds in the sky can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Using a variety of wet techniques, you can create many different cloudy atmospheres. Using Washes Using Wet-in-Wet The dispersion of pigment in a wash is well suited to the ephemeral and misty nature of clouds. Start by wetting your surface with a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush. Then load your brush with Ultramarine Blue and drag it unevenly across the top of your page. Tilt your surface so gravity does its job and the pigment disperses down the wet page. You can control the dispersion by tilting the surface in different directions or even blowing on the wet paint to force it to flow one way. Make use of the many ways that pigment can be dispersed onto a wet surface, and use the random textures this creates for your base. Start by wetting your surface with a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush. Then load a no. 4 round brush with Ultramarine Blue and drag and dot it across the wet surface, painting random splotches wet-in-wet. Don’t overwork it. Let the water and paint interact and spread and create feathery-edged fluffy clouds. Shadows in the Clouds With a no. 2 round brush use Ultramarine Violet glazes to bring out the shadows in the clouds, using the random textures you have created as your guide. Splotches, Bleeds and Drying Edges Highlights Lay in a base glaze of Raw Umber with a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush. While that is still wet, dot Ultramarine Violet over the glaze with a no. 4 round. Then tilt the surface sideways so that the bleeding runs from left to right. When painting a new layer over a not-quite dried layer, sometimes you get a leading edge of dark dried pigment like the upper Dark Umber edge here. While frustrating at times, it can be useful for creating background textures. For flatter, streaked clouds like the purple sections, tilt your surface to the left and right and allow the pigment to bleed to the sides. With a no. 2 round brush use Cadmium Orange to lightly glaze the upper left corner. Then paint wet-in-wet with Cadmium Red Deep for the crimson disk of the sun. Use a white gel pen and sparingly add some highlights to the top edges of the clouds. 132 Streaks High Above Sometimes you want to create more defined clouds and have more control over the formations than you do with a simple wash or wet-in-wet technique. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes no. 2 round, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Cerulean Blue, Prussian Blue Other sponge 1 2 1 Sky Wash Shadows Use a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush and paint a wash of Cerulean Blue. Let it fade to the white of the page at the bottom. Don’t worry about keeping the wash smooth. In fact, irregularities are great for the randomness of clouds. 2 3 3 After the initial layer is dry, take a no. 2 round brush with Prussian Blue and work around the textures you created with the sponge. Deepen the shadows and add definition to your cloudy streaks. Cloud Textures While the paint is still wet, take a small sponge and use it to lift out the pigment by dabbing onto the wet page. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 133 Demonstration Dawn Clouds Tawny golden masses of clouds gather on the morning horizon, threatening to break upon the stillness of the hushed morning. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 2 and 4 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat Watercolors Lemon Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Prussian Blue, Raw Umber, Ultramarine Violet 1 1 Sky Base Layer Use a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush with Ultramarine Violet and trail it in a semicircular stroke across the upper left side of the sky. Let the bristles lift off the page so the white of the page shows through in streaks. 2 Color to the Clouds Use a no. 2 round brush with Raw Umber to glaze lightly in the lower left corner. Working wet-in-wet, mix in some Payne’s Gray as well and darken the mass of the clouds. Use a no. 0 round brush to dot in some smaller shadow tufts in the upper right. Be sure to leave some of the white paper showing through the edges for the highlights of the clouds. 134 2 4 3 3 Darken the Upper Sky Mix Ultramarine Violet with Prussian Blue and drybrush in an arc across the top left corner of the sky. Let the brush skip across the paper so the previous layers show through for cloud highlights. 4 Foreground Use a no. 4 round brush with Payne’s Gray to paint a dark glaze over the ground and tree. As the paint is drying, paint wet-in-wet with more concentrated pigment for hints of shadows and to define the grass and branches, leaving lighter glazes toward the edges. 5 Softening the Edges Use a no. 2 round brush with Lemon Yellow and glaze over the lowest edges of the horizon, painting over the foreground. Carefully run the tip of the brush along the top edges of the foreground to slightly blur and blend that area into the sky and make the transition less harsh. Take a slightly damp no. 2 round brush and lift the upper cloud highlights in the purple area to soften the hard edges. 5 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 135 Demonstration Pinnacle Soaring high above the world, kings of the sky, the great dragons spread their wings. The clouds part in heavenly corridors, and their wild cries echo from distant mountains and untouched shores. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat brush Watercolors Burnt Umber, Cerulean Blue, Lemon Yellow, Naples Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Prussian Blue, Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Ultramarine Violet Other rubbing alcohol 1 Base Layer of Clouds Start by laying in Cerulean Blue in the top portion of the painting with a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush. Drop some Prussian Blue wet-in-wet in the mid and lower sections. Then, while the paint is still wet, splatter it with large drops of rubbing alcohol. Let this layer dry. Avoid painting over the main foreground dragon and the two other closer ones, but don’t worry about painting over the more distant figures. 2 1 Blending the Textures Use a diluted bit of Lemon Yellow with a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush to lightly glaze a wash horizontally across the top third of the page to slightly smooth out the textures in the upper area. With a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush, use a diluted wash of Ultramarine Violet mixed with Payne’s Gray in the lower clouds, blending out the edges into the white. 2 136 3 3 Finding Cloud Shapes Just like you can gaze at the sky and try to find familiar shapes in real clouds, use the randomized textures you have created on your page to pull out more defined cloud formations and shapes with a no. 2 round brush and Prussian Blue. Keep the edges soft by blending or scrubbing lightly with stiff bristles to lift color. Your cloud formations will not look exactly like this. What you see will depend on the textures your own random splattering of rubbing alcohol created. Don’t get frustrated by trying to make your image conform exactly. Let yourself explore what your textures have created! 4 Pinnacle Paint a base layer of Payne’s Gray mixed with Ultramarine Violet and use a no. 4 round to drybrush. 4 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 137 5 Stony Textures Use a no. 1 round brush with varying mixtures of Burnt Umber, Payne’s Gray and Ultramarine Violet to add cracks and crannies to the pinnacle. Use the textures that were created initially with the drybrushing, keeping the speckled white highlights and darkening the crevices. 6 7 8 Dragon Highlights Use a no. 1 round brush and paint Lemon Yellow along the highlights of the three closer dragons. Dragon Base Layer Use a no. 1 round brush and paint the darker areas of the three closer dragons with Naples Yellow. Darker Shadows Use a no. 0 round with Burnt Umber mixed with Raw Umber and add finer detail on the scales of the dragons. 138 6 5 7 8 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 139 9 10 9 Dragon Details Use a no. 0 round with Prussian Blue and darken the deeper shadows on the dragons. Paint the eyes, the crevices of the scales and shadows on the horns. Add some texture shading to the wings and soften the edges of those shadows with a little bit of clean water on a no. 2 round brush. 10 Distant Dragons Use a no. 1 round brush and glaze the distant dragons with Raw Sienna. 140 11 11 Shadows on the Distant Dragons Use a no. 1 round and lightly glaze Prussian Blue toward the core of the bodies of the distant dragons. Blend outward towards the lighter areas on the edges of their bodies. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 141 S tarry Skies 142 During the day the skies are a painter’s palette with the light of the sun and fantastic cloudscapes. But at night there is the glow of starlight. Demonstration Painting Stars The stars gleam in the velvet darkness of the night. Those pinpricks of light, so elusive and distant, invite one to dream of the vastness just beyond our horizons. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0 and 2 rounds, ½-inch (12mm) flat brush Watercolors Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, French Ultramarine, Lemon Yellow, Payne’s Gray Other white gel pen 1 Sky Start your sky in the color of your choice, using a ½-inch (12mm) flat brush to lay down a wash. In this example, it is a mixture of Payne’s Gray and French Ultramarine. 2 1 Working Wet-in-Wet When the liquid has soaked into your paper a little bit, enough so that it no longer pools but not so much that your paper is dry, use a no. 2 round brush dipped in clean water and lightly touch the tip of the wet brush to the page. Do this in an uneven scatter of dots across the sky and let the water bloom and repel the pigment. 2 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 143 3 Softening the Contrast While some dramatic blooms can be nice, you don’t want to overdo it. Take a damp flat brush and very lightly brush in long horizontal strokes across your sky to blend some of the contrast. Depending on the painting you can sometimes do this with a different color, glazing in a contrasting shade to the sky. 3 Tips [A] DON’T be too eager and dot your clean water in too early, before the excess liquid has had a chance to soak into your paper, or your blooms will not be as dramatic. [B] DON’T overwork an area with your wet brush by trying to move the pigment around or dabbing at it with paper towels. Just lightly touch a dot of water and then let the water and the pigment do their thing. [C] DON’T wait too long and let your wash dry out or you won’t get any blooming at all. You might get some lifting of color, which works as well, but it is a different sort of look. DO test on scrap paper first so that you can get the feel of how dry to let your wash become before dropping in the water. This can vary depending on the type of paper and the pigment you use. A B C 144 5 4 4 Pinpricks of Light Use a white gel pen and dot stars in the lighter areas created with the earlier wet-in-wet technique. Vary the sizes of your dots. DON’T just center all your dots in the middle of the lighter splotches. DO let them congregate in bunches and share the same light areas. Vary the spacing and relative position. 5 6 Hazy Glows Use a damp no. 0 round and brush the very edges of the larger stars outward to blend the white into the surrounding area and soften the hard edges. Tints and Colors 6 Add a bit of liveliness to your celestial display by taking a no. 0 round brush and tracing the edge of some of the stars with a glaze of color. A range of Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Orange provides a nice contrast to the deep velvet blue sky. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 145 Demonstration By the Light of the Moon A crescent moon limns the world in silver edges, and under the wheeling dance of the stars the ancient ones come out. They are spirits and memories incarnate; imbued with life by the thin silver light of the moon. They beckon any onlooker, “Come dance with us under the glorious canopy of the night sky!” M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, ¾-inch (19mm) flat Watercolors Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Prussian Blue, Sap Green, Ultramarine Violet, Viridian Green Other white gel pen 1 Sky Use a ¾-inch (19mm) flat brush and paint a graded wash vertically with Prussian Blue. Keep the pigment darkest to the sides and lightest in the center where the figure and owl are. 2 3 Wet-in-Wet Sky While the paint is still wet, drop water wet-in-wet around the moon to disperse the pigment. Deepening the Dusk After the previous layer is completely dry, use a 3⁄4inch (19mm) flat brush and glaze once again across the entire piece with Ultramarine Violet, avoiding the moon. If you need to, switch to a no. 4 round brush to paint in close around the moon. Keep the wash much more diluted in the area around the moon to maintain that brightness. Don’t overwork the wash or the underlying texture will be lost. 4 5 Stars 1 Use a white gel pen and dot in stars in the night sky. Scatter them randomly and vary the size and placement of the dots. Starlight Use a dampened no. 1 round and lightly brush around the edges of the larger stars to blur and blend the opaque white pigment outward and give the stars a bit of a nimbus glow. 146 2 3 4 5 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 147 6 6 7 8 Horizon Glow Use a no. 4 round and a mixture of Sap Green and Lemon Yellow to paint a glaze along the lower horizon and extending up through the central figure. Darkening the Lower Horizon Use a no. 4 round and mix Viridian Green with Ultramarine Violet. Glaze the lower left and right corners, diluting to clear about a third of the way up the page. Trees With a mixture of Viridian Green and Ultramarine Violet, use a no. 2 round to paint the trunks of the trees. Start at the base of each tree and as you move up, switch to smaller brushes (nos. 1 and 0) to paint the offshoot branches. Trail off to the tips of the branches with a no. 0 round. 9 Underbrush Mix a little bit of Payne’s Gray with Viridian Green and drybrush with a no. 4 round into the lower corners for shadowed bushes. Use a no. 0 round to pull the pigment upward into trailing twigs and branches. 148 7 8 10 10 Hooded Figure 9 With a no. 0 round brush paint the figure with Payne’s Gray. It is distant and small, so don’t get caught up in trying to work in too many details. Sometimes it’s best to hint at shadows and highlights and let the viewer’s mind fill in the rest. Leave a few highlighted folds of the robe and lift the paint slightly on the upper edge of the hood and arms to soften the transition to the sky. Dot the ground with scattered dappled shadows as well. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 149 11 Owl Glow With a no. 0 round brush take some Cadmium Yellow and lightly glaze in the area around the owl for a golden nimbus. Trail the pigment down toward the outstretched arms of the figure, and circle a random scattering of stars with a bit of the golden-colored glaze. 12 Owl Spirit Take a white gel pen and use slightly curved strokes for the long feathers of the owl’s wings and tail. Wet a no. 1 round brush and blend the area in the main part of the owl’s body so the white melds into the blue. Still using the no. 1 round brush, glaze a little bit of Cadmium Yellow in the core of the owl’s body. Use a white gel pen to add glowing orbs hovering above the figure’s outstretched palms. 11 150 12 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 151 I nhabiting the Skies Who hasn’t gazed up into the sky and imagined fantastic denizens of the heavens? From celestial beings to fantastic creatures, the skies are their bastion. Cloud Castles Simulate the experience of finding pictures in the clouds by painting those pictures on your pages. Set up the areas on your paintings for the sky with texture (perhaps salt, wet-in-wet techniques, rubbing alcohol or lifting with a damp towel), and then look in the pooling of pigments for the shapes that appear. Piercing the Clouds A pinnacle of stone pierces the clouds with a fortress in the sky, reachable only with wings. 152 Floating isles, completely suspended in the sky, drift in the vast azure expanse. Stone citadels defy gravity with the impossibility of their existence. Denizens of the sky can be more substantial than mist and imagination. Wanderers of the Blue And what of the intrepid explorers who dare to breach the vault of the firmament? The adventurers who craft wings, be they mechanical or magical, and dream, as Icarus dreamt, to touch the sun? On borrowed wings of a fantastic mount. Or borne aloft by wondrous mechanical contraptions, carried up to view the world spread out below. Airships and windmills in the skies. Self-propelled, to dance through the skies. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 153 E thereal Clouds 154 A very dreamy quality can be imparted onto an image with the proper treatment of the surroundings. The horizon edge of sky and water melting together is like the half remembered boundaries of reality. Demonstration Dreaming in the Clouds She dreams of pavilions and pagodas that climb in the mounted cumulonimbus clouds. Somewhere beyond the mist, she knows there are distant lands, whose names are unspoken and unknown within the boundaries of the waking world. She yearns to walk those hallowed halls. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, ¾-inch (19mm) flat Watercolors Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red, Dioxazine Violet, French Ultramarine, Lamp Black, Lemon Yellow, Light Red, Naples Yellow, Payne’s Gray, Raw Umber, Sap Green, Viridian Green Other paper towel 1 1 2 Sky 2 Smoothing out Select Areas Mix Dioxazine Violet and French Ultramarine. Use a ¾-inch (19mm) flat brush to paint a wash over most of the page. Avoid the foreground girl and the tree branches as well as the one torii arch. Switch to a no. 2 round, if needed, to work into the corners. While the wash is still wet, drop clean water with a no. 4 round wet-in-wet onto the surface and let the pigment spread away from the drops. Use a paper towel to dab lightly and shape some clouds in lighter patches near the girl. Dampen a ¾-inch (19mm) flat brush, wiping excess water off with a towel, then use broad horizontal strokes to slightly blend the lower third of the page. Brush directly over the branches and the girl. Some of the pigment will lift and tint those areas, but the general idea is to even out the tones in the negative space around her. Using a more concentrated mix of the same colors, paint the upper left corner with a glaze using the ¾-inch (19mm) flat. This will even out the tones in the sky in that area as well as darken the pigment. Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 155 3 4 Cloudy Highlights Use a no. 2 round and lift pigment by gently rubbing in small circles to shape the towering clouds. Focus on the darker patches in the areas around the cloud pagodas. Sculpting Shadows Use a no. 1 round brush with the same mixture of Dioxazine Violet and French Ultramarine to glaze shadowy shapes in the clouds, sculpting the billowing shapes around the highlights you lifted out. 5 Cloud Pagoda Use a no. 0 round with the mixture of Dioxazine Violet and French Ultramarine to glaze details of the buildings in the clouds. Use successive layers of glazing to darken gradually. 6 Torii Arch 3 Use a no. 1 round and glaze Cadmium Red on the torii arch. Use a no. 0 round to paint details onto the roof of the torii arch with Raw Umber. For the deeper shadows under the edge of the roof, add Payne’s Gray to the mixture. Then use a no. 0 round with Alizarin Crimson to glaze deeper color at the core of the arch’s supports. 156 4 5 6 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 157 7 7 Tree Trunks Use a no. 2 round brush and a dry-brush technique to paint the tangled tree branches with Burnt Umber. Vary the tone slightly with Raw Umber for the larger branch that the girl sits on. 8 9 Trailing Twigs Use Dioxazine Violet with a no. 0 round to trail twigs and branches away from the main trunk. Bark Texture Mix a touch of Viridian Green with Payne’s Gray and Burnt Umber and use a no. 0 round to glaze in bark texture with a webwork of strokes worked around the highlights of the drybrushing. 158 8 9 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 159 10 10 11 First Layers Use a no. 1 round and mix Naples Yellow with a touch of Sap Green for the girl's gown. Paint her hair with Cadmium Orange. For the flesh, use a very diluted wash of Alizarin Crimson. 11 Add Depth Mix Viridian Green with Raw Umber and use that to glaze shading on the folds of her dress. Darken her hair with Alizarin Crimson, then blend with a glaze of Lemon Yellow. For her flesh, dilute a bit of Light Red and glaze in the shadowed areas around her neck, collarbone, arms and foot. 160 12 13 12 Final Details on the Girl Use a no. 0 round with Dioxazine Violet for the darkest shadows in the creases of her dress and for the fine details of her eye and hair. Butterfly Use a no. 0 round with Cadmium Orange and glaze the other dreamer who has wandered far above. When the orange has dried, add some detailed wing markings with a few strokes of Lamp Black using the no. 0 round. 13 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 161 Demonstration Sailing the World The ebb and flow of ocean tides are no limitation when the seas are the skies. Soaring high above with the birds, the land is a living patchwork etched in sunlight. The rivers are tiny silver threads, embroidered through the chasms. The birds call as they wheel through the sky and glide effortlessly on the updrafts. “Welcome, kindred spirits!” the movements of their playful flight seem to say. M AT E R I A L S L I S T Surface cold-pressed illustration board Brushes nos. 0, 1, 2 and 4 rounds, 3⁄4-inch (19mm) flat Watercolors Burnt Umber, Cadmium Orange, Dioxazine Violet, Lemon Yellow, 1 2 Payne’s Gray, Raw Umber, Viridian Green, Yellow Ochre Glow Start with a no. 4 round and glaze in a nimbus around the balloon with Lemon Yellow. Switch to a ¾-inch (19mm) flat brush and swipe across the lower edge of the sky as well. Sky Start at the lower edge of the sky slightly overlapping the Lemon Yellow from the previous layer. Start dabbing with a 3⁄4-inch (19mm) flat brush with Yellow Ochre. Switch to a no. 2 round brush if you need to get in closer around the ship. Keep working your way upward, working wet-in-wet and dabbing Dioxazine Violet into the upper areas. Tilt your page in different directions to let the liquid move and flow and create interesting pools of pigment. If you get too much of the violet tones close to the balloon, lightly dab with a paper towel to lift the excess pigment. 3 Clouds Wet the lower third of the sky with a 3⁄4-inch (19mm) flat brush. Then take a no. 2 round brush and paint wet-in-wet, adding a striation of lower horizon clouds with Raw Umber. Mix a tiny bit of Dioxazine Violet in for slightly darker patches. Glaze a diluted wash of Dioxazine Violet mixed with a little bit of Viridian Green across the top third of the sky to blend the textures there and darken the upper corners. Paint with broad horizontal strokes from one side of the page to the other for a smooth wash. 4 Lower Clouds Use a no. 0 round brush with Raw Umber. Use the textures you have created with the wet-in-wet glazes as a base and start glazing finer shadowed bits of detail into the clouds. 162 1 2 4 3 Tip Because successful wet-in-wet depends greatly on letting the pigment and water interact with minimal interference from your hand, your patches of light and dark pigment blooms will not look exactly like this. Don’t worry about it! Let your pigment and water dry, and then find the shapes in the clouds that are unique to your piece. Receive a free bonus demonstration from the original Dreamscapes at impact-books.com/DreamscapesMenagerie 163 5 Upper Clouds Lift out lighter patches of clouds in the upper purple atmosphere by rubbing the page with a damp stiff-bristled no. 2 round. 6 Upper Cloud Shadows Use a diluted mixture of Viridian Green and Dioxazine Violet and paint a glaze with a no. 2 round to further sculpt the shapes of the upper clouds. 7 Ground Use a no. 4 round to paint a wash of Raw Umber on the ground. Leave the white of the paper for the river. While the paint is still wet, use a mixture of Payne’s Gray and Viridian Green and drop wet-inwet into the lower left and right corners. Tilt your page at a slight angle so that the excess liquid runs toward the bottom of the page. 5 8 Shadows in the Hills Use varying mixtures of Burnt Umber and Raw Umber to add definition to the edges of the hillsides and the shadowed valleys with a no. 1 round brush. 164 6 7 8 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 165 9 10 9 Ridges and Trees Lift out pigment for lighter areas along the ridges of the hills by rubbing the page along those ridges with a damp stiff-bristled no. 2 round. With a no. 0 round dot small trees onto the distant ridges with Payne’s Gray. Switch to a larger no. 2 round for the trees in the corners closer to the foreground. 166 10 Stones and River Use a no. 0 round with a mixture of Dioxazine Violet and Payne’s Gray to paint in the standing stones. Leave a bit of the white paper as highlight around the edges. Slightly blend the base into the surrounding hillsides with a touch of Raw Umber. For the river, take a no. 0 round and Dioxazine Violet and lightly paint horizontal lines as rippled reflections of the sky across the closer section of the river. On the left, close to the trees, use a little bit of Payne’s Gray mixed with Viridian Green for reflections of the trees. Be sure to leave the white of the paper showing for highlights along the borders of the river and close to the horizon where the light is brightest. 11 Balloon Paint Lemon Yellow with a no. 4 round brush in the core of the balloon. Use a no. 2 round and glaze the seams of the balloon with Cadmium Orange. Start on the left side and trace the seam. Then wash your brush clean, wipe off the excess water and use the damp brush to blend the edges of the orange. Repeat along each seam. Glaze the top and bottom of the balloon with another layer of Cadmium Orange, blending in toward the center of the balloon. 11 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 167 12 13 12 13 Ship Use a no. 1 round to paint highlights of Lemon Yellow. Paint the main body of the ship with Burnt Umber. Leave edges of white paper showing through for highlights. Ship Details Use a no. 0 round brush with a mixture of Payne’s Gray and Burnt Umber and paint the fine details on the ship. With a no. 0 round glaze Cadmium Orange along the sails and along the ropes holding the balloon. 168 14 Birds Use a no. 0 round and glaze the birds with Raw Umber. Add some more distant birds in the upper violet area with a mixture of Payne’s Gray and Dioxazine Violet. 14 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 169 170 Visit impact-books.com/DreamscapesFantasyWorlds to download free wallpaper art. 171 I ndex A airships, 167–169 architecture, 70–71, 120–121, 126 armor, 77 artist improvement, 7, 32–35 atmosphere, 40, 88 B background, 104, 106 See also washes sky, 90, 122 stone, 44 balloon, 167–169 bark, 66, 93, 98–99, 158 birch trees, 86 birds, 68, 96, 153, 168 blacks, 16 bleeds, 17, 45, 132 blending, 136 dry, 22 wet, 22 bloom, 25, 143–144 bones, 62–63, 67 branches, 84 brushes, 11, 13 lifting with, 30 brushstrokes, 30 butterfly, 160 C castles, 70-71 children, 114 clouds, 92, 132–137, 162 inhabitants of, 152–153 cold-pressed surface, 14, 24 color use for contrast, 36 mixing, 16 temperature of, 16 of trees, 85 color shapers, 13 color theory, 16 172 color wheel, 16 composition, 38 contrast, 36–37, 144 corrective fluid, 28 creating art, 7 cropping, 35 gouache, 12, 28 grass, 76, 111 grays, 16 grid method, 31 D hair, 96 highlights, 58, 78, 120, 132, 156 hills and hillsides, 46, 48, 57, 91, 111–112 horizon lines, 72–3 horses, 77 hot-pressed surface, 14, 24 human figures, 68, 95–96, 152 children, 114 girl, 103, 160 hooded figure, 149 knight, 77–78 depth, 26, 91, 110 detail, balance of, 98–99 dragons, 76 drama, 74 dry, working into, 28 drybrush technique, 24, 58, 98 dry-into-wet technique, 24 E edges, 17 embellishments, architectural, 71 erasers, 10 F fantastic creatures creature, 40–41 dragons, 76, 138, 140 fairies, 113 owl spirit, 150 unicorns, 60, 88, 152 flats, 11 flowers, 114–115 focus, use for contrast, 37 foliage, 66, 88–89, 93, 100–101, 112, 123 foreground, 30 forest habitations, 116–121 forests, 83–85 foxes, 34–35, 95, 106–107 G gel pens, 28, 145 gesso, 28 glazing, 20–21 glows, 56, 145, 148, 162 H I illustration board, 14 image transfer, 31 inspiration, 31 intensity, use for contrast, 37 K knights, 77–78 L layering. See glazing; washes lead hardness, 10 lead holders, 10 leaves, 66, 88–89, 93, 100–101, 112, 123 lifting out, 24, 30, 44 from a dry surface, 25 from a wet surface, 25 light, 98–99 beams, 113 use for contrast, 37 lantern, 104, 106 light source, 53 of the moon, 146–149 liquid frisket, 13, 30 M masking fluid, 13, 30 materials, 10–14 mechanical pencils, 10 mistakes, 8 mixing colors, 16 monochrome palette, 39 mountains, 52–55, 57 N negative space, 26–27, 111 P paints, 12 palette, 12–13 monochrome, 39 paper towels, 13 paper, 14 selection of, 14 watercolor, 14–15 pencils, 10 perspective, two-point, 72–73 pine trees, 86 plastic wrap texturing, 25 portals, 108–109 positive space, 26–27, 111 practicing skills, 7 preciousness, 7 R river, 166 rocks. See stones rough surface, 14 rounds, 11 rubbing alcohol, 11 S salt, 11, 23 scale, 74 scrubbing, 25 shadows, 98–99, 125, 132–133, 156, 164 skeletons, 62–63 sketching, 32–35 skies, 39–40, 54, 56, 64, 74, 130, 146, 155, 162 See also clouds background, 122 moonlit, 146–149 shading, 46 starry, 142–145 skin, 20 smearing, 29 space, positive and negative, 26–27 spacial relationships, 27 spills, 8, 17 splotches, 58, 132, 143–144 sponges, 25, 44 stained glass, 25, 120 staircases, 71 stars and starlight, 142–147 stones, 43–44, 46–50, 93–94, 138, 166 stretching paper, 15 T techniques, 8 blending, 22 drybrush, 24, 58, 98 dry-into-wet, 24 layered graded wash, 24 layering glazes, 21 laying a flat wash, 18 laying a graded wash, 19 lifting, 24–25 plastic wrap texturing, 25 rubbing alcohol texturing, 25 stretching watercolor paper, 15 using salt, 23 wet-in-wet, 24, 45, 86, 143, 163 wet-into-wet, 24, 28, 132 wet-on-dry, 17 temperature of color, 16 textures blending, 136 of clouds, 133 in the forest, 88-89 hillside, 111 in paper, 14 using plastic wrap, 25 using rubbing alcohol, 25 using salt, 23 in the sky, 64 of stone, 44, 138 of tree and ground, 101 of trees, 123 thumbnail sketches, 34–35, 38 thumbnail exercise, 38 tints, 145 transfer paper, 31 tree branches, 93 tree trunks 98–101, 124, 158 trees, 65, 84–85, 101, 148 distant, 65, 86–87, 89 evergreen, 85, 87 silhouettes of, 55, 84–85, 105 two-point perspective, 72–73 U unicorns, 60, 88, 152 W washes, 132–133, 143 background, 118 in curvy areas, 19 flat, 18 graded, 19 layered graded, 24 water containers, 13 water splotches, 58, 132, 143–144 watercolor paint, 12 attributes of, 25, 27 watercolor paper, 14–15 watercolor techniques. See techniques wet-in-wet technique, 24–25, 28, 58, 86, 132, 143, 146, 163 wet-in-wet bleeding, 45 wet-on-dry technique, 17 white areas, 27 white gel pen, 28, 67 whites, opaque, 28–29 wolves, 102–103 173 About the Author Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s work follows in the tradition of the mythic arts. She is based in Oakland, CA. Her paintings explore a surreal otherworld, and the manifestations of desire and archetype when seen with a shifted perception. Much of her inspiration stems from mythology and folklore, mingled with the movement of dance and the chaos of Nature’s wild growth. She has authored and illustrated 4 books (Dreamscapes, through IMPACT Books), a series on watercolor technique within a fantastical framework, and she is also the author and illustrator of the Shadowscapes Tarot (2009, Llewellyn Worldwide), as well as exhibiting her work in galleries and private collections. Dedication To Claire and Ellio — you make us all stop to appreciate the hidden beauties. Dreamscapes Fantasy Worlds. Copyright © 2014 by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by IMPACT Books, an imprint of F+W, a Content and eCommerce Company, 10151 Carver Road, Suite 200, Blue Ash, Ohio, 45242. (800) 289-0963. First Edition. Other fine IMPACT Books are available from your favorite bookstore, art supply store or online supplier. Visit our website at fwmedia.com. 18 17 16 15 14 5 4 3 2 1 DISTRIBUTED IN CANADA BY FRASER DIRECT 100 Armstrong Avenue Georgetown, ON, Canada L7G 5S4 Tel: (905) 877-4411 DISTRIBUTED IN THE U.K. AND EUROPE BY F&W MEDIA INTERNATIONAL LTD Brunel House, Forde Close, Newton Abbot, TQ12 4PU, UK Tel: (+44) 1626 323200, Fax: (+44) 1626 323319 Email: enquiries@fwmedia.com DISTRIBUTED IN AUSTRALIA BY CAPRICORN LINK P.O. Box 704, S. Windsor NSW, 2756 Australia Tel: (02) 4560-1600; Fax: (02) 4577 5288 Email: books@capricornlink.com.au ISBN 13: 978-1-4403-3562-4 Edited by Beth Erikson Designed by Wendy Dunning Production coordinated by Mark Griffin 174 METRIC CONVERSION CHART TO CONVERT Inches Centimeters Feet Centimeters Yards Meters TO Centimeters Inches Centimeters Feet Meters Yards MULTIPLY BY 2.54 0.4 30.5 0.03 0.9 1.1 Ideas. Instruction. Inspiration. Download FREE wallpaper art at impact-books.com/ dreamscapesfantasyworlds. Check out the rest of the Dreamscapes series by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and other IMPACT titles at impact-books.com! These and other fine IMPACT products are available at your local art & craft retailer, bookstore or online supplier. Visit our website at impact-books.com. IMPACT-BOOKS.COM 3 Connect with your favorite artists 3 Get the latest in comic, fantasy and sci-fi art instruction, tips and techniques 3 Be the first to get special deals on the products you need to improve your art Follow IMPACT for the latest news, free wallpapers, free demos and chances to win FREE BOOKS! Follow us!____