August 9, 2010 · 8:47 am

The Middle Pillar

The Middle Pillar is the subject of a paper I recently delivered at a Golden Dawn themed open day.

This talk is aimed at everyone including complete beginner to the Qabalah. In a little while we will be doing the Middle Pillar Ritual itself.

But first, some background.

The Middle Pillar Ritual seems to have been an original creation of Israel Regardie, which he synthesised from Golden Dawn teachings. The Golden Dawn before Regardie did not really use it per se, although they did contemplate the Tree of Life as a whole in ones aura.

The Middle Pillar corresponds to the Sushumna of Yoga – the channel down the centre of the body where are located the Chakras. The Middle Pillar Ritual is thus a technique for rousing the energies of the chakras, but with two key differences:

  1. In the Qabalah we work with 4 or 5 (I’ll explain later) chakras, not the full 7;
  2. In the Golden Dawn we always invoke the highest first – always. Therefore we always start from the top (Crown) and go down.

Many schools of Yoga do the opposite – they open the chakras from the bottom upwards. However: Sri Aurobindo, the founder of Integral Yoga, said that the correct Yogic method should be to open the chakras from the top down – like we do in the Golden Dawn. The reason – he says – is that by opening the chakras from the top down one prevents a sudden uncontrolled explosion of Kundalini, because the superior chakras will have already been stabilised and dedicated to God before the Kundalini (which resides in the base chakra) is awakened.

NB: Kundalini rising in a controlled manner is good; exploding uncontrollably is bad, because despite feeling good it leads to bad side-effects.

The “chakras” (actually “Sephiroth”) with which we work are: Kether, the Crown chakra; Daath, the throat; Tiphereth, the heart; Yesod, the sacral or genital region; and Malkuth, the base chakra.

NB: The Sephiroth do not correspond exactly to those of Yoga, so it is best not tot try and keep looking for correspondences where none exist. The Middle Pillar Ritual does not necessarily fulfil the same function as raising Kundalini – it is an invocation of the Divine from above, as opposed to raising energy from below. References to chakras etc are but a convenient peg on which to hang my metaphor, for those not familiar with the Golden Dawn.

Kether – the crown – does correspond fairly well to the Sahasrara, the thousand-petalled lotus. Both represent ones connection to the Universe. In the Golden Dawn the Kether point of one Qabalistic world is the connection to the Malkuth of a superior world: so we may imagine that energy spirals down into our crown chakra from a higher plane of existence.

Daath – the throat – is slightly problematic. It is not actually a Sephirah – technically, it is a place where a Sephirah should be but tellingly, is not. Daath should be considered as a marriage of Chokmah and Binah. Daath does not have any attributions of itself: however, in the Hexagram ritual which we use in the second order, the point corresponding to Daath is associated with the supernals generally and Saturn specifically. For that reason, when we perform the Middle Pillar Ritual we use the divine name of the sphere of Saturn, i.e. Binah.

In any event, Daath does not correspond perfectly with the throat chakra of Yoga. The “Vishuddi” chakra is associated with the element of Akasha, which in the Golden Dawn is more associated with Tiphereth.

The next Sephirah is Tiphereth itself. As it happens both Tiphereth and its corresponding Chakra, Anahata, are associated with the element of Air, in spite of the Tiphereth’s other associations with Akasha or Spirit. Tiphereth itself is associated with the Sun.

Below that is Yesod. This is in the same place as the Svadisthana chakra, however: Yesod is associated with Air, and Svadisthana is associated with Water. All of the Sephiroth of the Middle Pillar are associated with Air, in fact, apart from Malkuth, which is associated with Earth. Yesod itself is also associated with the Moon.

Finally we have Malkuth, which like the Muladhara chakra the lowest chakra, represents the Earth – ones connection with the Earth. There is a fairly major difference, however: because the Yogi does his meditation sitting down, his connection with the Earth is the base of his spine – the perineum. However, because we do our Middle Pillar Ritual standing up, our connection i.e. our Malkuth centre is in our feet. Both the Muladhara chakra and Malkuth are (as said previously) associated with Earth.

Incidentally, Dion Fortune worked out a method of working with all the chakras, albeit using Qabalistic associations with all of them. What she did was to work with the four (or five) Sephiroth which I have already mentioned: however in addition, she imagined the brow chakra (Ajna) as jointly-representing Chokmah and Binah; whilst the solar plexus chakra (Manipuraka) as jointly representing both Hod and Netzach. Daath becomes the Luna plexus, whilst the Vishuddi chakra is imagined as jointly representing Chesed and Geburah. She also formulated an exercise in which after these eight were opened one imagined them being ruled over by Egyptian God-forms. She also specified a method for partner-working – i.e. one partner invokes the chakras for the other and then vice versa.

That digression aside, I will now speak about the Middle Pillar Ritual itself, and what it is used for. It is primarily a method for invoking spiritual blessings for ourselves. Israel Regardie however said that it could also be used for healing, and even as a simple method of practical magic. Regardie’s theory was this. One performs the Middle Pillar ritual – after which one is imagining and feeling oneself filled with light and energy. Then, to perform healing, whilst still contemplating that light and energy, one concentrates on the part which needs to be healed, imagining that light is flowing into that part. It is in effect a Qabalistic form of Reiki. This can be done on oneself, or with a patient who is present, or it can be used as a form of distant healing.

As to practical magic, Regardie said that the Middle Pillar ritual could be used in a way that is similar to what people who work with the aura know as colour breathing. So for example, to attract a specific influence into your life, one would perform the Middle Pillar ritual, and then still contemplating the light circulating in your aura, visualise that your aura is being filled with the colour representing that influence – whilst vibrating the diving names associated therewith.

Regardie also said this could be extended to consecrating talismans. Having created a talisman for a particular purpose, one performs the Middle Pillar ritual, one contemplates the particular influence and its colour, and then one imagines that that light is flowing into the Talisman.

In short, I recommend reading “The Art of True Healing” (which is included in “Foundations of Practical Magic”), “How to Make and Use Talismans” and “The Middle Pillar” itself – all by Israel Regardie. In actual fact the material added to the current edition of “The Middle Pillar” by Chic and Tabatha Cicero almost makes it worth reading by itself.

After the introductory talk, I then led those present in the Middle Pillar Ritual, rather as it is outlined in Regardie’s book, though with a certain amount of adaptation:

By way of setting the scene, I asked all present to imagine themselves in their astral body, which had grown so large that they were the size of the Earth itself. Around them were the stars, whilst directly above their heads a mighty Dragon – the constellation Draco – was flying around and around in a circle, creating a Tourbillon of power (i.e. a vortex or whirlpool) drawing down energy from above.

NB: this is essentially a simplified version of the visualisation that an Adept does when contemplating the Tree of Life projected in a sphere.

A point of light appears in the centre of the circle traced by the path of the Dragon. The vortex draws this light down from above, so that it touches the crown of the participant. As is touches the crown it lights up the Kether centre – visualised as a sphere of white light directly above and touching the top of the head. The light is swirling around inside this sphere, following the perturbations of the vortex.

At this point I asked everyone to vibrate the divine name of Kether – EHEIEH – six times, imagining that the vibrations were occurring in the sphere of Kether itself.

Then I asked everyone to imagine that light from Kether was spiralling down the Middle Pillar like a corkscrew to the throat, lighting up Daath. Again the light was imagined as swirling around inside Daath. The name YOD HEH VAV HEH ELOHIM was vibrated six times, again imagining the vibrations were taking place in that sephirah.

In a similar manner, Tiphereth was invoked with YOD HEH VAV HEH ELOAH VE-DAATH.

Likewise: Yesod with SHADDAI EL CHAI.

Likewise: Malkuth with ADONAI HA-ARETZ. The light was imagined as cork-screwing down even into the Earth.

Then I got the participants to imagine light going down their left-side and up their right-side, enclosing them in a Vesica Piscis, the symbol of transmutation to a higher spiritual level.

Then I got them to visualise the light going down the front of their body and up the back.

Then I got them to imagine light coming up the Middle Pillar from Malkuth to Kether, where it fountained-out and poured down on all sides.

Then I asked them to imagine that light was spiralling back up their bodies, literally wrapping them up.

Given that I had previously been talking about using the Middle Pillar Ritual for healing, I told them that if anyone felt in need of it, they should spend a moment contemplating the person or part being filled with white light. Thereafter – as the flooding in Pakistan was current in the news at the time – I encouraged those present to send healing energy to that country and its people – and also the middle East generally.

Finally, we closed by bringing our attention back to our heart-centres, and vibrating once the mystical names of Jesus – YEHESHUAH, YEHOVASHAH. I personally felt that the ritual was very powerful performed this way, especially with all the chanting.

2 Comments

Filed under Supernatural

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

August 6, 2010 · 8:29 am

Aliens: British Government Admits Yet Another Cover-up

In the ongoing debate about the existence of extra-terrestrial life, by far the most reliable barometer of veracity has weighed in on the side of our Alien Brethren. No, not scientists – I’m talking about William Hill, the bookmakers! In a story in today’s Daily Telegraph, it is reported that they are slashing the odds that our Cosmic Companions exist because it transpires that Winston Churchill covered up a UFO incident in World War Two.

Actually, given the Daily Telegraph’s reputation for up-to-the-minute reportage, it is probably the same UFO incident that we already know he covered up, but reported for a second time.

The odds of the British Government admitting intelligent alien life existing by the end of the year are now 80-1, down from 100-1. These are actually surprisingly good – they are certainly better than playing the National Lottery.

3 Comments

Filed under Comment

Tagged as , , , , ,

August 5, 2010 · 10:04 am

Ritual of the Apocalypse

In honour of the Grand Cross occurring tomorrow (Friday 8th August 2010) I present the following Planetary working. Its aim is to enable the magician to transcend the planetary influences at work – which is the goal of every true Hermetic Adept – instead of being a victim to them, which is how people who think of astrology as something fatalistic tend to react.

The time of the working is dawn. The magician should determine due East – this will be referred to throughout this ritual as “12 o’clock” (as in a clock-face).

Begin by proclaiming: Hekas! Hekas este bebeloi!

Perform the Lesser Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram.

Purify and consecrate the temple with Water and Fire. Circumambulate and adore the Lord of the Universe.

Perform the Bornless Ritual.

Now perform what I term the

Special Invoking Hexagrams of the Apocalypse Ritual.

This is similar in structure to the Supreme Invoking Hexagram Ritual, but adapted as follows:

Start with the Qabalistic Cross

The Rite of Luna

Turn first to “one o’clock” and trace the Invoking Hexagram of Luna, i.e. the first triangle is traced clockwise from the lowest point; the second triangle from the top-most. Vibrate Ararita and Shaddai El Chai, Gabriel, Malkah Be-Tarshishim ve-od Ruachoth Shechalim, Shad Barshemoth Ha-Shartathan and Levanah.

Recite the Invocation of Luna.

The Rite of Jupiter

Turn next to “four o’clock” and trace the Invoking Hexagram of Jupiter (first from Jupiter point, then from Mercury point). Vibrate Ararita and El, Tzadqiel, Hismael, Iohphiel and Tzedeq.

Recite the Invocation of Jupiter.

The Rite of Uranus

Still facing “four o’clock” trace the Special Apocalyptic Hexagram of Uranus. This is the same as the Hexagram of Mercury (because Uranus is similar to Mercury but on a higher arc), but with the sigil of Uranus in the centre. Vibrate Ararita only.

Recite the following Invocation of Uranus (taken from the Orphic Hymns):

GREAT Heav’n, whose mighty frame no respite knows,
Father of all, from whom the world arose:
Hear, bounteous parent, source and end of all,
Forever whirling round this earthly ball;
Abode of Gods, whose guardian pow’r surrounds
Th’ eternal World with ever during bounds;
Whose ample bosom and encircling folds
The dire necessity of nature holds.
Ætherial, earthly, whose all-various frame
Azure and full of forms, no power can tame.
All-seeing Heav’n, progenitor of Time
Forever blessed, deity sublime,
Propitious on a novel mystic shine,
And crown his wishes with a life divine.

The Rite of Pluto

Turn next to “seven o’clock” and trace the Special Apocalyptic Hexagram of Pluto (same as that of Mars, but with Pluto sigil). Vibrate Ararita only.

Recite the following Invocation of Pluto (also taken from the Orphic Hymns).

PLUTO, magnanimous, whose realms profound
Are fix’d beneath the firm and solid ground,
In the Tartarian plains remote from fight,
And wrapt forever in the depths of night;
Terrestrial Jove, thy sacred ear incline,
And, pleas’d, accept thy mystic’s hymn divine.
Earth’s keys to thee, illustrious king belong,
Its secret gates unlocking, deep and strong.
‘Tis thine, abundant annual fruits to bear,
For needy mortals are thy constant care.
To thee, great king, Avernus is assign’d,
The seat of Gods, and basis of mankind.
Thy throne is fix’d in Hade’s dismal plains,
Distant, unknown to rest, where darkness reigns;
Where, destitute of breath, pale spectres dwell,
In endless, dire, inexorable hell;
And in dread Acheron, whose depths obscure,
Earth’s stable roots eternally secure.
O mighty dæmon, whose decision dread,
The future fate determines of the dead,
With captive Proserpine, thro’ grassy plains,
Drawn in a four-yok’d car with loosen’d reins,
Rapt o’er the deep, impell’d by love, you flew
‘Till Eleusina’s city rose to view;
There, in a wond’rous cave obscure and deep,
The sacred maid secure from search you keep,
The cave of Atthis, whose wide gates display
An entrance to the kingdoms void of day.
Of unapparent works, thou art alone
The dispensator, visible and known.
O pow’r all-ruling, holy, honor’d light,
Thee sacred poets and their hymns delight:
Propitious to thy mystic’s works incline,
Rejoicing come, for holy rites are thine.

The Rite of Saturn

Turn next to “ten o’clock,” trace the Invoking Hexagram of Saturn (first from Saturn point, then from Luna point). Vibrate Ararita and YHVH Elohim, Tzaphqiel, Agiel, Zazel and Shabbathai.

Recite the Invocation of Saturn.

The Rite of Mars

Still facing “ten o’clock,” trace the Invoking Hexagram of Mars (first from Mars point, then from Luna point). Vibrate Ararita and Elohim Gebor, Chamael, Graphiel, Bartzabel and Madim.

Recite the Invocation of Mars.

Turn to “12 o’clock.” Analyse the Keyword (INRI)

Purify and consecrate the temple again.

Perform the reverse circumambulation, and adoration to the Lord of the Universe.

Announce: “In the name of Yeheshuah I now release any spirits that have been entrapped by this ceremony.”

Close with the Lesser Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram again.

1 Comment

Filed under Supernatural

Tagged as , , , , , ,

August 4, 2010 · 12:07 pm

Creative Visualisation – Lessons from a Christian Mystic

Here are two methods creative visualisation which you can use to alter your life for the better. These are basic techniques which ideally should be carried out every day. You may notice a certain similarity to techniques recommended by certain occult or new-age / theosophical sources suggesting that they are far eastern in origin, but in fact they are nothing of the sort: they were actually first mentioned by the fifteenth century mystic Saint Thomas à Kempis. Not only is this Saint respected in exoteric Christian circles, he is also endorsed in Rosicrucian ones as well, e.g. Theophilus Schweighardt.

Thomas à Kempis wrote:

If you cannot recollect yourself continuously, do so once a day at least, in the morning or in the evening. In the morning make a resolution and in the evening examine yourself on what you have said this day, what you have done and thought, for in these things perhaps you have often offended God and those about you.

Imitation of Christ, book 1, chapter 19, “The Practices of a Good Religious.”

Kempis has an unfortunate pre-occupation with sin and offending God, and comes across as negative. He could of course have focussed on the positive instead – by recollecting oneself at the end of the day one might discern that you have pleased God and those about you – not for the sake of indulging in piety, but for that of rejoicing in the goodness of the Universe.

Yet in this short quote Kempis has hit upon the basis for a workable system of daily creative visualisation. I have therefore formulated the following practices of which anyone of any faith (or lack thereof) may make use.

Morning: “Prospective Visualisation”

First thing in the morning on waking up, visualise how your day is going to proceed whilst mentally repeating an appropriate affirmation or resolution. You should visualise yourself being successful at everything you know is going to happen, i.e. you see yourself being happy, being popular, achieving what you want to achieve, etc. You can even visualise things coming to you from sources outside your conscious control – i.e. because your mind is connected to the Universe in ways which you only unconsciously appreciate. Never assume that anything is completely impossible, even if it seems unreasonable, because you would then be creating limiting self-beliefs.

Evening: “Retrospective Visualisation”

This is almost identical to an exercise which I recommend in connection with Lucid Dreaming. In the evening, last thing before going to bed, meditate by visualising the events of the day, remembering them backwards. When you discern something going right for you, contemplate a feeling of gratitude to whoever caused it, and to the universe in general. If you realise something went wrong, you should also express gratitude for being able to discern your mistake, and resolve that you will learn from your experience and do better in the future.

Results

Getting into the habit of using creative visualisation regularly everyday increases the probability that one day you will be pleasantly surprised to find events happening as you had intended them that morning. This can include apparently remarkable occurrences like people getting in contact with you, offering you opportunities, which you did not cause to happen. In fact you did cause them, though not in a way that skeptics might appreciate.

Retrospective visualisation helps to improve the memory – some sources allege that it can ultimately help one recall ones past lives. I also find that by doing this immediately before going to sleep, ones dreams are less likely to be plagued by memories of the day just gone, and instead will be filled with images from the deeper levels of the unconscious.

12 Comments

Filed under Supernatural

Tagged as , , , , ,

August 1, 2010 · 3:46 pm

Golden Dawn Manuscripts and Where to Find Them

This blog post was first published in August 2010. Recently it has been brought to my attention that some of its contents need updating! See below for details.

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is of course probably the most influential occult society of all time. Recently [i.e. July 2010] a book has appeared on Amazon entitled The Golden Dawn: Unpublished Lectures of the Hermetic Order of the AO. This has sparked some controversy on message boards across the interwebby thing along the lines of “It’s a fake,” “Oh no it’s not,” “Oh yes it is,” etc ect tec.

This got me thinking: where can a scholar go to find the original Golden Dawn manuscripts him- (or her-) self? So for example one does not have to rely on books of dodgy provenance? For this reason I present the following. Note that I do not claim that accessing any of the following is easy – this is probably why the original manuscripts of the GD remain not so widely known.

The Warburg Institute, London

Contains: The Yorke Collection

This archive is famous for containing Aleister Crowley’s papers, most of which have now found their way into print – either with or without the OTO’s approval. For a Thelemic magician this would be interesting enough. However two points should be noted: amongst Crowley’s own papers are documents which he himself got from the Golden Dawn, and from Allen Bennet, when he was a member.

Secondly, the Yorke Collection also contains Golden Dawn material that would never have come into Crowley’s possession. This includes material from the AO on the Tarot, and most interestingly a number of rituals of the “Cromlech Temple” (otherwise known as the Holy Order of the Sun) which to my knowledge have not seen the light of day, proverbially speaking.

The rest of the Golden Dawn material seems to be a complete set of documents of just about everything that was published by Regardie, as well as the Flying Rolls which were later published by Francis King.

Entrance to the Warburg Institute is free so long as you are a student or member of staff of a recognised University and are engaged in a relevant course of study – documentary evidence of this will be required. So hoi polloi cannot just turn up and discover the Sun Order’s Ritual of Initiation of Fire for instance by claiming to be a “student of the mysteries,” I think they might be wise to that one.

[2018 update: Since I first wrote this, the Warburg Institute has completely redesigned its website, so that it is now quite atrocious for trying to look up what is and what isn’t in the Yorke Collection. If they have not been alienating property from the collection, they are certainly doing so to researchers! Grrr.]

Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

Contains: The Carr P Collins Collection

Carr P Collins Jr (born 1918) was highly interested in druidism, wicca and magick and was allegedly the source of the documents which Regardie used for The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic. Maddeningly however his collection is not fully inventorised – at least not on the web.

The Bridwell Library may be used by students and staff of Southern Methodist University: otherwise it is necessary to become an associate member which costs $50 per annum. As far as I am aware you have to be in situ to make use of the facilities, so if anyone is in Dallas kindly let me know what goodies are there!

The National Library of Ireland

Contains: Occult Papers of W B Yeats

Of all the members of the Golden Dawn, Nobel laureate W B Yeats achieved the most in public life, so it was kind of inevitable that the Republic of Ireland would want to preserve his papers for the world. Fortunately for the Golden Dawn scholar, Yeats was an Adeptus Exemptus of the Stella Matutina – so his archives in the National Library of Ireland contain  manuscripts from the original order of the GD, the “Morgan Rothe” which was the London faction’s name when the order split in 1900, and the latter Stella Matutina all the way up to 7=4. It also contains Yeats’ GD notes and a lot more besides.

Two documents from the higher grades of the Stella Matutina are particularly interesting. One is a detailed analysis of the Adeptus Major 6=5 ceremony, which describes the inner astral workings of the ritual: this has been published by George Mills Harper in Yeats’ Golden Dawn. The other is the 7=4 ritual itself, whose full title is “The Mystical Grade of 7º = 4 Being the Grade of the ROD Which Blossoms. ” NB A version of the 7=4 ritual was published by Pat Zalewski in which it was called the “rose which blossoms.” However, assuming the Yeats version is the correct one, this would imply that the 7=4 is themed about the story of Aaron’s Rod, which when it blossomed confimed Aaron’s authority as High Priest.

Sometime last year photos were made available on Flickr of a small sample of the kind of things which are in the Yeats collection. A goodly sample is can also be viewed online in the Virtual Yeats Exhibition.

Yeats’ handwritten / drawn notes on the Minutum Mundum

Most excitingly the Library indicates that it may make copies of items in the collection which are in good condition, also the price of actually doing so is enough to dissuade most indigent occultists.

Miscellaneous

I personally know of the location of several other original GD documents although scholarly access to them is limited for one reason or another. For example, the Library and Museum of Freemasonry at Great Queen Street has a cache of material belonging to Wynn Westcott: unfortunately it is still in the process of being catalogued so it won’t be available for public inspection until sometime in the (hopefully near) future.

[2018 update: however, a lot more work has been done since 2010 – see: The Library & Museum of Freemasonry > Explore > Search The Collections.]

There are also organisations to which members of the GD also belonged, which have material from the GD locked in their cupboards for safekeeping: however just how much is hidden away I cannot say. I was privileged enough to have a brief glimpse inside one such archive and found a single ritual dating from 1916, and nothing else from the GD (the ritual itself is one that has already been published).

Doubtless there are other archives about the place, not to mention the collections of private individuals (e.g. Bob Gilbert), so I shall probably post a follow up to this post once I have tracked them down.

[2018 update: the preceding comment should be re-read in the light of my subsequent blog-post, Golden Dawn Exhibition, 19th December 2013]

8 Comments

Filed under Supernatural

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

July 31, 2010 · 11:20 am

Happy Lugnasadh!

Lugnasadh or “Lammas-tide” (July 31st) is an ancient pagan feast which yet again has been assimilated into the Christian church, in much the same way that Samhain has been assimilated in the form of Hallowe’en. Lugnasadh is the origin of the Harvest Festivals which take place in churches up and down the land.  Apparently in Pagan times it was also when the divine priest-king was sacrificed in the fields and his body scattered.

Poor old dying god! He keeps getting sacrificed and reborn all the time!

According to my book of witchy things (“What Witches Do” by Stewart Farrar), on this day cakes and wine are meant to be taken as well – so doubtless I shall observe this obligation later.

Leave a comment

Filed under Supernatural

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

July 27, 2010 · 7:15 pm

The Ultimate Sigil

This is a re-post of something which I did last year which appeared on my Facebook page but not on my website.

The Ultimate Sigil

So there I was,  tinkering around with sigils, and I thought to myself: “Hang on! Creating a new one for every new magic spell is a bit of a rigmarole? Why not just create one all-purpose sigil?”

The Ultimate Sigil with elemental colours.

After some experimentation, I came up with this design (see left). Given that there are 26 letters in the English language, it follows that one sigil which contains all of them therefore represents all possible sigils that can ever be expressed in English. The Ultimate Sigil, in which all 26 can be found, thus represents Omneity, in which all things exist in potentiality like an acorn which contains a full grown Oak.

Leave a comment

Filed under Supernatural

Tagged as , , , , ,

July 24, 2010 · 5:31 pm

Inception – An Initiated Review

Inception star Leonardo Di Caprio

Inception is the 2010 blockbuster from Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo Di Caprio as a rather unusual burglar: he breaks into people’s dreams to steal information. This talent he uses as a highly sophisticated form of industrial espionage. The main action of the film comes from when he is challenged to break into a businessman’s mind, not to steal information – but to plant a false idea at the behest of the victim’s business rivals: the so-called “Inception” of the title. Needless to say, a lot of mayhem involving gunfire and potential brain-damage (and worse) ensues. I won’t give away the ending although anyone who is reasonably intelligent can guess what the ultimate fate of Di Caprio’s character might be. He wakes up from the dream and lives happily ever after. Or does he???

The film’s premise is an interesting one for yours truly for, being a seasoned Oneironaut, I wanted to see if it is true to life.  “What’s that?” I hallucinate that I hear you say. “How can something so fantastic be anything other than science-fiction?” Because, my imaginary friend, it happens to touch on one of my favourite subjects, that of Lucid Dreaming.

Inception and Lucid Dreaming

There is a scene early on in which Di Caprio’s character (“Cobb”) is attempting to recruit a young lady named Ariadne (played by Ellen Page) into his team, and he suddenly reveals to her that she is in fact dreaming. This causes her world to explode, though not entirely, as she is able to recover her wits and get used to existing in this dream environment.

Nolan, who wrote as well as directed the film, takes some cinematic license in this scene – and a good thing too, because otherwise to depict what actually happens when a lucid dreamer first gets lucid would not really fit into a fast-paced action thriller. Ariadne is in effect being taught to lucid dream – and picking it up extremely fast. It is possible in to learn to lucid dream oneself, however it usually takes weeks or months of practice if one is a complete beginner. Moreover when one first becomes Lucid, the surprise is enough to cause one to suddenly wake up. However, after becoming lucid several times one eventually gets used to the sensation, and remain in the dream state for some time without waking.

Ariadne then goes on to spontaneously create the landscape of the dream as she is walking along. This too is possible in Lucid dreaming although again this would take considerable practice: it is a skill which would need to be honed over many nights. To be fair to Nolan, one could say that Ariadne could have been able to do this right off the bat assuming that she had had prior coaching in lucid dreaming, possibly at the instigation of her teacher (portrayed by Michael Caine).

Drug Use

In another scene, Cobb recruits a pharmacist (who despite being Kenyan is played by an  actor of Indian ethnicity) because he can tailor-make the particular drugs that they will need for this operation. Which leads to the question: can drugs actually affect dreaming states in the manner the film suggests? Unfortunately the answer is yes.

The concoction which the *cough* African *cough” pharmacist shows is a murky brown colour suggesting it is some kind of opiate. Now it so happens that in her greatest novel The Sea Priestess Dion Fortune needed a plot device whereby the central male character was able to quickly go from being just an ordinary bloke to being able to loose the bonds of the physical world and journey in the astral. So she had him become an asthmatic. Why? Because before the invention of the Ventolin inhaler, the most effective way of relieving the symptoms of asthma was a shot of Heroin, as one of its side-effects is that it suppresses the cough-reflex. Hence: because he is under the effects of powerful morphiates he is able to loosen the bonds which the bind his astral body to his physical one.

I have not even begun to mention the vast number of entheogenic substances used in shamanism and related practices, although given that the character in Inception refers to his concoction as a “sedative,” the idea that it is in fact an opiate or morphiate is the one that seems most likely.

Shared Dreaming, Telepathy, Etc

Central to the plot of Inception is the notion that it is possible to enter someone else’s dream. Also that it is possible to communicate with one or more others within a dream – a form of dream telepathy, if you will. I have written in other blog posts that although machine-assisted telepathy might well be possible in the future, the state of the art is currently far too crude at the moment for any hope of reliability (see for example here, here and here).

Can dream telepathy occur at all? The late Montague Ullman conducted a series of experiments to investigate just that, which he detailed in his paper Dream Telepathy – experimental and clinical findings. The procedure was that a “sender” concentrated on a picture in one room, whilst a receiver fell asleep in another and reported on what dreams occurred. There were no recorded results of 100% correlation between the dreams and the target picture – however in several cases the dreamers managed to dream about key characteristics of the paintings – though without identifying the full paintings. So for example in one picture the composition of the figures was in a semi-circular arrangement: the dreamer meanwhile dreamed of a completely different scene which nevertheless featured a semi-circle prominently therein.

Clearly then there is no scientific evidence that dream telepathy can be done on a consistent, reliable basis of the kind featured in the movie. However the evidence does exist that it might nevertheless occur and could possibly be developed to a (high) degree if a group of individuals worked hard enough. Occultism already asserts that it is possible through control of the astral plane – i.e. by forming an astral image of the receiver and then speaking to it, it is possible (so occultists say) to send the receiver a telepathic message.

Inception itself

The ultimate question really is whether the film’s central premise of planting an idea into someone else’s mind is possible. I have already mentioned one scientific study which suggests that it might be possible to transmit an idea telepathically – however the most promising results suggested that only vague, general notions can be implanted this way. Note also two important factors: firstly, the participants in Ullman’s experiments were all willing volunteers; secondly the ideas were all essentially harmless* – they were just paintings and drawings of various things.

* – Well, I assume they were harmless. Ullman does not say whether he kept track of the volunteers in the years after his experiments, whether they lived euthymic lives or whether they developed psychotic symptoms, suicidal tendencies etc etc.

The film Inception concerns whether it is possible to implant a potentially harmful (or at least unwelcome) idea in the mind of an unwilling victim. From the point of view of both a writer and an occultist I must say that Nolan at least works out the most sensible method of achieving this within the frames of reference of the plot. I.e. – attempt to trick the victim into accepting the idea by making him think it was his own all along. It is the basis of “glamours,” the casting of illusions and enchantments. And of course, due to its highly manipulative and intrusive nature, an example of Black Magic of the most serious variety.

I would also say that Nolan’s idea of defence mechanisms is well observed – by simply taking a logical point of view. I once attended a talk by the scientist Rupert Sheldrake, who pointed out that there is as much evidence for saying the mind exists within the brain as there is for saying that TV programmes exist within a TV set. Yet the fact that Telepathy is not more common than it is points to two alternative conclusions: one, that it does not exist at all; or two, it does exist but it is extremely difficult to do. Assuming that the second alternative is true, I believe that the reason for the difficulty is that there is a natural bond between mind and brain which causes only one mind to be associated with the one brain and excludes all others from interfering.  Thus if one mind tried to invade someone else’s – firstly there is the difficulty of getting over one’s own Mind-Brain defence mechanism; secondly one would be naturally resisted by the Mind-Brain defence mechanism of the other person, quite possibly leading to images of violence.

A far more interesting notion, to my way of thinking, is not whether it is possible to implant a harmful idea in the mind of another person; but whether it is possible to implant a benevolent idea in one’s own mind – for example, an idea that will cause one’s life to change for the better. This is in fact the essence of real Magick. It is what occultists are trying to do all the time through works of self-transformation: some through ritual, some through more contemplative practices, whilst others through working with dreams themselves.

13 Comments

Filed under Comment, Supernatural

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

July 21, 2010 · 9:11 pm

Women Priests Mentioned In The New Testament

The Ordination of Women is mentioned in the New Testament! The actual canonical New Testament, I mean – not some obscure gnostic gospel of dubious provenance. I present here a slightly more sober follow-up to my post XX Priests.

Basically my theory is this: Ordination is a Sacrament, and involves an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. If therefore one can find references in Holy Writ that God sent the Holy Spirit upon a woman, and that woman then took on a Priest-like role, then theologically that is evidence that that woman was effectively Ordained.

Such references do exist in the New Testament, to wit:

Mary, the Mother of Jesus

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” the angel answered “and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow.”

Luke 1:35

Mary was the original tabernacle – because she bore Jesus. Mary was also the original altar, because she offered her son to the world. This was a well known theme Christian art, e.g. the Pieta:

La Pieta di Michaelangelo

Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist

Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Luke 1:41

Miscellaneous

A number of other women may be presumed, including Mary Magdalene and others both named and unnamed: e.g.

With Him [i.e. Jesus] went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuz, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources.

Luke 8: 1-3

All of these [i.e. the Apostles] joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus …

Acts 1:14

When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the enite house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit…

Acts 2:1-4

3 Comments

Filed under Religion

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

July 21, 2010 · 5:48 pm

Of (Were)Wolf And Man

Werewolves would seem to be the next sensible topic after having already dealt with Vampires. Lycanthropy, the real-life condition of believing one has transformed into a were-wolf, has been reported as still existing, at least in a study conducted in the twentieth century, although it is described as a psychosis.

Much of what we think we know about werewolves has – surprise surprise – been invented in modern times by Hollywood and by certain bestselling horror and fantasy authors. Take for example this whole business about Lycanthropy being an infection that can be passed on through biting: a modern invention! The fact of the matter is that before Hollywood came along, traditional folklore was consistent in saying that the way to become a werewolf was through Magickal rituals – either voluntarily or involuntarily.

So for example you could be made subject to a curse, either by a black magician* or by falling foul of some superstition. However it is remarkable that many ways of becoming a werewolf are through voluntarily conducted rituals – “Self Initiation In The Werewolf Tradition,” as it were: e.g. drinking water from a wolf’s paw print, sleeping outside on the night of the full moon, etc.

We are therefore faced with the fact that a great many lycanthropes were in fact people who deliberately wanted to become wolves: and moreover, there are and have been occultists in the modern era wanting to do just that. Why should they want to? Why indeed did people of old want to? Simply – in order to derive benefit from taking on the characteristics of the Wolf – or other animal as appropriate.

The classic example is that of the Berserker, who by magic ritual purported to take on the strength and stamina of a bear or wolf when going into battle. The Berserker did not physically transform, but there is plenty of evidence to say that they did take on the characteristics – such as ferocity – of the animal in question.

Amongst modern occultists who advocate animal transformation – commonly referred to as “shapeshifting” – include shamans. One has to remember that in shamanism a “power animal” has an importance equivalent to “the Holy Guardian Angel” in ceremonial magick, so that a shaman in attempting shapeshifting by becoming possessed by his or her power animal is attempting to contact the higher self. Does a physical transformation take place? Despite the fantastical nature of the idea, when one takes clairvoyance into account it is at least reasonable that it appears to happen, especially if the onlookers are all caught up in the energy of the transformation ritual.

Another occultist who practiced this kind of magick was Austen Osman Spare – who called it “Atavistic resurgence.” His idea was that we all contain within ourselves the karmas from all previous stages of evolution, including animal stages. It was thus possible to magickally draw on this in order to take on the characteristics from a previous animal stage. Interestingly although Spare never claimed that he himself transformed in appearance, he did claim that his magickal use of atavism did on at least one occasion result in the apparition of bizarre thought-forms in the air around him.

Finally, it may be noted that one magical order did provide a full framework for creating Transformation rituals – the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. It is theoretically possible for an Adept to work a transformation ritual by creating an astral form and then taking it on for a while, then banishing it.

So all in all, perhaps the real psychosis of Lycanthropy is that there are some unfortunates who tried to take part in magical transformation or shapeshifting rites, but were not spiritually prepared for it – and then suffered the consequences.

Leave a comment

Filed under Supernatural

Tagged as , , , , , , ,