Fragment 26

In this series of "Fragments" I want to discuss the topic of the "True Self". This has been viewed by many as the completion of the Great Work. I am not one of those, but it is an important part of the Great Work. Gurdjieff is a prime example of this attitude. This can also be observed in the more mystical systems, where it is called the creation of the light body. The "True Self" and the "Light Body" are the same thing. To understand how this is done, we must first look at rhe raw materials that we use to build the "True Self". To do this we must go back to our first ancestors, the first hominids. This is also the time of the first Great Magical working, where humans transformed themselves. I shall be using the term "humans" instead of "hominids" for two reasons. The first is for the sake of brevity, and the second is that I do not think that we are that much different from our ancient ancestors. In this series of "Fragments" I shall be relying on two books: "The Naked Ape" by Desmond Morris and "The Origin of Consciousness in the Break Down of the Bicameral Mind" by Julian Jaynes. Both these books are dated in some ways, but it does not affect their central theses.In some instances the new findings have only helped to straighten the central theses. I can commend both books to all students of the Occult and human nature. Both are very controversial books, although written by mainline academics. The purpose of this "Fragment" is to examine the Beast. I am using the term "Beast" to refer to our animal nature orninheretence from our ancient ancestors. It is the deepest level of the unconscious. We are descendents of Beasts not Angels. At this point I shall offer a diversion by way of a theory of mine, of which I am not totally convinced of; that the unconscious of humans is the unconscious of previous humans. That consciousness has many overlapping layers. The example being that of Classical mythology. Classical mythology was the conscious mind of the early Greeks and Romans and is in many ways the unconscious mind of modern humans. After all much of S. Freud's psychology is an interpretation of Classical mythology. As I said I am not convinced of this theory. I can be talked out of all my theories, but some would take more talking than others, this one would not take much talking for me to give it up. So let us examine the Beast. The Beast is not an amorphous entity of desires, like Freud's Id. The Beast has definite outlines, although there are some ambiguities. As we shall see these ambiguities are the product of humans first Great Magical working. The Beast is the default setting of human nature, it is what takes over which civilization falls apart. To get a glimpse of what happened we must go back to the end of the Miocene age when humans and chimpanzees split. So why the split between humans, and chimps? I have a theory that is all my own, so no one else should be blamed for it, and it has no scientific backup. It is my speculation. The theory is that before the split there were apes that were good at being apes, and apes that were not good at being apes. The apes that were good at being apes became the chimps, and the apes that were not good at being apes became the humans. A parallel would be the split between domestic dogs, and wolves The wolves that were not good at being wolves became domestic dogs. To stretch the parallel further, I think humans and chimps split for a similar reason. That the first humans were scavenger apes. Humans were the weaker apes. This is why when the forests receded; it was humans that got pushed out into the grasslands. They did not decide to leave the safety of the forest. Being a scavenger ape did give humans some advantages. Even today humans will eat almost anything that does not kill them or make them sick. Of course there were also great disadvantages to being pushed out of the forests. The main one being is becoming prey to the apex predators: the big cats. Although in a strange way this also worked to humans advantage, humans were forced to innovate. This is the time of the first Great Magical working. Humans transformed from typical primates into predators. Of course, all mistakes were severely punished. This kept the human population small. This is the reason that humans evolved so fast. The first Great Magical working was paid for in blood and death. The primate became a predator. This is what led to the ambiguous nature of the Beast. The ambiguity in the Beast is between typical primate and predator. These are the two aspects of human nature that cannot be ignored: the hierarchical imperative and the territorial imperative. Any political theory that does not allow for these two aspects is doomed to failure. The dual nature of the Beast as primate and predator has affected these two aspects. So let us return to our earliest ancestors and our cousins the chimps to see what we can learn about the Beast. We shall first examine the hierarchical imperative. Both humans and chimps are obsessed with status. Both groups have a well defined pecking order. For chimps status is defined by accessibility to females. This should sound familiar. We are never surprised when a powerful man has a mistress or many mistresses. The King Kong ape can have any female in the group; Polygamy is the natural state of the primate. And here arises one of the ambiguities in the nature of the Beast. This was modified into pair bonding when humans became predators. Monogamy is the result of humans becoming predators. Thus we can observe one of the ambiguities in the Hierarchical imperative. The other imperative is the territorial imperative. Even though chimps move about not having any fixed camp, they still move only within the troop's territory. Chimps regularly go to war with other chimp troops to expand or defend their territory. When humans became predators this changed into humans having fixed camps or lairs. The territorial imperative is mental as well as physical. This can be easily observed in academics. Even though our present day academics are always preaching equality, inclusiveness, and diversity. Just watch how viciously they defend their fields, when it is suggested someone outside their comments on their theories. Diversity and inclusiveness are resisted like a wild beast would resit an invader into their territory. To sum up their are two different natures in the Beast, sometimes they conflict, and sometimes they compliment each other. Here we have the raw material of the Self.

Fragment25

I have some odds, and ends on Magical thinking That I wish to tie up this "Fragment". So let us begin with some terminology. When one practices Magical thinking one is building the Magical mind. This is often called the Astral temple. A better term than "Astral Temple" would be "Astral Mill" . The reason being is that the Magical mind is always active, trying to fit in each new experience, new pieces of knowledge into the chains of correspondences. As Crowley said it becomes a habit after a while. When this happens you have built the Astral Temple. The Magical mind is the ability to think in long chains of correspondences. This is also connected to the Occult teaching of the Long Body. The long body is your mind and body extended through time. It is the history of all the changes your body and mind has gone through from birth to death. An easy way to think about the Long Body is to use the Light Motorcycles in the film "Tron". The Light Motorcycles in the film leave a trail of light or force behind them. As I said the Long Body contains all the changes of mind, body, and place in one's life. When one sets up a system of correspondences (Tarot, Astrology, etc.) one gains access to the Long Body. The Magos gains access to his-her past, and sometimes the future. This is the basis of divination. Magical thinking gives one access to the energies that shape our future. This is also why Magical thinking is so helpful in finding one's true self and true will. It also gives the aspirant protection from the people that are trying to manipulate him-her. The Magos views the energies that have shaped him-her. Thus giving the Magos insight on the way these energies shall affect the future. Remember the future is not determined or one who knows the active energies in their life. This does not mean the Magos never makes mistakes. Even if one has a presentiment of the future, there are all kinds of practical ways to go wrong. The future is the interplay of energies, all is process. There are no nouns, only verbs. The Long Body is the physical, and mental history of the individual extended through time. The teaching of the Long Body is a good way to remind ourselves that we are a process and not a thing at rest. We are always becoming, never finished. When one gains access to the Long Body he-she is powered by one's own energies, instead of relying on energies from outside to power one's thinking. I do not want anyone to think this is easy. It can be terrifying. The Astral Mill releases energies that have been long repressed. It also makes one realize all the lies we tell ourselves. This is why many people get scared when meditating or practicing Magic. The sigils are opened and the energies rise into consciousness. This is the esoteric meaning behind the myth of the Genie in the bottle. The myth of the Genie in the bottle seems to have originated with an old myth about King Solomon. That Solomon summoned demons to help him build the Great Temple. After the Temple was built Solomon imprisoned the demons in containers sealed with a sigil. And when the sigil is broken the Genie or demon is set free.The demons or Genies were imprisoned with a sigil because these energies can be extremely dangerous. This story is an analogy of the repressed and hidden material in our psyche which is also sealed with a sigil. This is of course. why we normally stay away from subjects can open the sigils. Like the myth of the Genie in the bottle these energies can bring great power. Whether they bring great pain, great power, or both the Magos is forced to confront the repressed energies and lies he-she has told them selves. The Magos gains energy in two ways, the first way is access to the repressed energies, and also by freeing up the energy that was used to maintain the regression. When the repressed energies are set free they come forth much like a Genie out of the bottle. The trouble is the freed energies more often resemble the Genie in the film "Wishmaster" than the Genie in "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad". The goal is to integrate these energies into consciousness. Don't expect to come out unscathed. This is also the origin of the Magical trope of trading sanity for knowledge. To conclude I shall offer some practical advice, which can be safely ignored. The purpose of the Magical Mind is to gain content. Only when your spells or ritual have content can they work. In simpler terms to make more and powerful associations. This practical advice shall also be a good example of what I mean by content. We all have our magical tools, the basic four being; the wand, chalice. the pentacle, and the athame (dagger). One can get all to these items from one of the many Occult supply stores. The trouble is most of these items from an occult supply store have no content, and they are not individualized. So what I am suggesting is to pick an Occult tool that has some content for you. An example would be the athame, instead of buying an ornamental athame from a store consider picking a dagger that has some content built in. This can be done in a number of ways. One can pick a knife that has been in his-her family for a long time. Bayonets make great athames. They already have associations with attack and defense. Another suggestion is consider buying a reproduction of a historical dagger. The Roman Pugio would be a good example as it already comes with content. The Pugio was the dagger that was used to assassinate Caesar. And the Pugio has associations with the Roman gods. If one is working with the Egyptian gods, a sickle sword would be a good pick. And for the Greek gods, a Spatha, the Celtic gods,a dirk, and so on. Next "Fragment"shall be a change of subject. Blessed Be!!

Fragment 24

I want to continue the discussion of the two types of thinking. I thinking that a very brief historical perspective may help to make illustrate the difference between the two types of thinking. Magical thinking is humans' natural way to thinking. It is the thinking of the unconscious. The unconscious does not use Logical thinking. If there is any doubt, about this, all one has to do is observe their dreams. Humans became conscious by using Magical thinking. The ancient myths are proof of this. For early humans there were no voices in the head, instead the voices had an external source. There was no inside-outside (no subject-object) distinction. The Egregores were all identified with external sources. The voices of the Gods and Goddess were humans first conscious experience. The emotions , and feelings were given a voice. Literacy of course, accelerated the change to modern consciousness. The idea of Logical thinking first appeared with the figure of Ankenaten (c. 1335 B.C.), along with his dream of unifying everything into an all encompassing One. The Law on Non-contradiction first broke into consciousness. Although it had a long way to go. It was not until Parmenides that the Law of Non-contradiction achieved the form we know today. It should come as no surprise, that this is when polytheism started to decline, (remember Aten is a jealous God) and atheism was born. We know that both Plato and Aristotle argued for the use of reason. Which of course would not have been necessary if everyone was already using reason, This is also the time Occult or Hermetic philosophy began to appear. This was the very beginning of the split between exoteric and esoteric philosophy. The Stoics and were working on grammar, and logic; the exoteric philosophers. Hermetic philosophy was being developed in the mystery cults and schools. Christianity tried to heal this split, between mystics and Scholastics, but it seemed to only make things worse. I do not want to spend much time here on the ancient or medieval world. Maybe I shall tackle it in upcoming "Fragments". Human thinking is always a combination of both, but one side predominates when it comes to truth.The battle was on between Mgocal and Logical thinking. So now let us moI believe these six thinkers were the most important. Descartes, Spinoza, and Locke had already dismissed magical thinking in their philosophies, and only regarded Magical thinking as a source of errors. They regarded Magical thinking as superstition. The victory had already been won when they wrote. Calvin was the great foe of superstition, and thought society should be run by Logical thinking. Note, Logical thinking does not imply tolerance. Calvin is the archetype of the reformer in Western history. Make no mistake, all social reformers, activists, social justice warriors have Calvin as their ideal, whether they know it or not. Calvin's vision was of a Christian republic, composed of autonomous citizens. Yes, Calvin could have written the U.S. Constitution. Calvin realized education was the key to realizing his vision. To impose Logical thinking on young children. so much so, that they would think there is no other type of thinking. But, Calvin could not do everything. This is where Peter Ramus entes our story. Ramus was the great educational reformer. He succeeded so well, that we take his works for granted, and so they are seldom read anymore. When Ramus discovered that he and Calvin had the same vision, he converted from Catholicism to Calvinism. Ramus in his books draws up the blueprint on how to teach Logical thinking. With Ramus Logical thinking became compartmentalized thinking. All subjects are to have strong boundaries, and not be allowed to bleed into other subjects. Everything must be kept separate and distinct. In his writings Ramus is constantly warning about subjects bleeding into each other, This can still be observed in academia, where no one is allowed to interfere in another field of study. Every subject, and idea has to be sharply defined with rigid borders. In simple terms, the world was reduced to discrete bits of data, that are combined or classified by function and origin. All relations and definitions must be universalized, the only true knowledge is objective knowledge. Although like Calvin he does make exceptions for religion. As I said before Ramus's triumph was so great that no one reads his books today. His philosophy of education is taken as a given. Mersenne is a little different than the first two members of the triad. He is a cross between the gossip columnist that everyone reads, and the intellectual clearing house of the early 17rh, century. Mersenne was also a fierce advocate for Logical and compartmentalized thinking. Mersenne was a precursor of The " Royal Society." He corresponded with all the major thinkers, and most of the minor thinkers of his time. So when he launched his attack on Magical thinking everyone listened. Let us now turn to the other side of the dispute. Everyone knows the tragic story of Bruno, as a martyr, but few know that he was no martyr for science. Bruno was not burned at the stade because he held the Copernican theory of the Planetary system. Somehow the rumor got started that Bruno had something to do with astronomy, which he did not. Bruno was burned because of his Hermetic philosophy, not because of anything to do with astronomy. Bruno saw himself as a Hermetic messiah, that was going to unify Europe with a new Hermetic religion. Bruno was burned for heresy. not science. We must move along. Bohme is one of the greatest thinkers in history, and the first psychonaut in modern Western history. He voyaged deep into inner space, trying to put the scorched fragments of his psyche back together. He did not come back unscathed. Bohmw proposed a Magical system that is both a reformation of the Kabbalah and the Hermetic philosophy up to his time. A system of chains of correspondences held together in an emotional-informational nexus of his Source Spirits or natural properties. The first five of his Source Spirits are Egregores: the council in the head. Bohme states unequivocally that the only way to understand reality is through Magical thinking. He was also a fierce critic of Calvin, and Calvinism. He compares Calvin and his followers to logic chopping lawyers for the Devil. And now we come to our final champion of Magical thinking: Robert Fludd. The saga of Fludd is the decisive victory of Logical thinking in Western history. When Mersenne launched his attack on Magical thinking, Fludd was the target. It was Mersenne that landed the decisive blow against Magical thinking. Mersenne did not just argue Magical thinking was wrong, but that it was insane. And the world listened. From then on Magical thinking really did become Occult philosophy. Magical thinking was driven underground, and written out of the official history of ideas. This is not to say Occult philosophy, and practice disappeared, the tradition lives under the radar of the official education and history that is taught in academia. Breaking through during times of crisis; like today.

Fragment 23

A strange thing has happened to me, since I started writing the "Fragments" that being people are asking me for advice on magic. Most of the questions boil down to two questions: "Why is my Magic not working?" and "How can I feel closer to my God or Goddess?". There is an answer, probably not the answer that a lot of people are going to like, because it involves work. An analogy with chess should prove illustrative here. Most coffee house players , and club players want to get good enough to challenge Masters and Grandmasters. The problem being they are looking for an easy fix. So they read books on openings, and middle game tactics (Stock sacrifices and such). This will help some, but is not the answer, if one wants to become an elite player. To be in the upper echelons of chess, one must be able to calculate many moves in advance. This of course, involves hard work, much like doing math homework. This is why the great chess teacher. S.Tarrasch and the Russian school of chess start with the endgame. For most people there least favorite part of the game. The endgame is all calculation. Back to magic. The aspirant in magic has to change or develop a way of thinking. This is what J. Bohme calls magical thinking. So what is magical thinking? Humans use predominantly two types of thinking. I will call these types: logical thinking and magical thinking. (In my philosophical writings I refer to "magical thinking" as "mythological thinking". So what is the difference? The short answer is that Logical thinking depends on the Law of noncontradiction (Aten), it connects events, objects, etc. by origin and function. The second type of thinking (Magical thinking) which is also the older way of thinking connects events, objects, etc. by chains of correspondence. We of course use a mixture of the two types of thinking throughout our days. When we are involved in standardized activities such as: driving, working, taking tests, etc. we are using logical thinking. We follow rules that are universalized, and have clarity. Driving is a good example. The rules of the road are the same for everyone, and the connections are made by function. The function of driving is to get safely from one place to another. This is what determines the rules of driving, everything is objective. Biology would be another example, and also shows the contradiction in logical thinking. Animals can be grouped either by function or origin (genetic closeness); producing different sets of categories using the same animals or species depending on whether one used function or origin. So how does one decide which category to use? Well it all comes down to which one works for the goal one wants to achieve. It should be easy to see that Logical thinking depends on pragmatic thinking. The trouble is the pragmatic theory of truth is not logical. Objective thinking is supposed to lead to one absolute Truth. Not a contingent truth based on the goal of an individual. In simpler terms there is no one absolute Truth. Only truths based on the goals of an agent. This is not to say logical thinking is not useful, it is incredibly useful, but does not lead to Truth. The only reliable judge of theories and actions is whether they work.Both types of thinking are subject to the Pragmatic theory of truth. To reiterate the point one more time logical thinking is incredibly useful, but does not have any monopoly on truth. So let us move to Magical thinking. Magical thinking is connecting objects, people, places, events, etc. in chains of correspondences. Instead of using origin, and function to connect things, things are connected by emotional, and physical resemblances. This was the purpose of all those elaborate memory systems from the Renaissance, the Quabblah, Tarot, and Astrology, the system of wheels in Raymond Lull. As I said before in magical thinking things are classified and combined by physical and emotional resemblances. A quote from Aleister Crowley should make this clear:(from Letter F in "Magick without Tears": As I walked about, I made a point of attributing everything I saw to its appropriate idea. I would walk out of the door of my house and reflect that the door is Daleth, and the house Beth; now the word "dob" is Hebrew for "bear", and has the number 6, which refers to the Sun. Then you come to the fence of your property and that is Ceth-number 8, number of Tarot trumps 7, which is the Chariot, so you begin to look about for your car. Then you come to the street and the first house you see is number 86 and that Elohim, and is built of red brick which reminds you of Mars and the Blasted Tower, and so on. As soon as this sort of work which can be done in a quite light hearted spirit, becomes habitual, you will find your mind running naturally in this direction, and will be surprised at your progress. Never let your mind wander from the fact that your Quabalah is not my Quabalah: a good many things which I have noted may be useful to you, but you must construct your own system so that it is a living weapon in your hand." The above quote should clear up what it is to think Magically. I know the next question is "Why does it work?" To be successful one must have both content and visualization. Magical thinking develops these talents. like calculation improves one's chess. I must explain what I mean by content. F. H. Bradley, one of the most subtle thinkers in history, drew a distinction between content and clarity. Logical thinking has clarity; to achieve clarity one must get rid of content. In other words when ideas have strong borderline qualities they keep the thing thought about discrete.(Strong separation of ideas) For Logical thinking knowledge is a series of discrete data. Mathematics is a perfect example. Numbers have almost no content. This is why they can be applied to almost anything.,making math so useful. On the other hand, content is identified with emotion; remember physical and emotional resemblences. These physical and emotional resemblences shoul come together in long chains of correspondences. There should have been no problem in observing this in the above quote from Crowley. Logecal thinking is a search for clearly defined discreet ideas. One should have no problem recognizing this in Descartes' and Spinoza's search for adequate ideas. (For those interested Descartes makes this very clear in "The Objections and Replys") Relation and identification of ideas with emotions is Magical thinking. One sacrifices clarity for content. This type of thinking gives one the feeling and emotional commitment that is needed to practice Magic. In Magic one must feel an object or event, not just know it. This is why women have an initial advantage in Magic; , probably explains why there are so many witches. As Novalis said: "Women demand the intellectual be sensualized, Men demand the sensual be intellectualized." I will offer some advice that can safely be disregarded; start with one system and build on it before adding more. Build on it as you feel ready, don't overwhelm yourself. And you will find like the chess player that learns to calculate your Magic shall get better. To use the chess analogy one more time learn how to calculate 3 moves ahead before trying 10. Next "Fragment I shall continue to examine the two types of thinking.

Fragment 22

I had a lot of trouble deciding on who to write about next. So many occult figures went through my mind, among the most persistent were G.I. Gurdjieff, J. Evola, Iamblichus, and Empedocles, All of the above figures have helped me in some way on my path. I finally decided on Jacob Bohme (1575-1624). I had some reservations on writing about Bohme. This is because of his obscure language, and he had so much to say on so many topics. I have been pondering the writings of Bohme for decades, so I feel confident enough to write the briefest of introductions to his system. To keep this brief I am just going to go over what I believe is the heart of Bohme's system, which is the Fire and Water Wheels. When reading Bohme one must keep in mind that he holds to the doctrine of the microcosm and the macrocosm. So everything he says about the godhead also applies to humans and nature. Bohme was the greatest psychonaunt in Western history, no one voyaged deeper into inner space deeper than Bohme, excepting maybe me. This is why his language is so difficult. He did not possess the language of modern psychology; not only was he before Freud and Jung, he wrote before Kant, and Fichte. And he did influence all the above.To overcome this deficit Bohme used the language that was available, including Alchemy, theology, and when that failed he either coined his own terms, or resorted to imagery. This is the reason for the difficulty of his writings. Bohme had several visions or illuminations during his life. The most famous one when a ray of sunlight reflected off a pewter dish and hit him. It must be made clear these visions were not like Swedenborg's where supernatural creatures conversed with him. Instead they were like the "aha" moments we all have, just a lot more intense, and they came to him in the form of visual imagery. Those moments when everything comes together. Like most intellectual figures of his time, the Copernican revolution had a beg effect on him. Bohme did accept the Sun centered planetary system, The difference between Bohme and his contemporaries is not so much did it make him doubt God's existence, but God's goodness. His early visions did not give him much joy, instead they only seem to aggravate his doubts. Bohme was a deeply depressed and tormented man for much of his life. The interaction of good and evil is a central issue in his system. His answer was that God did contain all evil, but that evil is never actualized in God, only in the fallen world. So let us examine Bohme's vision of God. Bohme divides God into seven Fountain Spirits or Natural Properties. The former in his early writings the latter in his more mature writings. I prefer the term "Fountain Spirits" ,because it better captures the dynamism of Bohme's system better. The only other issue I need to address before examining Bohme's theory of the Godhead is that he like a lot of Occultist (G.I. Gurdjieff and Robert Fludd) uses the octave as a framework for his ideas. For Bohme the best image of God is seven concentric wheels turning in all directions at once, each wheel has spokes that meet at a central hub. Each wheel represents one of the Fountain Spirits. The central hub is the God within, the homunculus; the little man in the head that either approves or prohibits thoughts and actions. The hub is of course, identified with the Son of the Trinity. The spokes all meeting at the hub. create the hub. The hub is generated by all the Fountain Spirits working together. So let us begin with the Fire Wheel. The Fore Wheel is the first three Fountain Spirits and represents the Father of the Trinity. The first Fountain Spirit is Attraction. What Bohme means by attraction a pulling together. Gravity might be a better term. This pulling together is a separating from the whole. It is the act of becoming an individual of defining oneself in opposition to the whole. Attraction is the prerequisite of both knowledge and evil. Separation as a principle of knowledge should be familiar to every student of philosophy, it is Descartes and Spinoza'a search for adequate ideas. To know something we must be able to distinguish it. This separation also causes pain. Like the tree in Eden. For Bohme consciousness starts with pain. The next Fountain Spirit is Repulsion. Repulsion is the act of tying to unite. Bohme identifies Repulsion with love and desire. Bohme does use these terms in a different way than common usage. In simple terms we could say aversion and attraction is the tension between the first two Fountain Spirits. This is the beginning of our emotional life; what we want and what we do not want. It should be noted that Bohme puts Attraction first. For Bohme the mother of consciousness is pain. He would have agreed with Fichte that if there were an all powerful entity that could fulfill all it's desires, the entity would not be consciousness. We only think when we are frustrated or in pain. This brings up the deficit in Bohme's God. The only thing God does not know is himself. And since he is infinite trying to know himself becomes an eternal process with no rest or end point. God is a verb, not a noun for Bohme. Back to the third Fountain Spirit; Rotation. Rotation is the alternating of the first two Fountain , such as frustration and desire, and repeat. This if the Fire Wheel, it is heat and smoke, but no light. It is a state of conflict or anxiety. This leads into the Water Wheel, and the fourth Fountain Spirit: Lightning.This happens when the rubbing together of the first two Fountain Spirits results in a spark of insight. Lightening is that sudden inspiration or "aha" moment when conflicts and anxieties come together in a solution or course of action. This leads us to the next Fountain Spirit: Water and Wisdom. This is when the energies of Lightning are integrated or purified by quenching their evil or inharmonious elements. Water and Wisdom is identified with the Son of the Trinity, along with Lightening. These first five Fountain Spirits are the Egregores, or counselors as Bohme says it. They are the conflicting voices in the head that are harmonized and unified in Water and Wisdom, that is when the process works right. This leads us to Tone the next Fountain Spirit.This sixth Fountain Spirit is identified with the Holy Spirit. This is the concept when an idea is ready to be put into practice. Leading to the last Fountain Spirit: Kingdom. Kingdom is the material world. The course of action that is put into practice. A simple example would be before one builds a boat, one must have the idea and a plan how to build the boat. (Tone) The actual building of the boat is Kingdom. Kingdom also represents the unconscious aspect of God. We never know with certainty how are plans will turn out, and what unknown effects could be produced. The Wheel of God has now made a complete revolution and is back at the beginning. One last note on Bohme for those who want to read him. Bohme frequently changes his terms, and his system is constantly evolving in his writings from the first book to the last..

Fragment 21

The next Magos to be examined is Joachim of Fiore (c.1135-1202). Joachim is a white Magos like Gandhi. So far we have looked at one White Magos Gandhi, and one Black Magos Peladan. One of my reasons for examining important Occult figures from the past, is to be able to use them as examples in future "Fragments". Now that we have examined both a White and a Black Magos, it should be illustrative of the difference between White and Black Magic to compare them. The White Magos is outward oriented , he-she identifies with an outward entity, whether it be an institution, an abstraction, or some spiritual realm that is out there somewhere. In simple terms the Egregores of the White school of Magic are always exhorting you to identify with something bigger than your self, and the same Egregores often add that you should be honored to sacrifice your self to whatever that bigger thing is. It should be easy to recognize Gandhi as a White Magos. Gandhi totally identified his self with the Nation-State of India. It should be noted that Gandhi was also instrumental in creating the Egregore of modern India. The Black Magos is inward orientated, he-she is seeking to become more themselves, to make your create your self. And to free your self from outward influences, such as: institutions, abstractions, and Egregores that claim to possess some Paradisaical realm to reward one with if you do their bidding. In simple terms the Egregores of the Black school of Magic are always exhorting you to work on yourself, and to free your self from the sigils that have been imposed on you from outside entities that seek to control you. There should be no problem recognizing Peladan as a Black Magos. Peladan's credo was to make your self into a masterpiece. I will have much more to say about the difference of White and Black magic in future "Fragments". This brings me to another topic that I want to address before moving to Joachim. That is the idea of the Occult War. (Another topic I will have much more to say about in future "Fragments".) The Occult War is the war to control how people think. The battlefield of the Occult War is the war of the voices in everyone's head. It is the war between Egregores or gods. As I have said before, if you control the voices in a person's head, you control the person.There are entities that are always trying to control people. The people that devote their lives to this was are called "Priests". I am referring to more than Christian Priests, although they are a perfect example of what I am talking about. Priests devote their lives to an Egregore, its promotion and maintenance. They give up their life force and bodies to their Egregore. In many ancient languages the literal translation of "Priest" is "God's body". The difference between a Magos and a Priest is that Priests are usually unconscious. When I say unconscious I do not mean that a Priest does not know the god that he serves, but probably does not know the real aims of the god he serves. And may be unconscious of the reasons why he serves. The term "Magos" I reserve for those who have made a conscious decision. As I hinted at in the last "Fragment" astral entities follow a rule of reciprocity. The example of the last "Fragment" was the Vampire Moths which feed off of a person's creative motivation and in return give euphoria, and megalomania. The more energy one geves to a god or Egregore the more one receives back, even if it is just mental illness. For the White gods this usually translates into a sense of belonging to something bigger, a sense of purpose, and some sort of reward after death, if you do their bidding. This promise of paradise is of course a lie. A bigger lie is the promise of a Utopian or Paradisaical society here on Earth. This leads me into my last topic before turning to Joachim and my bias against Joachim's philosophy. Joachim's thought centers around the two things I dislike the most about Christianity. They are the end is always near, and we should be alarmed about it, and the creation of a Utopian society in the material realm. That humans collaborating with God can create the New Jerusalem on Earth. So without further ado, let us look at Joachim of Fiore. Joachim stated out as a Cistercian monk, but was allowed to separate himself to found he own order, and monastery. Of course Joachim wa the Abbot of the new monastery, and the leader of the new order. Joachim is primarily known as a prophet. A revalator of the end of the age, and Herald of the new golden age. The reign of the Paraclete. Joachim did not like the title of prophet, preferring to view himself as gifted with Spiritual Intelligence, wherein he was able to expound and expand on the clues in Scripture regarding the future and the dawn of the age of the Paraclete. It also should be noted that Joachim did not use the terms "age' or 'period", instead he used the term "status". The status of the Paraclete is the coming Utopian age of the Holy Spirit. This is the heart of Joachim's teaching. To understand Joachim's teaching we must understand his method. For Joachim the Trinity is the key to everything, including history. In practice Joachim's method was hard and intense study of scripture and occasionally the Church Fathers until illumination of the meaning came in a vision. The illumination came in the form of a vision of symbols, and imagery. Joachim attempted to translate this imagery into diagrams. These diagrams are found in his books, some are more successful than others, many are compelling. It must be said he did have a gift for spiritual imagery, and symbols. Joachim does seem to have gotten one prophecy right, even though there was no new Utopian age, that is the founding of two new monastic orders. The founding of the Franciscan order, and the Dominican order were taken as the fulfillment of this prophecy. I quote from a useful book on Joachim, Marjorie Reeves "Joachim of Fiore and the Prophetic Future": These are essentially transitional intermediate orders, one of a hermit type to agonize for the Church in tribulation on the Mountain top, the other a preaching order to labour in the world." Joachim had great expectations for monks. Joachim's main interest was history, and the end of the World as we know it. You might say he is the Spiritual Godfather of all Apocalyptic movements As I said before the Trinity was the key to everything. So it should come as no surprise that he divided history into three ages; the age of the Father, the age of the Son, and the age of the Holy Spirit. As the reader has probably already guessed the age of the Father was from Adam and Eve to Jesus Christ, we are in the second age the age of the Son, and the third age is about to start the age of the Holy Spirit the coming Utopian age. Each age is dominated by a certain class, the age of the Father by Kings and Queens, the age of the Son by Priests, and the coming age of the Holy Spirit will be dominated by Monks, and society shall be an extension of the monastery. Joachim was a Christian communist in the age of the Paraclete everything is communal, shared and shared alike. This teaching took hold in the Franciscan order. Even Bonaventure believed there would be a perfect order of Monks signifying the Seraphim the highest order of angels. This tripartite division of history is the heart of Joachim's teaching. It should be clear that even though the person of Joachim is forgotten his ideas live on. The end is always near, In our age we have the global warming scare, the Mayan calendar, the final Revolution of Marxism, etc. The idea of the tripartite division of history is of course still alive and well. It is the Ancient, Medieval and Modern breakdown of history Even though this is an awful way to break history into parts. It groups together people that did not have much in common except the time they lived. An example would be the cultures of the Bronze age (Assyrians, Sumerians Egyptians, etc.) are grouped with the cultures that arose after the Collapse of the Bronze age (Greeks, Persians, Romans, etc.). The trouble is in thought the cultures that arose after the Bronze age have more in common with the present age than they do with the cultures of the Bronze age. The tripartite division of history is not only canonical in academia it is also the heart of Marxism and Progressiveness that see history culminating in a coming Utopia. Joachim's ideas are still very much alive and still with us. Joachim was a very successful warrior in the Occult War!

Fragment 20

In this "Fragment" I shall continue to examine important Magical Personalities of the past, and then shall switch topics for some hard earned practical advice. So let us begin our examination of a Magos totally unlike Gandhi yet a true Magos that sought to find his true-will, thus finding his true-self. Where Ghandhi's interests were political, and material,this Magi's interests were theoretical and artistic. So much so that in the book I am basing this essay on he says "if you want to be rich; forget this book." In these critical essays I an writhing, I am hoping to illustrate the path to Self-hood is not a one size fits all proposition. Also hoping to use some of the personalities I am examining as example in future "Fragments". The one size fits all spirituality is a lie of White Magic. The Collectivist dream of melting into an indistinguishable One. So without further ado. Before S.L. McGregor Mathers, Before Aleister Crowley, and before Gurdjieff; there was Josephin Peladan (1858-1918) one of the most important figures of the French Occult Revival of the Nineteenth Century. Peladan, Pappus, and Stanislas de Guaita form the triad of the last phase of the French Occult Revival. Peladan was also served as a role model for the Twintith Century triad, of Mathers, Crowley, and Gurdjieff. Peladan was flamboyant, outrageous, and brilliant. He was both a Magos, and a leader in the Symbolist art movement. Peladan's two passions of Magic and Art complemented. and enhanced each other. He wrote novels, history, and art criticism.The book that this "Fragment" concerned with is his Occult-Art manifesto " How to Become a Mage: I am using the English translation of "How to Become a Mage" translated and annoted by K.K. Albet with Jean-Loues De Biasi, forwarded by John Micheal Greer (Lewellyn 2019) this book should be on every Occultist's book shelf, as well as being read. I have chosen to include quite a few quotations from Peladan, because Peladan is his own best spokesman. Peladan was a follower of the L.H.P. before the L.H.P. even had a mane, he was pioneer. Let us go to Peladan's own words (Pg. 107): "Without being able to expound the theory in this book, I teach that a blessed outcome has no fixed destination , that the gravity that draws one upward is beyond time: the seeder is not resolved in God, but gravitates towards increasingly and without ceasing. The more one advances into the light, the more one is oneself, that is to say individual. This departs from the claims of many theosophists that the goal of evolution is a sort of nirvana or collective divinity" What a clear statement of the L.H.P.; that the goal is not to become one with the One. That the more we follow our True Will we shall find our True-Self. Peladan is no collectivist. He despised movements that led to standardizing people. There is no collective salvation, or melting into some cosmic feeling, instead the more you differentiate your self the closer you get to divinity. The one size fits all version of spirituality is a lie of White magic. Another quote (Pg.3): What is the aim of life?: it can only be for the thinking man, the occasion and the means of making a masterpiece from the block of the soul that God has given him to work upon..." So not lit the Christian language put you off. Peladan describes himself as Catholic decadent. Like all of us he had to use the language and framework that was available at the time. Peladan's message was to strip off all the encrustations and chains (sigils) and to become a Self. A Self apart and distinct from the mob. another occult truth that the above quote reveals is there is final destination. There is no made it. The work on Self is a never ending process. This is a truth that a lot of Occultists have either never learned, or have forgotten. Self-hood is not a noun, but a verb. It is a continual process. This mistake is illustrated in the later life of Gurdjieff where he descended into alcoholism and sadness. Gurdjieff had forgotten that the work never ends,there is no "made it". The moral for us is that whenever you meet some self proclaimed Magos, or Sage that tells you he-she has made it; alarm bells should go off in your psyche. Let us take a look at Peladan's views of pop culture, the media, and its influence (Pg.157): "To the degree that you can put up with the music of William Tell, the theater of the Scribe, the company of girls, the ambiance of a bar, the contents of the news, idle talk--you are nothing but an animal that is to say a Parisian" By Parisian substitute cosmopolitan city dweller. Another quote (Pg.33): "Moreover you read the news, which is idiocy itself. No perceptiveness is possible among journalists, they lie all the time about everything" To become a Magos (a Self) one must pry off and tear out the sigils that bind and control you. A very painful process, from what I have heard it is akin to pulling barbed hooks that have been festering in your flesh for years, or decades. You must find your True Will (passions) and follow them to your True Self. To create yourself: this is Magic. As Peladan says (Pg. 51: "forge one's own sword, and suit of magical armor." We must strip off the sigils that control us to do actions that are against, or frustrate our True Will. One more quote from Peladan on Necromancy; I cannot resist(Pg. 85): "The commerce with departed great ones, meditation on the texts of Moses, of Pythagoras, of Plato, and the Church Fathers, this is the only necromancy, and the great secret of power of magic." I was of course beyond pleased to get confirmation of my theory of necromancy from Peladan. As I said in the beginning of this "Fragment" I have chosen to let Peladan speak in his won words, he is far more eloquent than me. Peladan like all of us was a child of his age, he did not completely escape prejudices and attitudes of his age, but tried, and pointed to the path to Self-Hood. None of us can completely escape the prejudices and attitudes of our age, Peladan shows us that the work is worth the effort to liberate oneself. As Peladan clearly recognized there is no final destination only the continual process to greater awareness and freedom. Peladan was a colorful figure, who dressed flamboyantly, and promoted the Arts. His style of dressing and living was a true reflection of his Self, and quest. Like the Symbolist movement his credo was a the search for something greater. This examination has not been exhaustive it is only meant to whet the interest of aspirants Peladan is well worth study. To finish this "Fragment" I am going to talk about some hard earned practical knowledge, and since it is simple it is easy to forget. The advice is do the Banishing Ritual after all major and minor magical operations. There are astral entities that are attracted to and feed off magical power. The Rosicrucian Imperator David Griffin compares them to moths, to which I shall only add one addition and call them Vampire Moths. Griffin says they are like moths to a flame, but instead of being destroyed by the flame they feed on it. If you do not like the word "astral" feel free to substitute, metaphysical, thought, etc.; I need to say something about the astral realm before continuing with the Vampire Moths. The Astral realm is best thought of as a state of consciousness that manifests itself in various ways. The most visible manifestation of it today is Social media. Let us take Twitter as an example. The Vampire Moths can be thought of as old tweets that one has forgotten; but if the author of the tweets all of the sudden becomes famous, the tweets come back to life. To feed off the power of the fame. And as we can clearly see often consume the energy of the fame. Another way to think about the Vampire Moths is as empty abstractions that live in the unconscious that can all of the sudden become conscious when the right emotion is present. Like a nervous breakdown. Another thing Griffin got right was that there is an emotional sphere that circles the Globe, although it is not of uniform thickness. This is of course, the life world of Husserl, or Dasien of Heidegger. And in this emosphere live various entities. I can hear the scientific skeptic saying something like "if there were no humans there would be no emosphere, but this is like saying if there was no water there would be no fish. Anyways, back to the Vampire Moths they have been described as mostly harmless, which is partly true. They do not wish to injure the host they are feeding off of, the trouble is they also have a venom. This venom is not a deadly poison, instead it is like a drug that makes one feel self important and great euphoria. In other words the venom produces megalomania. They use this venom to cover up what they take. The energy they take is one's creative drive or motivation. We have all felt a sense of exhilaration after some magical operation and have gotten lost of good ideas to work on; whether it be writing, or art, etc. Yet when the euphoria recedes we also lose the motivation to do anything. This is the Vampire Moths sucking out one's creative energy. This is one of those topics if you do not believe me try it for yourself. I would also suggest to even artists, writers, mathematicians; who don't have any interest in magic to do the banishing ritual the feeding of the Vampire Moths is not restricted to those who do magic, but to all those who do creative work. Ask anyone who does creative work how often they have come up with great ideas then lost all motivation to realize them. The Vampire Moths feed on your creativity, and give you back euphoria, and megalomania