Creating Magickal Entities: A Complete Guide to Entity Creation - David Michael Cunningham
Read it? Use it? Hear of it? Comments?

Initiation into Hermetics: Franz Bardon
Read it? Use it? Hear of it? Comments?

Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Late Medieval Ritual Magic by Claire Fanger
Read it? Use it? Hear of it? Comments?

Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts - Donald Michael Kraig
Read it? Use it? Hear of it? Comments?

Summoning Spirits: The Art of Magical Evocation - Konstantinos
Read it? Use it? Hear of it? Comments?

Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century (Magic in History) by Richard Kieckhefer
Read it? Use it? Hear of it? Comments?


Just curious and looking for feedback. I'm particularly interested in the first four on the list. Especially any comments or knowledge of the first topic of "Creating Magickal Entities".

It's my understanding that the second book, "Initiation into Hermetics" contains similar information in far more detail.

I've heard of all of them but have never read them.

Books 1, 4 and 5 are on my wishlist to read.

Yes, I've heard of some of them and even looked through the Summoning Spirits: The Art of Magical Evocation - Konstantinos quite a bit. But, I wasn't ready for that at the time. I'm sorry I don't have any reviews for you, but if you get and read any of them, I'd really appreciate you telling us how they were.

Oh Ruth, I am so passionate about my journey into the art of high magick that I can hardly contain myself.

As you well know, I’ve been knocking on the doors of the Qabalah for a few years now, trying to find the secret words and psychic thought forms that will unlock the secret passages and allow me to enter into the realm of immortal dreams. I’ve had my ups and downs, and sometimes it even seemed like all the doors are permanently sealed never to be opened. All I could do is peer at the lifeless engravings on the surface of the doors that mystically symbolize their supposed content. At one point I even thought that this might be the ultimate truth. Perhaps these doors themselves are nothing more than metaphors and riddles not unlike the Buddhist’s koans.

But recently, all that has changed. Doors are beginning to open, and the worlds contained within are not only revealing themselves, but they are also pouring out to fill my life dynamically with almost unimaginable forms of elegance, grace, and knowledge. It’s like Disneyland on steroids.

My dreamwork has also become far more lucid and meaningful. I could almost write a book about the dreams I had last night. I’ve gotten to the point where simply trying to write down a few notes falls far short of capturing the essence of the dreams. They are so vivid that they are becoming separate realities in their own right. There was a woman in one of my dreams. I’m certain that it is Raol. She was alive with spirit (unlike many of the other characters in the dream). The other dream was of Malkuth, both of the land and of the consciousness. There is so much to describe about that dream that it would be impossible to do so without writing a book that also includes vast amounts of artwork. In fact, a large part of the dream was indeed an inspiration to do precisely that. I feel that I am being asked to write a book and create artwork to go with it. Not just on Malkuth, but on the entire Qabalah experience.

There is so much to it that I’m not even sure where to begin. A vision has been planted in my brain of an entire series of books. The first book being an introduction to the Qabalah in general. With a separate book devoted to worshiping each of the consciousnesses of divine mind. It’s a humongous project that I would never consider from a practical point of view. Yet, in my dream it is being conveyed to me that there is nothing I need to do other than to manifest the very dreams themselves into artistic and scriptural reality.

There is so much more to it than I could have ever have imagined on my own. The Qabalah is an infinitely embedded fractal, not unlike the Manelbrot set, if you are familiar with this mathematical object. Yet it is the fractal nature of this consciousness that permits it to be grasped by the human mind. Learn just one small part of it, and you catch a glimpse of all of it, like a hologram. Kind of like learning a single octave on a piano allows you to play the whole instrument. The traditional Qabalah that everyone is familiar with is like a single octave of the cosmic consciousness. It continues on to infinity in all directions; as above, so below.

Moreover, I’ve also had further insights into the reflected Qabalah that came to me in a vision some time ago. That reflected Qabalah is also a part of the fractal continuing infinitely off into yet another dimension. It’s impossible for the human mind to comprehend the entire essence of the Qabalah. But that is unimportant. Because, as I’ve already stated, it is only a small piece of it that is really important for us as humans to understand.

Sorry for the rambling side-track. But it is this journey into the cosmic consciouness that has brought me toward the books listed in the OP. I thought I’d post them here to see if I could get feedback from others who may have used these. However, since I have posted this I have come to the intuitive realization that books 2 and 4 are calling to me cosmically. "Initiation into Hermetics" by Franz Bardon, and "Modern Magic" by Donald Kraig.

So these are the two books that I shall be reading and working with. From what I understand they are both designed as ‘lessons’ more so than as mere reading material. They contain actual exercises and meditations, etc. to use to achieve the desired conscious awareness and communiqué with the cosmic spirit. So these are the two books that I’m going with. And of course, I’m still using Penczak’s Temple of High Wicthcraft as a foundational abstract outline of study. I’ve been changing the rituals up quite a bit from the way that Penczak does them, but this is actually in accordance with his teachings. He encourages his students to do precisely this. The bottom line for all these spiritual teachings is that intuition trumps everything. And so it must be! For intuition is truly the only real avenue to spiritual communiqué that any human genuinely possesses.

In fact, as far as I’m concerned this was the most productive lesson that I’ve ever learned. Follow your intuition. Yes, use books for insight, knowledge, and ideas. But ultimately in the end, follow your heart. That is the key to real magick and to spiritual communiqué.

That says it all, right there.

I've missed your posts....I learn so much from them and I hope you come back with some information on the books you decided on.

Well, I got the books today.

Initiation into Hermetics: Franz Bardon

and

Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts - Donald Michael Kraig

Obviously I'm not in a position to give them an in-depth review at this point. But I can make some overall observations. Both of these books are indeed set up as lesson plans with specific exercises to be practiced and performed. So they are more like textbooks on magic rather than the type of books that you simply read through.

This applies even more strongly to "Modern Magick". It has specific instructions and exercies, along with questions at the end of each section to be sure you fully understood the lesson. This is in fact, precisely what I was looking for, so this is cool with

The authors of both of these books appear to be taking a very strong stance that what they are about to tell you is the "correct and true method for obtaining results". The mere fact that they are both so anxious to take this stance is kind of a "put off" for me. But since I'm not about to treat either book as "dogma" it's really unimportant. I'll just glean what I can from their various presentations.

Both books make strong references to the Tarot and appear to be using concepts of Tarot throughout. "Modern Magick", tends to describe Tarot almost purely form a "divination" point of view, whilst the "Initiation to Hermetics" appears to view Tarot more symbolically in a more abstract sense as just a reference for deeper concepts.

"Modern Magick" focuses on the study and magickal rituals associated with the Qabalah. "Initiation to Hermetics" appears to be more slanted toward Eastern Mystic concepts. Although from this first initial glance at these books they both appear to be covering much of the same concepts in much the same order, just from two different cultural perspectives. So in a sense they will still work well together being studied simultaneously.

The "Initiation in Hermetics" has indeed fulfilled the promise of describing entity creation. In fact, this is covered in depth giving descriptions of actual practical examples. Of course those chapters are well into the book. But since that was my main attraction to this book I jumped to that section to get a feel for where it's heading.

So now it's back to another "year-and-a-day" study program using these two books in addition to the other books that I'm already using.

I guess I won't be able to give a really good review until I've gone through them completely.

But just for the record, these aren't "armchair books" for just reading. If you're not planning on doing the exercises they probably won't be interesting to just read. Although, just from this first initial glance I would say that "Initiation into Hermetics" probably could be enjoyed just as a read without participation. But I think "Modern Magick" would be kind of silly to just read and not do the exercises because of the way it's laid out. It's really designed more like a textbook.

Once science is able to explain how magick works we will find that the same basic concepts are at work in all the different traditions of magick. But, different ways are needed for different people.

Like exercise. I may love swimming and feel great doing it and lose tons of weight while I'm at it. I would then proceed to tell everyone that swimming is the best and maybe only way to be fit and lose weight. However, another person will say the same thing about running or weight lifting.

But, from a scientific viewpoint we know that all these exercises will get you fit and help you lose weight because they burn calories and build muscle mass.

Same thing with magick. One day science will be able to tell us how exactly it works (the burning calories and building muscle mass). Then we will see that you can choose whichever tradition you like...European witchcraft, hoodoo, positive thinking, whatever. Same as swimming, running or weightlifting. Whatever floats your boat. They all get you to the same destination if done properly.

I'm in 100% agreement with you Ruth!

Both of these authors come across as being quite arrogant, IMHO. They both act like they hold the final absolute truth. I don't understand why that's such a highly contagious attitude that people seem to get when speaking to spritual issues.

I don't feel that Penczak is like that at all. On the contrary he's constantly making it clear that what he's giving he reader is merely his own personal views and perceptions. And he constantly encourages the reader to do what calls to them. Even even includes topics and sections in his books where he says things like, "The following is wisdom I learned from such-and-such a culture or folklore, it doesn't personally do anything for me, but in case you might find some value in it, here it is,... blah blah blah. So he's really sharing all he knows, even stuff that he personally doesn't feel called to.

I think if I would have started out with these other books I would just tossed them in the trash right away. However, now that Penczak has opened my eyes (thanks to you!), I can see the truths behind the BS in the writings of others.

For example today, I read quite a bit of Introduction to Hermetics. As I read it my thoughts were quite mixed, because one minute I'm finding myself saying, Yes! Yes! Yes! You do understand! And then in the next passage I'm like saying, No! No! No! You idiot! You just missed the very point you had just made!

So it's kind of an up and down type of thing.

But in truth, I'm actually getting a lot out of it. No exactly "new material" but new inspiring ways to look at concepts I'm already starting to get a handle on. So the information is indeed useful, and like you suggest with your 'working out' example. I'm sure both of these guys have learned the art of Magick and have benefitted from this knowledge. That's probably why they feel so strongly about the idea that they found the "real deal".

But like you say, there are many "real deals". It's a diamond with many facets and it looks different from every angle so everyone sees it differently. That doesn't mean that anyone is wrong, they just view it differently.

Although in a sense this Franz Bardon book can almost be said to be flat out "wrong". But that's simply because he uses a really bad analogy. He's comparing Fire with properties Electricity, and Water with properties of Magnetism, and he does this the whole way through the chapter, only at the very end does he say, "By the way, this has nothing at all to do with any scientific ideas of electricity or magnetism."

Well, if that's true then why even go there in the first place?

A bad analogy is just plain confusing, IMHO. Although in truth, since I do see the extremely abstract ideas he was attempting to get at, but that ONLY because I already have a clue. If I was just starting out I would have NO CLUE what the heck he's talking about.

I wouldn't bother touching his analogies with a ten foot broom. Why bother with stupid analogies that don't even make any sense? Why not just get down to the real nitty gritty. Fire and Water in a spiritual sense have absolutely nothing to do with Fire and Water in an Eartly sense, other than use use them as the symbols for these spiritual concepts. Just like the Moon isn't the Moon Goddess, it's just the physical symbol for the Moon Goddess and it's a fantastic symbol because of it's periodic waxing and waning, etc. And all the other properties it has such as ebbing the flow of tides, and it's soft feminine luminessence, etc. But to think that the Moon is actually the Goddess is a completely misunderstanding.

The same is true for the four elements Earth, Air, Fire and Water. These are spiritual concepts not chemical elements like the earliest physicists first thought. These are totally abstract elements:

Earth = manifestation (the ability to manifest things in the physical)

Air = Logos (the ability to think and reason, also akin to "form" or information)

Fire = Creativity (the ability to be creative and actually come up with new ideas, insights and information)

Water = Pathos (the ability to FEEL EMOTION and create the feelings of emotion in others, be it Love, apathy, hate, or whatever)

These are the four elements given to us by the Great Magi.

And Spirit is the Will. Spirit is the driving force behind it all. Spirit is what we ultimately are. We are Will. And it is through our Will (Spirit) that we bring Fire, Air, and Water together to form the Earth.

I need to write my own book on Magick. But I'm not going to claim that my view is the only view. I'm just going to say, "Here's a view for whatever it's worth". Do with it as you will.

I think it happens in many different fields, but it does seem to happen with a greater frequency in the area of esoteric studies...if that's the right title.

Success, whether it's magickal success, financial success, healing success, etc...they're all elusive to most people. So, when someone accomplishes any of these goals everyone wants to know how they did it. I think this quickly goes to their head most of the time and they feel a sense of superiority and talk as if their way were the only way. It doesn't mean they don't have a lot of good advice. But, they tend to carried away with their feelings of self importance. Penczak has somehow managed to keep his perspective and balance in spite of his fame. And, truly, I see that as one the greatest accomplishments of all.

Yes, there's a childlike innocence in Penczak's writings and presentations. I can even hear it in his audio guided meditations. He's just there for higher good of all. He's not there for "Penczak". I see this in the work of Deepak Chopra too.

Just the same, I think this book by Franz Bardon is going to ulimately give me valuable information regarding the creation of Elemental thought-forms, as well as some other magickal techniques. So I think in the long-run it will be worth the read, for me.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone though. Especially not a beginner. Maybe for someone who already understands quite a bit and also knows better than to take this guy to "literally".

It requires a lot of abstraction to get past his bull.

I haven't really gotten into the other book, "Modern Magick" yet, I might take a look at that a bit later in the week and see what's going on with that one.

I'm just starting in on Bardon's description of the Astral Plane. So I finish that part up first before I start in on the "Modern Magick" book.

Thank you for the review.

Well, I just finished the first section of the book. It was all 'readable' (i.e. no exercices yet)

The latter half was about the Astral Plane. It was a superficial discussion with promises that all of the topics mentioned would be covered in far greater detail individually in the other chapters of the book. Complete with practical examples, etc. So it was more of a promissory introduction.

He did describe the Astral Plane in terms of manifestation densities as is always done. He views the Astral plane as a less-dense physical manifestation than the physical plane we're accustom to experiencing, but he points out that this less-dense Astral plane still has its own "physical existence" in it's own right. This must be the case, because his bottom line is that everything arises from Akasha (or cosmic consciousness) which is itself nonphysical. So the Astral Plane is an intermediate state of being between the purely spiritual "mind of God" and the more dense physical reality that we exerience on a day-to-day basis.

However, he states that the Astral Plane is within the reach of our perception. It simply must be percieved through consciousness rather than through our normal physical senses. In other words, it resides in the world of the imagination. But he holds that imagination is very real in terms of consciousness.

He also recognizes a host of beings that reside in the Astral Plane not the least of which are human souls who have passed on from this life and may be awaiting reincarnation back into this life. Although he points out that there is no 'time' in the Astral Plane so the very meaning of 'awaiting' is an ambigous concept.

He speaks to the issues of elmental thought-forms (or elemental beings). He describes 'larva' and how they become attached to the 'souls' of humans and infest them. He promises to devote entire chapters for how to deal with 'larva'. He also acknowledges the existance of Faeries, Angels, Gnomes, and many other beings that inhabit the Astral plane.

Finally he moves on to other concepts such as 'truth', "god", and 'religion'. In those sections he makes some interesting associations between Yoga and the ways of the Magi.

The following are my own personal notes. These do not necessarily reflect Franz Bardon's thoughts, but these are things that came to me from reading his thoughts.

Hatha Yoga - Spirit – self control – Will – “I AM”
Karma Yoga - Earth or Assiah Yoga – Actions – Manifestation
Raja Yoga - Air or Yetzirah Yoga – Mind - Information
Jnana Yoga - Fire or Atziluth Yoga – Mysticism – Creation
Bhakti Yoga - Water or Briah Yoga – Love – Compassion

· Hatha, a practice involving bodily and breathing exercises. - opening chakras
· The Yoga of Action (Karma Yoga)
· The Yoga of Meditation (Raja Yoga)
· The Yoga of Mysticism and Philosophy (Jnana Yoga)
· The Yoga of Devotion (Bhakti Yoga)

The Spiritual Tetragrammaton (YHWH):
Earth – Omnipresence
Air – Wisdom
Fire – Omnipotence
Water – Love

As I say, these are not necessarily Bardon's association precisely, but he made similar associations and I condensed them here in a way that best fits into my previous knowledge of these things. Fortunately I'm well-versed enough in Yoga, and the Qabalah to see these connections as well.

So I've found this first section to be a useful read. I'll be moving on to the second section which begins actual exercises. But before I do that, I'm going to turn my attention to the book by Kraig on "Modern Magic" and get a feel for where's he's coming from.

Oh, one last thing. Bardon speaks to the issues of asceticism, since this is a popular thing amoung many religoins, especially in the far east. He rejects the idea of extreme asceticism suggesting that this is actually unhealthy both physically and spiritually. He believes that a healthy body is essential for healthy spritiual work. So he endorses a 'middle path' as taught by the Buddha Siddhartha Guatama.

That's makes sense to me.

Modern Magick

Well, I’m clipping right along. I got into Modern Magick today, and I must say that this author seems pretty cool after all. He doesn’t come across nearly as arrogant as I had first thought he might be from reading his initial intro. He sounded like he was going to act like he has the final word on everything, but as I read through his chapters I see that he’s very flexible and conceding that there is much value in many different schools of thought. So I take back what I said about him sounding initially arrogant.

His book is very much in a ‘textbook’ format though. And rightfully so because evidently he taught this course for many years at a university in southern California. I wasn’t even aware that they teach such subjects in universities. Although I have read of authors in the past claiming to have Ph.D. in magick, the occult, and even in psychic abilities. I wish the colleges I had attended had offered such courses. I would have taken them years ago.

In any case, he jump right into the WORK. The first thing he stresses is the need to keep a Dream Diary and a Ritual Diary to record all your experiences and work. He demands that this is of utmost importance and should not be taken lightly or allowed to slip to the wayside. Penczak is a strong proponent of keeping journals too. In fact, I’ve been keeping six different journals in parallel for quite some time now. A dream journal and ritual journal are two of them. Although I confess that I haven’t been keeping them up with the intensity that these men request. Kraig suggests writing in these journals at least daily, and Penczak suggests writing at least three pages a day! No wonder these guys are AUTHORS.

I guess in a way I’m writing journals here in these posts. But these are journals about what I’ve read. Not about my dreams or rituals.

Anyway, Kraig then jumps right into a Relaxation Ritual. It’s a really nice ritual that I’ve already performed and I find it to be extremely relaxing. It’s also an extremely easy ritual to perform and only takes a few moments (although it could be wallowed in for longer periods of time as well). Kraig assigns this to be done daily without fail. No matter what other rituals or activities are to be performed that day. This is also a ritual that can easily be done while laying in bed, when first waking up in the morning, or at night when going to sleep. Or even whilst sitting in a chair. It could also be done standing up. I won’t describe the actual ritual. As simple as it is, the description requires about a page of writing to explain it properly.

He then goes on to define “magick”. He defines white, magick, black, magic and grey magick. I like his definitions and find them quite insightful. He makes some truly interesting points about grey magick, that make you think twice about performing it. He tells a hypothetical story about a magician who performs grey magick to obtain money. The spell is to acquire thousands of dollars quickly. The magicians uncle then dies, and he inherits thousands of dollars. The question then becomes, “Did this grey magick kill his uncle inadvertently?” And so he speaks to the issue of how to be sure when doing grey magick that you don’t accidentally kill someone in the process.

I think the moral of the story there is that if you’re going to perform magick you better pay attention to all the fine details and not just focus on what you think you want.

Finally, he ends this chapter with a discussion of the Tarot. There is a Tarot contemplation ritual that he asks the reader to perform. This ritual is also something that should be done on a continuous basis. It’s done using only 16 cards from the major Arcana. I won’t explain the ritual here, and I have yet to perform it myself. But I’ll be doing that shortly.

This concludes PART ONE of Lesson One. No mention of the Qabalah at all yet, which this book promises to focus on.

Modern Magick con't

Well, I just finished reading the first lesson in completion. The second and third parts had to do with the Tarot, and with preparations for performing the LBRP. Kraig suggests that I continue doing the lessons in this first lesson for the rest of the month before starting on the LBRP. In other words, this is mainly performing the Tarot ritual, relaxation ritual, and keeping dream journals.

I've already been performing the LBRP in Penczak's lesson plans, along with the Qabalistic Cross but I confess that I've gleaned some important information from Kraig on this topic and his LBRP appears to be quite a bit more intense. He's more strict about specific things. So this will be interesting to see where this leads.

In the meantime, I'll do his Tarot rituals for a while and go back to Bardon's Hermetic book and see where he's headed next.

Introduction to Hermetics – First Lesson – Part One

Well, the first intro to this book amounted to all just a matter of reading. But now the actual exercises are coming down like a sledge hammer! Be prepared to become a Celibate Buddhist Monk if you’re going to actually do what this guy says. I guess this is understandable since he’s coming at this from an Eastern Mystic point of view.

The first thing he says is the following: “A magician never speaks about his path, his ascent and success. Silence contains the greatest might, and the more this commandment is obeyed, the more accessible and easier to reach are these energies”

So here I am sharing everything I do on a public forum! Shame on me.

This is in sharp contrast with Penczak’s views where he teaches to share your knowledge and successes with those who are interested and may find them useful. In fact, Penczak really emphasizes this in terms of suggesting that we should all help each other and our ultimate goal should be to become priests and priestesses of the path. Certainly not in a proselytizing of evangelical sense. But rather in the sense that we should be wide open to helping and sharing with anyone who is INTERESTED. Not meant to be running around trying to convert people.

In any case, Bardon is approaching this as a very personal and private path. Although, I’m not sure that what I do on these forums would be a breech of what he suggests. After all, I don’t share my own personal experiences. In other words, I don’t speak about my own personal path. I’m just sharing the knowledge that I acquire along the path, for whatever it’s worth. I think what he might be referring to is bragging or boasting of success, etc. I can certainly understand where that would be unproductive. Although at the same time I would think that sharing experiences with others in the spirit of true sharing would be cool. I appreciate it when other people share with me. In fact, I’m reading HIS BOOK, because I want to hear about his experiences, and he WROTE IT, so is he violating his own rules here or what?

In any case, getting back to his lesson plan. What he expects me to do now is to empty my mind of all thoughts 24 hours a day, save for the thoughts necessary to perform the actions or work that I need to do to get through the day. Well, this brings into question what my goals are. Obviously part of my goal is to study this “Path of the Magician” as he calls it. In fact, this lesson plan goes into extreme depth, so deep that I can’t possibly share the details here. But part of the lesson plan is to create a very complex journal that I keep by my side all day long. This journal as 6 columns to write in. The first column is very wide taking up the bulk of the page and is used to describe the action being perform or commented on. The other 5 columns are just meant to be used as check boxes. They are labeled Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and unknown, or ???

The idea is that as you go through your day attempting to focus solely on what you are doing thoughts will come into your mind that are unrelated to what you are actually doing. This is quite common. Say you’re washing dishes at the kitchen sink. You are probably also day dreaming, or thinking about other things. You’re not FOCUSED on just the act of washing the dishes. That would be too BORING.

Well, the idea here is that you are indeed supposed to be totally focused on the act of washing dishes and nothing else. You are to ‘fight’ against allowing your mind to wander or think about anything else. Of course, he confesses that in the beginning you are not going to be able to do this. Thoughts will indeed come into your mind. In fact, what will most likely happen is that you will suddenly realize that you are day dreaming, or thinking about someone, or something else instead of focusing on the task at hand.

As SOON as you realize that you are doing this. Take note just what it is that you were thinking about and write it down in the book. Check the appropriate box. That this thought is associated with. (he gives details of how to figure out which elements your thoughts are associated with), or just check ??? if you don’t know now. You can always go back and figure it out later.

By doing this you’ll be able to see where your thoughts are most predominately wandering off to. Earth, Air, Fire, or Water.

It basically boils down to something along the lines of the following (but there’s much more to it than this)

Earth – thoughts of material things
Air – thoughts about thoughts (analyzing things)
Fire – thoughts about wanting to create or achieve something
Water – thoughts concerning compassion, love, or concern for others.

Like I say, he gives a lot more details on precisely how to figure out where your thoughts are going.

He claims that by analyzing your thoughts in this way you can get a feel for what is distracting you the most and address those issues.

This is actually only PART ONE of lesson one. And like I say, he gives far more details and information than I can possibly convey here. So there is a Part Two and a Part Three yet to come in Lesson One.

The bottom line for this method is that he’s relentless. He basically expects you to keep this up continuously on a daily basis. Well, I’m sure he expect you to just relax and let go too. But he encourages you to put as much effort toward doing this 24 hrs a day as you can possibly muster.

I’m exhausted after having just read the lesson plan.

Putting this into practice is going to take quite a bit of discipline and work. But owl give it a shot and see how it goes. I have blank journal books with lined pages so I can make up a journal for this exercise and see how long I can keep it up before I go batty. Although, in truth, he does suggest starting this in small spurts. Like when you do the dishes, for example. Then just keep expanding it to other activities as much as you can until you can go through an entire day without THINKING about anything other than precisely what you are doing. NO DAYDREAMING or thinking about anything beyond what you are actually doing. You are about to become a Zen Buddhist Monk. That’s where he’s coming from.

I won't bore you with the details. Parts Two and Three are basically very similar to Part One with the exception that instead of being about the Mind, they have to do with the Soul, and Body. But the over all gist is the same basic thing.

You do introspection on your soul (basically an inventory of your current state of being). You journal all of your 'sins' or faults and weaknesses, as well as all your high points or strengths. And log them all in your journal checking off their association with either Earth, Air, Fire, or Water. Just like with the thoughts.

Then you go into your physical health and your exercise routines (which he assumes that you are already doing digillently). If not, suggests that you start immediately. There is also a journal that goes with this and associates various physical improvement, and or health problems with the various elements Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

He speaks to the issues of fixing and repairing any health issues you have and explains psychic and magickal techniques for dealing with them which also include physical and practical actions as well.

Finally he says that once the inititate becomes proficient in all of the areas of this first lesson, only then should he or she proceed to Lesson Two. He says that under no circumstances should Lesson One take LESS than two weeks to complete, and for some it may take several months.

Oh yes, he also speaks to the issue of "blessing food" before consuming it. He sheds a whole new light on this for me. He suggests that food, and drink, should be "blessed" or "impregnated with" a specific wish or spell concerning what you desire from the energy within the food. In other words, if you specific ailments that need attention you should bless the food with that thought and purpose in mind. If you need more energy, that should be your thought. If you want to be able to think more clearly, or be more creative, or whatever, then this should be how you bless that meal.

He says to never eat anything without blessing it with a specific purpose first. He's a pretty strict teacher.

However, this is a kind of "blessing" that certainly makes more sense to me than the type of prayers I had been taught to bless meals with. Like just thanking some diety that I have something to eat. The type of blessing that he speaks about here is far more meaningful for me. I think I could get into blessing all my meals from this perspective.

At the end of this lesson he also speaks to the issues of some "Water Magic", both in terms of drinking it, and in terms of bathing in it. He speaks to the issue of taking sacred cleansing baths, and even gives an herbal recipe for a water solution to be used as an "eye wash" for restoring vision in anyone who might be experiencing blurred vision.

I'll definitely be looking into that one.

Well, if I'm going to start in on the actual exercises these authors have been talking about I better get to it and quit spending so much time posting about it.

I do cleansing baths quite frequently. About once a week. Sometimes I use herbs but usually I just make my own bath salts with oils for this. I used to think the idea was silly until I started doing them and noticed a big difference in my emotional and spiritual health. And now physical healing is quickly following.

I'd like to hear more about that eyewash.

I had quite an exciting day today. I wish I could share but it would require far too much typing. It would also require relating some personal ‘success’ stories which Bardon warns against sharing with others. I don’t know. Penczak encourages it. I think Bardon is really talking about not ‘bragging’ about magical success, especially to non-believers. I don’t think there’s really anything wrong with sharing positive results with like-minded people. Like you say, it’s kind of like going to the gym and just saying that you had a good workout today. What’s wrong with that?

Anyway, I’ll forego my personal story and just share the eyewash ritual.



In a suitable cauldron boil enough water to fill a sink to the extent that you can immerse your face in it without the sink overflowing. In the morning, add in a weak infusion of eyebright Euhrasia Officinalis. Then magnetize the water for your particular purpose, or impregnate it with your concentrated desire. (I should note here that Bardon works with a concept of spiritual electric and magnetic fluid throughout his book), so just impregnate the water with your wish and consecrate it with your ceremonial Air Dagger, Goddess Athame, or a crystal wand that you have charged for this purpose. Your wish should reflect the specific results that you would like to achieve from this eyewash. For example, for clearer vision or for removing irritation from allergies, or whatever your desire may be.

Pour the water into a clean soap-free sink. Immerse your face in the water. Open your eyes. Roll your eyes clockwise and counter-clockwise. Repeat this procedure seven times. Should your eyes burn do not fear, they will become accustom to this quickly.

He suggests that this same procedure can also be used to enhance the visual clarity and level of clairvoyance. Although it’s unclear to me precisely how one would go about ‘rolling’ their third eye in the water.

{Disclaimer} – All of the above comes from Franz Bardon’s book, “Introduction to Hermetics”. Not word-for-word verbatim, but in terms of procedure. I personally have no knowledge of the effect that a weak infusion of eyebright herb may have on the eyes. I would also be careful to infuse the eyebright first as a ‘tea’ and then pour the tea into the water. If you attempt to infuse the eyebright directly in the water you might get piece of plant material in your eye, which wouldn’t be good. So be sure there is no particulate matter floating around in the water. If you ask a modern eye doctor about this he or she would probably tell you to burn Bardon’s book and make an appointment with the clinic.

So anyway, you asked, and it has been given.

In regards to sharing magickal successes I have to agree with Bardon over Penczak. I have learned not to talk about spells especially close to the time they are happening. Problems do not seem to arise when the spell or working has been over for a long time (like a year or more) but I have had problems when I've talked about them sooner than that. Its better to help people out by teaching them what you know to be true without talking about your specific experience.

I'm not sure if that makes sense but those are my feelings and experience with it.

I see what you are saying from that perspective. I don't really think in terms of 'spells' or 'spellwork' I guess. I think more in terms of conscious orchestrations performed in harmony with other aspects of the universal consciousness. In this sense it can actually be beneficial for other conscious beings to be aware of what’s going on. But clearly it’s not going to be fruitful to attempt to communicate or share such things with nay-sayers. There’s no point in even going there.

It can, however, be fruitful in sharing these things with like-minded people, and that is ultimately the idea behind a coven. In theory a coven of like-minded people who are all focused on achieving the same goal can orchestrate a far more powerful culmination of psychic power than any single person could hope to achieve on his or her own.

And of course, it’s never going to be productive to share your intentions with people who are going to belittle them and laugh at you for even believing in such things. That’s not going to boost your own psychic strength, on the contrary it could potentially drain it all way and cause you to become unsure of your own abilities. I think I’m far beyond that. I recognize that people who do not understand simply do not understand. It’s really that simple. If they understood, then they wouldn’t be so ignorant about it.

So the fact that some other people don’t understand no longer bothers me. That’s there problem not mine.

I really like this book on Hermetics by Bardon. I’m glad I bought it. Once you get past his “scientific analogies” that even he confesses aren’t even real analogies he starts to get into some pretty decent lesson plans that I’m throughly enjoying and definitely benefiting from. I would almost like to share some of the benefits just for the sake of sharing them and maybe someone else can benefit from them too. Although in truth, some of them are indeed quite personal and I would not care to share them with others. They wouldn’t understand the significance of them anyway.

In fact, the other day, I was doing three exercises simultaneously. One from Kraig’s book on Modern Magick, and the other two from Bardon’s book on Hermetics. I performed these ritual exercises in a public resturant whilst eating a meal. It was a quite in-depth exercise, and I wasn’t doing anything physically that anyone else could notice. It was all taking place within my mind. Three different exercises being performed simultaneously, none conflicting with the other, and in fact they all supported each other in an amazing way. The result was indeed “magickal”. And by that I simply mean that the these exerciseses resulted in an orchestration of psychic energy and elmental energies in a way that was profound and quite noticable for me. The result of which have remained with me ever since.

In any case, I better get moving here because I have lots to do yet today. One of my “vices” is that I like to come here and share what I’m doing. This has been a ‘bad habit’ that I have acquired over the years, and now I can see where I really need to break myself of it and start putting this energy into other things. Like maybe just putting this time into actually writing a book that will ultiamtely become truly producitve for both me and the readers who buy it.

Giving it away for free on the Interent, just isn’t doing anyone any good.