Part 1 of 2 here.
Air is the symbol of the buddhic vehicle, of the plane of spiritual love, and when the three above enumerated (in their energy aspects) meet, it is indicative of a focusing in the soul consciousness and a centralization of the man in the spiritual body. From that point of power, outside of form, from the central sphere of unification and from the focused point within that circle of consciousness, the spiritual man projects his consciousness into the midway spot within the brain cavity where the magical work must, in relation to the physical plane, be carried out. This ability to project the consciousness from the plane of soul realization into that of creative magical work on the etheric subplanes is gradually made possible as the student in his meditation work develops facility in focusing his attention in one or other of the centers in the body. This is accomplished through the medium of the force centers in the etheric body. He gradually gains that plasticity and that fluidity of the self-directed consciousness which will enable him to play on the centers, as a musician utilizes the seven notes of music. When this has been achieved he can begin to train himself in wider and more extended focusing and must learn to withdraw his consciousness, not only to the brain, but to the soul on its own plane and thence redirect his energies in the performance of the magical work of the soul.
The fundamental secret of the cycles lies in this withdrawal and the subsequent refocusing of attention and it must be remembered in this connection that the basic law underlying all magical work is that “energy follows thought”. If aspirants would remember this they would live through their periods of aridity with greater ease and would be conscious of the underlying purpose.
It might here be asked what are the dangers of this midway spot?
The dangers of too violent fluctuation between land and water, or between the emotional response to life and truth or life on the physical plane. Some aspirants are too emotional in their reactions; others too materialistic. The effect of this is felt in the midway spot and produces a violent instability. This instability has a direct effect on the solar plexus center which was the “midway spot” in early Atlantean times, and is still the midway point in the transmutation processes of the aspiring personality. It transmutes and transmits the energies of the sacral center and of the center at the base of the spine, and is the clearing house for all energies focused in the centers below the diaphragm.
The dangers incident to a premature and uncontrolled pouring in of pure spiritual energy to the mechanism of the personality. That vital spiritual force enters through the cranial aperture, and pours into the head centers. From them will follow the line of least resistance which is determined by the daily trend of the aspirant’s thought life.
Another and rather potent danger is the result, literally, of the bringing together of the land and water. It demonstrates as the pouring into the brain consciousness (the land aspect) of the knowledges of the astral plane. One of the first things an aspirant becomes aware of is a tendency to the lower psychism. It is a reaction from the solar plexus center. But this midway point can be utilized as a “jumping off place” into the world of astral phenomena. This will produce “death by drowning for the aspirant’s spiritual life can be swamped and entirely submerged in the interests of the lower psychical experiences. It is here that many worthy aspirants go astray – temporarily it may be, but the times are so critical that it is a matter to be deplored if any time is lost in futile experimentation and the retracing of any path chosen.
A clue to the significance of these words is to be found in the recognition of the following occult fact. The place where water and land meet is the solar plexus center. The place where water, land and air meet is in the head. Land is the symbol of the physical plane life, and of the exoteric form. Water is the symbol of the emotional nature. It is from the great center of the personality life, the solar plexus, that the life is usually ruled and government administered. When the center of direction lies below the diaphragm there is no magic possible. The animal soul controls and the spiritual soul is perforce quiescent. Air is the symbol of the higher life in which the Christ principle dominates, in which freedom is experienced and the soul comes to full expression. It is the symbol of the buddhic plane, as water is of the emotional. When the life of the personality is carried up into Heaven, and the life of the soul comes down on to earth, there is the place of meeting, and there the work of transcendental magic becomes possible.
This meeting place is the place of fire, the plane of mind. Fire is the symbol of the intellect and all magical work is an intelligent process, carried out in the strength of the soul, and by the use of the mind. To make itself felt on the physical plane, a brain is required which is receptive to higher impulses and which can be impressed by the soul utilizing the “chitta” or mental substance in order to create the needed thought forms, and so express the ideas and purposes of the intelligent loving soul. These are recognized by the brain and are photographed upon the “vital airs” found in the brain cavity. When these vital airs can be sensed by the magician in meditation, and the thought-forms imprinted on this miniature reflection of the astral light, then the real potency in magic can begin to make itself felt. The brain has “heard” occultly the injunctions and instructions of the mind as it relays the behests of the soul. The vital airs are swept into form-making activity just as their higher correspondence, the “modifications of the thinking principle, the mind stuff” (as Patanjali calls it), are thrown into an analogous form-making activity. These can then be seen interiorly by the man who is seeking to perform the magical work and much of his success is dependent upon his ability to register impressions exactly, and to see with clarity the forms of the process in magic which he is seeking to demonstrate as magical work in the outer world.
It might therefore be said that there are three stages in the form-making process. First, the soul or spiritual man, centered in the soul consciousness and functioning in “the secret place of the Most High”, visualizes the work to be done. This is not a sequential act, but the finished completed work of magic is visioned by a process that does not involve the time element or spatial concepts at all. Secondly, the mind responds to the soul (calling attention to the work to be performed), and is swept into thought-form making activity by this impression. According to the lucidity and illumination of the mind-stuff so will be the response to the impression. If the mind is a true reflector and receiver of soul impress, the corresponding thought-form will be true to its prototype. If it is not true (as is usually the case in the early stages of the work) then the thought-form created will be distorted and incorrect, unbalanced and “out of drawing”.
It is in meditation that this work of accurate reception and correct building is learnt and hence the emphasis laid in all true schools of esoteric training upon a focused mind, a capacity to visualize, an ability to build thought-forms, and an accurate grasp of egoic intent. Hence also the need of the magician beginning the practical work of magic with himself as the subject of the magical experiment. He begins to grasp the vision of the spiritual man, as he is in essence. He realizes the virtues and reactions which that spiritual man would evidence in physical plane life. He builds a thought-form of himself as the ideal man, the true server, the perfect master. He gradually coordinates his forces so that power to be these things in external reality begins to take shape so that all men can see. He creates a pattern in his mind which hews as true as he can make it to the prototype, and which serves to model the lower man and force conformity to the ideal. As he perfects his technique he finds a transmuting, transforming power at work upon the energies which constitute his lower nature, until all is subordinated and he becomes in practical manifestation what he is esoterically and essentially. As this takes place, he begins to be interested in the magical work in which it is the function of all true souls to participate.
Then the third aspect of the form-making process can manifest. The brain is synchronized with the mind, and the mind with the soul, and the plan is sensed. The vital airs in the head can be modified and respond to the force of the building magical work. A thought-form exists then as the result of the previous two activities, but it exists in the place of the brain activity and becomes a focusing center for the soul, and a point through which energy can flow for the performance of the magical work.
This magical work, carried out under the direction of the soul (inspiring the mind which in its turn impresses the brain), leads then (as the result of this triple coordinated activity) to the creation of a focusing center, or form, within the head of the magician. The energy which flows through this focal point acts through three distributing agents, and hence all three are involved in all magical work.
- The right eye, through which the vital energy of the spirit can express itself.
- The throat center, through which the Word, the second aspect or the soul expresses itself.
- The hands, through which the creative energy of the third aspect works.
“The White Magician” works “with the eyes open, the voice proclaiming and the hands conferring.”
These points are of technical interest to the experienced worker in magic, but of symbolic interest only to the aspirants for whom these letters are intended.
That the inner vision may be ours, the eye see clearly the glory of the Lord, and the voice speak only in benediction, and the hands be used only in helpfulness, may well be the prayer of each of us.
