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senses to the contrary. In fact, it is the concurrent breaking down and building up
principles that give us the illusion of preservation. If we comply with this law in
nature, we, too, will preserve-our life. It has nothing to do with preserving the
appearance of things.
This Yoga practice correlates with Jung s finalist regression, which is a sort of
sublimation whereby, as he says, "the development from a sexual system into a
spiritual system may be built up." If we are dealing with the magical images (or any
other Yoga practice) consciously and deliberately, in place of just letting them
happen to us, or forcing them by drugs, then we see that we can translate the
energy thereof back into spiritual potencies; that is, we can translate the energy
called up by the images or by whatever method we are using. This is true
integration. Of this, Dion Fortune says that "...by taking these completed forms and
sacrificing them we can translate them back into spiritual potencies." When force is
translated from one center (Fortune says "form" because she used an image
system in place of concentrating on the centers) to a higher center, it is sacrificed.
That is to say, the energy of one center is made to do the work of another center, or
energy may be lifted totally out of the form-making principle of the mind so that
"consciousness beholds consciousness" face to face, sans image of any kind. This
would be the true or highest degree of samaddhi. In the mysteries the term
"sacrifice" does not mean what it does in Christian thought anyway. In the mysteries
"sacrifice" means sacerficare, to make sacred, i.e., to raise a "common" thing into a
"holy" one. As Crowley wrote of the Eucharist, "It consists in taking common things,
transmuting them into things divine, and consuming them." If one is using an image
system one may do this by changing images. This depends, of course, on whether
one is using a bonafide image system. Energy will not just transfer from any image
held in the mind s eye to just any other image. There is a graduated scale that
allows energy to easily pass over from one image to one that corresponds to it, but
in a "higher" world. In the chakra system one just shifts levels from one center to
another, but there is also a regulated way to do this. Trying to do this without
understanding its modus operandi will at best achieve no results, but it may result in
serious psychological and physical reactions.
The Qabalah tells us that force changes type on the side pillars (Ida-Pingala),
whereas it remains the same in the middle pillar (shushumna). If, for instance, we
are working an image system on the side pillars, whether we change the image
consciously or not, it will change automatically as we rise on the planes. This is why
we need to know something about the four worlds and the color scale of each
world, so we will know, by the images, which world we are "in." If we do not know
this we cannot smoothly rise on the planes, and smoothly and safely return. This
practice is as much a withdrawal and return as the greater cycles of withdrawal and
return and therefore requires as much attention to the laws respecting cycles. The
practitioner must, in fact, set a clock in his mind to determine the length of time he
will stay "out" on the inner planes. To fail to do this can be disastrous. If we are
using a chakra system then we must adhere to the regulated practice of lifting force
without jumping centers. The forms must be completed before they can be
sacrificed, however, if one is using an image system. The image systems are very
complete and are, as referred to before, the secrets of the occult lodges. Without an
understanding of how to safely ground energy it is better not to tap the energy in
the unconscious by means of images.
Jung let the mandala serve as ground for a student s energy, and, as he
applied this it was safe enough. He applied the mandala as a psychological means
for attaining individuation by means of "self incubation," and he says that he just let
the psychic process drive itself. He does, however, have a list of key-words that he
uses to stimulate the process that activates the forces that drive the psychological
opposites by means of the "circular movement" (the mandala). He says that these
mandala pictures are phenomena that occur spontaneously, which we find in most
instances of psychological disturbance is all too true! Jung does mention, however,
that in Eastern Yoga systems the students use already prepared mandalas, for the
purpose of getting required results.
This is the beauty of the Qabalistic system of integration and/or individuation,
that it gives the student a composite glyph: the Tree of Life, and a set of associated
symbols. Meditation on these symbols acts like a psychoanalysis, whereby the
subconscious is set to work to direct our thinking for us, giving rise to mental
concepts concerning the potencies the symbols represent, as well as the conscious
registry of the forces themselves. The result is a conscious participation (a
cooperation with the unconscious), rather than a participation mystique. This is self-
incubation by means of a proven system, rather than by just letting it happen and
then, if a psychological accident occurs, trying to pick up the pieces afterward. The
whole process requires a fine sense of balance between freedom and control, and
should not be undertaken lightly (except that in most cases, people are "forced" into
the process by either a recapitulation, or from external circumstances- either the
environment or their own unconscious-and thus do not consciously choose the
Path).
It is all very much like the yearly drive of cattle or horses from their pasture in
the valley to the summer pasture in the mountains. First you gather the beasts
(unbridled energy or Kundalini) into a corral (concentration within a center), you
open the corral, then you stir them up and excite them so they will stop grazing and
start running, and then you steer them along the trail. Once going, you do not need
to push or pull or drag them, only to control their direction and speed. At the end of
the journey you must stop the movement of the herd, again corral the animals and
establish them in the new pasture. The whole operation is one single process and
requires a great deal of expertise at each step of the journey. To stir the animals up
in the corral without opening the corral will only mean explosion (which is what
happens in so--called nervous breakdown). To let them loose but not direct their
path will only disperse the herd--eventual loss of all the energy. If you do not stop
them at the place you have chosen as destination, they will just run right over the
mountain and into the valley on the other side, defeating your purpose. This
analogy is appropriate, for the bull is one of the classical symbols of Kundalini,
dating back at least to the realm of Minos. It is an apt symbol, representing
tremendous unbridled force which is yet capable of semi--domestication. If you
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