DooM Magic

[RKSDooM]

So I have just started out on my voyage of understanding magic, how it works, what it can do, why it can do it and, perhaps most importantly, how to integrate it into one's own quest for self-improvement.

Along those lines I have read the following books, from which I have pulled a large amount of notes:

BASIC MAGICK: A PRACTICAL GUIDE by Phillip Cooper
THE BLACK ARTS by Richard Cavendish
BOOK OF LIES - THE DISINFORMATION GUIDE TO MAGICK AND THE OCCULT edited by Richard Metzger
THE SATANIC BIBLE by Anton LaVey

From these sources I have been constructing a sort of Core Book of Magic for myself. Thus far I have found the process deeply rewarding, but find myself wishing to engage others on the same, or similar, path and trade thoughts and ideas.

To that end, here is my understanding of magic, as pulled from the above sources:

• MAGICAL THEORY
• All you need to begin the practice of magic is concentration, imagination and the ability to laugh at yourself and learn from mistakes. Some people like to dress up as egyptians or monks to get themselves in the mood; others wear animal masks or barbarella costumes. The use of ritual paraphernalia functions as an aid to the imagination only. Anything you can imagine, anything you can symbolize, can be made to produce magical changes in your environment.
  
  
  
• WHAT IS MAGIC?
• Magic is like the ocean, the great tides move through it invisibly and men are swept about by them, but are sometimes strong enough and clever enough to master and use them. And in the cold black currents which come up from the deeps there are strange and sinister creatures lurking - evil intelligences which tempt and corrupt and destroy, malignant elementals, astral corpses, zombies, nightmare things which the malice of sorcerers has created, the “shells” or “husks” of the universal organism. The demons are the universes parallel to the viruses, impurities and waste products of the human body. They are the universal equivalents of the dark, cruel, animal depths of the human mind.
• Occultism is elusive and cannot be measured. It comes from the opposite direction to the one that everyone is looking toward. Thus it goes unnoticed; or if it is noticed, it disconcerts. It robs those who believed they were secure, who thought they had their feet on the ground, of their certainties.
• Magic is the science of using and understanding the power of the subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind responds to your wishes and will.
• The definition of magic is: “a change in situations or events in accordance with one’s will, which would have, using normally accepted methods, been unchangeable.”
• Magic is never totally scientifically explainable, but science has always been, at one time or another, considered magic.
• In magic a wave of powerful emotion is projected with calculated intent by someone who has developed his powers to an abnormal pitch.
• Everything that man with his sentiments, thoughts, fears, and hopes has projected onto nature in order to render it more intimate, or in order to make it speak the same language - abandon all this and try to understand the message of things, especially where they appear foreign, naked, mute. On the plane of magic you will know a world that has returned to its free, intensive, and essential state, a state in which nature is not nature, nor is the spirit “spirit;” in which there are no things, men, speculations about “gods” - but rather powers - and life is a heroic affair at every moment, composed of symbols, illuminations, commands, ritual and sacrificial actions. In this world there is no longer a “here” or a “there,” or attachment; everything is infinitely equal and infinitely diverse, and action originates from itself, pure and hidden. The “wind” carries upon it everything in the sense of a sacrifice, an offering, a luminous and marvelous ritual, among zones of an activity as calm as the deepest sleep, and immobility as intense as the most vehement tornado. Here that which is “human” melts away as a dark memory of misery and as the specter of a long nightmare. The angel awakens, the ancient ice: immobility and a vertiginously slow pace resolve every tension. This is the threshold and the transfiguration. Beyond it lies the world of the eternal.
• Magic is closer to poetry than to even the most rudimentary science and, like poetry, it relies extensively on the use of analogy.
• Magic is about what you bring back from the shining realms of the uberconscious. The sorcerer dives into the immense other in search of tips and hints and treasures they can bring home to enrich life in the solid world.
• Magick is the science of making things happen according to your desires in order to maximize control over one’s life and immediate environment to create a universe that is perfect in its kindness towards you.
• There is no difference between “white” and “black” magic, except in the smug hypocrisy, guilt‐ridden righteousness, and self‐deceit of the “white” magician himself. In the classical religious tradition, “white” magic is performed for altruistic, benevolent, and “good” purposes; while “black” magic is used for self‐aggrandizement, personal power, and “evil” purposes. No one on earth ever pursued occult studies, metaphysics, yoga, or any other “white light” concept, without ego gratification and personal power as a goal.
• Magick has been defined as a method for changing reality in conformity with one’s true will, or as a methodical demystified process that allows us to force the hands of chance in order to make things we truly desire happen based upon, and within, purity of intent. Crowley said that magick has “the method of science, the aim of religion.” Brion gysin talked of magick saying it was “the other method, an exercise for controlling matter and knowing space, and a form of psychic hygiene.”
• Magick is the satisfaction of desire, that is its whole concern, and desires vary from person to person. A magus combines knowledge with personal development, specific techniques that may be taught have greater or lesser value, take them or leave them, dependent on the individual. A magus will explore and understand different systems of attainment which will be suitable to different times and places. No one of these is to be seen as his central message.
• Sorcery: the systematic cultivation of enhanced consciousness or non-ordinary awareness and its deployment in the world of deeds and objects to bring about desired results.
• Applied magic is about making things happen and performing the necessary experiments. In these endeavors we do not need to know how magic works, only that it does. We prove this by doing the work, recording the results and sharing our information with other sorcerers. Theoretical magic is all the mad ideas you come up with to explain what’s happening to you. Applied magic is what makes them happen.

If anyone would like to add to my understanding and/or discuss any of the above ideas, I would be very curious to hear what you have to say .

[LoneWolf]

The definition of magic is: “a change in situations or events in accordance with one’s will, which would have, using normally accepted methods, been unchangeable.”

Debatable on many layers: on the more physical and human level you may argue that in some instances you can produce the same results by doing physical work.

From a more metaphysical perspective you may observe that all changes and events on our world are caused by what you may call magick regardless of the level of conscious intent of some little human that may alter the course of such constant process; therefore every act and change is an act of magick and thus you can't exclude acts not consciously willed for ,by any conscious element of the universe, from the whole "consequences of magick" group.

In magic a wave of powerful emotion is projected with calculated intent by someone who has developed his powers to an abnormal pitch.

Again, you are doing magick all the time whether you know it or not. No need for any abnormal development of any quality you may possess. Actually, a requisite for doing magick is being "normal", or in otherwords, exactly how any of us is right this moment.

Magic is closer to poetry than to even the most rudimentary science and, like poetry, it relies extensively on the use of analogy.

I like this one. And I believe it's true. All lovers know the conscious must shut up for the divine to speak. Symbols.

There is no difference between “white” and “black” magic, except in the smug hypocrisy, guilt‐ridden righteousness, and self‐deceit of the “white” magician himself. In the classical religious tradition, “white” magic is performed for altruistic, benevolent, and “good” purposes; while “black” magic is used for self‐aggrandizement, personal power, and “evil” purposes. No one on earth ever pursued occult studies, metaphysics, yoga, or any other “white light” concept, without ego gratification and personal power as a goal.

Debatable though I agree. The ego fuels the magician though it sometimes cripples him. It is also true that before a balloon blows up and disapears it gets inflated exceedingly.
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Your definition of sorcery is interesting.

Regards

[RKSDooM]

Debatable on many layers: on the more physical and human level you may argue that in some instances you can produce the same results by doing physical work.

From a more metaphysical perspective you may observe that all changes and events on our world are caused by what you may call magick regardless of the level of conscious intent of some little human that may alter the course of such constant process; therefore every act and change is an act of magick and thus you can't exclude acts not consciously willed for, by any conscious element of the universe, from the whole "consequences of magick" group.

Yeah, I suppose this is true. I guess I could edit that to say something along the lines of: "a change in situations or events in accordance with one’s will, even when such change, using normally accepted methods, would have been impossible.”

Again, you are doing magick all the time whether you know it or not. No need for any abnormal development of any quality you may possess. Actually, a requisite for doing magick is being "normal", or in otherwords, exactly how any of us is right this moment.

I think the "abnormal development" part specifically refers to consciously utilizing magic to one's own ends, and is, in essence, just another way of saying that sharpening your pencil makes it write better. At least, that was how I took it .

I like this one. And I believe it's true. All lovers know the conscious must shut up for the divine to speak.

That is an excellent example!

Thank you for taking the time to reply!

Here's the next bit:

• WHAT CAN MAGIC DO?
• The sorcerer’s central preoccupation is with the exercise of power, but his use of his powers is as various as his methods. The human will, wielded by a sorcerer who has learned how to concentrate and project it, has potentially the limitless power of god.
• “Magic has power to experience and fathom things which are inaccessible to human reason. For magic is great secret wisdom, just as reason is a great public folly.” Paracelsus
• The human soul gains prophetic power when it transcends its normal bounds and escapes from the body to spread over space like a light escaped from a lantern.
• A poem can act as a spell and vice versa - but sorcery refuses to be a metaphor for mere literature - it insists that symbols must cause events as well as private epiphanies. It is not a critique but a re-making.
• Facts can be altered. This is what magic is all about. Ignore the facts and ask of life instead. You must connect to abundant power by opening up a channel. Once you have decided to do this, you hold fast to this belief while ignoring the apparent facts. Never let facts dictate how you must run your life. Be realistic by gradually allowing magical energy to change the facts to your advantage.
• The easiest way to change your life is to determine what the future will bring, rather than allowing things to continue as they are, then use magical technique to change the future, as yet unmanifest, by analyzing when and where to “nudge” the unfolding event; then you have a powerful key to the mysteries of abundant living. Prevention is better than cure.
• We’re all shamans, and every time we say, “this is this,” we reset the parameters of the real.
• It is quite possible that the energy or phenomenon that glues together a repeatable experience of solidity and materiality on this earth is the pressure of billions of human beings simultaneously, and in close proximity believing in what they see and hear.
• The wise sorcerer looks at the physical facts, sees them as being obvious, and then realizes that the physical is composed of matter and energy. Energy can be controlled by the subconscious mind, and the physical can be altered or made to respond.
• In a magical universe, everything and every thing is malleable, changeable, interconnected at invisibly deep levels, levels so subtle and sub-atomic that consciousness and intention can affect them.
• Grasp the elasticity of reality and our right to control its unfolding as we see fit and prefer. Consolidate your right to active participation in the means of perception.
• The dullard finds even wine tasteless, but the sorcerer can be intoxicated by the mere sight of water. Quality of perception defines the world of intoxication - but to sustain it and expand it to include others demands activity of a certain kind - sorcery.
• Nature is prolific and abundant in every sense of the word; there is no lack, neither is there shortage. The lesson of nature is simply proliferation, not in a wasteful sense (nature also conserves) but because abundance is the natural order of things. Look at nature and realize that we cannot exhaust the enormous reserves of power which life provides to shape matter according to our needs. The word nature implies all that is natural, and by being natural and accepting the truth about life, we shall indeed become prolific and abundant in every sense.
• “Embrace reality by imagination.” Austin Osman Spare
• The subconscious mind has no limitation whatsoever. It has instant connection to everything in creation and everything behind creation simultaneously. Time and space mean nothing, and nothing can ever be impossible or beyond its power. You have the ability to create using the limitless power of your subconscious mind.
• Cohabit with the elements, vanquish nature, mount higher than the heavens, elevate yourself above the angels, become co-operator with the archetype and do all things.

[RKSDooM]

And the next bit:

• HOW DOES MAGIC WORK?
• “Personally I don’t need to know how it works - just as I don’t seem to need to know how my tv works in order to watch it, or how a jumbo jet stays up when i’m dozing through in-flight entertainment at 35,000 feet. What I do know for sure, based on the evidence of my senses and many years of skeptical inquiry, is that magic allows us to take control of our own development as human beings. Magic allows us to see the world entire in a fresh and endlessly significant light and demands of us a vital and dynamic collaboration with our environment. Magic brings coherence and structure to psychological ‘breakdowns,’ psychedelic experiences or transpersonal encounters. Magic allows us to personify our fears and failures as demons and outlines time-honored methods of bargaining with these feelings or banishing them. Magic is the sane response to a world filled with corporate ghost-gods, roaming, mindless laws and peering surveillance lenses. Above all, magic is about achieving results. It’s about manipulating real-time events, dealing with devious “spirits” and other autonomous energy sources. It’s about conjuring dead pop icons to do your bidding and writing it all down so that it reads like an exciting adventure story and changes the world around it. Magic is glamorous, dark and charismatic. “Magic” is the hopelessly inadequate standard english word for a long-established technology which permits access to the ‘operating codes’ underlying the current physical universe. Becoming a sorcerer is a developmental skill, like learning to talk, to reason, to empathize or to see perspective. Magic, in short, is life as it is meant to be lived by adults.” Grant Morrison
• It is quite possible that the sorcerer who first conceived a spell may well have made it work because he put a great deal of thought and feeling into the words - he gave the words power by belief. It does not follow that anyone else repeating those same words will get the same results because the words belong to someone else.
• Your subconscious mind is in contact with everything in creation, and with every other subconscious mind in existence.
• Sorcery works at creating around itself a psychic/physical space or openings into a space of untrammeled expression - the metamorphosis of quotidian place into angelic sphere. This involves the manipulation of symbols (which are also things) and of people (who are also symbolic) - the archetypes supply a vocabulary for this process and therefore are treated as if they were both real and unreal, like words.
• Getting the subconscious to accept instructions is what magic is all about. This is not difficult, but does need some practice and study.
• The same rules apply to magic as to life: knowledge aids success. Question everything until it reveals the truth.
• We all function like a tube. At one end there is an abundant supply of energy that we can draw on and use in whatever way we wish; at the other end is physical reality and the effects of this energy.
• When you exert belief, you ignore all the apparent facts while concentrating on that which is desired. Real magic ignores the facts, and concentrates, instead, on the goal.
• 1. There is abundant energy freely available to you. 2. You have a subconscious mind which is your servant. Keep this truth constantly in mind. Think about it often, and accept it as a reality: it is. The real truth is that magical energy flows constantly and it is freely available at all times. Your beliefs shape this energy; they give it form in physical terms. Your beliefs shape your life, for better or for worse. You are not fated, nor are you subject to karma or the will of some outside entity or intangible force.
• As magic is the art of giving instructions to the subconscious mind in a way that will be accepted. In order to do this we must bypass the conscious mind. This can be accomplished by progressively silencing the conscious doubting mind in order to achieve an altered state of consciousness. Ordinary thoughts are ignored, but, using magical trance, the instructions get through.
• It requires a certain quality of thought to stimulate the subconscious into action. Among the ways to influence your subconscious: prayer, strong desire, affirmations, positive or negative thinking, hypnosis, altered states of consciousness, measured gnostic conjuration, meditation, and, of course, outright belief.
• All physical objects consist of two distinct parts, inert matter and magical energy. Magical energy can be symbolically represented by the four elements. Your subconscious mind works through the four elements to achieve results.
• Austin Osman Spare employed a technique of ecstasy which frequently combined active imagination and will with the climax of sexual orgasm. Spare believed that his magical sigils - representing symbols of the personal will - could be directed to the subconscious mind during the peak of sexual ecstasy since, at this special moment, the personal ego and the universal spirit, or kia, were united in a state of blissful, transcendent openness. Spare’s term for magical sexual arousal was the ecstasy of the fire snake. At this moment, which is the moment of generation of the great wish, inspiration flows from the source of sex, from the primordial goddess who exists at the heart of matter. Inspiration is always a void moment. One of Spare’s major objectives in using the trance state was to tap energies which he believed were the source of genius.
  Your subconscious mind has the capacity to handle energy and direct this toward whatever objective is selected. There are innumerable types of energy to account for the countless variations in physical phenomena we experience. Your subconscious mind knows every type of energy, and also knows which type to use in any given situation.
• Imagination is used to reflect pictures and symbols back to the subconscious mind. Widen your horizons, think bigger, dream of what you want instead of simply accepting life’s handouts. Exercise control by directing your imagination toward those things you would like to have. See yourself having them, indulge in your visions and make them expansive.
• It must be remembered that it matters not whether anyone attaches any significance to your workings, so long as the results of the working are in accordance with your will. The super‐logician will always explain the connection of the magical ritual to the end result as “coincidence.”
• No cosmic laws exist other than to be creative and to aid creation.

[RKSDooM]

The next bit is more about what my personal beliefs about both how to be a successful sorcerer, and a successful human being in general:

THE PATH OF THE MAGUS

• To attain the knowledge and power of the magi there are four indispensable conditions - an intelligence illuminated by study, an intrepidity which nothing can check, a will which nothing can break and a discretion which nothing can corrupt and nothing intoxicate.
• To know
• To dare
• To will
• To keep silence
• Such are the words of the magus.
  
  THE SOUL OF THE MAGUS
• The one need that psychiatry cannot fill is man’s inherent need for emotionalizing through dogma. Man needs ceremony and ritual, fantasy and enchantment.
• Declare yourself a sorcerer, behave like a sorcerer, practice magic every day.
• Life is the one great indulgence; death the one great abstinence.
• You have no right to complain about a situation you have supported in any way - which includes sitting back and complacently agreeing with those who approve the situation, just because you are too lazy or cowardly to speak your mind.
• Blessed are the strong, for they shall possess the earth.
• Blessed are the powerful, for they shall be reverenced among men.
• Blessed are the bold, for they shall be masters of the world.
• Blessed are the victorious, for victory is the basis of right.
• Blessed are the iron‐handed, for the unfit shall flee before them.
• Blessed are the death‐defiant, for their days shall be long in the land.
• Blessed are the destroyers of false hope, for they are the true messiahs.
• Blessed are the valiant, for they shall obtain great treasure - cursed are the believers in good and evil, for they are frightened by shadows!
• Blessed is the man who has a sprinkling of enemies, for they shall make him a hero. Cursed is he who doeth good unto others who sneer upon him in return, for he shall be despised!
• Thrice cursed are the weak whose insecurity makes them vile, for they shall serve and suffer!
• The occultist views himself as a rebel and a narcissist, who posits him or herself inside, as well as outside, the predominant culture. They understand themselves as part of an elite, and endeavor to create themselves anew.
• We would do well to consider at this point, that each individual human being is inevitably the center of their own unique universe/sensory/experiential world. Only you are physically present every single second of your personal life and as a result, any person, or event that takes place without your physical presence is a part of somebody else’s unique universe. Of course, there are times when others are present and then they will tend to assume you are all in one universe together. However, ask any cop if they get the same story from a variety of witnesses, or the same description of a suspect, and you will be told in no uncertain terms, that nobody sees or hears the same thing at the same time as someone else, nor do they share equal abilities to describe or recall what they imagine their memories have recorded. In other words, consensus reality is, just that, an amalgamation of approximate recordings from flawed bio-machines.
• Realize that man, and the action and reaction of the universe, is responsible for everything, and don’t mislead yourself into thinking that someone cares.
• The worship of any deity or deities - under any guise whatsoever - is repulsive to the magician, who considers all protestations of faith or trust in a supernatural protectorate to be humiliating demonstrations of cowardice and emotional insecurity. True sorcery requires the rejection of all forms of worship as a desirable component of the personality.
• The work begins with this burning discontent with oneself and one’s life, a passionate longing for higher things. It is a process of self-watching and self-judgement, in which a man is constantly weighing himself and finding himself wanting. Combined with a fierce determination to do better, the result is the disintegration of the natural self. The outer, surface aspects of the personality are burned away and what is left is the “powder” of the inner man. This is a process of deep self-examination and self-disgust. The sorcerer’s underlying attitudes, prejudices, tastes, deep-rooted patterns of feeling and reaction, are dissolved away through the action of intelligent insight into themselves. The difficulty of the process is to find the true insight, and it carries the danger of mental collapse, fear, despair, illusion and self-deception.
• Self‐deceit is the gravest of all “sins.”
• To sorcerers, “good and evil go round in a wheel that is one thing and not many.” They are two sides of one coin, apparently separate and opposed, but really two aspects of a greater whole. In his attempt to become the whole man, who is god, the sorcerer tries to experience and master all things, whatever their conventional labels.
• Practice controlled selfishness. This does not mean that you never do anything for anyone else. If you do something to make someone for whom you care happy, his or her happiness will give you a sense of gratification.
• Those who try to deny the material world, or consider it to be evil, are deluding themselves.
• If anything is used too freely it loses its true meaning.
• Some gnostics supported an idea which does not fit with their dualistic tendencies but which is close to the heart of magical theory. They said that good and evil are meaningless labels and that the way to perfection is to experience everything.
• Refuse to be dragged down by the ramblings of those who subscribe to self-defeat.
• Inhibitions and repressions are obstacles to the development of the complete man and must be swept away.
• Compassion: it eliminates none of the other person’s misfortune, but allows it to perturb your spirit. If you are able to do so, then act: assume the person of the other and give him your strength. Otherwise, detach yourself.
• Demoting the concept of the “individual” by deliberately engineering multiple, conferring “egos,” personae, memeplexes or selves is intended as a method of breaking up the existential, calcified, individual “self” into more fluid multiple personality constellations, by exposing “the personality” as just one behavioral option from a menu of many.
  
  THE EIGHT TRUTHS
• 1 - Indulgence, instead of abstinence
• 2 - Vital existence, instead of spiritual pipe dreams
• 3 - Undefiled wisdom, instead of hypocritical self‐deceit
• 4 - Kindness to those who deserve it, instead of love wasted on ingrates
• 5 - Vengeance, instead of turning the other cheek
• 6 - Responsibility to the responsible, instead of concern for psychic vampires
• 7 - Man is just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all‐fours, who, because of his spiritual and intellectual development, has become the most vicious animal of all
• 8 - All of the so‐called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification
• There is nothing wrong with being greedy, as it only means that he wants more than he already has. Envy means to look with favor upon the possessions of others, and to be desirous of obtaining similar things for oneself.
• Envy and greed are the motivating forces of ambition - and without ambition, very little of any importance would be accomplished.
• Gluttony is simply eating more than you need to keep yourself alive. When you have overeaten to the point of obesity, another sin - pride - will motivate you to regain an appearance that will renew your self‐respect. Anyone who buys an article of clothing for a purpose other than covering his body and protecting it from the elements is guilty of pride.
• Being reluctant to get up in the morning is to be guilty of sloth.
• To have the faintest stirring of sexual desire is to be guilty of lust. In order to insure the propagation of humanity, nature made lust the second most powerful instinct, the first being self‐preservation.
• The last of the seven deadly sins - anger. Is it not our instinct for self‐preservation that is aroused when someone harms us, when we become angry enough to protect ourselves from further attack?
  
  THE NINE TRUE SINS
• 1. Stupidity - the top of the list. The cardinal sin. It’s too bad that stupidity isn’t painful. Ignorance is one thing, but our society thrives increasingly on stupidity. It depends on people going along with whatever they are told. The media promotes a cultivated stupidity as a posture that is not only acceptable but laudable.
• Learn to see through the tricks. You cannot afford to be stupid.
• 2. Pretentiousness - empty posturing can be most irritating and isn’t applying the cardinal rules of lesser magic. On equal footing with stupidity for what keeps the money in circulation these days. Everyone’s made to feel like a big shot, whether they can come up with the goods or not.
• 3. Solipsism - it can be very dangerous to project your reactions, responses and sensibilities onto someone who is probably far less attuned than you are. It is the mistake of expecting people to give you the same consideration, courtesy and respect that you naturally give them. They won’t. Instead, strive to apply the dictum of ‘do unto others as they do unto you.’ It’s work for most of us and requires constant vigilance lest you slip into a comfortable illusion of everyone being like you. As has been said, certain utopias would be ideal in a nation of philosophers, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, from a Machiavellian standpoint) we are far from that point.
• 4. Self‐deceit - another cardinal sin. We must not pay homage to any of the sacred cows presented to us, including the roles we are expected to play ourselves. The only time self‐deceit should be entered into is when it’s fun, and with awareness. But then, it’s not truly self‐deceit!
• 5. Herd conformity - it’s all right to conform to a person’s wishes, if it ultimately benefits you. But only fools follow along with the herd, letting an impersonal entity dictate to you. The key is to choose a master wisely instead of being enslaved by the whims of the many.
• 6. Lack of perspective - this one can lead to a lot of pain. You must never lose sight of who and what you are, and what a threat you can be, by your very existence. Always keep the wider historical and social picture in mind. That is an important key to both lesser and greater magic. See the patterns and fit things together as you want the pieces to fall into place. Do not be swayed by herd constraints - know that you are working on another level entirely from the rest of the world.
• 7. Forgetfulness of past orthodoxies - be aware that this is one of the keys to brainwashing people into accepting something new and different, when in reality it’s something that was once widely accepted but is now presented in a new package. We are expected to rave about the genius of the creator and forget the original. This makes for a disposable society.
• 8. Counterproductive pride - that first word is important. Pride is great up to the point you begin to throw out the baby with the bathwater. The rule of satanism is: if it works for you, great. When it stops working for you, when you’ve painted yourself into a corner and the only way out is to say, i’m sorry, I made a mistake, I wish we could compromise somehow, then do it.
• 9. Lack of aesthetics - this is the physical application of the balance factor. Aesthetics is important in lesser magic and should be cultivated. It is obvious that no one can collect any money off classical standards of beauty and form most of the time so they are discouraged in a consumer society, but an eye for beauty, for balance, is an essential satanic tool and must be applied for greatest magical effectiveness. It’s not what’s supposed to be pleasing’ it’s what is.
• Aesthetics is a personal thing, reflective of one’s own nature, but there are universally pleasing and harmonious configurations that should not be denied.
• “Release the fiend that lies dormant within you, for he is strong and ruthless and his power is far beyond the bounds of human frailty.” Jim Morrison
• It is high time that human beings stopped fighting themselves, and devoted their time to building temples designed for man’s indulgences.
• Defy negative thinking by taking control of your thoughts. Learn to change negative thinking and calm the emotions.
• The homogenizing and leveling effects of social bonding are always in tension with the freedom of the individual.
• One who follows the path of sorcery is confronted with imminent annihilation every turn of the way, and unavoidably they become keenly aware of their own death. The idea of imminent death, instead of becoming an obsession, becomes an indifference.
• Loss is made possible by attachment. People are nothing. Utilize them like instruments - without experiencing love or hatred, good or ill. Does a builder behave any differently toward the stones he uses?
• The sorcerer insulates himself, inoculates himself and protects himself from the beliefs of others, while holding his own beliefs in great suspicion.
• Seek to give and you will gain.
• Each person must decide for himself what his obligations are to his respective friends, family, and community. Before donating his time and money to those outside his immediate family and close circle of friends, he must decide what he can afford, without depriving those closest to him. When taking these things into consideration he must be certain to include himself among those who mean most to him. He must carefully evaluate the validity of the request and the personality or motives of the person asking it of him.
• Becoming a sorcerer is in itself a revolutionary act with far-reaching consequences. Before you set out to destroy “the system,” however, first remember that we made it and in our own interests. We sustain it constantly, either in agreement, with our support, or in opposition with our dissent. The opponents of the system are as much a function of the system as its defenders. The system is a ghost assembled in the minds of human beings operating within “the system.” It is a virtual parent we made to look after us. We made it very big and difficult to see in its entirety and we serve it and nourish it every day. Are there ever any years when no doctors or policemen are born? Why do artists rarely want to become policemen? What if “the system” isn’t our enemy after all? What if instead it’s our playground? The natural environments into which we pop magicians are born? Our jungle, ocean and ice floe… to bargain with and dance around and transform, as best we can, into poetry?
• Make a resolution that you are not going to put up with worry and uncertainty, that you are not going to be negative or give up at the slightest provocation. Worry implies uncertainty. As a sorcerer, you have to develop the positive side of yourself. This means learning to be certain.
• Whenever a lie has built unto itself a throne, let it be assailed without pity and without regret.
• “Expose yourself to your deepest fear. After that fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” Jim Morrison
• When you find yourself in the belly of the beast, why not curl up, make yourself comfortable, and conspire?
• Know that you can succeed and be enthusiastic and optimistic about your magical work. If you do, you are bound to succeed.
• Those who are overspiritual at the expense of the body and those who are overphysical at the expense of the soul are both far from perfection. The whole man is the balanced man. Experience and master all. The sorcerer learns mastery of both his body and his mind.
• Impose rules on yourself. When you break these rules, as you naturally will at first, punish yourself.
• He who turns the other cheek is a cowardly dog!
• Give blow for blow, scorn for scorn, doom for doom - with compound interest liberally added.
• Be not man nor woman but both (cultivate the female side of your nature without impairing your masculinity).
• Cultivate distance between human beings. Not to recognize oneself in others: never feeling superior, equal, or inferior to them. In this world, beings are alone, without law, with no escape, without excuse, clothed only in their strength or weakness: peaks, stones, sand. This is the first liberation of one’s view of life. To overcome the brotherly contamination, the need to love and to feel loved, to feel together, to feel equal and connected with others. Purge yourself of this. At a certain point you will no longer feel united with somebody because of blood, affections, country, or human destiny. You will feel united only with those who are on your same path, which is not the human path, for it has no regard for human ways.
• Detachment, silence, solitude - this is what prepares the liberation of this view of life and of the world.
• Do not dither, be decisive, and if mistakes have been made, we all learn from our mistakes. Having made a decision, stick to it until you succeed.
• What is denied is more intensely desired.
• Indulgence instead of “abstinence”... But not “compulsion.”
• Be honest about your progress, your successes and failures.
• As far as your subconscious mind is concerned, there is no difference between good and evil. There is nothing to fear except fear. In addition, that ludicrous concept named karma is equally absurd.
• Due to an “irresistible” inclination, people want others to “know” who they are (or worse yet, what they think they are). When they act, they want everyone else to know about it too; the absence of reactions and a natural impassibility in the face of an unjust comment or action are not typical of them. An occultist finds all this to be puerile. He does not exist. Let others try to grasp at air, if that is what they enjoy. He can pull the rug from under their feet, and he will do it when the occasion arises, without them even realizing where the action came from. Do they wish to strike him on the cheek? Let them. He will even turn the other cheek: he only plays those games in which he is the one dictating all the rules. He is at the mercy of no one. He alone decides what reactions must arise in himself due to other people’s words, actions, or qualities. He is only concerned with what effects follow from these thoughts of others, what their consequences are for his game. He cares only for making some things occur: he calmly and coolly establishes the means and the conditions. Above all he does not talk about it. He is immune from the mania of exterior “affirmation.”
• When a person, by his reprehensible behavior, practically cries out to be destroyed, it is truly your moral obligation to indulge them their wish.
• The reason a person viciously strikes out against you is because they are afraid of you or what you represent, or are resentful of your happiness. They are weak, insecure, and on extremely shaky ground when you throw your curse, and they make ideal sacrifices.
• Self-control means that you are projecting a far better thought pattern to the world and to other people, and so the net result is that others will be less prone to respond to you in an aggressive manner. Part of the art of learning to control magical energies lies in controlling yourself. Resolve to think before you react.
• To experience and master all things is to experience and reconcile opposites. To achieve a reconciliation of opposites there must be a perfect balance between them. From this balance comes magical prowess. The whole man is to be raised to the power of infinity, not man as civilized thinker or man as ravening beast, but man as a combination of both.
  
  THE ELEVEN RULES OF THE EARTH
• 1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.
• 2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.
• 3. When in another’s lair, show him respect or else do not go there.
• 4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.
• 5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.
• 6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved.
• 7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.
• 8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.
• 9. Do not harm little children.
• 10. Do not kill non‐human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.
• 11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.
• The occultist is an entity that cannot be measured by ordinary standards. Nobody knows what he is really capable of, nor what his action consists of. His path is impenetrable. You may be his best friend, his companion, and even his lover; you may think you own his heart, his affection, or his devotion. And yet, he will be an other, besides the one you already know. You will become aware of this “other” one only when you enter his domain. Then you will feel as if you had been walking along the edge of an abyss.

[RKSDooM]

MAGICAL CONSCIOUSNESS

• * Magical consciousness is a particular way of seeing and interacting with the real world. I experience it as what I can only describe as a “head-click,” a feeling of absolute certainty accompanying a perceptual shift which gives real world transactions the numinous, uncanny feeling of dreams.
  
  * MAGICAL CONSCIOUSNESS EXERCISE
  
  * As a first exercise in magical consciousness spend five minutes looking at everything around you as if all of it was trying to tell you something very important.
  * How did that light bulb come to be here exactly?
  * Why does the murder victim in the newspaper have the same unusual surname as your father-in-law?
  * Why did the phone ring, just at that moment and what were you thinking when it did?
  * What’s that water stain on the wall of the building opposite? How does it make you feel?
  * Five minutes of focus during which everything is significant, everything is luminous and heavy with meaning, like the objects seen in dreams.
  
  * MAGICAL CONSCIOUSNESS EXERCISE 2
  
  * Relax, than go for a walk and interpret everything you see on the way as a message from the infinite to you.
  * Watch for patterns in the flight of birds.
  * Make oracular sentences from the letters on car number plates.
  * Look at the way buildings move against the skyline.
  * Pay attention to noises on the streets, graffiti sigils, voices cut into rapid, almost subliminal commands and pleas. Listen between the lines.
  * Walk as far and for as long as you feel comfortable in this open state. The more aimless, the more you walk for the pleasure of pure experience, the further into magical consciousness you will be immersed.
  
  * Magical consciousness can be practiced until it merges with and becomes everyday consciousness. Maintained at these levels it could interfere with your lifestyle unless you have one which supports long periods of richly associative thought. Magical consciousness resembles states of light meditation, “hypnagogic” pre-sleep trance or alpha wave brain activity.

THE MAGICAL ARTS: BEGINNING SORCERY

• * No one can tell you “this is how you should practice magick.” How can anyone possibly know more about your magick than you do? Ultimately there is only one path, the path to oneself. Along the way one encounters the same truths clothed in a variety of forms and symbols.
  
  * BASICS
  
  * Real power comes with the realization that we do have free choice. The cosmic tides do not compel us or force us - they are there to be used. All we have to realize is that cosmic tides do indeed exist, and that they will, at any time, conform to the dictates of the subconscious mind. In truth, terms such as “good” and “bad” apply only to human beings for we, and we alone, must decide using free choice.
  
  * 1. Assess = stop. Look around you and assess your situation. Examine all possibilities for future action - there will always be more pathways available than is at first immediately obvious. 2. Plan = once you have chosen a course of action - plan what you need to do. What resources do you need? These may be material, magical, financial and perhaps most importantly, the support of other people. Be prepared to carry your plan onwards. 3. Implement = this is the hardest thing of all - to do what must be done. Often, fear will intervene at this stage. Be prepared to look at your motivations for not continuing upon your chosen course. Unacknowledged fears often take the form of lack of inertia and laziness. Each step forwards gives further momentum to the next effort. Each barrier breached releases a rush of pleasure and freedom. 4. Evaluate = this is the stage of assimilation - being able to look back at your course of action and realizing what happened and how you dealt with it. Have you learned any important lessons? The value of such experience is to make knowledge flesh - assimilating experience until it seems perfectly simple and natural.
  * To get the subconscious mind to respond, you have to bring in the mind and the emotions.
  * Concentration and imagination are vitally important in magic.
  * The mixture of the trivial and the important is typical of magic and so is the mixture of good and evil.
  * In magical work, attitude of mind is of paramount importance.
  * Emotion is also a powerful magical tool. It is one of three. The power of thought and the use of the imagination are the other two.
  * Desire is a force, especially if controlled and used.
  * Magic is often referred to in terms of being a path, a spiritual quest, a voyage of self-discovery, or an adventure. However you want to dress it up, one point is clear, it is a means of bringing about change. For this change to be effective, it is important that you be able to set the effects of your magical work within a context - to be able to make sense of them and integrate them into a dynamic interaction with a moving, fluid universe. This requires a sense (however tenuous) of where you have been, and where you are “going.” At times these anchorpoints will seem to be solid, and at others, ephemeral and faint. The key is recognizing that we have reached such a turning point, and are aware of being in a period of transition between our past and our future. The conscious awareness of entering a transitional state allows us to perhaps, discard behavioral/emotional patterns which will be no longer valid for the “new” circumstances, and consciously take up new ones. It doesn’t just happen once, but can occur many times throughout an individual’s life, and that it has peaks (initiatory crises), troughs (black depression or the “dark night of the soul”) and plateaus (where nothing much seems to be going on). Becoming aware of your own cycles of change, and how to weather them, is a core part of any developmental process or approach to magical practice.
  * Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax and float downstream.
  * Read lots of books on the subject to get in the mood. Reading about magic is like reading about sex: it will get you horny for the real thing but it won’t give you nearly as much fun. Reading will give you a feel for what’s crap and what can usefully be adapted to your own style.
  * Controlled aggression is a powerful tool in the right hands, and to use it correctly is not difficult.
  * Make time to practice magic and persist. Persistence wins every time because sustained thought cannot fail.
  
  * The point is not to believe in magic, the point is to do it and see how it works. This is not religion and blind faith plays no part.

[RKSDooM]

MAGICAL ENERGY

KETHER
Color : White with Gold
Correspondence in the Body : Crown of Head
Elemental Correspondence : Air
Planet : Uranus
Symbolizes : Divine power completely incomprehensible to man. Humility. Pure consciousness, beyond all categories, timeless.
Other Info : "The First Path is called the Admirable and Hidden Intelligence; it is the Light giving power of comprehension of that First Principle which has no beginning; and it is the Primal Glory, for no created being can attain to its essence." It is also described as absolute compassion. KETHER refers to things that are above the mind's abilities of comprehension. “One's thoughts should be pure, one's forehead should display no harshness, one's ears should always turn to hear good, one's eyes should distance themselves from noticing evil, always looking at the good, one's nose should be free from the breath of anger, one's face should always shine, and his mouth should express nothing except good.”

DAATH
Color : Grey with Green
Correspondence in the Body : The Neck
Elemental Correspondence : Air
Planet : Pluto
Symbolizes : Knowledge. Memory. Concentration.
Other Info : DAATH is considered the point of creation, when the active principle of wisdom, meets with the passive principle of understanding, and creates the archetypal idea of knowledge.

TIFERET
Color : Yellow with Red
Correspondence in the Body : The Solar Plexus
Elemental Correspondence : Air
Planet : The Sun
Symbolizes : Spirituality. Healing. Balance. Harmony. Integration. Beauty. Miracles. Compassion. The Force that Integrates Compassion and Strength/Judgement.
Other Info : TIFERET is especially associated with Jesus Christ. This is because this is the Sephirah in which the divine force 'sacrifices' itself, transmutating into the forces of energy and matter, in order that creation might come to be. It is the Sephirah in which 'God becomes a mortal man'. In terms of the Kabbalah, TIFERET encompasses not only "God the Son" but also the related myths of Osiris and other sacrificial gods. Christianity primarily focuses on TIFERET as a driving spiritual force, emphasising the points of love, beauty, self-sacrifice and service in its greater aspect.

YESOD
Color : Violet with Blue
Correspondence in the Body : The Genitals
Elemental Correspondence : Air
Planet : The Moon
Symbolizes : Communication. It is the power of connection. It is the vehicle, from one thing or condition to another. It also serves as a transmitter between the sephirot above, and the reality below.
Other Info : YESOD is the foundation upon which God has built the world. It is likened to the 'engine-room' of creation. The Holy Spirit is the Christian counterpart of the YESOD. It is responsible for the powers of communication, connection and contact with external reality within the soul. It is the symbol of Human to God union.

MALKUTH
Color : Black with Brown
Correspondence in the Body : The Feet
Elemental Correspondence : Earth
Planet : The Earth
Symbolizes : The realm of matter/earth and the physical world, the planets and the solar system.
Other Info : It is important not to think of this Sephirah as "unspiritual". Even though MALKUTH is the emanation "furthest" from the Divine Source, it still has its own unique spiritual qualities. As the receiving sphere of all the other Sephiroth, MALKUTH gives tangible form to the other emanations.


BEGINNING EXERCISES

CONCENTRATION EXERCISE #1

Train yourself to stay perfectly still for long periods of time, once per day.
Day 1 - 2 min
Day 2 - 5 min
Day 3 - 7 min
Day 4 - 10 min


CONCENTRATION EXERCISE #2

Train yourself to stay perfectly still for long periods of time in awkward positions. In these positions you must be able to breathe evenly and in a regular rhythm.
Day 1 - 2 min
Day 2 - 5 min
Day 3 - 7 min
Day 4 - 10 min

CLARITY EXERCISE

Decide exactly what you want from life. Think about this carefully, and write down everything on a sheet of paper. Do not restrict yourself in any way. Let your imagination run free. Take your time and let everything come out into the open.
Divide this list into two sections - needs and desires.
Look at each of these two lists and put them in order of priority.
The result is that you are now clear in your mind as to exactly what you want from life.

NONTHINKING EXERCISE

Sit or lie down in a comfortable position.
Close your eyes and try to stop thinking; nothing is allowed to happen in your mind.
Stay in this state of mind for two to five minutes.

VISUALIZATION EXERCISE

Put some objects in front of you.
Relax.
Fix your eyes on one object and try to remember everything about it - the color, shape, etc.
Close your eyes and try to imagine the object.
With regular practice the amount of time you can hold the object in your mind will increase.
Practice until you can hold on to it for as long as you like.
When this has been achieved, the exercise should be practiced with the eyes open. When this can be done, then the purpose of this exercise is complete.

LANGUAGE AND THE WORD EXERCISE

“Carefully memorize the meaning of a passage, then read it; you’ll find you can actually read it without the words making any sound whatever in the mind’s ear. Extraordinary experience, one that will carry over into dreams. When you start thinking in images, without words, you’re well on the way.” William S. Burroughs

IMAGINATION EXERCISE

Without looking, describe a rose. Stop and think about this.
Now describe your ideal home. Take your time and really think about this slowly and deliberately.
The second time you were not only drawing up images from memory, you were creating a picture in your mind. This is part of the secret of using imagination.

[RKSDooM]

ADVANCED EXERCISES

THE QUICKENING OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS EXERCISE

This exercise is to gradually concentrate and awaken a consciousness in each area of the body.
Do this once a day.
Lay down.
Breathe deeply and slowly.
Starting at your toes and gradually working your way up your body to the top of your head, first tense and then relax each part as you come to it.
Concentrate your mind upon the crown of your head; visualize a sphere of white energy. This is Kether - the divine power. Contemplate this for a moment.
Now concentrate on just that part of your body, as though it were the only part of you alive and active.
Concentrate your attention upon your throat and neck; visualize a sphere of grey energy. This is Daath - the power of the mind. Contemplate this for a moment.
Now feel the skin on your neck, and the air flowing down it. Center your consciousness on this part of your body.
Bring your consciousness down to your heart area, in the center of your chest; visualize a sphere of yellow energy. This is Tiferet - the power of the spirit. Contemplate this for a moment.
Now feel the flesh and the internal organs of this area, feel your heart beating and become conscious of your lungs.
Bring your consciousness down further until you reach your lower stomach and genitals; visualize a sphere of violet energy. This is Yesod - the power of connection. Contemplate this for a moment.
Now become aware of the internal workings and feel of this area.
Concentrate your attention upon your ankles and feet, visualizing a sphere of black energy. This is Malkuth - the power of the earth. Contemplate this for a moment.
Now feel your consciousness in your feet and heels and the existence of your toes.
Take the deepest breath you can and slowly release it.
Concentrate your attention upon your ankles and feet, again visualizing a sphere of black energy and feeling your consciousness in your feet and heels and toes. Release your breath. The energy sphere vanishes, reabsorbed into your being.
Bring your consciousness up until you reach your lower stomach and genitals; again visualize a sphere of violet energy and become aware of the internal workings and feel of this area. The energy sphere vanishes, reabsorbed into your being.
Bring your consciousness up further to your heart area, in the center of your chest; once again visualize a sphere of yellow energy and feel the flesh and the internal organs of this area and your heart beating. Again, become conscious of your lungs. The energy sphere vanishes, reabsorbed into your being.
Concentrate your attention upon your throat and neck area and visualize a sphere of grey energy. Feel the skin on your neck, and the air flowing down it. Once again, center your consciousness on this part of your body. The energy sphere vanishes, reabsorbed into your being.
Concentrate your whole mind upon the crown of your head and visualize a sphere of white energy. Concentrate on just that part of your body, as though it were the only part of you alive and active. The energy sphere vanishes, reabsorbed into your being.

INNER TEMPLE EXERCISE

The inner temple is a magical tool used to contact subconscious power. Your inner temple may not be made of stone, but it is made of something far more lasting - pure thought.
Do this exercise once per day.
Go into your sanctum.
Sit down and relax; let all thoughts of the outside world leave you just for a while.
Light your central light. Realize that this light is symbolic of your inner power. Contemplate this.
Imagine in front of you an encircled cross; move toward this symbol in your imagination. You see that it is emblazoned on a door. Move toward this door and touch it. The door will open, revealing your inner temple.
The temple is dark inside, aside from a single white light suspended from the ceiling in the shape of a crown. You see that you are in a small, square room. The walls and ceiling are lined with black and purple crystals. On the smooth, black floor there is another encircled cross. In the center of the cross, directly beneath the light, is a circular pool filled with unnaturally blue, and unnaturally still, water.
Set in the middle of each wall is an archway and door. These are colored. The one in front of you is yellow (east), the one to your right is red (south), the one behind you is blue (west), and the one to your left is green (north).
You move toward the yellow arch in front of you. You see that floating in the air in front of the door, point up, is a sword. Look at this sword and study it well, for it is yours. Something is engraved on the blade, can you see what it says?
Move toward the red archway to your right. Inside the arch, floating in front of the door, is a wand. Once again there is something engraved on it.
Now move on to the blue archway behind you, where you will find a chalice. Look at it and study the engraving on it. What does it say?
Move to the green archway to your left. In front of the door, there is a shield. It has a very simple yet special design on it. Remember this, for it is your personal design. There is also something engraved on this shield. Can you see it?
Return to the pool in the center of the temple. This is a magic pool. The water is power and energy. It can be used to see into the future. Spend as long as you like meditating at the pool.
When the exercise comes to an end, a doorway of white light appears in front of you. Walk through it and you are back in your sanctum and in your own time once more.
Blow out the central candle, and leave the sanctum.
Write any important points or impressions in your book of shadows.

[RKSDooM]

OPENING THE INNER MAGIC CIRCLE

Do this daily.
Slow down, relax, and become calm, while pushing aside all everyday thoughts.
Perform the “quickening of the subconscious” exercise.
When you have finished, feel that you are filled with power and energy.
Imagine a point of bright white light inside yourself, at about heart level. See this grow and get brighter. Now imagine a beam of light traveling from your heart to some convenient point immediately in front of you. This forms the first arm of the cross which terminates at the cardinal point of magical east. Speak - “eastern cardinal point - arise.”
Now imagine a similar beam of light traveling from your body to the right. This ends at magical south. Speak - “southern cardinal point - arise.”
See a similar beam sent out behind you toward magical west. Speak - “western cardinal point - arise.”
The fourth arm is seen to travel to your left, ending at magical north. Speak - “northern cardinal point - arise.”
Finally, imagine a point of light on the ground immediately in front of you. See this point travel in a clockwise direction until it forms a circle of light around you and the four arms of the cross. Speak - “infinity arise.”
To close down, speak - “infinity cease.” See a point of light on the ground in front of you travel in a counterclockwise direction, erasing the circle of light as it goes. See the four arms of the cross reabsorb into yourself.

INNER TEMPLE AFFIRMATION EXERCISE

Open the inner magic circle.
Perform the inner temple exercise.
When you reach the pool, have your desire list from your clarity exercise at hand. Look at each one and affirm, “I shall have (name desire or need).” Do this several times with determination and while putting feeling into the words.
Each time you do this look into the pool and into your imagination. See yourself having the thing you desire.
Do not let conscious thoughts, such as, “this is impossible,” or, “if only,” get in the way. Push these to one side, relax, and indulge yourself in what seems to be a dream or fantasy. Do not rush; take your time.
Leave the inner temple through the door.
Close down the inner magic circle.

[RKSDooM]

CREATING THE COSMIC SPHERE EXERCISE

Start with the central light within your heart, but before projecting the four arms of the cross, imagine a beam of light travelling upward to a distance equal to the arms of the cross.
Similarly, imagine a beam of light travelling downward, again to the same distance.
Perform the “opening the inner magic circle” exercise, but do not close it down.
Complete the cosmic sphere by adding two more circles. Start at the top and imagine a circle of light traveling to south, base, north, and back to top.
The final circle is constructed by starting at the top once more, this time traveling toward east, base, west, and finally back to top again.
You now have the triple rings of infinity which surround a cosmic sphere.
As each ring comes into existence you may hear noises in your head, like things being slotted into place. Quite often this is accompanied by a feeling like a rush of energy, and a shift in consciousness sometimes takes place.
As soon as the cosmic sphere is opened you should feel power.
Knowing that the sphere is there is a matter of practice, persistence, and confidence.
To close this down, simply reverse the procedure.
Practice this until the cosmic sphere can be easily erected in your mind and erecting it has become second nature to you.
Eventually, when you are opening the cosmic sphere you can do so entirely in the imagination. For the first year or so, practice it outwardly, physically, moving toward each quarter separately. You have to train your concentration into not breaking, and this is where all that regular practice comes in.