by Mark Stavish
31 October 2022
Near the end of the 19th Century, the great Russian adventurer and godmother of the contemporary spiritual climate, Helena Petrova Blavatsky stated that the choices made at the current moment would decide if humanity was to experience 1,000 years of wisdom or 1,000 years of darkness and ignorance. While such a statement can be taken literally as well as symbolically, it points to two important points: individual and collective karma.
In Jewish mysticism there are the Tzadikim Nistarim or”36 Hidden Righteous Men” who keep the world turning. The Bal Shem Tov stated that just as there are 36 hidden righteous men there are 36 revealed righteous men. The number is said to be the bare minimum and should the number fall by even one, the world would be destroyed. What makes it even more interesting is that the hidden are not only hidden from the world, but may also be hidden from themselves – they may not know that they are among the “righteous” or “saintly” and as such, every Jew is encouraged to act as if they are one of the righteous upon whom all of humanity, creation even, depends.
This lesson is important as it illustrates the importance of our actions, and that we may never know just how important one of our acts is, what its effect on others now or into the future will be. This is echoed in the famous line from the movie adaptation of The Hobbit when the wizard Gandlaf states, “Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”
In the third and final initiation of one traditional Martinist group, the initiate, now raised to the sublime degree of Superior Inconnu, or “Unknown Superior,” is told near its conclusion that, “the hope of the world rests on thee, forget it not.” While such a heavy obligation is rarely known in many modern esoteric movements, the importance of it should not be lost on those hearing of such things here, for the first time. In a less of a messiaanic form, this injunction is to remember that the purpose of initiation is personal illumination that is shared – like it or not – for as scriptures state, a light cannot be hidden under a basket. Our various degrees of awakening change us and thereby change everything we do, and potentially, everyone we come into contact with, even if in a small manner – and hopefully for the better.
The World of Light
“The eternal [Logos] is the Power of God, and the work of the eternal [Logos] is the world, which has no beginning, but is continually becoming by the activity of the eternal [Logos]. Therefore, nothing that constitutes the world will ever perish or be destroyed, for the eternal [Logos] is imperishable. All this great body of the world is a Soul, full of intellect and of God, who fills it within and without and vivifies everything.
Contemplate through Me [the Divine Mind], the world and consider its beauty. … See that all things are full of light. See the earth, settled in the midst of all, the great nurse who nourishes all earthly creatures, All is full of Soul, and all beings are in movement. Who has created these things? The one God, for God is one. You see that the world is always one, the Sun, one; the moon, one; the divine activity, one; God, too, is one. And since all is living, and Life is also one, God is certainly one. It is by the action of God that all things come into being…”
This notion of light is literal, as all that exists consists of light and its many variations. How often have we been told that matter is simply dense or concentrated light? David Bohm was, as myself, a native son of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He however, was of an earlier time and the son of Jewish parents. He would later become a close friend of Albert Einstein. Bohm is quoted as saying, “Matter is frozen light.” Einstein is most well known for this equation that demonstrated this and its accompanying law on the conservation of energy and matter: matter and energy cannot either be created or destroyed, only change form. Bohm corresponded extensively with Krishnamurti and later in life with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His refusal to dismiss the paranormal apriori had his colleagues warning about the damage it might do to his professional reputation.
We see this idea of light or worlds made of light in some form as foundational to the creation of the cosmos, but also our philosophical view of the cosmos, and ourselves. In practice, we are to relax and imagine that all is light – including ourselves – and that this light is as the Hermetica says, filled with life and consciousness. In the various tantras various worlds of light are imagined and with and through them, as was also stated by the Renaissance magus Giadorno Bruno, we could enter into dimensions of consciousness and BEING beyond the material one we are so familiar with.
Among the art of visualization most famous in the West, until recently, are the Exercises of Ignatious Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. However this practice is not limited to the monastic, as pious Roman Catholics who perform the rosary until recently were told to do so while visualizing various scenes with the final prayer asking the Virgin Mary to “be with me at my hour of death.” One easily sees a similarity with Tibetan practices known as powa wherein one prepares for death as part of their daily spiritual practice, by visualizing their prefered Pure Land or Buddhafield, that they wish to ‘reincarnate’ in after their physical death and prior to any returns to the material world.
This foundational practice of seeing everything as light is applied to the world around us, because that formulates our foundation, or sense of stability, to this world we live in as well as when it is applied to the imaginal realms of the mind that connect us to the astral dimensions of the psychic. It is this very real application of light, and with it heat, that allows us to transform or transmute both ourselves and the world around us: the creation of miracles one might say.
“We will deal with some aspects of the Western magi-qabalistic tradition. The precise point meant by the word magic is to discover and to use forces existing in nature and until now unused and unknown. Let’s say that magic is the art and science of being able to cause modifications which will occur in agreement with the will. Let’s add finally that magic is the science of the understanding of the self and of our environment. It is the art of putting this understanding into action.
The foundation of the Western occult philosophy is that man, who partakes of the divine mediation, is the co-ruler of a world which is also mental. If the world such as it is does not satisfy us, let’s change our vision of it and it will change. Man is capable of being and of using everything he perceives because everything he perceives is in some manner a part of his own being. He can therefore subjugate the entirety of the universe of which he is conscious in the realization of his inner will.”
As Hermes instructs:
“Close your eyes and let the mind expand. Let no fear of death or darkness arrest its course. Allow the mind to merge with Mind. Let it flow out upon the great curve of consciousness. Let it soar on the wings of the great bird of duration, up to the very Circle of Eternity.”
To “soar in the wings of the great bird of eternity” is to leave the confines of ‘normal’ or conceptualized experience and enter into the various psychic domains. For those familiar, it sounds similar to a term used by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn for astral projection or “flight on the wings of the spirit.” However, such experiences may or may not involve a complete exteriorization of consciousness as all is within, and the transfer may be more expansive than projective. Experience will assist in knowing the difference in these ways of knowing, and with them, Being.
The “Circle of Eternity”is well known in many forms including the famous Oroborous, or serpent eating its own tail. An alchemical variation shows a winged dragon or serpent eating the tail of, while also having its tail eaten by a wingless dragon or serpent. Thus we have an introduction to the seeds of duality in unity as well as the interconnectedness of all things, particularly the spiritual and material dimensions. As such, the Circle of Eternity is both a unique experience and an experience of the All or Oneness. We hesitate to say “One” but rather a realization of one’s own being as a totality, a microcosm and with that, its interrelationship with all else that was, is, or maybe. The circle is given to ‘no beginning and no end’ so it is a symbol of eternity, and one’s experience of eternity or timelessness, the eternal ‘Now’.
In a mystical Syrian alchemical text, the usual veil of enigmas almost completely falls away when we come to the Mirror contained within a temple appropriately called the “Seven Doors.”
“The purpose of the mirror was not to allow a person to contemplate himself physically because scarcely was the mirror put down, when the person lost memory of his own image. The Mirror represents the Divine Spirit. When the soul sees itself in it, it observes the shameful things in itself and rejects them. Once purified, it initiates and takes as a model the Holy Ghost; it becomes spirit itself; calm possesses it and it turns continuously to this superior state in which it knows [the divine] and is known [by it]. Then having become without shadow, it divests itself of the chains that are its own and those it has in common with the body. And what is the word of the philosophers? Know Thyself. With these words is conveyed the spiritual and intellectual mirror. And what is this mirror if not the primordial divine spirit itself? When a man looks into it and sees himself, he turns away from everything bearing the names of gods and demons, and uniting himself with the Holy Ghost, he becomes a perfect man … He sees the God that is in him … The mirror is situated over seven doors … corresponding to the seven heavens, over the sensory world, over the twelve houses [the zodiac or forces of animal vitality] … And over them rises the Eye of the invisible senses, the Eye of the Spirit, which is present and in all places. This perfect Spirit is seen in the power of which everything is comprises.” – Bertholet, Chemistry of the Middle Ages (CMA) as quoted in The Hermetic Tradition by Julius Evola
The Seven Doors are the seven metals within us of alchemy, the seven planetary forces of astrology, the seven primary psychic centers of the various yogas, of which the mirror of mind stands above and supreme. The chains are our karma, for as Eliphas Levi has stated, “We are the Sons of our Deeds” and karma – fruit of our actions – can only be undone by ourselves. The Eye of Eternity, seeing yourself is what is known as the Experience of Hockmah in some schools of qabala, wherein we see the Divine “face to face” but not yet in totality of Unity with it. This is one of the three expressions of the Experience of Eternity and also one of the final stages of enlightenment. But be warned, experience and full integration are not the same, and work still needs to be done. To turn away from gods and demons is to be beyond duality and ideas of good and evil, to be in the supreme consciousness, or at least close to it. Hence there is no shadow. The Holy Ghost is the force of life itself, it is the energy of Being, the Shekinah, the Shakti, and she is the master of all creation.
In this Mirror of Wisdom, which you may first encounter in a dream, particularly a dream that involves the symbols and acts of purification – and takes place in locations where purification takes place, mirrors are located, or both – such as a bedroom or bathroom in particular. For more information, see our essays in VOXHERMES: Toilet Dreams and the Alchemical Vision, Part One and Two
Remember however, the experience may start out as a normal or near-normal dream, and at some point you are aware that you are dreaming or engage in a decision, a choice that must be made that decides your path. You are aware that you are making a conscious decision. These are the only dreams that matter even if the symbols appear in normal dream states.
The ideal mirror is round and has a true silver backing as have many antiques. Silver is favored towards the Lunar dimensions and aids in the work. A circular black mirror is also very good and orients us towards Saturn and of course the phenomena of “the Point” as discussed in the essays below.
See Dubuis’ writing on the mirror.
The Mirror
http://www.portaelucis.fr/GB/html/textes/pdf/MiroirGB.pdf
The Swing in the Mirror
http://www.portaelucis.fr/GB/html/textes/pdf/Balance_MiroirGB.pdf
The Ears of the Mirror
http://www.portaelucis.fr/GB/html/textes/pdf/Oreilles_MiroirGB.pdf
Mirror Without Mirror
http://www.portaelucis.fr/GB/html/textes/pdf/Miroir_sans_MiroirGB.pdf
The following prayers will be of use as well in working with these practices.
The Mystic Rite of the Flame
To assist in this work you may want to use the following invocations from classical Hermeticism.
“I invoke thee, O God, the living one, who does show forth your splendour in the fire, you unseen Father of the Light! Pour forth your strength; and your daimon, and come down into this fire; inspire it with your Holy Spirit; show me your strength, and let the house of the almighty God, which is within this Light, be opened for me! Let there be light …. your breadth-depth-length-height-ray; and let the Lord, the God within, shine forth!” – [Short Version]
and:
“I adjure you, O Light, holy ray, breadth -depth – length – height- rays by the holy names which I have uttered, and am about to speak … abide with me in this same hour, until I have besought thy God, and learned about the things I desire!”
In closing, be relaxed and follow these instructions:
“Close your eyes and let the mind expand. Let no fear of death or darkness arrest its course. Allow the mind to merge with Mind. Let it flow out upon the great curve of consciousness. Let it soar on the wings of the great bird of duration, up to the very Circle of Eternity.” ―Hermes
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