Israel Regardie - The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic.pdf

VOLUME THREE
1. Imagine yourself standing in the Temple, facing West. The Black Pillar of
Severity will be on your right -- the White Pillar of Mercy on your left. You will make the
Middle Pillar as you stand between them.
2. Imagine now that the Black Pillar is reflected in your right side -- the White
Pillar in your left.
3. Take a deep breath and raise your consciousness to your KETHER above
your head and vibrate the Name EHEIEH -- which means I AM. Imagine the Light
flowing down through DAATH (at the nape of your neck) to TIPHARETH.
4. In the same manner, establish YESOD in the name SHADDAI EL CHAT,
and MALKUTH in the Name ADONAI HA-ARETZ.
5. Make the Qabalistic Cross to indicate that you have called down the Light
of your KETHER and balanced it in your aura. Then let your imagination dwell on the aura
and see it oval and clear, pulsating with the glow from TIPHARETH.
If you are called to see anyone who is ill, who is depressed, or who has a depressing
effect on you, you should do this exercise beforehand. In the case of the person who has a
depressing effect on you, you may also imagine that your aura is hardened at the edge so
that they are unable to penetrate it, and so deplete you of vitality (which is generally what
such sensations mean).
In all these practices it is well to remember that `Strength is in Silence.'(N.B. The
original documents of the Order, dating as far back as 1895 and maybe earlier, do not
provide us with a single clue as to the origins of what has come to be known as the
middle pillar technique. It seems to be, as far as I can discover, a specific development of
the Stella Matutina, in which case Dr. R. Felkin was its originator. This might explain why
there is no trace whatsoever of its usage in the technical writings of Aleister Crowley,
who has certainly made good use of most of the Order techniques, and who would surely
have used this had it been available.
However, even in the Stella Matutina it was described merely in larval form -- that is
to say, it remained largely undeveloped. It was briefly stated in the paper describing the
work to be done between the Portal Grade and the Adeptus Minor grade. There are
enormous possibilities inherent in the method. I was lucky enough to have stumbled on to a
practical approach which I think exploited more fully some of the potentialities suggested
in the original Felkin paper.
In a book entitled Foundations of Practical Magic, I recently included an older essay
entitled The Art of True Healing. This was once produced as a small book by Helios
Publishing Service In England.
It describes the method which over the years I have found preeminently useful.
Whoever developed the basic technique, whether Felkin or some other, produced a
fundamental method of aiding personal and spiritual growth. If you talk about them, save to
your Chief, or if you try to analyse their effects, you will not benefit by them. Try them with
simple faith and in silence for a year before rationalising them. I.R.)
It is better at first to keep your aura to yourself, rather than to try to flow out
towards
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