A little help or suggestion on astral travel
-
@he atlas itch said
"Jim - can you give any historical/biographical background on Ophiel?"
No. (I only know a little of him personally, and I'd hate to quote from bad memory.) - He lived in San Francisco and was quite a character!
"I've never heard of him before your recommendation. Have you read any more of his books and are they as good?"
He wrote a lot of books that, at first glance, look "pop" and silly but, in fact, tend to be loaded with gems. He seems to have come by most of what he knew from actual work, more than from theory.
-
@Jim Eshelman said
"
@he atlas itch said
"Jim - can you give any historical/biographical background on Ophiel?"No. (I only know a little of him personally, and I'd hate to quote from bad memory.) - He lived in San Francisco and was quite a character!
"I've never heard of him before your recommendation. Have you read any more of his books and are they as good?"
He wrote a lot of books that, at first glance, look "pop" and silly but, in fact, tend to be loaded with gems. He seems to have come by most of what he knew from actual work, more than from theory."
Indeed. His books are mostly practical with very little theory - I like them. He gives multiple methods for each practice.
IAO131
-
well I`ve discovered in my case as an example that not all methods are suitable for anybody.
also planets interfer in some periods of time in my astral journeys. merucry retrograde makes my journey very dizzy.
the best method is in your heart search in it trust what it says and youll get it
-
I can astral travel at will, of course i have been practising it since age 12, I feel that AC might not be the best guide in this, no matter how much i revere the Beast, more topical books have been written recently.
-
@Kingsolomon said
"I have been reading Ophiel's book since Jim reccommended it to me.
It is a pretty good book, I think I now know what I was doing wrong with my astral work.
the LBRP is ESSENTIAL for EVERYTHING. It just comes to show you you have to pay attention to detail and it's the work the magician does that counts, not the mundane things that keeps us in a "malkuth" state of being.
Thanks for the book recommendation Jim
King"
Why would this be essential if its a relatively modern ritual and people who astrally projected and attained in the past never drew a pentagram in their life or invoked the Divine names of the four quarters?
IAO131
-
I've heard of others doing the LBRP as soon as they arrive on the astral. The idea is to protect oneself from the denizens of the astral realm - although whether the LBRP actually accomplishes this function is another question.
-
The problem with what Ophiel does is that he tends to blend his explainations together in a way that causes confusion and/or inability to make sense of the practice he describes. I recall being very excited when I first read this thread and Heard Jim drop Ophiels name. I went right out and bought Ophiels art and practice of astral project. But he blurs the line between the "etheric" and the actuall astral plane, as in, where one ends and the other begins. He really uses both Etheric and astral almost interchangeably. i am wondering what is it going to take to find some genuine instruction? -
@Law said
":? The problem with what Ophiel does is that he tends to blend his explainations together in a way that causes confusion and/or inability to make sense of the practice he describes. I recall being very excited when I first read this thread and Heard Jim drop Ophiels name. I went right out and bought Ophiels art and practice of astral project. But he blurs the line between the "etheric" and the actuall astral plane, as in, where one ends and the other begins."
He sucks on theory. But it's solid on practice of the "Do this exactly as I tell you, and you will get a result" variety. I think it likely that if you follow that, then you'll (1) get a measure of success and (2) be able to sort out the theory better for yourself.
"i am wondering what is it going to take to find some genuine instruction?"
Well, not a book and not a forum.
-
Thats not the answer I was hoping for, here in bum-fuck North Dakota, but I guess that means, as usual, i am on my own. I remember that Ophiel (and crowley) remarked that the LBRP is crucial in building the body of light as are the cakes of light. My question is how? How long before definitive results? I know that in the book The Middle Pillar Chic Cicero said that you would have to do the LBRP for 3 months before attempting the Middle Pillar ritual....Does the MPR give any better results with astral Projection? The reason I am so concerned is that a Friend and I had it in our cray heads that we could astrally project our selves to the Sirius Star system, seeing as how Crowley thought it at least important enough to start a lodge to pick up emanations from that star system, which if I am not mistaken was the source of his "portrait of LAM"....Aond Ophiel did say that you could Project to other planets....ANy thoughts? -
You've been reading too much Kenneth Grant. - No, Crowley didn't start a lodge for that purpose.
-
funny, I have read quite a few of Grants books. Haha. Then how was it that he came upon the portrait of LAM? -
@Law said
":oops: funny, I have read quite a few of Grants books. Haha. Then how was it that he came upon the portrait of LAM?"
It's just a painting. Crowley was a surrealistic painter.
-
Well, I guess that puts a stop to my astral journey to the Sirius star system....So I take it Jim you dont have a lot of Grant in your Private collection, then?
-
@Law said
"Well, I guess that puts a stop to my astral journey to the Sirius star system....So I take it Jim you dont have a lot of Grant in your Private collection, then?"
Oh, I've got plenty. Some of it, in fact, is heavily annotated in the margins with out-and-out mistakes.
-
Oh, I've got plenty. Some of it, in fact, is heavily annotated in the margins with out-and-out mistakes."
which include......what?
-
@Law said
"
"Oh, I've got plenty. Some of it, in fact, is heavily annotated in the margins with out-and-out mistakes."
"which include......what?[/quuote
Answering that would mean going home and pulling several volumes off my shelf and going through them page by page. Not gonna happen! Definitely not worth it.I respect Grant in his role of Thelemic enthusiast. I respect him when he talks about history he actually experienced and reports interactions with Crowley and others that he actually knew.
I most other things, I have no use for anything he's ever written. Most of it is error-saturated, misdirected, and just plain wrong.
-
So in other words you dont think that he descovered the Tunnels of set, or whatever it is he supposedly proposed in his books? I enjoyed The latest Starfire Journal, and even thought about joining the Typhonian Order, Maybe I'll reconsider......
-
@Law said
"So in other words you dont think that he descovered the Tunnels of set, or whatever it is he supposedly proposed in his books? I enjoyed The latest Starfire Journal, and even thought about joining the Typhonian Order, Maybe I'll reconsider......"
Yeah, that's one of the biggest pieces of shit. - BTW I'm not commenting on his fiction, I've never read any of it. (I mean, I haven't read any of his books that he admitted are fiction.)
-
@Blythe A. Blanche said
"What would be the title of such a person qualified to instruct a person in Astral travel? I've had the same trouble as the OP and know no one personally who would be able to help. Should I be looking for a Yoga instructor or what?"
It's probably not a matter of title... but, to give one example, any Zelator of A.'.A.'. should be able to teach this if you have the preliminaries down.