The Middle Pillar
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I want to open up discussion regarding this little jewel. I'm wondering how many people practice the Middle Pillar exercise on a regular basis, and at what stage it is typically recommended, if at all.
Also, if one goes in the opposite direction with the light along the core, is there danger of prematurely raising Kundalini? (I am careful NEVER to do this... just asking.)
Also, I've always wondered why Malkuth is done with "ADONAI Ha-Aretz" rather than "ADONAI Mel-ech", as would follow the rest of the pattern.
Thoughts?
Love is the law, love under will.
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@jlpugh said
"I want to open up discussion regarding this little jewel. I'm wondering how many people practice the Middle Pillar exercise on a regular basis,"
In one or another form, it's been standard to my work for decades. I consider it a fundamental practice. If it had been part of standard G.D. practice when Crowley and Jones were members, I'm certain it would have ended up in Liber O.
"and at what stage it is typically recommended, if at all."
It seems appropriate for any stage, even if it isn't specifically assigned there. (Within a particular system there may be a reason to exclude it at some levels. For example, in T.'.O.'.T.'. we embargo it in two degrees because of the specific pattern of work in those degrees and in those beyond it.)
"Also, if one goes in the opposite direction with the light along the core, is there danger of prematurely raising Kundalini? (I am careful NEVER to do this... just asking.)"
Maybe - but, more likely, it's just likely to derange the psyche a little. I don't recommend the reverse pattern.
"Also, I've always wondered why Malkuth is done with "ADONAI Ha-Aretz" rather than "ADONAI Mel-ech", as would follow the rest of the pattern."
How so? The pattern is that the Divine Name of the Sephirah is vibrated, and both of those are accepted Divine Names of Malkuth.
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@jlpugh said
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I want to open up discussion regarding this little jewel. I'm wondering how many people practice the Middle Pillar exercise on a regular basis, and at what stage it is typically recommended, if at all.
Also, if one goes in the opposite direction with the light along the core, is there danger of prematurely raising Kundalini? (I am careful NEVER to do this... just asking.)
Also, I've always wondered why Malkuth is done with "ADONAI Ha-Aretz" rather than "ADONAI Mel-ech", as would follow the rest of the pattern.
Thoughts?
Love is the law, love under will."
93,
Israel Regardie said it was useful at all stages.
I honestly wouldn't worry about deranging your psyche by imagining light moving a different way. That is an unfounded speculation in my opinion, especially since it is making an empirical claim. It reminds me of people concerned about 'averse' pentagrams being evil.
Adonai Ha Aretz means God of the Earth, and Adonai Melech means God the/our King. They both work and you can switch it if that is your deal.
IAO131
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Regardie cautions that one should prepare for the Middle Pillar by first doing several weeks of LBRP to balance and purify one's aura. Worst case scenarios of not being ready for the influx of subtle energy - nervous breakdowns or even suicide:
www.davedavies.com/splanet/magic3.htm
I've had ***very intense ***experiences several hours after doing a Middle Pillar, feeling energy coming down the chakras, all senses heightened and everything feeling a little too "real".
I haven't tried the following, but if the effect is too strong, I imagine doing a banishing active/passive Spirit pentagram within the LBRP template would ease the effect. It's always good to know how to undo an effect before invoking it.
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@Aum418 said
"I honestly wouldn't worry about deranging your psyche by imagining light moving a different way. That is an unfounded speculation in my opinion, especially since it is making an empirical claim. It reminds me of people concerned about 'averse' pentagrams being evil."
First of all, if you're doing the ritual correctly you're doing far more than imagining light moving: You're actually moving considerable energy and causing it to transition from one plane to another.
Second: So which do you think it is? Unfounded speculation or an empirical claim? One precludes the other.
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Thanks for the nice link, h2h.
@h2h said
"Regardie cautions that one should prepare for the Middle Pillar by first doing several weeks of LBRP to balance and purify one's aura."
I do the Star Ruby instead... perhaps I should switch.
I have read that Regardie in some cases attempted to awaken these chakras in others by kind of embracing them or being close to them from behind and performing the ritual himself?? Anyone familiar with the "shot-gun" MP? In what case would this be handy?
Love is the law, love under will.
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I would say the LBRP is more compatible with Middle Pillar. The Star Ruby arouses sexual energy and moves up the Tree of Life whereas the MP starts from the crown chakra and works downward:
Note Regardie's comments:
Some will note that this exercise corresponds in some ways to the yoga chakra system. There is, assuredly, correspondence. But there are several very important differences and variations. The first, a minor difference, is the number and position of the centers involved. But this does not require discussion. What is fundamental, however, is the entirely different approach. The yoga technique commences its meditations from the lowest chakra and works upwards to the Sahasrara above the head. On the other hand, in the western system, the Middle Pillar starts from the highest and works downwards. In a word, the Western ideal is not to escape from the body but to become involved more and more in life, in order to experience it more adequately, and in order to obtain a mastery over it. The ideal is to bring down godhead so that one's manhood being enriched may thereby be assumed into godhead. Always does this system begin from the real center of working - the higher genius which, by definition, is in contact eternally with whatever infinite deity there may be. That is to say, through the Yechidah we have immediate access to all the dynamic inspiration and spiritual power of the collective unconscious.
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@h2h said
"The Star Ruby arouses sexual energy..."
Not anymore than the LRB does; that is, no it doesn't except in the sense that all such energy is, at root, sexual energy.
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@Aum418 said
"I honestly wouldn't worry about deranging your psyche by imagining light moving a different way. That is an unfounded speculation in my opinion, especially since it is making an empirical claim. It reminds me of people concerned about 'averse' pentagrams being evil."First of all, if you're doing the ritual correctly you're doing far more than imagining light moving: You're actually moving considerable energy and causing it to transition from one plane to another.
Second: So which do you think it is? Unfounded speculation or an empirical claim? One precludes the other."
93,
It is an unempirical claim based on the fact that we have no evidence that is it deranging at all. From my own practice I would say the opposite. Therefore it is ill-founded speculation in my opinion. Symbolically, the lightning flash is not 'deranging' inherently.
IAO131
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tI agree with your last statement; but the Lightning Flash strikes from Kether to Malkuth, not the other way around.
It's also not the formula of the Middle Pillar ritual.
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I'm interested in energy circulation. I'm comparing the MP and the NEW Energy Ways whole body circuits.
I asked R. Bruce in his forum why he advocates raising energy from the feet instead of descending it from the Crown like in the MP but I didn't get an answer yet. He states that it is a safe/good option. He studies the occult so I asked why the MP doesn't fit to him.
Any thoughts? -
I don't know his techniques so I don't know what's happening there.
If this is external circulation - say, in the aura but not in the body (circumferential movement) - then it's just not the same technique as the MP and I wouldn't necessarily see any particular problem. If it's moving through the core of the body hitting some chakra areas and especially with symbols and techniques to draw energy not only down the body but down the planes/worlds (as in MP), then I'd see a problem.
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Well, his system is kind of popular & totally hands on and is free to read on the net. His tactile visualisation is realy good for me. He advocates to get the secondary chakras running first so one can develop the primary ones more easily.
A circuit: Legs, arms are used to get the energy into the sub-navel.
Full body circuit: The energy goes up the legs, (arms joining) through the spine to the crown and goes down the front of the body through the chakras to the sub-navel. It is done in one "in-out" breath. -
@Modes said
"I asked R. Bruce in his forum why he advocates raising energy from the feet instead of descending it from the Crown like in the MP but I didn't get an answer yet. He states that it is a safe/good option. He studies the occult so I asked why the MP doesn't fit to him.
"It always appeared to me as if in the East they had a more 'bottom up' method, compared to the West with a 'top down' method.
So, in the East - they bring their self up to the divine, where in the West the divine is brought down to the self.
Just now I was realizing the symbolism of the 'East Rising' and the 'West Setting' :X
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I typically follow the MP by a technique very close to what is being mentioned here. The light flows up from back of legs to crown, then down the front, then I add up right side and down left, then spiraling up (clockwise) from feet, wrapping the body up like a blanket until reaching the crown, exploding out in a cascade of shimmering light like a slow-motion fountain, and falling back to my feet to repeat the cycle. This is all just extra and on the outside (aura/ egg?) of my body, not the core. It takes a while to get all this done, but it feels pretty good to move energy around.
Two more questions about the overall MP:
I was taught at the end of the ritual to imagine the light becoming invisible (not dissappearing... it is still there) and doing the sign of silence afterwards to veil the chakras and prevent you from walking around "glowing," in which case presumably people are unconsciously drawn to you in a potentially ego-feeding way. Typical or poppycock?
Second, some folks additionally vibrate the appropriate archangel names, presumably invoking them in some way in order to archetypicallize (??) the energy of that chakra. Helpful or no?
Many thanks,
Love is the law, love under will.
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@jlpugh said
"I was taught at the end of the ritual to imagine the light becoming invisible (not dissappearing... it is still there) and doing the sign of silence afterwards to veil the chakras and prevent you from walking around "glowing," in which case presumably people are unconsciously drawn to you in a potentially ego-feeding way. Typical or poppycock? "
To anyone with "eyes to see," and to any denizens of the astral, you're going to walk around glowing regardless - unless you are actually making the light go away.
If "making it invisible" simply means removing your attention from it, so that it is no longer in your field of awareness, then that's cool. But actuall fading it out can, it seems, only go one of two ways: (1) actually turn off what you've just turned on, or (2) make it invisible only to you, since astral denizens are going to see you lit up like a Christmas tree anyway.
In any case (to answer your specific question), this isn't a typical instruction.
"Second, some folks additionally vibrate the appropriate archangel names, presumably invoking them in some way in order to archetypicallize (??) the energy of that chakra. Helpful or no? "
Different technique. Nothing wrong with it. Just note that it's not the same technique.
The Middle Pillar ritual was created by Israel Regardie based on an older, and less defined, Stella Matutina technique of building up the Tree of Life in the aura. In learning that technique, the Middle Pillar Sephiroth were practiced first, and the outer pillars added only after the first stage was stable. In doing this, entire hierarchies could be employed, according to the level of manifestaton sought - it was very loosely defined. But the MP form has emerged as a distinctive ritual with quite different properties and advantages, and not simply as a preliminary practice of the quite different other technique.**
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@Jim Eshelman said
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If "making it invisible" simply means removing your attention from it, so that it is no longer in your field of awareness, then that's cool. But actuall fading it out can, it seems, only go one of two ways: (1) actually turn off what you've just turned on, or (2) make it invisible only to you, since astral denizens are going to see you lit up like a Christmas tree anyway.
**"
There is a Martinist technique where one uses a cloak (astral and physical) to make the glow invisible to outside entities but the light continues to shine within, under the black cloak.
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93!
So I too read the book by Regardie recently. I noticed a similarity with the Middle Pillar Ritual and one I've practiced a bit called the Merkaba (field around your body in the shape of a 3 dimensional 6 pointed star) Meditation taught in Drunvalo Melchizedek's Flower of Life workshops. It has you do both breathe the light down from your crown chakra, out through your heart (you can fill a room with prana or send out some good vibes to the world), back in then down to your base chakra (since we're dealing with the chakra system it's a sitting meditation opposed to standing, going out your feet- You are suppose to imagine an anchor hanging from the end of your spine going deep into the earth grounding you), then back up recirculating it and so forth. I like it slightly better because of the emphasis of opening the heart center! From my experience you won't get much out of raising kundalini (or worse) without an activated heart chakra so perhaps it is best to use the Middle Pillar ritual before attaining 5=6 (?!- not that I have officially..) Unfortunately it doesn't fully go into it here but you can find it explained in his book without going to an actual workshop, or rent/buy videos of the complete workshop which I think is amazing! www.floweroflife.org/tmerkaba.htm
I've noticed there's different forms/traditions of magick. Some would have you burn something to purify it, others bury it or give it back to the earth. Since as above so below I guess it doesn't really matter since Kether is in Malkuth. I'm currently confused as to whether Malkuth is the planet Earth or Pluto since the heart or Sun is Tiphareth but that's just my trip at the moment....
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@DavidH said
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@Jim Eshelman said
"If "making it invisible" simply means removing your attention from it, so that it is no longer in your field of awareness, then that's cool. But actuall fading it out can, it seems, only go one of two ways: (1) actually turn off what you've just turned on, or (2) make it invisible only to you, since astral denizens are going to see you lit up like a Christmas tree anyway.**"There is a Martinist technique where one uses a cloak (astral and physical) to make the glow invisible to outside entities but the light continues to shine within, under the black cloak."
I would be interested to hear about how one can cloak his/her presence on the astral when doing LBRP, MP or other rituals.