Automatic Consciousness and the Proper Use of Sexual Force
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Hi,
I'm curious about the general use and cultivation of sexual force as it relates to grade progress.
This is a general question and is NOT about OTO sex magick. Rather it's about, let's say, the more "Mantak Chia" side of things.
What are the general A.'.A.'. attitudes on seminal retention? Building up prana through celibacy or other methods? General manipulation of the sexual force (orgone)? Is building up sexual "force" in this way necessary or related to the production of kundalini phenomenon such as Automatic Rigidity?
Thanks for any insight that can be offered!
Cygnus
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@Cygnus said
"What are the general A.'.A.'. attitudes on seminal retention? Building up prana through celibacy or other methods? General manipulation of the sexual force (orgone)? Is building up sexual "force" in this way necessary or related to the production of kundalini phenomenon such as Automatic Rigidity?"
There are no formal A.'.A.'. instructions advising seminal retention. Phyllis' point of view was always "don't make yourself crazy."
OTOH this is a subtle art - the proper build up and availability of the prana is sometimes furthered by a "storing it up a bit," and sometimes by extreme, unfettered expression. If you become sensitized to the force and its operation within you, then you'll be able to work with it a bit better. The official A.'.A.'. instructions that discusses this best (and IMHO it does discuss the relevant points rather well) is Energized Enthusiasm.
There is also the matter that, until you have freed yourself from common cultural patterns about sex, it's going to derange you a bit. A stage of purification (which can take different forms) tends to be necessary before the consecration.
I've personally never noticed that storing the sex force encourages those kundalini effects, any more than massive sexual expression encourages them - again, see the points about the pendulum effect above. Celibacy can choke the channels yet can build force, while expression can empty the reserves yet can open the channels to higher quantities of energy (etc. etc. - saying it hastily and therefore clumsily).
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Thanks Jim!
I may be getting this wrong but I believe in either the Rosicrucian Manifestoes or Case's commentary on them it is discussed that progress is made through blood chemistry changes made by the proper use of the "Eagle," in which context it is unclear whether he is talking about air (ie pranayama), seminal retention - or, now I think of it, a female partner, for that matter... or all three?
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@Cygnus said
"I may be getting this wrong but I believe in either the Rosicrucian Manifestoes or Case's commentary on them it is discussed that progress is made through blood chemistry changes made by the proper use of the "Eagle," in which context it is unclear whether he is talking about air (ie pranayama), seminal retention - or, now I think of it, a female partner, for that matter... or all three?"
Yes, that WAS PFC's interpretation of the Manifestoes, and is probably a correct reading. But the "sterility" inferred by the place name "Arabia" is only at one specific stage, for one specific reason. It doesn't really have much (or anything) to do with the areas of your original question.
I suppose the main point to make there is that, at the right point in the process, this sort of pause in externalizing one's sexual energies is valuable. But also (I forgot to make this point before), even periods of celibacy need to be without restriction.
The one use I forgot to mention, in the A.'.A.'. program, is the last two months of the Probationer period. (See Liber 185.)
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Thanks again, Jim.
Is there, to your knowledge, a precise guide to what exactly they were getting at in the RC manifestoes anywhere? The process that you're talking about (the passage through Egypt, Damcar, etc... Case's work is frustratingly obfuscated even with a dense background in Western twilight language and a knowledge of Eastern methods of working with "kundalini.")
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@Cygnus said
"Is there, to your knowledge, a precise guide to what exactly they were getting at in the RC manifestoes anywhere?"
Yes, we have that information, but it's obligated. (It's also mostly not relevant except to people following specific paths to which the obligations apply.) I've given all the principles above, though (or, at least, I hope it was complete), in a way that might be generalizable to a broader context.
"The process that you're talking about (the passage through Egypt, Damcar, etc... Case's work is frustratingly obfuscated even with a dense background in Western twilight language and a knowledge of Eastern methods of working with "kundalini.")"
That was partly intentional. That information has been pretty guarded for at least 400 years. (My information is that it's more like 600 years.) Members of Temple of Thelema's Second Order do have access to it.