Ascending the Tree of Life
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How exactly does one "ride the paths" up the Tree of Life?
For a specific example, how could I "take" the path of the Universe to Yesod?
I've tried meditating on the card "The Universe", I've tried astral travel through tarot doors, as written in Modern Magick, I've been focusing on that path in all kinds of ways for a whie, now, but alas, I couldn't be more stuck in Malkuth. -
@Miles said
"How exactly does one "ride the paths" up the Tree of Life?
For a specific example, how could I "take" the path of the Universe to Yesod?
I've tried meditating on the card "The Universe", I've tried astral travel through tarot doors, as written in Modern Magick, I've been focusing on that path in all kinds of ways for a whie, now, but alas, I couldn't be more stuck in Malkuth."What do you mean "ride the paths?" In a way, I seem to be reading your question as if it is all over the place, as if you are asking about several things at once and either you don't know you are asking several things, or you know you are and so the answer(s) will be beyond a forum's ability to do more than point for you the directions to take.
- Do you mean "Rising on the Planes?" Skrying your way through the realms of each of the 22 paths and Sephiroth? Interestingly Crowley doesn't discuss this technique much but it is part of the GD curriculum and should be worth learning. It's active imagination, guided visualization but with a life to it.
- Do you mean skrying into a card? Stepping into the card and experiencing what the card has to show you? Both these ideas require you to have some knowledge of what is called the Body of Light. Do you know about this? Do you practice the Middle Pillar excercises as Regardie taught? That is the beginning. Learning to work with your inner visual capacity and paying attention to the symbolism involved (which should be tested and strengthened by your personal qabalah studies).
- Do you mean attaining to those realms, living life with the consciousness of those "places" (and how they add hue to your real life perceptions)? You work the work of the grades, the syllabus of the A.'.A.'. is designed so that the work you are doing (building your altar, if you will, crafting your wand and sword and so forth, practicing the yogas, memorizing chapters, so forth) will pull you up the paths to the grade ahead.
For now, that's the best I can answer this for you as I'm partly guessing what your question really is.
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Been in the same place you are now Miles.
Since the path of Tav and Yesod are connected to Astral Travel I thought:
“well, if I work with them they will give me the necessary push to succeed with my astral travel practices”.Two years later, even with intensive practices and much progress, I was stuck. Something was missing, I could get to the threshold but I simply needed some extra energy to cross it.
A proper Initiation with someone capable opened doors where once was a solid wall. I did not believe it would have such power.
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@Faus said
"Since the path of Tav and Yesod are connected to Astral Travel I thought:
“well, if I work with them they will give me the necessary push to succeed with my astral travel practices”."Oh, so it's not just me.
Thanks for that input.
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@kasper81 said
"you just needed to read about Golden Dawn skrying techniques and roll with it imo."
Done that a lot. Got some interesting results but that was not enough, the connection was too weak and the interference from my own mind to strong. Like watching what is happening outside using a mirror.
Having some former experience with dream work and lucid dreaming I started using it as a pattern of how a good astral vision should fell/look like.
Jim sugestions were actually the best instructions on the subject I could get.
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@kasper81 said
"so you want to "be in" the astral scene as oppose to observing it? This is the difference between astrally projecting (yourself into the scene) and skrying. I would say try harder because it's like developing a mental muscle no I don't mean strain. The key is to go up,up,up into the path until you are literally in there. Did you project through the enlarged Hebrew letter? Did you learn how to do the Supreme ritual of the elements and the sign of Horus? The sign of the enterer? You have to invoke the element of the path before you attempt it and if it's a god path then you need to invoke the god- force via the SRE. When you come back down to Malkuth you close the godforce and/or element."
I am aware of those techniques. Of course they are of help but still, not enough. Success seems to be a combination of heavy invocation, deep sensorial abstraction and a third factor. This third factor is some sort of inner astral maturity that can only be fostered by the process of Initiation.
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@kasper81 said
"so you want to "be in" the astral scene as oppose to observing it? This is the difference between astrally projecting (yourself into the scene) and skrying."
This is true to a point. Skrying technically means "seeing" (and nothing more or less). In the Golden Dawn material it was called "Skrying in the Spirit" (Seeing in the spirit) and this can be viewed as different than "Skrying through a crystal ball." See the difference?
Otherwise, without that minor confusion and sense of elitism, your instructions where very good.
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@kasper81 said
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@Takamba said
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@kasper81 said
"so you want to "be in" the astral scene as oppose to observing it? This is the difference between astrally projecting (yourself into the scene) and skrying."This is true to a point. Skrying technically means "seeing" (and nothing more or less). In the Golden Dawn material it was called "Skrying in the Spirit" (Seeing in the spirit) and this can be viewed as different than "Skrying through a crystal ball." See the difference?
Otherwise, without that minor confusion and sense of elitism, your instructions where very good."
sense of elitism? Absolutley not. I respectfully ask yourself to examine the possibility that you are projecting your own flaws onto me............ again.
There are 2 types of skrying in the spirit as I explained yes: projecting and observing. There is a 3rd category : rising on the planes as outlined in Liber O i believe, but that, to me that is a way to practice one aspect of the proper skrying in the spirit namely the need to rise up, up , up."
With your edited version here, yes, now you see that "skrying" is not "opposed."
[Edit] and I notice now you used the word "proper." These are the words I find problematic with addressing someone who is asking for assistance. "Proper" (along with other things I've notice but have bit my tongue until now and further more) is of the nature of judgment and superiority.
There are many ways to "ascend the tree of life." What is proper depends on what we are really attempting to do.
