Occult of Personality
18.04.202518:36
14.04.202519:53
09.04.202516:00
"The stakes are high for real prayer.
You must gamble yourself
and be willing to lose.
When you have done this,
and your self shakes off
what you believed your self to be,
then no prayer remains,
only a sparkle of the eyes.
Knower and known are one.
If you penetrate the center of time and space,
You can bypass the addictions of the world,
You can become the world yourself."
~ Mahmud Shabistari (1288–1340)
You must gamble yourself
and be willing to lose.
When you have done this,
and your self shakes off
what you believed your self to be,
then no prayer remains,
only a sparkle of the eyes.
Knower and known are one.
If you penetrate the center of time and space,
You can bypass the addictions of the world,
You can become the world yourself."
~ Mahmud Shabistari (1288–1340)
05.04.202518:01
Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians
Anonymous
Between 1785 and 1788 an unknown follower of the emerging Rosicrucian movement in northern Europe compiled a selection of images and texts from esoteric material associated with the mysterious Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross. First published in two parts in Altona, Germany, the book drew on 17th century alchemical sources such as Adrian von Mynsich, with mystical pieces from Valentin Weigel, and Abraham von Franckenberg's works on Jacob Boehme. It was an important and influential source of Rosicrucian ideas, albeit filtered thtough an 18th century perspective.
https://tradition.st/secret-symbols-of-the-rosicrucians/
Anonymous
Between 1785 and 1788 an unknown follower of the emerging Rosicrucian movement in northern Europe compiled a selection of images and texts from esoteric material associated with the mysterious Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross. First published in two parts in Altona, Germany, the book drew on 17th century alchemical sources such as Adrian von Mynsich, with mystical pieces from Valentin Weigel, and Abraham von Franckenberg's works on Jacob Boehme. It was an important and influential source of Rosicrucian ideas, albeit filtered thtough an 18th century perspective.
https://tradition.st/secret-symbols-of-the-rosicrucians/
02.04.202519:12
“Mysticism is a definite kind of experience which is both a way of knowledge and a state of consciousness; it has nothing to do with mystification or other-worldliness that carries with it a nebulous outlook on the world we live in; metaphysics is the attempt to tell us how to get the things of this world into perspective; it is not the ability to reveal truths about a world which lies beyond the reach of the senses of ordinary mortals and hence nowhere.”
~ Herbert Guenther, The Tantric View of Life, p. 124
~ Herbert Guenther, The Tantric View of Life, p. 124
17.04.202519:13
Gurdjieff:
"A man may be born, but in order to be born he must first die, and in order to die he must first awake..
'To awake,' 'to die,' 'to be born.' These are three successive stages. If you study the Gospels attentively you will see that references are often made to the possibility of being born, several references are made to the necessity of 'dying,' and there are very many references to the necessity of 'awakening' 'watch, for ye know not the day and hour,' and so on..
The continual consciousness of his nothingness and of his helplessness will eventually give a man the courage to 'die,' that is, to die, not merely mentally or in his consciousness, but to die in fact and to renounce actually and forever those aspects of himself which are either unnecessary from the point of view of his inner growth or which hinder it..
But in order to see a thing always, one must first of all see it even if only for a second. All new powers and capacities of realisation come always in one and the same way. At first they appear in the form of flashes at rare and short moments; afterwards they appear more often and last longer until, finally, after very long work they become permanent. The same thing applies to awakening. It is impossible to awaken completely all at once. One must first begin to awaken for short moments. But one must die all at once and forever after having made a certain effort, having surmounted a certain obstacle, having taken a certain decision from which there is no going back. This would be difficult, even impossible, for a man, were it not for the slow and gradual awakening which precedes it.”
Quoted by Ouspensky in 'Fragments...' ('In Search of the Miraculous') Chapter 11
"A man may be born, but in order to be born he must first die, and in order to die he must first awake..
'To awake,' 'to die,' 'to be born.' These are three successive stages. If you study the Gospels attentively you will see that references are often made to the possibility of being born, several references are made to the necessity of 'dying,' and there are very many references to the necessity of 'awakening' 'watch, for ye know not the day and hour,' and so on..
The continual consciousness of his nothingness and of his helplessness will eventually give a man the courage to 'die,' that is, to die, not merely mentally or in his consciousness, but to die in fact and to renounce actually and forever those aspects of himself which are either unnecessary from the point of view of his inner growth or which hinder it..
But in order to see a thing always, one must first of all see it even if only for a second. All new powers and capacities of realisation come always in one and the same way. At first they appear in the form of flashes at rare and short moments; afterwards they appear more often and last longer until, finally, after very long work they become permanent. The same thing applies to awakening. It is impossible to awaken completely all at once. One must first begin to awaken for short moments. But one must die all at once and forever after having made a certain effort, having surmounted a certain obstacle, having taken a certain decision from which there is no going back. This would be difficult, even impossible, for a man, were it not for the slow and gradual awakening which precedes it.”
Quoted by Ouspensky in 'Fragments...' ('In Search of the Miraculous') Chapter 11
10.04.202514:36
"This life here upon earth has a great meaning and a deep significance. Without clearly knowing the significance, you cannot live this life in a correct and proper way. It is most necessary to know the great aim, purpose and goal of this your earthly life, if you have to give it the right direction; otherwise, instead of moving towards this true goal, your life will lose its correct direction and become side-tracked in running after small and petty aims and purposes. This will result only in misery, restlessness and deep disappointment. There is no greater loss than such a fate.
Man is born for the living of Divine Life here and the attainment of sublime, higher, spiritual experiences here and hereafter. This is a grand divine plan for each and every one in the human family. You are indeed divine. You are not merely the body and intellect. You are distinct and different from the perishable body of flesh and bones and from the mind and intellect, which are finite and changeable. You are unchangeable, infinite, immortal Atman.
Being overcome by the sleep of spiritual ignorance, you are dreaming this painful, agitated dream of being a little, weak, imperfect human individual person afflicted by egoism and selfishness, by desires and cravings, by fears and anxieties, by love and hate, by envy and jealousy, and numerous such painful conditions—physical as well as mental.
O Beloved Friend! When will you wake up from this deep sleep of ignorance? When will you arise from your dream and resolutely and joyously enter into the reality of your true real nature—Divine Nature? Come, come, wake up now. Break through this dream. Claim your birthright. Recognise your true identity. Know your real nature right here and now. Enter into the experience of the Divine joy, peace and wisdom, which is your eternal Svarupa (essential nature).
The life of yours is meant to be lived and utilised for the attainment of the above-mentioned goal, which is the central purpose of life. Therefore, live your life in such a way and may all your actions be such, that your life itself becomes a unique and effective Sadhana for the attainment of joy, peace and illumination through Self-knowledge. Live wisely and intelligently and attain this goal and make your life a true success."
~ Message of Swami Chidananda to Mankind
Man is born for the living of Divine Life here and the attainment of sublime, higher, spiritual experiences here and hereafter. This is a grand divine plan for each and every one in the human family. You are indeed divine. You are not merely the body and intellect. You are distinct and different from the perishable body of flesh and bones and from the mind and intellect, which are finite and changeable. You are unchangeable, infinite, immortal Atman.
Being overcome by the sleep of spiritual ignorance, you are dreaming this painful, agitated dream of being a little, weak, imperfect human individual person afflicted by egoism and selfishness, by desires and cravings, by fears and anxieties, by love and hate, by envy and jealousy, and numerous such painful conditions—physical as well as mental.
O Beloved Friend! When will you wake up from this deep sleep of ignorance? When will you arise from your dream and resolutely and joyously enter into the reality of your true real nature—Divine Nature? Come, come, wake up now. Break through this dream. Claim your birthright. Recognise your true identity. Know your real nature right here and now. Enter into the experience of the Divine joy, peace and wisdom, which is your eternal Svarupa (essential nature).
The life of yours is meant to be lived and utilised for the attainment of the above-mentioned goal, which is the central purpose of life. Therefore, live your life in such a way and may all your actions be such, that your life itself becomes a unique and effective Sadhana for the attainment of joy, peace and illumination through Self-knowledge. Live wisely and intelligently and attain this goal and make your life a true success."
~ Message of Swami Chidananda to Mankind
09.04.202513:59
"In self-consciousness resides the power which determines weight and proportion. It does not matter that few human beings are aware of this fact. Ignorance of a fact does not erase it It simply prevents us from using the fact. What alchemists meant us to understand when they say the Great Work is performed by the aid of Mercury is that one of the powers of human self-consciousness is this ability to direct the "unknown force" of gravitation.
"For Mercury was the Roman god corresponding to the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth personifying the form-determining power of selfconsciousness. This is why Mercury is represented in Tarot by the Magician. Magic is the art of using the power of self-consciousness to congeal invisible formless substance into tangible physical forms."
~ Paul Foster Case, The Great Work Lessons, 1930
"For Mercury was the Roman god corresponding to the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth personifying the form-determining power of selfconsciousness. This is why Mercury is represented in Tarot by the Magician. Magic is the art of using the power of self-consciousness to congeal invisible formless substance into tangible physical forms."
~ Paul Foster Case, The Great Work Lessons, 1930
07.04.202518:18
If we catch a glimpse of nondual perception, our preoccupation with the external appearance of things begins to fade.
The more our preoccupation with the appearance of things, our inner fixation, disappears, the more our inner sense of solid concreteness disappears.
The more we train in the awakened state, the more clearly we will see the world around us for what it truly is — a play of illusions devoid of solidity.
Great masters who came to realization could walk on water, pass through stone walls, and remain unscathed by fire. The external elements are but the fruit of clouded perception. No one but ourselves created them; therefore, when our inner fixation collapses, their pseudo-existence collapses with it.
All external appearances are devoid of substance, like smoke and mist. We perceive appearances, but only as a magical game of obfuscation.
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
The more our preoccupation with the appearance of things, our inner fixation, disappears, the more our inner sense of solid concreteness disappears.
The more we train in the awakened state, the more clearly we will see the world around us for what it truly is — a play of illusions devoid of solidity.
Great masters who came to realization could walk on water, pass through stone walls, and remain unscathed by fire. The external elements are but the fruit of clouded perception. No one but ourselves created them; therefore, when our inner fixation collapses, their pseudo-existence collapses with it.
All external appearances are devoid of substance, like smoke and mist. We perceive appearances, but only as a magical game of obfuscation.
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
05.04.202512:39
"The temple is a mandala, a geometric configuration designed according to the archetypes and patterns that are the basis of the structures of the universal and of the human being. Sacred architecture, based as it is on the symbolism of numbers, the geometric diagram of the yantra(s), and its orientation in relation to the constellations of the zodiac and other astrological features, plays an essential part in the communications between various states of being, between men and the gods. The real presence of the divine being can be invoked through the power of mantra(s) (magical formulae), within the image at the center of the sanctuary.
"The Kali Yuga is the age of worshiping idols. Contact between man and the supernatural is most easily achieved through the architecture of the temple and the images based on magical diagrams… The Freemasons and guilds in the West are the remnants of the ancient associations and can provide us with an idea of the moral and social values of the artisanal tradition."
~ Alain Daniélou, While the Gods Play, p. 126-8
"The Kali Yuga is the age of worshiping idols. Contact between man and the supernatural is most easily achieved through the architecture of the temple and the images based on magical diagrams… The Freemasons and guilds in the West are the remnants of the ancient associations and can provide us with an idea of the moral and social values of the artisanal tradition."
~ Alain Daniélou, While the Gods Play, p. 126-8
02.04.202519:10
"The Absolute ... is outside the world and hence unknowable. It can only be conceived of in negative terms. This is why it can only be said that it is impersonal, formless, inactive, unreachable, inconceivable, without dimension or limit. The ancient languages never used the word god to refer to this timeless, immaterial, and unmoving principal; instead, they had neutral terminology such as logos ... the immenseness of the beyond... It is out of the question for living beings, whether men or gods, to reach the Absolute Being by means of rites or prayer. It is quite outside the sphere of religion or mysticism. At the time of the realization of the plan, conglomerations, centers of individualized consciousness imbued with a sense of self, are formed in energetic substance; they will be witnesses observing the apparent structures of the world at different levels. From the point of view of the Conceiving Being, a god, observer of the play of galaxies, is of no more importance than the observer of the beauties of the earth... There is no fundamental difference between gods, spirits, men, animals, and insects. They can be compared to spectators seated in the different circles of a theater.
"The word dieu...derived from the Indo-European root dev, that means “radiant / radiating,”...dev refers to the forms of subtle and active consciousness present at the different levels of creation and thus part of the multiplicity...The gods are personification of the forces that rule the universe and control its development; for creation is a living thing which evolves according to a plan contained in its seed. … Each sidereal organism, each type of molecule of matter, each living species forms an entity, a unit corresponding to a pattern evolving through the passage of time. There exists a consciousness, a thinking being that presides over the achievement and development of each species, somewhat as each human “I” presides over the countless cells that make up his body.
"It is with these aggregate consciousnesses that we make contact when we try to communicate with the supernatural world. These are the ministers who accept our prayers and feed on the sacrificial incense that we direct to the gods. In the hierarchy of creation, there are parallels and connections between the various levels of existence corresponding to the combinations of analogous archetypes. This is why the conflicts between subtle powers that are the spirits and gods are reflected in the wars of mankind and the upheavals of matter that give rise to cataclysms. They often occur together and can easily be described in terms of one another. Storms, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions go hand in hand with epidemics, invasions, wars, and massacres. They both reflect and express the conflicts that take place in the parallel world of the heavenly powers.
"These subtle beings that humans worship as gods are countless… Religious, mystical and magical experience enables us to make contact with them."
~ Alain Daniélou, While the Gods Play, p. 109-111
"The word dieu...derived from the Indo-European root dev, that means “radiant / radiating,”...dev refers to the forms of subtle and active consciousness present at the different levels of creation and thus part of the multiplicity...The gods are personification of the forces that rule the universe and control its development; for creation is a living thing which evolves according to a plan contained in its seed. … Each sidereal organism, each type of molecule of matter, each living species forms an entity, a unit corresponding to a pattern evolving through the passage of time. There exists a consciousness, a thinking being that presides over the achievement and development of each species, somewhat as each human “I” presides over the countless cells that make up his body.
"It is with these aggregate consciousnesses that we make contact when we try to communicate with the supernatural world. These are the ministers who accept our prayers and feed on the sacrificial incense that we direct to the gods. In the hierarchy of creation, there are parallels and connections between the various levels of existence corresponding to the combinations of analogous archetypes. This is why the conflicts between subtle powers that are the spirits and gods are reflected in the wars of mankind and the upheavals of matter that give rise to cataclysms. They often occur together and can easily be described in terms of one another. Storms, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions go hand in hand with epidemics, invasions, wars, and massacres. They both reflect and express the conflicts that take place in the parallel world of the heavenly powers.
"These subtle beings that humans worship as gods are countless… Religious, mystical and magical experience enables us to make contact with them."
~ Alain Daniélou, While the Gods Play, p. 109-111
16.04.202520:02
"Please, don't talk to me about 'Pure Awareness' or 'Dwelling in the Absolute'.
I want to see how you treat your partner,
your kids, your parents, your precious body.
Please, don't lecture me about 'the illusion of the separate self' or how you achieved permanent bliss in just 7 days.
I want to feel a genuine warmth radiating from your heart.
I want to hear how well you listen,
take in information that doesn't fit your personal philosophy.
I want to see how you deal with people who disagree with you.
Don't tell me how awakened you are, how free you are from ego.
I want to know you beneath the words.
I want to know what you're like when troubles befall you.
If you can fully allow your pain and not pretend to be invulnerable.
If you can feel your anger yet not step into violence.
If you can grant safe passage to your sorrow yet not be its slave.
If you can feel your shame and not shame others:
If you can fuck up, and admit it.
If you can say 'sorry', and really mean it.
If you can be fully human in your glorious divinity.
Don't talk to me about your spirituality, friend.
I'm really not that interested.
I only want to meet YOU.
Know your precious heart.
Know the beautiful human struggling for the light.
Before 'the spiritual one'.
Before all the clever words."
~ Jeff Foster
I want to see how you treat your partner,
your kids, your parents, your precious body.
Please, don't lecture me about 'the illusion of the separate self' or how you achieved permanent bliss in just 7 days.
I want to feel a genuine warmth radiating from your heart.
I want to hear how well you listen,
take in information that doesn't fit your personal philosophy.
I want to see how you deal with people who disagree with you.
Don't tell me how awakened you are, how free you are from ego.
I want to know you beneath the words.
I want to know what you're like when troubles befall you.
If you can fully allow your pain and not pretend to be invulnerable.
If you can feel your anger yet not step into violence.
If you can grant safe passage to your sorrow yet not be its slave.
If you can feel your shame and not shame others:
If you can fuck up, and admit it.
If you can say 'sorry', and really mean it.
If you can be fully human in your glorious divinity.
Don't talk to me about your spirituality, friend.
I'm really not that interested.
I only want to meet YOU.
Know your precious heart.
Know the beautiful human struggling for the light.
Before 'the spiritual one'.
Before all the clever words."
~ Jeff Foster
10.04.202513:58
When sunlight falls on the crystal, lights of all the colors of the rainbow appear, but no substance in them can be grasped. Similarly, all thoughts in their infinite variety - devotion, compassion, harm, desire - are utterly meaningless.
There is no thought that is anything other than emptiness; if you recognize the empty nature of thoughts the moment they arise, they will dissolve.
Attachment and hatred can never disturb the mind. Deceptive emotions will collapse on their own. No negative actions accumulate so that no suffering will follow.
Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche
There is no thought that is anything other than emptiness; if you recognize the empty nature of thoughts the moment they arise, they will dissolve.
Attachment and hatred can never disturb the mind. Deceptive emotions will collapse on their own. No negative actions accumulate so that no suffering will follow.
Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche
09.04.202511:43
06.04.202521:50
The Dimensions of Paradise
John Michell
The priests of ancient Egypt preserved a canon of harmonies and proportions, which they applied to music, art, statecraft, and all the institutions of their civilization. In this book, John Michell demonstrates how the same canon underlies sacred structures from ancient times to the Christian era - in the measurements of Stonehenge, the foundation plan of Glastonbury, in Plato's Atlantis and the Heavenly City of the New Jerusalem. The central revelation of this book is a structure of geometry and number representing the essential order of the heavens and functioning as a map of paradise.
https://tradition.st/the-dimensions-of-paradise/
John Michell
The priests of ancient Egypt preserved a canon of harmonies and proportions, which they applied to music, art, statecraft, and all the institutions of their civilization. In this book, John Michell demonstrates how the same canon underlies sacred structures from ancient times to the Christian era - in the measurements of Stonehenge, the foundation plan of Glastonbury, in Plato's Atlantis and the Heavenly City of the New Jerusalem. The central revelation of this book is a structure of geometry and number representing the essential order of the heavens and functioning as a map of paradise.
https://tradition.st/the-dimensions-of-paradise/
03.04.202514:56
“I know that I know nothing.”
~ Socrates
"The highest wisdom is to know nothing."
~ Johann Valentin Andreé, The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
Knowing nothingness
~ Socrates
"The highest wisdom is to know nothing."
~ Johann Valentin Andreé, The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
Knowing nothingness
02.04.202519:07
16.04.202514:31
“I have been in many churches in England and America,” said Gurdjieff, “and always heard the congregation mumble the Lord’s Prayer all together in a scrambled grunt as if the mere muttered repetition of the formula were all that is required.”
"Gurdjieff then folded his hands in his lap, fixed his eyes on me, and began to breathe in slowly and deeply, holding his breath for a few moments, sitting motionless. It was very quiet in the room.
"A low rich musical bass note, about middle G2 below middle C, began to sound in the room, pure and dry amid the muffling hangings. He had begun to chant the Lord’s Prayer. The words came slowly and softly, the syllables flowing evenly and equidistant on the stream of the single note. The consonants just sufficed to articulate the words. From start to finish there was no stop, no hesitation, no halt for breath, no rise or fall in tone; it was one single sound, integral and self-contained, imparting to the prayer a meaning far deeper than the words themselves. The "amen" trailed off into inaudibility in a way that merged the fading musical note with ensuing silence. Chanted slowly in a single breath it seemed to last a very long time.
"I was spellbound, and sat waiting in expectation. The sound of the chanted note had a singularly penetrating effect. I felt as if it had entered right into me. After a while he said, "You see, though the words have deep meaning they are not the most important thing. It is even doubtful whether the words have been transmitted to us accurately. Versions differ and nuances are introduced by translation. The most important thing about the prayer is that it is a convenient measure of a single breath.”
“Prayer in its highest form would seem after all to have something to do with the digestion, and even with the quality and circulation of blood.”
"This revolutionary thought needed some digestion itself. I switched the immediate issue. “Why need the prayer be intoned at all? Why can’t it just be recited?”
"For an answer he bared a powerful chest and, taking my hand, said, “Put your finger there.” I placed the tips of my fingers, as he indicated, at the base of his chest. He drew a deep breath and began to intone on approximately the same note as before. I felt his entire torso vibrating, and the vibration was communicated to me rather like a mild electric current."
~ Paul Dukes, On a Single Breath: an account of some meetings with George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, p.17-24
"Gurdjieff then folded his hands in his lap, fixed his eyes on me, and began to breathe in slowly and deeply, holding his breath for a few moments, sitting motionless. It was very quiet in the room.
"A low rich musical bass note, about middle G2 below middle C, began to sound in the room, pure and dry amid the muffling hangings. He had begun to chant the Lord’s Prayer. The words came slowly and softly, the syllables flowing evenly and equidistant on the stream of the single note. The consonants just sufficed to articulate the words. From start to finish there was no stop, no hesitation, no halt for breath, no rise or fall in tone; it was one single sound, integral and self-contained, imparting to the prayer a meaning far deeper than the words themselves. The "amen" trailed off into inaudibility in a way that merged the fading musical note with ensuing silence. Chanted slowly in a single breath it seemed to last a very long time.
"I was spellbound, and sat waiting in expectation. The sound of the chanted note had a singularly penetrating effect. I felt as if it had entered right into me. After a while he said, "You see, though the words have deep meaning they are not the most important thing. It is even doubtful whether the words have been transmitted to us accurately. Versions differ and nuances are introduced by translation. The most important thing about the prayer is that it is a convenient measure of a single breath.”
“Prayer in its highest form would seem after all to have something to do with the digestion, and even with the quality and circulation of blood.”
"This revolutionary thought needed some digestion itself. I switched the immediate issue. “Why need the prayer be intoned at all? Why can’t it just be recited?”
"For an answer he bared a powerful chest and, taking my hand, said, “Put your finger there.” I placed the tips of my fingers, as he indicated, at the base of his chest. He drew a deep breath and began to intone on approximately the same note as before. I felt his entire torso vibrating, and the vibration was communicated to me rather like a mild electric current."
~ Paul Dukes, On a Single Breath: an account of some meetings with George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, p.17-24
09.04.202518:27
"The Hermetic practice is a method of psychological transformation directed by the conscious mind of man.
This is the mode of human consciousness personified by the Egyptians as Thoth, by the Greeks as Hermes, and by the Romans as Mercury. Thus it becomes evident that what Bernard of Trevisan means by saying that the operation is performed by the help of Mercury is little more than a paraphrase of what we have quoted from the Katha Upanishad: "It should be grasped by the mind alone."
Dissolution is said to be the whole mystery of alchemy because Hermetic practice enables us to control those functions of our bodies which dissolve or break down into their constituent elements, the forms of materials taken from our environment. The laboratory of the alchemist is his own personality. The secret vessels therein are organs in his own physical body, together with their astral and etheric counterparts.
The principal piece of alchemical apparatus is a furnace, called an "athanor." Eliphas Levi says, "We are all in possession of the chemical instrument, the great and sole athanor which answers for the separation of the subtle from the gross and the fixed from the volatile. This instrument, complete as the world and precise as mathematics, is represented by the sages under the emblem of the pentagram, or five-pointed star, which is the absolute sign of human intelligence. I will follow the example of the wise by forebearing to name it; it is too easy to guess it."
Today there is no need for even the slight concealment which seemed advisable when Levi wrote. The athanor is the human organism. Its name, like many other alchemical terms, is derived from Hebrew. In that language, it is Ath-Ha-Nour, which means "Essence of Fire." Thus Bernard of Trevisan is correct when he says that the Great Work is not performed by means of fire, and so are the other sages who insist that the fire employed by them is "no common fire."
It is the essence of fire, manifested as the human organism, which provides us with the instrument for the Great Work. Hence the athanor is defined as a "self-feeding, digesting furnace, in which an equatible heat is maintained." Is not this a fairly good description of the human body?"
~ Paul Foster Case, Esoteric Keys of Alchemy (an exemplary book on the subject and one of my favorites)
This is the mode of human consciousness personified by the Egyptians as Thoth, by the Greeks as Hermes, and by the Romans as Mercury. Thus it becomes evident that what Bernard of Trevisan means by saying that the operation is performed by the help of Mercury is little more than a paraphrase of what we have quoted from the Katha Upanishad: "It should be grasped by the mind alone."
Dissolution is said to be the whole mystery of alchemy because Hermetic practice enables us to control those functions of our bodies which dissolve or break down into their constituent elements, the forms of materials taken from our environment. The laboratory of the alchemist is his own personality. The secret vessels therein are organs in his own physical body, together with their astral and etheric counterparts.
The principal piece of alchemical apparatus is a furnace, called an "athanor." Eliphas Levi says, "We are all in possession of the chemical instrument, the great and sole athanor which answers for the separation of the subtle from the gross and the fixed from the volatile. This instrument, complete as the world and precise as mathematics, is represented by the sages under the emblem of the pentagram, or five-pointed star, which is the absolute sign of human intelligence. I will follow the example of the wise by forebearing to name it; it is too easy to guess it."
Today there is no need for even the slight concealment which seemed advisable when Levi wrote. The athanor is the human organism. Its name, like many other alchemical terms, is derived from Hebrew. In that language, it is Ath-Ha-Nour, which means "Essence of Fire." Thus Bernard of Trevisan is correct when he says that the Great Work is not performed by means of fire, and so are the other sages who insist that the fire employed by them is "no common fire."
It is the essence of fire, manifested as the human organism, which provides us with the instrument for the Great Work. Hence the athanor is defined as a "self-feeding, digesting furnace, in which an equatible heat is maintained." Is not this a fairly good description of the human body?"
~ Paul Foster Case, Esoteric Keys of Alchemy (an exemplary book on the subject and one of my favorites)
08.04.202517:04
“So if you have all you need for the moment, do not be anxious about the future, whether it is one day ahead or a week or months. For when tomorrow comes, it will supply what you need, if you seek above all else the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness of God; for the Lord says:
"Seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things as well will be given to you" (cf. Matthew 6:33).“
~ Saint Evagrios
"If you are working inwardly, Nature will help you. For the man who is working, Nature is a sister of charity; she brings him what he has need of for his work. If you need money for your work, even if you do nothing to get it, the money will come to you from all sides. In another case, Nature will cut off all a man's resources if it is necessary for his work.”
~ Gurdjieff
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”
~ Matthew 6:25-26
"Seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things as well will be given to you" (cf. Matthew 6:33).“
~ Saint Evagrios
"If you are working inwardly, Nature will help you. For the man who is working, Nature is a sister of charity; she brings him what he has need of for his work. If you need money for your work, even if you do nothing to get it, the money will come to you from all sides. In another case, Nature will cut off all a man's resources if it is necessary for his work.”
~ Gurdjieff
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”
~ Matthew 6:25-26
02.04.202523:42
“Grace is always present. You imagine it is something somewhere high in the sky, far away, and has to descend. It is really inside you, in your Heart, and the moment you effect subsidence or merger of the mind into its Source, grace rushes forth, sprouting as from a spring within you.”
~ Ramana Maharshi
~ Ramana Maharshi
02.04.202516:53
"Everything in life that we really accept undergoes a change. So suffering becomes love. That is the mystery."
~ Katherine Mansfield
~ Katherine Mansfield
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