Darkroom retreat, meet your deepest self

I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid

of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.

-Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Darkroom retreats have been used by a variety of spiritual traditions throughout the centuries as a higher-level practice. The aspirant enters a room specially prepared to admit absolutely no light and spends some time under this sensory deprivation in order to bring about a profound shift of consciousness. The time period dedicated to dark retreat varies from a few hours to decades.

The Tao says: "When you go into the dark and this becomes total, the Darkness soon turns into light."

Master Mantak Chia:

“[Many] spiritual traditions have used darkness techniques in the pursuit of enlightenment. In Europe, the dark room often appeared in underground form as a network of tunnels, in Egypt as the Pyramids, in Rome as the catacombs, and by the Essenes, near the Dead Sea in Israel, as caves. In the Taoist tradition caves have been used throughout the ages for higher level practices. In the Tao, the cave, the Immortal Mountain, the Wu San, represents the Perfect Inner Alchemy Chamber. Meditating and fasting in the cave is the final journey of spiritual work. The caves are the Earth Mother and its energy lines. Like the hollowing bones, caves contain the earliest information of life stored inside the Earth. Caves contain the vital essence of the Earth Power.

In the Darkness, our mind and soul begin to wander freely in the vast realms of psychic and spiritual experience. When you enter this primordial state you are reunited with the true Self and Divinity within. You literally ‘conduct’ the universal energy. You may see into the past and future, understand the true meaning of existence, and begin to understand the order of things. You return to the womb, the cocoon of our material structure and Nature’s original Darkness. Complete darkness profoundly changes the sensory sensibilities of the body/brain. We are deprived of all visual reference. Sounds begin to fall away as we lose contact with the external world and turn the senses inward. The effect of darkness is to shut down major cortical centers in the brain, depressing mental and cognitivefunctions in the higher brain centers. Emotional and feeling statesare enhanced, especially the sense of smell and the finer senses of psychic perception. Dreams become more lucid, and the dream state manifests in our conscious awareness. Eventually, we awaken within ourselves the awareness of the Source, the spirit, the soul. We descend into the void, into the darkness of deep, inner space". 

The Alchemical Perspective:

“The journey into Darkness is not just a first stage, but it is the essence of the spiritual alchemical work, because without it, the individual will remain only at the superficial level of mere rational thinking and social existence, dominated by dogmas. There is an important alchemical adagio: Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Occultum Lapidem (“Visit the interior of the earth; rectify what you find there, and you will discover the hidden stone.”) To describe the “descent into Darkness,” summed up in the word “vitriol,” alchemy has preserved some very ancient symbols.

The individual (actually only his/her personality) descending into its original nature will suffer a great loss. He must abandon all his old moral, social and spiritual values. Thus, he will open himself to a different order, more in tune with the Harmony of the Whole. This is what is happening in a Dark Retreat.”

“Remember that by welcoming darkness, you become a womb for light…” -Leela

In India, the retreats in darkness are usually called Kaya Kalpa Retreats. The term kalpa means “ageless” or “immortal” while kaya means “body”. Thus Kaya Kalpa is an ayurvedic treatments for rejuvenating the body calling for seclusion in darkness, meditation, along with the application of various herbal concoctions. It is even seen as a form of Yoga and ayurvedic medicine that was developed in southern India at about the same time Hatha Yoga was born.

Kaya Kalpa has the following main objectives:

• Revealing the Supreme Self / Ultimate Reality
• Slowing down the aging process
• Maintaining excellent physical health and youthful vitality
• Delaying physical death until one achieves jivamukta (spiritual liberation from the effects of karma)

“If you can love darkness, you will become unafraid of death. If you can enter into darkness – and you can enter when there is no fear – you will achieve total relaxation. If you can become one with darkness, you are dissolved, it is a surrender. Now there is no fear, because if you have become one with darkness, you have become one with death. You cannot die now, you have become deathless. Darkness is deathless. Light is born and dies. Darkness simply is. It is deathless.” -Osho

In India and China, as in the book of Genesis, the first work of Creation was the separation of light and darkness which were interfused in the beginning. A “return to the beginning of things” might therefore find expression in the resolution of this duality and the recreation of primordial unity where the rational mind dissolves.

It is an advanced practice in the Dzogchen lineages of the Nyingmapa, Bönpo, and other schools of Tibetan Buddhism which recommended a period of 49 days.

Dark retreat in the Himalayan tradition is a restricted practice only to be engaged by the senior spiritual practitioner under appropriate spiritual guidance. This practice is considered conducive for navigating the bardo at the time of death and for realising the rainbow body. The traditional dark retreat requires stability in the natural state and is only suitable for advanced practitioners.

There are historians who suggest that ancient Egyptians and Mayans practiced a form of the Dark Retreat as well, traditionally lasting ten days.

The Brain Science Behind Dark Room Therapy

Retreating into complete darkness for an extended period of time has a major effect on the brain. Shifts of consciousness can help us see that which is beyond illusion. If we take a look at the chemistry of the brain we can start to make sense of the biochemical process behind dark room techniques and their effects on the brain. 

When one experiences complete darkness the area of the brain stimulated is a gland called the pineal gland. The pineal gland is the gland in the brain associated with our third eye. Spiritual leaders around the world view the "opening of the inner eye" as a time when we can clearly see shifts in our perspective, when we open up to our intuition and our own psychic abilities and when the outer world stays the same but our inner world changes. We know that the pineal gland needs darkness in order to produce and emit melatonin. What happens during extended periods in darkness can be described by participants as a waking consciousness.

Melatonin continues to build up in the brain as you stay in complete darkness. When the melatonin stores build up to about 15-20 mg the brain begins to realize it no longer needs melatonin and begins producing pinolene. Pinolene is said to be released by the pineal gland also and is responsible for what we call "the light show". In complete darkness you may be able to see light patterns forming. These visions are connected to the internal workings of the mind. At this stage there is a letting go of the ego as we lose perception of the physical world. This process often occurs within the first 3 days of darkness.

If we look deeper at the pineal gland and its response to the dark for more extended periods we are introduced to a psychedelic substance called Dimethyltriptamine, or DMT. This substance is naturally occurring within the brain, also produced by the pineal gland, and typically only released at birth and at death. It has been nicknamed "the spirit molecule" because of the states of altered consciousness it provides and how it translates into feelings of universal compassion. This is a state where we can deeply work on healing ourselves from past traumas. 

Researcher on DMT, Terrence McKenna, believed the substance was a portal to another dimension wherein we gain access to the true nature of reality, a vibratory non-material space of loving energy and unlimited potentiality. This theory is not far from what has already been taught in ancient Eastern religions or Shamanic traditions. Extended periods of darkness is a much softer, natural way to experience conscious altering DMT without ingesting anything.

Everything we need to reach these deep conscious states is naturally within us all.

“I wish I could show you,

when you are lonely or in the darkness,

the astonishing light

of your own being”

-Hafiz


Also read:

• What is Gnosis?
• Psychonaut: Sailor of the Mind
• Silence is much more important to our brains than we think
• The Awakening of Consciousness
• Sufi Dancing and Islamic Mysticism
• Staring into someone’s eyes for 10 minutes induces an altered state of consciousness
• Chaos Magick: Unlocking the Power of the Subconscious Mind

Jinn State, The Elemental Art

By Samael Aun Weor

Any sage of the elemental art (Jinn Science) can make the great jump. The Masters of Jinn Science can leave the earth in order to live on other planets with the same physical body that they have here in the third dimension. They can take their physical body of flesh and blood to other planets. This is the great jump. Some Masters of Jinn Science have already made this great jump.

With pranayama we gain the power to place our physical body in the Jinn State.

There exist many keys in order to place the physical body in the Jinn State. It is very important to practice pranayama before using these keys.

Jinn Science is a matter of vibration. Above and below the limited objective perceptions, there exist worlds that are located in other dimensions.

Remember, beloved disciple, that the divine powers of Jinn Science are very sacred.

These powers can be utilized in order to cure and heal sick people from a distance. These powers can also be utilized in order to enter the temples of the White Lodge and study the marvels of creation within the womb of Nature.

Jinn Science is not for the weak, the unsteady, fickle, or inconsistent people. 

This science is not for skeptical people. Such people are useless for Jinn Science. This science should never be exhibited, for the White Lodge forbids it. Jinn Science is not to be displayed or demonstrated as a spectacle of magic. This science is terribly divine and can be practiced only in secret. When I, the author of this book, wanted to publicly demonstrate Jinn Science, the Master Morya immediately intervened by saying: “We have been teaching and helping you for the past ten years and now you want to exhibit your powers. Why? Powers are very sacred. Powers must not be exhibited to the public.”

Seventh Key

Those who know how to travel in their Astral body can invoke the physical body from afar. The first step the Gnostic must do with this key is to project himself in the Astral body. When he finds himself far from the physical body he may call upon any of the great Masters of Jinn Science.

The devotee may ask the great Masters to carry his physical body to the Astral plane. 

The Genii of the Jinn State will then take the physical body from the bed and will bring it to the devotee who is asking for it. Prior to the arrival of the physical body, many bubbles will appear to the devotee. The final bubble is red, behind this red bubble comes the physical body in the Jinn State. When the physical body is near the student, he feels as though his shoulders are very heavy.

The emotion that the student experiences when the physical body is in front of him is tremendous. The greatest surprise comes to him when he discovers that his physical body also has Consciousness and will respond to his questions.

In such moments, the devotee must dominate all of his emotions and control his mind so that he does not ruin the experiment. If the devotee lets himself be driven by his emotions, then the physical body and the devotee will instantly return to the bed and the experiment will be ruined.

Table Work

In occultism, table work is the instant in which the physical body is invoked from afar and must inevitably enter the sidereal body of the devotee. This performance is very difficult because the body must learn how to do so, and the soul must dominate its emotions and know how to command the body.

The body must enter the soul through the coronary chakra, or lotus of one thousand petals, which is located in the upper part of the head of the sidereal body.

The devotee must command the body and the body must obey. If the body does not obey, then it is because it does not know how. So, the devotee must teach it.

The soul must command and teach the physical body to leave through the sidereal head of the Astral body, and enter the devotee through the same door. The result is marvelous; the physical body obeys and enters into the devotee. In the Astral plane things are very different. It is not the devotee who must enter into the physical body; the physical body must enter into the devotee. This is how the devotee remains with his physical body in the Astral plane.

The Jinn system of the seventh key is for those who are very skilled in using and controlling the Astral body.

With the physical body in the Jinn State we can visit the temples of the great White Lodge and receive direct teachings from the great Masters who initiated the dawn of creation.

This is what is known as practical occultism. Practical occultism is urgently needed by all.

The students of various schools of occultism are tired of theories. Unfortunately, the majority of students want to develop their powers easily, without any effort or sacrifice, comfortably within a short period of time, as if it were, so to speak, “a piece of cake.”

We must be aware of the fact that life is very difficult and nothing is given to us for free.

This science is not for fickle people; it is better that such people remain out of these studies. This science is not for curious people either. We cannot play with cosmic laws without being burned. The law is the law and we must respect what is sacred.

Men who are working with Jinn Science must wear only yellow pajama pants. The remainder of the body must be nude. Comfortable, loose clothing is best for Jinn practices because the chakras will spin freely.

Women who are practicing Jinn Science must wear only a loose fitting yellow robe that is as long and as wide as possible. The robe must be very beautiful, similar to the robes of the Samaritans. Women who practice Jinn Science must not cut their hair. The hair is a symbol of purity and Chastity. In ancient times, a woman who committed Adultery was punished by having to cut her hair.

Extracts from The Yellow Book by Samael Aun Weor

Find the book on the right bar of our site.

Also read:

• Primary Clairaudient and Clairvoyant Experiences
• The Still Small Voice by Samael Aun Weor
• The mystical sound of the cricket and astral projection practices

Chaos Magick: Unlocking the Power of the Subconscious Mind

Chaos Magick is a form of manifesting, which caters to the individual, and borrows from other belief systems – as the central belief in chaos magick is that “belief is a tool”.

Chaos magic is hard to define because it is an idea rather than a set of rules for magical practice. The core of chaos magic is that the practitioner is free to adopt whatever works for them. This understanding comes from the perspective that it is not necessarily the ritual or path itself that has any inherent magical qualities, but the practitioner themselves.

So a practicing chaos magician (or chaote) may choose to incorporate Thelemic rituals and beliefs alongside Wicca or Voodoo or whatever else they choose.

Chaos does not come with a specific Grimoire or even a prescribed set of ethics. For this reason, it has been dubbed “left hand path” by some who choose not to understand that which is beyond their own chosen path. A Chaos Magician will use the same spells as those of other paths, or those of his/her own making.

Mastering the role of the sub-conscious mind in magical operations is the crux of it, and the state called “vacuity” (gnostic state) by Austin Osman Spare  is the road to that end. Anyone who has participated in a successful ritual has experienced the “high” that this state induces.

According to Wikipedia:

Some common sources of inspiration include such diverse areas asscience fiction, scientific theories, traditional ceremonial magic, neoshamanism, eastern philosophy, world religions, and individual experimentation. Despite tremendous individual variation, chaos magicians (sometimes called “chaotes”) often work with chaotic and humorous paradigms, such as the worship of Hundun from Taoism or Eris from Discordianism and it is common for chaotes to believe in whatever god suits their current paradigm and discard it when necessary. Chaotes can beagnostic or atheist. Some chaos magicians also usepsychedelic drugs in practices such as chemognosticism.

According to chaos practitioners a computer is the central tool for connecting the followers, building virtual knowledge libraries and it also could be used for the simulation of the online ritual environment.

Sigils

Sigils are a technique that is exclusive to Chaos Magick, and if you are truly interested in higher learning, Sigils are a great way to begin experimenting with the power of the subconscious mind altering your reality.

Sigils are an occult method of bypassing the “nay-saying” conscious mind and implanting desires deep within the unconscious mind. This lets you use the full range of your mind to make a desire real, rather than constantly second-guessing yourself.

They were invented in the early part of the 20th century by the magician and outsider artist Austin Osman Spare, often called the grandfather of chaos magick, who developed his technique from the work of medieval magicians like Cornelius Agrippa. They have formed the central technique of the entire occult world ever since.

Because most people can’t access their unconscious mind deliberately, with techniques like sigils or self-hypnosis, they are unable to produce the “magical” results of those who can access and direct the power of their unconscious.

The theory goes like this: the conscious mind is not directly capable of performing magic (in fact, it inhibits magic,) so the subconscious mind must have the magical intent implanted in somehow it so that it might "unconsciously" manipulate aetheric information to bring about the result.

Servitors (Tulpas):

Servitors are somewhat independent energetic or thought creations. A chaos magician would create a servitor with a particular intent, such as protection. This servitor then functions semi autonomously in order to fulfil it’s purpose.

Servitors are often created in familiar forms that reflect their function.

Advanced magicians can create complex servitors that are capable of learning, maintaining and feeding itself and can even acquire personality and a form of sentience.

Chaos Magick Star

The Symbol of Chaos originates from Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion stories. In them, the Symbol of Chaos comprises eight arrows in a radial pattern. In contrast, the symbol of Law is a single upright arrow. It is also called the Arms of Chaos, the Arrows of Chaos, the Chaos Star, the Chaos Cross, the Chaosphere, or the Symbol of Eight.

There are a number of traditional symbols that have the same geometrical pattern as the symbol of Chaos, such as any of various eight-pointed stars, the star of Ishtar/Venus, the Eastern Dharmacakra and the Wheel of the Year, but none of these were symbols of chaos and their limbs are not arrows.

The '8' of Wands in Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot deck features prominently an eight-pointed star with arrows at the ends. Crowley described the card as representing "energy" scattering at "high velocity" that had managed to create the depicted eight-pointed figure.

Moorcock said about his version,

The origin of the Chaos Symbol was me doodling sitting at the kitchen table and wondering what to tell Jim Cawthorn the arms of Chaos looked like. I drew a straightforward geographical quadrant (which often has arrows, too!) – N, S, E, W – and then added another four directions and that was that – eight arrows representing all possibilities, one arrow representing the single, certain road of Law. I have since been told that it is an "ancient symbol of Chaos" and if it is then it confirms a lot of theories about the race mind. 

Chaos theory suggests that small changes at the beginning of a trajectory will create large changes in the distant future. This is often called the butterfly effect.

The chaos star has – as one would expect from a star that symbolizes chaos – very distinct interpretations. Because many people understand the word chaos to represent a negative situation, the symbol has been used in pop culture to mean evil, negativity, and destruction.

On the flip side, the chaos star can represent the idea of many possibilities, as opposed to a single arrow that shows one path as law. In this interpretation, the star is really a beautifully positive and inclusive symbol, and urges open-mindedness and tolerance to other’s experiences, along with creativity and an lovely blend of different possibilities.

Quotes on Chaos Magick:

“Nothing is true; everything is permitted.”

"Remember that the chaote understands that belief is a choice, there is no inherent value in anything, aside from that which you create for yourself. This includes beliefs on topics such as religion, politics, sexuality, etc which is often culturally ingrained and may be challenging to examine".
 – Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic

“…if you want a one line definition with which most Chaoists would probably not disagree, then I  offer the following. Chaoists usually accept the meta belief that belief is a tool for achieving effects; it is not an end in itself.”
– Peter Carroll

“Chaos is not in itself, a system or philosophy. It is rather an attitude that one applies to one's magic and philosophy. It is the basis for all magic, as it is the primal creative force. A Chaos Magician learns a variety of magical techniques, usually as many as s/he can gain access to, but sees beyond the systems and dogmas to the physics behind the magical force and uses whatever methods are appealing to him/herself.”
– Mark Chao

“The Chaos Magician seeks to understand the natural laws behind the workings of magic, and the reasons behind the use of ritual in the performance of a magical working.”
– Jaq D. Hawkins, Understanding Chaos Magic

“Chaos Magick is an extraordinary deconstruction of magick, semantics, and psychology designed to  eradicate consensual belief structures and, using the energy freed by this act, glimpse the fractal contours of reality.”
–Marik

“Chaos Magick is in essence shamanism devoid of culture.”
– The Heretic Heathen, on alt.magick.chaos

“Rather than trying to recover and maintain a tradition that links back to the past (and former glories), Chaos Magick is an approach that enables the individual to use anything that s/he thinks is suitable as a temporary belief or symbol system. What matters is the results you get, not the "authenticity" of the system used. So Chaos Magic then, is not a system it utilises systems and encourages adherents to devise their own, giving magic a truly Postmodernist flavour.”
– Phil Hine,Condensed Chaos

“Henceforth, whilst there are a great many theories and models proposed as to how, or why, magic works (based on subtle energies, animal magnetism, psychological concepts, quantum theory, mathematics or the so-called anthropomorphic principle) it is not a case that one of them is more "true" than others, but a case of which theory or model you choose to believe in, or which theory you find most attractive. Indeed, from a Chaos Magic perspective, you can selectively believe that a
particular theory or model of magical action is true only for the duration of a particular ritual or phase of work.”
–Phil Hine, Prime Chaos

“Chaos Magick does not use a concrete theoretical focus, the emphasis in Chaos Magick is on the Doing rather than the Explaining…Thus, in Chaos Magick a system of belief is a means to an end and is not an answer to the mystery of Life, the Universe and everything.”
– D. J. Lawrence, The Chaos Cookbook“

“…Chaos magick should be all about, getting out there and doing it. Sometimes it is also all about thinking about how to do it, and thus creatively inventing marvellous and sometimes scary new ways of how to do it. And then damn well doing it!”
–Francis Breakspear, Kaostar!


Chaos Magick reading list:

• The Book of Pleasure by Austin Osman Spare
• Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic by Peter Carroll
• Liber Kaos by Peter Carroll
• Practical Sigil Magick by Frater U.D.
• Hands-On Chaos Magic by Andrieh Vitimus 
• Prime Chaos by Phil Hine
• Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine
• The Pseudonomicon by Phil Hine
• Visual Magick: A Manual of Freestyle Shamanism by Jan Fries
• Chaotopia: Sorcery and Ecstasy in the Fifth Aeon by Dave Lee
• Chaos & Sorcery by Nicholas Hall  

Comics:

• Promethea by Alan Moore 
• The Invisibles by Grant Morrison 

(You can find some of these book on the right bar of this site)

Also read:

• The strange life of Austin Osman Spare, Chaos Magician
• Principia Chaotica by Peter Carroll
• What is a Hypersigil?

What is Spirituality?

Spirituality is a broad concept with room for many perspectives. In general, it includes a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and it typically involves a search for meaning in life. As such, it is a universal human experience—something that touches us all.

Spirituality is not one thing and can be expressed in multiple ways. Some will find enlightenment through their work, others through religion, others through spiritual practice like mediation and yoga, others through the use of psychedelics and others by just expressing themselves in a positive way through kindness, compassion and love. No matter how you find the spirit within you, there is no right way of doing it.

What is spirituality? Spirituality is a very misunderstood term, some equate it to religion and while it can be related it is not an exclusively religious thing. The spirit is the essence of a person, that elusive thing within us that makes us naturally behave in certain ways. When the mind is quite and all is peaceful all that’s left is the spirit.

You have your 4 levels of health- the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. All but the spirit are easily defined, measurable and explainable, the spiritual side of things is a little more mystical and hard to explain in a short sentence. But it is still a real thing.

One thing that will be present in all spiritual practice is consciousness. Consciousness is hard to define as is spirituality because again it is not one thing, but to make things simple consciousness on an individual level is your awareness of a thing, even if that thing is nothing.

Also read:

• How to spot a spiritual sexual predator
• What is Gnosis?
• Illumination by Manly P. Hall

The mystical sound of the cricket and astral projection practices

According to the Aztec language, the word Chapultepec means the following: chapul or chapulin means “cricket,” and Tepec means “hill.” Therefore, the Aztec word Chapultepec must be defined as, “the Hill of the Cricket.”

In ancient Rome, during the time of the Caesars, the cricket was sold in golden cages at a very high price. In Mexico City, at the Museum of Anthropology and History, there exists a very interesting picture related to the teachings that were taught to the Aztec nobility and priests in their secret temples.

In this picture, we see two individuals floating over the Hill of Chapultepec. A chirping cricket appears at the summit of the hill. Next to this scene, a floating human face appears; from the mouth emerge two waves of light which symbolize the chirping of the cricket, or in other words, the symbol for the monotonous and sharp sound of the cricket that the two people who are floating over the foothill must produce in order to penetrate into the temple.

The chirping of the cricket is the “still voice” that Appolonius of Tyana utilized in order to depart in his Astral body. This is the small, still voice that Elijah heard when he went out, “and stood in the entering of the cave in the wilderness.”

The human being is a triad of body, soul, and Spirit. A mediator between the Spirit and the body exists. This mediator is the body of the soul, the Astral body. One possesses a soul, yet one is a Spirit. The Astral body is part human and part divine; it is endowed with marvelous internal senses with which we can investigate the great mysteries of life and death. The mind, the willpower, and the Consciousness abide within the Astral body.

In the Hill of Chapultepec exists a temple in the Jinn state; in other words, within the fourth dimension. One can attend this temple in the Astral body. The rector of the Temple of Chapultepec is the venerable Master Rasmussen. This temple is safeguarded by very zealous guardians with naked swords.

During the hours of ordinary sleep, all human beings act and travel in their Astral body; however, upon awakening, not all of us remember what we saw, heard, or did while acting within that body.

Therefore, in the mornings, upon awakening from one’s dreams, one must perform the effort to remember all that one had dreamt. One’s dreams are nothing more than experiences within the Astral World. One must carefully take note of all of them in a notebook.

When you perform your dream yoga practices, concentrate on the sharp chirping of the cricket. This chirping must sound from within the smallest cells of your brain. If this practice is done correctly, you will soon be in that transition between vigil and slumber.

Increase the slumber and the sound of the crickets' chirping by using your willpower. Then get up from your bed and, with complete confidence, leave your bedroom and go towards the Temple of Chapultepec, or wherever else you wish to go. You must try to not lose the lucidity of your Consciousness.

Do not mentally get up from your bed in this vigil stats; instead, actually get yourself up. Nature will take charge of separating your Astral body from your physical body. The physical body will remain sleeping in its bed and the Astral body will become free to travel wherever you wish.

Daily exercise: Any time that you are at your work, in the street, in your house, in the presence of a strange thing, or in front of a person whom you have not seen for a long time, ask yourself: “Am I in the Astral Body?”

Then, perform a small jump and if you float it is because you are within your Astral Body. Thus, you can fly and direct yourself to any place in the world. If you do not float, it is because you are within your body of flesh and bones.

When one practices this exercise during the day, then it is repeated during one’s dreams and the result is that the consciousness awakens and experiences a lucid dream. One becomes aware that one is out of the physical body in the Astral World.

- Esoteric Medicine and Practical Magic, Samael Aun Weor

Dream Yoga Practice (Astral)

Learn to use your imagination and will, united in vibrant harmony Lying in your bed or seated in a comfortable chair, imagine a well-known faraway place (a house, a park, an avenue, a city, etc.) and lull yourself to sleep with that image in your mind. When you find yourself falling asleep with that image in your mind, make that image real; forget the place where your body is; put the force of will into play and, full of confidence in yourself walk through the imagined place. Walk in the imagined place as if you were there in flesh and bones. If the practice is done correctly, you will unfold and your soul will be transported to that place and you will be able to see and hear everything that happens there. 

-Introduction to Gnosis, Samael Aun Weor

Remember Dreams (Astral)

After returning to the body we wake up in our bed. Many disciples commit the mistake of moving in the bed in the precise moment of waking up from the normal sleep. With this movement, the astral body is agitated and the memories are lost. When awakening in his bed, the student of Occultism must not move! We must remain still, close our eyes and make a retrospective exercise to meticulously remember all those places we were at with our astral body, all the words we heard, what we said, etc.

 -Esoteric Treaty of Theurgy, Samael Aun Weor

Development of Oneiric Memory (Astral)

You need memory to remember your internal experiences. Do not spill the semen. Know that in the semen are millions of microscopic brain cells. You must not lose those cells.

Special food to develop the power of memory

Prepare your breakfast with acidic fruit and ground almonds with bee honey. In this way you provide the brain with the necessary atoms for the memory.

Esoteric Diet

Breakfast: Toasted bread with pure honey, hot milk, and fruit.

Lunch: Must consist of vegetables, fruits, and any type of grain.

Dinner: Bread with pure honey and hot milk. Nothing more.

Meditation should he performed at 10:00 p.m. nightly. Meditation should also be performed at dawn. If the student meditates during these hours, he will progress rapidly.

-The Yellow Book, Samael Aun Weor

Internal experiences 

While the body sleeps, the ego lives in the internal worlds and travels to different places. In the internal worlds we are tested many times. We receive initiation in the internal temples. It becomes necessary to remember everything that we do outside the body. With the instructions given in this book every human being will be able to awaken consciousness and remember his internal experiences. It is painful to know that there are many Initiates who work in the Great Temples of the White Lodge whilst their physical body sleeps, and yet they do not remember anything because their memory is atrophied.

-Perfect Matrimony, Samael Aun Weor

The Particular Keynote (Astral)

In an almost imperceptible manner, a keynote always resounds within the brain of every living being. That keynote is that of the ray to which each person belongs and seems to come from the cells of the cerebellum. Some hear the sound of small flutes of the Egyptian ray; others will hear the “gong” of the Oriental ray, others the roaring of the sea, of the lunar ray, etc.

If the disciple silences all his thoughts in the calm of the night, he will hear his keynote; then he can cause that note to vibrate loudly, with will and when the note is already so loud that it invades and semi-paralyzes the entire physical body, the disciple should get out of bed and betake himself to the Gnostic Church for the Masters of the White Brotherhood will receive him there with incomparable happiness.

-Zodiacal Course, Samael Aun Weor

Mantra EGIPTO (Astral)

Our disciples must acquire the power of Astral Body projection. This power is acquired by vocalizing daily for an hour the sacred mantra Egipto. The vowel “E” makes the thyroid gland vibrate and grants the initiate the power of the occult ear. The “G” awakens the chakra of the liver, and when this chakra has reached its full development, then, the initiate can enter and leave the Physical Body any time at will. The vowel “I,” combined with the letter “P,” develops Clairvoyance in the initiate, and the power to depart in the Astral Body through the window of Brahma, which is the pineal gland. Pronounce the letter “T” with force over the vowel “O, “ which is intimately related with the chakra of the heart; this is how the initiate can acquire the power to project the self through this plexus and thus travel in his Astral Body.

The correct pronunciation of this mantra is as follows: EEEEEEGGGGGGGIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPTTTTOOOOOOOO

Those who still do not have the ability to project themselves in the Astral Body with our clues, lack this power. Therefore, they must first acquire it by vocalizing daily for one hour the mantra Egipto. This mantra develops the chakras related with the projection of the Astral Body completely. This is how the disciple acquires the power of entering and leaving the Physical Body at will. Once the power for astral projection is acquired, the disciple will enter and leave the Physical Body at will.

-The Seven Words, Samael Aun Weor

Mantra LA RA and the Anahat sound (Astral)

The human being can travel to any place in the world or in the infernos with his Astral Body. The key in order to consciously travel with the Astral Body is the following: Laying down on his bed, face up, the disciple must fall sleep while vocalizing the syllables “LA” “RA”.

The student will independently vocalize each syllable, that is to say, each syllable with a separate breath, as follows: LLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAA……RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA

The vocalization of these two sacred syllables must be done mentally.

These two syllables have the power of making the sexual energy intensely vibrate. Thus, the disciple must fall asleep while vocalizing with tranquility in his bed. Thus, this is how the sexual energies, the creative energies of the Third Logos begin to vibrate when the student vocalizes these two syllables.

These type of energies produce a sweet and subtle sound when they are intensely vibrating. This sound is similar to that of the cricket. The student must learn how to handle this sound, as this is the subtle voice which grants us the power to consciously travel with our Astral Body.

-Message of Aquarius, Samael Aun Weor

Meditation on the “Ursa Major” (Meditation-Astral)

Ursa Major is also known as the Great Bear and is a constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere.

Ancient men grew spiritually under the influence of the “Ursa Major” and students should meditate intensely on the ‘Ursa Major’ if they want to awaken consciousness. That constellation radiates powerful spiritual forces and man should learn to converse with the sidereal Geni of that constellation.

There is a key to transfer oneself to that constellation. The key is to meditate profoundly on a “yellow stone” that exists in the astral. Do this exercise in the moments of transition between vigil and sleep and thou shall then transfer thyself in the astral body to the largest star of the ‘Ursa Major’, where a powerful and gigantic civilization exists.

-Zodiacal Course, Samael Aun Weor

Self-Remembering (Psychology and Self Knowledge-Astral) 

Gnostic students must remember themselves while in the presence of any kind of interesting representation, one must remember oneself and ask oneself the following questions: Where am I? What am I doing here? Could I be out of my physical body?

Then, carefully observe everything surrounding you; observe well the sky with inquisitive eyes; any kind of detail from the internal worlds; be it a set of foreign colors, be it a strange animal, the beloved shadow of a deceased person, ect., this will conform that you are out of your physical body; the you will awaken the Consciousness. It becomes very useful, in those instants of reflection and self-remembering, to hop with the intention of floating in that environment. It is logical that if we float it is because we are out of our physical body.

If all the dormants, while sleeping, ask themselves such  reflective questions, it is logical that they would awaken consciousness. If the ego, after death, asks itself such questions in the presence of any representation, then it would awaken instantly. Unfortunately, the ego never thinks about those questions because during its life it has never had the custom of questioning itself. It is necessary to grasp this custom and to live it intensely. Only in this way, can we conceive of the idea of asking ourselves such questions while sleeping and after death. The result of this practice is the awakening of the consciousness. Anyone who awakens their consciousness may become clairvoyant. Anyone who awakens the consciousness lives fully awakened in the Superior worlds while the physical body sleeps. The Great Masters do not dream.

 -Esoteric Course of Kabbalah, Samael Aun Weor

Also read:

• Dream Yoga: Lucid Dreaming in Tibetan Buddhism
• Evidence of dream telepathy between people
• Siddhis: The Supernatural and Spiritual Powers
• Illumination by Manly P. Hall

Psychonaut: Sailor of the Mind

Psychonautics from the Greek psychē "soul", "spirit" or "mind" and naútēs "sailor" or "navigator" — "a sailor of the soul/mind"

Psychonautics is the exploration of the psyche. A person who uses altered states for such exploration is known as a psychonaut.

A psychonaut seeks to investigate their mind using intentionally induced altered states of consciousness" for spiritual, scientific, or research purposes.

A psychonaut often embarks on inner voyages with the aid of psychedelic substances such as psilocybin, LSD, MDMA (ecstasy), peyote, or mescalin.

This is why the term is often associated with drug use. Psychonautics need not be synonymous with psychedelics or new age metaphysics. The psychonaut is merely an explorer of the mind and there are multiple approaches to this end like techniques such as meditation, fasting, rituals, praying, hypnosis, lucid dreaming, sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, oxygen deprivation, breath work, brainwave entrainment (by means of light, sound, or electrical impulses, including: mind machines, dreamachines, binaural beats, and cranial electrotherapy stimulation), trance inducing dance (like Sufi whirling can also be used to induce altered state of consciousness), and other mind-altering practices.

These may be used in combination; for example, traditions such as shamanism may combine ritual, fasting, and hallucinogenic substances.

The German chemist, Arthur Heffter, was the first to gain the title of psychonaut, a name given to him by Ernst Jünger in his logbook of personal drug experimentation Annaherungen: Drogen und Rausch (Drugs and Inebriation). Heffter was defined in this way as a result of his self-experimentation with the four pure alkaloids that he had isolated from peyotl in the late 1890s. His ingestion of these alkaloids revealed mescaline hydrochloride to be the active entheogenic principle of Lophora williamsii (peyotl/peyote), and his experience marked the world’s first ‘trip’ with a purified chemical compound. As a result of this, the Heffter Technique now refers to human self-experimentation with psychoactive compounds otherwise known as the psychonautic bioassay.

The American physician, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, philosopher, writer and inventor John C. Lilly is another well-known psychonaut. Lilly was interested in the nature of consciousness and, amongst other techniques, he used isolation tanks in his research.

Philosophical- and Science-fiction author Philip K. Dick has also been described as a psychonaut for several of his works such as The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

Another influential psychonaut is the psychologist and writer Timothy Leary. Leary is known for controversial talks and research on the subject; he wrote several books including The Psychedelic Experience.

Another widely known psychonaut is the American philosopher, ethnobotanist, lecturer, and author Terence McKenna. McKenna spoke and wrote about subjects including psychedelic drugs, plant-based entheogens, shamanism, metaphysics, alchemy, language, culture, technology, and the theoretical origins of human consciousness.

Book recommendation: 

LSD My Problem Child: Reflections on Sacred Drugs, Mysticism and Science by Albert Hofmann - a must read by the father of LSD

The Doors of Perception & Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley (1956) - probably THE psychedelic classic

The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Timothy Leary

True Hallucinations by Terence McKenna (1993)

The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda (1985)

The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness by Alan W. Watts

Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You & Your World by Robert Anton Wilson

Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson.

Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic by Peter J. Carroll.

You can find some of these book on the right bar of our site.


Also read:

• What is Gnosis?
• Sufi Dancing and Islamic Mysticism
• Staring into someone’s eyes for 10 minutes induces an altered state of consciousness
• Chaos Magick: Unlocking the Power of the Subconscious Mind
• Binaural Beats: how these otherworldly sounds can alleviate stress and improve overall health

What is Gnosis?

Gnosis (Greek γνώσις) Knowledge.

The word Gnosis refers to the knowledge we acquire through our own experience, as opposed to knowledge that we are told or believe in. Gnosis - by whatever name in history or culture - is conscious, experiential knowledge, not merely intellectual or conceptual knowledge, belief, or theory. This term is synonymous with the Sanskrit "Jna."

The Hebrews describe Gnosis with the Da'at. A Hebrew word for knowledge, that in the Kabbalah describes a mystical state one has as they ascend up the tree of life to then reach the self-giving Divine Light. The ancient Egyptians had described the Gnostic experience in many texts of their proverbs such as; "The body is the house of God," and "Man, know thyself... and thou shalt know the gods.

Gnosis comes from within each one of us through the secret knowledge of all things hidden. Gnosis in its purest form is the intuitive spiritual knowledge that comes with knowing thyself and thyspirit. Plato describes this process when he says "all learning is remembering." He calls this a recollection and restoration of the views a person once had, and original knowledge that was once lost. Today science describes part of this Gnostic experience that Plato had described as intuition.

The Valentinians (Valentinus) taught that gnosis was the privileged Gnosis kardias, "knowledge of the heart" or "insight" about the spiritual nature of the cosmos that brought about salvation to the pneumatics— the name given to those believed to have reached the final goal of sanctity. The Sethians understood themselves to be children of Adam and Eve, through Seth who had walked the Right Hand Path (RHP) which is the path of the heart. The path of water. All desire, learning and the Great Work is done through our hearts, rather than just the mind.

It is self-knowledge through ongoing self-awareness and self-consciousness that can only be reached by quiet contemplation, and deep thought. Self-Awareness Theory states that when we focus our attention on ourselves, we evaluate and compare our current behavior to our internal standards and values. Gnosis is the self-knowledge that each one of us needs to develop in order to evolve our souls to the next level for our next incarnation.

"Gnosis is the flame from which all religions sprouted, because in its depth Gnosis is religion. The word “religion” comes from the Latin word “religare,” which implies “to link the Soul to God”; so Gnosis is the very pure flame from where all religions sprout, because Gnosis is Knowledge, Gnosis is Wisdom."

- Samael Aun Weor, The Esoteric Path

Staring into someone’s eyes for 10 minutes induces an altered state of consciousness

You may have been told you have mesmerizing or hypnotic eyes.

Now a psychologist has found that staring into someone’s eyes for 10 minutes can cause you to hallucinate.

In an experiment, people claimed to have experienced an altered state of consciousness, including seeing distorted faces and even monsters.

Giovanni Caputo of the University of Urbino in Italy conducted the experiment in a dimly-lit room where 20 volunteers were asked to stare into each other’s eyes continuously for 10 minutes, the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest reported. 

They were not told the purpose of the experiment, other than it was a ‘meditative experience with eyes open’.

The volunteers sat in pairs three feet (one metre) away from each other in the room, which was low lit to dampen their colour perception while allowing the participants to easily see their partner’s facial features.

Another control group of 20 were asked to sit in an identically lit room and stare at a blank wall for the same amount of time. 

After 10 minutes, all the participants were asked to complete questionnaires about their experience of the experiment.

One asked them what they saw in their partner’s face, and the other about feelings of dissociation, or detachment from their surroundings.

The volunteers in the eye-staring group reported feeling different to before, including losing their connection with reality.

They also said that sounds seemed quieter or louder than expected, time seemed to drag and they felt spaced out.

A total of 90% of the eye-staring group said they saw deformed facial features, with three quarters of the group claiming to have seen monsters.

Half said they saw some of their own facial features in their partner's face and 15 per cent said they saw a relative's face.

The study found that dissociative symptoms and 'face dysmorphia' were correlated, but strange-face apparitions such as monsters and dissociation were not.

‘These results indicate that dissociative symptoms and hallucinatory phenomena during interpersonal-gazing under low illumination can involve different processes,’ Dr Caputo writes in the paper, published in the journal Psychiatry Research

Dr Caputo believes there is something about staring into another person’s eyes that has a profound effect on people’s perception and mental states.

He writes that 'strange-face apparitions' may occur during the rebound to ‘reality’ from the exercise, which he describes as a ‘dissociative state induced by sensory deprivation’.

The results seem to support the psychologist’s previous study which involved 50 volunteers staring at themselves in a mirror for 10 minutes, Science Alert reported.

The 2010 experiment found that people started seeing ‘strange face illusions’ after just one minute and all of them experienced a feeling of ‘otherness’.

Some saw their own facial feature change or those of other people, ancestors or animals as well as monsters, Scientific American reported.