Sample Text
Ads
Advertisement
soul astral praticas
Shamans always use a ritual structure as a support for their soul flights. As we have
seen, for the shamans of Siberia it often involved ascending the trunk of the world
tree that is the living axis of the universe in a series of levels, represented physically by
notches cut into the trunk of whatever tree or pole was used to embody the World Tree.
A shaman may also mimic the movements and sounds of the totemic beast that carries
his astral body away from his physical body, as a way of becoming one with the beast.
In these and other ways, he pantomimes the initialization of soul flight, but the actual
journey is done while he lies in a state of trance, motionless and insensible. Drumming,
chanting, dancing, and the piping of flutes or whistling sounds made with the lips may
also be a part of the separation ritual.
Once the soul flight begins, the ritual has served its primary purpose. It is a way of
opening the astral gateway leading either upward to the heavens inhabited by gods and
spirits, or down into the maw of the underworld where primitive peoples believed monsters,
demons, and the souls of the dead to dwell. The shaman's use of ritualistic climbing
is significant as a technique for separating the astral body. Both Sylvan Muldoon
and Oliver Fox recommended that those attempting to project their astral bodies should
imagine that they were climbing or ascending. AIeister Crowley advised that those seeking
adepthood would do well to practice the Golden Dawn technique of Rising on the
Planes once a day. Rituals involving acts of ascent are helpful in the initial stages of soul
flight. The ascent may be physically represented by climbing a slope, stairs, or ladder in
order to reach an elevated chamber or platform from which the actual projection occurs,
but it should always be accompanied by the visualization of an ascent.
A repeated ritual builds habitual responses in the mind that spill over to the body so
that, when done regularly, the ritual is capable of causing physiological changes, such as
variations in heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and brain-wave activity. It is
the change in brain function that most concerns us. Through repetition, a conditioned
response can be created that is specific to the ritual, and occurs only within the ritual
context. We see conditioned responses every day. The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov
received the Nobel Prize in 1904 in part for demonstrating that a dog could be conditioned
to salivate at the sound of a bell when the sound was associated in the mind of the
dog with food. Because the response conditioned by a ritual does not occur at any other
time except during the conduct of the ritual, the response can be isolated and separated
from daily life. This is useful in order to generate a response that we would not wish to
cause while doing such mundane tasks as driving a car, having dinner with friends, or
working at the office.
Ritual serves the double function of helping to induce the separation of the subtle
body at a desired time and place, while preventing the accidental separation from occurring
when it is not desired. When a change in the mind-body gestalt is keyed specifically to
a certain ritual, that change will not occur in the absence of the ritual trigger. Those with
an abundance of psychic ability who practice the technique of astral projection at different
times, in various places and in several ways, without enclosing it in any ritual pattern,
may find that they are experiencing spontaneous soul flight when they do not wish it to
occur, and do not seek to cause it. This lack of control can be frightening. The practice of
astral projection only within a ritual context ensures that it remains controlled.
Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 159
The ritual circle is a useful visual metaphor for ritual itself. The circle encloses a space,
dividing the inside from the outside. The inside is exalted, elevated, and heightened in
various ways for the purpose of accomplishing the ritual desire, whereas the outside is ordinary
and unchanged. Esoteric potency or mana can be accumulated and stored within
the ritual circle in the same way that energy is concentrated within a battery-because
the boundary of the circle prevents it from flowing away. At the same time, the barrier
of the circle excludes any discordant emotions, thoughts, or spiritual entities that might
interfere with the realization of the ritual purpose. In a real sense, the entire structure of
the ritual is an enclosing circle that divides the mundane universe from the heightened,
special place conducive to the purpose for which the ritual is worked.
Use of Ritual Often Misunderstood
Spiritualists had little understanding of the use of ritual, either for transformation or for
personal security. They conducted their astral experiments and dances in a casual way,
disdaining what they conceived to be the outmoded trappings of the ceremonial occultism
of the Middle Ages. They did not bother with a circle of protection, or with the use of
symbols to act as gateways, or with names of power designed to command various types
of spiritual beings, such as were used by members of the Golden Dawn. This indifference
is encountered quite often in modern times. Channelers in general express contempt for
ritual because they believe that they do not need it in order to establish communication
with the spirits that speak through their voices. True enough. But they seldom consider that
they may require ritual to prevent those spirits from speaking, or acting, through them.
Similarly, the remote viewers employed by the CIA and American military intelligence
during the various incarnations of Project STAR GATE had, in general, a contempt
for ritual, even though they employed a ritual of their own spontaneous design for their
extended remote viewing sessions. They were so concerned about being scientific in their
approach to remote viewing that they refused to admit or even to recognize that they
were engaged in astral projection because of the negative connotation the term holds
in the scientific community. Considering that one of them was a Tarot-card reader, this
nicety of terminology appears a bit silly. Because they did not use a formal ritual structure,
they were poorly protected when confronted by astral entities with malicious intentions.
Their response was to retreat as rapidly as possible.
The formation of simple rituals is difficult to avoid when repeating the same actions
on a regular basis. They define themselves spontaneously. We all have little rituals that
160 Soul Flight
help us get through our daily tasks. The morning grooming ritual. The first cigarette of
the day ritual. The meet a friend in the street ritual. Each of these and a hundred others
are like intricate little dances we do to facilitate the particular circumstances from which
they arise. We do not consciously compose them. They shape themselves as behaviors
that have served us well in the past, and which we rely on to serve us in the future. We
have these little daily rituals stored away in our heads, awaiting only a particular set of
triggers to start them running. Life would be much more difficult without them.
There is a quantum difference between a ritual that has created itself in an unconscious
way, as a necessary and unavoidable response of the mind to repeated actions, and
a ritual that has been deliberately and consciously structured for specific purposes, to
both heighten desired responses in the mind and body and to exclude discordant influences
that might hinder those responses. The one is a Model T Ford, and the other a Ferrari
Testarossa. Since the natural formation of a ritual pattern of some kind is inevitable,
it only makes sense to impose a pattern calculated to yield the best results.
Constructing Your Own Ritual
In constructing a ritual for soul flight, a factor that must always be considered is that
the unconscious mind knows better than the conscious mind which symbolic forms are
potent and which are weak. The unconscious cannot be relied upon to create complete effective
rituals, but it knows what it likes. Sometimes a ritual that seems as though it should
be effective in the abstract turns out to be lifeless in daily practice. When this happens,
there is only one thing to do-the awareness must be opened to the unconscious mind
so that it can express its needs, in the form of symbols, words, sounds, actions, gestures,
and postures. A dead ritual can be made to live if changes in its pattern suggested by the
unconscious are accepted and incorporated into it. There is nothing more pointless than
the attempt to impose by brute force a ritual that the unconscious rejects.
You will know your composed ritual for astral projection has been rejected if, after
you have performed it for two or three weeks on a regular basis, it remains lifeless. Then
there are only two recourses-you must discard it entirely and compose a new ritual, or
you must open your mind and allow changes in the ritual to suggest themselves during
the course of its daily enactment. The second course is better because, if you permit it,
your unconscious will rewrite your ritual for you and make it effective. If you choose to
impose a second ritual, there is no guarantee that it will contain any greater measure of
vitality than the first, and you may end up having to discard it also.
Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 161
Your own ritual is always better than a ritual composed by somebody else because
your own ritual arises from your preconceptions and requirements. I can suggest a ritual
structure to you that is effective in its general principles, but I cannot ensure that
it is perfectly adapted to your personal needs. It may be dead to you when you practice
it and, if so, you will need to allow your unconscious mind to modify it until it comes
alive for you. Ritual is the most intimate of activities. The reactions of each individual to
each ritual are unique, and the factors that cause those responses are so complex that it
is utterly impossible to predict them. The most effective ritual structure for each person
must be arrived at through the use of intuition coupled with trial and error.
The process is made easier if a sound basic ritual structure is adopted in the beginning.
Such a structure provides a stable symbolic foundation upon which to build your
unique personal ritual. You can think of the basic ritual described below as a blueprint
for a house. If designed well by the architect, the blueprint provides all the basic needs
in a balanced way, but everyone who lives in a house built from a general blueprint will
personalize such a house and make it unique.
Bear in mind that ritual is more than the mere repetition of a set of actions. This is
a large part of its effectiveness, but some actions are inherently more meaningful than
others. Some symbols are more potent than other symbols, either on a universal level as
archetypes or on a personal level for the individual. The symbolic elements chosen to
compose a ritual are not arbitrary, but arise from a sense of necessity that lies beneath the
level of words. It may be impossible to express in an articulate way the reason one symbol
is more effective than another symbol, or why one ritual action is powerful and another
weak, but you will sense the difference when you experiment with the two.
Components of the General Ritual of Projection
Before presenting a general ritual of soul flight, to serve as a template upon which to
build your own personal ritual, it will be useful to examine its component parts in the
abstract. Many other ritual structures might be devised, but the form presented here
contains the basic requirements needed for success and security. The parts of the ritual
have been divided into two groups. The column on the left pertains to the house of ritual,
which is erected around what is perceived as the boundary of the body. The column on
the right pertains to the inhabitant of that house, and what is done with the body and
mind during the enactment of the ritual.
162 Soul Flight
1. Chamber 6. Posture
2. Door 7. Gesture
3. Key 8. Sound
4. Corridor 9. Imagery
5. Elevator 10. Will
Chamber
The ritual is conducted on the astral level, its parts created and sustained in the
imagination. These astral components are reinforced by a physical space, material objects,
and movements of the body. What is done on the physical level during ritual is
reflected on the astral level, but the astral environment often differs in its details from
the physical environment. For example, the physical space in which the ritual is enacted
will seldom look the same as the astral space. Because the astral world can be shaped and
transformed by the imagination and the will, the astral space can be made larger, richer,
and more beautiful than the physical space, or it can be molded in specific ways to serve
the purposes of the ritual.
You will remember that the remote viewers of the CIA adopted the practice of going
to their "safe place" on the astral level in their extended experiments, as a staging zone
from which to depart on their assignments. This "safe place" was nothing other than a
ritual space created on the astral level. The formation of a ritual chamber or temple on the
astral level that corresponds with the physical ritual space is universal in modern Western
ceremonial magic. Since the CIA operatives had no clear idea of what they were doingthey
probably believed they were the first to have invented the technique-their physical
ritual space gave poor support to their astral space. Ideally, the physical chamber or place
in which the ritual is enacted should have some correspondence with the astral chamber
or place that is created and sustained in the imagination.
This correspondence is usually created by moving the body during the ritual in the
same way the projection of the body in the astral chamber is moved so that, as the magician
physically goes through the motions of the ritual, his astral form does substantially
the same things on the astral level in the visualized place of working. For example, when
a shaman of Siberia climbed the trunk of the tree or pole erected in the ritual enclosure,
he simultaneously climbed up the astral levels of the World Tree. A modern magician
will walk three times around the altar in his ritual temple in order to create an invisChapter
Ten: Uses of Ritual 163
ible vortex of force, while at the same time holding clearly in his imagination that he is
walking around a corresponding altar in his astral temple, invoking a visible and tangible
vortex on that higher level.
Ritual is thus enacted simultaneously on the physical level and on the astral level-that
is, with the physical body in the material chamber and with the astral body in the astral
chamber. Unless the mind is divided in this way between physical and astral perception,
the ritual will have little efficacy. The point of consciousness cannot occupy both levels
simultaneously, but it can jump back and forth between then so that it seems to occupy
both levels. The ritual space is here referred to as a chamber, but on the astral level it may
be a place out of doors, or even a place that bears no correspondence with any earthly
environment. As a practical matter, it is useful to make the ritual place of working on the
astral level somewhat similar to the physical place of working. Doing so allows it to be
sustained more easily in the imagination. Most who experiment with soul flight will do
so in a room of their house or apartment, so a room is a good choice for an astral place.
Whenever we imagine an environment in our mind, we create it on the astral level.
This happens automatically. The mind of the average person is too vacillating and weak
to create an astral environment that has any significant degree of duration. Astral places
are formed and discarded by the restless thoughts of every man, woman, and child from
moment to moment. No doubt even the higher animals generate astral landscapes of a
simple type. However, when a magician trained in the techniques of Western magic creates
an astral temple, he is able through the exercise of concentration to visualize it with
greater than average clarity and in uncommon detail. Each time a magician works the
ritual, he reinforces the astral place of working, so that it is sustained in the back of his
mind between ritual operations. It becomes as real a place as any environment can be in
the ever-shifting astral world.
The astral chamber is equivalent to the magic circle, in the sense that its four walls
erect a boundary that separates the place of working from the greater astral world. The
walls both contain the mental energies raised during the ritual, and prevent the entry of
discordant forces that might hinder the ritual or even render it impossible. Even if the
walls are not seamless in the physical room in which the ritual is enacted, they can be
made so on the astral level because the astral chamber does not need to correspond with
the physical chamber in all its details. Simply by not visualizing anything that lies on the
other side of the walls, floor, or ceiling of the windowless astral chamber, those walls can
be rendered completely impervious.
164 Soul Flight
Door
The only opening in the astral chamber described in the following ritual is a single
closed door. Just as the walls of the chamber correspond in a symbolic way with the barrier
of the magic circle, so the door corresponds with the point at the center of the circle
through which entry or exit of the circle is enabled. A magic circle can have only one
opening: the point at its center. By expanding the point, it becomes an aperture into or
out of the circle. It is necessary to create a doorway in the astral chamber to allow travel
in the projected astral body to other places in the astral world.
On the astral level, it is possible to shift the central aperture of the circle to its circumference.
This change is sometimes reflected in the physical temple of working magicians
by moving the altar-which ideally resides in the center of the chamber-to one of the
four walls of the room. It is usually done for convenience, to obtain a larger open floor area.
The altar symbolizes the center of the magic circle, even when it is placed at its edge. The
door visualized in the astral chamber does not need to have a corresponding door in the
actual room in which the ritual is conducted because it represents not the physical door of
the room, but rather the expanded central point of the ritual circle-which is understood
to be embodied in the four walls of the astral chamber.
Assinar:
Postar comentários (Atom)
0 comentários: