Between the Gates: Lucid Dreaming, Astral Projection, and the Body of Light in Western Esotericism - Softcover

Stavish, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1578633966 ISBN 13: 9781578633968

Publisher: Weiser Books, 2008

Synopsis

Liberate the full potential of your spiritual consciousness with this accessible A-to-Z guide to Lucid Dreaming, Astral Projection, and the Body of Light.

Between the Gates is a manual of self-initiation and liberation that takes readers through the basic methods of experiencing dream states and conscious astral projection. Through these practices, readers embark on the path to the ultimate culmination of consciousness—creation of the Body of Light.

Between the Gates is for anyone who has ever desired to experience the "afterlife" while still alive, or who has desired to rid themselves of the fear of death. While drawing upon traditional Qabalistic and alchemical sources, the methods presented are applicable to a variety of traditions and schools of thought.

Between the Gates functions as an "A to Z" guide to psychic initiation toward higher consciousness, and ultimately, to preparation for the great transition beyond this life and this physical body.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Stavish has over 25 years of experience in traditional spirituality and is an internationally respected authority on the study and practical application of alchemy, Qabala, and astrology. Stavish is the author of The Path of Alchemy. In 1998 he established the Institute for Hermetic Studies. Stavish resides in Wyoming, Pennsylvania.


John Michael Greer has been a student of the occult traditions and nature spirituality for more than twentyfive years. He is the author of numerous articles and more than ten books including Natural Magic, The New Encyclopedia of the Occult, The Druidry Handbook, and The Druid Magic Handbook. He is also the coauthor of Learning Ritual Magic and Pagan Prayer Beads. He lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife Sara.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

BETWEEN the GATES

Lucid Dreaming, Astral Projection, and the Body of Light in Western Esotericism

By Mark Stavish

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

Copyright © 2008 Mark Stavish
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-57863-396-8

Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword by John Michael Greer
Introduction
How to Use This Book
CHAPTER ONE—Mansions of the Soul
CHAPTER TWO—Maps of Eternity: The Invisible in Western Esotericism
CHAPTER THREE—Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Invisible
CHAPTER FOUR—The Magical Voice and the Body of Light
CHAPTER FIVE—Astral Projection in Qabala
CHAPTER SIX—Astral Projection in Alchemy
CHAPTER SEVEN—The Body of Light: Its Creation and Use
CHAPTER EIGHT—Assumption of the Godform
CHAPTER NINE—Preparing for Death and Beyond
CHAPTER TEN—Assisting the Dying
Appendix A—Reading List
Appendix B—Physical Resurrection and Incorruptibility
Appendix C—The Hebrew Letters and Their Esoteric Meanings
Appendix D—The Powers of the Hebrew Letters, According to Eliphas Levi
Notes

CHAPTER 1

Mansions of the Soul

The projection of consciousness has always been an integral part of Hermeticteachings. From the Merkavah (Chariot) Riders and their journeys to the starryHekelot (Palaces) of the invisible world in primitive qabala, to the teachingsof the Corpus Hermeticum—"Think of a place and you are there" of the earlyChristian era—to the practice of Traveling in Spirit Visions undertaken by theadepts of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the nineteenth and earlytwentieth centuries, it would appear that the desire to experience the invisibleworld while still living in the material is an overwhelming human desire.

While a wide variety of approaches has been formulated to assist the disciplesof these diverse schools, many of their techniques require an extensive amountof preparatory teachings, initiations, and ritual assistance. However, while theworld has changed, human beings still want to "know"—to experience forthemselves—and not just believe in the spiritual realms they were taught aboutas children—realms that have always been so slightly out of reach. Modern life,however, is much different than the life of our predecessors, even if ourinstinctual spiritual desires are the same. Time is divided into smaller andsmaller units, and people are expected to achieve ever more and more in thosemicrosections of time.

Many people say they have little time for spiritual studies, let alone todedicate to a specific discipline. Others say that many of the traditionalWestern disciplines are too abstract and difficult to understand, let aloneapply. Yet for those who have little or no knowledge of traditional tenth- totwelfth-century Merkavah doctrines, or no interest in learning the necessarysigns, symbols, and invocations for Golden Dawn-style techniques and their "spinoffs," yet who still want a Hermetic approach to their inner world, this book isthe solution. The material presented is simple, direct, and does not require anextensive amount of visualization or creative imaging.

The methods herein are especially suitable for those who would like to have an"out-of-body experience" but who lack either the necessary visualization skillsrequired for so many of the present techniques, or for those who have hadviolent experiences leaving their body and would like a gentler approach to theastral planes. The methods described in this treatise can be performed either byan experienced traveler or by a beginner with equal ease and similar results. Ifthe techniques in this book are practiced regularly there is every reason tobelieve that everyone will be able to achieve some level of conscious experienceof the invisible world. However, to accomplish this successfully andmeaningfully, it is important that we first understand why we have thisinstinctual need for spiritual experiences in the first place—what it is that weare after, and why do we want, and seemingly need, to go there.

Consciousness exists on several levels, and it is the work of the occultist (onewho practices esoteric methods) to experience all possible levels ofconsciousness, integrate them, and ultimately realize his or her oneness withthe source of Being. To assist in this task, a variety of models or paradigms,as they are often called in material and social sciences, are constructed out ofexperiences of those who have traveled the road before us. These models aresubject to a fair degree of change and even challenge as time goes on, but theyare effective and necessary tools to get us where we want to be. They are, ineffect, maps of consciousness, and like a road or topographical map, they arenot the territory itself. Maps help us understand where we are and what liesbefore, behind, and around us, but no amount of studying a map can substitutefor the experience of actually traveling the terrain. The map is a tool, not theterritory. This important fact is often lost on students of contemporary andmodern hermeticism, who come across extensive and detailed accounts of spiritualexperiences under such headings as traveling in Spirit Vision, Rising on thePlanes, astral projection, the Body of Light, pathworking, and skrying. To helpclarify the work outlined in this book, it is helpful to understand the basicqabalistic-Hermetic cosmology and physiology and the various methods used tointegrate them into a comprehensive and practical experience.

The Tree of Life and Levels of Being

The theoretical background behind the practices described herein are primarilyqabalistic, and it is applicable to either the traditional Tree of Life (GoldenDawn) or the Palaces outlined in the Sepher Zohar. In short, any systematicoutline of the interior body-world of humanity can be applied, as long as it hasconcise, easy-to-visualize symbols for the various planes of consciousness. Thisincludes the numerous cosmological images produced during the Renaissance,particularly those dealing with alchemy.

The working assumption behind contemporary and modern Hermetico-qabalisticpractices is that we as conscious beings originate in the Ain Soph Aur, orLimitless Mind of God. We incarnate through various stages of increasing densityand matter into the present world in order to gain the experiences that willallow us to go from potential beings to self-actualized or self-created beings.In our journey of development we take on characteristics and "bodies" of variousvibrations, and on our "return" we shed these bodies in exchange forincreasingly subtle bodies and worlds of Light.

These worlds are categorized in the Gnostic, qabalistic, hermetic, andalchemical texts under different names and numbers, but share the same essentialqualities and functions. That is, they go from the dense world of material earthto the subtle realms of Infinity, or the point of our origin, the Mind of theCreator.

Within our physical body we have various organs of psychic perception, calledpsycho-spiritual centers in modern Western esoteric nomenclature and chakras inSanskrit. These centers correspond to several aspect of our physiology; oneaspect is our nervous system and plexuses and another is our endocrine system ofhormone secreting glands. Other correspondences exist as well, but for ourpurposes these are the ones most commonly and efficiently used.

Astral projection is often suggested by way of the psychic center located nearthe solar plexus, a major nerve center in the human body, but for many this canbe an unnerving and unsettling experience. Other sources suggest visualizingyour soul (or spirit) rising out of your body like a mist or appearing as asecondary body "of light" next to your physical body. It is said that advancedpractitioners can project their consciousness at the time of their death throughthe upper psycho-spiritual centers, thus "dying consciously." The upper centersare those at the top and front of the head, or the crown and Third Eye centers,respectively, associated with the pineal and pituitary glands. Some even use thepsychic center at the back of the head, the medulla oblongata, or brain stem.

In the Indian texts, each chakra is associated with a particular power (siddha),which is awakened in the aspirant and allows the student to then project his orher consciousness through the different psychic centers in increasing complexityand subtlety, until finally, the crown center is reached. In alchemy, thesepowers, or charism as they are referred to in the New Testament, aredemonstrated and thereby proved through specific kinds of alchemicaltransmutations. The same is true in qabala, where, as each level ofconsciousness is experienced and integrated, various powers are awakened in thepsyche as a result. In qabalistic practices, however, the centers are rarelyused directly, but instead intense visualization of the ethereal worlds isundertaken, until these various worlds are progressively realized. Ritualscombined with more generalized energizing of the psychic body are often used,alone or in conjunction with these visualized worlds. The modern variation ofthis practice of visualization involves the use of Tarot cards and is calledpathworking, or the use of Hebrew letters. Eastern Orthodox monks have usedintense visualization, in which the solar plexus is seen as a small sun, as amethod of achieving exteriorization, and some schools use the heart center as acenter of displacement. However, the previously mentioned methods are the mostcommonly used ones to date.

Alchemists use tinctures, or medicines, to assist in the projection ofconsciousness, but these should not be confused with hallucinogenic or psychoactivedrugs. The effects of alchemical medicines generally occur when theiruser is relaxed, sleeping, or in meditation. They, in effect, assist theprojection of consciousness—that is, the expansion of awareness—rather thaninduce or cause it directly. It is possible to take an alchemical medicine anddrive a car unimpeded.

Astrology is not directly used as a means of achieving contact with spiritualdimensions; rather it is used as a means of recognizing the most optimum timefor various operations, be it creation of an alchemical product or ritual forastral projection. It is no surprise that the moon plays a significant part inmany of these experiences, and lunar cycles (along with planetary hours) are themain astrological tools that are used.

The Hermetic Path and Its Practices

Three Major Areas of Study in Western Esotericism

Alchemy: for understanding the relation of energy and consciousness to matter.This relationship is most easily understood within, but not limited to, modernschools of homeopathy, herbalism, and spagyrics.

Qabala: for understanding the relation of symbols to consciousness and matter.Today, this relation is most evident in, but not limited to, the modern schoolsof transpersonal psychology, psychosynthesis, and even medical hypnosis.Moreover, schools of practical occultism, particularly those derived from theHermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Martinism, and Rosicrucianism, utilizeqabala-based symbols in ritual formats for healing, manipulation of materialevents, and the expansion of consciousness into the spiritual realms.

Astrology: for understanding the relation of cycles to consciousness and matter.This is most easily understood in terms of, but not limited to, seasonal changesand biorhythms, as well as specialized areas of medical and horary astrology.

Combined, these three study areas form the primary disciplines of the hermeticarts and sciences. Astrology tells us who we are, qabala tells us where we aregoing, and alchemy provides us with the method of realization.

In this book the main focus is consciousness from the viewpoint of energy andsymbolism, but to make it concrete we will weave in some of the more practicalareas of alchemy and astrology that cross over with qabala. The techniquespresented can also be seen as a form of inner alchemy, wherein the process ofsolve et coagula, or separating and recombining, is utilized as the chief tool.

The school of qabala we are discussing falls under the domain of the hermeticqabala. This is because it most closely resembles the qabalistic doctrines andpractices that came out of the Renaissance, which were resurrected en forceduring the nineteenth and twentieth centuries' occult revival periods. Duringthe renaissance, hermeticism brought a sense of Classical dignity to qabalisticstudies that elevated them from being a purely Jewish subject, as well as makingthem more philosophical and less religious in appearance. In turn, qabalabrought a Biblical basis, even if a Jewish one, to hermeticism, as well aspractical methods of working that were still understood, respected, and evenfeared, in a hostile, anti- Jewish, Catholic Europe. Thus, it is important tohave an understanding of both traditional hermetic and qabalistic philosophy ifwe are to put it into practice.

Hermetic Philosophy

Hermeticism is the study of the body of Greek texts appearing in Alexandria,Egypt, between the first and third centuries A.D. and attributed to HermesTrismegistos, as well as variations of these writings, adaptations of them, andcommentaries upon them written in all periods up to and including the currentera. These commentaries include Alexandrian as well as neo-Alexandriantraditions. The traditions comprise core texts, commentaries on these texts, andspecific practices designed to integrate the ideas into the practitioner's life.It is clear from the texts that communities were formed where members heldcommunal meals, the kiss of peace was exchanged, and initiation into the sacredmysteries was performed. These traditions include a variety of Gnostic,Christian, Rosicrucian, and even Masonic writings grouped from the first centuryA.D., across the Renaissance, into and including orders and societies rising outof several modern and contemporary occult revivals.

Named after their attributed author, Hermes Trismegistos or "Hermes the ThriceGreat," these writings are collectively called the "Hermetica." This body oftexts is small and has been translated several times in recent decades. Its mainthemes are the creation of the material world and the soul's journey, ascent,and regeneration as it progresses through the celestial spheres.

It is important to note that the hermetic texts were composed in different timeperiods by different authors from different traditions. The influence ofEgyptian, Greek, Jewish, and Gnostic thought is clearly present. What makeshermeticism unique is that despite these diverse influences, it manages tosynthesize the ideas presented and create a distinct school of thought that goesbeyond each of them individually. Names and ideas of one tradition areseamlessly intermingled and interpreted according to the ideas of another.

Alexandrian hermeticism and modern hermetic practices share four key points incommon, including a synthetic philosophy that while utilizing the mythology of"fall and regeneration" avoids the pitfalls of dualism, and emphasizes concreteand common sense approaches to solving mundane as well as cosmological issues.Hermeticism encourages and embraces the notion of humanity and the divineexisting harmoniously in and through the world. It is an exceedingly optimisticphilosophy and, in this regard, very different from certain strains ofGnosticism, or even Vendantic studies, which see the world as an essential evilfor the soul's growth or as a prison house and punishment for some distant andlong forgotten transgression.

The eclectic nature of hermeticism is found in its fundamental premise that thedesire for knowledge can be satisfied by consulting a variety of sources thatfind their roots in the philosophia perennis, or perennial philosophy. It issynthetic in that these diverse ideas are not only tolerated, but unified into aseamless whole.

Nous is "mind," and Hermes is informed by Nous (his Higher Self) to meditate onthe nature of the universe being reflected in his own being, to extract thedivine powers of nature and unite them with the powers of this soul. Theuniverse is a text to be read—it is "the Book of Nature"—and through our divineintellect, we are able to unite with it and understand it.

The physical world is a good place and is essential to the unfolding of humanconsciousness. Hermeticism reaches the abstract through the concrete. Theuniverse is met in the mineral salts of an herbal (spagyric) tincture; thepsychic centers or "stars" are experienced through the influence of the planetson ones personal horoscope. Heremeticism is very specific, personal, andexperiential, and yet it is continually transcending the limits of materiallife. This natural magic gives rise to natural philosophy, and the divine isseen incarnate everywhere and in everyone.

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes

True, without error, certain and most true; That which is above is that which isbelow, and that which is below is that which is above, for performing themiracle of the One Thing; and as all things were from one, by the mediation ofthe one, so all things arose from this one by adaptation; the father of it isthe Sun, the Mother of it is the Moon; the wind carries it in its belly; thenurse thereof is the Earth.

This is the father of all perfection, of consummation of the whole world.

The power of it is integral, if it be turned into earth.

Thou shalt separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gentlywith much wisdom;

It ascends from earth to heaven, and again descends to earth; and receivedstrength of the superiors and of the inferiors—so though has the glory of thewhole world;

Therefore let all obscurity flee before thee.

This is the strong fortitude of all fortitudes, overcoming every subtle andpenetrating every solid thing.

So the world was created.

Hence were all wonderful adaptations of which this is the manner.

Therefore am I called "Thrice Great Hermes," have Three Parts of the philosophyof the whole world.

That which I have written is consummated concerning the operation of the Sun.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from BETWEEN the GATES by Mark Stavish. Copyright © 2008 Mark Stavish. Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Weiser Books
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1578633966
• ISBN 13: 9781578633968
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 243