INITIATION INTO HERMETICS: A Course of Instruction of Magic Theory and Practice

Initiation into Hermetics provides step by step instruction in the form of practical exercises. These exercises lead to the development of body, soul and spirit. The result of the practical exercises is the development of occult abilities which can be of benefit to the student, in as far as he can change his existence for the better.

The great mystery of the Tetragrammaton, the key to the tetrapolar magnet, is explained. By reading the theoretical section many secrets are unveiled which were once only known to very few. The reader will receive first-hand knowledge about the principles of fire, air, water and earth, the positive and negative attributes of these elements, and how these elements affect the human body. The immutable law of cause and effect is explained, not only as it applies to human beings, but also how it applies to the elements. Detailed information is also given about the soul or the astral body, and how the four elements determine the temperament in a person.

The astral plane is considered to be "the beyond" by most religions. This plane does have its inhabitants, most of which are departed human beings from earth. Besides that you find elementaries, beings with one or only a few attributes. It is very advantageous to learn about these beings and how they affect a human being's life. There is also another kind of being, which is a being of the pure elements. The reader will find that many myths or even fairy tales are based on truth. But mankind has lost the ability to stay in contact with reality and has chosen to live in a completely transitory world which they consider to be their reality.

The third plain, the mental plain, is also explained; it is the sphere of thought which has its origin in the world of ideas.

Each step of the practical part of this book is divided into three parts: the magical spiritual or mental schooling, soul or astral schooling, and physical schooling. This allows the student to maintain a complete equilibrium. The student learns how to control all his mental faculties even to the point that he can control every thought. He will learn self-introspection, clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, astral and mental travel, control of the electric and magnetic fluids, and communication with the beings of the astral plain.

In 1924, the spirit of a high Hermetic adept entered the body of a fourteen-year-old child named Franz Bardon, destined to become one of the most remarkable magicians of the twentieth century.

Though he maintained a normal life as an industrial mechanic and family man in the Czech town of Opava, his other, occult life was full of attainment and tragedy.

During the last years of World War II, Franz Bardon spent three and a half years in a concentration camp. After the war, he practiced as a Naturopath and Graphologist and devoted himself to the teaching of Hermeticism and the writing of his books.

His work was interrupted forever in 1958, when he was arrested during one of Czechoslovakia's notorious Communist purges. He was falsely accused of not paying taxes on alcohol used in the preparation of spagyric remedies; he was further accused of treason, for allegedly making unfavorable comments about his country in a letter to Australia. On July 10, 1958, Franz Bardon died under "unusual circumstances" in a prison hospital in Brno, Czechoslovakia.