THE GREAT WORK
And Comparative Great Works
THE GREAT WORK OF ALCHEMY Preparation is ALL IMPORTANT. If one is not sufficiently prepared, the Work will end in disaster for the spiritual Androgyne instead creating a spiritual Hermaphrodite. (PLEASE NOTE that I said "spiritual;" the practice of homosexuality unbalances the natural energies and prevents the attainment of the Great Work!) If one has not used up too much life force (grown too old), it is possible to shatter the "rotten fruit" and start the Work over again. One must become 'dead' to the world, that is, attain the state where what happens around you doesn't touch you (create energy bonds), because you don't have any concern about the outcome. This doesn't happen because you want it, but as a result of your progress. The concern with noble causes and socializing common in occult groups today will lead you away from true attainment.The Dweller on the Threshold, the living false darkness, must be overcome; doing good works is necessary to gain your release from karmic bonds before attempting the Great Work. You also have to sever all mundane energy bonds. (The Stalkers' Breath described by Carlos Castaneda is an excellent method.) Without the bonds of the consensus world, the Work progresses rapidly. Meditation and breathing exercises are necessary to carry out the actual attainment of the Work, and one should retreat from the everyday world while carrying out the operation. Depending on your preparation, the Work can take from a few months to several years.
Here is a brief outline of the Great Work: (1) The first crucible, at the base of the spine, contains the basic energy of consciousness (sexual). This energy is increased through the action of the solar plexus, and breathing exercises are then used to begin circulating it up the back and down the front to clean the psychic channels and shut off the inner dialogue. This loosens the focus of consciousness, allowing it to move. (2) The second crucible, at the solar plexus, contains a higher energy of consciousness (will). The sexual energy is raised to this crucible, where it becomes vital energy (lead). Here, the energy is circulated between the fire center (heart) and the water center (solar plexus) until it is purified. The backward circulation of the light melts out the dark soul (personality), purifying the soul. (3)The third crucible, at the top of the head, contains the highest form of consciousness (spiritual knowledge). Again, through breathing and meditation on circulating the inner Light, the energy is raised to the head, where it becomes spiritual force (mercury). Then the vitality is circulated until the Spirit manifests. (4)This is sent to the solar plexus (the Dragon Castle at the bottom of the sea) to be fixed and stabilized, causing the formation of the immortal embryo (mercury, stabilized spirit, is enveloped by lead, vital energy) - this is the conjunction of the Sun and the Moon. (5)Soma, the divine food, is produced in the Bindu center (back of the head) to nourish the embryo by immortal breathing (with each incoming breath, energy also enters; this energy is directed throughout the body). Through the generation of internal heat, the embryo undergoes the rotation of the elements. (6)With the quickening of the immortal embryo, the Elixir (the Quintessence, the 5th element) will begin to flow. Raise the Dragonfire up through the five psychic centers between the root and the crown (the five Dragons upholding the Holy One) and circulate it periodically, until you feel the energy rise on its own. This is the birth of the spiritual embryo as a spirit body for the Spirit. When this occurs, you will feel like you are walking on clouds. This completion of the Great Work is unmistakable when it occurs, and you will feel positively giddy for at least a few days. Then undertake the multiplication of the Elixir through the five-fold shadow genius, while training the spirit body to become independent.GELDITU GABE NABIL --(I walk without ceasing.)
Many details are left out of this general outline, and this is only the Lesser Transformation. The Greater Transformation is required for entering Eternity before the death of the physical body. This union of individual consciousness with Universal Spirit results in the Opening of the Eye of the Dragon, which destroys the illusion of Maya and brings continuous consciousness.
"There are none who can return from there, To describe their dissolution, That they may still our desires, Until we reach the place where they have gone."
-- The Song of the Harper
THE GREAT WORK--CHINESE There is a true secret about starting practice. The operation is different for men and women; men begin practice with the attention in the lower abdomen, just below the navel. Women start work with the attention between the breasts. After midnight and before noon, settle the breathing and sit. Tune the breath so that it is even. Sit with unified attention on the object of meditation. With pure attention in the center, a unified energy flows, thus pressing tightly on the midspine, and going on through the brain. At this time the positive energy goes all the way to heaven in the form of a fiercely blazing fire, like a flaming wind. Then the Spirit must be allowed to dive down into the abdomen (solar plexus). The energy then unites with Spirit, and Spirit unites with the energy.
The work of the circulation of the Light depends entirely on the backward flowing movement, so that the thoughts are gathered together in the place of the heavenly heart. If you can be absolutely quiet then the heavenly heart will spontaneously manifest itself (between the eyes). The Light is easy to move, but difficult to fix. If it is made to circulate long enough, then it crystallizes itself; this natural Spirit-body is formed beyond the nine heavens. If you work diligently, when that one point of energy returns of itself and sinks into the body, it turns into year-round spring. This is the method of starting the Work.
In time, the primal Spirit transforms itself in the dwelling of life into the true energy. At that time, the method of turning the millwheel must be applied, in order to distill it so that it becomes the Elixir of Life. The Elixir is created through melting and mixing; that is, through moving the Light to dissolve the anima, and fixing the Light to complete the animus. This is the method of the concentrated Work.
When the Life Elixir Pearl is finished, the embryo (Light-Spirit) can be formed; then the Work must be directed to the warming and nourishing of the spiritual embryo. This is the method of finishing the Work.
When the energy-body of the child is fully formed, the Work must be so directed that the embryo is born and returns to emptiness. You must perceive that there is a form within nothingness, you must see the original human being in person. This is the method of ending the Work.
To refine oneself thoroughly and have autonomy, one must take the positive energy of heaven and earth day after day, and concentrate to clear the mind, before the effects of the practice will be experienced. It may take several months; the length of time depends only on the depth of one's Work. Once the elixir is crystallized, the vitality, energy, and spirit in the body become completely stabilized. It is possible to extend life in this way, but this is not yet immortality.
Every morning before sunrise still your mind and sit quietly, waiting for the sun in a state of empty openness. All at once you will forget about the universe and break through space. Then a point of positive energy, like a drop of dew, like lightning, will spontaneously appear in the great void and enter your belly, passing into the spine and rising up to the center of the brain; there it will turn into sweet rain and shower the inner organs. Then you should cause this energy to circulate throughout your body, cleaning it out and burning away pollution, to change your body into a mass of pure light. After a long period of development, your body will transform and become immortal.
If you practice refinement according to the right method for one hundred days then your earthly soul will lose its form, the parasites that sap your vitality, energy and Spirit will disappear without a trace, the senses will submerge into hibernation, and demons will flee. If you carry out this refinement for a thousand days, your whole body will become like a crystal tower, clear inside and out; the flower of your mind will be radiant, and a spiritual Light will become manifest. Whether to remain in existence or pass away is up to you; you may leave or enter without obstruction. Some remain physically in the world, some shed their bodies and ascend to Immortality.
THE GREAT WORK--INDIAN Preparation: practice alternate breathing ten minutes. Sit in the Dragon Asana, and press the arms under the armpits (left to right). After some ten minutes, both nostrils should be free. Sushumna begins to course, creating a symmetry between Ida and Pingala, and bringing all systems into balance. Drink a cupful of tea for meditation: Mix equal amounts of valerian root and blood root. Put a teaspoon in a cup and add boiling water. Let it steep for about five minutes, then strain it. Add a teaspoon of honey and drink before meditating on the psychic centers. (The valerian has a sedative effect, calming the physical body and easing one into a light trance; the blood root is a toxin which stimulates the Kundalini energy of the root center into increased activity.)
1)Sit upright and relax. Concentrate on your spine. Inhale and feel the breath fill the spine from bottom (Root) to top (near Brow). When you reach the top of the spine, ejaculate the syllable 'OM' (short o, long m); together with the 'm', consciousness is gliding down the spine. If you reach the bottom before the breath (or the sound 'm') you must feel how the consciousness piles up there like a flow of honey, spiraling up and forming a small mound. Should you arrive later, then wait with the inhalation until you have forced your consciousness down. Then inhale again and begin to rise. The whole process is repeated thirteen times.
2)Fold your tongue and press its underside against the palate. A. Inhale from the Solar Plexus to the Throat and exhale from the Throat to the Root. If this process comes to you easily, replace it by: B. Inhale and exhale between the Root and the Brow. Repeat this forty-nine times.
3)Same as #2, but listen to the breath: inhale sounds like 'SO' and exhale like 'HAM". Do not pronounce these mentally, but listen to their sound. Repeat fifty-nine times.
4)Same as #3, but use 'SO' with inhalation and 'HAM' with exhalation. Begin with exhalation and 'HAM'; this changes the cycle from 'SO-HAM' to 'HAM-SO'. Repeat fifty-nine times.
5)Up to here, it is permitted to change your position, but from now onwards, you must remain motionless. Do not concentrate on your breath, but listen only to the 'SO-HAM'. From now onwards, awareness of 'SO-HAM, HAM-SO' is following a constant circulation in the spine. Beginning in the Root with 'SO', let this rise up to your head (Crown) through each of the seven chakras (root, spleen, solar plexus, heart, throat, brow, crown) and continue with 'SO' for a short stretch although you start exhaling when 'SO' has reached the Crown. Change over to 'HAM' without interruption and continue again for a short stretch while you have started the inhalation, then change without interruption to 'SO'. The trick consists in bridging the two gaps between inhalation and exhalation. The result is a continuous circulation which, if you succeed without pause, leads directly into withdrawal of the senses from external objects. The whole movement takes place in the spine, with 'So' behind and 'HAM' in front of it.
6)After withdrawal of the senses, concentrate on the brain, visualizing it as a cubicle room; grope along this with your awareness: at the back of the head is an opening in the floor leading to Sushumna.
7)Concentrate on your Ishta Devata or your chosen symbol in the Brow.
Each person will find that he can enter the inner labyrinth (after having removed the first barriers) by using one method which corresponds with his own structure and which enables him to reach the final goal. To those who have reached it, all methods are equal. To go deep, you must reject each phenomena, each illumination, each ecstasy, going ever downward, until you reach the last avatars of the symbols that are archetypes. In this sacrifice to the abysmal gods is the apotheosis that transmutes them to the beauty and power that is your eternity, and redemption.
THE GREAT WORK--EGYPTIAN From the Tablet of Thoth 1. In Truth, certainly and without doubt, the highest comes from the lowest, and the lowest from the highest, to accomplish the miracle of the one thing.
2. Just as all things proceed from the One alone by radiation of the One alone, so is their perfection born from this one thing by combination.
3. Its father is the Sun (Spirit) and its mother is the Moon (Soul). The wind (quicksilver) has borne it in its body. Its nurse is the earth (body).
4. It is the father of every miraculous Work in the whole world.
5. Its power is perfect if it is converted into earth.
6. Separate the earth from the fire, and the subtle from the gross, softly and with great prudence.
7. Ascend with the greatest sagacity from the earth to heaven, and then again descend from heaven to earth, and unite together the powers of things superior and things inferior. Thus, you will obtain the glory of the whole world, and all darkness will leave you.
8. This is the power of all powers, for it conquers everything subtle and penetrates every solid. The body becomes Spirit, and the Spirit becomes embodied.
9. Thus the little world is created according to the prototype of the great world.
10. Hence proceed wonders which are here established.
11. Therefore I am called Thoth, the Thrice Greatest, having three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
12. This is the Way traversed by Sages. Perfect is what I have said on the Work of the Inner Sun."Destroyed is my badness; annihilated is my evil. Put away is the sin which was my own. I wander on the Path that I know, in the direction of the island of justification. I arrive in the land of the heavenly horizon; I pass through the Holy Portal. O Gods who come to meet me! Stretch out your hands toward me! I have become a God, one among you. I have restored the eye of the Sun, after it had been injured on the day of the battle of the two adversaries." --- Book of the Dead
THE GREAT WORK--SUMERIAN 1.Begin in the Sphere of Earth, traveling in your magickal personality. The object of your quest is a giant oval mirror. The mirror shines with an inner light and lightning-like energies of many colors play across its curved surface. Deeply engraved overhead is a single word: OBIJINCIA (Eternity). Only the finer bodies can pass through the mirror gateway, and then only when the gate has been properly opened. As you stand before the mirror, gesture and chant your 'tongue', as the swirling colors are transformed into an infinite series of geometric patterns forming a pathway spiraling deeper into the mirror. The Gate lies open before you and you step into the mirror, and are carried forward by the force of your Will, finally emerging through a tunnel of light and red mist, in the Sphere of the Moon.
2.Moon - You enter the City of Bridges at twilight under the crescent Moon of Isis, walking over a bridge which crosses over the entire city. You follow the notes of a Lyre, seeking through the flux of tides and seasons passage to your next Sphere.
3.Venus - Now you enter into the Hall of Dreams, where your every thought and feeling (the dreams of consciousness) is given instant form in the swirling colored forces about you by Volta, she who turns within the mirror of the Soul, and rules the realm of dreams. Here you see the pattern of your purpose (regeneration) given archetypical form.
4.Mars - Next you enter the Hall of Death through the Underworld. Passing the Guardian by winning the ritual combat, you pass through the Dread Door of Volt, he who turns the way between the worlds. By the Sword of your Will, you subdue the powers of the Dark Lord to aid you on our quest for regeneration.
5.Sun - Rising from the Underworld, you pass into the bright Sphere of the Sun. Here you pass through the Lake of Fire, which burns from you all negative thoughts and feelings. Emerging from the Lake of Fire, you enter a park surrounded by four walls which keep out the unworthy. You pass easily through the western wall and pass by an elderly couple (your Holy Guardian Angel) to enter the tower of the Vault of the Adepts. Here by the light of the Lantern of Idris, the Phoenix god of Fire, you see the path necessary to follow to gain your purpose.
6.Jupiter - Next you come to the Hall of Records, a silver-blue Unicorn graven above the door. Here all things which occur in the manifested realities are recorded, and the Circle of Science rules the mastery of realities. Here you seek the common ideals which bind your purpose.
7.Saturn - Then you pass into the Hall of Karma, filled with Spheres of Sorcery, desire-energies cast upon the skein of times and spaces. Here you come into the presence of the Dragon and cast into its pile of gems the gem of power and knowledge which you are willing to sacrifice to gain your regeneration. With your sacrifice, you have overcome the desire nature which binds you to the realities you have created/accepted, and you find yourself cast into the Abyss. Your ego rebels at the nothingness, but you push on in search of your purpose, and suddenly you are destroyed as a narrow, separate individual and recreated as you become all things and enter into the three forms of Light of pure being.
8.Pluto - First, the original Sphere of pure being, where at the center of a star of clear Light you find the Androgyne, half man and half woman, with burning eyes. Here the ultimate archetype for man's full evolution fills you with extra life-force to charge your purpose with life.
9.Uranus - Second, the Garden of Pan beneath the Circle of the first stars created, the seeds of Infinity. Here you plant the seed of your energized purpose in Pan's Garden, where all manner of seeds sprout and grow into new realities, mesmerized into a single harmonious pattern by the Pipes of Panamus.
10.Neptune - Third, the City of Pyramids, the final city/reality to be built at the end of Time. Here we dwell in the darkness of Eternity, Gods and Goddesses in the fullness of our plant-realities. Here you complete the circuit of the beginning and ending of existence of the new reality of your purpose, and you are cast forth again into the Abyss.
11.Regenerated Mercury - You pause in the void between time and space, and the pattern of your regeneration forms into a triangle of manifestation, which replicates itself endlessly and flows out to make up the new reality you seek. The pathwork is now complete, as you return to your physical body, knowing that the new reality you sought shall come to pass.
THE GREAT WORK--AMERINDIAN The ability to perceive everything at once is called intensity. Our everyday consciousness does not normally recall this perception because we are unable to synthesize its parts into a sequence that will make sense to the intellect; therefore, we cannot remember. The task of remembering, then, is properly the task of joining and reconciling these two distinct forms of perception into a unified whole. It is the task of consolidating the totality of oneself by rearranging intensity into a linear sequence. In the universe there is an immeasurable, indescribable force which Wise Men call intent, and absolutely everything that exists is attached to intent by a connecting link. Awareness is divided into three types of perception, or attention. The first attention is 'hooked' to the everyday world we know, the realm of sensory experience. The second attention is hooked to the spiritual realm. The third attention is hooked to Eternity itself, to the Intent of the Spirit. Only by learning to store extra personal energy, withdrawing our consciousness from the senses, and overcoming our desire for sensory experience as well as overcoming the accumulation of memories (stored energy) of this world, can we break the barrier of perception and pass the Guardian of the Gate to enter into the realm of the spirit, which is the realm of the luminous body and is the origin of all Spirits, spiritual power and knowledge. The material and spiritual were separated in Ancient Times, and this split is known in human terms as the war in heaven. The split between the material and spiritual, exists within each of us, and only by learning to bring the two back together can we regain the totality of ourselves and enter Eternity. Intent is the guiding of the Will of Spirit, the energy of the alignment of consciousness. The attainment of this third attention allows one to enter Eternity.
First, before another world can be 'assembled', one must lose the human form; this is an initial shift of the focus of consciousness away from man's place, which becomes permanent and brings more shifts. Also, the mold of man, the original human being, must be 'seen'. Curtail self-reflection; cease the inner dialogue by willing it to stop. Once inner silence is reached, a repetitive sound will help the point to move. Internal dialogue keeps the point fixed; once silence is attained, everything is possible. Intent begins with a command given to oneself; the command is then repeated until it becomes the Eagle's command, and then the focus of consciousness shifts, accordingly, the moment the Adept reaches inner silence.
The eyes summon Intent with their shine. Intent is experienced with the eyes, not the reason. Only Adepts can turn their feelings into Intent. The glance is the secret; the eyes beckon intent by focusing on the second attention; place one's attention on the luminous shell. The feeling of Intent comes to the eyes from the solar plexus and makes the head shake almost imperceptibly. Being in two places at once (reaching the third point) moves the focus of consciousness; the third point is Intent (silent knowledge), and is reached by passing through the second point (no pity). Intent is the Spirit, so it is the Spirit which moves the point. Use the boost from the earth at twilight. Intent maintains, through sobriety, the alignment of whatever emanations have been lit up by the movement of the focus of consciousness. The Wise Man's final aim is to learn to focus the Will on the Wheel of Time to make it turn; turning the Wheel of Time lets you gaze into whatever furrow of time you wish and draw from it whatever you desire. The final test is accomplished by experiencing the trauma of 'losing' contact with our everyday world and 'creating' another world under the onslaught of necessity without outside help, before one 'hits the bottom of the Abyss.' At the moment of Crossing, one enters into the third attention and the body in its entirety is kindled with knowledge. Every cell at once becomes aware of the totality of the body. The place of the Dome is where Adepts who leave this world end up.
QUANTUM ALCHEMY Quantum physicists have brought science to the brink of mysticism concerning the mind and the realities it inhabits. Physicist Niels Bohr discovered that an atom is a tuned (resonating) system consisting of a nucleus surrounded by standing waves of one or more electrons. These electrons move through the seven shells surrounding the nucleus by absorbing or emitting energy in the form of light; jumping beyond the seventh shell causes ionization of the atom. As these electrons jump in discrete intervals, the shell to which they fall determines the nature of the emitted radiation.
Quantum physicists now know that sub-atomic particles can exist in more than one place at the same time, change into other particles at any time, pass through solid objects without appearing to do so (tunneling), and that particles once connected remain connected even though separated by vast distances. They also know that what we call particles are in fact only bundles of energy, which is all that exists in the universe.
Quantum physicists also know that multiple universes exist in the same space at the same time. Schrodinger's quantum wave function equation predicts the behavior of a given particle up to a point, and then describes two equally probable outcomes for the same particle. VonNeuman's infinite regression work showed that the wave function can sometimes predict an infinite number of probabilities, which Feynman called a sum over histories. Einstein reluctantly countered critics who said only one outcome could result from many probable ones, stating that the math showed conclusively that all outcomes must exist simultaneously. This multitude of outcomes results from a further unknown variable, consciousness itself.
Probability connections between perceptions of consciousness change that which is perceived or experienced. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle shows that we cannot observe without changing that which we observe. Whatever we become aware of, we change by becoming aware. Subjective and objective reality create each other; they are self-excited systems and are brought into being by self-reference -- the participator creates the universe. When more than one outcome of Schrodinger's equation occurs, some triggering mechanism in consciousness must decide which outcome to experience. The determining factor for an individual quantum jump is associated with the volition of the participator.In the brain, microtubules a ten-millionth of an inch thick run throughout nerve cells to form meshlike networks. In the microtubules, vibrations propagate unchanged throughout the length of the hollow water-filled interior. Nearby microtubules vibrate in sympathy. A pulse traveling through the tube is isolated from surrounding "noise" and is thus in a quantum state, free to choose any pattern of thought. Microtubules are built of tubulin proteins, each of which has a slot in which an electron can move to and fro. The electron's position determines the microtubule's configuration and function.
An electron tends to exist in a multitude of states all at once; it is simultaneously here and there, spinning one way and the other. At the moment the electron interacts with another force, such as a quantum of light, the disturbance causes the electron to choose a single state. The brain processes information through the pattern of electrical impulses that the brain's neurons, swap with one another. These signals start off in a quantum mishmash of states that allows the simultaneous existence of countless billions of different patterns; out of this quantum mix, one pattern emerges that becomes a conscious thought.
When the brain is deprived of external stimuli, it produces internal realities in cognitional multidimensional projection spaces. Since we have only about 100 million sensory receptors, but 10 trillion synapses in the nervous system, consciousness is about 100,000 times more receptive or sensitive to changes in its internal environments. Not only are the universes inside our heads equal to the physical universe in terms of the neurophysiological processes involved, but the internal environments may be just as real in their effects on consciousness.
The original "particles" of consciousness, called proto-particles, are highly energetic and avoid taking on the particular properties of consciousness. At lower energies, however, the proto-particle suddenly acquires fixed properties of one of the ordinary particles and takes on the qualities of the four elements; this is a rupture of the original state of 'universal' consciousness. Turning ordinary particles back into proto-particles creates the possibility of regeneration.
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