1. Visualize yourself standing in the Temple, facing West.

2. Formulate the Black Pillar of Severity on your right side and the White Pillar
of Mercy on your left side.

3. Imagine now that the Black Pillar is reflected in your left side and the White
Pillar in your right side.

4. Visualize a Flaming Sphere of brilliant White Light emanating seven inches from
above your head. Inhale deeply and vibrate the Holy Name PTAH.

5. Bring down the Light from above and visualize a Flaming Sphere of brilliant
White Light at the nape of your neck. Inhale deeply and vibrate the Holy Name
TAHUTI.

6. Bring down the Light and visualize a Flaming Sphere of brilliant White Light at
your heart center. Inhale deeply and vibrate the Holy Name RA.

7. Bring down the Light and visualize a Flaming Sphere of brilliant White Light at
your genital region. Inhale deeply and vibrate the Holy Name ANPU.

8. Bring down the Light and visualize a Flaming Sphere of brilliant White Light at
your feet. Inhale deeply and vibrate the Holy Name SEB.

9. Circulate the Light by formulating in your Aura the Talismatic Atom.

10. Equilibrate the Light by formulating the Thelemic Cross, thus:

a. Touch the forehead, and say HOOR-PAAR-KRAAT.

b. Touch the breast, and say HERU-RA-HA.

c. Touch the genitals, and say RA-HOOR-KHUIT.

d. Touch the right shoulder, and say TA-NECH.

e. Touch the left shoulder, and say BES-NA-MAUT.

f. Place the two palms of the hands together upon the breast, and say ANKH-AF-NA-
KHONSU, visualizing a five-petaled Rose blossoming from the Center of the Cross.

The student should perform the Middle Pillar Exercise slowly and with great care
and attention. It is a most effective magical method for awakening the higher
currents within, and must be used with great patience and earnest aspiration. This
cathartic exercise purifies and nourishes the Aura or Sphere of Sensation with the
Divine Light from above. Thus it is a highly potent and serious method of the Great
Work. Let the student begin visualizing each Sphere five minutes separately,
vibrating each Name as many times as he/she feels inclined, however five times per
Sphere seems an appropriate limit. The Ritual should take no more than 30 minutes
to perform. To become identified with the Divine Energy of each of the five
Spheres, periodically visualize yourself as a little person existing and moving
inside each Sphere. Try to maintain this visualization within each Sphere for a
period of five minutes. It is also a good practice in this respect to periodically
visualize in the Spheres the letters that make up the God Names of each Sphere. In
this way you enhance the meaning and power of each Sphere in your archetypal model
of the Middle Pillar.

The White Sphere above the Head is the place of Kether on the Tree of Life. The
Indigo Sphere at the Throat is the place of Daath on the Tree of Life. The Yellow
Sphere at the Heart is the place of Tiphareth on the Tree of Life. The Violet
Sphere at the Genital is the place of Yesod on the Tree of Life. The Green Sphere
at the feet is the place of Malkuth on the Tree of Life. These five Spheres
naturally correspond with the four Aristotelian Elements (Fire, Water, Air and
Earth) and the Quintessence or Spirit (the so-called fifth Element). Thus they also
correspond with the five Tattvas or Elements of Eastern Philosophy. Kether is
Spirit/Akasha, Daath is Air/Vayu, Tiphareth is Fire/Tejas, Yesod is Water/Apas, and
Malkuth is Earth/Prithivi. The student may find it a valuable practice to visualize
in the five Spheres of the Middle Pillar their corresponding Elemental Tattvic
symbols. These Tattvic symbols are an Indigo Ovoid for Spirit/Akasha, a Blue Circle
for Air/Vayu, an upright Red Triangle for Fire/Tejas, a Silver Crescent for
Water/Apas, and a Yellow Square for Earth/Prithivi.

The Middle Pillar Exercise may be performed while standing, sitting, or even lying
down. There is no strict rule concerning this matter; it must be left to the
experience of the Magician to determine what position shall suit him/her best in
this practice. However, it is the more common method among members of the Order to
stand erect while performing the Middle Pillar Exercise. In this way we maintain an
active conscious role in the practice, less inclined to enter into a passive state
of trance or sleep. The Middle Pillar Exercise is capable of inducing a certain
species of trance if it is performed for a long period of time in a relaxed or
passive state. There is nothing wrong in this, but the object of the Middle Pillar
Exercise is to actively manifest the Light in the consciousness of the Magician, to
dynamically expand his/her awareness of that Light. It is therefore suitable to
stand.

Concerning the formulation of the Talismatic Atom. See the Light ascend vertically
in front of you from your feet to the Sphere of White Light above your head, and
then feel it descend vertically down your back to the feet again. See it forming
itself into a Circle of Light moving rapidly around you. Then visualize another
Circle of Light forming itself and moving rapidly around your waist area. The idea
here is to build up the Talismatic Image of an Atom with four Circles of Light, so
that you will now need to form two more Circles of Light moving rapidly around you.
Visualize one circle forming itself, moving up from your left foot to your right
shoulder and back to your left foot from behind you, and then visualize another
circle forming itself, moving from your right foot to your left shoulder from
behind you and back to your right foot in front of you. Visualize all four Circles
moving rapidly at the same time.

The Atom is one of the most significant of all symbols for the modern Magician to
understand and apply. The symbol of the Atom, like the Atom itself, is a source of
vast potential energy and its value in the world of modern Magick is simply
inestimable. The symbol of the Atom does not only represent one of the minute
indivisible particles of which, according to ancient materialism, the Universe is
composed, but is a symbol of the Whole Universe itself. Its formulation in the Aura
of the Magician helps to circulate the Light invoked through the Middle Pillar and
awaken his/her consciousness to a more universal mode of awareness or a higher
circuit of cosmic potential. This practice of the formulation of the Talismatic
Atom also helps to fortify the Magicians power to concentrate. In this Talismatic
Image we must concentrate on four distinct yet parallel parts to make up the whole
of the single image of the Celestial Atom. In this simple practice is contained
much wisdom for those who have eyes to see.

Concerning the formulation of the Qabalistic or new Golden Dawn Cross. This helps
to equilibrate the Light in the Aura or Sphere of Sensation. The Cross in itself is
an invocation of the Divine Light of Kether and an equilibration of that Light in
the four elemental quarters. By ending the Middle Pillar Exercise with the Cross
you are sealing the ritual with the Light of Kether. You also formulate in your
Aura the Cross of Light and seal your Aura with that Light. It is a suitable idea
at this final point of the exercise to increase the size of the Cross, so that its
vertical and horizontal bars extend into infinity. It is this that is the
fulfillment of the Golden Dawn proclamation, Khabs Am Pekht. Konx Om Pax. Light in
Extension. After the formulation of the Talismatic Image of the Cross in the Aura,
the Magician may find it a suitable practice to compose him/her self in the Sign of
Silence, assuming the God-form of Harpocrates in the Egg of Blue.

It will benefit the Magician to periodically extend the technique of the Middle
Pillar to include the other Sephiroth on the Tree of Life, visualizing them in
their appropriate colors and vibrating the God Names appropriate thereto. The
following is a list of the ten Sephiroth and their corresponding God Names:

SEPHIRA GOD NAME

Kether Eheieh

Chokmah Yod-Heh (or Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh)

Binah Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh Elohim

Daath Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh Elohim

Chesed Al

Geburah Elohim Gibor

Tiphareth Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh Eloa va-Daath (IAO)

Netzach Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh Tzabaoth

Hod Elohim Tzabaoth

Yesod Shaddai El-Chai

Malkuth Adonai ha-Aretz

The Ritual of the Tree of Life, issued to members of the Thelemic Order of the
Golden Dawn, will greatly benefit the student in such a manner to enhance the
formulation and unfolding process of the ten Sephiroth in his/her Aura, and this in
a visual and poetic manner. By formulating all of the ten Sephiroth in your Aura,
you are creating a living dynamic archetypal model of the Universe in your Aura
which will tend to gradually extend and modify your limited models or reality-
tunnels of perception, cultivating in your consciousness new forms of perception
and levels of awareness which are not accessible to the ordinary mind with its
disorganized and chaotic tendencies and functions.

The Tree of Life, when living and moving in ones Aura, helps to modify
inharmonious mental patterns or unsound neurological prototypes. It functions in
the Aura as a new model or reality-tunnel of a multidimensional kind by which the
mind is able to operate in a more organized, creative and synergetic manner. It
helps to modify and unify the Magicians various psycho-neurological patterns into
an all-embracing and multidimensional prototypical system.

The Aura is the Subconscious Mind, which is the invisible aspect of the body; it is
the Soul of the body, operating as the Animus in the female and the Anima in the
male. To imprint and seal the Aura with the Talismatic Image of the Tree of Life is
to program the Subconscious Mind in a certain sense. This programmatic process is
of an infinite sort, continuing to operate in the Aura throughout ones term upon
the earth, and possibly thereafter. For once the Tree of Life is firmly fixed and
formulated aright in the Aura of the Magician, its subtle impact of archetypal
quality will tend to completely modify the various parts of his/her nature which
can only serve to affect or influence his/her whole life. This may extend to
produce an actual metamorphosis in the mind or neurological system of the Magician,
causing a veritable quantum jump or abrupt transition of his/her psycho-
neurological systems from a lower mode or stage of existential expression to that
of a higher or more divine mode or stage of existential potential.

PART III
CONCERNING
THE MIDDLE PILLAR
EXERCISE

The Middle Pillar Exercise serves as an excellent prelude to any type of spiritual
working, for it aligns the human personality with the Divine Self of Kether. All
true spiritual work is done under the guidance of Kether. By performing the Middle
Pillar Exercise you literally manifest the Light of your own Divine Self,
concentrating it into being from your own limitless nature, as a sign thereof, and
you gradually bring that Light into the sphere of your own human consciousness
which is then transformed into a higher form of potential consciousness of your own
True Nature.

The Middle Pillar is the Great Key to the Royal Path of Initiation. Thus the Middle
Pillar Exercise can be used as an actual method for initiating oneself into the
Mysteries of the Light. Initiation is a conscious realization of the Light. It is
the beginning of the process of the gradual development of self-awareness and of
self-actualization. The initiate is one who has come to a conscious realization of
the Light of his/her own True Self, whose consciousness is one with his Inmost
Self, with the Star of his/her own celestial nature.

The Light is a metaphor for pure Consciousness, or the unstained awareness of ones
True Nature, which is the Eternal Matrix of ones being. It is Awareness of ones
Universal Self, that great part of us all which is one with every other thing in
the Infinite Universe, that majestic part of our own beings which we so often term
the Holy Guardian Angel. It is what the foolish folk call God, and we call the
Ideal Identity of our inmost nature. It is the Quinta Essentia or QUINTESSENCE of
our being. It is the Light of the Star that we are in truth, and the Burning
Radiance of our Eternal Self coursing through the great Heavens of Nuit. It is the
Great Mystery of all Prophets and Sages, and the Goal of all Philosophers. It is
That to which all men and women attain at their appointed time of death.

The Light within us all is the true essence of our being. However, let us not think
of this essence in an Aristotelian static sense, in the form of an essence or self
that never changes and is eternally one. Let us rather conceive of it as a dynamic
Multidimensional Self which is not a self at all. Buddha, Nietzsche, and Rajneesh,
being the great thinkers they were, insisted that there is no essential self or
static ego in man. We have a variety of different potential selves rather than one
unchanging Self.

That which we so commonly call our True Self in the Philosophy of Magick is not in
essence a single self. It is only one insofar that is many. It is not a monistic
or monotheistic reality of any commonly accepted sort; it is rather a polytheistic
or multiple reality. (Illustration: If you analyze a computer, part by part, it is
no more a computer. It is only a computer when its various parts are properly
connected and functioning as a whole.) We cannot assume any existential meaning
when we analyze ourselves part by part. In the final analysis we can only assume
that we are the product of the various parts that constitute our manifold existence
and that our true individuality arises by being everything that we must be
according to the direction of the various models of expression or reality-tunnels
of our Multidimensional Self, fulfilling all of our possibilities.

Remember always that existence precedes essence. The essence of the self is the
fruit of the existential or phenomenological expression of the Multidimensional
Self, which is really not a self at all. We are only one in essence when we are
expressing all of our potential selves in a multidimensional manner. A true
Initiate of Thelema is one who expresses him/her self in a multidimensional manner,
fulfilling all of his/her possibilities of expression. He/she is not only a Man of
Earth, Lover, or Hermit in the language of initiates, but is all three
simultaneously, and this in a multiple manner, constantly undergoing modifications
or changes in his/her forms of expression for the fulfillment of his/her True Will.
It is infinite variety, which is not only the spice of life, but also the key to
evolution.

The Hermit, who represents the Qabalistic Yechidah or One Self in the symbolism of
the Tarot, is only such by way of his being the Many. One in itself means nothing.
Life demands multiplicity of expression. Only thus can true integration be
achieved. Union or Oneness is a meaningless reality without division and
multiplicity of expression. It has been said that All is a mask of the One. It is
more appropriate in this place to say that THE ONE IS A MASK OF THE ALL. We need to
banish that old demon of monistic thinking and stop interpreting god, self or
reality as one, replacing this ancient linear and self-centered belief with a New
Vision of seeing things in a multidimensional manner. This we must do if we are to
genuinely realize The One in the midst of The All, to attain the sublime Starry
Consciousness of Yechidah, and to truly live as a Hermit of Kether in the Center of
it all. THE ONE IS THE MANY. A flower is a reality of Nature due to the existence
of its various petals. Take away its petals and it is no more a flower. Each of us
is a flower of the earth, a unique and beautiful phenomenon of Nature made such
through our multiple parts or models of expression, which are the various petals of
our being, the diverse aspects of our life that define our existential reality on
earth and that make us a whole person or an integrated individual or, more
accurately, yet more paradoxically, a Multiple Unit or Multidimensional Monad.

This Multidimensional Monad, which we have called L.V.X., can only be realized in a
balanced or harmonious way. For it is the perfect balance of all things and the
synthesis of all that we are and ever will be. It is a Union of multiple
synergistic Forces, which are symbolized by the ten Sephiroth of the Diagrammatic
Tree of Life. These multiple synergistic Forces of the Sephiroth can be reduced or
classified for the sake of convenience in the symbolism of the five Spheres of the
Middle Pillar alone. In other words, we can classify the forces of Chokmah and
Binah in Kether or Daath, Chesed and Geburah in Tiphareth, and Netzach and Hod in
Yesod. These Sephiroth of the two Pillars of Mercy and Severity are, in a sense,
manifestations or modifications of the Sephiroth of the Middle Pillar. All things
pertaining to the Tree of Life can be reduced to the Sephiroth of the Middle Pillar
alone, it being a phallic representation of that which is the source and the end of
all.

The Middle Pillar Exercise creates neurological changes in the student. That is, it
acts upon the Nervous System of the student in such a manner to effect vital
changes within him/her. It is a magical method for inducing brain changes at Will,
and it can assist one to make direct contact with the Metaprogrammer in the Nervous
System. The Middle Pillar, once truly mastered by the aspirant, brings about a
literal metamorphosis in his/her consciousness and a complete change of perception.
This new awareness is the realization of oneself as the Programmer of ones
programming; it is the comprehension of oneself as the Lord in control of the Robot
of Life. By performing the Middle Pillar Exercise in the appropriate magical
manner, one can gradually reach such a high state of consciousness that one can
literally work the process of re-programming ones robot self. In other words, in
the state of consciousness symbolized by the Light of Kether, reflected by the
Middle Pillar, one can work upon oneself in such form to recreate oneself in
accordance with ones True Will.

The Middle Pillar Exercise naturally attunes the physical consciousness of man to
the Celestial Consciousness of his soul. Kether, the first Sephira on the Tree of
Life, represents this higher form of consciousness. Esoterically this Sephira is a
symbol of the Arcane Energy of Sothis or Sirius, the Hidden Sun. It is through
Kether that man is linked with the Higher Intelligences of Sirius. These Higher
Forms of Intelligence are celestial beings who have mastered the Planetary
Initiations and who are immortalized in The Eternal Light. These Higher Forms may
incarnate in physical form at Will, or they may remain in the Invisible to secretly
direct human affairs. They work through the Nervous System of an individual and
they may be contacted by an individual through the proper manipulation of their own
Nervous System. It is these Higher Forms of Energy that we so often call the Secret
Chiefs or the Invisible Illuminati of the World.

These Higher Intelligences represent ourselves made manifest in the future, as

fully developed beings of light and intelligence, as an Advanced Race of Humanoids.
They are symbols of our perfected selves as encoded in our DNA and imprinted at the
dawn of time. They are Archetypal Images of our own Celestial Natures made perfect.
Their special magical symbol is the Eye in the Triangle, which is the Sacred Eye of
Freemasonry and the Eye of Horus in Egyptian Magick. It is the Hidden Eye, and as
such represents the Silent Watchers of humanity who secretly direct the affairs of
mankind. These are the Illuminati, which is simply another name for the Inner
Circle of Great Masters who constitute the Third Order of the Silver Star. The
Illuminati is the Secret Order of Those High Initiates who are the Masters of the
Aeon.

The God who represents the Third Order of the Silver Star is Hoor-Paar-Kraat, or
Harpocrates, the Lord of Silence. Hoor-Paar-Kraat represents the forces ruling the
earth at present. He is the Silent Watcher in Man, his Secret and Inmost Self. He
is Kether, the One Self (Yechidah) which is really a Multidimensional Self, which
is really not a self at all. The Middle Pillar Exercise, if properly applied with
right understanding, can awaken from the Magician the Consciousness of his/her
Kether Self as reflected through Tiphareth; and Kether is the Sphere of Hoor-Paar-
Kraat, the Lord of Silence. He is also That which is beyond Kether, or the Ain
Soph. But Kether is a concentration and revelation of Ain Soph; it is the Light or
Consciousness of Ain Soph itself.

The Middle Pillar Exercise stirs into motion neurological forces of a dynamic
nature which awaken in their turn higher circuits of consciousness, allowing for
the Magician to realize and experience his/her Multidimensional Kether Self as
represented by the God Hoor-Paar-Kraat. This Exercise, if used correctly, is
literally a method of mutating consciousness. It can literally expand the sphere of
consciousness by inducing quantum changes in the brain. It brings us en rapport
with our Universal Self, whose symbol is the White Light of Ecstasy and whose image
is the Babe in the Egg of Blue, that is, Harpocrates or Hoor-Paar-Kraat.

Finally, consider that the Middle Pillar Exercise is a Tantric Rite of a symbolic
kind. Tantra essentially means action. It is divine knowledge in action; it is
the act of the Divine in manifestation. Ritual is action; action affirms and proves
the Will and creates changes to conform to the same. Action is the key to progress;
it is only by action that we create; it is only by action that we evolve. Ritual is
the means of creating changes in conformity with the Will. The Will is the Creative
Self in Action. Action in itself is a symbolic movement that impresses itself upon
and creates changes in the mind. Action is the means of expressing the divine
genius within and allowing for its free fulfillment. This divine genius is our Holy
Guardian Angel, our Multidimensional Self, which is our True Self Within, and which
is ever the divine goal of the Magician or the Crown of his/her Attainment.

Tantra further means rite or ritual and method or technique. These various
meanings of Tantra essentially entail the same dynamic idea. Tantra is the method,
the ritual and the act of the Divine in manifestation. It is the ritual of uniting
the two opposites in the self for the awakening of the Middle Way. It is the union
of Shakti and Shiva, that is, the union of the female and male principles of the
Soul. These two opposites are, in the Thelemic Pantheon, called Nuit and Hadit.
When these two infinities unite a third principle is born called Ra-Hoor-Khuit, a
Unity that includes and heads all things. The two Pillars of the Tree of Life are
symbols of these two opposites, and the Middle Pillar represents that which is the
product of their balanced interplay, the Golden Child of their Mystical Union.

Here ends our Thelemic Golden Dawn lesson on the Middle Pillar. May what we have
written assist you in your creative aspiration for Magical Progress and in the
establishment of your True Will, for the attainment of the Great Work, the SUMMUM
BONUM, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness.

Love is the law, love under will.

By David Cherubim
(Frater Aurora Aureae)
Copyright 1993 e.v.
The Order of the
Thelemic Golden Dawn.

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