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Hello Everyone! I figured I would make my first post about something that might interest the community here. A while back a friend of mine introduced me to a series of books, manuals of occult practice. I must say that they form a very bare bones and elegant system which I think can probably compliment any paradigm, from Chi Gong, to Sufism, especially the first book.
Initiation into Hermetics was first published in 1956 in German and was translated into english, It was written by Franz Bardon perhaps one of the greatest western occult adepts of the 20th century as well as one of the least recognized as his work has not been very widely available until semi-recently. He was a master of the ancient egyptian art of Hermetic magic("Hermetic" after Hermes Trimegestus, the patron of this art. If you are interested also see the "Kybalion" a book on Hermetic philosophy which can be found free on pdf easily as well), which has evolved over the years to also include some very close connections with the Jewish kabbalah, as the two systems are virtually completely compatible. He wrote three books before his death in 1958, Initiation into hermetics which is a 10 step detailed and very bare bones skeletal system of mental alchemy which includes control of thoughts, and balancing out ones personality according to the elements while maintaining a balance between training the mind, the body, and the spirit at the same time.
(note: Western Elements are Fire/Water/Air/Earth/Spirit or Akasha. It runs on the basis of polarity, Fire being positive, light expansive, yang. Water being negative, dark, contractive, yin. Air being a neutral energy and mediator between Fire and Water. Earth is unique as it is considered to be the container for the elements as well as an organizing force which brings them together and holds them together, kinda like the structure of reality. The Akasha is said to be the source of the 4 elements, and is considered to be the "ultimate cause of all things."
From what I understand Eastern Element diagram represents alchemical phases, while western elements represent the "building blocks of reality" basically. I could be wrong, and I would gladly accept a correction on this.
The program also inclues elemental energy manipulation, and control of vital life force(chi), conscious breathing/pore breathing etc, Seeing into the "true nature" of things, to communication with spirits, and ones "higher self"/"guardian angel" etc at the higher levels. There is much more including sensory development exercises and astral projection all layed out in an order to (for the most part)ensure a safe progression, starting with just meditation and what is called a "soul mirror" where one writes all the negative and positive personal traits, after they are seperated into elemental catagories based on the type of trait, ie Slothfulness would be related to the inertia of the element of Earth, while Lust would be Fiery, Melancholy can be associated with water, etc etc, then one finally begins transmuting the negative traits into positive for elemental balance and harmony during the rest of ones progression through the book, this first step IS the most important and valuable in the book I believe as it sets the foundation. I have included the book in the link below, the table of contents gives a good idea of what it is all about. I have found it to be a very excellent, and perhaps the best example of western Qi/Nei Gong.
His other two books are titled, Practice of Magical evocation, where one takes the skills learned in the first book and applies them to evocation and communication with the spirits who govern the planets, and the natural laws of nature and the universe.
The third and most obscure is "Key to the true Kabbalah" where Bardon attempts to explain the system of utilizing the universal archetypes represented by the Kabbalistic Alphabet which makes up the Macrocosm(Universe) and Microcosm(Our own beings) for our own benefit and the benefit of others. I say attempts to explain, because it is really hard to put high level esoteric/occult practices into words, and a lot of the explaination comes through the intuition and clairvoyance gained from following closely and dilligently the exercises in the first book. This system seems very similiar to eastern practices involving meridians as each archetypal force also corresponds to a part of the anatomy of the human body.
With a bit of google-fu it's easy to find all 3 books on pdf as they are freely distributed, unless you wish to own hard copies.
I hope this will start an interesting discussion on the differences/similiarites between Eastern and Wastern esoteric practices. I have been studying Hermetics and the Kabbalah for about a year now, and eastern practices a much less time so I am still fairly new, yet have made some excellent progress so far. In the Initiation into Hermetics I am truly still on Step 1. Yet practiced some things out of order for a few years like sensing and basic manipulation of energy, so I went back to the basics.
Thank you for reading
Initiation into Hermetics was first published in 1956 in German and was translated into english, It was written by Franz Bardon perhaps one of the greatest western occult adepts of the 20th century as well as one of the least recognized as his work has not been very widely available until semi-recently. He was a master of the ancient egyptian art of Hermetic magic("Hermetic" after Hermes Trimegestus, the patron of this art. If you are interested also see the "Kybalion" a book on Hermetic philosophy which can be found free on pdf easily as well), which has evolved over the years to also include some very close connections with the Jewish kabbalah, as the two systems are virtually completely compatible. He wrote three books before his death in 1958, Initiation into hermetics which is a 10 step detailed and very bare bones skeletal system of mental alchemy which includes control of thoughts, and balancing out ones personality according to the elements while maintaining a balance between training the mind, the body, and the spirit at the same time.
(note: Western Elements are Fire/Water/Air/Earth/Spirit or Akasha. It runs on the basis of polarity, Fire being positive, light expansive, yang. Water being negative, dark, contractive, yin. Air being a neutral energy and mediator between Fire and Water. Earth is unique as it is considered to be the container for the elements as well as an organizing force which brings them together and holds them together, kinda like the structure of reality. The Akasha is said to be the source of the 4 elements, and is considered to be the "ultimate cause of all things."
From what I understand Eastern Element diagram represents alchemical phases, while western elements represent the "building blocks of reality" basically. I could be wrong, and I would gladly accept a correction on this.
The program also inclues elemental energy manipulation, and control of vital life force(chi), conscious breathing/pore breathing etc, Seeing into the "true nature" of things, to communication with spirits, and ones "higher self"/"guardian angel" etc at the higher levels. There is much more including sensory development exercises and astral projection all layed out in an order to (for the most part)ensure a safe progression, starting with just meditation and what is called a "soul mirror" where one writes all the negative and positive personal traits, after they are seperated into elemental catagories based on the type of trait, ie Slothfulness would be related to the inertia of the element of Earth, while Lust would be Fiery, Melancholy can be associated with water, etc etc, then one finally begins transmuting the negative traits into positive for elemental balance and harmony during the rest of ones progression through the book, this first step IS the most important and valuable in the book I believe as it sets the foundation. I have included the book in the link below, the table of contents gives a good idea of what it is all about. I have found it to be a very excellent, and perhaps the best example of western Qi/Nei Gong.
His other two books are titled, Practice of Magical evocation, where one takes the skills learned in the first book and applies them to evocation and communication with the spirits who govern the planets, and the natural laws of nature and the universe.
The third and most obscure is "Key to the true Kabbalah" where Bardon attempts to explain the system of utilizing the universal archetypes represented by the Kabbalistic Alphabet which makes up the Macrocosm(Universe) and Microcosm(Our own beings) for our own benefit and the benefit of others. I say attempts to explain, because it is really hard to put high level esoteric/occult practices into words, and a lot of the explaination comes through the intuition and clairvoyance gained from following closely and dilligently the exercises in the first book. This system seems very similiar to eastern practices involving meridians as each archetypal force also corresponds to a part of the anatomy of the human body.
With a bit of google-fu it's easy to find all 3 books on pdf as they are freely distributed, unless you wish to own hard copies.
I hope this will start an interesting discussion on the differences/similiarites between Eastern and Wastern esoteric practices. I have been studying Hermetics and the Kabbalah for about a year now, and eastern practices a much less time so I am still fairly new, yet have made some excellent progress so far. In the Initiation into Hermetics I am truly still on Step 1. Yet practiced some things out of order for a few years like sensing and basic manipulation of energy, so I went back to the basics.
Thank you for reading
from the ♥
It is a s "nice" side effect 
Phoenix 
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