gain material things, and how to develop your power of, ‘Creative Visualization,’ to gain positive control over the Inner Plane factors in your life.
3. REGENTS OF THE SEVEN SPHERES, by H. K. Challoner. A poetic description of the Devas, the beings who build in etheric matter, that gives the reader an introduction to the ways in which the various creative intelligences of the Universe function and the ways by which they can be contacted by man. Illustrated in colour.
4. THE SOLAR SYSTEM, by A. E. Powell. An occult description of our Solar System and the various streams of life evolving within it, demonstrating the importance of the Mental Plane in man's evolution and showing the relationship between the various kingdoms of being, angels, man, etc.
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Ophiel's
CORRESPONDENCE COURSE IN THE FOUNDATIONS OF OCCULT KNOWLEDGE
First Course
Copyright C 1967 by Edward C. Peach All rights reserved. No part of this course of lessons, in part or in whole, may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any other information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the holder of these rights, except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address the publisher.
Lesson Six
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Dear Student,
Here is Lesson Six in your First Correspondence Course in the Foundations of Occult Knowledge. With this lesson you begin your study of the Qabalah and the "Tree of Life". You will find that your study of the Tree of Life is something that is going to continue for as long as you are interested in the Occult, so it is probably going to continue the rest of your life! Not only are you going to study the Tree of Life, but also you are going to learn to use it as a means of study. Soon you will begin to think of it as a "filing system" (or even as a "computer program") by which you classify your knowledge and observations into an inter-related whole. In your studies of the Tree of Life and the Qabalah you will learn how to look behind things to see how they are to be classified into this filing system or program, and as you study "things" you will learn to think in terms of their interrelatedness.
Also, as your studies of the Occult continue, you are going to see more and more how the Occult becomes part of your entire life - not just a special compartment - not just a "Sunday religion" - not just a "party dress" - and everything in life is going to have new meanings for you.
You will find that you can look upon other fields of study as rather specialized studies in various aspects of the Occult. In your next lesson after this, for example, you will read something that could give you a new insight into that interesting school of modern philosophy known as
"phenomenology", or a new understanding of what happens in cases of hallucinations, or a better appreciation of the different kinds of realities presented by different artists. In later lessons you are going to develop a new concept of the material cosmos, and of your relationship to it. So, don't neglect your study and work on the Tree of Life. The effort you put into your study now will be reflected in your later work.
Sincerely,
THE GNOSTIC INSTITUTE.
This lesson is the introduction to the Occult Knowledge data called the "TREE OF LIFE."
The TREE OF LIFE is a part of the system of the Caballa. (The name "Caballa" is spelled several different ways - Quaballa, Qabalah, Quballah, Kabbalah, Cabalah, etc. I will use various different spellings in these lessons because I want you to recognize the older spellings if and when you run across them in your readings.) In the sphere of the Occult there are two great systems: The WESTERN SYSTEM and the EASTERN SYSTEM. These two are further subdivided in many different ways, and this is especially true of the Eastern System. If I had the space to give you just a list of these divisions you would be astounded at their diversity and complexity.
This basic-basic system of the West, or the Occident, is the System called the Caballa". The word "Caballa" means to receive (roughly) in Hebrew. The exact origins of this system are lost in the mazes of antiquity, but I'd say that it originated by becoming composed of fragments of demonstrable metaphysical truths which advanced persons of all nationalities and nations exchanged with each other as they progressed enough to recognise the deep basic Truths of the Physical Cosmos. Thus, the Caballa system grew from beginnings of simple Natural Magic - with many additions from Egypt, Greece, Babylon, Persia, Africa, and many other mystery systems of places this side of the Orient. There is only one Truth, and when you reach the top - by any religious system - you find the same thing/truth at the top.
The Truth you arrive at, and which you are seeking for in this course of lessons, is a thing you gain through being guided "there" by means of a System of thinking and corresponding acting.
And certainly this system does not consist of any kind of merely "believing" in something! No! It consists of all kinds of - WORK - gaining knowledge of what has to be done, how to do it, and then doing it. In point of ‘text,’ this lesson may seem a bit short. But you should have plenty to do in making up the diagram. Part of the diagram is made with your compass and ruler in pencil, and later parts will be written in free hand. Copy this diagram now, and then fill it in with the names, symbols, and other material as it is given to you. You will make a number of these diagrams and be adding new material from time to time, so you don't have to be over meticulous with this first one, but still, do a good job. Also in this first diagram you can feel free to make a few arrangements of your own.
It’s a good idea to make several of these diagrams until you feel you understand the layout.
In time your thinking can become very "POWERFUL" in that it can bring about changes in your physical plane surroundings quickly. In fact we all do it all the time, but now the thoughts of power do not always work fast enough because of the Astrological "blocks" (see Lesson One) set up in our life paths. I do not know the reason for these blocks. All I know is they are there, and some people have them more than others, and some people learn to avoid them and to work round them, and others never learn at all how to live a life by working around their astrological blocks. I can give a hint here. These Astrological blocks are not "solid set" things. They are movable, and they shift about.
Let us imagine some picture like this - Let us say that we are faces with a series of doors through which we must pass, through all the doors not just any one of them, to get where we want to go. Let us say that these six doors are opening and closing all the time so that at some times more doors will be open, or closed, at the same time than at other times. There are even time when all six doors are open at once and you can get through them quickly and easily. Well now, naturally if you are an aggressive person you will always be on the alert and always pressing against the astrological doors - and when suddenly they do fly open you dart on through even though you may have been waiting a seemingly endless time for them to open. So you see your part in and of life is very important - how you go about living your life is a big factor in a successful life's living, and these things go for non-business types of life, too. For living a spiritual life too, if you are not interested in Physical Success. ‘More about this later.’
Now with regard to the diagram you are going to work on for this lesson. Follow the sample illustration on the next page pretty closely this first time, and do your first work on this diagram in pencil so that you can continue to add new material as it comes to you. Next, divide the drawing into four sections as indicated and label them 1 - 2 - 3 - 4. These will be rough approximations of the idea of the four planes we have studies so far. As I mentioned before, you have probably heard or read of "seven planes", "ten planes" and even other numbers of planes.
These number divisions are, all true, and are in, these ‘four planes,’ we are concerned with here.
The other numbers are all arrived at, by making other kinds of divisions of these four planes.
For example, each of the, ‘Ten Circles,’ in the diagram can be considered a, ‘Plane,’ by itself alone. Also, as mentioned before, the astral Plane can be divided into two parts and each part listed as a separate plane. Also the Mental Plane can be divided into a higher and lower, and each of these sections considered as a separate plane. So if you have heart about these other systems of division forget about them now, and work with the Four until you are more advanced and can work the others out for yourself Make your drawing of the diagram on the left side of your paper as per the sample on the next page. Draw three pencil lines connecting the three columns of the circles as indicated. Then fill in the information on the next page after that.
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QUESTIONS
1. What is the basic system of Western Occultism? If "there is only one Truth", then how is it that there are in the Occult "two great systems: The Western System and the Eastern System?"
2. What do you understand to be meant by the word "system" in this context?
3. Do you feel that you are a person who has more "astrological blocks" than most other people you know? Or do you feel that you have learned to work around these blocks? How do you think these blocks generally work in your life?
4. How do you think that you can change your approach to life to live your life more successfully?
Save your answers until asked for them PRACTICES
1. Make the drawing of the TREE OF LIFE as instructed.
2. Think about this matter of learning to live around the astrological blocks, and make a plan for doing this in your own life.
SUGGESTED READING
1. THE KABBALAH, by W. J. Colville. This is a good introductory book to the study of the Kabbalah. Its history, its literature and its views of the Soul and its relationship to Biblical traditions, (Additional books on the Kabbalah will be suggested in subsequent lessons.) This study is so fundamental to your building of a, foundation knowledge, of Occultism that you will probably build an extensive library of books on the Kabbalah. The above book is not the "best" book on the subject, but it is a good "starter", and - as the subject is a complex one - we recommend this one to prepare you for later books.)
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Ophiel's
CORRESPONDENCE COURSE IN THE FOUNDATIONS OF OCCULT KNOWLEDGE
First Course
Copyright C 1967 by Edward C. Peach All rights reserved. No part of this course of lessons, in part or in whole, may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any other information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the holder of these rights, except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address the publisher.
Lesson Seven
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Dear Student,
Here is Lesson Seven in your First Correspondence Course in the Foundations of Occult Knowledge. You have now completed one/fourth of the first course. In the Practices prescribed in this lesson, you are again called upon to make a drawing of the TREE OF LIFE, and asked again to meditate upon the metaphysical process described in this lesson. More and more you should realise that the study of the Occult is much more than merely reading some books and lessons. We have already said it several times, and we are going to be saying it many more times, the real study and work in Occultism depends upon your DOING the things called for in the lessons. Don't neglect these Practices, and don't just do them "in passing", but put a great deal of effort and attention into them. This is important.
But now you should also begin to see how what you are learning in your Occult Studies could be applied to your daily life and you should begin to make this application as you begin to see how it can be done. You should begin to "think" Occult! That is, you should make your Occult Knowledge part of the way you see the world, and the way you see yourself. As you learn to THINK OCCULT you will find that you experience a much greater reality than ever anticipated. It is like putting on a new pair of eyeglasses - suddenly you see more, and you see more clearly.
Another thing you should note. Occultism does not tell you how you should act. It does not give you sets of rules or commandments but, as you begin to see things differently, as you THINK OCCULT, you will begin to make your own determinations of how YOU should act, and what YOU should do in given circumstances. Occultism places the responsibility for your life right in your own shoulders. But it also shows that you have the POWER to make your own life what you want it to be, ‘Power and Responsibility,’ always go hand-in-hand, in Occultism as in all things.
Sincerely,
THE GNOSTIC INSTITUTE.
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A few Teachers and a few Schools do have material on this subject of THE TREE OF LIFE. Some of this material is valuable, but much of it is worthless when it comes to "What the heck can we do with it, or use it for after we learn the Knowledge part?" (!!!) In this Course, after you learn as much of the Knowledge as I have available, I will give you all the PRACTICES I have.
The reason I can do this is that I have received the Working Knowledge direct, while "they" received it through some Occult Lodge they joined under oaths of secrecy - and therefore they are forever barred from giving you anything, and much of what they received in the first place was not of too much value because of a lack of the BASIC KNOWLEDGE, which Basic Knowledge you are now getting. Get out your drawing materials and make another "Tree" diagram.
Make it in pencil first and then ink it in (for some of this work you can make free hand drawings, but always end up with a good inked drawing.) Now look at this diagram, you cannot help but notice that the diagram consists of ‘triads,’ triangles. ‘Three,’ of them. You cannot help but notice that the first triangle has the "point" upward, while the other, ‘Two triangles,’ have the point downward.
There is still another kind of a triangle on the last circle, at the bottom of the Tree. This circle is divided, as shown on the inside covers of my book, ‘THE ART AND PRACTICE OF ASTRAL PROJECTION,’ as if with an "X". (Draw a free hand circle and put an "X" in it as in the diagram. The reason for this will be explained later, but get used to the idea now.) You have been making 10 circles in and on a certain kind of diagram. I will not give you the basic name for these circles. Each single circle alone is called a ‘Sephirah,’ and the whole ‘Ten’ of them altogether are called the, ‘Sephiroth.’ The word "Sephirah" means Emanate, from the Latin ‘Emanare,’ meaning
"e" = ‘out’ and "manare" = ‘to flow,’ hence to "flow out", to "emanate.' These, ‘Ten Sephiroth,’ on the diagram of the Tree you have ‘made’ is a symbolic representation of the Physical Cosmic Universe!
Everything in our Physical Cosmos can be classified and filed away in and/or on these 10 pattern/filing cases! This, ‘10-circle pattern,’ is the/a Physical Cosmos symbol. And now we had better go into another subject, which is, ‘Just what is the Physical Universe?’ (This is the most difficult subject I ever tried to explain! I will make a start here, and then add/refer to it many times later on.) First (of all) let us start in a simple way. Let us say, for example, that you are sitting at the kitchen table and looking at the, ‘saltshaker.’ Now, in reality, just what are you doing? A
‘saltshaker,’ that is sitting there on the table and you "looking" "at" "it?" The answer is ‘NO!’ You are not, “Looking at" a saltshaker sitting "there" "on the table". Rather, YOU ARE ‘CREATING?’
BY YOUR DIVINE POWERS, THAT, ‘SALTSHAKER’ ON THE TABLE!!!!
This requires some explaining, and will take up the rest of your incarnations for a long time. But you can make a start in "doing" as soon as you understand some of the Knowledge part.
Again let us ask: "What happens physically when you sit at a tale and look at a saltshaker sitting there?" I should say "physiologically" speaking. Well to start at the beginning, you look. Your eyes look at the saltshaker and what happens is the, ‘LIGHT,’ reflected from the salt shaker object, enters the cornea of the eye and hits the back of the eyeball, where it is changed into an electrical current which travels along a nerve, as an electrical impulse, to a portion of the brain in which memory images are "stored." Arriving at the memory library point the electrical impulse sets off, or activates, the stored up memory images of saltshakers and identifies the object on the table as such.
Now, this I say, is ‘physiologically speaking,’ is what happens.
But what happens, metaphysically speaking? (It will be hard for you to grasp because it is so different from our usual material conception of how things are.) YOU DO NOT "SEE A SALT SHAKER "THERE" in the "first place". YOU SEE, ORIGINALLY, PHYSICALLY INVISIBLE
But what happens, metaphysically speaking? (It will be hard for you to grasp because it is so different from our usual material conception of how things are.) YOU DO NOT "SEE A SALT SHAKER "THERE" in the "first place". YOU SEE, ORIGINALLY, PHYSICALLY INVISIBLE