A HARVEST BLESSING

K RAMANUJAM –“How many Ramayana’s? Three hundred? Three thousand? At the end of some versions, a question is asked: How many Ramayana’s have there been? And there are stories that answer this question.”

K TSIOLKOVSKY –“The earth is the cradle of humankind, but one cannot live in the cradle forever.”       

K.BLANCHARD –“People who feel good about themselves produce good results.”

K.D.LANG –“Sometimes the people you love i9n the night/The morning will choose to forget. This is my last cigarette/My last cigarette.”     

K.R.NARAYANAN –“My parting appeal to you … is to guard our tradition of tolerance, for, that is the soul of our culture and civilization.”    (K.R.Narayanan in his farewell address, July 24, 2002)    

KAIFI ZMI – “Break the bond of custom, from the prison of tradition escape Delight not in your weakness, from this imagined delicacy escape Prom these self-conjured vows of greatness escape It too is bondage, from love’s bondage escape. Not only has the thorn, the flower too emasculate risen my love! You have to walk along with me.”  

KAILASH VAJPEYI – “In Jain philosophy, the universe has no beginning, so the question of a Creator has no logical basis. Every one of us is a reservoir of positive energy Divinity is not somewhere out there. So each one of us should strive for perfection and purity of consciousness.”

KALIDASA’S RITUSAMHARA –“Trees put forth flowers, waters abound in lotuses, women’s thoughts turn to love, the air is sweetly scented; mornings are pleasant and days delightful; all things are more alluring in springtime, my love.”    

KALPANA CHAWLA –“Do something because you really want to do it. If you’re doing it just for the goal, and don’t enjoy the path, then I think you’re cheating yourself.”

KALPANA CHAWLA –“I never thought while pursuing my studies or doing anything else about being a woman, I or a person from a small city, or a different country. I pretty much had my dreams, like anybody else and I followed them. People around me fortunately always encouraged and said “if that’s what you want to do carry on”.”

KALPANA CHAWLA –“It was starting to get dim outside, so you got to see your own reflection. And there is the Earth and you can still see the Earth’s surface and the dark sky overhead. And I could then see my reflection in the window and in the retina of my eye the whole earth and the sky could be seen reflected. So I called all the crew members one by one and they saw it, and they said, “oh wow.”   

KALPANA CHAWLA –“Just looking at Earth, looking at the stars during the night part of “Earth; just looking at our planet roll by and the speed at which it goes by and the awe that it inspires; just so many such good thoughts come to your mind when you see all that… Doing it again is like living a dream — a good dream — once again.”

KALPANA CHAWLA –“When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system.”   

KANSAS JOE MCCOV & MEMPHIS MINNIE –“Crying won’t help you, praying won’t do you no good. When the levee breaks, mama you got to move.”   

KARAN SINGH –“In our arrogance and ignorance we have destroyed the environment of this planet. We have polluted the oceans, made the air unbreathable, desecrated nature and decimated wildlife. Vedantic seers knew that man was not something apart from nature, and, therefore, they constantly exhort us that, while we work for own salvation, we must also work for the welfare of all beings.”  

KAREEM ABDUL JABBAR –“Basketball is an endurance sport, and you have to learn to control your breath; that’s the essence of yoga, too. So, I consciously began using yoga techniques in my practice and playing. I think yoga helped reduce the number and severity of injuries I suffered. As preventative medicine, it’s unequalled.”   

KAREEM ABDUL JABBAR- “I try to do right things at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.”

KAREN ARMSTRONG –“ Every fundamentalist movement… is convinced at some gut, visceral level that secular liberal society wants to wipe out religion.            

KAREN ARMSTRONG –“We could say that the nativity is a myth. That does not mean that it is not true. A myth can be defined as something that, in some sense, happened once, but those also nap- pens all the time. Myth reveals the underlying arid timeless significance of an event. It is also a programme for action. The gospels are not accurate biographies of Jesus; like any religious text, they I tell the reader how to behave. Unless a myth is put into practice, we do not grasp its full import. The Christmas myth reminds us that faith does not always bring comfort and joy, but demands self-sacrifice, a commitment to justice and equity, and determination to seek the sacred in the outcast and dispossessed.” 

KAREN LAMB –“A year from now you may wish you had started today.”   

KARL KRAUS –“Prostitution might endanger the moral of an individual; corruption endangers the moral of an entire country.”      

KARL MARX –“Experience praises the most happy the one who made the most people happy.” 

KARL MARX- “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”

KARL MARX- “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point, however, is to change it.”

KARL MARX –“Workers have nothing to lose but their chains.”  

KARL VON BONSTETTEN –“To resist the frigidity of old age one must combine the body, the mind and the heart — and to keep them in parallel vigor one must exercise, study and love.”   

KARLBARTH –“Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.”     

KARLKRAUS –“Newspapers have roughly the same relationship to life as fortune-tellrs to metaphysics.”  

KARSANBHAI PATEL –“Hardcore value maximisation, avoiding usage of non-required elements into the product and hence reducing the cost results in benefits to the consumer.”              

KARUNA MALHOTRA –“We clean and decorate our homes to welcome Goddess Lakshmi but do not attempt to cleanse our antarman (belief system), where anger, jealousy, unlimited desires and hatred reside. If we are able to eradicate them, Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi will stay in our hearts forever and thousands of lamps will light up in bliss.”   

KARUNANIDHI –“If the captain of the ship is not perfect, the ship should not be allowed to sink. We have to search for a new captain and repair the ship.”

KASHF-AL-MAHJUB –“The aim of a dervish is to become a dead man walking one whose body stays alive on earth yet whose soul is already in Heaven. Towards the end of his journey, the dervish becomes the Way not the wayfarer, that is, a place over which something is passing, not a traveler following his own free will.”

KATE W FURMAN –“When walking down the path of life, Remember what I say, That every man must feel the thorns That grow along the way. And every soul will stumble, For every man is weak, And the road of life uncertain, Its prospects often bleak. But always give a helping hand, A word of love, a smile, To help the soul beside you walk Across each weary mile.”   

KATE W FURMAN –“When walking down the path of life, remember what I say that every man must feel the thorns that grow along the way and every soul will stumble, for every man is weak, and the road of life uncertain, its prospects often bleak. But always give a helping hand, a word of love, a smile, to help the soul beside you walk across each weary mile. For love will cause the sun to shine, and everywhere you go, the painful thorns less noticed as the roses bloom and grow.”

KATHARINE HEPBURN –“If you follow all the rules, you miss all the fun.”  

KATHARINE HEPBURN –“If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married.”  

KATHARINE HEPBURN –“There are no laurels in life…just new challenges.”

KATHARINE PAINE –“The moment you make a mistake in pricing, you’re, eating into your reputation or your profits.”       

KATHE KOLLWITZ –“For the last third of life there remains only work. It alone is always stimulating, rejuvenating, exciting and satisfying.”  

KATHEBINE MANSFIELD –“This is not a letter but my arms around you for a brief moment.”   

KATHERINE HEPBUM – “Do not make reason for him to stay, only reason for him to return.”

KATHERINE HEPBUM –“Don’t accept ride from strange men. And remember that all men are strange.”

KATHERINE HEPBUM –“When love is not madness, it is not love. Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.”

KATHERINE LOGAN –“The greatest thing you can do for any individual or any group in your day is to help them find the best.”   

KATHERINE MANSFIELD –“Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinion of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for yourself. Act for yourself. Face the truth.”   

KATHERINE NEVILLE –“The laws of chess are as beautiful as those governing the universe, and as deadly.”  

KATHERINE PATTERSON –“The name we give to something shapes our attitude to it.”     

KAUSALYS’S ADVICE TO RAMA –“It is dharma alone that will protect you … so it is dharma you should protect with courage and steadfastness.”

KAUTILYA- “The arthashastra -a great leader shows the ability to make decisions and act boldly in the face of set backs and adversity.”

KAVIGNAR VAIRAMUTHU –“Today, we pick bodies, not seashells from the sea shore…It is we who are in mourning—then why do you sport the colour black? Kumarikandam, Kabadapuram, Poompuhar: you swallowed them all. Unsatiated, you sent dinosaur waves to devour the innocent. …O mighty sea, what have we done to warrant this severe punishment? Sumatra was once conquered by the great Raja Raja Chola. Is the devastating tsunami Sumatra’s belated vendetta? …We shall overcome all of Nature’s calamities: We shall return to the seas to fish, to travel… But Never to dissolve the ashes of the dead.”  

KAY GRANGER –“We need good faith efforts and results, not roadblocks.”  

KAY KNUDSEN –“True love is when you put someone on a pedestal, and they fall- but you are there to catch them.”

KAY LYONS –“Yesterday is a cancelled cheque; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have: so spend it wisely.”

KAY THEESE –“DO you know how much you mean to me? As you grow into what you will be. You came from within, from just beneath my heart it’s there you’ll always be though your own life will now start. You’re growing so fast it sends me awhirl, With misty eyes I ask, Where’s my little girl? I know sometimes to you I seem harsh and so unfair, But one day you will see, I taught you well because I care. I The next few years will so quickly fly. With laughter and joy, mixed with a few tears to cry As you begin your growth to womanhood, this fact you must know, You’ll always be my source of pride, no matter where you go. You must stand up tall and proud, within you feel no fear. For all you dreams and goals, sit before you very near. With God’s love in your heart and the world by its tail. You’ll always be my winner, and victory will prevail. For you this poem was I written, with help from I above, To tell you in a rhythm of your Mother’s heartfelt Love!”   

KEIICHI MORISATA – Love is life. Everything that I understand I understand only because I love.”

KEITH BELLOWS –“There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won’t go. For me, India is such a place… I had been seeing the world in black and white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant Technicolor.”        

KEITH HENSON –“Nanotechnology will give us vast wealth … it might also completely destroy us.”          

KEITH RICHARDS & MICK JAGGER –“Just as every cop is a criminal/And all the sinners saints As head is tails, Just call me Lucifer/ ’cause I’m in need of some restraint.”  

keith richards & nick jagger –“We all need someone we can bleed on/And if you want it, why don’t you bleed on me.”

KEITH RICHARDS- “If you are going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.”

KEN BLANCHARD –“None of us is as smart as all of us.”  

KEN GRIFFEY –“I can’t play being mad. I go out there and have fun. It’s a game, and that’s how I am going to treat it.”

KEN HAKUTA –“People will try to tell you that all the great opportunities have been snapped up. In reality, the world changes every second, blowing new opportunities in all directions, including yours.”  

KEN KESEY –“The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.”       

KEN WILBER –“Bad Gardens copy, good gardens create, great gardens transcend. What all great gardens have in common are their ability to pull the sensitive viewer out of him or herself and into the garden, so completely that the separate self-sense disappears entirely and at least for a brief moment one is ushered into a non-dual and timeless awareness. A great garden, in other words, is mystical no matter what its actual content.”   

KENA UPANISHAD –“If you think that you know well the truth of Brahmn, know that you know little. What you think to be Brahmn in your self, or what you think to be Brahmn in the gods — that is not Brahmn. What is indeed the truth of Brahmn you must therefore learn. He truly knows Brahmn who knows Him as beyond knowledge; he who thinks that he knows, knows not. The ignorant think that Brahmn is known, but the wise know Him to be beyond knowledge.”           

KENA UPANISHAD –“That which speech cannot express but that by which speech is expressed is Brahman. Know that alone as Brahman, not that which people worship here. That which cannot be felt by the mind but that which enables the mind to feel, that is Brahman.”

KENA UPANISHAD –“The ignorant think that Brahmn is known, but the wise know Brahmn to be beyond knowledge.”        

KENA UPANISHAD –“The supreme power of God is manifested as knowledge, activity and strength.” 

KENA UPANISHAD –“Those who realise Brahmn shall overcome All evil and attain the supreme state. Truly they shall attain the supreme state!”         

KENA UPANISHAD –“You should enquire further about Brahman…”

KENNETH TYNAN –“A neurosis is a secret that you don’t know you are keeping.”  

KENNY ROGERS –“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”

KENT NERBUM –“Love has it’s own time, it’s own season, and it’s own reasons for coming and going. You cannot bribe it or coerce it or reason it into staying.”

KERALAFOLK SONG –“When Mahabali ruled the land Everyone was equal Happily they lived Danger befell none There was no falsehood, or fraud And no untruth.” 

KESHAVAN NAIR –“With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.”

KEVIN EIKENBERRY –“It is easy to feel rich any time. Just count all the things you have that money can’t buy.”      

KEVIN SPACEY –“I mean we all played as kids. You play games, you take on different characters, you imitate; the fun and the love of play has never left me.”       

KHUSHWANT SINGH –“Here lies one who spared neither man nor God Waste not your tears on him, he was a sod Writing nasty things he regarded as great fun Thank the Lord he is dead, this son of a gun.”   

KHWAIRAKPAM CHAOBA –“These Meitei waters before us resplendent is what we call our Loktak; on life’s new current this day, a nascent tide awakens; a towering wave approaches, to drown our wildest imagination. These Meitei waters before us resplendent is what we call our Loktak. A fresh wind caressing the waters, quickens the waves to a dance; on boats are our women afloat, their fishing nets exulting. These Meitei waters before us resplendent is what we call our Loktak.” 

KHWAJA ABDULLAH ANSARI –“From the unman fest I came, And pitched my tent, in the forest of material existence. I passed through mineral and vegetable kingdoms, Then my mental equipment carried me into the animal kingdom; Having reached there I crossed into the beyond; Then in the crystal clear shell of human heart I nursed the drops of Self in a Pearlier, And in association with good men Wandered round the Prayer House, And having experienced that, crossed beyond it; Then I took the road that leads to Him, And became a slave at His gate; Then the duality disappeared And I became absorbed in Him.” 

KIERKEGAARD –“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every, illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts… Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.”

KIM ANDERSON –“You love simply because you cannot help it.”

KIMBERLY KIRBERGER –“For me growth begins immediately after I am able to admit my mistakes and forgive myself.”

KING FAROUK OF EGYPT –“There will soon be only five kings left- the kings of England, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades and Clubs.” 

KING JAMES I OF ENGLAND –“Smoking is a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.”     

KING JIGME SINGYE WANGCHUK –“The country is more important than the king.”   

KING SIMEON II –“To be a King is dedication, patience and moderation, self-denial, statesmanship, national unity and, above all, having faith in one’s people.”     

KIRAN BEDI –“Be fearless. Nothing is permanent with you. What is permanent with you is your attitude to the moment. That is what is within your control, and that’s the only permanent thing at the moment i can see… No obstacles should be allowed to derail you from your dreams. All of us are placed differently in this world — in different cultures, homes, environments. The higher the adversity, the greater the courage life demands: the higher the mountain the longer the climb. It is imperative that women continue climbing… Every day is important for tomorrow. Cultivate self-awareness with fortitude and courage. Don’t ever give up.”    

KIRAN DHAR –“0 Holy Mother, we bow to you In times of happiness and prosperity, Or in the dire hour of need, With reverence deep, we remember you…”    

KIRAN DHAR –“On this bright and auspicious day You came into the world to guide and show the way 0 Holy Mother, endless fount of grace, Your blessings flow in countless ways… Your promise given in years gone by Holds true today, as at that time, That those that call you Mother, At your feet will always find A shelter everlasting for all time…”  

KIRAN DHAR –“Your message eternal, flows gently forth, “No one is a stranger, my child, The whole world is yours. If you want peace of your mind With others do not find fault. Whenever in distress remember me And say to yourself I have a Mother. To those who have come to me And to those who will come in the future, To all my children, give them my love And let them know That my blessings with them forever are”. This, your message timeless i hold fast in my heart As I on Life’s perilous journey embark.”     

KIRK DOUGLAS –“When you become a star; you don’t change- everyone else does.”

KIRORI SINGH BHAISALA –“We got what we wanted… I also apologise to the nation for the hardship that people suffered.”

KIRSTI A DYER –“Like the mighty phoenix, Once again I rise from the flames set to destroy me and take flight. I am Stronger Glorious Powerful Victorious.”   

KIRSTIE ALLEY –“There’s a lot more to life than how fat or thin you are.”      

KISHORE ASTHANA –“Complete in my Self, fully free/ I am all that I can see/1 am That all the time/ I am its prose, I am its rhyme. Not for me pilgrimages galore/ Or visits to seers, door to door Wherever I look, there I am/ My holy land is where I am.”       

KISHORE ASTHANA –“I donned the saffron robe I roamed here and there I begged from door to door And didn’t get anywhere I counted a million beads I recited every prayer I read all the books And didn’t get anywhere I discussed God all the time And debated religions Threadbare I fasted days on end And didn’t get anywhere Then wisdom smiled on me one day And said to me in its own calm way AU these are traps of your mind Of one or another kind Just go inside if you want to find What is it that makes you blind To what is illusion and what is true To the false and the real you) It spoke of power and it spoke of pelf It spoke of mind, it spoke of self  It spoke of the real; It spoke of show. It spoke of what I needed to know Now I fast not, nor do I pray I go nowhere but travel in a way “And find the Truth, as wisdom did say Inside myself,  at work and play. It is not holy in the worldly sense It needs not knowledge, smoke, incense It is not demanding of ritual and fast It wants nothing that will not last It’s AU-That-Is’, never surpassed My future, my present and my past.”       

KISHORE ASTHANA –“I have waited long/ In this darkened place/ But I sleep not/ lest I miss/ Those dainty steps/ that beloved face I wait, and waiting in me/ My music sleeps/ Its strings wet with unshed tears/ Its flutes but exhausted reeds The dancing bells have closed their eyes/ And arm in arm they lie aside/ But I wait with bated breath/ For I am sure you said ‘tonight’ My song that was, is now a hymn/ Even the grapes are now old wine/ This bed alas, an unfulfilled altar/ But the dawn is not yet,/ Beloved mine.”       

KLANS KINSKI- “One should judge a man mainly from his depravities. Virtues can be faked. Depravities are real.”

KNUTE ROCKNE –“Football is a game played with arms, legs and shoulders but mostly from the neck up.”

KNUTE ROCKNE –“The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven.”   

KOBI YAMADA –“Anything is possible. Nothing is too good to be true.”   

KOESTLER –“In my twenties I regarded the universe as an open book full of mathematical formulae, and now I regard it as an invisible piece of writing in which we can now and then decipher a letter or a word and then it’s gone again.”

KOFI ANNAN –“Fierce national competition over water resources has prompted fears that water issues contain the seeds of violent conflict.”        

KOFI ANNAN –“No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime.”    

KOFI ANNAN –“To live is to choose. but to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.”         

KOFY ANNAN –“The Lord had the wonderful advantage of being able to work alone.”

KOICHI TSUKAMOTO –“One step by 100 persons is better than 100 steps by one person.”   

KONSTANTIN E TSIOLKOVSKY –“Mankind will not remain on earth forever, but in its quest for light and space will at first timidly penetrate beyond the confines of the atmosphere, and later will conquer for itself all the space near the sun.”            

KONSTANTIN TSIOLKOVSKY –“For me, a rocket is only means—only a method of reaching the depths of space—and not an end in itself… There’s no doubt that it’s very important to have rocket ships since they will help mankind to settle elsewhere in the universe.”   

KORAN SINGH –“These five concepts from the Vedanta if taken together provide us a comprehensive world-view which will greatly help us in these troubled times. 1. The all-pervasive Brahmn; 2. The Atman which resides in all beings; 3. The concept of the human race as members of a family regardless of all differences; 4. The idea that all religions are essentially different paths to the same goal; 5. The concept that we must work for the welfare of this entire ecosystem and not only for ourselves.”    

KRISHNA IN ‘KRISHAVATARA BY KM MUNSHI –“Town and Country I would never have loved Radha had I not felt sure that I was going to be in Vrindavan as a cowherd forever But when I was called to Mathura as Vasudeva’s son, it would have been wicked to bring her with me. She was born to be an exquisite flower in the spring and would never have survived the hot winds of the life I was called upon to face… I, with my mission to fulfill, could not have played the gay cowherd, who was the very breath of her life.  So I parted from her.”    

KRISHNA, BHAGAVAD GITA –“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings, nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.”

KRISHNAMACHARYA –“Inhale, and God approaches you. Hold the inhalation, and God remains with you. Exhale, and you approach God. old the exhalation, and surrender to God.”    

KRISTEN KAPPEL –“Love is when you look into someone’s eyes, and see everything you need.”          

KS DUGGAL –“In Guru Arjan we have the culmination of all that Guru Nanak and the three Gurus following him stood for. They combined in themselves the best of Islam and Hinduism and strove for mutual understanding. They were peace-loving, devoted to meditation and prayers, and service of their fellow beings… Sikhism comprises love of God and service if humanity.”   

KS RAM –“A spokesman of God/ The tsunami, perhaps, came to deliver/ His mild admonition/Proud mankind, ponder this/and measure yourself! While this one hit the nations’ coasts/ Another tsunami lashed against/ The coastline of the mind./Did it shatter faith in God?/ Or did it lash out to strengthen faith?” 

KUBERA MANTRA –“I salute Kubera, lord of Yakshas, who provides the spell for magical weapons that bring wealth and good fortune. May the utterance of this prayer bring forth those magical weapons.”  

KUKT COBAIN –“Teenage angst has paid off well/Now I’m bored and old.”  

KULARNAVA TANTRA –“Adepts in yoga speak in the manner of the uncivil, behave as if ignorant, appear like the lowly They do so in order that men may ignore them and not flock to them; they talk nothing at all. Though realised in freedom, the yogi will sport like a child, may conduct himself like a dullard, talk like one intoxicated. If the yogi accepts things of life it is for the good of the world and not out of desire.”    

KULARNAVA TANTRA –“No creature shall be harmed for one’s own sake, one’s own enjoyment. All depends upon the purpose; not even a blade of grass shall be cut without a worthy purpose. What is called sin becomes a merit if it is done for a higher purpose, even as what is considered uplifting becomes a force for binding if done in disregard of the higher Truth. Rightly used, rightly directed, the very means of fall become the means for rise…”       

KUNAL KOHLI –“Speak up, so you never lose that right, because if you don’t speak up, you’ll lose that right.”    

KUNDAKUNDA –“The soul which is free from the defect of karma gets to the highest point of the universe, knows all and perceives all, and obtains the transcendental bliss everlasting.”

KUNDAKUNDA PANCASTIKAYA –“The soul which is free from the defect of karma gets to the highest point of the universe, knows all and perceives all, and obtains the transcendental bliss everlasting.”  

KURDISH PROVERB –“Kind words can unlock an iron door.”     

KURT COBAIN –“In the sun I feel as one/In the sun, in the sun/I’m married/buries.”      

KURT COBAIN –“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”    

KURT SPITERI CORNISH –“Love is too strong a word to say too early, but it has too beautiful a meaning to say it too late.”

KURT VONNEGUT –“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion… I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.”   

KURT VONNEGUT Jr-“We are what we pretend to be, so we careful what we pretend to be.”

KURTVONNEGUT –“History is merely a list of surprises. It can only prepare us to be surprised again.” 

KYM OVERY –“If you want to experience a life totally unlike anything you have ever seen, then go to the Kumbh mela. You’ll never look at the world in quite the same way again.”    

L E KNIGHT –“When things don’t go as planned, you’re the first one there beside me —someone to count on, someone who cares. When the world has lost its luster, you never lose your faith in me — and somehow, through the clouds, I find my wings… You’re my light in the darkness, laughter in the night, and all the things that keep me going on life’s unwinding road. You’re a special kind of person, a unique and caring friend… I know I’m really lucky, and I wish everyone could have  a sister like you.”

L RON HUBBARD –“You may have been taught that the mind is a very difficult thing to know about. This is the first principle of Scientology possible to know aabout the mind, the spirit and life.”

L.M. CHILD –“It is a rare and difficult attainment to grow old gracefully and happily.”   

L.P. SMITH –“Do not laugh at a youth for his affectations; he is only trying on one face after another to find his own.”  

L.P. SMITH –“There is more felicity on the far side of baldness than young men can possibly imagine.”  

LA BRUYERE –“Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.”  

LA BRUYERE –“There are two ways of rising in the world, either by your own industry or by the; folly of others.”

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD –“Friendship is only a reciprocal conciliation of interests, and an exchange of good offices, it is a species of commerce out of which self-love always expects to gain something.”    

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD –“It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.”  

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD –“People rarely succeed at anything unless they are having fun doing it.”   

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD –“True bravery is shown by performing without witness what one might be capable of doing before the entire world.” 

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD –“What renders us so bitter against those who trick us is that they believe themselves to be cleverer than we are.”    

LACHLAN MELEAN- “You can only lead others where you yourself are prepared to go.”

LADISLAUS BOROS –“Friendship is the union of two selves’ lies beyond happiness or unhappiness. It is simply the other side of our life and thus free from all danger.”

LAFRED TENNYSON- “Ring out the want, the care, the sin. The faithless coldness of the times.”

LAL DED –“I will not harbour any ill will towards those who abuse me.”         

LALLESHWARI (LAL DED) –“I, Lalla, entered through the garden of my soul, Lo! I saw Shiva and Shakti rolled in one, Overwhelmed with joy I got immersed there itself.”  

LALLESHWARI –“There is neither you, nor I;/neither the object of  meditation/nor the process of meditation…”       

LALLESHWARI –“You are the sky, You are the earth, The air, the hours, the sacrificial grain, You are the water, the sandal paste and flowers; You are already in everything. What shall I worship you with?”            

LAMA KAZI DAWA-SAMDUP –“He who is ever looking for faults in those who are learned and righteous, has the nature of a crow.”    

LAMA THUBTEN YESHE –“Examine your own mental attitudes. Become your own therapist.”

LAMA THUBTEN YESHE –“The narrow mind rejects; wisdom accepts.”

LAMARCHUS –“In war it is not permitted to make a mistake twice.” 

LAMASHOE –“To live well, is to be happy every day It can be done! Just find one good thing about each day that passes….”  

LAN FLEMING –“You only live twice. Once when you are bor and once when you loo death in the face.”    

LANCE ARMSTRONG –“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take place. If it quit, however, it last forever.”

LANCHENBA MEETEI –“Because — There is no end to revenge/ For him it is mutual loss, destruction/ Not victory/ With everyone defeated.”

LANDON DONOVAN –“Some things you can shake off, some things dig deeper than soccer.”   

LANDOR, W.S. –“Principles do not mainly influence even, the principles, we talk on principles, but we act no interest.”

LANGBRIDGE –“Two men look out through bars: One sees mud, the other sees stars.”  

LANGSTON COLEMAN –“Luck is what you have left over after you have 100 percent.”  

LANGSTON HUGHES –“The Black Man Speaks Oh! Supreme Lover! Let me leave aside my worries. The flowers are blooming with the exultation of your Spirit. By Allah! I long to escape the prison of my ego and lose myself in the mountains and the desert. These sad and lonely people tire me. I long to revel in the drunken frenzy of your love and feel the strength of Rustam in my hands. I’m sick of mortal kings. I long to see your light. With lamps in hand the sheikhs and mullahs roam the dark alleys of these towns not finding what they seek. You are the Essence of the Essence, The intoxication of Love. I long to sing your praises but stand mute with the agony of wishing in my heart.”

LANGSTON HUGHES –“When dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”  

LANKAVATARA SUTRA –“The triple world originates from the discrimination of unrealities and where discrimination takes place there is duality and the notion of permanency and impermanency, but the Tathagatas do not rise from the discrimination of unrealities.”    

LANKAVATARA SUTRA –“When this entire world is regarded as concatenation, as nothing else but concatenation, then the mind gains tranquility.”

LAO TZU –“ He who controls others maybe powerful, but he who has mastered ‘himself is mightier still.”   

LAO TZU –“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”       

LAO TZU –“A journey of a thousand miles starts in front of your feet.”  

LAO TZU –“A man with outward courage dares to die. A man with inward courage dares to live.”  

LAO TZU –“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”  

LAO TZU –“Can you let go of words and ideas, attitudes and expectations? If so, then the Tao will loom into view.” 

LAO TZU –“Change direction, or you may end up where you’re heading.”           

LAO TZU –“Continuing to fill a pail after it is full, the water will be wasted. Continuing to grind an axe after it is sharp, will wear it away. Excess of light blinds the eye. Excess of sound deafens the ear. Excess of condiments deadens the taste. He who possesses moderation is lasting and enduring. Too much is always a curse, most of all in wealth.”

LAO TZU –“For the Wise man looks into space and he knows there is no limited dimensions.”    

LAO TZU –“Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish … too much handling will spoil it.”

LAO TZU –“He who is content can *   never be ruined.”     

LAO TZU –“He who knows others is wise: he who knows himself is enlightened…”    

LAO TZU –“Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Nonbeing is the greatest joy.”   

LAO TZU –“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.”        

LAO TZU –“Kind and Compassionate Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”        

LAO TZU –“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them — that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”  

LAO TZU –“Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires.”   

LAO TZU –“Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity.”

LAO TZU –“Nature is not human hearted.”

LAO TZU –“Superior leaders … are catalysts, and though things would not get done as well if they were not there, when they succeed they take no credit. And because they take no credit, credit never leaves them.”

LAO TZU –“The more weapons of hate, the more misery to man. The triumph of hate ends in a festival of mourning.”

LAO TZU –“The subtle melody of universal life is eternal and constant, yet only those who are in consonance with it can perceive it.” 

LAO TZU –“The supreme excellence is not to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles. The supreme excellence is to subdue the armies of your enemies without even having to fight them.”   

LAO TZU –“There is nothing softer and weaker than water, and yet there is nothing better for attacking hard and strong things. For this reason there is no substitute for it.”  

LAO TZU –“There is nothing softer and weaker than water, And yet there is nothing better for attacking hard and strong things. For this reason there is no substitute for it.”    

LAO TZU –“Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained…”   

LAO TZU –“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: What is soft is strong. Water flows humbly to the lowest level. Nothing is weaker than water, yet for overcoming what is hard and strong, nothing surpasses it.”           

LAO TZU –“What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.”

LAO TZU –“When a man points at the moon, the idiot looks at this finger.”

LAO TZU –“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”   

LAO TZU, TOO TE CHING –“To know you have enough is to be rich.”    

LAROCHEFOUCAULD –“True courage is to do without witnesses every thing that one is capable of doing before the entire world.” 

LARRY GEIBART –“One doesn’t have a sense of humor. It has you.” 

LARRY HARVEY –“Originally the core ritual was the raising and the burning. That required that people act together, perform a cooperative action that had enormous expressive quality But essentially we didn’t have to assign any meaning to it. It was very apparent that we were going to raise him.”  

LATIN PROVERB –“If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.”   

LAURA GILPIN –“A river seems a magic thing. A magic, moving, living part of the very earth itself.”

LAUREN BACALL –“Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly.”

LAURENC J PETER –“The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it.”   

LAURENCE J PETER –“Ignorance once dispelled is difficult to re-establish. “

LAURENCE J PETER –“Ignorance once dispelled is difficult to re-establish.”       

LAURENCE J PETER –“Most hierarchies were established by men who now monopolise the upper levels, thus depriving women of their rightful share of opportunities to achieve incompetence.”   

LAURENCE J PETER –“There are two kinds of failures: those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought.”       

LAURENCE J. PETER –“Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status”       

LAURENCE PETER –“An optimist expects his dream to come true, a pessimist expects his nightmares to.”

LAURENS VAN DER –‘There is a way of winning by losing, a way of victory in defeat which we are going to discover.”

LAURETTA P BURNS –“As children bring their broken toys with tears for us to mend, I brought my broken dreams to God because He was my friend. But then instead of leaving them with Him in peace to work alone, I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own. At last i snatched them back and cried, “How can you be so slow?” “My child”, he said, “What could i do? You never did let go.”       

LAWRENCE DURRELL –“Journeys, like artists, are born and not made.”

LAWRENCE SUMMERS –“Students in Harvard will now study India as a subject.”  

LAWS OF MANU –“Though he may be destitute of virtue, or seek his pleasure elsewhere, or devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must be constantly revered as a god by a faithful wife.”

LEA LACOCCA –“Apply your self. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don’t just stand there, make it happen.”

LEBANESE PROVERB –“If anyone is not willing to accept your point of view, try to see his point of view.” 

LECH WALESA –“It is the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they did not like walking or carrying things.”    

LEE BOLMAN & TERENCE DEAL –“The essence of leadership is not giving things or even providing visions. It is offering oneself and one’s spirit.”     

LEE HAMILTON  -“Democracy thrives on information; secrecy is its enemy.”  

LEE HAMILTON –“At what point do you say we cannot tolerate this anymore?”         

LEE HANEY –“You’ve got a good body? That’s not enough. You have to have the heart and soul to go with it.”

LEE LACOCCA –“Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can’t be two people. Instead, you ham to inspire the next guy down the line to get him to inspire his people.”   

LEE LACOCCA –“My father always used to say that when you die, if you’ve got five real friends, then you’ve had a great life.”       

LEE LACOCCA –“The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works is the family.”    

LEE LACOCCA –“Why is our free-enterprise system so strong? Not because it stands still, frozen in the past, but because it has always adapted to changing realities.”    

LEE SEGALL –“A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure.” 

LEE STOREY –“It is a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that won’t go.”        

LEIGHTON BATES –“The very first time that i practised noble silence i had become so angry that i quit after a few hours. Our chaplain, who is trained in Tibetan Buddhism, had told me this might happen. I think it happens because you are putting your mind and body under a control that it is not used to, and therefore, you start to rebel against it.”     

LEO BOGART –“The Great Idea in advertising is far more than the sum of the recognition scores, the ratings and all the other superficial indicators of its success; it is in the realm of myth, to which measurements cannot apply.” 

LEO BOOTH –“We are co-creators with God, not puppets on a string waiting for something to happen.”   

LEO BURKE –“People who say they sleep like a baby usually don’t have one.”

LEO BURNETT –“When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, hut you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.”  

LEO BURNETT –“When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get them. but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.”  

LEO BUSCAGILA – “Change is the end result of true learning.”

LEO BUSCAGILA – “Love is always about open arms. If you close your arms around love, you will be left holding only yourself.”

LEO BUSCAGILA –“Find the person who will love you because of your difference and not in spite of them and you have found a love for life.”

LEO BUSCAGILA –“Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.”     

LEO BUSCAGILA –“Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.”     

LEO BUSCAGILA –“Our talents are the gift that God gives to us. What we make of our talents is our gift back to God.”   

LEO BUSCAGILA –“The hardest battle you’re ever going to fight is the battle to be just you.” 

LEO BUSCAGILA –“What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret  than our willingness to choose life.”

LEO BUSCAGILA –“When we cling to pain we end up punishing ourselves.”           

LEO BUSCAGILA –“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.”

LEO TOLSTOY –“All everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.”

LEO TOLSTOY –“Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…’ Our whole life is taken up with anxiety for personal security, with preparations for living, so that we never really live at all.”         

LEO TOLSTOY –“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

LEO TOLSTOY –“Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us.”   

LEO TOLSTOY –“Historians are like deaf people who go on answering questions that no one has asked them.”

LEO TOLSTOY –“Hypocrisy may deceive the cleverest man, but the least wide-awake of children recognises it.”   

LEO TOLSTOY –“I have learned that every man lives, not through care of himself, but by love.” 

LEO TOLSTOY –“I know that my unit with all people cannot be destroyed by national boundaries and government orders.”

LEO TOLSTOY –“Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.”

LEO TOLSTOY –“Our whole life and I taken up with anxiety for personal security, with preparations for living, so that we never really live at all.”   

LEO TOLSTOY –“There is no greatness where there is no simplicity.”

LEO TOLSTOY –“To sin is human, to justify sins is devilish.”    

LEON SLUM –“Morality may consist solely in the courage of making a choice.”   

LEON TROTSKY –“Historical law is realised through the natural selection of accidents.”             

LEON TROTSY –“Life is not an easy matter… You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness. The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions.”

LEONA MATTINGLY WEBER –“Christmas is for children. But it is for grown-ups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.”

LEONARD BERNSTEIN –“From New Year’s on the outlook brightens; good humour returns. I resolve to stop complaining.”          

LEONARD COHEN –“Ring the bells that still can ring/ Forget your perfect offering./ There is a crack in everything,/ That’s how the light gets in.”   

LEONARD DA VINCE –“A good painter is to paint two main things, men and the working of man’s mind.”               

LEONARD DA VINCE –“All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions- it should have limited in it.”

LEONARD DA VINCE –“He turns not back who is bound to a star.”   

LEONARD DA VINCE –“In rivers, that water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.” 

LEONARD DA VINCE –“In youth acquire that which may requite you for the deprivations of old age; and if you are mindful that old age has wisdom for its food, you will so exert yourself in youth, that your old age will not lack sustenance.”   

LEONARD DA VINCE –“Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.”  

LEONARD DA VINCE –“Look at light and admire its beauty Close your eyes, and then look again what you saw is no longer there; and what you will see later is not yet.”    

LEONARD DA VINCE –“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

LEONARD DA VINCE –“The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.”   

LEONARD DA VINCE –“The great bird will take its first flight… filling the world with amazement and all records with its fame and it will bring eternal glory to the nest where it was born.”

LEONARD DA VINCE –“When once you have tested flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards.”

LEONARD NIMOY –“What fiction could match — in drama or suspense — man’s first walk on the moon?”

LEONARDO DI CAPRIO –“I’ve always been spontaneous and outgoing… I’ve tried lots of things so I’ve got some good life experiences, which is great ’cause it means I’ve got lots of material to work with as an actor.”   

LEROY PAIGE -“Don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.”

LES MISERABLES –“To love another person is to see the face of God.”

LETTY POGREBIN –“If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable — each segment distinct.”    

LEUIS, C.S.- “When you have nothing left but love, then for first time you become aware that love is enough.”

LEVI STRAUSS –“Quality never goes out of style.”   

LEVITICUS –“Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.” 

LEVITICUS –“Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself.”      

LEVITICUS –“You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

LEWIS B SMEDES –“If we say that some people are unable to forgive, we give them a power they should never have… they are given the power to keep their evil alive in the hearts of those who suffered most. We give them power to condemn their victims to live forever with the hurting memory of their painful pasts. We give the monsters the last word.”         

LEWIS B SMEDES –“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”       

lewis carroll –“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take yon there.”

LEWIS CARROLL –“It’s a poor short of memory that only works backwards.”

LEWIS CARROLL –“The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday but never jam today.”          

LEWIS CARROLL –“When I use a word Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone it means just I choose it to means neither more nor less.”

LEWIS CARROLL –“When you are describing, A shape, or sound, or tint; Don’t state the matter plainly, But put it in a hint; And learn to look at all things, With a sort of mental squint.”    

LEWIS CARROLL –“You mean you can’t take less’. It’s very easy to take ‘more’ than nothing.”  

LEWIS FREEDMAN –“You can’t be afraid of stepping on toes if you want to go dancing.”  

LEWIS GRIZZARD –“Sex hasn’t been the same since women started enjoying it.”   

LEWIS H LAPHAM –“Unlike any other business, sports must preserve an illusion of perfect innocence. The mounting of this illusion defines the purpose and accounts for the immense wealth of sports. It is the ceremony of innocence that the fans pay to see — not the game or the match or the bout, but the ritual portrayal of a world in which time stops and all hope remains plausible, in which everybody present can recover the blameless expectations of a child, where the forces of light always triumph over the powers of darkness.”            

LEWIS, C.S. –“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”

LI CHI, CHI YI –“The man of refinement turns his thoughts back to the past, goes back to his origin, and does not forget those through whom life has come to him.”

LI PO –“You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain; I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care. As the peach-blossom flows down stream and is gone into the unknown, I have a world apart that is not among men.”      

LIBBIE FUDIM –“We may not return the affection of those who like us, but we always respect their good judgment.”        

LIEH-TSE –“The true reason underlying things are invisible, unseizable, indefinable, in determinable. Only the spirit established in the state of perfect natural simplicity can attain it in profound contemplation.”

LILLIAN HELLMAN –“You don’t have to agree with people to defend them from injustice.”

A Guide to Caffeine Detox Diet

Starting the day with a steaming cup of coffee may be the normal routine of many of you! Most of you might go through additional cuppas all through the day to sail through the professional stresses. Probably, you are not aware of the ill effects of caffeine on the human body!

A dependence on the caffeine either through coffee or drugs may lead to the caffeine intoxication. The common symptoms of caffeine intoxication are:
Faster heart beats, occasional headache, stomach upset, increased level of cholesterol, heart burn, insomnia and many more. These are the situations when you need to follow a caffeine detox diet.

If you are seriously considering a caffeine detox, your goal should be to get completely rid of the addiction. Here is a step by step guide for relieving your body of caffeine toxins.
– The first thing that you should remember with regard to caffeine detox is: your body should be adequately supplied with essential nutrients during the detox program when body is releasing the toxins.
– The key to get rid of caffeine intoxication is following an alkaline diet. The intake of the foods causing acid like meat or sugar should be gradually reduced. Also avoidance of such foods as refined foods and baked foods will speed up the detox process.
– An ideal caffeine detox diet consists of fresh fruits, vegetable salads, soups, greens, seaweed, corn, whole grains-cooked and sprouted, soy products, and some nuts and seeds.
– You have to complement the diet by drinking at least six to eight glasses of filtered water every day. From time to time sip mineral waters. Consume baking soda or, potassium bicarbonate tablets, to enhance the alkaline effect.
– Vitamin C supplementation is a must for caffeine detox diet. It also eases out the withdrawal symptoms and supports the adrenals. They also provide you an anti-stress protection. So a caffeine detox program must be replete with several grams of vitamin C along with minerals like potassium, calcium, magnesium, and zinc.
– In order to get rid of the withdrawal symptoms, intake of vitamin B complex with extra pantothenic acid is highly recommended.
– A caffeine detoxification, program should be stretched over a period of one week or two. This will help in avoiding extreme withdrawal symptoms.

As you shift from caffeinated beverages, you can include a number of herbal substitutes to give you a stimulating and refreshing boost. You can consider drinking the tea made of roasted herbal roots like barley, chicory, and dandelion, which will nourish your body in addition of boosting up your spirit. Herbal teas prepared with lemon grass, peppermint, ginger root, red clover, and comfrey are also good energizing alternatives to caffeinated beverages.

Spirituality and kabbala, creation and God

 

The amount of time it will take to experience the Secret Fire is unknown, although preparation is the best guarantee of success. The amount of time given to each exercise should not exceed more than 15 or 20 minutes in the beginning, and then 30 or 45 minutes after the first half year or so. It is also strongly advised that anyone undertaking these exercises also maintain a regular, daily usage of spagyric tinctures for each of the planetary qualities of the day it is used. This additional, slow, and methodical cleansing of the subtle psychic channels will aid in relieving some of side-effects of esoteric work. The nightly application of “Dream Yoga” is also suggested, as this will attune the student to the qualities of the day while sleeping, aid in interior contacts, and may shed light on particular problems of the Work.[4]

While this may seem like a lot of work, it is not. Tinctures are fairly easy to make, all that is required is their regular use. This takes no more time than swallowing a vitamin. Dream yoga is done as we are falling asleep anyhow, no additional time required for this either. What is does take is regularity, commitment, and perseverance. Qualities that assure, albeit confer, adepthood. Best of luck in your practices. In the Bonds of Esotericism,

 

Introduction

In the Western esoteric practices there is an apparent knowledge gap regarding the role of esoteric practices and their effects on the subtle, and not so subtle, bodies of practitioners. In the East, all practices, whether designated as such or not, are designed to awaken the semi-dormant energy resident in all creation, and ‘living beings’ in particular. This energy is known as “Kundalini”, “The Serpent Fire”, and the “Dragon” depending on tradition. Extreme care has been taken, despite contradictions between systems, to chart the effects of exercises on this latent energy, and how it ‘flows’ through the physical, emotional, and psychic body, at what stages, and in relation to which exercises. Such a detailed analysis is lacking in modern Western estotericism.

For modern kabbalists, the most common introduction to ceremonial magic is through the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram and the Middle Pillar Exercise. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to show how this, and related exercise can stimulate the Secret Fire, and to suggest exercises for its regulation by esoteric students who are engaged in a Hermetic path, such as general studies or alchemy, who may have experienced its awakening and are in need of simple and direct exercises for its regulation.

 

The majority of modern esoteric students are familiar with the Middle Pillar exercise, as such, it will be the fundamental basis for much of this article. In addition, the Sepher Yetzirah, and a limited number of alchemical references will be made.

The basis of kabbalah is that through increasing levels of density, humanity came into its present state of physical incarnation and psychic evolution. Through rituals, exercises, and meditations, the energy latent in creation generally, and the body of the practitioner in particular, can be “awakened”, purified, and directed. This energy can then be used for spiritual development, psychic expansion, or physical health and improvement.

 

Creation is seen to have taken place, in Western kabbalistic and alchemical terms, in the following process.

The Divine mind of God, the Absolute, or in Hebrew the Ain Soph Aur (Limitless Light), through a series of expansions and contractions establishes the boundaries of Creation. The first world is the most subtle, and closest to the original state of non-existence, and is Atzilooth. This is called the world of Fire, because of the lively, undefined, and almost uncontrollable nature of fire. Next is Briah, or the World of Archetypes and forms as our human mind can grasp them. It is symbolized as the World of Air, and is the result as a barrier world that is formed by the creation of the next World, Yetzirah, or Water. This is the highly psychic and emotionally charged world immediately behind the veil of material existence, or Assiah. Also known as the World of Earth, because of the solid, concrete nature of material life.

The purpose of this scheme, is to show that creation occurs in increasingly dense levels of energy-matter, from the most subtle, or Fire, to the most dense, or Earth. Within this context of increasing density, there also arises a series of ten planes or levels of consciousness which combines with energy-matter, known as Sepheroth, or spheres of being. They occur in a pattern of: unity, reflection, polarity, reflection, polarity, unity, reflection, polarity, unity, and finally materialization. This basic idea of unity-polarity-and re-harmonizing, is the basis of kabbalistic and alchemical practices, and is derived from the observation of Nature.

Each World is a reflection to a denser or more subtle degree than the one before or after it. Each Sepheroth is a reflection, in part, of what proceeds or follows it. However, since each reflection is only partial, or slightly distorted, each Sphere takes on its own unique characteristics. Only the so-called “Middle Four Sphereoth” have the ability to harmonize or reflect in total all of the energies of creation, on some level.

This ‘zigzag’ of Creation is called the “Lightning Flash”. The return of energy from dense matter, back through the various stages, Sepheroth, and Worlds of Creation is known as the “Path of the Serpent” because of its reverse, or complimentary ‘zigzag’ nature back up this diagram called the Tree of Life.

For the alchemist, somewhere between the third and fourth level, or sphere of creation, energy takes on the characteristic that will allow for the formation of matter at some future state, or level ten. This energy is called Prima Materia, Chaos in the Bible, Spiritus Mundi (Spirit of the Earth), and others. Here, duality is made complete, and genuine polarity exists, as opposed to simple the potential, or idea, of polarity that had existed previously. Energy is divided into active and passive modes, with the active energy constituting the energies of life, and the passive one the energy of matter. In “The Golden Chain of Homer”, the active energy is called Niter and the passive energy is called Salt.

The energy of Life manifests in two forms, Fire and Air. While both are predominately active in nature, fire is the more active of the two, with Air being slightly passive because of the partial Water Element in its makeup. Potential Matter manifests its energy as Water and Earth. These Elements have nothing to do with the material bodies of the same name, and as such are capitalized and called “Elemental” to distinguish them from the earth we walk on, water we drink, air we breath, and fire we cook with. They are in fact, energetic states, each with their own unique characteristics, as well as each of the previously mentioned ten levels of consciousness within them. The Elements also have preferred ways of interacting with each other, to form the Three Principles of alchemy. There are in fact, forty different ways energy-matter-consciousness can manifest in our world.

The Three Essentials are the alchemical principles of Sulpher, Mercury, and Salt. Like the “Elements” these principle concepts are to be thought of a “Philosophical” and not literally as chemical elements or compounds. The Alchemical Sulphur, or Soul, of a things predominates in the animating principles of energy (Fire) and intelligence (Air); Alchemical Salt, or the physical body of a thing, predominates in unconscious forces, psychic, and instinctual intelligence (Water) and solid matter (Earth); Alchemical Mercury, or general life force, predominates in intelligence (Air) and instinctual forces, and psychic energy (Water), as such it is the link, or bridge, between the higher forces of Sulphur and the lower body of matter.

In the mineral realm the dominant energy is that of Earth, a little Water, and very little Air or Fire. In the vegetable realm, the dominant energy is Water and Air, but little Fire and Earth. In the animal realm, the dominant force element is Fire, then Air, but little Earth. These qualities need to be understood as they have been defined for the following information to be of any use to the practicing, or aspiring, Hermeticist. For example, using the above definitions, we can say that the plant realm has an abundance of instinctual energy (Water) and intelligence, i.e. a specific function (Air), but little direct energy (Fire), as this is received passively from the sun; and little hard, physical, matter (Earth).

In the East as in the West, the idea of principle Elements and Philosophic Principles are expressed in more or less the same manner. This original undifferentiated energy from creation is often called in Indian philosophy, and modern occult, and New Age circles, as akasha, or Spirit. However, akasha, consists of two (2) aspects, one active as we have noted, Niter, and the other passive, Salt. The energies of Niter are also referred to as the force of Kundalini, or spiritual forces. In alchemy, this is the Secret Fire. To the Salt, belongs the force of Prana, or Vital Energy.

The function of the Vital energy is to maintain physical life forms and existence. It is completely instinctual and unconscious and is heavily influenced by cosmic cycles, astrological pulses, and other natural phenomena. The function of the Secret Fire is to increase in humanity, the only place where it is present, its sense of self, or “I”. At the lowest level or functioning, this is the ego, at its highest, it is Divinity incarnate, as both are two sides of the same coin. One is ‘self’ in relation to the physical world and others; the other is ‘self’ in relationship to all of Creation and as a co-creator.

In the vast majority of humanity, this Secret Fire, or liberating energy of self-consciousness, lies dormant, asleep at the base of the spine, coiled like a serpent. Only a small amount manages to escape, reaching a sepherothic level, or so-called chakra, thus creating a loci of consciousness for each person. If it reaches the top of the skull, and beyond, a spiritual awakening can occur, allowing for a descent and re-ascent of the energy, during which the psychic centers can be awakened allowing for the manifestation of psychic powers and related phenomena.

The Secret Fire ascends as a result of a temporary weakening of the Vital Energy in the physical body. This is why so many spiritual awakenings take place under great physical stress, times of illness, or near-death-experiences. When the Secret Fire will ascend through the various psychic-physical currents causing it to be enveloped in a sphere of luminous light.

The experiencing of the Secret Fire, as a result of the suppression of the physical body’s Vital Energy, can create condition which manifests in various forms:

-Some perceive the bright light as an angel, their Higher Self, or “Holy Guardian Angel”, others as a spiritual teacher.

-Astral projection may result, along with perception of the immediate surroundings.

-Uncontrolled physical movements may also result, typical of so-called ‘kundalini phenomena’: shaking, rapid breathing, swinging of the torso, uncontrolled giddiness, and sitting straight upright in the Pharonic position.

After a period of time, the energy will descend, and return to the base of the spine.

The effects of this awakening will take some time for the consciousness of the individual to adjust to, and not limited to the ‘non-physical’ realms. The physical body, although to a lesser degree, is also changed and improved in functioning, constituting a genuine “re-birth’ on several levels. However, it is up to the mind, or sense of “I”, of the individual, to cooperate with this influx of power if more permanent changes in consciousness are to be made.

As we can see, the concept of kundalini, or the Secret Fire, is linked to two polar concepts: that of the undifferentiated creative energy, and the second, as the seed of this energy locked on each cell of material creation, and focused in humanity at the base of the spine.

When this energy rises as a result of psychic experiences, and not because the physical weakness, can cause the Vital Energy of the body to be concentrated on various areas of the body, creating physical and psychic disturbances. If the energy becomes concentrated in the head, it can create the illusion of a spiritual awakening, as well as the well known “hot and cold” flashes, or currents, up and down the spine. The effects of the Secret Fire however, and not its re-distributive effects on the Vital Energy, can create the following phenomena:

Intense pains suggestive of an illness

Crawling sensations of ants or small bugs over the skin, as well as a ‘jumping’ sensation of the energy

A feeling of crystal clear calmness and tranquillity, rise from center to center to the top of the head

Ascending in the famous ‘zigzag’ or Rising Serpent pattern

The energy can skip a center or two

The energy can reach the top of the head in a flash of light

The character attributes of both positive and negative are exaggerated and sexual power is increased.

If the energy rises to the top of the head, then it becomes possible to work directly on the Vital Energy within the body, and use it, as a means of enhancing the psychic experience and spiritual awakening.

In short, the psychic centers must first be awakened by the Secret Fire and purified, before the energy of the physical body, can be concentrated upon them.

Thus, our psychic exercises, and esoteric meditations are designed to prepare our minds, bodies, and consciousness for the liberation of the Secret Fire buried deep inside us. Through a progressive cleansing of the blood, nervous system, and endocrine glands, the ‘chains’ of the Vital Energy upon the Secret Fire are reduced and eliminated, allowing the ever present power and energy, a veritable pressure waiting to be released, to spring into action. Thus, the Serpent doesn’t really sleep, it is we who are asleep to its presence and potential blessing.

 

“So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the Tree of Life.” Genesis 3:24

The use of the “Tree of Life” has been both a blessing and a curse for modern esotericism. When understood, the “Tree” offers a complete and working model of Creation on both the microcosmic and macrocosmic scales. However, where many fail is on the personal level. The ability to apply the often very general information of the Tree to personal experiences of the initiate when they deal with physiological phenomena is profoundly lacking in modern esoteric circles. The reasons for this are several: First, many modern esotericists simply repeat what they have learned without experiencing whether or not it is true on a personal level; second, the language of kabbalah is multi-leveled, with the same word having several meanings, thus many who are using the words don’t know what they actually mean, or on what level it may be interpreted; thirdly, the diagram of the Tree is simply too neat and compartmentalized. Many kabbalists are unable to adapt to the fact that interior reality is much more flexible than the Tree allows when applied to the two dimensional page or illustration.

These problems are farther complicated by the idea of “One Tree” but “Four Worlds” making much meaningful, practical information nearly impossible to come by regarding the crises of spiritual awakening and so-called Kundalini phenomena as it relates to kabbalistic practices. When compared to the clear and explicit information available from Taoist and Tantrik sources, it is no wonder that so many Americans and Europeans prefer those systems to those more culturally and historically related.

To help resolve these problems in the transmission of knowledge, only information that has a relationship to experience of the author or others he has discussed this topic with will be included here. Theory will be stated as theory, and experience as experience. The meaning of common kabbalistic words will be defined, and redefined, to keep the communication clear and direct. An extensive use of confusing and somewhat irrelevant god-forms, references to mythology, and cosmology unconnected to the personal experience will be avoided.

 

“Just as Moses lifted up the flaming serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that all who believe may have eternal life in him.” John 3:14-15

The Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram is often the first ritual learned by aspiring magicians. Its function is to teach the basic mechanics of solitary ritual, and to give a basic technique whereby destructive energies maybe repelled or dispersed from the sphere of influence of the operator. The symbols used in the ritual are fundamental to other rituals of a more complex nature, however, to disregard the Lesser Ritual as somehow less effective is a mistake. A ritual, no matter how simple or complex is only as effective as the skill of its operator. Repeated use of the LRP is can be more effective than incompetent or irregular use of more sophisticated rites.

In total, there are approximately six fundamental rituals used in Western occultism reflecting an influence of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: 1) the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram 2) the Supreme Ritual of the Pentagram 3) the Lesser Ritual of the Hexegram 4) the Greater Ritual of the Hexegram and 5) the Rose+Cross Ritual. The use of The Flashing Sword appears to be irregular, however it will also be considered along with its companion exercise or, The Rising Serpent.

Within these, the use of the Middle Pillar is optional, it is however, the Middle Pillar Exercise which does the most to purify the bodily energies, or Vital Energy, and make pathways for the release of the Secret Fire.

 

“I will make the victor a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” Revelations 3:12

Several variations of the Middle Pillar Exercise exist, however their fundamentals remain the same. Whether or not one uses the Elements as suggested by Regardie in “True Art of Healing” or the Sepherothic/planetary correspondences as he later suggests (and is most commonly used) in his book “The Middle Pillar” is irrelevant. The methods used by the Arum Solis will also be considered as an alternative exercise.

The theoretical basis of the Middle Pillar is that through imagination, breath, and concentration, the psychic energy of creation, here principally Yetzirah, can be directed allowing for a purification of the Vital Energy that holds the Secret Fire in check. As our psychic centers are cleansed of emotional, moral, and materialistic residue, they better reflect the cosmic energy that works through them. Through its pre-described pattern of circulating the energy, the Middle Pillar assists in smoothing out the edges of our aura, as well as increasing the flow of energy in general directions, so that the psychic pathways, both large and small, can be purified and strengthened through an increase of Vital Energy.

The pathways described for the Middle Pillar are circular in nature. They are for the most part large, clear, and bright, with a reflective quality too them. Regardie says that the psychic spheres should be imagined like large, clear, brilliant diamonds if no other color is known. Although, in the end, the entire sphere, or extended aura, of the practitioner should be imagined as a brilliant diamond radiating heat and light.

The beauty of the Middle Pillar is that it, like many esoteric practices, is really a layered exercise. Containing an almost infinite amount of flexibility and growth potential. As the practitioner develops in skill and manipulation of the imagery, the amount of new possibilities increases.

One of central movements of the Middle Pillar is the “Fountain of Light”. Here, the practitioner imagines a brilliant force of energy forcing its way up through the soles of their feet and out the top of their head, spraying along the edges of their aura, making it strong and clear of any roughness, and gathering again at their feet. This cyclic imagery is repeated several times. This key part of the exercise, is the central part that prepares the central pathways for the eventual release of the Secret Fire. It is also similar to Eastern practices as seen in Chinese Chi Kung, Indian Tantra, and Tibetan Vajrayana yoga.

This being said, it is also clear that some differences exist between Eastern and Western methods of releasing the Secret Fire. The methods of direct work on the psychic centers, and an upward climbing of the spinal column is more traumatic than the more general work of the Middle Pillar. It is for this reason, that the techniques of yoga, save a few, that are aimed straight away at releasing the Secret Fire, require supervision of a guru. Being that they so restrict the activities of the practitioner, and require close supervision, they are also systems that are impractical for day to day life in American and European culture.

While similarities exist, and will be examined, the major differences appear to be the following:

1) Indian yoga is aimed principally at liberation from the physical realm in as quick a method as possible. Western esoteric practices are aimed at the perfection of matter and the psyche within the material world, and not an abandonment of it.

2) Chinese yoga, or Chi Kung, is more akin to Western practices, in that it is aimed at perfection of the material world, and even the spiritualizing of the body into a “Body of Light”. It however, is more akin to Indian yoga, in that it starts at level of the etheric body (nadis or acupuncture points) and proceeds from there. This “from the bottom up, and inside out” approach is different from the Middle Pillars “top down, outside in” method. Because the etheric body is directly effected early on, the effects are more dramatic, as well as potentially traumatic for the unprepared. In the Middle Pillar, the etheric body is often the last thing effected. This is because the symbolism used, as well as the need to develop skills in concentration, visualization, and meditation effect primarily the mental outlook of the practitioner for a long period of time. Only after considerable practice, of a year or more, on a daily basis, do the effects of the Middle Pillar begin to sink into the astral body, and eventually filter into the etheric and physical bodies of the practitioner. It is stated in one source, that it takes a minimum of three years for even the most advanced yoga practitioner to release the Kundalini through special exercises. A ‘release’ which we have stated, is not a release per say, but the removal of obstacles to its natural expression. This is a critical point, since it is often said that to experience kundalini will often take twenty years of practice of esoteric exercises, or even Hatha Yoga, the same amount of time it took Nicholas Flamel to confect The Philosopher’s Stone. During a recent workshop, Jean Dubuis stated that it may be possible to complete the extremely dangerous Flamel Method in three years. It may be that for the alchemist, the interior creation of the Philosopher’s Stone is nothing short of the kundalini experience, and the exterior creation of the Stone is the ability to direct this Cosmic creative energy at will.

3) Tibetan systems run somewhere between the Chinese and Indian, in that they are concerned with liberation, but also with the creation of an etherial body made from their bodily essences. This Diamond Body, or Rainbow Body, is pure light and can materialize at the will of the adept. Like the Chinese and Indian systems, the Tibetan use a rituals for the purification of the mind and emotions of the practitioners, as well as the visual images in both anthropomorphic deities and abstract geometric forms. The Rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram fulfill this function when performing the Middle Pillar.

Thus, we can see, the major differences in Eastern and Western practices can be summarized in function and reference point of origin. The East seeks liberation through progressive untying of the knots of ignorance that bind humanity to incarnation. The West seeks to perfect the material world making material reality a reflection of spiritual reality. One accomplished, the adept can then proceed to dis-incarnate at will. The Western approach seeks to be more active in the world and to transform it, while the Eastern approach is to see the world as an illusion that is impermanent, and as such, is more passive. Such philosophies, like all beliefs and cultures, reflect the physical environment of their earliest origin. In tropical and sub-tropical zones the concern with time is less important that in the Northern hemisphere where a winter without food stores means death for the community. The cold, harsh realities of arctic zones produce a different theory and technique, and as such, different ideal (gods) than agricultural areas. Whether one is a hunter nomad or an established agrarian society is reflective of the physical landscape they live in, and as such effects values, needs, and spiritual philosophy and technique.

This is of critical concern whenever one is considering adopting the esoteric practices on another land or culture. Why did it arise, and under what circumstances? Are those same conditions applicable today, and in the life of the potential practitioner? In view of current conditions, are the practices being considered progressive or regressive in nature? That is, are they forward moving, or simply an idealization of a mythical past ‘golden age’?

“The heart girt with a serpent is my Name!” Chaldean Oracles

Salt is a symbol of wisdom and learning. Saturn, is associated with Ouroboros, the Great Serpent biting its tail, symbolic of limitation. As such it is closely allied with the earth, but also all of material creation, and those things which border on non-being, or Eternity. In one 15th century manuscript, the serpent is made of two colors, red and green. Red is outside and green is inside. Green, the color of Nature and of Venus, is the beginning of the Work. Red, the color of the Stone, and Mars, is the end of the Work.

“Sapiens dominabitur astris.” The wise shall exercise dominion over the stars. As we correct the astrological imbalances (i.e psychic centers or chakras) within ourselves, astrological conditions outside have less of a negative effect on us. We gain dominion over the ‘stellar’ forces and can “make the sun shine in our oratory when we will it so.”

The seventeenth century pupil of Jakob Boehme, Gichtel placed the cosmic spiral, or “Wheel of Nature” within the human body. J.G. Gichtel’s Theosophica Practica, 1898. Saturn is the crown, Jupiter the brow, Mars the throat, Sun with a serpent around it, the heart, Venus liver, Mercury the spleen, and Moon the sexual organs, or in straight theosophic decent down the Tree. It is the Heart with a serpent that attracts our attention. Here he also places the Element of Fire.

Egyptian initiates were also called scarabs because they pushed along the egg of their regeneration.

Mysteria Magica, vol 3 The Magical Philosophy: The brow included in the Middle Pillar (called: Clavis Rei [1st Formula] The Rousing of the Citadels) and the color scale varies with each center. An additional use of the rising twin serpents of the Caduceus are included at the end. The brow is attributed to Saturn, and is said to balance out the Yesod center, as well as add power to the remaining centers in the Middle Pillar as the Golden Dawn and Aurem Solis present it.

Alchemically, Salt is derived from the union of Elemental Earth and Elemental Water (or Assiah and Yetzirah), the Secret Fire is ‘hidden’ in the Salt (material body) and represents the unconscious, instinctual forces that seek release. It is sometimes called “Hellfire” in that if uncontrolled, or poorly released, it can reek havoc on the body and psyche of the student, via its purifying effects. This is illustrated by the 31st Path, or Path of Fire, sometimes mistaken for “Purgatory” or “Hell” by the un- regenerated who pass through this Path after death. This Path is also under the direction of Mercury and Shin, the symbols of spiritual guidance and evolution. For those interested in Notarikon, Shin shares the same numerical value, 300, as the Hebrew phrase, “The Spirit of the Living God.”

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” Matthew 3:11

The letter Shin is often used in meditation as a symbol of Divine light, life, love, or presence. It is imagined above the head, just touching the crown, then inside the head proper (as it is associated with intelligence and the energy of the nervous system in the Sepher Yetzirah), descending into the heart, and finally, expanding from there to engulf the meditator in a sea of fire. Because it consists of three flaming Yods, or tongues, it is sometimes associated with the flaming tongues of Pentecost, and a variety of Trinitarian concepts.

Several possible interpretations are available to use regarding this statement: One suggests that John the Baptist was initiating repentance as well as entrance into the watery world of Yetzirah, but that Jesus, was offering a path of initiation into the fire of the Soul, or full adepthood. A second interpretation is that John was offering initiation up the 29th Path, or the Path of Water; while Jesus was offering the harder and more rigorous Path of Fire, or the 31st Path to his disciples. Neither of these is a definitive answer, only a modern kabbalistic attempt to understand Scripture in the context of initiatic practices. The mention of the Holy Spirit is more informative however, as this phrase was adopted by the Jews during the period of the Babylonian Captivity and represents the origin of Persian and Chaldean influences on Jewish mystical beliefs.

The term Holy Spirit (Ruach Elohim) is derived from the Zend Avesta, and the phrase, Spenta Mainyu, or “Holy (Creative) Spirit”. The creative power is implied and not stated in the original, an appears to be lost in subsequent translations into modern languages via Jewish and Christian traditions. This Spenta Maiynu is a purifying and regenerating energy and intelligence with a cosmic host of six or seven intelligence’s at its command.

“It [Spenta Mainyu] is the self-realizing quality or activity of Ahura Mazda (the Good Mind); it is the self-generating energy that leads to the creation and evolution of the universe. Spenta Mainyu is dynamic and creation is an ongoing process. For Zoroaster, holiness meant also abundance, growth, and health. Spenta Mainyu represents the principle of augmentation and development in the universe.” (F. Mehr, p.29)

This power and their beings comprise the Mathrem, or Mathra, literally, ‘the sacred word of power’, which is the basis for the development of the practice of mantra in India and “Words of Power” in the Middle East and Egypt. Manthrem or Mathra is in its own right held to be the supreme mantra from which all others are derived, in the same fashion as YHVH is the origin of all Hebrew Divine Names. This is mentioned because in Persia and Babylon, the convergence of what would develop into semi-independent Eastern and Western esoteric practices is complete. In one respect, it could be said to be the original home of yoga, kabbalah, alchemy, and magic as we know them. Period art and architecture shows winged creatures familiar to Jewish and Egyptian tradition, planetary diagrams, an early version of the Tree of Life, and several variations of the intertwined serpent motif.

 

“The successful adept must be endowed with a knowledge of the material of the Great Work; also with faith, silence, purity of heart, and prayerfulness. After passing through the gate surmounted with the hieroglyph of philosophic mercury he traverses the seven angles of the citadel, representing the chief operations of the Great Work – calcination, dissolution, purification, introduction into the sealed Vase of Hermes, transference of the Vase to the Athanor [furnace], coagulation, putrefaction, ceration, multiplication and projection. And even upon reaching the Petra Philosophalis, he finds it is held in custody by a formidable dragon.”

Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae, Heinrich Khunrath

Saturn is related to Mercury in alchemical text, and is given the same ambiguous sexuality, or androgyny, and named it ‘Mercurius senex’.

In Tiphareth, the geometric symbol is the interlaced triangles of water and fire, or the Star of David. When expanded to connect the planetary sepheroth of the Tree (with Saturn being attributed to Daath), the Triangle of Water connects the spheres of Mars, Jupiter, and Luna. The Triangle of Fire connects Saturn, Venus, and Mercury.

Just as Orobouros is cosmic energy (the serpent) limiting itself (Saturn), Venus is the creative cosmic force multiplying itself in life (its vegetative nature) as a prism splits the light of the sun. Mercury, like Saturn in many respects, is androgynous, and controls the fire of creation, directing it in the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone. Mercury holds the Caduceus, or winged staff with two serpents intertwined around it. The Wings represent sublimation, the serpents the basic forces of creation. There crossing over is the psychic centers, often given as seven in number, here representing the colors in the spectrum, plus white (Venus). Central to the diagram is Sol, which is the cosmic creative forces which unify, enliven, and harmonize creation, and which we can hope to contact. It is central, and directs and controls all of the other planets, psychic centers, or aspects of Cosmic energy.

By contacting the fire of the Sun, we can open the fire of the other psychic centers (via Venus), and more easily direct the restrictive and enlightening energy of Saturn, through the powers of the Mind, or Mercury.

To understand these multi-faceted aspects of the planets, particularly Venus and Mercury, it is important to have done the Pathworkings up to Tiphareth. While this is not required to perform the techniques later in this monograph, it is a help for an understanding of the theoretical part.

However, we can begin to understand the relationship of the Spheres to each other by undertaking a series of meditations based on the following idea:

Venus is the regenerating, sensual, active life force in its vegetative and unconscious manner. It responds to heat, light, and emotion. On the Path of the Decent, Venus splits the singular rays of the Sun into the many facets of the color spectrum, and as such, can lead us to a better understanding of the relationship between multiplicity and unity, the psychic centers and planets, and their unique natures. On the Path of Ascent, Venus re-unites the divergent energies, both planetary and personal (psychic centers) and harmonizes it into a singular force, although still multi-colored, until it returns to the Sun as pure light.

“This Stone rises in growing, greening things.” Wherefore when the Green is reduced to its former nature, whereby things sprout and come forth in due time, it must be decocted and putrefied in the way of our secret art.” Splendor solis, Trismosin

The Stone is made through the greening of nature (Netzach) and it returning to its source (Tipahreth) by putrefaction (Death card of the path connecting them).

Mercury gives form and meaning to the diverse energies made by the splitting actions of Venus, and re-unites them as fundamental forces, symbolized by the Caduceus. Mercury is Psychopomp, or Guide of the Soul, and directs the energies that Venus represents. Since both Venus and Mercury sit at the base of the Pillars of kabbalah, they access the material, astral, and mental realms, and can influence all three to some degree. On the Descent, Mercury creates form and structure, for the body, the mind, or the soul, and on the ascent, Mercury helps free us from the limitations of form, without forgetting its lessons.

The serpent is primordial force or energy, fire and water being the principle two of creation, with air and earth following them. Because it shed it’s skin, it is seen as a symbol of regeneration and renewal. It is also dangerous, deadly, can be found often in ‘guardian’ roles near springs or water as well as deserts. When controlled or mastered, is seen as mastering a powerful and deadly, yet regenerating force, basic to creation, or possibly from which creation came.

The Secret Fire is directly linked to the sexual, (i.e. principle and most basic creative forces) in humanity. Here, the relationship between ‘bliss’ ‘ecstasy’ and the erotic impulse can be clearly seen and experienced. The development of a host of ‘sexual yogas’ and ‘sex magic(k)’ practices bear this out to some degree. However, it is the sexual desire in humanity that acts as its basic drive and evolutionary force. It is also suggests that the ability and need for mystical experiences is biologically rooted. Only be ignoring the most basic of pleasures, sex, can we ignore the drive to ecstatic union on some level. The ‘little death’ or petite morte, is a forerunner of the ‘big death’ as we let go and experience divine oblivion.

Sexual power, linked to our innate drive for mystical experiences, is also linked to human evolution, and some kind of predetermined point or state to which we are being directed.

This is a significant point, in that almost all of modern Western societies psychological illnesses are focused around sexual repression and obsession.

If the Secret Fire flows freely, or with greater strength than before, without the proper purification of the Vital Energy of the physical body, it is possible that it will result in what appears to be extreme physical, but more likely psychological illness in the form of schizophrenia and psychosis; instead of psychic gifts, genius, and either transpersonal states, or simply altered states of consciousness.

Wilhelm Reich, the father of Orgon Therapy states that the basis for all mental-emotional disturbances are anchored in the physical body, and that these anchors can be released through breathing techniques, somewhat similar to pranayamana. Since the body is the “Salt” of alchemy, and partially composed of accessible unconscious elements through its “Watery Element” all of our emotional and physical experiences become indelibly marked, associated, or stored in our physical body. If these blocks, or energy concentrations of emotional and physical trauma (composed of Vital Energy) are not removed before the Secret Fire begins to flow more intensely, the so-called negative side effects of ‘Kundalini phenomena’ will appear.

Abuse of drugs, alcohol, and sexual extremes only worsen the condition in that they inadvertently release the Secret Fire by weakening the physical body and its link to the astral, thereby damaging the etheric substructure, and create energy blocks in the end rather than diminish them, when the mind and body attempt to make repairs.

A nervous system damaged by substance abuse makes a tricky vehicle for the clear, clean, and powerful expression of the Secret Fire. It is through our nervous system (under the domain of Yesod-Luna) that we engage both the physical world, as well as out interior world. It links the body (Malkooth) with the Mind-Intellect (Hod) as well as instinctual, creative, and sensual urges (Netzach). If it is damaged, our ability to relate fully, creatively, and productively to these psyhco-physical-spiritual parts of our self becomes endangered. If it is damaged, then our most direct and important link to our Holy Guardian Angel, and means of releasing the Secret Fire safely (via Tiphareth) is threatened in this incarnation.

“Listen, then while I make known the Grand Arcanum of this wonder-working Stone, which at the same time is not a stone, which exists in every man, and may be found in its own place at all times…. It is called a stone, not because it is like a stone, but only because by virtue of its fixed nature, it resists the action of fire as successfully as any stone….If we say that its nature is spiritual, it would be no more than the truth; if we describe it as corporeal, the expression would be equally correct; for it is subtle, penetrative, glorified, spiritual gold. It is the noblest of all created things…it is a spirit or quintessence.”

A Short Guide to the Celestial Ruby, Philethes.

 

How long it takes to un-block our psychic anatomy for a more complete and harmonious functioning of the Secret Fire is unclear. It is stated that even the most advanced yogis require a minimum of three years of special practice for this to occur. Since that kind of training takes place under specialized and supervised conditions, it can be assumed that modern Western life requires more time, as well as self-reflection and referral, since the average Western occultist, be they kabbalist, alchemist, or both, will spend the majority of their time working alone or at best in occasional small groups.

Certain schools of yoga as well as kabbalah and Sufi practices view the heart as the center of the individual universe, and the most important of all psychic centers. By opening the heart, we gain access to our Interior Master, or Holy Guardian Angel (messenger),characterized by a strong manifestation of intuition. This is the final resting place for the Serpents Tongue after its ascent over the skull, and as Boehme and Hermetic imagery have shown, the “Heart girt with a serpent” is the ideal to which mystics aspire.

As one yogi put it, we approach the “Big King” first, and allow him to direct the activities of the serpent – language not unfamiliar to Hermeticists.

 

“For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29

While alchemy, kabbalah, and astrology have been homogenized in modern esoteric practices to create an almost seamless synthesis, this is not true of earlier periods. Traditionally, alchemy and astrology played almost no role in Jewish kabbalah[5], and while it has been put forward that may Jews were alchemists, and some great alchemists possibly Jews[6], no manuscripts of Jewish alchemical practices seem to exist in any great number. Even the most famed Esch M’saref, or “The Refiner’s Fire”, is a compilation of material, focusing mainly on gematria, and not a ‘chemical’ work in itself.

Early kabbalists imagined creation taking place in several stages, from which was generated the anthropomorphic image of the ‘primordial man’, or Adam Kadmon. This ‘first man’ was imagined as being crated out of the four-letters of the Divine Name stacked one on top of the other. Yod was the head, Heh, the arms and shoulders, Vau, the spine and sexual organs, and the final Heh, the hips and legs. A host of attributes and qualities came to be associated with each letter, and as a whole, it formed its own school of kabbalistic meditation. By adding other letters, altering combinations, and substituting letters based on numerological equivalents, additional Divine Names, names of archangels, angels, and other spiritual beings were generated.

The oral tradition of Adam Kadmon is similar to that of the Egyptian god Osiris, in that Osiris was dismembered and reconstructed, while Adam “Fell” to pieces, and it is the work of the kabbalist to reconstruct the Original Adam. Each of us is said to be a piece of this original soul, and it is our purpose to find our place in Creation, via kabbalistic methods.

 

The idea of Secret Fire in initiatic psycho-alchemical texts such as The Most Holy Trinsophia (Three Fold Wisdom)[7] illustrate the point of hidden fire, associated with volcanic power, and under the influence of Venus. Works such as this bear a strong resemblance to alchemical-kabbalistic texts, and either use mystical symbolism of these esoteric schools, or such symbols are used to interpret the texts meaning.

In the text, Saint-Germian reportedly recounts the details of his initiation through the twelve degrees of Cosmic Consciousness. The use of earthly fire in the form of volcanic eruptions, lava, and seas of flame symbolize the presence of an underlying matrix of living energy that pervades material and non-material creation, uniting and constantly renewing it through what can be seen as violent activity.

La Tres Sainte Trinsophie is comprised of twelve sections, each with its own illustration. The most obvious alignment that can be seen, is between the twelve sections, the zodiac, and the stages of alchemy. It can also be suggested, for our considerations, the seven major and five minor psychic centers.

The story begins with Saint-Germain on the lava beds of Vesuvius, later he passes an alter on which is a cup, with a winger serpent intertwined around it twelve times. Saint-Germain then enters into a vast realm of fire, in the midst of which is a greenish-gold serpent with ruby eyes which he must dominate with a sword, the symbol of an enlightened will. With this act, anger, hate, and pride are cast out of his consciousness, and the senses are brought under direction.

In one of the scenes depicted, Saint-Germain is in front of a triangular alter with an elaborate candlestick . It’s base if formed out of two intertwined serpents and terminates at a lotus, with the taper placed in the center. Two inscribed panels accompany the illustration. The first one reads: “To the strong is given the burden” and the second, “Kindle a fire upon the high place that the sacrifice may be borne upward to the Desired One.” The final illustration shows the heavens ablaze with light and a triangle surrounded by a square and circle. The initiate, here Saint-Germain, is accompanied by Isis Revealed, the goddess of life and Nature.

The pictures described illustrate that even at the end of the Illuminist era, classical alchemical and kabbalistic symbolism was in widespread use by esotericists. However, its direction was changed from classical, or laboratory alchemy, to ‘philosophic’ or ‘spiritual’ alchemy. Just as kabbalah had undergone a radical transformation at the hands of alchemists and Christian mystics, alchemy itself had also changed. While such manuscripts may be of dubious value for practical laboratory work, fortunately, they still are of value for interior spiritual initiation – an initiation that only the Secret Fire can bring.

 

 

The Middle Pillar

The Middle Pillar is a well known exercise to almost every student of magic. The details of the exercise are clearly outlined in Israel Regardie’s book of same name, and will not be gone into here. Instead, exposition of those point relevant to the Secret Fire will be outlined. These points are:

The establishment of Malkooth.

Circulation of the Light

The Fountain of Light

Malkooth as Kether

Relationship of Tiphareth to Malkooth and Kether

Secondary considerations will be paid to:

The Ritual of the Pentagram

The Ritual of the Hexagram

 

Establishing Malkooth

Malkooth or ‘Kingdom’ is a complex sphere in that it represents several broad concepts simultaneously. It is at once, our feet when the Tree of Life is projected on the human frame (and the knees and base of spine when seated or kneeling); all solid matter, earth, and all material creation. It is our bones, and the marrow they contain is a personal aspect of the Secret Fire. It is important that we have a strong sense of foundation when we talk about Earth and Malkooth, so that in meditation we can remain grounded and secure. The stronger our sense of connection to the earth and our bodies we have, the more energy we can generate and the easier it will be to direct it. It is analogous to trying to build a skyscraper on a poured slab concrete for a foundation verses a four-story subbasement. The better the foundation, the stronger the structure.

Since the Secret Fire is hidden in the Earth, it is good to spend some time, even several years, working through the details of the Pentagram rituals. Cleansing, harmonizing, projecting, and withdrawing the energy represented there into yourself and surrounding area. The North is an especially important area for concentration, in that it is Earth of Earth, and is our hidden gateway to the Secret Fire. Buried in the solid nature of matter, is a underlying vibrant energy that is continually pulsating, giving rise to form and life, and turning energy in matter and matter into energy. This underlying nature is illustrated in , the Sign of Taurus, the zodiacal sigil given to the North. In it we see the Moon crowning a circle with a dot in the center, or the Sun. This combined lunar-solar sign for earthly nature points to the theory that all matter is simply condensed sun light, or hidden fire.

By associating the heaviness of Earth and the underlying heat it contains (the molten, volcanic core) with our feet, knees, and base of spine (and eventually our whole skeletal system), we can begin to experience the literal network creation is formed from. This imagery is reinforced by the statement that Malkooth and Kether are one. By imaging that an unlimited stream of energy is pulsating into and out of creation from the Ain Soph Aur at Kether, and then imaging the same for material creation as you envision it, at Malkooth. All to often the spheres are imagined as being static beings or states, when nothing is farther from the truth. They are alive, dynamic, and constantly interacting with each other and the energy-matter matrix. This interaction is most clearly seen on the Middle Pillar and the central spheres.

 

Kether-Tiphareth-Malkooth Triad

In Western and some Eastern esoteric practices, all exercises begin with a drawing down of energy from the Crown, or Kether. This is done because Kether, is on the edge of “non-existence” draws energy into and out of being. This energy is then regulated, until it becomes manageable by our human consciousness, said to be somewhere around Chesed, on the Cosmic scale of things.

On the personal level, Kether, or our personal Crown, regulates the flow of energy into and out of our bodies. We then direct this energy through our brain and nervous system, until it becomes manageable by our consciousness. Just as Kether is the bridge between Being and Non-Being on the Cosmic Scale, our personal Kether is the bridge between energy and matter. In our personal being, this is the pineal gland.

Malkooth is the final condensing of these Cosmic forces, and on the Cosmic Scale is all of material creation. On our personal level, it our physical bodies, and as an intermediary, the environment we live and move in with others. Since Malkooth is a World, that of Asssiah, as well as a Sphere, it has its own “Kether aspect” or ability to create matter that goes from the most dense to most subtle. These subtler forms of matter border on their own realm of “Non-Being” or that which crosses over from the purely material to the psychic. In our bodies this would be the prostate and sexual glands, perineum, and base of the spine.

The meeting place for these two polar aspects of our being and creation, is in the Heart Center, or Tiphareth. Here, all of creation is harmonized and brought into a state of dynamic tension and vitality around an intelligent center. This intelligence direct the other aspect of creation so that they work in harmony with one another for the good of all. This is our heart pumping blood to all of our organs, our pituitary gland, or “Master Gland” giving directions to all of our endocrine system, our Solar Plexus, regulating nerve energy in general; and the nucleus of each atom, cell, or the Sun in our solar system.

In its role of chief mediator of forces, Tiphareth is constantly sending vital energy to all area of creation, and transmitting energy from the Crown, or highest abstract realms, to Malkooth, or the densist levels of matter. It in many ways, is the regulator of this energy to such s degree, that it can be said that matter itself is actually made by Tiphareth. In physical terms this means that all matter is nothing but condensed light energy. In personal terms, its means that our bodies and environment are the creation of our deepest held thoughts.

To help develop a more conscious and functional relationship between these three centers of energy-matter-consciousness exchange, the following exercise is suggested:

Imagine a brilliant sphere of Light with a binding, almost point black center, just above or touching the top of your head. Inhale, drawing down a shaft of this sphere into your Heart. Exhale, sending the shaft of light through your body and legs out the soles of your feet, into the molten center of the Earth. Inhale again, visualizing the fiery energy of this Center of the Earth moving up in a golden reddish stream to your Heart. Hold it, energizing the heart in brilliant light. Exhale, seeing the light expand in heat, light, life energy, and power.

It is important at this point, that the energy not only be coordinated with the inhalation, but be ‘breathed up’ from the earth and not forced. This can be done by imagining a strong, flexible, hollow tube or canal running from the center of the earth, or feet, to the heart center. The energy can also be imagined running up the feet, as a pulse, entering the spinal column, and focusing energizing the heart area.

Imagine after a period of time, that it is in the heart of the universe, and the adept, that matter and energy meet and are created.

Just as our ‘heart felt’ feelings direct the limitless energy of Kether into manifestation, so do they direct manifestation back to Kether, or elsewhere, if we desire.

It is very important that the heart not be overheated, and that the energy once accumulated be circulated or discharged in some fashion. This can be into a talisman, a healing treatment, or into a glass of cold water which is then consumed. It can also be discharged out the solar plexus as a general circulation to the rest of the aura.

In addition, the vowel sounds associated with the Rose+Cross ritual, or A.I.O. may be intoned after competency in the basic techniques gave been acquired. First, practice intoning the sounds as a single breath, resonating from the center of your heart. After a while, begin splitting the sounds so that A resonates with the head; I with the heart; and O with the Solar plexus. After a period of time, move the O sound down to the perineum where it will have a stranger affect on the ‘Malkooth’ sphere(s). [8]

Substantial resonating of the sounds in the perineum will open up 12 different channels that link the spine to the legs, knees, and feet, uniting these various ‘functional’ Malkooths. It also effects the prostrate gland in men.

 

Yesod- Link Between the Selves

Yesod sits astride the gateway to the invisible, and is the repository for all that ascends and descends into manifestation. It represents several key elements of our being, including our nervous system and brain; psychic centers; unconscious yearnings and desires; and locus of memory. Through its sometimes dark and troubling, but always powerful waters, we can come into direct contact with our Holy Guardian Angel in Tipahreth. By imagining Yesod as a gateway that reflects up as well as down, we can learn to direct our psychic energies in either direction. This way, Yesod is more than just a doorway which we knock at and hope something is thrown out to us, but instead is a portal we can move through and exist consciously. While much of this early expansion will take place in dream states, such as lucid dreaming, and spontaneous astral projection, eventually a greater degree of control will emerge, in which consciousness is projected willfully and returns with full memory of its experiences.

This state can be quicken though, by reinforcing Yesods link to Malkooth (for memory) and Tiphareth (willed consciousness). The following exercises are designed with these two goals in mind.

After performing the Middle Pillar, focus your attention on Yesod. Imagine it as a large sphere extending to the edges of your expanded aura, violet in color. Shrink it back to normal size and then imagine all of your physical energy, in malkooth, and through out your body, is moving up toward Yesod. This is your ability to move, manifest, and create in the material world. Imagine the spheres merge and become harmonious. Now, pull it up even further to Tiphareth, and bath the combined material and psychic-sexual energy of Yesod in the golden light of Tiphareth, and feel the three merge into one. After several minutes project them back to their original positions.

Imagine the light of Yesod as being simultaneously dual in nature, reflecting up toward Tiphareth and down toward Malkooth.

Move to Tiphareth and do the same, imagine its light reflecting down toward Yesod, and up toward Kether, the source of all energy.

Imagine the Elements as pure and perfect ideas, emanating from Tiphareth through a clear field of Yesod, and condensing into matter. Imagine your thoughts as pure and perfect ideas, being projected from your heart, with the combined sexual-creative energy of Yesod, into manifestation in malkooth.

Imagine the pure light and energy of Kether above your head, becoming accessible in Tiphareth, your heart, and manifesting as pure creations in Malkooth, beneath your feet. Feel the energy reverse this process, going from hard, cold, dense matter, to abstract energy forms, to pure, undifferentiated energy. In addition, the Clavis Rea Formula can be an effective illustrator of this point.

Circulation of the Light, after the establishment of the spheres should be vivid, clear, and deep in the body as well as extended out form it. This can be done is phases, with the first phases working gently on the outside, forming broad bands of light, and increasing in density and power as they begin to reach deep below the surface of the tissue, to the bones themselves. This helps to anchor the power in the body, while expanding and clearing the aura. At all times, the energy should be palpable.

The Fountain of Light should move through the spinal column slowly at first, and with greater intensity and speed as experience progresses. The burst should be lively and bright, with a clear fluid like flame coursing around the edges of the expanded aura, at a radius of three to four feet on all sides. Lose your self in the flow of energy, as it passes through your body, out your head, into your feet, up your legs, purifying and energyzing as it goes.

At the conclusion of the exercise, you may withdraw the energy into the sub-epidermal layer of your body, feeling it strengthen and energize the tissue, sinking into the bones and purifying the marrow, an essential element in long life and strong bones. This should also be done along the spinal cord, imagining that the soft tissue between the vertebrae are packed with energy and the nerve connections are strong and vital.

 

The Rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram

The rituals of the Pentagram re use for directing the principle Elements of the material world (Assiah), matter-energy matrix closest to our consciousness, and the outer-materially directed personality of this incarnation. It is through directing and purifying to some degree these Elements, that we can begin to turn our attention inward and have the Vision of our Higher Self, or Holy Guardian Angel, that exists in Kether, communicated with in Tiphareth, and reflected to us in the subconscious of Yesod.

The ego, or self-created image of self in relation to

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