ASTRAL

I i ;!i:

411
":;)'r DOORWAYS
by

J.H. BREi.{I{AN

THE AQUARIAN PRES,S

Wellingborough, North amptonshire

ffi
Frontispiece. A Bronze Age monolith in Co. I(ildare, Ireland,
focus of the spectacular exercise in psychornetry describecl in Chapter 4
 First published February 1.971,
Second Impression June 1.972
Third Impression March 1,975
CONTENTS

CFIAPTER, Page
r. Understanding the futral I
z. A Pathway to the Doors II
3. The Ultimate Protection r9
4. The Elemental Doorways z6
5. The Visions and the Dreams 34
6. The Tarot Doorways 43
7. The Qrbalistic Doorways 49
8. The Oriental Doorways 58
9. Hypnosis and the Astral 65
ro. The Hypno-Astral Experience 73
o J.H.BRENNAN 1971 rr. The Objective Astral 8o
rz. futral Entities 88
13. Heightening the Astral Experience 92
14. Astral Gedo IOI
Appendix One ro6
Appendix Tuo IIO
AII rightsreserued. No part of this publication may be Appendh Three t12
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, Appnd,ix Four II4
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, re-
cording, or any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the pub-
lisher.

rsBN 0 85030 075 4 (UK)

rsBN0877281750(USA)
Printed in Great Britain by
Whitstable Litho Limited, whitstable
Kent
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Page

Frontispiece.A Bronze Age monolith in Co. Kildare, Ireland,

focus ofthe spectacular exercise in psychometry described
in Chapter 4
Fig. r. Relation of Self to the physical and mental worlds 4
Fig. z. futral Plane in touch with all parts of the mind 6
Fig. g. The Pentagram 22
Fig. +. The Tattva Symbols 3o
Fig. S. Altar and winged figures seen by Nick Van Vliet on
his second astral iourney 39
Fig. 6. The Tree of Life 5o
Fig. Z. The sixty-four hexagtams of I Ching 6z
Fig. 8. The Astral Plane touching on physical and mental
levels 8r
Fig. g. The Four Planes 85

Frontispiece phuograph and illustrations by Brmdan P. Carelt

vlr
 WARNING CIIAPTER ONE

Several techniques outlined in this book UNDERSTANDING THE ASTRAL

are dangerous. Readers are advised to
take this fiact into consideration before 'The composite form of the sphinx also represents by
attempting to experiment with aryt of hieroglyphical analogy the four properties of the universal
the Doorways. agent, that is to say, the Astral Light--dissolving, coagulating,
heating and cooling. These four properties, directed by the
will of man, can modify all phases of Nature, producing life
or death, health or disease, love or hatred, wealth even or
poverty, in accordance with the given impulsion.'-Eliphas
L6i: Tlu Historyr of Mogic.

It took me more than ten years to find out what that meant. Occult
grimoires are packed with references to the Astral Plane--or Astral
Light, as L€vi calls it-but lucid definitions are few and far between.
The descriptions are tempting. Although abhorred by the mystic,
who sees it as a diversion from spiritual development, the Asral
Plane holds many rewards for the magician. On it he will find the
visions of Time Past and Time To Come. On it he will find the
gods and the demons, the sylphs and the salamanders, the arch-
angels and the elementals. On it he will find the secret of power, the
key-as Ldvi intimates-to the production of miraculous effects on
the physical plane.
All this and more . . . provided he can reach the Astral Plane
itself.
At first, I thought of the Astral Plane as a parallel Space/Time
continuum. The idea was heavily influenced by sciencefiction and,
in retrospect, contained a germ of truth. But it was not the whole
uuth; not even a good approximation of the whole truth.
Later, it seemed the Plane must be Time, considered as a fourth
dimension. That idea came from Ouspensky, who argued that a
thrcedimensional creature operating in a two-dimensional world
must produce miraculous effece. It might, for instance, escape from
vlrt
2 ASTRAL DOORWAYS UNDERSTANDING THE ASTRAL 3
the 'walls' of a square by stepping over them. From a two-dimcn- Zen Buddhists in Japan and the Sufis of the Middle East pay
sional viewpoint, with no conception of height, a miracle would more attention to the essential Self.
have occurred. Perhaps then miracles in the threedimensional In preliminary training, a Sufi Adept might place a lighted
world are simply manifestations of a fourth dimension, imperfectly candle beneath your hand. 'What did I do then ?' he asks as you
experienced as Time. snatch your hand away.
Could this Fourth Dimension be the Astral Plane ? I thought so 'You burned me!'
for a while, but the descriptions never really added up. But with Oriental patience he will explain that he did not burn
The use of the word 'astral' in occult literature never really added you. Bec,ause your body is not you, not the essential you.
up either. It became obvious that the term had more than one If the painful experiment is repeated, you might be tempted to
meaning. Muldoon's 'Astral Body'* for instance, had no real reply that he burned your hand. But this, on reflection, is not true
connection with the Astral Plane. His meanderings had really taken either. The hand is not a parit of 1ou, just something you can use.
place in the Etheric Body, which was something else again. Although distinctly wearing on the pupil, this approach is useful.
It occurred to me eventually that the Astral Plane wes not a For it demonstrates in a dramatic way the possibility of arriving at
placeone reason why magicians like L6vi prefer the expression the Self by eliminating what the Self is not.
Astral Light. Yet thinking of the Astral as a condition had its You are not, as we have seen your body. That is merely some-
drawbacks too. All the descriptions seemed exactly like a place. thing that carries you around. So forget it for the moment.
In London, seeking membership of an occult Fraternity, I put Are you then a mind ? This is closer, but not close enough. For
the question to one I thought should know. He told me 'Astral 'mind' can cover much more than the essential you.
Plane' was an old term for the realm of the visual imagination. Thoughts, for instance, are a part of mind. Yet you are not your
Years later, I was to say the same thing to a fellow student. Shc thoughts. They change every waking moment. You remain. Joyce
frowned and said it could not be: the answer was too simple. My showed it possible to observe the stream of consciousness. You are
own reaction was similar. To describe the Astral Plane as the stuff the observer, not the stream.
of daydreams seemed almost an insult to the grimoires. You are not your emotions, although emotions may sometimes
But my mentor was right and I was wrong. My problem was overwhelm you. Emotions are as transient as thoughts. The real you
superficial understanding. Like most people, I equated imagination is not transient.
with unreality. You are not your memories. For these will fade while you remain.
Undersanding is far from easy and I apologize in advance should You are not your personality. For your personality differs now from
some readers find the next few pages obscure. The remainder of your personality at the age of three. Yet the essential you remains.
the book is less so, I assure them. But it is based on the ideas I am It is, in theory, possible to suffer from amnesia, blindness, deaf-
about to give, so they will rcpay t little extra concentration now. ness, lack of taste and touch and smell, to paralyse the body, stop
I found the best way to approach the problem was first to analyse the stream of consciousness and still remain . . . yourself.
exacdy wheor what-we are. Once you grasp this idea, you have come to a negative understand-
The exercise is seldom carried out. The everage rian rcceprc ing of the essential Self. A Zen Master would go further, equating
himself without examination. He is a body and o mind. His ultimatc this persistent kernel with the ALL. But you :re not yet ready for
nature is a mystery because he seldom feels the urge to think about it. that step.
I Yi&: Tlu Projectin of tlu Astrol Body by Muldoon rnd Clrrington. Ridc, 1929. You are, however, ready for a fresh understanding of your mind
4 ASTR.rq,L DO0RWAYS UNDERSTANDING THE ASTRAL 5

and your environment. You ffiay, in fact, be ready for a fresh look awareness, the conscious thoughts and feelings. Next your personal
at the meaning of Reality. But the dreadful earnestness of your subconscious, the Freudian reservoir of buried memories and
position need not frighten you too much. experiences. Beyond that, the Collective Unconscious, a psychic
I would refer you now to the diagrarn marked F-ig. One. expression of the basic brain, accessible only by means of symbols.
And beyond that, the Mind's Antipodes.
Both arms of the diagram are open-ended. Neither the totality
mental world world of the universe nor the totality of the mind is known to Man.
A diagram like this has limitations. It cannot show, for instance,
how mind appears to interpenetrate with matter. But it can express
a basic truth: that Self is poised between the worlds of matter and
of mind and that both worlds are distinct and real.
Examination of the picture shows your experience of the physical
plane is strictly limited. So too is your awareness of the mental
realrn. But techniques exist to extend inner awareness. That is what
this book is all about.
And that is where the Astral Plane comes in.
Now please examine the diagram marked Fig. Two.
The black area added to the basic diagram represents the Astral
Plane. It extends from the Self and touches all parts of the mind.
Consider the area as a fluid medium, reacting to the psychic forces
underneath. Thoughts become pictures. Abstractions become
symbols. Emotions become the driving forces behind them.
If you sprinkle fine sand on a metal plate and sound a note
Fig. r. Relation of Self to the physical and mental worlds directly underneath, the sound waves produce patterns in the sand.
The Astral Plane works in much the same way. But here it is
Take the dividing line marked 'Self'as the essential you" psychic forces which build up the patterns.
To the right of that line extends the physical world, shaded to The most common form of Astral operation is the day-dream.
show its various gradations. First your body, the most immediate Your immediate thoughts are brought alive, as a playwright's words
point of contact with the Self. Then your immediate environrnent, come alive on stage. You see the thoughts as pictures, rather than
perhaps the room in which you now sit reading. Next, an inter- hearing them as words. And you have a more or less conscious
mediate environment-still 'yours' in a sense-your towtt, your control of what is going on.
country and the different countries you know at first hand. Beyond But as you travel filrther into the Astral, control becomes less
that the world, familiar only at second-hand through books and secure. tlnconscious forces shape the imaginary environment.
travellers' tales. And beyond the world, the universe. Symbols take on a life of their own.
To the left extends your mind. First your present personality, the At the same time, the Self gradually loses touch with the physical
inner mask on the essential Self. Then your immediate area of world. Awareness becomes increasingly confined to the Astral.
 ASTRAL DOORWAYS UNDERSTANDII{G THE ASTRAL
Words like 'travel' and 'environment' follow from the diagram.
But this is not the only reason why they are used. Subiectively, an
self Astral trip has all the earmarks of a journey. It is only from the
mental world physical world outside that the Plane appears a state of consciousness.
Once awareness of the physical is lost, the inner landscape takes
on reality tone, becomes environment in every sense of the word.
The most familiar example of this is dreaming. Dreams are a
function of the Astral Plane. Their chaotic nature springs from the
fact that discrimination and control are usually relaxed in sleep.
The unconscious forces are allowed full play. Illogical associations
produce illogical dramas.
There is a subtle shade of difference between a sleeping dream
and trance-state vision. Trance vision can produce scenes just as
bizarre as any dream. The fluid feel, with one scene melting into
another, is often there as well. But in a vision, the subject recognizes
the strangeness. In a dream this is simply accepted.
For years I assumed everyone had access to the Astral Flane:
even if they seldom went further than day-dreaming. Then, to my
utter astonishment, I discovered my wife could not make the
simplest mental pictures.
In view of this, there is a possibility that some readers may share
her difficulty. Practice may solve the problem: it did for my wife.
In the meantime I had better mention that on the Astral, other
senses besides sight appear to function. Of these, sight seems the
most widely developed. Next comes hearing, then taste, touch and
finally smell. Smell, for some reason, tends to be the least developed
and a number of people who experience quite vivid visions in other
respects find this sense absent.
Outside of trance, which usually calls for special techniques, the
degree of reality tone varies from person to person. But here again
practice leads to a distinct improvement. In the next chapter there
are a few simple exercises which-with regular practice-will speed
this improvement. Although many readers will not need them, for
Fig. z. futral Plane in touch with all parts of the mind others they are the first step towards using the Astral Doorways.
There is a warning printed on the first page of this book. By now
you may be temptcd to ignore it. Because by now you qrn see the
8 esrRAL DooRwAYs UNDERSTANDING THE ASTRAL

Astral Plane is a level of the mind. Western culture being what it is, function suffers. At best there is a decline in your efficiency. At
all inner worlds are thought of as somehow unreal. They are onlt worst you are knocked down by a bus.
imagination and really not worth bothering about. They ue on[t Because of this, Astral journeys should be limited and, above all,
imagination, so they can't do any harm. clearly defined. You must set a beginning and an ending to each
This sort of attitude is a common mistake. It is also a very one. Set them distinctly and stick to them. There are routines
dangerous mistake if you intend to use the Doorways. associated with the use of the Doorways which will help you here.
The Astral Plane is certainly imagination. But I would disagree Use them from the beginning. If you train yourself in good habits
strongly with that word 'only.' The inner worlds te real by any while working with the subiective Astral, there is a lot less chance
reasonable definition. Your psyche exists as a fact of life. It can't of trouble when you move into the objective (trance) sphere.
be measured by physical instruments any more than the physical But fascination is not the only danger. Any reader with experience
world can be examined through psychological techniques. But it is of mental illness knows the strength of psychic forces. On some
there.You are aware of it. And you are influenced by it. levels of the Astral, these forces are met head on. The effect on an
It is the extent of this influence that makes the psyche so impor- unprepared personality can be staggering. Dream deaths have
tant. Its forces can produce an ulcer. Or, channelled into enthusiasm actually been recorded in the Philippines.
for work, produce money in the bank. With dangers like this, you might now ask why anyone should
These things are too familiar to be impressive. But the picture venture deep into the Astral at all. You will find part of the answer
becomes more dramatic when you consider the rise of Hitler. This in Hunt's famous observation about Everest: because it is there.
insignificant, poorly-educated little rnan was dominated by inner You will find another part in Jung's writings about the creative
forces. They drove him to take over most of Europe. imagination. This is a technique strikingly similar to some forms
Energies powerful enough to produce such effects deserve of Astral working and one which leads to very considerable psycho-
respect. logical benefits.
Energy is the keyword of the psyche. It is only on the Astral And you will find a further part of the answer in the quotation
Plane that these energies take on form. But the transformation does which began this chapter. To the old French magus' L6vi, the
not always mean a decrease of power. And that is something to be Astral Plane held out the promise of remarkable power over the
borne in mind. physical world. Whether you believe that promise is a matter for
In practical terms, the first problem you will meet is fascination. yourself.
A whole new world opens up beyond the Doorways. You have a By now you should have some idea what the Astral Plane is all
natural urge to explore it as fully as possible. It is big enough to about. But before preparing you for your first trip, I had bener
bring you novelty on every trip. Acres ofthe real estate arelours- make some mention of the Astral Body.
probably far more thon you own in the physical world. So you can Earlier, I made the point that the Astral and Etheric Bodies are
explore for years without once leaving your own demesne. often confused. This is not entirely a question of semantics. The
All these factors add up to an interest which can easily get out of real Astral Body can do most things the Etheric can do; and a lot
control. Your friends will noticc the result before you do. They will of things it cannot. That is to say the Astral Body can function on
say you have become moody or dreamy. They are right. For you are the physical plane.
continually yielding to the temptation to wander on the Astral Before going any further into this, I had better define my terms.
Plane. And while your attention is fixed there, physical plane The Etheric Body is something you are equipped with in the

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 IO ASTRAL DOORWAYS
natural course of things. Although intangible, it belongs to the
physical plane. It is somerimes described as being coniposed of
finer matter. Other schools of thought hold it is a grid of for"e, CHAPTER TWO
possibly similar to electricity.
is a:nirror image of your physical body and usually coincides A PATHWAY TO THE DOORS
.TI
with it. But in certain circumstances ir can be projected out of the
physical. When this happens, it can crrty yout consciousness
'Do not say: "Oh, it's only imagination!" The time to test
vi{ually anywhere on the physical plane. that is later on . . .'-Aleister Crowley: Magick in Theoryt and'
. 9u, it cannot carry you into the inner worlds any more than your
body can walk into a dream.
Practice.

_ .Your.Ar-Tll Body-sometimes called Desire Body or Body of In the advertising business, many men and women are employed as
Light-is different. visualizers. Such iobs are generally well-paid. Most of those who
First, its natural home is the left arm of our diagram. Its com- hold them have a talent for design and graphics. But basically they
ponent elements are mind-stuff lts form is whai you make it, earn their salaries through an ability to see clearly in their minds
-Desire
consciously or unconsciously. In other words, your Body how a finished advertisement will look.
gn !" anything you desire. The only limitation is your talent for With the exception of a few people like my wife, the ability to
shaping the Astral forces. should thiJ talent be llcking, it will tend create mental pictures is widespread. Not so the ability to see them
to build itself in conformitywith your inner nature. Fiequently the clearfu. Most day-drelms are fragile things. They are flat and hazy,
rezults are startling. Often they are far from flattering. like an out-of-focus photograph. Their colours are anaemic pastels.
For the average man, the Astral Body is used only-on the Astral This is a situation you will have to change if you want to make a
_-
Plane. But the trained occultist can usi it on the physical as well. reasonable exploration of the futral Plane. Your mental pictures
The nature of the Astral Body does not change. natnir it is .super- must become crisp and clear. Their colours must be vital and
imposed'on the physical world. The techniqie for doing this bears alive.
no relation to futral journeys or operation br the Dooiways. It is And when this is achieved, you must go further. You must develop
given later as a curiosity, but you will almost certainly find it the ability to imagine sounds and smells, tastes and sensations. The
extremely difficult to master. better you can do this, the more rewarding will your trips become.
The Doorways, as you will see, are easier. It is also important to develop concentration. Use of the Doorways
calls for the ability to keep your mind fixed on one thing for a
given time. The period is seldom short. So without @ncentration,
the Doorways remain closed.
It is perfectly possible to develop concentration and visualization
ability at the same time. Both tend to grow out of the exercise given
in this chapter. But the ability to concentrate is such a worthwhile
talent in every walk of life that I intend to give some hints on its
separate development. Despite the fact that these ere not directly
related to Astral operations, you will find it very useful to train
II
12 ASTRAL DOORWAYS A PATHWAY TO THE DOORS r3

yourself in these techniques before moving on to visualization It will help to form the habit if you practise at the same time every-
exercises. day. Try trot to fool yourself that this is impossible because of
You probably feel you concentrate quite well. A lot of people do. buiiness or social commitments. Set the alarm clock fifteen minutes
There is, however, a simple test to help you find out how you rate. earlier and use the time to practice. Better concentration will more
Remember, concentration is the ability to keep your mind fixed than make up for the sleep you lose.
on one thing to the exclusion of all other thoughts. Now try the There is another reason for choosing early morning to practise.
test. Your mind will put up massive resistance to training. You will find
Pick a comfortable chair in quiet surroundings where you are yourself with J wealth of 'reasons' why you should give your
unlikely to be disturbed. Sit back, relax and close your eyes. Now toncentration period a miss just this one time. This resistance is a
mentally begin to count. You must do nothing else but count. good deal hardir to fight in the evening when you are tired than in
Your whole attention must be on the numbers. the morning when you are fresh.
Observe yourself very carefully as you try this test. The instant And if yJu happin to be the first member of your family out-of
any outside thought comes into your mind, stop counting. bed, theri is obviously less chance that you will be disturbed by
How did you score I Unless you have a trained mind, the results others. The same holds good for other sources of disturbance such
of this test are usually surprising. With most people, counting stops as phone calls.
at four or five. Only a few rare individuals can get as high as ten. Once you have settled on the time and place, your next step is to
Anything beyond fifteen or twenty seems completely impossible. rehx. Despite the common picture of straining intensity and
The most common trap is some thought such as, 'This is too furrowed bto*s, concentration comes easiest in a relaxed state.
easy.' But once the thought arises, you have stopped concentrating You are setting out on a mental exercise and want no distractions
on your test. Another subtle trap arises with the thought 'How well from your body. Ifyou have a headache, take an aspirin. Ifyou are
I'm doing.' If you avoided both, chances are you succumbed to uncomfortable, taketime to get comfortable. Then let your muscles
boredom. Your concentration was broken by the thought, 'Well, relax. Your body won't disturb you if it is limp. And afterwards you
this is a silly test anyway: I don't need to do it to prove I can will finish the exercise feeling fresh.
concenttate.t At first your best course is to take a subiect and concentrate on
Yet the simple fact is, few people can concentrate fully even for the train oi thought arising from it. Don't force anything. Hold the
five minutes at a time. If they could, the average score in this test subject in your mind and let your thoughts revolve around it. This
would be well up in the hundreds. is a form oi meditation and the information that arises can be useful
Oriental Yogis develop the ability to hold one thought in their in itself.
minds for hours on end. You will not need to go that far for present You will soon find that, like the counting test' this exercise is
purposes. But unless your concentration is far above average for not nearly so easy as it sounds. Other thoughts creep in. Distur-
the West, you will have to do something about improving it before bances occur.This happens to everyone at first and should not worry
you can make much use of the Doorways. you.
' It is a sound idea to make a written note of each break in the
A good way to start is to set aside a period for practice every day.
This need not-and, in fact, should, not-be more than fifteen train of thought as it occurs. A simple tick under headings such as
minutes, but regularity of practice is absolutely vital. C,oncentration 'Mind Wandering','Noises' and'Other Breaks' will do.
is a habit. The only way to develop a habit is to keep at it. Such a record-gives you a basis for future comparison. It will
t4 ASTRAL DOORWAYS A PATHWAY TO THE DOORS r5

mean you can tell at a glance how your concentration has improved twenty-minute period. To do so will not mean faster progress.
as the weeks go by. These exercises, simple as they are, represent your first deliberate
Do not expect quick results. You are, to put it bluntly, in the contact with the Astral Plane. My earlier remarks about fascination
same position as a fat and flabby businessman starting on a muscle- are just as relevant now as they will be later.
building course. The mental muscles take iust as much time to You will reap no benefits from driving yourself. Work regularly
develop. at your own rate. There is lots of time. Don't spend /ess than two
But as the weela go by, you will notice an improvement. Eventu- weiks on any exercise, no matter how easy you find it. But don't
ally you will be able to get through the entire fifteen-minute period worry if you have to spend more than two weeks: with some exer-
with very few breaks: or none at all. At this stage increase the time cises much more. Youcan only develop in your own time and the
allowed to twenty minutes and move on to your first visualization results will be worth the wait.
exerclse. Your next exercise may seem a big step from simple geometrical
It is best to start with something simple. For the first two weeks, figures. But there is every chance you will actually find it easier.
stick to basic geometrical shapes such as a square, a circle or a This is partially because of the practice you had with the first
triangle. Pick one, shut your eyes and try to piaure it in your mind. exercise and partially because the new subject is much more
Again, don't try to force yourself. And don't despair if things are *tllil*"
slow at first. Try drawing the shape on a piece of paper beforehand and relax as before. Take a good look round the room.
and looking at it just before you close your eyes. Then shut your eyes and try to visualize it.
Towards the end of the second week, when you have made After a minute or so, bpen your eyes again and check on the
some progtess in visualizing single shapes, try visualiuing two at accuracyofyour mental picture.
once. This exertise is tied in closely with your powers of observation.
fu you did during your concentration exercises, make a note of You may be very surprised at how much you will forget in the
any special difficulties. Again, these notes will be useful as a record instant between closing your eyes and beginning to visualize.
of your progess. Now close your eyes and try again.
Keep working with this exercise each ilay until you are proficient. It will probably be fairly easy--€ven at first-to visualize the
By this I mean that the mental picture of, let's say, the circle comcs broad outline. But you must try to do more than this. You must
to you quickly, clearly and easily. ettempt to fill in the various details. Again there is no need to hurry,
It is important that you see only what you want to see. If the no need to force yourself. The details will come in their own time.
circle becomes distorted, moves about, increases or deqcases in Initially it will be enough to visualize iust that part of the room
size while you are watching it with your mental eye, then you have you could see before you shut your eyes. Work at this until you
not yet obtained sufficient control of your mind. have filled in the finer details, including colours.
Should this exercise take more than a month of regular daily Once you have managed this, imagine yourself walking all around
practice, it may be that you are one of those rare individuals who the room, noting detail as you go along. Spend a few of your exer-
experience the most difficulty with simple shapes. cise periods doiig this in one diiection-only. That is to say, imagine
In that case, the ailtwer is to move on to the next exercise and yourlef startinglt the door and circling the room in a clockwise
return to the geometrical figures at a later date. direction until you are back at the door. Afterwards, check your
Under no circumstances should you attempt to increase the visualization by doing the same thing physically.
r6 ASTRAL DOORWAYS A PATHWAY TO THE DOORS r7
Getting the hang of this may take some time, but stick at it. Once proficiency is achieved, your next exercise is to make up a
Once the visualization has become strong and easy, try mentally story of your own. Don't worry too much about plot: that's some-
moving round the room in the opposite direction. Continue with thing best left to the professionals. But do try to build up a variety
this until you find it as easy to wander around the room in your of characters and scenes.
imagination as you do in your physical body. The characters should be imaginary, not people you know. It is
You may notice that in this exercise you consistently forget some also important that you should spend a little time working out your
object in tle room. Should this occur, it is often useful to try a story beforehand. Unless you do so, the exercise may well tail off
little self-analysis. Why should it be that one object which gives into an idle day-dream.
you trouble and not another ? What are your feelings towards it A slight, but real, danger may manifest about this stage. Some
generally I And why do you have these feelings ? You may find the individuals develop their powers of visualization to a very high
reason for your lapses of memory is some unpleasant association degree. Their pictures take on a distinct reality tone without any
with the obiect which you had consciously forgotten. question of trance arising.
Your next exercise is very similar to the last. Again it involves the It is obviously vital that no confusion should ever arise between
imaginary examination of a room. But this time choose one in some the inner and outer levels. To guard against this, most occultists
other part ofthe house. Treat it exactly as you treated the room in make use of a ritual gesture, designed to clearly mark the beginning
which you are sitting. and ending of each visualization session. Those of you with a
It is important that in none of these present exercises should you feligious turn of mind may wish to use the Sign of the Cross. For
visualize people: especially people you know. others simple gestures as if opening and closing a curtain will be
Once you'have established strong visualization of the new room, effective. The important thing is to make your gesture physically
try developing imaginary touch. Try to 'feel' the texture of the and to use it every time.
curtains, the surface of the table or whatever. Do this until the Your training, if faithfully carried out, will by this stage leave
sensation comes through strongly. you soundly equipped to make use of the Doorways. You should be
Your next step is again very similar. This time choose a room in able to make routine inspections of the Astral Plane and have even
the home of a friend. It should be a room quite well known to you gone some way towards laying a foundation for more complex
from visits. But it will obviously be less familiar than the rooms in operations such as Qrbalistic Path Working.
your own home. Treat this room the s:rme wey as the others, But it may be that you will want to go further. If so, the following
including the touch aspect. exercise, although extremely difficult to master, will pay dividends
With regular practice, your visualizations will havc become not in the future.
only more vivid but easier. You are now ready to tackle something For it, you return to geometrical figures, but this time in three
more complicated. dimensions. Start with a simple cube. Visualize it strongly and
Prepare for your next exercise by buying a book of short stories imagine yourself touching it. Feel the texture of its surface.
by some author you find particularly entertaining. Read one prior Now try to imagine how it looks from various angles. Do not
to your visualization period. Then try to 'see' the story ab it hap- confine yourself simply to walking round it, i$ you did with your
pened. Follow the characters through the various scenes in the imaginary rooms. Try to find novel viewpoints. You may, for
story. Build up their looks and mannerisms in as much detail as you instance, try seeing it from below. Or from above and a little to the
ctn manage. Try to hear the dialogue with the inner ear. right. Change your perspective often, so that in the end you can
I8 ASTRAL DOORWAYS
seethe cube from all angles as easily as if you were looking at a
physical solid.
This is not easy and the next stage is more difficult still. You O{APTER THREE
must try to visualize the whole cube at once. Try to see all six
sides simultaneously. Surround the entire solid with your Astral THE ULTIMATE PROTECTION
vision, so that while you view it from all angles it suffers no
distortion. 'O nobly-born, these realms are not come from somewhere
Only practice will help you manage this. Properly done, it is not outside thyselfl, They come from within the four divisions
so much a talent as a knack. In many ways it is like learning to ride of thy heart, which, including its centre, make the five
a bicycle or swing a golf club. One moment it seems impossible. directions, They issue from within there, and shine upon
The next you are doing it. thee. The deities, too, are not from somewhere else: they
The exercise is one that should not be carried to excess. Some exist from eternity within the faculties of thine own intellect.
people never master it. Those who do are advised to congratulate Know them to be of that nature.'-The Tibetan Booh of the
themselves, then stop. If praaised too long, the inherent paradox Dead.
in the experience can have a very disturbing effect on the mind.
Magic is like a diamond in a rubbish tip. You can certainly find
' something of value in the subject. But before you reach it, you will
come across a lot of iunk. Facing me as I write are a score of books
paclgd full of useless spells and conjurations. They promise the
world and deliver nothing. There is a hint of mania ibout them.
The Medieval grimoires especially seem to have been composed
exclusively by psychopaths.
The trouble with this is a lot of people miss the diamond for the
rubbish. Or, worse still, confuse the two.
_, Magrc is an inner science, an ancient system of psychology.
Viewed in this light, results follow. There is some evidence suggeit-
ing a parallelism between psychic processes and physical.events.
So a possibility exists that magic can influenc-e the physical
world.
But the devil won't appear to build cathedrals. No spell will
produce a rain of gold. These things are fairy-tales, not magic.
I
, am making this point because your ideas about magic have
1lm9st certainly been conditioned by fairy-tales. You grow up to
decide, regretfully, that magic will not work. When an occultist
claims magical results are possible, you require that he proves it
within your fairy-tale framework.
r9
20 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE ULTIMATE PROTECTION 2I

But if
proof is forthcoming, you can be sure you are watching Stand facing East. Visualize a sphere of white light immediately
clever conjuring not magic. above the crown ofyour head.
For centuries, the real magical techniques have been closely- Reach up with your right hand to touch this sphere. Bring
guarded secrets. The reason for this is the same reason that a warn- your right hand down to touch your forehead, at the same time
ing has been printed at the beginning of this book. The techniques visualizing a shaft of light being drawn down into your body. Say
are dangerous. 'Ateh.'
By an-d large the secrets were well-kept' But no system of security Bring your hand down to touch your breast, visualizing the
is completely watertight. Over the years some things leaked out: shaft of light extending through your body to your feet. Say,
ot *"ri disiovered independently. Hypnosis is one example. The 'Malkuth.'
psychological application of Alchemy is another. Touch your right shoulder, at which you visualize another sphere
' These subjecli, along with others such as telepathy, precognition of power. Say, 'Ve Geburah.'
and clairvoyance, are intelligently studied outside occult fraternities. Bring your hand across to touch your left shoulder, visualizing
Others, however, are known only from partial leakage. The result a second shaft of light passing through your body. Say, 'Ve
is that they have been embodied in the world's vast store of super- Gedulah.'
stition. Clasp your hands on your breast, strongly visualizing the Cross of
When did you last walk under a ladder without feeling uncomfor- Light in your body. Say, 'Le Olahim. Amen.'
table ? That bne dates back to ancient Egypt. Circumstances exist . This completes the first stage of the ritual, known as the Qrbalis-
where it is unwise to break a triangle. You know the ladder fcrrms tic Cross. The words used are Hebrew. You will probably recognize
a triangle
-be
with the wall and ground. You do not know nhy it them in translation:
should unlucky to break the tiiangle. But you tend to avoid it 'To Thee the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, for ever. Amen.'
the same. Now, stretching out your right hand, first and second fingers
'iustShould you take your courage in your hands and walk under the extended, draw a pentagram in the air before you as shown in
ladder, nothing much will happen. Even a paint-pot falling on your Fig. Three.
head is unlikely. You might iCasonably conclude that the supersti- Draw the figure large, starting with your hand in the region of
tion about walking undei ladders is nonsense. And you would be your left hip and sweeping smoothly upwards to the natural top
right. limit. Visualize the lines of the figure as white fire.
-But When the figure is complete, draw back your hand and stab it
should you also conclude the ancient Egyptian priests were
fools, you ,noold be wrong. Because in certain occult ceremonies, through the middle with your outstretched fingers saying, 'Yod-
the breaking of a triangle can lead to disaster. heh-vav-heh.'
All this tity t..* ht cry from psychological experiments with With your arm outstretched, walk to the South, tracing a line or
the Astral Doorways. ^But it is not. For the only people who have so fire as you go. Draw a second pentagram, stab it and say, 'Ah-doh-
far studied this fiild in any depth are the occultists. And the only nai.'
techniques of protection foi the Astral voyager are occult techniques. Walk to the West and repeat, saying'Eh-he-yeh.'
Let us now examine one of them. It was developed, so far as I Walk to the North and repeat, saying, 'Ah-ge-lah.'
know, by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the last Return to the East, closing the imaginary circle of fire in the
c.ntury. it is called 'The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.' centre of the first pentagram. Extend your arms to form a Cross.
 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE ULTTMATE PROTECTTON 23

Holding all your visualizations strongly, say, 'About me flame

the pentagrams. Behind me shines the six-rayed star.'
Repeat the Qlbalistic Cross.
This completes the ritual which_is widely_used even today as an
opening ceremony in many occult Lodges. If you were to watch it
being performed, you would notice no objective results: unless you
are particularly sensitive to atmosphere. But objective results are
not the aim. The Pentagram Ritual is an Asral operation and as
such works very well.
I mentioned earlier that on the Astral, symbols take on a life
and importance of their own. This short ritual is packed with
symbols.
First comes the symbol of Light. Even a cursory glance at
mystical literature shows the idea of Light recurs time and again.
It is used to symbolize the highest spiritual experience. fu such it
has great importance to the mind.
.The Cross is another potent symbol. Since it is pre-Christian in
origin, it has universal application.
As archangels, Raphael, Gabriel, Michael and Uriel have signifi-
cance to anyone with a Christian or a Jewish background. As
Elemental Kings and Rulers of the Cardinal Points, their appeal too
Fig. 3. The Pentegram becomes universal.
The pentagram, drawn with a single point upwards, denotes the
dominion of Spirit over the Four Elements. The six-rayed star-
Visualize the archangel Raphael in front of you. See him in the Star of David-shows spiritual consciousness intermingled
yellow robes and imagine air currents flowing from him towards with individual personality.
you. Academic analysis of the symbols is unimportant. Experience
- Say,'Before me, Raphael.' will show their automatic appeal to your mind. They stand for
Visualize the archangel Gabriel behind you in the West. His
robes are blue and he stands against a background ofthe sea. Say, psychic realities and their use on the futral Plane will call up the
'Behind me, Gabriel.' realities behind them.
Visualize the archangel Mighael in the South. His robes are red It may be as well now to refer back to the diagrams in Chapter
and he stands against a fiery, volcanic landscape. Say,'On my right One. The Astral Plane'ls a plastic medium shaped by underlying
hand, Michael.' forces in the psyche. If during an Astral trip you come across an
Visualize the archangel Uriel in the North. He wears dark robes- unpleasant apparition, remember that its form is pure imagination.
olive, russet, citrine and black-and stands against a background of But the force behind it is real enough on a mental level.
fertile earth. Say,'On my left hand, Uriel.' If you decide to make use of the symbols, either to test your
24 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE ULTIMATE PROTECTION 25

visions or protect yourself from them, you are simply building an envy. Under White should go the positive characteristics: loyalty,
Astral form for positive psychic forces to use. It is the underlying courage, intelligence, etc.
forces and not the form which will protect you. The testing time will come when you are convinced both columns
And this leads me to a very important point. The symbols are are full. That is the time to keep working with your Mirrors. Because
useful in an emergency. But it would obviously be better to make that is the time your unconscious strengths and weaknesses will
sure emergencies do not arise. This is your ultimate protection. begin to come out.
And you can only achieve it by self-knowledge. Another useful approach is dream analysis. The problem here is
I cannot over-stress this point. If you run into something nasty how to catch youi dream. Ag.tn, notebook and pencil are the
on the Astral, it is because something nasty already exists in your important tools. Leave them at your bedside and note your dreams
mind. The Astral Plane does nothing more than give it form. imme di at e fit after waking.
It is this fact that underlies all magical instruction about purity There ii, unfortunately, no substitute for immediate action. The
of motive, emotional control and self-awareness. The Yogi who has notes should be the ocrJ rtr$ thing you do after waking. They must
achieved perfect self-control can venture freely on the Astral. The be made before geting out of bed, even before rubbing the slgep
Saint, who has spent years purifying his soul, will meet no dangers from your iyes or stretching your body. This calls for considerable
there. will-power, but I know of no other way. Dreams evaporate within
Fortunately few of us carry the seeds of serious psychosis. But seconds. Scientists are convinced we have numerous dreams every
if they are there, in your mind, they will flower during Astral night. We remember perhaps one or two a week.
experiments. Consequently it is best to give yourself a really Should you still find difficulty in remembering your dreams even
searching self+xamination before experiments are attempted. with this rigorous routine, try visualizing the rising ryn th9 mo-ment
Observe yourself closely, ruthlessly. Examine your fears and you wake up. This is an odd psychological trick that often helps
aversions, your emotions and your moods. Discover the reasons recall.
for them. And learn to control them. This may be the most difficult Having caught your dreams, don't waste time with p,seudo-occult
job you will ever attempt. It will certainly be the most worthwhile. books abbut interpretation. Your dream is your own. Only you qln
There are various ways of going about this. You could-and the see the meaning in it. Even an experienced psychologist can only
suggestion is made quite seriously-undergo full psycho-analysis, point the way t-owards this. Examine the dream situations and ask
preferably with a Jungian psychiatrist. The drawback here is time yourself whai they mean to !ou. Give your intuition full play. And
and cost, but at least you can be sure ofthe results. face up to the results.
If this course is completely out of the question, another possibility
is to make up 'Magii Miirors' as suggested by Franz-Bardon.*
These are mirrors in the figurative sense: mirrors of your soul.
Take a notebook and divide each page into two columns. Head
one of these with the words ,'Black Mirror' and the other with
'White Mirror.' Each day make at least one entry under each
heading. Under Black should go all those negative characteristics
you notice in yourself. Meanness, for instance. Or cowardice. Or
: Vith: Initiatioa Into Hcntctict by Frrnz Brrdon. Osiris-Verhg, 1962.
 THE ELEMENTAL DOORWAYS 27

fuchaeological excavations were c-arried out on the site in r9rz.

These unearthed evidence of human remains in the gtave and a
charcoal layer extending about fifry feet in radius from the central
CIIAPTER FOI'R
stone. Theie was no evidence that the rath had ever been used-
even temporarily-as a residence.
THE ELEMENTAL DOORWAYS Despiti the tirm'ring fort', there is little likelihood that the site
had any military significance either. It may originally. hlv.e b:en
'The Astral Light has been in the past and 1n1f in-t1" fu1y" intended as an elaborate monument to some ribal chieftain. But
be verified Uf airect visional experience.'-Israel Regardie: the bones found in the grave seem like those of a woman' so the
The Trce of Ltfe.
most likely explanation- is that the rath was put to religious
use.
During the early months of 1969, I conducted a series of experiments
with tf,e Elemental Doorwiyj to the Astral Plane. The situation
fu often happens with pre-Christian sites, the rath became a
focus for locai iuperstition. You might, for instance, walk three
leading up to these experiments was curious.
times around the sione to have a wish granted. Or, if you happen to
My"t"iia and I are i"nants of a wing to a Georgian mansion in
be a single female, you could pin some offering to the fairy thorn
Ireland. The immediate estate extends for several hundred acres.
to secure a husband.
On this estate are two monuments of considerable historical Within living memory, a woman-inevitably reputed^to have
interest.
been a witch-was killed by the Liale People at the rath. She went
ihe first is the ruin of a medieval church, set in a little wood
there to gather firewood and broke some branches from the thorn'
close to the main house. Records show this church, which is of
The tree reacted murderously, for she was found dead on the spot
Nor*rn design, was founded in rzro. A small graveyard attached next morning.
remained in use up to the end of the nineteenth century'
Today mo-st of the old superstitions have died too. But neither
The second, about a mile walk from the house and located on
archaeoiogy nor folklore can account for the distinctive atmosphere
the highest ground in the estate, is a prehistoric monolith'surrounded
that remins. My wife, who is mediumistic, cannot spend more than
by a well-preserved rath.
'Expertsiave dated the monument as BronzeAge. The earthwork five minutes iniide the earthwork ring. She becomes nervous and
uncomfortable. Eventually she has to leave.
of thi ring-fort is circular to a tolerance of a foot or so, while the
Both cattle and sheep, which often graze in the surrounding fields,
grcnite nionolith, which stands more than twenty feet high and ti
tend to avoid the sG, although not completely. The common
iveighs an estim;ted twelve tons, is set in the exact mathematical
cxplanation is bitter gnss. But bitter grass does not explain the
centre.
discomfort qrts appear to feel in the area.
There are two breaks in the earthwork, roughly due east- and
The aura of tiri place is not consistent. At times there is no
west. Beside the western gap is a hawthorn tre€: the traditional
etmosphere at all. My o*tt observations -indicate a build-up of
Fairy Thorn of Ireland.
force around the old Sohr Festivals: the Equinoxes and the
tnsiae this enclosure, the ground slopes upwards towards the
Solstices.
centfe, rather like an inverted saucer. Immediately beneath the rl
None of this is to suggest the rath exudes evil. Although powerful
standing stone is a cist gmve eight feet long and iust under four
at its peak, the force ieems elemental. Such forces exist on many
feet deep. li
z6
 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE ELEMENTAL DOORWAYS
28

ancient sites. They may not be objective, but they are real' Sensitive
standing beside me outside the metal fence, whispered further
neoole react to them. details 6f the loutney into my ear. She was, she felt, picking them
I
'-duiing Christmas week of 1968, my. wife and entertained up telepathically from her husband.
'Van
fri;rds fiom Northern Ireland. One evening the discussion turned Vliet wis a skilled professional visualizer. His wife, apart
to the occult. Someone suggested a group journey to the Astral and from her telepathic sensitivity, also showed considerable natural
talent in this iirection. In view of the startling experience at the
-I agreed. rath, I asked them to co-operate in a series of experiments. They
Tf,. technique used was that of a Qrbalistic Path Working.
This is something I will deal with later since it has no relevance at agreed and the first experiment took place _soon after.
-The
or"r.n,. The rip went smoothly and immediately afterwards, initial experienci was a catastrophe. We adopted the Qrbalis-
iwo of the par{ tbok a moonlight stroll to the rath' tic method. g;h the Van Vliets reacted by being violently and
Early in ihe N"w Year, a young.Dutch.couple, Nick and Bea Van physically ill. Two further attempts using the same technique
similar unfortunate results.
Vfi*, iririt"a the estate. Since trips- to its monuments are almost 'produced
To their credit, neither allowed this unhappy introduction to
compulsory, we found ourselves at the rath'
tt. Van Vliets, interest was not entirely historical. Like many of dampen their enthusiasm. A little later in the evening, they were
of mind. Both quiti prepared to attempt the Elemental Doorways.
their fellow-countrymen, they had a mystical turn ' There
*t. n ty much aware of the atrnosphere of the rath, t'hich was ire five basic Elemental Doorways to the Astral Plane'
ouite ootent at that time. They were developed-or discovered-in the orient and introduced
"l-*'", to*barded with questions about the site. Partly id self- to thr West, along with a complementary collection of doctrines,
I suggested PsYchometrY. by the Golden D"*n. They ire usually- referred to in occult
-
defence
prv"to,,,"ii i, curiosiry. It lnvolves.picking-up filerature as the Taiwas or the Tatwa Symbols.
"'S-piritualisi
,uibiltiorrr' from obiects. By this means, past associations with a In the original Hindu terminology, these symbols ore named
Akasa, Vayu] Teias, Apas and Prithivi. Each one is associated
siven obiect can be described by a sensitive'
" Ni.t V"" Vliet offered to try psychometry on the granite monolith. with an Aichemical Element and equate (in the order given) to
He climbed the metal prot;dive fence and stood embracing the Ether or Spirit, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. I propose to stick to the
t u!" ,,on. with his forehead pressed against it. Very shortly he Western terms as being easier to remember.
-
beian to describe the mental pictures which arose' If you will now refer to Fig. Four, the symbols are given in
i-; not much impressed by theories involving mysterious outline.
vibrations. But I know fiom experience that psychometry can work: Your first step towards using the doorways is to make a set of
so*etim"s with quite tpectac.,lat success' The degree of success cards incorporaiing these symbols. A convenient size is three to
in this case was .p..tt.ulrt, although not in the wl{.Ye -epec39.f' four incheJ square and white board should be used. Draw one
l*."J of piciing up prehistoiic memories, Nick Van Vliet symbol on each card, leaving the back bla$.
J,1.J to describe iisions-of countryside. For a moment I could When this is done, the symbols should be coloured as follows:
roi ifti"f. why the scenes were so hauntingly. familiar' Then I
realized he was describing details of the Astral
journey my guests Ether: Black or indigo. Air: Bluo
and I had undertaken at Christmas. .Fire: Red. V[later : Silver.

It was an eerie situation. And it became more so' Bea Van Vliet, Earth: Yellow.
3o ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE ELEMENTAL DOORWAYS 3r
It is important that the colours are strong and brilliant, so water-
colours are virtually useless for the job. Poster paints are a little
better, but not much. The most successful cards are done in oils,
or made by cutting coloured papers to shape and sticking them
down. If available, a transp,arent film covering the card heightens
the effect and protects tFe surface.
In choosing the correct shades, strength and brilliancy are
earth again the guidelines. A glaring pillar-box red will be effective in
the Fire Triangle. A strong sky blue works well in the Air Disc.
Black and silver should present no difficulties. For the Earth
Square, a brighg light yellow should be chosen in preference to the
mustard hues.
Making the symbol cards is an easy enough iob and using them
is almost as simple, although a certain knack is involved here.
Seat yourself comfortably and relax as you did for your visualiza-
tion exercises. The first part of the operation requires a strong
light. But since this can sometimes interfere with the subsequent
process, it is as well to have the light set up beside your chair so
that it can be switched off easily.
Now choose your symbol. The Hindu tradition accepts twehour
Tatwic Tides in the Astral Light. The sequence begins at dawn
with Ether and changes every two hours in the order given. But
calculations can be abandoned in favour of a trial-and-error system.
It will soon be found that one symbol works more efficiently than
the others.
Stare fixedly at the symbol for between thirty seconds and a
minute. The time varies from person to person. A good indication
that you have stared long enough is a slight halo effect which tends
to appear around the symbol.
Once this halo comes up, turn the card over and stare at the
blank surface of the back. In a few seconds, an optical reflex pro-
duces an illusion of the symbol shape in its complementary colour.
If, for instance, you are using the Fire Triangle, you will see a
green triangle on the back. The exact shade depends on the original
rcd and, to some esent, on the lighting of the room. There will,
Fig. 4. The Tatwa Symbols however, be a certain degree of luminosity.
32 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE ELEMENTAL DOORWAYS 33
Immediately you see the reflex symbol, close your eyes and behind you. Since you will now find yourself in an futral environ-
visualize it in the complementary colour. Darkness often helps at ment, it is as well to mark the position of the Doorway in relation
this stage so you can switch out the light. to surrounding scen€ry.
Now mentally enlarge the picture until it is several feet high and Even though you are still fully conscious of the physical world,
visualize it as a doorway directly in front of you. Experience shows this is an important exercise since it plants the seeds of habit.
that even trained visualizers sometimes have difficulty with this Should you-by accident or design-find consciousness of the
part, so a useful alternative is to picture yourselfshrinking instead. physical has slipped away, the Doorway is your exit from the
The important thing is to regularize your dimensions with relation Astral. Without it, the situation can become very unpleasant
to the symbol. indeed.
Once you do this, you have reached the tricky part. You must Israel Regardie makes the point in one of his shorter essays that
now consider the symbol as a doorway and imagine yourself passing the Elemental Doorways are absolutes. They have a universal
through it. This is not a question of watching a mental picture of application as gates into specific levels of the Astral Plane. But what
yourself. Instead, you should try to move through as you would a each person finds on the other side of a Doorway varies. When you
physical door. fly to America, the scenery in Texas is very different from the
How difficult this is depends on the individual. Some people find scenery in Alaska.
they can pass through with the gteatest of ease. Often they do not C-ertain standard features will remain, horrever. They may be no
quite know how they managed it. Others try time and again before more than loose associations, or--especially if you meditated on
succeeding. the Element beforehand-they may form an obvious motif.
Golden Dawn members were taught to make the 'Zelator Sign' For your first trips, only short explorations should be undertaken.
at this point to help proiection ihrough the Doorway. This does With longer trips, the danger of losing physical consciousness is
sometimes help. It is identical, so far as I can see, to the straight- gteater and this situation can have its problems if you are not
armed Nazi salute. If you want to make use of it, stand up and familiar with Astral Plane peculiarities. In the early stages, content
perform the action physically. yourself with learning your way around a controlled day-dream.
Another trick taught to Golden Dawn members was to meditate Very little can happen to you and you are building up valuable
on the given Element before making use of the symbol. When your experience for future more dramatic trips.
mind has been saturated with the 'feel' of the Element, go through There are a number of technical methods for incteasing reality
the procedure as outlined up to the point where you visualize the tone in Astral visions, as well as methods for inducing ffance.
Doorway in front of you. Then imagine a ray of light projeaing Neither should be used by beginners, so I will leave deails of them
from your centre of consciousness to the Doorway and travel along to a later chapter.
it until you have passed through. The question of Guides on the Astral Plane may produce some
Patience is really all that is needed should you find this stage cynicism amongst readers unfamiliar with the occult. This is a
difficult. And it is here your concentration exercises begin to pay question I also propose to discuss later. But since Astral Guides
dividends. They will havc taught you how to hold the iinage of the play some part in descriptions of experimental trips given in the
Doorway for long periods. So even when first attempts fail, you qrn next chapter, I would ask you simply to 4ccept them at the moment
ay again without having to go back to the card. as part ofthe visions.
Once through the Doorway, you should feel it strongly as sanding
 THE VISIONS AND THE DREAMS 35
sloping hill. We went up and when we came to the top I could see
a very large lake, the water of which looked a beautiful deep blue.
CHAPTER FIVE We went down the hill towards the lake and, as we were both
panting slightly, my guide beckoned me to sit down beside him.
THE VISIONS AND THE DREAMS 'We got up after a few minutes and continued our way to the
right, along the lake. After some time we came to a grotto and my
tThere is no limit set to the range of mants mind except Guide wanted me to enter it. I was afraid, because I felt there was
its inability to go beyond a certain point at any given time, something utterly wrong . . ..'
and this, as it will be seen, is a constantly receding horizon.'- Something oos urtterly wrong. Even watching her, we could see
W. E. Butler: A4agic and the fofialoh. this. Bea's breathing quickened, her muscles tensed and she began
to move around uneasily in her chair.
The first attempt to use an Elemenal Doorway produced results Had she been a more experienced traveller, it might have been
as unfortunate as the earlier abortive Path Working. Nick Van interesting to leave her alone and see what happened. But as it was
Vliet chose the Earth Square. But once he tried the technique, he her first trip, I decided she had better come out. In view of her
became ill again. trancelike state, the method I used yas suggestion.
Bea also tried using the Earth Square, but although her reaction First I asked her to breath deepfy and relax. Then I told her I
was not so violent as that of her husband, she was unable to make would ioin her on the Astral Plane and lead her back to the Door-
it work. The fruidess attempts lasted about half an hour before a way. She responded quickly to the suggestions and calmed down.
fresh approach was tried using the Fire Triangle. Next, I described in detail how I was passing through the Door-
It seemed likely that Nick Van Vliet, a trained visualizer, would way and walking down the same path she had taken. I followed the
make the breakthrough. But it was, in fact, Bea who suddenly route of her journey and eventually told her she could now see me.
discovered the trick of passing through the Doorway. She proved She confirmed that this was so.
a rare subject for she found the Astral to have reality tone from the From that point, it was simply a question of leading her verbally
outset. Once through the doorway she reained only a thread of back to the Doorway. When she passed through, she opened her
consciousness of her physical surroundings. eyes no worse for the experience. She had, she explained, become
My own feeling is there was at least a degree of trance involved. convinced that if she entered the grotto, her Guide would desert
Not wanting to risk breaking her vision, I made no tests. But her her.
body seemed totally relaxed and her breathing was noticeably Bea Van Vliet was unusual in her degree of penetration into the
deepened: two signs which frequently occur with trance. futral Plane on a first trip. Her consciousness was almost wholly
She told us of her trip as she experienced it, speaking slowly and absorbed by the Astral environment. This is something which
carefully. Afterwards, she wrote the account given below. normally does not occur without a good deal of practice.
'The Guide who approached me and returned my greeting with But some individuals are prone to a trance experience from the
his hands together in front of his body, was rather young with first. And what happened to Bea underlines my warning that
black, wavy, shoulder-length hair, wearing a white tunic held by a Astral journeys are not to be taken lightly. Certainly they should
gold bclt; bare feet in sandals with gold strap round his calvcs. not be undertaken ifyou are alone: at least until you know what
'We went together along a short path and approached a gendy you are doing.
*+
36 ASTRAL DooRwAYs THE VTSTONS AND THE DREAMS 37
Bea's breakthrough seemed to open the way for her husband. "This is the light." After this he led me back the same way we had
Using the Fire Triangle, Nick now found he could project through come.t
the Doorway. Nick Van Vliet's second Astral trip also took him to a hilltop
There was a difference of degree between his experience and temple. Again the outline is given in his own words:
that of his wife. Although the visions were vivid, as might be 'This time my Guide was older, middle-aged, and had the dark
expected, he was always fully conscious of the physical world. skin and almost black eyes of a Middle Eastern race. He was
Like Bea, he wrote out an account of his trip: dressed in a long burnous-type garment, striped lengthwise in red,
'The Guide who approached me and returned my greeting with blue and white. Again he greeted me with both hands together in
his hands together in front of his body was rather young. He was front of his body and gestured me to follow him.
dressed in a short white tunica, held by a brown belt, and wore 'This time the landscape was desert, ochre, sometimes deepening
sandals. His hair was short and dark blond. to orange, sandy hills, first rather close together, then, after turning
'After greeting me, he beckoned me to follow him and went to the right, widening.
ahead along a winding path lined on both sides with young birches. 'Again a temple on top of a hill, but with an enffance smaller
The atmosphere was very Spring-like. and less significant looking. This time we did not enter a hall, but
'The Guide looked around several times, as if to make sure I was first had to pass through a long and rather dark corridor. It opened
still following. out into a big rectangular hall, still rather dark, but splendidly
'After'a while, the path led into a dark forest which we passed decorated with very moderNhoking structures in gold, covering
through very quickly. It opened out suddenly on to a gently sloping walls and ceiling.
hill with, on top of the hill, a small, white temple, the front of which 'The shape of these structures reminded me very much of the
was dominated by a big, rectangular blue door. metal sculptures of Navin Gabo.
'When the door opened, the Guide led me into the only hall the 'We passed through this hall without stopping, into another
temple seemed to consist of. corridor. After a while I began to notice a strong glow of intense
'Right in the middle of the hall was a big rectangular black blue colour ahead of me. Although still faint at first, there was an
(marble or highly polished granite) pedestal with a dog figure intensity about it mainly because of the type of blue.
strongly resembling the Egyptian Anubis. 'When we entered the next hall, I noticed that the blue glow
'The Guide went ahead of me and when the Anubis figure was came from behind a black, rectangular altar that was positioned
in line between us, he turned round, raised both his arms and almost against the back wall and in the centre of it. It was flanked
looked at me. by two enormous bird-like figures with outstretched wings and
'Then he pointed at something on the right-hand corner of the heads like horses. These figures seemed to be made of pure
back wall. When I came closer, I could distinguish a large blue gold.
panel with hieroglyphs in relief. Trying to read the long rows of 'When approaching the altar, the blue light disappeared and I
characters, I could only make out the first three of the top could see an old man dressed in a black robe standing behind it.
line.* My Guide stayed behind me, slightly to the left.
'When I asked my Guide for the meaning of this, he replied: 'The old man's mouth was moving as if he was talking, but I
* A lapse of memory. Immediately aftcr the trip he drew four of the cheracters. couldn't hear a sound. I moved even closer but I still couldn't hear
.They were line outlines and looked a little like the letters S, U (or O) L and C.
him. His left arm was raised and he was pointing upwards, although
38 ASTRAL DooRwAYs THE VISIONS AND THE DREAMS 39

for some reason I did not look at what he might have been showing
me.
'I was constantly trying to focus on his face, but it kept changing
so rapidly, almost frantically, that he seemed to have a hundred
faces at the same time. His movement of talking became more
frantic also and I had to grve up.
'I asked my Guide to. bring me back and he did so, without
further incidents, along the same way we had come.'
The Fire symbolism is much more apparent in this vision than
in the previous ones. Afterwards, Nick made some rough sketches
of the altar and the winged figures. Thbse are reproduced as Fig.
Five.
Among other'points of interest is the fact that, iudging from the
sketch, the winged 6gure looks very like the Egyptian Ku, or Astral
Body. The Middle Eastern associations of the Guide may have
some bearing here.
In theory, this vision concluded the first set of experiments. In
practice there was a curious sequel. That night, in a vivid (sleeping)
dream, Bea retraced her Astral iou;ney.
The most intriguing thing about this dream was that, in it, she
used the Astral Doorway. When she went through, she met a new
Guide: a quiet, old man dressed in a faded grey monk's habit.
Together they went down by the same lake and eventually
approached the grotto. The Guide beckoned Bea to follow him
and this time she went in. Now she takes up the story in her own
words:
'Inside it was very dark. My Guide walked a few steps in front
of me and we went along what seemed to me an endless, narrow'
winding path until we reached a junction.
'My Guide suddenly turned to face me and shrugged slightly as if
to tell me that the decision to go to the left or to the right was all
mine. Without hesitating, I chose the right-hand path and again
we went along a narrow, winding path until we came to b tunnel'
'Here the path widened and led into a large vault. In the middle
stood a black, highly polished pedesal. This was empty.My Guide Fig. 5. Alar and winged fig.ures s99n by Nick Van Vliet on his
walked around it three times. I did the same. second astral louney
40 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE VISIONS AND THE DREAMS +r
'Then we continued along a short, narrow path and reached a were all very beautiful young naked men. They looked very Rodin-
second vault. In the middle of it stood the statue of a very beautiful like.
middle-aged man. Although this was not on a pedestal, I knew at 'After a quick look round we went on and nearly immediatcly
once that in fact it belonged to the pedestal that I saw in the first came to a second vault. Here the path stopped and against the
vault. back wall of the vault there raised very impressively and frighten-
'f was very impressed by the beauty of the statue and stepped inglS a huge fire column. To my disappointment, the nine pedestals
forward to have a closer look at it. As I did so, very suddenly the here present were empty. On each one there was a small pile of
satue slowly turned its head to the left. ash.
'At that mom€nt, an immense sadness qlme over me. I asked my 'My Guide turned at once and hurried me back the same way wc
Guide to bring me back and he did so. We went the same way we had come.'
had come.' Today, Bea Van Vliet has abandoned all occult work. She found
The experience made a strong impression on Bea. The continuity it too fascinating, and feared it might take a grip on her attention
between dream and vision was obvious. She decided the reason to the exclusion of everything else. She fancied she had an aptitude
for her sadness in the dream was that she had taken the wrong for psychism and I agree. Certainly these first few Astral experiments
turning. She was determined to try the other one. At the first t-- triggered something.
possible opportunity, she used the Fire Doorway to re-enter the She dreamed again. Not a trip this time; and not even anything
Astral. very spectacular. She had lost a compact and subsequently found
It should be obvious by now that the symbol was the kqy to a it in the garden. It was an odd compact. It was triangular and
very specific level of Bea's min{. She found herself in the same green.
surroundings and was met by the Guide of her dream. They And then a recurring dream began, the first recurring dream she
walked to the gtotto and this time she chose the left-hand ever had. It played back for three consecutive nights, vividly.
path. She was driving an old open car along a quiet country road. It
'My Guide led me along a winding path and suddenly I saw a broke down. After trying to fix it and trying to push it, she decided
faint green glow. My Guide now moved with his back against the to get help.
wall. Impulsively I did the same, although I was wondering why my She could not find help and was walking back towards the car
Guide behaved so strangely. when a young, strong black elephant came charging towards her.
'Suddenly I understood. The green glow fell partly over the It was a beautiful animal and she admired ig without fear, as it
path and, moving the way he did, my Guide was out of its reach. went past.
Then I got a $eat shock. On the right side of the path I saw the Then, out of the blue, a disembodied voice said, 'Well, you see,
"thing" that radiated this poisonous, evil green glow. there is still some wild life here.'
'ft was a monster, nearly human, starved and caged. In the centre In Hindu mythology, the elephant Ganesha supports the world
of its head there was a huge eye and this was the so;pCe of the green from the back of a turtle. Occultists maintain that the physical
glow. world is supported by the futral Plane. The number nine, in her
'My Guide led me very quickly past this monster and we went vision of the statues, is the Qrbalistic number of Yesod, sphere of
along the path until we reached a huge vault. Along the walls the Asaal. And there were a number of other symbols in these
there were nine statues on black, highly polished pedestals. They and later visions that would be recognized by an occultist.
42 ASTRAL DOORWAYS
All this sounds very mysterious, but isn't. It simply points to the
archetypal nature of occult symbolism.
But the futral Plane is not simply symbol juggling. I gave these CX{APTER SIX

visions and dreams to show what you c:ln expect from reasonably
straightforward aips. Later you will find out what can happen THE TAROT DOORWAYS
when the trips are not straightforward.
Meanwhile you can learn about some other Doors. 'These cards, originally made of metal or strong leather,
were later used as a me4ns of gambling, iust as the Eg:yptian
priests intended them. For they knew that the human race
will never die and so their mysterious cards were unknow-
ingly used by the barbarians as a means of ransmission-
throughout subsequent ages-+f the most sacred and hidden
results, attainedby the old wisdom of Egypt.'-Mouni
Sadhu: The Tarot.

A Tarot deck is composed of seventy-eight cards. Fifty-six of these

are divided into suits: wands, cups, swords and pentacles, equating
with the familiar diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs. The remaining
twenty-two are the Tarot Trumps, a curious collection of symbolic
pictures.
There is a game of Tarot, but I have never seen it played. The
last person I met who owned a Tarot deck was learning to tell
fortunes with it. She was following a long tradition. Among Roman-
ies, real and fairground, the Tarot has an excellent reputation as
a fortune-telling deck.
Each suit is numbered ace to ten, but there are four court cards
rather than the three found in an ordinary pack. These four are
Valet, Knight, Qteen and King. Each card has a series of traditional
associations, which usually change when the card is reversed'
The Four of Swords, for instance, means solitude, retreat or
abandonment when taken right way up. Reversed, itmeans
economy, precaution or regulation of expenditure.
This consideration applies only to the Minor Arcana. The Major
Arcana, as the Trumps are called, have the same meaning whichever
way they are dealt.
Fascinating though the subject is, I would be stepping out of
13
44 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE TAROT DOORWAYS 45
line if I
started to go into fortune-telling detail here. But it may BOA and JAK, presumably portions of the Masonic pillar names
have some bearing on the subiect of Astral operations to mention Boaz and Jakim. On her head is a horned tiara, wlth a disc or globe
that one reason why the Tarot has proved so popular in this field at its centre. From this a veil drapes down, but does not cover her
is that the Trumps, by nature of their symbolic value, can have a face. On her breast is an equal-armed (elemental) cross. She is
very stimulating effect on the intuition. holding a scroll in her hand, patly hidden by the veil. The letters
-
Onb the Trumps are used as Astral Doorways. Unfortunately, TORA appear on this, probably as a reference to the Hebrew
there is controversy about how these Trumps should look. if Scriptures. At her feet, penetrating the long robe, is a crescent
Sadhu's thesis is correct, the priests of ancient Egypt presumably moon.
knew the answer. But in the years since then, design details have 3. The Empress. A robed and crowned woman holding aloft a
been modified to produce a variety of packs. sceptre, which is surmounted by a globe. On the globe itself is an
This sort of situation is probably to be expected. It is complicated elemental cross, while above it is a Calvary C.ross. The Empress is
further by the attempts of modern occultists to restore the iccurate throned in pleasant, sylvan surroundings with a cornfield stretching
and ancient symbolism. The designs in Mouni Sadhu's book* were from her feet. Beside the throne is a heart-shaped shield on which
made-presumably to his instructions-by Mrs. E. G. Lucas of is prominently displayed the astrological sign of Venus.
Melbourne. Aleister Crowley had Lady Harris design his variations 4. The Emperor. A powerfully-built crowned and bearded figure
on the theme. A. E. Waite produced another pack in association seated on a large, impressive throne. Each arm of the throne is
with the publishing house of Rider & Co. finished in a ram's head, while the corners of the back panel are
There are several different packs on sale even today. My own surmounted by two snakes. In his left hand the Emperor holds an
came from the Metaphysical Research Group at fuchers) Court, orb, topped by a Calvary Cross. In his right is a sceptre shaped like
Hastings. Their Medieval ugliness appals my hearr, but their the Egyptian ankh.
symbolism must be reasonably accurate because they work. 5. The Hierophant or Pope. Seated between twin pillars with
The Trumps are numbered zero to twenty-one as follows: two ministers kneeling at his feet, the mitred Hierophant has his
o. The Fool. A thin-faced bearded man walking through dhe right hand raised in the familiar Papal Blessing. Stamped on the
countryside.,In his right hand he holds a staff. In his left, a stick back of his hand is a tiny Maltese Goss. In his left hand is a staff
gl.ung over the right shoulder. Tied to this stick is a little bag for surmounted by a triple cross; and a small elemental cross is stamped
hr9 bglonglngs. A mischievous dog is tearing the seat of his pants. on this hand.
The Fool wears a necklace of bells, five of which can be seen on the 6. The Lovers. The eternal triangle of a man flanked by two
card. women. Above them a Cupid figure, framed in a blazing sun, is
r. The Magician. This name can denote a Magus or a coniurer. about to unloose a shaft. The traditional interpretation of this card
My own card shows the latter, although other packs differ. The is Man caught between Vice and Virtue, while Love conspires to
Magician stands behind a low table on which are various tools kill off Vice. At least one other interpretation has been put forward
of his trade. One hand is raised and holding a small wand. The in more esoteric terms by the Qrbalist MacGregor Mathers.
sweeping brim of his enormous hat makes the sign of infinity.
7. The Chariot. A young, crowned conqueror drives a cubical
z. The High Priestess. A fairly comp|6x collection of symbols. chariot drawn by two white horses. In his right hand he holds a
The Priestess sits between twin pillars dn which appear the letters sceptre while on each shoulder appears an upturned face. Directly
' Tlu Tarot, publistred by George Allcn & Unwin Ltd. 1962. in front of the horses is a single flower, possibly a rose. On the
46 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE TAROT DOORWAYS
Chariot itself is a heart-shaped insignia with the letters A G Z, 14. Temperance. A robed and winged angel pours liquid from
interpretation of which defeats me. one iug to another. On her brow is an insignia composed of six
8. Justice. A crowned woman seated on a throne, the uprights points, probably a solar symbol.
of which form the familiar twin pillars. In her right hand she holds 15. The Devil. A horned and bat-winged demon stands on a
an upright broadsword. In her left, she carries the scales, perfectly small, circular altar. His feet are clawed and in his left hand he
balanced. holds upright a short, flat sword. Roped to the altar are two smaller
9. The Hermit. A slightly stooping, bearded old man in a flowing demons.
monk's habit. The Hermit carries a lamp held aloft in his right hand. 16. The Lightning-struck Tower. Another symbol with a
In his left a staff(or wand) curves authe top to vanish into the folds curious fascination. A small brick tower with three windows, the
of his robe. top of which, shaped like a crown, has been split off: apparently by
ro. The Wheel of Fortune. The graphics of this one are so lightning although the sun shines strongly and the sky is clear.
crude as to be almost impossible to interpret. The Wheel is a Flames erupt from the split and rubble falls. Two men are falling
crude contraption revolving on a spindle between two uprights. headlong. According to Mathers, one of them is in an attitude which
My card shows six spokes. Mathers insists seven is the correct forms the Hebrew letter Ayin.
number. Two animals are bound to the Wheel, one ascending and 17. The Star. A beautiful, naked woman kneels to pour water
the other descending. At first glance, the animals might be dogs. from rwo vessels on to the ground. Directly above her head is a
They could also be monkeys; and one at least gives the vague huge five-pointed star, flanked by seven others, all slightly smaller.
impression of having a fish-like tail. Above the Wheel is an equally ig. tne Moon. The Moon shines on a river beside which two
difficult figure, crowned and carrying a sword. Mathers describes dogs (or a dog and a wolf) howl. Beside the animals are two towers
it as an angel or sphinx. It could equally well be a monkey, nun or and beneath the foot ofone is an unrolled scroll bearing the letters
dog. M,A. Gawling out of the river on to the bank is a crayfrsh.
rr. Strength. A beautiful cloaked woman wearing a hat very 19. The Sun. A blazing Sun dominates this card. It shines on a
similar to that of the Magician in Trump One. The woman, with field of growing sunflowers behind a low wall. In the forefront a
every appearance of ease, is restraining the jaws of a savage naked child carrying a flowing banner rides a white horse.
lion. zo. The Judgement. A flying angel blows a horn to which is
rz. The Hanged Man. One of the most curiously fascinating attached a standard emblazoned with the elemental cross. Beneath,
cards in the Major fucana. The man hangs by one foot from a the dead rise white and naked from their tombs.
rough rectangular structure composed of three very roughly- zr. The Universe. A laurel wreeth with a flower at the cardinal
worked tree branches. His hands are bound behind his back so that points surrounds a nude female (or hermaphrodite) figure drapgd
the position of the arms and upper body form a triangle. His in a small veil and carrying a short wand in each hand. One of the
(free) right leg is bent to form a cross with the left. I once saw an figure's legs is crossed over the other in the manner of the Hanged
Indian fakir hang in almost an identical manner as part of his yogic Man. Beyond the wreath, in the corners of the card, (1! top) an
angel, orman and an eagle; and (at bottom) a bull
"t"
and a lion.
disciplines.
r3. Death. The grim reaper is a skeleton equipped with a scythe It is possible that bad graphics in a Tarot deck-and those in
with which he mows down a variety of human heads, hands and mine aie indesctibably bad-have little influence on the cards'
feet growing in a meadow. uscfulness. Presentcd with a ctude outline, the mind fills in its own
48 ASTRAL DooRwAys
detail.and colouring. Hopefully the detail springs from a deep
enough level ofthe unconscious to produce reiults.
In itself, the Tarot is a remarkable system for esoteric study. O{APTER SEVEN
And in themselves the cards can be used'as Astral Doorways.
__The technique to use is even more simple than thai of the THE QTBALISTTC DOORWAYS
Elemental Doorways.
First choose your card. Spend a little time in meditation on it. 'The Qrbalist goes to work in a different way. He does not
Whether or not these symbols actually date to pharaonic Egypt is attempt to make the mind rise up on the wings of meta-
open to question, but they are certainly very ancient. As suctr, ihey physics into the rarefied air of abstract reality; he formulates
repay investigation. a- concrete symbol that the eye can see, and lets it fepresent
_
Once you are familiar with the card, close your eyes and visualize the abstract reality that no untrained human mind can
the scene it shows. Take time to fill in thC detaiis and make the grasp.'-Dion Fortune: Thc Mysticol Qobalah.
picture as vivid as possible. Enlarge it. Then ,walk' into it and keep
walking. The concrete symbol Dion Fortune mentions is the Tree of Life.
.Jhe-
prgcautions to be taken here are identical to those you took Since the turn of the century this glyph has formed rhe corner-
with the Elemental Doorways. The card is your entrance-and exit stone of Western occultism. It was developed out of a set of Hebrew
from the Astral Plane. Mark and remember its location within your mystical doctrines which, over the centuries, have seduced better
new environment. minds than yours or mine.
f won't g! rlto details of Tarot trips. Presumably by this'stage {s 1 magrco-philosophical system, the Qrbalah is vast, complex
you crn find them out for yourself, But I might nrcntion that, in and, thanls to the efforts of modern occultists, continually growing.
my experience, these Doorways tend to produce rather more lively A Tln could spend his life in its study and many have. In practical
visions-in terms of incident-than many others. application, part of its broad scope takes in the Asaal Phnl.
To reach the Astral, a Qrbalist will use the Tarot Trumps, but
in a special way. His discipline ensures he will be on familiar
ground when he passes through them. He will know, before he
starts each trip, how far he wants tb go. And he will know when he
gets there. His visions are the subject of a tight control and each one
is underaken for a specific purpose.
_ Understanding any of this requires a $asp of basic principles.
Topresent these fully would take more time and energy than I Lave
available. But the following outline might get us is far as the
Doorways.
Please inspect Fig. Six.
This is a diagram of the Tree of Life as it is used in modern
esoteric fraternities. It consists of ten spheres, or Sephiroth, dfr
twenty-two connecting Paths between them.
$)
5o ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE QABALISTIC DOORWAYS 5r
fu Dion Fortune says, this is a concrete symbol representing
abstract realities. It represents states and forces and the relationships
between them. It is a wiring diagram of the Cosmos . . . and the
mind of Man.
Qbalists accept the Hermetic axiom, 'As Above, So Below.' The
bedrock structure of the Universe thus becomes identical to the
bedrock structure ofthe soul. The forces that play across the vast
reaches of interstellar space are parallel to the forces which play
within the psyche.*
Over the years, various associations have been linked with the
Sephiroth. Kether, for instance, the topmost sphere of pure,
primordial Being is associated with Light, Unity, Parabrahma and
the Sahamsara Chakra. Malkuth, at the other end of the scale,
is associated with matter, the planet Earth, inertia and the
Elements.
Any student taking his first steps in Qrbalism learns the major
associations and will usually have lists of the minor ones within
easy reach. But if his interest is more than academic, he does not
stop there. He adds his personal associations. There is nothing
known or unknown which cannot be pigeon-holed into one or other
of the ten spheres. This personal pigeon-holing brings the Tree
alive. It gives the student at least some grasp of the reality behind
the diagram.
Since the Tree is archetypal, the Sephirothic forces are prF
existent in the depths of the psyche. Painstaking meditations, often
carried out over a number of years, forge association links of
images and ideas which eventually reach down to this bedrock level.
Eventually, by triggering the proper switch, the student can make
contact with the force of any given Sephirah. Hence he draws his
power.
fu a practical convenience, the Sephiroth are often held to
represent objective forces (with psychic parallels) while the Paths
are taken to be subjective states. For present purp$es, you can look
on these latter as well-marked areas of the futral Plane.
r Thcrc rrt exccllcnt rcrsons for rcccpting thc tbeory but this ie not thc phcc to
Fig. 6. The Trcc of Lifc Bo into thcn
52 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE QABALTSTTC DOORWAYS 53
Life is a school. We incarnate to learn. Once all the lessons are the Astral Plane. The proper exit from Malkuth must be via a
learnt, we cease to incarnate. We have, over a series of lifetimes, temple incorporating the major symbols of this Sephirah.
evolved to the state of Union with God. We have been absorbed Minimum needs for your experiment are a Tarot deck, a small
into Kether. We have reached Nirvana. table and a lighted candle.
The learning process is rigidly controlled by the Law of Karma. It is as well to open the proceedings with some form of ritual.
What we sow, we reap: no more, no less. Normally, hard knocks The Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, outlined in an earlier
force us upwards, as pain forces a child to respect fire. But this way chapter, is ideal. Switch out all other lights before lighting the
is slow. The occultist is impatient. He wants to reach Nirvana candle. Group members should be seated comfortably around the
quickly. To do so, he makes use of a little-known fact. table with the candle flame as focus of attention. This produces a
The fact is this: in Karmic terms, physical (rccurrences do not mild hypnotic effect and makes concentration easier for those
matter. It is our reaction to them that counts. untrained to it.
Since all levels are real, after their own fashion, the Qrbalist The Tarot card associated with the Twenty-Second Path is
attempts to abreact as much of his Karma as he can on the Astral Trump No. zr, The Universe. Pass it round beforehand and make
Plane. It is easier to shape than the physical world. On it, within sure everyone is familiar with how it looks. It might be as well to
limits, he can choose the initiations he wishes to undertake. And explain that details in the cards vary from pack to pack. Part ofthe
with training, the futral images have just as much potency as any operation requires description of the card and it is important that
physical experience. nothing should jar concentration.
The Qbalist is, at heart, a ritualist. He approaches the Door- With the candle lighted and members of the group sitting
ways in the manner of a ceremonial magician. Sometimes he will go comfortably, the Qrbalist should take over as leader of thi expedi-
so far as to build a physical enviionment that mekes the iob easier. tion. His first job is to paint a vivid verbal picture of the Mafuuth
In his temple or his lodge, he will set up the symbols as a focus for temple.
his mind. But ultimately this is not necessary. The important As he talks-in a soft, but emphatic tone-the remaining travel-
temple is built up, by will and imagination, on the Astral Plane. lers must attempt to build the picture in their minds. This again
Before disgusting Qrbalists amongst my readers with this should be done as vividly as possible, with as much detail as
ridiculously abbreviated outline of their vast system, I will now possible, so that the impression of actually sitting in the temple is
move on to its severely practical application so far as the Astral built up.
Plane is concerned. You will probably find visualization easier in the group context
Path Workings are normally undertaken in company. And at than alone. This is partially due to the stimulus of thl spoken
least one member of the group should have had Qrbalistic training. description and partially due to the darkened room. There is too
There is a good reason for this. Unless your trip is going to turn the possibility of a telepathic undercurrent. The pictures held in
into an aimless wandering, someone has to read the signposts. And individual minds seem to reinforce each other.
the only one who knows the symbol language is a Qrbalist. It is vital that the temple is described in such a way that the
Let us suppose you wish to tread the Twenty-Sicond Path. description helps visualization. This rules out any question of a
Reference to the Qbalistic books shows this path runs between the cool, clinical approach. The tone should be persuasive, the language
spheres of Malkuth and Yesod. Malkuth represents, among other full of image and colour. At the outset, the temple must be strongly
things, the physical universe. Yesod is the all-embracing sphere of linked with the room in which you are sitting.
54 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE QABALTSTIC DOORWAYS 55

For the Malkuth temple, the desctiption might run along these Visualize them strongly. Hold the picture in your mind until
lines: you feel they are really there. And so they are: those pillars have
Make yourselves comfortable and please try to relax. There is existence in your mind.
nothing that need worry you. We are about to embark on an And now the floor beneath your feet is changing. Please stay
experimental trip to the Astral Plane. Your reactions may vary. quite relaxed and visualize these things strongly. Beneath your
Some of you will have a vivid mental experience. A few of you may feet you now feel the temple floor. Now it is as if you were standing
even feel you have passed into a different physical dimension. This on some vast chess-board, for the floor beneath your feet has taken
is an illusion, although it may seem very real. But don't worry if it on a regular arrangement of squares, black squares alternating with
happens. It simply means that your physical and psychic make-up the white in chessboard pattern. This is the floor of the Temple of
allows you to lose touch temporarily with the physical plane. Malkuth and we stand on it now, surrounded by the polished
In a mornent, I am going to describe a temple. I want you to marble pillars.
follow this description and visualize the temple as clearly as you Shut your eyes now, if you find that easier. Continue to visualize
possibly can. I will speak slowly to allow you time for this' Stay suongly. The candle-flame has left an after-image. This helps you
relaxed and do the best you can, for there is plenty of time. Soon see it clearly in your mind.
after we have built the temple in our minds, we will pass th"rough a Now the table which supports the candlc has become an altar.
Doorway on to the Astral Plane. When this happens, I would ask The construction of the altar is a double cube, one set on
you all to stay together. And please remember to stay together as the other. This double cube is the Altar of Malkuth, the three-
our journey continues. This is quite important. dimensional universe of matter. Visualize it strongly, draped in
Now, together, we must begin to build our temple. This is the black.
Temple of Malkuth, the Qbalistic Sephirah of the physical plane Look now, with your mind's eye, into the candle flame. In it you
uruverse. can see a figure, growing steadily until he towers above you, reaching
We are already quite familiar with this plane of operation. We almost to the roof.
live and work with matter every day. This room is a part of Malkuth This vast figure is Sandalphon, fuchangel of Earth and Guardian
and this room will become our starting point. But first we must of the Temple of Malkuth. He is dressed in robes of olive, citrine,
change it slightly. We will do so by an act of imagination. All of us russet and black, the colours you might see on an apple in the
must take part in this act of imagination, for there is no ultimate Autumn. These are the symbolic colours of Malkuth.
reality outside the mind. By visualizing the temple as I describe it, Look beyond the figure and the altar to the East. There you crn
we are agreeing what, for the moment, we will see. For the purposes see three Doorways. Notice in particular the middle Doorway.
of our trip, we are making it so. Draped over it is a curtain. And on the curtain is a representation
Look towards the candle flame . . . and as you look, the room is of the card you saw before, the twenty-first Tarot Trump, called
changing. Slowly it becomes a temple, a holy place in contact with The Universe.
the Inner Planes. Already in your minds, you begin to see this fu you watch, the fuchangel Sandalphon leaves the alar and
thffi."'*rll, moves towards the East. Now he indicates towards the Doorway
of the room are shifting, disappearing, changing. In and we approach closer as a group. Visualize strongly now, for we
their place appears a colonnade of pillars. Strong, black marble are approaching the Doorway and nearing the first steps of our
pillars, flecked with gold and highly polished. journey.
56 ASTRAL DooRwAYs THE QABALISTIC DOORWAYS 57

On the card you saw, the outline of the card was given. I will coincidence the occultist expects. To him it is evidence of the
now fill in the details and as I do so, please try to visualize each psychic parallelism Jung called synchronicity.
- So fai I have siresied the dangers of Astral journeys. As-a
one strongly.
The veil draped on the door shows a huge laurel wreath, oval balance, I might conclude this chapier with the brief comment of a
in shape and internvined with flowers: lilies and roses. Outside novice immediately after his first Path Working.
the wriath, one at each corner, are the Elemental representations: 'I feel marvellousr' he said. 'That was a most therapeutic experi-
a man, an eagle, a lion and a bull. Inside the wreath is a deep, dark, ence.t
liquid area, indigo black in hue.
Stare into this dark oval and watch carefully. As you watch, a
figure floats towards you, growing larger until it almost fills the
laurel frame. Now you can see it as a pale, near-nude hermaphrodite,
slim and graceful, standing within the laurel wreath.
In one hand it holds a golden spiral. In the other, a spiral ofsilver.
Draped around it is a flowing scarf of bright blue.
The figure signs to us and we mov€ towards the oval pool . . . .
All that remains at this stage is to establish a 'marching order'
which should be maintained throughout the trip. As the party
steps into the symbol, both Sandalphon and the hermaphrodite
figure remain behind.
-A
trained Qrbalist will recognize the various symbols which
arise on the trip. These he uses as a guide to establish whether the
party remains on the right Prth. If' fgr instance, he should find
himief faced with an animal associated with some other Fath, he
is immediately warned that something has gone wrong.
There are also set symbols marking the centre point and ending
of the Path.
er ir all Astral iourneys, the return trip must reuace the outgoing
-
Path.
Results of Path Workings, properly conducted, are usually very
interesting. Gareth Knight reports* a case of clairvoyance developed
by this mians. My own experience, over a brief series of Workings,
was that there appeared a sudden tendency to change in the lives
of those taking part.
This may, of course, be sheer coincidence. But it is the sort of
) lnTlu Nco Diatcnsins Ral Eook cditeA by &silWilby ond published by Helios.
rs68.
 THE ORIENTAL DOORWAYS 59

Either can be used to build up hexagrams, based on the ancient

Oriental principle of the Yin and the Yang.
CX{APTER EIGTIT The Yin th" Yang are the two great complementary aspects
of Creation:"ttd
the negatG and positive, the female and the male'
THE ORIENTAL DOORWAYS the dark and the light.
The C,oin Oracle-, which is the easier to use' works like this-:
'It is a dubious task indeed to try to introduce to a critical iou fotrnolat. yout question and, for preference, write it {o*T'
modern public a collection of archaic "magic spells" with Then you toss th; coins and note whether thgV come down.heads
the idea of making them more or less acceptable. I have or tails. A head counts as a Yin and carries the value z. Tails are
undertaken it because I myself think there is more to the Yang
- and represent a 3.
ancient Chinese way of thinking than meets the eye.'-C-arl Aed up the three vilues to produce 1_lotal. This will obviously
U"O littti" Yins) 9 (three Yangs) 7 (two Yi!.s anda Ytnp or 8
G. Jung: I Ching. (two
i.nd a Yin). Iiach total ieprbslnts a Yin or Yang line,moving
There was also more to the I Ching than met my eye when I started "nJ
or at rest.
using it. The book is Chinese and older in origin than even our
Total T produces a Young Yang, shown
mysterious rath. Its doctrines predate Confucianism and Taoism
and influenced the development of both.
Total 8 produces a Young Yin, shown as - -
Total 6 produces an Old Yin, shown as -x-
For millenniums the I Ching (or Book of Changes) has been used
Total g produces an Old Yang, shown as -o-
throughout China as an oracle. This is not quite the same as saying
it was used for fortune-telling. Although its usage may have grown Toss the coins six times in all, adding each new line above the
degenerate at times, the importance of the work is its curious last one obtained. The result is'a figuri of six lines, broken and
ability to interpret the meaning of the moment and offer wise -
unbroken, known as a hexagram.
counsel from this basis. ihil h;.;gram is then iriterpreted with the aid of the Booh of
In his Foreword to the English language edition of Richard Ch;;it. Sftiufa 'old' lines "pp..t a: part of its structure, the
Wilhelm's translation* the psychologist Carl Jung puts forward tt.*tfr"- is first interpreted normally, -then the old lines are
some interesting ideas about why the book works. He sees a chan"ged into their opposites (i.e. an Old Yin becomes a Young
connection between the mechanics of the oracle and synchronistic Yang" and an Old Yang a Young Yin) and the new hexagram
phenomena. interpreted as well.
The Chinese, who used the book for centuries, were less sophisti- with the yarrow stick oracle, you leave one stalk aside and
cated. Their tradition held that spiritual agencies were involved. divide the remainder at random'into two bunches. one stalk is
They approached the book, with reverence, as though it were a i.Ln fron, the right-hand heap and placed between the linle and
person. And as a person the book replied. ,i'g fing.tt of tfre left hand. The lntire left-hand.-pile is then
Sirlce both Jung and the Chinese sages got results, viewpoint It.i.a ii the left hand and counted gtrby fours until four or less
appears to be quite unimportant. italks are ieft in the hand. Those remaining are placed between ring
To work the oracle, three coins or fifty yarrow sticks are needed. finger and middle finger. The right hand pile is then counted otl rn
t Publishcd by Roudedge & Kegan Peul in one volume. 1968. the same way.
58
6 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE ORIENTAL DOORWAYS 6r
The final total remaining gives a number. The total of three 45. Gathering Together 55. Abundance
numbers produces a line as described above. When you recall that 46. Pushing Upward 56. The Wanderer
six lines are needed, you can see that the Yarrow Oracle can be 47. Oppression or Exhaustion 57. The Gentle, or The Penetrating,
quite a lengthy business. 48. The Well or Wind
49. Revolution or Moulting 58. The Joyous or Lake
But it has one advantage over coin-tossing. Once you learn to The C-auldron
5o. 59. Dispersion
count the sticks, the process becomes not only automatic, but highly 5r. The Arousing or Shock or 6o. Limiation
relaxing. It may be that in this state your intuition has a greater Thunder 6r. Inner Truth
chance to act. Some unconscious choice may be made in dividing 52. Keeping Still or Mountain 62, Preponderance ofthe Small
the sticks, with the result that gxeater accuracy is obtained in the 53. Development or Gradual Process 63. After Completion
54. The Manying Maiden 64. Before Completion.
oracle.
This last, I must admit, is simple speculation. My own experience
has shown consistently good results with both methods. The reason why I have gone into so much detail, rather than
In the I Ching there are sixty-four hexagrams. They are given, simply suggesting you buy the book, is that the I Ching was not
in their traditional order, in Fig. Seven. Their combined interpreta- always consulted as it is now.
tion runs into hundreds of pages, but you may get some indication Around rr5o 8.C., King Wen and his son, the Duke of Chou,
of their meaning from their titles: fixed set interpretations for the hexagrams for the first time. These
r. The interpretations were subsequently enlarged and extended by later
Creative 24. Rehrrn, or The Turning Point
z. The Receptive 25. Innocence or The Unexpected sages until the book emerged in its present form.
3. Difficulty at the Beginning 26. The Taming Power of the But prior to the advent of King Wen, it appears that each man
4. Youthful Folly Great consulting the oracle interpreted the hexagrams in his own way.
5. Waiting or Nourishment 27. The Corners of the Mouth or That is, he used his intuition. You may be sure the I Chingpro&tc.ed
6. C-onltict Providing Nourishment
results in this manner too, otherwise the system would not have
7. The Army a8. Preponderance ofthe Great
8. Holding Together 29. The Abysmal or Water survived.
9. The Taming Power of the Small 3o. The Clinging Fire This leads me to the conclusion that more was involved in the
ro. Treading 3r. Influence or Wooing early days than intuition alone. It seems likely that the hexagrams,
rr. Peace 32. Duration perhaps exhibiting an archetypal nature, acted as triggers to
rz. Sandstill 33. Retreat sensitive minds. They opened up unconscious doorways to in-
13. Fellowship with Men 34. The Power of the Great
sights and, perhaps, prognosticuions.
14. Possession in Great Measure 35. Progress
15. Modesty 36. Darkening of the Light Where a trigger mechanism of this kind exists, you may also be
16. Enthusiasm 37. Ttre Family sure an Astral Doorway is not far away.
17. Following 38. Opposition This conclusion is borne out by the American writer William
18. Work on What flas Been Spoiled 39. Obstruction Seabrook. A cynic, but fascinated nonetheless by the occult,
19. Approach 4o. Deliverance
zo. C-ontanplation Decrease Seabrook discovered a method for using the hexagrams as Astral
4r.
zr. Biti'rg Through 42. Increase Doorways.
zz. C'r'rce 43. Breakthrough or Resoluteness High degrees of concenffation and visualization are needed: more
23. Splitting Apart 44. Coming to Meet so that with the other Doorways mentioned. The trouble is that
 6z AS?RAL DOORWAYS THE ORIENTAL DOORWAYS 63
1_ 45679 hand, the coin method is probably easiest. Follow the instructions,
then-look up its title. See-what you can make of that: if anything.
. When you have meditated foi a while on the title, seat youtrjf
o
\, 12 13 14 15_16_ in a traditional Eastern manner. That is, either cioss-legged or
squatting on your heels. Pick the most comfortable one for y*rc"[
=-
because you are likely to be in the position for quiie some
fr 20 2t 22 23 ?4_ time.
Now visualize a door and on the door visualize the hexagram the
--= _==== oracle has-given you. This may not be easy, but keep trylng until
the mental picture clears. Then wait.
25
: 28_ 2e- 30 gt _ 32_ . With the I Ching Doorways, there is no other knack for passing
tlrgugtr than patience. You must wait until the Doorway opens
== of its oon accord. This is something rhat cannot be forced utrl.rs
yo_u want to throw away the chance of reasonable results. It may
94- gp= 96= L
38 3e- +o- take twenty minutes,,or an hour, or several hours. When it happenq
congratulate yourself and go through.
you will find from experiment, the various Doorways have
-$
a_$ M 45_ 46_ g_48_ their own properties and biing their own visions. The Orienal
Doolvays are no exception. Possibly because of the long wait
_===:___ usually involved, coupled with the physical discomfort of maintain-

4e_ q 51 _ 52 53 A_ 55_ 50_

ing y-our.position and the mental effort of holding your visualization,
the likelihood of trance is greatly increased by ttris method. Theri
seems too, to be a greater chance of identification with some element
in the vision.
Seabrook, for instance, records the case of a Russian woman who
passed through Doorway No. 49 and began to exhibit the personal-
ity'' characteristics of a wolf: even to the extent of attacking her
fellow experimenters.
Fig. 7. The sixry-four hexagrams of I Ching . In view of this, the Oriental Doorways may prove extremely
dangerous to some. But they are also exiremely versatile. A lift6
using the oriental Doorways is a waiting game. Beyond a certain thought will show iust how interesting they couid become.
stage, the whole thing is out of you, cont-ro'i.
_-For_astart, you are not confined to selecting a random hexagram.
.First.find. your lexagram. Siabrook talks about throwing the The -such.
sticks like dice to form a pattern.* I find this, frankly, in"oipi.- ^f Ching is primarily an oracle and should be used as
Formulate your-question and cast the coins with it in mind. Accept
hensible. since it is unfifely you wilr have fiity y"rioto ,ri.ti io your vision as the answer.
' rlitchoaft: its Popa ia thc woild rodoykeissudin paperbact by spherc. r97o. It can also be a fascinating exercise to check your visions against
64 ASTRAL DooRwAys
the Wen/Chou interpretations, should you buy a copy of the book
itself.
In theory, how far you can go with this technique is limited only CHAPTER NINE
by the boundaries of the futral Plane. And these horizons may be
broader than orthodox psychology would allow. HYPNOSIS AND THE ASTRAL

'The adept who sees his way about this plane, may find
every thing there, no matter the point in question be in the
past, the present or the future.'-Franz Bardon: Initiation Into
Hermetics.

Although not a Doorway in the strict sense of the term, hypnosis is

a major key to the Astral Plane. Whether used alone, or in conjunc-
tion with one of the Doorways mentioned previously, it can produce
striking results.
But it has one big drawback. Not everyone can be hypnotized.
For useful work on the Astral Plane, your subject must reach
medium-and for preference should reach deep-trance level.
This cuts potential ceoperation by more than half. About twenty-
five per cent. of subjects are capable of reaching medium level
trance. Only twenty per cent. will reach deep trance.
As far as I can see, the only way of finding that fruitful twenty
per cent. is by trial and error. Even ifa subject can reach deep trance,
your problems are not over. He may not be interested in futral
experiments. Worse still, he may be so interested that his mind will
throw up all sorts of lunatic'occult' fantasies to confuse the picture.
In two years of consistent experiment, I found only four really
useful subjects: and considered myself lucky at that. One was a
company director named Arthur Gibson. One was a shop assistant
named Denise Alexander. One was a merchant seaman named Sam
Gordon. And the fourth, already mentioned in this book, was Bea
Van Vliet.
With these four, it became obvious that the Astral Plane extends
beyond the bounds of common sense.
In the days of Mesmer, it was generally thought hypnosis was
induced by some subtle influence emanating from the hypnotist.
65
66 ASTRAL DooRwAYs HYPNOSTS AND THE ASTRAL 67

Today it seems much morelikely that the subject really does the holds good even when there is no apparent response to the original
trick. Horror stories apart, nobody is hypnotized against his will. suggestion.
He is first taught briefly how to relax, then taught how to sink into Another rule I learned the hard way is to frame suggestions in a
trance. positive manner. In my early experiments I caused one subject
The process is reinforced by suggestion and the hypnotist's considerable discomfort by suggesting she would have no headache
personality plays an important part. But even here, it is the subject's when she woke. Her mind missed the little word'no'and she woke
reaction to the hypnotist, his confidence in the hypnotist's ability in considerable pain.
and integrity, that makes the real difference between success and There is one further pseudo-danger, which leads me to suggest
failure. a final rule: Never attempt to hypnotize anyone who suffers from a
This means that, potentially, anyone can become a hypnotist. heart disease.
Your only real problem is convincing others that you know what There is nothing in the trance experience to harm the heart: or
you are doing. any other organ for that matter. But if, by coincidence, your
There are some dangers in hypnosis, but these have generally subject should have a heart attack during trance, you will have a
been overstated. If you begin to practise the art, you will be difficult time convincing his relatives you are not a murderer. It
asked, time out of number, 'What happens if you can't wake me may be unfortunate that hypnosis is still a public mystery. But it
up?' i
is something you must learn to appreciate.
The answer is, 'Put you to bed.' Left alone, subjects in trance There are a variety of methods for inducing trance. One tech-
tend to pass eventually into normal sleep and wake up naturally a nique I have found generally suitable goes as follows:
few hours later. It may be reassuring to know that only once have Settle your subiea in a comfortable arm-chair and seat yourself
I had any difficulty in waking a subject; and even here total alert- beside him. Spend a few minutes chatting to him about hypnosis
ness was delayed less than half a minute. generally and what is going to happen in particular. It is important
A very real danger does exist when it comes to making sugges- that he is completely at ease about the operation, so encourage
tions to a subiect. These have a tendency to stick longer than you questions and answer them frankly and honestly.
might like. A textbook example is the case of a man who sought Explain that you can do nothing without his full ceoperation.
psychiatric help because of a persistent feeling he was being This means that, ultimately, he is in charge of what goes on. He can
followed. stop the process at any time.
In probing the man's background, the psychiatrist found he had Wth the preliminaries over, your next iob is to make sure the
recently been hypnotized. During trance, the suggestion was given subject is completely relaxed. This is not so easy as it sounds. The
that he was being chased by a savage dog. The subject reacted pace of modern life has helped make most of us quite unconscious
positively and showed every sign of fright. of the variety of muscular tensions we carry round every day.
But the suggestion was never countermanded. When the subject By far the most successful method of getting rid of these tensions
awoke, he forgot the hypnotic experience. The original suggestion, is systematic relaxation. And before relaxation can be achieved, your
however, remained in his unconscious mind and subsequently came subject must be made fully conscious of how tension feels in
out in the form of his obsession. individual muscles.
In view of this, a prime rule of hypnosis is neper to implant a Begin with his feet. Ask him to curl his toes as tightly as he can
suggestion without afterwards cancelling it completely. This rule manage and to hold them in this position as long as possible. Very
68 ASTRAL DOORWAYS HYPNOSIS AND THE ASTRAL 69

quickly this will produce an uncomfortable, cramped feeling. When A further suggestion that his whole body feels heavy, is based on
this arises, tell him to let his toes go limp. In this way, he becomes a similar situation. When your body is totally relaxed, it does feel
immediately aware of the difference between tension and relaxation heavy as a natural consequence. And so it should. Few of your
in a particular set of muscles. subjects will weigh less than seven stones.
Now move on to his calf muscles and repeat the process. Continue One thing to watch out for at this point is any suggestion which
up the body-thighs, stomach, hands, arms, shoulders, neck: might produce a jarring psychological effect. A woman with fat
alternately tensing and relaxing. When it comes to the face, have legs, for instance, will not take kindly to being told her legs are
him grimace, tensing the muscles beneath the skin and gritting his growing heavy. She is only too painfully aware that she has heavy
teeth tightly. Have him hold this, then relax. He should pay legs at the best of times.
particular attention to the jaw muscles, which often prove resistant Your total sequence of suggestion-up to deep trance level-
to letting go. might go something like this:
The final area, easily overlooked, is the forehead and scalp. A 'Please breathe deep and relax. Deep breathing helps you to
severe frown is usually enough to tense this whole area. Then have relax, so breathe deep now and relax. Keep your eyes fixed on that
him let it go. point and relax. Deeply relaxed. And as you breathe deep and relax,
If your subject is unused to systematic relaxation, involuntary your body grows heavy. You can feel your body heavy because
tensions may well have crept in again by the end of the process. So you're deeply relaxed. Deeply relaxed. Breathing deep and relaxed.
have him mentally go over his body in the same sequence as before, You can feel your body heavy because you're so very deeply
relaxing any set of muscles he finds has again become tense. It relaxed.
may even be necessary to repeat this process more than once until 'Breathe deep and relax and listen to my voice. As you listen to
complete relaxation is achieved. my voice, breathing deeply and relaxed, your eyes grow tired and
At this stage you are ready for the trancoinducing process. Have your eyelids become heavy.As you listen to my voice, your eyelids
your subject fix his eyes on some spot oboae tis normal line of become heavy and your eyes grow tired, so vetT tired as you listen
vision. Then begin to talk. to my voice. You can feel your eyelids heavy. You can feel your
What you say is, in effect, a series of repeated suggestions, one eyes grow tired as you listen to my voice. So very tired as you listen
built on the other. You will learn to judge trance levels from the to my voice. So very heavy as you listen to my voice . . ..'
subject's reactions and there are simple tests you can apply to At this point the first visible sign will emerge in a flickering of
check your accuracj. the subjeci's eyelids. Qrite frequently the eyes will actually slide
Keep your v.,ice low and soothing, but make sure the words are slowly shut. These are positive signs, but do not become too excited
clear. Try not to stumble, gr pause too long in the early stages. about them. Except in very rare cilses, your subiect is still very far
Speak reasonably slowly. You may find that your words fall into a from trance. About eighty-five per cent. of all subiects will react
rhythm and this is all to the good. in this way. The percentage who will go deeper is a lot smaller.
Your first positive suggestion is a confidence-builder and involves But despite all ihis, watch out for the signs. Because it is on the
slight cheating. The suggestion is that his eyes are becoming tired basis of these first reactions that any deepening of trance is built.
and heavy. What very few of your subjects will realize is that tired Your subject has found that your first suggestions worked. Conso-
eyes and heavy eyelids are a perfectly natural physical result of quently he will--or rather his unconscious mind will-more easily
directing the gaze upwards for any length of time. accept your next suggestion.
70 ASTRAL DOORWAYS HYPNOSIS AND THE ASTRAL 7r
Resist the temptation to go too fast, even with a good subject. It is no bad idea to tell him this, keeping your voice low and
Short-circuiting the process may make things easier for you, but regular. Then tell him he is going to pass into a deeper level.
you run the risk of trying a suggestion the subject is not yet ready 'I'm going to count to ten, and as I count you will fall into a
to accept. His failure to react tends to shoot the whole operation deeper level of sleep. As I count to ten, you will fall deeper asleep.
back to the beginning. Deeper and deeper asleep as I count to ten . . ..'
Now continue the sequence: Now do so, slowly. Reinforce your suggestions between each
'Let your eyelids close as you listen to my voice. You can let count and continue to reinforce them a little while after ten is
your eyelids close because your eyes are tired and sleepy. So very reached. Then test again. Tell him that this time his arm is growing
sleepy. Sleepy and relaxed. You're feeling so sleepy, sleepy and stiff and rigid, although the rest of his body will, of course, remain
relaxed as you listen to my voice. Breathe deep and relax as you perfectly relaxed.
listen to my voice. You're falling asleep as you listen to my voice. If reaction is positive, release the arm and suggest his eyes are
Deeply asleep as you listen to my voice . ..' now locked shut. Tell him that the harder he tries, the more difficult
Continue suggestions of this type for a few minutes, telling the it will be to open them. When this suggestion has been sufficiently
subiect that he is becoming more and more deeply relaxed, falling reinforced, invite him to try to open his eyes.
deeper and deeper asleep. When this is done, you can test for depth Allow plenty of time for this test. In my experience, it tends to be
of trance as follows: fairly crucial. Should your subiect find he cannot open his eyes,
'Your body is now heavy because you're so relaxed. So very tell him they are back to normal, but ask him to keep them closed.
heavy as you're so relaxed. Your body is now heavy and your legs Even if he managed to open them, remember to suggest saongly
are heavy and your arms are heavy, heavy and relaxed. that they have returned to normal after the test.
'Your right arm is heavy, heavf and relaxed. So very heavy, Another count to ten should produce deepening of trance to
heavy and relaxed. Too heavy to lift, its so heavy and relaxed. middle level. This can be tested by suggesting his arm has now
Your right arm is so heavy you iust can't lift it up. Its too heavy to become so light it is floating in the air of its own accord.
lift, because you're so relaxed. Too heavy too lift because you're so A further-indeed probably the best-test for medium level
relaxed. ..' trance is the subject's response to post-hypnotic suggestion.
Again the suggestion is repeated until you feel it should take The term is used to denote actions suggested by the hypnotist,
effect. If your subject responds, he will find himself incapable of but carried out by the subiect after he has awakened from
lifting his arm. Once you are satisfied, reassure him at once. There trance.
is nothing to worry about. He is safe and well, perfectly relaxed. These should be kept simple until you are sure deep trance has
And his arm is now back to normal. been reached. You might, for instance, suggest the subject borrows
Already your subject is in a very light trance. His body is com- a box of matches, or goes to sit on a different chair. The actions may
pletely relaxed, his breathing deep and regular, and he is responsive be triggered by a key word or gesture from the hypnotist.
to simple suggestions. But he is still perfectly well aware of his If nothing else, hypnosis can be used to promote relaxation prior
surroundings and will remain so, even should he pass into'medium to an Astral trip. But the most interesting relationship between
level trance. The mistake is often made that unless a subject loses hypnosis and the Astral appeers at deep trance level.
consciousness he is not in trance. This is not so, as experience will Signs of deep trance, assuming your subject is one of the twenty
soon show you. per cent. who can reach it, are his ability to open his eyes without
72 ASTRAL DOORWAYS
affecting the trance, positive reaction to complicated post-hypnotic
suggestions and hallucination.
CHAPTER TENI
Once the hallucination stage is reached, you are dealing with a
level of the Astral Plane. Your subject has passed through his
THE HYPNO.ASTRAL EXPER.IENCE
personal hypnotic Doorway and is conscious only of an- Astral
invironment. His link with the physical plane is your voice and
'In time, no doubt, all these difrculties will vanish, and we
-
your instructions.
In most cases of hypnotic experiment, the subject's experiences will have the beginnings of a rational theory of parapsycho-
logy. Until then, we should perhaps not be too critical and
on the Plane are meaningless. He is told he is at a soccer match
remember that we have no proper theory of most psycho-
and builds the Astral environment accordingly. His hallucinations
logical phenomena either.'-H. J. Eysenck: Sense and Nonsensc
are not even his own. They are random ideas tossed out by the
in Psychologlt.
hypnotist.
-
i am indebted to the French psychologist Paul Goldin for putting C,onscious attempts to use hypnosis as a key to the Astral came after
me on the track of a much more useful Astral operation. Goldin
developed the technique of zuggesting to subiects that they take_ an
I stumbled on proof of its usefulness while trying to do something
else.
unspecified'trip'anywhere they wished to go. Since the only other
suggestions given are that they will return when told and remember
I discovered Denise Alexander while on a trip to Northern Ire-
land. She was working at the time as a shop assistant in a chain
whCre they have been, the results of this technique are often very
store. An attractive, completely extroverted girl in her late teens,
interesting.
she had no interest inn or knowledge of, the occult. She was,
Much material is, of course, the result of purely subjective factors
however, easily the most remarkable hypnotic subject I had then
such as wish-fulfilment. But some hypnotic trips appear to go
encountered.
beyond this. It was, in fact, as the result of a series of hypnotic
Denise not only had the capacity for deep trance' but she reached
I
experiments that began to pay more attention to the occult
the level with almost alarming speed. She reacted positively to
th*ty of the futral Plane as tn objectitsa reality. every test I thought to apply. On more than one occasion she
spontaneously went into deep trance while watching me work with
someone else.
Denise enjoyed the hypnotic experience and was consistently
willing to undergo it. She was highly intelligent and very observant:
two qualities which added considerably to her value as a subject.
At the time I was interested in the problem of establishing some
first-hand evidence of Etheric projection. To do so, I set up the
following experiment.
A couple, mutual friends of Denise and myself, planned to leave
their house vacant while on holiday. I arranged that before leaving
they should write a short letter, the contents of which were known
73
74 ASTRAL DOORWAYS THE HYPNO-ASTRAL EXPERIENCE 75
only to them. This letter should be left on the mantelpiece in their Was it lined or unlined ? Lined.
living room. Was the letter typed, handwritten or printed ? Hand-printed in
During the period of our friends' holiday, Denise agreed to visit block capitals.
my wife and myself as a house guest. At some stage during the All these answers later turned out to be accurate. I considered the
visit, Denise would, under hypnosis, attempt to travel to our experiment a qualified success and determined to repeat it. Later I
friends'home in the Etheric Body and there read the letter. did so, but not with Denise. This time Arthur Gibson stepped in,
The reason for the rather tortuous holiday arrangements was that with stnggering results.
! wan19d to rule out, so far as possible, the question of telepathy. Arthui-had a very different temperament to Denise. A man of
Our friends did not know exactly when Denise would male hir about forty, he was fascinated by the occult. He had lived in India
attempt. And, whenever it was made, they would be absent from for several years, where he studied Hatha and Mantra Yoga. He
their home, presumably thinking of other things. had some direct experience of Spiritualism and a knowledge of the
Denise passed into trance with her accustomed ease on the esoteric, made remarkable by the fact that he had never read a
evening of the experiment. I suggested that she was leaving her single book on the subject. His information was gleaned partly
body and travelling back towards her home town. The disiance through discussion and partly from meditation. By nature he was
involved was about a hundred miles. both emotional and introverted.
- She responded positively and I then directed her to go to our futhur witnessed the experiment involving Denise and volun-
friends' house. Had she arrived ? She had. Would she go inside and teered as a subject for the next one. I was not enthusiastic. On
enter the living room ? She did so. Was there a letter on the mantel- several past occasions I had tried to hypnotize futhur without the
piece ? There was. slightest result. I believed him to be one of the immune fifteen per
At this point, results took a dramatic downwards turn. I asked cent.
Denise to read me the letter. But she refused to do so. She became But futhur insisted things would be different this time and
agitated and said she could not. I asked the trouble and was told I agreed to try. As it turned out, he could not have been
reluctantly
she could not see it. more right, nor I more rrrong.
I then suggested she go closer, which she did. But still she could To my astonishment, he fell quickly into deep trance. Soon he
not read the letter. Why not ? It was, she said, too dark. was responding to post-hypnotic suggestions even more complex
This was a complication I should have expected, but did not. I than those used to test Denise. There was not the slightest doubt
tried to remedy it by suggestion. I told her iiwas getting lighter in he had become a first-class subiect for Etheric experimentation. But
the room. She accepted the suggestion and agreed. Could she now I, in my cynicism, had been taken unawares. No rigid experiment
read the letter ? No-it was too dark. I then suggested she was had been set up.
moving back to the doorway and told her to swirch on the light. What followed was decided on the spot. To that extent'
Again she accepted the suggestion. The lights were now on. Could results arose out of chance circumstances. But the results were
she read the message ? No-it was too dark. striking.
I had almost resigned myself to total failure wh6n, on some Using the Goldin technique, I suggested futhur take a trip
irrational inspiration, I asked how many words were in the letter. anywhere he wished. Then I left him to it for perhaps ten minutes.
Five, Denise replied promptly. When he awoke, he remembered his iourney, but not the fact that
What colour was the paper I Blue. he had been hypnotized.
 ASTRAL DOORWAYS
THE HYPNO-ASTRAL EXPERIENCE 77
76
relationship to physical reality. This was particularly evident when
He had, he reported, flown to India. He described the plane and
he described people he saw in the house.
remarked that the flight had been a pleasant one.
He found himself in Bombay, a city with which he was quite A very similar situation ifose many months later with a different
.proiected' to the old church. she described the
familiar. He went sightseeing. subiea.'This girl
futhur's description of Bombay could easily have been drawn tocatity reasoriably'will, but added detail which had no phlsi.cal
parallil. That there wai a distinct connection between her vision
from memory, so it is pointless grving them here. As he told us
and the church as it stands today was shown when she led a party
about his journey, a certain confusion began to creep in. He could
not work out how he had suddenly returned to lreland. I reminded
there, without guidance, in pitih darkness, taking her directions
only on the basis of her vision.
him that his experience had been under hypnosis, but he did not
believe rne.
In trying to evaluate these experiments, the inaccurate data
seemed io it" at least as significant as the hits. The suspicion-crept
He was convinced in time, of course, but the fascination with
his vision remained. He could appreciate that the scenes he had
in that we were dealing with something other than Etheric pheno-
mena. This suspicion was confirmed when Sarn Gordon became a
witnessed might be no more than dramatized memories, but two
subiect in the series.
things puzzled him.
He h;d visited a favourite restaurant in Bombay and discovered
in engineer in his early twenties' S1m- had recently ioined the
it had been completelv redecorated. And in one part of the Old Merchani Navy at the time he took his first important 11ip' Pr1
viously he had experimented quite successfully with the.Elemental
Gty, he found a wall newly built where none had been before. He
could not understand why his memory should begin to play'tricks
Door*ays. Hypnosis increased the reality tone of his visions, but
not to a"gtii where he would make the mistake of thinking the
at these points. Besides, the whole thing had seemed so real. " -was
experience physical reality as futhur. had done. To Sam, the
It was real. Arthur wrote to a friend in India for information. thing waJrather like going to the cinerna.
wliole
The restaurant, he found, had actually been redecorated. The wall -"cco.tnt
of his experience (delightfully
Sam w6te the following
he saw had actually been built.
titled, 'A Journey from One Place to Another.') -
So far, the experiment pointed to Etheric projection. Arthur
agreed to try again. This time controls were tighter., 'I am in the desert. There are sand dunes. The iourney begrns
Instead o? sinding him on an unspecified uip, I suggested he
I
with me on a half-horse, half-donkey animal. feel half-priest,
half-soldier. The street is fairly naEow with fuab-like traders on
visit a neighbouring house. I was familiar with the interior lay-out
each side of me. They are seiling brass and copper goods, but
of this building, but he was not.
not to me.
He made th- trip and began to describe the interior with striking
accuracy, down to details like the nature of the paintings o-n tlre
'On my pure white mule, dressed in scarlet-and gold and wearing
a cardinal's hat, I pass under three arches and then out ofthe town
walls and the view from one of the windows. At one point he
and into the desert.
insisted a firescteen had been moved from its proper place: a .In front of me and to my left is a great pit. I cannot see_to the
detail I was unable to confirm at the time, but which later turned
bottom of this, but there ij gxass and red areas low down' I keep
out to be accurate.
well away and continue on mY trip.
Once again it seemed on the face of things that Arthur was an
Etheric proiector. Yet, with the mass of detail that was accurate'
Th; ground rises towards the horizon. The wind starts,up and
he produced simultaneously a good deal of material which bore no
I am in-the middle of a sand-storm. I have the idea that while the
78 ASTRAL DooRwAYs THE HYPNO-ASTRAL EXPERIENCE 79

storm is on, I'll

make time, so I beat the mule with my whip. Soon She had never met Sam, but had, under hypnosis, demonstrated a
I realize that this is not good at all and I let the beast alone. curious clairvoyant abilitY.
'The storm stops. Below me is a shallow valley with a stream On April Sirg6g, Bea went into deep trance and under detailed
running down the middle of it. To my side, sand and nothing else. instructions ?ottowld the course of Sam's earlier trip. When she
On the other side, tn tret of darker sand supporting some vegeta- reached the throne room she continued the vision without further
tion. The sand is darker because it is in the shadow of a great white instruction.
cloud. According to notes taken at the time, she met a richly-dressed
'In this darker region is a walled city. That's where I'm going. man who sJemed to want to show her something. They went into
The walls are a muddy grey. a long gallery with arches and from it the man pointed towards a
'I go down the gentle slope to the river and cross at a wooden truge-vittey. in the valley was a largg fuabic type city with a path
bridge. A soldier (Spanish type and armed with a lance) comes my of Lrick steps leading down towards it.
way. Almost half-way across the bridge he steps close to one side As Bea watched, tfie sky darkened and the city changed' Differjnt
and lets me by. I give my mule a chance to munch a few blades of structures emerged. From the architecture and wall-paintings, Bea
gtass then we have to be on our way. recognized the environment as Mexican.
'Guards are at all the gates and doorways, but the mule takes me Fir various reasons. Sam never received a report ofthis experi-
on. Anyway everybody clears out of my way (or the mule's) and we ment. But that made no difference to the outcome. His next port
step into a white palace or the like after climbing a lot of steps. of call was South America.
'On my right and left are two rectangular swimming pools, but
I take little notice. There is a greeny tint about the floor here. There
are also a few people, but again I take little notice.
'I climb many white marble steps. There are red carpets and
curtains about. I think I can see the throne, but I am looking for the
king. But my journey ends.'
The abrupt ending, curiously enough, was not because he had
been recalled. For some unconscious reason, he terminated the trip
himself, although remaining in trance until awakened in the normal
way.
I think it goes without saying that this trip was not an Etheric
projection. The cardinal's hat, if nothing else, would rule this out.
Indeed, at the time it seemed sheer fantasy.
But Sam went to sea. And four months later found himself in a
fair approximation of his Astral environment. He wrote from the
Middle East in some excitement detailing parallels and requested
some attempt be made to see the continuation of the trip which, he
was convinced, would indicate a future port of call.
To comply with his request I sought the help of Bea Van Vliet.
 THE OBJECTM ASTRAL

CHAPTER ELEVEI{

THE OBJECTIVE ASTRAL

'The Astral Light is beyond the range of our senses but its
existence is suggested by mvsticism, psychology and the
new physics.'-John Symonds: Magic and, 'ilIystidsm.

This book opened with a quotation from EHphas L6vi. In subsequent

chapters I have tried to narrow the credibility gap it must have
produced. By now, my own reports and any experiments yo_u mal
hrn. tried with the Doorways, should have persuaded you there is
more to the Astral Plane than'mere imagination.'
But if the fural is not iust imagination, what is it exactly ? This
is not easy to answer. And answers that might be given are difficult
to prove: except in the manner that puddings are proved.
The stattdard occult answer requires a modifrcation of the basic
diagram which appeared in Chapter One. This modification has
been made in Fig. Eight.
Now the solid black area representing the Astral Plane extends
both right and left of the line marked 'Self.' It is now seen as
touching on the physical as well as mental levels. It has become, if
" like, the 'imagination'
you of matter.
I have noticed this term used nnore than once in occult literature.
It is expressive, but unfortunate. The connection is too easily mlde
that occultists believe matter to be sentient: a difficult proposition
to back up. It might be easier to suggest that various physical
features*trees, streams, mountains-produce automatic stresses
in the Astral, by reason of their existence. This no more introduces
sentience than the fact that a mountain can influence an air current.
Although the definition of the Asmal Plane has now been extended,
It
its essential nature remains unchanged. is still a fluid, plastic FiS. 8. The As6al Plane touching on physical and mental levels
mediurn, having no form in itself, but capable of taking any form
impressed on it and capable of giving firrm to underlying forces.
8o
8z AsTRAL DooRwAYs THE OBJECTTVE ASTRAT. 83

Earlier these forces were considered to be mental. Now we accept another basic diagram. The first figure was fine, so far as it went.
the possibility that physical forces can work on the Astral as well. But the geography is wrong once you add a further Plane.
From this viewpoint, many a magical operation suddenly starts Occultists call this area beyond the Astral the Spiritual Plane,
to make sense. The ritualist's Words of Power, for instance, or assuming everybody knows what is meant by 'spiritual.' It is a
witchcraft's chanted spells involve, at very least, the production dangerous assumption. Everybody does indeed know what is
of sound-wave patterns. Sound can shafter a wine glass, draw meant by 'spiritual,' but the knowledge is so personal that it is
patterns in a plate of sand or-if you happen to accept the story- useless in a wider context.
demolish the walls of Jerichd. It is not too difficult to suppose it You will see exactly what I mean next time you listen to students
might also influence the Astral Plane. arguing about the real nature of God. Each one has his own views
Repeated movements may do the same. Reinforced by tt" and backs them with as much skill and information as he can lay
imaginative workings of the Magus, this possibility lies behind all his mind on. But at the end, nobody is nearer to God. And the
magical ceremonial. reason is that their argument is verbal.
Occultists make one further postulate: that influence works two There is a neat way to spark a textbook verbal argument. Never
ways. Matter acts on the Astral Plane to produce patterns of change use it on graduates in logic, because they know it already. For the
in its structure. But patterns established in the Astral will also rest it is set up thus:
produce changes in the material world. This latter reaction is In the middle of a field there is a single tree. Clinging to the bole
considerably more difficult than the former to put into effect, but on the eastern face is a squirrel. Standing in the eastern corner of
it is the basis of virtually all magic involving the physical plane. the field, in direct line with the squirrel and facing towards it, is a
This is not to say wishing will "rnake it so: even combined with hunter with a gun. The hunter wants to shoot the squirrel.
a vivid imagination. I have a fair idea what the inside of a television The squirrel becomes aware of the hunter and, not wishing to be
set lools like, but no knowledge of electronics. I know that an shot, begins to edge around the tree, hoping to get the trunk
arrangement of wires, transistors and other equipment can produce between itself and the hunter's gun. The hunter, determined to
pictures on a cathode ray tube. But if I were to build a set only on beat this manoeuwe, begins to move in the same direction, always
the basis of this knowledge, it would not work. keeping in direct line with the squirrel.
The position with Astral magic is exactly the same. Without After a few minutes, both the squirrel and the hunter have
proper training in the detail of an Astral operation, the tyro is in a completed a full circuit of the tree. The problem now becomes:
similar position to the Cargo Cultist who builds a wooden runway did the hunter go round the squirrel ?
to attract the great metal birds full of white man's goodies. This problem divides an unsophisticated audience into two
A detailed examination of futral magic is beyond the scope of this opposing factions. One maintains that the hunter does indeed go
book. The subject is mentioned here to give an idea of the fascinating round the squirrel. Because he is, in sequence, to the east' to the
possibilities which lie beyond those Doorways. If you will forgive south, to the west, to the north and finally back to the east of the
a curious statement, I think some of the other possibilities are a animal.
lot more important than producing miracles with which to amtze The second faction maintains that the hunter obviously does
your friends. not go round the squirrel. Because at no time is he to the side or to
I base this statement on th€ belief that there is another Plane the front of it.
beyond the Astral. If you agree, then we need to start working from If it seems obvious to you that they are arguing in the last
84 ASTRAL DooRwAYs THE OBJECTTVE ASTRAL 85

analysis about the meaning of the words 'go round', you are quite between the two and form your own link, by analogy, with the
correct. But it is not obvious to everyone. And it is less obvious Spiritual. But do not try to put your conclusions into words. Once
when the subject has more emotional appeal than hunters and you do so, you are back in the maze again.
squirrels. With a fourth Plane to consider, the new basic diagram might look
A discussion on the true nature of God, saipped of its emotional something like Fig. Nine.
content, is a discussion about the meaning of the pord'God' and
nothing else. Exactly the same difficulty-and a very similar
emotional content-presents itself when you use a word like
'spiritual.'
All of which leads me to define vrhat /mean by the word. If your
first reaction is to disagree, remember that the subject of disagree-
ment is the word, not the reality.
The Spiritual Plane is to the Mental Plane what the Mental
Plane is to the Astral Plane.
It is perfectly permissible to consider the Astral Plane as billows
of fine matter. From this viewpoint, the Menal Plane-the
psyche-is held to be composed of finer matter still. From our
definition, the Spiritual Plane is composed of the finest matter of all.
It is equally permissible-althpugh slighdy abhorrent to mFto
consider the Astral Plane as a level of higher vibration. The Mental
Plane is a higher vibration still. And the Spiritual Plane becomes
the highest vibration of all.
These are more or less standard occult viewpoints. Even allowing
for the fact that they need not be taken too literally, I dislike both.
It seems to me very evident that in the Astral we are dealing with
a state totally alien to the physical. As such, the only worthwhile
way to consider it seems to be as a different reality we can experi-
ence but not measure.
Ideally, the position should be left at that. Unfornrnately it will spiritural
not be. The human mind has a tendency towards analogy. So the
Mental Plane will be described as'finer' or'higher' than the Astral. Fig. 9. The Four Planes
And the Spiritual Plane will be thought of as finer or higher still.
Although these ideas comrnunicate something, they stil[ amount to The innermost sphere of the diagram represents the material
sanng blue is finer than gr@n, or scarlet is redder than crimson. universe: to all intents the planet Earth. Beyond it, like an onion
The way out of the maze is to remember you have direct experi- skin, is the Astral sphere. Beyond that, the Mental. And beyond
ence of both the Astral and the Mental Planes. Note the connection that, the Spiritual.
 THE OBJECTM ASTRAL 87
86 ASTRAL DOORWAYS

These are not, of course, geographical locations' The Astral does gtve a different number of Astral levels. A sevenfold division is
not circle the universe as the Van Allen belts circle the Earth. In luite popular, especially in the East. But it must be remembered
this realm you are dealing with a different state of affairs. once- you fit"t any aiuidinglines are arbitrary. They are conveniences, rather
pass through a Doorway, you have entered non-geographical than representations of reality. You place them where they do most
good to personal understanding.
sDace.
' You have - Howeier suLdivided, you can see from our new diagram that
also, by the look of things, managed to sidestep Timgt
If you have already tried an Astral trip, the chances are you will the road to Spiritual potencies lies through the Astral Plane. The
I
have noticed a diitortion in your time-sense. once guessed at mystic takes a by-pJss to these heights. Tle Tagtcian, -with a
twenty minutes for an inner iourney that lasted, objectively, an diiferent temperament, takes the As6al road. Both are heading for
hour and a quarter. the same destination.
This may, of course, be simple disorientation. But disorientation
does not explain how two iourneys predicted Sam's next ports of
call.
With this sort of picture then, you have layers of pseudo-space
extending four-dimensionally into pseudo-time,-wrapped- around-
or, *or"-r"curately-intermingling with the physical plane' It is
assumed that each'layer can interJct on the other, with automatic
interaction strongest at the closest point of contact.
A fairly natotil series of subdivisions follows these ideas. That
nart of tire Astral closest to the Earth takes on form from Earth
influences. part of this form is purely
-is a mirror image of physical
conditions. But the remainder the form aspect of emotional
thoughts from Earth's inhabitants. Psychics maintain this Lower
estrit level is not very pleasant. Unless your view of mankind is
very naive, you will have no trouble realizing why.
Beyor,a ifie Lower Astral, conditions grow more attfactive. Here
the major automatic influences come, as it were, from atove- since
the level above is that of abstract thought, the Higher Astral forms
tend to be cleaner-in the artistic, rather than the moral sense-
and better organized.
Like the .[,stral, the Mental Plane may be subdivided' The
Lower Mental ,".!i".t a feedback from the Astral, giying some
form to its abstractions. The Higher Mental is influenced by the
spiritual, producing such curiosiiies as intuition and certain forms
of genius.
fl.eaders familiar with occultism may protest that other sources
 ASTRAL ENTITIES 89

are beyond Good and Evil in the sense that they are neutral' They
have totally fixed behaviour patterns.
CIIAPTER TWELVE Set over the Elemenal Cieation are the Elemental Kings' The
inner hierarchy is a reflection of physical facts' such as the
ASTRAL ENTITIES hurricane's domination of breezes in its path.
since the Elemental Kings represent the Elements in their
tln the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy broader, wilder sense, they are associated with Brft polver.andcan
Spirit!Attention and come all you Spirits!gy-t!" P_orr_er and be difficult to For this reason they tend to be f'eared in
"onttol. their essential nature is still neu6al.
the Virtue of your Kings, all the Spirits of the Hells are some occult quarters. But
compelled to manifest themselves in my presence before Only their misdirection will produce evil results.
this Pentacle or this Circle of King Solomon, when I may In accordance with the nature of the Astral Plane, thoughcforms
call them!'-coniuration from the Grhnoire of Honorius the also occur widely. These are mainly very transient, but there are
Great. one or two exceptions. single-minded conceatration plus emotion
builds op rn .tttity known as an futificial Elemental, which reacts
Carl Jung is somewhere quoted as saying that no one should waste according to the nature of the emotion involved.
energy dinying the existence of the gods whgn they could be There-is usually a feedback proce$ to the physigal- from. an
$ving their attention to investigating forces which behave exactly futfficial Elemental. This is thi reason why crowd behaviour
as the gods were once reputed to behave. differs so grearly from the behaviour of the indMduals who go to
It is good advice and I intend pticking to it. I said my little bit for make it ,ip. e'striking example is the lynch mob' The crowd
the objictive Astral in the last chapter. Whether you accept the concentrat; with emolion on a single subiect: the prisoner' An
possibility is your own affair. If, in the present chapter, you prefer futificial Elemental comes into being and begins a feedback of the
lo think of spirits as semi-autonomous complexes, that too is hate which produced it. The emotion grolrs stronger and stronger
your own affair. My concern is purely to describe a few of the until it discharges in the murder of the prisoner.
Lntities you may possibly meet on Astral wanderings: subjective or Fornrnately ih" El.-.nt"l of a loosely-kni, qgop like a. mob.is
obiective. short-lived. it rt"*", to death when the mob disbands. Given the
First there are the Nature Spirits. These have been named by same basic ingredients-hopefully with a less destructive emotion-
folklore and are closely associated with the Elements. There are an organized- group tendi to build an Elemental with greater
four broad divisions: Gnomes, Sylphs, Salamanders and Undines. p.rrn.."n.n*. 1.f,e feeting of awe which clings to an-empty cathedral
They are, in the order given, personifications of Earth, Air, Fire is an exa-ple of a power-ful Elemental built by ritual. The spasmodic
and Water. aura of our rath nray possibly be the remnant of Elemental building
Under the same category come Elves, Spritesn Fairies, Brownies in the distant past.
and lreland's beloved Little People, the Leprechauns. They are the Many of these entities are formed quite unconsciously. But a
futral expression of natural forces, manifesting as entities of greatcr skilled'occultist might sometimes use the same ingredients to
or lesser power. ptoau"" an Elemeital for some purpose of his own' Again
The dominant characteristic of these creatures is single-minded- ih. El.-.tttal is neutral pel se. Bui its purpose m1y 99 good or
ness. Their actions are severely limited to their own ooncern. They evil, depending on the intention of the operator. And its natue
88 7
go aSTRAL DOORWAYS ASTRAL ENTITIES 9r
may be love or hate, depending on the emotion which gave it The relevant Astral levels can be the key to such curiosities as
birth. telepathy. But the establishment of telepathic rapport is on a par
Closely associated with futificial Elementals are Shells. These with finding a particular stanger in a city the size of Tokyo. It can
are forms taken on by independent entities (including humans) in happen by pure luck, but the chances are all against it.
order to operate on the Astral, and subsequently discarded. A The Astral is the home of the mysterious Akashic Record, that
trained occultist will destroy his Shell after use. If he does not, it mysterious Book in which, according to occultists, all facts ate
tends to disintegrate of its own accord. Although giving an immedi- written. Why this is so is easy to see when you remember the
ate appearence of individuality, it is a mindless form and generally Astral extension through time. The medium takes on an impression
quite harmless, although some develop obsessing qualities for a of events, so that it is only a question of hitting the right level to
produce the relevant information.
time. - I rashly wrote 'only', but, of course' this operation is as tricky
Occasionally Shells are 'picked up' by sensitives or mediums
and mistaken for ghosts. A residue of personality characteristics may as telepathy without training. Probably the easiest tap to th9
give them an appearance of sentience, but any communication with Akashic is through psychometry. To some people, this is a natural
them is flat, colourless and banal. aptitude. Others require training. Because of its associations with
With the Shells, there are sometimes actual ghosts. The human the Astral Plane, a simple training system for this talent is given in
personality will usually spend a period on the Asaal after death. an appendix.
The inner spirit clothes itself in Astral substance usually modelled If you have been paying close attention, it may by now havc
on the physical body and operates temporarily in a dream world. occurred to you that if angels can build Astral bodies, so too can
Again, mediumistic contact is possible: and indeed appears quite demons.
common. Since the ghost's Astral environment is usually built up Once you abandon superstition and romantic fiction, the problem
quite unconsciously and tailored to the individual outlook, descrip- of the Infernal Hierarchies becomes quite as difficult to understand
tions of post-mortem states drawn from these sources tend to vary as understanding Angels. What is worse, investigation of these
widely. levels brings painful results. It is as well to leave the demons to
If a soul does not reincarnate, it will eventually pass beyond this Dennis Wheatley and take some consolation from the knowledge
.{stral dreamland. At that stage a further interesting possibility that demoniac contact on the futral is quite unlikely.
arises. If the soul is sufrciently evolved it can create an Astral body Rather more likely--and almost as frightening-is the possibility
to be worked by remote control, as it were. This establishes the of contact with one's own fuchetypes. Confrontation with personi-
possibility of communication with highly evolved entities on the fied personal unconscious contents can often have a salt'tary effect.
common ground of the Astral Plane. Thiiis one reason why self-knowledge is so ipportant for an Astral
A standard magical technique is to build a suitable Astral form traveller. It is the ultimate defence against your own worst enemy.
in the hope and expectation of attracting a higher force into it.
Since the form can be built from above as well, it is true to say the
various angelic and archangelic hierarchies, along with'pagan gods
and elder brethren of evolution, may also be experienced here. But
the Plane is not their natural habitat, any more than it is yours or
mine.
 HEIGHTENING THE ASTRAL EXPERIENCE 93

Adonai ha-Aretz pronounced Ah4oe'na1' ha'Ahr-etz.

Auriet pronounced Oar-eee-el
CX{APTER THIRTEDT.I Phorlakh pronounced Four'lack.
Shaddai El Chai pronounced Shad-eye EI Shoy.*
HEIGHTENING THE ASTML EXPERIENCE Raphael pronounced Raf-eYe-e l.
Clrassan pronounced Chas'an.
'Milarepa, in his Himalayan cavern' and the anchorites of Elohim izabaoth pronounced Aflo'eem Z ab'o1-oth,
the Thebaid followed essentially the same procedure and Gabriel pronounced GaYbree-el.
got essentially the same results.'-Aldous Huxley:Heaaen ond Taliahad pronounced Tal'eye'ohad.
Hell. Yhvh Tzabaoth pronounced Yeh-ho-aoh Zab'ayoth.
Michael pronounced Me-haYel.
There are, as Huxley discovered, a multitude of ways to heighten Aral pronounced Ahr-al.
the futral experience. Many of them are bizarre' Many of them are
dangerous. But all of them bear testimony to mankind's fascination
After passing through the Doorway, each Name associated with
with his visions. the Element is-sounded three or four times in the order God Name,
When using the Elemental Doorways, members of the Golden fuchangel and Angel. The sounding is not done in normal tones.
Dawn were taught to use certain Divine Names in order to gtvg In the iechnical teim of occultism, the Names are 'vibrated.'
their visions life. The Names chosen were, in each case, associated
To vibrate a word may take a liale practice, but it usually comes
with the Element concerned. These are as follows: easily enough. First speak the word slowly aloud. Th9-1 tr1. to
Earth water produ.. thisame sounds as far back in the throat as possible..-This
God Name-Adonai ha-Aretz. God Name-Elohim Tzabaoth' will probably involve dropping the pitch of the voice. The idea is
Archangel-Auriel. Archangel-Gabriel. to p.du.. a t"tonrtt"". An approach midway between singing and
Angel-Phorlakh. Angel-Toliahad. chanting may be useful.
Air Fire It is iasy io iudge when you have succeeded. You will actually
God Name-Shaddai El Chai. God Name-Yhvh Tzabooth' feel the ,"iottto... The occultist will often carry his training to the
fuchangel-Raphael. Archangel-Michael. point where he can direct the vibrations to specific areas ofhis !ody-
Angel-Chessen. Angel-Arel.
ihe palm of the hand, for instance, or the sole of the foot' But for
Astral travel, you will need no more than a general vibratory
To make full use of the Names requires training. A measure of
their potency springs from associated ideas. The building il 9f
effect.
This Golden Dawn technique does not, of course, involve trance'
these associaiions to members' minds was an important part of the
But it is true to say that most other techniques do, to some.degree
fraternity's curriculum. But even without training, the Names will or other. fu a consenting adult, you may take your choice. As
produce- a degtee of automatic reaction. For that'reason, the
someone with a little praitical experience, I should underline the
technique of using them is given.
Firsq since thJ Names ale Hebrew transliterations, a guide to I Imooesible to civc in.ccunrte phonetics. The'Sh'sound is not nearly so soft
gs
pronunciation will be useful. in normil English eid ehould carry inore than r hint of 'ch' as in 'loch.'
92
 ASTRAL DOORWAYS HEIGHTENING THE ASTRAL EXPERIENCE 95
94
fact that trance is not a plaything. If you must risk any of tlre sometimes for the remainder of their lives. The main reward for
following, make sure someone is with you all the time. And for this harsh discipline was visionary experience.
preference make sure that someone is a doctor. It is unlikely that many of you will go quite so far as the Tibetans.
' A few years ago, scientists working under the auspices the But some of the less spectacular disciplines may not be out of the
-of question. First amongst these is fasting.
United Siates Navy set out to discover the effect on the human -
mind of toal stimulus withdrawal. Prolonged fasting has been used by visionaries for centuries.
The first experiments involved shutting volunteers in a lightproo-f, As a technique, it has an appealing simplicity: and is not nearly so
soundproof too* t* small to allow major- movement' The walls uncomfortable an experience as the well-fed might imagine.
were iadded and the volunteers wore padded clothing-including Assuming you are fit enough to take it-and the only way to make
gloves'-to cut down tactile sensation. Later, the procedure in- sure of this is to check up with a doctor first-by far your best sart
iolved suspending the volunteers underwater so that the few remain- is a three-day fast. Anything less tends to gwe you most of the
ing areas oi toucli-the slight sensation of the body pressed against unpleasantness and almost none of the benefits.
th; bed, for instance-virtually disappeared. C,onduct your early experiments during summer. In winter you
Most of the volunteers foilowed the same pattern. The only will need food for keeping warm and it is as well not to deplete body
essential difference was the time taken to reach the various stages. reserves unduly at the stage of learning the technique. In winter
First, they would catch up on sleep. Then, sometime after con- also, the possibility of infection is usually gteater. Even a severe
sciousness returned, they would become restless. The restlessness cold is no ioke if the body is not fully equipped to fight it.
was followed by increaiing disorientation. And this finally gave During the fasting period it is best to avoid heavy work: indeed,
way to hallucinations. work of any sort. A glance through the lives of the saints shows
the hallucinarions were invaiiably of a vivid kind. Their nature most of them did their fasting in seclusion. Until you become
was more curious than anything else. One volunteer reported accustomed to the process you will almost certainly find fasting
watching a naked man with a soldier's tin helmet perched on his impairs your efficiency enough to make it safer to practice at week-
head row a bath across the volunteer's line ofvision. ends or on holidays.
On the basis of the experiments a tentative theory was formed On no account work with machinery during the fasting period.
that, given the trying Conditions the volunteers endured, one This includes such activities as driving a motor car. Faintness can
(rccur, often without warning. If this happens behind the wheel, you
hall oT the brain produced amusement for the other through
hallucinations. will be in real trouble.
So far as I know, no analysis was made of the hallucinatory con- During the first day expect a fair obsession about food. Skipping
razr. Without such an analysis it is dangerous to draw too many the first meal is easy enough, but thereafter your day will degenerate
conclusions. But there are very obvious parallels between what into a series of stomach-rumbling moments of quiet despera-
happened to the volunteers and what used to happen in pre- tion. You may find some difficulty in getting to sleep in the
invalion Tibet to certain Himalayan hermits. evening.
The Tibetan holy men deliberately had themselves bricked in to Regretfully, the second day is often worse. Headaches occur and
tiny cells set high up in the mounteins. Fo9{ w-as passed by.their a surprising degree of weakness. Usually these have a psychological
foliowers throulh aimost lightproof slits. The hermits meditated root.-The unconscious mind can produce spectacular protests whotl
in total darknesi and total silence for periods up to twenty years: its routine is upset.
 ASTRAL DooRwAYs HEIGHTENING THE ASTRAL SXPERIENCE 97
96
Throughout the fasting period make sure to drink plenty of and exhaustion lead fairly quickly to a trance collapse, with
water. subsequent visions.
Day three will usually produce the benefits. Headaches and There are very considerable variations on this basic theme'
weakness disappear as the unconscious grows tired of Protesting. voodoo possession rituals, for instance, rely on emotional tension
Energy returni and with it a distinct clarity of mind. Should you combined with rhythmic drumming and the exhaustion of a (non-
use a Doorway, the visions will be clearer too. whirling) dance to produce similar results.
It is, of possible to carry fasting to extremes. This is Othei'ingredients in the mixture are flagellation and chanting'.
"oott.,
genetaily what happens with the hermit mystic. Forced to draw Investigition of these techniques shows a chemical element in
bntinually on its bwn resources, the body grows weaker. A situa- many of them.
tion eventually arises similar to the effect of fever. Visions (rcc1r. Prolonged chanting, for instance, will increase the carbon dioxide
Since mysticai fasting is usually accompanied by prayer and giqtlar content 6f *r" bloid. Dancing releases adrenalin. Flagellation
devotions, it is hardly surprising that the visions are of a rdigious produces histamine: and if thJ wounds are left untreated, de-
character. composed protein is absorbed into the blood. Often in the rituals
This is not to decry them. Any of you who have read this far of tfre bhck races these natural chemicals are supplemented by
must have realized I hold any visionary experience can have validity, herbal drugs. The results are striking.
no matter how produced. Once you accept the futral Plane as real, Once this is realized it is a short siep to the recognition of other
it hardly matters how you get there. chemical keys to the Astral Plane. In recent years-theselave come
A fasier, but infinitely m-ore difficult, road to the Astal is simple more and *or" to the forefront with the publicists' discovery of
lack of sleep. Tolerance varies, bUt three or four completely sleepless mescaline and the various synthetic psychedelics such as LSD-25'
nights will usually produce visions with a vengeance. That these are genuine keys is a itatement that will not sit easy
ihe experiettce m"y have a certain interest in itself, but lhe with the romanti;. They can be extremely dangerous keys' but
disorientation which iccompanies it, the adverse psychological that is neither here nor there. They unlock the inner levels efficiently
reactions and-if prolonged-the heavy price paid in terms of and easily. And if their use seems a far c-ry {99 spilituality, I
health loss, makes ihe technique far from useful. While prolonged know no-better answer than that once given by Aldous Huxley:
fasting, for all its drawbacks, ian at least be channelled to spiritual 'In one way or another, oll ov lxperiences are chemically
ends,-Lck of sleep cannot. Your concentration will not hold up' conditioned, tna if
we imagine that some of them are purely
Unless, like the ttittt, yout interest is one-pointed to the degree of "spiritual", purely "intellectial", purely "aesthetic", it-is- merely
saturation, little worthwhile can come from this technique. because t*. h"n" never troubled to invesiigate the internal chemical
But through the ages faster technical methods of inducing tfance environment at the moment of their occuirence. Furthermore, it is
have been developed. One of them is whirling. a matter of historical record that most contemplatives worked
This techniq,te is favooted by the Middle Eastern dervishes and systematically to modify their tody chemisuy,. wi1\ a. yiey to
members of tire European Witch Cult. In both cases, whirling creating the internal conditions favourable to spiritual inlighr' .
I-Sd fiUea Tim Leary with a mission to turn on the world'
-on.*"nt, are incorporated into a traditional dance. Tliebedervishes
no more Derfite panic-stricken headlines, the world Llg"ly resisted and I
dance free, the witches in a circle. A witch circle should plane is only one reality. Slav.-tJ_io iT visions
than nine-feet in diameter: the smallest space that will enclose .* lUa.'Ttte Astral
thirteen people performing a whirling dance. In both cases dizziness is ttJb.n". than the stifling'scientifiC materialismof Victorian days.
 HEIGHTENING THE ASTRAL EXPERIENCB 99
98 ASTRAL DOORWAYS
padme Hum.' The usual English translation is 'Hail to the Jewel
wththe Aquarian change in psychic dominants, more and more
Westerners are turning to occultiim, taking an interest in mysticism
i",t fo*r': a phrase *ot" Jr less devoid of sense as it stands. But
"
on examinatioo, yoo will find the lotus is the Thousand-Petalled
and inner states. This-has lead to a much greater awareness of Yoga
in the West. Since Yoga disciplines, in many cases' are aimed at
L"*r, t ptychic ilexus at the crown of the head and the focal point
producing trance sttteJ, there is a chance Yju may be tempted. to
of *rn'r^ dealings with the Divinity. Thus the mantra is a very
irse the lystem in conjunction with the Doorways. Resist that -'fttit
soecific salute to God.
salute should be chanted, as it were, in a circle' 'Aw-um
rnrn-"" pad-mey hummmmm Aw-um man-ee pad-mey hulqm
temPtation.
Yoga is a wonderful system. As taught in the Orient by a.lkilled
Aw-um man-ee-pad-mey hummm . . ..' It is repeated until the
guruiit can produce exceptional results. As a deit-yourself road
-
desired effect is achieved.
io God-the typically We.ttttt position-it is very bad news
indeed.
iii" *otttt noting in passing that the circular mantra can be used
Some parts of the Hatha Yoga system have been adapted quite
.*,-ro.".rrfully f6r clearing-the mind. It is begun slowlSand in
this case need not be spoken aloud-and repeated mentally at ever
successfuily for Western use. As such they are an interesting_physical
increasing speed. Thi time comes when it whirls from its own
training ,6gi-". But the Sance-inducing techniques of Yoga are
-*ithout
proper training and expert supervision. So ,.n"*"",,i,,,'(as catchy tunes sometimes do) and throws off all
dangerius
leavi them alone, nb matter how-many tempting books on the --il;,op
extraneous thoughts.
a ciicling manha' reverse -the process that began,it'
subiect come to hand.
First take conscious iontrol ofthe speeding words and very gradu-
And on no account try to mix visualizations with Yoga pgstures'
combining the two is a technique on-its own. To try it without
;ly J;;,h.m down. When the mantra haJslowed to a crawl, speak
it aloud and forget it.
knowing ihat yon are doing is asking for psychosis' -methods
outlined so far are more effective than
Aparialtogeiher from Yoga, there are a fewtody posturesr'hich
Mori of the
t ndto prod-uce trance in tfiemselves. Probably the- oldest o{th9s3 .ttr".ti*. My own belief is that hypnosis-is the safest-and cer-
iainly the most comfortable-means of heightening the Astral
is the Siraman Squat. This involves squattin' on the ground with
hands clasping and head resting on the knees. The position .*p.i'itn".. Almost everyone can receive some benefit from the
"ttkl.r t".hniqo" and the chancis of anything going very badly wrong are
i*1" ro*itttlng fike an upright foeius and becomes extremely : good'deal less than with many of-the other methods'
uncomforrable ifter a time.- But maintained long enough, it leads
a
"tfr. use of hypnosis does not, of courser- rule out the possibility
to- trance.
A,ecorrd, equally uncomfortable and equally effective, is the sufi
,"riaty .*p"ri*.trtr. Here self-hypnosis becomes an effective
"r
key.
a.u"top*.nt or n"nging by one wist with the feet clear of the --'By
far the easiest way to produce the self-hypnotic state is to
ground.
" properly used, the mantra can be an effective trance-producer. n# youtr.lf put in trance by a skilled hypnotist who will then
grve you a keyword which, when you pronounce lt' acts as a trlgger
Chanted aloud, iwo things happen. Blood carbon dioxide rises and
tfr. *"otoor tt yttt. takft an-hypnotic grip on the mind. There is -- send you back into trance alone.
io
the added benefrt thar, properly understood, the mantra will turn
il idi, prefer the undoubted satisfaction of doing things +e
n tJ totn the following technique will produce the same results
tire mind in specifically spiritual directions.
is the very well-known mantra'Om Mani over a longer period.
An excellent
"*.tnpL
IOO ASTRAL DOOR\II'AYS

Find a quiet room where you will not be disturbed' A bedroom

is usually Lest. Draw the curtains and dim the lights. Do- not try CT{APITR FOURTEEN
for total darkness. A restful, dim light is best. Make sure the room
is warm. Nothing is more distracting than shivering. - ASTRAL CREDO
With these priiminaries over, lie down on-your back on {t b:{'
Begin systematic relaxation as outlined in Chapter l-{in9' D9 trit ,Many cannot even believe that such a world existsr-and that
seieral iimes until you are sure your body is completely relaxed. other people can see that which is invisible to them, yet
A good test is that your limbs feel heavyr - **" f""ple are blind to the beauties of this world which we
6r,ce relaxation is achieved, begin making the hypnotic sugges- see.'-Mai Heindel : The Rosicrucion Mysteries.
tions to yourself. Again these suggestions are outlined in chapter
Nine. fu an occultist I am committed to a number of beliefs which you
There is no need to hurry and no need to speak aloud' Repeat piot.Ufy do not share. So far in this book, I-have tried to keep
the suggestions over and over until they_begin- to take effect. ihese biliefs as far in the background as possible.
Learnii[ seff-hypnosis is usually more difficult than learning to Sometimes this has not beei possible.-In early chapters dealing
hypnotiie so*.on" else, so several sessions may well be necessary with the Astral as a psychologiial state, it was relatively gasy to
blior" trance of any depth is produced. Throughout your experi- tr.p on the rails. But ihe Astral refuses to behave entirely.as a
ments, breathe deeply and rhythmically. pryif,ofogi"rl state, so that later a degree ofesotericism crept in..
Once you feel thi suggestions have taken_ effect,,test trance level '-ir[or*, iearing the end ofthe book, I propose to give this esoteric-
by causing your arm to-fo"t. Iqstead ofmaking a-direct llsfes* ism iuli play fol a [ttle while. Whethei Vou accept a word.of it is a
to triggerihis result, visualize your arm as a-gas--fillqd balloon' Try matter for yourself. Should you decide to reject €verything put
to -"f" this visualization as strongly as possible. In the fance state' forward from now on, it will not matter a gleat deal' Any {nportance
your unconscious mind will accept $e picture and cause the arm the book may have ii in its presentation of techniques. Dangerous
io lift. Consciously, you will feel as if it were actually floating' ,h;rgh,h.y are in some th"se techniques will open the futral
As in most things, regular practice is the key-to success. Although ""ret,
ii;#;" dsonal investigation. That is a matter of fact, not opinion.
-nui
time-consuming initially, you can key yourself to instant Eance m opi"-io"s will natur-ally follow personal investigation' fj 4*
the same ,ory ihrt an bulside hypnotist would do. Choose a key V"t t"o may find moie than a hint of esotericism
creeping in'
word and rugg.tt to yourself thii when you repeat it three times ""g., *t****
while lying in Uea you will drop at once into deeptrance' A very dear friend of mine was once offered the job of being God'
Apait itogether-from Astrai expelpinls, self-hypnosis can be It cani.a, he told me later, an excellent salary and some interesting
very useful is a pain-killer or a vehicle for the introduction of perks. Among these was a fiouse set in its own grounds and a brand-
potitin" suggestio;s to ensure your continued well-being, day by new Cadillac.
d"y. --Th;-dr]i."
of the iob were light, but he refused. As a scholar, he
knew what the Greeks meant 6y hubris. As a Theosophisg he hed
the sense to avoid particularly nasty Karma.
The offer was made in California, where there are, apparently,
rol
IO2 ASTRAL DOORWAYS ASTRAL CREDO IO3

as many Mangods as there are silly Foups to worship them. But religion, to be worth anything at all, has to go beyond the
Regrettably, it-is the silly groups which seek and usually 9ltain Astral Plane. Consequently a vortex is built up, drawing down
p.r6ticity. As a result, organized occultism has a bad name with the power from spirituai levels. The combination of physical.:itual
It is looked on largely as a crackpot-fringe. worship, emoiionally-fed artificial elemental and. spiritually-fed
'fublic.
But counterfeit cash strould never lead us to conclude legal vortex; is the essential basis of the Sun Cult. And interacting
tender worthless. It should simply make us a little more careful about degrees of difference in these elements means the Sun Cult, as a
the next notes we accept. human experience, is unique.
There are, to my knbwledge, Western goups which use genuine Atlantis sinks. The phyiical aspect of the Sun Cult is effectively
esoteric techniquei. By genuine, I mean simply that the techniqles cut off. Elemental and vortex become dormant. Other Sun Cults
produce results. Sometimes these results are- psychological: but may arise in later cultures but they will form their own Astral
no less valuable for that. Sometimes the results will manifest on points of contact with the realms beyond.
' But though dormant, the inner aspects of the original Sun Cult
other levels and may have a far greater importance to humanity than
the man in the street imagines. continue to exist.
Many of the genuine fiaternities maintain a tradition of secre-ry, Bring your mind back to the present day. As1urye- a group of
complete with binding oaths. Those wlriclr donot, still guard their occultiJts wish, for some reason, to re-establish the Atlantean Sun
privicy iealously. Misiionary work and advertising-ar9 bo.q 3!oo. Cult. Highly trained Astral voyagers search the Akashic Record for
The bldef is cuit"nt that when an individual is ready for initiation, the rituals which gave it birth. A fresh link is forged and the {gfTtlt
circumstances will conspire to put him in touch with a gloup or Elemental and vortex revived. A modern sun cult is established.
individual equipped to give it. From the mundane viewpoint, the Cult is brand new. Yet the
A common similarity between'genuine and pseudo-occult groups occultists can reasonably claim it has roots in prehistory.
is the tendency of boih to claim origins in the distant-and mys- It is not iust ritual and religion that can establish permanent areas
terious-past. It is these claims, when made by genuine glo-ups' ofthe Astral Plane. A skilfully presented book ofa certain tyPe can
which prompt me to include a mention of the lodges in a book about eventually do the same.
the Astral Plane. Alice in Wond'erland is a striking example, made all the more
If you take the trouble to investigate the claims from a common- interesting by strong hints that its author knew his Qrbalah.
sensj viewpoint, the results are usually disappointing. M-ost of the Lord of the Rings is another.
elder groups were formed in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The printed-form of the book becomes a permanent 'earthing'
Others did not come into being until much later. of the oiiginal imaginative effort which created the fantasy world.
But this is not to say the claims are fiction. To an occultist, it is Rerder re-action provides the emotional stimulus which keep the
thc inner structure oi his group that is important. And Astral characters alive in more than a figurative sense.
origins are not always the same as physical. The American author Ray Bradbury sensed something of this
fmagine the Astral as a vast arla stretching above Spacc and truth when, in one of his ihort stories, he peopled Mars with
-Now
Time. think yourself back in Atlantis, perhaps as a priest in characters out of literature. Dickensian creations like Scrooge'
the Sun Cult. Youi operations and those of your followers build-up Fagin or Pickwick have taken on a life of their own. But what
an artificial elementai on the Astral Plane. The ritual aspect of all Bradbury may not have realized is that total environments mly
religions establishes the elemental strongly. also be established in the Astral.
ro4 ASTRAL DOORWAYS ASTRAL CREDO IO5

None of this is so wild a speculation as it may seem. A psychiatric own psyche and begin a life during which awareness is confined to
classic concerns a scientist who began, for recreation, to build up the Astral Plane.
a detailed fantasy world. He did the iob too well and eventually it It is the same Astral Plane we have been discussing and the same
began to obsess irim. He found himself 'living' in his fantasy to the laws of hyperphysics apply. The mind's unconscious forces mani-
detriment of his work. fest as." i""ito"-ent: The conscious mind, conditioned by sxty
Eventually he sought psychiatric help. After a period of treatment or seventy years of life on the physical accepts this environment as
he was corei. But his psychiatrist now found himself living in the real in th! iame sense that the-pliysical world is real. While this is
scientist's fantasy. a mistake, it is a mistake difficult to avoid.
Here again you have a pointer towards an obiective Astral A moment's thought will tell you that how your post-mortem
sphere. And if another occult theory is correct, its importance is not environment looks depends entirely on how you .re.
limited to a few investigators. Let us suppose youi life ott Earth was sp_ent within the confines of
This theory holds that death releases the consciousness on to rigid Christi.tr otihodory. You kept the. Commandments and built
thc Astral Piane. You can find the textbook exposition in The inio your unconscious the firm exPgctatl-on of entry into Heaven
Tibetan Book of thc Deadt but I propose to outline the essentials After death, the Astral Plane would reflect your mental:!l!t'J9tl
below. would find literal Pearly Gates and an actual Gty Paved with Gold
While physical life endures, mind and body co-operate. One if that was your expectation.
influences tire other and consciousness--at least during waking Heavens and Heils vary from individual to individual and culture
hours-is focused on the physical world. to culture. But all of them have one feature in common: they last
But co-operation betwJen the two elements 9{ Voul nature will only as long as it takes you to wake up to the fact that you are
eventually 6reak down. In maiy cases' you will not have to wait dreaming.
until actual death to see this. As the body grows senile, there is a I caniot resist adding that more than one occult philosopher has
strong tendency for the mind to draw in on itself. Attention wanders
similar theory to thysi^cal life.
applied a very"fot
'b*aji.f, intt"n"", held that for most people wery-waking
away-from the here and now. The senior citizen is increasingly
*o*.ni is, in fact, a stateof sleep. Their actlons are pure.reflex and
concerned with memories and introspections.
Death completes the process. It
is still possible to - op€rate they are surrounded by a web of dreams. To wake up, it becomes
approximately- within the physical environment via a body of necissary that they remember themselves.
iJtral substance (see Appendix Two). And those who could G"rdjietr did not see the waking as changing thervorld, only
conceive no other form of life sometimes do. Sensitives become .rorr, of it. Manv occultists, notably in the Orient, have
"*"r"ness the notion that rhe phy-sical world is ultimately
aware of them and another ghost story is born. ion. futttr.t, with
But the Astral body is not really at home in the physical-world. io -or. soda tfran the As6al. fu a result, the enlightened man
It can see and hear (usually) but cannot touch, make itself heard departs, leaving the rest of us to dream on, convinced we are
or influence events.'The frusuations of a ghost with any real experiencing reality.
degree of awareness must be chronic.
Fortunately, while millions die, only a handful become earth-
bound ghos6. Of the remainder, the vast majority sink into their
. Trrnslrtcd Evurs-Wentz Odord University Prcse. 1957.
 APPENDIX ONE IVT

that you are simply clearing your mind, otherwise such obvious
,trt.rir"nt, will ginirate sttotg and justified measure of cynicism
APPETIDIX ONE about your ability.
"
The next step- requires more courage than you might imagine'
DEVELOPING PSYCHOMETRY Because the neit stip consists of saying exactly what comes into
mind next, no matter how trivial, bizarle ol silly it-may seem'
I was taught psychometry by a spiritualist medium and found it 'your
Dis-iss nothing. Leave out nothing. Rationalize nothing' And,
easy. Apparently not everybody does.But I can see no reason why above all, do not ixtend on what comes through' I"-{t early days
almost everybody should not develop the talent to some degree. I ruined more experiments than I cared to admit by doing.iust that.
Like most occult techniques, the greatest mystical ingredient is The extensions siemed logical. But logic has no part in this process
patience. and elaborate conscious ionstructions will only send you further
Despite Nick Van Vliet's spectacular performance at the rath, it and further offthe track.
is usual to work with obieas weighing less than twelve tons. A In my own case there is a persistent- development of mental
wrist watch works admirably. So do items of personal jewellery such nictures. with the occasional non-visual item such as a name
as pendants, earrings, bracelets. ihro*n in. This has led me to the tentative conclusion that psycho-
The important thing, especially for a beginner, is that the objea metry is basically an Astral operation. But others with far gleater
chosen should be as closely associated as possible with a single taleni than mine insist they get impressions, rather than pictures.
person. In practical terms, this means something they have carried So ao ,ro, worry if your dlvllopmittt turns out to be without its
about with them. visual aspect. Results are what count.
Avoid new things. These have not had time to absorb the aura Once you start, keep going until the.stream runs dry' It-is a
of the subject. Avoid too anything which has been subjeaed to good idea to ask your-s,rb;ect to listen in silence until you have
running water. Because of this, rings tend to make poor material. hnished. This may prove a shade unnerving to you, but unless you
Spiritualists say the water washes away the psychicvibrations. make it a strict ruie, there is a near-certainty that the subiect's tone,
Plastics and similar synthetics can be ticky too for some reason. manner and actual ittt"*"ntt will feed you with unconscious clues.
Start your experiments with metals and precious or semi-precious This produces apparently excellent results. Blt they are spurious
stones which, experience shows, will give the best results. Later, and will not help develop the psychometric talent'
lut your ability develops, widen your scope. You will probably find Details of technique vary greatly from person to peison' Some
that most of the above rules express difficulties rather than will consistently hoid the-object in the- left hand, for instance.
impossibilities. others insist in pressing it against the forehead_ (on the premisc
Having chosen your obiect, make yourself comfortable. A tensc that it then makis cont;ct toith th" Etheric Chakra at the brow).
approach will get you nowhere. When you have relaxed, try to Suctr nari"tions do produce results for the individuals concerned.
empty your mind. But it is a very perional matter and what works for one will ndt
A handy way of doing this is to 'talk out' any common-sense nec"srarity *oik'fot another. Expgrlqent with different ways.of
associations you may have with the article. If a lady hands you a holding the object, different ways of sitting, different ways of getting
pendant dripping with diamonds, she is obviously not a pauper. ,tartea] until you'find those that work best for you. Then stick to
Get ideas like this out of the way before you begin. And explain them.
ro6
IO8 ASTRAL DOORIVAYS APPENDIX ONE IO9

The talent is delicately balanced. A hostile atmosphere can be made by sealing a half-dozen differently coloured cards each in
throw it out completely. This should not be made an excuse, but an opaque envelope. Make sure there is no show-thrlfgh, but.in
recognized as a matter of fact. There seems to be a relationship here each'caie write the colour on the back for ease of checking. Again,
with tension. No one can relax totally in a hostile atmosphere. try'Itto select the relevant colour by impression alone.
If you find yourself tense or distracted for this, or any other is a curious fact that some people find they can 'pick up'
reason, forget psychometry at that time. You will fail. And a series certain colours better than others.
of failures produces further tension. The result is a vicious circle Practise regularly. You will get nowhere by going { -q"s"
which can block an embryo talent completely. exercises in fits and starts. Try not to be discouraged if things
For the same reason, never allow yourself to feel you are being develop slowly at first. Remember that if you began a- muscle-
tested. Psychometry is not all that important enyway. Nor, unless buildirig courie, you would not become another Charles Atlas
you happen to be pompous, is the possibility of your making a fool overnight. Mental muscles take iust as long to build. Sometimes
ofyourself in front of friends. Treat the experiments light-heartedly. longer.
Results will be all the better for it. Along with these exercises, various routine matt€rs may be
A musical talent is firmly rooted in practice. So is a talent for turned'into pleasant psychometric games. Your morning post' for
psychometry. There are various ways to practice without involving instance, is a glorious opportunity to practise.
others. One of the simplest involves an ordinary pack of playlng Spend a few moments with each letter before opening it. Try to
iudfe the contents in advance. Feel whether the news is
cards. good, bad
Shuffle the cards well. Close your eyes, take the top card and try br irerely neutral. Note any phrases that come into yolr mind.
to judge its colour (black or red) entirely by the 'feel'. The word Try to plcture the writer if the handwriting is not familiar. Then
is used figuratively. Actual feeling of the cards with the fingertips open the letter and check your results.
should not be done. Printing techniques often leave a slight
'In practical terms, the gift is little more than a curiosity most -of
indentation which it is possible for sensitive fingers to pick up. the time. But circumstances do occasionally arise when a well-
Check your guesses: or, better still, have someone do it for you. developed psychometric sense is useful. And in the broader aspect
There are fifty-two cards in a pack so, on sheer laws of chance, you there ii a great deal to be said for anything which tends to sharpen
should be right in twenty-six. If you scored higher, the talent is the intuition.
there and growing.
After a few sequences geared to judging colour, switch to judging
suits. Here the chance expectation is thirteen out of the total pack.
Later still, you qrn try to judge the card itself, number and suit.
There is only one chance in fifty-two that you will manage this
consistently without a special talent. And the chances multiply the
more runs of the pack you make.
While cards are interesting because they make it easy for a
statistical evaluation of how you are progressing, it is best to vary
basic exercises to avoid boredom.
Another simple, but very useful piece of exercise equipment can
 APPENDIX TWO III
When you have achieved success in these exercises, you are
equipped to begin building yourselfan Astral body.
APPET.IDIX TWO Intheory, this body can take any form you wish. In practice, it is
best to stick to something akin to your own nature. A favourite form
BUILDING THE BODY OF LIGHT for the romantic is that of a cowled monk; and the religious
associations with this form do no harm at all.
Take a flower and look at it, observing it closely. Now close your For your first attempts, stretch out on your bed, relax and build
eyes and visualize the same flower. Try to capture detail as accur- the form in front of you.
ately as possible. Reproduce even the most subtle colourings in your Spend your first few practice sessions doing only this until the
mind. form builds stongly and you are totally familiar with it. Once you
Do this a number of times until the process grows easy. At this have achieved this, the next step is to transfer your consciousness
stage try your next visualization with a subtle change in technique. into the Astral body.
Instead of closing your eyes and building up the picture of the Again a knack is involved and there is really no secret other than
flower, try to draw the image of the flower from 'out there' into patience, combined with a trial and error technique. But the most
your mind. fruitful results seem to come when you practice moving the body
The best way of doing this is to look at the flower with eyes half around and imagine your room as seen from the viewpoint of the
closed, thi:n gradually close them completely, while at the same body.
time slowly changing your perception of the flower from visual to When consciousness is transferred, remember that the Astral
mental. When you learn to do this properly it will seem to make body is part of you. After each operation, it should carefully be
no difference when you close your eyes: the flower will still be reabsorbed into the physical. This can be done by bringing the
there, as vividly as it was before. Astral body into close proximity to the physical and gently sinking
Practice this drawing in of objects until again the process is one into the other. As you do so, your proiected consciousness will
smooth. Then reverse it. Make a mental picture of a flower and try automatically merge into its usual physical seat.
to project it outwards. It is probably as well to have some screen
as backdrop for your projection. Traditionally occultists use their
cupped hands, but there is no reason why you should not choose
something different if you find it suits you better.
Like the drawing in, the projecting outwards is a knack that
comes with practice. As in so many occult exercises, tension is
inhibiting, so stay as relaxed as possible.
Success is reached when you can see the flower in your cupped
hands, as if it were actually there. To an extent, you have produced
an hallucination. Never forget this. The flower has an Astral
reality only. No matter how it seems, it is not physical. To con-
vince yourselfofa physical reality to your creation is a short road to
insanity.
 APPENDIX THREE I13

Movement over distance while in the Etheric seenrs to be almost

inriantrn"orrs. As she made her decision she found herself in their
APPENDIX THRDE home. But there was no sign of our friends. My wife felt, reasonably
enough, that they musr be in bed at that time of night and mounted
ETHERIC AT.ID ASTRAL the stairs to their room.
- uar-way up the stairs she was stopped. She had the conviction
Astral that the were enjoying intercourse and it would be wrong
There may be a degree of intimacy betwegn Etheric and "oopi.
l";;ir. ini foUo*i"fcase would seem to indicate something of the to enter the'bedroom in su.[ circumstances. But she experienced
thrionvi"tion as a physical banier. It was as if a solid wall had
--itrng
sort:
been built across the stairs.
in bed, my wife heard someone come 9P the stairs, walk
could see no one and She returned home and re'entered her body'
.bdril;;idor ana enter her room' SheShe concluded she was wi t rt. exception of the incident on the staircase, the experience
knei there was no one else in the house.
;;;;;;it* a psvchic manifestation. Either in the Spiritualist or hos all the indi&tions of an Etheric Proiection. The environment
*t ttt" shifting dreamscape of the Astral. It was the physical
*dh;
ttre lunsiarisenie, she was obviously right'
"'.r
Dlane, experienced in a very novel way.
*p"ri."". brought with ig a higtr degree of tension. Qhe '-tui the exception is important. Emotions do not build walls on
t iJio-.i".p and at orice found hersef floating. down the stairs.
the Etheric level. such walls are very specific futral phenomena. ^
Herbodywasinthesittingposition,butshedidnotimmedlately -t*o fottibilities present themseivei. The first pI
is that wife
aooreciate how unusual her position was'
-fi,n lo*"n, of the stairi she.decided she was thirsty_and went "*f"ii.ni.a
a true Astral Proiection, b-ut entirely-confined P.S'
p-tivsicat plane. This is possible, even without the deliberate building
,o*"rar-,fr" kitchen for a drink. Sh. o'at, however, unable !o gpen
,ft" tii"ft"" door. It occurred to her that our children might have if an nslt al body. But if it happened there should be a strong
motive and neither she nor I can find it.
locked it. -Ch; r"co"a possibility is that thg proiection.Jva: combined
Sh; wated to the living room in search of the key' a close working relationship between the
The door between theiorridor and the living room closes on
a Etheric-Astral, suggesting
oress stud. There is a handle, but it is a convenience handle only. -"e"
two.
6'p""fir' .h. aoot from the corridor requires only a push: the , I
footnote should add that my wife took on herself the
minor embarrassment of asking our friends about their activitics
handle need not be turned.
Mv wife went to push the door and found she had walked throrlgh
it. ,t in question. It ivas no surprise to learn that this
'cilt
;;; p.rr*,iv familiar with the .h.ory of Etheric Proiectign ", " "igfttcouple were, in fact, enioyrng intercourse'
affectionatl
and had thi presence of mind no! to panic' She returned to the
tit"tt." found she could pass through that door too'
-!fr. ftand a-a.".loped a pr*lirt'X-ray'vision. She was aware of a
oi**ing
--Cii." ttroultr grass beyond a wall of the house'
,f,. she was experiencing PnTrous. Pto,:ctto"
she decided "otr"iua""a
to make the best of it. She determined to vlltlt irrends'
She chose a young manied couple living some miles
away'
l',2
 APPENDIX FOUR II5
worries, hopes and current aspirations. But their content is drawn
from life's experiences.
.APPENDIX FOI,]R The ready assumption is that these are past experiences. Those
who have tried dream recording usually agree with Dunne that the
VISIONS OF THE FUTURE incidents blended into symbolic dream drama are drawn from both
past and future.
There is a difficulty of recognition here. A psychiatrist is often
Wth Bea Van Vliet and Sam Gordon, visions of the futttre were
needed to point out how a given dream symbol is related to a specific
deliberately induced. That is to say they consciously undertook
past event. It is equally tricky to pinpoint relationships with events
purposeful Asaal iourneys. In Gordon's case, he wandered on to
yet to come.
ihai inner level which extends through Time. Bea, on hypnotic
Among numerous examples of precognitive dreams given by
instruction, searched for the same level and found it.
Dunne, one underlines this point very clearly:
Not all futral precognitions follow the deliberate pattern. My
wife, of an evening, sat up in bed with the startling information The Dream
that she had just seen a vision of a horse. A man dreamed he was faced by a crowd of people. Suddenly these
Neither of us knew what triggered the vision. Nor did we know people began to throw lighted cigarettes towards him. Thousands of
if it had any importance. The animal was a racehorse. The vision lighted cigarettes showered towards his face.
was total. My wife could describe the colours of the jockey's racing
The Eaent
silks.
The dreamer was sawing wood using a power-driven circular saw.
She was more intrigued by the vision than I was and sPent two
The plank he was cutting had a nail in it. The nail came in contact
days studying sources to find if any stable actually laid claims to
with the saw and at once a shower of sparls fanned out towards
the colours she had seen. One did. The visionary horse was
his face.
scheduled to run at an Irish meeting.
I
To my shame, have to confess to laying a small bet on the If the connection seems far-fetched, remember this is only
because of the sequence. Told that the sawing incident camc
horse. To my delight the animal won its race. To my chagrin, my
before the dream, anyone with a smattering of psychological
wife has not since experienced a similar vision.
knowledge would accept a relationship between the two.
Those of you who took the advice about dream recording in
Analyse your dreams with care. But avoid extremes. Not every
Chapter Three may be aware by now that precognition is not nearly
dream image refers to a future event. And the few that do arc
so rare as most people imagine. Dream images frequently conAin
seldom of world-shaking importance.
references to the future, although in veiled form.
Dunne's work in this field is well known. Although his theory of
a Serial Universe has come under some attack, his first thoughts
on the smrcture of dreamsr apPerr to be most reasonable.
Like the psychologists, Dunne felt most dreams to be pe_rsonal
fanusia. Their form is moulded by prevailing psychic forces:

' Yille : An Erlorinuat pith Tittu publirbcd in p*pcrbrcL by Fobcr rnd Frbcr.
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