Continuing our discussion about matter, energy and consciousness [in a previous lecture], it is good for us to recall that these are the three aspects of every existing cosmic body. From the smallest particle up to the biggest collection of particles, everything is made of matter, energy, and consciousness.
Naturally, we as human organisms are made of these three aspects. As we have been explaining, we tend to be rather unaware of them. In fact, we tend to be asleep, and to not realize the inner relationship between these three aspects of existence.
1. We have a relative awareness of physical matter, although it comes and goes; we tend to forget even that we are in a physical body. By awareness, we mean continual perception, knowing that we are in the body. For example, when you have an injury or a pain, that sensation calls to your awareness continually, so then you tend to be more aware of your body. Otherwise, you forget the body, remembering it only briefly in moments when it is uncomfortable, hungry, tired, etc.
2. Furthermore, we have very little awareness of our energy. We only realize it when it is gone, and we try to supplement it with energy drinks, caffeine, or other types of activities. For most people, it has never occurred to them to be aware of their energy and how they use it.
3. Consciousness we tend to not be aware of at all. That is, we have no awareness of consciousness, mindfulness. Our consciousness is asleep, hypnotized by desires, sensations, dreams, fantasies, etc. It has no real presence or awareness of itself: yet. For this, we need to learn how to awaken it.
When we study any real form of mysticism or religion, the goal is precisely to unite and master these three forces. To become a true Gnostic is to have consciousness of your energy and matter: to be fully conscious and in control of your energy and matter. We begin that effort by awakening consciousness here and now. We awaken consciousness by saving energy, and by retrieving energy from where it is trapped in conditioned matter.
If we have been applying this principle in our spiritual practice, we start to accumulate energy. We free energy, instead of wasting energy in frivolous activities, or worse, feeding energy into harmful activities, whether physically or psychologically.
On this path, we take energy and apply it towards beneficial purposes, like eliminating our bad habits, helping humanity, and helping ourselves. We seek to rise out of the mud of the earth. That is the real purpose of these studies: to awaken consciousness and free energy from matter. It is to dominate matter, consciously, for the benefit of others.
In that effort, the student that is succeeding and conquering their own defects and errors (what we call egos), changing their habits, discarding harmful and useless habits for useful ones and beneficial ones, begins to change how their energy, matter, and consciousness function. The result is they begin to have more energy, more consciousness, and healthier matter. This can have a dramatic effect, depending on the degree of the intensity of the work of the student.
Unfortunately, most commonly, that energy is immediately used by other egos (defects). Most of the time, as soon as we start to get a little success in our meditation and self-observation practice, we start to have more energy, but other habits and other egos tend to take that energy for themselves. We find ourselves in conflict, using our energy to create new problems. This is a challenge for a beginner student.
Ultimately, over a period of some serious effort, the solution is for the student to acquire psychological equilibrium, where consciousness retains full awareness of the three brains, and is able to keep them steady. Naturally, this is established through learning to maintain constant moment to moment awareness of the present moment.
Psychological equilibrium is conscious awareness of thoughts, and the ability to maintain cognizance of ourselves and not be swept away by discursive thought, habitual thought, obsessive thought.
Secondly, we become more conscious of our emotional state, and are able to consciously monitor the state of our feelings, what is arising and passing in our heart. We are no longer swept away by reactions in an emotional way, mechanically, automatically, like getting upset or getting excited. We are able to maintain emotional balance consciously and intelligently.
Thirdly, we are able to maintain conscious awareness and equanimity in our motor, instinctive, and sexual centers, meaning that we are not swept away by impulses, we are not swept away by sexual desires, we are not swept away by instinctive behaviors.
In synthesis, psychological equilibrium means that we are able to maintain control over our human machine cognizantly, consciously. This is not easy to arrive at; this is not easy. It requires that we have a great deal of energy feeding the consciousness. For beginners, this is the difficulty: a lack of energy. Once established, equilibrium means that we have the energy to maintain self-awareness.
At this point, a challenge becomes clear, that has been emerging through our development. That is: the elements that want our energy become very upset, because we are no longer allowing them to use it. They become angry. So, one way to look at equilibrium is that it is initially developed by taking energy away from harmful habits. Then we have to deal with the reaction of the egos that love those habits.
You see, as we have been discussing, we have an enormous amount of energy within us already, but it is all trapped. That energy is equivalent to consciousness. It is two parts of the same thing. You cannot separate them. Energy and consciousness are united. Within us, our energy and consciousness are trapped in habitual thinking, discursive emotions, and the ego in the subconsciousness: anger, pride, lust, gluttony, envy, fear. All of those multitudes of elements are in our submerged consciousness. There is enough energy there to create a planet, to give rise to an enormous beautiful life that is far beyond this physical body that we have now. Within us is an enormous amount of energy, but we cannot access it because it is sustaining the egos, defects, and vices in our subconsciousness. That is our Satan, and it does not want to let go of its control of the energy and consciousness. It will fight with every tool that it has to keep that energy: it will use negative thoughts, feelings, and impulses. That is what we call “the black lodge.”
The phrase “black lodge” has different applications. The first and foremost meaning relates to our subconscious, unconscious, infra-conscious mind. We have our own black lodge within. It is all the egos in us that have all of our energy, consciousness, and matter trapped in servitude to desire.
That structure, that scenario, is symbolized in various ways. In Christianity, it is represented as the three traitors of Jesus: Judas, Caiphas, and Pilate. We find those same three traitors in every religion. In every tradition, we find those same three traitors, because they symbolize parts of ourselves, no matter our religion or background
This psychological problem is also symbolized by the seven deadly sins. They are virtues inverted. Pride should be humility. Chastityhas become lust. The energy the consciousness of chastity has become lust. It is trapped in the ego. It is the same forces, but it is inverted. That is the Black lodge. That is hell. That is in us. That is why we suffer.
The challenge is to learn how to change it. To do that, we first have to see the enemy. As long as we are living in a fantasy land doing our best to convince ourselves that we really are good people, doing our best, and we do not have an ego, then there is no hope for us. As long as we do not recognize the existence of our defects, the truth of what resides in our own mind, we will never change. We have to see the truth about ourselves. We have to be truly sincere. Are we really the Gods we think we are? Are we really masters of the planet? Are we really masters of nature? Are we even masters of ourselves? Let us be honest and stop faking like we know everything. Let us admit that science has not solved all of our problems, that religion has not solved all of our problems of immortality. Let us recognize that money is not improving life on this planet. Our families have not embodied unconditional love. We need to sincerely observe the facts of our lives, and come to recognize that the core of the entire problem in humanity is not outside of us, it is inside of us.
This is what the story of what David and Goliath represents. In the Bible there is a story about a small boy, David, a weakling who, inspired by his faith in God, stood in battle against the Philistines and their terrible warrior Goliath. That is the reality of our task. The portion of our consciousness that is unconditioned is very small and weak. That is the part of us that actually has virtue and untarnished by selfishness. It is more or less only 3% of our consciousness. The remaining 97% is trapped in self-love, pride, self-esteem, anger, resentment, hate, jealousy, fear, gluttony, and laziness. 3% is very small and very weak: David. And Goliath?
How are we - the weakling, the child - to conquer the giant warrior who laughs at us and mocks us?
Normally, students come into these types of teachings, and learn, and are amazed and impressed, and maybe enthusiastic about the knowledge. They may develop a great sense of motivation and intention to succeed, and believe very much that they will do it, and they may even talk big and say, "I am going to be an instructor, and I am going to resurrect and get my astral body, my mental body, my causal body, and amaze the world." Well, firstly, that is all pride, which is a defect, not a virtue. Secondly, that manner of thinking is completely unrealistic.
The fact is that to achieve anything in this work that "I" has to die. Everything that you think of yourself is mistaken. No one likes to hear that. We do not like to say that, because that it is painful, but it is true. This structure of "self" that we put together in this lifetime is fake. It is not our real identity. It is a "hodge podge," an aggregate, a collection of random junk that we put together as a "self," an "identity." It consists of our name, our history, our traumas, and our taste in music, clothes, fashion and people. In reality when you observe it objectively from the superior levels of nature, that is all junk, garbage. It is all meaningless and impermanent. None of what we consider "myself" will last.
I will tell you something: some older people know the truth of this. The harsh truths of life crush the illusions that hypnotize the young.
A single strong event in your life can shatter your illusions. When your beloved one leaves you; when you lose all of your cherished money; when you become ashamed in front of your peers... that sense of self can be completely destroyed by a single event. Where is the permanence in that? Where is the self in that? Where is immortality? Where is the beauty of the soul? Where is the master of the human being? In our illusory sense of self, there is none. There is nothing.
You see, real mastery is eternal. The real self is immortal. Consciousness, energy, and matter are all forms of one thing. They are eternal. Remember the previous lecture: the first law of physics says, "Energy cannot be destroyed. It can only change forms." We need to change form.
To go through that change, we need to go through a great destruction. That is a great battle, that is a war. It is a war against ourselves. It is not a war outside. It isn’t a war against other religions or other groups. It is a war against ourselves. Against our own minds. This is the subtlety, the importance, that humanity never gets. We come to religions and we just want to believe. We want to take a security blanket from that religion and believe that we will be saved and everything is fine now. This is a lie. It does not happen. It never has and it never will.
An angel, Buddha, Master, emerges out of death: the death of the ego. All that is pure in us emerges out of that. All that is impure dies. We are 97% impure. We have to pass through a great destruction.
This is why we have to retrieve our energy from each ego, by destroying each ego so its energy can transform and rise up.
We first have to become a human being. We are not even a human being yet; we are animals. We are animals with intellect. We are animals that reason. We are walking, talking vessels of lust, anger, pride, fear, and jealousy. All of that is animal. The human kingdom reflects human virtues. Rarely do we see those in us. It is very rare. We have the potential, and they can emerge occasionally, but to cultivate them and to become them requires a great effort.
Resistance
"Resistance is the opposing force. Resistance is the secret weapon of the ego. Resistance is the psychic force of the ego that is opposed to us becoming conscious of all of our psychological defects. With resistance, the ego tends to leave on a tangent and postulates excuses to silence or hide its error. Due to resistance, dreams become difficult to interpret and the knowledge that one wants to have about oneself becomes clouded. Resistance acts upon a defense mechanism that tries to omit unpleasant psychological errors, so as not to have consciousness of them. In this way, one continues in psychological slavery." - Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of the Dialectic
When we begin to save our energy, to retrieve our consciousness, and develop psychological equilibrium, the battle against our ego intensifies. You see, as soon as we enter into these kinds of studies, our ego presents resistance. The first form of resistance is and the most common one is pride. Pride comes in and says, “I am going to become a great student.” We think we are that ego of pride. We hear those thoughts and we think it is our real self, and we go right along with it. We are seduced by our pride. Some people say, “That teaching is wrong; it totally disagrees with science,” or “with my established religion,” or “with my friends,” or “my family.” Then we get dissuade by our pride (which always wants to be admired, so it always seeks to please), by jealousy, by envy, or fear, or the desire for security or comfort, for acceptance, or we get dissuade by laziness that does not want to work.
Little by little, the more attempt to work on ourselves and change our psyche, those obstacles intensify. If our consciousness is strengthening in the teaching and we are developing equilibrium, then our ego starts to get even more subtle and even more crafty. It gets harder to maintain ourselves on the path.
What we need to understand is what this path is really about in order to move beyond being a mere admirer of Gnosis and in order to actually embody and incarnate the teachings of Christ, Osiris, or whatever name we want to use. We have to understand what Gnosis actually is.
Energy is Power
Gnosis is not a belief, and it is not a theory. We teach through the intellect and through concept so that we can understand the actual practice. The actual science, the actual methodology is priesthood. It is not just something to study in books. It is magic. I am not talking about magic like those men on stage that cut ladies in half. That is not magic, that is an illusion. The word magic comes from the most ancient language tracked by modern science. It is the language that is the root of all European and Hindu languages. They date it at about 5,000 years old. In that language is the word mag, which means “priest.” That is where we get our word “magic.” In reality, the word magic does not mean illusionist or illusion, it means priesthood.
Real magic is the domain of a priest, a lama, a master, an angel. This is real magic. That word mag means “to have power. To be able.”
What is it to have power? It is to have energy over matter. If you have no energy, you have no power. If there is no energy in this building, there is no power. To do anything, even to move your body, your hands, your eyes, you must have energy. That energy is power. That is the priesthood. That is what Gnosis really is. Gnosis is the path of magic.
We need to cast out the foolish notion of the word magic. It has nothing to do with comic books, movies, casting spells, or making illusions. Magic is real, but it has nothing to do with all of our fantastical ideas about it.
A real magician is a priest. A real priest is someone who has power.
There are a lot of people in the world that call themselves “priests, “but they have no power. They cannot heal the sick, they cannot solve the world’s problems, and they cannot even help themselves. Many of those who call themselves “priests” are actually creating a lot of suffering for themselves and others. I do not mean merely the western priests. We are also talking about any spiritual leader, whether Jewish, Muslim, Shinto, Zen, Buddhist, Lama, etc. We are using the word priest in a generic sense to refer to any spiritual leader.
A real priest has power. That is the definition of magic or magi. Well all hear of the three magi in the Bible? They were not beggars, they were magicians, priests, and they have a deep symbolic significance.
A real priest has power, meaning that priest has energy. Where does that energy come from? There are two places.
Two Kinds of Magic
We have been talking about how energy exists in a given system. In us, the vast majority of our energy is trapped. Most of us are in darkness. We only have 3% free consciousness, meaning 3% energy available that we can use. The rest is all trapped in our egos. If we want power to change our lives, if we want power to get something or do something, where do we all go to get power? Do we go inside? Do we meditate? Do we pray? Do we find a way in ourselves to get what we need? No, generally, we try to get what we want from someone else.
When we need food, we do not grow it ourselves. When we need money, we have to work for it, earn it, steal it, or get it somehow. We always look outside of ourselves. When we want to change our lives, where do we get the power and energy to go do it?
Those people that have power in our world, where do they get their power? Do they get it from within? Truly, where do they get it? From other people. Where does a politician get his power? Where does a banker get his power? From others. Where does an actor or a musician get his power? From others. If you put that person who seems so powerful to others and you put them out in the desert totally alone, could they do what they otherwise would do? Could they get what they get in society? Not just materially, but intellectually, emotionally, spiritually?
Imagine the person who in society manipulates millions of people at a whim to satisfy his own interests or desires: what would happen to that person if they were completely alone in the desert with no one around? Would they have power? I do not think so.
Now let us turn this around. If we put Jesus in the desert would he have power? Oh yes. What about Buddha? Certainly! What about Krishna and Moses? Absolutely! They would have power. Their power comes from inside. Their power does not come from controlling or manipulating others. That is the difference.
There are two places to get power or energy. From inside or outside. In other words there are two kinds of magic: white magic and black magic.
Another very simple way to characterize these two forms of magic:
- White magic always acts in harmony within the divine law, and always respects the laws of God. It never attempts to overcome the will of God.
- Black magic is always against the will of God, even when it seems to act in harmony or in accordance with the will of God. That is, black magic attempts to manipulate the law and manipulate others.
For us, understanding the difference between these two kinds of magic is tricky. In practice, it means when we try to get something by manipulating the will of another person, we commit an act of black magic. That means when you lie, when you cheat, when you misrepresent, you steal, that is black magic. That means most advertising is black magic. It is a lie, cheat, or a scam to get power, to get energy, and control, by offering a desire in exchange for a payment. That is black magic.
The black magicians say, “We are giving people what they want, it is an equal exchange. We are respecting the law!” That is a lie. Black magicians even attempt to manipulate the laws of nature to satisfy their desires.
What is a black magician? It is a person that has power for selfish ends. In the broadest scope, that is a definition of a black magician. A person, a priest with power, who seeks to serve himself or herself. I do not know about you, but I know a lot of people like that. That is why we say everybody on this planet is a black magician. We do not start pointing fingers at people, saying, “That lady or that guy is a black magician; you should stay away from them,” that is completely absurd. Everyone that has ego is a black magician. This is what Samael Aun Weor taught to us; this is what we confirmed through our own experience; it is a fact. There is never any reason or justification for calling anyone else a black magician, when we ourselves are.
There are degrees of magicians. One thing is the common black magician like you and me, people who have ego and misuse their energy through selfishness and desire, and want to feed those things. Most of the time we do it unconsciously; we do not usually have bad intentions.
There are other types of black magicians, such as those who become more and more devoted to feeding their desires through magic, through energy, through power. Those people are dangerous, yet society worships them, adores them.
Arcanum 18
We are talking about Arcanum 18 of the Tarot, which is the golden book of the law. The twenty-two arcana are symbols that represent cosmic laws or structures. Arcanum 18 is called Twilight. It represents hidden enemies, black magic. What you see in the image are two dogs facing way from each other. One is black, and one is white. In the background, you see two mountains, one black and one white. The waters below are an inverted black triangle covered by a scorpion.
If you know anything about mathematics, you know that the number 9 is very fascinating number with a lot of power and mystery. Anything you multiply by nine shows this magical relationship with the nine itself. 9X2 is 18 and 1 plus 8 is 9. Right? That mystery extends through anything related with 9. The number 18 is two nines joined (9 + 9), and 18 is 1 + 8 = 9. There is a deep relationship between 9 and 18.
We need to grasp that as long as we have ego, we are in the domain of this arcanum. The ego belongs to Arcanum 18. It is the lack of light. It is the darkness. We have ego: we have pride, gluttony, laziness. We do not have light. When we close our eyes and try to meditate and see God and get guidance from God, we only see darkness. We put ourselves there. We are in the Arcanum 18. That is what this scorpion represents: the traitor.
Each of us are traitors. If you have been in any religion or spiritual movement, you always here talk about “traitors,” with people pointing fingers at each other. In the Gnostic movement you hear that talk all the time, “So-and-so betrayed Samael Aun Weor, so-and-so Master Litelantes; so-and-so betrayed Jesus.” There is always this talk about “betrayers.” All of that is ridiculous. Why?
Let me ask a simple question about traitors. Who is the most beautiful, loving, and life-giving force in the entire universe? It is your Divine Mother. Who betrayed her? You did. Who is the worst traitor anywhere in the universe? You and me. We betrayed our own Divine Mother through fornication, adultery, through all the crimes we committed throughout all of our existences. We are the traitors! No one else. We do not have the right to point fingers at anyone. We betrayed our own Divine Mother. There is no greater crime. You can point fingers all you want, but you are fooling yourself as long as that finger is pointed at anyone else. If you have betrayed your Mother, if you have fornicated, committed adultery, stolen, lied — all of that — you are the worst traitor anywhere. That is that scorpion at the bottom of the image of the Arcanum 18.
Let us not get caught in politics pointing fingers, blaming people, comparing ourselves, thinking we are better then others, that “Our group is true to the teaching; our group is true to the masters, to Gnosis, to the White Lodge.” No, none of us are faithful and true, because we all have ego.
That scorpion is a reminder of that. The black triangle that the scorpion sits inside is our ego that is submerged in the abyss. That triangle represents that the three traitors. They are the demon of the mind, the demon of evil will, and the demon of desire. All of us have those traitors. None of us are free from those three traitors until we resurrect. Then we are truly worthy. Before resurrection, we are sinners. Let us not put ourselves above anyone else.
Arcanum 18 represents the battle, the war, and the fight of two nines: the battle between white against black. While it does represent the fight between the gods and the demons, this is not so important for us. Most importantly, it represents the struggle within ourselves between our liberated energy and our conditioned energy. Our consciousness against our consciousness; our matter against our matter. In other words, our inner house is divided. Our psychological, spiritual house is not united.
We are at war with ourselves. We cannot even make a decision from one day to the next without second-guessing ourselves, without contradicting ourselves. We are always in conflict, always in doubt, always poking our neighbors and loved ones in the eye, making ourselves bleed, making others bleed, because we are in conflict. We are Arcanum 18. Our house is in disorder.
What the student of Gnosis needs to grasp is that the battle that we are waging against ourselves is very serious. It is not easy. We need to work hard and have our feet on the ground. We need to be strong. The main most important thing is put your faith in God. Remember your Divine Mother. Pray constantly. This is the best advice I can give you. Apply the simple factors of the teaching: stop harmful action. Adopt virtuous ones. Train your mind. Help others. We have to apply those principles constantly.
Despite all of that, we will have problems. We will have this conflict between the white and the black within ourselves. The black aspect wants its energy and will not want to release it. You will discover the truth of this. Lust does not want to lose its energy. It does not want to change. It wants to stay fat and well-fed. Your pride does not want to change. Your pride does not want to humble itself. Your pride always wants to stand tall. Your pride does not want to love your enemies. Your pride wants to crush them. We take these aspects into our spiritual life and we have conflicts with our brothers and sisters on this planet. We want to crush them. That is pride, and that is anger.
The attacks will begin the minute we begin transmuting our sexual energy. That is when it starts. If you are a casual student and you do not transmute your sexual energy, none of this will affect you, because you are in the hands of your traditional habits, and your energy is still being held by your unconscious, subconscious, and infra-conscious mind. So, because of that state of being, all the black magicians are happy: the ones inside of you and the ones outside of you, because you are a sheep being led to slaughter.
When you begin to take that fire from the devil, and try to steal that energy back from the thief, he gets really mad. He gets enraged, and he will use every trick in his book to get it back from you. That means in all three brains: he will work through your intellect (your demon of the mind), he will work through your heart (the demon of ill will), and he will work through the demon of sex (desire).
Difficult Experiences
This is where things get interesting. The most common experience that students have when they begin practicing is that they start to have nocturnal pollutions. They start to have wet dreams, lustful dreams. They experience losing sexual energy unwillingly.
They have all kinds of temptations that emerge both at night and during the day.
They try to meditate and the mind appears to be worse than ever.
They start having conflicts with their families. Their friends abandon them. They lose their job. Their whole life seems to go into complete chaos.
When these types of experiences occur, most students sadly say, “This teaching is no good. It is destroying my life.” They fail to realize that their difficulties are exactly what they need. That means that the teachings are working.
“People protest because of the difficulties that interaction offers them. They do not want to realize that those difficulties are precisely providing them with the necessary opportunities for the dissolution of their “I.” - Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of the Dialectic
To stay on the path, what you have to do is sustain your psychological equilibrium, and not be identified with anything. This means we have to learn to not react to extremes — whether pleasurable or unpleasant. We need to learn to be in the middle. Whether things are good or bad, painful or pleasant, you have to be the same person: peaceful, serene, loving.
“Depart from impurity, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of Jehovah is against them that do impurity, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and Jehovah heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. Jehovah is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit (ruach). Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but Jehovah delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. Impurity shall slay the impure: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. Jehovah redeemeth the nephesh (soul) of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” - Psalm 34
In all difficulties, remember your inner divinity, and do not let your inner impurity (rah) control your three brains.
If you are married and you discover the teaching of transmutation, and feel in your heart and soul that it is real and true and that you must do it, yet your spouse says, “If you even think about that, this relationship is over,” is that something new? That is not surprising. It is difficult, but not surprising. Well, that is a difficult ordeal, but it is not the fault of the teaching. It is your karma. Face it, and be serene. How do you maintain serenity in difficulty? By remembering the continual presence and love of divinity. What is the wrong reaction? To attack your spouse, or complain to everyone about your spouse. Unfortunately, this is what everyone does. We complain to our spouse, saying, “You are not listening to me, you are so stubborn, you are so caught up in fornication…” Or worse, we start accusing them of black magic. From this wrong attitude, everybody suffers. What is the right attitude? Love. Understand the point of view of your spouse and respect it. Even if they disagree with you, love them with all of your heart.
“If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk.” - 1 Corinthians 7
A relationship is a commitment: live up to it.
This principle applies to every other situation in life. When we are trying to actualize these teachings in our lives and we have conflicts with our coworkers, students, schools, or religions, we have to apply the same principle: treat everyone equally with love.
We never have an excuse to get angry or act in a vengeful manner. A true Gnostic student always keeps their Bodhichitta. Our goal is to become embodiments of compassion, love, kindness, patience, serenity, concern for the well being of others, even black magicians.
We have a great example of that from our teacher Samael Aun Weor. He had good friends who were demons, and he respected them. They would come visit his house, and his wife did not like it. He allowed it, because he respected them, and he loved them. If you have not read the book The Revolution of Beelzebub, read it today. It will demonstrate to you how a real master behaves, in contrast to all the self-proclaimed “masters” that write a lot of books to make money or get famous, etc. I am talking about a real master. A true master is beyond good and evil. A true master has embodied love. Study the gospels of Jesus, Krishna, Buddha. These are masters.
Each time we act virtuously rather than in a harmful way, we transform a lot of energy in a positive way. In fact, we can even liberate energy from its conditioned state.
Saving Energy
When we begin this work, we start saving a lot of energy, relative to the intensity and accuracy of our efforts. However, our ego tries to take that energy, and so do other people. Remember I explained the two kinds of magic. The white magicians respect the law, and they find the energy in themselves to do what they have to do. Black magicians take their energy from other people. How do they do it? Through our ego. Let me repeat that: black magicians use our own ego so they can take our energy.
There is a lot of talk in occult schools, Gnostic schools, mystical schools about how we need to defend ourselves against all the black magicians in the world. These groups emphasize that we have to fight against them, and do conjurations and rituals, and we have to be at battle to save humanity, etc. There is a lot of this military-type of a talk. The problem is that they are missing the point most of the time, the key factor. How does a thief get into your house? How does someone steal from you? How does a warrior kill another warrior? If you want to win a battle, find the weakest part of your enemies defense, and exploit that. It is simple, and it works.
If someone wants to attack us, to take our energy or manipulate us, look at yourself from their point of view. What is our weakness? We have many!
Firstly, we are totally asleep.
Secondly, our mentally is completely deluded. For example, most of us in spiritual pursuits think that we are masters of the universe, yet the reality is that we know nothing. We think we are super-smart, very intelligent, and very educated, especially about God and spirituality, yet we never had a single experience with God, or a single experience in the astral plane.
“Whosoever awakens the consciousness can no longer dream here in this physical plane or in the internal worlds. Whosoever awakens the consciousness stops dreaming. Whosoever awakens the consciousness becomes a competent investigator of the superior worlds. Whosoever awakens consciousness is an illuminated one. Whosoever awakens the consciousness can study at the feet of the master. Whosoever awakens the consciousness can talk familiarly with the Gods who initiated the dawn of creation. Whosoever awakens the consciousness can remember his innumerable reincarnations. Whosoever awakens the consciousness can consciously attend his own cosmic initiations. Whosoever awakens the consciousness can study in the temples of the great White Lodge.” - Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony
Many of us think we are experts in the astral plane, when the reality is that we are beginners who know nothing. That proud attitude is our weakness. We are foolish. We are naïve. That is what will be used to cheat us.
What is within you can be used against you. It is very simple. If you have pride, black magicians will use your pride to destroy you, to take your energy and make you their disciple. They will use your lust. If you have fear, they will use your fear.
Your ego does the same thing: it uses your weaknesses against your soul. Your ego is a big collection of very clever consciousness that is trapped in desire, that wants energy. It will use whatever you are weak to. Whatever your weaknesses are, they will exploit.
Furthermore, the black magicians will use those egos to manipulate you.
So, this is very simple. If you want to defend yourself, that is the main thing to learn: find your weaknesses and comprehend them.
The greatest threat to our soul resides in our own mind. If we clean our mind of all impurities, then nothing in the universe can threaten us.
Unfortunately, we are filled with impurities, and are easy targets. We are also really foolish, so we willingly get ourselves in trouble, enticed by our desires.
To change this situation, we need to get serious about stopping harmful behaviors. When we do so, we naturally begin to save energy.
The surplus energy will be used by other egos, unless we are continually aware, and continue to save energy.
Then, outside intelligences — other people — will attempt to take that energy.
Gradually, as our energy level rises, it attracts more attention. This is when we start to really need defense from black magic.
When we begin to experience problems with black magic, here are some general guidelines that we can look for.
Attacks of black magic have many forms.
Attacks can be unconscious, unintended. That is, unconsciously, we are attacked by the egos of others.
All of us — without exception — perform black magic. We lie, we manipulate, we maneuver. Our egos manipulate us to manipulate others. We do this physically and internally. Obviously, we need to stop. We also need to be aware that others are doing the same to us all the time. The key is to learn how to manage this gracefully, without anger, pride, or fear.
Attacks can also be intentional. For this, the person has to know what they are doing. This is the most dangerous form of attack. There are many degrees of people doing this, from beginners to experts. Generally, when we talk about black magicians, we mean these people: those who are attempting to manipulate or take from others for their own benefit.
Be aware that a black magician does not have a uniform, like a black robe, or have with tattoos or a hooknose, or black hair spiked up and a bunch of piercings. We have to purge our mind of thinking life is like comic books.
The awakened black magicians who know they are using magic to manipulate others cannot be discovered by physical sight. You will never recognize one by how they talk, dress, act, what music they listen to, etc. They appear to be normal people just like you and me. Remember, we are all black magicians, but some of us develop power to acquire what we want from others, making us even more dangerous than the average person.
The really dangerous black magicians appear normal, even sweet, humble, nice, charitable, spiritual, and lovely. Physically, they do not look like demons. They do not have tails or horns coming out of their head or red skin or big long fingernails. They are normal looking people. They are very sweet, kind, gentle, exemplary citizens. Generally, black magicians are in positions of power, for that is what they want: power.
Those who are awakened black magicians, we would never expect them to be so. That is how easily they manipulate appearances to get what they want.
"The black magicians have their mysticism, and they always firmly believe that they walk on the good path. No black magician believes that he walks on the evil path. The path of black magic is a broad way filled with vices and pleasures." - Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of Beelzebub
Attacks of Black Magic
1. During dreams.
2. During the vigil state.
3. By means of works of black magic.
4. By means of psychic obsessions.
5. By means of enmities.
6. By means of organic illnesses.
7. By means of vices.
8. By means of certain aspects of culture.
9. By means of false prophets.
10. By means of the intervention of “inferior elementaries.” - Logos, Mantra, Theurgy
The methods of attack happen in two primary ways. The first is during dreams.
1. Attacks in Dreams
Most of us are completely unconscious all night, and wake up in the morning and remember nothing. That is a problem. If you are working to save energy to revolutionize your spiritual energy, to change your life, you need to become aware of the process of dreaming. You need to take charge of that half of your lifetime.
During the time that the body is sleeping, the consciousness dreams, and we are easily manipulated. We can easily be hypnotized. We can be influenced. We can be seduced. All of this is possible because our consciousness is asleep. The result is that mischievous people gain control over us for their benefit, whatever that may be.
Furthermore, we may doing those things to others, and not be aware of it.
2. During the Vigil State
Secondly, we can be attacked when we are in the so-called “vigil state,” which refers to when we are walking around physically, but our consciousness is still dreaming. For this, we need to learn about the four states of consciousness and how to establish ourselves in the third. We need to be conscious, vigilant, during the day and night. Pay attention and watch what is going on.
3. Works of Black Magic
How do they attack? Samael Aun Weor in his very important book Logos, Mantra, Theurgy. If you want to know what I am talking about today you need to read that book. Any serious Gnostic student should have that book memorized. You will need it; it is that important.
Black magic is a priesthood that uses power in an egotistical way, through desire. That is, through all kinds of rituals, mantras, meditation, Tantra, transmutation, etc. They have millions of techniques. Yet, not all are what you might expect.
"Black Magic appeals to the mass mind. It appeals to the principles of our civilization. It offers something for nothing. As long as there is cupidity in the human heart, it will remain as a menace to the honesty and integrity of our race." - Manly P. Hall, from Magic: a Treatise on Esoteric Ethics
Most advertising is black magic: it attempts to manipulate your desires in order to get your money, loyalty, attention, etc. Advertising uses your fear, pride, lust, but especially your envy.
Anytime you see a few people getting rich or powerful on the backs of the many, you will see black magic. This is its attraction: it promises power to the clever, the cunning, the quick.
Slavery is black magic. Yet so is much of how modern society works: a few powerful people do little work, yet acquire power from the laboring millions. This is not right, it is not just. It is black magic. The powerful achieve it through manipulations of minds, laws, beliefs, perceptions. They do not consider themselves evil, only successful. They consider themselves better than others, more advanced, when in truth they are parasites that steal the life from the naive.
Bookstores are filled with techniques of black magic, and not just in the witchcraft, occult, or new age sections. The business section is primarily techniques of black magic. The psychology section is full of black magic. The religion section is full of black magic. Children’s books teach black magic. They are not black books with pentagrams on the front. They are very nicely designed, yet the contents are entirely black magic. How? They propose to teach how to get what you want by manipulating others, but fooling others, but “getting something for nothing” or “for only $9.95.”
The lottery is black magic. It promises something for nothing; meanwhile, the ones in control of it get rich.
The stock market is black magic: it hypnotizes the greed of the masses, and the only ones who actually benefit are few, and very powerful. They have crafted a sophisticated illusion (based on fear of the future) that traps the weak-minded.
Anytime our mind is limited by any theory, belief, or social expectation, it is black magic. For example, people in some countries are not free to practice certain religions, or read certain books, etc. That is black magic: it is how powerful people maintain power. The same can be said of religious fanatics: they are told they cannot study the teachings of other groups, or read certain books; that is black magic. No one has the right to limit the freedom of anyone else.
"Teachers do not have the right to confine the minds of students to a cage. What is essential is to not dictate to the minds of students what they must think but rather, to completely teach them how to think." - Samael Aun Weor, What to Think, How to Think
4. Psychic Obsessions
A psychic obsession could be anything we get fixed on in our mind, whether it a possession we want, a person, a desire, a drug, or even a belief or a theory. Millions of people are psychically obsessed with tv shows, actors, politicians, musicians, political parties, religious sects, sports, fashion, technology — truly, anything can become an obsession.
If we become a fanatic of anything, that is a form of black magic. It is a form of being obsessed with a concept, theory, or anything. That means that fanatics of Christianity are being manipulated by black magic. The fanatics of Buddhism, fanatics of science, fanatics of Gnosis, fanatics of this or that political party, are all being manipulated by black magic. Every one of us here is a victim of this type of black magic. We all have psychic obsessions.
5. Enmities
These are conflicts between people, whether on e small scale or large. The act of war is a form of black magic, where people with power manipulate people to fight each other, so that the powerful gain more power. It can happen even within a family. A person who has a lot of vengefulness, hurt, and resentment, can manipulate other people in the family to fight each other, even just for entertainment. I have witnessed that many times. That is black magic. Whether it is conscious or unconscious, it is black magic. It is manipulating people because of desire, anger.
When we see fighting between religions, it is black magic. When we see fighting between spiritual schools, it is black magic. God does not create fights between religious groups. No pure master creates foolish politics and schisms. That is all black magic. It is the black lodge working with the egos of people manipulating them because they are asleep.
"Do not let there be a schism in the Order; he who splits an Order that is united sets up demerit that endures for an eon, and he is boiled in hell for an eon." - Buddha
"He who causes one of these little ones to stray [from the flock], it would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea.” - Jesus
6. Organic Illnesses
Black magicians can inject substances through our food to affect our physical and psychological well-being.
Be very careful what you eat and drink. Do you know what is in cola, fast food, or in the food your neighbor gives you, friends at school give you or a student in your spiritual school gives you? No, none of us know. Let us start observing what is going on. Look at the behaviors of people in society and what they eat and drink. There is a very strong relationship. The reality is there is a lot of black magic in our food and water, and substances that are injected into us either physically or internally. Science is a big propagator of black magic through all kinds of chemicals and laboratory creations. Much of what people call “food” has nothing to do with food. Listen: food comes from nature, not a factory or laboratory. Study the course Healthy Spirituality.
Addictive substances are all methods of black magic: alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, etc. Each form a psychic dependency, in which the provider of the substance gains power and wealth, and the consumer of the substance loses his energy, life, and virtues.
Black magicians often use food to deliver magical works to their victims. Do not accept food from suspicious sources.
7. Vices
This one should be obvious. If you are enslaved to your lust, controlling you is child’s play for a black magician. When you are addicted to looking at pornography, or looking at other people on the street, when you are addicted to fantasizing, it is very easy for any black magician to take all your energy from you. For them you have made it no problem; they do no have to make any effort at all; they do not even have to sweat for that. You make it easy for them.
The same is true of all our vices. This includes gossiping, curiosity about the private lives of others, addiction to profit, gluttony, addiction to intellectualizing, etc. We have many, many vices, and we rarely suspect our behaviors are actually vices.
8. Culture
Our media — television, movies, books, theater, music — is very deeply steeped in black magic. I am not talking about guys who wear black, “worship the devil,” and play guitars. They are just clowns. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about real black magic.
Black magic works intensely in our culture, telling us what is cool, what is desirable. We give all of our power, all of our energy, all of our acceptance and agreement, in order to gain what the media promises: pleasure, power, acceptance, the envy of others. What want to be wanted, admired, feared. We want to be “successful.” We want to “get rich.” This entire way of perception is a form of black magic that conditions our behaviors, and ensures the wealth and power of those who are selling what we want. This influence is through politics, music tastes, it works through our economic and social choices. We all just go right along with it thinking we are “fitting in” with society. Really, we are just pawns of black magicians, giving them power. We are going along with the system, being led to slaughter.
Everything on television is selling something. Those “entertainment” shows are programs for robots. Have you “downloaded your new programs” that tell you how to feed your desires, and tell you what is "good" and what is "bad"? Each year, what they say is "good" dips deeper into what our ancient traditions considered unacceptable, even punishable by death. What society is now saying are "good and bad" are derived entirely from the point of view of those who own the media.
9. False Prophets
This one is easy to understand on the surface, but humanity falls victim to this everyday.
Who do we put up as prophets nowadays? Actors, politicians, musicians. Our society no longer considers priests or spiritual leaders as prophets, not like we used to. Now, our prophets are celebrities, scientists, salesmen, people who run big companies. If “such and such” from this company says something like “we better put all of our money into that stock,” millions do it. Who really gains? That is black magic.
People worship celebrities as prophets. Whatever they say is considered to be important. This shows how far we are from reality.
With false prophets, primarily we are concerned with the spiritual aspect. There are a lot of people claiming to be masters or spiritual leaders, etc. It is very difficult to tell who is, or who is not. That is why in this tradition we follow one simple rule: do not follow anyone. Follow your Innermost, your inner Being, your inner angel, who is the only one you can trust. But for that, you first have to know how to listen to That.
To be more explicit, do not trust me. Seriously, do not. I have ego. I have a lot of ego, and I am easily confused. I have a lot of problems. I have a lot of mistakes. I am not a master. I am not a spiritual guide or a spiritual leader. I am just a foolish Gnostic student.
Follow your Innermost. For this, you must awaken consciousness. That is the only way to be free of false prophets. Even then, you have to be careful, because when you are working in the internal worlds, it is also difficult to see the truth. It takes a lot of skill. Luckily, in this tradition, we have the techniques so you can do it.
10. Inferior Elementaries
This is using forms of consciousness and matter that can be manipulated in order to influence other people. This includes plants, larvae, including incubi and succubi.
Incubi and succubi are condensed energy, energy that condenses into matter in the vital plane and astral plane. When a female masturbates, she creates an incubus. When a male masturbates, he creates succubi. Those are mental forms that condense consciousness and energy, and then want more energy to sustain themselves. They seek the woman or man that created them to feed themselves. Most of the time, when students in the beginning are having wet dreams or orgasms at night in their sleep, it is because their own creations are taking their energy. We have to dissolve them. We can use sulfur or asafetida, which are plant substances you can use to disintegrate and dissolve these elements. The instruction is given in the book Logos, Mantra, Theurgy.
Moreover, black magicians use those elements to take our energy and make us fall.
They send various elemental forces — elements in nature — in order to influence us, manipulate us, etc.
Defense
The way to get past all of these attacks is to transform that Arcanum 18.
Everything that exists is based in numbers. Kabbalah is the science of numbers.
In Kabbalah, the number 18 is 1 + 8 = 9. It may seem like number games to you, but it is a big deal. This is how Kabbalah works. It is very important.
The number one of that 18 is the First Arcanum: The Magician. This is not a conjurer or an illusionist, he is a priest (magi). That Magician is not you. That magician is your Innermost. That magician is your inner Being, your inner God. That magician is God in you.
This is the first defense: remember God.
“Hear, O Israel: Jehovah Elohim is unity, Jehovah: And thou shalt love Jehovah Elohim with all thine heart, and with all thy soul [נפש nephesh], and with all thy might [Hebrew מאד mad: the word for Mars, the planet of Samael, the Angel of strength]. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house (body), and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine yad [hand, arm, or phallus], and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house [body], and on thy gates [senses].” - Deuteronomy 6
In other words, remember God at all times, no matter what you are doing, whether in the body or out of the body. This scripture is saying the same as what Krishna (Christ) told Arjuna (the human soul):
“Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Krishna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting [against your egos]. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt. He who meditates on Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Partha, is sure to reach Me.” - Bhagavad Gita 8
If you are facing any attack of black magic, any struggle on your spiritual path, and you do not know what is happening, why it is happening, you are sick or attacked, you are losing your faith ,you are losing hope, call your inner Being. Do not go to your friends. Do not go to some so-called “master.” Do not go to your instructor. Pray, meditate, and call your inner God. Your inner Buddha. That is the Magician. That is the number one. That is why it is first.
Most of us do not do that. When we face hardship, we get our books and we flip through them. We go on the Internet. We go here and there, calling our friends, asking, “What should I do?” We are going on the phone, on chat rooms, and always avoiding our Innermost. He is the one with the power. He is the one who can help you. Yet, he can only do it in accordance with the 8.
The Arcanum 8 is Justice. The Arcanum 8 is the Law. You see the scale? That 8 is the law. That means if you have no Dharma, no credits with the law, what can you do? If you have done nothing to help others, the law owes you nothing. If you want help, you have to pay for it. Not with money, but with actions. Sacrifice for others. Work on yourself, and help others. That is how you earn the aid of justice.
Justice, the severity of the law, is called in Hebrew Geburah, which is a sephirah on the Tree of Life. The sephirah Geburah represents our Divine Soul, the spiritual soul of the Innermost. These two unite when you complete the first Initiation of Major Mysteries (Malkuth). When your Innermost (Chesed) unites with its spiritual soul (Geburah), you become an initiate: the number nine, The Hermit. The first degree of major mysteries is where your being becomes a Master at that stage, and you begin to enter the path.
This number 9 is a Hermit, who represents a true initiate. Number 9 is also called Prudence.
Prudence
Do you know what prudence is? It is a word that a lot of people hear, but cannot define it. Prudence means to have foresight and wisdom. It means to act intelligently. Someone imprudent is very naive. They are always getting into situations with people before realizing what a bad idea that was, like becoming close friends with a person who is a really bad person but we could not tell, or married to a person that is a really bad person and we didn’t realize it. Or we get into a business or other dealing that is really harmful, before we realize what we are doing. This includes getting involved with spiritual teachings that are negative. We are imprudent: we act without foresight or wisdom.
“A prudent man foreseeth the impurity [before him], and avoids it: but the simple enter into it, and are punished [by cause and effect].” - Proverbs 22
That is imprudence. We have a lot of it: that is why all of us are here in the suffering world. We do not realize how imprudent we are; if we did, we would no longer be so.
“Gregarious conduct is a tendency that the human machine allows. This tendency is to ally itself with other human machines without distinction or control of any type. […]
“When one opens the doors to negative impressions, one not only alters the order of the emotional center which is in the heart, but moreover one makes this center negative. For example, if somebody we know is filled with anger because another person hurt him, we open our doors to those impressions and end up taking the side of our friend and feeling animosity towards the one who hurt him. We too become filled with anger, without even having played a part in the matter.
“Let us suppose that one opens the doors to a negative impression of a drunkard; one then ends up accepting a drink, then another, and another, and so forth. In conclusion, one ends up being a drunkard too.
“Let us suppose that one opens the doors to the negative impressions of a person of the opposite sex; most likely, one ends up fornicating and committing all types of transgressions.
“If we open the doors to the negative impressions of a drug addict, then maybe we will end up smoking marijuana or consuming some type of intoxicants. As a conclusion, failure will come.
“Thus, this is the way that human beings infect each other within their negative atmospheres. Thieves alter other people into becoming thieves. Murderers infect someone else. Drug addicts infect other people. This is how drug addicts, thieves, usurers, murderers, etc., multiply. Why? Because we commit the error of always opening our doors to negative emotions and this is never right. Therefore, let us select our emotions.
“If someone brings us positive emotions of light, beauty, harmony, happiness, love, and perfection, then let us open the doors of our heart to him. But if someone brings us negative emotions of hate, violence, jealousy, drugs, alcohol, fornication and adultery, why should we open the doors of our heart to him? Let us close them! Close the doors to all negative emotions.
“When one reflects on gregarious conduct, one can modify it perfectly and make something better out of life.” - Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of the Dialectic
The Arcanum 9 teaches us that when we want to leave the lunar path and enter the solar path, we need to become prudent, meaning intelligent. We need to learn how to manage our life with wisdom (Chokmah). That is the guidance of God: to become prudent. This is one of the key elements in overcoming any black magic.
Remember I told you how a thief steals from you? How does a warrior conquer another warrior? Through any weakness in their defenses. Spiritually speaking, we are all sleeping out on the street. We do not have our doors locked, we do not have armor on. We are totally exposed and we go around saying, “Here I am! Take anything I have.” Because spiritually we are blind, deaf, and dumb. None of us are awake in the astral plane; none of us are even awake in the physical plane. We are like dumb sheep, stumbling around with our eyes closed muttering to ourselves, with no awareness at all of reality.
Prudence is the work to change that. It is to awaken, to be here and now, and to learn to live intelligently. It is very difficult, but it is solitary, alone.
This work is solitary. Success in this work does not require, as many people think, that you have to have a school, a teacher, or a spouse. What you need is willpower. That is it. If you have willpower, you can do it. No teacher, no school, no spouse, no help, just willpower. That is enough. Willpower for what? Willpower to see yourself as you truly are. In other words, willpower to change, to find your defects. This comes from analyzing oneself. Stated simply, we have to meditate. From that, you learn prudence. You learn to be smart. You learn to not leave your psychological doors unlocked, and you learn to stop getting into stupid situations.
Aspects of Spiritual Defense
- Bodhichitta
- Psychological equilibrium
- Meditation
- Transmutation
- Cleanliness & health
- Harmony with superior laws
- Intellectual Culture
- White Magic
Bodhichitta
What is Bodhichitta? That is a deep topic. We have given lectures on it and barely scratched the surface. In synthesis, it means the awakening mind, the awakening heart; it means cognizance of emptiness in combination of cognizant love. In other words, do not lose your equilibrium in any circumstance.
No matter who you deal with or whatever circumstance, treat everyone you meet with respect and love. If a black magician is attacking you — you awaken consciousness in the astral plane and you are surrounded by black magicians, do not react with anger or fear (which is what we are likely to do, but try to be serene and remember your Being is with you, and look upon the black magicians and see them for what they really are: confused people. Demons are just confused people, nothing more.
Those of us who have been parents and have dealt with a confused, angry child know that it is possible to deal with that child with a lot of love and with a lot of restraint. You can hold them, and restrain them, and treat them with respect, and with love, and compassion. We have to do the same with black magicians.
We cannot do that with our ego. Our ego deserves to die, so that our consciousness may live. Show no mercy to your ego.
When we are dealing with another person, we have to show love. It does not mean we let them trample on us, it means we have to defend ourselves, but with care for others. That is Bodhichitta. That is a mind that has equanimity, cognizant love, and virtue.
Samael Aun Weor was attacked many times more than any of us can count. People tried to assassinate him in the physical world many times. Yet, you did not see him chasing after his attackers with physical anger, or trying to kill them to get revenge, or blaming them, or saying, “Be damned and go to hell!” He never said that. All of his students are always condemning others to hell, but this is wrong. We are already in hell! Where are you going to go?
There is a story that illustrates some of these principles. Samael told his students that he found himself in a beautiful temple. It was very extravagant beautiful place where he had a very sacred feeling. Some of the people in robes there put a sacred crown on his head. But because he wasn’t sure where he was, he took the crown and held it. They led him up to the altar. Many devotees where there, and masters, and an altar, lights, and incense. He went up to the front, and said, “Okay, be a man, tell me the truth: are you black magicians or white magicians?” These venerable elders sitting around the altar said, “We are black magicians.” Samael took the mantle from his head and threw it on the ground. Of course, they all attacked him. He had to fight very hard to get out. This is a true story.
What it represents is that even when you have your consciousness very awakened, you cannot by appearances tell where you are. Never assume that you know. Always maintain a sense of equanimity and awareness, and at the same time, respect. They attacked him; he did not respond in anger. He defended himself, and left. He did not let them hurt him, but neither did he seek revenge and knock the whole temple to the ground. He walked away.
We should do the same. If someone is choosing to take that path, it is their choice; we should let them go.
Psychological Equilibrium
That example illustrates the first two aspects: Bodhichitta and psychological equilibrium. We need to always maintain both. This is the best defense. If you have psychological equilibrium, really have it, a black magician cannot manipulate you. It would be very difficult for them, because you have control over your three brains. They try to tempt you with anger, resentment, lust but if you are watching your three brains, you see that element. You are not going to let that element come into your mind or come into your body and control you. No way.
Meditation
Then, you go meditate. That is the next aspect. Without meditation, you cannot defend yourself. Meditation is what empowers everything. It gives you the ability to control and manage everything. We have to meditate everyday. Naturally, I am not talking about mere concentration, or prayer, or mantra. By meditation, I mean daily self-analysis.
Transmutation
If you are not transmuting your sexual energy, you are not even in this work. If you stop transmuting, you will soon be out. Do not stop. Everyday, work with your energy consciously and cognitively, in a pure way, and offer it to God. Make every transmutation an offering to your Innermost; that is the way. Not entering into transmutation thinking, “Now I am going to get power! Now if I do this tantra I am going to awaken and get powers.” You might, but through pride, lust, and desire. Do not think chastity is the way to get power. There are many examples of Gnostic students who restrained their energy, who transformed their energy, and awakened as black magicians because they had too much pride. Read The Mystery of the Golden Blossom, Chapter 38: Treason.
Cleanliness and Health
Black magicians use illnesses and impure substances to affect us. That means you need to take care of yourself and be clean. Stop eating garbage. Do not eat things that are impure, unclean, or questionable. If you feel, “I do not know if I trust this person, I do not know if I know where this is coming from. I do not know about that.” Then do not eat it. You can be nice, take it away, and privately throw it out. You do not have to hurt their feelings. You do not have to say, “I think you are a black magician.” Do not do that. It is not going to help anyone. Be kind and respectful.
The most important thing is to listen to your heart. Be prudent.
Cleanliness is very important. If your physical body is always dirty, that can be used against you. Be clean. The same is true of your bedroom and your home. Black magicians can use dirty things as a tool.
Harmony with the Superior Laws
If you owe a karmic debt, and if there is something painful that is happening to you, the best thing to change that is to override it with a superior law.
The best way is to sacrifice for others. Give up your own will for the benefit of others.
If a group of people are rallied against you, and they are working the minds of everyone to convince everyone that you are bad, and that you are evil, or you should be kicked out, fired, or whatever it is they want to do with you, maybe they want to hang you up to a pole someplace, the best way to overcome that is by light. By doing good. By being good. By being sincere. Not point fingers back at them. If you act with serenity and treat everyone with respect and love, and act with superior level of being they will never be able to touch you. All the great masters have demonstrated that beautifully to us.
Intellectual Culture
We are very easy to fool when we do not know what we are doing. Think about when you did not know this teaching. Some of you may be new, others may have been studying for awhile. Try to remember what it was like when you did not know anything, and how naïve and foolish you were. The difference is intellectual culture.
When we have a robust conceptual understanding of spirituality, we are very difficult to fool and manipulate.
We need to study, and have a strong understanding of what we study; not just memorizing, but understanding.
Let me state something that Samael Aun Weor stated in many books. The single most dangerous tool that black magicians use is your intellect. You really need to think about that. We all think, “The black magicians are using rituals, mantras, potions, animals, and plants, and doing all these things to manipulate me.” No, no, no. The single most powerful tool they have is your mind. It is not all those other techniques and tools. It is your mind. It is how they will infect your mind with intellectual arguments. We need a strong intellectual culture. We need to study. Samael stated we have to memorize the Kabbalah. We need to memorize the 22 Arcana.
White Magic
White magic includes rituals, mantras, prayers, and more, the vast majority of which are not taught in the physical world. Samael Aun Weor wrote 60 or 70 books teaching techniques and practices of white magic that we can all learn, but most is located in the internal worlds.
First and foremost are prayers. If you do not have these memorized already, start today. These prayers should come off your tongue without even thinking about it. You know why? You need them in the astral plane. Physically, they are very powerful, but where you really need them is when you are outside your body, and you are asleep, and you need to train yourself so that as soon as you realize you are in a bad situation and you are being attacked, you need them to come immediately to your tongue. They channel forces, they call for the help of the Divine. There are many of these prayers.
Pater Noster is the Our Father. This is an extremely powerful magical prayer. It is especially useful when you are facing temptation. In other words, if you are facing the temptation of an ego, lets say lust, maybe it is in your mind or through another person, repeat this prayer. You can repeat it verbally or repeat it mentally. Chant it, sing it, repeat it, and meditate on it. It has a lot of force that can be used to protect you.
My personal favorite is the Fons Alpha et Omega. This prayer has so much power for so many different applications, it is truly astonishing. That prayer is given in a number of books. It is very beautiful. It is in Latin, and it is exceptional in its power.
A very easy one is a prayer that we call Belilin. It is a prayer that you sing. It also has a tremendous power. If you are having trouble with nocturnal emissions, wet dreams, sing this prayer when you fall asleep. It will help you a lot.
The most core prayers are the Conjuration of the Four, and the Conjuration of the Seven, and the Invocation of Solomon. These are very core in white magic. Memorize them. You will need them. In other lectures we are going to talk in more detail on what these conjurations mean. All of them are on the website. All of them are in the books.
Get the books. Read them study them. Read them everyday. Meditate. Memorize these prayers. Chant them. You can print out the prayers. Keep it with you. Every time you think about it, take it out read it and memorize it. Have an impact on your life.
Protect Your Home
Now that you have established a foundation to defend yourself, you need to protect your house, the place you live. Even if you just have a bed in a room with a lot of other people, you can still defend yourself. I know some people are poor and they do not have a house to themselves. You always have a place to sleep. That place is your temple; protect it.
A very important rule is keep it clean. Take out the trash. Trash physically may not smell, and may not look like much, but it has a multidimensional aspect. Certain types of trash can make you psychologically sick. Take out the garbage and keep your house clean. Especially if you have roommates who fornicate and listen to terrible music or do drugs and smoke, and do whatever they do, those elements are not just kept magically in their part of the house. They will come into your house. The same way that air moves around in the building, so do these other elements. Walls do not stop them. Keep your house clean.
You should also be using incense everyday. A lot. Not so you are choking, but so that you are keeping a nice atmosphere.
Do regular cleanings. This means to find and utilize the right kind of incense that will cleanse the environment of impurities and negativities in the vital and astral planes. I am talking about incubi, succubi, and astral larvae. If you ever leave your house to go anywhere, you are picking up astral larvae. Astral larvae are like bugs or insects like slugs. They have thousands of names in esoteric literature. They are little parasites in the internal planes that feed on filth. Whenever you go to the mall, subway, bus, shopping center, a government building, your job, you are around people who masturbate, fornicate, who are involved in all kinds of sexual perversities, who are obsessed with stealing, theft, cheating. There are enormous vast quantities of astral larvae everywhere. They cling to your vital body to suck energy. Sometimes, that is why we get sick. We need to cleanse that.
We need to regularly cleanse our homes and our bodies. Taking a good shower helps. Keeping yourself clean helps. Keep your clothes laundered and change your bed sheets as much as you can stand to change them.
Once per week, once per month — whatever you think is necessary — burn sulfur, asafetida, sage, rue, or camphor.
Sulfur is the strongest, yet it is toxic. If you are going to burn sulfur, leave once it is smoking. If you are going to be out the whole day, do it in the morning before you leave. Sulfur will cleanse that place very well. You will come home and it will feel different. It is truly amazing what it can do.
Asafetida is excellent. It is known as an Indian spice but what we need to use is the plant.
Sage is common and easy to get. Burn sage and go around your house. That will also cleanse your body.
Rue is similar; it is a plant you can get these anywhere.
After these cleaners, you can use any other kind of incense that you would like to perfume your house. We all have Zodiacal signs and there are perfumes related to our astrological sign that can help. Study Practical Astrology.
Next, have an altar. An altar acts as a beacon, and as a storage center for energy. When you have an altar in your house, and you meditate there regularly and you do your practices there regularly, you are charging the environment with energy. If you do not have one now, set one up. It does not have to be fancy. Mine is very simple, because I am very poor. It is a little wooden table with a couple of candles, a small glass of water, and a little wood statue that I bought 20 years ago that is worthless. That is my altar. It is totally simple. That is it. No big deal.
Pentagrams help a lot act as walls and defenses in the internal planes. You need one on your altar. You need one over your bed. You need one at your bedroom window and you need one on the floor at your bedroom door. These are an amazing defense, and if you are having troubles now in your dreams, and you put these up, things will change immediately because the lower level black magicians and creatures cannot get past them. Higher ones, that is another story. We will have to talk about more potent defenses in that case. This will help you a lot. You can make your own pentagrams, or you can by them at the Gnostic store. They are very powerful.
Every night before you go to sleep, mentally trace a magical circle around your bedroom and your house. This is to pray to your Divine Mother, pray to your Divine Father, and beg for protection. Visualize a wall of flame emerging around your house and trace it with your mind three times while you chant the mantra Helion, Melion, Tetragrammaton three times.
If you are not saving your energy and you are not transmuting, no one is going to come there in the astral plane to steal anything from you because you do not have any energy to steal. If you are transmuting, you will have power.
Lastly, work with elementals. Elementals can do a lot to help you, protect you, and defend you, and guide you and give you information. The key in this effort is the Aloe, Maguey, Mustard Seeds, Angels Trumpet, Pine Trees, Cedar Trees; all of those practices are in Esoteric Medicine and Practical Magic and in Igneous Rose. The Aloe is described in Tarot and Kabbalah. Those are very important, especially if someone is really attacking you hard, and you are having a hard time dealing with a situation, these elementals can help you a lot, and they are easy to you.
Learn more about protecting your home.
Questions and Answers
Audience: You said that the Fons Alpha Prayer is very powerful and the Our Father is not as powerful, can you explain that?
Instructor: They are simply different. Each is used for protection.
If you are facing a temptation or someone is trying to manipulate an ego, the Our Father is the best, because it calls on the force of the Innermost to give you force in your three brains to help you see your way and to help you see the temptation and not be victim to it. That is the power of that prayer. It creates a connection to your innermost.
Fons Alpha on the other hand is more like putting up a defensive shield. It is a prayer of protection. That prayer is more important when you are actually being attacked, if someone is trying to hurt you or harm you or dissuade you from what you are trying to do.
Fons Alpha is also useful when you are trying to comprehend something. It could be a situation like that or an ego. Fons Alpha has an amazing capacity to unlock doors in your psyche.
Belilin creates an environment in the eternal planes that black magicians cannot stand. You will know when you awaken in the astral plane to see the effects.
Audience: What direction does the altar need to face?
Instructor: When setting up an altar there are a lot of details that you can apply. Some of them are in The Yellow Book by Samael Aun Weor. It is best if possible for your altar to face the east, so that when you are sitting at your altar you face the east. In some houses it is not possible, so you can get as close to that as you can. If you cannot do that, it is not a big deal. It can be a symbolic east. North is also good, but east is generally the preference.
Audience: Is it an antidote for the minor mysteries?
Instructor: No, nothing can get you through the minor mysteries except psychological change. All of these techniques can help protect you, and give you defenses, and help when you are facing temptations and struggles, and you are also demonstrating that you are learning how to use the techniques. That is all important, but truthfully to get through the minor mysteries, you have to pass the tests that the masters are giving you. Even if you are doing the Our Father the entire 24 hours of the day, if you fail the temptation, you fail the test. We have to pass the temptations, the tests of each of the nine arcana. It is the only way.
Audience: What is twilight?
Instructor: Twilight is when the sun is just below the horizon. We cannot see the sun. It can be morning or evening. It is the level of light that we cannot see where it is coming from.
Audience: If you experience a sudden increase in your abilities to manage your mind could that be a sign of black magicians trying to awaken you to their side?
Instructor: If black magicians are really trying to bring you in on their path there will usually be a physical component. They will usually be watching you in the physical world. Not always, but generally. Take a look around. Also have a healthy dose of skepticism in yourself. I cannot tell you how many people I have known who have come victims of their own paranoia. Do not become a victim of paranoia. Be a healthy skeptic of what you see outside and inside, and defend yourself. If you suspect black magic, defend yourself. Memorize the mantras and prayers. Apply the principles in your daily life, and awaken your consciousness. You will find out if black magicians are manipulating you, you will find out if they persist.
Remember: they cannot conquer God. God is there; your Innermost is there. If you rely on your inner divine, nobody can come between you and your Innermost, not even Javhe, the chief of the black lodge. Not even he can stop you. That is how great your Innermost is. Put your faith inside, do your practice, and discriminate. Be prudent be smart.
Audience: You said that we are all under the number Arcanum 18. What is the internal urgency under 18? I know Samael Aun Weor was also under 18 and he struggled a lot as an initiate as well as being attacked often.
Instructor: The thing to remember is no number is 100% negative. Numbers are relative. The only fixed value in existence is that one that is not fixed is the Absolute. Every other thing that emerges from that is numbers. It is all Kabbalah. Everything that emerges is relative, even 18. That means that in the Arcanum 18 there is a great deal of beauty and a great deal of light. Do you see the duality there? That duality is necessary in nature to function. The black lodge and the white lodge has always existed and will always exist. This is no mystery.
If someone has the Arcanum 18 as their inner urgency or fundamental key note or has some other significance in their life, they need to meditate on that and uncover the mysteries that are hidden there. It could imply that they have a strong relationship with black magic in the past. It could also means they need to work with the two 9’s in order to become a perfect 9. That is a deep mystery, but only that person will be able to grasp with a lot of work on themselves. There is no easy answer.
That is that way with any of the arcana. We all look at Arcanum 1 and we think, that it is easy, that is simple, that is the Innermost. No it isn’t simple. No arcanum is simple. They are cosmic laws. The entire universe is codified in those 22 arcana. There is nothing simple about that. There is nothing fixed. They are all relative. As an example, you cannot understand 18 unless you understand 17 and 19. They are relative to the factors that surround them. If you want to understand the 18, then know the 17 and the 19, and you will then get a glimmer of what that 18 is all about. I will leave it to you to investigate that.
Audience: You said show no mercy to our ego and show love to black magicians. How do distinguish in the internal planes between black magicians and egos?
Instructor: If you cannot tell the difference you need to defend yourself first. Then figure out what the situation is. You have to conjure no matter what; if you are being hurt, pummeled and overwhelmed, use your skills. That will be the conjurations and prayers and mantras that you know. Once you are in a stable position, you can then figure out what was going on. It may take you a while.
Audience: You mentioned that we may use Bodhichitta as a way to defend ourselves if we are being attacked by a black magician, but the more you have restraint and not attack them, the more they are going to increase.
Instructor: Perhaps. In my experience, if you show sincere love towards someone, their anger abates. However, in some cases, it can make them more angry, right?
Nevertheless, let me ask you something: if the darkness grows greater, does not the light also? Yes. If the light grows greater, then the darkness grows also. It is part of the mystery of Arcanum 18. I will give you a little hint here, because there is always a dualistic loop that you get caught in. If it is always like that, then how do you get out of it? Right? If it is always black opposing light, what is the ultimate synthesis? It is the bodhisattva. The bodhisattva is the perfect 9 that goes beyond the 18. The Bodhisattva goes beyond good and evil. The Bodhisattva is neither good nor evil. The Bodhisattva goes beyond, and neither the good nor evil can comprehend the bodhisattva, because the two sides are hypnotized by duality. They are locked in that dualistic battle. This is part of the tragedy of humanity.
Even if we find a true path like Gnosis, adopt it, practice it, develop the solar bodies and start to become white magicians, most become get stuck in the dualistic struggle between black and white, and they never get out of it. It is why we see the internal struggle between the gods and the demons.
“The limit of good is evil. The limit of evil is good. The Eightfold Path of the Bodhisattvas with compassionate hearts has nothing to do with good or evil. All which is good for those who march on the path of the Right is evil for those who descend through the tenebrous Left. All which is good for the tenebrous of the Averno is evil for the walkers who ascend through the path of the Right. Demons and saints look with horror and terror at the revolutionary adepts of the Path of the Middle. No one understands these rebels of the Path of the Middle. The revolutionary walker of the Eightfold Path (even when surrounded by many people) walks terribly alone. Hitler, who was terrorized in the presence of an Adept from the Path of the Middle exclaimed: “I know the Super-Man. I have seen him. He is terribly cruel. I, myself, have felt fear.” The path is sexual. We advance by annihilating the ego and sacrificing ourselves for humanity. The Pratyeka Buddhas (even after having built the existential superior bodies of the Being) are not Bodhisattvas. Obviously, the Pratyeka Buddhas fell in the path of the Right. There are also a great deal of Masters who fell on the path of the Left by means of Black Tantra. The Bodhisattvas with compassionate hearts sacrifice themselves for planetary humanities through successive Mahamanvantaras, and finally, they achieve the incarnation of Christ. Only the Bodhisattvas of the Path of the Middle achieve the incarnation of Christ within themselves. The inner Christ is the true refuge of the Bodhisattva of a compassionate heart. The inner Christ is beyond all evil and all punishment.” - Samael Aun Weor, The Gnostic Bible: The Pistis Sophia Unveiled
The Bodhisattva goes beyond. The key of going beyond is Bodhichitta. It is that attitude. That conscious attitude. It is a paramita.
What I am explaining here is that this path of Gnosis is not a path of sainthood. It is not a path to simply become a saint or a prophet. It is well beyond that. You can become a saint, an angel, and be locked in the eternal battle of demons; you are welcome to it. You will be eternally in that battle between good and evil, and you will be eternally cycling between good and evil. The angels rise, and then they fall, and then they are demons. Then the demons say “I am tired of this” and they become an angel, and fights the demons, then he gets caught in the battle again and becomes a demon. It goes on and on through countless ages. It has been like that forever.
The antidote, the way out, is Bodhichitta. It is to develop that power. Bodhichitta is not easy to grasp.
Bodhichitta is comprehension of the Absolute combined with cognizant love. It is the very essence of Christ. That is why it is the great power of the Bodhisattva. When you comprehend what that means — and I mean consciously, not in your intellect, but in your Being — you become a different kind of person. You start to get what it means to go beyond good and evil and you start to understand what Samael Aun Weor is teaching. It is different. It isn’t his own or ours, but it has been taught by all the great saints. The real ones Krishna, Mohammed, Moses, All those great masters. To become that, is derived beyond that duality of 18. You see in that 18 there is always this dual force. These two factors fighting each other. As long as you are stuck there you will never get out of it. Bodhichitta is the way to go beyond them both.
Do not think you will understand Bodhichitta from a few sentences from me. I have a hard time explaining it because I do not even get it. I am trying to get it, but it is not easy.
Audience: A person with a number 9 Arcanum, does that mean that that person is a Bodhisattva?
Instructor: No. If they have a number 9 in their numerology, it means they need to descend to the ninth sphere and work with the power of 9. There is no numerological or metaphysical sign of a bodhisattva, until the innermost reveals it, or chooses that path for the person. I know everyone likes the idea of being a Bodhisattva, and thinks that is very cool, and “maybe I am one” but the reality is something else.
“Fallen bodhisattvas are worse than demons.” - Samael Aun Weor, The Major Mysteries
I find it strange that so many people boast of being fallen bodhisattvas, or think it quietly to themselves. I do not know about you, but I would rather not be worse then a demon. If I have to be a demon, I guess I would rather be a regular demon, not worse then a demon. But you know, there are fallen bodhisattvas, and in the Gnostic movement there were quite a lot, but again: they are worse then demons. They are worse until they rise up, until they resurrect. That is precisely the problem.
When I was talking in the previous lecture about managing energy, we talked about any given system has a quantity of energy. Common souls like us all have a very limited amount of energy that we can manage, and that shows in the impact that our lives have on other people. It is not much, relative to the scale to the planet and the universe. Our impact is relatively insignificant. In what we do we may affect two or three, or maybe even forty or fifty people at the most. It isn’t much. A Bodhisattva on the other hand, fallen or otherwise, can affect an entire planet. That is because their vehicles can transmit that much more energy.
I said earlier in the lecture that we have within us enough trapped energy to create a planet, to become a Cosmocreator, and that potential energy is there to become a great angel, to support life forms. A bodhisattva can support a solar system, a galaxy, and a universe.
Let us put this in perspective. If that person falls, think about how much power and energy that person moves. If a bodhisattva becomes a black magician, that is a very bad situation. Not just for ten or twenty or forty people, but for many many more, depending on the level of that bodhisattva. It is a very tremendous statement to talk about bodhisattvas, fallen or risen. We have to put it into context. It is a very tremendous thing.
If you suspect yourself of being one, keep your mouth shut. Really. It will benefit no one for you to talk about it. Worse, it can hurt everyone. If you hear other people talking about it, “That guy is a fallen bodhisattva,” or “She is a rising bodhisattva,” tell them to shut up. They are playing games with the tongue that can harm a lot of people. Especially if that person really is a bodhisattva, and we start talking about them; is that going to build their pride? Think compassionately about how many people we can hurt. Let us think about the people. What is best for them is not to follow people or masters, or say, “I heard this guy over there is a fallen bodhisattva, let’s go see. Let’s go see if he really is a great master. Let’s go listen to his teaching and find out.” What effect is that going to have on people? It makes no difference who is what and who is not. It is better to leave all that alone. If someone really is a bodhisattva, and they really rise up, that is great. That will help humanity a lot. If they are not, be compassionate towards them, and keep silent.
