24 ‘THE HERMETIC TABLET continuance, On the assumption that you do send in Lesson | (completed) your corrected written work will be returned to you together with the third lesson and the textbook for the course, The fourth lesson will be sent to you when we receive the written work on lesson 11,,,....and so on, Do not forget that 29 Majendic Road is only an accommodation address. DO NOT CALL IN PERSON or it will be difficult for us to go on using this address. ESSENTIAL PRELIMINARIES ‘Those who take our courses are divided into two broad groups: (1) Those who have little acquaintance with the Western Esoteric Tradition and its special terminology. They find ita real effort to get through the theoretical part of the work, for the concepts employed are unfamiliar to them, (2) ‘Those whe have read a good deal of magical and western occult literature, They find the course contains a good deal of material already familiar to them from printed sources and, consequently, tend ro neglect their work, feeling that they know it all already. You will find that you tend to be in one of these groups, although few people are altogether in either one or the other. Each group has its own particular problems, ‘Those in group (1) inevitably go through a stage when they feel chat it is ‘all too much for them’; if, however, they persist in the work whatever the intellectual difficulties they may encounter they will find that che gates of the mind begin to swing open and that the concepts which once scemed difficult of comprehension are now casily understood. ‘To enable the student to overcome this period of ‘intellectual darkness’ no fixed period is laid down for the completion ofSUMMER SOLSTICE ao16 25 lessons; each lesson will take the average student a week or so (0 complete provided that he or she is prepared to devote half an hour a day to occult work, Incidentally we must emphasize that regular work, even if only for short periods, is far better than intermittent periods of prolonged activity — ten minutes regular work every day is far better than five or six hours of work on one day a week. In some ways the problems of group (2) are far worse than those of group (1) - intellectual pride is a far more potent danger to those who travel the magical ‘Those who feel they ‘know it all’ must remember that (a) They don’t = even the widest reading will leave gaps in knowledge that only a source of directed, planned and supervised study can overcome, (b) In many ways the theoretical studies undertaken by those taking our course are the least important part of thar same course, By this we do not just mean that the practical work is of great importance — although of course it is — bur chac the student is brought under the spiritual influence of one of the great Esoteric Orders that exist on the Inner Planes, ‘The life of an adept resembles the physical structure of an iceberg, Le. the major (and most important) parts of it are concealed. Similarly a properly contacted occult school, such as the §.H.S., is merely the visible outcropping of an organism that exists on the Inner Planes, ‘The S.HLS. derives from a working occult fraternity and similarly, thar fraternity derives from one of the Great Brotherhoods of the Inner Planes (in fact it derives from those same Inner Plane Adepti who were responsible for the foundation of such groups as the true Rosicrucian Fraternity, the Golden Dawn and the Qabalistic Rose-Croix), All those who take our courses are brought under the hidden influences of those discarnate beings we serve — that does not th than excessive humbleness.26 THE HERMETIC TABLET mean thar the student is hypnotically influenced against his or her will; the influence of the Secret Chiefs (for so we term the Inner Plane Adepti) is benign and the student is free to accept it or reject it as he will, ‘This, then, is the most important part of the §,H.S, courses — the establishment of links with the Inner Planes. THEORETICAL Attached is a copy | of the magazine Pentagram containing a lengthy introduction to Aleister Crowley's essay on the psychology of haschish. ‘This introduction can be read as an essay in its own right and forms the major part of Lesson 1; it was written by that distinguished occultist Israel Regardie. It must be taken not as ‘gospel truth’ but as an expression of an interesting occult point of view, Read ir through at least twice. When you have done this don't throw it away as we shall be returning to it from a more advanced point of view in Lessons 20 and 21, PRACTICAL WORK In this first part of our course no real practical work begins until the fifth lesson, Certain preliminaries co this work should, however, be commenced immediately, They are (a) the establishment of an occult diary — what is sometimes known as a magical record (b) the opening of a Dream Record, The establishment of (a) is simple enough. Get a thick exercise book, a large diary or any other suitable collection of blank paper and record cach day (a) the amount of time spent on occult work (ifany) (b) the nature of any occult reading and (c) any unusual experiences, interior psychological sensations ete, At this stage your magical record will be little more than a diary in which you record your occult interests rather than theSUMMER SOLSTICE 2016 27 mundane aspects of your life, Later it will become an important part of your magical existence, but it is good to get into the habit of keeping it now, Try and make an entry for every day, even if it is only the word ‘nothing’. Dream Book, Get a large exercise book, head Book’, and keep it by your bedside together with a pencil, Each morning, as soon as you wake up, note down any dreams you may remember. Do this cach day; if you remember nothing write ‘nothing’ — do not leave any day completely blank. “The purpose of this record will be made clear to you in later lessons; but at this stage we will only emphasise that at no stage will we want to see it — we don't intend to practice any instant psycho-analysis on you! WRITTEN WORK ON LESSON I (1) Write a short essay — not more than 400 words, less if you can — on how you first came to be interested in occultism and what you consider to be the purpose of occult teaching, (2) Makea short summary of the ideas expressed by Regardie in Roll Away the Stone (not more than 200 words) and say whether you agree or disagree with your reasons and say whether you think he overestimates the importance of Crowley — if you have an opinion on this. Dont worry if your essays/notes are poorly written or even a litele ungrammatical. We are not looking for academic excellence bur for indications of (a) potential occult development and (b) ability to grasp esoteric concepts. “Thus there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers to these questions — answers to question (2), for example can be perfectly satisfactory even though expressing diametrically opposite points of view. LESSON TWO Preliminary Note: Many of our stuclents find that the theoretical is main conclusions. Give28 THE HERMETIC TABLET part of this lesson is the most difficult to cope with in the entire course = for although it is short it is highly compressed. Others, on the other hand, find it almost childishly simple! If you are, like the majority of our students, in the first group do not be too depressed. Persist with the lesson — even if you have to do so for pwo or three weeks — and eventually the whole thing will fall into place. ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY We call this lesson “Esoteric Psychology”, but it would be equally legitimate for us to call it “Esoteric Anatomy” or “Esoteric Physiology” = for the occultist makes no sharp distinction between the physical, emotional or spiritual life of a man or woman. ‘There are various systems of analysing the nature of a human being. ‘The Theosophists and many others who follow oriental occult systems talk of the seven principles; some contemporary occultists talk of four — the Spiritual Consciousness, the Intellectual Consciousness, the Astral (or emotional) Consciousness and the Physical Body, In the $,H.S, we prefer to adhere to a more traditional nomenclature drawn from the Golden Dawn version of the Qabalistic system of mystical Judaism. We therefore talk of five principles: Yechidah (in English, Divine Spark) Chiah (in English, Creative Will) Neschamah lish, Intuition) Ruach (in English, Intelligence) Nephesch (in English, Animal Soul) ‘The English words given above are not literal translations of the Hebrew: they are key words and if committed to memory they will over a period of months and years help the student to arrive at an intuitive comprehension of the inner meaning of the Hebrew words.SUMMER SOLSTICE aor6 wv ‘The first of these principles, Yechidah (the Divine Spark) is that little bit of Godhead that is present in every human being at the uttermost depths of consciousness: it is the quintessential aspect of the Soul, at one and the same time it is that which every human being has in common with every ocher human being and also chat which makes every human being unique. ‘The Yechidah is cach person's poine of contact with the Unmanifest (you can all the Unmanifest ‘God’ if you prefer a more personal cerm), and it must be remembered that the Unmanifest is the great source of pure, primaly energy and that through the Yechidah this energy can, if the circumstances are right, flow into our being. We suspect thac many students will find the preceding paragraph vague and unsatisfactory, This is inevitable; the Yechidah is the highest aspect of our nature, it is God-in-man, and its inner nature cannot be fully conveyed in words — to atvempe to do so (as we have done in the preceding paragraph) is to try to describe the indescribable, Nevertheless, the attempt has to be made, for certain key-words have to be implanted, like seeds, into the unconscious minds of our students. As you proceed with the course, you will find that these ‘seeds’ have ‘sprouted’, ‘taken root’ and — in time — produced ‘fruit’, Chiah (the Creative Will) is the second of our principles —it is the living spiritual principle of humanity. It is only through the Creative Will of Chiah that the Yechidah can obtain self realization, Neschamah (Intuition) is the understanding of the exalted aspirations of the spirit. ‘These three principles (Yechidah, Chiah and Neschamah) form a trinity and it is impossible to understand any one of them in isolation from the other two. Although this trinity is the essential part of each and every human being it is impossible to understand their nature while in ordinary consciousness: the30 ‘THE HERMETIC TABLET first task of the occultist is to travel inwards towards them = in that process he or she serves both God and Man. A further point must be made; the trinity is only a reflection of the ideal spiritual trinity that exists in the Divine Mind. ‘This idea trinity is known as Tsure, and the second task of the occultist is to direct the shadowy trinity towards the Tsure and eventually to unite them. This is the Qabalistic path of mystical ecstasy, (The doctrine of the Ture is ane of some importance and we have found that many students who have read widely in the field of magic and the Qabalah are ignorant of it, It was not contained in any of the written teachings of the Golden Dawn but was definitely at part of that Order’ oral tradition and was, in any case, an integral part of the Lertanic Qabalah of the sixteenth century from which Mathers and Westcott derived their own system.) Ruach, the fourth of our principles, is the logical understanding, the principle of reason; the word ‘mind’ as ordinarily understood, conveys the approximate meaning of Ruach. In reality the Ruach is a closely-knit group five sub- principles; this point will be dealt with more fully in a later lesson, ‘The Nephesch (the Animal Soul), is the emotional (astral) and etheric vehicle by which the Ruach is brought into contact with (and through which it controls) the physical body. PRACTICAL Continue your dream-book and record. By this time you will be finding it casicr to remember your dreams when you wake up in the morning. HISTORICAL PREFATORY NOTE It is essential that students should have some basic knowledgeSUMMER SOLSTICE 2016 3 of the history of our tradition and therefore a certain amount of occult history is included in each part of the course. The ‘history’ is partly history in the ordinary sense af the word and partly myth and legend. All starements we make about the period from 1700 are historically true in the ordinary meaning of the term; ie. if we say ‘A wrote a letter to B’ this is truc in cxactly the same sense as if we said ‘Charles | was executed in January 1649", Statements made about the period before 1700 may or may not be ‘true’ in that systense bur they are all psychologically true; Le. they are what the psychologist C.G. Jung called ‘myths’, they represent truths that are deeply meaningful on an unconscious level, When, therefore, we refer to, for example ‘the Vault of Christian Rosenkreurz’ ir does not matter whether this Vault (or for that matter Christian Rosenkreutz himself) ever actually existed; on an archetypical level the Vault is a psychological fact, far more meaningful than, say, the life of George Washington. THE ORIGINS OF MAN AND THE LOST CONTINENT OF ATLANTIS Most occultists agree that the origins of mankind extend far back beyond the time limits accepted by exoteric science. They see the roots of human evolution as extending beyond the physical plane and argue that thase cultural developments which are seen by orthodox science as the beginning of man's rise from savagery were in reality the degenerate remnants of previous cultures. Ir is believed that each culture can be divided into three periods — a rise from barbarism, a period of static splendour, and a period of degeneracy and decline into further barbarism. ‘The culture immediately preceding ours was that of the island-continent of Adantis. In the period of its rise its culeure came from the so-called Scedbearers -— the perfected and highly- advanced souls who had evolved during the preceding culture32 THE HERMETIC TABLET of Lemuria — who were worshipped by the ordinary people of Atlantis as gods. According to occult legend the centre of Atlantis was a great Sun Temple situated by a great river its name has come down to us as Narudek) on the central island of Ruta. It was from this Temple that ral waves of emigration that came out of Atlantis before the final cataclysm sank it beneath the waves. It is to one or other of these emigrations that all existing occult traditions owe their ame the sp ers of three great ‘The first emigration took place at a period when Atlantean culture was particularly concerned with a) the emotional life and b) the magic of the lower astral plane. Shamanism, voodoo and the grosser forms of witchcraft all dervice from this emi ‘The second emigration occurred at a time when Atlantean thought was dominated by abstract intellectualism; it was from this wave of emigration that were derived the meditational disciplines of oriental oecultism. ‘The third and last wave of emigration combined elements of both the previous two waves; it contained magical, ceremonial elements but they were far more intellectualised — and on a far higher spiritual level — than in the first wave, Tt was from this intellectual Atlantean magic that was derived our own Western Esoteric Tradition — not directly but via Chaldea and Egypt. ration, WRITTEN WORK i) Give a brief outline of esoteric psychology in not more than fifteen lines ii) Give definitions of the following terms — not more than four or five words (at the most) for cach definition a) Yechidahy b) Ruach c) TsureSUMMER SOLSTICE acre 33 iii) Give a ten to fifteen line summary of the informat given in the historical part of the lesson. iv) Write three or four lines on a) myths and b) Adantis, LESSON THREE ‘The Texbook for the Course Until recently we used Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah as the textbook for this part of the Course. Recently, however, we have come to the conclusion that Dion Fortune's book (in many ways excellent) is likely to unduly bias our students in the direction of Ceremonial Magic; it is not that we are opposed to Ceremonial Magic as such, bur that we wish our students to attain a balanced occult development and, as a majority of them are already biased towards the magical path, ir is best that at this stage they should look at our Tradition from the point of view of the non-occultist. We are therefore now using the Rev, A.D. Duncan's The Christ, Psychotherapy and Magic as a text book, ‘The Rey, A.D, Duncan is a Church of England clergyman and his book gives a very fair outline of one school of modern occultism derived from the Golden Dawn — although, as students will realise as the course proceeds, his basic attitude is one of hostility to the occult tradfition. Theoretical Read two or three times Duncan's essay “Concerning Magic” (pages 45-51 of the textbook). It should be noted that Duncan's statement that Evelyn Underhill (whom he quotes at some length) was ‘not a magician’ is not entirely correct, for she had at one time been a member of the Holy Order of the Golden Dawn, a schismatic magical fraternity led by A.E. Waite deriving from the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Practical Continue diary and dream record. Historical The Western Esoteric Tradition consists of the sumce THE HERMETIC TABLET total of the occult/magical/mystical experiences of the peoples whose history has gone to make western civilisation, As explained in the last lesson its traditional origins are held to have been in the lost continent of Atlantis but forall practical purposes we can say thac the Western Tradition as we know it originated in the spiritual strivings of the peoples (Greeks, Egyptians, Chaldeans, Hebrews ete.) of the eastern Mediterranean in the period 1500 BC co 1000 AD, We do not mean by this that the beliefs of contemporary initiates are identical with those of the occultists of over a thousand years ago; we mean that the foundations of the Tradition as we know it were laid during that period. Particulalrly important in the development of our Tradition were the religious “Mysteries’ of Greece, the ‘Mysteries’ of Asia Minor (these strongly influenced the philosophical/mystical aspects of classical religion), the religion of ancient Egypt and the myst of the Hebrew peoples, ‘The Christian Gnosis (dealt with more fully ac a later stage of the Course) seems to have had its origins in the conversion to Christianity of Greek-speaking initiates of the Mystery cults of Alexandria; these initiates created a mystical version of Christianity (i.¢. the Christian Gnosis — Gnosis is a Greek word meaning ‘science’ or ‘knowledge’) which although from the fifth century onwards it forced into an underground existence by the persecutions to which it was subjected, exerted a powerful formative influence on the Western Esoteric Tradition, We know little of our Tradition during the Dark Ages; it seems probably that it was almost stamped our but survived (a) among certain gatherings (but by no meansall) of what was later called the witch cult, Students must noc take chis last mentioned statement as implying any connection between the $.H.S. (and/ ‘or the occult fraternity from which the 8.H.S. derives) and the present day ‘witches’ of the cult created by Gerald Gardner. The sole connection beeween these individuals and theSUMMER SOLSTICE acre 35 which we embody is that certain so-called witch covens have in the past obtained access to copies of our rituals and used inaccurate, debased and vulgarises versions of these as a basis for their own ceremonies. Written Work of Lesson Three 1) Give a brief summary (making quotations if wished) of Duncan's essay “Concerning Magic”. ‘This should not exceed 200-300 words. (2) Give a brief summary (100-150 words) of the historical part of this lesson. LESSON FOUR Theoretical Read two or three times “Bubble, Bubble, Tail and Trouble” (textbook pages 202-8). The student will find chat reference is made in the pages in question to the Sephiroth (singular, Sephirah); these are dealt with in subsequent lessons. Sullice it hete to say that they (the Sephiroth) are ten modes of classification used in our Tradition. Practical Cons we diary and dream record. Historical In the last lesson we refererred to the almost complete destriction of the Western esoteric Tradition during the Dark Ages. ‘There is some reason to think that during the thirteenth century the Tradition may have received a 1e-invigorating transfusion of traditional esoteric lore from the Knights Templar, Originally a crusading the militantly Catholic military Order the Templars appear to have come into contacting with surviving Gnostic and Jewish mystical teachings in the Lebabon and Palestine. Eventually such unorthodox conceptions attracted the attention of the Dominican inquisition to the Templars and after a period of persecution (1314-20) the Order was suppressed.36 THE HERMETIC TABLET Subsequently the Tradition was taught in an unorganised form by some of the alchemists of fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These were the spiritual alchemists and must be distinguished from those physical alchemists who were solely engaged in research designed to discover the ‘Philosophers’ Stone’ — supposed to turn base metals into gold. Written work 1, Summarise “Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble” 2, You have now read two essays by Duncan on magic. What do you think of his arritude towards occultism? 3. Givea brief (thirty words) summary of the historical part of this lesson. LESSON FIVE THEORETICAL Every esoteric wadicion, western or eastern, uses a system of classification. In our Western Tradition the mode of classification is thirty-two fold, being based on the numbers one to ten and the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The ten numbers are attributed to ten spheres (technically known as Sephiroth) and the twenty-two letters to pwenty-two "Paths" which connect the Sephiroth with one another, The whole form a symbolic pactern known as Ov Chiim, the Tree of Life, and a reproduction of ir will be found facing page 67 of the text book. At this stage of the Course we are particularly concerned with the Sephiroth and their basic correspondences. The names, God- Names (i.e. Divine Actributes) and physical world equivalents of the ten Sephiroth are as set out in the attached table. Historical In an earlier lesson we briefly referred co the Gnosis; in this lesson we examine it in more detail. Read Duncan's essay “Gnosis and Gnosticism” (textbook pages 15-27) two or three times, making brief notes.SUMMER SOLSTICE 2016 37 Historically, Duncan’ essay is accurate enough, although, of course, the S.HS. is not in agreement with his attitude towards Gnosticism —we do not think itsa sid business, but one of the spiritual glories of the westem world, Practical Since the beginning of the Course you have been keeping a dream record. Students of the S.H.S. are by no means the first people to have done this! In the ancient world the dreams of important personages were carefully noted and dream interpreration was a recognised part of the work of the initiated priesthoods (remember the Old Testament story of how Joseph became Pharaoh's favourite). More recently (with this century) J.W. Dunne recorded his dreams and on the basis of this examination of them evolved a new theory of time. The complexities of this theory (known as serialism) do not concern us here; for we are concerned only with the practical discovery on which he based his probably incorrect theory. Briefly, he found that upon analysis dream content resolved into elements from the past, present and future of the dreamer. Subsequent research by occultists have verified his results. So that you may yourself be empirically convinced of the existence of precog comment on analysis of your own dream record. jon as an element in dream life you must now (1) Obrain a large sheet of blank paper; (2) Dividk 0 five columns; (3) Head from left to right date, past, present, future, unclassified. (4) Examine the first weck only of your record; insert the date of the first dream analysed into column (1) and then analyse the dream into elements from the past, elements from the present (which in this connection means the month or so immediately38 THE HERMETIC TABLET preceding the dream), elements from the future (i.e, elements in the dream which have actually happened in the period between the dream and the analysis, and finally, elements in the dream which you are unable to classify into any of these categories. After you have thus analysed the first dream continue with subsequent dreams until you have completed a full week's analysis. At this stage of the Course you will find you have quite a lot of items in column (5) and (probably) very few in column (4). Further instructions on dream analysis will be given in the next lesson, ‘The commencement of dream analysis does not mean the abandonment of the current dream record; continue as before, to record each day's dreams in your Dream Book, Work on lesson five Learn by heart columns A and D of Table of Qabalistic Correspondences — and we mean by heart; these must be learnt so thoroughly that the number nine immediately suggests the Hebrew word Yesod and the English work Foundation, Written work Give a summary (200 to 400 words) of Duncan's essay “Gnosis and Gnosticism”. State whether or not you find his approach to Gnosticism pleases or displeases you — giving brief reasons for your attitude, Draw or trace the Sephiroth and Paths of the Tree of Life (from drawing facing P67 of texbook) but do not include the dotted Sephirah (Daath) which Duncan includes in his diagram. Instead of the Hebrew names of the Sephiroth insert the English from column D of the table. Give the number of entries in each of columns 2-5 of your m analysis (first week)SUMMER SOLSTICE ao16 39 TABLE OF CABALISTIC CORRESPONDENCES A NOTE ON PRONUNCIATION Kether= Kee-Thur Tiphereth = Tiff-er-eth40 THE HERMETIC TABLET Chokmah = Hook-Ma Newach = Net-Zak Binah = Bee-Nah Hod = Hodd Chesed = Hess-ed Yesod = Yay-sod Geburah = Gay-you-ta Malkuth = Mall-cooth LESSON SIX: ‘Theoretical/ Historical In the last lesson we took our first tentative steps in the study of the Qabalah. As the Course progresses our studies will deepen and expand, but at this stage it is well that the student should realise that ‘our’ Qubalistic system is by no means identical with the Qabalah of mediaeval Judaism, ‘The version of Qabalah taught by us is the Golden Dawn elopment of what is sometimes called the Christian Qabalah . the Qabalah derived by such seventeenth century scholars and mystics as Knorr von Rosenroth, Samuel Pordage and Jane Lead from the Jewish Qabalah. Ir is well thar the 5.H.S. studene should know something about the Hebrew (non-Golden Dawn) Qabalah so that he or she may realise how much (and in some ways how little) the Western Esoteric Tradition owes to Jewish mys Read two or three times (making notes) Duncan's essay “The Qabalah in Jewish Mysticism” on pages 28-43 of the text book. ‘The student should note that (a) this excellent essay is almost exclusively derived from Scholem’s “Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism” and (b) that the statements made about the authorship of the “Zohar” (see text book p38 para 1) are not beyond question — Scholem has argued powerfully but not conclusively, on this point and it may well be that de Leon was acompiler rather than an author. Practical: Analyse the second week of dream records in the same way as the first. Review analysis of firse week and see if the events of the last week have enabled you to transfer any items from column five co column four. deSUMMER SOLSTICE 2016 a Work on Lesson Six Learn by heart columns Band E of the Table of Qubalistic Correspondences included with Lesson Five, Written Work 1. Prepare a summary (400 to 1,000 words) of Duncan's essay “The Qabalah in Jewish Mysticism". You may include quotations if you wish. 2, Draw or trace the Tree of Life (from facing p67 of textbook) and place on each Sephirah (a) its Hebrew name (Kether ete.) and (b) its God-Name (from Column B of the Table) 3. (a) State number of i each of columns two o five of the second week's dream analysis. (b) Have you been uble to transfer any items from column five to column four of the first week's dream analysis? If yes (1) how many items so transterred and (2) give briefly any details you may think fit. LESSON SEVEN THEORETICAL: THE THREE PATHS One of the confusing things abour occultism is its terminology: it is not so much the unusual words that give trouble vo the beginner = new words and definitions can always be learnt = but the quite ordinary words thar are given a secondary, occult, technical meaning, Such a word is ‘path’, which we often use to signity the lines of force (the interconnections) between the Sephiroth on the ‘Tree of Life, In this lesson however, we are using the Path in another sense — one that has at least some relationship ro the ordinary everyday use of the word - as meaning the particular mode of development which the individual occultist chooses to use. Now there are many of these Paths (‘modes of develapment’) bur only three are in general use in the Western Esoteric Tradition.42 ‘THE HERMETIC TABLET ‘They are (a) the Pagan Path (b) the Mystical Path, and (c) the Hermetic Path (sometimes these referred to by colour sybolism, (a) being the Green Path, (b) the Purple Path and (c) the Orange Path, (a) The Pagan Path. ‘This is followed by those occultists who are inclined towards nature mysticism and the arts. “The symbolism used by those who follow this Path is drawn from folklore (in this country usually from Celtic but sometimes from Anglo-Saxon folk lore) and they attempt to ‘feel’ their way towards the Divine. Some of the more sane of the present day witch covens are on this Path; others are in contact with debased and evolutionary retrogressive aspects of it. (b) ‘The Mystical Path, (Here the word mystical is used in its devotional aspect.) Those who follow this Path seek to attain the Divine through Perfect Lave, They practice the higher states of prayer and the symbolism they use varies widely; one devotional mystic may use the symbols of Christ’s Passion, another those of some Sufi holy man, On its highest level (very rarely achieved) the Mystical Path gives the intuitive apprehension of subtle forces on their own level. (c) ‘The Hermetic Pah, This is the Path trodden by those who are initiates of the occult fraternity behind the $.H.S. and, as such, it is inevitably of great interest to $.H.S, students, The initiate of the Hermetic Path achieves understanding and union with the Divine Reality by training his True Self (Yechidah) to have power over the physical body and all the vehicles of consciousness (Lesson Two: Esoteric Psychology), We in the $.H.S, believe that the Hermetic Path alone is the Way of Completeness, for only by the linking up of the Mystical (superconscious’) contacts the Pagan (primitive, ‘subconscious) contacts through Hermetic Understanding (consciousness in the ordinary sense of the term) can ultimate spiritual liberation be attained, ‘This is not vo say chat there are not those on the Pagan and Mystical Paths who are at a very high stage of developmentSUMMER SOLSTICE 2016 43 = there are, but their development is one sided and at some stage or other they will have to retrace their steps and tread the Hermetic Path. More has been said than you think. We want you not only to comprehend the contents of this lesson intellectually, bur emotionally and intuitively, Please therefore read the preceding material before retiring to bed on at least three consecutive nights and go to sleep thinking of the teaching given. (Those of our students with a strong intellectual bias may think this request ‘silly’ or ‘superstitious’; we beg them to be, for once, ‘silly’, We have strong reasons for asking all students to do exactly as suggested.) Historical By the end of the fifteenth century the Western Tradition was in a state of fragmentation and decay. It survived only (a) among certain alchemists (b) among certain mystics and (c) (in a grossly debased form) among Ceremonial M who had access to a degenerate version of Qabalistic magic. It was at this stage that the Secret Chicts (sec Lesson One) released the current of spiritual renewal thar was later personified as Christian Rosenkreutz (there may have been a real Christian Rosenkreurz, a highly evolved individual to whom this spiritual current was temporarily incarnated — but little can be known about this save through intuition and advanced clairvoyanr investigation). This spiritual current (a) smashed the temporal power of the Roman Church in North West Europe (b) led to that partial revelation of the Tradition associated with such names as Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, Giordano Bruno and (most import of all) Dr. John Dee, and (c) laid the foundations of the occult revival that began carly in the nineteenth century, took root in 1887 and is today beginning the lengthy task of regencration this planet. (Item (c) will be expanded upon and dealt with in considerable detail in later lessens.)44 THE HERMETIC TABLET Practical; Analyse Dream Record for third week in the same way as before. Revise analysis of weeks One and Two, transferring items from Column 5 to Column 4 where possible, Work for Lesson Seven Learn by heart the information given in Column C of the table issued with Lesson Five, Written Work (1) Draw (or trace) the Tree of Life as before and write upon the Sephiroth the information given in Column C of the table. (2) Write brief notes upon cach of the Three Paths (about 20 words for each Path), (3) Do you feel che Hermetic Path is for you? Or do you feel one of the other Paths would better suit your temperament? Give brief reasons for your answer (the reasons may be emotional rather than intellectual) (4) If for some reason the Hermetic Path was not open to you which of the other Paths would you choose to follow? Give reason (if any). (5) If you retired to sleep for at least three nights thinking of the ‘Three Paths did you, on any of the nights in question, have a dream that may have had a particular occult/mystical signification? (Answer Yes or No) (6) (Answering this question is optional) IF answer to 5 is yes, please give brief details, (7) Give details of columns 2-5 of Dream Analysis (and any transfers) as with Lesson Six, LESSON EIGHT FIRST REVISION LESSON (There are two others at later stages of Part One of the Course). Re-read all parts of Lessons One to Seven except for Regardic’s “Roll away the Stone”, Re-read text book pages 15-51 and 202-SUMMER SOLSTICE ao16 45 Sf Practical Carry out another week's dream analysis but do not send details in with this lesson, Written Work Do the following work without consulting the text book or previous lessons. 1, Write a brief outline (200-600 words) of the history of the Western Tradition from Atlantis to the sixteenth century. Omit any reference to the Qabalah, 2, Write fifty to one hundred words on each of the following: (a) the Hermetic Path (b) Occult Fraternities. 3. Wrire 500-600 words on the Qabalah in Jewish mysticism, 4. Draw the Tree of Life from memory and write upon the Sephiroth (a) their Hebrew names and (b) their English names. Finally, let us emphasis that our purpose in giving you this test is not to penalise or ‘catch you out’ in some way but to find out which are your weakest points so that special attention may be given to these in tutorial comments on later lessons. If you are particularly weak in some aspect of the work, supplementary papers will be issued to you. LESSON NINE In previous lessons we have looked at Duncan's essays on magic. His approach is an interesting one but is not that of the $.H.S. We principally object to Duncan's tendency to mythologise the magical process, to reduce it to a branch of psycho-therapeutics. Tris nor that we deny that occult techniques havea therapeutic value — but we insist thar they are very much more than this. In fairness to Duncan it must be said that he derives, in our view, mistaken interpretation of the tradition from the excessively CG, Jung influenced group associated with Basil46 ‘THE HERMETIC TABLET Wilby (Gareth Knight), Hall, Butler and che Helios Book Service. This group, in its turn has derived its overly psychological approach from (a) the later writings of Dion Fortune and Israel Regardie and (b) the Sociery of the Inner Light. Our own approach to magic is more nearly expressed by the following paper written, over sixty years. ago, by Herbert Burrows, an initiate of the Srella Matutina, one of the occult fraternities from whom we derive. ‘The paper was originally delivered as a lecture to the all-male membership of an inner group of the (Masonic) Rosicrucian Society of England. Tt must be read with this in mind. ie ts certain that we should none of us be members of this Society af the Rose and Cross unless we held firmly ta the belief in man as a spiritual being, There is no room in our ranks for the muterialist as such, for him whose beliefs are merely of the earth earthy or whose vision is founded by the facts of physical birth and death, Bur more than this, As in Craft Masonry, so much more with ws, dn the Craft we are pledged to a belief, a broad belief in an illimitable universe, nor merely of matter, but of spirit — in the Rosierucian Soctety it is of the very essence of our membership that we ditigently apply ourselves ro the study of the hidden mysteries of nature and science in their spiritual aspect, that we continually. seareh for the Theosophia, the Divine Wisdom, that, in short we study Magic und strive to become true Magicians, What then is Magic, and who are the Magicians? Let us first go the dictionary, Magic is ‘the art or pretended art of putting in action the power of spirits; the science or art of producing preternatural effects by theSUMMER SOLSTICE ao1é medium of supernatural means, or the aid of departed spirits, or the occult powers of nature; sorcery, enchantment, witeherafi.” As a rough very superficial definition that will suffice Jor the moment, and in the main, it is the definition which offhand nine out of ten people would give, The only glimpse in it of something deeper is the reference to the occult powers of nature, There ts, too, the hint of black magic, Jt would be quite unpardonable in me to attempt for a moment to criticise any of my fellow Masons, least of all my fellow-members in the Rosy Cross, but I think I shall enunciate nothing more than a truism when I say that possibly to the majority af Masons, the dictionary definition of Magic is quite sufficient, They have a vague sort of feeling that there may be something in it, that there may be mysteries in the spiritual universe which are entirely beyond their ken, but they trouble but little about them. ‘The exigencies of earthly existence, af everyday material life, of the five sense universe as they know it are too great and too pressing to allow of much attention being paid to other things. Knowing human nature as we do, 1 do not think this is an unfair statement of the case. Men are mostly chary about even appearing to take interest in what is roughly called the supernatural, not so much from an active disbelief in it, as fiom the way it is commonly presented to them, from the nonsense and fraud which are often connected its alleged manifestations and above all, from fear of the vidictele of their fellow men. People will often profess to disbelieve what is an almost patent occult fact rather than run the visk of appearing credulous in the eyes of other human being, And sometimes this is not an unbealthy frame of mind, inasmuch as it prevents 4748 ‘THE HERMETIC TABLET credulity from being run to excess. On the other hand, if too much accentuated this mental attituele bars the gate to spiritual knowledge, Now it is almost a truism to say that in all ages of the warld, in all countries, among all peoples, from the most savage or primitive to the most highly cultured and developed, there has been a strong belief in what is roughly called magic, using the dictionary definition. In these fatter days the millions of believers in what is known as spiritualism, with all its various branches, are a proof of what I say, But it needs ne proof, Wherever there bas been a religion, and that is everywhere and everywhen, there has been the accompaniment of a belief in magic and supernaturalism, The existence of such a belief in itself of course proves nothing to the actual fact, but it does afford @ strong presumption, and this from the evolutionary point of view, Dr, Samuel Johnson's argument for ghosts, because of the universal belief in them, has been sneered at by scientific men, but although not complete, his argument was excellent as far as it went, and quite in accord with the evolutionary position, I know no instance in history where a lie without the smallest basis in fact, has been universally believed — believed in all ages, in all countries, éy all peoples, by savages and sages, from the earliest down to the latest times, from Iceland to Australia, from America to China, from india to New Zealand, fiom frozen Siberia to sunny Spain. In some shape or form mankind has always had a practically universal belief, sometimes hidden, but still underlying, in the supernatural and the magical. Take ane instance only, the Bible, Fram beginning to end, from Genesis to the Revelation, it is saturated with the belief: ‘To quate exact words — “Witches, enchantments, familiar spirits, wizards, divinations, charmer, necromancers,SUMMER SOLSTICE ao16 sorcerers, Soothsayers, astrologers, stargazers, monthly prognosticators, magicians,” Of all of these the Bible is full. As an evolutionist, believing in cause and effect, I refice to believe thit the literature of a whole people, stretching over thousands of years, was in this respect based upon a huge mistake, ast likewise refuse to believe with regard to other parts of that literature. 1 apply the same canons of reason to it all, ane those eatnans af reasons are theses That there was a substratum of fact to account for the universal belief, just as in mediaeval times there was a stebsiratim of fact to account for the belief in witchenift, although the explanation for witchcraft was aften wrong. But let me not be mistaken, 1am nor pleading thar all the beliefs which have been held by mankind with regard to supermatunatiser ancl magic dave been true, Far from it, in perhaps the great majority of instances those belicfi have been as fitr from the real truth, ont the one side, as crass materialism has been on the other All am contending is that belind all the nulger beliefi of ordinary mankind, beliefi which have often been debased, distorted, ana misused, chere has always been a genuine body af spiritual wath, and that if this hae not been so the distorted belief would never have arisen. They are but shadows of the wal truths in the backgrovnd. Those truths are the real universality. without which the distortions would have been non-existent, If there jud never been any real five paund notes there would never have been any forgedl anes, Thus it is nar the distortions (which have always varied) that the occult student has ta consider, These are but temporary according to time, circumstance, and place, and are mastly attempted mistaken explanations af a hidden truth, It is the hidden truth itself'ta which attention must always be directed, As F said at the beginning, by the very nature of the ease oh]50 ‘THE HERMETIC TABLET we, as Rosicructans, are bound ta betteve in the essentials of that great truth, in the spirituality of man and in the universe as in itself spiritual in-its essence, Otherwise our place would be with the matertalists, But it does not Solow that because we adbere to that general preposition we therefore believe in magic, ediber White or Black. To go now behind the superficial dictionary definition, true magic ts the practical definite application, from the spiritual standpoint, of the general spiritual crush, But that does not mean that every spiritually minded mean isa magician, Nay, The true magicians in this sense ave few and far between, for true spiritual magic requires it life long study and devotion, of which few are willing or capable, Magic, in its broadest sense, may be viewed from two standpoints: (a) the physical: (b) the spiritual, Ta speak of physteal magic in any connection with spirituality means, f know, to be highly parcdoxical, but they ave intimately connected. — The physical is the lower, the spiritual és infinitely the higher, Yer in all magic schools, ancient and modern, the two, up to a certain point, run together. [ am not referring just now to the physical training of the would be magician, the neophyte, which must be right and severe, Purity, chastity, calin, temperance of body and mind, ave the first essentials, Without these na real effect will ever be attained. When that excential physical training has been learned. appreclated, assimilated and acted on, the first stages of what the Indians call Yoga, will be open to the initiate. Little by little, after many severe trials, he will be trained by his teacher to gain peronal control over the subrler physical forces af nature, and to manipulate some af these at will This is the explanation of most af the magical stovies of the centuries, Hypnotism is, of course, a