Initiation and the books of wisdom

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In the language of ancient Egypt, Franz Bardon refers to 22 tarot cards of the major arcana as representing the 22 books or pillars of wisdom.

The first book is initiation, the second evocation and communion with spiritual beings, the third is the language of creation ('in the beginning was the word'). In the occult novel Frabato is described how the adept that lived in and as Franz Bardon would have received the mission to disclose the first four, and only the front cover of the fifth.

The three first books have been published as

The fourth book was supposed to be on Alchemy.

See also: More sources on the topic of initiation and magic

Illustrations

Lecture coverage and references

Practice of Magical Evocation (PME) - second book by Franz Bardon, second tarot card on Ceremonial magic

1923-12-21-GA323 on Mystery School tradition talks about the evocation of the kabiri in the Samothracian Mysteries.

The same is also stated in 1922-12-04-GA218: a picture of the godhead appeared in the sacrificial smoke.

1924-08-18-GA243 talks about the use of the emanations of Man, see also Spectrum of elements and ethers, and the following extract fits into a description of these seven

the above fitting into a lecture on the seven emanations:

  1. Movements emanating from men (mediumistic power)
  2. Skin emanations of the fluid element (materialization)
  3. Skin emanations of the air element (manifestation of the phantom)
  4. Warmth emanation.
  5. Light emanation.
  6. Emanation of chemical forces (black magic).
  7. Life emanation (Michael: Sun, Gabriel: Moon, Raphael: Mercury)

and how these can be as part of one's development, with reference to old magical grimoires (limited extract here)

.. Fourthly, these beings are receptive to warmth emanations. All these things in so far as they exist on Earth have special significance for these Moon beings. Man is judged by the configuration of his movements in writing and by the particular nature of his emanations.

The next emanation is the ever-present light emanation. In every individual, not only the aura, but also the physical and etheric bodies radiate light. Under ordinary conditions these radiations are so dim as to be invisible, but their existence has recently been demonstrated by Moriz Benedikt in a specially constructed dark room. He showed that the physical body is surrounded by a subtle aura of red, yellow and blue light emanations which vary at different places round the body. Moriz Benedikt tells us how he demonstrated the coloured aura. He showed the left side of the body under normal conditions of light and the other side under conditions that revealed the aura. Everything depends upon establishing the proper experimental conditions.

...

.. natural science has recently developed a technique which can demonstrate in a dark room certain light radiations and warmth emanations. In this respect the experiments of Moriz Benedikt are most illuminating.

But it has always been the case, and it is still true today, that only those can utilize effectively warmth and light emanations who undertake the preliminary steps which not only involve manipulating the physical world through black magic, but also include the production of hallucinogenic effects by means of special incense-burning and aromas, and the preparation of specific concoctions [editor: a mixture of various ingredients or elements], and so forth.

This is the origin of all those magical practices which are fully described in the old books of magic. The purpose of these magical ceremonies is to evoke the forces inherent in the light and warmth emanations of man.

Discussion

In the book 'The Adept Magician' by Marten Crawford, the central character in the book tells about his lifelong dedication to the great work and the three books of Franz Bardon. The section about his path of training on the third book is information rarely or not available anywhere else. He does point to the fact that anyone who is advanced in mastering the two and three letter combinations of that book becomes visible in the sphere of the greater community of the White Lodge.

Related pages

References and further reading