There is one branch of yoga which should be of great interest to us: Raja Yoga - or, in English, mental
concentration and development exercises. Let me point out that I am not advocating mantra chanting or octopus-
like body postures. What I am advocating is a series of exercises designed to concentrate the normal mental
“flashlight beam” until it has the strength and brilliance of a laser.
The assimilation of these techniques from the East need not include any of the [falsely] related philosophy. If
the Red Chinese developed a new weapon, it would be insane for us to refuse to develop our own version of it
because the original was “contaminated” by “Mao is god” propaganda.
For several years I myself have used mental concentration exercises and found them extremely helpful in
achieving more intense levels of concentration and visualization in the ritual chamber. It seems logical to me that if
one thoroughly practices his magical “scales”, he will be more able to play a magical “symphony” at a later date. For
this reason I would like to bring these techniques to the attention of the Temple membership, and to present brief
instructions and hints for those who are interested.
So, assuming that one is interested in developing a Setian set (!) of concentration exercises, how does he go
about it?
Firstly particular areas of weakness should be ascertained. Can you blank your mind at will? Can you retain a
clear visual image for a few minutes? But whatever you do, don’t just assume you can. Try it and see. If you don’t
like what you find when you test yourself, here is an outline for a series of exercises:
(1) Learn to be fully conscious of what you are thinking and doing, when you wish to be conscious of it.
(2) Next sit quietly and watch the flow of thoughts through your mind, trying at all times to be fully aware of
what you are thinking. The goal of both of the above exercises is to ensure your awareness of your own mental and
physical functions: to ensure that you do not get carried away by a thought which you do not intend to think.
(3) Having mastered watching the flow of your thoughts, learn to stop your mind upon a particular thought at
will and follow it with full intent. This exercise is mastered if, when desired, you can follow one particular thought
for ten minutes with no extraneous thought intruding.
(4) Learn to reject all thoughts and to blank your mind. This is perhaps the most difficult of the exercises listed
so far and will not be quickly mastered, but it is essential to clear image formation. Let me draw an analogy. If one
wishes to draw a picture upon a blackboard, he must first erase that blackboard. Once you can erase your
blackboard, the time for drawing begins.
(5) Learn to visualize things, people, places, and scenes “as clearly as if you were there”. You should start at the
bottom and work up. Begin visualizing spoons, matches, and so forth, moving on later to people and other large
objects. When you can retain a clear image for a few minutes, you have mastered this exercise.
Let me point out that these exercises are work: they are not “fun” to do. Just like the countless hours of practice
required to be proficient in the martial arts, concentration exercises require tenacity, will, and a firm desire to
increase one’s magical abilities.
I strongly recommend the mental [and these only!] development exercises in the first three steps of Franz
Bardon’s Initiation into Hermetics. Bardon was, as I have remarked before, exceedingly “white” and - most any
psychiatrist would judge - insane. His works must be approached by the Black Magician with extreme care for these
reasons. The book is fun to read in English because of the oft-times ludicrous translation from the German.
Also worth having is Christmas Humphreys’ Concentration and Meditation. Humphreys was a Buddhist and
this distasteful philosophy contaminates the whole work, yet there are many worthwhile hints in it.
I have presented the basics here. If you are interested, the way is open to you. As usual, any questions or
comments are welcome, and I will answer them as soon as I can.
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A18: Austin Osman Spare: For Those Artistically Minded
- by Leon Marvell I°
Scroll of Set #I-10, June 1976
Imagine a canvas upon which strange faces appear from within storms of vibrant color. Around these
mysterious visages swirl twisted limbs and grotesque exaggerations of the human form. Perhaps the shapes within
are human, perhaps not; one is never sure. The painting might be called erotic, certainly it is unnerving in an
indefinable way, and to the unaware it might be classified in dualistic moral terms as “evil.”
The painting I have just described is a work by Austin Osman Spare. It is one of many on similar themes and
executed for a singular purpose: It is a work in the magical system of a sorcerer who has only very recently received
any attention in occult circles.
The son of a City of London policeman, Spare was born at midnight on the last day of 1888. He showed
exceptional artistic ability when very young, and in his early teens won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art. The
great painter John Singer Sargent hailed Spare as a “genius”. Spare was not yet 19 years old.
In the early 1930s Professor Mario Praz in his The Romantic Agony described Austin Spare as a “Satanic
occultist”. An impressive title, and Spare was an impressive man.
He was a powerful mystic, having a strong romantic streak as all true sorcerers must have - that refusal to take
things at face value, the sense of meaning and purpose. He claimed to be a reincarnation of William Blake and was,
perhaps, considerably influenced by his predecessor [although his work, if it resembled any other artist at all,
reminds me much more of Hieronymous Bosch].
Spare claimed that at a very early age he was befriended by a “Mrs. Peterson” who was a witch and initiated him
into the secrets of magic. From this moment onwards, until he died the death of the poverty-stricken in 1956, Spare
never ceased to be wholly devoted to the Black Arts.
He was for a short time a member of Crowley’s Order of the A.'.A.'. However he broke with Crowley, possibly
because of a personality clash, but most probably because he disapproved of Crowley’s “Hermeticism” and
Cabalism. Spare was already developing an intensely powerful and individual system of his own that rejected all
time-honored “Rosicrucian” traditions and, in preference, utilized the ideas of Freud and Jung. [I am not sure of the
Jungian influence; however, it would have lent support to his ideas of atavisms - the archetypes of the collective
unconscious.] Crowley later reproduced some of Spare’s drawings in The Equinox and his Manual of Geomancy.
Spare’s magical system evolved through his first important work, The Book of Pleasure (Self-Love), published
privately in 1913, and later in The Focus of Life. Two concepts were basic to his philosophy: those of Zos and Kia.
Zos was the self considered as a whole - that is, the entire life of an individual, a succession of existences or
atavisms, many of them bestial and some possibly super-human. [For those Setians who find the idea of
reincarnation unacceptable, consider Kenneth Grant’s proposition that memories of past stages in the evolutionary
cycle could be imprinted in the D.N.A. code.]
Kia was the primal force behind the Universe [like the Black Magical concept of the “ordering” force]
: a dynamic
- as opposed to static - energy ... like electricity except incalculably more subtle and powerful. Later in his life he
considered Kia to be primarily sexual in nature. In this he resembled Reich with his “bion” and “orgone” energy. He
used several forms of sex-magic to arouse concentrated Kia - the medium of his magic. The Setian will recognize the
parallel of this idea with that of the Tantric “Kundalini”.
Much later in his life, during his “Zos Kia Cultus” period, Spare, by some metaphysical juggling, identified Kia
with the energy that is synonymous with the autonomous self ( Zos).
His most important magical contribution is his concept of “Sigilization”. Its process is basically as follows: He
would define his desire in a clear, direct written form, i.e. “This is my wish [he always included this prologue;
possibly it was an unwillingness to disregard all magical tradition; that is, the preliminary “invocation” or
“statement of dedication”]: to obtain the strength of tigers.” He would then sigilize each phrase using the individual
letters (and not repeating them). Then he would combine the sigils and simplify them again.
The use of the final sigil consisted of impressing its image on the subconscious mind and then purposely
“forgetting” it - the idea being that the subconscious was the source of all magical power ( Kia) and that the
subconscious would recognize the hidden meaning of the glyph (which the conscious mind had “forgotten”) and
fulfill the desire. The crux of the operation, of course, was the conscious dismissal of the significance of the symbol.
To impress the sigil on the deeper mind, Spare used techniques of intense concentration, visualizing just the image
of the sigil, and several forms of sex-magic [when the ego is “destroyed”].
Another magical practice was the design of practical stelæ. Here Spare would design a stela which had a
traceable path throughout the surface, containing, between twisting linkages of line, god-forms [of many cultures,
including some of unknown origin], atavistic forms, personal sigils, and esoteric glyphs, all in a continuous line - his
pencil never left the surface - and ending [or beginning: his stelæ and literary works relied on the nonlinear concept
of Time] like two ends of unknotted string or concluding in some sigil, acting as a “doorway”.
These stelæ and his paintings were magical operations intended to effect “atavistic resurgence”. Spare
accomplished much of his magic through the help of “familiars” which he conceived as being forces within the
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psyche that were memories of bestial and other incarnations. These atavisms were superior to his conscious ego
and, for a specific purpose and time, possessed him.
His stelæ and drawings show considerable Egyptian influence. In one particular work, the “Forces of the Sigils”,
the image of Set is clearly defined. Spare’s experiments with “atavistic resurgence” probably inclined him to believe
that he had discovered the true significance behind bestial-attributed Egyptian gods. It is interesting to note that the
ancient Greeks, who had no definite magical tradition [except one, but more of that in a later article!] considered
their gods in completely anthropomorphic forms.
Utilizing his stelæ and a sensory deprival technique he called the “Death Posture” Spare often retired into his
sub-conscious mind where he claimed he saw “sidereal perspectives” and strange geometries and landscapes. He
despaired that he could never faithfully reproduce these visions, however, the alert observer can see these strange
shapes (trapezoids, pyramids and unusual quadrilaterals and planes) lurking behind the main forms in any given
work of his.
He incorporated his intensely individual system into the “witch-cult”, and I mean “Wicca” as created by Gerald
Gardner. In its time, as one can readily imagine, Gardner’s revealing of the “witch-cult” caused quite a romantic
flutter of the heart to those occult dilettantes who had always dreamt of becoming involved with some ancient and
powerful magic cultus. Everybody was in on the act, not the least being Crowley, who wrote all the “original” Wiccan
rituals for an appreciable fee. Spare was also influenced by this innovation, and up until the end of his life he
apparently had some influence in Wiccan circles.
Kenneth Grant, perhaps Spare’s closest friend, describes his involvement with both Grant’s “New Isis Lodge”
and Gardner’s “Coven” as an outside specialist. Both Gardner and Grant relied on his advice and the efficacy of his
talismans/sigils.
Through his involvement with the English witch-cult, Spare developed his “Zos Kia Cultus”. He elucidated his
concept of the witch-cult in his unpublished manuscript “The Zoetic Grimoire of Zos” (1950-1956). His concept of
the “primal woman” receives much emphasis. However I believe that the Black Magician of the Temple of Set should
not overlook his ideas because they evoke the repugnant memory of the present-day Neopagans. Rather consider
that the Hindu Tantrics conceived of Kundalith as being feminine (mysterious?) in nature, although they considered
the energy as being created from two opposing forces, positive and negative, male and female: Ida and Pingala.
In his strange cult Spare advanced the discovery and practice of a “primeval sexualism” (something to do with
Kia) and the realization of ancient desires (atavisms) which would eventually produce a “whole” self.
I have written this introduction into the methods and influence of Spare because I believe his system is worth
further investigation by the Setian. His sigilization technique has worked extremely well for me, and I also believe
that the alert Setian will discover some “Setian” implications within his philosophy.
For Further Reading
Kenneth Grant, The Magical Revival and, to a lesser extent, Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God.
Nevill Drury and Stephen Skinner, The Search for Abraxas.
Man, Myth and Magic, Volumes #2 and #3 under “Atavisms” and “Austin Osman Spare” respectively.
The Book of Pleasure was republished in 1974 C.E. by Gilded Quill Bookshoppe, 39 Patio de Leon, Ft.
Myers, Florida.
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A19: How Bubastis Pylon Got its Name
- by Margaret Wendall IV°
Scroll of Set #I-12, August 1976
[reprinted from The Magic Cat #IV-4, June 1976, Bubastis Pylon]
The city of Bubastis (the Greek word for Pa-Bast) was an important city in ancient Egypt. Not only was it the site
of worship of one of the Egyptians’ favorite goddesses, it was the capital of Nome XVIll (Am-Khent)124 on the
Eastern Nile Delta, near the modern Tell Basta and the city of Zazagig. Some writers have indicated that the first
“Suez Canal” ran from Bubastis to the Red Sea.
The city’s chief goddess was, of course, the cat Bast, but other gods and goddesses were also honored: Wadjet,
Harakhti, and Atum (the gods of Heliopolis); Atum-Ra’s son, Shu; and from the time of Rameses III, Set and Ptah.
Bast is often confused with Sekhmet; in fact, because both are feline, some authors will tell you they are the same
goddess, although to Egyptians they represented separate concepts. For example, Sekhmet was the patroness of
physicians, while Bast was the special goddess of women, and in many respects her worship parallels Catholic
worship of Mary. Yet Bast is an evolutionary descendant of Sekhmet, much the same as our domestic cat
may be a
descendant of the lion.
We meet Sekhmet long before we find Bast in a land where the Sun can kill as well as give life, and where the
Sun is both revered and respected. Ptah, the creator-god of Memphis, was represented both as a bull and the Sun.
Sekhmet was Ptah’s consort and represented the Sun’s violent and destructive heat.
When the seat of power moved from Memphis to Thebes, Sekhmet followed. The Sun becomes Amon-Ra.
Sekhmet waited each day to kill Apep, the great serpent who threatened to destroy Amon-Ra at sunset, the end of
his daily journey across the sky. As the “Eye of Ra”, Sekhmet spotted Apep, killed him, and saved the Sun, without
whom all life would cease. The transition from Sekhmet to Bast had begun.
The original Bast was possibly a “caffre cat”, which is similar to today’s Abyssinian, except that instead of having
ticked fur it was more tabby. Caffre cats apparently abounded in northern Egypt are are presumed by some to be the
ancestors of all our domesticated cats.
The caffre cats lived in the Nile delta and helped to rid the area of snakes and vermin. All cats are independent
by nature, but because rats and mice are more plentiful near human habitation where grain is stored than in the
desert, cats quite literally moved in with the Egyptians. There was almost a symbiotic relationship between man and
cat; neither could have lived quite as well without the other. The cats moved into the cool temples, and it wasn’t long
before temples were built in their honor.
In Bubastis the “Eye of Ra” and slayer of Apep became the popular snake-killing, caffre cat goddess Bast. In
time this purring domestic cat almost relegated the lioness to oblivion in northern Egypt, but such are the ways of
cats.Whereas Sekhmet had represented the heat of the desert Sun and vengeance long before she became the
patroness of healing, Bast always represented life and the gentle heat of the Sun. She is called the “Lady of Life”, and
one invocation to her asks that she grant “life, power, health, and joy of heart”.
Egyptian women wore Bast amulets with kittens to represent the number of children they wanted. Every
domestic cat was considered to be the same cat, Bast, and it was a capital offense to kill one. It apparently wasn’t a
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