The Middle Pillar

by Israel Regardie

  When this visualization is complete, imagine that the surrounding atmosphere is able to easily penetrate your body, as if the air itself flowed right through the pores and holes of your body. The air saturates you, entering into every pore. Imagine that when you inhale, the air enters your body through the bottoms of your feet; when you exhale, the air leaves your porous body from the top of your head. Experiment with similar visualizations, pushing the inhalations and exhalations of air through your body in various directions.

  A relationship exists between the elements of air and spirit. Therefore imagine that the air cascading through your body is the air of the divine spirit—the Ruach Elohim. It exists everywhere, surrounding you on all sides—omnipotent and infinite. This spirit is without limitation or opposition. It is eternal truth, wisdom, and love. It is light and life. This is what you should imagine flowing freely through every pore of your body and mind.

  Regular practice of this exercise is designed to bring the student to a high level of divine consciousness. Every aspect of mystical experience and knowledge may be brought fully into play during this meditation. Although it is an extension of the aspirant’s earlier work, this meditation is designed to bring about a true realization concerning the infinity of the eternal spirit and the complete fulfillment of the divine within.

  Many of these exercises require that the student lie on the floor to get the maximum benefit. However, as one relaxes and lets go of all tension, there is always the possibility of falling asleep. This is not a problem and with practice it will pass. Eventually the student will be able to separate mental consciousness from body consciousness. The body will be completely relaxed, while the mind remains active and alert.

  ADDITIONAL EXERCISES

  Finding the Right Position

  There may be times when the student will want to be seated for meditation and visualization work. A number of different postures may be used by the student for this purpose.

  Eastern Pose

  For this pose you will need a pillow, cushion, or folded blanket on the floor. Seat yourself on the front edge of the pillow. (This will help slant the hips forward and support the lower back.) Bend your legs so that you are sitting cross-legged with the left foot under the right thigh and the right foot under the left thigh. Keep your knees level and your spine straight. Rest your hands palms downward on your knees and keep your elbows relaxed. Close your eyes and breathe rhythmically. The main meditation may now commence.

  Western Pose

  For this pose you will need a chair and a small cushion. Be seated on the front half of the chair with the spine well away from the back of the chair. With the cushion under your feet, be sure that the lower part of your legs forms a ninety-degree angle to your thighs, which may be together or separated slightly. Rest your hands palms downward on your knees and keep the elbows relaxed. The spine should be kept straight. Close your eyes and breathe rhythmically. The main meditation can now begin.

  MIND AWARENESS EXERCISE

  Once the student has gained some experience with the techniques of relaxation, he or she is encouraged to raise the level of awareness from the body to the mind. The exercise employed for this purpose is a form of “free association” used by psychotherapists. It is performed by simply letting the mind wander as it may without obstruction.

  Set a predetermined amount of time for the session beforehand and use an alarm clock or timer. (Twenty minutes or half an hour is appropriate.) At the end of the practice, stop immediately so that discipline is maintained.

  Sit comfortably in one of the positions mentioned above. A tape recorder should be set up ahead of time to record the entire session.

  As you sit, calmly articulate any thought, idea, memory, or feeling that happens to arise, into the microphone. Speak indiscriminately, without planning what to say next. At the end of the session, play back what has been recorded.

  This practice will give the student a good idea of the hidden contents within the psyche. Some of it may seem shocking to the student who has not always been mentally “honest” with him or herself. The student may experience the opening of a floodgate of pent-up feelings or thoughts that have been censored for years. However, the simple act of becoming aware of these hidden thoughts is part of the process of being able to come to terms with them. The mental pressure and inner conflicts caused by these repressed thoughts will eventually dissipate along with the number of “breaks” in concentration.

  This method of mind awareness should at least be practiced until the shock and anxiety usually encountered by the recognition of one’s disturbing thoughts has vanished completely. What is most important about this exercise is that there should be no criticism, judgment or self-loathing concerning anything that might come up during the session. Your thoughts are a part of you, just like your arm or your leg. They are simply childlike parts of yourself that need training. With time and discipline, the energies of these juvenile portions of the psyche can be directed toward higher pursuits.

  DEVELOPMENT OF THE WILL EXERCISE

  The development of the will is one of the most important tasks faced by the student. It is a principal factor in the attainment of spiritual progress.

  A practical and most effective method for training the will is to consciously set up specific goals for a predetermined period of time, and if diverted from keeping these goals, to withhold something that gives enjoyment. This method is based on a type of behavior modification therapy. Keep in mind that there is nothing moralistic in this procedure. The student who undertakes this practice is not “avoiding (bad) vices in favor of (good) virtues.”

  The point is to strengthen the will, which in and of itself is neither good nor bad. This exercise is a disciplinary vow that a certain habitual action will be denied by the aspirant. In order to perform this technique properly, the student should deliberately set a goal which is not in any way connected with a “bad” habit, such as smoking, swearing, or drinking. An impersonal and guilt-free attitude of detachment should be maintained. The aspirant should select a personal idiosyncrasy such as tapping the foot to music, saying a certain word, or crossing the legs when sitting. This will help ensure that the student does not make a senseless virtue out of what is merely designed as a discipline exercise.

  One of the most effective ways to reinforce the will is to dispense a mild electric shock. (One can usually find a small device which will deliver a slight shock in any store that sells supplies for stage magic.) The shock is very light, but can be quite surprising. If this device is employed immediately following the broken vow, a mental connection is made which will become a fixed and potent reminder that sets up a continual alertness on the part of the will. By doing this the student will reinforce the connection between the unwanted action and the electric shock. It is important to carry the device with you at all times so that the disciplinary action can be delivered immediately after the transgression. It is through this discipline that the will obtains its training and effectiveness. All violations of the oath should be rapidly “punished” in order to make an enduring impression on the student’s mind. This can be done either by administering a light shock as described above, or by denying oneself something that is pleasurable.

  This technique accomplishes two things. First, a constant vigilance is established which generates a potent will power. Second, the mind itself is placed gradually under the control of the aspirant’s will. This in turn helps the student’s faculty of concentration immensely.

  THE RITE OF ELEMENTAL EQUILIBRATION

  One of the goals of magical work is to bring to the student an awareness of the inner elemental make-up of his or her psyche. This awareness also includes the ability to experience the elements5 and balance them in equal portion within the mind.

  It is vitally important that all magical students be able to consciously equilibrate the psychic elements. The simple rite of the Qabalistic Cross is very useful for this purpose, however, we also suggest that the student perform
the following Rite of Elemental Equilibration to actively combat any elemental imbalances that may occur during the transformative process of self-development. This is a ritual that should be performed regularly.

  Stand facing the east and perform the four-fold breath a number of times until you feel relaxed. Imagine a brilliant light above your head. Reach up with your right hand as if to touch this light and bring the light down to your forehead. Imagine the yellow triangle of air superimposed over the upper part of your body. Vibrate “SHADDAI EL CHAI” (Shah-dye El Chai).

  Then picture the black triangle of earth covering the lower portion of your body. Bring your hand down as if pointing to the ground and vibrate “ADONAI HA-ARETZ” (Ah-doh-nye ha-Ah-retz).

  Visualize the red triangle of fire superimposed over the right side of your body. Touch your right shoulder and intone “YHVH TZABAOTH” (Yode-Heh-Vav-Heh Tzah-bah-oth). Δ

  Imagine the blue triangle of water covering the left side of your body. Touch your left shoulder and intone “ELOHIM TZABAOTH” (El-oh-heem Tzah-bah-oth).∇

  Bring both hands together, interlocking the fingers with the palms outward, and touch the area of your heart with your knuckles. Imagine the sigil of the spirit wheel in white at the center of your body, uniting the four elemental triangles. Imagine the brilliant light above your head connected with this sigil of spirit. Vibrate “ETH.”

  Continue the four-fold breath with the following visualizations:

  Inhale—imagine the fire triangle. Δ

  Full Hold—imagine the water triangle. ∇

  Exhale—imagine the air triangle.

  Empty Hold—imagine the earth triangle. V

  Imagine all of the elemental triangles within your psyche balanced and in harmony under the guidance of spirit.

  Endnotes

  1 Retitled as The One Year Manual (Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1990).

  2 Regardie, The Romance of Metaphysics, 244-245.

  3 Ibid., 246.

  4 This exercise, like many in this chapter, is taken from our book Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition.

  5 In magic there are four basic elements (fire, water, air, and earth) which are regarded as realms, kingdoms, or divisions of nature. They are the basic modes of existence and action, and the building blocks of everything in the universe. A fifth element, spirit, is said to bind together and govern the lesser four.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  YOGA, CHAKRAS, AND THE WISDOM OF THE EAST

  As Regardie stressed in Chapter Four, the Qabalistic Sephiroth, particularly those of the Middle Pillar, bear some resemblance to the chakra system of yoga, the Hindu mystical tradition. Many people, including authors, make the common mistake of calling Tiphareth “the heart chakra” or referring to Yesod as “the moon chakra.” In fact the cover of Llewellyn’s second edition of Regardie’s The Middle Pillar (see Figure 1, p. xi) shows the chakras superimposed over the Qabalistic Tree of Life with the twin serpents of the Caduceus of Hermes. As easy as it is for some to transpose the terms “Sephirah” and “chakra,” this habit should be avoided, since it only adds to confusion between the two systems. It would be better to refer to the Sephiroth of the Middle Pillar exercise as galgalim,1 which is Hebrew for “whirlings.”

  There are five Sephiroth on the Middle Pillar in contrast to seven chakras in the Eastern system. The Sephirah of Kether can be said to generally correspond to the crown and brow chakras, while the shadowy sphere of Daath can be compared to the throat chakra. Tiphareth approximates the heart and solar plexus chakras. Yesod has certain similarities with the navel chakra. And while Malkuth can be compared in some ways to the root chakra, the tenth Sephirah is centered in the feet and ankles, while the root chakra is at the base of the spine.

  But differences between the Qabalistic and yoga systems are great. As we have seen, some of the Sephiroth and the chakras are similar, but not exact. Take all of the ten Sephiroth into consideration and this similarity is diminished. The Sephiroth and the chakras have different functions, different correspondences, and a host of other attributes that are specific to the cultural roots of each system. Whereas the chakras are located along the spine and are linked to the endocrine glands and nerve centers, the Sephiroth have little correspondence with the inner organs and are located on the midline of the body. The colors assigned to the Sephiroth are also much different from those of the chakras.2 Furthermore, the chakras are activated from the lowest to the highest, the exact opposite of the Western system in which the highest is always invoked first.

  In many ways, the Middle Pillar exercise is a much safer practice than the eastern technique of activating the chakras through Kundalini yoga, which requires a competent instructor to teach it properly. In Kundalini yoga, it is possible for the student to activate more power than he or she can safely handle, resulting in a shock to the psychic mechanism. This is not true of the Middle Pillar, which never bestows more energy than the student can manage, and which can easily be learned without the benefit of a teacher.

  Here we will briefly describe the basics of yoga so that the reader will have a better understanding of the differences and the similarities between the two systems. Both methods provide valid psychological and spiritual tools for the balance, healing, and integration of the human psyche. They relate to different parts of the subtle body, and thus each system requires a different method of working.

  Yoga

  It is presumed that yoga was developed in India by the inhabitants of the Indus River Valley. The exact methods and philosophy of the practice were gathered into a coherent system by Patanjali, a philosopher of the second century B.C.E. The various disciplines of yoga are not restricted to Hindus, however, for people of all faiths have studied and practiced them. The Sanskrit word yoga means “union,” and from it is derived the English word “yoke.” This implies a “harnessing” of our latent psychic energies. Yoga is a science of physical, mental, and spiritual integration. It is a systematic method of self-development and mystical ascent to universal wholeness on all levels of being. The main objective of yoga is the purification of the soul in order that the incarnated ego may be liberated from the karmic wheel. There are several different types of yoga, such as:Bhakti Yoga: Union through devotion.

  Dharma Yoga: Union through the virtues of religious duties.

  Hatha Yoga: Union through physical discipline—breathing and postures.

  Karma Yoga: Union through proper action or work in daily life.

  Kriya Yoga: Union through the sacred outlook in everyday life, domestic ritual, and purification.

  Laya Yoga: Union through developing the “serpent fire” or kundalini force.

  Mantra Yoga: Union through spells and incantations.

  Raja Yoga: Union though meditation.

  Hatha yoga, which emphasizes physical and mental discipline, is by far the most popular type of yoga. The various asanas or postures of hatha yoga are the practices that most Westerners associate with Eastern mysticism. Pranayama or “the breath way” includes numerous techniques for breath control and vital energy manipulation. The discipline of concentration on a symbol or object is known as dharana, “holding.” This is the ability to hold one image in the mind to the exclusion of all outside distractions.

  Closely affiliated with hatha yoga and sometimes considered a part of it is laya yoga, which is dedicated to the development of the subtle body, including the chakras and that mysterious force known as prana.

  Prana

  According to the system of yoga, vital life force called prana courses through the human body by means of a network of minute conduits or canals known as nadis. This psycho-physical circuitry is often called the “subtle body.”3 In yoga the physical body is refined not simply for its own sake, but in order that it may serve the subtle body. The main nadi or conduit is called the sushumna, which runs from the bottom of the spine to the top of the cranium. Along its length the sushumna connects the seven chakras or main energy centers. Many more chakras are said to ex
ist within the body, but all are governed by the primary seven.

  The two other important nadis are known as the ida and the pingala. They start at the base of the spine and wind around the sushumna like strands of DNA. The ida ends at the left nostril and is associated with the moon and the left side of the body. The pingala terminates at the right nostril and corresponds to the sun and the right side of the body. These two nadis take in prana from the surrounding environment, and they are important to the practice of pranayama or the discipline of breath control. The ability to control breathing is equated with the ability to control the amount of prana retained in the body. In this way the revitalizing prana energy can be fully utilized to the benefit of the practitioner.

  The Chakras

  The chakras (“wheels” or “lotus flowers”) are power centers within the aura that correspond to certain glands or organs in the body. They are reservoirs of vibrant energy—psychic sense organs where prana energy is concentrated in the human body. They can be described as spinning whirlpools of energy that exist at certain crossroads where mind and body, or spirit and matter, meet. These centers are listed (in both position and level of consciousness) from the lowest to the highest. They are often visualized as discs or orbs of color running up the center of the body. The mental, psychic, and physical state of any individual can be characterized by analyzing the level of vibrant energy at every chakra. In the average human being, this vital energy is confined to the three lowest centers. As the individual undergoes the process of spiritual growth, the majority of energies are transferred to the higher chakras. These psychic centers must be developed, like any growing flower, so that their petals are allowed to open and bloom.